Chapter Twenty Eight: Isn"t it shameful?! Ji XiaoYu followed him into the room, feeling both excited and nervous inside. Cheng Zong"s bedroom, eh? Who knows how many people have been lucky enough to see the inside, but I can come in here today, what good fortune.
Cheng YuTang"s bedroom was about how he had imagined, very s.p.a.cious and clean, with furniture in a motif of white and cool gray. The dark blue bedding on the large bed was meticulously arranged. It looked cold and restrained, with not the least bit of excitement.
The only carpet was a light brown, fuzzy one placed at the end of the bed. It looked very soft and comfortable, reminding him of the silky thatched bird nest where he had lived on the Xiao Qing Shan. He had the impulse to lie down and roll around on it.
Cheng YuTang had already entered the bathroom, calling from there, “What are you doing out there? Not coming in yet?”
Ji XiaoYu hurried in and found that the bathroom wasn"t small. It was twice as large as the dorm living room at HongLe Garden. Inside, there were wet and dry sections. In addition to the shower, there was an oversized jacuzzi, just like a small swimming pool.
He can"t help but be envious and jealous again, wicked rich man! This pool of water is probably large enough for me to take a ten-day-long bath!
"Do you want to try?" Cheng YuTang suddenly asked.
Ji XiaoYu was stunned, and then he shook his head like a rattle, “No, no, no. I was just taking a look.”
This was too extravagant, he couldn"t afford to try it.
Cheng YuTang wanted to tease him, but the phone in his pocket suddenly rang. He had to use his left hand to pull it out. After checking the caller ID, he furrowed his eyebrows and answered, “Xiao Zhao, so late, can I help you?…… My right arm was a little injured, I won"t come to the company the next two days…… Bring the HengTong contract over early tomorrow morning and I"ll sign it, then replace the afternoon meeting with a video conference. That"s it. If there"s nothing else, I"ll hang up.” When he finished, he turned the phone off completely.
It would be a real wet blanket if something stupid interrupted this night.
While listening to Cheng YuTang talk business on the phone, Ji XiaoYu walked over to the side to appreciate the pattern on the tile. He thought about how it wasn"t easy to be a president. He couldn"t even get a good rest for a few days after an injury, still having to work.
Cheng YuTang adjusted his frame of mind and then said, “Come on, help me turn the water on in the shower.”
“Okay.”
Ji XiaoYu entered the shower stall. He examined the hot and cold switches first, then turned the handle to start the hot water. After adjusting for a while, he thought the water temperature was about right, so he looked up and said, “Cheng Zong, is this……uh….."
The last word got caught in his throat, and he couldn"t get it out, just like being startled and having to hiccup.
Ji XiaoYu really was a little startled, because while he had been adjusting the water temperature, Cheng Zong had stripped down completely, leaving just a pair of tight black underwear – and the white bandage on his right arm. He was standing magnanimously at the entrance to the shower, just a meter away from him.
That chest, that waist, those big, long legs that stretched towards the sky, and that big bulging package in the middle…….
Ji XiaoYu couldn"t turn his eyes away and, after a long while, there was a hot rush to his head and then he felt a little itchy feeling in his nose. He reaching up and touched it, oh papa, my nose, it"s bleeding!
Cheng YuTang was, in fact, not as calm as he appeared on the surface; in his heart, he was very apprehensive. He didn"t know if he had ever worked so hard to offer up a seduction. For Ji XiaoYu, this guy with a brain wired so differently than ordinary people, nothing had worked. But it seemed that the effect right now had been extraordinary. My body actually is very attractive to this little thing!
Just as he was in such a good mood that he wanted to take advantage of the victorious moment to take action, he watched Ji XiaoYu, covering his nose, rush out of the shower like a cannonball launched from a cannon. A cool gust of air rushed after him as he pa.s.sed by and then he rushed out of the bathroom, then out of his bedroom, and then he disappeared out of the door without looking back.
Then, a *bang* sound came from the next room, as the door was slammed shut.
Cheng YuTang: “…….”
What was this reaction?
Was the little thing lured by me or scared by me again?
It was December, deep into winter, and Cheng YuTang had been standing around naked for a long time, so he felt a little bit cold and had to put on a bathrobe.
Turning it over in his mind for a while, he felt that this just wouldn"t do and he was dying to understand. So he went out of the bedroom and went next door. He knocked on the closed door and asked nonchalantly as if nothing had happened, “Ji XiaoYu, what happened to you? Weren"t you going to help me take a shower? Why did you run away all of a sudden?”
After a while, there came a m.u.f.fled answer, “Cheng Zong, I"m sorry, I might"ve eaten some bad food tonight. I"m having diarrhea right now. You"ll have to wash yourself.”
Cheng YuTang: “……”
Is it really diarrhea? Not hiding from me?
In the evening, they had had a delivery meal at the police station. The taste had been bad and the appearance worse. He had only eaten a few bites and then put his chopsticks down. Ji XiaoYu had also found it unpalatable, but he had grudgingly eaten all of it. Was the problem that the food was unclean?
Cheng YuTang was full of doubt, but he could hardly barge in to see if the little thing was squatting on the toilet. He could only ask, “Is it serious? Do you want to go for a check at the hospital?”
“No, it"s not serious. I"ll have a rest when I"m done pushing it out! Cheng Zong, don"t worry about me, go back to the shower. My diarrhea stinks!”
Cheng YuTang was really dumbfounded.
It seemed like it was really diarrhea. Although the seduction had failed and his self-esteem was hurt a bit, he was also a little relieved. At least he wasn"t scared off by me.
After thinking it over, he still wasn"t at ease. He went downstairs to the living room to take out the medicine box, found the medicine to treat diarrhea, and poured another gla.s.s of hot water. After returning to the third floor, he placed it on the floor in front of the second bedroom and knocked on the doorway again, saying, “I left some medicine for you at the door, wait until later and remember to drink it before bed.”
“Yeah, okay, I got it. Thank you, Cheng Zong!”
The footsteps moved away from the door, into the master bedroom next door. Then there was the sound of a door closing. And then on the bed, a lump under the quilt moved slightly. After a while, the quilt slowly opened, revealing a disheveled pheasant with trembling feathers, along with a little white egg under his claws.
That"s right, a pheasant, with bright feathers, a red crest on his head, and a long tail.
After a while, the pheasant stopped trembling and transformed into Ji XiaoYu, who had a trace of blood under his nose.
Just now when he had found that he had a nose bleed, his tailbone had started itching and he had felt as if something was wrong. He had quickly run as fast as possible to the second bedroom. Sure enough, just as he jumped into the bed and hid in the quilt, he had turned into his original form.
This kind of situation was really rare for Ji XiaoYu. Since the age of six, he had been able to control himself well. He could freely switch between his human form and original form and the form he was in could be kept very stably. An incident like today, suddenly turning from human form to pheasant, had happened only once in the past ten years, that was, the night he laid the little white egg. His stomach had hurt just too much and, losing complete control of holding his form, he had changed into his original form.
Was the stimuli of what just happened comparable to that of laying an egg?
Unexpectedly pa.s.sable. Thinking back on what he had just seen, Ji XiaoYu felt like he was going to have a nosebleed again. He jumped out of the bed and ran into the bathroom. He stripped down and took a cold shower and that managed to calm the fire in his body.
He blamed it on the chopped pepper slices in the boxed meal earlier that had been too spicy, making him burn up. He wouldn"t be able to eat something that hot from now on.
Ji XiaoYu recalled what happened on last year"s Christmas Eve, it had seemed pretty exciting, but, at that time, his mind after drinking that cup of wine was all fuzzy. So mainly the primordial instincts of his body had taken prevailed. The feeling just now was as if he wasn"t clear headed and then the sudden close-range appearance of Cheng YuTang"s shining white body and face had been so strong that he hadn"t been able to maintain his human form.
d.a.m.n, the president really just stripped down without calling out a warning! There was no psychological preparation for me at all! And isn"t his arm hurt? How were his actions so slick?!
Then he thought of how Cheng YuTang had said something about putting medicine outside the door, so he went to the door and p.r.i.c.ked up his ears for a bit. He didn"t hear any strange movements so he opened the door as gently as a thief. Sure enough, on the floor, he could see a tray, holding a gla.s.s of water and a packet of medicine. He couldn"t help but feel a little touched.
Ay, it seemed that the thing that just happened can"t be completely blamed on Cheng YuTang. Since he himself didn"t have enough control, he had to bear some of the responsibility.
It was also a bit puzzling. They were both men and Cheng YuTang had all the same equipment as him. Why did he have such a big reaction after seeing his naked body?
Do I actually like men?
When that thought popped up, Ji XiaoYu was startled. After a while, with that line of thought in mind, he just smashed the cracked pot1. In that case, a man is a man, right? It didn"t matter. No one could hold him anyway!
He sat on the bed bare-naked and told to the little white egg the whole distraught story of what just happened and then he lamented, “My child, Daddy didn"t earn tonight"s overtime, Cheng Zong"s money is really difficult to earn! How can he just casually undress in front of someone, isn"t it shameful?! Good thing Daddy can run fast, otherwise the secret would be out. Say, if he finds out one day that I"m a spiritual beast, not a human, won"t he be scared to death and then send me to some research lab as a living experimental subject?
“Ay, I hope not. I think that, though this man has a lot of faults, overall he"s good. He"s a little better than most humans. What do you think?
“Hahaha, you haven"t seen him, of course you can"t answer. Alright, let"s not talk, it"s late, so it"s time to get some sleep. Good night, baby, *mua*~”
Although he was a little scared, Ji XiaoYu still slept very well, because the bed in Cheng Zong"s house was s.p.a.cious and comfortable and the neighborhood was very quiet. It wasn"t like HongLe Garden, where he could always hear the traffic outside so that he often was in a state of shallow sleep and easily woke up.
So he slept deeply and soundly, forgetting that he had to go to work the next day, just sleeping all day long.
On the other side, in Cheng YuTang"s room, he didn"t sleep very well that night. On the one hand, his sweetheart was sleeping just a wall away, so that he constantly was in a state of uncontrollable fantasies. On the other hand, he kept thinking of the state of that little thing"s body, worried about his severe diarrhea and his body"s suffering.
So as soon as the time reached 7am, he got up and went to knock on the door to the second bedroom. There was no movement inside, so he couldn"t help but worry more. He turned the k.n.o.b without thinking and, when the door opened, he went straight in.
The heavy curtains of the room were pulled shut, so it was dark. The brown quilt arched like a mountain over a small lump and no face could be seen peeking out, only a mess of black hair.
The quilt is tucked so tightly, aren"t you going to choke yourself to death?
With a sinking heart, Cheng YuTang hurriedly lifted the quilt. "XiaoYu, are you o…….kay?"
The last syllable had been stuck in his throat, he couldn"t get it out at first and almost choked on it.
Ji XiaoYu was curled up on the bed with his eyes closed, totally naked. His long eyelashes trembled as little as he breathed. His sleeping face was as sweet and innocent as that of a naive child. Although his body was slim, there was quite a bit of muscle definition, though typically when he was dressed he looked as if he had no meat on his body. His skin looked extraordinarily delicate and smooth and so fair that he seemed to glow in the dark room, just like…….just like an egg in its sh.e.l.l.
Cheng YuTang gulped down a mouthful of saliva without realizing and a soft sound escaped his throat.
Perhaps because he was cold without the quilt, but Ji XiaoYu squirmed like a big white worm on the bed. His eyes didn"t open as he stretched his hand and pulled the quilt a few times. When he found that he couldn"t tug the quilt, he opened his eyes with a confused expression. Then he glanced at the bedside and blinked heavily, staring at Cheng YuTang as Cheng YuTang stared back.
Ji XiaoYu: “……”
Cheng YuTang: “……”
After five full seconds, Ji XiaoYu realized what was going on at the moment and, as if he had been scalded by boiling water, leaped up from the bed with an "ao!" Then he realized that was even more inappropriate and he threw himself down again and scrambled to pull up the quilt to cover his whole body.
Cheng YuTang watched him all naked and panicked like this, feeling as if his body was lighting up on fire. His mental forces split into two paths: one to attack all the way, one to just run away.
No way, I can"t control myself!
Cheng YuTang, without saying a word, turned around and left, getting out of the second bedroom as fast as he could and returning to his master bedroom.
More than ten minutes later, he came out of the bathroom cold, wet, and out of breath. The agitation in his heart had barely calmed.
Thinking about how he had left without even greeting him, now he was afraid that the little thing had misunderstood, so he went again to the door of the second bedroom. He knocked on the door in a proper manner and tried to use the most natural and serious tone as he said, “Ji XiaoYu, I scared you just now, didn"t I? I"m so sorry, I didn"t intend to break into your room and lift your quilt. I just worried that you had had an accident because you"re sick. I acted out of concern. I hope you can understand. You can rest a.s.sured, it was very dark in the room just now, I didn"t actually see anything clearly."
This was a half-truth. He didn"t know if the little thing would believe it.
Ay, he had always been powerful, but every time he was in front of Ji XiaoYu, he was defeated. This was probably a case of the so-called "fated to be ill-matched".
After a long time, so long that Cheng YuTang didn"t think Ji XiaoYu would respond, the door opened. Ji XiaoYu was neatly dressed, with a shy blush lighting up his face. He said awkwardly, “I-is that how it was? W-well, then I forgive you.”
It was a real shock to him just now, but fortunately, he was used to sleeping in a human form, so he hadn"t let Cheng YuTang see his original form. Otherwise, this comedy drama would have turned into a thriller.
Having said that, he had also seen Cheng Zong"s naked body last night. Now they were even with each other.
Cheng YuTang looked over Ji XiaoYu"s appearance. When he heard this, he couldn"t stand it again. It was hard to force his urges down again, but he said like a decent gentleman, “Thank you. Right, so are you feeling better?”
Ji XiaoYu quickly replied, “Much better, I"m all good!”
“That"s good.” Cheng YuTang nodded, letting out a sigh of relief.
It suddenly occurred to him that when he had lifted the quilt just now, he vaguely remembered seeing a little, round, white object under Ji XiaoYu"s belly. At the time, his mind was fully focused on Ji XiaoYu, so he totally ignored that object. Now when I had calmed down and thought it over again, he felt like something was a little off.
He didn"t want to bring this up, because he was afraid that Ji XiaoYu would think something more, but he was really curious. He couldn"t help but ask, “Don"t you not eat eggs? Why do you sleep with an egg on the bed? Are you not afraid of crushing it and getting uncomfortably sticky?”
When Ji XiaoYu heard this, his whole body went stiff suddenly.
Ah, ah, ah, Cheng Zong saw the little white egg, what should I do?! What should I do!!!
No, don"t panic. This isn"t the first time that the little white egg"s been seen. I can"t be in a panic, otherwise it"ll only make Cheng YuTang more suspicious.
He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, and quickly turned it over in his mind. Then he opened his eyes and babbled nonsense as his lie, “Oh, yeah, but that egg isn"t a real egg. It"s a keepsake from my previous partner. I was told that I can ward off evil spirits with it. It"s made of a special material, so squishing it isn"t bad!”
Cheng YuTang: “……”
The amount of information in this statement was huge and it was so stimulating that he suddenly was in a bad mood.
A G.o.dd.a.m.n keepsake! This little thing has had a partner? Who? When? Why was there no such information in Zhao BaiXin"s background investigation?!
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Footnotes:
1. smash the cracked pot (破罐子破摔): idiom, to abandon yourself to despair because things have already gone wrong; to let something that"s gone wrong just continue forward without correction ↩
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basically: