Yun Jiu widened his eyes as he looked at the firecrackers, his face full of excitement, as if he were the one who was going to set off the firecrackers in a moment.
Lin Ye found his expression very amusing, so he pulled Yun Jiu over and had him go light the firecrackers.
Yun Jiu was a little afraid and pushed the task away. “I, I don’t dare. I’m scared.”
Lin Ye deliberately wanted to tease him. He held Yun Jiu’s hand, and the two of them held one incense stick together and lit the firecrackers.
After that, Lin Ye pulled Yun Jiu and, like children, turned around and ran. Yun Jiu felt more excited than afraid. When Lin Ye pulled him away, a burst of crackling sounds came from behind them, along with the screams of the children around them. Yun Jiu suddenly seemed to be infected by them and also began to laugh heartily.
Lin Ye had originally been worried that Yun Jiu might be frightened, but when he turned his head, he was met with Yun Jiu’s radiant smile. For a moment, the brightness of his smile made Lin Ye’s eyes a little dazzled.
Among the people watching the excitement from a distance, quite a few were staring at Yun Jiu and Lin Ye. At this moment, when they suddenly saw Yun Jiu’s clean and bright smile, they could not help being stunned. They truly had not expected that Yun Jiu could also show such a smile. In short, he was very different from the Yun Jiu they usually saw. His smile was extremely vivid and moving.
Someone said sourly, “Some people really are fools who happen to have good luck. Look at Yun Jiu, he’s only been at the Lin family for a few days, right? How come I feel like he seems to have become better-looking?”
The person beside him, after hearing this, could not help looking over through the fragments of the firecrackers flying through the air. Whether it was because Yun Jiu had changed into a set of good clothes or because he had been eating well these past two days, his complexion really had improved a lot, and his whole person looked especially lively.
“People depend on clothes, just as horses depend on saddles. Think about what he used to wear at Yun Dali’s house, and he couldn’t even eat his fill. Even someone good-looking would become unattractive after being tormented like that, right?”
“What you said makes sense. Yun Jiu’s life before really wasn’t good.”
Yun Xiaoshu, who had been hiding in the crowd all along, had a venomous coldness flash through his eyes when he heard this. In his eyes, everything Yun Jiu was enjoying now should have belonged to him. But if that incident had not happened, how could Yun Jiu possibly have ended up together with Lin Ye?
After the firecrackers finished, the crowd finally dispersed.
After dark, every household lit their lanterns. Lin Ye also lit all the lanterns, and the whole family sat around the charcoal brazier and began eating dinner.
After dinner, they had to stay up for the New Year. The task of staying up was left to Lin Ye and Yun Jiu. In ancient times, there were no entertainment activities at all, so after sitting there for a while, Lin Ye became bored.
Looking at the endless night sky, Lin Ye suddenly remembered his childhood. When he was young, his parents were often away from home because they were doing business, so most of the time, it was just him. One year during the New Year, he was the only one at home. He squatted alone in the empty house and made a Kongming lantern by himself.
Lin Ye suddenly became interested. He took some paper and began making a Kongming lantern.
Yun Jiu did not know what he was going to do, so he stood to one side watching without saying anything. Whenever Lin Ye asked him for scissors or something else, he would silently reach out and help.
After a Kongming lantern had taken shape, Yun Jiu finally asked curiously, “What is this?”
“This is called a wish lantern. In my hometown, people write their wishes on it. Come, write your wish on it.”
As Lin Ye spoke, he picked up the pen beside him and had Yun Jiu write.
Yun Jiu awkwardly tugged at the corner of his clothes. Then, in his clean eyes, a hint of something resembling complaint flashed. “I, I don’t know how to write. What am I supposed to write?”
Lin Ye was caught off guard by how adorable this big fellow was. To hide his loss of composure, he quickly lowered his head and reached out to pick up the pen. “Then I’ll write it for you. Tell me what your wish is.”
Yun Jiu almost did not think at all before immediately answering, “I want to be with you forever.”
Lin Ye’s hand holding the pen trembled slightly. Then he raised his eyes and met Yun Jiu’s gaze.
Lin Ye’s unique black eyes shimmered with captivating light under the dim yellow glow, like stars suddenly lighting up in an instant.
At this moment, Yun Jiu also realized that he seemed to have spoken too directly. He hurriedly stammered an explanation, “I, I didn’t mean anything else. You asked me what my wish was, and I, I don’t really have anything to ask for. I, I just care about you more.”
Lin Ye turned his gaze away, feeling that his face was a little hot. He wondered whether the charcoal brazier had been burning too warmly. Why did he feel so hot?
Seeing Lin Ye turn his face away, Yun Jiu could not help becoming a little anxious. He knew that he must have been too forward. The words he had said did not sound like something a reserved ge’er should say at all.
He had heard that men did not like ge’er who were not reserved, because such ge’er gave people a feeling of being too wanton. Because he was too anxious, Yun Jiu did not notice that he had grabbed Lin Ye’s hand as he said, “You, you don’t hate me. I…”
Feeling the warmth of his hand, Lin Ye could not help curving the corners of his lips. But he suddenly wanted to tease him, so he deliberately held back from turning around, wanting to see how anxious Yun Jiu would become.
Yun Jiu really did become anxious. He felt that Lin Ye must have regarded him as that kind of bad ge’er, and therefore Lin Ye no longer liked him.
“I, I won’t say things like that again. Lin Ye, you can’t ignore me.” Yun Jiu’s voice carried a tremble.
Lin Ye’s heart softened involuntarily. When he turned around, he saw that Yun Jiu’s eyes had become red from anxiety. The corners of his lips drooped downward, making him look extremely aggrieved and pitiful.
Perhaps because he had been uneasy earlier, Yun Jiu had unconsciously bitten his lower lip tightly. There was a row of fresh teeth marks on his lower lip.
Lin Ye thought: Silly boy, doesn’t it hurt when you bite yourself?
Being cared about so much by Yun Jiu put Lin Ye in a very good mood. His gaze fell on Yun Jiu’s lips, and he became somewhat reluctant to move it away. Yun Jiu’s lips were also somewhat thin, and when he tightly pursed them, they almost seemed to disappear. However, his lips were very attractive, a light and tender pink.
Whenever he ate and was scalded or got something spicy on his tongue, they would turn deep red, with a particularly alluring color.
Lin Ye suddenly moved closer to Yun Jiu, then gently placed a kiss at the corner of his lips.
Lin Ye only wanted to comfort the anxious Yun Jiu, but before he had time to pull away, he saw tears roll out of Yun Jiu’s eyes.
After his emotions had been stirred up and down by Lin Ye, Yun Jiu blushed and grumbled unhappily, “You, you did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
Yun Jiu’s cheeks were slightly puffed up in displeasure. Yet in Lin Ye’s eyes, he unexpectedly looked very cute, rather like some kind of dog that thought itself very clever but was actually foolishly adorable.
“Don’t you know I like you, so you deliberately bully me. Your Amo said that I can’t indulge you, otherwise you’ll take advantage of it. I think you’re already going to climb onto me and jump around. I can’t indulge you like this anymore.”
Lin Ye was both annoyed and amused by Yun Jiu’s words. He reached out and pinched Yun Jiu’s cheeks, pulling them hard to both sides. Looking at the person in front of him, whose eyes had widened angrily, he asked, “Say that again. Who is climbing onto you and jumping around? It’s only been a few days, and you’re already getting all high and mighty with me?”
Yun Jiu reached out and removed Lin Ye’s hand. The little bit of imposing attitude he had just now instantly wilted away. He did not dare say anything more and could only lower his head.
Lin Ye reached out and pulled Yun Jiu in front of him. “Alright, I wasn’t angry just now, and I don’t hate you. Come, I’ll teach you how to write. Write whatever you want. You’re the boss, alright?”
As he spoke, Lin Ye took Yun Jiu’s hand and guided it, hand over hand, to hold up the writing brush.
Yun Jiu glanced sideways at Lin Ye and said, “But I want to write that I want to be together with you.”
Lin Ye blinked. Although there was no expression on his face, his eyes held a gentle smile. “Alright, then write that.”
Lin Ye first wrote Yun Jiu’s name, then looked at those two characters and said, “This is your name, Yun Jiu. Actually, this name sounds quite nice.”
After being praised by Lin Ye, Yun Jiu said with a flushed face, “Then, then what about your name?”
Lin Ye held Yun Jiu’s hand and continued writing. His light, shallow breath brushed against Yun Jiu’s ear. Yun Jiu suddenly wanted to make a wish that this moment could remain frozen forever.
When he wrote Lin Ye’s name, Lin Ye paused.
Before Lin Ye could say anything, Yun Jiu already knew that these two characters must be Lin Ye’s name.
He stared at the two characters “Lin Ye” for a long time, as if trying his best to memorize them.
Seeing Yun Jiu’s serious expression, Lin Ye could not help saying, “Silly fool, if you want to learn, I’ll teach you later. Even if you keep staring at them, you can’t memorize them all at once.”
Yun Jiu ignored his words and continued staring at those two characters. After looking for a while longer, Yun Jiu suddenly said, “You write the rest. I don’t want to write anymore.”
Lin Ye did not understand what was wrong, so he could only finish writing the remaining words himself.
At this moment, Yun Jiu pulled out a sheet of paper, then picked up another brush and wrote in the corner of the paper: “Lin Ye.”
By the time Lin Ye noticed what he was doing, Yun Jiu had already written the two crooked characters. Although they did not look very good, they somehow touched Lin Ye deeply.
Yun Jiu proudly picked it up and looked at it, then placed it in front of Lin Ye, obediently waiting for Lin Ye to praise him.
Lin Ye lowered his eyelashes and looked at the characters on the paper, which looked as though they had been written by a young child. His emotions were extremely complicated. He had thought Yun Jiu wanted to learn how to write, but he had not expected that Yun Jiu simply wanted to write his name.
Just a name could make him this satisfied? Was he an idiot? They were only two characters. What exactly was he so happy about?
Lin Ye tossed the Kongming lantern to the side, then dragged Yun Jiu toward his room.
Yun Jiu looked completely confused. Only after he was dragged into the room and pressed against the door did he seem to realize what was happening.
Looking at Lin Ye who was so close to him, Yun Jiu’s heart felt as though a rabbit were trapped inside it, pounding wildly.
Lin Ye pressed his body against Yun Jiu’s, slowly moving closer to Yun Jiu’s flushed face. Just as Lin Ye was about to kiss him, Yun Jiu hurriedly covered Lin Ye’s face with his hand, turned his face away, and said uneasily, “N-no, we can’t. We, we have to keep watch for the New Year.”
Lin Ye really wanted to say: This is also keeping watch for the New Year. Besides, there’s still so much time. Why don’t we spend it falling in love instead?
Lin Ye deliberately lowered his voice and coaxed him in a voice as deep as a bass speaker, “Then, just two kisses.”
Listening to Lin Ye’s deliberately lowered voice, Yun Jiu felt waves of numbness run through his body. He thought he was so strange; his legs could not help but grow weak.
Yun Jiu hazily thought: Two kisses should not delay what we’re supposed to be doing, right?
Moonlightjie On RUHIP Chapter 033