Chapter 36: The Quilt
For a moment, He Ting was speechless. He had imagined all sorts of things the other person might say to forgive him, but instead the topic had veered off completely. The two of them were not on the same wavelength at all.
Seeing that he wasn’t moving, An Yi assumed he had no strength. “If you can’t move, I can make a self-service withdrawal.”
He could just scan his payment code with the man’s phone.
He Ting: ……
That was actually rather considerate.
Looking at An Yi’s gaze—so pure, without a trace of materialism or scheming—He Ting hesitated for a few seconds. The glaring mark on the other man’s neck was hidden by his collar. He looked quite obedient, and he didn’t seem to have much calculation in him. So how had he ended up going down the wrong road, letting someone keep him?
The fingers of the hand He Ting had resting on the bed curled slightly. He felt a little uneasy inside.
The other man was the same age as him. By age, he had probably just graduated from university—or maybe hadn’t even graduated yet. It felt more likely that being kept was less his own choice and more that he had been fooled into it.
He Ting said, “WeChat.”
Then he took out his phone. “What’s your WeChat ID?”
An Yi finished the last bite of his grilled sausage and replied with his cheeks puffed out, “You can just scan my payment code.”
Never had he expected the other man to be this dense. He couldn’t even tell that he was trying to add him as a friend. With a sour expression, He Ting said, “Add me on WeChat. I’ll still need you to bring dinner for me.”
An Yi spoke in a small voice. “What if I don’t bring it?”
He Ting: ……
So the man would rather die than add him as a friend, was that it?
Actually, when An Yi brought back the bowl of beef noodles, he had never imagined He Ting would give him a pleasant face. He had no idea what exactly it was about that bowl of noodles that had moved him so much that his attitude had done a complete one-eighty.
But in the end, they still added each other. Looking at the newly added contact in his friends list, He Ting set down his phone in satisfaction and leaned back against the headboard, preparing to eat.
Yet the moment he got a mouthful down, his whole body froze.
…This was fucking awful.
He had never eaten beef noodles this bad in his life.
An Yi looked at him. “Is it good?”
He Ting lifted a chopstickful. “Do you want some?”
An Yi shook his head. “No, I heard from someone else that it wasn’t good.”
He Ting: ……
Then why the hell did you buy it for me!
After seeing that the other man had started eating, An Yi rested in the dorm a little longer, then went out at one in the afternoon and returned to the office building to continue working.
At the same time, the brand’s internal interview videos from the competition were also released, and the various marketing accounts rushed to repost them to meet their quotas.
Although the brand behind the interviews was famous, most of the participants were ordinary people. The competition was conducted under full lockdown, with very limited filming allowed, so interviews were basically the only way outsiders could get to know anything about it. It wasn’t like other programs, which would turn the whole thing into a variety show and hype it up.
The interviews themselves weren’t very interesting, and since the participants were unknowns with no traffic or fan base to support them, there was no way they would stir up much discussion. Some marketing accounts were too lazy even to write their own captions, so they just copied someone else’s text and reposted it. If not for the brand’s prestige, the interviews probably wouldn’t have gotten any attention at all and would have sunk without a trace.
Yet only half an hour after the interview videos were widely reposted by marketing accounts, the topic tag for the brand’s interview video quietly appeared near the bottom of the hot search rankings, then slowly began to climb.
In the first half of the video, there weren’t many comments floating across the screen. But the instant Gu Lingling appeared, the barrage exploded all at once like a torrential downpour, flooding the screen.
Looking at the camera with a proper smile, Gu Lingling said, “Hello everyone, I’m the beautiful woman from Pink Crystal Maiden Heart Studio… Our studio is friendly and harmonious, one heart…”
“Third rewatch. This interview is seriously hilarious.”
“Hahahahaha, how can a studio really be called Pink Crystal Maiden Heart? How did she say it so openly?”
“My soul has returned to elementary school.”
“This name is so toe-curlingly embarrassing, and yet I’m damned if I don’t like it.”
“What are you all laughing at? Isn’t it just that the studio name is a little weird? Everything the young lady said sounded normal enough.”
The next moment, from behind her came the sound of a few grilled sausages, and Lin Jiu came flying into frame with An Yi, making a dazzling entrance onto the first floor full of reporters.
“There they are, there they are!!”
“B-king entrance, hahahahahaha.”
“Hahahahaha, what kind of combination is this? So funny, help.”
“How did they fly in like that? Won’t they fall to their deaths???”
“I take back what I said. This really is hilarious hahahahahaha.”
“So chuuni. They did the things I never dared do back in my student days.”
“They’re here—our harmonious, united Pink Crystal Maiden Heart has merged into one form.”
“What, they’re from the same studio?”
“Hahahahaha, Beautiful Woman clearly doesn’t want to admit they know each other.”
“Beautiful Woman: This is too embarrassing. I don’t know them. Someone save me.”
As Lin Jiu and An Yi drew closer to the camera, their faces became clearer too.
“Much as I hate to admit it, these two actually have some looks.”
“Their earlier idiocy made me completely overlook the face value of these three.”
“Cute and sexy mean nothing in the face of stupidity.”
“I want the one on top.”
“Then I’ll take the one on the bottom.”
“Ladies, are we really out here picking already?”
Gu Lingling’s smile froze as she forced a grin toward the camera. “Sorry, please cut this part out.”
With that, she turned around and dissected the fused form of Lin Jiu and An Yi with her bare hands.
“Grilled sausages, always grilled sausages!”
Gu Lingling pinched both of their cheeks, forcing them to behave like actual human beings.
Two minutes later, the two stood obediently in front of the camera.
They spoke in unison: “Our Pink Crystal Maiden Heart Studio is friendly, harmonious, and of one heart…”
“If I hadn’t watched the whole thing, I would’ve believed it.”
“Hahahahahaha, someone please tell that Beautiful Woman that the earlier segment absolutely was not cut out.”
“The one in the white T-shirt is so well-behaved. I love him.”
“He’s really so good-looking. What’s his name?”
“When is the next interview? Can they interview this studio specifically again? I want a sequel to this clown show!”
“+1.”
“+ID card number!”
“I know about this competition. There’s an elimination round in a few days, and Lu Mingnan is going to be there as a judge. The brand invited him!!”
“Will there be interviews then? If there are, I’ll watch.”
“Definitely. Besides Lu Mingnan, several internet celebrities are also going. There’ll absolutely be a lot of media.”
“Then I’ll wait for the interview video in a few days.”
—
Huo Beixing sat before the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the video on his phone. He had replayed An Yi’s interview segment no fewer than ten times.
His peach blossom eyes never moved away. He missed the other man far too much.
Looking at the shameless comments scrolling across the screen, he pouted, unhappy. Why did all these people covet someone else’s wife? It wasn’t moral at all. Didn’t they have wives of their own?!
That handsome face darkened. Freezing the frame on An Yi in the video, he read the comments that said people would be going later to watch his wife’s competition.
Feeling displeased, he flopped backward onto the carpet and stared up at the ceiling. Why could other people go watch his wife compete, but he couldn’t?
If other people could have something, then he had to have it too.
After staring blankly at the ceiling for a few seconds, a thought struck him. Since others could go watch his wife’s competition, didn’t that mean he could go too?
If others had it, he had to have it.
He got up and went to find Uncle Zhong.
At that moment, Uncle Zhong was leisurely drinking tea. When he saw Huo Beixing approach, he poured another cup and raised it. “Young Master, would you like a cup?”
Huo Beixing took it and poured it straight down his throat in one rough gulp.
That had been tea brewed from top-quality compressed tea cakes. Seeing Huo Beixing drink it in such a crude way, Uncle Zhong felt a little pained.
Before he turned stupid, he had at least been a bit too flirtatious, but still carried himself with elegance. After turning stupid, he had become a complete brute.
Huo Beixing set the teacup down. “Uncle Zhong, I want to go see my wife.”
Uncle Zhong: “?”
Wasn’t Young Master An Yi participating in a fully closed-off competition? How was he supposed to see him?
Uncle Zhong advised him, “Young Master An Yi’s competition doesn’t allow visits.”
Huo Beixing immediately refuted him. “It does! I saw it. Other people can go.”
He pointed at the comments on the video and showed them to Uncle Zhong. “It says there that some people can go watch the competition and make evaluations. I want to go too.”
Uncle Zhong felt somewhat troubled. Those people going as judges were still considered staff. They were going to work. If Huo Beixing went, what would he even do?
Interfere with the work?
Seeing the difficulty on Uncle Zhong’s face, Huo Beixing asked, “Can’t I?”
Uncle Zhong replied, “It’s not impossible. Why don’t you ask Eldest Young Master? He might be able to arrange something for you.”
If this had been before he turned stupid, then as long as it was some occasion Huo Beixing was interested in, he would go whenever he pleased and never bother looking at anyone’s face. On the contrary, everyone else would have to look at his.
But now that he was stupid and lacked good self-control, it was probably better to let Huo Zhanlin handle things for him.
The moment he heard this, Huo Beixing didn’t delay for even a second. He immediately pulled out his phone and called his unfortunate elder brother.
The call connected, and his opening line was, “I want to go see my wife. Think of a way to arrange it for me.”
On the other end, Huo Zhanlin: ……
Was that the attitude you used when asking someone for help?
Knowing Huo Beixing wouldn’t be able to explain properly, Huo Zhanlin had Uncle Zhong take the phone.
Uncle Zhong briefly explained Huo Beixing’s purpose. “Young Master says he wants to go watch this brand’s elimination round. Young Master An Yi is a contestant. He’s been gone for a few days already, and Young Master misses him.”
Huo Zhanlin laughed and cursed him lightly. “Hopeless.”
The man had only been gone a few days, and it had already come to this.
He hadn’t expected the two of them to have such good feelings for each other.
Holding the phone while keeping his eyes on some documents, Huo Zhanlin said, “I’ll have someone arrange it later. He can just go directly when the time comes.”
Once everything had been arranged, Uncle Zhong hung up.
The moment Huo Beixing heard he’d be able to go see his wife, he happily lifted Uncle Zhong right off the ground, nearly breaking the old man’s aging arms and legs.
For the next few days, the first thing he did every morning after opening his eyes was mark another line on the calendar, keeping track of the date.
By the day of the elimination round, the two of them had gone a full seven days without seeing each other. Although they had been talking on the phone the whole time, it didn’t feel real. If they hadn’t seen each other in person, then it was as good as not having met at all.
Standing in front of the mirror, Huo Beixing pulled out pile after pile of clothes from the closet, holding them up against himself one by one, greatly troubled over what he should wear to see An Yi.
He practically wanted to dress himself up like some gaudy peacock.
Eventually, he draped a coat over his shoulders and left the house.
On the way there, his heart was full of anticipation. When he spotted a flower shop by the road, he told the driver to stop.
After getting out of the car, he strode into the flower shop on long legs.
There were countless varieties of flowers inside, and he carefully made his selection.
Tall and long-legged, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, Huo Beixing cut an extremely striking figure from behind as his peach blossom eyes lingered over one bouquet after another.
A shop assistant stepped forward and asked, “Sir, may I help you with something?”
Huo Beixing shook his head. He didn’t need any help.
Seeing his conflicted expression, the assistant asked, “Sir, who is the bouquet for?”
Huo Beixing answered, “Someone I like.”
At those words, he set his eyes on a bouquet of pink roses. More than ten minutes later, he came back out of the flower shop and got into the car.
There were already many people from the fashion world and a good number of popular celebrities coming today. Only invited media were allowed inside. The rest of the media and paparazzi had crouched outside the gates since early morning, thinking about whether they might manage to slip in disguised as staff when people started going in.
They hid behind the bushes, waiting for the right moment to move—eyes of hawks, speed of leopards.
Very soon, a black luxury car stopped in front of the main gate.
“Who’s that?”
“No idea. I thought the celebrities were all coming in the brand’s own cars.”
“Could it be some fashion personage?”
“How about we move a little closer and take a look?”
“Don’t get spotted.”
Just as the driver rolled down the window for registration, one small paparazzo, from an extremely tricky angle, saw Huo Beixing sitting in the back seat.
!!!
“Holy shit, that’s Huo Beixing in the car!”
“Huo Beixing?”
There was a brief silence in the air, then it was shattered by a rapid succession of camera shutters.
“Holy shit, it really is him!! Hurry up and take pictures!!!”
“How does President Huo have time to come here? Isn’t he supposed to be insanely busy?”
“Maybe he’s got a new flame?”
“Hurry, hurry, take the pictures!!!”
The brand had known Huo Beixing was coming and had sent people early to wait for him at the gate. Once inside, Huo Beixing got out of the car holding his bouquet of roses.
The brand’s executive came forward smiling. “I truly didn’t expect President Huo to find time in his busy schedule to come watch the competition.”
Huo Beixing asked, “Where are the contestants’ dormitories?”
The executive: ???
Earlier, when he got word that the man was coming, he had prepared a whole draft of welcoming remarks and even intended to introduce the brand, to see whether they might possibly collaborate in the future. But now, looking at the roses in the man’s hand—
Executive: ……
So you came here to date?
The playboy image truly never falls.
Huo Beixing had absolutely no interest in watching any competition. He wasn’t a professional, couldn’t make any professional comments, and it would just waste time. His purpose today was simply to see his wife.
It was ten in the morning now, and presumably the other man was still working. If he went to him directly, then just as Uncle Zhong had warned, he’d probably only create trouble for his wife.
But Huo Dabao was a clever child from a young age.
He could wait in the dormitory instead.
Surely his wife would come back to rest at noon, and then he could quietly hide and give him a surprise!
As for the “An Yi” he had mentioned, of course the executive had no impression of that name, but he still personally helped him locate the dormitory building and gave Huo Beixing the room key.
Watching him leave, the executive let out a sigh of relief. He also hadn’t expected that among the contestants of their competition, there would actually be one of Huo Beixing’s little lovers.
After reaching the dormitory, Huo Beixing frowned at the sight of the four adjacent beds in the room. In the end, by relying on the hunky-men magazine, he found An Yi’s bed.
Then, as a matter of course, he shoved the magazine into the shadowy space under the bed.
Now that he was here, his wife didn’t need that kind of thing anymore.
He was the one and only male lead.
After pacing around the room once, still unsure where to hide while waiting for An Yi, he finally took off his coat and climbed directly onto An Yi’s bed, stuffing his one-meter-ninety body under An Yi’s quilt.
When his wife saw him, he’d definitely be pleasantly surprised.
Meanwhile, He Ting turned in the design drafts from his studio and left the office building to go eat at the dining hall. After going in and glancing around, he didn’t see An Yi anywhere.
Ever since An Yi had brought him food last time, He Ting had begun to feel that the man was actually quite nice. The things he said were pleasant to hear, and he looked good when he smiled. At night, while sleeping, He Ting even found himself unconsciously looking over at An Yi asleep in the neighboring bed.
Good-looking. Really good-looking.
And unlike others, he never treated him with excessive caution. Among people his own age, there were very few who treated him the way An Yi did.
After lunch, He Ting came out of the dining hall and headed back toward the dormitory building.
The other man was only in his early twenties. Although he was the same age as He Ting, he had probably never seen many good things in life, which was why he had been lured astray by material things and allowed himself to be kept.
It wouldn’t do for An Yi to go on like this.
He felt that such behavior was a desecration of the other man. He had to pull him out of the mud and couldn’t just watch him sink deeper into corruption.
His own family had a decent background and ordinary people couldn’t afford to offend them. He wanted to tell An Yi to stop following that sugar daddy. How many people who kept young men in their early twenties could possibly be decent? Once the man got tired of him one day, he’d just throw him away.
He could help him.
As the image of An Yi’s face rose in his mind, He Ting’s resolve only grew firmer.
He entered the room and, seeing the shape bundled up on An Yi’s bed, paused in surprise. He had thought the other man hadn’t returned yet, since he hadn’t seen him in the dining hall. But since he was in the room now, all the better.
Walking over, He Ting grabbed the quilt and yanked it back. “An—”
Before he could finish the word, he made unexpected eye contact with Huo Beixing on the bed.
Huo Beixing: ……
He Ting: ……
Surprised? Unexpected?
An Yi walked up to the dormitory door holding a grilled sausage and heard shouting coming from inside. He pushed open the door.
There he saw Huo Beixing lifting He Ting straight off the ground with one hand, his face dark with displeasure, veins standing out on his forehead.
“You dare lift my wife’s quilt?”
“You dare lift my wife’s quilt?”
