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As soon as Qi Xing spoke, Qi Ronghua's expression immediately changed and he shouted sternly, "What are you saying?! Say it again!"
Qi Xing shrank his neck a bit and felt a bit cowardly after speaking out, "Dad, you heard it all, why do I need to say it again? I just like men and forcing a girl on me won't help."
"Don't talk nonsense," Wang Cuilan looked at her son in disbelief with her voice trembling, "Don't say these ridiculous things just to spite your dad. Quickly take back what you just said."
"It's not nonsense," Qi Xing lowered his voice, feeling a bit embarrassed, "Mom, I've always liked men, it's just how I am. I really can't change it."
Wang Cuilan: "But..."
"You have to change it!" Qi Ronghua shouted angrily, "Liking men, liking men, how can you say such things without feeling ashamed!"
Qi Xing felt frustrated and his tone turned cold, "A natural inclination can't be changed. If you find me embarrassing, then you can still have another child to practice with but don't count on me."
"I'll kill you first!"
Qi Ronghua, enraged, picked up a stool and swung it at him. Qi Xing instinctively turned to the side to block it and the stool hit his shoulder blade, causing a sharp pain that made him almost see stars.
Qi Ronghua, still not satisfied and wanted to hit him again but Wang Cuilan reacted quickly, standing up and blocking her son, her brows furrowed, "What are you going crazy for! If you hit him and something happens, I’ll fight you!"
Qi Ronghua's face twitched with anger: "You're still protecting him! It's your indulgence that has turned him into this!"
"What’s wrong with my son?!" Wang Cuilan raised her voice, "What’s wrong with him now? Isn’t he better than you, old man?! Liking men is just liking men, what’s the big deal?! Do you have any objections? It’s not like you have to like men!"
Qi Ronghua's face turned green while glaring at Qi Xing, who was hiding behind Wang Cuilan: "You tell me! Which man do you like? Is it Ye Xingzhou?!"
Qi Xing's head, which had been poking out, instantly retreated behind his mother. Wang Cuilan turned around in surprise: "You like that Young Master Ye?"
Under the scorching gaze of his mother, Qi Xing opened his mouth but couldn't say a word.
... He shouldn't have let his emotions get the better of him and said everything he shouldn't have.
Qi Xing forced a laugh and Wang Cuilan clapped her hands, accepting her son's orientation and attitude change at an unprecedented speed: "Young Master Ye is great! Son, your taste is really good!"
"That Ye Xingzhou is great?!" Qi Ronghua scolded angrily, "What are you two seeing?! He looks decent and has some ability but what about his character? Do you know how he climbed over his uncles and brothers to get to where he is? The Ye family is a big family and how many unspeakable things are there? You like someone like that and aren't afraid of being devoured alive!"
When it came to "character," Qi Ronghua suddenly remembered his earlier words about "considering character when marrying into a family," and felt a pang in his liver. This brat Qi Xing, can't he just let him live a peaceful life for a few days!
But Wang Cuilan disagreed: "I think he seems gentle and refined and not as bad as you say. Isn’t it enough that he looks good and has ability? If I hadn’t thought you looked decent and seemed to have some ability, would I have married you? Back then, you were poor and had nothing! At least Young Master Ye has everything!"
Qi Ronghua was filled with grievances: "You were clearly deceived by his looks!"
Wang Cuilan: "But he really is good-looking! Otherwise, how could your son like him?!"
Qi Ronghua: "Stop making excuses for this brat. He’s just acting up and if you didn’t indulge him, he wouldn’t be like this!"
Wang Cuilan: "You’re the one acting up! You’re the one making a fuss! It’s New Year’s Eve and you’re causing trouble, making this whole family unhappy!"
Seeing his parents getting louder and louder, Qi Xing finally couldn’t take it anymore and spoke up: "Can you stop arguing? When did I say I like Ye Xingzhou?"
"You don’t like Ye Xingzhou, then who do you like?!"
Qi Ronghua and Wang Cuilan asked in unison with their four eyes fixed on him.
Qi Xing: "..."
He shouldn’t have spoken.
Qi Ronghua's brows were still tightly knitted: "I don’t care if you like Ye Xingzhou or some other wild man, anyway, if it’s a man then you must change this habit!"
"I can’t change it," as soon as his dad said that, Qi Xing's temper flared up again, "It’s just how I am, even if you kill me, I can’t change it."
Qi Ronghua was so angry he wanted to grab something to throw at him while Wang Cuilan helped block him and almost rolled up her sleeves to fight Qi Ronghua. In the chaos, Qi Xing simply ran away; after all, he was just a nuisance here, so it was better to leave quickly.
He didn’t know many people here, so he could only go to the city to seek refuge with his cousin.
An hour later, after hanging up the phone, his cousin turned to look at Qi Xing, who was slumped on the sofa and said with a smile, "I told your mom you’re staying with me tonight, so they don’t have to worry. Have you eaten dinner yet?"
Qi Xing rubbed his empty stomach while feeling a bit embarrassed.
"You’re making such a fuss on New Year’s Eve that you’re at the point of wanting to run away from home?"
His cousin shook his head and went to the fridge to get some ingredients. Since it was just him and his parents who had gone to the village, he had originally planned to make frozen dumplings for the New Year’s Eve dinner. Now that there was an extra person, he could only make something on the spot: "Let’s have hot pot; it’s too late to make anything else."
Qi Xing quickly nodded and got up to help wash the vegetables.
After the hot pot was boiling, the two chatted while eating. Seeing Qi Xing looking absent-minded, his cousin asked again about the reason for his wanting to run away from home. Qi Xing felt a bit awkward and changed the subject: "Why didn’t you bring your wife back for the New Year? Aren’t you two getting married this year?"
"It’s not certain yet as her family had some issues. When we went back on New Year’s Day, she’ll resign and go back home after the New Year and I don’t know what to do." his cousin said a few sentences but not wanting to elaborate and sounding a bit helpless.
Qi Xing’s mind stirred and he asked impulsively, "Do you like her?"
His cousin looked at him in surprise: "If I didn’t like her, then why would we be getting married? Of course, I like her. Aren’t you usually carefree? Why are you suddenly interested in this? Did you argue with your parents because of a relationship issue?"
Qi Xing was a bit at a loss for words as his cousin was just too smart and able to see through everything at a glance.
"Well, I came out to them and my dad was so angry that he wanted to kill me..."
"Coming out isn’t a big deal these days," his cousin said then realized, "Do you have a partner? But your parents aren’t satisfied?"
Qi Xing: "Not really."
His cousin: "That tone definitely means you do. You just asked me if I liked someone; do you really have someone you like?"
Qi Xing was completely speechless. Did he like Ye Xingzhou?
... That’s impossible!
Weren’t they just friends with benefits? Okay, they were indeed a bit closer than that but like him?
Ye Xingzhou was indeed good-looking but he hadn’t initially liked Ye Xingzhou, had he?
Besides, he had liked many people, all of whom were good-looking but if he were to say he liked someone, he seemed to have no idea what liking someone really meant.
Pursuing someone was just for fun with a success rate close to zero as either the other person was straight and rejected him, or halfway through that he found out that the other person was different from what he imagined and lost interest, so he backed off.
It was more like seeing a nice toy in a shop window and wanting to buy it but for various reasons not being able to and he would only be unhappy for a couple of days before forgetting about it. Could that be called liking?
So Ye Xingzhou wasn’t anything special; if it weren’t for that bastard having a good-looking face, he wouldn’t have been hanging around him for so long.
Yeah, it should be like that.
As if he had figured it out, Qi Xing sighed in relief, relaxed and smiled at his cousin: "Do I look like someone who would be troubled by love?"
His cousin: "Alright, if not then forget it."
They chatted about other things. Qi Xing looked down at his phone. After leaving his parents, he had replied to a message from Ye Xingzhou but the bastard hadn’t responded.
After that, he became increasingly absent-minded while glancing at his phone from time to time and several times he spoke to his cousin but ended up saying something completely off-topic.
His cousin smiled but didn’t expose him.
After finishing the hot pot, his cousin cleared the table to wash the dishes. Qi Xing wanted to help but was stopped: "You sit there. I’m afraid you’ll be so distracted that you’ll drop my dishes."
Qi Xing’s face turned red: "Uh..."
He mumbled back to the living room but there was still no reply from Ye Xingzhou on his phone.
It had been almost three hours.
Qi Xing sat down and rubbed his face while feeling a bit frustrated.
Alright, Ye Xingzhou was indeed a bit special; after all, he had never been this close to anyone before and it did feel different. Although most of the time he found that bastard annoying and occasionally he would feel an itch but most of the time, he unconsciously thought about him.
Moreover, it seemed that recently, the frequency of these thoughts had been increasing.
And Ye Xingzhou wasn’t that bad.
He pulled him back when he almost fell off a cliff, carried him to the hospital when he was sick and even let him hit him and helped him deal with people he didn’t like. He was good-looking and he was strong in that aspect and it was true that he could make him feel good.
So, thinking about this person seemed to be quite reasonable?
The best-looking toy in the shop window had been bought and the more he played with it, the more addicted he became. Not wanting to let go and not wanting anyone else to touch it. Could that also be called liking?
Qi Xing looked up at the sky but was still reluctant to admit it.
He thought things were fine as they were now.
It was enough to flirt when he was happy and have a quick sex when the mood struck.
So why would he have to talk about love? It's just troublesome.
Dating was so annoying.
Like his cousin and his fiancée. After years of dating but they might still end up at the point of possibly parting ways. It was meaningless. Or like his parents, after being together for over twenty years, holding hands felt like their left hand holding their right hand, even more meaningless.
Moreover, Ye Xingzhou didn’t even admit to having a crush on him; he would just say he was being narcissistic and thinking too much. He would be foolish to dive headfirst into something that would only lead to embarrassment.
Qi Xing slumped into the sofa. Resentful of Ye Xingzhou for not replying to his messages.
He closed his eyes and dazed for a moment then, in a moment of self-abandonment, sat up then picked up his phone and forcefully poked the screen, sending a new WeChat message.
"Brother Ye, Uncle Ye, Daddy Ye [1], you haven’t been kidnapped by your black-hearted family, have you?"
[1] It's deliberate as Ye Xingzhou said in earlier chapters that Qi Xing may feel free to call him in any way he wants when they're arguing about Ye Xingzhou calling Qi Xing's dad 'Uncle Qi’ and feeling close to them.
Five minutes later, still without a reply, he sent another message.
"Want to meet?"
When Ye Xingzhou saw the message pop up on his phone, he had just exited the highway and entered the city. After nearly four hours of driving from Huaicheng City, it was already late at night.
Stopping at the intersection, he picked up his phone and finally replied: "Send me your location."
Qi Xing: "??"
Ye Xingzhou: "Didn’t you say you wanted to meet?"
Qi Xing cursed the beast and realizing that after pretending to be dead for so long, he only reacted when he saw those two words. As expected, he was just a lower-body animal.
"I say we meet and you can just take me up on it?"
"Let’s give it a try."
Qi Xing didn’t believe it at all but still casually sent a location and ignored him then exited his WeChat to open a game.
Twenty minutes later, a new message from Ye Xingzhou came in: "Come downstairs."
Qi Xing: "Huh?"
Ye Xingzhou: "My car is outside the community; come down now."
Qi Xing took a long time to come to his senses as he was shocked as he climbed up from the sofa to look out from the balcony.
But it was too far away to see clearly.
Ye Xingzhou’s call came in: "Come down, or should I come up to invite you?"
"You really came?" Qi Xing almost bit his tongue.
The person on the other end chuckled softly: "Who was it that said they wanted to meet just now?"
Qi Xing was a bit speechless. Could this person really transform like this?
But at the moment he heard Ye Xingzhou's voice, he felt a rush of excitement and all the gloom from the night vanished: "Alright then, I’ll be right down; wait for me."
After hanging up, Qi Xing returned to the living room to grab his coat and his cousin, who was watching TV, looked up: "Are you going out?"
"Uh, a friend is here, ... I’m going down for a bit." Qi Xing felt a bit guilty, so he just hastily explained and avoided eye contact.
His cousin chuckled: "Alright, do you want me to leave the door open for you?"
"Maybe but I’ll call you in a bit." He felt increasingly uneasy and after finishing his sentence, he hurriedly slipped away.
Ye Xingzhou’s car was parked across the street from the community. He had already gotten out of the car and was currently leaning against the door and smoking. The streetlight cast shadows that split his figure in half, with half of his shoulder and his entire face hidden in darkness but the glow of the cigarette tip flickered.
Qi Xing paused his steps; although he couldn’t see Ye Xingzhou’s face clearly but he had a strong intuition that this man’s eyes were fixed on him.
Ye Xingzhou had come and crossed hundreds of kilometers to find him on New Year’s Eve, after he had been kicked out of his home by his dad for coming out.
Qi Xing felt a bit excited but managed to suppress it and walked over slowly.
"Young Master Ye, what brings you here at this late hour?"
After finishing his cigarette, Ye Xingzhou crushed it under his toe and reached out to pull Qi Xing’s waist.
Their breaths mingled and Ye Xingzhou asked in a low, husky voice, "Where are we going to meet?"
Qi Xing chuckled: "Anywhere is fine."
Ye Xingzhou’s hand paused at his waist and slowly rubbed it but not moving anywhere.
With a bit of light from the streetlamp, Qi Xing could see his eyes clearly and just like before, it was filled with his own reflection.
He raised his hands and wrapped them around Ye Xingzhou’s neck and whispered in his ear, "Ye Xingzhou, if you’re not here, I can’t even manage on my own. It’s so annoying."
His sticky, teasing voice sounded like a complaint and Ye Xingzhou’s hand tightened around his waist while his breathing became a bit heavier.
Qi Xing pressed closer to him: "I really mean it."
Ye Xingzhou didn’t say anything more and forcefully opened the car door: "Get in."