At 4:35 PM, crowds poured out from the exit. Shuai Chang quickly spotted Mu Chengguang, who was dressed flamboyantly amidst the throng.
Mu Chengguang, wearing sunglasses, also saw Shuai Chang. Excited, he took off his shades and waved at him.
Shuai Chang smiled and stepped forward to take the silver suitcase, “Are you tired?” It was a long flight back from the other side of the world, taking over ten hours.
“I’m so tired, Teacher Nan. Can I borrow your shoulder?” Mu Chengguang tiptoed, one hand wrapping around Shuai Chang’s shoulder, pretending to slump helplessly against him.
Shuai Chang caught him and patted Mu Chengguang’s golden hair, “Alright, stop fooling around. Let’s go to the car and rest.”
Seeing that it was time to stop while he was ahead, Mu Chengguang put his sunglasses back on and held onto Shuai Chang’s arm that wasn’t carrying any luggage, shouting, “Let’s go!”
In an instant, attention surged from all around them, but he felt quite pleased with himself. “Teacher Nan, we’re a match made in heaven standing together. They can look but can’t be envious.” Such confidence.
Mu Chengguang was genuinely tired. The moment he got in the car and fastened his seatbelt, he fell asleep immediately. Shuai Chang initially wanted to take him out to eat, but seeing how soundly he was sleeping, he decided to drive straight home.
After parking in the garage, Shuai Chang picked up Mu Chengguang and stood in front of the elevator, waiting.
He could grab the suitcase later.
Once in the elevator, he pressed the button for the eighth floor. The elevator made its first stop at the ground floor. People waiting on the first floor saw him carrying a man and widened their eyes in surprise, hesitating to enter. Shuai Chang responded with a friendly smile, effortlessly taking Mu Chengguang to the eighth floor.
They lived in a building with two units per floor and had been living there for a year, nearly familiar with the situation in the opposite unit.
Thus, when he saw two men holding a little boy waiting in front of the elevator, Shuai Chang was not surprised at all. Instead, he cheerfully asked, “Going out for a stroll?”
The slightly shorter, good-looking man nodded, curiously glancing at the person in Shuai Chang’s arms, “Is Chengguang asleep?”
Shuai Chang nodded, “He just got back from abroad and fell asleep as soon as we got in the car.”
The family of three from the opposite unit entered the elevator. Shuai Chang turned and placed his finger on the fingerprint lock; the door opened with a click.
Shuai Chang helped Mu Chengguang take off his jacket and placed it on the bed, then went downstairs to fetch the suitcase.
Seeing that Mu Chengguang was sleeping soundly and showing no signs of waking up, he closed the bedroom door and went to the study to prepare his lesson.
Two hours later, the study door was pushed open, and Mu Chengguang peeked in, his eyes filled with grievances, his small, pale face flushed with sleep. “Teacher Nan, I’m so hungry.”
Shuai Chang put down his pen and stood up, “I’m hungry too. Let’s go out to eat.” Nan Yu couldn’t cook, and although they were poor, he had eight sisters who did all the household chores while he focused on studying. Mu Chengguang, raised like a pampered child, of course, couldn’t cook either.
The two of them couldn’t be bothered to drive far, so they held hands and found a small restaurant downstairs, casually eating a few bites.
By the time they returned, it was completely dark, and the neon lights had come on.
“Teacher Nan.” Mu Chengguang held his hand, his fingers rubbing against Shuai Chang’s wedding ring, bringing a tingling sensation.
Shuai Chang turned his hand over, enveloping Mu Chengguang’s hand in his larger one, preventing him from causing mischief. “What’s wrong?”
“You’re so gentle today.” During dinner, he even helped him pick food, making Mu Chengguang feel pleasantly surprised and cherished.
Until now, Mu Chengguang had always expressed his affections unilaterally to Nan Yu, who never rejected him. If asked too many times, he would occasionally respond coolly, saying he loved him, which would make Mu Chengguang very happy.
Today, Nan Yu seemed like a different person. He noticed that he wore a ring when picking him up, implying that he wore it at school too—something that had never happened before.
After falling asleep in the car and waking up in the bedroom, the thought that it was Nan Yu who carried him up made Mu Chengguang run to the study to find him…
Shuai Chang ruffled his golden hair, “Is being gentle a bad thing?”
Mu Chengguang tilted his head, leaning against Nan Yu’s shoulder, “No, it’s great. I really hope you’ll always be this gentle.”
Shuai Chang’s fingertips trembled; when Mu Chengguang said this, he resembled Fan Luojia, feeling sensitive, helpless, and cautious.
But Mu Chengguang wasn’t Fan Luojia; Fan Luojia had already passed away in another time and space, and he had witnessed his death…
Shuai Chang closed his eyes and slowly exhaled. When he opened them again, they were calm and undisturbed, with no trace of pain.
“Don’t worry,” he said to Mu Chengguang, “I will always treat you well from now on.” That is my mission and the meaning of my existence.
Mu Chengguang currently worked at a branch of the Mu Corporation. His older brothers, Mu Dage and Mu Erge, were also transferred to the headquarters after honing their skills for two years at the branch. Now, Mu Dage had risen to the position of Executive CEO of the group, while Mu Erge was the Financial Manager.
Mu Chengguang was younger; Mu Dage, Mu Songtao, was ten years older than him, and Mu Erge, Mu Baichun, was eight years older.
Mu Chengguang often told Nan Yu that he was afraid of his two brothers. Nan Yu couldn’t understand why Mu Chengguang wasn’t afraid of his father, Mu Feng, the chairman of the Mu Corporation, but was afraid of his older brothers.
Nan Yu had asked about it before, but Mu Chengguang merely shook his head with a blank expression, saying nothing. After a while, he would resume his fearless demeanor.
#
High school is different from elementary and middle school, where teachers only have a single day off. Shuai Chang had Sundays off.
On the night following Mu Chengguang’s return to the country, he told Nan Yu he wanted to introduce his friends to him. Since the gathering was scheduled for Sunday and Shuai Chang was free, he agreed.
Mu Chengguang and Nan Yu had been married for less than a year, and this was the first time he had taken the initiative to introduce friends to him.
Previously, Nan Yu had mentioned it once, but Mu Chengguang said to wait a little longer, thinking he hadn’t told his friend about his marriage yet.
Before going abroad, they had had a big argument about this.
While in Country A, Mu Chengguang had told his friends, and upon returning, seeing that Nan Yu had been particularly gentle towards him, he thought it was because of the impending introduction to his friends. Given Nan Yu’s excellent performance in the past few days, Mu Chengguang decided to go ahead and organize the gathering.
As a gay man, Mu Chengguang was extremely concerned about appearances. After marrying, he helped Nan Yu and himself secure several beauty cards and always dragged Nan Yu along. He was quite superficial; otherwise, he wouldn’t have looked so favorably upon Nan Yu, who was much older than him. Nan Yu’s looks were indeed incomparable.