TUMZ Chapter 4

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"…Today, when I said I wanted to get married, I was serious. Ah Xue, what do you think?"

He waited anxiously for a few seconds but didn’t receive an answer. When he turned his head, he saw that Zhuang Hanxue had unknowingly dozed off in his chair.

Qiu Zheyan: "…"

He instantly deflated.

The car stopped at a red light.

Qiu Zheyan stared at the sleeping Zhuang Hanxue for a while and then reached out to pinch his cheek.

This skin doesn’t seem that thick, though.

Zhuang Hanxue woke up, looking drowsily at him. "What are you doing?"

Qiu Zheyan said in frustration, "Were you pretending to sleep?"

Zhuang Hanxue looked completely innocent and confused.

Qiu Zheyan wanted to be mad but didn’t know how to be. "Forget it."

Zhuang Hanxue rubbed his face. "You’re so unpredictable. It’s so hard for me. A man’s heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea."

Zhuang Hanxue hadn’t had time to play games these past two days.

He was at the hospital helping his older brother.

Although he seemed careless, when he actually did things, he didn’t mess them up.

Until the day before their trip abroad.

That morning, his little niece had surgery. Fortunately, it wasn’t a dangerous operation. He waited until she woke up and had eaten before going home, only to find that Qiu Zheyan had gotten home earlier because he was packing.

As soon as Zhuang Hanxue came back, he pressed his cold, wind-chilled hands against Qiu Zheyan’s neck. "Warm me up."

Qiu Zheyan had no choice but to wrap his hands in his arms. "How did it go?"

Zhuang Hanxue said, "The surgery went smoothly. But when I told my brother I couldn’t go to the hospital tomorrow because I’d be spending Christmas with your family, he suddenly lost his temper and scolded me."

Qiu Zheyan: "You only just told him?"

Zhuang Hanxue: "Yeah, I forgot."

Qiu Zheyan was speechless at his forgetful boyfriend.

Zhuang Hanxue: "I also told him about the gifts I bought, and he said they weren’t high-class enough. But I spent all my savings on them. That should be sincere enough, right?"

This was the first time Qiu Zheyan had heard about it and was shocked. "You spent all your savings on gifts?"

Zhuang Hanxue grinned. "You missed the cue. You should’ve said, ‘You actually have savings?’—That would’ve been the right way to tease me."

Qiu Zheyan held his hand and said, "I was worried you weren’t preparing anything since you didn’t seem nervous, so I bought gifts for you."

Zhuang Hanxue: "You underestimated me, huh? It’s fine if we have extra gifts. You give yours, and I’ll give mine."

Qiu Zheyan really couldn’t figure out Zhuang Hanxue. If he didn’t care about meeting the parents, why did he spend all his savings? But if he did care, why wasn’t he anxious?

Though, to be fair, Zhuang Hanxue didn’t have much savings to begin with.

Zhuang Hanxue laid out his gifts one by one.

A brand-name belt for Qiu Zheyan’s father, a fine porcelain dinner set for his mother, and a three-thousand-yuan dress for his sister. It all looked quite presentable.

Zhuang Hanxue said smugly, "Not bad, right? I’ve always been good at picking gifts."

Qiu Zheyan nodded, seeing him in a new light.

The next morning, they boarded their flight abroad.

Qiu Zheyan was too nervous to rest, while Zhuang Hanxue slept soundly, showing no signs of anxiety.

After landing, they took a taxi to the city.

Seeing the Christmas decorations on the door from a distance, Zhuang Hanxue commented, "Interesting. My family doesn’t celebrate Western holidays. But I used to use them as excuses to get friends together for food and drinks—every holiday was the same."

Knock, knock.

After a minute, someone opened the door.

Zhuang Hanxue wasn’t shy at all. He smiled when he saw that it was Qiu Zheyan’s father. Knowing that the uncle was Italian, he greeted him in Italian, "Buongiorno~."

Qiu Zheyan was helping his mother clean up in the kitchen when he heard laughter from Zhuang Hanxue and his niece.

His mother said, "Your partner is very outgoing. He doesn’t look seven years older than you—still quite youthful. I like how he eats. He looks like he enjoys his food, isn’t picky, and his table manners with chopsticks and cutlery are very refined. He must have had good upbringing."

Qiu Zheyan replied, "Really? He told me his parents never cared for him, that he lived a chaotic life, and when we moved in together, he only had a little over five thousand yuan in his bank account. Without me, he wouldn’t survive."

His mother sighed. "There you go again… But your relationships are your own business. I won’t interfere."

His family had kept his room for him, and it had been cleaned.

It was a small but cozy space—single bed, desk, craft table, shelves filled with textbooks, CDs, and figurines, and even a guitar. It still looked like a high school boy’s room.

Zhuang Hanxue sat on the bed, which was soft and sunk slightly under him. He asked, "Can I look around?"

Qiu Zheyan said indifferently, "Go ahead. I’m going to the bathroom."

When he returned, he saw Zhuang Hanxue sitting cross-legged on the floor with an open box beside him. Realizing what was in the box, he panicked. "What are you looking at?"

Zhuang Hanxue held up a magazine with a half-naked man on the cover. "Looking at your stash of gay porn."

Clicking his tongue, he added, "It really is all guy-on-guy. Not a single busty girl."

Qiu Zheyan’s face turned red as he snatched the magazine. "I told you I’ve always liked men. My parents know too."

Zhuang Hanxue slung an arm over his shoulder. "Why are you blushing? So, do you like muscular guys? I don’t have that much muscle."

Qiu Zheyan said bluntly, "I like your type."

Zhuang Hanxue grabbed the magazine back. "Let me see a bit more."

He wasn’t particularly excited, nor did he reject it—just curious, like watching a kitten or puppy.

As he flipped through, he asked, "Do you always spend Christmas with your family? Do you celebrate all holidays together? Your family seems really close."

Qiu Zheyan said, "Yeah. My dad loves my mom a lot, though they argue sometimes."

Zhuang Hanxue absentmindedly asked, "What about when you came out? Did they scold you?"

Qiu Zheyan said, "Not really. My mom said she had already noticed my browser history when she used my computer and was just waiting for me to tell her. She accepted it but told me to take relationships seriously and bring home anyone I was serious about."

Zhuang Hanxue sighed, "That’s nice. When my brother came out, my family was in an uproar. My mom blamed my dad, my dad blamed my mom. Since my brother had already run away by then, I happened to pass by and got beaten up instead. So unfair."

After a pause, he added, "My family never sits down to eat together like this."

The room was warm from the heater. Dressed in a light open-collar sweater and jeans, Zhuang Hanxue sat with one leg folded up, resting his chin on his knee.

From Qiu Zheyan’s angle, he looked lean, his lowered lashes casting soft shadows, giving him a strangely childlike innocence.

Qiu Zheyan said, "I’ll eat with you."

Zhuang Hanxue smiled, tossed the magazine aside, and teased, "Your stash is pretty boring. I’m much better, right?"

Qui Zheyan’s heart skipped a beat. He saw Zhuang Hanxue lean back, his open collar slipping to reveal his delicate collarbones. He swallowed hard. Just as he was about to reach out, Zhuang Hanxue suddenly stood up and said, "I want to check your wardrobe. You don’t have anything embarrassing in there, do you?"

Qui Zheyan felt a little guilty, quickly thought about it, and said, "No. Go ahead."

Indeed, nothing inappropriate was found.

Zhuang Hanxue pulled out a basketball uniform. "I saw a picture of you playing basketball on your family’s photo wall. You used to be on the basketball team?"

Qui Zheyan nodded. "Yeah, but I wasn’t that great. They only put me in as a substitute. Later, when they found out I was gay, they didn’t say anything, but I still quit the team in tenth grade."

Zhuang Hanxue suddenly started undressing, stripping completely in front of him before putting on the high school basketball uniform. "It fits me well, right?"

Qui Zheyan said, "It’s still a bit loose."

Zhuang Hanxue asked, "Does it look good?"

Qui Zheyan sat on the bed, pulled his hand, and tugged him over. "Are you seducing me?"

Zhuang Hanxue straddled his lap. The dim, ambiguous light cast a soft glow over his features. His eyes seemed to hold a playful dreaminess as he whispered, "Xiao Qui, when you were a teenager, did you ever sneak someone home to stay the night?"

Qui Zheyan’s heart pounded wildly, his breath turning warm. He instinctively wrapped his arms around Zhuang Hanxue’s waist.

Zzzzzip— He heard the faint sound of a zipper being pulled down.

In the darkness, only their careful, hushed voices could be heard.

"Why aren’t you making any noise?"

"Your parents are home. If they find out, that’d be too embarrassing."

"Haha… So you do have a sense of shame?"

"…Even someone like me has shame, you know."

Qui Zheyan’s heart skipped a beat, as if he had really returned to his teenage years—the first time he had loved someone so passionately and completely that it hurt.

He couldn’t control himself.

He felt like a high school student who had just learned how to have sex, sneaking around at night with his lover, trying not to get caught by his parents.

Between kisses, he whispered "I like you" over and over in his lover’s ear.

He didn’t remember how many times they did it, but by the time they were done, the half-box of condoms in his wardrobe was completely used up.

When Qui Zheyan woke up, he saw snow falling outside the window.

Zhuang Hanxue was sitting on the edge of the bed, naked, his back to him. His fair skin was covered in faint red kiss marks.

Qui Zheyan suddenly felt a little guilty. He had gone too far last night.

As he sat up, he saw that Zhuang Hanxue was holding something and looking at it.

"What are you looking at…" Qui Zheyan leaned closer and saw that Zhuang Hanxue was holding a photograph. He froze.

It was a picture of him and his ex-boyfriend.

_____

Author’s Note: This novel does not include MPreg. Xiao Zhuang won’t be pregnant.

Sigh, when I write MPreg, people complain that it’s cringe and that I should just write BG romance instead. Now that I’m not writing MPreg, people keep urging me to write it. I’m struggling so much…

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