Chapter 31#
Tan Xiao decided to apply for the postdoctoral program at the neighboring university. The application system would open in September this year, so he needed to start preparing now—contacting potential advisors and preparing research proposals—while also handling various matters related to his doctoral graduation.
After his defense, he had some idle time, but not for long. Another round of busy work soon began.
Zhou Ruofei came to Beijing for over a week, handling some work for the China branch along the way. Knowing that Tan Xiao was very busy, this time he left quietly without fanfare, returning to New York.
Time flies like an arrow, and summer arrived in the blink of an eye. Tan Xiao officially graduated, transitioning from a doctoral candidate to a real doctor of philosophy.
The graduation ceremony was on the last day of June. After the official proceedings, at the reception, his advisor came to offer congratulations and blessings to the new doctors.
Tan Xiao was the only graduate from their research group who would continue in academia, and his advisor had personally connected him with a new advisor from the neighboring program. It was no exaggeration to say his advisor treated him like a second parent—especially since Tan Xiao’s biological parents were absent.
“I really don’t want to graduate. I want to study with you for the rest of my life,” Tan Xiao said sadly, giving his advisor a bear hug despite the height difference, and burst into tears.
His advisor was nearly moved to tears too. He called to the people nearby: “Quick, pull him away! My toupee is going to come off!”
Zhang Xingchuan attended the morning graduation ceremony and witnessed his wife receive her degree, proudly documenting the moment.
By afternoon, when the reception began, he felt it wouldn’t be appropriate for an outsider to attend, so he left early, agreeing to see Tan Xiao again that evening.
The reception ran from one to five o’clock. Just after five, his phone rang with a call from Tan Xiao’s phone.
But it was actually one of Tan Xiao’s classmates on the line, politely asking, “Mr. Zhang? Would it be convenient for you to come pick up our Tan Xiao?”
Happy little puppy Tan Xiao had cried through the reception, but managed to participate properly in the rest of the ceremony. After it ended, though, he was done for. He’d started with champagne, then accidentally grabbed red wine, and being the social butterfly, he wanted to toast and chat with everyone he liked. The tannins in the red wine combined with the bubbles in champagne, and once the administrators and teachers left and he relaxed, the alcohol suddenly hit him hard.
The dorm had already been cleared out, and his classmates weren’t sure whether Tan Xiao rented or owned property in Beijing.
But everyone was tacitly aware of one thing: Tan Xiao and President Zhang from Wenjing were now in a family relationship.
Zhang Xingchuan returned to campus and received the unconscious Tan Xiao from his classmates.
Tan Xiao had even befriended the housekeeper at Zhang Xingchuan’s home. Zhang Xingchuan guessed he probably didn’t want the housekeeper to see him in this state, so he took him back to Tan Xiao’s own place.
Zhang Xingchuan had been there several times before. Tan Xiao had given him the access card and he knew the password to the door.
He carried Tan Xiao back inside, placing him on the sofa. As he went to close the door and change his shoes, Tan Xiao wrapped his arms around his neck and wouldn’t let go.
Zhang Xingchuan coaxed him, “Be good, let me go first. The door’s still open.”
Tan Xiao held onto him and started crying with little whimpers.
“Okay, okay, I won’t close the door,” Zhang Xingchuan said.
It was a large flat unit anyway—one building with three elevators serving one household. Leaving the door open wasn’t really a problem.
Besides, the wind from the stairwell soon blew the door shut on its own.
Zhang Xingchuan sat down on the sofa and let Tan Xiao sit sideways in his embrace, comforting him. “Graduation is like this. Parting is the hardest thing to accept. Cry if you need to.”
Tan Xiao rested his head on his shoulder, silently shedding tears, without speaking.
Zhang Xingchuan thought he’d drunk himself to sleep, so he tried to let him lie down on the sofa. But the moment he moved, Tan Xiao said, “Don’t move. My head is spinning.”
“Want to sleep in bed?” Zhang Xingchuan suggested. “Mixing drinks gets you drunk fastest. You even know how to make cocktails—how can you not know this?”
Tan Xiao said, “I just wanted to get drunk.”
Zhang Xingchuan felt he was doing slightly better and started teasing him. “Which classmate do you miss the most? The one who called me? He’s quite handsome.”
“Who called you?” But Tan Xiao had already lost that memory. “Everyone in our finance program is beautiful. I’ll miss all of them. Why do people have to be separated? Why can’t we stay together forever?”
Zhang Xingchuan had no answer. The question was too naive, so naive that he didn’t have the heart to give him a lecture about separations and reunions.
Tan Xiao asked, “Will we ever be separated?”
Zhang Xingchuan hadn’t expected this question and said, “What’s gotten into you? Don’t say such cruel things, even if it’s the wine talking. I’ll end up crying with you.”
Tan Xiao fell silent again.
Zhang Xingchuan wasn’t entirely sure if he was just drunk-talking.
“Tan Xiao?” Zhang Xingchuan asked. “Are you asleep?”
Tan Xiao said, “I’m dizzy. I think I’m going to be sick.”
Zhang Xingchuan said, “Lying down might help.”
Tan Xiao said, “No, I really need you to hold me right now.”
Zhang Xingchuan had no choice but to maintain this position.
“Big brother,” Tan Xiao said.
“Hmm?” Zhang Xingchuan responded.
He was touched by this long-missed term of endearment. It had been a while since Tan Xiao called him that.
Tan Xiao asked a shocking question: “Don’t you like me anymore?”
Zhang Xingchuan was confused. “What? What did I do wrong?”
Tan Xiao said, “I have a very good classmate who’s from your hometown.”
Zhang Xingchuan recalled the person with the slight accent who had called and guessed it was probably them.
“He said that where you’re from, couples who are deeply in love call each other ‘zai zai’ in daily conversation,” Tan Xiao said. “Not just parents calling their children that, but lovers and spouses too when they love each other deeply.”
Zhang Xingchuan said, “That’s right.”
He understood what Tan Xiao was getting at.
Tan Xiao said, “After Julian got exposed, Sam never called him ‘zai zai’ again. Don’t you think Sam doesn’t like Julian as much anymore?”
Of course not. Zhang Xingchuan was a bit unhappy.
Zhang said, “Julian used to call Sam ‘big brother,’ but after getting exposed, he hardly calls him that anymore. Don’t you think…”
Tan Xiao was still a bit dizzy and thought, wait, Julian still really likes Sam.
“Do you think,” Zhang Xingchuan asked, but not the question Tan Xiao expected, “that Julian wants to be Sam’s big brother?”
Tan Xiao smiled, vibrating slightly against Zhang Xingchuan’s shoulder, and said, “No, that’s not it. Don’t talk nonsense.”
Zhang Xingchuan kissed his cheek, feeling how hot it was. He’d definitely drunk a lot.
Zhang Xingchuan said, “Sam likes Julian, more than ever before.”
Tan Xiao said, “Really?”
“But you have a point,” Zhang Xingchuan felt it was fine to share some heart-to-heart thoughts at a time like this. “Occasionally, when I call you ‘zai zai’ in my heart, it doesn’t feel quite right. Then I can’t bring myself to say it.”
Tan Xiao asked, “Why?”
Zhang Xingchuan said, “It’s just…”
Money really did have a wordless magic. It had indeed changed Tan Xiao’s image somehow. Tan Xiao was still Tan Xiao, still fresh and cute as a young man, but his overall presence became like a golden deity in heaven.
“I might be a bit materialistic,” Zhang Xingchuan said self-mockingly. “The young master has such a large balance that I don’t dare overstep.”
After a moment, Tan Xiao said, “I felt it. The last two times you [beep——] me, you’ve been acting like a service provider. I don’t feel like I’m in a relationship—I feel like I hired a male model.”
Drunk people really do curse harshly.
Zhang Xingchuan laughed helplessly. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“It’s not a compliment. I don’t like it,” Tan Xiao cried again. “I don’t like it. Did you hear me clearly? I don’t like you like this.”
Zhang Xingchuan had no choice but to coax him again, “I heard you. I was wrong. Next time I’ll be fiercer and won’t serve you anymore.”
Tan Xiao turned his face to look at him directly. Zhang Xingchuan kissed his lips, tasting only a faint hint of alcohol. The wine at the reception had been of decent quality.
“I said goodbye to my teachers and classmates today,” Tan Xiao said. “We all have our own paths to walk now. I feel like there are fewer and fewer people around me. Combined with the feeling that you’re not treating me the way you used to, I’m really in a terrible mood… I wish there was some button I could press to go back a few months, back to when my dissertation hadn’t been approved yet. During that month-long gap, I was full of hope, waiting for an unknown result that never had to come. You didn’t know I was a young master yet, and you loved me the most. Every time after we were in bed together, you’d open your eyes and want to give me money… Hey, now I’m starting to feel like the male model you hired.”
He spoke in fragments, occasionally with a crying tone, neither fully drunk nor fully sober.
“So, I was the one giving you money before,” Zhang Xingchuan said. “I feel like the male model, but you never gave me money.”
Tan Xiao said, “Do you want it? If you do, I’ll give you all my money. Then you can give me a monthly allowance.”
Zhang Xingchuan politely said, “Young Master Julian, don’t overestimate me. I don’t have experience managing such an enormous amount of funds.”
Tan Xiao looked at him seriously and said, “You really are poor.”
Zhang Xingchuan: “…”
“That person,” Zhang Xingchuan said, “President Fu. Do you remember him?”
“Of course,” Tan Xiao said. “Is he deeply closeted and secretly in love with you? He was extremely unfriendly to me.”
He was definitely speaking under the influence of alcohol in a way he’d never normally do.
Even if he truly harbored such suspicions, he’d never gossip about Zhang Xingchuan’s business partner like this in his daily life.
Just as he’d never normally call Zhang Xingchuan “really poor.”
Zhang Xingchuan said, “He doesn’t believe such a perfect boy could possibly be interested in me. He thinks it must be an elaborate scam specifically designed for me.”
Tan Xiao said, “Huh? Ha ha ha, he’s… what kind of sensitive person is he.”
“Once you give me all your money,” Zhang Xingchuan said, “I’ll immediately show him that the most sophisticated hunter appears in the guise of prey.”
Tan Xiao said, “Okay, let’s broaden his horizons.”
Zhang Xingchuan said, “Come lie in bed for a bit. Your heart is racing.”
Tan Xiao was sitting sideways on his lap but hugging him face-to-face, their chests pressed together. Tan Xiao’s heartbeat was rapid—the alcohol was stimulating his sympathetic nervous system.
“Sam, do you want my money?” Tan Xiao’s eyes half-closed, speaking in an enticing tone. “The young master is requesting you now.”
He wasn’t just talking big. He really wanted to, just too dizzy to move, otherwise he would have already started unbuttoning Sam’s shirt.
Zhang Xingchuan held him like this for a while, as Tan Xiao cried and rubbed against him, saying cute nonsensical things. Even the CEO was feeling it.
Zhang Xingchuan wanted to take him to the bedroom. Tan Xiao’s bed was comfortable, and the things they’d need were in the bedside drawer.
Tan Xiao felt him trying to get up and gripped him tightly. “Don’t go. Big brother, I want to do it here.”
“Then I’ll go get things from the bedroom,” Zhang Xingchuan said.
“Don’t need things,” Tan Xiao said. “I want to try it. You’re not really a male model, so stop always trying to serve me.”
That had nothing to do with serving or not serving—it was just about cherishing him.
Zhang Xingchuan asked, “Do you know what you’re saying?”
Tan Xiao said, “Are you a doctor? I’m a doctor. Who would understand better—you or me?”
He was already impatient, very eager. If they didn’t start soon, he’d lose it.
Zhang Xingchuan thought, fine, I’ll just be careful.
That was nearly impossible. Tan Xiao was very skilled, had always been skilled, and drunk, his body was hot—like a flame wrapping around Zhang Xingchuan.
Zhang Xingchuan had indeed been “dieting” these past two times, so this was like indulging in an all-you-can-eat feast.
Tan Xiao kept calling out to him—big brother, big brother.
He kissed Tan Xiao deeply, swallowing the cries he hadn’t managed to say, consuming them.
“Big brother,” Tan Xiao leaned back against the sofa, his fair skin glistening with sweat. He smiled and said, “You’re serving me again.”
Zhang Xingchuan was careful at the end, making sure nothing got messy. It had been a bit frantic, really. He said, “Still complaining? Wasn’t I just worried your stomach would be upset?”
Tan Xiao felt utterly satisfied, both body and soul. Looking at Zhang Xingchuan, he thought he was truly perfect.
Zhang Xingchuan was looking at him too, wanting more.
Tan Xiao said, “You haven’t told me you love me today.”
Zhang Xingchuan said, “I’ve said it many times.”
Tan Xiao said, “I didn’t hear it.”
“You heard it,” Zhang Xingchuan leaned down to cover him. He said, “Zai zai, listen again.”