“…No, Little Uncle. The rent won’t increase for you.”

It was already the snowy season. Outside the window, a light snow drifted slowly, coating the hood of Cheng Huanzhen’s coat with a thin layer of white.

Cheng Huanzhen stared straight at Lin Chen. With his hands pressing on the windowsill, he lifted himself up and sat, then with the strength of his thumbs and index fingers, he pushed the window completely open. With a flip of his legs, he entered Little Uncle’s bedroom.

With the window wide open, the cold winter wind rushed into the study behind Cheng Huanzhen, and the fine snow secretly clung to Lin Chen’s toes.

The pages of the open book on the desk fluttered.

Fortunately, Lin Chen had anticipated this outcome and had placed a finger in the middle of the pages beforehand. Once Cheng Huanzhen had climbed inside and closed the window, a gentle flick of his finger easily returned all the messy pages to their original place.

“Good morning, Little Uncle.”

Cheng Huanzhen greeted Lin Chen seriously.

He hung his coat on the coat rack in the study, then walked back to Lin Chen. His knees touched both sides of Lin Chen’s chair, and with his hands propped on the back of the chair, he leaned down and gently hugged Lin Chen.

He said slowly, “Little Uncle, want a hug.”

Lin Chen smiled and sat up straight, tilted his head back, and patted Cheng Huanzhen on the back, but scolded him, “Act first and report later again.”

Cheng Huanzhen liked seeing Little Uncle’s smile.

He liked it so much that if he didn’t see it for a day, he would toss and turn in bed thinking about it.

He really wanted to tell Little Uncle that coming to “collect rent” for the tenth time this month was already the result of his best efforts to restrain himself.

But he was afraid that if Little Uncle heard this, he would laugh at him for being too clingy again.

His nose rubbed gently in the hollow of Little Uncle’s neck. As he rubbed, his desire grew.

So he said seriously, “Little Uncle, want a kiss.”

They say that things happen in threes.

Cheng Huanzhen felt that kissing Little Uncle was the same.

Ever since Little Uncle agreed to his kiss that night, his desire to kiss had become uncontrollable.

Coincidentally, Wen Shaozhuo had been busy with his studies recently, giving Cheng Huanzhen many opportunities to visit Little Uncle.

Every time he saw Little Uncle, he would try hard to hug him and try hard to fight for a kiss.

Most of the time, Little Uncle would indulge him and satisfy his desire.

So, with Little Uncle’s indulgence, he had kissed Little Uncle’s forehead, earlobes, the hollow of his neck, collarbone, and then downward to his chest, waist, back, palms, and soles of his feet.

When he kissed his waist, he got a slap from Little Uncle. When he kissed the soles of his feet, he got a kick. But it didn’t hurt; Little Uncle always felt sorry for him.

He still wanted to kiss Little Uncle’s abdomen, but he hadn’t succeeded yet. He also wanted to kiss Little Uncle’s lips, which he also hadn’t succeeded at.

So currently, his favorite places to kiss were the hollow of the neck, the collarbone, and Little Uncle’s smooth back.

However, he couldn’t always kiss Little Uncle smoothly and directly every time.

Sometimes, Little Uncle would do just like now—lifting his eyelids to glance at him, smilingly pushing him away, turning his chair back to the desk, and saying leisurely, “That won’t do. You’ve tried it and tasted it. If I let you kiss me again, wouldn’t I be losing out big time? Go sit over there, don’t disturb my reading.”

Failing to get a kiss instantly made Cheng Huanzhen’s heart itch even more.

He thought, if Little Uncle felt he was losing out, then Little Uncle could earn it back from him however he wanted.

But Little Uncle just wouldn’t take it back.

He wouldn’t take it back from his body, nor from his money—

Cheng Huanzhen rubbed against Little Uncle’s neck, his voice becoming hoarse. “Little Uncle, I’ve saved up my thirty million. Can I renew the subscription? I want you to continue being my Little Uncle.”

It wasn’t the first time he brought this up.

But every time, Little Uncle would do exactly what he did this time—smilingly press his palm against Cheng’s forehead and say, “Whether you renew or not is a different matter from whether I let you kiss me—let me think about it, go back and discuss it with the studio members, and I’ll tell you when there’s a result.”

Cheng Huanzhen was very dissatisfied. “Little Uncle, but you’ve been discussing it for a month!”

Little Uncle was surprised. “Has it been that long?”

Cheng Huanzhen was even more dissatisfied. “Little Uncle, I haven’t even met your studio members… are you really discussing it seriously?”

Little Uncle was extremely embarrassed and coaxed him. “Of course, discussing it, discussing it, really!”

Cheng Huanzhen hummed softly.

If Little Uncle wouldn’t let him kiss, it wasn’t like he didn’t have other ways.

He bent down behind Little Uncle over the back of the chair and whispered, “Little Uncle, the previous interview program has been updated again. This time I invited Li Yunhui for an interview. The final cut isn’t completely finished yet. Do you want to watch the uncut interview video?”

Little Uncle was a bit surprised. “Yunhui’s? What reason did you use to invite him?”

Cheng Huanzhen answered, “His game is about to start testing soon. There’s a very special NPC in it. I invited him to talk about the creative ideas for this character and the story of the prototype behind the character.”

Little Uncle said “Oh,” closed his book, and took the lead to sit on the sofa, waiting for him to bring the video.

Cheng Huanzhen secretly glanced at the book, thinking that inanimate objects really couldn’t compare to living things, so he tolerantly withdrew his gaze, sat next to Little Uncle, and turned his phone horizontally to play the video for him.

Little Uncle soon focused his attention on the phone.

As for himself, of course he wasn’t watching. The only thing he thought about was kissing Little Uncle.

He waited for Little Uncle to get engrossed in the video. Little Uncle was always very serious when watching things.

Asking for a kiss at this time, Little Uncle might refuse once or twice, but when he persisted in asking more than three times, Little Uncle would soften his heart and extend a hand to stop his mouth.

Little Uncle would say casually, “Just once, okay.”

What counted as once?

One touch, one separation, together made once.

So what part of contact and separation was judged?

Cheng Huanzhen thought, since Little Uncle didn’t define the concept of “once” clearly, he would treat one touch and separation of skin as once.

He would keep hugging Little Uncle, so until his skin separated from Little Uncle’s, this “once” would never end.

Cheng Huanzhen didn’t know what kind of relationship he and Little Uncle had right now.

To say friends, but what friend would let him hug and be kissed by him every day like this?

—At least Father said such a relationship couldn’t just be called friends.

To say uncle and nephew, Little Uncle hadn’t accepted his thirty million renewal fee yet… and besides, could an uncle and nephew hug and kiss every day?

—It seemed like a more sufficient reason than friends.

Cheng Huanzhen thought, just like when he lived with Little Uncle, Little Uncle taught him to hug, and he hugged Little Uncle, which was a matter of course.

Then, if he had awakened to love back then and wanted to kiss Little Uncle, Little Uncle probably would have let him kiss too, right? …If he didn’t let him, then he would just pester him more.

But to say partners… oh, no, he and Little Uncle hadn’t even reached the step before partners, lovers.

They seemed stuck in the middle of these relationships, neither up nor down, neither left nor right.

…Little Uncle didn’t dislike him.

Little Uncle sometimes even seemed to enjoy his closeness.

Yes, seemed to; he wasn’t sure.

Little Uncle always hid half his emotions and revealed half. He had been with Little Uncle for so long, yet he still couldn’t precisely determine how much emotion Little Uncle hid and revealed each time they met.

Unsure, then just ask directly. He wanted to do so very much.

But perhaps because he already possessed part of the qualification to hug and kiss Little Uncle.

He was no longer barefoot. He was terrified that if he asked the wrong question and really made Little Uncle unhappy, their already ambiguous relationship would retreat a step back into clear boundaries.

Deep sorrow was hidden under the kisses like this.

Gentle and serious kisses fell from the back of the hand to the shoulder, and from the shoulder to the hollow of the neck.

Little Uncle watched the video intently until his vision was shaken by the kissing. Only then did he groan in dissatisfaction, come back to his senses, reach out and pat Cheng’s head. “What are you doing? We agreed on once, where are you kissing now?”

Taking the hit, Cheng Huanzhen said hoarsely, “This is a combo kiss, Little Uncle.”

Little Uncle smiled. “Playing word games?”

Having spent enough time with Little Uncle, Cheng Huanzhen knew exactly how to deal with such a dangerous attitude from him.

Instead of retreating, Cheng Huanzhen advanced, wrapping his arms around Little Uncle’s waist and burying his chin in the hollow of Little Uncle’s neck. His voice was melancholy and slightly aggrieved as he said, “But Little Uncle, you’re watching so seriously, you don’t even notice me.”

Little Uncle’s dangerous mood instantly turned into amazement.

Little Uncle opened his eyes wide in surprise, turned half his body sideways, and cupped Cheng’s head with both hands.

Little Uncle asked, “Didn’t you ask me to watch this video? Why are you getting jealous of a video? It’s not like I called him Big Nephew!”

Cheng Huanzhen stared straight at him. “But you sighed for Li Yunhui.”

Little Uncle was extremely puzzled. “Haven’t I sighed for you? I must have sighed for you even more!”

Cheng Huanzhen felt even more aggrieved. “Why sigh so much? Do I make things difficult for you, Little Uncle?”

Little Uncle blinked slowly, then suddenly switched from surprise to a smile. He released his hands from holding Cheng’s head and gently patted both of Cheng’s cheeks simultaneously with a “pap” sound—

“So you’re asking for attention here?”

When Little Uncle smiled, all his imposing manner relaxed.

Cheng Huanzhen dared to rub forward even harder at this time.

Little Uncle always liked to be lazy at times like this.

If he pushed hard, Little Uncle would lean back with the force, directly unloading his strength. But Cheng Huanzhen knew Little Uncle liked this trick, so he wouldn’t indulge him.

If Little Uncle wanted to dodge his force, then he would simply go with the flow, pouncing Little Uncle directly onto the sofa, hugging him, rubbing against him, listening to Little Uncle’s long sigh, and hearing him scold: “Clingy spirit!”

Little Uncle looked very good when scolding him, and his voice sounded very nice too. Cheng Huanzhen listened entranced, reacting everywhere in his body and heart.

Various reactions controlled him, lowering his brain’s vigilance for a moment. A question he had thought about many, many times in his mind took this opportunity to quietly jump out of his throat.

“Can’t help it, Little Uncle. I like you too much, so I always want to be with you.”

He buried his head beside Little Uncle’s neck and said very softly, “Little Uncle, look how much, how much I like you. Could you also like me a little more?”

“At least, a little bit more than everyone else?”