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 couldnât 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, hadnât forgotten because the âtreatmentâ Qian Zhu gave him was cruel. It didnât only leave him exhaustedâit even left the rims of his eyes red.
En, he didnât want to recall whatâd happened that day, but Qian Zhu was more than willing to do so. Heâd often find reasons to âtreatâ Su Tang.
Initially, Su Tang didnât mind being âtreatedâ 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 wolfâevery 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 didnât, could they still be considered wolves?!
But still, this wolf didnât eat him. It actually wasnât âdidnât eatâ, but âresisted eatingâ. This wolf felt hungry every time he saw the little rabbit heâd 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 couldnât take it any longer, so he grabbed the wolfâs tail and asked, âAre you always thinking of eating me?â
The big wolf pondered that for a while and took the rabbit into his embrace before replying with, âI am, I really am. But Iâll wait until youâve grown up, then Iâll âeatâ you.â
Upon hearing his response, the rabbitâs heart swelled with both joy and anxiety. He recognised that heâd 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 thereâd be more meat and heâd 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.\n
Ah, that wolf was such a nuisance. The rabbit shrunk into the wolfâs embrace and became a dumpling, unable to quell his sadness.
What he didnât know was that when the wolf saw his soft rabbit ears, the wolf couldnât help but think.
He thought that the rabbit he was raising was so good, and once he grew up, heâd be the cutest rabbit in the world. When that time came, heâd be the object of many peoplesâ affection. Theyâd 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 rabbitâs 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 wasnât a rabbit, nor was Qian Zhu a wolf.
He sighed, baffled by his dream. He shrunk back into Qian Zhuâs 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 bunnyâhe was soft and adorable, and just like the one in his dream, he liked to curl up in Qian Zhuâs embrace to sleep.
The two didnât know that theyâd 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 didnât 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 Zhuâs beauty and was unable to stop himself. After he was done admiring, he shifted his gaze to Qian Zhuâs eyebrows and finally realised⌠just a moment ago, Qian Zhuâs back had been facing him.
So⌠So heâd been caught staring.\nSu Tang froze for a second and then immediately closed his eyes, ever so slowly shrinking back into the blanket. Before heâd fully finished shrinking away, he was snatched out by Qian Zhu.
It was just like pulling out a rabbit.
âAre you still groggy or is your vision blurry?â Qian Zhu asked with a smile.
âWu, good morning ahâŚâ Su Tang slowly opened his eyes, pretending to have just woken up. He sighed and avoided Qian Zhuâs 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 wasnât paying attention?
Consequently, Qian Zhu spoke his mind, and Su Tang soon exploded.
Heâd 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, âThen have you secretly touched me?â
âEn, I have ah.â 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 heâd eaten for dinner last night.
Su Tang wasnât ready for this kind of honesty.
Initially, he hadnât thought that Qian Zhu wouldâve admitted it, guessing that Qian Zhu would just pinch and tease him right after he spoke. However, unlike how heâd imagined, Qian Zhu instead admitted it so matter-of-factly, as if it were normal behaviour. This⌠This left Su Tang feeling flustered.
\nSu Tang, unaware of the changes in Qian Zhuâs body language, approached him and saw that Qian Zhu had bathed with water thatâd 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.
âDonât you find it cold?â Su Tang asked.
ââŚâ Qian Zhu didnât 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 Zhuâs gaze. He felt extremely stupid. Ahhhhh. He wanted to hide in a hole.
In the end, he didnât do that. And even if he did hide, Qian Zhu could just dig him up and lay him on a cushion2Â 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 Zhuâs level. After that, heâd have to wait for their spiritual powers to merge so thereâd be less discomfort when it was shared.
The two sat facing each other with their fingers intertwined, each enjoying the otherâs warmth and company.
And yet, Su Tangâs heart and mind were in disarray. Even though that morningâs events had somewhat impacted him, it still wasnât the most important thing. This was because, every time the two practiced, Qian Zhu had them â under the guise of getting more familiar with one another â practice face-to-face and hand-to-hand until they were thoroughly face-to-face and mouth-to-mouth.
Theyâd 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.