Cheng Yue felt Ji Xu’s cool fingers touching his face while he kept his eyes closed, and he began to breathe more rapidly. His hands, resting by his sides, clenched into fists out of nervousness.
Ji Xu looked at Cheng Yue lying in his arms, who was trying to act despite being in a difficult situation, feeling both angry and amused.
However, the sight of Cheng Yue’s erratic breathing made Ji Xu’s expression darken.
His gaze slowly settled on the red spots on Cheng Yue’s chest, then moved downward, sliding over his waist, brushing past his legs, and finally focusing on the area covered by Cheng Yue’s underwear.
Cheng Yue vaguely sensed Ji Xu’s warm breath brushing against his face, and despite keeping his eyes closed, he could feel the sudden darkness around him.
He felt one of Ji Xu’s hands on his waist, and the other hand… wait a minute…
Cheng Yue felt a growing unease as he realized Ji Xu’s other hand was moving toward his lower body. He turned his eyes nervously.
Something seemed off; wasn’t he supposed to get artificial respiration?
Why did Ji Xu’s other hand feel like it was pulling down his pants…
Cheng Yue’s breathing grew more frantic as Ji Xu’s actions became more intense, and when he felt a sudden coolness beneath him, he snapped his eyes open.
“Awake?” Ji Xu squinted at him.
“…Ah,” Cheng Yue responded, glancing at his underwear, now pulled down to his knees. He nervously shrank his legs, “I…”
Before Cheng Yue could finish his sentence, he was flipped onto his stomach.
Before he could react, his bare buttocks were sharply smacked.
It was especially loud.
Cheng Yue could even feel his buttocks shaking and jiggling.
“Who told you to go to the middle of the pool?” Ji Xu’s voice was low, and he lightly pinched Cheng Yue’s bare back.
“Hmm…” Cheng Yue groaned, his face flushing with embarrassment.
“Not talking?” Ji Xu delivered another sharp slap.
Cheng Yue furrowed his brows, trying to explain, “I didn’t mean to…”
“Who told you to let go of that duck?” Ji Xu slapped him again.
Cheng Yue’s buttocks were now red and swollen, with multiple handprints on the pale skin, looking quite pitiful.
The sensation of being slapped directly on the flesh was different from being hit through clothes. After receiving four or five slaps, Cheng Yue gritted his teeth and didn’t dare make a sound, fearing Ji Xu would notice something was off. He could only hold back, carefully controlling any strange noises from escaping his mouth.
“Still not listening.” Ji Xu, seeing him silent, picked him up and walked towards the pool.
As Cheng Yue was held and lowered into the water, the cold pool water made his already swollen, heated buttocks feel even colder. He instinctively clung to Ji Xu, wrapping his legs around his waist.
“It’s hot…” Cheng Yue shivered, burying his head into Ji Xu’s chest, feeling as if his sensory system had gone haywire.
Hearing Cheng Yue say it was hot, Ji Xu’s eyebrows raised, his eyes filled with a more intense look as he firmly pressed Cheng Yue down into the water.
Cheng Yue clung to Ji Xu, his throat filled with muffled groans.
Ji Xu, seeing Cheng Yue’s arms wrapped around his neck, leaned in close to his ear and whispered, “Relax and put your legs down.”
The swelling sensation in Cheng Yue’s buttocks made him feel uncomfortable, but he still obediently loosened his legs.
“Take a deep breath and hold your nose,” Ji Xu said, partially holding Cheng Yue’s waist with one hand and lightly supporting his buttocks with the other.
“What for?” Cheng Yue asked, puzzled.
“One… two… three…”
When Ji Xu reached two, Cheng Yue quickly held his breath. To his surprise, just as Ji Xu finished counting to three, he found himself being pressed down into the water, with Ji Xu’s hands on his shoulders and waist.
Cheng Yue was startled by the sudden sensation of weightlessness and wanted to struggle, but the warmth of Ji Xu’s hands on his waist calmed him. He slowly adjusted his body to follow Ji Xu’s descent.
After a few involuntary kicks in the water, Cheng Yue felt a gentle tug on his waist and a light tap on his eyelids.
Hesitantly, Cheng Yue opened his eyes, the sensation of water flowing past making him blink a few times to adjust.
He saw Ji Xu’s face, only a fist’s distance away.
Seeing Ji Xu’s face, Cheng Yue suddenly wanted to laugh. When he grinned, he noticed Ji Xu glaring at him for some reason.
But he soon understood. As water entered his mouth, Ji Xu lifted him by the waist.
Cheng Yue instinctively wrapped his legs around Ji Xu and put his hands on his shoulders. After spitting out the water from his mouth and looking down, he saw Ji Xu looking up at him with a worried expression.
Seeing this, Cheng Yue couldn’t help but laugh.
Ji Xu, initially intending to scold him, was swayed by Cheng Yue’s laughter.
The two laughed together in the shimmering pool for several minutes.
Finally, Cheng Yue, exhausted from laughing, rested his chin on Ji Xu’s head, slowly catching his breath while still laughing.
Ji Xu carried Cheng Yue to the shore in this position.
Once they were out of the water, Cheng Yue felt exposed without the cover of water, and he was embarrassed by the situation, especially since he was completely naked.
Ji Xu, ignoring Cheng Yue’s embarrassment, let a breeze blow over them and then placed Cheng Yue on a lounge chair, covering him with a towel.
“Pants,” Ji Xu tossed a pair of athletic shorts to Cheng Yue.
“I’m hungry,” Cheng Yue said, drying himself off with the towel, standing up, and putting on the shorts, which were a bit loose around his waist, making him uncomfortable as he adjusted them.
“Let’s go. We’ll sleep here tonight,” Ji Xu said, changing into his own pants, packing up the items from the lounge chair into a backpack, and leading Cheng Yue into the house.
The living room of the house was spacious. Cheng Yue immediately flopped onto the giant sofa and bounced a little.
“What’s for dinner?” Ji Xu placed the backpack on the table and turned towards the kitchen.
“Anything’s fine. Do you have food here?” Cheng Yue stood up from the sofa and looked around, “It’s so clean here, but it feels deserted.”
“Yes,” Ji Xu opened the fridge and found it stocked with various items, likely just filled in the past few days.
He decided to make something simple and picked out two red, plump tomatoes, asking, “How about tomato egg noodles?”
“I like tomatoes,” Cheng Yue said with a smile, hopping over and leaning on the dining table to watch Ji Xu busy in the kitchen.
Ji Xu was dressed in loose sweatpants and nothing else.
Cheng Yue looked at Ji Xu’s pants and noticed that they were both hanging loose.
As Cheng Yue watched Ji Xu’s movements, his smile gradually stiffened. He looked down at his own short sports pants and slowly bent over to sit on the chair.
Ji Xu, while chopping tomatoes on the cutting board, had his bare muscular arms stretching and contracting, which made Cheng Yue’s eyes go wide.
Especially as he followed Ji Xu’s shoulders down to his beautifully toned back and tight, strong waist…
Cheng Yue felt his nose grow warm. He was about to reach up to wipe it when Ji Xu, having finished with the tomatoes, suddenly turned around.
“You…” Ji Xu was about to ask something when he saw the blood streaming from Cheng Yue’s nose. Without having time to wipe it, he quickly walked over and slightly lifted Cheng Yue’s chin, “Why are you suddenly having a nosebleed?”
“Maybe…” Cheng Yue, glancing left and right, started to lie, “It’s too hot…”
“Hot?” Ji Xu frowned, looked at the central air conditioning in the house, then gently pinched the upper part of Cheng Yue’s nose on the bleeding side. After a while, when the bleeding stopped, he handed Cheng Yue a tissue to hold.
“The water’s boiling…” Cheng Yue spoke somewhat indistinctly.
“Hold it yourself.” Ji Xu let go of him and gave him a serious look, “If it continues to bleed, let me know.”
Cheng Yue nodded quickly.
After they finished their meal and took a shower, they went to bed.
Ji Xu naturally lay beside Cheng Yue, holding a storybook he had recently bought.
As Cheng Yue listened to Ji Xu softly reading a story about a monk eating vegetarian food and reciting Buddhist scriptures, the fire inside him grew stronger. He subtly shifted his body and covered his face with the blanket, trying to hide certain uncontrollable feelings with this somewhat obvious act.
The blanket, having been dried outside, had a fresh, warm scent.
Cheng Yue buried his head in the blanket and took a couple of deep breaths before he suddenly felt something rising from his heart.
His throat began to itch, and he couldn’t help but clear his throat with a couple of coughs.
“Are you catching a cold?” Ji Xu, hearing him cough, pulled back the blanket covering his face and felt Cheng Yue’s forehead.
“Ji Xu…” Cheng Yue looked at Ji Xu with a complex expression, his heart starting to beat uncontrollably, “I think…”
“What’s wrong?” Ji Xu smiled at him, “Does your butt still hurt?”
Seeing Ji Xu’s smile, Cheng Yue suddenly became clear-headed and swallowed all the words he was about to say.
Ji Xu’s smile reminded Cheng Yue of the conversation he had overheard between Ji Xu and Tang Jing earlier in the office.
He had heard and understood everything clearly.
Ji Xu was dealing with something for him and his family, which not only was difficult but also potentially dangerous.
Standing outside the office and eavesdropping, Cheng Yue suddenly realized that he was always adding extra burdens to Ji Xu.
And the words he had just held back might have been another burden for Ji Xu.
A burden Ji Xu couldn’t bring himself to discard.
Even though Ji Xu might not want to carry this burden, he would still carefully treasure it.
This was not what Cheng Yue wanted to see. He didn’t want Ji Xu to always sacrifice more for him; he wanted to do something for Ji Xu.
Anything, as long as he could do it.
So now, he had to hold back certain words he wanted to say.
At this moment, Cheng Yue had never been so eager to grow up, to be independent, to protect Ji Xu.
To stand upright in front of Ji Xu and say, “I like you.”
“You…” Ji Xu saw Cheng Yue’s unusual expression and thought he was uncomfortable from swimming at night and was too embarrassed to say so. Ji Xu forcefully pulled him over to check what was wrong.
“I’m fine.” Cheng Yue tried to move away, but Ji Xu’s strength was far greater, and he was pulled into Ji Xu’s embrace.
Cheng Yue, embarrassed, struggled for a while, pushing and pulling to try to move away. But when he remembered the thing between his legs that hadn’t gone down, he froze.
Oh no, oh no.
Cheng Yue’s pupils widened in fear, and he quickly tried to crawl away with his hands.
But Ji Xu suddenly tightened his hold on Cheng Yue’s waist and pressed him down.
Cheng Yue: “!”
Once he was pressed down, Cheng Yue didn’t dare to move, his body going rigid like a stick.
He pretended to be dead with his eyes closed, not caring if the thing between his legs was pressing against Ji Xu’s abdomen.
Chop it off, chop it off!
