CH 80

October 30, 2022kaychandra

Chapter 80: Lovely Flowers, Full Moon[1]

“Congratulations on the success of your film.” Xi Qing’s expression was particularly soft under the candlelight as he raised his wine glass and gently clinked it with Gongxi Qiao. “I was going to go out to eat with you, but I was afraid we wouldn’t be able to have a peaceful meal, so I had the chef make it at home.”

“Thank you. The red wine tastes good.” Gongxi Qiao asked with a smile, “It seems to be from your wine collection?”

“It’s all from my parents’ collection,” Xi Qing said with a smile. “You can go to the wine cellar sometime. If you like something, take it out and drink it. I don’t have much interest in them. Uncle seems to like drinking. Why don’t you send some to Uncle?”

“Forget it, my father prefers white wine.” Gongxi Qiao slowly shook his glass. “Red wine isn’t in his preferred category.”

Xi Qing smiled. He had seen many rich people who didn’t know many things, but still pretended to know a lot and made jokes of themselves. People like Gongxi Qiao’s parents, who lived their lives how they pleased, without making things difficult for themselves, living comfortably, weren’t very common.

No wonder such a family managed to raise a child like Gongxi Qiao. Living in such a family was a very lucky thing.

The two smiled at each other, both obviously aware of Gongxi Xiong’s hobbies, and then continued their pleasant meal.

Sometimes romance had nothing to do with tastefully chosen formalities, or where they went out to eat. When two people had a heart-to-heart connection and loved each other, that was the best kind of romance.

The two of them drank a few glasses of red wine after a pleasant meal. The so-called drunk on wine and drunk on passion. Pulling each other upstairs to take a shower, the slightly hot skin stimulating each other’s senses.

A good time, beautiful scenery, beautiful flowers and good company. In the night, in the fountain pool of Xi’s estate, two fish waved their tails freely in the water, splashing a little water, so happy.

In the early morning, Xi Qing was awakened by the sound of birdsong outside the window. He looked at the young man lying beside him and couldn’t help but curl his mouth and give him a gentle kiss on the corner of his forehead.

Gongxi Qiao opened his eyes in a daze, reached out and wrapped his arms around his neck, smiling. “Good morning.”

“Good morning.” Xi Qing laughed out loud and kissed him on the corner of his mouth.

“I haven’t brushed my teeth yet,” Gongxi Qiao laughed and pushed him, yawning.

“That’s okay, I don’t mind.” Xi Qing sat up, picked up the home phone at his bedside, and asked the servant to bring in clothes.

Gongxi Qiao rolled over in bed, got up and looked out the window. He raised his eyebrows and said, “It’s foggy?”

“It’s late autumn, it’s normal to be foggy.” Xi Qing casually picked up a shirt and put it on Gongxi Qiao before realizing that the white shirt was the one he was wearing last night.

Gongxi Qiao turned his head and was about to speak, but ended up seeing Xi Qing’s strong and sexy abs on his abdomen, and couldn’t help but reach out and touch them. “It seems you didn’t lie to me before.”

“Lie about what?”

“Doing sports or something.” Gongxi Qiao also had abs, but because his skin was fairer than Xi Qing’s, plus he didn’t get as much exercise, they didn’t look as firm. “It seems like when there’s nothing to do, I should also run with you and play tennis.”

“Well, if you take the time you spend playing online games and use it to play tennis, that would be about enough,” Xi Qing smiled. Hearing a knock on the door outside, he picked up the bathrobe on the floor and put it on, walked to the door and brought in two sets of clothes.

Gongxi Qiao changed clothes and noticed that the tips of Xi Qing’s ears were a little red. He smiled and said, “You’ve already eaten everything, but now you’re shy.”

Xi Qing coughed dryly and went forward to button Gongxi Qiao’s shirt for him, whispering in his ear, “Not shy, flushed with excitement.”

Gongxi Qiao pinched his face. When did this guy become so cheeky? Could it be that after last night, the whole person’s cheekiness evolved?

After eating breakfast, Xi Qing personally took Gongxi Qiao to the set, then said to Director Jiao, “Xiao Qiao has a slight cold today. If there’s a fight scene, don’t let him shoot it now.”

“Don’t worry, President Xi. The fight scenes are almost done. The rest are basically literary scenes, not too physically demanding.” Director Jiao smilingly sent away the concerned President Xi. Looking back at Gongxi Qiao, the young master was sitting in the corner chatting with Chen Yi. He had a rosy face, not at all like a man with a cold.

He touched his own rough and haggard old face. He looked more like he had a cold, right?

At the Xi Headquarters, Special Assistant Gou and Chief Secretary Tang Lin looked at their boss, with a face like a spring breeze and smiles almost spilling out of his eyes, and they were almost stunned. What was wrong with the boss today? He suddenly turned from ice to spring flowers, and his staff were a little uneasy ah.

Even when the planning department’s design proposal wasn’t done well, the boss just let them redo it without saying anything else. This was simply unscientific, okay?

Accustomed to the harsh and cold side of the BOSS, now that the BOSS suddenly softened, they were a little uncomfortable.

“Boss, the new president of Bai’s has contacted us for the third time, hoping to cooperate with us. Do you want to find a chance to meet?” Although his heart was puzzled, Special Assistant Gou didn’t dare to show extra emotions on his face, and instead reported the situation of the last two days.

Because the boss wasn’t in the company yesterday, he didn’t even see him at all.

“Help me reject it.” Xi Qing stopped signing and looked up at Special Assistant Gou. “Over the years, the Bai Group hasn’t had much cooperation with us. The Xi group already has established cooperation partners, so if the Bai group joins, it will affect our cooperation with others.”

“But the terms of cooperation proposed by the Bai Group are very favorable.” Special Assistant Gou hesitated for a moment, “Some projects offer prices that are lower than many others.”

“It’s just a temporary offer.” Xi Qing lowered his eyelids and his tone was a little muted, “That Bai Qi isn’t a good person to work with.”

Seeing that the boss said so, Special Assistant Gou stopped mentioning this matter and began to report on other matters. Tang Lin took notes on the side and then made a good schedule so that Xi Qing could arrange his work reasonably.

After everything was done, Special Assistant Gou and Tang Lin exited the president’s office. Tang Lin looked at Special Assistant Gou with some helplessness and said, “What did you mention the Bai Group to the boss for?” From her point of view, the Xi Group and the Bai Group simply didn’t have much possibility of cooperation. Leaving aside the personal grudges between the two families over the years, from the point of view of the two families’ principles, it could be said that they were incompatible.

“You think I want to mention it?” Special Assistant Gou sighed, “The head of the dignified Bai family personally approached the door yesterday. Whether the boss was willing or not, I, as an assistant, had to tell the boss the full story.”

“That’s true.” Tang Lin looked back at the president’s room and lowered her voice, “Didn’t you say some time ago that the boss fell in love? From what I can see, he looks like this today, so something good must have happened.”

Special Assistant Gou looked pensive. “It does look like such a thing, but the key is, who has such a great ability to charm the boss into this state?”

As a special assistant, Special Assistant Gou would be exposed to many things in Xi Qing’s life, but this time even he didn’t know which woman the boss had gotten close to. There was absolutely no hint of it ah.

It was reasonable to say that if the boss really liked a woman, both he and Tang Lin should know something about the inside story, but……

He didn’t know whether he, the assistant, and Tang Lin, the secretary, had failed too much, or whether the boss had covered up too well.

“Usually when the boss has free time, he likes to go out with Qiao Shao. How can he have time to go out with a woman?” Tang Lin also felt that she had failed a bit as a secretary. “I heard that Qiao Shao sometimes lives in the boss’s house. The boss can’t just leave his friend at home and have fun with a woman.”

“Of course not. The boss and Qiao Shao have such a good relationship, he couldn’t do……” Special Assistant Gou paused abruptly. Looking at Tang Lin’s frightened eyes, he couldn’t help but swallow. “Uh, I seem to have a few documents that I forgot to give to the boss, I’ll go to the office to get them.”

“Me too……” Tang Lin stroked the bangs on her forehead, collected the expression on her face, and said to Special Assistant Gou, “Keep your mouth shut.”

With Xi Qing and Gongxi Qiao’s status and fame, if this matter were to get out, it would really turn the sky upside down and change the clouds.

They were just an ignorant secretary and assistant who didn’t know anything.

After Bai Qi received the call that the Xi Group refused, his face was very ugly. He picked up his suit jacket and went out the door of the headquarters. He took a car to the Imperial Capital Studios, which was full of antique buildings. His car couldn’t be driven to the innermost part, so his bodyguard had to find a place to stop the car.

“Lin Kang is filming here?” Bai Qi looked around. From time to time, there were staff members or extras passing by, looking busy and unorganized.

The bodyguard nodded. “Yes, boss.”

Bai Qi frowned. In his opinion, this film and television studio didn’t look very grand. The high-rise buildings on the outside walls and the ancient appearance inside the walls were unspeakably strange.

What he didn’t expect was that after walking inside, he hadn’t found Lin Kang, but instead met Gongxi Qiao first.

A not-so-long street with extras dressed as pedestrians and vendors highlighted Gongxi Qiao with a dazzling immortal aura.

Bai Qi stopped and pushed up his glasses on the bridge of his nose and smiled meaningfully. “He does look really good.”

The bodyguard beside him saw that his boss didn’t look right, so he moved his eyes away and pretended not to see.

“A showboy is a showboy, no matter how noble he acts, the vulgarity in his bones cannot be concealed.” Bai Qi lowered his eyelids and turned to his bodyguard. “Call Lin Kang to come over, I’ll wait for him here.”

When Lin Kang received the call, his face was very ugly. However, he didn’t dare to refuse Bai Qi’s request, so he had to ask Liu Bai for leave and left the set in a hurry without even taking off his makeup.

Many people in the crew knew that Lin Kang was being kept by Bai Qi, and when they saw him leaving suddenly and hurriedly, they showed a look of understanding. It seemed that the golden master had come.

Lin Kang found Bai Qi outside the “Cultivation” shooting site. Seeing that he didn’t look too happy, he was a little scared. Bai Qi looked like a gentle and harmless person, but he had a lot of means to torment people in private. When he was in a bad mood, it was especially scary, so before Bai Qi even said anything he was scared. 

“What’s wrong?” Bai Qi smiled gently at Lin Kang, then lifted his chin in the direction where Gongxi Qiao was filming. “Do you think that if I threaten him with the Gongxi family’s business, he will submit?”

Lin Kang’s heart thumped and his eyes widened as he looked at Bai Qi. What did he want to do?

“What are you looking at me like that for?” Bai Qi smiled softly. “Do you think that the Bai family can’t clean up a mere Gongxi family?”

“No,” Lin Kang spoke with difficulty, “Qiao Shao……”

“Eh?!”

“Gongxi Qiao is very nice, you shouldn’t……”

Bai Qi pinched Lin Kang’s chin with a firm hand and sneered. “You can hardly protect yourself, and still want to plead for others. Your parents are still guests in my hunting grounds[2]. You’re so disobedient. How could I rest assured if I left them in your hands?”

Lin Kang was overwhelmed by his words and tried to conceal the hatred in his heart as he said with a shudder, “No, I’m just worried that you’ll have a falling out with the Xi family master because of him.”

“But I can never be happy with him around.” Bai Qi withdrew the hand that was cupping his chin. “Don’t you think that’s the truth?”

Lin Kang looked at Bai Qi who had a gentle smile, but whose eyes were distorted with jealousy. He turned his head to look at Gongxi Qiao, who happened to have finished a scene and was smiling and talking with Chen Yi, with a smile as bright as a sun.

He bit the corner of his lip. He didn’t say yes, nor did he nod his head.

He didn’t have the guts to resist, or ability to say no, but he couldn’t stand by and watch others fall into the quagmire.

Seeing him in this lifeless state, Bai Qi got bored and said, “All right, you go.” This person’s eyebrows obviously resembled that person, but he didn’t have even half of that person’s aura, so he was really unlikable.

Lin Kang lowered his head, turned around and left. When he turned the corner, he couldn’t help but turn around again and look in the direction where Gongxi Qiao was standing. When he saw Gongxi Qiao grabbing snacks with his friends, he couldn’t help but hook up the corners of his mouth. The bottom of his eyes, which were like stagnant water, had a little more energy.

He gritted his teeth and withdrew his gaze. The palm of his tightly clenched hand was soaked with blood, but he didn’t feel any pain.

When he returned to the set, he heard someone talking about him behind his back about him being kept. He walked into the dressing room with a pale face, looked at himself in the mirror and reached out to slowly touch the tip of his brow.

“Heh,” he dropped his hand, laughing so hard that tears almost flowed out of his eyes, not caring about the surprised looks of the make-up artists in the make-up room. He said hoarsely, “Remove my make-up.”

“But……” the make-up artist wanted to say that there was still a scene in the afternoon, but seeing that Lin Kang didn’t look right, she just took off his make-up as she was told.

During the makeup removal, she saw that Lin Kang looked calm and had some doubts in her mind. She must have been mistaken just now. Maybe Lin Kang wanted to take off his makeup just because the Bai family master wanted to take him to do something.

After removing his makeup, Lin Kang drove his car alone and left the film studio and came to a messy street. He spent several hundred yuan to buy an anonymous cell phone card and a cell phone. After he sent several text messages, he broke the phone into several pieces and threw them into the sewers in different areas.

He sat back in the car and heard the traffic radio channel actually playing a song he had sung, so he leaned back in his seat and listened quietly.

“Lin Kang is a very good singer. His voice is always easy to resonate with. His voice is like a fresh breeze that can blow into one’s heart……”

“Fresh breeze. Snort,” Lin Kang turned off the radio, smiled to himself, and drove his car towards Bai Qi’s villa.

“Xiao Qiao, what’s wrong?” Chen Ke noticed that Gongxi Qiao’s face was a bit off after taking out his phone and looking at it.

[Beware of Bai Qi, he is ready to threaten you with your parents’ business. Tell the Xi family master about this, he must have a way to help you. Be sure to tell Xi family master, I’m not lying to you, you have to be careful!]

Gongxi Qiao was a little confused. Very few people knew his private cell phone number. Besides his close friends, agent and assistant, only Senhe’s boss Xiang Hong knew it. How could the person who sent him the text message know his private number and also know about Bai Qi trying to deal with him?

It would be better to trust it than not, so Gongxi Qiao still called Xi Qing about it.

As for the mindset that, as a man, you shouldn’t let people help you, Gongxi Qiao didn’t have that obstinate insistence at all.

They specialized in different industries. Xi Qing was a business wizard, better at business warfare than he was. Besides, Xi Qing was his boyfriend, so if he didn’t let him help, how could he ask someone else to help?

After talking to Xi Qing on the phone, Gongxi Qiao received another text message from this unfamiliar number.

[There are some things that if you don’t say them, you won’t have a chance to say them. There are also some words that one must be qualified to say.]

[I wish you happiness.]

Gongxi Qiao frowned and felt that something was faintly amiss. He could be sure that the owner of this strange number must know him.

“Qiao Shao, it’s time for your scene!”

“Coming!”

Gongxi Qiao locked his phone screen and handed it to Xiao Yao and smiled at Chen Ke, “It’s nothing.”

T/N: 

1. Lovely flowers, full moon: 花好月圆 this idiom is said as a congratulations to newlyweds, meaning everything is lovely and perfect

2. Hunting grounds: Specific word is 别苑 Biéyuàn, a special park for the emperor to go on hunting excursions in ancient times