A Peculiar Agreement

Su Yan leaned back, his hands braced against the grass, the lingering glow of the setting sun illuminating his refined profile.

Lu Lin watched, amused, but just as he thought the topic had passed, Su Yan turned his head, his beautiful eyes narrowing slightly, and with a shake of his wrist, he asked with a smile.

“This?”

The question was delivered casually, much like asking, “What are you having for dinner tonight?”—a mundane, everyday inquiry, rather than a hysterical accusation of, “Are you spying on me?”

Lu Lin was momentarily stunned by the question, his eyelashes trembling, yet he did not evade it.

He simply admitted, lowering his head and feigning indifference, “Yes.”

The atmosphere between the two gradually grew peculiar.

After a moment of silence, Lu Lin found himself contemplating that if Su Yan dared to suggest a breakup, he would still refuse; keeping him locked by his side didn’t seem out of the question.

His thoughts drifted into the realm of the criminal.

Su Yan abruptly sat closer, raising the cotton swab saturated with povidone-iodine straight to Lu Lin’s lip.

It turned out Su Yan had been preoccupied with this during their quiet interlude.

Lu Lin intently gazed at Su Yan’s suddenly close face, his own reflection visible in those beautiful pupils.

He noticed how Su Yan would subtly furrow his brow when concentrating, and as he leaned in, the faint scent of laundry detergent from his collar became discernible.

Seeing that Su Yan remained silent, Lu Lin decided to broach the sensitive subject himself, believing it better to address any discord sooner rather than later.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?”

He watched as Su Yan’s fingers paused in applying the medicine, his furrowed brow smoothing out as he resumed his docile smile.

‘Lu Lin truly is a strange one,’ he thought, ‘committing misdeeds yet still desiring praise.’

Then again, for Lu Lin, it seemed rather normal.

“You’re amazing.”

Su Yan, still recovering from a recent cold brought on by rapid temperature changes, spoke with a thick nasal tone, his voice almost indistinguishable from a playful whine, like a kitten gently pawing at you.

Lu Lin: “…” Hmm.

‘Isn’t this truly amazing?’

Su Yan had spent several days testing it and discovered that the bracelet possessed a 100% functional GPS tracker.

Initially, he hadn’t even noticed or suspected anything about the peculiar accessory.

After applying the medicine to Lu Lin’s lip, Su Yan took hold of his wrist.

Fortunately, Lu Lin was very cooperative and offered no unnecessary chatter, allowing him to finish applying the medicine swiftly.

“Your dad’s pursuers are far too weak; they haven’t even caught up yet.

At this speed, in ancient times, heads would have rolled several times over.”

Lu Lin would never understand why beheadings could occur “several times over.”

“They simply chose not to pursue.”

Lu Lin lowered his gaze, watching Su Yan’s fingertips press against his own, and spoke calmly, “This is my home too.”

Su Yan didn’t have time to be astonished by how much Lu Lin had said in one breath; instead, he latched onto the crucial phrase: ‘This is my home too…’

He turned his head, looking towards the edge of the lawn, and indeed, hidden behind a fountain at the far end of the grass was the grand gate leading outside.

When he had been forcibly brought in earlier, his head had been bowed the entire time, his mood fluctuating, and he hadn’t noticed the sheer size of the place at all!

“Are you saying I desperately escaped from your study only to end up in your garden?”

“Isn’t that like a mouse, caught misbehaving in the living room, fleeing to the kitchen and then shouting, ‘I’ve finally escaped hell!'”

Such a bizarre analogy could only ever come from Su Yan, whose adorable and handsome appearance conveniently masked his intellectual shortcomings.

Unaware of being labeled intellectually deficient, Su Yan dazedly turned his head, and sure enough, spotted Lu Ang on the second-floor balcony of the villa, smiling benignly down at them.

Su Yan pointed a finger, then, feeling it was a bit impolite, retracted it, and indignantly turned to Lu Lin.

“Your dad dares to provoke you?”

Lu Lin: “?”

“And why did Lu Ang say we’d been separated for five or six years?”

Seeing Lu Lin’s apparent aversion to the term “your dad,” Su Yan opted to call him by his full name instead.

After all, Lu Ang wasn’t exactly a good person.

Su Yan prattled on, oblivious to Lu Lin’s unusual expression.

“He even dared to [censored], isn’t he afraid I’ll call the police?”

Su Yan simply assumed that the stack of photos was entirely fabricated by Lu Ang to intimidate him, and he promptly moved on to the next topic.

Inwardly, he cried foul, thinking, ‘It was clearly your son who forced me into this relationship.’

“He won’t be afraid.”

Lu Lin’s mood turned somewhat somber, his slightly damp fringe clinging to his eyelashes.

Su Yan considered this and realized it made sense.

What could be more powerful than the protagonist gong?

Why, the protagonist gong’s villainous father, of course.

The original book hadn’t detailed Lu Lin’s background, such as his family’s [censored] ties; otherwise, someone with Lu Lin’s temperament wouldn’t tolerate anyone constantly bossing him around, nor would he always bear scars.

Once his clothes were removed, his back was even more gruesome to behold.

What’s more, Lu Lin suffered from congenital insensitivity to pain; he would never go to the hospital for an injury he could haphazardly bandage himself.

“After all these days, I actually think you’re quite a good person.”

He deliberately swallowed the phrase “if we were friends” with great difficulty.

“How about this: once we’re back, you can sign the relationship contract I’ve drafted…”

From this angle, Lu Lin saw Su Yan lying casually on the lawn, clad in a loose, baggy hoodie, revealing his fair, slender neck, still marked by lingering hickeys.

Nosebleed critical hit: ten stars.

Lu Lin, feeling a pang of guilt, averted his gaze.

He then reverted to his usual expression, his eyes curving into a smile as he readily agreed, “Alright.”

The day had been too tumultuous, and he couldn’t resist adding, “If you fall in love with someone else, I’ll leave.”

Upon hearing the word “leave,” Lu Lin couldn’t help himself.

He seized the exposed section of Su Yan’s ankle, his eyes still sparkling with a smile.

“Leave for where?”

Su Yan: “…”

‘What’s with this guy?’

He sat up, darted a glance at Lu Lin, and reclaimed his leg.

“I’m going back to the dorm.

****

On the way back to the dorm, Su Yan, overcome with exhaustion, fell asleep leaning against the window.

The city’s neon lights spilled across the car window in the night.

Su Yan, well aware of Lu Lin’s intense jealousy, had chosen to sit in the back with him, despite feeling a little carsick, rather than in the passenger seat.

Lu Lin placed his uninjured hand on Su Yan’s sleeping leg, feeling the warmth transfer from the limb to his palm.

Even with the air conditioning on, the car remained incredibly stuffy.

He took Su Yan’s hand, which had been resting by his side, then pressed their fingers tightly together, intertwining them.

After they got out of the car, Su Yan continued to yawn, still very sleepy, but a closer look would reveal his slightly reddened ear tips.

Back in the dorm, Su Yan pulled open his drawer and paused, surprised to find all the disgusting prank items gone.

He cast a suspicious glance at Lu Lin.

Lu Lin stood with his back to him, his hands at the nape of his neck, unfastening the necklace he had worn for so long.

Su Yan could only withdraw his gaze, retrieve the small, lonely agreement paper from the drawer, and then move towards Lu Lin, slapping the document onto Lu Lin’s desk.

Frankly, he hadn’t included any breach-of-contract compensation; after all, one couldn’t force Lu Lin to do something he didn’t want to.

“Clause One: No restrictions on making friends.”

“Clause Two: Do not install any surveillance devices or listening devices on your partner, nor administer drugs, nor track, nor threaten…”

“Clause Three: Couples may maintain an appropriate distance; absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

“…”

“Clause Twenty-One…”

Su Yan sat nearby, watching the youth’s tightly pressed lips, afraid that Lu Lin would disagree.

The original novel had depicted Lu Lin as extremely trustworthy, always fulfilling his promises.

With starry eyes, he propped his face in his hands, eagerly awaiting Lu Lin’s answer.

Lu Lin bent a finger and gently tapped the desk a few times.

“This document contains many overbearing clauses and loopholes.”

Su Yan’s lips gradually drooped in sync with those words, his face clouding with unhappiness.

‘I knew it,’ he thought, ‘how could Lu Lin be so kind-hearted?

If he truly agreed, wouldn’t it be a slap in the face to his former self?’

After all the wicked acts he had committed, tinged with a strange kindness.

“But I agree.”

Lu Lin smiled, lifting his eyelids to look at Su Yan, who was now in low spirits.

‘Doesn’t that subtly imply he’s a perverted lunatic?’

Lu Lin didn’t even pay attention to Clause Two, which was clearly aimed at him.

As Lu Lin spoke, he rose and walked towards Su Yan.

Su Yan, lost in his happy mood, didn’t notice Lu Lin approaching.

It wasn’t until he felt a cool sensation on the nape of his neck that he realized Lu Lin was fastening a necklace around his throat.

Su Yan recognized the necklace; it was the one Lu Lin usually wore.

He had never taken it off.

“It’s for safety.”

“It was also the first birthday gift I ever received; I specifically took it to a temple to be blessed.”

Lu Lin left one thing unsaid: it was also the only birthday gift he had ever received.

While touched, Su Yan also felt a little perplexed, wondering why Lu Lin would suddenly give him a necklace for safety.

It wasn’t until Lu Lin’s sympathetic gaze lingered on his calf that he understood.

He then noticed a faint red mark on his calf, likely from brushing against some roadside grass.

Su Yan’s eyes brimmed with a myriad of emotions, complex feelings taking precedence.

‘Does Lu Lin not see the wounds on my own body?’ he wondered.

‘Which of them isn’t more severe than this mere red mark?’

“I haven’t stated my conditions yet.”

Lu Lin’s mouth, adorned with a cartoon bandage, presented a striking contrast to his true personality.

He leaned languidly to the side, smiling as he began, “First, you must not wear any revealing clothes or pants.

Second, you cannot harbor even the slightest thought of leaving me.”

Su Yan nodded.

‘Who cares?’ he thought. ‘I’ll agree for now and deal with it later.’

Lu Lin’s conditions were surprisingly simple, not as harsh or malicious as Su Yan had imagined.

As a result of their negotiation today, they seemed to have gained a deeper understanding of each other.

Su Yan no longer avoided Lu Lin like the plague, as he usually did.

They hadn’t been amiable for long when the sound of a key sliding into the lock echoed from outside the door.

Song Xingyu entered, carrying a parcel box, and asked naturally, “Yan… Su Yan, is this your package?”

Hearing the voice, Su Yan walked past Lu Lin.

Seeing that Chen Xing was the sender and his own name was the recipient, he casually placed it on his desk, intending to open it later.

Lu Lin, seated on the stool, let out a soft chuckle, his contempt almost overflowing.

“What has that… Chen Xing fellow sent you this time?”

With his arms crossed, his words held a playful edge.

Although Chen Xing was the subject of his remark, his gaze intermittently flickered towards the pale-faced Song Xingyu.