through the strait gates(过门/Guomen)//work by priest(CN)//BL

Chapter 17: Dawning Realization (vol. scallions)

Even though they went wild the previous night, Dou Xun still woke up early due to his biological clock. His body might've been awake, but his soul was still hanging by his senses. He drifted downstairs in a daze, walking headfirst into Grandma Xu's chiding.

Grandma Xu's chiding was far from bothering. She talked at a pleasant speed, her tone the narration of a traditional play; something out of this world. "Your mother called twice last night. Ai, she cried until she was a mess. I couldn't make out what she was trying to say. Look at yourself, how could you run off without telling your mom? Ai, Grandma doesn't even know what hour you two came back last night. It's so dangerous out there nowadays. You kids don't come home until midnight, what are you going to do if you're caught by bad people? And this Xiao Lin...Look at him, this is nonsense. He's going to be in twelfth grade next year, but he's still sleeping at this hour..."

Dou Xun mumbled a few replies. HIs wandering heart briefly lingered on Zhu Xiaocheng, and he asked, "Is my mom going to be here today?"

Grandma Xu was flustered for a second.

Dou Xun understood once he saw her expression. He nodded expressionlessly, "Oh, I understand."

With a thing like that last night, Zhu Xiaocheng was probably busy arguing with Dou Junliang about who was responsible. She could not spare time to talk to him about his college entrance exam problems.

Moreover, perhaps Zhu Xiaocheng even understood this: she had never paid attention to Dou Xun's issues before; she had no control over them now. This was why she lacked the guts to intervene.

Dou Xun finished his breakfast without tasting it. In Grandma Xu's worried gaze, he walked upstairs. "Whatever. She doesn't have to anyways. I'm going to wake Xu Xilin up."

He gently pushed Xu Xilin's bedroom door open by a seam. A creepy cold breeze wafted out. Dou Xun felt like he had opened a fridge instead––Xu Xilin was full of bad habits, and one of them was never knowing what saving energy was. The air conditioner in his room was always set to 16 degrees celsius in summer. While at it, he wore long sleeved spring-slash-autumn pajamas, curled up into a ball under blankets, only exposing a muss of messy hair. Maybe he wanted to cultivate himself into a penguin.

Dou Xun tiptoed into the room. He stood guard over Xu Xilin's bed, examining him for a moment, head lowered.

Half of Xu Xilin's face was hidden in the sheets. His face was radiating a red hue in sleep. Not even an earthquake could wake him up. Dou Xun rarely examined Xu Xilin like this, so focused. He found out that this human had a face that seemed like it was born to delight people, that his eyes brimmed with smiles even when they were shut. That his head of messy hair was spread over the pillowcase.

Dou Xun suddenly found the need to touch it.

He was one to put his thoughts into practice. He took action once the thought popped up, and he carefully threaded his fingers into Xu Xilin's hair.

After a night in the air conditioning, Xu Xilin's short hair had no trace of body warmth. Like cool sillk, it was weirdly nice to touch. Unfortunately it was short in length, and softly slipped out from between Dou Xun's fingers with the barest movement.

Tickled by his own hair, Xu Xilin buried his face into the pillow even further, the tip of his nose brushing it lovingly.

For about half a minute, Dou Xun stared at the shadow of Xu Xilin's nose bridge. Then he realized that he had been spacing out, panic showing on his face.

His fingers curled on his side several times, but he still didn't shake the sleeping person awake. Dou Xun walked around the foot of his bed for a while. Then he silently grabbed the air conditioner remote and set the indoor temperature to thirty degrees celsius. He then escaped, quiet and on guard, like when he came.