ITC Chapter 51

51.

The institute gave Wen Ruqing and Liang Yuchen a half-day off. When Bai Xizhou left, Wen Ruqing was still asleep. He quietly shut the window tight so the cold wind wouldn’t seep in.

The weather had been getting colder lately, and Wen Ruqing often sneezed. While he was out, Bai Xizhou had taken the opportunity to change the bedding, but it seemed Wen Ruqing hadn’t noticed.

He also prepared a week’s worth of medicine and placed it beside Wen Ruqing’s phone, making sure he’d definitely see it.

Only after all that did Bai Xizhou press a kiss to Wen Ruqing’s forehead and leave.

Wen Ruqing woke up around noon. He shuffled to the kitchen in his slippers looking for something to eat. He had work in the afternoon, so he planned to just grab a quick bite. Bai Xizhou wasn’t around anyway.

Even though he knew it wasn’t ideal—and felt like he was sneakily slacking—he couldn’t help it. Bai Xizhou cooked so often that Wen Ruqing had become lazier by the day. Other than doing the dishes, he hadn’t really stepped foot in the kitchen for a while.

He wanted to cook a bowl of noodles, but the noodles weren’t in the usual spot. Wen Ruqing messaged Bai Xizhou to ask—and immediately got a voice call in return.

“There aren’t any noodles left,” Bai Xizhou’s voice came through, airport announcements echoing faintly behind him. “There are some spare ribs in the fridge. Just heat those up.”

Wen Ruqing listened half-heartedly while rummaging through the cupboards. He didn’t believe it for a second—there was no way Bai Xizhou hadn’t left any noodles. He was obviously lying, just trying to make him eat something better.

“When did you make them? How come I didn’t know?”

“Before I went to find you. I was going to bring them over, but then I thought maybe it wasn’t a great idea, so I left them in the fridge. I figured you wouldn’t want to cook anyway—might as well just heat that up.”

Someone was calling Bai Xizhou’s name on the other end, urging him along. He replied to them but didn’t hang up.

Wen Ruqing opened one cupboard filled with all kinds of bowls. Then he opened the other side—and immediately spotted a very familiar insulated bag.

He took it out and unzipped it. Inside were several lunch boxes he instantly recognized—because they were ones he’d used before. Until now, he had always assumed the lunch boxes were from the private chef.

Now that he thought about it, Bai Xizhou’s cooking had become more and more like the private chef’s. So much so that Wen Ruqing could barely tell the difference. He’d just assumed Bai Xizhou had learned from the chef somehow—because Bai Xizhou would do something like that, just to make him happy.

Looking at it now, he realized he had been blind. How could two people’s cooking taste exactly the same? Maybe it had been the same person all along.

“Xizhou.” Wen Ruqing stood up too fast, and his low blood sugar made his vision go black. He gripped the counter to steady himself. “Is there anything else you’ve been hiding from me?”

He lightly tapped the edge of the lunch box with his finger—slow and rhythmic—as he waited to hear Bai Xizhou’s answer. He figured he probably didn’t even remember this incident.

“There is,” Bai Xizhou’s voice came through.

Wen Ruqing paused, surprised.

“I used your toothbrush cup to brush my teeth this morning… and I kissed you.”

“That’s it?” Wen Ruqing let out a soft laugh—an unexpected but entirely fitting answer. “Alright, I forgive you.”

Because of the urging on Bai Xizhou’s side, Wen Ruqing ended the call. He stood in the kitchen, looked at the familiar lunch boxes, sighed softly, and put them back.

If Bai Xizhou didn’t want to tell him… he’d just pretend he didn’t know.

—

Work was the same as usual, except the temperature had dropped sharply. Wen Ruqing hadn’t dressed warmly enough and sneezed several times. When he got home, he immediately added more layers.

There were still some spare ribs left from lunch. He was planning to eat those for dinner—but before he could, someone knocked on the door.

It was Teng Yuan.

He wasn’t surprised to see Wen Ruqing opening the door. Glancing past him, he saw only a bowl of rice and ribs covered with cling wrap on the table. He clicked his tongue and pulled Wen Ruqing by the wrist.

“Come on, let’s go out to eat. Perfect timing—Qu Qingchen is on the night shift, and Bai Xizhou’s away on a business trip. Just the two of us—we’ll eat something good!”

Teng Yuan didn’t even give Wen Ruqing a chance to grab his coat.

Wen Ruqing led him to a local open-air diner and picked an outdoor seat. Teng Yuan ordered a lot—mostly extra spicy. Wen Ruqing gave him a look and picked up his phone to tell Bai Xizhou, planning to have him tattle to Qu Qingchen.

Sensing the danger, Teng Yuan quickly changed his order to “mildly spicy.”

They sat there at the roadside, eating skewers, watching the city lights. The wind carried the scent of barbecue, tinged with a bit of chill. Wen Ruqing rubbed his hands and shoved them in his pockets.

“Oh right,” Teng Yuan said, still chewing on a lamb skewer. He took off his plastic gloves, reached into his inner pocket, and pulled something out—a bright red invitation with gold trim, festive and elegant. “This is our wedding invitation. You have to come.”

Wen Ruqing quickly took it. Inside was an embossed invite with calligraphy detailing the wedding’s time and place.

“Not in the country?” he asked, surprised. The location was clearly a small island abroad.

“It’s freezing here. It’ll be warmer there. We’re gonna stay for a bit after the wedding too,” Teng Yuan said, tossing away his last skewer. “Qu finally got a long vacation approved.”

“Well, congratulations.” Wen Ruqing carefully tucked the invite away.

“You know,” Teng Yuan grinned, “I found one of Qu Qingchen’s old diaries the other day. That brat was so dramatic about his crush back then. I’m gonna make him read it out loud at the wedding—he’ll die of embarrassment.”

Though he was teasing, Wen Ruqing could see the happiness glowing on his face.

“I heard from Bai Xizhou that you two actually registered your marriage a while ago. Why hold the ceremony now?”

“Did he tell you we were childhood friends?” Teng Yuan smiled slyly, motioning for Wen Ruqing to lean in. “Me and Qingchen grew up together. Our families were close, and he used to follow me around calling me ‘gege.’ Our parents treated us like brothers. So when the gege (older brother) and didi (younger brother) suddenly got together, of course they freaked out. We got married abroad out of spite. Once we all cooled off, we understood their worries. But I wasn’t going to divorce him. We just waited for our parents to come around.”

A very cliché story—older brother falls for younger brother, parents disapprove.

There was a time Teng Yuan had almost backed out too. He ran away, but Qu Qingchen caught him. At that moment, Qu Qingchen hadn’t slept for two days, eyes bloodshot.

He gripped the door frame and asked, “Gege, don’t you want me anymore? Didn’t you say you’d always be with me? Were you lying?”

Teng Yuan’s resolve instantly crumbled. To hell with morality. He wasn’t committing a crime—he was in love. What was so wrong about that?

“So I dragged him abroad and we got married. My parents exploded, but thankfully my company was already doing well. Otherwise, how could I support both of us?” Teng Yuan smiled, lips tinged with sweetness. “To this day, I still don’t know why Qu likes me. He won’t tell me.”

“I don’t know why Bai Xizhou likes me either,” Wen Ruqing said softly. “But when fate shows up, you just… can’t stop it.”

“Exactly.”

Teng Yuan raised his can of herbal tea and clinked it against Wen Ruqing’s bottle of water.

---

After dinner, Wen Ruqing showered and climbed into bed. Bai Xizhou called via video chat. He picked up—only to see a clean, empty bed.

“Teng Yuan took you out today?” Bai Xizhou spoke first. “Did he tell you their love story?”

“He did. He gave me the wedding invite too.” Wen Ruqing waved the red envelope in front of the camera. “You know all about their story, right?”

“No idea. During those years their relationship suddenly took off, I was buried in studies in Germany. I only heard about the wedding later. But… I could guess, from how Qu Qingchen looked at him,” Bai Xizhou denied quickly.

Back then, while Bai Xizhou was struggling not to fail courses in a foreign country, his two best friends were falling in love. Honestly, it still made him a little salty—he was studying his butt off while they were flirting.

They both laughed through the screen.

But no matter how the camera moved, the one thing Wen Ruqing wanted to see wasn’t there.

“Xizhou, I’m getting sleepy.” He finally broke. The constant sound-without-face was driving him nuts. “Let me see you, then I can sleep.”

A soft chuckle. Then the camera flipped—

And there was Bai Xizhou. Shirtless. Fresh from the shower, water was still glistening on his skin. Lean, toned, defined abs.

Wen Ruqing’s eyes traced from his collarbone, to his chest, to the V-line disappearing beneath a bath towel. He swallowed.

Shouldn’t have looked. Now he just wanted him more. It hadn’t even been a full day—embarrassing.

“Xizhou, your birthday’s coming up, right?” Wen Ruqing changed the subject fast, dragging his eyes away. “Is there anything you want? Within my means.”

“I want…” Bai Xizhou paused. He lifted the camera to show his face. His gaze was smoldering, irresistible. Even through the screen, it made Wen Ruqing’s heart race.

“Qingqing, I want you.”

Wen Ruqing didn’t argue for once. He nodded, serious. They chatted a little longer before hanging up.

Right after, Wen Ruqing got another call—this time from Wen Qing. It’d been a while since they last spoke.

He picked up. On the other end, soft static and a faint voice—Wen Qing was talking to their uncle, unaware the call had connected.

“Auntie, why aren’t you sleeping yet?” Wen Ruqing said.

“Oh, I just realized we haven’t talked in a while, wanted to check in. And… ask how things are with you and Xizhou.”

There it was—the real reason.

It had been a while since Wen Ruqing told her about his feelings for Bai Xizhou. He hadn’t followed up since.

“We’re doing well. We’re together now.”

“That’s good. Um… your uncle and I…” Wen Qing hesitated, clearly choosing her words. “Ruqing, we’re planning to come visit you in New City. Meet Xizhou properly. I know we’ve met before, but things are different now. I count as half a parent, you know? You get what I mean?”