Chapter 20
Under the moonlight, Xie Ning’s eyes seemed to hold a pool of clear spring water. A fine layer of sweat covered his face and body, and his whole person was tinged with a seductive flush.
His gaze was very light, as if it were merely one casual glance cast across a crowd, carrying no force at all—yet it left Pei Zhi’s spine tingling and made him forget what he was supposed to do.
The hot spring water made Xie Ning feel deeply relaxed and comfortable. His features softened, and his shining lips and cheeks grew even redder. Lazily, he leaned against the stone wall. “Aren’t you coming in?”
His cool voice was soaked through with pleased satisfaction. “The water feels really nice.”
Xie Ning tilted his chin up slightly. His cold white skin was covered in a rosy flush, and even his cheeks and the tip of his nose had been steamed red. His long eyelashes clumped together from the moisture. Compared to his usual coldness, he looked exceptionally gorgeous now.
And only Pei Zhi could see it.
That was when his heartbeat began to accelerate. It was as though the hot spring water had soaked Pei Zhi’s voice hoarse. Abruptly, he said, “I’m a little hot. What about you?”
“I’m okay.” Xie Ning rested his cheek against his arm. “Maybe it’s because you’re not in the water yet. If you stay in it a while, you’ll get used to the temperature.”
“Mm.” Pei Zhi looked distracted.
The milky-white hot spring water cast a wet sheen over Xie Ning’s body, making him look vividly alluring, in stark contrast to his usual self.
A moment later, Pei Zhi seemed to finally snap back to himself.
Xie Ning was soaking in the hot spring, while he himself was still sitting on the stone ledge in a bathrobe. It did feel a little strange.
Pei Zhi lowered his head and started untying his belt, but for some reason, his usually nimble fingers suddenly stopped obeying him.
He fumbled with it for a long time and still could not undo it. Instead, he somehow made it into a dead knot, and in his frustration, he started sweating all over.
Xie Ning asked, “Did you tie it too tightly? Or did it get knotted?”
“…Looks like both,” Pei Zhi said.
Seeing that, Xie Ning stepped over to help him. Ripples spread across the water with each movement. He stopped between Pei Zhi’s knees, and because of the height difference between the private hot spring and the ground, he had to tilt his head up slightly.
The moment his fingers touched the belt at Pei Zhi’s waist, the back of his hand was suddenly caught by a large palm and tugged backward.
His body pitched forward without warning. Xie Ning stumbled a little, his cheek colliding with Pei Zhi’s chest. The abrupt physical contact made his body tremble slightly, and at the same time, a muffled groan sounded above his head.
A scorching touch landed at his waist. Pei Zhi had gripped his side. From another angle, it looked almost as if Xie Ning had thrown himself willingly into Pei Zhi’s arms.
“Pei Zhi?”
“Mm.”
“What’s wrong?”
Pei Zhi did not answer. His tall figure blocked most of the light, like some enormous creature looming over and enclosing Xie Ning.
The sudden action left Xie Ning deeply confused. His wet eyelashes trembled slowly. In the dim, ambiguous light, he lifted his head and met a pair of dark, heavy eyes.
The Pei Zhi who had just been flustered and fumbling seemed to have become a completely different person, suddenly calm to the extreme. He held Xie Ning’s hand and guided those pale slender fingers to the belt at his waist, making Xie Ning help him untie it.
Then Pei Zhi let go of his hand. “Thank you.”
His voice was low and hoarse. It sounded less like he was saying thank you and more like he was calling Xie Ning’s name.
The water rippled outward. With a splash, Pei Zhi stepped into the hot spring. He leaned against the stone wall beside Xie Ning, their shoulders pressed together.
Pei Zhi was not pale-skinned. Years of training had given him a healthy, sun-warmed bronze tone, and after soaking in the hot spring, his skin seemed to look even darker.
Because of that, Xie Ning appeared especially fair by contrast, and the difference in both their skin tones and builds became strikingly obvious.
At night, besides the sound of the water and the wind, there was also the unceasing sound of Pei Zhi’s thoughts.
[Say something already… talk to my wife.]
[What do I do, what do I do, I’m so nervous… wife is so white and pretty, I don’t dare look at wife, and I don’t dare talk to wife either T-T.]
Beside him, Pei Zhi’s figure was tall, his features deep and sharp, his slightly pressed lips making him look aloof and cold.
He really did not look like someone too scared to even start a conversation.
In the silence, Pei Zhi’s thoughts were especially clear. That pitiful tone and those incoherent phrases showed Xie Ning a completely different Pei Zhi.
Like a wolfdog desperate to please its owner, frantically wagging its tail but unable to think of a good approach.
But Xie Ning himself did not know what to say either. He had never been this “close” to another person before.
Soaking in the same hot spring, shoulders pressed together, and under the shifting water the feeling of skin brushing against skin was especially strange. It felt so good that a moist sheen rose in his eyes.
Pei Zhi asked, “Want a little wine?”
“Sure,” Xie Ning said. “Just don’t make it too strong. It’s not good for the body.”
High-proof alcohol was not suitable while soaking in a hot spring.
Pei Zhi seemed to smile slightly. “Mm. I’ll listen to you.”
[I’ll listen to wife in everything. ^-^]
The hotel had sent over some alcohol, and Pei Zhi had no idea what exactly he had ordered. In short, he had picked whatever was expensive.
Beside the greenery in the courtyard, a row of bottles sat on the stone ledge, along with two small wine glasses.
“So many?” Xie Ning said. “How’s your alcohol tolerance?”
Pei Zhi said, “It’s alright.”
Xie Ning said, “Mine too.”
“Really?”
“Last time, I wasn’t actually drunk. I just drank too fast.”
“You were right. Feeling dizzy doesn’t count as being drunk.”
Xie Ning felt somewhat helpless. Ever since that one time he got “dizzy,” Pei Zhi had decided his alcohol tolerance was terrible.
Or maybe, in Pei Zhi’s eyes, that level really did count as bad tolerance.
Xie Ning tipped his head back slightly, his Adam’s apple sliding as the cool liquor ran down his throat.
His thin, translucent skin had been flushed red from soaking, and his full lips had turned bright and glossy, like a ripe fruit that would burst with sweet juice at the slightest pressure.
Pei Zhi wanted to look, yet did not dare. Though his gaze kept darting away, his body temperature still rose fiercely.
He was desperate to do something to distract himself, so he reached for a bottle—but the back of his hand brushed against Xie Ning’s little finger.
Their wet hands slid soundlessly against each other. With the water as lubricant, the touch felt like a tingling electric current. Both of them pulled back at once, but their eyes collided in the mist, gleaming like scattered points of starlight.
“Xie Ning,” Pei Zhi said. “Your hand.”
Just as Xie Ning lowered his eyes to look at his own hand, Pei Zhi added, “It’s so small.”
The distance between them was not far, and the contrast in both their skin tones and sizes was intense. Pei Zhi’s hand was obviously a whole size larger than Xie Ning’s, and with his darker skin tone, it looked as though he could easily wrap Xie Ning’s hand entirely inside his own.
Xie Ning said, “Your hand is just too big.”
Pei Zhi looked into Xie Ning’s eyes.
There was still moisture rippling in Xie Ning’s gaze, making them look as enchanting as if they had been washed by morning dew.
Pei Zhi lowered his lashes and looked at Xie Ning’s hand—every finger long and well-shaped, the nails pink like flower buds. When his own slightly rough hand fell beside it, the contrast was startling.
A strange restlessness rose inside him. He wanted badly to lower his head and bite it.
That urge had no justification at all, and was far too rude. Yet the craving was so intense that his canine teeth seemed to itch. He desperately wanted to leave some mark of his own on Xie Ning.
Pei Zhi kept pouring himself wine, trying to use alcohol to suppress that strange desire.
But after several glasses, the alcohol only seemed to act as a catalyst, making the desire grow even stronger.
In a short time, Pei Zhi had already finished two bottles. His expression began to turn hazy.
Xie Ning reached out to stop him. “Don’t drink anymore. It’s not good to drink too much while soaking.”
And the Pei Zhi who had just been drinking eagerly truly stopped at once. After Xie Ning said that, he did not touch the glass again.
Xie Ning said, “That obedient?”
Pei Zhi looked straight at Xie Ning’s face, his eyes seeming to have picked up a layer of drunkenness. “Mm.”
Xie Ning asked, “If I tell you to do something, you’ll do it?”
Pei Zhi said, “You can try.”
“Try what?”
“Try ordering me around,” Pei Zhi said, looking at Xie Ning. “See whether I’ll obey.”
