Chapter 80

Chapter 80

"Teacher Su, will you help me?"

Su Xingyao silently repeated Lu Jiuxu’s words in his mind.

But his brain was like an old computer that hadn’t run in a while, slow to respond.

Help Lu Jiuxu?

How can I help?

Su Xingyao spaced out for a few seconds, but his sense of smell picked up on something faster than his brain.

He suddenly noticed that Lu Jiuxu’s unique, cool scent had quietly faded while he’d been processing it.

Su Xingyao immediately looked to his side and found that the person who had been pleading with him earlier had already sat back up, eyes lowered, pouring wine into his cup.

Not hearing back from Su Xingyao, Lu Jiuxu smiled, his tone unconsciously returning to its usual calm restraint.

As he poured the wine, he told the people around him, "Teacher Su can’t drink, so I’ll take his cup too..."

Lu Jiuxu’s words didn’t sink in for Su Xingyao at all.

As if possessed, he placed his hand directly on Lu Jiuxu’s wrist, stopping him from pouring the wine.

"You’ve had enough to drink tonight."

At these words, Lu Jiuxu’s hand clearly paused.

His eyes, which had shown no emotion just moments before, now flashed with surprise.

But he calmly pushed down his emotions, keeping the wine glass in hand as he looked at Su Xingyao, seeking confirmation that he’d understood correctly.

Su Xingyao didn’t avoid Lu Jiuxu’s gaze but met it head-on.

His bright eyes glittered, standing out even more against the night.

Before anyone could react, Lu Jiuxu set down his wine glass.

The crowd, who had been joking moments earlier, suddenly caught on.

The room went quiet for a few seconds before exploding into loud whistles and cheers.

"Yo, yo, it’s rare for Mr. Lu to join in! This is gonna be good!"

Among the noisy crowd, Lin Chengyi blew the loudest whistle.

"Tsk tsk, you’re fine with kissing Teacher Su but not me? Mr. Lu, that’s pretty hypocritical."

Fang Ge clapped his hands loudly, laughing. "Know your place, will you? How dare you compare yourself to Teacher Su?"

Ignoring Lin Chengyi’s accusations, Lu Jiuxu casually draped his arm around Su Xingyao’s waist and shoulder, making it clear how special Su Xingyao was to him.

While Lu Jiuxu seemed completely at ease, Su Xingyao, experiencing this kind of 'punishment' for the first time, felt a bit flustered.

His body tensed involuntarily, and he subconsciously gripped Lu Jiuxu’s clothes.

This movement unintentionally brought them even closer, pulling Su Xingyao into Lu Jiuxu’s arms.

In the deep darkness of the night, the two of them were leaning closely together—one looking down with a focused expression, the other with slightly parted red lips looking up.

The posture was so intimate that it felt like the very air around them was thick with faint, ambiguous tension.

"Don't just hold him without doing anything. This game is about hugging and kissing, Mr. Lu! Where's the kiss? Where's the kiss??"

"Kiss! Kiss!!"

Laughter constantly filled the space around them.

But Su Xingyao felt as if his mute button had been pressed.

The only thing he was aware of was Lu Jiuxu in front of him.

His eyes were burning with intensity, yet it was clear he was desperately trying to suppress something.

Su Xingyao stared at him intently.

He couldn't quite understand the meaning behind Lu Jiuxu's gaze, but he could vividly feel the other's strong and powerful heartbeat.

It was as if a thousand butterflies had taken flight at once.

The storm stirred by the flapping violently swept over him, causing his own heart to beat in sync with the other's.

It was as if their breaths had become intertwined.

It wasn’t until the surrounding air was filled with Lu Jiuxu’s crisp, cold fragrance that Su Xingyao suddenly realized how close they had gotten.

If he had moved just a little higher, he would have kissed him.

At that moment, the details of the game's punishment floated up in Su Xingyao's mind.

The punishment was to hug and kiss...

Realizing what was about to occur, Su Xingyao quickly looked away, no longer meeting Lu Jiuxu's gaze.

Lu Jiuxu took his reaction in, watching closely.

"Don't be nervous, it's just a quick position swap, okay? I won't really kiss you."

Lu Jiuxu's voice was low and gentle, calming Su Xingyao's nerves.

But unknown to him, his warm breath against Su Xingyao's ear only sent the other's heart into a panicked, erratic beat.

Just as Su Xingyao was about to reply, the ever-alert Lin Chengyi interrupted.

"Oh, oh, by the way, we agreed, no faking it this time. It has to be a real kiss!"

Saying this, Lin Chengyi struck a pose that said, 'I'm watching closely; no cheating!'

Taken aback by the sudden exposure of the plan, Su Xingyao's ears turned slightly red.

Lu Jiuxu, however, stayed calm and composed, chuckling softly before softly telling Su Xingyao, "Teacher Su, close your eyes."

Su Xingyao didn't understand why Lu Jiuxu wanted him to close his eyes.

His lashes fluttered, but in the end, he cooperatively closed them.

Amidst the cheers and teasing from everyone around, Lu Jiuxu swiftly shifted positions with Su Xingyao, lying on his side.

He was caught in the blind spot of everyone's line of sight and finally stopped hiding his admiration.

Slightly turning his head, he gently and seriously placed a kiss on Su Xingyao's cheek.

*

After finishing the drinks and games, it was already very late. Su Xingyao, who was in bed after showering, originally thought he would fall asleep quickly.

But tonight, he unexpectedly couldn't sleep.

Tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep, Su Xingyao unlocked his phone and aimlessly scrolled.

Recalling what had happened earlier, Su Xingyao mindlessly scrolled on his phone.

When he finally came to his senses, he realized that he had somehow opened WeChat to Lu JiuXu's chat.

The most terrifying part was that he had inadvertently typed a bunch of random characters and strange symbols in the text box.

Seeing the content, Su Xingyao immediately panicked and carefully deleted each character one by one.

After finishing this, he immediately exited the chat.

Just as Su Xingyao was about to breathe a sigh of relief that he hadn't randomly messaged Lu JiuXu in the middle of the night, his phone screen lit up with a new WeChat message.

Lu Doggy: Good night.

The timing of the message was perfect, as if the other person had been waiting.

But the other person only sent a short "good night," giving away nothing more.

Su Xingyao glanced at the time, not caring whether Lu JiuXu had seen his deletions and edits, and quickly replied with a "good night" before immediately turning off his phone and bedside lamp.

In the darkness, after one last glance, Su Xingyao, who had been unable to sleep, finally fell asleep.

Since everyone had gone to bed late the previous night, it wasn’t until around 10 a.m. the next day that people started getting up for breakfast.

Having stayed awake until 3 a.m. but woken up at 7 a.m., Su Xingyao still felt dazed and hadn’t recovered.

As he bowed his head to drink the porridge in his bowl, trying to energize himself, he suddenly heard Fang Ge's loud teasing from across the table.

"I say, Mr. Lu, why are your dark circles so pronounced?"

The moment Fang Ge spoke, Su Xingyao turned to look next to him.

The last to come down, Lu JiuXu pulled out a chair and naturally took the seat next to him.

Similarly lacking sleep, Su Xingyao noticed that the other looked much more energetic than he was.

Though the dark circles were indeed a little too obvious.

Remembering that Lu JiuXu had been messaging him until 3 a.m. the previous night, Su Xingyao suddenly realized that the other had also been unable to sleep.

Lu JiuXu's heavy dark circles naturally didn’t escape everyone’s attention.

Ignoring his friends' curious gazes, Lu JiuXu casually said, "I'm not used to the bed."

Probably really not having slept well, Su Xingyao thought Lu JiuXu’s voice was a bit hoarse.

Su Xingyao didn’t doubt Lu JiuXu’s explanation, but the others burst into laughter.

"Hahahaha!"

"Since when does Mr. Lu have this kind of habit? How come I don't know?"

The guys couldn't stop laughing, clearly not believing Mr. Lu's explanation.

Knowing what the group wanted to hear, Mr. Lu didn't bother to explain further. He turned and took the warmed milk from Li Xiaofei, skillfully handing a cup to Su Xingyao.

Su Xingyao took it and immediately drank without hesitation, but his mind was still on what Mr. Lu had said about being particular about beds. He was a little worried about how Mr. Lu would manage tonight.

Meanwhile, Lin Chengyi, sitting across from them, couldn't help grinning mischievously as he looked back and forth between Mr. Lu and Su Xingyao.

After observing, he actually realized something.

"Mr. Lu, you and Teacher Su are wearing matching outfits like couple shirts!"

Lin Chengyi then deliberately glanced back and forth between Mr. Lu and Su Xingyao.

Hearing this, Su Xingyao stopped drinking his milk and immediately looked down to check his and Mr. Lu's clothes.

To his surprise, their clothes were actually a match in brand and style—one in black and the other in white.

To the unknowing eye, it really did look like they were wearing matching outfits.

Su Xingyao put down his milk, intending to explain that it was a coincidence and that no one should misunderstand.

But before he could say anything, Mr. Lu, calmly glancing at the winking Lin Chengyi, spoke calmly.

"Teacher Su looks good in it, so I bought myself one too."

Hearing this explanation, everyone stopped joking about it, though Lin Chengyi's smile deepened even more.

Su Xingyao glanced at Mr. Lu again. He didn't know when Mr. Lu had bought the same style, but changing now would seem too deliberate.

Since Su Xingyao didn't change, Mr. Lu didn't either. And so, the two of them left wearing what seemed to be matching outfits.

Near Li Xiaofei's guesthouse, there was a famous local temple called Ling Shan Temple.

Hu Yan, being a businessman, was particularly superstitious. Hearing that this temple was very accurate, he dragged everyone to go with him to draw a fortune stick and pray to the Buddha.

Ling Shan Temple was on White Spirit Mountain. The mountain wasn't tall, but the car could only drive halfway up. The rest of the journey had to be done by walking up the mountain.

Su Xingyao looked up at the endless steps. After nearly an hour of climbing, they finally reached Ling Shan Temple.

Two giant pine trees were planted at the entrance of Ling Shan Temple. The interior, though not as grand and majestic as larger temples, was exceptionally clean and serene.

Although Su Xingyao was a bit tired from the long climb, once he reached the top and heard the temple's bell and smelled the soothing incense, his heart calmed down.

Hu Yan, a devout believer, sincerely kowtowed and prayed before every Bodhisattva statue he saw, putting money into each merit box.

Following his lead, they all prayed to the Bodhisattvas in the temple.

When they reached the last hall, the ever-enthusiastic Hu Yan waved his hand. "I'm not going. You guys go ahead."

Lin Chengyi was curious. "Why not?"

Hu Yanyu folded his hands and said slowly and softly, "This is a place to ask for a good marriage. Since I'm married, I won't go in and ask for another one."

After that, he shifted his gaze to Lu Jiuxu. "Mr. Lu, you should go in and pray."

After hearing Hu Yanyu's explanation, Su Xingyao glanced inside and hesitated about going in.

But Lu Jiuxu looked at him and asked, "Teacher Su, want to pray for a marriage?"

Su Xingyao had never thought about it before.

After all, his past experiences made him not care much about stuff like that.

Just as Su Xingyao was going to say no, he met Lu Jiuxu's intense gaze.

In the end, they wound up kneeling in front of the Buddha statue together.

After bowing, Su Xingyao suddenly turned his head to look at the person next to him.

He saw Lu Jiuxu praying more sincerely than Hu Yanyu, who was a Buddhist.

After touring the temple, following the tips from Li Xiaofei, the group descended the mountain from the back side.

After going down the steps for a while, they came upon a large platform on the back mountain.

In the middle of the platform stood an enormous ancient tree that was hundreds of years old.

The tree was tied with red strings and countless wishing tags.

Hu Yanyu took the initiative to buy wish tags for everyone.

"Make a wish and hang yours up. I just heard the locals say it's very accurate."

Su Xingyao thought for a moment and only wrote four words—health and well-being.

Then he found a spot to hang his wish tag.

Everyone else wrote their wishes and found places to hang them up.

Su Xingyao finished first and, out of habit, went to find Lu Jiuxu.

Lu Jiuxu was in the process of hanging his wish tag, his slender fingers tying a perfect bow on the red string.

Su Xingyao quietly stood behind him.

Just as he was about to say something, a sudden gust of wind blew.

The wish tag on the red string flipped over.

Su Xingyao's gaze landed on it.

And he accidentally saw what Lu Jiuxu had written.

—"I wish for Su Xingyao's dreams to come true."