KMYB | Chapter 66

Xi Shui had a very strong desire to win, whether it was in dance or in games.

He took down the last two kills, and his team won the match, but he still lost the bet with Zhou Zeqi. That didn’t mean his skills were worse than Zhou Zeqi’s.

When they started the second round, Xi Shui asked in a low voice, "How are you so good?"

Admitting other people were excellent was one of Xi Shui’s strengths too.

Before Zhou Zeqi could answer, Wu Fengyi jumped in first. "We used to play together all the time. We were already sick of this game before it got updated."

Xi Shui let out an "Oh~" and had his character jump out of the plane. Curious, he asked, "Then what about you?"

"What do you mean, what about me?" Wu Fengyi didn’t catch on for a moment.

There were only some artificially created sounds in the mic, and no one said anything for a while. In the end, it was still Lin Xiaojin who couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing.

Only then did Wu Fengyi finally realize what Xi Shui was questioning. "Old Zhou, has Xi Shui gone bad after studying abroad?"

Zhou Zeqi leaned against the edge of the bed, lazy and languid. "He’s always been good with words. I can’t talk him down either."

Xi Shui had a whole arsenal of grand theories, some crooked, some right, all mixed together as he chattered away… Besides, Zhou Zeqi wasn’t about to reason with Xi Shui anyway.

Gone bad…

Not really. Xi Shui had always been the type to speak his mind. Besides, it was a fact that Wu Fengyi was bad at games, and on normal days no one even wanted to team up with him.

Wu Fengyi kept saying Xi Shui was annoying, annoying, so annoying, but in this freshly started match, wherever Xi Shui went, he went too. He never stayed more than a hundred meters away from Xi Shui.

Lin Xiaojin followed even tighter. He was basically glued to Xi Shui, and whenever the two of them picked up thirty bullets, they’d stand with their heads almost touching, giving each other fifteen and fifteen.

Zhou Zeqi: "…"

In the second round, Xi Shui got one more kill than Zhou Zeqi.

They played three rounds in total, and Xi Shui said he was done. Back in the game lobby, he said, "Let’s go to sleep."

Lin Xiaojin checked the time, then calculated the current time in New York. Yeah, it was about time to sleep. "Then we’ll go sleep a bit more too."

"Wai, wait." Xi Shui frowned. "More?"

Zhou Zeqi helped him exit the game, and Xi Shui looked at him in confusion.

"You should worry about yourself first." Zhou Zeqi slapped the two phones onto the nightstand, then casually stuffed the ball into Xi Shui’s palm. "Come on."

Xi Shui gripped the ball and slowly climbed up from the carpet onto the bed. He lowered his head to study it, weighed it in his hand, and said, "I don’t think I can do it."

Zhou Zeqi stood up and bent down to kiss him. "Try it."

"And if I really can’t, then I can’t?"

"No."

Xi Shui turned away from Zhou Zeqi’s kiss.

Zhou Zeqi’s hand braced on the bed clenched once. Without hesitation, he reached out and pulled the person into his arms. Xi Shui also had muscles, a straight and upright boy, but in Zhou Zeqi’s embrace, he actually looked one size smaller.

His limbs, neck, and shoulder blades were all made to look delicate and slim.

"Why are you hiding? A bet’s a bet, and you have to accept the loss, Little Xi’s life rule number one." Zhou Zeqi smiled as he kissed Xi Shui.

Xi Shui held the ball and lifted his head. His clothes and hair were a little messy. "I never said that was my life rule, but I’ll do what I said I would."

The lights throughout the apartment had all been adjusted and changed from their original setup. One glance was enough to tell it was Xi He’s style.

Without the main light on, even with all the other lights switched on, it still felt like being in a winter afternoon, misty, dim, and heavy.

It was like a movie with a plot you couldn’t quite explain. There were only the characters. They would occasionally say a few words close to a murmur, and the audience often had to piece together the theme and the most essential scenes from those fragments, from the characters’ expressions, their body language, and the few unclear things they said.

Although Xi Shui had lost the bet, Zhou Zeqi still helped him quite a lot. He only helped up to the step right before Xi Shui had to do it himself, and didn’t take part in the rest.

Xi Shui was stubborn too. If he had to do it himself, then he’d do it himself.

By the end, Xi Shui had fallen into a deep sleep in Zhou Zeqi’s arms. The moment Zhou Zeqi moved, his hand immediately tightened around Zhou Zeqi’s hem.

Zhou Zeqi could only stay for half a month. He would have to leave eventually, and even if Xi Shui was asleep very deeply, he couldn’t escape that.

–

He slept until noon the next day. When Xi Shui woke up, the sky outside was gray and hazy. He turned his head to look beside him. Where was Zhou Zeqi?

He scanned the room once and saw that Zhou Zeqi’s suitcase was still there, and only then did he relax.

He put on his slippers and went downstairs.

Zhou Zeqi was cooking in the kitchen, and the familiar smell lingered in the living room for a long time.

Spicy, spicy, spicy, spicy, he wanted to eat spicy food.

After making sure Zhou Zeqi really hadn’t left, Xi Shui turned around and went back upstairs to wash up. Only after he was done did he come back down, right as Zhou Zeqi finished boiling two bowls of noodles.

"Some of the vegetables in the fridge had gone bad. There wasn’t much that could be eaten, so I made tomato and egg noodles."

Xi Shui took the chopsticks and sat down. "A little plain," he commented.

Zhou Zeqi was across from him. He poured him a glass of milk and slowly pushed it over. "When I leave, then you can eat spicy food again."

Xi Shui was holding his chopsticks up when he stared at him in disbelief. "Are you planning to sleep with me until the day you leave?"

?

Zhou Zeqi almost failed to hold the glass steady. He looked at Xi Shui meaningfully for a while before slowly sitting down. "I didn’t mean that. You did?"

Xi Shui hurriedly denied it. "I didn’t mean that either."

Zhou Zeqi looked at him. "If you’ve said it, then you’ve thought it."

Xi Shui: "I just blurted it out."

"You don’t want to? Why don’t you want to?" Zhou Zeqi stared at him without blinking.

"!"

How had he talked himself into a dead end?

Xi Shui put down his chopsticks, picked up a spoon, and carefully sipped some soup. He stole a glance at Zhou Zeqi and found that the other man was still waiting for an answer.

"I do want to, but not every day. I guess it’s not even that. It’s just that sometimes I can only think about it," Xi Shui shifted in his chair. "It would hurt my butt," he said softly, his ears red.

That topic was over.

Xi Shui really was hungry too. He finished the entire bowl of noodles, noodles and soup alike, cleaned the bowl on the spot, and rubbed his stomach. "Let’s go for a walk. I’ll take you to see the opera house."

The sky outside was gray and hazy, the clouds heavy and dark, as if they could squeeze out a whole sheet of water at any moment.

"The weather forecast said there wouldn’t be any rain." After double-checking, Xi Shui put on matching couple outfits with Zhou Zeqi, but just in case, he still brought an umbrella and headed out.

Xi Shui looked great in a coat. He spent his whole life in the practice room, with ballet making up two-thirds of the weight of his life. The nobility and aloofness in his bones were impossible to ignore, and with a figure taller and more upright than most people, he stood out even more as he walked.

There was no need to mention Zhou Zeqi. With a height of 6'4" and a face that was one of the best-looking around, even a burlap sack couldn’t hide his looks, let alone clothes chosen personally by Xi Shui.

Zhou Zeqi held Xi Shui’s hand and pinched his pinky finger. "A coat that costs eighty or ninety thousand, and you just buy it on a whim? Where did you get the money?"

As far as Zhou Zeqi knew, Xi Shui’s monthly allowance had a limit. New York was already an incredibly expensive place, and he also had to eat and live. Buying two pieces in one go…

Xi Shui answered, "I get a lot of pocket money every month. I saved it myself. Usually I eat with Senior Blue Lan, or Noah brings me good food, so I don’t spend much money."

After walking for a while, Zhou Zeqi suddenly bumped Xi Shui with his shoulder. "When I go back this time, I’ll buy you a house."

Usually whenever Zhou Zeqi said something, Xi Shui would say okay. This time too, after he hummed and nodded, he only belatedly realized what Zhou Zeqi had said.

"You, I don’t want." Xi Shui even pulled his hand back from Zhou Zeqi’s, hiding it in his pocket. "I don’t want charity."

Zhou Zeqi frowned slightly. "What kind of nonsense is that?"

He reached out and pulled Xi Shui’s hand, which was stuffed tightly into his pocket, back out and held it. "I’ll have a statement drafted then, notarized by a lawyer, saying it’s a gift from me, Zhou Zeqi. No matter what happens in the future, it’ll be yours."

Xi Shui looked a little dazed, and a little confused. "I don’t need it. When I graduate, I can go back home to live."

Besides, he had his parents, and he was their only child. He lacked nothing.

Zhou Zeqi’s expression stiffened slightly for a moment. He wasn’t quite sure. "Go home to live?"

Xi Shui didn’t really understand where Zhou Zeqi’s confusion was coming from, so he asked back, "Then where else would I go?"

Zhou Zeqi tugged him toward his side. "Think carefully before you say that. Are you still weaned, or do you think I’m dead?"

Xi Shui walked a few more steps and thought about it too. He looked at Zhou Zeqi and smiled brightly. "If you want to live with me, just say so."

Xi Shui looked left and right, then stopped. He pressed his hands on Zhou Zeqi’s shoulders and leaned in close to his ear, whispering, "Qiqi, I already told you. Get over being shy, get over being shy."

Zhou Zeqi regretted agreeing to take Xi Shui out for a walk. If they were in a different scene, in a different place, Xi Shui would definitely have to take a beating.

Zhou Zeqi looked at Xi Shui for a while with those dark eyes of his, with no real smile in them, then pulled him slowly forward as he said casually, "Who said I only want to live with you?"

Xi Shui’s expression changed. "Then who else do you want to live with?"

"…"

Zhou Zeqi said, "I don’t just want to live with you. I want to marry you."

It seemed as if he had said those words very casually.

But it also sounded like a notice, like a declaration, like a plea, like a request.

There was no wind on the street right now, and no sun in the sky. The weather was bleak, but Xi Shui almost immediately felt the hand holding his turn burning hot, and that heat spread to his own hand, his face, his whole body, making all of him hot at once.

"What did you say?" Xi Shui stopped in shock. "You think that too?"

Zhou Zeqi stopped with him and tilted his head. "Too?" He dragged out the last syllable, catching the key point firmly.

Xi Shui nodded. "Because I think that too. If I date you, then of course I’m going to marry you. I just haven’t decided when I’m going to marry you yet."

He said it very seriously. Whether it was his expression or his tone, Xi Shui had always been a very serious person.

Zhou Zeqi’s throat tightened a little. He couldn’t speak. Holding Xi Shui’s hand, his palm was already sweating a lot.

Xi Shui was very happy, happy that Zhou Zeqi actually thought the same way he did. "I didn’t expect you to be in such a hurry. Then wait for me to ask my mom how to buy a ring. I’ll propose to you."

"…"

Zhou Zeqi’s eyes had turned a little red. Maybe New York’s air was too dry. He pulled Xi Shui into his arms and said hoarsely, "I’ll buy the ring. I’ll propose to you."

Xi Shui looked up and saw that several patches of white had appeared in the gray sky, tiny at first, then more and more, and it was snowing. "Then what about me? What do I do?"

"Love me." Zhou Zeqi bit Xi Shui’s face.

Xi Shui spread his hand out on Zhou Zeqi’s back, palm up, and caught a snowflake. It melted instantly. He muttered, "I already love you, idiot Qiqi."