Chapter 48: Little Dragon
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
But Lin Su genuinely believed Shi Wenze was worth a fortune. If he could, he would’ve locked him up just to try a little captivity play—because those eight-pack abs were far too good to waste. Even if all he did was doodle dinosaurs on them—T. rex on the first one, oviraptor on the second, and so on—all the way to abs three through eight. And every dinosaur head had to tilt upward at a forty-five-degree angle. Now that was one brooding, wild Jurassic dream.
Shi Wenze stepped out of the bathroom and paused. “What are you staring at?”
Lin Su reluctantly tore his gaze from those abs, composed as always. “Nothing.”
Shi Wenze pinned him to the bed. “Wanna look?”
“No.” This kind of question never needed hesitation. If you hesitated, you were already tempted. But Shi Wenze had selective hearing when it came to rejection. He leaned down and kissed him anyway. The perks of their “daily relationship card” were increasing by the day—free benefits stacking up like it was Thirsty Thursday. Lin Su was finding it harder and harder to say no.
Shi Wenze nuzzled against his forehead, then nipped his earlobe. “What are you touching?” he murmured.
Lin Su flicked a finger. “Dinosaurs.” Prehistoric beast, indeed. Pretty feral, too.
The next afternoon, Xu You was outside with his suitcase, yawning and teary-eyed after waiting ages. Finally, Shi Wenze came down dragging two suitcases, with Lin Su slowly shuffling behind him, one hand braced against his lower back. The scene looked highly suspicious—but contrary to appearances, there was nothing indecent involved. His back just genuinely hurt. It was the kind of innocent pain you could broadcast on any public channel.
Shi Wenze helped him sit down. “Tomorrow I’ll take you to Què Mountain Hospital for an X-ray.”
Lin Su deeply suspected this man had beaten him in his sleep. How else did he wake up this sore? The model boyfriend tried to offer a back massage, but Lin Su hugged a pillow and scooted away, refusing outright. Meanwhile, Xu You lounged in the front passenger seat, slipping on his sunglasses to watch the whole scene reflected in the car window, thoroughly entertained. No wonder people love dating shows. This crap is genuinely happy-making.
First-class really showed its value during moments like this—at least the seats reclined flat. After takeoff, Lin Su pressed a massage cushion against his back, pulled on a beanie, a heated eye mask, and a face mask. Shi Wenze, always prepared, dug a thick cashmere blanket out of his backpack and bundled Lin Su up from head to toe, leaving only the tip of his nose exposed.
“Go to sleep,” he said.
Xu You whispered, “Wait… are the first-class blankets not free?”
Shi Wenze replied, “They are. But he only uses cashmere.”
Xu You: “…” And that, kids, is the difference between me and the Pea Prince.
By the time they landed, the skies over Chengdu had already darkened. Xu You declined Shi Wenze’s half-hearted dinner invitation, saying he was heading to the tattoo parlor and grabbing skewers from the night market instead.
Si Longqiu and Lin Lu were still out, so the villa was empty. Lin Su turned to Shi Wenze and asked, “Wanna eat at that Japanese place across from our high school?”
“Back’s not hurting anymore?” Shi Wenze teased, holding onto his arm. “Sure. I’ll have Xu You take our bags.”
Single Chiwen: now offering full-time moving services.
The streets were a little congested, and by the time they arrived, the high schoolers were just getting out. The little Japanese joint was doing good business. After a short wait, the two were seated in a corner booth.
Being near the school, the place wasn’t fancy—definitely not kaiseki. But the menu was clever, filled with sweet-savory sushi rolls perfect for young palates. Shi Wenze had come here the first time in high school—with Lin Su. Back then, they were just entering that fuzzy gray area between friends and something more. It was like soda in summer or cocoa in winter—one look, and it tasted like first love.
So this place got bonus points by association. The kind of place you’d write a heartfelt five-star review for on social media. Shi Wenze rested his chin on Lin Su’s shoulder. “I want wasabi octopus, beef udon, and two cheese-baked tiger prawns.”
“Sit down and order it yourself.” Lin Su pushed his head away. “Be careful, Old Wang might see.”
“Old Wang doesn’t eat sushi. He only eats spicy Zigong food.” Shi Wenze glanced toward the divider on the right. The lighting was dim, but the partition was hollowed out, letting them vaguely see the table next door. “Not Old Wang. Just two high schoolers in uniform.”
“And you’re still acting like this in front of kids?” Lin Su said. “You’re setting a bad example.”
“Kids these days mature early.” Still, Shi Wenze stood up with a sigh of adult responsibility. “The boss is taking forever. I’ll go grab a Coke. Want anything?”
“Mm.” Lin Su scrolled the menu. “Strawberry Ramune. If they don’t have it, pineapple.”
The drinks were downstairs. Shi Wenze dug around the cooler for a while and finally spotted a strawberry soda. Just as he reached for it, someone else snatched it first. Another high school boy—also in uniform. And pretty good-looking too. But good looks didn’t give you the right to steal a senior’s love soda.
“I saw it first,” Shi Wenze said mildly.
“I grabbed it first,” the boy replied, already walking upstairs.
Shi Wenze called after him, “How about I buy you a Coke instead?”
The kid didn’t even look back. Might’ve scoffed. Might’ve just ignored him. Definitely punchable.
Still, Shi Wenze figured he hadn’t been much better back in high school himself. He grabbed a pineapple soda instead and headed upstairs. “Some brat stole your strawberry Ramune.”
Lin Su barely looked up. “Oh.”
Next door, the conversation drifted through the divider.
Lin Jing raised his head. “You stole someone’s soda?”
Ji Xingling snapped, “What the hell, I didn’t!”
“If you didn’t, then you didn’t. Keep your voice down. The food’s not even here yet—keep reciting.”
“…A conditional probability satisfies the properties of a probability…”
A little later, rain began to fall outside, soft and steady against the windows. Chengdu was always rainy this time of year anyway. The noisy Japanese restaurant gradually quieted down. Lin Su called the waiter over to clear the dishes, then ordered a pot of rice wine and a small plate of edamame. He and Shi Wenze drank slowly.
In the private room next door, two high school students still hadn’t left. They had even asked the owner to change to a brighter lamp and were whispering as if they were studying.
“What does sample variance represent?”
“The degree to which all sample data deviate from the mean.”
“Ji Xingling, you’re incredible.”
“Shut up!”
Lin Su chuckled and asked, “And what can sample variance be used for? I taught you this before.”
Shi Wenze replied, “To prove just how useless I used to be.”
Lin Su leaned over the table, stifling a laugh. The rice wine didn’t make him drunk, but it did ease the ache in his joints. He reached across and took Shi Wenze’s hand. “It’s fine. I forgive you.”
They finished the pot of wine and waited until the rain stopped before hailing a cab back to Hefeng Alley.
On the phone, Si Longqiu expressed her disapproval that her son hadn’t even shown his face after returning from a business trip. Lin Su responded without mercy, “You and my sister were out shopping all afternoon, clearly too blissed out to miss me. How very family-oriented of you.”
Si Longqiu replied, “We were shopping to buy you clothes.”
“Did you?”
“We did.”
“What did you get?”
“…Thermal underwear.”
Apparently, to buy her son a pair of warm thermals, the mother had dragged her daughter around for four straight hours, from Hermès to Chanel. Truly, a depth of maternal love few could match.
Lin Su didn’t call her out. He simply said, “We’ll come over for dinner tomorrow night,” and hung up. Clearly, Xu You held a solid position in the family—Lin Su never left him out of a dinner.
Aunt Wang Cuifen walked past the tattoo parlor with her dog. She peeked through the door crack and was delighted to see the young man inside studying. A good student, she thought. Maybe if he enrolled in night school, he’d have better luck finding a girlfriend someday.
Upstairs in the bedroom, Lin Su was twisting around on the bed while Shi Wenze held him still to dry his hair.
“You’re coming with me to the hospital tomorrow,” Shi Wenze said.
“I’m already fine.” Lin Su raised one leg. “What’s wrong with me?”
“You’ll know after a doctor checks you out. Don’t move.”
“My heart feels kinda fast.” Lin Su got on his knees and tugged at his pajamas, blinking twice before taking a few deep breaths. “I think I’m drunk on oxygen.”
“Drunk on what?” Shi Wenze set the hairdryer down and pressed his ear to Lin Su’s chest. “Let me hear how fast.”
He was genuinely concerned about his partner’s health—pure and proper. But Lin Su was anything but that. He wrapped his arms around Shi Wenze’s head, fingers combing through the thick black hair, pulling gently until Shi Wenze tilted back slightly—then leaned in and bit him. Hard enough to almost draw blood. Shi Wenze frowned slightly.
They collapsed onto the bed together. Lin Su felt heat rising in his veins as he hovered above Shi Wenze, reaching for the bedside lamp before blindly grabbing onto him in the dark.
“Do you have one?” he whispered.
Shi Wenze pulled him close by the waist and held him against his chest, giving a gentle, reassuring pat. Then he reached into the nightstand and pulled one out, tearing open the package with his teeth.
Lin Su took it from him and moved lower to help. Shi Wenze lay back on the bed, one arm folded under his head, the other running through Lin Su’s damp hair—soft and slightly cool to the touch. After a moment, he looked down, puzzled. Lin Su happened to glance up at the same time, his movements clearly unpracticed. “Don’t move,” he murmured.
A golden-orange beam of light spilled through a gap in the curtains, casting a warm glow across the bed. Lin Su sat in the center of it. His collar was open, revealing a shimmer of silvery light on his skin, and there were two small bumps forming on his forehead.
Shi Wenze paused, stunned, then broke into a smile. His boyfriend was outrageously handsome—the kind of good-looking that could spark wars between kings if he so much as smiled.
Lin Su said goodbye to all rational thought, tossed the condom aside without a care, and threw himself into Shi Wenze’s arms. “Forget it. We don’t need it.”
Shi Wenze bit down on Lin Su’s dragon horn—small, newly sprouted, soft like a tender mushroom. Lin Su’s entire body jolted. He let out a low cry and jerked back in alarm. Reaching up to touch it, he froze, stunned. Shi Wenze wrapped his arms around him from behind, still laughing softly, and pressed a kiss to his shoulder and chest. “Looks like you’ll definitely need to go to the hospital tomorrow.”
Lin Su had mentally prepared for this sort of thing—kind of. But he had honestly believed he was just a normal human. Now, suddenly shifting species? He couldn’t find the words.
Shi Wenze didn’t interrupt his silence. He just held him gently, resting his chin on the crown of Lin Su’s head. They stayed like that—quiet, close—for almost an hour before Lin Su finally got up, turned on the light, pulled on a T-shirt, and went into the bathroom to check the mirror.
“You look cute,” Shi Wenze said. Lin Su thought, Your love filter must be industrial-strength. The newly grown horns weren’t very prominent. They looked somewhere between a mild goose egg and someone who’d gone overboard with filler—squishy, rounded, and incredibly sensitive.
Lin Su asked, “How do I make them go away?”
“They’ll be gone by morning.” Shi Wenze pulled him back toward the bed. “Do you want to tell your mom tonight?”
“You sure? She and my sister would rush over in a heartbeat.”
“Then let’s wait until morning,” Shi Wenze said, threading their fingers together. “I just want to be with you tonight.”
Lin Su leaned against the headboard. “You still want to go again?”
Shi Wenze gently nipped at his finger. “Tomorrow the doctors are going to ask very detailed questions about everything that happened after your transformation. And they’ll run a full exam.”
Lin Su immediately imagined his mother and sister sitting in the hospital room as he recounted the details of this intense night. A mortifying image popped into his head. STOP. STOP.
“…Forget it. Let’s just sleep.”
Even the slightest breeze seemed to stimulate the horns, so Lin Su buried his head firmly against Shi Wenze’s chest. He thought he’d be too wired to sleep, but maybe the solid feel of Shi Wenze’s chest muscles gave him a sense of safety—before long, he was out. Shi Wenze, on the other hand, stayed awake most of the night, quietly observing every little change in him. By the time dawn rolled around, Lin Su’s horns and scales had mostly faded, and his body temperature had returned to normal. Shi Wenze carefully tucked the blanket around him and got up to go downstairs.
In the courtyard, Xu You was reviewing notes. “I ordered three bowls of pea noodles.”
“Just two,” Shi Wenze said while brushing his teeth. “Lin Su’s not eating.”
Xu You smirked knowingly. “So he’s having roses from Provence for breakfast now?”
Shi Wenze rinsed and set down the cup. “He’s going to the hospital.”
Xu You blinked. “Didn’t his back already get better? Why’s he going again?”
Shi Wenze sighed and patted the kid’s shoulder. “He’s sick from worrying you’ll fail your exams.”
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