A Tooth For a Tooth

“I’m a good friend, I’m a good buddy, answer the phone quickly.”

The special ringtone recorded by Lin Xiao Wen kept ringing in the silent room.

Xu Qing Nuo glanced at the phone on the coffee table and smiled coldly. He felt weak, was lying on the sofa, covering his face with his hands, and two lines of tears were streaming down from the corners of his eyes.

He had heard the saying about fire prevention, theft prevention, and protection against besties(1), but he never thought that he should also guard against his best friend.

Because of Xu Qing Nuo, Mai Yao and Lin Xiao Wen met often. Their relationship was alright, but they were not overly familiar with each other. In fact, they still looked at each other in an unpleasant way. Mai Yao felt that Lin Xiao Wen was a self-righteous mother hen, and Lin Xiao Wen said that Mai Yao’s machismo was too serious, and he regarded himself as the emperor.

Xu Qing Nuo couldn’t understand how these two people got together. He didn’t even understand when they hooked up.

Xu Qing Nuo couldn’t sleep well for the past few days. After suddenly realizing the truth, he was shocked, sad, and very tired. Lin Xiao Wen’s smiling voice pretending to be arrogant still echoed in the room, and he fell into a deep sleep.

At some point, Xu Qing Nuo was shaken awake.

“Qing Nuo! Qing Nuo! Baby, wake up!”

“Qing Nuo, are you ok?”

Xu Qing Nuo opened his eyes in a daze and met two worried faces looking down at him: Mai Yao and Lin Xiao Wen.

He thought it was ridiculous and couldn’t help laughing at the absurdity of it.

“You’re still laughing! You left my house suddenly, never answered the phone, and didn’t reply when I knocked on the door. I thought something happened to you. I almost died of anxiety, you know,” said Lin Xiao Wen with clenched teeth and red eyes.

Xu Qing Nuo was dumbstruck.

Mai Yao held his right hand, and his expression was still extremely worried, “Baby, what’s the matter with you, are you uncomfortable?”

Baby?

Xu Qing Nuo smiled again.

He could still speak without changing his face while standing in front of Lin Xiao Wen. Lin Xiao Wen was also amazing. His face didn’t change either, his eyes were still on him as if Mai Yao were really just his friend’s boyfriend, and he had nothing to do with him.

If it weren’t for the cufflinks that were pinched tightly in the palm of his left hand, causing pain in the palm, Xu Qing Nuo would really be deceived by these two men, thinking that everything was just his own imagination.

At that moment of extreme anger, he wanted to roar, wanted to scream, and wanted to tell this pair of scum men to get out immediately and never show up in front of him again.

Xu Qing Nuo swallowed his horrible rage abruptly, pretending to be innocent, and told Mai Yao and Lin Xiao Wen, “I’m fine, I was just too sleepy, so I got a good night’s sleep. What are you guys nervous about?”

“Are you really alright?” Mai Yao was a little skeptical.

“I’m fine.” Xu Qing Nuo smiled at him.

Mai Yao let out a long sigh of relief and ruthlessly squeezed his cheek, “You bastard, you scared me to death!”

Xu Qing Nuo deliberately said, “Aren’t you on a business trip? Why are you at home?”

“Xiao Wen told me that something was not right with you, I couldn’t reach you, so I hurried back…”

Although the city he traveled to for business was not far from N City, Xu Qing Nuo knew that it would take at least two hours to drive back on the highway.

Looking at Mai Yao’s tired and haggard face, he was in a complicated mood.

Then Lin Xiao Wen said with a big yawn: “Xu Qing Nuo, you’re fine, good, don’t scare us like that next time.”

“Sorry, I worried you.” Xu Qing Nuo admired his own acting skills immensely; he could even apologize to him calmly.

“I’m sleepy, I’m going home.”

Xu Qing Nuo shook away Mai Yao, who was still clutching his hand, “Help me send the guest off.”

This was something he used to say to Mai Yao. Every time Lin Xiao Wen came over for a meal, Xu Qing Nuo was either washing the dishes or mopping the floor when he left. He delegated the task of sending him off to Mai Yao. He wanted to let them get along a bit more, so their relationship could become somewhat more cordial, and he wouldn’t have to get caught between them.

Now that he thought about it, he was the biggest idiot in the universe.

(1) 防火防盗防闺蜜 fáng huǒ fáng dào fáng guī mì | – fire prevention, theft prevention, and protection against besties (idom) – the person closest to you is the most dangerous; she may steal your boyfriend