Chapter 64
The boys’ dormitory wasn’t quiet at night; you could even hear shouts and curses from video game battles.
Jiang Heng sat on the bed, wrapped in a blanket, his ears flushed as he took the clothes Lu Yichuan handed him.
He fumbled under the covers for a while, then emerged, wearing an oversized shirt.
The young man sat cross-legged on the bed, his cat-like flexibility making the awkward position surprisingly comfortable. The shirt was large enough to cover his essentials, and his bare legs, peeking out from beneath it, were dazzlingly white.
He awkwardly wiggled his toes, then pulled at the sleeves of the shirt, covering his hands. Feeling less exposed, he finally spoke, “Well…this is…unexpected.”
Damn it! Why didn’t he have clothes when he transformed?!
He shuddered at the memory of emerging from under Lu Yichuan’s gray blanket, only to find himself completely naked.
Completely naked!
The man standing across from him coughed, covering his mouth with his hand, his gaze sweeping over Jiang Heng’s legs, then finally settling on his face. “Do you feel unwell anywhere?”
Jiang Heng stretched his arms, feeling a little awkward. “It’s alright, my bones ache a little, and I feel…warm.”
He tugged at his collar.
The already loose collar slipped further, revealing his collarbone, the delicate curve stark against his pale skin.
Lu Yichuan’s breath hitched, then he reached out and buttoned Jiang Heng’s shirt all the way up.
Jiang Heng, not having worn clothes in a while, felt a little choked and instinctively swatted his arm. “Let go! I said I’m warm, not cold! What are you doing?”
Lu Yichuan finished buttoning his shirt and then pulled the blanket over his legs. “The warmth is just an illusion. It’s five degrees outside, I don’t want you to catch a cold.”
Jiang Heng glared at him.
After a few seconds, he scratched his head. “Lu Yichuan, my head itches.”
The boy, his silver-gray hair tousled, scratched at his head in frustration, as if unable to reach the itchy spot, his feet kicking the blanket.
The awkward silence dissipated.
Lu Yichuan sighed softly and leaned closer. “Where does it itch?”
Jiang Heng continued to scratch. “Here, my skull, and my scalp.”
“It’s so itchy! Am I growing a brain?”
Lu Yichuan: “…”
The man said, “More like your brain is being eaten.”
Despite his words, he gently touched the boy’s head. Afraid he would scratch himself raw, he pulled Jiang Heng’s hand away and started scratching for him.
Jiang Heng poked him in the side. “Don’t touch it! It’s even itchier now!”
Lu Yichuan pressed down gently. “Here?”
The head beneath his hand nodded eagerly.
He frowned, feeling around carefully. “There’s a…bump…”
He pressed again, and a soft gasp escaped the boy’s lips, followed by a faint poof, and a pair of white ears popped out.
The ears twitched, like soft candy, then stood upright on Jiang Heng’s head.
“Huh…”
Jiang Heng exclaimed, his ears twitching at the sound of his voice. “It doesn’t itch anymore.”
Lu Yichuan was silent.
After a few seconds, he reached out and gently pinched one of the ears between his fingers.
“Wait!” Jiang Heng’s eyes widened, his back suddenly arching. He grabbed Lu Yichuan’s hand. “What are you doing?! That felt…weird.”
His sudden movement made his ears perk up.
“Lu Yichuan, my head feels strange, like I have an antenna.”
Lu Yichuan took his hand and placed it on his head. “Feel it yourself.”
Jiang Heng felt two soft, furry lumps. He squeezed them, the texture soft and springy, but not the strange, almost electric sensation he had felt when Lu Yichuan touched them.
He squeezed them again. “So I’m growing ears, not a brain.”
Seeing his disappointed expression as he played with his ears, Lu Yichuan’s own fingers twitched with a sudden urge. “You seem quite disappointed.”
Jiang Heng said, “Cat ears are…optional, but without a brain, my future is bleak.”
Lu Yichuan said, “I thought you were used to a bleak future after eighteen years of it.”
Jiang Heng: “…”
The man bent down slightly, his gaze moving from Jiang Heng’s ears down to the blanket covering his lower body.
“Since you have ears, then what about a tail?”
Jiang Heng froze and instinctively reached back to touch his behind.
But his hand was caught by Lu Yichuan. The man knelt beside him, one hand holding his, the other on his shoulder.
It was a cold winter night, yet Lu Yichuan’s hands, despite him only wearing a thin pajama top, were incredibly warm.
He leaned closer. “Let me help you.”
Jiang Heng stammered, “Th-this…isn’t very appropriate…”
The warmth in the man’s eyes was almost scorching. “We’ve already kissed. What’s inappropriate about this?”
His words brought back certain memories Jiang Heng had almost forgotten.
While he was still in a daze, Lu Yichuan’s hand slowly moved down his spine.
Jiang Heng hadn’t realized his back was so sensitive. The light touch made him shiver, his body curling up instinctively as he fell against Lu Yichuan.
Lu Yichuan held his shoulder with one hand, his other hand reaching his tailbone, where, as expected, he found nothing.
He didn’t retract his hand but gently pressed down.
The boy in his arms shivered, a soft moan escaping his lips. The next moment, Lu Yichuan pulled a long, fluffy tail out from under the blanket.
He stroked it gently, and the tail, like a giant feather duster, landed on Jiang Heng’s shoulder.
Lu Yichuan stared at it for a few seconds, his gaze then moving to the boy’s flushed face.
In the dim light of the dormitory, the figure in his bed seemed like a captivating spirit.
Lu Yichuan suddenly felt like he had shot himself in the foot.
Jiang Heng stared at him, his voice slightly strained. “Lu Yichuan, I’m suddenly…very hungry. I feel like I could eat a whole cow.”
Lu Yichuan: “…”
He let out a slow breath, took a step back, and got out of bed, the hem of his loose pajama top concealing his reaction, his voice hoarse, but his expression relatively calm. “Order takeout?”
If anyone else touched his tail, Jiang Heng would be thrashing and flailing, but when he held it himself, it felt like a fluffy toy. He clutched his tail and shifted his position. “Can I order myself?”
Lu Yichuan handed him his phone and went to the balcony to splash some cold water on his face.
Jiang Heng glanced at him, pursed his lips, and touched his tailbone, the strange sensation from the man’s touch still lingering.
He shook his head, trying to dispel the feeling, and focused on the phone.
What?
Fried chicken at midnight? One order, please.
Spicy barbecue? Let me see how spicy.
Flaming hot chicken? Let me see how flaming.
Milk tea? Never had it, one cup.
Beer? Never tried it, one dozen.
Crawfish, let me…
“Hey…my phone…”
Jiang Heng watched as the man took his phone away, his damp eyelashes lowered as he read out the order. “Fried chicken, barbecue, milk tea, oh, and beer.”
Jiang Heng picked at the bedsheet. “I was just…looking.”
The kind of looking that involves adding things to your online shopping cart.
Lu Yichuan cleared the shopping cart and confiscated his phone. “I just remembered I have some steaks in the fridge. Let’s have steak.”
Jiang Heng protested, “I thought we were ordering takeout?”
“Takeout doesn’t mean junk food.”
Jiang Heng didn’t argue, just stared at him, holding his tail.
Lu Yichuan: “…”
After a couple of seconds, he handed him the phone. “You can only choose one thing.”
“Yay!”
The steak sizzled in the pan, and Lu Yichuan cut a hole in a pair of his pants and handed them to Jiang Heng. “Try these on.”
Jiang Heng took the pants and fumbled under the covers.
Lu Yichuan flipped the steak and heard Jiang Heng’s muffled voice from under the blanket, “Lu Yichuan, help me! My tail is stuck!”
He walked over to the bed, hesitated for a moment, then, without lifting the covers, reached under them.
He felt around, his hand encountering something soft, and instinctively squeezed it. The next second, his hand was caught.
“That’s my butt. Wrong place.”
His hand was guided upwards, finally finding the fluffy obstruction.
Just as the steak was about to burn, Jiang Heng’s tail finally emerged from the pants.
The pants were also Lu Yichuan’s, clearly not his size, long and baggy. Jiang Heng, in his oversized shirt and dragging the long pants on the floor, his messy tail swishing behind him, complained, “It’s all your fault! If you hadn’t pulled on my tail, I wouldn’t be having this problem!”
His feet slapped against the floor in Lu Yichuan’s slippers as he inhaled the aroma of the steak, then, deciding his appearance was more important, he went to the balcony, pulling at the long pants, and looked in the mirror.
The person in the mirror looked about seventeen or eighteen, with messy, silver-gray hair that framed his face, making it look incredibly small.
Just as Lu Yichuan had said, the person in the mirror looked somewhat like his former self, but also not quite, his mannerisms carrying a hint of the old Jiang Heng, but his features were definitely different.
The only similarity was his cat-like eyes, clear and bright, like pools of water.
Jiang Heng touched his eyes, his nose, then the ears on his head.
So strange…
Like he had a completely different face.
And…
He leaned closer to the mirror.
The face in the mirror was almost touching his.
This face was too…
Jiang Heng couldn’t find the right word. After a while, he settled on “beautiful.”
Yes, beautiful, flawlessly beautiful, as if his previously slightly flawed face had been sculpted by a goddess.
Jiang Heng stared at his reflection, mesmerized.
He looked up and saw Lu Yichuan standing by the door, watching him, his arms crossed.
Seeing him look up, the man tilted his chin slightly. “Jiang Heng, your pants are falling down.”
Jiang Heng: “！！！”
