Chapter 88: Settling Scores and a Confession. Since When Have You Heard My Thoughts?
The massive floor-to-ceiling window blocked the cool night breeze from the sea.
In the distance, the boundless ocean and the pitch-black night blurred into one. The water and the sky shared a single color—a phenomenon seen not only by day but also by night.
The bright moon hung high amidst a sky full of stars, reflected in the rippling sea as if they were positioned atop a magnificent and mysterious sea of stars.
Drunken, I knew not the sky was in the water; a boat full of clear dreams weighed down the Milky Way.
[1]
Le Can, who was covered in a thin layer of sweat and wrapped in a blanket, half-opened his drunken, misty peach blossom eyes to look out the window.
Against the vast, dark backdrop, a firework exploded with a bang. Strands of silver fell from the night sky, converging into a silver path of light, as if the Milky Way were hanging upside down.
Following this, the grand fireworks show began. Sparks of variegated colors bloomed in the sky, and the continuous fireworks illuminated more than half of the pitch-black heavens.
The sound of fireworks exploding echoed in his ears. Amidst the clamor, Le Can’s misty eyes slowly widened.
His head, dizzy from the alcohol, and his body, even more exhausted after his frolic with Xi Yun, seemed to be injected with a mysterious power at that moment.
Reluctantly pulling his gaze away from the magnificent splendor, Le Can turned back to look at the man who was silently watching him.
Those stern, sharp eyes were lowered, appearing incredibly soft. Love and indulgence flowed continuously in those silver-gray pupils. In those dark, heavy eyes, Le Can could easily see his own reflection.
The youth, whose hair at his temples was damp, sat on the man’s lap, held in his arms like a soft, fluffy ball, perfectly occupying the very center of his vision.
It was as if Xi Yun’s eyes could see only Le Can.
In the world within his reach, nothing else existed; only this one person was there…
Le Can’s gaze couldn’t help but flicker away.
He reached out to push open the tightly wrapped blanket, pulled off the crookedly hanging tie around Xi Yun’s neck, and tossed it aside. Looking at the row of buttoned-up buttons beneath his hand, he let out a soft “tsk” and yanked hard on the shirt’s collar…
It didn’t come open.
The drunkenness made Le Can’s limbs feel soft, and the quality of Xi Yun’s clothes was excellent; his violent tugging naturally had no effect.
Instead, the pull caused him to lose his balance. Le Can fell forward, his forehead hitting Xi Yun’s collarbone with a “thud,” and he bared his teeth in pain. “Ow!”
[It hurts!]
This time, it truly hurt.
It wasn’t like the affected, exaggerated pain he had feigned earlier to lure Xi Yun into helping him remove the shirt stays, turning one part of pain into ten.
Xi Yun reached out to hold the person in his arms and touched his forehead.
When his head was gently lifted, Le Can didn’t move. When the cool fingertip pressed against his forehead and rubbed, Le Can didn’t move.
It wasn’t until that hand, now stained with his body heat, showed signs of leaving that Le Can suddenly opened his mouth and bit a section of Xi Yun’s finger.
Through the thin skin, his teeth held the bone of the long, bamboo-like finger, gnawing with a force that was neither too heavy nor too light.
He was venting his anger, yet he couldn’t bear to bite hard enough to cause pain. Instead, it was like a puppy gnawing on a bone, carrying a hint of playfulness.
Love overflowed in Xi Yun’s eyes as he lowered his head to place a series of light kisses on the youth’s smooth forehead.
The bitten hand was not withdrawn; instead, it was held even more steadily.
His other hand was not idle either; one by one, from top to bottom, he undid the shirt buttons that Le Can had failed to pull open earlier.
The physique that was usually hidden was slowly revealed.
His shoulders and back were broad and powerful, and his tight abdomen tapered downward, forming a perfect inverted triangle. From his arms to his waist, the muscle lines rose and fell with a natural fluidity, like the masterpiece of a jade-carving master created in one go.
He wasn’t striking a pose, nor was he deliberately tensing to make the muscles more obvious. Even in that quiet, relaxed state of natural breathing, Le Can still felt a palpable sense of sexiness and tension…
He had already intended to let go of the finger in his mouth, but now, blinded by lust, he could only bite deeper.
Xi Yun sensed this change.
A smile blossomed at the corners of his lowered phoenix eyes. After undoing the last button, Xi Yun allowed the black shirt to slide down on both sides, revealing the final section of his wheat-colored abdomen.
He raised his hand and gently touched the youth’s butterfly bones, his scorching palm pressing through the thin clothing, following the depression of the spine slowly downward.
At first, there was nothing, but as the heat drew closer to his tailbone, the slender, thin waist suddenly began to tremble.
It started with small tremors, which then became dense. Finally, as if unable to hold on, his waist slumped slightly.
Xi Yun’s hand, which had been steadily following the curve of the waist from the beginning, took the opportunity to push down gently.
Beneath the youth’s open wine-red shirt, his bare chest… pressed seamlessly against the solid torso beneath the man’s palm.
One was lukewarm, having been cooled by the night breeze; the other was high heat, fueled by suppressed desire and ample fire.
When the two collided, the former’s aching waist trembled twice from the heat, and the latter’s heart burned… but soon, the two different temperatures merged into one in a very short time.
And this temperature was so warm it made one sigh with contentment.
Xi Yun raised his hand to pull up the blanket piled at Le Can’s waist, wrapping him up and holding him in his arms once more. This time, however, there was nothing between them in the embrace; it was true, intimate proximity.
Warmth and security made it easy for one’s spirit to slacken.
Le Can, whose consciousness was already not very clear, was made dizzy by the heat. He let go of the hand he was biting and slumped against Xi Yun’s excellent-to-the-touch chest muscles.
Xi Yun raised his freed hand and gently smoothed the stray hairs falling over Le Can’s forehead, revealing those covered eyes.
Then, he adjusted the direction of the wheelchair. This allowed Le Can, in his reclining position, to clearly see the fireworks still blooming continuously outside the window.
“When did it start?”
[This fireworks show.]
After a moment of silence, Xi Yun tucked in the corners of the blanket even more tightly and replied in a low voice, “The idea came to me after we left Old Man Lu’s place.”
“But I could never find a suitable opportunity.”
Old Man Lu, Lu Fuming—a famous figure in the jadeite circle. After Le Can and Xi Yun had opened top-tier jadeite one after another at his venue, he not only harbored no resentment but had even personally come to support this cruise auction.
The finale of the specialized jadeite auction—the glass-type Fu Lu Shou tri-color jadeite—was ultimately won by Lu Fuming at an incredibly high price. This move had generated significant buzz for the auction.
Le Can couldn’t help but look up. “You’ve had designs on me since then?”
After asking, Le Can shook his head in rebuttal. “No, it couldn’t have been that early.”
He should say…
[You could hear my thoughts back then?]
Xi Yun propped up the youth’s neck so he could lean back without it aching. Only then did he reply unhurriedly, “Mhm, I could hear them.”
Though most of it was just simple, scattered fragments, he could still glimpse the youth’s truest emotions.
As for when he began to feel moved, Xi Yun couldn’t pin down an exact time. At first, it was vigilance, which then slowly turned into concern. He had fallen silently and, in the end, was willing to sink deeper and deeper…
By the time he realized these feelings, it wasn’t a question of whether he could withdraw. It was a question of how to keep this person—whose mind was so flighty and who was so unrestrained and free-spirited—by his side.
Xi Yun had heard Le Can’s “hit and run” remarks more than once.
His previous restraint and his withdrawal at the final moment earlier were not only because he wanted to treat the youth more solemnly but also because of a hidden, unspeakable insecurity.
He feared that Le Can, as he suspected, would lose interest once he had him. And then, once the two-year agreement expired, he would leave cleanly and decisively.
Although the two years weren’t up yet and no one could say for sure what the future held, his emotions still overrode his logic, making Xi Yun hesitate to act for fear of damaging the relationship.
As the Buddhist saying goes: “From love comes sorrow, from love comes fear.” Xi Yun never expected that he, too, would one day experience fear and hesitation because of love…
[I’m not surprised at all by this answer.]
Le Can wrinkled his nose and bit the soft, bouncy chest muscle beside his face.
Still not satisfied, he resentfully bit from one end of the collarbone to the other, finally taking a light red nub into his mouth and biting it over and over again!
Xi Yun let out a muffled groan, his relaxed body tensing up.
Feeling the “human cushion” become hard and uncomfortable, Le Can raised his calf and kicked the man who was serving as his stand.
Xi Yun’s jaw tightened as he controlled his body to relax.
[I’ll ask you one more question. Answer truthfully!]
A low “mhm” with an unignorable rasp rang out from above his head. Le Can couldn’t help but tilt his head, rubbing his hot ear against the blanket.
[You can hear thoughts, but since when did it start?]
Le Can remembered that the 100,000 words of the original novel he had read never mentioned mind reading. Even the synopsis didn’t contain those two words.
Later, he wracked his brain until he remembered a mysterious sentence the author had left at the end of the summary: “The ability will have a surprise in the later stages.”
Le Can hadn’t felt the surprise, but he had definitely felt the shock.
Regarding this question, Xi Yun’s silence was longer than his pause for the previous one. Realizing this, Le Can’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.
He inexplicably had an ominous premonition…
Subconsciously, Le Can bit the thing in his mouth that he hadn’t let go of. It was a soft, bouncy bit—it didn’t have much taste, but it gave him an inexplicable sense of stress relief.
Xi Yun’s deep black pupils constricted slightly, and the veins on his neck rippled.
In the next second, two pressed-together fingers pried open Le Can’s teeth, forcing his mouth open and quickly replacing the object he was biting.
“Mhm…”
Le Can made a dissatisfied humming sound.
The long fingers with distinct joints deftly pinched his soft tongue, their tips entangling with it. The waist that Le Can had finally managed to muster some strength in went soft again.
Then, a warm breath drew close to Le Can’s ear.
“From… the moment we first met.”
Even today, Xi Yun could still remember that earth-shattering thought: So, are we actually going through with this divorce or not?!
It was precisely this unplanned inner voice that had made Xi Yun agree to an alliance that seemed utterly absurd at the time, but which now made him feel incredibly fortunate.
The stirring in his mouth made it impossible for Le Can to speak. His logic was stirred into fragments along with it, and his inner voice was intermittent and cursing.
[You dog… mhm-ah… did you… do it on purpose, ah-ha~?]
Xi Yun gazed down at the youth whose eyes were shining with anger, slowly lowering his head to replace the two wet fingers with his own lips and tongue.
In the final second before swallowing the other’s words, a low “Yes” rang out in the quiet room.
Xi Yun admitted it—he did it specifically to distract Le Can…
Tung, tung, tung—
Suddenly, a rhythmic knocking at the door broke the rising ambiguity in the room.
“Sir, I’ve brought the items you requested.”
Translator’s Note:
Can you guess what “items” the butler brought? Wink wink. I also want to clarify that Big Xi opening his eyes is a big deal—he’s supposed to be resting them, but well, he could resist for the first half, but not the second!
Happy reading!
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