Chapter 42 Part 1

His swollen lips stung at the slightest touch.

He wasn’t sure if it was from the earlier bump or the kissing.

Liang Zhixia pursed his lips, not daring to look up at Lu Quan. But the man’s increasingly heavy breathing, drawing ever closer, forced him to lift his head and try to stop him.

“No more…”

A sweet, soft voice spilled from his mouth, sounding like coquetry or half-hearted resistance.

He had never realized his own voice could turn out like this. His plump, cute toes shyly curled together.

Lu Quan’s long fingers lifted his chin. His wet, scorching lips brushed Liang Zhixia’s mouth corner, his voice hoarse. “Zhizhi’s so good.”

Liang Zhixia reached out to push Lu Quan away, but the man caught his hand and placed it against his own chest, where his heart pounded wildly.

All of Liang Zhixia’s senses seemed to zero in on the heartbeat beneath his palm.

Thump—thump—thump—

Gradually, he felt his own heartbeat syncing up with Lu Quan’s.

Before his parted lips could close, someone pried them open again. A soft tongue tip slipped inside like a nimble little fish. He had no choice but to focus on the kiss, as saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth only to be licked away.

In a hazy daze, he lost track of time. His bright red tongue tip grew numb from the sucking and lolled softly against his lips.

Lu Quan leaned down to suck on the pitiful tongue tip, his voice low and husky. “Poor Zhizhi.”

A lazy hum escaped Liang Zhixia’s nose. His hands and legs felt like jelly; he couldn’t push away the culprit standing before him.

A pair of light tea-colored eyes gazed up at Lu Quan in grievance, shimmering with water, utterly beautiful.

“Lu Quan…”

The soft voice overflowed from his lips and reached the ears of the man breathing raggedly.

Sweat trickled down arms with veins faintly bulging. Lu Quan suppressed the surging tide of primal desire, panting as he lifted his head from Zhizhi’s neck hollow.

“Alright, no more kissing.”

He leaned down to kiss away the tears spilling from Zhizhi’s eye corner. They were a little salty, carrying Zhizhi’s scent. He liked it so much, so much.

“Be good. Next time, I’ll be gentler.”

Liang Zhixia wanted to tell him there wouldn’t be a next time, but his lips hurt too much. He slowly closed his mouth, not keen on speaking.

Lu Quan grabbed some tissues from the desk and wiped away all the unidentified fluids.

He tossed the tissues aside and planted a gentle kiss on Zhizhi’s forehead, his voice low and raspy.

“Good night.”

The bed curtain blocked out the dormitory’s overly bright lights and Lu Quan’s oppressively imposing figure.

Liang Zhixia burrowed under the covers, dazedly touching his forehead, then his burning lips. His eyes instantly grew wet.

It really hurt.

Lu Quan was like a dog!!!

After a night of nonstop hustling at the coffee shop without a moment to catch his breath, followed by being pinned down and kissed for so long by Lu Quan, exhaustion crashed over him in an instant.

Just before sinking into deep sleep, he groggily reached up to touch his swollen lips again.

This bug-bitten feeling seemed oddly familiar.

A long while later, Lu Quan listened to the shallow breathing by his ear, then paced out to the balcony and quietly closed the balcony door.

“Send me the list of recent dorm swap requests.”

The next day.

The day before the National Day holiday.

Liang Zhixia woke from sleep. He had just rubbed his eyes when the bed curtain was pulled open from outside, and Lu Quan’s figure appeared immediately.

“Awake?” Lu Quan leaned down, ruffling the boy’s sleep-tousled hair. It was soft and fragrant. “Good morning, Zhizhi.”

Liang Zhixia had grown accustomed to Lu Quan’s clinginess. Once Lu Quan finished ruffling his hair and pinching his cheeks, he pushed the other man away and slowly sat up.

A small gap was open in the balcony window. A mischievous breeze slipped in, passed through the balcony door, skirted around Lu Quan, and ruffled Liang Zhixia’s hair.

His sleepy gaze gradually cleared. Before him loomed Lu Quan’s handsome face, magnified several times. He could now look at it without flinching. If only Lu Quan would serve as a live model for him sometime, that would be even better.

He shoved Lu Quan’s face away and yanked the bed curtain closed, grumbling fiercely, “I’m changing clothes.”

With no early morning class today, he dawdled through changing and headed to wash up.

But the moment he stood before the sink, he froze.

In the mirror, his lips were a deep, plump red, so vivid they seemed about to bleed.

Suddenly, his eyes narrowed as he peered closer. There was a scabbed little cut on his upper lip.

His moist tongue tip brushed lightly over the wound, stinging sharply.

All Lu Quan’s fault.

After washing up, he emerged to find his chair missing. A quick scan revealed it had been placed next to Lu Quan’s chair.

“You moved my chair. What for?”

Lu Quan turned to him and pointed at the breakfast on the desk. “Come eat breakfast.”

Liang Zhixia eyed the lunchbox on Lu Quan’s desk and found it amusing. He arched a brow slightly. “I remember someone saying no eating in the dorm.”

Lu Quan’s expression stiffened. He desperately wished he could time-travel back to the start of the semester and shred that agreement.

His brain had never spun so fast. Who could’ve guessed his roommate was the Zhizhi he’d been chatting with?

“That agreement? Pretend I made it up.”

Liang Zhixia smiled at Lu Quan’s words, his eyes curving and the corners of his mouth lifting.

Sunlight spilled onto the desk holding the breakfast, casting beautiful shadows.

Before heading to class, he deliberately put on a mask to hide the cut at his mouth corner from others.

But while he could fool everyone else, he couldn’t fool his two friends.

Fan Li winked at him exaggeratedly, leaning over. He glanced at the teacher before whispering, “Xia Xia, why the mask?”

Liang Zhixia’s face flushed. He mumbled an excuse. “Allergies.”

Jiang Ling propped up his textbook to block the teacher’s view and asked, “Did you put on medicine? Allergic to what?”

“…”

He hadn’t come up with a good excuse yet.

Seeing no answer after a while, Jiang Ling raised a brow. “We’ll talk after class.”

Class ended, and Liang Zhixia found his seat blocked on both sides. No escape.

His mask remained firmly in place. There was no way he’d tell Jiang Ling and Fan Li that he’d busted his lip last night in the dorm making out with Lu Quan.

Suddenly, the classroom went quiet for a moment. Heart skipping a beat, Liang Zhixia turned to look at the back door.

Sure enough, Lu Quan stood there.

He desperately hoped Lu Quan wasn’t there for him, but no such luck. What he feared most came true—Lu Quan was there for him.

The tall, upright figure stopped by his side. Liang Zhixia had no choice but to look up at Lu Quan, blinking his eyes.

Lu Quan stared at those beautiful eyes, sorely tempted to kiss them. His throat bobbed as he said, “I’ve got something at noon. Can’t eat lunch with you.”

Liang Zhixia tilted his head, eyes puzzled. He could’ve just texted about that.

And they hadn’t even planned to eat lunch together.

Lu Quan caught his confusion. The corner of his mouth hooked up as he murmured, “Baby, I messaged you. You didn’t reply.”

Liang Zhixia’s eyes widened in alarm. He glanced around frantically. Luckily, no one heard Lu Quan.

But then Lu Quan bent down unexpectedly, and Liang Zhixia noticed a small detail.

Lu Quan had a tiny cut on his lip too, plain as day.

“You can’t…”

He pointed at his own mask, gesturing for Lu Quan to get one too and cover up the wound on his lip instead of parading it around.

Lu Quan understood perfectly but had no intention of hiding the scabbed mark.

He whispered, “Zhizhi bit me. I like it.”

“…”

No one else heard, but the two sitting next to Liang Zhixia did.

It was only after Lu Quan left that Liang Zhixia realized, judging by Jiang Ling and Fan Li’s expressions.

Jiang Ling arched a brow, his face alight with interest.

“What’s your deal with School Grass? Did you two make it official?”

Fan Li stared at him intently too.

A blush crept quietly onto his ears and cheeks.

Liang Zhixia pursed his lips. “No, we’re not together. Just roommates.”

And not for much longer.

Jiang Ling let out a long, drawn-out “Ohhh.” “So roommates can make out these days, huh.”

Fan Li covered his mouth, laughing.

The heat on Liang Zhixia’s face burned hotter. He couldn’t muster a laugh.

Meanwhile.

Lu Quan opened the car’s back door and slid in, only to see Xu Cheng and Qu Yizhou already there.

“What are you two doing here?”

Xu Cheng pocketed his phone lazily. “Hitching a ride to my place. Mom wants me and Yizhou over for dinner.”

Xu Cheng’s house and the old mansion were in the same direction.

Once everyone was settled, the driver started the car.

Wind whistled past the window. Xu Cheng twirled the ring on his finger, bored. “What were you up to just now?”

Lu Quan lifted his eyelids. “Looking for someone.”

Xu Cheng grinned. “Your roommate, right?”

He turned to look at Lu Quan, his gaze naturally landing on the other’s face—until he spotted the cut on Lu Quan’s lip.

Confused, he asked, “How’d you bust your lip?”

Lu Quan replied, “A little cat bit me last night.”

His expression was indifferent, but his tone betrayed something else entirely.

Xu Cheng could hear the brag in it loud and clear.

And that little cat wasn’t any ordinary one.

Lips kissed raw like that? Last night must’ve been intense.

He tsked lightly. “You beast, Lu Quan.”

Lu Quan gave a slight nod, not denying the label.

Forty-five minutes later, the class bell rang at A University. Hordes of students poured out of classrooms, surging toward the cafeteria wafting with the aroma of food.

Liang Zhixia was one of them.

The three of them walked amid the lunch rush crowd, with Jiang Ling and Fan Li immensely curious about the progress between the other two.

For the umpteenth time, Liang Zhixia clarified, “Lu Quan and I really have nothing going on.”

Perhaps due to his overly sincere attitude, Jiang Ling and Fan Li believed him.

That is, until he removed his mask to eat. Then they stared at the cut on his lip like detectives who had found evidence.

Jiang Ling elegantly sipped some soup and hummed, “Xia Xia, how did you get that cut on your lip?”

Fan Li followed suit, grinning cheekily. “I know! Must be a mosquito bite causing an allergic reaction.”

Liang Zhixia knew his friends meant no harm, but their well-intentioned teasing still made his face flush red. “Don’t make wild guesses.”

Jiang Ling and Fan Li sobered their expressions.

“Lu Quan seems pretty into you, but I suggest you just play around. His family would never accept someone like you.”

Jiang Ling wasn’t trying to rain on his parade. It was just that someone with Lu Quan’s background would have his marriage partner carefully selected by his family.