SABA Chapter 39

“Good night, my little prince.”

Jiang Tiao tidied up and looked around but didn’t see Huo Shen. He knocked on the door next door for a while before Huo Shen came out to open it.

Huo Shen was holding a towel, his hair still dripping with water, clearly having just come out of the bathroom.

He said he wouldn’t make him wait, but in the end, he took longer to shower than him.

“Hmph, I thought you were planning to sleep next door.”

Huo Shen didn’t explain when he heard the complaint, just gave a helpless smile that made him seem resigned to Jiang Tiao.

Jiang Tiao was very pleased with this expression because it always gave him the illusion that Huo Shen would unconditionally yield to him.

“Shall I blow-dry your hair for you?” Jiang Tiao tilted his chin towards Huo Shen’s dripping hair.

Normally, he wouldn’t mind, but tonight he really didn’t dare to taste “snake fruit” again. Huo Shen did not agree, “I’ll come over in a bit.”

Jiang Tiao saw Huo Shen’s gentle smile and shrugged, “Okay.”

The bed in the resort hotel was very large, over four meters wide. Jiang Tiao lay on the bed playing with his phone. Huo Shen got another quilt from somewhere and spread it on the other side of the bed.

This kind of independent pocket spring mattress was very private. On one bed, if one person got on or turned over, the other person wouldn’t feel any movement at all. If the lights weren’t still on, he wouldn’t have even noticed Huo Shen lying down. Was there any difference from sleeping alone?

Huo Shen propped himself up halfway, turned his body to look at Jiang Tiao, who was lying flat on the other side, and said gently, “Shall I turn off the lights?”

Jiang Tiao glared at Huo Shen, but after a while, he couldn’t keep glaring. He was too gentle, and it made it impossible to get angry.

“Forget it,” Jiang Tiao turned off his phone, “Let’s sleep.”

Huo Shen touched the central light control by the bedside. The curtains slowly slid shut, covering the floor-to-ceiling windows. The indoor lights gradually warmed and dimmed until they were extinguished.

Just as Jiang Tiao was about to close his eyes.

“Bang—” A loud noise suddenly exploded in his ear, like an explosion. Jiang Tiao was startled and sat up abruptly. The projection lights, hidden somewhere, suddenly lit up. The 3D lighting effects shone on the transparent ceiling, intertwining with the stars outside, creating the effect of being in the Milky Way. The screen slid open, and rose petals rained down from the ceiling, like a rose rain, or a rose downpour.

Jiang Tiao sat in a pile of rose petals that could have buried him, looking at Huo Shen with a bewildered expression.

Huo Shen must have also been startled by the explosion. His eyes were in a state of transition from vigilance to confusion. Coupled with the rose petals scattered all over him, he looked uncharacteristically flustered and lost.

Ever since taking over the company, Huo Shen had always been synonymous with calmness, composure, and effortless handling of affairs. Jiang Tiao hadn’t seen such a vivid reaction from Huo Shen in many years.

Jiang Tiao let out a “pfft” and started laughing heartily, his shoulders shaking. The last bit of his worry and annoyance was completely swept away.

“What the heck is this?” Jiang Tiao felt that this idea couldn’t possibly have come from Huo Shen.

Huo Shen was only stunned for a moment before quickly figuring out the cause and effect. He pressed down his heart, which was pounding from the explosion, and rubbed his temples helplessly, “It must be the hotel’s setup.”

Honeymoon resorts often had some romantic setups. Lin Shun had booked the hotel for him. Lin Shun probably saw that he had booked two rooms and thought they wouldn’t be staying together, so he kept Jiang Tiao’s room with its original design.

Jiang Tiao was torn between laughter and tears, “He doesn’t think I like this kind of thing, does he?”

The scattered projection light spots slowly moved towards the center, eventually converging into a beam. A cloisonné enamel painting of a little prince and a fox watching the sunset slowly appeared before them along the beam of light. The projection lights changed, and a grand yet warm sunset warmed the entire room.

“If you say you’ll come at four in the afternoon, I’ll begin to feel happy starting at three.” [Note]

This was a line from the fox in “The Little Prince,” appearing at the bottom of the orange-yellow sunset.

Jiang Tiao was touched by this sentence and remembered many past events. His eyes curved downwards, revealing a gentle smile.

“You know, when I was little and went to your house to learn piano, I was always happy for several hours beforehand.

Huo Shen remembered the past and also smiled. He had intended to gently brush away the rose petals that had fallen on Jiang Tiao’s shoulder, but at the moment of contact, he inexplicably felt a stir in his heart. He slowly picked up the rose petals that had fallen on Jiang Tiao one by one, holding them gently in his palm, “I know.”

Jiang Tiao: “You know what.”

Huo Shen was the first friend Jiang Tiao had wanted to actively make since he was little, and he was also the friend he found most difficult to make, bar none. It took him a full six months before he felt he had truly entered Huo Shen’s heart a little.

Huo Shen hadn’t expected Jiang Tiao to feel that way. He thought no one wouldn’t like the little Jiang Tiao, who was enthusiastic and sincere, like a little sun that could make everyone around him happy. After the birthday party ended that year, Jiang Tiao gave him a fireworks display. He felt that Jiang Tiao had already entered his heart at that time.

“My mother would always ask for my opinion on anything related to me. If I hadn’t agreed, she wouldn’t have allowed you to come to my house and attend classes with me.”

“Really?” After so many years, Jiang Tiao finally voiced the knot in his heart in a casual tone, “At that time, the piano teacher even said that if I hadn’t always bothered you, you might have become an excellent pianist.”

“How could that be,” Huo Shen smiled and stroked Jiang Tiao’s slightly wronged head, “Learning piano back then was just something to do in my spare time. I never thought about forging a path in that direction.”

There was a period when Jiang Tiao suddenly didn’t want to come to his house anymore. He had to ask someone to check the surveillance to know what had happened.

The piano teacher was just being self-righteous and thinking she was doing him a favor. Later, he never let her teach him again.

He almost reached a professional level by learning piano in his spare time. Huo Shen’s calm tone made Jiang Tiao want to laugh and feel helpless at the same time, and also a sense of inexplicable pride and honor, “You really are…”

Huo Shen was smart, polite, and learned everything quickly. Whether it was piano, equestrian, or swimming, his hobbies, or his academic performance, he was head and shoulders above everyone else. From childhood, he was the “child of other people” that parents talked about, and the nightmare of children his age in their circle. Almost every child within a five-year age range had been scolded by their parents with similar words – why can’t you learn from Huo Shen? Why do you always compare yourself to the worst, why can’t you compare yourself to Huo Shen?

Jiang Tiao said humorously, “Do you know how many parents who pushed their children to excel gained more convincing reasons and loftier goals because of you, and how many people’s already painful childhoods became even more difficult?”

Originally, children from families like theirs, who had decent grades and one outstanding hobby, were enough for parents to brag about. But with Huo Shen as a role model. If he could do it, why couldn’t you? The result was that four hobby classes turned into eight, and bilingual education wasn’t enough, so it turned into four-language education in Chinese, English, French, and Spanish.

There were indeed outstanding people among them, but Huo Shen was too outstanding, which made the vast majority of people seem stupid as pigs.

“After Min Leshan first found out about our relationship, he kept urging me to invite you to hang out with us whenever we went out, saying he wanted to get a close look at the mountain that had been pressing him down since childhood. And Jie Xiaoxiao, once everyone asked her why she chose the cello among so many string instruments, she joked that it was partly out of passion and partly because you didn’t learn it.”

Huo Shen was amused. He hadn’t thought that much when he was little; learning these things was truly just in his spare time.

Children could only play with a few things together. After playing a few times, he didn’t like playing them much anymore. Although his parents didn’t say anything, they were somewhat worried about his mental health.

To avoid his parents worrying too much, he found some things to do for himself.

As he learned these things, he found some enjoyment. Moreover, having his spare time filled with hobby classes allowed him to avoid some banquets and social events. He simply felt that learning these things was more interesting than playing games like hide-and-seek with everyone.

Jiang Tiao was very amused. Little Huo Shen was good-looking and had a good disposition. In social situations, he was always the center of attention. Both boys and girls liked to gather around him.

Jiang Tiao: “But every time I dragged you out to play, you always seemed willing?”

Huo Shen’s eyes softened, “I didn’t know at the time, but later I thought about it. Perhaps what you do isn’t the point; the point is who you do it with.”

Little Jiang Tiao was very fun. No matter how much you teased him, he wouldn’t get angry, only puff up his fur, and when he did, he looked very cute.

Jiang Tiao was speechless. He was only like this with Huo Shen and his family.

“I still remember you tricking me into eating a whole sour orange!”

At that time, at the resort, they had gone out for a stroll and ended up very far away. He was extremely thirsty and saw oranges on the landscape trees. He asked Huo Shen if he could eat them. Ten-year-old Huo Shen studied them, looking very knowledgeable, and analyzed from pesticide degradation to orange peel cells. In the end, he concluded that eating them definitely wouldn’t kill him. Jiang Tiao always felt that Huo Shen had bad intentions, so he said, “If you eat one and don’t die, I’ll eat the rest.” Huo Shen glanced at him with a half-smile, peeled one, and ate it. His expression was calm, and he said it was okay.

Thirst made Jiang Tiao momentarily let down his guard. He stuffed the rest into his mouth. It was bitter, astringent, and sour. Moreover, his upbringing made him embarrassed to spit it out directly. He could only grit his teeth, chew a few times quickly, and swallow. It was so sour that his teeth fell out – literally “fell out,” in a physical sense.

Seven-year-old Jiang Tiao didn’t know it was a loose tooth; he just felt like the sky was falling.

Huo Shen also smiled when he remembered this incident. Jiang Tiao didn’t know it was a loose tooth at first. He was startled and frightened but kept comforting him, saying it was okay and not to worry. His appearance was both pitiable and heart-softening.

When he told him it was a normal loose tooth, and he learned that he was fine, he started to whine and pester, insisting that he had caused his teeth to not reach the end of their natural lives and demanding compensation for the premature loss of his teeth.

In the end, Huo Shen carried him back.

The warm sunset projection lighting was very atmospheric, evoking countless memories.

Jiang Tiao had met Huo Shen’s father. He was gentle, refined, and upright, a rare gentleman of this era. He always felt that if Huo Shen hadn’t experienced the double blow of losing his parents and being betrayed by relatives, he would have grown up to be like his father – wise yet peaceful, able to see through people’s hearts yet still open to the world.

However, different experiences create different personalities. He also liked the current Huo Shen very much.

“Good night,” Jiang Tiao brushed the petals off his pillow. After lying down, he stretched out his paw like a fox and patted Huo Shen through the quilt, “My little prince.”

Huo Shen’s eyes were filled with a smile. Who, between the two of them, was the fox and who was the little prince?