The snow continued falling, showing no sign of stopping, and it even seemed to be getting heavier.
The journey back was quiet and silent. The chill drifted through the narrow alley, yet Lu Qiao was so hot that he felt as though he were soaking in a pot of soup.
Embarrassing.
Really, really embarrassing.
He didn’t even dare look at Yan Qiu again.
Earlier, the man had still teased him every now and then, but after what had just happened, he hadn’t said another word and had fallen silent.
Why did he have to go silent at a time like this? Lu Qiao couldn’t help complaining inwardly.
Even saying something to break the current atmosphere would have been good!
The two returned to the training hall in a strange, subtle atmosphere. Lu Qiao was absentminded, and when he wasn’t paying attention, he even slipped and fell at the entrance.
It had just rained here before the snow started, so there was still standing water in the depressions in the ground. When Lu Qiao fell, Yan Qiu immediately reached out and caught him, but half of Lu Qiao’s pants still ended up soaked.
And when he felt that icy wetness, Lu Qiao quickly realized something and froze for a moment.
The two of them were both motionless for a while.
Yan Qiu spoke in a low voice, “You should still wash up.”
Lu Qiao shuddered and looked up at the man supporting him.
Not only did he have to take a shower, he also had to sleep with this man tonight.
What was he supposed to do? His heart was practically about to stop from beating so fast.
In a daze, Lu Qiao entered the training hall. Under Yan Qiu’s guidance, he took some fresh clothes and went into the bathhouse, where he began rinsing himself with hot water.
He kept his back turned toward Yan Qiu, somewhat blankly thinking about the relationship between the two of them.
But matters involving romantic feelings between two men were still way beyond Lu Qiao’s comprehension. After thinking for a long time, his mind was still a complete mess. In this dazed state, he turned around, wanting to squeeze out some body wash.
His eyes accidentally swept downward toward Yan Qiu, and he froze.
Yan Qiu seemed to be enduring something. The moment he noticed Lu Qiao’s gaze, he immediately turned slightly to the side, blocking Lu Qiao’s view.
Lu Qiao stared in shock at the back of Yan Qiu’s head, then at Yan Qiu’s butt, and instantly felt as though his entire face were burning. It was unbearably hot.
He quickly squeezed out some body wash, then turned around and began hurriedly rubbing it over himself.
Behind him, Yan Qiu asked in a hoarse voice, “Is there enough body wash?”
Lu Qiao said, “Enough, enough, enough, enough!”
After a pause, Yan Qiu added, “Sorry. Stay under the water a little longer.”
What could Lu Qiao do? He could only tremble as he agreed.
Come to think of it, he and Yan Qiu hadn’t showered together that many times, but it wasn’t as if they had never done it before. So why was he… why was he getting this worked up this time?
Could it be that Yan Qiu had been enduring it before, and now, now that he felt he didn’t have to restrain himself anymore?!
How shameless!! This man was too much!!
Lu Qiao was on the verge of tears. As he rubbed the body wash over himself, he kept using his hand to cover himself below, desperately telling himself to calm down, calm down. Whatever happened, he absolutely could not react! He couldn’t let himself react in front of him! And he absolutely couldn’t imagine what Yan Qiu looked like right now!!
Yet no matter how hard he tried to restrain himself, he could still seemingly hear—or perhaps imagine—the man’s low, heavy breaths mixed in with the sound of running water. Whenever he closed his eyes, images would appear in his mind.
Lu Qiao seemed to see the muscles bulging on the man’s body when he exerted himself and tensed up. He imagined the expression of restraint appearing on that abstinent-looking face, and he even recalled the man’s sexy, low, hoarse voice.
There was simply no way Lu Qiao could control his own thoughts. The water rushed down onto the floor with a loud splashing sound. He didn’t know how the man behind him was doing. He only knew that his legs had become slightly weak, and in the end, he had no choice but to brace himself against the tiled wall.
Was he seriously going to be okay?!
Lu Qiao stared blankly at the floor and swallowed.
After finishing his shower and changing his clothes, Lu Qiao hurried toward the room as quickly as he could, with the man following beside him.
“Lu Qiao.” Yan Qiu called out to him.
Lu Qiao kept his head lowered and continued walking, ignoring him.
“Lu Qiao.” Yan Qiu grabbed his hand and said, “I’m sorry about earlier.”
Lu Qiao practically jumped. “Your hand is so hot!”
The moment those words came out, both he and Yan Qiu went, “… ”
Lu Qiao’s mind was a mess, and the words coming out of his mouth weren’t exactly normal either. He quietly accused him, “Th-That’s not even a normal body temperature…”
After saying that, Lu Qiao’s face turned bright red.
If it wasn’t a normal body temperature, then why was his palm so hot? What had this hand just been doing?!
The moment Lu Qiao thought about what had happened earlier, he became so embarrassed that he didn’t want to face this man at all. He pulled his hand free, walked silently to his room, pushed the door open, and went inside.
“Lu Qiao.” Yan Qiu frowned and called him again.
Lu Qiao said quietly, “I’m sleeping. Don’t talk to me!”
Yan Qiu paused. “I—”
“I said I’m sleeping!” Lu Qiao raised his head and glared fiercely at the man. “If, if there’s something, we’ll talk about it tomorrow!”
He absolutely had to calm down properly today!
Yan Qiu looked deeply at him before finally saying, “Okay.”
The two of them went to bed just like that. Lu Qiao lay on his side with his back facing Yan Qiu, but even after closing his eyes, he couldn’t sleep at all.
Yan Qiu’s presence behind him was simply too strong!
Lu Qiao felt miserable. He kept thinking wildly for a full two hours before finally falling asleep.
Perhaps because he had been thinking about this matter for the entire day, Lu Qiao’s dream was strange as well.
He dreamed of when he was little. In kindergarten, several girls were always chasing after him, saying that they would marry him when they grew up. He hadn’t understood a thing back then. He only knew how to pull out foxtail grass and play war games with his deskmate.
By elementary school, he no longer played with foxtail grass. He had fallen in love with studying. No matter how pretty the little girls were, in his eyes, none of them were as interesting as solving problems.
And when he eventually went alone to a first-class star domain and entered school, there finally appeared in his life someone his own age whom he cared about deeply—
No, not someone his own age.
A senior brother three years older than him.
A powerful yet cold senior brother.
Lu Qiao loved watching Yan Qiu fight. The man’s perpetually cold and indifferent personality wasn’t unpleasant to him in the slightest.
And whenever this man whom he pursued spoke to him, Lu Qiao felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
Lu Qiao had never experienced such a feeling before. Sometimes Song Yue joked that the feeling was probably no different from receiving a response from one’s goddess, but Lu Qiao had always disagreed.
Yet every now and then, he would remember that when Yan Qiu first looked at him, his heart had fluttered.
What exactly was it to be moved by someone?
Lu Qiao thought about this question even in his dream.
When had Yan Qiu started treating him differently?
When Yan Qiu looked at him, had his heart fluttered too?
And what about him toward Yan Qiu?
When Yan Qiu first looked at him, his heart had fluttered.
When Yan Qiu first took the initiative to speak to him, he had been so happy that it was as if he had scored a perfect hundred on an exam.
When Yan Qiu first said he wanted to practice with him, he had been so nervous, like a student waiting for the teacher to inspect the results of his hard work.
When Yan Qiu first praised him, he had been so satisfied that he kept savoring those words even in his dreams.
Yan Qiu.
Yan Qiu.
Yan Qiu.
Lu Qiao’s mind was filled with Yan Qiu. It had always been that way, both in the past and now.
The way Yan Qiu looked with his expression淡淡 and indifferent.
The way Yan Qiu smiled lightly.
The way Yan Qiu frowned in displeasure.
The way Yan Qiu was gentle.
In his dream, Lu Qiao heard the sound of his own heartbeat. Something seemed to be on the verge of breaking free.
And then, in the dream, the man standing among the crowd not far away suddenly noticed him and strode toward him.
Lu Qiao retreated in panic, again and again, while the man approached him, step by step.
Until there was nowhere left for Lu Qiao to retreat.
Yan Qiu cornered him against the wall, his eyes as deep as the night sky.
Lu Qiao could barely breathe. He sensed what was coming, and his entire body went limp as he slid down against the wall.
Yan Qiu caught him in one motion, lowered his head, and asked softly, “What’s wrong?”
Lu Qiao parted his lips slightly and began to breathe heavily.
Yan Qiu studied him. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Lu Qiao shook his head and said hoarsely, “I’m not looking at you.”
“You are looking at me.” Yan Qiu continued lowering his head, his lips almost touching Lu Qiao’s. His breath spilled between Lu Qiao’s lips. “You’ve been watching me all this time, Lu Qiao.”
Lu Qiao murmured, “I-I think of you as my opponent—”
“Just an opponent?” Yan Qiu smiled. “Then what if your opponent did those things to you?”
Lu Qiao froze. “What?”
Yan Qiu slowly said, “—Would you get angry?”
Lu Qiao wanted to ask more, but he couldn’t.
After that, the dream became sensual and filled with desire, completely overturning Lu Qiao’s entire worldview.
The Yan Qiu in his dream did everything to him that Lu Qiao could imagine—and even everything he couldn’t imagine.
Lu Qiao cried, called out, and trembled in the dream.
Yet he never became angry.
Lu Qiao finally realized that as long as it was Yan Qiu, no matter how excessive the things this man did to him were, he would feel embarrassed, flustered, complain, and grumble—
But he would never truly become angry with him.
He really could accept everything Yan Qiu did to him.
The next day, at noon.
The training hall was still noisy and bustling. Quite a few students poured out of every classroom, preparing to go out for lunch.
Suddenly, a figure appeared in the corridor, walking over while talking with the hall master.
The students had originally been laughing and joking around, but once they got a clear look at the person, they all froze where they stood. The corridor fell completely silent.
The hall master glanced at the man walking beside him and scratched the back of his head. He hadn’t expected this guy to come over in the middle of the day. Weren’t they stuck together every night? How could he already be unable to stand being apart after only such a short time?
—Or had something happened?
After all, the other person had also been acting strangely when he got up that morning.
When they reached the end of the corridor, the hall master lifted his chin and said, “There. He should be in the back courtyard. He’s been sitting in a tree all morning. You can go over yourself.”
Yan Qiu nodded and continued forward.
The hall master turned around and waved at the students standing dumbfounded in the corridor—probably the first time in their lives they had ever seen the Empire’s First Marshal in person from such a close distance.
“Stop gawking. Didn’t you know Marshal Yan and Lu Qiao are old acquaintances? He’s just here to hang out with Lu Qiao. Go eat your lunch.”
In the back courtyard, Yan Qiu walked beneath the most conspicuous large tree.
The tree was covered with quite a few fruits, and sitting at the very top was a bird-man.
Lu Qiao hadn’t retracted his wings. He simply hugged his knees and stared blankly at the distant sky.
Hearing footsteps, he instinctively glanced downward. When he saw Yan Qiu, he was startled and flushed.
“Wh-Why did you come here?!”
When he woke up that morning, Yan Qiu had already disappeared. He was still questioning his entire life over the dream he had the previous night, so he hadn’t expected the man to appear in front of him so quickly.
At this speed, had he come over immediately after returning to the Yan household at six o’clock?!
Yan Qiu didn’t answer. Instead, he looked at him and asked, “What are you doing in the tree?”
Thinking of that dream, Lu Qiao’s body tensed.
He was a little annoyed, a little angry, and even a little aggrieved.
Although he hadn’t been angry in the dream, after waking up and thinking about it, he still felt that the Yan Qiu in his dream had been way too much.
Way too lewd.
He had done so many shameful things to him!
And besides, this was the first time in Lu Qiao’s entire life that he had had an erotic dream!!!
He had nearly cried when he woke up and had to wash his pants!!
He had never even watched any dirty little movies, yet he had actually had an erotic dream!!
The more Lu Qiao thought about it, the more annoyed he became. He casually plucked a fruit from the branch beside him and threw it at Yan Qiu.
“It’s all your fault!”
The fruit hit Yan Qiu and fell downward. Yan Qiu reached out and caught it, looking at the fruit before raising his head to look at the bird-man in the tree.
More fruits came flying one after another.
Lu Qiao said indignantly, “It’s all your fault! You made me weird!”
After catching all the fruits one by one, Yan Qiu stared at them for a while. Suddenly, he picked one up and took a bite.
Lu Qiao froze.
Yan Qiu raised his head and said, “It’s sweet.”
Lu Qiao took a deep breath, so annoyed that he almost wanted to tear the entire tree down and smash this guy with it.
But in the next second, Yan Qiu looked at him and said slowly, his voice gentle, “Just as sweet as you.”
!!!
Lu Qiao’s eyes widened.
He was stunned. He exploded.
That sentence was far too direct, even more direct than anything Yan Qiu had ever said before.
Lu Qiao stared blankly for one second before suddenly spreading his wings with a “whoosh,” flying straight across the entire back courtyard and diving into a classroom.
Yan Qiu put the fruit into his pocket and followed him into the classroom.
The young man was curled up in a corner with his back facing the door.
His ears were red.
His neck was red.
At this moment, probably his entire body was red.
Yan Qiu slowly walked up behind him and said, “You said that if there was anything, we’d wait until today to talk about it. So the moment I got home today, I immediately set out to come see you.”
Lu Qiao stared at the corner of the wall in front of him, his entire body trembling lightly.
Just like in his dream, he had a premonition.
His heart was pounding so hard that it felt as though it were about to leap out of his chest.
“Lu Qiao.”
He heard Yan Qiu gently call his name, using that cool, clear voice to say the gentlest words.
“I told you before. In five years, many things have changed, and I’ve changed too.”
“—I’ve fallen in love with you. No,” Yan Qiu said softly. “I love you.”
In an instant, Lu Qiao’s mind went completely blank.