Even if Su Jingyang broke his head from thinking he couldn't understand why Ah-Yi suddenly appeared behind him, it was obvious that this was definitely not coincidence. Su Jingyang's face told his surprise and doubts.

Ah-Yi didn't give him any clues. While he was screaming and shrieking, he turned his head away with a calm face, avoiding his sight.

Then, with his slender fingers he began to... undress? ? ?

Su Jingyang, who was so cold that he couldn't realize what was going on, was buried by the black jacket Ah-Yi had thrown over.

Ah-Yi's vigorous voice came to his ears: "I don't want you to use it, but I don't want help you carry your body once you freeze to death either."

Su Jingyang didn't care about arguing with him this time, he hurriedly tore his clothes off and wrapped them around himself. It was finally it not so cold. Su Jingyang breathed through his nose and sighed with gratitude towards Ah-Yi who was only wearing an inner shirt, but Ah Yi didn't say a word and turned around to leave.

Su Jingyang carried his wet clothes and followed him with a rabbit lantern, saying, "You haven't told me yet, why did you come here."

Ah-Yi said without looking back: "Ling Li was worried, so I offered to help find you."

Su Jingyang finally caught up with him, he walked besides him and murmured, "I mean, how could you find me in the middle of the night."

Su Jingyang's brain ran wildly, and all sorts of plots kicked off inside his mind. This guy was so good to Ali. He was willing to come out and find him just because of Ali's words. He must have interest towards Ali!

Su Jingyang was very happy thinking that Ling Li would be able to find happiness again, but Ah-Yi's identity was still unknown, plus Ling Li had an extremely resistant attitude the last time he tried to question him. Su Jingyang felt that Ah-Yi's actions might've been influenced by something else.

Although Su Jingyang was murmuring quietly, Ah-Yi could still hear it. He took a deep breath and glanced at Su Jingyang in the corner of his eyes. His jaw tightened somewhat subtly.

Su Jingyang also stopped, he was inexplicably stared at by him, "... Why aren't we walking? Staring at me with such creepy eyes, what are you up to?"

Ah-Yi saw him staring back with a pair of big clear eyes, he swallowed back the sentence "I want to kill you" that had already reached his lips.

Seeing that the rabbit lamp in his hand was old and broken, Ah-Yi changed the subject casually and said, "It's all worn out, why don't you just toss it?"

Su Jingyang followed his gaze, he glanced down and said, "I won't throw it, this is something from Ali."

"You care about him."

"Of course I care, he and Ah-Xuan are the closest people I have in this world." Su Jingyang somehow suddenly became a little confused, his eyes were empty and his voice became lighter, "If someday I'll be able to leave here, the only thing I won't be able to let go of will definitely be them."

"... Leave here?" Ah-Yi listened to his light and sorrowful tone, his brows creased uncontrollably.

Su Jingyang came back to his senses and realized what he had just said, he continued without changing his expression, "Yes, I plan to go travelling to take a look at other places in the future."

The night breeze was cold and Su Jingyang shivered again because of the wind. He hugged himself tightly with his arms, sighed, and said with nasally voice, "Let’s go back soon, I’m afraid Ali will be worried."

Ah-Yi glanced at him again and finally continued moving forward, "You still remember that he's worried about you coming out late at night? Do you just not use your brain?"

"I use my brain." Su Jingyang argued: "I looked for it at the spot where I fell earlier. I think it should've dropped out at that time, but the strange thing is that I didn't find it. Could it be that someone else picked it up? Will they use it to do bad things? No matter what, I need to come back tomorrow morning, if I can’t find it, I’ll report this loss and just make up for it.”

"..." Ah-Yi closed his eyes and raised a hand to cover his forehead. He felt as if his throat was choked by something and couldn't sigh. There was no words left in him.

On their way home, Su Jingyang and Ah-Yi found the drunk man who molested Su Jingyang lying motionless on the ground.

The light wasn't very good and Su Jingyang couldn't see the drunkard’s abnormality. He stepped forward and kicked him, he cursed in a low voice and then leaned forwards to get his clothes back from the drunkard’s arms.

As soon as he was about to reach out his hand, Ah-Yi grabbed it.

Ah-Yi frowned and said, "Those clothes are all wrinkled, what do you want it for?"

Su Jingyang thought he had misunderstood and assumed he was taking other people's clothes. He turned around and explained to him: "This are my clothes."

"Of course I know it's your clothes, did you think I couldn't see what clothes you were wearing today?" A-Yi dragged him away and said, "Don't get it back, it's been contaminated by others."

"The smell can still be washed. These are clothes from my boss, they're of good quality. It's a shame to lose them." Su Jingyang broke free and took his clothes back. When he turned around, he found that Ah-Yi had left him. He was walking quickly, and even his back was filled with strong impatience and irritability.

This person must be obsessed with cleanliness, he probably didn't like the smell of others on his clothes.

Su Jingyang looked down at the black robe he had wrapped around himself, thinking that he probably shouldn't insist on returning it.

Su Jingyang slumped his head to follow, silent all the way. When they got home, Su Jingyang saw Ah-Yi opening the door and saying something about washing his clothes and returning them to him tomorrow.

No matter if Ah-Yi wanted these clothes or not, he still had to return it.

Su Jingyang just fell silent, his only response was a slamming door. Su Jingyang didn't feel very tangled there anymore, inhaling the cool breeze and hurriedly returning to his home.

When he entered, Ling Li was still up, sitting in the hall with stacks of clothes, staring at the swaying candlelight in a daze. His whole figure looked lonely and cold. Su Jingyang ran in and shouted, only then did he get up in shock to meet him and let out a sigh of relief.

"You're..." Ling Li saw him in such a state, with a dim lantern in his hand and his wet clothes dripping. The black robe wrapped around him were obviously... Ah-Yi's.

Ling Li's tea coloured eyes flashed slightly. Su Jingyang's face was pale and he was trembling, Ling Li hurriedly asked him to lie in the quilt and then went to fetch him hot water to let him soak in a bath.

Su Jingyang changed his clothes after washing and finally felt refreshed. With a red nose, he went to the yard to wash Ah-Yi's robe and sneezed while washing.

Seeing Ling Li still busy in the kitchen, Su Jingyang raised his voice and asked what he was doing. Ling Li said that he was going to boil ginger soup for him.

Su Jingyang wrung out the washed clothes to dry in the yard. Ling Li cooked the ginger soup and brought it to him. Su Jingyang smiled and said to Ling Li, "Ali is so good." Then he took it and drank while blowing.

Ling Li took out something and handed it to Su Jingyang. Su Jingyang took a look and almost spewed out the boiled ginger soup in his mouth. It was the identity card he had been looking for all night!

He was very surprised and asked where Ling Li had found it, Ling Li told him truthfully that it was given to him by Ah-Yi.

Su Jingyang held the bowl of ginger soup and stood motionless with his eyes wide open, as if he had been petrified in an instant.

Ling Li: "Jingyang?"

Su Jingyang slapped his head abruptly and finally reacted. His identity card must've been picked up by Ah-Yi after he fell and it was because of this that Ah-Yi stopped and called him from behind. And he ran away stupidly, no wonder the things Ah-Yi kept saying just now made zero sense...

Su Jingyang really lost this time. But the strange thing was that his thinking seemed to have been stunted, he hadn't thought about the possibility at all.

Su Jingyang could only accept that he had no trust in Ah-Yi, when he heard him shouting and so on from behind him, he thought he was just going to tease himself again.

"No wonder he was willing to help you and go out to find me, it was because he knew that I would return without success. He still has a conscience."

Ling Li looked stunned. Su Jingyang saw that his expression was wrong and asked, "What's the matter, Ali? Didn't you... tell him to help me?"

"Yes, I did." Ling Li clasped his hands and clenched them tightly, he subconsciously raised his head and looked at the courtyard wall. He said softly to Su Jingyang: "I worried about you, so I asked him for help. Have you finished the soup? I'll help you get a bowl again."

Su Jingyang shook his head and thought for a while before saying, "Ali, is there still some more soup?"

Ling Li nodded, Su Jingyang said: "I'll serve a bowl for the person next door. He gave his clothes to me just now. If he gets a cold, it'll be on my conscience."

Ling Li looked at him. His lips moved silently before warmly saying: "Alright, I'll go to get some and send it over. You can go rest first."

Ling Li left the kitchen, but Su Jingyang didn't return to the room. He heard the person next door coughing; Su Jingyang was uneasy. He used the ladder standing by the wall, Su Jingyang climbed up and poked his head out to peek.

The lights in Ah-Yi's courtyard were bright and Su Jingyang could see the whole scenery at a glance.

Ah-Yi had just come out of the yard to fetch water, he soon found a pair of big shiny eyes from the wall next door peeking at him.

He didn't need to see the whole face to know who it was, because among the people he has seen, only those pair of eyes were dark enough to make one dazzled.

Ah-Yi coughed with a cold face and said to him, "When will you be able to fix your problem of climbing over walls?"

Su Jingyang didn't expect to be discovered by him so early, he was a little guilty, "I just heard you cough, are you alright?"

Ah-Yi walked a few steps into the yard before saying, "I choked on drinking water."

Su Jingyang said: "People with bodies strengthened by martial arts can still choke when drinking water?"

Ah-Yi rolled his eyes, "Yeah, not only can I choke when I drink water, but I will also die only after a hundred years. Isn't it amazing?"

Su Jingyang said: "Don't drink too fast, open the gate to get some ginger soup."

"No. It's midnight, I'm afraid that you have other intentions." Ah-Yi said this but he walked a few steps towards the door.

Su Jingyang was speechless: "I'm not going there, Ali will send it to you."

Ah-Yi suddenly stopped after hearing this, he turned his face to look at him and said coldly, "Don't you have arms and legs yourself?"

"Eh, what, can't Ali give it to you? You're really hard to please." Su Jingyang draped himself on the wall for a moment, suddenly looked back, and then disappeared behind the wall.

Ah-Yi heard some movements next door, he just stood there and wanted to see what would happen. After a while, Su Jingyang reappeared, he hung a small bamboo basket with a rope in his hand, after dangling it down, a bowl of hot ginger soup appeared inside.

Seeing that he was still standing there, Su Jingyang yelled softly, "Hurry up and catch it, big brother! It's gonna spill all over!"

Ah-Yi: "..."

Ah-Yi finally took a step forward, he stretched out his hands to pick up the ginger soup and said to Su Jingyang: "You really have a lot of tricks."

"Otherwise, you won't open the door for me. What else can I do."

Ah-Yi no longer wanted to talk to him, so he stood there and drank the ginger soup.

Su Jingyang laid there waiting sleepily, staring at his rolling Adam's apple without closing his eyes.

When he put the bowl back, Su Jingyang pulled up the rope and took the basket and bowl back. Pursing his lips, Su Jingyang said quietly to the young man who was still standing under the wall and hadn't left yet: "Close the doors and windows, be careful of the flower pickers¹ in the middle of the night."

Under the light of the moonlight, Ah-Yi crossed his arms, raised his beautiful black eyes, and looked at him with a deadpan expression, "--Go to sleep, you."

______

Notes:

1- Rapists, but like, those that only target virgin women/men by sneaking into their houses undetected at night