Chapter 123: It Seems I’m Doomed

His hair was still dripping wet, and having just put on the long robe, the back of it was already becoming somewhat see-through as it soaked through.

He felt his back, feeling a bit uncomfortable, and turned his head to look, only to catch Yun Huizhou still staring at him.

Flustered, he snapped his head back and looked down, fumbling with the ties at his chest and waist.

At that moment, Yun Huizhou suddenly spoke: “When you were bathing me, you pinched my face. I felt it.”

Lian Li’s hands paused mid-tie as he hurried to deny it. “I did not. You felt wrong.”

“I didn’t feel wrong,” Yun Huizhou said. “First you poked me, then you pinched.”

“…” Lian Li fell silent for a moment, then chose to bite back: “You were faking being unconscious!”

“I wasn’t.” Yun Huizhou’s voice was a bit weak, as if even speaking took considerable effort, yet he continued to engage Lian Li. “My consciousness was clear, but my body was exhausted.”

“…” Lian Li didn’t know if he was telling the truth or not. After a moment’s thought, he muttered, “Even if your consciousness was clear and you felt it, I thought you didn’t know. Couldn’t you have just not told me?”

Yun Huizhou didn’t answer him directly but instead asked, “Have you wanted to pinch me for a long time?”

“No…” Lian Li naturally wouldn’t admit it. “I just saw that you hadn’t woken up and did it on a whim.”

“Alright,” Yun Huizhou said. “If you want to squeeze it during this time, you can squeeze to your heart’s content. I have no power to resist.”

“…”

You make it sound like I really want to squeeze it! Fine, it did feel quite nice.

Lian Li kept his head down and said, “I’m not that stupid. If I bully you while you’re injured now, you’ll definitely pay me back twofold once you’re better.”

“Mm… that’s true.” Yun Huizhou’s tone was somewhat lazy, just like his usual way of speaking. “I was thinking, maybe I’ll give you the chance this time and not retaliate later.”

Lian Li didn’t know why Yun Huizhou would say such a thing, but when he remembered how his casual question—”Would you risk your life to save me?”—had actually received an affirmative answer and been followed by action, Lian Li felt that Yun Huizhou saying something like this seemed quite normal.

He looked down, picking at his fingers, not understanding why Yun Huizhou was being so good to him—so good that he had developed strange feelings and certain delusions.

Thinking of this, Lian Li pursed his lips, suddenly realizing the profound truth of a saying he had seen in the modern world: straight men are the most lethal.

Lian Li suddenly felt that he might be doomed. Falling for a straight man never ended well.

He sniffled, thinking that once Junior Uncle started treating Yun Huizhou, he would go out and buy the edition of the Beauty Ranking from last year—the one from when Yun Huizhou said he wanted to marry the World’s Number One Beauty—to see who the number one was at the time.

It just so happened that the top ten of the Beauty Ranking were evaluated once a year.

The number one from last time might not necessarily be the number one this year.

If by some chance last year’s was a man, he might still have some hope… fine, he didn’t actually hold any expectations; he just wanted some comfort.

There were only the two of them in the bathroom. No matter how small the sound of his sniffle was, Yun Huizhou wasn’t a dead man; he naturally heard it.

Yun Huizhou was stunned for a moment, then asked, “Lian Li? Are you crying?”

Lian Li: “…”

He hadn’t originally intended to cry, but being asked like that made him actually want to.

Yun Huizhou was still waiting for his reply, and he couldn’t just leave this injured patient hanging indefinitely. After quickly adjusting his emotions, he spoke up: “No, it’s just that my nose feels a bit stuffed.”

“Oh,” Yun Huizhou responded, then his voice suddenly rose a bit. “Are you sick?”

Lian Li didn’t know how to respond to that for a moment. He couldn’t exactly say he had caught a cold.

Junior Uncle was right outside; Junior Uncle would be able to tell at a glance whether he was sick or not.

If Yun Huizhou started shouting in front of Junior Uncle that he was sick and asked Junior Uncle to check him, Junior Uncle would see nothing was wrong and say so directly.

That would be equivalent to indirectly admitting he had been crying.

So Lian Li quickly denied it again: “No, don’t go guessing wildly. It’s just that soaking in the bath earlier was so comfortable that I wasn’t paying attention and some water got up my nose.”

“Oh, that’s good then,” Yun Huizhou said, though it was unclear if he believed it.

Regardless, Lian Li didn’t dare ask if he believed him. He didn’t really want to deal with Yun Huizhou right now.

He remembered the last time he hadn’t wanted to deal with Yun Huizhou was back at the Su family home.

At that time, Master Su was constantly trying to create opportunities to matchmake Yun Huizhou and Su Fu. Even though it didn’t have much to do with him, he had become prickly and awkward.

Thinking back now, could it be that even then, he…

At this thought, Lian Li felt even more despair. He remembered that after Yun Huizhou discovered his awkward behavior that time, he had dragged him out and given him a thrashing.

If Yun Huizhou found out about his current feelings and he started acting awkward again, would the thrashing be even more severe?

Last time he had been hit with the scabbard; next time, he feared the blade would be drawn.

Perhaps he would even think that staying together for too long had caused Lian Li to develop such thoughts. Then, he would dump him on Drunken Dream Island to let Master and Junior Uncle supervise his martial arts practice, while he himself ran off and never came back.

And then, the next time he returned, he would bring back a girl he liked and say they were getting married.

Thinking about it this way was even more heart-wrenching.

Lian Li blinked his eyes. Thinking of his tragic future, he felt a surge of frustration he wanted to vent.

It was all Yun Huizhou’s fault; he was truly infuriating.

After Lian Li finished tying his robes, he pretended he wasn’t done yet. With his back to Yun Huizhou, he said somewhat petulantly, “Since you’re awake, can you dry yourself and put on clothes on your own?”

After asking, he waited for Yun Huizhou’s answer.

But after waiting for a good while, he didn’t hear Yun Huizhou’s voice.

He couldn’t have fainted again, could he? Lian Li thought, hurriedly turning back to look.

He found Yun Huizhou clutching his chest with his left hand, already preparing to sit up. His movements were slow, and he stopped to rest halfway through.

And it was at this moment that Yun Huizhou looked up, his gaze meeting Lian Li’s.

Seeing his weakened state, Lian Li condemned himself. How could he leave a heavily injured person to fend for himself just because of some strange emotions?

He pulled his robe tighter and was about to walk over to help him. But after taking just one step, he heard Yun Huizhou speak in a tone that was both cheeky and infuriating: “Ah, I am a heavily injured man, after all. You’re so cold, so heartless.”

Even though he knew this man had likely sensed his bad mood and said this on purpose to distract him, Lian Li was still provoked.

Coupled with the frustration already in his heart from those earlier emotions, he grew even angrier.

He walked to Yun Huizhou’s side, grabbed the dry bath towel, and threw it directly over Yun Huizhou’s head.