CH 22

When did Yan Xiao start to like him? What was so good about him?

Ye Fei was kept awake at night, and repeatedly recalled the bits and pieces of his two lifetimes with Yan Xiao, attempting to find hints of his love. The next morning, he arrived at Tianxi with dark circles under his eyes. 

“Yo, what did you do last night?” Gu Ruijia put his arms around his shoulder and winked, “There’s no need to be so sticky, I’ll see you later anyway.”

“Your mind is a fertile compost heap,” Ye Fei took a sip of his Americano, sobering up from the bitterness, “Go to work if you have nothing to do, and don’t appear in front of me.”

“Damn,” Gu Ruijia was so angry that he laughed, “You treat me like a beast.”

“Don’t think too highly of yourself,” Ye Fei refused to acknowledge him, “How can there be such a useless animal as you.” Gu Ruijia had never won in verbal combat, and turned to business. 

“What are you doing, have you forgotten? We need to go to Feixiao later.”

Ye Fei was stunned. He really forgot.

<<Please Sober Up>> had been filming for a month and a half. The production cycle of an online drama was short, and it would be completed in about half a month. Therefore, they made an appointment with Feixiao Video to meet today to talk about the publicity plan.

“Go ahead,” Ye Fei opened his mailbox, browsed the unread emails in order from top to bottom before attempting an evasion, “I have so many things to do today, I can’t take out the time.”

He had not figured out how to face Yan Xiao for the time being, and he was deliberately avoiding Yan Xiao.

“That’s fine,” Gu Ruijia pondered for a while, feeling that there was really no need to mobilize people like this. “I’ll leave after interviewing a candidate.”

Ye Fei gave a “hmm” and waved at him.

Gu Ruijia left Ye Fei’s office and immediately rushed to the conference room. Tianxi was currently in the stage of rapid development, and needed to hire talent during its growth period. They were interviewing for the chief financial officer position, and because of the importance of this position Gu Ruijia had to be the one supervising the process. 

However, the person who was being interviewed did not meet his standards, thus Gu Ruijia sent him off before going directly to Feixiao Technology.

Cheng Minghao took the person in charge of Feixiao Video to receive Gu Ruijia personally. As the two had similar personalities, with the same intention of improving their relationship, the atmosphere in the meeting room became much more cordial.

While waiting for the elevator, Cheng Minghao asked casually, “Why didn’t Brother Fei come?”

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[Cheng-Peter: Gu Ruijia said that Brother Fei is sick.]

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“President Yan, you—” 

“I’ll deal with it when I get back.” While calling the driver, he walked downstairs in a hurry.

The assistant had been by his side for four years. Except for the day when the boss received the certificate half a year ago, he had never seen such an emotional expression. Staring blankly at Yan Xiao’s back, it took a while for him to regain his senses.

Yan Xiao started calling Ye Fei as soon as he got in the car. Ye Fei’s voice came through the speaker, easing the anxiety in Yan Xiao’s heart.

“Ye Fei,” Yan Xiao questioned, “What’s wrong with you?” 

“What?” There was movement, before Ye Fei’s incredulous voice rattled over the connection.

Yan Xiao glanced at the background moving in the window before he motioned the driver to speed up. “Gu Ruijia said you are not feeling well.”

“No,” Ye Fei laughed with tears in his eyes, “He must have made a mistake, I’m fine.”

Yan Xiao whispered “I know”before questioning Ye Fei if he was in the company now. 

“I’m at the office.” Ye Fei paused. After a while, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“You’ve been very busy recently,” Yan Xiao spoke. It was a simple statement of fact, rather than an accusation. “I didn’t see you at home last night.”

Ye Fei gave an “oh” and then said, “There are a lot of things going on in the company and the filming crew, and I may be even busier in the future.”

Yan Xiao started to feel that the air in the car was a little stuffy. Fortunately, the thought of seeing Ye Fei for the first time in a while made him feel a lot better. The sound of a typing keyboard could be heard. As it was intermittent, Yan Xiao guessed that Ye Fei should be typing with one hand. 

Sure enough, Ye Fei apologized, “I’m sorry, there is something urgent to deal with.”

Although Yan Xiao wanted to talk to Ye Fei again, he wisely said goodbye and put away the phone after Ye Fei hung up.

In the office, Ye Fei, who had ended the call, deleted the garbled characters he had just typed in the document, and stared at the computer in a daze. He quickly figured out the cause and effect. It should be someone from Feixiao who asked him about his situation. Gu Ruijia could not tell the truth, so he made an excuse. Unexpectedly, Yan Xiao believed it.

This man had always been this straightforward. He must have thought that Ye Fei was truly ill. Ye Fei wanted to chuckle, and the corners of his lip twitched, but no mirth emerged. 

After an unknown amount of time, the intercom phone on the table suddenly rang, interrupting Ye Fei’s train of thought, and he picked it up.

“President Ye,” the secretary’s tone was a little strange. It was filled with panic and yet excitement. “President Yan is waiting for you outside, is it convenient for you now?” As if confirming the secretary’s words, the familiar Yan Xiao-style knocking sound came from the door.

Knock twice, pause for five seconds. When no one answered, the rhythm repeated itself. Why was Yan Xiao here? Ye Fei held up the phone and looked at the door in disbelief, his appearance farcical.

Perhaps because it was silent for a long time, Yan Xiao grew impatient and called his name. “Ye Fei.” 

Ye Fei let out a long sigh and reasserted his usual careless expression before walking over and opening the door. “Why is PresidentYan here?”

Yan Xiao did not speak. He simply surveyed Ye Fei, sweeping over his body inch by inch, as if to confirm whether there was anything wrong with him.

“I’m doing okay.” Ye Fei let him in. He closed the door, blocking the wandering eyes of the employees in the corridor outside.

Yan Xiao pointed at his eyes disapprovingly and asked him, “Are you not sleeping well?” 

“No,” Ye Fei handed Yan Xiao a bottle of water and said with a smile, “As an adult, it’s normal to stay up all night occasionally. I’m not sick or uncomfortable, that’s all Gu Ruijia’s excuse for me.”

“Do you know why?” Ye Fei asked him. Yan Xiao shook his head.

“I’m lazy, I don’t want to work,” Ye Fei leaned against the table as if all the bones in his body had liquefied. He knew that Yan Xiao hated procrastination and irresponsible behavior, so he casually replied, “Anyway, if I don’t do it, someone will.”

Yan Xiao could like any person in this world. As long as he did not like Ye Fei, it did not matter if he was male or female; ugly or beautiful; serious or flirtatious. 

Ye Fei suppressed the bitterness in his heart and wanted to say something else, but Yan Xiao piped up, “No need to make excuses.”

He looked at Ye Fei. “If you don’t like it, don’t do it; there is me.” His words were spoken in a calm and deep tone.

For a moment, Ye Fei felt that Yan Xiao seemed to have become a borderless net, wrapping and shrouding him. It was a net he was unable to escape or avoid, and even struggling was futile.

Since childhood, he had been a filial son and a loving brother. He had worked hard to make money to maintain the Ye family’s living standards, even being on call to clean up his brother’s messes. Yet, there was no one who had told him “there is me”, and he had never received that loving support. 

If he had told Yan Xiao the day he was diagnosed with ALS, instead of thinking that it had nothing to do with Yan Xiao, perhaps he could have died in a decent manner the last time. Ye Fei’s eyes started to sour, and he turned away to prevent Yan Xiao from seeing the expression on his face.

Yan Xiao might be a wooden person with low empathy, but he immediately noticed that Ye Fei was sad. So he walked over and asked Ye Fei, “Ye Fei, can I touch your hand?”

After a moment of silence, Ye Fei responded, “No.” His voice was a little dull, as if he was covered in a blanket.

But this time, Yan Xiao did not listen to him. He gently held Ye Fei’s hand and put his fingers in the palm of his hand. Ye Fei was very thin, and though his fingers were slender, they were nothing like that of a girl’s hand. Rather, Yan Xiao felt as if he were holding that of a boy, with distinctive edges that made Yan Xiao remember for a lifetime. 

“I said no.” Ye Fei repeated, but he did not try to break free.

“I won’t work today,” Yan Xiao turned a deaf ear to Ye Fei’s words, “I’ll take you home.”

Ye Fei could not remember how he had replied. Perhaps he did not even speak a word. Once he came back to his senses completely, he was already in his room, and Yan Xiao was still holding his hand.

As he completely returned to the real world, his wild emotions were firmly imprisoned in the bottom of his heart. Ye Fei raised his eyebrows and smiled, “President Yan, shouldn’t you let it go now?” 

Yan Xiao gave him a baleful look, but let go obediently.

Ye Fei said he was going to sleep for a while, leaving Yan Xiao with no reason to stay. After he had retreated, Ye Fei sat on the ground as if he had lost the strength to continue standing up. He sat there for a long time, until he started to lose the feeling in his legs. It was as if he was experiencing the initial stages of ALS once more, and this provoked him to call his secretary.

“Make an appointment for a neurological examination for me, the sooner the better.” Ye Fei knew that he was nothing but an empty face. No one ever liked him, even his father. So when he was reborn, he wanted nothing but to feast, to enjoy his last remaining years. To squander the freely-given years he was lucky to get. But occasionally, Ye Fei’s expectations would grow, and he wanted someone to love him, a person who was willing to leave a light in the room for him.

Yan Xiao had tempted him with a nice dream. He started to look towards a future with no definite end. 

He understood that there was no delaying death; but what if.