CH 4

It was late at night when the two arrived at the holiday village. Yan Zhong’s friend, Zhou Cheng, came out to greet them and led them to a single-story villa. He asked the driver to take the luggage upstairs and said, "The room is already ready. You've come a long way, so take a rest and we'll get together tomorrow."

Yan Chong seemed tired too. Without much small talk, he took Xue Liang to the room. Zhou Cheng hadn't noticed the young man beside him until he saw them both going upstairs. Then he suddenly remembered the rumors circulating on his friends' WeChat Moments: Could this ordinary-looking young man be the golden canary, the human fortress who had conquered the top of Yan Chong's mountain?

At first glance, the man was nothing special. If anything, he was tall and had a good temperament. But he was no match for the slender girls or the tough old men. So how had he eaten Yan Chong alive?

Zhou Cheng shook his head. He felt like he was about to plunge into a deep abyss if he kept thinking about it. He was a straight man and didn't want to understand what gays were thinking.

The second floor of the villa was the bedroom, with a balcony in the middle. Xue Liang was very satisfied with the spacious and comfortable room. The only thing he found strange was that his room was next to the master bedroom, and there was a door on the wall - in other words, Yan Chong could open the door directly and come to his room without going through the main door.

Yan Chong walked out of the bathroom, wiping his hair. He noticed that Xue Liang was squatting in the room, staring at the door lock. Yan Chong walked over to him silently in his soft slippers and tapped his calf with the tip of his foot. 'Why aren't you sleeping? Are you figuring out how to pick the lock?

Xue Liang gave him a reproachful look: "Why is there a door here?"

Yan Chong swept over him from top to bottom and sneered coldly, "Don't worry, I don't have the habit of sleepwalking."

Xue Liang said sadly, "Boss, of course I trust your character, but I can't guarantee that you won't take this door as a bathroom if you get up in the middle of the night."

Yan Chong: "..."

There were too many sarcasm points for him to know which one to refute first.

"Since you don't trust my intelligence," Yan Chong said coldly, "then you can sleep in the bathroom tonight."

Xue Liang laughed, looking up at him in a silly way. Yan Chong looked at him for a moment and tapped his forehead: "You have no conscience, still laughing. I'll come to find you in the middle of the night."

If Yan Chong had avoided mentioning the door, Xue Liang would have had to worry about it. That he could joke about it made Xue Liang feel more secure.

Yan Chong was not close to anyone, a bit cold and hard to approach, as if he was difficult to serve. The employees in the company were more in awe than friendly towards him. However, Xue Liang had been around him for so long and had figured out some of his temperament. Strictly restrained people are not necessarily not easy to get along with. Yan Chong was upright and never bragged about himself, but in terms of private life he could be called a gentleman. At least Xue Liang had never seen him hanging out with anyone, even if he had to attend some special occasion, he would bring an assistant just in case.

Of course, with his overly strict thinking, he would not think of any other possibilities.

Xue Liang was chased back to his room by Yan Chong. Before he left, he grabbed the door frame, smiled with a neat row of little white teeth, like a handsome fool, and waved goodbye enthusiastically: "Big master, come and play when you're free~"

Yan Chong: "..."

The next day, Yan Chong slept until he woke up naturally. The curtains blocked the morning light, but not the bird chirping brought by the breeze. He was sunk into the soft pillow, drowsy thinking: "This bird sings pretty well."

After a while, he got out of bed, put on a robe and pulled open the curtains, walked to the balcony and followed the sound, only to find that there were tables and chairs and tea sets in the courtyard downstairs. Xue Liang was drinking coffee on one side and whistling on the other, chatting with the little birds on the big tree opposite, talking enthusiastically.

If you ignore the comedy-like atmosphere of this one person and one bird, the picture is still quite pleasant to look at.

Yan Chong dressed neatly and went downstairs for breakfast. Sitting at the table, he picked up a cup of coffee and took a sip, and asked casually: "What are you talking about?"

Xue Liang calmly replied: "Nothing, just greeted it and asked if it had eaten."

Yan Chong raised his eyebrows and looked at him: "Huh?"

Xue Liang said seriously: "It said it had eaten flies, mosquitoes, ants, cockroaches, grass seeds, vegetable seeds, grasshoppers, bread crumbs, big green caterpillars, small green caterpillars, vegetable green caterpillars and seven-star gourds this morning."

Yan Chong choked on a sip of coffee.

He was so embarrassed by the "report of the dish name" that his face turned green, while Xue Liang was mischievously happy, chirping in the side.

At this time, barking came from the iron fence outside. The two of them turned around and saw Zhou Cheng leading two men and two women standing outside the door. Yan Chong hurriedly got up to greet the guests.

A bunch of people greeted each other and introduced each other. One of the two ladies was Zhou Cheng's fiancée, Cheng Jing, and the other was her sister Cheng Shan, who was holding a panting black and white collie. The two men appeared to have come together. The older one was named Song, and Zhou Cheng respected him very much. He called him President Song. The younger one looked familiar, about the same age as Yan Chong. His name was Han Bowen.

The big boss and his friends were talking together, and Xue Liang consciously stood back and pretended to be part of the surrounding scenery. However, the young man surnamed Han kept glancing at him with no little kindness but much scrutiny in his eyes. Xue Liang felt his hairs stand on end when he looked back, and immediately drew the attention of Yan Chong: "What's wrong?"

Han Bowen immediately said: "Nothing, I feel like this gentleman is a bit familiar, have we met before?"

He asked Xue Liang: "Are you a student of X University?"

Xue Liang nodded. Han Bowen said: "What a coincidence, I'm also from X University, what are you doing here?"

It was not strange for Xue Liang to be recognized since he often participated in school performances. He answered briefly: "Accompanying the boss on a business trip."

Han Bowen made a meaningful "oh" and said: "I thought..." He shook his head and did not continue, but there was an unfinished implication.

This tone made Xue Liang uncomfortable. Usually, he could directly ask the person on the face, but now his every move was linked to Yan Chong's reputation. He could not act rashly, so he had to swallow his breath silently.

At this moment, unexpectedly, the border collie that had been spinning around his feet suddenly broke free from its leash and bolted out like a gust of wind, barking as it grabbed a small brown object in its mouth before happily returning to its owner. Cheng Shan was startled and instinctively took a step back, while Xue Liang, seeing her fear, squatted down and took the small "prey" from the dog's mouth.

He looked closely and couldn't help but laugh.

"What... is it?" Cheng Shan asked nervously.

Xue Liang said: "Hahaha, this is really 'dog snatched a rat'." (T/N: dog snatched a rat': someone overestimating their own ability)

He, as if afraid that Han Bowen had not heard, even raised his head to look at him.

Han Bowen: "..."

Yan Chong bent down and saw that he was holding a big-tailed squirrel in his hand, with a wound on its hind leg from the dog's bite. It was curled in Xue Liang's palm, screaming in fear and trying to bite his fingers with its teeth. Xue Liang took two hazelnuts from the nut plate on the table and held them for it. He said: "Are there any antibiotics? I'll go back and bandage it."

Yan Chong frowned and asked: "Can it be saved?"

"I don't know, let's try. We can't just let it die," Xue Liang said, "What if it's a national protected animal?"

Cheng Shan cautiously approached, as if she wanted to touch the little squirrel, Xue Liang hurriedly moved away and said gently: "Be careful, it will bite people. There may be parasites on wild animals. I can just touch it with my hands."

"Hmm." Cheng Shan nodded, her face was a bit flushed for some reason. Seeing that Xue Liang was going to go back to the house to treat the squirrel's wound, she also wanted to go together. She asked softly: "Do you like small animals?"

Xue Liang: "Yeah."

Cheng Shan, with nothing else to say, asked: "How much do you like them?"

At that moment, Yan Chong suddenly coughed heavily behind them. Xue Liang paused, glanced at his expressionless face, then smiled at Cheng Shan: "Um... All of them."
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