Chapter 17

This is Jiang Chen’s first time at Ling Sheng’s place. The company rents the apartment for him. It’s a two-bedroom apartment with a simple black and white color scheme and is about 70-80% new. Ling Sheng thought it was acceptable, so he moved in.

A home is a more private place. Entering someone else’s home always gives the feeling of stepping into their life. Jiang Chen felt a little apprehensive as he stood in the elevator. After ringing the doorbell, the door opened quickly.

Ling Sheng was still wearing pajamas, the same dark blue silk set he’d seen before, making him look a bit thin. His hair was a little messy, falling loosely. He leaned against the door frame, relaxed and casual. Seeing Jiang Chen, he smiled at him: “So early.”

As he spoke, his gaze fell on Jiang Chen’s clothes, and his smile deepened.

Jiang Chen was wearing a sky-blue T-shirt with a white Cinnamoroll design on the chest, one of Xu Peiya’s gifts, which she insisted he wear. Today, he searched for a long time and found that all the clothes in his closet were old, except for this one, so he wore it.

The blue T-shirt and light gray sweatpants made him look fresh and energetic.

“Woke up early.” Jiang Chen awkwardly scratched the Cinnamoroll on his chest, forcing an explanation: “Peiya bought it for me, and she insisted I wear it.”

Ling Sheng looked a little pale. He moved aside: “Come in.”

He had only been in Jiang City for a few months, and he didn’t have many belongings. He hired a cleaning service that came once a week, so the house was clean. Only the living room had a bit of a lived-in feel. The open-plan kitchen was so clean that it was clear it hadn’t been used.

Jiang Chen hesitated at the door. He looked at the shoe cabinet and saw no slippers. Clearly, the host didn’t plan to entertain guests, not even having guest slippers: “Should I take off my shoes?”

“No need.” Ling Sheng closed the door: “Just come in.”

Jiang Chen walked in and saw a computer on the coffee table, with about three or four cigarette butts in the ashtray beside it. There was a thin blanket on the sofa, with traces of someone sitting on it.

“I only have milk at home. I just boiled water. Do you want milk or hot water?”

Jiang Chen sat on the sofa, about to answer when he saw Ling Sheng, who was about to pour hot water, suddenly brace his hands on the dining table, his eyebrows furrowed tightly, looking pained.

“What’s wrong?” Jiang Chen quickly walked over. As soon as he reached out to touch his shoulder, Ling Sheng suddenly flinched. He immediately let go, not daring to touch him, circling him like a helpless puppy: “What’s wrong? Where are you uncomfortable? Where does it hurt?”

Ling Sheng took a deep breath, pressing one hand on his abdomen, his voice trembling slightly: “Stomach ache, help me to the sofa.”

Jiang Chen went to help him, but Ling Sheng was shaking with pain. In a hurry, Jiang Chen simply picked him up in his arms and carried him a few steps, gently placing him on the sofa. Ling Sheng pointed to the drawer under the TV cabinet: “…Medicine.”

Jiang Chen quickly pulled open the drawer, only to find several kinds of medicine inside. Not knowing which one it was, he turned back and asked: “Which one?”

“Painkiller.”

Jiang Chen rummaged through a few bottles and found it. He took the medicine and came over. Ling Sheng had already boiled water. He poured some hot water, cooled it down, and brought it over. Ling Sheng took the painkiller, still pressing one hand on his abdomen, but he didn’t make a sound, enduring the pain and waiting for the medicine to take effect.

Then he suddenly remembered and asked him: “Have you eaten anything? That medicine should be taken after a meal.”

Ling Sheng shook his head, not wanting to talk.

Jiang Chen remembered he said there was milk, so he went to the refrigerator, took out the milk, heated it up in the kitchen, and brought it to him: “Drink some milk first, I’ll go buy you breakfast.”

Ling Sheng took the milk, but grabbed his hand: “Drinking milk is enough.”

Jiang Chen was particularly firm at this moment: “No, I just looked at the medicine instructions. That’s stomach medicine. If your stomach isn’t good, you must eat breakfast. There’s a breakfast shop downstairs, I’ll go buy it.”

“Order takeout.”

“The fastest takeout will take twenty minutes to arrive. I’ll go down and buy it and come back up, it’ll only take five minutes.” Jiang Chen picked up the blanket and put it over him, as the morning air was still a little cool.

Ling Sheng couldn’t win him over, so he let him go.

Jiang Chen bought some plain porridge, steamed buns, and a bowl of clear noodle soup.

“I like hot and dry noodles and beef noodles.” Ling Sheng looked at the bland things in front of him and had no appetite for any of them.

Jiang Chen picked up the noodles and handed them to him: “Your stomach just hurt, you can’t eat anything too heavy. These are easier to digest. Eat the noodles, this has flavor, salty flavor.”

The clear soup didn’t even have scallions.

“Not even scallions.” Ling Sheng still didn’t want to eat: “At least add some sesame oil to enhance the flavor.”

“Scallions are also irritating, you can’t eat them.” Jiang Chen’s tone unconsciously carried a coaxing note: “We’ll go out for lunch later and have lotus root soup.”

Ling Sheng heard the coaxing in his tone and felt good, so he took the noodles and started eating, but he only ate half a bowl and put them down. Jiang Chen then ate the remaining half bowl of noodles, plain porridge, and steamed buns, and then gave him the stomach medicine.

Watching him clean up the trash and wipe the table clean, Ling Sheng patted the spot beside him: “Come here.”

The medicine had already taken effect, and he looked much better.

Jiang Chen washed his hands before sitting down: “When did you get stomach problems?”

He had seen only stomach pain medication in the drawer earlier.

Ling Sheng nonchalantly hummed: “It’s been a long time. When I get busy at work, my eating habits become irregular, and with too much socializing, it’s easy to have stomach problems, it’s normal.”

He went to Eternity’s store to intern during his junior year, entered Eternity as a management trainee during his senior year, and went directly to Eternity’s headquarters in Jing City after graduation. In eight years, he climbed to his current position. For someone who started from scratch with no background, how could he not work hard?

“Actually, it hasn’t happened in a long time, maybe I’ve been too busy recently, and I forgot to take my medicine a few times. It’ll be fine in a while.” Ling Sheng’s voice was a little tired, but very calm. For him, this wasn’t an accident, but a routine, he was used to it.

But Jiang Chen felt a pang of heartache. He reached out and hugged Ling Sheng, gripping his shoulder with a little force: “I’ll supervise your meals from now on.”

Ling Sheng smiled, originally leaning on him, he straightened up slightly and pushed him: “Sit over there a bit.”

Jiang Chen didn’t know what he wanted to do, but he obediently moved to the side. Ling Sheng slid down, rested his head on his thigh, and lay down on the sofa: “It’s still early, I’ll sleep a little longer and go out with you.”

The sweatpants were thin, and the weight of a head on his leg, the heat and pressure were particularly clear, and this position was a bit sensitive. If Ling Sheng moved back a little more, he would easily touch an even more sensitive area.

Jiang Chen cursed himself in his heart, trying to relax his body: “There’s no rush to go out. Is it comfortable for you to sleep like this? Do you want to go to bed to sleep?”

Ling Sheng’s pain had eased, and his stomach felt much better after eating. The thought of teasing his boyfriend came up again. He was lying on his side, heard this, he turned his head and met Jiang Chen’s eyes looking down at him. He smiled slightly: “Want to get on my bed?”

“No! That’s not what I meant!” Jiang Chen’s face quickly turned red, he was anxious, flustered, and ashamed, the muscles in his legs tensed up: “I meant, do you want to go to bed to sleep, I’m not going!”

Ling Sheng watched his expression change from worry to shyness, feeling much better, and his mood improved. But this sentence seemed a bit too much, so he didn’t continue: “Sleeping on my boyfriend’s lap is more comfortable than sleeping in bed.”

“Then sleep.” Jiang Chen’s hands were originally on his shoulders, but now he didn’t even dare to put his hands on him: “Sleep as long as you want.”

Ling Sheng saw that he didn’t even dare to look at him, pulled the blanket up, and laughed happily. He was tormented by stomach pain this morning, and was in a bad mood, then he saw Jiang Chen’s message and instantly felt his mood brighten up. He rubbed his palm on his thigh: “Too hard, relax a little.”

Jiang Chen secretly took several deep breaths, finally relaxing. Ling Sheng rubbed slightly on his leg, his hair tickling. He was nervous and afraid that Ling Sheng would feel it was hard, so he forced himself to relax, afraid of affecting Ling Sheng’s rest. But Ling Sheng was too tired. His stomach hurt last night, he took medicine, and didn’t sleep well in a half-awake state. He woke up in pain again in the morning, and now he had eaten and taken medicine, so he fell asleep on Jiang Chen’s lap for two hours before waking up.

When he woke up, Jiang Chen was still in the same position. Ling Sheng asked him groggily: “What time is it?”

Jiang Chen looked at the time on his phone: “Eleven o’clock.”

He had slept for two hours.

Ling Sheng wanted to sit up, but as soon as his hand pressed on Jiang Chen’s thigh, he heard him shout “Ah”.

Ling Sheng turned to look at him. Jiang Chen covered his mouth a little embarrassedly: “My leg is a little numb.”

Being used as a pillow for two hours without moving, it was definitely numb.

Ling Sheng found it both funny and heartwarming, feeling soft inside. He sat up and reached out to massage his leg. The muscles under his hand were stiff. With a gentle press, Jiang Chen hissed. Ling Sheng could only coax him: “Bear with it, it’ll be fine in a while. I only needed to sleep for a while, you can call me if your leg hurts.”

It was comfortable to use as a pillow, but it was also with a bit of teasing in mind. He didn’t expect to sleep for two hours.

The expression on Jiang Chen’s face was a little distorted. This wasn’t even pain, pain just needed to be endured, but this sour, numb, and itchy feeling couldn’t be endured.

“I saw you were tired, so I didn’t want to wake you up.” Jiang Chen supported himself on the sofa with both hands, feeling both comfortable and uncomfortable from the massage. His body unconsciously leaned back. Ling Sheng was massaging his leg, watching his face turn red from holding back, and his heart stirred.

“Want to do something to distract yourself?”

Jiang Chen looked over. Ling Sheng was wearing pajamas, looking relaxed and with a soft expression. Those peach blossom eyes he loved the most were slightly narrowed, and his eyes flickered seductively.

He wasn’t as reserved as he was at the beginning, and he pounced directly, but because his legs were still sore and numb and he had no strength, he really just pushed Ling Sheng onto the back of the sofa, their upper bodies pressed tightly together.

The sofa was very comfortable, the seat was deep, and the backrest was big and soft, like a small bed. Ling Sheng gently and indulgently let him kiss him. Jiang Chen vaguely thought during the kisses, this sofa is really comfortable, he will also buy one at home in the future, so he can kiss Ling Sheng on the sofa anytime.

He wouldn’t get tired no matter how long.