UI CH 35

On the way back, Shen Ran kept staring out of the window on his side, not saying a word to Zhao Jiyu.

Zhao Jiyu glanced at him several times. Even when they stopped at a red light and he changed the music, Shen Ran remained motionless, as if he had fallen asleep. But Zhao Jiyu could see the occasional flicker of his eyelashes.

When they arrived home and changed their shoes, Shen Ran said he was going to shower and sleep first. Zhao Jiyu stopped him,
“Wait a second—I asked Lao Wu to buy some Chinese pastries. There are also fresh sandwiches in the fridge. If you wake up early, you can heat them up and have them with milk.”

Shen Ran paused for a moment before replying,
“No need. I’ll eat out in the morning.”

As Zhao Jiyu watched him walk into the guest bedroom and then quickly head to the bathroom, he set down his car keys and was about to go to the kitchen to wash his hands when his phone suddenly rang.

Shen Ran heard Zhao Jiyu’s phone ring just before he shut the door. Locking it, he swiftly stripped off his clothes and stood under the cold shower, letting the icy water pour down over him. He only stopped when he began to shiver, then switched to warm water and started washing his hair.

The rooms in Zhao Jiyu’s home were well soundproofed, but the silence only made it harder for Shen Ran to shake off the emotions from earlier. Especially when he reached out to grab the bath sponge hanging on the wall and accidentally brushed against another one beside it.

He had only been living here for less than a month, yet Zhao Jiyu had prepared everything for him—even something as trivial as a bath sponge. He had installed an extra metal hook on the wall, hanging a blue bath sponge right next to his own white one, just for Shen Ran.

Droplets of water on his fingertips were absorbed by the bath sponge below, and for a moment, Shen Ran felt dazed. Zhao Jiyu’s question from earlier by the sea echoed in his ears again.

His first reaction at the time was that, as expected, the girl had asked Zhao Jiyu directly. His second thought, however, was a sense of guilt—though he couldn’t quite understand why he felt that way. Still, he kept a calm expression and explained himself, even turning the question back on Zhao Jiyu:

“If a stranger asked you for my WeChat, would you give it to them?”

After asking, he looked at Zhao Jiyu’s flawless face and suddenly realized something important.

With Zhao Jiyu’s outstanding appearance and overall qualities, he must never lack people trying to approach him. Maybe he didn’t even mind strangers getting his WeChat. Shen Ran wondered if his actions earlier had been completely unnecessary.

The warm water continued to cascade down his back, splashing in small droplets like a silent melody. Pushing away the unnecessary thoughts in his mind, Shen Ran took the blue bath sponge and squeezed some shower gel onto it.

By the time he finished his shower and stepped out, voices from the living room could still be heard.

Zhao Jiyu was on the phone when Shen Ran entered. Since he was still talking, Shen Ran decided to head straight to his room. Just as he was about to close the door behind him, he heard Zhao Jiyu’s cold voice say,

“That’s your business. I’m not interested.”

Though his voice was low, there was a distinct note of displeasure in it. Shen Ran hesitated for a moment before hearing Zhao Jiyu continue,

“You just need to take care of your own wife.”

Shen Ran’s gaze lingered for a moment on the light spilling from the living room into the hallway before he quietly closed the door, walked over to his bed, and let himself collapse onto it. The moment his back touched the soft mattress, it felt as if all the remaining strength in his body had been drained. He didn’t want to move at all.

Zhao Jiyu’s voice was once again muffled by the walls. Recalling the conversation he had overheard, Shen Ran couldn’t help but think it sounded like a relationship dispute.

Even though Zhao Jiyu and Yu Xuetong were only pretending to date, it was still possible that Zhao Jiyu had other entanglements. Just like that night when Shen Ran had gone drinking at a gay bar—he had unexpectedly run into Zhao Jiyu there. Even though Zhao Jiyu had explained that he was with friends, it wasn’t until now that Shen Ran realized just how little he truly knew about him.

Setting an alarm on his phone, Shen Ran turned off the bedside lamp and closed his eyes.

Just as he was beginning to drift into sleep, he heard a knock at the door, followed by Zhao Jiyu’s voice coming through faintly.

“Shen Ran, are you asleep?”

His eyelids barely lifted, and through his blurry vision, he stared at the wall beside his bed. He didn’t respond. Moments later, he heard the sound of the doorknob turning.

Zhao Jiyu didn’t step inside. He simply stood at the doorway for a while before leaving.

As the room fell silent once more, Shen Ran closed his eyes and let himself fall into a deep sleep.

Before falling asleep, Shen Ran didn’t have many thoughts on his mind, but once he did, he was pulled into a bizarre dream.

At first, he was sitting in the school library with Li Ting, studying side by side, each wearing one earbud. Someone passed by, and somehow, the earphone cord got snagged and fell out. As he bent down to pick it up, he noticed that the person had taken a seat on the chair beside him.

A white blouse was tucked into an ultra-short pleated skirt, and two long, fair legs stretched out in front of him. The person turned slightly to face him directly.

He quickly averted his gaze, determined to stay polite and avoid looking inappropriately. Just as he was about to sit upright again, the person extended a slender leg and lightly brushed it against his.

Li Ting called out to him from behind. When he turned back, the person had already stood up and was walking away. All he could see was a tall, slender figure and the swaying hem of the skirt with each step.

After that, he could no longer hear what Li Ting was saying. The scene blurred, and when it became clear again, he found himself in a movie theater, accompanying Li Ting to watch a romantic comedy.

The same figure in the white blouse and pleated skirt sat beside him again. Under the glow of the movie screen, those alluring long legs looked even smoother and more delicate. Once again, they lightly brushed against his.

He lifted his head, wanting to see clearly who this person was, but before he could, they leaned in and placed a warm kiss on his ear, whispering his name.

The voice was pleasant to the ear, but it was noticeably lower than that of most women. It sounded familiar, like he had heard it somewhere before. Then, as if pushing the limits further, the person wrapped an arm around his neck, twisted their waist, and straddled him.

The sudden face-to-face position startled him. Just as he struggled to make sense of the situation, two hands cupped his face, and the person above him lowered their head, pressing a warm and tender kiss to his lips.

The scent of the other person felt oddly familiar. When their tongues intertwined, he unconsciously closed his eyes. The other person seemed to know all his sensitive spots, teasing him skillfully in his mouth. A soft sound escaped his lips as his hands gripped the other’s slender waist.

The dialogue from the movie gradually faded into the distance. Soon, all he could hear was the gentle crashing of waves against the shore. The kiss finally ended, and as he opened his eyes, he saw an endless ocean stretching beneath the night sky.

Somehow, the person’s white blouse had come undone, four buttons left open, revealing a glimpse of their toned figure. They pushed back the strands of hair that had been tousled by the sea breeze. When they noticed his gaze lingering on their chest, they let out a low chuckle before leaning in to kiss him again.

The kiss ignited something deep within him, an impulse he shouldn’t have had. Acting on it, he wrapped his arms around them and flipped their positions, pressing the other down beneath him.

Now that they had switched positions, their face was finally illuminated by the dim moonlight. At last, he could clearly see their features—but just as he did, a massive wave suddenly crashed against the ship, sending his body into a weightless freefall. A sharp pain shot through him, and in an instant, he woke up.

When he opened his eyes, he was still dazed. It wasn’t until the throbbing pain at the back of his head became distinct that he realized he had fallen to the floor.

Sitting up while rubbing the sore spot on his head, he saw that his dark blue blanket was half-hanging off the bed, and one of his slippers was crushed under his hip.

He hadn’t expected to roll off the bed in his sleep. Still massaging the painful bump, Shen Ran climbed back into bed, intending to go back to sleep.

But after lying there for only a few moments, he opened his eyes again. Frustration welled up inside him as he pulled back the blanket to check something.

His irritation only deepened.

Rolling onto his back, he reached under his pillow and pulled out his phone. It was just past 3 AM. After hesitating for a moment, he glanced toward the door.

At this time, Zhao Jiyu should be asleep. As long as he didn’t make any noise, there shouldn’t be a problem.

Pulling the blanket up to his shoulders, Shen Ran closed his eyes. Just as he was about to reach down, he suddenly remembered the dream from earlier.

In the dream, a girl wearing a white shirt and an ultra-short pleated skirt was straddling his lap, the two of them engaging in intimate actions in front of others. Before the shame could fully set in, another face flashed before his eyes.

It was the scene he saw just before waking up.

—The girl he was being intimate with had Zhao Jiyu’s face.

Shen Ran abruptly sat up in bed, staring at the part of his body that was still tense. After a moment, he raised his hand to cover his face, his mind going completely blank for a long time.

How could he dream of Zhao Jiyu?

And not just that—why was Zhao Jiyu dressed in women’s clothing?

No, that wasn’t it. It wasn’t that Zhao Jiyu was cross-dressing.

Even though it was just a dream, he could clearly recall the details. At the very end, when they were at sea, the buttons of Zhao Jiyu’s shirt had been undone, half-revealing a well-defined, undeniably full chest.

So he hadn’t dreamed of Zhao Jiyu in women’s clothing—he had dreamed of Zhao Jiyu as a woman!

The sudden realization was so shocking that it completely extinguished any lingering arousal. He tossed and turned in bed for a long time before finally figuring out why he’d had such a dream.

It must have been because of that sudden thought he had last night at the beach.

Once he made sense of it, he soon drifted off to sleep again. Fortunately, this time, there were no more dreams. The next morning, he had almost overslept and been late. But when he hurriedly opened the door to the secondary bedroom, he noticed that Zhao Jiyu’s room was still shut, indicating that he was probably still asleep.

After washing up, Shen Ran headed to work. At noon, during his lunch break, he went to Zheng Mingjin’s house to pick up his computer. Zheng Mingjin’s mother hadn’t seen him in a while and insisted on having him stay for lunch.

In the afternoon, he was busy at the store. It wasn’t until evening, after finishing his shift, that he finally had some free time. Taking off his apron, he checked his phone and found that Zhao Jiyu hadn’t contacted him all day.

On the way home, he dozed off again on the swaying bus. By the time he arrived at his stop, the sky was completely dark. Walking on the bright-lit pavement, he headed toward the residential entrance of the business center.

Zhao Jiyu had set up an identification system for him, so he could now access non-public areas with fingerprint scanning. Even entering Zhao Jiyu’s home was as simple as scanning his fingerprint and entering a passcode.

With two soft beeping sounds, the heavy wooden door unlocked and swung open, revealing the brightly lit interior. Lao Wu poked his head out from the kitchen.
“Wash your hands, and dinner will be ready.”

Sitting on the bench in the entryway, Shen Ran changed his shoes while glancing at the shoe cabinet. Zhao Jiyu’s sports slippers were neatly stored inside. Walking into the kitchen, he asked,
“Is he not home?”

“He had something to do,”
Lao Wu said while adjusting the seasoning for the ginseng chicken soup.
“You’re eating alone tonight.”

After washing his hands, Shen Ran sat at the dining table, staring at the four dishes and soup in front of him.
“Am I supposed to eat all this by myself?”

Lao Wu replied,
“Jiyu instructed me to prepare this amount for you every day, so eat as much as you want.”

“But there’s no way I can finish all this alone.”
Shen Ran was surprised to learn that Zhao Jiyu had specifically told Lao Wu to do this.
“Why don’t you sit down and eat with me?”

“No need. I still have things to do,”
Lao Wu said with a smile. As usual, he tidied up the kitchen. Before leaving, he added,
“No need to do any cleaning tonight. The housekeeper already came this morning.”

The four dishes and one soup on the table were steaming with delicious aromas. Shen Ran picked up his bowl, took a piece of stir-fried pork kidney with his chopsticks, and was about to put it into his mouth when he suddenly paused. His gaze shifted to the empty seat beside him.

This was his first time eating alone in Zhao Jiyu’s home. In fact, he hadn’t been living here for long, but because Zhao Jiyu had always been around, it gave him the illusion that it had been much longer. He hadn’t really experienced being alone here before.

Lao Wu’s cooking was undoubtedly tempting, and Shen Ran tried a bit of everything. Halfway through his meal, his phone chimed with a notification. He immediately picked it up to check, but it wasn’t from Zhao Jiyu—it was Deng Feng in the group chat, reminding everyone that the birthday party the day after tomorrow had been postponed by half an hour.

After finishing his meal, Shen Ran took a shower. Then, he sat at the desk in the secondary bedroom to work on a group project. By the time he found himself yawning repeatedly in front of the computer screen, it was already close to midnight.

He walked to the living room and looked at the still-quiet entryway. After a moment of hesitation, he returned to his room and sent Zhao Jiyu a message on his phone.

[Are you coming back tonight?]