CH 99

Chapter 99: Extra – Only You

As the special assistant to the president of the Xi Group, Gou Jia had always thought that he was very calm. Unfortunately, this perception was overturned when he went to the cinema with Tang Lin to watch the horror suspense movie called “Dream Corridor”.

Who told him that Flower Country’s horror movies were just alternative comedies? Come forward and see if he won’t kill them.

“Come on, didn’t you say that as a good assistant, you should know his preferences? It’s just a suspense movie, what’s the big deal?” Tang Lin threw him a bottled drink with disgust and turned to open the car door. She lifted her chin and said, “Get in, I’ll take you back.”

Gou Jia entered Tang Lin’s car and drank several sips of his drink. He suppressed the feeling of fear in his heart before saying, “Qiao Shao’s role is really scary. The way he looked at people behind their backs, I felt a chill run down my spine.” At that time, he was sitting in his seat, and watching the pair of eyes on the big screen, he thought that the other person’s gaze was looking back at him through the screen. He was so scared that he didn’t even dare to breathe.

It turned out that this was real acting skill. He finally understood why Qiao Shao was so popular. After the release of “Dream Corridor”, it would be hailed by fans as a milestone for domestic horror movies.

“Do you think the Golden Leaf Film Emperor award can be bought with money?” Tang Lin laughed lightly. “It’s a pity you didn’t notice what you should have noticed. The role played by Qiao Shao included several flashback scenes. The man who appeared in those scenes, didn’t you recognize who he was?”

Gou Jia was at a loss. All his attention was caught up in the maze of the plot, so how could he notice who the actors were?

Seeing that he didn’t recognize him, Tang Lin hooked up her red lips. Looking at the bright lights on the road ahead, she gripped the steering wheel tightly in her hands.

Some couples in the world were obviously low-key, but they would always spare no effort to abuse single dogs.

A few days later, when the media broke the news that “Dream Corridor” had a cameo appearance by the president of the Xi Group, Gou Jia realized why Tang Lin had asked that question a few nights ago.

When he saw the naive and ignorant netizens on the Internet praising their brotherly love under Gongxi Qiao and Xi Qing’s Weibo account, Gou Jia suddenly felt a sense of loneliness, like ‘everyone is drunk and I alone am sober’.

How is that brotherly love? It’s obviously love that’s enough to blind all single dogs!

“Dream Corridor” was a huge success. Gongxi Qiao, the lead actor and investor, made a lot of money, but sadly, he was abroad shooting “Golden Manor 3” and didn’t have time to come back and celebrate with everyone, so he sent a big red packet to everyone in the crew.

The style of foreign films was different from that of domestic ones. Since the role played by Gongxi Qiao was quite serious and significant in this film, it wasn’t easy to shoot.

It was already late November when he returned to the country after filming “Golden Manor 3”, and the Imperial Capital had just experienced a snowstorm. Fortunately, his trip back to the country wasn’t disclosed, so he was spared the hounding of reporters and fans.

When he got home, Xi Qing was waiting for him and had prepared a nice dinner for him.

It had been a while since they’d seen each other, and they were both very enthusiastic. After eating, they couldn’t resist some vigorous exercise.

Xi Qing hugged Gongxi Qiao and said with satisfaction in his tone, “Foreign meals aren’t very good. I feel like you’ve lost weight.” Various dietary supplement recipes were already circulating automatically in his head for him to pick from.

“Hmm.” Gongxi Qiao’s head rubbed against his neck. “One of my high school friends is back from abroad and we’re having a get-together tomorrow night, so remember to pick me up then.”

A high school friend?

Xi Qing inexplicably thought of the letter sandwiched in Gongxi Qiao’s study notebook, and patted Gongxi Qiao’s bare back with his hand. “Okay, I’ll definitely pick you up early tomorrow.”

In the private room of an upscale restaurant, three young people sat together. Although they were somewhat unfamiliar with each other, the atmosphere wasn’t awkward because of their brotherhood in the past.

“I don’t know if Xiao Qiao has time to come over.” Min Sheng had been abroad all these years and was already a bit out of touch with some things in the country. “When I chatted with him online a few days ago, he was still filming in a movie overseas.” Speaking of this, he deliberately gave Xǔ Su an extra look. “Two days ago you said you didn’t have time to come to the get-together and I was a little disappointed. Fortunately, boy, you’re loyal enough to give up money for friendship.”

“He runs his own company now. How could he not be busy?” Another friend said, half enviously and half teasingly, “But among us four good brothers, Xiao Qiao has the most beautiful life. Not only is he the youngest of the young calligraphers, but he’s also the most famous superstar at home and abroad, a proper winner in life.”

Hearing these words, Xǔ Su’s face showed a slightly unnatural expression. He turned his head and glanced toward the door. “You guys specially came to meet up. I had to find a way to come even if I’m busy, otherwise what kind of brother would I be?”

As he was talking, Min Sheng’s cell phone suddenly rang. He took it out and glanced at it, stood up and said, “Xiao Qiao’s here, I’ll go meet him at the door.”

Among the four, he and Gongxi Qiao had the best relationship. Although he later studied abroad and Gongxi Qiao entered the domestic Imperial Capital University, the two had never broken contact. A while ago when Gongxi Qiao went abroad to shoot a movie, the two even met up.

“Wait for me, I’ll go too.” Another friend followed him out with his jacket. Xǔ Su, who was sitting in the corner, hesitated for a moment, but got up and followed them.

When he reached the door, he saw a black Bentley pull up to the door. A doorman was about to go up to open the door, but was stopped by the bodyguard who got down from the back seat.

The bodyguard bent over and opened the door, and he saw a young man wearing a thick coat, a camel-colored scarf, and a hat walking down from the door. Although the young man’s face was mostly covered by the hat and scarf, he could still be noticed at a glance.

Xǔ Su’s heart trembled slightly. He knew that this young man must be Gongxi Qiao.

Seeing his friends standing at the door waiting, Gongxi Qiao quickly stepped forward and hooked Min Sheng and another friend’s neck with his hands. “Long time no see, you two are getting more and more handsome.”

“Not as good as you. You’ve become the national male god.” Min Sheng smiled and still had his neck hooked, joking with Gongxi Qiao about each other.

When entering the door, Gongxi Qiao saw Xǔ Su standing a few steps away. However, after the two of them looked at each other, they had nothing to say.

The four of them returned to the private room and began to feast as soon as the waiter served the food.

“We haven’t been together for years. Xǔ Su loved to follow behind Xiao Qiao back then. Why are you so unfamiliar now?” The one who opened his mouth was another friend.

Min Sheng naturally also saw that Xǔ Su and Gongxi Qiao didn’t interact with each other almost the whole time, but he didn’t say anything because he was concerned about keeping up appearances. Now that his friend had said it all, he couldn’t play dumb, so he said, “Xǔ Su came back to the country last year, right?”

“Yes.” Xǔ Su glanced at Gongxi Qiao, who was burying his head in his soup and didn’t respond to his glance. Seeing this, he had to withdraw his eyes. He didn’t know whether his heart was feeling lost or regretful, or relieved. “Xiao Qiao is usually busy with work, and I’m in the start-up period, so we haven’t had time to meet in the past year.”

Another friend noticed that something was amiss. They had good feelings back then, and Xǔ Su had been back in the country for a year, so even if they were busy, they should’ve had time to meet. Even when he was developing abroad, he would usually have time to eat and drink with Gongxi Qiao.

Neither of them were fools. Seeing Xǔ Su’s attitude and Gongxi Qiao’s aloof face, they knew that something must have happened between them, so they changed the subject after a few words.

After a good meal, although Gongxi Qiao didn’t have any favorable feelings towards Xǔ Su, it didn’t affect his good mood from meeting with his two friends from out of town. Unfortunately, this good mood was ruined by Xǔ Su when he went to wash his hands in the bathroom.

He didn’t know what was wrong with Xǔ Su. He had to come to the bathroom to have a talk? This wasn’t a TV drama.

“Xiao Qiao.” Xǔ Su looked at Gongxi Qiao’s expressionless face reflected in the mirror, and the cowering and cowardly look in his own eyes, and averted his eyes woefully. “I …… am sorry.”

“You don’t have anything to be sorry about.” Gongxi Qiao drew a hand towel to gently wipe his hands, turned his head to look at Xǔ Su, and sighed softly. “The biggest thing that time does is make people change. I don’t know why you’re saying sorry to me, and I don’t want to know.”

The corners of Xǔ Su’s lips trembled slightly. He couldn’t say a word, but inexplicably felt his face burning.

“I thought you wouldn’t come today,” Gongxi Qiao threw the used paper towel into the trash, “and I was a little surprised to see you.”

“In your heart, am I that insensitive? Or maybe …… if you knew I was coming, you wouldn’t have come?” Xǔ Su looked at Gongxi Qiao, his face full of hurt.

“How is that possible? The two of them are my good brothers. Whether you came or not, I would come to see them. You’re thinking too much.” Gongxi Qiao looked at Xǔ Su with a calm expression. “Someone is coming to pick me up. I’ll go talk to Orange Juice and the others.”

“You’re always like this. This cold, condescending look that sees through everything!” Xǔ Su suddenly raised his voice, “When I was in high school, I was always going around in front of you. Did you look at me more than once?”

Gongxi Qiao was silent for a moment. “Orange Juice and the others were hanging around in front of me every day, and I wouldn’t give them more than a few glances.”

“That’s not the same!”

“Then tell me, how are you different from them?” Gongxi Qiao raised his eyebrow and looked at Xǔ Su’s reluctant expression. He narrowed his eyes and smiled.

Outside the washroom, Min Sheng and another friend heard the two arguing inside and were a little hesitant to go in and try to advise them.

In the end, the two looked at each other, and Min Sheng still lifted his foot to step forward.

“Because I liked you! I liked you for two whole years!”

Uh ……

Min Sheng looked at his foot awkwardly and thought to himself, damn foot, what are you stepping out for?! Showing off how clean your shoe is?

“You liking me is your business. I have no obligation to return your feelings. What’s more……” Gongxi Qiao sneered, “your so-called ‘like’, in my eyes, is nothing special. This ‘like’ is just you feeling moved on your own, and I’m only an unknowing party to these feelings.”

Why should it be his fault if someone else liked him and he didn’t respond to his feelings? Xǔ Su never confessed to him, and he never played with Xǔ Su’s feelings, so was he to blame?

“Not to mention that I didn’t even know about your previous thoughts, but even if I did, I don’t owe you anything.” Gongxi Qiao lifted his chin. “Don’t use your ‘like’ as a tool to emotionally blackmail others and tarnish the word ‘like’.”

“Xiao Qiao.” A low male voice came from outside the bathroom door.

Min Sheng and Xǔ Su turned around in unison and saw an extremely handsome man standing at the door. Even standing at the door, they had the impression that he was standing in a lofty office.

Min Sheng narrowed his eyes. Was this……the head of the Xi clan?

Xǔ Su didn’t expect his conversation with Gongxi Qiao to be overheard by others. He was both embarrassed and awkward. He also didn’t have the mind to go up to Xi Qing to please him, but just kept his head down and hoped Xi Qing wouldn’t recognize him.

“You’re here?” Gongxi Qiao smiled at Xi Qing. He walked quickly to Xi Qing’s side and then introduced his two good brothers to Xi Qing.

When Min Sheng saw that Gongxi Qiao and Xi Qing were indeed as close as rumored, there was something indescribably strange in his heart.

“It’s a little late. He has to attend the recording of a show tomorrow, so I’ll send him home first,” Xi Qing said politely to the two of them. “Next time, Xiao Qiao and I will be the host, so please grace us with your presence.”

“Sure, sure.” Min Sheng smiled and watched the two leave. He turned his head to look at his friend and said with a puzzled look, “Xiao Qiao has a car. Why does he need Master Xi to pick him up?”

His good friend said with a calm face, “Don’t you know that the two of them are the best buddies who moved the country?”

Min Sheng: ……

Why did he feel like this wasn’t the vibe of best buddies?

He looked at his good friend and then looked at Xǔ Su not far away and sighed.

Inside the car, Xi Qing was silent for a long time. Finally, he couldn’t help but say, “Was he the one who wrote that letter?”

“Who knows? I didn’t read it.” Gongxi Qiao smiled and wrapped his arms around Xi Qing. “Are you jealous?”

“Who would be jealous over someone unimportant?” Xi Qing snorted a little unnaturally. “You didn’t fancy him then, and you certainly won’t now.”

Well, that was a good way to put it, but it would have been more believable if his face hadn’t been so stiff.

“You seem to have come over nearly half an hour earlier than scheduled.”

“Yeah, the driver drove a little faster today.”

Driver: ……

You need to show evidence. I was a rainy and snowy day, how could his speed be faster?

Gongxi Qiao couldn’t help but laugh. After watching the man beside him look more and more unnatural, he gave him a soft kiss on the cheek and whispered, “Don’t worry. I only have eyes for you in this life. I won’t let go of you until I die.”

The tips of Xi Qing’s ears suddenly reddened, and he reached around Gongxi Qiao’s back and embraced him heavily.

The snow was getting heavier and the car was getting slower, while the people inside the car were as warm as spring.

Shortly after, it was said that Xǔ Su had moved his company’s headquarters to a different province, and from then on, he rarely appeared in the Imperial Capital.