Chapter 33: Thick-skinned

True Color (COLOR)

At nine in the morning, Ye Xingzhou finished his shower and came out of the bathroom while Qi Xing was still asleep.

Qi Xing lay on the bed with his bare upper body marked with scattered ambiguous red marks while a blanket draped around his waist obscuring the erotic view below. He slept quite soundly as his hair tousled and a strand resting on the tip of his nose, rising and falling with his breath.

Ye Xingzhou leaned against the headboard and watched for a moment then reached out and gently rubbed his face. In his sleep, Qi Xing probably felt itchy as he was mumbling as he swatted Ye Xingzhou's hand away and turned over to the other side to continue sleeping.

Ye Xingzhou curved his lips slightly. 

He stood up and pushed open the glass door to the balcony and lit a cigarette while casually scanning the surroundings.

In front was the riverside view of the Huaicheng River with tall buildings standing in rows and a wide vista; the geographical location was indeed quite good.

Unfortunately, he had always hated noise which means this place is not suitable for him. 

…….

Qi Xing was awakened by a phone call from his father. Qi Ronghua said he was coming back a day early and would be home soon and then asked him to get up and make some tea.

Still groggy, Qi Xing complained about his father disturbing his dreams early in the morning. But suddenly, he remembered something when he hung up the phone, causing his eyes to snap open. He saw Ye Xingzhou's diamond watch on the bedside table and instantly, all drowsiness vanished.

He scrambled out of bed in a flurry then quickly glanced around and spotted the figure outside the glass door. Qi Xing almost lunged to pull it open: "Hurry up and change your clothes and get out! My dad's back, quick!"

As he spoke, he reached out to grab Ye Xingzhou. Although Ye Xingzhou was a bit surprised, he remained calm and just pinched his cigarette while being pulled into the room by Qi Xing.

Qi Xing glanced at the bathrobe Ye Xingzhou was wearing then frowned and quickly picked up a few pieces of clothing that were probably from Ye Xingzhou, on the floor before shoving them into his arms then push him towards the door: "Go, there's no time to change. You can change in your car downstairs, hurry!"

In the midst of pushing and shoving, they exited the room. But then hearing a voice coming from the hallway, Qi Xing immediately became alert. He stopped in his tracks instantly and instinctively raised his hand to cover Ye Xingzhou's mouth and pushed him back into the room then closed the door and locked it.

Qi Xing was so anxious that his face turned red while Ye Xingzhou just watched him leisurely as if watching a play.

Finally, Qi Xing gritted his teeth and using a lowered voice, threw out a sentence to Ye Xingzhou: "You just stay here. If I didn't say you couldn't come out, you wouldn't okay?"

After saying that, he hastily put on a turtleneck sweater and slipped into his pajama pants then pointed a finger at Ye Xingzhou in a vague warning before turning to open the door, only to close it again behind him.

Qi Ronghua had just gotten off the plane. After his assistant helped him bring in his luggage, he entered the house alone and saw Qi Xing in the living room, looking half-awake and flustered. He frowned and asked, "What time is it? Why do you look like this?"

Qi Xing forced himself to relax, yawning as he mumbled, "What time is it? And it's the weekend. How was I supposed to know you were coming back early, Dad?"

Fearing his father would hold it against him, Qi Xing went to the dining area to make tea for Qi Ronghua.

Qi Ronghua couldn't be bothered to argue with him and just took off his coat and sat back on the sofa to rest his eyes.

While making tea, Qi Xing occasionally stole glances at the living room. His dad seemed tired but if he wanted to sleep, couldn't he go to his room? Sitting in the living room made it impossible for him to bring Ye Xingzhou out.

At the same time, he felt a bit relieved that they hadn't done anything in the living room last night; otherwise, his father would have caught them right away.

As he brought the brewed tea to the living room, Qi Ronghua with his eyes still closed, suddenly spoke: "Did we have guests? I saw someone else's shoes in the hallway."

Qi Xing's hand trembled and nearly spilled the tea cup. 

How could he have forgotten about that...

Qi Ronghua opened his eyes and looked at him with suspicion. Qi Xing forced himself to sit down on the single sofa and lie through his teeth: "It's Yang Kaiming. He got drunk last night and I brought him back to stay over for the night."

Qi Ronghua frowned again: "Drunk? You went out drinking again? Where is he?"

Qi Xing replied, "In the guest room, still sleeping, I guess. He was so drunk last night that he couldn't tell east from west, so it probably won't be easy for him to wake up now but I'll go wake him up in a bit. Dad, are you tired? You looked like you were about to fall asleep. Why don't you go wash up and rest in your room? Don't drink the tea yet; I'll call you when it's time for lunch."

Qi Ronghua was indeed thinking the same thing. He was feeling a bit tired and didn't have the energy to lecture Qi Xing about going out and messing around while they weren't home. Just as he was about to get up, Ye Xingzhou's impeccably dressed figure appeared in the living room and casually coming over to greet him: "Uncle Qi."

Qi Xing's heart jumped to his throat. That scoundrel Ye Xingzhou!

Ye Xingzhou completely ignored him and explained to the bewildered Qi Ronghua: "Good morning, Uncle Qi. Last night, I had dinner with Qi Xing to discuss business. Later, Qi Xing invited me to watch a movie together. It got too late, so I stayed here for the night."

Qi Xing: "…………"

Thick-skinned than a pig, even lying without a script!

Qi Ronghua looked at his son with suspicion. Qi Xing could only force himself to agree: "Uh, that's right."

Qi Ronghua didn't believe it at all. Who has business dinners on Saturday night? When did his son become so ambitious that he, as a dad, didn't know about it? Even if they discussed business, what kind of routine was it to invite someone back home to watch a movie and stay over? More importantly, why did this kid just lie to him and say that the person staying over was Yang Kaiming?

Qi Xing knew exactly what his father was thinking and stammered, "That's because you didn't want me to get too close to Young Master Ye and I was afraid you wouldn't be happy, so I just said it was Yang Kaiming."

Ye Xingzhou sat down on the armrest of the sofa beside him and placed a hand on Qi Xing's shoulder and said to Qi Ronghua: "Qi Xing and I get along quite well. If he wants to learn to do serious work, I can help teach him, Uncle Qi. Qi Xing has good potential. As long as he is willing to learn, he will definitely be successful in the future. So, Uncle  Qi, you don't need to worry about him going down the wrong path."

Qi Xing felt his scalp tingle but under his father's watchful eye, he dared not curse or resist and allowed Ye Xingzhou to drape his arm over him and force a smile on his face.

Qi Ronghua's brow remained furrowed. Ye Xingzhou's tone was light and his smile was gentle but the sight of him sitting so close to his son made Qi Ronghua feel uncomfortable and sensed something was off.

In fact, although Ye Xingzhou called him Uncle Qi, Qi Ronghua had never looked down on this Young Master Ye as a junior. He was still wary of him and genuinely did not want his son to get too close to him. But given the current situation, could it be that this brat Qi Xing really became friends with this Young Master Ye?

...Are they really just friends?

Qi Ronghua thought it over and couldn't find anything about his son that would make Ye Xingzhou want to invest time and effort into him, except for that face.

Thinking of this made him feel sour but he couldn't say anything in front of him, so he politely invited Ye Xingzhou to stay for lunch.

With Ye Xingzhou, a living person in the house, Qi Ronghua couldn't sleep anymore, so he stayed in the living room to chat and drink tea with him.

Taking advantage of the situation, Qi Xing rolled back to his room and quickly tore off the messy sheets and replaced them with new ones and stuffed the dirty ones into a garbage bag. Then he forcefully opened the glass door to ventilate, finally dispersing the lingering lewd scent that had accumulated overnight.

While cursing Ye Xingzhou's ancestors in his heart, he didn't forget to go to the guest room to create some traces that someone had slept there last night and then confirming that there were no flaws before going to wash up and shower.

When he came out of the bathroom, he accidentally stepped on something and nearly fell.

Qi Xing looked down and turned pale.

It was a used condom. It was tied up in a big bag and just being thrown in the bathroom door. They probably don't know how many times it was used last night. 

That bastard Ye Xingzhou!

As he cursed under his breath, Ye Xingzhou pushed the door open and saw him standing at the bathroom door, looking ridiculous with one leg raised and baring his teeth. He closed the door behind him again with a hint of laughter in his eyes: "Is Young Master Qi performing acrobatics?"

Qi Xing pointed at the ground, annoyed: "You throw your trash everywhere!"

Ye Xingzhou stepped forward and casually picked it up, tossed it into the trash can and told him: "It's your own fault."

Qi Xing: "You're full of crap."

Ye Xingzhou: "I had just tied it up when you pounced on me. You even scratched me and said that you wanted me for another round, so I just tossed it on the floor."

Qi Xing was instantly speechless.

It seemed like that was the case but at that time, he clearly wanted to retaliate against this beast for being too rough and not that he wanted for another round. It was clearly this beast who was unsatisfied and pressed him down for another round afterward.

"Your chef has come to work. Your dad said he wanted to show off for me, so he went to the kitchen."

Ye Xingzhou washed his hands and turned to Qi Xing: "Come out and don't hide here."

Hearing this made Qi Xing angry: "Are you sick? I already told my dad that Yang Kaiming was drunk and staying at my place for the night. If my dad goes back to his room, you can just leave. Why did you even come out?"

Ye Xingzhou replied coldly: "I have nothing to hide, unless you're the one feeling guilty."

How dare you say that?

Qi Xing cursed at him: "You're the one with thick skin."

Ye Xingzhou stepped forward suddenly and Qi Xing instinctively retreated but his back hit the wall.

Ye Xingzhou leaned closer. His fingers rolled down Qi Xing's collar, rubbing over the marks hidden beneath and Qi Xing impatiently turned his head: "Get lost."

Ye Xingzhou laughed softly in his ear: "It’s no use washing up. You’re still covered in marks and still smell like me."

"Do you have no shame..."

Then, as expected, he was pinched at the waist by Ye Xingzhou. Qi Xing let out a soft "hiss" and kicked him but it was soft and lacked any force.

Ye Xingzhou whispered to him: "If you don't want it to look like an affair then consider my proposal to move out and live with me."

Qi Xing: "No way."

Just a friends-with-benefits situation so what was the point of cohabiting? It was absurd.

Ye Xingzhou's hand slid down and became more audacious: "Then I'll just go out now and tell your dad what I was really here for last night."

Qi Xing tightened his grip on Ye Xingzhou's wrist while glaring at him: "You dare."

Ye Xingzhou: "You can try."

Qi Xing kicked him again: "Get lost. I said no. My dad will skin me alive."

Ye Xingzhou stared into his eyes and Qi Xing insisted: "It won't do any good for you to go out and say it, or worse, your skin might also be peeled off with mine. When my dad gets angry, he won't care if you're Young Master Ye. You haven't seen how he used to fight back home, you might not even be able to beat him."

Saying this made Qi Xing feel a bit smug as his finger playfully tugged at Ye Xingzhou's shirt collar: "Bastard, you can only take advantage of me."

Ye Xingzhou watched his teasing expression as his gaze deepened and changed his tone: "From now on, come to my place three times a week and after we're done, I'll send you back."

Qi Xing: "Do you think you're the emperor issuing orders? Just because you say I should go, I have to go?"

Ye Xingzhou: "Are you going or not?"

Qi Xing closed his mouth. If he were to say he didn't want to go, that would be a lie. He had just started to enjoy it and besides, he wasn't tired of this beast yet. Otherwise, he wouldn't have brought him home last night in a moment of madness.

Ye Xingzhou rubbed him again: "Are you going or not?"

Qi Xing tightened his grip on Ye Xingzhou's mischievous hand and finally relent: "We'll see as it depends on my mood and your performance."

………

The author has something to say:

Qi Ronghua: Are they really just friends?

….

Translator: 

Ahm…. who's gonna tell him? >⁠.⁠<

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