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Chapter 014 The Same Bed
Xu Xizhou rubbed his eyes and sat up on the sofa in disbelief. He must be dreaming. Why did Zhuang Jingchun return to China suddenly?
Before he could speak, Zhuang Jingchun threw a box over and almost hit him in the face.
Xu Xizhou caught it in a hurry.
“My mom gave you a New Year’s gift.”
Xu Xizhou opened the box and saw that there was a gray wool scarf inside, which was extra soft and warm to the touch. As he touched the scarf, his nose felt a little sour.
“Okay, don’t look so touched. Is there food at home?”
Xu Xizhou put the scarf back in the box, a little at a loss, “Er
 there are only quick-frozen dumplings in the refrigerator.”
“You eat such unhealthy food all day long?” Zhuang Jingchun frowned and stared at him with some anger.
Does this guy have the mindset of a professional racer?
“I didn’t eat all day. I only ate twice, and I occasionally ordered takeaway
”
Xu Xizhou’s voice became smaller and smaller and finally stopped talking altogether, bowing his head in shame.
“Sorry, I was wrong.”
Zhuang Jingchun took off his coat and sighed.
“Why don’t you stay at the Lu family’s house for a few more days?”
“It’s embarrassing for me to live there alone.” Xu Xizhou scratched his hair and stood up from the sofa.
He remembered that the tea table hadn’t been wiped yet, so he put the broom aside and was about to find a rag, but was stopped by Zhuang Jingchun.
“You don’t need to do these things. I will call the housekeeper tomorrow.”
He rolled up his sweater sleeves and walked straight to the kitchen.
Xu Xizhou followed curiously and saw Zhuang Jingchun take out a piece of tenderloin from the freezer, skillfully shredding it.
His eyes widened in surprise. He thought that Zhuang Jingchun could only cook French dishes, but he didn’t expect that he could even cook Chinese dishes.
“What are you looking at? Come here and cook the noodles.”
Xu Xizhou said ‘Oh’, and hurried over to boil the water on the pot stand. He was cooking the noodles here, while on the other side, Zhuang Jingchun heated up the pan, poured oil, and fried the shredded pork. The rich aroma immediately filled the entire kitchen.
Xu Xizhou stared at the mustard-shredded pork in the pot and swallowed without caring for his image.
“Watch the noodles.” Zhuang Jingchun reminded him.
Xu Xizhou nodded but still stared at Zhuang Jingchun’s movements from the corner of his eye. Even standing in front of the gas stove, Zhuang Jingchun was still handsome and elegant. He had a straight figure, and his white wrist was exposed under the black sweater, flexibly flipping the spatula.
Watching the man put mustard-shredded pork on a plate, Xu Xizhou’s eyes became brighter, and he leaned his head unconsciously when suddenly something hit the top of his head hard.
“The noodles are going to be mushy.” Zhuang Jingchun said word by word.
“Damn it, can you do it lightly?” Xu Xizhou retracted his neck resentfully, rubbing his head with one hand, and stirring the noodles in the pot with chopsticks with the other.
Under warm yellow light, Xu Xizhou ate the last noodle in the bowl. He wiped his mouth with a paper towel and finally couldn’t help looking at Zhuang Jingchun opposite him.
“You
why did you come back to China suddenly?”
Zhuang Jingchun paused as he ate the noodles. A trace of emotion flashed in his eyes, and then quickly disappeared.
“My mother asked me to come back. She is worried about you.”
Xu Xizhou seemed a little surprised. Just as he was about to say something, Zhuang Jingchun had finished eating the noodles, put down his chopsticks, and glanced at Xu Xizhou.
“Wash the dishes.”
“Understood, Young Master Zhuang. You can just sit down.”
Zhuang Jingchun’s ability to cook noodles for him is already a great gift, and Xu Xizhou naturally has to do the dirty work of washing dishes.
After washing the dishes, Xu Xizhou watched TV for a while, then couldn’t sit still, and knocked on Zhuang Jingchun’s door.
Zhuang Jingchun had just taken a shower, wearing a dark blue bathrobe, covered with water vapor, and stood at the door a little drowsily.
“What are you doing?”
Xu Xizhou blinked and mysteriously took out a rectangular box from behind.
Zhuang Jingchun caught a glimpse of the fireworks pattern on it and immediately became speechless.
“How old are you to still play with such childish things?”
“No, how is it childish to set off fireworks? Hasn’t it been said that men will always be boys until they die? Don’t you like this kind of thing? I still have many types here, like Fire Blossoms[1], Pili Crackers, and Sparkl—”
The solid wooden door slammed shut in front of his eyes with a bang.
Xu Xizhou rubbed his nose, grumbled that Zhuang Jingchun was no fun, and walked downstairs with fireworks in his arms.
He guessed that Zhuang Jingchun would reject him, but he was not disappointed and went to the yard alone with the pile of fireworks boxes.
He took out the lighter and lit two fire blossoms in the open space, then he squatted on the steps and watched the colorful fireworks bloom in mid-air.
Zhuang Jingchun sat in front of the window, and when he lowered his eyes, he saw the figure in the yard.
The boy sat on the steps, his profile seemed a little lonely. He was clearly watching the fireworks blooming in the sky, but his eyes were like a dimly lit night sky, empty and confused.
He suddenly felt somewhat upset. He didn’t want to get to the bottom of what was bothering him, so he raised his hand and closed the curtains.
The next day, Xu Xizhou fell into a drowsy sleep and was woken up by Yuan Mu’s phone call.
“Go to the forest park? Okay.”
“What, you want to bring your family?” Hearing what Yuan Mu said, Xu Xizhou didn’t feel sleepy at all and sat up from the bed in a jerk, his expression a bit troubled.
“Don’t talk about it, he will definitely not agree. I asked him to come down to watch the fireworks yesterday and he refused. He thought I was childish.”
On the other end, Yuan Mu refused to give up and said persuasively, “Think about it, this is still the beginning of the first month of the lunar calendar. The fact that he ran all the way back to China at this time shows how much he still cares about you. If you act coquettishly with him, maybe he’ll soften and agree.
Xu Xizhou had a ghostly expression on his face, “Coquettish? You might as well stab me to death, at least I can walk peacefully.”
“It’s Chinese New Year, don’t say anything unlucky. Anyway, I have all the rooms booked. You can figure it out.”
“No, you—”
Xu Xizhou didn’t finish talking, and the other end had already hung up the phone.
The whole day, Xu Xizhou didn’t find a chance to say a few words with Zhuang Jingchun. He shut himself in the room and installed the simulator while Zhuang Jingchun was jet-lagged and slept until the afternoon.
In the evening, the housekeeper came and cooked a sumptuous dinner. During dinner, seeing Zhuang Jingchun drinking the soup in a good mood, Xu Xizhou felt that his chance had come.
He coughed twice in a dignified manner, and after he caught Zhuang Jingchun’s attention, he pretended to say casually, “I heard from Yuan Mu that the forest park in Xishan has nice scenery. It also has hot springs.”
Zhuang Jingchun put a piece of fish in his mouth and looked up at him.
“You want to play there?”
Xu Xizhou nodded quickly.
“How many laps did you do on the simulator today?”
“About fifty laps and there are ten fastest laps.” In the end, he stepped on the clutch until his feet were sore.
Zhuang Jingchun was quite satisfied with the data, and pondered for a few seconds, “I’ll ask Secretary Zhou to book a hotel tomorrow.”
Xu Xizhou didn’t expect Zhuang Jingchun to agree so quickly. With a smile on his face, he said, “No need, Yuan Mu has already booked the hotel.”
Only then did Zhuang Jingchun realize that he seemed to be fooled by him. He frowned slightly, “You mean, there are others too?”
Xu Xizhou carefully observed Zhuang Jingchun’s expression before he responded, “Yeah, Yuan Mu and his husband will both be there, and he wants us to come too. If you really don’t want to— “
“When?”
“Ah? You agreed?!”
Xu Xizhou looked at him expectantly.
“Anyway, I have free time. It’s fine to go out and get some fresh air.” Zhuang Jingchun tried his best to ignore the boy’s glimmering black eyes and answered in a flat tone.
“You prepare for it yourself, I won’t care about it.”
“Don’t worry, I will take care of it.”
After dinner, Xu Xizhou couldn’t wait to drag Zhuang Jingchun to a nearby supermarket and buy a shopping cart full of snacks. Zhuang Jingchun mocked him for behaving like a primary school student on a spring outing. However, Xu Xizhou was not annoyed and threw two more canned oranges into the shopping cart.
The next day, they set off early in the morning. Zhuang Jingchun was driving, while Xu Xizhou was wrapped in a blanket and lying in the back seat to catch up on sleep. He woke up as they approached the forest park.
“Your drool is flowing out.”
Zhuang Jingchun parked the car and looked back with disgust.
“Don’t slander me, okay, how can there be—” Xu Xizhou subconsciously wiped the corners of his mouth, but his fingers were wet.
The base of his ears turned red immediately, and he pretended to calmly take a tissue, and quickly wiped the corners of his mouth.
They met Yuan Mu and Bi Ran in the hotel lobby. The last time Yuan Mu saw Zhuang Jingchun was in the hospital. This time, his eyes widened when he saw the man with a straight posture in a black coat.
He secretly pulled Xu Xizhou aside.
“Your boyfriend’s face is absolutely amazing. He’s a star in the gay community. If he goes to a bar, those little zeros will probably pounce on him like zombies.”
Xu Xizhou imagined the scene and suddenly felt a chill in his heart.
“I hate zombies. Besides, let me stress it again, I only have a contractual relationship with him.”
“Keep denying it.” Yuan Mu shoved the room card into his hand and winked at him, “When the rice is cooked, it won’t be a contractual relationship anymore, so take care of it.”
Xu Xizhou originally thought that Yuan Mu had booked them a standard room with two beds. However, his expression froze when he opened the door and saw the scene in front of him.
A huge round double bed occupied most of the bedroom area. A pair of wine-red love pillows adorned the bed, and two small rubbers were placed on the bedside table in a brightly colored storage box.
Xu Xizhou facepalmed, and turned around in embarrassment, “I’ll ask them to change rooms.”
“I asked, and there are no spare rooms. All their rooms were booked out three days ago.”
Zhuang Jingchun realized something was wrong when Yuan Mu gave Xu Xizhou the room card and immediately asked the front desk if there were any spare rooms. However, the first days of New Year were the peak tourist season, and the hotel was fully booked, so there were no spare rooms.
There was no expression on Zhuang Jingchun’s face. He put the suitcase on the rosewood table and began to hang clothes in the closet.
“But here
 I can’t sleep on the floor either.” Xu Xizhou looked somewhat sad.
“Is the bed not big enough for you to sleep in?”
Xu Xizhou was startled, and looked at him in surprise, “Don’t you mind?”
Zhuang Jingchun narrowed his eyes slightly, “Do you want to sleep on the floor?”
Xu Xizhou shook his head quickly. He put his backpack on the bed, then sat on the bed and giggled.
“This bed is too elastic.”
He rolled a few times on the bed, and after receiving Zhuang Jingchun’s murderous gaze, he reluctantly sat up on the bed.
At noon, they ate at a nearby farmhouse, and in the afternoon the four of them were fishing by the lake together. Originally, Yuan Mu planned to organize a hot spring bath at night. Unfortunately, the hot spring pool was still under maintenance and will not open until tomorrow, so the four of them can only go back to their rooms to sleep.
Xu Xizhou became independent early. He hadn’t shared a bed with anyone since he was five years old. Now there was another person lying on the bed, so he couldn’t fall asleep.
He turned around and tentatively poked Zhuang Jingchun’s shoulder.
“Are you asleep?”
Zhuang Jingchun didn’t speak, but his shoulders were a little stiff. Xu Xizhou had already got the answer, and he slightly raised the corner of his mouth in the dark.
“Why don’t
we have a chat?”
Zhuang Jingchun frowned slightly, and when he was about to refuse him, there was a sudden bang next door, and then there was a strange sound.
“Fuck
”
Xu Xizhou quickly realized what kind of sound it was, and was completely stunned.
The author has something to say: I hope everyone will leave a lot of comments, and the daily update is about nine to ten o’clock.
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<table>References <th>↑1</th> The flower patterned fireworks</tbody></table>