Chapter 29

Chapter 29

After coming down from the mountain and having lunch, they headed to the largest ecological forest in the area. The steep ticket price, which seemed unreasonable, kept a lot of tourists away, but unexpectedly, the scenery inside was picturesque, as beautiful as the Peach Blossom Spring.

Rows of tall metasequoia trees lined the lake. With the car's sunroof wide open, Jiang Jining fell asleep right in Fu Yuze's arms.

After waking up from their nap, the two began feeding the swans.

"These swans are quite plump this time."

Jiang Jining tossed pieces of bread one by one, turning to Fu Yuze and saying, "Much cuter than the koi at home."

"Now that you've fed the swans, don't go overfeeding my fish to death."

Fu Yuze was quick to retort.

The two playfully bickered for a while. Jiang Jining and Fu Yuze went to the fishing lake for a contest, each with a rod. When time was up, Jiang Jining took one look and counted the several fish he'd caught, thrilled.

"A deal's a deal!"

"Impressive." Fu Yuze plucked a small blade of grass that had stuck to his hair. "You beat me."

The penalty was that Fu Yuze had to handle everything by himself: renting the barbecue equipment, cleaning the tools, and preparing the ingredients. He occasionally glanced at Jiang Jining, who was still diligently fishing in the distance, and picked out a few of the fish Jiang Jining had caught himself.

They weren't hard to distinguish.

Jiang Jining had won by sheer quantity.

For some reason, all his fish were quite small, but he caught one after another. They stood out clearly among the larger fish Fu Yuze had caught. He carefully cleaned, marinated, and prepared them.

As dusk fell, the two sat at a table with two chairs, enjoying the sunset and the delicious meal.

Today, darkness fell quickly, and it was easy to lose track of time while having fun. Thus, a jet-black SUV had been sitting parked outside the large villa for some time.

"Is everyone in the yard?" Jiang Jining leaned against the car window and asked Fu Yuze, who had just returned from scouting. When Fu Yuze confirmed, Jiang Jining got out and said, "Wait a while longer before coming in."

Fu Yuze didn't mind. "It's dark, watch out for stones."

"Got it."

Jiang Jining walked off, his steps light.

Fu Yuze watched him go, then bent down and sat back in the car, his long legs apart. He tilted his head back for a short rest, waiting a full thirty minutes.

His phone vibrated in his palm.

Kitten: "Come back quickly."

Fu Yuze put away his phone and very properly went through the motions, ringing the doorbell. Soon someone came to let him in.

Everyone was still gathered in the yard.

The moment they saw him, they greeted him warmly.

Ji Huan also asked him, "Why did you send A Ning back first?"

"Ran into an acquaintance and had an extra drink. Didn't want to disturb his early sleep." Fu Yuze spontaneously covered for his little boyfriend. "I'll head upstairs first."

"Bye~"

Everyone watched as he left.

A ready-made new topic arose. The employees chatted with Ji Huan about Fu Yuze, jokingly asking about his relationship status.

"It won't be long now."

Ji Huan smiled without saying much. "I'll head off first. I played all day today, need to rest early."

So, everyone gradually headed back to their rooms.

Jiang Jining was even more so. He returned to his room early and started yawning, forcing himself to stay awake to finish his shower. He nearly fell asleep halfway through blow-drying his hair.

"Knock, knock..."

Jiang Jining put down the hair dryer.

After opening the door, he thought, "As expected," and said seriously, "What are you doing?"

"Coming to sleep." Fu Yuze directly closed the door behind him.

"You—"

Seeing that he had really come in, a faint flicker of surprise passed through Jiang Jining's eyes.

"Finished showering." Fu Yuze hooked the U-shaped pillow he brought, grabbed the blanket Jiang Jining had used during his nap from the sofa, and tossed everything onto the carpet. He tilted his head, indicating, "I'll sleep here."

Boundaries were being broken again and again.

Jiang Jining simply didn't know what to say. "Why don't you sleep in your own place?"

"I'm not used to sleeping in the same building with strangers."

Fu Yuze was speaking from the heart. He added, "I could also go find a hotel outside to stay now. Will you accompany me?"

A nighttime rendezvous!

This was too shameless.

A look of disbelief appeared in Jiang Jining's eyes. "...No."

Fu Yuze realized his words were ambiguous and said, "Two rooms."

"...Forget it." Jiang Jining really didn't want to go out in the middle of the night. After a moment of hesitation, he turned around. "Then... you can sleep on the floor."

Fu Yuze walked over and took the hair dryer from him. "I'll do it."

Jiang Jining placed his hands on the table, his fingers nervously scratching. The gentle force in his hair... it was quite embarrassing to admit, but he always felt as if it were touching his own body.

His heart grew increasingly restless.

He looked up and saw Fu Yuze in the mirror, serious and calm.

Jiang Jining: "..."

Could you please not sleep in my room?

This sentence carried a hint of annoyance, but he ultimately didn't say it out loud. He slowly laid his head on the table, resigning himself to his fate.

Fu Yuze combed his hair for him. Seeing him slumped on the table, he patted his bottom. "Alright, go sleep in bed."

Jiang Jining froze, staring at him in wide-eyed shock. "How could you hit me..."

He was too embarrassed to even say the word.

"Hit me back," Fu Yuze said.

Jiang Jining paid him no mind. Treating him like a dangerous beast, he immediately took a few steps back, took off his shoes, climbed into bed, burrowed under the covers, and lay down, mumbling sullenly, "...I'm going to sleep."

"Okay."

Fu Yuze set about arranging his own bedding, reached up to adjust the room lighting to sleep mode, and then asked, accommodating Jiang Jining's habits: "Should I turn them all off?"

A soft "Mm-hmm" floated over from not far away.

The whole room went dark with one click.

As they lay down, they could hear each other's faint breathing nearby.

About five minutes later, rustling sounds came from the nearby bed.

In the moonlight,

Fu Yuze caught sight of a little cat peeking its head out.

Jiang Jining was curled up under the quilt, a conflicted expression on his face, with only a pair of stunningly beautiful eyes visible, and asked softly, "...Aren't you cold without a proper pad under you?"

Fu Yuze's heart felt warm and fuzzy.

But when he sat up, Jiang Jining hurriedly burrowed deeper under the covers, saying, "Don't you dare come up here."

"Okay."

Fu Yuze hadn't planned to go up anyway.

Jiang Jining's shyness and cuteness exceeded his imagination. He admired it for a few seconds in the blue-white moonlight, then took two throw pillows from the sofa and shook them out into blankets.

Jiang Jining watched him perform this little magic trick, turned slightly to press his cheek into the pillow, and watched as Fu Yuze lay down and covered himself with two layers of the small blankets.

"Hmph..."

Jiang Jining couldn't help but let out a laugh.

Since he wouldn't be scolded anyway, he didn't hide or shy away even when caught, blinking twice from under the covers.

Did this guy really have to make things so difficult for himself?

Yes.

Fu Yuze rested one hand behind his head and lifted the other to touch Jiang Jining through the quilt. "Still laughing."

Jiang Jining laughed again.

Just as Fu Yuze was about to fall asleep—he felt a warm touch on his hand, then a soft, delicate hand slowly crept over his knuckles, found his fingers, and gently fitted into his larger palm.

Without opening his eyes, Fu Yuze closed his hand around it, his fingertips playing with the cautiously moving fingers.

Jiang Jining: "..."

"Sneakily touching me," Fu Yuze accused him.

Jiang Jining felt a little guilty and mumbled, "Why aren't you asleep yet?"

Fu Yuze tightened his grip on his hand and declared, "Going to sleep now."

Jiang Jining: "Mm."

But he couldn't quite fall asleep.

He wasn't used to sharing a room with someone.

Fu Yuze had been all lovey-dovey with him all day, and now he was lying beside him at night... It was really testing his self-control.

Jiang Jining was worried Fu Yuze might climb onto the bed. His idea was to hold hands, to lock him in place, so he could wake up immediately if there was any movement during the night, though it sounded a bit bad to put it that way.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Fu Yuze's character.

It's just...

Jiang Jining's other hand, under the quilt, happened to be resting on his lower abdomen. He blinked, starting to worry alone.

What if?

How could they share a bed?

If he had a child, it would probably be a daughter. People often said little girls tend to resemble their fathers more... Fu Yuze was so good-looking, what kind of lovely appearance would their little girl have?

Thinking like this...

Jiang Jining succumbed to sleepiness and drifted into dreamland.

Half-asleep, their tightly clasped hands loosened slightly. A hint of coolness crept onto his fingertips, but just as he wanted to explore it, it was covered again by the warmth of a scorching palm.

He slept soundly until daybreak.

Sunlight scattered sparsely across the foot of the bed. Outside the window, the greenery was lush, and the natural birdsong alarm was crisp and pleasant.

"Buzz... Buzz..."

His watch alarm sounded.

Jiang Jining pushed himself up, blocking the sunlight that happened to fall on his eyelashes, and swiped to check the message.

Bian Jiacheng had sent two airplane emojis: 「Looking forward to me coming back?」

Sending anything else was too much trouble.

Jiang Jining casually replied: 「Mm.」

On the other end, Bian Jiacheng instantly replied as if injected with adrenaline: 「Already on the plane (sunglasses.jpg)」

Jiang Jining didn't take it too seriously and placed the watch on the quilt.

The room was quiet.

Empty except for him.

The throw pillows on the sofa were neatly arranged, and the carpet was also tidied up spotlessly.

Fu Yuze always liked to clean up without leaving a trace.

Jiang Jining knew for certain that last night hadn't been a dream. He smiled, and as he pushed back the covers to get out of bed, his eyes were caught by another flash.

He slowly raised his hand.

Jiang Jining stared at the object that had suddenly appeared on his ring finger—a single, utterly pure blue gemstone, like a mermaid's tear from ancient mythology, dazzling at the center of the swirling band. The band itself featured a retro, hollowed-out design, uniquely crafted.

Whether in bright light or dimness,

it was a beauty impossible to look away from.

Jiang Jining could hardly think. This stone was identical to the Paraíba he had once seen in an advertisement.

Perhaps even more stunning.

Why was it on his hand?

Had Fu Yuze put it on while he was asleep?

Before joy could surface, anxiety flooded his heart. Without any hesitation, Jiang Jining took it off.

"Click—"

The door unlocked just then.

Fu Yuze clearly saw Jiang Jining removing the ring. He approached, sat down, and took his hand. "I thought you'd like it."

After all, he had stared at his sister-in-law's ring for so long last time.

Among the jewelry Fu Yuze had given Jiang Jining, many were set with gold, gemstones, or jade, some of comparable value to this ring.

Jiang Jining didn't answer directly. Gently pulling his hand free, he returned the ring exactly as it was.

"...I can't accept this."

Fu Yuze drew him closer and asked softly, "Give me a reason for refusing."

How could he accept it!

Jiang Jining's mind was crystal clear.

He thought, the meaning of a ring is different from other jewelry. Can't they just have a proper, straightforward relationship?