Chapter 80: The Mirror
On the way to the kitchen, a small incident occurred.
They almost ran into the spiritual bodies that were parkouring between the three floors of stairs.
The two spiritual bodies had been playing since dinner, and now they had just gone to the third floor.
A series of strange noises came from the third floor, with a strong tendency to roll down to the second floor with a clatter.
Xu Xunyue noticed this, but he didn’t care. Anyway, they were his own spiritual bodies.
More importantly, he found that Zhu Hui was a little nervous because of this. Both his body and mind gave an honest feedback. He was clinging to him very tightly, and his thigh muscles, which were already trembling slightly, directly began to twitch.
[Damn… I forgot to take it back.]
Xu Xunyue’s footsteps paused almost imperceptibly.
“Don’t take it back.”
He said lightly, his tone of statement no different from a command, but it made the Sentinel, whose psychological activities had been exposed, tremble subconsciously and cling to him even more tightly.
“They definitely know what happened,” Xu Xunyue didn’t even use a mental link when he spoke, and his volume was not lowered. It was unknown if it was intentional. “Do you want to know?”
“Brother… I…”
Zhu Hui’s hands were still tied behind his back with the rubber band. He couldn’t wrap his arms around Xu Xunyue to stabilize his body. He relied entirely on the connection, his own legs, and Xu Xunyue holding him to stabilize his center of gravity. When he was walking, he was already stimulated to the point where he couldn’t speak a complete sentence. Now he was even more hesitant.
“I, can… should I say…?”
Is this something I can say “no” to? Which one does brother want to hear me say?
Zhu Hui and the snow wolf were of the same origin spiritually. Without Xu Xunyue’s perception, he could actually know what the snow wolf was thinking.
But now, he deliberately ignored it, deliberately not paying attention to the spiritual body’s movements, which was “covering his ears and stealing a bell,” and only barely managed to “not know.”
“Of course you can.”
Xu Xunyue smiled, took a bottle of wine from the freezer, and asked for his Sentinel’s opinion in a consultative manner.
“I’ll use ice. Is that okay?”
Zhu Hui’s attention was still on the spiritual body. Hearing this, he didn’t even think about it and just nodded and said okay.
It was fine for brother to play however he wanted anyway…
At this moment, on the third floor.
At the corner of the stairs, a fluffy white tail flashed by.
The shadow on the ground hesitated for a moment, but in the end, it chose not to grab the tail, but to follow it.
[Aren’t you going to the second floor to play? To join in the fun or something.]
They invited, while hanging on the wolf’s body.
[It’s not to cause trouble. I feel like he still wants to see us go down—but he also didn’t directly tell me to go down—it’s just, you know, humans. They always have so many tricks.]
The snow wolf found a particularly soft carpet and lay down, a soft, breathy sound coming from its throat.
[Because what you guys feel are the Guide’s thoughts. He is super nice, he just especially likes to bully little Hui. This has nothing to do with me. But this Sentinel, little Hui, has a very thin skin. He’s at the Guide’s beck and call, but he gets angry and embarrassed with me… Let me tell you, if we go down, he might secretly settle accounts with me in a few days.]
As it spoke, the snow wolf even sighed, looking extremely helpless.
The shadows expressed their surprise.
[Is that so?]
[I feel like this Sentinel has a pretty good temper.]
[I didn’t expect that a Sentinel who looks so domestic would actually do this kind of thing behind our backs.]
[Sentinels are truly strange creatures.]
It would have been better if they hadn’t mentioned it. Now that they did, the wolf felt aggrieved.
[Hmph, hmph… of course you guys think it’s good! He even praised you for being smart back then! This kind of Sentinel is just bullying the weak and fearing the strong, a tyrant at home. In reality, who knows how many tricks he has up his sleeve!]
The shadows deeply agreed.
[I agree with this. He’s very good at seducing the Guide.]
…
On the other side, Xu Xunyue’s cooking time had begun.
Dinner had been made by Zhu Hui, and the “late-night snack” was his handiwork.
However, the chef of the last meal had directly become the ingredient this time.
The ingredient was placed face up on the countertop. Because of the posture, the rubber band that had been used to tie him had been taken off, but it had not been taken away. Xu Xunyue had let him continue to wear it on his wrist—now, Zhu Hui had three rubber bands on his wrist.
The part that had been tied by the rubber band showed a faint red mark, which, against the pale skin, really whetted one’s appetite.
But Xu Xunyue was not in a hurry.
The ingredient itself had steamed itself red, and both transparent and thick juices were dripping from the crevices, soiling the floor and the countertop. But he was extremely patient, preparing to make this meal last as long as possible.
What were the benefits of adding alcohol when cooking?
First, adding alcohol could improve the quality of the dish, making the meat more delicious and tender.
Every time the cool liquid poured down, the part that received the wine would repeatedly tense and relax. This method perfectly displayed the Sentinel’s refined muscles, and the flowing water stains continuously outlined every line.
Because the wine was taken from the freezer, all the wet places were not only more slippery, but their temperature had also dropped slightly.
But it was not completely cold. It was still scorching hot to the touch, giving a feeling of both ice and fire.
Second, the esters in the wine could add fragrance to the food.
Good wine naturally had a fragrance. The wine stored in Xu Xunyue’s home was all received from banquets with others in the past, and its quality was no worse than the wine from the Ghost Town tavern owner.
When Xu Xunyue added wine to the ingredient, he would take into account both the external and internal intake levels of the other party.
Externally, he would smear, pour, and drip the wine on the surface of the ingredient.
And internally, he would of course really feed Zhu Hui wine again.
As a good Guide who paid attention to the health of his Sentinel, Xu Xunyue would of course not give Zhu Hui a lot of wine, but Zhu Hui’s alcohol tolerance was really too poor. So poor that his body had just managed to metabolize a little of what he had drunk at dinner, and now he was dizzy again, unable to tell east from west.
When his mind was muddled, his body’s instincts became even more unbridled. His pheromones rushed around in the kitchen like a madman, and the originally cool and refreshing scent of ice and snow even became sweet and cloying.
In addition, alcohol naturally promoted the fusion of seasonings and food molecules.
The skin soaked in wine became more slippery, and the marks on the pale skin were even more ambiguous against the dark liquid.
The dizzy Zhu Hui smelled sweet, and his mouth was also sweet. When he looked at him with wet eyes, he would say anything. He was almost out of breath, yet he still had to murmur “brother” and “husband,” saying that he liked it very much.
In short, adding wine during the cooking process was a correct choice. No matter which scene it was—cold salad, steaming, stir-frying, deep-frying, etc.—it could play a great role.
Xu Xunyue drank a little himself, gave a little to Zhu Hui, and then slowly and leisurely smeared a little. It was unknown how much time had passed, but the second bottle of wine was also finished.
“Brother…”
The Sentinel lying on the countertop called him with a tearful voice. His eye sockets were full of tears, and his calves, which had been trying hard to rub against him and hook his waist, were almost out of strength.
“Husband…”
If it weren’t for the fact that Zhu Hui had been insisting on the principle of “brother can play however he wants, and I won’t beg for mercy even if I can’t take it,” he would have probably said the words asking for more a few hundred or a few thousand times by now.
However, just by listening to his tone and the way he addressed him, Xu Xunyue could also know what his Sentinel meant.
He hummed in acknowledgment, put the empty wine bottle aside, stroked Zhu Hui’s ears, then lifted the wet, messy hair from his forehead and kissed him, half as a reward and half as a coax.
“Sweetie is so amazing, you lasted so long.”
Zhu Hui’s tears stopped at once, and he even held his breath for a moment. Everything before was thrown to the back of his mind, and he began to concentrate on asking for more kisses.
Brother’s lips are so soft.
His eyes are so beautiful.
His fingers are so long.
His hair smells so good.
Everything about him is good.
Brother is always so amazing. Brother is the most amazing, so much more amazing than him…
The countertop, wet with various liquids, was very slippery. If one wasn’t careful, the Sentinel would be moved from his original position.
Although the person in question was trying to stabilize his body, he still had to be dragged back from time to time.
Back and forth, time approached twelve o’clock, and the first day of the Level Three Bonding was about to pass.
During this time, the spiritual bodies were well-behaved on the third floor, clearly completely ignored, and the messy kitchen had long been empty.
The Sentinel’s clothes were scattered on the floor—shirt, belt, pants… all the way from the kitchen to the master bedroom door.
That’s right. In fact, the first and second time, Zhu Hui’s clothes were still barely on him. But after the second time, he had been completely stripped—still except for his shoes and socks.
As for now?
The completely naked Sentinel was kneeling in front of the full-length mirror in Xu Xunyue’s bedroom, and was clearly ordered to open his eyes and look at himself in the mirror.
Zhu Hui had to open the eyes he subconsciously wanted to close. He looked at himself and didn’t even know where to put his hands, whether he should hold onto the mirror frame or support himself on the floor.
“No slacking.”
Xu Xunyue could even keenly discover that his Sentinel was looking at him through the mirror—that was one of the very few times Zhu Hui hadn’t strictly followed his request, so he was punished with a light swat on the butt to correct him.
“Just look at yourself, sweetie. Take a good look at what you look like now.”
“Mmm… I’m sorry, brother. I know I was wrong.”
It wasn’t a big deal. Xu Xunyue had never asked Zhu Hui to apologize to him. It was Zhu Hui himself who liked to say things like “I was wrong” to Xu Xunyue at various times. Compared to expressing apology, the hint of coquettishness and wanting to be pampered and tolerated was stronger.
Just like this time, the punished Sentinel was pitifully apologizing and correcting himself, while trembling and leaning into Xu Xunyue’s arms.
This kind of initiative undoubtedly made the bond deeper, equivalent to being sandwiched between Xu Xunyue and the mirror, with no room for escape.
Of course, Xu Xunyue knew that Zhu Hui had never had any intention of escaping.
He looked up and admired his Sentinel’s figure through the full-length mirror, and found that Zhu Hui had noticed his gaze through the mirror.
As expected, more liquid overflowed uncontrollably.
Hearing the muffled grunt in the Sentinel’s throat, Xu Xunyue narrowed his eyes and suddenly thought of a certain way of playing that he had mentioned in the past but had never let Zhu Hui practice before.
He glanced at the time on his terminal.
23:29.
There were still thirty-one minutes until the next day.
A little long…
But if he were to use that method, it wouldn’t be him controlling Zhu Hui’s nerve senses.
It wouldn’t be a violation of his “I won’t adjust your sensitivity today” either.
Xu Xunyue was a very reasonable person. When he was bullying his Sentinel, he would also try to do it with reason and evidence, and say those things that would make Zhu Hui dazed for half a second in a serious tone.
Now that the logical loop was complete, he put it into practice.
“I remember we said in the academy’s infirmary…”
Xu Xunyue held Zhu Hui’s waist from behind, his chin resting on Zhu Hui’s shoulder. His unrestrained long hair also hung loosely by Zhu Hui’s ear, making the already red two ears so red they were about to fall off.
“Said… said what?”
Zhu Hui took a breath and asked in a hoarse voice.
“You can use this time to practice your Sentinel talent—darling, how about you try turning on your tactile super-sense?”
