Lin Min did not know how to speak up. He was never good at communicating with others, and in the script, Zhou Jin had a dominant personality. Once Zhou Jin made a decision, he would not easily change it. Lin Min worried that he would not be able to persuade the man to leave.
As he fretted internally, 0766, the system bound to him, could naturally hear his thoughts. Compared to its green, rookie host, 0766 was a veteran in handling such matters. It secretly offered a suggestion.
“Host, do not worry too much. I have an idea. Zhou Jin is set as a strictly straight man. Judging from his reaction after you knocked on his door yesterday, he has reached a level of homophobia.”
0766 recalled the scene from the previous night. Even without sight, one could hear the sheer fury in Zhou Jin’s voice. Otherwise, he would not have been angry enough to drag the host into his room to issue a warning. To deal with this kind of straight man, one had to use fire to fight fire.
“He is unwilling to leave right now, is he not? If you deliberately do something to make him misunderstand,” its data stream ran rapidly, giving a hint to its naive host.
Lin Min naturally remembered the events of last night as well. He had worn such shameful clothing and knocked on the door of his deceased husband’s subordinate late at night. Even after completing several tasks, the memory still made his cheeks burn. Acting alone felt entirely different from being watched; although he knew the closet door was tightly shut, he felt as if Wei Chi’s gaze could penetrate the wood and see right through him.
The heat of the memory made him tremble. Lin Min’s eyes were misted with warmth, but he knew this was the best way. He opened his sightless, beautiful eyes and slightly tilted his snow-white face upward. His fingertips, which were gripping the man’s arm, curled for a moment. Shame made it difficult for him to speak.
He did not realize that to Zhou Jin, who already held a prejudice against him, this look took on an entirely different meaning. What is he doing? Why that expression all of a sudden?
Zhou Jin, who was already inexplicably furious after discovering the little widower was hiding a man in his room, felt his muscles tighten instantly. Almost immediately, all his blood rushed to the area where the widower was touching him. That excessively soft and smooth sensation invaded his logic.
Wei Chi, hidden in the wardrobe, was temporarily pushed to the back of his mind.
Zhou Jin’s breath hitched. It was as if he had returned to that restless, chaotic dream from last night. In the dream, the little widower had looked at him with that same damp, vacant gaze, his snow-white skin flushed with a faint pink. He was clearly terrified, tears flowing everywhere, but he still stayed close.
To Zhou Jin, who considered himself strictly straight, this was a nightmare from which he could not wake. How could a straight man like him have such a dream? The little widower must have done something.
As Zhou Jin breathed in the faint fragrance emanating from the man, he felt even more certain that the widower was not as simple as he appeared. Perhaps the ginger tea from last night had been drugged, causing him to have such a shameful reaction. Now that they were so close, even the man’s breath carried a sweet scent.
Zhou Jin thought irritably, yet his gaze dropped uncontrollably to those slightly parted lips, the moist red mouth, and the soft tongue glimpsed behind white teeth. They looked very kissable.
This thought startled Zhou Jin, a man who usually faced demons in instances without flinching. Even the skin where they touched felt as if it were being scorched.
Zhou Jin’s large palm suddenly gripped the slender fingers holding his forearm. He was about to shove them away when the other man let out a soft cry of pain. Red marks immediately appeared on the snow-white wrist. So delicate.
He could not even handle a light touch. Where did he get the courage to seduce Wei Chi? Was he not afraid of being handled until his legs could not support him?
Thinking of this, Zhou Jin felt an inexplicable surge of irritation. Usually, when he encountered trouble in an instance, he would have cleared it out long ago. But now, held by the beautiful husband, he hesitated for the first time.
Zhou Jin narrowed his eyes dangerously toward the wardrobe. He was about to shove the man aside to pull the closet door open when he was caught off guard by a soft body hugging him. The beautiful husband tilted his vacant face up, his slender chin resting against Zhou Jin’s tensed chest muscles.
The warmth of the touch traveled through the thin fabric, sending a faint electric current through Zhou Jin’s body. The husband held him tightly as if afraid he would run away.
“You,” Zhou Jin wanted to snap at him, but his throat felt blocked.
What shocked him even more were the next words. The beautiful husband’s cool fingers grabbed his hand. Though his eyes were wet, he tried to remain composed, making a soft request in a trembling voice.
“Mr. Zhou, it seems that area was made a bit swollen by you all last night. Could you help me take a look at it?”
The clear, gentle voice fell with a tremor.
Lin Min originally meant the soles of his feet, which had been stinging since he woke up this morning. The broken skin felt numb and itchy, likely an injury from the argument with the players. For someone as shy as he was, asking someone to look at his feet was already a source of immense shame.
He did not notice the man’s gaze suddenly turn dark. Zhou Jin’s breathing became completely erratic. Was it made swollen by him?
For a moment, Zhou Jin thought he had never actually woken up from his dream. What did he mean, made swollen by him? What exactly did this little widower mean?
In his husband’s bedroom, with his lover hidden in the wardrobe, he deliberately said such things. What did the little widower take him for? How could a straight man like him make a man swollen there? Did he feel one man was not enough, so he said such suggestive things? Zhou Jin was not even his first choice.
Even though the husband had not lifted his hem to reveal the red, swollen area, Zhou Jin could imagine it. Perhaps they were doing exactly that before he entered. Otherwise, why would it be so swollen? Had the little widower just shown it to Wei Chi with the same shameful, red-eyed look? Perhaps they had done more than just look.
Now he was acting pitiful, thinking Zhou Jin would be like that repressed Wei Chi, becoming someone’s lover just for a glimpse of something. Or was the little widower switching targets again, trying to use him to provoke Wei Chi and win him over?
Zhou Jin looked toward the wardrobe and suddenly laughed. He would not let the little widower have his way.
Looking at the widower whose legs were trembling from shame, he did not let go. Instead, he maintained the posture and pressed the man even tighter into his embrace. Their bodies were pinned together without a gap. He could even feel Lin Min’s heart racing from fear.
Lin Min had not expected Zhou Jin to hug him. It was only when his back hit something, followed by the hollow thud of wood, that he widened his vacant eyes. Wei Chi was in the cabinet right behind him. He could even hear the heavy breathing.
Zhou Jin reached out to pinch his cheek. His hot breath brushed against Lin Min’s sensitive ear and neck. He suddenly asked with a smile, looking down at the trembling husband with a heavy gaze, “Do not tremble. Did you not say you wanted my help?”
He kicked the closet door as if by accident.
“I am just asking. What are you afraid of? Where is the courage you had when you knocked on my door yesterday? Your legs are squeezed so tightly now,” Zhou Jin smiled, revealing sharp canine teeth. “Could it be that you were so scared by a few threats that your legs shook until you soiled your clothes?”
Zhou Jin watched as the tension on the husband’s face suddenly vanished, replaced by a deep blush that spread behind his ears. He was too easy to read; his thoughts were written plainly on his face. He thought he had dodged a bullet, yet he blushed because he found the words too vulgar.
He was already quietly trying to pull Zhou Jin away from the closet.
Zhou Jin let out a chuckling snort. His tanned, strong frame easily trapped the pale, slender husband in his arms. Soft black hair was forced to tangle around his arm. His pupils were light in color, and at this moment, he felt the excitement of a large dog before a hunt. The prey was the snow-white lamb before him.
“Why are you running all of a sudden? Let me see where it is swollen. I need to know if it was rubbed while you were trying to seduce me last night, or if it happened while you were being sneaky with your lover in the wardrobe just now.”
He stared maliciously at the husband’s suddenly frozen expression. Zhou Jin intended to teach the little widower a lesson; he was not a man to be used lightly. He was entirely unaware of how much jealousy was leaking from his words. He reached out and tugged at the husband’s wide collar, happening to catch a glimpse of the youthful curves beneath.
“No, I did not,” Lin Min had not expected that instead of being scared away, the man had misunderstood something else.
He suddenly covered his chest. He tried to struggle, but his chin was gripped. Zhou Jin’s irritable and biting voice reached him. “Then tell me how I should help. Should I use my hands like your lover? Or should I use something else?”
Zhou Jin looked at the wardrobe behind him. The little widower’s taste in men was still poor. He wanted to make the widower see clearly, and he tried to use anger to mask the inappropriate, stirring, and unfamiliar reactions of his own body.
Lin Min did not know what the man was thinking; he was terrified by the seemingly furious Zhou Jin. But for the sake of the task, he gritted his teeth and did not hide. He could only hope that since he was blocking the gap in the door, Wei Chi, hidden inside, could see nothing.
He did not know that his trembling waist and the soft, white skin beneath his hem were fully visible.
Wei Chi’s steady breathing suddenly turned heavy. His deep eyes, usually devoid of emotion, were now cold as ice as he watched the young man roughly leave red marks on that skin. He should not interfere. The entanglements between players and NPCs were none of his business.
Wei Chi was used to being a cold observer. However, before he realized it, his hand was already pressing against the closet door.
Lin Min was oblivious. He was about to endure the shame and give any answer, but the closet door behind him suddenly made a faint sound of fabric rubbing against wood. There was a creak.
Then, the closed door was pushed open further from the inside with undeniable force. Wei Chi did not step out completely. His tall, upright figure was partially hidden in the shadows of the wardrobe. His face was expressionless, but his cold gaze pierced directly through Zhou Jin.
“Enough.”
Wei Chi adjusted the creases on his suit. His voice was low and steady, but it carried a blatant chill.
“He said he did not. Did you not hear him?”
Wei Chi did not waste words. He was not the type to argue with people; sometimes he was so concise that it was infuriating. However, due to the pressure of his absolute strength and cold attitude, few people dared to say anything about it.
Lin Min felt as if his head were about to explode. He had not handled Zhou Jin yet, and now Wei Chi, who was supposed to be hiding quietly, had disobeyed and come out.
The beautiful husband was in a panic, his mind blank and unsure of what to do. His red lips could only offer pale explanations. “Mr. Wei was only trying to help me out of kindness.”
He was truly not a socially skilled person. In the past, when Xie Mingyuan caught him eating alone with other suitors, Lin Min had offered similarly weak explanations.
“Help you out of kindness?” Zhou Jin’s grip on Lin Min’s chin tightened slightly, forcing him to look up and reveal his delicate neck. “What was he helping you with? Helping you get swollen there, or helping to take the place of your dead husband in your bed?”
His eyes were dark as his thumb rubbed the scattered red marks on the side of the husband’s white neck. He found them incredibly eyesore.
“No, it is not like that,” Lin Min instinctively grabbed the man’s large, clenched hand, but his tongue was tied and he did not know how to explain. “Zhou Jin, go outside first. Let me handle this, and I will go out and explain it to you, okay?”
He only wanted to send the man away. He was still thinking about his uncompleted task and trying to find a way to rationalize the situation.
However, Zhou Jin did not fall for it. His gaze shifted back and forth between the two, and he let out a cold laugh. “Just now, you looked at me with that expression and said you were swollen and wanted my help. Then he came out. And now you want me to get lost?”