TF01 86

Ying Ming leaned down and said quietly, “Young Master Shi, whatever you do, don’t start moaning now.” Then, using the slickness from the jelly, he slowly and steadily pushed in.

This time was much better than the last.

At least Shi Yi didn’t have to keep his waist tense to stop himself from sliding off the bed. When Ying Ming entered him fully, Shi Yi trembled slightly, and it was clear the reaction wasn’t from pain. That unfamiliar, overwhelming feeling made him twist his expression. For someone who always clung to pride, his eyes were now clouded with arousal.

The sensation of being forced open and then slowly filled struck a strange balance between emptiness and satisfaction. If he hadn’t been holding on to the warning Ying Ming gave him earlier, he probably would have started swearing by now.

No man liked being pushed in this position. The loss of control was too much.

The numb, tingling pleasure spread from where their bodies joined, stretching out through their limbs. It was no longer just physical pleasure. As Ying Ming sank in all the way, he let out a soft breath and began to move.

Shi Yi flinched at the motion. He grabbed onto Ying Ming’s arm, and a rough, broken sound came out of his throat.

Why the hell was he the one being fucked today?

The thought flickered through his mind, but his body refused to cooperate. He wanted to protest, but his arousal had already taken over. His body was too sensitive, pushed to the edge from the start. Even though he told himself this kind of sex wasn’t natural, that he shouldn’t enjoy it, he couldn’t stop. Every nerve fired back at once, flooding his brain with raw pleasure.

This kind of sex could drive a man out of his mind.

Shi Yi cursed silently in his mind, half-lidded eyes fixed on Ying Ming, who had his lips pressed tight and his eyes slightly closed.

His Adam’s apple moved with each breath, the tag bounced with each motion, like a heartbeat. It was steady, heavy, and unyielding.

That pressure he couldn’t resist at the start, the instinctive rejection, had somehow started to fade.

There was still a knot inside him that wouldn’t fully dissolve, but something about this kind of surrender began to feel like a vow. Maybe people who loved each other didn’t always need to say things out loud. He and Ying Ming weren’t the type to talk about feelings anyway. But at a moment like this, when every part of his body could feel the tension in Ying Ming, could feel how all of it was because of him, then even without words, some things were already clear.

Shi Yi suddenly grabbed him and yanked him down. Ying Ming hit his chest hard but Shi Yi didn’t care. He kissed him fiercely, like an animal starved for air. In that moment, they wanted nothing but each other’s breath.

Once the resistance fell away, the pleasure surged in faster. Both of them were soaked in sweat, the air thick with the smell of sex and the faint sweetness of fruit. Everything around them still looked like a bedroom, but mentally, they were somewhere else entirely. It was like reality had peeled away. The room faded, and they were caught in something abstract and bright, something raw and chaotic that filled their vision. Nothing lined up quite right anymore. What they saw and what they felt didn’t match, like falling into a hallucination. Even if their minds tried to pull back, their bodies had already surrendered completely.

Ying Ming thrust harder. In the slight furrow of Shi Yi’s brow, he caught a fleeting moment where Shi Yi’s focus slipped, just for a second. His glasses had already been knocked askew from the force of their movements. His gaze, unable to fix properly on anything, held a flicker of unstable vulnerability. Something about that raw, unguarded look tugged at something deep in Ying Ming’s chest, and that pain made his movements even rougher.

Maybe this kind of ache was something that would stay with him for life.

Whether it was for Shi Yi or for himself, even the best ending would still carry this unavoidable sense of regret. Ying Ming had always carried anger. Lust swelled and crashed in waves of pleasure, but in the background, his mind stayed painfully clear, fixating on every tiny detail caught at the edge of his vision.

It felt like his body had been torn into broken pieces.

One part of him was ruled by heat and hunger. Another part wanted to destroy everything in reach.

The sharp push of his hips finally forced Shi Yi to dig his fingers into his arm, the intensity nearly overwhelming him and making his head spin.

“Ying Ming!”

The muffled moan snapped him out of it for a moment, but didn’t stop him. He looked down and met Shi Yi’s tightly furrowed brow. He reached back, pried loose the hand that was gripping his arm, and slowly guided it downward, then laced their fingers together.

He had always assumed that Shi Yi hated things like this.

That skin-crawling feeling, the weird jolt that came from interlocking fingers, was even harder to accept than having another man’s body on top of you.

But right now, Ying Ming just wanted to hold him.

Their fingers threaded through each other’s, knuckles pressed tight. The grip was so strong that Ying Ming’s wrists went numb. When they came, their minds went blank for a moment. All they could feel was the pressure of each other’s grip, as if holding on was the only thing keeping them grounded.

The edge of desire was supposed to be a place of no return.

But at least, in that moment, neither of them was holding on to nothing.

Their chests were pressed together, both completely spent. Shi Yi turned his head, struggling to breathe. The military tag caught between them dug into his ribs, sharp enough to hurt.

But he didn’t want Ying Ming to move.

And he didn’t want to move either.

The room was still thick with the smell of sex, the air heavy and decadent. He lay there staring up at the ceiling and finally spoke, voice low and hoarse. “You know what line popped into my head just now?”

Ying Ming was still catching his breath, eyes closed. He let out a faint, noncommittal hum.

Shi Yi curled the corner of his mouth. “They say the best technique shows in the morning.”

His voice was lazy, deep and rough with afterglow, and something about the way he said it made it sound downright filthy. Ying Ming couldn’t help but laugh, his body shaking slightly against Shi Yi’s.

Neither of them had taken their pants off completely. They were still tangled around their ankles, and the sheets were a complete mess, sticky with sweat, cum, and the crushed remains of the jelly, smeared everywhere.

“If your mom really walks in right now,” Shi Yi muttered under his breath, “we’ll have no choice but to run away together…”

He snorted at the thought, the image in his head so ridiculous he had to laugh. It should have been terrifying, but somehow, he didn’t feel scared at all.

Maybe for him, the worst-case scenario would just be the two of them being abandoned by everyone else.

He nudged Ying Ming’s right shoulder gently to get his attention. “Ying Ming, if coming out ever gets too ugly, just go overseas with me.”

All he got was a groggy reply near his ear. “Overseas?”

“Yeah. Somewhere no one knows us. We’ll be those legendary old recluses hiding in plain sight. And until our bodies give out from too much indulgence, we’ll fight to stay in shape.” He deliberately stressed the word “fight,” dragging it out with just enough sarcasm. Ying Ming finally opened his eyes and looked over at him. “Didn’t you once say that anyone who wants to disappear from the world is just someone who doesn’t understand themselves?”

Back then, he’d said it with all the weight of a man who had seen through life.

Now it just sounded like he was full of shit.

Ying Ming didn’t even get a chance to call him out before Shi Yi raised an eyebrow, looking completely unbothered. “Most people do it to run away. We do it because we’re wise.”

Double standards always came out of Young Master Shi’s mouth like they were natural laws, as normal as the moon waxing and waning. Ying Ming lowered his gaze and laughed, shaking his head. In the end, he gave up trying to argue about logic with this man and replied coolly.

“Your clothes are done for. Is Ou Yang still handling your deliveries?”

A long pause. Then came the shout by his ear.

“Fuck you!”

The madness had passed, and the fucking was over too. Once both of them had finally come back to their senses, Shi Yi looked around the room and frowned. “So… how are you planning to explain this to your family?”

His shirt might still be wearable, but the pants were definitely done for. And the state of the bed was way too obvious.

Ying Ming pulled a clean outfit from the wardrobe and changed, then glanced back at Shi Yi. “Wait here.”

A few minutes later, he came back holding a bowl.

From outside the room, his mother’s voice could still be heard nagging, “How many times have I told you not to eat in your bedroom? That tiny little space of yours!” As soon as her voice trailed off, Ying Ming, who hadn’t even bothered to close the door, dumped the entire bowl of thick soup right onto the most visible spot on the bed. He tossed Shi Yi’s pants on top of it and shouted without even turning his head, “Ah! Mom! I spilled it!”

Shi Yi barely managed to dodge in time and avoid getting hit. He grabbed the blanket and scrambled back. “What the fuck!”

His mother’s roar echoed up the stairwell. “Clean it up yourself!”

Ying Ming raised an eyebrow, then grabbed the bedsheet and the ruined pants, bundled them together, and tossed them aside.

The way he moved made it obvious this wasn’t the first time he’d cleaned up a crime scene. Shi Yi couldn’t help but lift an eyebrow. “You’ve done this before?”

“Sharp as ever.”

Ying Ming lit a cigarette and toyed with the lighter in his hand as he glanced over at Shi Yi. “By the way, when I told you Wang Yiqi never came to my place, that was a lie.”

Shi Yi’s face darkened.

Ying Ming smiled faintly and tossed a pair of pants at him. “Put these on. No idea if they’ll fit.”

Their builds were different, but not by much. Technically, the pants should work.

Shi Yi gritted his teeth. “I honestly don’t know how many words out of your mouth can be trusted.”

He grabbed a shirt from the side and threw it on. The pants were a little short and felt tight in a few spots, but from the outside, it didn’t look too obvious. Shi Yi shifted awkwardly. “Forget it. I’m going out to buy a new pair.”

“Say hi to my family, then head back. You staying here for the New Year is already pushing it.” Ying Ming smoked fast. When he saw Shi Yi get up, he crushed the cigarette out casually. As for the mess on the floor, he scooped it all up without much thought, ready to toss it as soon as he stepped outside.

No point cleaning it. Shi Yi wouldn’t wear any of it again anyway.

---

One good thing about a house full of people was that it was so noisy, no one had the energy to pay too much attention to anyone else. After Ying Ming said his goodbyes to his parents and promised to come back more often, he headed toward the front door with Shi Yi.

Only to get stopped in the living room.

“Ying Ming, where do you think you’re sneaking off to again? On the first day of the new year!” The one grabbing his arm was his younger aunt, a grown woman with kids already, though she still acted like a teenager most of the time.

Caught in the act, Ying Ming sighed helplessly. “What now, Aunt?”

Nothing good ever came from getting pulled aside like this. That was just experience talking.

“Listen to you, so grudging,” she said. “I’m telling you, you’re not going anywhere yet. Someone’s coming over in a bit, and you’re staying until they get here.”

The way she said it made Ying Ming frown. Something about this didn’t feel right.

“Who did you invite this time?”

“You’ll see.”

She winked at him in that exaggerated way of someone pretending to be mysterious. She wasn’t much older than Ying Ming, and her expression practically screamed I can’t wait to see what happens.

Only an idiot would stick around after seeing that face.

Ying Ming didn’t even think twice. He turned and made straight for the door.

But just as he reached it, the doorbell rang.

It couldn’t have been timed better if someone had scripted it. It felt like a damn prank.

He opened the door, and Shi Yi, standing just behind him, leaned over his shoulder for a look. A woman stood outside. She was good-looking and looked young. Her presence was composed and refined, not the full star-power flash like Liu Li, but calling her stunning wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

Ying Ming stared. “Zong Xue?”

The woman at the door clearly hadn’t expected it to open so fast. She paused, then smiled. “So you really are home.”

Zong Xue’s appearance stirred up quite a bit of excitement among Ying Ming’s relatives, especially his younger aunt, who was obviously behind all this. She practically shoved herself forward, fanning the flames with that meddling tone of hers. “Why so formal when you two know each other so well? It’s been ages since you’ve seen each other. Why not go catch up a little?”

Shi Yi raised an eyebrow and jabbed Ying Ming in the side. “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”

There was a trace of displeasure in his tone, but the roomful of relatives had no clue what was going on under the surface and missed it entirely.

Ying Ming glanced at him, shook his head in exasperation, then gestured toward Shi Yi. “This is my friend, Shi Yi.” He turned to gesture back toward Zong Xue. “And this is—”

Before he could finish, Zong Xue smiled. “I’m his ex-ex-ex-ex-ex-ex-ex-girlfriend.”

The stack of “exes” made Shi Yi frown, and Ying Ming rolled his eyes. “You really didn’t need to add that many ‘exes.’ It wasn’t that long ago.”

He and Zong Xue had gone to elementary school together and grew up in the same neighborhood. They dated briefly when she was in university, but they were too familiar, too comfortable. It always felt a little off. The breakup was easy, without any hard feelings. They both agreed being friends felt more natural than trying to be anything more.

In fact, they had never even shared a real kiss. The whole relationship had been so innocent, it felt almost like a joke in hindsight.

Still, they hadn’t seen each other since they broke up.

Zong Xue stepped inside with a smile. She had come by to drop something off for Ying Ming’s aunt. Since they were all neighbors, she stayed to chat a while. With her sitting and talking with everyone, Ying Ming couldn’t exactly sneak out again, so he stayed too.

It was almost noon by the time Zong Xue got up, saying she had to head back to the office. Immediately, the whole group of women insisted that Ying Ming walk her there. And of course, there was no way he could refuse.

As they headed downstairs to get the car, Zong Xue finally sighed. “Your family hasn’t changed a bit after all these years. Always so straightforward it hurts.”

Even a blind person could tell the whole setup had been way too deliberate. Every word anyone said was laced with awkward tension.

Ying Ming let out a small laugh. “You walked right into it.”

“That’s harsh. I only came over because I wanted to see you.” Zong Xue said it with a bright smile, but her tone made it impossible to tell whether she was serious or not.

Shi Yi had been tagging along silently the whole time. He hadn’t spoken a single word.

It was Zong Xue who finally looked his way. “I don’t know why, but your friend here looks really familiar. You sure he’s not an actor?”

With looks like his, no one would doubt it. The sharp angles of his features were softened slightly by the glasses, and even walking down the street, he was the kind of man who would make women turn their heads.

Shi Yi just gave a faint smile and shrugged like it didn’t matter.

All the way to her office, Zong Xue chatted with Ying Ming about the past. Her tone wasn’t overly warm, but most of the memories she brought up were about the two of them. Ying Ming usually hated talking about his past, so for Shi Yi, most of this was the first time hearing it. He sat in the passenger seat, leaning slightly toward Ying Ming, occasionally meeting his eyes. One of them stayed impassive. The other pretended not to care.

When they arrived, Zong Xue stepped out and told Ying Ming to get in touch sometime. He nodded as if on autopilot. “I’ll contact you when I have time.”

The drive back was quiet in a strange way.

Shi Yi had a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, but the air around him felt oddly charged. Ying Ming didn’t speak, and neither did he. The silence in the car hovered somewhere between tense and simmering. Just before they got home, Ying Ming finally shook his head and said, “If you’ve got something to say, just say it. Don’t keep acting like a jealous ex-wife.”

Shi Yi looked like his face was about to cramp.

He raised an eyebrow and gave a soft, sarcastic hum. “Didn’t you say you like the gentle, domestic type?”

They’d talked about exes before, in that casual way guys do, but it was a totally different thing hearing about it and actually seeing the person in front of you. Ying Ming had known all about Shi Yi’s thing with Liu Li from the beginning, and back then, neither of them had any extra feelings tangled up in it. But now, with things between them this clear and direct, suddenly coming face-to-face with Ying Ming’s ex left Shi Yi feeling unsettled in a way he couldn’t even explain.

Ying Ming clearly picked up on it and laughed a little. “Zong Xue and I were basically just some clueless little detour from when I was young and stupid. It’s not just that I didn’t know what type I wanted. I didn’t even know what type I was.”

“Your family seemed to like her.” The way they treated her, it was like she was already the fiancée.

“That’s because we grew up together. Everyone’s known her forever. When we were kids, we were always eating at each other’s places.” Sometimes, when his parents were too busy to look after him, he’d even just stay over at her house. They were so young then, there wasn’t anything to tiptoe around.

Shi Yi frowned slightly at that but said nothing.

To be honest, ever since he met Ying Ming, they had never really dug into each other’s past relationships. There were times when Shi Yi even felt like Ying Ming was just naturally open to men. From the feelings between them to the physical closeness, Ying Ming always seemed more at ease than he was. Shi Yi had never thought too hard about what Ying Ming’s past might have looked like.

He had always been someone who lived in the moment. Dwelling on the past felt pointless.

But today, after seeing Zong Xue, who shared a past with Ying Ming, Shi Yi finally started to process something he had never seriously faced before.

Ying Ming had been with plenty of women before him.

And being forced to acknowledge that didn’t feel great.

It was driving him crazy.

He turned and looked at Ying Ming. “How many girlfriends have you had?”

Ying Ming didn’t answer right away. He waited until they got home and parked the car before glancing over at Shi Yi. “Four.”

That number was still within Shi Yi’s tolerance.

But considering Ying Ming had once been one of the hottest stars in the entertainment industry, it actually seemed low. Shi Yi frowned. “You’re not leaving out one-night stands and casual flings, are you?”

Ying Ming just grinned. “Why don’t you guess?”

The next moment, he locked the car, spun the keys on his finger, and headed toward the front door. As soon as he opened it, Smoke Ring sprang onto him and latched around his neck, refusing to let go.

Shi Yi stared at the cat’s sharp-toothed, smug little grin. The corner of his eye twitched.

The urge to punch something was overwhelming.

How the hell was he supposed to calm down today?

---

Ying Ming had two days of vacation left, and he basically spent all of it loafing around the house with Shi Yi.

At one point, Kou Jing called to invite them out. But unfortunately, at that exact moment, they were locked in yet another messy round in bed. Shi Yi didn’t even stop moving when he answered the call. Kou Jing didn’t get past two sentences before cursing, “Fuck you,” and hanging up.

The arrogant, smug face Shi Yi made right after could only be described as begging for a slap.

On the last day, the production team called Ying Ming and asked him to come back early to shoot his final scenes. He didn’t wake Shi Yi, who was still fast asleep, just left a note and quietly left the house. The final few scenes would probably take three days to finish, and after that, he’d be free for good.

When Shi Yi woke up and realized he was gone, all that was left was the note.

He muttered a curse and sent Director Si’s ancestors an enthusiastic greeting, then reached for the phone on the nightstand to check the call log and texts. The first unread message caught his eye.

It was from his uncle.

Just three words.

Call me back.

The blunt, commanding tone made Shi Yi frown.

He had a bad feeling about this.