NHWSG chapter 73

In the past, Xing Yingzhuo used to sleep deeply, no matter how much noise Sheng Zhao made, as long as he hadn’t had enough sleep, he wouldn’t wake up.

But today, for some reason, Xing Yingzhuo seemed to be sleeping lightly, and despite Sheng Zhao being as careful as possible, he still managed to wake him up from his deep slumber.

The sleeping Xing Yingzhuo unconsciously furrowed his brows, bent his knees to push against the couch cushion, and slid upwards without awareness, as if swimming, until he climbed up Sheng Zhao’s chest. He wrapped his arms around Sheng Zhao’s neck, leaned his head on Sheng Zhao’s shoulder, and found a comfortable position under Sheng Zhao’s collarbone, easing the crease in his brow, and fell asleep like that.

Sheng Zhao: “…”

Sheng Zhao looked at him in shock, as if he had seen a ghost.

Maintaining a ridiculous posture, with his hands raised and body stiff, Sheng Zhao hesitated to put his hands down, afraid of waking him up and risking being kicked out of the house.

The replay of a basketball game on TV reached the second quarter, and the sharp whistle of the coach suddenly came from the speakers. Sheng Zhao shivered all over, subconsciously grabbed the remote control, and muted the volume.

Xing Yingzhuo wasn’t awakened by this noise; his arm just slipped off Sheng Zhao’s shoulder and onto the soft couch cushion.

Sheng Zhao glanced at him again, slowly recovering from his shock, and realized that this posture wasn’t unfamiliar.

—When Xing Yingzhuo was acting like a snake, he often climbed onto him like this, perhaps due to the habits of the snake species or simply to conserve energy.

Thinking of this, Sheng Zhao couldn’t help but smirk. He found the half-asleep Xing Yingzhuo incredibly cute, much more adorable than his usual sharp and critical demeanor.

He stole another glance at Xing Yingzhuo, seeing him sleeping soundly, and suddenly a mischievous idea popped into his head.

Carefully, Sheng Zhao made a little noise with the TV, lowered the volume, and gently pulled up the fallen blanket covering Xing Yingzhuo.

After doing all this, he observed carefully and, seeing that Xing Yingzhuo showed no signs of waking up, he felt overjoyed and filled with a mischievous desire.

He cautiously put his hand down and, through the blanket, hugged Xing Yingzhuo’s back lightly, then took out his phone and took a picture.

His angle was cleverly chosen, with half of Xing Yingzhuo’s face buried in the blanket, the corner of his eye slightly raised, highlighting the mole at the corner of his eye, giving him a subtle sense of vulnerability.

Sheng Zhao hugged his back, and from this angle, it looked like he was hugging Xing Yingzhuo.

It felt great. Sheng Zhao secretly saved the photo, feeling an unparalleled sense of satisfaction.

That’s what being the head of the household meant, Sheng Zhao thought.

Although he could only indulge himself at this moment, Sheng Zhao was very relaxed about it. He set the photo as his lock screen and then thought contentedly about whether he should coax Xing Yingzhuo to settle in the northeast in the future.

Xing Yingzhuo had no idea what treacherous thoughts his partner harbored beside him. He slept comfortably until evening, waking up when it was already dark.

The TV had just finished broadcasting the evening news. Sheng Zhao was half-leaning against the pillow, one hand resting on Xing Yingzhuo’s blanket-covered back, feeling slightly warmer than usual.

A faint aroma of rice products wafted from the kitchen, and he was resting his head on Sheng Zhao’s right knee. Sheng Zhao probably cooked something new tonight, as there was a faint lemon scent on him.

Xing Yingzhuo took a few seconds to fully wake up, then sat up and rubbed his nose.

“What time is it?” he asked hoarsely.

Generally, when he was willing to speak at this time, it meant he was completely awake and wouldn’t go back to sleep in the short term. Normally, at a time like this, Sheng Zhao, who had been idle all day without anyone to talk to, would have pounced on him and started chatting incessantly. But for some reason today, he didn’t respond immediately.

Xing Yingzhuo turned his head in confusion and saw Sheng Zhao holding his phone, with an inexplicable smile on his face. The light from the phone screen illuminated his face, making his expression look somewhat eerie.

Xing Yingzhuo: “…”

Is he possessed? Xing Yingzhuo wondered.

Xing Yingzhuo reached out to pat Sheng Zhao’s head, but just as he was about to do so, he saw Sheng Zhao suddenly startle as if he had just noticed that Xing Yingzhuo was awake. He quickly locked the screen and fumbled to sit up straight, even dropping his phone from his hand.

Xing Yingzhuo: “…”

Something’s fishy.

“What are you looking at?” Xing Yingzhuo squinted slightly and asked, “Do you really need to hide something from me?”

Xing Yingzhuo’s voice was slightly hoarse from just waking up, and his tone was gentle, but the proxy head of the household with a guilty conscience still sensed a cold sweat on his back.

It must be because he wanted to hide the fact that he had taken a secret photo of him. If Xing Yingzhuo found out, he would probably swallow him alive.

Of course, Sheng Zhao couldn’t tell the truth at this moment. He laughed awkwardly, tucked his phone from the couch cushions, and placed it face down on the couch, saying seriously, “Why would I? We’re together day and night, how could I hide anything from you?”

Xing Yingzhuo looked at him suspiciously for a moment, reluctantly accepted this explanation, and pushed aside the thick blanket. He walked barefoot to the window and looked outside.

Sheng Zhao was about to tell him to put on some shoes when he looked up and saw that it had started snowing again at some point. Snowflakes fluttered down gently, indicating another heavy snowfall.

“It’s snowing again,” Sheng Zhao said. “The weather forecast for tonight says it might get colder the day after tomorrow. Will you be okay?”

Xing Yingzhuo didn’t answer him. He looked outside for a while, watching the snowflakes fall from the streetlights’ shadows, gently floating to the ground and quickly accumulating into a thin layer.

“Shouldn’t be snowing today,” Xing Yingzhuo suddenly remarked.

Sheng Zhao chuckled, about to say that weather forecasts are often wrong, but before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly froze.

Recently, life had been relaxed, and he almost forgot that abnormal weather meant something more sensitive for Xing Yingzhuo and his group.

“What do you mean?” Sheng Zhao was genuinely worried this time. “Is… something bad going to happen again?”

Xing Yingzhuo turned back to the living room, raised an eyebrow, bent down to pinch Sheng Zhao’s chin, and with a slight smile in his eyes, he seemed to evoke a teasing expression.

“What’s with that expression? Scared?” Xing Yingzhuo teased.

“No.” Sheng Zhao held his hand, rubbing Xing Yingzhuo’s cold fingertips, and whispered, “I’m afraid they’ll come looking for you again to do some work.”

Xing Yingzhuo squinted his eyes, allowing Sheng Zhao’s fidgeting actions.

“What’s it to me,” Xing Yingzhuo said, “Let them showcase their abilities themselves. Why should they order me around?”

“True,” Sheng Zhao recalled something and relaxed a bit more, laughing, “I guess it’s not that urgent. Zhang Jian must still have time to run around, probably nothing serious.”

“Zhang Jian?” Xing Yingzhuo, who had recently been somewhat detached from the outside world, was momentarily puzzled, his gaze becoming slightly dangerous, and his tone cooling down, “You’re still in contact with him?”

Uh-oh, Sheng Zhao thought, he forgot that Xing Yingzhuo’s recent metabolic instability made him demand high “loyalty” from his partner.

“No!” Sheng Zhao hurriedly defended himself, pushing the blame away cleanly, “How could I be in contact with him? It’s Hu Huanyang. They arranged to go to the annual meeting together tomorrow. Hu Huanyang told me last month, I just remembered.”

Xing Yingzhuo: “…”

Due to a subtle deviation in Sheng Zhao’s recounting, what Xing Yingzhuo heard was almost equivalent to Hu Huanyang inviting Zhang Jian out.

Immediately after, Sheng Zhao saw Xing Yingzhuo’s expression gradually change.