four year itch

Xu Ruibai was woken up by the sound of the TV in the living room. He habitually touched the head of the bed, wanting to check the time, but found that this was not his room.He sat up, looked around the dark room, rubbed his temples, the memory slowly came back, and then he remembered that he was in Ye Jia's room.

Xu Ruibai got up and got out of bed. As soon as he opened the door, he could smell the aroma of food. The living room was bright and clean but empty, except for the noisy sound of the TV. He called "Ye Jia", but there was no response.

He searched for the scent and walked to the kitchen, and saw a familiar figure at a glance. Ye Jia was cooking soup with his back turned to him. The range hood was humming, but Ye Jia didn't notice himself behind him.

He leaned against the door frame and watched his back.

Ye Jia was wearing a comfortable cashmere sweater with sleeves rolled up to his forearm, revealing his snow-white skin. He was too thin and looked very thin.

He just watched him busy quietly like that, with a sense of trance that they had lived together for many years.The ordinary life in the imagination should be like this, daily necessities, living together, sleeping in each other's arms.

Maybe because he sensed the gaze from behind, Ye Jia turned around and saw that it was him, so he smiled and said, "Wake up, I'll eat right away."

"Ah."

"Take out the bowls and chopsticks over there." Ye Jia said casually while adding seasonings to the pot.

Xu Ruibai obediently took out the two sets of bowls and chopsticks that had been prepared at the side, and sat at the dining table waiting for Ye Jia to come over. He looked around this small apartment that wasn't too big, with three bedrooms and one living room, and the decoration was a bit old. The monstera in the corner of the living room, the succulent stand on the balcony, the daffodils on the tea table, and the foreign peonies on the dining table all reveal the elegance of the owner.

Not long after, Ye Jia came out of the kitchen with a soup bowl, and they sat face to face, eating their lunch quietly amidst the boring skits and the sound of firecrackers from time to time.

"Where are your parents?" Xu Ruibai asked suddenly.

"They went out to pay New Year's greetings."

"Why didn't you go?"

"..." Ye Jia felt speechless for a while, and changed the subject, "You...why came here suddenly."

"Travel." Xu Rui downed the soup without changing his face.

"Travel? But we don't have any interesting places here." Ye Jia has stayed here for more than 20 years, and he hasn't discovered any particularly interesting attractions yet.

"Materials. I want to write about a sparsely populated remote town in my new work." Xu Ruibai spoke with reason and evidence, just kidding, was the 7 hours on the highway for nothing?

Ye Jia blinked innocently, with a more puzzled expression, "But, there are quite a lot of people here, so it's not remote."

"Cough, cough..." Xu Ruibai choked on a mouthful of soup, coughed violently, his face flushed.

"It's okay." Ye Jia put down the bowl and chopsticks, patted his back with concern, and secretly stuck out her tongue.

"fine!"

After the two of them had lunch, Ye Jia wanted to take Xu Ruibai around, but Xu Ruibai said that his fatigue from driving all night had not completely dissipated, and Ye Jia didn't force it.

The two sat on the sofa and looked at their phones, talking a word or two from time to time.The heating in the room made Ye Jia drowsy.

With a sound of "click", following the sound of the door being opened, a middle-aged woman wearing a dazzling red coat, stepping on fashionable black leather boots, and carrying a large bag in her hand walked in with a smile on her face. Xie shouted: "Son, mom is back."

As soon as he looked up, he saw Xu Ruibai sitting on the sofa. With just one glance, Chen Jing's smile froze on his face.

This is Alpha, right?

Who will tell me why there is an Alpha sitting in my house?

Is this the friend the son mentioned?

Why didn't you tell me that the other party is an Alpha?

It looks good, and it looks quite temperamental

Could it be that the son got some big money, right?

So that brat Ye Jia is dating without telling me?

……

During the three seconds they stared at each other in silence, countless information had flooded Ms. Chen Jing's brain.We can speak eloquently, and Ms. Chen, who dominates one side, doesn't know which expression to choose to deal with the scene at this time.

In layman's terms, at this moment, Ms. Chen's brain froze.

"Mom, what are you doing standing at the door?" Ye Ming and Ye Hemin took a step back and walked in from behind.

Ye Ming looked suspiciously at Chen Jing's eyes, saw the face in the living room that he had seen countless times through the screen, and shouted excitedly: "The southwest wind is strong!"

Ye Jia shivered violently, all sleepiness disappeared, and hurriedly stood up from the sofa: "Dad, Mom, why did you come back so early?"

what to do!He hasn't had time to confess to Xu Ruibai!

Xu Ruibai reacted first, smiled at the three of them, got up from the sofa, and lowered his voice even more magnetically: "Uncle, aunt, sister, hello, I'm Xu Ruibai, please excuse me."

For some reason, Ye Jia always felt that Xu Ruibai seemed to be showing his elegance intentionally or unintentionally.

"Hello." Ye Hemin didn't panic at all, smiled, and shook hands with Xu Ruibai politely.

Chen Jing also sorted out the information in her head as quickly as possible, and with a pair of discerning eyes, she saw the "extraordinary product" in Xu Ruibai's bones, found the most suitable smile, and said enthusiastically, "Hello, you Is it the friend Xiao Jia mentioned?"

Xu Ruibai was taken aback for a moment, then nodded immediately: "Yes, I'm bothering you."

"Oh, what are you talking about?" Ms. Chen has also seen the big world, how could she be defeated just like that, she tightly held Xu Ruibai's hand and walked into the room, and she did not forget to stare fiercely when she turned around. He glanced at Ye Jia who was standing on the side: "Your name is Xu Ruibai, right? Which one is Rui and which one is Bai?"

"The auspicious Rui, the white white, is taken from the poem 'Rui Bai can't afford the dust'. I was born in the snow." It is rare for Xu Ruibai to introduce his name in such detail. Ye Jia knows that Xu Ruibai's name is derived from It has been a long time since they knew each other since this poem, and this is indeed a name that is too white.

"What a good name. Our Ye Jia's name is also taken from an ancient text, just Su Dongpo's "The Biography of Ye Jia", you know?" Chen Jing now seems to have regarded Xu Ruibai as Ye Jia's secret object. As a mother, she must not let her precious son down, lest you think my son is not good enough for you.Your name is artistic, isn't it? My baby son's name is more artistic!

"I heard from Xiaojia that it was an article about tea." Xu Ruibai smiled steadily, neither humble nor overbearing.

"That's right, our family used to be a tea house, so we named our two children this name." Chen Jing's subtext is already very obvious, our family used to be a big family.

Chen Jing really didn't make up this matter. Ye Jia lived in a tea house for a while when he was a child, but after Ye Jia's grandfather passed away, someone wanted to buy the tea house.Firstly, the tea business was difficult at that time, the tea house had been in a state of loss for several years, and Chen Jing's generation also had their own business at that time, so there was no intention of inheriting the family business; Secondly, the price offered by that person is indeed very attractive.After discussing with her brothers and sisters, Chen Jing agreed to such a deal.

"Are you the Southwest Wind, aren't you?" Little Ye Ming, who didn't realize the anxiety of the atmosphere at all, wanted to add fuel to the flames, making things worse, and could no longer hold back the excitement of seeing his idol.

Xu Ruibai looked at Ye Ming and answered in the affirmative with his expression.

"I am your fan, my name is Ye Ming."

"Hello." Xu Ruibai greeted her kindly.

Chen Jing, who was not on the same channel, felt her heart tighten when she heard the word "fan". tactics!

For the mother, I really broke my heart.

"Fan? Rui Bai, are you an actor?" This face had indeed met the standard of an actor, but Chen Jing remembered that she had never seen this person on TV.

Before Xu Ruibai had time to speak, Ye Ming couldn't wait to grab the words, "Mom! He's a cartoonist!"

"It's just drawing cartoons." Xu Ruibai said modestly.

"Big! Can you sign it for me? I really like your "2024"!" Ye Ming clenched her fists in her chest, her face full of anticipation.

"Of course." Xu Ruibai smiled, and he regained his composure.

"I'll go... I'll get the books!" Ye Ming ran back to the dormitory with a thud.

"Big? What..." Chen Jing, who was out of place, looked at Ye Ming's back with puzzled and disgusted eyes, and immediately turned around after speaking, "Hey, Xiaobai, can I call you that?"

"..."

Ye Jia glanced at Xu Ruibai in fear, but saw that his smile was still there: "Of course."

"Mom!" Ye Jia hurriedly stopped him. He knew his old mother too well. If he kept silent, she would probably come up with some strange drama in her head. "He is the cartoonist of our company, and I am his edit."

"Ah?" Chen Jing's expression was blank for a moment, while Xu Ruibai looked at Ye Jia thoughtfully.

Ye Jia shook his head helplessly: "Mom, he's about to publish a new work, come here to collect materials and find some inspiration."

"Come out to find inspiration on New Year's Eve?" Chen Jing accidentally uttered her heart, and the atmosphere was a little anxious for a moment, but Chen Jing figured it out in a second. After all, art can't always be used Look at them with ordinary eyes.

Fortunately, at this moment, Ye Ming ran out of the room with the book in his arms, and handed the brand new collector's edition "2024" to Xu Ruibai: "I'm in big trouble."

"It's ok."

Xu Ruibai drew a cartoon image of Ye Ming with three or five strokes on the title page with a marker pen. Chen Jing had never seen this before, and praised repeatedly: "The drawing is really good."

After drawing the image, Xu Ruibai stopped writing and asked, "Your tea is..."

"The one with cursive characters!" Ye Ming quickly replied, Xu Ruibai lowered his head and wrote the words TO Xiaoming, and left the eight words "study hard, thank you for liking".

Ye Jia's gaze went from the cute pattern to the beautiful cursive script, and finally fixed on Xu Ruibai's smiling face. The face in front of him overlapped with the first time he saw it many years ago, and he felt his familiar heartbeat.

For so many years, it has never changed.

Xu Ruibai's eyebrows and eyes are the same as before,

He, Ye Jia, is still going deep.