Chapter 63: N. Undercurrents

Upon hearing these words, Su Hui couldn’t quite describe his feelings.

Suddenly, he snapped out of his sullen mood.

What had Ning Yixiao done wrong? Even taking a step back, even if everything Carl said was true, Ning Yixiao had the right to associate with others. They were nothing to each other; Su Hui had no standing to be jealous.

He was the one who had crossed the line from friend to something else, not Ning Yixiao. No one was obligated to tolerate his groundless possessiveness. Ning Yixiao had already been very good to him—he was arguably the person in the world with the most right to take revenge on Su Hui, yet he had never done so.

“You haven’t done anything wrong.”

Su Hui kept his eyes lowered, his voice very soft. “I’m sorry, I was just in a bad mood today. My attitude toward you wasn’t good. It was my fault.”

Ning Yixiao did not pull his hand back. He was silent for a moment, then chuckled. “Actually, I quite like you like this. You’re always so compliant, so easy to handle, so docile. Being a little willful occasionally is quite cute.”

He liked Su Hui’s occasional childishness, especially when it was directed only at him.

Su Hui stopped speaking.

“So you don’t need to apologize.” Ning Yixiao was direct. “I also don’t want you to become someone who doesn’t even dare to show a little temper, keeping everything hidden inside.”

Even though he knew, Su Hui had already become that kind of person.

Even when Su Hui was pushed to the point of having to move out of where he was living, with nowhere to go, he only dared to hide away, wandering the streets, at most only whispering, “I thought things could be discussed.”

He had become unable to express his emotions. It had taken Ning Yixiao a long time to get close to him, to gradually let Su Hui lower his guard and laugh and cry for him.

He didn’t want to go back to how it was when they first reunited—when Su Hui was just an empty shell, unresponsive and unfeeling.

He didn’t want to be indecisive, using so-called revenge and hatred to take more detours, wasting time while moving further away from his goal.

None of that mattered; the past was in the past. Ning Yixiao was a goal-oriented person; he only wanted to realize the one vision he held now: to have Su Hui return to his side voluntarily and fall in love with him.

His tone remained peaceful. “If you’re in a bad mood, I hope I can be the person you vent to. If you can’t talk about it, exploding at me is fine too. Your temper is pathetic anyway; you can’t even say a harsh word. You’re not even as fierce as a stray cat on the side of the road.”

Su Hui was helpless; he was completely under Ning Yixiao’s thumb. He wanted to retort, but he couldn’t.

That said, Ning Yixiao wouldn’t tell him about the things he was going through, so how was he supposed to be honest?

After finishing, Ning Yixiao extended his hand toward Su Hui again. “Hit me twice to vent.”

Su Hui stared at his palm; it was covered in the faint marks of frequent hand-washing, and there were scars on his arm—all suffering Ning Yixiao had endured during the time he was absent.

His nose stung, suppressing his heartache and grievances.

After a few seconds, seeing that Su Hui really had raised his hand, Ning Yixiao felt a bit more at ease. But to his surprise, things didn’t go as imagined—Su Hui’s hand was half-clenched, and he only tapped his palm lightly before quickly pulling away.

A toffee fell into Ning Yixiao’s palm.

Ning Yixiao froze, looking at Su Hui.

Su Hui looked a bit awkward, turning his head away. “I accidentally took too many and couldn’t finish them. You have it.”

Ning Yixiao stared at the candy in his hand, thinking of the way Su Hui used to stuff candy into his hands, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. “Just one? Stingy.”

Su Hui immediately emptied his trouser pockets to prove his innocence. “That’s all there is. I ate the rest.”

Still eating candy whenever he’s unhappy, just like before.

“No wonder you keep holding your cheek. Eat too much, and your teeth hurt?”

“Let me see.” Ning Yixiao reached out to pinch his chin. Su Hui didn’t dodge in time, and as the two of them tussled, Su Hui suddenly heard the stylist calling his name in the distance and stood up immediately, using the excuse to slip away.

Ning Yixiao also rose from the sofa, ignoring Julian who was watching the dailies outside the studio, and returned to the side of the sofa to conduct an emergency conference call with the COO.

With the new product launch, they had adopted a “founder marketing” model, and the attention was at an all-time high—so much so that he had almost no time to fly back to New York to see Su Hui recently.

Having finally finished the first phase of promotional activities, Ning Yixiao cleared his schedule immediately, but that was when the bad news arrived.

UEO, a rival AI company, had released a smart wearable product with an extremely similar model just two weeks after they launched their new product line. They even used an unscrupulous marketing slogan: “Simpler, more efficient, higher price-performance ratio.”

At the same time, UEO flooded the internet with marketing ads, with the core keyword being “high-quality alternative (dupe).” They were directly siphoning traffic from their product, using low-price promotions, and pulling out all the stops. It was obvious they were trying to crush their product chain through “copying” and “price suppression,” ensuring they couldn’t successfully launch to the market.

Only then did Ning Yixiao realize that the recent “medical leave” of one of their engineers wasn’t so simple—the illness was a lie, and jumping ship was the truth.

Facing such malicious competition, Ning Yixiao was under immense pressure from investors, who demanded that he also engage in promotions and price wars. He rejected them.

When Carl asked if he was still returning to New York, Ning Yixiao insisted he would. But it wasn’t just to accompany Su Hui; he needed to secure his biggest resource yet: the Jones Group.

However, Ning Yixiao was very clear that these people were old foxes in the business world. If he went straight from the Bay Area to the Jones’ office, everyone would know he had an agenda; his purpose would be too obvious, and all he would get was a runaround.

Therefore, he chose to land at Bella’s studio first. In Jones’ eyes, this would just be a personal trip involving his daughter.

Only in this way would the subsequent developments be more convincing, even if everything was Ning Yixiao’s calculated arrangement.

Su Hui finished the second look and followed Chloe’s assistant to the new studio. The set was already built. Unlike before, the new scene had a strong “dreamcore” vibe:

The meeting room was dark blue and dim, with eerie green water pooled on the floor, and a snow-white hospital bed placed in the center.

The giant vertical projection on the wall emitted a blue light at its edges; the image on the screen was full of spring and summer sunlight and waves of grass swaying in the wind. The entire screen was like a gateway connecting to a dream.

Su Hui’s makeup had also changed into a sickly “hungover” look—his under-eyes were flushed red, his lips were very pale, and he wore an oversized silk suit, left open to reveal the skin of his chest and abdomen.

“Did you know Eddy has a belly button piercing?” Bella was still immersed in pleasant surprise. “Luckily, the stylist brought everything. This outfit paired with this diamond belly chain is just amazing; the effect is even better than expected.”

The stylist waiting to touch up his makeup laughed. “The contrast with Eddy is huge. He looks so gentle, but I never expected him to have tattoos and piercings everywhere. His waist tattoo is also cool, though he seemed unwilling to show it and wanted me to cover it with concealer. It took me a long time to persuade him.”

Julian listened quietly, observing the part of the tattoo exposed on Su Hui’s waist; it was only a few words. But he had an intuition that this tattoo might be related to Ning Yixiao.

Chloe focused on Su Hui in the lens. “Eddy, stand between the screen and the bed. Give me a hair-tying motion.”

Su Hui did as she said, biting the hair tie, raising his hand behind him, and grabbing a portion of his hair.

“Very good. Lie on the bed. Props team, project onto Eddy.”

The projection of flowing water was like a double exposure, falling on Su Hui’s clothes and skin, the belly chain glinting.

Su Hui wanted to focus on the work, but his consciousness was out of control. He was terrified of beds, especially this kind of bed.

To keep himself from being too neurotic, like a protection mechanism, he suddenly thought of Ning Yixiao.

Fear and longing were intertwined in his eyes. He had a momentary hallucination: he was like his self from years ago, forced to be trapped in a room, a door connecting to a dream appearing on the wall, and Ning Yixiao emerging from it to save him.

“Very good. Very, very good. Look at the camera.”

Chloe kept praising Su Hui’s expressiveness, but Su Hui didn’t feel anything.

Everything was going smoothly. Perhaps this profession really required neurotic people.

The second part of the shoot ended, leaving only the last one, and the set wasn’t ready yet.

Su Hui stepped out for a moment. Bella’s assistant draped his coat over him. The air conditioning in the dressing room had broken down, and it was cold, so they had to take him to the lounge first and then have the stylist come over to take off his makeup.

“The stylist is busy right now, it might take a while. You wait here for a moment.”

Su Hui nodded and followed him. Only after pushing the door open did he realize that Ning Yixiao was sitting in a booth in the lounge, talking on the phone while facing the blinds. Hearing the sound, he turned his head and locked eyes with Su Hui.

Su Hui’s first reaction was to wrap his coat tightly around himself, afraid that Ning Yixiao would be uncomfortable seeing the belly chain and the tattoo.

“Eddy, sit down. I’ll go pour you some hot tea.”

Ning Yixiao stared at him without looking away, then said directly, “Come here.”

Su Hui stood where he was for a moment, then chose to walk over and sit opposite him.

“Done with the second set so soon?”

Su Hui nodded. “Yes.”

“Very efficient. It seems you really are very suited to being a model.”

After Ning Yixiao finished, he said something in English into his headset mic: “Talk later. Handle the photo matter according to my instructions.” Then he tapped his earbud to hang up.

Su Hui noticed the laptop and coffee in front of him; it seemed he had come specifically to handle work. The coffee was already bottomed out; it looked like he hadn’t rested at all.

Su Hui really wanted to ask if he was tired and if he wanted to go back to the apartment to rest, but as soon as he opened his mouth, the door to the lounge opened again.

He looked over and saw Julian walking in with a smile.

“You don’t mind one more person, do you?” Julian said with a laugh. “There are too many people outside. After being busy all day, I wanted to find a quiet place to sit.”

Su Hui lowered his head to drink water, swallowing the words he hadn’t said.

Ning Yixiao glanced at him. “You can go to Bella’s lounge.”

Julian laughed. “Bella’s lounge is a mess, filled with clothes. I’m not going there.” After he finished, he sat directly in the seat next to Ning Yixiao, leaning in across the table. “I took a look during the shoot just now. Turns out you have a tongue piercing too? So cool.”

Su Hui felt uncomfortable and gave a small smile. “I got it when I was young and foolish.”

“So you got it at a very young age? I really couldn’t tell. You look… so pure and well-behaved on the outside.” Julian laughed after saying this. “Actually, I really wanted to try it too, but unfortunately, I’ve been afraid of pain since I was little. I originally planned to tattoo my grandfather’s name on my finger.”

Su Hui wanted to appear friendlier, but didn’t know what to say, so he replied with something inconsequential. “Tattoos are a bit painful, and tongue piercings are a bit more painful.”

“And it must be very easy to regret, right?” Julian laughed. “I heard laser removal is even more painful.”

Ning Yixiao’s expression began to grow impatient; his fingers, which were typing, paused.

“I still have wo—”

“I’ve never had mine removed,” Su Hui spoke first.

Ning Yixiao paused and looked up at Su Hui.

Julian was also stunned, then laughed. “It seems you’re afraid of pain too.”

Su Hui gripped his cup. “I’m not afraid. Actually, I’m a bit addicted to pain, which is why I like piercings. I have the tattoo because I like it—I wanted it, and I don’t want to remove it because I still like it.”

Ning Yixiao looked at him, his heart rate suddenly accelerating.

Su Hui lowered his eyes. “Although I know it hurts a lot, there’s a momentary pleasure when I get them, but I want to keep them even more.”

Julian listened, glancing at Ning Yixiao out of the corner of his eye before looking back at Su Hui. “Tattoos usually represent memories. My first love tattooed a drawing of mine on himself, right here.”

He pointed to the side of his neck and said with a smile, “After we broke up, I tried to persuade him to have it removed, but he said it didn’t matter. He told me that memories are just memories. People will always move forward; it’s just a tattoo, whether it’s removed or not doesn’t matter.”

Su Hui fell into silence.

He had a feeling that Julian seemed to know something, that he was implying something.

“I’ve been rambling about this.” Julian seemed to remember something and said to Su Hui, “I heard you’re an undergraduate alumnus of Shaw’s. What a coincidence, I was his graduate school classmate. We can consider this an inter-school social.”

Su Hui nodded. “S University is great. Shaw is very talented.”

Ning Yixiao stared at Su Hui’s face, wanting to know what else Su Hui would say, but he seemed to realize his earlier words were too direct, and he now became restrained.

“Yes. You know, at S University, he was a total startup star. Very brilliant. I remember him drawing his goals into a mind map at a seminar, breaking them down. Looking at it now, those goals are all being realized one by one.”

Su Hui clearly felt Julian’s guidance. He kept talking about Ning Yixiao’s time at S University—times that were a blank space for him. He hadn’t experienced them; they weren’t time that belonged to him.

He was like someone squeezed out of the conversation, unable to do anything but smile along.

“I found him backstage then and exchanged emails with him…”

“Julian, aren’t you here to rest? Why do you have to say so much?” Ning Yixiao’s attitude was a bit cold, as if he wanted to forcibly cut off their conversation.

His attitude surprised Su Hui.

It didn’t feel like the tone one should have with a significant other.

Su Hui began to waver, suddenly doubting the authenticity of Carl’s information, but he was Ning Yixiao’s personal assistant.

Julian, however, didn’t retreat. Instead, he took on a pouting, coquettish posture. “What’s wrong? Finding me noisy? I’m just bragging about you to your undergraduate alumnus. How prestigious, right, Eddy?”

Su Hui didn’t like this kind of identity defining, but he still twitched the corners of his mouth. “Mm, it’s fine. I really don’t know much about his time in graduate school.”

Julian blinked. “Really? He hasn’t told you these things?”

Su Hui looked up at Ning Yixiao, but quickly looked away, pretending to be relaxed. “No.”

“I see.” Julian smiled. “He’s just that kind of person—doesn’t like to share with others, neither the good nor the bad. He has high defenses and only does things that are helpful to him.”

Su Hui couldn’t argue; he felt a bit unable to breathe and lowered his head to drink some water.

Ning Yixiao’s patience had reached its breaking point. He wanted to disregard etiquette and ask Julian to leave, but at that moment, a cell phone ringtone went off.

“Not mine. It seems to be Eddy’s.”

Only then did Su Hui react, searching for his phone a bit dully. Later, he found it in his coat pocket. He hurriedly took it out, but dragged something else out with it, which fell to the floor—he didn’t even notice.

Ning Yixiao wanted to help him pick it up, so he bent over, but only after picking it up did he realize it was a tissue. On the front, in clear, masculine handwriting, were the words: [You are right, so I don’t intend to give up.]

On the back was a string of contact information.

“Hello? Ryan?”

Su Hui answered the phone and instinctively stood up, walking a distance away to talk.

But the lounge was only so big; even though he kept his voice very low, Ning Yixiao could still hear a bit of it.

“I’m busy… Mm, I know. I promised you, of course I’ll treat you to something good, but I might be working very late today… You’re in the area? But I can’t get away right now…”

Ning Yixiao’s face darkened visibly. He crumpled the tissue, wanting to throw it away, but ultimately chose to stuff it into his own pocket.

Julian noticed something but didn’t say much, quietly drinking his coffee.

On the other end of the line, Ryan said he had asked his professor and knew Su Hui was at Bella’s studio today. He really wanted to see Su Hui, so he begged, “Five minutes is enough. I’m already nearby. I bought you something delicious; you’ve been working, so you definitely haven’t had time to eat. Please, I waited in line for a long time to get this.”

Su Hui couldn’t bear to refuse. “Then… I’ll come down to get it after you arrive.”

Hearing Ryan’s happy response, Su Hui said “see you in a bit” and hung up, returning to the sofa.

He instinctively wanted to explain to Ning Yixiao, “It’s Ryan. He came to drop something off.”

Ning Yixiao didn’t say if it was good or bad; he just chuckled. “I thought he was begging you to treat him to dinner.”

The atmosphere seemed even more awkward than before.

Su Hui was confused, put his phone back in his pocket, and took another drink of water.

Julian said, “Eddy, do you live in New York? Can you recommend some good restaurants to me? This guy owes me a meal.”

“Mm…” Su Hui searched hard in his mind, but it was a blank. He could only say, “I’m not very knowledgeable about that. I usually just follow others.”

“Is that so? Well, I suppose so. People like you must have plenty of people lining up to treat you to dinner.”

Ning Yixiao stared at Su Hui, almost wanting to stare a hole into his face.

Su Hui didn’t know why he wanted to explain, but he did so anyway. “No, it’s just work-related meals, not private dinners.”

Julian laughed. “I get it.”

That explanation made it even more subtle.

Su Hui felt a headache coming on. Suddenly, the lounge door opened again. Standing at the door was the receptionist, and behind her was Ryan.

“Eddy, this person is looking for you.”

As soon as the receptionist spoke, Ryan poked his head in, his eyes lighting up the moment he saw Su Hui. “Eddy, this hair color looks so good on you. It suits you so well.”

He stepped in quickly, carrying the food he had bought, his eyes fixed on Su Hui.

“Why did you come in?” Su Hui stood up. “Didn’t I say I would come down…”

“It’s cold outside, and I had already arrived when I called. The receptionist said I could come up. This place is so cool—so many models.”

Ryan’s eyes never left Su Hui, and he complimented him without reservation, “You are so beautiful; you’re practically like an elf from a movie.”

“Stop saying that,” Su Hui whispered a reminder, then turned to introduce him to Julian. “This is Ryan. He’s a college student and also an installation artist.”

Ryan shook hands with Julian and sat down next to Su Hui. “You sit too. Standing is tiring.”

He opened the box and placed it in front of Su Hui. “This is the oolong lychee cake I waited in line forever to buy. Didn’t you say you wanted to try it last time? I finally bought it.”

After saying a lot, he realized there were others present and laughed. “Let’s share it together.”

Ning Yixiao’s expression was extremely cold. “No need. I don’t eat sweets.”

His gaze shifted from Ryan to Su Hui’s face, and as Su Hui picked up a fork, he deliberately reminded him, “Are you sure you still want to eat? Don’t your teeth hurt anymore?”

Su Hui’s movement stalled; he looked at Ning Yixiao.

“Your teeth hurt?” Ryan put down the cake, very concerned. “Are you alright? Does it hurt badly? I’ll take you to the dentist.”

Su Hui shook his head. “It’s not serious. I have work later, so I can’t go.”

Ryan didn’t care. “Then I’ll wait for you. We’ll go when you finish.” After he finished, he pointed to Su Hui’s eyes. “The colored contacts you’re wearing are also beautiful.”

Seeing the two of them chatting happily, Ning Yixiao coughed a few times, pretending his throat was uncomfortable.

Seeing that his cup of coffee was empty and there was no water, Su Hui poured some from his own cup and pushed it over. “Drink some water.”

Julian, however, stood up. “I’ll go get a new cup.” He explained with a smile, “Shaw has a bit of a germaphobe habit; sorry about that.”

Su Hui frowned. Before he could say anything, Ning Yixiao’s hand was already extended, but just before he could grasp his cup, Ryan snatched Su Hui’s glass first.

“Perfect. I wanted a drink.”

Ryan took a big gulp, head tilted back, draining the water in the cup before setting it down and saying with a smile, “I waited in line for too long; I was dying of thirst.”

Su Hui glanced at Ning Yixiao and felt like there was a dark cloud hanging over his head.

Julian also brought back a glass of water and set it in front of him. “Drink.”

Ning Yixiao remained unmoved. “No need.”

Ryan bumped Su Hui with his shoulder, urging him, “Eat, eat. It’s okay to have a small bite. If you’re really uncomfortable, then I’ll take you to the dentist. My aunt is a dentist, she’s super nice—you’ll know once you meet her.”

Su Hui felt like he was damned if he ate and damned if he didn’t. Sitting there felt like torture; every second felt like a year.

He didn’t want to let Ryan down, so he scraped a little with his fork and tasted it. “Mm, it’s delicious.”

Ryan was very happy. “Right? Otherwise, why would those people wait in line to buy it? I know you so well; I knew you would like it.”

Ning Yixiao almost scoffed out loud.

“You guys seem to have a great relationship.” Julian put on a gossipy expression. “Are you friends? Or… more than friends?”

Ryan’s ears turned red instantly. “Ah, actually, I…”

Ning Yixiao crossed his arms over his chest, interrupting them and staring at Su Hui. “Eddy, the student you brought is even thinner-skinned than you.”

Su Hui immediately followed Ning Yixiao’s lead. “Right, Ryan is my student.”

He felt very uncomfortable. After finishing, he picked up the water carafe and lowered his eyes to pour himself some water, but he was so embarrassed that he forgot the cup had already been used.

“I see. Couldn’t tell at all.” Julian stared at the two of them, smiled, and said in a joking tone, “You guys look quite well-matched.”

Hearing this, Su Hui’s hand shook, and the water spilled directly out onto the tabletop.

“Sorry.”

Su Hui hurriedly set down the carafe, wanting to pull out a tissue to wipe the water, but two hands appeared in front of him—one from Ning Yixiao directly opposite, and the other from Ryan beside him.

Both of them handed over tissues at the same time and stared at Su Hui; neither of them had any intention of backing down.