Chapter 131.2: “Want to try it?”
White flashes kept bursting outside the window, and Xie Chongyi’s face flickered in and out of brightness, appearing and disappearing with the light. His hair and clothes were soaked through. The drenched outfit was a type of combat uniform Wu Heng had never seen before: a black stand-collar jacket, gold and blue embroidery on the shoulders, a Blue Star insignia on the sleeves. Judging from the badges even at the collar, his treatment in Jingzhou was probably quite good.
“Do they know you left Jingzhou?”
“I left a note.”
Wu Heng realized far too late that Xie Chongyi had a childish, mischievous streak.
“Whose cabin in the woods is this?” Xie Chongyi asked, playing with Wu Heng’s hair.
“A black bear animal symbiont. Before the apocalypse, he was a beekeeper in Shenjiandi,” Wu Heng said, and casually told him about what had happened the day before as well, to save Xie Chongyi from digging into it later.
“A beekeeper?”
“He gave us a lot of honey. His cooking’s pretty good too.”
“Oh.” Xie Chongyi didn’t care whether the bear cooked well or not—there didn’t need to be that many people in the world who cooked well.
At the instant lightning appeared again, their gazes collided, each clearly seeing themselves reflected in the other’s eyes.
Wu Heng had brushed past tens of thousands of people, but the only face he remembered after seeing it once was Xie Chongyi’s.
As if coaxed, he lifted his head and pressed a kiss to Xie Chongyi’s damp, warm lips.
It was just a light, dragonfly-skimming-the-water kiss, yet beneath the thunder and the roar of mountain floods, it gave the illusion of earth-shaking force.
Xie Chongyi returned the kiss—rough, lingering, a hundred times more intense. The long hair made it easier for him to steady Wu Heng’s head. He lifted Wu Heng into his arms, his lips traveling down from Wu Heng’s jaw, biting down on that half-ripe fruit at his throat, circling it with his tongue as he sucked.
But whether flowers or trees, none ever bear just a single fruit. Whether bitten or pinched, they were all but coaxed into oozing juice under Xie Chongyi’s hands.
Xie Chongyi bit his way over the person in his arms without much restraint. Wu Heng didn’t feel pain, yet tears still seeped from the corners of his eyes.
A single bed couldn’t hold a black bear, but it was more than enough for two tall, slender youths—especially since they weren’t lying flat and didn’t need that much space.
Xie Chongyi didn’t much like straddling Wu Heng. He lifted him up instead, holding him face to face, seated on his own lap.
Wu Heng, on the contrary, felt uneasy. He was practically pinned in place, unable to move at all.
The boy gathered a handful of long hair into his hand, swept it behind the other’s shoulder, leaned in, and kissed his eyes.
Xie Chongyi’s eyes were dazzling, almost arresting. He kissed his way down to Wu Heng’s earlobe, his lashes lowering to the small, slightly upturned curves at the lower part of Wu Heng’s back.
All his life, Xie Chongyi had held himself aloof and above such things. It was the first time he realized he could also be base—finding pleasure in it.
On an impulse, he pressed his palm there and kneaded twice.
Wu Heng, buried in the hollow of his neck, let out two muffled sounds.
He even took the initiative to press his waist and abdomen up against him.
Xie Chongyi pushed the pleasure-dazed Wu Heng down into the corner, gripped one of his ankles, and let his lips travel downward from below the navel.
The moment he touched him, Wu Heng’s other foot reflexively came down on Xie Chongyi’s shoulder.
There was a thin sheen of sweat on Xie Chongyi’s shoulder. Wu Heng’s foot couldn’t keep its grip; the muscles of his entire leg trembled. For reasons he couldn’t explain, this overwhelmed him far more than all their previous intimacies combined—his mind blown apart, his body completely out of his own control, utterly dominated by Xie Chongyi.
He arched his neck, the sounds spilling from his throat ones he himself couldn’t bear to hear. Vines slid out from beneath his wrist, coiling around Xie Chongyi’s lean waist and abdomen, leaves and buds quivering wildly as if lashed by a torrential rain.
When the flower was half in bloom, tears of pure physiology slid from the corners of Wu Heng’s eyes. He was pulled up by the wrist, and Xie Chongyi, brimming with energy, kissed him fiercely, prying open his lips and teeth. The taste in his mouth made Wu Heng frown.
“Brother, help me too,” Xie Chongyi said, pulling Wu Heng’s hands down below.
Wu Heng was a little tired, but the moment he showed any sign of pulling his hands back, Xie Chongyi stopped fooling around. With a faint smile, he said, “Otherwise, I’ll f*ck you.”
While Wu Heng was carrying out his task, the other never stopped harassing him. The moment his hands had just taken hold of something warm and cool, his body was pushed again, the opening that had been spreading forced shut once more by probing fingers.
From above, Xie Chongyi watched Wu Heng greedily. Looking at Wu Heng’s slightly parted lips, his fingers pressed on without hesitation. “I still think this is what really satisfies you.”
Xie Chongyi was right. The back was far better than the front—even if it was just with hands.
But when Wu Heng also indicated that they should help each other out, Xie Chongyi refused him. “I don’t need it.”
Just being serviced by Wu Heng’s hands was enough to make Xie Chongyi’s scalp tingle with pleasure. At the same time, he bit Wu Heng’s chest and abdomen until they were covered in tooth marks, not a single spot spared.
Outside the window, the rain gradually eased. The lotus lanterns, drenched and swaying wildly under the downpour, slowly settled down as well. But the water in the river channels showed no sign of receding—on the contrary, it grew even more turbulent, rushing and roaring without pause all night long.
—
Zhou Shan went outside for a round, his face drawn and miserable. He engraved into his heart everything that had grown up with him—the bees, the monkeys, the endless stream of tourists. But everything had changed beyond recognition now; those monkeys had even wanted to kill him.
Grief surged up, and he couldn’t help but cry.
When he returned home, everyone inside looked at him with concern. He shook his head and said he was fine.
“You’re still staying here? It’s dangerous,” Lin Mengzhi said. “Once we leave, there won’t be anyone left to help you fight the monkeys.”
“I grew up here,” Zhou Shan said, staring out the window. After a long silence, he added, “This place needs me.”
Lin Mengzhi didn’t get it. “You’re not that important, are you? You wouldn’t even be enough to feed those monkeys for a day.”
“I’ll go make lunch. You should leave in a few days,” Zhou Shan said. “It’s been raining these past two days—even if the rain stops, all the rivers have swollen. Traveling right now is far too unsafe.” After saying that, he ducked into the kitchen.
Luo Lei sighed. “It’s kind of pitiful—he’s tied to this place.”
“Just a personal choice,” Ruan Silian said, glancing at Lin Mengzhi. “Mengzhi, A’Heng has been sleeping for a long time. Go check on him.”
Lin Mengzhi was about to complain that the damn bird and Shukui had the nerve to recklessly sleep along with him, when he turned his head and saw—on a single chair—a dog and a bird fighting tooth and nail.
“Well, that’s weird. They didn’t go sleep with A’Heng? Usually they can’t wait to glue themselves to him…” Puzzled, the boy walked over to the study door and twisted the handle.
Locked.
“A’Heng?” Lin Mengzhi knocked on the door. “Stop sleeping—it’s already afternoon.”
“A’Heng?”
“Hey, hey, hey!”
On the narrow single bed, Wu Heng swung one leg off, only to be pulled back by the waist into an embrace. Xie Chongyi’s middle and index fingers were still wet as they slid in with practiced ease. “Why are you running?”
“Mengzhi.”
“I don’t want to hear that name.” Xie Chongyi’s movement turned a bit rough. A flash of white crossed Wu Heng’s vision and he let out a muffled groan.
With Lin Mengzhi’s knocking growing more frantic outside, Wu Heng’s lower abdomen spasmed several times. Curled up in Xie Chongyi’s arms, he trembled like a leaf.
After falling asleep last night, Wu Heng hadn’t slept for long before Xie Chongyi woke him again. Over and over, his knees were pressed red and then healed; the skin chafed raw on his inner thighs healed itself time and again. But the feeling of being emptied out, again and again, couldn’t heal so quickly. Wu Heng even developed a strange sense of overfullness—like after eating too much—an aversion and fear of food from overindulgence. And yet, every time Xie Chongyi touched him again, his body still chose to respond, to sink into it.
Xie Chongyi slipped on a clean jacket from Wu Heng’s space and opened the door, relaxed and refreshed, generous enough to give the annoying knocker a smile. “Long time no see, Mengzhi.”
An unusual floral fragrance lingered throughout the room. The instant it hit him, Lin Mengzhi even felt a little dizzy.
Xie Chongyi closed the door behind him and stepped outside, greeting the others with natural ease.
Ruan Silian looked both surprised and delighted. “Class Monitor? When did you arrive?”
Shen Ping’an poured Xie Chongyi a glass of water and briefly introduced him to Wang Meixia and the others. “Friends.”
Lin Mengzhi stood rooted to the spot for a long moment before turning and charging toward Xie Chongyi with fierce momentum. Halfway there, he spun around and dashed into the study instead.
“A’Heng, A’Heng—” He pulled back the covers, his face flushed crimson. “How did the class monitor end up here?”
Wu Heng snatched the cup back, covering his face with it, his muffled voice echoing, “He arrived last night.”
“So he spent the night in the study?”
“Mhm.”
“You two didn’t do anything, did you?”
“Why wouldn’t we?”
Lin Mengzhi suddenly sat bolt upright, his chest burning as if consumed by flames, his face a whirlwind of emotions.
He abruptly raised his hand and pinched himself twice hard. It was real. His childhood friend was gay—and not just gay, but in a relationship. What’s more, he knew the guy himself…
He considered them brothers, only to discover his brother was hooking up behind his back.
After standing there for what felt like an eternity, Lin Mengzhi slumped, shoulders sagging. “So how did you do it? Didn’t it hurt the class monitor? I feel like his back end is pretty tight, but you don’t seem that big, so maybe it was okay.”
“…” Wu Heng sat up abruptly, stepping off the bed and buttoning his pajamas. “He didn’t feel pain, but I probably did.”
It took Lin Mengzhi a long time to process Wu Heng’s answer.
He couldn’t digest it.
Finally, he could only ask weakly and blankly, “So… was it pleasurable?”
“Pleasurable,” Wu Heng gathered his own blankets and spread Zhou Shan’s over the bed. Turning to Lin Mengzhi, he asked, “Want to try it?”
Lin Mengzhi looked like he’d seen a ghost. Covering his butt, he bolted out of the room.