Chapter 152 : Chapter 152
Chapter 152
"Which way?" Bai Xuechao blinked his crimson eyes innocently, as if he really didn't understand what Yuan Lan was asking.
Yuan Lan's brilliant smile vanished, and he asked calmly, "Do you really not know?"
Bai Xuechao blinked, his long, thick eyelashes like two thin snowflakes. He leaned back slightly, creating some distance from Yuan Lan, and supported himself with his hands behind him. This posture made him appear very relaxed, a stark contrast to the tension of someone with a guilty conscience, as if he truly didn't know.
He tilted his head and looked at Yuan Lan, saying, "You can ask in more detail."
Yuan Lan suddenly raised his hand and covered Bai Xuechao's eyes.
He let out a light sigh, a slight curve at the corners of his lips, and said, "Sometimes, I really can't do anything about you."
None of the methods he could use worked on Bai Xuechao.
However, although it was troublesome, it was interesting.
Yuan Lan still had his hand over Bai Xuechao's eyes. Beneath his fingers, he could feel the scorching heat of Bai Xuechao's skin. The tips of his eyelashes gently poked at his fingers, obedient and still. Bai Xuechao neither asked him "what are you doing" nor tried to break free, giving him the feeling that "today's Little Xuechao is indeed very well-behaved."
He removed his hand from Bai Xuechao's eyes.
Bai Xuechao's vision brightened again. He blinked his long lashes a couple of times and raised his translucent, ruby-like eyes to look at Yuan Lan.
"You can't do anything?" Bai Xuechao's tone carried a hint of teasing and amusement.
"Yes, it's rare. Anyway, I'm going back to the laboratory first." Yuan Lan took a step back but didn't leave, still standing by the bed, as if he had cast a fishing hook, waiting for the fish to bite. "I just came over to see you, and now I have. You can continue resting. I'll come back when it's time to eat. What do you want to eat—huh?"
He broke into a wide smile, looking at Bai Xuechao's hand that had suddenly sat up and grabbed the hem of his shirt. "What's wrong?"
Bai Xuechao knelt up and moved forward a step, getting closer to Yuan Lan. His slender fingers still clutched the hem of Yuan Lan's shirt, but he just looked at Yuan Lan quietly without speaking.
Yuan Lan continued to smile. "Hmm?"
"Take me with you," Bai Xuechao said softly, looking at him.
Yuan Lan met Bai Xuechao's gaze for a moment, then tilted his head and looked him up and down, as if scrutinizing him. He suddenly asked, "Would you be like this with Little Yu too?"
It was that question again.
Bai Xuechao suddenly felt that Yuan Lan was very childish.
It was like three big kids in kindergarten playing together. One of them heard that the other two had gone on a trip together during the summer vacation and immediately started crying and making a fuss, wanting to go on a trip with them too. It couldn't be "you have it and I don't," it was better to have "I have it and you don't."
But it was also normal. Friendship, like love, was exclusive. When three people played together, two of them would often have a better relationship, leaving the third one out.
But!
Bai Xuechao thought, Yuan Lan was much more invested in this than he was, wasn't he?
He couldn't help but wonder if Yuan Lan was just acting or if it was from the bottom of his heart.
"More or less," Bai Xuechao's answer was a bit vague.
Yuan Lan let out a low laugh and shifted his feet slightly, showing a tendency to step back, as if he was planning to leave and return to the laboratory.
"I asked Yu Ruolan if she could stay with me." Bai Xuechao deliberately used Yu Ruolan's full name to make their relationship seem less intimate. His fingers released the shirt hem he had been clutching for a long time. "But as for 'take me with you,' you're the first."
Yuan Lan didn't show any particular reaction, just smiled at Bai Xuechao. "Oh?"
Bai Xuechao said, "You should have noticed, right? I can actually move around even with a high fever, it's just more uncomfortable. Maybe it's because I've had fevers often since I was a child, so my body has gotten used to it. So even though a high fever is very uncomfortable, it won't really make me so sick that I can't get out of bed."
So if you're going to poison me, don't give me something that will cause a fever, you understand?
A fever would make him dizzy and give him a headache, and he didn't want to continue with his plans with a headache debuff.
It would be best to come up with something new.
Yuan Lan nodded, acknowledging it. "And then?"
"I get a little clingy when I'm sick, that's why I asked Yu Ruolan if she could stay. I can clearly move..." At this point, Bai Xuechao took a deep breath, as if he had to muster up all his courage to say it. "But I don't want to go with anyone else, I only want to go with you."
Without three jin of courage to calm himself, he couldn't have said those words.
Yuan Lan seemed to be in a good mood because of these words. A faint smile lingered on his lips, and his brilliant golden eyes also held a hint of a smile.
After thinking for a while with a light smile, he asked in a gentle voice, "Go with me, anywhere is fine?"
"Mm," Bai Xuechao said in a low voice. "I don't want to be alone."
"Okay, I won't let you be alone." Yuan Lan stepped forward again and approached Bai Xuechao, bending down to pick him up.
Bai Xuechao refused, "No need, you know I can walk by myself."
"I know, but you still feel uncomfortable with a fever, right?" Yuan Lan said in a very considerate manner, smiling at him. "Let me carry you~"
Bai Xuechao didn't refuse this time.
As Yuan Lan's arm passed under Bai Xuechao's knees and he picked him up, he thought to himself, today's Little Xuechao is indeed very well-behaved.
If it were the past, if Bai Xuechao didn't want to, he would insist on not wanting to, but this time he actually listened after just a little persuasion.
He just didn't know if he would always be this well-behaved, or if he was only this well-behaved when he was sick and being taken care of.
Yuan Lan carried Bai Xuechao up the stairs and into the laboratory.
Upon entering the laboratory, Bai Xuechao only felt that the temperature inside was at least five degrees higher than outside, but he didn't have much time to look around before Yuan Lan carried him out the window and back to the castle where the members of the Apocalypse Society were staying.
After jumping in through the window, Yuan Lan didn't stop, but went straight out the door and ran in another direction.
The two passed through a long hallway. The sunlight shone through the colorful stained-glass window on the side, creating a splendid and dreamlike color.
Bai Xuechao just quietly looked at the scenery along the way.
At this moment, Xiao 6 said faintly, "I've finally recovered."
Bai Xuechao was idle, so he chatted with it for a bit. "What have you recovered from?"
Xiao 6 displayed a "tired smile" meme in front of him and said something that didn't make Bai Xuechao feel sorry for it at all: "You and Yuan Lan are just too shippable. I was trying so hard not to make a sound just now that I almost crashed from excitement. All five movies running in the background froze ying-ying-ying."
If he wasn't being carried by Yuan Lan, Bai Xuechao really wanted to give Xiao 6 a death smile. "Serves you right, for shipping them."
"Ship! I must ship! I'll ship even if the system crashes!" Xiao 6 frantically spammed code in Bai Xuechao's vision. "Look, every single one of my codes says, 'Shipper'!"
Bai Xuechao: "..."
6, then I wish you a crash death one day.
During the time Bai Xuechao and Xiao 6 were talking in his mind, Yuan Lan had reached his destination.
Just as Yuan Lan was about to put Bai Xuechao down, he suddenly noticed that Bai Xuechao wasn't wearing shoes. Since he wasn't even wearing socks, his two pale and thin feet were exposed.
He asked, "Eh? Where are your shoes?"
"...Do I not take off my shoes when I go to bed?" Bai Xuechao was speechless.
Besides, he didn't believe for a second that Yuan Lan hadn't noticed earlier.
"I didn't see them." Yuan Lan lied with his eyes open, a smile in his eyes. "Then I'll just have to carry you like this. You can open the door."
Bai Xuechao cooperatively reached out to open the door.
After the door opened a crack, Yuan Lan kicked it open gently with his foot.
The entire room's layout was revealed. The floor was elegantly carpeted, a sofa for rest was placed in the corner, and paintings hung on the walls.
Of course, the most conspicuous was the grand piano in the center of the room. The sunlight from outside shone through the glass and landed on the piano body. The black lacquer on it was like a smooth mirror, reflecting the window and the curtains.
Yuan Lan carried Bai Xuechao to the piano bench, letting him stand on it for a while. He himself went to prop up the lid of the grand piano.
As he picked up the prop stick, he asked Bai Xuechao, "Does Little Xuechao know how to play?"
"No." Bai Xuechao stood on the piano bench, his foot lifting and pressing down as if he were bored, repeatedly stepping on the soft padding of the piano bench. "You play it once, I can learn on the spot."
It wasn't like he hadn't done this kind of thing before.
"Oh? I play it once?" Yuan Lan emphasized the word "once".
Bai Xuechao let out an "mm".
"Sure, I just thought of a piece, I'll play it once now." After propping up the piano lid, Yuan Lan turned his head and revealed a smiling face, his tone seemingly provocative. "But Little Xuechao might not be able to learn it in one go."
Bai Xuechao seemed to know what Yuan Lan was going to say next and immediately replied with a preemptive strike, "I don't fall for reverse psychology, no bets."
Hearing this, Yuan Lan pouted and said in a coquettish tone, "Eh~? How can Little Xuechao be like this, there's no fun anymore."
"You can tell me what you want to bet on," Bai Xuechao said.
Yuan Lan said, "I caught a mutated species before, its appearance is as unappetizing as the Thousand-Eyed Python. How about the loser tastes it?"
He added, "At least eat two jin. It should be pretty simple, right? A-Qing has already eaten a whole Thousand-Eyed Python."
Hearing this, Bai Xuechao began to think.
Yuan Lan had probably deliberately chosen a punishment similar to what Lin Changqing had done before to create a diversion. In reality, he just wanted him to eat something.
If he wasn't mistaken, Yuan Lan had already thought of poisoning him, and wanted to use this method to do it, so he had to agree.
Bai Xuechao readily said, "Fine."
"Okay~" Yuan Lan happily sat down on the piano bench. He turned his head to invite the standing Bai Xuechao to sit down as well, but suddenly remembered that there was no crossbar to step on between the four legs of the piano bench. With Bai Xuechao's height, his feet would definitely touch the ground if he sat down, and he was even barefoot.
Yuan Lan directly stretched out his arm, wrapped it around Bai Xuechao, and lifted him onto his lap.
Bai Xuechao was truly a little shocked sitting on Yuan Lan's lap. He curled up his legs, his feet on Yuan Lan's knees, and twisted his body to press his elbow against Yuan Lan's chest, asking, "What are you doing??"
Yuan Lan said innocently, "So you can step on my feet, that way your feet won't touch the ground."