PTBLSI chapter 74

 

Only the bedside night lamp was left on in the room. The soft light was dim. Qi Xi looked at Fu Yanchuan for a long time, until the strands of hair hanging down from his forehead stopped swaying. Only then did he finally respond.

“Oh.”

That one sound left Fu Yanchuan confused. He asked carefully, “Is that all you wanted to say?”

Qi Xi answered blankly, “What else should I say?”

“Do you love me?”

Qi Xi suddenly had an expression that looked like he wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Fu Yanchuan couldn’t read it and froze, not daring to move.

After 2 seconds, Qi Xi finally spoke again. “Let me think.”

Fu Yanchuan didn’t want Qi Xi to think, but he pushed him away and tried to get out of bed. Fu Yanchuan hurriedly pressed him down and asked anxiously, “Xi Xi, what do you need to think about?”

Qi Xi pressed his lips together tightly for a long while before saying, “I want to go ask Xie Hui.”

Fu Yanchuan panicked. Xie Hui might tell Qi Xi to break up with him right away. He replied unhappily, “Why are you asking him about our business?”

Because Fu Yanchuan’s voice suddenly sank, Qi Xi instantly felt wronged again. Fu Yanchuan quickly softened his tone. He leaned close to Qi Xi’s ear and said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell at you. I’m just afraid that after you talk to Xie Hui, you’ll… ignore me.”

Qi Xi thought about it for a moment, then told Fu Yanchuan honestly, “Xie Hui said that I shouldn’t fall in love with you because you’ll stop wanting me.”

“Nonsense.”

Fu Yanchuan’s dissatisfaction with Xie Hui reached its peak. “Don’t listen to him. Xi Xi, tell me—do you really not love me?”

When Qi Xi didn’t answer, Fu Yanchuan slipped his hand into his clothes. Qi Xi thought he was about to do something, but he scratched his waist instead. He instantly curled up from the ticklish sensation. Fu Yanchuan held him tightly so he couldn’t escape, pressing him further.

“Xi Xi, do you love me?”

Qi Xi laughed so hard that he couldn’t take it anymore and gave in. “Fine, fine! I love you! I love you!”

Fu Yanchuan abruptly stopped. His eyes were like an inescapable net covering Qi Xi as he said, “Say it again.”

Only then did Qi Xi realize what he had just said. He met Fu Yanchuan’s gaze, opened his mouth, and finally said, “I don’t know what love is supposed to be like. I’ve never loved anyone before. But I want to be with you. That—that Qiao Ye calls you Brother Yan, and my heart hurts. I don’t want you to like him. Do you really not like him? Isn’t he your white moonlight?”

“What white moonlight?!”

Fu Yanchuan’s thumb brushed over Qi Xi’s lips. Leaning extremely close to him without touching, he said, “Xi Xi, you are my white moonlight. From the first time I saw you holding Dasheng by the roadside, you’ve been in my head.”

When he thought back to the first time he met Qi Xi, he hadn’t actually thought of anyone at first. Through the car window, he saw Qi Xi holding a cat under a streetlight. He looked like a spirit that had accidentally wandered into the human world. He couldn’t help but stare.

When the car drove past and he could no longer see Qi Xi, he was hit with a sudden feeling—if he never saw him again, he would definitely regret it. So he told the driver to turn back.

Upon looking carefully at Qi Xi’s face again, he noticed the resemblance between him and Qiao Ye. In that instant, it felt like he had found a reason for himself.

“Qi Xi.”

He kissed Qi Xi on the lips and confessed in his most affectionate voice, “I have never loved anyone else. You are the only one.”

Qi Xi’s emotions pulled back and forth, and in the end, joy won out. Then, he cried from happiness.

Fu Yanchuan hurriedly asked, “Why are you crying again? Do you still not believe me?”

Qi Xi sniffed and spoke with a heavy nasal tone. “I’m happy!”

“Then say you love me too.”

Qi Xi blinked and squeezed out the last tear, letting it roll down onto Fu Yanchuan’s fingertip. Finally smiling, he hugged Fu Yanchuan and said, “You love me too.”

Fu Yanchuan laughed helplessly. Sometimes, Qi Xi was really mischievous. “Yes, I love you, I love you!”

“I love you, too.”

Qi Xi finally said it. In that moment, Fu Yanchuan felt completely satisfied. He pressed his lips against Qi Xi’s and kissed him. Just as things were about to get out of control, however, he suddenly stopped.

Qi Xi grabbed his hand in dissatisfaction and asked, “Why?”

“Your body hasn’t recovered yet. Sleep.”

“But—”

“No buts. Sleep.”

“But—”

“Sleep, little pervert.”

Fu Yanchuan helplessly wrapped up Qi Xi. The little pervert finally behaved. He nuzzled into Fu Yanchuan’s arms and fell asleep in less than 2 minutes. Fu Yanchuan, however, was overwhelmed with emotion. He held Qi Xi while staring at him for half the night without feeling sleepy at all.

The next day, Qi Xi woke up to find Fu Yanchuan still in bed. When he looked up, he saw the bluish dark circles under Fu Yanchuan’s eyes. He reached out and touched them, asking, “Fu Yanchuan, did you not sleep?”

Suddenly, Fu Yanchuan smiled, pulled Qi Xi over, buried his face in the crook of his neck, took a deep breath, and said, “Xi Xi, say you love me.”

Qi Xi felt that “I love you” was a precious phrase. If he said it every day, it wouldn’t be special anymore. He slapped his hand over Fu Yanchuan’s face, trying to push him away. “You’re so annoying! I don’t want to say it every day. Hurry up and get up! I have to go to work.”

But Fu Yanchuan didn’t budge. Instead, he clung to Qi Xi even tighter. “It’s the weekend.”

“Oh.” Qi Xi changed his excuse. “I need to go to the bathroom.”

“I’ll take you.”

Fu Yanchuan lifted the blanket and picked Qi Xi up. He didn’t want to be away from him for even a second. Even after they reached the bathroom, he refused to put him down.

After breakfast, Qi Xi picked up his phone and secretly sent messages to Xie Hui.

It was already afternoon on Xie Hui’s side. He had just woken up from a nap. When he opened his phone, he saw that Qi Xi had sent him three consecutive voice messages—but they were all just laughter, with no words.

He replied, “Are you stupid?”

Qi Xi hugged his phone, unable to suppress the smile spreading across his face. He really wanted to tell Xie Hui something, but he was afraid Xie Hui would lecture him. He pressed the voice button to speak but ended up laughing again. What he sent was still just a string of laughter.

“Qiyueqi? Did you really go stupid?”

After replying, Xie Hui suddenly realized something and hurriedly asked, “Did something happen between you and Fu Yanchuan?”

Qi Xi finally couldn’t hold it in anymore and replied, “He confessed to me. He said he loves me and only me!”

After sending one message, he felt it still wasn’t clear enough, so he sent another.

“He also said that I’m not a stand-in. The person he’s always loved is me.”

Xie Hui froze with his phone in hand. He wasn’t sure if Fu Yanchuan was telling the truth, but seeing how happy Qi Xi was, he couldn’t bring himself to pour cold water on him. Before Xie Hui could reply, Qi Xi sent another message. His voice sounded like he was shouting.

“Xie Hui, Fu Yanchuan said he loves me! I’m so happy, ahhh!”

“As long as you’re happy.”

That was all Xie Hui wished for. Regardless of whether what Fu Yanchuan said was true, as long as it made Qi Xi happy, he had nothing more to say.

Fu Yanchuan leaned against the inner wall of the balcony. When he saw Qi Xi take his phone and run to the balcony, he guessed that Qi Xi was going to tell Xie Hui about them.

He didn’t deny that he did it on purpose—he was eavesdropping. There was no way he could not listen in; Qi Xi even had to go ask Xie Hui before confessing to him. As he listened, he completely forgot to care about what Xie Hui was saying. His ears were filled only with Qi Xi’s happy voice. Without realizing it, he started smiling and laughed out loud.

“Fu Yanchuan!”

Qi Xi suddenly stuck his head inside and stared straight at him, asking suspiciously, “Were you eavesdropping on me?”

He was still not used to Qi Xi’s new way of addressing him. He replied, “I wasn’t. I was listening openly and honestly.”

“You were totally eavesdropping!”

As soon as Qi Xi said that, his face instantly turned red. He had gone out on the balcony specifically because he didn’t want Fu Yanchuan to hear.

Fu Yanchuan grabbed his wrist, dragged him into the room, pulled him close, and pressed their faces near each other. Then he said, “I eavesdropped. What are you going to do about it?”

Qi Xi thought for a moment. “Then you should also send a message to someone else. Say, ‘Qi Xi said he loves me. I’m so happy.’”

“Just that?”

Qi Xi nodded. “I want to eavesdrop, too.”

Fu Yanchuan didn’t understand Qi Xi’s logic, but he took his phone and stood in front of Qi Xi, letting him eavesdrop. Then, he opened the company-wide group chat. Looking at Qi Xi, he spoke affectionately into the phone: “Qi Xi said he loves me. I’m so happy.”

After sending it, he put the phone down, pulled Qi Xi into his arms, and asked, “Satisfied? Brother Xi Xi?”

Qi Xi didn’t know who Fu Yanchuan had sent the confession to. However, when he thought about other people knowing about it, he felt embarrassed. Blushing, he asked, “Who did you send it to? What if they laugh at me?”

“It’s fine. They won’t laugh.”

Indeed, no one laughed. Fu Yanchuan had never sent a message to the main group before. When everyone suddenly received a message from him, everyone in the company thought it must be an important work instruction. They all clicked on it to take a look and froze. Thinking that Fu Yanchuan had sent the message by mistake, no one dared to reply. The voice message remained in the group chat for half an hour, untouched.

But privately, countless small group chats had already exploded. They finally matched a name to someone who had attended the onboarding banquet with Fu Yanchuan, and everyone started wildly guessing about their love story.

Zhou Zhiwei, one of the few people who knew the truth, put on her earphones and listened to Fu Yanchuan’s voice message several times. She was accustomed to his flat, emotionless, almost robotic voice. Hearing this sentence gave her an almost spellbound feeling. She couldn’t imagine how Fu Yanchuan could have said those words in that kind of voice.

A colleague next to her, who was new, sent her a message.

[Sister Zhou, do you know the inside story?]

[What inside story?]

[President Fu’s love history!]

Zhou Zhiwei pursed her lips. She didn’t dare say anything and advised the other person to just pretend they hadn’t seen the message.

By Monday, Fu Yanchuan’s message had been buried by new ones. No one mentioned or asked about it. Privately, however, everyone in the company knew that their big boss was not cold at all, but rather deeply affectionate, and that he had a boyfriend named Qi Xi.

Qi Xi felt like nothing had changed between him and Fu Yanchuan, yet like everything had. Fu Yanchuan drove him to the studio building. As Qi Xi was about to exit the vehicle, he suddenly turned around, cupped Fu Yanchuan’s face, and kissed him.

“Fu Yanchuan, I’m leaving.”

“Wait.”

Fu Yanchuan pulled back the person who was about to leave. “I haven’t kissed you yet.”

“Alright.”

Qi Xi wasn’t shy about kissing in public anymore. Fu Yanchuan hooked an arm around Qi Xi’s neck and just looked at him without moving. Impatiently, Qi Xi asked, “Are you kissing me or not?”

Fu Yanchuan wiped his thumb across Qi Xi’s lips and said, “I’ll go upstairs with you.”

“Huh?”

Qi Xi raised his eyebrows. Without explaining, Fu Yanchuan got out of the car and went upstairs with him.

He walked Qi Xi into the workspace, lingered at the door one last time, then closed it and went out to look for Cheng Shu.

Cheng Shu had been short on cash recently and was stressed about it. When Fu Yanchuan arrived, Cheng Shu instantly felt like he was looking at a pile of money. Fu Yanchuan would never come to him for no reason—if he came, it must be about Qi Xi.

He spun his chair around and asked, “President Fu, is Qi Xi asking for leave again?”

Fu Yanchuan went straight to the point. “Want to change offices?”

“Huh? This place is fine. Why change?”

“I have a place in the Yuyun Residence on Changrong Road. I’ll rent it to you for half your current price.”

Changrong Road was right across from the headquarters of the Fu Yanchuan Group. The properties there weren’t the most expensive in the city, but they certainly weren’t cheap either.

Cheng Shu immediately saw through Fu Yanchuan’s intentions and quickly looked up the Yuyun Residence. It turned out to be a villa complex that had mostly been developed for commercial use. Very few people actually lived there. For a profession with irregular hours like theirs, having both workspace and accommodation in one place was quite suitable.

He looked at Fu Yanchuan and said with some difficulty, “We’ve been here for several years already. Everyone lives nearby. Suddenly moving would be very troublesome.”

“I’ll have someone send you the floor plans. You can take a look at them first and decide later.”

After Fu Yanchuan finished speaking and was about to leave, Cheng Shu realized he couldn’t trick him and said bluntly, “President Fu, wait a moment. Moving the studio isn’t the problem. The problem is that we’re short on funds right now. No one’s in the mood to move.”

“Send me how much you’re short.”

That was basically a verbal agreement. Cheng Shu instantly found Fu Yanchuan much more pleasing to the eye. He stood up to see him off. “President Fu, take care.”

Fu Yanchuan went back to Qi Xi’s side and lingered one last time before finally letting go, saying, “I’ll pick you up early this afternoon.”

Qi Xi buried his forehead in Fu Yanchuan’s chest as if he wanted to dig a hole and crawl inside. In a muffled voice, he replied, “Mm. Can you kiss me again?”

At this rate, Fu Yanchuan felt like he wouldn’t be able to leave. He rubbed his fingers along Qi Xi’s neck and pushed upward. Qi Xi tilted his face up. He lowered his head and kissed him deeply, sweeping in and entangling them until their breathing grew heavy. Finally, they separated. A thin silver thread snapped and stuck to Qi Xi’s lips. Qi Xi licked it away before Fu Yanchuan said, “Xi Xi, I’m leaving.”

Qi Xi watched as Fu Yanchuan opened the door and left. The moment the door closed, he began to miss him.

After going downstairs and getting back into the car, Fu Yanchuan immediately wanted to go back up again. He suddenly regretted coming back to be president. Wouldn’t it be better to stay by Qi Xi’s side every day as before?

But this thought only flashed through his mind. He was well aware that if he didn’t find a way to occupy himself, he would eventually lose control and pour all of his vile desires onto Qi Xi.

He finally made up his mind and started driving. Suddenly, his phone rang. Seeing an unfamiliar number, he instinctively knew who it was. After hesitating for a moment, he answered.

“Brother Yan, do you have time to talk about the project?”

After rolling the words around in his throat, Fu Yanchuan said, “President Qiao, please don’t call me ‘Brother Yan’ anymore in the future.”

 

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