Chapter Text
The candle in the bedroom had burned down to its last inch.
Xiao Chiye lay flat on his back on the couch.
His arms were folded over his chest.
His long legs spilled over the edge of the cushions.
He looked like an iron wall of pure, unadulterated defiance.
Shen Zechuan leaned against the bedpost. His loose robe slipped slightly off one shoulder.
He was holding an unread ledger, but his eyes were entirely fixed on the giant stubborn wolf taking up half the room.
"Ce'an," Lanzhou called softly.
Silence.
"Ah-Ye," Lanzhou tried again.
His voice dropped an octave, dripping with a smooth, deliberate sweetness.
Xiao Chiye didn't blink.
He stared directly at the ceiling beam.
He looked as if he were trying to memorize the grain of the wood.
"Still angry?" Lanzhou sighed.
He closed the ledger and set it down. He walked over, his bare feet making no sound on the floorboards.
He sat on the edge of the couch, leaning down until his breath brushed Xiao Chiye’s jaw.
"It was just a strategy. I had to let the Dunzhou garrison think we were at odds."
"A strategy," Xiao Chiye finally spoke.
His voice was a low, gravelly rasp.
He didn't look at Lanzhou.
"A strategy that required Lanzhou to completely ignore me at the banquet, drink three cups of wine offered by another man, and then pretend I don't exist for four hours."
"I didn't drink the third cup," Lanzhou murmured.
He reached out a pale finger to trace the sharp line of Xiao Chiye’s collarbone.
"I spilled it into my sleeve. I only have eyes for my Second Master."
Xiao Chiye caught Lanzhou's wrist. His grip was heavy, but he didn't pull him closer.
Instead, he just held him there, glaring.
"Don't coax me," Xiao Chiye growled.
"I'm not doing it. I'm boycotting."
Lanzhou raised an eyebrow.
A small, amused smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
"Boycotting?"
"Yes."
Xiao Chiye let go of his wrist and went back to crossing his arms, looking thoroughly mistreated.
"Tonight, the Second Master is off-duty. You can sleep by yourself."
Lanzhou let out a soft huff of laughter.
He leaned down further, pressing his chest against Xiao Chiye's.
He slid a hand under Xiao Chiye's tunic, finding the warm, solid heat of his chest.
He began to trail light, teasing circles over the scar tissue.
"Is that so?" Lanzhou whispered against his lips.
He bit Xiao Chiye's lower lip, just hard enough to sting, then immediately soothed it with his tongue.
"Even if I beg?"
Xiao Chiye's muscles locked.
His jaw clenched so hard a muscle ticked.
He was a man of immense physical appetite, and Lanzhou knew exactly which strings to pull.
Lanzhou shifted his weight, straddling Xiao Chiye's lap, his robes pooling around them.
He leaned down to plant slow, deliberate kisses along Xiao Chiye's throat, finding the pulse point and pressing his lips there until he felt it spike.
Xiao Chiye groaned, a sound deep in his chest.
His hands twitched, wanting to grab Lanzhou by the waist and pin him down.
But his pride was a stubborn beast.
"No," Xiao Chiye muttered, his voice thicker now.
He forced his arms to stay crossed.
Lanzhou didn't stop. He slid his hands lower, undoing the sash of Xiao Chiye's trousers with practiced ease.
He shifted, his movements fluid and devastatingly precise, friction creating a sudden, sharp heat between them.
He leaned down, whispering filthy, terrible things into Xiao Chiye's ear—things about what he wanted, what he was going to do, and how Xiao Chiye was going to look when he did it.
Xiao Chiye’s breathing went ragged.
He shut his eyes, his fists clenching.
Lanzhou continued the provocation, his eyes dancing with mischief as he challenged Xiao Chiye’s resolve.
He used every bit of his wit and presence to wear down the Second Master’s defenses, leaning in close to murmur further challenges against Xiao Chiye’s cheek.
The air in the room grew thick with the weight of their unspoken competition, a battle of wills that Xiao Chiye was finding increasingly difficult to ignore.
Finally, the tension snapped.
Xiao Chiye’s arms uncurled like a spring, and he let out a sharp, frustrated laugh.
With a sudden, fluid movement, he caught Lanzhou’s waist, shifting their positions in a blur of motion until he had the upper hand, pinning Lanzhou against the cushions with the weight of a prowling wolf.
Lanzhou let out a soft "oof" of surprise, his hair spilling across the fabric.
He looked up, a triumphant, smug smile plastered on his face.
"See?" Lanzhou teased, his voice humming with victory.
"The Second Master isn't so stubborn after all. The boycott is broken."
Xiao Chiye stared down at him, his expression settling into a mask of pure, predatory focus.
He didn't look like a man who had conceded; he looked like a man who had just changed the rules of the game.
"I didn't finish," Xiao Chiye said flatly.
Lanzhou blinked, his smile faltering into confusion.
"What? Ce'an, you clearly just—"
"I didn't," Xiao Chiye interrupted, his voice dropping into a dangerous, wicked rumble.
He tightened his hold on Lanzhou’s wrists, trapping them above his head.
"I didn't finish the argument. Not even once. That means the previous 'strategy' doesn't count, Lanzhou. It means we’re back at the beginning of the banquet, and you still owe me for every cup of wine you didn't share with me."
Lanzhou's eyes widened as he realized the trap.
"You... shameless bandit... you're making things up now."
"You called the wolf into the house," Xiao Chiye murmured, leaning down until their noses brushed, his smile sharp and unyielding.
"Now you have to deal with the hunger. We aren't sleeping until I've settled the score for every hour you ignored me."
Little did the fox know that 'not finishing' could imply another tactical trickery.
------
The Dunzhou backyard bedroom was stiflingly hot, the air heavy with the scent of spilled wine and raw, unvarnished friction.Shen Zechuan lay breathless against the tangled sheets, his chest heaving.
His pale skin was flushed a deep, ruined crimson from his collarbones to his thighs. He had been completely unraveled, driven over the edge so many times that his body was still twitching with the aftershocks.
Every muscle in his legs felt melted.
His eyes were dark, glazed with a dizzying mix of exhaustion and absolute, maddening vulnerability.
Beside him, the giant wolf shifted.
Xiao Chiye let out a long, casual exhale.
He wasn't panting.
He wasn't trembling.
He looked like a man who had just finished a mild, satisfying warm-up on the Libei training grounds.
With agonizing deliberation, Xiao Chiye rolled off the bed, shifting away from Lanzhou's slick, trembling heat.
He looked down at himself, completely unbothered, and then looked back at Lanzhou.
He caught Lanzhou's hazy gaze, propped his chin up on his hand, and delivered a slow, devastating wink.
"Well," Xiao Chiye murmured, his voice a smooth, gravelly rumble of pure ego superiority.
"The service tonight was exceptional, Governor. I usually charge five hundred taels for a performance like that. But for you, I'll put it on the tab."
Lanzhou’s mind stalled. He blinked through the haze, his gaze dropping.
Xiao Chiye was fully, blatantly, and agonizingly unchanged.
He hadn't come.
Not even once.
He had spent the last two hours driving Lanzhou to the brink of madness, only to pull out at the absolute finish line, completely untouched by the storm he had created.
"Ce'an..." Lanzhou’s voice was a ragged, breathless scratch.
The sudden absence of the heavy, grounding weight inside him felt less like a reprieve and more like a cruel, physical amputation.
He was still aching, his body screaming for the friction that Xiao Chiye had just brutally cut off.
"Come back here."
"Can't," Xiao Chiye said cheerily, flipping over onto his back and locking his hands behind his head.
He closed his eyes, a smug, unbearable grin stretching across his handsome face.
"The boycott is still technically active. I'm off-duty. Go to sleep, Lanzhou."
The sheer, arrogant audacity of it snapped something in Lanzhou's mind.
His political cunning and calculated restraint evaporated, replaced by a desperate, animalistic need to reclaim what had just been stolen from him.
Lanzhou lunged.
He didn't have his usual fluid grace; his knees were weak and trembling, but he threw his entire weight onto Xiao Chiye’s chest.
He clawed at Xiao Chiye’s solid shoulders, trying to pin the giant down.
His fingers, usually so steady with a fan or a brush, were shaking as he gripped Xiao Chiye’s jaw, forcing him to look up.
"You shameless thief," Lanzhou gasped, his knuckles white against Xiao Chiye's skin.
He shifted his hips, desperately trying to slide back over Xiao Chiye's lap, attempting to force the contact, to wrestle that devastating heat back inside his own aching body.
"Put it back. Put it back right now."
Xiao Chiye laughed—a low, vibrating rumble that shook Lanzhou’s entire chest.
He didn't even use his full strength; he just locked his massive arms around Lanzhou’s waist like iron bands, holding him completely stationary.
He kept Lanzhou hovered just an agonizing inch above him, perfectly denying the friction Lanzhou was frantically trying to create.
"No touching," Xiao Chiye whispered wickedly, his eyes gleaming with the thrill of the psychological torture.
"You want the Second Master's final move? You have to pay the five hundred taels first. Otherwise, the ledger stays unbalanced."
Lanzhou let out a frustrated, wounded sound against Xiao Chiye’s throat.
He bit Xiao Chiye's shoulder hard enough to draw blood, his fingers digging into the mattress as he tried to break the iron grip, his body trembling with the absolute torment of being so close, yet completely locked out.
He would make Ce'an give in, once, twice, three times until he could extract his revenge for this.
It's not like he would collapse into a state of exhaustion first...right?