Keztranslations

Chapter 28

When Zhuo Xiang Ming arrived home, Tong Yan had already woken up. He wasn’t in his bedroom, nor in the downstairs living room. The cleaning robot informed Zhuo Xiang Ming that he was in the walk-in-closet.

    The walk-in-closet and Tong Yan’s bedroom were respectively on both sides of the corridor. When Zhuo Xiang Ming first moved in, his original plan was to make a separate bathroom for guests, but the room was twice as large as a standard bathroom, and it also had a beveled glass window. The daytime lighting was very good, and the concealment was lacking, it wasn’t suitable for a bathroom. So, the room had been empty forever.

    After Tong Yan moved in, Zhuo Xiang Ming turned it into a walk-in-closet for Tong Yan, vetting many carpenters.

    One-person tall, multi-layered small drawers and four wardrobes, as well as shelves for shoes and bags. All were handmade by a master craftsman, and equipped with dressing mirrors. Coupled with ventilation, it took a lot of effort, and was only finished a few days ago.

    Tong Yan had his back to the door, sitting cross-legged in the middle of a pile of shopping bags. His upper body was tilted, his head leaning on the floor-standing dressing mirror next to him. He hadn’t started tidying up yet, lost in his thoughts.

    The mid-afternoon sun wasn’t so hot or blinding, it was warm and cozy. Tong Yan wore a thin navy-blue sweater, dark gray sweatpants, and no slippers, instead, he wore thick wool socks. His hair looked even fluffier in the sunlight coming in through the window, like a small tranquil animal, harmless to humans, no one could have the heart to bully him.

    The walk-in-closet’s door wasn’t closed, it was almost wide open. Zhuo Xiang Ming walked over and immediately saw this scene.

    It felt strange, as if, by only looking at the back view, he could fully imagine Tong Yan’s freshly awoken expression, the one that made his heart melt.

    A few beats later, Tong Yan looked back, and found Zhuo Xiang Ming standing behind him. With a soft smile, he said: “You’re back.”

    “Yeah.”

    Zhuo Xiang Ming walked towards him and sat cross-legged on the ground, similar to Tong Yan, but because of his tailored suit, he couldn’t slump like Tong Yan. Instead, his back was straighter than when he was standing.

    Their knees were next to each other, and Tong Yan changed his direction of tilting, his head now resting on Zhuo Xiang Ming’s chest.

    “Uggghh …” Tong Yan let out a long groan.

    Zhuo Xiang Ming caressed his face: “What’s wrong?”

    “It’s too much.” Tong Yan was distressed, “I don’t know where to start.”

    He moved his leg, bumping into a row of shopping bags. There were some that had fallen out of their packaging, but the quantity was too small, ignorable.

    Some of these were purchased by Lin Yue Hua before the marriage, but most of them were bought last weekend when Lin Yue Hua took Tong Yan shopping. After leaving the Zhou family house, Tong Yan was busy with the sports meet and the subsequent mid-term exams, so he couldn’t find time to tidy up. He’d piled them up in the finally completed, handy walk-in-closet.

    But they couldn’t just stay piled up forever, they needed to be put away.

    He took the initiative to climb into Zhuo Xiang Ming’s arms, after sitting down, he clung to Zhuo Xiang Ming’s neck. Zhuo Xiang Ming hugged him, loosely wrapping his arms around him, completely willing to enjoy a lovey-dovey moment with Tong Yan. He said calmly: “If you don’t start soon, the sun is going to set.”

    Tong Yan rolled his eyes, tentatively kissing the corner of Zhuo Xiang Ming’s mouth.

    Zhuo Xiang Ming held back a smile, asking: “What are you doing?”

    “Help me.” Tong Yan said, “Can I finish this by myself? It’s too much.”

    “Are you asking me?” Zhuo Xiang Ming said.

    Tong Yan: “Yes.”

    Zhuo Xiang Ming: “But it doesn’t sound very humble.”

    Tong Yan had no choice but to say: “Please help me, please.”

    Zhuo Xiang Ming wasn’t satisfied: “If I help you, what’s in it for me?”

    Tong Yan felt that Zhuo Xiang Ming was very bad. When he was an older brother, he didn’t need benefits, but after becoming a boyfriend, he was no longer willing to help, and always negotiated.

    “I’ll reward you …” Tong Yan actually didn’t know how he was going to reward him, he just wanted to quickly get on with it.

    However, surprisingly, Zhuo Xiang Ming readily agreed: “Okay.” 

    With Zhuo Xiang Ming helping out, Tong Yan no longer needed to sit in a daze to try and fail to organize everything in his mind. The two worked together, using up more than two hours, and finally, the walk-in-closet was well-organized.

    The things were many and tedious, and they needed to keep bending down and straightening up. Tong Yan was also inexperienced, so most of the work was done by Zhuo Xiang Ming. When it was completed, Zhuo Xiang Ming’s forehead was dotted with sweat, and his suit jacket was removed, his tie loosened halfway.

    At the beginning, Tong Yan said that they would work together, but halfway through the cleaning, he was still goofing off. Now that it was all cleaned up, the walk-in-closet was simply a different room, and his kissing up mode was activated. Sweetly calling out ‘brother’, he fanned Zhuo Xiang Ming with his hands, and ran off to pour him a glass of water.

    Obviously, the house’s temperature was regulated, and to receive a glass of water, just press a button, and the housekeeping robot would deliver it.

    Zhuo Xiang Ming circled around the room, tugging the clothing bars one by one, confirming that they were firm. Tong Yan walked in with a glass of water, but he didn’t reach out to accept it, just staring at Tong Yan.

    “You don’t want it?” Tong Yan asked.

    Zhuo Xiang Ming: “I want it.”

    Tong Yan again held the glass of water out to him, but Zhuo Xiang Ming still didn’t move, a faint smile on his face. This time, Tong Yan realized what he wanted, and his face slowly reddened. He held the glass up a little bit higher, and brought it to Zhuo Xiang Ming’s lips. Finally, Zhuo Xiang Ming lowered his head and drank more than half from Tong Yan’s hand.

    Tong Yan said in a quiet voice, “Do you want more?”

    Zhuo Xiang Ming: “No.”

    “Then, I’ll…” Tong Yan turned to leave, but Zhuo Xiang Ming grabbed his wrist.

    It seemed that Zhuo Xiang Ming had planned this out a long time ago. He unhurriedly took the cup from his hand, and placed it on a nearby cabinet, then he pulled Tong Yan into his arms.

    Tong Yan wasn’t caught off-guard, but his footing still wasn’t stable, and he fell forward. Fortunately, his landing place was Zhuo Xiang Ming’s embrace. The two were very close, he was trapped between Zhuo Xiang Ming and a wardrobe. Because of their not insignificant height difference, Tong Yan felt that the top of his head was shadowed.

    Zhuo Xiang Ming grabbed one of his hands and pressed his other hand against his waist, slowly moving up. At last, he stopped at Tong Yan’s nape, a few fingers inserted into Tong Yan’s hair. He held on firmly, not strong enough to hurt Tong Yan, but he definitely couldn’t break away easily.

    Tong Yan’s eyes widened again, and he glared fiercely at Zhuo Xiang Ming: “What are you doing?”

    A small animal with hackles raised wasn’t very intimidating, Zhuo Xiang Ming unhurriedly said: “So fierce.”

    Zhuo Xiang Ming caressed the back of Tong Yan’s ear, making his heart tremble. Just this simple action, and Tong Yan’s legs seemed to jellify again, and his voice quickly lowered, almost like he was begging for mercy: “Brother …”

    “Yes?”

    Tong Yan grabbed Zhuo Xiang Ming’s finger, blinking. He wanted to step back, but behind him was the wardrobe door, there was no way out, so he could only say: “Let go.”

Zhuo Xiang Ming said in a low voice: “Just now, didn’t you say you’d reward me? Where’s my reward?”

    Tong Yan: “I poured you a glass of water.”

    “Don’t act dumb.” Zhuo Xiang Ming looked very dissatisfied. He leaned a leg against the wardrobe door, completely blocking in Tong Yan, “The water doesn’t count.”

    Tong Yan resisted in a quiet voice: “Why doesn’t it count?” 

    Zhuo Xiang Ming was unreasonable, not explaining why, he very childishly said: “It just doesn’t count.”

    Pheromones and body heat fermented in Zhuo Xiang Ming’s small prison. Tong Yan already felt very carefree at home, so naturally, there was no isolation patch on the back of his neck. His stress disorder was basically cured, so this time, the pheromone reaction didn’t bring pain, nor fear, only surging adrenaline, blushing and heartbeat, resulting in a shy and amorous omega.

    Zhuo Xiang Ming was unperturbed, still waiting to see Tong Yan’s even more ‘blameless’ look. But unexpectedly, the lamb wasn’t so timid, he even dared to stand on tip-toe to kiss him.

    The kissed alpha was dazed for a moment, and Tong Yan stood up straighter, asking proudly: “Good reward?”

    “Still early.”

    Snapping out of it, the wolf wasn’t so easy to dismiss. The lamb who tried in vain to rebel was pressed against the wardrobe, and was taught a hard lesson.

    Zhuo Xiang Ming knew that, when it involved kissing, he tended to overdo it, but he didn’t hold back and also couldn’t stop in time.

    On the way home, he’d planned this scene. After holding back for more than two hours, the floodgates opened. Tong Yan tried his best to hold his own, but in the end, he was kissed to tears. However, he wasn’t so difficult to coax, after a few minutes, he happily followed Zhuo Xiang Ming downstairs, and went to the backyard to tend to the blossoming roses. When asked what he wanted to eat for dinner, after much pondering, he said he wanted to eat pasta cooked by his brother.

    Tong Yan always said that Zhuo Xiang Ming’s curry was tastier than a restaurant’s. Actually, Zhuo Xiang Ming’s ingredients were heavier, he didn’t pay much attention to what he ate, so he could add MSG and salt with his eyes closed. After Tong Yan ate it a few times, he took note, and slowly “improved the recipe”. Now there was fewer potatoes and more carrots.

    The after-dinner program had changed a long time ago, the two no longer watched the finance news together–Zhuo Xiang Ming still had to watch it, but Tong Yan recently became obsessed with Lego, and sat down at Zhuo Xiang Ming’s feet to build.

    Originally, he bought the sets with his own pocket money. He searched online, assembling one before buying another one. Zhuo Xiang Ming couldn’t stand to look at it, so the day before Tong Yan’s mid-term exam, he bought more than twenty sets in one go. At first, Tong Yan scolded him for wasting money and ruining his shopping experience, but after a while, he was back at Zhuo Xiang Ming’s side.

    On that day, the two’s closet contact was still a forehead kiss. Zhuo Xiang Ming was also very restrained when hugging Tong Yan. Today, after eating and brushing his teeth, Tong Yan immediately started fiddling with his Lego. Zhuo Xiang Ming went upstairs, changed into home clothes, and came back down. He walked up to Tong Yan and said to the air, “Cooking is so tiring.”

Tong Yan ignored him, and Zhuo Xiang Ming again said, “Who bought this Lego for you?”

    After brushing his teeth, Tong Yan’s mouth started to hurt again. Also, when he looked in the mirror just now, he saw that his mouth was completely swollen. Forget about the Lego gifts, even the guilt he felt for wounding Zhuo Xiang Ming’s mouth this morning had almost run dry, therefore, he remained silent.

    After waiting for a while, Zhuo Xiang Ming couldn’t help but approach, encircling Tong Yan in his arms. He said beside his ear: “Buttering you up is useless after the meal, is that it?”

    Tong Yan just tilted his head, sticking their faces together. Zhuo Xiang Ming couldn’t be ruthless again, trying hard to incite Tong Yan in a firm voice: “Speak.”

    “If I say a few more words, you’ll want me to reward you again.” Seemingly ignorant, Tong Yan turned his face, pressing his lips against Zhuo Xiang Ming’s neck, then he pulled back, “Look, my lips are so hot, and you still want to bully me.”

    Zhuo Xiang Ming couldn’t help but smile, Tong Yan also smiled, his round eyes curving. He relaxed into Zhuo Xiang Ming’s embrace, putting down the Lego and grabbing one of Zhuo Xiang Ming’s hands, absent-mindedly fiddling with it: “I thought about the gift I wanted after my test results come out.”

    “What do you want?” Zhuo Xiang Ming asked.

    Tong Yan paused for a while, his chest noticeably undulating a bit more, but he still said, “I want you to give me a slow kiss.”  

His voice slowly quieted down, but Zhuo Xiang Ming still heard him clearly: “I still want to kiss you, but softly, okay?”

    Zhuo Xiang Ming’s heart melted. He grabbed Tong Yan’s hand, printing a kiss on his fingertips, gently promising: “OK.”

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T/N:

mid-afternoon- Apparently, it’s still daytime, so the ‘dinner’ last chapter should be lunch. I made an assumption, since ZXM left work.I’ll change it if I remember

Don’t act dumb- to act shamelessly / to refuse to acknowledge that one has lost the game, or made a promise etc / to act dumb / to act as if sth never happened

Curry- Don’t ask me why pasta became curry. They’re not even similar looking words.

Buttering you up is useless after the meal- 巴结着给你做完饭就没用了, unsure of translation

His lips are “hot”, as in red and swollen from kissing, not sexy