Chapter 25
When Xie Ning opened his eyes, the phone screen showed 9:30.
The heavy curtains blocked out the light extremely well, leaving the room in total darkness. The faint glow of the screen lit up his slightly dazed face. Then he rubbed at his brow, his expression full of regret.
His body clock had always been very steady. He usually woke around seven o’clock, but today he had not only failed to get up, he had even slept in.
Xie Ning thought, could it be because he had indulged himself too much yesterday?
In truth, normal social contact was already enough to solve his problem, and it could satisfy him just fine. Yet he and Pei Zhi had engaged in much more intimate interaction. Many times, he could have told him to stop, or said not to do that, but he had not, because he had been greedy for comfort.
It was like originally only needing to take the medicine prescribed by a doctor, but insisting on drinking too much tonic soup on top of that. Too much nourishment was not necessarily a good thing either.
He should exercise some restraint. That was what he thought.
Just as Xie Ning made up his mind that he could not keep being this unrestrained, Pei Zhi behind him wrapped himself around him again, rubbing against him like a little dog.
Xie Ning: “…”
He had forgotten. They were in a king room.
Pei Zhi still seemed half-asleep. He had just turned over, but then realized Xie Ning was no longer in his arms, and a trace of irritation appeared on his handsome, deep-set face.
Only after finding Xie Ning and pulling him back into his arms did the tightly furrowed line between his brows slowly ease.
Pei Zhi naturally ran hot, and the bed was warm and comfortable, but even so, it was hard to endure him holding on like this. Xie Ning felt like there was a red-hot iron bar strapped across the front of his waist and stomach, squeezing the breath out of him.
Xie Ning tried to pry Pei Zhi’s hand off, but got no response. “Pei Zhi? Let go for a second. I need to go wash up.”
Pei Zhi rubbed against the back of Xie Ning’s neck and made no sound.
It was impossible to tell whether he was pretending not to hear or genuinely had not heard.
“Didn’t you say you would always listen to me?” Xie Ning said. “But you’re not listening.”
The person behind him seemed to stiffen. After two or three seconds, Pei Zhi finally said, “But I want to hold you.”
Even so, he still loosened his grip.
Xie Ning turned his head and realized Pei Zhi’s eyes were still shut, so right now Pei Zhi was… talking in his sleep?
He tried calling Pei Zhi’s name. Pei Zhi responded, but his eyes still did not open. He only kept inching closer to Xie Ning, maybe because he could not hug him, so he wanted to become closer in some other way.
Xie Ning asked, “You’ll really do anything I say?”
Pei Zhi said, “As long as you say it. As long as it’s something I can give.”
Xie Ning looked at him steadily. “From now on, you can only call me by my name. No other names. Can you do that?”
[Not even ‘wife’?]
Xie Ning said, “Not even that.”
Pei Zhi’s brows suddenly drew together, as if deeply hurt. He buried his face in the hollow of Xie Ning’s neck, looking pitiful and miserable, like a little dog abandoned by its owner.
[If I can’t call you wife, then what am I supposed to call you?]
[But you are my wife.]
[Do I really not get to call you wife anymore? I want to cry.]
The inner thoughts sounded far too pitiful.
Xie Ning thought, forget it. If he wanted to call him that, then let him. After all, Pei Zhi was only saying it in his head. He was not actually doing anything.
The back of Xie Ning’s neck itched from Pei Zhi’s hair brushing against it. He tilted his head back slightly and said, “You can call me that.”
“Really?”
“Mm.”
[But it seems like wife doesn’t like it…]
Xie Ning said, “If you like it, then go ahead.”
Pei Zhi asked, “If I like it, then it’s okay?”
[Then what if…]
[What if it’s lifting you up and fucking you?]
Xie Ning reached out and covered Pei Zhi’s mouth. “That is not okay.”
[Alright then. I’ll listen to wife. No lifting.]
Pei Zhi stretched out his arm and pulled Xie Ning into his arms. Xie Ning’s hand had just been outside the blanket, so it was a little cold. Pei Zhi then tucked Xie Ning’s hand beneath the hem of his own shirt, warming it with the heat of his body.
The place under his shirt was awkwardly intimate. Xie Ning could clearly feel Pei Zhi’s abdominal muscles, and even part of the V-line below. He did not dare move carelessly. He slowly tried to pull his hand back out, but Pei Zhi had already gone back to rubbing against the hollow of his neck.
Then, while rubbing against him, he murmured, “Wife…”
Xie Ning looked up in surprise.
This was the first time he had heard Pei Zhi call him wife out loud instead of only in his thoughts.
The atmosphere suddenly turned strange enough that Pei Zhi woke up on the spot. Just now he had been in that half-dreaming, half-awake state, thinking he was still asleep, which was why he had kept hugging and rubbing against Xie Ning.
Only when he saw the obedient-looking Xie Ning in his arms, cheeks tinged red, did he realize he was not dreaming at all.
Pei Zhi’s mind instantly went blank. He looked like he was practically about to start steaming.
What had he just done?
He remembered vaguely, though not clearly. But one thing he did know for sure was that it was absolutely not something he should have done in front of Xie Ning.
The two of them stayed silent for nearly three minutes before Pei Zhi asked hoarsely, “Did I… say anything just now?”
Xie Ning said, “No.”
Pei Zhi let out a breath of relief. “Mm.”
Xie Ning also let out a breath of relief. “Mm.”
It was a good thing Pei Zhi did not remember. If he did, that really would have been too awkward.
“I’m getting up to wash up first. If I’m quick, I should still be able to make it before breakfast service ends.” Xie Ning lifted the blanket and got out of bed, pulling open a bit of the curtain. He straightened his rumpled clothes, then turned sideways and asked, “Are you going down to eat too, or should I bring something back for you?”
The weather was very good today. Bright light streamed through the floor-to-ceiling window into the room. The strong light outlined Xie Ning’s figure in an almost indecently tempting way—his waist slender, but lower down curving into a full, rounded shape, and his face was so beautiful it bordered on unreal.
After sobering up, he had become that cold, untouchable beauty again.
Pei Zhi heated up instantly.
He had originally wanted to go downstairs and eat breakfast with Xie Ning, but right now he was clearly not in the best condition, and he did not feel fit to appear in front of Xie Ning. He was afraid of leaving a bad impression.
Pei Zhi shrank farther under the blanket and said, “You go down first. I’ll come find you later.”
Xie Ning said, “Okay.”
The sound of water running during washing came from the bathroom. Pei Zhi stared blankly at the ceiling, a little disgusted with his own reaction.
Athletes usually had strong energy to begin with, but lately, was he not reacting a little too often?
In the past, Pei Zhi had physical responses to instinct too, but he had never paid them much attention. It was just hormones acting up.
If a person could not even control this kind of desire, then what was the difference between that and an animal?
But it really smelled so good.
When Pei Zhi used to sleep alone, the blanket had never carried this kind of fragrance. Yet anything Xie Ning touched seemed to absorb his scent. The blanket right now gave off a tempting smell that, in the morning, was more intoxicating than any strong liquor.
Stop smelling it.
Are you a dog? Why do you keep sniffing around like this? Don’t do something so undignified, Pei Zhi warned himself.
He had thought that lying there for a few minutes would be enough to calm down.
But suddenly, he missed Xie Ning.
Even though Xie Ning was less than ten meters away from him.
He wanted to hug Xie Ning. He wanted to hold Xie Ning’s hand.
If only the bathroom wall were made of transparent glass. Then he could still see Xie Ning while he washed up.
Five seconds later, Pei Zhi shoved his entire head under the blanket.
…
Breakfast service was divided into two sections. Guests in ordinary rooms went to the regular restaurant, while suite guests could use a more private dining area.
When Xie Ning went downstairs, there were not many people in the restaurant. Judging by the messages in the group chat, many of the students had arranged to go hiking nearby first thing in the morning.
Luckily, he had not gotten up for that. He really had no interest in hiking. It was far too tiring.
The moment Xie Ning entered the restaurant, he sharply sensed a probing gaze lingering on him for a long time.
He tilted his head slightly. Under the chandelier, near the spiral corridor, stood a boy dressed head to toe in designer streetwear. Seeing Xie Ning look over, he tilted his head lightly and sent him a flying kiss.
Xie Ning withdrew his gaze. He was sure he did not know this person.
[521: Are you eating already?]
[Ning: Mm. There aren’t many people. Are you sleeping in?]
[521: Mm. But I’m not that sleepy.]
[Ning: Then why aren’t you sleeping?]
[521: Because I’m busy replying to you. Talking to you keeps me from feeling sleepy.]
That made sense. If someone kept replying to messages, then Pei Zhi would have no chance to fall asleep. So Xie Ning said:
[Ning: Then sleep. I’m not replying anymore.]
[521: That’s not what I meant. I’m not being impatient with you, and it’s not that I don’t want to talk to you. Don’t be mad.]
[521: It’s not that talking to you is why I’m not sleeping. It’s that I want to talk to you, so I’m not sleeping.]
[521: I want to keep talking to you.]
[521: Xie Ning.]
[Reply to me: reply to me T-T]
Xie Ning did not like looking at his phone while eating. After sending that one message, he focused on breakfast.
About five minutes later, Pei Zhi appeared in the restaurant, hurrying in, his hair slightly disheveled. His lips were pressed together, and his sharp gaze swept around the room. When he saw Xie Ning, he seemed to relax a little, but still looked cautious and uneasy.
Sitting down across from him, Pei Zhi said, “I didn’t mean to sound impatient. Don’t be mad.”
Xie Ning was bewildered by the apology. He looked down at his phone, which was full of messages from Pei Zhi. After glancing through them, he understood the misunderstanding.
Half laughing, half exasperated, he said, “I’m not angry. I just don’t like looking at my phone while I’m eating.”
He pushed the phone over for Pei Zhi to see. None of the messages had been read, and the red dots were still there. At the same time, Pei Zhi also happened to glimpse the rest of his message list.
There were a lot of messages. Many people looked for him—some casually chatting, some trying to flirt.
Pei Zhi noticed a small dent along the edge of Xie Ning’s phone. “What happened there?”
It did not affect usage, and it was hard to notice unless you looked carefully. Xie Ning said, “I probably bumped it into something. Are you going back to sleep?”
“No.” Only after confirming that Xie Ning was not actually angry did Pei Zhi relax. He looked at the bread on Xie Ning’s plate and asked, “Is it good?”
Xie Ning said, “It’s alright. Do you want to try some?”
Pei Zhi said yes and leaned forward, waiting for Xie Ning to feed him.
Xie Ning speared a piece of bread with his fork and held it to Pei Zhi’s lips. Suddenly, Pei Zhi caught hold of his wrist, his thumb automatically rubbing the inside of it as he slowly bit down on the bread.
Looking at Xie Ning’s face, Pei Zhi said, “It really is good.”
“They seem to be going to karaoke this afternoon. Are you going? The place is supposed to be pretty nice, and the hygiene standards are very good too. It starts around four, so we could even take a nap in the meantime.”
Xie Ning did not really like that kind of setting. It was too noisy.
But looking at the environment, it really was not bad. The space was designed beautifully. More importantly, since he had signed up for this event anyway, he should at least participate in something, or else would it not have all been pointless?
At the very least, he ought to gain some kind of social experience from it.
“That’s fine. Four o’clock, right? I’m planning to go out for a bit later. A friend of mine needs something.”
“Ah.” Pei Zhi said, “Then we can’t eat lunch together.”
Xie Ning said, “He’s nearby. I’ll be back soon. We should still be able to have lunch together.”
Pei Zhi said, “I can drive you there… or I can just wait nearby.”
Xie Ning said, “There’s no need.”
Everyone had plenty of friends, and their social circles did not necessarily overlap. If Pei Zhi insisted on following him, it would only seem like a lack of boundaries and personal space.
Pei Zhi realized that too, and felt inexplicably uneasy.
Xie Ning had mentioned another friend right in front of him. It made it sound as if someone else had a closer relationship with him, and mattered more.
Although Xie Ning would not let him drive him, Pei Zhi insisted on walking him to the door. The whole way, Pei Zhi kept touching his forehead or the back of his hand.
Xie Ning was not cold at all, but his hands were naturally cool, which made Pei Zhi assume he was freezing.
There was no time to go back upstairs and grab more clothes, so in the cold wind, Pei Zhi took off his own coat and wrapped it tightly over Xie Ning’s overcoat.
“Don’t refuse. I’m not afraid of the cold.” Guessing that Xie Ning would try to decline, Pei Zhi spoke first. “Keep it on when you’re outside. If you go indoors, take it off. If you still feel cold, just use it like a blanket over your legs.”
He muttered, “I forgot to bring a scarf…”
At this temperature, it was nowhere near cold enough to need a scarf.
Pei Zhi was making a big deal out of it. Xie Ning said, “I know. Thank you. The car is here already, so go back inside. It’s windy. You’ll catch a cold.”
In truth, Pei Zhi still wanted to ask which friend Xie Ning was going out with, what they were doing, and whether the friend was male or female.
But in the end, all he said was, “Okay. Then I’ll wait for you to come back so we can have lunch together.”
[If wife doesn’t come back, then I’m not eating. I won’t eat even if it’s a full imperial feast.]
[If my wife isn’t by my side, what’s the point of eating at all?]
[I might as well starve to death.]
To stop Pei Zhi from starving to death, Xie Ning could only hurry back as soon as possible. He said, “You can look at the menu first and decide what we should eat for lunch.”
At the mention of lunch, Pei Zhi’s expression brightened immediately. Leaning down by the car window, he stared deeply at Xie Ning’s face.
Under Xie Ning’s confused gaze, Pei Zhi reached out and poked his cheek.
Xie Ning tilted his head slightly. “?”
“Just leaving a mark,” Pei Zhi said as if nothing were unusual, pulling his hand back. “Come back early.”
Xie Ning tugged faintly at the corner of his lips. “You’re so childish.”
Pei Zhi replied righteously, “I am.”
Neither of them noticed the person leaning against a stone pillar nearby, observing them for quite some time with a thoughtful look.
It was the same streetwear boy they had run into earlier by the stairs.
…
Rainy day. Coffee shop.
When Xie Ning pushed open the glass door, Qi Ran and Shi Qingyu had already been waiting there for a while. The moment Qi Ran saw him arrive, he reacted like someone seeing his pillar of support, immediately coming over to meet him.
Qi Ran’s first relationship had been an online one. He had thought the other person was his ideal type, only to find out that they were a man, the same sex as him.
Worst of all, after finally meeting in person, the feelings he had barely managed to suppress seemed to be stirring back to life.
After listening to the whole story, all Xie Ning could really offer was, “Maybe during this period, you should calm down, think carefully about the feelings you had between you, and then compare that with how you felt after meeting in person.”
“And in the end, listen to your heart.”
Xie Ning could not give particularly good advice when it came to the emotional problems Qi Ran was facing. Or perhaps people caught up in emotional issues did not actually need perfect advice—they just wanted someone to listen.
Most people already leaned toward an answer in their hearts.
They just had not fully recognized it yet.
Qi Ran had class in the afternoon, so after paying the bill, he left. Shi Qingyu, who had been silent the whole time, then said, “Has everything been going smoothly so far? Any unexpected problems?”
“Very smoothly.” Xie Ning said, “That plan really has helped my condition.”
Shi Qingyu picked up his pen, ready to take notes. “How so?”
Xie Ning said, “I mentioned to you before the hand-holding and hugging. I’ve found that I also don’t mind even more intimate contact with him. Including sleeping together and sharing the same blanket. I’m fine with that. I like this kind of contact, and I’ve been in really good condition lately.”
“You’ve slept together too?” Halfway through taking notes, Shi Qingyu frowned slowly. “If I remember correctly, the roommate you told me about doesn’t have the best temper, has strong territorial instincts, and is generally seen by outsiders as the difficult type… and he actually agreed to sleep with you?”
Not only was Shi Qingyu surprised—even Xie Ning himself had been surprised at first.
Pei Zhi, who was supposed to be very hard to get along with in everyone else’s eyes, had actually proposed more than once that they sleep together. At first it had been because the weather turned cold and the dorm did not have enough thick blankets. But later, sleeping in the same bed seemed to become a habit.
For Xie Ning, sharing a blanket with someone like Pei Zhi, who naturally ran hot, felt wonderfully comfortable. Before, he had always had to lie there for a long time before the bed finally warmed up.
After Pei Zhi, that problem no longer existed.
Xie Ning tried to make it sound as casual as possible. “It’s just sleeping. The temperature dropped suddenly before, and our dorm didn’t have enough blankets, so we just made do.”
Shi Qingyu, however, focused immediately on the important part. “When you say you sleep together, do you mean purely lying under the same blanket and chatting?”
The part Xie Ning had omitted was still noticed, so he corrected himself. “Alright, we do hug a little too.”
Shi Qingyu asked, “A little?”
Xie Ning said, “For a long time.”
“How long?”
After a moment of silence, Xie Ning answered very quietly, “The whole night.”
The whole night long, Pei Zhi held him while they slept, and because of his skin hunger, Xie Ning also pressed tightly against Pei Zhi’s chest.
Shi Qingyu’s expression slowly turned serious. “What kind of hugging are we talking about?”
Xie Ning looked to one side. “Like that.”
Following his line of sight, Shi Qingyu saw an eight- or nine-year-old boy holding his younger brother on his lap and feeding him milk.
After feeding him, the older boy expertly lifted the younger one upright against his chest, the little boy lying face-down against him while the older one gently patted his back and coaxed him to sleep.
Shi Qingyu’s expression turned strange. Xie Ning explained, “He’s really a good person. Before, when I injured my leg, even though it wasn’t that serious, he still helped me very enthusiastically and never let me do anything myself. Every day he carries me onto the bed, tucks in my blanket in the middle of the night, takes me to and from class, buys me breakfast…”
The more Shi Qingyu heard, the more alarmed he became.
If it had been another patient, he might not have worried this much. But Xie Ning was different. Xie Ning was smart and outstanding, and he had his own internal logic for everything—yet when it came to feelings, he understood nothing at all.
Xie Ning genuinely could not tell whether someone was interested in him romantically.
Then Xie Ning described a few more little details. He had intended to reassure Shi Qingyu, but the effect was exactly the opposite.
Shi Qingyu grew more and more concerned.
“Are you sure he’s trying to be your friend?” Shi Qingyu looked at Xie Ning seriously. “If it’s really as you describe, then the things you’re describing don’t sound like what good friends do. It sounds more like a couple. Even biological brothers wouldn’t be this close.”
“Xie Ning… are you sure he isn’t trying to make a move on you?”
