Antidote - - - Chapter 18

Chapter 18」

The atmosphere might have been eased, but considering that it was very tense 20

minutes ago, Cheng Ke still did not wish to appear too concerned or it would look like he was trying to please him, which was going to look very stupid.

Cheng Ke sat on the chair and observed for at least two minutes. Yet Jiang Yuduo just stayed like that, leaning to one side, his head lowered and looking at his arm that was rinsing in cool water under the tap.

His arm was still shaking. Honestly, that wound was quite a long slit, but it wasn’t deep. It shouldn’t have caused a ‘professional casualty’ like Jiang Yuduo to tremble in pain.

Then it must be due to the freezing weather.

Judging by the weather, it looked like it would snow at midnight, yet Jiang Yuduo was rinsing under cold water… If he was shivering from the cold, won’t he stop rinsing instead?

Meow jumped down from the sofa and walked past Cheng Ke’s legs. Its tail brushed against his ankles as it headed towards the kitchen.

Cheng Ke broke the silence and spoke towards the direction of the kitchen: “Is Meow hungry?”

Meow seemed to let out a purr in agreement as it rubbed against the kitchen door.

But Jiang Yuduo did not move. His eyes were still focused on his trembling arm.

Cheng Ke hesitated a little before standing up. No matter how he looked at this situation, it just didn’t seem right.

“Jiang Yuduo?” he walked over to the door and called out, but didn’t dare to go nearer.

Jiang Yuduo titled his face just a little. It was a very slight tilt, which could go unnoticed if you weren’t paying attention. He stopped moving again after this slight movement.

Cheng Ke admitted that he was a little scared right now. Based on the temperamental impression that Jiang Yuduo usually gave him, Cheng Ke would be feeling like he was getting closer, yet by the next second; Jiang Yuduo would be holding the kitchen knife next to the chopping board and be heading towards him.

“Are you alright?” Cheng Ke eventually walked beside the basin and stood behind Jiang Yuduo.

“Third Bro told us to keep a lookout around here, in case you get targeted when you leave.” He recalled Da Bin’s words.

Jiang Yuduo seemed to be struggling to move and bended slightly towards the back.

Cheng Ke did not continue speaking. He stretched his hand and patted lightly on Jiang Yuduo’s back. Jiang Yuduo shivered like electric current was flowing through his body.

“I’m turning it off.” Cheng Ke said before slowly turning the tap off.

Jiang Yuduo’s arm was still stretched across the basin area without moving.

Clenching his teeth, Cheng Ke carefully grabbed his arm and pulled it back.

Jiang Yuduo’s hand and arm were freezing. The wound was already pale from all the rinsing. Yet in just a few seconds, blood started gushing out and now the wound looked just like a fresh wound. It seemed that Jiang Yuduo wasn’t lying about him having a low blood platelet count.

“You fell asleep?” asked Cheng Ke.

“…… No”, Cheng Ke’s voice sounded a little hoarse.

“But you were rinsing it for such a long time, I thought you were…” Cheng Ke explained.

“I didn’t dare to move.” Jiang Yuduo spoke very softly and his voice was trembling a little.

“What?” Cheng Ke paused.

“They saw you.” Jiang Yuduo said while frowning and his lips were pale.

“Who?” Cheng Ke asked, “Those that were in the fight just now?”

“No.” Jiang Yuduo said while still in a frown.

“Then who was it?” Cheng Ke’s eyes were fixed on his face.

The usual smug and arrogance could no longer be seen on Jiang Yuduo’s face. His eyebrows and eyelids were drooping, his face was slightly pale and he looked rather pitiful.

He stayed silent and without responding further to Cheng Ke’s probing.

Just as Cheng Ke was about to drag Jiang Yuduo back to the living room, Jiang Yuduo looked up at him and replied “I’m fine, you may go out.”

Both of them looked at each other for a while. Cheng Ke couldn’t figure anything out through Jiang Yuduo’s eyes. He was unable to recognize any emotions from them. It wasn’t exactly a blank expression, instead he felt unexplainable feelings of fear.

It was Jiang Yuduo’s feelings of fear.

Cheng Ke nodded his head, returned to the living room and sat beside the table.

He didn’t look back into the kitchen again. He thought that Jiang Yuduo might not want anyone to see himself like this.

Cheng Ke looked at the table scattered with salt and those few bags of half-eaten barbecue meat and let out an inaudible sigh. He took the bottle of awful-tasting liquor, poured some into a bowl and drank it.

The expression in Jiang Yuduo’s eyes made him feel a little insecure.

This expression does not fit well with the usual Jiang Yuduo. He felt like he wasn’t someone that could have such an expression.

However, this was not the first time Cheng Ke had seen this expression.

“I’ve seen more bad people than the number of times you’ve cummed.”

This expression Jiang Yuduo was having now resembled that expression he had back then.

Forget it, Cheng Ke didn’t want to think about it anymore.

Cheng Ke wasn’t an inquisitive person. He was raised to not probe into the matters of people who he did not have a close relationship with. Just the thought of doing so would make him feel awkward and a little embarrassed.

He picked up Meow, who had jumped onto the table. Holding onto its paws, he shook off the salt that was stuck onto its fur.

“You wanted to steal food right?” he spoke softly and brought Meow’s paws near his lips. “These are too salty. You can’t eat them. Lick your paws if you don’t believe it?”

Meow did not lick its paws, but chewed lightly on his finger instead.

“You can stay here for the night.” Jiang Yuduo said as he came out of the kitchen.

Cheng Ke turned and looked at him.

Jiang Yuduo was back to his usual self and his voice didn’t sound hoarse anymore.

This change surprised Cheng Ke.

……The birth of a drama king.

However, he soon felt guilty about having such a first reaction that he frowned without answering.

“Don’t you show me that reluctant look.” Jiang Yuduo took out the first-aid kit and sat on the sofa. He took some medicinal powder and scattered it on his wound.

Next, he took a big sterilized cotton ball, pulled it into a long shape and pressed it onto the wound. “If you are reluctant, you can go out to look for the key on your own.”

“I’m not… reluctant.” Cheng Ke did not ask why he decided not to help him look for the key again.

These words came out sounding a little hesitant. His original intention was meant to express that he wasn’t unwilling to spend the night here. But when the words came out of his mouth, it just sounded as if he was afraid that Jiang Yuduo would change his mind.

“I don’t dare to go out now.” Jiang Yuduo muttered really quickly.

Cheng Ke took a glance at him, Jiang Yuduo looked a little moody when he said that.

A big boss who dared not step out of his house might be a little embarrassing for him.

“Mm.” Cheng Ke responded.

“You can sleep on the bed.” Cheng Ke took a roll of adhesive bandage, used his teeth to bite off the edge of the roll and started wrapping it around his arm.

“I can sleep on the sofa”, Cheng Ke said. “You sleep on the bed.”

Jiang Yuduo glanced at him: “I’ll sleep on the bed too.”

Cheng Ke was speechless. It took him a while to ask: “How many beds do you have?”

“One”, Jiang Yuduo sounded a little annoyed, “I’m fucking single, how many beds were you expecting me to have?”

“We’re sleeping on the same bed?” Cheng Ke was astonished and was absolutely unwilling to do it.

It wasn’t only due to this ‘homosexual’ issue that both of them had yet to discuss that would result in them to be very awkward if they were to sleep on the same bed. It was also because Cheng Ke had never once shared a bed with anyone since he was young. He couldn’t stand the fact that he would have someone next to him while he was sleeping.

“What’s wrong?” Jiang Yuduo glared at him, looking a little surprised, “Are you afraid that I’ll take advantage of you?”

Cheng Ke let out a sigh: “These wounds all over your body from god-knows-where have yet to heal. I won’t want you to roll off the bed while keeping away from me. I’ll just sleep on the sofa.”

“As you wish”, Jiang Yuduo bent his head down and bit off the bandage. “You can sleep on the sofa as you wish, but I’d like to inform you that Meow peed on the sofa’s headrest twice today.”

“…The fuck?” Cheng Ke stood up and looked at the sofa.

He never used to notice it before, but now that he took a closer look, he realized that this sofa was really something else. Fabric sofas would gradually look worn-out after being used for a few years. It looked even more worn-out as it was greyish-blue in color. The snagged threads from Meow’s scratches added onto the shabbiness of the sofa and now he was being told that a cat just peed on the headrest twice?

“Here.” Jiang Yuduo pointed at the side of the sofa.

Cheng Ke looked over to the area where he was pointing at. Indeed, there were two faint patches on it.

“It’s dried now”, Jiang Yuduo patted on the area, “I thought you’d be particular about it. If it was Chen Qing, he still would’ve just slept on it.”

Cheng Ke stayed in silence.

“I’ll get you a bedsheet in a while to cover it”, Jiang Yuduo put the first-aid kit away,

“It peed here. You can rest your head on the other side.”

Cheng Ke still did not speak.

He kept telling himself to stop being unreasonable, to stop being so fussy and to stop acting like a spoilt rich kid. But now, he wasn’t able to retrieve his key; and he didn’t even have his identity card with him… Was it really necessary for an identity card in order to stay at a hotel? Should he bring along his identity card the next time if he were to go out?

Forget it. If he had brought it along today, it would have been lost along with the key.

Jiang Yuduo stood up, entered the bedroom and opened the cupboard.

Cheng Ke needed to make his decision now. To sleep on the pee or to sleep on the bed.

While Jiang Yuduo was having a very hard time pulling a bedsheet out from a very cluttered cupboard, Cheng Ke moved near the sofa quietly and patted on the sides of the two dried patches. The odor made him grit his teeth: “I’d better sleep on the bed.”

“Fuck you!” Jiang Yuduo hugged the bedsheet while glaring at him.

“Pardon me, I didn’t mean to mess with you”, Cheng Ke stood up and pointed at the sofa, “But it seems that I can still… smell it.”

“Obviously? It just peed on it in the afternoon”, Jiang Yuduo said, “Or I wouldn’t have asked you to sleep on the bed!”

Cheng Ke didn’t speak.

“Stuff that fucking thing back in for me!” Jiang Yuduo threw the bedsheet on the bed.

“Okay.” Cheng Ke went into the bedroom quickly. After all, Jiang Yuduo had just injured his arm.

He took the bedsheet from the bed, turned around and looked at the cupboard in confusion: “From which place… did you take it out from?”

The cupboard was stuffed with all kinds of blankets, quilts covers, bedsheets, comforters, quilts and clothes. All of them were fitted together tightly, and there were no signs that this bedsheet had been in the cupboard.

“I don’t know”, Jiang Yuduo laid on the bed and used an arm as a pillow while looking at him in amusement, “Just stuff it in wherever.”

Cheng Ke stared at the contents in the cupboard. Then, shoved his arm into the middle of the various quilts and blankets. Finally, he managed to find a gap in the middle of it near the bottom. That gap seemed to have extra space when he shoved his arm in.

He rolled the bedsheet into a lump and stuffed it into the gap.

The bedsheet went in a little, there’s hope!

He pushed it a little more and some more of it went in!

He heard Jiang Yuduo‘s laughter.

To get it over and done with, he pushed it in hard with one hand and tried to lift the contents with another hand to create some more space for the bedsheet.

His arm was pushing its limits and with this one move, the contents in the upper part of the cupboard collapsed.

Before Cheng Ke knew it, the pile of clothes and blankets fell on his head and were scattered all over the floor.

”The fuck!” He exclaimed.

Just as he felt that Jiang Yuduo might pounce on him and beat him up, he heard Jiang Yuduo roaring in laughter.

“I’ve got to fucking hand it to you…” Jiang Yuduo laid on his bed and held his stomach. He was laughing so much that his eyes can’t even be seen, “You can definitely put it in now.”

Cheng Ke leaned on the cupboard door and sighed softly: “I’m sorry, I really… I’ve honestly never done such chores before.”

“It’s alright.” Jiang Yuduo continued laughing for a while more before stopping.

“Leave it, just throw it there. The packing up can be done tomorrow.”

“Leave it on the floor?” Cheng Ke looked at him.

“Duh?” Jiang Yuduo shrugged.

Cheng Ke glanced around the bedroom. The layout was very simple – one bed, two cupboards and a bedside table. On the bedside table, other than the phone, table lamp, cup and tissue papers, there was a cat head mini night light. It was then that Cheng Ke recalled that there was a cat on the keychain. Jiang Yuduo seemed to like cats a lot… He suddenly felt a little apologetic.

There was a rocking chair near the window. Cheng Ke lifted the contents on the floor and tried his best to stack them all on it.

“Didn’t you hire over a hundred nannies at home?” Jiang Yuduo sat up and took his top off.

“… Ah”, Cheng Ke turned his head away. It was then that he understood what Jiang Yuduo was implying. “Where on earth did the hundred over nannies come from?

Just a few. An aunt to do the cleaning and another to do the cooking.”

“I’m a little envious”, Jiang Yuduo jumped down the bed and walked out of the bedroom. “If I were to forcefully arrange for an aunt to be here, it could only be Aunt Chen Qing.”

Cheng Ke laughed: “Damn.”

“I’ll go wash up.” Jiang Yuduo said, “You, get in line.”

“Mm”, Cheng Ke replied.

It was after Jiang Yuduo went into the bathroom that Cheng Ke heaved a sigh of relief, sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed his face.

Cheng Ke wasn’t a stranger to stayovers. Usually, he had a room to himself and had never once felt so awkward being in a bedroom with another person. This made him a little restless.

He took another look at the contents in the bedroom, it was really plain. He could tell that Jiang Yuduo lived a very laid-back lifestyle, as many of his things had scratches and dents left behind by bumps.

It could be because there were too few things in the bedroom, so it looked pretty neat. It does seem that Jiang Yuduo would usually clean up his bedroom, and that cluttered cupboard was the proof.

“Your turn to wash up.” Jiang Yuduo entered the bedroom. He was still topless. The wounds on his body were impressive as always. “There’s mouthwash next to the cup.”

“Oh”, Cheng Ke stood up, “You use mouthwashes?”

“I don’t use those. Got it for free with an item I bought at the supermarket. It was those that were in bags.” Jiang Yuduo jumped up, bounced onto the bed and stretched. “Since you’re so particular, you can use it. Or it’s going to waste if I throw it away.”

“Mm.” Cheng Ke nodded.

Indeed, there was a bag of travel-sized mouthwash in the bathroom. He picked it up and looked at it. It’s even peach-flavored, a flavor he liked. This made him really happy, since he could only clean his face with a tissue paper instead of washing it.

Jiang Yuduo was only in a pair of briefs when he finished washing up and went back into the bedroom. He was lying on the bed holding his phone, probably reading a novel.

“You can use that.” Jiang Yuduo glanced at him and pointed at the quilt beside the bed. “Since you’ve made the cupboard into a mess, you can take it out. Or you’ll need to use the one that Chen Qing had used before.

“Thank you.” Cheng Ke smiled.

After smiling, he stood beside the bed, looking a little hesitant. Should he wear clothes to sleep or should he take off his clothes? How much clothes should he have on himself before Jiang Yuduo would say something about it?

“You’re not sleeping?” Jiang Yuduo turned over and asked.

“I am.” Cheng Ke clenched his teeth and took his clothes off. It was after he took them off that he saw that there was a hole on the sleeve of his sweater as well.

Of course, as if it wasn’t obvious enough. With that wound on his arm, the clothes would have definitely been worn out. However, he was still feeling very down.

“You can wear my clothes tomorrow.” Jiang Yuduo said, “I guess you must have lost a little less than ten thousand dollars from the fight today?”

Cheng Ke sighed. He was about to lift up the quilt to sit on the bed when Jiang Yuduo patted on the headboard: “Take your pants off. It doesn’t matter if you are going to sleep on the sofa but you are wearing a fucking outerwear on my bed? I just changed my quilt cover.”

“Oh”, Cheng Ke had no choice but to stand up and undo his belt, “Actually I’m afraid that you…”

“Which part of me are you afraid of?” Jiang Yuduo let out a tsk sound. ”I’m not fucking interest in men, afraid my ass!”

“Fuck. I’m afraid of pissing you off!” Cheng Ke was speechless. “How could you criticize Chen Qing when I don’t see a difference between your brain and his? It’s comparable. Don’t you laugh at him in future.”

“I don’t mind”, Jiang Yuduo laughed. “What can you do to me? You must be still feeling dizzy in the back of your head.”

Cheng Ke didn’t want to continue with this topic. He gritted his teeth, pulled his pants down and got up the bed. Pulling the blanket over, he laid sideways while facing away from Jiang Yuduo.

“You have quite a nice figure. Did you use to work out?” Jiang Yuduo asked.

“You can consider so.” Cheng Ke closed his eyes, “I used to practice Taekwondo for a period of time.”

“That explains it. The way you fought looked different from others.” Jiang Yuduo said.

Cheng Ke felt movement on the mattress, Jiang Yuduo probably turned over.

With someone sleeping beside him, Cheng Ke felt uncomfortable and couldn’t even relax. He could hear every single movement and sound made by Jiang Yuduo.

He was deep in thought when Jiang Yuduo’s voice suddenly sounded behind his ears: “Hey.”

Cheng Ke was startled. He immediately turned his head around to stare at Jiang Yuduo and asked: “What’s the matter?”

“Can you teach me when you’re available?” Jiang Yuduo stretched out his arm and tugged at his side of the bed.

It was then that Cheng Ke realized that Jiang Yuduo was actually leaning on one side to straighten up the bedsheet. He felt like tens of thousands of donkeys just trotted past in his mind: “Thought you could fight pretty well.”

“It’s not for fighting. It seems quite interesting.” Jiang Yuduo leaned back on the headrest. “Since you have no art to work on, you can teach me when you’re free.”

“…Mm.” Cheng Ke could only answer.

Jiang Yuduo nodded, reached for a cigarette on the bedside table and lit it.

“You smoke in bed?” Cheng Ke was about to turn around to lie down, but paused and turned his neck to look at him instead.

“What’s wrong with smoking in bed?” said Jiang Yuduo with a cigarette between his lips, “I’m not going to flick cigarette ashes on your head.”

Cheng Ke was at a loss for words. After feeling anxious this whole time, he finally managed to sit up. He positioned the pillow up straight and laid back onto the headboard: “Give me one.”

Jiang Yuduo laughed and passed the pack of cigarettes and lighter to him.

“What do you do with the cigarette ashes?” Cheng Ke lit a cigarette and looked around. There were no ashtrays in sight.

“On the floor.” Jiang Yuduo said, “The cleaning up can be done tomorrow after waking up.”

“Then why did you tell me to leave those blankets alone if you’re going to flick the ashes on the floor.” Cheng Ke sighed.

“Well, aren’t you annoying!” Jiang Yuduo frowned. “There aren’t any blankets on the floor now, right?!”

Cheng Ke thought for a while, and felt that it actually made sense.

Jiang Yuduo sat up, pulled open the drawer of the bedside table, took something out of the drawer and threw it on him: “Take it, take it, take it, exclusively only for young masters!”

Cheng Ke took a look. It was a light blue glass cat head ashtray. He wasn’t sure if it had been washed before, as it was very clean and pretty.

“Thank you.” Cheng Ke took the ashtray from him and flicked the cigarette ashes in.

Afterwards, both of them didn’t speak. Jiang Yuduo was probably reading novels and couldn’t take his eyes off his phone. Cheng Ke got lost in thoughts while staring at those two cupboards. The cupboard on the left was filled with bedding, while the one on the right was probably filled with clothes.

He wondered if the clothes were explosively cluttered in the cupboard too.

Cheng Ke finished smoking his cigarette without speaking. He didn’t feel sleepy at all, so he took his phone and started scrolling through aimlessly too.

“Hey, I have a question. It’s a little embarrassing, but I still wanted to ask.” Jiang Yuduo said while looking at his phone.

“You can wait till you are less embarrassed before asking.” Cheng Ke replied.

“Lying next to me like this,” Jiang Yuduo turned around, “Will that give you an erection?”

In fact, Cheng Ke had already guessed what he was going to ask. Jiang Yuduo’s character was not the kind that would be “a little embarrassed to ask,” even if it was any other question.

“No.” Cheng Ke replied.

Honestly, he did not… At least not now. He only felt awkward.

“You can’t right?” Jiang Yuduo was a little surprised. “If I were like that with a girl, I would have gotten hard before she were to even lie down beside me.”

Cheng Ke took a breath and exhaled slowly. He tried not to show his frustration:

“So far, which girl have you done this with?”

Jiang Yuduo thought for a moment, “None.”

“… None?” Cheng Ke turned around and glared at him. Unable to keep it in, he shouted, “You’ve never done this before? Then why the fuck are you trying to fantasize about it on my behalf!”

解药

(Antidote)

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