Lin Zhu often thought—

Was his progress with Yan Ruoyun a bit too fast?

He hadn’t had any romantic experience before. The only ones he had seen around him were all campus couples, which obviously couldn’t serve as a reference. Even so, he knew that lovers shouldn’t progress too quickly…

If you take steps too large, you can easily overstretch yourself.

However, at this very moment.

The man stood under the streetlamp, holding the jellyfish tank with one hand. His bent arm caused the cuff of his suit to slip down a few inches, revealing a section of his slender wrist. On the inside dotted several dark red bruises.

When he spoke, his eyes were always half-lowered, staring intently at the jellyfish tank in his hand. For a long time, he didn’t look up at his little boyfriend even once.

But Lin Zhu’s gaze never shifted away.

He thought inappropriately: Yan Ruoyun didn’t seem as straightforward and decisive as when they first met. Not only was there a bit of tactfulness in his words, but even his demeanor revealed a hint of reserve.

Even a bit bizarrely awkward.

The early autumn night breeze was not docile at all, aggressively battering against people. Standing in the wind, Lin Zhu felt like he was a piece of dry firewood; with just a stroke of the wind, he started crackling and burning.

Perhaps it was because he hadn’t made a sound for too long, Yan Ruoyun imperceptibly bit his lower lip, raised his eyes to glance at him, then used his free hand to stroke the side of his neck, changing his tune:

“…Let’s talk about it next time. The wind is picking up, you go upstairs first.”

His tone carried his usual cold indifference.

Yet, Lin Zhu seemed to hear something else in it. With quick reflexes, he caught the wrist the man was trying to pull back, pulled it up to his face, and lightly kissed the slightly cool palm.

Then he answered: “Okay.”

Yan Ruoyun’s fingers curled slightly. Pretending nothing had happened, he nodded and went back to staring at the jellyfish tank in his hand. “Mm… Then I’m heading back too, we’ll keep in touch on WeChat.”

He tried to pull his hand back, but it didn’t budge.

Lin Zhu’s knuckles were long and strong, tightly clasping his wrist. His thumb rubbed against the red bruise on the inside. “Ge, don’t go. Come upstairs with me.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he bent down, casting his gaze upward at the man’s face. Noticing the teeth marks on his lower lip, he tilted his head and leaned in for a peck.

“I need to pack my things,” Lin Zhu said slowly.

After a moment of silence.

Yan Ruoyun couldn’t help but use his captured wrist to push away the blond youth’s face. His Adam’s apple bobbed slightly, and finally he just scolded:

“…Is this how you bully your wife?”

---

Lin Zhu didn’t have many personal items.

When he walked up to Yan Ruoyun carrying a backpack and a regular-sized suitcase, the other frowned and asked, “Just this?”

Lin Zhu nodded.

He was a student, wearing his school uniform from Monday to Friday, and casual clothes on the weekends. Added together with a few miscellaneous daily necessities…

One suitcase was more than enough.

Before leaving, Lin Zhu checked each room and the living room one by one, turning off the water and electricity. Fortunately, there was no fresh food in the fridge, so he could just pull the plug and leave.

As he locked the door, Yan Ruoyun stood in front of him and confirmed once more, “You really want to move in with me? Not coming back here?”

Lin Zhu thought about it and answered, “It doesn’t matter, I don’t feel a sense of belonging here anyway… Besides, I haven’t even seen your place yet.”

Saying this, he couldn’t help but rub his nose, feeling a bit embarrassed, but mostly excited.

Yan Ruoyun stared at his little boyfriend for a good while, suddenly saying, “Little dog Lin, does this count as me keeping you from now on?”

Lin Zhu: “…”

To Lin Zhu’s surprise, Yan Ruoyun’s residence wasn’t considered large; it was a two-bedroom apartment under a hundred square meters.

One room was a bedroom, the other a study.

Meeting the man’s needs for both rest and work.

After letting Lin Zhu register his fingerprint, Yan Ruoyun introduced the place, “I lived at home before I started working, and the house was exceptionally big… so I intentionally bought this apartment on the smaller side.”

The two-bedroom layout was well-ventilated, and the decor was simple and atmospheric. At a glance, it looked exceptionally clean and tidy.

After changing into slippers, Lin Zhu was afraid the wheels of his suitcase would scuff the wooden floor, so he just carried it by the handle and followed Yan Ruoyun into the bedroom.

The bedroom was styled in black, white, and gray tones.

This was probably what the interior design world called ‘sexually frigid style.’

Lin Zhu quickly scanned the room, then his gaze followed the man. He saw him open the wardrobe doors first, and with a swish, push his own clothes to one side, leaving half the space empty.

It was clearly space left for Lin Zhu.

Lin Zhu consciously stepped forward, opened his suitcase, and began hanging his clothes up… As he moved, he smelled the faint scent of sea breeze dispersing in the bedroom.

Another scent—mint candy—was currently invading it.

Yan Ruoyun squatted beside him and pulled a sealed pillow insert from the storage cabinet at the bottom of the wardrobe.

Lin Zhu noticed there were several more identical, unopened pillows in the cabinet and couldn’t help but ask, “Ge, why did you buy so many pillows when you live alone?”

Yan Ruoyun’s movements paused. He didn’t answer, simply turning to hand the long sealed bag to his little boyfriend. “The pillowcase is in there too, put it on yourself.”

Lin Zhu took it, and immediately saw the man bury his head in the storage cabinet again, digging around for a new bath towel and a new bathrobe for him.

So he looked at the pillow in his hands, then at the man’s back, and then at the pile of new pillows in the cabinet.

One look, and then another.

“Are you not going to tell me?” he pressed.

Yan Ruoyun fell silent for a moment, as if annoyed by the question, and answered, “…To rub against.”

Lin Zhu froze for a moment, completely failing to understand.

The man stood up, seemingly exasperated to the limit. He casually loosened his tie, tossed it onto a chair, and quickly added a few words.

“Heat period, get it now?”

As soon as he finished speaking, his feet moved swiftly as he entered the bathroom. Then, with a bang, he shut the door.

He didn’t lock it.

If it were in the past, Lin Zhu would probably have racked his brains and still not figured out what the man meant, but…

He was terrifyingly capable now.

It took Lin Zhu only a second to decode the meaning. He subconsciously licked his lower lip, then cast his gaze toward the bathroom door, from which the splashing sound of water was coming.

Immediately after, he lowered his eyes, looking a bit troubled.

He was already at an age bursting with vitality, and now that he had turned into an Alpha, his body was full of heat with nowhere to vent… Just a slight thought about things in a certain area would immediately trigger a chain reaction.

Lin Zhu was thinking about Yan Ruoyun.

His initial sense of immorality had already faded. As his lover’s face and figure surfaced in his mind, Lin Zhu only felt… it wasn’t enough, far from enough.

After quite a while.

The man’s voice came from the bathroom, “Lin Zhu, I forgot to grab my bathrobe. Hand it to me.”

Lin Zhu said “Oh” and did as he was told.

Yan Ruoyun’s bathrobe was made of silk, cool and smooth to the touch as it rested on his forearm. He silently twisted the bathroom door handle, and the pattering sound of water stopped—

The man stood under the showerhead, completely soaked. His snow-white skin was dotted with unfaded marks, a frighteningly large number of them. A portion of them were exceptionally dark in color, resembling clumps of bruised blood.

It was a shocking sight to behold.

However, as the initiator, and given that the two had just cooped up in the seaside villa for two days, Lin Zhu was somewhat used to it. He casually handed over the bath towel and waited to the side, holding the thin silk bathrobe.

Waiting for the man to dry off.

Yan Ruoyun glanced at him several times, “What are you doing?”

He spoke lightly, but in truth, Yan Ruoyun felt a slight trepidation in his heart. He only felt that Lin Zhu’s gaze was like molten wax, burning him everywhere… making his wiping movements somewhat stiff.

He saw Lin Zhu’s reaction.

The young man’s fire was exceptionally vigorous.

Often, just messing around with him for a bit would lead to problems.

Lin Zhu also noticed where Yan Ruoyun’s gaze had landed. He silently shifted his forearms in front of him, attempting to use the draping hem of the bathrobe to cover it up.

“…Nothing,” he said.

Yan Ruoyun dried the water off his body. Seeing the other embarrassed, the feeling of being stared down by a wild beast from just a moment ago suddenly faded, and he instantly regained his usual ease and comfort.

The two’s interaction pattern presented a dynamic shift of ‘one advancing, one retreating.’ Before this, Yan Ruoyun basically held the initiative, but now Lin Zhu would occasionally reveal a dominant side…

Seeing Lin Zhu rein in his gaze and act reserved and mild, Yan Ruoyun naturally became relaxed. He took two steps forward, mischievously snatched the bathrobe from the youth’s hands, and slowly draped it over himself.

“Doesn’t look like nothing… Little dog Lin, there’s a supermarket inside the community. It’s not too late if you go downstairs to buy some now,” he suggested with a smile.

As for what to buy, it went without saying.

Lin Zhu’s expression twisted in conflict, quickly turning wooden.

He answered: “No need… Ge, you still have to go to work tomorrow, and you just got back from Haiqin City. Let’s just get a good rest tonight.”

Yan Ruoyun didn’t tie the sash, leaving it open just like that. He crossed his arms, completely disregarding his current appearance. He boldly hunched his back, mimicking Lin Zhu’s previous action, tilted his head to look up at him, and asked, “So good?”

Without waiting for Lin Zhu to answer, he asked again:

“Then, does the good boy want a reward?”

As if remembering something, Lin Zhu’s droopy eyes shyly glanced away, his expression slightly struggling.

Just like [Mint Candy], the word [Reward] also had an alternative meaning.

After a long while, he nodded slightly, the movement so small it was almost imperceptible. Yan Ruoyun only saw the tips of his hair sway slightly.

The man straightened his back, first letting out two muffled laughs, then brushed past Lin Zhu’s shoulder, walking slowly outward.

Lin Zhu raised his hand and scratched his neck, thinking he had been reverse-teased. He wasn’t annoyed at all, and was just planning to take a cold shower and recite a passage from his textbook to cool down, when he heard the man’s voice drift in from outside the bathroom…

“Little dog Lin, remember to wash yourself clean.”

Just this one sentence.

Lin Zhu looked down at himself, a wave of ‘slightly dead inside’ speechlessness appearing on his expressionless face.

He was tired, really tired.

—The ABO world was truly terrifying.

---

Living with Yan Ruoyun was a very comfortable experience.

The man took great care of him. Considering Lin Zhu’s schooling, he gave the driver an extra raise to have him pick up and drop off Lin Zhu to and from school on time every day.

Lin Zhu was a student. Even as a high school senior, his daily routine was fixed. But Yan Ruoyun was different; when he got busy, he might not be seen for two or three days.

On this day, at dusk.

This was the tenth day of them living together.

Lin Zhu was dropped off at the community gate by the driver and walked home with his backpack. In the elevator, he ran into a delivery guy bringing a package to a door. They stepped out of the elevator, compared notes, and realized the destination was the same apartment number.

The package was shipped confidentially.

The recipient information couldn’t be seen on the label.

Just then.

Lin Zhu received a message from Yan Ruoyun.

[Yan Ruoyun: A delivery guy will knock on the door in a bit, remember to receive the package.]

Lin Zhu bid farewell to the delivery guy, carried the cardboard box—which was a full twice the size of a shoebox—inside, and then replied.

[Lin Zhu: Okay, received it.]

After thinking for a moment.

He asked again: [Ge, what did you buy for me this time?]

Yan Ruoyun loved online shopping recently, mostly buying things for Lin Zhu, such as clothes, shoes, water cups, and other daily necessities.

He had bought a whole bunch of miscellaneous things.

The next second.

His phone buzzed.

[Yan Ruoyun: You’ll know when you unbox it.]

The box in his hands was heavy. Lin Zhu curiously tore open the clear tape seal, lifted the flaps of the cardboard box, and discovered…

Inside were paper boxes that took up half the space of the shipping box.

A huge stack. Large packaging. Generous portions.

Even though he was the only one home, Lin Zhu couldn’t help but cough twice, and then shifted his gaze to the other side of the shipping box.

This half contained a pile of tools.

At first glance, Lin Zhu couldn’t tell what they were for either. It wasn’t until he pulled them out one by one and placed them on the coffee table in the living room that he realized they were actually…

Hair removal products.

Lin Zhu fell silent for a moment and sent a message to Yan Ruoyun.

[Lin Zhu: Ge, you haven’t even grown any out yet, why buy these…]

The man replied very quickly.

[Yan Ruoyun: I’m not growing it out anymore. They’re for you. Take them out and put them in the bathroom. I’m getting off work normally today… mm, I’ll put them on you tonight.]

Lin Zhu: “…?”

His finger hovering over the phone froze.

Immediately after, the person on the other end of the phone sent another reply.

[Yan Ruoyun: Little dog Lin, you’re a bit prickly on the mouth.]