Chapter 177: The Master Pretending to Sleep

Chu Wanning hadn't slept for two days and was so deep in his sleep and Mo Ran's gentle movements that he wasn't disturbed when he was carried to bed in Mo Ran's warm arms.

Mo Ran placed him in the centre of the bed, resting his hand on his neck and on the pillow, and then tucked him in.

Having done so, he did not leave, but gazed in fascination at the face, from the dark brow, inch by inch, down to the thin lips.

Good to see.

His master, his Wangning, how could he look so good.

It was so good, so good that one more look made his heart go soft and his lower body hard.

His scalp tingled, his sanity strangled his neck, he knew it was wrong, but Chu Wanning's face was close at hand, the faint scent of begonias on his body, yet it was like a million soft fingers and claws tearing through his Chuchu clothes, seducing him to be naked and to share his bed.

Perhaps it was because the blood running through Mo Ran's veins was like a river tide, or perhaps his heart was like a war drum that could not be stopped, or perhaps his eyes were so hot that they woke the sleeping man.

Anyway, Chu Wanning opened his eyes and suddenly woke up.

""

No one said a word for a while, Mo Ran stiffened in place, and Chu Wanning went from dazed to stunned, his eyes widening to meet Mo Ran's burning eyes.

Chu Wanning snapped to attention, "What do you do?"

The look on the handsome, young, powerful man's face was hard to read as he slowly leaned down, terrifying Chu Wanning into immobility.

"You."

The closer you get, the closer you get.

Heartbeat thumping.

"Sha."

There was a soft sound at the head of the bed, and suddenly the light around the room dimmed into a more ambiguous and hazy atmosphere.

Mo Ran leaned over and pulled the curtain tightly over the bed, straightened up and sat upright on the edge of the bed.

He looked down at Chu Wanning, who was lying on the bed, and his voice was low, "I saw that my master was asleep, so I wanted to help you lower the bed curtain, but I didn't think that I would wake you up."

Chu Wanning did not make a sound, leaning back on the pillow and turning his head slightly sideways, looking at him.

The dull yellow drapery, which had just been loosened from the bedside loops, was moving lazily behind Mo Ran, and the candlelight outside became so dense and blurred that it looked like watery mist on a winter window. It was so dark that the young man's handsome face was barely visible, and only one eye was burning brightly in the darkness, like a broken star.

Mo Ran suddenly called out to him, "Master."

"Hmm."

"There's something I want to ask you."

""

By the darkness, being an apprentice seems to be emboldened.

Chu Wanning's heart clenched as he thought, "Is he going to ask about the pouch?

His face was unperturbed, but his chest was full of waves.

Is it too late to pretend to be asleep?

Mo Ran said, "Where do I sleep?"

Chu Wanning :""

So, after a busy and tense night, Mo Ran bunked down for the night.

"The bed is too small." He actually regretted just after he had asked that it would be better for his bloodthirsty and pushy body not to sleep in the same bed with Chu Wanning. It wasn't as if he didn't know how horrible men could be when they got horny.

"I still sleep on the floor."

"Is there an extra mattress?"

"There's a bed."

"Will it be cold."

"No, I'll just lay more straw."

Mo Ran went outside to get some straw and returned with a pile of straw, which he spread out on the floor. Chu Wanning was temporarily drowsy after his torment, so he propped his head on his side and lifted the curtain of the bed with one hand, watching in silence as the man went about his business, making a single couch for himself with the speed of a thunderbolt.

""

"Sleep, Master good dreams."

The man lies down and pulls the covers over himself, his dark eyes soft and steady as he looks at Chu Wanning in bed.

Chu Wanning: "Hmm."

When Mo Ran looked like "I'm honest", Chu Wanning sighed in relief, put on his "I'm cool" face, put down the bed curtain and lay back as if he was not paying attention.

As a result, Mo Ran sat up again.

"What for?"

"Lights out."

The man got up and blew out the candle flame.

The house fell into silence, and under the bed lay the master and disciple, each with his own thoughts, looking at the begonias and butterflies, ghostly lit in a long, endless night.

"Master."

"What's wrong again? Are you going to sleep or not?"

"Sleep." Mo Ran's voice was gentle, and especially soft in the night, "Just suddenly I wanted to tell you something."

Chu Wanning pursed his lips, and although his heart wasn't beating as hard as it had been the first time he'd taken a wild guess, he still had a dry throat.

"I would say that the Master sleeps without having to be so formal, always sleeping in a corner."

There was a hint of laughter in his voice, low, but nice.

Chu Wanning: "I'm used to it."

"Why?"

"The room is always too messy and I've tumbled and fallen before and got a cut from a file on the floor."

Mo Ran listened, but did not say anything for half a day.

Chu Wanning waited, and when there was no movement, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"No." Mo Ran said, but his voice seemed closer, and Chu Wanning turned his head sideways to see him pulling the floor closer to him through the blurred, light curtain and the luminescence of the begonias and butterflies.

Mo Ran lay back down and smiled, "Don't worry when I'm around, Master, you won't get stabbed when you fall."

He paused and said, seemingly casually, "There's me."

""

After a while, Mo Ran heard the man on the bed grunt softly and say quietly, "The flesh on your arm is so hard, it won't be much better than a file if you knock it."

Mo Ran smiled, "There are harder ones that the Master has not seen."

He had originally intended to say chest muscles, but before he could do so, he was suddenly aware of the strong fishy smell that pervaded the words. He froze for a moment and said.

"I didn't mean it like that."

Chu Wanning was already silent and awkward after hearing the first sentence, and when he heard the second, the atmosphere between them sank hopelessly into the abyss.

He knew, of course, that Mo Ran had harder and hotter blades, more unnerving than the morose hilts of his own mechs, and, leaving aside the damned Xianxia ranking book, he had felt it himself unintentionally through his clothes. It was a terrifying passion that made his body shiver and tingle.

Chu Wanning said anxiously, "Sleep."

"Hmm."

But how can I sleep?

The lava of love and affection was frying both of them, licking their chests hot to the point of chafing. The room was so quiet that the faint breathing of the other could be heard, the movement of tossing and turning.

Mo Ran put her hand behind her head and opened her eyes, looking at the fluttering fire-red butterflies all over the room.

In this silence, Mo Ran suddenly remembered something

The man who saved himself from the nightmare of Pinching Willow back in Jin Chengchi vaguely whispered something in his ear.

At that moment his consciousness was blurred, and he was not sure whether the words were his hallucination or not. But now that he thought about it, he suddenly felt that perhaps it was not a mishearing.

Maybe it's true.

He heard Chu Wanning say, at that moment, "I like you too."

Mo Ran's heart beats faster and faster, and the smallest details that he hadn't noticed in the past are sprouting at this moment, turning into fresh leaves and stamens, which will then be nourished by his wolf's ambition and grow into a huge tree of Tongtian.

His mind was buzzing, his eyes were dizzy, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong

"I like you too."

I like you too

If he had really misheard the words, if Chu Wanning had never said them, then why did Chu Wanning not want to admit that he was the one who saved him after Jin Chengchi woke up from his nightmare?

Unless he had heard correctly

Unless Chu Wanning actually said it then

Mo Ran sat up violently, actually overwhelmed with emotion, and said hoarsely, "Master"

""

Even though the person in the curtain didn't move, Mo Ran asked, "I picked up something today, when I was doing the laundry, and it was"

It was quiet inside the curtain.

"Do you know, what is it?" he said, but suddenly he was afraid to ask Chu Wanning in such a stupid way.

The other side did not say yes for a long time.

Mo Ran hesitated, her eyes wet and dark: "Master, are you still awake?"

"Do you hear me?"

On the lightly curtained bed, Chu Wanning is silent, seemingly asleep. Mo Ran waits for a long time, unwillingly, and reaches out several times to lift the curtain, but then stops.

"Master."

He stammered and lay down again.

The sound is soft and somewhat soft.

"You pay attention to me."

Chu Wanning, of course, doesn't care about him.

His whole being was confused, the clarity of mind he had always prided himself on had risen into a pandemonium. He lay in bed, his eyes open and staring at the darkened mantle, sluggishly and stiffly pondering: what the hell does Mo Ran want?

He thought about it a lot, made all sorts of unthinkable guesses, but dared not guess the most obvious answer, dared not guess that Mo Ran loved him too.

It's like a hungry person who has been given a crispy piece of meat pie and cherishes it because it's hard to come by, so he gobbles up the outer crust, but can't get his hands on the last remaining meat filling.

Chu Wanning listens to the gentle yet agitated murmur of the man outside the mantle.

Quietly pulling the covers upwards, covering her chin, mouth and nose, revealing only a pair of bright eyes.

Then he covered his eyes as well and hid his whole body inside the quilt.

Of course he heard it, but he didn't know how to answer

Heart pounding, palms sweaty.

He had a sense of embarrassment at being cornered and couldn't sit up abruptly and roar, "Yes I fucking hid that pouch I like it now get lost don't ask sleep"

He was tormented and apprehensive, and his heart itched.

"Master."

""

"Did you really sleep?"

After a while, Chu Wanning heard Mo Ran sigh softly.

He covered his head with the blanket, and in the darkness he was overcome with chagrin and heart palpitations, nervousness and sweetness, a mixture of sourness and bitterness, and he urged himself to be calm, but his cheeks burned and he could not resist kicking the blanket.