PTBLSI chapter 57

 

Qi Xi didn’t know where Fu Yanchuan had put the painting. He never saw it again after he woke up the next day.

After that, Fu Yanchuan became even busier. Aside from breakfast, Qi Xi often had to wait until late at night just to see him. Each time Fu Yanchuan was away for a long time, Qi Xi couldn’t help but think that maybe Fu Yanchuan was tired of him—doing nothing every day, like a useless person.

But he didn’t dare ask Fu Yanchuan about it. He was afraid that Fu Yanchuan was too busy and also afraid that he really didn’t want to see him, which was why he didn’t come back.

He kept overthinking until Fu Yanchuan returned, hugging and kissing him as usual. Only then could he be sure that Fu Yanchuan still liked him.

Before he knew it, it was March, and Qi Xi was about to start school again. He had the money to pay tuition now, yet he was extremely reluctant to go to school.

Whatever the school taught, he didn’t learn anything. His only reason for attending was to get his diploma.

Before meeting Fu Yanchuan, he hadn’t thought there was anything wrong with this. Nor had he ever thought about what he would do in the future.

Now, he often found himself recalling what Fu Yanchuan had said. He didn’t want to waste time learning things he didn’t understand. He wanted to do what he was good at and earn money with his abilities.

However, since Brother Zha was gone, he had only received one commission. Although the money was more than all the commissions combined while Brother Zha was around, he still felt uncertain.

He could draw, but he didn’t know how to promote himself or where to find commissions. If he couldn’t get any more commissions, he wouldn’t be able to earn money. Then he would still be useless. He didn’t want to rely on Fu Yanchuan and Dasheng for support anymore. He didn’t want to be that useless.

The night before Qi Xi was supposed to start school, Fu Yanchuan didn’t return home until nearly eleven o’clock. Seeing that the light in the study was on again, he took off his coat and walked over quietly. As expected, Qi Xi was sleeping on the mat again.

When he got to his side, the orange cat in his arms lifted its head. He pressed his palm against the cat. “Don’t make a sound.”

The cat obediently stayed quiet and jumped out of Qi Xi’s arms. Fu Yanchuan carefully picked Qi Xi up and carried him back to his room.

As soon as he placed Qi Xi on the bed, Qi Xi woke up and opened his eyes to look at Fu Yanchuan. Fu Yanchuan froze halfway through putting Qi Xi down. After a long while, he finally spoke.

“Sleep.”

Qi Xi didn’t want to sleep. He wrapped his arms around Fu Yanchuan and pulled him down, causing him to fall on top of Qi Xi. “Brother Yan, next time you come back and see me sleeping, can you wake me up?”

“Why?”

Touching Fu Yanchuan’s face, Qi Xi answered, “I want to see you. I miss you.”

Fu Yanchuan held his hand and looked at him for a long time before saying, “I’ll come back earlier tomorrow.”

“Mm.” Qi Xi answered softly through his nose. He wanted to tell him that he didn’t want to go to school, but Fu Yanchuan looked tired. He swallowed his worries and smiled. He kissed Fu Yanchuan lightly on the lips.

“Brother Yan, you should sleep early too. Good night.”

Suddenly, Fu Yanchuan pulled Qi Xi into his arms, his fingertips rubbing over Qi Xi’s lips. In the end, he couldn’t restrain himself, kissing Qi Xi deeply and invading his throat. He stirred Qi Xi until he had no strength left before pulling away.

A strand of silver thread snapped and fell from his lips to Qi Xi’s side. Fu Yanchuan gently wiped it away and said, “Good night.”

The next day, when Qi Xi woke up, he was still thinking about whether he should go to school. Fu Yanchuan was so busy that, even during breakfast, he was answering calls. Qi Xi didn’t say anything. After he finished breakfast, Fu Yanchuan left, leaving Qi Xi to run several laps around the house. In the end, he still couldn’t decide whether to go to school.

“Dasheng, do you think I should go?”

He asked the orange cat sleeping on the sofa for advice. The cat flicked its tail and replied, “Meow.”

“You mean, if I don’t want to, then I shouldn’t go? But I’m already in my third year. I’m about to graduate. If I don’t go, won’t all my hard work be wasted?”

Qi Xi analyzed it for himself as he spoke. “What if I can’t get commissions in the future and earn money? Also—”

He suddenly collapsed next to the orange cat. “If I do nothing, know nothing, and stay home like this every day, Brother Yan will definitely get tired of me one day.”

“Meow?”

The orange cat didn’t understand Qi Xi, but seeing how down he looked, it stretched out a paw to comfort its owner.

Suddenly, Qi Xi sprang up, raised his hand like a superhero about to fly, and shouted, “No! I don’t want to be a waste! I want to be outstanding! I want to be someone worthy of Brother Yan! I want Brother Yan to like the real me!”

After shouting this, however, he froze. After a long while, he asked the orange cat again, “Dasheng, how am I supposed to become outstanding? Having abs doesn’t seem to be enough, and I don’t even really have them.”

“Meow?”

The orange cat didn’t understand and changed positions. Qi Xi’s phone rang.

Someone had sent him a private message on the V-blog account he had just opened. He thought it was someone asking for a commission and hurriedly opened it.

[Little Qixi, do you still remember me?]

[I’m Bai Peiyong.]

Seeing this name, Qi Xi immediately replied.

[I don’t remember!]

[Why did you find this place?]

Bai Peiyong looked at his phone and laughed. His innate malice made him unable to resist imagining Qi Xi’s angry expression. Feeling pleased, he replied.

[You’re using the same name as before and posting paintings with the same distinctive style. How could I not find you?]

[I don’t want to talk to you. I’ve already finished all the paintings you asked for. Don’t bother me again!]

[Didn’t you say you don’t remember me?]

[…]

Bai Peiyong couldn’t help but laugh again. Cheng Shu, sitting across from him at the desk, leaned over, saw the messages, and kicked him. “Can you put away your hooligan habits? Get to the point!”

Bai Peiyong glared in dissatisfaction. “Director Cheng, do you have even a shred of humility in asking for help? Apologize to me right now, or give the money back.”

Cheng Shu sat back speechlessly. “President Bai, I was wrong. Please continue.”

Bai Peiyong smugly crossed his legs. After waiting a long time, he still hadn’t received a reply from Qi Xi. He finally started talking about business, only to find that Qi Xi had blocked him after he sent the message.

“What’s wrong?”

Seeing the look on Bai Peiyong’s face, as if something had gone wrong, Cheng Shu snatched his phone and slammed it on the table. “I told you to be serious! If you had talked business from the start, this wouldn’t have happened!”

“Tsk, you do it then. See if he’ll pay attention to you.”

“I’ll do it then!”

Qi Xi blocked Bai Peiyong. Not long after, however, someone else sent him a private message.

[Qi Xi, hello, I’m Cheng Shu. We met at the Jianshan Art Museum.]

[Recently, I’ve been preparing an animation and would like to invite you to be the key animator. Would you like to chat about it?]

After reading the message, he froze for two seconds. The first thing he thought was that it was a scam. In his eyes, animation was an extremely high-end field. His skills were nowhere near the required standards, and he had never done it before. How could anyone ask him to be the key animator?

He still remembered Cheng Shu. They had met at the Jianshan Art Museum, and he was friends with Bai Peiyong. Maybe they were planning to trick him into drinking again and do something shameful.

So he refused immediately.

[Not interested.]

Cheng Shu couldn’t understand the reply. Usually, people wouldn’t refuse so decisively. At the very least, they would ask what kind of project it was.

He didn’t give up, replying again, only to find that he had been blocked as well.

Bai Peiyong slapped the table and burst out laughing. “Hahahaha! Director Cheng, what’s with that expression? Keep being smug! Didn’t you call me a hooligan?”

“It’s definitely because of you. You got him to hate me, too!”

“I think it’s because you’re too ugly. You probably scared him last time.”

Cheng Shu didn’t want to argue with Bai Peiyong. He genuinely liked Qi Xi’s painting style. If it were made into an animation, it would be even more shocking. He didn’t want to give up yet.

After a moment of thought, he asked, “Is there any other way to contact him?”

Bai Peiyong replied thoughtfully, “Even if Qi Xi agrees, Fu Yanchuan still has to agree. With someone at his level, money isn’t even an issue—besides, you don’t have it anyway. The only way to make him agree is if Qi Xi really wants to come.”

“So the key is still Qi Xi!” Cheng Shu decided immediately. “Which school is he from? I’ll go to his school to find him!”

Qi Xi didn’t take the message he received to heart. He was still struggling with whether to go to school, and he agonized over it until after lunch when he went to take a nap.

As soon as he lay down, he received a call from Fu Yanchuan. During this time, Fu Yanchuan would call him at noon to ask if he had eaten.

“Brother Yan.”

That single sound made Fu Yanchuan’s chest itch slightly. Not knowing what Qi Xi was doing, Fu Yanchuan stood by the floor-to-ceiling window in his office and asked gently, “Have you eaten?”

“I have.”

“Don’t want to go to school?”

Qi Xi was so startled that he sat up from the bed at once, scaring the orange cat. “How did you know?”

“The driver waited for you downstairs all morning and said you didn’t come down.”

“Do you know that I started school today?”

Fu Yanchuan chuckled softly. “Of course I know. If you don’t want to go, then don’t. You have other options.”

Qi Xi suddenly remembered the animation that Cheng Shu had mentioned. He loved animation, but he had never considered making his own. After hesitating for a while, he asked Fu Yanchuan, “Brother Yan, do you think I can do animation too?”

“Animation?”

Fu Yanchuan didn’t know much about that field. He replied, “As long as you want to, go do it.”

“But I don’t know anything. I don’t know how to do it.”

“Everything starts from not knowing. Isn’t animation based on drawing? You already have a foundation. You have to believe in yourself. I believe in you, too.”

Qi Xi didn’t hear anything else that Fu Yanchuan said. He only heard, “I believe in you.”

In that instant, it was as if he had gained courage. “I understand. Thank you, Brother Yan! Have you eaten? You have to eat on time and work properly.”

“Mhm. Wait for me to come back.”

As he spoke, his voice lowered again. It felt like something scratched at Qi Xi’s heart. He buried his face in the pillow and replied, “I miss you.”

Fu Yanchuan gripped his phone silently and didn’t move, listening to the faint breathing from the other end. After a long time, he finally said, “I’m hanging up, Xi Xi.”

“Oh.”

After another long while, Fu Yanchuan finally hung up. Qi Xi rubbed his ear against the phone as if he could feel Fu Yanchuan. Only after the warmth by his ear had disappeared did he climb out of bed and reopen Cheng Shu’s messages.

He hadn’t completely disbelieved what Cheng Shu had said. He was just instinctively timid because it was something he had never done before, and he habitually retreated.

But he had just said he wanted to become outstanding, and Fu Yanchuan said he believed in him. How could he not dare to confirm whether it was true? If he was like this, Fu Yanchuan would definitely dislike him.

What if Cheng Shu really wanted to invite him to work on an animation project?

Qi Xi immediately removed Cheng Shu from the blacklist and replied.

[Hello, may I ask if what you just said is true?]

[What kind of animation is it? I don’t know how to make or draw animations. Are you sure I can really draw it?]

Cheng Shu and Bai Peiyong were just about to go to Qi Xi’s school when they received his reply. They were a little surprised.

“Qi Xi replied to me.”

Bai Peiyong immediately leaned over to look at Cheng Shu’s phone. “I didn’t expect that! Last time, I talked myself hoarse just to ask him for one painting, and he still didn’t believe me. This time, he actually replied on his own?”

Cheng Shu replied, “It must be because you look unserious at first glance. What decent kid would want to deal with you?”

“I’m serious. You haven’t seen how unconfident he used to be. For him to respond to you like this is impressive, and I can’t help but praise him for it.”

Cheng Shu still didn’t understand. How could Qi Xi be unconfident about his paintings? If he were in Qi Xi’s shoes, he definitely wouldn’t be an animation director right now.

He pushed Bai Peiyong away and replied to Qi Xi.

[The specific script hasn’t been finalized yet, but the style and theme are already decided.]

[If you have time, can we find a place to talk in detail?]

[I have time right now. Where should we meet?]

 

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