Chapter 192
Su Bin looked at Allen with admiration. For someone who had self-taught Chinese and never spoken it with others before, the fact that Allen could speak it this well was already impressive. If you ignored questions like “Where are you going?” Su Bin might even think Allen had always known how to speak Chinese!
Allen saw the effect he wanted and smiled with satisfaction: “When they’re here, we speak Chinese.”
Su Bin: “Huh? Why?” — Isn’t that impolite?
Allen explained, “When you speak a language they don’t understand, it naturally creates a sense of distance.”
Su Bin: “You want me to keep a distance from them?”
Allen slightly lifted his chin: “No, I want you to have a sense of mystery to them.”
Su Bin: “…” It’s still the same!
However, who would’ve expected that Allen’s so-called “we speak Chinese” would involve discussing some inappropriate topics at the dinner table?
Allen: “I made you so tired last night, and today you’re still cooking so many dishes. You’re working so hard.”
Su Bin: “It’s not hard…”
Allen: “Not hard? Then should we continue tonight?”
Su Bin: “…Huh?”
Allen: “What’s wrong?”
Su Bin: “Allen, let’s talk about this later, there are others around. It’s not really appropriate to discuss this now…”
Allen: “What’s the matter? They don’t understand anyway.”
Su Bin: “…” Su Bin was left speechless! qaq
So, for the entire day that Allen’s friends were visiting Roland Manor, they only saw the Duke and his little lover whispering privately to each other, but they had no idea what was being said. Every time someone tried to join the conversation, Su Bin would blush and look like he wanted to shrink away.
On the way back, Hal frowned and asked Sidney, “Does that guy really not understand English?”
Sidney: “…” Your Highness, is your brain stuck in the door? Clearly, it’s Prince Allen’s possessiveness that doesn’t want you to talk to his lover!
Hal stroked his chin and said, “Too bad Hua Ling wasn’t here today. Next time, we’ll definitely invite him so he can translate what they’re saying right there!”
…
That evening, after switching to “Chinese” mode, Allen became even bolder, using all sorts of “questionable” lines to tease Su Bin—“You little devil, you say no, but your body is very honest,” “Call me ‘husband~’,” “Does Your Highness serve you comfortably?” “Want a little more, hmm?” And other similar things… Even though Duke Allen was usually gentle and elegant, now he was spitting out these awkward phrases. Su Bin felt an overwhelming sense of dissonance.
“No, stop saying that…” He was so embarrassed that he wanted to dig a hole in the bed and bury himself!
“You’re not… really wanting me to speak Chinese, are you?”
“Ugh…” Su Bin was finally speechless.
The next morning, Su Bin woke up slowly in Allen’s arms, and heard Allen say “Good morning” in Chinese. After that night, hearing Allen’s voice again sent a shiver down his spine.
“You learned Chinese from where?” Su Bin poked Allen’s chest, feeling frustrated.
Allen: “I found some Chinese books and popular Chinese movies, and I memorized them all.”
Su Bin was shocked: “Memorized them? All of them?”
Allen: “Yeah.”
Su Bin: “…” He almost forgot that Allen had an incredible photographic memory, so memorizing and applying it only required a little thought…! That terrifying learning ability really made people jealous!
Su Bin: “So you didn’t tell me before because you hadn’t memorized everything yet?”
Allen: “Something like that.”
Su Bin: “…” So it was because Allen, being so prideful, didn’t want to look bad in front of him!
But there was a downside. Since he had been studying by himself, Allen now spoke with a mix of styles, sometimes casual, sometimes goofy, and sometimes even in old-fashioned speech, like suddenly dropping phrases such as “Why?” and “Very good.”
“Then… what about last night?” Su Bin didn’t remember reading about things like that in normal books or watching them in movies. Could it be that Allen also memorized some cheesy romance novels like The Overbearing CEO Falls in Love with Me?
Allen: “I found some popular novels on Chinese websites. They say these are the slang young people use nowadays.”
Su Bin: “…Damn!”
Allen then rolled over and pinned Su Bin down, kissing him a few times: “No, not giving you any.”
Su Bin: “%￥#…”
Allen: “So, how’s my Chinese? Does it sound good?”
Su Bin: “…It’s… it’s great.”
— He wouldn’t dare risk being unable to get out of bed by challenging Allen, so he decided to let this proud man continue with his strange behavior…
Since Allen didn’t like outsiders interrupting his world with Su Bin, he had dismissed all the full-time servants at Roland Manor. He only allowed them to come over at set times each day to clean and tend to the garden, and to occasionally groom Mua and scoop its litter.
The weather had been changing recently, and with the cold and warm alternating, several servants had fallen ill and taken leave, leaving the work to Su Bin.
Cleaning was fine, and the garden didn’t need to be tended to every day, but grooming Mua and scooping its litter was giving Su Bin a headache.
Mua was getting older and more temperamental, and Su Bin didn’t have a close relationship with it. It wasn’t that Su Bin disliked cats, but Mua had completely different attitudes toward Allen and him.
In front of Allen, Mua would roll over, exposing its belly to beg for petting, but when it saw Su Bin, it would raise its tail and glare at him. The first time Su Bin tried to pet Mua, he ended up with three scratch marks on his hand… After that, Allen had angrily flicked Mua’s forehead with his finger, and Mua’s hostility toward Su Bin had only grown. It seemed to treat him like a rival for territory!
On the day the servants took leave, Su Bin had to scoop Mua’s litter. Mua hid in a dark corner and watched quietly. As soon as Su Bin left, it went over, scattered the litter all over the place, and even pooped outside the litter box.
With a dark face, Su Bin tossed the scoop at Allen: “I can’t do this job anymore!”
Allen could only grit his teeth and do it himself, while Su Bin stood behind him, watching.
Seeing Allen, who usually washed his hands with disinfectant several times even after touching a speck of dust, now frown and hold his nose as he scooped poop out of the litter box, it was both ridiculous and funny. Su Bin couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Allen: “…”
Su Bin: “I-I didn’t mean to… Haha… I’m not laughing, really!”
Allen: “You stay right there!”
An hour later, Su Bin was lying on the bed, tears streaming down his face as he complained: Damn it, those two—Allen and the cat—are the same kind!
After nearly a year of recuperation at Roland Manor, Allen’s health had greatly improved, and he had resumed some of his research work. He was temporarily working at the medical school of a well-known university in D City.
One evening, after returning from the lab, Allen looked especially pale. Su Bin thought something might have gone wrong at work and planned to give him a massage to help relieve some of his stress, even thinking of getting intimate to ease Allen’s tension. But Allen rejected him, saying he was tired and wanted to sleep.
Su Bin felt confused and depressed that night. The next morning, when he woke up, he saw Allen staring at him with a worried look in his eyes.
Su Bin jumped in shock: “What’s wrong?”
Allen leaned in and kissed Su Bin’s forehead, saying: “Nothing.”
Su Bin: “…”
An odd atmosphere hung between them. For the next few days, Allen’s behavior became strange. One time, when Su Bin tried to hold his hand, Allen pulled away. Su Bin asked if he had done something wrong, but Allen denied it and said: “It’s not your fault.”
Such emotional behavior was rare for Allen, and Su Bin was filled with frustration and kept overthinking things. That evening, during dinner, Su Bin couldn’t take it anymore and said to the unenthusiastic Allen: “Just tell me, whatever illness you have, I can accept it.”
Allen froze: “…What?”
Su Bin: “Did you get diagnosed with some terminal illness?”
Allen furrowed his brows: “What are you thinking?”
Su Bin slammed his chopsticks down, exclaiming: “Then what is it? Why have you been acting so strange these past few days?”
Allen stared at Su Bin without saying a word. Su Bin pouted, his face full of grievance, almost on the verge of tears.
“Ah…” Allen sighed, walking over to hug Su Bin, cradling the back of his head as he kissed him comfortingly, whispering: “Don’t be sad, it’s my fault. My emotions have been terrible, and I’ve affected you…”
Su Bin: “Then tell me, what’s going on?”
Allen furrowed his brows and said: “I lost something very important.”
Su Bin: “What did you lose?”
Allen sighed: “I don’t want to say.”
Su Bin: “…” Damn it, if you don’t tell me, I’ll cry in front of you!
Su Bin didn’t end up crying because Allen directly dragged him to the bedroom… and Su Bin was healed.
After that, Allen seemed to return to normal, though Su Bin remained curious about what it was that Allen had lost to make him so preoccupied. However, since Allen refused to say, Su Bin had no choice but to let it go.
About a week later, when Su Bin took some of Allen’s coats to the dry cleaner, he felt a small hard object under one of the coat hems. What was this? A button? A coin? It felt like a ring?
After some inspection, Su Bin realized there was a small hole in the inner pocket of the coat, and the object had slipped through and gotten stuck in the lining.
After some careful work, he pulled it out and his eyes widened—this was the ring he had given Allen!
Ah! Su Bin suddenly realized, was this the “important thing” Allen had lost a few days ago?
But Su Bin hadn’t noticed that Allen’s left hand was missing a ring lately…
When he got home, Su Bin immediately checked Allen’s left ring finger, and saw that it was wearing an identical ring!
With a black line on his face, Su Bin pulled out the “discovery” of the day and asked Allen: “Is this the thing you lost?”
Allen’s eyes widened: “Where did you find it?”
Su Bin explained truthfully, then looked at Allen’s left hand: “What’s going on with this?”
Allen: “That day in the lab, I wanted to clean the ring, but when I turned around, I couldn’t find it. I was afraid you’d be upset if you knew, so I bought a ‘fake’ one to wear for now.”
Su Bin couldn’t help but laugh and cry: “If you lost it, then you lost it. I’ll just buy you another one. Don’t do that again. You made me worried for so many days…” He took the ‘fake’ ring off of Allen’s finger and, after examining it carefully, exclaimed, “Wow, you really bought one that’s exactly the same!”
Allen insisted: “It’s different. This one isn’t the one you gave me.”
Su Bin’s heart warmed. With his head lowered, he slipped the original ring he’d found back onto Allen’s finger and said: “You’re really silly.”
Allen smiled and said: “I’ve been with you so long, I’ve gotten a bit silly too.”
Su Bin: “…” Wondering if this ‘fake’ one can be returned!
[Extra 02 – Daily Miscellaneous (End)]
