He Only Shows His True Colors in Front of Me : Chapter 18

Gu Yuanqiao stood at the entrance of Sheng Yannian’s home and entered the password Sheng Yanqing had sent him. As the lock clicked open, Gu Yuanqiao pushed the door and went inside. The house was dim, with heavy curtains allowing only a sliver of sunlight to filter in. It was quiet, and not a soul was in sight. Gu Yuanqiao flipped the light switch, changed his shoes, and placed the porridge he had bought on the coffee table in the living room.

He tossed his coat onto the sofa, rolled up his shirt sleeves, and put on the mask he had prepared. He certainly didn’t want to end up sick himself just as Sheng Yannian was recovering. Following his memory, he went upstairs and walked to the door of Sheng Yannian’s room, knocking, but receiving no response. Pushing the door open, the room was so dark he could only vaguely make out a person on the bed. Gu Yuanqiao walked in, left the door ajar, and went to the window to open it just a crack to keep the room ventilated. As the curtain was pulled back a layer, the room immediately became much brighter.

Gu Yuanqiao walked to the side of the bed. The person on the bed had his eyes tightly shut and his brows furrowed, looking like he was sleeping very restlessly. His cheeks were flushed, and his forehead was dotted with beads of sweat from the heat. Sheng Yannian had wrapped himself up like a mummy. On the nightstand sat a box of medicine and a glass of water that had already gone cold. Gu Yuanqiao let out a soft sigh. Someone was one to talk; wasn’t he just as bad at taking care of himself?

Gu Yuanqiao bent down and pulled away the quilt that was weighing Sheng Yannian down, smoothing it out. He wasn’t worried about making too much noise and waking him up; based on the current situation, unless there was an earthquake or a fire, it would be very difficult to wake Sheng Yannian. Once the quilt was fully drawn back, Gu Yuanqiao first covered Sheng Yannian’s lower half and then reached out to unbutton his pajamas. A toned, muscular chest was revealed, followed by clearly defined abdominal muscles. The skin was covered in a layer of sticky sweat. Gu Yuanqiao poked Sheng Yannian’s chest muscle without hesitation, taking advantage of the fact that the man couldn’t wake up.

“Mmph…” Perhaps the contact of the cold air with his skin made Sheng Yannian hum softly in his sleep.

“What are you humming about?” Hearing this, Gu Yuanqiao poked him again. “You all bark and no bite.” What was the use of having such a well-trained body? Wasn’t he just going to fall over at the slightest breeze? Hmph.

Gu Yuanqiao took out the thermometer from the side, lifted Sheng Yannian’s arm, placed the thermometer under his armpit, and held it tightly. After fixing it, he covered him with the quilt and went to the bathroom to get warm water. When he returned with the water and a towel, the thermometer was ready. Gu Yuanqiao took it out and looked: 38.8°C.

“…” That was truly speechless. He was burning up like this and still hadn’t gone to the hospital? Gu Yuanqiao gave the person on the bed a roll of his eyes, sat on the edge of the bed, dampened the towel with warm water, wrung it out, and turned to wipe Sheng Yannian’s forehead, armpits, hands, and feet. It was his first time taking care of someone, and he had looked up these methods online; not knowing how many times to wipe, he simply wiped until the warm water turned cold.

He buttoned up Sheng Yannian’s clothes again and covered him with the quilt. He reached out once more to touch Sheng Yannian’s forehead; whether it was just psychological comfort or not, he felt the temperature had dropped slightly compared to before. Just as Gu Yuanqiao pulled his hand away, a hand grabbed his wrist.

“Hmm?” He thought Sheng Yannian had woken up, but when he turned his head, he saw that the man’s eyes were only opened to a sliver.

“Brother?” Sheng Yannian’s voice was still very hoarse, as if his vocal cords had been shredded. In his half-awake state, he had felt someone fiddling with his body, but the discomfort had lessened significantly. Then, a hand had covered his forehead, feeling very comfortable. It reminded him of when he was a child and got a fever; his brother had taken care of him just like this, singing by his side. So, as soon as that hand pulled away, he subconsciously reached out and grabbed it. With eyes slightly open, through the hazy blur, he only saw a masked face. He subconsciously assumed it was his brother.

“…” Gu Yuanqiao was stunned. It seemed he was indeed burning up quite badly to have mistaken the person. However, he didn’t intend to deny it; after all, a patient’s emotional state needed to be well-cared for. “Yes, are you very uncomfortable?”

“Mm…” Sheng Yannian was delirious from the fever, and the voice in his ears sounded distant and unclear. Since it was his brother, and he was still sick, there was no harm in acting a little spoiled, right? His physical actions and his brain were out of sync; before he could figure it out, his hand slid from holding Gu Yuanqiao’s wrist down to grab his palm, pulling it down to rub his cheek against it.

“…” Gu Yuanqiao’s hand shrank slightly, and he swallowed hard. It was… a little cute? Thinking this, his voice softened significantly. He sat on the edge of the bed. “Are you hungry? Do you want to drink some porridge?”

“Mmph…” Sheng Yannian turned on his side, burying his face in Gu Yuanqiao’s hand, his voice muffled. “No… I have no appetite…”

“Then sleep for a while longer?” Gu Yuanqiao reached out and brushed back the hair that was stuck to Sheng Yannian’s forehead with sweat. “Wait for me a while, I’ll call you to get up and eat later.”

“Mm…” Sheng Yannian nodded. He could feel his head starting to spin again, and his eyes had already closed once more. Before he passed out completely, his hand gripped tightly, murmuring, “Brother… don’t go, mm…”

“I’m not going anywhere. Sleep.”

Gu Yuanqiao sat by the bed just like that, intending to pull his hand away once Sheng Yannian’s breathing became long and steady again. However, Sheng Yannian gripped too tightly; every time he tried, the man would make a sound. After a few tries, Gu Yuanqiao gave up. Just let it be. Gu Yuanqiao used his free hand to pull out his phone and scroll through food delivery apps to see what to have for dinner. But after looking for a long time, he decided to wait until Sheng Yannian woke up; what if he ordered something the guy didn’t want to eat?

With his hand gripped, he couldn’t move much, so he just sat there, staring blankly at Sheng Yannian’s face. Before long, his lower back grew sore, so he decisively “slid” down the side of the bed and sat on the floor, leaning against the bed frame in an unladylike (or ungentlemanly) posture. Originally, Gu Yuanqiao was just looking up at the ceiling thinking his own thoughts, but he was soon drawn to the movements from Sheng Yannian’s side.

He turned his head to look and found Sheng Yannian’s brows were knitted even tighter than before; he didn’t know what he was dreaming of, but he was mumbling to himself. The hand holding his also tightened and loosened intermittently. Gu Yuanqiao moved a little closer, wanting to hear clearly what Sheng Yannian was muttering; only when he was close did he realize the man was just whispering “Brother” repeatedly, and the rest was unintelligible. Outside, a strong wind suddenly picked up, blowing through the window, lifting the curtains and letting in more sunlight, and blowing through the hair on top of Gu Yuanqiao’s head. Sheng Yannian’s whispers simply dissolved into the wind and the rustling of leaves outside.

Light illuminated Sheng Yannian’s restless, sleeping face, then quickly dimmed again. Gu Yuanqiao rested his head sideways against the hand that was being held, watching the face before him without blinking. The interplay of light and shadow looked like a beautiful painting. Soon the wind outside stopped, and the room returned to its previous state. The dark orange light of the afternoon enveloped them. Gu Yuanqiao couldn’t help but reach out and gently rub the space between Sheng Yannian’s brows.

“You little ingrate…” Gu Yuanqiao whispered, though not angrily. He then ran his fingertips lightly over Sheng Yannian’s eyebrows, eyelashes, nose, and lips. ‘The features are indeed quite superior.’ Gu Yuanqiao traced them idly until the man’s eyes flickered slightly, causing his eyelashes to sweep against his fingertip and cause a slight itch, prompting him to pull his hand away.

Such an afternoon was truly soporific; Gu Yuanqiao had only been there for a while before his eyelids started to fight each other. Figuring that Sheng Yannian wouldn’t wake up that quickly, he allowed himself to drift off to sleep.

“Mmph…” It wasn’t until nightfall that Sheng Yannian slowly woke up; after a nap, his head felt much clearer. However, the sticky sensation in his hand was hard to ignore. His brain slowly turned, and he remembered that he seemed to have woken up halfway through. It seemed like it was his brother? No, he remembered his brother was filming out of town recently… Could it be he rushed back specially?! This thought made him feel both excited and guilty. Although he was happy his brother could come, didn’t this disturb his work? And he was so old now, there was no need to make a special trip, right? Although he thought this, he couldn’t help but feel happy deep down; he felt more than half his illness was gone. This was a classic case of having his cake and eating it too.

In the dark, Sheng Yannian could only see a person sitting below the side of his bed. How long had his brother been sitting there?! Sheng Yannian was startled and immediately reached for the light on the bedside table. Suddenly, the main light in the room blazed to life, making Sheng Yannian squint his eyes.

“Mmph…” Gu Yuanqiao was also stimulated and turned his head to avoid the light source.

“…?” After seeing clearly who it was, Sheng Yannian felt that his already feverish head was burning even more; his CPU didn’t seem able to process this. He looked down again at the two tightly held, sweaty hands, and felt a wave of darkness. That is to say, not only had he mistaken Gu Yuanqiao for his brother, but he had been holding the other person’s hand the whole time?! It just so happened that he also remembered he seemed to have acted spoiled toward his brother—no, toward Gu Yuanqiao… A sense of shame swept over him, to the point that the disappointment of it not being his brother was barely worth mentioning.

He let go of the other person’s hand, reached out to poke the other man’s head, his throat tight. “Gu Yuanqiao, wake up.”

“Mm…” Gu Yuanqiao had only been sleeping lightly, and as the light turned on, he slowly regained his senses. He lifted his head and put on the glasses resting on the cabinet, only then realizing that Sheng Yannian had let go of his hand at some point.

“Not going to keep holding my hand?” The moment he opened his mouth, he was teasing him.

“…” Sheng Yannian wanted to knock him unconscious. “Why did you come over?”

“Your brother asked me to.” Gu Yuanqiao stretched his body; his hands and feet were numb. “Are you feeling better?”

“…Much better.”

“Good.” Gu Yuanqiao threw the thermometer at Sheng Yannian. “Measure it again; I’m going to go heat up some porridge for you.”

“…” Looking at Gu Yuanqiao’s retreating back, Sheng Yannian truly didn’t know what to say. How awkward!

By the time Gu Yuanqiao came back up with hot porridge and water, Sheng Yannian had switched into a standby state. Gu Yuanqiao chuckled. He placed the small table in front of Sheng Yannian and set the porridge on it. “Eat while it’s hot, take your medicine after. What’s your temperature now?” Sheng Yannian stirred the vegetable porridge with a spoon; the aroma made him, not having eaten all day, gain a huge appetite.

“37.5°C.”

Gu Yuanqiao raised an eyebrow; it had gone down pretty fast. If he rested well for another day tomorrow, he should be able to go to work the day after. Gu Yuanqiao didn’t disturb Sheng Yannian while he ate, sitting on a small sofa nearby, crossing his legs and checking to see if anyone had sent him a message. Sheng Yannian was drinking slowly; after a few mouthfuls, his stomach felt much better. His eyes would dart toward Gu Yuanqiao from time to time.

“…” Gu Yuanqiao ignored those gazes; he simply said that Sheng Yannian’s guilty conscience was very obvious, it was always like this.

By the time the porridge was almost finished, Sheng Yannian looked over more frequently. Gu Yuanqiao didn’t hold back anymore, looking up directly to meet that sneaky gaze.

“Cough…” Sheng Yannian couldn’t help it and choked slightly.

“…” Gu Yuanqiao stood up and pulled out a tissue, handing it to Sheng Yannian. “What? Disappointed to find out I’m not your brother?”

“Cough cough cough!” Sheng Yannian couldn’t catch his breath, coughing even more violently, his face turning flushed red. Gu Yuanqiao didn’t intend to do anything, just stood there with his arms crossed over his chest, watching Sheng Yannian cough and glare at him with amusement.

“Today, thanks.” After Sheng Yannian finished coughing and calmed down, he said in a voice as soft as a mosquito, ignoring Gu Yuanqiao’s teasing. Although the voice was very small, Gu Yuanqiao still heard it. He was stunned, seemingly not having expected Sheng Yannian to thank him, so he didn’t pick on him further but changed the subject.

“How did you suddenly get sick? Did all those muscles go to waste?”

“…” Speaking of this was another source of awkwardness; if it hadn’t been for three nights of unfulfilled desire, he wouldn’t have been stupid enough to take a cold shower.

“Mm?” Gu Yuanqiao noticed Sheng Yannian’s ears turning red and realized. “What? Embarrassed? Actually, this is nothing; people who are all bark and no bite are very common, you don’t have to be embarrassed~”

“I am not!” Sheng Yannian replied fiercely.

“Mm? Then why?” Gu Yuanqiao just assumed the other was being stubborn. Sheng Yannian looked at Gu Yuanqiao’s bright, cunning eyes, and his brain crashed, but the truth came out of his mouth. “It’s all because of yo…!”

The moment the final syllable was uttered, Sheng Yannian regained his sanity and emergency-muted himself. He saw Gu Yuanqiao’s eyes widen in surprise and felt his ears get even hotter. So, he gritted his teeth, turned his head away, and ate the little bit of vegetable porridge that remained.

“You…” It took Gu Yuanqiao a long time to make a sound.

“No!” Sheng Yannian acted as if he had a stress reaction, but his bright red ears betrayed him.

“…Pfft… Hahahaha…” Gu Yuanqiao couldn’t hold back and started laughing. With this reaction and attitude from Sheng Yannian, combined with his state last Friday, he could figure out exactly what was going on. Unfulfilled desire, but as luck would have it, his bed partner was injured, so he had to find his own solution. And as for the results, someone must have done something very stupid to “cool” himself down.

“Stop laughing!” Sheng Yannian gritted his teeth. Didn’t this expose the fact that he actually used Gu Yuanqiao as a “side dish” in private?

The laughter rang in the room for a long time before stopping. Gu Yuanqiao wiped away the tears of laughter, then sat on the bed, looking at Sheng Yannian with a smile, and proposed a suggestion that felt quite inappropriate.

“Tell me, Sheng Yannian, how about you let me live here?”

“…Ah?” Sheng Yannian suspected he had misheard; how could this person say such a thing with such confidence?!

“My house is still under renovation, and I don’t know when it will be finished. I’m not used to hotel beds, and I don’t like the environment of other apartments. After thinking about it, I still think your place is good.”

“…You also know this is my house, right?” Sheng Yannian’s mouth twitched.

Not refusing immediately meant it was still possible to do some lobbying. “Look, we are in a relationship where we need to satisfy each other’s physical needs; wouldn’t it be much more convenient to live together? No need to arrange time and place specially. If anything unexpected happens, we can help each other, just like today. Of course, if you want, I can pay you rent; you set the price. What do you think?”

“…” You’ve laid out all the benefits. But indeed…

“Mm?” Gu Yuanqiao braced one hand on the bed, leaning his body slightly toward Sheng Yannian, his head lowered just a bit, looking up at Sheng Yannian with a smile.

“…” Sheng Yannian swallowed. His still-throbbing brain went on strike completely. The amorous, charming eyes made it impossible for him to look away; he couldn’t even move. Rationality was thrown aside; his body was instantly taken over by desire. He heard a voice that sounded a lot like his own speaking from his mouth, agreeing to Gu Yuanqiao’s unreasonable request.

“…You must move out immediately after your house renovation is finished…”

“Ha…” Gu Yuanqiao smiled, reaching out to rub Sheng Yannian’s earlobe. “From now on, please take care of me?”

After finishing an action that set people on fire, he immediately got up and walked toward the door. “Then, President Sheng, get some good rest? Remember to take your medicine, goodnight~”

It was as if everything that had just happened was a fantasy; the other person hadn’t done anything ambiguous, nor said anything thought-provoking. His eyes had even returned to their usual sharpness and calculation, along with a bit of smugness. The sound of the door closing brought Sheng Yannian back to his senses. Once he thought about what he had agreed to, his whole body felt awful. When did he become so easily seduced?

“Damn it…” Sheng Yannian raised his hand to cover his face, then reached out to touch the earlobe that had just been rubbed; it was even hotter.

—

Sheng the puppy (confused, blushing, dazed, drooling): He… he smiled at me! Does he have a thing for me? Hehe…

Gu the fox (smiling): You’re overthinking it, you silly dog~

Poor Sheng Yannian is being toyed with in the palm of Gu Yuanqiao’s hand.