Chapter 67
Zhou Qiong finally came back to himself from the shock and delight. He had never expected Xia Fengsheng, who looked so proper and steady, to hire escorts. Usually he acted all cold and aloof—Zhou Qiong had thought he was different from other men.
Hahahahahaha. So in the end he was just another guy who couldn’t control what was below the waist.
“Nicely done.” Laughing, Zhou Qiong pocketed the dirty little card the auntie had stolen back for him. On top of her pay, he transferred her another hundred thousand as hush money and an extra bonus.
The auntie was overjoyed when she saw the transfer. “Boss, call me again if you need anything.”
With that, she left the restaurant. Holding the obscene little card in his hand, Zhou Qiong felt refreshed and full of spirit. If Xia Fengsheng came looking for him later over the thesis, he would not be afraid anymore.
—
By the time Xia Fengsheng was done washing his face in the bathroom, Shi Ye had already finished making breakfast.
He had prepared a lot: porridge, pastries, plus Western-style bacon and scrambled eggs. As far as he remembered, aside from ginger and raw food, Xia Fengsheng was not picky about what he ate.
When Xia Fengsheng walked into the dining room and saw the spread on the table, he froze for a second. Even when Dawn Studio ordered breakfast together, they never ordered this much.
The table was packed with food. Xia Fengsheng rarely ate such a lavish breakfast—or rather, he rarely ate breakfast at all. One reason was that he had never really had the habit. The other was that work kept him too busy.
He pulled out a chair and sat down at the table.
Shi Ye came over shirtless in an apron, holding a freshly squeezed juice in his hand—a mix of grape and peach.
Xia Fengsheng liked sweet flavored water.
The crystal-clear juice in the glass was set down in front of him. Xia Fengsheng had assumed Shi Ye would sit down and eat together with him after bringing the juice over, but instead Shi Ye turned and headed back into the kitchen.
Xia Fengsheng paused. “Aren’t you eating with me?”
Tilting his head up, dressed in loungewear, with the hair that was usually slicked back with pomade now falling over his forehead, he looked at Shi Ye with such naked longing that it almost seemed he was staring him through.
Looking at him, not long out of bed, Shi Ye’s heart went thump-thump-thump. He hurried back into the open kitchen in a fluster. “Soon, in a minute, I’ll be right back.”
He sped up what he was doing with his hands, but his heart had already flown back to Xia Fengsheng.
He wants to eat with me!
So cute.
Ahhhhhhh. He’s so cute right after waking up too—pretty and cute.
What kind of life had I even been living for the past seven years?
The more Shi Ye thought about it, the more bitterly unwilling he felt. What exactly had he missed out on during those seven years?
He hurriedly finished up in the kitchen, then rushed back to sit with Xia Fengsheng for breakfast.
After sitting down, Shi Ye did not start eating immediately.
Instead, he looked at Xia Fengsheng, who had just taken a sip of juice, then closed his eyes and leaned closer.
Xia Fengsheng: ???
The sweet taste of the juice was still in his mouth. Looking at Shi Ye suddenly leaning in, he asked, “What are you doing?”
Shi Ye pointed at himself. “Give my little mouth a kiss.”
Xia Fengsheng: …
Little mouth? Where?
Shi Ye wanted a good morning kiss. And in the future, he wanted to develop the habit of getting one every morning after waking up.
Xia Fengsheng felt a bit at a loss. He had never been someone used to intimacy, and for the moment he still was not used to it. Looking at Shi Ye with his eyes closed and his face full of anticipation, his fingers curled slightly.
In his memory, he had only ever kissed Shi Ye three times.
One was a month ago, when the two of them had just gotten back together and Shi Ye had said those cruel words about breaking up.
At the time, Xia Fengsheng’s emotions had been a mess and his mind had not been clear. His body had kissed first, before his brain could catch up.
At the time, he had thought: if they could not be together, then at least let me leave myself something to remember.
After all, the two of them had never even kissed before, and in the confusion he had just gone ahead and done it.
The second time had been back in high school, the first time he had kissed Shi Ye on the cheek. That could practically be called ancient history.
The last time was yesterday. And as for yesterday, when the two of them held each other and kissed on the bed, Xia Fengsheng felt that he had simply been too happy then. His body had gone out of control, and rational thought had not existed.
All three times, his mind had been in chaos. Once because he wanted to leave himself a keepsake. Once because he had desperately wanted to prove he liked Shi Ye. And once because of the joy of getting back what he thought he had lost.
But now he had only just woken up. His fatigue had vanished, he was on holiday, and his whole body was in its most relaxed state.
Looking at Shi Ye’s lips, he swallowed, and suddenly it felt as though some horned four-legged creature inside him rammed rudely into his heart.
Xia Fengsheng slowly lowered his dark, bright eyes, closed them, curled his toes inside his white slippers, leaned in, and lightly bumped his lips against Shi Ye’s.
Like a cat nudging someone with its head.
The moment their lips touched, both of them softened at once, as if a volcano had erupted. Shi Ye’s hand instantly clenched into a fist, his whole body trembling with excitement.
The good morning kiss ended softly. Before their bodies could pull too far apart, they both opened their eyes at the same time.
Fox eyes met peach-blossom eyes, and each saw the other’s flustered embarrassment.
Yesterday they had just gotten back together, so they had been too overwhelmed to care about anything and had kissed all over the bed until they fell asleep.
Now that both were too clear-headed, they were actually even more shy.
After all, the two of them had dated for almost three years in high school and only kissed each other’s cheeks three times.
Now they were jumping straight into a real kiss. For both of them, that counted as big.
Inside Shi Ye, ten thousand marmots were screaming in waves.
Inside Xia Fengsheng, ten thousand alpacas were galloping by.
The two hurriedly pulled apart, neither daring to look at the other.
A soft pink crept up the tips of Xia Fengsheng’s snowy ears, but he forced his expression back to normal and said, “Let’s eat first.”
He looked as though he had already calmed down from the excitement of the kiss.
Xia Fengsheng picked up a spoon, about to take a sip of porridge.
The next second, Shi Ye—who had suddenly been fed a mouthful of porridge—was left speechless.
It got fed into my mouth.
The two of them muddle-headedly finished breakfast. Xia Fengsheng still had school today, so he went into the walk-in closet and picked out a full suit. He had a symposium to attend today, and also needed to congratulate a senior sister on successfully graduating.
Standing before the mirror, Xia Fengsheng dressed himself, tied his tie, fastened his watch, and put a little pomade in his hair, styling it into a mature, elegant slicked-back look.
He picked up his bag and prepared to leave. Shi Ye also had to go to the studio today—his music scores still needed polishing.
Xia Fengsheng reached the entryway and changed into his shoes. Just as he was about to say goodbye and tell Shi Ye he was leaving, Shi Ye came hurrying out of the room.
He had only just put on his shirt. Seeing Xia Fengsheng about to leave, he strode into the kitchen and then came back to the entryway.
A thermal lunch bag appeared in front of Xia Fengsheng.
Shi Ye said, “Your lunch.”
Shi Ye had made it while preparing breakfast.
Recently, Xia Fengsheng had gotten much thinner, and Shi Ye had noticed it all. It made him both guilty and heartbroken.
Xia Fengsheng’s meals were irregular, and the school cafeteria was more or less all “zero natural, full additives.” If Shi Ye made lunch for him to bring along, it would be easy to take out and eat at noon—and it had meat, eggs, and plenty of dietary fiber.
Back in training camp, Shi Ye’s meal plans had been excellent, nutritious, and tasty. He had followed the same principles in making Xia Fengsheng’s lunch.
The lunch bag was not small, about half the size of a backpack. Xia Fengsheng might look thin, but his appetite at each meal was not small.
The huge breakfast spread from that morning had somehow been finished clean by the two of them.
Taking the lunch bag in his hand, Xia Fengsheng said, “Thanks.”
Then the two of them stood there in the entryway without speaking.
Strangely enough, when they had been pretending Xia Fengsheng had amnesia and dating during that period, things between them had felt natural. Now that everything had been laid out openly, they had instead become awkward and bashful.
Shi Ye looked at Xia Fengsheng and noticed that one part of his collar was flipped wrong. He reminded him, “Your collar’s turned.”
Xia Fengsheng freed one hand to adjust it himself.
The next second, Shi Ye raised his own hand instead. “Hubby, let me.”
He stepped closer naturally, shortening the distance between them, and reached out to smooth Xia Fengsheng’s collar into place.
Xia Fengsheng pressed his lips together, his gaze drifting. As for Shi Ye calling himself his husband, he neither accepted it nor rejected it. He simply looked off into the distance somewhere, not knowing where to place his eyes.
Shi Ye was equally too shy to meet his gaze.
After fixing the collar, Shi Ye could not hold back. He placed a hand on Xia Fengsheng’s shoulder and kissed the little mole by the corner of his mouth.
That mole at Xia Fengsheng’s lip had been the stuff of Shi Ye’s romantic dreams for countless nights since his youth.
As soon as he did it, Shi Ye realized what he had done, and lowered his head with a red face. “Be careful on the way.”
Xia Fengsheng replied evenly, “Oh.”
He did not seem nearly as worked up as Shi Ye was.
Turning to leave, he reached for the doorknob and missed it, almost bumping into the doorframe.
Xia Fengsheng: …
It felt like Shi Ye had sucked half his cerebellum away.
Shi Ye was so startled he quickly opened the door for him, then from behind held both of Xia Fengsheng’s arms and practically escorted him all the way to the elevator. Only after Xia Fengsheng got inside did he finally breathe out in relief.
Xia Fengsheng entered the elevator. Shi Ye turned to go back inside, only to realize the keypad door had locked.
His emotions had been on the very peak of a roller coaster all morning, and now he could not remember Xia Fengsheng’s door code. So he went to head back to his own place next door.
Standing in front of his own door, he reached into his pocket for his key.
The next second, he froze.
Shi Ye: O.O
Where’s the key?
—
There was a big class before the symposium that morning. Dressed in a full suit, Xia Fengsheng arrived at the classroom and found an empty seat to sit down.
This was only the second time he had come back to class since resuming school, and after working so long, the classroom environment still felt unfamiliar.
When Zhan Shengyao came in, her internal radar locked right onto Xia Fengsheng. She walked over and smoothly sat down beside him.
“Morning, Sheng’er.”
Technically Xia Fengsheng was her senior, but in reality he was only one year older than her. Between the two of them, they simply called each other by name or nickname.
Only an idiot would think a junior not calling you “senior brother” or “senior sister” meant they were disrespecting you.
The two of them were good friends and dependable partners who had gone through hardship together. Usually they got along openly and easily.
And though Xia Fengsheng looked cold, he was actually soft-hearted beneath the surface—really very good.
Both Xia Fengsheng and Zhan Shengyao had fought through layer after layer to get into this top university through the graduate exam, so neither of them slacked off in class. They listened attentively through the entire lecture.
After leaving the classroom, Xia Fengsheng received good news.
A group message read: “Today’s symposium is canceled.”
That one sentence sent who knew how many students into silent celebration.
Zhan Shengyao walked out with him and then looked at him curiously. “Sheng’er, what’s up with you today?”
Xia Fengsheng turned to look at her and let out a short sound. “Hm?”
It was low and very mature and gentle.
Zhan Shengyao’s whole body shook.
Damn. There was a bit of a daddy vibe there. If he were thirty, it would probably be even stronger.
Zhan Shengyao said, “You kept smiling to yourself the whole time today. What’s going on? Something good happen?”
She had secretly observed him all through class and had noticed something was clearly different about him today. His complexion looked much rosier, and even the energy field around him felt changed.
Xia Fengsheng was stunned. “Me?”
Zhan Shengyao said, “Yes, you. Who else? I was sitting right next to you.”
For half the lecture he had kept this faint, suspiciously soft smile on his face.
Only then did Xia Fengsheng realize it himself. “Really?”
Still, it was a good thing his condition had improved. During the days when they had all been slogging through proposal work, every last one of them had looked more dead than alive when they got off work. None of them even wanted to walk home. They had all practically wanted to crawl back on all fours.
While making weird noises.
Clearly, a holiday was the best kind of miracle medicine.
After the break, everyone’s complexion had improved.
Now it was noon. Zhan Shengyao’s stomach growled. “Let’s eat together.”
Xia Fengsheng replied, “I brought lunch.”
Zhan Shengyao was surprised. “You cook?”
Xia Fengsheng said, “No, my hu—”
He stumbled over the word. Sure enough, he still could not do it. Pressing two fingers to his brow, he gave up on saying it and instead said, “My boyfriend made it.”
Zhan Shengyao narrowed her eyes. “Oho~”
So they had gotten back together. No wonder.
In truth, everyone at Dawn Studio had known Xia Fengsheng had been brokenhearted some time ago. They spent their days together—there was no way they would not notice the change in him.
When he had not yet broken up, he had still been fairly normal. After the breakup, he had carried around a constant faint sense of shattered fragility and low pressure.
But since Xia Fengsheng had not spoken of it, none of them had brought it up on purpose. They were afraid of reopening an old wound, so instead they had just quietly taken more care of him in their actions.
No one had expected him to get back together with Shi Ye now.
After reconciling, his condition had improved by leaps and bounds. His whole face was flushed with color, his spirit high.
Zhan Shengyao was sincerely happy for him.
And she had seen Shi Ye a few times too. He was handsome, stylish, rich, and as for his personality… well, from Qin Buming’s complaints about how Xia Fengsheng and Shi Ye had once acted insane in the street and insisted on doing planks over a puddle, it was clear they were kindred spirits—people whose mental states matched.
Although she had brought lunch, Xia Fengsheng still accompanied Zhan Shengyao to the cafeteria. After Zhan Shengyao got her meal, he took out his bento and prepared to eat.
The lunch box opened.
Inside was a huge heart shape made out of ham.
Zhan Shengyao stared. “Holy shit.”
That really was a love bento.
She had only ever seen that kind of thing in dramas before. She had never thought it would exist in real life.
Swallowing hard, she asked in surprise, “Are you two that romantic?”
A bit of heat rose to Xia Fengsheng’s face.
Shi Ye had always been rather romantic, from childhood all the way up. Growing up in love, lacking nothing in terms of money or material life, he pursued freedom and emotional fulfillment instead, and he always invested things with ceremony.
That was because he had never known restraint, so to him, love was a matter of the greatest importance.
Whether it was the love he received, or the love he gave.
Being with him really did mean experiencing romance every day.
Zhan Shengyao found it fascinating. Since it was her first time seeing a love bento in person, she immediately whipped out her phone and took a frenzy of photos. Then she burst out laughing and posted them in the Daybreak group chat.
Zhan Shengyao: “Come look at Sheng’er’s love bento.”
Replies flooded in within seconds.
Zheng Xing: “Holy shit, that really is a heart!”
Qin Buming: “Holy shit, who made it!”
Zheng Xing: “Hello, I would like to eat one bite. [kitten reaching with chopsticks emoji]”
Qin Buming: “Eat my ass.”
Zheng Xing: “Hello, I would like to eat two bites. [kitten holding two pairs of chopsticks emoji]”
Zhan Shengyao: “Hahahahahahahahahaha.”
Xia Fengsheng looked at the messages in the group and smiled helplessly.
Zhan Shengyao said, “Take a photo before you eat and send it to your boyfriend. This is how relationships are supposed to be.”
Hearing that, Xia Fengsheng took out his phone. He rarely took photos, and even when photographing things he never usually cared much about angles. But today, no matter how he shot it, it somehow did not look right.
Zhan Shengyao leaned over to help him choose.
Before long, two crazed fox-weasels could be seen standing on chairs on the first floor of the second canteen at Beijing University, taking photo after photo of a boxed lunch like maniacs.
Passersby: So this is what finance students are like when they’re not being supervised.
—
“Jiyan, did you see the friend request my friend sent you? Approve it, okay?”
“Brother Jiyan, did you see the message I sent you?”
“Jiyan…”
On the other end, after hanging up one call, Chen Jiyan continued approving friend requests like he was possessed. Looking at the terrifying red notification dot next to his contact requests, he felt trapped in some kind of endless cycle. The requests would never, ever run out.
He was seriously considering just deleting his WeChat account.
And all of this had started because of one set of photos online.
No one knew who it had been, but someone had posted the pictures of him dining with Xia Fengsheng that day onto a social media platform.
His last dating show had exploded into a phenomenon. The whole internet had discussed it, and it had stayed in the trending entertainment ranks for nearly half a year.
Everyone knew he was a dating show producer. Recently, there had already been announcements from his team that he was producing another romance program, and nearly a year later, the audience for that kind of show was waiting in eager anticipation.
People had seen him eating with Xia Fengsheng and guessed that Xia Fengsheng was one of the male guests for the next season.
The post went up and hit trending that very night.
Title: “The ultimate hot male guest for Love 2—I’m reserving this show in advance!”
In the photos, Xia Fengsheng looked striking and extraordinary.
The comment section was like a tidal wave.
“Holy shit, how does he look this insanely good?”
“I looked down and somehow I’m already wearing a wedding dress.”
“He really looks highly educated. Such a strong high-intellect vibe.”
“What’s his name? Who has his Douyin account?”
“I have his payment QR code.”
“Can’t wait! He’s so handsome! I can’t wait to see his chemistry with the other guests.”
…
The photos in the post had been taken secretly, but every one of them captured Xia Fengsheng clearly. They really had talked about the dating show over that meal.
It seemed the person who had secretly snapped the photos had only overheard half the conversation and missed Xia Fengsheng’s later refusal.
Because Xia Fengsheng’s appearance was simply too exceptional, the post caused an enormous stir.
People were coming to Chen Jiyan privately in endless waves.
There had already been many people with excellent conditions coming to audition for his dating show before, but it had never been anything close to this crazy.
Some people who had already been his friends before were even trying to use connections to stuff candidates into his show, wanting Chen Jiyan to do them a favor.
Chen Jiyan’s head felt twice as big. He did not even know how to answer them all.
The thing was, Xia Fengsheng was not going to join the dating show at all. But online expectations had already gotten so out of hand that he felt like he was being roasted over an open fire.
Besides, Xia Fengsheng was the lover of his good brother Shi Ye. No matter how rotten a person he might be, there was no way he would steal his friend’s lover or beg Xia Fengsheng to go on the show.
Chen Jiyan’s head tilted to one side. He died.
At noon, Chen Jiyan arranged to meet Shi Ye for lunch. The previous few days he had been impossible to reach, but today, when messaged, he had replied instantly.
The lunch spot was a high-end restaurant the two of them went to often.
Chen Jiyan sat down and waited for Shi Ye, already thinking through strategies for dealing with the dating show chaos.
Not long after, someone sat down across from him.
Chen Jiyan assumed Shi Ye had arrived, but when he looked up, the face in front of him was completely unfamiliar.
Chen Jiyan stared. “Who are you?”
Qi Qianli took off his sunglasses. “It’s me.”
Chen Jiyan: “…So who?”
Qi Qianli: …
Damn it, how can you not even know who I am? We’ve seen each other so many times at parties and you can’t remember my face at all?
Qi Qianli had always thought he was pretty famous within their circle. He had not expected Chen Jiyan to look at him with utter blankness.
But since he had come asking for something, he forced himself to speak politely. “My sister is Qi Mingyue.”
Qi Mingyue held quite a lot of prestige in their circle.
The moment her name came up, Chen Jiyan slapped his forehead. “Ah! I remember now. You’re Qi Mingyue’s younger brother, Qi Qianli.”
That utterly useless second-generation wastrel.
At the mention of Qi Mingyue, whom he always treated respectfully thanks to her capability and standing, Chen Jiyan forced a courteous fake smile toward Qi Qianli. “May I ask what brings Mr. Qi to me?”
Qi Qianli did not beat around the bush. “I want to go on your dating show.”
Chen Jiyan: ?
Date… with who?
You, a notorious playboy, would implode the show the second you stepped on it.
No one would even need to dig for dirt—you standing there would already count as dirt.
Chen Jiyan gave an awkward smile. “Mr. Qi doesn’t look like someone short of romantic partners. Ours is a serious dating program.”
Not a place for you to fool around and sow chaos.
Qi Qianli said, “I know.”
He had already gotten rid of most of those bad habits recently. Swearing he was serious, he said, “I’d go on your show to actually date. I came to find you because I genuinely want to take a relationship seriously.”
Qi Qianli had seen the online gossip saying Xia Fengsheng would be on the dating show. At the time, he had been lying in bed playing games while waiting to respawn, and his eyes had gone round at once.
What a stunning beauty. Why didn’t anyone announce the breakup?
Learning that Xia Fengsheng and Shi Ye had split, Qi Qianli had been so thrilled he did not sleep all night. He excitedly tried to message Xia Fengsheng, only to realize he had already been blocked.
Qi Qianli: …
So he had come straight to Chen Jiyan, intending to get onto the dating show and spend time with Xia Fengsheng there.
Qi Qianli launched into selling himself. He was very satisfied with himself and believed he could definitely persuade Chen Jiyan. “My looks are good enough, right? My family background is top-tier, I’m rich, and my education isn’t bad either. I’d definitely have chemistry with the other guests, and I can even invest in your show and sponsor it.”
“Oh, right. Isn’t there that big hot guest called Xia Fengsheng? My appearance actually matches with his really well. If we’re put together, we’d definitely become a hot CP. If you market us properly, we’ll have huge discussion heat. Letting me on the show definitely won’t be a loss.”
The more he talked, the more pleased he became. “Maybe we’ll even become a nationally beloved super-hot CP.”
But after he finished speaking, Chen Jiyan just sat there with his lips pressed together, unmoving.
Qi Qianli: ?
What’s with you? Why aren’t you saying anything?
Then the next second, a chilly voice sounded from behind him.
“A nationally beloved super-hot CP?”
Qi Qianli: …
Shi Ye leaned right into his face from behind. “That is the very last fantasy of a face that’s been used as a bicycle.”
