DCHHLT Chapter 14

Just as Liang Xingyuan was agonizing over it, Chu Junshan withdrew his hand. His tone was mild and flat, with no discernible emotion. “Next time, then.”

Liang Xingyuan, who had only just managed to rein in the tentacles that wanted to come out: “…”

It seemed he had missed his chance.

However, the troubled feeling did not stay with Liang Xingyuan for long.

Because Chu Junshan turned his head, looking straight ahead, and said in a casual tone, “There’ll be plenty of occasions for us to hold hands next time.”

Once again, Liang Xingyuan was sweetened by the little treat Chu Junshan had given him.

When it came to dating, he really did have to learn from Chu Junshan.

Chu Junshan had been right. The apartment he had previously purchased was in a residential complex three streets away.

This area was located on the outskirts of the city. Although transportation was not as convenient as in the inner city, it had the advantage of being peaceful, with beautiful scenery.

Looking out into the distance from here, one could see low, rolling green mountains.

After Chu Junshan swiped his card and led Liang Xingyuan to the entrance of his apartment building, Liang Xingyuan suddenly remembered something.

Feeling somewhat awkward, he asked, “Should I wait for you downstairs?”

After all, Chu Junshan seemed to have a strong sense of personal territory. The last time Liang Xingyuan had come to pick him up at the same place, he had also offered to help Chu Junshan carry his luggage and the like, but Chu Junshan had politely declined.

Liang Xingyuan could actually understand.

After all, every detail and arrangement within a room could reveal its owner’s preferences and identity.

At that time, he and Chu Junshan had not known each other very well yet, so it was perfectly normal for him to be kept outside the door.

Even if Chu Junshan did not let him in today either, it would not matter. He believed that one day, just as Chu Junshan had allowed him to get to know his friend today, he would be willing to open his heart and let him walk inside…

“No need.”

However, Chu Junshan very quickly made Liang Xingyuan’s “wish” come true.

He was agreeing to let him enter his room…

Liang Xingyuan suppressed his excited delight. Just as he was about to answer, Chu Junshan’s next sentence interrupted him: “You’ll also need to register your fingerprint and facial recognition key on the smart lock at the front door—”

He stopped where he was and glanced back. Suddenly, the corners of his eyes curved as he broke into a soft laugh: “After all, Teacher Liang, from now on, you’ll be the other owner of this home.”

Liang Xingyuan felt as though that smile had scorched him. His brain, which had originally been running at high speed, went completely blank. All eight of his brains went on strike at once, leaving room for nothing but Chu Junshan’s name.

The access key, and the word “owner”…

To Liang Xingyuan, the sentence formed from those simple words suddenly became incredibly complicated.

He was like a child who had been given a piece of candy by someone else, savoring its sweetness bit by bit, carefully and cautiously.

Before Chu Junshan, who was walking ahead, could turn to look at him, Liang Xingyuan promptly suppressed his excitement.

However, no matter how hard he tried, he could not suppress the slight upward curve of his lips, which gave him away.

Chu Junshan caught sight of the slight curve at the corners of his eyes, lowered his head, and chuckled softly. “We’re here.”

Registering the fingerprint key was very simple. Chu Junshan opened up the access permissions. Liang Xingyuan pressed his lips together as he solemnly registered his fingerprint, looking as serious as if he were about to have it engraved alongside Chu Junshan’s name on a marriage certificate.

“My place is rather messy, so make yourself at home,” Chu Junshan said as he pushed the door open and went inside. He opened the sliding shoe cabinet in the entryway and took out a pair of disposable slippers. “Sorry, there are only disposable ones. I don’t have visitors here often. Jiang Chun uses these too when he comes.”

Liang Xingyuan nodded, not minding in the least. He followed behind Chu Junshan, walked around a wall that had been turned into a bookcase, then raised his head and looked around.

Chu Junshan’s home was more or less as he had imagined. Even though there was quite a bit of furniture and it had been in use for two years, the place seemed utterly devoid of human warmth, as though no one had ever lived there.

Looking at the furniture and decor, which seemed to have no design to speak of, Liang Xingyuan very subtly frowned.

The things Chu Junshan had come to get were not in the living room. Since Chu Junshan did not tell him to wait there, Liang Xingyuan naturally just continued following in his footsteps.

“I need to get a few documents. You can look around here,” Chu Junshan’s voice came from ahead. “This used to be where I worked. After I became a freelancer, I spent most of my time here. Of course, if you’re bored, you can also help me sort some things out.”

Liang Xingyuan naturally chose the latter. “Sure.”

After they passed through the living room, Liang Xingyuan saw Chu Junshan’s study.

Quite unusually, the layout of Chu Junshan’s home was strange. The study was open-plan. Sitting at the desk, one could take in the entire house at a single glance. Ordinary homes were not laid out like this. A design that was too open and empty could easily make the humans living in it feel lonely and hollow, potentially triggering loneliness disorder.

Besides, humans were social creatures. Even if they lived alone, for humans who needed a sense of security in order to live, the layout of this house really was not good.

Maybe it was a problem with the developer’s design, Liang Xingyuan thought indifferently.

Four or five tall mahogany-and-glass display cabinets stood before him. There should once have been something displayed on them. Perhaps books, or some other kind of collection.

But now, aside from some common Gundam figures and professional books, there was nothing in those cabinets.

Liang Xingyuan cast a few more interested glances at the cabinets before he heard Chu Junshan’s voice. “Teacher Liang, I need the file numbered A13. They’re all in this box. If you have time, could you help me look for it?”

The moment he heard his voice, all of Liang Xingyuan’s previous speculations were thrown to the back of his mind.

He was more than happy to help Chu Junshan.

Following Chu Junshan’s instructions, he walked over to the box and sat down on the tatami. As he searched through it for the file Chu Junshan had mentioned, he occasionally raised his eyes, his gaze falling from afar on Chu Junshan, who was sitting at the desk.

A thick folder lay in front of him. His back was straight, his eyes lowered, and his long, fair fingertips rapidly flipped through the manuscripts as he searched with particular concentration for what he wanted.

Chu Junshan, when he was being serious… was so beautiful.

Liang Xingyuan thought the glances he cast at him were well concealed. While Chu Junshan was in a place where he “couldn’t see”, Liang Xingyuan let his gaze linger over him for a long time before finally, reluctantly, drawing it back.

The instant he withdrew his gaze, he failed to notice that Chu Junshan, who had just been “working seriously”, suddenly smiled softly.

Liang Xingyuan had been looking at him.

That frenzied, veiled gaze was like lava flowing beneath an icy sea, as though at any second, it might no longer be able to hold itself back and burst forth with scorching, searing flames.

But this was still not enough.

At the edge of Chu Junshan’s vision, Liang Xingyuan had his head lowered, carefully following his instructions.

He was dressed in a formal suit, his posture straight and upright, the profile of his face sharply defined and flawless. He was so handsome that it was impossible to look away.

Only Chu Junshan knew that beneath that perfect, flawless human exterior lay a monster’s ugliest—and most beautiful—form.

That was the only thing he was interested in.

Before bringing Liang Xingyuan here, Chu Junshan had returned to this house once.

He had put away all those tentacle figurines he had collected, packed them up, and stored them in the attic, leaving behind only a few books and models that represented what was “normal”.

As for the things he had left out… every single one of them was something he wanted Liang Xingyuan to see.

Halfway through sorting, Liang Xingyuan’s feelings became somewhat complicated.

Chu Junshan was far more meticulous when it came to categorizing his work than he was with his understanding of home design. As Liang Xingyuan handled the documents, one of them was accidentally opened. He discovered that inside were original art sheets, one after another.

Chu Junshan had dabbled in many different fields. Some were watercolor landscapes; some were Japanese-style characters done in flat colors; others were still lifes painted with thick, layered brushwork.

His brushwork was concise and economical. With only a few strokes, he could capture the essence of an entire painting. His compositions were clean and uncluttered, allowing the viewer to immediately see the focal point of the image.

Liang Xingyuan was very willing to learn a little more about Chu Junshan’s past. His expression was focused and serious. As he flipped through the papers, he accidentally shook loose an unbound file.

Sheets of snow-white manuscript paper fluttered down, making a crisp flapping sound like the beating wings of pigeons in flight.

Chu Junshan had not noticed what was happening over here. Liang Xingyuan withdrew his gaze, and his heart, which had drifted far away, settled steadily back into his chest.

He moved aside the few ordinary drafts on top. His gaze froze on an art book covered by several sheets of paper. His breathing stopped along with it.

Compared with the fresh, natural style of the works from before, this already-published art book was clearly completely different in style. The brushwork was wild. A huge, flesh-pink tentacle stood erect on the cover, with viscous liquid clinging suggestively to its stalk-like body, making one afraid to take a second look.

Liang Xingyuan immediately felt his scalp tingle. Gritting his teeth, it took him a long while before he forced himself to look away.

This was… a tentacle.

The tentacles imagined by humans were somewhat different from the tentacles beneath him, but their specific features were entirely similar, making Liang Xingyuan feel deeply alarmed.

Tentacles should not have appeared in the home of a normal human in the first place. The tentacle in this art book had gone even beyond the limits of what humans with normal sexual orientations could accept. But it… why was it here?

Did Chu Junshan know?

Countless guesses surged into his mind, throwing Liang Xingyuan’s thoughts into turmoil.

“These are some commercial pieces I drew before, created according to the clients’ requirements,” Chu Junshan’s voice suddenly sounded beside Liang Xingyuan’s ear. “There are also some art collections. Those are all for collecting.”

Liang Xingyuan’s heart gave a violent leap. He swiftly turned his head and, on instinct, hid the hand holding the art book behind his back. His gaze fell on Chu Junshan, who was walking toward him: “Sorry… I accidentally scattered your files just now.”

“It’s fine.” Chu Junshan smiled. “I didn’t organize some of the files properly, so it isn’t your fault.”

Liang Xingyuan took a deep breath, doing his best to calm his heartbeat, which was far too fast and completely unlike that of a human. After a long moment of silence, he finally asked the question he had been wanting to ask all along.

“Is this part of your collection?”

He brought out the hand he had hidden behind his back. The explicit Category III magazine, with its provocative cover, was laid bare between them just like that.

However, unlike what Liang Xingyuan had imagined, Chu Junshan’s gaze drifted lightly over the magazine. After only a moment, he looked away and turned his eyes back to Liang Xingyuan.

“Mm. A friend at the publishing house gave it to me. It’s a magazine he published before. Do you like it?”

“N-No…” Liang Xingyuan was so startled by the words “do you like it” that it was as though he desperately wanted to distance himself from the word “tentacle”. He quickly waved his hand in refusal. “I’m not really interested…”

“It’s fine.” Chu Junshan took the magazine from his hand and casually placed it inside the glass display cabinet. Then he turned his head and, seemingly without intention, changed the subject. His eyes lowered slightly, his long, thick eyelashes casting downward and concealing the subtle amusement welling up in his eyes. “The rest of my artwork isn’t here. Teacher Liang, are you interested? I can take you to see it.”

Liang Xingyuan hesitated briefly before nodding with complete honesty.

“I am.”

As long as it had anything to do with Chu Junshan, he was interested in it.

On this point, Chu Junshan had not exaggerated in the slightest.

When Chu Junshan was in high school, he had once considered taking the art school entrance examination route. However, under his parents’ influence, he had majored in finance at university. After resigning from his job at the company, he returned to his old pursuit and began taking on commercial illustration commissions. In recent years, as he had gradually risen to prominence, he and Jiang Chun had also jointly invested in opening a small studio, which was responsible for handling higher-level commercial commissions.

Over the past two years of working, Chu Junshan had accumulated quite a large number of drawings.

Liang Xingyuan followed him into another room filled with artwork and miscellaneous items. With his eyes lowered, he carefully examined the paintings.

“The client had quite a lot of requirements regarding character elements, so most of these drafts are just preliminary character concepts. They’re not very good-looking.” Chu Junshan picked up a sheet of manuscript paper that had yellowed with the passage of time and said softly, “You don’t have to look at these.”

Liang Xingyuan’s gaze swept over those sketches of human figures. Just as Chu Junshan had said, his drafts were only used to sketch out and develop his ideas. Following those messy strokes, Liang Xingyuan could even imagine through that thin sheet of paper, Chu Junshan back then, wearing a focused expression as he bent over his desk and worked.

For the time being, Liang Xingyuan knew very little about human art. He studied them for quite a while before giving a serious and sincere evaluation. “They’re beautiful.”

“Thank you for the compliment.” Chu Junshan’s lips curved slightly, his smile faint, as though it might vanish from where it was in the blink of an eye. “Actually, I’m not very good at drawing people.”

Liang Xingyuan shifted his gaze away from the paper. His eyes met Chu Junshan’s, where a faint smile lingered. For some reason, it seemed as though there was an electric current hidden in Chu Junshan’s eyes, making his heart involuntarily skip a beat. The question naturally slipped from his lips: “Then… what else are you good at?”

Chu Junshan looked straight into Liang Xingyuan’s eyes, meeting his gaze without the slightest hesitation. The smile in his eyes deepened: “Monsters.”

Liang Xingyuan froze. Thinking he had misheard, it took him a long moment to react. The fingertips holding the paper trembled slightly.

…Monsters?

The many speculations that had arisen earlier because of the tentacle magazine surfaced in Liang Xingyuan’s mind once again, giving him an urge to flee.

But… he couldn’t.

He was standing face-to-face with the person he loved—a pale, slender, delicate, ordinary human.

He couldn’t let Chu Junshan see his strange side because of these “wild speculations”.

Liang Xingyuan forcibly suppressed those thoughts. Even though a stormy sea had already been stirred up in his heart, on the surface, he still maintained a composed calm.

“Do you like the image of monsters?”

The question was both a test and a precaution.

Could he accept tentacles? Would he… like him?

He no longer avoided meeting those tea-brown eyes. Gathering his courage, his heart pounding, he held Chu Junshan’s gaze.

Chu Junshan suddenly curved his lips into an enigmatic smile. He opened his mouth, just about to answer, but heaven seemed to have played an enormous joke on Liang Xingyuan.

The doorbell suddenly rang, thoroughly disrupting the strange, tense atmosphere between them.

“The delivery should be here.” Chu Junshan casually withdrew his gaze, as though he had not felt any of the undercurrents stirred up during their earlier eye contact. “I’ll go get it first.”

Liang Xingyuan could not possibly say no.

Taking deep breaths, he watched Chu Junshan’s back disappear from his sight. Only when he loosened his tightly clenched fist did he realize that, at some point, a fine layer of sweat had already formed on his palm.

…He was so nervous.

He was afraid that Chu Junshan would say, “I don’t like them”. But he was also afraid that he would say, “I can accept them”.

If Chu Junshan could simply and decisively give the former answer, then at least Liang Xingyuan could put an end to these hopes. Before he lost control of himself, he could send Chu Junshan safely away from his side as soon as possible.

He liked him, so he could not bear to let him suffer any harm. Even if that harm came from himself, that was still unacceptable.

But if… what he said was, “I can accept them”…

Liang Xingyuan closed his eyes in embarrassment and thought to himself in a low voice—

The inherent depravity buried within his body, the depravity belonging to a monster, might very well drive him to become increasingly insatiable and take everything that belonged to Chu Junshan.

It was clearly only the amount of time it took for the other person to go pick up a delivery, yet to Liang Xingyuan, it felt as though ten thousand years had passed.

His heart pounded faster and faster, as if in the next second it would leap out of his chest and reveal all his secrets to Chu Junshan.

Fortunately, however, Liang Xingyuan felt that the question he had just asked had actually been somewhat presumptuous.

He forced himself to think optimistically—

Chu Junshan had hesitated for so long without answering, and then someone had happened to interrupt their conversation. By the time Chu Junshan came back, perhaps they would tacitly let the question pass and simply pretend it had never been asked.

At that thought, Liang Xingyuan’s heart settled somewhat.

Pretending to be very busy, he lowered his head and quietly admired those beautiful drafts, but his ears remained keenly attentive to every movement behind him.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Chu Junshan was coming back.

He nervously lowered his eyes. The fingertips holding the paper turned slightly white from how tightly he was gripping it.

“Got it.” Just as he had hoped, Chu Junshan indeed showed no intention whatsoever of continuing their previous topic.

Half disappointed and half relieved, Liang Xingyuan nodded and took the initiative to bring up another subject.

“Were all these drafts accepted? Actually, I don’t know much about this field. I just think you’re very skilled, very talented…”

“Liang Xingyuan.”

Chu Junshan suddenly called his name.

As though awakened by some spell, he abruptly looked up and met those tea-brown eyes.

Chu Junshan’s expression was calm. Bathed in the afternoon sunlight, his entire figure was edged with a bright, soft golden glow. In the most ordinary, calm tone, he naturally picked up the topic that had abruptly died halfway through: “Do you want me to like them?”

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