Blinded chapter 39
Chang Xiaojia held onto Xie Li tightly, unwilling to let go, as if letting go would mean Xie Li would leave him.
Xie Li heard Chang Xiaojia’s cry of pain from their forceful kiss, but the more Chang Xiaojia cried, the more difficult it became for Xie Li to suppress the excitement in his emotions. He thought to himself, “I want you to feel even more pain, something you’ll remember for a lifetime.” However, his actions involuntarily became gentler, stroking Chang Xiaojia’s soft hair.
The next morning, Xie Li woke up shortly after dawn. Chang Xiaojia was curled up in his arms, still asleep. Smooth skin pressed against him, with scattered marks of kisses on his neck and chest.
However, Xie Li felt a slight pain when he moved. Chang Xiaojia had scratched and bitten him last night, leaving more marks than he could count. When he looked in the mirror in the bathroom, he noticed the wound on his lips was particularly prominent and hadn’t subsided overnight.
As he came out of the bathroom, Chang Xiaojia maintained the same posture in bed, only opening his eyes. His eyes seemed lifeless, and one eye was still swollen, giving the impression of uneven eye sizes.
Xie Li approached the bed, crouched down, and reached out to him. It was hard to describe his current feelings; it was more of a calm warmth than a simple regret or lack thereof.
His fingers touched Chang Xiaojia’s face, and he softly called out, “Xiaojia.”
Chang Xiaojia looked at him for a moment, then held his hand, closing his eyes. He solemnly kissed the most sensitive part of Xie Li’s fingertip.
Xie Li could clearly feel the warmth and softness of Chang Xiaojia’s lips. He stood up, half-knelt beside the bed, holding Chang Xiaojia’s hand and pulling him into his arms, kissing his lips.
The two spent the morning in the room, skipping breakfast and engaging in affectionate moments that neither of them seemed to tire of.
It was almost noon when Xie Li, holding the naked Chang Xiaojia, said, “Hungry?”
Chang Xiaojia lowered his gaze, held Xie Li’s hand, and interlaced their fingers, then replied after a while, “Hmm.”
Xie Li kissed his forehead. “Let’s go eat.”
They got dressed and went out for lunch. For dinner, Xie Li said he wanted to make sandwiches for Chang Xiaojia. They bought some ingredients at the supermarket and returned to Chang’s house. In the kitchen on the ground floor, Xie Li cooked for Chang Xiaojia for the first time.
Actually, Xie Li didn’t know how to cook either. When he graduated from the police academy and started working in the police force, living alone in the sub-bureau dormitory, he had experimented with some fast food.
He placed the frying pan on the stove, ignited the fire, and fried bacon with some oil.
This kind of simple operation was still quite familiar to him.
Chang Xiaojia lazily leaned on one side of the dining table, reaching into the plate to take a clean lettuce leaf, tearing off a small piece and chewing on it.
Xie Li looked at him. “Are you a rabbit?”
Chang Xiaojia said, “Didn’t you say I’m a dog?”
“Dogs probably don’t like lettuce leaves.”
“I eat everything,” Chang Xiaojia replied.
Xie Li sandwiched bacon, fried egg, lettuce leaf, cheese, and tuna between slices of toast. Feeling that it was too thick to cut into two halves easily, he suddenly remembered that some girl had taught him to wrap it in plastic wrap before cutting.
He looked for plastic wrap in the cupboard, recalling that it was a girl he had ambiguously been with before. She couldn’t even be called a girlfriend, and he had almost forgotten what she looked like.
Xie Li realized that the days before he came to Harbor City seemed like memories from a past life. Although his life was only twenty-six years short, it had been forcibly divided into two segments, with the appearance of Chang Xiaojia serving as the boundary.
The sandwich was brought to Chang Xiaojia’s mouth before he took a bite.
Xie Li, just playing around, smiled as he looked at Chang Xiaojia and asked, “Is it delicious?”
Chang Xiaojia nodded.
Xie Li decided to sit on a high stool, watching Chang Xiaojia eat the sandwich.
Melted cheese stuck to the corner of Chang Xiaojia’s mouth and Xie Li used his fingers to wipe it away and then inserted his fingers into his mouth, asking him to lick them clean.
After eating one and a half sandwiches, Chang Xiaojia was full. Xie Li finished the remaining food. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t particularly good either. He couldn’t recall the taste from his memories.
While eating, Chang Xiaojia remained clinging to him, resting his head on his shoulder and humming a song.
Xie Li asked, “What song is that?”
Chang Xiaojia casually replied, “A song I wrote myself. It’s called ‘If Xie Li betrays me, I’ll just go die.'”
Xie Li couldn’t help but laugh and after a while, he said, “Well, just go die then.”