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Bonus chapter 1/3
“By the way, Rongxu might be unhappy when he sees me later, so I won’t stay any longer. I’ll apologize to him on WeChat later.”
Seeing Qin Chaoyan’s agreement, Cao Yuxuan quickly put the gift box on the table and just happened to press it on the test paper.
Perhaps he was afraid that Ye Rongxu was still angry and wouldn’t accept the gift when he saw him, or perhaps he felt guilty because he had just revealed Ye Rongxu’s “little secret” to Qin Chaoyan; thus, he quickly said goodbye, waved to Qin Chaoyan while trotting out, and reminded him anxiously: “Don’t forget to say good things for me.”
Qin Chaoyan pinched his eyebrows and only looked down at the gift box on the test paper after he walked away.
Ye Rongxu, who happened to have woken up a long time ago, finally went downstairs under the butler’s repeated requests.
Because of the wooden horse incident, he felt a little unnatural when he saw Qin Chaoyan. He was deliberately avoiding him by not coming downstairs the whole afternoon.
Hearing that Cao Yuxuan had come, he gave himself a reason to go downstairs, thinking that when he talked to Cao Yuxuan, he wouldn’t be facing Qin Chaoyan all the time. In this way, it wouldn’t be obvious that he was purposely avoiding the other party or appeared awkward.
So as soon as he arrived in the living room, he yawned, pretending to have just woken up, and asked lazily, “Where is Cao Yuxuan?”
Qin Chaoyan moved his eyes away from the gift box, looked at him, and said: “He’s gone.”
“Gone–Gone?” Ye Rongxu yawned halfway, and was abruptly stuck. The tears that oozed from the corners of his eyes were also half held back.
Qin Chaoyan nodded while looking at him with his dark pupils.
Ye Rongxu began to feel embarrassed again. His eyes wandered around and fell on the gift box, allowing him to hurriedly change the subject: “What is this?”
Qin Chaoyan: “Cao Yuxuan’s apology.”
Without needing his answer, Ye Rongxu had already guessed it and even recognized which model it was through the outer packaging box. The reason being that not long ago, Ye Boxuan had just given him a set of exactly the same ones.
Ye Rongxu felt that there was no need to get another one for something he already had. Especially since Cao Yuxuan probably spent a lot of pocket money to buy this limited edition set.
That guy was strictly controlled by his parents. Although he had money, he was usually stingy. But this time he was actually willing to spend money.
Ye Rongxu secretly lamented and said to the butler who was following him: “Uncle Yang, Cao Yuxuan shouldn’t have gone far. Let someone catch up and return the gift to him.”
Qin Chaoyan was stunned for a moment, and then he whispered, “I accepted it for you.”
Ye Rongxu was also stunned when he heard this. He looked at the other party in confusion, not understanding what he meant.
Qin Chaoyan coughed lightly and continued, “Can you… accept it for a day first?”
He didn’t expect Ye Rongxu to return the gift as soon as he saw it. At least… wait until he watched the surveillance tomorrow before returning it.
Ye Rongxu was still in a daze, and the confusion on his fair little face didn’t diminish.
At this time, an auntie in charge of cleaning the villa came over and whispered a few words to the butler.
The butler was concentrating and nodded repeatedly. After she finished speaking, he leaned down and whispered to Ye Rongxu, “Xiao Cao just asked Mr. Xiao Qin to be a lobbyist. Mr. Xiao Qin promised him that he would help persuade you to accept the gift, so…”
Give your fiancé some face; otherwise, his words would appear weightless.
Ye Rongxu’s ears turned red, and his eyes began to wander again. He quickly coughed and changed his words: “Then… just accept it.”
He obviously understood the butler’s implication.
“Okay.” The butler immediately went to pick up the gift box with a smile while also asking, “Young Master, there’s already one in the studio. Should I put this one in your bedroom?”
Just as Ye Rongxu was about to nod, he saw Qin Chaoyan pick up the gift box first and say, “Let me do it.”
He was slender and extremely tall. The gift box that blocked most of Cao Yuxuan’s vision was very easy for him to lift.
Ye Rongxu saw the smooth muscle lines of his arms through the thin clothes, silently turned his eyes away, and said in a muffled voice with red ears: “Put it in my bedroom.”
Then he turned the wheelchair and went upstairs with Qin Chaoyan.
Before entering the bedroom, Qin Chaoyan opened the gift box with the butler under Ye Rongxu’s instruction. Seeing the gift in the box, he fell into silence for a second.
It was a figurine in the shape of a young girl, holding a spear and wearing a gorgeous gown, with thin shoulders and long legs obscurely exposed, but her expression was cute and adorable. The style was very two-dimensional, presumably a character in a game or anime.
The young master actually likes otaku culture? No, it was probably Cao Yuxuan’s preference. Qin Chaoyan thought silently.
But he was wrong.
Ye Rongxu obviously liked this figurine very much despite already owning one.
“Let me see… put it next to the fish tank.” He commanded excitedly.
Qin Chaoyan listened to him and quickly put the figurine in place.
Ye Rongxu admired it for a while before suddenly remembering something and saying to the butler, “Uncle Yang, move the one in the studio and put it on the other side of the fish tank.”
“Okay, wait a moment.” The butler hurried out.
After a while, two identical 2D girl figurines were placed on both sides of the fish tank.
Ye Rongxu looked at it with satisfaction for a while, then moved his wheelchair closer, raised his hand, stroked the hair of the figurine with his fingers, and said happily: “Great, now I have two waifus.”
Qin Chaoyan: “…”
He suddenly turned his head and looked at Ye Rongxu with strange eyes.
Noticing his strange gaze, Ye Rongxu was puzzled. When the other party kept staring at him, he gradually felt guilty and couldn’t help staring back, bluffing: “What? You never have a waifu?”
Didn’t people call their favorite characters in the ACG1anime, comic, game circle like this?
Qin Chaoyan silently retracted his gaze and, after a moment, looked back.
Theoretically speaking, of course he has a wife, and…
Qin Chaoyan’s eyes fell on the figurine and soon fell back on Ye Rongxu—
And his wife is a real person.
*
Ye Rongxu didn’t know what Qin Chaoyan was thinking, and even felt that this incident diluted the embarrassment brought about by the wooden horse incident.
After Qin Chaoyan stayed for dinner at Ye’s house, he was also asked to stay overnight by Grandpa and Grandma Ye.
Early the next morning, Ye Rongxu, who was used to waking up early, saw that he was going to the company and casually asked the family’s driver to give him a ride.
Lin Jiaojiao, who was only at home in the morning and evening because she was in the third year of high school, witnessed this scene. As soon as Qin Chaoyan left, she couldn’t help but tease the person involved: “Wow, brother, you two look like a married couple now.”
Ye Rongxu had just scooped a spoonful of his medicinal meal, and before he could put it in his mouth, he was so shocked that he almost dropped it back.
“What do you mean by married? You little girl, why are you acting like an adult? Stop talking nonsense and quickly go to school.” After he came to his senses, he became angry.
Lin Jiaojiao: “Tsk, tsk, look at your temper. Besides, I’m only two months younger than you. Don’t always call me a little girl.”
Don’t think she didn’t know that her brother just wants to use this title to make himself look mature. But unfortunately, he’s only verbally mature, but still very childish in reality.
Ye Rongxu: “Oh, by the way, your birthday is coming soon.” He has to tell his dad and ask him to help organize a birthday party.
His aunt is now a vegetable, and his cousin’s heartless father is unreliable. If they don’t help her organize a birthday party, no one else can.
Speaking of which, Qin Chaoyan’s parents are also unreliable, and they will definitely not celebrate his birthday. So, when is Qin Chaoyan’s birthday?
Ye Rongxu lowered his head and drank a spoonful of medicinal soup, frowning slightly.
*
Qinyuan, monitoring room.
Qin Chaoyan arrived here on time after getting off work at noon.
Cao Yuxuan hurriedly led him in and asked, “Which location and time period do you want to see?”
Qin Chaoyan: “Yesterday at noon, about eleven o’clock, Room No.2…”
Cao Yuxuan was stunned and suddenly coughed lightly, dryly interrupting him: “That… Qin Chaoyan, do you still not believe Rongxu? What I said yesterday was true; it was all my own decision. Rongxu and Qin Jingxu didn’t stay long, and if you want to see the surveillance in the room, we definitely don’t have it.”
The manager also hurriedly said, “Yes, many guests come here to discuss business, so there must be no surveillance in the room.”
Qin Chaoyan pressed his eyebrows and waited for them to finish talking before he said, “Are you done?”
Cao Yuxuan: “Uh, we’re done.”
Qin Chaoyan: “What I want to see is the surveillance of the corridor outside Room 2. Can I see it?”
Cao Yuxuan: “…Ah, so you don’t want to see what happens inside the room?”
He breathed a sigh of relief and then nodded: “Yes, yes, of course.”
In passing, he said to the manager, “Manager Zhang, please pull up the surveillance of that time period.”
The manager nodded, stepped forward, and told the staff, and the surveillance was quickly adjusted.
Qin Chaoyan leaned over and stared at the screen.
At about 11:03, Qin Chaoyan and the other two on the screen arrived in front of the elevator. Then Chen Jiang suddenly turned his head to look back.
Qin Chaoyan immediately said, “Pause.”
The picture froze, and he looked at the other end of the picture along the direction of Chen Jiang’s sight—the end of the corridor.
There was no one.
Qin Chaoyan frowned and controlled the screen to rewind for a few seconds. Soon, two figures appeared at the end of the corridor, one wearing a waiter uniform, probably the one Chen Jiang saw, and the other looking like a cleaner.
Qin Chaoyan immediately zoomed in on the screen and locked onto the two people. At the same time, he took out his mobile phone and looked up the photos that Chen Jiang sent him.
The facial contour of the waiter was very clear. After comparison, he soon found that it wasn’t him. Meanwhile, the cleaner kept his head down, and his facial features couldn’t be seen clearly.
Qin Chaoyan frowned and pointed at the screen, asking: “Is there no surveillance video at the end of the corridor?”
The manager shook his head: “That is a blind spot for surveillance, but we can determine where he will appear next by time and route.”
He asked the staff to adjust the screen again.
Soon, they saw the cleaner again on another surveillance screen.
As the picture was framed and zoomed in, Qin Zhaoyan’s gaze grew increasingly focused until he could see the face on the screen clearly. His eyes completely sank and his expression became cold.
Without any need for comparison, he had already recognized that the cleaner was Yao Bin, who had just been released from prison.
Why did he appear here? And he happened to see Ye Rongxu? Coincidence?
Qin Chaoyan frowned, pointed at Yao Bin in the surveillance, turned around, and asked the manager, “Is this one of your employees?”
Manager Zhang was stunned for a moment and hesitantly said: “It should be, but I can’t be sure. Recently, we’re short of cleaners, and the new recruits have not arrived yet, so we temporarily hired a few from a third-party company.”
Qin Chaoyan: “Can you provide the origin of this person?”
Manager Zhang didn’t answer immediately this time, but looked at Cao Yuxuan.
Cao Yuxuan asked him to check it quickly and then asked Qin Chaoyan in confusion: “Is there anything wrong with this person…?”
Qin Chaoyan glanced at him and said: “He is Yao Bin.”
“Who is Yao Bin?” Cao Yuxuan was still puzzled.
When Ye Rongxu was kidnapped, he wasn’t in Jiangcheng. He only knew that it happened but didn’t know who was the culprit or what his name was.
Besides, Ye Boxuan suppressed the news to protect Ye Rongxu, so it was impossible for him to know it from the media.
Qin Chaoyan’s eyes turned cold as he said, “He’s the one who almost kidnapped Ye Rongxu back then.”
Cao Yuxuan froze when he heard this, and then his face turned ugly. “Why is he working in Qinyuan?”
Not long after, Manager Zhang came back in a hurry and said, “The man is called Yao Bin. He’s not an employee of our company. He was temporarily transferred from a third-party company. Coincidentally, he only came yesterday.”
“Coincidentally?” Qin Chaoyan lowered his gaze and asked after a moment, “Why didn’t he come today?”
Manager Zhang shook his head. “We don’t know either. Maybe he was arranged by his company to work at another place?”
Qin Chaoyan didn’t say anything else. He thought for a long time before saying, “Can you tell me the name of the third-party company he works for?”
Manager Zhang nodded, “That’s no problem. It’s called Bohai Cleaning.”
Qin Chaoyan thanked him and walked out of the monitoring room.
Cao Yuxuan hurriedly followed, hesitantly and worriedly saying, “It should be a coincidence, right? This… it’s normal for people who have been released from prison to find a job again.”
Qin Chaoyan nodded, as if agreeing: “Maybe.”
Hearing him say this, Cao Yuxuan immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
However, the next second, Qin Chaoyan said again: “But if not… I mean, what if his appearance isn’t a coincidence? Xuxu coming here yesterday was a last-minute decision, and only you and Chen Jiang knew about it. So how did he know?
He then turned his head to look at Cao Yuxuan after saying that.
Cao Yuxuan froze, and after reacting, he sucked in a breath of cool air and stuttered, “B-because I said this in the group chat?”
But the group chat is full of friends he and Ye Rongxu have known for a long time, and even Ye Rongxu himself is in the group. So who would tell Yao Bin about this?
But if it’s not someone from the group chat, then how…
Cao Yuxuan got angrier and angrier as he thought about it. He couldn’t help but take out his phone and questioned the people in the group chat: Who leaked the news that Rongxu would come to my birthday party yesterday? Also, does anyone know Yao Bin?
Everyone in the group chat who saw the news was confused.
: Who is Yao Bin?
: Sounds kind of familiar.
: What’s wrong, Brother Xuan? Who made you so angry?
After a while, someone weakly responded: Sorry, Brother Xuan; I mentioned it in front of Qin Jingxu.
Qin Chaoyan happened to see it, and his eyes dimmed.
Cao Yuxuan questioned for a long time, but he couldn’t find out who might have informed Yao Bin. Come to think of it, they are all rich second-generation spoiled by their families. Who would have anything to do with someone like Yao Bin?
Qin Chaoyan quickly retracted his gaze, saying calmly, “I just made a random guess; don’t take it seriously. Thank you for today. I have something else to do, so I’ll go back first.”
“Oh, bye then.” Cao Yuxuan waved his hand.
Qin Chaoyan nodded, turned around, and left, but he didn’t return to the company; instead, he took a taxi to the Ye family.
Whether it was a coincidence or not, Ye Boxuan must be told about this. But he was a little hesitant about whether to tell Ye Rongxu.
Ye Rongxu was in poor health. Would knowing too much make him overthink and be detrimental to his health?
While he was in a dilemma, Cao Yuxuan called Ye Rongxu in a hurry after he left.
“Rongxu, did you see the chat in the group?”
“What chat?” Ye Rongxu held the phone with a strange look on his face.
Cao Yuxuan: “It’s our Jiangcheng Handsome Guys Association group.”
Ye Rongxu’s face darkened. Such a cringe name, he had long ago…
“Blocked it.”
Cao Yuxuan: “… It’s okay. I’ll tell you then. It’s probably like this. Your husband came to Qinyuan today to check the surveillance…”
“Stop!” Ye Rongxu interrupted and asked with a dark face: “Whose husband?”
Cao Yuxuan subconsciously repeated: “Your husb…”
Halfway through his sentence, he finally reacted, realized the crisis, and hurriedly changed his words, “Qin Chaoyan, I mean Qin Chaoyan.”
Ye Rongxu snorted coldly, ready to hang up the call any second.
“Why did he check the surveillance?”
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