AAUMOBIP C35

Chapter 35

[Yun Jingqiu: I took Cream for neutering today. From now on, Cream is a proper little rabbit. (photo)]

Yun Jingqiu posted on Weibo, with a picture of Cream just after surgery, still groggy from the anesthesia.

[Which pet hospital was it? Do they see cats and dogs too?]

[Congrats to Cream for being promoted from a male rabbit to a eunuch rabbit! (cheer)]

[What a proper little eunuch rabbit, hahahaha]

[Is that Yun-sao’s hand petting Cream? That’s not Yun-ge’s hand.]

[Yun-sao’s hands are so pretty. Yun-ge, when will you and Yun-sao livestream together again?]

The next day, Yun Jingqiu had to go film, and Liu He stayed home alone to look after Cream.

At dinner, he turned down Song Zhiyuan’s offer to cook and made a few dishes himself, waiting for Yun Jingqiu to come back.

After they finished eating, they played games for a while and ended their night.

Living together with Yun Jingqiu was very pleasant, and—just as Yun-ge had said after the first time—his “technique” kept improving; every time showed progress over the last. But his lack of self-restraint deserved serious criticism!

“Xiao He always likes to bite,” Yun Jingqiu said helplessly as he looked at the bite marks on his own body.

Yawning, Liu He stared at the shirtless man and grumbled, half angry and half amused, “If you don’t know how to be gentle, what’s wrong with me biting you a few times?”

He was weak all over, unable to muster any strength.

Compared to Yun Jingqiu’s tenderness, Liu He seemed downright ferocious.

Liu He himself didn’t have any marks, while Yun Jingqiu’s back had nail scratches, and his neck, shoulders, and collarbone were all marked with Liu He’s teeth.

He tried to restrain himself from biting, but he couldn’t control it at all.

Fortunately, the role Yun Jingqiu was currently filming didn’t require him to reveal those areas, and the marks on his neck could be covered by makeup, so no one would notice.

Every time Liu He looked at them, he felt embarrassed and told himself he wouldn’t do it next time, but it always turned out the same.

At the height of passion, it simply wasn’t something he could control.

Yun Jingqiu often carried Liu He’s marks on his body.

“Jiang Yi sent me two crates of peaches. They should arrive tomorrow. I’ll make you a fruit dish for dinner,” Liu He said.

His homestyle cooking skill tree had already lit up, and he wanted to try a new “experiment.”

Trusting him unconditionally, Yun Jingqiu said, “Okay, I’ll leave it to Xiao He.”

The next day, when Yun Jingqiu returned from filming and saw the dishes on the table, he looked a little puzzled.

Peach-stewed chicken, peach rice, yam stewed with peaches, and candied peaches.

Every dish had peaches.

“Hurry and try. They’re pretty good—I tested them,” Liu He said with a smile, inviting him to eat.

Even someone as well-traveled as Yun Jingqiu had never had a peach feast like this.

He hesitated and wavered, holding his chopsticks without daring to start.

Candied peaches only pull threads right after leaving the pan; once the sugar sets, there’s no way to pull threads.

He finally lifted a piece with effort and put it into his mouth; the sweetness of the sugar and the clean sweetness of the peach blended perfectly. The juicy peach burst in his mouth, and the fresh sweetness swept across his palate.

The juice of the peach cut through the cloying sugar, making one want to eat another piece.

Eyes narrowing in enjoyment, Yun Jingqiu said, “Xiao He, your cooking has taken another step forward.”

Liu He smiled. “As long as you like it. Jiang Yi sent too many peaches. We can’t finish them raw, so I could only make them like this.”

During the summer vacation, Jiang Yi had been assigned by his advisor to intern at another unit; on a rare weekend home visit, his family dragged him out to pick peaches for the whole weekend.

Liu He remembered how Jiang Yi had complained to him; he’d obligingly laughed and, in return, received two crates of peaches.

The peaches were excellent—delicious raw, tasty in dishes, and also suitable for making desserts.

These dishes were a bit high in calories, and Yun Jingqiu estimated that he would need to eat fat-reduction meals for a week afterward.

His scenes had wrapped a few days earlier; instead of relaxing afterward, he’d become even busier than during filming.

Brother Wang personally took him to shoot commercials and variety shows.

Yun Jingqiu complained endlessly.

Liu He only snickered at his misfortune, and in exchange, Yun Jingqiu was even more relentless at night.

Time living together passed quickly. When Yun Jingqiu joined the new crew, Liu He’s vacation also ended, and he had to return to City C to continue his studies.

Yun Jingqiu was very reluctant—he was so busy he couldn’t even take Liu He to the high-speed rail station.

Liu He comforted him: “It’s fine. We can still call every day.”

“How is that the same? A phone call can’t touch Xiao He, and I can’t even make love to you over the phone,” Yun Jingqiu sighed.

Liu He’s brows lifted. “Is that all you think about?”

He kicked Yun Jingqiu—not very hard. It was more reward than punishment.

Yun Jingqiu caught his foot, and his hand grew restless, moving upward.

Liu He’s waist softened instantly; he couldn’t even manage a kick and could only be drawn into the whirlpool by Yun Jingqiu.

Compared to their earlier intensity, tonight was very gentle, tinged with the reluctance of parting.

They embraced each other,

and spoke softly.

Yun Jingqiu didn’t like using doubles; he did fight scenes himself and had previously studied with martial arts instructors. His action scenes were solid.

In a detective drama project, fights were inevitable during filming.

Now that he had joined the crew and filming was in full swing, he sometimes returned home with injuries over these past few days.

Liu He felt heartbroken looking at those wounds.

A night of lingering intimacy.

In the morning, Yun Jingqiu woke Liu He.

He had exercised restraint last night, allowing Liu He to get up smoothly this morning.

Rubbing his waist, still a little sleepy,

“I’ll make you breakfast. Go wash up,” Yun Jingqiu said gently, ruffling his slightly messy hair.

Liu He nodded, his head a bit foggy.

He yawned and stretched; his body loosened up, and he felt more awake.

He hadn’t brought much to City A, and he wasn’t taking much back to City C either.

By the time Liu He went downstairs, breakfast was ready. Yun Jingqiu ate quickly and was picked up by Song Zhiyuan to go to the set, leaving only Liu He and Cream at home.

Liu He ate slowly, tidied up the dishes, and played with Cream for a while.

Seeing it was time to leave, Liu He sent a message to Yun Jingqiu: [Yun-ge, I’m heading out.]

Yun Jingqiu replied immediately.

Returning to City C and to 1801—which hadn’t been lived in for nearly two months—Liu He sat on the sofa for a while. Not wanting to clean himself, he called a cleaner to come.

Jiang Yi had returned last week. Hearing that Liu He was back today, he had already arranged to have hotpot with him that evening.

After the house was cleaned, Liu He took a nap. When he woke, it was time for his appointment with Jiang Yi.

Liu He grabbed the gift he had prepared for Jiang Yi and left 1801.

They had agreed on a hotpot restaurant outside the school. As Liu He reached the entrance, he saw Jiang Yi crossing the street toward him.

Jiang Yi was smiling, and on seeing Liu He, he looked even happier.

“Feels like I haven’t seen you in ages—did you get more handsome?” Jiang Yi tugged Liu He left and right, then noticed the bag in Liu He’s hand and asked, puzzled, “What’s this?”

Liu He handed it over smoothly: “For you.”

“Official merch with a signed poster—one of a kind.”

At the word “merch,” Jiang Yi already grabbed the bag. Hearing “signed poster,” he almost couldn’t suppress a scream.

He clutched the bag and took a quick peek inside, then hugged it to his chest.

“You’re so good to me,” he said.

Liu He smiled and said nothing.

They entered the hotpot restaurant. It wasn’t very crowded at this hour, and they found a comfortable spot and ordered.

“The peaches I sent you were good, right? I picked them myself,” Jiang Yi said with pride. “I called my mom yesterday to send more.”

“Delicious,” Liu He said.

“Did your rabbit stop going into heat after the neutering?”

At that, Liu He gave a bitter smile. “Why would a rabbit still go into heat after neutering? Though… it really was bad before the surgery… Now even the way Yun-ge looks at him has changed.”

When Cream was in heat, he sought out no one else, only Liu He, which led to Yun Jingqiu prying Cream off him every time he saw the rabbit clinging to Liu He.

Those who didn’t know might think Yun Jingqiu wanted to hold Cream himself; those who knew would say he was just extremely jealous.

Sparring with Cream had become Yun-ge’s daily routine.

Now that Liu He had left, they should be able to coexist peacefully.

As their dishes gradually arrived, the two stopped talking about Yun Jingqiu.

After all, they were outside; if someone overheard something and picked up on clues, exposing Liu He’s identity would be bad.

They talked about their internships, their plans after graduating, and about Jiang Yi’s family’s peaches.

After hotpot, they went back to Liu He’s place to continue hanging out.

In private, their conversation became bolder.

“You and Yun Jingqiu have… done it?” Jiang Yi asked, gossipy.

Liu He stared straight at him and slowly nodded.

“How was it?”

Liu He hedged, “As you’d expect.”

He certainly couldn’t tell Jiang Yi that Yun Jingqiu’s performance was terrible—that was not something one could say.

Jiang Yi said, “Let me tell you—Lao Xu went into the mountains with his advisor for two months, right? He came back the other day, and he made me lie in bed for the entire next day.”

“He should really be neutered like Cream!”

Liu He felt that deeply—Yun-ge was about the same.

“Can’t those tops be a little more considerate of us?” Jiang Yi complained.

Liu He nodded in agreement and poured him more alcohol.

They drank too much, got a little drunk, and grew bolder.

Muttering, Jiang Yi called Xu and repeated everything he’d just told Liu He: “Why won’t you go get neutered!”

Xu: ?

“I’ll come pick you up,” he said, pushing his glasses up.

On Liu He’s side, he also called Yun Jingqiu. Yun Jingqiu had finished work and was eating at home with Song Zhiyuan.

As soon as the call connected, before Yun Jingqiu could even say hello, he heard another voice from Xiao He’s side.

“Yun-ge, your performance last night was trash!” Liu He blurted out.

Hearing that, Song Zhiyuan fumbled his chopsticks and dropped them on the table.

Was this something he was supposed to hear?

He looked at Yun Jingqiu, received a deathly glare, and tactfully retreated to the courtyard.

“Xiao He is drunk,” Yun Jingqiu said, trying to keep a straight face.

From Jiang Yi’s phone came a voice that Yun Jingqiu could hear: “Explain when you sober up.”

“It really was bad—so slow, not comfortable at all,” Liu He complained.

He had wanted to say this last night—no need to be that gentle. Who were you trying to tantalize by going that slowly?

Yun Jingqiu could no longer maintain his polite smile. Even knowing others were around on Liu He’s side, his expression darkened.

“Just wait,” he said, face falling.

Liu He blinked in confusion and replied, “I’ll be at home waiting for you.”