CH 7

Xia Xingchi instantly conjured up a series of scenes with scary background music.

Li Chengyuan silently opened the door to his room in the middle of the night, sat on the edge of the bed, and stared at him expressionlessly —

He watched for an unknown amount of time, and there was no telling what the ruthless madman was thinking then.

Xia Xingchi swallowed, asking reluctantly: “Aunt Li, is this the nightgown that Li Chengyuan wore last night?”

Aunt Li didn’t know why he asked, so she just nodded in affirmation.

Xia Xingchi shuddered, thorns popping up all over his body like a wary little hedgehog.

He knew that Li Chengyuan was paranoid, but he didn’t expect this person to be so scary and strange, going to observe how he slept in the middle of the night for no reason.

But he heard Aunt Li sigh with distress: “Sir was not well last night. I’ve told him before that he can ring the bell to call me or someone else at any time, but he doesn’t like to bother others and prefers to look for medicine himself.”

When she got up at night, she happened to see that the wall lamp on the second floor was on. She thought she had forgotten to turn it off, but when she went upstairs, she saw Li Chengyuan standing in front of the medicine cabinet in the living room with a pale face and one hand on his chest.

She guessed that he was taking medicine due to chest pain. If she didn’t see it by chance, no one would have even known.

— He was unwell last night?

After hearing this, Xia Xingchi tilted his head slightly and wondered if he was wrong.

After all, Li Chengyuan was a super popular big boss, so it stood to reason that he wouldn’t be so bored that he would end up enduring physical discomfort in the middle of the night in order to scare an unknown person.

After thinking it over, he still felt suspicious but didn’t dare to rush forward and question him boldly, so he had no choice but to keep a card up his sleeve before going to bed next time.

– – –

In the living room on the second floor, Xia Xingchi finally ate the egg tarts he had dreamed of, and at the same time, began to sort out all kinds of doubts about Li Chengyuan.

Putting aside the frightening incident in the middle of the night, what was more terrible was that the plot had gone off the rails. Why did the big villain not call off the engagement, but kidnap him instead? 

He was just a small cannon fodder, and had been miserable and poor for two lifetimes, with no gain worth seeking.

And Li Chengyuan had no romantic lines in the book, let alone such a niche hobby as engaging in this sort of gay thing.

The big financial tycoon, who was always alone until death, really wanted to get engaged and married?

Et cetera?

Xia Xingchi patted his head, connected the words “marriage” and “death,” and was enlightened.

This magnificent sky-high mansion and an inheritance of hundreds of billions……

A flash of inspiration flashed through the mind of the little money-grubber as he remembered that the first in the line of inheritance was the “spouse!”

When all was said and done, he died poor and feared poverty, so the temptation of wealth could double Xia Xingchi’s courage in an instant.

A few minutes ago, he was still thinking of various ways to ask Li Chengyuan to withdraw from the engagement.

But now there was a huge money tree in front of him. Even if he had to face the moody, paranoid, and cruel villain, Xia Xingchi instantly wanted to shout, “I can do it! It was love at first sight and I just want to get married!”

— Anyway, Li Chengyuan isn’t gay, so he’s not interested in me. As long as I’m an invisible shrinking quail for half a year, I can have hundreds of billions of zeros every day.

For a rich man who was only twenty-five years old, this death was too sudden. Even if Li Chengyuan was not in good health, it was reasonable to say that he was not near death.

Perhaps it was a forced arrangement of the plot, so that the cheap pair of Xia Yu and Li Shengrui, the villain protagonists of the original book could be gong and shou.

The protagonist gong, Li Shengrui, was Li Chengyuan’s “good brother,” after all. He would obtain the inheritance according to the legal succession order, and then have a happy ending.

Li Chengyuan probably didn’t expect that he would have a sudden illness, and didn’t have time to arrange a funeral, let alone leave a will to divide up the property.

It was a pity that it wasn’t a supernatural novel, otherwise if he knew everything about that cheap bastard Li Shengrui from the netherworld, he would surely rise from the grave and donate it all in advance.

Xia Xingchi ate the last bite of egg tart and habitually licked his fingertips.

After realizing that he had transmigrated, he had tried his best to recall the plot after hastily reading it, but found that the whole text was focused on how the protagonist happily did evil, and there were not many descriptions of the villain.

Li Chengyuan’s background story and the reasons for his madness and paranoia were unknown, and even the cause of death could only be summed up as “succumbed to disease,” with little useful information.

While he was worrying over not knowing what to do, he suddenly saw a round ball of fur “rolling” over from the stairs in the distance to abruptly appear in his line of sight.

Its speed was extremely fast, like a soft white cloud.

When it got close, Xia Xingchi realized that it was a rather beautiful pure white long-haired cat.

The big dark amber eyes were round and bright, its big fluffy tail held high as it flicked back and forth.

Xia Xingchi’s eyes widened. This coat color, this appearance, it was simply his dream cat!

The kitty cat gradually slowed down, walked past his feet reservedly and with grace, and looked back arrogantly at the strange visitor in its home.

Xia Xingchi didn’t even care about the small calculations in his mind any longer as he was looked at by it. He could only squat down and carefully stretch out his hand, trying to touch its head.

His fingertips touched the soft fur and gently stroked it back. It was like catching a soft cloud, filling him with extreme satisfaction.

Comfortable to the point that he almost squinted his eyes.

It was a shame that before he had time to stroke it a second time, this big white dumpling who seemed to have a bad temper got annoyed.

It gave a dissatisfied “meow!” and then its big tail unceremoniously slapped the tip of Xia Xingchi’s nose as it ran away without looking back.

“Hey!” Xia Xingchi hurriedly got up and tried to catch it. He was addicted and hadn’t touched enough.

It just so happened that Uncle Ding was going upstairs with a tray and saw him staring in the direction the cat had disappeared. He said with a smile: “You like cats too? Summer[1] usually only allows Sir to touch it, and if other people try to touch, it will explode with anger.”

“Summer……” Xia Xingchi tilted his head slightly when he heard this, and asked in shock after a moment, “Could this be Li Chengyuan’s cat?”

This was Li Chengyuan’s villa, so it must be his cat, but how could the villain keep such a cute and beautiful cat as a pet?

It wasn’t a terrifying creature like the traditional tiger, crocodile, or python.

He even gave it such a warm name as “Summer,” which wasn’t in the style of crazy or gloomy at all.

But the white dumpling was indeed “similar to its master.” Both the big one and the small one were handsome, especially the noble and arrogant eyes that could not be provoked, and the easily explosive bad temper. It really resembled Li Chengyuan.

That is to say, Li Chengyuan seemed to be a bit like a cat……no, no, no, you would have to be crazy to equate such a scary person with a cute kitty cat.

Xia Xingchi quickly shook his head to rid himself of this thought, and suddenly heard Uncle Ding speak again: “Young Master, may I ask you for a favor?”

Facing the old man’s series of respectful words, Xia Xingchi couldn’t help feeling embarrassed: “Of course, whatever I can do for you, just say it.”

He was trying to get Uncle Ding, Aunt Li, and the others to call him by his full name at will, especially without the honorifics, but he had obviously not had much success.

“Can the Young Master give this bowl of medicine to Sir?”

On the tray in Uncle Ding’s hands was a bowl of some pitch black concoction, and Xia Xingchi could only just faintly smell the bitter medicinal scent dispersing in the air.

It wasn’t until he automatically took the tray that he realized something was wrong.

Xia Xingchi was instantly struck dumb. He looked at the medicine, and then at the closed study door.

It was as if the one in the study was not a sickly and handsome financial tycoon, but a vicious and cannibalistic white tiger, the kind that would puff up and eat people when they got close.

“Uh……go and give it to Li Chengyuan?”

Although he was willing to help the kind old man, even if he lent Xia Xingchi some more courage, he would not dare to go.

For some reason, Uncle Ding mistakenly believed that he was “deeply loved” by Li Chengyuan.

But in fact, he was clearly quite unpopular. Perhaps if he was the one who brought the medicine, that person might not want to drink it.

Just as he was about to refuse, he noticed the old man looking at him earnestly. His face was full of vicissitudes and the wrinkles left by the years, and his eyes were very sincere.

Xia Xingchi: ……

Those evasive words reached the tip of his tongue, and he couldn’t utter them in the end. As he was in a stupor, Uncle Ding’s appearance overlapped with that of someone else in his memory.

Forget it, Li Chengyuan was not really a cannibal, so he probably wouldn’t lose a piece of meat if he helped out.

– – –

“Mr. Li?” Xia Xingchi knocked on the study door three times with the tray in one hand, and then directly opened the door as instructed.

Li Chengyuan was sitting at the desk reading documents, and his white casual clothes made his face look extremely pale.

His whole body exuded a forbidding aura, and after realizing Xia Xingchi’s reason for coming, he was even more indifferent and had no intention whatsoever to take the medicine.

Xia Xingchi could only clear his throat and remind him: “Mr. Li, the current temperature is just right for drinking, but it won’t taste good after it cools down.”

Although it also wouldn’t taste good when it was hot.

“Get out.” Li Chengyuan still didn’t even give him a look, but just spoke coldly.

Xia Xingchi: ?

His fist clenched. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was a big boss and couldn’t be offended, this bowl of medicine would have been directly used to wash his hair.

Calm down, calm down……

Xia Xingchi suppressed his violent temper and said silently in his heart: He is dying, so let him make orders, ba. Just think of it as giving him the best end-of-life care for the sake of the inheritance, and not have a falling-out with him.

Xia Xingchi looked at his stubborn expression, then at the bowl of medicine —

Nope, I can’t calm down at all.

He almost wanted to yell: Li Chengyuan, hurry up and take your medicine for me! Live longer! If you die, who will punish the protagonist villain gong and shou?

Xia Xingchi pondered for a moment, then said abruptly: “Mr. Li, you wouldn’t be – afraid of bitterness, right?”

There was no basis for this statement. It was just nonsense to try to force him to drink the medicine.

Contrary to expectations, before the words fell, Li Chengyuan’s expression instantly went cold.

Like……like Summer getting its head touched, it seemed as if he would explode in the next second.

But the lethality between a kitty cat and a big white tiger was absolutely different, and Xia Xingchi was taken aback when he saw this.

For god’s sake, did I accidentally hit the mark?

Li Chengyuan really didn’t drink the medicine because he thought it was too bitter?

Putting the words “crazy villain” and “afraid of bitterness” together was simply unimaginable.

Having inadvertently discovered Li Chengyuan’s shocking secret, Xia Xingchi hurriedly took two steps back, suspecting that he would be splattered with blood and promptly killed.

Just as he was scared witless, Li Chengyuan picked up the medicine bowl very calmly and indifferently, and drank it down in one gulp.

This seemed to prove Xia Xingchi’s statement wrong, but after careful observation, it appeared that he was trying to cover up —

It was so bitter that there was a slight, barely noticeable trembling in his shoulders.

Li Chengyuan impatiently put the bowl down with a bang, and said angrily: “Leave!”

Xia Xingchi just stared at him speechlessly. After a long moment, he finally came back to his senses and could help but want to laugh wildly.

A certain person actually had such a lively and human side.

Thus, although he was still a little afraid of him, Xia Xingchi was not scared away this time.

Instead, he swiftly took something out of his pocket, and with a pa, slapped it down on Li Chengyuan’s desk with pizzazz.

Then he rushed out like a gust of wind.

With the bitter taste of medicine still lingering on his tongue, Li Chengyuan pursed his lips as he saw an extra piece of chocolate on the table.

Printed on the wrapping paper was a quirky smiling face sticking out its tongue, exactly the same as Xia Xingchi’s expression just now.

[1] In the text, the cat’s name is spelled out in English as “Summer.” Xia Xingchi’s surname is Xia (夏) which also means summer. Coincidence?? Hm…… ⮐