Chapter 28: Stop Kissing, A Du

Chapter 28: Stop Kissing, A Du

Maybe it was just instinct.

Unlike their first kiss, this time Pei Du seemed to have figured out a rhythm.

Once the kiss was over, Chu Lanting's legs and waist had turned to jelly, and only by clinging tightly to the other man's collar could he keep himself from collapsing to the ground.

But Pei Du still didn't think once was enough. Sliding an arm around his waist, he pressed kiss after kiss onto his lips.

"Stop kissing me, A Du, I—mm—"

He raised his palm to press against the other man's lips, thinking that would make him stop.

But that only stoked the beast's desire even more.

The soft skin of his palm tickled from the kisses, and Chu Lanting instinctively curled his fingers to dodge them, only for the other man to grab his hand and kiss each long, pale finger one by one.

This was a guy who hadn't even gotten his memories back, someone who could only trail after him.

How the hell had he learned all this in just a few days apart...

"Mine. My wife."

The beast, desperate to claim its prey, finally got what it wanted.

Pei Du tightened his hold on the slim waist in his arms, letting go of the hand he'd been holding as he talked, then dipped his head to plant a loud kiss on the flushed cheek in front of him.

"Wife can't marry anyone else. Wife, let's get married, yeah?"

His low, husky voice still carried that lingering satisfaction.

Chu Lanting dodged the ticklish feeling at his neck while lifting a hand to rub his cheek.

"No. I'm not marrying anyone, and I'm not getting with anyone. Don't listen to what other people say."

He finally got the chance to finish what he'd been trying to say earlier.

Chu Lanting instinctively pressed his lips shut, and feeling the tingly, stinging sensation on them, he frowned and patted the young man clinging to him like a kid.

"Who told you I was getting married? Do you even know what getting married means?"

Even though Pei Du had called him 'wife' the second he opened his eyes, with the way his head worked, he wouldn't know what 'wife' even meant.

Even though he'd been trailing after him the whole time, and Uncle Tian had been teaching him all kinds of weird stuff, nobody had ever brought up the word 'marriage' in front of him.

Thinking about how tense things had been between them lately, and what the other man did at the factory.

Chu Lanting suddenly realized something, and his face turned complicated.

"It was A Yu's mom. She said one day wife would get married and have a baby like A Yu with wife's spouse. I don't want wife to get married. A Yu isn't cute at all."

Pei Du had only just stopped crying.

Now they looked ready to fall again.

Seeing that, Chu Lanting quickly covered his eyes with his hand. "Don't cry."

If he started crying again, he wouldn't know how to calm him down.

He definitely couldn't let him kiss him again.

The weird feeling on his lips left Chu Lanting's thoughts all tangled up.

When he didn't hear any sobbing, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He curled his finger and gave the other man a light flick on the forehead. Seeing him clutch his forehead and look back at him with teary eyes, Chu Lanting frowned and spoke.

"I'll explain it to A Yu's mom. I have no plans to find a partner or get married, so you don't have to worry about me marrying anyone."

"But there's one thing you got wrong, A Du."

"The kids here grew up drinking nutrient solutions. A single-nutrient formula can't give them balanced nutrition, so they've always been frail, and they look different from kids on developed planets."

"They're all hardworking, driven kids. You can't talk about them like that."

Before he became a full-time teacher, Chu Lanting had also volunteered to teach in mountain villages.

He had lived a hard life in his youth, so he studied desperately, striving with all his might to escape his former circumstances.

He had thought his own life was difficult enough, but when he saw the children in the mountains, he realized his hardships were nothing in comparison.

Suffering isn't something to be praised, nor is it meant for comparison.

But during his time in the mountains, he gave everything he could to the school principal.

He taught everything he knew, all for the hope of meeting those children again someday.

The children on Planet 207 were much the same as the ones he'd taught in the mountains—the only difference being that these children still had their parents by their side, while the mountain children were mostly left behind.

Pei Du came from the main planet. If not for this airship accident, he might never have known that such a backward planet existed in the vast universe.

As someone in a position of power, Pei Du could do many things, rather than stand here commenting on the children of this place.

Even if he'd only said those words carelessly, out of anger.

His words left Chu Lanting feeling heavy-hearted.

Raising his hand to ruffle his short hair, and seeing him lower his gaze with a wronged expression, Chu Lanting let out a soft sigh.

"I know you said that without thinking. I'm sorry—I was too harsh just now. Can A Du forgive me?"

Pei Du immediately shook his head at this, grabbed the hand resting on his head, pressed the back of it to his lips, and placed a gentle kiss on it. "I was wrong."

"I'm sorry, wife. I like A Yu too. I shouldn't have said she was ugly. I was just—just too angry."

Pei Du was like a mirror now.

Whatever Chu Lanting taught him, he learned.

Chu Lanting was grateful he hadn't transmigrated into the book too late—Pei Du hadn't been led astray.

With the misunderstanding cleared up, Pei Du opened up to him again and began talking to him.

Listening to the chattering voice beside him, Chu Lanting felt the tension that had been knotted in his heart for so long finally ease.

Without pulling his hand from the other man's grasp, Chu Lanting looked up at the sunlight overhead and said, "It's about time for lunch. Want to go back and eat together?"

His gentle voice rang out through the alley.

Pei Du lowered his gaze to look at the person standing before him, his eyes lingering on those lips he had kissed red, his throat bobbing slightly.

"What do you want to eat?"

"Didn't you buy that little cake from the bakery?"

"How did you know?!"

"I saw it. You've been hiding it for two days now, haven't you? If I hadn't talked to you today, how long were you gonna hide it?"

"Well, Uncle Tian said a wife needs to be coaxed. If my wife still wasn't talking to me today, I was going to break out the cake to win her over."

Under the glaring sunlight, two figures—one tall, one short—slowly emerged from the alley.

Perhaps because the sunlight overhead was too harsh, the taller man leaned slightly closer to the person beside him, his large frame shielding most of the sun.

The young man beside him paused for a moment at the gesture, then a faint smile slowly spread across his face: "Will a cake that's been hidden for two days still taste good?"

"Of course! If it's not good, I'll buy my wife a new one. I have money—I've earned a lot of it, and I'll spend it all on my wife..."