“Patting Su Tang: ‘Are you asleep…'”
Li Xingchuan leaned forward, easily pulling away Su Tang’s little quilt.
Li Xingchuan held the bathrobe prepared for Su Tang in his hand and asked, “How many more pieces?”
Su Tang reached out his little hand, quickly wiping the corner of his eye, his voice still carrying a damp nasal tone: “Ju—just this one left…”
Before he could finish, a warm sensation came from his waist—Li Xingchuan’s fingers had already hooked the hem of his inner layer, and without much effort, he easily peeled the thermal underwear down from over Su Tang’s head. The movement was so fast that Su Tang didn’t even have time to be shy; he only felt a chill on his body.
Immediately, a large bathrobe, carrying the crisp scent of soap and soft warmth, fell down like a cloud, gently wrapping him up and enveloping him completely.
Su Tang blinked his long eyelashes, which were still beaded with moisture, feeling a bit dazed.
He watched as Li Xingchuan, who was close at hand, bowed his head, his slender fingers clumsily yet earnestly tying the belt at his waist.
The bathrobe was too big, almost drowning his whole person, revealing only a small face still marked by tearstains.
He clutched the soft bedding beneath him uneasily, his voice as thin as a mosquito’s: “Brother… please don’t laugh at me, okay?”
“My grandpa can already earn a lot of money now. In the future, he will also buy me nice, pretty clothes…”
Li Xingchuan extended his right hand, cupping Su Tang’s small face in his palm.
The movement couldn’t be called gentle, and even carried his habitual sense of control, but the pressure of his fingertips was very light.
“I’m not laughing at you,” he said. “I just think you look like a little onion.”
Su Tang blinked his eyes in confusion: “Onion?”
Su Tang knew onions; they are neither pretty nor cute.
But they are layer upon layer… so that was indeed very similar.
Thinking about this, he lowered his head again.
Li Xingchuan also lowered his head.
He curled his finger and flicked Su Tang’s dainty nose: “Little onion is not allowed to go home.”
This gesture was the only show of goodwill Li Xingchuan could imagine at the moment.
But this show of goodwill seemed to have crashed again.
Su Tang sniffled, about to cry again.
Li Xingchuan hurriedly pulled an awkward smile for him and lowered his voice: “Do you want to play a water fight?”
“Water fight?” Su Tang’s eyes widened. The tears that were about to fall shook twice, and finally, they were pulled back into their sockets.
Li Xingchuan breathed a sigh of relief: “You’ve never played?”
“Then let’s play.”
“I’ll let you have two rounds.”
Su Tang instantly forgot the embarrassment from just a moment ago, and also forgot that three minutes ago he had been sobbing and insisting on going home.
His cold little hand actively burrowed into Li Xingchuan’s warm palm, tightly clutching his fingers, and followed him step by step, hurrying toward that door leading to the bathroom.
The bathroom door was pushed open, and warm, humid steam rushed toward them, accompanied by the faint scent of fragrance.
The next second, Su Tang’s beautiful pupils dilated abruptly, reflecting the unbelievable scene before him—
It wasn’t an ordinary bathtub. It was a rectangular bathing pool that was steaming with curling heat, easily as big as Li Xingchuan’s large bed! Beside the pool, there were not only steps for easy access, but even a small, dainty white table, on which sat brightly colored fruit juice and several plates of delicate snacks.
And what made Su Tang unable to move his eyes the most were several bright yellow rubber ducks floating, bobbing, and swaying with the ripples on the undulating water!
“Wow—!”
Su Tang froze in place for a second, then let out a short, surprised intake of breath.
He was so excited that he rubbed his left foot against his right, bouncing unconsciously in place, shouting in a soft, sweet voice: “Brother, Brother, let’s hurry up and get in to play the water fight, hurry, hurry~”
Su Tang had never taken such an interesting bath.
The water warmly wrapped around his body, the little ducks drifted back and forth at his side, and occasionally he could sneak attack Brother, though he was always easily counter-attacked. But everything was novel and happy, as if he had fallen into a warm and safe dream.
He wanted to soak a little longer, play a little more.
But whether it was because he used too much energy, it wasn’t long before he was too exhausted to lift his arms. Moreover, the originally warm steam now felt like a sealed steamer, making him feel stuffy and short of breath, and even—he wanted to cough.
Su Tang immediately pressed his lips tight, forcibly suppressing that itchy feeling.
He secretly looked toward the other side of the pool—Li Xingchuan was leaning against the pool edge with his eyes closed, not knowing whether he was thinking about something or taking a nap.
Must not disturb Brother, Su Tang thought.
He turned around cautiously, trying as much as possible not to disturb the water ripples, and with his back to Li Xingchuan, he lay on the tiled edge of the pool. Then, he buried his whole hot little face into his bent arms.
“Ahem, ahem…”
He muffled his throat, letting out a very slight, very short, stifled cough.
After only two coughs, a warm hand stretched out from the side without warning and grasped his thin wrist.
Su Tang was startled and raised his wet eyes, meeting Li Xingchuan’s eyes, which had opened at some unknown time.
Su Tang timidly observed his reaction, and seeing that there was no displeasure in those eyes for being disturbed, he finally felt at ease.
“Let’s go.” Li Xingchuan used a bit of strength in his arm to lift the feather-light Su Tang out of the water.
The other hand grabbed the bathrobe from the rack, wrapping him from head to toe without question, revealing only a small face that was flushed red from coughing.
Su Tang followed Li Xingchuan obediently.
He raised his face, watching Li Xingchuan take care of him.
Li Xingchuan was a head taller than him, bowing his head; his movements couldn’t be called meticulous, and were even a bit rough and careless, but they were highly efficient. A large towel fluttered in his hands, absorbing the excess steam on Su Tang’s body in a few swipes, and then he picked up a hairdryer, buzzing as he dried his hair.
Looking at Li Xingchuan’s own hair, which was still dripping with water, Su Tang felt very embarrassed: “Brother, actually I know how to undress myself, wash myself, and dry my hair~”
Su Tang was confident and self-assured, gesticulating as he spoke.
Li Xingchuan only said: “Don’t move.”
Su Tang said “Oh,” and obediently stayed still.
After drying his hair, Li Xingchuan tucked him into the quilt. He then squeezed a huge dollop of hand cream from a tube, pulled out Su Tang’s hand, and rubbed it vigorously many times.
Su Tang’s nose twitched: “It’s the same smell as the ones Brother gave me a few days ago.”
Li Xingchuan glanced at Su Tang’s joyful expression.
He didn’t know what he was suddenly happy about again.
—His unhappiness and his happiness were the same; they always left him clueless.
But Li Xingchuan looked at his wet, beautiful eyes that were fixed only on him at this moment.
His own mood also became inexplicably great.
He reached out and rubbed Su Tang’s soft-haired head: “Sleep now.”
By the time he had finished cleaning himself up roughly and crawled into the other side of the bed with his body carrying the cool dampness of the water, he found that Su Tang was still staring at him with those big eyes, which seemed especially bright in the dim light, blinking without stopping.
Li Xingchuan said “Sleep” again, his voice deeper than before.
Only then did Su Tang look at him eagerly, as if he had finally gathered enough courage, whispering a reminder: “Brother~ you haven’t taught me ‘cat’ yet.”
Oh, right, there’s that too. Li Xingchuan remembered.
He reached out and turned off the bedside lamp, and the room plunged into soft darkness. Then, he groped around to pull the quilt up for Su Tang before speaking in the darkness, his voice low: “Cat is cat.”
A tiny sound of “giggle” laughter muffled in the quilt came from beside him, and the mattress vibrated gently. “Next time I see Little Hua,” Su Tang’s voice carried excited imagination, “I will call it ‘Cat’! Cat, Cat, Cat~”
Li Xingchuan curled the corner of his lips imperceptibly in the darkness and reached out to pat the lump of quilt: “Mm, cat. Sleep.”
Excluding the occasional moments of insomnia due to emotional reasons, Li Xingchuan was actually a person who slept very well.
—And he extremely disliked being disturbed at bedtime. He was an advocate for quiet.
Who would have thought that just as his sinking consciousness was about to enter a state, Su Tang’s soft, sweet voice rang out again. Although it was small, in the quiet atmosphere, it still made him frown subconsciously.
“Brother~” this soft voice asked cautiously: “Will you really turn into a little wolf?”
If it had been anyone else, Li Xingchuan would have kicked them off or scolded them to shut their mouth with a dark face.
But at this moment, Li Xingchuan just reached out to smooth his furrowed brow and said softly: “Do you want to see?”
“Mm!” The answering voice carried a little excitement.
“It will scare you.” Li Xingchuan groped, reached out to pat the outside of Su Tang’s quilt, and ordered again: “Sleep.”
“I’m not afraid~”
“But I can’t transform now.”
“Why?”
“Because I have to wait for the night of the full moon.”
“So cool, just like the werewolf on the cartoon.”
“Mm, sleep.”
Li Xingchuan patted Su Tang lightly, thinking he had finally fallen asleep, when a tiny, childish voice exploded in his ear again: “Then when is the moon full?”
“When I’m in a good mood.”
“Are you not in a good mood right now?”
Li Xingchuan opened his eyes. He screened several answers.
To avoid accidentally making this little crybaby cry again.
A moment later, he said: “Not too good right now, because I am very sleepy.”
After he finished, Li Xingchuan noticed that the air became quiet in an instant.
—Even the tiny breathing sound belonging to Su Tang, which had originally been lingering in his ear, could no longer be heard.
Li Xingchuan’s heart tightened inexplicably, and almost subconsciously, he reached out and “click,” turned on the bedside lamp.
The warm yellow light instantly dispelled the darkness. He saw that Su Tang had already turned over at some unknown time, facing him, opening a pair of wet, large eyes filled with bewilderment and apology. He was tightly covering his mouth with two little hands, revealing only his slightly flushed nose tip and those expressive eyes, staring at him without blinking.
Seeing Li Xingchuan look over, Su Tang hurriedly let go of his mouth a little, saying quickly in a breathy voice, as if making a guarantee: “Brother, I won’t be noisy anymore… you go to sleep~”
That appearance was pitiful and obedient, like a little animal that knew it had done something wrong and curled itself into a ball.
Li Xingchuan looked at him and said nothing, just reached out and turned off the light again.
Darkness descended once more.
But this time, he magically discovered—he couldn’t fall asleep.
The irritability from being woken up just now had long since disappeared, replaced by a strange, subtle, vague… sense of self-condemnation.
Like a tiny thread of silk, gently wrapping around the tip of his heart; it didn’t hurt, but its presence was vivid.
This feeling of being out of control made him feel irritable again.
He didn’t know how much time had passed.
Li Xingchuan suddenly turned over on a whim and reached out to pat Su Tang lightly: “Are you asleep.”
“Do you still want to see the transformation?”