Xie Yang returned to the sanatorium and saw Qiu Xing feeding his confused mother water. Xie Yang sat next to Qiu Xing and poured himself a glass of water.

Qiu Xing put down the water cup, helped Mother Qiu wipe her mouth and asked, “Where is he?”

“I scolded him, kicked him and drove him away.”

Qiu Xing paused and glanced sideways at Xie Yang.

Xie Yang narrowed his eyes. “Why? You can’t bear it?”

Qiu Xing saw Xie Yang’s expression and suddenly reached out to touch the corner of Xie Yang’s eye. “You did this in order to stop me from being angry. Why are you coming back angry? If you don’t want to do this type of work, don’t do it. Where did your previous cleverness go?”

The skin at the end of his eye was touched by warm fingers and there was a feeling of being loved and cherished. Xie Yang saw Qiu Xing’s tenderness and care hidden by disgust and reprimands and the anger aroused by Feng Qinglin slowly dissipated in his heart.

The sugar jar was sprinkling sugar again.

He tilted his head and rubbed his face against Qiu Xing’s fingers. Then he retold the content of his conversation with Feng Qinglin. “Although I don’t like to do this type of work, I don’t like to see you becoming angry with him.”

Qiu Xing paused, looked at his fingers and then at Xie Yang’s face. He coughed and retracted his hands, forming fists. “How can he make me angry? You did very well. If he doesn’t even understand the true face of a woman then he should be educated.”

“What true face?”

The two of them stopped talking and glanced at Mother Qiu. They realized that Mother Qiu had become clear-minded again. Qiu Xing immediately changed the topic. “Nothing. Mom, it’s time for dinner.”

Mother Qiu glanced between Qiu Xing and Xie Yang and didn’t ask anything else. She nodded and said, “Then go to the dining room.”

During the meal, Xie Yang still performed his duties seriously. However, Qiu Xing didn’t let Xie Yang take care of him this time. He took away the bowl and spoon in Xie Yang’s hand and told him, “Eat well.” Then he gave Xie Yang some soup and vegetables.

Xie Yang stared at Qiu Xing before picking up his chopsticks and eating the food Qiu Xing had given him.

After eating, Mother Qiu told them, “The room has been cleaned up for you. It is the room where Ah Xing stays every time he comes. Rest early.” After speaking, she called the nurse and went back to her room first.

The dining room became deathly quiet.

Xie Yang turned to look at Qiu Xing. “Auntie means… let me stay in a room with you?”

Qiu Xing switched his expression back to a calm one in a second. “It should be.”

“Is this part of my duties?”

“……” Qiu Xing clenched the hands hanging beside his body. He didn’t know where the courage came from but he actually nodded. “In my mother’s eyes, we have a married relationship. It is normal to sleep in the same room.”

Xie Yang nodded. “I see. Where is the room? I want to take a bath.”

Qiu Xing paused strangely for a second before stepping forward. “Follow me.”

The small building wasn’t big. It was just two floors plus a small attic. Mother Qiu and the nurse who took care of her lived on the first floor. The room where Qiu Xing usually stayed was on the second floor next to the terrace. It was medium-sized with a separate bathroom and the bed was 1.8 metres in size.

After entering the room, he found that luggage that Zhou Miao had sent in advance. He pulled out his pyjamas and went to the bathroom. He came out after taking a shower and found Qiu Xing sitting on the double sofa in the room. He was staring at his phone with a serious expression. Xie Yang asked, “Are there any spare quilts? I will sleep on the floor.”

Qiu Xing immediately looked up at Xie Yang and frowned. “Sleep on the floor?”

“Yes, you’re the employer. I can’t let you sleep on the ground.”

“……” Qiu Xing put down his phone and felt choked up for a moment before saying, “There are no quilts. In addition, my mother occasionally comes to the room in the morning to wake me up. If she sees you sleeping on the ground…”

“It seems like we can only sleep together.”

Qiu Xing stared straight at Xie Yang. Then he abruptly got up, strode over and pressed hard against Xie Yang’s head. “You… be obedient!” After that, he took his pyjamas and went to the bathroom.

Who was being disobedient?

Xie Yang went to the bed and opened the quilt. He got in the bed and took out his phone. WeChat had messages from Qin Cheng and Hu Biao. Both of them had responded to his orders in the morning. He closed WeChat and opened Weibo instead.

The moment Weibo opened, a lot of notifications burst out and almost froze his mobile phone. Xie Yang hurriedly logged out of his Weibo main account and logged into a small side account. This time, his phone wasn’t stuck.

The topic of Mu Zhouyi’s performance was still on the hot search but its popularity had dropped a lot. In its original position, the topic of #Xie Yang’s new song# was hanging there steadily with the ‘burst’ word next to it.

Xie Yang clicked on the topic and saw the new song preview video that was released by his main Weibo account this morning. There were tens of thousands of likes and more than 20,000 comments.

The response was so good? Xie Yang was surprised and clicked on the comments below to take a look. Most of the comments were exclamations and expressions of their expectations. Among them, a few comments that mentioned Mu Zhouyi attracted Xie Yang’s attention.

Pumpkin Sauce: I just listened to Mu Zhouyi’s rehearsal video and came to listen to this. What’s going on? I obviously just got up. Why am I suddenly sleepy (I’m not saying that the song is unpleasant) [laughing and crying]

Strawberry Pudding: I am yawning as well. Am I poisonous? Now there are handsome men and beautiful women capable of singing. I just listened to Xie Yang after listening to Mu Zhouyi. Jealousy made me completely unrecognizable.

Xie Yang raised an eyebrow.

Sleepy? Was it a coincidence or was it…. there was a guess in his mind.

After knowing that Mu Zhouyi would sing at the New Year’s Eve party, he specifically recorded the new song ‘Paper Cutting’ which was to be released in the new year. During the recording of the song, he tried to wrap his ability around his vocal cords, wanting to test if his singing could have a purification effect.

The results of the experiment weren’t too ideal. His current ability level was too low and it wasn’t a mental type. The final effect was only that this version of Paper Cutting sounded more perfect than the previous version. The voice hadn’t changed and the singing had no purification effect.

After discovering that Mu Zhouyi’s singing video was posted on Weibo this morning, he asked Qin Cheng to post the new song preview in advance in order to suppress the popularity of Mu Zhouyi’s hot search. Yet judging from the current results, his song had done far more than suppressing Mu Zhouyi’s hot search.

Purifying the effect of the golden finger caused people to feel sleepy. Some people in the comments said they felt sleepy. Could it be that he felt his new song didn’t have a purifying effect but it was actually effective? Did he succeed in the experiment?

If a song he sang while wrapping his vocal cords with his ability could really purify the influence of Mu Zhouyi’s singing, would there be a purifying effect if he tried to sing Reincarnation at B City TV’s New Year’s Eve party?

The bathroom door was opened. Xie Yang turned toward Qiu Xing.

Qiu Xing walked out of the bathroom in dark blue silk pyjamas. His hair was half dry after washing and a few bangs were scattered, making his eyes and eyebrows look gentler. He didn’t look at Xie Yang after coming out. He went straight to the sofa and sat down while wiping his hair with a towel.

Xie Yang wondered, “Why didn’t you thoroughly blow dry your hair before coming out?”

“The hair dryer was too noisy.” Qiu Xing replied while throwing away the towel. He still didn’t look at Xie Yang as he picked up his phone. “I haven’t finished some business. You go to bed first. I’m going out to have a video conference with He Jun.” Before Xie Yang could reply, he strode out of the room.

He actually ran away. Xie Yang stared at the door for a while before retracting his gaze and continuing to look at his phone.

There was also a message from Long Shuyou in WeChat. Long Shuyou mentioned his new song and said it was very special. He asked if Xie Yang had changed his singing style. Xie Yang responded briefly before clicking on the full version of the new song stored on his phone. He listened to it several times. He still couldn’t get a sense of purification.

Xie Yang frowned. Could it be that his own flow of ability was so large that he couldn’t sense the subtle purification effect? Or could it be that the sense of purification in the song was so weak that only some sensitive people could hear it? He temporarily suppressed this question and decided to find someone to test his guess tomorrow.

The clock hands slowly moved past 9:30 and toward 10 o’clock. Qiu Xing never returned to the room so Xie Yang put down his phone and went to sleep. At half past ten, there was a slight opening sound and then someone stepped in.

Xie Yang lay still and seemed to be asleep. There was a soft sound and the lights in the room dimmed. Then the mattress sank as someone lay down. Xie Yang still didn’t move. After a few minutes, the person lying down moved.

There was a slight friction sound. Xie Yang felt an itch at the corner of his eye and then the skin there was gently touched. A scoff that was complacent and disapproving was heard above his head. Then the mattress moved again, the quilt was pulled over Xie Yang’s body and the room was finally completely quiet.

Xie Yang wasn’t used to sleeping so close with another person after experiencing the apocalypse. However, if it was Qiu Xing… he turned over, faced Qiu Xing and opened his eyes slightly. A man lying stiffly on his back was so scared that he propped up his body in an instant and didn’t breathe.

Xie Yang smiled, closed his eyes and let himself fall into a deep sleep.

In the middle of the night, Xie Yang was awakened by abnormal movements from his hand. His fingers hooked reflexively and then he relaxed when he realized something. He turned over and lay flat on his back.

There was a moment of silence and then a slight rubbing sound came. The relaxed hand that had fallen to his side was grasped by a warm and wide hand that didn’t belong to him. The night was quiet and Xie Yang seemed to hear the loud heartbeat of someone with the guilty conscience.

Who was the mouse after all?

Xie Yang woke up the next day and wasn’t surprised to find Qiu Xing still sleeping and holding his hand. He drew his hand away.

Qiu Xing opened his eyes and instinctively grabbed the hand that Xie Yang had taken away. Then he became sober after meeting Xie Yang’s eyes. He let go of Xie Yang’s hand again, sat up and put on his cold face. He complained, “Some people sleep really badly. They fumble around all night.”

“……”

Xie Yang lifted the quilt and covered Qiu Xing in it. He deliberately kicked Qiu Xing’s leg as he got out of bed.

***

Xie Yang didn’t take care of Qiu Xing at breakfast and refused Qiu Xing’s care. He gave the milk that was poured by Qiu Xing to the nurse to drink. Mother Qiu looked at Xie Yang’s expressionless face and then Qiu Xing’s sullen face. She asked, “You didn’t sleep well last night?”

Xie Yang responded first. “Yes, there was a mouse in the room. I couldn’t sleep because it was nibbling on my hand all night.”

Qiu Xing’s expression changed and he used a reprimand to cover up his guilty conscience. “Nonsense, how can there be—”

Snap.

Xie Yang put down his chopsticks and smiled at Mother Qiu. “Auntie, I have finished eating. The room is a bit stuffy so I will go outside.” Then he got up and left, treating Qiu Xing as air.

“……”

Mother Qiu looked at Qiu Xing and asked, “Did you become a mouse in the middle of the night?”

Qiu Xing’s face filled with colour, his expression changed and he finally declared, “Nonsense!” Then he also got up and left.