CH 57

When Xie Luyu got back, he put away his umbrella. He made dinner and kept it warm on the stove.

After that, there was nothing else to do. 

The cat’s tail dangled off the edge of the climbing tree. Xie Luyu stared at the tail and let his mind wander off.

He and Gu Qingchi could probably be considered to be living together right now.

The two of them would snuggle together when playing video games, and they would mess around with the cat together. However, they hadn’t actually put a name on their relationship.

Xie Luyu had kept it together when Cheng Xian showed up. Xie Luyu had also kept it together when Gu Qingchi went out for dinner with that kid. 

Since he was the closest person to Gu Qingchi, he felt that there was still time. Since Gu Qingchi had allowed him to approach, he felt that this was a victory.

However, he was now starting to realize that he hadn’t made any progress at all. He only knew how to be good to him. He didn’t even know what it was that he liked.

Xie Luyu had long since noticed that Gu Qingchi had some issues both personally and emotionally. Gu Qingchi was different from others. There were a lot of things that he didn’t understand.

Gu Qingchi probably regarded him as a friend and a senior.

Xie Luyu patted the armrest of the sofa.

“Xie Luyu, ah, Xie Luyu. How did you get yourself into this?”

He thought about it for a long time. He felt that, sooner or later, he would need to put things to an end. He might as well get it over with.

It was better to suffer in the short-term rather than the long-term. 

The two of them were already too close. Gu Qingchi might not think much of it, but Xie Luyu needed to consider it. It wasn’t good for either of them to continue on with this ambiguous relationship.

At the very worst, they’d just go back to being friends.

Gu Qingchi returned not long afterwards. Xie Luyu had actually come back an hour early in order to cook dinner and wait for Xiao Gu.

Xie Luyu finally came back to his senses once Gu Qingchi walked in through the door. He stood up as his brain started booting up again. 

“I made ribs today. I’ll get you a bowl. I remember you said that you wanted to eat it.”

Gu Qingchi responded. He noticed that Xie Luyu had only gotten a single set of tableware, which he found a little strange.

“Aren’t you going to eat?”

“Ah. I was a little hungry earlier, so I already ate a bit.” 

When Xie Luyu said this, Gu Qingchi nodded and didn’t ask any further.

Then, there was a long silence. Gu Qingchi ate quietly while Xie Luyu sat on the sofa, dazed.

Gu Qingchi glanced at him from time to time. He was actually very sensitive to the emotions of others.

As soon as Gu Qingchi put down his chopsticks, Xie Luyu spoke up. 

“I have something to tell you.”

Gu Qingchi glanced over at him.

“I have a bit of money to my name now, and I’ve never been in a relationship before. My work schedule is flexible. I can cook, I can clean, and I look pretty good. My career’s going well, and we’re in the same industry. If there’s anything about me that you don’t like, I can change.”

Xie Luyu paused here. 

“So, if you’re okay with it, would you like to try a relationship? If not, we can take a step back and go back to being friends. It isn’t good for either of us if we keep things vague like this.”

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“I’m going to clean this up.”

Just as Gu Qingchi moved to clean up after himself, Xie Luyu got up and walked over.

“Let me handle it.”

Gu Qingchi held the bowl and chopsticks in his hand. Xie Luyu reached out to take it from him, but Gu Qingchi didn’t let go. When Xie Luyu gave him a strange look, Gu Qingchi suddenly spoke. 

“The director made another request today.”

“Ah, what else do you need to learn besides dance? Don’t worry. You don’t need to feel burdened. There’s still a lot of time before filming. Just take your time and practice.”

Xie Luyu’s words started becoming slower and slower because Gu Qingchi was slowly getting closer and closer.

Gu Qingchi was a little bit shorter than Xie Luyu. When he raised his head, he was at the perfect height for a kiss. 

His movements were very slow, so slow that Xie Luyu could make out his trembling eyelashes, so slow that Xie Luyu could back away at any time.

Gu Qingchi was like a cat that was feeling you out. As long as you moved, it would run away immediately.

But Xie Luyu didn’t move. Then, Gu Qingchi, somewhat hesitantly, pressed his lips against Xie Luyu’s.

Xie Luyu froze. Gu Qingchi loosened his grip on the bowl and earnestly replied. 

“I’m learning how to kiss.”

Gu Qingchi had just eaten sweet and sour pork ribs. His lips were sweet and a little chilly. It took quite a while for Xie Luyu to recover. When he did, his heart burst with fireworks. He was stammering and giddy, still holding onto the chopsticks.

“Kissing. That’s good. You want to eat youtiao tomorrow, right? I’ll go buy it for you.”

Gu Qingchi really liked to eat fried food a lot. However, Xie Luyu didn’t think it was healthy, so he would always try to wiggle his way out of buying it. He only bought it for Gu Qingchi every now and then. 

Gu Qingchi never protested. He tended to wake up late. Xie Luyu was in charge of either making breakfast or buying it, so Gu Qingchi would eat whatever he brought back. At the very most, he would mention what he wanted to eat to Xie Luyu.

Xie Luyu was still in a daze even after cleaning up.

It took a while for him to react. His entire person became vigilant. He was like a husky who’d had a bone stolen away from it.

“Your next role has a kiss scene?” 

Gu Qingchi thought for a bit and nodded. However, he was still a little hesitant.

“I guess so.”

Xie Luyu hummed in response and reminded himself several times that this was work.

He turned his head and sat upright once more. He picked up a magazine with a serious air, but he didn’t actually manage to read a single word. His heart seemed to be hanging by a string. 

Xiao Gu just kissed him!

Didn’t Xiao Gu like girls with long hair?

Xiao Gu didn’t give him an answer just now. What did this mean?

Was Xiao Gu okay with a guy? 

Did Xiao Gu agree to be in a relationship with him?

Did this mean he and Xiao Gu could get married someday?

After going back and forth for a bit, Xie Luyu still felt that he needed to get a straight answer. He put the magazine down on his lap and turned to Gu Qingchi. Then, he threw him a curveball.

“Why did you kiss me just now? Do you like me?” 

Xie Luyu immediately regretted it. The way he worded it made him seem kind of narcissistic, kind of full of himself. So, he tried to salvage the situation and asked about what was most important.

“Actually, that’s not what I meant. I just wanted to ask whether you like guys.”

Xie Luyu wanted to slap himself. What was the point of asking this? He should be asking about what comes next.

Gu Qingchi was reading a magazine. He simply hummed in response. Then, he turned his head to the side and spoke. 

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

Xie Luyu was still struggling internally. If he liked men, why was his previous marriage with a woman?

Before Xie Luyu had even figured out what to say, Gu Qingchi put down the magazine and turned around. He propped a leg on the sofa and put one hand on the back of the sofa, encircling Xie Luyu in his arms.

He leaned into Xie Luyu. There was the faint scent of wine on his breath. 

Xie Luyu immediately became nervous. Whenever he was nervous, he’d become more talkative.

“When did you drink? Did you warm it up first?”

Gu Qingchi would often steal a drink. Now that the weather was getting colder, he’d often get stomachaches after drinking. He would end up curled up on the sofa for a long time.

As soon as Xie Luyu’s voice fell, Gu Qingchi blocked it with his lips. This wasn’t like the previous touch. This time, they were tangled up with each other for a long time. 

When it was time to part, Gu Qingchi looked at Xie Luyu, glimmers of starlight in his eyes. Perhaps the lights were just dim, but there seemed to be a hint of affection there. He drowned in that starry sky and forgot everything.

However, Xie Luyu’s remaining reason was telling him that something wasn’t quite right. Gu Qingchi shouldn’t be like this, but, at the same time, nothing seemed wrong.

Xie Luyu could vaguely hear Gu Qingchi whispering in his ear.

“I don’t know if I like men or women, but I like being with you. If you want to kiss or hug, I’m okay with it.” 

“What are you worrying about? Aren’t we fine the way we are?”

So, just stay the same as before, stay as warm as the shining sun.

Gu Qingchi had made up his mind not to let go.

He didn’t really think too much. 

He just felt that this apartment was so warm. He wanted to stay here forever. However, when he got back today, he found that this warm apartment was starting to cool down. The owner seemed to be getting tired of him.

He had been abandoned once before, so he was afraid of being abandoned again. He subconsciously wanted to save the relationship.

It was like a cat, who had never let people approach it before, suddenly discovered that the person who had been feeding it stopped showing up one day.

Thus, when it finally came across this person once more, it put down its guarded demeanor. Instead, it ran over to him, exposed its soft and warm belly, and looked at him with watery eyes. It was as if it was saying, “You can pet me. Don’t go.” 

Meanwhile, Xie Luyu caught onto the key word here, “we”.

He was enveloped by happiness, overwhelmed by elation. He dazedly thought to himself, “That’s right. Aren’t things great the way they are now?”

That night, Pan Xiaocheng’s notifications started going ding, ding, ding once again.

Pan Xiaocheng had already fallen asleep. His phone was in the living room, so he didn’t pay it any attention. 

The next morning, he turned on his phone and found that a vast majority of his notifications had been taken over by Xie Luyu.

Most of the initial messages were vaguely expressing his joy about no longer being single. There were also a few words of criticism for Pan Xiaocheng. Pan Xiaocheng scrolled past his late-night ramblings and finally landed upon something of note at the very end of the chat log.

[My hand slipped, but don’t worry. I already handled it.]

Pan Xiaocheng’s eyes jumped when he saw this sentence. 

He opened Weibo with a heavy heart.

Then, he discovered that there were three trending topics taken up by Xie Luyu.

#HasXieLuyuFallenInLove

#XieLuyuFollowedThenUnfollowedLikedThenUnliked 

#XieLuyuForgotToUseHisSideAccount

Pan Xiaocheng opened Xie Luyu’s Weibo. The most recent post was a clarification regarding his side account. He was very candid.

The comments were full of laughter. No one was actually taking it seriously. After all, this wasn’t the first time that Xie Luyu has accidentally liked a post or two. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have come to this point in which his account had been confiscated from him.

[I don’t have anything else to say, but I hope you don’t annoy your lover too much. After all, it’s not easy for someone to finally take a fancy to you.] 

[Wahhh, I can’t believe I can finally see the day! I was starting to think you were asexual.]

[Are you finally going to stop being single? I’m so happy.]

[I’m not going to beat around the bush. I want to know if anyone’s found his side account? I want to give him a follow.]

This was the only comment that Xie Luyu made. 

[This is the side account. As for my main account, thanks for the concern, but there’s no need. It already has 20,000 followers. It’s more than enough.]

Pan Xiaocheng went to take a look at Xie Luyu’s side account. Not even a second passed before he tapped out of the app.

After mentally preparing himself, he clicked into the side account.

This guy had made it abundantly clear that he was no longer single, but Pan Xiaocheng still ended up getting slapped by the amount of PDA. 

His Weibo looked as if he was afraid people wouldn’t know about it.

His Weibo background had been changed to a photo of a person. It didn’t show his face, but it was clear that the person was a man.

The shirt collar of the person in the photo was neat and tidy. The top button was unbuttoned, revealing a beautiful neckline.

The black suit trousers were rather slim. His slender legs were crossed, and he was leaning back into the sofa. The hem of his shirt was tucked into the belt. His waist was outlined by the clothes. One hand was resting on the sofa. The hand was very beautiful, very defined. The dark brown sofa made his hand appear even more pale in comparison. 

From what could be seen in the photo, every line on his body was graceful and elegant. He was like a work of art.

As for the rest of the account, around fifteen or sixteen new posts had shown up overnight. Pan Xiaocheng didn’t bother to read through it. He could already tell that it was just the same old nonsense. Xie Luyu was showing off.

There were actually quite a few comments. Some of the comments were well wishes. Some of the comments were expressing envy. Some of the comments were asking him to show his face.

Xie Luyu earnestly replied to each and every comment. 

Pan Xiaocheng no longer had the interest to keep reading. If Xie Luyu were to grow his side account like he did his main account, his follower count would probably go up by another level.