Cheng Yue quietly smiled under the covers. When Ji Xu came in with a cup of water, his expression had returned to normal.
“Drink slowly.” Ji Xu handed him the cup and then frowned, “How did your throat get like this? Does it hurt?”
Cheng Yue shook his head while drinking the water.
After the warm water flowed through his throat, the dryness eased a lot. Cheng Yue cleared his throat, and his voice sounded much better than before.
Although it was still hoarse, at least it wasn’t cracking anymore.
“Do you want to sleep a bit more?” Ji Xu lightly tapped his forehead.
“Mm…” Cheng Yue leaned back against the pillow and felt like sleeping again. He had only opened his eyes reflexively when he sensed Ji Xu getting up. Now that his stomach felt warm, the fatigue in his head and body surged together.
Seeing the dark circles under Cheng Yue’s eyes, Ji Xu, feeling a bit heartbroken, gently touched them. “I’ll stay with you for a while.”
Cheng Yue closed his eyes and smiled, reaching out to pat the empty space next to him on the bed.
When Cheng Yue woke up again, it was almost afternoon. Ji Xu had already woken up but hadn’t moved, maintaining the position of holding Cheng Yue.
As a result, when Cheng Yue opened his eyes, he saw Ji Xu’s eyes immediately. It wasn’t frightening, and the two of them laughed when they made eye contact.
“Are you hungry?” Ji Xu smiled as he pinched Cheng Yue’s cheek.
Cheng Yue nodded and bit down on Ji Xu’s arm.
Originally, Cheng Yue had planned to go to school early the next morning, but since the marks on his neck and arms hadn’t faded, he had to take another day off.
On the third day… they still hadn’t faded…
When Cheng Yue went back to school, he missed the soft bed at home while sitting in the classroom.
Even though he did homework at home sitting on a chair, there was no difference between school and home.
However, Ji Xu had become much easier to talk to compared to before. Although still strict, requiring daily homework and practice, Cheng Yue had managed to get to the point where he could do his homework in bed.
He was very proud and pleased.
The cost was that Ji Xu had forced him to do it on the desk… and made him wear a dress…
As a result, whenever Cheng Yue saw a desk these days, he would feel a rush of heat and his legs would tremble.
But learning was still important. Cheng Yue had learned that whenever the topic of homework came up, Ji Xu, no matter how impatient, would not touch him.
Recently, Cheng Yue had been working hard on his studies, but he couldn’t overcome his poor performance in the cultural subjects.
When school had a winter break, Ji Xu, worried that Cheng Yue would just stay at home eating ice cream and not doing his homework, had to bring him to his office for supervision and tutoring.
However, while Ji Xu was in a meeting, Cheng Yue sneaked out to the tea room and stuffed several small cakes into his pockets.
As he was about to return to Ji Xu’s office, Cheng Yue, afraid of being caught by Ji Xu, walked quickly and cautiously.
So, when someone put a hand on his shoulder from behind, Cheng Yue was startled and jumped high.
“Hey!” Duan Changsheng was also startled by Cheng Yue’s reaction and looked at his own hand in surprise, thinking it might be electrified.
Cheng Yue, terrified, turned around and, seeing it was Duan Changsheng who had touched him, let out a sigh of relief and complained, “You scared me to death.”
“You scared me to death!” Duan Changsheng glared at him.
“You were the one who grabbed me first!” Cheng Yue glared back.
“My mistake. Let me ask you something.” Without waiting for Cheng Yue to respond, Duan Changsheng pulled Cheng Yue’s hand and dragged him to his desk.
“What’s up?” Cheng Yue sat down in Duan Changsheng’s office chair and arrogantly took a small cake from his pocket, nibbling on it.
“…How are things between you and Ji Xu now?” Duan Changsheng asked hesitantly.
“What about what?” Cheng Yue, upon hearing Ji Xu’s name, started looking around anxiously, worried that Ji Xu might come out after his meeting.
“Just…”
Duan Changsheng glanced at the seven or eight cacti on his desk that had been delivered to him, looking a bit awkward, “There’s an age difference between you and Ji Xu, right? Do you have any… generational gap when you interact?”
“Generational gap?” Cheng Yue looked puzzled, then shook his head after thinking about it, “No, not at all.”
“No?” Duan Changsheng looked at him, stumbling over his words a bit, “But you two must have different likes and habits because of the age difference. How do you handle that…”
“Everyone is different. Isn’t that normal? He does what he likes, and I do what I like.” Cheng Yue was thoroughly confused by his question, “What are you actually trying to ask?”
“What do you like about him?” Duan Changsheng asked finally.
Cheng Yue was silent for a moment, then, after realizing something, he shrugged nonchalantly, “Liking someone isn’t like solving a math problem with a formula where you can list out reasons. I like him, so of course I like everything about him.”
“Is that so…” Duan Changsheng said, then fell silent, staring at the several malnourished cacti on his desk.
“Yeah, besides, math problems are hard, but liking Ji Xu is simple…” Cheng Yue continued, poking one of the cacti on Duan Changsheng’s desk, which pricked him and made him jump.
He exploded, “What a crappy cactus, how does it still hurt!”
“Cheng Yue!” Ji Xu, who had passed by without Cheng Yue noticing, heard him swear.
Cheng Yue: “…”
“Come here.” Ji Xu’s face was stern as he stared at him.
“It’s not…” Cheng Yue tried to explain, “I was just…”
“Come here.” Ji Xu kept his gaze fixed on him.
Cheng Yue had no choice but to slowly walk over.
“Hand it to me.” Ji Xu frowned.
Cheng Yue looked around at the ten or so people in the office, his ears slowly turning red. He lowered his voice and leaned closer to Ji Xu’s ear, “Can we go back to the office?”
“No.” Ji Xu glared at him and firmly pulled his hand out from behind his back.
Ji Xu then carefully examined his hand for a while. “Where did you get pricked?”
Cheng Yue blinked and handed over his other hand. “It’s this hand.”
Ji Xu: “…”
