Chapter 65 A Kiss That Came Naturally
When Li Hanzhou came out after taking a shower, Fang Che had already wrapped himself in the blanket, with only half of the back of his head showing.
"Asleep?" Li Hanzhou dried his hair and walked to the bedside.
"No, no," Fang Che's voice was muffled.
Li Hanzhou turned off the main lights, leaving only a small night light on.
He lifted the covers and lay down, with a distance between them.
The room fell silent.
Outside the window is the night view of Macau, with neon lights filtering through the gaps in the curtains.
Fang Che closed his eyes, but couldn't fall asleep no matter what.
That's so strange.
It's not like I haven't slept with Brother Li before; we sometimes squeezed together when we were sleeping on the floor at the base.
He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
But tonight, something just doesn't feel right.
He could clearly sense the presence of the people around him.
Li Hanzhou's scent was a faint blend of shower gel and tobacco.
The heat emanating from that body could be felt even from a distance.
And... the scene I saw at the bathroom door just now keeps replaying in my mind.
Fang Che turned over in frustration.
Then I flipped it back.
Turn it over again.
"What's wrong?" Li Hanzhou's voice rang out in the darkness, deep and languid.
Fang Che's body stiffened: "N-nothing, it's just a little hot."
"Hot?" Li Hanzhou was silent for two seconds. "The outdoor temperature is seven degrees Celsius, and the indoor temperature is twelve degrees Celsius."
"I...I feel hot!" Fang Che stubbornly insisted, "People from Northeast China are all afraid of the heat!"
He himself didn't believe what he said.
Li Hanzhou remained silent.
Just when Fang Che thought he had fallen asleep, the blanket next to him was suddenly pulled off.
She reached out and wrapped her arm around his waist, pulling him slightly tighter—
Fang Che was pulled over and fell into a warm embrace.
"Brother Li?!" He was so surprised that his voice changed tone.
"Aren't you hot?" Li Hanzhou's voice sounded above his head, his breath brushing against his hair. "I'm cold, that's perfect."
Fang Che was stunned.
What kind of logic is that?!
But he didn't dare to move.
Li Hanzhou's embrace was warm, and his heartbeat was steady and strong, which could be felt through the thin fabric of his pajamas.
His arms were wrapped around Fang Che's waist, the force neither too light nor too heavy, but carrying an air of inescapable restraint.
Fang Che's face was pressed against his chest, and he could smell a faint scent of tobacco and shower gel.
Thump, thump.
His own heart was pounding like a drum.
After a long while, Fang Che finally found his voice: "Brother Li, I can't sleep if you're like this."
"Then don't sleep." Li Hanzhou's voice was a little hoarse. "Anyway, I can't sleep."
"ah?"
Li Hanzhou didn't answer, but tightened his grip on her arm.
After a while, he suddenly spoke up: "Ache, since you can't sleep, would you like to hear my story?"
Fang Che's attention was immediately diverted: "Your story?"
“Hmm.” Li Hanzhou’s voice was calm in the darkness. “My family used to be… quite respectable. My father was in import and export trade, and my mother was a middle school teacher. I also have a younger sister named Ruoyu, who is five years younger than me.”
Fang Che listened quietly.
“When I was fourteen, my father took on a big business deal, importing a batch of rosewood furniture from Thailand.” Li Hanzhou paused. “On the day the goods arrived in Hong Kong, my father went to the dock to inspect them and never came back.”
"The police later informed us that my father had been robbed at the dock and shot three times. The shipment had also disappeared."
Fang Che felt a tightness in his chest.
“My mother couldn’t take the blow and fell ill. I took her to see doctors, borrowed money, and worked odd jobs… but she still passed away six months later.” Li Hanzhou’s voice remained steady, but Fang Che felt the rise and fall of his chest become heavier. “Ruoyu was only eleven years old at that time, and I was sixteen, having just been admitted to the University of Hong Kong.”
“I dropped out of school and worked as a porter at the docks and a dishwasher in a restaurant, doing all sorts of jobs to support my younger sister. But the debt collectors wouldn’t let us go… My father had borrowed money from loan sharks for that business deal, and the creditors said that the son should pay for the father’s debts.”
“One day I came home and found that Ruoyu was gone. There was a note on the table saying that she had been picked up by a distant cousin and that I should not look for her.”
Fang Che couldn't help but ask, "And then?"
"Then I searched for seven days and finally found that 'uncle' in an underground bank." Li Hanzhou's voice turned cold. "He's not a relative at all, he's my father's former business partner. He took money from the creditors and sold Ruoyu..."
"Sold?!" Fang Che suddenly looked up and saw Li Hanzhou's taut jawline in the dim light.
“Hmm.” The word seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth. “He was sold to a madam in Kowloon Walled City. I searched frantically for a month, two months… half a year later, I finally heard from a dockworker that a little girl’s body had been found in a garbage dump in the back alley of the Walled City.”
Fang Che stopped breathing.
“I went to the morgue.” Li Hanzhou’s voice began to tremble. “That child… was unrecognizable. She was covered in injuries and was so thin she was just skin and bones. But the clothes were the ones I bought for Ruoyu, the ones I bought for her birthday, a pink dress with a little rabbit embroidered on the chest.”
Tears welled up in Fang Che's eyes, and he bit his lip tightly, afraid to make a sound.
"The forensic doctor said the cause of death was pneumonia caused by a high fever, which wasn't treated in time. She had many old injuries, some healed, some new." Li Hanzhou paused, his voice revealing a chilling calm. "The madam said that Ruoyu was disobedient, always running away, always crying and wanting to find her brother. So they beat her, locked her up, and didn't give her food. The last time she had a fever, it lasted for three days, and no one cared. On the morning of the fourth day, they found her gone and threw her into the garbage dump."
Fang Che was already sobbing uncontrollably, reaching out to hug Li Hanzhou tightly, as if trying to share his pain in this way.
“I killed that madam.” Li Hanzhou’s voice was soft, but it carried a bloody stench. “I used the stick she used to hit Ruoyu, one hit after another, until she died. That ‘uncle’… I tied him to the dock and watched him drown when the tide came in.”
Fang Che hugged her even tighter.
"Later I found out that it was all a setup." Li Hanzhou's voice turned cold again. "My father's death and Ruoyu's sale were all orchestrated by Jiang Kun! Jiang Tianqi's father planned it all. He wanted my father's trade route and wanted to take over that shipment. 'Uncle' was an accomplice."
The room was eerily quiet.
A torrential downpour began in Macau outside the window, with raindrops pattering against the glass.
Fang Che finally understood why this was an irreconcilable blood feud.
He propped himself up and looked at Li Hanzhou's face in the dim light.
The man had his eyes closed, with tear stains at the corners of his eyes, but his expression was as calm as a deep pool.
Fang Che's heart ached as if it were being torn apart.
He leaned down and gently kissed away the tears from the corner of Li Hanzhou's eyes.
The movements were very gentle.
Li Hanzhou's body stiffened, and he opened his eyes.
The two locked eyes.
They were so close that they could see each other's reflections in their pupils.
Li Hanzhou's gaze fell on Fang Che's face.
The boy's eyes were red, his nose was red, and tears were still clinging to his eyelashes.
Her lips were glistening with moisture from crying.
So soft, so...it makes you want to kiss it hard.
Li Hanzhou's Adam's apple bobbed.
He slowly raised his hand and stroked Fang Che's cheek.
My fingertips felt cool against my warm skin.
“A-Che…” His voice was so hoarse it was unrecognizable.
Fang Che didn't speak, he just looked at him.
Those usually clear eyes were now churning with complex emotions.
Li Hanzhou moved his hand to the back of Fang Che's neck and pressed him against himself with a little force.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com