President Huo didn’t make Mr. Liang wait the full ten seconds.
The head of the bodyguards had people drag away those eyesores and returned excitedly, but President Huo was no longer at the grave.
“Where’s President Huo?”
The head of the bodyguards looked at the butler who was sweeping the grave, somewhat confused, and searched around: “He was just here…”
The butler gazed into the distance: “In the car.”
“How is that possible?” The head of the bodyguards was taken aback. “President Huo never agrees to leave. Every Qingming Festival, he stays here until dark.”
The head of the bodyguards had encountered resistance before and remembered it clearly: “One year when it rained on Qingming Festival, I urged President Huo to go back and was severely reprimanded by him. I even slipped on the ice three times…”
The butler sighed: “Of course you couldn’t persuade him.”
The head of the bodyguards was surprised: “If even I couldn’t persuade him, who could?”
The butler looked at him for a while, patted the head of the bodyguards on the shoulder, left the grave-sweeping work to him, and followed the car back.
…
“Are you off work already?”
Liang Xiao held his phone, walking quickly to the rest area: “I’m not busy, just finished filming…”
He had just come down from various rooftops, found his phone, and couldn’t help but send two messages to President Huo first.
They had agreed early on that neither would disturb the other’s work, and messages would only be checked during break times. Liang Xiao hadn’t expected President Huo to reply immediately and was prepared to wait ten seconds before bothering him again.
President Huo was usually in the office and rarely directly returned video calls. Liang Xiao had just changed out of his clothes, hadn’t even had time to remove his makeup, and dragged the manager to help keep watch as he urgently ducked into a rest room with his phone.
“Am I disturbing you?” Liang Xiao closed the door, his ears heating up, and said softly, telling the truth: “Nothing important… I just missed you.”
President Huo stared at the slightly shaky screen, was quiet for a moment, and said softly: “Mm.”
Liang Xiao heard his voice, paused, and picked up the phone to look carefully.
President Huo’s emotions were never very obvious, and through a screen, it was impossible to judge by temperature, but Liang Xiao instinctively felt something wasn’t quite right: “What’s wrong?”
“Work not going smoothly?” Liang Xiao guessed, softening his tone to comfort him. “Don’t worry, good things take time… If things go too smoothly at the beginning, it might actually-”
President Huo shook his head: “Very smoothly.”
Liang Xiao: “…”
“Actually… better.” Liang Xiao forcibly swallowed the rest of his words and changed course. “If things start smoothly, they’ll definitely continue to be smoother.”
Liang Xiao tried his best to steady himself: “Good things take time, which means if you want good things, you need more massages.”
President Huo quietly listened to his nonsense, the corners of his lips pressing together slightly, the gloom around him dissipating bit by bit.
Liang Xiao skillfully pulled the curtains closed, turned on the light, and sat on the sofa hugging his phone: “But massages also depend on the setting. It’s best to have a person do it, a massage chair is also fine, but you shouldn’t trust bathtubs. I’ve already been beaten up three times by the hotel bathtub recently…”
President Huo said softly: “I’ll have the team contact a healthcare doctor.”
“No need.” Liang Xiao hurriedly shook his head. “My health is fine.”
Liang Xiao looked at him carefully and smiled: “Really. Without you here, I’ve been taking excellent care of myself, haven’t been sick at all.”
President Huo looked at him, that obsession in his heart uncontrollably surfacing again: “Really?”
“No, it’s a lie,” Liang Xiao said clearly. “I got a stiff neck.”
President Huo: “…”
Liang Xiao was still confident in his earlier hypothesis, just waiting for him to take the bait. He moved deeper into the sofa, hugged his phone, and sighed: “Life is full of unexpected events…”
President Huo ultimately couldn’t hide it from him, his shoulders tense for a moment: “…Sorry.”
Liang Xiao’s eyes widened: “So it really was you who took them?”
President Huo had no way to explain, closed his eyes briefly, and lowered his head in silence.
Liang Xiao hadn’t seen this genuine guilty demeanor from him for many years. After looking at him for a while, he couldn’t help but laugh: “Do you remember? Back in Jiangnan, I finally managed to make a bowl of egg fried rice following a recipe, but you thought the housekeeper made it and ate it.”
Liang Xiao remembered it quite clearly, supporting his neck as he recalled: “When I came back and asked you about it, you had the same reaction, just lowering your head without saying anything.”
President Huo’s heart stirred, and he clenched his fist slightly before looking up at Liang Xiao.
He actually knew at that time that the bowl of rice wasn’t made by the housekeeper.
Little Liang Xiao had only just had the opportunity to learn cooking, and he made it very crudely. He hadn’t cleaned out all the eggshells, and he had used too much salt, mistaking a teaspoon for a tablespoon.
A long time had passed, and Liang Xiao didn’t remember many things from those years very clearly. President Huo didn’t know he still remembered this and wasn’t sure if he should confess, saying softly: “I-”
Liang Xiao smiled: “It’s okay, it was made for you to eat anyway.”
President Huo was taken aback and looked up.
“I was just upset,” Liang Xiao said. “Those housekeepers never made proper meals for you, and the nutritional supplements your family provided to strengthen your body were all secretly taken and shared among them.”
Liang Xiao wasn’t actually used to showing off like this, but seeing President Huo’s stunned expression, he still wanted to make him happier. His ears reddened as he smiled: “I bought the eggs myself, and that sausage was highway robbery…”
At that time, little Liang Xiao didn’t have much money either. In a fit of anger, he took all his savings to the supermarket and reluctantly bought two sausages with foreign packaging that he didn’t recognize, three eggs, and even gritted his teeth to spend a fortune on a small bag of fresh shrimp.
Before going home with Huo Lan, he had barely had any opportunity to even see a kitchen. He spent three days intensively studying cooking shows, went to the bookstore to copy a fried rice recipe, and then came back to fumble through it all afternoon, following the instructions step by step.
Calculating when Huo Lan would return from school, little Liang Xiao pretended to go out, served the rice, and left it in the kitchen.
Little Liang Xiao wandered around outside for a long time, waiting until dark before returning home. Discovering that Huo Lan had indeed fallen for it, he was extremely pleased and gave himself several little red flowers in his diary.
“I just couldn’t resist teasing you… seeing you guilty was too interesting.”
Liang Xiao rubbed his ear and smiled: “You were so easy to trick. You probably didn’t even notice, but during those days, you would feel guilty whenever I sighed. You weren’t comfortable forcing me to study, and you agreed to whatever I asked…”
President Huo listened in a daze, the thoughts that had formed hazily in the cemetery completely dissipating as he closed his eyes.
Liang Xiao had intended to cheer him up but paused at his reaction and waved his hand at the camera: “What’s wrong?”
Liang Xiao was concerned and stopped talking, calling him softly: “Huo Lan?”
President Huo said hoarsely: “I… never thought about it.”
Liang Xiao opened his mouth but didn’t continue.
He vaguely felt that he might have unintentionally stabbed President Huo in the chest with some unknown knife again. He regretted bringing this up, tapped his phone, and spoke softly to accompany him: “Never thought about what?”
President Huo looked at him, his mind silently churning.
At that time, he had thought little Liang Xiao’s background was similar to his own-just angry with his family, rebelliously running away from home, temporarily with nowhere to go.
That bowl of rice was crudely made and particularly salty, requiring three mouthfuls of water for each mouthful of rice, yet it was so full of ingredients that one had to search for the rice among the eggs, ham, and shrimp.
Young Huo Lan was unfamiliar with basic foods and didn’t know that these things had to be bought with money.
At that time, he actually just… really wanted to eat something made by little Liang Xiao.
“…Nothing.”
President Huo swallowed everything he had originally wanted to say and said softly: “I still really want to eat food you make.”
“Sure, I’ll cook for you when we get home.” Liang Xiao smiled. “My cooking skills are incomparable to before. Whatever you want to eat, I can-”
President Huo: “Liang Xiao.”
Liang Xiao’s words halted, and he clicked his tongue: “…”
Their President Huo was truly making rapid progress.
Liang Xiao was caught off guard, both stimulated and embarrassed. His face flushed and his heart raced as he coughed: “That’s… also fine.”
Liang Xiao usually wasn’t this intense outside. He glanced at the door and lowered his voice: “Then when I get back…”
“There’s no rush.”
President Huo wasn’t very clear about what he was thinking, his mind still on his original thoughts, and continued: “I want to always eat food you make. I will live for a very long time.”
Liang Xiao was taken aback, his breathing slightly pausing.
“Longer than you.” President Huo tried his best to pull his thoughts away from the day he received the plane crash notification as a youth, bringing himself back to reality, staying in the reality of being with Mr. Liang. “I won’t get sick, won’t take risks, won’t have accidents.”
“…Why are you suddenly thinking about this?”
Liang Xiao forced a smile, softening his tone: “That’s something for many years in the future, why rush…”
President Huo: “I won’t leave you alone.”
President Huo looked at him: “Never.”
Liang Xiao’s breath trembled slightly. He lowered his head and was quiet for a while, not speaking further, just smiling.
Liang Xiao put down his phone, got up to wash his face, and came back.
President Huo waited for him the entire time, watching as Liang Xiao picked up his phone again and sat back on the sofa.
Liang Xiao’s movements weren’t particularly quick. The sound of water ran for a while as he completely removed the makeup from the film set before returning, with water droplets still clinging to his temples that he hadn’t had time to wipe away.
His eyes were slightly red. Holding the phone, he curved his eyes slightly and nodded: “Alright.”
“It’s a promise,” Liang Xiao smiled, his voice a bit hoarse. “Don’t-”
Liang Xiao had trouble continuing. He tilted his head back and held back for a moment, covering the camera with his hand and saying softly: “Don’t leave me alone. I really miss you, I can’t even wait ten seconds.”
He didn’t know why President Huo had suddenly thought of this, but Liang Xiao had seen young Huo Lan unconscious with a high fever due to his obstructed differentiation.
The person who used to wake him up every day was lying unconscious, unresponsive no matter how much he called. His body was so hot that no one dared touch him, and when shaken too hard, he would softly slide down, leaning against his shoulder.
…Even years later, the scene he witnessed still constituted most of the nightmares that startled him awake in the dead of night.
Liang Xiao didn’t dwell on it further. He took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and smiled: “Let’s not talk about it anymore. We’re living well, why discuss such things?”
Liang Xiao scolded him: “It’s not auspicious at all.”
President Huo quietly lowered his gaze, listening to his scolding: “Mm.”
Liang Xiao: “Sentimental.”
President Huo said softly: “Mm.”
Liang Xiao: “Forcing melancholy to compose new verses.”
President Huo nodded slightly.
Liang Xiao watched him obediently agreeing to everything, his heart softening first, his voice becoming gentler: “I wasn’t talking about you… I meant me.”
Ever since reuniting with President Huo, Liang Xiao had never been able to maintain his rule of not shedding tears over minor injuries. He sniffled, feeling quite embarrassed: “I’m the sentimental one. Just thinking about what you said made me upset.”
President Huo shook his head: “It’s my fault.”
“It’s not your fault. We should actually plan ahead.”
Liang Xiao shook his head: “We say it’s inauspicious, but if we really encounter some accident-”
Liang Xiao paused halfway through his sentence, suddenly understanding what was happening: “Did you… go to see your parents?”
Today was Qingming Festival, and the film crew had specially distributed green rice balls and eggs, also reducing the filming schedule, which was why he could tease President Huo so early.
Liang Xiao had been alone from a young age and had almost forgotten that this day was for grave-sweeping. Only now did he suddenly remember: “Why didn’t you tell me?”
President Huo instinctively didn’t want to trouble him with these matters. He paused, explaining: “It’s nothing, just went to sweep and pay respects…”
“You still should have told me.” Liang Xiao couldn’t help but frown at the thought of President Huo visiting his accidentally deceased parents alone, no longer joking or teasing him. “Was it… smooth?”
President Huo nodded: “Nothing happened.”
“That’s good.” Liang Xiao sighed in relief. “Remembering the deceased is meant to help us move forward. You must live well to honor them.”
President Huo listened to him earnestly reasoning and couldn’t help but raise his hand to lightly touch the screen, nodding.
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
