AVRL 53

That exclamation of “husband” completely set Yu Tingzhi on fire. Without giving Meng Chi any time to catch his breath, he had already dipped his brush in ink, unleashing his strokes with reckless abandon.

Surging passion fermented and collided in the room. The wolf-hair brush resting on the desk wobbled, eventually tumbling to the floor and rolling far away.

Nobody cared.

In their eyes, hearts, bodies, and minds, there was only the person in front of them.

Amidst the intense kissing, Meng Chi felt a hazy recollection of the night he had stayed over at Yu Tingzhi’s place—it had been just like this, a surging tide of boiling heat.

Back then, Yu Tingzhi was stimulated by medicine; now, Yu Tingzhi was stimulated by Meng Chi’s wild abandon, revealing his most primitive, animalistic nature as he devoured him whole.

Fortunately, though, Meng Chi had already learned how to accept such overwhelming lovemaking, and had also learned how to embrace Yu Tingzhi in this fierce state. There was no longer the slightest sense of discord, nor any resistance or displeasure—only the satisfying joy of holding each other tight.

The two carried on until midnight before falling asleep in each other’s arms, sleeping all the way until noon the next day. After having lunch together, Yu Tingzhi went back to school to continue his work.

Yu Tingzhi was filling in for a sick professor at Xichi rather than simply swapping shifts, so all the classes he had previously missed needed to be made up now, even adding evening lectures. Nevertheless, he still stole moments from his busy schedule to eat with Meng Chi, taking the opportunity to tell him that he had gotten in touch with She Shan and learned that She Shan would return to Zewu in a couple of days.

Sure enough, a couple of days later, She Shan returned to Zewu. He even brought along two assistants—one male and one female, one plump and one thin—the man called Brother Pang and the woman named Xiao Ying. They were said to be talented specialists in promotion and had already prepared a proposal for Meng Chi’s reference.

This day happened to be Song Min’s grandmother’s birthday. She Shan had originally planned to hand the two assistants over to Meng Chi and attend the birthday banquet himself. However, as soon as he arrived at the Youran Teahouse, an accident occurred, and he had to change course to the hospital.

The person who had met with the accident was Meng Chi.

Taking advantage of the low customer foot-traffic in the shop today, he, Yang Youran, and Yang Zile were taking inventory of the remaining tea stock, while also cleaning the cabinets where the tea and tea sets were stored. The stepladder in the shop was somewhat old; Meng Chi lost his footing for a brief moment while using it, causing him to take a fall.

It actually wasn’t that severe—he had only sprained his ankle and bumped the back of his head against a cabinet. Still, it gave Yang Youran and Yang Zile quite a scare. She Shan arrived right at that moment and happened to drive Meng Chi straight to the hospital.

Yang Youran had Yang Zile keep an eye on Meng Chi while she went to handle the registration procedures. She Shan didn’t leave either, staying by their side.

“You really came at just the right time,” Meng Chi joked with She Shan as he sat in the waiting area. After finishing his sentence, he realized She Shan hadn’t responded. Looking up, he saw She Shan staring blankly at Yang Youran, who was queuing up ahead to pay the bill.

Although Meng Chi had a different sexual orientation than She Shan, as a fellow man, he knew exactly what it meant when a guy showed that kind of look. Just as he was about to call out again, She Shan’s phone suddenly rang.

The ringtone finally snapped the smitten She Shan back to his senses. He pulled out his phone and pressed answer: “Hello, Tingzhi? What’s up?… Oh, I can’t make it to the birthday banquet. I’m at the hospital… Meng Chi got a bit hurt, at… at the Second People’s Hospital. Alright, talk to you later.”

Although he couldn’t hear what Yu Tingzhi was saying on the other end, Meng Chi had already guessed most of it from She Shan’s few lines. A few seconds later, his own phone rang.

The moment he picked up, Meng Chi heard Yu Tingzhi’s slightly anxious voice over the phone: “How are you?”

“I’m fine,” the corners of Meng Chi’s lips curled up slightly. “Just a minor sprain.”

Yu Tingzhi seemed to let out a long breath. Through the somewhat noisy background sound, Meng Chi heard his breathing, and in a short moment, those background noises gradually faded away.

“Are you coming over?” Meng Chi asked.

Yu Tingzhi gave an affirmative response. Meng Chi added: “I’m fine, you don’t need to come over.”

“I’m already in the car.” Hearing Yu Tingzhi say this, Meng Chi simultaneously heard the sound of the car engine starting up.

“Alright then,” the corners of Meng Chi’s mouth lifted a bit more. “Drive safely.”

While on the phone, Meng Chi didn’t miss the subtle movements of She Shan beside him, hearing him pry about Yang Youran from Yang Zile.

“Is she your sister?”

“Yeah,” Yang Zile nodded. “What about it?”

A faint smile appeared on She Shan’s face as he asked, “Does your sister have a boyfriend?”

“Huh?” Yang Zile froze for a moment. Looking at She Shan, he instantly realized what the man was thinking. The blank expression on Yang Zile’s face turned instantly into one of vigilance: “What are you trying to do?”

“Nothing, just want to get to know her. I just don’t want her boyfriend to get jealous if she has one, you know,” She Shan said with righteous solemnity.

Yang Zile cast a suspicious look at She Shan, then numbly shook his head: “Don’t ask me. I’m just an innocent primary school student who knows nothing.”

With that, Yang Zile shifted one seat over, making his rejection of She Shan abundantly clear.

She Shan: “…?”

He looked completely bewildered. Why did he feel like Yang Zile was exhibiting a strange sense of fear, as if saying the wrong thing would bring down terrible consequences upon him?

Seeing Yang Zile act like this, She Shan had no choice but to direct his attention to Meng Chi. Seeing Meng Chi hang up the phone, he sat next to him, showing a rare, flattering smile. Before he could speak, Meng Chi said: “You’d better not harbor any ideas about her.”

She Shan: “Why?”

Meng Chi glanced at Yang Youran’s slim, slender figure from behind and said, “Sister Ran has a nickname: ‘Jinx’.”

“Hmm?” She Shan asked. “What, is her AD play really cracked?”

Meng Chi: “…”

Yang Zile said dryly: “That joke isn’t funny at all.”

Unfazed, She Shan continued to curry favor with Meng Chi: “Don’t look at me like I’m some playboy—I’m actually a good guy.”

Meng Chi cast a skeptical glance at him. She Shan suddenly blurted out: “Little Sister-in-law, we’re already so familiar—”

“Ahem, ahem, ahem—” This single “Little Sister-in-law” struck Meng Chi like a bolt out of the blue, making him quickly interrupt him with a fit of coughing.

Hearing this, Yang Zile beside them also whipped his head around, his eyes wide as copper bells: “Little Sister-in-law? How did my brother turn into your sister-in-law?”

“Tingzhi is a month older than me. If I don’t call him ‘Sister-in-law,’ am I supposed to call him ‘Brother-in-law’? That sounds way too ugly,” She Shan blurted out. Only after speaking did he catch the strange look on Yang Zile’s face, realizing that he might have accidentally outed Meng Chi. His eyes darted between the two of them, and he let out a couple of awkward coughs, temporarily muting himself.

Yang Zile was stunned for a moment, then remembered the scene he had accidentally witnessed a couple of mornings ago, muttering under his breath: “No wonder you two slept in the same bed and held each other so tight.”

Meng Chi: “…”

Truly born from the same belly as Yang Youran—talking with the exact same directness and the exact same shocking impact.

She Shan froze for a second, then burst out laughing: “Damn, you guys need to exercise some restraint! Don’t corrupt the kid, alright?”

While Meng Chi’s heart skipped a beat, he also remembered the box of pan-fried buns that had appeared in the dining room that morning. It seemed Yang Zile really had seen something he shouldn’t have.

Yang Zile had indeed returned once to grab his campus ID card and bring a box of pan-fried buns for Meng Chi on the way. Passing by Meng Chi’s room, seeing that his door was unlatched, he intended to pull it shut for him—only to peek through the unsealed gap in the door.

He hadn’t actually stumbled upon any 18+ explicit scenes, only vaguely spotting two people lying on the bed in a very intimate posture. With his 20/20 vision in the faint morning sunlight, he clearly recognized that the other person lying on Meng Chi’s bed was Yu Tingzhi.

At the time, Yang Zile merely thought it was a bit strange and didn’t think too much of it. Now, hearing She Shan say this, enlightenment suddenly struck him, making him realize that the relationship between Meng Chi and Yu Tingzhi was far from ordinary.

In fact, thinking carefully about it, in all the years he had known Meng Chi, he had never seen him date a girl. Although he often laughed and joked with the girls in the shop, he always kept a proper boundary without crossing the line.

Therefore, learning that Meng Chi was gay didn’t cause him much surprise. He was even pondering in his head: according to She Shan’s logic, did he also have to call Teacher Yu… Brother-in-law?

That really sounded too awkward; “Sister-in-law” rolled off the tongue much easier.

Thus, when Yang Zile saw Yu Tingzhi appear at the hospital, he said under his breath: “My sister-in-law is here.”

Meng Chi: “…”

Yu Tingzhi: “…?”