Chapter 11
The feeling of having his skin hunger satisfied was like an empty glass suddenly being filled with water. A tingling numbness spread through every nerve in his body, like a current flowing outward through him, all the way into his very core.
For many moments, Xie Ning’s mind was completely blank. It felt as though he were drifting on the ocean, his whole body steeped in a soothing, pleasant sense of total relaxation.
Xie Ning fell asleep in Pei Zhi’s arms.
He opened his eyes hazily, a mist of sleep still clouding them.
As if he had not fully woken up yet, Xie Ning rubbed his cheek back and forth a little. The hot, soft sensation abruptly cleared his mind. He slowly lifted his head to look at Pei Zhi, then froze for a full ten seconds.
Pei Zhi’s arm lay across his waist, with a small throw pillow wedged between his palm and Xie Ning’s side. Even in a situation like this, Pei Zhi still remembered that he had germaphobia and did not like others touching him too closely.
The blanket wrapped around Xie Ning had been kicked onto the floor. He was leaning against Pei Zhi in a deeply dependent posture, the area of contact large, almost his whole body pressed against him.
[Why does my wife look so blank? Still not feeling well? Or still not fully awake?]
[So cute. Such a small mouth. Wanna kiss it.]
Pei Zhi lowered his head. “Awake?”
It was only three simple words, but Xie Ning took several seconds to process them before slowly nodding. “Awake.”
Once fully awake, shame followed.
At the time, he really had not been in his right mind, but how could he have let himself keep indulging like that?
Still, it really had felt good—and effective.
Sometimes, when Xie Ning’s condition was bad, he had to grit his teeth through an entire afternoon before it eased at all. But just now, leaning against Pei Zhi for only a few minutes had already made him feel much better.
Shi Qingyu’s suggestion seemed… worth considering.
The moment that thought surfaced, Xie Ning was briefly stunned, though he did not reject it, because he did not dislike being close to Pei Zhi.
Pei Zhi poured him a glass of water and held it to his lips. Xie Ning found it hard to refuse, so he opened his mouth and drank a few sips.
Pei Zhi asked, “Feeling any better?”
Earlier, Pei Zhi had fed Xie Ning a few sips of water, and Xie Ning had said he felt a bit better. That seemed to function as a kind of confirmation, and Pei Zhi had grown to like that feeling.
The feeling of feeding Xie Ning something.
Unfortunately, what had really helped was not the water, but Pei Zhi’s body. Xie Ning said, “A little. Thank you. If it weren’t for you just now, I wouldn’t have gotten better this quickly. But…”
“Hadn’t you already left?”
Pei Zhi set the cup aside. “You didn’t close the door. I guessed you might be feeling unwell, maybe something had happened.”
Xie Ning was silent for a moment, then said, “What does me not closing the door have to do with whether I’m unwell?”
[Of course it does.]
[My wife is a little obsessive. There’s no way he’d leave the door open, and it’s so windy today, sand from outside might blow in. My wife cares so much about cleanliness, so he definitely would’ve closed it.]
[Good thing I’m smart and noticed my wife was sick, otherwise my wife would’ve had to suffer alone.]
[Can’t let my wife be alone.]
For a moment, Xie Ning did not know what to say.
Just because he had forgotten to close the door, Pei Zhi had connected that many dots?
In truth, Xie Ning was used to being alone, and even enjoyed it. To him, socializing was troublesome. He had never thought doing something alone was pitiful—whether it was eating, shopping, or seeing a doctor.
When he heard Pei Zhi say can’t let him be alone, Xie Ning’s gaze went blank for an instant, and he slowly looked at him.
Pei Zhi answered, “I guessed.”
“I was just trying my luck. I didn’t expect you to really be unwell.” Then he added, “Originally, I wanted to talk to you about the pay. Even though you said to wait until the weekend, I felt like this kind of thing should be made clear sooner rather than later.”
What Pei Zhi said aloud was completely different from the answer in his heart. Xie Ning knew he was lying, maybe because he did not want to burden him psychologically, or maybe because he wanted to preserve a little of his dignity.
Xie Ning tried to pull himself out of the embrace, but Pei Zhi was holding him rather tightly, so he gave up. He stayed leaning against him and discussed the issue of payment.
“When the time comes, I’ll put together a market-rate chart for you. You can use it as a reference. As for your pay, I’ll—”
“I don’t want money.”
Xie Ning lifted his lashes in surprise, his clear eyes reflecting Pei Zhi’s face. Pei Zhi had his head slightly lowered, lightly kneading the stuffed toy under his hand.
“I’m not short on money, and I don’t want any. You can just treat it as me helping out a friend,” Pei Zhi said. “It’s perfectly normal for friends to help each other.”
Friends.
Xie Ning fell silent. It was true that friends helping each other was normal, but he did not like owing people favors.
Then Pei Zhi added, “Later, I’ll have something I want your help with too.”
Xie Ning asked, “What is it?”
“I’ll mention it later, okay?” A trace of caution unconsciously appeared on Xie Ning’s face. Pei Zhi raised a brow slightly. “If you feel like you can’t accept it, you can just refuse me.”
“Relax. I’m not going to sell you off.”
That was not what Xie Ning was worried about.
He just was not used to the way Pei Zhi spoke. It felt a little intimate, almost coaxing—especially while he was still leaning against him like this. He turned his head away. “…Okay.”
Pei Zhi asked, “What are you eating for lunch later?”
“I’m not hungry yet.”
There was a simple kitchen here, but it only contained some basic instant foods. One look was enough to tell that Xie Ning did not take proper care of his meals.
There were many people on the campus forum who said Xie Ning was so perfect he barely seemed human, as if he did not even need to eat.
Now it seemed it was not that Xie Ning did not need to eat, but that he simply did not eat properly.
He probably just dealt with each meal carelessly, taking a couple of bites and never treating his body seriously.
Pei Zhi did not respond to that. Instead, he opened a delivery app and asked, “Do you mind if I eat here? I’m a little hungry.”
Of course Xie Ning did not mind.
He truly could not bring himself to say no, especially since he was still sitting on Pei Zhi’s lap.
[Does my wife normally not like eating? He feels so light in my arms… His meals also seem irregular, and he eats so little. This won’t do.]
[Or is it because he’s sick and feels too unwell to have an appetite? Better order something light. Then I’ll trick my wife into eating. My wife just woke up and is still a little slow, he definitely won’t notice.]
[I can go without food or sleep, but my wife can’t.]
Xie Ning: “…”
It was not that he did not like eating. He just sometimes got too busy, too absorbed, and forgot.
At that moment, Xie Ning also reached for his phone out of habit.
There had been a missed call ten minutes earlier.
The instant he picked up his phone, it rang again.
He answered, and from the receiver came the faint sound of wind, along with a gentle female voice.
“Did my baby wake up?” It was Xie Ning’s mother, Xie Yan. “Mommy didn’t interrupt your nap, did I?”
Xie Ning had a habit of taking naps. When the first call had not gone through, Xie Yan assumed he was napping.
But she was also worried that he might not be sleeping, because there had been cases like that before, so after waiting a bit, she called again.
Xie Ning had only just woken up, and his voice was still a little soft and lazy. He glanced at the time. “You didn’t disturb me. I just woke up.”
Xie Yan said, “Have you eaten? You can’t lie to Mommy.”
Without hesitation, Xie Ning said, “I have. I ate lunch, then took a nap.”
Pei Zhi, who was ordering takeout, suddenly lowered his head and looked at Xie Ning.
[?? My wife knows how to lie too??]
[A lying wife. Cute. Fucking him.]
[A lying wife is very naughty, so he needs punishment. Today I’m fucking him twice ^o^.]
