Chapter 42: Not as Good-Looking as You

When the two arrived at the theme park, the entrance was already packed with people.

The bustling atmosphere of the weekend blew against their faces; cheerful voices and laughter were everywhere, and the colorful decorations were exceptionally dazzling under the sunlight. Lu Zhiyan’s eyes instantly lit up, and his footsteps subconsciously grew a few fractions brisker.

Over the years, he had been soaking in operating rooms and hospital wards working around the clock, where even resting became a luxury. Having seen too much of life, aging, illness, and death, and having shouldered countless pressures and exhaustion, he had long forgotten what being carefree tasted like, let alone stepping into a place like a theme park.

But now, it was different…

Those joys that had once been suppressed by the years all surged up at this moment.

Pulling Shen Yu, Lu Zhiyan stood amidst the bustling crowd. Looking at the merry-go-round, the flashing colored lights, and the children running and laughing in front of them, his eye sockets couldn’t help but grow slightly hot.

He turned his head and looked at Shen Yu. His voice was very light, carrying a trace of imperceptible choking:

“A’Yu, do you remember? When we were little, Mom and Dad took us to the children’s park together, and it was also like this—many people, very noisy, very happy.”

It had been many years since he had experienced such pure happiness.

Shen Yu looked at his slightly reddened eyes, his heart softening. He leaned a bit closer and responded in a low voice:

“Mhm, I remember.”

Lu Zhiyan took a deep breath, suppressing the wetness deep in his eyes, and broke into a smile again, pulling Shen Yu and rushing inside.

“Let’s go! We’ll go ride the roller coaster first!”

“Then the big pendulum!”

“And the drop tower!”

“Right, right, we also have to ride the Ferris wheel, and watch the fireworks!”

He chattered away all the way, so excited he couldn’t stop. Shen Yu quietly followed beside him, listening patiently, gently nodding in response no matter what he said.

There were many people in the park, and almost every attraction required lining up in a very long queue.

Ordinarily, Lu Zhiyan would have grown impatient long ago, but today was different.

The person standing beside him was Shen Yu.

In the long queue, there were people in front and behind, noisy and bubbling with voices, yet he only felt reassured and amused. Anyway, as long as he was together with Shen Yu, even if they did nothing and just stood there lining up, he felt happy.

Not to mention, he could even openly and honorably take liberties with him.

While lining up, Lu Zhiyan deliberately leaned against Shen Yu’s body, shoulder pressing against shoulder, arm pressing against arm, feeling the temperature transmitting from the other person’s body. Taking advantage of people not paying attention, he reached out and quietly caressed Shen Yu’s back from behind, the tip of his nose pressing against the back of his neck, gently rubbing against it seemingly inadvertently.

Shen Yu’s body stiffened slightly, yet he didn’t push him away, merely reminding him in a low voice:

“People are watching.”

“Let them watch if they want to watch,” Lu Zhiyan said with righteous confidence, his voice pressed very low.

“I’m touching my own person, is that not allowed?”

Shen Yu let out a helpless chuckle, only able to let him do as he pleased.

The queue shuffled forward bit by bit. Lu Zhiyan pushed his luck, his fingertips quietly reaching under the hem of Shen Yu’s clothes, gently touching the warm side of his waist.

Shen Yu violently trembled, the roots of his ears flushing red with a whoosh.

He slightly turned his head, warning in a voice only the two of them could hear:

“Stop fooling around.”

“I’m not fooling around,” Lu Zhiyan smiled until his eyes curved into crescents, like a little fox who had gotten his way.

“Just touching you a bit.”

In front and behind them were all queuing tourists, the voices noisy, and no one noticed this little bit of secret ambiguity between them. Only Shen Yu himself knew how good the person behind him was at teasing and seducing; a single sentence, a single small movement, could make the tip of his heart grow hot.

Lu Zhiyan looked at his reddened ear roots, his heart softening into an absolute mess, and also feeling that he was exceptionally cute. He just loved watching this appearance of Shen Yu clearly being teased out of his mind, yet being completely helpless against him.

What made him even more joyful was that Shen Yu was opening himself up bit by bit.

The person from the past who had been hurt by him until he was restrained, cautious, and even controlled his smiles, was slowly becoming more and more natural, more and more relaxed in front of him.

Lu Zhiyan saw it in his eyes, ached in his heart, and tasted the sweetness in his bones and blood.

He knew that everything he had done was worth it.

He was going to warm up Shen Yu’s heart bit by bit, and find back that bright and dazzling youth from back then, bit by bit.

It was finally their turn. Lu Zhiyan pulled Shen Yu and sat on the roller coaster.

The car slowly started up, heading vertically upward, continuously climbing. The moment it rushed down from the highest point, the wind howled beside their ears, a sense of weightlessness suddenly assaulted them, and screams filled the surroundings. Lu Zhiyan, however, wasn’t afraid at all, shouting loudly into the howling wind:

“Shen Yu—!”

“I like you so much—!”

The voice was blown apart by the wind, yet it landed clearly into Shen Yu’s heart.

After getting off, Lu Zhiyan was still unbearably excited, pulling Shen Yu and rushing toward another attraction.

Along the way, he barely had a quiet moment. One moment he was dragging Shen Yu to buy ice cream, the next he was pulling him to take photos together, and the next he was deliberately walking two steps slower, waiting for Shen Yu to turn back to look at him, before quickly stepping up and secretly blowing him a kiss from a very, very close distance.

Shen Yu was made both annoyed and amused by him. The roots of his ears were red from morning to afternoon, never completely fading away.

By the time the two walked under the Ferris wheel, the sun had already gradually begun to set in the west, and the sky was dyed a gentle orange-pink. The queue looped round and round, and after lining up for nearly half an hour, the sky completely darkened before it was finally their turn.

The cabin slowly rose, allowing them to take in the scenery of the entire park. The moonlight fell onto the two of them, soft to just the right degree.

Lu Zhiyan turned his head to look at the scenery outside the window, allowing Shen Yu to loosely wrap his arms around him from his side. A patch of sour and scalding sweetness rippled in his heart, unable to resist indulging in this long-lost, proactive doting.

“A’Yu,” he suddenly spoke, his voice very light, carrying a bit of imperceptible choking, “do you remember, when we were little, you also hugged me like this.”

“Mhm.”

Shen Yu lowered his head, his forehead gently resting against the side of his forehead, “Back then, you were even more mischievous than you are now.”

“Then you… you liked me back then?”

Lu Zhiyan turned his head to look at him. His eyes were slightly red, still carrying a trace of sparkling slyness.

Shen Yu was silent for a moment, then gave a gentle “Mhm.” His voice was so low it could barely be heard, yet was incomparably earnest.

Lu Zhiyan’s heart violently skipped a beat, instantly turning impossibly sweet.

He deliberately reached out, gently pinching Shen Yu’s slightly cool earlobe, smiling with a face full of smugness:

“Then you’re doomed, you won’t be able to run away for this entire life.”

Shen Yu grabbed his hand, placed it by his lips, and kissed it gently. His gaze was so gentle it could melt a person:

“Not running.”

Lu Zhiyan looked at him meticulously, liking him more and more the longer he looked. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] Unable to resist, he reached out and gently traced his brows and eyes.

“A’Yu… you are really good-looking.”

The roots of Shen Yu’s ears visibly flushed with a layer of thin red. Lu Zhiyan let out a soft chuckle, leaned in, and kissed his lips.

There was no deepening, just a light touch, like a feather brushing past the tip of the heart, gentle and tenderly affectionate.

When the cabin rose to the highest point, the first cluster of fireworks suddenly lit up in the distance.

Immediately following that, a sky full of fireworks exploded in the sky, brilliant and dazzling, illuminating the entire night sky.

Lu Zhiyan leaned against the glass, his eyes sparkling. Shen Yu gently rested his chin on his shoulder, softly asking:

“Is it pretty?”

“It is,” Lu Zhiyan nodded, paused, and then said softly, “but not as good-looking as you.”

Shen Yu didn’t speak, merely tightening his arms, hugging the person even tighter.

The brilliance of the blooming fireworks illuminated the figures of the two pressing tightly together.

Leaning in Shen Yu’s embrace, Lu Zhiyan listened to his steady, powerful heartbeat and felt his warm breath. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] The familiar lemon scent lingered at the tip of his nose. The bottom of his heart felt both painful and sour, yet also wrapped in threads of joy.

He slowly raised his hand to caress Shen Yu’s cheek, his fingertips gently rubbing against it. In the next second, a soft, light kiss landed by his ear. Warm breath brushed past his cheek, bringing up a burst of fine, dense ticklishness. He subconsciously dodged slightly, the corners of his lips unconsciously curving into a gentle arc.

Then, unable to control himself, he turned around, forcefully pulling the person into his embrace. Bathed in the brilliant fireworks filling the sky, he kissed him deeply and affectionately, thoroughly blending all the overflowing love from the bottom of his heart into the pressing and entangling lips and teeth between the two of them…