Restricted Area

Zheng Mingyi’s house was renovated and converted into a personal studio. The ground floor was used to receive clients, and the second floor was used as his office. Jiang Chijing once saw in a movie six screens being used for stock trading at the same time, but it was still refreshing to see it with his own eyes in reality.

“Do you have a client pool?” Jiang Chijing inspected Zheng Mingyi’s office space, asking.

“I do,” Zheng Mingyi leaned against the desk. “But you can introduce some to me as well, of course.”

Jiang Chijing was surrounded by many people who engaged in stock trading; eight out of ten of his colleagues dabbled in it. However, ordinary people couldn’t reach the threshold of private equity. Even if Jiang Chijing wanted to introduce them to Zheng Mingyi, Zheng Mingyi might not necessarily take them for a ride.

“Then I can only introduce my relatives to you,” Jiang Chijing said.

“Sure,” Zheng Mingyi smiled and said, “Does this count as meeting the parents?”

Jiang Chijing hadn’t come out of the closet to his family yet, but he reckoned that his parents never pressured him to marry because they had already guessed his sexual orientation. On the other hand, Zheng Mingyi wasn’t close to his parents; they had an uninvolved attitude when it came to taking care of children, letting them be. Though Jiang Chijing didn’t ask about it in detail, he was basically certain that Zheng Mingyi’s parents couldn’t even control him.

It was also because of this that the two of them didn’t face any external pressure when living together. It didn’t matter as long as they were happy.

“If you want to meet them, you can do so any time,” Jiang Chijing said.

“There’s no urgent need.” It was as though Zheng Mingyi had studied telepathy; his thoughts were in complete accord with Jiang Chijing’s. “But if your family needs a financial and investment advisor, they can hire me.”

This wasn’t a bad idea. After all, Zheng Mingyi was hot in the investment circle now; there were many who wanted to get in touch with him. But Jiang Chijing said, “My parents aren’t fools.”

“Fools?” Zheng Mingyi pulled Jiang Chijing to him, winding his arms around his waist. “Why? Don’t you trust my abilities?”

“It has nothing to do with your ability.” Jiang Chijing casually leaned forward and nibbled on Zheng Mingyi’s jaw. “You’re my man. Why would they have to hire you? It’s just free labour.”

A certain free labourer surnamed Zheng shifted his hands down to cup Jiang Chijing’s ass cheeks, entering character in the blink of an eye, saying, “Boss, there’s no free lunch in the world.”

Jiang Chijing had also long mastered the art of seamlessly switching into roles. He pushed his finger beneath Zheng Mingyi’s chin, narrowing his eyes, saying, “Then I’ll let you learn today what a blood-sucking capitalist is.”

Only too naturally, their lips pressed together. Zheng Mingyi lifted Jiang Chijing by his ass and spun them around, setting him on the brand-new office desk. However, before they could continue, the doorbell rang right at this inopportune moment.

“Mr. Zheng, are you home?”

“Your front door is wide open. You should be at home, right?”

Voices of the community workers carried over from outside the yard. Zheng Mingyi stopped, a seldom-seen vein bulging at his temple. “Why are they always so idle?”

“They’re not idle.” Jiang Chijing came down from the office desk. “They’re just doing their jobs.”

Zheng Mingyi seemed unable to understand why anyone would want to do building friendly neighbourly relations for a job, but under Jiang Chijing’s wheedling, he still walked up to the window, tempering himself to ask downstairs, “What is it?”

A community worker raised the small basket in his hand, warmly telling Zheng Mingyi, “Welcome back, Mr. Zheng. We’ve come to bring you a little present!”

Another community worker holding flyers added, “It’s snacks that everyone made together at a community event. It tastes pretty good!”

Actually, it had already been several months since Zheng Mingyi’s release from prison. Most of their neighbours also knew that he was ‘borrowing’ Jiang Chijing’s place to stay. The reason why the community workers only appeared at the door now was that Zheng Mingyi’s house had only just completed renovations.

“Do you think they’re really welcoming me?” Zheng Mingyi asked Jiang Chijing, walking next to him, as he went down the stairs.

“Relax, they really are.” Jiang Chijing understood these community workers better than Zheng Mingyi did. “You don’t know how repulsed they were by the scorched house in the community.”

Neighbourhood harmony and aesthetics—these were the most ardent wishes of the community workers, for it was these that would be immediately apparent if absent from the community.

While Zheng Mingyi’s cold attitude was unpleasant, it was better than having an unoccupied house in the community that ruined its aesthetics.

“Oh, Mr. Jiang is here too. You have such a good relationship with each other!”

“Mr. Jiang, do you want to participate in the community event this weekend?”

The moment Jiang Chijing and Zheng Mingyi walked to the yard, the two community workers issued their invitations.

Zheng Mingyi took the small basket from them and politely said his thanks, then, not too used to it, replied, “Not participating.”

However, Jiang Chijing wasn’t in a hurry to refuse them. He asked, “What event?”

“There will be a maths competition happening this weekend.” The community worker handed a flyer to Jiang Chijing. “If you’re not interested in maths, there’s also a music theory competition afterwards.”

“Maths sounds good.” Jiang Chijing casually skimmed the information on the flyer, then looked straight at Zheng Mingyi next to him, wordlessly urging him to change his mind.

Zheng Mingyi’s brows were furrowed: Not participating.

Jiang Chijing’s expression softened: Come on, listen to me. Participate.

Zheng Mingyi’s brows furrowed even more: Not par—ti—ci—pa—ting.

Jiang Chijing signalled with his eyes: This is a maths competition. It suits you.

Zheng Mingyi’s impatience was written all over his face: Not participating not participating not participating.

Jiang Chijing’s face darkened considerably: So are you going to participate or not?

Zheng Mingyi went silent for a moment but ultimately caved, telling the two community workers, “We will be there on time.”

“That’s great. Are you participating separately or as a team?” The staff worker asked. “Those who have signed up so far are participating as a family.”

“We’re also a family,” Zheng Mingyi said.

The community workers seemed to assume that Zheng Mingyi was referring to participating in a team and didn’t find it odd. After registering them and exchanging pleasantries, they left the front door of Zheng Mingyi’s house.

When the two men walked off, Zheng Mingyi looked gloomily at Jiang Chijing, saying, “Are you satisfied, boss?”

Actually, it wasn’t as though Jiang Chijing was very enthusiastic about these community events. He just didn’t want these people to dislike Zheng Mingyi; Zheng Mingyi was clearly such a good partner to him.

“Satisfied,” Jiang Chijing said with good cheer. “This boss shall reward you well today.”

Translated on ninetysevenkoi.wordpress

During the weekend, Jiang Chijing and Zheng Mingyi arrived at an event hall at the heart of the community.

Jiang Chijing would occasionally participate in the community events and wasn’t a stranger to this area, but Zheng Mingyi obviously looked like he hadn’t come here often.

Many benches were staggered into rows in the middle of the event venue. Afternoon tea and snacks were placed on the rectangular tables surrounding the benches, which participants could casually help themselves to.

By the time the two of them arrived, the benches were almost fully seated. Jiang Chijing went to collect a board and marker, while Zheng Mingyi found a corner seat.

“Welcome to our community’s Maths Competition! Do any of you still have any mathematical knowledge to return to your teachers?”

When the time came, the emcee standing in front started to hype the atmosphere.

As the two of them were seated in the last row, Zheng Mingyi couldn’t be bothered to listen to it. Jiang Chijing didn’t pay close attention, either.

Five minutes later, the emcee was finally done reading out the competition rules and prizes. Then, he unfolded the giant question sheet in his colleague’s hands.

“So, is everyone ready? Let’s start with the first question: There are multiple chickens and rabbits in a cage. There are 25 heads and 74 feet in the cage. How many chickens are there, and how many rabbits?”

Jiang Chijing was still writing x+y=25 on the board when he heard Zheng Mingyi say from beside him, “13 chickens and 12 rabbits.”

Oh, all right.

Jiang Chijing used a tissue to erase the workings on the board, pretending that nothing happened, and wrote down Zheng Mingyi’s answer. Then, he raised the board.

“What? Does someone already have an answer? …The answer is correct!”

Jiang Chijing set down the board under the weight of others’ astonished gazes.

For some reason, the people around them suddenly grew tense. About half a minute later, the emcee said, “Um, it’s a pity but many teams weren’t able to solve it. According to the rules, any team that isn’t able to solve the problem in less than thirty seconds after the first correct answer appears will be eliminated.”

Jiang Chijing looked at Zheng Mingyi next to him: Was there such a rule?

Zheng Mingyi shrugged: Don’t look at me. I have even less of a clue than you.

Actually, the chicken and rabbits problem was very simple. However, for most of the participants present, it was too long since their last exposure to maths. Only a few quick thinkers and students, who handled similar problems on a regular basis, were able to give an answer within these thirty seconds.

Zheng Mingyi’s ability to sight-read problems directly eliminated two-third of the teams, and among those remaining, two or three teams had gotten the right answer due to accidentally glimpsing the answer Jiang Chijing held up.

The emcee was obviously unprepared for the competition to enter its climax right when it just started. He dropped a subtle reminder, “About that, it’s good to spend more time thinking, all right? Okay, let’s take a look at the second question: There are a total of 100 pears, apples, oranges, and persimmons. If you increase the number of pears by 4, decrease the number of apples by 4, multiply the number of oranges by 4, and divide the number of persimmons by 4, then the number of fruits would be equal. How many apples are there?

The difficulty of the problem stepped up significantly. Jiang Chijing believed that Zheng Mingyi would also need to give it some thought, but before he could even touch the marker to the board, he heard Zheng Mingyi say from beside him, “20.”

Jiang Chijing checked this on the board and it was indeed that. By this point, several other correct answers had appeared, so he unhurriedly wrote ’20’ and lifted the board.

Following this, Jiang Chijing made sure to be the second to raise the board each time, and the flow of the elimination rounds proceeded more normally.

About ten minutes later, only two teams were left on the stage.

“Go for it, you’re the best!”

“The maths contest in school didn’t pose any challenge to you; today you got this in the bag too!”

Jiang Chijing could hear the parents cheering on their child over there. He looked at Zheng Mingyi who was sitting listlessly next to him, held up a fist, and said, “Go for it, husband.”

Jiang Chijing said this very softly, and his voice didn’t carry any emotion as well. He knew that Zheng Mingyi was completely capable of handling this with ease and didn’t need his encouragement at all.

“‘Kay.” Zheng Mingyi lazily made an O.K. gesture.

“The competition is now entering its final showdown! Please listen carefully to the next question: In the positive integer series 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on, cross out all of the multiples of 3 and 4, but leave every fifth number. After crossing them out, what is the 2015th number in the series?”

Zheng Mingyi mulled over it for a few seconds then told Jiang Chijing, “3359.”

Since the competition was in the final stage, Jiang Chijing didn’t take into account others’ participation and directly wrote the answer on the board.

“So fast? Are these two gentlemen maths teachers?”

Jiang Chijing set down the board, unsurprised to hear the emcee announce the words “the answer is correct.”

The high school student on the other team failed to give an answer within thirty seconds. As such, Zheng Mingyi and Jiang Chijing easily won first place in the community’s maths competition.

After the competition ended, many neighbours came by to ask if they had the free time to run after-school classes for their children. Although Jiang Chijing hoped that Zheng Mingyi would build good neighbourly relations, this scene still caught him between laughter and tears.

The community workers came forth to give them the prize for first place. A recording pen lookalike was printed on the surface of the box.

Jiang Chijing didn’t take note of it at first. It was only after they slowly made their way back home that he thought of throwing out the box, then did he pick it up to look at it carefully.

The moment Jiang Chijing saw what it was, he almost rolled on the floor in laughter.

“Take this, it suits you,” Jiang Chijing said to Zheng Mingyi.

“What?” Zheng Mingyi asked, baffled.

“Little Genius Reader Pen; just point it to the word you don’t know.” —perfectly suited for this dyslexic little genius Zheng Zheng.

After saying that, Jiang Chijing could no longer restrain it, huffing a laugh.

Zheng Mingyi’s face was dark. He said, “I hate community events.”