Fouls Prohibited

This night passed in chaos for Ye Ci.

In the first half, after a round of sparring, he was thoroughly kissed above the neck.

He was embarrassed, nervous, and excited, and sweated profusely all over.

After all the tossing and turning was over, Ye Ci was too ashamed to sleep on someone else’s bed while covered in sweat, so he took a shower in the bathroom connected to the master bedroom. After rushing to finish up, he smelled of the same sea salt and cypress wood as Huo Tinglan. This probably hit the man’s possessive nerve again, and he was firmly held in his arms through two thin blankets. 

His cheek was squeezed against a firm pectoral muscle, and Ye Ci was so alarmed that he didn’t even dare to blink, for fear that if he brushed it with his eyelashes, he would make himself a scoundrel. He also thought over and over – – Me and Huo-shushu are really together, it can’t be more true! He was sometimes embarrassed, sometimes throbbing, sometimes in disbelief, and like galloping horses, his thoughts couldn’t stop for half a second.

Therefore, it was not until early morning that he cultivated a little drowsiness and snuggled up to Huo Tinglan to sleep.

At six o’clock in the morning, the alarm on his cell phone rang.

But Ye Ci was too sleepy to open his eyes.

Drowsiness was like heavy black velvet wrapped around his body. The blackout curtains deceived his biological rhythm, the atmosphere was dark and comfortable, and the handmade mattress padded with long horsetail hair and cashmere gave him a sense of comfortable support and envelopment. There was also that tequila fragrance that lingered in his nose, making Ye Ci feel at ease upon smelling it……His eyelids weighed over a thousand pounds, and Ye Ci was so sleepy that he didn’t know what was going on.

“Wake up, it’s time for school……Xiao Ci?” The alarm was too noisy, not soothing enough. Huo Tinglan turned it off and twisted Ye Ci’s earlobe gently, then scratched the tip of his nose. He saw that Ye Ci subconsciously blocked his hand and then itched the place he had scratched, repeatedly performing this act of “a kitten washing its face” in a half-asleep, half-awake state.

“Huo-shushu……” To avoid harassment, Ye Ci hid his smooth, peach-pink face in the pillow and begged, “Just, just five minutes……p-please……”

He acted spoiled without realizing it, as sweet as a spoonful of honey.

Huo Tinglan would have been perfectly happy to let him have a lie-in.

In his difficult and struggle-filled past, how many times had he had the experience of refusing to get up because of sleepiness?

They could be counted on one’s fingers.

This was especially true when his mother was sick. If he didn’t work hard, she would suffer from poverty and even go hungry. A scrawny boy in a baggy convenience store uniform, with white skin and dark bags under his eyes, he would diligently carry over a dozen loads of merchandise. When he was finished stocking shelves, he would take a short break behind the cash register when there were no customers. Tired, but not daring to sleep in order to be on guard against thieves, he could at most hug his arms and hang his head down for a while. Due to his thinness, his spine and shoulder blades would immediately become prominent when his back was arched as he rested, sharp and hard.

The bones were hard, and this person was also very rigid at first glance.

At that time, he never imagined that the days to come would be like this.

He never thought that he would completely remove his disguise and be so soft in front of others.

In a daze, Ye Ci didn’t know how long he lay there – probably more than five minutes. Suddenly, there was a hot aroma and the sound of something rolling, like a dining cart. Then, there was the light clink of ceramic tableware, and the fragrant smell of food became stronger.

Hunger overcame sleepiness as his empty stomach woke up first, his limbs and bones coming back to life. An ankle was gripped by a hot palm, and Ye Ci struggled instinctively, but the hand didn’t let go. On the contrary, it escalated and even caught his toes.

“Hold still.” Huo Tinglan pinched the toes that were as pale as green onions, put one cotton sock on him, and stroked the edges of the sock along the stretched arches. He was clearly waiting upon him, but he coaxed hoarsely, “I’ll put socks on for you.”

His hand was so strong that Ye Ci couldn’t pull his foot back. When he looked again, the other sock had been put on, the school uniform shirt and trousers were stacked at hand, and there was an exquisite blue dining cart parked not far away. A table was set up next to the bed so that he could have breakfast without touching the ground.

“It’s rare for you to act coquettish for me, so I’ll give you a little time to stay in bed.” Huo Tinglan glanced at his legs and smiled gently. “Do you……want to change your trousers yourself?”

Of course he would change his trousers himself!

Ye Ci shrank back like a wild cat and said in fear: “I’ll, I’ll do it myself.” He turned his head to look at the breakfast beside the bed. His emotions were complicated, and his conscience couldn’t bear it, so he mumbled, “You, you don’t have to……to spoil me. Just directly call me down.”

“How is this spoiling……” Huo Tinglan tightened his grip on the foot in his palm. His heart was on fire and his eyes were hot as he said firmly but gently, “I will love you very much from now on.”

This wasn’t spoiling? This was spoiling him to death!

Ye Ci was intensely embarrassed. He had never experienced this sort of thing before. The maternal love Ye Hongjun gave him was as gentle and delicate as a stream, the complete opposite of this thick, fiery love. He didn’t know how to answer these words, so he just tried to pull his foot back again.

As a result, he had barely twitched when Huo Tinglan pulled him over by the calf until he was almost sitting directly on Huo Tinglan’s lap.

“Baby,” Huo Tinglan clasped his leg and looked at him with a pair of passionate and pitiful black eyes. “Let me love you.”

If you wanted to love someone, to pamper someone, to spoil someone, you didn’t need the other person’s permission – you just had to do it. The initiative was in his own hands, but he forced him to agree and wanted to hear him say a “good” word.

The temperature of that gaze washed over him as if it was going to burn him through, piercing through his chest. There was no room to evade or shy away. Ye Ci lowered his eyes and dropped his head, pressing his forehead against Huo Tinglan’s shoulder. After a soft “En,” he added solemnly after a few seconds of silence: “We, we love each other, Huo-shushu……I’m still, still young, and I don’t have anything to offer. You……wait for me to get older, and, and I will treat you as well as you treat me.”

“Alright.” Huo Tinglan’s heart softened even more, and he vigorously rubbed that messy black hair on the back of Ye Ci’s head, saying softly, “I’ll wait for you to get older.”

As if he was afraid that this big talk would seem empty and wanted to provide some evidence, Ye Ci raised his head and glanced at Huo Tinglan with his bright apricot core eyes, but he couldn’t tell what he was thinking about.

Huo Tinglan smiled: “What……”

Before he finished speaking, Ye Ci suddenly leaned forward, tilted his head, and pecked him on the cheek as briskly as a spring swallow skimming water.

After the kiss, in the second that Huo Tinglan was momentarily stunned, he withdrew his leg as if fleeing for his life. For fear of going to school early in the morning with a kiss-swollen mouth, he leaned over the table and hastily stuffed a small steamed bun into his mouth. A drop of golden red crab oil dripped from the corner of his lips as he said, full of the desire for survival: “I still, still have to go to school soon, Huo-shushu.”

His studies were important. Even though Huo Tinglan’s desire was left unsatisfied, he could only stare at him from the sidelines with angry amusement.

Talking was delayed for a time, and Ye Ci had no choice but to thoroughly clear his plate. During these days, Huo Tinglan had taken good care of him. Not only had his face become softer, but he was not so thin in other places, such as his jaw and wrists. The knobs of his spine at the nape of his neck were less bony and sharp, and when Huo Tinglan held his calf and ankle just now, he also felt that it was more supple and sensual than before.

His body……could probably grow some more fat.

Unfortunately, it was invisible.

Just a moment ago, Ye Ci had given him a childlike kiss on the cheek.

But such a pure kiss could not wash clean his “dirty” heart.

Ye Ci was just a young deer restless with emotion, and it never occurred to him that his pious Huo-shushu was actually thinking about his body at this time.

……Otherwise the young deer would probably bang his head against the wall in embarrassment.

After eating, it was time for Ye Ci to change his clothes.

Huo Tinglan timed it right and, without waiting to be shooed away, walked into the master bedroom cloakroom to calmly pick out a shirt, as if he was also preparing to get ready and go out.

Ye Ci saw this and didn’t dare to say anything, for fear of drawing Huo Tinglan’s attention. Taking advantage of Huo Tinglan’s back being turned to him, he seized the opportunity to get naked and put on his school uniform in a panic.

In the cloakroom, Huo Tinglan flicked the rotatable full-length mirror in front of him leisurely, the corners of his lips curled up.

……Just like a jade orchid.[1]

Round. White. Pink.

Meaty.

Good-looking.

The eagle-eyed eyesight of an A-level Alpha was indispensable.

……It was too indecent and outrageous to actually steal a peek at the little gentleman changing clothes.

Seeing that Ye Ci had fastened the last button on his collar, Huo Tinglan turned the full-length mirror back to its original position, smiled, and ruthlessly belittled himself in his heart.

. . . . . .

Ye Ci talked big in front of Huo Tinglan that morning, asking him to wait until he got older, and that he would be as good to him as he was capable of being in the future.

A boy’s teenage years were when his self-esteem was the strongest and most sensitive. This tough talk was aimed at the object of his love, and was easier to use than struggling through any vague and empty catchphrases. Not to speak of how close it was, he must show Huo-shushu good results in the upcoming final exam of the sophomore year of high school.

So on this day, Ye Ci’s studying was full of energy, as if he had been injected with chicken blood.

During the recess in the afternoon, he summoned up the rare courage to go to the teacher’s office, stuttering as he asked a couple of questions – – Huo Tinglan’s lectures were undoubtedly good, but Ye Ci shouldn’t rely on him for all six subjects, and should ask the teacher.

It was the same after coming home from school. Ye Ci studied until eleven o’clock in the study room. Not only did he finish his homework, but he even did a lot of it by himself, and his eyes shined like a hungry little wolf who couldn’t get enough. If not for Huo Tinglan coming to detain him, he might have been able to study until he fell into a coma.

“Just, just one more question.” Ye Ci pitifully clutched one end of the pen that had been taken away and didn’t let go. “I just, just figured out how to do this type of problem, I need to, to strike while the iron is hot.” As he said that, he actually took advantage of the newly developed coquettish skills from that morning, softly begging, “Huo-shushu, you are the best.”

How could Huo Tinglan bear this? 

His bones were weak, and he stood aside with a smile on his face, looking at the high school student answering questions with enthusiasm.

Finishing a few minutes later, Ye Ci had nothing to say and went back to honestly rest in his room. Halfway there, he suddenly realized that he had gone in the wrong direction. This was not the way back to his bedroom, but to Huo Tinglan’s master bedroom.

“I’m, I’m going the wrong way……” Ye Ci turned his head and wanted to go back.

He thought sleeping with Huo Tinglan last night was a special case – – Huo Tinglan had said he had a headache and worked all night, and so on, and wanted to hold him and rest for a while, but he didn’t say that they would share a room in the future.

“I brought you a change of clothes.” Huo Tinglan smiled, blocked his way, and coaxed him softly, “Don’t sleep in a different room, baby.”

Ye Ci was silent for a moment, and then took a step to the left, wanting to go around.

Huo Tinglan also moved to the left.

Ye Ci moved to the right.

Huo Tinglan smiled and also moved to the right.

Wherever Ye Ci went, he would block him.

Like a little scoundrel harassing an Omega at the school gate.

[1] Jade orchid: ⮐