CH 20

Shen Xi felt as if he had gone back to his childhood.

At that time, before his mother jumped out of the window, Grandpa and Uncle were still by his side, and little Shen Xi loved to lie in Grandpa’s arms. Grandpa would gently pat him while telling him a story.

Shen Xi didn’t remember what the story was about. The only thing he remembered was the warm and reassuring feeling of lying in his grandfather’s arms.

This feeling was once again present now.

Shen Xi hugged his grandfather tightly, trying to shrink his whole body into his grandfather’s arms. Sensing that Grandpa was trying to push him away, Shen Xi became anxious and wrapped both his arms and his legs around Grandpa, begging pitifully, “Grandpa, don’t leave Xiao Xi!”

Grandpa seemed to be moved by Shen Xi’s tone and stopped pushing him away. Satisfied, Shen Xi held harder.

Grandpa’s embrace was as warm as he remembered, and seemed to have an extra good smell.

Shen Xi worked hard to squeeze into the arms of his grandfather, sniffing the smell greedily, his heart full of happiness.

“Grandpa, don’t leave Xiao Xi, don’t leave Xiao Xi behind like Mommy did.”

Shen Xi repeated these words over and over again, feeling that Grandpa seemed to be hugging him back, and laughed happily.

For a whole night, Shen Xi was immersed in this feeling of happiness. Without the troubles of the previous life, Shen Xi had a rare good night’s sleep.

The rain that had been falling all day and night finally stopped in the morning. The dark clouds had not yet dispersed but the sun was already eager to appear in the east.

Li Mingxuan woke up in the pale sunlight. The moment he opened his eyes, he was still in a bit of a daze. What appeared before him was not his familiar surroundings. Where was this? The thought was fleeting, and then a huge source of heat in his arms caught his attention.

Lowering his head, Li Mingxuan saw Shen Xi’s sleeping face with a smile on it. Li Mingxuan didn’t know what Shen Xi was dreaming about, but the corners of his mouth were raised high and he looked happy.

Li Mingxuan smiled unconsciously, then thought of something, pulled out his hand pressed under Shen Xi’s body and put it on his forehead. It was still a little hot but already much better than yesterday. Li Mingxuan let out a sigh of relief. Last night, he had used up all the ice packs left by the doctor and even planned to take Shen Xi to the hospital in the middle of the night at one point. Only when Shen Xi had a tendency to cool down did Li Mingxuan put his mind at ease.

Carefully moving Shen Xi, who was still asleep, aside, Li Mingxuan sat up rubbing his numb arms. When he glanced at the time, it was already ten in the morning. Fortunately, he called his father last night to explain the situation and was able to take an extra day off today.

After washing up quickly, Li Mingxuan called room service and asked them to send breakfast and cook a bowl of porridge separately. The phone was just hung up when the doorbell rang.

“Hello, room service!”

Li Mingxuan was taken aback; it was so fast. When he opened the door, he found that the room staff at the door was pushing a trolley for cleaning and there was no breakfast that he wanted. Li Mingxuan realised that this service was not his service.

Perhaps knowing that there was a sick man in the room, the room staff moved very lightly. One of the young girls with a round face asked with concern, “How is Mr. Shen’s condition?”

Li Mingxuan nodded politely, “He’s cooled down.”

“That’s good, the hotel has arranged for a doctor to come for a review around eleven o’clock, do you think that’s okay?” The young girl confirmed with Li Mingxuan, and he nodded slightly.

The girl smiled and stepped aside.

Li Mingxuan vaguely felt that the girl looked very familiar; after thinking about it, he said, “Were you the one who found Shen Xi and took care of him yesterday? I was in such a hurry yesterday that I didn’t thank you properly.”

The girl smiled, “No need to thank me, that’s what we should do. It was our turn-down service that found Mr. Shen sick last night.”

The girl thought of something as she said that and looked at Li Mingxuan with a flash of embarrassment in her eyes.

Li Mingxuan smiled, “Then it was also the turn-down service that found my phone number in the trash?”

The girl nodded in embarrassment and added, “Cleaning is originally one of the responsibilities of the turn-down service.”

Speaking of which, the hotel’s biggest headache was to encounter a single guest who was sick and whose family couldn’t be contacted, especially when it came to people like Shen Xi. Last night, they had originally thought of using the found number to see if they could contact Shen Xi’s family but they never expected the owner of the phone number to come directly.

Strictly speaking, they had to be thankful for Li Mingxuan’s presence, otherwise the hotel would have been in trouble in case something happened to Shen Xi.

As soon as the girl finished speaking, she started tidying up. Because Shen Xi was still asleep, her movements were very light.

After cleaning up the living room and the bathroom, only the bedroom where Shen Xi was sleeping was left. Li Mingxuan intended not to change the bed sheets or anything else, but the girl touched the bed sheets and the quilt and suggested changing them together. Only then did Li Mingxuan realise that Shen Xi had sweated all over last night and that the clothes on his body also needed to be changed.

After Li Mingxuan carefully picked Shen Xi up, the room staff quickly changed the bed linen and quietly left the room after nodding to Li Mingxuan. Li Mingxuan looked at Shen Xi, who was still sleeping, and wondered if he should change his clothes.

Although Li Mingxuan didn’t have any thoughts about Shen Xi and just regarded him as a younger brother who needed to be taken care of, however, because of his own sexual orientation, Li Mingxuan paid special attention not to get too close to other men, let alone take care of someone in such an intimate manner.

After a hesitant glance at Shen Xi, Li Mingxuan leaned down and began to unbutton his shirt.

As the buttons were undone one by one, Shen Xi’s delicate collarbones were gradually revealed. Li Mingxuan’s mind suddenly flashed back to the scene he saw in the car yesterday, his fingers suddenly trembled, and then he was embarrassed to find that his body was actually reacting.

Chagrined, Li Mingxuan stopped.

“A man’s erection is not subject to moral constraints”, these words were said by Li Mingxuan’s father to him on his eighteenth birthday, closely followed by another sentence, “But to be a successful man, the most fundamental self-control is indispensable.”

Born into a family like theirs, they had to face all sorts of temptations from a young age, among which the temptation of women was essential. Li Mingxuan’s father had seen a lot of women in his life who either actively or passively pursued him and was very worried that his son, who had just reached adulthood, would not be able to resist such temptations. Of course, at that time his father did not know that Li Mingxuan was not interested in women at all.

At that time, Li Mingxuan was about to leave the country, and his father made it a point to warn him about these things, in hope that Li Mingxuan would know how to exercise restraint and not fool around too much abroad.

What Li Xiyong didn’t expect was that because of his words Li Mingxuan, who was not interested in women, would remain distant from all the men who appeared around him. In the past few years abroad, there was not a single person he would have an ambiguous relationship with, not to mention any other nonsense.

After Li Mingxuan returned to China, he gradually took over the company from his father’s hands. After a few busy years, he was still alone. Li Mingxuan also had the normal impulses of a man, but with him usually spending time alone, he had never encountered such a situation.

Li Mingxuan was embarrassed and wondered if he should continue.

Shen Xi, who was deep in sleep, moved restlessly. He felt that his grandfather was leaving him step by step, and the surrounding scenery gradually changed into a scene in prison. It seemed that someone put his hand on him, and Shen Xi sneered. Another guy who didn’t want to live was trying to hit on him? Didn’t anyone in prison tell him what happened to all those men who had this idea?

Almost subconsciously, Shen Xi grabbed the hand on his body, kicked out with his right leg and pressed the man underneath him in one movement.

Li Mingxuan was caught unawares by the sleeping Shen Xi’s kick that landed right at the root of his thigh. If not for the fact that Shen Xi was still feverish and his body didn’t have much strength, Li Mingxuan would probably have to worry about his happiness for the rest of his life.

Even so, Xiao Mingxuan quickly went soft.

In the next instant, the still puzzled Li Mingxuan was flipped over onto the bed by Shen Xi. Li Mingxuan looked at Shen Xi in surprise and was met with the undisguised killing intent in Shen Xi’s eyes.

The moment their eyes met, Shen Xi blinked and the original killing intent quickly receded, replaced with a bewildered look.

“Cousin?”

Before Li Mingxuan could answer, Shen Xi’s arms suddenly went soft and he fell down onto Li Mingxuan. As soon as Shen Xi came back to his senses and realised that it was not his previous life, the violent spirit in his heart immediately dissipated. Plus he was still suffering from a fever at the moment and was already weak. He had just used up his strength and his hands and feet went limp.

This was the first time their bodies were so seamlessly pressed together when they were awake.

The first thought that flashed through Li Mingxuan’s mind was that it was fortunate that Shen Xi had kicked him, otherwise he would feel quite embarrassed now. But soon he realised that the situation wasn’t much better. Shen Xi was lying bonelessly on top of him, breathing right on his neck, and Li Mingxuan’s body was uncontrollably aroused under those warm exhalations. When he felt that Xiao Mingxuan was about to stand up again, Li Mingxuan didn’t care what Shen Xi might be thinking, flipped them around and pinned Shen Xi underneath him.

When the eyes met again, Shen Xi’s face was still confused. This series of actions happened so quickly that Shen Xi had not yet reacted to what was going on.

Li Mingxuan quickly got up from Shen Xi and sat beside him as if nothing had happened, “Did Xiao Xi have a nightmare?”

“Nightmare?” Shen Xi thought of his dream and subconsciously looked at the clothes on his body.

Li Mingxuan coughed lightly with a calm face, “You were sweating, I was about to change your clothes.”

Shen Xi blinked in confusion and finally asked the question he was most puzzled by, “Why are you here?”

The author has something to say: 

There is a long explanation from the author that the turn-down service (the preparation of a room for a guest to sleep in by slightly turning back the comforter on the bed, turning down the lights, and so on) really exists and they come in early in the evening, so it was not just a random thing she’d come up with.