Hearing You Say Love chapter 19

 A Beautiful Body

Zou Beiyuan continued to accompany Su Ming for runs over the next few days, but he never helped him stretch in that position again.

He believed that his strange reaction was all due to a comic Zou Jingnan had brought over.

Because he had suspected that Su Ming was the author of the comic, he kept associating those erotic scenes with him, which was a complete misunderstanding.

He had since uninstalled the Jam Comic app, and after some time, he was sure he’d forget the contents and everything would be fine.

He also needed to warn Zou Jingnan not to send any more weird stuff to him.

August quickly passed, and in early September, Zou Jingnan returned from her graduation trip and was preparing for university life.

She first went back to Ninggang, had a fight with her dad, and then dragged her suitcase directly to Rong City.

Zou Beiyuan picked her up at the airport and took her to Tianhe Mansion for one night. The next morning, he drove her to Yishi to visit their grandmother.

Actually, Zou Beiyuan hadn’t planned to go with her; he had many things to do, and besides, Zou Jingnan could easily take the train by herself.

However, he had been feeling off lately and wanted to take this opportunity to change his surroundings and clear his mind.

Otherwise, he’d be thinking about Su Ming all day.

It was driving him crazy.

…..

That morning, after Chen Muchao dropped off his girlfriend at work, he came to find Su Ming to draw together with his tablet.

Su Ming had just woken up, his hair disheveled as he opened the door for him.

As soon as Chen Muchao entered, he saw Su Ming looking listless and didn’t greet him as usual.

“What’s wrong with you? Haven’t seen you for a few days and you look so out of it?”

Su Ming ignored him and turned to go wash his face and brush his teeth in the bathroom.

Chen Muchao hadn’t eaten breakfast yet and, seeing two sandwiches on Su Ming’s dining table, he grabbed one and opened a box of milk.

Holding the straw, he walked to the bathroom door, where he saw Su Ming brushing his teeth with half-closed eyes, and asked, “What’s wrong? Have you finally overindulged and become impotent?”

Su Ming thought about it; yes, he had indeed been too vigorous that day and scared the person off, which could be considered overindulgence. He nodded.

“Wow, Zou Beiyuan is that strong?” Chen Muchao exclaimed dramatically, covering his mouth, “Is he really as big as the characters in your comics?”

Su Ming shook his head, toothbrush in mouth, and gestured: Not yet.

Chen Muchao: ?

After finishing brushing his teeth, Su Ming gargled and then signed to Chen Muchao in the mirror: He had tested Zou Beiyuan a bit that day and seemed to have overdone it, so Zou Beiyuan had been avoiding him for the past few days.

“Aren’t you saying you guys run together every day? How’s he avoiding you?”

Su Ming washed his face and with wet hands gestured: He doesn’t even use the same water bottle as me anymore.

The next day when they ran, Zou Beiyuan also brought a water bottle, but he only let Su Ming drink from it and didn’t drink himself. Su Ming felt embarrassed, so he started bringing his own water.

Chen Muchao rolled his eyes: “I feel like you’re showing off your love.”

Su Ming randomly applied some skincare lotion to his face, tousled his hair, put on his glasses, and walked out of the bathroom.

Chen Muchao: “You’re even too lazy to fix your hair today.”

Su Ming sat down at the dining table and signed: He took his sister to Yishi and won’t be back for a few days.

“What sister?”

Su Ming: His biological sister.

Chen Muchao: “Then there’s nothing to worry about.”

Su Ming nodded and took a tasteless bite of his sandwich.

….

It took more than three hours to drive from Rong City to Yishi.

On the highway, Zou Beiyuan was driving the green M5 he had just picked up from the repair shop, checking his phone every ten minutes.

Zou Jingnan was worried about her safety: “Can you concentrate on driving and not look at your phone?”

“I’m not,” Zou Beiyuan said, putting his phone back in the compartment in front of the central console, defending himself, “I was just checking the time.”

Zou Jingnan mercilessly exposed him, “Isn’t there a clock on the dashboard?”

Zou Beiyuan gripped the steering wheel and stared straight ahead, not saying anything.

Before setting off, he had sent a message to Su Ming asking if there was anything he wanted to eat, and he could bring it back from Yishi.

He didn’t mean anything else; they were both from Yishi, neighbors, and it was normal to help each other carry things.

But Su Ming hadn’t replied.

He sent the message at nine o’clock, and now it was almost eleven. Had Su Ming not gotten up yet?

After their runs these past few nights, Zou Beiyuan had been teaching Su Ming the exercises and then letting him stretch on his own. Could it be that Su Ming was sore from not stretching properly?

Zou Beiyuan let out a frustrated click of his tongue.

He had overcorrected and made it seem like he and Su Ming had gone back to being unfamiliar with each other.

Would Su Ming be upset?

Zou Beiyuan scolded himself; he shouldn’t be like this. He shouldn’t fantasize about Su Ming, and even more, he shouldn’t keep his distance after those fantasies, making himself feel awkward.

At that moment, the WeChat notification sounded, and Zou Beiyuan perked up, only to find it was his sister’s phone.

Zou Jingnan looked down, replying to messages, and said, “Grandma asked what time we’ll arrive. I told her in about an hour and a half.”

“Two hours,” Zou Beiyuan said, gradually slowing down, annoyed. “There’s traffic ahead.”

After saying that, the car came to a steady stop behind another car. Glancing at the navigation, the road was marked deep red with congestion.

He pressed the brakes again and picked up his phone.

Su Ming still hadn’t replied; Zou Beiyuan decided to send a message to fish for information from Chen Muchao: [Chen Ge, are you going fishing today?]

Chen Muchao quickly sent a photo back, showing Su Ming’s workspace, with his tablet and Su Ming’s drawing tablet side by side. No one was in the picture, and there were several cigarette butts in the ashtray next to the tablet.

Chen Muchao: [Nope, working.]

Oh, he’s drawing. It’s normal for Su Ming to silence his phone when he’s working, so not seeing the message is understandable.

The traffic remained still, and Zou Beiyuan turned off his phone screen, putting it back down, feeling less agitated.

At nine that morning, Chen Muchao had seen Su Ming typing a line of text in the WeChat chat box, deleting it, retyping it, and deleting it again, going back and forth several times.

Chen Muchao couldn’t help but tease him: “When did you become so cowardly? Hesitating over sending a message?”

Su Ming rested his chin on his hand holding a cigarette, shaking his head.

Zou Beiyuan still thought about bringing him something, which meant he still considered him a friend. The visible distance between them these days should not be because he disliked him.

So, Zou Beiyuan must have developed feelings for him, and he had already noticed those feelings, retreating as a form of self-defense.

At this moment, he could not continue the offensive.

He had already made a blind advance mistake once, and now he needed to adjust his strategy. He should start from Zou Beiyuan’s straight-man perspective, seeking to bend steadily and ensure that Zou Beiyuan lowers his guard, without alarming the snake in the grass.

With this in mind, Su Ming decided not to reply to Zou Beiyuan’s message for now.

First, it was definitely inconvenient for Zou Beiyuan to chat while driving at this time. He would wait until he estimated that Zou Beiyuan had arrived and then casually mention that he hadn’t seen the message, making it seem natural and allowing for a longer conversation.

Secondly, he really didn’t need anything brought from Yishi.

Although he was born in Yishi, he had no emotional ties to the city and even less to his home.

He returned to Yishi twice a year, once for Teacher’s Day and once for the Spring Festival, both times to visit his teachers. He wouldn’t even slow down to stop by his house.

Su Ming set his phone aside and continued to draw after finishing his cigarette.

During this time, his state was exceptionally good; his creative urge was more abundant than ever, and inspiration was flowing endlessly. He could finish a week’s updates in about four days.

Indeed, a beautiful body is the primary productive force!

….

The traffic was too congested, and Zou Beiyuan and his sister arrived only after one o’clock in the afternoon.

Ms. Song Zhixian had prepared a large table of dishes waiting for them to eat.

Zou Jingnan was nearly starving, chatting with her grandmother while devouring food, while Zou Beiyuan was leisurely checking his phone while picking food.

“Eat properly when it’s time to eat,” Ms. Song said, her words carrying a hint of authority as she was a high school homeroom teacher before retirement. “You kids these days hold onto your phones all day; this is a kind of mental disorder that needs treatment.”

Zou Jingnan, her cheeks stuffed with food, didn’t forget to tattle on her brother: “He was looking at his phone while driving!”

Ms. Song said seriously, “How can you look at your phone while driving?”

Zou Beiyuan used his chopsticks to pick up food for his grandmother, saying, “Don’t listen to her nonsense; I just glanced at the time.”

Zou Jingnan gossiped, “He was waiting for someone’s message; there’s something going on.”

Immediately, the grandmother switched her attitude, asking lovingly, “Are you dating someone?”

Zou Beiyuan rubbed his forehead, “No, you don’t need to ask me this every time you see me. If I were dating someone, I would definitely tell you first.”

His phone buzzed; it was a WeChat message.

Under the watchful eyes of the older and younger women, Zou Beiyuan unlocked the screen and saw the message from Su Ming: [No need to bring me anything. I was just drawing. Are you there yet?]

A smile involuntarily surfaced in Zou Beiyuan’s eyes.

Just as his finger was about to tap on the message, Zou Jingnan started teasing: “Finally the message you were waiting for?” She even made eye contact with her grandmother, “I told you!”

Zou Beiyuan put down his phone and expressionlessly picked up his chopsticks: “Eat.”

Zou Beiyuan and Su Ming continued chatting until three o’clock in the afternoon. They had an in-depth discussion about the weather and municipal construction in Yishi, after which Su Ming went back to drawing, and Zou Beiyuan happily set his phone aside.

Indeed, things were much better without seeing each other; those physiological reactions were an accident.

There was no doubt he was a straight man.

In the evening, after taking a shower, Zou Beiyuan lay in bed, hesitating whether to ask Su Ming about his exercise today, since Su Ming might encounter many issues while running alone and would need to consult him.

He opened WeChat and saw that Su Ming had unusually posted on his Moments, a selfie of himself running.

It was by the riverside path, the place they had drank water before. Due to the dim light, the photo was somewhat blurry.

The person in the picture only revealed their chin; above the T-shirt collar, the white jade-like neck glistened with sweat, and one could vaguely see a hint of collarbone.

Zou Beiyuan could imagine what Su Ming looked like at that moment.

Sweat dampening the stray hair at his temples, his cheeks flushed from intense exercise, and his slightly parted lips as he breathed heavily.

If he got closer, he would catch the scent of citrus mixed with the heat of his body.

Despite being a conservatively taken photo, Zou Beiyuan couldn’t help but think of more images.

And the strange things he had inadvertently seen before began to replay automatically in his mind.

Damn it, adult content is harmful!

Author’s Note:

Su Ming’s daily tip: If the half-caught straight man runs away, don’t panic; first, post a Moment visible only to him.