Around Here, We Only Follow

Everyone knows the powerful gong has a pretty canary by his side, but few have ever seen him take the canary out with him.

So people say the gong will dump the canary sooner or later. Why make the relationship public if he's going to dump him anyway?

To avoid trouble, he doesn't even let the canary follow him around in public.

The gong's friend believes this. Thinking the gong will be entering an arranged marriage in the next couple of years, he jokes, "Hey, dump him early to avoid people getting the wrong idea."

Gong: ...?

The gong's friend continues, "He should be prepared for it, too. In our circle, there are no boyfriends, only kept men."

"Someone like him will never make it into the inner circle. He'll just have to pack up and leave."

After hearing this, the gong falls into thought, looking just a little troubled.

*

The shou has very little energy. He thinks he has transmigrated into a second-chance romance novel, where he's supposed to play the cannon-fodder who fills the gong's lonely period. So when he first meets the gong three years ago, he is very quiet.

When the gong asks him to be together, the shou doesn't say a word.

After three years of dating, the gong buys him a huge ten-carat diamond ring, but the shou can't be bothered to wear it out.

The gong puts a villa in the shou's name, but the shou doesn't even think to find someone to renovate it.

He has even less energy to move in with the gong.

One evening, the shou wakes up in bed and sleepily sees the gong sitting beside him.

The gong frowns, looking rather troubled.

The shou decides to watch him for ten minutes. If the gong doesn't say anything, he'll lie back down and go to sleep.

Finally, the gong says, "Will you come shopping with me this weekend?"

The shou shakes his head. "Shopping is exhausting. I don't want to go out."

The gong says, "Then come meet my friends with me."

The shou shakes his head again. "Socializing is exhausting. I don't want to see anyone."

The gong says, "Then take a photo with me and post it on Moments."

The shou shakes his head, confused. "That's such a hassle. I'd have to change clothes. Why take a photo?"

The gong is silent for a long time. In the end, helpless, he takes off his clothes, gets into bed, hugs the shou, and sighs again.

"All right, then. I won't take you out."

Lying beside the shou, the gong turns it over in his mind, full of doubt.

He wonders whether he's managed to make it into the shou's inner circle at all.

The shou never goes out, so how is he supposed to take him anywhere?

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