Shi Linchuan failed to see Xie Jinghe’s face clearly.

The man kept his head hung low, both hands stuffed deep inside the pockets of his windbreaker, his face buried so far down it almost reached his stomach. He looked like a round, puffed-up little ball.

As the live stream concluded, the staff members and the camera operator exited the venue together, carrying away the red and green light props from the table and closing the door behind them in passing. The room was instantly vacated of everyone but the two of them, though the fixed camera in the corner was still working diligently, recording footage for the eventual edit.

Shi Linchuan straightened his waist and intentionally let out a long yawn. He then walked at a leisurely pace toward the edge of the bed, throwing out sarcastic remarks as he moved: “If you’re going to ignore me, forget it. I’ll just go to sleep by myself first—”

Right at that moment, a piercing screech echoed from behind. It was the noise of the wooden chair legs scraping harshly against the concrete floor.

Everything unfolded far too quickly. Before Shi Linchuan could even manage to turn his head, he was seized from behind in a small grappling lock and slammed face-down onto the mattress. Immediately following that, Xie Jinghe plopped his backside right onto his legs, snatched up a pillow, and began frantically thrashing it down upon his body!

The brand-new, fluffy pillow struck the man’s body with heavy, resounding thuds.

“Shi Linchuan, is there something wrong with your head?!”

Xie Jinghe’s voice—having just been fiercely kissed—was entirely flooded with fury, interwoven with a dense streak of grievance and bewilderment. He could no longer bother with appearances, his hands hoisted high as if lifting a massive boulder, slamming it down upon the man’s head and back as if murdering him to vent his rage!

Yet the man merely canted his head as if comfortable, remaining completely motionless. Like he had fallen asleep.

Xie Jinghe thrashed him dozens of times before finally coming to a halt. Whether from heat or sheer irritation, fine beads of sweat cropped up across his forehead, and the fire in his chest burned all the way into his eyes, water vapor venting from the valve. His strength dissipated right along with it.

He flung the pillow aside, blinking hard a few times before he could see the man’s profile clearly.

Shi Linchuan’s eyes were closed, half his face buried in the pure white bedding, resembling a corpse lying amidst a vast expanse of snow. Xie Jinghe inexplicably felt a delusion that he had already been dead for a very long time.

Yet right at this moment, the corpse spoke.

He said, “You only just realized? Xie Jinghe, insisting on being with me leads to this exact end, you know? It’s not just today, and it’s not just for the upcoming month… So, don’t assume that just because a kiss or some other intimate behavior happened between us, you can harbor unnecessary expectations toward me.”

“If you refuse to let go, you had better prepare yourself mentally. I am not some good person, and sooner or later, I will make you despair over marriage and love.”

Speaking up to this point, the man even twitched the corners of his mouth, wearing a silent, highly smug smile.

“It’s a matter of time.” Every single syllable he spat out carried weight.

Hearing this, Xie Jinghe’s expression became somewhat dazed. He suddenly recalled the night before last, when the man had knelt over his body with hands squeezing his neck, his eyes harboring a bone-deep resentment—seeming as though he wanted to strangle him to death first to settle matters before anything unpredictable could happen.

But he had cried. That was the first time Shi Linchuan had ever cried in front of him, emotions as intense as a surging tidal wave that slammed him heavily onto the shore, leaving Xie Jinghe unable to recover his senses for a long time.

Abruptly, the man seized the opportunity to flip over and sit up, pinning him flat against the quilt. His gaze swept over his face, and he raised a hand to swipe across the corner of his eye. Displaying his moistened fingertip directly in front of Xie Jinghe like he had achieved some minor goal, he uttered in a highly airy tone:

“Just as I said, you really are going to cry again.”

Shi Linchuan rubbed his fingers together, throwing back a counter-question: “Very heartbroken?”

Provoked into a rebellious streak by this textbook scumbag rhetoric, Xie Jinghe’s brain overheated, and his quick tongue shot back a retort: “Then when you cried so heavily back then, was it also because you were heartbroken? Did I make you feel heartbroken?”

Shi Linchuan’s face fell instantly. The air turned dead silent for a few seconds.

Bearing a foul expression, Shi Linchuan abruptly scooped up the pillow Xie Jinghe had cast aside earlier, making a gesture as if to smother him to death with it. He hadn’t expected Xie Jinghe to resist so violently, his limbs thrashing wildly all over the place as he choked out a retort: “Are you turning your anger into embarrassment because I hit the mark?!”

Shi Linchuan’s murderous intent gradually mounted.

However, the current Xie Jinghe refused to just stretch his neck out to await execution. Before long, the pillow, the quilt, and the bedsheets were all tormented into a complete mess by their scuffle, rolling into a wrinkled clump together. Four slippers were flung askew across the floor, utterly neglected.

The two individuals glared at each other face-to-face, both panting heavily, devoid of even a shred of adult poise.

Particularly Shi Linchuan. He was clearly a person turning 33 years old once the new year passed. Xie Jinghe was not to be outdone either; he glared straight at the man, the wet crimson in his rims having already faded during the bout just now, smoke practically billowing from the top of his head.

Shi Linchuan was exactly the same. After merely trading two glances, the two entangled in a scuffle once more.

It was unknown whose flying pillow struck the light switch on the wall, but with a sharp snap, the room plunged abruptly into total darkness. It was also unknown who tipped over into the soft, thick quilt first, but by the time the two of them processed what was happening, they had already concluded a kiss.

It was a kiss so fierce, wild, and aggressive that it resembled a battle. Neither was willing to let the other off.

In the dimness, Shi Linchuan wiped his lips with the back of his hand, wiping away the silver thread drawn from the corner of his mouth. The split on the tip of his tongue throbbed with a faint ache from being sucked by the other person, and he spoke in a highly displeased tone:

“It seems you no longer feel pain. Congratulations.”

The cold moonlight pierced through the glass window, flooding inside. Shadows enveloped the room, allowing only the faint outlines of people to be discerned. Yet Xie Jinghe’s eyes seemed to gather all the moonlight on the floor, looking exceptionally bright as they stared fixedly at him. It made Shi Linchuan feel a wave of irritation, and he couldn’t resist yanking up the quilt to fling it over his head, covering it securely.

“Go to sleep!”

Xie Jinghe whipped the quilt open with a swish. “There’s only one pillow left on the bed, how are we supposed to sleep?”

Shi Linchuan threw down a line: “Go fetch it yourself.”

Xie Jinghe spoke again: “Even if I fetch it back, it’s dirty. It’s covered in dust.”

Driven up the wall by his noise, Shi Linchuan could only make do, sharing half of his own pillow with him. However, having bickered and wrestled for so long, their drowsiness had long since flown ten thousand miles away. The pair lay in absolute silence for nearly an hour before their eyelids finally felt slightly heavy.

Right as he was about to drift off to sleep, Shi Linchuan suddenly heard that person whisper softly: “Linchuan, I don’t know why you suddenly want to treat me like this. But those words you said about hating me, or intentionally putting on a gentle front to deceive me… actually, I don’t really believe any of it.”

“I think,” Xie Jinghe paused for an instant, continuing in a breathy tone, “you just want to make yourself look very bad, and then scare me away, drive me away.”

Shi Linchuan kept his eyes closed, pretending he hadn’t heard.

Yet Xie Jinghe was relentless, inching closer bit by bit until his mouth was pressed right against his ear, continuing to whisper lightly: “You really are bad. Not only did you secretly install a monitor in my phone, you also suddenly flipped your face, saying those out-of-line things to me. You clearly know I haven’t done anything to betray you, don’t you?”

“I was almost angered to death by you.”

The root of Shi Linchuan’s ear felt itchy from the warm breath he exhaled. He couldn’t resist twisting his head to evade it slightly, opening his mouth to respond: “Then why did you still press the green light? Can’t you be a bit unyielding? Don’t look like someone who has never seen the world, taking just any man.”

Xie Jinghe counter-stated, “I just want you.”

Seeing as they were husbands for a phase after all, Shi Linchuan upheld a final shred of conscience, advising: “Xie Jinghe, do you have a masochistic tendency? Go see a psychologist. Don’t conceal your illness and avoid treatment.”

Xie Jinghe: “Are you shifting the subject, or are you deliberately trying to anger me?”

Shi Linchuan: “What’s it to you?”

Xie Jinghe: “Can I speak a word of truth?”

Shi Linchuan refused to speak properly, merely uttering a line: “The mouth grows on your own body.”

Compared to three years, a month and change was far too brief. Yet Xie Jinghe discovered that he had unexpectedly adapted to the man’s occasional attitude that could anger a person to death without paying with his life. He naturally picked up the conversation: “To be honest, compared to me, it seems you are the one who should go see a psychologist more.”

Shi Linchuan: “You might as well just say I’m sick.”

Xie Jinghe: “You are sick.”

Shi Linchuan let out a heavy, cold laugh, turning his body over to give him his back.

A few seconds passed. Beneath the quilt, a hand quietly slid over, resting neither heavily nor lightly against his waist. Its owner subsequently pressed close as well, sharing the exact same pillow with him.

At this moment, Shi Linchuan suddenly heard a voice rise from the tranquility behind him.

“I have already prepared myself.”

After a long, drawn-out silence, Shi Linchuan cursed softly: “Noisy to death!”

It was just unknown whether he was cursing the person behind him, or that restless, unquiet heart inside his chest.