A President’s Out-of-Body Experience

Early morning, Renzi woke up naturally, but he could have been woken up by the sun shining through the window as well. In the midst of his confusion, the only thing he was sure of was that he was sleeping on the bed in the guest room. The walls were still that lavender purple, against the wall was still that purple vase and lilac peonies, the colours complementing each other. It was as though he had returned to the dream where he was living together with Gu Xiaoshan, and was unwilling to wake up from it.

Yes, he was sure. He was bent, he was done.

Touching his butt, he was very apologetic. Sorry bro, you’ll have to suffer in the future.

Renzi understood that he was unsuitable to reflect about life, to contemplate about theories and hypotheses was too difficult for him, but he should be fine with true-or-false statements, right? Zhi Xuan told him, “If you dreamt that you and him XX, that means in reality, you also want to XX with him.”

Renzi decided to give this statement a “√”. Hopefully, it was not a mistake.

Renzi’s skin was pale, but as he had just woken up, his cheeks were flushed, like apples in the snow. When he had a smile on his face, he looked like an impish child. Smiling, he grabbed his phone by the bed, and sent Zhi Xuan a text. “I think your words yesterday made a lot of sense, thank you!”

Zhi Xuan was completely lost.

Renzi washed up in the guest room, and dressed himself properly before slowly heading downstairs — after all, Brother Xiaoshan was no longer someone he could just parade himself in front of in his underwear. He was now someone he was going to chase after.

Not knowing that he now had achieved such dubious honour, Gu Xiaoshan was eating his breakfast like usual. Renzi flew over to the dining table, an ingratiating look on his face, “Good morning, Brother Xiaoshan!”

“You actually know how to wake up so early?”

Renzi did not know how to reply, and so headed to the fridge to look for food. Gu Xiaoshan did not hire a housekeeper for the apartment, so breakfast was very simple, just cereal with cold milk.

Renzi also assimilated, as he chewed on his breakfast of cereal, he asked, “Has Ha-cube had his breakfast yet?”

Gu Xiaoshan laughed, “You’re staying at my place and eating for free, and yet you still want me to feed your dog?”

Renzi looked at Gu Xiaoshan anxiously. Gu Xiaoshan replied, “I fed it already.”

Renzi put down his worries. He continued with his breakfast as he asked, “Where is the gold chalice?”

Gu Xiaoshan laughed again, “You actually still remember about it, I’ve placed it in the cabinet next to your bed already.”

Chewing on the cereal, Renzi’s mouth was dry. He remembered something else, and asked again, “Then… what present did you get for He Jun?”

Hearing that, Gu Xiaoshan was rather surprised. “Who are you talking about?”

Renzi articulated, “He Jun! Your boyfriend!” After saying that, Renzi was suddenly alarmed. If He Jun is Brother Xiaoshan’s lover, doesn’t that mean I’ll be the third party? I can’t do that!

Having just mustered up his courage to chase after Brother Xiaoshan, Renzi was now once again engulfed in the problems of morality.

Gu Xiaoshan replied indifferently, “He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Oh.” Renzi’s mouth split open in a grin, his heart bursting in joy. That’s great! Then I won’t have to be a third party!

And so, having just cowered under the issue of morality, Renzi again rallied his spirits.

Gu Xiaoshan gave Renzi a questioning stare. “You actually still remember He Jun?” This was really the key-point.

Renzi awkwardly spoke up, “I had forgotten about him, but then I ran into him a couple of days ago, and so… was reminded by him, then I remembered.”

Gu Xiaoshan nodded, thinking that this explanation was more possible, and so accepted it. Still feeling uneasy, Renzi stirred his cereal, “Then… what present did you give him?”

“I haven’t given him anything yet.”

“Then, what do you plan on giving him?”

Gu Xiaoshan frowned. “Why do you asking about this?”

Renzi felt too embarrassed to continue asking, and so ate his cereal silently.

Seeing that Renzi seemed really interested in knowing, Gu Xiaoshan picked up his phone and texted his female secretary. “What did you prepare for He Jun.”

The secretary replied her boss very quickly. “A Burberry scarf bought at the airport’s duty-free, ivory colour with a checkered pattern. It was on sale, after discount it cost 2500RMB.”

Gu Xiaoshan kept his phone and told Renzi, “It’s a Burberry scarf.”

Renzi was shocked, “It’s now June in a subtropical city! A scarf?! Are you trying to kill him with heat!”

“Yeah, you’re the chillest, after steeping yourself in wine.”

Renzi shut his mouth.

Done with his breakfast, Gu Xiaoshan was heading to work. Renzi’s heart ached a little for Gu Xiaoshan. He had just returned last night on a long flight, still jet-lagged, but he still had to wake up early the next day to go to work. Being a CEO was really a physically tiring job, Renzi felt lucky that he had already “abdicated”.

Now, Gu Xiaoshan even had to worry over Renzi. Before leaving the house, he gave him a warning, asking him to be obedient and look after the dog properly. Renzi agreed with a nod, and swore to be extremely obedient. Gu Xiaoshan was full of disbelief, but he still headed off to work. Sitting at home for awhile, Renzi felt very restless. It worsened with the arrival of the part-time cleaner. As the cleaner tidied up the place, Renzi felt very uncomfortable. As such, with the excuse “it’s difficult for auntie to clean up the place with a dog around”, he brought Ha-cube out.

As he walked along the streets, Renzi kept feeling a slight anxiety within him. The was a new experience for him. Although he could not be considered to be completely carefree, and in fact, he did have moments when he was upset, but these moments were like a tornado, coming in fast and hard, but leaving the same way as well, and he soon forgot about all these little troubles. Whereas for now, his troubles were like a rain in spring, they were not severe, but were lingering, constantly twisting in his mind.

Although within him was a spring shower, but outside of him was the heat of summer. After walking for about fifteen minutes, Renzi’s forehead was beaded with sweat, and the dog was also panting with its tongue hanging out. Renzi wanted to bring Ha-cube to a place with air-conditioning, but recalling that his pocket was empty, and then he remembered President Gu telling him that if he had no money he could go to any place under the Gu’s name. So, Renzi brought Ha-cube to a restaurant by the street.

This was the only pet-friendly restaurant in the neighbourhood, and so there were many customers who also brought their pets along. Renzi was a frequent customer, and the manager recognised him, leading him to a seat. Hugging Ha-cube, Renzi told him, “I’m sorry, this time I’ll need to put the bill on credit first.”

The manager smiled and told him not to worry, even bringing Ha-cube to the pet zone. Renzi was too embarrassed to order a lot of food, and so only had a cup of coffee. Then, he ordered Ha-cube’s favourite hand-made low-sugar ice-cream that was crafted especially for dogs. While drinking his plain americano, Renzi looked at his dog who was frantically licking at its ice-cream, Ha-cube’s food is even more expensive than mine!

After a few mouthfuls of coffee, Renzi suddenly heard someone calling him. “Second Young Master Yu?”

This voice… sounded a little familiar. Renzi questioningly turned his head towards the voice, and saw a tall and thin man looking at him quietly. Tentatively, he asked. “You’re… He Jun?”

He Jun was also a little startled that Renzi was able to recognise him. A slightly joyful look appeared on his face. “Yes, it’s me. I can’t believe you still remember.”

Renzi felt a little hostility towards He Jun, but due to his upbringing, he still smiled and stood up. “Sorry to have forgotten about you the previous time. Actually, I do remember, it’s only that I couldn’t recall it at that moment.”

During their phone conversation, Renzi had thought that He Jun was definitely a foppish person. Seeing him in real life, he definitely looked a little foppish, he did not malign him. He Jun had an artist feel to him, dressed in linen clothes, clearly a man yet he kept his hair long, twisting it up with an unsharpened pencil and highlighting his fair and slender neck. Looking at him carefully, his face was gaunt, somewhat hollow, his body was very lean, and his every action looked very charming.

Normally, Renzi would never observe a man so carefully. Today was an exception, it was as though he was zooming in on He Jun with a magnifying glass. He Jun felt somewhat strange about it, he asked with a smile, “Why do you keep staring at me?”

Renzi choked. “No, no… It’s just that I rarely see a guy with long hair.”

He Jun laughed, his eyes looking even longer and thinner. “Oh, then please take a longer look.”

Renzi felt somewhat embarrassed.