Chapter 103: N. Farewell for Now

The moment he woke up from his dream, Su Hui’s shoulders trembled slightly.

Ning Yixiao, who was still asleep, felt it and woke up along with him. Out of habit, he caressed Su Hui’s shoulder and gently patted his back.

“What’s wrong?” his voice was a bit raspy, his eyes still closed.

Su Hui didn’t open his eyes either. Burying his face into the hollow of Ning Yixiao’s collarbone, he said in a very soft voice, “I had a dream… a very strange dream…”

Ning Yixiao gave a low hum, his hand moving upward to stroke Su Hui’s hair, signaling for him to continue.

Su Hui’s voice was muffled against his chest. “I dreamed that Xuegao (Ice Cream) turned into a human, and he was a little boy. We adopted him, and you even made him call you ‘Daddy’.”

Ning Yixiao let out a low chuckle. “Hmm… that is quite strange.”

“I dreamed that you smelled like fir and sea salt, the kind that follows you everywhere. Maybe it’s because I told you your perfume smelled nice a few days ago…”

“What about you then?” Ning Yixiao asked with his eyes closed. “What did you smell like?”

Su Hui recalled for a moment. “I smelled like cherry liqueur and rainwater.”

Ning Yixiao fell silent for a beat. “It suits you well.”

“In the dream, we went to Iceland to see the aurora, and we ran into a blizzard. You got drenched in the rain and looked so pitiful.” Su Hui thought about it, then added, “You also told me to give birth to a baby for you. Ning Yixiao, even in my dreams, your brain isn’t quite right…”

Ning Yixiao suspected that the plot of this dream was just what Su Hui usually thought about during the day. “It must be that you want to give birth, otherwise why would you have a dream like that?”

“I do not,” Su Hui countered immediately.

Ning Yixiao mimicked him, “I do not.”

“Oh, stop copying me.” Su Hui raised his hand to cover Ning Yixiao’s mouth, but Ning Yixiao kissed his palm instead, grabbed his wrist, and took a playful bite.

“You really are a puppy,” Su Hui turned his body around, giving Ning Yixiao his back.

Ning Yixiao hummed in agreement, leaning down to gently bite the back of Su Hui’s fair, delicate neck.

Su Hui froze.

This part was exactly the same as in the dream.

At this moment, he began to doubt whether it was actually a dream. After all, he had never had a dream that was so complete and realistic.

Could it be a parallel universe or something similar, just like Ning Yixiao had mentioned before?

Thinking of this, Su Hui suddenly felt deeply satisfied. It felt as if his fingertips had touched the self of another universe, sensing their joys and sorrows, even if it was just for a condensed, fleeting moment.

Furthermore, in that parallel universe, he hadn’t separated from Ning Yixiao in the end.

Could this be considered the convergence of world lines?

“What are you thinking about? So serious.” Ning Yixiao planted fine kisses on the back of his neck, turned him back around, and pecked his lips.

“Thinking of a very romantic idea. Maybe I can turn it into my new artwork.”

“About what?”

“About…” Su Hui smiled, kissing the tear mole at the corner of Ning Yixiao’s eye. “…us.”

Ning Yixiao loved hearing him say “us,” and he loved listening to his wild, imaginative dreams. He especially loved how Su Hui would eagerly share them with him the very moment he woke up.

However, after hearing the story, Ning Yixiao looked at Xuegao a bit oddly for the rest of the day.

Especially when Xuegao looked up at him, picked up his little toy to place it at his feet, but when looking for Su Hui, the dog always begged for hugs and rubs, throwing himself into Su Hui’s arms to lick and kiss him at every turn.

Ning Yixiao suddenly felt a bit regretful. He shouldn’t have let the dog smell so many of Su Hui’s old clothes and that little cat plushie before.

“Xuegao, aren’t you being a bit too clingy?” He couldn’t help but speak up to remind the dog.

Su Hui smiled, cupping Xuegao’s face. “Xuegao is just a little puppy, what’s wrong with being a bit clingy?”

Hearing this, Ning Yixiao automatically translated the words “little puppy” into “little child.”

He suddenly felt fortunate. Thank goodness they didn’t have children; otherwise, a huge chunk of Su Hui’s time would surely be carved away for the kid, leaving far too little to be allocated to him.

That wouldn’t do. Absolutely not.

After the company went public, everything developed according to Ning Yixiao’s expectations. Having run continuously for too long, Ning Yixiao gave himself a vacation according to plan. The two of them brought Grandma back to live with them, and they also arranged for her previous personal caregiver to join. She had accompanied Grandma for a long time and was already like family.

Ning Yixiao placed the company’s new product—a smart health bracelet specially designed for the elderly—onto Grandma’s wrist to assist in real-time monitoring of her health indices.

“Look, Grandma, we’re a pair. I have one too,” Su Hui showed her his own with a smile.

Grandma smiled. “Little Hui’s looks even better.”

“Of course,” Su Hui smiled and leaned against her shoulder. “Mine is a global limited edition. There is only one of this kind in the entire world.”

Su Hui would occasionally accompany Grandma for walks in the small woods in the backyard, or plant flowers in the front garden. Life was stable and comfortable. He would once in a while secretly keep track of the time, asking Carl about Ning Yixiao’s vacation schedule.

On a weekend afternoon, the weather was clear and the autumn air was crisp. Su Hui accompanied Grandma back from a grocery trip at the supermarket and noticed a few people in worker uniforms walking out. Feeling a bit curious, he asked the maid who was seeing them off, only to find out they had come to help move things.

“Move things?”

Perplexed, Su Hui walked into the house just as the caregiver sister was coming downstairs. She mentioned that the family doctor had arrived and that she was going to help Grandma upstairs for her injection.

Left with no choice, Su Hui walked into the living room alone. He suddenly noticed a butterfly specimen on the floor, compressed inside a round, transparent acrylic sheet—a tiny piece.

It looked a lot like a gift he had received before, a blue morpho butterfly.

Su Hui bent down, picked up the butterfly, and carefully placed it in his palm. The moment he stood up straight, he spotted another one not far away, so he walked over and picked up the new one.

Right after that, he saw a third, a fourth…

Just like that, following the trail of scattered butterflies, Su Hui was led step by step to the large lawn in front of the backyard woods. However, the lawn was no longer empty; a massive rectangular solid stood there, covered in a blue silk cloth.

It looked like a giant gift.

Holding a handful of butterflies, Su Hui instead felt a bit hesitant to step forward easily, even though he knew perfectly well that this was a gift from Ning Yixiao.

“Why aren’t you coming over?”

Ning Yixiao suddenly stepped out from behind the massive rectangular structure, a faint smile on his face. He was wearing a very ordinary black hoodie and a grey baseball cap, looking just like he did back when he was still in college.

Almost instantly, Su Hui thought of how they used to run into each other at the bus station in the past.

He unconsciously drew closer to Ning Yixiao. The attractive force between them was an abstract butterfly—very light, invisible.

“What is this?” Su Hui looked at him, blinking slowly.

Ning Yixiao tucked a corner of the silk cloth into Su Hui’s hand. “Learned this from you. It has to be covered up before giving a gift.”

Holding Su Hui’s hand, he pulled down the curtain of surprise.

Even though Su Hui was mentally prepared, he still froze in place. The whole world suddenly became dead silent; he could only hear his own heartbeat.

The red shipping container before his eyes carried all the inspiration and hope of Su Hui’s teenage years. It was his secret base.

Ning Yixiao looked at him. “Do you still remember the Qixi Festival gift you gave me?”

He pulled out that key and placed it into Su Hui’s palm.

The tip of Su Hui’s nose grew sour.

He looked down at the key, which had already rusted. At this moment, he felt as though his confused and chaotic youth had once again returned to his empty chest. Back then, he had given the secret base as a confession of his inner self, offering it like a diary to Ning Yixiao, hoping that he could completely understand and know him.

After many years and many twists and turns, Ning Yixiao was returning his past self back to him.

Su Hui’s hands were shaking when he unlocked the door. He didn’t know why, but the moment it opened, he came close to crying. Every piece of furnishing inside was exactly the same as in the past, without a single modification.

The planets, the ocean waves, the melting sunflowers, the storm of colored balls… every single item was perfectly preserved, free of dust.

Including the blue cocoon at the very back—the smallest aquarium in the world, Su Hui’s childhood sanctuary.

During those years when he was struggling alone for survival and basic sustenance, Su Hui had even believed that his ideals had long been killed by illness and poverty.

But in a place he didn’t know about, someone had been carefully protecting his dream.

Ning Yixiao took his hand and walked toward that cocoon. “Do you still remember saying before that the feeling of me accompanying you was like you hiding inside this sanctuary, very safe? I’ve always remembered those words.”

“Try it again, see if anything has changed.”

Su Hui nodded, ducking his head to crawl inside, and reached his hand out to Ning Yixiao. “You come in too.”

The last time they had hidden together like this, their relationship was still “more than friends but less than lovers,” but not anymore. Su Hui could now unreservedly wrap his arms around Ning Yixiao’s arm, leaning against his shoulder.

“I’m going to cry again,” he sniffled. “I’m always being made to cry by you.”

Ning Yixiao smiled instead. “No one will laugh at you.”

He added, “Do you know when I changed your contact nickname to ‘Little Cat’?”

Su Hui shook his head. “When?”

“It was the night you brought me to the secret base. After I went back, I stared at the cat plushie for a very long time and quietly changed your nickname.”

The fluorescent blue light reflected on Ning Yixiao’s face, softening the coldness of his features and leaving behind only a gentle undertone. “That night, my dreams were filled with you. I dreamed that you took me to a place that felt like heaven, and then you turned into a snow-white little cat and jumped into my arms.”

Back then, he was like a stray dog accustomed to hardship and reality, stepping into a magnificent illusion for the very first time, only to realize that life could actually have a different look.

Even though he had nothing back then, he really wanted to protect Su Hui’s dream.

“So you have strange dreams too,” Su Hui lowered his eyes, looking at their tightly clasped hands, and smiled.

He didn’t know how to describe this sense of happiness. The fluorescent blue glimmer surrounded him, and all the regrets of these past years seemed to turn into calm seawater, soothing all his wounds.

He turned his head, the rims of his eyes flushed red. “Yixiao, thank you.”

Ning Yixiao mimicked his uniquely logical way of expressing things:

“I love you, too.”

Su Hui smiled and pinched his hand, pretending to scold him, “You’re copying me again.”

Yet, as he said those words, a tear rolled down.

Ning Yixiao wiped away that tear, cupping his cheek, his tender gaze meeting Su Hui’s. The moment Su Hui closed his eyes, the kiss followed. A long, lingering, moist kiss—it wasn’t an exchange of lust, but resembled more of small animals licking each other’s wounds.

Ending the long kiss, Su Hui rested his forehead against Ning Yixiao’s, nuzzling the tip of his nose.

His hand quietly reached behind his back, carefully pulling something out from his pocket.

Ning Yixiao noticed it easily. “What is your hand doing behind your back?”

Caught red-handed, Su Hui had no choice but to put on a cute expression to try and smooth things over, kissing Ning Yixiao several times in a row. Once he finally brought it out, he wrapped his arms around Ning Yixiao’s back, leaned in close to his ear, and whispered, “Puppy, it’s almost our 100th wedding anniversary.”

This was the first time Su Hui had called him by his contact nickname. The breath made Ning Yixiao’s ear itch slightly.

“So fast. Thought about how to spend it?”

“Yeah,” Su Hui nodded, his movements lightning-fast as he produced two plane tickets, his eyes bright. “Let’s go see our baby elephant.”

Without Ning Yixiao’s knowledge, Su Hui had quietly mapped out the entire itinerary. This wasn’t an easy task for him; usually, when the two of them were together, Ning Yixiao did basically all the planning. This time, it was Su Hui’s turn. He had seriously compared several travel options and ultimately picked a small tour group with a high degree of freedom. He didn’t consider driving himself; rather than encouraging his lover to overcome fear, Su Hui leaned more toward protecting his lover’s fear.

On their first day arriving in Kenya, they checked into the luxury safari hotel Su Hui had booked in advance.

The architecture here blended completely into nature; opening the window allowed one to practically touch a giraffe’s head. The massive floor-to-ceiling windows in the room faced the African savanna directly, offering a clear view of the magnificent spectacle of animal migration.

When Su Hui opened the suitcase, even Ning Yixiao was somewhat astonished. “You prepared all of this yourself?”

“Yeah, I brought some essential medications. There are a lot of bugs here, and I was worried you’d get bitten, so I brought insect repellent. And these disposable gloves, you can change them as many times as you want. Also, the tea bags and drip coffee you like…”

Su Hui squatted on the floor, talking non-stop. Ning Yixiao squatted down as well and kissed his cheek.

Su Hui instantly forgot what he was going to say next.

“You really look like a married man now,” Ning Yixiao’s expression was neutral, but there was amusement in his eyes.

“Really?” Su Hui wrapped his arms around his neck, smiling sweetly. “Hubby, did I do well?”

Ning Yixiao’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. He hooked his arm around Su Hui’s waist, tilted his head, and kissed him. His fingers tangled into Su Hui’s soft hair, half-gripping the back of his neck, forcing Su Hui to tilt his chin up to accept the incredibly deep kiss. Their tongues intertwined for only a moment before Su Hui’s body went soft, involuntarily letting out a gasp, his fingers gripping Ning Yixiao’s back tightly.

His breathing uneven, Su Hui was easily pinned down onto the floor by Ning Yixiao. The long shag of the carpet rubbed against his elbow, making him itch. Ning Yixiao plunged back in again, sucking and gently biting, his tongue teasing the round stud pierced through Su Hui’s tongue.

Just when Su Hui was about to lose himself completely, his hand already reaching over with the intention of unbuttoning Ning Yixiao’s shirt, a sound suddenly came from the side window, startling him.

Both of them looked over. It turned out to be a giraffe poking its head inside, biting an apple that had been placed on the small side table, crunching away at it.

Su Hui let out a long breath of relief, exchanging a smile with Ning Yixiao.

“It really is quite wild,” Ning Yixiao leaned back down, biting the hem of Su Hui’s top, tugging it, and kissing his tattoo.

“Ning Yixiao… close the window first.”

Ning Yixiao kept a straight face without missing a beat. “It’s fine. Giraffes can’t understand.”

After messing around for the whole afternoon, let alone going on some hot-air balloon safari, Su Hui found it an effort just to get out of bed. The two of them ordered food, sat on the bed wrapped in a blanket, and leaned against each other to look out the floor-to-ceiling window at the savanna, watching the wild animals run around.

“Is that a wildebeest?”

“Looks like it.”

“Ah, there are antelopes! Look, its horns are so beautiful.”

“Su Hui, there are zebras coming over there.”

“We always seem to be like this,” Su Hui took a small bite of bread. “Every time we go on a trip, we end up huddling inside the hotel room.”

Ning Yixiao smiled and said, “I just like lying around with you.”

Su Hui snorted, stuffing a piece of bread into his mouth. “You’d better only like lying around.”

That being said, Su Hui had rarely made an itinerary, so it couldn’t go to waste. Early the next morning, they still packed up and set out, following the tour group to see the flamingos up close. Thousands upon thousands of flamingos turned the entire lake pink, beautiful beyond words.

Ning Yixiao inexplicably had a constitution that attracted birds. Su Hui took many photos of him from afar and also asked other tourists to take photos of the two of them together.

Upon finding out about their relationship, a tourist couldn’t help but praise, “You two match so well!”

“Thank you!” Su Hui felt immensely satisfied.

On the way back, they happened to run into a herd of zebras. Su Hui had loved zebras since he was a child, so he excitedly poked his head out of the car window, but was quickly pulled back inside by Ning Yixiao.

Later, they broke away from the group, and the two of them rode a hot-air balloon alone. The balloon rose from the launch site, climbing higher and higher until the horizon widened, bringing the vast savanna and the running herds of wildebeests into full view.

The most beautiful part was that they even saw a rainbow, slicing across the boundless grassland under the golden sunlight.

“So beautiful.”

“Yixiao, did you see all of this when you came last time?” Su Hui held down his hat, which had almost flown away, and turned to ask Ning Yixiao.

Ning Yixiao shook his head.

He had headed straight for only one place back then, leaving immediately after visiting it. All the other sights worth seeing held no meaning for him at that time.

High up in the air, Su Hui embraced Ning Yixiao, looking up. “Then this is your first time seeing all of this too. We’re seeing it together.”

Seeing his smile, alongside the majestic nature behind him, Ning Yixiao suddenly found closure. “Yeah. Our first time.”

The final stop of their 100-day anniversary trip was the elephant rescue sanctuary Su Hui had once sponsored, which was also the place Ning Yixiao had visited years ago. They rode a jeep, bumping all the way until they reached their destination. This place looked much the same as it did in his memory, with little change.

Soon, a staff member came out to receive them—a Chinese volunteer.

Su Hui took out the digital certificate he had managed to find on the official website with great effort, reported his certificate number to them, and left his name. The other person understood immediately, offering many words of gratitude in succession.

Su Hui felt a bit overwhelmed by the hospitality, bowing in return repeatedly. After a moment, he turned back, asking Ning Yixiao in a low voice, “Why does it feel like I’m getting VIP treatment?”

“Because you are,” Ning Yixiao patted his head. “I only found out when I came last time that adopting a baby elephant here isn’t expensive. The cheapest option allows you to sponsor one for just a hundred US dollars. Most of the baby elephants here are sponsored by many people simultaneously, with small amounts adding up. You, on the other hand, chose the most expensive sponsorship model, which is akin to a buyout, and you sponsored seven of them in one go.”

“When I came last time and said I was your friend, they welcomed me just like this upon hearing it. They even mentioned that if you hadn’t paid so much money all at once back then, they might have gone bankrupt due to a lack of cash flow. So they are very grateful to you.”

Only now did Su Hui understand.

“I didn’t read the terms very carefully back then either. I just checked the most expensive option directly, thinking that maybe this way they could eat a bit better.”

Back then, he was affected by a manic episode and suffered from severe reading difficulties; he skipped almost all large blocks of text and made his decision directly.

Ning Yixiao pinched his cheek. “Our little cat can be considered to have accidentally saved an entire sanctuary.”

Su Hui was very happy; this was an unexpected joy for him. But the closer they got to the baby elephants’ quarters, the more nervous he became, tightly clutching Ning Yixiao’s hand. “My heart is beating so fast.”

In fact, Ning Yixiao felt the same way, though it wasn’t out of nervousness about seeing the baby elephants.

Despite being the most pragmatic person, the moment he set foot here years ago, he had entertained a dream with a microscopic probability.

Would I run into Su Hui here? Just like a plot in a movie.

He had truly thought that back then.

Even though it had ultimately fallen through, he hadn’t felt terribly disappointed.

Unfulfilled wishes are the norm in life.

“This way, please.”