Chapter 31 I'm not young anymore, I can support you.
Li Baidong searched the house but couldn't find Xing Lan. He rushed into the bathroom in a panic and immediately saw Xing Lan lying in the bathtub, completely naked.
He froze for a moment, his face quickly turning red, his body becoming extremely stiff, and his white sneakers seemed to be glued to the bathroom floor, unable to move at all.
"elder brother……"
He swallowed subconsciously, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.
The sound of swallowing was particularly noticeable in the empty, quiet bathroom, even carrying a faint echo of immense shame.
Li Baidong blushed and lowered his head, secretly pinching his palm with his fingertips, his gaze flickering as if he wanted to look but dared not.
After a long pause, she stammered an explanation, "You hadn't replied to my messages, and I thought something had happened to you. I was worried about you, so..."
"I'm sorry, bro." He apologized, but his eyes remained fixed on Xing Lan.
The white bathtub was filled with dense foam from the melting bath sponges. You couldn't really see anything you shouldn't unless you looked closely. However, the strong scent of rose essence in the bathroom and the dim, quiet lighting made it all the more alluring.
As an outstanding liberal arts student, Li Baidong has always had a very strong imagination. His fantasies about Xing Lan's body have been excessively rich since he first entered puberty.
With just a glance at Xing Lan's snow-white and slender nape, which was leaning against the cool bath wall, he could automatically fill in the remaining images that had entered his dreams countless times.
The cramped space was damp and stuffy, and the thin, hot air made it hard to breathe. Li Baidong's heart was pounding, and he felt extremely hot all over; a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.
Xing Lan casually turned her head and glanced indifferently at Li Baidong, who was standing there dumbfounded.
"Do you want to shower with me?"
There was no particular emotion in his voice.
It was neither angry nor ashamed; it was more like a calm and peaceful invitation.
"ah?……"
Li Baidong lowered his head, pursed his lips, and couldn't help but chuckle softly.
He tentatively raised his round, puppy-dog eyes, overjoyed yet cautiously asking, "Is...is it okay, brother?"
He was so overjoyed that he was completely absorbed in his own fantasies, and his intelligence and eyesight had plummeted to an all-time low.
They didn't notice the slight change in Xing Lan's expression at all, only that his body was slender and his skin was so white, glowing with a thin, alluring pink from the warm steam.
The sweet fragrance of the high-end shower gel lingered around his nose. Li Baidong awkwardly licked his lips, his narrow phoenix eyes gleaming with dark light, like a puppy tempted by a delicious bone, staring intently at Xing Lan, as if he wanted to stare a hole through him before he was satisfied.
"..."
"What do you think?" After a moment of silence, Xing Lan asked coldly.
Li Baidong shyly looked away, turning his body slightly to the side as if trying to cover up his actions. His face flushed as he stared at his reflection in the mirror, trying to conceal his body's subconscious reaction.
Although there was a hint of regret in his tone, there was an overwhelming sense of anticipation and excitement.
"I'm not ready yet."
I should have sprayed on more perfume this morning. I shouldn't have been lazy and skipped the gym last week. I wonder if my muscles are still in top shape.
Li Baidong stood there, lost in his own thoughts.
Xing Lan raised her hand to brush her half-wet hair aside, her tone icy and tinged with barely perceptible anger, "...Then why don't you leave already?"
He turned his head and gave him a cold glance: "Next time you go into a bathroom that's occupied, can you remember to knock?"
"oh……"
Li Baidong was glared at mercilessly by Xing Lan. He lowered his eyes in disappointment, his light golden head drooping. He took a few reluctant steps and left the bathroom.
He stood at the bathroom door, took a deep breath, and it took him a long time to finally calm his excited and frantic heartbeat.
On the back of the suede chair were the clothes Xing Lan had changed out of before taking a shower.
Li Baidong picked it up casually and vaguely felt that something was missing from the white shirt. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the name tag he always wore on his chest was gone.
He blinked in confusion, then turned to Xing Lan through the bathroom door and asked, "Hey, bro, where did your employee ID go? Did you lose it? How are you going to work tomorrow?"
Xing Lan submerged half her face in the warm water, staring intently at the pink bubbles in the bathtub, ignoring him.
After hearing that he hadn't spoken for so long, Li Baidong took the clothes and went to the balcony.
After a while, Xing Lan, wearing a bathrobe, walked out of the bathroom at a leisurely pace.
"I'm not going to work tomorrow." He sat on the black leather sofa in the living room, glanced at Li Baidong who was diligently hand-washing his clothes on the balcony, and said calmly, "I won't go anymore."
"I resigned." His expression was calm, without any extra change, as if he were just telling Li Baidong that he had just gone downstairs to take out the trash.
Li Baidong was stunned when he heard the voice, and looked at Xing Lan with a moment of disbelief on his face.
"You resigned? Why, bro?"
"For no reason, I just don't want to go." Xing Lan's tone was cold and hard, and she didn't even blink when she answered, clearly not intending to tell him the real reason.
Li Baidong paused for a moment, then realized he shouldn't ask any more questions and continued to concentrate on washing the clothes in his hands.
Xing Lan casually picked up a book from the coffee table and started reading. After a long while, she heard Li Baidong suddenly say, word by word, "Brother, I support you."
He looked away from the pale yellow pages, turned his head, and asked with a hint of confusion in his voice, "You support me?"
Li Baidong nodded, turned to look at Xing Lan, and said with a sincere smile, "Brother, whatever you do, I will support you."
His voice was neither loud nor soft, and although it carried a smile, it didn't sound like a casual joke. Xing Lan glanced at him briefly and followed up, asking, "How do you intend to support me?"
Li Baidong thought for a moment, looked at him, and said with unwavering determination, "I can support you."
When Li Baidong said those words, it was as solemn as if he were making an oath, but Xing Lan didn't take it to heart at all.
He said casually, "A kid like you should just have a cat, forget about keeping a human. Watch too many TV dramas?"
Li Baidong pursed his lips and said stubbornly, "Brother, I'm not young anymore. I can really take care of you."
As he washed clothes, a slight smile played on his lips as he meticulously planned out his imagined future with Xing Lan: "I can take on multiple jobs and manage multiple accounts."
"When I graduate next year and find a stable job, I will give you all my salary. You only need to give me fifty yuan a day for groceries."
Xing Lan listened, almost laughing at the childish fantasies and naive plans in his words.
He pondered for a moment, then looked up at Li Baidong and said casually, "You remind me of someone."
Who is it?
"My aunt's youngest child, Xiao Dou Dou."
“He’s almost five years old this year. Like you, he thinks he’s an adult now, and he keeps asking to ride his scooter to kindergarten by himself every day.” Xing Lan glanced at Li Baidong and teased with a smile, “You two should have a lot in common. If you have a chance to meet in the future, you can play house together?”
His tone was indifferent, and he didn't really mean to mock Li Baidong; he was just making a casual joke. However, his words sounded extremely harsh to Li Baidong.
He lowered his head and remained silent for a while, then suddenly threw down the clothes in his hands. His hands were still wet with water droplets, and he turned around and rushed straight towards Xing Lan, who was reading a book on the sofa.
The boy's handsome face turned serious for once, and taking advantage of Xing Lan's unguarded state while he was looking down at his book, he suddenly grabbed Xing Lan's wrist.
The thin book fell to the ground with a "thud." Xing Lan was stunned for a moment, not yet reacting, when she felt a warm and soft touch coming from her palm.
Li Baidong lowered his eyes, bit the hem of his hoodie with his teeth, and gently placed Xing Lan's hand on his firm chest muscles.
Then, along his taut skin, inch by inch, she slowly pulled him downwards.
“Brother.” His eyes were dark and unblinking as he stared intently at Xing Lan, his gaze burning. His voice was slightly hoarse as he emphasized each word clearly: “I’m not young anymore.”
Do you think a child could grow up to look like this?
Just as his hand was about to lead Xing Lan's hand to a more dangerous position below, Xing Lan instantly snapped out of her daze and pulled her hand back in time.
In a moment of panic, he subconsciously pushed Li Baidong. Although he didn't use much force, the man staggered back two steps, as if he could barely stand.
Xing Lan lowered her eyes to look at her palm, where the boy's burning body heat still seemed to linger, along with that... unforgettable soft touch.
His heart was pounding, and his mind was in turmoil.
He gently pinched his palm to calm himself down, and picked up the book that had been left aside to read again, but accidentally held it upside down.
"..."
Looking at Xing Lan's flushed face and ear tips, Li Baidong noticed her unusual helplessness amidst her usually aloof demeanor. He smiled slightly, his previously somewhat gloomy expression returning to its usual relaxed and natural state.
He casually raised an eyebrow and asked Xing Lan, who was hiding his face behind a book on the sofa, with a carefree expression, "Brother, do you like it?"
Xing Lan did not answer.
The next second, with a "whoosh," a book with a bookmark flew through the air and landed squarely on Li Baidong's muscular chest.
Xing Lan stood up expressionlessly and coldly said, "Don't do this suddenly next time."
“Brother…” Li Baidong’s eyes immediately became very aggrieved again. He raised his hand to cover his chest and pretended to be pitiful. “So you don’t like it? I’ve been working out at the gym for a long time and I’ve worked so hard.”
He lowered his eyes sadly, sniffed, and said, "I know, it's because I haven't practiced well enough, not good enough for you to like."
Seeing Li Baidong suddenly become so vulnerable and insecure again, Xing Lan's brow twitched, and she subconsciously denied it, saying, "No. It's just..."
He paused, feeling his face burning, and before he could finish his sentence, he picked up the book from the floor, hurriedly walked back to his bedroom without looking back, and closed the door with mixed feelings.
Li Baidong stood still, seemingly engaged in rigorous self-reflection, but in a corner where no one could see, he silently curled the corners of his lips into a triumphant smile.
Just now, when he held Xing Lan's hand and placed it on his chest, the moment the other's eyes trembled, it was clear that it wasn't just simple surprise.
Although Xing Lan likes to say one thing and mean another, and has developed the ability to hide her emotions since childhood, she is like a very sensitive little animal. She has only learned to hide her emotions on the surface, but the tail behind her, which is sometimes tense and sometimes wagging carefully, reflects the huge fluctuations in her heart.
Although he coldly refused on the surface, Li Baidong managed to deduce from the non-existent tail behind him that he clearly liked the contact, or at least did not resist it.
He is now confident of victory and has a plan in mind.
When you fall in love with someone's body, you're not far from falling in love with their heart.
-
Xing Lan was used to a life that went back and forth between two points. After leaving her job, she was left with only a lonely starting point, which could not even form a line.
Because he had some savings, he didn't rush to find another job. Instead, he rested at home for a few days, both to re-plan and adjust his life and to take advantage of the free time to do many things he had wanted to do but didn't have time for before.
For example, he fixed a small lamp in the study that had been broken for a long time, and put the weight loss plan that was originally tailored for the little prince back on the agenda.
The little prince used to have an hour of outdoor playtime every night, but now that Xing Lan has some free time, she has extended it to two hours so he can play outside a little longer.
By the time he finished walking the dog, it was completely dark. There were few people on the roadside, and only the dim light from the black streetlights flickered intermittently.
It had just rained today, and the ground was a little damp. The little prince's four white feet were all wearing his new rain boots. The rain boots had a cute yellow duck pattern, and the oddly shaped pattern clearly showed that Li Baidong had bought them for him.
Although the fox was originally a cat brought by Li Baidong, and the little prince was a resident dog of Xing Lan's family, after living together for a long time, they seemed to have gotten used to treating each other's pets as their own.
Xing Lan's shopping records this month contain many cat-related items; she even repurchased cat treats from the same store five times.
Once, when the pet supermarket was having a sale, he stocked up on several bags of cat litter, stacking them into a small castle in his living room. Even if the fox was a big pooper, it would last it a long time.
Seeing that it was almost time, Xing Lan took the leash and prepared to take the little prince home.
However, before they had taken more than a few steps, a drunken figure suddenly appeared in front of them.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com