Shoutout to Kari for the commission!
The next day at six in the morning, Le Cheng got up and immediately started drawing.
They didn’t have any classes today, and the teacher for their only watercolor class had also taken the day off. Tan Xiaobai and He Ziqing didn’t wake up until 10 a.m. When they saw Le Cheng sitting crookedly in a beanbag chair, they yawned and casually asked, “Le Cheng, you’re up so early. What time did you wake up?”
“Six.” Le Cheng didn’t even look up.
“F*ck, six?” Tan Xiaobai shot upright. “Don’t tell me you got up just to draw?”
He Ziqing yawned and took out his phone to look at it. “Le Cheng must be drawing.”
He Ziqing had moved in less than two months ago, yet he had already witnessed Le Cheng’s journey as a productivity monster.
Le Cheng nodded. “Once I finish this commission, I’ll treat everyone to a nice meal.”
“Sure, sure, I’m all for it!” Tan Xiaobai lay crookedly on the bed like a salted fish, sighing. “If the client who commissioned this saw you getting up at six in the morning to work, they’d have to praise you for being so dedicated!”
Le Cheng guiltily blinked and glanced at his quiet phone, thinking to himself, I wouldn’t exactly call myself that dedicated.
Because this commission was really expensive!!
He had to put in twelve times the effort to make it.
When they returned last night, Zhou Shirui had briefly discussed the elements and requirements with him. Le Cheng listened attentively, feeling the excitement of getting to create commissioned artwork for a game he liked. The moment he opened his eyes that morning, he started drawing.
After slowly working on the sketches, Le Cheng came up with three versions but wasn’t satisfied with any of them. It wasn’t only because of the price, which gave him a pressure he didn’t usually have, but also because Zhou Shirui hadn’t been specific enough and the details weren’t clear enough. The two of them probably needed to refine things further together.
Le Cheng glanced at the time. Eleven in the morning.
How about……just asking Zhou Shirui to come directly to the dorm?
That way, they could discuss everything in detail and perfectly solve the problem.
But……although it would be convenient, it would disturb his roommates too much. Tan Xiaobai and the others definitely wouldn’t say anything, but Le Cheng still felt somewhat embarrassed.
Then should he ask him out to eat? He couldn’t exactly carry his laptop and drawing tablet around with him.
The library required silence, so there was no way to discuss things there either.
“Ding-dong—”
Just as he was thinking about it, his phone vibrated. Le Cheng lowered his eyes and glanced at it. It was a message from Zhou Shirui.
[Client Senior Zhou*: Are you busy?]
* nickname combining him being a client and him being a senior in school
This was the new note Le Cheng had changed Zhou Shirui’s contact name to.
It was simply too vivid and fitting.
Le Cheng poked at the screen.
[Orange: Not busy. Are you free right now?]
[Client Senior Zhou: Yes.]
Le Cheng thought for a moment, and suddenly came up with a brilliant idea.
He could go to the studio with Zhou Shirui!
The studio was very close to their school, right in the university town. The round-trip drive would take less than half an hour, and he could have a long, thorough discussion with Zhou Shirui!
[Orange: Let’s go eat together, and then go to your studio afterward, is that okay?]
[Orange: Line-drawing puppy blinking.jpg]
Zhou Shirui had just finished a large lecture. He pulled out his phone and saw the message. His gaze landed on the three words “is that okay,” and he paused slightly.
[Client Senior Zhou: What are you going to the studio for?]
Le Cheng hurriedly explained.
[Orange: We can go to the studio and talk! It’s quiet there, and no one will disturb us. I’ll bring my laptop, so we can discuss the details of the CG you commissioned!]
Zhou Shirui’s gaze narrowed slightly. Automatically ignoring the latter half of the message, he turned his head and said to Cheng Yufei, “Bring my books back to the dorm later.”
“Sure.” Cheng Yufei was curious. “What, you’re not going back to the dorm?”
“Mm.” Zhou Shirui said blandly, “Someone invited me out.”
Cheng Yufei reasonably suspected that this was a mouthful of dog food. But Zhou Shirui’s expression was very calm, and he didn’t look particularly happy either. After hesitating for a moment, he said, “Okay, then go do your thing. I’ll bring your stuff back to the dorm.”
[Client Senior Zhou: Okay. Now?]
Le Cheng finished drinking his water and saw the message Zhou Shirui had sent him.
[Orange: Okay, then I’ll get ready and wait for you downstairs.]
Le Cheng quickly stood up, stuffed things into his backpack, changed his clothes, and went downstairs.
After waiting for less than two minutes, he saw Zhou Shirui walking toward him. He hurriedly jogged over and asked, “You don’t have class this afternoon anymore, right?”
Zhou Shirui lowered his eyes to look at him. “Mm, no class.”
Did Le Cheng want to do something?
“That’s great.” Le Cheng curved his lips. “Then let’s go.”
That way, he would have plenty of time to communicate with Zhou Shirui face-to-face!
Zhou Shirui was momentarily dazzled by his smile. “What do you want to eat?”
Le Cheng figured they could just eat something casually. “You decide. Should we eat at the cafeteria or go out?”
“Go out.” Zhou Shirui answered without much hesitation.
Le Cheng suddenly had a stroke of inspiration. “Okay. We haven’t had hot pot in a long time. How about hot pot?”
Zhou Shirui: “Okay.”
The two of them strolled to the school gate, hailed a taxi, and arrived at the hot pot restaurant they had eaten at last time. Le Cheng took a number and found their table, then watched Zhou Shirui go mix the dipping sauce.
The dishes arrived quickly. Le Cheng immediately cooked a roll of beef and dipped it into the sauce.
Delicious! The familiar taste.
The first time he had come to eat hot pot with Zhou Shirui, he had already been won over by this dipping sauce. As Le Cheng cooked some tripe, he couldn’t help asking, “Zhou Shirui, what do you put in your dipping sauce? Why is it so delicious?”
Zhou Shirui raised his eyes and saw Le Cheng’s face flushed red from eating. “It’s just an ordinary sesame paste sauce.”
Le Cheng wasn’t very satisfied with that answer. “Ordinary but delicious! It’s really good. Tell me, okay? Tell me, please~”
The ending of his voice curled upward, as though he was acting spoiled again.
Zhou Shirui’s fingers involuntarily curled slightly.
“Then next time we come, I can make it myself and eat it without bothering you again!” Le Cheng happily added.
Zhou Shirui asked, “You want to make it yourself?”
Le Cheng nodded like a pecking chick. “Yeah.”
Zhou Shirui stared at him for two seconds. Only after a moment did he casually say in a flat voice, “I can’t remember the recipe either. I just mix it by feel.”
“What? By feel?” Le Cheng was surprised.
And he could still make it taste the same every time?
Who would have thought Zhou Shirui was naturally gifted at making sesame paste dipping sauce.
“Mm.” Zhou Shirui lowered his eyelashes and said lightly, “Eat first.”
Le Cheng obediently focused on eating hot pot.
Eating hot pot in cold weather was the best experience. After finishing their meal and coming out of the restaurant, Le Cheng had worked up a forehead full of sweat. He wiped it with a tissue and turned to look at Zhou Shirui. Seeing that he didn’t seem hot, he immediately became suspicious.
“Zhou Shirui, why aren’t you hot?”
“I’m normal.” Zhou Shirui naturally reached out and touched his smooth forehead with his fingers. After considering it for a moment, he said, “You probably don’t exercise enough.”
It was the absolute truth, but Le Cheng suddenly remembered the saying from before, “Warm hands and feet means you’re not deficient.” He got hot easily and sweated easily. Could he really have kidney deficiency?!
This concerned a man’s dignity. Le Cheng’s face instantly turned red, and, as if trying to cover it up, he stammered, “Actually, actually, I do exercise too……”
Zhou Shirui asked, “Really?”
That tone made Le Cheng overthink things a little. “You don’t believe me?” He quickly changed the subject and asked, “Then……are you not very hot when you work out either?”
“Mm.” Zhou Shirui thought about it. “Depends on the situation.”
Zhou Shirui stared at the back of his slender, fair neck. “Why are you asking?”
“Nothing.” What Le Cheng actually wanted to say was, judging by how healthy you look, you probably don’t have kidney deficiency, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it, feeling like that would only inflate the other person’s ego.
“Let’s go to the studio.” Le Cheng changed the subject.
They hailed a taxi by the roadside and arrived at the studio.
Unlike the messy feeling it had given off last time, the studio had been cleaned extremely thoroughly this time. The simple, bright decor was spacious and impressive. Le Cheng poked his head inside and, having failed to notice it last time, discovered that there was also a lounge inside the studio, with the door closed.
Le Cheng put down his small shoulder bag and took out his computer. He saw that Zhou Shirui had brought him a plate of snacks.
Le Cheng picked up a piece of candy, unwrapped it, and ate it. With the candy bumping against his teeth, he spoke indistinctly, “The elements and requirements you told me about last time were too vague, so I drew three versions of the sketches. Take a look at all of them.”
Zhou Shirui: “Okay.”
Le Cheng opened his computer and called Zhou Shirui over. “Come, sit next to me and look.”
Zhou Shirui did as he said and sat beside him, extremely close. Their thighs were pressed against each other, and his slightly higher body temperature came through the thin fabric, making Zhou Shirui somewhat tense.
Le Cheng was still diligently explaining. “For this version, I emphasized the character and enlarged the grass elements. I wanted to create a misty effect, but I looked at the CG style you guys used before, and it felt a little inconsistent, so I made a second version. The second version emphasizes the scenery, but……”
Zhou Shirui lowered his eyes and listened very attentively. Le Cheng finished chattering on about his ideas and, with his mouth dry, picked up the mineral water beside him and took three big gulps. When he lowered his head, he unintentionally noticed Zhou Shirui’s long legs wrapped in black casual trousers. He reached out and casually poked them. “Zhou Shirui, do you usually train your legs?”
He hadn’t used much force, barely more than a light touch, but Zhou Shirui felt his muscles tense. He turned his head and stared at Le Cheng for a long while before uttering a single word. “Train.”
“Oh……” Le Cheng had only asked casually. “Then are you good at it?”
Zhou Shirui’s dark eyes deepened. Inevitably, training his legs made him think of the possible implication behind Le Cheng’s words.
“Should be pretty good.” Zhou Shirui’s gaze dropped slightly, somewhat fixed on him. “But we’d have to try it to know.”
Le Cheng was being stared at without noticing anything wrong. “Try it? Can’t you tell directly?”
Zhou Shirui pursed his lips. “Trying it should be more accurate.”
Le Cheng thought Zhou Shirui was really meticulous. Even to see whether his legs were well-trained, he had to actually try it, but how were they supposed to try? Le Cheng didn’t understand.
Although he was interested in muscles, he wasn’t interested in working out, so he said, “Then pick one version. I’ve said so much just now, you should understand everything, right?”
“Mm.” Zhou Shirui felt that Le Cheng’s thoughts jumped so quickly that even he had some difficulty keeping up. “Let me take a look.”
The two discussed the style for another half an hour. After Le Cheng understood everything, he took his computer to the side and began drawing. Once he started drawing, he became extremely focused, bending over the desk and painstakingly working through the details bit by bit.
After an unknown amount of time, Le Cheng’s waist was unbearably sore. Zhou Shirui had gone outside to take a call, so he stood up and stretched.
The clock showed that more than an hour and a half had passed. Le Cheng felt that it was officially time to slack off. He opened the tablet he had brought with him and glanced at the backend of Douyin, then went through the comments for a while in chronological order.
This was his daily ritual that he always kept up, checking the comments to see what everyone had been saying again.
After looking for about five minutes, Le Cheng exited and happily began scrolling through short videos.
When Zhou Shirui finished his call and came back in, Le Cheng was leaning back with his head tilted upward, hugging his tablet while curled up in the computer chair. His fair, delicate profile was very quiet.
“Are you tired?” he asked.
“Mm……” Le Cheng said. “My waist is sore. But the computer chairs here are pretty good. They’re way better than the one in my dorm, so it’s fine……”
Le Cheng’s voice suddenly stopped. He realized that what he was doing right now was slacking off, while Zhou Shirui was his client. Although the description wasn’t completely accurate, a subtle sense of guilt still welled up inside him.
He coughed twice. “I’m only going to scroll for ten minutes, okay.”
“Hmm?” Zhou Shirui glanced sideways. “You’re scrolling Douyin?”
“Yes.” Le Cheng emphasized, completely unashamed. “I think……I should scroll Douyin for a while to adjust my state.”
After saying this, his long eyelashes blinked, and he glanced at Zhou Shirui’s expression. Seeing that Zhou Shirui didn’t seem to have any particular reaction, he relaxed, understanding that his client senior didn’t mind.
Zhou Shirui said nothing and slightly lowered his eyelashes.
After learning about Le Cheng’s Douyin account, aside from the first time when he went through all of his posts, he hadn’t clicked into it again.
Although he had occasionally seen a few comments.
Those two comments were both Le Cheng saying that he liked him.
That was Le Cheng’s own privacy. Zhou Shirui wasn’t someone who liked prying excessively into other people’s private affairs. Besides, at the time, his feelings and Le Cheng’s hadn’t been mutual.
Le Cheng scrolled through Douyin for ten minutes, then kept his promise and started drawing.
This time, he drew all the way until four in the afternoon. Staring at an electronic screen for such a long time made him feel dizzy and muddled, and his upper and lower eyelids kept fighting to close. He saved the draft and said to Zhou Shirui, who was typing on the computer beside him, “I’m so sleepy……Zhou Shirui, I want to sleep. Just twenty minutes……”
Zhou Shirui walked over. “Go sleep in the lounge.”
Le Cheng was pulled up by him in a daze. He was so sleepy that he could barely control himself, following behind Zhou Shirui, his chin almost bumped into the other man’s back.
After opening the door to the lounge, Le Cheng automatically took off his shoes and coat and crawled into the blanket. His brain was already too sleepy to function. Seeing that Zhou Shirui hadn’t left, he suddenly jolted and asked softly, “Do you want to take a nap together?”
Zhou Shirui looked at him. After a moment, he said, “Okay.”
Le Cheng shifted his butt over a little and closed his eyes.
He felt that Zhou Shirui seemed to have lain down, but hadn’t covered himself with the blanket.
The weather wasn’t very cold, and the studio hadn’t turned on the heat, but sleeping without a blanket could still make someone catch a chill.
Still with his eyes closed, he reached down and pulled the blanket out from underneath himself, then turned his head slightly.
“Here, cover yourself.”
Zhou Shirui was forced to cover himself with the blanket. The two of them were both lying on the bed, and the distance between them seemed to have been pulled very close.
Le Cheng was terribly sleepy at this point and didn’t pay much attention to anything. After lying quietly for a while, he suddenly murmured, “Are you covered?”
Zhou Shirui paused for several seconds. “Mm.”
After answering, he waited for a while, but didn’t hear Le Cheng say anything else. He turned his head and discovered that Le Cheng was already sleeping soundly, his lips slightly parted.
He looked completely guileless.
As if simply hearing that he had covered himself with the blanket was enough for him to fall asleep peacefully.
Zhou Shirui’s heart seemed to be gently squeezed. He slowly looked at Le Cheng and realized that during the time he had been dating Le Cheng, he had become increasingly soft-hearted.
Le Cheng was like a little sponge that had soaked up plenty of water, full of vitality. The closer you got to him, the more your body and heart would unconsciously soften.
This wasn’t the first time Zhou Shirui had seen Le Cheng sleeping, but watching Le Cheng sleep soundly while they were lying on the same bed was a different feeling.
Le Cheng slept sweetly, his soft hair brushing against the blanket. His lips were in a state that looked very kissable, always plump and rosy, like jelly.
And indeed, like jelly, Zhou Shirui thought quite seriously.
After staring for a long while, Zhou Shirui’s heart stirred. He slowly lowered his head. He wanted to do something.
He hadn’t kissed him yesterday because he was afraid Le Cheng was still nervous. Today should be okay.
Zhou Shirui slowly moved closer, so close that the tip of his nose was almost touching Le Cheng’s fair cheek. Their breaths mingled.
Very close.
“Mm……” Le Cheng suddenly let out a little whimper, as though he was uncomfortable somehow. Zhou Shirui instantly froze in place, even holding his breath.
Le Cheng really was uncomfortable. His face felt itchy, as though there were a strand of hair on it. He reached out and scratched it with his finger, opening his eyes slightly. When he saw Zhou Shirui, he was stunned for a moment, then unhappily mumbled, “You……why are you so close to me……”
“Your hair……” Le Cheng frowned with his eyes closed. “Your hair got on my face……”
He sounded very dissatisfied, almost spoiled.
As he said this, his eyes closed again. Without waiting for Zhou Shirui to answer, he sank back into dreamland like a puppy that was particularly good at sleeping.
He had only been awake for three seconds.
The kiss interrupted, Zhou Shirui took a deep breath, endured it again and again, then reached over and tucked Le Cheng’s arm back under the blanket. He stared at Le Cheng’s face for a while, as though looking at him for a while was almost like giving him a kiss, before lying back down.
Forget it. I’ll kiss him after he wakes up.
That was what he thought.
When Le Cheng woke up from his nap, he felt refreshed.
There was no one beside him. The empty lounge was quite warm. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, then pushed open the door and saw Zhou Shirui sitting in front of the computer. Two buttons of his inner shirt had been undone, revealing his long, slender collarbones, and he was expressionlessly typing on the keyboard.
He seemed to be seriously working, but when Le Cheng walked over, he discovered that he seemed to simply be……typing on the keyboard.
Le Cheng was puzzled. “Why are you typing on the keyboard without doing anything?”
“……mm” Zhou Shirui’s voice sounded especially calm. “I’m practicing my typing proficiency.”
The reason sounded far-fetched, and upon closer inspection, even more far-fetched. Le Cheng tilted his head, not quite understanding. “Why do you need to practice that?”
Zhou Shirui was silent for a moment, then said blandly, “You need it for coding.”
His face was naturally cold and restrained, his thin lips lightly pressed together, looking extremely serious. His credibility was maxed out. No one would ever think that someone with such a face would lie to them.
Le Cheng felt like he had learned some obscure piece of trivia.
“Oh, so that’s why.” Le Cheng didn’t feel that anything was wrong at all. He leaned closer, turning his head toward the screen. “Then since you type so fast, you must be really good at it, right?”
Zhou Shirui glanced sideways at him. The two were extremely close, close enough that they could even smell the faint scent of shower gel on each other.
He asked in return, “Do you think I’m good?”
“Of course.” Le Cheng nodded without thinking. “You’re super good.”
His tone was very serious.
As if he genuinely admired him.
Zhou Shirui seemed to let out a very soft laugh, the corners of his lips curving upward. Le Cheng inexplicably flushed from his smile. “Why are you laughing? I, I’m not wrong, am I?”
Le Cheng seemed to always be like this, able to easily suppress all those negative emotions within him.
“No.” Zhou Shirui stared into his eyes. “You’re absolutely right.”
Zhou Shirui’s eyes were very dark, pure as obsidian. Being watched by a pair of eyes like these felt as though he were being looked at with complete focus for ten thousand years.
Le Cheng froze slightly, and his heart suddenly leapt, as if touched by a subtle flutter.
He paused, then his eyes curved into a smile. “Zhou Shirui, it’s getting really late. Let’s go back together?”
Zhou Shirui said okay.
They opened the door, and outside was pitch-black.
The rented studio was inside an office building. It was too late, and there were almost no lights on inside the building. Their floor had even fewer.
Le Cheng glanced around. “It’s so dark.”
Zhou Shirui seemed to adjust to the darkness for a moment before saying, “The lights must be broken.”
Thin moonlight slowly seeped in from beside the window, as though draping a delicate layer of white gauze over everything. In the darkness, Le Cheng looked at Zhou Shirui’s profile. “Does this happen often?”
Zhou Shirui: “Not often.”
When they had arrived, the elevator on this floor had already been under repair. There was another elevator on the other side, but in terms of convenience, it was far less worthwhile than simply going down to take the one on the floor below.
Le Cheng suggested, “Then how about we go downstairs and take the elevator on the next floor?”
Zhou Shirui agreed.
There were no electric lights, but there was moonlight, and after adjusting for a while, they could still see clearly. Le Cheng took out his phone and took the first two steps down.
But for some reason, he felt that something was wrong. He turned his head and looked at Zhou Shirui, who was only two steps away from him.
Zhou Shirui was mildly nearsighted, and he definitely did not wear glasses just for decoration. Le Cheng had noticed before that whenever Zhou Shirui took off his glasses, his gaze would be □□*ly revealed, and he would unconsciously narrow his eyes, looking somewhat wild and a little fierce.
* this is what novel had written
People who are nearsighted can have some degree of night blindness.
The thought flashed through his mind.
Zhou Shirui stood two steps above him. He couldn’t make out his expression, and it seemed as though he was looking down at him somewhat condescendingly.
Le Cheng stopped.
Zhou Shirui: “Hm?”
But Le Cheng didn’t say anything. In the hazy darkness, Zhou Shirui saw Le Cheng seem to blink lightly before reaching out his hand. “Zhou Shirui.”
He was calling his name.
Le Cheng tilted his head. “Do you want to… hold my hand?”
“What?” Zhou Shirui’s heart skipped a beat.
“Hold my hand.” Le Cheng asked softly, “Do you want to?”
Zhou Shirui didn’t say anything. He didn’t quite understand, but slowly, he took hold of Le Cheng’s fingers.
His palm completely enclosed Le Cheng’s hand. His eyelashes hung lowered, and he looked as though he trusted him completely.
Le Cheng suddenly had the illusion that he had protected Zhou Shirui. He couldn’t help but smile, interlocking his fingers with Zhou Shirui’s before saying, “Stay close to me, okay?”
Zhou Shirui responded with an “Mm.” Le Cheng led him slowly onward, and in the darkness, the only light came from the small glow of the phone, swaying as they walked.
“Zhou Shirui.” Le Cheng’s voice seemed even clearer in the darkness.
“Mm?”
“Your palm is so hot,” Le Cheng said. “I can feel it.”
Zhou Shirui stopped. He couldn’t help thinking that sometimes Le Cheng was both bold and shy, both smart and an idiot.
Le Cheng waited for quite a while but didn’t hear Zhou Shirui answer. Instead, he heard Zhou Shirui ask in return, “Why do you think that is?”
Le Cheng thought about it and asked, “Are you nervous?”
“Mm.” Zhou Shirui was silent for a moment. “Yes.”
Le Cheng hadn’t expected to guess correctly. “Really?”
But it was normal. Anyone would be nervous if they couldn’t see very well and had to rely on someone else to lead them down the stairs.
Le Cheng made a joke. He turned his head and said with a bright smile, “Then if you say something nice to me now, I won’t let go.”
“Something nice?” Zhou Shirui asked.
“Yep.”
Le Cheng looked at him in the night. He couldn’t make out his expression, yet for some reason, he seemed incredibly gentle. For a moment, there was silence. Le Cheng thought he was unwilling and was just about to say forget it when he heard a voice fall beside his ear.
“Le Cheng.” Zhou Shirui’s voice was low. “Chengcheng… don’t let go of me, okay?”
