Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Three: Regarding Those Ears

After having a beautiful dinner, Yan Jin could not take it anymore and tactfully expressed his curiosity over the extra parts on top of Xiao Yu’s head.

“You can’t keep them?”

“…… What?”

Xiao Yu, who had his stomach round and filled, laid on the couch lazily. Even his reaction was slower than usual.

Long, long ago, he had had the opportunity to taste Yan Jin’s cooking and it was shockingly remarkable. It was a pity that Yan Jin soon found out that hamster should not be fed with human food and took away that luxury.

Now that he could taste Yan Jin’s food once again, Xiao Yu felt satisfied and had to once again prostrate himself in admiration for Yan Jin’s cooking skills.

“You really can’t keep them?”

Yan Jin asked again, looking somewhat awkward.

Xiao Yu was dazed for a moment before he finally understood what Yan Jin was talking about.

“A-Are they weird?”

Xiao Yu felt slightly uneasy, and thee pair of ears on top of his head quivered.

According to his experiment results, after he turn back into a human from his hamster form, his ears and tail would still require a long time before they would revert. Xiao Yu had been pretending that the pair of obvious body parts did not exist at all. Now that the chairman had raised the topic, it made him felt a bit embarrassed.

Are they very weird looking? Are they ugly? Very unsightly?

Those little ears, realizing that they was being disliked by their owner, drooped backwards and trembled.

The main culprit let out a low laugh as he reached out to rub Xiao Yu’s head and pinch the tips of those ears while he was at it.

The little ears drooped even lower.

“What do you want? Don’t touch them if they’re too ugly.” Xiao Yu turned his head away to dodge Yan Jin’s evil claw.

“How could they be ugly?” Yan Jin blinked his eyes and answered in a deadly, earnest manner:. “What I meant was, if you choose to continue acting so adorable then I’m gonna kiss you.”

With that, he pressed a quick peck to the tip of one ear and quickly moved away.

“I’ll go wash the dishes. You can take a break on the couch.”

When Xiao Yu finally came around, covered his ears, and blushed, Yan Jin was already some distance away.

“Jerk…”

All he knows is how to tease, tease, and tease. I can easily tell that he’s a playboy.

Xiao Yu had no way to deal with Yan Jin at all. In the end, he could only mentally ridicule him in response.

When Yan Jin finished putting all the dirty utensils into the dishwasher, he was surprised to see the adorable little ears still stuck on Xiao Yu’s head.

Yan Jin crept up silently to the younger man and examined the ears for a while. Then, he waited for the perfect moment and jumped forward.

Xiao Yu’s furry ears stood upright as he sat immersed in his game app. Suddenly, they got pressed down by a pair of big hands shocking him so badly that he threw away his iPad.

“AHH!”

“You really can’t keep them?” Yan Jin’s body leaned forward closely as his elbow curled around Xiao Yu’s neck intimately.

“I really can’t keep them!” Xiao Yu answered again frustratedly. This time, his tone was firm and outright when he answered Yan Jin’s stupid question.

With his sensitive ears caught by the other man, the designer raised his head with difficulty. His ears were freed eventually but his entire body was still caught in the other’s embrace. For a moment, they exchanged glances with one another.

It was weird because both of them usually did not like having too much body contact with anyone else. Yet, at this moment, neither of them felt uncomfortable.

Perhaps it was fate, or maybe it was Heaven’s Will, or it may have been simply an excuse they could always use whenever they got stuck in such a situation that they could not explain themselves. Right now, Xiao Yu could hear his heart beating aloud. Of course, due to their unique positions, he could also hear Yan Jin’s heart beat as well.

As he was looked upon by that cheatingly gentle gaze, no matter how many times it had happened before, Xiao Yu could only choose to give in.

So, he chose to close his eyes.

Occasionally, the playful breeze would pass by and carefully lift the curtain upwards. As it witnessed the couple that was kissing while embraced, it would then run away bashfully.

A gust wind that came suddenly caused a ripple on the spring’s water.

……

After a long night talk, the two people only fell asleep at midnight.

“Why are they not gone yettttt???”

It was the morning of the second day when Xiao Yu saw his extra pairs of ears still there in the mirror, having mixed feelings over them.

Yan Jin, who was behind him, caressed his head casually.

“Don’t touch them! Have you washed your hands?!”

Yan Jin innocently shrugged his shoulder, facing Xiao Yu’s anger. He quickly gave in and leaned forward to curry favor. “They’re not affecting anything. There’s no problem leaving them just like that.”

“How could it be ‘not affecting anything’?!” Xiao Yu grabbed his own extra ears as he said depressedly, “How am I supposed to face anyone like this?”

“You don’t have to meet anyone, just let me be the only one who sees them.”

“Nonsense is all you know. Move, don’t block my way.”

Xiao Yu pushed Yan Jin away as he huffed and puffed his way out of the guest room’s bathroom.

Hn, Yan Jin was sleeping in his master bedroom last night, yet he insists on coming over to his guest room to wash up. Such an obvious act with sinister motives.

Xiao Yu spent the entire afternoon worrying about his extra pair of ears. Luckily, at around eleven a.m., they finally disappeared.

Assuming that it might be because of how strong the vodka had been, it was understandable that it would take even longer for his metabolism to complete its work.

No matter what it was, Xiao Yu felt a huge weight off his shoulders when he finally turned back into his normal human form. At the same time, he mentally swore to never touch any alcohol again, never again!

With his ears gone, Xiao Yu’s mood instantly lifted. He wondered if it was his imagination that Yan Jin seemed a little disappointed.

He must be thinking too much.

Xiao Yu ignored Yan Jin’s slightly dangerous gaze and believed in his own lies as he took out his mobile and checked the new designer account that he had created lately.

“Speaking of which,” Xiao Yu asked as he happily found out that his account had been verified. He used his kneecap to kick Yan Jin who was just beside him, “Do I still owe you thirty million?”

“No such thing.” Yan Jin was not fazed at all as he answered smoothly. “That car was an imitation. It was not even worth thirty million.”

Xiao Yu lift his head up to look at Yan Jin. His gaze was filled with mix feelings.

“It’s true. It’s only worth three hundred thousand in the market,”

Yan Jin said confidently. The car had been scrapped anyway. Even if Xiao Yu wanted to investigate further, he would not find anything.

“Even if it’s worth three hundred thousand, I can’t even afford to repay that. I’m a jobless person right now.” Seeing how Yan Jin insist on acting, Xiao Yu played along as he continued to talk nonsense. “I can’t even afford to pay my apartment rent now.”

“You can move in with me.” Yan Jin disguised his excitement as he replied calmly, “You can pay your debt with your body.”

Xiao Yu could not hold back anymore as he let out a stifled laugh.

“Seriously, do you have to act like this?”

“Like what?” Yan Jin acted innocent.

“It’s not like I’m one of those egotistic people who would rather die with honor than to live with disgrace. One of the reasons why I wanted to meet you again was to get rid of that thirty million debt,” Xiao Yu answered honestly.

Yan Jin nodded his head. “You met your target now. And you can even satisfy my little wish too.”

“What’s your wish?”

“To live together with marriage as a prerequisite?”

“… Enough of your nonsense.”

Yan Jin sighed helplessly as he used his mobile to send Xiao Yu a digital credit card.

“What’s this?”

“Another wish I have had since I was young.”

Xiao Yu looked at Yan Jin with interest.

Yan Jin took a deep breath as he said an embarrassing line that he had seen in that chairman novel he had read two days ago:

“Max them out.”

“Hahahahahaha – “

Xiao Yu showed his respect by bursting out laughing.

Yan Jin looked as if he had been wronged, but in fact he let out a sigh in relief in his heart.

No matter what, it seemed like the thirty million issue was over now. Xiao Yu would never know what he planned to make him do to repay that debt.

After a hearty laugh, Xiao Yu waved his mobile proudly at Yan Jin. “I found a studio that’s willing to take me in. I can make a comeback in the future.”

Yan Jin who almost forgot about that started coughing.

“*Sigh* Ever since I got dismissed by SI, for some reason there’s no company that has been willing to take me in.” Xiao Yu sighed. “I even thought it was because of my lack of an academic profile that made it hard to find a job. I also thought it might be because of the impression of that car accident, so I sent my resume to cities further away, but it still didn’t work.”

Xiao Yu hesitated for a moment before he said quietly. “I think SI may be behind it.”

Yan Jin diverted his gaze as he asked curiously, “Why makes you think of that?”

“I don’t have any evidence actually, but I found out not too long ago that SI is filled with scheming people everywhere. Anything is possible with them.”

Ever since he had been kicked out from his company, Xiao Yu’s impression of SI had plummeted to negative. However, he was not a person who talked behind other peoples’ backs, so he did not want to elaborate much in front of Yan Jin.

However, in order to cover up his own actions to halt Xiao Yu’s career, Yan Jin was left with no other choice but to shift all the blame to SI. “I’ve always felt that SI’s Chairman Zhou was problematic. I’ve done a few collaborations with SI before, so I have a lot of opinions about Chairman Zhou’s character.”

Xiao Yu’s interest was captured just like he expected. “I know. That carpet from the cathedral era, you commissioned SI to do it right?”

“Yup. It’s your work isn’t it?” Yan Jin laughed. “When Lin Zhou gave them to me, I knew for sure that it was designed by you. But no matter how much I investigated, I could not trace it back to you at all.”

“Didn’t you see me during those collaboration meetings?”

“…… Not at all.” Yan Jin immediately felt that something was amiss once Xiao Yu mentioned it.

“What a pity. Otherwise you would have recognized me long ago.”

Xiao Yu did not think deeper so Yan Jin kept his silence, adding this point to the list of things he would need to investigate.

“So, what’s wrong with Chairman Zhou?”

“Too obsessed with profits. Compared to long term benefits, he is more interested about the instant benefits that he could gain. This sort of person usually won’t last too long in the industry…” Yan Jin critiqued Zhou Jinrong’s shortcomings like an industry bigshot even though he was actually a few years younger than the other chairman.

“That make sense. If he had cared about long term benefits, he wouldn’t have dismissed an employee like me,”

Xiao Yu answered angrily.

But within his mockery he was filled with upset and dissatisfaction. After all that had happened, his feelings towards SI were deeper than he thought.

It was a place for which he had worked for so long. It was the place that his teacher had been longing for. It was the place where his design career had reached its peak, but none of those belonged to him anymore.

Only he knew how reluctant he was to part with that place.

“Although my starting point is very low now, I should be able to rise up again in no time. I’ll just take it back from the beginning as if I’m starting my career again with the younger people.” Xiao Yu was filled with confidence for the future as he looked at Yan Jin with spirit filled eyes.“Once my status can match up to yours, then we can announce our relationship. Before that happens, you will have to bear with me.”

“But…” Yan Jin was slightly hesitant if he should spill or not.

“What?”

“Why haven’t you consider YL?”