Why is This Clingy Snow Leopard Acting So Innocent? - Chapter 27

Chapter 27: Seduction—It Would Be Easier if You Took Off the Towel

Yun Shu had imagined the scene of him being remembered countless times.

He’d envisioned every version: himself as a child, himself getting into fights, himself arguing with him, or—as it happened today—himself having stayed by his side from a distance all along.

He thought he would be ecstatic, moved to tears, or full of grievances…

But there was nothing.

Just as Su Wen hadn’t shown any particularly dramatic reaction, Yun Shu remained unexpectedly calm. It felt like two old friends reacquainting, except he didn’t feel like saying the words: “Long time no see.”

Su Wen had just pulled himself out of his memories, still visibly stunned. He had a deep impression of Yun Shu, but the man had always worn a mask, or sometimes even a hat, when visiting him. If it weren’t for those unique eyes, he might never have recognized him.

After a long silence, Su Wen looked at Yun Shu and subconsciously covered half of his face. “I originally thought that after this documentary ended, I might see you again at the premiere.”

“I didn’t expect us to be partners. It’s quite a coincidence.”

“It’s not a coincidence.”

Yun Shu’s voice was very low. Su Wen didn’t hear him clearly and asked, “Hmm? What did you just say?”

“Nothing. I didn’t say anything.”

Yun Shu shoveled the last bite of rice into his mouth and stood up to find an excuse to leave. He seemed to be fleeing the awkward atmosphere where a reunion didn’t feel like a reunion and recognition didn’t feel like recognition.

On second thought, it wasn’t awkwardness—it was fear. He didn’t know what he would do if Su Wen took him for some stalker fan who had followed him all the way here.

He took off two layers of clothing, preparing to head out.

Just as he lifted the door curtain, he turned back to Su Wen. “You eat first. I’ll wash the dishes when I get back.”

As the curtain was lifted, the cold wind seized the opportunity to swirl into the room. Even fully dressed, Su Wen felt a physical shiver from the chill.

Yun Shu was only wearing a single thin shirt.

The shirt hung loosely on his frame, supported only by his sturdy physique, giving him an unexpectedly fashionable look.

The moment his foot stepped outside, he was called back. Su Wen shouted, “Hey, Yun Shu!”

Yun Shu turned back and let the curtain fall.

“Are you…” out of your mind? Su Wen caught himself, the words turning into: “Are you going outside to cosplay as a popsicle?”

“Uh…” Yun Shu dithered for a second. “No, I’m going to take a shower.”

Su Wen nearly spat out his rice. Outside, besides a leaky small shack that looked like a storage room and a kitchen with an earthen stove, there were only two abandoned sheds. There was nothing else.

“Where can you shower out there?”

“The bathroom. I’ll shower there.”

Su Wen was puzzled. Having lived there for so long, he had always used the bathroom inside the room; he’d never noticed where Yun Shu washed up.

Despite Yun Shu’s refusal, he followed him out.

It was truly a place where wind leaked from all four sides.

Aside from a mostly intact ceiling, there were four walls and a rickety door. Shifting in there meant the water would freeze the moment it hit your body—a perfect recreation of the freezing process in a refrigerator’s freezer compartment.

“You…” He pointed at the slightly battered but clean showerhead. “You use this to shower?”

“It’s actually not that cold.”

Su Wen pursed his lips and glanced at Yun Shu. His coat was wide open, and the thin shirt underneath clung to him, revealing glimpses of firm chest muscles.

He retracted his gaze, hesitating, but eventually said: “Go wash inside.”

“Huh?” Yun Shu tilted his head at him. “There’s no bathroom in the shack.”

Su Wen didn’t know if he was playing dumb or was genuinely dense. “Go to my room.”

…

In the bathroom, the sound of running water was constant. Outside, Su Wen lay on the bed, feeling like something was a bit strange.

Before he could figure out what it was, the water stopped. Then, with a creak, the door opened.

Su Wen instinctively looked over. The person entering brought with him the lingering steam of the bathroom. He was drying his hair with one hand while the other tightened the towel around his waist as he approached.

Droplets of water fell from the tips of his hair, sliding down his collarbone and leaving a jagged watery trail across his wheat-colored abdominal muscles before disappearing into the towel, sliding deeper.

Su Wen’s heart skipped a beat, and he subconsciously swallowed.

“Hmm?” Yun Shu appeared to be playing innocent. “What’s wrong?”

After two seconds of stagnation, Su Wen curled his lips into a smile. “Nothing. I was just thinking… if you’re trying to seduce me, wouldn’t it be easier if you took off the towel?”

Yun Shu’s face flushed a deep red instantly, from his neck to his ears.

“Though,” Su Wen said, intentionally teasing him as his gaze swept up and down without reservation, “this works too.”

Yun Shu’s face turned even redder. As if his little secret had been poked, he moved the towel he was using on his hair to cover his face.

“Alright, alright.”

Su Wen stopped teasing him. The bandages on both of the man’s hands were completely soaked. He reached back to grab bandages and medicine from the nearby medical kit and tossed his spare pajamas from the bedside over to him. “Put your clothes on first. Don’t catch a cold.”

Normally, pajamas are supposed to be oversized. When Su Wen wore them, he could button them all the way to the top without affecting the loose fit.

But with Yun Shu, things were different.

Su Wen sized him up. The pajama pants were a bit short, and the shirt was only done up by three buttons; any more and it looked like he wouldn’t be able to breathe.

He hadn’t thought much of it before, but there’s no harm without comparison.

A few years ago, he used to work hard at the gym and eat healthy meals for the sake of being on camera. In recent years, he had grown lazy—since there were no roles to film anyway, he stopped the diet and the gym.

While he hadn’t gotten fat, his muscles were nearly gone.

“You… How long have you been training?”

“I started in university,” Yun Shu said. “About four years.”

Four years… Su Wen extended his index finger and lightly pressed the middle of the shirt, which had been stretched into a V-neck.

It was soft at first, but with another press, it turned hard.

Su Wen burst out laughing, looking up to see Yun Shu’s face burning red as he avoided eye contact.

“Okay, okay, I’m done teasing you.”

He sat cross-legged to the side, grabbed both of Yun Shu’s hands, and began unwrapping the wet bandages.

He hadn’t reminded him earlier, but wounds shouldn’t touch water before they’re fully healed. This guy acted like he had no common sense, showering without any protection until everything was soaked.

As he peeled back the layers of bandages, he saw the wounds hadn’t been dampened too much. They had started to scab over; beneath the transparent scabs was the pink, soft flesh of new growth.

On a whim, Su Wen reached out and poked it.

“Hiss…” Yun Shu’s whole body shivered.

Su Wen looked up at him. “Does it hurt?”

“It’s okay.”

“Good that it doesn’t hurt,” he comforted. “It’s almost healed.”

As he said this, Su Wen suddenly remembered something. Because of his work over the last few days, he hadn’t seen the Snow Leopard, and there were no traces of it in the room.

It had so many wounds and was out in the wild. To survive, it had to hunt. Even if he had treated the wounds well initially, it was inevitable that bandages would tear and wounds would get infected by bacteria.

Once infected, it would develop a fever, and without timely treatment in this $-15^{circ}text{C}$ to $-16^{circ}text{C}$ weather, it would likely die.

He suppressed his tightening heart and tried his best to control the rising sense of unease. He resolved that if the Snow Leopard didn’t show up today, he would go out and look for it. No matter what, he had to ensure its safety.

Just as the thought surfaced, a familiar “patter-patter” sound came from outside. It was faint, but enough to alert him.

He dashed to the window, lifted the curtain, and opened it. The Snow Leopard was propping its front paws against the windowsill, looking up at him. Its ears were pricked straight up, and its eyes were wide and round, looking like a well-behaved plush toy.

Su Wen’s heart returned to its place. Good, it wasn’t sick, and the bandages were still properly wrapped around its body.

He gave it a quick wipe with a wet cloth, pressed it onto the bed, and began inspecting its wounds one by one.

The Snow Leopard lay sprawled on the bed, its front paws curled, allowing him to poke and prod it as he pleased.

The bandages on its front paws were fine, just a bit dirty, but the back legs and rump were different—everything was wet and loose.

Su Wen carefully removed all the bandages and breathed a sigh of relief.

The wounds were basically healed, much like Yun Shu’s, covered in a layer of scabbing. Except for the more severely injured front paws, the rest was essentially recovered, just waiting for the scabs to fall off.

While Su Wen worked, the Snow Leopard’s eyes never left him. Wherever he moved, it watched. Even when he finished and went to the bathroom to wash up, it followed him.

The steam in the bathroom hadn’t fully dissipated, leaving behind a faint lemon scent.

Su Wen was bent over the sink brushing his teeth when the Snow Leopard nudged the door open with its light steps. It stood there watching him, tail in its mouth.

He sighed, lifting a foot to nudge it out, toothpaste foam nearly leaking from his mouth. “Out, out. Don’t get the wounds wet.”

The Snow Leopard seemed to both understand and not understand. It suddenly lunged forward, propping its entire body against him.

Su Wen was knocked off balance, only managing to steady himself by grabbing the sink.

He was a bit annoyed, but as soon as he raised his arm, he saw the Snow Leopard’s big, fluffy head resting against his waist. Those round eyes stared at him as if it had missed him for a long time.

That immediately drained his anger. The hand he had raised to give it a swat landed gently on its head instead, rubbing its fluffy ears.

He finished brushing his teeth quickly and moved to pick it up.

But this fellow was truly much heavier than he imagined. He struggled all the way to drag it back to the bedroom, finally running out of strength and falling onto the bed along with it.

The first thing Su Wen did after catching his breath was pull out his phone and renew his gym membership back in Linzhou.

The Snow Leopard, having been tossed onto the bed, seemed to go into a frenzy of excitement. It jumped up, pawed at the sheets, leaped from one side of him to the other, and—not satisfied yet—knocked his phone away with a “leopard charge,” rolling around wildly on the bed.

Su Wen gritted his teeth, wanting to hit it, and deeply regretted not wiping it down more thoroughly just now.

But seeing it so happy to see him, his spark of anger died out.

It’s just a little Snow Leopard; what does it know?

Su Wen raised his arm, moved the phone aside, leaned against the headboard, and beckoned it.

The Snow Leopard, which had rolled to the foot of the bed, scrambled back. It kept purring and chirping, lying belly-up beside him, and even nudged its head into his armpit as if trying to crawl into his very body.

Su Wen was in a great mood. He rubbed its chest, smoothed its fur down to its belly, and playfully shook its tail.

The Snow Leopard purred loudly, its whole body warm and cozy. If he smelled closely, he could detect a faint lemon scent, likely picked up in the bathroom.

Su Wen felt like his soul had been swapped; he used to be quite a germaphobe.

In this cold weather, any lice on the leopard are probably dead anyway, right? After pondering for a long while, he made a decision. He jumped off the bed, rushed to the bathroom, brought out a basin of water, and forced the leopard to undergo a full-body wipe-down. Then, in one burst of energy, he changed all the sheets, duvet covers, and pillowcases. Finally, he pinned the Snow Leopard to the bed, buried his face in its belly, and gave it a deep, long “huff.”

After a moment, he remembered something and looked at the leopard. “Baby, show me your teeth.”

The Snow Leopard blinked. Just as Su Wen thought it didn’t understand and felt a bit disappointed, it wrinkled its black nose (dotted with pink spots) and bared its teeth, its whiskers twitching up and down.

Su Wen felt like he was going to faint from the cuteness.