"Husband Eating Shrimp"

42.
Xing Ye is not a very emotional person, at least not before meeting Wen Chengshu. From the moment he realized that his emotions were always unknowingly being led by Wen Chengshu, he was very clear that this was not a good thing, but he couldn't control it. A few strands of hair that had not completely dried stuck to his neck, feeling a bit uncomfortable. He raised his hand to push the hair aside and his eyes were still downcast. "Do you want to listen now?"
Wen Cheng's slightly cold expression softened, and he handed over a tissue, his tone also becoming gentler: "Wait a moment. Have you had dinner?"
Xing Ye nodded, then lifted his moist eyes to look at him, and said softly, "But I'm hungry again."
Wen Chengshu called for room service using the hotel phone, then got up and said, "I'm going to take a shower first."
Xing Ye curled up on the sofa, holding his legs, and said, "Okay."
Wen Chengshu's slightly lowered gaze lingered on his slender white legs for a moment, then he turned and brought a silk robe from the bedroom, standing in front of him and said, "Stand up."
Xing stood barefoot on a thick, long-haired carpet, lifting his hand to take off his linen shirt and standing naked in front of Wen. He showed no embarrassment as Wen helped him into a loose robe, stretching out his arms for Wen to slip on the sleeves for him.
Wen Chengshu lowered his head to help him fasten the belt around his waist, with a deep and gentle voice: "I do indeed have the same stereotype about performance art as the public, but I am not angry because of it."
Xing Ye's eyes stared at his slowly moving lips as he spoke.
Wen Chengshu's slender and long fingers skillfully tied two silk threads, and he sighed lightly as he looked at Xing Ye's clenched, white knuckles at the cuff, which turned white due to nervousness.
He raised his eyes to look at Xingye, facing his own heart was not an easy thing, so his words were spoken very lightly, his voice deep: "The reason I am angry is because that person is you."
Xing Ye almost thought he had heard wrong, hesitated for a moment, reached out and pulled his sleeve not too certain, looked into his eyes, and the tone of his voice revealed his probing without doubt: "Is my premonition about to come true?"
Wen Chengshu's heart was softened by the amber pool in his eyes, and after a moment of silence, he raised his arms and opened them to him.
Xing Ye didn't hesitate for a moment, quickly rushing into his arms, burying his nose in his neck and murmuring, "Brother...did I wait long enough?"
"Understood," Wen Chengshu hugged him and gently stroked his back to soothe him. "So you better come up with a good reason that won't make me angry."
Xing Ye's furry head nuzzled in his arms, and it's not clear whether he was nodding or acting coquettish.
Wen Chengshu held him for a while, patted his back, "I'm going to take a shower."
Xing Ye held him without letting go, lifted his head to look at him, and said seriously, "You won't be angry with me, and you won't be angry with Xiaonian. We did nothing wrong."
Wen Chengshu lightly wiped away the tears at the corner of his eyes with his fingertips and said, "Okay."
-
When Wen Chengshu came out of the bathroom after taking a shower, Xing Ye was sitting on the carpet in front of the coffee table peeling shrimp. There were several peeled shrimp on the plate beside him. When he saw Wen Chengshu coming out, he looked up with red, swollen eyes and smiled at him, saying naturally, "Husband, have some shrimp."
Xing Ye's rapid change of roles made Wen Chengshu a little unaccustomed. The steps under his feet abruptly stopped, and his eyebrows furrowed unnaturally for a moment.
"Ah, don't you like this?" Xing Ye lightly rubbed his nose with his wrist and also felt a little uncomfortable. He explained in a low voice, "My classmates all call each other like this when they are in a relationship. I thought everyone did the same..."
Wen Chengshu walked over and sat down across from him.
"I've never been in a relationship," Xing Ye said, handing him the plate with his head down. "Don't laugh at me."
"...Just be yourself,"
"Oh." Xingye knelt on the coffee table, served a bowl of porridge in front of Wenchengshu, and said, "Brother, have some porridge."
Wenchengshu looked at the embarrassed but trying not to show it little kid, couldn't help but laughed softly.
Xing Ye's ears turned red all of a sudden, he glanced at him with anger and embarrassment, lowered his head and ate his meal without speaking again.
After finishing his supper, Wen Chengshu made a phone call to Yu Yan in the living room, finalizing the meeting that was suddenly interrupted tonight, he then returned to the bedroom after hanging up the phone.
Xing Ye sat leaning against the head of the bed, holding a tablet and looking focused. It wasn't until Wen Chengshu walked up beside him that he lifted his eyes from the screen and asked, "Am I causing trouble for you guys?"
"Understood." Wen Chengshu plugged in his phone to charge and got into bed.
"I'm sorry." Xing Ye looked at him.
Wen Chengshu rubbed his head and pulled him into his arms, looking at the tablet in his hand. "What are you looking at?"
Xing leaned on his shoulder, scrolling through the page with his head down: "I'm looking for a documentary I watched in high school, it was an undercover investigation about animal performances."
Wen turned his head slightly to look at Xing's face, seeming to vaguely understand something in his heart.
"Have you ever seen a circus black bear performance?" Xing Ye searched online for videos of the performance he had seen in the past, chatting with Wen Chengshu at the same time, "Black bears can stand up and walk, they can jump rope on two feet, and they can even ride bicycles."
"Understood."
“Can you imagine how they do it?” Xing Ye played the found video in full screen on his tablet and showed it to him. “To make black bears perform human-like acts, the animal trainers in the circus usually lock them in narrow cages, put chains around their necks, and then tie the other end of the chains to the top of the cage.”
In the video, the black bear is being suspended in an iron cage that is not spacious enough for it to move. Its body is thin and dirty, with countless tiny wounds under its grimy fur. The weight of its entire body is pressing down on its legs, which appear weak due to starvation. The bear's body is suspended, and its thick feet are trembling, but it cannot move because if it loses its balance, the short iron chain around its neck will become a cruel instrument, putting it at risk of suffocation.
"They perform in funny and cute clothes, shivering and making a silly appearance under the violent hints of the animal trainer. The stage is always far away, and no one can see the battered bodies underneath their fur."
A middle-aged man appeared in the camera with a thumb-thick hemp whip. Wen Chengshu clearly felt the slight trembling of the person in his arms. He looked sideways at Xing Ye. Xing Ye frowned tightly and leaned slightly to one side, glued to his arms, but his eyes were still glued to the video.
When the mighty beast, over two meters tall, saw the slender middle-aged man approaching, it instinctively pressed its body tightly against the cage wall behind it, trying to move away from the man. The man smirked smugly, took out a few hard and dry steamed buns from a dirty plastic bucket and threw them into the cage. He then used a whip to hit the cage, making a clanging sound. The poor little bear, hearing the warning sound and feeling both fearful and hungry, slowly shuffled over to the man, asking for him to unlock its chains. However, the man found its movements too slow, and the next second, his whip lashed fiercely at its body.
The screen shook for a moment, and the person secretly filming outside seemed unable to bear it and asked him, "Why are you hitting it?"
The man turned his head, grinned foolishly, and said in a strong local accent, "If you don't hit it, it won't listen. You have to hit it hard so it gets scared of you. The more scared it is, the more tickets you can sell."
With Xing Ye's fingertips white against the edge of the tablet, his breathing becomes even more strained.
Wen Chengshu takes the tablet from his hand, locks the screen, and puts it aside, then reaches to turn off the light.
"How can some people be so evil?" Xing Ye burrows into the covers, clinging to Wen Chengshu's waist, and mutters, "The theme of our exhibition this time is 'If the world were upside down, would humanity still coldly watch?' But the fact is, not only do they watch coldly, they also spit on you and say you deserve to be locked in a cage for dressing so scantily."
Wen Chengshu's chin rested on the top of his hair, his hand gently pinching the soft flesh of his neck, and he said in a deep voice, "I'm sorry."
"..." Xing Ye didn't say anything, and it wasn't until a while later that he sighed deeply and said a little gloomily, "It's not your fault. If anyone is to blame, blame that idiot who took the video and the media that reported without verifying the facts. We had intentions to educate and promote animal protection before and after our performance that day. The big banner was right there. They just had to act blind. Ridiculous."
"...Oh, right!" Xing Ye suddenly remembered something, and raised his head abruptly, forgetting that Wen Chengshu's chin was resting on top of his head. His head accidentally bumped into it.
He heard Wen Chengshu let out a small sigh beside his ear.
Xingye was taken aback, quickly raising his hand to massage him, and said somewhat nervously, "Ah! Are you okay, does it hurt?"
Wen Chengshu's chin was tickled by his fingers, he helplessly grabbed the hand that kept rubbing the wrong spot for a long time, and smiled, "I'm fine. What did you want to say just now?"
Xingye's hand was wrapped in his warm palm, and his ears and face were flushed with heat, as if the throbbing of his heart was causing his words to stutter: "I, I want to ask if anyone in the club has filmed the whole thing. There was a super cute little year who played a baby bear in front, and even secretly gave me a string of candied haws from bear daddy and bear mommy..."
However, the thoughts swirling in my dizzy head at the moment are completely different from the words coming out of my mouth.
— There should be a suite in the hotel, right?
— There isn't, but it's okay, right? /