Chapter 12

Han Shuo, who was on the other bed, sat up abruptly, staring nervously at the movement on the other bed.

"Xiao Meng, what are you doing..." Han Hong stared blankly at Meng Yuxiu's long legs straddling his side and asked.

Meng Yuxiu's mind went blank for a moment, and he swallowed hard.

"……elder brother."

"Why?……"

“I…” Faced with Han Hong’s confused gaze, Meng Yuxiu’s facial muscles twitched slightly, “I’m thirsty…”

"Oh, you want some water, right?" Han Hong immediately stood up, putting on his slippers as he said to Meng Yuxiu, "Little Meng, just call me if you want some water. Be careful not to slip in this dark. I'll go get you some water, just wait here."

Han Hong went downstairs to pour water for Meng Yuxiu.

Even sitting on the bed, Han Shuo could see Meng Yuxiu's extremely depressed expression and the sharp look he was getting from the other bed.

Meng Yuxiu lowered his voice and gritted his teeth, saying, "Didn't you say that even ten oxen couldn't pull your brother up?"

Han Shuo had no idea that his brother would be so vigilant tonight, to an absurd degree. He could only try to comfort Meng Yuxiu in a whisper, "He probably just fell asleep not long ago. Wait until he's snoring for a while longer, don't be angry, don't be angry."

Meng Yuxiu took a deep breath to calm himself down. A moment later, Han Hong brought him a cup of tea upstairs.

Meng Yuxiu wasn't thirsty, but under Han Hong's watchful gaze, he forced himself to drink half a cup of tea.

"Thank you, brother."

"No need to thank me." Han Hong took the enamel teacup from him and placed it on the desk next to him. He smiled and said to Meng Yuxiu, "You must be thirsty after cutting rice all afternoon. Sometimes I get thirsty at night after working too much during the day. Meng, call me when you're done drinking, and I'll go and bring the thermos upstairs."

Meng Yuxiu's lips twitched twice, and he said guiltily, "Okay..."

Keep the lights off and go back to sleep.

However, for the rest of the night, Meng Yuxiu kept getting up and lying down.

The second time, Meng Yuxiu waited until Han Hong snored for an hour before quietly getting up.

But Han Hong, as if wound up, immediately turned on the light.

"Does Xiao Meng want some water?"

Meng Yuxiu forced a bitter smile, nodded, and then silently took the half-cup of water that Han Hong handed him and drank it all in one gulp.

The third time, Han Hong carried a thermos upstairs and said to Meng Yuxiu with a smile, "Little Meng, this time there's plenty of water!"

Meng Yuxiu twitched his eye twice.

Finally, on the fourth attempt, Han Hong was truly fast asleep. But to be absolutely certain, he still whispered "Brother" twice from the side.

When Han Hong showed no reaction, Meng Yuxiu felt as if he had finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel after going through countless hardships, and his excitement was beyond words.

He quickly got up, but when he tiptoed to the bed at the bottom of the stairs in the dark, he found that Han Shuo was already fast asleep.

In this family, Han Hong snored loudly, Han Shuo ground his teeth, and even the little one's mouth was making noises like blowing bubbles. Everyone slept peacefully, except for him, who stayed up all night with dark circles under his eyes, looking like a clown.

"..." Meng Yuxiu felt a lump in his throat.

He calmed himself down and patted Han Shuo's arm, but it didn't wake him. He didn't dare to pat him too hard, afraid of waking the others.

"Han Shuo... Han Shuo..." He leaned down and whispered in Han Shuo's ear, "Wake up..."

Having finally found an opportunity, Meng Yuxiu was unwilling to give it up. Unable to wake Han Shuo, he could only stand there silently for a minute.

Finally, having no other choice, he stretched out two long, slender fingers, touched Han Shuo's face, found the spot, and then stuck them into his nostrils.

Sure enough, after a short while, Han Shuo couldn't breathe. It felt similar to sleep paralysis. He suddenly opened his eyes and almost screamed, but because his nose was blocked, he could only grunt twice with his eyes wide open.

It was pitch black, and Han Shuo had just woken up to find a dark figure standing by his bed, which really scared him.

He was in a daze, and his mental state was still reeling. He blurted out instinctively, "Holy shit! Who the hell are you?"

Meng Yuxiu finally waited until Han Shuo woke up. He pulled his finger out and said through gritted teeth, "I'm your grandpa."

"..."

Han Shuo then came to his senses and remembered that Meng Yuxiu had spent the night at his house.

"Holy crap, I think I just fell asleep."

"It's not just a feeling." Meng Yuxiu closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them again, and said irritably, "You're already asleep."

Han Shuo scratched his head, embarrassed, and said, "I was actually going to wait for you, really! I was still waiting for you when I heard my brother snoring, but you didn't come over after a long time. I thought you had fallen asleep too, hehe, sorry, sorry."

He pushed Han Ting further into the bed, then lay down a little himself to make room for her. "Come on, come on, lie down here."

Meng Yuxiu took off his shoes and squeezed into the narrow space between the beds. The two of them were now in perfect sync; after lying down, they both instinctively turned to their sides, and the next second their lips were already pressed together.

After a whole day of running around, I can finally calm down and get to work on the task.

However, Han Shuo had worked all day and started to feel sleepy while they were kissing. As he got sleepy, his head swayed back and forth on the pillow.

Meng Yuxiu turned his face towards him, "Can't you concentrate for a second?"

Han Shuo yawned and pressed his lips back to the ground, saying sleepily, "Sigh, I'm exhausted after harvesting rice all day."

Someone as proactive as him in completing tasks even considered telling Meng Yuxiu that perhaps they should skip tonight.

But he couldn't bring himself to say it. After all, Meng Yuxiu had endured sleeping with his brother to complete the mission, and then he had forced himself to come over in the middle of the night, sneaking around like a thief.

He couldn't let his teammates down, so he decided to let it go.

Han Shuo was afraid that he would fall asleep again, so he reached out and hugged Meng Yuxiu.

Meng Yuxiu froze for a moment. He stared at Han Shuo's face in the darkness and frowned, asking, "What are you doing?"

Han Shuo: "I'm just afraid that if I fall asleep, my head will tilt to one side again. It's better to hold you like this, at least our bodies are close together, and my head won't tilt too much."

Meng Yuxiu thought it made sense, so he reached out and hugged Han Shuo tightly.

It's October now, and the evenings are a bit chilly. But Han Shuo and Meng Yuxiu are both men, and men naturally have higher body temperatures, especially since they're embracing each other.

Han Shuo had never hugged a man so tightly in his life, including the one before he transmigrated into the book. He felt extremely awkward, so he twisted and turned to adjust to the most comfortable position.

Annoyed by his twisting, Meng Yuxiu said unhappily, "Can't you just stop moving?"

Han Shuo said, "I don't want to move either, but you're as hard as a brick, and it's making me feel uncomfortable all over."

"If you don't like it, then don't hug me," Meng Yuxiu said coldly, and then he was about to let go of Han Shuo.

"Hey, hey, hey." Han Shuo quickly pulled his hand back and wrapped it around his waist. "Why are you so petty? You get angry over just a few words."

"Actually, not all of them are hard," Han Shuo chuckled to ease the tension. "Actually, you're quite sweet-talking."

After saying that, he pecked Meng Yuxiu's lips a few times, like a chick pecking at rice.

Meng Yuxiu rolled his eyes silently in the darkness.

The two kissed for a while.

"What time is it now?" Han Shuo asked him.

"I don't know," Meng Yuxiu replied.

Han Shuo then asked, "How long do you plan to kiss me?"

Meng Yuxiu asked him, "When does your brother get up? I'll leave before he gets up."

Han Shuo: "My brother gets up when the rooster crows."

When does your rooster crow?

"How would I know..."

Meng Yuxiu fell silent, pondering the timing of the mission. He asked Han Shuo if he had a flashlight, wanting to check the time.

"Yes! I'll go get it." Han Shuo got out of bed, then tiptoed to the desk in the dark, opened the drawer and took out a flashlight.

Back in bed, he and Meng Yuxiu both burrowed their heads under the covers and then turned on their flashlights.

Meng Yuxiu raised his wrist and glanced at his watch in the dim light.

At 2:30, he planned to finish his task at 5:00 and return to Han Hong's bed before then.

They turned off the flashlight and continued to press their lips together.

Han Shuo's eyelids were so heavy he could barely open them. He tried his best to stay awake and hugged Meng Yuxiu even tighter.

Meng Yuxiu was also tired and sleepy today. Before long, both of their heads were tilting to one side. Almost entirely by reflex, just as their lips were about to leave each other's lips, they would suddenly snap out of it and press their lips together again.

Han Shuo said wearily, "If only we had some tape."

Meng Yuxiu asked, "Tape?"

"Yeah, with that thick transparent tape, we can wrap our heads together so we can do missions even when we're asleep, don't you think?"

Meng Yuxiu frowned as he recalled the image of him and Han Shuo wrapped up like mummies, saying, "It feels like a murder scene."

"..."

The two of them managed to chat for half an hour, but in the end, no one knew who went silent first, and Meng Yuxiu himself couldn't remember when he fell asleep.

It was like having to go to work the next day and the alarm clock hadn't gone off. He woke up almost instantly, but luckily it wasn't dawn yet. He quickly turned on his flashlight to check the time and found that only an hour had passed.

At four o'clock, we can kiss for another hour.

He shone the flashlight on the side, where Han Shuo was already fast asleep. He turned off the flashlight and turned Han Shuo's face towards him.

However, Han Shuo was grinding his teeth, and Meng Yuxiu really couldn't stand having to endure the other person's lips moving every now and then while they were kissing, followed by the ear-piercing grinding sound of his teeth.

"Han Shuo!"

Meng Yuxiu suddenly realized that Han Shuo wasn't a transmigrator at all, but rather Han Hong's younger brother. It's hereditary that he's so hard to get up from his sleep!

He was getting irritated from kissing him, and his temples were throbbing with frustration. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore, so he lifted Han Shuo's upper lip, then flicked his thumb and forefinger together at Han Shuo's teeth.

Han Shuo finally quieted down, and Meng Yuxiu then gently touched the back of his head and continued kissing him.

In fact, Meng Yuxiu should have stopped when he first woke up, but he was self-disciplined and set a time limit of one hour, so he couldn't skip even a minute.

However, he miscalculated his body's limits. He had been exhausted after a long day, and he fell asleep again without realizing it.

When he woke up again, he found that Han Shuo's face was tilted to one side again. He could only see Han Shuo's smooth neck and deep, long collarbone, and one of his legs was across his stomach.

At this moment, Meng Yuxiu was drowsy and didn't even think carefully about why he could see Han Shuo clearly.

He subconsciously reached out and turned Han Shuo's face, preparing to kiss him, when a sudden shout came from the side.

"You little brat!!!"

The rough voice nearly made the two teenagers and the child jump up from the bed.

Meng Yuxiu was startled. He and Han Shuo stared wide-eyed and turned their heads sharply. They first saw Han Hong by the bed with his eyes wide like copper bells, and then realized that it was already broad daylight.

Then the two looked down again and saw Han Hong's big fist hard as a rock.

"!"

"!"

At this moment, a thought inexplicably popped into Meng Yuxiu's mind: why didn't Han Shuo's chickens crow?

Did you call out?

When was it called?

But at this point, whether the rooster crowed or not was meaningless. He and Han Shuo swallowed hard and shouted in unison, feeling guilty.

"elder brother……"

"elder brother……"

Han Hong was so angry that he couldn't even speak for a moment. His finger, which was pointing at the bed, trembled. Han Shuo and Meng Yuxiu felt that he was like a headless fly in a fit of rage, going around in circles, sometimes going to one side and sometimes returning to the bedside. They didn't know what he was looking for. Then he went downstairs.

The loud banging was so loud it seemed like the stairs were about to collapse.

Meng Yuxiu and Han Shuo exchanged a startled glance.

Han Shuo scrambled out of bed and ran to the stairwell to look downstairs.

"Hold!"

Meng Yuxiu's eyelids twitched. "What's wrong?"

Han Shuo hurriedly pulled the blanket off Meng Yuxiu and said urgently, "Run! My brother has a rolling pin!"

Meng Yuxiu's eyes widened. "What are you doing with that rolling pin?"

Han Shuo said to him urgently and quickly, "What else can I do?! Are you going to feed me noodles?! I'd probably break your legs!!!"

Upon hearing this, Meng Yuxiu's face suddenly darkened. He quickly got out of bed and put on his shoes, but just as he rushed to the stairwell, he suddenly remembered something and rushed back to Han Hong's bed.

As Han Shuo rushed downstairs to stop his brother, he glared at Meng Yuxiu and shouted, "Holy crap! Bro, what are you doing?!"

"I need to put on clothes!" Meng Yuxiu had taken off his coat and trousers before going to bed last night, and although it was urgent, he really couldn't bring himself to run out in just a vest and underwear.

"I give up! When other people get caught cheating, they climb out the window naked, and you're here trying to maintain your image?!" Han Shuo was so angry he was jumping up and down, while Han Hong had already stormed upstairs with a rolling pin in his hand.

The way Meng Yuxiu was dressing in such a disheveled state looked to Han Hong no different from a petty hooligan harassing a young woman.

"You little brat! I was really fooled by your appearance! No wonder you sneaked up at night and said you wanted to drink water!" Han Hong was so angry that he was incoherent. He grabbed the rolling pin and was about to rush forward, but Han Shuo held him back tightly.

"I can't believe you've got the nerve to sneak into my brother's bed!"

"Bro!! Bro! Holy crap!" Han Shuo struggled to wrap his arms around Han Hong's arm, his words tumbling out in desperation, "Don't hit him! I'm doing this willingly!!!"

"Let go of me!"

Han Ting sat on the bed, completely stunned by the chaotic scene.

While Han Shuo was suppressing Han Hong, Meng Yuxiu was still fastening his belt. Han Shuo was completely exasperated and yelled at Meng Yuxiu, "Damn it, bro! You're still fastening your belt?! That's enough! Do you care about your image or your legs?!"

Meng Yuxiu finally fastened his belt, and just as Han Shuo was completely unable to control Han Hong, he rushed downstairs.

Han Hong followed, cursing and swearing, downstairs. Then Han Shuo rushed downstairs as if his legs were propellers, while the little child on the bed followed along the stairs, holding onto the wall.

The chickens pecking at vegetables at the door and the dogs lying on the ground were also startled and ran around in all directions.

Han Shuo was really afraid that Meng Yuxiu would be caught by Han Hong, but the moment he chased out the door, he saw Meng Yuxiu grabbing his bicycle. He didn't even have time to put his leg on it before he ran away.

He could only manage to pedal the bicycle a few times with his left foot during lulls in his running...