Even though Mo Lingqiu had agreed on impulse, when it came time to do it, he didn’t know how.
Jiang Chenming watched him panicking, so unlike his usual self, and laughed. “Teacher Mo, do you want me to teach you?”
“…Shut up.” Mo Lingqiu glared at him, looking completely annoyed.
Jiang Chenming smiled. “Take the things out of the bedside table drawer and use them.”
Mo Lingqiu stopped what he was trying to do. He threw the tablet aside and sat up, pulling open the drawer.
Through the screen, Jiang Chenming watched as the one size too large white shirt that Mo Lingqiu was wearing draped in front of the camera, blocking most of the good scenery.
The drawer was pulled open, and Mo Lingqiu froze at what he saw inside. His hand flinched back as if it had been burned.
“Jiang Chenming! When did you buy all of this?” Mo Lingqiu asked, exasperated. No matter how cold he was, he still had a temper. His face was flushed from both shame and anger.
Jiang Chenming quickly explained, “I bought them while I was out buying other things. I thought we could use them later…”
Mo Lingqiu didn’t want to talk to him anymore. He hung up the video call and put down the tablet with a snap.
On the other end of the phone, Jiang Chenming saw that his screen had suddenly gone black and didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. He switched over to his computer and started another video call.
It took a long time for Mo Lingqiu to pick up, visibly much calmer than before.
“What?”
Jiang Chenming took advantage of Mo Lingqiu’s weakness. “Teacher Mo, you promised me. You can’t break your promise.”
Mo Lingqiu pursed his lips, sat back up, and picked the things out of the drawer without caring about anything else.
——×
“Teacher Mo, be good and go take a bath. I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon.” Jiang Chenming finally knew what ‘from now on, the emperor will not attend levees’1 a historical phrase, saying that the emperor doesn’t want to attend levees because he loves his wife and wants to spend time with her meant, and he wanted to drown himself in Mo Lingqiu.
“Aren’t you coming back on the 4th?” Mo Lingqiu had come back to his senses, and he looked at him, puzzled.
“I don’t want to wait anymore, I miss you.” Jiang Chenming didn’t want to be separated from Mo Lingqiu at all.
Jiang Chenming tried to convince him a few more times to take a shower and then go to sleep. “Don’t change the sheets. I’ll deal with them tomorrow. Sleep in my room.”
“…En.” Mo Lingqiu was so sleepy that his feet dragged as he sauntered into the bathroom.
Jiang Chenming listened to the sound of water splashing around the bathroom. In no time, Mo Lingqiu came back out after his shower and went to the guest room, tablet and mobile phone in hand.
Jiang Chenming watched him lie down and gently wished him a good night.
The next afternoon, while Mo Lingqiu was still reading, Jiang Chenming rushed back, just like he said he would.
Right as he was about to roll up his sleeves to clean up the master bedroom, he found that it was already clean.
“I…I cleaned it all.” Mo Lingqiu didn’t dare to leave it as it was. He’d thrown the sheets into the washing machine the night before and had sprinkled something on the Simmons mattress to make it clean before leaving it overnight.
Jiang Chenming bent down and gave him a kiss. “I brought you something to eat.”
“What?” Mo Lingqiu couldn’t help but look into the bag in Jiang Chenming’s hand. He’d already smelled it and could roughly guess what it was.
“Skewers.” Jiang Chenming took out the skewer that he’d bought from the snack street. It was well packed. He unpacked the bag and placed it in front of Mo Lingqiu.
Mo Lingqiu was in a good mood, his expression much softer.
“Is it really okay that you left early?” As he ate, he couldn’t shake his small worry about Jiang Chenming’s apprenticeship.
“There were two morning games and I watched one more before I left in the afternoon. I saw enough.” Jiang Chenming looked at him. “And for official competitions like this, they provide videos, so I can always watch it later.”
“Oh.” With video, there was nothing to worry about.
Jiang Chenming suddenly seemed to remember something. He walked to the bedside table, opened the drawer, and saw that the original pile of things in it was gone.
Shocked, he could only think of one possibility. “…You threw them all away?”
Mo Lingqiu didn’t want to answer him. “…I won’t tell you.”
With a muffled laugh, Jiang Chenming squatted in front of Mo Lingqiu. “Teacher Mo, don’t tell me… you secretly hid them to use for yourself?”
a historical phrase, saying that the emperor doesn’t want to attend levees because he loves his wife and wants to spend time with he