Chapter 107 - Who The Hell Is Su San?
"Childe Yuan! Childe Yuan!"
The call grew more and more real, shattering the dream world of the water and sky.
Yuan Ge reluctantly opened his eyes and immediately saw Rong Qiuchen's wide-eyed face right in front of him.
"Where am I..." Yuan Ge looked around in bewilderment and found himself lying in his own bed, half-naked, with his hands on the small of the boy's back. The two of them were curled up under the same quilt, at an embarrassingly close distance. With a start, he rolled out of bed and tried to dispel the dreamy, amorous images in his mind.
"Childe Yuan, you fell asleep in the bath. I was worried that you might catch cold in the water, so I took the liberty of moving you to your bedroom." .
"Uh... I'm all confused, what time is it?" Yuan Ge was terribly embarrassed on the inside, but he tried to keep his composure on the outside - luckily he was still wearing his pyjama pants, which was probably put on by the boy as well. It wasn't easy to move a man of his height from the bathroom to the bedroom. But then he remembered that the guy could carry a coffin lid with almost no effort, so he guessed that moving him around must be a piece of cake. It was just that he seemed to get naked with him a lot. Never in his life had he been so physically intimate to anyone.
Yuan Ge looked up at the electronic clock on the wall. It was already 10am! How could he have slept so deeply? And the lingering hallucination in the dream was still clear. Oh, that dragon's tail in the dream... Yuan Ge stole a glance at the boy's long, snow-white legs against the dark bedding and couldn't help but feel ashamed of the amorous scenes in his dream - "That... uh... while I was asleep, I didn't do or say anything strange, did I?"
"Childe Yuan, you asked me to keep you company in your dream. I did not know which room to go to, so I took the liberty of sleeping in your bed. I hope you will forgive my impudence. As for other things... You kept calling Su San in your dream, and I didn't know what you meant."
"What the hell is Su San?" Yuan Ge was confused.
"Isn't she the main character in the Peking Opera classic 'The Story of Su San'[1]? She was a famous courtesan of the Ming Dynasty..."
"What famous courtesan? I don't know so many Beijing opera classics. What kind of museum piece is this 'The Story of Su San'? Never even heard of it."
Anxious to extricate himself from his embarrassment, Yuan Ge suddenly realised the amorous scene in his dream - could it be that he was thinking of his girlfriend Susan from his Hollywood days?
Rong Qiuchen, however, did not detect Yuan Ge's embarrassment and continued, "Childe Yuan also said 'wrap me tighter' and …"
"Uh, that's because I dreamt of a white dragon …"
"What about Su San?"
"Susan … is a white horse …"
After stopping Rong Qiuchen from asking further questions, Yuan Ge took out two sets of T-shirts and sweatpants from the wardrobe for the two of them to put on comfortably. With a voice command of "Rise And Shine", the blinds and curtains on all the windows were pulled open automatically and the smart house turned on its daytime mode.
The bright morning light pours into the room through window panes of various sizes, giving off a warm winter glow.
Looking in amazement at the beautiful turquoise water through the large floor-to-ceiling French windows in the living room, Rong Qiuchen said excitedly, "I never thought that the site you chose to build your house would have such a magnificent view! The site choice is so amazing that it actually rivals the Rong Mansion. The view of this lake is no less beautiful than that of the Dragon Pond."
"I've noticed that you seem to be particularly fond of water. I could tell when I saw you having so much fun in the bathtub yesterday."
Seeing how delighted Rong Qiuchen was, Yuan Ge took him to the roof terrace as well, " How's that? It's not a bad neighbourhood, is it? At least in a mega capital city like Beijing, it's quite rare to have a prime location like this."
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[1] The Story of Su San is a classic Beijing Opera play. Wang Jinglong, a son of a government official, and Su San, a famous courtesan, vow to be together for life. After spending all his money in the brothel, Wang is banished to a temple. When Su San learned of this, she went to the temple and gave him her savings, so that Wang could return to Nanjing. The brothel owner sold Su San to a wealthy Shanxi merchant, Shen Yanlin, as a concubine. Shen's wife, Pi, poisoned Shen and framed Su San. The magistrate took a bribe to have Su San convicted of a capital offence and sent her to Taiyuan for trial. The judge happened to be Wang Jinglong and the injustice was vindicated. Wang and Su are reunited.