Translated by Eve

The night was dark and the wind was strong. The hostile atmosphere vanished at once.

Xiao Yuanmu's expression changed slightly. Faced with Song Xuanhe's eyes, that had gone from holding concern for him to holding a look of schadenfreude, he didn't know why, but he felt a bit angry, as well as a bit of something else. The image of that snake flashed through his mind and he pressed his lips into a straight line. He kept his voice low. “What do you plan on doing?”

“Depends on how sincere you are.” Song Xuanhe gave a good show of what it meant to 'take advantage of someone in a crisis.' He said, “I was originally planning on saving you free-of-charge but then you went and threatened me. It was really hurtful. Therefore, now you have to pay a price if you want me to deal with it.”

“What price?”

Song Xuanhe raised a brow slightly. Suddenly, an idea popped in his mind. He smiled. “For example, make a vow right now. Say that you can never fully repay me for saving your life. That in the future, you will never refuse to help me, your saviour, with any of my troubles and that you will never make trouble for me. In the future, you must treat me with the respect I deserve as your saviour.”

The light in Xiao Yuanmu's eyes glinted and he smiled. “You want that?”

“That's exactly what I want.”

“Then let me tell you something.” Xiao Yuanmu glanced at the area behind Song Xuanhe, the smile on his face deepening. He whispered into Song Xuanhe's ear. “I just saw a white silhouette float past you from behind. Do you want to go take a look?”

The hot air coming out of Xiao Yuanmu's lips turned cold when it reached Song Xuanhe. The wind howled once again behind him and Song Xuanhe felt his scalp go numb. However, he continued to feign calmness. “Don't lie to me. I already know that you're afraid of snakes but I'm not afraid—”

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Suddenly, something touched Song Xuanhe's shoulder. He immediately stopped talking and then tried to jump onto Xiao Yuanmu at the speed of light. His arms were tightly looped around the other's neck and his voice now trembled. “…What's behind me?”

Xiao Yuanmu held Song Xuanhe calmly. He looked at the vine that had whipped to the other side along with the wind and smiled. “Does this count as me saving your life?”

The wind picked up again and the vine continued to sway with it. It once again touched Song Xuanhe gently.

Song Xuanhe nearly choked Xiao Yuanmu to death. He wrapped his legs firmly around the other's waist and his face turned deathly white. “Yes, yes, yes! Tell me what's behind me.”

Xiao Yuanmu lowered his voice. “Do you really want to know?”

Terrifying scenes flashed through his mind. Song Xuanhe pressed himself tightly against Xiao Yuanmu. “…No.”

“I can help you get rid of what's behind you.” Xiao Yuanmu said in a flat voice, “But you'll have to pay a price in return.”

This was a prime example of the so-called saying, 'fortunes rise and fall.' One's fortunes always swings back and forth like a pendulum.

Xiao Yuanmu's matter-of-course tone made Song Xuanhe gnash his teeth. Actually, he was pretty sure that there was nothing scary behind him. But he had too great a psychological shadow. Even if it was very unlikely that there was something frightening behind him, he didn't dare look behind him.

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The words were forced through his teeth. “What do you want?”

“That thing….”

“I'll throw it away!”

“What about the thing about you being my saviour?”

“We're even!”

Who knew if it was because he was scared or angry, but Song Xuanhe was shaking slightly. The smile in Xiao Yuanmu's eyes deepened but his voice remained calm. “The words, 'we're even' shouldn't be used between lovers.”

Song Xuanhe grit his teeth. “What do you want then?”

Xiao Yuanmu had his arms around Song Xuanhe's waist. A dark light flitted through his eyes and his lips softly curled up. “Haven't thought of it yet. I'll tell you later.”

Song Xuanhe jumped off of Xiao Yuanmu. The last of his fear had disappeared after Xiao Yuanmu had changed the subject. He said, “Then forget it. You go get rid of that snake yourself.”

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The wind picked up again. Xiao Yuanmu looked behind Song Xuanhe and the latter once again felt something thump against him.

His firm expression changed in an instant. He said, “I'll get rid of the snake so you help me get rid of that thing behind me…okay?”

Xiao Yuanmu slipped his arm off of Song Xuanhe's waist. He didn't speak.

Suddenly, a great idea popped into Song Xuanhe's brain. “I'll agree to your condition, but I also have a condition. You can only request something of me after two years has pa.s.sed. How about it?”

In any case, Xiao Yuanmu would go back to the Xiao Family soon and then he himself would return to his original world. He wouldn't lose out by agreeing to this.

Xiao Yuanmu glanced at his watch and discovered that it was already getting late. Therefore, he didn't continue to tease Song Xuanhe. He snapped the vine and threw it into the bushes. “Remember, you owe me one favour two years from now.”

Although Xiao Yuanmu's actions had been really quick, Song Xuanhe had still seen the vine in his hands. When he turned his head, he also saw that there were other branches covered in short vines about a metre away from him. There was no way he wouldn't understand what had happened.

But even if he understood now, he didn't say anything about it. All he did was run over and grab that seven-inch snake. When he was about to throw it, he purposely picked it up so that the snake's tail would streak across Xiao Yuanmu's field of view. After seeing the other's expression change, Song Xuanhe felt satisfied and went to throw the snake far away.

The wind had stopped but this dark, long path seemed to have no end. Song Xuanhe glanced at Xiao Yuanmu and walked over. “Are your hands cold?”

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Xiao Yuanmu looked at him and then went to hold his hand tightly.

By the time they made it back to the dining room, both of them had slightly odd expressions on their faces.

The Director didn't look at their expressions. Her gaze swept over their entwined hands and she beamed at them, wrinkles forming at the outer corners of her eyes. “Come in quickly. It must be really cold outside. I just brought the dishes into the kitchen to heat up. Sit down and I'll bring them out.”

After sitting down, Song Xuanhe tried to pull his hand out but failed. He used his eyes to point in the Director's direction, hinting at Xiao Yuanmu to let go.

Xiao Yuanmu thus let go. He then looked at him. “Abandoning one's benefactor upon achieving your goal?”

Song Xuanhe recalled what had just happened and sneered. “Are you talking about yourself?”

The two of them met eyes. When they recalled the other's sorry state just now, they couldn't help but laugh now that they were sitting in the warm dining room. Both of them had smiles on their faces.

The Director carried the dishes over. She paused when she saw their smiles. She then softened her steps.

Reheated food didn't taste very good but because these two big men 'narrowly escaped death,' they both had larger appet.i.tes than normal. Shortly after, the dishes on the table were swept clean.

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The Director smiled as she watched them finish the food. She asked, “Do you want more? I can cook up some more for you.”

Song Xuanhe placed his chopsticks down. “It's fine. I'm already full.”

Xiao Yuanmu also put down his chopsticks. With a gentle tone, he said, “Granny, you don't have to go to so much trouble.”

The Director smiled. “How could cooking for you two be considered trouble? Granny is happy to do it. But it is getting late. It rained a bit just now too. The weather report says that a big storm is approaching. It's quite a drive back. You two should leave early.”

As soon as she finished speaking, thunder rumbled from outside the door. Two seconds later, the wind kicked up wildly and rain bucketed down.

The Director walked over to the window. When she saw how heavy the rain was, she sounded concerned. “The rain's too heavy. It's too dangerous for your two to drive back. How about you two wait a bit longer and head back when it lightens up?”

They then waited for half an hour but the rain showed no signs of lightening. In contrast, they ended up seeing news that there had been an accident on the road they would have to take back. The news report had said that the heavy rain was making it difficult for emergency services so it would likely take two hours before the road would be cleared.

The Director had also heard it. When she saw the number of casualties, she let out a 'how terrible'. However, when she looked at Song Xuanhe and Xiao Yuanmu, who were right here perfectly intact, she sighed. “Fortunately the two of you hadn't risked driving back in the rain.”

Song Xuanhe also felt fortunate. Everyone drove more slowly on rainy days. Calculating the time, he figured that if they had left back then, they would have been on that road at the time of the accident. Even if they didn't become one of the casualties, they would have still ended up stuck in traffic for two to three hours.

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But it was almost ten o'clock now. If it would take two hours to clear the road, that meant that it wouldn't be clear until midnight. That meant that they wouldn't be able to get home until a bit past one.

“You should sleep here,” The Director said, “Yuanmu's clothes are still here and I've already prepared toiletries for the two of you. Sleep in Yuanmu's room tonight and go back in the morning. It'll be too late if you were to go back tonight. If the rain doesn't stop, it'll be very dangerous.”

When he thought about how cramped Xiao Yuanmu's bed was, Song Xuanhe subconsciously wanted to refuse. But before he could speak, Xiao Yuanmu agreed. “Okay.”

The Director sighed in relief. “Then you two should head over right away. The rain won't get any lighter for a while so it would be better for you two to wash up and go to bed earlier.”

Xiao Yuanmu said, “We'll wait for you. Let's go together after you finish checking the rooms.”

The Director was already old. It would not be safe for her to return on her own in such heavy rain. When Song Xuanhe heard Xiao Yuanmu speak, he also nodded. “Director, we'll wait for you.”

“You're such good boys.” The Director said with a smile, “Then I'll go check on the children before coming back.”

The Director left very quickly. When the Director mentioned the children just now, Song Xuanhe once again recalled what had happened this evening. He looked up at Xiao Yuanmu and just so happened to meet his gaze. He was startled and blurted out, “Were you bullied as a kid?”

Xiao Yuanmu was silent for a moment. He then asked curiously, “What makes you think that?”

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“The girl from before. And that snake.”

“No,” Xiao Yuanmu said in a cool voice, “The orphanage is indeed different from a typical school but it wasn't as scary as you think. That girl was only one of many children. She doesn't represent the entire orphanage.”

Xiao Yuanmu didn't know why but he really didn't want to see Song Xuanhe look at him with sympathy.

He said, “I was good-looking and very smart as a kid. There were many people who had wanted to adopt me. That's why the kids were hostile towards me. But that didn't mean that I was bullied. No one has ever been able to bully me.”

Then, his tone changed slightly as he looked at Song Xuanhe. “That is, except for you.”

Song Xuanhe opened his mouth, wanting to ask, 'when did I ever bully you?' But as soon as he was about to say it, he remembered how he had threatened Xiao Yuanmu on his first day in this world. He couldn't help but feel embarra.s.sed. But for the sake of making sure Xiao Yuanmu wouldn't use this against him in the future, he quibbled, “Don't they say that boys bully the ones they like? It's not 'bullying' when it comes to boyfriends. It's called 'adding a little fun into the relations.h.i.+p.'”

Xiao Yuanmu's eyes circled over Song Xuanhe's guilty expression. Suddenly, his lips curled into a smile. With a meaningful tone, he said, “I hope that you remember what you said just now in the future.”

Eve: Omg them bickering over the snake and vine scene and then HOLDING HANDS on their way back ah ah ah. So cuteeeeeee.