Chapter 126: Sleep00

Xie Junchen’s face darkened instantly. Yet, Jin Youqian’s expression was utterly serious, as if he genuinely doubted his sexual orientation.

Crack, crack, crack—

Xie Junchen cracked his knuckles one after another, his dark, bloodthirsty face enough to scare the faint-hearted out of their wits. However, Jin Youqian simply stared at him with such earnestness that it was clear he was seriously considering the matter.

Xie Junchen fell silent, beginning to imagine what would happen if Jin Youqian really went to his grandmother and blurted out that “Junchen and the person he loves are truly in love.” Could he possibly avoid the inevitable matchmaking sessions during the holidays?

But he quickly realized that if Jin Youqian said such things, not only might his spry grandmother beat him to death, but his reputation in their circle would likely be ruined. Given that no woman was willing to marry him to begin with, things would only get harder.

Besides, he already had someone he liked—why resort to such a lousy scheme to dodge the matchmaking?

Xie Junchen paused, suspiciously looking at Jin Youqian. “Are you messing with me?”

Jin Youqian stared seriously but said something that made Xie Junchen wish he could kill him on the spot: “The one messing around is you!”

“Damn it!” Xie Junchen turned, ready to throw a punch, but Jin Youqian caught his fist in mid-air.

His gaze was as deep as ever, yet in that moment, it sent a chill down Xie Junchen’s spine. “It’s just tit for tat,” he said, letting out a rare smile. “I’ll visit your grandmother tomorrow.”

“Damn! Jin Youqian, believe it or not, I’ll really kill you!”

Visit his house tomorrow? That was just to poison his eyes, making his holiday even more hellish, wasn’t it?

“If possible,” Jin Youqian said meaningfully, looking contemptuously at the fist he held.

Xie Junchen was speechless.

Damn, what does it mean to have a toxic friend? This was it—alive and well!

What infuriated him even more was that, despite being a battle-hardened soldier who had survived countless dangers, he kept getting bested by Jin Youqian in hand-to-hand combat. His pride was almost shattered!

Suppressing his annoyance, Xie Junchen pulled back his hand. “When did I ever offend you? Tit for tat? I don’t even know what I supposedly did!”

Since childhood, Jin Youqian’s strength and intelligence had always overshadowed his own. If there really was a score to settle, he’d surely remember it.

If he had managed to trick Jin Youqian, he would have proudly broadcasted it everywhere—and laughed about it in his sleep!

Jin Youqian glanced at him. “My mother’s always worried that I’m either gay or asexual.”

“Oh, I know, your aunt is always so trendy…” Xie Junchen frowned. “But what does that have to do with me? Isn’t your aunt worried because you don’t touch women at all?”

He muttered under his breath, “And you’ve never touched a man either!”

Being asexual seemed more believable, but where did the rumor about being gay come from? Too unreliable.

“Heh!” Jin Youqian sneered.

Xie Junchen shivered inexplicably, eyes wide with disbelief. “Could it be that I started that rumor?” He frowned quickly, shaking his head in denial. “If I had said such a thing, I’d definitely remember… You’re lying to me again, aren’t you?”

“Heh!”

Xie Junchen: “...Yeah, right, heh!”

Jin Youqian’s expression darkened instantly. “Say that again?”

Thinking about how his future happiness depended on him, no matter how arrogant Xie Junchen was, he had to back down when faced with Jin Youqian’s servitude.

He quickly lowered his head. “My bad…”

Only then did Jin Youqian generously reveal the truth. “On my twenty-second birthday, you had just graduated from the military academy and came to my party.”

Xie Junchen nodded. That was true.

The official school break was still two days away, but to celebrate his buddy’s birthday, he had taken leave to come back early.

Recalling this, he sounded a little aggrieved. “Back then, I came back carrying the disdain of instructors and others who thought I was hopeless. Even if I said something thoughtless, you wouldn’t have held a grudge for so long, would you? That’s just cruel…”

But Xie Junchen was always a bit of a rogue; no matter how aggrieved his tone, his face, which carried an inherent ‘king’s disdain,’ strangely made people want to punch him.

“Did I let you come back?” Jin Youqian’s tone was cold and serious, clearly genuinely angry.

Xie Junchen had been a little annoyed but wilted immediately when he saw Jin Youqian’s expression.

He dared not pretend and quickly cut to the chase. “What exactly did I say?”

Jin Youqian glanced at him, leisurely leaning back in his chair, arms crossed, with a superior air. “Didn’t you just remember?”

Xie Junchen’s eyes rolled, offering a smile. “My memory’s bad, I forgot…”

“Heh!”

Xie Junchen: “...Don’t think I don’t know that every ‘heh’ hides an insult.”

“Don’t you deserve it?” Jin Youqian looked at him. “You once said, ‘Jin Youqian, you don’t like women, do you? Or are you frigid? Asexual? Or… is there something wrong down there?’ You made my mother worry for six whole years and put me through six years of painful matchmaking. Do you think a simple ‘heh’ can express how I feel about you?”

Xie Junchen: “...Wasn’t that just a joke?” His smile faded. “Even if I’m a jerk, I wouldn’t say that in front of your aunt.”

Jin Youqian was about to say ‘heh’ at him again...

He coldly shot Xie Junchen a glance. “My mother likes hanging out with young people and often eavesdrops on my conversations, saying it brings us closer.”

Xie Junchen: “...So you didn’t deny it back then?”

He suddenly recalled the scene but, given his purpose today, dared not take the blame and threw it back again.

Jin Youqian laughed once more.

Xie Junchen didn’t argue further and tearfully acquiesced to Jin Youqian’s plan for tomorrow.

But since he agreed, he naturally wanted something in return—

“Go ahead, go ahead. I’m not like you—growing up without ever touching a woman. They definitely won’t believe you!”

Jin Youqian smiled. “Never thought you could be so naive.”

Xie Junchen considered whether he should take off his shoes to act ‘innocent.’

He snapped back to reality. “Jinzi, I’ve realized I’m addicted to one woman. Even on missions, I can’t stop thinking about her. Help me find her.”

Jin Youqian gave him a sidelong glance. “You yourself…”

“I don’t have time!” Xie Junchen raised his hands. “This holiday’s only three days, and I don’t even know her name.”

Jin Youqian: “Are you out of your mind? Falling for a one-night stand.”

Although Jin Youqian wouldn’t indulge in such things, that didn’t mean he was clueless.

Xie Junchen lit a cigarette, his eyes drifting to the ceiling. “Matters of the heart are inherently irrational.”

Jin Youqian looked at him coldly. “What does she look like?”

Xie Junchen choked—not because Jin Youqian had guessed right, but because...

“She’s a bit ugly.”

Indeed, Ji Youning’s looks struck him as somewhat unattractive.

Even if she was originally ordinary, compared to the women Xie Junchen had been with before, she was certainly not impressive.

But...

“Her voice is very beautiful.” A spark lit in Xie Junchen’s eyes. “You know, I’m a sucker for voices.”

And her personality was pretty good, exactly to his taste—

Women? What use is gentle and shy? The spicier, the better.

Only then did Jin Youqian take him more seriously. “Her voice is so nice you want to sleep with her again?” He frowned. “You want to bring her home just because of her voice?”

That was too frivolous...

Even when he planned to marry Song Wan, it was after knowing her personality that he made the decision. But Xie Junchen? One encounter, and he wanted to marry her because of her voice.

Xie Junchen finally couldn’t hold back, lighting his cigarette and exhaling smoke.

Jin Youqian, unusually, didn’t curse him but waited attentively.

After a long pause, Xie Junchen spoke, “You know how our line of work is—we kill too many, and in missions, we witness too much death among comrades… Once, last year, the last veteran aside from me died. After that, I couldn’t sleep for nights on end. The feeling was like my brain was being torn apart. It was so painful I even thought about suicide.”

He spoke lightly, but Jin Youqian suddenly sat up straight.

He had never heard Xie Junchen talk about this before.

Even with the calm tone, Jin Youqian who knew him deeply could detect the hidden pain.

Xie Junchen wasn’t bothered and continued, “If it weren’t for thinking about my family and you guys, I probably would have gone. I smiled bitterly and took a deep drag. “But even so, during my last leave, I nearly reached my limit and submitted my discharge request.”

Jin Youqian was stunned. He knew his friend’s exceptional military talent—no mission had ever failed. The army wouldn’t let him go.

Especially since the Xie family was a military dynasty, with generations dying in battle. They would never agree to his discharge.

Xie Junchen smiled faintly. “As expected, it was denied. But maybe they saw my mental state was off and gave me an extra vacation to relax.”

He shifted tone. “Remember that day I pranked you?”

Xie Junchen’s eyes held a trace of resentment, clearly still holding a grudge.

Jin Youqian squinted. “That was the night you slept with her?”

Xie Junchen nodded, a smile playing on his lips. “You messed with me that night, so I didn’t notice anything unusual about her and slept with her. Surprisingly, I slept really soundly.”

He still remembered the feeling—the long-lasting insomnia nearly drove him mad, so that one night of deep sleep became an addiction.

“I thought I was better that night, but you saw for yourself…” He shrugged and pointed to the dark circles under his eyes. “So now I have to find her, even if it’s just to get a real night’s sleep.”