CH 2

Embarrassing things always got more embarrassing the more you recalled them. Xia Xingchi’s toes curled so much that he almost grabbed the floor with them. Let alone falling into the other party’s arms, it should be said that the entire night was really too ridiculous and crazy.

He had thought that the world was so big that, as cannon fodder, he would never meet the handsome and wealthy passer-by NPC again, but unexpectedly, he met the enemy on a narrow road.

Why the hell did his unlucky self always open the door for bad fortune? Bad luck had come home again.

“Why were you running?” Li Chengyuan just looked at Xia Xingchi expressionlessly.

The atmosphere froze for a moment. Xia Xingchi had no choice but to answer awkwardly: “I was exercising. Life lies in movement!”[1]

Saying this, he moved back a few steps, trying to maintain his distance from this intimidating beauty. At the same time, he faintly heard the voices of those pampered rich boys growing nearer: 

“Fuck! Did this kid take the wrong medicine today?!”

“Where did he go? I have to beat him up and let him know why the flowers are so red!”[2]

“It’s not enough, look at this bottle of wine. When I find him, I’ll pour the wine on his head first and then smash his head with the bottle! I’ll kill him!”

— Outrageous, the current rich second generation was really cruel. If they had a disagreement, they would crack open somebody’s head.

Xia Xingchi realized that his choice of hiding place was rather unfortunate, as those people happened to be coming to wash the red wine off their faces.

Of the thirty-six stratagems,[3] running away was the best policy. But now he would run into them if he went out, so he decided to follow the original plan and find a cubicle, lock the door, and hide.

As a result, just as he was about to do so, the gloomy and frightening beauty staggered a step with a paling face, cold sweat dripping from his forehead.

“Ah? What’s wrong with you!” Xia Xingchi was taken aback. Seeing that he had nearly passed out, he quickly reached out to assist him. Could it be because he had bumped his head?

His voice as he said this was a bit loud, and as a consequence, it was heard by the bastards outside and their steps suddenly accelerated! They were running wildly toward him!

Xia Xingchi couldn’t leave the person he had injured alone, so he had no choice but to grab the man who was on the verge of collapse and forcefully drag him at lightning speed into a bathroom stall to hide together.

As soon as the door closed, he heard the group of second-generation ancestors talking with foul mouths:

“Where is he? Wasn’t that obviously his voice?”

“Yeah, that idiot must be inside! Let’s wash our faces first, and then find him after.”

The bathroom stall was a bit narrow, and the two had to stand quite close to each other.

Xia Xingchi saw that the other party’s face and lips were terribly pale. He could barely stand, but was so concerned with cleanliness that he didn’t want to touch his surroundings, so Xia Xingchi had to hold him with both hands and try to help him stay upright.

But the other was disgusted and pushed him away a little irritably.

It stood to reason that although the collision just now was quite hard, it shouldn’t have caused a concussion. It didn’t seem like a blackmail attempt, and this person looked like the extremely wealthy sort.

“Are you dizzy? Is there any discomfort?” Xia Xingchi asked in a whisper that was covered up by the sound of water outside.

Hitting one’s head was not a trivial matter, and if he killed someone, his life was over.

Seeing that he had been silent for a long time, but his face was getting worse and worse, Xia Xingchi had no choice but to take out his cell phone and dial while asking quietly: “Can I call 120 for you?”[4]

Li Chengyuan pursed his lips. After the ringing in his ears subsided, he could hear what Xia Xingchi was saying.

Naturally, he disagreed. He took his phone with a frown and hung it up, saying shortly at last: “It’s just low blood sugar.”

“……Ah?”

Of course it was a good thing if it wasn’t due to hitting his head, but how could such a fine person suddenly have hypoglycemia?

Doubtfully, Xia Xingchi swiftly took out a large handful of free chocolates that he had recently collected and peeled a piece, holding it to his mouth.

Li Chengyuan turned his head away, even more disgusted.

Eating things in the toilet. Those hands were still fumbling just now, but he could figure it out.

This was not clear to Xi Xinchi, so he thought, could it be that the beauty was too good-looking and was afraid of being drugged and kidnapped?

In all honesty, who could pack up and take away a grown man who was nearly 1.9 meters tall!

“It’s really not poisoned, look at me.” Xia Xingchi broke off half the chocolate and put it in his mouth, then handed over the other half. “Ah — open up!”

Seeing that this man’s eyes were out of focus, he guessed that it wouldn’t be long before he lost consciousness, but yet he still refused to cooperate and open his mouth.

In desperation, Xia Xingchi simply forcibly pushed him against the door, and then ruthlessly stuffed the chocolate into his mouth!

Li Chengyuan was so dizzy that he didn’t react for a moment. When he regained his senses, the sweet thing had already melted on the tip of his tongue.

Li Chengyuan: “……”

He took a deep breath. This was the first time he had been force-fed in a public bathroom.

If the person in front of him was someone else, he would twist his head off.

His expression was obviously a little angry. When the sound of water outside the door stopped, Xia Xingchi quickly covered his mouth to keep him from making a sound.

The handful of people outside began to search:

“Let’s kick open all the doors one by one. We’ll definitely find him.”

“Fuck off, what the hell will you do if you kick open the door on your dad? We’ll all be scolded!”

“I have a way! I remember he was wearing a pair of white leather shoes and a white suit today. Let’s bend down and look at each of them?”

Xia Xingchi looked down. His shoes were black and white, which was a little eye-catching.

These people were like glue that couldn’t be shaken off.

Most likely, this was on Xia Yu’s orders. Whether it was beating him violently or trapping him here to make it look like he was escaping the marriage, the engagement banquet would be disrupted either way.

Only in this way could Xia Yu rise to the top.

Xia Xingchi didn’t know what had gone wrong. There was a slight change in the original plot: 

Originally, the engagement banquet was not held so early, and Li Chengyuan came for the purpose of annulling the engagement, while the original owner had a mental breakdown and fled the marriage on the spot.

In short, neither of them wanted to get married. Whether sooner or later, the result should be the dissolution of the engagement.

But two days ago, that crazy villain Li Chengyuan suddenly brought up this marriage contract with the Xia family, specifying that he wanted to marry immediately.

This was simply fantastic. 

Not to mention the financial gains, countless people were willing to pay money just for a look at his face. In other words, Li Chengyuan’s social status and the solid strength of the Li Group were no longer something that the Xia family or anyone else could compete with.

Therefore, Xia Yu wished that he was the one who got engaged, but it was a pity that Xia Xingchi was the first young master by blood, and according to tradition, it could only be him.

The sound of footsteps outside the door continued, accompanied by cursing as they bent over to look at people’s shoes without shame.

Li Chengyuan’s hypoglycemia symptoms were alleviated, and he was about to expressionlessly open the door, but Xia Xingchi quickly grabbed him and whispered: “Don’t go out! If I’m exposed, they’ll really smash my skull!”

This was the truth.

This group of socialites were full of swagger, but the original owner was treated worse than a dog, unloved by his parents and frequently beaten. In the original text, his head was smashed in.

Xia Xingchi bent down quickly and began to untie his shoelaces and take off his shoes as the sound of footsteps outside the door got closer and closer —

At that very moment, his feet suddenly left the ground and his whole body was suspended in the air!

To his surprise, he was lifted up horizontally without warning.

At the same time, a shadow happened to be cast outside the door as someone looked at the shoes in this stall.

This “head-smashing hide-and-seek” was too stimulating. Xia Xingchi instinctively held his breath, staring nervously at the shadow.

He had lost his parents when he was young, and no one had hugged him in his memory. This was the first time in his life.

Inexperienced, he was subconsciously afraid of being dropped, and hugged Li Chengyuan’s neck tightly with a furiously beating heart, not daring to let go. The crisp, cool fragrance of his body lingered in his nose, like a reassuring and reliable haven in a storm.

After a long, long time, the shadow in front of the door finally left.

Xia Xingchi breathed a sigh of relief.

He hurriedly struggled to stand up on his own, and was about to pat Li Chengyuan’s shoulder to express his gratitude —

The black shadow outside the door reappeared again in a surprise attack!

“Fuck! Sure enough, he’s here! You really thought you could fool us, ah.”

“Why are there two people in there? Could it be that he actually has a lover? 

“What? Did we just happen to catch them in the act? We’re just in time to beat this pair of dogs to death!”

As they spoke, the flimsy door was kicked hard from the outside!

Immediately following the second and third kicks, the fragile door lock made a terrible sound, as if it was about to crack.

Xia Xingchi hurriedly pulled Li Chengyuan back. In his previous life, he had been beaten more than once or twice in the bathroom, and knew that the door would be kicked open within a few blows.

Although his heart beat like a drum, his mind was still very clear and rational. He turned to Li Chengyuan and planned quickly: “Sir, I’m sorry to trouble you, ah. When this group of idiots kicks open the door in a moment, you run away. If I hold them back, they probably won’t chase after you.”

Xia Xingchi thought to himself that the man in front of him was so young and looked so amazing, yet he wasn’t known within the rich second generation. It was likely because his wealth was slightly inferior. If this group of bullying socialites beat them together, it was over for him.

The man was noncommittal and just looked at Xia Xingchi calmly, as if he didn’t care about the commotion outside the door.

While the two were conversing, the door lock was overwhelmed and finally collapsed, flying out with a rupturing sound!

The noise made Xia Xingchi flinch. At this moment, he didn’t pay attention to anything else, quickly pushing him as he said loudly: “Run!”

Unexpectedly, the man stood there motionless.

Xia Xingchi: “……?”

“Aren’t you very arrogant?” One person was holding the wine bottle as he shouted angrily, “Weren’t you very tough when you poured wine on laozi’s head just now?”

“Is it fucking great to be engaged to Mr. Li? Do you think he cares if you live or die? Or are you happy to be a little white-faced mistress?”

Xia Xingchi didn’t speak. Obviously, he didn’t hope that the villainous fiance whom he had never seen before would suddenly appear and save him.

He clenched his fists silently, prepared to fight one against five.

It was an old tradition within this group of socialites to finish the harsh words first before moving on to beating people. It stood to reason that this was a good time for the others to speak up, but at this moment, the scene was strangely frozen.

Not only did no one make a sound, but the person who had spoken was smacked hard on the back.

Who would have thought that this angry, high-spirited person would not take the hint, but thought the smack was a signal to leap into action!

He hefted the wine bottle, aimed straight at Xia Xingchi’s head, and chopped down viciously!

The bottle seemed to split the air. Xia Xingchi was very experienced and did not dodge it, but directly raised his hands, ready to catch the opponent’s wrist and give him the most ruthless over-the-shoulder throw.

Unexpectedly, someone moved faster than him —

The next second, the person and the wine bottle simultaneously flew in a rainbow-like parabola and hit the ground hard!

The entire action was understated but extremely ruthless.

Xia Xingchi was shocked, and turned to stare at Li Chengyuan. 

For god’s sake, the sick and weak beauty who was as untouchable as a fragile object was so skillful?

“Fuck!” The person who was thrown to the ground howled and cursed. “Fuck your mother……what are you doing standing there stupidly! Go, ah! Kill this idiot!”

The handful of people still looked at each other in blank dismay.

They came to a unanimous answer as they looked at each other, and were so immersed in horror that they even forgot how to speak.

Li Chengyuan seldom showed his face, so juniors like them naturally had no opportunity to meet him.

But the elders were afraid that this group of second-generation ancestors would start trouble, so they either described him or took out photos for them to look at carefully. In this way, they wouldn’t offend this untouchable person just because they didn’t know who he was.

After Li Chengyuan came to power, it took only one year for the Li Group to climb to the pinnacle of wealth and power. Its assets were incomparably abundant and strong, and there was no one who didn’t fear it.

Even if their fathers arrived, these several people would have to hurry and apologize.

The most adaptable of them reacted the fastest, and actually slapped himself loudly on the spot!

“My dog mouth can’t spit out ivory![5] It was me who failed to recognize an important person. You should take me as garbage! I’m just a fart!”

Xia Xingchi, who had rolled up his sleeves and was prepared to fight: ?

The scene was comical and amusing all of a sudden. The speed of this dramatic change of attitude was comparable to the speed of turning pages in quantum fluctuation speed reading. [6]

He turned to look at Li Chengyuan in doubt. From the reactions of these people, could it be that he really was the young master of a prominent wealthy family?

Good god, he had grabbed him and hid in a toilet stall with him, and even forced him to eat chocolate in such an environment!

But for now, all sorts of doubts were put aside for the time being. Now that the situation had reversed, Xia Xingchi was quite adept at things such as the fox pretending to be a tiger.

He promptly grinned and rubbed salt in the wound, asking the rest of them: “Young masters, do you need my help slapping yourselves?”

Those people looked at each other. They had offended one far superior in power, and when they went back, their respective fathers would beat them to death. 

Seeing Li Chengyuan’s cold and indifferent eyes sweep over them like a deep pool in an ancient well, their hearts shivered. Gritting their teeth unwillingly, they slapped themselves.

For a while, the whole bathroom was full of “pa pa” sounds. The scene was extremely ridiculous, and Xia Xingchi held in his laughter with great difficulty as he followed the unknown handsome young master.

Before leaving, he didn’t forget to kick the idiot on the ground who had just tried to hit him with a wine bottle. The person was still ignorant as he cursed and yelled, and one of his companions “helped” by covering his mouth and slapping him a few times.

Xia Xingchi couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

– – –

“Sir, do you have a famous reputation, ah?” Xia Xingchi tilted his head.

Li Chengyuan just walked forward with no expression on his face. He seemed to be in a bad mood, and didn’t talk to him.

Xia Xingchi was not annoyed at being ignored, and saw that there was a self-service barbecue on the second floor, which smelled and looked expensive.

It happened to be meal time, and he was hungry. Xia Xingchi immediately said: “Never mind, anyway, thanks for your help! If we’re lucky enough, we’ll meet again!”

Just as he was about to leave, the man finally said: “Have you gone to see your fiance?”

Xia Xingchi was taken aback. Most of the people who came to the engagement banquet didn’t know him, this country boy who had switched to a position he wasn’t trained for, and only thought he was a passer-by.

Perhaps he overheard when the idiot called him by name and insulted him. Since he had been recognized, Xia Xingchi could only answer in embarrassment: “My fiance……of course I saw him!”

There was no other way. It was said that the original owner did meet Li Chengyuan, so if he said he had never seen him, he would absolutely blow his cover.

When Li Chengyuan heard these words, he just gave him an inexplicable look.

Xia Xingchi immediately and irrationally felt a sense of oppression. The other party clearly hadn’t done anything and showed no expression, but he seemed to be condescendingly examining him.

The two were at a stalemate for a moment, and at last the man said calmly: “So what is he like?”

This eased the atmosphere just right, and Xia Xingchi heaved a sigh of relief. It was clear to him that this was probably another person who was curious about Li Chengyuan.

After all, even though it was rumored that Li Chengyuan had a cruel personality and used methods that made people’s hair stand on end, everyone was still eagerly looking forward to being able to climb up and get close to this big boss.

Xia Xingchi could only tilt his head and think about the contents of the book, pretending to know his fiance very well: “He’s — super good-looking! In the whole book, ahem……he’s the height of handsomeness worldwide! But his temper is terrible. If you want to get close, don’t step on his minefield, ah.”

Hearing this, Li Chengyuan asked with a half-smile: “For example?”

Xia Xingchi kept his mouth shut. He actually didn’t want to talk too much with a stranger he had met by chance.

But thinking that it was thanks to this man that he was saved from the catastrophe of having his head bashed in, it could be regarded as a life debt, and he must repay his kindness.

Like a little hedgehog stealing fruit, he looked around furtively first to make sure there was no one else around, especially the big villain he was talking about. Then he whispered: “For example, he is not in good health and has been ill all year round. Don’t ask about his health when you meet him, otherwise he might get annoyed. Furthermore, you sometimes can’t judge his mood by his expression. He might be very happy one second, and then suddenly become angry the next. He’s really crazy and terrifying!”

— The kind that might kill someone.

The crazy boss in the book was strong, cruel, and perverted. It was a pity that he was so sickly and would die of a sudden illness in half a year, otherwise the book would have to have a bad ending.

“So terrible, ah,” Li Chengyuan’s smile became wider after hearing this, but his voice became even colder.

He lowered his head slightly and asked next to Xia Xingchi’s ear: “Then do you want to escape from the marriage?”

Xia Xingchi completely didn’t notice that he was replying to a question that would offend people no matter how he answered it, and just felt that the other party had suddenly gotten too close. The safe social distance had been exceeded, so he quickly took a step back.

He didn’t know why he was encountering so many people tempting him away from marriage today. Xia Yu jumped into the pit himself in order to pull out the radish, but he didn’t know what this beauty’s aim was. Fighting against injustice?

No matter what the reason was, Xia Xingchi took out all his prepared lines and spoke in a cadence: “Of course not! I love Li Chengyuan to the point of death. I miss him every day and have no appetite, and my dreams are full of him — I only want to marry him! The person I love the most is him!”

This was absolutely true. Thinking of Li Chengyuan’s net worth in the hundreds of billions, Xia Xingchi really missed him in his dreams and loved his money to the point of death, sincerely and deeply.

His expression was sincere and unpretentious, his black eyes shining.

Li Chengyuan sneered mockingly. 

Xia Xingchi thought that his acting skills were being questioned and said in abrupt dissatisfaction: “You don’t believe me? How can you doubt my sincerity —”

Before he could finish speaking, a fat middle-aged man trotted over. He was Xia Xingchi’s cheap father, Xia Pingjian.

He estimated that this guy wanted to spray spittle again and teach him how to behave in front of others.

Then he would abduct him and bring him to see Li Chengyuan, and put on a public performance while selling his son for glory.

Xia Xingchi was about to run away, but Xia Pingjian said with an apologetic smile: “Mr. Li, I wanted to find Xingchi to meet you just now, but I didn’t expect him to be here with you.”

Fine, you didn’t come to abduct me to meet……wait.

Who is this next to me?!

T/N: This story is too much fun, I have to continue it.

[1] “Life lies in movement” is a motto originating from the French philosopher Voltaire, who espoused the importance of physical fitness. ⮐

[2] “Why are the flowers so red” is a an old song that has been used in several films, usually as background music during sad scenes. So he’s basically saying he’s going to hurt him/ruin his day. ⮐

[3] The Thirty-Six Stratagems is a Chinese essay used to illustrate a series of stratagems used in politics, war, and civil interaction. ⮐

[4] 120 is the emergency number in China. ⮐

[5] “No ivory comes from a dog’s mouth” means “No good words can be expected to come from the mouth of a scoundrel.” ⮐

[6] Quantum fluctuation speed reading is a pseudoscience in mainland China where students flip through a book at a very high speed and learn to retain all of the information at a glance. Something about “using quantum fluctuations to create photographic memory and multi-dimensional perception.” Yes, people actually pay money for this…… ⮐