Chapter 5#
A Night of Warmth#
The two leaned together for a while, their thoughts inexplicably soft and melancholic. Both held back words in their hearts, wanting to say something to each other, when phone calls started coming in one after another.
Chu Xun had a separate mobile phone for contacting friends, kept on all year round, just to make it easy for acquaintances to find him.
Everyone being able to find him was also a kind of cover; if one day he inexplicably disappeared and his friends couldn’t find him, that would be suspicious.
Usually, those calling Young Master Chu were either his few childhood buddies or fair-weather friends from business circles. None of them did anything serious. Huo Chuanwu watched coldly and turned his face away.
“Little Tang?”
“What… miss me…”
“Don’t call me darling, it’s cheesy. If you have something to say, say it… Begging me? If you’re begging me, say so earlier.”
“Get lost, don’t give me that, slobbering all over my face across the Pacific…”
Chu Xun bantered with that Young Master Tang on the phone. When Chu Xun spoke, he was cold and expressionless. Every sentence he said seemed unthinking, without using his brain, as if his tongue was just rewinding and playing a recording. The goods in his stomach were all ready-made. Occasionally, he would throw in a couple of ambiguous remarks. Because of his physical weakness, his voice was somewhat husky, making it sound even more deep and alluring.
Whenever this happened, Huo Chuanwu felt like he had nowhere to stay, nowhere to hide, yet he fucking had to watch this person.
That tiny bit of soft, romantic thought from just now vanished into thin air, replaced by irritability and discomfort.
He wandered around the living room, stood there, waiting for Chu Xun to hang up, counting in his heart how long it would take for this guy surnamed Tang, who came to flirt with Chu Xun for no reason, to get off the phone?!
Chu Xun was also tired. He perfunctorily said a few words, appeased Little Tang, and hung up.
Chuanwu quickly strode over to take the phone away, but the damn phone rang again immediately. He looked, Shao Jun.
Huo Chuanwu hesitated for a second: “Shao Jun, are you taking it?”
Chu Xun heard and reached out: “Give it to me.”
Huo Chuanwu: “Aren’t you tired? Can you rest?”
Chu Xun: “Give it to me.”
Huo Chuanwu held the phone, not letting go, waiting until after six rings when Shao Jun hung up. Chu Xun pouted and reached out to grab the phone. Chuanwu almost crushed the screen with one finger. Shao Jun persevered and called again.
Chuanwu handed the phone back, left, and ducked into the bathroom to smoke silently…
He finished a cigarette and came out, but Shao the Third’s call still hadn’t ended, endlessly clingy.
Shao Jun was also a clingy one, never growing up, and even clingier to Chu Xun than the one surnamed Tang. The two were childhood friends, grew up in the same military compound, like conjoined twins, closer than real brothers. For a long time, Shao Jun had a bad relationship with his family. usually working in the prison, and after work, he would go into the city but not return to his own home, running specifically to where Chu Xun lived. The two wished they could cohabit. This person also had the key to Chu Xun’s apartment, rightfully treating Little Second Chu’s home as his own, coming and going at will, never standing on ceremony.
Huo Chuanwu crossed the living room silently and stood outside the bedroom door frame, listening to the two talking on the phone.
“Xun, I’m at your place, when are you coming back?”
“Well, okay, it’s nothing, just in a bad mood, waiting for you to come back.”
“Three in the morning? Oh, I forgot about the time difference, sorry. I’m at your place watching the discs you bought.”
Shao Jun’s tone was relaxed; he really didn’t take it seriously.
Huo Chuanwu held an unlit cigarette in his mouth, teeth clenched tight, unhappy in his heart, actually truly distressed.
He really wanted to go over and hang up the phone directly.
Calling at three in the morning, also a heartless one, eating and drinking recklessly, not knowing how to care for people. Does Chu Xun have three heads and six arms to deal with these people all day?
What kind of person is Chu Xun, what state is Chu Xun in now, does Shao Jun know the truth?
Could these people know?
Shao Jun knew nothing, completely kept in the dark.
Chu Xun lay on his back on the bed, voice low, barely chatting with Shao Jun on the phone. In fact, he couldn’t even lift his arm, couldn’t hold the phone, covered in cold sweat, sweat dripping from his eyelids and eyelashes. He just placed the phone by the pillow, twisting his neck as much as possible to speak into the phone so Shao Jun could hear his voice.
Shao Jun asked: “Xun, are you tired? Your voice sounds very small. Otherwise, forget it, you sleep.”
Chu Xun laughed: “Keeping you company, not tired.”
Shao Jun: “Hmph, did you miss me?”
Chu Xun: “Missed you terribly. Little Jun, I’m unrequitedly in love, you didn’t miss me, right?”
The two started bantering blindly again, squeezing each other. Shao Jun said: “If I don’t miss you, who do I miss? Do you know?”
Chu Xun: “I fucking want to know too. If you don’t miss me, who are you thinking about all day? Do I know?”
Shao Jun was feeling guilty at the moment, hiding something he couldn’t say, yet stubborn as a dead duck: “Don’t bullshit me, I didn’t miss anyone! …You know who I missed?”
Chu Xun chuckled wickedly, implying something: “I really want to know who else you can think about. Is there anyone more handsome than me? Don’t even think about men or women who aren’t as good-looking as me. Those shady characters outside, I haven’t agreed yet.”
…
Chuanwu heard the sentence “Don’t even think about anyone more handsome than me or not as good-looking as me”, finally couldn’t bear it anymore, couldn’t bear it any longer. He rolled the cigarette into his mouth in one bite, chewing indignantly, and strode away.
He didn’t know that Second Master Chu, lying crookedly on the bed, swept his sharp gaze across the door at this time. His sight had long penetrated the wall, glancing at his stiff, straight back from afar. While Chu Xun was bantering with Shao Jun, his mind was on a completely different track, his gaze curving around the door frame, pondering the person eavesdropping behind the door…
Chuanwu squatted on the toilet lid, smoked two cigarettes in a row, and rubbed his face hard with his palms.
The oppressive darkness peeled off and precipitated his mood, naked and undisguised. The transverse scar on his right face became deeper and stung.
Estimating that the two had been cloying enough, when Chuanwu walked out again, Chu Xun was lying on his side on the bed, quiet and unconscious, having already fallen asleep.
Chu Xun lay across the bed, the sweat on his chest almost gone. A long leg extended from the bathrobe, quite white all over.
Chuanwu wrapped this person up tightly again, tucking the exposed thigh back in. He placed one hand on Chu Xun’s forehead, slowly sliding down to cover the slightly trembling Adam’s apple, feeling the pulse in Chu Xun’s neck. Chu Xun still looked uncomfortable, breath not smooth, brows furrowed.
“…”
“Little Xun.”
Huo Chuanwu called out hoarsely, touching Chu Xun’s eyebrows, nose tip, and lips with his calloused fingers. The most delicate thoughts that couldn’t be shown to others bloomed uncontrollably in the darkness, filling his eyes and brows.
He carefully examined the tiny scar on Chu Xun’s brow, imagining that there used to be a very beautiful small red mole there, very pretty.
Chu Xun was different from before.
The person in front of him had changed too much, almost no trace of the past could be seen; even this face had been operated on too many times. Here, there, there, all different, far less good-looking than that little appearance back then. Chuanwu thought for a long time, increasingly feeling that Little Xun was best when he was a child, the cutest, good-tempered, and the prettiest.
He was even worried that if this person’s face continued to be tossed about like this, who knows which day it would collapse and be completely ruined.
Chuanwu pulled the quilt. Chu Xun turned over, body curled sideways, sticking his butt out, sleeping like a graceful shrimp.
The bathrobe was very thin, revealing the very perky and round shape of his buttocks.
Huo Chuanwu watched silently, couldn’t help reaching out, and slapped Chu Xun’s butt, smack, right on the soft buttock! All the flavors of these years were in this one slap, yet he couldn’t bear to hit too hard. After hitting, he quickly wrapped him in the big quilt, tucking in the four corners.
Chu Xun was dizzy and confused at this moment, unconscious and groggy. He wouldn’t touch him or bully him.
If he wanted to touch this person, he would wait for the day when Chu Xun was completely awake, looking at him, two people face to face, eye to eye, looking clearly…
That night, Chuanwu took another pillow from the bed, wrapped himself in a blanket, and slept fully clothed on the floor by the bed.
Whenever the two went on a mission, they slept like this. Chuanwu never left the bedroom, never slept on the living room sofa, fearing accidents and not being able to make it from the living room to the bedroom in time. Every time, he slept on the floor at the head of Chu Xun’s bed, his long gun by his hand, maintaining a distance of two meters between them. In Chuanwu’s heart, this was the distance of life and death, the distance where they could live together or die together, back to back or holding each other.
In the pitch-black quiet room, only the faint sound of rising and falling breathing remained.
Highly tense for these days, Chuanwu was also tired and finally fell asleep.
On the bed behind him, Chu Xun slowly opened his eyes, expressionless, tracing Chuanwu’s standard sleeping posture lying on his side with a quiet gaze.
Chu Xun reached back, lifted his pajamas to rub his buttocks, turned his head unwillingly to check for a red handprint, pouted and snorted.
Your Second Master’s health is indeed not very good nowadays, occasionally fainting and unable to move, but not to the point of completely losing consciousness and letting people ravage him, not to the point of having his butt touched in bed without knowing!
Chu Xun scooted to the edge of the bed, getting as close as possible, watching someone sleep with great interest, eyes burning bright in the darkness.
Chuanwu only covered himself with an extremely thin blanket, looking thinner than camouflage pants. The back of his head had short, hard black hair, shoulders broad, waist and thighs solid. Even in a static state, his body contained a certain power, a masculine scent.
Chuanwu was also different from before.
Who was that rustic silly boy back then? Second Master still remembers…
Under the parasol tree at the base of the compound wall, Chu Xun carried a schoolbag, hair slightly curled, eyes bright, quietly hooking a finger at someone.
“Er Wu, come here.”
Chuanwu saw it from a distance, subconsciously looked around, saw no one else, and hurriedly ran over, throwing the military bag on his shoulder to his back, face red and sweating.
“Little Xun.”
Chu Xun handed Chuanwu a box of chocolates. Chuanwu saved a few old envelopes with beautiful stamps for Chu Xun. Chu Xun put his arm around Chuanwu’s shoulder, whispering, coming up with bad ideas. The two lowered their heads, laughing and running away together, leaving two long, overlapping shadows behind them.
…
Chu Xun buried half his face in the pillow, smiling as he thought, laughing uncontrollably alone in the dark, chest trembling, trying not to laugh out loud.
He thought of many things from the past, one by one, savoring them in his heart, a sour taste spreading on the tip of his tongue. Slowly, tears flowed down.
Fifteen years, too late. Some things, feelings faded, could never go back.
He had become like this now, and his health was getting worse.
Don’t blame me for being cold-hearted.
Chu Xun cried and laughed for a while, face covered with messy tear stains, pillow slowly getting wet. He covered his face with the quilt and carefully wiped away the tears. If he woke up tomorrow with two puffy fish eyes, he would make a fool of himself in front of his subordinates.
Although there was a carpet on the floor, it was still hard, and Chuanwu didn’t sleep comfortably.
The blanket was also thin, and the indoor air conditioning wasn’t warm enough. Chu Xun felt that Chuanwu might be cold; his shoulders trembled slightly in his sleep, and his body slowly curled up.
Chu Xun subconsciously reached out, reaching down, covering the other person with both hands.
His hands emitted heat in the darkness, faint warmth and light, warming the other’s body, watching this person’s tough curled body slowly unfold, sleeping soundly and comfortably…
Comrade Little Huo probably felt warm in his sleep, dreaming of happy things, stretching his body, the blanket slipping down a bit from his shoulder.
Chu Xun muttered silently: I’m warming you, don’t kick the quilt. You really treat Second Master as a living “electric heater”. Does my generator have that much power?
Complaining in his heart, he moved closer, helped wrap the blanket around this person, arms caging the person from a distance, generating heat.
Chuanwu slept on his side holding the gun.
Chu Xun slept on his side holding Chuanwu from behind, a night of warmth.
…