Rong Ning paused slightly, but had no intention of moving back.
He raised his head slightly, using the dim light to look at Jiang Mohan’s profile. “Were you not asleep, or did I wake you up?”
“I wasn’t asleep.” While speaking, Jiang Mohan’s eyes remained closed. His tone was light and faint.
Rong Ning lay back down and edged closer to Jiang Mohan. “If you can’t sleep, let’s talk.”
“About what?” Jiang Mohan tilted his head slightly toward Rong Ning. His voice wasn’t loud against the sound of the rain, but it was clear.
“Hmm… Tell me a story.”
Jiang Mohan slowly lifted his eyelids in the dark, blinked, and then began, “Once upon a time, there was a big bad wolf…”
Before he could even finish the sentence, Rong Ning muffled a laugh, shaking the blanket he was covered with. “Another story to coax a kid.”
“Aren’t you one?”
Rong Ning immediately stiffened and retorted dissatisfiedly, “I’m 19, a man.”
“Tsk, are you going to listen or not?” Jiang Mohan had no other stories to tell; his mind only held the story of the big bad wolf and the little white rabbit.
Rong Ning curled his long legs, drawing himself into a shrimp-like ball, and replied in a soft voice, “Listening. I won’t interrupt this time…”
Clearing his throat, Jiang Mohan continued the story, his deep, bubbly voice drifting into Rong Ning’s ears.
Halfway through the story, sleepiness washed over Rong Ning, with the man’s searing skin right beside him.
He was so cold; he wanted to get a little closer…
Rong Ning’s fingertips twitched, wandering through the small gap between the two under the blanket. When his fingertips inadvertently brushed against the warm arm, Jiang Mohan’s tone seemed to shift subtly in a way that was hard to detect.
Subconsciously pulling the blanket higher to cover Rong Ning’s neck, Jiang Mohan tucked his own arm back under the cover, resting it between himself and Rong Ning.
Rong Ning didn’t remember whether the story finished, but in his haziness, he hugged Jiang Mohan’s arm as if holding a heat pack, and warmth spread through him.
After that, he didn’t know anything else.
Waking up the next day, the side of the bed was empty. Jiang Mohan had already left on a business trip.
The sky had cleared up, but Rong Ning felt empty inside.
He sat on the bed in a daze for a while before getting up to wash up. Breakfast was the osmanthus pastry Jiang Mohan had brought back last night.
With Jiang Mohan away on a business trip, Rong Ning took on the responsibility of managing the company.
Whenever Jiang Mohan went out in the past, he did the same. While working, he put away his casual temperament. Although he didn’t like suits, he still dressed formally, giving off the impression that this fellow was not to be messed with.
Normally, he relied on Jiang Mohan too much; when Jiang Mohan wasn’t around, Rong Ning was quite capable of handling things, managing the company’s affairs properly.
Friday was Rong Ning’s birthday. He finished work early and arrived at the racing venue ahead of schedule.
Before entering, Rong Ning put on his helmet.
Ever since he first secretly got into motorcycles abroad, he never exposed himself in any setting. Entering with a helmet and coming out with a mask was his habit.
If his family found out, his eldest brother and stepmother would definitely badmouth him to Rong Qian and then force him to give up.
To allow his father to smoothly build a new family, Rong Ning had gone abroad before their wedding and lived alone for several years.
He had already given up enough; motorcycles were something he would definitely stick with unless he became disabled.
Others only knew that a young man named Nan Xing was a rising star in recent years.
Mysterious and never showing his face, he had only participated in three races, winning the championship in two of them. The one he didn’t win was due to an accident midway.
Having learned a lesson from his previous fall, Rong Ning wasn’t aggressive this time. Seeing the accident scenes of other racers, he now valued his life more.
He didn’t want to turn his birthday into his death anniversary; he only chose to overtake when he was completely confident.
He easily took the victory, and the outside world grew even more curious about his identity. The exit was packed tight, with everyone wanting to catch a glimpse of the real Nan Xing, as annoying as flies.
Yet Rong Ning refused all interviews, leaving immediately after the race and speeding away from the venue.
“Nan Xing!” An unfamiliar voice came from behind Rong Ning.
Rong Ning frowned slightly, impatiently turning around to look. That person had already reached him.
“I’m Han Yi.” He smiled and greeted him proactively.
Rong Ning silently sized up the person opposite him, a racer who had been injured not long ago, a very skilled senior whose photo he had seen. “Yeah, I know.” The mask concealed his aloof gaze, but couldn’t block his cold tone.
“Can we get to know each other?” Han Yi pointed at the exquisite white mask on his face. “Is it convenient?”
“It’s not.” Rong Ning stood casually, rejecting him flatly with an air of weariness in his tone.
Han Yi’s expression froze for a second. At a loss, he rubbed his hands together and quickly changed the subject, “You’re amazing. First place again.”
“Yeah.” Rong Ning knew he was amazing, so he didn’t act coy and openly accepted the praise.
“Anything else?”
Han Yi smiled. “Nothing much, just…”
“I’m leaving.” Rong Ning shoved his hands into his pockets, wanting to end this boring conversation as quickly as possible.
He was in a hurry to go back and celebrate his birthday.
Without waiting for Han Yi to finish, Rong Ning had already turned and walked away.
If there was nothing else, what was there to talk about?
An hour later, inside a private room at a high-end club in Beijing, the birthday atmosphere was intense. Handsome men and beautiful women were playing and laughing, the whole place rocking.
After three rounds of drinks, Rong Ning was biting on a cigarette and rolling dice with a few friends at a side table.
With one leg propped on a chair, hunching his back, and a charming smile playing at the corner of his lips, he swept his gaze across the surroundings. “Going for high or low?”
“High, high…”
“Choose low!”
“Low, low…”
When it came to high-low games, Rong Ning had never lost. Those punished with Truth or Dare were usually others.
He originally thought drinking a bit of alcohol would numb himself, but as he played, the pain in his heart grew worse.
He desperately wanted to lose just once, to choose Truth when taking a punishment, and when asked if he liked anyone, to tell everyone that he liked Jiang Mohan!
“I’m done playing, going home!” Rong Ning suddenly lost interest, the once lively light in his eyes vanishing and turning instantly dim. He tossed the dice onto the table and turned to walk out.
“Young Master.” Qin Yu followed behind, softly reminding him, “The cake hasn’t been cut yet.”
They had eaten dinner and drank alcohol; all that was left was cutting the cake. Seeing that it was already close to 11 o’clock, the person he was waiting for still hadn’t arrived.
Rong Ning cast a half-lit, half-dark glance at the unopened cake on the table, feeling a sour ache in his heart. His eyelashes fluttered lightly, and gloomy clouds crept up his brow. “No appetite. You guys eat.” He drooped his head and walked toward the door on his own.
“The birthday boy doesn’t even want to eat cake?” A deep, sexy male voice came from outside the door.
This voice instantly revived Rong Ning, who had been feeling utterly depressed. Raising his eyes, a tall and slender figure appeared before him.
Rong Ning didn’t hide his inner surprise at all. Joy stained his features, fragments of starlight flashing in the depths of his eyes. Excitedly clenching his fists, he cried out, “Jiang Mohan! You’re back!” He looked ready to throw himself straight into his arms.
Even though there were many people in the private room, he didn’t hold back at all. Enthusiastically hooking his arm around Jiang Mohan’s, he led him to the table, staring at him as if no one else was around. “I was just waiting for you.”
“The flight was delayed.” Jiang Mohan hooked the corners of his lips into a faint smile, offering an unprompted explanation.
“Oh.” Rong Ning grinned, smiling brightly and refreshing, the dark clouds overhead instantly scattering without a trace.
Immediately after, he took the candles out of the cake box and handed them to Jiang Mohan. “Help me stick the candles in.”
Jiang Mohan smiled, took them, and asked Rong Ning sideways, “How many?”
“Hmm… 8, I’m forever 18.”
“18?” Jiang Mohan’s expression paused slightly.
Rong Ning nodded repeatedly. “Mhm, I want to be 18.” He hugged Jiang Mohan’s arm recklessly and began acting coquettishly.
Qin Yu, standing to the side, couldn’t help but shiver.
Rong Ning glanced at him sideways, cleared his throat, and resumed his normal tone. “Light them.”
Qin Yu quickly found a lighter and lit the eight candles one by one.
When it was time to blow out the candles, Jiang Mohan told Rong Ning to make a wish. Rong Ning didn’t want to make one, saying he had already made a wish when he saw the shooting star, and making it again would make it invalid.
Was there even such a saying?
Well, since Rong Ning was the birthday boy, they let him be.
After finishing the cake, everyone played for a bit longer before dispersing.
As they walked out of the private room, Jiang Mohan was suddenly pulled by Rong Ning toward the stairwell.
“What’s wrong?” Jiang Mohan looked baffled, but didn’t pull away.
Rong Ning didn’t say a word, dragging him to a dimly lit corner where the lights flickered, and suddenly raised his hand to wrap it around Jiang Mohan’s neck.
“Brother…” Rong Ning softened his breath, gazing at the man before him.
His voice was like a clear stream flowing over stones, tender and pleasant.
Feeling the warmth in his arms, Jiang Mohan’s fingertips curled slightly, and his thin lips parted. “A’ning…”
“Jiang Mohan.” Rong Ning gazed into his eyes, searing emotions overflowing from the depths of his gaze. “Can we date?” He put away his usual unserious demeanor, his tone solemn, unusually serious and earnest.
Jiang Mohan’s pupils trembled slightly, his throat too dry to speak as his mind frantically searched for appropriate phrasing, yet found none.
Swallowing with difficulty, he gave a faint sigh and ultimately chose silence.
In an instant, the surroundings fell into a dead quiet.
The outward calm masked a turbulent ocean within.
Jiang Mohan was so calm that Rong Ning mistakenly thought he hadn’t heard clearly.
With a slight shift in his expression, Rong Ning slowly stood on tiptoe and pecked him on the lips.
The tip of his tongue brushed against the man’s lips, soft, warm, carrying a hint of sweetness.
Jiang Mohan’s heart trembled gently, the air around them turning tender and lingering with this kiss.
“I like you. Can we date?” He persisted, asking again in a slightly trembling voice, his eyes brimming with starlight, the desire for expectation and exploration growing increasingly intense.