Say goodbye
Xu Youling sighed deeply. Song Qi took it as his tacit agreement and started to go downstairs, intending to wait for Pei Zhi and tell him when he returned.
However, Xu Youling called him, his voice a little guilty: "Can you please bring up two quilts from the storage room downstairs?"
"Huh?" Song Qi turned around with his eyes wide open. Although he had frowned, he still tried to guess the best answer. "I'm sleeping in the store tonight too?"
Lu Heng laughed, "As expected." Xu Youling touched his nose, turned his head away, not daring to look at Song Qi, and hummed like a mosquito: "To Pei Zhi."
"Why? Even if you want to keep him here, why not just let him sleep downstairs with Sentinel Duan Xingzhi? Why let him sleep upstairs?" Song Qi shouted angrily, "And why do you need two beds?"
Xu Youling felt even more guilty: "Because I also want to build it..."
"What?" Song Qi's heart collapsed. "You want to sleep upstairs with him?"
His touching roommate Bai Ta has been away from home for a day or two since he opened the shop, and now he is about to be kidnapped by a sentry who came out from nowhere?
This is intolerable!
"Shhhh, keep your voice down..." Xu Youling rushed over and covered his mouth, the tips of his ears slightly red. "You don't understand, I have my own plan."
There seemed to be the sound of doors opening and closing downstairs, and the sound of something being placed on the table. Xu Youling loosened his hand and lowered his voice: "I want to give him another mental hint."
"Same as last time?" Lu Heng raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you say you haven't used it since leaving the White Tower? It would be very troublesome if it doesn't work."
"There's no other way." Xu Youling grasped the hem of his work clothes and watched the wrinkles unravel.
If Pei Zhi hadn't been so persistent in sticking to him, he wouldn't have had to resort to such a desperate measure and try to pull him away again.
But this kind of pain is better than the pain of separation after true union. The two ends of the red thread should not be a living mandarin duck on one end and a bird doll with an empty inside on the other.
This is unfair to Pei Zhi.
"I really don't understand you." Lu Heng shook his head and stood up.
He walked down the stairs. Pei Zhi was waiting anxiously on the side. Seeing someone coming down, he pretended to be fiddling with the things he had just bought: "What did Xu Youling say?"
Duan Xingzhi, who was sitting on the sofa, glared at him angrily. Lu Heng pretended not to notice and pointed towards the storage room: "Didn't you hear everything?"
A sentry's five senses were so sharp that Pei Zhi must have heard everything clearly. His acting skills were only enough to fool Xu Youling.
Pei Zhi silently put down the shopping bag and turned to go to the storage room.
The second floor is smaller than the first floor and the lighting is not very good, but it is clean and warm, and has two small rooms for rest.
Pei Zhi entered the room where Xu Youling was, put down the quilt, and said with a hint of undisguised pride in his voice: "You asked me to come up."
Xu Youling was making the bed with her back to him, feeling a little impatient, so she just said "hmm" casually.
Pei Zhi was looking at the ground obediently at first, but Xu Youling was tidying up a wrinkled corner of the bed sheet against the wall without any movement. His gaze gradually moved from the ground to the tiptoes of Xu Youling's slippers, to her slightly slumped waist, and then to the back of her white neck which was slightly covered by her hair.
My eyes narrowed involuntarily.
Xu Youling tidied up the sheets, turned around and climbed down from the bed, sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at Pei Zhi in confusion: "Sit down."
Pei Zhi coughed twice and sat down obediently next to Xu Youling.
Their knees touching, it was obvious that they were in a position for a heart-to-heart talk, but Xu Youling didn't know where to start. He felt that he and Pei Zhi had their own ulterior motives, and he couldn't help but feel a headache.
Pei Zhi took the initiative to speak: "Your work is very interesting."
"Really?" Xu Youling tilted his head in surprise and opened his mouth. "I thought you wouldn't like this kind of work very much."
Pei Zhi's facial expression froze for a moment: "...Acceptable."
The two of them were silent for a moment. Xu Youling thought for a moment, tilted his head, and asked Pei Zhi, "What about you? What was your life like serving in the expeditionary force?"
"It's just like that, a very ordinary life." Pei Zhi stopped looking at him and looked calmly ahead. "Missions, rest, training, there's nothing else to it, and nothing to be sad about."
"That's not bad, then?" Xu Youling asked, "Have you ever been injured?"
Pei Zhi turned his head away and glanced at him calmly: "If I say I have been through it, will you refuse to go with me?"
Xu Youling remained silent.
Regardless of whether Pei Zhi remembers it or not, at least one thing remains unchanged, that is, whatever he wants to do, he will concentrate all his energy on it until the end of success or failure.
Is taking Xu Youling away and marrying her one of the options? But Xu Youling couldn't imagine the expression Pei Zhi would have when he failed.
"You won't get hurt. Most of the missions are simple and clear." Seeing Xu Youling didn't respond, Pei Zhi continued slowly, "Going to get off work and coming home is the same as ordinary people."
"That's good." Xu Youling said.
Hearing that Pei Zhi was living a peaceful life, Xu Youling felt vaguely happy and a little sad.
"Hmm...are you tired?" Xu Youling lowered his head a little awkwardly to look at his fingertips. "If you are tired, just rest."
Pei Zhi glanced at the only bed in the middle of the room and said with a very gentlemanly expression: "I'll sleep on the floor."
"No need!" Xu Youling immediately refused, but then felt that this was a bit deliberate, so she lowered her wrist, which had just been raised. "...The bed is very big."
What kind of reason is that?
Xu Youling glanced nervously at Pei Zhi, but the latter nodded seriously, as if convinced by him: "Yes, the bed is very big."
"Then go to sleep first, I'll be there soon."
"Okay, thank you for your help."
"Yeah, you're welcome."
Xu Youling got up and went to the nearby bathroom, turned on the faucet, washed his face, and looked at himself in the mirror for a while.
In the past, I would never have thought that I would have such a conversation with Pei Zhi.
They were so polite that they were almost kowtowing to each other.
He secretly tried to concentrate his mental strength. His ability to control seemed a little weaker, but it was probably still enough.
"Okay, it will go smoothly." Xu Youling patted his face with his wet palms and returned to the room.
Pei Zhi was still sitting on the edge of the bed. When he saw him come in, he naturally opened his arms. Xu Youling's brain short-circuited for a moment, and his body walked in front of him before his mind did.
Pei Zhi tightened his arms and rubbed his face against his clothes. Then he raised his head and asked rather belatedly, "Can I hug you?"
"I've hugged you many times." Xu Youling said.
Pei Zhi pretended not to understand and nodded: "Yes, I hugged him in front of the store this morning."
"But I hugged him from behind, so I couldn't see his face. It felt different," he added.
Pei Zhi didn't intend to let go, and gently rocked Xu Youling's body like a cradle. Xu Youling lowered her head and asked him, "What's different?"
"Everything is different." Pei Zhi said in a low voice.
He finally let go, his hand slipped down from Xu Youling's waistband, touched his forearm, and pinched his fingertips: "Go to sleep quickly."
"Okay." Xu Youling said.
Before his mental separation again, he decided to try his best to meet Pei Zhi's small request.
Even he himself didn't know how to face the empty eyes of the sentry he shared a bed with when he woke up tomorrow morning.
After Xu Youling crawled into the thin quilt, Pei Zhi turned off the light with his mental power, and looked sideways at the curve of Xu Youling's nose in the darkness.
There was a long, polite distance between the two of them.
"Pei Zhi." Xu Youling's voice was a little unclear in the darkness. "Why are you called Pei Zhi?"
Pei Zhi pulled at his unmade pillow and said, "Zhi means climbing a mountain."
"It sounds like a very hard name." Xu Youling said softly.
"Then why are you called Xu Youling?" Pei Zhi leaned a little closer. "Is it just because it sounds nice?"
Xu Youling was stunned for a moment, not knowing how to answer. He only knew why his name was Xu Youling, but he didn't know why the original owner was called Xu Youling.
So he repeated stupidly: "Nice?"
"It sounds nice." Pei Zhi confirmed, his tone a little careless and hoarse, "It sounds very nice."
Xu Youling began to feel fortunate that the lighting on the second floor was poor, so Pei Zhi probably wouldn't see his flushed face. "It's just... tolerance, and listening."
"It's obviously a very difficult name." Pei Zhi laughed softly.
His hand reached out to Xu Youling's side, and then again, first touching the elbow. Then, as if he couldn't identify the direction clearly in the dark, he fumbled around up and down, left and right for a while. After a long time, he finally held Xu Youling's hand and interlocked his fingers with hers.
Xu Youling's finger bones were very thin. Pei Zhi followed them down and slowly clenched them.
"Can I hold your hand while sleeping?" Pei Zhi asked.
Xu Youling didn't know where Pei Zhi had learned the social etiquette in the past six months, which taught him to do things first and then ask for permission, but this happened to be convenient for him, so he said "OK".
Pei Zhi's thumb gently stroked the side of Xu Youling's palm, causing a slight itch.
Xu Youling tried hard to hold back his heavy breathing. He felt a little dizzy, just like the first time he entered the White Pagoda to find Pei Zhi. He couldn't control himself and threw himself towards him.
But not today, you have to stay sober today.
"Go to sleep." Xu Youling said softly.
He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the faint, indescribable pheromone smell on Pei Zhi, but his heart was beating like a drum, hitting his chest again and again.
Boom, boom, boom, boom.
Xu Youling waited patiently for Pei Zhi to fall asleep, which required extreme caution, so he counted his own heartbeats to maintain his sanity.
But as he counted, he realized that he was not the only one breathing softly in the air, because Pei Zhi's heartbeat was also pounding, and in the dim night, the guide had no way of catching it.
-
Pei Zhi fell asleep quickly.
Perhaps because it had been a long day for him, his breathing quickly calmed down. Xu Youling tried to pull his hand out, but couldn't.
He turned over and sat up, allowing the sleeping Pei Zhi to continue pressing his hands on the bed sheet, his movements a little awkwardly.
"Pei Zhi," Xu Youling whispered, "Are you asleep?"
Pei Zhi didn't answer him, so Xu Youling became bolder, moved closer, and leaned over to look at his face.
"I haven't told you yet, you're quite handsome." His voice was very soft. "What a pity."
What was the pity? Xu Youling himself couldn't explain it clearly. He just felt that if they broke up like this, he would be sad for a long time.
Just as sad as the previous six months.
"Goodbye then."
Xu Youling reached out the hand that Pei Zhi hadn't held, touched his face, and then firmly pressed his forehead. His long-unused spiritual tentacles reached out, and he and Pei Zhi fell into an overwhelming empathy for the first time in a long time.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
