What’s Mr. Huo Eating Today

He Yunzhou blinked. He and Huo Zheng stared at each other in silence for a moment, then suddenly snorted out a laugh.

“Hahaha, I seemed to have told a very cold joke…”

While saying such words, the man in front of Huo Zheng laughed quite happily as if he had been poked at some strange punchline.

Huo Zheng stared at He Yunzhou’s laughing face uncontrollably as if he was enchanted. He obviously couldn’t understand why the other party was laughing, but inexplicably, just seeing the man laughing, his chest seemed to be infused with a dozen strawberry-flavored sparkling wines. Before, so many cranky thoughts and embarrassing worries all turned into small bubbles with sweetness at this moment.

Huo Zheng just looked at He Yunzhou, and unknowingly, he also raised the corners of his lips.

And He Yunzhou caught a glimpse of Huo Zheng’s smiling face. Although he was also a man, he still couldn’t help but feel a slight shock in his heart.

Huo Zheng’s face, which is completely beyond the face of ordinary people, once paired with that kind of relaxed and gentle smile, the lethality can be multiplied—even a truly straight guy like He Yunzhou had a faint feeling of being unable to resist.

“Okay la, you can go to the living room for a while, I have to clean up the kitchen first.” He Yunzhou subconsciously found a reason to drive Huo Zheng out of his sight. He thought for a while and added, “If you’re bored, take a cat stick to play with Nangua, it had been indeed a little too fat recently, it should exercise more… But don’t fight with it oh. That guy’s nails need to be cut.”

The last repeated warning wasn’t that He Yunzhou was worried for nothing, but that Huo Zheng and Nangua had criminal records before.

Who would’ve thought that a person like Huo Zheng… would turn into a human-cat fight every time he played with Nangua to the end?

It’s almost exactly the same as when Guaji was still alive.

Thinking of this, He Yunzhou felt soft in his heart. The sight of looking at Huo Zheng was once again uncontrollably overflowing with intense love.1The meaning with the intense love here means towards children. Poor HZ.

“What do you mean I fight with it? That fatty provokes me by itself every time—”

Huo Zheng was still angrily complaining in a whisper about Nangua’s foolishness, but as a result, he was just swept gently by He Yunzhou’s sight, and his words suddenly became somewhat fragmented.

“Then I’ll go to the living room,” He muttered softly, lowered his head, and shrank to a corner of the living room.

It’s very bad ah…

Huo Zheng thought.

It seemed that whenever he was with He Yunzhou, he will involuntarily forget his previous thoughts and sink into that thick tenderness.

But Huo Zheng also knew that he couldn’t give He Yunzhou any promises at all.

It’s better to make it clear— Although he is rationally clear about this, as long as he thought of letting such a clumsy man as He Yunzhou face the cruel rejection, Huo Zheng particularly couldn’t bear it.

While Huo Zheng is still torn on this side, He Yunzhou’s phone on the coffee table rang.

Hearing the sound, He Yunzhou hurriedly came out of the kitchen to check his phone. However, the moment he picked up the phone and saw the screen, he couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.

“Yunzhou, are you all right?”

Seeing He Yunzhou staring at the phone for a while without answering, and his expression became very strange, Huo Zheng couldn’t help but issue a worrying question.

It wasn’t until this time that He Yunzhou seemed to have recovered suddenly and suddenly smiled apologetically at Huo Zheng.

“Ah, I’m going to take the call first.”

He Yunzhou hurriedly dropped these words, followed by a quick run to the balcony, and tremblingly pressed the answer button.

“Hello, Brother, it’s me… Xiao Xi.”

A soft but slightly unfamiliar voice came from the other end of the receiver.

“Xiao Xi, hello.”

He Yunzhou spoke but found that his voice was exceptionally dry.

The person who called was his younger sister of the same mother and father, He Yunxi.

Theoretically speaking, it should be one of his closest family members.

It’s just that even He Yunzhou himself can’t remember how long it had been since the last time he received a call from his family.

“Something happened at home…”

“Brother, I’m getting married.”

He Yunxi didn’t seem to know how to talk to her brother, whom she hadn’t been in touch with for a long time, and the voice from the other side of the receiver was filled with lingering stiffness.

“Ah? Getting married? Why are you getting married at such a young age?”

He Yunzhou was taken aback and blurted out.

He Yunxi on the other end of the line seemed to choke for a moment, before reluctantly responding, “Brother, I’m already 27, that’s not too young ba.”

“……”

He Yunzhou abruptly stopped talking, then he remembered in a daze that his younger sister was no longer the little high school girl with a ponytail in his memory.

Speaking of which, his younger sister is only two years younger than him.

It’s just that He Yunzhou left home too early and his relationship with his family was too thin. So that after so many years, when he thought of He Yunxi, the face that comes to mind was still that young and tender face.

“Sorry, I just…”

He Yunzhou dryly spoke to save a few points, but in the end, his brain was still black, and finally, he could only say a stiff “congratulations” with great difficulty and had nothing more to say.

The two siblings were silent across the phone for a few seconds, but He Yunzhou said with a strong mentality, “When is the wedding? I’ll put the red envelope on your account…”

“That, Brother, when I get married, will… will you come?”

“……”

He Yunzhou suddenly got stuck.

He Yunxi’s voice was pressed down, sounding embarrassed and stiff.

“It’s been so many years… Dad and Mom, they just can’t lose face. If you want to come back, if you have anything to say, let’s talk about it together.

Dad and Mom…

He Yunzhou’s hand holding the phone somewhat turned pale.

“I’m very busy at work here,” He Yunzhou heard himself speak in that hollow and pretense voice, “I’m afraid I won’t be able to ask for leave at that time… I’d better transfer the money to your account.”

He Yunxi seemed to sigh on the other end of the phone.

The two siblings exchanged a few difficult greetings in a more unfamiliar way than ordinary friends. When they finally hung up the phone, He Yunzhou only felt relieved.

However, the next moment, He Yunzhou remembered that when he was lying about not being able to take time off work…. he hadn’t even asked when He Yunxi’s wedding date actually was.

An indescribable sense of dullness gradually swelled in He Yunzhou’s chest, and he couldn’t help but look out of the balcony. The dim lights of the night represent countless small families—

It’s very common, very ordinary, but, also a very distant picture.

He Yunzhou couldn’t help but be lost in thought.

He Yunzhou’s relationship with his family is very alienated.

Not a poor relationship, but estranged.

There is no hatred, there is no kind of love… estrangement.

He is the first child of the family, but the timing of his birth in this family was awkward.

His parents are the most typical workaholics. When He Yunzhou was born, it happened that both of them were at the most critical stage of their careers. Perhaps there was no way out, or perhaps it was a plan of convenience, but in any case, He Yunzhou was sent to his grandparents’ house after he was a month old. It was a remote mountain village so remote that supplies could only be transported in by manpower or mules and horses.

It has enchanting scenery2Lit. Verdant hills and limpid water (idiom) with bright stars, crystal clear rivers, and small patches of cultivated farmlands. Mother He was the only golden phoenix that flew out of the mountain village for decades, and she has never returned since the day she left that small mountain village.

But He Yunzhou was sent back. Because of this, his grandparents doted on He Yunzhou very much. Every once in a while, Mother He would also entrust people to send money and supplies to the mountain village.

Everything seemed to be fine. He Yunzhou’s Father and Mother have sufficient spare time to pursue their careers. He Yunzhou had someone to take care of him, and his grandparents in a remote mountain village, finally have their sustenance.

However, probably even He Yunzhou’s parents themselves didn’t expect that they would have a new child two years later.

Moreover, He Yunxi was born with weak health and had to be admitted to the hospital practically every day. In any case, it was impossible for her to be sent to the village to be taken care of by the elderly like He Yunzhou, who was healthy and well.

Therefore, He Yunxi was left to her parents’ side, but in the same way, the two hard-pressed parents no longer had extra energy and time to take care of another child.

In this way, inexplicably and naturally… He Yunzhou was banished by his parents to that increasingly withering and dilapidated mountain village, year after year.

By the time he was finally picked up, he was already a teenager.

He could sing long and ancient mountain songs, plant rice and cut wheat, fetch water and herd cattle, and do everything that a mountain boy would do.

But everything that He Yunzhou would do was incompatible in that family, in that city.

He Yunzhou knew it was his parents, but his parents were so unfamiliar.

Similarly, compared to He Yunxi, who grew up pampered by their side, why is He Yunzhou a stranger to Father He and Mother He?

They get along politely, were unfamiliar and distant, He Yunzhou couldn’t wait to leave that home after being admitted to the university—so everyone was free and relieved.

In addition, something happened to He Yunzhou when he was in college, and naturally, he never returned home.

He Yunzhou has long been accustomed to this kind of life where he is connected by blood but actually drifts alone in the world. But like today, occasionally reuniting with his family, there is still a kind of hollow feeling to get rid of.

It’s like being swallowed up a little by some black and deep swamp…

However, in the next second, He Yunzhou heard the sound of the balcony door being heavily pushed open.

“Meow wuwuwu—”

“Your cat is hungry—it’s hungry that it’s even gnawing on my feet—”

Followed by Huo Zheng’s exasperated shout and Nangua’s howl.

He Yunzhou froze, turned his head, and saw Huo Zheng holding Nangua in a rude way.

“Ah…” He Yunzhou was half a beat slower before pulling out of that hollow emotion and squeezing out his usual smile at Huo Zheng.

“Nangua didn’t bite you, did it? I’ll go get it something to eat right away—”

“What’s wrong with you?” Huo Zheng suddenly interrupted He Yunzhou’s words as he stared straight at the latter and frowned.

He Yunzhou was taken aback.

Huo Zheng suddenly took a step forward while He Yunzhou couldn’t help but take a step backward.

Nangua was thrown heavily to the ground and let out an exasperated meow, but the two humans on the balcony were completely oblivious to it at this point.

“Someone is bothering you? Your complexion looks bad,” Huo Zheng said coldly.

He Yunzhou shook his head in astonishment, “No, no one is looking for me, I’m just… just in a bit of a bad mood.”

Huo Zheng obviously didn’t believe it. He tilted his head slightly and stared intently at He Yunzhou, probably trying to find some clues from He Yunzhou’s face.

The light in the living room fell on Huo Zheng’s hair through the glass door. The long silver-gray hair was so similar to Guaji’s hair at the time.

He Yunzhou’s breathing became a little faster.

After receiving the call that stirred up his memories, he missed Guaji more than ever.

That fluffy, heavy cat can always give him courage and warmth when He Yunzhou was at his lowest and most depressed.

It’s just that Guaji is no longer there.

Beside He Yunzhou, there was only a green-eyed man named Huo Zheng.

“I…”

He Yunzhou didn’t know whether he was dizzy or what, but after meeting Huo Zheng’s Guaji-like eyes, he found that he suddenly couldn’t control himself.

“Can I touch your hair.”

He Yunzhou said softly to Huo Zheng.

“……”

Ah, here it comes.

Straight ball.

What luck.

The moment he heard He Yunzhou’s request, countless noisy and chaotic thoughts instantly exploded in Huo Zheng’s mind.

Huo Zheng’s footsteps paused, and his heartbeat went haywire.

Huo Zheng knew that he should’ve refused He Yunzhou.

He and the other party’s current ambiguous, vague, and can’t bear to mode of getting along cannot continue—otherwise, there will always be someone who will be completely heartbroken.

But at this moment, the man’s nervousness and frustration seemed to be able to pass through the air to the depths of Huo Zheng’s soul.

“Ok… Ok ah.”

Huo Zheng heard himself agree upon hearing that.

The author has something to say:

I originally intended to let Ouyang3If anyone forgot, HYZ’s former best friend appear… but I still didn’t like too much dog blood plot.

It’s better to dote on Mr. Huo, who is also doing mind-blowing ripples and also acting as a stand-in without completely realizing it.

1The meaning with the intense love here means towards children. Poor HZ.2Lit. Verdant hills and limpid water (idiom)3If anyone forgot, HYZ’s former best friend