TYRPSM Chapter29

In early March, temperatures in Hokkaido were still hovering around freezing. The wildly popular Snow Festival had just ended, and getting a room in a decent hotel was still a challenge. Fortunately, the hosts were well connected and succeeded in booking a boutique hot spring hotel with a strong Japanese aesthetic for the senior figures from Bank F Greater China. Naturally, Nie Yunshen and Du Cheng were assigned to the same room, leading Nie Yunshen to wonder over the next several days how he hadn’t beaten Du Cheng to death yet!

Based on his knowledge of Du Cheng, the man was definitely not the clingy type. However, it was unclear if he had mutated since evolving from a “single dog” into a person; from morning till night, he was glued to his phone, acting mushy with the “goddess” he had just successfully pursued. He reported every single thing he ate, drank, or did. Checking his social media feed was even more painful for the eyes. Director Du, who was a man over thirty, had actually written his and his goddess’s names in the snow of the hotel courtyard, framed them with a heart, and captioned it: “No matter where I go, I only want to be with you.”

Looking further back was even more unbearable. He posted his location at every single stop, terrified his goddess might miss a single day of his life.

Nie Yunshen gave a cold sneer and replied under that post, “Please just sleep in the courtyard tonight.”

Anyway, Du Cheng’s girlfriend wasn’t on his WeChat friend list, so it didn’t matter what he replied. After posting that, he tossed his phone aside before changing into a yukata and heading out to the hot springs.

The main activities for this trip were skiing and soaking in the springs. Nie Yunshen felt that perhaps he was getting older as he felt lazy and disinterested in high-intensity sports; instead, he spent several days whiling away the time in the hotel’s outdoor snow-view hot springs. With the itinerary half over, he planned to head to Tokyo early tomorrow.

Nie Yunshen walked along as his wooden clogs made a clack-clack sound. The outdoor air was incredibly crisp and clean, with pine forests and snowy slopes visible in the distance, while the hotel resort remained constant; warm, and dry, utterly comfortable. This hotel offered excellent privacy, perfectly embodying the Japanese aesthetics of Wabi-sabi, the beauty of “emptiness” and “solitude.” Along the way, he encountered only one female attendant, who bowed gracefully and greeted him. Other than that, there was only the scattered sound of his own footsteps.

For some reason, Nie Yunshen felt a twinge of regret; he should have brought his phone out. Even just giving Shu An a call would have been nice.

They had been in contact very little over the past few days. Shu An was indeed busy but he would send a voice message saying goodnight every day before bed and a kissing icon in the morning. Seeing the timestamps of those messages made one reluctant to disturb him further. Nie Yunshen sighed, thinking to himself that being a “Big Boss” was no easy task.

He stopped to look in the direction of Tokyo. After only a few seconds of thought, he suddenly made up his mind: why wait until tomorrow? He is leaving right now.

The clatter of his wooden clogs against the corridor grew more urgent as Nie Yunshen turned around and strode back toward his room. At the corner at the end of the long corridor, Nie Yunshen turned too quickly and collided head-on with someone.

Before he could even see who it was, the subtle scent of cypress and fig instantly flooded his nose. He didn’t even have time for a reflex “Sorry”; instead, a name slipped out: “Shu An?”

The person reached out and pulled him into an embrace before pressing a hot, forceful kiss against his lips.

Nie Yunshen barely had time to draw in a breath of that all-too-familiar scent before an overbearing, domineering tongue forced its way into his mouth. He had zero time to wonder how Shu An had dropped out of the sky or how he had suddenly manifested into physical form at the exact moment his longing was overflowing. Regardless, the body held within his arms was real and tangible. After only a moment of shock, he raised a hand and firmly gripped the back of Shu An’s head, reclaiming the lead and biting back.

The yukata he wore was secured only by a single belt at the waist; since he had been heading to the hot springs, it was extremely breezy underneath. Meanwhile, Shu An’s long overcoat still held the biting chill of the sub-zero outdoor temperatures. As Nie Yunshen’s bare skin brushed against the icy wool, he couldn’t help but shiver violently yet the mingled breath of their deep kiss and the overwhelming ecstasy of a longing fulfilled came crashing over him like a tidal wave.

Nie Yunshen had no idea how he ended up being dragged by Shu An into a Japanese-style room, where the supple tatami mats broke the fall of the two men as they tumbled down. With a dull thump, his head struck something, only to be steadied by Shu An’s palm cushioning the impact.

He finally caught a gap to gasp out a question, “Where—where the hell did you pop up from?!”