CH 8

Uncle Ding had been waiting at the door, and when he saw Xia Xingchi fleeing out, he took the tray and the empty medicine bowl with a smile: “Sure enough, you went to deliver the medicine and Sir did not refuse it. Young Master, why don’t you just —”

Xia Xingchi gradually grew fearful and quickly shook his head like a rattle drum, saying, “No, no, no, he definitely wants to kill me now.”

According to Li Chengyuan’s horrible facial expression, it was pretty good if he didn’t sharpen his teeth and bite his head off on the spot.

“That is unlikely, did you see if Sir drank all the medicine?”

Xia Xingchi could only be honest: “I accidentally exposed that he is afraid of bitter things, and he tried to cover up the truth.”

And he might want to silence him.

Uncle Ding paid no attention to this, but continued to look at him with earnest eyes that Xia Xingchi found difficult to refuse, begging him to take on this arduous task.

As if he was the only person in the world who could make Li Chengyuan drink Chinese medicine. Xia Xingchi naturally didn’t believe it, but in the face of this look, he couldn’t refuse.

— Just think of it as contributing to the goal of keeping Li Chengyuan’s body healthy so that he could live a few more days.

The “brick mover”[1] Xia shook his head helplessly, but agreed in the end.

Watching Uncle Ding descend the stairs with a satisfied smile on his face, Xia Xingchi couldn’t help but silently look toward the study again. Hearing no movement from inside, he then wandered back to his own room.

His room was next to the master bedroom, only a wall away from Li Chengyuan’s.

Last night he was too sleepy and fell asleep quickly with no time to look around, but now he was able to look around attentively, and there was the same sense of admiration as when Grandma Liu entered the Grand View Garden.[2]

The bright and spacious bedroom was decorated luxuriously, and this single room was several times larger than the total area of his shabby apartment.

Xia Xingchi poked around curiously, inspecting all of the expensive decorations, and was finally lured in by the luxurious bathroom —

There was a built-in bathtub, expensive wine and goblets on a shelf, a large hanging display screen to watch movies at any time, and the beautiful garden could be viewed outside the curtains.

The evils of capitalism were truly enjoyable.

He was instantly moved. There was still time before dinner, which was perfectly suitable to experience how the rich and powerful bathed.

– – –

In the study, a fancy chocolate candy wrapper was carefully smoothed under Li Chengyuan’s fingertip.

He opened a drawer that contained a half-empty wooden box, and the completely empty candy wrapper was placed inside.

There was only a bracelet made of red string, a few coins, and a bus ticket to nowhere.

At that time, Young Master Li was out of touch with the world. He had never taken a long-distance train, and didn’t know what the tickets looked like. He had indeed been fooled by such a “fake ticket” with the wrong style, design, and even color.

He even looked for the non-existent destination on the ticket for many years, and the end result was, of course, nothing.

Whenever he thought of those sworn promises and the little liar’s bright smile, Li Chengyuan gritted his teeth with resentment and wanted to catch that person back and imprison him by his side day and night.

For his promises and lies, let him pay a terrible price for a lifetime.

Li Chengyuan lowered his eyes, stroked the ring on his finger, and finally bowed his head and kissed it gently.

– – –

Glug, glug, glug ……

Xia Xingchi buried his head in the water and spit out a stream of bubbles, then raised his head above the surface.

He reached out and took a grape from the fruit tray on the side, put it in his mouth, and sucked on it hard. Sweet juice bloomed on the tip of his tongue.

As he moved, the big diamond engagement ring that he was reluctant to take off glinted. Xia Xingchi couldn’t help but kiss it excitedly.

Was this what it felt like to “marry” into a wealthy family?

It was so invigorating!

He carelessly splashed around for a while, experiencing a life of wealth like never before.

In passing, he also filled in the gaps of his empty childhood, childishly blowing big bubbles with the shower gel in his bare hands —

Bang!

The thin bubble suddenly vanished, and the sudden loud noise was simply earth-shattering!

The bathroom door had been opened vigorously. It was less like opening the door, and more like someone was here to fight.

Xia Xingchi immediately shuddered with fright and instinctively hid in the water, but the water in this tub was clear, so of course there was nowhere to hide.

In hindsight, sure enough, no one aside from Li Chengyuan would do something so deranged.

Xia Xingchi could help but get irritated. His heart had almost jumped out of his throat in fright, and while he was still recovering from the shock, violent anger gushed out from beneath.

For a moment, he forgot to continue pretending to be cute in front of the big villain, and showed his true colors on the spot, like a little hedgehog with bristles standing up all over its body in anger: 

“What the hell are you doing! Li Chengyuan, do you want to fight!”

“Come on, if you have the guts, take off your clothes right now and come fight in the water!”

Li Chengyuan: “……..”

After Xia Xingchi finished yelling, he realized that something was wrong.

He had meant to say that fighting should not deliberately be provoked while he was taking a bath, which was a fair point.

But why did he say something so……erotic?

Wait a minute, it seemed that the most important thing was not his colorful choice of words.

— God, why did he just scold the big villain?!

Xia Xingchi’s habitual irritability was temporarily suppressed, but at this moment he suddenly realized what he had done.

He quickly observed the changes in Li Chengyuan’s expression, thinking that if this person was going to commit a crime, he didn’t want to flee naked.

However, Li Chengyuan’s expression was obscure and indeterminate. Instead of being angry, his eyes flashed as if an intense panic had suddenly eased.

Xia Xingchi blinked suspiciously, unable to think of why he would display such a look, let alone what caused the madman to act this way.

But after careful inspection, Li Chengyuan’s face only carried calm indifference, and what he saw just now seemed to have been an illusion.

So the two stared at each other without knowing what to do, and the scene fell into a death-like silence.

Xia Xingchi thought that Li Chengyuan would either say something or leave quickly, but this person was oblivious, just staring at him intently.

It was fine to endure this kind of sudden and terrifying stare from time to time, the only problem was that he was taking a bath at the moment, and he was completely naked.

The whole picture was very absurd.

The corners of Xia Xingchi’s mouth twitched, but he dared not speak out. He could only hold back his greetings to the eighteen generations of ancestors[3] and ask with a fake smile: “Sir, there is a fee for watching, two hundred per time. Mortgage, credit, and loan installments are not supported. Do you prefer Alipay or WeChat?”

These words finally brought Li Chengyuan back to his senses.

The panic and anger from not being able to find this person just now ebbed away like the tide, and he immediately looked away with a frown, not deliberately wanting to stare.

Unexpectedly, he couldn’t help painting a complete picture in his mind —

Surrounded by misty steam, the young man leaned back in the water and looked up at him slightly. His wet hair matched his beautiful eyes, and he looked very well-behaved.

Fair, milky skin, slightly reddened from soaking in the hot water……

Li Chengyuan pursed his lips. The more he tried not to think about it, the more this scene continued to show up in front of him.

The temperature in the room seemed to be continuously rising, and the atmosphere gradually became indescribably heated and strange.

On the contrary, Xia Xingchi didn’t think much of it, and insouciantly soaked in the water without hiding.

Although he preferred men, it didn’t look like this man was deliberately taking advantage.

What’s more, his opponent was Li Chengyuan. If he really wanted to, he wouldn’t use this sort of dirty method. He would just strip him naked and look at him openly.

There was an 80 percent chance that he was just out of his mind and didn’t know what he was doing.

Li Chengyuan took a deep breath and finally calmed down completely. He said in a solemn tone: “Don’t let me be unable to find you again.”

That expression was terrifying, as if he was going to swallow someone alive.

In the face of this, Xia Xingchi couldn’t help feeling fearful and baffled.

— For fuck’s sake, I’m just taking a bath. You’d think I had violated some kind of rule.

“Sir, I’m right here, I can’t just evaporate on the spot.”

They were already in his territory. Even if he wanted to run, where would he go?

To his surprise, Li Chengyuan didn’t say a word upon hearing this, his face cold as he remained silent.

It seemed that he was really contemplating the possibility of him performing a magician’s trick and disappearing out of nowhere.

Xia Xingchi: “……?” Sir, why are you thinking so seriously?

The big villain was not only crazy, but also appeared to have a serious brain disease.

Whichever mental asylum he escaped from, please hurry up and take him back.

– – – 

Even if there was a small interlude that was less than fantastic, taking a bath was always amazing.

Xia Xingchi put on a bathrobe, feeling as comfortable as if he was about to melt.

As soon as he went out, he saw the big white dumpling appear at the door of his room in the classic posture of a kitty cat squatting like a loaf of bread.

Summer looked inside curiously, as if it wanted to secretly observe and approach the newcomer in its home.

But the person and cat looked at each other for a moment, and then it hurriedly raised its tail and ran away.

How could a cat be delivered to his door without being petted? Xia Xingchi was overjoyed, and swiftly chased after it without even thinking to dry his hair.

When approaching the study, he heard Li Chengyuan’s voice: “Xia Xingchi, come in.”

Xia Xingchi promptly came to a stop.

There was an illusion that he was being called to the office by the cold-faced principal, and he stood there in shock without daring to move.

But in the end, the villain was too scary, so Xia Xingchi had no choice but to poke his head into the study, praying internally that he had heard wrong.

At first glance, he saw Summer, who was not to be trifled with just now, sitting obediently on the desk and rolling upside down to beg for pets.

Its grim owner ignored it completely, and pushed it aside for being in the way.

The two locked eyes, and Xia Xi had to bite the bullet and enter the room. “Mr. Li, what do you need from me?”

There was an extra chair in the study, but Li Chengyuan didn’t signal for him to sit on it, and only ordered: “Go dry your hair first.”

“Huh?” Xia Xingchi tilted his head, waved a hand casually, and said, “It’s okay, it will be dry in a while.”

He’d had this bad habit ever since his old knock-off hair dryer malfunctioned and nearly caught fire. Anyway, air-drying would do, and he was reluctant to buy a new one.

To his surprise, Li Chengyuan sent someone to deliver a hairdryer directly, and the servant plugged it in very considerately before handing it to Xia Xingchi.

Xia Xingchi was very puzzled – Sir, are you going to stare at me and let me blow-dry my hair in your workplace?

The aura of the big villain was too strong. Xia Xingchi had a limited understanding of him, and felt that if he didn’t follow along, blood would splatter on the spot.

He was forced to quickly surrender and obediently comply.

Li Chengyuan looked at this person’s slightly long, soft, and fluffy hair, and finally nodded: “Sit.”

Summer lay on the desk between the two of them and raised its fluffy white paw to scratch the pen holder beside it.

Li Chengyuan tapped the desk with his slender fingers, and it immediately “meowed,” standing up lightly and jumping into his arms.

It pretended to be a big, cute hand warmer.

Xia Xingchi sat to the side, his eyes wide and envious.

Then he watched as Li Chengyuan casually tossed it onto the ground.

Summer pushed lightly at his trousers to request pets, unwilling to give up, but its cruel owner was completely indifferent.

How could he refuse the spoiled behavior of a beautiful cat?

Seeing this, Xia Xingchi wanted to roar “If you don’t want it, just give it to me! You really don’t know what a blessing looks like!”

But Li Chengyuan pointed at the place where Summer had just been sitting – there was a bank card.

A little money grubber had a particularly strong sensitivity to “money” and various related things, and his attention was instantly diverted from the kitty cat.

Is it for me?!

Although he was instantaneously excited, he still tried to hide the big tail of his true nature.

So the corners of his mouth were clearly raised to the sky, but he still sat quietly, staring at the desk without blinking.

From Li Chengyuan’s perspective, that person seemed to be like a little hedgehog who had put away his spikes in an instant, pretending to be cute as he waited for a meal.

He laughed inwardly and couldn’t help wanting to touch Xia Xingchi’s soft, fluffy hair.

This idea passed in a flash, and he said very perfunctorily: “This is your pocket money.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the little hedgehog’s eyes lit up.

Even though he tried his best to conceal it, he still had his emotions written across his face, eagerly poking his head over to find out how much money was on it.

Xia Xingchi never expected to have income.

Enjoying the life of a wealthy family with food and lodging included, he was already quite happy without bringing in money.

In addition, the cold, abstinent villain obviously didn’t need some kind of bed-warming service.

As an unproductive little waste, a lucky accessory with nothing to do, Xia Xingchi estimated that he wasn’t worth much.

But he still couldn’t help but hope that the super-rich tycoon would be very generous, such as giving him thousands of dollars a month for free.

He heard Li Chengyuan calmly say: “One million a month.”

Oh, only a……

— A million?!

That voice was not loud, but it seemed as if it pierced the sky and cracked the earth, stunning Xia Xingchi on the spot.

Good god, even if you weighed him and sold him, he wouldn’t have that much meat, let alone be worth so much money!

Who was the crazy, ruthless villain?

Anyway, it couldn’t be his dear fiance whom he had fallen in love with at first sight. His benefactor was of course the best and most handsome person in the world!

Li Chengyuan saw that he was stupefied at first, and then giggled foolishly as if he was having an out-of-body experience, and he also smiled slightly.

But he soon returned to his indifferent expression, and coughed lightly to signal him to return to his senses.

“Your job is to play my……lover.” Li Chengyuan picked up his teacup, and the awkwardness in his eyes was hidden by the liquid. “This includes marrying me.”

Even if he wanted him to pluck the stars out of the sky, the huge monthly salary of one million was enough for the little money-grubber to work hard.

“Not a problem.” Xia Xingchi nodded as if his life depended on it. “Don’t worry, Mr. Li, I can play all types of lovers, I can be a partner of any style!”

“Whatever style is fine. But first you need to change how you address me —”

As soon as he spoke, Xia Xingchi changed his words quite simply: “Husband!”

Li Chengyuan was drinking tea, and when he heard this unexpected word, he coughed violently.

[1] “Brick mover” refers to hard, thankless work. ⮐

[2] Grandma Liu is a character in the well-known story “A Dream of Red Mansions.” This phrase refers to a person who comes from the countryside/poverty and steps foot for the first time into the world of wealth and luxury. ⮐

[3] One might use this as an insult, such as, “screw your ancestors to the eighteenth generation.” ⮐