CH 5

A burning hot pair of lips fell on a slightly cold cheek.

It was difficult to master his strength due to panic, so it was not so much a kiss as it was a hard, noisy smooch.

After this sound, the vehicle went silent, and the scene that had been about to go out of control looked as if someone had pressed the pause button.

Xia Xingchi couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge his blush, and quickly pushed Li Chengyuan away with both hands.

But he seemed to be frozen in place, unmoving, the expression on his face blank and a little……dazed?

This was only fleeting, however, and Li Chengyuan bullied him again in an instant! Even worse than before!

“You can’t kill me!” Xia Xingchi clenched the diamond engagement ring tightly in his right hand and hurried to loudly say, “Li Chengyuan, we, we are already engaged! You can’t murder your husband, ah!”

Secretary Ye was separated by the privacy screen, pricking her ears up to eavesdrop and expecting to hear something embarrassing that was not suitable for the ears of children —

In the end, it turned out to be a legal drama?

She was drinking water when she heard those confusing words and almost choked to death, never expecting that Master Xia would have such a bizarre misunderstanding of Mr. Li.

Although the boss was indeed ruthless and tyrannical, it was actually not to the point of murder and arson, ah.

……She understood.

This must be a little fun between husband and wife!

As soon as those words were uttered, Li Chengyuan’s eyes also flickered with a bit of surprise, as if angered and amused at this dreadful idea.

At present, the back seat was very quiet.

Finally, Li Chengyuan gave an angry laugh, the corners of his lips curling up in a mocking arc.

Perhaps he realized he had made a gaffe just now, but in any case, he didn’t want to further frighten Xia Xingchi, so he reached out his hand to fasten the seatbelt for him.

In the end, he leaned back into his seat and closed his eyes to rest, as if nothing had happened.

Secretary Ye in the front seat was currently coughing from choking on water after accidentally interpreting a legal drama.

Xia Xingchi couldn’t help feeling a little embarrassed, and looked at Li Chengyuan again as he wondered, am I too cowardly and disgraceful?

In all fairness, the current big villain didn’t seem to be entirely insane, nor had he become a maniac outlaw.

For a time, he couldn’t tell whether it was more embarrassing to kiss him suddenly and noisily, or to curl into a ball and shout, “Don’t kill me.”

Whatever, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t made a fool out of himself in front of him before.

Their horoscopes must not suit each other, otherwise he wouldn’t have had repeated social deaths since the night they first met —

– – –

As soon as he transmigrated into the book, he fell into Li Chengyuan’s bathtub out of nowhere, and even slipped and landed on him.

An earth-shattering splash, water flying in all directions. Forget about the person in front of him only being asleep, even if he was dead, he would have still woken up.

The moment he fell into the water, Xia Xingchi only had one thought in his mind: “It’s over.”

He thought he would be caught red-handed in the next second, but found that the man seemed to be passed out.

His mouth and nose were already submerged under the water, and his eyes were closed and motionless.

Xia Xingchi was completely at a loss. The odd lightning strike and resurrection from the dead, the unfamiliar situation and strange naked beauty, everything was very baffling.

But the priority right now was not to watch the other party drown. Before he had time to think about anything else, he quickly fished him out with great effort.

The man looked pale and sickly, who would have thought that he was actually so tall?

When he saw him at first, he had admired his beautiful and defined muscles, but this situation had become a catastrophe for Xia Xingchi —

With his thin, pitiful little body, it was really not easy to drag a man with such a huge difference in body size to the bed.

After a long period of struggling, it was finally done. Xia Xingchi let out a long sigh of relief, and reached out to touch Li Chengyuan’s chest.

Although he was unconscious, there was fortunately still a heartbeat, and his breathing was normal.

Otherwise he wouldn’t be able to explain to Comrade Police how he had appeared here out of thin air, and there just happened to be a dead person.

“Sir?” Xia Xingchi called him tentatively.

No one answered, and no one explained to him what was going on.

Looking around, he appeared to be in the presidential suite of a hotel. The furnishings definitely put it above five stars, costing five or even six figures per day.

Thinking of this, even though he was confused and at a loss, Xia Xingchi couldn’t help sighing like a money enthusiast, as if there was the alluring smell of banknotes in the air.

After a short moment, he at last remembered his proper business and hurried toward the huge glass floor-to-ceiling window to see: 

This was the top floor of the hotel, which overlooked the bustling night scenery of the city.

Xia Xingchi faintly saw the word “Beijing” — but it was not the capital city that he was familiar with.

The high-rise buildings, the city landmarks, everything was unfamiliar.

But what was reflected in the glass was still his original appearance. Even the crescent-shaped scars on his wrists were still the same, and the outfit was still the waiter’s uniform that he was wearing before.

It was really too strange. When he was struck by lightning, he was burnt on the outside and tender on the inside. Add a bit of cumin and salt, and the kids next door would cry from hunger. It was outrageous enough to make the social news.

Not only was he still alive, but he was also in a strange “capital city” that seemed to be in another space and time.

And then there was this mysterious person……wait!

Where was that person?!

Xia Xingchi turned his head and found that the bed was empty.

Before he could react, there was a strong wind from behind and a powerful hand grabbed his wrist, then he was pushed down on the bed without warning!

The pale, handsome face was very close. The man had woken up at some unknown point, and walked up behind him after putting on a bathrobe.

His whole person was like a big cat, walking without a sound.

Xia Xingchi was immediately taken aback. Before he could resist or quibble, his neck was gripped by the other party and he was unable to move.

That cold hand was extremely strong. Obviously, he was being regarded as an uninvited guest who snuck into the room late at night.

“Ah……Sir, don’t get worked up, let go first! I……I’m here to give you a show!”

Xia Xingchi was squeezed almost to the point of suffocation. He pointed to his waiter’s uniform with great effort, trying to pretend that he was someone from the hotel.

— No, no, what was he talking about, ah?!

Soaking in someone’s bathtub in the middle of the night for a show, could it be that the performance was a magician conjuring a person out of nowhere?

As expected, these words were not credible at all, the strength of the hand on his neck got a little stronger. The throttled Xia Xinchi was suffocated for a while, and the attempts he made to speak and remedy the situation were stuck in his throat.

It was over. He was dead.

For fuck’s sake, where had he offended God……being struck to death by lightning wasn’t enough, so now he was going to be strangled in another space and time?

Breaking into a private residence wasn’t a crime punishable by death, ah. Was he really going to kill him?

Xia Xingchi’s eyes were full of stars and black mist as he thought about all kinds of messy things.

So he didn’t notice the man’s momentary astonishment when he saw his face clearly — the restraint on his neck suddenly disappeared.

When he could breathe again, Xi Xingchi quickly took a few deep breaths and coughed uncontrollably.

He just wanted to give in and beg the good man to spare his life, and maybe let it be known that his counterpart’s method of self-defense was excessive, but he sensed that the other party was shaken.

Then that body tilted, and he collapsed on the spot. His entire frame actually fell directly down on top of Xia Xingchi. 

With the abrupt “zero-distance intimate social interaction,” Xia Xingchi felt that he had been more frightened in this one night than he had been in the entirety of the past twenty-three years.

He wanted to quickly push this person away, but found that the other person’s eyes were closed tightly. His whole body was freezing, and he even trembled unconsciously, clearly in extreme discomfort.

Xia Xingchi realized belatedly that he hadn’t been knocked unconscious in the bathroom just now, but lost consciousness due to some sort of illness.

“Sir? Are you unwell? Do you want me to call an ambulance?” 

Xia Xingchi hurriedly captured back his frightened soul and sat up to look. He saw that the man’s face was paper-white and his forehead was dripping with cold sweat.

“……Leave.” Li Chengyuan was still conscious, but his condition was extremely poor. His thin, bloodless lips trembled slightly, and his voice was low and almost inaudible.

His attitude was considerably irascible, perhaps because he didn’t want to be seen by strangers when he was sick and weak. 

Fortunately, Xia Xingchi didn’t mind this bad attitude. On the contrary, this was the sentence he wanted to hear the most  — as soon as he heard this, he stood up and got out of there immediately!

As soon as he turned around, his wrist was tightly grasped by a firm hand.

It was unknown if he had confused him with someone else due to his sickness and confusion, or if he had suddenly changed his mind.

In any case, the man struggled to get up, and his hoarse voice sounded both like a command and a plea: “Don’t leave.”

Xia Xingchi was baffled.

This person had just strangled someone forcefully and indifferently, but now he was like some sort of vaguely-conscious large, fluffy animal begging for company.

This change of attitude was faster than flipping the page of a book.

In Li Chengyuan’s blurred vision, he could only vaguely see the shape of a figure.

With the remnants of his faint consciousness, he tightly held onto Xia Xingchi’s wrist: “Don’t go, I’ll give you money……don’t leave anymore.”

“Money?”

Little money-grubbers were very sensitive to this word. They worked hard down to the last second before they died, and “making money” was already imprinted into their bones.

He immediately pricked up his ears and asked: “Sir, are you hiring me to take care of you overnight?”

This request was not difficult to understand. Although he didn’t know what was wrong with this beauty, he looked so uncomfortable and definitely needed someone to look after him.

Otherwise, in the case of sudden death in the middle of the night, no one would know to call 120.

“Don’t go,” Li Chengyuan repeated. “……I’ll give you all the money in my wallet.”

The wallet happened to be on the bedside table. Xia Xingchi quietly picked it up and took a look — and was immediately shocked by the quantity of banknotes!

Li Chengyuan had just gone abroad to negotiate a contract yesterday, and inside the wallet was a thick wad of US dollars that he hadn’t had time to exchange.

The little money-grubber’s eyes nearly lit up.

Just now, he had wanted to rub the soles of his feet with oil and slip away, but after looking over the salary, the boss had offered too much money for him to leave.

Xia Xingchi then persuaded himself: Stay, ba, there is nowhere to go just now. I can just stay here for one night. It seems this beauty doesn’t have the strength to go crazy again.

Under the influence of such wealth, the newly inducted “Xia Nursing Worker’s” attentiveness was like a barrage of gunfire.

“Boss, do you need me to pour water for you? Do you need any medicine? Or a bedtime story? Do you want me to sing to you?”

There was no answer. Li Chengyuan had received Xia Xingchi’s affirmative answer of “not leaving,” finally couldn’t endure any longer, and fell asleep.

Seeing this, Xia Xingchi simply took off the wet waiter’s uniform and set it aside, then found a bathrobe to put on.

Sitting by the bedside was called patient care, but in actuality, he started to happily count money.

There was a whole one hundred bills, and the little money-grubber who was poor until death became rich due to a windfall!

– – –

Early the next morning, warm sunshine fell upon his body.

Xia Xingchi shrank back into the depths of the bed, yawned contentedly, and curled up into a ball with only half of his face exposed to breathe.

In his dreams, he was still counting money that never ended no matter what. Instead, he counted more and more until he almost drowned in it.

When he finally realized that this was a dream, he woke up abruptly —

And saw his super-rich temporary employer, whose face was expressionless as he slightly raised his head to button his shirt. 

But those eyes stayed on him from beginning to end. There was no telling how long he had been watching him.

The eyes of the two met. Xia Xingchi was at a loss at first, thinking, “Who am I?” Then he quivered, screaming in his heart, help, I’m going to die!

The boss hired me as a caregiver and paid me so much money, and I suddenly……fell asleep! And got caught!

Immediately afterward, a mess of thoughts cascaded through Xia Xingchi’s sleepy head: 

He was unconscious at the time, did the wages still count?

Or maybe he didn’t know he had so much money in his wallet? Would he go back on his word?

Unacceptable! He still wanted money!

What if he didn’t remember holding him tight and not letting go, and asked why he was in his room or in his bed?

Xia Xingchi was frightened, and stared at Li Chengyuan vigilantly with wide, round eyes.

At this time, a female voice was suddenly heard: “Mr. Li, the quarterly summary of the Finance Department – ah!”

The door was ajar, and it opened with a light tap.

This exposed Xia Xingchi lying on the bed in disheveled clothes and sleep-mussed hair.

In the next moment, Xia Xingchi jumped up as if he had received an electric shock, picked up his clothes and wallet amidst Secretary Ye’s screams, and ran away!

Having been single for twenty-three years, he experienced the scene of being caught in bed one day after his death.

The ridiculous thing was that because he was barefoot when he died, he only wanted to “borrow” a pair of disposable slippers to wear.

Who would have thought that, panicked and not fully awake, he didn’t realize that this was far from the truth until he had wildly run far away.

To his surprise, he had maintained the “excellent” habit of thrift, and subconsciously swept away all the disposable items in the hotel that he could see.

He opened his hand, and there was a complementary condom in his palm.

Xia Xingchi: ……

– – –

Unable to bear recalling the past, Xia Xingchi was embarrassed for two days, until he finally had no choice but to comfort himself by thinking that the man might just be a handsome passer-by NPC.

Just like one of those that gave out money and experience at the start of a game, in any case, they wouldn’t meet again.

Who would have guessed that he would meet the big villain boss at the start?

Now firmly bound by the seat belt fastened by the boss himself, Xia Xingchi could only huddle into a ball and not dare to act rashly again, so as not to make Li Chengyuan suddenly go crazy once more.

The quieter it was, the more his brain continued to play the previous scenes of strangulation.

Xia Xingchi could do nothing but repeatedly grab the floor with his toes, as if he could dig a hole through the floorboard and jump in to hide.