Little Pink Starfish

King Hui of Xiapi’s appearance was too striking. Zhang Qiu had only seen his image in the tomb murals, yet it had left an unforgettable impression. Of course, there was also the fact that his second brother, Zhang Yushui, bore a resemblance to the young emperor—and the erotic mural of the young emperor and King Hui of Xiapi was particularly burned into his memory.

If Li Shu was the most beautiful man he had ever seen, then King Hui of Xiapi had a beauty that leaned more toward the feminine, carrying a delicate, ethereal charm.

Zhang Qiu held back his thoughts the entire ride. By the time they got out of the car, he could no longer suppress his expression. Boss Jin thought Zhang Qiu was just starving and laughed, saying to Li Shu, “Brother Li Shu, make yourselves at home. Once things are settled, I’ll come find you to discuss.”

The driver seemed impatient with Boss Jin’s small talk. One of them said, “Mr. Jin, the boss is waiting for you.”

“Alright, alright, I’m coming.”

After Boss Jin left, Zhang Qiu saw that the hotel entrance was too crowded to talk, and the sun outside was scorching. “Let’s talk in the room.”

The hotel in Changsha had been arranged by the boss behind Boss Jin. It was a bit far from the city center but extremely luxurious.

“Sir, are you sure you want just one king-sized bed? Would you like to change it or book another room?”

Li Shu’s expression was cold. “No need.”

The receptionist’s gaze immediately turned ambiguous. Smiling sweetly, she handed the key card to Li Shu and even added, “Wishing you two a pleasant stay.”

Zhang Qiu: Miss, I think you’ve misunderstood something.

When they entered the room, Zhang Qiu’s mind instantly screamed WTF—he realized he was the one who had misunderstood. Which idiot booked this room?!

A king-sized bed, rose petals arranged in the shape of a heart, and pink balloons.

Zhang Qiu stood at the foot of the bed, awkwardly silent for a long moment, before mumbling, “They must have given us the wrong room.”

Li Shu, on the other hand, looked completely at ease. He glanced at Zhang Qiu, who was clearly flustered, and simply said, “The room is nice.”

Zhang Qiu didn’t want to argue about this—because he always lost in verbal battles with Li Shu. Instead, he got straight to the point. “I only caught a glimpse, but I’m sure of it. However, King Hui of Xiapi has been dead for a thousand years. How could he possibly still be alive?” He then thought of the Yin Soul Bead hanging around his neck. If King Hui of Xiapi’s tomb had been empty, then where had this thing come from?

Li Shu seemed to understand Zhang Qiu’s doubts and stated bluntly, “It was King Hui of Xiapi.”

“How can you be so sure?”

Li Shu turned to look at Zhang Qiu and said directly, “We fought in the tomb. He took the map from me.”

“So he really is a thousand-year-old Jiangshi!!!”

Even though his theory was confirmed, Zhang Qiu still found it hard to believe. He paced around the room anxiously. First, he thought about the fact that King Hui of Xiapi was a thousand-year-old Jiangshi. Then, he remembered that he was carrying a Jiangshi baby in his belly. A cold sweat broke out on his forehead. Finally, he sat down, but he still wasn’t convinced. “Aren’t Jiangshi supposed to be afraid of sunlight? How is he walking around in broad daylight?”

“You’ve been watching too much TV.”

Zhang Qiu held his forehead. “Can you not mess with me right now? Let me process this first.”

He stayed quiet for less than a minute before his curiosity got the best of him again. “The Yin Soul Bead my uncle mentioned?”

Li Shu didn’t deny it and nodded. “I took it from him.”

That bead originally belonged to King Hui of Xiapi, but Li Shu sounded so natural about it, as if he were merely retrieving something that was rightfully his.

Zhang Qiu suddenly felt nervous. He was afraid that Li Shu would find out about the Jiangshi baby inside him. Even though he hadn’t cared about it much before, now that he was facing Li Shu, he was terrified of him knowing. Slowly, he probed, “Why did you take the bead?”

Li Shu seemed completely unfazed by Zhang Qiu’s tension and answered casually, “Weren’t you guys raiding the tomb for that? I retrieved the map, so I just took this along the way.”

Zhang Qiu let out a breath of relief—then immediately felt frustrated. So the bead was just an afterthought?

Feeling stifled, Zhang Qiu lost interest in discussing King Hui of Xiapi any further. After stuffing himself with a big bowl of food downstairs, he finally felt a bit better. Li Shu, sensing Zhang Qiu’s sudden mood shift, unknowingly also became more subdued. The servers were so intimidated that they didn’t dare to approach.

Back in the room, the rose petals and balloons had been cleaned up—probably after the hotel staff realized their mistake. But seeing the now spotless room, Zhang Qiu’s slight improvement in mood disappeared again.

Even he didn’t understand why his emotions were shifting so unpredictably. It was like he was getting irrationally angry for no reason.

“I’m going to take a shower.”

Li Shu watched Zhang Qiu’s retreating back, then glanced at the now pristine bed, his expression unreadable.

That night, Zhang Qiu was still sulking. But after falling asleep, he unconsciously rolled into Li Shu’s arms. The cool temperature of Li Shu’s body and his familiar scent instantly soothed Zhang Qiu, making his furrowed brow relax as he drifted into a deeper sleep.

—

The next morning, Zhang Qiu woke up to find that Li Shu was already gone. After freshening up, the doorbell rang.

Thinking Li Shu had returned, he opened the door—only to find Boss Jin standing there. Seeing Zhang Qiu, fresh out of the shower, Boss Jin gave him a knowing look and teased, “Ah, little brother, we’ve got work to do, you know. You shouldn’t tire out Brother Li Shu too much—he needs his energy.”

At first, Zhang Qiu didn’t get it. But by the time he realized, his face turned red with anger. “What nonsense are you talking about?! Li Shu and I are just brothers!”

Boss Jin was about to say more when a chill suddenly crept up his spine. Turning around, he saw Li Shu standing right behind him, holding a bouquet of roses. Li Shu’s cold gaze swept over him. Boss Jin immediately stepped aside and forced an awkward laugh. “Let’s talk business, let’s talk business.”

Li Shu ignored him and handed the bouquet to Zhang Qiu.

Just moments ago, Zhang Qiu had been insisting that he and Li Shu were just brothers. But now, which brother gifts his brother roses?!

Despite this contradiction, Zhang Qiu was secretly thrilled. Still, he muttered, “We’re just brothers—why are you giving me flowers?”

Li Shu said nothing, only giving Zhang Qiu a glance as if to say Really? You sure about that? before turning to Boss Jin. “Come in.”

Boss Jin quickly got to the point. “We’ve prepared everything, but the boss wants to send a team down with us. You know how it is—when rich and powerful people get involved, they don’t fully trust us tomb raiders.” He went over the departure time, then tried to get on Li Shu’s good side. “Brother Li Shu, we’re counting on you this time.”

Li Shu simply nodded. Boss Jin, knowing when to back off, quickly left.

With just the two of them left in the room, Zhang Qiu sat there hugging the bouquet, looking a little dazed. He had never cared much for flowers, but now he found these ones rather nice. Still, since they were leaving at nine, he gave them to the receptionist so they wouldn’t go to waste.

Li Shu’s eyes narrowed slightly as he watched Zhang Qiu give the flowers away. His expression turned icy.

At the reception desk, the girl arranging the flowers suddenly shivered.

“Li Shu, hurry up!” Zhang Qiu called from ahead.

The receptionist looked up but saw only their retreating figures. She smiled to herself, thinking she must be exhausted from overworking.

But in the next moment, a chill ran down her spine again.

Outside the hotel, three black Land Rover SUVs were parked in a row. Their glossy black exteriors screamed wealth and power. The first two vehicles were already occupied. Boss Jin stood by the front passenger seat of one, talking to a man. When he saw Zhang Qiu and Li Shu coming out, he waved.

“Hurry up! We’ve been waiting for you.”

They got into the last vehicle. Boss Jin joined them in the same car, while the driver was a tattooed man wearing sunglasses and a long-sleeved black jacket despite the summer heat. Zhang Qiu overheard Boss Jin calling the man “Old Fei,” though Old Fei’s attitude toward Boss Jin was far from enthusiastic.

With only four people in the car, the space was quite comfortable. Zhang Qiu and Li Shu took the back row. No one spoke during the ride. Once they got on the highway, Zhang Qiu started feeling drowsy, eventually nodding off against Li Shu’s shoulder.

What he didn’t realize was that, as he slept, he gradually went from leaning on Li Shu’s shoulder to nestling bonelessly into his arms. By the time they hit a bump in the road, Zhang Qiu had completely sprawled across Li Shu’s lap.

From the rearview mirror, Old Fei glanced at the scene behind him. A look of disdain flickered across his eyes. So these two have that kind of relationship? And yet Boss Jin had hyped them up as some impressive figures. Tch, probably just trying to con an extra cut of the profit.

Li Shu, however, remained unfazed, his eyes closed as if resting, ignoring the probing gaze from the front.

Zhang Qiu had no idea how long he slept. When he woke up, the scenery outside had changed. The smooth highway was now a winding dirt path surrounded by rolling fields, smoke curling from chimneys in the distance. Wooden houses and tiled rooftops were scattered across the hills.

Having grown up in a northern city, Zhang Qiu had never seen a rural landscape like this before. It looked just like something out of a documentary—picturesque and serene.

As the car continued deeper into the village, the paved road ended, replaced by compacted dirt. Fortunately, the SUV had a high clearance, so the ride wasn’t too bumpy. Eventually, they stopped in front of a wooden house.

“We’re here,” Boss Jin announced.

Zhang Qiu stretched and yawned. As soon as he opened the car door, a wave of humid heat smacked him in the face. Unlike the dry heat of Yun City, the subtropical monsoon climate here was stifling. Within minutes, he was drenched in sweat, his back uncomfortably sticky.

An old man and his grandson emerged from the house. The elderly man spoke in the local dialect, which Zhang Qiu couldn’t understand at all. The grandson, who knew some Mandarin, acted as the intermediary, negotiating with Boss Jin.

Meanwhile, Old Fei was unloading luggage. Spotting Li Shu standing idly nearby, he smirked maliciously.

“Catch,” he sneered, tossing two massive duffel bags toward Li Shu.

Each bag weighed at least forty pounds. Old Fei was clearly trying to embarrass Li Shu, assuming that, with his tall and lean frame, pale skin, and long hair, he wouldn’t be able to handle them.

To his shock, Li Shu caught both bags effortlessly.

Zhang Qiu, seeing how heavy they were, instinctively reached out to help. But Li Shu, holding one bag in each hand like they were weightless, simply said, “No need.”

The house was small, a two-story wooden structure. It was used occasionally to accommodate tourists who came for hiking and sightseeing. The furnishings were simple but clean.

Zhang Qiu and Li Shu were assigned a room together. The space was cramped, with a single, narrow bed barely 1.5 meters wide, a small electric fan, and a basic clothes rack.

Li Shu placed the luggage on the floor. Curious, Zhang Qiu unzipped one of the bags and took a peek—water bottles, canned food, flashlights, rope, medicine… everything necessary for a tomb raid.

The wooden flooring creaked under his feet. The whole house felt fragile, like it might collapse at any moment. Zhang Qiu moved carefully, opening the window. A cool breeze flowed in, dissipating some of the heat.

“The view’s actually pretty nice,” he remarked.

From the window, he could see the village entrance. Beyond it, the towering mountains stretched into the distance. Zhang Qiu admired the scenery for a while before noticing something unusual—another car was approaching.

The old man and his grandson stood at the entrance, waiting to receive the new arrivals.

As the vehicle slowed to a stop, a man stepped out. His presence was sharp and distant, exuding an air of cold detachment.

Then Zhang Qiu got a clear look at his face.

He froze.

“Second Brother?!”