SITS CH59

Chapter 59: His Little Glass Person

Zhao Rui was caught in a whirlwind of complicated emotions, yet Shen Man had no spare time to pay him any mind. He was currently bending down to change his shoes, planning to go for a morning jog with Xu Zhouye.

The weather was warming up without being overly hot; spring was the ideal season to get out into nature.

With that stalker gone, Shen Man was finally willing to step outside, so Xu Zhouye dragged him along for a daily morning run.

Watching their retreating figures vanish from sight, Zhao Rui told himself he had definitely been overthinking things. Their bond was clearly pure teammate camaraderie, and it was only his own mind twisting it into something else.

A crisp morning with a gentle spring breeze brushing against the face was indeed perfect for jogging.

The air was thick with the sweet, heavy fragrance of blooming blossoms. Xu Zhouye normally ran much faster, but today he deliberately slowed his pace to stay beside Shen Man.

After doing a lap along the nearby riverside road, both had worked up a good sweat by the time they returned to the base.

Toward the end of the run, Shen Man’s pace had slowed noticeably. Xu Zhouye initially assumed he simply wasn’t used to the cardio intensity, but the closer he looked, the more something seemed off: “What’s wrong with your foot?”

“New shoes, rubbing a bit,” Shen Man replied without thinking much of it.

Xu Zhouye said, “Let me take a look.”

Inside the room, Shen Man sat in a chair, untied his laces, and slipped off his shoe. One glance made Xu Zhouye knit his brows deeply: “Your heel is rubbed raw like this and you didn’t say a single word?”

The blister rubbed onto Shen Man’s heel had already burst, exposing raw, bright red flesh. Blood had stained a patch of his white sock crimson, now dried and sticking fast to the wound.

Shen Man said, “Isn’t getting blisters from new shoes completely normal?” He genuinely didn’t see what the fuss was about; a scrape this small just needed a bandage, hardly worth making a grand announcement over.

Frowning tightly at Shen Man, Xu Zhouye remembered realizing early on that despite looking delicate and pampered, Shen Man possessed an astonishing tolerance for pain.

When faced with a psychotic stalker, he endured it, locking himself indoors for three years. When someone sliced open his arm, he endured it too, pushing through an entire match without uttering a single cry of pain, bearing it expressionlessly while letting blood soak through his sleeve. Compared to those ordeals, a scraped heel really was trivial, yet that indifferent attitude left Xu Zhouye feeling deeply uncomfortable no matter how he looked at it.

“Remember to tell me next time,” Xu Zhouye said, his voice slightly muffled and heavy. “Sit right here and don’t move. I’ll go grab some povidone-iodine.”

The sudden shift in Xu Zhouye’s mood left Shen Man somewhat baffled. He couldn’t understand why Xu Zhouye had abruptly grown upset over a tiny patch of missing skin on his heel.

Shen Man simply didn’t get it.

When Xu Zhouye returned holding the antiseptic, he found that Shen Man had already pulled off his socks, standing with both wet feet planted on the floor, having clearly just washed them. He asked, “Did you rinse it with water?”

Shen Man blinked: “What’s wrong…?”

He had merely felt his feet were sweaty and grimy, so he rinsed them off under the tap. Why did Xu Zhouye sound even angrier now?

Xu Zhouye truly couldn’t stay cheerful. This guy genuinely didn’t treat his own body with any care. Having clearly rinsed his foot with cold water, the bloodstains were gone, leaving the exposed flesh washed pale and raw. The sight of separated skin and tissue on his heel nearly made Xu Zhouye laugh out of pure exasperation. Glancing at the iodine in his hand, then back at Shen Man, he suddenly felt his own careful fussing looked utterly ridiculous.

Setting the supplies down on the table, he turned on his heel to leave: “Treat it yourself, then.”

“Hey!” Shen Man caught Xu Zhouye’s sleeve, looking puzzled. “Why are you mad?”

Xu Zhouye demanded, “Didn’t it hurt when you ran cold water over it?”

Hurt? Of course it hurt. With a patch of skin that size torn away, how could it not sting? Still, it was hardly unbearable pain…

Shen Man admitted softly, “It hurt…”

Xu Zhouye let out a cold scoff: “It hurt, and you still blasted it with tap water?”

“Well, if I didn’t rinse it, it’d be all sweaty and dirty,” Shen Man argued.

Xu Zhouye snapped, “Since when would I ever find you dirty?! Can you please start taking care of yourself properly?”

Shen Man: “…” Suddenly grasping why Xu Zhouye was upset, he felt a pang of guilt and coaxed, “Alright, stop being mad. I wasn’t neglecting myself.”

Xu Zhouye glared: “And you’re still smiling?!” He was genuinely furious.

Tugging on Xu Zhouye’s sleeve to keep him from walking away, Shen Man blinked his eyes, mimicking Xu Zhouye’s own signature innocent puppy look: “Then don’t leave. If you leave, nobody will help me treat my wound.”

Xu Zhouye: “…”

Shen Man murmured softly, “It hurts.”

Xu Zhouye was thoroughly defeated.

The heart he had just steeled melted into water in an instant. Nobody could resist that expression on Shen Man, least of all Xu Zhouye. Every scolding word on the tip of his tongue was swallowed straight down, dissolving into a helpless sigh.

“Don’t do this again next time,” Xu Zhouye said.

Shen Man replied in his local dialect, “Alright, got it.”

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Shen Man rested his foot on Xu Zhouye’s knee, watching him carefully dab iodine onto the raw skin before smoothing a bandage over it.

The scrape was actually quite sizable; seeing the raw tissue washed pale by cold water made Xu Zhouye frown deeply. Yet Shen Man remained completely unbothered, feeling only a slight flicker of bashfulness. When Xu Zhouye’s fingers brushed past the arch of his foot, his toes nearly curled reflexively, though he forced himself to hold still.

“Why not use rubbing alcohol?” Shen Man asked. “Is iodine strong enough?”

Xu Zhouye felt utter despair at Shen Man’s complete lack of basic common sense: “Rubbing alcohol? Aren’t you afraid of the pain killing you?”

Shen Man blinked: “Don’t you always use alcohol on cuts?” If it stings, it stings; it only hurts for a second anyway.

Xu Zhouye gasped, “How could you put alcohol on an open abrasion like this?! Did you seriously just splash rubbing alcohol onto your wounds in the past?”

Shen Man: “…” He kept his mouth shut.

Caught between anger and exasperation, Xu Zhouye couldn’t help cursing: “You really are a fucking beast at enduring pain.”

Shen Man thought to himself that it wasn’t like he was soaking his foot in a tub of alcohol, so what was the big deal? Still, he dared not voice it aloud, knowing it would only earn him another lecture from Xu Zhouye.

This kid had been getting bossier by the day, micromanaging everything he did. Worried prolonged sitting would ruin his lumbar spine, he dragged him out jogging; terrified his arm injury would flare up, he bought him specialized compression sleeves. Xu Zhouye treated him like a fragile glass figurine that might shatter from a single bump.

Head bowed, Xu Zhouye tended to the scrape with delicate care. Watching the cowlick on the crown of his head, Shen Man reached out an index finger and pressed it down lightly, saying, “Xu Zhouye, you actually don’t need to treat me so cautiously.”

Xu Zhouye’s hands paused.

Shen Man said, “I’m not made of glass.”

Lifting his head, a sudden fire flickered in Xu Zhouye’s eyes as he asked, “Is that so?”

Shen Man replied, “Yeah.”

Xu Zhouye smiled: “Alright then.”

Saying nothing further, Shen Man naively assumed the matter had passed.

Until that Saturday night.

Burying his face into the pillow, Shen Man whimpered softly, his voice thick with choked sobs as he cursed, “Xu Zhouye, you fucking beast, are you ever going to stop, are you done yet…”

Reaching out to sweep his sweat-dampened hair back from his forehead, Xu Zhouye smirked coldly: “You’re not made of glass, so what are you afraid of?”

So this was what he had been waiting for. Shen Man was utterly speechless at Xu Zhouye’s petty capacity for holding grudges.

Fair enough; a guy who could hold a grudge from getting beaten up in a video game at age ten all the way to now was truly not someone to provoke.

Cursing didn’t work, apologizing didn’t work, and begging for mercy didn’t work either. By the time Shen Man passed out from exhaustion, his mind was filled entirely with profanities aimed at Xu Zhouye.

On Sunday, Shen Man couldn’t get out of bed all day.

Lying under the covers with his blanket wrapped tightly around himself, he felt like a corpse that had gone cold three days ago.

Carrying lunch into the bedroom, Xu Zhouye found his captain buried up to the nose in blankets, leaving only a pair of dark eyes exposed, glaring at him with the mournful resentment of a vengeful ghost.

Xu Zhouye asked gently, “Guaiguai, are you hungry yet?”

Shen Man snapped, “Don’t guaiguai me…” He tried to curse Xu Zhouye out, yet with his throat completely hoarse, his voice carried zero intimidation and sounded almost like petulant flirting.

Predictably, Xu Zhouye smiled tenderly: “Guaiguai, save your voice, hearing you sound like that makes my heart ache.” Gifted with rapid learning skills, having stayed here so long, he had mastered the local dialect down to the exact cadence.

Helpless against him, Shen Man muttered, “Keep pretending, you bastard! Heartache my ass, it’s all an act!”

Looking thoroughly innocent, Xu Zhouye asked, “How can you call it an act? Didn’t I ‘love’ you hard enough all night long, or does ge still feel it wasn’t enough?”

Shen Man conceded total defeat; this man truly knew no shame.

Returning to the base on Monday, his voice still hadn’t recovered. Fortunately, Shen Man rarely talked anyway, so nobody noticed.

Only Zhao Rui picked up on a faint clue. Narrowing his eyes suspiciously at Shen Man, he asked, “Shen Man, what happened to your throat? Why do you sound like you got struck by lightning?”

Shen Man spat out two icy words: “Caught a cold.”

“Caught a cold again?” Zhao Rui didn’t overthink it. “It has been a bit chilly lately, wear a few extra layers.” Speaking of layers, his eyes swept over Shen Man’s outfit: “Holy shit, why are you wearing so much?!”

Shen Man was decked out in a turtleneck sweater layered beneath a jacket, paired with loose trousers, thick fuzzy socks, and even a pair of black gloves, armed from head to toe.

Shen Man: “Cold.”

Zhao Rui: “…” In twenty-something-degree weather, is it really that cold?

Keeping a deadpan face, Shen Man wondered silently if a chilled heart counted as cold. Xu Zhouye, that absolute dog, had even left bite marks on his fingers; what choice did he have other than armoring up completely?

Worse yet, the culprit stood right beside him grinning as if nothing had happened, shamelessly chiming in: “Ge, your constitution is weak, definitely bundle up warm so we don’t catch a cold.”

Infuriated, Shen Man nearly ground his back molars to dust.

The final lineup for the escape room variety show was announced. Unexpectedly, Zhao Rui staged a sudden comeback, overtaking inner to claim sixth place and snag the final spot.

“Who on earth has been voting for me?!” As the victim of this triumph, Zhao Rui couldn’t force out a single laugh. Being terrified of escape rooms was bad enough, but this was a televised variety show; once it aired, the entire country would know what a coward he was. Slapping his desk furiously during his livestream, he berated his own fans: “Wouldn’t it be nice to give our foreign friend a chance to participate?! Who is actually voting for me?!”

Paying zero heed to his protests, the chat replied in unison: Stop pretending, zoop! Your teammates have been campaigning for you every single day, saying you love these kinds of activities most and will definitely carry the whole show.

Finding the claim utterly absurd, Zhao Rui protested: “My teammates campaigned for me? How is that possible? Who did?”

Four names flooded the chat. Are you kidding me? He only had four teammates in total!

Zhao Rui yelled: “I don’t believe it! Don’t try to sow discord among us!”

The chat responded ruthlessly: [If you don’t believe us, go check their stream VODs.] They proceeded to drop exact timestamps, listing the exact date, hour, and minute each player had urged fans to cast their precious votes for Zhao Rui.

Refusing to believe it, Zhao Rui couldn’t fathom his own teammates being cold-blooded enough to drag him under the bus.

Yet the darkness of human nature far exceeded Zhao Rui’s imagination.

Liu Shishi: “Zhao Rui has the biggest guts on the team; he’ll bring amazing entertainment value. Everyone go vote for him.”

Xu Xiaochong: “Yes, yes, Zhao Rui really wants to go! Everyone cast your precious votes to make his dream come true.”

Xu Zhouye: “Zhao Rui? Mm… I already have enough votes, go ahead and vote for him.”

Those three were bad enough, but why hadn’t even Shen Man spared him?

Shen Man: “In terms of entertainment value, Zhao Rui going would probably be best. Why? You’ll see once he goes.”

Moved by this touching display, Zhao Rui’s fans gushed over ACE’s wonderful team spirit, noting how the entire roster rallied to boost Zhao Rui’s votes like an impoverished family pooling every penny to send one child to college.

Acrophobic college student Zhao Rui: “?” Do you people have any idea that my teammates are all total psychopaths?!

Screaming, writhing, and crawling darkly across the floor in despair, Zhao Rui stormed over to Shen Man’s room and pounded furiously on the door, only for Xu Zhouye to swing it open.

Looking mildly annoyed, Xu Zhouye asked: “What do you want?”

The words caught instantly in Zhao Rui’s throat. Glancing at the room number to verify he hadn’t knocked on the wrong door, and wilting slightly under the unfriendly glare of 1.87-meter-tall Xu Zhouye, his momentum dropped two notches: “Where’s the Captain?”

Xu Zhouye called over his shoulder: “Shen Man, someone’s here for you.”

Thoroughly speechless, Shen Man muttered: “This is my room. If they aren’t looking for me, are they looking for you?”

Xu Zhouye nodded: “…Fair point.”

“What’s up, Zhao Rui?” Walking over to lean against the doorframe with his arms crossed, Shen Man asked, “What happened to get you rushing over like this?”

Zhao Rui wailed: “Shen Man, you guys aren’t human! Campaigning for me every single day! Look what happened now, I knocked enter right out of the lineup!” Thoroughly panicked, Zhao Rui couldn’t even pronounce inner properly anymore.

Shen Man blinked innocently: “When did I ever campaign for you?”

Zhao Rui yelled: “Don’t try to deny it! The stream VODs are right there! And Xu Zhouye, you aren’t getting away either!”

Exchanging a glance, Shen Man and Xu Zhouye both burst out laughing, sending a chill straight down Zhao Rui’s spine.

Zhao Rui gasped: “Fuck, what are you two laughing at?!”

Shen Man said, “Just thinking about filming a variety show with you makes me want to laugh.”

Xu Zhouye laughed along beside him; he knew exactly why Shen Man was amused, as tossing Zhao Rui into an escape room was guaranteed comedic gold.

Left with no comeback, Zhao Rui stiffened his neck and tried to talk tough, declaring that if he had to go, he’d go, and nobody knew who would actually get scared first!

Shen Man consoled him: “Don’t panic. The appearance fee from the production team is pretty generous this time, plus it’s a great chance to gain followers. Plenty of people want to go and can’t even get a spot.”

Zhao Rui: “…”

Xu Zhouye chimed in: “Yeah, as long as you overcome your psychological fear, you’ll definitely be the brightest star out there.”

Tossing remarks back and forth, the two left Zhao Rui completely outgunned, able only to glare furiously and sputter “You, you, you…” without forming a coherent sentence before stomping off in a huff.

After finishing teasing Zhao Rui, Shen Man jerked his chin toward Xu Zhouye: “Hurry up and go back to your own room.”

Xu Zhouye whined playfully: “No way, let me stay a little longer.” Wrapping his arms around Shen Man’s waist, he nuzzled affectionately against Shen Man’s neck like a giant puppy, murmuring indistinctly, “Ge…”

Shen Man said deadpan: “No.”

Xu Zhouye groaned: “Ah!”

Shen Man pushed his head away. It wasn’t that he was heartless, but Xu Zhouye was far too adept at pushing his luck an inch into a mile, and Shen Man had already fallen into that trap countless times: “Go back to your own room.”

Seeing Shen Man’s resolute stance, Xu Zhouye had no choice but to relent. Before leaving, he still snuck a quick lick across the corner of Shen Man’s lips: “Next time, then.”

Shen Man muttered: “…We’ll see.”

Reluctantly turning around to head back to his quarters, Xu Zhouye stepped inside before Shen Man finally turned and closed his door.