Chapter 63
TLC: Lilies
Editor: Mashiro
Shen Yan gently held Qi Jing down and even grinded against him while the hand behind his neck pulled him over.
He was completely trapped, their bodies tangling into one.
The pillow sunk.
Qi Jing’s slightly leaned back body was now even tauter, even tenser than a while ago—it was a posture inviting one into taking another step. In his nearly feverish state, Shen Yan’s mind was already clouded, unable to resist such temptation—he leaned in and pressed closely against the lines created by the body beneath him, chasing each gasp the other man breathed, sealing them with his lips.
“Ngh...”
Those kisses rendered their words useless, their gasps disorderly. At times deep, at times shallow, their pants reverberated in the dark room.
Qi Jing’s brows were knitted as hurried gasps escaped his parched throat, most of them brushing on Shen Yan’s lips only to get swallowed by his kisses. He unconsciously bent his knees and couldn’t help but rub the soles of his feet against the bedding; opening his legs a little, he allowed the other to lodge himself between them.
Shen Yan let go of his right hand.
He let go of it, but didn’t move his own away.
His fingers slowly wandered up Qi Jing’s arm, tracing past his shoulder, finally burying into the hair behind his ear. Only his thumb stayed pressed against that ear, stroking it time and time again.
This place on Qi Jing’s body was always quick to blush.
Especially now—both soft and warm, it was incredibly pleasant to touch.
“Are you... treating me as a cat again...” Qi Jing asked in a husky voice, his eyes gleaming with a light smile. When he spoke up, their previous kiss was yet to end, so each word he said made their lips brush against each other, only stopping when Shen Yan lowered his head to complete it and continue with another kiss.
“I’m not.” In his heart, he was very much aware who he was holding—it was exactly because he was aware of it that so much affection and tenderness flowed through his actions.
Qi Jing listened to his words quietly, then lowered his eyes as he laughed, but didn’t say anything in return.
As if responding to those caresses, he furtively moved his right hand to Shen Yan’s waist—he lifted the hem of his shirt and slid under his clothes, his fingers directly touching Shen Yan’s skin. Starting from the back dimples there, his hand started tracing up, caressing the entirety of that back. Whenever Shen Yan breathed, he would feel those firm, strong and sturdy back lines moved under his palm.
“Qi Jing...” Shen Yan called in a hoarse voice as he begged in a low voice by his ear, “... Stop.”
“Why?” Qi Jing chuckled softly and asked despite knowing the answer.
Shen Yan didn’t reply.
Under the lamplight, he could clearly see Qi Jing’s expression—his eyes were half-opened, the ears on their sides still flushed deep red, yet the corners of his mouth were slightly raised. He knew that what Qi Jing needed from him wasn’t an answer, but something else.
“Shen Yan, do you want to... try it too?” Qi Jing’s voice was so hushed it was barely audible, but just like the caress of his hand slowly teasing along Shen Yan’s shoulder blade, it was more than enough to stir the other man up. With two layers of fabric between the two of them, every time they moved their bodies, the buttons on their chest would brush against one another. The buttons gave off this faint sound as if they were about to pop out of the strings that held them in place as they grazed against their skin.
It’ll feel uncomfortable if we stayed like this, won’t it?
Qi Jing thought so as he came up with an excuse for himself.
Shen Yan panted in a low voice, and sure enough, he straightened his back as his hand sought the uppermost button of Qi Jing’s collar.
He’s long lost count of the number of times he’s unbuttoned Qi Jing’s clothes.
It was an action he should already be more than familiar with, yet now his movements were as clumsy as that of a beginner; and it took him a long time to finally undo the first one.
Qi Jing also couldn’t stop his breath from becoming even more urgent—he closed his eyes and didn’t move as he let Shen Yan’s fingers unbutton more of them; the second one, the third one... It was the same routine as when Shen Yan helped him take off his clothes whenever he wanted to take a shower. But now, his situation was different, even the temperature of the other’s fingers was different—the place Shen Yan touched below his collarbone felt as if it was being seared.
When the last one got pushed through the buttonhole, and completely detached from the placket, his shirt now wide open.
It wasn’t the first time Shen Yan was taking off his clothes for him, but for the first time he let his hand touch his chest gently, moving down along the direction of the shirt sliding off his body, familiarising himself with the Qi Jing he’s never seen before—one who appeared only before him, letting his guard down, only for him—this one and only Qi Jing.
“Shen Yan.”
Maybe because he was out of breath, but when Qi Jing called his name, his voice was soft, faint even.
The hand on his back scratched him a couple times in fervour; it didn’t hurt at all, rather, it made his heart tremble.
He really wanted to forget about everything, and just make that person his&#k2026;
To take possession of him&#k2014;selfishly, wilfully, forcefully even&#k2026; Or he would wish so if he wasn’t a doctor who tolerated no harm.
Shen Yan took a deep breath as if he was struggling to get out from a sea of fire, the violent pulsing of his heart causing a rupture-like pain in his chest.
He lowered his head to look at Qi Jing. Qi Jing lay still on the pillows, his body looking almost gilded by the dim light; his clothes were in disarray, yet he still kept smiling at him faintly, his smile so alluring that he was unable to look away, only capable of staring at him in a daze. Qi Jing’s body was burning hot as well, as if anywhere he touched had flames buried underneath his skin, flames that could easily burn down one’s mind. The moment the unwilling thought of taking his hands back appeared in his mind, he already knew he had already used up all of his sanity.
The last shrivel of it was left for Qi Jing’s injured hand.
That’s because with the light on, his eyes could still catch it.
The cast was resting in a pretty safe position, so if he kept the scope of his movement to minimum, trying to be as careful as possible, maybe it would come out of it unscathed. But... the wound had yet to heal completely, so if he were to lose even that last tidbit of reason, he didn’t know what would happen, how far would he go.
“Hah...” Shen Yan closed his eyes and chuckled bitterly, then he burrowed his head in Qi Jing’s embrace, holding onto him tightly.
“Shen Yan?” Qi Jing turned his head over in confusion, asking close by his ear.
Shen Yan didn’t answer, only shaking his head in response before he gently pecked the side of Qi Jing’s neck with an inaudible sigh. Qi Jing gasped instinctively in response, his arched body collapsing back on the bed. His right hand pulled Shen Yan’s head towards himself, combing through his hair with his fingers as a form of comfort.
“Qi Jing,” At that moment, Shen Yan said softly, “I like you.”
That deep, familiar voice.
What wasn’t familiar though, was how he clearly knew those three words in his heart, yet he never heard them properly before.
Qi Jing froze for a while, then he suddenly felt a warmth in eyes, something welled up in them, scattering the light that was reflected in his eyes. And now, with the light reflected in them instead, tears spilled out.
He couldn’t snap out of it for quite a while, unable to say anything for a long time, just hugging Shen Yan even tighter.
At that moment, Shen Yan slowly shifted his body and without waiting for Qi Jing’s movement, he suddenly moved over and gently captured one side of his ear, nipping it tenderly with his lips.
“... Like you.” Shen Yan softly murmured, ever so close as he repeated those words.
As he spoke, Qi Jing could feel his breath blow into his ear and all the way to his heart, that warmth almost as if it was about to melt.
Just as Qi Jing has completely lost himself to that warmth, unable to extricate himself, Shen Yan’s hand suddenly shifted from the back of his waist, gradually feeling its way down his abdomen. Through the layer of clothes, it silently pressed on that place which had long since already reacted. At that instant, Qi Jing shivered all over, unconsciously closing his eyes as he couldn’t help a brief moan from escaping.
The two of them were as close as they could be throughout all that time; with how long their bodies were tangling together, it was all but unusual for any healthy man to have a reaction.
But having been touched like this by the other, the psychological impact was even more intense.
Qi Jing’s knees went soft as he shivered minutely against Shen Yan’s shoulder, his ear couldn’t be redder, as if it was about to melt on Shen Yan’s lips. Shen Yan’s breath was both low and heavy as he started rubbing slowly, his movements clumsy. At the same time, his lips parted—this time, he bit Qi Jing’s earlobe, making a quiet wet sucking noise.
“Like this... is enough.” He said.
“Ngh...” Qi Jing was taken aback at first, but later kind of understood what he meant. It took a long while before he finally gave a throaty response through his laboured breathing.
His own hand also searched its way down impatiently, looking for him as well.
It’s just that his hand was even more straightforward than the other man, slowly burrowing under Shen Yan’s clothes, following his curves before it finally touched that place and gripped it lightly.
Shen Yan’s body tensed a bit, yet Qi Jing didn’t release his hold, keeping a firm hold on it.
Hearing that man’s breath becoming more and more urgent, an unexpected sense of satisfaction sprouted in Qi Jing’s heart, his parched throat suddenly filling with a sweet aftertaste. Therefore he even deliberately lifted his knee, rubbing it against the inner side of Shen Yan’s thigh as he listened to those low, constrained gasps he ever so wished to hear.
“Like this is enough... isn’t it?” His face against the side of Shen Yan’s temples, he chuckled with a sigh.
As if they were sharing a secret.
After that, he couldn’t remember how it began, or how it finished.
He only knew that they shed a lot of sweat, their clothes and the bedding both got somewhat wet. A box of tissues that was originally placed at the desktop ended up on the bedside table, its weight a bit lighter than the night before.
It was Shen Yan who turned off the lamp.
Qi Jing only lay there in silence as he looked at him moving his body to press the switch, then he quietly reached out his hand to tug at his sleeve, prompting him to come back to his side. He again leaned against him as if he was a body pillow, but there was a difference this time—Shen Yan turned over and took him into his arms, hugging him to sleep.
Qi Jing knew he would sleep well.
Next day.
When Shen Yan woke up, their position didn’t change that much.
He opened his eyes, still not fully awake yet. The late autumn morning’s sunlight was only faint, and the sky also was yet to fully wake up; most of the room was still dark, which coupled with this season’s gloomy chill only made one unconsciously want to sleep in a bit longer.
Shen Yan didn’t close his eyes again. He lowered his head, silently watching the person sleeping next to him.
Qi Jing’s face was almost completely hidden against his sleeve, his breath regular, looking as if he was still sleeping.
“Qi Jing...”
Shen Yan called his name softly; seeing no reaction, he leaned over and laid a kiss on his cheek.
The person on his side still didn’t make a move; if he didn’t see the blush on the tips of his ears, Shen Yan would have really believed that he was still sound asleep. As for the reason for that pretended slumber, Shen Yan was more than aware of it. As he went still, stupefied, he unconsciously lowered his eyes—remembering the happenings of the previous night really made one feel bashful.
“Qi Jing,” Putting his hand on Qi Jing’s head, Shen Yan stroked his hair as he asked mildly, “Do you still want to sleep for a bit longer?”
“Mhm...” Qi Jing finally answered him, yet his head remained down.
The answer was very vague, but under those circumstances, it could be nothing else but affirmation.
Shen Yan smiled faintly. His fingers retreated from Qi Jing’s hair and just like the night before, he rubbed his ear lightly with a thumb. The place under his finger was warm, and for a while, he was unwilling to let it go. “You sleep for another while, until whenever you feel like getting up. I’ll leave the breakfast for you on the table.”
“Mhm...” Another mild response.
Yet Qi Jing’s hold on his arm got even tighter, as if he knew Shen Yan was about to leave him.
Shen Yan didn’t know what to say so he only chuckled softly.
“I’ll have to go to work later, so I’m getting up first.” Even though he did nothing wrong, there was still a bit of apologetic tone to his voice. After saying that, Shen Yan continued to idle away the next few minutes while cuddling Qi Jing so. It was only later when he moved and slowly took back his hand, not forgetting to brush away a lock of hair that fell on Qi Jing’s forehead. After combing it nice and tidy, he finally got out from under the quilt and left the bed.
After the sound of the door closing could be heard, out of sudden, Qi Jing’s hand noiselessly pulled the corner of the quilt over his head. Then just like this, his body slowly shifted under the quilt toward the place where Shen Yan had just been lying, setting on the place where his warmth could still be felt.
His heart was getting too noisy.
He kept laying there just like that, all the way until his heartbeat calmed down completely.
His head was full of the details from the last night—at that time he felt it wasn’t nearly enough, and still wanted more. But when he was thinking about it now, he could only feel his face burning.
They clearly had yet to take the last step, yet he was already getting too shy to look Shen Yan in the eye, getting bashful and remembering that distinct touch of those hands... He really was too useless. Qi Jing let his imagination run wild as he hid under the quilt, unable to convince himself to get out of the bed while Shen Yan was still in the house.
The vet clinic opened at 8AM every day, and it was currently 7:15AM.
He could vaguely hear Shen Yan preparing breakfast outside the room; the smell of food filled the house—it was without doubt a tasty and nutritious warm meal. Qi Jing almost suffocated from how stuffy the air got under the quilt, so he lifted one corner of it and listened to the clanking kitchen utensils and tableware coming from the living room. After a short while, all of the sounds disappeared, and another ten minutes later, there was a dull noise coming from the entrance—it was probably Shen Yan going out to work.
He rubbed his chest—that wild heartbeat was about to completely calm down, even though the warmth he felt was far from getting any better.
No matter what, he had to get his act together before Shen Yan gets back at noon...
Qi Jing took a deep breath and with a face red as a tomato, he swung his head like a rattle drum before he got up and went to freshen up.
He got to the compartment outside the bathroom and stood before the washstand, but the moment he was about to take his toothbrush and a cup, his gaze suddenly swept across the mirror before him and he froze immediately.
With his hand stopped short of taking the washing utensils, he took it back from midair to push the collar of his shirt aside, only to see the faintly discernible marks underneath. There were some on his neck and some on the side of his clavicles—even though he’s never gotten those before, after reading novels and watching a lot of “reference material”, he already more or less knew what these were.
When he realised how those marks came to be, his face immediately turned into a hot chilli pepper, even more than when he was in the bed.
Qi Jing cleared his throat, then instinctively looked away as he hurriedly pulled the collar up, as if he wasn’t even able to look into his own eyes reflected in the mirror.
He really didn’t expect he would also have a day like this.
He always thought leaving traces like this was something newlyweds or especially passionate lovers would do—he didn’t expect Shen Yan, with his meek character, could also do stuff like that during the moments of passion.
And what was even more important was that when he saw it, he actually also felt kind of happy for a moment... What a mess.
How fortunate that Shen Yan went to work and didn’t see that.How fortunate that he didn’t have to go to work and let his colleagues see that.
“Otherwise it’d really be very bad...”
Qi Jing muttered to himself as he slowly stroked those hickeys, the corners of his lips curling up without him realising.
In order to get his mind out of the gutter more effectively, he decided to direct his attention back onto voice acting.
He hadn’t visited the forum again after closing that post about the development of the ⟪Order to End the Heavens⟫ contest yesterday. And with the whole string of things that happened later, he didn’t have any occasion to go online, and knew nothing about how the latest two auditions turned out. There surely was someone who would record a competition of this scale, so he planned to catch up with it during his free time today.
Even though neither of them were listed for yesterday’s auditions, there was no harm in listening to other people’s performances to gain some experience—and that was even more the case with how he was really interested in the judges’ feedback.
After turning on the computer, Qi Jing first opened the forum page, as he was very concerned about that director who claimed to try and unmask the big name behind “Kitty の Papa” and wanted to check whether they made any move, and what were the results. But fortunately enough, it was only a day since Shen Yan’s performance concluded, so he saw no traces of anyone managing to dig out the truth.
Unlike Qi Jing, Shen Yan’s voice wasn’t as easily recognizable, moreover the audio drama producers he’s worked with were few and far between.
It wasn’t completely impossible to get recognized, but it would probably take some time.
What’s more, the two of yesterday’s auditions also diverted the attention of a part of the audience.
One of them was the audition for the page “Lu Wei”—and surprisingly enough, there was an ID Qi Jing was particularly familiar with on the list of competitors who advanced to the next stage.
“Eh? Crossing the bridge noodles...” Qi Jing was surprised for a moment, but after a while he was back to normal, thinking that it couldn’t be called as big of a surprise.
When Crossing the bridge noodles first performed as “Liu Suyu”, he got influenced by his illness and an unfortunate place in a line up, throwing a shadow on his second performance. Even though his second audition was for a youthful voice he was best suited for, so at least in theory, he had everything to go for the first place, he seemed to have not recovered from the illness yet and scored the mere third place.
Since he had already taken part in two auditions, then his last one should be the one where their names got placed so close to each other on the contestants list, the competition for “Fang Yisheng”.
Currently, he got one fourth place and one third place, getting the qualification to advance in ranks for both of the competitions.
But if he were to get any lower placement for the “Fang Yisheng” competition than those two, then according to the competition rules, even if he placed in the top ten, his efforts would still go down the drain pitifully.
“Fang Yisheng” was a main character; if he lost the chance to play the main character because of two NPC roles, then it would be hard to not think it a great loss.
Thinking about it, Qi Jing suddenly thought of something and quickly logged into his weibo account.
—He didn’t see any @s he expected.
Seeing that Crossing the bridge noodles didn’t issue any invitation to watch his competition like the last time, Qi Jing breathed a sigh of relief. Seems like what the other party did that day was just a whim.
At that moment, his heart felt much lighter and he closed Weibo without a second thought.
As there was no prompt, he completely overlooked the private message that was sent into his “Messages from non-mutuals” folder.
Crossing the bridge noodles: I’m sorry for taking the liberty of making you cheer for me that day, but thank you for coming. On another note, here’s my QQ number—if it’s not a problem, please add me, there’s something... I need to tell you directly.
T/N:
Lucilla: Those hickeys... Grandpa Yan, you truly have some qualifications to become the legendary ‘angel in the streets, devil between the sheets’—I expect a lot coming from you in the future (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)
Mashiro: (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄) (/ω＼)
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