Under Zuo Ning’s passionate, unrestrained, and utterly shameless advances, the final outcome was him being firmly subdued by Lu Chenghe, left biting the corner of the blanket and whimpering on the bed. His butt stung fiercely—that was from Lu Chenghe’s spanking. The official reason for the spanking was for buying a bunch of random, useless stuff. When Zuo Ning instinctively retorted, “It’s not like we’re actually going to use them,” he was promptly met with an eye-roll.
Zuo Ning began to seriously suspect that Lu Chenghe might be sexually frigid. So he kept sneaking glances at him with suspicious little eyes. Perhaps Lu Chenghe saw through his thoughts, because those glances earned him a few more firm slaps on the backside.
Lying facedown on the bed, Zuo Ning watched as Lu Chenghe went through the haul he’d brought back, sorting everything one by one. Clothes and shoes they might wear in the next few days were sent off for laundry, while the obviously unnecessary impulse buys were handed over to the hotel to be shipped back home.
Having just been spanked and vowing not to speak to Lu Chenghe for the rest of the night, Zuo Ning soon forgot his own resolution. Clutching the blanket, he rolled around on the bed. “Chenghe, I’m hungry.”
“Starve.”
Zuo Ning widened his eyes in horror, sat up hugging the blanket, and looked like he was about to cry. “You’ve changed. You weren’t like this before. The old you would hold me while sunbathing, would cuddle me while reading, would let me sleep inside your shirt against your chest. You’d even sneak in some butt and paw rubs while I slept… You used to buy me so many toys, too… but now, all you do is hit me, and you want to starve me, too. Sob sob sob… You don’t love me anymore…”
Lu Chenghe was getting a headache from all the noise. How did this little thing have so much energy every single day, never resting for even a moment?
In the end, he had the hotel prepare some barbecue just to shut him up. Honestly, the only peace he ever got was when Little Pudding was either eating or sleeping. Unfortunately, even tonight he couldn’t enjoy the usual quiet.
A hand suddenly grabbed Zuo Ning’s wandering paw—Lu Chenghe caught it firmly and squeezed it. “You itching for another spanking, aren’t you?”
Zuo Ning hadn’t expected Lu Chenghe to still be awake. He’d been quiet for more than two hours after getting into bed, and only started his “operation” once Lu Chenghe’s breathing had completely evened out. But now that he was caught red-handed, he simply lifted a leg and draped it over Lu Chenghe, snuggling up along the arm that was holding his hand, half his body clinging onto Lu Chenghe. “If you won’t play with the condoms with me… then let’s play ‘touch touch’ instead.”
Lu Chenghe sighed. “Be good and go to sleep. Don’t make a fuss.”
Zuo Ning clung to him and squirmed. “Chenghe, Chenghe, Chenghe…”
Lu Chenghe rubbed his head. “If you go to sleep like a good boy now, I’ll take you to buy a game console tomorrow.”
Zuo Ning suddenly froze. He lay still on Lu Chenghe for a few seconds, then sat up straight and stared at him without saying a word.
Lu Chenghe had no choice but to sit up as well. He reached out to touch Zuo Ning’s head, only for his hand to be slapped away by Little Pudding. Lu Chenghe frowned slightly. “Little Pudding.”
“If you don’t like me, or if you’re just used to having me around, you can just say it. Even if you don’t love me, I won’t leave you. But you don’t have to lie to me.”
Lu Chenghe sighed. “So just because I won’t touch you, it means I’m lying to you?”
Zuo Ning felt both sour and wronged—it felt like he’d offered himself up only to be disliked. In his whole life, he had never liked anyone before, never dated anyone. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do. With someone like Lu Chenghe, who was cold by nature, if he didn’t take the initiative, he had no idea how to even be in a relationship with him. But the more he took the initiative, the more he got rejected. No matter how thick-skinned he was, it still hurt.
He lowered his head in silence, afraid that if he opened his mouth, he’d cry.
Seeing how pitiful he looked, Lu Chenghe felt utterly helpless. “You said you believe me, then why don’t you ever believe it when I say I like you? If I didn’t like you, why would I let you sleep beside me? Before, when you were a dog, it didn’t matter. But now you’re human—besides you, have you ever seen anyone else sleeping next to me like this?”
Zuo Ning kept his head down and said nothing.
“Little Pudding, I want to be with you for a long, long time. The kind of long that means a whole lifetime.”
Hearing those words, Zuo Ning couldn’t help but lift his head to look at him. He saw Lu Chenghe watching him intently. Even though the room was dim, lit only by the faint glow of a streetlamp seeping in through the curtains, the seriousness in Lu Chenghe’s eyes was unmistakable.
“Then… then why don’t you want me? Isn’t liking someone supposed to mean wanting to be close to them? I always can’t help wanting to kiss you, hug you, stick close to you. But you never seem to feel the same. I offer myself to you, and you still don’t want me. Look at Big Brother—he always looks restrained, but his eyes are glued to Big Sister-in-law. And whenever there’s a chance, they always have these intimate little moments. But you… you never do.”
Lu Chenghe chuckled softly. “That’s because you only notice other people. But tell me, has there ever been a time you looked back and I wasn’t right behind you? A time you reached out and didn’t find my hand? Or when you talked to me, did I ever brush you off?”
Zuo Ning couldn’t help fiddling with the corner of the blanket, his face starting to flush faintly. “Then why… why don’t you want to do that with me? If you’re… um, not interested in that kind of thing, you could just tell me. I can understand. I don’t absolutely have to, it’s just… I’ve already been so forward, and you still don’t react at all, and you don’t explain anything. Of course I’m going to overthink.”
Lu Chenghe reached out and pinched his face. “What kind of nonsense are you imagining?”
Zuo Ning bared his teeth at him.
Lu Chenghe said, “Even though love has nothing to do with gender, those kinds of things between two men aren’t exactly easy, especially for the one on the receiving end. I want you to stay healthy and be with me for the long run. So some things shouldn’t happen too early.”
Zuo Ning immediately pounced on him, sweeping away all the grievance and gloom from earlier, his eyes sparkling as he looked at Lu Chenghe. “But don’t forget—I’m not human, I’m a spirit! What if I was born different and gifted? How can you look at me like I’m just a normal person!”
Lu Chenghe gave a quiet laugh. “Aside from the fact that you can turn into a dog, I really don’t see how you’re any different from a person. You still get sick, get hungry when you don’t eat, get bloated when you overeat, and you only eat meat and never veggies. Just like a human, you get constipated.”
Zuo Ning immediately slapped his hand over Lu Chenghe’s mouth. “Ugh! You’re so gross. Just try it once! What if I really am naturally gifted? You’ve been single for nearly thirty years—that’s so pitiful!”
Lu Chenghe pried his hand off. “Go to sleep. Behave.”
Zuo Ning was lying on top of him and, without hesitation, reached into the bedside drawer to pull out a box of those outrageously expensive condoms he had especially bought. He opened the exquisitely packaged box, took out a small, square foil packet, and shook it in his hand. “Let’s just try one! While we’re still here. If it works well, we’ll buy more to take home!”
Lu Chenghe yanked the blanket up and covered Little Pudding completely. “Go to sleep!”
But Zuo Ning moved lightning-fast and had already stripped himself bare. Anyway, there wasn’t a single part of his body that Lu Chenghe hadn’t seen before, and he was quite confident in his figure—no excess fat, firm muscles, and skin still full of youthful collagen bounce. He was basically the embodiment of the perfect youthful body!
Lu Chenghe had always known Little Pudding was fair-skinned—extremely fair. The kind of fair that stood out even among a crowd of white people. But even that kind of fairness couldn’t compare to the impact of seeing him stark naked in the middle of the night, lying bare before his eyes. In the dimly lit room, Little Pudding was so pale it was like he glowed on his own.
Unable to bear it, Lu Chenghe tightly wrapped him up in the blanket. “If you keep acting up like this, believe it or not, I’ll throw you out of the room.”
Zuo Ning snorted, “I don’t believe it! Not when I’m like this—you wouldn’t have the heart! Come on, Chenghe, just once! If I really am naturally gifted, you’ll be the one who lucked out big time!”
Through all the commotion, Lu Chenghe was already burning up thanks to Little Pudding’s relentless teasing. To say he didn’t want it—of course, that was a lie. It was never something he didn’t want. And when that little thing kept throwing himself at him like this, there was no way Lu Chenghe’s self-control could hold up forever, especially when it was never that strong to begin with.
When that little creature started rubbing his legs against him, Lu Chenghe nearly wanted to strangle this mischievous little sprite.
“If you end up with a fever or an upset stomach tomorrow, then until you’re twenty, don’t even think about this again.”
Zuo Ning quickly tried to haggle, “Eighteen! Eighteen is already legal!”
Lu Chenghe smacked away his delusion. “You’ll be eighteen next month. Twenty. No room for negotiation.”
Zuo Ning puckered his lips, then decisively hooked his two long legs around Lu Chenghe’s waist, reluctantly agreeing with soft murmurs.
The Little Pudding he had raised himself naturally had smooth, flawless skin. As he took the initiative to pull him in for a kiss, the feeling of their skin pressing together amplified that softness and delicacy.
When his own body stiffened, no longer able to hide anything, fully revealed before Little Pudding, it made him laugh nonstop—and mischievously, he pinched twice with his hand.
Lu Chenghe bit his ear sharply: “Will it or not?”
Zuo Ning immediately snorted, “Of course I will! Don’t underestimate me. I’m a man who’s read countless smutty stories!”
Lu Chenghe chuckled softly, “Is that so? Looks like we’ll have to add another rule to your restrictions, or else all those messy things will keep stirring your imagination.”
No matter how beautifully written and enchanting those stories were, once truly experienced firsthand, they would definitely be completely different from what one imagined.
When Zuo Ning whimpered and swayed his body, instinctively rejecting Lu Chenghe’s hand reaching out to stretch him, shouting “No more,” Lu Chenghe wouldn’t let him stop. He had brought this on himself. He could cry all he wanted, but he had to see it through.
However, since it was the first time, Lu Chenghe naturally wouldn’t go too far. While kissing and soothing the clearly frightened Little Pudding, he unleashed all the restraint he had held in for so long.
Zuo Ning knew some sensations were intoxicating and bone-melting; the last time Lu Chenghe touched him, he had already felt that kind of pleasure. But when Lu Chenghe got serious with him, at first it really was painful, especially painful. Even though Lu Chenghe was very gentle, truly letting him adapt little by little, it was undeniably extremely uncomfortable.
Yet, he felt that all the buildup beforehand was for the incomparable pleasure that followed—pleasure that even Lu Chenghe’s gentle touches couldn’t reach. Until he lay exhausted on the bed, gasping for breath, Zuo Ning felt as if his soul had flown away, unable to come back to himself.
No wonder men wanted this kind of thing; that feeling could truly become addictive.
Lu Chenghe kissed the corner of his mouth: “Still alive?”
Zuo Ning’s voice was hoarse: “Almost, almost dead.”
Lu Chenghe chuckled softly, “The things you bought are really good. As you wished, we can buy more to take home.”
Zuo Ning couldn’t help but want to bite the corner of the quilt and cry. Although that final moment was truly ecstatic, it was also true that he was exhausted and nearly dead. His waist didn’t feel like his own, nor did his legs. Most importantly, why did that ridiculously expensive condom have those bumpy particles? It was almost deadly. Could he still say he didn’t want to buy them anymore?
