A single ray of early morning sunshine rested upon Zhou Xiang's naked shoulder. It was already fall, but the sun was still scorching to the skin, and that was how Zhou Xiang woke up.
He glanced at the clock on the wall. He hadn't slept until noon for a long time. When he was young, sleeping in was his favourite thing to do, but after he started approaching thirty, he kept feeling that squandering time on sleep was very wasteful.
Yesterday was too tiring. Zhou Xiang shifted his thigh. His body ached horribly all over. He really didn't want to move.
Yan Mingxiu’s somewhat hoarse voice sounded from the top of Zhou Xiang's head, "Are you awake?"
"Mn..." Zhou Xiang flipped over. "Damn it hurts, you brat... really couldn't tell." Yan Mingxiu had such a beautiful face, why was he like a beast in bed? His strength and energy was too ferocious, and his stamina was also too...
Yan Mingxiu snorted twice somewhat proudly. "Was my technique up to scratch?" He reached out to rub Zhou Xiang's butt. That sensation under his hand felt extremely good.
Zhou Xiang replied, "My bones are about to fall apart. I'm so tired, if I can't get up tomorrow, you have to pay me my skipping work fee."
Yan Mingxiu asked offhandedly, "What are you shooting tomorrow?"
"It's still that Wang Yudong one."
"Oh," Yan Mingxiu responded, "Will he be there?"
Zhou Xiang laughed. "You wanna see him? I don't know either. No one's going to disclose to me a superstar's whereabouts." He returned a question, "Do you and Wang Yudong know each other?"
"Mm, we... Our parents are acquainted."
"No wonder. In the beginning, I even thought that you and Wang Yudong were from the same agency." Zhou Xiang flipped over again, lying flat on the bed. His lower back ached so much he couldn’t stay straight and he couldn’t bend either. It was pure torture. He quietly cried out in pain twice.
Yan Mingxiu discovered his conscience, placed his hand on Zhou Xiang's waist, kneaded it twice and said, "I was initially going to ask you to make food for me, I'm hungry, but seeing that you can't get out of bed, let's order take-out."
Zhou Xiang snorted twice. "Who said I can't get out of bed? I'm just too lazy to get off. Still, let's order take-out..." He reached out to grab his cell phone. "What do you want to eat?"
"From a clean place."
"There's a congee store just outside the neighbourhood, open twenty four hours. I always order from them. It's really clean."
"Fine, you decide what to order." Yan Mingxiu yawned. He rubbed his smooth cheeks against Zhou Xiang's chest, lazily like a cat.
Zhou Xiang stroked his naked back. Although his body didn't feel too comfortable, he was in a very good mood.
As Yan Mingxiu rubbed and rubbed, his rubbing slightly changed nuance. He opened his mouth and took the small balls on Zhou Xiang's chest into his mouth, licking back and forth with his tongue.
Zhou Xiang wanted to laugh seeing Yan Mingxiu like this. He pushed Yan Mingxiu's head away and said, "Are you drinking milk? Get up, that shop delivers really fast."
Yan Mingxiu licked his own lips, and reluctantly let go of him.
Zhou Xiang got off bed using his hands to support his body. His movements were extremely stiff and awkward.
Yan Mingxiu watched him walk to the bathroom while supporting his waist with his hands, and a wave of complacency and satisfaction bubbled up inside. He hadn't expected that he would do it so many times last night either. The sexual excitement this man aroused in him far exceeded his imagination.
Yan Mingxiu was a very picky person. From when he was small he was only willing to enjoy the best. Even the bed companions he had when he was studying overseas were all rarely seen beautiful men. Zhou Xiang was far inferior to those men, and couldn't even compare to Wang Yudong. However, this man suited his appetite very well: his personality, his smile, and even his natural and confident display in bed all made Yan Mingxiu really satisfied.
The most important thing was that Zhou Xiang had a back view that bore an unparalleled resemblance to Wang Yudong's. Even just looking at it could make him harden. He liked making love with this man, very liked it.
Zhou Xiang finished his shower and came out just in time for the food to arrive.
Yan Mingxiu also finished washing his face and mouth and walked out of the bathroom looking relaxed and refreshed. The air conditioner was on and the room was nice and warm. He was only wearing a pair of Zhou Xiang's pyjama pants. His wide shoulders and tight and narrow waist line were extremely captivating.
Zhou Xiang whistled. "Mingxiu, if you entered show business, who knows how many people will be crazy about you."
Yan Mingxiu was in a very good mood. He grinned. "Driving you crazy about me first is enough."
Zhou Xiang blew him a kiss. "You succeeded in that a long time ago. Hurry and come over to eat."
The two of them were like a pair of sweethearts who had lived together for a long time: sleeping until noon after a night of madness, getting up, grabbing and putting on pyjamas which belonged to who knows who, sitting face to face while eating breakfast, the atmosphere warm and harmonious.
After they finished eating, Zhou Xiang got a phone call from Cai Wei.
"Hey, Wei'ge." Zhou Xiang put down the spoon in his mouth. His words were a bit muffled.
Cai Wei's rough voice arrived from the other end, "Just woke up?"
"Haha, yep."
"Who did you have a romantic happy time with last night?"
"You wouldn't know even if I told you."
Cai Wei scolded, "Shameless, hurry up and get your mind into work mode. I have a stunt directing job in hand, you want to accept it or not? It's not for a movie, but for an advertisement."
"When?"
"If you want to accept, then come over in the afternoon today to discuss with them."
"How much are they paying?"
"To your satisfaction."
"Alright, send the address to my phone, I'll go over in the afternoon."
After he hung up the phone, Yan Mingxiu looked at him, frowning. "You're going out?"
"Yup, someone’s introduced a job to me, I'll be going to discuss with them first. Do you mind staying at my house for the time being? I'll come pick you up at night, and then we'll go out to eat something good."
Yan Mingxiu said discontentedly, "Don't go out."
Zhou Xiang was taken aback.
"Stay at home today, and keep me company."
Zhou Xiang indulgingly pinched his cheeks. "I want to stay with you too, but big brother needs to go to work. I need to accept lots of martial arts directing jobs, and slowly transfer to that field in the future."
Yan Mingxiu unhappily mumbled, "You won't earn much anyway, you might as well stay home with me."
Zhou Xiang laughed, "I'll definitely be able to earn at least two months of food expenses. This profession is a fast money earner. Be good, wait for me, I'll be back soon."
He changed his clothes, and he rushed out of the door, without pausing to attend to Yan Mingxiu's darkened expression. He hoped that when he met up with Cai Wei, Cai Wei wouldn't notice that he was walking strangely or else Cai Wei would definitely mock him and say that he’s indulged in debauchery.
Zhou Xiang talked with the other party’s screenwriter for two hours. After the advertisement content and requirements were more or less decided, and they had also pretty much finished discussing his commission, he stood up and said his goodbyes.
He hadn’t wanted to run out to discuss business on his good day off either. Right now, he wanted to rush home and be intimate with Yan Mingxiu for a while.
Cai Wei called out to him, "Oi, A'Xiang, what are you in such a rush for? Have dinner at my house tonight? Your sister-in-law hasn't seen you for ages."
"Let's make it another day. I'm busy tonight."
"Shit, what business? Which little moth are you hooking up with this time?"
Zhou Xiang laughed, "Wei'ge you're jealous, aren't you? Seeing me so free and unfettered makes the eyes of married man like you go red with envy, am I right? Heyo, let me carefully look at your little eyes, are they red or not? Are they red or not?"
Cai Wei smacked down his hand, and taunted, "Bullshit, Laozi has a wife, kids and a warm bed, you're the one with red eyes."
"Yeah right, as if I'm jealous." Zhou Xiang chuckled. "I'm so free and comfortable this way. Let's end our conversation here. I'll give sis-in-law a phone call later, I really do have something to do today, I'm going now."
Cai Wei gave him a heavy swat on the back. "Scram."
Zhou Xiang blew him a kiss. "Wei'ge, thank you for introducing me this job, I'll invite you guys out to eat some other day," he said and then left like a wisp of smoke.
On the way back, he bought some beer and snacks. It just so happened that there was Real Madrid soccer match on tonight. The two of them watching soccer together at night; it was going to be so much fun.
He impatiently rushed home after shopping. "Mingxiu, I'm home."
The moment he entered the apartment he saw that Yan Mingxiu's shoes were gone. Disappointment swept over Zhou Xiang's heart, but unwilling to give up, he called out two more times. The apartment was absolutely empty. No one responded.
In these twenty years, he rarely had guests over in this old apartment. He had already forgotten how it felt to return home and say "I'm home" and be able to receive a reply. He thought that today he'd be able to try it out.
Unfortunately, Yan Mingxiu had already left, and as before, he was all alone.
Zhou Xiang couldn't cover up the despair in his heart. He dejectedly placed the stuff onto the table. On the table, there were still the lunch boxes from their meal in the afternoon which still hadn't been cleared away, proving that there had been someone inside this apartment besides him.
Cai Wei's family treated him very well, but he didn't want to visit his house. Cai Wei was right. He was envious, envious of the happy life of their family of three. Zhou Xiang was probably fated to be alone. It was already bad enough that his entire family died when he was ten, in spite of everything, he was also gay. The ordinary matter of marrying a wife, having kids and establishing up a family, was something that had no chance of happening in his life. And, finding a homosexual who wholeheartedly loved him was even harder. He slept with one person after another, but in the end, not one stayed by his side.
He really wanted to have a family.
Zhou Xiang sighed. He didn't know why he suddenly started thinking about these sad things, putting a damper on his own mood.
He stood up and swiftly cleared the table. After that, still a bit unwilling to give up, he sent Yan Mingxiu a text: "There's a soccer match on tonight, come to my house to watch soccer, I bought a lot of yummy snacks."
And like his many texts before, like a stone dropped in the big ocean, there was no response.