ALCSRB Chapter 72

The temperature in the restaurant gradually rose, and just as they were about to cross a certain dangerous line, an insistent phone call shattered the heated atmosphere.

Jiang Mingyi, breathless, lay half-collapsed in Shen Xingyan’s arms, his tongue feeling a bit numb as he panted softly while Shen Xingyan answered the phone.

“What is it?”

On the other end, An Shi’s slightly impatient voice came through: “It’s about time, isn’t it? You two should be heading over to the hot springs by now.”

Shen Xingyan glanced down at the flushed-faced boy in his arms, his voice pausing for a moment. “You guys go ahead.”

At that moment, Jiang Mingyi clambered up from his embrace, his ear pressed close to the phone, just in time to hear An Shi’s surprised voice.

“What’s wrong? Did our little one fall asleep again?”

“He’s awake.” Jiang Mingyi’s earlobe was given a teasing pinch, and Shen Xingyan caught the mischievous hand in an instant. “We’ll head back to the room first.”

On the other end, An Shi muttered a few complaints, telling them to hurry up, then hung up.

Jiang Mingyi tried to pull his hand back but found that Shen Xingyan’s grip was a bit too tight, so he had to ask, “Why are we going back to the room?”

Shen Xingyan’s eyes fell on the side of his neck, his gaze turning dark and deep.

“You’ll know when we get there.”

Suspicion lingering all the way back, Jiang Mingyi stepped into the room — and froze as soon as he turned his head.

In the mirror, he clearly saw a dark red hickey on his neck, so glaringly obvious that it was impossible to pretend not to see it.

Shen Xingyan cleared his throat twice. Seeing Jiang Mingyi glaring at him, he pulled the corners of his lips into a small smile.

“I remember you carry a little box of band-aids with you. Now’s the perfect time to use one.”

“How could you do this?” Jiang Mingyi nearly lost it. “We agreed on a kiss on the lips — why’d you kiss my neck instead? Now look, anyone with eyes can tell exactly what this is!”

He poked at his own neck. His fair, delicate fingertip pressed next to the purplish-red mark, creating such a sharp contrast that it stirred something in Shen Xingyan’s chest.

Pushing down the restless desire bubbling up, Shen Xingyan stepped forward and half-wrapped an arm around his waist, soothing him in a gentle voice: “It’s fine. Stick on a band-aid, and people will just think you scraped yourself by accident — no one will guess it’s a hickey.”

“Why do you sound so unconvincing?” Jiang Mingyi squished Shen Xingyan’s handsome face with his hands, eyes wide and full of annoyance. “You can’t possibly think we can pull this trick every single time.”

They’d already done this at home several times lately. To keep Su Wanxin and Shen Jili from noticing, Jiang Mingyi had been changing his band-aids daily.

For that, he’d even bought a box of cute cartoon band-aids to make it look more ‘innocent.’

When Su Wanxin asked about it, he’d brushed it off with, “I think they’re adorable — like tattoos.”

Su Wanxin didn’t read too much into it. As long as he wasn’t actually hurting himself, she was fine with it.

But Jiang Mingyi felt guilty as hell.

Shen Xingyan gave a tiny, embarrassed cough. “I’ll pay more attention next time.”

“That’s even less convincing.” Jiang Mingyi rolled his eyes. He’d heard that promise so many times — never once kept.

“Then next time, when I can’t help myself, I won’t kiss your neck. I’ll kiss your stomach instead — it’ll be covered by clothes, so you won’t have to worry about anyone seeing it.”

“No way.” Jiang Mingyi rejected him immediately.

“Why not?” Shen Xingyan looked at him, puzzled.

“If it’s on my neck, at least I can’t see it — I can pretend it’s not there,” Jiang Mingyi said, frowning. “If it’s on my stomach, every time I lift my shirt I’ll see it. That’s so embarrassing.”

Hearing what he was actually fretting about, Shen Xingyan almost laughed out loud — but managed to hold it in.

In the end, with no other choice, Jiang Mingyi still had to pull out a band-aid and stick it right over that big, glaring hickey on his neck.

Perfect — the size was just right.

It felt practically custom-made.

He checked himself carefully in the mirror, making sure nothing would show before finally letting out a long breath of relief.

Standing beside him, Shen Xingyan couldn’t help but find his nervous fussing amusing.

“An Shi and the others know about us. You don’t have to be so worried.”

“Who cares about them?” Jiang Mingyi shot back without even turning his head.

Shen Xingyan raised an eyebrow. “So you’re worried about Pei Mingyue and the others?”

His fingers paused mid-way through adjusting his collar. Meeting Shen Xingyan’s eyes in the mirror, Jiang Mingyi suddenly asked, “Big Brother Pei looks so aloof and cold — do you think he’ll be really unaccepting?”

“No.” Shen Xingyan shook his head. Seeing Jiang Mingyi’s surprised look, he explained, “He’s just naturally reserved — doesn’t mean he doesn’t understand feelings.”

“What do you mean?” Jiang Mingyi turned to face him. “Big Brother Pei actually gets feelings?”

That big ice block of a man — he understands feelings?

Shen Xingyan immediately read the disbelief on his face. “He’s just used to hiding everything in his heart — never lets others see it easily. It doesn’t mean he’s heartless.”

“Really?”

His tone dripped with doubt.

Shen Xingyan simply countered, “If you don’t believe me, we could just tell him directly about us.”

“Let’s not do that!” Jiang Mingyi rejected the idea at once. “All these years I’ve only seen him show a little brotherly affection for Pei Shiqing — otherwise, the guy looks like he’s been frozen solid. If this were ancient times, I’d suspect he was cultivating some emotionless Dao^[1].”

“What goes on in that little head of yours…” Shen Xingyan couldn’t help but laugh as he helped him button up his shirt. “Emotionless Dao — really, only you would come up with that.”

Jiang Mingyi chuckled cheekily. “So, ge — what kind of person do you think he’d like?”

“That’s hard to say.” Shen Xingyan mulled it over for a moment. “All these years, I’ve never seen him take interest in anyone.”

“I asked what kind of person he would like.” Jiang Mingyi emphasized stubbornly.

“Probably someone with a gentle personality.”

---

They’d booked a private hot spring pool.

The private pool was set on a slightly elevated part of the mountain — the surroundings were tranquil, with many trees planted around.

Their particular spot was surrounded by a lush grove of green bamboo, forming a little bamboo garden.

Directly above the hot spring was a bamboo canopy that blocked out the sun completely overhead.

A gentle breeze rustled through, bringing with it the soft rustling sound of the bamboo leaves.

“It’s so nice and cool up here.”

The moment they stepped in, Jiang Mingyi felt the summer heat vanish at once, replaced by a refreshing coolness that was utterly relaxing.

An Shi saw the two of them arriving so late and waved at them, “You two are ridiculously slow. The changing room is over there — go get your robes on.”

The hot spring villa provided bathrobes suitable for soaking. The two of them went into the changing room, took off their clothes, and slipped into the robes.

When they came back out, the others were already soaking in the hot spring.

Jiang Mingyi instantly felt eager too. He was just about to step into the water when Shen Xingyan grabbed his wrist.

“Careful — it’s a bit wet here, easy to slip.”

Jiang Mingyi let out a small “Oh” and, holding onto Shen Xingyan’s steady hand, stepped gingerly into the water with a soft splash.

The spring was pretty hot — he needed a moment to get used to it.

Right after, Shen Xingyan slipped in behind him.

This private pool was large enough that even with all six of them, there was still plenty of room to stretch out.

An Shi and An Jiancheng had claimed a corner for themselves, heads resting against each other, whispering who-knows-what — Jiang Mingyi could faintly hear An Shi giggling from time to time.

He glanced over just once, then looked away.

He turned to Pei Shiqing and said to Shen Xingyan, “Ge, I’m gonna go chat with Shiqing for a bit. You should go talk with Big Brother Pei.”

Shen Xingyan hadn’t expected him to ditch him the second they got in the water. For a moment, he fell silent.

Watching the boy wade away toward Pei Shiqing, he swallowed down the urge to call him back.

Jiang Mingyi walked across the smooth pebble floor, stopping a meter away from Pei Mingyue. He said, “Pei-ge , my ge has something to talk to you about.”

Pei Shiqing blinked in surprise, catching the meaningful glance Jiang Mingyi tossed at him.

“Ge, since Shen-ge wants to talk to you, you should go over. I’ll chat with Xiao Yi for a bit.”

Pei Mingyue’s gaze lingered on the two of them for a second before he gave the faintest nod.

Ripples spread as he moved away. Once he was gone, Jiang Mingyi plopped himself down next to Pei Shiqing.

“My ge probably won’t expose my nonsense lie, right?”

Off in the distance, they could see Shen Xingyan saying something to Pei Mingyue — Pei Mingyue turned back to glance at them.

Pei Shiqing gave an awkward laugh. “Doesn’t look like he will.”

On the other side —

Shen Xingyan lounged lazily against the stone edge, his arms resting on the rim of the pool. The mist had dampened his black hair a little, softening the sharp lines of his features.

Half-lidded eyes lifted as Pei Mingyue came over. He teased lightly, “What’s this — your brother doesn’t want you anymore?”

Pei Mingyue’s eyes landed on the two boys not far away — his gaze was cool, just a brief glance before shifting away.

His clear, chilly voice sounded. “You ought to rein in your own brother.”

“If you can’t stand being apart from your brother, you’re welcome to turn right back around,” Shen Xingyan raised a brow, a trace of annoyance in his tone. “Personally, I think your brother’s the one hogging my Xiao Yi.”

Pei Mingyue’s brow furrowed, but only slightly. He didn’t turn back — instead, he settled down beside Shen Xingyan.

The warm spring water rose to their waists, wrapping them in a comfortable heat.

He rested his arms on the stone rim too, his voice calm and unreadable. “You and your brother seem… a little different.”

“Different how?” Shen Xingyan turned to look at him.

“When I saw you two at the fishing lodge last time, you weren’t this… clingy.”

Pei Mingyue mulled over his choice of words for a moment, and in the end, he could only come up with one adjective he felt was apt enough.

“You’re not… jealous of the bond between me and my brother, are you?”

Shen Xingyan suddenly recalled what Jiang Mingyi had said not long ago. Pei Mingyue did indeed look aloof and indifferent, his emotions seldom visible — but as an old friend for many years, Shen Xingyan could still sense the feelings hidden beneath that cold mask.

Pei Mingyue fell silent.

“My relationship with Xiao Yi is really good. Even if you’re jealous, it’s useless,” Shen Xingyan said, a note of smugness sneaking into his voice. “After all, no matter how close you are with your own brother, it could never be as intimate as ours.”

As intimate as ours.

Hearing that, Pei Mingyue’s brows furrowed deeply. “What do you mean by that?”

Shen Xingyan didn’t mince his words: “We’re in a romantic relationship now.”

Pei Mingyue’s pupils shrank ever so slightly.

Those few casual words carried a meaning that made his heart jolt.

Shen Xingyan went on, “No matter how strong brotherly affection is, it’ll eventually fade with time. It can never compare to the intimacy between lovers.”

He shot a smug, almost flamboyant smile at Pei Mingyue, who was still reeling in shock. “Now you really have a reason to envy me.”

“You two…”

Shen Xingyan cut him off, “We’re not blood brothers. Since we have feelings for each other, it’s only natural for us to become a couple.”

Pei Mingyue was silent for a moment. “True. You’re not related by blood. And Jiang Mingyi’s household registration isn’t even under the Shen family — your relationship isn’t shackled by any worldly moral constraints.”

He hadn’t felt jealous before, but now, hearing Shen Xingyan openly admit to being lovers with Jiang Mingyi, he truly did feel a twinge of envy.

His gaze drifted quietly toward Pei Shiqing, who was beaming with innocent delight.

The bright youth’s every smile and frown was so pure, so captivating.

But… they were different.

Ethical constraints wrapped around Pei Mingyue like chains — he could never be as reckless and free as Shen Xingyan.