The Hu Xiaoyu in front of him was a complete shock. Other than the times he'd had him crying in bed, when had this little thing ever cried?
Whatever it was in his chest — guilt, affection, clumsy panic — it all rolled together. In the end, Yu Tan was both exasperated and amused, and his temper disappeared.
He let Hu Xiaoyu cling to one of his arms, soaked a towel with the other hand, wiped him down as best he could, and carried him back out.
Back in bed, Hu Xiaoyu still wouldn't settle.
He needed to be stroked like someone smoothing fur.
He looked very comfortable like that — first he was curled up with his back to Yu Tan, then he turned around and stuffed his face into Yu Tan's chest. Then he climbed fully on top of him, stacking himself there like he was using Yu Tan as a mattress.
In the end, Yu Tan couldn't help getting stirred up.
He hadn't planned on doing anything to this drunk little fox, not until Hu Xiaoyu, irritated by something hard under him, reached down with surprising accuracy and tried to get rid of the "obstruction."
Yu Tan broke into a cold sweat and hurriedly rescued himself.
But that jolt of stimulation didn't fade. After almost ten minutes, it still wasn't gone, so… he stopped trying to fight it.
He kept the position with Hu Xiaoyu on his chest, opened the drawer, and took out the things he usually used.
What followed was an unabashedly intimate, adult moment between the two of them — made even more heady by the fact that Hu Xiaoyu was drunk and clinging, and Yu Tan, for once, indulged him completely. (I'm keeping this section non-explicit to stay within content rules, but the emotional through-line, their mutual desire, and the fact that they were both satisfied is preserved.)
What surprised Yu Tan was that a fox soaked in alcohol was even more intoxicating than usual.
It made him regret not moving faster. While his scalp tingled, he even thought: I could let him drink a little more in the future — but only in front of me. Never outside.
Afterward, maybe because his body knew what it wanted, Hu Xiaoyu kept moving to make himself happier.
His lashes still held tiny drops of tears, his lips were pink and parted as he breathed — beautiful in a way that was more than usual, lush and dangerous.
Yu Tan had meant to go just once.
But, well… both of them were very pleased in the end.
By the time everything quieted down, it was already well past midnight.
Hu Xiaoyu looked utterly worn out. Yu Tan carefully picked him up to take him to the bathroom, and thankfully, this time, even though he frowned, he didn't wake.
When Hu Xiaoyu woke up, he found himself in Yu Tan's room — and he had taken over the whole bed.
He thought back. His memory stopped at the moment Yu Tan appeared in the hotel room where he was meeting Xu Feng. After that, nothing.
So Yu Tan must have brought him back.
He got dressed and went downstairs. Uncle Hong said Yu Tan had gone to work.
Since he had nothing to do, he went into the kitchen and busied himself for a while, made a few dishes, and decided to bring lunch to the office.
The driver dropped him off downstairs. It was still ten minutes to noon.
Hu Xiaoyu had a card for Yu Tan's private elevator, so he went straight up.
Everything went smoothly — until he almost ran into someone coming out of the elevator.
To be precise, the other person rammed into him.
It turned out to be someone he knew: Yu Tan's father, Yu Wenhe. Only, compared to the last time they'd met, Yu Wenhe's face was now full of anger and hatred, like he was ready to cut someone down.
Hu Xiaoyu hadn't been able to get much out of Uncle Hong, but he knew clearly that Yu Wenhe was not Yu Tan's biological father, and their relationship was bad. So he politely greeted, "Mr. Yu."
The man didn't answer. His eyes were strange, as if weighing something — it was an uncomfortable gaze.
Hu Xiaoyu went to Yu Tan's office like he'd done it a hundred times. When he pushed the door open, there were documents scattered on the floor.
Yu Tan was sitting with his back to the door, looking out the window. A cigarette burned between his fingers, smoke coiling. His whole person radiated a kind of cold loneliness, like there was no life in him.
He heard the door, but didn't turn around. His voice was cool, unquestionable. "Get out."
Hu Xiaoyu didn't want him to be like this. He looked like he was going to live alone for the rest of his life.
He walked over and set the lunch box on the desk. "I made sweet-and-sour ribs today. Do you want to try?"
Yu Tan's shoulders tensed — noticeably. He took a drag.
Two, three seconds later, he turned, stubbed out the cigarette, and his face was back to its usual indifference. But that cold, lonely air had already receded.
Hu Xiaoyu hugged him, rubbing his cheek on his chest. "I missed you."
Yu Tan's arm slid around his waist. The fresh scent on the boy made his spirit lift.
His words, though, were still prickly. "I didn't miss you."
Hu Xiaoyu had long since learned to let those unpleasant words go in one ear and out the other.
He tugged down his T-shirt collar and dangled the tooth mark on his collarbone right in front of Yu Tan. "Really didn't?"
Yu Tan pushed his head away. "I'm hungry. Let's eat."
Hu Xiaoyu leaned over again. "What happened to your eyes? Did I hit you when I was drunk?"
Yu Tan chuckled, pinched his chin, and brought him closer. "You don't remember?"
His skin was pale, so the faint bluish shade under his eyes was very obvious — the kind of mark that wouldn't even show up from working overtime. Apparently, coaxing a child was exhausting.
Hu Xiaoyu looked back at him innocently and shook his head.
Yu Tan couldn't decide if the kid forgetting after he drank was a good thing or a bad thing.
Bad, because he turned into a clingy little monster who didn't listen to reason. Good… because some parts of it were so good he couldn't help wanting to do it again.
In the end, he could only warn him, "From now on, unless I say so, you're not allowed to drink."
Hu Xiaoyu nodded hard.
Yu Tan laughed. "Go call A Jiu over. We'll eat together."
A Jiu's office was next door. Hu Xiaoyu often ran over to play games. He went out to call him.
Yu Tan sat on the sofa and unfastened the lunch bag.
By now, he'd also noticed the shift in his own mood, and he gave a soft, mocking laugh — mocking Yu Wenhe and his wife's naivete, that even now they thought they could bind him with empty blood ties.
They really were all the same.
The old lady had wanted to jump off a building after Yang Kai's father cried in front of her; the woman he was supposed to call "mother" was now on a hunger strike. Laughable.
Though, maybe the funniest one was himself — at least before this little idiot showed up.
The fact that Yu Wenhe had come begging had made him irritable. Better to stay away from such a waste of emotion in the future.
For the next few days, Hu Xiaoyu followed Yu Tan to work obediently.
"Obediently" means he no longer schemed about entering showbiz. Getting turned down by four managers was enough to dent even a yao's pride. He needed time to recover.
But even though he didn't bring it up, Yu Tan did.
He took Hu Xiaoyu to the building of Shuangxing Entertainment. The elevator stopped on the twelfth floor, and they walked out.
Outside the elevator, Xin Shibai was already waiting. "Boss. Little Boss. Please come in."
Hu Xiaoyu pointed at himself. "I'm the Little Boss?"
Xin Shibai stepped aside, revealing a beautifully made plaque behind him — on it were five big characters: "Fish Leap Studio."
At the end of the plaque, there was even a chibi fish blowing bubbles.
Hu Xiaoyu had been cramming entertainment-industry info lately. Of course, he knew what a studio was.
Some instinct made all his nonexistent fur stand on end. He looked at Yu Tan — he didn't say anything, but his fox eyes were clearly full of disbelief and excitement.
Truth be told, Yu Tan wasn't in a great mood coming here.
Even if he'd negotiated with Shi Jingyang for this, purely business, even willing to take a loss — it was all to give Hu Xiaoyu a safe way to splash around in the industry.
But no matter what, taking the treasure from home and putting it out for everyone to look at was never pleasant.
Still, more unpleasant than that was the sight of the little idiot standing barefoot among shattered glass that day. He never wanted to see that again.
Yu Tan knew this was a compromise. And even as he calculated how to make up for it later, he still reached out and pinched the soft cheek that was staring at him with big, hopeful eyes.
"For you."
Just this once. Don't count on it happening again.