"I definitely will take them. The Shen family is a scholarly family. If I don't even have some scholarly honors..." Huo Anding looked up at Shen Qingyue: "...I'll surely be looked down upon."
Shen Qingyue didn't respond to that, only said: "Are you going to review or not? If not, I'm going to sleep."
"Review, of course I'll review!"
Huo Anding immediately dashed out of the room and went back to his own room to fetch his books.
The two moved the lamp to the table, placed their books together on the table, and the light in the room gathered in one spot.
Huo Anding moved a stool to sit shoulder-to-shoulder with Shen Qingyue: "I'll rewrite the essay the teacher lectured on today from a different angle."
Shen Qingyue didn't answer him, instead reaching out to take a piece of Xuan paper and passing it over.
Huo Anding took it, lifted his brush to write, and the room fell quiet.
The night wind outside pulled and howled quite loudly. The leaves on the pear tree in the courtyard had almost all fallen.
The dormitory building was much quieter at night, partly because the sound of falling leaves was rarely heard anymore.
The sound of the howling wind outside sounded cold, but the charcoal brazier inside the room was exceptionally warm.
Shen Qingyue casually picked up Huo Anding's notes and flipped through them.
Huo Anding's handwriting mirrored the young man himself - deceptively refined at first glance, yet revealing a resilient strength in every stroke upon closer inspection.
The notes were recorded in a rough and general manner, fragmented phrases not forming proper text.
Some notes were written horizontally, some vertically. Although messy and disorderly, the good thing was that what was recorded were key points.
He picked up his brush and added one or two crucial points to these notes that only contained snippets.
Huo Anding watched as the fine brush dipped in vermillion ink left characters on his notebook. Bright and eye-catching, the dull notebook instantly became lively.
He paused his train of thought for writing the essay, watching Shen Qingyue's slender ten fingers hold the brush.
"Don't get distracted, write your own..." Before Shen Qingyue could finish, he heard Huo Anding put his index finger to his lips and softly shush him.
He raised his eyes. Huo Anding tilted his head slightly.
Shen Qingyue followed his gaze and saw A-Yu, who was keeping watch in a corner, resting his head in his hands, having fallen asleep at some point with his mouth slightly open.
The room was warmer than usual because of the charcoal fire. It was common for the young page boy, having nothing to do while keeping watch, to doze off sitting there.
Huo Anding chuckled softly. The two of them reviewing their lessons meant the young page boy suffered along with them.
He looked at Shen Qingyue, who was looking at the young page boy, and the smile on his face paused slightly.
Viewing flowers under the moonlight, viewing a beauty under the lamplight.
The hazy candlelight inside the lampshade was soft and gentle, and the places where the warm yellow light fell also became exceptionally soft.
The beauty's skin was like cold porcelain, his features held a faint emotion, and in the candlelight, he seemed to have lost some of his aloofness.
Shen Qingyue didn't blame the young page boy. He withdrew his gaze.
Just as he was about to urge Huo Anding to finish his essay soon so they could both rest, he saw the person beside him looking at him with an undisguised gaze.
Their eyes met. Shen Qingyue looked at Huo Anding with slight surprise, only to see his burning gaze travel down from his cheeks and settle on the position of his lips.
The intensity, curiosity, and even eagerness contained in that gaze made his heart suddenly fluster.
Shen Qingyue saw Huo Anding's Adam's apple bob, and the roots of his ears suddenly grew hot. He hurriedly averted his gaze.
He lowered his eyes and slightly dropped his chin, attempting to conceal his panic.
However, a warm hand suddenly covered the back of his hand, and warm breath followed by his ear.
"Young master, I want to kiss you."
Hearing this somewhat hoarse voice that only the two of them could hear, Shen Qingyue instinctively wanted to escape, but his cool fingertips were suddenly clasped into a warm palm.
He couldn't quite tell whether he didn't truly want to escape, or whether there was simply no escape in front of someone trained in martial arts.
Only, the candlelight before him was suddenly blocked. His breath breath caught as cool lips brushed against his.
A fleeting touch, a tentative taste... then the exploration deepened beyond that initial caution. Their breathing shifted from halted to intertwined, and the room's temperature seemed to rise abruptly.
Shen Qingyue felt himself drowning, lightheaded yet struggling to maintain awareness, terrified that A-Yu might wake at any moment.
Under this renewed mental stimulation, his entire face looked like a crabapple blossom after rain.
It was a long while before Huo Anding released the person in his embrace.
He licked his lips, confirming this was far better than any fleeting dream.
Although he had released the person, he still held Shen Qingyue's hand.
That hand, with its initially cool fingertips, had become warm because it had been tightly clutching his during the earlier tension.
He asked softly: "How was it?"
Shen Qingyue raised his eyes, caught sight of Huo Anding licking his lips, and the heat on his face, which hadn't yet dissipated, flared up again.
Faced with this nonsensical question, he frowned slightly: "What do you mean, how was it?"
"Were my lips soft?"
As soon as the words fell, Huo Anding quickly sprang up and raised his hand to catch the book hurled at his face.
He carefully held the book, glanced at the still-sleeping young page boy to the side, and breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Shen Qingyue stood up, his voice cold: "Get out. I want to rest."
Huo Anding heard the deliberately lowered voice, afraid of waking the others in the room. The words sounded stern but carried no real sharpness.
He grabbed Shen Qingyue's wrist, and when the person stopped, he quickly used both hands to hold his hand: "Don't be angry."
Shen Qingyue glanced at his held hand, signaling to let go.
"I am certain of one thing."
"Qingyue, I like you more than I imagined."
Thank you for the update!!
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