CH 12

Xia Xingchi was concentrating on doing up his buttons when he at once felt something both warm and cool touch his forehead gently.

“Huh……?” He raised his hand in confusion and touched the place that had been kissed, but didn’t realize what had happened.

Lin Meng, who was at the side and had seen everything clearly, felt as if she had been struck by lightning and tried her best not to ask ‘who is this?’

The man looked so powerful and wealthy, and coupled with the impossible sports car, her heart trembled. My God! Could it be that Xia Xingchi was being nurtured by a boss?

But why was the other party a man? Did Xia Xingchi really like the same sex or was he being pressured?

The most important thing was that life was not an idol drama. How could those capitalist crocodiles be so good-looking and young? This person had to be a liar!

Xia Xingchi finally regained his senses and realized what had just occurred, so he turned his head to stare at Li Chengyuan with anger in his eyes, and silently asked him “Why did you kiss me!”

He dared not speak aloud. Let alone explaining it to the stunned Lin Meng, he had a monthly salary of one million, after all, and had to work hard to play the role of the villain’s lover —

When all was said and done, how could a kiss from a lover be called stealing?

Seeing that Lin Meng had been silent for a long time and wore a complicated expression, Xia Xingchi didn’t realize that it was due to her witnessing someone’s face-changing scene, and felt guilty for a moment: 

He thought to himself that it seemed all artists had to be single, and Sister Mengmeng couldn’t accept the fact that he was “in love.” He couldn’t say that Li Chengyuan was actually the kind of fiance who would get a certificate immediately.

Xia Xingchi could only warm up the scene with a playful smile: “Where does Sister Mengmeng live? Shall we send you back?”

No, wait, when did it turn into “we?” He had simply made his own decision and didn’t ask “Driver Li” if he agreed.

Besides, this was a two-seater sports car, did he want her to sit on the roof?

Lin Meng said immediately and unhesitatingly: “No need!……I’ve already booked a car. Oh yes, that white car with the hazard lights on over there!”

She had already come up with a series of possibilities, including dog-blood theater, legal drama, and ghosts.

In any case, the top priority was to avoid being someone else’s light bulb.[1] She suspected that if she stayed here for another second, the gloomy and terrifying man would immediately take out a forty-meter machete.

Seeing her leave, Xia Xingchi touched his forehead again and stared at Li Chengyuan as if asking for an explanation, wondering why the villain wanted to eat his tofu.

“You did well,” Li Chengyuan praised casually. “Next time, take the initiative.”

Xia Xingchi was perplexed, and didn’t know why his tofu was eaten with such confidence, so he could only jokingly say: “Sir, we are just getting married for show, and I sell art, but not myself. If you want to get fresh like this, there will be an additional price.”[2]

The last sentence was originally a popular meme, but Li Chengyuan’s eyes immediately turned cold and he stared at Xia Xingchi with a sullen expression full of scrutiny, then turned around and got into the car without saying a word.

Xia Xingchi: ……?

Damn, even the request to ban eating tofu had become disobedient and rage-inducing?

Laborers had no right to speak?

The atmosphere in the car was extremely oppressive. In fact, the two were not on the same channel at all and had different things on their minds.

The more Xia Xingchi thought about it, the angrier he became. The feeling of lips touching his forehead didn’t offend him, surprisingly, and wasn’t a big deal at all. But this exceeded the range of the terms of service, so why did the other lose his temper after a reminder?

Xia Xingchi looked out the window irritably and didn’t speak, thinking that even if the other party was the king of heaven or the god of wealth, he wouldn’t even think about apologizing.

“Is there anything else in your eyes besides money?”

The silence was suddenly broken, and Li Chengyuan said coldly, “Then for more money, anything can be done to you at will?”

As soon as these words were spoken, Xia Xingchi’s expression changed abruptly, and some nasty, awful memories came flooding back.

The joke about selling his art but not himself was his bottom line, and to be openly asked by Li Chengyuan was really unexpected.

Some extremely disgusting images emerged, and Xia Xingchi ‘s thunder point[3] was instantly detonated. He said furiously: “Yes, yes, yes, I am superficial and I have no dreams, I only like money! I can do anything for money because I am poor and have no ambition.”

Even if he didn’t know that Li Chengyuan was abstinent, he wouldn’t accept any amount of money for being “kept.”

“Mr. Li, I am such a poor person, is there anything I can’t do as long as the money is in place? I’ll sleep with you tonight if the price is right, you know money can buy you the best.”

“Xia Xingchi!” Li Chengyuan was furious upon hearing this.

Who would have thought that a little bit of unpleasantness would turn with a single spark into a raging prairie fire.

Xia Xingchi could be persuaded, but not coerced, and this burst of anger was even more difficult to deal with. He figured that the worst case scenario would be getting fired, or maybe even being strangled to death by the villain on the spot.

In the past, he had even dared to beat up rich second-generation guests. Afterwards, even if he was retaliated against and beaten until he couldn’t walk for a few days, he would still dare to fight them to the death the next time.

Li Chengyuan turned the steering wheel with one hand, then slammed on the brakes to stop the car on the side of the road, his fingertips shaking with anger.

Just give money……Wouldn’t anyone be able to give money……

The person he had cherished in his heart all these years, was this how little he cherished himself? How little he thought of him?

Xia Xingchi gazed out at the lonely night, thinking angrily that this was a good place. Whether it was a beating or death, it was a quiet place, perfectly convenient for the villain’s use.

Just as he was thinking this, Li Chengyuan took a deep breath to adjust his emotions, then asked in a deep voice: “How much is once?”

Xia Xingchi couldn’t help being stunned, and for a moment, he even suspected that his ears were broken.

The big boss villain in the novel, who was abstinent and placed himself above common mortals turned out to be……sincerely inquiring about prostitution?

A few seconds later, Xia Xingchi burst into a rage all at once: “Are you fucking serious? Li Chengyuan, what is wrong with you! One billion per night, one cent less, no deal, no sale.”

He momentarily couldn’t hold back his temper. It had already risen to the point of a personal attack on his patron, and Xia Xingchi thought that being strangled might not be enough, and that he would end up feeding the sharks.

Contrary to expectations, Li Chengyuan breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this. The flames of the prairie fire suddenly sputtered, and half of them were extinguished in an instant. The lost signal finally connected. Perhaps it was his concern that had confused him, but it was rare for him to be so slow. It was only now that he realized Xia Xingchi had been talking ironically, and hadn’t actually sold himself.

But thinking of the fact that there was only a simple monetary relationship between the two of them, an unknown fire continued to burn.

To the extent that he silently restarted the supercar and didn’t say a word all the way home.

– – –

It was two o’clock in the morning.

The second floor hall was quiet, and only the warm wall lamps in the corridor glowed.

Xia Xingchi was in his pajamas, standing at the door of Li Chengyuan’s room while holding a tray with warm water and stomach medicine in one hand, and a hot water bottle under his arm.

He had been standing there for a while, staring at the closed door in a dilemma while deciding whether or not to go in.

It wasn’t uncommon for Xia Xingchi to quarrel with a bad boss at the start of a job, but after some thought, Xia Xingchi also felt that there was something wrong with himself. At this point, his explosive temper should have changed.

He had originally brought crackers to cushion Li Chengyuan’s stomach, but forgot about them after their cold war.

Although this person’s temper, words, and deeds tonight were particularly hateful and strange, the thought of when he got out of the car with a pale face and almost staggered really made him feel soft with worry.

Xia Xingchi sighed, and thought that he would just go in quietly and take a look to see if he was asleep.

After making up his mind, he gingerly placed his hand on the doorknob, held his breath, and silently opened a small gap in the door with the lightest and slowest force.

Because his eyes had not yet adapted to the dark environment, he couldn’t see anything for a while. The room was quiet at that time, and no sound could be heard, as if the person inside had fallen asleep.

But after reading the original novel, Xia Xingchi knew this person’s disposition of silent forbearance. This ruthless person with a stomach ache in the middle of the night would keep silent almost to the point of fainting, so he really wouldn’t feel relieved until he saw it with his own eyes.

Therefore, silence did not mean he was asleep, which created a big problem: If he didn’t say anything, how could he explain his behavior of opening the door in the middle of the night and entering his room?

While searching for an excuse, Xia Xingchi brought the tray into the room first, then opened his eyes wide and looked hard, trying to make them adapt to the darkness quickly.

Unexpectedly, before he could take a step inside, he saw a big white dumpling appearing out of nowhere at lightning-fast speed!

It was too late to close the door, and Summer had already sneaked in through the narrow crack and entered the room in a flash!

Xia Xingchi: ! ! !

– – –

In the dark, Li Chengyuan closed his eyes drowsily and felt a splitting headache, along with sharp stomach cramps.

His entire body was obviously hot, but he could only shiver with cold. Due to the tinnitus in his ears, he didn’t hear any changes in the room.

Whenever his consciousness blurred like this, Li Chengyuan was always in a trance, unable to tell when or where he was, but engraved deeply in his bone marrow was —

Can’t make a sound.

Can’t let anyone know I’m sick again.

In the silence, there was a “meow!” as Summer jumped onto Li Chengyuan’s bed and then quickly crawled to his side and arched back and forth.

Li Chengyuan was usually a light sleeper and didn’t let it into the room at night, so this was quite novel for Summer. It raised its front paw and retracted the tips of its claws, patting Li Chengyuan’s face with its pad to make him play with it.

But no matter whether it was scratching his cuffs or sweeping the tip of its big tail over his nose, its owner was still unconscious and trembling slightly.

Perhaps because it realized that its owner’s condition was not right, Summer became impatient and took a running leap onto the edge of the bed.

Although it had no bad intentions, little animals didn’t understand degrees of seriousness, after all.

In the darkness, a large cat weighing more than ten catties lowered its head and aimed at Li Chengyuan. It was about to jump down for a “slam down with the weight of Mount Taishan” hardcore wakeup.

All of this happened in an instant. Xia Xingchi saw this scene with his barely-adjusted night vision and his soul suddenly jumped out of his body in fright.

Setting aside his “excuses for entering the room,” he lunged forward!

A second later would have spelled disaster, but thanks to Xia Xingchi’s quick reflexes, he managed to reach out and intercept its launch track before it could leap.

Summer thought he wanted to stroke it again, so it immediately changed direction and jumped to the other side of the bed. It landed steadily, and its movements were quite agile as it dodged left and right to avoid Xia Xingchi.

The most frightening thing was that it was still eager to continue to try to forcibly wake Li Chengyuan.

Xia Xingchi feared that its precious, fragile owner would be smashed under its huge tonnage, and his heart rose into his throat. One person and one cat began a silent chase around the bed in the dark.

Xia Xingchi’s night vision was naturally far inferior to that of a cat, and since this was the first time he had entered Li Chengyuan’s room, he didn’t know the layout of the furnishings.

But the more this was so, the more this little bastard Summer thought he was playing with it, so it ran quite happily for a while.

As expected of the villain’s pet, it dared to play parkour in the bedroom and for a while, there was chaos as everything was knocked to the ground.

Xia Xingchi grew increasingly frantic the more he ran, and he was about to explode on the spot and yell, “Stop for me!!!”

Just as he was about to collapse in exhaustion, he saw this slippery white furry ball jump onto the bed again and crouch on Li Chengyuan’s long legs curled up under the blanket.

Maybe playing had finally tired it out, but this was the first time it had put on the brakes all night.

Seeing that it had finally stopped running, Xia Xingchi, who was also exhausted, was overjoyed and forgot about everything else for a moment. Only the thought of “catch the little bastard” remained in his head.

He hurried forward and rushed toward Summer!

The moment his feet left the ground, Xia Xingchi abruptly came to his senses and realized something was wrong.

The second he spent in the air seemed to stretch infinitely.

In the hazy night, he saw Summer leisurely raise its front paw to lick it, and then look at him with a rather vivid smug expression —

Then it jumped up and left Li Chengyuan like a flash of lightning!

Now it was too late to brake, and Xia Xingchi could only think, “It’s over.”

If anything could be worse, it was probably Li Chengyuan being awakened by this very fierce human vs cat fight, and at the moment Summer jumped up from him, he turned over to lay down flat.

Boom!

In the next second, Xia Xingchi threw himself on top of him.

[1] “Someone else’s light bulb” refers to a person who appears deliberately or accidentally when and where a couple are on a date. ⮐

[2] The saying, “There will be an additional price,” became a popular meme that originated from a the popular Chinese TV show, “Star Detective.” ⮐

[3] Thunder point (雷点) is an internet buzzword that refers to the bottom line of someone’s tolerance. When something “touches the thunder point,” it will produce the effect of “being struck by lightning.” ⮐