Fouls Prohibited (禁止犯规) by 吕天逸 – Chapter Twenty-Nine

Huo Tinglan took care of Ye Hongjun’s trip to the United States for treatment.

Things went smoothly, and without bothering Ye Ci, he just signed several documents as the patient’s family member and transferred Ye Hongjun out of that sanatorium.

With his seriously ill mother traveling across the ocean to receive medical treatment, even if he knew that the accompanying team would take good care of her, Ye Ci couldn’t help worrying. So he asked for leave from school, and together with Huo Tinglan, they accompanied Ye Hongjun on the plane to San Francisco.

At the end of last year, he was still in the state of discontinuing his studies during the provincial senior exam, and he missed it. He couldn’t afford to miss taking the makeup exam in June this time, and he crammed his studies into these few days of vacation with difficulty. He brought a bag of History and Geography exam materials, even studying on the plane. With sore eyes, he opened the window and looked at the sea of intertwined cotton-white and gray-blue clouds below. Immersed in a calm and peaceful mood, he was quietly in a daze.

The exam period was imminent, and Ye Ci could only stay for three days after landing. There was a sense of novelty in going abroad for the first time in his life, but at the thought of not knowing if he would see his mom in the next few months, he had no intention of wandering around. He would just stick to Ye Hongjun like a small tail, and where his mom went was where he would be.

Three days passed quickly. Seeing that Ye Hongjun had settled in properly, Ye Ci had to return to China.

Staying really wouldn’t help. There was a whole team watching over her, but he couldn’t seem to pull himself away, and Ye Hongjun had to banish him back to school.

Seeing that Ye Ci still looked uneasy, Huo Tinglan continued to stay in San Francisco on the grounds of “handling some backlogs from the American subsidiary.” He said that he could accompany Ye Hongjun for a time as she adapted while handling official business, lest she find herself in a foreign country with only unfamiliar faces all around, making her emotionally unstable.

“……I did originally have work to do here, so I didn’t lie to you.” Huo Tinglan rubbed Ye Ci’s head. It was still early for boarding time. He had also sent an assistant to accompany Ye Ci back to China, and wasn’t afraid of Ye Ci being unused to flying, so he was not in a hurry to let this person go now. “If not for this incident, I would have had to make time to visit in June. It’s all the same.”

“When do you plan to return to China?” Ye Ci had forgotten to ask before, but listening to Huo Tinglan’s nonchalant tone, he subconsciously thought it would only be a few days.

“I’m not sure, we’ll see when my business is finished.” Huo Tinglan estimated, “It’ll be one week to half a month.”

It didn’t matter if the subsidiary company’s affairs were dealt with later, but since he couldn’t leave at present, he would do it now.

Ye Ci was stunned. Plucking the strap of the schoolbag with his fingers, he muttered, “That, that’s a long time.”

“Too long?” Huo Tinglan lowered his eyes and looked at the corners of Ye Ci’s lips, which had fallen like lead weights. Wicked intentions of teasing the child took hold, and his words gradually shifted.

“Yesterday, I said that I would stay here a while to handle official business and accompany your mother at the same time. I saw how happy you were at that moment, and thought it would be okay if I stayed longer……”

Ye Ci frowned and defended in a whisper: “I thought it would be, be three to five days.”

“You don’t want me to spend more time with your mother?”

“It’s, it’s not that.” Ye Ci fiercely shook his head, in a dilemma. He just hated that he couldn’t stay in San Francisco.

“No one will be there to look after you when you go back, so you need to take care of yourself.” Huo Tinglan softened his tone and intimately reminded him of some trivial matters, “Don’t smoke, don’t stay up late, get up early if you want to memorize, eat three regular meals, and if you have a temporary fever, just go to my room and lie down for a while.” He paused, and said with a sort of malicious tenderness, “Call me anytime, no matter the time difference……will you remember?”

Separating for half a month – – although this was still too much – –  was nothing next to being separated for half a year.

Ye Ci’s chest rose and fell quickly a few times at the tone of that villain’s teasing farewell. He had no choice but to clamp Huo Tinglan’s wrist. Gripping firmly with five fingers, he looked at him helplessly.

Pale pink skin, eyes rippling with light. Like a kitten who had been spoiled unknowingly and didn’t usually seem too sticky, but when parting, he hooked the tip of his claws on the person’s cuff and meowed tenderly.

“Huo-shushu,” He suppressed his shyness and requested shakily, “Can you come back……a little sooner?”

Huo Tinglan smiled: “En, I will as soon as possible.”

Ye Ci still didn’t let go.

Huo Tinglan asked gently and knowingly: “What’s wrong?”

What’s wrong was obvious.

But Ye Ci couldn’t say it. He had reached his limit, and those two red and tender lips seemed to have dried up in just a few minutes, looking bashful.

There was silence for a moment.

Huo Tinglan said in a low voice, “You’ll miss me?”

Ye Ci nodded weakly.

So soft.

Like a piece of soft tofu, he had wanted to give it a light poke and watch it tremble softly, but who would have expected it to collapse?

After teasing the child, Huo Tinglan gathered up his broken conscience, pulled it into a small pile again, and comforted: “I’ll try to make it a week, okay?”

It was time to get ready to board.

Ye Ci reluctantly followed the assistant.

Five minutes later:

Huo Tinglan’s cell phone rang.

When he picked it up, there was a message from Ye Ci.

The short three words were the answer to the previous question, more clear-cut than a nod.

[Ye Ci]: I miss you.

. . . . . . .

East Eighth District, night.

The screen of the video call was on, and the thin morning light of San Francisco barely penetrated the fog to spill into Ye Hongjun’s ward through the blinds.

Ye Hongjun smiled and waved goodbye at the camera. He didn’t know if it was a psychological effect, but after taking the new drug treatment, Ye Ci felt that her complexion was slightly better than before.

As soon as the lens turned, Huo Tinglan left the ward.

In order to be able to make a video call with Ye Hongjun, Ye Ci had to go to bed later these days. It was a legitimate reason to stay up late.

After the call connected, he would chat with Ye Hongjun for a while, and then with Huo Tinglan for about ten minutes, so that he could still get to sleep in the first half of the night.

In order to accompany Ye Hongjun conveniently, Huo Tinglan had set up his computer in the ward next to her for the past two days. When he went out and turned left, that was his temporary San Francisco office.

“……Why are the lights so dim?” Huo Tinglan closed the door, narrowed his eyes slightly, and recognized the wall behind Ye Ci. “You’re not in your room?”

The color of the wall paint was obviously wrong.

The air conditioner was also familiar.

When the video call connected ten minutes ago, he hadn’t taken a close look, and kept holding it up for Ye Hongjun to watch.

Ye Ci shook his head, wrapped in a thin summer quilt, and looked a little embarrassed: “I have a little, temp, temporary fever……”

Huo Tinglan lifted his lips. “You’re in my room?”

“En.” Ye Ci closed the quilt around his body in discomfort.

Huo Tinglan’s eyes were fierce as he looked at the misty blue neckline and smiled: “Is my room cold? You’re wrapped up so tightly.”

Ye Ci was red from face to neck: “It’s, it’s a little cold.”

More than a month had passed since that temporary marking.

Huo Tinglan’s Alpha pheromones left in his body had been metabolized, the effect of the temporary mark had weakened, and Ye Ci’s hormone disorder had also been alleviated a lot.

In short, the symptoms of temporary fever were not as severe as they were a month ago.

It could be seen by the state he was in that his mind was clear, his expression was normal, and he was not out of control like last time……hugging and sleeping with Huo Tinglan’s messy quilt.

Huo Tinglan sat down at the temporary desk arranged by the assistant, leaned against the back of the chair in a relaxed manner, and thought for a while before asking shamelessly in a pure tone: “What are you wearing in there?”

– – Ever since he saw Ye Ci’s “I miss you” at the airport that day, he just couldn’t take it anymore.

The thought of those three words made his chest feel hot with excitement, like a house that had been uninhabited for a long time and was now covered in flames that reached to the sky. That boiling hot and deformed gentleman’s mask was completely unstable, and he had to press it with his hands or it would fall from his face at any time.

“Just,” Ye Ci’s words flickered, “a, a piece of clothing.”

“I know it’s a piece of clothing.” Huo Tinglan was silent for a moment, and a shameless  “otherwise, are you sleeping naked in my bed?” twitched on the tip of his tongue. He swallowed it back – after all, their relationship had not yet been determined, and he couldn’t cross the boundary of flirting and harassment. He only asked, “What clothes? Show me.”

His tone was calm, so calm that it was almost absent-minded, as if he was asking for nothing, rather than being a scoundrel in a subtle way.

“Just……a shirt……” Ye Ci was very obedient, and with a red face, he pulled the quilt down.

The clothing was indeed nothing to be ashamed of.

Just a shirt.

Matte blue linen material, a long pointed collar that was retro and coquettish, and polished seashell buttons that were as smooth as white jade.

That was Huo Tinglan’s shirt.

He was dying.

Huo Tinglan’s Adam’s apple bobbed slowly.

Ye Ci was 1.8 meters tall and usually wore an appropriately sized school uniform. Although he looked thin, he was not weak.

But as soon as he put on Huo Tinglan’s clothes, his whole person changed.

His still youthful face in contrast with the mature shirt made him appear more pure.

The thin wrists protruding from the cuffs were obviously more slender than Huo Tinglan’s.

His shoulder muscles were also slender, and couldn’t hold up the fabric.

… …

It didn’t fit.

But it looked good.

He looked so small.

– – – The thought poured into the fire like gasoline.

The fire soared to new heights and immolated his sanity.

Huo Tinglan cleared his throat, but his voice was still hoarse: “What’s with this shirt……did they forget to wash it, or?”

“No, it was, it was washed.” Ye Ci hurriedly defended, “There’s no, no pheromones, I just……” He choked, not knowing where his courage had come from. Perhaps it was incited by the fever period, or if he said it once, it became easier to say again. Or maybe the question that had him tangled up over and over these days finally had an answer. 

Ye Ci lowered his eyes and didn’t dare look at the camera, saying softly, “Just, I’ve missed you so much these past few days.”

A fresh, clean shirt satisfied not the glands, but the spirit.

Suddenly, the screen went black.

Ye Ci had covered the camera.

“Wearing the clothes that you wear, it feels……it feels like……”

He was losing his mind.

This little thing……

Was relying on him from a distance?

Huo Tinglan tugged on his tie, almost unable to sit still: “Like what?”