“You swear it’s just a kiss!” Ning Shuang refused to poke his head out from under the covers. After all that exertion last night, his waist was still aching.
Ji Huaizhi wasn’t willing to swear. Instead, he pulled Ning Shuang into his arms along with the blanket and pleaded in a pitiful tone, “Senior, can we kiss?”
Ning Shuang couldn’t bring himself to completely refuse such a tone and request. He slowly emerged from under the blanket, but before he could even get a clear look at the scene in front of him, Ji Huaizhi pounced and cupped his face for a kiss.
His kissing skills had improved again.
Ning Shuang felt the tip of his tongue growing sore from the sucking and grinding.
As a result, he got dragged into another round that evening.
At least this time, Ji Huaizhi knew to hold back. He stuck to the positions that made Ning Shuang feel the best throughout.
Once it was over, Ning Shuang passed out from exhaustion.
Ji Huaizhi wiped the traces of their passion from Ning Shuang’s body with a wet wipe, then slipped under the covers and held him close. Naturally, he buried his face in Ning Shuang’s reddened, swollen chest and closed his eyes to sleep.
When Ning Shuang woke up from a deep slumber, Ji Huaizhi had long since gotten out of bed. Ning Shuang rubbed his sore waist and slowly dragged himself up to change clothes. Then he headed to the bathroom to freshen up. After washing up, he glanced at the time and sighed. His morning run plan had gone down the drain again.
Leaning against the railing, he watched Ji Huaizhi bustling back and forth between the kitchen and living room. For a moment, Ning Shuang felt puzzled. Ji Huaizhi didn’t seem like someone with boundless stamina, so why did he always have endless energy for bed, and still have the vigor to get up and make breakfast the next day?
“Are you awake?” Lost in thought, Ning Shuang suddenly heard the person downstairs call out, as if sensing his gaze. Ji Huaizhi looked up abruptly, catching Ning Shuang off guard in a stare. Then Ji Huaizhi gave him a gentle smile and said good morning.
Ning Shuang clumsily made his way downstairs.
Ji Huaizhi came to the stairwell landing to meet him. Ning Shuang was starting to feel like he was being pampered too much.
Luckily, at breakfast, Ji Huaizhi didn’t insist on feeding him. Ning Shuang thought to himself as he sipped his porridge.
Ji Huaizhi had an early class that morning, but Ning Shuang didn’t, so their roles were reversed today. Ning Shuang waited at the door with his backpack while Ji Huaizhi changed his shoes and put on his jacket before heading out.
As Ji Huaizhi stepped down from the porch, he looked up at Ning Shuang on the steps. “There’s fruit I washed and cut in the fridge, plus some frozen yogurt. Remember to eat it before you head to school.”
“Hm? Okay, got it. Hurry up, or you’ll miss the bus.” Ning Shuang bent down slightly and pecked the corner of Ji Huaizhi’s lips.
Only then did Ji Huaizhi let out a soft sigh and leave, glancing back every few steps.
Ning Shuang leaned against the doorframe, quietly watching Ji Huaizhi’s retreating figure until it disappeared from view. Then he closed the door and returned to the living room.
Ning Dundun was squatting beside the coffee table, gnawing on its toy. Ning Shuang went to the fridge, took out the fruit Ji Huaizhi had prepared for him, and flopped onto the sofa.
His waist hurt so much.
He snapped a photo of the fruit and sent it to Ji Huaizhi. 【Super tasty fruit^^】
Ji Huaizhi replied almost instantly: 【Then I’ll prepare some more for you tomorrow.】
【Ning Shuang: =w= Yay 555】
Just as he finished chatting with Ji Huaizhi, a new message popped up from the top of his screen. It was from Lu Yuyang.
【Lu Yuyang: I’m in love.】
Ah… Hadn’t his last relationship ended just half a month ago? Ning Shuang was used to it by now. He typed back: 【Congrats. Which department is she from this time?】
【Lu Yuyang: You know him. The guy who wrote me that love letter before.】
Ning Shuang frowned and held up his phone, racking his brain for a moment before remembering. The guy was decent-looking, but not Lu Yuyang’s usual type.
【Ning Shuang: You mean Guo Ran?】
【Lu Yuyang: Yeah.】
【Ning Shuang: Wait, when did you switch tastes?】
【Lu Yuyang: I’m serious. He’s been chasing me pretty hard, so I figured I’d give him a shot. These past couple days, I’ve realized he’s actually a good guy.】
【Ning Shuang: So?】
【Lu Yuyang: We’re together now.】
Ning Shuang would sooner believe Lu Yuyang was Qin Shihuang than trust that line. He rolled over on the sofa. The only surprising part was that while Lu Yuyang was always switching partners, he’d never talked about the future with any of them—or with Ning Shuang.
Had the prodigal son finally turned over a new leaf?
But Ning Shuang never paid much attention to Lu Yuyang’s love life anyway. No doubt they’d break up before long.
So he didn’t pry further.
He napped on the sofa for half an hour, then sluggishly packed up and changed before heading to school after a call from the Student Union.
The Student Union didn’t have much on the agenda today.
Mostly, it was Ning Shuang’s own classes keeping him busy.
But that evening, he and Ji Huaizhi could still head home together after classes.
Ning Shuang finished early, so he found a bench under the school building and sat waiting for Ji Huaizhi’s class to end.
He heard someone calling him from behind. Turning around, he saw it was Chen Lu.
“Senior!” Chen Lu ran up to Ning Shuang, panting hard.
Ning Shuang quickly scooted over. “Sit down and catch your breath.”
“Thanks, Senior!” Chen Lu was about to grab a tissue to wipe the sweat from his forehead when Ning Shuang pulled a pack from his own pocket and handed them over.
“Wipe your sweat.” Ning Shuang smiled at Chen Lu.
“Thanks!” Chen Lu accepted the tissues with both hands, a bit flustered by the attention, and carefully dabbed at the sweat on his brow.
Ning Shuang sniffed, detecting a familiar scent amid the heavy cologne. “Have you met anyone lately? Or gone anywhere special?”
Chen Lu looked puzzled. “Nope…”
“What about weird people? Anyone like that?” Ning Shuang’s expression turned serious, and Chen Lu instinctively straightened up under his gaze.
He thought for a moment. “If I had to say, I went with my roommate to meet someone pretty strange.”
“How so?” Ning Shuang pressed.
Chen Lu explained, “Senior, you know that Matchmaking Website that’s suddenly popular at school?”
Ning Shuang nodded.
Chen Lu went on. “One of my dormmates is pretty well-off, so he messaged the site’s customer service and bought one of their pricier packages. That one let him meet in person right away, so I went along with him to this rundown, abandoned building.”
“My roommate talked to them himself. I don’t know the details.”
“But it was spot on. Not long after he got back, the crush he’d been pining for asked him out.” Chen Lu grew more excited as he spoke, developing a strange reverence for the site.
Ning Shuang furrowed his brow. “What’s your roommate’s name?”
“Uh? Guo Ran. He wasn’t around when you visited our dorm before.”
Ning Shuang’s heart skipped a beat.
He’d smelled the scent of gu on Chen Lu. He’d assumed Chen Lu had somehow crossed paths with gu again without knowing it, but it turned out to be that Matchmaking Website…
No—it had to be one of his fellow Miao Frontier clansmen behind this.
No wonder Guo Ran wasn’t Lu Yuyang’s type, yet they were together now.
Good thing Lu Yuyang always shared everything with him, or Ning Shuang wouldn’t have connected the dots so quickly.
“Got it, Chen Lu. Thanks for telling me.” Ning Shuang patted Chen Lu’s shoulder and pulled a carton of milk from his bag for him. “I gotta go. See you.”
“Ah, Senior, I wanted to…” Chen Lu clutched the milk and stood to stop him, but Ning Shuang had already dashed off.
As he ran, Ning Shuang messaged Ji Huaizhi that he had to check on a friend and might be home late, so Ji Huaizhi should head back first after class.
After sending the message, Ning Shuang called Lu Yuyang.
Lu Yuyang picked up quickly. “Hey, Ning Shuang.”
Ning Shuang stood in front of the school building. “Where are you?”
“On a date!” Lu Yuyang said.
Ning Shuang felt a twitch of irritation mixed with deep worry. “Where’s the date? I’ll come find you.”
“What for? To play third wheel?”
“…” Ning Shuang was speechless. “Fine, when do you wrap up? The freshmen have evening self-study soon, and school’s checking attendance tonight.”
“Oh right.” Lu Yuyang looked across the table at the guy opposite him. “Guo Ran, don’t you have evening self-study?”
Guo Ran replied, “Baby, I wanna stay with you a bit longer.”
“Okay, I’ll walk you to class later.” Finishing with Guo Ran, Lu Yuyang picked up his phone again. “Half an hour left. Come find me after his class?”
Ning Shuang had overheard the exchange and rolled his eyes. “You heading back to the villa?”
“Yeah.”
“Then I’ll wait for you there.” Ning Shuang turned and headed toward the school gate.
Lu Yuyang chuckled. “What’s up? Missing your bro today?”
“Totally. Can’t get enough.” Ning Shuang played along.
Lu Yuyang knew Ning Shuang was just giving him a hard time and didn’t get upset. Instead, he said, “Then you head back first. I’ll let the housekeeper know.”
“Alright.” With the matter settled, Ning Shuang finally hung up the phone.
Since he couldn’t meet Lu Yuyang right now anyway, Ning Shuang figured he might as well head home and grab the Gu-Dissolving Medicine from there.
What Ning Shuang hadn’t expected was that after all this time, someone from his Miao Frontier clan would suddenly stir up trouble again. He remembered seeing a notice just a short while ago that the clan was ramping up efforts to enforce the Forbidden Gu edict. He’d thought incidents like this were a thing of the past.
The gu that could make the victim fall in love with the caster was most likely a Love Gu—and these days, Love Gu didn’t even require the blood of either party anymore. That was also…
Ning Shuang paused, stunned. Right, that was exactly why he’d been able to successfully plant the gu on Ji Huaizhi.
His expression turned desolate in an instant.
His phone buzzed twice. Ning Shuang picked it up and saw messages from Ji Huaizhi: 【How late is ‘very late’?】
【Ji Huaizhi: Not walking home from school with me?】
Ji Huaizhi must have just gotten out of class.
Ning Shuang hurriedly replied: 【I’m waiting for you downstairs at the teaching building. Let’s head home together—I’ll go take care of things after.】
【Ji Huaizhi: Okay.】
A few minutes later, Ji Huaizhi came running out of the teaching building and straight to his side.
“Senior, have you been waiting long?” Ji Huaizhi naturally took hold of Ning Shuang’s hand.
Ning Shuang lifted his hand and rubbed it gently between his own palms to warm it. “I just got here. Why are your hands so cold?”
Ning Shuang recalled that after they started dating, Ji Huaizhi’s hands hadn’t been nearly as icy as they used to be. But now they were so frigid it felt like his own veins were freezing over.
“It’s nothing.” Though his words dismissed it, Ji Huaizhi’s lips curved upward slightly at the sight of Ning Shuang’s obvious concern.
Ning Shuang patted his hand, then slipped both of theirs into his own pocket.
Only then did Ji Huaizhi ask, “Which friend are you going to see? Why will you be home so late?”
“It’s… Lu Yuyang. He seems to be in some trouble, so I need to check on him. I said it’d be late because I don’t know when it’ll get sorted out.” Ning Shuang explained earnestly.
Ji Huaizhi’s brows furrowed slightly, a hint of unhappiness in his eyes. But since Ning Shuang had explained so sincerely, he had no reason to stay upset.
With a soft “oh,” he said nothing more.
