Chapter 79: Running Away from Home
An Yi pretended not to hear him and lowered his head, continuing to shovel food into his mouth.
Huo Beixing stared blankly at him. Truth be told, whenever Huo Beixing got upset or fixated on something, An Yi would always get the strange illusion that he had never recovered at all.
The topic hung there with no follow-up, so Huo Beixing pressed, “Why aren’t you saying anything?”
An Yi looked up. “What? What were we talking about just now?”
“About behaving yourself in the room.”
“And the sentence before that?”
Huo Beixing said, “You thanking me.”
An Yi licked his lips. “Then I’m not thanking you anymore.”
“……”
Huo Beixing rarely had the chance to bargain with An Yi, so there was no way he would let this opportunity slip past.
“But you already said it out loud just now.”
“It’s fine. You can just pretend you didn’t hear it.”
“What if I don’t?”
Seeing how childish he was being, An Yi was suddenly pulled back to the previous two years.
At times like this, you absolutely could not follow the other person’s line of thought. You had to fight poison with poison.
Also known as: using magic to defeat magic.
An Yi put down his chopsticks and stopped eating altogether, his eyes widening in disbelief. “Are you rejecting me?”
Huo Beixing froze. “What?”
An Yi’s grape-like eyes turned dazed. “You just said no to me?”
Little Frog, self-proclaimed master of all things, possessed the stage again. “I get it. We’re not like we used to be anymore. Today you’re saying no to me. Tomorrow you’ll…”
“I won’t!”
“You will. You already said no just now.”
Huo Beixing lowered his head. “I was wrong.”
An Yi tested him warily. “Really?”
“Really.”
Seeing that the color in An Yi’s face improved and he no longer looked hurt, Huo Beixing asked, still worried he had not vented enough, “Is there anything else you want to say?”
“Yes.”
Then An Yi smiled brightly. “I also want another order of raw cod.”
“……”
Huo Beixing sighed in apparent helplessness, but there was not a trace of impatience in his eyes. He was completely willing. “Anything else you want?”
“Let me see.”
An Yi looked through the menu, and Huo Beixing pointed out a few dishes that suited his taste, asking if he wanted them.
An Yi’s gaze lingered on his long fingers for a few seconds.
Then he nodded.
After dinner, Huo Beixing had the driver take the car back, while he and An Yi strolled along the street, planning to walk home and digest.
Huo Beixing’s figure in formalwear was effortlessly dashing and elegant. His suit jacket was draped casually over one arm, his long legs striding forward. They just happened to pass the place where An Yi had once treated him to ice cream.
He turned his head. “Want some ice cream?”
But when Huo Beixing turned back, there was no one beside him.
?
Where was his wife?
Where had that perfectly good wife gone?
Huo Beixing quickly turned around to look for him, only to find An Yi rooted in place in front of a magazine shop, his eyes shining.
The shop owner saw someone stop in front of the display rack outside and came out from inside.
“Sir, is there something you’d like to see?”
On the busy street, with people coming and going, An Yi pointed at the hot and sizzling cover of a men’s magazine. “Can I take a look at this one?”
The magazine was still wrapped in transparent plastic and came with several bookmarks. It was the newest issue, published a week ago.
A week ago, An Yi had been busy fighting thieves and had completely forgotten about his men’s magazine.
Now that he had seen it, he wanted it so badly it was making him itch all over, because he already had every single previous issue.
“Sir, this one’s selling very well. It’s the last copy in the whole shop!”
The owner clearly knew how to do hunger marketing.
As soon as An Yi heard that, he hugged it to his chest like treasure.
“Boss, I’ll take it.”
“What do you mean, you’ll take it?” A low, resentful voice sounded from above. An Yi looked up.
Huo Beixing’s peach-blossom eyes were full of displeasure. “Put it back.”
Looking at the shamelessly exposed man on the cover, Huo Beixing wanted nothing more than to tear the thing to shreds.
Still trying to pull that line about wildflowers smelling sweeter than flowers at home? Why don’t you take a good look at who the flower at home is first?
There was no way An Yi would agree.
“No.”
Huo Beixing narrowed his eyes in warning. “Did you bring money?”
An Yi’s movements stalled.
Damn it, he really hadn’t.
And his phone had died earlier while they were eating.
Huo Beixing had now seized Little Frog’s greatest weakness in one merciless grip.
How cunning.
The way An Yi looked at him instantly changed from rejection to longing.
“I want to buy this.”
Seeing this, Huo Beixing knew full well that if he indulged him now, this magazine would soon end up by his bedside.
“I’m not buying it.”
An Yi tried hard to sell him on it. “All macho men read this.”
Macho men. Easy. So I need to have it.
Huo Beixing folded his arms. “Not buying it.”
An Yi pressed his lips together. “But I want it. My husband would buy it for me.”
“Your husband is not buying it!”
“My husband will! Whoever buys it for me is my husband!”
“An Yi, don’t think that trick works on me!”
An Yi raised his voice too. “My husband will definitely pay for it.”
“I said I’m not buying it!”
“I don’t need you to buy it. My husband will!”
“I said I’m not buying it!” Huo Beixing barked while pulling out his wallet, taking out a card, and handing it to the owner.
Owner: ……
The paparazzi hiding behind a tree: ……
Huo Beixing’s face was dark as he stared at the exposed man on the cover. “An Yi, if this magazine stays, I’m leaving. If I stay, it goes.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m running away from home.”
“……”
He had recovered, and yet somehow he also had not recovered at all.
Once they got home, Huo Beixing went through the motions of packing himself a suitcase, then strode grandly to the front door.
An Yi went up holding the magazine.
Huo Beixing declared, “Don’t come after me.”
With that, he slammed the door and walked out.
Half an hour later, Huo Beixing was downstairs outside the apartment building, lighting a cigarette.
Smoke drifted around him.
Huo Beixing: ……
Damn it. He really didn’t come after him.
That exact scene was captured by paparazzi who happened to be staking out the area.
Well now. This one single scoop would carry them straight to their end-of-year KPI.
Very quickly, the phrase Huo Beixing fights with his lover and storms out of the house shot up onto the trending list.
Views, comments, and reposts flooded in.
“I clicked in and somehow ended up confused.”
“When I saw the trending phrase, I thought President Huo had dumped someone again. Good lord. Truly, good lord.”
“Hahahahahahahaha, President Huo, this laugh is for you.”
“Damn, is this for real? Someone actually got President Huo under control!”
“He said he wouldn’t buy it, then paid for it anyway. Huo Beixing, you really are something.”
“President Huo said what he meant. He really did run away from home.”
“But the other person didn’t come out to look for him. He kept turning his head downstairs till his neck must’ve gone stiff.”
“Why is his partner censored out? I’m telling you, this newspaper clearly doesn’t want to stay in business!”
“Or maybe they do want to stay in business, which is exactly why they censored him.”
“Even without seeing the face, he looks so pale and pretty.”
‘You don’t have to buy it. My husband will.’
That’s seriously too cute, hahahaha.
“President Huo has really fallen this time. All I have to say is: you brought this on yourself.”
“He used to hurt other people, and now someone’s hurting him back. President Huo’s karmic retribution.”
“If he didn’t have that face, with all the scandals from before, President Huo would be getting cursed to hell.”
“Damn it, his wife looks like he might actually be really good-looking. We need to find a way to make President Huo step aside.”
“President Huo, reality has slapped you hard.”
