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On the same night after dealing with Mister Li, Xia Zhi moaned and groaned while clutching onto his legs. Although the place where he had knelt was soft, what kind of good twenty-first century young man has undergone this sort of punishment? Besides, after mulling over what had happened, Xia Zhi kept feeling there was something off about this matter. He clearly hadn't done anything at all, and yet why did it seem like it was all his fault, and Ye Qia needed him to make up for it?

Like it's got sh*t to do with me! Why did I have to kneel and be told off?

Ye Qia was calm when facing the storm that was Xia Zhi's groaning, as if wholly oblivious to it. His eyes didn't glance over once.

The more Xia Zhi looked at Ye Qia, the more irritated he got. He rolled from one end of the bed to the other and smacked Ye Qia's e-reader. His raised his eyes up to meet Ye Qia's gaze. "Why did you agree to be with me back then?"

Ye Qia tried to push Xia Zhi's head aside, but it was to no avail, so he could only put down the e-reader and say, "I thought you were pretty alright."

"Liar." Xia Zhi bitterly prodded Ye Qia's navel with his finger. "You had only known me for ten minutes."

Ye Qia smiled. "So you did realize we had only known each other for ten minutes?"

Xia Zhi felt a bit embarrassed, but he continued to muscle through with his thick skin. "Didn't you also agree to it after only knowing me for ten minutes?"

"The agreement back then didn't really mean anything. If you weren't acceptable after investigating, I could still reject it all the same."

Xia Zhi stiffened, then aggressively sat up and snatched the e-reader that Ye Qia read from every night and threw it away. "You snooped on me?" he raged.

After a long period of time, Ye Qia finally retracted his gaze from the e-reader that had flown off the bed. He calmly spoke, "Just asked around, is all."

This reminded Xia Zhi of the thing that had happened not long after they had moved in. "Could it be that you investigated the matter about my parents?"

"I didn't. My investigation wasn't that thorough, since that requires money." Ye Qia met Xia Zhi's peeved gaze as he spoke, "I asked around that day at the meet up. Unexpectedly, quite a few people knew about you."

After hearing this, Xia Zhi felt relieved at last, but just as he relaxed he suddenly remembered something. "You don't happen to know what I do for a living, do you?"

Ye Qia was crawling to the other side of the bed. He laid over the edge of the bed, fished up the e-reader and gave a muffled reply. "I do know."

Xia Zhi immediately became uncomfortable, as if there were fleas on his body. He waffled around before finally saying, "My job's not like what you think."

"I know." Ye Qia was busy checking if his e-reader was broken. "Isn't it just debt collection?"

"But mine is honest debt collection!" Xia Zhi placed a strong emphasis on it, "Unlike those gangs who start fights with people!"

Ye Qia fiddled with the e-reader for a while. On seeing that there was no response from the e-reader, he lazily looked over to Xia Zhi and said expressionlessly, "Debt collection department of a pawnbroker, how more honest can you get?"

Xia Zhi became agitated at this. "It's true, it really is honest! Look at me, do I seem like part of a gang? Someone like you fits the bill more! Back then, I wanted to enter this department to vent some aggression. Also, I was terrible in college, and couldn't find a decent job. Who knew that after taking this job, I discovered that it was just the same as an insurance company, and you have to sweet talk for the entire day! Right now, we have to shout the slogan every morning, 'Collect debts not sorrows, pay with money not with lives', do you see how honest it is? Sometimes when we go up to the door, we'll be struck by the debtor. I've got the cops' number on my number 1 speed dial!"

Xia Zhi rambled on for half a day. On discovering no response coming from Ye Qia and seeing him tucked in on his side of the bed, Xia Zhi carefully scooted over for a look and found Ye Qia deep asleep with his eyes shut.

".."

F*cking hell, do you really not care about me?

In reality, this time Xia Zhi had really wronged Ye Qia. Because his e-reader was broken, Ye Qia's sullen mood and boredom led him to go straight to sleep. He actually hadn't listened to Xia Zhi's "confession" at all, so it didn't matter whether he cared about it or not.

Xia Zhi thought about it, and the more he thought, the more he felt that Ye Qia gives off a "who are you" type of distant feeling. For instance, they've lived together for more than a month, but they still haven't actually slept together!

"When are we gonna bang?" After experiencing a painful morning wood, Xia Zhi asked this during breakfast.

From the very start, Xia Zhi had tried to create an atmosphere by throwing suggestive looks, then later it changed to him indirectly asking "Are you free tonight", and now "When are we gonna bang". Observing the development of his mindset was truly a tearful and stirring journey.

However, Ye Qia did not waver one bit. "You want it again?" said Ye Qia coolly.

"What do you mean by 'again'?" Xia Zhi brusquely threw down his chopsticks. "Haven't we been together for more than a month? Even if we were on ordinary terms, we should still bang once as a courtesy!"

Ye Qia was preoccupied with drinking his congee. "Never heard of this type of courtesy."

"I don't care, are you gonna do it or not?"

"What if I don't?"

"..Starting from tomorrow, I'll accompany you to all your night shifts!"

Xia Zhi had swallowed back the words "break up", and then swallowed back the words "I'll f*ck your sh*t up". In the end, Xia Zhi chose the option that seemed to be most feasible and would create the most damage. As expected, once the words came out, Ye Qia gave him a look so sharp that it made him feel as if his face had been sliced by a blade. However, this was a matter regarding his future sex life, so even if a thousand blades were to befall him, he still had to withstand it.

"Too tired." After some period of time, Ye Qia spoke. "Recently several of my clients have been into the fancy stuff, and each time, I have to move those hundred kilo men here and there, making my back sore."

Xia Zhi continued to stare hard at Ye Qia until he finally softened. Thinking back to a time when he was collecting debt, the debtor had used a pile of old furniture as collateral. To save on money, Xia Zhi got a three-wheeled wagon and brought the furniture to the appraisal department on the third floor, avoiding traffic wardens along the way. After doing this many times for the entire day, the various struggles and the pain suffered throughout the process was indescribable.

Forget it, everyone has difficult times.

"Then can you at least let me feel like a man?" Xia Zhi took a step back. "Or are you trying to tell me to go out for a one night stand?"

When he spoke these words, Xia Zhi felt tight in the chest. If by any chance Ye Qia really said "Then do so", then he'll really be speechless. Luckily, when Ye Qia heard it, his eyes immediately narrowed. "You dare?" he said in a low voice.

Xia Zhi felt shaken in that instant. "Then what are you going to do?"

Ye Qia thought for a while, then said, "I'll help you masturbate."

Xia Zhi's brows drooped. "What's the point of that, I can also jerk myself off."

Ye Qia began to eat dinner, while casually answering, "If mine's the same as yours, how could it make any money."

Xia Zhi's heart skipped a beat. He didn't nag anymore, and very pervertedly started to look forward for night to come.

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