Chapter 34#
Who strips my clothes off the moment they arrive like you do?#
At the end of the road sat a conspicuous red sports car.
From the flamboyant car stepped an even more ostentatious man.
Qin Mu had searched for a long time before finally finding the place where Jian Yunchen was currently living.
This entire area was part of the old district. Reaching Jian Yunchen’s residence required walking up a set of narrow, dim stairs. The hallways were cluttered with shoe racks and various miscellaneous items illegally placed there by tenants. The wall plaster had taken on different colors over time, leaving only faint traces of its original white color.
It wasn’t until Qin Mu reached the third floor that the motion-sensor lights on the second floor flickered to life.
He raised his hand and knocked on the door.
A thin sliver of light leaked from under the door of unit 302, reflecting a shadow that quietly approached the back of the door.
The shadow seemed to look through the peephole, then suddenly stopped moving.
Trying to pretend no one was home.
Qin Mu let out a soft chuckle as the sensor light on the third floor abruptly turned on.
“Jian Yunchen, open the door. I saw you.”
He raised his hand and covered the peephole.
After a long moment, the sound of a lock turning came from behind the door.
The moment Qin Mu pushed the door open and entered, he reached back and shut the door. The sensor light went out, and the hallway became as quiet as if no one had ever been there.
Jian Yunchen had been waiting for Qin Mu for a while. He knew that Qin Mu had come to “call him to account.”
His mouth was covered, his body restrained and pressed against the wall. There wasn’t much furniture in the room; only a small white lamp was lit in the living room, emitting a faint, eerie glow.
The scorching breath from behind him brushed against the back of his ear, carrying an undeniable sense of oppression. His body and arms were easily pinned down by one of Qin Mu’s hands. This time, the strength behind the grip didn’t feel like he was playing around.
With his mouth covered, Jian Yunchen tilted his head back slightly and struggled weakly. His back was pressed tightly against the wall, leaving him no room to break free.
“Shh,” Qin Mu whispered softly against his ear. He looked down at the upward-tilted Jian Yunchen and asked with a hint of a smile in his voice, “Boyfriend?”
Jian Yunchen’s movements paused, and he went completely still.
His eyelashes trembled slightly. Slowly, he noticed the strength in the hand holding him loosen a bit. He did his best to look up at Qin Mu behind him, his long lashes fluttering as he gazed at him with watery eyes.
“Hmph,” Qin Mu snorted softly. “Acting pitiful won’t work. Now you can tell me exactly what’s going on. Boyfriend, when did you get involved with Qin Zheng behind my back?”
The hand covering his mouth slowly relaxed, moving instead to pinch his chin and lift his face. The hand that had been restraining his movements also slid down slowly to grip Jian Yunchen’s waist.
Jian Yunchen’s waist was very slender. Following the curve of the waist, the hand stopped at the narrowest point, where it fit perfectly in a single grasp. The moment he was touched, the person beneath him shuddered. Before Jian Yunchen could dodge forward, he was pulled back by Qin Mu.
“It hurts…”
A weak voice spoke, mixed with a slight tremble.
Qin Mu’s hand paused. He loosened his grip slightly but still refused to let go. “Why so delicate? I barely used any force.”
Qin Mu noticed the watery redness at the corners of Jian Yunchen’s eyes and realized that the “it hurts” might have been genuine.
Curiously, he pulled back the hem of Jian Yunchen’s shirt, revealing a patch of glowing white skin. What met his eyes was a newly added tattoo on the left side of the lower back, still red and swollen.
An ink-black snake body wound upwards along the curve of the waist. Pale blue-green flower vines intertwined with the snake’s body as they bloomed, the edges of the petals tinged with a very faint pink. They swayed gently in the hollow of the small of his back. The curls of the flower vines landed right on the protrusion of the hip bone, the soft lines neutralizing the snake’s sharpness, becoming a hidden landscape on his lower back.
The old scars were covered by the tattoo. They no longer looked as terrifying as they did when he first saw them; instead, they gained a hint of ambiguous, breathtaking beauty.
After maintaining the posture for a while, Jian Yunchen couldn’t take it anymore. He couldn’t help but turn to dodge, the hem of his shirt sliding down and hiding the view. He turned around to face Qin Mu, his tone losing its original pitiful quality and becoming aggressive: “Have you seen enough?”
Qin Mu braced himself against the wall behind Jian Yunchen, trapping him within his arms. He maintained his usual casual air, yet there was a hint of an impending storm in his posture. “Not enough. When did you get this tattoo? Hmm? If I’m not allowed to look, then who is?”
Jian Yunchen had never seen anyone as unreasonable as Qin Mu.
“Who strips my clothes off the moment they arrive like you do?”
Qin Mu gave a long “Oh,” and his aggressive aura suddenly relaxed. “So, it’s for me to see then?”
“……”
Jian Yunchen glared at him and didn’t speak.
It truly was for him to see.
“I just… want you to distinguish clearly that I am not Jiang Yunhan.”
“And I’m certainly not some fragile ’little flower’.”
Qin Mu smiled and was just about to say something more.
Immediately after, a heavy thud of someone slamming against the door echoed through the room.
They were standing right behind the door, and the noise quickly caught their attention. The person outside was banging violently, and their feet didn’t stop either, kicking the door until it shook faintly.
Mumbled drunken slurring mixed with various foul insults quickly rang out, instantly triggering the sensor lights on several floors.
“Jian Yunchen! You little bastard! I know you’re home, open the door right now! Do you think you can hide for a lifetime? You animal, open the door!!”
The color quickly drained from Jian Yunchen’s face. His jaw tightened, and his body went rigid. He first looked up at Qin Mu, and then, as if snapping out of a certain state, he suddenly turned and disappeared around a corner. Very quickly, he returned holding a knife.
His aura was ruthless, his eyes cold and gloomy, as if he shared a blood feud with the person outside.
Qin Mu didn’t have time to stop him, nor did he particularly want to.
He watched as Jian Yunchen threw the door open.
Standing behind him, Qin Mu looked over Jian Yunchen’s shoulder at the man who had been shouting.
He was slightly pudgy, wearing a tank top so dirty its original color was indiscernible. His hair was a mess, and his face was flushed with intoxication. He held a bottle of white liquor in his hand. As soon as the door opened, a powerful stench of alcohol wafted in.
Qin Mu frowned slightly.
Jian Yunchen held a fruit knife in his hand. The cold steel reflected the night light, but Jian Yunchen’s expression was even colder than the blade.
“Jian Jinbao, I told you never to show your face in front of me again!”
The man’s face was beet-red from the alcohol. He suddenly smashed the liquor bottle against the stair railing. Shards of glass exploded along with the transparent liquid. Jian Jinbao’s voice was booming, making it sound as if he was the one being wronged.
“Playing tough, are you? Let me tell you, no one plays tougher than me!”
“I am your biological uncle! You animal, you hid your mother away, and now you dare point a knife at me? Fine, if you have the guts, then kill me. Otherwise, Jian Yunchen, I’ll haunt you for the rest of your life!”
Jian Jinbao’s voice instantly attracted several busybodies who quietly cracked their doors open or peered through the gaps in the stairwell.
Jian Yunchen gritted his teeth so hard they nearly snapped. He gripped the knife with white-knuckled intensity, his entire body trembling uncontrollably with rage. For a moment, he really wanted to just stop caring about everything and drive the blade home.
Just before the dark consciousness could swallow him whole, Qin Mu, who had been standing steadily behind him, suddenly took a step forward. He pulled Jian Yunchen into his embrace, and the knife was gently taken from his hand. Jian Yunchen didn’t even have time to react; his hand remained in its original position, suspended in mid-air and shaking slightly.
A warm palm traced down his spine with gentle strokes. Jian Yunchen buried his face in Qin Mu’s shoulder, until only one scent remained in his nose.