Chapter 54

Chapter 54

The packaging paper from the delivery on the living room table was finally cleaned up by Xi Siyan, who also replaced all the garbage bags in the house and took them downstairs.

Seeing him come back up, Chen Mo said, "Every time I think your OCD is severe, you surprise me. When I think you don’t have any OCD at all, you start cleaning obsessively, making me feel like I’m living in a garbage heap."

"Got used to it," Xi Siyan explained his behavior.

Chen Mo, wearing slippers, nudged Xi Siyan's calf with his foot: "You pick your moments and your targets for this habit, right?"

Xi Siyan looked down at his foot and dodged: "Stop messing around."

"Tsk, now you're pretending to be reserved." Chen Mo touched his still slightly numb lower lip and couldn't help but comment, "You’re so skilled; looks like you’ve been practicing a lot."

Xi Siyan smiled slightly.

Ever since he received his early admission notice, Chen Mo had hardly seen him wear his school uniform anymore.

His casual clothes didn't reveal any brand names, the colors were simple, but the quality was excellent. Even with a casual baseball cap on his head, he still stood out in a crowd.

"Are you going back today?" Chen Mo asked him.

Xi Siyan sat down beside him and covered Chen Mo’s exposed knee with a blanket, saying, "Yeah, I'm going back." He added, "Don’t get too cold with the air conditioning."

Chen Mo focused on the word "back."

Turning his head, he said softly, "You come and go so freely. Now that I know you bought this house, I feel like I’m waiting here every day for your favor."

"What kind of metaphor is that?" Xi Siyan said, "There’s something going on at home recently."

Chen Mo became serious: "What happened?"

"It’s not a big deal." Seeing that Chen Mo was still looking at him, Xi Siyan explained, "The Xi family has seemed to produce talents in various fields over the years, but the core business has always been under my grandfather’s control. His heart condition this year led him to hand over the overseas operations to my second uncle, while my father temporarily took over domestic affairs. However, he and my mother have been running their own business abroad for years and aren’t familiar with the internal workings. Grandfather wants me to learn and take over."

Chen Mo didn’t know much about the Xi family.

But he knew that Xi Siyan grew up with his grandparents, and his outstanding performance in the Xi family was due not only to his abilities but also to his upbringing.

Chen Mo: "Is your grandfather doing okay?"

"Yeah, his condition is under control for now."

In his previous life, Chen Mo vaguely heard that the real reason Xi Siyan returned was because his grandfather’s health deteriorated. At that time, Chen Mo didn’t pay much attention to it, and about a month later, news of his passing spread. Everyone from the Yang family attended the memorial service except Chen Mo, who was sent by Yang Zhi on a business trip out of town.

He found it odd then.

That business trip was originally assigned to one of Yang Zhi’s people, a lucrative assignment given away. Yang Zhi didn’t seem like someone who would do that willingly.

When he returned from that trip, he overheard others chatting in the company and learned that Yang Shule had started an internship at Xi Siyan’s company after the memorial service.

Back then, Yang Shule held a high status in the Yang family, and many in the company hoped to see how the three sons of the Yang family would fare if they worked together.

Those words still echoed in his mind.

"Such a letdown. I said it before, Young Master Shule is still a child compared to the other two."

"He went to Huading, a place where countless graduates would break their heads to get into."

"Can’t help it when you have connections."

"Now that the young master of Huading is in charge, having grown up with our Yang family’s little prince, their relationship is naturally close. Compared to the second son, he’d be torn apart if he tried to enter the company."

"The eldest will protect him. In terms of closeness, the eldest has always been closer to this brother without blood ties."

"But our young master doesn’t need it. Now that he’s married into Huading, he won’t lack for prospects."

Those laughs were particularly grating to Chen Mo at the time.

Chen Mo had been involved in the family business early on, but Yang Qi’an immediately sent him to work in the grassroots for three years, not out of importance, but because their relationship had already started to fracture.

He struggled to climb up.

His ambitions were clear.

The Yang Group had many problems common to family businesses, with intense factional struggles. Chen Mo spent a long time cultivating his own power base within the company, but it didn’t hide the fact that he had made many enemies.

Hearing those words at the time, he had already placed Xi Siyan as an adversary, which was why he didn’t want to give him a good face at the project celebration banquet later.

Now, stepping out of that environment,

someone he had only ever heard about or seen from afar was sitting right next to him.

It felt strange.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Xi Siyan asked him.

Chen Mo shook his head and said, "Nothing, just sometimes I feel like my luck isn’t too bad."

A failed life can be restarted.

Wrong paths can be rewritten.

And some people leave deep impressions in his life at seventeen, making his once barren youth more vivid and meaningful.

Xi Siyan didn’t understand what Chen Mo’s gaze meant.

But when he heard that his luck wasn’t too bad, he felt a sharp pang in his heart and frowned.

Various emotions intertwined, leaving a complex mix of feelings.

"Next week I'm free. Is there anywhere you want to go?" Xi Siyan grabbed his hand and casually asked, squeezing his knuckles. He added, "Let's consider it the first step?"

Chen Mo looked over, slowly responding, "Didn't we already take the first step?"

Xi Siyan was taken aback, then laughed, "That doesn't count."

"What does count then?" Chen Mo insisted on getting to the bottom of it.

Xi Siyan thought for two seconds before answering seriously, "I hope to explore all the feelings between two men, starting with the simplest things. Let's treat it as a date, just the two of us."

Chen Mo felt a bit swayed by the idea.

But deciding where to go became an issue.

They didn't rush into making a decision.

Over the next few days, Xi Siyan would occasionally drop by and stay in the room next to Chen Mo at night.

They would cook simple noodles in the kitchen.

During Chen Mo's breaks from researching, he would drag Xi Siyan down to the basketball court to play with others. Each time, he was very restrained, and Xi Siyan wouldn't let him engage in overly strenuous activities.

In the afternoons, they might sit facing each other on the carpet in front of the sofa. Chen Mo had endless summer exam papers to complete, while Xi Siyan sat cross-legged typing away on his laptop.

Chen Mo occasionally glanced over, recognizing some of what Xi Siyan was doing but not all of it.

He chose not to ask, knowing that a high school student shouldn't understand such things. Instead, Xi Siyan couldn't stand Chen Mo's habit of slacking off while doing his homework, pushing him hard, reminding Chen Mo of the intense tutoring he received during the first semester of his sophomore year.

In the evenings, they would watch a movie together on the sofa.

Then they would wash up and go to bed.

Except for that one kiss.

Their relationship resembled that of roommates who hadn't moved out of their dorm yet, continuing many habits and routines from school.

But there were noticeable differences.

Chen Mo could clearly sense the presence of another person in this space—whether he was waking up, brushing his teeth, taking a shower, or changing clothes in the afternoon. Gradually, Chen Mo had become accustomed to sharing his private space with someone else, accepting it without resistance.

On the last day of July, the biggest storm of the summer hit.

The rain fell like pillars, and several leaves of the succulents Chen Mo had bought from the old man downstairs were knocked off on the balcony.

When he rushed out to bring them inside, half his body was drenched.

As he stood by the glass door wringing out water, Jiang Xu initiated a group call on the social app.

Chen Mo intended to hang up but accidentally answered instead.

When he joined, four or five avatars were already lit up.

Jiang Xu shouted first in the voice call, "Brothers, after tonight, I'll be transcending! Wish me luck!"

Someone asked, "What's that noise on your end?"

Jiang Xu: "Damn it! I live on the top floor, and it's leaking! The water is almost up to my calves, and the neighbors downstairs are arguing with my mom right now."

Indeed, exaggerated shouting could be heard in the background.

There were also sounds of things falling.

"Indeed, it's raining heavily tonight!"

"I'm still working on my English exams. This weather is perfect for sleeping, damn it! When will I graduate and be free?"

The group chat was lively with various discussions.

Lao Gou said, "I'm at my grandma's place in the countryside. Have any of you experienced lying on a bamboo mat under heavy rain without air conditioning or fans? It feels like I'm back in my childhood."

"I grew up in the city, thank you."

"Are the mosquitoes in the countryside really that vicious? One bite and you get a huge welt."

"Lao Gou, if I see you next semester, will I meet an African guy?"

"Go to hell."

While the conversation was going on, Chen Mo noticed a towel being placed on his head.

He stopped patting his clothes and turned around abruptly, "Finished showering?"

"Yeah." Xi Siyan's hair was still damp, a light gray towel draped around his neck, but his face looked terrible. As he started wiping Chen Mo's hair, he frowned, "In just this short while, did you join me in the shower?"

"It's just that the rain was so..."

Chen Mo's voice was interrupted by a loud "what the hell" from the phone.

Jiang Xu: "Did I hear that wrong? Chen Mo, you took a shower with the class monitor? Are you guys that open?"

Bai Cheng: "I can confirm, you didn't hear wrong. I heard it too."

There were plenty of teasing responses.

Lao Gou: "So what? Didn't you all swim in the same river when you were kids? Besides, public baths are full of naked people." He concluded, "No big deal."

Lao Gou truly lived up to being a brother.

At critical moments, his first reaction was always to clear things up for Chen Mo, even though he enjoyed reading gossip threads online and knew his brother was gay. He was determined to prevent any rumors from tarnishing Chen Mo's reputation.

When Lao Gou said this, the others gave up on teasing further.

At this moment, Xi Siyan said, "We didn't wash together."

Everyone in the group went "oh oh," nodding vigorously to show they understood.

In the next sentence, Xi Siyan added, "But it's a relationship where we could wash together."

Chen Mo widened his eyes and looked at him: "……"

The group instantly fell silent.

It might have been as long as ten seconds.

Someone whispered, "May I ask if this is what I think it means?"

"Awesome."

"Expected from you guys."

"Expected from you guys."

"Expected from you guys."

……

Xi Siyan hung up the phone for Chen Mo, ignoring the frantic message notifications from Lao Gou.

He continued to dry Chen Mo's hair, asking, "Scared you?"

"As if," Chen Mo quickly recovered from his surprise, letting his head be rubbed around, and while taking back his phone to send a message to Lao Gou, he said, "I just didn't expect you to care so little about people knowing."

Xi Siyan paused, calm: "I want the whole world to know."

"Good declaration," Chen Mo nodded, "Approved by the Emperor."

Saying that he wanted the whole world to know, when Xi Siyan instructed Chen Mo to take a shower first, he picked up his own phone and sent a voice message in the group.

"Don't go spreading this around; your Brother Mo still has school." After getting everyone's assurance, in Chen Mo's view, Xi Siyan smiled, "At least wait until you graduate high school?"

"Sounds like you're already graduated," Chen Mo retorted, with a hint of amusement in his eyes.

Lao Gou was still bombarding messages on the phone.

"!!!"

"!!!! Reply me! You traitor, Chen Mo!"

"You told me Xi Siyan doesn't like guys, right? How did you two end up together behind my back???"

Silence is not golden, it's your grandpa: "Don't make it sound like I'm having an affair."

Silence is not golden, it's your grandpa: "Also, nothing happened. We're as pure as can be."

Lao Gou: "……Damn."