HMPS: Chapter 47

On the lonely winter night, the street lights elongated the two figures so that they were almost indistinguishable from each other.

Chi Xueyan couldn’t help thinking that this was what it felt like to hug someone he loved.

It was different from the gentle embrace of his parents in childhood and the occasional celebratory hug with friends.

He stretched out his arms to hug the person close at hand. He instinctively grabbed the back of the coat with his fingers and buried his breath into the shoulders of the other person.

It was as if snowflakes from the sky had fallen onto the grass on the ground, falling along the grass and gently melting into it.

This feeling was as special as a kiss.

The last time he understood the feeling of a kiss, it was with the same person.

However, at that time, He Qiao was calmer and more relaxed.

At this moment, he was like a student who encountered a new problem. For a long time, he couldn’t find the most appropriate solution.

Chi Xueyan clearly felt the clumsiness mixed with helplessness. The other person couldn’t find the right words to express his feelings for a while. Only the heartbeat deep in his chest became extraordinarily vivid and lost its proper and calm order.

In the quiet night when the crowds were gone, it seemed that this was the only sound left in the world.

Chi Xueyan, who was buried in his shoulders, spoke softly with a muffled laugh. “Your heartbeat is so loud.”

He preferred to listen to the most instinctive heartbeat than the ‘I love you’ that seemed to be easy to say.

This was an answer that couldn’t be faked.

At the sound of his voice, the man who seemed to have become clumsy due to his confession seemed to finally come to his senses.

In the next second, Chi Xueyan was closer to that noisy heartbeat.

The person he held no longer hesitated. He Qiao wrapped an arm around his waist and cherished him as desired.

He Qiao said, “When I saw you across the road that day, I wanted to hug you.”

“What day?”

“The morning of my birthday.”

Chi Xueyan recalled the morning when he was going on the adventure of the college campus.

He Qiao wore his coat and stood on the opposite sidewalk. He was distracted until he was woken up by Chi Xueyan’s phone call because Chi Xueyan was too lazy to cross the street more than once.

It turned out that he was thinking about this.

Today, he put on the coat that Chi Xueyan loaned again.

Time was always so wonderful.

“It is almost my birthday now,” Chi Xueyan said from within his arms. “Don’t take me on an adventure. Just cake the cake for me.”

The meticulous He Qiao should be able to divide the cut more beautifully and keep the buttercream flowers in full bloom.

“Yes.”

“Don’t try to be nicer to me anymore. It is good now.”

Even during the agreed marriage period where they hadn’t fallen in love, the way He Qiao treated him was impeccably good.

“Yes.”

Chi Xueyan smiled again. “Can you only say this word?”

“No.” He Qiao took his teasing seriously and asked instead, “Are you cold?”

“I’m not cold,” Chi Xueyan replied seriously. “But I want to go home.”

He Qiao didn’t say anything else.

He let go of the person in his arms and tightly held Chi Xueyan’s hand that was slightly cooled by the wind.

On the way home, heat flowed between the intertwined fingers and even winter faded away.

It was soon New Year’s Eve.

It was rare for Sheng Xiaoyue to not be in front of the TV and watching her soap opera at 8 o’clock. Instead, she would hang around the window from time to time, looking at the movement outside.

This was until the familiar sound of the car was heard approaching. Her eyes lit up and she hurried out.

The black luxury car stopped in front of the house. A moment later, the driver continued to drive the car into the garage.

The two figures shrouded in the moonlight looked so close.

Sheng Xiaoyue’s gaze crossed the garden where flowers were still blooming in winter and saw the hands that were holding each other.

They had been married for half a year and their relationship seemed better than before.

She couldn’t help laughing. She stood by the warmly lit door and hurriedly waved to the two people who were walking side by side toward this place.

He Qiao’s company started their holiday a few days ago and Chi Xueyan’s clinic didn’t officially start the Spring Festival holiday until after work tonight.

This was the first time the two of them returned home after the marriage.

Sheng Xiaoyue asked the maid at home to clean up He Qiao’s room early on. She put in new daily necessities for the two of them and sun warmed the freshly washed sheets and quilts.

In order to commemorate this special Spring Festival that changed from a family of four to a family of five, she didn’t even let people stick the Spring Festival blessing couplets that had been prepared. She waited to wait for the two of them to arrive to stick it together.

She wanted to see how Xiao Chi put up the Spring Festival couplets.

It was a pity that it was too late today. He must be tired after working all day. She could only wait until tomorrow.

Tomorrow was New Year’s Eve. It was just right to do these chores during the day when there was nothing to do.

Chi Xueyan and He Qiao entered through the door and were first pulled by Sheng Xiaoyue to answer some questions. Then they exchanged simple greetings with He Huaili and He Xiao, who were already home on vacation.

A nice and spacious house and a calm and happy scene.

The feeling that her family was around her made Sheng Xiaoyue smile all night.

As Chi Xueyan talked about a small patient who required him to work overtime tonight, even these slightly unfamiliar dental terms sounded particularly interesting.

However, she was still very measured. After sending the two of them to He Qiao’s bedroom, she smiled and let them go free.

“He Qiao, take Xiao Chi around by yourself. Your game room has also been cleaned. Does Xiao Chi like to play games?”

She carefully gave instructions. “If you are hungry, go to the snacks room. I bought a lot of delicious food. Or ask Auntie to get up and make it.”

“I got it, Mom,” He Qiao replied. “Good night.”

Chi Xueyan also said goodnight to her.

He saw Sheng Xiaoyue leave and thought that maybe he wouldn’t call her Auntie Xiaoyue again soon.

In such a warm house, the title of Mother seemed more appropriate.

It had nothing to do with a blood relationship or marriage. He just wanted to address this very gentle mother in the same way as He Qiao.

Moreover, Chi Xueyan’s parents had happily gone abroad to see the aurora.

The year he graduated from high school, the family of three had gone to see the aurora together. it had been Chi Xueyan’s impromptu idea at the time but now he had become an abandoned light bulb.

It was worthy of the couple who watched with a smile as he practiced the horse stance for a year during his childhood in order to learn light footwork.

Chi Xueyan looked at the bedroom in front of him, which was specially arranged by Sheng Xiaoyue. It was similar to the style of the marriage house and sighed silently in her heart.

Speaking of which, this was the first time that he and He Qiao had slept in the same bed.

The relationship had been confirmed but in their marriage house, the two of them still lived in their respective rooms.

There were always steps in love and they couldn’t go to bed immediately when they didn’t even kiss.

He preferred to do what he wanted to do in the atmosphere that came naturally.

It was because every stage of love was interesting.

Now Chi Xueyan no longer doubted Su Yu’s words.

For example, the lovers who hadn’t been in close contact but due to being married for half a year, they had to share a bed during the long Spring Festival holiday or quietly separate with one person sleeping on the sofa.

He thought it was interesting.

He didn’t know what He Qiao would think.

Chi Xueyan looked at the person beside him and tried to find clues from his expression. He only saw He Qiao’s gaze moving away from the bed that was a deep wine red.

He looked calm.

“Do you want to take a shower and rest? Or look around?”

His tone was also quite calm.

Chi Xueyan diverted his attention. “Do you have a special game room?”

He Qiao nodded. “Do you want to see it?”

“Yes.” He walked out of the bedroom first and said in a casual tone, “Are there any fun games?”

The former He Qiao didn’t know he was a dentist and hadn’t seen him working.

Meanwhile, Chi Xueyan hadn’t seen this He Qiao playing games.

He wanted to take a look.

He Qiao fell behind him, reaching out to turn off the light and close the door. Before the light went out, his gaze seemed to instinctively skim over the bed.

The red, deep burgundy red was left alone in the night.

The soft and comfortable big bed never saw its two owners with different moods tonight.

It was because Chi Xueyan suddenly found that the game picked by He Qiao was quite fun.

He seldom played games before. Compared with chasing happiness in a virtual world, he preferred to experience it in reality. In any case, there was basically nothing he didn’t dare to do.

But no matter what, it was impossible for him to simulate gun battles with people in a chaotic crime city in reality, frantically evading pursuit amidst the roar of sirens.

While waiting for the host to load the game and read the save file, Chi Xueyan looked around at the game room full of game discs and asked He Qiao, “How are your game playing skills?”

He didn’t play very often so the level of operation must be average.

He Qiao said that he didn’t like to play games. However, Chi Xueyan always felt that even though he didn’t like to play games, it didn’t mean he couldn’t play games.

As expected, He Qiao replied, “It’s okay.”

The moment he finished speaking, the game loaded. The first image that appeared on the oversized TV screen was a car that fell to pieces. The protagonist of the game who got out of the car was holding his bleeding head and wailing.

Seeing this, Chi Xueyan was silent for a second before looking over with a gaze full of meaning.

“……” He Qiao paused and tried to recall it. Then he explained, “It was because I answered a phone call temporarily, so the car overturned.”

He hadn’t opened this game for a long time.

The last time he played was on the night of the blind date. He was still living at home and couldn’t find a reasonable opportunity to change for the time being. He could only maintain the hobby of ‘He Qiao’ every day.

He was playing this game without any fluctuations when he suddenly received a call from Chi Xueyan.

Without noticing it for a while, the car that had been driving smoothly rolled straight down the slope, turning 360 degrees in the air.

Now that he thought about it, the place where dust and smoke was set off after receiving that call wasn’t just the game.

Chi Xueyan smiled and nodded. “Yes, I believe it.”

His voice sounded the completely opposite of doubt.

He Qiao thought about it. He didn’t know how to continue explaining so he had to ask, “Do you want to compete?”

“Race driving?”

“Flying on a plane. “There is a dedicated flight module that you might like and I haven’t played it before.”

So it was fair play.

The moment the plane appeared on the screen, accompanied by the very realistic game guidance narration, Chi Xueyan thought that He Qiao knew him well. He really liked this module.

In addition, the technique that He Qiao just said was okay was obviously him being modest.

Since Chi Xueyan wasn’t familiar with the basic operation methods of this type of console game, he asked his partner to play it first.

He watched He Qiao control the plane with the handle, smoothly bypassing unfamiliar obstacles and landing smoothly at the end. It was clear that he felt it was simple.

As a result, the game controller that seemed easy fell in his hands and less than ten seconds after departure, the plane was caught off guard and crashed into a tall building, being destroyed and dying.

He even observed the flight route more than He Qiao.

Chi Xueyan’s originally lazy posture suddenly became more serious and he immediately started a second attempt.

The flight leaderboard with the date was blank except for the record left by He Qiao.

Later, there was finally another record after Chi Xueyan successfully passed the challenge.

During this period, He Qiao didn’t take the initiative to teach him. He Qiao just patiently stayed by the side and watched him try again and again while answering his occasional questions.

There were many different training items in this flight module and the difficulty could be selected.

Chi Xueyan gradually immersed himself in it and found it fun. He was no longer satisfied with the most basic difficulty and started to challenge more difficult content.

Every time he broke the record he set, he couldn’t help looking to the side excitedly.

The person who was always sitting next to him was also staring at him with a smile.

The night slipped away.

Chi Xueyan was used to going to bed early and getting up early every day for work. He didn’t often stay up late. He was interested in this game tonight, but exhaustion and sleepiness came faster after he maintained a high concentration for a long time.

He unknowingly fell asleep.

Immersed in a strange dream, he saw distant clouds of freedom. They were high in the untouchable sky, sending only a light breeze over him who was alone and waiting on Earth.

Once the wind came, he seemed to be washed by the invisible, warm flowing water and embraced by a familiar transparent breath.

It was a long, tight hug.

Chi Xueyan woke up from the dream and realized he was really leaning in a person’s arms.

In the early morning, the light of the gray-blue sky filled the room. Together with the hazy and faint sunlight, the brightly colored game screen came into view.

The large screen in front of them was still on and there was no game music coming out. It was probably muted.

The screen stayed on the flight leaderboard.

Two flight records with exactly the same number of minutes and seconds were tied for first place on the rankings.

One was done earlier and it was the best result left by Chi Xueyan when he was in high spirits.

The other was later and it should be when he had fallen asleep.

The person who left the latter record was now asleep.

Chi Xueyan raised his head slightly and caught a glimpse of He Qiao’s sun-soaked side profile. There were heroic lines, light particles floating in the air and the dust of time.

Chi Xueyan didn’t disturb him but quietly looked at the person holding him. He stared seriously for a long time.

It was as if seeing eternity.