Lin Shijin’s dark eyes were bright and lucid. He stared at Sheng Rufei’s expressionless face, and his mood began to sink all over again. His fingers slowly loosened their grip.
Before he could let go, a shadow fell across him.
He felt a touch against his cheek. Sheng Rufei’s fingertips brushed lightly over his skin, and then his lips felt cool.
Sheng Rufei kissed him.
It was no more than a dragonfly skimming water… the faintest touch. Lin Shijin froze. He hadn’t even had time to react. Only one thought echoed in his mind:
This was nothing like he had imagined.
It was just a brief press, so fleeting he barely felt it. He hadn’t even realised Sheng Rufei was kissing him before it was over.
He almost protested: surely that didn’t count? Could that even be called a kiss? But when he glanced over, he saw a faint blush creeping up Sheng Rufei’s ears. The words reached his lips, and quietly retreated.
Sheng Rufei turned away, still holding his hand. A moment ago Lin Shijin had felt aggrieved; now it was as though flowers were blooming all around him. He followed behind, slow and dazed.
He glanced at Sheng Rufei’s ear. Then glanced again. His gaze lingered. He wanted to touch it.
Only after several steps did it truly sink in. Sheng Rufei had kissed him. His shixiong had kissed him. On the lips.
The thought echoed again and again in his mind.
Sheng Rufei, who was always so restrained. If he was willing to kiss him, then he must truly like him.
The tightness in his chest dissolved, as though strands of spun sugar were melting within him, sweetness seeping slowly into his heart.
Now that he was paying attention, he could feel the warmth of Sheng Rufei’s palm, the thin calluses along his fingers, the steady strength in the hand that held his. His face grew warm.
He squeezed Sheng Rufei’s fingers and, after a short distance, stopped.
“Shixiong… I can’t walk any further.”
Without a word, Sheng Rufei crouched and let him climb onto his back. Lin Shijin settled there contentedly, his fingers brushing through the young man’s silver-white hair. The tips of Sheng Rufei’s ears were still faintly red.
“Shixiong…” Lin Shijin looped his arms around his neck and deliberately leaned close to speak beside his ear.
As expected, the ear flushed darker.
“Don’t fidget,” Sheng Rufei said stiffly.
“Oh.”
Lin Shijin obediently held on, and Sheng Rufei carried him all the way down the mountain. He seemed to have found a shorter path; the descent took far less time than the climb had.
At the foot of Hanhuan Mountain, they boarded the carriage again.
Lin Shijin sat opposite him, absent-minded, stealing glances. First his brows and eyes. Then the bridge of his nose. Then those lips.
Earlier, he had felt nothing. The more he thought about it, the more it bothered him. His gaze kept drifting to Sheng Rufei’s mouth. He edged closer.
“Shixiong… what are we now?”
Sheng Rufei had been manipulating a puppet, fine silver threads looped between his fingers. At the question, his hand stilled. His gaze travelled slowly over Lin Shijin before he replied, cool and concise:
“Fiancés.”
The word had never stirred him before. Now his ears burned.
“Fiancés…” he repeated softly, meeting Sheng Rufei’s deep, unreadable eyes.
He still felt faintly insecure after their quarrel and, without thinking, reached to touch Sheng Rufei’s fingers. He secretly stroked them before clasping them outright.
Sheng Rufei allowed it, merely squeezing his fingertips. “There is still some distance to the next city. Sleep for a while.”
His fingers brushed lightly over Lin Shijin’s eyelids. “And don’t cry in front of others again.”
So many rules.
Lin Shijin muttered a small “Mm,” still holding his hand. “I’ll only embarrass myself in front of Shixiong.”
He wouldn’t cry for anyone else.
The carriage fell quiet. After a while, Lin Shijin began tickling Sheng Rufei’s palm. His hand was promptly pinned down.
“Shixiong… when you kissed me earlier, I didn’t feel anything.” Even he felt slightly embarrassed saying it. “Could you kiss once more?”
Since the vow had already been broken, and since in his mind Sheng Rufei had always been almost ascetic in his restraint, he found himself unbearably curious.
Sheng Rufei’s gaze lowered slowly to his lips.
“What do you mean ‘didn’t feel anything’?”
“I didn’t even have time to react. It was just a touch and gone.” He poked Sheng Rufei’s palm lightly. “Like that.”
A pause.
“And what should it be like?”
Lin Shijin flushed. He had never experienced it, but he had read enough illustrated storybooks and seen enough dramas to have certain expectations.
They had just declared themselves fiancés. He wanted to kiss him.
Slowly, he leaned forward. Their lips met.
This time Sheng Rufei did not move away. Arms instinctively circled Lin Shijin’s waist. The scent of him was clean and cool. It wrapped around Lin Shijin as those dark eyes half-lowered, thick with something deeper than before.
Then teeth grazed his lip.
A signal.
The arm at his waist tightened. His balance gave way and he tumbled fully into Sheng Rufei’s embrace, clutching at his robes. Their breaths tangled. A sharp sting bloomed where his lip had been bitten.
“Shixiong…”
His voice came out softer than ever, melting at the edges.
He was entirely at the other’s mercy… unable to retreat, unable to steady himself. Fingers slid lower, brushing at his tailbone; a shiver climbed his spine.
“Wasn’t this what you wanted?”
The kiss deepened.
By the time Sheng Rufei finally drew back, Lin Shijin was limp, cheeks flushed, eyes misted. He had no strength left to move.
Then, he felt a sharp pain at his ear. He pushed weakly. “That hurts. Don’t bite my ear.”
Instead, Sheng Rufei lowered his head and kissed the reddened tip. Lin Shijin froze again, face blazing, clutching him silently.
After a while he recovered just enough strength to sit up. Despite that, he lingered shamelessly in Sheng Rufei’s arms, complaining softly and clinging.
He touched his wrist. His cheek. Leaned in for small, mischievous pecks.
“Stop clinging,” Sheng Rufei said, catching his wrist and placing it back properly. “Sit still.”
Lin Shijin obeyed… for all of a minute.
Then he peered at Sheng Rufei’s lips, noticing the faint tooth-mark he had left behind. Unable to restrain himself, he edged closer again.
“Shixiong… how many days until we reach Wuxiang Mountain?”
“Will we meet Su Lian-shixiong and the others? Should we keep this secret?”
He lowered his voice conspiratorially. “If they find out, someone will definitely challenge me to a duel. There are so many people who admire you. I couldn’t beat a single one of them.”
And yet, despite that, he sounded more pleased than worried.
Only afterwards did he realise he was afraid… faintly anxious that Sheng Rufei might be snatched away.
Sheng Rufei did his utmost not to look at the warm, exuberant youth beside him. The sight was too distracting. Once his gaze settled there, it refused to move.
“It ought to be me,” Sheng Rufei said evenly. “I wouldn’t be able to defeat the few who were circling around you.”
Lin Shijin understood at once. He was being mocked. He had half a mind to protest. Those people should have been crowding around Sheng Rufei in the first place.
“I don’t care about them,” Lin Shijin said instead, leaning over and planting a loud kiss on the wooden man’s cheek. The more he looked, the more he adored him. Hugging him tightly, he declared, “I only like Shixiong. No matter what you’re like, I’ll always like you.”
Sheng Rufei shot him a sidelong glance and did not dignify the sweet talk with a reply. Instead, he touched his cheek with his fingertips and felt a trace of dampness. His lips straightened slightly.
“No smearing saliva.”
Lin Shijin seemed practically to sprout hearts. “Oh,” he replied obediently, then lay beside him watching as Sheng Rufei tinkered with something on the table.
It appeared to be some sort of chain again, though this time he was adding several peculiar components.
Lin Shijin watched for quite a while without understanding a thing. Sheng Rufei was wholly absorbed, and the only light in the room came from a single candle upon the table.
He was always like this when working, completely focused. The candlelight illuminated half his profile, rendering his features striking and refined, as though painted in rich ink wash.
Lin Shijin stared for a long while before succumbing to his clingy nature. He wound himself around Sheng Rufei again, unwilling to loosen his hold, and leaned in for another kiss. This time he did not succeed.
Sheng Rufei’s fingertip pressed lightly against his lips, stopping him. The object in his hand was finished.
It was a lock, small enough to hang around the neck. Sheng Rufei fastened it there himself. His fingers brushed Lin Shijin’s lips as he adjusted it, and he said calmly:
“This lock has a temper. It dislikes its master having contact with others. You are now its master. If you kiss me again, it will punish you.”
He paused, then added in the same measured tone:
“There is no need for concern. Its punishment will benefit your cultivation. It can teach you how to condense spiritual energy.”
Lin Shijin stared at him with wide, innocent eyes, looking faintly wronged. Then, on the spot, he seemed to collapse back into a little heap of pebbles.
“I knew it…” he muttered gloomily. “Shixiong’s words really were all lies.”
Lin Fuheng: “…”
Sheng Rufei: “…”
