Chapter 32

”Eh …”Chai ManMan said, “You might have a misunderstanding about long distancerelationships.”

Tong Yan listlessly continued to memorize argumentative essay snippets, and Chai ManMan said, “Well, if your alpha isn’t home, can’t you stay in the school dorm at night?”

This was a problem,Tong Yan put down his book and began to think.

Chai ManMan continued,“If you stay in the dorm, we can have dinner together today. It just sohappens that you haven’t participated in our group activities yet.”

That morning, Zhuo XiangMing had asked him if he was going to Lin Yue Hua’s home or his dad’s home. TongYan couldn’t decide on the spot. If he went back to his family home, Tong LiQin and Tong Yang were away often, so it would be no different than living inhis and Zhuo Xiang Ming’s home, and Zhuo Xiang Ming would still worry. But, goingto Lin Yue Hua’s home, without Zhuo Xiang Ming to accompany him, felt a little awkward.

Now, his classmate ChaiManMan provided a new option, Tong Yan said: “Hmm, living in the dorm…I’lldo it.”

He pulled out his phoneto text the news to Zhuo Xiang Ming, but he was probably very busy, because hedidn’t reply.

During lunch break,Tong Yan had just brushed his teeth and reclined on the bed when Zhuo XiangMing sent a video call request. He picked up his headphones from the foot ofthe bed and put it on, Zhuo Xiang Ming’s face appearing on the screen:“Tong Tong.”

Tong Yan beamed: “Brother.”

Zhuo Xiang Mingasked: “Are you going to sleep?”

Tong Yan: “Notyet.”

Zhuo Xiang Ming wasin an office, behind him was a file cabinet. He was meticulously dressed in a suit.Tong Yan also sat up, seating against the wall and hugging his knees, arranginghis somewhat messy hair in front of the webcam.

Zhuo Xiang Ming:“Are your roommates there?”

Tong Yan: “Oneis here, the other two haven’t come back. The lunch break bell will ring in abouteighteen minutes.”

”Ok, what didyou eat for lunch?” Zhuo Xiang Ming asked.

Tong Yan: “Somefish, spinach, corn, rice, and a bowl of soup.”

”Okay.”Zhuo Xiang Ming said again.

He didn’t seem to havemuch to talk about, in fact, Tong Yan also didn’t have much to say, but hedidn’t want to hang up.

The morningseparation was very rushed, so all morning, he only thought about Zhuo XiangMing.

If he was the only onein the dormitory, Tong Yan would definitely tell Zhuo Xiang Ming this fact, butwith his classmate present, he could only rest his chin on his knee, silentlylooking at Zhuo Xiang Ming.

”Ohright.” Tong Yan finally thought of something, “I’m staying in thedorm tonight, did you see my message?”

”I just saw it.I’ve been in a meeting all morning; I didn’t bring my cell phone.” Zhuo XiangMing said.

Tong Yan had guessedthis, saying, “You’ve worked hard.”

Zhuo Xiang Mingasked: “You’ll stay in the school tonight, but what about tomorrow?”

Tong Yan thought fora moment, then said, “I don’t know … I’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

”Do you have everythingyou need at school? Is it inconvenient?” Zhuo Xiang Ming habitually tappedthe table with his index finger, saying, “Don’t be afraid to go home,someone will pick you up. Plus, my mom has some free time recently.”

Zhuo Xiang Ming seemedto be very focused during the video call with Tong Yan. His phone should be ona stand. He had both hands on the table, and was sitting upright, like he wasin the middle of a video conference.

He looked so proper,serious and upright, but Tong Yan recalled the kiss that morning. It was fierce,hard, and intense.

”Tong Tong?”

”Oh …” TongYan shrank himself a bit, trying in vain to hide his slightly flushed face withhis knees, “No need, Chai ManMan said that I can join in a group event. The newround just started on Wednesday, and I can eat dinner with them tonight.”

Chai ManMan …Zhuo Xiang Ming’s attention strayed, failing to notice Tong Yan’s quietly burningface. He’d suddenly realized that that name came out of Tong Yan’s mouth quite often.

Perhaps because theother person was a girl and a beta, he didn’t pay much attention to her before.But she was the same age as Tong Yan, and the two were desk-mates. It alsolooked like they had a good relationship… But this thought only appeared for asplit second, Zhuo Xiang Ming didn’t let it occupy his mind too much.

Apart from feeling embarrassed,Tong Yan was also afraid that Zhuo Xiang Ming would be worried about him being“miserable” in school, so he added: “I haven’t lived in a dormfor a long time, it’s quite interesting.”

Hearing this, Zhuo XiangMing raised his eyebrows slightly, giving a meaningful hum, Tong Yan smiled:“Did I make you go on a business trip?”

Zhuo Xiang Mingalso smiled, saying, “Okay, rest well.”

Tong Yan didn’t reply,he clasped his phone in his hands and leaned closer, staring at Zhuo Xiang Mingfor a moment. Zhuo Xiang Ming also looked at him.

The boy wore a pureblack sweatshirt today, making his neck appear even more slender and fair. Hisface was very small, and it looked even smaller so close to the phone screen.

His eyes first fellon Tong Yan’s somewhat red lips, then the sunlight hit his profile, highlightingthe pale blue blood vessels and his fine, silky hair. This all made Tong Yanlook like a harmless and pure small animal. Zhuo Xiang Ming couldn’t help butthink once more, Tong Yan was so beautiful, it’s impossible for him to be theonly person who liked him.

Plus, who else wasmost likely to like Tong Yan? The classmates closest to him, after gettingalong, they would find that Tong Yan was not only good-looking, he also had a goodpersonality, very kind and polite. Although academic performance wasn’t very importantwhen forming friendships between high-school students, Tong Yan’s grades wouldalso be a plus.

From this point ofview, whether it was boys or girls, alphas or betas, all were possibilities.Zhuo Xiang Ming felt a sudden mounting crisis.

Fortunately, his densenessfinally successfully joined up with Tong Yan. When he saw the boy anxiously waitingon the screen, he offhandedly asked, “Why’s your face so red?”

Tong Yan blinked,still quietly watching him. Zhuo Xiang Ming’s voice softened a lot as he asked:“You don’t want to sleep?”

”I do, but youhaven’t told me …” Because his classmate was present, Tong Yan only spokevaguely, and in a very quiet voice.

Zhuo Xiang Minglooked at him gently: “Take care of yourself at school. Wait for me to comeback, I’ll try to get back as soon as possible.”

Tong Yan tiltedsideways, lying down on the bed as he nodded at him. Zhuo Xiang Ming added,“I’ll miss you.”

Tong Yan finally heardwhat he wanted to hear. He pursed his mouth in a smile, looking away. He turnedback after a while, but he didn’t look at Zhuo Xiang Ming, his ears and face reddening.

He got shy veryeasily, but he was often franker than anyone. Zhuo Xiang Ming loved his shy appearance,and he also loved his frank moments. Every side of him was cute, cute and genuine,the many aspects added up to form Tong Yan, the person Zhuo Xiang Ming couldnever reject.

Zhuo Xiang Ming hadalready noticed that his life changed when Tong Yan arrived, but the love wasso intense and the change was so profound that he sometimes wasn’t sure whetherthat change was good or bad.

But at this moment,because his classmate was in the room, Tong Yan couldn’t say anything cute. Hecould only pucker his lips at the screen, silently kissing him. Although he wasshy, he still faced the screen, his two fox-like eyes looking at him, reluctanceto part and love all very clear inside. Seeing this, Zhuo Xiang Ming again feltthat the change wasn’t such a big deal.

Their partingimminent, Zhuo Xiang Ming only wanted to make Tong Yan happy. Going along withhim, he talked a lot of sweet nothings one-sidedly. When Tong Yan felt sleepy, theyended the video call.

That evening, TongYan ate dinner with the students in the group. After attending self-study andparticipating in the group activities, he called Zhuo Xiang Ming. Zhuo XiangMing had already landed. When he picked up the call, he had just stepped out ofthe bathroom. The school management was quite strict, the two couldn’t talk forlong before it was time for Tong Yan to take a bath and go to bed.

There was a parent-teacherconference on Saturday morning. When Tong Li Qin came, he found out that Zhuo XiangMing wasn’t home, and Tong Yan had been living at school these past few days.

The parent-teacher conferencecame to a close. The students walked out with their parents, Tong Yan and TongLi Qin included.

”Why didn’tyou tell me? If he’s not here, you should’ve come home. Didn’t I tell you lasttime that I’m not very busy recently, you …” Tong Li Qin was reallyupset, so his tone was quite serious.

Tong Yan didn’t thinkabout it before, but he suddenly understood, explaining: “My classmates persuadedme to stay. We can play together if I live in the dorms. There are a lot of afterschool activities, but I’ve always been a day student, so I couldn’t join. I justwanted to take this chance to join in.”

It was true that TongYan was unlikely to immediately think of finding him when something came up. Inthe end, the blame couldn’t be placed on Tong Yan. Tong Li Qin sighed,“What about the weekend? Is he coming back?”

Tong Yan shook hishead: “I don’t know yet.”

The father and sonreturned home. Tong Yan felt that Tong Li Qin seemed to frequently mention ZhuoXiang Ming, but he couldn’t be sure if his own guilty conscience was making himfeel that way.

He wanted to askZhuo Xiang Ming if he should tell Tong Li Qin about the two of them, but afterthinking about it, he always felt that this was a very important matter, so TongYan didn’t want to talk about it on the phone.

It was one thing todate, it’s another thing to lay your cards on the table before both parents.

Tong Yan was veryconfident in Zhuo Xiang Ming’s love for him, but it may be because of Zhuo XiangMing’s previous celibacy, but Tong Yan was slightly sensitive to these kinds ofthings that bordered on commitment. But he still couldn’t help but think aboutit. He really wanted to make it clear, but he also thought he should be a bit cooler,and the action of always chasing after your lover to get him to “make itclear” didn’t seem very cool to Tong Yan.

Although Zhuo XiangMing liked him, it didn’t resemble his style of always repeating “I likeyou” and “I miss you”.

Tong Yan liked ZhuoXiang Ming, and he also idolized Zhuo Xiang Ming. Naturally, he felt that Zhuo XiangMing was very cool, unfortunately, that didn’t match well with his ownpersonality. Looking at Zhuo Xiang Ming’s face and listening to his voice, TongYan couldn’t help but incessantly declare: “I miss you so much, when willyou come back Zhuo Xiang Ming, I really miss you Zhuo Xiang Ming.”

There was a time differencebetween them. Tong Yan’s Saturday morning was Zhuo Xiang Ming’s “very late atnight”. He was wrapped in a bathrobe.

He always waiteduntil Tong Yan got up, wanting to talk before going to sleep: “I’m coming backtomorrow.”

”Hmm …”Tong Yan was struggling to peel a pomegranate, hearing this, he stared blanklyfor a moment, then reacted, “When, tomorrow????”

Zhuo Xiang Mingcalmly said: “Yes.”

Tong Yan wasexcited, but doubtful: “How many hours does it take to come back? You shouldbe asleep now.”

Zhuo Xiang Mingglanced at the time: “The flight is in six hours. I’m free now, so I cansleep for a while.”

Tong Yan couldn’thelp but laugh, but after laughing, he also scolded Zhuo Xiang Ming,“Don’t you know what a surprise is?”

Apparently, Zhuo XiangMing really hadn’t thought of that: “Ah … I didn’t think of that, howabout next time?”

”No!” TongYan’s smile was so big that his eyes disappeared, he moved closer to the screenand scolded, “Before your next business trip, you have to tell me exactly whenyou’ll come back!”

Zhuo Xiang Mingnodded good-naturedly, promising.

”You didsomething wrong this time, so you have to reflect when you come back.” TongYan won an inch and took a mile, “You’re not allowed to hide your businesstrips from me again, tell me in advance.”

Zhuo Xiang Mingpromised sincerely: “I was wrong, I’ll come back and properly reflect.”

Tong Yan snorted proudly,but he still couldn’t hold back, laughing again. He was sitting on the floor withhis back against the sofa. Some discs and Lego bricks were scattered on thesofa. It looked a little messy, but it had a lively atmosphere, just like TongYan.

Zhuo Xiang Ming silentlylooked at Tong Yan, his expression was indifferent, but his eyes were verygentle. He stroked Tong Yan’s face on the screen with his finger, and Tong Yan asked,“What are you doing?”

”I miss you.”Zhuo Xiang Ming said.

This was the firsttime he said these words after leaving. Tong Yan hid his shyness and happiness behinda fuming expression, “I’m so good, of course you miss me.”

”Eh?”Zhuo Xiang Ming wanted to tease him, pretending to be puzzled, “Where areyou good?”

Unexpectedly, Tong Yansaid: “Everywhere is good, not knowing this is the second mistake you’llneed to reflect on!”

Zhuo Xiang Ming dughimself a pit, and finally fell asleep with two guilty verdicts.

On the way to theairport, the secretary informed Zhuo Xiang Ming: “Mr. Zhuo, two hours ago,Mr. Tong requested your flight number from me.”

Zhuo Xiang Ming:“He wants to pick me up?”

There was quite alarge distance from home to the airport. Zhuo Xiang Ming’s first reaction wasto tell Tong Yan not to come, but the secretary added, “Mr. Tong requestedthat I not tell you.”

Oh … it’s a surprise.

Was he really that old?He was nine years older than Tong Yan, exactly three generation gaps. Apparently,he really needed to learn the thoughts of young people, otherwise, he won’t beable to keep up.

Thinking aboutthis, Zhuo Xiang Ming put away the cell phone he had just pulled out.

Unexpectedly, a fewminutes later, Tong Yan called and asked Zhuo Xiang Ming: “Have you leftalready?”

Zhuo Xiang Ming:“I’ve left, what’s wrong?”

Tong Yan: “Nothing.”

Zhuo Xiang Mingwanted to help Tong Yan keep the surprise. For a moment, he felt more nervousthan the person preparing the surprise, and couldn’t think of anything to say.

Tong Yan was alsoabnormally silent. Both sides were quiet for a few seconds, then Tong Yanfinally braced himself and asked, “What car will your company send to pickyou up tomorrow? Is it an RV?”

Zhuo Xiang Mingimmediately cooperated: “The company has no RVs, and the official businesscars are also in very short supply. I don’t know if there’ll be a car to pick meup after landing.”

Hearing this, theassistant in the passenger seat: …

The bodyguards: …

Zhuo Xiang Mingfelt that he had responded very quickly, and had cooperated well, but when TongYan heard this, he didn’t seem very excited.

The two talked a littlelonger, then Tong Yan said that he had to eat lunch and hung up.

After landing thenext day, he ordered the assistant to leave through the special passage with theluggage, and Zhuo Xiang Ming followed the crowd out. Sure enough, he found TongYan waiting for him at the pick-up lounge.

Three days apart, andseveral videocalls in between, but seeing him now, he realized how much hemissed him. A terrible longing, very uncomfortable, even another second apartwas unbearable.

Last night, Jiangdu had its first snowfall. Tong Yan wore a dark-tan colored, knee-length coat, a ring of fur on his cap. When he threw himself into Zhuo Xiang Ming’s arms, his hair and fur brushing his lower jaw, only then did Zhuo Xiang Ming’s heart substantially relax.

Zhuo Xiang Minghugged Tong Yan tightly, almost lifting his feet off the ground.

Hugging wasn’tenough, but for the rest, they’d have to go home first. Tong Yan led him all theway to the parking lot. A uniformed driver stood beside an extended RV, openingthe door for them.

The RV quickly startedup. As soon as it got onto the airport expressway, Tong Yan raised the driver partitionand climbed into Zhuo Xiang Ming’s lap. The car temperature was high, his eyeswere gleaming, and his face was flushed as he pecked the corner of Zhuo XiangMing’s mouth.

The lamb was awfully courageous, notavoiding him after kissing him. Zhuo Xiang Ming couldn’t suppress a deep breath,pulling Tong Yan’s head closer.

”Wait.” TongYan remembered something, and suddenly pressed an index finger against Zhuo XiangMing’s lips.

Zhuo Xiang Ming exercisedall his patience to stop.

Tong Yan asked him,“What’s going on with your company? Why aren’t there any cars to pick upthe boss?”

Zhuo Xiang Ming didn’tknow how to answer this question, because his company had many cars, of course hewasn’t stranded.

Tong Yan: “I’venever rented a car before; I didn’t know you needed proof of income in order torent this type. What kind of proof of income does a trust-fund baby have?I was so worried. In the end, I had to ask Chai ManMan, and she let me borrowher older brother’s RV.”

Hearing this, Zhuo XiangMing stared blankly: “Why did you specifically need an RV?”

Tong Yan’s eyessuddenly widened, and he pursed his lips, thinking about drawing back, butbecause Zhuo Xiang Ming was holding onto the back of his head, he couldn’t retreat,and could only reply dryly: “Because I wanted to kiss as soon as possible.”

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T/N:

RV- When I think of RVs, I think of the mobile homes, but these ‘RVs’ seem to be limo vans. The extend RV seems to be a traditional stretch limo.

trust-fund baby- one who belongs to the second generation of a wealthy family

Don’t ask why he’s sleeping atlunchtime, idk