Lu Shenxing wasn't very good at co-existing with OCD.
He came out of the bathroom after taking a shower. Cheng Zi was lying on the side of the bed in his Doraemon pajamas, his dark clear eyes looking out from under his black fringe. He looked nervous, excited, like he was a newlywed waiting to be pampered.
"Xiao Shu, your hair is still dripping."
"Hm?" Lu Shenxing made a sound from his nose.
Cheng Zi stood up, grabbed a dry towel and draped it over Lu Shenxing's head. He rubbed it with his hands and spoke about the mild temperature as if he were teaching a disobedient child, "If the water isn't wiped off, your clothes will get wet and drip on the wooden floor."
Lu Shenxing, the disobedient child, squinted, "Why didn't you go home and came here instead?"
Cheng Zi rubbed the towel and said lightly, "Today is Christmas Eve."
Christmas Eve? Lu Shenxing was no stranger to this holiday, but it felt like it was a long time ago. He raised his eyebrows, "You won't go back tomorrow night?"
Cheng Zi's expression was calm, "Tomorrow is Christmas."
"The day after tomorrow?" Lu Shenxing lifted his arms and comfortably stretched over Cheng Zi's shoulders, resting his weight on the young man.
"It's not a holiday," Cheng Zi lowered his eyes, "I just want to be with Xiao Shu."
After the back and forth he finally told the truth.
Lu Shenxing's eyes narrowed as he stared at the young man's red eartips, he felt a sense of nostalgia. He said, "Turn off the lights and go to sleep."
"My waist is okay," Cheng Zi's voice was very quiet, and in the night he seemed a little hazed. "Xiao Shu, it's still early."
"Don't try to hook me." Lu Shenxing stretched out his hand to cover his face and said mockingly, "I don't want to see you run off to have a shower half way through, your Xiao Shu gets soft easily."
Cheng Zi said nothing.
The room was covered by darkness, only the faint light from the window remained. The two people who shared the bed were laying side-by-side, both smelling of the same shower gel, their breathing barely audible.
After some time, there was the sound of snoring, the man had fallen asleep. His head tilted over, resting on the younger man.
The young man in bed squirmed, then raised his head to print his lips on the man's face. He slowly moved his hand to the man's hand and stretched out his fingers to secretly clasp their fingers together.
He didn't know why he liked him, but he wanted to accompany him until he was old and grey.
There was a faint sigh in the darkness. Cheng Zi felt distress over his own situation. He moved his fingers, trying to hypnotise himself and separate the dirty from the clean.
Early in the morning, When Lu Shenxing was still asleep, he was turned over and undressed. His pajamas, underwear and even the bed sheets, and pillow covers were all washed and replaced with freshly washed, sun dried sheets.
Cheng Zi opened the middle drawer of the closet and took out the underwear and socks that were all stacked together and started pairing and folding them, one by one. He turned to look at the man on the bed, "Xiao Shu."
Lu Shenxing pinched the edge of the quilt, "He's dead."
Cheng Zi, "..."
He walked over and put underwear and socks on Lu Shenxing, his expression was very calm, but his cheeks were hot, his eyes dodged away, his breathing was short and his fingers shook slightly. Overall he looked like he was very ill.
Lu Shenxing opened his eyelids and glanced at him lazily, "Don't drool on me."
The corner of Cheng Zi's mouth twitched.
"Clothes." Lu Shenxing yawned.
Cheng Zi turned around and threw a black sweater and slacks on him.
After lying on the bed for a while, Lu Shenxing massaged his scalp and got up. He stood at the sink and shaved, as Cheng Zi went in and out behind him, brushing the toilet then the floor tiles.
Looking at the young man's pouted butt in the mirror, Lu Shenxing's voice was vague, "Can you stop cleaning?"
Cheng Zi frowned, bent over and scrubbed seriously a second time, "It's dirty."
After a while, Lu Shenxing scratched his forehead and went out, feeling very tired. He was normal in the past two lives. Why did he become ill in this life?
Throughout the morning, the doorbell rang again and again. Lu Shenxing was sitting on the sofa sorting his documents, while the figures around him walked about. The living room, balcony, and study room were lined with green plants, and the upstairs and downstairs were made neat and tidy. It all gave him a headache.
"Stop working." While Cheng Zi was struggling with the wallpaper, Lu Shenxing spoke behind him.
"I'm not tired." Cheng Zi furrowed his eyebrows, trying to align the two sides of the wallpaper.
"...I'm tired." Lu Shenxing said.
Cheng Zi pursed his lips and loosened his hold on the wallpaper. His profile was taut, "Xiao Shu, I'm already improving."
"From what I've seen, it doesn't seem like much." Lu Shenxing said relentlessly, with a harsh tone, "You still need to work hard."
"I ate your saliva last night." Cheng Zi couldn't agree with what the other party was saying. Going that far was already beyond his own expectations.
Lu Shenxing put the file down, and uncrossed his legs, "If you can eat a lollipop, I'll agree you've made progress."
A lollipop? Cheng Zi was taken aback, "I can eat lollipops."
Lu Shenxing looked down, curled his lips, and said unhurriedly, "Then come and eat one now."
Old rogue! Cheng Zi turned around, his ears were red.
"I'll keep this lollipop for you, you can eat it anytime you want." Lu Shenxing laughed playfully.
"I won't eat it." Cheng Zi flushed.
Lu Shenxing watched the black-haired young man put on his apron and go into the kitchen. After a while, there was the sound of water from the kitchen, followed by the sound of cutting vegetables, and a scent drifted past his nose. He had a strange feeling.
It felt like home.
The phone rang. Lu Shenxing heard Cheng Tiandao's voice, "Xiao Zi is back?" Then he said, "He didn't even return home, so he must've gone to your place."
Listening to the grievances of the other party, Lu Shenxing was a little helpless, "Da Ge, what do you want to say?"
"Come and visit us this afternoon." Cheng Tiandao said, "Your Dasao is always talking about you and wants to have a good chat."
Lu Shenxing's eyelids twitched.
Three dishes and one soup were made very quickly, all home-cooked dishes. The soup was tomato egg soup without the spring onions that Lu Shenxing hated.
During the meal, Cheng Zi suddenly said, "I passed the interview with Kangda Office."
Lu Shenxing, who was working on a dish of fried pork with bamboo shoots, didn't respond. Perhaps the man next to him was staring too intently, he finally said two words, "Not bad."
Cheng Zi asked, "The vegetables or me?"
Can't you let people eat peacefully? Lu Shenxing couldn't swallow, he said silently, "You."
A little while later, Cheng Zi took out a passbook from his pants pocket and pushed it in front of Lu Shenxing, "Xiao Shu, this is all I have. It will be yours from now on."
Lu Shenxing opened his passbook and took a look, "Da Zhizi, you don't have enough money to visit the club twice."
"..." Still thinking about visiting the clubhouse? Cheng Zi spoke nonchalantly, "Xiao Shu, you are getting older, I'll make money to support you."
This sentence succeeded in poking Lu Shenxing's nerves. He pushed his empty bowl away and Cheng Zi took it to the kitchen to get more food. He was still saying, "When you get old, I'll feed you."
Lu Shenxing was startled slightly. He unconsciously imagined that his hair was white, his teeth had fallen out, he was ugly and old, and he couldn't speak well, and Cheng Zi was sitting at the bedside and giving him a bite of food.
After the meal, Lu Shenxing put one hand on the sofa casually, and put one hand through Cheng Zi's black hair casually, "I'll have a nap first, and call me in twenty minutes."
Cheng Zi sharpened his pencil, took his sketchbook, and went to see him after a while. The pencil drew smooth and clean lines on the white drawing paper to outline the figure that he had already memorized well.
After twenty minutes passed, Lu Shenxing, who wanted to rest a while longer, was awoken by Cheng Zi, and the two changed their clothes and went out together.
The Christmas spirit was everywhere, romantic and intoxicating. You could see Santa Claus standing on the side of the road, Christmas trees with colorful lights, and pairs of lovers everywhere.
Lu Shenxing drove the car, the wiper swept the little snowflakes back and forth. Cheng Zi was sitting in the passenger seat, wearing a light gray vertical striped scarf, earphones plugged in, restrained and quiet.
For some reason, Lu Shenxing suddenly understood whose shadow he was looking at in the honest man, and he immediately denied it subconsciously.
Cheng Zi spoke very quietly, as he sensed that something was off about the man, "What's wrong?"
"It's a bit cold, can you cover me." Lu Shenxing looked at the traffic on the left and right.
"Where? Your hands?" Cheng Zi wondered, the air conditioner set quite moderately.
"Xiao Shu's bird." Lu Shenxing turned the steering wheel, his lips twitched lightly.
Cheng Zi tilted his head, his face was dark.
The topic moved on, and the weird atmosphere went with it.
Fang Wen didn't look good when she saw Lu Shenxing, she snorted, "I can't believe, I trusted you at first."
Lu Shenxing coughed a few times and was too embarrassed to answer.
"I have something to tell you." Fang Wen said, "Xiao Zi is still young, if one day he decides to leave you, don't be embarrassed..."
Lu Shenxing interrupted, "I don't think he will leave."
His extreme confidence made Fang Wen quiet for a while before asking, "Have you touched him?"
Lu Shenxing raised his chin slightly and admitted in silence.
"You should be careful." Fang Wen said quietly, "Xiao Zi's waist was injured, don't go too far."
Cheng Tiandao didn't give Lu Shenxing a chance to speak, and called him into the study.
It had been a while since that incident, and the two brothers sat face to face, each in a calm mood.
"When will you get married?" When Cheng Tiandao saw the other's expression, his mood dropped, "Have you never thought about it?"
"No." Lu Shenxing said.
"Think now." Cheng Tiandao took a sip of tea.
"Da Ge, marriage is a major event." Lu Shenxing frowned, his voice suppressed, "I'll think about it carefully."
At the entrance of the study, the young man standing there with the corners of his lips pressed together tightly, his clear face was filled with a layer of coolness, and the emotion in his eyes was difficult to discern.
After dinner with Cheng Tiandao, they went back. Cheng Zi didn't say anything along the way, and Lu Shenxing was also silent.
After taking Cheng Zi home, Lu Shenxing drove around outside for more than an hour before stopping the car and walking into a store.
There was a soft Christmas song playing inside, and the sweet voice of the salesgirl greeted him, "Are you here to purchase rings? The pairs over here are discounted today."
Lu Shenxing raised an eyebrow, his expression saying, 'Do I look like I can't afford a ring?'
The salesgirl eyed him from top to bottom and quickly changed her attitude, showing him to the most expensive and arrogant selections.
Lu Shenxing's gaze swept the selection and stopped on a pair of rings on the left.
"Sir, you have excellent taste. This is this season's special collection, there is only one pair." Her smile bloomed and she lifted the ring from the cabinet. "The designer gave it a beautiful name, Xingchen."
The name matched the rings well, Lu Shenxing lowered his head, his lips hooked up, "Have a pair made for me like this."
Below is the original chapter ending that had the chapter locked, and was later redacted by author.
After dinner with Cheng Tiandao, they went back. Cheng Zi didn't say anything along the way, and Lu Shenxing was also silent.
When Cheng Zi closed the door, sturdy arms confined him against the wall, and he tilted his head back, "I just came back from outside, I'm dirty. I'll go wash."
Lu Shenxing squeezed his chin, "I'll wait until you finish washing."
"It's dirty." Cheng Zi avoided him, his voice vague, "Let me go."
Lu Shenxing simply changed their location to the shower, he turned on the shower nozzle, "You can wash while doing it."