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Qi Xing leaned against the passenger seat while hazily watching Ye Xingzhou take off his clothes and change. The suit shirt he had just vomited on went straight into the trash can. That bastard had a spare set of clothes in the car, so he wouldn’t be in such a mess that he needed to go shirtless.
What a pity.
Qi Xing tilted his head and drowsily thought that his earlier action had indeed been intentional; even seeing this person change expressions for just a second was satisfying.
Ye Xingzhou started the car and Qi Xing closed his eyes a few times then gradually fell asleep against the seat.
When he opened his eyes again, Ye Xingzhou was carrying him out of the car. In his blurry vision, he caught a glimpse of the man’s tense profile and felt uncomfortable in his heart: “Put me down. I don’t need you to carry me. I can walk by myself.”
But Ye Xingzhou ignored him and insisted on carrying him inside and up the stairs. Once they're back in the room, he went straight into the bathroom and stripped Qi Xing of his clothes then tossed him into the bathtub while turning on the hot water.
As the sudden hot water poured over him, Qi Xing was about to curse but when he looked up, he saw Ye Xingzhou also starting to undress. The buttons of his shirt were all undone and exposing his solid chest and abs. Qi Xing’s voice rolled in his throat: “What are you doing? Don’t be a pervert…”
Ye Xingzhou expressionlessly took off all his clothes and stepped into the bathtub.
Qi Xing kicked out, but Ye Xingzhou held him down: “We’re taking a shower.”
Qi Xing: “Why do we have to shower together? You smell, so stay away from me.”
The smell on Ye Xingzhou was all from Qi Xing’s own vomit. They had done this many times before when they were fooling around and having been in this bathtub countless times. But tonight, Qi Xing just didn’t want to deal with him as he was holding back his anger and seeing him made him feel even more upset.
When Ye Xingzhou leaned closer, Qi Xing turned his back to rest on the edge of the bathtub and closed his eyes again. The steam in the bathroom made his already intoxicated mind even more unclear and he just wanted to sleep.
Ye Xingzhou’s hand ran through his hair and Qi Xing turned his head to the other side and giving up on trying to escape.
Ye Xingzhou poured out some shampoo and began to wash his hair.
Qi Xing let him mess with it; after all, it wasn’t the first time and he was too lazy to move. His body was completely relaxed and half-asleep with his eyes closed while allowing Ye Xingzhou to take care of him.
Even though he said he didn’t want to be here but once Ye Xingzhou brought him back and stripped him down to put him in the water, he didn’t struggle much. It was pointless to waste energy, so it was better to relax and enjoy.
So when Ye Xingzhou’s hands started to wander lower while washing his back, he didn’t realize the danger. And when that beast slapped his butt, Qi Xing was momentarily stunned with his eyes wide open as he turned around to glare at him.
Ye Xingzhou’s second slap came down but the sound was muffled under the water but it was louder than the first and followed by a third.
“I told you not to mess around outside, have you forgotten?” After the three slaps, Ye Xingzhou coldly reminded him.
“None of your business! I’ll fight you!”
Qi Xing snapped back to his senses. He was furious and red-eyed while lunging forward to throw a punch at Ye Xingzhou’s face.
The bathtub splashed with a huge spray of water as Ye Xingzhou frowned and sidestepped. Qi Xing slipped and almost fell into the water but Ye Xingzhou quickly reached out to steady him, only to be pushed back by Qi Xing, who took the opportunity to leap onto him with his hands gripping his neck and forcefully pushing him down into the water, truly looking like he wanted to kill Ye Xingzhou.
With Qi Xing’s hands around his neck and pushing him underwater, Ye Xingzhou’s face showed no sign of panic. He just calmly held his breath then opened his eyes underwater and stared directly at Qi Xing.
Those eyes were like a nightmare trapped beneath the abyss of which were finally breaking free of their restraints and peering out.
Qi Xing’s breath became unsteady.
That uncomfortable feeling of being stared at by a venomous snake resurfaced today after so long but it was even more intense. Through the mist of water, uncertainty and anxiety were magnified and Qi Xing felt his scalp tingle under that gaze and instinctively loosen his grip.
In just a few seconds when Ye Xingzhou broke the surface, Qi Xing stood up as well, his face dark as he threw out, “I’m done showering,” and stepped out of the bathtub before striding away.
He quickly rummaged through Ye Xingzhou’s wardrobe for clothes he had left here, determined to leave. However, he found that the door to the room was somehow locked and he couldn’t open it from the inside.
After trying several times and confirming he couldn’t open the door, he angrily kicked it while feeling defeated as he walked back to the bed and collapsed onto it.
That bastard Ye Xingzhou was definitely doing this on purpose.
When Ye Xingzhou came out of the bathroom, Qi Xing was curled up in bed and was almost asleep again.
A cool fingertip brushed against his cheek and Qi Xing frowned in annoyance then slowly opened his eyes.
His mind was still unclear and when he met Ye Xingzhou’s gaze looking down at him, he froze for a moment then mumbling, “Let me go as I need to go home. It’s almost midnight now.”
“I’ll help you dry your hair then you can sleep,” Ye Xingzhou said as his fingers ran through Qi Xing’s wet hair and ignoring his words about going home.
Qi Xing didn’t even have the energy to roll his eyes and just turned his head away, clearly not wanting to engage with him.
Ye Xingzhou first stripped him of his clothes and changed him into pajamas.
Moments later, warm air brushed against his hair and the sound of the hairdryer buzzed in his ears. Qi Xing closed his eyes as he wanted to just sleep and not see anything but Ye Xingzhou’s fingers combing through his hair were too present to ignore. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and grabbed Ye Xingzhou’s hand then bit down hard on his wrist.
Ye Xingzhou only frowned slightly but his expression was unchanged. After Qi Xing bit him, he casually withdrew his hand and continued drying his hair.
Qi Xing pulled up the blanket to cover his face and did not want to look at him or let him see him.
“After he finished speaking, I thought about how long you plan to stay in the lounge as you were having fun eavesdropping on others.”
Suddenly, Ye Xingzhou’s voice came from above, mixed with the sound of the hairdryer and through the layer of the blanket, it felt somewhat unreal.
Qi Xing almost thought he was hallucinating. It takes a long time for him to peek out from under the blanket and suspiciously look at him while gruffly asking, “What did you just say?”
Ye Xingzhou looked at him and saw that Qi Xing's hair was almost dry, so he turned off the hairdryer then unplugged it and casually tossed it on the floor: “Your last question about asking me on what I was thinking at that time.”
Qi Xing didn’t believe it: “Is that it?”
Ye Xingzhou looked at him: “What else?”
Qi Xing was a bit stumped.
The other person was pouring out their heart and explaining a huge misunderstanding from years ago and he was thinking about such trivial matters?
“Your first love was almost heartbroken, didn’t you feel touched at all?”
“Not a first love because we never dated.” Ye Xingzhou corrected him calmly.
Qi Xing: “You’re full of crap. What you did with him doesn’t count as dating? Who are you trying to fool?”
“What I did with him is also the one that I’ve almost done with you too,” Ye Xingzhou reminded him again, “Are you saying we dated?”
Qi Xing immediately fell silent. How was he supposed to answer that?
“...Almost but it doesn’t mean entirely.” Qi Xing pulled the blanket up again to cover his face, “Get lost and stop using me as a shield.”
Ye Xingzhou pulled down his blanket then frown: “Are you trying to suffocate yourself?”
Qi Xing glared at him: “Don’t change the subject. I see you were quite invested in him back then, otherwise, why would you run all over the city to buy him a cake? Huaicheng City is so big, so it should take a whole day. If you weren’t invested, then how could you do that?”
Ye Xingzhou leaned back against the headboard as his fingers ran through Qi Xing’s hair and casually said: “The cake was bought but running all over the city was a lie. That day, I went back to the orphanage to handle some matters but I didn't want my family to know, so I used that as an excuse. Ye Wanqing and the others deliberately spread it around and he misunderstood when he heard it.”
Qi Xing: “What about watching the sunrise?”
Ye Xingzhou: “Photography. The school has art and physical education credit requirements. To make up for the credits I owed from transferring schools, I went to shoot the sunrise. He said he wanted to see it too, so I took him along.”
Qi Xing: “But he clearly said you two had agreed on watching it next time!”
Ye Xingzhou: “He said he could ask me to go, how could I refuse?”
Qi Xing: “What about helping him fight?”
Ye Xingzhou: “I was there when those people were causing trouble for him. Am I supposed to just leave him alone?”
Qi Xing: “Staying up all night to take care of him?”
Ye Xingzhou: “It was a summer camp at school. I was in the same group as him. And we’re both classmates and friends so what’s wrong with me taking care of him?”
Qi Xing was gradually left speechless by his responses and just snorted: “...He talks as if he’s deeply in love with you and unable to forget you for over a decade. Don't tell me you never had any feelings for him? No one would believe that.”
Ye Xingzhou: “So what if I did?”
Qi Xing: “Then why didn’t you two date back then?”
Ye Xingzhou: “Why should high school students date early?”
Qi Xing: “Do you think I’m an idiot?”
Ye Xingzhou changed his tune: “Didn’t have the chance.”
Qi Xing blinked and realized that this was likely the truth. It wasn’t that they didn’t date, it's just that they didn’t have the chance before being interrupted.
The words he spoke unconsciously turned sour again: “Then now that you know it was a misunderstanding, why don’t you reconcile with him?”
Ye Xingzhou’s gaze fell on him and stopped.
Qi Xing felt a bit uneasy under his stare and inexplicably recalled the way this bastard had looked at him in the water: “I say you…”
“Why reconcile with him? He’s just a stranger that I haven’t seen or contacted in over a decade. I’ve long lost interest in him.” Ye Xingzhou’s tone was indifferent, not even bothering to mention Lin Zhinian’s name.
Yes, he had cared back then but things that he decided to discard were no longer worth a second glance and people were the same.
Moreover, it had never been that pure. Lin Zhinian had said that Ye Chonglin had contacted him and Ye Xingzhou wasn’t surprised. At that time, he had intended to test that man’s bottom line, which was why his relationship with Lin Zhinian became known to the Ye family. If he hadn’t clearly understood Ye Chonglin’s character then he wouldn’t have been able to survive in the Ye family for over a decade.
But for him, once someone was categorized as unimportant, their remaining value could only be calculated in terms of benefits.
Lin Zhinian and the Lin family had come to him willingly. He used Lin Zhinian to set a trap for Lin Hongfei because he wanted to swallow the Lin family’s company. For him, it was just a routine matter and done without any psychological burden.
The only time he made an exception to Lin Zhinian’s request was the first time he came out of Qingping Garden when Lin Zhinian had invited him to dinner alone.
At that time, even though he looked at Lin Zhinian’s face, it was another face that he actually saw. Face with arrogant and radiant was what suddenly floated into his mind. That was when he realized he had feelings for Qi Xing. He thought it was just an illusion from not being close to anyone for too long, so he casually accepted Lin Zhinian’s invitation.
Then he discovered that not all attractions were the same. Some were tasteless while others were unforgettable.
Qi Xing: “...You cold hearted man.”
“Do you think there are many people in this world who can wait for another person for over a decade without moving? That’s a plot from those melodramatic dramas you mentioned,” Ye Xingzhou chuckled lightly, “In the future, don’t watch that kind of stuff with your mom.”
Qi Xing: “…”
Bastard.
He threw off the blanket and sat up then pounced on Ye Xingzhou to scratch him.
Ye Xingzhou held his waist down: “Don’t move.”
Qi Xing wished he could bite him again.
Ye Xingzhou leaned back against the headboard while looking at the person who had fallen into his arms. His gaze was slowly roaming over Qi Xing’s still flushed face: “You care so much about my past with him, are you jealous?”
Qi Xing replied unhappily: “I’m jealous but so what? I’m jealous! What’s wrong with being jealous? I can be jealous even if I raise a dog that’s thinking about someone else’s bone! Didn’t you say casual hookups are dirty? Who knows if you and he were even clear about things? You dirty man—”
As he said the last sentence, his voice faltered and take a sharp breath. Ye Xingzhou looked at him with a heavy gaze as his hand pressed on the most sensitive spot at his waist, clearly on purpose.
Qi Xing gritted his teeth: “Take your hand away and don’t touch me, you bastard.”
Ye Xingzhou: “Why are you jealous?”
Qi Xing’s expression froze and just realized what he had just blurted out. He felt both angry and embarrassed: “How can you say that as if you didn’t get jealous? You broke someone’s hand and then slapped my butt because of that, you were jealous, were you? You bastard!”
Ye Xingzhou: “Mm.”
Qi Xing: “Mm what?”
“I was jealous.” Ye Xingzhou openly admitted.
Qi Xing was instantly speechless. Ye Xingzhou could clearly see his face gradually flushing, even redder than before as his eyes revealed that he was surprised followed by discomfort.
The little wildcat that had been clawing suddenly reverted to its original form.
Qi Xing’s gaze flickered a couple of times before sliding off Ye Xingzhou then lying down and wrapping himself back in the blanket and even covering half his head then turned away: “I’m going to sleep, so don’t disturb me.”
As for going home, he didn’t mention it again.
Ye Xingzhou leaned over and asked softly in his ear: “Going to sleep now?”
Qi Xing shrank down a bit more: “Don’t disturb me as I don’t want to do anything except of sleeping because my head really hurts.”
Ye Xingzhou’s fingers touched his temples and slowly massaged them. Qi Xing felt a bit more comfortable and even enjoyed it as he squinted his eyes.
“Drink less in the future,” Ye Xingzhou reminded him, “And don’t go to those messy places and playing with those messy people.”
“You don’t have to worry about that.” Qi Xing shot back without thinking.
Ye Xingzhou increased the pressure of his fingers slightly then released them before Qi Xing could frown and temporarily suppress his urge to settle the score with him.
After that, neither of them spoke again.
Ye Xingzhou continued to massage Qi Xing’s temples and Qi Xing, feeling comfortable, stopped moving and finally became docile.
The slight ambiguity from earlier dissipated into nothingness.
Just as Qi Xing was about to fall asleep, he heard his phone ring. Drowsily, he reached out to grab it but Ye Xingzhou got out of bed and helped him pull it from his pocket: “It’s your mom’s call.”
Qi Xing instantly woke up then opened his eyes and sat up. He snatched the phone from Ye Xingzhou before the latter could answer.
“I’m not coming home tonight..yeah. I’m staying at Yang Kaiming’s place for the night…anyway, tomorrow is Saturday.”
“No…where do you think I'm going?...Of course not, how could that be?”
“Got it…I’ll be back tomorrow…”
After acting like a good child and responding a few times, Qi Xing finally hung up. He let out a sigh of relief as he looked at Ye Xingzhou with a face full of grievances.
He felt like his mom was even suspecting that his outside man was that Yang Kaiming kid, it was ridiculous.
Then he suddenly thought of something and called Yang Kaiming.
That group was still partying at the nightclub. Qi Xing opened with, “You tell those people to keep their mouths shut. If my dad hears about me and Ye Xingzhou, I’ll chop you all up and feed you to the dogs.”
Laughter erupted on the other end as Yang Kaiming was probably on speakerphone and a rich kid chimed in: “Don’t worry, Young Master Qi and relax. Just take good care of your daddy and we promise not to spill the beans. We won’t let your parents know.”
A chorus of laughter followed.
Qi Xing immediately hung up and threw his phone away.
He shot a fierce glare at Ye Xingzhou, the culprit, then flopped back onto the bed before angrily pulling up the blanket and pretending to be dead.
He really didn’t want to hang out with those people anymore because he had no face when he saw them again.
Ye Xingzhou lay down and wrapped his arms around him from behind, his voice close: “Are you that afraid of your parents knowing about us?”
Qi Xing shrank a little.
Ye Xingzhou was too close with his lips brushing against the back of his neck and feeling a bit ticklish.
He elbowed back at him: “Don’t bother me. My dad thinks you’re a black-hearted bad seed. It’s fine to do business but not as in-laws. If you don’t want to be skinned by him then just behave and we’ll talk about it later.”
Ye Xingzhou didn’t seem surprised at all by his words, nor did he remind him that the term “in-laws” was completely inappropriate for their current relationship and just chuckled softly: “Then sleep.”
After turning off the lights, before Qi Xing’s breathing completely steadied, he finally mumbled drowsily, “My birthday is May 8th.”
Ye Xingzhou gently patted his back: “I know, so sleep now.”