TAO | Chapter 104

“When we’re a bit older, we can,” Jiang Zhan said, inching his hand over to brush against Wei Xiaochi’s fingers. “So… don’t rush, okay?”

The moment Jiang Zhan touched him, Wei Xiaochi jerked his hand back like he’d been burned by a red-hot poker.

He honestly hadn’t meant that. He just saw how tired Jiang Zhan was from studying, so he thought…
Well, it wasn’t what Jiang Zhan thought it was.

Wei Xiaochi was completely flustered, his breath stuck in his throat, up or down. It took him a moment before he finally squeaked out, “…I wasn’t rushing.”

Jiang Zhan suddenly grabbed his hand before it could escape. His palm was warm and a little sweaty—it was clear that he was nervous too.

“You say you weren’t rushing, but the way you were just now… I mean…” Jiang Zhan looked at him like a wronged little wife, his tone all stiff and awkward, like he’d been possessed by the delicate “Jiang Lanlan.”

He really didn’t mean it that way.

Wei Xiaochi’s face turned bright red from embarrassment. He wanted to dig a hole and bury himself forever.

His head dropped so low it nearly hit his chest. “I won’t do it again…”

Jiang Zhan immediately got upset. “I already said you can do it in the future—just not now. After the Gaokao, you can take the lead as much as you want.”

“Stop—just stop talking.” Wei Xiaochi felt like his face was hot enough to grill squid.

“What do you mean by that?” Jiang Zhan glared. “You did it but now you’re pretending you didn’t?”

Wei Xiaochi didn’t dare listen anymore, burying his head even lower.

Seeing the obvious flush on the tips of Wei Xiaochi’s ears, Jiang Zhan’s heart gave a little skip. He leaned in and kissed that red ear gently.

Wei Xiaochi shivered like he’d been electrocuted, instinctively shrinking his neck.

Jiang Zhan cupped his cheeks. The Omega’s expression was a mess—flustered, awkward, and clearly avoiding eye contact, his long lashes fluttering out of rhythm.

Suddenly, Jiang Zhan’s breathing turned ragged. He drew back his hands like he’d been shocked and bolted out of the study with hurried footsteps.

Wei Xiaochi didn’t react at first, just sat there blankly, watching Jiang Zhan’s back disappear.

Seven or eight seconds later, he finally processed what had happened and stared at the study door.

Jiang Zhan didn’t come back.

Wei Xiaochi had no idea what he’d gone off to do, but he looked kind of panicked when he left. Worried, Wei Xiaochi went out to look for him.

From the master bedroom’s bathroom came the sound of running water. At first, Wei Xiaochi thought he was hearing things, but as he got closer, he could make out the unmistakable sound of a shower.

He stood at the door for a while, confirming that Jiang Zhan was inside… showering.

At their age, even if they hadn’t done any deep dives into that kind of knowledge, they understood enough.

Given the situation, Wei Xiaochi definitely knew what it meant when Jiang Zhan went to take a shower now.

His brain exploded.

Without even thinking, Wei Xiaochi turned and fled the scene in a panic.

—

After showering, Jiang Zhan came out and didn’t see Wei Xiaochi in the study, so he went downstairs.

Aunt Zhou had just delivered dinner. Wei Xiaochi was setting the table in the dining room. When he heard footsteps, he panicked, and nearly dropped the chopsticks in his hand.

Pretending to be busy, he didn’t even lift his head. “Let’s eat.”

The alpha was still damp from the shower. Under the soft orange lighting, his features looked gentle—his strong nose bridge glowing faintly with warmth.

He shot a quick glance at Wei Xiaochi, then pulled out a chair stiffly and said, “Sit down. What’re you standing for?”

Wei Xiaochi stiffly responded, “Oh,” and pulled out a chair for himself.

Jiang Zhan’s brows were furrowed into a knot as he slumped into his seat.

Trying to sound casual, he muttered, “It was too hot. I just went for a shower.”

Hearing that suspiciously timed explanation, Wei Xiaochi’s hand, mid-soup-serving, paused. He replied with another hollow, “Oh.”

He didn’t know what else to say besides that.

Dinner was eaten under a suffocatingly awkward silence. Neither of them said a word the entire time.

After eating, Wei Xiaochi gathered the dishes and brought them over to the sink, just about to turn on the water to wash up when Jiang Zhan pulled him away from behind and plopped him onto the Western-style kitchen’s island counter.

The house had two kitchens—the inner one was traditional Chinese-style, and the outer was an open-concept Western kitchen. The island had an oven built underneath and a preservation unit beside it.

“Sit here. Don’t move,” Jiang Zhan ordered.

Wei Xiaochi wasn’t used to Western-style kitchens. He usually cooked or reheated food in the Chinese kitchen, so the counter here was spotless. Sitting there, he watched Jiang Zhan start scrubbing the dishes.

The alpha had clearly gotten the hang of it. He didn’t squeeze out half a bottle of detergent like last time. Recently, he’d been doing most of the dishes himself.

Looking at Jiang Zhan’s tall, straight back, Wei Xiaochi suddenly remembered the time they went to that high-end club and cleaned the swimming pool.

That morning, he’d gotten up early to make breakfast for the two of them. When Jiang Zhan found out he could cook, the first thing he said was that he didn’t know how to cook—but he could wash dishes.

But judging from how clumsy he was last time, that was probably his first time washing dishes. He must’ve been bluffing when he said he could do it.

Wei Xiaochi’s lips curled into a smile just as Jiang Zhan turned around and looked at him.

He was like a human lie detector, always able to catch Wei Xiaochi red-handed whenever he tried to laugh.

Jiang Zhan narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “What are you smiling at?”

He couldn’t exactly tell him that he’d been thinking about how Jiang Zhan had probably lied about being able to wash dishes. So Wei Xiaochi stuck to denial.

“Huh?” He blinked innocently. “I wasn’t smiling.”

Jiang Zhan studied his face closely, scanning him twice, but didn’t spot anything fishy, so he slowly turned back around.

Just as Wei Xiaochi was about to let out a sigh of relief—

Jiang Zhan whipped around again, black eyes sharp and shining.

Wei Xiaochi was so startled that he held his breath, his abs tensing involuntarily.

Jiang Zhan, like a suspicious little watchdog, sniffed around for any signs of deceit. Finding none, he turned back to his dishes.

Only then did Wei Xiaochi dare to exhale, slowly letting the air out of his chest.

—

Once the dishes were all done, Jiang Zhan wiped his hands dry with a clean towel and walked over to stand in front of Wei Xiaochi, his back slightly turned, bending down a little.

“Get on,” he said.

Wei Xiaochi blinked. “Huh?”

“I’ll carry you upstairs.”

“…Why?”

Jiang Zhan grumbled, “Why so many questions? I said get on!”

It felt kind of weird. Wei Xiaochi couldn’t remember ever being carried on someone’s back. Maybe Wei Dongjia did when he was little, but he had zero memory of it.

He hesitated for a moment, then slowly reached out his arms and leaned onto Jiang Zhan’s back.

Jiang Zhan hoisted him up by the knees, bounced him into a better position, and started walking upstairs.

Wei Xiaochi was stiff as a board, his whole body tense. He was already eighteen, with perfectly good legs—being carried like this just felt so weird.

Like, really weird.

As they neared the stairs, he couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Let me down. This isn’t a good way to go up.”

Jiang Zhan didn’t say a word—he just kept walking, his steps steady and confident.

Wei Xiaochi shut up, worried about making him slip. He clung tightly to Jiang Zhan’s neck.

It was a bit uncomfortable, but Jiang Zhan didn’t complain. For this overly affectionate Omega, he chose forgiveness.

It was a nerve-wracking journey, but they finally made it back to the study. Wei Xiaochi let out a long sigh of relief—only to look up and see Jiang Zhan looking at him awkwardly, face turned away.

Wei Xiaochi: ???

…What now?

—

Author’s Note:

I know this chapter’s short, but please forgive me in honor of my late-night grind!