Holding the box in his hand, Ming Qi’s brain went into overdrive. But even after thinking until his head nearly exploded, he still couldn’t understand why a box of condoms had appeared among the snacks Bu Hongfang gave him.
Senior Bu had clearly said he didn’t sleep around!
Ming Qi took a deep breath and, with trembling fingers, planned to stuff the condoms back into the snack bag. Yet when he secretly glanced toward Yu Qinchou, intending to discreetly observe whether he had noticed this scene, he saw the other man leisurely leaning against the sofa backrest, raising a brow as he watched him.
Every tiny expression and movement of his had been completely noticed.
The two pairs of eyes met in silence.
“Actually, I’m thinking about a question.” Ming Qi suddenly spoke, his expression looking somewhat serious as he stared directly at Yu Qinchou.
“What?”
“Why this thing appeared in this bag.” He spoke earnestly and honestly. “You should understand from me saying this that this box has nothing to do with me, right?”
Hearing that, Yu Qinchou revealed a rather regretful expression. “So it has nothing to do with Qiqi. I thought it was specially bought.”
He bent down and leaned forward, pulling the small square box from between Ming Qi’s fingers before lowering his eyes to examine it.
The atmosphere suddenly became extremely quiet. Ming Qi didn’t know what there was to look at on the packaging, but Yu Qinchou seemed to be examining it very seriously… Just as Ming Qi opened his mouth, wanting to say something to break this strange atmosphere, the man finally spoke again.
“Looks like it really wasn’t. You even bought the wrong size.”
Ming Qi: “……”
How exactly did he manage to say something like that without changing expression?
Besides—
“I don’t know your size either.”
“Then next time you can personally measure it.” Yu Qinchou showed absolutely no awareness that he had said something shocking. He even emphasized the words “personally.” Ignoring Ming Qi’s murderous glare, he smiled and casually tossed the small square box into a drawer. Then he dragged over a cushion and placed it beneath himself, one long leg stretched lazily across the floor as he tilted his head and urged Ming Qi, “Now eat.”
After saying that, he handed his milk tea to Ming Qi.
Though Ming Qi was grateful for the milk tea Yu Qinchou gave him, he was still shocked by how quickly the man could switch topics—and by how thick-skinned he was, speaking flirtatious lines without even reddening in the face.
He forcefully stabbed the straw through the seal, took a fierce sip, muttered a couple of complaints inwardly, then lowered his head and continued eating.
Fortunately, the awkwardness caused by the appearance of the little square box almost completely disappeared over the course of the meal. Leaning back against the sofa, Ming Qi contentedly rubbed his stomach and narrowed his eyes as he yawned.
On the other side, Yu Qinchou efficiently cleaned up the leftovers before getting up to wash in the bathroom.
The moment Yu Qinchou left, Ming Qi impatiently dug his phone out from the gap between the sofa cushions. He opened Bu Hongfang’s chat window and sent over an enormous red question mark. The oversized red question mark sticker almost filled the entire screen, perfectly expressing Ming Qi’s bewildered mood at the time.
Senior Bu: [Picking nose.jpg]
Senior Bu: What’s wrong?
Senior Bu actually still had the nerve to ask what was wrong.
Ming Qi jabbed hard at the screen: Senior, do you know your condoms fell into my snack bag?
Senior Bu: ?
Bu Hongfang had been happily eating dinner with Zheng Liang. Zhang Cong and Qu Xiang were also sitting across from them. Suddenly seeing that sentence, he nearly sprayed out a mouthful of alcohol. Though he managed not to spit it out, he still nearly choked to death, pounding his chest twice before barely suppressing the urge to cough.
Seeing his condition, Zheng Liang frowned and was about to speak, but his gaze first landed on the phone screen. After several seconds of silence, he condemned Bu Hongfang with a shocked and incredulous expression: “Are you insane?”
Bu Hongfang condemned him back: “You’re the insane one. What kind of things are in your head? What are you thinking?!”
Zheng Liang: “Then why is Ming Qi saying your thing fell into his snack bag? Bu Hongfang, which one of us is actually crazy?!”
Bu Hongfang: “……”
Wasn’t it because he heard Ming Qi asking Zhang Cong about set visits? He thought Yu Qinchou was coming to visit the set, so when he sent the snacks, he thoughtfully prepared that thing for them.
He genuinely only wanted to thank him for those breakfasts.
Who knew the visitor would be a fan instead of Yu Qinchou?
Bu Hongfang glanced at his manager. “Anyway, it’s not what you’re thinking.”
Then he lowered his head and replied to Ming Qi: Oh, maybe Zheng Liang accidentally dropped it in there.
Zheng Liang: “?”
Bu Hongfang, you idiot. I’m going to kill you.
77.: But Brother Liang hadn’t arrived at the set yet at that time.
Bu Hongfang: “……”
Senior Bu: Then it was A-Chao.
A-Chao was Bu Hongfang’s personal assistant.
Ming Qi: “……”
Before this conversation ended, Ming Qi found A-Chao’s WeChat and sent him a huge, round, black cooking pot.
What a pitiful scapegoat.
…
Ming Qi went to the hotel gym to exercise for a while—purely to digest his food.
Yet when he returned to the hotel room, Yu Qinchou pointed toward the refrigerator. “There are still two candied fruit skewers left.”
Ming Qi had already finished all the grape-flavored ones, leaving half a strawberry skewer and half a hawthorn skewer. Opening the refrigerator, he stared at the candied fruit with a rather grave expression, but still resignedly took one out and bit into it. When he wasn’t interested in candied fruit, even licking it felt overly sweet. He brewed himself a cup of light tea, alternating between bites of candied fruit and sips of tea until he finished the strawberry flavor.
Then he slowly edged toward Yu Qinchou’s side.
The man who had returned from negotiating overseas cooperation was obviously much busier than usual. Most of the time when he wasn’t teasing Ming Qi, he was working.
Ming Qi hesitated over whether or not to disturb him. After thinking about it, he decided to quietly retreat again.
But just as he turned back, warmth and force wrapped around his arm through his sleeve. Before Ming Qi could react, he had already fallen onto Yu Qinchou’s lap. He lifted his eyes in confusion and met Yu Qinchou’s face. The man leaned lazily against the chair, one hand lightly supporting Ming Qi’s waist as he asked, “Why are you leaving again?”
Ming Qi answered honestly: “I was worried about disturbing you.”
Yu Qinchou glanced at the laptop screen. The dense text covering it was enough to make anyone’s head ache.
Perhaps Ming Qi didn’t realize it, but his presence would never be a disturbance. Rather, it was a small comfort amidst endless boredom.
“It won’t disturb me,” Yu Qinchou gave him a definite answer. “So now you can tell me what you originally came over to do.”
“…Do we really have to talk like this?”
Ming Qi glanced downward. Beneath him were Yu Qinchou’s strong thighs. The heat penetrated through the thin silk pajama pants and through his own not-particularly-thick pants as well. That intertwining warmth and mingling breath were actually not very different. Both were enough to make a person burn all over. He awkwardly tried to brace himself against the floor with his toes and whispered, “Let me get down first.”
“Get used to it.” Yu Qinchou’s tone was casual. “We’ve already kissed. It’s only sitting on my lap. Besides, it’s not like you haven’t sat here before.”
…When they were lost in passion, he indeed had.
Ming Qi’s hands had nowhere to go, so just like during those passion-dazed moments, he grabbed the corner of Yu Qinchou’s naturally hanging shirt.
He felt that, as Yu Qinchou said, he really should get used to it.
So he merely answered Yu Qinchou’s original question: “I came to ask if you wanted candied fruit. Hawthorn flavor.”
Yu Qinchou laughed softly. “Can’t finish it?”
Ming Qi looked at him innocently.
He could still feel the lingering sweetness coating his lips and tongue. He could only offer the remaining half skewer to Yu Qinchou while negotiating with him: “You once helped some other little kid finish five skewers. Helping your legal partner finish half a skewer today shouldn’t be too excessive, right?”
Yu Qinchou raised a brow.
Interesting. He was already naturally using the identity of legal partner now.
His progress was gratifying.
“Indeed not excessive. So having Qiqi feed me shouldn’t be excessive either, right?”
Ming Qi immediately took out the remaining half skewer and held it horizontally by Yu Qinchou’s lips.
Wasn’t it just feeding Yu Qinchou? What was so difficult about that? It wasn’t like he had never fed him before.
But clearly, Ming Qi had underestimated Yu Qinchou.
The man slowly took away the candied fruit skewer. “That’s not the kind of feeding I meant.”
His gaze settled on the young man’s lips. With the fingers of his other hand pressing against Ming Qi’s soft lips, Yu Qinchou’s voice became slightly hoarse.
“Feed me with here.”
Without giving Ming Qi any chance to refuse, Yu Qinzhou gazed at him with eyes so deep they seemed to contain a bottomless abyss, capable of effortlessly pulling someone in. As the atmosphere around them gradually heated up, Ming Qi felt like his mind was getting fuzzy too. Otherwise, how could he really have followed Yu Qinzhou’s wishes and bitten into a candied hawthorn ball?
His breathing was stolen away once more. The sweetness between their lips and teeth spread completely, the sugar shell crisp while the sourness of the hawthorn slowly invaded… This hawthorn seemed especially sour, sour enough that Ming Qi’s brows knitted together. But very quickly, more of his attention focused on being tangled up with Yu Qinzhou. The repeated invasions made his body unconsciously lean backward in escape, yet Yu Qinzhou was like a ferocious beast, every inch of his encroachment filled with forcefulness.
His lower back hurt from being pressed against something hard, and a pained nasal sound escaped him. The man wrapped an arm around his waist, lifted him into his arms, and when he set him down again, his arm had already cushioned Ming Qi’s lower back.
Standing before him, Yu Qinzhou slowly moved his lips downward and kissed the rolling knot of his throat. Every gentle suck brought Ming Qi an intensely unfamiliar sensation, making even the ceiling he stared at while tilting his head back seem blurry and faintly swaying. The few physiological tears spilling from the corners of his eyes were wiped away and kissed off. Yu Qinzhou softly said, “Seems a little tastier this way.”
Ming Qi felt the thing that tasted good probably wasn’t the candied hawthorn, but him.
“There are still three left. Want to eat them slowly?” Yu Qinzhou bent down again, fingertips hooking open the thick pajama jacket as he moved even closer to Ming Qi.
Ming Qi had never imagined that eating candied hawthorn could somehow take an entire hour. He panted tiredly, his lips carrying the vivid color of being thoroughly ravaged. His long lashes trembled lightly, though the rise and fall of his chest wasn’t very pronounced. Pressed back onto Yu Qinzhou’s lap again, he heard the man ask beside his ear, “Will you eat this again next time?”
Ming Qi: “…”
There was no need to ask at all.
He would never eat candied hawthorn again for the rest of his life.
As if hearing his silent answer, Yu Qinzhou lowered his eyes and laughed softly. “Then next time we can eat something else. It doesn’t have to be candied hawthorn.”
Ming Qi, whose legs had gone weak just from “eating candied hawthorn,” gave up resisting and pressed his forehead against Yu Qinzhou’s shoulder, muttering gloomily, “I don’t want to eat anything. I want to sleep. I still have filming tomorrow.”
Fingers hooked the thin fabric of his pajamas and tugged it back down, covering the exposed waist and stomach revealed during the chaos.
Yu Qinzhou asked him, “Your legs are weak and you can’t stand? Want me to help you bathe?”
Ming Qi suddenly felt that he could stand again.
And walk perfectly fine.
He hurriedly darted into the bathroom, then darted back out because he’d forgotten to bring a change of clothes. He insisted on doing absolutely everything himself, not giving Yu Qinzhou a single opportunity.