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Chapter 5: Let’s Live Together (V)

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Xia Zhi didn’t sleep well that night. He thought and pondered, with his mind wandering here and there. Yet, no matter how hard he thought, he still felt as if he had missed something.

Could Ye Qia’s words be implying that he had an inferiority complex?

Even after listening to such an explanation, Xia Zhi didn’t feel that Ye Qia’s position had been lowered. After all, no matter how low he was in the past, the current Ye Qia  should be able to earn quite a sum. Although Xia Zhi didn’t know the actual figures, at the very least Ye Qia can choose when to work and when not to, and never has to sell his body again. Of course, this sort of thing was not openly discussed, but after deeply contemplating it, Xia Zhi reckoned that since it wasn’t hurting anyone, he didn’t mind it at all. It was an age where prostitution was favored over poverty. Xia Zhi honestly didn’t see Ye Qia as lower than someone like himself, who was just a junior employee on fixed wages, and could barely even afford one square meter of a house after a year.

However, what did those extremely brooding words mean? Fine, it hadn’t been particularly clear whether Ye Qia was brooding, but the more Xia Zhi thought about it, the more he felt that Ye Qia seemed like a lonely, bitter woman.

The next day, Xia Zhi had a pair of dark circles hanging beneath his eyes. He was sitting on the toilet and holding his toothbrush when he suddenly stammered out a question to Ye Qia, who had been facing the mirror and brushing his teeth at the time. “Did you agree to be with me because you thought I seemed like an ordinary person?”

Ye Qia spat out the foam and gave a muffled reply. “Maybe.”

In that moment, Xia Zhi felt inexplicably moved. He tossed out his final bottom line. “Then from now on, you can serve your clients at the other house.”

Ye Qia’s eyeballs swung over, and Xia Zhi quickly corrected himself. “What I meant, is that you can receive your clients at the other house!” He paused, and then spoke with hesitation, “Then, what if they come looking for you, and you happen to be away?”

Ye Qia gargled and coolly said, “Well, then I guess I’ll spend more time there.”

“…”

Afterwards, although Ye Qia had to stay at his “studio” for one or two nights every week, he did stay at home during holidays and most other days. Although, who knows what means he had to take in order to accomplish it. Xia Zhi guessed that, because he’s placed on the same pedestal as God in the eyes of his clients, having their God only appear during critical times should be expected, right?

In contrast to these trivial matters, Xia Zhi had something new to worry about.

“Do you think I’ll also become an M in the future?” Xia Zhi was sitting on the bed with a look of concern, repeating the question for the umpteenth time. “I’m not some sort of strong-willed person.”

Ye Qia was resting on the other side of the bed, with his eyes glued to his eBook. “You won’t,” he calmly replied.

“Why not?”

“Your brain’s not very good.”

“You need a brain to be a slave?”

“You need one to be my slave.”

Xia Zhi was silent for a while, but in the end he couldn’t help speaking again. “You’re not the only dom within the community right? Didn’t all your ex-boyfriends find someone else?”

Ye Qia closed the e-reader. Expressionless, he turned to face Xia Zhi and said, “And so they all died, goodnight.”

“…Hold up, what do you mean by that? Hey, don’t fall asleep!”

No matter how Xia Zhi nagged him for an answer, Ye Qia slept very well that night, without stirring at any of the noise.

Their life together was smoothly sailing along, or at least, this was what Xia Zhi thought. Although there were various small issues, and some notes of dissonance, that’s life. Even if there aren’t any major obstacles in life, shouldn’t there still be a series of minor disruptions?

Except, is this person in front of him a major obstacle or a minor disruption?

Xia Zhi stood at the bedroom door and glowered like a door-god at Mister Li, who was sitting on the sofa in the living room. Xia Zhi was not happy at all.

Ye Qia had probably gone to buy breakfast. When Xia Zhi heard a disturbance in the living room, he had stumbled his way to the bedroom door, and was startled at the sight of Mister Li on the sofa. Xia Zhi looked out the windows and saw that it was still dark outside. How troublesome it must have been for him!

This time, Mister Li hadn’t gotten lost, and had also used some trick to directly get in the house. When Xia Zhi brought this up, Mister Li smugly twirled a key between his fingers and said, “Master gave it to me.”

Although that face was flawlessly perfect, when Xia Zhi recalled the disease on Mr Li’s ass, all his guilt and envy were tossed out of the window. “Who do you think you’re bullsh*tting to?!” he huffed.

Everything else aside, Ye Qia did indeed keep his work and personal life separate, and Xia Zhi was very assured in it. Even if Ye Qia wanted to cheat, he could’ve just brought the person to his “studio”. To actually bring them here, does he have nothing better to do?

Mister Li revealed a look of disdain. He was still pretty and graceful, but when he spoke, he wasn’t as good looking as before. “Master can only be mine.”

“Yes, yes, your Master” answered Xia Zhi offhandedly. He added on in his head, my man.

“I won’t allow anyone to harm my master’s image, even if they’re another slave.”

fúck, you really believe I’m a slave!?

Xia Zhi almost laughed out loud. As he pondered over it, he ventured, “So you want me to leave Ye…Master?”

“Yes.”

Xia Zhi instantly became spirited. “How much money are you prepared to give?”

Mister Li looked even more disdainful than before. “Fifty thousand.”

“Just that little bit?”

“A hundred thousand, no more than that!”

Where’s the rich guy who risks everything for the sake of his good friend?

Xia Zhi silently grumbled about it, then said, “Give me ten million and I’ll leave right away!”

With ten million, I can keep your master and get out of here. You can go have fun by yourself!

Mister Li was silent for a few seconds before saying, “Do I look like an idiot?”

“…”

Xia Zhi silently fixed his expression and asked, “Then why don’t you give Master ten million?”

It was only at these words that Mister Li became dejected. “Master doesn’t need money at all. Money cannot sway him.”

Wrong. If the only price to pay for ten million was the effort used to move the money, he would immediately take it. Super perfect Mister Li, Ye Qia was someone who would bend over to pick up fifty cents off of the street!

This event had happened after Xia Zhi and Ye Qia had just moved in together. Xia Zhi was still holding onto his delusions, plus Ye Qia always wore an expressionless face. As long as people ignored Ye Qia’s casual clothing and behavior, Ye Qia could still give off a false sense of elegance to others. After poring over a lot of realistic and nonrealistic SM novels, Xia Zhi hadn’t been able to resist coming up with various fantasies. So, when Ye Qia was strolling along and suddenly bent over to pick up fifty cents, his train of thoughts came to an abrupt stop.

It was just the fact that Ye Qia was so very blasé about this action, as if doing this was the most natural thing in the world. Xia Zhi didn’t dwell on it for long, and because he couldn’t come up with a valid justification, he forcefully sealed this memory away.

Now thinking about it, wasn’t the reason very simple? It was because it was money. It was only fifty cents, but it was still money, and money that can be gained just by bending over at that. And from Ye Qia’s perspective, why shouldn’t he want money that requires such a small price to be paid?

“You’ve got quite the sharp eyes, to even be able to see fifty cents. When you’re walking, do you only look down at the ground!?” Later, when they were having an argument, Xia Zhi had blurted this out.

“If your nose is pointing towards the sky when you’re walking, not only will you be unable to pick up money, but you’ll also bump into people!”

“And you won’t bump into people if your head is facing down?”

“I can see their feet.”

“…”

There was no way to refute the truth.

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