First-Class Lawyer

ist, and the walls are filled with his artwork.
It’s very clean,” Yan Suizhi said.

Perhaps the earlier injections were now gradually taking effect, or perhaps the warm water did soothe the body some.
Gu Yan was more invigorated now than when he had gotten out of bed earlier, but upon hearing this, there was yet another long, drawn-out silence.

He refilled the glass with warm water, leaning against the glazed counter, his eyes following Yan Suizhi’s fair and slender fingers as he stirred with the porcelain spoon, and asked in a deep voice, “What time are you leaving?”

Yan Suizhi smiled, turning his head over to ask huffily, “Why are you in a hurry to chase me out?” 

“I’m not.”

“Then why have you asked me twice in less than ten minutes?”

Gu Yan lowered his gaze, staying silent for a while.

Just when Yan Suizhi thought that he was choked speechless by this, and was stifling it back in again, he suddenly spoke— 

“If I don’t ask, will you not leave?”

The slightly hoarse voice was low and deep.
Its calmness was plain as day, yet it somehow caused a stirring in the heart, just like a jar filled with aromatic wine, sealed tightly behind arrogance; yet, in a moment of inattention, it left just the tiniest crack.

In the forty-three years of his life, Yan Suizhi had encountered all the different impulsive, zealous, overstated ways of expression that had always bore down on him like a surging tide, as though they wouldn’t rest until they could pry open a crack and get a response.
After so many years of politely sidestepping all of it, in the end, what worked on him was this line from Gu Yan.

His hand, stirring the porridge, paused.
He lifted his gaze. 

Gu Yan’s gaze, that never left from where it fell on him, was lighter… and heavier than anything else could be.

Behind him, across the soft carpet of the living room and a few metres more, was a transparent glass wall.
Eight newly-planted lamp pines were rustling, swaying in the evening breeze.
Some lampflies had acclimated to the new environment, emerging sporadically, winding amidst the frosty fragrance of the lamp pines and dancing on its leaves, like scattered specks of starlight in the dark night sky.

Yan Suizhi gave a cursory look over and seemed to let out a sigh.
He spoke softly, “Gu Yan.”

“Mn.” 

“The lamp pines you got Joe to procure for you have arrived.”

“I saw.”

Yan Suizhi shifted his gaze to look at him instead.
“I heard from Fizz that you aren’t actually that fond of lamp pines.”

Gu Yan paused.
He brushed over it, “…Not especially.” 

“Then… if I move out, will there be no one to look at these lamp pines?” With this, Yan Suizhi smiled, and, as if casually, said, “The contract I signed with the landlord is on a trial basis.
I initially planned to wait for you to come back before leaving, then planned to wait for your fever to go down before leaving tomorrow.
Now that these lamp pines have been brought over, I can only change my plans again.
So, if you didn’t ask, I really might not leave.”

As Yan Suizhi spoke, he set down the spoon in his hand, unhurriedly took a soft hand towel, and placed the lid over the stone pot.

The faint gurgling of boiling porridge was muffled under the lid.
The evening breeze outside the window was dimly audible; starbursts of luminescence fluttered around the lamp pines, and the wide expanse of soft carpet was suffused with an amber glow.

The room was warm and tranquil. 

Gu Yan, who was just leaning against the glazed counter beside him with a glass cup like that, carefully watched his every move, then spoke in a deep voice.
“I don’t know if I’m delirious from fever, but you’re giving me a bit of a misunderstanding.”

“What misunderstanding?” Yan Suizhi didn’t even lift his head, still minding the porridge.

“… A misunderstanding that I can say something crude, or do something crazy.”

Yan Suizhi’s hands paused.
He finally turned over to look at him, lifting his brows.
“Such as?” 

Gu Yan lowered his gaze as he looked at him, then suddenly pushed his index knuckle beneath the other’s chin.
“Such as this.”

Two folds gently creased his shirt at his waist from this movement.
He tilted his head down slightly, and kissed the corner of Yan Suizhi’s lips.