Chapter 68 - Who Cuddled Who?

Ji Yao knew his father was messing with him and this was about the time he would get angry but today he was just too embarrassed. "Oh so you won't tell... then I will go ask Rui Fei," he said pretending to get up.

This statement caught Ji Yao's attention. If his father really went to ask then wouldn't he die of shame? His hand slipped out of the quilt to stop his father from causing trouble.

He slowly peeked out of the quilt revealing a fluffy head of hair which Ji Wen found pretty cute. He was about to pat his hair but his hand froze mid-air when he saw how red his son's face was. He looked like a cooked lobster.

Ji Wen couldn't help but yelp at this sight. He hurriedly covered his mouth and pointed at his face. "Fuckk.... you are so red. Are you allergic to something or... wait, you probably overly scrubbed your face, didn't you?" he said feeling like his son's face would be hot to the touch.

Curious he reached out to touch it but Ji Yao dodged before retreating under the quilt. Ji Wen sighed as he let go of the topic. Now that he had mentioned his face then this meant Ji Yao wasn't going to talk about it. He could always ask Rui Fei about it so he didn't force it.

"I am leaving the island to ambush the emperor's pathetic excuse of an armada," he said prompting Ji Yao to get out from underneath the quilt.

He had heard the word 'I' not 'we' so he got up in a flurry and said, "You are leaving me behind?" while smoothing out his hair.

"Mn... it won't take long. I will probably be back before you know it," replied Ji Wen as his hand reached out to rub the back of Ji Yao's neck, "hold up the fort for me lest that greedy bastard tries to invade our home. I am leaving you in charge."

Ji Yao nodded seriously but he couldn't understand why his father needed to go personally instead of sending out a few members of the concord. Thinking his father had his own reasons he didn't question him further.

"Now get dressed before Xiaoyu sees you in this. Are you trying to give her a nose bleed," said Ji Wen in a teasing tone.

Just when Ji Yao thought he could have a serious conversation with his father he goes on to say such a thing.

***

The grandiose ship that is Red Bane stood out across the vast blue sea but this beauty wasn't as interesting as the conversation happening on its main deck.

The crew were busy loading ammunition and food supplies necessary for their voyage to bring down the emperor's fleet which the Rui brothers decided to help with.

The only problem was that instead of working Rui Yewan was questioning his brother's previous actions and possibly enlightening him.

"So how did you two end up sharing the bed?" asked Rui Yewan as he placed a barrel on the ground.

Rui Fei leaned against the large crater and replied blankly, "You don't need to know that," with a beaming smile.

Rui Yewan chortled before saying, "Sure but you do realise even brothers don't cuddle the way you two were cuddling, right? You two looked like a pair of lovers.... not brothers."

Rui Fei stopped smiling as he pursed his lips lost in thought. Seeing Rui Fei's lost look Rui Yewan carried on saying, "Let me put it this way..... would you cuddle me like that?"

Rui Fei answered honestly, "No, that would be creepy."

"Exactly! Maybe you should read some of Rui Li's literature to fully grasp your feelings," he said tossing a ripe peach in Rui Fei's direction.

Rui Fei caught it but didn't respond. He liked teasing Ji Yao, he also liked his scent, his smile, his waist and liked the feel of Ji Yao in his arms but it couldn't be more than that, right? It seemed he truly needed to do some research.

What they didn't realise was that their conversation was overheard by the entire deck despite their lowered voices. They had failed to account for the fact that the entire crew was made up of Nocru people and they had exceptional hearing.

The entire crew was frozen in place with their jaws dropped to the floor. Who, what, when? That kid who had just boarded the ship not long ago had shared a bed and cuddled with who? They must be hearing things, right?

Big Hei exchanged a look with Xunshi Zhe having a complete conversation with their eyes. It went like this:

Big Hei: Impossible, right?

Xunshi Zhe: Definitely impossible. They probably ate some of Old Du's mushrooms and hallucinated.

Big Hei: I told him to lock those things up.

Two seconds later Rui Li came over and whispered, "Dage... you two look good together..... cuddling hehe," while hugging herself swaying right and left.

Big Hei, "...."

Xunshi Zhe, "..."

It was at that time Old Du showed up on deck holding a crate full of who knows what. He placed it down and stretched his back before noticing something was off.

"What? Why are you acting like dummies? Am I missing something," he curiously asked.

"Old Du, we need to talk about your mushrooms. You can't leave them lying around because these kids got a hold of them and now they are hallucinating a bunch of nonsense," said Xunshi Zhe serious reprimanding an innocent bystander.

"Yeah, he probably hugged a boar in the forest and thought he was cuddling our young master. Who doesn't know our young master doesn't like being touched?" said Big Hei looking through Old Du's small crate.

Rui Fei, "....."

Rui Yewan, "...."

Rui Li, "Curious face" for some shrooms.

Pa!

Big Hei's hand was ruthlessly slapped away as Old Du explained, "All my shrooms are accounted for. Seriously, what's wrong with the both of you?" He picked up his crate and strode away.

Just then Ji Yao climbed on board with Ji Wen. They had serious faces on probably discussing something important.

"Let me show you why what you just discussed between the both of you is impossible," said Xunshi Zhe directly addressing the Rui Siblings.

"Yeah, he will show you," said Big Hei waiting for Xunshi Zhe to demonstrate but he was suddenly pushed forward in Ji Yao's direction.

"Big Hei, you go," said Xunshi Zhe clearly putting all his money on how ridiculous the Rui siblings' conversation was.

"Ah..... Xun-ge why me? I don't have a death wish..... I still want to live. Think of my offspring," whined Big Hei unwilling to take one for the team.

"What offspring when you are single as fuck... go," said Xunshi Zhe urging him on. Big Hei sighed as he walked over in slow strides like a man walking to his death.

That was the perfect example of a dead man walking. RIP Big Hei, it was nice knowing you.. Let's have a moment of silence for this big friendly giant.