The last bit of rationality left for Zhou Cibai is to resist the impulse at the moment and go to find the doctor and have them do a checkup. After confirming that there was nothing wrong with Gu Jiqing’s body, he wrapped him in the clothes and took him home.
This is the most restrained Zhou Cibai has been in such a long time, but the psychological pleasure and satisfaction he felt far outweighed the physical sensations.
His fingers sank into Gu Jiqing’s soft black hair, his knuckles bent with force showing extreme restraint, while veins bulged on the back of his hands, as if he were under some uncontrollable impulse.
This was also one of Gu Jiqing’s favorite times.
He was like a drowning man who luckily grabbed his driftwood and was able to support himself and float. He clung to the driftwood tightly, blending his own warmth into it.
It was the first time they had pleasured each other in a heart-to-heart embrace.
And for the first time, before closing his eyes, Gu Jiqing heard the sentence that Zhou Cibai had hidden for a long, long time: “Gu Jiqing, I love you.”
It turns out that Zhou Cibai’s hoarse voice made this sentence sound so good.
Gu Jiqing slept soundly and peacefully that night.
When Gu Jiqing woke up the next day, Zhou Cibai was rarely not by his side.
Maybe he went to make breakfast.
Gu Jiqing thought so.
He lazily put on Zhou Cibai’s sweater, opened the door in his slippers, and then stopped where he was.
Outside the door, Zhou Cibai had indeed prepared breakfast, but there was a large bouquet of roses on the breakfast table, the speaker next to the table was even playing melodious classical music, and the person standing in front of the table was obviously also scratching his hair.
The atmosphere was formal to the point of being weird.
Gu Jiqing began to hesitate about whether he should step out of the room. He asked, “What do you mean by this?”
Zhou Cibai was full of energy and confidence, and he was very serious: “I am pursuing you ah.”
Gu Jiqing: “……”
He didn’t expect Zhou Cibai’s pursuit would be so direct and straight.
But he didn’t want to dampen Zhou Cibai’s enthusiasm and confidence, so he softly said, “The roses are beautiful, thank you.”
Then he sat back in his seat and saw a line of words written in strawberry jam on the toast in front of him—[I Love Gu Zhi Zhi!]
Earthy and straightforward.
Gu Jiqing, who was always calm, didn’t know where to start holding the fork. Zhou Cibai was sitting opposite him, his face full of happiness and an expectant smile.
Gu Jiqing’s ears felt slightly hot from being stared at for some unknown reason. Gu Jiqing’s ears felt slightly hot from being stared at for some unknown reason.
He tried to finish breakfast as quickly as possible and went back to the balcony of his room to draw. It was a group of children’s watercolor illustrations that Xia Qiao had helped him with. It was relatively simple, and the profit was good. He estimated that he could finish it in a week.
As a result, Zhou Cibai brought a small stool and sat next to him, sometimes handing him the drawing pen, sometimes handing him paper, and sometimes even praising him, “Gu Zhizhi, really beautiful,” but it was unclear whether he was praising the painting or the person.
Anyway, after praising him twenty or thirty times, Gu Jiqing, who was always calm and composed, couldn’t help but put the pen down, turn around, and ask, “Zhou Cibai, what are you doing here?”
Zhou Cibai frankly said, “I am pursuing you ah.”
Gu Jiqing looked into his bright, cheerful and determined eyes, “……”
His heart skipped a beat.
He quickly looked away, thinking that he might still not be used to such a straight pursuit; otherwise, why would he feel uncomfortable all over and his face be even a little hot?
So Gu Jiqing paints unusually fast today. After finishing, he went to the bathroom to wash away the paint. As soon as he turned on the tap, Zhou Cibai had already dipped a wet towel in turpentine and rubbed the paint that had already dried up on his hands.
Gu Jiqing took a deep breath. “You…”
Before he could finish, Zhou Cibai carefully washed his hands and said, “I’m pursuing you ah.”
Gu Jiqing had never encountered such a thing or person before. Zhou Cibai was taller than him, stronger than him, and had bigger hands. He couldn’t struggle at all. He could only let Zhou Cibai wash his hands and apply hand cream to them, then quickly take the laptop to bed.
As a result, as soon as he turned on the laptop, the mattress sank down, and a heavy object weighing more than 100 catties1Maybe around 60kgwas obviously squeezed into the blanket. Gu Jiqing could no longer bear it and closed the laptop. He looked at Zhou Cibai, and said with some embarrassment, before he could say that sentence with confidence, “I know that you are pursuing me, but can you get off my bed first?”
“No, yesterday you only said that I can’t kiss you, I can’t do that with you, but you didn’t say that I can’t hug you.” Zhou Cibai sat next to him and said confidently, “Besides, aren’t your waists hurting from sitting for too long? I can massage your waist for you.”
Gu Jiqing: “……”
Is everyone who pursues others so shameless?
Obviously, Zhou Cibai was not like this before ah.
Thinking about how he had always said a few unintentional words that would make Zhou Cibai blush and run away back then, Gu Jiqing felt that he must not let Zhou Cibai disturb his mind.
He quickly regained his composure, turned on his laptop, took out his Olympiad question book, and began to prepare the lesson seriously.
Because of his illness, he asked for two days off from his tutoring and changed the teaching schedule to three hours in the morning and three hours in the evening for the next few days. In order not to make the students too tired, he needed to adjust the lesson preparation content appropriately.
Zhou Cibai was relatively honest. He didn’t really massage his waist. He just sat quietly beside him, leaning against the head of the bed, writing and drawing something with a sketchbook and a graphite pen.
He even wore those rare, thin-rimmed glasses, which made him look a bit like a gentleman.
In bed, because Gu Jiqing had naturally cold feet, Zhou Cibai habitually held Gu Jiqing’s feet and placed them between his calves, covering them with his body temperature.
It was a cold winter outside, but it was warm and peaceful inside.
Gu Jiqing typed calmly and quickly; those complex numerical formulas and logic seemed docile and simple under his fingertips.
Zhou Cibai suddenly called out in a low voice, “Gu Jiqing.”
It sounds solemn and gentle.
Gu Jiqing turned around without any defense.
Then Zhou Cibai said, “If we get married and retire, will it be like this? You prepare lessons here, and I draw blueprints next to you. But it’s a bit too quiet. Should we raise a second, third, and fourth child by then? Let’s get a golden retriever, a border collie, a ragdoll, and a silver tabby. I’ll build you guys a big house.”
He asked very seriously and expectantly, as if Gu Jiqing had already married him and was preparing to have a second, third, and fourth child.
At that moment, a picture suddenly appeared in front of Gu Jiqing’s eyes.
In a daze, he and Zhou Cibai, both of whom had gray hair, were walking hand in hand in the winter alley, holding many cats and dogs. Zhou Cibai would suddenly smile and turn around to kiss him out of disrespect for his old age.
Gu Jiqing is someone who never thinks about the future.
Because he always felt that he had no future, and even if there was a future, he would be alone, so he had never imagined so specifically what it would be like many years later.
He was suddenly a little confused by Zhou Cibai’s gaze and quickly looked away, typing. His tone was as calm as ever: “I need to prepare for classes, don’t disturb me.”
Zhou Cibai clearly saw that he had already finished the lesson plan, and he even accidentally typed “Zhou Cibai” instead of “Zhou Chang” too. His earlobes also turned a rare light pink.
Zhou Cibai hugged him happily: “Were you moved just now?”
Gu Jiqing pushed him away: “I’m not.”
Zhou Cibai didn’t let him push her away: “You were moved.”
Gu Jiqing kept his face calm and continued to push him: “I’m not.”
Zhou Cibai kissed his ear: “You were moved.”
Gu Jiqing, whose sensitive part was suddenly attacked, suddenly increased his strength: “I’m not.”
Zhou Cibai happily kissed him again: “You were moved!”
Gu Jiqing, whose cheeks began to burn from the kiss: “Zhou Cibai, are you cheating?”
“You lied, I cheated, we’re even.
“You…”
Gu Jiqing realized that, with his absolute physical advantage and shamelessness, the rule he set for ‘no kissing allowed’ was simply unable to restrain this kissing maniac. Even though he had had a good temper since childhood, he couldn’t help but kick Zhou Cibai.
Zhou Cibai, who was hugging him and kissing him, smiled even more happily: “Kick me again, I like when you lose your temper!”
“Zhou Cibai!”
“Mua!”
“You!”
From childhood to adulthood, Gu Jiqing had never thought that he would lose his temper, but he lost his temper because he was kissed, and it did not happen only once or twice either. But he had no way to deal with Zhou Cibai.
He could only stand up from the bed angrily, and just like Mario pushing a box, he pushed Zhou Cibai, who had become so shameless overnight, out of the room and then slammed the door.
Outside the door, Zhou Cibai was clinging to the door and said without giving up, “Gu Zhizhi, I saw that you have already finished preparing for the class. Let’s go to the movies tonight.”
Gu Jiqing shrank back into the bed. “Won’t go.”
“Then let’s go eat hotpot tonight.”
“Won’t go.”
“Go ice skating?”
“Won’t go.”
“Do you want to go catch the doll?”
“Won’t go.”
“Then what do you want to do?”
“I want to stay at home alone and sleep.”
“Oh.”
Gu Jiqing was originally a little embarrassed and annoyed by Zhou Cibai’s previous behavior, so he inexplicably got a little emotional and threw out this sentence in a huff.
However, after throwing it, he realized that his reaction just now was a little too stubborn and excessive, or that it was really too arrogant and spoiled.
How could he be so stubborn towards Zhou Cibai?
But after Zhou Cibai, who was outside the door, uttered an “oh” in a low voice, there was also really no more sound.
At that moment, Gu Jiqing immediately imagined Zhou Cibai pursing his lips, lowering his eyelashes, and looking both lost and aggrieved.
He quickly got off the bed barefoot, and opened the door. “Zhou Cibai, that’s not what I meant. I didn’t mean that I didn’t want to go with you. You don’t… ah!”
Before he could finish speaking, he was picked up by his buttocks and pressed against the wall by Zhou Cibai, who had been lurking by the door. Gu Jiqing could only hug his neck and hang on him like a koala, shouting in a somewhat frustrated voice, “Zhou Cibai!”
Zhou Cibai looked at him and smiled. “You just said that you didn’t mean that you don’t want to go with me, so you have to go with me, or else I will also cheat if you cheat.”
“You…”
After Gu Jiqing realized that he had been deceived, he was about to push Zhou Cibai away.
Zhou Cibai looked into his eyes and said seriously, “Student Gu Jiqing, I really like, really like, really like you. I like you so much that I want to be with you right away.”
He spoke so sincerely, so directly, and so frankly.
The burning love and expectation in his eyes were undisguised, leaving Gu Jiqing with almost no escape.
He pushed Zhou Cibai’s hand to stop. He felt as if his heart was gently burned by such a naked and simple confession.
Zhou Cibai just looked at him and said, “So can I pursue you and invite you to go on a date with me tonight?”
His eyes were still as bright and firm as two stars.
Gu Jiqing felt as if on a certain desolate planet there were rose branches that sprouted in the warmth of the inevitable sunlight—
