Chapter 32
The next morning when Lin Yushu woke up, he faintly felt a weight on his waist.
Unconsciously shifting from lying on his side to lying flat, the strange sensation on his waist became even more pronounced. It felt like something was sliding from his lower back to his belly button.
His belly button felt as if it had a warm patch on it, like a heating pad attached to it. Even in the warm blanket, that heat was particularly attention-grabbing.
The effect of the cold medicine seemed to have worn off. After a good night’s sleep, his brain began to clear up, and his cognition returned to normal. It was then that Lin Yushu suddenly realized…
Resting on his belly button was a hand.
And there was no clothing in between.
He immediately opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, his pitch-black eyes filled with disbelief. In the next moment, he turned to look at the person lying beside him and pushed away the hand that had slipped into his sleepwear. He sat up on the bed and exclaimed, “Song Qiming!”
“Hmm?” Song Qiming raised his head from the pillow, his disheveled hair flying in all directions, perhaps due to a restless sleep.
Rubbing his head, he climbed out of bed, his voice carrying the laziness and hoarseness that come with just waking up. “You’re awake.”
Lin Yushu still found it hard to believe, his beautiful peach blossom eyes smoldering with anger. “What are you doing…”
“Sleeping here?” Song Qiming yawned lazily. “I’m used to the bed.”
Lin Yushu: “?”
It was such a legitimate reason that Lin Yushu couldn’t argue against it.
“You’re used to the bed, but why didn’t you say it earlier?” Lin Yushu asked in frustration.
“I only found out later,” Song Qiming folded his legs and rested his hands behind him. “I went to your place, couldn’t sleep, so I came back.”
That reason did seem plausible.
Half of Lin Yushu’s anger dissipated, and he asked again, “You didn’t wake me up?”
“You’re sick, how could I?” Song Qiming said, “Are you feeling better from the cold?”
His tonsils still hurt a bit, but there was no coughing or runny nose, indicating that the cold medicine had indeed worked.
“I’m fine,” Lin Yushu replied, but then he realized that something wasn’t quite right.
Just a moment ago, his anger had erupted like a volcano, but how did Song Qiming dismiss it with just a few words?
Setting aside the fact that they were sleeping together, what about the hand that slipped into his clothing?
Shouldn’t that be the main focus?
How did it just pass like that?
Lin Yushu wanted to bring up the matter again, but after Song Qiming showed concern for his cold, he couldn’t adopt a resentful tone. It would make him appear petty.
He was about to find a way to steer the conversation back, but at that moment, Wowo, who was crouching by the bedroom door, suddenly walked in. He propped his front paws on the edge of the bed and barked at Song Qiming.
“He’s reminding me,” Song Qiming quickly got out of bed, “I’ll take him for a walk first. See you in a bit.”
The figures of the man and the dog disappeared from the bedroom, and Lin Yushu faintly heard Song Qiming’s muttering to Wowo.
“…I’ve told you so many times, paws aren’t allowed on the bed. I won’t argue with you about it today…”
Today was Tuesday, and it was Song Qiming’s car’s license plate number restriction day. On the days when both of them had restrictions, they usually met at 8:30 a.m.
Lin Yushu glanced at the digital clock placed on the bedside table, and it was only 7:30 a.m. It was still earlier than his usual waking time. Although he went to bed early last night and didn’t feel very tired now, he was still recovering from the cold, and his body wasn’t feeling comfortable. So he decided to go back to sleep and catch a few more hours of rest.
However, when Lin Yushu returned to his own bedroom, his volcano erupted once again: “Song-Qiming!”
The bed was neatly made, showing no signs of being slept in.
Lin Yushu wanted to come up with an excuse for Song Qiming, but he couldn’t think of one.
Lin Yushu had a habit of folding back the side of the bed near the headboard, revealing two pillows, just like in a hotel, because he thought it looked very neat.
But Song Qiming didn’t have this habit. He simply spread the sheets flat on the bed, so it couldn’t have been him who made the bed.
Of course, these were all just deductions, and Lin Yushu had no evidence.
However, before leaving yesterday morning, he wore a bright-colored tie, but then felt it was too flashy and casually threw it on the bed before changing to a plain tie in the closet.
And now, that tie was still lying there exactly as he had left it.
In other words, Song Qiming hadn’t come over to sleep last night at all.
It was now 8:30 a.m.
Both doors opened simultaneously, and the man on the right walked out wearing a black suit with a camel-colored coat draped over it, perfectly groomed from head to toe. The man on the left emerged wearing a denim jacket with a black turtleneck sweater underneath, the fit just right.
Both of them coincidentally dressed for winter.
Lin Yushu glanced at Song Qiming, expressionless, and headed towards the elevator, with Song Qiming lazily following behind, hands in his pockets.
“I went home to check,” Lin Yushu pressed the button for the basement, “You didn’t come to my place.”
“Mhm,” Song Qiming responded without much reaction, “You found out.”
His tone showed no embarrassment at being caught, as if he had known all along that he would be exposed.
Well, forget the expressionless face, it was Lin Yushu pretending. He glared at Song Qiming and asked, “Is it fun to deceive me?”
“It’s not like that, I didn’t intend to deceive you,” Song Qiming blinked innocently, “Do you think if I really wanted to deceive you, I wouldn’t know how to set up the scene properly?”
…That actually made sense.
Song Qiming was such a deep thinker that unless he voluntarily revealed his tail, it would be difficult for others to find his flaws.
“So what do you mean?” Lin Yushu frowned and asked.
“I just wanted to be by your side and take care of you,” Song Qiming said innocently, “But I knew you would be angry, so I found an excuse to calm you down first.”
Lin Yushu was utterly bewildered, “But now I’m even more angry, right?”
“Listen to my explanation first,” Song Qiming said, “I can deceive you, so you wouldn’t be angry with me, right? But between deceiving you and being honest, I chose the latter. Why? Because I didn’t want to deceive you. So, would you still be angry with me?”
…This was a mess, but it somehow made sense.
“And you were indeed sick, I’m just taking care of you,” Song Qiming shrugged.
“You put your hand inside my clothes, how is that taking care of me?” Lin Yushu didn’t fall for it, immediately jumping out of Song Qiming’s logic, “It’s just a minor cold, what’s there to take care of?”
Just as he finished speaking, perhaps because he had spoken too much, his throat suddenly became itchy, and Lin Yushu couldn’t hold back, taking out a handkerchief to cover his lips as he coughed intensely a few times.
“The God of Colds can’t stand you saying these things,” the elevator arrived at the basement in a timely manner, and Song Qiming encircled Lin Yushu’s waist, leading him towards the parking space, “I mean, Manager Lin, it’s already this day and age, aren’t you being too conservative? I haven’t done anything to you, is it necessary to be so angry?”
Lin Yushu glared at Song Qiming. How could he not be angry? He was annoyed by Song Qiming’s playboy antics!
He was about to speak, but then his throat became itchy again, and with the handkerchief still covering his lips, his words were blocked.
“You’re the patient today, so I’ll be your driver,” Song Qiming took the car keys from Lin Yushu’s hand and looked at the handkerchief, “The pattern on this handkerchief is nice.”
The cough finally subsided, and Lin Yushu put down the handkerchief, unenthusiastically saying, “How long are you going to keep washing my other handkerchief?”
“It’s not good to be angry when you’re sick,” Song Qiming pushed Lin Yushu into the passenger seat, “Get in the car, we’re going to be late.”
Lin Yushu decided to give Song Qiming a title: Master of Deception.
He had been fooled about the sleeping matter. In the morning, Lin Yushu sat in his office, replaying the events. He realized that Song Qiming’s plan was actually quite simple – he avoided the moments when Lin Yushu was most likely to get angry.
First, when Lin Yushu had just woken up, Song Qiming came up with a random excuse to suppress his anger. Then, when Lin Yushu was most furious, Song Qiming went out for a walk with the dog.
And then, over an hour later, when Lin Yushu had calmed down and wanted to confront Song Qiming, his purpose had been achieved – to avoid communicating with Lin Yushu when he was the angriest.
Although he later gave some righteous reasons, Lin Yushu’s anger had long dissipated, and he didn’t bother pressing the issue further.
Thinking about it, Lin Yushu became increasingly annoyed. Was the scheming of this big bad wolf too deep?
Constantly thinking about this matter was affecting his work. Lin Yushu decided to take a thermos and go to the pantry to make some wolfberry tea to relax his mind. As he passed by the front desk, he noticed Song Qiming talking to the receptionist, who had a troubled expression on her face.
“Is there something you need, Mr. Song?” Lin Yushu calmly approached, maintaining an appropriate distance between himself and Song Qiming.
The receptionist was relieved to see Lin Yushu and said, “Manager Lin, Mr. Song wants to change his office. Who should he talk to?”
“You can talk to me, I can coordinate that,” Lin Yushu placed the thermos on the front desk and leaned one elbow on the counter, the other hand holding the back of the receptionist’s hand, turning to face Song Qiming and asking, “Why does Mr. Song suddenly want to change offices?”
“The current one is a bit small,” Song Qiming raised an eyebrow and said casually, “And the orientation is not great. I want to move to an office facing south.”
“That might be a bit troublesome,” Lin Yushu said indifferently, “There are only a limited number of offices on the executive floor. Or does Mr. Song want to move downstairs?”
“I remember,” Song Qiming smiled and said, “There’s an available office at uncle’s place.”
“That’s the director’s office. Would it be appropriate for Mr. Song to move there?” Lin Yushu said, “And considering Mr. Song’s special status, if you want to change offices, others might gossip, right? I don’t think Mr. Shao would agree either.”
A hint of frustration flashed in Song Qiming’s smile.
“For now, please bear with the current office. After the Chinese New Year, I’ll see if I can help you coordinate,” Lin Yushu said. Then he took the thermos and left. As expected, his phone vibrated soon after.
【Song Qiming: Lin Yushu, you’re impressive.】
【Song Qiming: Woof woof, barking.jpg】
That felt good.
Lin Yushu put away his phone and hummed a tune with a good mood.
Approaching the end of the workday, Lin Yushu’s phone vibrated again. As it was every Tuesday and Wednesday, it was a message from Song Qiming urging him to leave work. But this time, there was no “Woof woof, charging ahead” expression. It seemed that Song Qiming was still angry about the office matter.
Lin Yushu still had unfinished tasks at hand, and since he intentionally let Song Qiming find his own way home today, he leisurely replied:
【Lin Yushu: Overtime】
After a while, his phone vibrated again, and Song Qiming sent a photo.
Lin Yushu opened it and saw his Honda Civic car key.
…Damn it!
In the morning, Song Qiming drove, but he forgot to take the key back.
【Song Qiming: I’m leaving in ten minutes if you don’t come down.】
【Song Qiming: Woof woof, wink.jpg】
