“Otherwise, why do you think he is so hostile toward me?” Chu Xingyun pulled his thin pajamas closer to his body. “It’s because he sees me as a rival.”
Well, strictly speaking, it wasn’t just his imagination.
“I don’t think so.” Cen Jing pushed back his chair, stood up, and grabbed Chu Xingyun’s wrist to lead him back. “The night air is cold and damp. Go back to the room and put on a jacket.”
“Do you like him? Cen Jing,” Chu Xingyun asked.
Mu Ran was handsome, younger than him, and perhaps more honest than him.
When someone like that showed interest in Cen Jing, would he really not feel anything?
Chu Xingyun knew that if he didn’t ask, he would be tortured by this question repeatedly. It was better to be direct.
“I don’t like him,” Cen Jing denied quickly. “I only see him as a younger brother.”
Chu Xingyun couldn’t hide the smile on his face. “Oh.”
As long as Cen Jing denied it, he was willing to believe it, whether it was true or not.
“He won’t like me either.” Cen Jing denied Chu Xingyun’s ridiculous guess once more. “Stop making things up.”
When they reached the door, he pushed it open. He immediately saw Chu Xingyun’s clothes scattered all over the large bed in the middle of the room.
“I was in a hurry to change earlier, so I just threw them on the bed,” Chu Xingyun explained in a small voice.
Cen Jing let go of Chu Xingyun’s wrist, found a thin jacket among the clothes, and handed it over. “Put this on first.”
“Brother.” Chu Xingyun slowly put on the jacket. “Are you going to keep acting like you don’t understand?”
Cen Jing sat on the edge of the bed and quickly folded the clothes. “Acting like I don’t understand what?”
“Or have you reached an age where you no longer have any desires?”
Cen Jing: “?”
Chu Xingyun lightly bit his lower lip. He stepped forward and held Cen Jing’s shoulders, using his body weight to push him down onto the bed.
The clothes that were just folded fell over again.
Cen Jing slowly looked up.
The jacket slipped off one of Chu Xingyun’s shoulders, revealing his smooth, white skin.
He sat across Cen Jing’s waist, and when he leaned down, everything inside his collar was visible.
“Do you still feel nothing like this?” Chu Xingyun asked curiously.
“Get off.” Cen Jing took a deep breath and looked away.
Chu Xingyun pretended to think. “Hmm… do you mean you want me to sit down a bit further?”
As he spoke, he lifted himself, acting as if he was going to move further down.
Unfortunately, before he could actually sit down, the world spun around him.
A second before his face was pressed into the bedding, Chu Xingyun widened his eyes and saw a dark light in Cen Jing’s eyes.
“Brother.” He tried to lift his face, laughing while panting. “Can’t you hold back anymore?”
Cen Jing ignored him.
He pulled Chu Xingyun’s hands behind his back and crossed them. Then, he pulled out a reddish-brown tie from the scattered clothes.
When the first loop touched the skin, Cen Jing paused. He turned the tie over so the smooth side was against the pulse.
The second loop tightened, and he tied a neat knot around the wrists.
Cen Jing pulled the bound wrists down slightly, making Chu Xingyun let out a muffled groan.
His eyes were wet, and he looked pitiful. “Brother, do you like playing like this now?”
Cen Jing took a thin blanket and covered his bare legs, stopping any romantic atmosphere.
“Stay like this for a while.”
Chu Xingyun blinked. “With such a good chance, aren’t you going to do something to me?”
Cen Jing grabbed the fallen clothes and started folding them again.
“If you want me to cover your mouth too, you can keep talking.”
“Why are you like this?” Chu Xingyun pouted. “You don’t care about me at all anymore.”
Cen Jing glanced at him coldly and didn’t bother to respond.
…
Except for the set Chu Xingyun wore during the day, Cen Jing folded all the other clothes and put them back in the closet.
He picked up his phone to check the time.
“It’s late, you…”
Cen Jing looked at Chu Xingyun and saw him curled up, sleeping soundly. He stopped talking.
He knelt on the bed and looked down to untie the tie around Chu Xingyun’s wrists.
There was a red mark where he had been tied.
The color wasn’t deep; it looked like an accidental smudge of blush.
Cen Jing gently pulled away the tie. He leaned over, grabbed Chu Xingyun’s shoulder, and shook him gently.
“Hmm?” Chu Xingyun’s eyelids flickered as if he were fighting sleepiness.
“Wake up to take a shower, then go to sleep,” Cen Jing said softly.
“Oh…” Chu Xingyun opened one eye. “But I don’t want to move. Can I skip it?”
“No.”
If he let him skip it, he would complain about it tomorrow morning.
Chu Xingyun closed his eye again. “…Then you help me wash.”
“Sleep a bit longer. I’ll go get the water ready for you,” Cen Jing compromised.
Chu Xingyun hummed twice, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
…
The next morning at 9:00 AM, before the live stream started, Chu Xingyun went downstairs to find food after a good night’s sleep.
He ran into Jiang Xun at the dining table, who was stuffing an egg into his mouth.
“Good morning, brother. How was last night?” Chu Xingyun asked casually.
Jiang Xun struggled to swallow the egg and hesitated to speak.
“What’s wrong?” Chu Xingyun gave him a look of disdain. “Don’t tell me you still didn’t dare to say it.”
“I said it!” Jiang Xun denied immediately.
Chu Xingyun raised an eyebrow. “And?”
“He…” Jiang Xun shifted around in his chair. “He kissed me first.”
“What?” Chu Xingyun’s jaw almost dropped.
“He kissed me,” Jiang Xun said quickly again, then pretended to be busy drinking water.
His friend’s success made Chu Xingyun feel very frustrated. “Why did he kiss you?”
“I took the blame for being greedy just to avoid hitting on him. It’s only right that he compensates me a little.” Jiang Xun couldn’t help but smile, clearly lost in the memory.
“How did it feel?” The sandwich in Chu Xingyun’s mouth tasted like cardboard.
“I don’t really remember how it felt. I just felt dizzy.” Jiang Xun held his face with both hands, looking very happy.
Chu Xingyun continued to ask expressionlessly, “How many times did you kiss?”
“At—at first, it was only once.” A blush gradually appeared on Jiang Xun’s face. “But then I couldn’t stop looking at him, so he asked if I wanted to kiss again, and we did.”
Chu Xingyun quickly pinched his own nose to keep from fainting.
He had intentionally encouraged Jiang Xun to confess that he wanted to kiss, but he never expected the guy to actually succeed.
Then what did it count for when he failed to seduce Cen Jing and got tied up instead last night?!
“Morning.”
Speak of the devil.
Chen Shu suddenly appeared and sat down in the chair next to Jiang Xun.
“…Morning.” Jiang Xun immediately straightened his back, not even daring to look at Chen Shu out of the corner of his eye.
Chu Xingyun snapped out of it and gave a weak “morning” back.
“Why are you so low on energy this morning?”
Chen Shu took a tea egg and gestured for Jiang Xun to peel it for him, while he picked up a cup of soy milk to drink.
“I’m jealous that a fool like him has such good luck,” Chu Xingyun said while mechanically chewing his food.
Chen Shu looked at the “fool.”
The fool flinched under the gaze and quickly sped up the peeling of the tea egg.
Chen Shu looked away, a very obvious smile on his lips. “Being a bit foolish is good. Fools are more obedient.”
“Who—who are you calling a fool!” Jiang Xun could tell they were talking about him and stuck his neck out stubbornly. “I’m very smart!”
“Really?” Chen Shu took the peeled tea egg and took a small bite. “Then why did someone have to teach you how to breathe while kissing?”
Chu Xingyun: “…”
He sat down quietly and hunched his shoulders, pretending he didn’t exist.
“Don’t say another word!” Jiang Xun stood up abruptly, his face as red as a cooked shrimp. “Who—who can be an expert the first time they play a new hero? Don’t you need to practice a couple of times?”
“If you read the skill descriptions carefully, even if you aren’t an expert, you should at least understand the hero’s mechanics, right?” Chen Shu chewed slowly. “You wanted to kiss for four years. Didn’t you look into how to do it?”
“…Who knew there would actually be a day when I’d get to kiss you,” Jiang Xun muttered quietly.
Chen Shu watched him calmly. “When you won the internet café tournament, you dared to dream about the World Championship. But when it comes to kissing, you don’t dare to speak or act.”
Jiang Xun gave up. “Fine, I’m just a coward. What are you going to do about it?”
Chen Shu looked at Chu Xingyun, who was burying his face in his food, hesitated for a few seconds, and chose to tell the truth.
“Then we’ll practice until you’re brave enough.”
Chu Xingyun: “…”
Was this really something he was allowed to hear?
…
At 10:00 AM, the Long Time No See live stream began.
The six guests gathered in the yard.
“Hello, good morning everyone!” The PD’s voice was energetic. “After yesterday’s ‘fishing’ trip, you can probably guess that we organize activities based on the guests’ wishes, right?”
Chu Xingyun forced a professional smile. “So, whose wish is it today?”
Chen Shu guessed, “It’s probably either mine or Jiang Xun’s.”
Based on the “Remembering the Past” pattern, it was likely.
“It’s probably not mine…” Jiang Xun looked at the sky guiltily. “I wrote ‘playing games at an internet café all day’… though I wouldn’t mind if we actually did that.”
Lin Shen: “…You’re just trying to kill this old man.”
“Haha, Chen Shu guessed correctly.” The PD took over. “The wish we are fulfilling today is yours.”
Jiang Xun turned his head and asked, “What did you write?”
Chen Shu: “A haunted house.”
Jiang Xun: “!!”
“That’s right, Chen Shu wrote ‘haunted house.’ However, considering that a single ‘haunted house’ isn’t enough for a whole day of filming, we have expanded the activity to the entire amusement park.”
“After you get on the bus, we will give everyone a stamp collection sheet. You get one stamp for completing any attraction. If you collect 10 stamps, you will receive a surprise gift from the production team!”
“But if you collect fewer than 8 stamps, there will be an unexpected punishment!”
“Note: the ‘haunted house’ stamp is mandatory. Otherwise, all your other stamps will be invalid!”
After hearing the rules from the PD, a few faces turned pale.
“I jump out of my chair even when playing a pixel-art horror game… and you want me to go to a haunted house… Chen Shu, you are so cruel.” Jiang Xun’s eyes looked lifeless, as if his soul had already left his body.
Chen Shu said happily, “Life always needs some excitement.”
“If something happens to me at my age in a haunted house…” Lin Shen thought with his chin in his hand. “The production team would have to pay a lot in compensation, right?”