ATAVID CH119 [Extra]

Jiang Qunyu rarely revealed this side of himself.

Fragile, breakable.

Tears fell one by one onto Wei Xun’s chest, scalding to the point of making it hard to breathe.

“Why so pitiful?” Wei Xun gently patted Jiang Qunyu’s back, coaxing him warmly. “Just like a puppy.”

Jiang Qunyu rubbed against Wei Xun’s shoulder. By now, he was already somewhat confused from the fever, and the tears held in those beautiful eyes blurred his vision into a hazy fog.

He felt Wei Xun back away slightly. A hand with distinct knuckles reached up, and warm pads of fingers rested on his face, gently wiping them away.

“We’re going to the hospital,” Wei Xun’s voice seemed separated by a layer of veil due to his fever as he said, “Baby, stop crying, alright?”

Almost the instant his words fell, Jiang Qunyu cried even harder.

The youth sat on the sofa, his long hair slightly wavy, his oversized pajamas somewhat disheveled to reveal a small patch of skin as white as lapis lazuli. The corners of his eyes were stained with a layer of crimson from crying, yet he remained silent.

Wei Xun didn’t know what to do with him either, so he could only wrap his arms around the boy again, patting his back and coaxing him.

After several minutes passed, Jiang Qunyu probably grew tired from crying and finally stopped.

He stayed curled up muffled in Wei Xun’s chest. Wei Xun really wanted to hold him longer, but Jiang Qunyu’s current condition was truly far from good, so he released him.

“I’ll go get some clothes, wait for me a moment?” Wei Xun asked.

Jiang Qunyu nodded.

Wei Xun stood up and went into Jiang Qunyu’s bedroom, coming out a short while later carrying clothes.

He had no interest in taking advantage of someone in distress, or rather, he preferred Jiang Qunyu to be more willing, so he didn’t make Jiang Qunyu take off his pajamas before changing. Since it was summer, the pajama top and pants on Jiang Qunyu were very thin, so Wei Xun simply slipped the clothes directly over his body.

A sick Jiang Qunyu was far more obedient than usual. When Wei Xun told him to reach out his hand, he reached out his hand, exceptionally well-behaved to the point of being extra endearing.

The corners of Wei Xun’s lips curled into a smile. After putting socks on Jiang Qunyu, he held his ankle to put his shoes on.

Only when the shoes were fitted did Wei Xun raise his eyes, only to see that Jiang Qunyu had already opened his arms wide. His voice was soft and carried a slight nasal tone from having just cried: “Hold.”

Wei Xun curled his lips into a smile and wrapped his arms around him, supporting his waist with one hand to let Jiang Qunyu cling to him like a little sloth. Both arms wrapped around Wei Xun’s neck, both legs wrapped around his waist, and his entire face buried into the crook of his neck, obedient beyond belief.

Only then did he stand up straight, freeing his other hand to pick up his phone and call his assistant: “I have something going on here. Drive the car over.”

The assistant had accompanied Wei Xun to Wuchen. Half a year ago, the boss had begun planning to shift the company’s focus from Beicheng to Wuchen.

This decision had caused the company executives to argue for a long time. Some said it was because Wuchen’s development direction in recent years was better than Beicheng’s, so Wei Xun’s move was presumably for the benefit of the company’s future. Others said Wei Xun was acting recklessly; things were perfectly fine in Beicheng, so why suddenly go to Wuchen?

In the beginning, the assistant had actually leaned toward the former. In his impression, this young ruler was an ultimate workaholic, like an untiring machine working three hundred and sixty-five days a year.

Cold and detached from human touch, as if maintaining a neither-too-close-nor-too-far distance from everyone.

He had originally thought he would follow Wei Xun to achieve great things in Wuchen, but he never expected that over the past month and a half, Wei Xun had merely instructed him to buy cars and real estate, and otherwise leave him alone without reason.

The assistant found it strange, because after purchasing the villa, Wei Xun hadn’t moved in, nor had he asked him to book a hotel.

Fortunately, there was no need to work overtime, and the hotel expenses were reimbursed by the company—amounting to a paid vacation. The assistant had been living quite comfortably these past days.

So after receiving the boss’s call, the assistant froze for a moment before saying: “Understood, President Wei.”

Hanging up the phone, the assistant tapped open the location sent by Wei Xun, a subtle sense of weirdness flashing through his mind.

It was actually near the villa Wei Xun had him buy. Why didn’t Wei Xun stay in the villa, but rather in an unnamed apartment building instead?

His doubts quickly received an answer. Ten-odd minutes later, the assistant parked the car, staring in sheer terror at his own boss holding a youth in his arms.

He even suspected whether his eyes were playing tricks on him. As facts proved, he hadn’t misseen—it really was Wei Xun, that high-and-mighty young ruler who looked like he wanted to write ‘keep away from me’ all over his body. At this moment, the coldness usually carried in his dark brows had completely dissipated, replaced by an indescribable gentleness.

Fortunately, his excellent professionalism as an assistant allowed him to remain impassive even in a scenario that completely defied his understanding of Wei Xun: “President Wei.”

Holding Jiang Qunyu, Wei Xun got into the car and said coldly: “To the hospital.”

“Understood.”

When they arrived at the hospital and Wei Xun got out of the car, he asked for the car keys before saying, “Thank you for your hard work. You can head back first.”

The assistant nodded, not daring to look clearly at the true face of the youth in Wei Xun’s arms.

Only the stormy waves churning inside his heart made him wish he could pull out his phone right now to share this gossip with his colleagues at the company.

On a June night in Wuchen, the night breeze was very cool, neither muggy nor damp. Occasionally, one could even catch the fragrance of unknown flowers planted along the hospital paths.

Jiang Qunyu didn’t want Wei Xun to carry him anymore, coming down from Wei Xun’s arms, but he was still sluggish right now, so he allowed Wei Xun to hold his hand to register at the emergency clinic.

Half an hour after the blood test, the results came out. It wasn’t the flu, just a simple cold and fever, so the doctor directed them to the observation ward for an IV drip.

Not long after the needle was inserted, the medicine’s effect gradually kicked in. A groggy sleepiness swept over him, Jiang Qunyu’s eyelids grew heavy, and he fell asleep in no time.

Meanwhile, Wei Xun sat on the escort chair at the side, his eyes never leaving his face.

From time to time, Jiang Qunyu could vaguely feel Wei Xun raising the back of his hand to gently press against his forehead to test his temperature, checking whether his fever had come down.

Finally, in the latter half of the night, the heat on his body finally subsided.

Wei Xun let out a sigh of relief, leaning against the edge of the bed and falling into a deep sleep as well.

Waking up the next day, Wei Xun checked Jiang Qunyu’s forehead and face again. The fever had completely broken, so he went downstairs to buy breakfast and disposable toiletries.

By the time he returned to the ward carrying the items, the room was already lively.

In the previously quiet observation room, Jiang Qunyu was leaning half against the headboard, holding his phone in hand, teamed up with the guy in the adjacent hospital bed playing games. Most of his spirit had recovered, his brows and eyes relaxed, his fingertips tapping rapidly on the screen as he chatted with the other party every now and then—not a single trace of his sickly appearance from last night remained.

“Bro, your skills are pretty solid,” the guy in the next bed said. “Want to add each other as friends? We can play together in the future.”

Jiang Qunyu didn’t refuse: “Sure.”

Suddenly, he felt a chill at the back of his neck, a subtle bad omen rising in his heart.

Raising his eyes to look, he predictably ran straight into Wei Xun’s pitch-black gaze.

Jiang Qunyu felt inexplicably guilty, explaining before Wei Xun could speak: “I was waiting for you, but since you hadn’t come back, I thought I’d start a match.”

After waking up, he had waited for a good while without seeing any sign of Wei Xun. The guy in the next bed said he had just left a short while ago, likely to buy breakfast.

Jiang Qunyu estimated the time, thinking Wei Xun would take at least half an hour. Coincidentally, the guy next door was playing games and happened to be an outgoing person, asking Jiang Qunyu if he wanted to play, so Jiang Qunyu “reluctantly” agreed.

According to Jiang Qunyu’s plan, a match would take roughly twenty minutes to finish, but he hadn’t expected Wei Xun to return so quickly, catching him right in the act.

“Oh,” unexpectedly, Wei Xun didn’t say anything. Placing the breakfast on the table and opening it, his long eyelashes drooped slightly. “Steamed dumplings or porridge?”

“Porridge, please,” Jiang Qunyu said.

Wei Xun opened the porridge, thought for a moment, and asked, “Do you want to eat an apple?”

“Yes.” Seeing that he wasn’t angry, the subtle guilt in Jiang Qunyu’s heart was wiped away, and he pushed his luck further: “Can I have both steamed dumplings and porridge?”

“You can, but eat fewer steamed dumplings.”

“Oh!”

Jiang Qunyu answered obediently, watching Wei Xun take the apple out to wash it before turning to the guy in the next bed: “I won’t play for now. Let’s talk later.”

The guy in the next bed agreed: “Okay, oh, right.” He paused, “Bro, what’s your name? So I can add a note.”

Jiang Qunyu gave his name, and the guy nodded: “My name is Wen Xingyao.”

After exchanging names, the two became a bit more familiar.

Wen Xingyao couldn’t help asking: “Is that your brother?”

Jiang Qunyu didn’t know how to explain, so he could only nod vaguely: “Kind of.”

Just as his words fell, Wei Xun walked back inside.

Sitting down by the edge of the bed, he naturally opened the porridge, scooped up a spoonful, and held it to Jiang Qunyu’s lips, then fed him a piece of apple.

When at home, Jiang Qunyu was already used to Wei Xun taking care of him like this, so he didn’t feel anything was wrong, opening his mouth to swallow it down.

On the other hand, Wen Xingyao at the side found it increasingly strange as he watched.

Wait? What kind of brothers interact like this?

Right at that moment, without taking his eyes off the porridge bowl, Wei Xun casually called out: “Baby, pull out a tissue for me.”

Jiang Qunyu almost instinctively raised his hand to pull out a tissue, only snapping back to his senses halfway through the motion. Raising his eyes, he happened to collide with the full shock in Wen Xingyao’s gaze.

His cheeks instantly flushed hot, his earlobes along with the side of his neck dyed in a layer of pale red, yet he didn’t speak up to refute it either.

He coughed awkwardly twice, shoved the tissue to Wei Xun, quickly finished his meal, and dragged Wei Xun to leave.

Because Wen Xingyao had sustained a leg injury that required a few stitches, he was currently waiting for his parents to pick him up and couldn’t get out of bed. He could only wave his hand from the bed, not forgetting to remind him: “Don’t forget to invite me when you play games!”

Jiang Qunyu agreed.

Compared to Jiang Qunyu’s awkwardness, Wei Xun was noticeably much more composed.

As if failing to see Jiang Qunyu’s current conflict, Wei Xun held his hand to complete the discharge procedures before walking toward the parking area.

It wasn’t until they sat inside the car that Jiang Qunyu pursed his lips. Too lazy to care where Wei Xun’s car came from—anyway, the furniture at home had been mostly replaced by him—he gritted his teeth and said: “You did that on purpose!”

Buckling the seatbelt for him, Wei Xun met Jiang Qunyu’s eyes and curled his lips, saying candidly: “Otherwise?”

He exposed him without mercy: “Didn’t you also instinctively acknowledge that I was calling you?”

Jiang Qunyu: “…”

The jealousy that had been suppressed in his heart earlier surged up violently, and Wei Xun’s tone turned sour as well: “Jiang Qunyu, you really have quite the skill—making someone fall for you in just a few minutes. Though you’re indeed very good, so it’s understandable if he fell for you. But you mustn’t forget that you have a boyfriend. Didn’t you let me hold you last night? Don’t even think about abandoning me, otherwise—”

Jiang Qunyu couldn’t listen any longer, because he felt that if Wei Xun kept talking, he probably wouldn’t be able to resist taking a few jabs at him.

To avoid that from happening, he chose to interrupt Wei Xun, quietly turning his head to look at the scenery outside the car window and saying in a low voice: “Actually, I’m pretty happy too.”

Though it was spoken very quietly, Wei Xun heard it clearly.

The harsh words at the tip of his tongue came to a sudden halt, and his hostile aura instantly vanished.

“I don’t seem to be that straight either,” Jiang Qunyu continued. “I should… like you.”

Even though he had really wanted to deny it, the moment he realized he had instinctively gone to Wei Xun’s sofa instead of returning to his own room last night, he knew he liked Wei Xun.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have gone back to look for him even after knowing Wei Xun wasn’t a psychologist sister, but a man.

Nor would he have lingered for the warmth of Wei Xun’s palm when it rested on his forehead, unwilling to pull away.

Even less would he indulge himself in acting spoiled and throwing minor tantrums in front of him.

All of this was based on knowing that Wei Xun liked him and would tolerate both his bad and good sides.

Jiang Qunyu merely needed time to sort out his feelings for Wei Xun. His so-called assumption of being straight was actually just a convenient choice he made for himself because being straight was easier in his environment. In reality, whether he was or wasn’t didn’t matter.

Jiang Qunyu’s heartbeat quickened unconsciously, and he held his breath involuntarily, waiting for Wei Xun’s response.

The air seemed to freeze, exceptionally quiet—so quiet that it felt as though they could hear each other’s heartbeats.

Jiang Qunyu waited for a moment until his patience ran completely dry. Just as he turned his head back to look at Wei Xun, he was pulled into a tight hug.

Wei Xun couldn’t believe it. He hugged him for a second, then backed away slightly, reaching out to press against Jiang Qunyu’s forehead again to confirm: “Jiang Qunyu, you don’t have a fever. What you just said, you said willingly.”

“…” Jiang Qunyu really wanted to laugh. He felt that Wei Xun was acting silly right now too. Suppressing the curve at the corners of his lips, he put on a cold front: “Wei Xun, are you sick?”

Only then did Wei Xun hold Jiang Qunyu tightly once again, saying word by word: “You admitted it yourself—you like me too. Jiang Qunyu, you really can’t abandon me from now on.”

Jiang Qunyu let him hold him. Holding a grudge very well, he brought back the words Wei Xun had said earlier: “What did you want to say earlier about ‘otherwise’?”

Wei Xun answered honestly: “Otherwise, I would entice you, and lure you back to my side again.”

Jiang Qunyu had thought he would say something shocking or outrageous. Unbuckling his seatbelt, he hugged Wei Xun back, saying cheerfully: “Though it wasn’t as unpleasant as I imagined, your words weren’t nice to hear either. Wei Xun, you have to learn more about how to coax me and make me happy in the future. You always speak so harshly, I don’t like it.”

“Okay,” Wei Xun humbly asked for guidance, “How counts as speaking nicely?”

Jiang Qunyu didn’t know either: “Try saying a few words and let me see.”

So Wei Xun said: “Baby, can we kiss right now?”

“Cough, cough, cough—” Jiang Qunyu broke into a fit of violent coughing, almost choking himself to death.

He had asked Wei Xun to say a few nice words, not to say this!

“Is that a no?” Wei Xun patted his back rhythmically to soothe him.

Jiang Qunyu coughed for a while. Whether due to coughing or shyness, a light blush stained his earlobes and porcelain-white neck. Only after a long while did he stutter awkwardly: “I-It’s fine.”

As his words fell, Wei Xun let out a soft chuckle.

Perhaps knowing that they were about to kiss next, Jiang Qunyu was far more nervous than he had imagined.

His heart beat even faster.

Wei Xun reached out with both hands to support his waist, pulling him into his lap, then cupped his face and asked: “Can I kiss you?”

Jiang Qunyu nodded randomly, saying dryly: “K-Kiss then.”

Why did he keep asking? It wasn’t like he wasn’t letting him kiss.

Only then did Wei Xun carefully lean over, lightly pecking Jiang Qunyu’s lips.

When they left the hospital, they had brushed their teeth using toothpaste of the same flavor. Therefore, even the taste on their lips was identical, carrying a faint jasmine scent that nearly exploded in Jiang Qunyu’s olfactory senses.

He was so nervous he instinctively held his breath. Before he could resume breathing, Wei Xun kissed him again—still just a light, gentle peck.

It was clearly just a simple touching of lips, yet Jiang Qunyu felt like he was about to suffocate.

Wei Xun curled his lips into a smile, pinching Jiang Qunyu’s face: “Baby, you’re so nervous.”

Unwilling to admit it, Jiang Qunyu learned from Wei Xun’s manner, pressing against Wei Xun’s lips time after time.

With open eyes, he observed Wei Xun’s reaction. Seeing that the tips of his ears were also flushed with a light layer of red, he felt very satisfied and triumphant. Just as he was about to speak, the back of his neck was cupped by Wei Xun, and in the next instant, a soft, wet tongue pried open his teeth.

The string in Jiang Qunyu’s mind snapped completely.

He grew obedient, allowing Wei Xun to kiss him.

The muffled, wet sounds became impossible to hide in the small space, making Jiang Qunyu flush beet red.

Because it was the first kiss for both of them, they lacked technique, constantly bumping into each other’s lips by accident. By the end of a single kiss, both had small wounds at the corners of their lips.

However, it was obvious that Wei Xun possessed a stronger learning capacity in this area than Jiang Qunyu. When the next kiss fell, Jiang Qunyu was completely overpowered.

Kissed until his whole body went soft, he could only lie in Wei Xun’s chest, unable to stop a crying tone from lacing his voice: “N-No, let me pause for now… I feel like something is wrong with me right now.”

Wei Xun chuckled softly, burying his head in the crook of Jiang Qunyu’s neck with a satisfied tone: “That’s because you really like me kissing you.”

Jiang Qunyu: “…”

He retorted in flustered embarrassment: “And you don’t?!”

“Mm, I like it very much,” Wei Xun didn’t deny it, curling his lips into a smile. “Jiang Qunyu, I like you so much.”

Jiang Qunyu hugged him, smiling brightly: “Then I like you a tiny bit more than I did just now.”

The days passed one by one.

Wei Xun finally moved from sleeping on the living room sofa to sleeping in Jiang Qunyu’s bed.

Jiang Qunyu thought it was pretty good—mainly because he could hug Wei Xun while sleeping, so he no longer had to hug his self-deprecating bear doll.

If there was one bad thing, it was only that he and Wei Xun would always end up playing with fire while kissing.

In the beginning, he had felt embarrassed, but after they tried using their hands a few times, Jiang Qunyu grew accustomed to it.

With a first time for these things came a second time. Jiang Qunyu felt that he was already an adult and could do things adults were allowed to do.

So he secretly went online to search for some “learning materials,” deciding to put them into practice on himself and Wei Xun.

In the evening, Wei Xun was very surprised by Jiang Qunyu’s enthusiasm.

Pressing Jiang Qunyu down to kiss him for a while until the boy was completely soft, he rubbed Jiang Qunyu’s face with both hands: “What’s wrong today?”

The clothes on Jiang Qunyu’s body had been stripped completely clean, white as snow. Panting slightly, he barely managed to push Wei Xun away and sit up, opening the cabinet to pull out the condoms and lubricant he had bought this afternoon, asking: “Want to try?”

Wei Xun’s movement of reaching out to scoop him up froze. His eyes turned dark and deep, his voice low and raspy: “Jiang Qunyu,”

He asked: “Do you know what you’re saying?”

Jiang Qunyu only felt he was being overly dawdling: “Are you coming or not?”

He kicked Wei Xun’s calf, curling his lips: “If you’re not coming, then forget it.”

Yet as soon as his words fell, Wei Xun leaned down and kissed him, swallowing his remaining words between their teeth.

Jiang Qunyu was kissed into a dizzy daze.

Amused by his reaction, Wei Xun held him in his arms, kissing him thoroughly and patiently waiting for him to calm down.

After an unknown period, Wei Xun finally asked: “Can I?”

Lying on the bed, Jiang Qunyu felt somewhat resigned to his fate: “Mm.”

Receiving permission, Wei Xun let out a soft laugh.

Immediately following, rustling sounds echoed in the quiet air.

It was Wei Xun getting the condom.

“Jiang Qunyu,” after a long moment, he let out a sigh. “You bought a size too small.”

Jiang Qunyu froze, taking a good long while to react to his meaning: “Th-Then what should we do?”

Wei Xun lowered his head to kiss his eyes, soothing him: “It’s okay, wait for me a moment.”

Then he got up from Jiang Qunyu.

The sound of footsteps gradually grew distant.

Jiang Qunyu didn’t know where he had gone, but in the dark, he only felt his heart feeling terribly empty.

Fortunately, before long, Wei Xun returned.

Borrowing the dim light, Jiang Qunyu barely saw the item in his hand clearly—it was also a condom.

Only, he didn’t know where he got it from, saying crossly: “When did you buy that?”

Wei Xun continued kissing him, curling his lips into a smile: “A few days ago as well.”

Jiang Qunyu: “…”

However, he soon had no mind to care about anything else either, only able to place his hand over his eyes, attempting a useless attempt to cover his embarrassment.

Wei Xun told him to relax a bit.

Jiang Qunyu didn’t know how to relax, the arches of his feet tensing tightly.

Wei Xun could only lean down again, comforting him with utmost gentleness.

In the next moment, Jiang Qunyu’s chest heaved rapidly. He lowered his head slightly, his vision only catching Wei Xun’s pitch-black hair. A subtle sting mixed with an unfamiliar flutter spread from the outside straight to his heart, numb and tingling, causing uncontrollable shivers.

The only anchor for his hand was on Wei Xun’s head, slender and long fingertips sinking into his hair. Throwing his head back, he stared blankly at the ceiling, his pupils unfocused.

…

In the latter half of the night, Jiang Qunyu couldn’t take it anymore. After urging Wei Xun to finish quickly, he let Wei Xun carry him to wash up.

Once cleaned up, the two held each other and fell asleep together.

Having just had a taste of intimacy, the two enjoyed it immensely, sticking together affectionately for quite a stretch of days. Finally, on an ordinary morning, Jiang Qunyu received a long-awaited message from his manager.

The manager asked him to drop by the training base.

When Jiang Qunyu saw the message, he pulled his lips into a half-smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Picking out a casual set of clothes, he headed out the door.

Wei Xun asked him: “Where are you going?”

Jiang Qunyu expressionlessly replied: “To execute justice upon my own kin.”

However, executing justice didn’t end up happening. After hearing him explain the full story, the manager was still a bit dazed: “Did I share the wrong contact? No wonder when I asked her last time, she said you hadn’t added her WeChat. At the time, I thought you were instinctively resisting addressing your psychological issues, so I respected your privacy and stopped prying.”

After speaking, the manager searched for a long time before finally finding the message from a year ago. Only then did he realize that because Wei Xun’s profile picture and the psychologist’s profile picture both had light blue backgrounds, he had shared the wrong card.

Jiang Qunyu: “…”

Manager: “…”

The manager coughed awkwardly, asking tentatively: “Is it… still salvageable? Have you been in touch with him?”

Logically speaking, probably not.

After all, based on his understanding of Wei Xun, Wei Xun was not an easy person to approach. If it weren’t for their families having some distant relative connection, Wei Xun likely wouldn’t have accepted his friend request in the first place.

Right at that moment, someone knocked on the door.

Jiang Qunyu raised his eyes to look out, bumping straight into Wei Xun’s eyes.

He stood up slowly, saying amidst the manager’s shocked expression: “It can’t be salvaged anymore.”

Jiang Qunyu said: “Because right now, he is my boyfriend.”

An unintended error, yet perfectly timed.

(End of Online Dating Arc)