Chapter 100

Chapter 100

The dusting of snow melted quickly in the morning sun.

Tian Ruan could only find traces of it along the wall's edge—everywhere else had already dried under the sunlight.

Yu Jingmo held his hand as they walked out of the onsen resort. "Do you like snow?"

"No."

"Hmm?" Yu Jingmo was slightly surprised.

Tian Ruan said, "Snow looks pretty, but it's freezing. When I was little, I had to layer my spring and fall clothes, but it was still cold enough to cut through me."

Looking back, Tian Ruan marveled at how he'd survived those winters. Before being adopted, he would often sit alone on the doorstep of the children's home, watching geese fly by in spring, birds perch on branches in summer, leaves fall in autumn, and winter's bitter cold cut right through him.

He waited and waited until his adoptive parents finally came. Two good years followed—though they're blurry now. The good times never lasted. After his adoptive parents died in a plane crash, Tian Ruan was left alone again—going to school, coming home, with nobody to ask if he was dressed warmly enough when the cold set in.

It was only later that he truly appreciated their kindness—though the memories were vague, the warmth stayed with him.

Yu Jingmo squeezed Tian Ruan’s hand. "Are you cold?"

Tian Ruan shook his head. "Not anymore."

Those tough times were behind him, and Tian Ruan refused to dwell on past regrets. He had many plans for his future.

"Mr. Yu, are you cold?" Tian Ruan flipped the question back, clasping Yu Jingmo’s fingers earnestly.

Having lost both parents young, Yu Jingmo’s pain might have been far greater than Tian Ruan’s. Tian Ruan only felt a hollow sense of loss—he had been too young to form strong attachments.

But Yu Jingmo was different. He had spent years with his parents, from everyday things like getting dressed, meals, bedtime, to big moments like school, tests, and awards—everything shaped by their presence.

Yu Jingmo looked at Tian Ruan and smiled faintly. "Not anymore."

At thirty, he’d learned to keep his emotions in check. The only ones worth caring for now were his heir and Tian Ruan.

Tian Ruan was like a gust of wind—impossible to catch or understand before he was already in Yu Jingmo’s arms.

An unexpected gift from fate.

When they returned to the manor, the butler welcomed them brightly. "Welcome back, Master and Madam. Did you enjoy yourselves?"

Tian Ruan: "Wait, I'm back? I was just in the underworld!"

"..."

"Uncle Wang, the underworld's actually pretty cool. Want to check it out?"

The butler: "You're having me on, Madam. You and Mr. Yu went to the ball and spent the night at the onsen resort—you didn’t go anywhere else."

Tian Ruan: "What onsen resort? That was the River Styx Resort. Uncle Wang, did you mishear? Maybe you should double-check—last night scared me half to death."

The butler turned to Yu Jingmo. "Is Madam joking?"

Yu Jingmo’s face gave nothing away, his stone-cold silence saying it all.

"..."

It must be said that even high-level NPCs have their moments of stupidity— the butler actually went to check: "Assistant Xu, is there really a Netherworld Resort in the suburbs?"

Assistant Xu: "If you're too washed up for this job, I can take over and pull double pay."

The butler: "..."

Tian Ruan was listening from the foot of the stairs and burst into laughter, only to be dragged upstairs and dumped on the bed by Yu Jingmo.

His legs were weak, his waist ached, and between his legs burned fiercely.

Tian Ruan lifted his collar for a peek—two tiny bite marks, like twin crimson berries. "You bastard... So rough. What, were you weaned too early?"

Even his soft cotton pajamas chafed painfully. Quietly covering his chest with both hands brought some relief.

Just then, Yu Jingmo walked in and saw Tian Ruan’s hands cupping his chest. His brow arched. "Still not enough?"

Tian Ruan: "..."

Glaring, he snapped, "Quit while you're ahead."

Yu Jingmo happened to be carrying a bowl of red bean soup, which he placed on the nightstand. "Blood-nourishing."

Tian Ruan lowered his hands. "Oh."

But Yu Jingmo lifted his pajama top again, seemingly pleased with his handiwork. "What a pretty picture—a snowscape with love beans."

"..." Tian Ruan yanked his clothes back down. "No love allowed!"

Yu Jingmo chuckled lowly. "You understand me more and more, yet I still don’t know you deeply enough."

He emphasized the words “deeply enough.”

Tian Ruan shivered as if struck by lightning, flustered beyond meeting Yu Jingmo’s eyes. Memories flooded him—every inch of him had been explored, marked by Yu Jingmo.

Except inside.

"Gimme that soup." His hands trembled so badly he couldn’t lift the bowl, glaring at Yu Jingmo’s large hand with flustered annoyance.

Yu Jingmo curled his fingers around the small bowl, holding it steady in his left hand while stirring with the spoon in his right. Steam curled around his sword-sharp brows and almond eyes.

Suddenly, Tian Ruan wasn't mad anymore—he’d let Yu Jingmo do anything to him… God, no—bad brain, bad!

Yu Jingmo lifted a spoonful of red bean soup to Tian Ruan’s lips. "Not too hot now."

Tian Ruan sipped obediently, sip by sip, like a docile kitten.

Then he drank milk and ate fruit.

Before long, he really had to piss.

"..."

Tian Ruan got out of bed and headed for the bathroom, only to find Yu Jingmo already there. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Yu Jingmo’s pants.

Yu Jingmo wiped himself with a wet wipe and zipped up. "Haven’t showered yet. Not clean enough to eat."

Tian Ruan: "...Disgusting. I wasn’t thinking of eating it."

Yu Jingmo simply smiled and walked to the sink to wash his hands. “It’s yours.”

Tian Ruan moved toward the toilet. “Leave.”

Yu Jingmo replied matter-of-factly, “You saw mine—fair’s fair.”

“Mine’s nothing special.” Tian Ruan flushed crimson.

“I like it—love to look.” Yu Jingmo pointed at his own lips. “You love my mouth, don’t you?”

Tian Ruan burned red all over, gritting his teeth as he pulled down his pants and squatted on the toilet, the sound reduced to a quiet patter.

Yu Jingmo watched him the whole time, handing him a wet wipe and a soft cotton pad, his gaze lowered. “Need my help?”

Tian Ruan snatched the tissue and turned away to wipe himself. “I’m not a kid. I don’t need your help.”

“You’ve got a perky butt,” Yu Jingmo remarked.

“…”

“Why’s it red?”

Tian Ruan tugged up his pants, muttering, “You did this!”

Yu Jingmo blinked in realization. “My bad, got carried away.”

“Next time… don’t do that.”

“You sure? You weren’t complaining.”

Tian Ruan raised his hand. “Say another word, and I’ll wipe my junk-hand on you.”

Yu Jingmo’s clean freak tendencies were slowly fading around Tian Ruan, but he still stepped aside, just in case. Tian Ruan stormed off to wash up, flicking water onto Yu Jingmo.

Yu Jingmo didn’t get mad. Instead, he took Tian Ruan’s hands and soaped them thoroughly, lather seeping between his fingers.

Tian Ruan tried to pull back, but Yu Jingmo tightened his grip on his wrist. “We’re washing. What are you hiding for?”

Tian Ruan’s ears turned red. The way Yu Jingmo was working his hands felt exactly like last night…

Every inch of his hands, every fold and crease, was under Yu Jingmo’s control, slick with soap. Slippery but trapped.

Warm water rinsed them clean, and Yu Jingmo dried them with a clean towel before squeezing on some hand cream, making sure to cover every finger.

He leaned in close, near enough for Tian Ruan to breathe him in, spellbound by his scent. When Yu Jingmo kissed him, he didn’t resist.

Yu Jingmo pushed him onto the bed.

They spent another reckless afternoon together. Those hickies really did live up to their name—driving him wild with longing—and now even hand cream had become another playful tease.

Tian Ruan covered his face. This is so shameless. Why can’t I say no to Yu Jingmo?

As a top student, he needed an answer. So he dug through forums until he found one that perfectly fit—his feelings were just physical.

He told himself.

The moment he saw this person, no matter how much his heart resisted, his body would still fall hopelessly for him—as if he had been born to complete him.

“Isn’t this like Adam and Eve?” Tian Ruan murmured.

What about Yu Jingmo’s feelings for him?

Were they purely physical, or something deeper?

Tian Ruan asked Yu Jingmo directly.

Yu Jingmo took the phone from his hand. “I don’t like that phrasing.”

“?”

“If you’re so quick to claim your feelings for me are purely physical, let me tell you—everyone who gets close to me does it for the same reason. It's like how most people desire money.”

Tian Ruan couldn’t argue. He touched his chest and said, “Mine are emotional.”

“For me? Both.”

“…” Wait, didn’t you just say you disliked that idea?

“Even though I don’t like it,” Yu Jingmo frowned slightly as he helped Tian Ruan pull on his socks, “I can't stop myself from holding you, kissing you… or taking things further with you.”

Tian Ruan thought Yu Jingmo also seemed like the kind of guy who grumbles while doing chores.

Luckily, he really did like Yu Jingmo—otherwise, they’d be nothing more than a trashy power couple.

After dressing *his "wife"* neatly and nicely, Yu Jingmo took Tian Ruan’s hand and led him downstairs.

Yu Shang sat at the dining table scrolling through his phone absentmindedly until it slipped and clattered to the floor—the rich heir never bothered with screen protectors or cases, so one drop, and it was ruined.

Tian Ruan winced—what a waste.

Yu Shang didn’t care. He picked up the cracked phone and kept scrolling through the forum, deleting posts left and right whenever something annoyed him, regardless of their age.

A new thread appeared: *"OG Lurker Banned After 3 Years of Silence? WTF?!"*

Replies flooded in with “BS!”

Yu Shang deleted them all.

"………………"

Soon came another post—anyone who entered got banned instantly. Even old accounts were terminated on sight; some users even called the moderator a psycho.

Yu Shang calmly continued wiping the forum clean, ban by ban, until half the school ended up blacklisted.

Principal Li jumped in with a “What’s going on?”—banned.

Finally, Yu Shang noticed *his two "dads"* standing there, unsure what to say.

Tian Ruan felt awkward too. Last night had been a disaster. And he wasn’t sure if anyone had overheard what he and Yu Jingmo had done in the hot spring…

“How’s Lu Qiuyan doing?” Yu Jingmo asked coolly.

Tian Ruan: “….” Bold move.

Yu Shang: “Same as always. Shows up to class.”

Yevgeny: "Mhm."

Tian Ruan still hadn't dared to contact Lu Qiuyan, afraid it would be awkward between them. Hearing this, he felt slightly relieved and sent Lu Qiuyan a WeChat message: /sadface

Lu Qiuyan replied a few minutes later: "What's up?"

Tian Ruan: "I haven't gotten out of bed all day /puppyeyes"

Lu Qiuyan: "Cut that shit out."

Tian Ruan: "Anything new at school today?"

Lu Qiuyan: "The forum's blowing up."

Tian Ruan: "?"

Tian Ruan then opened the forum and clicked on a post titled "......" The comments below were all "......"

After scrolling through three pages, all he saw were ellipses. Tian Ruan almost didn’t recognize the punctuation anymore—his vision was filled with tiny black dots.

"What the actual fuck? Who banned me?"

Yu Shang across from him: "..."

Yu Shang tossed out two letters: "ID."

Tian Ruan: "Huh?"

"My bad," Yu Shang said. "I'll unban you."

Tian Ruan: "... InkOverFlowerField."

Yu Jingmo raised an eyebrow. "Nice ID."

Tian Ruan called toward the kitchen: "Liu Ma, dinner's ready!"

Liu Ma promptly served the dishes. Servants brought out the food while the butler directed from the side—each dish was placed with precision based on protein-vegetable ratio, size, and seating order.

After the meal, Tian Ruan got some homework help from Yu Shang and worked on it in the living room while watching a recording.

It was footage of the opera troupe’s holiday performance, recorded by the people Yu Jingmo had sent the night before.

Tian Ruan could easily multitask. On the red velvet-curtained stage, accompanied by a beautiful classical melody, the curtains parted—ta-da!—and out jumped several energetic little dwarves.

The dwarves were actually opera troupe members crouching with bent knees. They shuffled to the center of the stage and began singing an English song.

About a hundred students sat in the audience, their young faces briefly visible on screen.

The dwarves ran into the forest but kept their eyes steadily watching outside.

Yevgeny as the king walked out, singing and dancing with arms folded. Then he tripped and fell into the arms of a female knight.

The king was instantly smitten with the knight. Soon they got married, and the big-bellied king had a beautiful princess named Snow White.

"Wait, what?"

Yevgeny watched with great interest: "The king having a princess—now that's breaking tradition."

"That’s because you haven’t read ABO fiction."

"What’s that?"

"Trust me, you don’t want to know."

The princess was a living doll. Before you knew it, sixteen years passed, and the princess grew up, transforming into the stately and tall Lu Qiuyan, wearing a yellow-and-blue princess dress.

Lu Qiuyan wore a golden wig and stage makeup caked on—likely done by Yu Ti, the makeup artist. The deep purple eyeshadow, the bright red lipstick bleeding past her lips, and the thick, exaggerated blush on the cheeks made him a dead ringer for Tian Ruan back then.

Students whispered among themselves: "It’s definitely the same actor from last time."

"Seems a bit taller though."

"Jesus Christ, the opera troupe is still beyond description."

On stage, the plot continued. In no time at all, the princess’s mother—the former female knight—succumbed to illness. The princess wailed dramatically: "Wahahaha, Mother…"

"…………"

Soon, Lu Qiuyan seemed to remember his lines, turning his back to the audience and delivering his lines in falsetto: "Mother, rest in peace. I will find my true love."

The king, who had once doted on the princess, soon grew lonely and took a glamorous witch as his new queen, partying every night—

Yevgeny, with a huge fake beard, lay in the witch’s arms and moaned: "Ah~~~ gently~~~"

Servants passing by gave them weird looks.

Liu Ma, trying to spare their blushes, whispered to them: "The master and mistress are having private time. Let’s step out."

Tian Ruan: "…………"

Yu Jingmo turned down the TV volume slightly.

Tian Ruan dug in his heels and kept watching. Damn it, he was determined to see what kind of absurdity this was.

A subtitle appeared on the screen: *Ten months later.*

The king, with a huge pregnant belly, paced back and forth while the witch crowed with delight: "Our child shall be the future ruler!"

"But... I already promised Snow White’s mother... that Snow would be queen." The king, still nostalgic for his first queen, bashfully added, "After all, we had such wonderful times together... She was such a tiger in bed..."

The witch went ballistic, her face twisting in fury: "Am I not beautiful enough?"

The king: "Darling, of course you are! Look, I’m even carrying your child. She’ll surely be a beautiful princess too."

Still displeased, the witch pulled out a magic mirror and asked who was more beautiful—her or the princess.

The mirror: "Pah! You old hag, why don’t you take a good look in the mirror? How dare you compare to Snow White?"

The witch: "Aaaaaah!"

The witch began to sing. On a stormy night, she offered Snow White a bright red apple. Snow White ate it without hesitation and fell into a deathlike sleep. Heartbroken, the king sent her into the forest for burial.

The burial site turned out to be the dwarves’ home. They took Snow White in, put her on display, and spread the word that only a true love’s kiss could wake her.

Tian Ruan: "???"

Lu Qiuyan lay on the prop bed while the dwarfs hopped around, taking turns to plant fake kisses—of course they weren’t real, just pretend. You could clearly see his body stiffen, his fists clenched tight as if he were about to leap up and punch them.

At that moment, Yu Shang, playing the prince, and Hai Chao, playing the knight, showed up at the same time. They each kissed the princess.

Hai Chao did a fake kiss too.

But somehow, when it was Yu Shang’s turn, he inexplicably actually kissed Lu Qiuyan on the lips.

The audience burst into gasps and applause. Lu Qiuyan looked like he turned to stone, and Yu Shang didn’t move either—the kiss lasted a full minute.

Tian Ruan jumped up excitedly like the rest of the crowd, shouting, “Ah… ah!”

Yu Jingmo pulled him back down with amusement. “It’s not like you’ve never kissed before. Why so excited?”

“It’s different! That was just mouth-to-mouth. This is a real kiss! Yu Shang’s really coming through!”

For the rest of the performance, the prince and princess looked shell-shocked. Though there was supposed to be a big battle between the prince and the knight, the knight gave up, saying, “You woke her with a kiss first—she’s yours!”

With that, he pushed the princess toward the prince, who caught her in his arms. The subtitles appeared one by one: *And so, the prince and princess lived happily ever after. A year later, the prince gave birth to a little princess for the queen. Their story goes on… Thank you for watching.*

Tian Ruan’s excitement faded. “…Don’t reverse the top/bottom dynamic!!”

Yu Jingmo, however, was unfazed. “A world where women can get men pregnant doesn’t sound so bad.”

Tian Ruan looked horrified. “You wouldn’t…”

“That would mean men could get men pregnant too. I could put a baby in you.”

“…I don’t want to have kids.”

Yu Jingmo was just joking. He patted Tian Ruan’s head. “Adoption works too. I wouldn’t want you to go through all that pain.”

Tian Ruan sighed in relief—thank god this wasn’t an ABO novel. He absolutely couldn’t let Yu Jingmo find out about ABO fiction.

But Yu Jingmo had already opened a novel site and within three seconds zeroed in on it immediately. Skimming through, he murmured, “…So this kind of story really exists.”

Tian Ruan snatched the phone. “Don’t corrupt yourself!”

Yu Jingmo held it high out of reach. “There’s quite a variety. I think we could learn a thing or two.”

“No…” Tian Ruan jumped up and flailed trying to grab the phone, only to tumble onto Yu Jingmo and have him pinned on the sofa. Suddenly, inspiration struck. “Wait… do you want me to take care of you?”

Yu Jingmo: “…” Now he understood how Tian Ruan got confused about their roles.

He handed the phone back but gripped Tian Ruan’s narrow waist, lifting him slightly. “Then take care of *this*.”

Tian Ruan happened to be sitting right on it. “…”

Yu Jingmo looked at him lazily. “Well?”

Tian Ruan’s face burned. “Didn’t we already… last night and today…?”

“A different kind of attention. Like what I do to you.” Yu Jingmo tapped his soft lips, voice low and tender. “Okay?”

Tian Ruan nipped at his finger before giving a shy nod.