Chapter 34: Brown Eyes (8)

“Must you check?” Shen Qiuxun looked up.

The man had sharp, proper features, with an air of stern discipline. He looked like the kind of teacher who would smack Shen Qiuxun’s backside with a ruler in grade school. His piercing eyes swept behind him. “Yes.”

“Can you not be so rough? I have a cat. He’ll get stressed.”

The kitten darted out from beside Shen Qiuxun’s feet, looking up at the stranger with an expression of pure confusion.

Qingshan shifted his gaze to the doorway, his tone purely officious. “We follow procedure.”

“I’m dead tired, and if I have to clean up the mess, I’m not getting any sleep.” With a sour look, Shen Qiuxun blocked the doorway.

Troublesome.

Qingshan spared him another look. “Mm.”

Was that a yes or a no? Shen Qiuxun had no time to dwell. A sudden explosive BANG came from the kitchen, the sound of oil splattering, making him jump.

“Come in.” Shen Qiuxun rushed toward the kitchen to turn down the flame. The room’s garlicky aroma stung his eyes, bringing him to tears. Looking back, he saw the team searching methodically, not even ignoring the tiny bowl the kitten had flipped over.

Qingshan stepped into the bedroom. Shen Qiuxun followed, leaning against the doorframe and crossing his arms. “How old are you, Captain?”

The man said nothing. He reached out, opened the wardrobe, and saw two pairs of underwear hanging neatly in the center.

His gaze passed over them without the slightest pause.

“Captain, is your station hiring? Think I could make the cut?” Shen Qiuxun walked over to sit on the bed, tilting his head up. The corners of his eyes were damp, and his lashes were clumped together with moisture.

Qingshan paused. His sharp, cold eyes swept over Shen Qiuxun’s shoulders and waist in a quick appraisal. “No.”

“…”

“Your food is burning.”

Burning was an understatement. It had graduated to the level of a biochemical weapon.

“It’s fine, let it burn. I want to chat with you.” Shen Qiuxun swung his legs lightly. “Maybe you could leave me a contact number?”

The clothes in the wardrobe were pitifully few—monochromatic blacks and whites.

Qingshan scanned the area. Apart from the wardrobe, the only potential hiding spots in the bedroom were… under the bed.

He looked down. A slender, exquisitely delicate ankle came into view. Faint, cyan veins lurked beneath skin that seemed almost translucent.

At the doorway, the search team members gave their captain a silent hand signal. Qingshan nodded, and the team withdrew in silence.

“Done with the search?” Shen Qiuxun leaned down to peer toward the doorway.

Qingshan looked down, his expression cold and unyielding, and seized the ankle. The chill of his grip made Shen Qiuxun shiver. “What’s in the cabinet?”

The man’s trigger finger and fingertips were covered in a layer of thick calluses, likely from years of handling a gun. They chafed against Shen Qiuxun’s shin, raising goosebumps all over his leg.

A thumb ground into the anklebone.

Instinctively, Shen Qiuxun planted his other foot against the man’s shoulder to push him away. His fine eyebrows furrowed, and the tiny mole beneath his lower lip was starkly visible in the harsh white light.

Expressionless, Qingshan looked down at the foot pressing against his shoulder. He slid a hand between Shen Qiuxun’s thighs, tilting his face sideways. His breath caressed Shen Qiuxun’s thigh, the heat seeping through the cheap fabric and into the soft skin beneath.

He rapped his knuckles softly against the storage door beneath the bed.

Thump. Thump.

Shen Qiuxun’s heart hammered twice in response. He tried to yank his leg back out of reflex, but the man pulled him back by the calf. Looking down, between his own legs, he met a pair of cold, dark, and unfathomable eyes.

Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but a wisp of deep violet seemed to streak through those profound pupils.

“My… my pot’s about to explode.”

Qingshan let go. He curled his hand into a fist, took a step back, and rose to his feet. His tall silhouette seemed to swallow all the light in the room.

Shen Qiuxun felt pinned to the mattress by his shadow.

A long moment later, the man silently departed.

Shen Qiuxun crossed his legs and rubbed his ankle, then got up to turn off the stove.

“That man is so strange.”

[Were you just trying to use a honey trap?]

“What? I was flustered, so I tried to disrupt the Captain’s mojo.”

[It’s fine, that guy is sick in the head.]

At the door, Qingshan was documenting the search details. He looked up. Shen Qiuxun stood warily behind the table, holding his cat. The corners of his eyes were still tinged with red, and his beautiful lips were pressed into a thin line.

Qingshan’s vision was excellent. He saw that alluring mole beneath the lip with perfect clarity. “Search is complete. Thank you for your cooperation.”

He shut the door and left.

Shen Qiuxun let out a breath. He walked over and threw both windows wide open, finally feeling his nose come back to life.

[The mission target is about to suffocate.]

“Just wait a little longer.”

Shen Qiuxun walked back to the kitchen and sighed at the sight of the charred, unidentifiable substance in the pot.

As expected, a few minutes later, a knock came at his door again.

Shen Qiuxun waited for a moment, then slowly cracked the door open, revealing only a single eye.

Qingshan looked down, tore a slip of paper from a notepad, handed it through the gap, and left without a backward glance.

Shen Qiuxun took the paper slip.

It was a contact number.

[Deadpan creep.]

“Huh?”

[Throw that slip away now, in case it has a bug.]

Shen Qiuxun turned the slip of paper over and over, scrutinizing it. “As vigilant as ever, Big Bro System.”

He tore the tiny slip to shreds and buried them in the soil.

The rain was falling harder now, a steady patter like nature’s own symphony. The fresh, clean scent of damp earth filled the air. Raindrops fell into the flower pot, rolling off the succulent, emerald leaves.

He locked the door and went into the bedroom, ready to haul the man out of the cabinet. He pushed the bed back into place, sat down on it, and used his foot to kick the cabinet door open.

Fu Mingchuan sat up from inside. He was silent for a long time, his face slightly flushed from being cooped up. His expression was blank as he lowered his eyes and looked away.

Puzzled, Shen Qiuxun nudged the man’s shoulder with his foot. “What, did you go stir-crazy in there?”

Slender, cool fingers wrapped around his ankle. The sensation was icy, like a cold snake slithering over his skin, until it encircled his entire ankle.

Frowning, Shen Qiuxun tried to pull his foot back, but Fu Mingchuan was faster. He leaned forward, resting his head against Shen Qiuxun’s inner thigh. His eyes were lowered with an almost docile expression. “Dongxun… are you interested in that man just now?”

Huddled in that pitch-black cabinet, he could only faintly make out Shen Qiuxun’s voice from above.

Shen Qiuxun had never spoken to him in such a tone before…

Jealousy fermented in the darkness, corroding his heart.

Shen Qiuxun didn’t dare move. But then he thought, “No… it was all for you.”

He had just spent ages dealing with that psycho for his sake. What did Fu Mingchuan have to be angry about?

A light flickered in Fu Mingchuan’s eyes. He looked up, his pitch-black, unfocused eyes seeking Shen Qiuxun out. “Really?”

Shen Qiuxun nodded.

Fu Mingchuan’s other hand traced a path up from Shen Qiuxun’s knee, skimming over his thigh and past the soft contours of his body.

Shivers rippled across Shen Qiuxun’s skin. He clutched his own clothes, eyes widening in shock.

“I’m so scared,” Fu Mingchuan murmured.

“Scared of what?”

The man lowered his head. His other hand slipped upward, using his forearm to lift Shen Qiuxun’s bent knee. His usually gentle voice dropped low, like a lover’s whisper. “I’m afraid… that one day, Dongxun will abandon me. What would I do, all alone then?”

“…No, let’s just calm down first.” Shen Qiuxun grabbed his waistband with a deadpan expression.

His chastity was hanging by a thread.

The man’s head was bowed, his voice so fragile it sounded as if he would shatter if rejected.

His tone was a murmur, a plea for help and a confession of fear, yet it felt incredibly oppressive.

It gave Shen Qiuxun no room to refuse.

“Please… please… I just want to confirm… to have something to hold onto… Don’t be afraid… Don’t reject me… Master, my Master…”

Shen Qiuxun looked up at the ceiling, his scalp tingling.

He was an adult, after all… sometimes, when it felt good, he might just let things happen halfway.

Fu Mingchuan’s were a scholar’s hands. Only his fingertips bore a thin layer of calluses.

A hand clenched, then released. Shen Qiuxun’s face was flushed bright red. On the ceiling were a few strips of tape left by the previous tenant, wavering slightly, dizzying to the eye.

Finally, furiously, Shen Qiuxun kicked him away.

Fu Mingchuan retreated obediently, licking the moisture from the corner of his lips. He couldn’t see, yet he stared intently toward the bed.

Shen Qiuxun was panting. His cool, languid features were touched with a vibrant, spring-like color, like peach blossoms freshly washed by spring rain, blooming in full splendor.

Fu Mingchuan’s gaze was so heated, he looked as if he wanted to pounce, tear Shen Qiuxun’s clothes off right then and there.

“You son of a…”

Fu Mingchuan shuffled forward on his knees, wrapping his arms around the man’s waist and burying his face in his abdomen. He breathed in a faint, threadlike fragrance, like a chilled scent simmering into a heady mist.

“I’m so happy… Master… can I call you that? Master…”

If any of Fu Mingchuan’s old friends saw him like this, they’d have him sent straight to the lab to have his brain sliced open and studied, just to see if someone else had possessed his body.

“…” Shen Qiuxun, clothes in complete disarray, pushed hard, but the man wouldn’t budge. He gritted his teeth. “Fu Mingchuan!”

“I’m here… I’m here. Master, please call me Ah Chuan, won’t you? My mother used to call me that…”

“Don’t call me Master.”

“But calling you Dongxun feels so distant… Is it true that I can never truly enter your heart? You don’t like me, do you?”

“…” Shen Qiuxun choked. He looked down, saw the miserable man clinging to him, and took a deep breath. “I used… to have a nickname. Er’er. As in ‘nothing more/nothing special’.”

The Orphanage Matron had given it to him. Shen Qiuxun loved to eat Kiwi, so everyone jokingly called him Mi Mi. But the Matron thought those two characters were awkward to pronounce, so she dropped the radicals, making it Er’er. [T/N: Kiwi is 猕猴桃 (Míhóutáo), so he was called Mi Mi (猕猕). Dropping the radicals leaves the character 尔 (ěr), making it Er’er.]

“Er’er?” It was just two syllables, yet they seemed to roll around on Fu Mingchuan’s lips, sticky and sweet. “Er’er.” “Xiao Er.”

So syrupy. So clingy.

Like he was chanting a soul back.

Shen Qiuxun patted his shoulder. “Get off.”

“Xiao Er…”

“Get off!”

“Xiao Er, you’re so good to me.”

“…”

Shen Qiuxun pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “It’s a bit cold. Let me pull my pants up first.”

It was drafty down there. A chilling breeze in a sensitive place.

“…” Fu Mingchuan pulled back.

As Shen Qiuxun pulled up his pants, his peripheral vision caught the rather… prominent state of a certain part of the man’s anatomy. “.”

Internally screaming, he was still reeling from the shock of having fooled around with a man. Recounting his experiences since taking on this godforsaken mission… his integrity was slipping further and further away!

“If you’ve got nothing else, go deal with the kitchen. The smell is killing me.”

“Okay, Xiao Er.” Fu Mingchuan lowered his head and pressed a kiss to Shen Qiuxun’s knee. He looked up. “Could you… pet my head?”

“…” Shen Qiuxun gave his hair a fierce, rough tousle.

Finally, Fu Mingchuan left, looking back every two steps.

[What happened?! How did I end up in the Dark Room?!]

“I’d like to know that too! Why didn’t you protect me? My virtue has been ground into dust.”

[What did that bastard do to you!!!!!!]

“?” Shen Qiuxun sprawled lazily back onto the bed, looking like a corpse more than half-dead. “Why are you so angry? You’re just garbled code.”

[#^%#?$&]

“?” It really did garble.

Shen Qiuxun lay on his back, staring into space. After a long moment, he sat bolt upright. ‘Nothing for it. Tomorrow I’m going to the Upper City District for dinner, so I need to leave early.’

His mind replayed the image of Fu Mingchuan swallowing.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.