Chapter 18: Coaxing
Snap. A crisp sound.
Both of their gazes simultaneously focused on the source of the sound.
“…”
A long silence.
Xu Xunyue couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh, then politely restrained himself, not making any comment.
But Zhu Hui’s expression was stiff. The embarrassment was already overflowing uncontrollably. His face, ears, and even his neck were steaming. The excitement and secret joy that had just sprung up were all frozen.
He had snapped the handle of the spatula.
“I… I’m not usually like this,” he stammered, trying to explain. “Usually, I control my strength very well. This kind of situation doesn’t happen. I’ve passed the Sentinel’s annual stability test every year. This year’s was just this afternoon, and I got an S-rank. This time, it was… it was…”
“This time was an accident?” Xu Xunyue asked with a hint of a smile.
Zhu Hui’s face was flushed. “Yes… It will absolutely not happen again. I will absolutely not hurt you.”
Xu Xunyue didn’t say much, just took a new spatula from the cabinet.
“Let me. The food is about to burn. Go cut some scallions. Don’t be in too much of a hurry.”
“Okay, okay.”
Because of his ridiculously poor performance, Zhu Hui’s brain directly shut down. He couldn’t bring himself to ask the questions he had wanted to ask, and he couldn’t continue to play pitiful. He could only obediently go and be his assistant.
On the surface, he looked obedient, but his mind was actually a mess.
Losing control of oneself was something only newly awakened Sentinels did. How could he make such a low-level mistake? And in front of his brother.
His brother even laughed…
His brother laughed!!
Although he didn’t say anything about him, he didn’t know if he thought he was useless in his heart.
So useless.
How could he lose control of his strength in front of his bonded Guide?
If he could lose control now, what about in the future? He would probably do more intimate things with his brother in the future, right? And his brother’s health wasn’t very good.
In a few seconds, a hundred thoughts passed through his mind. The more Zhu Hui thought, the more he felt that he had lost his image and credibility in Xu Xunyue’s eyes.
It wasn’t as if there weren’t news stories in the Empire that made one both laugh and sigh helplessly. Every few years, there would be an accident where a Sentinel got too excited during intimacy and accidentally hurt their bonded Guide.
Zhu Hui had always believed that no matter the situation, hurting the person you were supposed to protect with your life because you couldn’t control yourself was a very tragic thing.
He absolutely could not let this happen, even if… it was because he liked his brother.
Whether it was the unforgettable memory from his childhood, Xu Xunyue’s own aura and charm, or the physiological attraction that came from instinct, that mysterious, subconscious feeling of wanting to get closer.
It was as if he were born to like him, so they had formed a bond early on and were attracted to each other at their first official meeting as adults.
Zhu Hui thought, he had to be obedient in front of his brother.
His brother would definitely like that too.
When they were kissing before, if he was obedient, his brother would kiss him more fiercely.
Zhu Hui decided to pack his things tonight and go to class at the White Tower tomorrow. In his spare time, he would add extra training for himself, doubling it from the original amount, to stabilize his subconscious reactions to stimuli.
And, if he went to class tomorrow, it also meant that from tomorrow on, he could go out with his brother every day.
From now on, they would go to the White Tower together every day. Who would dare to say that he and his brother didn’t have a good relationship?
Zhu Hui was completely unaware of how his train of thought had derailed. He just thought this was a very good idea.
On the other hand, Xu Xunyue continued the conversation casually.
He deliberately said, “What happened to that person later?”
“Ah? Oh, that person… I had a spar with him.” After saying this, Zhu Hui quickly changed the subject as if he had a guilty conscience. “Then I did all the physical tests at the training grounds. The results should be out tonight. I can continue my classes tomorrow.”
Xu Xunyue didn’t expose him and went along with it. “The academy certainly won’t stop you from graduating, but you’ll probably be quite busy these few months… By the way, let’s add each other as friends on our personal terminals.”
He had originally planned to take care of this as soon as he arrived, but after a few words with Zhu Hui, he had almost forgotten.
Zhu Hui acknowledged and quickly walked to his side, touching his left wrist with his own left hand, which wore his personal terminal.
Beep. Both terminals sounded.
They had finally added each other as friends.
Zhu Hui looked at the account in his terminal’s list for a while and asked, “When you’re not busy, can I send you messages?”
“You can. But I remember the Sentinel Academy is very strict with its curriculum, right? It’s best not to send messages to teachers during class.” Xu Xunyue made a small joke. “It should have spread through both academies by now, that I’m about to take up a post.”
“I know, but you’re a teacher at the Guide Academy. You can’t catch me,” Zhu Hui joked back in a serious tone. “The other teachers will never be able to catch me.”
“Is that so?”
Xu Xunyue was noncommittal about this lawless statement and just gave a word of praise:
“Then Student Zhu is very impressive.”
Zhu Hui: “…”
Something felt a little off. That feeling of being targeted had appeared again. He had felt something similar before, when his brother was holding him, when his brother was pressing on the back of his neck and kissing him.
His Adam’s apple bobbed twice, and he shifted his feet, not trying to hide, just changing his stance a few times.
His brother’s words seemed to have another meaning.
Could the White Tower manage across academies?
Forget it. If he was caught by his brother and his brother wanted to punish him, he would be very happy.
At that time, how would his brother punish him?
…
He couldn’t think about it.
Zhu Hui felt his face, which hadn’t cooled down yet, begin to burn again.
He shook his head, coughed lightly, and in a blink of an eye, he was back to looking like an obedient student.
“I will attend class properly. After class, I’ll send you a message to report in, okay?”
Report in?
Xu Xunyue understood. Zhu Hui was hinting at him.
This guy was still hung up on the fact that he had found out the news later than his classmates today.
“Okay.”
Xu Xunyue thought for a moment and decided not to pretend he didn’t understand. He chose to soothe the Sentinel, even using Zhu Hui’s own pitiful act as a reference.
“I was inconsiderate today. It won’t happen again. You can take my car to school in the future, and I’ll let you know if I’m going anywhere else.” It was fine to do this normally.
As for matters related to the plan, he would wait and see.
Zhu Hui was probably fine, but he had to make sure no one was watching him.
And he hadn’t decided whether to involve Zhu Hui yet.
Involving him had more pros than cons, both in terms of combat effectiveness and in terms of rallying the younger generation of Sentinels in the Empire. But this was an unknown path. He hadn’t even dug up the deeper things himself. What if he got him involved and they failed?
Zhu Hui was only twenty, not even graduated from the Sentinel Academy. When he himself was twenty, he had been full of vigor. Zhu Hui should also have a bright and worry-free future.
[…I really want to kiss him.]
“?”
Xu Xunyue was making plans in his mind when he was suddenly hit with this sentence. He almost looked directly at Zhu Hui.
But he stopped before he made a move, because he realized it was a rare, strong emotion from Zhu Hui, and Zhu Hui himself had not spoken.
Xu Xunyue kept his eyes straight ahead and concentrated on listening.
Soon, he heard another voice.
The two voices seemed to be fighting in Zhu Hui’s head.
One was a hurricane of happiness, shouting, “I really want to kiss him.”
The other was a frustrated annoyance, shouting, “But I just snapped the spatula handle.”
Xu Xunyue had a hard time holding back his laughter.
He silently extended his spiritual feelers, silently linked to the brainstorming Sentinel, and gently nudged the outermost layer of his thoughts.
Then he said, “You want to kiss me?”
Zhu Hui was stunned.
After a long moment, he said with some hesitation, “Did I… say that out loud by accident?”
“Yes,” Xu Xunyue’s lips curled. “What do you think?”
Zhu Hui felt that something was strange, but he couldn’t say what. He thought hard for half a second, then decided to give up thinking and follow his truest thoughts.
“Then can I kiss you?”
Xu Xunyue smiled and turned his cheek.
Perhaps still a little out of it, Zhu Hui just dizzily kissed his right cheek.
It was a simple, plain, and pure kind of kiss, just a touch of the lips before pulling away.
Xu Xunyue raised an eyebrow and turned to the left.
Zhu Hui subconsciously went around to the other side and kissed him again.
Like a little chick pecking at rice.
Xu Xunyue simply turned off the stove, gripped the back of the Sentinel’s neck with one hand, and pressed him down.
