Chapter 73#
“I’ll let you win.”#
He didn’t like to see people cry.
Qin Zhao used to cry a lot when she was little, a pretty decent looking girl, but when she cried, she paid no attention to her image, snot and tears mixed together, throwing tantrums and rolling around. Such tearful behavior only caused a deep irritation in Qin Mu’s heart.
But now, Qin Mu only wanted to sigh.
He extended a fingertip and gently wiped the corner of Jian Yunchen’s eye.
“No more crying, okay?”
Qin Mu asked softly.
He also didn’t want to see Jian Yunchen’s tears.
But Jian Yunchen’s tears were somewhat different from Qin Zhao’s.
They made his heart soften.
Qin Mu cupped his face, lowering his head slightly.
His lips landed on Jian Yunchen’s thin eyelids; Jian Yunchen was startled by Qin Mu’s movement, a thin layer of tears hovering on his beautiful eyes, threatening to fall.
He slowed his breathing, but his heartbeat grew louder and louder.
Jian Yunchen quickly pulled away from his embrace, turning his head as if to feign composure. He twisted his body not to look at him, yet his heart remained firmly tethered to Qin Mu.
“Who cried?”
Qin Mu sat down beside Jian Yunchen, embracing him from behind, resting his chin gently on his shoulder.
Qin Mu chuckled and replied, “I cried.”
“I’m a little cat who loves to cry.”
Jian Yunchen’s ear tips flushed hot from the teasing; he struggled a few times for show, but as Qin Mu’s arms tightened around him, he stopped moving.
Maintaining his embrace, Qin Mu gently squeezed Jian Yunchen’s fingertips and softly asked, “You saw her, is she doing well?”
Jian Yunchen fell silent, slowly shrinking back into Qin Mu’s arms.
In Qin Mu’s embrace, he gently shook his head.
“No. Not well at all.”
Qin Mu frowned, “Isn’t this what you wanted?”
Jian Yunchen looked up at the chandelier on the ceiling, as if recalling something.
After a long while, he slowly began:
“I originally thought this would be what I wanted.”
“As soon as Jian Xin had an episode, she couldn’t care about anything. We couldn’t save money, couldn’t afford food. At that time, I really thought every day that it would be great if I could escape from here one day, preferably find a place where no one knew me, get a stable job, and live my life like that.”
Jian Yunchen gave a self-deprecating laugh: “So when I found out about Jiang Sheng, I chose him with almost no hesitation.”
“Because of my appearance, Jiang Sheng discovered that Jian Xin had been deceiving him for so many years. With his personality, he would never let things go like that.”
He stopped completely at this point.
In his mind, the image of Jian Xin, tormented beyond human recognition, appeared.
Qin Mu’s voice sounded in his ear: “So you’ve gone soft? Do you regret it?”
Because of that sentence, Jian Yunchen’s nose suddenly stung, and tears almost rolled down.
He felt utterly useless.
He bit his lower lip hard, his back stiff, refusing to speak.
As if not answering was a denial.
Qin Mu sighed softly, reached out and covered Jian Yunchen’s eyes, holding him tightly in his embrace.
Jian Yunchen’s vision plunged into darkness, which inexplicably brought him a sense of peace. Without resistance, he leaned into Qin Mu’s embrace, following his movements.
In the complete darkness, Qin Mu’s arms enveloped him, and Qin Mu’s voice echoed in his ear:
“Do you feel that your current soft-heartedness is letting down your past injured self?”
Jian Yunchen bit his lower lip tightly, unwilling to answer.
“Jian Yunchen, you’re bullying yourself again.”
Jian Yunchen’s chaotic thoughts went blank for a moment because of that sentence.
Qin Mu’s dry palm tightly covered Jian Yunchen’s eyes.
He whispered:
“Do you remember what I promised you?”
“I’ll let you win.”
“So, do whatever you want to do.”
“It’s okay to be soft-hearted, it’s okay to make mistakes.”
“I’ll help you.”
Jian Yunchen held his hand, pressing it down hard, squeezing his eyeballs, yet tears still uncontrollably welled up.
The dampness of the tears soaked Qin Mu’s entire palm.
Jian Yunchen lifted his head, tears rolling down his chin, and asked, almost choked, “Really, I can do anything?”
Qin Mu withdrew his hand.
As Jian Yunchen opened his eyes, he met Qin Mu’s gaze.
In the blink of an eye, another tear fell.
Qin Mu rubbed away the tear lingering at the corner of his eye, then lowered his head to kiss it away. A bitter taste spread across Qin Mu’s heart, causing ripples.
“You can do anything you want.”
Qin Mu’s expression was truly too gentle, and Jian Yunchen was suddenly enveloped by a wave of panic.
Jiang Yunhan’s warnings were vivid in his mind. He knew Qin Mu wasn’t as simple as he appeared, and he knew Qin Mu had hidden many things from him. He knew very little about Qin Mu, and couldn’t even discern how much Qin Mu truly liked him.
He couldn’t even be sure if this “liking” was for Jian Yunchen himself, or for Jian Yunchen who looked exactly like Jiang Yunhan.
There was too little he could be sure of.
Only one thing, he was absolutely certain of.
He couldn’t leave Qin Mu anymore.
So, it didn’t matter.
It didn’t matter even if he didn’t like him.
It didn’t matter even if the person he liked wasn’t him.
As long as he was the one by Qin Mu’s side, that was enough.
He tightly clutched Qin Mu’s clothes, unwilling to let go: “Qin Mu, you said before that you could grant my request, does that still count?”
Qin Mu paused, then nodded: “It counts.”
“Could you… not like Jiang Yunhan anymore?”
Qin Mu glanced at him; Jian Yunchen’s features were hidden in his embrace, not clearly visible.
“I don’t like him.” he replied.
Jian Yunchen’s fingertips clutched even tighter.
His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down nervously.
Amidst the clamor of his heartbeat, he asked a second question:
“Could you try to like me?”
“Those are two requests.”
Hearing Qin Mu’s reply, Jian Yunchen’s heart instantly chilled by half.
His previously lively heart instantly calmed down.
Embarrassed, he struggled, trying to get out of Qin Mu’s embrace.
But Qin Mu’s next sentence quickly soothed him.
“However, I promise you.”
He looked up at Qin Mu’s eyes.
“Are you serious?”
Qin Mu smiled, the mirth in his eyes so warm it slowly began to melt the tip of Jian Yunchen’s heart.
Qin Mu lowered his head, pressing his forehead against Jian Yunchen’s.
“I promise you, I will try to like you.”
Jian Yunchen’s eyes slowly lit up.
Qin Mu chuckled: “However, I can’t be the only one working at this.”
His tone was languid, light and slow, yet the invasiveness in his gaze was undisguised.
“Jian Yunchen, use every trick in the book to entice me, make my heart flutter for you, make me fall in love with you.”
“Then, I’ll be your prize.”
The bewilderment in Jian Yunchen’s eyes gradually turned into a burning flame, his eyes shining brightly as he stared fixedly at him.
Qin Mu looked at that gaze with immense satisfaction.
He encircled Jian Yunchen in his arms, gently biting his chin.
Constantly throwing out new bait.
“Let me willingly become your captive.”
“At that time, I will belong only to you.”
Jian Yunchen tilted his head slightly, the tingling numbness and slight pain from his chin alternately stimulating his brain nerves, making Qin Mu’s two sentences constantly echo back and forth.
Dizzily, he walked into Qin Mu’s trap.