On Lantern Festival day, after repeated invitations from Xu Qichen, Xia Xiqing brought Zhou Ziheng to the Xia Zhixu residence. Upon arrival, Xu Qichen was busy wrapping tangyuan. Xia Xiqing set down the red wine he’d brought and immediately began teasing him, “Chenchen, you’re such a model husband and homemaker—even making tangyuan yourself!”
“I don’t think the ones from outside taste good,” Xu Qichen replied, picking up a piece of glutinous rice dough. “Honestly, I’m just trying it out by following a recipe.”
Zhou Ziheng sighed. “When will I ever get to eat a meal cooked by Xiqing?”
Xia Zhixu shot him a look. “Whenever you’re not afraid of being poisoned. Anytime.”
The two high-fived behind Xia Xiqing’s back.
“Who was it that told me my hands were too good to be wasted on cooking?” Xia Xiqing kicked Zhou Ziheng’s leg. Zhou Ziheng grinned, reaching out to pull him back, but Xia Xiqing just said, “Get lost,” and walked over to the dining room to sit beside Xu Qichen. “Let me help you.”
“I won’t eat anything you cook. Stay out of it,” Xia Zhixu retorted, dragging Zhou Ziheng toward the living room. “I just developed a new game. Want to try it? It’s a VR shooter. Chenchen doesn’t like it, and I never have anyone to play with at home.”
“Sure.” The mention of shooting instantly piqued Zhou Ziheng’s interest. Xia Zhixu pulled out two sets of equipment, handing one to Zhou Ziheng. Then, speaking into the air, he said, “0901, open the map.”
“Who’s 0901?” Zhou Ziheng slipped into a black vest equipped with sensors. The moment he put on the goggles, the living room vanished before his eyes, replaced by a battlefield thick with gunpowder smoke.
After adjusting his headphones, he could no longer hear Xu Qichen and Xia Xiqing’s voices in the living room. The roar of guns and cannons filled the air, and a detached, emotionless voice emerged.
“Greetings, Mr. Zhou. Happy Lantern Festival. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am AI Butler 0901, your game management system. I will guide you through this experience.”
Zhou Ziheng felt an instant surge of excitement, yet confusion lingered. “What about Xuxi’s system?”
“I also serve as the administrator’s system. Rest assured, my parallel processing capacity can execute commands for up to 200 users simultaneously.”
“That’s so cool.”
“I will now connect you to the administrator’s signal. You will become teammates. Good luck.”
Sitting in the dining room, watching the two guys transform into high schoolers the moment they started playing, Xu Qichen couldn’t help but chuckle. “Good thing the living room is big enough. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be enough space for them to play.”
“Oh no, oh no. Now that Zhou Ziheng is hanging out with Xia Zhixu, he’s really going to turn into an internet-addicted teenager.” Xia Xiqing mimicked Xu Qichen’s technique, pressing the glutinous rice dumpling in his palm. No matter how he tried, the filling kept spilling out. Resigned, he simply rolled it roughly in his hand and tossed it onto the plate. “Forget it. I really have zero talent for cooking.”
Xu Qichen chuckled. “You could make ones without filling. They’re still delicious.”
“Forget it.” Xia Xiqing grabbed the large bowl of peanut and red bean filling. “I’ll roll the filling into balls for you. You can just wrap them.”
As they wrapped dumplings and chatted about recent events, Xu Qichen suddenly spoke up, “Hey, there’s something I’ve been curious about.”
“What?” Xia Xiqing focused intently on shaping the sweet filling.
“You and Zhou Ziheng…” Xu Qichen lowered his voice. “Who exactly is the top?”
Nervousness made him squish the filling in his palm. Xia Xiqing turned to look at him. “Why… why are you asking that?”
Xu Qichen gave an embarrassed smile. “I’m just curious. You used to only be the top…”
Xia Xiqing paused, feeling overly sensitive about it. Sighing, he admitted bluntly, “He’s on top.”
“Really?” Xu Qichen clenched his fist in inexplicable delight, whispering, “Yes!”
“What are you so happy about?” Xia Xiqing snapped. “You two weren’t betting on me, were you?!”
Xu Qichen gave a sheepish smile. “We’ve been guessing for ages. At first, I didn’t think you’d ever… be the bottom one either.”
Xia Xiqing set down the sweet filling, spread his hands on the table, and sighed deeply. “Who’d have thought? This day would come for me too.”
Xu Qichen stifled a laugh. “No, I just feel it’s a shame. The world lost another ‘1’.” He quickly regained his composure. “How could you agree to that? And I think you two could take turns doing that thing.”
“Forget it.” A strand of hair stood up on the back of Xia Xiqing’s head, though he didn’t notice it. It twitched with each word as he lowered his voice, his expression comical. “It fucking hurt like hell, damn it. The first time, I could barely get out of bed. My legs were shaking so bad I couldn’t even sit.”
“Even someone as tough as me got hurt that badly. Imagine what it must be like for him.” Xia Xiqing shook his head. “Forget it, forget it. I’ll take the bottom. Zhou Ziheng probably can’t handle it.”
Xu Qichen was taken aback. “So you’re willing to be on the bottom because you feel sorry for him?” This wasn’t just a little surprise—it was a massive shock. “Holy…”
“It’s actually not that bad. You get used to it. I figured since I’m already used to it, there’s no need for him to try again. Whoever’s on top or bottom doesn’t matter.”
The old Xia Xiqing would never have uttered such words. Xu Qichen knew better than anyone how proud Xia Xiqing was.
He murmured softly, “So there really are people in this world who’d be the bottom for love…”
Xia Xiqing sat up straight. “Don’t tell Xia Zhixu.” He added, “And Zhou Ziheng either.” He washed his hands, pulled out his phone, and started scrolling through Weibo. Xia Xiqing habitually clicked on an amusing fan comment to visit his homepage, sometimes jumping from his own page to others’ feeds. He’d keep scrolling like this, sometimes staying up all night.
Just as Xu Qichen was about to speak, he noticed Xia Xiqing’s expression had twisted slightly. Curious, he leaned closer. “What are you looking at?”
Xia Xiqing stared back at him, puzzled. “What’s clay sculpture?”
“Clay sculpture?” Xu Qichen shook his head. “Shouldn’t you know better than me?”
“But this feels like…” Xia Xiqing’s expression grew even stranger. “Not the clay sculpture I understand.”
“What is it?” Xu Qichen leaned in to look at his phone screen. It was a Weibo post. He read aloud the caption beneath the image: “The heart of a stunning beauty must be cold. Even his snow-white skin, his eyes veiled by lace, and his delicate, fragile fingers feel cold. Yet his lips are as vivid as roses—beautifully fragile and exquisite, making one unable to resist…”
He cleared his throat, unable to continue. The accompanying image was the inner-page shot from Xia Xiqing and Zhou Ziheng’s recent magazine spread, where they lay in a rose-petal-filled bathtub. Xu Qichen awkwardly lifted his head, his eyes filled with question marks as he met Xia Xiqing’s gaze. “Is… is this… pornographic material?”
“How should I know?” Xia Xiqing exited Weibo, frowning as the description from that post sent shivers down his spine. “What’s wrong with young girls these days…”
Xu Qichen had always known Xia Xiqing disliked being associated with any feminine descriptions—he was simply too beautiful, having been the subject of whispers since childhood.
Though he claimed not to mind, Xia Xiqing still couldn’t fathom why someone would post such a Weibo, let alone why so many people would repost and comment on it.
[Xia Xiqing’s Only Husband Across the Web: Only someone with this level of beauty deserves to be turned into clay, okay? Kiss me, my beauty.]
Comments like this were countless, and some were even more exaggerated. Intrigued, he looked up what “clay sculpture” meant and discovered that “clay sculpture fans” were actually a type of fan, a homophone for “reverse-su,” who enjoyed gender-swapping their idols.
“As a man who’s been a man for twenty-five years…” Xia Xiquan started, then corrected himself mid-sentence, “As a man who’s been a man for twenty-five years, how could I possibly have so many gender-swap fans? It doesn’t make sense!”
Xu Qichen couldn’t help but laugh. “Go look in the mirror and see if it makes sense.”
Xia Xiqing pursed his lips, letting out a dismissive snort.
“Honestly speaking,” Xu Qichen added, recklessly pouring fuel on the fire, “that photo of you in the white dress as a little girl? It was genuinely beautiful.” He fought back a laugh. “So ethereal.”
“Fairy my ass!” Xia Xiqing was speechless. “Don’t bring up my embarrassing past.”
“Oh, and that dress of Mrs. Xu’s? It came over with the junk last time. She said only you ever wore it, and it’s just sitting there unused. Maybe you could…”
“Shut up.”
Xia Xiqing immediately covered Xu Qichen’s mouth with his hand. The dining room fell silent, while the living room grew chaotic.
“Left! Left! Holy crap, I’m running out of ammo! Give me some!!”
“Damn, this game is so realistic! The spot where I got shot really hurts!”
“Here, bandages!”
Desperately needing an excuse to escape Xu Qichen’s relentless hints, Xia Xiqing stood up. “I’ll go check it out. This is making me want to play too.”
She had just reached Zhou Ziheng’s side.
“Duck!” Zhou Ziheng, wearing glasses, suddenly threw himself to the floor, followed by Xia Zhixu beside him. Xia Xiqing jumped in surprise.
“What the hell…” Xia Xiqing sat down on the vacated sofa, arms crossed, watching Zhou Ziheng bustling about. The more he watched, the more amusing he seemed—like a child.
After about ten minutes, the game seemed to end. Both panting, they took off their goggles. Zhou Ziheng turned his head and found Xia Xiqing sitting on the sofa, exhausted, having collapsed straight onto him, his weight crushing him.
After about ten minutes, the game seemed to end. Both of them took off their glasses, panting heavily. Zhou Ziheng turned his head and saw Xia Xiqing sitting on the sofa. Exhausted, Xia Xiqing collapsed straight onto him, crushing Xia Ziheng so hard he couldn’t breathe. “Damn it… you’re crushing me.”
Zhou Ziheng chuckled twice, hugging Xia Xiqing’s head and planting two loud kisses on it. “I won!”
“Yeah, yeah, you won.” Xia Xiqing replied listlessly, utterly defeated. “Get off me.”
“Tsk.” Xia Zhixu shot them a disapproving glance. He’d been about to declare that esports had no room for romance, but the sight of Xu Qichen sitting quietly in the dining room, carefully wrapping dumplings, made him forget all about it. He shed his armor and dashed over to join him.
Zhou Ziheng rolled over to lie beside Xia Xiqing, panting. “That armor simulates pain. I got hit just now. It hurt like hell!”
Xia Xiqing glanced at him. “Where were you hit?”
“Here.” Zhou Ziheng grabbed his hand and placed it on his chest. “It hurts here.”
Xia Xiqing shifted down to lie closer to Zhou Ziheng. “Then why didn’t you die?”
“Almost. I was close to dying.” Zhou Ziheng launched into his made-up story. “Then I sensed this powerful feeling of conviction. It carried me through to victory.”
Xia Xiqing snorted coldly. “You’re so childish.”
Zhou Ziheng tilted his head to look at his face. “Why aren’t you asking me what that conviction was?”
Xia Xiqing was stumped. “What belief?”
“Love!” With that, Zhou Ziheng pulled him into a fierce kiss, pressing Xia Xiqing’s eyes shut. He pretended to push him away, but in truth, he didn’t exert any force, merely going through the motions to indulge Zhou’s childishness.
“Let’s play a round.”
“Sure.” Xia Xiqing wiped his face and shot him a look. “I’m gonna crush you.”
After dinner, the two prepared to head home. Xia Zhixu wanted to give Zhou Ziheng a set of gaming gear, but Xia Xiqing refused. What if he really got hooked? Xu Qichen also pulled out a bag. “This has the mini bread and cookies I baked yesterday, plus Zhixu’s mom’s fried lotus root balls. I packed it all up for you to take home.”
Xia Xiqing grabbed the food, afraid Xia Zhixu would try to sell him more stuff, and dragged Zhou Ziheng away.
The two drove home. In the elevator, Zhou Ziheng chuckled, “Every single tangyuan I ate had the filling spilling out.”
“Who told you to eat them?”
“I like them. The ones with filling are sweeter.”
“Get lost.”
After arriving home, Xia Xiqing headed straight for the bathroom. It was freezing outside, and he wanted a hot shower to warm up. Zhou Ziheng sat on the sofa for a moment, then thought about putting the food Xu Qichen had given them in the fridge. He grabbed a bag and went into the kitchen.
When Xia Xiqing emerged from his shower, the living room was empty. He called out for Zhou Ziheng, but there was no response. He headed upstairs to see if Zhou was in the bathroom of the bedroom.
The moment Xia Xiqing pushed open the bedroom door, he was yanked inside. Before he could even catch his breath, Zhou Ziheng pinned him down on the bed. He’d showered too, his hair still damp and unrubbed. Xia Xiqing looked utterly bewildered. “What the hell are you doing? You’re pinning me down multiple times a day.”
“I’d love to pin you down multiple times a day.”
The conversation suddenly veered into some philosophical quagmire.
Water droplets from Zhou Ziheng’s hair splashed onto Xia Xiqing’s face, prompting him to scold, “Your hair’s so wet. Go blow-dry it.”
“No.” Zhou Ziheng shook his head from side to side, sending droplets flying everywhere like a puppy fresh from a bath.
“You’re driving me crazy,” Xia Xiqing muttered, though his expression betrayed suppressed amusement. He gave Zhou Ziheng a shove. “Get up! Do you really want to crush me?”
“I can get up, but you have to agree to one request.”
Xia Xiqing raised an eyebrow. “What request?”
“You agree first.”
“You tell me first.”
The two of them stood there in a stalemate for a long time, leaving half of Xia Xiqing’s body numb. He thought, screw it, what could he possibly want? It’s always the same old stuff anyway. So he took a deep breath and gave in. “Fine, fine, get off me first.”
“For real! No backing out.” Zhou Ziheng swiftly pulled a garment from beneath the pillow.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Upon recognizing what it was, Xia Xiqing wished he could just black out and die right then and there.
Wasn’t this the very same white dress he’d been forced to wear by Xia Zhixu and Chen Fang before?!! And now it was in Zhou Ziheng’s hands!! What the hell kind of plot twist was this?!
“I’m cutting ties with Xu Qichen. Right now. Immediately. This instant!”
“Good boy. Put it on first, then cut ties.”
Half-numb, Xia Xiqing was half-forced by Zhou Ziheng to strip naked. Honestly, Xia Xiqing had always liked Zhou Ziheng’s face. Though he hadn’t expected such a stark contrast between his personality and appearance before, seeing him commit such a beastly act of forcibly stripping someone still stirred something within him.
He suddenly felt like he’d awakened some strange new trait.
But Zhou Ziheng was just too damn sexy. Lying on the bed, Xia Xiqing couldn’t help but marvel at him every time he looked.
How could his taste be this good? How did he end up with such a perfect little wolf cub? With that face and that body, who wouldn’t get aroused?
A moment of arousal brings momentary pleasure. Constant arousal brings constant pleasure.
Mentally sated, Xia Xiqing momentarily forgot Zhou Ziheng was forcing him into women’s clothing. As Zhou Ziheng kissed him while stripping him, sending him reeling, Xia Xiqing wrapped his arms around Zhou Ziheng’s neck and sat up.
Though Xia Xiqing was hazy, Zhou Ziheng was wide awake—and intensely aroused. He tentatively lifted the dress over Xia Xiqing’s head, preparing to pull it down. It was a sleeveless, round-neck spaghetti-strap dress with a long, full skirt. The fabric wasn’t cotton; it felt smooth and slippery.
Just as Zhou Ziheng was about to force the sleeveless dress onto him, Xia Xiqing suddenly had second thoughts and resisted, “I won’t wear it…”
But the more he resisted, the more excited Zhou Ziheng became, determined to make him wear it. “Just once, please. Just this once.” He gazed into Xia Xiqing’s eyes, kissing his pursed lips repeatedly, his expression pleading. “Just once.”
After a long standoff, Xia Xiqing finally relented. There was simply no winning against Zhou Ziheng.
With his consent secured, Zhou Ziheng was nearly overjoyed. Despite Xia Xiqing’s obvious displeasure, he slipped the white dress over him like dressing a child.
“It’s a bit tight.” Zhou Ziheng hugged Xia Xiqing, reaching around to zip it up, but it wasn’t going smoothly. Xia Xiqing, embarrassed beyond belief, buried his face in Zhou Ziheng’s shoulder and grumbled, “That’s obvious. I’m a guy.”
Though tall, Xia Xiqing didn’t share Zhou Ziheng’s broad frame. His lean, wiry build meant slipping into the dress wasn’t difficult, but the zipper simply refused to reach the top.
“Just leave it,” Xia Xiqing lifted his head, his expression awkward, ears flushed crimson. “Don’t bother…”
That pitiful look instantly tugged at Zhou Ziheng’s heartstrings. The white-dressed girl he’d thought about for so many years seemed to have returned, right before his eyes, completely at his mercy.
Perhaps Xia Xiqing truly disliked being passive, or perhaps he wanted to quickly drown the shame of being forced into women’s clothing with other emotions. He wrapped his arms around Zhou Ziheng’s neck and kissed his lips.
“Hurry up… Stop talking.”
