Chapter 68: Return to Roots

Chapter 68: Coming Full Circle

Perhaps from the prolonged night wind, their lips were cool, yet incredibly soft.

Xu Xingli didn't know how to kiss; he simply pressed his lips gently against the other's, closing his eyes and feeling the increasingly erratic breathing of the person beside him.

He only opened his eyes when he realized the other's breathing was becoming more and more rapid. In an instant, he met Xu Zhou's deep, dark gaze.

Xu Xingli's heart stopped, his pupils constricted for a moment, and he instantly panicked. But in the next second, he composed himself, subtly pulled his lips away from Xu Zhou's, and was about to stubbornly say, "I just wanted to experience what kissing feels like," when Xu Zhou's hand covered the back of his neck.

Before he could react, a pushing force pulled his head down. Just like that, unprepared, he kissed Xu Zhou on the lips again.

He immediately widened his eyes, and Xu Zhou didn't close his either. They stared intently at each other, their lips still moving.

As if by magic, Xu Xingli couldn't tear his gaze away from Xu Zhou's eyes, and he could feel the other person somewhat roughly licking his lips.

Unlike the temperature of his own lips, Xu Zhou's tongue was frighteningly hot, and even softer and wetter. With a slight scent of alcohol and a cool woody fragrance, it licked his taut lips again and again.

No aversion, no disgust. He didn't resist Xu Zhou.

And he rather liked it.

"Then just try it..."

Jian Ran's words once again echoed in his ears at an inconvenient moment.

As if on impulse, Xu Xingli opened his mouth.

Xu Zhou seemed to smile, then quickly deepened the kiss.

Their positions had swapped at some point; Xu Xingli was forced to tilt his head slightly by the hand on his neck, allowing Xu Zhou to kiss him, while Xu Zhou closed his eyes.

After Xu Xingli opened his mouth, Xu Zhou's movements became much gentler, his tongue slowly exploring the other's canines.

As if enchanted, Xu Xingli tentatively extended his tongue as well.

Feeling his action, Xu Zhou seemed to freeze for a moment, then reacted, stopping the kiss, cupping Xu Xingli's face, and separating their lips.

Xu Xingli's cheeks were flushed, his pink tongue peeking out from between his lips, and he looked up at him, his gaze puzzled.

Xu Zhou let out a sigh of relief, his voice hoarse as he spoke: "I thought you were going to run out of breath."

Xu Xingli: "..."

He pushed Xu Zhou away, turned his head, and angrily retorted, "I'm not as weak as you think!"

Xu Zhou chuckled softly, but said nothing. But a few seconds later, Xu Xingli felt warmth on his collarbone again.

As soon as he turned his head, Xu Zhou leaned over and kissed him. Xu Zhou repeated his previous action, constantly rubbing his lips against his.

Fortunately, there was only the driver in the car besides them, otherwise Xu Xingli would have beaten Xu Zhou to a pulp.

Xu Xingli turned his head away, put his hand on Xu Zhou's lips, and coldly refused, "No more kissing."

Xu Zhou gazed deeply at him: "We're not done with the last one yet."

Xu Xingli turned around, his tone indifferent: "It's over. You ended it yourself."

Xu Zhou said: "I was worried about you. That doesn't count as ending it."

Xu Xingli ignored him: "It's over. I'm not in the mood for it anymore."

Xu Zhou lowered his eyes and said nothing. Xu Xingli thought he had realized his mistake, but the next moment, Xu Zhou leaned his head on his shoulder.

"If I pretend to sleep again, and you actively kiss me, will that pique your interest?" Xu Zhou asked.

Xu Xingli: "..."

He reasonably suspected Xu Zhou was faking being drunk.

He tilted his head to look at Xu Zhou's face, only to find that Xu Zhou had indeed closed his eyes.

"..." He pursed his lips, gently moved his shoulder, and said, "Stop pretending, I won't kiss you."

But this time, the only response was even, steady breathing, and a slight furrowing of his brow, disturbed by the movement.

Xu Zhou's lips became even redder from kissing, and a small piece of skin on the right side was broken, slowly oozing blood. He didn't know when he had bitten it.

Xu Xingli's heart clenched. When he came to his senses again, he had already lowered his head and kissed away the bead of blood on Xu Zhou's lips.

By the time he had sent Xu Zhou home and returned to the convenience store, his mind was filled with four big words – Absurd! Crazy!

He had kissed Xu Zhou...

Kissed...

KISSED!

And it was a deep, tongue-on-tongue kiss!

He had even bitten Xu Zhou's lip. And they had no relationship whatsoever now.

Most importantly, he didn't dislike it one bit.

Jian Ran's words came back to haunt him again.

Want to try?

Anyway, no matter what, he was going to fall for this person. Now his first kiss was also gone. Thinking of his first kiss, he seemed to return to that dimly lit, ambiguous bus, where he and Xu Zhou were practically choking each other as they kissed, and his heart pounded uncontrollably, almost jumping out of his chest.

He hadn't expected Xu Zhou, who seemed cold, to have such warm and comfortable lips to kiss.

Xu Xingli unconsciously began to savor the memory, and licked his lips.

Deep down, he still liked Xu Zhou.

Realizing this, Xu Xingli irritably ran a hand through his hair.

Should he confess? No. Xu Zhou hadn't openly confessed to him, so how could he be the first to surrender?

Thinking of this, Xu Xingli nodded, determined to forget what had happened today. Nothing had happened, and Xu Zhou's lips weren't even that good to kiss anyway.

But this was not an easy task. The next day was a holiday, and Xu Xingli went straight back to his dorm after work. A Che was already up and getting ready to go out.

Seeing him return, A Che greeted him, and just as he was about to leave, he remembered something and poked his head back inside.

"Starry, you didn't come back yesterday. Auntie gave me the letter, I put it on your desk. Check it out."

Xu Xingli raised an eyebrow and nodded in acknowledgment.

Xu Zhou wrote him a letter yesterday?

He didn't bother to rest, quickly walked to his desk, and picked up the envelope.

This time, the wax seal was a rose gold galaxy.

He skillfully opened it, expecting the usual content, but to his surprise, a delicate, brand-new ring fell out.

Xu Xingli was stunned for a moment, and it took him a while to bend down and pick up the ring. Then he quickly unfolded the letter, his gaze sweeping over it, and saw the five big words at the beginning of the letter – Dear Xing.

Looking further down, his heart once again beat uncontrollably, violently pounding against his chest, a rush of heat surged to his brain, and his temperature soared.

The content of the letter was as follows:

[Dear Xing:

This is a belated love letter.

I love you, I love you very much.

I know you heard my confession last night. It was my mistake, but I don't want to wait any longer.

You are too good. So good that I feel if I wait one more day, you will be taken by someone else. You can have many people, but I can only see you.

I have done many wrong things, I don't ask for your forgiveness, but I ask for your affection.

Love or hate. Love and hate are best, so you won't forget me.

Although you have always refused to admit it, I can feel that you have feelings for me. Because we are both the same, loving too tiredly.

I know your concerns, so I will dispel them now.

I have only loved you from beginning to end. And I will only love you. Every past letter I have told you I love you.

I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.

Did you hear? I love you to the point of going crazy.

Can I have your affection?

The only Starry in the world.

Remember to be happy.

—Xu Zhou]

Xu Xingli was completely bewildered.

This was an intensely emotional love letter that directly scrambled his brain.

He could barely breathe, staring at it blankly for a long time. Finally, his gaze landed on one sentence.

"Every past letter I have told you I love you."

Seeing this, he suddenly realized something, and immediately bent down to find his suitcase, opened it, and pulled out the past letters.

He casually opened one, flattened it, and examined it carefully. The desk blocked most of the sunlight, and Xu Xingli squinted, holding the letter up to the light.

Then he froze.

Through the light, the hidden secrets on the letter paper completely emerged.

The entire paper, every line, was densely filled with three words—

I love you.

Xu Xingli's hands began to tremble.

He threw this one down and hurriedly opened another letter. Each one was filled with hidden writing. More than half were "I love you," and the remaining part was sometimes "Xingxing," and sometimes "Xing."

He was very popular here, and he had been fiercely pursued and confessed to, but none of them came close to this letter.

Over the past two years, he had thought a lot. People's personalities vary; some are gentle with those they like, some are mean to their lovers, and some like to control.

Xu Zhou was such a person, he had known that for a long time. Growing up in the superficial family relationships of the Xu family, Xu Zhou's personality problems were actually very obvious—obsessive-compulsive disorder and paranoia. He liked to plan everything, and he liked to control everything. Especially things that belonged to him.

From the moment he fell in love with Xu Zhou, he should have prepared for everything, and the previous conflicts were just him sulking with himself and Xu Zhou.

What truly made him confront his feelings again was when Jian Ran mentioned Xu Ming and Ye Jiating during dinner.

At that time, Duan Yi went to pay the bill, and Jian Ran was holding a cup of soda, when he suddenly remembered something while scrolling on his phone, and looked up at Xu Xingli opposite him.

"Li, I want to tell you something."

Xu Xingli was staring blankly at the pinky ring on his left hand, and just nodded absently when he heard him.

Jian Ran looked at him, blinked, and frowned slightly, pondering for a moment before speaking: "Do you know that Xu Ming and Ye Jiating are going to court again?"

Hearing the keywords, Xu Xingli suddenly looked up, staring straight at him, and asked, "Court? Did they appeal?"

"No," Jian Ran shook his head, saying with some difficulty, "It's Brother Xu Zhou who sued them."

Xu Xingli's eyes widened.

Jian Ran continued: "The charge is... abuse."

He said the last two words very softly, but his tone was heavier.

Xu Xingli couldn't react: "...What?"

Jian Ran took a deep breath and said, "The surveillance video of them beating you and Brother Xu Zhou." Then he suddenly stood up, spread his arms and hugged Xu Xingli, shouting, "Li! I didn't even know! They're not human! Waaah, I should have slapped those two beasts back then! You and Brother Xu Zhou clearly didn't have to go this far!"

Xu Xingli let him hug him and cry, his body swaying gently with Jian Ran's movements, but his eyes were wide open.

He hadn't been beaten by Xu Ming in this life, so how did Xu Zhou have surveillance video? But none of that mattered, the most important thing was, Xu Zhou was also beaten??

Not from this life, Xu Xingli had roughly guessed where these surveillance videos came from; they were videos from the previous life.

But how to explain the surveillance video? Could it be that in the previous life, not only was he often beaten, but Xu Zhou was also like him?

Why? In the previous life, Xu Zhou was clearly not close to him.

His brain raced, and then he thought of a possibility.

At this moment, his neck felt as if it was tightly gripped by a large hand, with such force that he could barely breathe.

How could it be?

The mere thought of it could drive him mad.

It couldn't be like this...

He suddenly looked up, grabbed Jian Ran's arm, his eyes fixed on him, his voice terrifyingly cold: "Let me see the surveillance."

Jian Ran was startled by his tone, and Xu Xingli had to repeat it before he came to his senses.

"Uh... actually, there's nothing good to see... really. Some of it is really a bit..." Jian Ran didn't finish, but Xu Xingli forced him to continue.

"A bit what?" His light brown eyes seemed to bore a hole through Jian Ran, who surrendered in a second.

"It's just... very violent... a bit sickening..." he replied.

Xu Xingli no longer insisted on seeing the surveillance, but looked straight at him, his tone unexpectedly calm: "Then tell me, was Xu Zhou beaten because of me?"

Jian Ran froze for a moment, instinctively opened his mouth as if to deny it, but couldn't say anything.

Xu Xingli understood everything.

He suddenly stood up and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going? We still have activities this afternoon!" Jian Ran asked him from behind.

Xu Xingli walked quickly, without time to look back, and said as he walked, "I'm going to a flower shop, you don't have to wait for me, I probably won't be back tonight."

After speaking, without waiting for Jian Ran to react, Xu Xingli pushed the door open and left.

By the time he stood outside Xu Zhou's rental house with a bouquet of Evening Primroses, it was two hours later.

Evening Primroses were rare here; he had visited many flower shops and finally found them in someone's yard, buying 13 flowers.

He didn't know what he was doing, just doing a bunch of nonsensical things, and when he came to his senses, he was already standing outside the rental house.

He took a deep breath, and just as he was about to raise his hand to knock, the door suddenly opened from the inside.

His appearance startled Xu Zhou, who frowned, looking at him with a displeased expression, his tone filled with worry and a hint of anger: "Why did you suddenly run off? You didn't answer your phone, don't you know I..."

Xu Xingli didn't let him finish.

The next moment, he used the flowers to block Xu Zhou's mouth.

Tears uncontrollably welled up, Xu Xingli's nose was red, and he asked, "Xu Zhou, do you still mean what you said before?"

Xu Zhou froze in place. After an unknown amount of time, he came back to his senses, his eyes also a little red, but he smiled with hooked lips: "Of course."

His tone was gentle, and he raised his hand to wipe away Xu Xingli's tears, asking, "So, can you tell me your answer now?"