When Shen Zhifan was kissed, his heart beat like a drum.
This time, the other man didn’t kiss him too deeply – compared to last night, at least.
The kiss from last night was like intense wind and rain in the ruins of a wasteland, the violent invasion meaning that one could only tremble and retreat. It was almost entirely without reason – completely made up of human impulse and instinct.
But this time, it was graceful and gentle, with affection like a drizzle in a breeze. Compared to the battle from before, it was a courteous invitation to dance.
A gentleman’s tenderness.
But he could feel the other man’s trembling lips, just like his own trembling body.
It was as if his body was bare and he was in a field of ice, tilting his head upwards to kiss an overflow of magma. His heart seemed to burst with splashes of water at the edges, sprinkling onto his trembling body.
Like he was ice-cold, yet also blazing hot.
And as the frost and fever intertwined in his heart, it was completely filled with him.
Yet this kiss was so short – when he’d opened his eyes, everything was already over.
He looked up and caught sight of Yan Shuo’s eyelashes, like fragments of a butterfly’s wings, shadows feathering downwards. Somehow, they didn’t quite suit his handsome, healthy features.
There was a sense of beauty in contrast.
“Bang——”
He had closed his eyes slightly, but before he could speak, a loud noise startled them.
Shen Zhifan had the wits scared out of him, and turning his head, he was completely scared stupid. Recovering, he instinctively stepped back.
Yan Shuo was much the same. Somewhat embarrassed, he turned to take a look, but he didn’t let the other man go.
The newcomer’s bag had been dropped on the floor. She kneeled down to retrieve it, but almost sprained an ankle in her high-heels.
She was clearly, utterly pissed.
Yan Shuo sighed, his gaze resting on Shen Zhifan’s somewhat bewildered face. He swept his hand past the latter’s fair neck, then spoke to him softly.
“Wait a moment for me, alright?”
Shen Zhifan nodded. As though he’d just reacted, his face suddenly flushed a deep red.
But he was handsome, so even his blush was beautiful.
“O-Okay.”
Shen Zhifan thought that sure enough, in his two days here, everything had really gone sideways. When he got home, he definitely had to print out Shen Zhirou’s black-and-white portrait and use it to ward off evil spirits.
Lady Gu Qiu picked up the bag with difficulty, and looked at the two before her with a rather poor complexion. In the end, she lightly combed a hand through her bangs, forcing herself to maintain her previous graceful and calm stance.
“…This gentleman, could you please leave for a moment?”
Shen Zhifan saw that she was looking at him, and realised that she was talking to him.
Although Lady Gu Qiu made a supreme effort to retain the gentle tone of a mother, unfortunately, her skills in this respect weren’t quite up to scratch. Shen Zhifan could easily hear that she wanted him drawn and quartered, probably twice over.
Actually, Shen Zhifan had recognised her at first glance.
Yan Shuo and his mother looked quite alike – their eyes and lips were made from the same mold, but it was just their features that were similar. Their temperaments were vastly different.
Yan Shuo’s mother indeed looked very gentle, and she was completely different from the indescribably intimidating aura of Yan Shuo.
Although he’d never met Yan Shuo’s father, Shen Zhifan had a feeling that Yan Shuo’s temperament and bearing probably came from the latter.
The feeling that the lady before him gave off was that of a superb, domesticated canary.
From her brow to the corners of her eyes, her temples to her coloured lips, and the shape of her wrists, there was almost nowhere that didn’t show that this person lived the delicate life of a canary.
She maintained her appearance well; today, she wore a very refined black cheongsam, along with a wide, wine-red shawl. If it weren’t for the faint wrinkles on her neck, Shen Zhifan might have thought that she was Yan Shuo’s older sister.
…Being kissed by his male god was already the most inconceivable thing in his life – well, there was yesterday, but what bad luck he had to be caught by the other man’s mother right after a kiss ah!
Well, although there were still a lot of places where people weren’t as welcoming of same-sex marriage, it was going a little overboard to be this angry ah! It was right to be enlightened, but why did she look so frightening?
She-she wasn’t that conservative, right?
In his heart, Shen Zhifan drew up a bullet screen of heartsick comments. Under an order of expulsion from the senior, his body moved before his consciousness.
Yan Shuo’s brows moved slightly; he’d originally planned to talk to Lady Gu Qiu alone, but unfortunately, if this kind of situation made Shen Zhifan leave, the latter would be uneasy.
This was a duck that he’d struggled to hold onto. Like this, it would give Shen Zhifan a bad impression.
And so, the esteemed General’s long arms reached out, pulling back the duck, lightly and confidently speaking to Lady Gu Qiu, “It’s fine, we can talk here.”
Gu Qiu felt that her mouth would go crooked from anger.
However, saving face was important, so she still did her utmost to not detonate in front of Shen Zhifan.
“Ah Yan, that’s no good,” Gu Qiu squeezed a few words through her clenched teeth, “I don’t want to frighten this little friend of yours.”
Shen Zhifan looked quite young, and although this was true, the youthful air of his appearance made him seem no more than twenty years old.
Compared to Yan Shuo, he could really be called a ‘little friend’. <sup>1</sup> the word used here usually indicates a child lololol
Yan Shuo reached out a hand to rub Shen Zhifan’s wrist comfortingly, and spoke softly by his ear, “It’s fine. In any case, you’ll meet my family sooner or later.”
Shen Zhifan…was very terrified and didn’t dare to refuse his male god, but the eyes of the aunty opposite them became extremely bitter.
Lady Gu Qiu, who was being ignored, “…”
In such a tiny space, did you think that she wouldn’t hear?
Fuck!
Gu Qiu tried again, “Ah Yan, Mother will give you another chance, Mother doesn’t want to get angry.”
Shen Zhifan desperately wanted to escape.
Yan Shuo however, was calm and composed. Aside from the embarrassment and panic at the beginning, he was soon as collected as could be.
He didn’t have enough experience to handle Shen Zhifan, but Lady Gu Qiu on the other hand…Heh, in this respect, his grades were very high.
He spoke to Shen Zhifan first, “She’s going to shout.”
Shen Zhifan didn’t understand, and looked at him somewhat blankly.
Yan Shuo didn’t explain, reaching out and using his fingers to plug Shen Zhifan’s ears.
Then, he turned around towards his indignant mother, completely unruffled – so much so that he could almost be called indifferent, “Alright, get angry.”
Gu Qiu, “…”
When Gu Qiu got angry, she would often shout inconsiderately; this was common knowledge in their family. Of course, it was an old habit – later on, Lady Gu Qiu settled down into her role as the General’s wife, abandoning the life of an outlaw. Since then, she never wanted to get angry and do evil.
He just wanted to piss her off a little more, fighting fire with fire and reminding her of the etiquette she should adhere to as a General’s wife. This was the fastest way of calming her down.
Tested and approved.
As expected, it worked.
The wrathful, esteemed Mother who’d been heated enough to throw down her bag, almost rolled her eyes. But, sure enough, after Yan Shuo reminded her of her status, she swallowed down her anger.
…She really couldn’t even vent!
This really was the miserable story of a little brat growing up into a scoundrel. No respect for his elders and offending his superiors, he didn’t even put his own mother in his eyes!
Gu Qiu thought resentfully.
Since he didn’t care, then she would just be direct.
“Yan Shuo, how did Mother teach you? The life or death of your fiancee Olivia is still unknown, yet you’re out here seducing a boy, is this proper?”
Shen Zhifan froze, the word ‘Oliva’ suddenly exploding in his mind.
Oh shit, right, Olivia.
…He had already thoroughly forgotten about this person.
Because she had never appeared on the stage ah.
Shen Zhifan thought blankly for a while – he didn’t even know what she looked like; he hadn’t tried to find out.
He could only unconsciously glance at Yan Shuo.
Yan Shuo raised an eyebrow, “Oh, her? She’s living very well ah, she even personally said she wanted to break the engagement.”
Gu Qiu was stupefied, uncomprehending.
Shen Zhifan was also stupefied, uncomprehending.
Yan Shuo fished out his phone—oh, it wasn’t there, these weren’t his clothes. He turned and retrieved his phone from the coat on the couch. Extremely casually, he called a number and put it on speaker.
“…Hello?”
Olivia’s tired voice came through.
She’d just finished playing a game. Now, since there were no more messy eyes on her, she was spreading her wings and living a back-to-front, day-to-night life that wasn’t possible before; happily gaming the days away.
Hahaha…Screw the revolt, and the assassinations, those were all Yan Shuo’s things. Right now, since she was powerless anyway, comfortably acting as a salted fish mascot was pretty good.
“It’s me,” Yan Shuo spoke lightly, “You want to break the engagement, right?”
Olivia rubbed a hand through her hair, still in dreamland. Although she was a bit confused, she unconsciously gave a sound of agreement.
Gu Qiu was so angry that her voice shook, “…You-you mess around like this, what about the dignity of the royal family? What about the Yan family’s future?”
Yan Shuo thought about it, then spoke to the phone again, “My little brother’s not bad, you should marry him.”
Olivia was now somewhat awake. Hearing this, she almost lost it right then and blew up on him – ha, after ordering the older brother, she’d ordered the second brother, and now the second wanted to change, did he?! Where could this princess put her majestic face now, hm? But before she could say anything, the other had hung up, squeaky clean.
“Beep——”
Olivia breathed in deeply three times, throwing her phone away expressionlessly. Silently, she recited some scriptures for herself, but it was clearly no use. So, she directly yelled ‘bastard!’ at the air three times, then toppled over, going back to her blanket nest to sleep.
Yan Shuo put down the phone, and waved a hand at Gu Qiu.
“Alright. See, it’s settled.”
Gu Qiu, “…”
——Fuck—wait, can’t curse like that—ah what the fuck, who cares!
——This little brat has really gone out of control ah!
Shen Zhifan, “…”
——I don’t understand, but I feel that my male god is so powerful ah…is it a bit inappropriate to clap now?
1
the word used here usually indicates a child lololol