Time Has Grown Dim, And Evening Has Already Fallen - Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Cheng Xun grabbed Lu Xingchu’s palm, slowly pulling it down to press against his cheek.

“Not drunk,” he claimed.

Lu Xingchu’s fingertips were slightly cool. Upon touching the boy’s burning cheek, a subtle chemical reaction seemed to spark. The two of them locked eyes in a strange, prolonged gaze. Cheng Xun continued to hold Lu Xingchu’s hand blankly, finding the cold sensation against his skin immensely comforting.

But this reaction only made Lu Xingchu more certain: he was wasted.

Opposite them, Xie Qiubai suddenly began to cough as if the world were ending. It wasn’t entirely his fault; he’d just been scorched by a piping-hot beef ball. After a few seconds of frantic gasping, he looked up only to witness the bizarre gesture and the heavy atmosphere between the two.

“Cough… what are you two doing?”

Lu Xingchu finally snapped back to his senses and yanked his hand away. “Cheng Xun is drunk. I’m taking him back first.”

Cheng Xun looked at him with a face full of confusion, his amber eyes clouded with bewilderment. He instinctively protested, “I’m not drunk. I can still eat.”

“Hey, don’t go yet, there’s so much food left!” Xie Qiubai tried to persuade them to stay. “I can’t finish this all by myself.”

Lu Xingchu’s eyes darkened. “Get it to go.”

With that, he grabbed Cheng Xun’s arm, half-supporting and half-carrying him away.

Cheng Xun was so drunk he couldn’t even stand straight, yet he kept muttering under his breath that he was sober. In this state, taking the bus was out of the question. Lu Xingchu hailed a taxi on the roadside and stuffed him inside. Once settled, Cheng Xun grabbed Lu’s sleeve and collapsed against him.

By the time they finally made it home, Cheng Xun had fully evolved into a koala, clinging to Lu Xingchu’s neck and refusing to let go. Lu Xingchu had no choice but to support him by the waist, walking sideways to move forward.

Since it wasn’t yet time for evening self-study to end, Grandma guessed what they had been up to the moment she saw Cheng Xun.

“Considering it’s Xiao Xun’s birthday…” Grandma shot Lu Xingchu a rare, stern glare. She didn’t finish her sentence, but Lu Xingchu understood her meaning perfectly.

“It won’t happen again,” Lu Xingchu promised.

“I’ll brew some sobering tea. Remember to come down and get it in a bit,” Grandma instructed.

Lu Xingchu nodded in agreement.

He finally managed to get the boy into the bedroom and settled him on his own bed. Even though he was dazed and drifting, Cheng Xun’s cat-like eyes remained half-open, his gaze hazy. Lu Xingchu sighed, hanging his backpack on the back of the swivel chair with a sense of helplessness.

When Lu Xingchu returned from his shower, Cheng Xun was no longer lying obediently on the bed. Instead, like a little stray cat, he was silently squatting in the corner of the room, in the narrow gap between the bookshelf and the wardrobe.

“?” Lu Xingchu walked over, puzzled. He tried to grab Cheng Xun’s arm to pull him up, but failed. Left with no choice, he mimicked Cheng Xun’s posture and crouched down in front of him.

“What’s wrong?” He reached out to touch Cheng Xun’s forehead, trying to gauge if he had a fever.

Cheng Xun didn’t speak. He just stared straight at Lu Xingchu, yet he was surprisingly docile, allowing the other to feel his forehead.

“Go back to bed and sleep,” Lu Xingchu said decisively. “Or take a shower. Pick one.”

Cheng Xun finally showed a flicker of a reaction. He slowly shook his head, his lips parting slightly.

“…”

His voice was so faint that Lu Xingchu couldn’t hear what he was murmuring. Naturally, Lu leaned in closer, crossing the boundary of safe personal space.

Cheng Xun was already spinning. Suddenly seeing someone move toward him, the world became a blur of soft light and shadows, with only a vague silhouette visible. He simply thought the person in front of him was very beautiful.

Cheng Xun suddenly broke into an unreserved smile, his eyes curving into lovely crescents. With a nimble movement, he lunged forward into Lu Xingchu’s arms, wrapping his hands around Lu’s neck.

Caught off guard while crouching, Lu Xingchu lost his balance. His center of gravity shifted backward. He hooked one arm around Cheng Xun’s thin waist while the other hand shot back to brace against the floor. Fortunately, they didn’t tumble; he just ended up sitting firmly on the ground.

He bent one leg, feeling the full weight of Cheng Xun’s body pressing against him. The boy’s body was warm, and his thin clothes did nothing to block the heat. They were so close that their breaths tangled at their necks; the warmth of their breathing and the thrumming of their heartbeats echoed one another, the temperature rising until it crossed the line of ambiguity.

“Pretty.”

He finally heard what Cheng Xun was saying. But before he could respond, he felt something soft and warm gently cover his lips.

Lu Xingchu froze. Then, he was struck by shock. Those eyes, usually so cold and clear, were now flooded with a chaotic mess of emotions.

Cheng Xun was kissing him.

The moment Lu Xingchu realized this, his brain effectively crashed. He sat there rigid, his eyes casting downward. Cheng Xun’s eyes were tightly shut, his long lashes casting fan-like shadows on his cheeks.

It wasn’t until Cheng Xun’s tongue lightly flicked against Lu Xingchu’s lips…

The brain that had been blasted into oblivion finally began to function again. Lu Xingchu grabbed Cheng Xun’s shoulders and shoved him away.

Cheng Xun looked a bit dazed as he was pushed back, but the moment he hit the floor, he simply drifted off into a deep sleep… leaving Lu Xingchu alone with a heart racing out of control.

Lu Xingchu covered his mouth with his hand, his eyes filled with a natural, agonizing indecision.

Why did Cheng Xun kiss him? Why did Cheng Xun kiss… me? Cheng Xun…

His mind was a repetitive loop of Cheng Xun, Cheng Xun, Cheng Xun, but the culprit was already blissfully sprawled on the floor, comfortably entering dreamland. He left Lu Xingchu to deal with the inner turmoil alone.

Seeing that he hadn’t come down for the tea, Grandma brought it up herself. Finding the door closed, she knocked.

“Xiao Shu,” she said, opening the door. She froze at the sight of the two of them—one sitting, one lying—all over the floor. “What happened? Why are you both on the floor? Aren’t you afraid of catching a cold? Quick, help him up.”

Lu Xingchu’s consciousness slowly returned to him. He glanced back at Grandma and hurriedly stood up, lifting Cheng Xun to place him back on the bed.

Now that Cheng Xun was dead to the world, the large bowl of sobering tea was useless for its intended target. Ironically, Lu Xingchu was the one who needed to calm down. After Grandma left, Lu Xingchu grabbed the bowl and gulped it down. It was bitter and astringent, but it was enough to clear his head. It finally managed to dampen the fire in his heart.

However, the tea worked a little too well. It caused Lu Xingchu to suffer from insomnia for the entire night. By the time he got up the next day, the dark circles under his eyes were prominent enough to cosplay as a giant panda.

As summer approached, the morning sky became increasingly blue and clear. Lu Xingchu got up very early and went to school alone after washing up—the first time he hadn’t waited for Cheng Xun. Although he was always aloof, today he looked particularly distant.

Insomnia didn’t mean he didn’t dream. But when every dream ended with Cheng Xun as the lead—featuring that bright smile, that unique warm breath, and the soft sensation of his lips… it was a wonder he could sleep at all.

Fortunately, Cheng Xun had been completely dead to the world; Lu Xingchu’s tossing and turning on the top bunk hadn’t woken him.

Before meeting Cheng Xun, Lu Xingchu could have guaranteed he would never like a boy. The reason he had fallen out with Jiang Tiao was precisely that.

Back when they were at the Provincial Experimental High School, during a summer camp before their second year, Jiang Tiao had confessed to him. Under the fireflies of a summer night, Lu had stood beneath a tree, frowning at mosquito bites, and rejected Jiang Tiao without a second thought after listening to his stuttering confession.

If Jiang Tiao had given up then, they could have at least remained peaceful classmates. But he didn’t. He even tried to hug Lu Xingchu from behind… and kiss him.

Of course, Jiang Tiao failed at the very first step. Lu Xingchu shoved him away with a single hand on his shoulder. They couldn’t even remain friends afterward because Jiang Tiao refused to let it go.

Liang Ziyan only knew that Lu Xingchu had blacklisted Jiang Tiao, but neither side had ever told him why. Jiang Tiao didn’t dare, and Lu Xingchu didn’t care to. After the rejection, Jiang Tiao bombarded Lu with WeChat, SMS, and QQ messages to the point of harassment. It was only after Lu Xingchu blacklisted every single one of his accounts that he got a moment of peace. He was already furious, but then Jiang Tiao started pestering him with burner accounts.

Eventually, he was pushed to his limit. He discovered Jiang Tiao was secretly following him on his way home. Lu ducked into a narrow alley, waited for Jiang Tiao to appear, and gave him a thorough beating.

After the beating, Jiang Tiao behaved for a while and didn’t dare harass him again. However, a rumor soon exploded on the school forum claiming Lu Xingchu was gay. It was clearly a fabrication, yet it was written with vivid detail. The forum moderator seemed to dislike him as well; not only was the post not deleted, but it was also “stickied” to the front page.

For a while, the issue of Lu Xingchu’s sexuality caused quite a stir at school. Eventually, it even reached the ears of the teachers and parents.

Faced with the teacher’s interrogation, Lu Xingchu remained cold and indifferent. He only said two words: “I’m not.”

Provincial Experimental was very strict with school discipline. Even “puppy love” resulted in public criticism and a self-reflection speech on Monday, let alone issues of sexuality. Lu Xingchu’s answer clearly didn’t satisfy the school. His father was too busy to handle it, so his stepmother came instead. Her relationship with him was mediocre, and she found the school’s reaction excessive, cooperating only perfunctorily. In the end, nothing was resolved; the school simply ordered the forum moderator to permanently delete the post.

Liang Ziyan, of course, knew he wasn’t gay and even fought on his behalf on the forum, resulting in several of his own accounts being banned. Later, with his short fuse, Liang Ziyan found out who the moderator was, stormed into their classroom, and dragged them out for a beating—but that’s a story for another time.

Lu Xingchu hadn’t gone out of his way to find out who the original poster was. In his heart, he had already convicted the culprit. Only Jiang Tiao would do something like that.

That was why he had been so cold when he heard Jiang Tiao was present during their recent trip back to S City.