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Join the ServerA full table of bamboo skewers, foil boxes, disposable gloves, and greasy paper napkins sat piled in the open space between the two desks.
Half a grilled eggplant remained, while a shiny layer of oily sauce still welled at the bottom of the enoki mushroom foil box.
Ji Xu picked the last bite of grilled chicken wing clean, tossed the bone into the takeaway bag, and made a crisp snap between his fingers as he pulled off his gloves.
Looking at the complete mess, he felt a bit embarrassed—he had eaten at least two-thirds of the food, while Yuan Hanfei had only touched a small portion throughout, spending most of the time watching him eat.
“I’ll clean this up,” Ji Xu stood up, gathered the opening of the takeaway bag tightly, and fetched some paper towels to wipe the oil stains off the desktop clean.
Yuan Hanfei glanced at him without arguing, merely nodding his head: “Alright, then I’ll go take a shower first.”
He retrieved a change of clothes from the wardrobe, draped a towel over his shoulder, and casually patted the top of Ji Xu’s head as he passed by him.
Before Ji Xu even had time to dodge, that large hand had already moved away; Yuan Hanfei turned into the bathroom, and the sound of the shower turning on echoed from within after the door closed.
Ji Xu tied the trash bag tightly and placed it by the door, then wiped the desktop and chair armrests once more with a wet rag, stopping only when not a single speck of oil was visible.
When he returned to his desk after washing his hands, his phone screen lit up.
He picked it up to take a look, freezing entirely on the spot—another red envelope was lying inside Chu Siran’s chat window, bright red and waiting quietly.
His eyes rounded as he tapped it open to look at the number—1688.
Ji Xu brought his phone closer to look at it again, making sure he hadn’t misread the decimal point.
He gasped, clutching the phone against his chest, and looked around the empty dorm room to confirm no one was watching him.
He then lowered his head and swiftly imprinted a loud kiss on the phone screen—making a crisp sound as his lips pressed against the cold screen glass.
After kissing it, he felt a bit embarrassed himself, spinning around in his chair while holding his phone.
“Gege,” Ji Xu’s fingers were trembling slightly as he typed, but he tried his best to make his tone look merely happy rather than frightened, “this is way too much.”
Following that was an emoji of a chubby little person scattering flowers in wild joy.
Chu Siran’s reply came very quickly, so fast it was as if he had been waiting all along for Ji Xu’s reaction after seeing the red envelope: “I wanted to make you a bit happier.”
Ji Xu stared at those seven words for several seconds.
I wanted to make you a bit happier.
His thumb hovered over the screen, a certain corner of his heart being gently nudged by this sentence, unable to tell whether it was happiness or something else.
He replied with a string of spinning little figures and two small red hearts, placing the phone back onto the desk, though his eyes couldn’t help drifting back toward the screen.
The bathroom door opened at this moment.
Yuan Hanfei walked out, having changed into a loose pair of dark gray loungewear shorts and a white tank top.
His hair was still dripping water, towel draped over his shoulder, as water droplets slid down the ends of his hair onto his nape and collarbone.
His shoulders and arms were faintly flushed from the heat of the shower, his entire person radiating a clean scent mixed with body wash and water vapor.
He walked to the desk, saw Ji Xu staring foolishly at his phone, altered his path, and stepped up behind Ji Xu.
Bending down, he rested his chin on the back of Ji Xu’s chair, bringing his face extremely close to his ear.
“Who are you chatting with,” Yuan Hanfei’s voice came from an extremely close distance, his warm breath brushing past Ji Xu’s ear, “so happy, is it a boyfriend?”
Ji Xu’s hand trembled, the phone nearly slipping through his fingers.
He slammed the phone screen face down abruptly, shrinking his whole self to the side, the tips of his ears turning intensely red all at once.
“N-No…” He turned his head toward Yuan Hanfei, with only a fist’s distance remaining between the two of them.
Yuan Hanfei’s freshly showered face was right before his eyes, a water droplet sliding from his sideburn to his jawline, tracing a bright streak.
“Just an insanely good gaming partner.”
Yuan Hanfei did not back away.
His gaze shifted down from Ji Xu’s face, landing on his lips.
Ji Xu’s lip color was redder and fuller than usual, a hint of oil from the barbecue still lingering on the edges of his upper and lower lips.
However, what Yuan Hanfei noticed was that small patch right in the center of his lower lip—it was slightly raised, darker in color than the surrounding area, resembling a mark left from being pressed firmly or bitten by something, its swollen red shape irregular with a faint red border.
Yuan Hanfei’s eyes shifted slightly.
He suddenly leaned in even closer, raising his hand to press the pad of his finger gently against that swollen red spot on Ji Xu’s lower lip.
The touch was warm and soft, the skin underneath faintly burning; when touched, Ji Xu’s lips fluttered instinctively.
Yuan Hanfei pulled back his finger, looked down at the pad of his finger, and then raised his eyes to look at Ji Xu’s face.
“It’s swollen here,” Yuan Hanfei lowered his voice, carrying a subtle half-smile, “and you still say you don’t have a boyfriend.”
Ji Xu’s pupils shrank abruptly.
He subconsciously reached out to cover his mouth with his hand, a fine, dull pain surging as his fingertips touched that spot on his lower lip bitten by Rong Du—turns out it was swollen this severely.
When he looked in the mirror himself this morning, he hadn’t felt it was this obvious; after washing his face, eating, and tossing around all day, it had actually become even more eye-catching.
Ji Xu’s brain spun rapidly, the heat on his face burning all the way from his neck to his cheekbones: “It might be from eating barbecue just now, it was too spicy…”
Yuan Hanfei didn’t expose him.
Barbecue indeed caused lips to turn red and swollen, but that kind of swelling was even and diffuse, impossible to form a distinct, raised lump right in the middle of the lower lip.
No matter how one looked at it, that shape was bitten out by teeth.
Looking at Ji Xu’s increasingly red ears and dodging eyes, the corners of his lips tilted up: “Maybe it was bitten by a huge mosquito.”
Ji Xu could almost feel the clear, inner understanding within the teasing gaze Yuan Hanfei cast on his face.
Yuan Hanfei was too close; after taking a shower, the faint scent of his pheromones drifted over intermittently—a bamboo flavor, crisp and clean, like the rain-washed atmosphere inside a bamboo forest.
Pheromones from a fellow Alpha should have made Ji Xu instinctively repellent, but this fresh scent left him unsure of how to dislike it, making him somewhat lose his footing instead.
He leaned his body to the side, escaping from the small enclosed space between Yuan Hanfei and the back of the chair, his steps somewhat hasty: “Um, I’m going to take a shower.”
He turned around and walked toward the bathroom, his pace so fast it was as if someone were chasing him from behind.
Only upon entering the bathroom did he realize he hadn’t brought anything—pajamas, towel, and clean underwear were all on his bed.
Standing inside the bathroom, he looked at his thoroughly red face and the distinct mark on his lips in the mirror, taking three deep breaths before opening the door again to grab his clothes.
Passing by Yuan Hanfei’s desk, he kept his head lowered the entire time, his gaze firmly fixed on the ground, grabbing his clothes and leaving without sweeping even a glance toward Yuan Hanfei.
Sitting in his chair, Yuan Hanfei watched his fleeing back, unable to suppress the smile at the corners of his lips no matter what.
Coming out after his shower, Ji Xu had restored his surface composure, or at least the tips of his ears were no longer red.
He had changed into a clean short-sleeved top and shorts, his hair blown half-dry; just as he was preparing to climb into bed to sleep, Yuan Hanfei’s voice came from across the room: “Ji Xu, come over for a second.”
Ji Xu stepped over in his slippers to Yuan Hanfei’s desk.
A row of bottles and jars was laid out on Yuan Hanfei’s desk, numbering seven or eight from large to small, ranging in color from milky white to light blue to transparent, with every single bottle labeled, looking like a complete set of skincare products.
He was currently applying a milky white serum onto his face, spreading it evenly in his palms before pressing it onto his cheeks and forehead with practiced, orderly movements.
After applying it, he pulled Ji Xu closer, making Ji Xu stand between his parted legs, before unscrewing another bottle of lotion.
“Your skin is a bit rough,” Yuan Hanfei squeezed a pump of lotion into his palm, rubbing his hands warm before cupping Ji Xu’s cheeks, “you need to take proper care of it. Having been tanned for so long during military training, it easily peels without care.”
His palms were warm and soft, his finger pads spreading the lotion layer by layer—from cheekbones to nose wings, from forehead to jawline—massaging with moderate pressure until the skin absorbed the lotion, leaving a thin aqueous glow.
Having his face pressed, Ji Xu said indistinctly: “I think it’s fine.”
He raised his hand to pinch his own cheek; it was indeed a bit rough, the sun-exposed skin feeling less smooth to the touch than before.
He then unexpectedly reached out a hand to touch Yuan Hanfei’s face—the skin freshly coated with serum was smooth and supple, carrying a delicate, elastic texture like a piece of high-grade silk soaked in warm water.
Ji Xu’s fingers lingered on his cheekbones for two extra seconds, rubbing against the curve of his jaw; it indeed felt good to touch.
He touched it once more, his thumb gently scraping over the highest point of Yuan Hanfei’s cheekbone, silently comparing it to his own texture in his mind and admitting it was indeed inferior.
Yuan Hanfei didn’t dodge.
He let Ji Xu’s fingers linger and touch all over his face; finally, he turned his head slightly, pushing his face forward into Ji Xu’s palm like a large cat that had been stroked comfortably.
The corners of his lips curved as he asked: “Does it feel good to touch?”
Only then did Ji Xu realize what he had done.
His hand snapped back as if burned, his ears turning red once more, but this time he endured without fleeing, merely averting his gaze to look at the labels on the bottles and jars on Yuan Hanfei’s desk, pretending to study the ingredient list above.
Yuan Hanfei didn’t tease him further.
He smoothed out the remaining lotion on Ji Xu’s face, performing a simple lifting massage along his jawline with his finger pads, then picked up a tube of hand cream from the top left corner of the desk, squeezed out a large dollop, and pulled Ji Xu’s hand over to begin applying it.
Ji Xu’s fingers were enveloped by his hand, the sensation of the hand cream being rubbed open feeling cool; Yuan Hanfei’s thumb pushed past his knuckles one by one, not missing even the finger crevices or nail edges, his movements meticulous as if performing precise craftwork.
Enclosed in his palm, Ji Xu’s hand was completely wrapped by a warm hand that was a size larger than his own, the pressure from the finger pads relaxing his joints and muscles just right.
“Done.” Yuan Hanfei finished applying it to both of Ji Xu’s hands, finally cupping his hands within his palms for a moment, as if sealing the residual warmth inside.
Ji Xu raised his hand to his nose to take a sniff; the hand cream had a faint mixed scent of citrus and shea butter, sweet and soft.
He looked down at his two moisturized hands, moving his fingers slightly while the thin layer of oil on his skin still reflected light.
“Thank you,” Ji Xu said.
His voice was a bit lighter than before, no longer that tense, though still carrying a well-hidden bashfulness.
Withdrawing his hands, he turned around and climbed onto his bed.
Crawling into the blanket, he extended his hands to his nose to sniff that citrus scent once more, then stuffed his hands under his pillow.
Below, Yuan Hanfei tightened the caps on his bottles and jars, returned them to their places, turned off the desk lamp, and lay down on his bed.
In the darkness, the quiet breathing of the two intertwined; outside the window, the moonlight projected the curtain’s shadow onto the ceiling, swaying gently.
Ji Xu buried his face into the pillow, the swollen mark on his lips still faintly reminding him of the events from this morning, while the citrus scent of the hand cream on his fingertips wafted over in warm, sweet waves through the pillow fabric.
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