"Ge, Happy New Year..." Before falling asleep, Tang Junhe murmured with his arms around Yang Xuan, maintaining his last trace of consciousness. Yang Xuan wanted to take a bath, but Tang Junhe, with his head laying on his chest, curled up into a ball, hugged him, and fell asleep like a small animal. After some thought, he stretched out his hand and pulled the blanket on the side to cover him. He put his hands on Tang Junhe's waist, closed his eyes and fell asleep.
The next morning, Tang Junhe was awakened by the sunlight. The curtains were not drawn the night before, and the early morning sun shone in brightly through the window, onto the two laying figures. The snow had passed, and the first day of the new year was sunny and pleasent. Tang Junhe was resting his head on Yang Xuan's shoulder, staring at a small pool of stains on the carpet in a daze.
They did all that? During New Year's Eve, a few hours ago? It passed so quickly... Isn't it a dream?
Tang Junhe always thought about Yang Xuan, one way or another. In this moment, he felt as if he was in a dream. The tearing pain in his lower body had not been relieved in the slightest after a night's rest, and his whole body was fatigued, but his heart was content.
"Awake?"
Yang Xuan's voice was close to his ear. Tang Junhe lifted his head and looked at him, "Ge..."
Yang Xuan sat up from the carpet, leaned his back against the window sill, and rubbed one hand on the shoulder that Tang Junhe had used as a pillow all night. He moved his shoulder and asked, "Does it still hurt?"
Tang Junhe's face flushed red. He turned sideways and whispered: "It hurts..."
After a while, he didn't hear Yang Xuan's reply. He propped himself up from the floor, moved upwards, and laid down on Yang Xuan's lap through the blanket. He looked up at him , and spoke hesitantly: "Ge, can I ask you a question..."
The wet hair from last night was a bit messy at the moment. Yang Xuan put his hand on his hair and smoothed it casually twice: "What?"
Tang Junhe hesitated for a moment before asking: "Have you ever done it with someone else..."
"Done what?" Yang Xuan asked knowingly.
Hearing the teasing in his voice, Tang Junhe didn't take the bait, but just looked at him and said, "You know."
"Who would I do it with?" Yang Xuan looked down at him and patted his face with his hand, "Apart from you, begging me so actively."
The blood in Tang Junhe's body kept rushing up to his head. He stretched out his hand and tried to touch Yang Xuan's abdominal muscles. Seeing that Yang Xuan didn't intend to stop him, he spread and pasted down his open hands. After a while, he brought down his face, leaning his elbows on the carpet, and licked a tight muscle.
Yang Xuan pinched his chin and looked at him: "It's almost nine o'clock."
Tang Junhe immediately sat up on his knees. At this time in the past, Tang Xiaonian would knock on the door to wake him up. If he didn't wake up, she would open the door and go in. But today there was no movement outside. Getting up together, what was left in his body last night began to flow out. He said to Yang Xuan with some warmth: "Ge, your things are left inside..."
Yang Xuan put on the T-shirt he'd worn after taking a shower last night, raised his eyebrows and asked, "Will you take a shower with me later?"
Tang Junhe hurriedly took his pajamas and put them over his head, stammering: "No, I, I will wash it myself."
He put on his clothes, put on his slippers and walked to the door, leaning against it to listen to the movement outside. He opened a small crack, saw no one, and then quickly went back to his room.
As soon as he returned to his room, he threw himself on his bed and buried his face in the quilt. For some reason, even though he had done the most intimate and most desired thing with Yang Xuan, his mood was not as thrilled and excited as he'd expected. It hurts in the back, the kind of pain I have never experienced since I was a child, much more than when I almost fell down the mountain.
Just now Yang Xuan did ask him if it hurts, but when he said it hurt, he didn't respond, which made Tang Junhe feel a little wronged. After they woke up, they didn't hug or kiss, getting only some teasing and banter from his brother Yang Xuan. Why did Yang Xuan do it? Was it on an involuntary whim or out of temptation? Does Yang Xuan like him? How does he feel about their relationship? A series of questions flooded Tang Junhe's mind, making him restless and and out of breath.
After a while, there was a knock on the door, followed by Tang Xiaonian's voice: "Xiaohe, are you awake?"
"Awake" Tang Junhe lifted his face from the quilt, turned over and sat under the blanket.
"I'm coming in." Tang Xiaonian said, turning the doorknob and walking in. "Did you sleep late last night? Someone set off fireworks so late."
The sitting position exacerbated the pain behind him. Tang Junhe tried his best to behave naturally, but when he heard Tang Xiaonian say this, his nerves tightened: His mother wouldn't have heard it last night, right? But he soon relaxed; Tang Xiaonian didn't show any abnormal reaction.
"I just thought you hadn’t slept well last night, so I let you sleep a little longer in the morning. Get up quickly, and auntie will come over to clean up later." Tang Xiaonian came over and reached out to touch Tang Junhe's messy hair on his forehead, pushing it aside, "Did you sweat at night?"
Tang Junhe reached out to touch his forehead uncomfortably: "Did I?"
"Is the floor heating too hot?" Tang Xiaonian said, "I'll adjust the temperature of your room in a bit. You don't even know if you're sweating. You, you, when will you start to look a little more like 16?"
"Mom, I'm already 17." Tang Junhe said with his chin resting on his knee.
"17, what 17, your birthday hasn't passed yet." Tang Xiaonian stretched out his hand to touch Tang Junhe's forehead again, and muttered, "Why does it feel a little warm to the touch, do you have a fever?"
Tang Junhe looked up at Tang Xiaonian.
"Does your throat hurt?" Tang Xiaonian asked.
Tang Junhe shook his head.
"How can you have a fever when it's not cold at home? You're already this age yet your body is so weak..." Tang Xiaonian muttered, and walked out of the room to the hall to find a thermometer. As soon as she stepped out, she bumped into Yang Xuan who came out of his room to take a shower. Tang Xiaonian shut her mouth subconsciously, her steps turned to one side, and without looking at Yang Xuan, went straight to the medicine storage cabinet.
After taking his temperature, it measured 37.6 ºC. Tang Xiaonian pinched the thermometer: "You have a low-grade fever, do you have a runny nose? Do you have a headache?" Seeing that Tang Junhe just shook his head, she frowned, "You don't feel anything? Then how can you have a fever? How about I take you to the hospital after dinner?"
Tang Junhe quickly shook his head again: "My throat hurts a bit."
"You just said it didn't hurt." Tang Xiaonian gave him a reproachful look, "Take some anti-inflammatory and fever-reducing medicine first."
Tang Xiaonian gave Tang Junhe the medicine, watched him swallow it down with water, and then walked out of the room. The housekeeping aunt had already come over and was now cleaning Yang Xuan's room. Seeing Yang Xuan come back from the shower, she pointed to the piled up carpet in the corner and asked, "Xiao Xuan, do you want to wash this?"
"Well," Yang Xuan said, "I'll take it to the dry cleaner downstairs in a while."
"It was clean yesterday. If it's only a little dirty, I'll help you clean it." The auntie suggested enthusiastically, and then went to pull the carpet to look.
Yang Xuan couldn't stop her, so he had to explain: "I spilled milk on it yesterday, let's dry clean it."
Hearing what he said, the aunt didn't look carefully, let go of the carpet and said, "Then I'll take it for you when I leave later."
"I'm going out soon, so I'll just take it with me," Yang Xuan said, "I won't trouble you."
As soon as Tang Junhe locked the bathroom and turned on the shower, Tang Xiaonian followed and knocked on the door: "Why take a bath early in the morning when you have a fever? Are you not afraid of catching a cold?"
"I sweat in bed last night." Tang Junhe refused to come out, and said through the door.
"Your room isn't hot, why are you sweating so much?" Tang Xiaonian couldn't rush in and drag him out, so she could only walk away muttering.
Tang Junhe wanted to take out what Yang Xuan had left in his body, but as soon as he touched his back entrance, he didn't dare do it. It was tightly closed, and he couldn’t put in even a single finger of his own. I don’t know how it fit Yang Xuan’s thing last night. He gritted his teeth and stretched his fingers inside painfully. He washed it carefully. The shower was turned on to the maximum and water poured onto his head. Soaked, he rinsed his hands clean and wiped his face.
Yang Chengchuan had gone out early in the morning to offer condolences to the people in the countryside. At this moment, his face full of 'being close to the people' was broadcast on TV. "On the first day of the New Year, Deputy Mayor Yang Chengchuan led a group of people to Qishan Town to offer his sympathies to the lonely elderly in the town, and brought them daily necessities such as quilts and cotton clothes. Deputy Mayor Yang said..." Tang Xiaonian walked beside the coffee table, picked up the remote control and changed the TV channel.
After Tang Junhe took a shower, as soon as he got out, he saw half of Yang Xuan's shoulder flashing past, and then there was the sound of the door closing—Yang Xuan went out.
Tang Junhe returned to his room and laid down on the bed with a confused look on his face. They did it last night, and it was indeed what he'd wanted to happen, but what would happen next? Do you want to keep doing this? Maybe Yang Xuan would keep doing it with him, but what's the point? Only then did Tang Junhe belatedly realize that whether he does it or not is not the same as whether he likes it or not—Yang Xuan did it with him, but it doesn't mean Yang Xuan likes him.
Tang Junhe sullenly took out the cigarette case he picked up last night from the drawer, and looked at the English words on the back. He learned things very quickly, and he memorized all the meanings of those words after only looking it up once.
What to do with this thing? Give it directly to the police? But will they care? He remembered the times when he reported to the police that Zhou Lin was following him, and they had dismissed him on the pretext of "no substantial harm" and "no actual evidence". It is true that the police in the urban area of Runcheng seemed to be more responsible and dedicated than those in the suburbs, but will they go through the lengths of investigating the source of this cigarette? Is this cigarette considered a drug, and is it a crime to lure others to smoke it? Also, what if the police went directly to Feng Bo after getting the cigarette, and he denied it? Without direct and undeniable proof, he is likely to be dismissed like before...
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Half an hour later, Yang Xuan went out and came back. Tang Xiaonian was sitting on the sofa watching a TV series, and she didn't look back when she heard the sound. But unexpectedly, Yang Xuan ignored her and walked directly to Tang Junhe's room and knocked on the door.
A melon seed was stuck between the two rows of teeth, but Tang Xiaonian didn't swallow down for a long time, watching Yang Xuan knock on her son's door. Dumbfounded, she didn't know how to react for a while.
Tang Junhe was lying on the bed with his pillow in his arms, staring at the cigarette case in his hand. When he heard someone coming, he quickly opened the drawer of the bedside table and put the cigarette case in. Hearing the knock on the door, Tang Junhe didn't make a sound at first, guessing who was behind the door—Tang Xiaonian usually didn't knock on the door during the day, she would push the door directly and come in, even if she knocked, it was usually accompanied by her voice. As for Yang Xuan, he wouldn't even knock on his door, he never entered his room at all. Maybe Yang Chengchuan? Tang Junhe thought so, turned his head and said, "Please come in."
The door was pushed open, Tang Junhe opened his eyes wide, it turned out to be Yang Xuan...
"So surprised?" Yang Xuan walked in and put the bag in his hand on the bed, "What are you doing?"
Tang Junhe turned over from the bed and sat up: "Ge... why are you here?"
Yang Xuan sat sideways beside his bed, stretched out his hand to feel his forehead: "I came to see you, do you have a fever?"
Tang Junhe looked like he couldn't believe it: "A little bit."
"I checked on the Internet, it should be an inflammation." Yang Xuan took out a slender tube of ointment from the bag, unscrewed the cap with one hand, and patted his waist with the other hand, "Lie down and I'll apply it for you."
"Apply it where..." Tang Junhe asked in a daze.
Yang Xuan had a half-smile, "Where do you think?"
Tang Junhe woke up as if from a dream, and after registering the words, he held the ointment in Yang Xuan's hand and stammered: "I, I will do it myself..."
Yang Xuan didn't let go, but just looked at him unmoved.
Tang Junhe could only turn his back to Yang Xuan, and bury his face in the pillow. He felt his pajama pants were ripped off by Yang Xuan and tangled at the base of his thigh. A finger dipped in ointment touched his back, and it was so cool that he shivered.
"Hurts?" Yang Xuan's voice came from above his head, and Tang Junhe shook the back of his head twice.
Tang Junhe felt that finger push in again and appy the ointment on the inner wall. Strangely, Yang Xuan's finger that stretched in didn't hurt as much as when he'd tried doing it in himself in the shower. Although he knew that it was only applying medicine, he still felt a bit disappointed. The back hurts, but it seems to be more than just pain, and he felt a little wronged, but it seems to be more than just grievances.
Tang Junhe turned his face to Yang Xuan, and whispered, "Ge, it hurt so much last night..."
Yang Xuan's movements paused, and after a few seconds he said, "Does it hurt? Then I won't do it from now on."
"I didn't mean that..." Tang Junhe became anxious when he heard it.
Seeing Yang Xuan's faint smile, he realized that he had been teased again. Tang Junhe doesn't like to be teased, he is a serious person in everything he does. He looked elsewhere with red eyes, and said softly: "Ge, I mean, can you be gentler to me next time? I've never done it with anyone else, you're my first..."
Yang Xuan was silent for a while, then pulled out the finger that had finished applying the medicine, and screwed the lid back on.
Tang Junhe hoped that his brother would lean down and kiss him mercifully, just like last night, but Yang Xuan didn't do that. He just put the ointment back into the bag and exhorted like a brother: "Apply it again at night, remember to take the anti-inflammatory medicine.”
Tang Junhe buried his head back in the pillow, turned the back of his head to him, and said nothing in anger. Yang Xuan reached out and rubbed his hair, and without saying anything more, got up and walked out.
When leaving the room, Yang Xuan glanced at the desk in the corner and saw the two Transformers. He recognized that they were the ones he had given Tang Junhe. It turned out that they were so much smaller than in his memory. The thought flashed past.
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