WP Chapter 32

Jiang Yibai saw that Si Shaorong was silent. He pressed both hands down on his shoulders, acting as if he was going to push him onto the bed.

Si Shaorong’s eyes were dark and intense. He stared straight at Jiang Yibai, and if his gaze had any weight to it, it probably would have pierced right through Jiang Yibai’s chest.

Jiang Yibai suddenly felt as if he were trying to force himself on some respectable young master. The mood was gone just like that, and his smile gradually faded. His lips pressed into a straight line as he looked down at his lover from above.

Jiang Yibai frowned. “You—”

Before he could finish, a knock came from outside the door. Chen Yi’s loud voice rang out. “Old Jiang, get your ass out here!”

Jiang Yibai was speechless.

He had no choice but to get off the bed and go answer the door. Before opening it, he looked back at Si Shaorong. The Male God was already sitting at the desk, calmly tidying his clothes as if nothing had happened.

That same emotionless face, still unfairly handsome in Jiang Yibai’s eyes, yet something about it now felt off.

Jiang Yibai pushed aside the uneasy feeling. As soon as he opened the door, Chen Yi’s flushed face was already barking at him.

“What the hell are you keeping in your computer? You call yourself a teacher? What kind of fake-ass hypocritical perv—perv—”

He got stuck on the second “perv.” Chen Yi still considered himself a man with manners and a moral bottom line. Chin tilted high with righteous indignation, he shouted, “Go look for yourself. I want to hear how you plan to explain that.”

Jiang Yibai did not need to look. He folded his arms and leaned against the doorframe, shooting him a sideways glance.

“What did I say when you turned on my computer?”

Chen Yi let out a small noise.

“If I’m not suffering from dementia yet, I remember saying that the F drive was off-limits. That’s my private territory,” Jiang Yibai said. “Ever heard of Pandora’s box? Ever heard the story of Bluebeard?”

He leaned forward slightly, arms still folded, and lowered his voice into something faintly eerie. “You peeked at my secrets, and now you have the nerve to come interrogate me?”

The streetlamp outside was out again, a common issue in this old neighborhood. The room was completely dark. Only the desk lamp behind Jiang Yibai in the guest room gave off any light, half of which was blocked by the tall man sitting in front of it. That dim glow filtered out from behind Jiang Yibai, casting shadows on his face and making his tone feel even more ominous.

Chen Yi stared at Jiang Yibai’s face, now only inches away. He could smell the clean scent of his shower gel. His teenage heart thumped wildly. He instinctively took a step back, and then a second later let out a drawn-out yell and bolted back to the master bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

Jiang Yibai was stunned.

He leaned against the doorframe and looked over, completely baffled. “What was that? Am I really that scary?”

He reached for the guest room light and turned it on. When he looked back, he saw that Si Shaorong had already gone back to work. The outside world seemed incapable of distracting him. His strong, well-shaped fingers tapped briskly on the keyboard, the sound of each keypress crisp and steady like a lullaby.

Jiang Yibai suddenly felt sleepy. He climbed into bed, yawned, and propped a pillow behind his neck as he gazed at that silhouette.

He wanted to say something but hesitated, thinking it might not be the right time to disturb him. Honestly, it was impressive how the Male God could drop into that focused work state anytime, anywhere. That kind of professionalism really deserved respect.

He was drowsy but could not fall asleep. Tossing and turning on the bed, he breathed in the pleasant scent left on the pillow. Giving up, he wrapped himself in the blanket and started scrolling Weibo on his phone while pestering his friends.

Zhou Yuanyuan was bombarded with a stream of memes and finally snapped.

“Are you sick? Spamming me in the middle of the night?”

Jiang Yibai typed, “I think the Male God might be upset.”

Zhou Yuanyuan replied with a meme of Xue Yi sneering, clearly enjoying the drama. “Did he finally see through your true self?”

Jiang Yibai wrote, “Maybe the fake feelings turned real.”

It took a long time before Zhou Yuanyuan responded. “You might be a little too full of yourself.”

Jiang Yibai sent a sigh emoji.

Now her curiosity was fully piqued.

“So what happened? You turned the Male God gay? Jiang Yibai, you legend.”

“He was probably already gay. Either that or bi,” Jiang Yibai replied. “He just never thought about it before. Never noticed. But I think it’s more likely he’s gay. He doesn’t react to girls at all.”

Zhou Yuanyuan was full of disbelief. “Are you serious? You sure? What if you put some kind of spell on him and made him all dazed and confused?”

“Can you not say it like I actually know how to do that?”

Zhou Yuanyuan still thought it was incredible. “No, but really, how’d he turn out to be gay? A few years ago there were even rumors he was getting married.”

“You said it yourself. Rumors are fake news.” Jiang Yibai rolled over, one arm exposed outside the blanket, typing on his phone. “Right now I’m in his room. In his bed. Heh heh.”

Zhou Yuanyuan was silent for a moment. That heh could go to hell.

Jiang Yibai gave her a rough summary of what happened, and even Zhou Yuanyuan was a little suspicious. “If it’s really like you said, then yeah, something’s off. Who buys gifts that expensive for no reason? That is not how normal people give return gifts.”

“He even said he wanted me to teach him something else. If that’s not suspicious, what is?” Jiang Yibai said. “Good thing I reacted fast and came up with an excuse to brush it off.”

Zhou Yuanyuan sighed. “But that excuse you gave… come on. Isn’t the Great Master going to think you’re just some flirt? Like you’d sleep with anyone?”

Jiang Yibai glanced at the silhouette sitting at the desk, pressed his lips together, and typed. “It depends how you look at it. Think about it. If he really had no feelings at all, then yeah, maybe he’d think I was being sleazy. The whole ‘charging tuition’ line is kind of suggestive. But if he has caught feelings, then maybe he’d take it as a hint. People like to overthink things.”

Zhou Yuanyuan was speechless. “You are completely making that up in your own head. If it were me, I’d just think you were being sleazy, and nothing else. Even if I thought you were hinting at something, I could still take it as you brushing me off and being sleazy. You’re making this way too hard for him.”

Jiang Yibai pressed his lips together. “I panicked, okay? He said that all of a sudden. I was already doing good just to say anything back.”

Zhou Yuanyuan took a long time to respond. “So what are you going to do?”

Jiang Yibai stared at the screen, its pale glow casting soft rings of light across his eyes. For once, he looked a little lost.

He typed a long string of words, then deleted them. Typed again, deleted again. After going back and forth several times, he finally said, “If he doesn’t say it out loud, I won’t either. If someday he wants to leave, then he can. No one has to get hurt.”

Zhou Yuanyuan responded with just two words.

“You idiot.”

Apparently not satisfied, she followed up with several more versions of “idiot,” then finished with, “completely idiotic.”

Jiang Yibai stared at the screen, lips pressed tight.

He felt awful too. He had been using excuses and lies to fool himself, pretending that whatever existed between him and Si Shaorong was just in his head. But now that it might actually be real, now that the moment had come to acknowledge it, he found himself afraid to face it. Fear and confusion filled his chest.

Si Shaorong was a good person. A truly good person. He was genuine and honest, emotionally dense but wholehearted. Sometimes Jiang Yibai felt like Si Shaorong’s love was a raging fire, and if he got too close, they would both burn up and vanish.

His phone buzzed again. Zhou Yuanyuan had sent a longer message this time.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. If you keep going like this, no matter how sincere someone is, you’re going to ruin it.”

“I know you went through a lot in the past, but the Great Master had nothing to do with that. If you didn’t want to be involved with anyone, you shouldn’t have gotten him tangled up in the first place. Jiang Yibai, instead of sitting around agonizing over this crap, you should be out there lighting ten miles of firecrackers to celebrate the fact that someone actually wants you.”

Jiang Yibai read it over and over, then finally laughed. He replied, “Do you even know how long ten miles is?”

Zhou Yuanyuan shot back, “Get lost.”

Jiang Yibai set his phone down. After a moment, he picked it back up and sent a message to Li Xun.

Li Xun was more direct. He responded with a voice message. Jiang Yibai got up, groped around a bit, found Si Shaorong’s earphones, and put them on.

On the other end, Li Xun was shouting like usual, his voice slightly echoing. He was probably drunk again.

“What are you even anxious about? Just listen to me. Go fuck him and be done with it. If he can’t accept it, then he’ll walk away. If he can, then you keep dating him. Problem solved.”

Jiang Yibai almost laughed out loud. He typed back, “And then what?”

Li Xun’s voice came through, breath laced with smoke. “Teacher Jiang, be honest with yourself. If you didn’t care about him, why would you be thinking about the future at all? The fact that you’re anxious now just means you care.”

Jiang Yibai froze for a moment, then found himself a little moved. For all his debauchery and lustful habits, Li Xun was clear-headed at heart. He saw everything for exactly what it was.

He could not remember exactly when he fell asleep. He had no idea when Si Shaorong climbed into bed with him either. All he knew was that when he woke up the next morning, he rolled over instinctively and wrapped himself around a warm and solid human body like an octopus clinging to a giant pillow. He even thought to himself, since when did his bed come with a pillow this big and this hot?

Still half-asleep, he ended up sweating from how much body heat this pillow was giving off. When he finally cracked his eyes open in a daze, he found himself face to face with his boyfriend.

Si Shaorong looked stunned too, clearly not expecting him to wake up so suddenly. His eyes were wide open, staring back at him.

For a few seconds, Jiang Yibai’s mind went blank. He could not quite process what was happening. He thought, wait a minute, why is the Male God in my bed? Did I finally lose control and fuck him last night?

Then the reality hit him. Chen Yi had taken his room. He and the Male God had shared a bed. Hold on—what?

Only then did Jiang Yibai realize he had completely messed things up.

Last night, he had said he was going to sleep in the living room. He had even set up the sofa bed himself. He had only meant to chat with Si Shaorong for a bit. So how had he ended up falling asleep like it was the most natural thing in the world? What the hell happened?

Maybe it wasn’t him who bewitched the Male God. Maybe it was the Male God who cast a spell on him.

He stared blankly at the face in front of him, opened his mouth, and searched for his voice. Just as he let out a low “uh,” ready to apologize, he saw his boyfriend’s face flush bright red. A fine sheen of sweat had formed on his forehead. He was awkwardly trying to inch his body away.

Jiang Yibai might be clueless about many things, but he was very experienced when it came to adult matters. He caught on immediately, reached out, and wrapped an arm around Si Shaorong’s waist to pull him back in.

Si Shaorong’s face turned an even deeper shade of red. His eyes darted around the room in panic.

Jiang Yibai curled his lips into a wicked grin. “What are you doing, all hot and bothered first thing in the morning?”

Si Shaorong swallowed hard. His voice was still low and raspy from sleep, deep and magnetic. “Just… a normal physiological reaction.”

Jiang Yibai pulled his hand out from under the covers and pointed at what he was holding in his palm. “Sure, that part’s understandable. But why were you trying to deal with it while facing me?”

Si Shaorong said nothing.

He struggled to explain. “I wasn’t facing you. I—”

Jiang Yibai shifted closer and ran a hand up his thigh. “Perfect timing then. Want to take care of it together?”

Their bodies, still loose and lazy from sleep, were wrapped together beneath the blanket. The low hum of the air conditioner filled the room like the opening theme of a movie.

They were surrounded by a subtle, warm scent. The stimulation hit like an electric whip, snapping across every nerve ending. It was overwhelming, impossible to ignore.

Jiang Yibai could not resist leaning in. One hand braced against the pillow near Si Shaorong’s head. A tingling rush ran through his scalp.

He lowered his head and bit down on the side of Si Shaorong’s neck, then changed to a lick. His lips traced upward from his neck to his ear, leaving a trail of red marks, then moved from his ear to the corner of his mouth.

Si Shaorong usually looked so serious, but right now his eyes were flushed and hazy in a way that was impossibly seductive. Jiang Yibai gritted his teeth, gave up all pretense, and kissed him hard. His tongue slipped inside with the heat of someone determined to devour his lover whole. Both of them trembled, completely unable to hold back.

For a long time, the air in the room was filled with the thick, slow rhythm of arousal.