Chapter 95:
Qin Man had the kind of body that looked slim in clothes but revealed powerful muscles underneath. Lifting him wasn’t easy.
How did that assistant, who looked like he weighed no more than 120 pounds, manage to support him steadily?
Money, probably.
Ji Ran cursed silently as he struggled to move Qin Man to the sofa in the living room.
He didn’t rush to do anything. Instead, he stepped back, put his hands in the pockets of his pajama pants, and looked down at the drunk man in front of him.
Qin Man’s cheeks and ears were flushed red. His eyes were hazy, and he sat in a slouched position, trying hard to look up at him.
Seeing Ji Ran not moving, he reached out, trying to grab him, but couldn’t quite reach.
Ji Ran wasn’t sure if he was really drunk or just pretending.
So, as Qin Man was about to touch him, Ji Ran suddenly clenched his fist and swung it towards Qin Man’s face.
The punch stopped just short of hitting him.
“If you lie to me again, we’re done,” Ji Ran said.
Qin Man stared blankly at his fist, not flinching. It was unclear if he understood or not.
After a moment, he leaned forward and rubbed his cheek against Ji Ran’s fist, mumbling, “Getting angry enough to hit your own boyfriend?”
“…”
It seemed he was truly drunk.
After a while, Ji Ran withdrew his hand and asked helplessly, “Can you take off your clothes by yourself?”
Qin Man had taken care of him when he was drunk before, so this was just repaying the favor.
Qin Man nodded, “I can.”
Ji Ran turned and went into the bathroom, fetched a warm towel, and when he came back out, Qin Man was left in nothing but black underwear, with his clothes strewn all over the floor. He was still wearing socks, looking quite ridiculous.
Qin Man sat slumped on the sofa, head hanging low, frowning as if deep in thought.
“…Who told you to strip completely?” Ji Ran was speechless. “Are you an idiot?”
Worried he might catch a cold, Ji Ran bent down, picked up a shirt, and draped it over Qin Man’s shoulders. “Put your arms through.”
Qin Man didn’t move for a long time.
Ji Ran asked, puzzled, “…What are you looking at?”
“Baby, what should we do?” After a moment, Qin Man responded, pressing his hand against his underwear. “I can’t get hard.”
“……..”
“I wasn’t like this before.” The smell of alcohol lingered between them as Qin Man frowned deeply. “Does it not recognize you? I won’t allow that.”
Damn it.
Did this guy think that when he asked him to take off his clothes, it was an invitation?
Ji Ran felt both the urge to punch him and the need to laugh, resulting in an oddly twisted expression. He was now sure that Qin Man was truly drunk, and heavily so.
Ji Ran bent down, about to help him wipe his body. “You…”
“Don’t rush.” Qin Man slipped his hand into his underwear, trying to wake up his little brother, and seized the opportunity to lean in and kiss him. “Just a moment…”
“…” Ji Ran was at a loss.
How flirtatious must someone be normally to act this seductive when drunk?
Even Yue Wenwen, when drunk, just liked to hug people.
They hadn’t kissed in a long time. Ji Ran, still squatting, took a moment to react, blushing as he pulled Qin Man’s hand out, stumbling over his words, “Damn it, what the hell… why are you being so seductive?”
Qin Man looked at him, “Not going to do it?”
Ji Ran, “No, we’re not doing it.”
Qin Man sat quietly, and after a while, he said, “But I miss you so much.”
Even though he was drunk, his words were clear, and if you ignored his nonsensical talk and flushed cheeks, he seemed almost normal.
Ji Ran remained silent, holding his wrist and started wiping his hands.
“We live together every day.” Qin Man mumbled, unusually talkative. “Why do I miss you so much?”
“Why did you dye your hair back?”
“Black hair looks good. I like your black hair.”
“I also like green, all colors really. But green doesn’t look good, it looks like you’re scolding me.”
Ji Ran didn’t even look up, “…Can you stop talking? How are you still so annoying even when drunk?”
“Mm.” Qin Man lowered his eyes to look at him, and after a long time, he said, “I’m not drunk.”
“You’re drunk. Do you want me to take you to a mirror to see? You look like a dead pig right now.”
“Really?” Qin Man laughed. “When you’re drunk, you don’t look like a dead pig. You’re especially cute, all red, your body, your ears, even your thighs. You’re like a candied hawthorn.”
Ji Ran was stunned by this comparison from Qin Man.
“You’re the candied hawthorn. In your next life, you’ll be a candied hawthorn that’s so bad no one wants to eat it and gets thrown away after one bite.”
Qin Man just smiled without saying anything. He was exhausted; all his rambling had drained him.
Finally, Ji Ran finished cleaning him up and gave him a cup of warm water. Though his movements were not gentle, he made sure not to spill any.
After setting the cup down, he asked, “Can you get up?”
“I can.” Qin Man asked, “Where are we going?”
Ji Ran stood up. “To the bedroom, unless you want to sleep in the living room.”
Qin Man tilted his head, leaned against Ji Ran’s waist, and wrapped his arms around Ji Ran’s leg, expressing his desire with his body.
Ji Ran was speechless. How could this guy be both flirtatious and clingy when drunk?
Could his assistant, with that small frame, have handled him in the past?
Qin Man wrapped his arms around Ji Ran’s neck and let him lead him to the bedroom.
Opening the door, Qin Man paused, recognizing the familiar decor inside.
Ji Ran was already struggling; with Qin Man stopping, he couldn’t move him at all. “What now?”
“Baby, you’re drunk.” Qin Man said, “You even got the room wrong.”
“No, I didn’t. You’re sleeping in the guest room tonight.”
“Why?” Qin Man was confused.
“Because…” Ji Ran didn’t want to waste time arguing with a drunk man. Telling the truth would just lead to more back and forth, so he clicked his tongue. “My room is being renovated, unusable.”
Qin Man thought about it. Faintly, he did recall something about renovations.
Seeing Qin Man finally cooperating, Ji Ran quickly picked up the pace and tossed him onto the bed.
He set the air conditioning to a comfortable temperature, covered Qin Man with a blanket, and was about to leave the room.
Even though Qin Man had a terrible headache, he managed to grab Ji Ran’s wrist first. He turned over and lay on his stomach, looking up at him. “Where are you going?”
Ji Ran’s expression didn’t change. “To throw your clothes in the washing machine.”
“So obedient,” Qin Man said, his strength undiminished.
“Your clothes reek of alcohol, it’s disgusting. If I don’t wash them, who will they stink up?” Ji Ran said. “Let go.”
“Wait a moment.” In the dimly lit room, with only a small lamp on, Qin Man’s gaze was intense. “Give me a kiss before you go.”
“I’ll do it when I come back,” Ji Ran said, making an empty promise.
Qin Man didn’t say anything but still held onto him.
He was so tired that he feared he wouldn’t stay awake until Ji Ran returned. He wanted a kiss now.
Qin Man kissed Ji Ran’s fingertips, which he had pulled closer, and then seemed to notice something. “Where’s the ring?”
He looked down. “Mine is missing too.”
Before Ji Ran could react, Qin Man got up from the bed. The man, who had just been too weak to walk, now seemed invigorated and hurried out of the room.
Ji Ran was stunned. “Where are you going?”
Qin Man didn’t answer. His steps were quick but unsteady, swaying as he moved.
He went to the living room, picked up his black suit pants from the floor, rummaged through them, and found the ring.
Ji Ran watched silently.
Qin Man put the ring back on. “I thought I had lost it.”
“So what if it’s lost?” Ji Ran said.
“If it’s lost, you’d abuse me,” Qin Man laughed. “You’d also get mad at me, which wouldn’t be good.”
“…”
Qin Man asked, “What about yours? Did it fall in the toilet?”
Ji Ran felt a mix of emotions. After a moment, he managed to say, “Yeah.”
He guided Qin Man back to the guest room. Qin Man lay on the bed, knowing he didn’t have the strength to get up again. His headache was splitting, and his eyelids felt heavy, almost impossible to keep open.
“Baby, I can’t hold on any longer. I’m going to sleep first.” With his eyes closed, Qin Man wasn’t sure if the person beside him was still there. “Throw the clothes in the wash and come back to sleep.”
He closed his eyes for only a few seconds before sleepiness overwhelmed him.
Just as he was about to drift off, he felt a familiar touch on his lips.
He had felt this touch countless times before and knew exactly what it was even with his eyes closed. Before Ji Ran could pull away, Qin Man quickly hooked his arm around his neck, deepening the kiss.
Instinctively, he pursued Ji Ran’s tongue, entangling and licking, refusing to let go.
Ji Ran regretted kissing him the moment their lips met.
He had thought Qin Man was already asleep.
But he couldn’t figure out why he initiated the kiss even if Qin Man was asleep.
Unable to understand, he decided not to think about it. After all, Qin Man was so drunk that even if he remembered in the morning, he probably wouldn’t be able to distinguish between reality and a dream. Everyone experiences a blurry and uncertain recollection after a night of heavy drinking.
In the dimly lit room, the two kissed cautiously, both immersed in the long-missed sensation.
Finally, it was Qin Man who stopped first.
He had fallen asleep.
His breathing was steady, and his hand was still hooked around Ji Ran’s neck.
Ji Ran’s eyelashes fluttered as he gently removed Qin Man’s hand, got up, and left the guest room.
Closing the door, Ji Ran let out a soft breath, feeling uncomfortable all over.
They had indulged in pleasure many times before, and recently he hadn’t had much release, so just touching Qin Man made him react.
He reassured himself that it was just pent-up frustration and had nothing to do with the kiss just now.
He picked up the clothes from the floor and threw them into the washing machine.
Besides the smell of alcohol, the clothes were also infused with the scent of perfume, a mixture of odors that made him feel nauseous.
After a quick tidy-up, Ji Ran grabbed some clothes and took another cold shower in the bathroom.
Back in bed, he put on an eye mask and forced himself to sleep. But as soon as he closed his eyes, he thought of the kiss they shared in the guest room.
It was sticky and carried a hint of red wine flavor.
A few dozen seconds later, Ji Ran not only couldn’t fall asleep, but also felt his body react again. He took off the eye mask and couldn’t help but mutter in the darkness:
The human body structure is too honest, especially men.
Ji Ran didn’t avoid it anymore, nor did he plan to take another cold shower. With a serious face, he decided to solve this untimely reaction in the most primitive way possible.
He resisted his fatigue, stared at the ceiling, and manually dealt with it for five minutes.
Then he found that the reaction was getting stronger, but… he couldn’t release it.
He felt unsatisfied, so he just couldn’t finish.
This realization made him panic a little.
Ji Ran’s face flushed red, and the little bit of sleepiness he had completely disappeared. Refusing to accept it, he tried again for a while.
After a moment, he felt like a firework that wouldn’t explode, with the fuse clearly reaching its end but still unable to ascend to the sky, feeling uncomfortable all over.
What the hell was wrong?
He grabbed his phone and found a movie, skipping directly to a certain part, but the more he watched, the more boring it felt, like drinking plain water.
Fuck?
Was he broken??
In disbelief, Ji Ran put down his phone, sat up, and tried to remember if he had eaten something he shouldn’t have recently.
His gaze wandered around the room, then settled on a particular spot.
He had hurriedly grabbed his clothes earlier and hadn’t closed the wardrobe. Now it was half open, and he could see a gray T-shirt stuffed in the corner.
It was Qin Man’s clothes.
Originally, he had wanted to cut this shirt up, but then he thought it wasn’t easy for a clothing factory to make a piece of clothing…
None of this was the point.
The point was that when he saw this shirt, his reaction was even more intense than when he was watching the movie just now.
Qin Man often wore this shirt when they were in bed together. The fabric was soft, and it wouldn’t feel uncomfortable rubbing against his back, just a little itchy.
Ji Ran’s throat tightened slightly.
… No way.
No, he was holding it in, no way he could touch that piece of clothing.
He quickly lay back on the bed, deceiving himself by pulling the covers over his head.
Then various intimate moments between them in this room immediately floated into his mind, with the clearest image being that gray T-shirt.
After a moment, Ji Ran got out of bed.
This was a normal physiological reaction, it didn’t mean anything, didn’t prove anything. He thought numbly.
He picked up the gray T-shirt and returned to the bed, just as he brought it to his nose.
A faint cologne scent mixed with the smell of his household shower gel, creating another strange smell.
… Qin Man’s scent.
Ji Ran didn’t know how long it had lasted, he just felt unusually refreshed, his mind going blank for a moment.
He breathed lightly, staring at the gray T-shirt in his hand with countless creases he had just grabbed, thinking that if Qin Man knew about this, he could only silence him, and then bury him under the bed with the shirt.
The next day, Ji Ran was awakened by the phone ringing.
He looked at the time, it was only five-thirty, the tone of the call was not good: “What?”
“Ji Ran, are you free now?” He Suiran was afraid he would hang up the phone, so he spoke very fast. “I have something urgent to discuss with you. Can you come out for a while?”
“I’m busy.”
“It’s about Chen Qi – you know him, right?” Ji Ran squinted, trying to remember this person.
“The Williams racing driver, Chinese, his contract there is expiring next year, and he’s looking for a club,” He Suiran said. “He returned from abroad a couple of days ago, with a serious jet lag. I finally got in touch with him and introduced him to your club… He’s quite interested and wants to talk to you. But he has a flight to Italy in two hours, and we don’t know when he’ll be back.”
The drowsiness disappeared, and Ji Ran immediately remembered.
Chen Qi was a racing driver he admired, one of the top five in his age group in China. But because he didn’t know when his contract with Williams would end and couldn’t contact him during the closed training, he had put it off.
He Suiran said, “I’m really sorry about what happened before, so I want to make it up to you…”
“No need for compensation. If it works out, I’ll give you a thank-you fee,” Ji Ran snapped out of his daze, rolled out of bed. “Where? I’m coming over now.”
When Qin Man woke up, he felt like there was an iron rod stirring in his brain, causing him intense pain.
He sat up, silently surveying the surroundings. This was Ji Ran’s house, where he had stayed in the guest room for a while. Before he could distinguish between dream and reality, the door opened.
Qin Man suddenly looked up and saw Liu Chen walking in, his eyes immediately darkening.
“You’re awake,” Liu Chen felt his displeasure and asked, “Are you uncomfortable anywhere? Do you need me to go buy some breakfast?”
“Why are you here?” Qin Man’s voice was hoarse.
“Oh. Mr. Ji called me this morning and asked me to come… take care of you.”
The original words were to come and collect the corpse.
“Where is he?” Qin Man asked.
“I don’t know,” Liu Chen shook his head, “When I arrived, he had already left.”
Qin Man glanced at the time, it was only eight-thirty.
He went out so early?
“Did he say anything on the phone?”
Liu Chen hesitated, “About what?”
“About me.”
“… No,” Liu Chen said, “Mr. Ji seemed to have an appointment, he was speaking urgently on the phone.”
He just left him here like this, and then left?
Qin Man smiled and lowered his eyes, his junior brother was quite ruthless.
Feeling his throat smoking, he took the water from Liu Chen and was stunned to see the ring on his hand.
… Ji Ran put it on for him?
Seeing his boss suddenly smiling with narrowed eyes, Liu Chen became more and more puzzled, “President Qin, let me help you back home…”
“No need, I can walk by myself,” Qin Man said.
He got out of bed, took out his phone, and sent a sticker to Ji Ran.
He couldn’t remember how the ring was put on, his memories were confused, there were many versions, and he didn’t know which one was real.
But maybe… Ji Ran had also put the ring back on.
This realization made him instantly sober and felt pleased.
Huge shoutout to @_nyanmaru_ on Discord for commissioning this! The chapter will be posted regularly, show your support for Ciacia at Kofi.
