CH 48

Editor: Byff & Mikyuu

Proofreader: XavierForest

Su Tang cried until he was gasping for breath, his eyes reddening and his face glistening with tears. He cried until he was tired and started to whimper softly, just like a milk puppy that had been bullied.

He continued to thump Qian Zhu’s shoulders and call him a ‘meanie’.

Qian Zhu didn’t get upset and instead felt that this was very interesting. He had always liked the quiet and couldn’t stand the sound of crying, but, when he saw Su Tang like this, he felt fondness in his heart and found it to be rather adorable. It made him want to bully Su Tang even more.

But those were just thoughts—Qian Zhu didn’t actually act on them. He only rubbed Su Tang’s head and hurriedly comforted, “Okay, okay, whatever baby says. Don’t cry anymore, alright?”

“You’re always a meanie.” Su Tang sobbingly finished, but he couldn’t help himself from saying, “Meanie, meanie, meanie…”

“En, en, en, I’m a meanie. This meanie recognises his wrongs, okay?” Qian Zhu coaxed.

Su Tang thought for a moment, then he finally stopped crying because it was an extremely tiring thing to do. He’d cried himself tired; his whole body had no energy left. He wanted to sit down and rest, but he was afraid of falling. He resorted to grabbing Qian Zhu and plastering himself to the other’s body.

Then he pitifully raised his head, gazed at Qian Zhu, and said, “Okay.”

His face was a little red, and maybe he’d held back his tears when he was crying, because this had caused them to gather in his eyes, making him look dazed. Qian Zhu felt a pang in his heart.

His heart was soft and in a complete mess. The little peach he’d picked was so cute that it made people want to dote on him. When the other cried, he felt sad. He couldn’t help hugging and kissing him and lifting him high so he’d cheer up and to stop crying.

In Qian Zhu’s eyes, Su Tang was just like a small, furry animal: soft and squishy; spoilt and cowardly. Sometimes he liked to cry, but his crying was the cutest in the whole world. Qian Zhu wanted to protect him, spoil him, and then hold him in his hands so that no one could take him away.

“Sorry, I made baby get a shock. I won’t do it next time; I’ll protect baby well.” Qian Zhu said as he passed Su Tang a cloth to wipe his tears.

Su Tang didn’t speak, however he also didn’t reject the other, so Qian Zhu called again, “Baby?”

“I’ll reluctantly forgive you ba.” Su Tang let out a ‘hmph’, looking a little unwilling, but he still tightly hugged Qian Zhu’s waist.

“Baby’s so good.” Qian Zhu said with a smile. Then he used the cloth to carefully wipe Su Tang’s tears. After wiping away the other’s tears and rubbing Su Tang’s face, Qian Zhu softly asked, “Is it very uncomfortable?”

“Uncomfortable.” Su Tang said with a pout, feeling wronged. “My eyes hurt so much and I’m still very scared.” He picked up Qian Zhu’s hand and placed it on top of his chest.

Qian Zhu felt the warmth of Su Tang’s chest. His own heartbeat unknowingly started to increase. When he returned to his senses, he gazed into the other’s eyes and said off-handedly, “Your heart is beating so fast.”

Su Tang felt how close Qian Zhu was and his heart started to race even faster. But since the other’s hand was still on his chest, wouldn’t his quick heartbeat be found out?

His heart was nervous, and he quickly looked down. He wanted to remove Qian Zhu’s hand, but the other had no reaction and wasn’t budging. Even when Su Tang used a little more strength, Qian Zhu still didn’t react.

The two didn’t speak a word, and, when their gazes met, they both immediately looked away. Su Tang felt that he’d cried enough and was feeling tired. He pulled on the corner of Qian Zhu’s clothes and said, “I don’t want to play on the tree anymore.”

“Okay, then let us go back down.” Qian Zhu lifted Su Tang up, jumped from the tree, and landed on the ground weightlessly, like the wind.

Su Tang stared at Qian Zhu, feeling immense admiration for the other. No matter how much he trained, he’d never reach that level, so he said, “You’re so amazing. No matter how much I practice, I still can’t do it.”

His tone was a little whiny.

Qian Zhu just smiled. “As long as you practice, you can do it.”

“Really?” Su Tang’s mood immediately lightened up.

“I didn’t lie.” Qian Zhu said, before continuing with, “Even if you can’t do it now, I’ll still carry you.”

Su Tang was shocked for a while, and then he said, “What if I never learn it?”

“Then I’ll always carry you.” Qian Zhu replied with a smile.

Su Tang’s heart leapt happily. He suddenly realised that the weather today was very good, and the air was very good too. When he jumped down from the tree, everything started to become very beautiful. The best thing was Qian Zhu’s smile.

He always liked it when Qian Zhu smiled at him—it was very warm and comfortable. It also brought a sense of familiarity, like he’d known Qian Zhu for a long time and that this was probably a fated miracle.

Su Tang smiled an extremely happy smile, and his face revealed two shallow dimples that were sweet like candy.

He looked at Qian Zhu, and then he looked down before saying in a soft voice, “You said it. You can’t regret it later.”

“I’ll never regret it.” Qian Zhu said as he hooked his little finger with Su Tang’s.

Late at night, Su Tang lay on the bed and hugged the quilt as he stared out the window at the starry night. The moon was bright, and its light shione all over. This place was cold and desolate, just like the previous Yu Qing Palace.

He suddenly had a thought: did Qian Zhu live like this, always staring out the window without sleep? He didn’t know for how long Qian Zhu had been here, but he already felt extremely lonely after staying for only one day.

Su Tang wrapped himself up in the quilt, yet he still wasn’t warm. In reality, he understood that Yu Qing Palace wasn’t cold at all. Though it wasn’t physically cold, he felt cold. His heart was freezing and he felt a little lonely.

If it were the past, he wouldn’t have felt that it was a big deal being alone and he would have even slept very well, but after tasting the warmth shared between two people, he couldn’t bear to be without it anymore.

Su Tang thought for a while and sighed; he still couldn’t fall asleep. He sat there for a while before springing up from the bed and tossing his blanket away. He didn’t bother putting on shoes and just ran out with his feet pattering against the floor.

Under the night’s flickering light, his short shadow was elongated.

He walked to a door. It was Qian Zhu’s room. He was usually terrible with directions, forever losing his way, but he didn’t know what was different today. When Qian Zhu led him around, he shockingly remembered.

It was actually late at night and he didn’t know if Qian Zhu was sleeping. He thought for a while before finally reaching his hand out to gently push the door, slowly opening it a small crack.

His movements were light, almost soundless, so Qian Zhu mustn’t have noticed. Su Tang thought until here and felt a little happy as he took a step forward to peek through the crack.

But what he didn’t expect was that Qian Zhu actually stood in front of the door and was looking down at him.

Su Tang let out a ‘wa’ and hurriedly retreated a few steps. Qian Zhu opened the door and grabbed Su Tang’s hand, explaining, “Don’t be afraid. It’s me, Brother Qian Zhu.”

“I know.” Su Tang let out a deep breath, his body finally easing up. His face was a little red. It could’ve been from the fright he just received, or maybe the fact that he was caught after sneakily peeking into Qian Zhu’s room.

“It’s so late at night. Why aren’t you asleep yet?” Qian Zhu rubbed Su Tang’s head. Then he noticed that the other wasn’t wearing shoes.

Those white, tender feet had been running on the cold grounds for so long that the soles were a little red. Qian Zhu wrinkled his brows, unspeakable emotions in his eyes.

Su Tang followed Qian Zhu’s actions and looked down. Upon seeing Qian Zhu’s displeasure, he explained, “I forgot to wear shoes.” Truthfully, he was afraid his footsteps would be too loud and Qian Zhu would hear. However, it turned out that him being barefooted made no difference since he was still caught.

Qian Zhu picked up Su Tang, his tone a little serious as he said, “Don’t forget next time.”

“I won’t forget anymore.” Su Tang promised seriously.

“What if you forget again?” When Qian Zhu saw Su Tang like that, his heart also relaxed, and he teased smilingly, “Should I punish you?” 

“What punishment?” Su Tang asked with a giggle.

Qian Zhu thought for a while before saying, “Spanking?”

“Wa, no way.” Su Tang didn’t care if Qian Zhu was kidding or not, quickly covering his butt. He looked up at Qian Zhu and found the other’s expression unchanged. Su Tang felt his heart sink.

Qian Zhu didn’t continue to speak, so Su Tang tugged on the corner of his clothes. Qian Zhu turned to look at him, an eyebrow raised as if telling Su Tang, ‘Need to spank. No room for discussion.’ 

Su Tang patted his cheeks, a little upset, and he wanted to throw a tantrum. Then he remembered that he had just snuck into someone’s bedroom and he turned timid again, similar to a bullied bunny that had folded its ears.

Qian Zhu carried him to the bed and covered him with a cloak. After everything was done, he asked, “What were you doing hiding outside the door?”

Su Tang lowered his head, but Qian Zhu kept him on his knee and slightly bent his body to stick closer to Su Tang. With his ear next to Su Tang’s, he asked, “En, what were you doing?”

“N, nothing.” Su Tang answered, voice as soft as a mosquito’s cry.

“Say the truth or you’ll get a spanking.” Qian Zhu threatened.

“I…” Su Tang contemplated for a while, before he said, “I couldn’t sleep alone, so I – I came to find you…”

Su Tang felt like his face was on fire after he admitted everything. He used his hands to cover his face, bent down, and curled up into a little dumpling.

Qian Zhu hugged the ‘little dumpling’, joyfully asking, “Then baby, tell me—after you found me, what did you want to do?”