Jian Suiying spent another idle day at the hotel. Li Yu was staying right next door, but Jian couldn't bring himself to knock on his door and invite him to join him at the hot springs for tea.
He knew he'd be turned down anyway, so why invite disappointment?
Sometimes, when he thought about it carefully, he didn't even know what he was holding on to anymore.
With or without Li Yu, life went on much the same. Though an unfillable longing lingered within, it didn't prevent him from enjoying life.
Who could ever have everything they desired?
But then Jian Suying thought again: hadn't he gotten his way in most things since childhood? Why was it that only Li Yu?
He was a man of rare excellence, chosen from among thousands. How could Li Yu not like him? How could anyone in the world not like him?
It just didn't make sense.
He simply couldn't accept it.
Before dinner, Jian Suiying changed into his swimsuit, draped the hotel bathrobe over it, and planned to work out in the indoor pool before coming up to eat.
They were essentially trapped in the hotel now. Though the rain outside wasn't too heavy at the moment, the weather
killed any desire to go out.
Well, who would vacation in Sanya alone anyway?
Jian Suiying tossed her bathrobe onto a lounge chair and dove into the deep end.
He swam a length using the freestyle, then lay back in the water, eyes closed, drifting with the waves.
With water in his ears, his perception of surrounding sounds grew dull. The world fell into such profound silence that
he could hear only the beat of his own heart.
Suddenly, he sensed ripples shifting beside him, followed by a thud as someone slapped his stomach.
The hand barely grazed him, the force barely there, yet it startled Jian Suiying enough to make him straighten up abruptly.
Immediately afterward, he heard a man's scolding voice: "Rude!"
The little boy kept laughing, seemingly unable to stop. "Sorry, Uncle." Then he tilted his head and asked, "Why
not fall in?"
Jian Suiying found the child quite adorable and said to his father, "It's okay."
His father smiled sheepishly. "He insisted on coming over to see why you didn't fall. I don't know how
explain it to him in a way he'd understand."
The boy kept staring at him, persistently asking, "Why didn't you fall?"
In his twenty-plus years, Jian Suiying had had very few opportunities to interact with children. He had no experience whatsoever
—he neither knew how nor had any interest in amusing children. He simply told the truth: "Buoyancy." The child pressed on: "What's buoyancy?"
Jian Suiying blinked and glanced at the boy's father.
Unexpectedly, the father turned out to be a real chatterbox. He started complaining to him about how awful the weather was, how his wife had caught a cold
and how their nice vacation was ruined.
Then the child came up beside him, insisting on climbing onto his shoulders while shouting, " "
!"
This annoyed Sui Ying to no end, but he couldn't very well throw the child off.
The father felt terribly embarrassed and tried several times to pull the child back, but the little one kept insisting on getting closer.
Finally, Jian Suiying resigned himself to fate, picked the child up, and let him hang onto his arm. Sure enough, the kid settled down.
Jian Suiying stood in the water, making small talk with the father to kill time.
So he headed straight for the pool.
The indoor pool wasn't large; everything was visible at a glance as soon as you entered.
By dinnertime, most people had left, leaving only Jian Suiying and the father-son pair in the pool. Li Yu spotted him immediately.
spotted him.
He saw Jian Suiying standing side by side with a fair-skinned, well-groomed man, chatting and laughing, while a little boy clung to him nearby.
Li Yu had never experienced this feeling before. Without any warning, it was like lighting the fuse of explosives
, the rage in his heart ignited almost instantly.
In his eyes now, Jian Suiying was nothing but a frivolous, promiscuous man who couldn't bear loneliness wherever he went, always needing to hook up with
one or two to feel satisfied.
How dare such a man claim to love him? He wanted to punch him hard, pry open his skull, and see
what unspeakable thoughts were lurking inside!
Li Yu couldn't bear to look at him now. One more glance made him tremble with rage.
He slowly approached the pool's edge. The three people in the water turned at the sound. Jian Suiying first saw a pair of hotel slippers
, then his gaze shifted upward to meet Li Yu's face—dark and ominous, towering over him with a gaze as sharp as ice picks
.
The little boy, ever sensitive, cowered fearfully into his father's embrace. The father sensed the tension between them, immediately recognizing hostility, and shot Jian Suiying an awkward glance.
Jian Suiying instinctively took a step back, feeling as though Li Yu might kick him in the head at any moment. Li Yu said coldly, "They're waiting for you to eat."
"Oh..." Jian Suiying glanced at the wall clock and realized it was already past six.
He hadn't brought his watch or phone downstairs, and he wasn't hungry either. He hadn't realized they'd been chatting for so long.
The boy's father quickly said, "Oh my, it's so late already. I should head back up now. We'll chat another time." Jian Suiying just nodded, exchanging a few polite words. "Alright, see you later."
Father and son climbed ashore. The father wrapped the child in a bathrobe and carried him away.
Jian Suiying followed them out of the water, glancing warily at Li Yu. "What's wrong? Did someone upset you again?"
Li Yu felt his throat go dry, his lower body tightening. He couldn't help but recall the wild nights they'd shared.
and debauched nights they'd shared, yet he couldn't help but wonder how many others this body had entangled itself with. For a fleeting moment, he genuinely wanted to kill Jian Suiying.
Suppressing the rapidly swelling malice in his heart, Li Yu gave a cold laugh. "Jian Suiying, if you don't have someone to sleep with for a day,
feel uncomfortable all over, don't you?"
J ian Suiying frowned. "What the hell do you mean? You sound so damn sarcastic." He glared at Li Yu, picked up the bathrobe, and slipped it on.
"Fuck!" Jian Suiying cursed. "You're fucking cursing me!"
Li Yu’s expression hardened. "Am I wrong? Isn’t that how you faggots roll?" Jian Suying’s heart clenched in fury.
Li Yu didn't want to be with him—he'd fucking accepted that. He couldn't exactly lock the guy up. But did he have to trash him like this?
What the hell? He even cursed him to get sick.
The phrase "sleep with whoever I want" nearly made Li Yu explode. Clenching his fists, he snarled, "I've been fucking
you for half a year straight, shouldn't I be worried about my own health?"
Jian Suiying felt as if a sledgehammer had smashed into his chest. He nearly choked on his own breath.
catch his breath.
Jian Suiying launched a flying kick, slamming it hard into Li Yu's stomach.
Perhaps fueled by grief and rage, the kick was swift, vicious, and precise. Li Yu had no chance to dodge, sent flying
into the pool.
Jian Suiying cursed from the shore: "Fuck you, Li Yu! I'm covered in fucking STDs, so you can go rot in hell!"
!"
No one went to dinner that night.
Jian Suiying locked himself in the hotel room, chain-smoking one cigarette after another.
Even a man as rough as he was couldn't withstand such repeated blows from someone he cared about. His heart wasn't made of iron.
He really admired Li Yu's skill—she knew exactly how to squeeze every last drop of pain out of him, no matter what method she used.
The world didn't need many people like her—Li Yu alone was enough. Otherwise, he'd be played to death sooner or later.
Jian Suiying didn't sleep a wink that night. The next day, his eyes were dark and puffy, his energy low, and every one of his subordinates asked him with concern.
Li Yu wasn't looking much better either, his face as gray as the sky.
The two exchanged a glance, then treated each other as if they were air.
Heaven seemed to grant them a favor, clearing the skies at noon the day before their departure. They wasted no time, splitting into two cars to head to the construction site.
The journey went relatively smoothly, with only a light drizzle along the way. They arrived in just over an hour.
The foreman dug out some safety helmets for the group, but most of the helmets brought over were waterlogged, filthy, damp, and stinking. Not a single person was willing to wear them.