CH 31

Xia Xingchi was already asleep, but he was startled by Li Chengyuan’s sudden raised voice.

Although this person had a terrible temper, he was calm most of the time. It was rare for him to have such a moment of volatility, sudden and unprovoked.

“Why so loud all of a sudden?” Xia Xingchi tugged at his ears as his soul almost flew away. “I’m just talking nonsense, you —”

Before he could finish speaking, Li Chengyuan, who was anxious to get up just now, fell back down again.

Perhaps due to his urgency, he began to cough uncontrollably.

Xia Xingchi was at a loss. He couldn’t help but suspect that he had said something terrible in a daze just now, but after thinking about it, he felt that he really hadn’t said anything.

“Someone is waiting for me in the rain.” Wasn’t such a meaningless statement at best a bit literary?

After all, even a great poet hoped to meet a girl on a rainy lane.[1] The difference was that she had symbolic meaning and connotation, while he was just chatting indiscriminately.

For some reason, these words stimulated the fragile glass heart of his big kitty cat apropos of nothing.

Xia Xingchi touched Li Chengyuan’s forehead, which was covered in cold sweat, then touched his palms and cramping stomach.

“Don’t get excited, don’t get excited!” Seeing that Li Chengyuan’s stomach hurt to the point of speechlessness, Xia Xingchi stroked his fur at once. “You took it seriously when I was talking in my sleep just now? Are you confused?”

“Did you……forget something……”

Li Chengyuan’s voice was low and difficult to understand, perhaps because of the intensified stomach pain or because of his fluctuating emotions.

He grabbed Xia Xingchi’s wrist with cold hands, gritted his teeth, and tried to sit up, but Xia Xingchi pushed him back down on the bed: “Lie down! Where is your medicine?”

Xia Xingchi had already figured out what kind of stomach medicine he was taking. The pain was so severe that he had to take anticonvulsants to relieve it.

“Xia Xingchi! Answer me!”

Raising his voice unexpectedly, Li Chengyuan promptly pulled Xia Xingchi’s wrist and dragged him back to the bed!

Xia Xingchi almost fell on top of him. Being yelled at by him was inexplicable. How could this person’s temper just come out of nowhere?

“Answer what, ah.” Xia Xingchi looked at how sick he was and didn’t argue with him for the time being. “What can I forget? I have a good memory – you don’t want to say that I have amnesia, do you?”

As soon as these words were spoken, Xia Xingchi finally understood what was going on with Li Chengyuan.

The second he encountered something related to his “White Moonlight,” he would go crazy. Xia Xingchi had thought he’d given up when he didn’t meet the age requirements before, realizing that he was not his White Moonlight.

Unexpectedly, he had deceived himself and others to the point that he would rather believe in idol drama tropes such as “amnesia.” He was really insane.

At the thought of this, Xia Xingchi sighed with mixed emotions. On the one hand, he felt sour and uncomfortable on his own behalf, and on the other, he felt sorry for the villain and hoped for his sake that he could find the real White Moonlight.

After hearing this firm denial, Li Chengyuan was completely silent.

Xia Xingchi only thought that he had finally lost hope, having confirmed that the substitute and the White Moonlight were two different people, so he got up and turned on the light to find medicine for him.

Fortunately, apart from the poor appliances and facilities, the program team tried their best to quietly replace all the accessories with the best ones, so that the guests would not really have to “experience life.”

The water in the thermos was still very hot. Xia Xingchi mixed a cup of warm water and poured in two packs of stomach medicine: “Boss, get up and take the medicine.”

Li Chengyuan’s face had turned pale from the pain, and it took him a long time to say haltingly in a hoarse voice: “I won’t, turn off the light and go to sleep.”

Xia Xingchi only thought that since his hopes of finding the White Moonlight had been dashed, he was so depressed and his stomach hurt so badly that he didn’t want to take medicine. He couldn’t help feeling sorry for him, but was also inexplicably annoyed, wanting to give him a hard punch.

He also wished he could really be his White Moonlight.

According to Li Chengyuan’s state of mad paranoia, if Xia Xingchi insisted that he lost his memory, and even if the age bug was there, even if he didn’t come from this world at all, maybe Li Chengyuan would believe it without hesitation.

Xia Xingchi sighed. There was a moral bottom line, after all.

It would be too vicious to use lies to impersonate and deceive in order to seize the affection that should belong to others.

“Hurry up and take the medicine!” Xia Xingchi forcibly helped Li Chengyuan up, feeling sour and uncomfortable. “If your White Moonlight knew that you were sick and didn’t take medicine, they would definitely be sad and distressed!”

He thought a certain person would be more heartbroken after hearing this, and expected that he would get angry or refuse to take medicine even more stubbornly.

Who could have imagined that after hearing this, Li Chengyuan would smile with difficulty: “Do you feel distressed?”

“I’m not your —” Xia Xingchi bit back half of the sentence.

Forget it, they didn’t need to talk about it now. He vaguely felt that Li Chengyuan’s mind was a little bit wrong, and it would be over if he became crazy again.

“Yes, I feel distressed.” Xia Xingchi seriously changed his words.

This sentence was not a lie. Although he wasn’t the right person, seeing him dripping with cold sweat from an attack of stomach pain made his heart ache.

Li Chengyuan’s pale lips were slightly pursed, and he obediently took the medicine as if he had been comfortably stroked.

Only then did Xia Xingchi heave a sigh of relief, turn off the light, and lay down to continue rubbing his stomach. He felt more and more that he was raising a bad-tempered big cat with a glass heart and a glass stomach.

If you competed with him, you would lose, and if he got angry, he may bite off the head of his keeper.

– – –

Because Xia Xingchi would overturn the car during the surprise shooting every morning, the program crew felt terrified that they might be included on young master Xia’s assassination list, and were quite nervous this morning.

Surprisingly, this time was entirely outside the norm. Xia Xingchi was actually squatting at the door ahead of them, and when he saw the people from the program team coming, he immediately made a gesture for silence so that they wouldn’t announce themselves with a megaphone this time.

“Shhh, he’s asleep, don’t wake him up,” Xia Xingchi whispered.

He’d thought he would be fine after taking medicine, but it didn’t take long for Li Chengyuan to start feeling sick.

He had barely eaten anything all day, and only clear water mixed with medicine was vomited up, but he still retched uncontrollably. Xia Xingchi could hardly bear witnessing his stomach pain, and could only worry about it from the sidelines.

Even so, this man was still able to push Xia Xingchi away with difficulty, muttering things like “dirty,” “stay away,” and “I’m fine,” and insisted on pushing him back to the room to sleep.

It was fortunate that Xia Xingchi didn’t actually leave. He had just taken a step back when Li Chengyuan swayed and almost passed out due to hypoglycemia.

In addition, the low-grade fever started up again in the second half of the night, and he wasn’t able to sleep for most of it. In any case, Li Chengyuan would definitely not be able to shoot the reality show today.

Xia Xingchi requested in a low voice: “He wasn’t feeling well yesterday, let him rest well today.”

Since discovering that the early bird catches the worm, a group of veteran CP fans had specially set their alarms in order to get up early to watch the live broadcast.

[Oh oh oh! Arranging this so naturally, he has the aura of the empress of the palace!]

[Sure enough, whoever knocks CP! Baby loves to sleep so much, but he can get up early to catch the program team in advance to prevent them from waking Mr. Li. Knock it!]

[Wu wu wu this beautiful love. Mr. Li’s original fans have almost all become CP fans these days, they love each other so much]

At the same time, fans who received the news promptly wailed: 

[President Li is sick? Is it serious? Oh my male god, wu wu]

[The conditions are too difficult! Mr. Li seems to be in weak health all the time. He didn’t eat much yesterday, so he might be done]

[Help, I feel so distressed, I want to see the male god!]

The program team immediately expressed concerns and worries on behalf of the fans, and Xia Xingchi said: “Don’t worry, everyone, he just has a stomach problem and a low-grade fever. When he wakes up, I’ll cook him some porridge, and he’ll be fine once his body temperature drops.”

Only then did the fans feel relieved, and then they couldn’t help but start knocking:

[This is too skillful, it’s certainly not his first time taking care of this! I don’t believe that they didn’t know each other before!]

[The genuine article is different, hahahaha Xia Yu’s leg hairs, is this not a slap in the face, ah?]

[I have already imagined the image of Xingchi leaning into Mr. Li’s arms and rubbing his stomach, I’m knocking to death! Yuanchi is the best ever!]

[@Program group, let Xingchi baby have a good rest, he must not have slept well last night]

[Seconding. Let baby sleep well, Mr. Li must be accompanied by someone. Of course! I wouldn’t mind seeing their sugar-sprinkling actions for myself!]

[This person begs Xingchi to feed the porridge with his own hands! Spoon or mouth feeding, we’re not picky! Begging for sugar, begging for sugar]

The program team naturally nodded. Even if the fans didn’t order them, they didn’t dare to tire Young Master Xia.

What’s more, after the gold master woke up, who knew if he would be furious to find out that the little fiance had been snatched up to record the show and was not by his side?

Xia Xingchi pricked up his ears, and when he heard that he could go back to sleep and still get paid, he was immediately overjoyed. Waving goodbye to everyone, he then quickly and happily returned to the room.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered the door, he saw Li Chengyuan sitting up with a pale face, as if he wanted to get out of bed.

“Why are you awake? Go back to sleep, go back to sleep.” Xia Xingchi quickly pushed him back down. “What do you want? I’ll get it for you. Do you want some water?”

Li Chengyuan grabbed his hand. His voice was hoarse and weak, but still commanding: “Let me look at you.”

Xia Xingchi was taken aback by these words. So this person got up just to find him?

How could he be this clingy while he was sick, so afraid that he would run away?

In all honesty, where could he run in the deep mountains and old forests?

The low-grade fever was the biggest ordeal, and Li Chengyuan was obviously in a bad state of mind. This person was beginning to seem like a child again.

Xia Xingchi was worried that he would jump from this stage to the point of madness in a while, so he didn’t dare to provoke him at all, lest he suddenly explode.

He obediently listened to the villain’s order and took off his coat, then happily lay back on the bed to sleep with pay.

Li Chengyuan still seemed anxious, and stretched out his arms to hold him and prevent him from running around, then drowsily fell asleep.

– – –

Due to Xia Xingchi’s absence, everyone was a little torn between omitting breakfast or eating dark cuisine,[2] and then chose to forgo eating without hesitation.

After all, when they added themselves together, the only one who knew a little bit of cooking was Han Yuanhe. But according to An Jing’s complaints, the food he made was so hard that even dogs wouldn’t eat it, and whoever ate it would go insane.

Han Yuanhe scratched his head and said: “I can still make noodles, ba. And I can also make pickles, which are actually quite good.”

Half an hour later, after a burst of chaos, there was a large bowl of half-raw mushy batter on the table.

The handful of people looked at each other, and finally affirmed An Jing’s evaluation of her boyfriend.

[Good god, a dog would indeed shake its head to see this]

[Life without Xia Xingchi turns out to be so difficult. I finally understand why this episode seems so easy, it’s because of Xia Xingchi!]

[Wu wu wu So what will they do for lunch? I’m so worried]

[It doesn’t matter, Xingchi should come to cook in a while. After all, Mr. Li has to eat porridge]

[I’m late today, can anyone tell me why there are only three people left on the screen?]

[Mr. Li has a stomach problem and Xingchi is taking care of him……but why isn’t Xia Yu here? What is he doing?]

[It must be because Xia Yu has to take care of his fiance, ah! Xiao Yu is his lover, Xia Xingchi is just an ordinary roommate. Oh, I mean male mistress]

[Latest news! There is rather credible inside information that Li Chengyuan just got engaged to the young master of the Xia family last month. There are pictures and evidence!]

[I saw it! I knew Xiao Yu was the real deal!]

This revelation was not only convincing, but it was indeed true. The black gold-stamped invitation card was not cheap at first glance, and the names of the Xia and Li families were written in golden characters.

According to research, the person who broke the news was a waiter at a top private club in Beijing, which was the venue for the engagement dinner.

It was said that this person broke the news offhandedly and with “good intentions,” because he had already resigned. In addition to the invitation, there was also a pixelated work badge. With the incomparably luxurious occasion that day and the celebrities from all walks of life who participated in the banquet, if you added it all together, it was indeed full of truth.

[What else can you say this time? Could it be that after saying that Xia Xingchi is his fiance, you want to say that he is the young master of the Xia family?]

[Is this a slap in the face? I think Xia Xingchi’s fans should eat more plums, now you know what it means to be well-matched socially, ba]

[Don’t think they’re the same because they both have the surname Xia. Xiao Yu is the young master of a wealthy family, and your idol is just third-rate trash from the countryside]

This breaking news was quickly put on the hot search by interested people. After much research, it turned out that none of it was fake, but all of it was true.

Li Chengyuan’s public relations team specially formed for Xia Xingchi was also a little confused about this. After all, although the trend of this hot search was completely wrong, everything was indeed true.

This was quite tricky. They wanted to guide the trend of public opinion, but couldn’t. The truth of “Xia Xingchi is the young master of the Xia family” had no foundation before this, and Li Chengyuan must be consulted if it was to be exposed.

Their boss couldn’t be contacted for the time being, so they could only adapt to the changes and wait, letting fans of both sides fight wildly first.

Xia Yu, who had disappeared early in the morning, suddenly appeared at this time, dressed neatly as if he had been doing something.

“Good morning, everyone!” Even if the brains of people online had turned into those of dogs, green tea feigned ignorance as always.

Because Xia Yu didn’t continue to forcibly insert himself yesterday in order to gain popularity, his CP fans had finally restrained themselves a bit. Unexpectedly, something happened today and they suddenly made a mighty comeback.

Seeing the three people looking at each other with bowls full of dark cuisine, and two people obviously missing, Xia Yu quickly asked with great concern: “Where are Mr. Li and Xingchi-ge?”

“President Li is sick, Xingchi is taking care of him.” Li Xiu thought for a moment and asked, “Speaking of which, why did you leave so early in the morning?”

When Xia Yu heard this, he imperceptibly clenched the hand in his pocket, then said without a change of expression: “I saw that Mr. Li didn’t feel very well yesterday, so I asked the assistant to deliver some stomach-nourishing ingredients and just went to the village entrance to get them.”

After that, he smiled and turned to the program team and said cutely: “For the sake of Mr. Li being non-staff personnel, let’s make an exception for him and give him special treatment.”

The observation was meticulous and considerate, as if he was very familiar with Li Chengyuan and even very affectionate. Knowing that he had a stomach problem, he bought the ingredients specially.

Not only that, but he even rolled up his sleeves, and the “young master” who wouldn’t touch spring water with his fingers decided to cook the porridge himself, which seemed to fit the newly revealed evidence.

“Alas, in fact, I can only cook porridge,” Xia Yu said to the camera, helplessly distressed.

“Mr. Li’s stomach has always been bad. When he was in school, he experienced stomach bleeds several times. He almost couldn’t be saved from one serious one……he’s usually busy with work and doesn’t pay it any attention.”

As if he was chatting with everyone, he talked a lot about Li Chengyuan’s childhood.

[Let me just say, knowing so many details, Xiao Yu is the real deal! Xia Xingchi is a green tea mistress!]

[Mr. Li said before that he and his lover knew each other when they were young. Xia Xingchi was still playing with mud in some backcountry back then, right?]

[This is true undying love! Xiao Yu actually wants to cook with his own hands, this is the first time I’ve seen Xiao Yu cooking!]

[Ah, this, shine a little light on your idol and he’s glorious. Just wait for a slap in the face]

[Laughing to death, a certain fool has already been slapped in the face. Are you still waiting for others to be slapped?]

[I think you guys have forgotten Mr. Li’s disgusted expression towards Xia Yu]

While Xia Yu was performing the tea ceremony, the three people sitting outside all looked at each other and clearly couldn’t bear to look directly at it.

Although they were unaware of the real and fake young masters, they knew very clearly who the real deal was. Yesterday Xia Yu had clearly realized the difficulty and toned it down, so why did he become so industrious again today?

Besides, was he talking nonsense, or did he really know so much about Li Chengyuan’s childhood? How did he know this?

Since no one wanted to come forward to be a green tea accomplice, they all pretended to be chatting and didn’t look at him.

Xia Yu had to complete a series of tasks including cooking porridge and lighting a fire by himself, which was miserable and toilsome. He seemed to be excluded by everyone but still only wanted to take care of his “fiance.” He was really a stubborn and unyielding white lotus.

– – –

Xia Xingchi woke up after going back to sleep once two hours or so had passed.

He’d actually slept a lot last night, because Li Chengyuan kept silent and didn’t bother anyone in the slightest, so Xia Xingchi had fallen asleep not long after leaning against him.

Xia Xingchi tiptoed out of his arms, intending to cook some porridge for him to drink when he woke up.

As he did so, he would make lunch for everyone. Otherwise, it was likely that the wisdom of the masses couldn’t exceed that of a mastermind, and lunch would be a big problem.

Unexpectedly, as soon as his feet touched the ground, the soundly-sleeping Li Chengyuan suddenly woke up. After realizing that his arms were empty, he sat up in a panic.

His blood sugar and blood pressure were low at this time, so when he got up so fast, his vision went black and he fell back immediately.

Xia Xingchi was taken aback by his corpse-like behavior, and quickly went to help him: “You have a good rest, I’ll make some porridge.”

Li Chengyuan closed his eyes for a moment. The black mist in front of his finally disappeared, and he ordered with a blank face: “Xia Xingchi, I told you not to leave.”

“Then you won’t eat?” Xia Xingchi simply had no way to deal with him, and said angrily, “It’s fine if you starve to death. Anyway, I have received ten months’ wages, and I’ll just go home.”

The two looked at each other for a moment, and suddenly heard a knock on the door: “Mr. Li, I made some porridge for you. Xingchi-ge, would you like to drink some too?”

So Xia Xingchi had no choice but to forfeit the staring contest with the rebellious big cat, and opened the door to see Xia Yu holding a large bowl of porridge in his hand.

His porridge was made of high-quality japonica rice, red dates, and lotus seeds. It looked quite delicate.

It was unlike the corn mush that could be obtained locally in the backcountry, which Xia Xingchi had fed to him like a cat abuser in the past two days.

Xia Xingchi blinked and gave pretty high marks to this exquisite porridge.

It seemed that the green tea really put a lot of effort into marrying into a wealthy family before, probably because he learned that Li Chengyuan had a bad stomach.

It just so happened that Li Chengyuan’s twisted desire for control didn’t allow him to go out and cook porridge. He didn’t care whether this green tea was brazenly seeking attention to fire up the CP discussion. In any case, he had exquisite cat food.

But before he took the porridge, the words “Li Shengrui” suddenly popped into Xia Xingchi’s mind.

As if intuitively sensing danger, he immediately withdrew his hand and changed his words to a refusal: “No need. Li Chengyuan won’t drink it, so take it away, ba.”

One didn’t need to look at the barrage to know it must have turned into a deep-fryer.

[What kind of a jerk is Xia Xingchi! He refused without asking Li Chengyuan? Xiao Yu’s hands were scalded just now by the porridge he slaved over!]

[Just now he said nicely in front of the camera that he wanted to cook porridge for Mr. Li, but in the end, he didn’t bother to cook it himself, so he didn’t allow Xiao Yu to bring it? What a malicious appearance]

[Your idol should be less impressed with himself, OK? Even if Mr. Li was here, he would only refuse with even more disgust (Li Cold-shoulder.GIF) He would say, “your hands are dirty,” understand?]

[Xia Yu is really losing more than he receives. 82-year Longjing – it’s old green tea. Can’t you tell that Mr. Li dislikes him so much?]

[Xia Yu has the financial resources to send food into the mountains, but that shit Xia Xingchi doesn’t. If you can’t take good care of Mr. Li, you aren’t good enough for Mr. Li!]

[So what? Anyway, Mr. Li likes Xingchi. Just asking, are you angry? I disagree with you upstairs, ah]

As soon as Xia Xingchi spoke, Xia Yu suddenly put on a tearful performance: 

“Xingchi-ge, I know we may have a misunderstanding……but can you stop being angry with me for the sake of Mr. Li’s health?”

“His blood sugar has been low, and he still hasn’t eaten, so he will definitely feel dizzy.”

Upon hearing this, Xia Xingchi really wanted to give this green tea two punches, bang bang, but of course he had to behave himself in front of the camera.

But Xia Yu, who was in league with Li Shengrui, was quite dangerous. Such a person might not break the law out of jealousy for the real young master, but he could definitely take risks for the inheritance of hundreds of billions.

Therefore, Xia Xingchi didn’t dare let Li Chengyuan eat such an unknown thing.

Just as he was about to grit his teeth and continue to refuse, making the storm of insults fall upon him more violently, he heard the closed door behind him open.

Li Chengyuan stood in front of the door wearing a coat, his pale and handsome face showing only indifference:

“Isn’t what Xia Xingchi said clear enough? I won’t drink it, take it away.”

“But Mr. Li, I just —”

Li Chengyuan said again calmly: “I only eat the food cooked by Xia Xingchi.”

Hearing this, Xia Xingchi immediately turned his head to stare, and secretly glared to remind him to restrain himself and save what little disguise he had left.

As soon as these words came out, people were completely confused, and for a while they couldn’t figure out what was true or false.

[Hahahaha this face-slapping reversal made me laugh so hard (Li Cold Shoulder.GIF)]

[Just asking, Xia Yu, does your face hurt? Braindead fans, do your faces hurt?]

[This melon stunned me too. Including the photos and various internal information, it is said that the real person is the young master of the Xia family, but Li Chengyuan’s attitude is more like Xia Xingchi is the real young master? What happened?]

[Could it be that Xia Xingchi is the young master Xia? If so, everything makes sense. Just a passer-by guessing]

[Are you crazy? The countryside vegetable-seller? I think he looks like a rentboy from a nightclub]

[You’re really in a hurry. What Xia Yu fans do best is clutching at straws and making personal attacks, so amazing]

. . . . . .

After the old green tea was driven away, Xia Xingchi closed the door and said angrily: “Dear Mr. Li, can you leave me some of my disguise? Why are you talking nonsense about only eating the food I cook!”

Li Chengyuan sat on the edge of the kang bed, took a sip of the freshly poured warm water from Xia Xingchi, and said nothing.

In fact, he spoke the truth. When he was a child, he was almost poisoned to death. Since then, he had been extremely vigilant against things of unknown origin.

He asked back: “Why didn’t you let him send it in?”

Xia Xingchi opened his mouth when he heard this, and thought that he couldn’t say, “I suspect that your future death will be caused by poisoning.”

Xia Yu was very strange today, as if he didn’t even have a minimum IQ. Xia Xingchi had to be more suspicious of him.

After organizing his words for a long time, Xia Xingchi finally spat out some nonsense: “I’m helping guard your chastity, lest your White Moonlight become jealous when they find out.”

“You’ll be jealous of Xia Yu?” Li Chengyuan naturally didn’t believe this excuse.

“I said, your White Moonlight!” Xia Xingchi said angrily. “Not me!”

Yesterday, because of his stomachache, Xia Xingchi didn’t lower himself to his level and followed along for the time being. But today, he once again said such annoying words.

Xia Xingchi stepped forward and snatched the glass from Li Chengyuan’s hand. He put it aside firmly, then fiercely pushed down someone who was frail and in poor health.

Of course, the main reason for being able to overcome Li Chengyuan was that he himself did not resist at all.

Not only did he not resist, but he also took advantage of the situation to pull Xia Xingchi down as well.

Li Chengyuan came to a conclusion calmly: “I think my White Moonlight is drinking his own vinegar.”

[1] This is likely referring to the poem, “Rainy Lane,”  (雨巷) by the Chinese poet Dai Wangshu in 1927. ⮐

[2] Dark cuisine is food made badly by an amateur or consisting of unusual combinations of ingredients. ⮐