Chapter 62

At seven in the morning, there was no snowfall outside, but the wind was strong, and the branches were coated in white frost.

Mi Zhao turned the bathroom lights to their brightest setting and twisted his body awkwardly, facing his butt toward the mirror. He observed for a long while, and when he finally caught sight of the overlapping red handprints that had yet to fade, his expression twisted.

Pulling up his pants, he rushed out of the bathroom and dove onto the bed.

Li Sipei had just woken up. Before he could even open his eyes, a pair of arms tightly wrapped around him. Mi Zhao rubbed his face against Li Sipei’s chin, the stubble scratching against his skin until it turned slightly red.

Half-opening his eyes, Li Sipei grabbed Mi Zhao’s wrist, intending to pull him away, when he suddenly heard—

“Husband.”

Li Sipei froze mid-action and stopped moving altogether.

Seeing this, Mi Zhao beamed. This trick really worked! He had picked it up from a joke on Weibo and thought it was just an exaggeration.

So, he went even further, rubbing against Li Sipei’s neck. “Husband.”

The first time felt a little gross, but by the second time, it was much easier.

As expected, he adapted quickly.

Li Sipei held his wrist stiffly for a long time before finally letting go. He pulled Mi Zhao into the blankets, wrapping them both up. Their chests pressed together, and their breaths mingled.

“Are you leaving?” Li Sipei’s chin rested against Mi Zhao’s head, his voice vibrating through his chest.

Mi Zhao placed his palm over Li Sipei’s heart, feeling the rhythm as he answered, “I have class this morning. I need to head back to school.”

“Mm.” Li Sipei responded, but made no move to let go.

Mi Zhao lifted his head, looking at Li Sipei with slightly upturned eyes, his expression aggrieved. “How come I never noticed before that you like hitting people so much? The handprints on my butt still haven’t faded.”

Li Sipei’s face remained calm, but his ears visibly reddened. He lowered his voice and muttered, “Sorry.”

Mi Zhao pouted.

Then, Li Sipei added, “I’ll go easier next time.”

“…”

Mi Zhao was speechless, tempted to pinch him. “Don’t even think about a next time.”

They lay there for a while before Li Sipei suddenly said, “Your parents should be coming over today.”

Mi Zhao absentmindedly traced circles on Li Sipei’s chest. When he heard this, he paused and thought for a moment before asking, “Should we tell them about us?”

Li Sipei gazed down at him. Though his expression was calm, his eyes were fixed on Mi Zhao’s face, as if trying to read something from it. “If you want to.”

Hearing that, Mi Zhao instantly understood the hidden meaning.

On the surface, it seemed like Li Sipei was asking for his opinion. But if Li Sipei himself didn’t want to tell them, he wouldn’t have brought it up in the first place.

If he answered with something vague like “whatever,” Li Sipei would probably start sulking again.

“I do.” Mi Zhao’s hand slid to Li Sipei’s waist, giving it a light squeeze. “As long as you don’t mind, I’ll tell them.”

Sure enough, the corners of Li Sipei’s lips lifted ever so slightly. But his voice remained steady, as if he didn’t care about the matter at all.

“Go ahead,” Li Sipei said. “I don’t mind.”

Mi Zhao secretly rolled his eyes.

Tch.

What a stubborn man.

Even though Li Sipei had just returned last night, the kitchen was well-stocked. After rummaging through the fridge for a bit, Mi Zhao pulled out some ingredients and made a pot of minced pork and yam porridge.

After breakfast, he cleaned up the dishes and loaded them into the dishwasher before getting ready to leave.

He had picked up the drawing from last night and placed it, along with the oil pencils, inside the desk drawer in the study. Before leaving, he took a photo of it with his phone.

The picture turned out nicely, so he casually set it as his new WeChat profile picture.

While waiting for the elevator, his phone suddenly rang.

He took it out and saw that it was He Linfang calling.

“Son, are you in class?”

“Not yet.” Mi Zhao watched the red numbers on the display slowly change, smoothly skipping his floor. He redirected the conversation, “Mom, did you need something?”

“You mentioned that your classmate’s relative was selling a painting. Why haven’t we heard anything about it?”

“Oh,” Mi Zhao said. “I already told them we won’t be buying the painting. Didn’t I mention it to you guys? There’s no need to give such a fancy gift—just something simple for home decoration will do.”

“What nonsense are you talking about? Do you know their family background?” He Linfang sounded displeased. “If we just send some random home decor, won’t that make us look ridiculous? You might not care, but your dad and I do.”

“Mom, don’t worry. Whatever you bring, Li Sipei will definitely like it,” Mi Zhao reassured her. “This is exactly what he needs right now.”

“And how would you know?”

“I…”

Mi Zhao’s words got stuck in his throat. He had just come from Li Sipei’s place—of course, he knew what was missing in that house.

Never mind. It was too complicated to explain over the phone.

The elevator doors opened, and Mi Zhao stepped inside. After pressing the button for the ground floor and closing the doors, he asked, “Are you and Dad going to see Li Sipei today?”

“Yes, either today or tomorrow, depending on when Mr. Li is available.”

Mi Zhao hesitated for a moment before saying, “Hold off on that for now. I want to talk to you both about something first.”

He Linfang picked up on his serious tone and instinctively straightened up. “What is it?”

“It’s about my boyfriend.” Mi Zhao glanced at the time. “I finish class at five this afternoon. I’ll come home and talk to you in person.”

“You wouldn’t say anything before, and now you finally want to talk—but we have to clear our schedules to wait for you?” He Linfang muttered. “Your boyfriend must be really important.”

Stepping out of the elevator, Mi Zhao chuckled and was about to respond when he suddenly caught sight of someone crouching outside the apartment building’s iron gate.

He froze, then took a closer look.

The person remained motionless, as if frozen solid.

“Mom, I have to go. See you tonight.”

Ending the call, Mi Zhao stuffed his phone into his pocket and strode toward the gate.

Unexpectedly, the sound of Mi Zhao’s footsteps startled the person, who suddenly stood up and turned their face toward him. A familiar pale face came into view.

“Lin Qiuzu?” Mi Zhao’s expression was one of sheer disbelief, as if he had seen a ghost. He looked Lin Qiuzu up and down, unable to believe that he had been waiting downstairs all night in such thin clothing.

It was freezing outside, after all.

But Lin Qiuzu did indeed look like he had been waiting all night—he was still wearing the same clothes from the previous evening.

Lin Qiuzu hadn’t expected the first person to come down to be Mi Zhao. In fact, very few people who could afford to live here ever used the first-floor entrance. They mostly drove in and out, taking the elevator directly from the garage. Only housekeepers regularly came and went this way.

Just now, he had assumed it was a housekeeper coming down to take out the trash.

After a brief moment of eye contact, Mi Zhao composed himself, opened the gate, and asked, “Do you want to come in?”

Lin Qiuzu slowly returned to his senses and stepped into the building, clutching the items in his arms. After enduring the cold all night, he was trembling slightly, relying on sheer willpower to stay upright. Compared to Mi Zhao, who looked refreshed and well-rested, Lin Qiuzu appeared both miserable and pitiful.

A complex, indescribable emotion crept up inside him. His heart ached with bitterness, and he had to grit his teeth to suppress it.

Mi Zhao glanced at the bouquet and gift in Lin Qiuzu’s arms with an indifferent expression, saying nothing. He lifted his foot, ready to leave.

But Lin Qiuzu, sharp-eyed, noticed the marks on his neck and reached out to stop him. “Your boyfriend lives in this building too?”

Mi Zhao paused, casting Lin Qiuzu a sidelong glance. Instead of nodding or shaking his head, he countered, “The person you like lives in this building too?”

Lin Qiuzu nodded without hesitation. “Yeah.”

Mi Zhao pulled the corners of his lips into a smirk that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “What a coincidence.”

However, he had no interest in Lin Qiuzu’s love life and certainly didn’t want to stand here discussing their personal affairs.

His gaze lingered on the bouquet for a brief moment before he gave an insincere smile and said, “Well then, good luck. I have things to do, so I’ll be going now.”

“Mi Zhao.” Lin Qiuzu called his name. When Mi Zhao turned back, he lifted a hand and pointed at his neck. “Aren’t you going to cover that up?”

“…”

Only then did Mi Zhao remember. He quickly pulled the cashmere scarf off his arm and wrapped it around his neck.

Watching Mi Zhao hurry away, Lin Qiuzu let out a mocking chuckle. He pulled out his phone and opened his WeChat chat with Li Yan.

[You once said Mi Zhao didn’t want to sleep with you?]

He typed it out, then deleted it.

[I remember you said Mi Zhao was a very conservative person.]

He typed again, then deleted it.

[I just ran into Mi Zhao. He was coming out of his new boyfriend’s place, covered in hickeys. Looks like they’ve been sleeping together for a while.]

After some hesitation, he deleted that message too.

He and Li Yan had long since fallen out, but they had never deleted each other’s contacts.

Lin Qiuzu recalled the things Li Yan used to say.

Li Yan had always described Mi Zhao as incredibly reserved—kissing meant nothing more than lips touching, dates consisted of eating out and taking walks, and after each one, they would return to their respective dorms.

In Li Yan’s words, Mi Zhao was like an innocent little flower, completely pure and untouched. Even bringing up the idea of going to a hotel felt like he was corrupting him.

Ha.

So this was the “innocent little flower”—moving seamlessly from one relationship to the next, spending the night at his new boyfriend’s place so soon after dating, walking out in the morning with a neck full of love bites.

Innocent, my ass.

Mi Zhao had hidden himself well, fooling both him and Li Yan completely.

Lin Qiuzu retracted his gaze, conflicted for a moment before finally tucking his phone away.

I’ll deal with it later. Right now, I have more important things to do.

The elevator in this building allowed free movement from the first floor to the underground parking levels, but going upstairs required a keycard or a passcode. Since Lin Qiuzu had neither, he could only stand by the elevator doors and wait.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long. As he was adjusting his hair in the elevator’s reflective doors, they suddenly opened with a chime.

Inside stood a man in casual homewear, holding a bag of trash.

The two of them froze upon seeing each other.

Lin Qiuzu quickly reacted, stepping aside. “Please, go ahead.”

The man smiled warmly. “Thank you.” Then he walked out.

When the man returned from throwing out the trash, Lin Qiuzu was still standing by the elevator doors. As the man entered, Lin Qiuzu followed him in.

The man used his keycard and pressed the button for the 15th floor. As he did, he cast a sidelong glance at Lin Qiuzu, who remained motionless.

“You’re going to the 15th floor too?” the man asked.

Lin Qiuzu responded frankly, “No, I’m looking for someone on another floor. The lobby doors are locked, so I need to take the stairwell from the 15th floor.”

The man was momentarily stunned before chuckling. “Well, at least you’re honest.”

Lin Qiuzu didn’t reply. His gaze swiftly swept over the man, and in an instant, he recognized the expensive brand of his clothing and the luxury watch worth tens of thousands.

More importantly, he noticed the faint kiss marks peeking from beneath the man’s collar.

His chest tightened.

For a brief moment, it felt like he had just uncovered a startling secret.

A storm of emotions swelled inside him, simmering like boiling water.