CH 28

Xia Xingchi’s eyes widened upon hearing these words, and he looked at Li Chengyuan doubtfully.

They had a showdown last night, and he also gave ironclad evidence that the other had recognized the wrong person. Yet this person didn’t fire him, but wanted to give him a raise?

It couldn’t be that he performed well the day before by giving him a good scolding. Was such a prickly firecracker of an employee worthy of praise?

The more he thought about it, the more suspicious he became. Xia Xingchi didn’t say a word, staring at that person vigilantly with his big, wet, red eyes as he tried to find some suspicious clues.

Li Chengyuan also gazed down at him in silence, patiently letting him look.

The atmosphere was silent for a time, and then footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door.

The director stood at the door and said loudly: “President Li! Xingchi! Are you awake? We’re coming in!”

This was a classic segment. Regardless of whether the guests were still asleep or hadn’t put on makeup, as long as they weren’t changing their clothes, they would be subject to surprise shots.

It was only that this was Li Chengyuan’s place, so some warning needed to be given. The gold master was different, after all, and what if the couple were playing around early in the morning……

Now that they were at the heart of the struggle with Xia Yu, the audience would probably erupt if they saw them sleeping together.

A few seconds after the voice sounded, the dilapidated wooden door was pushed open softly —

Xia Xingchi was startled, not having expected that they would suddenly broadcast live. Presently, the tears in his rabbit-like eyes and on his face were very obvious.

But Li Chengyuan reacted with great speed, quickly stuffing his head back under the blanket and wrapping him up tightly.

“Go out first.” Li Chengyuan stood after rolling up his small rice ball. “He hasn’t woken up yet.”

The camera captured Xia Xingchi after he was rolled up. The director hesitated for half a second, then imagined something even more unsuitable for children, and hurriedly exited the room.

[Wow! Wow! He’s worthy of being the boss, no matter what he says, his manner is imposing]

[How doting! To actually drive away the director because Xingchi was sleeping, rich people privilege hahahahaha]

[No matter what people say, I really think these two are a good couple. Mr. Li treats him completely differently from others!]

[Wu wu wu President Li always looks so handsome while protecting Xingchi, I ship it to death]

[Pei! This only shows that Li Chengyuan is a gentleman! Was the slap in the face not hard enough? Why are you still fooling around?]

[Declaring once again that Xia Xingchi is a male mistress. Do we need to shove the photo in your face again?]

[Who can prove that the photo is real, ah? Maybe there’s only a resemblance. After all, it’s so blurry, it might be photoshopped]

[It must be real! How can there be people who happen to be so similar to Mr. Li and Xiao Yu? You just wait for a slap in the face ba]

[It doesn’t matter who gets slapped in the face (Li-Style Get Lost.gif)]

. . . . . .

Everyone was waiting to have a feast. Once they left, Xia Xingchi poked his head out of the bedding again.

Li Chengyuan stroked his red and swollen eye sockets with his cold fingers, looking down and saying: “Your eyes are swollen from crying, so I asked for an ice pack.”

A certain little liar always had a knack for thinking wildly. It was fine to violently beat people, but unexpectedly, he cried first. Not only did this make Li Chengyuan feel distressed, but he also really seemed to feel sympathy for him.

Xia Xingchi hummed in embarrassment, and after realizing something, he emphasized again: “An eyelash got in my eye! I wasn’t crying!”

He got into the covers again after that, and when the ice pack arrived, he reached out a hand and pulled it in, like a little hedgehog hiding himself under the blanket.

There was silence all around. Xia Xingchi pricked up his ears and couldn’t hear anything, but he knew Li Chengyuan was still sitting at his side.

From the time he met this big villain, he knew that this person had a terrible hobby. He liked to stare at him quietly for long periods of time with strange eyes, and sat at his bedside to watch him that first night.

But now that all the misunderstandings had been resolved and the truth had come out, why didn’t Li Chengyuan leave?

His attitude toward him hadn’t changed, and was even a little better than before.

The two remained in a stalemate for a long moment, separated by a layer of blanket. Xia Xingchi decided to break the silence first and hesitantly asked in a low voice:

“You……are you really going to double my salary?”

Li Chengyuan was a little taken aback when he heard these words. He obviously didn’t expect that Xia Xingchi wouldn’t ask him why he didn’t leave, nor ask about the stand-in anymore. After holding back for so long, the most irrelevant question was asked instead.

So he replied indifferently with a blank face: “Yes. And maybe more, if you make me happy.”

– For example, placing all the property under his name.

However, based on the little liar’s bad behavior, Li Chengyuan didn’t intend to tell him that. He wouldn’t make the same mistakes and give everything to him too early before he got him locked up.

Xia Xingchi then quickly got out of bed with the ice pack on, trying hard to hide his excitement but to no avail: 

“Really? This is what you said, you wanted to raise the salary! Don’t go back on your word!”

It couldn’t be helped, the boss gave so much money. Xia Xingchi firmly believed that he was not this joyful due to hearing that Li Chengyuan was not going to leave his side.

Li Chengyuan immediately took out his phone, tapped the screen a few times with his slender fingers, and then held it up to show him —

Xia Xingchi took a closer look and was shocked. This guy actually turned around and paid him for ten months on the spot?!

“You can’t resign after receiving the money, understand?” As he spoke, Li Chengyuan reached out and fixed the crooked ice pack so that it covered his eyes again.

The huge windfall naturally caused the little money-grubber to nod excitedly, and the ice pack was thrown askew again. Li Chengyuan had no choice but to straighten it once more.

But after a while, Xia Xingchi realized that something was wrong……because Li Chengyuan’ life was not that long.

Thinking of this, Xia Xingchi couldn’t help but bite his lip hard, his eyes a little hot.

Just thinking that he left had made him so sad, and the original concept of “giving him the best hospice care and inheriting his legacy” no longer seemed so simple and easy.

– – –

After applying the ice pack for a while, the redness and swelling from the tears finally subsided. Xia Xingchi finally “woke up” and appeared in front of the camera after washing up and getting ready.

One didn’t need to look in order to know what a huge storm his appearance would stir up in the live broadcast, especially after being in the same frame with Xia Yu again.

Fortunately, he had ignored Xia Yu’s friendliness yesterday, and there was no shame in continuing on today as if he couldn’t see that green tea spirit.

Xia Yu was like a strong white lotus who could “kindly forgive the mistress even while wearing a green hat,” greeting him as if nothing had happened. This also guaranteed that after the rumors were dismantled, he could pretend to be ignorant of the matter.

Everyone could only pretend that they didn’t know anything about this business, and that it had nothing to do with them. After all, everyone knew who the genuine article was.

[Why are Xia Xingchi’s eye sockets a little red, ah? Could he have been crying?]

[Hug hug baby. He must be sad to be framed and insulted with such ugly words. Ai, don’t cry, don’t cry, we all believe in you]

[Hehe If you become a mistress, you should expect to be scolded. Don’t be a **** and expect to keep a good name]

[Never mind the idiot upstairs, Xingchi is definitely Mrs. Li!]

[Hehehe……thinking of happy places. Maybe he was crying when he did things that can’t be described with Mr. Li last night, and he got up late in the morning too hehehe……]

[I’m the first to object to the sister upstairs withdrawing from the literary world hehe]

[It’s really true. No wonder Mr. Li wrapped up Xingchi so nobody could see him. Could it be that there were traces of love on his body? (Dog head)]

[What happened? Whose pants did I just trip over? Oh, they’re mine]

Xia Xingchi did not expect things to go in the direction of sexual association, and only thought that there must be all kinds of ugly insults.

But in any case, now that Li Chenyuan was by his side, those words didn’t seem to be as lethal. They weren’t as important as rolling up his sleeves and making breakfast. After all, someone with a glass stomach always had low blood sugar, and precious ones could not go hungry.

As expected, Li Chengyuan still occupied the position of assisting the cook. He walked into the kitchen naturally and began to add wood to the stove to make a fire.

Xia Xingchi had already given up and didn’t bother trying to make him leave. Anyway, the act that was hanging by a thread could drop at any time. The poverty-stricken had nothing to lose and didn’t fear power.

He searched for the leftover ingredients from yesterday and decided in the end to use the remaining two goose eggs to make goose egg noodles for everyone. As he did so, he also cooked some cornmeal porridge and a few more light dishes.

While cooking the porridge, he glanced at the place where the camera had been yesterday. No wonder Li Chengyuan didn’t attack it again today. The spot was empty, and there was no camera in the kitchen.

Maybe the program team wanted to help him hide the relationship, or maybe it was on Li Chengyuan’s orders. Xia Xingchi heaved a sigh of relief. Even if he wasn’t afraid, he didn’t want to be filmed and recorded at all hours of the day.

Especially after seeing those malicious out-of-context clips that morning.

Li Chengyuan was not very efficient at working the bellows yesterday, but today he had fully mastered the skill and quickly raised the fire.

The smoke drifted up the chimney and there was no strong smell in the kitchen, only the faint scent of food and burning firewood.

Xia Xingchi put the noodles into the pot and began to study how to make goose egg custard.

Because that damn Xia Yu had disrupted the situation yesterday, Xia Xingchi didn’t pick up too many eggs. In addition to cooking the remaining eggs, he decided to also secretly cook a goose egg custard for his big cat alone.

“You’re in the way.” While stirring the egg mixture, Xia Xingchi kicked Li Chenyuan’s legs that couldn’t be stretched out due to sitting on the wooden bench. “Sir, I suggest you go sit in the water tank, don’t take up space here.”

This crude kitchen was small in the first place, and a certain person had no intention of leaving after starting the fire.

He still sat to the side with a blank expression on his face and watched Xia Xingchi, carrying on his hobby of staring silently like a feline.

Li Chengyuan moved slightly to the side upon hearing this, but Xia Xingchi was still so crowded that almost fell into his arms, so he had no choice but to kick him again.

The two of them moved and kicked in such a quiet and childish manner, repeating this many times in a row, and only stopped temporarily when Li Xiu poked his head in curiously to see what they were cooking.

“It really smells delicious, ah!” Li Xiu said with admiration. He thought for a moment and said sincerely, “In fact, we lazy bastards don’t really eat breakfast. Xingchi, don’t wear yourself out tomorrow, just sleep in.”

He had thought that the “cooking” Xia Xingchi mentioned might mean finding some pickled vegetable steamed buns, and didn’t expect something so rich.

Xia Xingchi blinked, and was all smiles as he said: “No way, ah, if you’re raising a big golden cat, it has to have warm food every day.”

After saying so, he raised his leg and kicked Li Chengyuan lightly.

He had seen the changes in everyone’s expressions yesterday. Xia Xingchi was likely too angry to control his voice during their quarrel and was overheard.

The pot was already cracked, so he simply smashed it to pieces. There was no need to hide their relationship in front of these few people.

Li Xiu was stunned for a few seconds. Seeing him kick Li Chengyuan, he was subconsciously terrified at first, and then instantly realized which big cat was being talked about.

But……hadn’t they avoided making an official announcement in front of the camera so far? Why did he directly say it?

Li Xiu turned his head suspiciously and glanced at the new camera. This time it was not unplugged and was still working normally, dedicated to live broadcasting the kitchen scene to tens of millions of viewers.

Looking at the empty original camera position again, Li Xiu realized in shock that Xia Xingchi seemed to have mistakenly thought that the camera was removed?!

Yesterday, the boss had unplugged it as soon as he entered the door. The program team didn’t dare to offend him or refuse, but they couldn’t lie to the audience that “the device was out of battery” again and again.

So they had to hang the camera in a very high position, where even Li Chengyuan couldn’t reach.

After this adjustment, the program team also specially sent out a notice to the group, but at that time, Xia Xingchi’s attention was all on the hot searches and all kinds of bloody storms.

After that, he secretly shed tears and applied ice with his eyes closed, so he had no time to pay attention to group notifications.

“Xingchi……uh, look……”

Li Xiu wondered if they were doing anything in the kitchen just now, and could only raise his eyebrows as a friendly reminder.

Li Chengyuan suddenly turned his head and looked over with cold eyes.

The fierce aura immediately startled Li Xiu, as if he had been caught in person by the principal when cheating for an exam, and he quickly closed the door and ran away.

Xia Xingchi was puzzled, and seemed to not have understood his abstract expression, so he turned around and asked Li Chengyuan: “What did he mean? Did Li Xiu have something to say, ah?”

After a long period of silence in the comment area, it completely recovered and exploded at this moment:

[Save me, weren’t the two of them acting like polite strangers yesterday and calling Mr. Li? How are they on a first name basis today? Did I miss something?]

[Hahahaha I’m dying. Kicking and moving, this tyrant is so cute in private!]

[I suspect they know each other privately and just pretended not to know each other for the show]

[I dare say this is not suspected private acquaintances, but suspected love]

[From the beginning, I guessed that breakfast was made for Li Chengyuan’s sake. It is said that he’s not in good health and may have a stomach problem, so he must eat breakfast]

[Is the “big golden cat” Mr. Li? He said he was raising him?! And the person involved just sat beside him with a blank expression, without any intention of refuting?]

[I don’t believe it! The same can be done between friends, ah. Without intimate actions, the phrase “big cat” certainly doesn’t mean that!]

[Isn’t this male mistress being provocative? He’s already rushed to the top of the hot search list, and he’s escalating as if nothing happened? Sluts aren’t allowed, go away!]

[Reporting the person upstairs! By the way, looking at Li Xiu’s expression, Xingchi doesn’t seem to know there’s a camera ~ ]

[Judging by Mr. Li’s appearance, he should know. Could it be that Xingchi didn’t want to make an official announcement, so he did it on purpose?]

[Bullshit, what kind of official announcement nonsense, can’t you see the hot search? Xia Yu is the official partner, thank you]

Xia Xingchi was obviously unaware of the horrific crash, and was still cooking seriously.

The goose egg custard was steamed very quickly. At first glance, it didn’t seem much different from eggs, and he wasn’t sure how it would taste.

He handed it to Li Chengyuan behind him: “There’s only enough left to make one custard. Eat it quickly, don’t let the Sherlock Holmeses on the internet see me cooking for you.”

A group of netizens: ?

Li Chengyuan pursed his lips and remained silent. If Xia Xingchi turned his head at this time, he would definitely see the expression of someone trying to hold in a laugh.

It was a pity that he was concentrating on cooking. After a while, he tilted his head and asked: “How is it, ah, is it tasty? Does it just taste like eggs?”

Li Chengyuan: “You try it.”

Xia Xingchi had never eaten goose egg custard at his age, so he was indeed very curious. When he turned around, Li Chengyuan had already filled a spoonful and handed it over.

When Li Chengyuan drank his hot cocoa at the fashion soiree last time, he found that he had a double standard for this person’s cleanliness, and wasn’t particular about sharing a spoon with him now.

Xia Xingchi was trying his best to control this huge iron pot so as not to burn the dishes, so he took a quick bite without thinking about it.

[Mama! Why did they share a spoon? Isn’t this an indirect kiss?!]

[He wanted to make a small fuss over President Li and didn’t want us to know! No way! (caught red-handed.jpg)]

[Oh my god, after waking up to watch the live broadcast, the world has gone crazy? It’s really Xia Xingchi? It’s really that low-tier stupid trash?]

[Knock it, knock it! It’s definitely not the first time they’ve done this, they have to be a couple! Xingchi actually turned out to be a rich little boyfriend at large?]

[It’s just a spoon, look how excited you are. I also shared a cup of milk tea with my best friend. Isn’t that normal?]

[Mr. Li is a clean freak! Did you notice that everyone used serving chopsticks to pick up the dishes last night? It’s clearly because he was there]

[That’s not an intimate move either. Don’t try to save his dignity or mess with our Xia Yu’s fiance, OK? Anyway, no matter how envious you are, your idol is not worthy]

Xia Xingchi savored it carefully for a while, and finally had an answer: “It’s not too bad?”

After thinking about it, he howled: “So eat it fast, ah! Please go out quickly after eating, I’m almost sitting on your lap while I cook! I’m crowded to death!”

Li Chengyuan looked at him calmly and expressionlessly and said: “Sit.”

His stubborn appearance was quite annoying. Holding the spatula in one hand, Xia Xingchi tilted his head and said earnestly: 

“Sir, do you think I dare not? I specialize in dealing with all kinds of stubbornness, and I’ll make you pay a price for your words!”

With that said, he really took a step forward and sat directly on Li Chengyuan’s lap.

Not only did he sit on it, but he even got away with tilting his head and grasping the other’s chin: “How about it……hm? Wait.”

Before he finished speaking, Xia Xingchi suddenly felt that something was wrong.

Although it seemed to others that Li Chengyuan wasn’t wearing much of an expression at the moment, Xia Xingchi was already familiar with him and knew that he was holding back a smile.

The question was, what could the big villain be smiling at?

Xia Xingchi hurriedly got off of him and tried to put as much distance between them as possible, both vigilant and puzzled: “What are you going to do?”

Combined with Li Chengyuan’s extraordinarily ambiguous actions just now, it was as if a bolt of inspiration flashed through his mind.

Xia Xingchi suddenly had an outrageous intuition, and hastily raised his head to look around —

On the corner of the wall above, a camera with a flashing red light faced the two of them. It could be called a rather silent and resentful working machine, showing everyone all the actions just now in real time.

Xia Xingchi was instantly dumbfounded.