Ruan Qiuping felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck his brain, leaving him dizzy and disoriented. It was as if a fire was burning in his mind, with a group of children throwing firecrackers into it, creating a chaotic and deafening noise that left him unable to think clearly.
At that very moment, his gaze fell upon Yu Huan's right hand, which was still resting on his cheek.
In an instant, he regained a shred of rationality and abruptly pushed Yu Huan away.
Caught off guard, Yu Huan stumbled backward, nearly falling over. Fortunately, he managed to steady himself by grabbing onto a nearby table.
Immediately after, he saw Ruan Qiuping's face turn bright red with anger as he shouted, "Yu Huan, what are you doing?!"
Yu Huan had rarely seen Ruan Qiuping so angry. Looking into those furious eyes, he felt his heart suddenly grow cold.
His throat moved, but no words came out. He only gripped his cane tightly.
He knew that Ruan Qiuping had no romantic feelings for him.
He also knew that it was his own foolish desire that had led him to take such liberties.
He thought that this action might destroy his relationship with Ruan Qiuping, that perhaps Ruan Qiuping would avoid him and never come to see him again.
But Yu Huan didn't regret it.
He had simply done what he had wanted to do since he was fifteen years old.
He had endured for seventeen years and couldn't hold back any longer.
Whatever the consequences, he would bear them.
Then he heard Ruan Qiuping speak, his voice filled with anger: "Do you have a death wish? How dare you touch me? How dare you... how dare you kiss me! Do you know how unlucky this is? Wasn't the lesson you learned back then not enough? Don't you ever learn from your mistakes? You've already... already lost your leg, what else do you want to lose? Next, do you want to lose your life too?!"
Yu Huan was stunned. He looked at Ruan Qiuping and asked, "...Qiuping, I kissed you, and all you can think about is that?"
"All?" Ruan Qiuping said through gritted teeth. "Do you think these things are nothing? Do you think these matters are unimportant? If you think they're not important, then what was the point of me trying so hard to resist coming to see you recently?!"
Yu Huan felt as if he was beyond cure.
Ruan Qiuping had angrily said so much, but all he heard was that Ruan Qiuping had been trying hard to resist coming to see him recently.
But to avoid angering Ruan Qiuping further, he didn't show any signs of happiness. Instead, he said very seriously, "I don't think these things are unimportant."
"Then why did you do it?" Ruan Qiuping frowned.
Yu Huan apologized sincerely, "I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself."
Ruan Qiuping: "..."
Ruan Qiuping felt that something was off. Actually... he didn't really want Yu Huan to apologize, he just wanted Yu Huan to be more careful, to care more about his own body and life.
Ruan Qiuping opened his mouth, about to say something more, when he suddenly noticed curious heads peeking out from behind the wall at the corner of the restaurant.
Those waiters were secretly observing them, their faces full of surprise.
Meeting Ruan Qiuping's gaze, they all hurriedly withdrew their heads.
Ruan Qiuping: "..."
How long had those people been watching?
He had almost forgotten that this was a restaurant, a public place, and he and Yu Huan had...
Ruan Qiuping suddenly felt his face grow hot.
He lowered his head and said to Yu Huan, "Let's go, we'll head back first."
Yu Huan followed closely behind him.
Ruan Qiuping noticed their shoulders almost touching as they walked. He frowned, took a big step forward, and said, "Let's keep a meter's distance between us."
Yu Huan: "But Qiuping promised me we didn't need to keep a distance anymore."
Ruan Qiuping glanced at him and said, "I also said that if you touched me again, I wouldn't come anymore. Should I just not come tomorrow?"
Yu Huan: "..."
Yu Huan silently took a step back and said, "...Qiuping, you go first."
.
Ruan Qiuping stepped out of the restaurant door and stopped, watching the cars coming and going in front of him.
"Why aren't you walking?" Yu Huan asked from a meter away.
Ruan Qiuping turned his head to look at Yu Huan, his expression very conflicted: "I'm afraid you'll get hit by a car."
Yu Huan had just kissed him, so his luck must be at its worst. Who knows what kind of accident might happen if he walked on the road.
Thinking of this, Ruan Qiuping felt a bit anxious. He asked Yu Huan, "Is your home far from here?"
"It's quite far, even by car it takes about twenty minutes," Yu Huan replied. "Aren't we going to continue our outing? It's still early."
"What outing? With your current luck, is it safe for you to be out? Staying at home is the safest," Ruan Qiuping said.
"Then I'll have the driver come over."
Ruan Qiuping had just nodded when he hurriedly shook his head: "No, no, driving is still too dangerous, there could easily be an accident. Is there any safer mode of transportation?"
Yu Huan thought for a moment, then pointed to the subway entrance not far away and said, "Then let's take the subway back. The chances of something happening on the subway are extremely low."
"Okay."
.
It wasn't yet rush hour, so the subway wasn't too crowded, but even so, it was hard to find empty seats.
Ruan Qiuping and Yu Huan had to stand side by side, each holding onto a handrail.
Whether it was his imagination or not, Ruan Qiuping felt like quite a few people were constantly looking at them.
"Yu Huan," Ruan Qiuping touched his own face and asked quietly, "Did I get something on my face while we were eating?"
"No," Yu Huan said.
"Strange..." Ruan Qiuping muttered, "Then why do they keep looking at me."
Those people weren't just staring at him, they were looking at their phones and then at him, as if comparing something.
After leaving the subway, Ruan Qiuping felt increasingly uneasy. He said to Yu Huan, "Yu Huan, let me use your phone for a moment."
Although there were no such things as phones in the celestial realm, Yu Huan had taught Ruan Qiuping how to use a phone when he was eight years old, so he generally knew how to use one.
Ruan Qiuping took Yu Huan's phone: "Why is it turned off? Did it run out of battery?"
"It has power, I just found it noisy, so I turned it off," Yu Huan said.
...How noisy could it be?!
Ruan Qiuping grumbled and turned on the phone.
As soon as the phone finished booting up, it immediately started buzzing with notifications.
Countless message boxes popped up on the phone. Ruan Qiuping accidentally tapped one open and immediately saw three news links with shocking and sensational headlines.
"Shocking! The reason why Guilai Group's Yu Huan has been single for years is because of him!!"
"Guilai Group founder embroiled in same-sex scandal, click to see Yu Huan's younger lover!"
"Yu Huan's male lover exposed! The two passionately kissing in their own restaurant!"
Ruan Qiuping's hand trembled as he clicked on the last news item. A photo immediately appeared on the screen.
The photo seemed to have been taken from a building opposite the restaurant. Although it was blurry, you could still make out that the two people were in a kissing position.
Ruan Qiuping was so scared he almost dropped the phone. He could barely speak coherently: "Yu... Yu Huan... we... we were photographed."
"What was photographed?"
"That, you know... that..." Those two words seemed to burn his tongue, and Ruan Qiuping couldn't say them no matter what.
In his panic, he simply threw the phone to Yu Huan: "Look for yourself!"
Yu Huan caught the phone and frowned deeply. At that moment, the phone rang. Yu Huan answered the call, gave some low instructions to the person on the other end, then hung up and turned off the phone again.
"Qiuping, don't worry, it's all been taken care of."
Ruan Qiuping let out a sigh of relief and complained softly, "It's all your fault. How could you do such a thing in public..."
"So it would be okay if we were at home?" Yu Huan inquired.
"Of course not!" Ruan Qiuping said, "Have you forgotten again? You're forbidden from touching me! It will bring great misfortune!!"
"If it wouldn't bring misfortune, would Qiuping mind my touch?"
"Of course not."
"Then would Qiuping mind if I kissed you?"
Ruan Qiuping was stunned for a moment, then said blankly, "...I don't know."
Yu Huan took a step forward, looked down at Ruan Qiuping, and asked, "Then let me put it another way, when I kissed you, did Qiuping find it unpleasant?"
"I... I don't know." Ruan Qiuping suddenly felt his ears burning. He involuntarily took a step back and said, "At-at that time, my mind was full of fear that touching you would bring me bad luck. I didn't think about anything else. Please... don't ask anymore."
Ruan Qiuping looked up at the villa not far away, hastily changing the subject: "Is your house close? Is it that one over there?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Then let's hurry."
Yu Huan lowered his eyes and followed Ruan Qiuping forward.
After arriving home, Ruan Qiuping had Yu Huan play several games to test his luck.
For example, drawing lots, flipping coins, drawing playing cards, and so on.
After nearly an hour of testing, Ruan Qiuping finally let out a sigh of relief.
Even though Yu Huan had kissed him not long ago, even though he was still by Yu Huan's side, Yu Huan's luck was still incredibly powerful.
Especially when he held that fragment of the God of Fortune, he would always draw the Joker when picking cards, and always get the best fortune when drawing lots.
Even when he put down that fragment, his luck was still very good. When playing cards, he would draw a face card every three draws. Though he didn't always get the best fortune when drawing lots, he would always get good ones.
"It's been like this since 15 years ago," Yu Huan said. "Before I was 17, I never won at rock-paper-scissors. After 17, I've never lost."
Ruan Qiuping collected the testing items on the table one by one, the weight in his heart finally lifting.
Sure enough, after he took that drop of blood from Yu Huan's ear cartilage more than a decade ago, the fortune of the God of Fortune descending upon him had somewhat recovered.
"Ruan Ruan, you've seen it yourself. Even though I kissed you, my luck is still above normal," Yu Huan paused, then continued, "Even so, am I still not allowed to touch you?"
"Of course not," Ruan Qiuping said. "You'll always have bad luck if you touch me. Even if you have good fortune, touching me too much will wear away that good fortune, and you'll become an unlucky person again."
"What if I don't have bad luck?"
"But what if you do? Can you guarantee that?"
"We won't know unless we try." After saying this, Yu Huan put the fragment on the table into his pocket, then took Ruan Qiuping's hand with one of his, while reaching for the fortune sticks in the container with the other.
Ruan Qiuping initially wanted to push him away directly, but seeing his actions, he suddenly paused.
He watched, unblinking, as Yu Huan drew out the fortune stick, feeling as if a string in his heart was being pulled taut.
Yu Huan took out the stick and slowly turned it over.
— Slightly unfavorable fortune.
Ruan Qiuping felt that string snap silently in the air.
He withdrew his hand, lowered his eyelids, and said flatly, "See?"
"I see." Yu Huan once again grasped Ruan Qiuping's hand tightly, intertwining their fingers.
Yu Huan's voice was tinged with a warm smile like a spring breeze: "Ruan Ruan, I touched you, and it's neither the worst fortune nor bad fortune, but slightly unfavorable. I'm very happy."
"What's there to be happy about?" Ruan Qiuping frowned. "Is slightly unfavorable fortune something good?"
"But it's not particularly bad either. It's just slightly worse luck than the average person, like drawing a consolation prize in a lottery or buying a product with a small defect. These are just trivial matters, and I have no reason to give up Ruan Ruan because of them."
"But..."
"There are no buts. It's normal to gain some things and lose others when making choices. I simply chose you over good luck. Since it's my own decision, it means that to me, Ruan Ruan is worth more than all the good luck in the world."
"Now that we know touching Ruan Ruan won't bring me any major disasters, I want to ask Ruan Ruan once more." Yu Huan turned Ruan Qiuping's shoulders, almost forcibly making eye contact with him. "Does Ruan Ruan dislike kissing me?"
"...I don't dislike it."
"Then does Ruan Ruan like kissing me?"
"...I... I don't know."
Yu Huan smiled softly, his deep black pupils seeming to be filled with flowing light: "But I really like it. Ruan Ruan is a celestial being, and I'm a mortal. Can Ruan Ruan indulge me a little?"
Ruan Qiuping was stunned for a moment, feeling that this conversation was familiar.
Yu Huan pressed his forehead against Ruan Qiuping's and asked very gently, "Will you, Ruan Ruan?"
Yu Huan's voice was so soft and gentle that it was impossible to find the heart to refuse.
Ruan Qiuping nodded almost involuntarily and said dazedly, "Okay."
The corners of Yu Huan's lips immediately curved up slightly, as if filled with countless smiles. He closed his eyes, gently rubbed his nose against Ruan Qiuping's, and then tenderly and lingeringly kissed him.