CH 30

Yan Xiao’s heart thumped about his head, and it felt as if his eardrums swelled dramatically.

“Familiar.” He repeated these two words, staring at Ye Fei without blinking. He looked as though he wanted to read Ye Fei’s heart from his face. 

“Yeah,” Ye Fei stood up, reached out and poked at the small pendant, thoughtfully murmuring, “I seemed to have gotten it…”

“Let me tell you, the classmates around me either liked Kobe or Iverson but I alone liked Nowitzki. All my merchandise and jerseys were decorated with number 42.” He returned the key chain to Yan Xiao, chuckling as he recalled his high school days.

“I didn’t expect that after so many years, I found a common fan. Does President Yan watch the NBA?”

“I don’t watch it.” 

Ye Fei was initially confused, before giving an indifferent “Oh”. Yan Xiao must be one of those who previously watched basketball, but no longer did so. That was normal. In fact, he himself had stopped watching, defeated by the piles of homework and studying for the gaokao. Who had the free time to think of anything else?

And when he started college, he no longer partook in his old hobbies and threw out his old idols. After all, in with the new, out with the old. Ye Fei guessed that Yan Xiao had kept the keychain and it held no special meaning.

“You should change the keychain,” Ye Fei suggested, turning around and walking towards his door, “This one is so old.”

Not only was it old, but there was also a red spot on it, as if it had been dyed with red ink. He did not know how Yan Xiao, who had always liked neatness, endured it.

Ye Fei took out his key to open the door. Just after turning the key, Yan Xiao suddenly called his name beside him.

“Ye Fei, your…” Before Yan Xiao could finish speaking, his phone started to ring. Yan Xiao ignored it with ease and planned to finish his question, but Ye Fei tilted his head at it.

“Answer the phone.” After speaking, he opened the door and entered the house. Yan Xiao watched him open and close the door, lowered his eyes and pressed to connect.

“You better have something important.” Cheng Minghao, who was on the phone, felt a sudden chill. What had gotten Yan Xiao’s goat this time? 

“Just… about the cooperation with the postdoctoral mobile station of the university. We have not finished the discussion.” Cheng Minghao stammered out. During this period of time, Yan Xiao started going off punctually. As a result, the work he usually did had fallen on Cheng Minghao. In the past, it was Cheng Minghao who would have gotten off early to play.

Since it was about business, Yan Xiao was considerably calmer when speaking to Cheng Minghao. While opening the door, he sorted out the cooperation process for him. After finishing the call, Yan Xiao sat on his sofa, staring at the small pendant in a daze.

Like Ye Fei, his apartment was just over sixty square meters. The sofa was already small, tinier than the one within the previous villa. However, Yan Xiao did not feel uncomfortable. He had once slept on a mattress with more than twenty people, and what he had wanted the most was a bed of his own. In comparison, his living conditions now were not too bad.

The pendant was indeed very old. Even if he carefully preserved it, the white miniature jersey had begun to turn yellow, and it could be seen at a glance that it had been used for many years. 

Yan Xiao stretched out his fingers and gently grasped the cold keychain, as if he could grasp the connection with Ye Fei. It’s good that he can’t remember it, Yan Xiao said to himself.

That way, in Ye Fei’s eyes, he would always be the Yan Xiao who could meet any of his demands. Rather than the poor and embarrassed Yan Xiao who could not find fifty dollars on himself.

But Yan Xiao was too selfish and ungrateful, unwilling to leave affairrs as they were. No matter how shallow or troublesome, Yan Xiao still hoped to leave a trace in Ye Fei’s heart.

In the next few days, the playback volume of <<Please Sober Up>> continued to climb. The major forums of entertainment groups were filled with discussion posts about this drama. The power of fans reposting about the drama was terrifying. Within a week, <<Please Sober Up>> had became popular all over the Internet. 

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“Come here, Ye Fei, let’s take a photo.” Gu Ruijia pushed the door before dragging Ye Fei out.

“What photo?” Ye Fei hurriedly smoothed over his hair.

“A group photo of the founders to be used for updating the company’s official website,” Gu Ruijia took Ye Fei to the dressing room and motioned for the makeup artist to come over. “Our current official website homepage is too bad, the design department has designed a new version, It will be replaced in a few days.” 

“Are you looking down on me?” Ye Fei narrowed his eyes.

“What?” Gu Ruijia sat down beside him and called another makeup artist.

“Are you kidding,” Ye Fei sneered, “Look at this face of mine. Do I even need make-up for a photoshoot?”

Gu Ruijia turned to look at him. 

Ye Fei was wearing a light blue denim shirt that day, with three buttons left open. His chest was fair and firm, and though he was dressed in a formal fashion, he had a flirtatious air about him.

At this moment, he had lazily slouched in his chair, his two long legs stretched forward and crossed. The ends of his eyes were tilted upwards, his face ablaze with beauty. It was certain that he could kill everyone with his face even without makeup. Could he not see that even the makeup artists, long inured with the handsomeness of celebrities, were peeking at him?

However, Gu Ruijia was not the kind of person to tolerate Ye Fei’s behavior. “Why, is your face too thick to paint?”

“Jealousy makes people ugly,” Ye Fei closed his eyes and asked the makeup artist to cleanse his skin. “No wonder your first reaction to having a photoshoot was to hire a makeup artist.” 

“F*ck you—” Gu Ruijia slammed the table and was about to beat him up, but he was stopped by the makeup artist.

“President Gu,” the makeup artist was torn, “I’m doing skin care, please wait.” Gu Ruijia snorted, but restrained himself.

The company had its professional photographers, so taking a group photo was a piece of cake. But Gu Ruijia made plenty of small movements. For a while, he disliked his posture, and then felt that his expression was inappropriate. After struggling for more than half an hour, he was barely satisfied.

“Don’t drag me in when taking pictures in the future.” Ye Fei walked out of the studio with a blank expression. Gu Ruijia smiled in embarrassment, but could not say anything. It was not because he was being picky, but the great gulf in appearance between him and Ye Fei could not be alleviated by makeup. 

What else can he do? He just had to look for more angles.

“Why is it so hot?” Ye Fei frowned and fanned the air with his hand.

“No,” Gu Ruijia stood at the air vent and felt it, “The air conditioner is running normally.” He turned to Ye Fei, and just as he was about to tease Ye Fei for being delicate, he found that Ye Fei’s face was flushed red, even reaching beyond his jaw down into his neck.

“Wait a minute.” Gu Ruijia walked beside him, pulled down his collar and stared at his face carefully. 

“What,” Ye Fei raised his eyebrows, “Have you finally found out that your true love is me?”

“F*ck off!” Gu Ruijia cursed before he turned on the front camera of his phone, “Look for yourself, I think this red isn’t normal.”

Ye Fei furrowed his brow and peered at his image. The small red dots on his cheekbones were clearly reflected in the photo.

“It’s like an allergy,” Gu Ruijia put down the phone, frowning in thought, “You haven’t touched anything…” He suddenly widened his eyes. 

“Could it be those cosmetics? But I’m fine.”

“It’s possible,” Ye Fei immediately walked towards the elevator, “I’ll go to the hospital.” There was a third-tier hospital near their company. Gu Ruijia hurriedly sorted out their remaining urgent work before closely following him.

The final diagnosis turned out to be an allergy. As it was not serious, the doctor prescribed ointment and reported that it would be fine within a few days.

“It’s a pity, I can’t take a few pictures of you right now,” Gu Ruijia gleefully laughed, “Let’s see how deflated you get when I show this.” 

The small red spots on Ye Fei’s face had turned into red patches, mainly on the cheeks and forehead. It made him completely different from his usual handsome and clean-cut appearance.

Ye Fei smirked as if it were nothing, and magnanimously forgave the curious onlookers. “I think you didn’t learn Chinese well in elementary school. You don’t even know the phrase ‘the flaws in jade do not hide the true beauty’.”

Gu Ruijia: “…”

He mimicked a vomiting action and immediately pulled away from him. However, a joke was a joke, and unfortunately, Ye Fei was still his friend. Gu Ruijia reminded him, “Don’t forget to apply the medicine every six hours.” 

Ye Fei nodded and accepted his kindness.

In the evening, Ye Fei was applying ointment in front of the mirror. There was a knock on the door, and Yan Xiao’s voice came from outside.

“Ye Fei, it’s me.” Ye Fei’s fingers paused, and he subconsciously turned his back to the door.

“Is something wrong?” He could walk about in public without caring about his face, but Ye Fei did not want Yan Xiao to see him this way. 

Yan Xiao gave an “hm” and called out, “Open the door first.”

“Tell me on WeChat if you have something,” Ye Fei made his words vague, “I’m inconvenient right now.”

Yan Xiao was dumbfounded, and thought that the ‘inconvenience’ was Ye Fei taking a bath.

“It’s okay, I can wait.” Yan Xiao suggested. 

“What’s the matter?” Ye Fei walked to the door clutching the ointment, but chose not to open the door, “What’s wrong with speaking like this?”

Yan Xiao started to feel something was wrong with Ye Fei, thought about it, and then insisted, “No.”

Ye Fei hesitated for a while. “Then wait a moment.” He ran into the bedroom to get a mask and put it on, before wearing a hat, then turned around and opened the door. “Speak.”

Ye Fei stared at the door as if it was the most interesting thing in the world, and did not face Yan Xiao as he was talking. 

“Ye Fei,” Yan Xiao looked at him for a few seconds, pointed to his mask and asked, “What’s the matter with you?”

Ye Fei let Yan Xiao in, took in his slippers before following him in. “It’s an allergic reaction.”

“Let me see.” Yan Xiao immediately grabbed Ye Fei’s wrist with an earnest and solemn expression, as if something major had occurred.

“No,” Ye Fei avoided his grasp and refused, “I have already gone to the hospital for an examination. It’ll be okay soon.” 

“Ye Fei,” Yan Xiao stubbornly insisted, holding down his shoulder to prevent him from moving, “Let me see.”

Seeing that Ye Fei did not respond, he paused and added, “I’m worried, is that okay?” He was much stronger than Ye Fei, but he did not forcefully lift Ye Fei’s mask. Instead, he just held his wrist and asked for his approval in such a serious manner.

Ye Fei kept his silence.

“Okay.” He took off his mask, threw his hat on the sofa, and raised his face at Yan Xiao: “It’s rare to see such an ugly me, so let me give you a good show.” 

Yan Xiao was not provoked into an answer. He continued to stare at Ye Fei silently, his fingers twitching as if he wanted to touch those red and swollen places. But he was afraid of paining Ye Fei, and so he did not touch him.

“Is there any medicine?”

“I’m about to go apply it,” Ye Fei unscrewed the ointment in his hand again, sat on the sofa, raised his eyebrows and chuckled, “Aren’t you in a hurry? President Yan can go first.”

“Let me,” Yan Xiao took the ointment in his hand and squeezed a little on his fingertips, raised Ye Fei’s chin, and started to apply it slowly from his forehead. 

“With this strength is President Yan scratching an itch? Hurry up and apply it,” Ye Fei closed his eyes. “Are you slowing down on purpose, just to take a look at my ugly mug…”

Before he could say the next words, his red and swollen face was suddenly beheld by a pair of hands. Ye Fei glanced at Yan Xiao with an invisible question in his eyes.

“Ye Fei,” Yan Xiao questioned warily, “Can I kiss you?”

Before Ye Fei could answer, he lowered his head and gently kissed the right corner of Ye Fei’s lips. 

“It’s not ugly at all,” Yan Xiao said, and kissed the left corner as well, “It’s very pretty.”