Xiao Yiheng wanted to confiscate the fantasy novel in Li Cheng’s hands. Of course Li Cheng would not let him. He deliberately hid the novel behind his back, turning his hands back and forth as if casting a spell, and said childishly, “Look, the novel is gone!”
Xiao Yiheng put down the sketchbook and got up to grab it. They landed on the sofa in a tangle of limbs as a result of their scuffle.
The sofa was a little cramped. Two tall and leggy teenagers were jammed against each other, bodies folded, legs forced together, and thundering heartbeats converged as their eyes met. For a long time, no one moved.
Xiao Yiheng looked down at the boy who was pressed under him. His gaze was fiery and the depths of his pupils shone like nebulae.
Li Cheng’s soul seemed to have been sucked away by that gaze. After a long time, he made a vague “oh!” from his throat, his eyes wandering as he turned away to cover up.
His slender neck was exposed to the alpha’s sight. A drop of sweat fell down on the back of the blond boy’s neck which made Xiao Yiheng reach out and caress the skin with his fingertips.
It is easy for adolescent boys to brush the gun and go off. The moment Xiao Yiheng teased him a little, Li Cheng bent his legs subconsciously, trying to hide the awakening place under his crotch.
Xiao Yiheng was glued to him and clearly felt the changes in his body. He glanced down and the corner of his eyes curved in a pleased arc.
Li Cheng tried to hide his “little tail” while cursing with a blushing face: “Xiao Yiheng, don’t pretend in front of Laozi! You have the same thing as me. Don’t tell me the things I have thought about you have never thought about!”
“Of course I’ve thought about what you’ve thought about!” Xiao Yiheng played a word game with him, saying in a playful tone, “It’s just that you may not have thought about the things I have thought about.”
Li Cheng usually made a mess of Chinese comprehension questions during tests, but on this occasion, he scored full marks.
Li Cheng’s upper head was as hot as his lower head. He blushed and stared at Xiao Yiheng, muttering: “You can only think about the things I have thought about. The things you think about, no, you’re not allowed to think about them!”
Xiao Yiheng laughed dumbly.
He hugged his boyfriend in his arms and promised: “Don’t worry, this is the classroom. I won’t do that kind of thing in the classroom.”
Li Cheng blurted out: “Are you saying you haven’t done that kind of thing in the classroom?”
Xiao Yiheng was taken aback, and when he recalled it carefully, he found that Li Cheng was right. The first time they kissed was in the classroom, and the first mark was also in the classroom.
He wondered when Li Cheng’s next estrus period would be… once they reached adulthood, they didn’t need to secretly date in school like they did now.
Xiao Yiheng was about to ask about the estrus when suddenly, a strange shock transmitted from him, breaking the ambiguity between the two.
Li Cheng: “…Why is your ass shaking?”
Xiao Yiheng: “…That’s the phone in my trouser pocket.”
“…” Damn, did his IQ really get eaten by sperm?!
That call broke the ambiguous atmosphere between the two. Xiao Yiheng got up from Li Cheng’s body, and Li Cheng awkwardly arranged his clothes while asking Xiao Yiheng who was calling.
Xiao Yiheng glanced at the caller’s name: “It’s your sister.”
“Youyou?” Li Cheng recalled suddenly, “Oh, yes, Youyou told me yesterday to remind you that we’ve been invited for dinner on Sunday night at her house. Maybe she was afraid that I would forget, so she called to remind you.”
Fortunately, Youyou made this call, or Li Cheng with his dog’s brain, might really have forgotten.
Xiao Yiheng answered the phone, and Youyou’s lively and cheerful voice came from the phone.
She called crisply: “Sister-in-law!”
Xiao Yiheng: “…”
Youyou: “Did my brother tell you? Come to my house for dinner tomorrow evening. Mom and Dad will cook for gege!”
Xiao Yiheng glanced at Li Cheng, and answered: “He told me,” Although it was just a minute ago. “Sunday night at six o’clock, right? I won’t be late.”
“I’m not afraid of you being late…” Youyou said sadly, “I’m afraid gege will be late. You don’t know, my brother is the king of pigeons. He always forgets the appointments he makes!”
Xiao Yiheng thought he knew about Li Cheng’s pigeon skills better than anyone else. He was hungry for three whole mornings because of the love bento Li Cheng promised. However, he didn’t want to let the child worry about the quarrel between her gege and sister-in-law.
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.
“Don’t worry,” Xiao Yiheng promised, “I will go to the school to pick him up, and we will come together. With my supervision, he dare not be late.”
Dfrlvf tlw, Ol Jtfcu ilrafcfv ab atf ktbif mbcnfgrjalbc bqfcis. Lf rtbbx tlr olra ja Wljb Tltfcu ktlif yjglcu tlr ilaaif alufg affat. Fcobgaecjafis, tlr fsfr aklcxifv ktlmt mbwqifafis gelcfv atf foofma.
Ktf mjii mbcalcefv obg j ibcu alwf. Tbesbe tjv j ugfja gfijalbcrtlq klat atlr ogfrtis yjxfv “rlrafg-lc-ijk”, jcv kjcafv ab ajix ab tlw jybea fnfgsatlcu. Ciatbeut atfs kfgf jii aglnlji atlcur ilxf “ktb ybggbkfv ws fgjrfg, ktb vlv P pewq gbqf klat”, ilrafclcu ab atfw ralii wjvf Ol Jtfcu rbeg.
He didn’t know whose vinegar he ate.
It was already past noon by the time the call was over. Li Cheng had to train in the afternoon, so he couldn’t continue to be a model for Xiao Yiheng.
Xiao Yiheng packed up his pencils and sketchbook, returned the art classroom to its original state, and walked out of the classroom with him.
Li Cheng looked at the sketch book in his hand curiously: The book had a hard cover, and was about the same thickness as a textbook. From the side, the first half of the book was yellow and worn, and it seemed that a lot of things had been drawn.
Li Cheng asked, “Can you show me this book?” He wanted to see what he was like in Xiao Yiheng’s drawings.
Xiao Yiheng asked back: “Are you sure you want to see it?” He whispered while tapping the book in his hand, “The paintings here are all the things you don’t allow me to think about…”
“Oh fuck!” Li Cheng immediately scampered far away, “Take it away, I don’t want to see it!”
“You really don’t want to see?” Xiao Yiheng deliberately acted pitiful and handed the book to Li Cheng, “In fact, I really want you to take a look.”
Li Cheng was quite shaken — he was an old driver who’d seen countless films, and Xiao Yiheng was a good student. Maybe there was nothing in that book, or maybe Xiao Yiheng was deliberately scaring him?
In the end, the notion of courting disaster prevailed. He reached out to take the notebook, but when his finger was about to touch the notebook, Xiao Yiheng turned his wrist and deliberately took the notebook back.
“Forget it,” Xiao Yiheng said, “Since Li-ge doesn’t want to read it, don’t read it.” As he said, he opened his school bag and put the book in.
Li Cheng scratched his ears and cheeks anxiously: “Who said I don’t want to see it!”
Xiao Yiheng: “So Li-ge wants to see it?”
“…” Li Cheng slumped, embarrassed to admit it. He could only watch Xiao Yiheng pull up his schoolbag, and the hardcover book disappear from his sight.
Xiao Yiheng had really grasped his thoughts accurately. It was highly probable that in the next few days, Li Cheng would dream about that book every night.
…
At 5 o’clock on Sunday afternoon, Xiao Yiheng arrived downstairs at Li Cheng’s dormitory on time, ready to pick him up and go to Youyou’s house.
Li Cheng lingered in the dormitory for a long time. Xiao Yiheng was afraid that he would forget, so he called and urged him to come downstairs.
Li Cheng said on the phone, “I have come down,” but it took another ten minutes before he appeared in front of Xiao Yiheng.
Today’s Li Cheng was completely different from his usual appearance: his messy blond hair was neatly combed and parted in the middle. His hairstyle was that of a K-pop star in the 90s. Every strand of hair was smeared with oil and looked greasy. If a fly fell on it, it’d surely throw down the splits.
He was dressed in a solid black T-shirt paired with straight jeans and white sneakers. Even the shoelaces were clean and spotless.
Li Cheng raised his arms and twirled in front of Xiao Yiheng, asking him, “What do you think?”
Even when he went on stage to receive the award, he’d never dressed up like that.
Xiao Yiheng nodded: “Pretty good. You look very handsome.”
He finally understood why Li Cheng had been dawdling in the dorm just now — he must’ve been changing. Although Li Cheng has known Youyou’s adoptive parents for a long time, this was his first visit. Of course he wanted to be more formal.
When Li Cheng approached, Xiao Yiheng suddenly felt something was wrong: “Have you worn the T-shirt inside out? Why is the stitching outside?”
Li Cheng choked, and said nonsense, “It’s a design style.”
Xiao Yiheng seemed to have realized something. He reached out and flipped the bottom of Li Cheng’s T-shirt and looked inside — Ha! The “inside” of the T-shirt had a row of bright and dazzling golden characters printed on it!
Xiao Yiheng was helpless: “You couldn’t find a solid color T-shirt so you wore the T-shirt inside out?”
Li Cheng acted stupid.
Xiao Yiheng: “In fact, you don’t need to be like this. It’s not the first time you have dealt with Youyou’s adoptive parents. You know what kind of people they are, and they know what kind of person you are. Just continue to be your usual self.”
Li Cheng was Li Cheng, his character was unbridled and his actions were brash… If he was afraid of the slightest thing, then he couldn’t be called Li Cheng.
Li Cheng thought about it for a while. He hesitated a moment before taking off his T-shirt, flipped it over, and wore it again. This time, the three big golden characters on his chest were clearly reflected into Xiao Yiheng’s eyes — Jiao Da ge!
There was even an exclamation mark at the end.
Xiao Yiheng: “……”
Xiao Yiheng: “Perhaps you should wear it inside out.”
Li Cheng: “???”
……
Although they were a little delayed by Li Cheng’s “dressing”, fortunately their journey was smooth. They boarded the bus and arrived shortly at the gate of the neighborhood where Youyou’s family was located.
It was called a “neighborhood”, however, it was just a group of old-fashioned apartment buildings clustered together with low-rise buildings, which were reminiscent of the ever-changing city.
Li Cheng was jittery, and when he was nervous, he talked a lot. Along the way, he talked about the days in the orphanage and the things that happened before and after Youyou was adopted. Xiao Yiheng listened quietly without interrupting.
Li Cheng recollected: “It’s actually the most difficult thing for children like me and Youyou to be adopted from the orphanage. Generally speaking, couples who come to adopt only want one child. If two children are raised together, the cost is too much. And everyone tends to adopt young children, but when my parents had an accident, I was in the fourth grade, and I remembered everything. In their words, even if a child like me is brought home, he’d be ‘difficult to raise’.”
Li Cheng: “I particularly hate the term ‘difficult to raise’. It feels like we are not humans but pets like kittens and puppies. Just give us a bite of food and a drink of water, and we can forget our previous owners. But they were my parents. No matter how good others are to me, I can’t be ‘raised’ by others.”
“Other children were all of the mind to be adopted, but I didn’t want that. In fact, the welfare home was great. Although there weren’t any toys or entertainment, there was plenty of food and clothing. From time to time, enthusiastic companies organized volunteers, but when those uncles came to volunteer, they looked at us with… what’s that word, pity? Yes, it was pity.”
“And their main task was to come and take pictures. They would play games with us and take some pictures; give us red envelopes and take some pictures; accompany us in cleaning up the orphanage and take some pictures… I don’t mean to say they shouldn’t take photos, it’s just that, how to explain it, I was strangely uncomfortable.”
Because it made him feel more like an animal in a zoo.
When Xiao Yiheng heard this, he reached out his hand to hold Li Cheng’s hand and clasped his fingers, conveying strength to him.
That was a life experience that Xiao Yiheng could not imagine. Its color was only black, white and gray. It was hard to imagine how a brash and unbridled boy like Li Cheng spent several years in such a depressing environment.
“The orphanage has an affiliated school for assistance, and all children go there to study. That school is one of the city’s best and the campus environment is particularly good. But during school I could clearly feel that there is a gap between me and my classmates. They didn’t dare to talk to me not because of ‘fear of me’ but ‘fear of hurting me’. They were afraid that just saying “My parents took me to the amusement park on the weekend” would hurt me, and they would be cautious even when playing with me. They’d think about every sentence several times before saying it,” Li Cheng smiled bitterly, “What they didn’t realize was, it was their attitude of treating me as a fragile thing that I found awfully unbearable.”
Xiao Yiheng clenched his hand tightly. He wanted to say “I understand”, but he knew that he actually didn’t understand.
Empathy is always a false proposition.
“Later something happened. Actually, thinking about it now, it was really a trivial matter — one Friday, the head teacher informed me that we would have half-day in the afternoon. I was elated and felt that it was a long weekend. As a result, when I went to school on Monday, my desk mate let slip that there was a parents’ meeting on Friday afternoon… That’s right, a parents’ meeting. The teacher was afraid that the term parents would hurt us, so he told the children from the orphanage that Friday afternoon would be a holiday. In fact, the parents’ conference was held for other students.”
The teacher’s motive was good, but when Li Cheng heard it, he felt like it had drilled a hole in his heart, layer by layer, forming a pit. He was once a child with parents and a family. Just as he had accepted this fact, the teacher’s behavior reminded him of the pain of losing a loved one again.
“It was also in that year that Youyou’s adoptive parents appeared,” Li Cheng was immersed in the memory, “The dean called me over, showed me their information, and asked for my opinion. Our orphanage is very formal. In the welfare home, all adopters have to undergo a complete set of procedures, have a proper job, and have undergone background checks. Youyou was only six years old at that time, which is a very suitable age for adoption. I still remember the dean’s expression at that time. She knew that I had a bad temper and was afraid that I wouldn’t agree and throw a tantrum.”
“I looked at her, and I said: ‘Why won’t I agree? Of course I agree. If it means finding a new home for Youyou, I will be the first to agree’,” Li Cheng whispered, “My only request was to let them change Youyou’s school status as soon as possible. I hoped she would enter the first grade of an ordinary elementary school as an ordinary child… Since then, her parents’ meeting has been attended by her family.”
As he spoke the last sentence, Li Cheng’s voice was almost inaudible.
Xiao Yiheng couldn’t help holding him into his arms. Li Cheng grabbed his T-shirt tightly and hid his wet red eyes.
He didn’t cry. Of course Li-ge wouldn’t cry. He just… felt a little emotional.
According to the adoption principle, adopted children should avoid contact with their previous family members, as this will prevent them from integrating into the new family. But Li Cheng was just a child, so he couldn’t help it and secretly ran to see Youyou several times. As a result, on seeing him his sister clamored to go with him… Because of this, the relationship between Li Cheng and the couple was very stiff at one time.
Youyou’s adoptive parents had a prejudice against Li Cheng who looked like a good-for-nothing, and Li Cheng didn’t have any good feelings for the people who took away his sister. Both sides had their own reasons, and it was only today, they finally decided to let go of their grievances.
Li Cheng said: “I don’t have a mom and dad anymore, but Youyou still has parents. How great is that!”
Xiao Yiheng wanted to comfort him. He wanted to tell him that although he had a mom and dad, it was better not to have them.
Regarding this point, they were both equally lonely.
Before Xiao Yiheng could say these words, Li Cheng in his arms sniffed and said in a stuffy voice, “Maybe because I didn’t have a father as a child, I now want to be someone’s father.”
Xiao Yiheng: ” ……”
The emotional atmosphere was completely destroyed by Li-ge’s words. Xiao Yiheng’s comforting words were blocked in his heart, and he finally decided to swallow them back silently.
The two of them bought milk and fruit from the small supermarket at the gate of the neighborhood. Li Cheng was not stingy while choosing the fruits and bought only the expensive ones.
Their hands were stuffed with carry bags as they walked to Youyou’s home. Youyou’s house was on the second floor of the apartment building. The old floors were very low and the stairs were narrow and dark. However, the doorways of every household were clean and looked warm and inviting, but some people had directly put shoe racks and lockers in the corridor.
It was the other extreme from the high-end community where Xiao Yiheng’s family lived.
Li Cheng joked with him: “It must be the first time that young master condescends to visit the commoners, right? How do you feel?”
“Feel?” Xiao Yiheng looked at the debris piled up in the corridor and asked suspiciously, “There are so many things lying in the corridor. Don’t the cleaning and maintenance office care about it?”
“…” As expected, he really was a young master. He didn’t even know that some communities had neither cleaning nor maintenance offices.
While joking they had arrived at the door of Youyou’s house. Li Cheng handed the gift bags to Xiao Yiheng, opened his backpack, and took out the little lemon that was sleeping soundly inside.
The two had discussed it before and decided that Li Cheng would leave the duck with Youyou during the training camp in the capital. After all, Youyou’s family already had a cat that could accompany the duck, and it was not convenient for Xiao Yiheng to keep pets at home. From this point of view, Youyou was the most suitable candidate to take care of Little Lemon.
“Little Lemon, wake up! Don’t continue to sleep.” Li Cheng shook it up, “Hurry up and put on the cutest expression. Our family of three should use the most perfect posture as guests.”
Little Lemon shook his wings and extended ten centimetres of neck vigorously before changing into a snowball in Li Cheng’s arms.
When everything was ready, Li Cheng took a deep breath, held the duck in one hand, and rang the doorbell with the other.
The doorbell sounded melodious and brisk as it rang. After a few seconds, a pitter patter of footsteps rang behind the door, and then the door in front of him was opened.
Youyou was like a cheerful lark warbling “gege, gege” as she threw herself into Li Cheng’s arms.
Youyou’s adoptive mother standing behind her also welcomed them with a smile and gave them guest slippers.
“Hello, Auntie,” Li Cheng greeted her a little awkwardly. Xiao Yiheng followed behind him and entered the house. The two teenagers who were about 1.8 meters tall squeezed into the narrow entrance, suddenly crowding the doorway and making it hard to turn around.
“Children,” the adoptive mother looked at the bags they were holding and reproached them, “It’s just a home-cooked meal. Why did you buy these things ah!”
“Please don’t mention it. These little things are just our regards.” While talking, Xiao Yiheng handed the milk and fruit he was holding to Youyou. Youyou was very sensible and helped carry the snacks to the living room.
“Thank you, auntie.” The adoptive mother was very moved and reached out to take Little Lemon from Li Cheng’s arms.
With that, she turned to face the kitchen, raised the little white duck in her hand, and shouted at the busy figure in the kitchen: “Youyou’s dad, Li Cheng brought a very fat and tender duck! Take out the casserole. I’ll make you a winter melon stewed duck tonight!”
Li Cheng: “…No, wait a minute!”
Xiao Yiheng: “…”
Little Lemon: “Ga?????”
The author has something to say:
Who doesn’t want to eat a fat and tender duck?
(Little Lemon: No, please don’t!!!)
Translator:
ChengCheng
Oh no… Not little lemon!! 😨
I have 2 feelings in this chapter
Poor ChengCheng😭
and
Poor Little Lemon😂
Oh sorry wrong comment
Me too 😂
Oh no Little Lemon 🤭
No!!!! Little Lemon!!!!
This chapter starts with 😢 and end with 😂😂😂😂
Thank you for the chapter!!
Poor little lemon 🤣🤣
Holy freak, this is amazing 😂
my exact emotions in this chapter 😂😕😭🤭😳hol up-
thank you for the chapter 🤍
(っ˘̩╭╮˘̩)っChengcheng!
Also noooo Lil Lemonヽ༼⁰o⁰；༽ノ
No! Poor Little Lemon! Kinda afraid he won’t survive in that household 😅
thanks for the chapter <3
Me a while ago: ˚‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )‧º·˚ Poor Baby ChengCheng
A while later: (۶ꈨຶꎁꈨຶ) ۶ Xiao Lemon
lmao, did she just call her husband ‘Youyou’s Dad’? Feels kinda fourth-wallish 😂
From where I am, wife calling their husband with their child’s name is kinda normal😭
husband/wife call eachother by their first childs name in my country too.. ig most asian countries r like that
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA it really cracked me up. 🤣🤣🤣 Auntie~
Save baby lemon 😂
I find it kind of strange that they would fault a child for wanting to see his sister. 😅
right… grown ahhs having beef with a literal child over this is insane actually
Hahahaha! That last part was fun 😂😂
Ohhh no, save your child!
Lmao, this is too funny 🤣
Thanks for the chapter <3
🤣🤣🤣
NOOOOOO
NOT LITTLE LEMON.. 😭💀
Little Lemon!!!!!