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I will leave when I want to."
Qi Xing found Ye Xingzhou's words completely baffling. He casually retorted and roughly pulled him by one arm: "Hurry up while it's still light out. I'll carry you."
Ye Xingzhou's hand rested on his shoulder but then stopped and slowly pinched it before letting go when Qi Xing glared at him then calmly said, "Don't waste your energy; you can't carry me."
"How would we know if I don't try? Are we just going to sit here and wait to die?"
Qi Xing was quite annoyed. Just seeing Ye Xingzhou's face made him want to punch him twice but he held back for now: "Less talk and just get on my back."
He tugged Ye Xingzhou towards him but the light pull caused Ye Xingzhou's injured foot to twist which made him frown involuntarily.
Qi Xing managed to carry him for two steps but soon found it too much to handle and both of them awkwardly fell back down.
Qi Xing fell hard this time and was about to curse when he heard Ye Xingzhou suppressed gasp behind him. Turning around, he saw that not only did Ye Xingzhou have scratches on his face and hands but his suit jacket was also severely scuffed with faint traces of blood visible.
Ouch, that's really bad.
Just looking at Ye Xingzhou like this made Qi Xing feel pain; he looked worse than if he had been beaten with a sack of potatoes.
But his goal was actually achieved.
Ye Xingzhou noticed the schadenfreude on Qi Xing's face and expressionlessly reached out and smeared his dirtied and blood-stained fingers across Qi Xing's face.
Qi Xing's smile faltered: "Are you sick?"
Ye Xingzhou withdrew his hand while coldly saying, "You brought this on yourself."
Qi Xing's nose crinkled in anger: "Do you believe I would really leave you here?"
Ye Xingzhou ignored him and leaned back with his eyes closed.
He was indeed a severe germaphobe; he would rather destroy something than let it get dirty. But if it was himself who got dirty, he would choose to drag someone down with him.
His person.
Qi Xing couldn't stand his attitude and pushed him: "Speak."
Ye Xingzhou grabbed his hand and pulled it down: "Stop messing around."
Qi Xing immediately pulled his hand back and slapped him lightly: "Who’s messing around? I'm asking you what to do now. If you don't speak, I really will leave you here and go by myself. Otherwise, when it gets dark, neither of us will be able to get out and there might be wild animals in these mountains."
"I have GPS on my phone. Before we came, I messaged my bodyguards that if they don't receive any new messages in an hour, then they'll come looking for us." Ye Xingzhou opened his eyes and glanced at him. His gaze clearly said that he had known from the start that Qi Xing had ulterior motives and had prepared for it.
For a moment, Qi Xing felt a bit guilty but he didn't show it on his face: "Didn't you lose your phone?"
Ye Xingzhou: "Even if I lost it, it's still nearby."
Qi Xing complained: "Who knows if your phone is broken or out of battery? If your people don't come looking for us, are we just going to wait here indefinitely?"
Ye Xingzhou: "Do you know the way out?"
"..." Of course, he didn't know.
"Rather than wandering around like a headless fly, it's better to wait here and rest."
As Ye Xingzhou said this, he pulled him down and Qi Xing sat down but kicked him again in annoyance: "I've really hit rock bottom running into a disaster like you."
"You brought this on yourself." Ye Xingzhou coldly reminded him with the same line.
Qi Xing muttered under his breath: "Bastard."
The sky gradually darkened and he felt cold and hungry. He stared at Ye Xingzhou with wide eyes and regretted why he hadn't just left earlier instead of coming back to accompany this jerk.
"Do you still have a lighter on you? I'll go gather some branches to make a fire." Qi Xing rubbed his arms and planned to stand up.
Ye Xingzhou: "No."
Qi Xing frowned: "Why not?"
Ye Xingzhou firmly said: "There are shrubs and vegetation everywhere here. Are you planning to start a fire and burn down the mountain while also burning yourself? And if there are wild animals, they will be attracted to the fire you make."
Qi Xing opened his mouth, unable to find a word to refute: "...Then can I go find something to eat? I'm starving."
"It's dark and you don't have a flashlight. Where do you plan to find food? Missing one meal won't kill you."
Ye Xingzhou's voice was cold and hard and Qi Xing was holding back his anger: "Missing one meal won't kill me but in this situation, your bodyguards trying to find us in this deep mountain forest won't be easy either. Who knows how many more meals we might miss? I brought this on myself but is it wrong for me to take revenge on you? Tell me about what you have done before? You're a rapist. if you were dealing with someone with a smaller temper, they would have fought you to the death. Hitting you once is letting you off easy and not sending you to jail is me saving face."
"Saving face?"
Ye Xingzhou's voice paused slightly as his gaze lingering on Qi Xing's face for a moment, his tone ambiguous: "It is quite a saving face."
Qi Xing felt he was being mocked again, angered: "Can't you say something without being so harsh? I'm hungry, is that a crime? What's wrong with wanting to eat?"
He had never suffered like this in his life. Ever since he met this jerk in front of him, misfortunes had come one after another and he hadn't had a single day of peace. The root cause was still having this kind of attitude.
The more Qi Xing thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt. He felt that he should have just left and not had to listen to Ye Xingzhou's cold sarcasm here.
Ye Xingzhou silently watched him, the dim light in the forest amplifying Qi Xing's negative emotions. The surface bravado and arrogance faded and the little wildcat finally dropped its head in defeat.
Clearly, it was the best opportunity for revenge, yet he chose to come back.
Clearly, he hated Ye Xingzhou to the bone, yet he unconsciously revealed his vulnerability and grievance in front of him.
No matter how proud a cat is, it is still just a cat.
"To the left," Ye Xingzhou's gaze fell to Qi Xing's left rear, "It looks like a pear tree. You can try to grab a branch; you should be able to reach the lowest ones."
Qi Xing was taken aback.
He had prepared himself to be ridiculed again but Ye Xingzhou actually changed his attitude?
"Weren't you just saying you were hungry?" Ye Xingzhou reminded him, "These wild pears might not taste good. If you want to eat, go get a few."
Qi Xing huffed and turned to go.
A few minutes later, he returned with seven or eight pears of varying sizes and sat down next to Ye Xingzhou. He picked the largest one for himself and tossed the smallest one to Ye Xingzhou then wiped it on his clothes before taking a bite. The moment he bit down, his face scrunched up in sourness and with a "pfft," he immediately spat out the piece he had bitten into.
Ye Xingzhou seemed to have anticipated this as he was watching him with amusement while the pear he had received remained untouched.
Qi Xing angrily threw all the pears he had picked: "Were you doing this on purpose? You knew these pears were sour and astringent, yet you tricked me into picking them?"
"I warned you," Ye Xingzhou said calmly, "If you know you're easily deceived then stop trying to scheme against others, or you'll keep digging pits for yourself."
Qi Xing was once again certain that this jerk was doing it on purpose.
Ye Xingzhou picked through the discarded pears and selected two of moderate size with darker skin, handing them over: "Try this one; it shouldn't taste that bad."
Qi Xing shot him a sideways glance, clearly not very convinced.
Ye Xingzhou: "Do you think I find it interesting to deceive you?"
Qi Xing hesitated for a moment but his stomach growled, so he finally accepted: "Fine, I'll eat it."
He reluctantly brought it to his mouth and took a bite. To his surprise, it wasn't bad at all; it was still sour but with a hint of sweetness and at least the unbearable astringency was gone.
"Aren't you going to eat?"
Ye Xingzhou closed his eyes again then leaned back: "I don't want to eat."
Seeing him like this, Qi Xing guessed he must be feeling unwell. Hesitating while munching on the pear, he playfully kicked him: "You..."
In the next second, Ye Xingzhou grabbed his calf. Without even opening his eyes, he maintained his position but his hand quickly slid from the top to the bottom of Qi Xing's leg. His technique was extremely suggestive as he kneaded his calf.
Qi Xing gasped: "You son of a—"
Ye Xingzhou slowly released his grip.
"Don't you see where we are? What kind of person you are and you can still get aroused? You're really a reincarnation of a beast, aren't you?" Qi Xing cursed under his breath.
Ye Xingzhou opened his eyes and turned his gaze to Qi Xing. His dark eyes are calm and unruffled: "Do you know what happened to the people who offended me in the past?"
Qi Xing was momentarily speechless: "...Who are you trying to scare?"
Ye Xingzhou: "My dead father, my stepmother who ended up in a mental hospital, my uncles who were cut off financially and kicked out of the company—every single one of them."
Qi Xing's eyelids twitched: "Aren't your brothers doing quite well? Ye Wanqi can still drive your car around flaunting it and they must have offended you too but you haven't done anything to them."
Ye Xingzhou smirked lightly: "From being high and mighty to living off while flattering me, that suits them well."
"Why are you telling me this? What does it have to do with me?" Qi Xing firmly refused to admit he had offended him; clearly, it was Ye Xingzhou who had taken advantage of him first.
Ye Xingzhou looked at him, his gaze scrutinizing: "How does it feel to sleep with me? Is it enjoyable?"
Qi Xing's expression changed and he heard Ye Xingzhou continue: "I can overlook what you're doing now and continue sleeping with you. I can also help you deal with anyone you want to take down like Ye Wanqi; you don't even need to lift a finger."
Qi Xing: "You said this was the last time this afternoon. You're really a lunatic and your words are as good as farting."
"I changed my mind," Ye Xingzhou said softly, "You came back on your own."
Qi Xing frowned and was utterly confused by his logic.
"Anyway, you enjoyed it. If you didn't, you wouldn't have come back to let me take advantage of you a second time."
Ye Xingzhou directly exposed him.
Qi Xing: "You're talking nonsense."
Ye Xingzhou: "Since it doesn't matter who the partner is then why not just be with me? I'm a beast and a pervert but you're not a good person either. We are a match made in heaven."
"Who are you calling a match made in heaven?"
Qi Xing instinctively retorted but his tone wavered slightly. If he really thought about it, he wasn't that opposed to sleeping with Ye Xingzhou. After all, it was just a friends-with-benefits situation. As long as it felt good, that was enough. It was just that Ye Xingzhou's overly dominant attitude irritated him and being the one who was pressed down made him feel too embarrassed to admit that he actually enjoyed it.
"You have no choice. I told you before, cooperating will make it easier for you." Ye Xingzhou reminded him in a low voice.
Qi Xing immediately became unhappy again: "If I don't comply, do you plan to force me every time?"
Ye Xingzhou didn't say anything further with his expression hidden in the gradually darkening night as his fingers once again gripped him. Qi Xing gasped in surprise: "Let go."
Then he heard Ye Xingzhou's low, hoarse voice laced with mockery: "In this case, it can only be considered non consensual."
Qi Xing wanted to kick him again but his legs felt weak while his momentum softened: "...Beast."