Chapter 30
Xia Fengsheng grabbed one of Bubai’s front paws. “Are you a cat or a pig?”
With a sharp swish, Bubai yanked its paw back, then stared at Xia Fengsheng for a few seconds before ramming its head straight into his face.
A boar’s savage charge.
With its actions, Great King Bubai made it perfectly clear what species it really was.
Xia Fengsheng got a mouthful of cat hair.
So, a pig.
That made sense too. It was hard to get that fat if you didn’t eat feed.
From the time it was little, Bubai had never gotten along with Xia Fengsheng, and now that it had grown up, after several years apart its attitude was still the same. It might have had something to do with how Xia Fengsheng always mocked it a few times while feeding it back then.
Sure enough, you really couldn’t educate children at the dinner table.
As for that, Xia Fengsheng felt not the slightest bit guilty. He grabbed Bubai’s front paw again, his gaze cold and his words sharp. “You’re nine years old and still can’t speak human language. Have you seen a doctor about that?”
Bubai: ……
Bubai stomped on him twice, then turned and tried to run.
Xia Fengsheng’s eyes and hands were fast. In one move he gathered it into his arms, and the semi-truck had fallen into the hunter’s trap, unable to break free.
Great King Bubai let out an unyielding cry: “Meow!!”
The evil Xia Fengsheng said, “Do you think crying helps? Do you think crying can change your fate?”
Shi Ye came out of his room after finishing a score and saw Xia Fengsheng half-reclining on the sofa with Bubai in his arms. One hand held a phone, the other held Bubai’s front paw. Every few seconds he swiped the screen, making the cat watch videos with him.
Great King Bubai knew escape was impossible, so it lay limp on Xia Fengsheng and gave up resisting, becoming a tool cat.
Shi Ye: ……
“Meow.”
Lying on Xia Fengsheng made Bubai all warm and drowsy. Like a shameless snake, it opened its mouth wide and sneezed.
Lowering his head, Xia Fengsheng asked softly beneath his lashes, “Sleepy?”
His chin rubbed lightly against Bubai’s forehead.
When he lowered his eyes, the shape of them looked just like they had in high school.
Shi Ye had seen Xia Fengsheng feed Bubai a few times before. A boy in school uniform holding steamed buns in a little alley, and a tiny black kitten.
Whenever the boy fed the kitten, he would always say something to it.
Shi Ye had never heard clearly what was said, but the movement of the boy’s lips always caught his attention.
It was probably something kind.
Like sharing bits of his life with the little cat.
The times he fed the cat were random, so Shi Ye did not always run into it.
But when he did, he would always stand in the distance and secretly watch.
Watch the boy’s lowered lashes, his vivid red lips, and the gentle eyes he turned on the little cat.
Click—
By the time Shi Ye came back to himself, he had already taken out his phone and snapped a picture of Xia Fengsheng and Bubai on the sofa.
Hearing the sound, Xia Fengsheng raised his eyes to look at him, and Shi Ye quickly put the phone away.
Acting like nothing had happened, he walked over and sat by the sofa, picking up the remote as if he were just going to watch TV.
Xia Fengsheng had not seen him take the photo. “What are we eating tonight?”
They still had not had dinner, and both of them were getting a little hungry.
What to eat for dinner was basically the greatest problem in the world.
Shi Ye had no ideas, so he asked back, “What do you want? Delivery or private kitchen drop-off?”
Xia Fengsheng released Bubai and said lightly, “I feel like nothing tastes as good as what you make.”
Shi Ye’s body paused.
The meal Shi Ye had cooked at the hotel in America had been very much to Xia Fengsheng’s taste.
He had not had another chance to eat it since.
Usually he either ate cafeteria food or takeout. Home-style dishes were something he rarely got to eat all year round. Since Shi Ye knew how to cook, naturally he could not let the chance go.
Otherwise why would he bother praising him for no reason?
A false smile curved across Xia Fengsheng’s face. Pretty words used to get someone to do something rolled right off his tongue. “What you made last time was really delicious.”
“After eating your food, anything else just feels like it’s missing something.”
“I feel like even a five-star hotel chef wouldn’t compare to you.”
Unexpectedly hearing Xia Fengsheng give his cooking such high praise, Shi Ye did not show much happiness on his face. Instead, he asked directly,
“What do you want to eat?”
Inside, Xia Fengsheng’s heart split open into a grin. He pulled out his phone, checked menus, and rattled off a whole string of dishes.
Everything he wanted to eat, he ordered all at once. Opportunity should not be missed; once missed, it would not come again.
After Xia Fengsheng finished naming the dishes he wanted, Shi Ye made a call and had someone buy the ingredients and deliver them over.
Lying lazily on the sofa, Xia Fengsheng said, “You’re really great. No wonder I chose to date you.”
Throughout it all, his eyes stayed fixed on his phone, not looking at Shi Ye even once.
With his back to him, Shi Ye said, “I’m only doing this once.”
He was not willingly cooking just because Xia Fengsheng had praised him.
He had his own rhythm.
He got back together with Xia Fengsheng to take revenge for the crime of being the bad man who had played with his feelings back then.
And before he dumped Xia Fengsheng, he had to make sure Xia Fengsheng fell for him first. Only that way would Xia Fengsheng be heartbroken when they broke up.
And if you wanted to capture a man’s heart, you first had to capture his stomach.
In order to capture Xia Fengsheng’s stomach, Shi Ye was determined to perform at his highest level today.
He did not head straight to the kitchen to prepare. Instead, he walked into the dressing room and began rummaging through everything.
From the shelf where his training clothes were stored, he pulled out a blue apron. It was the one he had worn back when he had been punished and sent to kitchen duty.
That apron was extremely meaningful to him. It had witnessed his full transformation from burning through two woks to becoming a master chef.
That was why Shi Ye had deliberately taken the apron with him when he left. It had been another brand-new experience in his life, one with great commemorative meaning, so he had washed it clean and kept it in the dressing room.
He had not expected there would be another day to wear it again.
Holding the apron, Shi Ye began rummaging through the dressing room again to put together a matching outfit.
He searched and searched, then pulled out a pair of gray sweatpants and a black turtleneck base layer. The sleeves had to be rolled up to his forearms. The black turtleneck showed off his figure well, tightly wrapping the muscles he had carefully trained on his upper body. He tied the waistband of the gray sweatpants snugly.
Once everything was on, Shi Ye put the apron over it.
The last time he had worn this apron had been the peak of his culinary skill.
Off with my battle robe, on with my old clothes.
Shi Ye: “:D”
Watch me charm him to death with my exquisite cooking!
Very soon, bodyguards came to the door carrying bags and bags of groceries. After the ingredients were placed in the kitchen, Shi Ye stepped onto the battlefield.
The kitchen was open-plan, so even from the living room the entire cooking process could be seen.
However, Xia Fengsheng had no mind to admire it. Sitting on the sofa scrolling on his phone, he suddenly felt his mouth was a little lonely, so he pulled out the snacks they had bought at the convenience store.
A sky-blue bag of yogurt potato chips—
He tore it open and popped a piece into his mouth. Finding the flavor pretty good, he started crunching away.
In just a few minutes, half the bag was gone.
Shi Ye came out to grab tissues and saw this scene. Instantly, alarm bells rang in his mind.
If Xia Fengsheng ate chips now and then later had no room left in his stomach for the food he cooked, then the dishes he made would lose a certain degree of delicious impact.
Wouldn’t that make his whole plan fail?!
Shi Ye walked over and looked down at Xia Fengsheng sprawled on the sofa, face serious. “Don’t eat snacks before a meal.”
When those peach-blossom eyes of his turned stern, his whole presence became forceful. When he kept a straight face and didn’t smile, he really was intimidating.
Xia Fengsheng lazily lifted his eyelids and looked at him.
Shi Ye said, “Before a meal, snacks aren’t—”
The next second, Xia Fengsheng pinched a potato chip between two pale, slender fingers and held it to his mouth.
“For you.”
Shi Ye: O.O
Shi Ye: O?O
Chewing the chip, Shi Ye returned to the kitchen.
The whole way, he moved like an NPC.
He chewed on the chip, which tasted faintly of yogurt mixed with a bit of onion.
Because I’m cooking for him, he’s already starting to curry favor with me by feeding me chips.
A wicked smile spread across Shi Ye’s face.
His plan had already begun to show results. Everything was progressing smoothly. Once Xia Fengsheng fell deeply and helplessly in love with him, he would dump him hard.
By then, Xia Fengsheng would definitely cry and sob just like he himself had when he got dumped, clutching at his leg and saying, “Husband, don’t leave!”
“Don’t leave me, husband!”
“Wuwuwuwu, husband, without you how am I supposed to live?”
At that point, no matter how heartbroken Xia Fengsheng was or how hard he tried to keep him, Shi Ye would not turn back to look at him even once.
The more Shi Ye thought about it, the better he felt. He cooked with even more vigor.
In the living room, Xia Fengsheng was chatting with his roommate He Qiang.
The two had not been in touch for a while, but He Qiang had sent him a message today.
He Qiang: “Sheng’er, are you back from traveling yet? When are you coming back to school?”
He Qiang: “I’m heading back to my hometown for a couple days. I left the dorm key with the dorm auntie, remember to pick it up.”
There were two dorm keys total, one for Xia Fengsheng and one for He Qiang. When Xia Fengsheng left, he had placed his key on the desk and not taken it with him. He Qiang saw that and, worried Xia Fengsheng would come back without a way to open the door, handed both keys to the dorm auntie.
Xia Fengsheng: “Okay.”
Having not seen Xia Fengsheng for quite a while, and not seeing him at all from New Year’s onward, He Qiang really had missed him. After all, as a roommate, Xia Fengsheng had been beyond reproach. Big favor or small favor, if he could help, he always did.
He Qiang chatted with him casually. “What are you doing now?”
Xia Fengsheng: “Waiting for someone else to cook for me.”
He Qiang: “That’s such a lived-in life. Who’s cooking for you?”
Xia Fengsheng glanced at Shi Ye in the kitchen, currently fantasizing about “Husband, don’t leave me,” and typed two words.
“Servant.”
Dinner was ready, and Shi Ye brought the dishes to the table.
Xia Fengsheng had not been idle either. Since Shi Ye was already making dinner, he proactively took charge of scooping the rice.
Shi Ye had just sat down.
Clang—
A bowl piled high like a mountain landed in front of him.
Looking at the rice heaped to overflowing, Shi Ye said, “Am I a pig? Why did you give me this much?”
Sitting down across from him, Xia Fengsheng replied, “Go ahead and root. It’ll get cold soon.”
Shi Ye: ……
By the time dinner ended, it was already nine at night.
Tomorrow was the day of the project negotiation. Xia Fengsheng planned to sleep early so he could go in with the best possible mental state.
After showering in the bathroom, he lay down on the bed in the guest room, tipped his head to one side, and passed out.
Xia Fengsheng: fully asleep.
His sleep quality was excellent.
Shi Ye had not adjusted his jet lag yet and could not fall asleep after lying down at night, so he simply leaned against the headboard and played on his phone.
He opened an app to check the score he had written today, then pulled up his camera roll to look through recent photos.
Looking through them, he suddenly remembered that he had not posted on Instagram in a while.
Opening the app, he found he had no caption inspiration tonight, so he figured he might as well just casually post a solo photo.
While the post showed as uploading, Shi Ye exited the app, tossed the phone aside, and shut his eyes, forcing himself to sleep.
Early the next morning, Xia Fengsheng got up bright and early. The project negotiation was in the afternoon, but first he had to return to the dorm and organize some things.
Shi Ye’s bedroom door was shut tight, clearly a sign that he was still asleep. Xia Fengsheng had no intention of waking him up to say goodbye in person. He could just send a message later.
Dragging his suitcase, he walked out the door. The moment he stepped outside Shi Ye’s place, he came face-to-face with one of the bodyguards.
The bodyguard wore sunglasses. “Mr. Xia, I’ll drive you.”
Since someone was offering to drive him, there was no reason not to take it.
He was carrying local specialties from America and couldn’t exactly take the subway with them. Having someone take him was perfect—it saved him taxi fare too.
By the time Shi Ye woke up, Xia Fengsheng had already left. Barefoot, he walked to the kitchen to get water. His long fingers held a glass of clear water while his Adam’s apple moved up and down as he drank.
At the same time, he pulled out his phone to check the post he had uploaded last night and see the kind of feedback his followers had left.
He tapped into his own post, and the sleepy look in his peach-blossom eyes instantly vanished.
Last night, he had thought he was uploading a solo photo of himself. What he had actually posted was that photo of Xia Fengsheng and Bubai on the sofa.
The reaction in the comments was even more intense.
“Oh, you know, hubby, I just love looking at handsome men!”
“Wow, he’s so hot, I want his Instagram.”
“That’s the handsome guy who was with you in Chinatown before!”
“So handsome so handsome so handsome, a completely different kind of handsome from the blogger.”
“OK, I’m willing. Say the date, when’s the wedding?”
“Does he have a girlfriend?”
“Does he have a boyfriend?”
“Alright, I thought I could only love you alone, but now I’ve realized I can love two.”
There were even private messages in the back end. First they sent the photo of Xia Fengsheng and Bubai, then asked him:
“Selling? Both?”
Shi Ye: ……
Shi Ye: Reported.
He quickly deleted the latest post, deeply annoyed that he had uploaded the wrong photo last night. His brows were furrowed, and the low pressure of just having woken up hung heavily around him.
Even if their reunion was fake, he had absolutely no hobby of sharing his boyfriend’s daily life with other people.
The post was deleted cleanly, but his mood remained unpleasant.
The next second, the phone in his hand vibrated once.
It was a message from Xia Fengsheng.
Xia Fengsheng: “Awake?”
It was already ten in the morning now. Xia Fengsheng figured that even if Shi Ye were a pig, he should be awake by this point.
Shi Ye read the message Xia Fengsheng had sent.
It seemed last night’s dinner had been highly effective. After leaving today, Xia Fengsheng already couldn’t bear to part with him, even taking the initiative to message and ask after him.
In a cold tone, Shi Ye typed back one character: “Mm.”
The other side replied instantly.
Xia Fengsheng: “I left you a gift.”
A gift? Shi Ye looked around the living room. Usually a gift would be placed somewhere obvious.
But after circling around once, he found nothing.
Shi Ye asked him by message: “Where?”
Xia Fengsheng: “In the pocket of the coat you wore yesterday. I know you like blue, so I specially left you a blue gift.”
Heh. He really had fallen for him.
Not only did he message him, he even left him a surprise gift, and in his favorite color too.
Shi Ye was determined to see what it was.
Picking up the coat, he eagerly reached into the pocket.
The next second, he pulled out the blue gift Xia Fengsheng had left him.
An empty bag of yogurt potato chips.
Shi Ye: ……
.
It had been almost two weeks since Xia Fengsheng had returned to the dorm.
The dorm auntie got a shock when she saw him. “Sheng’er, you’re back? I haven’t seen you in so long.”
Xia Fengsheng wore a refined, gentle smile as he said to her, “I only just got back from going out to play.”
“Oh, right.” He took out a few souvenirs from his pocket and placed them on the window counter. “These are for you. Just some little gifts.”
The dorm auntie thanked him with a smile. “Sheng’er, did you get your memory back?”
Back before, Xia Fengsheng had always liked chatting with her, and had even taught her how to buy clothes on her behalf and how to coordinate outfits so they looked nice.
Anyone who had chatted with Xia Fengsheng ended up liking him.
Steady yet witty. If not for the fact that he had said he wasn’t planning on dating right now, the dorm auntie would have wanted to introduce him to someone herself.
“Not yet.”
The auntie was moved. She had never expected that even after losing his memory, the child would still think of her and even bring her gifts back from his trip.
“Really? You’re exactly the same now as you were before.”
With the little gifts delivered, Xia Fengsheng said, “Auntie, I’m heading up first.”
“Go on, go on. Sheng’er, how thoughtful of you to think of auntie even while you were out having fun.”
“It’s nothing. As long as you like them.”
Carrying his things, Xia Fengsheng stepped into the elevator.
Over the years at school, he had never let a single opportunity to build connections pass him by.
Especially not the dorm auntie of the graduate dorms at Jing University.
Jing University was full of geniuses everywhere, and for the auntie, geniuses were nothing more than the entry threshold.
The project meeting was set for one in the afternoon, so Xia Fengsheng didn’t waste any time. As soon as he got back to the dorm, he started getting himself ready and pulled up the proposal on his computer to review it one more time.
This was the first deal he would negotiate independently after escaping Yang Liwan.
He had to get off to a good start.
When it was nearly time, senior Qin Buming contacted him.
Qin Buming: “Sheng’er, let’s meet at the main school gate in a bit. I’ll drive over.”
Xia Fengsheng: “Senior bought a car?”
In his memory, Qin Buming had not owned one.
Qin Buming: “Only got it not long ago.”
Putting on his formal wear and bringing everything he needed, Xia Fengsheng headed to the main gate of the school.
The moment he stepped out of campus, a BMW at the roadside honked at him.
That BMW was probably Qin Buming’s car, so he strode over.
The next second, Qin Buming’s voice called out from behind him.
“Sheng’er! Over here.”
Xia Fengsheng turned around.
Qin Buming was sitting inside a Wuling Hongguang, waving at him.
Xia Fengsheng: ……
Too powerful.
He walked over and got into the passenger seat.
Qin Buming greeted him. “Sheng’er, long time no see.”
At their core, Qin Buming and Xia Fengsheng gave off roughly the same style of impression—both mature and steady. But Xia Fengsheng’s looks leaned more yin and damp, with sharper eyes and mouth, adding a layer of mystery and elegance. Qin Buming, by contrast, had more of a scholarly air.
Xia Fengsheng said, “Long time no see, Senior.”
He looked around the car once. “What made you decide on a Wuling Hongguang?”
Qin Buming smiled and rubbed the back of his head. “Well, our team’s got a lot of people, right? Sometimes we also have to send clients home and things like that. I was worried there wouldn’t be enough seats, so I just bought something with more of them.”
As he spoke, he started the engine, and the two of them set off toward their destination.
The rest of the team had been assigned other tasks. What Qin Buming and Xia Fengsheng were handling today was the top priority.
The two of them arrived at a café.
Xia Fengsheng looked puzzled. “Senior, we’re discussing it here?”
He had assumed they would be going to the partner’s company. It was rare for project negotiations to happen in a café.
Qin Buming said, “What we’re here to do today is help the investor boss’s daughter.”
“Boss Zhao said that if we can get his daughter to break up with her current boyfriend, then when it comes to project cooperation, our side will be the first one he considers.”
Xia Fengsheng: ?
They even handled this kind of business?
As the two walked inside together, Qin Buming continued explaining. “Because the boss was always busy with work, he didn’t spend enough time with his daughter when she was little. So after growing up, she found herself a boyfriend who’s two years younger than she is.”
“Two years younger sounds pretty good.”
“Two years younger than the boss.”
Xia Fengsheng: ……
“When we go to persuade her to break up, let’s be a little gentle. Miss Zhao is still a young girl.”
Xia Fengsheng said, “Alright.”
Miss Zhao was already waiting at the café. From far away, she spotted Qin Buming and waved at him.
Smiling, Qin Buming walked over, with Xia Fengsheng following close behind.
“Sheng’er, this is Boss Zhao’s daughter, Miss Zhao,” Qin Buming said.
Looking at the powerfully muscled strongman in front of him, Xia Fengsheng froze.
Wasn’t he told she was a young girl?
Qin Buming shot Xia Fengsheng frantic looks.
A laughing smile instantly spread across Xia Fengsheng’s face. “What a big lass.”
Update Posting Schedule: Starting next chapter, posting schedule change from posting every day to 3 chapters every Monday~
