Kofi bonus chapter
Ye Zhou was truly exhausted. Pulling an all-nighter used to be a breeze for him in the past. After all, who didn’t stay up late among the youth these days?
However, after living with Mr. Jiang for the past two years, Ye Zhou’s sleep schedule had been adjusted by him. Now, he was accustomed to rising early and going to bed early. Even when work required him to stay up late, he would either take a nap beforehand or prepare some coffee or other stimulants.
But today’s situation was exceptional. Since the incident happened so suddenly, Ye Zhou had no preparation at all. Moreover, he had been on edge all night, and his mental fatigue far outweighed his physical exhaustion.
Sitting by the bed, watching over Mr. Jiang in case of any further accidents, he somehow fell asleep without realizing it.
He didn’t know how long he had slept when a loud thud woke him up. He opened his eyes groggily and instinctively looked for Mr. Jiang.
To his surprise, he found himself lying on Mr. Jiang’s bed instead of sitting in the chair. Looking around the room, he couldn’t spot Mr. Jiang anywhere.
Ye Zhou rubbed his eyes, and after a few dazed seconds, he sluggishly got out of bed. He originally intended to wash up, but just as his feet touched the ground, another muffled thud came from outside.
The sound jolted Ye Zhou awake, reminding him of Mr. Jiang’s condition the previous night. His heart skipped a beat, and he rushed out without even putting on his shoes.
When he traced the source of the noise, he found the once clean and tidy kitchen in quite a disarray. A pot lay on the floor, and its lid had rolled far away.
Next to the lid was Mr. Jiang, bent over to pick up the items. He was wearing a white shirt and black suit pants, the hem of his shirt neatly tucked into his pants, accentuating his slender waist.
Although his attire appeared very formal and his expression quite serious, when combined with the scattered pot and lid on the floor, the oil stains on the chest of his white shirt, and the spatula in his left hand, the overall impression broke from formality and seriousness, becoming somewhat… adorably contrasting?
Hearing the footsteps, Mr. Jiang froze, slowly lifting his head to look at the source of the sound.
Their eyes met, and an awkward silence fell. Jiang Tingyuan maintained his posture of picking up the lid, frozen in place, while Ye Zhou’s eyes widened in surprise.
The room was very quiet, as if some magic had been cast, freezing them both in that instant of eye contact. Each maintained their original posture, neither speaking.
This silence lasted for about a minute. Ye Zhou swallowed hard, his voice hesitant, “Jiang-ge, what… are you doing?”
Jiang Tingyuan finally snapped out of it, quickly picking up the lid from the floor. Struggling to remain calm, he feigned nonchalance, “Nothing, just taking a look.”
Ye Zhou: …
Who just “takes a look” and ends up in the kitchen? And big brother, you’re still holding a spatula, couldn’t you at least respect the dignity of the spatula when saying that?
Jiang Tingyuan seemed to notice his gaze and paused. Then, casually placing the spatula and lid back on the table, he clasped his hands behind his back and said, “I’m just looking around.”
That blatant lie would not fool Ye Zhou!
He took a couple of strides forward, approaching Mr. Jiang. He bent down to pick up the wok that Jiang Tingyuan had yet to tidy up and placed it back on the gas stove. Then he looked at Mr. Jiang again.
They both seemed to have something to say. After a brief silence of a few seconds, they unexpectedly spoke up simultaneously, their words in unison.
“Why aren’t you resting?”
“Why aren’t you wearing shoes?”
The awkwardness that had just dissipated immediately resurfaced. Ye Zhou wished he could dig a hole right there and bury himself in it.
Jiang Tingyuan fared slightly better, but he also felt regretful. Indeed, he should not have attempted this. He should have just asked the chef to prepare the food and send it over. Not only would it be fragrant, delicious, and nutritious, but he would also have avoided Ye Zhou witnessing such a foolish scene.
A misstep.
Among the few missteps in his life, this was undoubtedly the most significant one.
Jiang Tingyuan sighed inwardly. Evidently, one cannot fully trust the contents of books. To conquer someone’s heart through culinary skills is premised on possessing decent cooking abilities in the first place. Otherwise, forget about conquering; it would be a complete car crash, with the car rolling over like crazy.
On the other side, Ye Zhou, who had been called out, was also panicking. Although he had spent enough time with Jiang Tingyuan to understand him, hearing his stern voice and seeing his slightly furrowed brow still instinctively made Ye Zhou a little intimidated, causing his toes to curl involuntarily.
“You…”
“I…”
The tacit understanding they usually lacked seemed to come in abundance today, as they harmoniously spoke in unison once again.
However, this time, when their eyes met, Ye Zhou suddenly burst into laughter, not sure what had crossed his mind. The previously awkward atmosphere also brightened along with his laughter.
Ye Zhou took two more steps closer, standing less than five centimeters away from Jiang Tingyuan. He beckoned him over, “Come a little closer.”
Although Jiang Tingyuan didn’t understand why, his body involuntarily moved at the sound of Ye Zhou’s voice. He bent down slightly, and the next second, Ye Zhou’s face loomed large before his eyes.
Their foreheads touched, and after a few seconds, Ye Zhou retreated with a satisfied expression, looking up at him cheerfully, “The fever’s gone down. It seems the medication prescribed by Dr. Meng was quite effective.”
Jiang Tingyuan pursed his lips and naturally reached out to caress Ye Zhou’s head. Before Ye Zhou could react, he unexpectedly bent down and scooped him up horizontally from the floor.
Ye Zhou: “…Wait, wait!”
A princess carry? No such thing. This was a gentleman’s carry, reserved only for gentlemen.
When Mr. Jiang picked him up, Ye Zhou felt like a carrot being plucked from the ground. To describe their current embrace – Mr. Jiang was holding Ye Zhou’s legs and lifting his entire body up!
Just as Ye Zhou was in a daze, they arrived at their destination. Jiang Tingyuan set him down on the sofa and went back to the room to fetch his shoes, placing them beside his feet.
Ye Zhou’s mind was still stuck on that ridiculous embracing posture. Seeing that he had no intention of putting on his shoes, Jiang Tingyuan hesitated slightly before asking, “Would you like me to help?”
The distracted Ye Zhou couldn’t comprehend what Mr. Jiang was asking and nodded absentmindedly in response.
Receiving Ye Zhou’s affirmation, Jiang Tingyuan raised his eyebrows slightly. Without the slightest disdain, he extended his long fingers and gently grasped Ye Zhou’s foot, carefully helping him put on his shoes.
“All set.” Jiang Tingyuan released his grip on Ye Zhou’s ankle and after a moment’s thought, added, “No matter how rushed you are next time, remember to put on your shoes.”
Ye Zhou: “?”
Looking at his newly covered feet, Ye Zhou was momentarily dumbfounded. When he realized what happened during that brief moment of distraction, he didn’t feel quite right facing Mr. Jiang!
“Jiang…Jiang-ge!” Ye Zhou’s expression was one of horror.
Jiang Tingyuan’s expression remained unchanged. “Hm?”
Ye Zhou hesitated briefly before boldly reaching out and placing his hand on Mr. Jiang’s forehead, then putting his other hand on his own forehead to compare their temperatures. After a moment, he murmured, “You don’t seem to have a fever either. Could it be that the high fever last night left some aftereffects?”
Jiang Tingyuan: “…”
Ye Zhou: “…”
It wasn’t Ye Zhou’s fault to suspect that Mr. Jiang’s brain had been fried by the fever. After all, his behavior today was truly abnormal. Putting aside his suspected cooking attempt in the kitchen, he…he even personally helped put on Ye Zhou’s shoes!
This was beyond the realms of magic – it was simply outrageous! Miraculous!
Mr. Jiang had always appeared quite normal, at least up until yesterday. Ye Zhou racked his brain but could only attribute today’s bizarre behavior to last night’s low-grade fever.
Ye Zhou pondered. He had heard of high fevers damaging the brain but had never heard of low fevers causing such effects.
One minute passed.
Two minutes passed.
Five minutes passed.
Mr. Jiang still maintained his composure, his calmness making Ye Zhou feel like an idiot for his behavior five minutes ago.
Ye Zhou cleared his throat lightly and forced a smile. “Sorry, sorry about that.”
He then grabbed the landline phone from the table at an extremely fast pace, rapidly dialing a number as he spoke even faster, “Maybe we should call Dr. Meng over just in case.”
Jiang Tingyuan was nearly amused to laughter. Just as Ye Zhou was about to press the last digit, he reached out and pressed the end call button.
“I don’t have a fever.”
“But you just…” Ye Zhou looked at him, wanting to say more but stopping himself.
Jiang Tingyuan couldn’t hold back anymore. He gently tapped Ye Zhou’s head with his curled fingers, exasperatedly amused. “What kind of nonsense is going through that little head of yours?”
“Thinking of you,” Ye Zhou replied habitually without missing a beat.
The pent-up irritation in Jiang Tingyuan’s heart instantly crumbled before those words. Meeting Ye Zhou’s gaze, even if he had the greatest anger, he probably couldn’t direct it at him.
After unconsciously blurting out those two words, Ye Zhou also felt it was a bit inappropriate. He was about to say something else to ease the tension, but before he could speak, Jiang Tingyuan leaned in slightly. His hot breath caressed Ye Zhou’s face, and then their lips met.
The faint scent of white pine lingered in the air. For a fleeting moment, Ye Zhou’s mind went blank, as if his body and soul had split in two. Despite his rationality telling him to push Jiang Tingyuan away, his body honestly allowed the kiss to deepen step by step.
This kiss lasted far longer than any of their previous ones, so long that Ye Zhou felt he would suffocate the next second, his eyes misting over before Jiang Tingyuan finally ended the lingering, passionate kiss.
Jiang Tingyuan’s slightly cool fingers caressed Ye Zhou’s reddened lips before he leaned in again, imprinting a light, deeply soothing kiss on those rosy lips.
Before Ye Zhou could recover from that kiss, Jiang Tingyuan’s voice sounded beside his ear.
After a low, brief chuckle, Jiang Tingyuan’s lips brushed affectionately against Ye Zhou’s ear as he said, “What a coincidence, so am I.”
Every single day and night since their separation, every moment, every second, had been restless, as if every cell in his body was screaming and raging.
Missing you, longing for you, wanting to see you.
Faced with such an unguarded confession, Ye Zhou, unusually serious, rested his head on Jiang Tingyuan’s shoulder. His voice was slightly hoarse from that lingering kiss as he murmured softly, “I like me1This is not a mistake. He did say “I like me” 我喜欢我.”
His voice was so low and small, as if asking a question, or as if speaking to himself. The volume was so soft that even with their close proximity, Jiang Tingyuan might have missed it if he hadn’t been carefully listening.
But he did hear it.
The arm Jiang Tingyuan had around Ye Zhou’s waist tightened slightly, his voice clear and resolute, shattering the uncertainty in Ye Zhou’s previous words.
“Yes, I like you.”
“I like you so much that I will never like anyone else besides you.”
“Even if I’m not me?”
“Even if you’re not you.”
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