Chapter 51: Monitoring
51st -【Monitoring】
After taking a shower, Chu Yu lay directly on the bed. The hotel bed was so soft that he didn’t want to move when he sunk in it.
But his eyes secretly kept following after Lu Shi.
This was his first time seeing Lu Shi dressed up in a decent suit. He felt that Lu Shi looked good in it, but didn’t know how to describe it in detail. Even his loose neckline revealed a bit of an elegant temperament.
Chu Yu couldn’t help but pat the space next to him. “Come on, let’s lie down in a row.”
Lu Shi turned to look at him.
Chu Yu presented his reason. “I want to take a closer look at your face.”
After speaking, he realized that there really was nothing good to be said about his reasoning. Chu Yu was thinking about another, better reason when he found that Lu Shi was already lying down next to him.
Chu Yu felt a little uneasy when he got too close so he tried his best to focus on Lu Shi’s face. A glance wasn’t enough, thus he looked several times more.
Lu Shi let him watch, asking, “Sleep with me tonight?”
Chu Yu took it as a matter of fact. “Of course I’ll sleep with you, or else I won’t sleep well.”
Hearing this, Lu Shi gazed at Chu Yu, suddenly turned sideways, then hugged him into his arms again.
There existed a person who needed him, depended on him, and couldn’t do without him.
Without him, he couldn’t even sleep well.
Thinking of this, a shallow smile emerged at the corners of Lu Shi’s lips, yet in his eyes was a paranoia that couldn’t be dispelled.
Chu Yu was a little embarrassed with the hug.
While wondering why Lu Shi suddenly loved being so spoiled, he returned Lu Shi’s hug. Meanwhile, he silently pondered whether Lu Shi had been wronged when he went back to participate in the birthday party and was bullied by that strange stepmother.
It was indeed a good decision to fly over, otherwise Lu Shi would’ve been too pitiful by himself after attending the birthday banquet. Unable to go home to stay, he could only reside alone in a hotel and watch the neon lights outside the window from a distance, not knowing which one was the light from his house.
Chu Yu visualized a tear-jerking drama. When he stared at Lu Shi again, his eyes were filled with distress for him.
He grasped Lu Shi’s wrist again and examined the back of his hand. “Where do you want me to lick?”
After asking this question, Chu Yu didn’t feel that there was anything wrong at all.
He’d once pressed Lu Shi on the school infirmary bed and licked the wound on the corner of his lips. There was also that time in the thermostatic botanical garden where he’d bitten Lu Shi’s shoulder for the first time.
Lu Shi’s blood was in his body.
They had a special intimacy.
A somewhat bizarre expression lay in the depths of Lu Shi’s eyes as he pointed to a certain spot. “Here, this place was touched by her. I’ve washed it for a long time, but it’s still dirty.”
“Her? Who’s her?”
“Fang Weiyun.”
“Oh, your weird stepmother?”
Chu Yu thought this name sounded familiar.
“Mn.”
With both hands holding Lu Shi’s hand, Chu Yu counted down in his heart then lowered his head and licked, leaving a circle of wet marks on the back of the hand. He blew on it once he finished and comfortingly said, “Okay, disinfection successful. It‘s not dirty anymore.”
Lu Shi saw the bright smile dazzling in Chu Yu’s eyes, and the tense lines at the corners of his own lips suddenly relaxed.
The next day, Chu Yu lazily slept. When he woke up, the curtains were tightly drawn, no light could enter so the room was dim.
Turning his head, Chu Yu saw that on the sofa sat Lu Shi holding a phone in his left hand, pinching a pencil in his right hand, and supporting a book and scratch paper on his bent long legs. He guessed the other must be using some software to answer questions.
Rubbing his eyes, Chu Yu deliberately made conspicuous movements.
Sure enough, Lu Shi put down his phone, paper and pen, and stood by the bed. “Awake?”
The sleep made his whole body feel like soft cotton. Chu Yu felt that he couldn’t lift his little fingers, so he hummed a response as his face rubbed against the pillow.
Lu Shi pulled the person up to sit and helped Chu Yu put on a white hoodie.
Seeing Lu Shi pause while dressing him, Chu Yu tugged at his shirt and spoke softly without strength, “Pants, pants, too.”
Lu Shi took the jeans from the side, held Chu Yu’s thin ankles, and slipped them into the trousers.
Chu Yu’s skin was white and delicate, his legs weren’t as long as Lu Shi’s, but their lines were beautiful, straight and well-proportioned.
After wiggling his toes, Chu Yu suddenly remembered. “Zhang Yueshan told me before that whichever girl wears a school uniform with a short skirt and knee-length socks, their exposed legs would simply be stunning. Some students had secretly ranked the girls’ legs and I’ve gone to see them all, but their eyesight was too bad.”
Lu Shi quietly listened to him chatter.
Chu Yu raised his legs, proud. “My legs are much better than those girls’, but boys can’t wear short skirts or knee-length socks. If I could wear it, I’d definitely top the list!”
Lu Shi ran his finger across the curve of Chu Yu’s calf, his thoughts unknown. “Hmm, indeed.”
“Haha Lu Shi you think so too, right? You have good taste!”
After Lu Shi helped him fasten the buttons, Chu Yu got out of bed, stretched his body, and went to wash his face.
Chu Yu came out after lingering in the bathroom for a while and saw that Lu Shi was back to sitting on the sofa and answering questions. He stepped over with light footsteps, sat quietly beside Lu Shi, and followed him in looking at the questions.
“You understand what you’re reading?”
Chu Yu honestly replied, “I don’t. I know the words and numbers, but when linked together, I don’t know what they mean.”
While staring at it, Chu Yu’s attention fell on Lu Shi’s fingers pinching the pen.
Craving.
Chu Yu’s courage harvested from being indulged had grown bigger and bigger. He lowered his head directly, leaned closer, bit Lu Shi’s left thumb with his teeth, and looked at him with his eyes.
Lu Shi released his phone.
Knowing that this meant acquiescence, Chu Yu continued holding his thumb, sucking it, and then began drinking blood slowly.
The bite was so small that Chu Yu didn’t know how, but he felt perfectly satisfied sucking Lu Shi’s fingers and didn’t want to let go.
So, Lu Shi bowed his head and held the pen with his right hand instead as Chu Yu sucked blood from his left hand’s finger for a long time.
Exiting the airport, it was raining outside and the sky was overcast.
Chu Yu didn’t call for the driver to pick him up. He was like a small tail following after Lu Shi to Qingchuan Road.
Wei Guanglei called them to come over so Chu Yu, still following Lu Shi, went with him to Wei Guanglei’s house for a meal.
Wei Guanglei’s house wasn’t spacious, with two rooms and one living room. The lighting wasn’t good, and it would seem dusky without the lights turned on. The table was also small and could accommodate just four people.
Tao Zhirou wore a black skirt with hair curled into a perm which appeared a bit frizzy, so she had casually bunched it up with a plastic hair tie. Wearing a red floral apron, she stood at the doorway of the kitchen, telling Wei Guanglei to bring Chu Yu fruit before beaming with a smile as she praised how good looking Chu Yu was.
Suddenly, there was a burning smell coming from the kitchen, causing Tao Zhirou to slap her forehead. “Oh darn it, the eggs’ burnt!”
When the cordyceps chicken soupFound this really cool site on how to make cordyceps chicken soup. Although it’s in chinese, google translate is understandable! https://www.meishichina.com/mofang/chongcaohuajitang/ was brought to the table, Tao Zhirou also added in a cucumber saladThis is a separate dish okay. Cucumber salad: and sat down.
After chatting with Chu Yu for a while, Tao Zhirou turned to Lu Shi. “How was the midterm exams?”
Wei Guanglei, who was chewing on chicken legs, interjected with a big grin, “Ma, my Lu-Ge has never taken anything but first place!”
Tao Zhirou glared at Wei Guanglei. “Even chicken legs can’t stop your mouth? I asked Lu Shi, not you. Eat your meal in peace, quit butting in.”
Wei Guanglei tapped his chopsticks on his bowl. “Ma, please look clearly. I haven’t eaten, I’m drinking soup.”
Tao Zhirou glared at him again yet couldn’t help but smile.
“Lu Shi, you’ve worked hard on the exams, eat more.”
Grabbing an empty bowl to pour Chu Yu and Lu Shi each a bowl of soup, Tao Zhirou reminisced as she said, “Your mother used to be first in the grade in every exam. From childhood to when we grew up, first place had never been robbed by other students.”
Chu Yu was holding a bowl and sipping soup. Hearing this sentence, he reacted after a while and realized that Tao Zhirou should be talking about Lu Shi’s biological mother.
Wei Guanglei interjected again, “Ai, this reflects the importance of heredity! I have lousy grades. Among your best friend trio, Zhu Zhifei’s and Lu-Ge’s mother probably ranked among the best, while my mother ranked at the bottom. Right, Ma?”
Wei Guanglei was slapped on the top of the head by Tao Zhirou. “Your nonsense-talking never ends, still want to eat or not?”
Wei Guanglei hugged his head and exaggeratedly bawled, “Who am I, what’s my name, why am I here? Ah, I lost my memory!”
Chu Yu couldn’t help it, his head was tilted with a smile from beginning to end.
As he smiled, he was also quite envious— envious of this relaxed and intimate relationship.
After swatting Wei Guanglei’s head, Tao Zhirou continued, “I can still remember until now how your mother loved smiling very much and was especially beautiful. She was the kind of girl you couldn’t help but take a few more glances at once you noticed her. Half of the boys in the school liked her, and I’ve lost count of how many times I had helped pass love letters to her. But I think your mother was definitely worthy of being a very talented person, she deserved the best.”
Thinking that Lu Shi had been back to Qingchuan Road for so long yet hadn’t mentioned family affairs, Tao Zhirou changed the subject. “Zhu Zhifei came to find Shitou while crying yesterday, saying that his mother had enrolled him in a cram school. His two days on weekends are basically all occupied…”
Tao Zhirou talked about trivial little things, but Chu Yu was very happy to hear them and didn’t want to miss a word of it.
Returning to school that evening, Chu Yu was dragged by Dream-Ge to read a new series that was being serialized — a shounen basketball one. Dream-Ge could be seen gesticulating, he was quite fired up. He was eager to have a basketball hoop in their dorm room so he could practice slam dunking everyday.
After eleven o’clock, Chu Yu went upstairs humming a song and found that he didn’t have the key, so he knocked on neighboring Lu Shi’s door.
Lu Shi was reading a book so Chu Yu didn’t make much noise and simply sat in the chair next to him and read comics on his phone.
While reading, the screen went dark. “Shit, my phone’s dead! Lu Shi Lu Shi, help!”
Lu Shi casually threw his phone to him.
Chu Yu nimbly entered the password and unlocked it. The interface of an audio app appeared on the screen. A nameless audio file with only a string of numbers remarked was in pause.
Chu Yu didn’t care and was about to exit to continue reading comics, but he accidentally pressed the play button with his finger.
[“Even if that mixed breed Lu Shi knows, so what? He won’t be able to find evidence! He won’t find where that woman is!”]
Chu Yu quivered, quickly pressing pause.
The sharp female voice abruptly vanished.
It was so silent in the bedroom that the sound of a needle falling to the ground could be heard.
Chu Yu’s mind was a little confused. He looked helplessly at Lu Shi, his lips moved, but he didn’t know what to say.
Lu Shi held a pencil in his hand, his eyes were still on the open book on the desk. “You heard?”
His tone was steady, but his lower jaw was taut.
He was nervous.
Chu Yu nodded and replied carefully, “Mn, I heard it.”
He hesitated for two seconds. “Is this… Fang Weiyun’s voice?”
Lu Shi’s fingertips which were holding the pencil turned white, the shadow of the writing tool on the paper trembled slightly.
“Nn, it is.”
Chu Yu didn’t speak.
Lu Shi discovered his silence.
The light in his eyes was extinguished bit by bit until it was all annihilated in the darkness.
After an unknown period of time, Lu Shi slowly raised his head, looked at Chu Yu, and said hoarsely, “As you’ve guessed, I’ve been monitoring her phone calls.”
The author has something to say: Here’s a little heart made of clay~
Bubble's commentaryIt’s been so long since the last staff shenanigans, I also wasn’t planning to do some right now but Bubbles comments were very tempting hahhaha. Btw, chapter 52 will come later after Sammy finishes her exam.- 1Found this really cool site on how to make cordyceps chicken soup. Although it’s in chinese, google translate is understandable! https://www.meishichina.com/mofang/chongcaohuajitang/
- 2This is a separate dish okay. Cucumber salad: