"Are you frying fish?" Xia Chuan couldn't help but squint his eyes and turn his head to look at Shen Lan, "Why do you keep tossing and turning?"

Shen Lan vaguely denied it, lifting one eye to glance at Xia Chuan. It was unclear whether he saw clearly or not, but he directly raised his hand and covered Xia Chuan's eyes without a word, pushing his face to turn back again.

He then pressed his forehead against the back of Xia Chuan's head, coughed and said, "It's nothing, go to sleep."

Xia Chuan: "..."

With someone constantly moving behind him, how could he fall asleep!

However, after denying it, Shen Lan settled down for a while, seeming to have found a more comfortable position, or perhaps restraining his desire to move, so as not to disturb Xia Chuan's sleep. With no more disturbances from him, Xia Chuan didn't think too much of it and decided to calm himself down and fall asleep early.

For a while, the room was again filled with only the faint crackling of burning wood. It wasn't loud, at least not enough to affect sleep under normal circumstances...

This tranquil atmosphere lasted for a long time, until the flames on the wood shrank and the firelight weakened further. Xia Chuan, who had been keeping his eyes closed, frowned slightly and suddenly opened his eyes again. His eyes were still bright in the night, showing no trace of sleepiness, but his expression carried a hint of slight irritation.

This time, Shen Lan behind him made no movement at all. It was simply because Xia Chuan couldn't fall asleep.

He wasn't sure if it was because he ate a bunch of grilled fish and felt a bit heated, or for some other reason, but he felt particularly unable to calm down tonight. It seemed that even the slightest sound around him would be amplified in his mind, making it a bit unbearable.

Among them, what he found most disruptive to his sleep was Shen Lan's breathing...

Last night, Shen Lan's breathing was barely audible, but today, for some unknown reason, whether it was a matter of posture or something else, it had inexplicably become much heavier.

Each breath was practically pressed against his ear. The skin connecting the ear to the side of the neck was very thin, and Shen Lan's warm breath swept over that spot erratically, sometimes light, sometimes heavy, so chaotic that it was almost impossible to find a rhythm. Each breath made the side of Xia Chuan's neck tense up, itchy, impossible to ignore even if he wanted to...

Xia Chuan narrowed his eyes and stared at the wall for a while. Finally unable to bear it, he moved slightly, wanting to distance that most ticklish spot behind his ear from Shen Lan a little. But as soon as he moved, Shen Lan suddenly tightened his left arm around Xia Chuan, his breath pausing for a moment.

Then he buried his head and rubbed Xia Chuan's neck with the tip of his nose, asking in a low voice, "Why aren't you asleep yet?"

His voice was muffled in Xia Chuan's neck, sounding a bit buzzy and hoarse.

Xia Chuan's back stiffened from this intimate action that was almost too much. That vague feeling that kept him from sleeping rose another level, making it even harder for him to calm down. His brows furrowed more tightly as he said, "You're feeling hot?"

He didn't realize it until he spoke, but his voice was also a bit hoarse.

"Roasting by the fire, it's a bit hot..." Shen Lan was silent for a moment before explaining, then thought about it and added, "My throat is dry too."

The human mind is strange. Shen Lan wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't mentioned it, but as soon as he brought up the dryness and heat, Xia Chuan also felt like his heart was burning a bit. The fire from the burning wood wasn't actually that big, even weaker than when it first ignited, but it seemed impossible to ignore...

Shen Lan was only wearing an animal skin skirt, his entire upper body bare, but his skin temperature was a bit high from being roasted by the fire's warmth. Not only higher than his body temperature last night, but even a bit higher than Xia Chuan's, pressing tightly against Xia Chuan's lean back through the thin layer of his shirt...

Xia Chuan wasn't stupid. He wouldn't believe that just adding a fire pit would make it impossible to sleep. Both Shen Lan's reaction and his own made him feel that something was off about what they ate today. That kind of slim, slender-looking fish was probably not only good-looking, but also a bit too nutritious, even with some unexpected effects...

The effect of making people feel heated after eating it.

He himself ate three, and Shen Lan ate a bunch of large chunks of fish and then swallowed three more... How great, simply bringing misfortune upon themselves.

Xia Chuan felt a bit helpless when he realized the reason. For the first time, he had the thought of self-reflection, thinking that next time he should change his superficial habit of choosing food based on appearance to avoid such an embarrassing situation again...

In front of him was that earthen wall, dry with a faint scent of soil. Because the bed was small, he was already practically sleeping against the wall, no more than a few centimeters away. There was no extra space to avoid it even if he wanted to, and the person behind him was pressing even closer, his breath growing hotter with each exhale.

"You..." Xia Chuan closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. He wanted to tell Shen Lan to loosen his grip, as it was obviously better for the two of them not to be pressed so close together at a time like this. However, when he spoke, his voice was low and hoarse, making him want to pause and steady himself before speaking again.

But before he could say anything more, Shen Lan spoke up again. This time, Shen Lan's tone carried three parts innocence and seven parts helplessness. He nuzzled Xia Chuan's neck, clicked his tongue, and said, "Next door still hasn't quieted down."

Xia Chuan didn't understand his meaning at first: "Hm?"

Shen Lan said hoarsely, "Next door... keeps panting nonstop."

Xia Chuan: "..."

He almost thought he misunderstood Shen Lan's meaning and asked again to confirm, "Panting... what?"

"The kind of panting in the animal world, get it?" Shen Lan said, "I've encountered it a lot in the wild."

Xia Chuan: "... Just what kind of things have you seen in that primitive place all these years?!"

Shen Lan laughed deeply. Because their chests and backs were pressed together, this low laugh was practically transmitted through skin and flesh, creating a buzzing resonance in Xia Chuan's chest, making his heart feel a bit numb...

He couldn't actually hear the sounds that Shen Lan mentioned, after all, his hearing was no match for Shen Lan's. But whether it was because the night was too quiet or due to psychological factors, after Shen Lan brought it up, he seemed to vaguely hear some faint noises, like someone's panting mixed with other sounds he dared not think about.

After all, this mud-built house was already good enough if it could keep out some wind and rain, so one shouldn't expect it to have high-level effects like soundproofing.

The more Xia Chuan tried to ignore those sounds, the more uncontrollably they seemed to drill into his ears. The most fatal thing was that Shen Lan's breathing also joined in the commotion, breath by breath, along his cochlea, sticking to his skin, penetrating into every crevice of his bones, as if all the blood in his body had come alive, rushing towards the nerve endings, doubling the sensitivity of every inch of skin, untouchable.

But Shen Lan behind him had a particular fondness for the touch of skin against skin.

Xia Chuan only felt his breathing hitting the walls of the mud house, reflecting and echoing in this small space, intertwining into a complex and dense net, trapping him inside.

Shen Lan rubbed his nose in Xia Chuan's neck hollow a couple more times, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled, going back and forth like this twice, but still couldn't calm down.

He muttered a complaint about something, then sighed, slightly raised his head, his dry lips lightly touching Xia Chuan's shoulder hollow and side of the neck, moving all the way to Xia Chuan's ear, and asked in a low voice, "Can I kiss you?"

Xia Chuan narrowed his eyes, and before he could react, he felt Shen Lan exert force with both hands, flipping him over. Shen Lan himself also casually turned over, one leg bent and kneeling at Xia Chuan's waist, the other leg half-hooking and half-pressing on Xia Chuan's calf.

Due to the change in posture, the dim firelight jumping in the center of the room suddenly broke into Xia Chuan's line of sight, burning quietly in a place his peripheral vision could sweep, flickering. His brown eyes were illuminated by the firelight, revealing a hazy glimmer through the black eyelashes.

He looked at Shen Lan from his half-closed eyes, his gaze slowly sliding down from Shen Lan's brown-black short hair, and then met those deep blue eyes.

When Shen Lan wasn't smiling or looking silly, his gaze always appeared particularly serious and sincere, and even though his eyes were unfocused now, it didn't hinder that sincerity from projecting out.

Xia Chuan lowered his gaze, raised his hand to prop himself up halfway, opened his mouth, his tone still calm and indifferent, but his voice a little hoarse, "You first—"

He had been sleeping against the wall for half a day, and his legs were already a bit uncomfortable. With Shen Lan pressing down like this, they almost immediately went a bit numb.

He originally wanted Shen Lan to move his legs away first and not press so tightly as it was really uncomfortable, but Shen Lan thought he was going to get up and leave, and hurriedly grabbed both of Xia Chuan's wrists with his hands, staring at Xia Chuan intently, emphasizing again, "I really want to kiss you."

Xia Chuan raised his eyelids to look at him, "...Because of the noise next door?"

Shen Lan actually pondered seriously for two seconds, then shook his head.

Xia Chuan said, "Oh... then I guess it's because of those few fish."

Shen Lan said, "A few fish? What big impact could a few fish have?!"

He was very agitated by Xia Chuan's attitude of beating around the bush and not answering his question. With a forceful movement of his hands, he pressed Xia Chuan down a bit more, his brown-black short hair messing around Xia Chuan's neck, like he had just been unleashed and gone crazy, after going crazy for two seconds, he raised his head again and said to Xia Chuan, "I've been holding back all night, now your dagger has been quietly removed by me, I'm going to kiss you."

Xia Chuan: "..."

Listening to the second half of this sentence alone, it seemed like a threat, but combined with Shen Lan's unconvincing tone and expression, it really had no deterrent power at all.

In summary, he was probably here to act cute.

But a few seconds later, when Xia Chuan was distracted for a moment and nodded, and then was really kissed breathless by Shen Lan, he belatedly realized that he actually fell for this...