Chapter 46: Love Rival
An Yi had just woken up. His little face was flushed red, and with his cheeks being pinched by someone, he felt his pupils quake the moment he heard Huo Beixing’s words. Instinctively, his gaze dropped toward Huo Beixing’s lower body.
Frigid?!
Pouting with his little chick mouth, crippled in body but strong in will, An Yi said, “Is that something you can just say out loud?”
Huo Beixing froze for a moment. Looking at his wife’s flushed cheeks, joy rose in his heart.
So this meant his wife liked him even more again.
The smile at the corner of his mouth was almost impossible to hide, but then he remembered that TV dramas said one had to be bashful, so he lowered his head shyly and said, “Mm… why wouldn’t it be?”
An Yi: ?
And you’re proud of it too.
Huo Beixing’s shocking statement echoed endlessly in An Yi’s mind—frigid, frigid, frigid.
Unconsciously, An Yi recalled the scene from when the two of them first met a year ago, after they had fought in the swimming pool and then returned to the room to change clothes.
That had absolutely been the most spectacular thing he had ever seen.
And yet the man was saying he was frigid.
An Yi shook his head like some all-knowing expert.
What was even the use of growing something that big if it was useless anyway?
An Yi: hehe.
Little Frog lost one point of merit.
He was still deeply shocked that Huo Beixing would say something like being frigid, but after calming down, An Yi felt that there was absolutely no credibility to it at all.
The man had been surrounded by endless scandals before. Just the ones from within one single year took An Yi more than twenty pages to scroll through when he searched them online. That was enough to show just how wild Huo Beixing’s debauched life had been. If he was frigid, then there probably wouldn’t be anyone “normal” left in the world.
Or was it that Huo Beixing had always been having purely Platonic relationships before?
No. With that mosaic-boyfriend reputation of his, that was impossible.
There was only one truth!
Huo Beixing was lying.
An Yi looked at him scrutinizingly. “Really?”
Huo Dabao continued slandering himself. “Really. I’m really frigid.”
His whole face clearly said: Believe me believe me believe me believe me believe me believe me believe me believe me believe me…
But An Yi remained unmoved.
Seeing the disbelief on An Yi’s face, Huo Beixing’s pair of peach blossom eyes grew anxious. Sitting on the big bed, he shook An Yi and said, “It’s true. I really am frigid, it’s true, really…”
Little Frog swayed in the wind, his head full of frigid frigid frigid…
Was being frigid some kind of good thing?!
Like a pitiful big dog, Huo Beixing looked at him. “It’s true. Wife, you have to believe me.”
An Yi had no way out. “Alright. I believe you.”
Only then did Huo Beixing finally stop, clenching a fist and making a victory gesture.
An Yi: ……
He really didn’t know what the man was so happy about.
Just as An Yi was about to go wash his face and reintroduce himself to this crazy world, Huo Beixing grabbed him by the collar and yanked him back onto the bed. An Yi suddenly felt something heavy drop into his hands.
It was the phone he had left by the bedside.
Huo Beixing looked at him with a face full of longing.
An Yi: ……
No. He absolutely was not going to record a video for him.
Two minutes later, An Yi numbly held up the phone while Huo Beixing looked into the camera with a bright smile.
“I’m frigid.”
An Yi: ……
One day, you are absolutely going to regret this.
Only after recording the video was Huo Beixing satisfied. This way, his wife could watch it over and over again on the phone every day, and love him more and more each day.
The cell phone really was the greatest invention of this era.
Huo Beixing reminded him, “Wife, remember to watch it every day.”
Struggling to get up from the bed, An Yi opened and closed his mouth a few times before speaking dryly. “Huo Beixing.”
Classmate Huo Dabao looked at him. “What is it, wife?”
An Yi’s expression was complicated. “You really don’t treat me like an outsider at all.”
Embarrassed, Huo Beixing scratched the back of his head. “Of course not. We’re family.”
As he said that, his peach blossom eyes fixed on An Yi again, and he lowered his head. “Wife, will you like me more?”
“Of course.” An Yi patted his arm. You’re already frigid now—of course I pity you more.
After that, An Yi got off the bed, took his phone, and went into the bathroom to wash his face.
Clear streams of water poured from the faucet. An Yi splashed the cool water over his face a few times, then turned off the tap and picked up the towel beside him, scrubbing his face up and down at high speed. By the time he put the towel back, his entire little face had been rubbed red.
Little Frog let out a satisfied breath.
He had been holding his breath the whole time he was washing his face.
But hunks all washed their faces like this.
The phone sitting on the sink vibrated. A call was coming in.
He picked it up, looked at the caller ID on the screen, and answered.
“Lingling, it’s me.”
Gu Lingling’s voice came through from the other side. “An Yi, the brand just called me.”
Hearing that, An Yi’s breathing slowed for half a beat.
Back then, the phone number they had left with the brand had been Gu Lingling’s personal number. Don’t ask. The answer was simply that Pink Crystal Maiden Heart didn’t have a landline or any shared work phone.
And at this stage, there was only one reason the brand would be calling Gu Lingling—
the results of the competition they had entered had come out.
Gu Lingling said, “There’s one piece of good news and one piece of bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?”
An Yi thought it over for a few seconds. “The bad news.”
Who knew that the line suddenly went silent.
An Yi: ?
Gu Lingling said, “You have to say you want the good news first.”
An Yi: ……
So there was a required order to this?
He cleared his throat and cooperated with her little performance. “Then the good news first.”
Gu Lingling said, “Alright. This is reporter Beautiful Woman Gu Lingling bringing you the update. The good news is that we got selected.”
An Yi’s heart gave a fierce leap. “Really?!”
His voice filled with joy. “We really got selected?!”
Gu Lingling replied, “Of course we did. We got selected. Our studio has finally survived the hardest part.”
The two of them looked for all the world like parents celebrating their child getting into Tsinghua or Peking University.
Excitedly, An Yi said, “Then does that mean we can participate in the brand’s spring design season?”
“Not exactly.”
An Yi was stunned. “Why?”
Gu Lingling said, “Because that is the bad news.”
An Yi: ……
Was this what people meant by the wild highs and lows of life?
Gu Lingling hurried to soothe him. “But you don’t need to worry too much. It’s just that the results came out late. It’s already early February now, and the brand’s spring release is scheduled for April. That’s less than two months away, which is really not favorable for the design work at all. Both our studio and the other one are newcomer studios, just starting out. The brand wants to give us more time to prepare, so they changed it from participating in the spring design season to the autumn one. We can start working with the brand in April.”
After hearing that, An Yi let out a breath of relief.
So the opportunity to design clothing for the brand was still there.
That was good.
Then An Yi thought of Lin Jiu. “Did you tell Lin Jiu yet?”
Gu Lingling said, “Not yet. I was planning to call him in a bit. An Yi, you worked hard during the competition.”
An Yi smiled. “Weren’t we all the same? You and Lin Jiu were the same too.”
Gu Lingling’s eyes reddened, and her voice choked up. “At the beginning, I really thought we wouldn’t get selected.”
Winning in that competition felt completely like a dream. At this same time last year, their studio had only just been established and no one knew their name. Yet today, only a year later, they already had the chance to board the first giant ship that would turn their career. It was something she hadn’t even dared dream about.
An Yi softly comforted her.
Although Gu Lingling usually looked very strong and carefree, deep down she was still an extremely girlish person—
just like the name of their studio.
After comforting her for a while, An Yi finally hung up the phone. His mood was wonderful, and he stepped out of the bathroom feeling delighted all over.
He had asked Huo Nanxun before how long the Huo family would stay on South Island. Huo Nanxun had said that those busy with work would leave in February, while those who weren’t busy would stay until late March or early April.
Clearly, he and Huo Beixing belonged to the late-March-or-early-April group.
Little Frog was going to happily play here for another two whole months.
After that, South Island was hit by three straight days of rain, and it finally cleared up on the fourth.
That morning, after waking up and seeing the bright weather outside, An Yi turned back to look at Huo Beixing sitting on the bed wearing only sleep pants, his upper body bare.
“Huo Beixing, let’s go swimming today.”
The moment he heard that, Huo Beixing eagerly agreed. “Okay!”
Then, watching An Yi stretching by the window, he blushed.
If they went swimming, he’d get to hold his wife’s hand again.
Ever since that first time when An Yi choked on a mouthful of water, Huo Beixing had never let go of his hand again whenever teaching him to swim. He kept holding onto him while leading him through the sea. So whether An Yi had actually learned how to swim in the end, Huo Beixing didn’t know.
Even An Yi himself didn’t know.
An Yi left the room wearing a white sleeveless top that covered his shoulders and a pair of black beach shorts. Huo Beixing followed behind him, intending for the two of them to go swimming after breakfast.
But the moment they stepped into the dining room, they heard a sweet female voice as lively as a lark.
“Uncle Huo, long time no see. The last time I saw you was at my grandfather’s birthday banquet.”
“Aunt Zhu, your skin has improved again. I even brought face masks with me today. Tonight I’ll come over and we can put them on together, and then watch a movie too.”
Beside Huo Nanxun and Zhu Shu sat a bright, vibrant young woman. She looked to be only a little over twenty, probably still in college.
She wore a short red dress, her black glossy hair cut to shoulder length. Her nails were immaculately manicured, and her smile was bright and lively. She looked extremely likable.
Li Juwei looked at Huo Nanxun. “Uncle Huo, when is Brother Beixing coming down? I haven’t seen him in so long, I’ve really started to miss him.”
Back when the Huo family had been looking for a marriage alliance partner, if only the people they sent out hadn’t been so stupid and allowed the An family to seize the chance first, then the person who married Brother Beixing would have been her.
She had cried hard over that at home, and even now, thinking back on it, she still felt deeply unwilling to accept it.
She had liked Brother Beixing for a very long time. It began when she was around twelve or thirteen years old. From the first time she saw him, she liked him. But her feelings were never some one-sided silent crush. She liked him openly and aboveboard—she had confessed to him the very first time they met.
And at that time, Huo Beixing had rejected her without mercy.
“I’m sorry, but there are too many old fossils in my family. They don’t allow puppy love.”
Later, he had even gone on to say that he only saw her as a little sister.
Li Juwei didn’t believe that at all.
As long as enough time passed, feelings would eventually change.
She was studying abroad these days, and now that she was on break, she had come here specifically to find Huo Beixing.
The Huo family didn’t accept the male wife he had married, and he himself probably didn’t like him much either. Didn’t they say that the An family’s adopted son was some wild mountain savage? She simply refused to believe that her own charm couldn’t outshine a savage.
Just as her question fell, she turned and saw Huo Beixing entering the dining room. At once, her light-brown eyes came alive. “Brother Beixing.”
Happily, she waved to him.
An Yi looked up at Huo Beixing. “Do you know her?”
Huo Beixing thought about it carefully. “She seems to be…”
An Yi said, “To be?”
Huo Beixing slapped his hand. “A woman!”
An Yi: ……
Thank you for your answer. That really helped a lot.
After greeting Huo Nanxun and Zhu Shu, Li Juwei got up and walked over to the two of them. Her sharp gaze landed on An Yi. “May I ask who you are?”
An Yi felt a bit shy being stared at by a girl, and his eyes darted away. “I’m An Yi.”
Li Juwei was startled. “You’re An Yi?!”
This was rather different from what she had imagined.
The person before her looked every inch like a young boy: snow-white skin, thick black hair, and rather pleasing to the eye when looked at carefully.
But Li Juwei wasn’t someone who retreated easily. Since it was a meeting between love rivals, she extended her hand. “Hello, I’m Li Juwei. Our family and the Huo family have been close for generations.”
Her meaning was very obvious.
I am the Miss Li who almost ended up marrying Brother Beixing back then.
An Yi reached out and gave her hand only a light symbolic shake, blushing as he said, “Hello.”
Huo Beixing frowned and immediately yanked An Yi’s hand back.
What was there to shake hands for?
Li Juwei gazed at Huo Beixing with deep feeling. Brother Beixing was unhappy now. Sure enough, even though he had gone foolish, she was still in his heart.
After that, Li Juwei took the initiative to join the two of them for breakfast. During the meal, she kept trying to talk to An Yi from time to time, bringing up amusing stories from when she and Huo Beixing were younger, trying to highlight how close her relationship with him was and assert her own sense of claim.
Whenever a lady spoke, An Yi listened seriously and occasionally responded a few times.
The only one to whom the whole meal tasted like chewing wax was Huo Beixing.
Today’s food was so awful. So awful. Not one bit of joy in it.
After breakfast, he had thought they would finally shake off Li Juwei.
But when they went to get the swim ring, she followed.
When they pitched the tent, she followed.
When they went to the sea, she followed too.
In the water, Huo Beixing held An Yi’s hand and led him swimming forward. Wearing a bikini, Li Juwei swam up to An Yi’s side. “You don’t know how to swim?”
An Yi had a float ring around him. Li Juwei’s figure was hot and curvy. Since An Yi had grown up in the mountains, his attitudes toward male-female romance were extremely conservative. With Li Juwei so close, his face reddened to the point it looked ready to drip blood. Too embarrassed to look at her beside him, he only nodded.
Childishly, Li Juwei lifted her chin. “I do.”
As she spoke, she moved through the water like a dolphin and even flipped once, then raised her head to look at Huo Beixing above her.
Huo Beixing wore only a pair of black beach shorts. Standing in the sea with the water reaching his waist, his shark-line muscles and mermaid line were strikingly pleasing to the eye. Combined with that face, it really was Nüwa’s graduation project—perfect to look at.
Li Juwei deliberately showed herself off in front of Huo Beixing. She displayed her figure with complete confidence and generosity, without a trace of vulgarity.
Seeing that An Yi’s face was practically about to sink into the seawater, she kindly reached out and pinched the back of his neck.
Huo Beixing immediately reached over and grabbed her wrist. “Don’t touch.”
Li Juwei blushed.
Oh my.
Was this his unique possessiveness toward her? He wouldn’t even let her touch another man.
With bashful delight, Li Juwei nodded. “Okay then.”
After they finished swimming, Huo Beixing brought An Yi back to the VIP rest area. After being in seawater, one needed to rinse off. An Yi headed toward the quick shower rooms, while Li Juwei wrapped a towel around herself and planned to go rinse off in the ladies’ area.
But before she had walked more than a few steps, Huo Beixing grabbed her suddenly.
Li Juwei blushed.
Oh my.
Was he about to whisper something private to her?
Huo Beixing said, “Come with me.”
He didn’t even wait for her agreement, simply dragging her toward a corner.
Blushing furiously, Li Juwei stared at Huo Beixing’s tall back.
He’s so domineering. I love it.
Brother Beixing had finally noticed her.
Wasn’t this exactly the saying—if you never stop thinking about something, eventually there’ll be an answer?
Huo Beixing backed her into a corner and looked down at her from above. “You…”
Li Juwei twisted shyly like a little pretzel. “Mm-hmm, Brother Beixing.”
With a dark face, Huo Beixing said, “Stay farther away from my wife from now on.”
Li Juwei: ???
