The early morning sunshine penetrated the bedroom through a gap in the curtains, reflecting a ray of brightness. Qi Le sat silently in bed, gawking at the door. Right now, he had a grim expression on his face. He really didn’t want to open the door and go out. He didn’t remember what time he slept last night but he still remembered his state. He couldn't help but pull down his pants a little to look at his birdie, thinking to himself, damn it! Now, you're soft. Why were you hard last night ah?!
As usual, Gu Bai was waiting for him to have breakfast together but Qi Le didn’t come out even after a long time, so he opened the door and looked for him. He was shocked by what he saw. “What are you doing?”
Qi Le kept his pants open as he looked up silently. His expression instantly cracked. Fuck it! What’s with his timing?! He quickly let go of his pants and said with a deadpan expression, “Nothing.”
Gu Bai looked at him and asked tentatively. “…You had a wet dream?”
“You're thinking too much, okay!” Qi Le slowly got out of bed, looked at him and suddenly recalled last night’s kiss. All of a sudden, he felt a little embarrassed. He quickly walked past him out and went straight to the bathroom.
Gu Bai stood at the door and watched him walk away. He began to think whether he had been too impatient and frightened him.
Qi Le paced back and forth twice in the bathroom, then rushed over to the sink to wash his face, silently comforting himself that he was only a little hard, not completely hard. Moreover, it was normal for someone like him, who had only ever held somebody else’s hand and had no experience at all, to have a little reaction when he was passionately kissed… right?
He was dazed and imagined how he would feel if Gu Bai was replaced with Ning Xiao. He felt sick immediately. Then on second thought, he would've rushed up to kill him and would never let him indulge so much. So, this was due to his acquiescence then. Plus, the kiss had lasted too long and Gu Bai's tongue had lingered… So, his body had an instinctive reaction?
After thinking about it, he suddenly felt enlightened and quickly washed up. He opened the bathroom door and went to the dining table to eat breakfast. Gu Bai was calm as usual, as if last night had nothing to do with him. Qi Le wasn't as shameless as him after all and he still felt a little embarrassed. He glanced at him from time to time while he was eating. Then, he couldn't help gritting his teeth and thinking to himself, Erquan you can act so fucking well huh! You piece of shit!
Gu Bai looked at him and asked knowingly, “What’s the matter?”
Qi Le bowed his head again and concentrated on eating his porridge. “…Nothing.”
They had a simple breakfast and Qi Le went back to the difficult process of revising again. However, because someone was sitting nearby, he couldn't concentrate and went back to his bedroom with his book. Gu Bai thought that he should give him enough time to think about it, so he didn’t follow him in and could only sit outside alone in boredom.
He thought that Xiao Le had spent a really long time studying and should have some proper rest. Only then did he enter his room with the Scottish fold cat.
Qi Le froze, “What are you doing?”
“I think it’s a bit sad.” Gu Bai calmly put the cat on the table, “So I brought it over and see if it would perk up. It likes you better.”
Qi Le immediately took the cat into his arms and thought to himself, my son, you're so pitiful… You're being used by this bastard again. He stroked it comfortingly and found that someone didn't leave. He couldn’t help asking, “Is there anything else?”
“No,” Gu Bai sat on his bed. “Go ahead with your revision, don’t mind me.”
Qi Le silently digested his reply for a second and patiently persuaded, “Don’t worry, it'll be fine.” The implication was for him to quickly leave.
“I still want to look at it,” Gu Bai said smiled sincerely. “After all, it's the only living thing left to me by Xiao Le. I attach a lot of importance to it.”
Qi Le, “……”
Fuck you, don't you feel guilty saying that? Don't you feel guilty at all? You're too damn shameless!
Qi Le went back to studying. He swept his gaze across the room and saw Gu Bai leaning against the headboard, reading a book. His eyes were warm and misty, which didn't disgust him at all. He sat there in silence for a moment, stroking his son as he thought to himself, what was that strange warmth? He struggled for a whole morning and felt that it wouldn't work like this. He had to find someone to ask about it but there were no normal people around him and the answers he got wouldn't be normal.
Gu Bai glanced at the time and put down his book. “What would you like for lunch?”
Qi Le snapped out of his daze and was about to speak when his cellphone suddenly rang. He took out a look and found that it was the last strange number, that is, Yi Hang's number. He hesitated for a moment before answering, “What’s wrong with you now?”
“There's something I want to ask you,” Yi Hang said. “Do you know where the Taoist priest lives? I only know that he's a student but I don’t know which school.”
Qi Le was surprised. “Why are you looking for him?”
“I want to buy a few talismans.”
“…” Qi Le said, “Do you really believe him?”
“No, I’m not looking for him. Just think about it. Last time in the hospital, those little nurses said he was the Great Master's favorite pupil so I can contact his master through him,” said Yi Hang excitedly. “I’ll get some talismans from the master!”
Qi Le felt a headache coming on. He asked helplessly, “What if he's a fake?”
There was a moment’s silence before Yi Hang’s dull voice sounded from the other end, “You're right.”
Qi Le, “……”
“No matter what, I have to give it a try. Do you know where he lives?”
“Oh, I know.” Qi Le paused, “Where are you? I’ll go with you… I don’t want to buy any talismans, no thank you. I just want to take a walk and look around. I'm hanging up. I’ll go look for you.”
Gu Bai heard their conversation clearly and raised his eyebrow. “Are you going out?”
“Mmm, I won’t have lunch.” Qi Le took his wallet and some other things and turned to walk away.
“I’ll send you?”
“No, it's alright.” Qi Le waved him off and left quickly.
Gu Bai stood at the door of his bedroom and looked at the Scottish fold cat that jumped onto his shoulder. He couldn’t help stroking it a few times. He thought that he should let Qi Le go. He needed to give him some space.
Qi Le quickly found the McDonald’s where Yi Hang was, then saw a certain someone’s appearance and was instantly shocked. “What’s wrong with you?”
Yi Hang sat at a window seat and looked up at him. His eyes were bloodshot and his voice was hoarse. “I didn't sleep well.”
“…Go back to sleep if you didn't sleep well.”
“I’m afraid to,” Yi Hang said pitifully. “Last night, that bastard said that he would hold me to sleep. I didn’t agree with him and he didn’t force me either. In the end, I was so scared that I couldn’t sleep. I only fell asleep in the early hours of the morning. After opening my eyes at noon, I didn’t dare to sleep again. I was afraid of a female ghost popping up suddenly.”
“…” Qi Le said, “You watched a horror movie?”
Yi Hang nodded silently and paused to explain. “I didn't want to watch it. He forced me to.”
Qi Le understood the situation. He comforted Yi Hang casually, ran to order some food, then came back and sat down. He was silent for a moment before asking, “When your man kissed you… did you get hard?”
Yi Hang froze, then thought carefully. “I don’t know.” He said hesitantly, “I don't think so.”
Qi Le was persistent. “It's your own body. Don't you know if you got hard or not?”
“The point is that I'm never in the mood to pay attention to this matter,” Yi Hang said sadly. “Because that bastard always distracts me with something else.”
That's true… Qi Le pursed his lips and bowed his head to eat.
“Why did you ask? Did he kiss you?” Yi Hang looked at him, intending to gossip. “Haven't you already come clean with him? Why aren't you together yet?”
Qi Le looked surprised. “When did I come clean with him?”
“Didn’t you tell him some time ago? Last time, he called me…” Yi Hang tore off the ketchup packet and narrated what happened. “So you guys haven't… Fuck! Why are you hitting me with the fries?!"
Qi Le glared at him, shaking all over. You idiot! So Laozi is in this sorry situation because of you?!
Yi Hang put the fries back on the table. “Are you crazy?”
“I really have gone crazy!” Qi Le snapped. “I wish I could kill you now!”
Yi Hang was at a loss. “Why?”
Qi Le didn't answer, eating impassively as he thought to himself, you fucking idiot! You better not fall into Laozi’s hands or else Laozi won't just betray you, I'll sell you off in your underwear!
Yi Hang looked at him, still not seeing the problem but he didn't ask again. They soon finished eating and set off for the university town. Yi Hang looked at the sign on the street and sighed with emotion. “I used to go to school here.”
Qi Le glanced at him, looking surprised. “You were in the same university as this body of mine. What year are you in? Have you never heard of Zheng Xiaoyuan’s name?”
“First year.” Yi Hang was also surprised, “I haven’t heard of you. Are you famous? Oh, that's right, you are pretty famous. I didn’t know until I died. I played games all the time when I was in school.”
Qi Le nodded understandably, thinking that this man was a geek and not someone within the circle so it was normal that he hadn't heard of him. How did the girls know about him then?
Yi Hang looked at the gates of the school and suggested, “Let's go in and take a walk around. We can get there through here anyways.”
Qi Le didn’t object. He took the opportunity to get familiar with the environment and went in with him. The buildings of this school looked rather old. The trees on both sides of the path were tall and proud. The wind blew and the leaves rustled as they walked. Right now, it was less than a week before the term officially started. Students from other places had already returned. They could be seen walking everywhere on campus, which made it quite lively. Yi Hang's emotions were deeply stirred. He pointed to the newsstand, “I used to buy magazines here.”
Qi Le comforted, “You can still buy them now.”