Little Pink Starfish

The Prince of Xiapi showed a hint of disappointment upon hearing that more time was needed.

Seeing this, Zhang Qiu reassured him, saying, “Don’t worry, I believe Second Brother will come back to life. Think about it—he’s a phoenix, so he must be different from us ordinary people.”

“We’ve had too many entanglements. I used to hate him, but when he truly disappeared before my eyes, I realized I had never really hated him at all.” The Prince of Xiapi stroked the bead in his pocket as if to calm himself. His gaze turned distant, as if lost in memories. “He thought he had killed me with his own hands, but in truth, I just didn’t want him to have an easy time. I wanted revenge. He saw through everything—except for my death…”

Perhaps this long-buried past had been suppressed for too long. Now that he had started, the Prince of Xiapi found his words flowing more smoothly.

“…I carefully pretended to serve Liu Zhi with gentleness, but deep down, I was never willing to remain beneath him. I was blinded little by little by ambition and power. Later, I seized an opportunity to poison him and usurp the throne. But unexpectedly, my nephew was extremely cautious despite his young age. He never trusted me—not even once. You could say he never trusted anyone.” The Prince of Xiapi let out a self-deprecating laugh. “After that, he imprisoned me and subjected me to all kinds of torture. It was then that I learned I was never truly of royal blood.”

So Emperor Zhang of Han and the Prince of Xiapi were not actually uncle and nephew. Zhang Qiu had previously assumed that their relationship was incestuous, but seeing the expression on the Prince of Xiapi’s face, it seemed like he was reliving the past. His face even carried a trace of hatred.

“That brat had known everything long ago. He had me completely figured out. At the time, I hated him to the core, so I pretended to submit and please him.” The Prince of Xiapi smirked with satisfaction at this point. “I prepared a bottle of wine and tricked him into thinking it was poisoned. You should’ve seen how furious he was—it was truly exhilarating. In the end, he still couldn’t bear to kill me. But unfortunately, I was destined to die at his hands.”

No matter how wild Zhang Qiu’s imagination was, he had never expected their past to be like this. For a moment, he didn’t know what to say. Trying to console the Prince of Xiapi seemed pointless—after all, the man had willingly set himself up to die and was actually quite pleased about it. In the end, he could only say, “Go to sleep early. If there’s any news, I’ll let you know.”

Back in his room, Zhang Qiu was still baffled and asked Li Shu, “Isn’t it a bit much to dwell on this for a thousand years, based on what the Prince of Xiapi said?”

“You don’t understand because you weren’t in their shoes,” Li Shu said flatly. “What do you think Liu Yan meant by ‘torture’?”

“Isn’t it just corporal punishment?!” Zhang Qiu responded, but seeing Li Shu’s expression, he suddenly understood. Stammering, he asked, “It’s that… that thing?”

Seeing Zhang Qiu get all flustered when talking about this, Li Shu deliberately teased him. “What thing?” he asked, feigning ignorance.

“Hey!” Zhang Qiu bristled.

Li Shu chuckled lightly and said, “A man who has always been in a position of power, with great ambition, was taken by his own nephew. Then, he learned that his so-called noble royal blood was a lie. Wouldn’t you hate him?”

“Hate!” Even though Zhang Qiu wasn’t the Prince of Xiapi, he could still sympathize to some extent. Especially since the other party had likely seen it as a form of humiliation. Thinking about it, he said, “I guess when it comes to feelings, you have to be straightforward. Misunderstandings really aren’t worth it.”

Li Shu mused that perhaps even Emperor Zhang of Han hadn’t understood his own feelings at the time. Maybe he truly had meant to humiliate and torment the Prince of Xiapi. Otherwise, the Prince wouldn’t have sought revenge with his own life. It was only after the Prince died that Emperor Zhang realized his true feelings. But Li Shu decided against telling Zhang Qiu all this—otherwise, the guy might have trouble sleeping tonight.

“Looks like you have unique insights about relationships,” Li Shu said meaningfully, then casually asked, “Or do you already have someone to be straightforward with?”

Zhang Qiu, feeling embarrassed under Li Shu’s gaze, was suddenly aware that the conversation had shifted to himself. If Li Shu kept looking at him like that, he might just blurt out, Do you like men? The words reached his throat but in the end, he chickened out. “I’m going to take a shower first.” Grabbing a towel, he fled to the bathroom.

Watching Zhang Qiu’s retreating figure, Li Shu chuckled softly. “Little coward.”

Zhang Qiu finished his shower first, his face still flushed. He came out acting all proper and urged Li Shu to go wash up. As soon as Li Shu stepped into the bathroom, Zhang Qiu hurried onto the bed, grabbed his iPad, and started browsing Tianya forums.

[I feel like the other person is flirting with me, but I’m not sure if it’s just my imagination. How do I tell if he’s into guys? He’s showering right now, I’m online and waiting—urgent!]

After posting, Zhang Qiu checked his notifications, only to see a flood of replies. He excitedly clicked on them, but his smile froze when he saw the title of an old post he had forgotten about from two months ago.

I’m Pregnant with a Jiangshi’s Child.

All his excitement about flirting with Li Shu instantly vanished.

He clicked in to check the responses. Most people either didn’t believe it or were joking around. Some even suggested he post in the supernatural forums instead of the relationship section.

Scrolling further down, he saw that because he hadn’t replied in a while, people had started posting raunchy jokes. They speculated on things like how can a Jiangshi even get hard? How many times a night? Is it big and does it last long? Others mocked, saying, You thirsty gays are so desperate that you’re fantasizing about non-humans now. The trolls were out in full force.

For a moment, Zhang Qiu felt a pang of seriousness about his alleged pregnancy. But that didn’t last long—he rolled up his sleeves and jumped into the fray.

After battling the trolls, Zhang Qiu shifted positions and opened his new post. Replies had already started pouring in.

[OP, stop pretending to be innocent. The guy is showering—are you really not going to do something naughty?]

[Take it from someone with experience—don’t rush it. Take care of your ass.]

[Haha, tell us your story, microphone ready!]

[Dude, just touch him. If he’s straight, he’ll probably react negatively.]

[Nah, I’m straight and my bro touches me all the time. We even play ‘Huluwa’ together.]

[LOL, watch out—your bro’s been eyeing you for a while now.]

Soon, the thread devolved into a debate about whether guys could have “pure” brotherly relationships. Zhang Qiu was about to close it, but some of the suggestions caught his eye. Oh, this is a good one! And this one too! Gotta try these!

When Li Shu came out of the shower, he saw Zhang Qiu lying on the bed, face flushed, excitedly slapping his thigh.

“Let’s do this!” Zhang Qiu declared.

Li Shu raised an eyebrow. “Do what?”

Without thinking, Zhang Qiu blurted, “Do—” He immediately swallowed the word and awkwardly laughed. “I mean, something big! Go to sleep, I even warmed up the bed for you.” He was practically radiating eagerness.

Li Shu found it amusing but didn’t show it. He was curious to see what Zhang Qiu was up to.

Little did Zhang Qiu know, tonight would be far more intense than he had expected.

Zhang Qiu casually tossed his iPad into the drawer, scooted inward on the bed, and, despite it being the middle of summer, wrapped himself tightly in a thin blanket like a little silkworm. He blinked innocently at Li Shu.

Li Shu undid his bath towel and casually tossed it onto the chair. Zhang Qiu turned his head away as if not looking, but in reality, he was secretly stealing glances at Li Shu.

Even after all his efforts to act cute and sweet, Li Shu didn’t react at all.

Guess I need to step it up.

The bed sank slightly as Li Shu lay down. Zhang Qiu caught the scent of fresh bathwater lingering on Li Shu and rubbed his face against the pillow, trying to hype himself up. He reached out and switched off the light, plunging the room into darkness. His mind was entirely focused on how to seduce Li Shu, so much so that he nervously swallowed several times, completely forgetting that Li Shu could see in the dark. Meanwhile, he himself foolishly giggled, “Hehehe.”

“Aiya! So hot!” Zhang Qiu dramatically flung off the thin blanket, exposing half of his stomach. Feeling like he hadn’t revealed enough, he even kicked his legs a little, exposing part of his thigh. “Much better now.”

Li Shu’s gaze landed on the exposed stomach. He reached out, pulled the blanket back over Zhang Qiu, and said, “Be careful not to catch a cold.”

Zhang Qiu, who was all set to seduce: …

Wait… does showing a little skin not work?

Unwilling to give up, Zhang Qiu rolled onto his side to face Li Shu and acted like he had just discovered something. In a deliberately innocent tone, he said, “Your body is so cool to the touch.” Come on, ask for a hug!

“Mm.” Li Shu responded indifferently, acting as if he didn’t get the hint.

Zhang Qiu: Like a balloon that just got popped a hundred times.

Even though his plan was falling apart, he refused to admit defeat. Zhang Qiu sniffled a little and said in a soft voice, “If someone could cuddle you while sleeping in summer, I bet that’d feel amazing.”

Li Shu’s eyes glowed with amusement, but he remained silent, waiting to see what Zhang Qiu would do next.

Zhang Qiu waited and waited, but Li Shu never responded. Huffing in frustration, he straightened up and declared, “Fine, sleep then!” Despite his words, his ears were pricked up, keenly listening for any movement from Li Shu.

The forum advice said that if someone was truly interested, they’d try to comfort you when you acted mad. Although Zhang Qiu found that a bit cringey, it was still supposed to be wise advice from those who had been there before!

But after waiting for ages, Li Shu still didn’t say a word. Zhang Qiu’s little heart felt colder and colder.

After a long while, just as Zhang Qiu was getting drowsy, he suddenly heard Li Shu call him—using a particularly sweet, intimate tone:

“Little coward.”

Zhang Qiu felt both annoyed and secretly delighted. The forum was right—using a pet name is a good sign!

But he was so sleepy. He struggled to open his eyes, wanting to confess to Li Shu and ask if he felt the same way.

A flash of red light flickered.

Before Zhang Qiu could fully open his eyes, he blacked out completely and fell into a deep sleep, slipping into a very indecent dream.

In the dream, Li Shu held him tightly in his arms. His embrace was so cool and comfortable that Zhang Qiu let out a satisfied sigh. But the next moment, Li Shu seemed to go mad, kissing him intensely, making it hard to breathe.

Zhang Qiu smugly thought, Li Shu really loves me to death!

The dream felt unbelievably real.

The crimson glow in Li Shu’s eyes gradually faded. He lowered his head and pressed a soothing kiss against Zhang Qiu’s red, swollen lips.

The next morning, Zhang Qiu felt like his entire body had been run over by a truck—completely sore and weak. His legs felt like jelly, and his mind was still foggy. It took him a while to fully wake up.

Blushing, he realized he had dreamed about that kind of thing!

Lifting the blanket, Zhang Qiu tried to move toward the edge of the bed, but his thighs felt tingly and sore. When he looked down—

His mind exploded.

His inner thighs were covered in dense red marks and bite marks—

In exactly the same places as in his dream.