After Transmigrating Into the Book, I Picked up the Protagonist-Shou

For a brief moment, Xie Shuci felt like he would rather be eaten by ghosts.

He, a tall figure standing at 1.8 meters, was clinging to Xie An, who was three years younger and much smaller than him, completely naked and crying.

Xie Shuci, with his long lashes adorned with tears, had his arms tightly wrapped around Xie An’s neck. One leg remained in the position of desperately squeezing between Xie An’s legs.

He was completely exposed, with no clothes to cover him, and his skin was being scraped by Xie An’s garments.

“I…” The panic in Xie Shuci’s mind was replaced by embarrassment and awkwardness. He released his hands, intending to create some distance between himself and Xie An.

“Ah!”

But just as he was about to move away, another scream echoed in the air. Before Xie Shuci could think, his arms instinctively clung to Xie An even tighter.

Xie An tensed his body and, for a moment, didn’t push him away.

Xie Shuci wanted to strangle himself.

Come on, you’re nineteen years old, can’t you gather some courage? Why are your legs so weak?

Xie An, perhaps never having been so close to someone before, had a dazed expression. It seemed like he had been frightened and remained motionless for a while.

Although Xie Shuci believed that men should be open and honest with each other, he didn’t want to leave any shadows in Xie An’s heart due to the prevailing traditional thoughts of this ancient era.

Sniffing his nose, Xie Shuci retrieved his long leg from between Xie An’s legs. However, he was still shaken, and one hand continued to hold onto Xie An’s neck while the other reached for the clothes hanging on his shoulder.

“Bang!”

The inn’s door was kicked open, startling Xie Shuci. Although he didn’t mind being open and honest with Xie An, he didn’t want to expose himself in front of others.

Xie An quickly grabbed the clothes and wrapped Xie Shuci’s body tightly.

Li Song, who had barged in, witnessed the scene.

Xie Shuci’s cheeks were flushed, his eyes slightly red, tears still lingering on his face. One white arm was resting on Xie An’s neck, while his body was wrapped in a dark robe, with his slender legs partially exposed. His wet hair hung damply around his ears. It was evident that he had been bathing and was wearing nothing but the outer robe.

He leaned against the young man’s embrace, looking as if he had suffered some grievance, crying with a reddened nose. It unexpectedly tugged at people’s hearts.

Li Song froze for a moment, his gaze landing on that eye-catching white arm. His eyes flickered slightly, “You…”

Xie An tilted his head, a hint of coldness passing through his brows, deliberately shielding most of Xie Shuci’s body with his own.

“Help! Someone is dead!”

“Quick, call for help! Fetch a doctor!”

Li Song quickly regained his composure, his gaze meeting Xie Shuci’s dazed eyes. It felt as if his ears were on fire, and he swiftly averted his gaze, gripping the sword at his waist tightly as he asked, “I heard your scream. What happened?”

Upon hearing “someone is dead,” Xie Shuci’s face immediately turned pale. He loosened his arms, shaking his head, “N-no… I only heard someone screaming.”

Xie An didn’t know what had happened, but he could sense Xie Shuci’s body trembling once again. His cold palm rested on Xie Shuci’s back, gently patting to comfort him.

Li Song breathed a sigh of relief and said to them, “Don’t be afraid. A monster has entered the town, and my Uncle and I are chasing it. Take him back to the room and don’t come out.”

Perhaps it was because Xie Shuci looked different now compared to before, appearing particularly pitiful. Li Song couldn’t help but lower his voice.

“I’m not afraid.” Xie Shuci grabbed onto Xie An’s clothes, weakly retorting.

“Then why are you crying?” Li Song asked.

“These are tears from the wind. I was worried about Xie An and ran too fast.” 

“Then why were you screaming?”

“I, I wanted to scare away the monster.”

“…”

Li Song didn’t continue arguing with him. He instructed him to go back to the room and lock the doors and windows, then he left the inn with his sword.

There was no one else in the lobby, only a few candles flickering. The innkeeper and Ah Dong were nowhere to be seen.

Xie An grabbed one of Xie Shuci’s hands and wrote in his palm, “What happened?”

Xie An’s body didn’t appear as frail as it seemed, almost completely enveloping Xie Shuci’s body. Being in his embrace made Xie Shuci feel somewhat at ease.

Taking a deep breath, Xie Shuci wiped away the tears from his face and brought Xie An’s hand to his lips, mouthing, “Let’s go back to the room first.”

Bringing Xie An back to the room and seeing the warm candlelight inside, Xie Shuci finally relaxed his body.

He let go of Xie An’s hand, turned around, and locked the door several times before letting out a heavy sigh.

When Xie Shuci turned back around, he saw Xie An standing in front of the screen. He walked up and patted Xie An’s shoulder, causing him to turn his head in confusion.

Seeing Xie An’s lips move, Xie Shuci asked again, “What happened? Why were you crying?”

Now that his anxiety had subsided, Xie Shuci felt a bit awkward, considering that he had clung onto Xie An tightly just a while ago. He pressed his lips against the skin on the back of Xie An’s hand and explained, “It’s nothing. There was a fire in the bathroom, and I didn’t have time to put on clothes. The smoke made my tears flow.”

Taking advantage of Xie An’s blindness, Xie Shuci fabricated a story to save face.

Fortunately, Xie An nodded without showing any signs of doubt and instead asked, “Are you injured?”

“No. That small fire couldn’t harm me. It didn’t even touch a strand of my hair.”

Xie An couldn’t hear, so he naturally didn’t know that Xie Shuci’s voice had a strong nasal tone, making his words sound completely unbelievable.

Xie An, “…”

Xie An pursed his lips.

Xie Shuci ignored the hint of “speechlessness” on Xie An’s face. 

He thought Xie An might have been scared by his actions earlier and wanted to comfort him. But seeing that Xie An remained unaffected as if he hadn’t taken the incident to heart, Xie Shuci didn’t say anything more.

Xie Shuci found a set of clean clothes to change into. He initially intended to change on the other side of the screen. However, halfway through, he saw the flickering candlelight behind the screen, creating a dim and eerie corner, resembling the dwelling place of a monster. His footsteps suddenly froze in place, and a shiver ran down his spine. Hesitant, he glanced toward Xie An, unsure.

Xie An was sitting by the edge of the bed, his pupils vacant, his face calm, lost in his own thoughts.

“Xie Shuci, are you an idiot? Little blind can’t see anything, so why bother avoiding him?” Xie Shuci gave himself an excuse to not change clothes behind the screen.

Little Blind couldn’t see or hear anything, so Xie Shuci could dance right in front of him, and he wouldn’t even be aware of it.

Therefore, it wasn’t because he was afraid that Xie Shuci didn’t go behind the screen to change his clothes; he simply felt there was no need for it.

Having prepared enough mental justification for himself, Xie Shuci stood outside the screen and casually draped his clothes over it. He comfortably took off his outer robe.

Xie Shuci’s skin was pale and very smooth, easily reddening upon light touch. After rubbing against Xie An’s clothes for a while, his body had several red marks, as if someone had pinched him. It didn’t hurt, but it looked a bit alarming.

When Xie Shuci was halfway through undressing, he saw that Xie An was sitting on the bed facing him, and he felt a bit embarrassed for some reason.

After a moment of thought, he turned around, his back facing Xie An, and continued taking off his clothes.

As he picked up and started wearing his clothes, Xie Shuci felt a gaze on him. 

It was a strange feeling as if someone was staring at him in the dark with an icy and intense gaze. Xie Shuci shivered and instinctively turned his head to take a glance.

Xie An had one foot on the edge of the bed, his elbow resting on his knee, fingers supporting his head, quietly gazing in Xie Shuci’s direction.

The candlelight flickered in his eyes, and Xie Shuci’s heart skipped a beat.

In that instant, he almost believed that Xie An could see!

“Xie An?” Xie Shuci called out tentatively, holding onto his clothes.

Xie An was oblivious and remained in the same position.

“Little Blind?”

Xie Shuci quickly put on his inner clothes, then silently approached Xie An, reaching out to wave his hand in front of his eyes.

Xie An’s gaze remained fixed on the spot where Xie Shuci had been standing, reflecting the candlelight, but he still showed no signs of awareness.

“Hoo…” Xie Shuci let out a sigh of relief. It was just his imagination.

At that moment, Xie An suddenly grabbed the hand that Xie Shuci was about to retract.

Xie Shuci’s heart skipped a beat, but he saw Xie An’s lips slightly curve, revealing a mischievous smile. He moved his lips and said, “There’s wind, so I knew you were here.”

“…,” Xie Shuci’s heart, which had been lifted, sank again.

That’s right, Little blind can sense the wind. Xie Shuci almost forgot about that.

Without waiting for his response, Xie An’s nostrils flared.

He released Xie Shuci’s hand and stood up, groping his way to the window. He opened it, his brows furrowing slightly. Then he turned to look at Xie Shuci and lightly tapped the window frame with his fingers as if trying to get Xie Shuci’s attention.

Confused, Xie Shuci approached and saw Xie An say, “There’s a smell of blood and corpses in the wind.”

Xie Shuci’s face turned pale. He pulled Xie An closer and quickly closed the window.

“What exactly happened?” Xie An asked again.

Xie Shuci felt somewhat helpless. He hadn’t wanted to let Xie An know since there was no need to be afraid if he didn’t know.

But he didn’t expect Xie An to have a sharper sense of smell than a dog and could discern such things.

There was no choice but for Xie Shuci to tell the truth.

He placed Xie An’s hand on his lips and whispered, “Don’t be afraid. I heard from Li Song that a monster has invaded the town and seems to have harmed people. He and his Uncle are trying to capture the monster.”

Humans are naturally fearful of death and corpses, so Xie Shuci subconsciously thought that Xie An would also be afraid.

But Xie An showed no reaction after hearing the news, his expression calm and undisturbed.

Xie Shuci was surprised and asked, “Aren’t you afraid?”

Xie An hesitated for a moment before nodding.

Xie Shuci took his hesitation as a sign of embarrassment. Like an older brother, he patted Xie An’s shoulder with confidence and said, “Don’t be afraid. I’ll sleep with you tonight.”

“…” 

“Are you afraid?” 

“I’m not afraid. I’m not afraid at all. How could I be afraid? I’ll just stay with you until you fall asleep, then I’ll go back to my own bed.”

Xie An smiled and nodded in response. “Okay.”

The two returned to the side of the screen. Xie An lay down on the bed, and Xie Shuci mentioned that he would wait until Xie An fell asleep. Therefore, Xie Shuci didn’t feel comfortable lying down.

However, he didn’t want to be too far away from Xie An either. After a moment of hesitation, he took off his shoes and sat cross-legged on the footstool beside the bed. He rested his hands on the soft cotton padding, chin propped up on his arm, and stared at Xie An’s sleeping face for a while.

A few candles illuminated the room. Xie An’s profile was hidden in the shadows, only revealing a rough outline, like a blurred painting, but very beautiful.

Xie Shuci had always been a coward.

When he was young, in an attempt to toughen himself up, he had watched numerous horror movies, but the more he watched, the more frightened he became, although his imagination grew richer.

After waiting for a while, Xie Shuci thought that Xie An must have fallen asleep.

He cautiously slipped his hand under the covers, grasping the edge of Xie An’s clothing in his palm, feeling his warmth, and finally felt relieved.

Startled and having cried for a while, Xie Shuci was now exhausted. In this position, he held onto the corner of the blind boy’s clothes and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.

The candlelight flickered, the room was quiet, and Xie Shuci’s breathing gradually became steady.

In the tranquil room, the person on the bed slowly opened his eyes.