PTBLSI chapter 68

 

The water in the bathtub stopped rippling. Qi Xi stared motionlessly into Fu Yanchuan’s eyes as if something inside them reached out and seized him.

Only after a long while did his mind start working again. He asked Fu Yanchuan, “Are you… confessing to me?”

Fu Yanchuan froze. Qi Xi cautiously pressed on. “Aren’t you? Doesn’t this count?”

“Not—not… it counts!”

It was the first time his words broke down. He had thought through many possibilities before speaking, but he never imagined that Qi Xi would take it as a confession. His heartbeat seemed to slip out of his control, pounding wildly. He cupped Qi Xi’s face with his other hand, leaned his forehead over, and asked, “Xixi, aren’t you afraid?”

Qi Xi didn’t understand. “Afraid of what? You treat me so well. Why would I be afraid?”

“Maybe one day I’ll become like Fu Zhenrong and take away everything that should have been yours. I’ll turn you into a puppet who can only live by clinging to me.”

“You won’t.”

Qi Xi was absolutely certain. Fu Yanchuan didn’t believe in himself, but Qi Xi wrapped his arms around his neck and said,

“Aren’t you working so hard precisely because you don’t want to become like him?”

In that instant, something exploded in Fu Yanchuan’s mind. He burst out laughing, rolled over, and fell into the bathtub. He pressed close to Qi Xi, urgently kissing him until Qi Xi softened and clung to his arms. Only then did he answer.

“Xixi, thank you.”

Qi Xi didn’t know what was going on with Fu Yanchuan. Sometimes, he really felt that Fu Yanchuan was hard to understand. However, Fu Yanchuan refused to explain any further. He sealed his mouth with another kiss and returned his hand in the water to where it was.

“Brother Yan?”

Qi Xi was lifted and sat on Fu Yanchuan’s lap, meeting his intense gaze. Fu Yanchuan asked, “Xixi, can we try again today?”

After a moment, Qi Xi nodded. Fu Yanchuan’s fingers went a little deeper. Qi Xi bit down on Fu Yanchuan’s shoulder. His voice trembled as a sound slipped out.

Hearing this, Fu Yanchuan found his lips again and pushed in. His other hand moved forward. With the dual stimulation, Qi Xi’s whole body tensed. He looked stiffly at Fu Yanchuan and said, “Brother Yan, don’t bully me!”

“You don’t like it?”

He wasn’t sure if he liked it; he was just too embarrassed to say. Fu Yanchuan smiled and lightly kissed his lips as he coaxed him. “Don’t be afraid. Say you like me.”

“I like you.”

He said it obediently. Fu Yanchuan demanded, “Kiss me.”

He gently leaned in to kiss him, but Fu Yanchuan caught his tongue and sucked it back. He couldn’t help but open his mouth, and moisture slipped from the corner of his lips and dripped down. Fu Yanchuan held him tighter, pressed closer, and brought them together. The kiss moved from his lips to his Adam’s apple.

After a long time, Fu Yanchuan suddenly asked, “Xixi, is it okay now?”

Qi Xi didn’t know what counted as okay. His hands pressed against Fu Yanchuan’s shoulders; he didn’t dare lower his eyes. Finally, Fu Yanchuan supported him, his eyes burning as he slowly pressed down.

Qi Xi instantly wrapped his arms around Fu Yanchuan’s neck, unwilling to go any further. Fu Yanchuan stopped and asked, “Does it hurt?”

After a long while, Qi Xi nodded slightly. “Mm… It’s so tight and hurts—”

Suddenly, Fu Yanchuan tightened his hold on him. “I won’t move. Just let me stay like this for a while, okay?”

All his nerves gathered together. Not knowing what to do, he nodded instinctively, staying strangely still with Fu Yanchuan.

After some time—he didn’t know how long—Fu Yanchuan pulled out, got a bathrobe, stepped out of his soaked pajama pants, and carried him back to the bed.

“Brother Yan? I haven’t finished washing yet.”

Fu Yanchuan ignored him. He went to bed with him, tucked the blanket over them, pressed down Qi Xi’s knees, folded him in half, squeezed in between his legs, and pressed close. He kissed Qi Xi while rubbing against him.

The next day, Qi Xi didn’t wake up until 10 AM. If it weren’t for his flight, he might have slept until the afternoon. Fu Yanchuan hadn’t let him sleep in last night, and even now, the area between his legs still felt hot.

“Get up and eat something, okay?”

Fu Yanchuan propped himself up on the bed through the blanket. Qi Xi stared at him for a long while, then suddenly reached out to touch his face and asked, “Brother Yan, are you still unhappy?”

“No.”

Fu Yanchuan said this, but he fell down and hugged Qi Xi tightly through the blanket. He buried his face in Qi Xi’s neck and breathed deeply to calm himself.

In truth, no matter how much Qi Xi believed in him, the fact that he kept striving not to become like Fu Zhenrong only proved that, at his core, he was no different from Fu Zhenrong.

As Qi Xi said, he kept trying, so in front of Qi Xi, he would play a “good person” for a lifetime, even if it meant restraining himself and disguising it.

But Qi Xi had seen many truly good people. What if he didn’t want him anymore?

“Xixi, do you love me?”

Fu Yanchuan blurted out. Qi Xi was stunned by the question and stared, wide-eyed at the light on the ceiling. After a long while, he said, “I don’t know the difference between liking and loving. What counts as love? I like you so much—does that count as loving you?”

The arms holding Qi Xi tightened suddenly. To Fu Yanchuan, this answer meant that Qi Xi didn’t love him. He bit Qi Xi’s neck and said, “It counts. Say you love me.”

Qi Xi hesitated. He still remembered what Xie Hui had told him: whoever falls in love first loses. He hadn’t decided if he wanted to yet. Suddenly, without waiting for him to speak, Fu Yanchuan fiercely kissed him, pressing deep into his throat as if to swallow him whole.

Qi Xi struggled and patted Fu Yanchuan’s shoulder. Fu Yanchuan finally backed off, releasing him when he had had enough. He lifted his head, looked at Qi Xi with his usual gentleness, and wiped the moisture from his lips. “Get up and eat breakfast.”

After saying that, Fu Yanchuan stood up. Qi Xi quickly grabbed him. After a moment, Fu Yanchuan turned back. Qi Xi asked, “Can you smile at me?”

He couldn’t help but smile. He pulled Qi Xi out from under the blanket, carried him straight to the bathroom, and set him on the sink. Only then did he speak. “Xixi, I’ll never be unhappy when I’m with you. It’s my fault for making you worry.”

Qi Xi gave a meaningless “mm,” wrapped his arms and legs around Fu Yanchuan, and pulled him over. “Do you know you look really good when you smile? I hope you can always be happy. I promise I’ll coax you into being happy.”

Fu Yanchuan didn’t speak. He asked uneasily, “Is it because of yesterday? It was really big. I got hurt.”

“No.”

Fu Yanchuan hurriedly pushed Qi Xi up. Sure enough, he was crying. His chest ached. He bent down and kissed his tears away. “Xi Xi, don’t cry. Don’t cry because of me.”

Qi Xi cried even louder. “But when I see you sad, I feel sad too. Brother Yan, don’t be sad anymore.”

“I’m not sad. Stop crying.”

Suddenly, Fu Yanchuan picked him up and held him as if coaxing a child. He held him until Qi Xi had cried enough.

By the time Qi Xi sat at the dining table, it was almost 11 o’clock. He stared at Fu Yanchuan without blinking, waiting for him to feed him.

Fu Yanchuan had thrown away all of his strict rules. He would even feed him directly. If Qi Xi stopped eating halfway through, he could just take it back and eat it himself.

After breakfast, they rushed to the airport. Once they got back, Qi Xi was afraid that Fu Yanchuan would be unhappy again, so he watched him closely. As soon as Fu Yanchuan went blank and didn’t move, Qi Xi would immediately coax him into being happy.

But now, Fu Yanchuan didn’t enjoy being coaxed by Qi Xi anymore. Instead, his heart ached unbearably every time, so he could only stop thinking about things in front of Qi Xi.

In the blink of an eye, summer vacation was here again. When Qi Xi found out that the studio didn’t have a break, he truly realized that he was a working adult now.

“Brother Yan, I really miss summer vacation.”

One second, Qi Xi was drawing storyboards. The next second, he sighed, put down his pen, and crawled onto the sofa behind him. He buried his head in Fu Yanchuan’s shoulder.

After coming back from the exchange meeting, Fu Yanchuan got busy again. Although he didn’t work overtime as often as before, he still couldn’t come to the studio every day to be with Qi Xi. Today was his first visit in several days, so Qi Xi had to act extra spoiled.

Fu Yanchuan put down his tablet and pulled Qi Xi into his arms. “I’ll tell Cheng Shu to give you summer vacation.”

Qi Xi suddenly laughed. “I’m very important. Without my drawings, they can’t continue their work, you know? If you take me away, Director Cheng will scold you.”

“He wouldn’t dare.”

“He’ll scold you after you leave.”

“After I leave, he’ll scold me?”

Qi Xi didn’t mean to spread rumors and hurriedly explained, “I don’t know. I was talking nonsense.”

Fu Yanchuan suddenly let go of him and stood up. “I’ll go find him.”

“I really was talking nonsense, Brother Yan. Director Cheng didn’t scold you!”

Cheng Shu heard Qi Xi’s voice next door. He silently admitted that he had scolded him quite a lot. Then, the door to his workspace was pushed open, and Fu Yanchuan walked straight in.

“President Fu? What’s the matter?”

He wasn’t Qi Xi. He wouldn’t think that Fu Yanchuan had come to see him just because he’d been scolding him behind his back.

Fu Yanchuan didn’t plan to waste words. Since the exchange meeting, he had been preparing to start an animation company, although he had never paid attention to the industry before. The fastest way to learn about it was to ask people in the field.

After listening to him, Cheng Shu asked curiously, “So, President Fu, are you interested in the animation industry? Or is it because of Qi Xi?”

“Is there a difference?”

Fu Yanchuan answered frankly. “The exchange meeting did let me see some prospects. That doesn’t conflict with setting up a company for Qi Xi. Didn’t you invest in him because you thought he was worth it?”

Cheng Shu was left speechless. Still, he couldn’t believe that Fu Yanchuan would only have one animation company and be the man behind Qi Xi from then on. He probed, “Your group seems to be facing a capital crisis and might be acquired. Don’t you have any thoughts about that?”

Fu Yanchuan let out a soft laugh. Cheng Shu thought he wouldn’t answer, but then he heard him say, “Of course I do.”

“So being acquired is real?”

Cheng Shu asked, his curiosity piqued. But Fu Yanchuan stopped answering. Instead, he said, “Prepare a PPT for me. Qi Xi is tired today; he’s leaving work early.”

For a moment, Cheng Shu didn’t know which part to question first. Only after Fu Yanchuan stood up and left did Cheng Shu hurriedly shout, “President Fu, you just let him leave early whenever you want. Won’t that affect anything? When will we ever finish? The schedule has costs invested!”

“How much?”

Fu Yanchuan replied casually. Instinctively, Cheng Shu retorted, “It’s not all about money! There’s also love for the work and dreams.”

However, Fu Yanchuan didn’t pay any attention to his love and dreams. Cheng Shu hurriedly changed his tune. “If you’re willing to invest, I’m not against it either. Pursuing perfection is my lifelong goal.”

Fu Yanchuan saw a blurry figure outside the glass door. He couldn’t hear a word Cheng Shu said. When he opened the door, Qi Xi stumbled in and bumped into him.

“Hehe, Brother Yan, hi!”

Qi Xi hurriedly stood up, pretending he hadn’t been eavesdropping. Fu Yanchuan didn’t expose him. “Director Cheng said you’ve been working hard lately. You’re off work today.”

Although he had eavesdropped, when he arrived, he hadn’t heard anything. He asked doubtfully, “But it’s only three o’clock. Did you really make him give me summer vacation?”

Summer vacation? Cheng Shu’s eyebrow twitched. Before he could respond, however, Fu Yanchuan had already taken Qi Xi away.

The others in the studio didn’t mind Qi Xi leaving early. He was too good at drawing. For a single scene, he could give them several backup plans. They actually hoped he would rest a bit; otherwise, their own efficiency would look too low in comparison.

After Fu Yanchuan took Qi Xi downstairs, Qi Xi asked, “Brother Yan, what are we going to do?”

Fu Yanchuan hadn’t planned to do anything. Probably because he’d been with Qi Xi every day for the past few months, he now had separation anxiety. He opened the car door, pushed Qi Xi inside, leaned on the doorframe, and stuck his head in. “I might not have that much time to come and keep you company anymore. Can’t you accompany me more?”

Qi Xi thought about it for a moment and asked happily, “Did you find a job?”

Fu Yanchuan hadn’t really found a job, but hearing it this way gave him a strange sense of satisfaction. He nodded. “Mm. So, will you go on a date with me?”

 

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