KMYB | Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Xisui panicked and looked at Zhou Zeqi.

The other man waited for an answer with complete composure.

"Can you give me a little time to think?" Xisui asked.

"Sure," Zhou Zeqi said.

Xisui was already tapping the wooden stake almost on instinct, knocking it again and again as he thought about how to get through this hurdle and give Zhou Zeqi a satisfactory answer.

Why had he just said if?

"I, as an example," Xisui thought of an excuse and said.

Zhou Zeqi simply sat down right in front of Xisui. He rested one wrist on his knee and propped the other hand behind him in the grass, laughing lazily. "Mm, as an example, like you like me. That’s a pretty good example."

Zhou Zeqi's gaze practically burned Xisui into jumping up on the spot.

"I just said it offhand, I didn't really mean that," Xisui explained.

He really hadn't meant that!

Xisui was still trying to argue his case when Zhou Zeqi suddenly leaned in, leaving only an inch between them. His gaze was nailed firmly to Xisui's face.

A few seconds passed. Zhou Zeqi suddenly broke into a grin and reached out to hook Xisui's chin. "Just messing with you. Look how scared you got."

After saying that, he didn't wait for Xisui to react before standing up to leave. "I'm going over there to take a look. The tent can be put up by Meng Kewen alone."

For no apparent reason, the task of setting up the tent ended up falling on Meng Kewen alone. But when he noticed that Lao Zhou's expression wasn't too good, he said nothing and even worked harder at it.

–

Zhang Kan and two teammates from the basketball team were taking cooking gear out of their bags. Zhou Zeqi walked over and squatted down in front of the pile of stuff.

He rummaged through a few bags but couldn't find what he wanted.

Zhang Kan was pulling out a bag of mushrooms and asked, "Lao Zhou, what are you looking for?"

"Cigarettes."

He answered casually, but Zhang Kan was a little surprised. "Didn't you not smoke?"

Zhou Zeqi lifted his eyes to look at Zhang Kan.

Zhang Kan immediately bent his head and started helping Zhou Zeqi search. It didn't take long before he found a pack of cigarettes in Wu Fengyi's bag, still brand-new.

Zhou Zeqi took the whole pack directly, and at the same time picked up the lighter from the folding table.

After Xisui and Meng Kewen finished putting up two tents together, Xisui wasn't tired at all, while Meng Kewen was exhausted. He looked at Xisui with admiration. He seemed delicate, but he was actually pretty good at work.

Meng Kewen pressed a hand to his waist. "Let's take a break, okay? I'm gonna go drink some water first."

Xisui also put his hands on his hips.

Setting up tents was such intense exercise, it had to burn a lot of calories.

He exhaled and looked up, searching everywhere for Zhou Zeqi.

Where was he?

Xisui dropped the hammer and found Lin Xiaojin, who was threading mushrooms and enoki mushrooms onto skewers. "Have you seen Zhou Zeqi?"

"Huh? Zhou Zeqi?" Lin Xiaojin thought for a moment, then pointed Xisui in a direction. "Probably went to pee."

"…"

There was a public restroom where they had parked. How could Zhou Zeqi possibly go pee in the woods?

But Xisui still followed the direction Lin Xiaojin pointed and went to look for Zhou Zeqi.

Zhou Zeqi was alone on a small patch of open ground, with dense green shrubs all around him. Xisui stepped over the shrubs from above, and the rustling grass startled Zhou Zeqi. He turned his head, saw that it was Xisui, frowned, and immediately snuffed out the cigarette in his hand, waving away the smoke that hadn't yet dispersed.

"Why are you here?"

Xisui was a little nervous. He thought for a long time before saying, "I came to find you."

Of course Zhou Zeqi knew Xisui had come looking for him. Otherwise, why else would he be here?

"Why are you looking for me?" Zhou Zeqi raised a brow.

Xisui said, "Lin Xiaojin said you came over here to pee… to pee, so I came to take a look."

"…"

Zhou Zeqi laughed strangely. "Came to watch me pee?"

!

In terms of flirting and shamelessness, Zhou Zeqi completely crushed Xisui.

Sure enough, Xisui's face slowly started turning red.

He couldn't think of how to answer Zhou Zeqi. He glanced at Zhou Zeqi, then before turning away, tossed out, "Keep smoking, I'm leaving."

He really did leave the moment he said he would, without the slightest hesitation.

But just as he lifted his leg, he was suddenly grabbed around the waist and pulled back.

Zhou Zeqi pinned Xisui against a tree. In summer, the clothes were thin, and the rough bark scraped painfully against his back.

Zhou Zeqi didn't lean in close to speak to Xisui. He lowered his eyes. "Can't you coax me a little?"

Xisui looked at Zhou Zeqi in confusion, not understanding what he meant.

"You said something wrong, and it made me unhappy. You should coax me." Zhou Zeqi said every word clearly, practically teaching Xisui hand by hand. He dug out the steps for himself, then climbed down them himself.

Xisui's back was pressed against the tree trunk. He smelled the faint scent of tobacco. The smell was strong and sharp, making Zhou Zeqi's own presence seem even more forceful and intense.

"There won't be a next time," Xisui said softly. "I'm sorry…"

"That's it?"

Xisui looked around. No one was there.

After making up his mind, he leaned forward and kissed Zhou Zeqi on the lips, even sticking out the tip of his tongue to lick him once, just like Zhou Zeqi had kissed him.

"Better now?" Xisui asked cautiously.

The smile in Zhou Zeqi's eyes was impossible to hide.

"Better."

–

Zhang Kan was squatting together with Meng Kewen and Wu Fengyi, discussing intensely.

"They definitely had a fight."

"Lao Zhou never smokes. He's smoking now because he's worried. This has to be a big deal."

"Weren't they just all sweet and cozy setting up tents? You say they fought, but I didn't hear them arguing at all," Meng Kewen said, completely baffled.

"You don't get it. Couples can fight with just their eyes."

"Damn, that powerful?"

"What could they even fight about? Can't figure it out… Lao Zhou must be bored out of his mind. Xisui is so nice…"

"Shh, shh, shh, they're back."

The group immediately focused on preparing the barbecue.

Meng Kewen mouthed to the others beside him, "Hand, in, hand, back, together~"

So they had made up.

The sun was setting in the west, just sinking onto the mountaintop in the far distance within their line of sight. The orange light had grown deep and rich, bathing every movement in texture and story.

Lin Xiaojin came over holding up his phone to take pictures.

Xisui was sitting cross-legged on the grass, taking out beers. When he heard the click of the shutter, he turned toward the sound and saw Lin Xiaojin's phone camera.

Xisui thought about it, wiped his hands, and slowly moved over beside Zhou Zeqi, who was still working hard to set up the tent. "Xiaojin, take a picture of me and Zhou Zeqi!"

Zhou Zeqi turned back. He first looked at Xisui, and before he could react, the phone had already taken more than a dozen burst shots.

In every single one, Zhou Zeqi's gaze was on Xisui's face.

Sitting on the ground, Zhou Zeqi looked lazy and relaxed, a foxtail grass stem tucked in his mouth from somewhere, one hand gripping a wooden stake, the other holding a hammer. His arm muscles were bunched up, and even just from the photos, you could feel the wild, untamed air and the testosterone unique to a young man radiating from him.

As for Xisui, leaning against his shoulder, he made a clumsy peace sign and smiled shyly.

Because of his looks, no matter how shy or embarrassed Xisui seemed, he still gave off a strong sense of distance, like an arrogant little swan. And beside him, Zhou Zeqi, even with a blank expression, could not hide the fierceness and rebelliousness in his bones.

After taking the photos, Zhou Zeqi wanted to talk to Xisui some more.

But Xisui was already rolling and scrambling across the grass toward Lin Xiaojin.

"Xiaojin, Xiaojin, let me see them, let me see!"

"…"

Lin Xiaojin sent the photos to Xisui.

Xisui sent Zhou Zeqi a copy too.

He thought this photo set turned out really nice.

Xisui wanted to crop it into a square for his QQ avatar.

Lin Xiaojin held a bottle of soda and bumped Xisui with his shoulder.

"Hey."

"What?"

Lin Xiaojin took a sip of soda. "I don't think now is the time to change your QQ avatar."

"Why not?" Xisui still had his head down.

"Because it looks like someone is trying to flirt with Zhou Yanwang."

Flirt?

Xisui's attention was instantly pulled away from the photos.

Zhou Zeqi was already setting up the last tent, his movements skilled and crisp. On top of being handsome, even just a simple tank top and track pants looked pleasing to the eye on him.

The moment their group appeared at the mountaintop, they had drawn the attention of quite a few people, but they didn't care about the other tourists themselves.

On top of that, Zhou Zeqi was driving an off-road vehicle, and anyone who knew cars could roughly estimate the price at a glance. It was beyond eye-catching.

A little boy wearing a pink shirt and denim overalls appeared behind Zhou Zeqi without a sound.

"Hi."

Zhou Zeqi heard that soft, sweet "hi" and frowned. He turned back, his tone cold. "Need something?"

"Um, I saw you were really skilled at setting up tents. Could you teach me? We haven't been able to get our two tents up. If it's convenient, could you come over and guide me?"

The other person's eyes were watery and bright. Although he was dressed young and cute, certain meanings in his gaze were especially blatant and undisguised.

Zhou Zeqi spat out the foxtail grass in his mouth. "Get lost."

After saying that, he continued squatting there, hammering and working.

The boy on the ground had a body with his shoulders and back faintly visible as he crouched and moved. It made Lin Shuangye swallow.

That waist, those legs. If he could get a taste of that, who knew how good it would be!

Zhou Zeqi sensed that the person behind him still hadn't left. He lifted the tent rope in his hand and was about to stand up and drive him off when he saw Xisui striding over, full of righteous indignation.

Xisui usually moved unhurriedly. He didn't like looking flustered.

But now it was obvious.

He was pretty anxious.

Xisui walked over and blocked this person's overly direct gaze. "What do you think you're doing?"

Lin Shuangye smiled very politely. "Hello, I want him to teach me how to set up a tent."

The "him" referred to Zhou Zeqi.

"There are tutorials online," Xisui said unhappily.

"I can't understand them," Lin Shuangye said without much shame. He knew the clean, pretty boy in front of him was the target's boyfriend, but so what?

Lin Shuangye began studying Xisui seriously. Tall, thin, with an outstanding aura, the cool and aloof type. He could go after that too.

"Then if you don't want him to teach you, teach me instead~" Lin Shuangye said as he reached out to take Xisui's hand.

Zhou Zeqi reacted faster than Xisui. He pulled Xisui behind him.

Zhou Zeqi said nothing, just stared at Lin Shuangye. His expression was calm, but when his pitch-black eyes fixed on someone, it was like being clamped in the throat by a疯狗 and unable to move.

Lin Shuangye couldn't help taking a step back.

Zhou Zeqi opened his mouth and sneered. "Still not getting lost?"

Lin Shuangye ran off immediately.

Only after that figure disappeared did Zhou Zeqi turn back to speak to Xisui.

He was in a good mood. He hadn't expected Xisui to actually get jealous.

The little swan could get jealous too?

But Xisui had his lips pressed together and his eyelids lowered, looking very unhappy.

"Don't touch me," Xisui tried to shake off Zhou Zeqi's hand, but failed.

He kept struggling and didn't give in.

The smile in Zhou Zeqi's eyes gradually disappeared too.

"You saw it? I don't know him. He came over on his own," Zhou Zeqi said softly. Compared with the fierce look he had just shown Lin Shuangye, it was like heaven and earth.

"I didn't talk to him about anything."

It was rare for Xisui to throw a tantrum like this. Zhou Zeqi both felt sorry for him and found him adorable, with a bit of rare satisfaction too.

After explaining himself, Xisui gave up on trying to break free from Zhou Zeqi's grip.

He lifted his eyes, opened his mouth, wanted to say something, then swallowed it back.

"Say it," Zhou Zeqi said.

Xisui gathered his courage. "He was swallowing his saliva at you."

"…"

Zhou Zeqi had thought Xisui would make a fuss, so he was a little disappointed, but it was still within an acceptable range.

Xisui frowned tightly, and Zhou Zeqi reached out to press between his brows. "Do you know what 'swallowing his saliva' means?"

Xisui had been a little unhappy to begin with.

Zhou Zeqi was his boyfriend.

But Zhou Zeqi hadn't paid any attention to the other person.

So the anger in Xisui's chest had already quietly disappeared.

He thought for a moment, then lowered his voice to answer Zhou Zeqi's question. "He wants to sleep with you."

Zhou Zeqi nodded, acknowledging the answer, but then suddenly raised a hand and touched Xisui's neck, his fingertips brushing over his Adam's apple. "But don't you also swallow your saliva at me all the time? What does that mean?"

"I don't mean that," Xisui said, startled by Zhou Zeqi's sudden move, and hurriedly stepped back, only to be pulled right back.

"What do you mean, then?" Zhou Zeqi pressed.

"I, I don't want to sleep with you yet." Having learned from the last time he misspoke, Xisui took the lesson to heart and answered carefully.

Zhou Zeqi tilted his head. "But I want to sleep with you. What should we do?"

Xisui lifted his head sharply. He could see the smile in Zhou Zeqi's eyes, and he could also see the seriousness hidden behind that smile.

Zhou Zeqi wasn't joking with him.

Xisui didn't know what to do, and his face was burning hot.

"Sleep in the tent?" Xisui reacted unusually quickly this time, changing the subject and looking for an out.

Zhou Zeqi tugged at the corner of his mouth and dragged the topic back again. "No, I mean get a room."

!

Xisui could no longer pretend not to understand.

In a flat, dry tone, he said, "I'm, a bit slow to warm up."

"…"

Where had he learned a line like that from a trashy scumbag?

Fortunately, Meng Kewen and the others were shouting for barbecue from over there, cutting off this blush-inducing conversation.

Xisui secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

In the sunset glow, they spread the tablecloth out on the grass. Everything had been prepared at the shop and brought here directly. The fruit had been cut, the vegetables washed, chopped, and packed into boxes, and the meat had all been marinated already.

"Ah, we'll be able to see the meteor shower at eleven tonight," Meng Kewen said, sitting in front of the grill and skillfully turning the skewers. The meat sizzled and dripped oil, with a big pile of vegetables waiting to be grilled beside it.

Lin Xiaojin and Xisui needed to eat more vitamins.

"Xisui, want some beer?" Wu Fengyi carried over a case of beer and handed one around to everyone else. When it came to Xisui.

Xisui was still fiddling with his phone with his head down. He shook his head. "No, thanks."

Zhou Zeqi glanced at Xisui. Xisui was completely unaware, poking at his phone with full concentration, still staring at it with a miserable expression.

Because Xisui was very troubled right now.

He had written his troubles in his notes app.

:(Xisui's troubles: What should I do? Zhou Zeqi wants to go out and get a room with me, wuwuwuwuwu~

!