Shoutout to Kari for the commission!
Le Cheng realized that his face had turned red and lowered his head slightly. A tuft of hair at the back of his head curled upward, making him look like an adorably dazed, perfectly ripe little tomato.
It was a little awkward. But then Le Cheng thought about it. He and Zhou Shirui were a couple, so there probably wasn’t anything wrong with blushing a little.
Newly dating couples would most likely blush when the other person suddenly got close.
It was pretty normal.
Le Cheng gradually managed to convince himself of this.
He was wearing a light blue jacket. As if to ease the awkwardness, he slipped his hand into his pocket and felt something hard.
Oh, right. Le Cheng remembered. “Chopsticks. I haven’t given you chopsticks yet.”
His pockets were deep, so he had casually stuffed the chopsticks into his pocket, and he hadn’t thought of them until now.
His mind uncontrollably imagined Zhou Shirui’s cold-faced expression as he grabbed the noodles with his bare hands.
The more awkward the situation, the more Le Cheng wanted to laugh. He desperately bit down on his lower lip to hold it back and handed the chopsticks to Zhou Shirui.
Zhou Shirui took them and said, “Thank you.”
“Mm, you’re welcome.” Le Cheng couldn’t help laughing.
His face was small and his eyes were big. When he smiled, the corners of his mouth curved upward and his eyes curved into crescents, giving him a sincere and adorable appearance.
Zhou Shirui suddenly realized that Le Cheng’s real personality might be a little dazed, and he also seemed to like acting spoiled.
Le Cheng naturally had no idea what he was thinking. After saying goodbye to Zhou Shirui, he wandered downstairs.
Once he left the Science Building, Le Cheng quickly rubbed his cheeks.
After these past few days of interacting with Zhou Shirui, Le Cheng felt that the two of them had become much more familiar.
At least he no longer felt intimidated just from seeing Zhou Shirui’s face, but acting spoiled in front of him was still a little scary.
Not scary, actually. Le Cheng thought about it carefully.
He was embarrassed.
Yes, embarrassed.
After all, he had never been in a relationship before. Besides, in his daily life, Le Cheng didn’t really like troubling other people. Although he had a good personality and could get along well enough with his classmates and roommates, he had been too busy in his previous life to socialize and had almost never had any friends.
Le Cheng lifted his foot and kicked a small stone by the roadside.
This was a little difficult.
He really couldn’t act spoiled. He really couldn’t.
He felt that he had to become ridiculously familiar with Zhou Shirui before he could say those things to his face in a joking manner.
Although he could skillfully master the art of acting spoiled on WeChat, doing it with ease and confidence, being incredibly annoying in the process, he and Zhou Shirui still had to meet in person. If his true personality were exposed the moment they met, then everything he had done before would be for nothing. When exactly would he ever get Zhou Shirui to be the one to suggest breaking up?
By the time Le Cheng returned to the dormitory, he still hadn’t figured out what to do.
Whatever. He wouldn’t think about it anymore.
There was only Tan Xiaobai in the dormitory. Le Cheng greeted him.
“By the way, Le Cheng,” Tan Xiaobai said, “tomorrow’s Saturday. Are you going out?”
They didn’t have classes on Saturday or Sunday. Le Cheng froze for a moment, having completely forgotten that tomorrow was Saturday.
Le Cheng asked, “So we don’t have to get up for an eight-o’clock class tomorrow?”
“Yep.” Tan Xiaobai nodded.
“I’m so touched.” Le Cheng looked completely serious. “Tomorrow, I’m going to live and die with my beloved bed. We’ll never part until death.”
Tan Xiaobai was amused to the point of helpless laughter. “Why are you so funny? Hahahaha.”
Le Cheng curled up the corners of his mouth. “What about you? Are you going out?”
“Yeah.” Tan Xiaobai nodded. “Our club president is planning to take us all out. We’ll sing some songs, eat some food, stuff like that.”
Le Cheng was a little surprised. “What kind of club has such good benefits? I’m tempted to join too.”
“Haha.” Tan Xiaobai gave him a mysterious smile. “Of course it’s the Knitting Club! There are only five people in our club. We’re each treated like national treasures. Our president wants to win us over so we don’t abandon him, so he’s taking us out to have fun.”
Le Cheng shook his head regretfully when he heard this. “Too bad I’m busy lately. Otherwise, I’d want to join too…”
Tan Xiaobai: “You’re always welcome! I’ve even learned how to crochet scarves lately.”
Le Cheng admired his skillful hands. Then he thought about it, wasn’t he supposed to go out with Zhou Shirui tomorrow too?
After all, they were a couple. Based on Le Cheng’s observations, going out of school to find food on Saturdays and Sundays was an essential daily activity for couples!
But he was actually pretty busy.
Whether Zhou Shirui wanted to go or not was another matter. He had several commissions on hand, and he hadn’t even finished a single one. Looks like he absolutely had to stay up late tonight.
Le Cheng thought about it. If he could get up tomorrow morning, he would contact Zhou Shirui. If he couldn’t get up, then forget it.
Thinking this, Le Cheng opened his Weibo account.
He uploaded a human anatomy drawing he had sketched while slacking off during today’s boring class, and noticed a little red dot on his notifications.
He opened it and saw a comment and a new follower notification.
[Youmeng*123: Boss, your anatomy drawing is amazing. Panties flying everywhere]
* have a dream
[Youmeng123 followed you]
Le Cheng couldn’t help laughing out loud.
In the past, when he practiced drawing anatomy, he mostly practiced male figures too. The previous anatomy drawing he had uploaded was of Zhou Shirui enthusiastically slacking off while watching him from outside the basketball court, so naturally, he had drawn it in a simple yet dynamic style.
He tapped his phone and replied.
[Stealing Hearts, Runaway Guoli Orange: Glad you like it [muah]]
The moment the message was sent, the other side replied immediately, as if they had been waiting for it.
[Youmeng123: Boss, what did you use as reference? Any software you recommend?!]
Le Cheng paused for a moment, then very matter-of-factly typed—
[Stealing Hearts, Runaway Guoli Orange: No, this is my exclusive male model [dog holding a flower]]
What was wrong with a little empty talk?
Youmeng123 seemed to have been hit hard by this and didn’t reply for a full two minutes.
Le Cheng thought about it, then typed out a recommendation for one of the human anatomy reference programs he commonly used.
[Youmeng123: Thank you, Boss! Wishing you and your exclusive male model 99]
Le Cheng: ?
His expression went blank for a second.
No, that’s not what you think, hey!
Whatever. It was the internet, so Le Cheng didn’t bother arguing with Youmeng123 and exited the app.
If Zhou Shirui could really become his exclusive male model, that would be great.
But just thinking about it, he knew it was impossible.
Le Cheng shook his head melancholically, took out his drawing tablet, opened his computer, then opened his screen recorder and continued recording his drawing process.
The drawing process could be posted on Douyin, while the finished image could be uploaded to both platforms. Once things started gaining a little traction, Le Cheng planned to upload little tips on coloring, hair, lazy metal, lazy folds, and so on. This would help him gain followers quickly.
That night, Le Cheng worked straight through until three in the morning. Only after finishing the final piece did he contentedly go to sleep.
A single character in a flat-color style was relatively quick to draw, and Le Cheng was highly efficient. He was also extremely comfortable using his drawing software. A single character with a simple background in flat colors was even easier for him, so he uploaded it to Weibo and went to sleep peacefully.
The result was that Le Cheng, who had stayed up until after three the previous night, honorably and unsurprisingly slept in the next day.
The moment he opened his eyes, it was already 11 a.m. Le Cheng groggily got out of bed and washed up, then picked up his phone and messaged Zhou Shirui, asking if he wanted to go out for lunch.
By the time Le Cheng finished getting ready, he saw that Zhou Shirui had already replied.
[Big Brother: Where?]
After washing up, Le Cheng was fully awake now, so he replied: [Anywhere is fine. Are you free right now?]
[Big Brother: Yes.]
[Orange: Then come find me first. I’m changing clothes.]
Le Cheng began getting dressed.
There was no response from the other end of the phone for quite a while. A few minutes later, there was a “Ding-dong.”
[Big Brother: I’m downstairs waiting for you.]
That was what Le Cheng had meant too, but only afterward did he belatedly realize… Zhou Shirui couldn’t have thought he was inviting him upstairs, could he?
Actually, if they were both straight men, then seeing each other change clothes was no big deal. Taking it a step further, if they were a relatively intimate couple, then seeing each other change clothes would still be no big deal. But he and Zhou Shirui were somewhere in between, essentially… straight men in a not-very-familiar relationship who happened to be a couple.
What a strange combination. Look at that again.
Le Cheng’s face flushed slightly. Why did that sentence suddenly sound a little suggestive?
Whatever. He hadn’t planned on maintaining a particularly good image in front of Zhou Shirui anyway. From the very beginning, he had been aiming to become an annoying, spoiled brat, so it wasn’t like…
After changing clothes, Le Cheng went downstairs and immediately spotted Zhou Shirui standing beside the flowerbed.
Zhou Shirui’s expression was completely normal. There was no sign whatsoever that he had just been teased.
Le Cheng reassured himself that he had simply been overthinking things.
“Have you been waiting long?” Le Cheng stepped forward. “Where are we going to eat?”
Zhou Shirui turned his head and glanced at him. “What do you want to eat?”
“I’m fine with anything.” Le Cheng tried to be considerate, but after thinking about it, he felt that he was being far too easygoing. He cleared his throat and added, “But I’m actually very picky.”
Zhou Shirui paused. “Hot pot?”
Le Cheng looked down at what he was wearing and happily nodded, completely throwing his “I’m very picky” persona out the window. “Sure, sure!”
It had been so long since he’d had hot pot!
His face practically screamed, “I’m so hungry for this.” From Zhou Shirui’s perspective, his round, upturned eyes seemed to sparkle, bright and glittering, making him look obedient and harmless.
Zhou Shirui withdrew his gaze and walked forward.
Le Cheng followed beside him as they left campus. He didn’t know which hot pot restaurant near the school was good, so he simply followed Zhou Shirui.
Zhou Shirui clearly knew the area. Once they left campus, he turned left.
Everything was fresh and interesting to Le Cheng. He looked around in every direction. Zhou Shirui walked very quickly, as if he wasn’t waiting for him at all.
By the time Le Cheng realized what was happening, he had already fallen quite a distance behind Zhou Shirui.
He hurried forward, jogging a few steps to catch up. He wanted to tug lightly on Zhou Shirui’s clothes and get him to wait, but Zhou Shirui seemed to sense something and suddenly turned around.
This caused the hand Le Cheng had intended to grab the hem of his clothes with to brush against Zhou Shirui’s hip bone, almost grazing his lower abdomen.
It was a very light touch. Through their clothes, it was barely perceptible.
Le Cheng froze for a moment, then looked up at Zhou Shirui. Zhou Shirui still had little expression on his face, but his brows furrowed slightly, revealing what he was really thinking.
Their gazes unexpectedly collided. Zhou Shirui was silent for a moment before simply asking, “What are you doing?” Why did Le Cheng want to touch him?
Was it intentional… or unintentional?
Le Cheng shook his head. “N-Nothing, it’s just, you were walking too fast, so I wanted to pull you back.”
Le Cheng’s thin, fair earlobes showed a hint of red. Seeing that Zhou Shirui didn’t say anything, he changed the subject, attempting to ease the atmosphere: “Where are we going to eat later?”
It was supposed to be a clever move, but in Zhou Shirui’s eyes, it almost confirmed his earlier suspicion.
He calmly put a little distance between himself and Le Cheng. “Li’s Authentic Hot Pot.”
Although Le Cheng acted very naturally, that didn’t mean Zhou Shirui could accept having intimate contact with Le Cheng.
Holding hands, hugging, kissing, having sex, all of it was forbidden.
Le Cheng had no idea what he was thinking and nodded. The craving he had suppressed was stirred up again. “It sounds really authentic. How long until we get there?”
“We’ll take a taxi,” Zhou Shirui replied, reaching out to hail one.
A taxi with the green “Vacant” sign illuminated stopped. Zhou Shirui opened the front passenger door and got in.
Le Cheng: “……”
Forget it, sitting by himself was actually pretty spacious.
Maybe it was just his imagination, but he always felt that Zhou Shirui had become even colder after being accidentally touched by him.
Could it be that he didn’t like being touched by other people?
Le Cheng thought about it for a moment… It wasn’t impossible.
Mm… After all, after all, the lower abdomen was considered a sensitive area.
Just as Le Cheng was thinking about this, the taxi arrived. After getting out, Le Cheng looked at the red-and-oily signboard and felt that it had to be really authentic.
It was mealtime, so there were a lot of people, but Zhou Shirui seemed to have made a reservation in advance. Le Cheng followed him eagerly, got a ticket, and found that it was number 17.
After sitting down, Zhou Shirui asked him, “Do you have a preferred flavor for the dipping sauce?”
Le Cheng actually liked eating garlic, but this situation wasn’t really suitable for it, so he shook his head. “I’m fine with anything. I prefer sesame sauce.”
Zhou Shirui nodded and turned around to go to the dipping sauce station.
Le Cheng propped his chin up and waited for him, bored out of his mind. Before long, Zhou Shirui returned with the dipping sauces.
Le Cheng took a look and found that the two small dishes looked exactly the same.
Zhou Shirui then handed him the chopsticks.
Le Cheng said, “Thank you,” and felt that Zhou Shirui, his boyfriend, he would actually be pretty good as a friend, he was quite considerate.
The staff came over to set up the hot pot, and after they finished ordering the dishes, the food was brought out shortly afterward.
Once they began eating, neither of them spoke anymore.
Le Cheng counted the seconds before fishing out a piece of tripe, poking it around in the dipping sauce, and putting it into his mouth.
He didn’t know what Zhou Shirui had put in it, but it tasted even better than the sauce he had mixed himself before.
He ate until he was quite full. By the end, Le Cheng couldn’t eat the last plate of meat anymore, but he had been the one who ordered it. Just as he frowned, caught between wanting to eat it and being unable to, Zhou Shirui glanced at him, silently put the meat into the pot, and ate it himself.
Le Cheng was deeply moved.
After waiting for Zhou Shirui to finish his last bite, Le Cheng took out his phone and discovered that Tan Xiaobai had sent him a message.
[Little White Rabbit White and White: Where are you? Did you go out with your boyfriend?]
[Little White Rabbit White and White: We’re getting ready to go sing karaoke, but there aren’t enough people. Do you want to come play?]
Le Cheng hesitated for a moment.
[Little White Rabbit White and White: You don’t have to pay your share! Are you tempted?]
Poor Little Cheng: “……”
Great, he was tempted.
[Orange: Sure! Where is it? Let me see if it’s close to me.]
[Little White Rabbit White and White: Inviting you to share your location]
Le Cheng tapped into it and took a look. It was on the way, so he could go.
[Orange: Okay, I’ll probably arrive in about twenty minutes.]
When Le Cheng looked up again, he found that Zhou Shirui had already finished eating and was patiently waiting for him.
Le Cheng asked, “Are you done eating?”
“Mm,” Zhou Shirui said.
“Okay, wait for me a moment. I’ll wipe my mouth.” Le Cheng reached out, wanting to grab the tissues that were a little farther away, but Zhou Shirui reached out and handed them to him.
Le Cheng took them, accidentally brushing Zhou Shirui’s fingertips.
They were warm, slightly rough, with neatly trimmed nails, but not cold.
Le Cheng inexplicably remembered the saying, “Warm hands and warm feet mean your kidneys aren’t deficient.”
He was speechless at his bizarre train of thought and hurriedly wiped his mouth.
Zhou Shirui frowned very slightly, rubbing his fingers as he looked at Le Cheng. The other party was lowering his eyelashes, concealing the bright light in his eyes. The overhead lighting cast a dense shadow, and his eyelashes looked like two little brushes. A little sweat had gathered on the tip of his nose, making him look damp and dewy, yet obedient, inexplicably reminding one of a wet puppy.
Without saying anything, Zhou Shirui stood up. After Le Cheng finished wiping his mouth, he also stood up.
He had only taken two steps forward when Zhou Shirui reminded him, “Your coat.”
“Hm?” Le Cheng turned back and picked up the coat he had taken off earlier because he was hot, genuinely praising him, “You really do have a better memory.”
“……”
Zhou Shirui found it difficult to feel like he had actually been complimented.
When they reached the door, Le Cheng took out his phone, intending to send Zhou Shirui his share of the meal and taxi fare.
But after thinking about it, what came out instead was something else: “Oh, right, I’m going to meet up with my classmates later, so I can’t go back with you.”
Zhou Shirui turned his head to look at him. “Where?”
The question inexplicably sounded like he was checking up on him, but Le Cheng knew that wasn’t what Zhou Shirui meant and answered honestly, “Guitong Road.”
“It’s on the way.” Zhou Shirui said concisely, “I’ll drop you off first.”
Le Cheng had no objections. “Okay.”
They hailed a taxi, and soon arrived at Guitong Road.
Le Cheng got out and waved at Zhou Shirui. “Bye-bye, I’ll go first.”
Zhou Shirui glanced at the assortment of advertisements along the street and didn’t say much. “Mm.”
Le Cheng turned around and left, finding the place according to the information Tan Xiaobai had sent him.
He thought it would be a little awkward to figure out how to split the bill in person, so he would talk to Zhou Shirui about it online after he got back.
After all, he was much less timid online.
As soon as he arrived outside the private room, before he had even opened the door, the ear-splitting music poured out.
Le Cheng pushed the door open and entered. The lighting was dim, and he squinted as he looked for Tan Xiaobai.
“Over here, over here!” Fortunately, Tan Xiaobai wasn’t singing and waved at him. “Le Cheng, you finally made it!”
Le Cheng walked toward Tan Xiaobai, who immediately pulled him over to sit on the sofa. Someone onstage was singing, “Men, cry, cry, it’s not a sin.”
Le Cheng: “……” He tentatively asked, “The person onstage is?”
“Our club president.” Tan Xiaobai said mysteriously, “He just broke up. He downed two bottles of beer in one go just now, and now he’s drunk and going crazy.”
Le Cheng: “……”
He was very considerate. “He can really hold his liquor.”
Tan Xiaobai whispered, “It’s fine, you can laugh at him as loudly as you want. I won’t tell him.”
“……”
There were only four people in the entire private room, including Le Cheng, no wonder Tan Xiaobai had called him over.
The club president was named Xu Yuan. Partway through, he came down and forcibly dragged Le Cheng into singing a duet with him. After learning that Le Cheng could draw, his drunken frenzy escalated to the point where he insisted that Le Cheng draw a simple sketch of him and his ex-girlfriend, then burn it with a candle, saying it was to commemorate their departed love.
Another club member was named He Ziqing. He looked quiet and scholarly and didn’t like to talk much, and fortunately, he didn’t do anything out of line.
After Le Cheng finally managed to deal with the club president and they were about to leave, he stood at the door hailing a taxi when he suddenly felt a chill around both his arms.
He touched his clothes and only then realized that he had forgotten his coat.
Tan Xiaobai was supporting the club president, so Le Cheng hurried back. When he discovered that it wasn’t in the private room, he immediately realized that he had probably forgotten it in the taxi on the way there.
If Le Cheng remembered correctly, the original owner loved buying designer brands, and that coat was a branded one. A quick image search on Taobao showed that it cost 1,200 yuan.
Le Cheng’s heart was bleeding.
His 1,200 yuan had just flown away, flapping its butt as it went.
Tan Xiaobai reminded him, “Did you come here by yourself?”
Oh, right.
A glimmer of hope suddenly ignited in Le Cheng.
He hurriedly sent Zhou Shirui a message.
[Orange Poked You]
[Orange: Are you asleep?]
[Orange: I just realized my coat is missing. Did I leave it in the taxi? [Crying Crying]]
Le Cheng anxiously bit his finger, then sent another [Line-Drawing Puppy Wailing and Crying] sticker.
“Ding dong—”
[Big Brother: Mm, I got it back for you.]
Le Cheng was instantly so moved he felt like crying. His 1,200 yuan, his 1,200 yuan was back!
Zhou Shirui was ten thousand times more reliable than him!
[Orange: !!! That’s great.]
[Orange: Now I can relax.]
[Orange: Thank you!! You really are reliable!! [Kiss Kiss] [Muah Muah] [Fireworks]]
[Orange: Line-Drawing Puppy Spinning Around.jpg]
[Orange: Love You.jpg]
On the other end of the phone, Zhou Shirui had just come out after taking a shower. Steam swirled around him as he casually wiped his hair with a towel, lowering his gaze.
It seemed as though Le Cheng’s bright, round eyes flashed before his eyes.
Dumbfounded, and it seemed his memory really was bad.
[Big Brother: When are you coming back?]
[Big Brother: I’ll bring it over to you.]
Le Cheng was flattered: [Sure! I’ll probably be at school in about half an hour. Shall we meet downstairs at Dormitory Building No. 5?]
[Big Brother: Mm.]
After Le Cheng sent the message, Tan Xiaobai poked his head over. “So happy. You found it?”
“Yeah, I found it.” Le Cheng nodded. Tan Xiaobai: “Your boyfriend?”
Le Cheng was a little embarrassed: “…Mm, sort of.”
“Ooh.” Tan Xiaobai teased him. “Zhou Shirui, right? Zhou the Great God really is reliable~”
Le Cheng pretended to hit him, while Tan Xiaobai supported Xu Yuan as they staggered crookedly, nearly twisting his ankle.
Once they got into the car, Le Cheng felt a wave of relief.
He had actually drunk a tiny bit too, but Le Cheng had a good tolerance for alcohol, and he also behaved well when drunk. At this moment, he only felt a little hot.
When they arrived at school, He Ziqing helped Xu Yuan away. Tan Xiaobai wanted to go buy something, so Le Cheng wandered toward Dormitory Building No. 5 by himself.
Afraid that Zhou Shirui would have to wait too long, he started running after walking for a while. He jogged all the way to Building No. 5, and Le Cheng spotted Zhou Shirui at a glance.
He was tall, dressed casually, which made his long legs particularly eye-catching. Le Cheng hurried over, somewhat out of breath. “How, how long have you been waiting…”
“Not long.” Zhou Shirui looked at him and frowned. “Why did you run here?”
“I was afraid you’d have to wait too long.” Le Cheng instinctively blurted out the truth.
Zhou Shirui paused, feeling somewhat strange inside, and said calmly, “Don’t talk yet. Take some deep breaths and catch your breath.”
Le Cheng did as he was told. After taking a few breaths, he felt much better, and Zhou Shirui handed him his clothes.
“Thank you,” Le Cheng took them, his voice very soft. “I didn’t expect you to get them and even bring them over to me.”
Perhaps the dim lighting made people lower their guard. Zhou Shirui rarely said something beyond that. “Check your belongings before getting out of a car in the future.”
“Mm, I understand now.” Le Cheng looked up at him.
Zhou Shirui lowered his gaze. He didn’t know what Le Cheng had gone out to do, or perhaps it was still the spiciness from the hot pot. Under the dim lighting, Le Cheng’s lips appeared full and red, his face small enough to fit in a palm, and the tip of his nose was damp again.
This feeling shifted Zhou Shirui’s impression of him. He felt that Le Cheng was a little dumb, and also a little obedient. Le Cheng was looking at him too.
Originally, there had been two streetlights, but one was broken. Zhou Shirui stood beneath a tree, the light and shadows falling across the straight bridge of his nose and pale lips.
There was a pleasant scent of body wash coming from Zhou Shirui. It was hard to describe, somewhat cool-toned yet very fresh, like he had just taken a shower. His shirt was loose, but the contours of his muscles could still be seen.
Le Cheng’s mind suddenly heated up.
A line he had seen on Douyin flashed through his mind: “Actually, people who work out are all very generous and more than happy to let others touch their muscles.”
Perhaps alcohol gave the timid courage. Le Cheng’s rationality was burning, making tiny crackling sounds like little sparks.
He suddenly spoke. “Um, can I touch them?”
Zhou Shirui was clearly stunned. “?”
Le Cheng raised his voice a little and gave a light cough. “I mean… can I touch your muscles?”
