He wanted this Li Shu

After saying it, Li Shu felt something was off too. He wasn't some peerless treasure; Pei Song'an had no reason to find an excuse like that to kiss him.

Besides, making assumptions about someone like that seemed pretty rude...

"That's not really what I meant. It sounds like I'm making myself out to be some precious prize, but... but you're at fault too. You'd just transferred me money, and then you went and did this with me."

"It's hard not to read into it."

"Your fault!"

Li Shu was too nervous to sit still. The intimate, scorching red mark on his Adam's apple burned alarmingly, setting even the skin along his neck on fire. His long, pale legs were bare, and the places the man's palms had touched still held the warmth and sensation.

Even the backs of his knees were a little red.

Li Xiaoshu sprang to his feet and charged forward aggressively, only to stub his toe on the corner of the desk, lose his balance, and crash straight into Pei Song'an's arms.

"Ah-"

"Hiss-"

Li Shu instinctively tried to crouch down in pain, but Pei Song'an had reflexively wrapped an arm around his waist when he fell into him. Meeting resistance halfway down, Li Shu had to press his cheek against Pei Song'an's chest for support, his fingers clutching the back of the man's shirt as he bent his knee to rub his toes.

His soft cheek was squashed into a curve, and the slightly red tongue exposed as he sucked in a breath glistened. The clean scent on Li Shu's body nearly destroyed the reason Pei Song'an had just managed to rebuild.

"Where did you hit yourself? Let me see."

Pei Song'an's breathing was a little uneven, but Li Shu wasn't paying attention to him, so he didn't notice.

As he spoke, Pei Song'an lifted Li Shu onto the desk with one arm, then bent down to check whether he'd broken the skin.

What he was doing made Li Shu shiver.

His test paper lay nearby on the desk, and now his entire body had been set on it too. Pei Song'an was even about to lift his leg up... The strange feeling made Li Shu retreat involuntarily.

With both legs curled up in front of him, Li Shu tried to take up as little space as possible.

"Don't, don't. If you touch my foot right now, I'm seriously going to drop dead on the spot."

Haha, if he could go back ten minutes right now, he would choose to accept being stabbed in the back by vocabulary without hesitation.

Even after he'd put it that plainly, something seemed to have unlocked in Pei Song'an. He didn't seem to want to miss a single expression on Li Shu's face at that moment.

After confirming that the spot he'd hit was only a little red, Pei Song'an shamelessly leaned closer, gripping the back of Li Shu's neck to force his head up. He examined the red mark on Li Shu's Adam's apple at extremely close range; only he himself knew the lewd desire reflected in his otherwise placid eyes.

"If... if you kiss me again, I'll die too."

Li Shu's voice was shaky and very soft. His lips trembled, and even his beautiful collarbones rose and fell with his breathing.

Pei Song'an savored the ripples spreading endlessly through Li Shu's eyes. Echoing in his ears was the sound of the chains on his shackles loosening and striking the ground.

"Mm. I won't."

The clouds were obscured, only to be scattered by a gust of wind.

His thumb rubbed the soft flesh at the back of Li Shu's neck with measured pressure, the bold gesture making Li Shu's heart race. "Your pants are in the bathroom. Go change."

Li Shu froze. "When did you put them there?"

Pei Song'an said, "Before you came into the study."

!!!

So Pei Song'an had planned to have him change his pants in the bathroom from the very beginning!

Not only had this man lied to him, he'd scared him too!

He was awful!

After Li Shu obediently changed, Pei Song'an handed him his phone. "Anything else you want to say to me?"

Li Shu thought for a second. "Keep an eye on Shen Muwen lately. He..."

Once they got onto serious matters, Li Xiaoshu perked up again. Since he couldn't reveal the system to Pei Song'an, he could only tactfully warn the man that he would encounter danger. But he failed to rein himself in and ended up chattering away at length.

Pei Song'an sighed imperceptibly, his expression indifferent.

Well, not a single word had been what he wanted to hear.

Night fell.

It was early spring, and the wind was strong. The tender new buds on the branches were forced to sway constantly in the chilly wind, and occasional sharp gusts could be heard outside the windows.

Pei Song'an sat in a chair beside the floor-to-ceiling window, the computer before him glowing cold white. On the screen was a record of everything Li Shu had experienced from childhood to adulthood; the next document contained Shen Muwen's recent schedule and movements.

Looking at the face on the screen that was no different from Li Shu's, his heartbeat, which had settled, showed signs of becoming erratic again.

It wasn't completely identical.

The Li Shu in real life always looked at people with a smile brimming in his eyes, the light in those almond-shaped eyes even more dazzling in the sun. But the Li Shu in the photograph on the screen had a straight, unsmiling mouth. Though he looked gentle and harmless, there was still a faint hint of an indescribable obsession.

For some reason, it reminded Pei Song'an of Li Shu sitting on his desk that morning.

His naturally cool, pale skin would flush when teased too much. Both his hands had pressed against Pei Song'an's chest, their scents mingling, intimately close.

He hadn't lied.

He liked Li Shu.

There were many reasons those feelings had developed. In broader terms, it was support and trust, but on a smaller scale, it was really just a matter of a single look.

Pei Song'an took off the nonprescription glasses resting on his nose, then closed his laptop as well. He tipped his head back slightly. Instead of his usual calm, unruffled expression, there was a trace of discomposure in his features.

He now had many things to his name: this home, shares in the company, and the academic achievements he'd earned to apply to prestigious universities. All of them were firmly within Pei Song'an's grasp.

But this Li Shu gave him a sense of losing control.

He wanted to have this Li Shu, not in a physical sense, but every inch of skin from head to toe, every breath, every frown and smile, even a single upward glance.

He had given Li Shu a chance.

Now, his affection had soothed the restlessness inside him but magnified his unease. It had long since ceased to be up to Li Shu.

The man's well-defined hand rested on the desk, his fingertips pressing against Li Shu's CET-4 paper, his nails slowly turning pale.

As though he'd made some sort of decision.

Zhu Sichun's car had recently been in a collision and was in for repairs, so he'd come to get car keys from Pei Song'an. The moment he entered, he saw him sitting motionless beside the floor-to-ceiling window like a Buddha and found it strange. "Waiting here just for me?"

Pei Song'an turned his head. "You have a very unusual way of looking at things."

Zhu Sichun didn't rush off after coming in. He circled around Pei Song'an, spotted the long string of red crosses in the cloze section of the paper on the desk, and raised an eyebrow. "Whose is this?"

Pei Song'an didn't hide it. "Li Shu's."

Zhu Sichun had a very good impression of Li Shu and laughed a few times at the name. "He really hit a snag at every step in this cloze exercise. You're tutoring him? Crown Prince, are your intentions honorable?"

When Pei Song'an said nothing, Zhu Sichun's teasing expression suddenly turned utterly serious, even a little incredulous:

"Seriously?"

"You like Li Shu? When did that happen?"

"I'm not trying to discourage you as your friend. Sure, you're awesome, but with Li Xiaoshu's looks, there's definitely no shortage of people pursuing him. Just the day before yesterday, I saw a third-year guy corner him outside a classroom to ask for his contact details."

Zhu Sichun grew animated at the subject.

"Hahaha, you have no idea how awkward Li Xiaoshu looked..."

Before he could finish, he was interrupted.

Pei Song'an tossed him the car keys and closed his eyes, sounding irritated. "If you've got nothing to say, leave."