TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 53

The temperature of Zhuang Yanyu’s hands had always been on the cold side.

Especially his fingertips—they were always cool, even without touching cold water.

Wen Chenxi often suspected that he might have turned into a fish at some point, precisely because of this.

But unlike the temperature of his hands, his body temperature was perfectly normal.

Especially since he had just taken a shower and had been tucked under the covers for quite a while, his whole body—inside and out—had been warmed by the blankets.

So when the man’s slightly cool lips pressed against his abdomen, Zhuang Yanyu’s entire body trembled lightly.

A strange shiver instantly swept through him.

The sensation was far too unfamiliar—so unfamiliar that it was a little frightening, and it made his mind go completely blank.

It felt as though all of Zhuang Yanyu’s awareness had been focused on that single spot. He could even clearly imagine what the shape of the other man’s lips looked like.

His brain grew sluggish.

Dazed, Zhuang Yanyu lowered his head to look, but he could only see the top of Wen Chenxi’s head. He couldn’t see his expression, or even what he was doing.

But the sensation was undeniably real—there was also something slick, lightly gliding over that spot, bringing with it a bit of warmth and moisture.

Zhuang Yanyu’s face flushed red all at once.

He couldn’t lie still anymore. His whole body wobbled as he tried to sit up. “A-Xi.”

He struggled to get up, but the moment he moved, Wen Chenxi’s voice came: “Yuyu, don’t move. The ginger slices will fall off.”

Zhuang Yanyu immediately froze.

Wen Chenxi’s reminder made him remember—the ginger slices were still stuck to the soles of his feet.

With that small movement just now, the slices on the bottoms of his feet had shifted and seemed about to fall off.

The ginger slices were a bit dry to begin with and couldn’t stick securely to the skin. Earlier, they had dampened them with a little warm water, which was how they’d managed to get them to stay on the soles of his feet in the first place.

If he moved a few more times and they fell off again, they’d have to wet them and stick them back on.

They were originally meant to dispel dampness anyway—getting them too wet wouldn’t be good.

Zhuang Yanyu could only lie still obediently, not daring to move around anymore.

But Wen Chenxi didn’t pull away.

Zhuang Yanyu felt a little ticklish and a little at a loss. Since he couldn’t move his feet, he could only reach out his hand, trying to push Wen Chenxi’s head away.

“Axí.” Zhuang Yanyu nudged him, but couldn’t move him. Instead, he got a clear look at the swirl of hair on top of the man’s head.

Wen Chenxi’s hair was thick and dark, but the strands were rather coarse, so it didn’t feel especially soft to the touch.

At this moment, though, Zhuang Yanyu’s thoughts weren’t on his hair at all. The numb, ticklish sensation on his abdomen left him flustered. He could only stare helplessly at the top of the man’s head, feeling the spots Wen Chenxi had kissed grow damp and warm.

Zhuang Yanyu felt his body heating up along with it, and his face flushed even redder.

He didn’t understand what this feeling was. It burned until his head felt dizzy.

The room’s heating had clearly been set just right, yet now his back was beaded with sweat.

He felt like the timer in his brain had gone haywire again.

Because it seemed like a very, very long time had passed—so long that he started wondering… why was Axí still pressed against his stomach after all this time?

Axí had been kissing him for so long!

And this feeling was really strange.

His palms were sweating too. He even felt his whole body going soft, unable to muster any strength.

His hands were usually very strong—he could easily lift stones weighing dozens of jin for exercise.

But now, he felt like he didn’t even have the strength to push Axí away.

Even the hand he had raised felt limp and weak.

This feeling was truly frightening.

The feeling of completely losing control over his body.

Fortunately, it wasn’t long before Wen Chenxi finally let that spot go, lifting his head to meet Zhuang Yanyu’s gaze.

And then Wen Chenxi saw a pair of wet eyes—like a small animal’s—harmless and full of helplessness.

When he looked at him in that dazed way, it stirred up an overwhelming sense of guilt, as if hurting him would be an utterly unforgivable crime.

Wen Chenxi’s heart trembled as well. He felt that what he’d just done was practically inexcusable—how could he bully such a pure and harmless little fish?

He quickly coaxed him, “Don’t be scared, Yuyu. Don’t be scared.”

Zhuang Yanyu looked at him helplessly. “Axí, why did you bite me?”

Wen Chenxi cleared his throat.

Having lived more than thirty years, facing those wet eyes now, he felt embarrassed for the first time.

“Did I bite too hard?”

Zhuang Yanyu said, “No, it was ticklish.”

Wen Chenxi kissed his cheek. “I’m sorry.”

Zhuang Yanyu didn’t think there was anything to apologize for. He lowered his head to look at his lower abdomen.

The spot Wen Chenxi had touched bore a faint tooth mark, with a slight reddish trace.

Zhuang Yanyu didn’t know why, but when he saw that faint mark, his face grew warm again.

He reached out to touch it, but Wen Chenxi stopped him.

Zhuang Yanyu looked at him in confusion.

Wen Chenxi was worried the mark he had left would be rubbed away, but on the surface he feigned calm and said, “Yuyu, don’t move. I’ll stick the ginger slices on you.”

“Oh.”

Only then did Zhuang Yanyu remember they hadn’t applied the ginger slices yet.

He immediately lay still, obedient as a rag doll, not moving at all.

Wen Chenxi smiled and slowly placed a ginger slice over his navel.

This spot didn’t need to be moistened—just set in place. As long as he didn’t turn over, it wouldn’t fall off.

As soon as the ginger slice was placed there, a strange sensation could be felt after a short while—coming even faster than the feeling on the soles of his feet.

It felt a little spicy, and a little warm.

After finishing with his navel, Wen Chenxi glanced at the ginger slices still on the plate.

The hotel kitchen hadn’t known how much they would need, so they’d sent up an entire piece of ginger. They had only used three slices so far, and there was still a stack left on the plate.

Wen Chenxi asked, “Other than the soles of your feet and your navel, where else do you want to stick them?”

Zhuang Yanyu answered honestly, “I don’t know.”

Wen Chenxi said, “Should I look it up?”

Since he had been ordered not to move, Zhuang Yanyu could only look at him and say, “Okay.”

Wen Chenxi searched it up and found that many people online claimed that sticking ginger slices on certain acupoints could tonify the kidneys and strengthen yang energy, and that placing them on different parts of the body would produce various effects—basically all kinds of benefits.

He told Zhuang Yanyu about each one, then asked, “Where do you want to put them?”

Zhuang Yanyu didn’t understand much, but he had always been into health preservation, so he said, “You can put them everywhere.”

“…Everywhere?”

“Mhm. Then I’ll record how my body feels and any changes. Later, we can see which areas are more effective for which aspects.”

“Doesn’t this only work with long-term use?”

“Probably.”

Wen Chenxi thought to himself, since they already knew it only worked with long-term use, did they really need to stick them everywhere right now?

And besides…

Wen Chenxi said sincerely, “Yuyu, I don’t know where those acupoints are.”

Zhuang Yanyu replied, “You can look up pictures online. There are lots.”

It’s just to try it out, not like they’re going to do this long-term.

Besides, based on his understanding of Zhuang Yanyu, once they got home he would gather a large amount of related data to prove whether it actually worked.

If it didn’t work, he wouldn’t even need to say anything—Zhuang Yanyu himself wouldn’t continue.

So for now, he was just playing along with Yuyu.

Wen Chenxi treated it like playing house.

He took out his phone and searched online, finding a chart of the human body’s acupoints.

When he saw the various large and small acupoints covering every part of the body, Wen Chenxi almost dropped his phone.

Zhuang Yanyu looked at him with a puzzled expression: “?”

Wen Chenxi’s tone turned strange. “…There are this many acupoints. Are we really going to stick them on all of them?”

Zhuang Yanyu said, “Just the ones that strengthen qi and the spleen, dispel wind, and remove dampness are enough.”

Wen Chenxi glanced at Zhuang Yanyu, then glanced again. In his glasses-free eyes was a look full of oddness and meaning.

“Alright,” Wen Chenxi said. “I’ll check which acupoints are specifically for that.”

Zhuang Yanyu felt that Axí’s last look had been a bit strange.

He must be overthinking it. Axí was still studying the acupoints so seriously afterward.

As Zhuang Yanyu was still thinking, he saw Wen Chenxi glance at his phone, then at his body.

A few seconds later, Wen Chenxi said, “Yuyu, you might need to take off your clothes.”

“Oh.”

As a former Long Aotian system who had spent a long time in the cultivation world in his previous life, he naturally knew that many acupoints were on the upper body. How else could they apply the ginger slices without removing clothes?

The kitchen chef had cut so much—couldn’t let it go to waste.

But he couldn’t move, so he could only let Wen Chenxi help him undress.

He suddenly realized he seemed to have lost track of time, so he asked, “What time is it now?”

Wen Chenxi looked at him in surprise. In his memory, this was the first time Zhuang Yanyu had ever asked him the time.

“You don’t know what time it is, Xiao Yu?”

Zhuang Yanyu answered honestly, “I don’t know anymore.”

Wen Chenxi seemed to think of something and suddenly smiled.

His gaze fell on Zhuang Yanyu’s lower abdomen.

He hadn’t expected that spot to be so sensitive that it would make even his “timer” forget the time.

Zhuang Yanyu felt as if his gaze had burned him and wanted to pull the blanket over himself. “You can’t bite me again.”

Wen Chenxi lowered his head and kissed him. “I won’t bite. I’m just helping Yuyu put on the ginger slices…”

“Oh.”

It was just sticking on ginger slices. Zhuang Yanyu let out a sigh of relief.

But he relaxed too early, overlooking one thing—

The body’s acupoints are complex and spread all over.

Some are even in rather private areas.

By handing over his acupoints to the other person, he was effectively exposing those private areas as well.

At first, Wen Chenxi applied them quite seriously, checking the image on his phone and comparing it to the specific location on the body.

Sometimes, if he wasn’t sure, he would press a finger on the spot first and then show Zhuang Yanyu the picture. “Yuyu, is this acupoint here?”

Wen Chenxi’s thumb was somewhat rough—perhaps from working out, or from cooking at home every day over the past few months.

When his thumb brushed across the skin, it brought a tingling, ticklish sensation that made Zhuang Yanyu feel very itchy.

But ginger slices were already stuck to his arms; he couldn’t move. He could only look at Wen Chenxi with moist eyes and say, “Axí, you’re making me so itchy.”

His tone wasn’t any different from usual, but his eyes were watery now, giving him a pitiful look—like a small prey animal being bullied by a big bad wolf, radiating helplessness from head to toe.

Wen Chenxi, who had been seriously searching for acupoints, felt his throat tighten at that look. Then he glanced at the location of the next acupoint…

Wen Chenxi took a deep breath.

Slowly, he put down his phone and the unfinished ginger slices, and stared at Zhuang Yanyu for a long while.

His gaze was too hard to decipher; the emotions deep in his eyes were dark and obscure. His deep-set eyes were like a cavern—just one step forward and a person might be completely swallowed.

Under his stare, Zhuang Yanyu’s heartbeat inexplicably quickened, as if he were being watched by a large predator.

“Axí…” He had just started to ask something.

But the moment he opened his mouth, his voice was sealed and swallowed in dense, lingering kisses.

The ginger slices that had been stuck to Zhuang Yanyu fell off one by one, scattering all over the bed.

“Axí, the ginger—ginger slices.”

“Mm. We’ll put them on tomorrow.”

Zhuang Yanyu was almost out of breath and hurriedly tried to activate another mode. “Axí… mm, brother mode…”

Wen Chenxi’s voice carried an apology. “Sorry, Yuyu. Switching failed. It can’t change back for now.”

“…”

Author’s note:

PS—

Ginger slices: You’re playing with me.

Yuyu: You’re playing with me QAQ

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