That laid-back and unruly fellow was lying on the dark green mat. His slightly long hair was spread out, and his eyes, the black and white colors clearly distinguished, were wide open. His clear and innocent irises, like the clearest springs, were rippling due to his current shock.
Shen Muhan’s hot hand brushed past his naturally upturned eyes, touching his faintly trembling lashes, and rubbing the small mole beneath his eye. His hands, like paintbrushes, dyed the flawless piece of paper with color. He watched as the attractive red color climbed to his earlobes and saw the pair of pure eyes narrowing slightly while carrying traces of arrogance and resistance.
“Let go!” Song Yao was dissatisfied.
Shen Muhan curled the corner of his lips into a guileless madness. He leisurely pulled off Song Yao’s tie and used it to bind his disobedient hands. Under Song Yao’s shocked eyes, he pressed his hands above his head and continued to curiously touch his face.
“You, what are you doing?” Shock wasn’t enough to describe Song Yao’s expression anymore.
He was the young master of the Song family and a clean freak; normally people couldn’t even touch his finger. However, right now both his hands were bound and he was at the mercy of another—even if that person was Ren Ximing, he couldn’t accept it…tremendous shock tended to make people forget to struggle and he was exactly so, freezing up instead.
Shen Muhan looked contentedly at his prey, his wet and warm breath tickling Song Yao’s nose bridge, jaw, and lips. His breath paused over his lips for an extra long moment and he gulped. He closed his eyes, buried his head into the crook of Song Yao’s neck, and inhaled deeply. He had been wanting to do this for a long time, he loved the scent of Song Yao’s body that smelled faintly of bergamot, refreshing and warm.
He seemed to have liked this scent for a very, very long time. When he was still a child, when he sat with this person in the living room, when they ate meals together, when this person looked at him with a lofty and distant gaze…he wanted to bury himself in this person’s neck, breathe in deeply his scent and slowly turn his distance into intimacy, shyness and cherishment.
“Shen, Mu, Han!” Song Yao’s yelling pulled him back.
It felt like he was having a wonderful dream right now, everything felt unreal, and he was suddenly rudely awakened.
This time around, Shen Muhan was not flustered at all and looked all innocent, “Don’t blame big bro for tying you up. Who told you to be so dishonest?”
Song Yao, “Dishonest?”
Shen Muhan, “We’re locked in here but you only panicked a little in the beginning before quickly calming down, as if everything was under your control. Therefore, I have reasons to suspect that you’re hiding the key on purpose.”
Song Yao relaxed a little, “So it’s like that.”
But then he scowled, “No wait. If you think I’m hiding the key, you should search my pockets, why are you touching my face?”
Shen Muhan looked at him, smiled perfunctorily, and in the next second, he pinched the soft fat on his face.
Song Yao’s mouth dropped and was shocked to the point of being unable to speak.
It was the feeling of a lofty king being pinched on the face by the knight who always knelt before him…
Shen Muhan grinned, “You don’t like it?” Even if you don’t like it, it’s not like you can move.
Song Yao, “…Just search my pockets.”
Shen Muhan reached out his hand but he couldn’t find a pocket after half a day. His fingers brushed past Song Yao’s waist and slid down his thighs.
Song Yao visibly trembled for a moment and rage filled his face, “Dumbass, where are you touching!”
Shen Muhan’s hand finally reached inside his pocket and carefully searched around. The summer uniform’s pants were thin and Song Yao, being touched by him like this, really couldn’t control himself from laughing, “It tickles, are you done yet!”
Song Yao wanted to give him the correct answer already. It was in the pants’ other pocket, idiot!
But Song Yao already had a taste of sweetness.
He didn’t know anymore if he was searching for the key or…if he was just teasing the other.
Under his actions, Song Yao laughed uncontrollably. He rolled from side to side, his face was red and tears flowed from the corners of his eyes.
Wasn’t this what he wanted to see?
With his finger, he gingerly touched the tears at the corner of Song Yao’s eye.
He stared at the wetness in a daze.
Then, under the very eyes of the other, he stuck his finger into his mouth.
Hot, and a little salty.
Song Yao saw him acting like this and felt as if he had received a shocking blow.
Shen Muhan’s eyes never left the dazed person, his voice was a little hoarse, “You don’t have anything to say to me?”
Song Yao, “N, no.”
Shen Muhan fished the key from his pocket and shook it in front of Song Yao, “You closed the door on purpose, isn’t so you can be alone with me? What do you want to tell me?”
Reaching to this point, the hamster, who had been gnawing on melon seeds the entire time, couldn’t hold back anymore. It popped out and yelled:
[Hamster: Host, host! This is a great chance, quickly, confess to him! If you confess now, his favorability will continue rising, trust me!]
But before he could speak, they heard the sounds of footsteps.
They immediately separated from each other. The iron door was opened and the gym teacher looked at them with surprise, “How did you guys end up getting locked in? I put the key on the table.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Song Yao laughed awkwardly, “Eh, we couldn’t find it!”
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Ktf akb bo atfw rmegglfv bea bo atf rabgjuf gbbw.
Ktfs tjv yjgfis ajxfc j rafq ktfc atfs tfjgv atf usw afjmtfg rjs, “Obbx, lrc’a atf xfs bc atf ajyif? Ktfrf akb xlvr wera’nf ubcf raeqlv ogbw raevslcu.”
*
It was self study period in the classroom. Shen Muhan prepared to do his homework, but when he looked at a problem, he would stare at it for ten minutes at a time.
At the moment, the teacher wasn’t present and the classroom was rowdy. People were laughing, gossiping, singing, pushing desks together, fanning themselves with books, borrowing erasers, or secretly making phone calls…but all of Shen Muhan’s nerves were concentrated on his back.
Even if he couldn’t see it, he could feel Song Yao’s gaze.
He had a strong premonition and ever since they were locked in the storage room together, the premonition only intensified—he could tell, Song Yao was going to confess.
When he thought of this, an electric current passed through his body and the itchy and numb feeling started from his scalp and spreaded through his nerves downward until his entire body was numb.
He didn’t know why he was having this strange feeling, as if he had waited for a long time, as if he had once confessed with his entire heart before, only to be ignored. It felt like he had despaired for a long time.
How strange. Truthfully, even if the other confessed, could he accept? Would he really be together with a homosexual?
No, he wouldn’t.
Then why did he want to hear the other’s confession?
Because, he hoped the two of them could become the most special friends.
He wanted to be other’s most important and irreplaceable existence.
He would think he had thought it through, but then he would feel confused again.
Occasionally, his hand reached inside his drawer to touch his phone, wanting to send Song Yao something.
But he gave up every time.
He was frustrated. It was the other party that was confessing, so why was he getting all worked up?
He always sent a message first, would that make him look cheap?
During the entire self study period, Shen Muhan was restless the entire time, until, his phone trembled.
He quickly took it out to check.
[Ah Yao: Let’s go home together tonight.]
The homeroom teacher walked in. Class 3 of year 2 immediately quieted down.
She walked up and down the rows and upon passing Shen Muhan, asked, “What happened? You’re smiling enough to bloom flowers.”
Everyone looked at Shen Muhan and whispered.
“Omg, omg…Hanhan’s smiling. That’s so rare. So pretty, fuck.”
“Shen Bro smiled? Why didn’t I see?”
“What did I say, he’s definitely in love lately!”
“Impossible! Unless he’s in love with me!”
“…If you have even a single peanut…”
Shen Muhan didn’t even reply yet when the boys around him answered for him, “Because it’s almost time to get off school. Ayyy!”
Shen Muhan smiled, neither confirming or refuting.
The teacher said something which made all of the students laugh, but he wasn’t paying any attention.
He opened Wechat and secretly typed “Ok”.
He was feeling restless just a moment ago, but right now his mood was exceptionally good.
In an instant, his entanglement and confusion sank underneath water and at this moment, he only felt comfort and peace. His entire body felt like it was submerged in a hot spring—the warm temperature was the same as Song Yao’s.
*
Song Yao knew he should confess, have things quickly develop into romance, then increase the favorability value with haste. However, he never confessed to anyone before, not to mention he knew the other was another version of Mingming, and this knowledge made him feel very uncomfortable. Thus, he failed to say the words multiple times.
On the other hand, Shen Muhan, who had been irritable all day, calmed down. He felt that tonight’s breeze was particularly cool and refreshing. The wind carried the scent of grass and wood and mixed with the faint fragrance on Song Yao. He liked walking beside Song Yao, watching unruly strands of his hair flying in the wind, watching the warm yellow light sliding down the slope of his nose and falling onto his shoulder. And when the other looked up in his direction, the tiny mole beneath his eye carried a strange magnetic force that made his fingers itch. Even his lips and tongue itched.
They reached the train station but Shen Muhan suddenly said, “Let’s walk instead.”
At this moment, Song Yao understood what Shen Muhan wanted to say.
If they took the train, they would reach their stations soon, then they would have to part. If they walked, even if they walked quickly, they would need at least an hour…
Really, what a clingy guy. Song Yao thought.
Unwittingly, his heart also became soft, like the clouds floating in the sky, carrying a hint of sweetness.
9 o’clock at night, they walked through the bustling commercial street. On the side of the road were many eateries and inside the shops were the crowded and busy heads of people. In the plaza, there were many tents set up doing advertisements, there were numerous stalls, there were adults by the water fountain cooling themselves off, and the children were playing with flying arrows. They hooked the arrow to the rubber band and when they pulled, the small arrow flew high, it glowed in the dark and like a small parachute, landed.
The two of them visited desert shops, trendy stores, and walked around in the well air-conditioned mall. Some time after, they each held a popsicle, walking while eating. Song Yao was eating a strawberry flavored one and the popsicle was quite something, there were even three pieces of strawberries inside of it, red and appealing. Shen Muhan’s flavor was green grape, it was light green, sour and sweet, and was pretty tasty.
They left the commercial street and walked through the boulevard, passing a college, a hospital, and a park, walking streets after streets.
The traces of people became fewer and fewer and it was soon ten pm. They’ve clearly walked a long distance, but they didn’t feel tired nor did they feel like they had been walking for a long time.
For both Song Yao and Shen Muhan, this was a brand new experience.
In the real world, when Ren Ximing was young, Song Yao took him to the park every Saturday. Ren Ximing focused on playing with mud while Song Yao sat by the water fountain chatting with friends. After Ren Ximing grew up, he became rebellious and the two of them grew apart. They never strolled together nor did they walk together for such a long period of time.
Song Yao quickly discovered, the map of this world was very similar to the real world. Whether it were the roads or the buildings, they were all extremely familiar. He had no idea how Ren Ximing managed to make the virtual world so incredibly realistic.
But quickly, he was too lazy to think about it further.
He narrowed his eyes and enjoyed the moment of peace. From time to time, he felt a little dazed, as if the only thing left in the world was the moon above his head and the two of them.
Shen Muhan was also sharing the same feeling.
He wished, he and the person beside him would continue walking like this; they wouldn’t be bothered by any person or thing, they would walk to the end of time.
It hardly felt like any time passed when they arrived in front of Song Yao’s house.
When they were walking together, Shen Muhan’s smile was dazzling and he transformed into a complete chatterbox. However, at this moment, he fell silent, his brows creased faintly, and the light on his face felt desolate. He looked forlorn, like a large dog that was unwilling to part with its owner.
Song Yao had an urge to ask him to stay, but before he could say something, he heard Shen Muhan say “goodbye”.
He turned around and left, his back facing Song Yao, and waved his hand.
Shen Muhan left coolly, as if the words he were anticipating to hear before, whether he heard them or not, it was no longer important.
He crossed the road, walked on the street, and gradually disappeared into the distance.
Song Yao didn’t know what came over him. His chest felt a little empty.
Before he knew, he was already chasing after him.
He ran.
Under the streetlights, finally, he caught the other’s wrist.
Shen Muhan turned around to look at him, his eyes carrying a trace of shock, “What’s wrong?”
The always thick-skinned Song Yao, the big brother who always fancied himself an elder, the blockhead who was invariably hopeless in the matters of love, at this moment, for the first time, he felt his heartbeat quicken; his heart was thumping in his chest and sweat dampened the tip of his hair. He noticed he was feeling a little nervous. Even if it was for the sake of capturing the target, this was his first-ever confession—
“I…” A person as arrogant as he, who always said what he meant, found it hard to say these few words.
Shen Muhan looked at him, a little nervous, the dim yellow light scattered on top of his head and on his body, and there was a smile in his eyes, anticipating, and looking at him full of hope.
Amidst the cries of cicadas, amidst the sounds of passing vehicles, amidst the sound of the warm breeze blowing, Song Yao said, “I like you.”
Besides his bobbing throat, Shen Muhan looked no different.
But in reality, his mind was experiencing a turbulent storm. Even his fingers began trembling, his nose was unbearably sour, and nothing felt real, as if what he heard just now was a false dream.
It was as if a past him, for the sake of the rose on the wall, was long wounded and scarred with only a breath. It was as if he once told himself, to give up, give in, an uncountable amount of times, but he still habitually crawled towards the wall surrounded by thorns, if only to see the rose when it bloomed. Even if it only existed in a virtual world, if he could smell the rose’s fragrance and kiss its outermost petals, he was satisfied.
Shen Muhan’s voice was shaking, “Say it again.”
When he finally said those words, Song Yao felt that it was no big deal. He was capturing the god, since he must enter the love route, then what was he hesitating for? “Hesitation” was terribly unsuited for him.
So this time, he needed to perfectly perform being deeply in love. He yelled, “Even if I’ve already been rejected by you twice, even if you tell me not to put my attention on you, I still like you!”
“Did you like me in the past or do you like me now?” Shen Muhan asked hoarsely.
“Now?”
“What kind of like?”
What kind of like? Shen Muhan couldn’t help asking himself, what kind of like did he want from Song Yao?
What he wanted, wasn’t it an irreplaceable friendship? Then why, if at this moment Song Yao told him, he liked him as a friend, he would be extremely disappointed?
Song Yao looked at the red-eyed and tormented God and walked over. With the mindset of an adult kissing a child, he lightly pecked the side of his face.
His lips gently brushed against Shen Muhan’s skin, like a fluttering flower petal, and it smelled like strawberries.
The truth was, he had never kissed Ren Ximing before, after all, he was always averse to touch and didn’t like intimate contacts. Kissing someone’s face on his own initiative was already his limit. Something like taking the initiative to kiss on the lips was just impossible for him.
It felt like the kiss was over in one ten-thousandth of a second.
He pursed his lips and looked up, feeling extremely awkward.
He turned around, and was about to leave.
He didn’t see, the crystal-clear tears falling from the god’s eyes which caused the god to feel flustered.
He also didn’t know, his brief kiss hooked away any semblance of Shen Muhan’s reason.
Shen Muhan used his arm to wipe away the inexplicable tears. He grabbed his waist and refused to let him leave. His right hand lifted his chin, his fingers were trembling.
Song Yao had no choice but to look at him and he discovered, a gorgeous red, like ink, had stained Shen Muhan’s cold and pale skin. His silver hair and pale skin made him look lacking in pigmentations normally, making the red color especially obvious. At this moment, his wet lashes were trembling, his red, half-lidded eyes, in the darkness of the night, looked especially deep, pained, infatuated, and confused, but the reflections were full of himself.
Shen Muhan’s overly attractive face slowly moved closer.
Song Yao was instantly stunned.
There was a soft touch on his cheek.
It was accompanied by Shen Muhan’s hot breath and it tickled.
Then it was his forehead.
Then his nose.
The places touched by Shen Muhan were burning. They felt numb like he had been shocked by electricity.
Song Yao instinctively wanted to push the other away.
But Shen Muhan hugged him tightly and the two of them pressed even closer, their breaths mingling together.
At this moment, the sweet taste of strawberries mixed with the sourness of grapes.
Their lips were getting closer together.
Shen Muhan’s voice carried a trace of hoarseness, and using a volume discernible only between the two of them, he whispered, “This time, I accept your confession. Because…I probably also like you a little bit.”
At this moment, the favorability value above his head that had been stuck for a long time moved.
[Congratulations! God’s favorability value +6%, current favorability value is at 79%. Reason: I’m happy, pained, and conflicted, is this like? I don’t understand.]
The hamster couldn’t help jumping out.
[Hamster: Holy shit, increasing a whole 6% in the later stage? And he says he only likes you a “little bit”, I think he meant “a hundred million bits” more like it! Host, you’re awesome, fully capturing him is just around the corner.]
At this moment, there was a feminine, high-pitched scream and the sound of something crashing to the ground.
Not far away, Mother Song looked at the two of them and it appeared that she had seen Song Yao.
From her angle, she definitely saw the two of them kissing…
Song Yao quickly thought, normally when parents saw their high schooler child kissing another person, how would they react…
If it were him, he’d beat first then talk later.
But unexpectedly, after recovering from her shock, Mother Song laughed sheepishly and while looking at Shen Muhan with a rather embarrassed gaze, she even asked if he wanted to stay for the night, saying she had already cleaned the guest bedroom, the mattress was clean, and there were fruits that he liked to eat at home. Shen Muhan politely refused, when he helped her pick up the thing she dropped and handed it over to her, her eyes were shining as she praised Shen Muhan’s looks; he was even more handsome than the male lead in her most recent favorite drama.
After Shen Muhan left, Mother Song looked at Song Yao with a face full of smiles.
Song Yao was also smiling.
Mother Song twisted Song Yao’s ear, “Such a good child and look at how you’ve ruined him!”
Song Yao: “???”
“You think you can hug a hot guy willy-nilly just because you’re of age now? Think about that after your college exam! If I catch you hugging and kissing him again, I’ll go find the child’s parents and we’ll deal with you guys together!”
Song Yao, “So what you’re saying is, it’s fine after the college exam?”
Mother Song said righteously, “Of course, do you think I’m that old-fashioned? Besides, such an outstanding and handsome kid, he doesn’t like other people but ended up liking our family’s child. It shows that you’ve inherited the charms of your father and I, we didn’t raise you for nothing. With his conditions, he’s definitely going to be a big celebrity in the future. We’ve never had a celebrity in the family before, in the future, when we eat with friends, I can even say, ai, our family’s daughter-in-law…cough, cough, son-in-law (?) is a big celebrity. When I think about it, I…what’s with your expression? I’m just reminding you, even though you’re not allowed to do anything right now, you have to guard him well, so he doesn’t get taken away by other god knows who people!”
Song Yao: “…”
Tyfc. Mama song is too much 😄😄🤣
Thank you for the update ❤️💯