Although Wang Cheng looked ready to fight Chu Yifeng, he was afraid his parents might hear them, so he did not dare make much noise. Before long, Chu Yifeng had pinned him down on the bed, his skin still carrying the damp warmth of a recent shower.
“Boss Chu, please control yourself.” Wang Cheng turned his head away from the hot breath against his face. He genuinely wanted to knock the man flat. Knowing full well they were in Wang Cheng’s family home, Chu Yifeng still dared to act this recklessly. They had barely exchanged a few moves and the man was already visibly affected. Wang Cheng had once thought the saying about men being unable to control themselves was nonsense because he himself had no such problem. Now he was beginning to reconsider. Clearly, he was simply a more principled person.
“Weren’t you the one who picked a fight with me just now?” Chu Yifeng said without changing expression.
Wang Cheng almost applauded his shamelessness. He knew his own skin was thick, but compared with Chu Yifeng, he still had a long way to go. He could never say this kind of suggestive nonsense with such a calm face.
“I have a way to make that problem disappear completely. Want to try?”
Wang Cheng tilted his head and smiled. There was something unmistakably wicked about the expression, enough to tell anyone he was up to no good. Chu Yifeng would have to be an idiot to agree.
“If you’re going to use your mouth or your ass, I’d be very interested.”
When it came to suggestive talk, Wang Cheng clearly still needed practice. He did not even have to think hard to understand what Chu Yifeng meant, and for once he had no choice but to admit defeat.
“You win. But forget it. If you don’t want to get thrown out into the snow tonight, I can guarantee that my father might still be reasonable, but when my mother gets angry, neither of us will be able to handle it. So, Boss Chu, behave yourself.” If they were at the apartment, Wang Cheng might not have objected to being intimate. They had gone several days without it. But inside his parents’ home, he absolutely did not dare.
Chu Yifeng raised a brow. “Then what am I supposed to do?”
Wang Cheng’s mouth twitched. “What do you want?”
“You caused the problem. You’re responsible for solving it.”
How shameless did a person have to be to say something like that? He was the one who could not control himself, yet somehow he had managed to blame Wang Cheng. Even so, Wang Cheng eventually resigned himself to using his hand to get him off. It was even more tiring than doing it for himself. When Chu Yifeng was finished, he said favors should be returned and offered to help Wang Cheng too.
Wang Cheng had only one thing to say: reciprocity, my ass.
He had not been particularly aroused to begin with, but after Chu Yifeng worked on him in return, his body reacted anyway. By the time he came, he felt almost completely drained, even more exhausted than after actually having sex once.
Chu Yifeng released his hold around Wang Cheng’s waist, quietly got out of bed, and slipped out of the room. He returned a short while later carrying a warm damp towel. After cleaning them both up, he took the towel back where it belonged, then returned to bed.
Fortunately, Mama Wang had shown foresight when buying her son’s bed and chosen a larger size. Two grown men could fit without any real problem.
“Hey, can you move over a little?” Wang Cheng had not wanted to say anything, but he felt as though he was practically being squeezed into the corner, even if that was an exaggeration.
“Why?”
“You still have to ask? Aren’t you hot?” Chu Yifeng’s body ran warm, and he was pressed so close that Wang Cheng could feel the heat. After all that earlier activity, he had even broken into a sweat despite the winter weather.
“Not really.” Under the quilt, Chu Yifeng reached over and wrapped an arm around his waist.
Wang Cheng tried to push him away but failed. He could only ask, “Did you lock the door just now?”
“I did.”
Wang Cheng realized that with this man, he always seemed to compromise again and again. His limits retreated a little farther every time. If one day they disappeared completely, would his dignity follow them too?
Wang Cheng had a habit of locking his door when he slept. He had picked it up while living at the temple. Security there had not been very good, so to prevent unexpected visitors from wandering up the mountain, he always locked his door. The old monk never bothered, because his martial ability was enough to overwhelm practically anyone.
Because of that habit, Papa Wang and Mama Wang did not find anything suspicious about his locked door. Not until the next morning, after daylight had already come, did Mama Wang knock.
Perhaps because Chu Yifeng was sleeping beside him, Wang Cheng slept later than usual. He did not realize it was nearly eight thirty until Mama Wang called him to get up. Opening his eyes, he immediately saw Chu Yifeng’s handsome sleeping face. He had no time to admire it. He scrambled up and stepped on the man several times for good measure.
“Get up, Boss Chu.”
Chu Yifeng was already partly awake. After being stepped on a few times, he became fully alert and grabbed the offending foot. Wang Cheng was caught off guard and fell back onto the bed. Luckily there was a mattress, otherwise the noise would have been loud. Wang Cheng refused to surrender, and the two immediately launched into a quiet morning scuffle until Mama Wang knocked again.
“Chengcheng, the sun is practically on your backside. Do you want Mom to come in and drag you out of bed?”
A few seconds later, the door opened. Wang Cheng appeared behind it looking thoroughly miserable. To Mama Wang, he merely looked half asleep.
“Hurry up and wash. And wake Mr. Chu too. I already made breakfast. If you wait any longer, it’ll get cold.” Mama Wang shook her head.
Chu Yifeng walked over. In less than a minute, he had already straightened himself out neatly. “Sorry to trouble you, Aunt Guan.”
Compared with Wang Cheng’s rumpled appearance, Chu Yifeng looked polite and composed enough to make the difference painfully obvious. Mama Wang felt even more that her own son was embarrassing.
“It’s no trouble. Breakfast is ready and covered. If it gets cold, just warm it again.” Mama Wang lowered her voice. She still had to go out, so after giving them a few instructions, she left.
Wang Cheng sighed inwardly. He really did not seem like her biological son.
Sometimes fate was strange. At that moment, Wang Cheng never would have imagined that he truly was not his parents’ biological child.
Breakfast consisted of cucumber-and-egg pancakes and a pot of vegetable and lean-pork congee. The weather had turned cold, but Mama Wang had kept everything warm, so it was still piping hot when they ate. Chu Yifeng had not had such a simple, ordinary breakfast in a very long time. He had spent much of his early life abroad and was used to Western breakfasts. Even after returning home, although his family was not particularly fussy in the morning, the food was still prepared with a certain refinement.
“My mom likes figuring out different ways to make tasty food for us. Especially back when the family was poor. So we wouldn’t get tired of eating the same thing again and again, she’d keep changing how she prepared it. I remember once we went ten straight days without repeating breakfast,” Wang Cheng said while eating.
“Not bad.” Chu Yifeng had known this for a long time. He still remembered the first time he went to Guanjia Village looking for Wang Cheng. At the time, Wang Cheng had given him his breakfast, two flatbreads that looked similar to what you could buy at a morning market but tasted far better.
The two finished every last pancake and bowl of congee on the table. Wang Cheng gathered the dishes, carried them to the kitchen, and washed them. When he came back out, Chu Yifeng had already changed into his original clothes.
“What are your plans today?”
Wang Cheng had not even spoken before Chu Yifeng asked. He shrugged. “No plans yet. Are you heading back, or staying a little longer?”
“I don’t have anything to do today.” Chu Yifeng lied without blinking.
“Then I’ll show you around Guanjia Village. I’ll change first. Give me a minute.” Wang Cheng made the suggestion without chasing him away. The man had already spent a night in his home. Sending him off immediately now would be pointless, and there might still be snow on the roads after last night.
There were not many clothes in Wang Cheng’s wardrobe. He had bought several winter outfits earlier, but it had not been particularly cold at the time, so he had not bought a proper coat. When Chu Yifeng came in, he saw Wang Cheng pulling on a jacket over only a sleeveless undershirt and a thin sweater.
“You don’t have anything else?”
“Didn’t have time to buy more. The cold came earlier this year,” Wang Cheng replied.
“Aren’t you cold?”
“I’m fine.”
“Inside the house, maybe.”
Wang Cheng rubbed his nose, then pulled a fluffy scarf from the wardrobe. He had not planned to wear it, but from Chu Yifeng’s expression, it was obvious the man would not let him go out dressed as he was. Once he wrapped the scarf around his neck, he did feel much warmer. Before leaving, Wang Cheng also put a leash on the miniature pig.
After snowing all night, part of Guanjia Village was covered in white. Some of the buildings looked completely blanketed. The temperature in Shanhai City had dropped several degrees overnight. The moment they stepped outside, damp cold air rushed at them. It was not as cold as the mountaintop had been, but it was not far off.
“Let’s go to North Mountain first,” Wang Cheng told Chu Yifeng. They had medicinal herbs planted there. Because the snow had arrived so suddenly, they had not been prepared, though fortunately they had taken a few precautions in advance. The losses should not be too serious.
The snow on the ground was not very deep. Their footsteps made soft crunching sounds without their shoes sinking in. Even when Guanjia Village got snow, it was never especially heavy, unlike the north, where a single storm could block roads and even bury cars.
The walk usually took only ten or so minutes, but because of the snow, they needed several minutes longer. The workers hired by Wang Cheng’s family were already there, clearing snow off the plants. Papa Wang was there too, bent over helping them. Some people were also putting up temporary coverings.