Faraway Wanderers

Chapter 19. Night of Fire

It was impossible for Zhou Zishu to stay asleep past midnight, and while he was meditating in his room, suddenly there were piercing, terror-laden screams from outside. His brows knitted as he stood up and pushed open the window. He saw people running past with their clothes rumpled before receiving an assault of smoke and flame directly to his face.

“Fire! Fire!”

The frosty night was gradually clogged up with thick smoke; it seemed like the fire was not far from where he was staying. Zhou Zishu thought, Quite a big fire, judging from the smoke. But this is the Gao’s Manor; with the amount of people currently staying here, it can’t be that hard to control it. He wanted no part of this, and closed the window since he was somewhat choked up from the smoke.

An arm suddenly reached out, stopping him from closing the window. It even crudely copped a feel of the back his hand before its owner quickly jumped inside, smiling at Zhou Zishu while slipping the window shut.

Zhou Zishu judged the uninvited Wen Kexing from head to toe. He was about to say something when his nose itched, so he turned away to sneeze and firmly took two steps back, remaining a certain distance from this piece of “scented pastry” who must have strolled out of a place full of beauty products just now.

Mister “Good Person” Wen’s hair was unkempt, tied up temporarily with a plain hairband. His clothes were not exactly disheveled, but the collar was wide open, a dark red mark evident on the snow white fabric. The nauseating scent of beauty products exuded from his sleeves, and on his wrist was a faint mark created from the scratching of nails… Completed with his lecherous expressions, it was as if he couldn’t wait to show people what kind of activities he had been doing.

On instinct, Zhou Zishu fixed his own clothes and sat up straight, the feeling of moral superiority arising involuntarily. In that moment, compared to Wen Kexing, he felt like such a conscientious and upright gentleman.

Wen Kexing plopped himself down on Zhou Zishu’s bed. The bed sheets had gone cold, which meant the owner of the room had been up for a while. He asked, “Stop trying to be dignified, tell me, are you sleepless because you feel lonesome in this deep dark night? You should’ve told me so that I can drag you along… Hah, Dong Ting, what a glorious place to be.”

Zhou Zishu laughed quietly and dropped his charade. He knew all too well himself that righteousness would only look proper on a righteous person, and he was the epitome of “nothing was what it seemed”.

He looked at Wen Kexing meaningfully while replying. “Your timing is impeccable, Brother Wen. The moment you left, the fire started…”

He didn’t get to finish the sentence as Wen Kexing’s face paled and he retorted indignantly, “Rubbish! I’ve been gone for hours now!”

Zhou Zishu was taken aback, at a loss as to why he would be so angry. Then he saw Wen Kexing looked him over, the anger receding to make way for his usual leering smile. “Are you changing tactics, Ah-Xu? If you remove your disguise, I can show you… how long it actually was.”

He specifically wiped his mouth after that, licking at the corner of his lips as if remembering something.

Zhou Zishu stared at him in a daze, mindlessly holding a cup to his mouth to pretend drinking, but after a good while of no liquid flowing out, he finally noticed that the cup was actually empty. Wen Kexing looked at him with interest and thought that the other man was definitely blushing under his mask, even though he couldn’t see it. He got more amused the more he thought about it and ended up bursting out a giggle.