Chapter 67
Jiang Huaiyu returned to his small apartment from the library at 11 p.m. Tomorrow is the weekend, so it wouldn't hurt to stay up a little later tonight. He stayed at the library a little longer to look up some information.
The Chinese auntie she had hired had already left. The dinner she had prepared was on the table. Jiang Huaiyu heated up the dinner, and the small apartment was filled with the warm aroma of the food.
He said he would be online that night, but then he regretted it. His night was Lu Mingxiao's morning. It was a weekend, and he wanted Lu Mingxiao to sleep in. Lu Mingxiao would have a voice chat with him, but to avoid disturbing his roommate, they would always go outside to chat.
So before ending the chat last time, he told Lu Mingxiao not to set an alarm, to go online and chat for a while when he woke up, and to sleep in soundly when he didn't.
After finishing my meal and rinsing the dishes, it was already 11:30.
He put his phone in a dry spot in the bathroom; the game was updating and he'd have to wait a while, so he decided to wash up first.
Standing under the showerhead, for some reason, Jiang Huaiyu suddenly remembered the public bathhouse that Lu Mingxiao took him to on his first day in Ancheng.
Looking back now, Lu Mingxiao had his own ulterior motives. He probably wanted to give him a hard time, make him feel uncomfortable, and make him back down.
But in the end, I felt too embarrassed to put him in the "small cubicle".
So they had been honest with each other back then, but at the time they had no other thoughts. Jiang Huaiyu was only embarrassed, and neither of the two boys thought much of it.
Now that they've confirmed their relationship and even shared a bed, although they haven't gone all the way yet, thinking back on those tearful memories...
The public bathroom was steamy, and he was confined to a small space, feeling restricted. However, Lu Mingxiao was used to this environment and felt relaxed, as if he were at home. He was even humming an unknown tune as he rinsed the foam off his hair with his back to Jiang Huaiyu.
Back then, Lu Mingxiao's back was already broader than most people his age, with powerful, flowing muscle lines, likely due to his habit of helping Li Qing carry construction materials. Water and foam rolled down his spine to his lower back, highlighting his slender waist. The young man suddenly turned around, his voice, slightly deep and steamy, saying, "Young Master, hand me the shower gel..."
Two years later, some details suddenly came to life. Jiang Huaiyu clearly remembered that he didn't read on at that time. How could he have read on?
But in my memory, the rising steam seemed to have all dissipated.
It's possible that he didn't glance down at the time, but later saw it on New Year's Eve, so the censored part was automatically filled in.
An old man greeted Lu Mingxiao, saying, "Young Lu, you're really good-looking."
Lu Mingxiao was also frank and accepted the question with a smile.
I didn't think much of it then, but now...
Jiang Huaiyu looked down at her palm; her fingers were long and slender, with distinct knuckles, just the right size to hold.
She is indeed very good-looking.
...
The moment Lu Mingxiao logged on, he sent a team invitation to Jiang Huaiyu. After the invitation was accepted, he turned on the team voice chat. He was very familiar with this process and didn't want to waste a second. After all, it was already very late for Jiang Huaiyu. He wanted to chat for a while and then coax Jiang Xiaoyu to go to sleep.
"Jiang Xiaoyu, have a great weekend..." His voice was hazy and sleepy. "I'm the only one left in the dorm today. Those who live nearby went home, and others went out with their girlfriends. Don't worry about disturbing others. I can chat with you while lying in bed..."
He stretched and yawned: "Ah, bliss..."
After talking for a while, he noticed that the small microphone next to Jiang Huaiyu's name was still off, and he asked in surprise, "Jiang Xiaoyu?"
A moment later, the microphone icon lit up, and Jiang Huaiyu's voice sounded a little strange: "I didn't expect you to come online so quickly. I'm taking a shower."
His voice was clearly held some distance from the phone, creating a hollow echo, and his tone was very nasal. Lu Mingxiao worried that he might have caught a cold.
"You can't take a long shower if you have a cold," Lu Mingxiao said. "Then I'll wait a bit..."
"No need." Jiang Huaiyu interrupted him with a light breath: "Brother Xiao, talk to me."
Lu Mingxiao: ...
His Adam's apple bobbed, and he asked softly, "Jiang Xiaoyu, catching fish?"
There was no one speaking in the headphones for a long time. The sound of the shower was soft and gentle, and the sound of breathing was hard to distinguish. The faint and rapid breaths were like cat claws teasing me.
With his microphone on, Lu Mingxiao didn't know what to say.
Fireworks cast a golden glow outside the window, and light poured in through the slightly open curtains, mingling with the moonlight to illuminate that porcelain-like face. A delicate pink hue rose beneath her pale skin, as if glazed, and her eyelashes, half-closed, trembled restlessly with their moisture…
Would Jiang Huaiyu have the same expression now?
Lu Mingxiao wanted to know.
"Are you leaning against the wall?" His voice was tense. "If I touch you, your legs will go weak. Can you even stand up?"
...
Can it stand up?
Jiang Huaiyu looked up, his breathing ragged amidst the rising steam, his dark eyes misty with tears. He paused slightly, then brought his phone closer, his voice hoarse: "Lu Mingxiao, what were you thinking just now?"
"Thinking back to that night," Lu Mingxiao's voice came through the phone. "Xiaoyu is beautiful, and your hands are beautiful too."
Jiang Huaiyu leaned back against the cold wall, his eyes narrowed, and slowed his movements: "Um... tell me something I don't know..."
"You don't know..."
The rustling sounds, amplified subtly by the closed bathroom through the receiver, made Lu Mingxiao's voice seem distant as he appeared to sit up.
“Before I came to see you, I made myself…” There was a subtle pause in his voice: “I was afraid that if you touched me, I wouldn’t be able to handle it and it would be embarrassing.”
“No wonder…” Jiang Huaiyu gasped, “My wrists are sore.”
Lu Mingxiao: "That night or now?"
Jiang Huaiyu: "That day."
"Jiang Xiaoyu..." Lu Mingxiao called his name hoarsely, "You miss Brother Xiao that much? Hmm? You can't help but slack off when you think about it."
He was so smug that Jiang Huaiyu didn't mind spoiling him this once: "Yeah, I missed you so much, Brother Xiao. Do you know what I was thinking that night?"
"Um?"
“I was thinking…” Jiang Huaiyu leaned closer to the receiver, her breath hot: “It definitely wouldn’t be easy to swallow it.”
"Damn!" Lu Mingxiao grunted, remaining silent for a long time. All that could be heard through the receiver was the young man's disordered breathing: "Jiang Xiaoyu... that's too unfair."
Although Jiang Huaiyu had just joked that Lu Mingxiao's voice sounded like "throat singing" earlier that day, she knew it was just a joke.
He slowly exhaled and looked down at the sticky substance on his fingertips.
He actually really liked Lu Mingxiao's voice, especially...
I have a feeling.
...
Jiang Huaiyu actually caught a cold from all the stress.
After taking a shower, he chatted with Lu Mingxiao for a while before going to sleep. He slept until noon the next day, thinking he was just too tired and that his sleep quality had improved. But when he got up and checked his temperature, he found he had a fever.
He logged into the game first. Lu Mingxiao wasn't online, but he left him a message saying that there was a club activity this afternoon and he would be online late tonight. He told Jiang Huaiyu to wait for him if he had time, and to go about his own business if he didn't.
Jiang Huaiyu took fever-reducing medicine in a daze, washed up and went to eat breakfast. Then he curled up in bed with his computer and looked at the research report. He and Lu Mingxiao had a general direction for the project they wanted to develop. They had rejected one idea after another, and only the current project was suitable.
He fell asleep again while watching, and only opened his eyes when the game notification sounded.
"Jiang Xiaoyu, it's snowing in Beijing..." Lu Mingxiao's voice was full of energy, brimming with vitality: "Do you remember when I taught you that, how to slip..."
Hearing his voice, the corners of her lips couldn't help but turn up. Jiang Huaiyu spoke softly, her voice a little hoarse: "Do you still remember your persona of a cool and aloof school heartthrob? Can you stop being so childish?"
Lu Mingxiao paused, then said, "Jiang Xiaoyu, you're not doing this again..."
"Get lost." Jiang Huaiyu found it somewhat amusing: "You come every day? Do you think my kidneys are made of iron?"
Lu Mingxiao became even more nervous: "Then your movements are strange, have you caught a cold?"
"Yes, I have a slight fever." Jiang Huaiyu coughed. "I've taken medicine."
Lu Mingxiao walked around in the snow.
Urgent.
He knew that a cold was not a big deal. He had caught a cold twice this year, and after taking medicine and sleeping, he was fine before Jiang Huaiyu even noticed.
He also knew that Jiang Huaiyu was no longer a child and would definitely be able to take care of herself.
But he still couldn't help but miss her.
"Has your fever gone down?" he said in a typical male way. "Drink more hot water. You don't like plain water. Did you finish the concentrated juice that Mom mailed you last time? I saw online that it's a water-faking device."
Jiang Huaiyu laughed out loud: "A water-baiting device? Do you think I'm a cat?"
Lu Mingxiao bought him a lot of water-trick gadgets, including a straw cup with a hemispherical transparent lid. Inside the cup was a little prince and a rose. If you sucked water hard, a fountain next to the rose would spray water to water the rose and even light up. I don't know where he found it.
During that period, Jiang Huaiyu did drink more water, but only when he was at home alone; otherwise, he would feel embarrassed to take it out.
Unfortunately, fancy things often break down quickly. One day, the little fountain suddenly broke down. Jiang Huaiyu removed the lid from the cup, and the cup worked normally. He took the Little Prince and the little rose out of the lid and made them into a small crystal ball.
Over the receiver, Lu Mingxiao was still instructing him to take his temperature again later when Jiang Huaiyu aimlessly moved the mouse, gently interrupting him.
"Brother Xiao, I miss you."
The snow in Beijing is still falling, shimmering and fluttering under the streetlights like tiny falling stars.
Lu Mingxiao's footsteps left many messy footprints on the snow.
He gripped his phone tightly, slowly exhaling a puff of white mist, his voice trembling slightly.
"And then you say something like that to your brother at a time like this..."
He didn't continue, but whispered, "I miss you too, Jiang Xiaoyu."
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