Chapter 4: Transmigrated as a Cheapskate Phoenix Man (4)
After going over the plot with the system again in the bathroom, Cen Yu stepped out.
Wearing the pajamas Yu Xinyu had handed him, his jet-black hair was still dripping wet, with a few strands happening to rest right over the beauty marks under his eye.
Cen Yu walked over to the living room and saw Yu Xinyu still sitting on the small stool, scrubbing clothes for him with a flushed face…
It actually made him feel a little embarrassed.
Clearing his throat, he walked over and glanced at the top soaking in the basin. “Forget it, how long is it going to take you at this rate?” He squatted straight down, dumped the remaining clothes into the washing machine, and said, “Just let the machine wash them.”
“But remember, don’t let this happen again!”
“Hubby!” Sitting on the small stool with his hands still submerged in cold water, Yu Xinyu moved to tears when he saw Cen Yu showing such care for him by not letting him wash the clothes anymore.
“I knew you loved me most!” he said to Cen Yu, deeply moved. “It’s alright, Hubby, I’ll definitely wash your clothes by hand every single day from now on.”
“…” Deep down, Cen Yu desperately wanted to complain.
Opening his mouth to say something, he ultimately swallowed it back down.
He stared silently at Yu Xinyu for a few seconds. “Whatever makes you happy.”
“Mm!” Yu Xinyu nodded, then stood up from the small stool.
Without giving it a second thought, he wiped his hands a few times on his insanely expensive, strictly non-machine-washable clothes, then trotted over to Cen Yu’s side. “Hubby, let me blow-dry your hair~”
Cen Yu saw Yu Xinyu’s eyes sparkling, as though he were tremendously looking forward to this.
In the end, rather than saying he could just towel-dry his hair himself, he tacitly allowed the gesture.
Happily taking Cen Yu by the hand, Yu Xinyu led him to the sofa in the living room. He motioned for Cen Yu to sit properly, then retrieved the hair dryer.
“Hubby really can’t get by without me…” Yu Xinyu muttered to himself. “He doesn’t even know how to dry his own hair.”
Cen Yu really wanted to ask: Did a wild caveman dry my hair for me when I went on business trips then?!
He complained wildly in his mind.
On the surface, however, he maintained a tired expression and leaned back against the sofa.
His neck rested right over the edge of the sofa as he tilted his head back, allowing Yu Xinyu to blow-dry his damp hair.
Holding the hair dryer, Yu Xinyu ran his fingers through Cen Yu’s hair, which hadn’t been towel-dried at all after coming out of the bath. His fingers slowly combed through from the roots… Cen Yu had extremely dark hair. Paired with his cool, pale skin and aloof expression, he gave off the aura of a person drawn straight from a painting.
Yu Xinyu’s fingers gently massaged Cen Yu’s scalp. “I’ll massage your scalp for a bit to relieve your headache.”
“…Mm,” Cen Yu hummed in response.
Yu Xinyu gazed at Cen Yu’s face greedily.
His eyes swept over the high bridge of Cen Yu’s nose, his long eyelashes, and the two beauty marks under his eye.
Reaching out a finger, he traced the position of those two beauty marks from a short distance in the air, feeling that Cen Yu looked exceptionally handsome no matter which angle he looked at him from… Gently combing through Cen Yu’s black hair, he turned on the hair dryer and slowly dried it.
Under the warm breeze and the gentle raking of his fingers, the wet strands gradually dried.
They grew soft to the touch, like the glossy, smooth fur of a meticulously cared-for cat that anyone would praise upon seeing.
He still remembered the very first time he met Cen Yu—the man’s hair had been cut very short back then, looking somewhat messy due to a lack of styling.
He had been wearing the simplest sportswear, with a few bruises on his cheeks.
Those two beauty marks under his eye had made him unforgettable at first glance.
Watching Cen Yu’s skin regain its cool, pale luster under his care, and seeing his black hair shed its former dry, messy state, Yu Xinyu felt immensely satisfied.
The high-power hair dryer made quick work of it. Before long, Cen Yu’s wet hair was completely dry.
Yu Xinyu looked at the finished result with a touch of reluctance, but still put down the hair dryer.
With his hair blown dry, Cen Yu’s head looked soft and fluffy, softening his earlier coldness and making his entire aura a bit gentler.
Yu Xinyu looked down at him for a moment longer, finally reaching out to pinch Cen Yu’s earlobe gently. “Alright, your hair is all dry.”
Drowsy and on the verge of falling asleep, Cen Yu snapped fully awake at Yu Xinyu’s words.
“Then I’m going to sleep. I still have to work tomorrow.”
With that, he stood up and headed straight toward his bedroom without turning back.
Halfway there, he looked at Yu Xinyu standing behind the sofa and couldn’t help adding, “Get some sleep early too, and don’t worry about the laundry.”
…
The moment he stepped into his room, Cen Yu felt his head grow dizzy once more.
It seemed his mild fever had worsened slightly after taking a bath and hanging around the living room in just his pajamas.
It was actually quite fascinating.
Although Yu Xinyu and Cen Yu lived together, they had always slept in separate rooms—
Because in this world, same-sex marriage was completely normal, Cen Yu’s excuse for this had been: “Before we get married, I can’t bring myself to touch you.”
Hearing this, Yu Xinyu had been moved to tears on the spot, and so the two became cohabiting roommates in a sense—no, more like a landlord and a hired laborer.
The reason Cen Yu had been holding back from mentioning his fever was that the moment he admitted it, Yu Xinyu would treat it like a major crisis, call an ambulance, and insist on hauling him off to the hospital.
Cen Yu, on the other hand, was the type to avoid hospitals whenever possible. Besides, taking some fever reducers was all he needed for a fever.
It was hardly a big deal…
Thinking up to this point, he poured himself another glass of warm water, then face-planted straight into the soft bed.
…
Right after Cen Yu entered his bedroom, Yu Xinyu went to take a shower.
The pajamas he wore were a matching set with Cen Yu’s… It was just that the careless Cen Yu hadn’t noticed that the top Yu Xinyu had handed him was actually Yu Xinyu’s own.
Because the pajama sizes were quite loose, Yu Xinyu’s clothes fit Cen Yu just fine even though Yu Xinyu was slightly taller.
Yu Xinyu carefully placed his pajamas to the side and stood in the still-steamy bathroom.
The bathroom carried a faint scent of water vapor and cedarwood—a body wash fragrance Cen Yu was extremely fond of. Although Cen Yu had never voiced his preference, he used it every time and never asked Yu Xinyu to switch to another kind, which was how Yu Xinyu knew he liked it very much.
The scent of cedarwood mingled with the lingering steam, causing Yu Xinyu to take a deep breath unconsciously.
Only then did he unbutton his shirt and look at his reflection in the mirror.
—Contrary to his tall, slender appearance, Yu Xinyu possessed a very solid chest.
His abs were sharply defined. Perhaps due to his mixed-race heritage, his overall frame was on the larger side; it was simply that his height and usual style of dress gave him a tall, lean look.
Undressing, he prepared to toss his clothes into the nearby hamper.
That was when he caught sight of the shirt Cen Yu had just taken off.
He hesitated for a moment before picking up the shirt with a neurotic obsession, carefully sniffing the collar and cuffs—
A faint scent of rum mixed with patchouli.
That aggressive, unmistakable fragrance caused Yu Xinyu to instantly tighten his grip on the shirt. He wrung the fabric in his hands as if trying to crush the owner of that perfume to death through it.
“Bitch,” he spat through gritted teeth.
