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Chapter 1: Let’s Live Together (I)

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[Winter]

Xia Zhi’s boyfriend was a professional dominant.

Not even a minute after meeting Ye Qia, Xia Zhi thought of being in a relationship with him. It wasn’t for any reason, it was just that Ye Qia stuck out amid the chaotic atmosphere and feverish dancing. At the time, he just so happened to have broken up with his ex, and at his age he was tired of spending every night with strangers from the nightclub. He wished that he could settle down and earnestly be in a relationship.

After appraising the other man for ten minutes, Xia Zhi told Ye Qia to meet him inside the bathroom. There, he solemnly confessed, “Are you willing to be with me? I’m talking about seriously living together and not fooling around.”

Ye Qia inspected Xia Zhi for a few minutes, giving him the impression of being scanned by an X-ray machine. Just as he was on the verge of an outburst, the other person finally spoke up. “I’m a dom by profession.”

Xia Zhi faltered for a few seconds before blurting out a single word. “Ah?”

“As in, a professional BDSM dom.” Ye Qia’s face remained expressionless as he spoke. “That is, if you don’t mind.”

Xia Zhi finally reacted and began to laugh. “No problem, I have tendencies for domestic violence, that is, if you don’t mind…”

Just like that, Ye Qia and Xia Zhi started dating, and began their life of happiness – as if.

Xia Zhi was born in a typical family. From an outsider’s perspective he had a loving family, where the husband and wife lived in harmony and were an ideal match. All in all, the family could only be described as perfect.

However, behind closed doors Xia Zhi often heard his mother’s shrieks coming from the bedroom, and occasionally bruises would appear on her body. In the most serious incident he entered the room to find his mother with a numb face, her lower body soaked in a pool of blood as she clung to her husband’s feet.

That day, Xia Zhi lost his unborn little brother and, at the same time, his image of his loving, caring, and knowledgeable father collapsed into pieces.

When Xia Zhi was fifteen years old his mother finally separated from his father, at the cost of their possessions. The mother and son pair rented a shack and lived through days of hardship. Their life finally got back on track after Xia Zhi found a job.

One day, after Xia Zhi mentioned that he was confessed to by a female colleague, his mother suddenly grabbed him by the collar and cried out desperately, “Promise me that you will never hit your wife!”

After hearing this, he released a breath he had been unknowingly held and patted his mother’s shoulder. “Relax, mom. I’m gay, so even if I get violent I still might not be able to beat up another man.”

Xia Zhi could sense a bloodthirsty monster in his heart. There were times during arguments with his mother where he felt an urge to raise a hand against her. He could restrain himself since the other person was his mother, but what if the other person was a wife of the same generation? He was not confident that he could continue suppressing his urge. If this sort of thing happens once, it will happen again. He was very clear that once he started there would be no going back.

This was one of the reasons why he picked Ye Qia. 1.86 meters tall (this is like 6’1”) with a muscle-packed body, angular face, and sporting a crew cut. People could tell from a glance that he was no pushover. If they really got into a fight, he wouldn’t be able to say who’d come out on top.

He did not misjudge Ye Qia. When they were moving houses, just because Xia Zhi couldn’t find his beloved flower vase, he exploded from frustration and unconsciously lashed out

Ye Qia had caught his punch with ease. With a sharp tug, he twisted Xia Zhi’s arm behind his back and pinned him against the wall, causing Xia Zhi to yell in pain. However, after this Ye Qia did not do anything but speak a phrase beside his ear: “Calm down.”

Like a miracle, Xia Zhi’s frenzied heart settled down.

Ye Qia had a very deep, sonorous voice. It was the type of voice that would cause a response if a recording was played in public. “Do your customers climax just by the sound of your voice?” teased Xia Zhi.

Ye Qia’s eyes did not leave the newspaper. “My customers cannot be satisfied just by sound alone, unlike you.”

Xia Zhi became upset, “Do I look weak?”

“Both your body and mind are very weak.”

“How so?” he bluntly replied to the criticism.

At this, Ye Qia moved his gaze from the newspaper, and coolly looked at Xia Zhi for a while before speaking. “What you desire most is to kill your father. You’ve even made preparations for this before, haven’t you?”

Xia Zhi was startled because what Ye Qia said was all true.

“It isn’t your fault.” Ye Qia turned a page and slowly said, “Even if you really made a move, it’s still not your fault.”

Within seconds, tears began to fall from Xia Zhi. He knelt in a corner and hugged  his knees, wailing and crying out loud, until Ye Qia came over. After the other man patted his head and gave his forehead a kiss, Xia Zhi slowly calmed down. From this moment onward, he developed a sense of fear towards Ye Qia in his heart. He was also quite curious. “How did you know? I’ve never mentioned my parents’ matters with you before.”

“You have tendencies for violence, and even confessed you would like to live together with me, someone who looks like they’ve just been released from jail, without even knowing each other for ten minutes at a party full of stoned gays. This is already enough to point out the problem.”

“I don’t see how they’re connected.”

“It’s nothing, it’s just that I’ve seen a lot.”

“…”

Ye Qia always had a lazy appearance, and didn’t even put on an expression while he was at home. He was very easy to support, eating whatever was given and not being fussy with clothing. On his days off, he’d spend the entire day in a pair of underwear, and loose, baggy boxers at that. Whenever he sat down with his legs crossed, all of his private bits would be exposed, making those who see them speechless.

Later on, after Xia Zhi took the effort to understand Ye Qia, he found out that Ye Qia was very famous in the BDSM community. The number of clients requesting him lined up into a two year queue, and even then he might not take a client on, as it “depended on his first impression”.

“What sort of first impression do you look for when choosing people?”

“Handsome, looks easy to manage, wealthy but doesn’t work a lot.”

“Then isn’t that almost the same as working?”

“It is work.”

“…I thought you were treating it as some lifelong career.”

Xia Zhi just received an eye-roll in return.

He was very curious about Ye Qia’s work, and frequently asked questions about things within the scene. Ye Qia didn’t make an effort to avoid them and answered them as they came, except for questions about the customers’ identities. After living together for a period of time, Xia Zhi discovered that almost all of his friends from before in his line of work had died. Some overdosed on drugs, were beaten to death by the client, fúcked to death, or died from AIDS. There was even one who died from exhaustion, convulsing in the middle of the action and dying from shock after the client was unwilling to send him to hospital.

After he sent off his best friend, Ye Qia made a resolute decision and changed from a person who never chose clients into one who was fastidiously picky. Strangely enough, this instead made his business boom. Not even a year later, he became famous in the entire circle, and to this day is known as a legendary dom. If there wasn’t a referral he basically didn’t take on new clients. At the start he would take ten days to half a month long holidays, and there was even a time when he didn’t take on clients for half a year.

After hearing this, Xia Zhi was speechless. “I thought you would decide to leave the community.”

“Then how would I make a living?”

“Bricklaying’s also good work.”

Ye Qia threw another eyeroll. “You think I couldn’t lay bricks before entering this line of work? People choose to enter this profession because they don’t have practical skills and are lazy gluts. Now, I can’t do anything else besides this, and switching professions would eat away at my capital.”

“Isn’t your capital enough to last you your entire life?”

Ye Qia didn’t make a peep and scrutinized Xia Zhi, making his hair stand on end. Xia Zhi lifted his hands in surrender. “I’m just asking, I’m not snooping into how much money you have!”

Before they began living together, they had agreed that both sides would not ask too much about the other’s finances.

However, most of the living expenses were paid by Xia Zhi. The first week they lived together he had tried to complain about this problem. Ye Qia had stared at Xia Zhi with his phoenix eyes for a long time, before languidly saying, “There are a lot of bottoms but not many tops, so for a top like me, how many do you think exist out there?”

There was no need to say the answer.

“Then, for a top like me who is willing to be with a bottom like you, how many do you think exist out there?”

Xia Zhi had flown into a rage from embarrassment and given a kick. Ye Qia didn’t resist and instead turned around, sprinted out of the room, and locked it until Xia Zhi became exhausted from banging on the door. After being let out, he didn’t cause a commotion anymore. Although his income wasn’t very high it was still enough to support them. Plus, Ye Qia wasn’t very fussy, so he decided to let it slide.

The next morning, Xia Zhi had found some breakfast money on the living room table, and it continued for the following days. Ye Qia didn’t have to card in for work and basically didn’t have to eat in the morning, so it went without saying to whom the money was for, and Xia Zhi didn’t pursue  the matter of expenses.

It was mostly Xia Zhi who provided for their home. Occasionally, if he didn’t have enough money on him while grocery shopping, Ye Qia would lend him some. When they made large purchases they would pay from their own pocket, and refused to buy anything for the other. Of the large purchases in their home, if Xia Zhi had bought it with his wallet, then Ye Qia would openly enjoy its use. If Xia Zhi asked him to pay up, he would give at most half, and nothing more.

Sometimes Xia Zhi felt that Ye Qia was a cheapskate. He’d rather wear eight to ten layers of clothing and look like a ball than buy a heating unit, but after Xia Zhi bought one, Ye Qia would turn it on every single day. Even then he might not pay the electricity bills, with the attitude of “I’d be stupid to not take advantage of it.” Xia Zhi had carefully considered whether Ye Qia was a douchebag or not, but since they hadn’t spent enough time together, he could only postpone his decision.

At the very least, there was one thing about Ye Qia that suited Xia Zhi’s tastes: his lack of interest in sex.

“Do you do it too much at work?”

“I don’t make love with clients. You’ve asked around for so long and you still don’t know that?”

With his private investigation exposed, Xia Zhi didn’t dare meet Ye Qia’s gaze. He blushed, but still felt that this was a good thing since his interest in sex wasn’t large.

“The clients are okay with that?”

“Who cares.”

Xia Zhi suddenly thought that Ye Qia was quite admirable. As a man and a boyfriend, his feelings were extremely conflicted.

“Then why aren’t you interested?”

“Did it too much in the past.”

“….”

fúck, then isn’t this still because he did it too much!?

Xia Zhi shut up for a while, then asked, “Top or bottom?”

“I don’t bottom.”

Xia Zhi suddenly felt himself at a loss. Not because his boyfriend wasn’t a virgin, but because the current illustrious Ye Qia was once just a toy who catered to all the whims of his clients.

“Did you really think my profession is all that glorious?” Ye Qia suddenly asked, and continued before Xia Zhi could muster up a reply, “From the beginning, this line of work doesn’t require much skill. What we sell are our bodies and dignity, and even if you quit, you can’t regain your dignity. Shu Qi^[1] described it using pretty words, ‘To put back on the clothes that were once taken off,’ but afterwards,  if someone wants to look up her naked body can’t they still do it? These words are deceiving, just take my previous clients as an example. When they hear my name, all they think of is my cock. My one saving grace is that I didn’t bottom. I’d  rather put on protection than make extra money, and I didn’t do drugs, else I would’ve ended up like my friends. In a pile of ashes.”

That was the first time Ye Qia had spoken so much since the start of their relationship. Xia Zhi had a bitter taste in his mouth after hearing Ye Qia’s story, and didn’t know how to respond. All he could do was act as if nothing had happened and change the topic. From this point on, there was a length of time when no one mentioned Ye Qia’s work, until Xia Zhi finally couldn’t hold back any longer.

“I want to have sex.”

Xia Zhi’s sex drive wasn’t very strong, but it didn’t mean he didn’t have one. After a month of receiving help from the “five ladies”, he wanted to fúck.

At the time, Ye Qia had been trimming a bonsai. With a pair of scissors in hand, he shifted his gaze to Xia Zhi’s lower body, then turned back around. “Can’t you manage it yourself?”

“I’ve got a man so why do I need to manage it myself!” shouted Xia Zhi resentfully.

Only at this did Ye Qia turn his entire body around. While still holding the scissors, he closed in step by step, until Xia Zhi’s legs stiffened, and even his third “leg” weakened. Then, he lazily spoke. “Early on I had this client. He was about 300 pounds, and the flesh on his belly looked just like magma after it had cooled down. His body would jiggle with just a touch, and because of too much oil his pores were as densely packed as a pig’s. I couldn’t lift him up and could only drag him, and not even with my hands because there was nowhere to hold on to, so I especially made a loincloth in the style of Japanese sumo wrestling and dragged…”

Xia Zhi’s arousal was gone in an instant. With a livid face, he swung a punch at Ye Qia before he turned around and ran. After calming down, he went back and asked, “Why the hell did you tell me that! It’s disgusting!”

Ye Qia leisurely trimmed the bonsai as he spoke. “I shouldn’t be the only one to go  blind. If you’re still turned on after hearing that, I’ll do it with you.”

Xia Zhi was infuriated, but indeed he didn’t want to do it anymore, so he let it go.

One day, after they had lived together for almost a month, Ye Qia came home in the middle of the night while Xia Zhi was in the middle of masturbating. Xia Zhi jumped up in a panic after the lights were turned on. He didn’t know why, but it stayed hard and just wouldn’t go soft. After half an hour it was still standing up. Just as he was about to go take a cold shower, he was pulled back by Ye Qia. “Weather’s too cold, let me help you.”

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Footnotes:

[1]Shu Qi is a famous Taiwanese actress

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