PTBLSI chapter 4

 

Fixing the phone took quite a long time, mainly because the boss opened the shop too late. Qi Xi waited almost two hours just for the shop to open. After hanging up on the scam call, he realized it was past eleven, so he hurried back to the room to pack his things.

While packing, he suddenly remembered that his phone was almost out of battery. He used the last bit of time to charge it. Once it was charging, however, he naturally started scrolling on his phone. As he scrolled, he forgot that he was in a hurry to check out until someone knocked on the door.

He finally remembered the checkout deadline, blamed it on his phone, and, with a slap, threw the culprit onto the bed. Then he ran to open the door.

“I’ll be done packing right away. Please wait—President Fu?”

Qi Xi thought someone was coming to urge him to check out. But when he saw Fu Yanchuan, he tilted his head left and right strangely. “Are you here to get the money back from me? Why didn’t you call me? I could have just transferred it to you. You didn’t have to make the trip. My phone is fixed!”

Fu Yanchuan thought about the call that had just been hung up on, but didn’t mention it. With slightly furrowed brows, he looked into the room.

The narrow, shabby room was barely big enough for a bed and smelled damp and moldy. The walls were covered with worn, mottled marks.

His brows sank even deeper. He withdrew his gaze and noticed the red marks on Qi Xi’s face and neck that hadn’t faded yet.

“What happened to your face?”

Once this was mentioned, Qi Xi immediately had a lot to say. He retreated into the room and pointed sternly at the bed. “It’s this bed! It’s dirty! I got this rash from sleeping on it. It was especially itchy this morning. Look, I scratched it until it bled.”

Qi Xi stretched his neck out for Fu Yanchuan to see. There were two faint, bloody scratches. Then, he continued to complain about the room. “This bathroom is broken, too. The flushing doesn’t work…and the floor tiles are chipped. The worst part is here—”

As he spoke, he ran to the window, grabbed the tightly closed curtains, and gave Fu Yanchuan a proud smile. With a swish, he pulled the curtains open, revealing a brick wall that completely blocked the window.

With a ‘you’ve never seen this before, right?’ expression, Qi Xi said, “How is it? Isn’t it amazing?”

Fu Yanchuan did find it amazing. He had never seen such a cramped, damp room. His eyes turned toward Qi Xi.

Qi Xi suddenly became anxious again. “I’m not talking anymore. There’s no time! I need to check out. I’ll pay you back later. Wait for me, or I’ll have to pay for another day!”

The person who had just shown off the room suddenly became busy. Fu Yanchuan stood at the door, watching. He thought that Qi Xi himself was the most amazing, stuffing things into his bag without thinking. He even saw him put the air conditioner remote in it.

Fortunately, Qi Xi froze for two seconds, realized his mistake, took the remote out, and stuffed the ashtray from the bedside table into the bag instead.

This time, it took Qi Xi quite a while to realize he had packed the wrong thing. After inspecting the room and confirming that nothing was left behind, he slung the bag over his shoulder and left. “All right, we can go now. Dasheng!”

Fu Yanchuan’s gaze shifted toward the phone, which was still charging by the bed. “Is that your phone?”

Qi Xi suddenly turned around and hurried back to grab it. When he took off the charger and put the phone in his bag, he finally noticed the ashtray that didn’t belong to him. Confused, he took it out and asked, “Why is there an ashtray in my bag?”

Fu Yanchuan felt that if he didn’t say anything, Qi Xi might not figure it out for a long time. He reminded him, “That’s the hotel’s.”

“You’re so smart!”

Qi Xi looked at Fu Yanchuan admiringly as he suddenly understood. He put the ashtray back and, as he was about to leave again, finally noticed the suitcase he had just forgotten. As if he had never forgotten it, he casually pushed it out while muttering to himself.

“I didn’t forget anything.”

Just as he reached the door, however, the orange cat came over, carrying the forgotten food bowl in its mouth, and pawed at Qi Xi’s foot.

Qi Xi squatted down and praised the cat. “Dasheng is smart, too. Otherwise, you would’ve lost your food bowl.”

Fu Yanchuan looked at Qi Xi as if he were some kind of odd species. He couldn’t understand how someone could be this forgetful yet remain so calm, and he started to wonder how Qi Xi had managed to live until now.

Qi Xi put the cat’s bowl in the bag and finally walked out the door.

Fu Yanchuan followed behind him, silently observing. He discovered that Qi Xi wasn’t just forgetful; he was also extremely talkative. Even when Fu Yanchuan didn’t say a word, Qi Xi could chat all by himself.

“President Fu, why are you so tall? I heard that people who play basketball grow tall. Do you play basketball? There’s someone at our school who’s really good at basketball, and he’s just as tall as you.”

When he didn’t receive an answer, Qi Xi changed the topic. “You don’t have to work today? How did you find my room? I’m telling you, hotels don’t allow cats. They have rules!”

The elevator reached the first floor. Seeing that it wasn’t the same front desk person as last night, Qi Xi was afraid his cat would be discovered, and the person from last night would get in trouble. He took the orange cat, which was hidden in his clothes, and stuffed it into Fu Yanchuan’s arms.

“President Fu, hide it quickly!”

Fu Yanchuan stiffened. When he didn’t react, Qi Xi simply pulled open his suit jacket, stuffed the orange cat inside, and cautiously pushed it outward. “You go wait outside. Don’t let anyone see you.”

Fu Yanchuan lowered his gaze and met the eyes of the orange cat poking out from his clothes.

Every nerve in his body seemed to be challenged.

To him, everything was just a series of goals and steps. Bringing along a mere cat was nothing. Rules or no rules—if he wanted to bring it, he could buy the hotel and change the rules.

But Qi Xi carefully pressed the cat’s head back into his clothes and urged him again, “President Fu, hurry up and go out before people see.”

The next moment, as if possessed, Fu Yanchuan pressed down on the cat’s head, which was trying to squeeze out. Like a thief, he strode out of the hotel with his long legs.

Once outside, he held the cat high in the air and looked it straight in the eyes.

When he was young, he had raised a dog, but only for one week. Because he took the dog with him on morning runs every day, his father, Fu Zhenrong, discovered that he was too distracted caring for the dog and forced him to put the dog down himself. Then he told him, “Don’t let useless things affect you. When it comes to useless things, you must decisively and completely discard them.”

When Qi Xi came out after checking out, Fu Yanchuan was still holding the cat. Looking into the cat’s eyes, he recalled the dog that had died in his hands and the look in its eyes when it had last looked at him. He had been ten years old that year.

“President Fu, thank you. You’re really a good person!”

Qi Xi didn’t notice anything. He gratefully took the orange cat back. The cat lay in his arms and meowed at Fu Yanchuan once. Qi Xi looked at Fu Yanchuan and asked, “Dasheng, do you like President Fu?”

The orange cat meowed softly. Qi Xi introduced the cat, saying, “Its name is Qi Tian Dasheng. It says it likes you.”

Fu Yanchuan stayed silent, but Qi Xi didn’t mind. He took out his phone and said, “President Fu, add me as a friend. I’ll transfer the money to you.”

Fu Yanchuan finally spoke up. “Where are you going to stay?”

“Huh?”

Only then did Qi Xi start thinking about where to go. He replied blankly, “I don’t know. I don’t have anywhere to go. Yesterday was my birthday, and my dad told me to leave home and be independent. But my uncle sold my grandpa’s house, so I don’t have a home to go back to anymore. I don’t have much money either. I don’t know where to go.”

Based on what Qi Xi said and what happened yesterday, Fu Yanchuan had a good idea of the cause.

Qi Xi suddenly asked him, “You seem like you know a lot. If your uncle sold the house your grandpa left you, how do you get it back?”

“Is it inheritance? If there was no will, then your uncle does indeed have priority inheritance rights over you.”

Qi Xi didn’t quite understand. “I was only thirteen back then. I don’t know if there was a will.”

“In that case, you’d need to ask about your parents’ situation at the time. If there was a will, it’d be easy to handle.”

Qi Xi became dejected right away. “Then forget it. My mom has been gone for a long time. My dad definitely won’t care. He wanted to kick me out anyway and doesn’t want anything to do with me anymore.”

without realizing it, Fu Yanchuan stared straight at Qi Xi’s face. The one way Qi Xi was most unlike Qiao Ye was in his eyes. He had a pair of perfectly shaped peach blossom eyes. When he was sad, they looked like a peach blossom forest in the rain—so beautiful it made people’s hearts ache.

He stared into his eyes for a long time before blurting out, “You don’t have a place to live right now, do you?”

Qi Xi blinked at him, confused. He continued, “If you’re willing, you can live at my place.”

“Why? We don’t even have a relationship.”

After a long silence, Fu Yanchuan answered seriously, “You can be my boyfriend. I’ll give you a place to live.”

“Huh?”

Qi Xi wasn’t very smart, but his emotional intelligence was sometimes quite high. Looking at Fu Yanchuan’s handsome face, he smiled gratefully. “President Fu, are you feeling sorry for me because I don’t have a home and want to help me? But boyfriends should be people you like. You don’t like me, and I don’t like you. You don’t need to make me your boyfriend just to help me.”

“No.”

Fu Yanchuan’s voice suddenly sank. Qi Xi couldn’t help shrinking back a little. He pressed closer, his gaze fixed on him, and said, “You look like someone, but he refuses to be with me. If you treat yourself as his stand-in, would you be willing to be with me?”

“A stand-in? A lover?”

Qi Xi’s brain finally started working quickly. “I know this. I’ve seen it in comics!”

After thinking seriously for a moment, he asked, “If I agree, will you take care of me? Won’t you scold or dislike me? Will you comfort me and make me happy when I’m sad?”

Fu Yanchuan didn’t move at all. After a long time, he nodded.

Qi Xi continued, “Then will you treat my cat well and take care of it until the end of its life?”

Fu Yanchuan looked at the orange cat in Qi Xi’s arms. “…I will.”

“Then I agree. When do we sign the contract?”

Instead, Fu Yanchuan became suspicious. He stared at Qi Xi without blinking and asked again, “Do you really understand what this means?”

“I understand! A stand-in means you have a crush on someone you can’t have, so you find someone who looks like them as a replacement.”

Fu Yanchuan froze. Qi Xi suddenly remembered something. “Do you have a wife? If you do, then it’s not okay. That would be cheating. Don’t be like my dad, a scumbag. Don’t ruin such a handsome face.”

“No, and I won’t in the future either.”

Seeing no more problems, Qi Xi asked, “When do we sign the contract?”

Fu Yanchuan had negotiated projects worth tens of billions in the business world. Never before had he been so surprised by the other party’s every sentence.

Qi Xi suddenly grabbed his wrist over his sleeve. “Did you regret it?”

“No.”

“Then let’s go sign the contract right now.”

Qi Xi tugged on Fu Yanchuan’s hand, trying to pull him away, but his feet were rooted to the ground. When he couldn’t pull him, Qi Xi turned back to look at him.

“My car is here.”

Qi Xi looked at the red supercar by the roadside. “So this is your car?”

Fu Yanchuan thought Qi Xi would comment on the car, but he walked around it once and asked, “Where’s the trunk?”

“It can’t fit your suitcase. I’ll call someone to drive another car to pick us up.”

Qi Xi thought about it and decided that was fine. He said, “Then I’ll treat you to a meal first. Thank you for helping me yesterday.”

As he spoke, he suddenly remembered something. “Right, you still haven’t added me. I’ll pay you back the money.”

Fu Yanchuan didn’t expect Qi Xi to still be thinking about paying him back. Under Qi Xi’s firm gaze, Fu Yanchuan took out his phone and let Qi Xi add him.

After adding him, Qi Xi suddenly showed him his palm. “Your phone number faded when I was showering, and I can’t see it clearly anymore. Can you give it to me again?”

Fu Yanchuan stared at the already blurry writing on Qi Xi’s palm and dialed his number again.

However, Qi Xi hung up without hesitation right in front of him. He muttered, “Scammer,” looked at Fu Yanchuan, and asked, “President Fu, where’s your number?”

“You just hung up.”

 

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