Chapter 28

When Zhuo Xiang Ming arrived home, Tong Yanhad already woken up. He wasn’t in his bedroom, nor in the downstairs livingroom. The cleaning robot informed Zhuo Xiang Ming that he was in the walk-in-closet.

The walk-in-closet and Tong Yan’s bedroom were respectively on bothsides of the corridor. When Zhuo Xiang Ming first moved in, his original planwas to make a separate bathroom for guests, but the room was twice as large asa standard bathroom, and it also had a beveled glass window. The daytime lightingwas very good, and the concealment was lacking, it wasn’t suitable for abathroom. So, the room had been empty forever.

After Tong Yan moved in, Zhuo Xiang Ming turned it into a walk-in-closetfor Tong Yan, vetting many carpenters.

One-person tall, multi-layered small drawers and four wardrobes, as wellas shelves for shoes and bags. All were handmade by a master craftsman, andequipped with dressing mirrors. Coupled with ventilation, it took a lot ofeffort, and was only finished a few days ago.

TongYan had his back to the door, sitting cross-legged in the middle of a pile ofshopping bags. His upper body was tilted, his head leaning on thefloor-standing dressing mirror next to him. He hadn’t started tidying up yet, lostin his thoughts.

The mid-afternoon sun wasn’t so hot orblinding, it was warm and cozy. Tong Yan wore a thin navy-blue sweater, darkgray sweatpants, and no slippers, instead, he wore thick wool socks. His hair lookedeven fluffier in the sunlight coming in through the window, like a small tranquilanimal, harmless to humans, no one could have the heart to bully him.

The walk-in-closet’s door wasn’t closed, it was almost wide open. Zhuo XiangMing walked over and immediately saw this scene.

It felt strange, as if, by only looking at the back view, he could fullyimagine Tong Yan’s freshly awoken expression, the one that made his heart melt.

Afew beats later, Tong Yan looked back, and found Zhuo Xiang Ming standingbehind him. With a soft smile, he said: “You’re back.”

“Yeah.”

Zhuo Xiang Ming walked towards him and sat cross-legged on the ground, similarto Tong Yan, but because of his tailored suit, he couldn’t slump like Tong Yan.Instead, his back was straighter than when he was standing.

Theirknees were next to each other, and Tong Yan changed his direction of tilting, hishead now resting on Zhuo Xiang Ming’s chest.

“Uggghh …” Tong Yan let out a long groan.

Zhuo Xiang Ming caressed his face: “What’s wrong?”

“It’s too much.” Tong Yan was distressed, “I don’t knowwhere to start.”

He moved his leg, bumping into a row ofshopping bags. There were some that had fallen out of their packaging, but thequantity was too small, ignorable.

Some of these were purchased by Lin Yue Hua before the marriage, butmost of them were bought last weekend when Lin Yue Hua took Tong Yan shopping.After leaving the Zhou family house, Tong Yan was busy with the sports meet andthe subsequent mid-term exams, so he couldn’t find time to tidy up. He’d piledthem up in the finally completed, handy walk-in-closet.

But they couldn’t just stay piled up forever, they needed to be put away.

He took the initiative to climb into Zhuo Xiang Ming’s arms, aftersitting down, he clung to Zhuo Xiang Ming’s neck. Zhuo Xiang Ming hugged him, looselywrapping his arms around him, completely willing to enjoy a lovey-dovey moment withTong Yan. He said calmly: “If you don’t start soon, the sun is going toset.”

TongYan rolled his eyes, tentatively kissing the corner of Zhuo Xiang Ming’s mouth.

Zhuo Xiang Ming held back a smile, asking: “What are you doing?”

“Help me.” Tong Yan said, “Can I finish this by myself? It’stoo much.”

“Are you asking me?” Zhuo Xiang Ming said.

TongYan: “Yes.”

Zhuo Xiang Ming: “But it doesn’t sound very humble.”

TongYan had no choice but to say: “Please help me, please.”

Zhuo Xiang Ming wasn’t satisfied: “If I help you, what’s in it forme?”

TongYan felt that Zhuo Xiang Ming was very bad. When he was an older brother, hedidn’t need benefits, but after becoming a boyfriend, he was no longer willingto help, and always negotiated.

“I’ll reward you …” Tong Yan actually didn’t know how he wasgoing to reward him, he just wanted to quickly get on with it.

However, surprisingly, Zhuo Xiang Ming readily agreed: “Okay.”

With Zhuo Xiang Ming helping out, Tong Yan no longer needed to sit in adaze to try and fail to organize everything in his mind. The two workedtogether, using up more than two hours, and finally, the walk-in-closet was well-organized.

The things were many and tedious, and they needed to keep bending downand straightening up. Tong Yan was also inexperienced, so most of the work wasdone by Zhuo Xiang Ming. When it was completed, Zhuo Xiang Ming’s forehead wasdotted with sweat, and his suit jacket was removed, his tie loosened halfway.

At the beginning, Tong Yan said that they would work together, but halfwaythrough the cleaning, he was still goofing off. Now that it was all cleaned up,the walk-in-closet was simply a different room, and his kissing up mode wasactivated. Sweetly calling out ‘brother’, he fanned Zhuo Xiang Ming with his hands,and ran off to pour him a glass of water.

Obviously,the house’s temperature was regulated, and to receive a glass of water, just pressa button, and the housekeeping robot would deliver it.

Zhuo Xiang Ming circled around the room, tugging the clothing bars one by one, confirming that they were firm. Tong Yan walked in with a glass of water, but he didn’t reach out to accept it, just staring at Tong Yan.

“You don’t want it?” Tong Yan asked.

Zhuo Xiang Ming: “I want it.”

TongYan again held the glass of water out to him, but Zhuo Xiang Ming still didn’tmove, a faint smile on his face. This time, Tong Yan realized what he wanted,and his face slowly reddened. He held the glass up a little bit higher, andbrought it to Zhuo Xiang Ming’s lips. Finally, Zhuo Xiang Ming lowered his headand drank more than half from Tong Yan’s hand.

TongYan said in a quiet voice, “Do you want more?”

Zhuo Xiang Ming: “No.”

“Then, I’ll…” Tong Yan turned to leave, but Zhuo Xiang Ming grabbedhis wrist.

It seemed that Zhuo Xiang Ming had planned this out a long time ago. He unhurriedlytook the cup from his hand, and placed it on a nearby cabinet, then he pulled TongYan into his arms.

Tong Yan wasn’t caught off-guard, but his footing still wasn’t stable, and he fell forward. Fortunately, his landing place was Zhuo Xiang Ming’s embrace. The two were very close, he was trapped between Zhuo Xiang Ming and a wardrobe. Because of their not insignificant height difference, Tong Yan felt that the top of his head was shadowed.

Zhuo Xiang Ming grabbed one of his hands and pressed his other handagainst his waist, slowly moving up. At last, he stopped at Tong Yan’s nape, afew fingers inserted into Tong Yan’s hair. He held on firmly, not strong enoughto hurt Tong Yan, but he definitely couldn’t break away easily.

TongYan’s eyes widened again, and he glared fiercely at Zhuo Xiang Ming: “Whatare you doing?”

A small animal with hackles raised wasn’t very intimidating, Zhuo Xiang Ming unhurriedly said: “So fierce.”

Zhuo Xiang Ming caressed the back of Tong Yan’s ear, making his heart tremble. Just this simple action, and Tong Yan’s legs seemed to jellify again, and his voice quickly lowered, almost like he was begging for mercy: “Brother …”

“Yes?”

TongYan grabbed Zhuo Xiang Ming’s finger, blinking. He wanted to step back, but behindhim was the wardrobe door, there was no way out, so he could only say: “Letgo.”

Zhuo Xiang Ming said in a low voice: “Justnow, didn’t you say you’d reward me? Where’s my reward?”

TongYan: “I poured you a glass of water.”

“Don’t act dumb.” Zhuo Xiang Ming looked very dissatisfied.He leaned a leg against the wardrobe door, completely blocking in Tong Yan, “Thewater doesn’t count.”

TongYan resisted in a quiet voice: “Why doesn’t it count?”

Zhuo Xiang Ming was unreasonable, not explaining why, he very childishlysaid: “It just doesn’t count.”

Pheromones and body heat fermented in Zhuo Xiang Ming’s small prison. TongYan already felt very carefree at home, so naturally, there was no isolation patchon the back of his neck. His stress disorder was basically cured, so this time,the pheromone reaction didn’t bring pain, nor fear, only surging adrenaline,blushing and heartbeat, resulting in a shy and amorous omega.

Zhuo Xiang Ming was unperturbed, still waiting to see Tong Yan’s evenmore ‘blameless’ look. But unexpectedly, the lamb wasn’t so timid, he even daredto stand on tip-toe to kiss him.

Thekissed alpha was dazed for a moment, and Tong Yan stood up straighter, asking proudly:“Good reward?”

“Still early.”

Snappingout of it, the wolf wasn’t so easy to dismiss. The lamb who tried in vain torebel was pressed against the wardrobe, and was taught a hard lesson.

Zhuo Xiang Ming knew that, when it involved kissing, he tended to overdoit, but he didn’t hold back and also couldn’t stop in time.

On the way home, he’d planned this scene. After holding back for morethan two hours, the floodgates opened. Tong Yan tried his best to hold his own,but in the end, he was kissed to tears. However, he wasn’t so difficult to coax,after a few minutes, he happily followed Zhuo Xiang Ming downstairs, and wentto the backyard to tend to the blossoming roses. When asked what he wanted toeat for dinner, after much pondering, he said he wanted to eat pasta cooked byhis brother.

Tong Yan always said that Zhuo Xiang Ming’s currywas tastier than a restaurant’s. Actually, Zhuo Xiang Ming’s ingredients were heavier,he didn’t pay much attention to what he ate, so he could add MSG and salt withhis eyes closed. After Tong Yan ate it a few times, he took note, and slowly“improved the recipe”. Now there was fewer potatoes and more carrots.

The after-dinner program had changed a long time ago, the two no longerwatched the finance news together–Zhuo Xiang Ming still had to watch it, but TongYan recently became obsessed with Lego, and sat down at Zhuo Xiang Ming’s feetto build.

Originally, he bought the sets with his own pocket money. He searched online,assembling one before buying another one. Zhuo Xiang Ming couldn’t stand to lookat it, so the day before Tong Yan’s mid-term exam, he bought more than twenty setsin one go. At first, Tong Yan scolded him for wasting money and ruining hisshopping experience, but after a while, he was back at Zhuo Xiang Ming’s side.

On that day, the two’s closet contact wasstill a forehead kiss. Zhuo Xiang Ming was also very restrained when hugging TongYan. Today, after eating and brushing his teeth, Tong Yan immediately started fiddlingwith his Lego. Zhuo Xiang Ming went upstairs, changed into home clothes, andcame back down. He walked up to Tong Yan and said to the air, “Cooking is sotiring.”

Tong Yan ignored him, and Zhuo Xiang Ming againsaid, “Who bought this Lego for you?”

Afterbrushing his teeth, Tong Yan’s mouth started to hurt again. Also, when he lookedin the mirror just now, he saw that his mouth was completely swollen. Forgetabout the Lego gifts, even the guilt he felt for wounding Zhuo Xiang Ming’smouth this morning had almost run dry, therefore, he remained silent.

Afterwaiting for a while, Zhuo Xiang Ming couldn’t help but approach, encircling TongYan in his arms. He said beside his ear: “Buttering you up is uselessafter the meal, is that it?”

TongYan just tilted his head, sticking their faces together. Zhuo Xiang Mingcouldn’t be ruthless again, trying hard to incite Tong Yan in a firm voice:“Speak.”

“If I say a few more words, you’ll want me to reward youagain.” Seemingly ignorant, Tong Yan turned his face, pressing his lips againstZhuo Xiang Ming’s neck, then he pulled back, “Look, my lips are so hot,and you still want to bully me.”

Zhuo Xiang Ming couldn’t help but smile, Tong Yan also smiled, his roundeyes curving. He relaxed into Zhuo Xiang Ming’s embrace, putting down the Legoand grabbing one of Zhuo Xiang Ming’s hands, absent-mindedly fiddling with it:“I thought about the gift I wanted after my test results come out.”

“What do you want?” Zhuo Xiang Ming asked.

TongYan paused for a while, his chest noticeably undulating a bit more, but hestill said, “I want you to give me a slow kiss.”

His voice slowly quieted down, but Zhuo XiangMing still heard him clearly: “I still want to kiss you, but softly, okay?”

Zhuo Xiang Ming’s heart melted. He grabbed Tong Yan’s hand, printing a kisson his fingertips, gently promising: “OK.”

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T/N:

mid-afternoon- Apparently, it’s still daytime, so the ‘dinner’ last chapter shouldbe lunch. I made an assumption, since ZXM left work.I’ll change it if Iremember

Don’t act dumb- to act shamelessly / to refuse to acknowledge that one has lost thegame, or made a promise etc / to act dumb / to act as if sth never happened

Curry- Don’task me why pasta became curry. They’re not even similar looking words.

Buttering you up is useless after the meal- 巴结着给你做完饭就没用了, unsure of translation

His lips are “hot”, as in red and swollen from kissing, not sexy