Chapter 20 Published
The home that Gu Xiuyi mentioned was not the villa that Ji Ruan was familiar with, but the apartment where he lived most often. The interior style was exactly the same as the villa, minimalist, with cold colors, and without any unnecessary decoration.
As soon as Ji Ruan stepped into the room, he covered his mouth and sneezed several times before he had time to look around the living room.
Gu Xiuyi placed a pair of slippers in front of him and pushed his shoulders forward: "Put them on and take a hot bath immediately."
The slippers on his feet were very big, probably Gu Xiuyi's size. After Ji Ruan put them on, they were loose. When Gu Xiuyi pushed him, he staggered two steps, and then was held tightly again.
Gu Xiuyi held Ji Ruan's shoulders and pulled him into his arms, then turned his attention to his feet.
In order to let Ji Ruan take a bath, he gave her a pair of ordinary black sandals, but Ji Ruan's feet were so small that there was a lot of space when he put them on. His toes were exposed and slightly curled up, and they were a little white due to the cold.
Gu Xiuyi was stunned for a moment, then frowned: "It's not stable..."
Ji Ruan couldn't even put on his slippers...
He held Ji Ruan in his arms. Not only were the kid's shoulders and back thin, but his waist was also very thin. Through the wet clothes on his palm, he even had the illusion that he could touch the dimple of his waist.
Gu Xiuyi's heart seemed to be tickled, very lightly and subtly, but it brought about an indescribable numbness that spread along the blood to his fingertips.
Ji Ruan's hair was wet. Gu Xiuyi didn't put the external machine on him. After thinking for a moment, he whispered in his left ear and said in a calm tone, "I don't have small slippers here."
This apartment is just a place for Gu Xiuyi to rest on a daily basis. He seldom brings friends here, and those who come are always adult men of similar height to him, so their footsteps are not too bad.
He specially picked out a pair of unused shoes for Ji Ruan today, but he didn't expect that the child couldn't wear them.
Ji Ruan also looked down. The size was a bit off, which would be inconvenient for walking, but it was not to the point where he could not wear it at all.
He was quite cold, but Gu Xiuyi was very warm. Small animals will approach heat sources instinctively, and Ji Ruan will do the same.
He subconsciously didn't push Gu Xiuyi away, sniffed and said, "It's okay, you can wear this too."
"That's not what I'm talking about." Gu Xiuyi half-carried Ji Ruan into the living room and wrapped a long towel around him. "If the size is not right, you may fall when taking a bath."
Ji Ruan was stunned, thinking that this seemed to be the case, but if he didn't wear slippers, the possibility of falling down due to the wet bathroom tiles seemed even greater.
The living room was furnished with an exquisite fabric sofa, and on it was a soft-looking blanket. Ji Ruan's body was wet, so he didn't go to waste such a nice thing. He found a chair to sit down, and looked carefully at the slippers on his feet.
Gu Xiuyi took out another small towel from the bathroom and went straight to Ji Ruan to wipe his hair. Ji Ruan's face was covered with the towel and he felt dizzy.
He patted the back of Gu Xiuyi's hand, then pulled his forearm to stop him.
Gu Xiuyi took out a little messy-haired cat from the white towel. Its eyes were bright, but its lips were lighter in color and it didn’t look very well.
"What's wrong?" Gu Xiuyi came closer: "Are you feeling uncomfortable?"
Little Luanmao shook his head, and his messy hair tumbled along with it: "I'll wear these slippers to wash... I just checked, there's a little anti-slip design on the bottom..."
When Ji Ruan spoke without the external device, he was very much like a newborn animal. He would purse his lips halfway through a sentence, extend his antennae to probe, and caress the tone of each sentence with an uncertain ending.
He didn't want his hair to be wiped, and Gu Xiuyi didn't force him. He just focused on rubbing the end of his hair behind his right ear and then put the external machine on him.
Maybe the world suddenly became clear, Ji Ruan's shoulders trembled, Gu Xiuyi put his palm on his scapula, and the trembling of his palm was like the instantaneous flapping of a butterfly's wings.
"Then wash it this way," Gu Xiuyi took back his hand and rubbed his fingertips imperceptibly: "Move slowly and don't lock the door."
Ji Ruan was adjusting his cochlear implant. Hearing this, he suddenly raised his eyes and said, "Don't lock the door?!"
Gu Xiuyi: “…”
Gu Xiuyi looked at the sudden alertness in the child's eyes, and felt complicated: "As long as you don't fall, I will never come in."
He spoke in a steady tone with a calm face. The top button of his shirt was accidentally open because he was hugging Ji Ruan. He stood tall and slender half a meter away from Ji Ruan, looking like a very gentleman.
Ji Ruan looked at him for two seconds, and saw only indifference in his eyes. He immediately felt that his reaction was a bit too much, and he coughed dryly in embarrassment: "Okay, I won't lock the door, thank you."
Gu Xiuyi raised a gentle smile and ruffled Ji Ruan's messy hair: "You're welcome, you can wear my clothes and pants first, I have new underwear too."
"Underwear?!" Ji Ruan's eyes widened and he almost overreacted again.
"What's wrong?" Gu Xiuyi seemed to really not understand how private that thing was, and naturally expressed his confusion.
Ji Ruan scratched the tip of his nose and shrank his toes again in embarrassment: "This... is not appropriate..."
Gu Xiuyi put his hands in his trouser pockets, his palms were slightly sweaty, but his expression was still calm: "In special circumstances, we have to make emergency decisions. Don't worry, I won't attach any special meaning to you wearing my underwear, and you don't have to care."
"What are you talking about?" Ji Ruan raised his head, his eyes full of shame and embarrassment: "I'm not talking about this... I, I, I... Alas..."
He lowered his head again, and looked at his toes. "I mean... the size is not right..."
Are you kidding? Gu Xiuyi is the protagonist of an old sadomasochistic novel. How can ordinary people compare to him? Ji Ruan didn't want to humiliate himself.
Gu Xiuyi froze.
It was like being struck by a bolt of lightning, and it took all my strength to restrain myself from taking a single step back.
Fortunately, Ji Ruan lowered his head, otherwise he would have been able to see Gu Xiuyi’s out-of-control expression directly.
Gu Xiuyi put one hand on his waist and pinched his eyebrows hard. He was still careless.
It turned out that his thoughts were too adult, and he was totally on the same wavelength as Ji Ruan. The 18-year-old boy in front of him with messy hair probably hadn't even fallen in love yet, and couldn't think of anything else except a man's dignity.
The all-powerful Mr. Gu's brain crashed at this moment, and he stared at the whorl of hair on the little boy's head for a long time.
After a while, he took a deep breath, regained control of his expression, raised his hand to support the little boy's chin to make him look up, and comforted him in a meaningless way: "Don't be too sad, you are still growing."
Little Luanmao frowned and showed a silent smile: "Thank you..."
Gu Xiuyi also knew that his EQ had dropped into the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, so he simply stopped discussing growth issues with the little boy and said calmly, "It's okay if you don't wear mine, but how do you change and wash them?"
Ji Ruan had a plan: "Do you have a hair dryer at home?"
Gu Xiuyi pursed his lips: "Of course."
"That's easy," Ji Ruan sneezed again and rubbed the tip of his nose. "I washed my underwear when I took a shower, and then I put them on after I came out and blew them dry. Mine is very thin and will be blown dry in a short while."
Gu Xiuyi raised his eyebrows, this is a solution.
Ji Ruan's nose turned red from rubbing himself. Gu Xiuyi used the back of his hand to check the temperature of his neck and found it was very low.
"Okay," Gu Xiuyi said without further ado, "Go wash your clothes, I'll leave them at the bathroom door."
Ji Ruan was indeed shivering with cold, so he took off the outdoor unit and went into the bathroom with Gu Xiuyi.
Gu Xiuyi found a shirt that he rarely wore and put it on the small stool at the door. The sound of water was heard inside and the frosted glass door was gradually filled with mist. Gu Xiuyi realized belatedly that his throat was dry.
He opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle of mineral water. Thinking that Ji Ruan would need to use hot water to take cold medicine after taking a shower, he simply put the mineral water back and boiled a kettle of hot water.
When Ji Ruan came out after washing, the boiling water in Gu Xiuyi's cup had just cooled down enough to drink. He held the handle of the cup and looked in the direction of the sound.
There was mist outside the bathroom, and a cloud of white smoke came out as the door opened. Ji Ruan was wearing his shirt, with a dry towel draped over his shoulders and water dripping from the ends of his hair.
He dodged his feet lightly on the absorbent mat at the door and trotted to the living room to get the hair dryer on the coffee table.
Gu Xiuyi's shirt fit perfectly on Ji Ruan's body and covered her legs. In the bright light from the living room, Ji Ruan's legs were slender and straight, so white that they almost blended into the milky white carpet, but more lustrous than the carpet, emitting a soft light that was almost holy.
Although her skin was white, her knees, ankles, and even toes were pink.
Gu Xiuyi's breathing stagnated and he looked away, holding the water cup.
Ji Ruan's outfit would be extremely inappropriate in front of any man!
But considering the facts, it was understandable. Gu Xiuyi drank some water and tried to calm himself down through rational analysis.
First of all, Ji Ruan’s clothes were all wet, so he could only wear his clothes, and he found this shirt for Ji Ruan himself, so he can’t blame others just because Ji Ruan looks good in it.
Secondly, Ji Ruan had just finished taking a shower, and he forgot to get Ji Ruan a pair of indoor slippers, causing Ji Ruan to come out barefoot and he saw her pink toes, so he couldn't blame Ji Ruan.
Finally, Ji Ruan doesn’t wear pants...Yes, why doesn’t Ji Ruan wear pants?
He clearly put his sweatpants on the sofa!
As if to confirm this, Gu Xiuyi tilted his head to look at the sofa, and sure enough, the gray sweatpants were lying there.
At the same time, he inevitably saw Ji Ruan's legs vaguely visible under the hem of his shirt beside the sofa.
Gu Xiuyi pressed his brows with a headache. Maybe Ji Ruan didn’t think there was anything wrong with this, or even didn’t care that Gu Xiuyi was standing next to him.
Perhaps Ji Ruan was only concerned with the hair dryer and the underwear in his hand, and he had to blow-dry his underwear quickly.
etc……
The sip of water that Gu Xiuyi had just drunk got stuck in the middle of his throat.
Ji Ruan is not wearing anything... Ji Ruan has nothing underneath...
This thought exploded in Gu Xiuyi's mind like a bolt from the blue, sparks flying everywhere, and he lost his ability to think in an instant.
"cough--!"
Gu Xiuyi was choked by the saliva in his throat and started coughing violently.
Ji Ruan couldn't wear the external device before he blew his hair, and the sounds around him were hazy. Even Gu Xiuyi's inappropriate cough became a very slight sound in his ears.
He turned around and could only see Gu Xiuyi's shoulders shaking slightly behind the sink.
Ji Ruan frowned, hesitating whether to show concern.
"Um..." Ji Ruan asked tentatively. She was afraid that Gu Xiuyi would suddenly turn around, so she quietly hid her underwear behind her back and raised her voice: "Do you have a cold too?——"
As soon as he said this, I felt something was wrong. He was not wearing an external speaker and when he spoke in a low voice he was no different from a normal person, but when he spoke loudly he could not control the tone.
He himself couldn't hear it clearly, but he could feel that the tone of the sentence was very strange, winding and like a folk song.
Ji Ruan pressed his lips with his fingertips in surprise, turned his head away and continued to blow his underwear. He didn't want to talk anymore. At worst, he could just make a cup of cold medicine for Gu Xiuyi later.
Gu Xiuyi's shower took a little longer than expected. Ji Ruan slowly blew his hair and put on his sweatpants. He found a bag to put his wet clothes in and made two cups of cold medicine. Only then did the sound of water gradually stop.
After a whole day of hard work, Ji Ruan leaned on the sofa, feeling a little drowsy.
When Gu Xiuyi came out of the shower, he had completely calmed down and returned to his usual expressionless look.
There were two cups of cold medicine on the coffee table in the living room, with wisps of steam rising from them. Ji Ruan was slumped on the sofa, holding a pillow in his arms, as if he had fallen asleep.
He had already changed into Gu Xiuyi's gray sweatpants and buttoned his shirt to the top button.
Gu Xiuyi breathed a sigh of relief. This is a good baby.
He lifted Ji Ruan's bangs and touched her forehead. The temperature was okay, she didn't have a fever.
Gu Xiuyi's palm is big, and while touching Ji Ruan's forehead, he also half covers Ji Ruan's eyes. When Ji Ruan opened her eyes, her eyelashes trembled, and she felt a subtle touch under Gu Xiuyi's hand, like a butterfly kissing her little finger.
Gu Xiuyi's fingertips trembled as his eyelashes fluttered, and he withdrew his hand without leaving a trace.
Ji Ruan almost fell asleep just now, and now he felt a little dizzy. He didn't notice the abnormality under Gu Xiuyi's calm face, and rubbed his eyes: "I also made you a cup of cold medicine, you should drink it quickly."
Gu Xiuyi probably guessed that it was the cough caused by choking that caused Ji Ruan to misunderstand. He picked up the glass and thought for a while before saying, "Thank you, but I don't have a cold."
But Ji Ruan seemed to think he was being stubborn and snorted softly: "I don't have a cold either, but it can be prevented."
"..." Gu Xiuyi glanced at Ji Ruan's red nose and pale lips, and sighed: "I hope you won't get sick."
After all, it was the medicine that Ji Ruan made himself. Gu Xiuyi spoke toughly but drank it all in one breath. On the other hand, Ji Ruan held the cup with empty eyes and took small sips.
Eating anything is always so slow.
Ji Ruan was distracted for a while, and suddenly raised his head from the steam in the cup: "So the French snails are ruined?"
"Yeah." Gu Xiuyi turned on the TV and was randomly changing the channel while waiting for Ji Ruan to finish drinking the medicine so that he could wash the cup.
He unlocked his phone and handed it to Ji Ruan: "Order takeout."
Ji Ruan was indeed hungry, so he took the order and opened the food delivery app, scrolling up and down, and asked, "How about rice noodles?"
It was rare that he had no difficulty in making a choice, which meant he really wanted to eat rice noodles.
Gu Xiuyi nodded: "Okay."
Ji Ruan moved his fingertips to add it to the shopping cart: "I want the three fresh ones, what about you?"
Gu Xiuyi has never been very keen on eating. He picked up Ji Ruan's cup and walked to the kitchen counter: "Same as you."
The rain outside the window was gradually subsiding and the delivery was not delayed. Ji Ruan was lucky enough to eat the hot rice noodles before he fainted from hunger.
There was a soft carpet in the middle of the living room. Ji Ruan and Gu Xiuyi sat on the floor, watching TV and eating noodles around the coffee table.
Ji Ruan actually likes this feeling very much. There is the sound of rain outside the window, but the bright lights inside the room are very warm, and the food is steaming with aroma. It's... a bit like home.
After swallowing a mouthful of rice noodles, Ji Ruan felt warm in his stomach. He squinted his eyes in satisfaction and said to Gu Xiuyi while covering his mouth, "Actually, I really don't think French snails are better than this."
In fact, when Gu Xiuyi asked Ji Ruan to accompany him for Western food, it was not really for the French snails.
He looked at Ji Ruan's red lips with a gentle look: "Yeah, I think so too."
The TV was showing a sports channel that Gu Xiuyi had randomly turned on. It was broadcasting a ten-meter diving platform. An athlete tumbled from a great height into the water, then swam out of the water gracefully, like a mermaid.
Gu Xiuyi thought of Ji Ruan unconsciously.
Ji Ruan wrapped herself in a dark blue quilt, resting her head on a light blue pillow. Her eyes were bright and she hid in the sea with her dimples. She looked like the most beautiful little mermaid.
"Cough cough——" Two coughs brought Gu Xiuyi back to his senses.
He turned his head and imagined the little mermaid covering her chest and coughing, her little face red and wrinkled, and she reached out to grab the napkin on the corner of the table.
But he couldn't reach it, his face turned even redder and his hair stood on end.
“…”
Gu Xiuyi instantly felt the gap between ideal and reality.
He pulled out two pieces of paper and pulled Ji Ruan over. "What's wrong?"
Ji Ruan took the napkin and wiped his face casually, then held it in his hand and coughed violently.
Gu Xiuyi has now learned the technique of patting the back, at least he has passed the basic stage, and he put his arm around Ji Ruan and patted his back gently.
In between coughs, Ji Ruan pointed at the soup and poked his own neck, meaning that the soup was choking him!
Gu Xiuyi laughed and was once again shocked by Ji Ruan's thin and fragile throat.
Ji Ruan didn't choke that badly this time, at least he didn't cough to the point of chest pain, but his throat just felt itchy and it was difficult to stop.
He leaned on Gu Xiuyi and coughed intermittently for a long time until he got a little annoyed and finally stopped. He then fell back on the sofa, dizzy, holding his head.
Gu Xiuyi saw his blank expression, which was both pitiful and funny. He put one hand on his head and touched his small Adam's apple with his fingertips, a little helplessly: "You can choke on the three-fresh food. What's the use of your small throat?"
Ji Ruan was coughing so hard that he was about to burst into tears. After he finally calmed down, the people around him were still acting weird.
He pulled Gu Xiuyi's hand away, casually touched his neck, and said in a light voice: "Is being pretty useless?"
Gu Xiuyi's hands that were supporting his head froze.
Because of this sentence, he really noticed Ji Ruan's appearance at this moment.
Her collar was open, her hair was messy, and she was lying on the sofa with her neck bent into a graceful arc. Her skin looked more delicate because of the sweat, and her face was covered with physiological tears. Her eyelashes were curled up, but her eyes were distracted and unfocused.
Very strange, but really beautiful.
Like a spring of rose petals flowing under the moonlight at night, this beauty is light, spreading and flowing.
Ji Ruan closed his eyes and relaxed. After he was no longer dizzy, he stood up with the help of the sofa and went to the bathroom. His vision was blurred by tears and he could not see anything clearly. He could only wash his face.
It was not until the sound of the bathroom door closing did Gu Xiuyi withdraw his numb hand.
The athletes on TV continued to fall, enter the water, and then surface.
Gu Xiuyi suddenly realized that mermaids in real life might be more stunning than he imagined.
·
Later, the rain stopped and the security in Beijing was tight. Gu Xiuyi did not let Ji Ruan stay at home. He packed up his things and sent him back.
Perhaps because of the heavy rain, there were very few students at the school gate, the streets were empty and quiet, and the air smelled damp.
Gu Xiuyi didn't let Ji Ruan get out of the car immediately, but went to the trunk to get something.
Ji Ruan was pressing her curly hair in front of the mirror. The driver's door opened and Gu Xiuyi came in with a humid breeze, holding an umbrella and a sugar jar in his hands.
It was smaller than the first glass jar that contained a mixture of chocolate and fruit candies, but they were all filled with the same bright red candy wrappers.
Ji Ruan recognized it as the only cherry-flavored candy at a glance.
"Take it back and eat it." Gu Xiuyi handed him both of them.
Ji Ruan picked up the candy jar and spun it around. The street lights refracted the jar and it emitted bright red light, much like the magic candy in fairy tales.
"Thank you," his dimples popped out. "In fact, I counted them before I left the house, wondering if there would be any cherry flavors that slipped through the net, but there weren't any."
He blinked, never sparing in expressing his happiness: "I was a little sad at the time, so if you give me this now, I will be several times happier than usual."
Gu Xiuyi's heart was bumped again, but unlike the previous times when he felt anxious and restless, this time it was like being brushed by a trickle of water, ironing it smooth and comfortable.
"Have you ever tasted this?" Ji Ruan asked again.
Gu Xiuyi held the steering wheel and shook his head: "No."
Hearing this, Ji Ruan opened the can and grabbed a few and put them in Gu Xiuyi's palm: "Then you must try it, it's delicious."
After he finished speaking, he opened the car door and walked out, holding a bag of clothes, an umbrella, and a candy jar in his hands. They were so full that he couldn't wave, so he bent down and smiled at Gu Xiuyi outside the car window: "Bye."
Not until Ji Ruan's figure disappeared in the shadows of the trees did Gu Xiuyi loosen his grip on the steering wheel, leaned back in his chair, and let out a long breath.
·
When they returned to the dormitory, roommates started to make a noise when they saw Ji Ruan's outfit had changed.
Han Xiaolin, the leader, crossed his arms and said sourly, "Oh, boyfriend shirt."
Qin Shan followed closely behind: "Hey, boyfriend pants."
Li Yu concluded her speech: "Ah, boyfriend candy."
Ji Ruan was so amused by them that he put down the bag and sat on the chair: "Shut up, come and have some candy, I think this tastes really good."
After all, it was given by someone else's husband, so the three of them didn't feel comfortable asking for more and just took one symbolically.
Li Yu played with the red cherry-flavored fruit candy and sighed, "Is this such a pure love?"
Qin Shan saw through it: "They are legal partners, and they have changed their clothes. How can they still be innocent?"
·
When Gu Xiuyi finished washing up and went to bed, the little cherry icon on the screen of his mobile phone lit up. He raised the corner of his lips slightly and clicked on the message.
[picture.jpg]
Still the familiar red candy wrapper.
[My roommates actually said it was not tasty and was very sour, but I thought it was sour with a hint of sweetness]
Gu Xiuyi smiled and was about to reply when another message popped up.
[Have you got a meal yet? ]
Gu Xiuyi paused and moved his gaze to the bedside table, where three shiny candies were lying quietly. He indeed hadn't moved yet.
Seeing that the person on the other end was typing but there was no reply, Ji Ruan made a rough guess.
[You didn’t eat it.]
Gu Xiuyi couldn't see Ji Ruan's face, but through a few words, he inexplicably felt that Ji Ruan was acting like a spoiled child.
Without further hesitation, he opened one and put it in his mouth. The strong sour taste instantly hit his taste buds, and Gu Xiuyi frowned.
Ji Ruan’s roommates were right, it was indeed very sour.
In fact, when Gu Xiuyi went to buy this candy specifically, he knew the reason why cherry flavor was rare in the market. Many customers reported that the taste was not good and not sweet enough, and the less it sold, the less it was produced.
But Ji Ruan seems to really like it, maybe it’s this kid’s unique taste.
Ji Ruan received a reply when he finished drinking the milk, which was also a picture.
The red candy wrapper was pressed flat and spread out in the palm of his hand. Gu Xiuyi's palm was very big, making the candy wrapper look particularly small.
[Now I taste it, it's sweet.]
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