Zhou Yang's entire face twisted.
Cold sweat seeped from his forehead, and his lips were as pale as paper.
"Chi Li..." His words came between broken gasps. "You fucking... hit... so hard... Trying to murder your own husband?"
"I thought I went too easy on you." Chi Li snorted and reached back to pull open the dorm room door. "I don't want to touch you. Crawl out yourself."
"Huh?" Gao Yuan's somewhat doubtful voice came from outside. "You... you already handled it yourself?"
"All done." The tail of Chi Li's brow lifted as he looked outside.
Gao Yuan wasn't the only one standing outside. Shen Xunye was there too.
He wore a set of dark gray pajamas, the collar slightly open to reveal a firm chest that looked like it would feel very nice to touch.
Dressed like this, he seemed a little less sharp-edged, like a good, domestic man.
...Mm, a male lead in an idol drama ought to look at least this good to do the audience justice. One little finger could instantly defeat the guy sprawled inside.
"I was worried something might happen to you, so I went to get Shen Xunye to help," Gao Yuan volunteered an explanation.
It wasn't that he didn't want to step in himself. With a build that Zhou Yang could casually fling aside, he really had no confidence that he could help. All he could do was hurry to find reinforcements.
"Shut the door!" Having recovered a little, Zhou Yang stared outside through gritted teeth. "You're just going to let me humiliate myself in front of outsiders?"
Outsiders?
Shen Xunye narrowed his eyes slightly, sizing Zhou Yang up without making it obvious.
"If you don't crawl out right now, I'll use a megaphone to call everyone else over too." Chi Li folded his arms and leaned against the doorframe, coldly delivering his final ultimatum.
"You-" Zhou Yang nearly passed out from anger.
How long was Chi Li going to keep playing hard to get? His patience had limits, okay?
...Forget it. He shouldn't have tried to kiss him while he was angry.
There was plenty of time ahead. He could slowly mend their relationship.
Having thought it through, Zhou Yang hurriedly took a deep breath, propped himself up on his arms, and barely managed to stand before staggering out.
Shen Xunye and Gao Yuan watched coldly. Neither wanted to lend a hand.
"Chi Li... I'll be waiting..." Zhou Yang found a wall to lean against and looked at Chi Li, panting. "Waiting for you to regret treating me like this."
"Could you please stop daydreaming?" Chi Li rolled his eyes dramatically, making no attempt to hide his contempt.
Zhou Yang: "..."
He took a few ragged breaths, glared at each of the three people present in turn, then stalked off.
"He looks so much like a dog." Shen Xunye watched him take a couple of steps forward and offered an objective assessment. "A dog that only knows how to rage helplessly."
Gao Yuan's jaw dropped at Shen Xunye's blunt choice of words.
And... at this distance, unless Zhou Yang was deaf, he could definitely hear him.
Chi Li drawled in response, "His owner wasn't keeping an eye on him."
Zhou Yang's back stiffened, and he quickened his pace as he left.
"All right." Chi Li stretched. "You two should go back and rest."
Gao Yuan waved at them first. "I'll head back, then. While I'm at it... I'll hold a meeting with myself."
He needed to make a precise plan for his future. He couldn't let Xie Weishui keep leading him around by the nose.
"Mm, go ahead." Chi Li raised a hand and waved it lazily twice before looking at the other person present. "I heard you switched off all the cameras as soon as you got to your room tonight?"
"I didn't switch them off." Shen Xunye mimed snapping something apart. "I dismantled them."
Chi Li was surprised. "Dismantled them?"
"I don't like having cameras in the room where I sleep," Shen Xunye said lazily. "Even if they're switched off while I'm sleeping."
Since he had dared to dismantle them, he must have discussed it with the production team beforehand.
Chi Li merely reminded him, "Then your personal channel will have a lot fewer paying viewers."
Viewers all had a desire to pry into people's private lives.
If you only appeared in communal areas without exposing the slightest bit of "privacy," then the so-called "God's-eye view" lost its meaning, and with it, their interest.
"Doesn't matter." Shen Xunye didn't care about the paltry sums paying viewers brought in. "It won't affect me selling the ship with you."
"All right... as long as it doesn't affect you selling the ship with me." A faint smile appeared on Chi Li's face. "Thanks for being willing to cooperate."
Shen Xunye gave Chi Li an appraising look, then suddenly reached out and planted a hand against the wall beside his ear.
Startled, Chi Li hurriedly backed away, his back coming lightly against the cool wall.
The distance between them instantly closed until they could feel each other's breath.
Shen Xunye looked down at him, a hint of playfulness in his eyes.
Chi Li blinked slowly, his tone calm. "What are you doing?"
The corners of Shen Xunye's lips curled upward. "Practicing selling the ship."
"I figured." Smiling, Chi Li quietly slipped his fingertips beneath the hem of Shen Xunye's pajama top. "I'll practice too."
His slightly cool palm slowly roamed along the firm contours of Shen Xunye's waist. He could clearly feel the muscles tightening beneath his hand.
Shen Xunye's breathing suddenly grew heavier, veins rising on the back of the hand braced against the wall.
"Feels nice." Chi Li tilted his head up and chuckled beside his ear, deliberately brushing his fingertips over his lower abdomen.
Shen Xunye asked sincerely, "Can this be aired?"
"Of course it can."
Chi Li had already watched every viral clip from every past season of Raising House. Scenes of waist-touching, back hugs, princess carries, and the like were everywhere.
Compared to those, touching someone's waist was child's play.
Since he had decided to sell a ship, he couldn't leave everything to the viewers' imaginations. They needed some outright sugar too.
"Then..." Shen Xunye looked thoughtful, then suddenly reached out, supporting Chi Li beneath his buttocks and thighs as he lifted him bodily into the air. "Can this be aired too?"
Chi Li instinctively wrapped his legs around Shen Xunye's waist, the movement making his pajamas fall open a little.
"As long as you don't move your hips around." Chi Li panted softly after being lifted so abruptly off the ground. "It should be fine to air too."
"Now that you've said that, not moving would really be a waste of this position." Shen Xunye abruptly bounced him upward in his arms.
Chi Li let out a quiet cry of surprise, his legs tightening around him.
"Shen Xunye!" he warned in a low voice. "Hurry up and put me down."
"I haven't actually moved." Supporting Chi Li beneath his upper thighs, Shen Xunye pinned him against the wall, tilted his head up toward that pale stretch of neck, and lightly grazed his Adam's apple with the tips of his teeth. "Then can this... be aired too?"
Chi Li tilted his head back to avoid Shen Xunye's touch, his fingers sinking into his tousled black hair.
"This can't be aired."
Shen Xunye sounded disappointed. "That's a bit of a shame."
His hands tightened slightly beneath Chi Li's upper thighs, leaving faint red marks on the delicate skin.
"Put me down." Tightening his grip slightly on Shen Xunye's hair, Chi Li repeated his demand without expression.
Shen Xunye could probably tell from his tone that if he didn't put him down now, he would probably receive the same treatment as Zhou Yang.
"Okay." He bent over, letting Chi Li land steadily on his feet. "We can take our time exploring this when we get another chance."