Xie Huan hadn't finished speaking and had no idea why Pei Tingyun had interrupted him.
Looking baffled, he obediently repeated, "I dunno what kinda rules you've got for living these days."
Pei Tingyun said urgently, "The bit before that!"
Xie Huan thought for a moment and asked uncertainly, "We ain't seen each other in all these years?"
"Yes! That! So yesterday wasn't the first time we met?" Disbelief covered Pei Tingyun's face.
Xie Huan looked even more disbelieving than he did.
"Aw, man! Don't tell me you've forgotten your big bro?"
Then realization struck him. "I was wondering why you were so cold to me yesterday! So you didn't even know who I was, huh?"
Great.
Now Xie Huan was the angry one.
The kind who couldn't be coaxed out of it!
Pei Tingyun racked his brain for a very long time.
He still couldn't remember when he had ever met Xie Huan.
Pei Tingyun considered his memory pretty good.
And Xie Huan's voice, complexion, and muscles were all quite memorable.
If they'd met before, Pei Tingyun felt there was no reason he wouldn't recognize him.
His search through his memories yielded nothing. Pei Tingyun looked at Xie Huan. "Are you sure you haven't remembered wrong?"
It would have been fine if he hadn't asked. The question only made Xie Huan angrier.
With one hand on his hip, looking like a naked teapot, he pointed at Pei Tingyun and gave him an earful.
"Does that little memory of yours only remember which bun fillings taste good? Couldn't you remember the guy who bought you those buns, huh?"
Buns?
Pei Tingyun had especially loved eating buns as a child.
He'd loved them so much that he'd eaten far too many and put himself off them.
After growing up, he'd never eaten buns again.
So, going by what Xie Huan said...
They must have met as children.
Not only had he known Pei Tingyun loved buns, he'd even bought him some...
After thinking it over, Pei Tingyun suddenly sucked in a sharp breath.
He said incredulously, "You... you're Little Coal Ball?"
Xie Huan lifted his chin slightly, looking unusually haughty.
"Looks like that head of yours ain't stuffed entirely with buns after all."
Pei Tingyun still found it far too unbelievable.
"How is that possible? Little Coal Ball was dark and skinny and tiny. You're this whopping great guy with such well-built muscles. How could you be the same person?"
Xie Huan said, "You were all pale and chubby like a little bun as a kid, too. Ain't you slimmed down into a lean, muscular hunk now?"
Pei Tingyun said, "..."
Well, yes, but...
Only one person had ever called him Little Bun in his entire life.
And that person was none other than Little Coal Ball, the boy who had accidentally fallen into the water and whom he'd saved as a child.
Good heavens!
What kind of ill-fated connection was this?
At that thought, Pei Tingyun suddenly jolted.
If Xie Huan really was Little Coal Ball from back then...
Then everything made sense.
No wonder the soap-pod scent on Xie Huan had seemed familiar.
He had indeed smelled it on Little Coal Ball as a child.
And-
Why had Xie Huan agreed to help Hua Xin look after him?
Why was he so good to him?
And why was he so determined to like him?
None of this was the sasaeng fan behavior he'd thought it was.
There was only one truth!
Was Xie Huan trying to repay him for saving his life back then by offering himself to him?
Pei Tingyun felt even more panicked after their confession session!
If his previous sense that Xie Huan liked him had mostly been suspicion...
Then now...
The evidence was practically conclusive!
The phrase "gratitude and love" hadn't lied to me.
Gratitude really did come first, followed by love.
Pei Tingyun hadn't yet figured out how to face this Xie Huan who wanted to offer himself to him.
Xie Huan suddenly slapped his forehead.
"Aw, man! I got so caught up talking to you, I forgot the important stuff!"
With that, he took off running without even putting on a shirt.
Watching Xie Huan disappear through the doorway, Pei Tingyun couldn't calm down for a long time.
The man was already showing his cards about liking him.
Shouldn't he be saving those muscles for Pei Tingyun's exclusive viewing?
Why had he run outside bare-chested?
Where was his male virtue?
A moment later.
Xie Huan ran back.
He held a steaming roasted sweet potato.
It was too hot to hold, so he could only toss it back and forth between his hands.
He looked awfully busy.
Pei Tingyun pointed at the roasted sweet potato in his hands, his expression indescribable.
"This is the important stuff you meant?"
Xie Huan nodded. "Yep!"
Pei Tingyun was speechless. "Eating a roasted sweet potato shirtless in the middle of summer-aren't you hot?"
Still juggling it, Xie Huan said, "It ain't for me. I roasted it specially for you."
Pei Tingyun was even more speechless. "...Do you think I'm cold?"
Xie Huan said, "Aw, man, no! You've got insomnia, right? Eating this stuff helps."
Speechlessness's mother had truly opened the door for speechlessness: Pei Tingyun's speechlessness had reached home.
"No, seriously, who told you roasted sweet potatoes cure insomnia?"
Feeling that the roasted sweet potato wasn't quite so hot anymore, Xie Huan shoved it into Pei Tingyun's hands.
"Never you mind who told me. Just listen to your big bro, hurry up and chow down while it's hot, and you'll sleep like a log afterward, guaranteed!"
Pei Tingyun actually didn't believe a word of it.
But Xie Huan sounded utterly certain.
And he'd roasted it specially for him.
Not eating it seemed a little impolite.
Again, the same old saying.
Sincerity was always the ultimate killer move.
Under Xie Huan's sincere gaze...
Pei Tingyun ultimately ate the roasted sweet potato while it was hot.
In the middle of summer, it made him sweat all over, and he only felt a little better after taking a shower.
Pei Tingyun felt comfortable physically.
But inwardly, he still felt awkward.
Noticing that something was off with his mood, Xie Huan spoke up.
"Aw, man, Ting'er, just hang that heart of yours on your waistband and rest easy. No matter when it is, your big bro would never do anything to hurt you."
Pei Tingyun narrowed his eyes slightly, keenly picking up on something.
"What else did Hua Xin tell you?"
Xie Huan didn't hide it from him and told him the truth.
"I figured you were in a bad mood, so I called him to ask what was up. He told me you'd been hurt by someone before and didn't dare open your heart to me."
"That's all?" Pei Tingyun was skeptical.
Xie Huan nodded. "Yep, that's what he said."
Pei Tingyun was a little surprised.
Hua Xin, that huge blabbermouth, actually hadn't told Xie Huan everything about how a sasaeng fan had hurt him.
Seeing him fall silent again, Xie Huan began earnestly trying to persuade him.
"Ting'er, you've gotta have faith in your big bro. Even a drop of kindness oughta be repaid with a gushing spring, let alone you saving my life. Your big bro ain't some ungrateful guy! I'll always remember how you saved me!"
Pei Tingyun said, "..."
It's over. He really does mean to offer himself in repayment!
Pei Tingyun sighed, feeling it would be better to make things clear.
"I understand how you feel, but do you know I'm straight?"
Xie Huan thought about what "straight man" meant.
People online seemed to call men who couldn't read romantic cues straight men.
Didn't that just mean having low emotional intelligence? What was the big deal?
Xie Huan said, "So you're straight. Your big bro doesn't care."
Pei Tingyun said, "..."
Oh no!
Xie Huan's going to pester me relentlessly!