The cabin was restored to a tranquil atmosphere Ji Yao was used to as Rui Fei quieted down. The only issue was that the longer the silence lasted the more Ji Yao realised he had made a terrible mistake.

To be honest, he actually didn’t know what got into him when he said such a thing. It was like he was an entirely different person. If this was a transmigration story then this would be considered OOC big time.

The thought of sitting down for hours on end painting Rui Fei’s portrait made his teeth itch so much that he even thought of sabotaging him. Granted the boy was really good looking but in Rui Fei’s presence, he could feel his blood seethe in anger and a great sense of unease like he was in the presence of a predator. Though this feeling was barely a fraction of what he felt two years ago he was still peeved by it.

It was at this moment that he realised he didn’t actually promise him anything based on the way this conversation went down. He decided to go the shameless route and deny, deny, deny. He slowly released his clenched fist as he finalized the finishing touches on his work.

Rui Fei was still quietly sitting there and Ji Yao was fully aware of his presence but treated him like air. He took out all the other pages and a white silk cord before neatly arranging the stack of papers.

He punctured four holes a centimetre from the spine edge with a stern expression like he was working on important literature treasured by the masses.

Rui Fei who was watching Ji Yao’s slender fingers work actually exceeded the agreed-upon time mesmerized by the elegant movements of his hands. They looked as soft as they felt which was astonishing considering that Ji Yao used a sabre in training. He had no calluses that came with handling a weapon like Rui Fei did which was astonishing.

Rui Fei watched as the boy pushed through the silk cord in the punctured holes before tying a knot. With the binding complete Rui Fei finally spoke. He raised his head and said, “Yao-ge, time is up so when can we start? I have great pose ideas that you will love.”

Ji Yao inspected the knot with an absent expression as he replied, “I didn’t say I would do it if you chose to keep silent for two minutes. That was of your own choice as you wanted to prove to me that you can keep your mouth shut,” not even realizing something was changing inside him.

He was talking more than he usually did and it was because of Rui Fei. This kid was already tweaking his circuit board without Ji Yao being aware of it.

“Are you trying to wiggle your way out of this? Yao-ge, I didn’t know you could be this shameless. How can you cheat a kid like me? Yao-ge is heartless,” said Rui Fei with both his hands laid out on the table in Ji Yao’s direction.

As soon as Ji Yao set the book on the table his finger was suddenly brushed by Rui Fei’s making him jolt back like he had been struck by lightning. Haha, that’s funny because he literally could control lightning.

Ji Yao’s rejection didn’t faze him especially because he had done it by accident. Yes, accidentally on purpose. He took advantage of Ji Yao’s moment of shock to grab the book out of his hands and stood up as he flipped through it.

The first page alone had his heart racing like a choo choo train. The title of the manga was Shadow master and the main character was a shadow with his eyes. The eyes that made Ji Yao’s suspect his identity.

His breathing shortened as he flipped through each page with a slight tremble of his hands. A warm feeling rose in his chest as he pursed his lips before turning his attention to Ji Yao.

Ji Yao who was suddenly gazed at with an obvious look of adoration was startled so much that he couldn’t control his emotions for a moment. He couldn’t understand why Rui Fei would suddenly gaze at him like this out of the blue.

“I,… you drew-,” said Rui Fei when he was suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door. Well, he should be grateful for that knock because he almost added the word me at the end of his sentence which would have sold him out on the spot.

He cleared his throat as he stood up to open the door despite this cabin not belonging to him. Ji Yao wanted to stop him but Rui Fei was pretty quick and when he opened that door he wasn’t polite at all.

His brother stood eagerly at the door holding out a book similar to the one Rui Fei was holding. When Rui Yewan saw it was Rui Fei he said, “I…..,” while looking over Rui Fei’s shoulder before the door was ruthlessly shut in his face.

“Go bother someone else. We are busy,” was Rui Fei’s statement before closing that door. He and his roommate who had been drawing his shadow for two years were busy cultivating feelings and no outsiders were permitted entry at the moment.

Ji Yao who had been spoken for, “…”

Rui Fei turned around and smiled at him innocently as he walked back to the table. “Yao-ge you have worked hard and you need time to rest so I sent him off,” said Rui Fei seeing nothing wrong with what he had just done.

Ji Yao didn’t utter a single word walking towards the closed door leaving behind an unsupervised Rui Fei. Rui Yewan was still standing outside the door with a look of stupefaction all over his face. His brother who had been through thick and thin with him had just shut the door in his face for no reason which meant he didn’t take it quite well.

Ji Yao closed the door behind him and stood there with his arms crossed waiting for him to speak. Rui Yewan took the hint and cleared his throat before saying, “This is a masterpiece and you sir are a genius. Can, can I have a previous volume or, or the one dage was holding?”

For the second time, tonight Ji Yao was gazed at with a look of adoration making him feel a little uncomfortable. Rui Yewan was looking at him like he had caught a glimpse of his favourite celebrity shopping at Walmart.

Ji Yao wouldn’t mind giving him the previous volumes, in fact, he lent them to Big Hei countless times but he couldn’t resist taking advantage of the situation. He causally answered, “Sure… but it’s not for free.”

Rui Yewan who had almost performed a celebratory dance paused in understanding. It’s just that he didn’t anticipate being questioned about Rui Pianzi. He was well aware of Rui Fei’s deceit because he was in on it.. Whatever his older brother says goes but he didn’t think Ji Yao would ask this now.