Spring had arrived, and Shuzhong grew warm even more quickly. The excuse of “the cloth covers, many years used, were cold as iron[11]” was clearly rubbish now; Zhou Zishu had even specially instructed Zhang Chengling to tidy a room for this wandering swindler by the surname of Wen, but he still could not stop him from worming in on the dot.

Moreover, this person took advantage of his courtesy to be even more brazen: from the luggage he’d brought along in the beginning, he had turned increasingly shameless and now came over bare-handed, mooching off him for bed and blanket like it was only natural to do so.

A ratty blanket, tugged to and fro between two people. Be it the Qinna Locks or the Zhanyi Throws, a myriad of forms and styles of martial arts--as long as it was close at hand, they tried and tested them all[12]. In the end, the both of them were close to sweating all over, and were warm enough to do without the blanket.

Ultimately, Zhou Zishu was no longer at the peak of his strength, and lost to him by a move after a hundred and ten or so rounds. Wen Kexing smugly clutched at the bigger half of the blanket with one hand, while his other hand pressed Zhou Zishu’s wrist onto the pillow. Retracting his neck, he flashed a mouth of pearly white teeth at him, rejoicing, and even beckoned at him as he said, “A-Xu, come here. I’ll cuddle you to sleep--you won’t be cold for sure.”

Zhou Zishu very much wanted to kick him off the bed, so he looked him up and down, scoffed coldly, and said, “You’re neither perfumed nor soft, and your chest is a whole fucking row of ribs. Cuddle you? I might as well go cuddle with the bed base.”

Wen Kexing glared at him immediately. Grabbing Zhou Zishu’s hand, he placed it on his own chest, and said, “Nonsense! I’m not a row of ribs, if you don’t believe it, feel it yourself!”

Zhou Zishu kicked Wen Kexing on the knee and rescinded his hand, shaking it in mid-air as if he’d touched something dirty. Clutching the blanket to himself, Wen Kexing peered at him and tutted in amazement, “Bizarre things happen all the time. The one who was taken advantage of doesn’t even mind, while you, the one who took advantage, insist so hopelessly on restraint. Usually, in this kind of situation...”

Zhou Zishu did not intend to listen to his continued nonsense. He donned his clothes, deciding that if he couldn’t afford to cross him, he could afford to hide, and change rooms to sleep in. At the very least, he could squeeze with Zhang Chengling, and order that little tyke to sleep on the floor.