CH 58

Editor: noot

Proofreader: XavierForest

It had been ten-and-a-half days since Qian Zhu had left his house. Though the people in the alleyways were starting to grow curious, they couldn’t just open the doors of other families to take a peek inside. Their discussions were heated a few days ago, but soon enough, everyone forgot about the matter.

Su Tang, on the other hand, hadn’t forgotten because the ‘treatment’ Qian Zhu gave him was cruel. It didn’t only leave him exhausted—it even left the rims of his eyes red.

En, he didn’t want to recall what’d happened that day, but Qian Zhu was more than willing to do so. He’d often find reasons to ‘treat’ Su Tang.

Initially, Su Tang didn’t mind being ‘treated’ by Qian Zhu that much at all. However, after being treated one too many times, he began to get cold feet. He now felt that he was a rabbit being raised by a big wolf—every day, the big wolf would lick his fur and encircle him while he slept. He was a rabbit ah, and wolves always ate rabbits. If they didn’t, could they still be considered wolves?!

But still, this wolf didn’t eat him. It actually wasn’t ‘didn’t eat’, but ‘resisted eating’. This wolf felt hungry every time he saw the little rabbit he’d raised in captivity. His eyes would gleam with hunger and his whole body would heat up. All he could do was lick in an effort to relieve his hunger.

One day, the rabbit couldn’t take it any longer, so he grabbed the wolf’s tail and asked, ‘Are you always thinking of eating me?’

The big wolf pondered that for a while and took the rabbit into his embrace before replying with, ‘I am, I really am. But I’ll wait until you’ve grown up, then I’ll ‘eat’ you.’

Upon hearing his response, the rabbit’s heart swelled with both joy and anxiety. He recognised that he’d be kept very safe for the time being. As it turned out, the wolf was rather intelligent; the wolf wanted to raise the rabbit to eat for himself since it was only when he was older that there’d be more meat and he’d be tastier to eat. On the other hand, the rabbit was frightened by his inevitable demise; he was the only rabbit the wolf was raising, after all.

Would the wolf one day devour the rabbit out of sheer hunger? What if he tasted so bad that the wolf decided to capture another rabbit to raise? The rabbit mulled it over every day until his ears were drooping and looked very pitiful. It was as if the wolf had mistreated him.

Ah, that wolf was such a nuisance. The rabbit shrunk into the wolf’s embrace and became a dumpling, unable to quell his sadness.

What he didn’t know was that when the wolf saw his soft rabbit ears, the wolf couldn’t help but think.

He thought that the rabbit he was raising was so good, and once he grew up, he’d be the cutest rabbit in the world. When that time came, he’d be the object of many peoples’ affection. They’d want to spoil him, and if it came to that, how would he be able to keep the rabbit by his side?

What can I do to make this silly rabbit like me more? The wolf licked the rabbit’s fur and hugged him to sleep.

When Su Tang woke up, his mind was still a little foggy. Raising his head, he realised that he wasn’t a rabbit, nor was Qian Zhu a wolf.

He sighed, baffled by his dream. He shrunk back into Qian Zhu’s embrace, who just so happened to be startled awake by his own dream.

Qian Zhu gazed at Su Tang and Su Tang stared right back at him. Needless to say, he found his dream to be very meaningful; his own little Su Tang was indeed like a bunny—he was soft and adorable, and just like the one in his dream, he liked to curl up in Qian Zhu’s embrace to sleep.

The two didn’t know that they’d had the same dream as each other and were too embarrassed to tell the other about it. The sky was still dark so they cuddled each other back to sleep under the covers.

This time, they didn’t have any dreams and slept until it was light out. Su Tang awoke to Qian Zhu standing by his side and adjusting his clothes in the mirror.

Su Tang remained silent as he laid there and watched Qian Zhu. Perhaps he was too enthralled by Qian Zhu’s beauty and was unable to stop himself. After he was done admiring, he shifted his gaze to Qian Zhu’s eyebrows and finally realised… just a moment ago, Qian Zhu’s back had been facing him.

So… So he’d been caught staring.

Su Tang froze for a second and then immediately closed his eyes, ever so slowly shrinking back into the blanket. Before he’d fully finished shrinking away, he was snatched out by Qian Zhu.

It was just like pulling out a rabbit.

“Are you still groggy or is your vision blurry?” Qian Zhu asked with a smile.

“Wu, good morning ah…” Su Tang slowly opened his eyes, pretending to have just woken up. He sighed and avoided Qian Zhu’s question, staring innocently at him.

His charade was rather convincing; had Qian Zhu not caught him in the act, he would have believed him. He paused for a moment. Would Su Tang always sneak a peek at him when he wasn’t paying attention?

Consequently, Qian Zhu spoke his mind, and Su Tang soon exploded.

He’d never admit to it even until death, even lying that it was his first time doing this kind of thing. They exchanged a few words until Su Tang lost it, yelling while red in the face, “Then have you secretly touched me?”

“En, I have ah.” Qian Zhu was being completely honest and directly said this without any hesitation. His facial expression remained neutral, like he was merely talking about what he’d eaten for dinner last night.

Su Tang wasn’t ready for this kind of honesty.

Initially, he hadn’t thought that Qian Zhu would’ve admitted it, guessing that Qian Zhu would just pinch and tease him right after he spoke. However, unlike how he’d imagined, Qian Zhu instead admitted it so matter-of-factly, as if it were normal behaviour. This… This left Su Tang feeling flustered.

It was obvious that Qian Zhu was being a rouge, so why did he have to be flustered? Su Tang couldn’t think of a single reason and could only unhappily refuse to talk. He looked down and hurriedly got dressed. Only after he wore his clothes did he realise that he’d buttoned them incorrectly.

The last button hung all lonely at the corner of his clothes while the top button gazed woefully into the distance.

“Ai, you really…” Qian Zhu smiled, reaching over to help Su Tang undo his buttons. Since it was summer, Su Tang always slept naked. It was hard to see in the dark at night anyway. Qian Zhu undid his buttons, exposing Su Tang’s pale chest.

This was hardly the first time Qian Zhu had seen Su Tang’s chest, but he felt different every single time he set eyes on it. Qian Zhu took in a deep breath, finding today’s weather to be especially warm.

“You… You…” Su Tang still wanted to say something. Qian Zhu looked as if he’d seen a ghost. He helped Su Tang put his clothes back on before abruptly standing, and with a ‘It’s a little hot’, he bolted out of the room.

Su Tang was motionless for a long time. He didn’t know what Qian Zhu had gone to do, merely finding today to be a little weird. He hesitated for a while before putting on his pants and jumping off the bed. He casually caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror as he walked past, then he sneakily glanced back, returned to the bed, and, while blushing, slowly fastened his buttons.

“Qian Zhu’s body is still better.” Su Tang mumbled.

“Aiyo, you’re still reminiscing about the past?” The system couldn’t help but ask.

Su Tang immediately zipped his lips shut. He wanted to get up and leave, but the system said in a low tone, “Now’s a good chance, there isn’t anyone in the house. Why don’t you go and look at your figure in the mirror?”

“Enough!” Su Tang’s little braid was pulled1 and he grew irritated. However, if this matter was to be discussed with this nasty system, even when day turned to dusk, he’d be the loser. He ultimately decided to pretend he hadn’t heard anything before putting his shoes on and rushing out of the house. In the courtyard, he saw Qian Zhu rubbing his hair.

He’d probably just showered; his whole demeanor was full of vitality and there was an unspeakable sexiness to it. Su Tang stared at him and Qian Zhu instantly tensed up.

Su Tang, unaware of the changes in Qian Zhu’s body language, approached him and saw that Qian Zhu had bathed with water that’d been drawn directly from the well. The water was awfully cold. Since it was summertime, very few people bathed with water drawn straight from wells. Furthermore, it was still early in the morning, and there was a chilly breeze.

“Don’t you find it cold?” Su Tang asked.

“…” Qian Zhu didn’t speak and only stared at Su Tang with his deep gaze. He then set the towel to one side and poured the water away.

Su Tang stood rooted in the ground, thinking for a while before he suddenly realised the meaning behind Qian Zhu’s gaze. He felt extremely stupid. Ahhhhh. He wanted to hide in a hole.

In the end, he didn’t do that. And even if he did hide, Qian Zhu could just dig him up and lay him on a cushion2 like a little chick.

Since they needed to practise3, Qian Zhu no longer wandered around carrying that flower pot every day.

Come to think of it, Su Tang felt helpless. Although he had both earthly and heavenly spiritual power, his cultivation was rather weak. Sharing spiritual power with Qian Zhu felt uncomfortable too. As a result, Su Tang had to cultivate even harder to catch up to Qian Zhu’s level. After that, he’d have to wait for their spiritual powers to merge so there’d be less discomfort when it was shared.

The two sat facing each other with their fingers intertwined, each enjoying the other’s warmth and company.

And yet, Su Tang’s heart and mind were in disarray. Even though that morning’s events had somewhat impacted him, it still wasn’t the most important thing. This was because, every time the two practiced, Qian Zhu had them – under the guise of getting more familiar with one another – practice face-to-face and hand-to-hand until they were thoroughly face-to-face and mouth-to-mouth.

They’d have to do it once more later.

Su Tang stole a glance at Qian Zhu and suddenly felt that it might be possible… more than one time.