He Holds a Rose from the Abyss

After returning to the dormitory, it was the time of day that Chi Lang liked best.

The evening sun reflected the room with a dim yellow color, like an old yellowing photograph, everything was covered with a gentle veil.

Chi Lang first brought a chessboard to the table, pulled out a chair as if to offer it, and said to Sheffield, “Come on, come on, let’s play chess.”

Sheffield joined him at the table.

The rules of chess here were slightly different from those of international chess, and Chi Lang, as a semi-skilled backgammon fan, was not very good at this kind of chess, but after playing with Longbeard once by chance, he found it quite interesting.

Although Sheffield’s level was much higher than him, Chi Lang still enjoyed playing chess with him.

Chi Lang thought about what to do next, and casually complained: “You occasionally let me win or I will get tired of this kind of crushing game every day.”

Sheffield nodded: “Okay.”

Then Chi Lang won the victory easily, and he said to Sheffield: “Don’t let me win so easily, it’s very unfulfilling.”

Sheffield picked up a piece of chess, tapped his fingers lightly on the table, and said, “You can tell me what you want me to do.”

“Your best performance should be about the same level as mine, or a little lower, so it’s much easier to beat you, and it will be very rewarding.”

Chi Lang looked at Sheffield’s expression and continued: “It’s like this, you can’t let me be strong right from the start, you have to enable me to get stronger slowly, that’s the standard path of growth for a grandmaster.”

Sheffield dropped the chess piece.

Chi Lang was already defeated, and all he heard was Sheffield saying, “I thought you were going to say something about letting me change the rules or something.”

“Changing the rules wouldn’t be fun, and you wouldn’t accept a change in the rules, would you?”

Sheffield put his fingertips on his king piece. In the rules, if the “king” was captured, he would lose.

– “If the rule is, you can kill my king piece with your queen piece, then I will accept this rule.”

Chi Lang’s hands trembled, he accidentally knocked down a few chess pieces, and he couldn’t remember their original positions, so he simply said, “Forget it, I’ve lost this game, let’s play another one.”

But he thought about it and felt that something was not right: “And then the king will let the queen be buried with him? That’s just a draw, too… No, I don’t mean… anyway, you can’t refer to me that way.”

Sheffield extended his fingers to him, “Give me the chess pieces, I’ll restore them.”

Chi Lang handed over the chess pieces in his hand, and after Sheffield collected it, he gave Chi Lang a kiss on his fingertips. He felt that his perception of Sheffield’s behavior was getting sharper and sharper, and even such a kiss made him feel his heart being touched.

They played chess from sunset to moonlight.

Chi Lang yawned and slowly put away the chess pieces as he had a chat with Sheffield.

“You know, one afternoon at the Magic Research Society, they summoned a very…very ugly creature. The two children cried, and Longbeard seemed to be afraid, he endured the fear while coaxing the children, too bitter.”

Chi Lang had a lot to say to Sheffield every time, as if everything, as long as it was told to Sheffield, would become more interesting.

And Sheffield replied to him: “I was like this when I was a child. The summoned creatures always looked abominable, so for a long time, I disliked using summon magic.

“But now that I think about it, I should have practiced the summoning magic better…” Sheffield leaned over. “Maybe I could have summoned you to me a little earlier.”

Chi Lang’s movements stagnated for a moment, he patted Sheffield on the shoulder, and then shook him twice: “Wake up, if you called me back then, I might not have been born yet.”

They chatted like this and went to bed, with Chi Lang yawning under the covers.

Waiting for a topic to end. Sheffield heard the bell rang once more, and he smiled and asked, “Want to do it?”

Chi Lang was a little sleepy: “But I kind of want to sleep…” His eyes were almost closed.

Sheffield placed a soft kiss on his eyes and then started kissing him on the lips, normally Sheffield would never kiss so slowly, but this time it dragged on for a long time.

After the kiss, Sheffield then whispered, “Want to do it?”

Chi Lang sobered up, and a fire rose in his heart, expelling all the sleepiness: “Is there anything tomorrow… The Magic Research Society doesn’t seem to be very important.” Sheffield kissed him again.

Chi Lang’s eyes lit up and muttered, “Come on then.”

…

Spending the night in this way, so they both get up late almost every day.

Every time Chi Lang opened his eyes and looked at the time, he felt a sense of depravity. He reflected: “Sheffield, we really can’t do this anymore. School is about to start, and life must be regular, go to bed early and get up early.”

Sheffield didn’t get up either, he has always been an extremely self-disciplined person, and lately it seems as if he has become unconcerned about time as well.

“If you want to get up early, with the time you need to play chess, chat, plus…,” Sheffield said with a smile, “you’ll have to start playing at least at four in the afternoon.”

Chi Lang thought about it, start playing at four o’clock in the afternoon, it seemed a little degenerate, but let him cut down the time on any entertainment, he was a bit reluctant, so his face was still a bit bitter.

Chi Lang sat up from the bed. He was determined to clean up his act and start improving from today. He couldn’t waste time. He slowly put on his clothes and saw Sheffield was still lying on the bed.

“Why are you lazier than me? Get up quickly.”

Sheffield’s hair was a little messy, but even so, he looked poised and relaxed.

Sheffield stretched out his arm and said with a smile, “Yeah, I don’t really want to move…or… you help me get dressed?”

Chi Lang, of course, did not accept this request, he decisively refused and kept nagging Sheffield after he went out.

“How old are you? You don’t even know how to put on your own clothes. If I really spoil you, do you want me to take off your clothes for you in the future, too?” Chi Lang said in a low voice.

Sheffield straightened the folds on the cuffs for Chi Lang, and said, “Isn’t that fair? I took off your clothes for you anyway, and you never took it off yourself.”

Chi Lang: “…that’s a special case!”

Sheffield nodded slowly, as if accepting Chi Lang’s words. He kissed Chi Lang’s lips: “But I think you also want to almost take off my clothes.”

Alright. Can’t argue with that. Once again, Chi Lang was dumbfounded by the fact that every time Sheffield said something, it poked him right in the heart.

They both sneaked into Mrs. White’s pub.

Sheffield also wondered, “Why do you shrink your head and enter the pub like this?”

“Don’t look at me, you go in front, I’ll hide behind you.” Chi Lang hid behind Sheffield slipped into the pub and went to the far corner and sat down.

Chi Lang took his hand and compared it to Sheffield’s head and asked him, “Can you… make your head a little bigger? Don’t you know the magic of the change department? You can do it!”

Sheffield:  …