Shi Linchuan genuinely believed this:

Falling in love could be considered a rather thorny affliction. Not only did it throw a person’s heart into disarray, but it also distorted the patient’s perception of time’s flow.

Inside the second-floor study.

The man sat at his desk, his computer screen displaying several analytical files. By his usual standards of efficiency, these tasks should have been completed two hours ago. Yet, here he was, still dragging his feet, feeling an unexplainable sense of restlessness and impatience.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that he had already been working for a very long time today.

…How is there still more?

Shi Linchuan raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, unable to sit still any longer.

Just then.

The phone screen resting right beside his mouse suddenly lit up. Accompanied by a vibration, a ringtone played almost at the exact same moment—a piece of piano music rendered with very ordinary skill.

The screen displayed the caller’s name.

Shi Linchuan turned his head to look over immediately.

It was Pei Yue.

“…” Shi Linchuan’s expression didn’t change in the slightest. He simply stared at that contact name for two seconds before swiping his finger across the screen to switch on the speakerphone. “What is it?”

Silence filled the room.

The female voice on the other end of the line knew his temperament inside out, cutting straight to the chase: “Boss, I need you. Can you please come back and take charge of things? I honestly feel like I’m about to drop dead from overwork…”

Months had already passed since Shi Linchuan fulfilled his promise. Winter had long cast off its heavy padded coats in favor of floral spring dresses. As the days grew warmer, people couldn’t help but raise sun umbrellas just like everyone else.

The dense greenery rustled in the sultry wind.

Summer was just around the corner.

“In a company this massive, I really can’t handle it all by myself. A while back, Old Cheng was responsible for that collaboration deal with Dingguang, and man, oh man…” Pei Yue continued talking from her side, “I’m still cleaning up the mess he left behind.”

“If the company loses money, your dividend payout gets hit too, doesn’t it?”

Lately, Shi Linchuan had already felt that his current workload was excessive and was considering lightening his burden. Naturally, he wasn’t about to shoulder more responsibilities. However, out of a certain consideration, he didn’t flatly reject her. Instead, he gave a casual, offhand response,

“I heard about it.”

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line.

Pei Yue probably assumed he was trying to decline, so her tone shifted as she suddenly asked, “By the way, how are things going between you and Xie Jinghe lately? That movie he shot last year is coming out in the summer slot soon. Right now, he’s busy traveling with the crew for roadshows and promotion, and he even has two variety shows to record…”

“Must be pretty busy, right?”

Hearing this, Shi Linchuan’s complexion turned somewhat sour.

Pei Yue rambled on,

“Aren’t you two doing some performance art—wait, no… aren’t you re-entering the honeymoon phase? What’s the fun in living together and dating? An office romance is what’s truly thrilling. Come on back.”

Pei Yue had a sharp, glib tongue.

Shi Linchuan chatted with her for nearly ten minutes before hanging up. In the end, he gave no concrete reply, only saying he would think about it. As the screen jumped back to the home interface, his thumb automatically navigated its way to tap open WeChat, opening the pinned chat avatar with smooth, practiced familiarity.

The other party’s latest message was a very brief line of text:

[Boarded the plane, expected to arrive home at 4 PM! [Blow Kiss]]

Shi Linchuan casually glanced at the time displayed in the upper right corner of his screen.

At this exact moment.

It was only just past two in the afternoon.

He couldn’t help but flip his phone over twice. The body was an obsidian black with smooth, sleek lines, exuding a stylish, high-concept design—it was the latest model released by the brand earlier this month.

Shi Linchuan had bought two: one black, one white.

One for himself and one for Xie Jinghe—just right.

The night he gave the phone to Xie Jinghe, it had still been early.

After taking their showers ahead of time, the two of them went into the study together.

As usual, Shi Linchuan accompanied Xie Jinghe while he studied English. However, Xie Jinghe was making rapid progress and no longer needed constant supervision. Shi Linchuan was left sitting idly to one side, casually flipping through a freshly printed script, his gaze lingering on the line-by-line notes Xie Jinghe had made with a highlighter.

He couldn’t see his own expression; he only felt an unexplainably peaceful mood.

He had originally thought Xie Jinghe’s proposal to learn English was just a tentative excuse, but Shi Linchuan hadn’t expected him to actually stick with it. Months had passed, and the number of times Shi Linchuan took the test papers handed over by Xie Jinghe to mark circles with a red pen had decreased significantly.

As a reward, Shi Linchuan pulled out a phone box from his desk drawer and slid it over.

Watching Xie Jinghe pull the brand-new white phone out of the box, ready to swap his SIM card over from his old phone right then and there, Shi Linchuan stared at the slight curve of his pursed lips and suddenly spoke up:

“…There’s no location tracking or monitoring software installed on it.”

As soon as those words left his mouth.

Xie Jinghe froze, raising his head to gaze at him for a long moment. His eyes blinked repeatedly, as if tiny pink flowers were cascading out from them, showering all over Shi Linchuan’s face.

Unable to resist, Shi Linchuan leaned in and kissed the outer corner of his eye.

Who knew what Xie Jinghe was imagining in his head, but he kept letting out quiet, muffled laughs while clutching the phone tightly, his fingertips turning slightly pale from the grip.

Feeling slightly flustered by his laughter, Shi Linchuan moved the kiss from the corner of his eye down to his lips and tongue, intensifying his momentum. Xie Jinghe responded even more passionately, directly turning a simple kiss into a hot, intense session of making love.

The test paper couldn’t endure the rough treatment, crumpling into a bunched-up ball and getting completely ruined.

“…”

The memory flashed by in an instant.

At this moment, Shi Linchuan felt a sudden pang of regret.

Especially after his fingers involuntarily tapped into the WeChat chat interface once again, this wave of regret fermented even more intensely. Yet, if time were turned back, he would likely still make the exact same decision.

There was no grand reason for doing so.

Shi Linchuan just suddenly felt…

It was no longer necessary.

The time had just ticked past three o’clock.

The sunlight remained bright and clear. Shi Linchuan carried an empty cup downstairs while holding his phone in his other hand. The interface displayed a number he had just dialed, saved under a contact name starting with ‘A’.

Calculating the time, Xie Jinghe should be getting off the plane around now.

The ringtone chimed for half a minute without anyone picking up.

The very next second.

Ding-dong… Ding-dong…

The doorbell rang abruptly.

Shi Linchuan followed the sound, unconsciously raising an eyebrow. He immediately set down his cup and strolled over. His legs were long, carrying him to the doorway in just a few strides. With a raise of his hand, he switched on the video doorbell screen mounted on the wall.

The picture on the monitor was crystal clear. The top-down camera angle clearly presented the view outside the front door right before Shi Linchuan’s eyes.

A person stood at the door.

He had neat, crisp black hair, and his face was covered by a sleek black mask that framed his facial structure flattering—of course, even without the mask, his features were exquisite and flawless. What surprised Shi Linchuan the most, however, was the uniform he was wearing: a white base with blue-striped accents.

Not only that, but he was also carrying a bright blue backpack with a simple design. The left strap covered the round school badge on his chest, making him look…

Like a very clean, pristine high school student.

Shi Linchuan stared at the “high school student” on the monitor for a good while. He saw him lean closer to the camera lens as if unable to wait, pull out his phone from his trousers pocket to check the time, and then press the doorbell once more.

The chiming stopped quickly.

Shi Linchuan tapped the speaker icon on the screen. The corners of his mouth curled up involuntarily, though his tone remained quite cold, as if the guy outside was nothing more than a stranger.

“Who are you looking for?”

Hearing this, the high school student stepped two paces closer. He hooked a finger around one side of his mask’s ear loop to pull it down, revealing his entire face. Tilting his head as he drew near the screen, he said with utmost politeness: “Is Teacher Shi at home? I wanted to thank him for tutoring me in English, so I brought a gift specifically to see him.”

After speaking, he even deliberately raised the bag in his hand so it appeared on camera.

Shi Linchuan was certain he caught sight of a boba tea logo.

It truly proved the old saying:

The gift is light, but the thought is deep.

However, compared to this, Shi Linchuan was far more focused on another detail.

…A guy pushing thirty.

Dressing up as a high school student didn’t look out of place in the slightest.

Shi Linchuan almost suspected that the video doorbell screen came built-in with a beauty filter. He couldn’t help but purse his lips and glance off to the side, clearing his throat silently to suppress a smile before giving a cool, indifferent response,

“That’s me.”

With a click.

The villa’s front door opened.

Inside and outside the door stood two people putting on an act.

Xie Jinghe had been in the industry for many years; his acting skills were universally acclaimed, and his credentials were top-notch. Yet, as Shi Linchuan looked down at the smile the man was trying so hard to suppress by biting his lower lip, he couldn’t help but critique internally,

…Terrible acting.

His gaze swept past Xie Jinghe’s shoulder, spotting the nanny van parked not far off. Le Yan’s driver’s side window was directly facing the villa entrance. The privacy glass was rolled down by more than half, revealing his profile—his expression looking quite hard to describe.

Shi Linchuan knew his own limits.

Given how madly in love he and Xie Jinghe had been over the past few months, the assistant Le Yan was victim number one. Thus, he stepped back two paces, specifically pulling out a new pair of slippers from the shoe cabinet and gesturing:

“Come in.”

Only then did Xie Jinghe remember his impromptu script. Putting on an air of restraint, his affectionate eyes peered inside as he changed his shoes, asking in a low voice:

“Teacher Shi, are you home alone?”

Shi Linchuan closed the door, calmly picking up his cue:

“My spouse is away on a business trip.”

The two of them had not only been married and undergone a messy divorce, but this wasn’t even their first time dating. Exchanging a single look was all it took to know what game the other wanted to play, seamlessly carrying on this improvised scene.

Pure, yet taboo.

Shi Linchuan successfully played the role of a cold-faced, warm-hearted teacher, bringing the student into the study for intensive guidance. Once both were dripping with sweat, he thoughtfully offered the bathtub in his own bedroom, meticulously washing the grime off his student.

Throughout the process, water splashed continuously.

Noticing the man’s gaze landing on the tattoo at the base of his left thigh, Xie Jinghe moved with effort, displaying those deeply red, tiny letters even more clearly. Opening and closing his mouth, he added another line to the improvised drama.

Feigning bashfulness, he explained to the man:

“My boyfriend tattooed this on me. It’s his name.”

Shi Linchuan: “…”

Aren’t there a bit too many people involved in this scenario?

Shi Linchuan was speechless for two seconds, yet found it somewhat hilarious.

Gazing at Xie Jinghe’s slightly sweat-slicked face, his flushed cheeks, and those bright, deep eyes, his expression suddenly dazed—he recalled how, before that tattoo appeared last year, he had cold-shouldered Xie Jinghe for several months. On the night Xie Jinghe returned home, Shi Linchuan had demeaned and humiliated him with the harshest words possible…

Without exaggeration,

None of his actions had been human.

Shi Linchuan gently pulled his fingertips away. Remaining silent for a few seconds, he couldn’t stop himself from tracing the small tattooed letters with his thumb, asking in a soft voice: “When your boyfriend tattooed this on you, did it hurt?”

Xie Jinghe was slightly stunned, then shook his head.

Right after, he heard the man utter a phrase without warning,

“…Jinghe.”

“I’m sorry.”

As the words fell, the sound of water splashed.

Shi Linchuan lifted his left leg, lowering his head to kiss his tattoo, whispering ‘I’m sorry’ with every single kiss.

He lost count of how many times he said it.

Xie Jinghe’s waist was sore, his legs were sore, and his eyes were sore too.

He slowly sat up, shrinking into the man’s embrace. “It’s okay, my boyfriend is very good to me…”

“Is that so.”

“Really.”