Chapter 43

Chapter 43

In the end, Ling Sheng went back to the bathroom to wash his face again, and Jiang Chen also washed his hands. When they lay back on the bed, Jiang Chen wasn’t as excited as last time, but rather unusually silent.

It was already past one o’clock, and Ling Sheng was very sleepy, but he still reached out to touch his face: “What’s wrong?”

Jiang Chen looked at him, his eyes without a trace of sleepiness, focused with a hint of hidden anxiety: “I can also learn to be romantic, give you surprises, I can also praise you every day, acknowledge you, love you, everything he can do, I can do.”

Ling Sheng was stunned for a moment, then reached out and pulled his head into his arms: “I said, you don’t need to compare yourself to anyone.”

“But…” Jiang Chen reached out and hugged his waist tightly, as if holding a treasure he could lose at any moment, but he didn’t say another word after the ‘but’.

Ling Sheng sensed his unease. He felt that he might have underestimated He Xiaoyun’s impact on Jiang Chen, so he carefully considered for a long time before saying, “The reason I told you about him is because I don’t want to hide anything from you. He did have a very big impact on me, even changed me, so I regard him as a very important friend, but that’s all. I’m very clear about what I want, and I’m also very clear about my feelings, so Xiao Chen, you should have more confidence in yourself. The person I like is you.”

“Let’s go public.” Jiang Chen’s voice was hoarse, even pleading: “I’m not afraid of what they say, and I don’t care about the label of being gay, let’s go public.”

Ling Sheng didn’t answer, and Jiang Chen felt his chest sink, as if he sighed.

He panicked a bit and hugged him even tighter: “I’ll listen to you, I’ll listen to everything you say.”

Ling Sheng felt a pang of heartache. He still remembered the first time he saw Jiang Chen, the way he glanced over indifferently, the way he was full of spirit on the court, and the confident way he talked about his profession when dealing with Wu Xia’s affairs.

Love made the proud humble, but he didn’t want him to become humble.

He didn’t want him to become so careful and anxious because of himself.

“Xiao Chen, as far as I’m concerned, an end is an end. I won’t look back. And you are the present, the present I want to cherish the most. In my heart, you are a unique existence.” Ling Sheng stroked his hair: “Have a little more confidence in yourself, and also believe in me, okay?”

After listening to him, Jiang Chen nodded in his arms after a long time.

Ling Sheng was indeed a little overwhelmed after a busy day and getting intimate with Jiang Chen until now. The person in his arms was very quiet, and just as he thought Jiang Chen should have fallen asleep, he suddenly heard him call out, “Ling Sheng.”

Ling Sheng narrowed his eyes and still responded, “Hmm?”

“I love you.”

Ling Sheng’s mind suddenly woke up. Jiang Chen’s voice was very clear, without a trace of sleepiness.

Ling Sheng suddenly felt a pang of soreness in his heart, touched by the emotions contained in this confession. For a moment, he was completely awake. He hugged the person in his arms tightly, his throat choked, and he whispered, “I love you too.”

The person in his arms finally raised his head, a pair of eyes containing some wetness, looking up at him from below. Ling Sheng lowered his head and exchanged a gentle and lingering kiss with him that didn’t contain lust.

When the alarm clock rang the next day, Ling Sheng opened his eyes and still couldn’t stop feeling sleepy. He saw Jiang Chen open his eyes and said good morning with a smile, but found that his voice was hoarse.

Jiang Chen was startled, thinking he had caught a cold. He quickly reached out and turned to touch his forehead, but found that he didn’t have a fever. Ling Sheng calmly waved his hand away and said in a hoarse voice, “It’s nothing, just overused it last night, it’ll be fine after a couple of days.”

Overused…

Jiang Chen immediately recalled how it was overused last night. The part that was already energetic in the morning was even more energetic, and it happened to be pressing against Ling Sheng’s side.

Ling Sheng put his hand in the quilt and reached over to grab it. Jiang Chen wanted to dodge and wanted to welcome it, not knowing what to do for a moment, and his face turned red.

But he had to go to work and didn’t have time to serve him, so he pushed it aside: “Solve it yourself, I have to go to work.”

Ling Sheng lifted the quilt and went to the bathroom. Jiang Chen lay back on the bed, originally wanting to let it go down on its own, but tomorrow night, it would be on this bed that Ling Sheng’s voice was “overused”. Staying here, the memories were haunting, so he could only get up.

When he went out, Ling Sheng had already brushed his teeth and washed his face. Seeing him, he glanced downwards: “Take a taxi yourself today.”

He Xiaoyun had only arrived recently and was still staying at the hotel. He had given his car to him.

Jiang Chen quickly said, “I’ll take you.”

Ling Sheng went into the bedroom to find clothes, a smile in his voice: “If I wait for you, I’ll be late.”

Jiang Chen pressed himself: “I’ll just rinse my face with cold water, you change your clothes first, I’ll be ready soon.”

Ling Sheng was preparing to wear a shirt and trousers, but when he saw the marks on his neck that Jiang Chen had made yesterday, even if the collar of the shirt was buttoned to the top, it wouldn’t be able to cover it. If he unbuttoned the buttons as usual, there would be even more marks. In the end, he didn’t want to be too ostentatious, so he changed into a high-necked cashmere sweater.

Just as he finished putting on his clothes, Jiang Chen came in with water dripping from his hair and started changing clothes as well.

He directly took off his pajamas and pajama pants, and underneath he was wearing a pair of black boxer briefs, which were still Ling Sheng’s. They were a bit small, tightly stretched there. The cold water still had an effect, it wasn’t as energetic as it was when he woke up in the morning, but the shape was still clear. The morning light was bright, and it was much clearer than it was in the dark last night. Ling Sheng’s eyes fell there for a long time and didn’t move away. Suddenly he felt it move. He came back to his senses, and when he looked up, he saw Jiang Chen holding his clothes, looking like he wanted to put them on but wasn’t.

“Why aren’t you putting them on?”

Jiang Chen smiled at him: “I felt like you still wanted to look for a while.”

Ling Sheng raised his eyebrows, feeling that his little boyfriend had become a bit flirtatious. He took his suit jacket, walked over, and calmly reached out to unbutton his waistband, glancing inside: “I want to look at it like this.”

“Pa!” He loosened his finger, and the underwear snapped back, but it couldn’t wrap it up completely.

Ling Sheng left smartly. Jiang Chen was in the bedroom holding his clothes, his face red enough to drip blood, thinking on one hand that he couldn’t tease him, and on the other hand feeling a little good about it just now.

When he arrived at the company, He Xiaoyun was indeed there, and still in his office. Ling Sheng was a little helpless, hung his clothes aside, and asked him, “Your office has already been cleaned up, why do you want to come to my office?”

“It’s so boring to be alone.” He Xiaoyun sat in his chair, slowly turning the chair: “Keep me company.”

Ling Sheng also wanted to talk to He Xiaoyun frankly. He was a playful person, and a few words last time had coaxed him for a whole night. He didn’t want to make Jiang Chen feel uncomfortable because of He Xiaoyun again.

“Coaxed you for a whole night?” He Xiaoyun became even more interested when he heard that: “Tell me the details, I’ll give you some pointers.”

Ling Sheng always felt helpless when facing He Xiaoyun. He knew he didn’t have any malicious intent, but he also understood Jiang Chen’s feelings.

“He Zong, I think things between us ended two years ago. To me, you are indeed a very important friend, but when facing my boyfriend, I still hope to maintain a good distance.” Ling Sheng said very seriously: “I like him very much, and I also value you very much. I don’t want any misunderstandings to arise between you, I don’t want him to feel uncomfortable, and I also hope you don’t make things difficult for me.”

Seeing his serious expression, He Xiaoyun also restrained the joking expression on his face, but he straightened his body and looked at Ling Sheng standing across from the desk, his tone also a bit more serious: “Ling Sheng, do you think I’m really just joking?”

His gaze carefully traced Ling Sheng’s eyebrows and eyes. This young man whom he once liked had now become more mature. Those repressions, gloominess, and inferiority that once existed in him seemed to have been washed away by the years, leaving only faint traces, adding to his charm and no longer becoming his burden. Such a Ling Sheng was even more beautiful than he was three years ago.

But Ling Sheng was merciless: “He Zong, regardless of whether you’re joking or not, as far as I’m concerned, an end is an end. I’m very grateful for everything that happened between us before, but once it’s over, it’s over.”

From the time they met to the time they separated, it was only three months in total. The passion of those three months was like a spark falling into a gasoline tank, igniting in an instant, but also extinguishing quickly after the fuel was burned. The flame did give him the passion and warmth he needed most at the time, but as far as he was concerned, once it was over, it was over.

He would be grateful, he would miss it, but he wouldn’t continue it.

He Xiaoyun looked at Ling Sheng’s cold appearance and suddenly laughed. There was a bit of emotion in his tone: “Ling Sheng, do you know what I like most about you? I like the way you reject people the most.”

He was a homosexual by nature and had lived abroad for most of his life. After discovering his sexual orientation at the age of fourteen, he came out to his family. He had clear standards for the people he liked: their height had to be between 175 and 180, their body had to be slender but not too thin, their skin had to be fair, and their appearance had to be handsome but not too effeminate. All along, his lovers had been this standard. At the time, he was bored and attended an annual meeting after returning to China and caught sight of Ling Sheng at a glance.

His appearance completely met his requirements. After the awards ceremony, he saw Ling Sheng talking to a man. The man was the city manager of Jing City and was hinting that Ling Sheng find opportunities to have more contact with him, obviously someone who knew some inside information.

Ling Sheng’s face turned pale, and he said coldly, “The conditions you’re offering aren’t enough for me to sell myself.”

In the cold light, his already pale face was even whiter like jade, and his deep brown pupils were as beautiful as crystal. Especially when he rejected people, the kind of coldness that radiated from the inside out, like ice crystals slowly forming in glass, made it impossible for him to look away.

He was already interested in him, and this made him even more curious about the conditions for this selling of oneself.

He believed that he could afford them.

Then he took the person away in the restroom.

“I, He Xiaoyun, am not someone who likes to eat grass that’s been grazed before, but Ling Sheng, you are the one I can’t forget the most out of all my lovers.” He Xiaoyun stood up, he was a little taller than Ling Sheng, Ling Sheng was 1.79 meters, he was 1.85 meters. When the two of them were together, he especially liked this slight height difference, it was just right when hugging.

“This time I came back, I knew you had been transferred to Jiang City, so I didn’t even go back to my home in Jing City and came directly to Jiang City. I came for you.” He Xiaoyun approached Ling Sheng, his tone seductive: “Ling baobei, come back to my side.”