Chapter 83

Chapter 83

Gu Jinglan took the desserts and Fujian cuisine takeout from Qi Yanyu and turned to walk back into the living room of the suite.

His laptop sat on the low coffee table beside the sofa, suggesting Gu Jinglan had been working on assignments earlier.

Qi Yanyu sat next to him while Gu Jinglan ate.

"Is it authentic? Does it taste like Fujian cuisine?" Qi Yanyu asked.

Gu Jinglan's eyes darkened slightly. "I can't really tell." Qi Yanyu thought that was weird—how could he not tell?

"Wasn’t your grandma’s cooking Fujianese?"

"She cooked Cantonese."

"Oh, sorry," Qi Yanyu chuckled at his own mistake. Gu Jinglan noticed that Qi Yanyu’s fingers had a slight flush, likely from drinking a little. He paused before asking, "Why do you reek of alcohol?"

"Do I?" Qi Yanyu sniffed himself. His jacket was at the cleaners, but maybe the lingering smoke and alcohol from dinner had soaked in. "Probably from being there too long."

"How did you get back?" Gu Jinglan picked at his food. Jiang Tiyan had just sent him a short video clip.

In the video, Jiang Tiyan was driving, and the timestamp showed it was taken just past 10:30 PM. Beside him was Qi Yanyu, asleep. The clothes he wore in the video were clearly the same jacket and long-sleeved shirt he had on when he left earlier.

"By taxi," Qi Yanyu replied, poking a straw into the milk tea he bought from the dessert shop and handing it to Gu Jinglan. Then he took a sip of his own herbal tea.

Gu Jinglan asked, "Were all the people at dinner your family?"

"Not all," Qi Yanyu dodged the question. "Some were... uh, classmates."

Qi Yanyu had been out for over three hours. Jiang Tiyan sending him that kind of video and text might have been an attempt to mislead him.

But perhaps Qi Yanyu had simply dined with his family and Jiang Tiyan as well. After all, hadn’t Qi Yanyu mentioned before that their families knew each other?

Gu Jinglan didn’t eat much, even though Qi Yanyu had ordered three dishes and a soup.

Qi Yanyu asked him, "Were you bored here?"

"It’s fine," Gu Jinglan replied, glancing at Qi Yanyu. There were no bruises on his neck, just a faint scent of alcohol, and his face was flushed, warm like steamed shrimp.

"Sorry, I’ll come back earlier next time," Qi Yanyu said sincerely. Despite his usual arrogance, he still understood the guilt of leaving his lover alone in the hotel.

Hearing this apology, Gu Jinglan’s mood improved slightly.

"Did you eat enough earlier?" he asked, checking in on Qi Yanyu.

"Yeah, I had Buddha Jumps Over the Wall soup—it had rice wine in it. It was pretty good." Qi Yanyu smiled, maybe buzzed or just happy. "The Fujian-style soup wasn’t bad either. I’ll take you there next time."

"Mm."

Gu Jinglan barely touched his food, so Qi Yanyu assumed he had eaten something earlier. Wanting to play League of Legends with him, Qi Yanyu suggested, "Wanna play League?"

For guys their age, gaming was a must.

"Wanna play?" Qi Yanyu then remembered something. "Did you finish your assignments? If not, you should do those first."

"If Brother Yu wants to play, we play," Gu Jinglan humored him.

Good—Brother Yu was happy. They’d booked an executive suite just for the gaming setup.

They played four or five matches, and by the time it was almost one in the morning, Gu Jinglan said he wouldn’t play anymore, sitting beside Qi Yanyu to watch for a while.

Qi Yanyu had originally queued for ranked, but Gu Jinglan told him to finish the normal game. So Qi Yanyu started a casual match, still insta-locking his ever-reliable Xin Zhao.

During champ select, a teammate started belting out lyrics in voice chat.

Gu Jinglan, no longer playing, hugged Qi Yanyu. He said he was just spectating, first smoking for a while, then suddenly bit Qi Yanyu’s neck.

Since it was a normal game, Qi Yanyu was still quite focused—even though his teammates had picked two mages and two marksmen, leaving him as the only jungler.

After being bitten by Gu Jinglan, Qi Yanyu didn’t realize what was happening. He just thought Gu Jinglan was teasing him as usual.

“Brother Yu, want to see a penta?” The enemy comp was completely within his grasp. Qi Yanyu happily left spawn, his teammates still singing—

[When I wander helplessly in place, you tell me ideals must be loved.

You tell me to hold onto my persistence, you make me understand for whom I live.

Eternity isn't just that fleeting moment, my future—thank you for letting me see.] (*Written for Huanghuai*)

“Alright. Show me Brother Yu’s stomp in low-elo norms.” Gu Jinglan watched as he cleared the jungle and happily headed top to camp the lane. Though there were fresh bite marks on his neck from earlier, traces of someone else’s perfume and smoke still lingered.

His thumb lightly pressed against Qi Yanyu’s neck, and when Qi Yanyu’s Xin Zhao died, he turned on Qi Yanyu’s mic.

Just after finishing a top 2v2, Qi Yanyu was suddenly pulled into a kiss.

Qi Yanyu had changed into loose gray sweatpants with a drawstring waist after returning to the hotel, but now they were being pulled off.

“Who hopped in voice?” Qi Yanyu’s AP teammate asked, hearing some noise.

Qi Yanyu reached to turn off the mic, but Gu Jinglan pulled his hand back. “Don’t turn it off,” he murmured against Qi Yanyu’s ear, hugging him. “Brother Yu is sitting so deep.”

When he was first pressed down, Qi Yanyu’s eyes widened slightly, nearly letting out a broken cry.

His left hand frantically searched the keyboard for the mute button. He had never used voice chat in League before and had no idea how to turn it off.

“So it’s already triple flex,” Gu Jinglan whispered by Qi Yanyu’s jaw, holding his waist. Qi Yanyu’s fingers trembled so hard he nearly threw the mouse, his voice strained through clenched teeth: “H-how do I mute this?”

“How do I mute this?” Qi Yanyu asked again, stopping in the jungle, trying to figure it out.

His teammate thought he was being asked: “Hop in voice and chat with me, dude.”

“Yeah right, I’ll chat—” Qi Yanyu snapped in frustration.

Suddenly, Qi Yanyu nearly cried out, burying his face in his arm briefly before using his right hand—now off the mouse—to pry at Gu Jinglan’s grip on his waist. “Ah—”

“Mute it first, then—” Qi Yanyu managed to choke out.

“Mute what? Your teammate wants you to chat with him.”

Gu Jinglan held him, watching his AFK champ. “Why’d you go AFK, Brother Yu? Weren’t you gonna stomp low-elo norms?”

His teammate heard Gu Jinglan’s words. “Stomp? Show me a stomp, Xin Zhao.”

Qi Yanyu had no choice but to jerk the mouse around. His jungle camps were up a minute ago—by now, he should’ve cleared half of them and rotated top to help his random teammate.

In a small, strained voice, he frowned. “I... can’t focus...”

"Why can't you do it? You can, Brother Yu," Gu Jinglan's voice was soft, but his hands told a different story.

...

When Qi Yanyu fell asleep, Gu Jinglan wrapped his arms around him from behind.

Gu Jinglan noticed that Qi Yanyu finally didn’t smell like random perfumes and other cigarette brands anymore.

As if he’d just come back from some rowdy business dinner, "Qi Yanyu,"

"Hmm?" Calling him by his full name—was there something serious?

"Do you have any exes?"

"No." Qi Yanyu asked him, "I’m sore today."

"Where does it hurt?" Gu Jinglan went stiff with worry—was it his heart again, or had he hurt himself while they were together?

"When you came on my face," Qi Yanyu said. "It got in my eyes. My eyes hurt."

Gu Jinglan finally eased up. "Then I won’t get it in your eyes next time."

There would definitely be a next time. Qi Yanyu just felt that tonight, compared to the first time, Gu Jinglan hadn’t been as gentle. Still, it had him riding that sweet edge between pleasure and pain, like the ache made him feel more alive than ever. Even his past heart and stomach pains had never felt this vividly real.

"I’ll do the same to you next time you play games," Qi Yanyu always liked to hide his truest words, using teasing grumbles to stand in for the happiness he felt inside.

"You gonna ride me next time?"

Qi Yanyu stayed quiet for a moment. "I… I can’t?"

"Then I won’t even touch the game—you know I’d choose you over any game."

The lingering effects of the yellow wine Buddha Jumps Over the Wall still hadn’t worn off, and Qi Yanyu’s fair skin flushed again.

Qi Yanyu whispered softly, "You'd better mean that."

Gu Jinglan didn’t quite catch what he said, but he knew without hearing that Qi Yanyu was muttering about him anyway.

"Next time you go out, stick to classier joints. Can you do that?" He turned the question back on Qi Yanyu.

Qi Yanyu looked guilty. "Of course. There were too many people tonight, everyone kept smoking."

"Qi Yanyu, your clothes come off so easy," Gu Jinglan played dumb. "Why? Did you wear something loose on purpose, Brother Yu?"

Qi Yanyu’s face felt like it might burn through. He tried playing dumb like a mute: "Uh uh uh, mm hmm, oh oh ah ah."

"If only you sounded that clear earlier. Why not make more noise? I like hearing Brother Yu call out."

"…"

Qi Yanyu wasn’t pretending to be mute—he was at a total loss for words. He buried his face into the fluffy pillow, lying facedown like he always did when he slept.

Seeing him curl into his usual sleeping position, clearly flustered from all the teasing, Gu Jinglan couldn’t resist pushing further: "Say something, Brother Yu. Why were you so tight-lipped the first time? I thought you were just one of those quiet types in bed."

Tight-lipped my ass.

If he’d made a scene the first time, would Gu Jinglan even have touched him?

"Talk to me, Brother Yu. Didn’t you make all those noises during League earlier?"

He was indeed grunting. After that casual match where his teammates carried him to victory, Qi Yanyu quickly logged off.

His teammates fell silent afterward, no longer speaking—though at first, they kept pestering him, trying to get a conversation going.

They called for help, asked if their singing sounded good, and wondered aloud if he even had a job.

Qi Yanyu only responded with stifled moans, holding back his voice in a strained, muffled way. He didn’t say a word. Later, the noises grew louder, and one teammate initially asked, “Did a pig get loose over there? Why are you making all those weird sounds?”

Qi Yanyu’s face was flushed crimson—it *was* like a pig being slaughtered, because Gu Jinglan was the one “doing the killing.”