Chapter 69

The sound of water flowed softly in the bathroom, covering the heavy breaths of the two.

Ke Xingzhou buried his face in Nie Chen’s neck, his mind blank. Water droplets fell from their tangled wet hair, hitting his still slightly trembling shoulders and neck, triggering another round of shivers.

Their chests were pressed together, and with each breath, they occasionally rubbed and squeezed against each other. The real sensation of skin against skin quickly brought them both back to some clarity.

"Can you still walk?" Nie Chen held his body, his voice especially hoarse.

His arm was firm and strong, and the look in his lowered eyes still had an unfulfilled gleam, flickering like a flame, burning Ke Xingzhou so much that he didn’t dare meet his gaze.

As he lowered his head, the ends of his hair brushed against Nie Chen’s neck. The water flowed down the man’s smooth and muscular body, sliding into the tight gap between them.

Ke Xingzhou seemed to only now realize what they had just done, his ears slowly turning red. His body temperature rose again, and his gaze wandered.

He had indeed been too impulsive agreeing to let him in earlier. Ke Xingzhou thought back to what had just happened and found it hard to believe that he could ever have this much capacity.

He closed his eyes. "I’m a little tired."

"..." There was silence for a moment above him, and Nie Chen seemed amused by him, "You’re unloading the cart and killing the donkey too quickly."

"Are you a donkey?"

Nie Chen paused for a moment. "What part are you referring to?"

Ke Xingzhou: "…………"

He really wanted to hit him.

In fact, although his limbs were weak now, he definitely still had the strength to subdue Nie Chen. But burning bridges was already quite immoral, and if he hurt him again, he really wouldn’t be able to face Nie Chen in the future.

After all, he was still his disciple.

Thinking of this connection, the temperature in Ke Xingzhou’s ears rose even more.

Nie Chen’s back was pressed against the cool tiles, his arm firmly locking Ke Xingzhou in place, silently staring at him, his gaze heavy.

This gaze made Ke Xingzhou feel a little embarrassed, but right now, he really couldn’t sort out their relationship.

Had they just reconciled like this?

The issue that had once made him decisively leave had yet to be resolved, and Ke Xingzhou couldn’t be sure. If they started over without clarity, would they separate again due to the same issue later?

The separation three years ago had exhausted him, and he didn’t want to spend another decade verifying a wrong answer, only to take even longer to move on.Similarly, he didn’t want to hurt Nie Chen again.

Nie Chen rested his chin on his head, letting out a barely noticeable sigh. Then, he slightly pulled back, grabbed a towel, and wrapped him up before carrying him out of the bathroom.

When his body touched the bed, Ke Xingzhou quickly regained his senses, feeling somewhat anxious. "Nie Chen?"

"Didn't you say you were tired?" Nie Chen's voice was still hoarse.

Ke Xingzhou’s heart skipped a beat. In a flurry, he pulled off the towel, but was met with the blow dryer.

With a slight motion of Nie Chen's fingers, the blow dryer roared to life.

Ke Xingzhou: "..."

His hair was blown into disarray, and he could no longer hear anything around him. All he could see were Nie Chen's firm abs and sleek, defined lines leading downwards...

His hair fell into his eyes, and Ke Xingzhou quickly shut them.

He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but amidst the buzzing of the blow dryer, it seemed like he heard a soft laugh.

The sound of the blow dryer stopped, and for a while, there was no movement. Ke Xingzhou hesitated before opening his eyes and saw that Nie Chen was putting on clothes.

His previous outfit was too wet to wear. Nie Chen had found one of Ke Xingzhou’s clothes and was now buttoning his pants. When he lifted his eyes and saw Ke Xingzhou watching, he immediately tossed a pair of underwear at him.

It landed on Ke Xingzhou's head.

Ke Xingzhou: "..."

He wordlessly brushed it off, realizing it was his own underwear, freshly washed and dried, which Nie Chen had pulled out of his wardrobe.

It would need to be washed again later.

Nie Chen was already getting dressed. Ke Xingzhou usually bought discounted clothes in odd sizes, so the few sets he had were loose on him. They fit Nie Chen quite well, though.

The pants were a bit too big, and when Nie Chen stood up, his ankles were exposed.

Nie Chen rummaged through Ke Xingzhou’s wardrobe and found the loosest jacket to wear. His messy hair hadn’t fully dried yet, so he slicked it back, exposing his smooth forehead, which softened his normally stern look.

He looked much younger, more like the Nie Chen Ke Xingzhou remembered.

Once dressed, Nie Chen noticed Ke Xingzhou still watching him. He walked over.

Ke Xingzhou’s back was pressed against the bedpost. "…Nie Chen?"

Nie Chen watched his movements and suddenly smiled. After a moment, he reached out and placed his hand on Ke Xingzhou’s face, lifting the blanket to tuck him into the bed. "Sleep."

The blankets provided by the program weren’t particularly expensive, but they were thin yet warm. Nie Chen quickly pulled it over Ke Xingzhou’s head, wrapping him up entirely.

Ke Xingzhou struggled to crawl out from under the blanket. His sides were pinned down, and Nie Chen propped himself up on top of him, as though waiting for Ke Xingzhou to emerge on his own. He leaned down and kissed his forehead.

"I have a meeting tomorrow. I might come back late."

Ke Xingzhou muttered under his breath, wondering when Nie Chen had anything to do with coming back to the base. As the heir to Wanli Group, his focus should naturally be on the company."You take your time to think, I'll wait no matter how long." Nie Chen pinched his chin, kissed him on the lips, and suddenly seemed to remember something. His voice slowly became lower. "Also, keep that enthusiastic little dog away from you."

Ke Xingzhou: "..."

That was just the persona fans had made for Xie An, why is he still calling it an obsession?

Enough already!

He had been somewhat touched by the first part of the sentence, but hearing the second part, he couldn’t help but find it both laughable and exasperating. Ke Xingzhou thought for a moment and explained, "Xie An doesn’t think of me like that. We're just ordinary friends."

His explanation seemed to please Nie Chen. He had initially gotten up, ready to leave, but now he bent down and kissed him again.

"I know," he said. "But I’m not happy with others pairing you two up."

What about his temporarily ex-boyfriend?

Kissing was truly addictive, especially when lost and then regained. Ever since Ke Xingzhou stopped resisting, letting Nie Chen do whatever he wanted, Nie Chen couldn't help but want to steal a kiss now and then.

Fighting the urge to stay the night, he got up. "Sleep, I’m leaving."

Ke Xingzhou was indeed tired. As he saw Nie Chen about to leave, he relaxed and nodded, ready to sink into sleep, but suddenly, voices came from outside the dorm door.

"Assistant Liu? It's so late, what are you doing here?"

Xie An's voice.

Ke Xingzhou, who was just about to fall asleep, suddenly opened his eyes wide, and Nie Chen froze in his tracks.

They exchanged a glance, both frozen in place.

Ke Xingzhou sat up, completely awake now. He looked at Nie Chen in panic.

"Leave quickly." Ke Xingzhou mouthed the words to Nie Chen.

Nie Chen gave a mysterious smile, pointed to the blocked door, and then at the clothes scattered on the floor, raising an eyebrow. "Where to?"

Ke Xingzhou: "..."

If they had been seen outside the practice room earlier, there might have been some chance to explain, but now, there was no room for any explanation.

Not to mention the scattered clothes all over the floor, the lingering ambiguous atmosphere in the room, and Nie Chen's still unresolved state— even the innocent Xie An would notice what they had just done.

Xie An was just carefree, and because he had unconditional trust in those close to him, he didn’t often think too deeply. He wasn’t really that naïve.

But could they just let Xie An barge in like this?

No, absolutely not!

Ke Xingzhou imagined the situation, and it felt like the awkwardness of a single mother hiding a relationship from her child.

The key was that he still hadn’t figured out his relationship with Nie Chen. Revealing it now would put him in such a passive position.

He quickly came up with an idea. He leaned over the bed, grabbed his coat, pulled something out of it, and handed it to Nie Chen. "Take this!"Nie Chen didn’t act immediately. His grey-green eyes quietly scanned him, his lips moving. “Are you really that afraid of him finding out?”

Earlier, Nie Chen hadn’t really paid much attention to Xie An, but now, there was a more serious tone to his words.

Although Ke Xingzhou had explained his relationship with Xie An and Nie Chen believed that Ke Xingzhou wouldn’t develop feelings for that young guy, Nie Chen was very clear that if they were really just ordinary friends, Ke Xingzhou wouldn’t care about Xie An’s opinion.

Ke Xingzhou had truly considered Xie An as part of his inner circle.

Nie Chen had always resisted this happening, especially since Xie An had formed a bond with Ke Xingzhou at a time when Nie Chen wasn’t aware. This made him feel as though he was being left out.

Outside, Assistant Liu clearly couldn’t stop Xie An.

This experienced special assistant had never encountered such an awkward situation in his years on the job. He couldn’t tell Xie An that Mr. Nie was inside, possibly already in a heated situation, and he couldn’t knock on the door to remind Nie Chen not to disturb his superior’s private matters.

Assistant Liu found himself in the biggest crisis of his career. In his flustered state, he could only say he was there to deliver something and would be leaving soon.

Xie An didn’t suspect him.

Ke Xingzhou heard the sound of the door unlocking, and Xie An, acting very familiar, invited Assistant Liu, “Why don’t you stay and eat hot pot with us? This was brought in by An He Guang and Ke Yuan Bai, it’s contraband! Don’t tell Mr. Nie, it’s our little secret!”

Ke Xingzhou: "..."

Nie Chen: "..."

Just a second before the door was pushed open, Nie Chen finally reached out and took the paper Ke Xingzhou was holding.

Assistant Liu was stunned, looking at Mr. Nie, dressed in mixed streetwear.

The messy clothes on the floor and the mist in Mr. Nie’s hair clearly indicated what had just happened, but his set hadn’t even been delivered yet! Had he not hinted clearly enough earlier?

...No, wait a minute.

Assistant Liu adjusted his glasses, took a deep breath, and finally realized that Mr. Nie was openly standing there in front of everyone, even looking completely at ease, with no sign of the embarrassment of being caught in the act.

Xie An and the others’ expressions were perfectly normal, almost as if they didn’t even notice Mr. Nie in the room. They casually stepped over the scattered clothes and walked in with the hot pot ingredients.

“Bro! I heard from Zhu Chu that you haven’t eaten anything tonight, so we decided to have hot pot. It’s more fitting. Why are you on the bed? Are you going to sleep?”

An He Guang put down the hot pot ingredients and walked straight to the window. “How long has it been since you aired this room out? It feels so stuffy. You should open a window when you sleep, or you’ll wake up tomorrow all dried out.”

Ke Yuan Bai didn’t say a word, silently picking up the scattered clothes from the floor and draping them over a nearby chair.

Seeing the three of them so familiar with the place, Nie Chen’s gaze flickered, and he gave Ke Xingzhou a deep look.

Then, under Assistant Liu’s shock and the others’ indifference, Nie Chen bent down and picked up the remaining clothes, along with the ones Ke Yuan Bai had placed on the chair, and carried them out the door.

“Nie…”

Assistant Liu had just opened his mouth when Nie Chen stopped him with a look.

Inside, Xie An, hearing the noise, remembered something. “Assistant Liu, aren’t you coming in to eat with us?”

Seeing his boss, Assistant Liu’s forehead was sweating. He quickly explained that he had other things to do, bid them farewell, and closed the door behind him.

Only after walking a distance did Assistant Liu come back to his senses from the shock of the scene. Just as he was about to reach out and take the clothes from Mr. Nie’s hands, Nie Chen pulled his hand back, rejecting his offer for help.He just picked out a few outer garments from inside. "Based on these sizes, have a few sets of clothes without labels sent over."

Assistant Liu took them and realized they were the same ones Ke Xingzhou usually wore.

The clothes were not torn, and they were clean, much better than the robe Ke Xingzhou had worn on the show earlier. However, they felt light, making him doubt whether they would keep him warm.

These clothes should have just been washed and put away, as there was still a faint smell of detergent on them.

He thought to himself, so they’re really together now?

No new clothes were even brought!

The events of tonight had definitely exceeded his work experience, and Assistant Liu, almost instinctively following his worker's instincts, nodded before asking, "Would you like me to send over some of your clothes?"

Nie Chen paused.

A moment later, he turned and glanced at him, his lips curling slightly. "That works."

Assistant Liu: "..."

That works... so it wasn’t originally planned?

Thinking about Ke Xingzhou’s indifferent attitude toward Nie Chen earlier, if Ke Xingzhou asked who was sending the clothes, Assistant Liu felt like he was about to fall into a big, round trap.

In the dormitory.

"Still working at this hour... the adult world really has no easy two words," Xie An sighed, shaking his head, but his tone quickly became cheerful again. "But that's fine, this amount of food is perfect for the four of us! Let's eat!"

Ke Xingzhou quickly put on some clothes and went to the bathroom to turn on the ventilation, confirming that Nie Chen hadn’t left anything behind. He then came out in a set of Capybara-themed cartoon pajamas and joined Xie An and the others at the small table, waiting for the hot pot to boil.

Ke Yuan Bai casually pulled a chair over, but when he was about to sit down, he paused, staring suspiciously at the empty chair back.

Xie An, nibbling on his chopsticks, noticed and asked, "What's wrong, is the chair broken?"

"No," Ke Yuan Bai shook his head, his expression a bit strange. "I clearly picked up the clothes from the floor and put them here. Where did they go?"

"Really?" Xie An looked confused, glancing at the floor. "But where did the clothes come from?"

"Ke Xingzhou's room has always been pretty clean, there shouldn’t be clothes on the floor, right?" An He Guang added. "Are you too tired from training and seeing things?"

Ke Yuan Bai looked around, and indeed didn’t see any clothes.

Not just the chair, but Ke Xingzhou’s room was practically empty, aside from the set of pajamas he was wearing and the ragged robe he had worn when he first joined the program.

...Wait.

Only these two pieces of clothing?

Ke Yuan Bai suddenly realized something wasn’t right, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He furrowed his brows, thinking for a while, feeling as though there was an invisible, intangible thin layer of film covering his thoughts, but he couldn’t break through it.

Until Ke Xingzhou cleared his throat. "The hot pot’s ready! Let’s start cooking the ingredients!"Ke Yuan Bai looked at Ke Xingzhou and also felt that Ke Xingzhou's condition tonight was very strange.

His complexion was much redder than usual, and his dark eyes seemed like they were immersed in water. When he looked over, even he couldn’t help but feel his heart skip a beat, a little embarrassed and flustered.

Even his originally pale pink lips had turned crimson.

However, just now, An He Guang mentioned that the room felt stuffy, so maybe it was caused by the stuffiness?

Ke Yuan Bai instinctively felt something was off, but he couldn’t figure out what. The tempting smell of the hot pot in the air made it hard for him to focus.

With delicious food right in front of him, he decided to temporarily put aside the strange thoughts and concentrate on eating the hot pot.

Only then did Ke Xingzhou finally release the hand that had been holding the talisman and let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Luckily, he was used to carrying all kinds of talismans on him. Even though they weren’t usually necessary, he never casually stuffed them away.

The talisman he had just given to Nie Chen was a distraction talisman, which allowed one to ignore the person carrying the talisman and anything related to them under certain conditions.

Assistant Liu had been able to notice Nie Chen’s change right away purely because he knew who was in the room and might have already guessed what the two of them were doing.

But Xie An and the others didn’t know about this and subconsciously thought that Ke Xingzhou's room should be clean, and that only Ke Xingzhou was present. So, they unconsciously ignored Nie Chen, a living person, and the mess he had caused.

If it weren’t for the talisman, Ke Xingzhou wouldn’t have known how to deal with the situation.

Thinking about the scene earlier, Ke Xingzhou couldn’t help but feel guilty.

Fortunately, Xie An and the others only had a brief moment of confusion and didn’t suspect anything. The ambiguous atmosphere in the room had been covered up by the smell of the hot pot, and everything seemed as if it had never happened.

Ke Xingzhou still felt a bit sore and weak, and since he hadn’t eaten dinner, he was now hungry from the physical exertion. He buried his head in the food.

But he didn’t notice that Ke Yuan Bai stiffened when he sat down, slightly raised himself, and looked at the chair back, which still had a few drops of water on it. His expression immediately became interesting.

Recently, Ke Yuan Bai had felt something was off.

After they had finished eating hot pot in Ke Xingzhou’s dorm, he shared his doubts with Xie An and An He Guang. "I remember it clearly. When I entered, I really picked up the clothes and put them on the back of the chair. But when I turned around, they were gone, and there were even a few drops of water on the chair!"

At first, Xie An and An He Guang didn’t think much of it, assuming Ke Yuan Bai was overthinking.

But as Ke Yuan Bai continued to mention more and more details, they started recalling some things that seemed off.

"Now that you mention it, when I walked in, I did think the room looked messy. I was holding the hot pot ingredients and even jumped a little, and a beef meatball just rolled out! But the room was clearly very clean!"

"Normally, after Assistant Liu delivered the things, Ke Xingzhou’s door should have been open, and the room shouldn’t have been so stuffy... Wait, Assistant Liu was still at the door, but Ke Xingzhou was already lying in bed, getting ready to sleep? That seemed a bit too fast."

Ke Yuan Bai’s feelings were even more bizarre. "When I was picking up the clothes, I felt a strong sense of danger, as if some beast was watching me."

The more they replayed the events, the more they felt something wasn’t right, but it was as if a layer of fog covered their minds, and they couldn’t quite remember why they had felt the room was both messy and stuffy.

Having experienced paranormal events before, the three of them thought about it for a while, growing more and more scared, and finally decided to go find Ke Xingzhou’s... eldest disciple, Zhu Chu.

"My master just went to challenge someone, he left just now. Do you need him for something?"

Zhu Chu had finally learned how to draw talismans. He had just put up a hundred of his handmade talismans for luck on his online shop, and they sold out instantly, making him feel extremely accomplished and cheerful.Hearing about their experiences, Zhu Chu was also very puzzled. After thinking for a moment, he realized that the incident happened in his master’s room, so it probably wasn’t caused by an evil ghost.

Could it be one of the members from his own haunted house?

But ever since the old lady ghost brought a group of male and female ghosts to watch handsome guys, the good ghosts at the base had been much more disciplined. When he asked, the good ghosts immediately protested their innocence and even cleverly brought up the surveillance footage to prove their innocence.

This was odd. Since it wasn’t one of the ghosts from his own sect, then where did these bold and reckless spirits come from, daring to cause trouble right under his master’s nose?

Looking at the three of them, there didn’t seem to be any sign of encountering ghosts recently, though there was a hint of misfortune in the air.

Zhu Chu couldn’t make heads or tails of it and couldn’t help but feel a little discouraged. It seemed his skills still weren’t up to par, as he couldn’t even figure out something like this!

"Let’s wait until my master returns. He can check for you," he sighed, "But looking at your faces, it seems one of your friends is about to have some good news. You should all go prepare some gifts. This friend will probably be able to help you a lot."

The three of them were taken aback. Their social circles didn’t overlap at all, and besides Ke Xingzhou, they couldn’t think of any mutual friends.

Just as that thought crossed their minds, they saw a piece of news flashing across the display screen in the breakroom: 【This morning, Wanli Group held a board meeting, and Chairman Mr. Nie officially announced his resignation. The next chairman will be Mr. Nie Chen, the grandson of Mr. Nie.】

The three of them: "!!!"

Although each of them had some level of connection with Mr. Nie, at most, Xie An had exchanged contact information with him.

For such a distant friendship to be noted, Ke Xingzhou's eldest disciple truly was an impressive person!

Zhu Chu didn’t even notice the three of them staring at him with admiration.

He stared at the news article on his phone, slightly puzzled.

"Eh? Why has the red thread on my junior brother gotten thicker?"

Is he in a relationship?