CH 12

The white porridge that Qi Huaiyu had made looked like soup at first glance. It was as if he was drinking a drink after taking the first sip. For a while, Xie Qing wondered if he had run out of rice. As a result, when he went to the kitchen, he saw that the rice bag was still full.

The youth followed behind him like a little tail, lowering his head and whispering sorry. He sounded extremely aggrieved as he stretched out a hand to carefully tug on Xie Qing’s sleeve, “Why don’t I cook another portion?”

Xie Qing couldn’t help but want to laugh.

He took a step back and leant against the door panel. His eyes swept onto Qi Huaiyu. The young man in front of him was obviously pampered. His finger bones were well proportioned while his fingertips looked soft and delicate. It could be seen at first glance that he was not someone that cooked.

Xie Qing waved his hand and pulled Qi Huaiyu out of the house.

Qi Huaiyu was now wearing the clothes he wore yesterday which were dried by Xie Qing with the dryer. There were quite a lot of vehicles that passed by the small road this morning. As a car drove away, two youths could be seen walking at the side of the road.

Xie Qing was still thinking about the breakfast he had today, “What do you want to eat? Youtiao2, soymilk3 or steamed buns?”

Qi Huaiyu, “I’m fine with anything. I’ll eat whatever you eat.”

Looking at Qi Huaiyu’s pampered self, Xie Qing finally chose a more expensive breakfast shop. He didn’t eat much and just drank some porridge in two to three mouthfuls. It was quickly finished, so he propped up his chin and just glanced at Qi Huaiyu.

The youth holding onto his chopsticks paused lightly. There was a faint undetectable smile on his lowered eyes.

He liked the fact that Xie Qing had put all of his attention on him.

Just like before.

After they had breakfast, Xie Qing stopped by a nearby vegetable market to buy some food. Qi Huaiyu had said that he was looking for a place to live, but when he heard that Xie Qing was going to the vegetable market, he eagerly followed behind him. Facing Xie Qing’s eyes that were full of surprise, he gave him an innocent smile, “I’ll help ge4 bring vegetables back. Then I’ll go and find a place to live.”

“Then why don’t you just wait until we have lunch together first before leaving.”

Because there were more people than usual, Xie Qing made quite a well-prepared lunch. He bought a crucian carp to make fish soup and even bought some pork ribs and vegetables. After they returned to the rental house, Xie Qing set up his mobile phone to record a video.

Qi Huaiyu was never idle and offered to help him. But as long as Xie Qing thought of the porridge made by the other party, there would be a hesitant expression on his face. Unexpectedly, Qi Huaiyu picked up the fish and knocked it unconscious quite skillfully and smoothly.

Seemed like he was quite skilled at this.

Thinking of it like this, Xie Qing didn’t care about Qi Huaiyu’s matter anymore.

The youth was holding onto the fish with his left hand. His porcelain-white fingers were covered in sticky fish scales, making him feel very impatient. However, his gaze inadvertently landed at where Xie Qing was arranging the ingredients with downcast eyes. His profile under the camera was clean and beautiful. With just a glance, all the restlessness that he felt in his heart disappeared completely.

Qi Huaiyu’s hands were stained with fish blood, he quickly rinsed them off with clean water.

Putting the fish into a bamboo basket beside him, he squeezed a lot of dish soap and carefully cleaned his own fingers until all he could smell was the fragrance of dish soap on his fingers before he stopped.

“I’ve finished cleaning the fish, is there anything else I can help you with?” The youth’s voice sounded in Xie Qing’s ears, attracting his attention towards him. Turning his head to look at the fish in the basket, he gave him a full 100 points of praise.

So Xie Qing shook his head lightly and said with a smile, “No need, why don’t you go and play with Berry.”

“Okay.”

The sound of footsteps gradually disappeared. Xie Qing slowly stewed the fish soup and then cleaned the ribs. He had asked about Qi Huaiyu’s tastes. He5 said that he likes sweet food, so making sweet and sour pork ribs would be best. 

Making sweet and sour pork ribs wasn’t difficult. The ribs should be blanched first and then marinated. It’s best to fry them first before adding the sauce.

When Xie Qing started cooking, the sound of footsteps coming and going from behind him could be heard. Before he could turn his head, a hand stretched out from behind him, holding a bright red bayberry between his fingertips.

“Do you want to eat?” The youth leaned over towards him. The two were so close that Xie Qing seemed to be able to feel his breath.

The movement of his hands paused unconsciously and he turned his head to face the other person calmly. However, out of the corner of his eyes, he caught sight of the young man’s pale fingers. He raised his eyebrows.

“You eat.” Xie Qing lowered his eyes and pushed the hand that was holding the red bayberry away.

The youth let out a muffled hmm and slowly walked back to the living room while dragging his slippers. He looked down at Berry who was sniffing the red bayberry basket and hugged it in his arms. As a result, one person and one cat looked in the direction of the kitchen.

From this angle, one could only see Xie Qing’s thin back.

His waist under his white shirt seemed easily snappable to him. Qi Huaiyu clicked his tongue softly, as if whispering to himself, “Shizun seems to still be on guard against me. Berry, what should I do?”

Once, he was the person closest to Xie Qing.

If he had a nightmare, he could easily climb onto Xie Qing’s bed and sleep soundly in his arms all night.

But it was unknown since when that feeling of intimacy between family changed.

He gradually formed a rebellious idea.

But he was terrified by this and kept telling himself that this sort of thinking was wrong.

He tightly suppressed the beast in his heart into a cage. It wasn’t until that night, when a storm broke out. Just like the night when the Xianzun of Chaoyun Peak rescued him from hell. That night, countless evil clouds covered Chaoyun Peak. The head of the sect hurried over to them, his face full of anxiety.

On the second day, the news that Fufeng Xianzun of Chaoyun Peak had faced a problem in his practice, his meridians were damaged and he fell unconscious, spread all throughout the sect.

It was also from that moment on that the cage could no longer trap the beast.

After lunch, Qi Huaiyu first went to a pet supply store near the community to buy a set of necessities for Berry such as cat litter, so that Berry could stay at Xie Qing’s house temporarily. While he himself went out pitifully to find a place to live.

After Qi Huaiyu left, the whole house seemed to be quiet once more.

Berry slept on Xie Qing’s lap while Xie Qing rewatched the video that he had taken several times. He then uploaded the video onto his computer to start editing. While editing, he found a somewhat distressing problem. Xie Qing was used to shooting videos alone, quietly without saying a single word.

But today was a little different. Qi Huaiyu had spoken to him twice while filming. Both of which were recorded by the phone.

Xie Qing thought about it and finally decided to delete the conversation between them.

But even so, the fans noticed the small difference when the video was uploaded.

[What did I just see? Is there someone on the side?]

[I see it too! Was it the hand that appeared when the fish was thrown into the bamboo basket? Who is this?! Anchor, come out and explain quickly!]

[F*ck me, this hand is so beautiful.]

[@FuFeng, @FuFeng, @FuFeng, hurry up and explain.]

[It turns out that I’m the only person drooling over the crucian carp soup and the sweet and sour pork ribs.]

[@WenXu come quick and look at the wild man that appeared in your didi’s6 video!]

[What wild man? Maybe it’s Wen Xu himself.]

[Impossible. Wen Xu’s hands don’t look like this! He usually farms and weeds his plants by himself. His hands wouldn’t look this delicate.]

[So who the hell was that?]

Xie Qing didn’t expect that when he posted a new video, most of the fan’s attention would be on Qi Huaiyu’s exposed hand. But Xie Qing didn’t explain much. Since the last time he selected fans to give some bayberries as a gift, the fans knew about his relationship with Wen Xu. The number of his fans on his broadcast had grown rapidly.

It was no exaggeration to say that in terms of fans, he could barely be regarded as a big anchor. Although such an honour was thanks to Wen Xu.

Lu Guohua was one of those fans. At the same time, he also had another identity, one of the heads of the Jingyu short video platform. Lu Guohua was originally a fan of Wen Xu. He had learnt that Wen Xu also had a didi that was a food blogger in Jingyu, so he rushed to the channel.

After watching Xie Qing’s video, he already had a certain understanding and analysis of Xie Qing in his heart.

Although Xie Qing didn’t have many fans at the beginning, almost all of them were diehard fans of his. Now that there’s a Wen Xu sending the east wind7, it was only a matter of time before he became famous. If he was able to seize the opportunity, he didn’t need to worry about anything in the future.

Lu Guohua thought for a while and decided to help Xie Qing out.

The next day, when Xie Qing opened the short video platform of Jingyu, he unexpectedly found that the number of his fans had increased once more. Clicking on the video that was released yesterday, there were already millions of likes and tens of thousands of comments. He really looked like a big anchor.

Even in his private message list, there were many merchants who approached to invite him to cooperate with them.

Xie Qing carefully read through the product introductions sent by these merchants, selected two of them and negotiated with them about using the products for a period of time. If the products were good, he would promote them. The merchants were also confident in their own products, so they agreed with Xie Qing’s offer without hesitation. They then asked for Xie Qing’s address, fearing that he would regret it and go back on his words.

Seeing how anxious they were, Xie Qing blinked his eyes and smiled.

Putting down his phone, he went to the side to place some cat food for Berry. During this period, he received another message from Qi Huaiyu. The message was along the lines of him eagerly trying to find a house. Xie Qing casually comforted him with a few words and sent him a photo of Berry, informing him that Berry’s stay was fine.

Qi Huaiyu stared at the black cat in the photo.

A young man was holding a little black cat in his arms as he crossed his long legs in a casual manner. The hand that was on Berry’s head was pale and beautiful as it ran on Berry’s body. Xie Qing’s sleeves were rolled up, revealing his slender wrist. Qi Huaiyu’s eyes darkened at once. The colour of his eyes was blacker than water in an abyss, with the desire to take everything in the picture into his mind.

He really just wanted to press on that wrist, pinch his waist and wantonly kiss those thin lips that he had coveted for a long time.

Just thinking about what he coveted made him tremble in fascination all over his body. He felt as if the person he coveted was floating, like a cloud in the sky, unable to be touched no matter what.

Qi Huaiyu leaned back on the leather sofa behind him and undid the button on his collar.

When desire rose, even his heart would tremble and ache in pain.

In the end, he just lowered his eyes and typed a few words on his phone. 

‘I envy Berry for having found a home. I can only stay in a hotel.’

Xie Qing didn’t notice this message as he had received a call from the police station, bluntly informing him that Yu Kaize wanted to see him. They asked if he would like to go there and see him.

This was something new.

Yu Kaize, who was in prison, wanted to see him.

Xie Qing’s slender fingers landed on the table as he made a knocking sound with his knuckles. After a long while, he raised his lips and said softly, “No problem. I can go there right now.”

…

An hour later, Xie Qing was able to see Yu Kaize. The actor who used to be glamorous in the past was now sitting on a chair in a prisoner’s uniform. Yu Kaize seemed to have lost a lot of weight as his clothes hung on his empty looking body. His face was covered with stubble as his eyes were bloodshot. The most shocking thing was that more than half of his hair had turned white8.

It was enough to show that Yu Kaize hadn’t been living well these past few days.

Xie Qing sat on the seat opposite of Yu Kaize, resting his chin on one of his hands. His whole body revealed a kind of calm and casual aura. 

“Why are you looking for me?”

Yu Kaize looked at the person in front of him in a steadfast manner.

Two years ago, if someone told him that he would fall into the hands of a fool like Xie Qing, he would definitely have treated that person like a lunatic.

But now, he admitted that he took some things for granted.

His conceit and arrogance in front of Xie Qing turned into a joke.

He suddenly opened his mouth, “I never would have thought that you would have something to do with Qi Huaiyu. Xie Qing, I really underestimated you.”

Qi Huaiyu.

Hearing that name from Yu Kaize’s mouth, Xie Qing’s smile deepened.

Translator: Idiot

Hotel: Trivago

fried doughsticks. I love these but I get extremely sick if I eat them

Xinghe: I wanna drink this in my life someday. UM3: OMG! THIS THE BEST WITH BROWN SUGAR~ RAWR~ Me: I like vitasoy malt flavored soymilk

used to refer to guys older than you in your generation. Doesn’t need to be related

Qi Huaiyu

younger brother

bringing along a favorable situation

Xinghe: ? Wasn’t he quite young? Me: Hair can turn white from stress