Chapter 46
Xia Fengsheng had never been a fragile person.
Tough. Unyielding. Always doing things his own way.
He was like a stone born in the heart of the fiercest blizzard—surrounded by brutal conditions, yet impossible for anyone to shatter.
Some intruder had tried to ruin him, assuming that after enduring so much in the storm, he must already be exhausted and easy to break.
But when the blow came down, he still did not budge in the slightest.
Completely intact.
Shi Ye couldn’t imagine what Xia Fengsheng might fear.
He never said it, never softened his words, and never asked anyone for anything.
But today, Xia Fengsheng had asked him.
He had asked him to help.
Looking at the person in front of him in the darkness, Shi Ye clenched his teeth so hard that another second and they might have drawn blood.
It was him.
He was the one who had left a crack in that unbreakable stone.
Shi Ye’s widely admired handsome face twisted into something fierce and ugly. He didn’t even know what to do to the person in his hands to calm the rage inside him.
The more he thought, the angrier he became, until he forgot to breathe.
Grabbing the back of the man’s neck, he strode to the window, yanked it open, and was about to shove him out.
“Shi Ye!”
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh—!”
The man clung to the window frame, looked down at the five-story drop below, and was instantly overtaken by terror. He screamed himself hoarse, “Murder! Somebody’s trying to kill me!”
The commotion in the dorm was so loud that students in the surrounding rooms all woke up.
Xia Fengsheng hurriedly dragged the man back out of Shi Ye’s grasp. The moment he pulled him back from the window, he saw that the man’s forehead had split open badly. When Shi Ye had shoved him out, his head had smashed against the outdoor air-conditioning unit.
Very quickly, the dorm supervisor was called upstairs. The moment she pushed open the door and saw the student with a bruised face and blood pouring from a gash in his forehead, she nearly rolled her eyes back and fainted.
Good lord above.
Shi Ye called the police before the dorm supervisor even had a chance to.
The student sitting on the floor was deathly pale, clutching his bleeding forehead. He had become so frightened he was foaming at the mouth and looked on the verge of passing out. The dorm supervisor scrambled to contact the school authorities and an ambulance.
The police arrived before the ambulance did. After being given a few mouthfuls of water, the foaming student finally came around a bit.
His name was Jiang Cong. He was also a second-year high school student, from the class next to theirs. Xia Fengsheng didn’t know him.
The vice principal arrived with the police and took in the chaotic scene in the dorm room. “Who fought with whom?”
Xia Fengsheng wanted to step forward, but Shi Ye pressed him back.
“I did.” Shi Ye stood up and pointed at Jiang Cong, who was sitting on the floor with a handkerchief pressed against his bleeding forehead. “He fought with me.”
The vice principal looked at the dorm supervisor, who was kneeling on the floor. “Did you hit the teacher too?”
The dorm supervisor said weakly, “No, I scared myself onto my knees.”
“……”
Since the fight had happened on campus, contacting parents was unavoidable.
After informing their families, Shi Ye went to the police station. Xia Fengsheng went with him as a witness.
Because Jiang Cong had to go to the hospital first for treatment, it would be a while before both sides could be questioned together.
Sitting in the police station, exhaustion showed clearly beneath Xia Fengsheng’s eyes. His gaze was blank, his fingers resting between his knees. “Sorry. I dragged you into this.”
Ever since the issue of being secretly kissed while unable to see at night, he had already suffered from insomnia for two or three days. Asking Shi Ye to stay with him had really been about catching the one sneaking in to kiss him.
He had never expected Shi Ye to end up getting hurt because of it.
Shi Ye had a lollipop in his mouth. He normally didn’t eat sweets, but right now he was so angry that he needed something between his teeth to bite down on. The moment he heard Xia Fengsheng apologizing, he turned his head sharply to look at him.
“Why are you apologizing? I did it willingly. Why apologize? What, do you think—”
Xia Fengsheng met his eyes. “Think what?”
Shi Ye’s face flushed red, and he muttered under his breath, “Like I’d just stand there and let someone kiss my boyfriend…”
He mumbled so badly that Xia Fengsheng didn’t catch it.
Late into the night, Jiang Cong arrived at the police station with his parents. Both sides were present now, so questioning could begin.
Tears streaming down his face, Jiang Cong pointed at Xia Fengsheng and said to the police, “He always bullies people at school. He throws his weight around so much that even the teachers can’t control him. I had no choice. That’s why I secretly went to his dorm in the middle of the night to hit him.”
To keep emotions in check and prevent a physical altercation, Xia Fengsheng, Shi Ye, and Jiang Cong were seated facing each other with a table between them.
The police looked toward Xia Fengsheng and Shi Ye’s side.
Confronted with Jiang Cong’s accusations, both boys looked exceptionally calm. The officer thought to himself: Didn’t expect them to be this emotionally stable.
The very next second, Shi Ye made as if to climb over the table. “I’ll tear your mouth apart right now!”
Police officer: ……
At this point, Jiang Cong looked at Shi Ye the way one might look at a demon crawling out of hell. Because of Shi Ye, he had gotten six stitches in the hospital for the wound on his forehead. Terrified, Jiang Cong screamed and scrambled behind his parents, his face white as paper.
Jiang Cong’s father quickly shielded his son. “What are you doing? This is a police station, and you still want to attack my son? How do your parents usually raise you?!”
He wanted to bring their parents in and demand justice, to ask exactly what kind of upbringing had produced children like these—bullying classmates at school and then trying to hit people even at the police station.
Shi Ye’s parents were still on the way. Jiang Cong’s father pointed at Xia Fengsheng. “Where are that child’s parents? Why aren’t they here? Get over the parents of that kid who’s always bullying people! This is lawless! Let’s see who dares lay a hand on my son today!”
His face twisted viciously, his teeth grinding as though he wanted to swallow Xia Fengsheng whole. “What’s your parents’ phone number? Say it!”
A sharp pain shot through Xia Fengsheng’s chest. His nails dug into his palms.
No one from his family was coming.
“What are you yelling at him for?!”
Shi Ye shot to his feet, furious as a young lion that had been provoked. “Can’t you speak to him in a lower voice? Who says his parents didn’t come? I’m his parent.”
Xia Fengsheng hadn’t slept properly in days, and he had grown gaunt enough that his face looked hollow. There had never been much flesh on it to begin with, and now he looked even thinner.
Why couldn’t people speak to him gently? Why were they shouting at him?!
Jiang Cong’s father snapped, “You’re just a student. What kind of parent are you?”
“I damn well am!” Shi Ye, who usually showed respect to people older than him, lost control of his temper for the first time in his life and swore outright. He shielded Xia Fengsheng tightly behind him, refusing to let anyone speak harshly to him. “If I’m his parent, then he’s under my protection. You don’t get to stand here and point fingers.”
Shi Ye looked like he was about to hit someone. Jiang Cong’s father instinctively backed up a step and pointed at Shi Ye and Xia Fengsheng with a trembling finger. “Officer, look at these students! No manners, no learning, completely uncultured—what kind of good students could they possibly be? They don’t look like decent children at all!”
He kept flinging baseless accusations at the two of them.
As Jiang Cong’s father babbled on, the look in Shi Ye’s eyes grew darker and darker.
“Uncultured?”
Shi Ye actually laughed in disbelief, cutting off the man’s slander with biting contempt. “Now I know exactly why your son did something that disgusting. Like father, like son.”
Jiang Cong’s father flew into a rage. “What did you say? Say it again!”
“‘Like father, like son,’ what else? You and your son are birds of a feather—just as disgusting.” Shi Ye’s gaze was dark as he stood protectively in front of Xia Fengsheng. “What right do you have to say he’s not a good child?”
“He gets good grades and earns scholarships to pay his tuition. He works part-time to support himself. He likes animals and feeds stray cats. He helps scavengers sort through garbage in the middle of the night without ever thinking it’s dirty. He even buys crayons for autistic children.”
Shi Ye listed everything one by one, utterly unable to understand in what world Xia Fengsheng wasn’t a good child.
It was precisely that good child who was now sitting in a police station, being slandered, insulted, and abused for absolutely no reason.
The more Shi Ye thought about it, the angrier he got. He lunged forward and grabbed Jiang Cong’s father by the collar. Even with a table between them, he yanked him forward so hard the man nearly slammed across it.
“What right do you have to say he’s not a good child?!”
The police panicked and rushed in to stop him, slapping at his arm urgently. “Let go! Let go now!”
Shi Ye’s arm was like stone, clamped tight around Jiang Cong’s father’s collar without budging an inch. Murder flashed in his eyes. “Apologize!”
Jiang Cong’s father looked at him in terror.
In an instant, the interrogation room dissolved into chaos.
“Let go!”
“Calm down, student!”
“Dad! Officer, help my dad!”
No matter how many people tried to pry him off, Shi Ye could not be pulled away.
Everyone bullied Xia Fengsheng. Why did they all have to bully him? He had done nothing wrong, yet he had been subjected to disgusting harassment and now couldn’t even sleep. If it weren’t for his night blindness, Xia Fengsheng would never have told him about any of this. He would have silently handled it himself, just as he always did.
As for what exactly Xia Fengsheng had gone through, how much he had suffered, whether he had been afraid, whether he had cried alone—no one knew.
He had always just gritted his teeth and lived.
Even with such terrible circumstances, he still kept his grades at the top of the class. Even after something happened in the dorm, he hadn’t wanted to tell the teachers because he was afraid they would think he had caused more trouble. He had planned to handle it himself.
Wasn’t he already obedient enough? Wasn’t he already good enough?
Shi Ye’s eyes turned red.
Xia Fengsheng caught sight of the tears welling at the corners of his eyes. The tears didn’t fall, but they gathered there, glistening.
And in that instant, it felt as though the whole world had stopped.
Xia Fengsheng stood frozen, his pupils contracting tightly, unable to come back to himself for a very long time.
He couldn’t even believe what he had just seen.
The tears didn’t spill, but Xia Fengsheng truly saw that one tear had come because of him.
His fingers trembled. His throat turned raw and tight.
He had never believed there could really be someone in this world who would cry for him.
“I said apologize! Did you hear me?!”
A shrill squeal like a pig being slaughtered rang out. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Isn’t that enough? I shouldn’t have said those things!”
Jiang Cong’s father had lost all face, humiliated by a teenage boy until he couldn’t lift his head.
Shi Ye dragged him right in front of Xia Fengsheng. “Say it to him.”
Xia Fengsheng’s eyes reflected the man’s miserable, crumpled face. For a long moment, he couldn’t even form an expression.
Jiang Cong’s father bowed his head to him. “Child, I’m sorry. You are a good child. I shouldn’t have said those things. I’m sorry.”
The moment the apology was out, Shi Ye’s strength vanished all at once. He shoved the man away, and Jiang Cong’s father dropped weakly back into his chair.
The police separated both sides into different rooms to calm them down and stop things from spiraling further out of control.
Once everyone had settled down a little, the officers wiped the sweat from their brows and resumed the questioning.
Jiang Cong had already given his one-sided account. Now it was Xia Fengsheng’s turn.
Xia Fengsheng calmly overturned Jiang Cong’s lies and stated the truth. “Everything he just said was false. I don’t know him, I don’t know his name, I’ve never seen him at school, and I’ve never hit him. He appeared in my dorm in the middle of the night and took advantage of the fact that I can’t see when my night blindness acts up to steal kisses from me. And it wasn’t the first time.”
The moment those words came out, everyone present was thunderstruck. The officer taking notes dropped his pen onto the table.
Even the vice principal looked like he couldn’t believe his own ears. “What?!”
This was ten thousand times more serious than anything Jiang Cong had claimed. This was molestation. It was outright criminal behavior.
Shi Ye raised a hand. “I can testify. I was in Xia Fengsheng’s dorm tonight specifically to help catch the person who had been sneaking in to kiss him at night.”
Then he pointed at Jiang Cong. “And tonight I was the one lying on Xia Fengsheng’s bed. The moment he came in, he threw himself at me, thinking I was Xia Fengsheng, and stuck his hand under the blanket trying to cover my mouth so I wouldn’t make a sound.”
Hearing that, Jiang Cong’s parents both turned toward their son in shock, as if meeting him for the first time. Jiang Cong’s greatest trait had always been that he was obedient. How could he possibly have done something like this?
Faced with the doubtful looks from his parents, Jiang Cong panicked. He had never thought things would be exposed. “That’s not what happened! They’re lying! They made all of it up to frame me!”
“Dad! Mom! Look at the injuries on my face! Don’t believe their nonsense! They’re just making excuses because they beat me!”
Jiang Cong’s father said firmly, “Officer, my child would never do such a thing. All those words are made up. He’s always been obedient and sensible. If you don’t believe me, ask his teachers.”
Then he added with full conviction, “My child doesn’t lie.”
“How convenient.”
A deep, steady voice came from outside the door.
An assistant stepped forward first to open it, and then came the sound of expensive leather shoes entering the room.
Shi Xing, dressed in a formal suit with a black overcoat thrown over it, looked coldly at Jiang Cong’s father. “My child doesn’t lie either.”
His presence was extraordinary. Just his height and severe expression alone stunned everyone in the room. The pressure he gave off was immense.
Shi Xing’s sharp eyes swept across the room once before finally landing on Shi Ye.
Seeing that his son wasn’t hurt, he let out a quiet breath of relief.
He had received the call in the middle of the night, learned that Shi Ye had gotten into a fight, and flown in overnight. Shi Ye’s mother was also on her way.
Someone brought over a chair, and Shi Xing sat down beside the two boys like a full-grown lion settling behind the cubs in his pride.
And just as Shi Xing had said, Shi Ye had not lied. He took out an audio recording he had prepared in advance.
It contained the entire process of Jiang Cong entering Xia Fengsheng’s dorm that night.
At the time, the phone had been left on the bedside table, exactly because they’d been afraid Jiang Cong would later deny everything and insist there was no proof.
“I’m here again.”
“Don’t make a sound. Let me kiss you properly this time.”
As the disgusting voice played, Jiang Cong’s face went white, then bluish with shock. He had never imagined Shi Ye would have a recording.
The evidence was undeniable.
Jiang Cong’s mother turned pale and slapped him across the face. “How could you do something like this?!”
That slap dazed Jiang Cong. Staring dumbly at the phone in Shi Ye’s hand as it played the audio, he had nothing left to deny.
The vice principal felt as if the heavens had collapsed. A student had actually committed sexual misconduct in the dorms. He hurriedly pulled out an emergency heart pill and shoved it into his mouth before he could faint from the anger.
Jiang Cong’s parents proposed giving ten thousand yuan in compensation and making Jiang Cong apologize to Xia Fengsheng. Since they were all boys, it was “nothing serious,” and there hadn’t been any “real harm done,” so they wanted the matter to end there.
“Ten thousand?” Shi Xing sounded as though he had just heard the biggest joke in the world. “Who do you think you’re fobbing off, beggars?”
“And what exactly do you mean, ‘they’re all boys, so it’s nothing’?” Sitting in his chair with fingers tapping lightly on the table, Shi Xing’s tone stayed mild, but his words were anything but. “If it were your son being treated like this, would you still say that because they’re both boys, it doesn’t matter?”
Jiang Cong’s father said, “The child himself hasn’t even said anything.”
“The child is the child. I’m his parent.” Shi Xing’s gaze sharpened. “What else can the child say? Would speaking erase the harm your son caused him? I’ll say it one more time: we do not accept this outcome. You’d better come up with a result that satisfies me very quickly.”
Intimidated by his aura, Jiang Cong’s parents did not dare respond. They could only glance at each other helplessly.
“Not speaking?” Shi Xing leaned back in his chair. “Fine, then I’ll speak. Raise the compensation to one hundred thousand. That does not include future psychological treatment costs. The offender apologizes to the victim. Then he withdraws from school and goes to juvenile detention for reform.”
Since Jiang Cong was underage and couldn’t go to prison, then juvenile detention it would be.
Not to mention the permanent record, but making a second-year student withdraw from school—had he gone mad?!
Jiang Cong’s mother cried out, “Impossible! Our child can’t leave school!”
At this stage, if he dropped out and went to juvenile detention, how could he ever make it back to university afterward? Jiang Cong’s grades were only mediocre to begin with. This would ruin his entire future.
Shi Xing said, “He doesn’t have to withdraw.”
Jiang Cong’s parents both relaxed.
Shi Xing looked toward the school authorities. “Then expel him.”
Jiang Cong’s parents: ……
After something like this, the school would never keep a student like Jiang Cong, a walking danger to everyone else.
The administration readily agreed.
His parents panicked and begged the school to give Jiang Cong one more chance.
The school leadership ignored them completely.
Absolutely impossible.
Keeping Jiang Cong would be like keeping a bomb that could explode at any moment.
When the mediation terms were presented, Jiang Cong’s parents refused categorically. Shi Xing stood up, unwilling to waste another second on them. “Fine. Then we’ll go to court. I’d like to see how much bargaining power the lawyers you hire can get you.”
The man in front of them clearly had status, power, and means. Jiang Cong’s parents were utterly at a loss. Lawsuits cost money, and if someone of Shi Xing’s standing wanted to retaliate against them, he wouldn’t even need to do it personally—others would line up to make their lives miserable.
Shi Xing said, “Within three days, if either the compensation or the school withdrawal isn’t settled, then wait for a lawyer’s letter.”
“By then, whether you enter juvenile detention voluntarily or get dragged in there by force, the nature of the matter will be very different.”
With that, he led the two boys out of the police station.
Wasting time on people who weren’t worth it was no different from wasting life itself. Since they couldn’t understand human language, then they could learn what influence looked like.
When they walked out of the station, a luxury sedan was parked by the roadside. Seeing Shi Xing, the driver bent down, opened the door, and invited him in.
“Shi Ye.”
Shi Xing didn’t get into the car.
Hearing his father call him, Shi Ye walked over quickly.
Shi Xing pointed toward an empty patch of roadside. “Stand over there.”
Xia Fengsheng thought Shi Xing was about to scold Shi Ye for getting into trouble in the middle of the night and immediately moved to stop it. Shi Ye had been dragged into all of this entirely because of him. He had done nothing wrong.
But before Xia Fengsheng could move, Shi Xing pulled out his phone and snapped several photos of Shi Ye.
“Not bad.” His face was full of unconcealed pride. “A nice record of your first fight.”
This version of him was completely different from the oppressive force he had been in the police station. Around his child, he was like an entirely different man.
Shi Ye leaned over to look. “Do I look handsome?”
Xia Fengsheng stood frozen on the spot, completely unable to keep up with the turn this had taken.
Shi Xing greeted him, “You’re Xiao Ye’s friend, right? I didn’t get the chance to introduce myself before. I’m Shi Ye’s father, Shi Xing.”
There was not the slightest hint of arrogance in the way he spoke to a child.
“It’s late,” Shi Xing said. “Do you need a ride home?”
Xia Fengsheng shook his head. “I live on campus. I’ll go back with the vice principal in a bit.”
It was very late, and Shi Xing was about to take Shi Ye to the car.
Just before getting in, however, Shi Ye turned around, came back to Xia Fengsheng, and seized both his hands.
“If anything like this ever happens again—if anyone bullies you—you have to tell me.”
Years later, every time Shi Ye thought back to that night, he would regret not treating Xia Fengsheng better when they were together.
If, at that time, he had been a little gentler, if he had realized his own feelings a little sooner, maybe Xia Fengsheng would not have hesitated in shame before him and would have told him what had happened right away, instead of waiting until he had reached his breaking point.
Only then did Shi Ye get into the car and leave.
Xia Fengsheng stood there, staring at his own hands, still warm with Shi Ye’s body heat, his emotions unable to settle for a long time.
.
Once everything had been handled, Xia Fengsheng returned to school with the vice principal.
May Day holiday was only a few days away. Though the break had not officially begun, the students’ hearts had already flown off ahead of them.
Shi Ye’s parents had come to see him after hearing he got into a fight, but because of work they flew off again the very next day. The family arranged to meet in the Maldives over the holiday.
These days, Shi Ye continued eating with Xia Fengsheng as usual, but every time he saw him, there were still dark circles beneath Xia Fengsheng’s eyes.
Several days passed like that. Even when the May Day holiday finally began, Xia Fengsheng was still suffering from insomnia.
At work, Qiu Xueyang noticed his exhaustion. “Is the mosquito net not helping? Are mosquitoes still biting you?”
Xia Fengsheng shook his head. “There aren’t any mosquitoes anymore.”
He didn’t know why he still couldn’t sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Jiang Cong sneaking into the dorm to kiss him. In that pitch-black night, with his night blindness acting up, he had been unable to see anything.
This wasn’t like him.
He had assumed that once Jiang Cong was caught, the insomnia would go away.
But every time he shut his eyes, he could still hear Jiang Cong’s disgusting breathing by his ear.
.
On the third day of the holiday, Xia Fengsheng came back to the dorm after work.
After washing up simply, he lay down on his bed.
The light was turned off, but even in the darkness his sightless eyes did not close.
In the past he had fallen asleep quickly, because rest time had always been limited. So the moment he had a chance to rest, he would force his body into sleep at once. Even in a ten-minute break between classes, he could still catch a nap.
Xia Fengsheng lay there with empty eyes open, knowing he couldn’t go on like this. His body was his capital. He forced himself to sleep, but the moment he shut his eyes, that lingering nightmare returned.
Xia Fengsheng sat bolt upright.
He didn’t understand what was wrong with him.
What exactly was he afraid of?
He wasn’t afraid of Jiang Cong, and yet the fact that the other person had sneaked into his bed to kiss him had left a shadow in him. It was as if, the moment he fell asleep, the dorm door would once again open soundlessly, and when he couldn’t see, when he was most defenseless—
Maybe…
Maybe this was his retribution.
Xia Fengsheng laughed at himself bitterly.
Back then, he had forced Shi Ye into being with him.
And now, because someone else had kissed him without permission, he couldn’t sleep.
Was this how Shi Ye had felt every day when he was with him?
A dull ache spread in Xia Fengsheng’s chest as he lay on the bed.
Shi Ye had suddenly appeared in his life like a beam of light in a valley that had never seen the sun.
The first time he met Shi Ye, the other boy had helped him pick up a coin. His eyes had lingered on Shi Ye for a long time. After that, Shi Ye helped him again and again, and Xia Fengsheng had thought the other boy liked him.
But when he rashly confessed, what he got back was Shi Ye’s refusal.
He liked Shi Ye. He had liked him from the very first time they met.
And in order to make the other person stay with him, he had threatened him with Ding Qizhen’s cheating.
He had kissed Shi Ye’s face before, too.
But now Xia Fengsheng regretted it.
He had never been someone who thought of others first, and yet now he regretted it from the bottom of his heart.
When Shi Ye had been kissed by him, had he also felt just as disgusted as Xia Fengsheng felt now after being secretly kissed?
Perhaps Shi Ye had been just as miserable with him as he himself was now.
Love gave flesh and blood to those whose emotions had once been numb.
Listening to the rustle of the wind outside stirring the leaves, Xia Fengsheng thought:
Maybe they should break up.
At that very moment, the door creaked open.
Every hair on Xia Fengsheng’s body stood on end, like a lion with its fur bristling. He sat up warily. “Who’s there?!”
His eyes flashed fiercely into the darkness.
All the students had gone home for the holiday. Other than him and the dorm supervisor, there was no one else in the school dorms.
Xia Fengsheng instantly remembered that night when he had been pinned down on the bed, helpless to struggle. Feeling for the bed rail, he prepared to get up and fight whoever it was to the death.
But because he could not see, his searching hand missed its support point, and his upper body pitched straight off the bed.
The figure at the door rushed forward and caught him in one arm. “Xia Fengsheng, it’s me.”
That familiar voice sounded right beside his ear.
Shi Ye held him tightly around the waist.
Xia Fengsheng buried his face against Shi Ye’s shoulder, his eyes widening.
He smelled of the outside—wind and fresh grass.
Hadn’t Shi Ye gone to the Maldives with his family?
Xia Fengsheng’s throat felt as if it had been seized. In the darkness, eyes still wide, it took him a long moment before he managed to say, “You… why are you here?”
Shi Ye didn’t answer.
Instead, he stuffed a hug-bear into Xia Fengsheng’s arms.
“This is for you. If you hold it at night, you’ll sleep better.”
When Shi Ye was little, there had always been a hug-bear beside his bed, and he firmly believed that while he slept, the bear would fight to the death against any monster that tried to disturb him.
If you couldn’t sleep, nothing worked better than a little bear.
Shi Ye had seen it in a boutique shop in the Maldives and bought it on the spot, convinced that if Xia Fengsheng had it, he would definitely sleep well.
He had originally planned to give it to him after the holiday when he came back.
But no matter what he looked at, all he could see was Xia Fengsheng’s pale, sleepless face.
He had been too impatient to wait, so he had caught a flight back early, travel-worn and dusty from the road.
Something soft and fluffy had suddenly been pressed into Xia Fengsheng’s hands.
He felt it over—it was a stuffed toy.
In the moonlight, Shi Ye could clearly see how gaunt Xia Fengsheng had become.
He had only been gone two days, yet Xia Fengsheng looked thinner than he had two days ago.
Shi Ye lowered his eyes, and pain spilled out of them.
He climbed onto Xia Fengsheng’s bed, shrugged off his outer clothes, and lay down beside him.
The narrow bed was a little cramped with two grown boys on it.
“Close your eyes and sleep.”
Xia Fengsheng hugged the little bear and lay facing him.
He forced himself to shut his eyes, but his lashes still trembled.
Shi Ye’s sudden appearance had left Xia Fengsheng’s emotions in chaos.
His heart was still in turmoil.
Should he bring up breaking up?
Shi Ye didn’t love him.
And in the next second, Shi Ye bent down and pressed a soft kiss to his face.
Xia Fengsheng shivered.
Shi Ye looked down at him gently. His eyes swept over the way Xia Fengsheng’s body had instinctively shrunk, and then he kissed his face again, much harder this time.
It was a firmer kiss than before.
Shi Ye’s eyes were shut, the tip of his nose pressing into Xia Fengsheng’s cheek, his lips warm against Xia Fengsheng’s skin.
It was the kiss of a boy offering his true heart to the person he loved—the one tormented by nightmares, the one who could not sleep.
“Xia Fengsheng,” Shi Ye whispered, “I’ve kissed it clean for you. Go to sleep.”
