Fouls Prohibited

Ye Ci heaved a sigh of relief, and hurriedly asked: “What……what method?”

Huo Tinglan smiled softly, found an easy-to-accept entry point, and threw a line: “Did you sleep in my bedroom the day before yesterday?”

“En.” Ye Ci nodded.

“How about tonight too, then?” When Ye Ci opened his mouth slightly in surprise, Huo Tinglan added calmly, “I won’t do anything excessive. We can add a blanket, one for each of us.”

He kneaded his forehead wearily, once to sell his misery, and twice to imply that he was currently out of energy and therefore not dangerous: “I was busy all night last night, and I haven’t closed my eyes up to now. I’m exhausted. I just want to give you a good hug.”

Ye Ci was embarrassed, his mouth closed and his attitude wavering, but he didn’t show a clear expression of rejection.

– – Given a fright by the prior unacceptable outcome, he found himself thinking too much. After giving a sigh of relief, his rate of acceptance also increased briefly.

His negotiation skills were fairly basic, but practical.

Huo Tinglan looked like he was holding the soft nape of a kitten’s neck gently but firmly, with skillful ease, making the inexperienced kitten disoriented and confused.

“Your expression just now……” With a smile, the villain brought a suit against his victim,[1] teasing in turn: “What are you thinking about?”

Ye Ci looked at him with clear eyes like glass beads, but didn’t try to defend himself, and only blushed.

Because he was indeed thinking wild thoughts.

He would prefer to not say a word and tacitly acquiesce, rather than expose the yellow trash in his brain to Huo-shushu and be teased. He didn’t want to lie to his lover, either. 

“What are you thinking, baby?” Huo Tinglan expressed his curiosity as if he was a big, innocent boy. “Tell me.”

Ye Ci suddenly had a sense of peril, as if he was being targeted by a carnivore – – if he didn’t tear off a piece of meat to sacrifice to those white teeth, he absolutely wouldn’t be able to escape tonight.

– – What was he thinking about?

He thought he was going to sleep under a blanket with Huo Tinglan like a real married person, and for a moment, even vaguely thought about “that kind of thing.”

But how could these words be spoken?

There was only one piece of meat left to tear off for the beast.

His throat tightened, and he forcibly skipped the question in order to compromise: “Then, then let’s add a blanket……”

In the master bedroom, a pair of pillows and two blankets were placed side by side, and the area between was still spacious.

Huo Tinglan went to wash up, and Ye Ci burrowed into his own blanket like a thief. His sleeping position was restrained, with the light blanket tightly covering him, pulled all the way up to the tip of his nose.

He secretly touched his mouth under the edge of the covers.

The painful heat had subsided, and the skin was not broken.

Suddenly, the sound of water in the bathroom stopped.

Ye Ci retracted his hand as if he had received an electric shock, closing his eyes and pretending to sleep.

With his temperament and under these circumstances, it seemed a little fake for him to be able to sleep without a care. He knew this, but hoped that Huo Tinglan would be as graceful as ever, seeing through it but not bringing it up.

The bathroom door opened.

The scent of men’s body wash slowly approached, sea salt mixed with cypress wood.

The side of his body sank down, something blocked the light, and then Huo Tinglan called to him in a low voice: “Baby, are you asleep?”

Ye Ci didn’t move. Not even his eyelashes fluttered.

He pretended quite well.

The corners of Huo Tinglan’s lips lifted slightly. He didn’t say anything, and didn’t turn off the lights. Lying down next to Ye Ci, he stretched out his arms and pulled the thin form wrapped in a light blanket into his arms.

That small sample of a kiss did not satisfy his craving. Instead, it evoked the memory of entangling with his lover in the last life.

Desire was like a shark sensing blood. It was better not to taste it, but once he did, he became mad with greed.

That graphite silk was as deep and dark as the sea. He cruised through it silently and sinisterly, coveting the creamy white flesh in that ocean. The marking period wasn’t over yet, and his Alpha glands began to stir.

After being pacified by an Omega, the glands were supposed to be at rest.

But the painful experience of his spouse’s death made Huo Tinglan’s Alpha glands more sensitive and fragile than in the previous life, and their hormone fluctuations were difficult to predict using normal medical theory.

Huo Tinglan’s eyes darkened, and his hands circled around in front of Ye Ci.

His fingertip touched the blanket that was dampened by Ye Ci’s breath and traced along the line of his lips.

After a while, it stopped in the middle and played with them.

The small breaths gusting on Huo Tinglan’s fingertips suddenly accelerated.

Ye Ci panicked.

Afraid that his breathing rate would reveal his pretense, Ye Ci took a few breaths and then subconsciously held his breath, his body trembling slightly.

This was not pretending to be asleep, but pretending to be dead.

“Ye Ci,” Huo Tinglan suppressed a laugh, his fingers like bait as he rubbed the silly mouth with a poor memory that continued to bite the hook. “Are you really asleep?”

Suddenly waking up at this time would only be more embarrassing.

It was hard to ride a tiger,[2] better to play the role to the end. Ye Ci resolutely kept his eyes closed. There was sweat on his forehead, and his eyelashes trembled.

“You really are asleep?” Huo Tinglan announced in a low voice, “Then I’m going to do something bad.”

Ye Ci: “…….”

His Adam’s apple bobbed slightly in disbelief.

Huo Tinglan took the edge of the blanket and picked it up.

It was almost like lifting the hem of a skirt, but he could do it without appearing vulgar.

Under the blanket, the collar of Ye Ci’s pajamas was fastened to the top button, and Huo Tinglan flipped the button as if teasing a small fish.

Ye Ci’s eyelashes trembled and he thoroughly crumbled. Too embarrassed to open his eyes, he turned over, plunged into Huo Tinglan’s arms, and begged for mercy: “Huo-shushu, don’t, don’t do it……”

“You pretended to be asleep.” Huo Tinglan gently tugged Ye Ci’s bright red ear.

He saw through it and laid it bare.

No matter how foolish Ye Ci was, he realized that Huo Tinglan was not the same as before he confirmed their relationship. Besides, he wasn’t stupid in the first place. If someone else attempted Huo Tinglan’s actions, he would probably see through it within three sentences.

The fact that he could be hooked with one cast was due to nothing more than preconceived notions. He believed firmly in Huo Tinglan’s pure and good nature, and this filter was too thick to see through.

“Huo-shushu, why are you……” He clenched his fists and hesitated. “Why……are you like this?”

“What am I like?” Huo Tinglan laughed, and the deep vibrations of his chest tickled Ye Ci’s eardrums.

“Like,” Ye Ci struggled to retrieve a precise word that was not a curse, “You’ve become un, ungentlemanly.”

Ungentlemanly.

Huo Tinglan was stunned for a moment. In his life and in his previous life, he had never heard anyone make a comment about him like this.

Not only that, but he was often rated the opposite.

It was said that no one knew a child better than their mother, but even his mother, Lin Yao, often persuaded him to let go of the elite air of being alone all his life. Even if he couldn’t find a matching Omega, at least he could meet a Beta woman……

Moreover, the way he and Ye Ci got along in the last life was not the same as it was now.

Of course it wasn’t a compliment, but he felt a heat up his spine. Being provoked by the aggrieved little lover who vaguely realized he had boarded a pirate ship doubled his agitation.

“Xiao Ci,” Huo Tinglan moved back a little, looked at Ye Ci buried in his chest, and stroked his messy hair. Half coaxing and half serious, he said: “From the moment we established our relationship, you were officially my lover and husband, legally and emotionally. In front of you, I don’t think I need to, or should, put on the air of being a good gentleman. Just like you don’t have to try to be brave in front of me. You can talk to me, you can cry to me, and you can rely on me to your heart’s content……what do you say?”

With just a few words, he integrated his “hooliganism” with his true nature.

Extremely shameless.

Ye Ci wrestled with this for a while. He also pretended to be tough in front of Huo Tinglan. If it was wrong to say that it wasn’t the same, then he probably……didn’t count as innocent?

Besides, flirting with a lover seemed to be okay, it was just that the contrast……

“Do you still like Huo-shushu?” Huo Tinglan asked knowingly.

How could he not like him because of that?

Ye Ci nodded in embarrassment.

“You like me even if I’m not a gentleman?” Huo Tinglan repeated with a smile.

Ye Ci gritted his teeth, and the corners of his jaw flexed sharply. After a few seconds of silence, he admitted: “I like you.”

However, the villain hadn’t even revealed one-tenth of his essence.

“Then……” Huo Tinglan paused. Meeting Ye Ci’s inquisitive gaze, he said quietly, “Will you help? The susceptibility period is about to be drawn out by you, so soothe me……”

Ye Ci was stunned, unable to argue: “I, I drew it out?”

“En.” Huo Tinglan choked back a laugh. His eyes were jet-black and bright, and he had a handsome appearance, but it was a pity that it contained a wicked thing that would toss a black pot to a child.[3]

“You did……do you know how pretty your blush is?” The black pot smashed him in the face. “You’re still drawing it out.”

Was being inclined to blush a sin? What could be done about an abundance of capillaries?

Ye Ci had a rare rebellious thought and snatched the blanket from Huo Tinglan to cover his face. As a result, as soon as the bridge of his nose was covered, it was pulled back down to his chin. He covered it up again, and it was pulled down to his neck by Huo Tinglan. He was light and quick, half smiling, making them look like a playful and flirtatious couple. Ye Ci noticed that the atmosphere was ambiguous and didn’t dare to grab it again. His flushed face was exposed to the air, and he braced himself to “look good” under Huo Tinglan’s eyes, retorting in a whisper: “Wasn’t your susceptible period……more, more than a month ago? Usually an Alpha……is only susceptible two or three times a year. Besides, it also can’t be drawn out.”

He might know very little, but he had also been an Alpha, and couldn’t be fooled.

“I’m sick.” Huo Tinglan unexpectedly smiled. “I have a disorder.”

Ye Ci stared, going quiet.

Huo Tinglan really was sick – – the susceptibility period syndrome. Not every Alpha’s susceptibility symptoms were as severe as his, which could be considered pathological, and the frequency was indeed uncertain.

“Give me treatment, baby. Think of it like an essay on being a good person and doing good deeds, doesn’t that sound pretty good?” The more he said, the more ridiculous and unscrupulous it became. Holding back a smile, he continued to coax and deceive: “We had a deal to use a way you can accept, other than touching your lips.” He turned over, holding Ye Ci’s hot face like a handful of spring water as he pecked kisses across his red cheekbones, his sweaty hair, his blinking eyelids……

His word was truly trustworthy. Since he said he wouldn’t touch his mouth, he didn’t touch his mouth.

However, at the end, Ye Ci had to keep a deadly grip on his collar and not let go. With a clear, lively voice, he repeatedly emphasized that he was not to put his mouth on his neck. It was just that the collar of his school uniform really couldn’t cover the neck, and his classmates and teachers would see it at a glance.

This just barely saved his neck.

That night, he was only kissed on his face outside of his cocoon.

[1] 恶人先告状. Literally means the villain sues his victim before he himself can be prosecuted. ⮐

[2] 骑虎难下: The idiom is, ‘If you ride a tiger, it’s hard to get off,’ meaning it’s impossible to stop halfway. ⮐

[3] Throwing a black pot to someone is basically putting the blame on them/letting them shoulder the responsibility. ⮐