CH 31

Chapter 31 – Soft Candy Surprise Attack

I’m Pei Tingsong, your…

“I’m tired.” Even after many attempts, Pei Tingsong still couldn’t pull Fang Juexia’s arms apart, and so he simply sat down against the wall, right next to Fang Juexia, and panted, while Fang Juexia continued to groan, “It hurts…”

“Where does it hurt?”

Burying his head even deeper into his arms, Fang Juexia complained in a low muffled voice, “Head, and also hands.”

Pei Tingsong said helplessly, “Then what are we supposed to do, do you want to get up so I can take a look?”

“It hurts!” This time, his tone sounded irritable—it seemed as though the little ostrich had become impatient. 

“Okay, okay, okay, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts.” Pei Tingsong’s heart was currently experiencing a surge consisting of a multitude of emotions. An hour ago, he was still worrying about how awkward it would be to stay alone in a room with Fang Juexia, who had just laid all of his cards on the table. Yet, now that object had suddenly changed and become a Fang Juexia who had lost all his senses. 

“Rub my head!”

The little ostrich began to give orders, and Pei Tingsong didn’t dare not obey. 

“Okay, understood, rubbing your head.” He put his hand on Fang Juexia’s head and rubbed it gently. He couldn’t help but think of the Maltese dog he had raised when he was a child. It had been particularly beautiful and also liked to have its head rubbed.

After only having rubbed two or three times, Fang Juexia muffled voice sounded out, “Doesn’t hurt now.”

“That works so well?” Pei Tingsong was a little happy, and felt that he was now a man who could take very good care of people. “Then get up bei, wash your face and sober up a bit.”

But who could have known that this little ostrich, who still had his head buried, would stretch out an arm next while saying, “My arm hurts.”

Looking at the thin, pale arm, Pei Tingsong was puzzled. “Um…rub your arm?”

“En.”

How could he rub that ah? Pei Tingsong felt that this was all off, for what man would rub another man’s arm?

“I’ll massage it for you ba.” After saying that, he began to knead Fang Juexia’s arm with his eyes closed, looking quite like an abnormal blind masseur. He didn’t dare to exert too much force, for fear that this guy would rebound again.

He had really given too much up for this guy—Pei Tingsong thought to himself. 

“Alright, Gege.” By now, Pei Tingsong was half-dead from fatigue, so he held Fang Juexia by his wrist and requested, “Can we get up now?”

“It’s so dark ah.” Fang Juexia still showed no intentions of getting up, instead shrinking into himself even further.

Pei Tingsong helplessly said, “It’s not dark though? If you lift your head up, it won’t be dark; I turned the lights on.” Saying that, he drew closer to Fang Juexia and pulled him in such a way that he would face him instead of the wall. He then stretched out his hand to help him lift his head, thinking that doing things this way definitely wouldn’t pose a problem. 

But not only did Fang Juexia not cooperate, he even bit Pei Tingsong’s hand that was stretched out towards his chin, biting down hard. 

“Ah, ow, ow, ow…” Pei Tingsong was angry and anxious, and only managed to force Fang Juexia into letting his hand go after he grasped the back of this person’s neck firmly. 

“Look at how you bit me, you look up and see this bite mark, it’s bleeding!”

Fang Juexia still didn’t look up, and not only did he not look up, but he also shifted his butt so that he would face the wall again, with all of these actions of his containing not a single shred of guilt.

This move completely exhausted Pei Tingsong’s patience. He shook his bitten hand twice, and without saying another word, picked up Fang Juexia and carried his whole person on his shoulder. Fang Juexia flopped around non-stop, just like a little fish ending up on the bank, and even his slippers flew away. Pei Tingsong then looped both of his arms around his legs and admonished, “Be good.”

“I don’t want to fly! I don’t want to!”

Pei Tingsong found this both infuriating and funny. “What fly ah? I still want to fly.” He supported Fang Juexia’s back as he placed him on the bed, and he was so tired out that he was currently panting for breath. He also lay down on the bed halfway, with his two hands supporting him. “Thankfully it’s me, if you were with Ling Yi today….”

In the middle of his speech, he suddenly froze.

Fang Juexia was right under him, with his lips half open, and his chest moving up and down as he fought for breath. His always stubborn beautiful eyes were covered in a teary mist, and even the gaze with which he looked at him right now was soft. 

Pei Tingsong’s Adam’s apple rolled up and down, and his breathing started to become somewhat abnormal.

Probably because he had consumed alcohol, the corners of Fang Juexia’s eyes had turned red and had combined with his red birthmark to extend out and form one ruddy field. His skin was too pale, and when he was drunk, patches of his skin turned pink, making it seem as if his face had been rubbed against something. 

“Thirsty…” Fang Juexia twisted around on top of the quilt, his head tilted to one side, and his voice sounded mushy. “I’m thirsty.”

Pei Tingsong pulled himself out of a not-so-good reverie, and once again shouldered the responsibility of taking care of his Gege. “Alright, I’ll get you some water.” It took him a long time to stuff Fang Juexia into the quilt, and then he started feeling hot, so he took off his coat and walked towards the table. 

After getting drunk, should he drink some hot water? Pei Tingsong looked for a kettle, but he wasn’t very good at using it. Only after studying for a long time did he figure out how to use it to boil water.

“It’s so hot.” Pei Tingsong glanced behind him to see that Fang Juexia was still obediently tucked into the quilt, although he was muttering something that he couldn’t hear. 

“My situation is so hard.” Pei Tingsong looked back and whispered, “I’m telling you, up until now, I’ve never actually taken care of anyone, everyone has just taken care of me. Really, Fang Juexia, you have too much face, you may have been my ancestor in your last life.”

Finally, the water started boiling, and when he was pouring it out, which he did clumsily, he almost scalded himself. You couldn’t immediately drink water that had just been boiled, so he mixed into it half a cup of bottled mineral water and made sure the temperature was okay before bringing it over to Fang Juexia. 

When he got closer, he found that Fang Juexia was reciting multiplication tables, and had already started over again after finishing one whole round. 

“Drink some water, drink some water.” He opened the quilt and was startled by the expanse of pale and smooth skin on display. “Hey, why did you take off your T-shirt?!”

Fang Juexia was lying on his side, facing Pei Tingsong, and then scooted forward to end up on the side of the bed. “I’m hot.”

“You’ll get a cold!” Pei Tingsong wrapped the quilt around him and put the cup up to his mouth. “Drink some water.”

Fang Juexia gulped down all the water under his ministrations, and after becoming fully content, giggled at him, sweet and soft, just like a different person.

“Close your eyes and go to sleep.”

As soon as he said that, Fang Juexia really did close his eyes.

He was actually pretty obedient. Pei Tingsong subconsciously reached out his hand and almost ended up covering his soft hair with his palm, but soon, he stopped mid-way.

What was he doing?

Pei Tingsong quickly stood up, wondering whether he was also drunk or not. 

Why did he involuntarily want to rub this person’s head?

“It’s so hot.” Pei Tingsong took off his shirt with one hand, then grabbed his pajamas to enter the bathroom. 

He needed to take a bath now in order to calm down.

While bathing, Pei Tingsong couldn’t help but think of what Shang Sirui had said when they were drinking. It couldn’t be that the celebrity who couldn’t reach an agreement with the program group was really the person who had taken the official debut spot from Fang Juexia?

When they were together in Astar, they should have been trainees at the same time. 

Seven Luminaries was now one of the most popular boy-bands in China. The officially promoted Liang Ruo had possessed the best resources from the start of his debut. He was the main dancer and the secondary singer, and he almost always occupied the fixed opening and ending C position in the choreography of most of their songs. In the past, he had also been invited to be the regular guest on two different variety shows. Although he also had a countless number of anti-fans, considering that he had the blessing of a large company, everything had been smooth sailing for him.

By aiming at a slice of the pie of ‘Escape For Your Life’, he definitely wanted to set himself up as a person with a high IQ. 

Pei Tingsong just couldn’t figure out the reason for making this kind of move. Fake was fake, and the more real you pretended to be, ultimately, when you were exposed, the more unbearable it would become. 

He couldn’t help thinking about how Fang Juexia must have felt when he had heard the news about Liang Ruo. Did he feel that it was a pity? Did he feel uncomfortable?

If…if back then, he hadn’t been forced to leave Astar, what would it be like now?

In that case, they should have…

“Bang bang bang!”

The continuous sound of knocking pulled Pei Tingsong away from his thoughts. When he turned around, he got so scared he nearly slipped and fell down, a string of F-words bursting out of him. Fang Juexia, who he had thought was asleep, had suddenly appeared at the door of the bathroom. His entire body was sprawled out against the frosted glass door, while he was slapping the bathroom glass wall with his hand. “Let-let me in!”

The frosted glass made his figure look even more furtive. Pei Tingsong leaned against the wall and pulled over a towel to hastily dry off his body. 

Little friend Fang Juexia’s face was pressed tightly against the glass, crowding in so tightly that his face looked a bit deformed. “My eyes are broken, why can’t I see clearly…” He slapped the glass door several more times. “I’ve already counted to a hundred, and I’ve got you!”

It was over, he couldn’t even think about sleeping tonight. 

Pei Tingsong hastily put on his clothes and opened the bathroom door to come out. Yet, as a result, Fang Juexia, who had been ready the entire time, pounced on him, and his two hands firmly wrapped themselves around him. 

“I-I’ve got you!”

He didn’t have his shirt on, and he threw himself into Pei Tingsong’s arms while his upper body was bare. He was pretty much behaving like a three-year-old kid at this point. Pei Tingsong could only go along with him, “Yes, you. caught me, you won. Can you go to sleep now?”

Fang Juexia looked up at him, his watery eyes blinking. “Sleep?”

“Yes, sleep.” Pei Tingsong dragged him forcefully back to the bed, where he once again stuffed his hands and feet back into the quilt. “Look at you, ice-cold. If you do this again, I won’t care for you anymore.”

“No.” Fang Juexia hugged his arm and looked really aggrieved, as if he would start shedding tears the very next second.

Just when Pei Tingsong was starting to feel much more sympathetic, Fang Juexia called out sweetly, “Little Abacus~” and then he stubbornly held out his hand and scratched Pei Tingsong’s chin. “Are you hungry, Little Abacus? I’ll go pour you some dog food~”

“I’m not your dog!” Pei Tingsong grabbed his hand. “Fang Juexia, look closely. I’m Pei Tingsong, your…”

He stopped, and Fang Juexia’s watery eyes blinked.

After a second-long pause, Pei Tingsong continued, “I’m your bandmate, understand?”

“Understood, Little Abacus.”

What a waste of words, Pei Tingsong sighed. He tucked Fang Juexia in and considered it; if this person currently thought that he was Abacus, then he’d just be Abacus ba. The present Fang Juexia completely possessed a child’s mind, so he could only coax him by employing the strategies used to coax children into doing things. “How about this, shall we have a sleeping competition? Whoever falls asleep first is the champion!”

Fang Juexia blinked and asked, “Then-then is there a reward?”

“Reward…” Pei Tingsong asked, “What kind of reward do you want?”

Fang Juexia’s mouth shrunk slightly. “I… I want my dad to turn back into my old dad.”

Upon hearing this, Pei Tingsong couldn’t help frowning.

What did that mean? What was his “old dad”?

But he had no way to investigate any further. These were Fang Juexia’s private matters, and the only reason he was carelessly talking about them right now was because he was drunk. Once he sobered up, he definitely wouldn’t want his privacy to be delved into by anyone. 

“Okay, you can have whatever you want. Now we’re going to start!” Saying that, Pei Tingsong turned off the lights. He then thought of Fang Juexia’s night blindness and left a bedside lamp on. He got into his own bed, for he was very exhausted after having been tossed around for such a long time in the hotel, not to mention that he had originally already been very tired from the flight. Pei Tingsong lay in bed with a long sigh of relief and closed his eyes.

He kept chanting in his heart, praying that this guy would not start anymore drunken hijinks again. Gradually, just as he was about to sink into a dream, his consciousness flowed out of his stretched body and spread out around him. 

In a trance-like state, he felt his quilt being pulled at, and then something crept up, moving from his feet to his side. Pei Tingsong was confused, and he simply let out an “en.” However, that was when he heard Fang Juexia’s voice in his ear—

“Can I hug you to go to sleep, Little Abacus?”

Pei Tingsong, who had nearly fallen asleep, was suddenly awakened, and opened his eyes to face the person next to him. Fang Juexia’s innocent and pitiful eyes looked at him just like that. 

He was really going to go crazy. 

“Don’t you have a bed?” Pei Tingsong asked in a completely helpless tone, “You’re already such a big kid, you have to learn to sleep by yourself.”

“But…” Fang Juexia’s mouth shrunk as he began to speak, before hesitating. 

“But what?” Pei Tingsong looked at him with the manner of an adult.

Fang Juexia’s tone was pitiful as he explained, “But Dad came home today. I’m a little scared, he-he drank again, will he scold me…”

Right now, when he spoke, the logic and organization that Fang Juexia had developed over the years seemed to have regressed to that of a frightened child’s. Although all he said were a few short, confused words, Pei Tingsong more or less understood what he meant. 

“No,” he rubbed Fang Juexia’s head and consoled, “Don’t be afraid.”

Fang Juexia sniffled and looked at him. “Little Abacus, my eyes are sick, did you know?”

Pei Tingsong nodded, his fingers touching Fang Juexia’s eyes. “I know.”

“Then will you also find me annoying?” Fang Juexia’s eyes were filled with a watery haze, as if tears would start falling in the next second. He didn’t know why, but Pei Tingsong’s heart ached at this, and such a feeling was particularly strange.

“Of course not.” Pei Tingsong pinched his cheek and said, “Am I that kind of person, pei, am I that kind of dog?”

Fang Juexia finally started smiling. “Will you night-night with me?”

In the end, Pei Tingsong finally compromised. He was obviously a bad-tempered, rebellious, and unrestrained prick, but every time he ran into Fang Juexia, he would compromise and do things he had never done before. It was as if this person had completely confiscated his power of refusal.

“Alright, alright,” Pei Tingsong soothed him, even though he knew that some people would suddenly turn hostile and start acting nasty when they woke up the next morning. Fang Juexia would probably think he had taken advantage of him, so he pulled out his cellphone and turned on the recording app. “This is you absolutely wanting to sleep with me.”

“En!” Fang Juexia immediately grew happy, with his voice turning sweet, and his eyes brightening, looking just like two beautiful glass beads, in which Pei Tingsong’s face was being reflected. “Then, can I hold you?”

Being asked in this manner, Pei Tingsong suddenly ended up tongue-tied, and his ears felt hot as he replied, “What-whatever you want.” After that, he turned to the other side, with his back facing Fang Juexia. He had lived for 20 years, and he had never slept with anyone in the same bed before; doing this much was already his highest level of compromising.

Yet, he hadn’t even turned around for a second when Fang Juexia seized the clothes on his back and gently pulled at them, grumbling, “Hey, I can’t see you anymore.”

“Fang Juexia, if you keep being so flirty, you will regret it when you wake up tomorrow.” Pei Tingsong sighed and turned to face him. “Like this is fine ba.”

“En!” Fang Juexia arched up and then really hugged his head just as if he were hugging a small dog and also started patting Pei Tingsong on the back. “Little Abacus, night-night~”

Pei Tingsong, a tall man of 1.9 meters, was pressed close and had to shrink to fit like that in Fang Jue Xia’s arms as he was pressed into his clavicle. He didn’t dare to breathe, let alone sleep.

“Night, night…” Fang Juexia began to sing randomly, as if he really wanted to coax a puppy to sleep. He first started with an out-of-tune lullaby, and then he somehow started singing the Snail and the Oriole Bird song, of which he would only sing the first verse. He kept singing about “Pinot Tree Supremes” until finally Pei Tingsong couldn’t stand it anymore. 

In one swift action, he moved Fang Juexia’s arms away from his head, and took him into his arms instead, then placed his arms under his neck, only to wrap his own arms all the way around him, thus coming to hold Fang Juexia firmly in his arms. 

“It’s still a bit more comfortable for me to hold you.” His chin was on the top of Fang Juexia’s hair, and his hand gently patted Fang Juexia’s back while saying, “Sleep ba.”

Fang Juexia, currently possessing a child’s mind, also copied his actions, patting Pei Tingsong’s waist and hugging him tightly. “Sleep ba, Little Abacus.”

It could now count as things having finally quietened. Pei Tingsong closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This hug was the first one between him and Fang Juexia—a real and intimately close hug, even if it was born from neither of their free wills.

He had once firmly believed that he and Fang Juexia must be two people walking different paths in life. Once such people met, the consequences would only be bad, not good.

So, this moment was too sudden and too unexpected.

If time travel really existed, and the Pei Tingsong from a month ago transmigrated over and saw this scene, he would probably be scared silly ba. Recalling the events of these past few days, Pei Tingsong felt as if the two of them had been forced into the same dramatic whirlpool; the more they wanted to separate, the closer they instead became to each other.

Sensing that Fang Juexia wasn’t really moving around anymore, Pei Tingsong reached for his cellphone and stopped the still on-going recording. But it was at this time that the person in his arms suddenly raised his head and placed both of his hands on Pei Tingsong’s face. In the dim light, he drew close and gave him a kiss. Maybe he wanted to kiss his chin or his cheek, but unfortunately, it was their lips that met.

Pei Tingsong stopped breathing. 

“Thank you for keeping me company, Little Abacus.” He giggled in a silly manner, then snuggled back into Pei Tingsong’s arms, rubbing against his clavicle until he found the most comfortable spot where he could be at ease, and closed his eyes.

Pei Tingsong’s nerves seemed to have been anesthetized. His thoughts turned sluggish, and even up until now, the dull sensation of his lips being collided with could still be felt. This time though, there was no cellophane candy wrapper, and the lips that had touched his own had been completely soft. The short touch slowed down and stretched out in his memory: the coming into contact, sinking in, leaving, and his lips springing back. These four gentle moves of Fang Juexia’s had completely toppled his heavy heartbeat, and after getting stirred up, he had no way to calm it down again, while it just continued to grow faster and faster. It was so fast that he was afraid that the crazy rabbit that was thumping away in his heart would wake up the little radish in Fang Juexia’s heart while their two chests were this close against each other. 

Oh no.

He had been surprise-attacked by a soft candy. 

Ten minutes passed, twenty minutes passed, and then even after who knows how long, his heartbeat still didn’t manage to return to its normal pace. The tight embrace provided it with a steady stream of energy, allowing it to beat crazily, and in a lively fashion, regardless of any resistance from Pei Tingsong’s brain. 

That had been his first kiss.

Pei Tingsong tried to talk himself out of it. He was very cool, so cool, and a kiss on the mouth counted as nothing at all. What’s more, he had already tried this out when they had been passing around the candy wrapper.

However, his persuasion didn’t seem to have much of an effect, and his adrenaline ratcheted up recklessly. The smell of Fang Juexia’s shampoo confused his brain, and he felt dizzy and breathless.

Clearly, he had already overdrawn his energy levels, but Pei Tingsong still couldn’t fall asleep. He didn’t even dare to move, for fear of waking up the person in his arms.

An unexpected kiss managed to stuff 10,000 butterflies into his chest. They fluttered their wings as they tried to fly out of his throat. They plotted together to create a tsunami in a sea of alcohol.

And he was the fool obediently holding onto a small bomb.

Dizzy, and not knowing how long he had slept, a throbbing headache pulled Fang Juexia out of deep sleep, his consciousness just floating around for now. His thoughts were confused, and he couldn’t open his eyes. He could feel that his body was slightly sore, so he moved a bit. Unexpectedly, he immediately felt a pair of arms around him tighten, after which he was patted on the back.

He vaguely heard a familiar low voice, one which sounded a bit sleepy, say, “Be good…”

Be good?

What kind of strange dream was this?

This reflexively tightened embrace compressed the distance between the two people until there was nearly none left. What was embarrassing was that although Fang Juexia wasn’t sure whether the voice he had just heard was real or not, what his thigh had accidentally touched was far too real. 

He violently came to his senses and in just one move, pushed Pei Tingsong, who still wasn’t awake, away. He grabbed the quilt and retreated to the edge of the bed.

“Pei Tingsong!”

It was the first time he was so emotive.

Pei Tingsong’s brows twisted together, and he said, “Now what…” He opened his eyes and only after seeing Fang Juexia in that standard posture— of a woman from a good family after having been taken advantage of— did his sluggish brain wake up. 

Sure enough, he just knew this would happen.

At this time, Pei Tingsong sighed emotionally, feeling glad about his ingenuity in preparing beforehand for a rainy day.

“Wait, you calm down.” Pei Tingsong drew closer; he actually wanted to grab his cellphone and open the evidence for Fang Juexia to look at. 

However, Fang Juexia was completely unaware of what he was trying to do; all he knew was that as soon as he had woken up, he had discovered that he wasn’t wearing a shirt and that Pei Tingsong had been holding him tightly in his arms. Moreover, the guy who seemed to be the initiator was still approaching him, and so Fang Juexia said, “It’s you who should calm down.” Having said that, he coughed and added, “And you, down there…”

Down there?

Pei Tingsong, who still hadn’t fully woken up, looked down at himself, and then let out a curse in a low voice. 

“This is a normal phenomena that happens in the morning, okay?” He looked completely shameless and scratched his sleep-tousled hair. “You’re also a man, so what are you making such a fuss about? This is showing that it’s working normally. Don’t you know?”

“Shut up.” Fang Juexia didn’t want to listen to his middle school biology class lecture. “Then why did you need to hug me while sleeping? Didn’t you say you’re not gay?” His soul felt tortured right now. 

Pei Tingsong had nothing to say.

Shouldn’t you ask yourself that?

Obviously, last night, he had been the one constantly calling him Little Abacus and stickily pasting himself onto him, but in the blink of his eye, he had now turned hostile and acted as if he didn’t recognize him anymore. 

Pei Tingsong was angry, but he was also very clear on the situation. He had clearly known that Fang Juexia had the kind of stubborn personality—one who wouldn’t change his mind about anything without getting a rude awakening about it first. Thus, he decided to first get to his carefully compiled evidence. “Alright, I’ll tell you why.”

Fang Juexia was flustered. His brain was in a complete mess, and yet again, this person was drawing closer to him.

Where was his shirt?

Pei Tingsong wasn’t really gay ba? —This question kept lingering in his mind.

He stretched out his hand to resist, but Pei Tingsong grabbed his wrist in one move. “Don’t move.” Saying that, his other hand felt around the pillow and he said, “Where did it go?”

“You let me go.” Fang Juexia’s only other free hand also began to struggle.

His current actions completely exhausted Pei Tingsong’s patience, and so he just grabbed Fang Juexia’s other hand and pressed it into his body, while wearing a condescending look on his face, as if Fang Juexia would do whatever he wanted. “I told you not to move. Do you know how obedient you were last night?”

“You!”

“Turning hostile as soon as you wake up…” He stared at Fang Juexia, and the anger in his eyes softened again. “Listen to me. Just wait until I find it…”

Before he could finish speaking though, repeated thumps on the door sounded out, coming from outside, and then Ling Yi’s penetrating voice came through.

“Dang dang dang dang! Kaleido ensemble show special! Morning raids and sudden inspections!”

Shit.