CH 51

Editor: abbie

Proofreader: XavierForest

Su Tang stayed with Qian Zhu for nearly half a month, and he ate and played everyday, unrestrained. He acted just like an Emperor and was always together with Qian Zhu, a first-class beauty. In the end, Su Tang nearly forgot about his mission.

There were two rocking chairs in the courtyard and Su Tang laid on one of them. His whole body was soft like liquid—he looked just like a hamster that had eaten its fill and was turning into water. 

Flowers continuously fell, and his body was soon covered by yellow petals, but Su Tang didn’t want to move. It was only when Qian Zhu reminded him did he slowly turn his body over.  As if this movement exhausted all his strength, he let out a soft sigh of relief and then continued to lie down like a hamster in its liquid state.

Qian Zhu’s heart slowly filled with happiness as he continued to stare at him; this was his first time seeing someone like Su Tang, who spoke in a soft and sticky tone and even laid down like his whole body was soft. It was adorable beyond words.

Su Tang’s eyes were half-lidded when he felt like there was someone’s gaze on him. When he opened his eyes to check, he realised it was Qian Zhu. Qian Zhu was probably staring at him because of how lazy he was, and so Su Tang embarrassedly explained, “Turning over is too tiring, en.”

Qian Zhu gave him another look, his expression unreadable. Su Tang thought he was being criticised and grew anxious. His self-confidence decreased, but what was said had already been said, and he had no choice but to continue on. “It could be that because I’m growing, it’s easier for me to get tired…”

Su Tang’s face turned red. He felt that the lie he’d told could be easily seen through, since even he himself didn’t believe what he said.

In the end, Qian Zhu nodded his head and said, “Then you need to rest well.”

Su Tang didn’t think Qian Zhu would agree with him, and his mind went blank. When he returned to his senses, he felt that Qian Zhu was only saying that to let him save face1.

“Thank you. I’ll pay attention.” Su Tang awkwardly said.

“En.” Qian Zhu nodded.

Then the two didn’t say anything after that.

Quiet and peaceful times always passed quickly. After Su Tang woke up from a short nap, he realised the sun was about to set. His body was covered by a piece of clothing that belonged to Qian Zhu. It was clean, without a single flower petal on it.

His mind was still groggy, so he didn’t think much of it and slowly got up. Only then did he realise that the petals surrounding the rocking chair were unusually high. It was obvious that Qian Zhu had helped him sweep away the flower petals that had fallen.

His heart suddenly felt a surge of warmth, and when he wanted to say something to Qian Zhu, he found that the other had already left the courtyard without his knowledge. Su Tang wasn’t worried. Instead, he squatted and used his hands to fiddle around with the petals on the ground.

The accumulated volume of petals was very thick and traces could be seen when written with his finger. As he snapped out of his daze, Su Tang realised that he’d unknowingly written out Qian Zhu’s and his own name together.

He was stunned and wanted to quickly wipe them away, but then he remembered that Qian Zhu wasn’t around, thus he continued to admire his handiwork.

His own name was smooth and upright, unable to be considered either pretty or ugly. And yet, it couldn’t be compared to Qian Zhu’s knife-like font. It matched with his own name, but for Qian Zhu’s name, it looked extremely awkward.

“Not good, not good.” Su Tang muttered to himself, using his hand to rub away Qian Zhu’s name. Though he wanted to write it again, he didn’t because he couldn’t translate Qian Zhu’s power into his name.

Su Tang started to grow confused. Even after recalling the strokes needed to write Qian Zhu’s name, he only made several gestures and didn’t actually write it. Just as he was about to give up, a pair of slender hands held his.

The hands had a familiar temperature and smell, so Su Tang didn’t even need to turn around to know who it was.

“Why don’t you make a sound when you’re walking?” Su Tang asked.

“I was afraid to disturb you.” Qian Zhu replied. “What do you want to write? I’ll teach you how.”

“Didn’t… I didn’t really want to write anything.” Su Tang’s focus was on the hand Qian Zhu was holding and his mind was in chaos. For whatever reason, he couldn’t bear to tell Qian Zhu that he actually wanted to write his name.

“But I saw you write and then erase it. You were preparing to write it again.” Qian Zhu said.

“No…” Su Tang’s voice got weaker when he thought that Qian Zhu might have seen all of his little movements, but he also wasn’t sure if the other saw what he wrote, hence his unwillingness to answer.

“Oh?” Qian Zhu raised his eyebrows and said, “Could it be that you were writing the name of the person you admire and shyly hid it away so that even brother Qian Zhu can’t see it?”

Su Tang heard what he said and his face turned extremely red. He was just writing Qian Zhu’s name casually—how could it be admiration? But if it wasn’t admiration, why was he so ashamed to let Qian Zhu see?

He seemed to be in an endless loop he couldn’t escape; Qian Zhu and the word ‘admiration’ were looped together, and though he wanted to seperate them, he realised he couldn’t.

Qian Zhu saw Su Tang’s confused appearance and couldn’t hold back his laughter. He had great vision and had long seen whose name Su Tang was writing. His heart was filled with joy and he wanted to tease Su Tang a little; before, he’d found that not teasing Su Tang was fine, but after teasing him, he realised that it was interesting.

To Qian Zhu, this matter was like the heavens had dropped a pastry on his head, and it left him dizzy for a while. After he recovered, he felt that he should carefully hide this pastry away and then secretly eat it later.

It was a pity that his little pastry would say one thing and mean another2. No matter how he asked, the little pastry was unwilling to speak the truth. Qian Zhu knew that he couldn’t be too hasty with his actions, nevertheless, pushing when suitable was still necessary. 

He bent down and looked at Su Tang with a smile, “Okay la, I won’t tease you anymore. Come, brother Qian Zhu will teach you how to write those two words.”

Su Tang’s face was red and he hurriedly raised his head. He wanted to take back his little hand but Qian Zhu held it tightly. Qian Zhu’s hand covered Su Tang’s as he lifted his wrist and exerted some force before writing ‘Qian Zhu’3 with thin, powerful strokes. 

“Do you remember how to write it now?” Qian Zhu asked.

“I can write it.” Su Tang replied, not wanting to lose face in front of Qian Zhu.

“Why did you wipe it away ah?” The corner of Qian Zhu’s mouth was already hooked up in a shallow arc. He knew that Su Tang could write his name as he’d seen that he’d written ‘Qian Zhu’ in a round and adorable manner. In fact, he actually quite liked the way Su Tang had written it as it was reflective of Su Tang as a person.

“I didn’t write it nicely, so I wiped it away.” Su Tang said.

“Then why didn’t you wipe away your own name?” Qian Zhu asked.

“The words I write are ugly, and my handwriting doesn’t match your name so I…” Su Tang slowly said.

“I don’t think it’s ugly. It’s actually quite cute.” Qian Zhu rubbed Su Tang’s head, smoothing down the other’s ahoge4 before flashing a warm smile.

Then he pointed at the name on the floor and said, “Look at this ‘Su Tang’. It’s soft, like a dumpling. One look and you’ll feel that it’s super adorable. I don’t think there’s anything better than this ‘Su Tang’.5”

Although he was only talking about the word, it made Su Tang feel that the other was actually speaking about him. But it couldn’t be ba. Qian Zhu was such an upright person, how could he say such flirtatious words?

It must be him who was thinking too much!

After Su Tang psyched himself up, he was still a little lost. As for what was missing, he wouldn’t admit that it was because Qian Zhu had only praised his name and didn’t praise him as a person.

Actually, he knew that he had the temper of a child. He liked it when Qian Zhu protected him, told him he liked him, and praised his cuteness. Although Su Tang did feel shy, deep down in his heart, he liked it very much.

Su Tang was ashamed of his thoughts, and in his heart, he repeated ‘don’t think, don’t think,’ several times before regaining some composure.

It’s just that he’d forgotten one thing: whatever he was thinking in his heart always showed clearly on his face.

Qian Zhu was smart, therefore he could tell what Su Tang was thinking from the start. In his heart, he wanted to laugh but couldn’t. He wanted to tell Su Tang directly, yet he didn’t know how to say it.

He suddenly remembered a time in the human realm when he’d seen a child drawing stick men, so he did just that and drew two stick figures under their names.

Su Tang watched him draw and had his curiosity piqued. He looked on for a while before laughing. Who would have thought that the cold and aloof Qian Zhu knew how to draw these little things?

He soon became unable to laugh because Qian Zhu drew them tightly holding each other’s hands. 6

“This…” Su Tang couldn’t speak for a while.

Qian Zhu raised his head and said, “En?”

“This drawing is so ugly.” Su Tang’s face turned red and he refused to look at the other.

Qian Zhu only smiled and softly laughed, not calling out Su Tang’s obvious lie. He said, “Just wipe it away.”

“Don’t!” Su Tang hurriedly grabbed Qian Zhu’s hand. He wanted to say more, but then realised the other was just playing around. When he grew unhappy and furrowed his eyebrows, Qian Zhu said, “Don’t be angry. If you like it then there’s no need to erase it forever.”

“I…” Su Tang wanted to keep speaking but didn’t dare to. In the end, he bent his head and looked at the drawing of the two stickmen holding hands, along with the two names written above them. His heart started to race.

Qian Zhu clasped his hand and laced their fingers together, holding it gently—just like the two stickmen.

Sunlight scattered all around them, and two figures stood in the orange light; their silhouettes made it look as if a young boy was holding another boy’s hand and kissing his face.