“Hey, did you hear? A villa got broken into.”
“It wasn’t a thief. I saw it myself. A small-time celebrity lives there, and the person who snuck in was one of those obsessive fans. His boyfriend caught him and beat him so badly he was carried out covered in blood.”
“For real? Which celebrity?”
“I didn’t see the celebrity, only the ambulance parked outside. The guy got beaten so bad his arm was broken.”
“So brutal?”
Nian Le locked his little green bike and paid the fare. Just as he entered the villa district, he heard two ladies walking their dogs gossiping.
He subconsciously slowed his pace, listening to their conversation while judging how true the story sounded.
A “hurt the enemy a thousand, wound yourself eight hundred” situation like this, he hadn’t heard one in a long time.
Besides, what kind of celebrity’s boyfriend was that violent, beating someone until even his own arm broke?
“Don’t mention it, that little celebrity’s boyfriend was really handsome. I saw him from afar—tall, great figure maybe he’s a celebrity too.”
“Really? Which villa was it?”
One of the women pointed ahead. Nian Le followed her gaze and saw a place that looked familiar.
He stopped in place for a few seconds of silence.
“Hey, let me tell you, that villa used to belong to the Huo family—” the woman didn’t finish before a figure suddenly rushed past them, running straight toward the villa in question, and quickly entered the password on the gate.
Both women froze, their dogs tugging at the leashes as they watched the young man.
Nian Le ran into the courtyard as fast as he could, opened the code lock, and even though he’d prepared himself mentally, the sight before him still made him freeze.
The marble tiles that once gleamed enough to reflect a person were now covered in footprints. Decorations were knocked over, tables and chairs tilted, the display room’s racing track model was broken and collapsed, and the car models were scattered across the floor.
Without wasting time, Nian Le ran upstairs and knocked on Huo Weiran’s bedroom door but there was no response.
The doorbell rang. Nian Le went downstairs and opened the door to find a team of uniformed cleaners holding their tools, led by a manager whose face was full of guilt.
“Hello, I’m the manager of the cleaning company. Regarding the leak of your information, we’ve already investigated, it was an employee who sold your private details. We’ve fired him, and our company will take full responsibility for the damage caused…”
After a while, Nian Le pieced together what had happened.
One of Huo Weiran’s obsessive fans had bought his private information and disguised themselves as a cleaner that morning to sneak in.
It was hard to imagine how Huo Weiran must have felt, watching years of his personal collection being destroyed and how, despite his frail condition, he managed to fight the intruder off.
The manager, after contacting the Huo family, apologized profusely and began organizing the cleanup. Nian Le glanced up toward Huo Weiran’s room on the second floor, then walked to the display room and began setting the racing track model upright.
Borrowing some tools, he carefully repaired and reassembled the warped sections, cleaning the surface as he went.
Beneath the model were several car replicas, one of which, a LEGO car, was shattered beyond recognition.
The manager, watching from the side, saw the calm, refined young man kneeling among the broken models, quietly picking up every scattered piece and laying them neatly on the table, trying to rebuild them.
It was a massive task. The manager instinctively signaled the workers to move quietly, afraid that any noise might disturb the young man’s concentration.
Nian Le knew little about cars, so he searched online for reference photos and started rebuilding from the simplest to the most complex.
Some were easy, just fallen pieces to reattach but the crushed or broken ones required much more patience.
By the time the cleaners finished their work, evening had fallen. The manager looked at the few completed models on the table and then at the countless tiny pieces still waiting to be assembled. He hesitated to speak.
“Thank you for your hard work,” Nian Le suddenly said, his hands never stopping. He was holding several pieces smaller than his fingernail, comparing them one by one with steady patience. His expression remained calm and gentle.
“It’s no trouble at all,” the manager said, guilt heavy in his tone. “I’ve checked everything thoroughly. Would you like to inspect it yourself? If there’s any issue, I’ll fix it immediately.”
“No need.” Nian Le’s gaze briefly swept around the villa before returning to the tiny parts in front of him. “I trust you’ll handle it properly.”
Such a simple sentence paired with what had happened that morning made the manager’s face burn with shame. He wished he could sink into the ground.
“I’m truly sorry…” he began, but the young man interrupted him.
“You don’t need to apologize to me.” Nian Le carefully pressed a small part into place. “I’m not the one who was hurt.”
The manager froze, then glanced upstairs at the closed door. He slowly walked over, his expression solemn.
“Mr. Huo, our company has worked with your family many times, and your mother has helped us a great deal in business. This time, it was our management’s failure that caused you such harm and loss. We will do everything possible to make it right…”
There was no response from inside. After apologizing again, the manager realized the person inside didn’t intend to answer.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead, went downstairs, and after bidding the young man farewell, led his team out with heavy hearts.
Nian Le didn’t feel much lighter himself. He rebuilt car model after car model until only the shattered LEGO one remained. With no manual, he could only fumble and guess the pieces’ positions.
He’d complete a section, then realize something earlier was wrong, forcing him to take it apart and start again. The first time he finished, there were still a few leftover bricks. He closed his eyes briefly, sighed, and began disassembling it once more.
His fingertips turned red from the friction, and a dull ache started pounding in his head. When he finally lifted his eyes, dawn was breaking outside.
By the time the last LEGO car was complete, the sky was fully bright. His head throbbed, but before he could go upstairs to rest, he noticed another car model on the table, one the cleaners must have found on the floor and placed there.
He picked it up. It was mostly intact, missing only one door.
Just then, in the silent villa, a sound came from upstairs. The bedroom door, closed all night slowly opened.
Huo Weiran, hair disheveled, stepped barefoot onto the stairs. After a few steps, he seemed to realize his feet were bare.
The pain in his chest had tortured him through the night……sharp, suffocating but now, even the chill beneath his feet felt meaningless in comparison.
Blankly walking downstairs, Huo Weiran headed toward the dining room, when something at the edge of his vision caught his eye.
He stopped in place, his gaze slowly shifting until he saw the young man sleeping on the sofa.
As if his body were moving on its own, Huo Weiran walked forward step by step and lowered his eyes to look at him.
This was the partner his mother had found for him.
He seemed to have stayed up all night too. His long lashes cast faint shadows beneath his eyes, his lips were pale, and his breathing was soft and even.
As feeling gradually returned to him, Huo Weiran’s gaze shifted toward the table beside them and saw over a dozen car models, all perfectly restored.
What had been broken and twisted was now whole again, as if some fairytale magic had swept through the room, undoing every trace of destruction.
But there was no magic here.
Looking down, Huo Weiran saw that the lightly sleeping youth still held a car model missing a door. Unlike his usual pale fingertips, the ones gripping the car were reddened from friction, so vivid that Huo couldn’t look away.
The silent, colorless world seemed to take shape again through that small trace of color. Huo Weiran could almost feel his blood moving, pulsing along the hue of those fingertips, spreading warmth through his limbs, bringing life back into a gray world.
Nian Le, having dozed off from a headache, woke suddenly. Squinting at the clock, he realized he’d slept for two hours.
Someone was sitting on the sofa nearby. He sat up and saw his younger companion sitting quietly, head lowered, focused on something. The sound of movement made him lift his gaze.
“Did you get hurt yesterday?” Nian Le asked gently as he stood and walked over.
“No,” Huo Weiran’s voice was low, his eyes instinctively avoiding the other’s.
“Good. As long as you’re not hurt.” Nian Le’s awareness cleared and then he realized something was in his hand. He lifted it. It was the car model missing a door.
“Did you see the door for this one?”
He sat down beside Huo Weiran, speaking softly. “I checked the display room and under the sofa, but I couldn’t find it.”
After a moment of silence, Huo slowly opened his left hand in front of him.
It was like unlocking a door that had been sealed for years, he had the right key, but still hesitated to open it fully.
Because he knew there was no hidden treasure behind it only dusty, broken furniture and creaking old floorboards that could bring nothing but disappointment.
The missing door had been clenched tightly in his palm all this time.
Nian Le looked down, seeing the dried blood in Huo’s hand, unsure what to say for a moment.
He fetched the first-aid kit from the living room, carefully pried the bloodied car door from Huo’s palm, rinsed his hand, applied iodine, and wrapped the wound with layers of gauze.
Huo Weiran said nothing through it all, seemingly numb to pain. His eyes, half-hidden behind his hair, occasionally flicked toward Nian Le before shifting away again.
When Nian Le finished cleaning the small car door, he met Huo’s gaze and handed it to him along with the car model.
“Want to try putting it back on?”
Huo held the tiny door, glanced at the car in Nian Le’s hands, and remembered all his failed attempts from the night before. His gaze lowered.
That same frustration, being unable to fix even a toy car had only grown deeper with every try.
“Let’s put this one back together, then return all the models to their places, okay?” Nian Le said, his tone calm and warm as he tilted his head slightly toward Huo.
He gently tapped the model car in his hand, drawing Huo’s attention.
Huo instinctively turned away, then quickly looked back, lips pressed together. After a pause, he lifted the small car door again.
Lining it up with the hinge, he pressed firmly, Nian Le steadied the car, their movements syncing until a soft click sounded. The door fit perfectly back into place.
Huo closed the door with a light push and a faint, involuntary smile tugged at his lips.
Nian Le picked up two of the models and placed them back on the spiral track. Huo followed, watching as Nian touched one of the cars at the starting point. It rolled forward, racing smoothly along the track, looping gracefully before crossing the finish line and stopping at the buffer.
Only then did Nian Le realize how the spiral track worked. He picked out another car and looked at Huo.
Huo’s eyes held a rare glimmer of amusement. He took the car that had just finished and lined it beside Nian Le’s. At Nian Le’s cue—“Ready, go!”—they released the cars together.
The two models shot forward side by side. Nian Le silently cheered for his car. It was a bit childish, something grade schoolers might do but somehow perfect for university students; lighthearted, easy, freeing.
The spiral track had many turns. Huo’s car handled them flawlessly, while Nian Le’s kept bumping into edges, needing a few nudges until it lost miserably at the end.
“The key to racing is the corners,” Huo said, lifting his car model and glancing at him. “Anyone can floor it on a straight, but real speed comes from taking the turns well.”
Nian Le nodded seriously, studying the model. After those few words, silence settled again.
He looked up and saw Huo staring at the car in his hands, his expression heavy as if lost in thought.
“I’ll bring the others over,” Nian Le said softly, shifting the topic.
Huo looked at his back as he turned away, his own face paling slightly.
“Nian Le.”
It was the first time he’d said his name aloud. Nian Le turned, noticing something strange in Huo’s expression.
“My injury…” Huo’s gaze locked onto him, his breathing uneven.
“My injury is permanent.”
[mfn] If you enjoy my translations, you can show your support by leaving a comment or donating to my Ko-fi. It will be much appreciated. Thank you! [/mfn]
