The boy wore a lot of clothes in winter, and the thick robe covered most of the skin on his neck. If he hadn't bent down just now and exposed a little bit of the back of his neck, there would be nothing unusual to see.
Jing Li touched his neck and indeed felt something cold.
"Strange..." Jing Li said, "How come I didn't feel anything at all."
He is now very skilled in the use of transformation, and will rarely reveal his true form unless his emotions are extremely volatile or he is extremely tired.
What happened today
Qin Zhao asked him to sit down, took his wrist and felt his pulse.
Jing Li sat obediently beside and waited.
Qin Zhao's hands were very beautiful, with long and well-proportioned fingers. Because he had just been out for a short time, his fingertips were still warm.
As Jing Li watched, he couldn't help but recall how this man had used his hands to touch his body inch by inch last night. There were thin calluses on the fingertips of his right hand, and it made people tremble when they touched his skin...
"Nothing unusual." Qin Zhao let go of his hand and said gently, "Be careful these few days. If you feel uncomfortable, you must tell me immediately. ... Xiaoyu?"
"Ah?" Jing Li suddenly came back to his senses, his cheeks a little hot, "I, I understand."
"What's wrong with you?"
Qin Zhao raised his hand to touch his forehead, but Jing Li dodged it: "I'm fine! Let's go to the west of the city, buy things and go home early!"
Qin Zhao looked at his back with worry in his eyes.
In the following time, Jing Li deliberately stopped contacting Qin Zhao, and no strange reactions occurred. However, he was not interested in continuing shopping, so he went home after buying the remaining things with Qin Zhao.
In the afternoon, after they finished lunch, Qin Zhao said, "You rest in the house. I'll go to the outer courtyard to help Ayi look after the shop."
Jing Li didn't dare to have too close contact with Qin Zhao now, this was what he wanted. Qin Zhao pulled the quilt over him and wrapped him up, then lowered his head to kiss him, but Jing Li turned his head away.
Qin Zhao's eyes moved slightly, but he said nothing and turned to walk out.
The kang bed was very warm, and Jing Li would not feel hot even in summer, but he was sweating a little under the quilt.
He kicked the quilt away and rolled around on the bed, feeling a little irritated for no apparent reason.
Can't sleep.
Jing Li sat up with messy hair and wanted to put on his clothes and take a walk in the yard.
On the shelf beside the bed, in addition to Jing Li's clothes, there was also the jacket that Qin Zhao wore when he went out this morning.
There was also a kang in the pharmacy, so there was no need to wear too thick clothes. Therefore, after returning, Qin Zhao changed into a single-layer long gown, and he casually hung the one he had taken off on the shelf.
Jing Li moved closer as if possessed by a ghost, buried his head in his clothes and took a deep breath.
The unique medicinal fragrance of Qin Zhao filled his nose, and his originally irritable mood suddenly calmed down a little.
He subconsciously looked towards the door.
The pharmacy will not close until the sun sets. With Qin Zhao's serious personality, he will definitely not leave early.
So... I shouldn't be discovered...
Jing Li pulled gently and the clothes fell into his arms.
The pharmacy closed, and Qin Zhao brought the prepared food into the main room, but Jing Li had not arrived yet.
Xue Ren didn't take it seriously: "Maybe he was tired from playing outside today. Didn't Ayi sleep for an hour and a half after he came back?"
Qin Zhao said, "You guys eat first, I'll go see him."
He quickly returned to the side yard, saw that the door was still closed, and quietly pushed it open and walked in.
The sun had already set outside, and the sky was getting dark. There was no light in the house, and it was almost impossible to see anything. Qin Zhao walked lightly into the room with the remaining light, but he paused after seeing the scene in front of him.
The quilt was kicked off the bed, and now the bed was cluttered with clothes. The boy was lying in the middle of the clothes, sleeping soundly.
Qin Zhao laughed silently.
Hiding from him and not letting him touch her, but stealing his clothes and hugging them while sleeping, what is this
He bent down, picked up the clothes on the bed one by one, folded them and put them aside. Only the last piece was left, and Jing Li held it tightly in his arms, unable to pull it out.
It was the padded jacket Qin Zhao wore in the morning.
Qin Zhao stopped fighting with him and lowered his head to kiss Jing Li's eyes: "You've slept for the whole afternoon, and you're still not getting up?"
Jing Li moved dazedly, but before he could wake up, he instinctively raised his head and kissed Qin Zhao back: "I feel sleepy... I want to sleep a little longer..."
Qin Zhao: "It's time to eat, aren't you hungry?"
“Not hungry…”
Qin Zhao sighed silently, thought for a while, took off his shoes and socks, and lay down on the bed.
A living person is much more attractive than a piece of clothing. Even in his dreams, Jing Li still understands this truth. Sure enough, he soon gave up the piece of clothing in his arms and used his hands and feet to wrap around it.
Qin Zhao let him hold him and lay there for half an hour before Jing Li finally woke up.
… I should say I woke up because I was hungry.
"Are you willing to get up and eat, you lazy little fish?" While Jing Li was still dazed, Qin Zhao pinched his face in the dark and asked in a low voice.
Jing Li slept too long and when he woke up he had the illusion that he didn't know what day it was.
It took him a while to wake up. He remembered what he had done before going to bed and sat up: "I, I, I—you, why are you here!?"
"Who made someone hold me and refuse to let go? I can't leave even if I want to." Qin Zhao said, "So, Madam, can you let go first? My husband, I have been hungry for a long time."
Jing Li's cheeks flushed red and she quickly let him go.
The moon was already high in the sky, so Ayi and Xue Ren naturally did not wait for them to eat, but left some food in the kitchen.
Qin Zhao heated up the food and brought it into the room, casually glancing at the bedside.
His Xiaoyu was still sitting on the bed with her legs crossed, the tips of her ears reddish. The clothes he stole were originally folded by Qin Zhao and placed at the foot of the bed, but now they were nowhere to be found, most likely returned to their original place.
Qin Zhao smiled secretly in his heart and invited him to come over for dinner as if nothing had happened.
Jing Li was already starving, and he ate up everything Qin Zhao brought.
After dinner, the two of them took the food to the kitchen together. Qin Zhao asked him, "Are you full?"
"Hmm..." Jing Li wanted to say that he wanted to eat more, but when he thought about how much he had already eaten tonight, he nodded and said, "I'm full."
Qin Zhao: "Now that we are full, let's talk business."
Jing Li was washing the dishes and paused when he heard this: "What... what's the matter?"
Qin Zhao did not answer.
He walked up to Jing Li, took the last two dishes in his hand and washed them quickly, then took a clean towel and carefully wiped Jing Li's hands, and took him back to the bedroom.
Qin Zhao held Jing Li's hand and led him to sit down beside the bed. Jing Li wanted to ask more questions, but Qin Zhao suddenly said, "Xiao Yu, what did I say to you this morning? Did you not remember it at all?"
Jing Li blinked in confusion.
Qin Zhao said: "I said, if you feel uncomfortable at all, you must tell me immediately."
Jing Li pursed his lips and whispered: "I didn't..."
Qin Zhao raised his eyes to look at him, and Jing Li shut up in dismay.
Qin Zhao sighed, "I am your husband, Xiaoyu. You can tell me if you have any troubles. Don't bear it yourself, and don't hide from me."
"But..." Jing Li lowered his eyes guiltily, "I've been acting weird lately..."
These past two days, he seemed to be particularly unable to stand being close to Qin Zhao. Every time he got too close, he would—
It was the same yesterday, but he thought it was because he hadn't done it for a long time and couldn't stand the arousal. But they had done it once last night, and today, instead of getting better, it got worse.
He was never like this before.
"What's so strange about this?" Qin Zhao laughed, "Have you been a human for too long and forgotten that you are a fish?"
Jing Li: “Ah?”
Qin Zhao said calmly: "In winter, fish will reduce their movement and eating, hide in the relatively warm water, and spend the winter safely. Once the weather warms up, they will... enter the breeding period."
Jing Li stared at him blankly, as if he didn't understand what Qin Zhao meant by this: "Reproduction... reproduction period?"
"That's what the book says." Qin Zhao explained, "You've been feeling unwell these days, and my pulse check showed no problems. I wondered if it had something to do with your constitution, so I made a special trip to the bookstore this afternoon."
Qin Zhao stayed in the bookstore for two full hours and read all the books on fish farming that he could find there.
Whether it is winter sleepiness and poor appetite, or high energy and desire to reproduce after the weather warms up, these are all situations that occur before and after the breeding season.
Qin Zhao explained seriously and academically. Jing Li couldn't bear to look at him and looked away: "..."
This guy is really treating him like a fish!
But what Qin Zhao said does make sense.
Jing Li was a human before he traveled through time, and he had never known or understood the habits of fish. If the book Qin Zhao read was correct, then he... might really be affected by his physical condition.
"Fish are extremely sensitive to the environment. When you suddenly came to this place from the village, your body couldn't adapt to the temperature change, which caused the abnormality in your body."
Qin Zhao kissed the corner of Jing Li's lips and said softly: "... Sorry, I should have known this earlier."
Jing Li couldn't stand his intimate behavior and asked in a low voice: "Then, what should I do now, the reproduction... the reproduction period..."
“That’s not what the books teach.”
Qin Zhao paused for a moment and then said, "But there is another sentence in the book."
With a smile in his eyes, he spoke softly in Jing Li's ear, "Animals will follow their instincts. There is no need to interfere."
Before Jing Li could react to the deep meaning of these words, Qin Zhao pushed him into the bed.
… and then I couldn’t think about anything else.
In the next few days, Qin Zhao implemented the term "follow instinct" to the fullest extent, and even Jing Li found it a little overwhelmed.
One afternoon, Qin Zhao carried him to the bathtub. As soon as he touched the water, his lower body could not hold on and turned into a fish tail.
"How long will this breeding period take to end..."
Jing Li lay in the water, slapping the surface of the water listlessly with his tail.
"I don't know." Qin Zhao finished cleaning his upper body and was about to move his hand down, but Jing Li dodged it.
Jing Li gritted his teeth and said, "Don't touch it now!"
The fish's tail is at its most sensitive right now, how can it bear Qin Zhao touching it again.
Qin Zhao hesitated for a moment and asked, "Then you can do it yourself later? Don't forget it, otherwise you will feel uncomfortable."
Jing Li: “…I know.”
In fact, Jing Li never felt unwell, but Qin Zhao heard from somewhere that whatever was put in must be taken out, otherwise one would get sick.
He is a fish. He can't get sick and can't get pregnant. I don't know what this person is so nervous about.
Qin Zhao skipped his morning job to look after the shop to hang out with Jing Li. It was already late, so he had to go back to the outer courtyard as soon as possible.
He kissed Jing Li's eyes and whispered, "You soak in the water for a while. I'm going to the shop first. If you still want... come to the outer courtyard to find me."
Jing Li was so tired that he couldn't open his eyes, and he waved his fish tail as a reply.
Qin Zhao simply washed himself, dressed neatly and went out. The door opened and closed, Jing Li stretched his body in the water and soon fell asleep.