CH 36

When Xia Xingchi woke up, he saw that the wind direction online had reversed in an instant. He became relaxed and happy at once, naturally knowing whose handiwork this was.

This feeling of “my family will bully them back for me,” no matter how many times he experienced it, always filled him with joy. The corners of Xia Xingchi’s mouth almost raised toward the sky, and he lifted his head to look at Li Chengyuan.

This person still had a calm look on his face, as if he had taken care of an ordinary and trivial matter. Xia Xingchi’s gaze made him a little uneasy, so he reached out to hold his head and made him turn his face away.

Xia Xingchi had no choice but to continue looking at his phone.

While everyone was shocked and disgusted about Xia Yu’s true face, and full of speculation about Xia Xingchi’s true identity, Li Chengyuan’s fans were most concerned about their male god’s body:

[Xingchi baby, wuwuwu tell us how Mr. Li is doing, okay? We’re so worried, ah]

[Please let there be nothing wrong! Handsome guys can’t die!]

[I’m sure he’s alright. You can see by the speed of his public relations team that Mr. Li used his ability to withdraw the black hot searches for Xia Xingchi]

[Hopefully. But I still want a definite answer. It’s really worrying, sudden cardiac arrest is so serious, I’m so scared]

[Is he really okay? Could they be whitewashing it for peace and security? So nervous, so nervous, how come there’s no statement that he’s been rescued?]

[I private messaged the medical staff that claimed to be involved in the rescue, but I didn’t hear back]

. . . . . .

No wonder they were worried. Although Xia Xingchi’s black hot searches had disappeared, the prediction, “Li Chengyuan dead after rescue failure,” was not far from the top of the hot search list.

Seeing this collection of words made a certain person uncomfortable, and Xia Xingchi said unhappily: “Why didn’t you withdraw this too? It’s too inauspicious, ba.”

Li Chengyuan glanced at the phone screen indifferently. He obviously didn’t care, but there was a smile in his tone: “Xia Xingchi, you care too much about your boss.”

He seemed to emphasize the word “boss” intentionally or unintentionally. The implication was obviously that someone not only treated him as a boss, but also had additional feelings. 

Xia Xingchi was taken aback for a moment, and after realizing what he meant, he inexplicably felt the panic and embarrassment of being exposed and automatically denied: “I don’t care, ba! I’m just afraid that your fans will be sad……I’ve been exploited all my life by you black-hearted capitalists, I’ll only be free when I die!”

Li Chengyuan smiled faintly and didn’t try to expose the “I want to continue working” expression that couldn’t be hidden on Xia Xingchi’s face, but said: “You can tell your fans everything is okay.”

Xia Xingchi decided to take a photo or a short video of Li Chengyuan.

He was just thinking about what angle would look the best so that everyone could appreciate their broken and beautiful male god together, but Li Chengyuan stretched out a hand and said succinctly: “Just come and shoot the rings together.”

It was only then that Xia Xingchi realized that the pigeon egg ring could no longer be worn around his neck because the string had been torn. The ring must have long legs to be able to run from the bedside table to his middle finger.

Li Chengyuan probably did it while he was asleep.

Xia Xingchi stared helplessly at the ring on his hand, thinking that the villain had finally gotten his wish —

Not only did he take the initiative to speak loudly about his marriage contract in front of the camera, but now it was finally time to show their conjugal affection in front of the whole country.

Li Chengyuan’s fingers were very long, with beautiful and well-defined bones, and his cold, fair complexion didn’t even need a whitening filter.

In order to not leave fans guessing whether or not he was still in a coma, Xia Xingchi decided to take the lead, and made a silly heart-shaped gesture with their hands. Then Li Chengyuan grasped Xia Xingchi’s hand and took another picture.

He simply left a sentence telling everyone not to worry and that Li Chengyuan was fine, and it caused a wave of heat as soon as it was sent out:

[Oh my god, that’s so great, wuwuwu I’m finally relieved]

[Waaaa are all handsome guys’ hands so pretty? Their hands are so perfect]

[The rings are in the same frame! Who stuffed me with dog food!]

[Hehehe Xia Xingchi finally admitted it and stopped pretending not to know him and calling him Boss Li?]

[I don’t want to see rings, I want to see people! You two haven’t been in the same frame yet! Asking for a group photo and some sugar!]

Xia Xingchi tilted his head. He also couldn’t figure out why Li Chenyuan didn’t want to show up on camera.

The big villain had been born so good-looking that it couldn’t be hidden, and he still looked good when ill. He didn’t care about his useless image anyway, so why wouldn’t he take a video and show his face?

Sure enough, someone would find fault and poke holes in the story:

[Just a photo of a hand? Who can prove whether this hand is Li Chengyuan’s?]

[It’s so suspicious, ah. After filming a reality show, he wants to keep a low profile and not show his face now? Is he really alive?]

[Anyone familiar with wealthy dog-blood families should understand. Could it be that Li Chengyuan is gone, and Xia Xingchi is lying to stabilize the situation?]

[Enough, you guys. This is Mr. Li’s hand, okay? Hardcore fans can easily recognize it]

[I don’t believe it. There are so many people in the world whose hands look alike. Even if he had six fingers, as long as he has money, he could find a replacement]

. . . . . .

The more Xia Xingchi watched, the more confused he became, and he suddenly felt that Li Chengyuan had done this on purpose just to make people wonder if he was dead or not.

As expected of a big villain, when it came to having bad intentions and scaring people, one veteran could do the job of two recruits. One didn’t need to ask to know that he was trying to scare Li Shengrui and Xia Yu.

It worked really well. In an unremarkable hotel, Xia Yu was talking to Li Shengrui in a panic:

“Who knows if he’s really alive or if Xia Xingchi is playing tricks! Maybe he’s already dead, and Xia Xingchi is just using him as a shield to intimidate people!”

The news of Li Chengyuan’s successful rescue was like a bolt from the blue to these two people, and what followed would be endless troubles.

But this news had appeared in such an uncertain way, which caused them to be bewildered and full of doubts.

“It’s probably true that he’s not dead.” Li Shengrui said after some thought, “Did you really put the whole package of drugs in there? Are you sure there was no problem?”

“Of course! I’m more fucking afraid the poison didn’t kill him than you are!” Xia Yu said angrily, “Now you think it was my mistake? It’s because your drugs were unreliable that we’re both screwed!”

Li Shengrui was a little angry when he heard these words. No one liked to be unjustly accused.

If he really wanted to figure out how Li Chengyuan didn’t die, it was better to suspect that Xia Yu’s nervous hands shook a little than to think the problem lay with that high-purity aconitine, which was highly toxic and lethal.

Furthermore, he had clearly warned him not to poison Li Chengyuan while he was having stomach problems.

Li Chengyuan had a sensitive constitution and a shallow stomach. When slightly stimulated by poison, he could even vomit to the point of dehydration. Obviously, Xia Yu hadn’t chosen the right time.

Unexpectedly, before Li Shengrui had time to open his mouth and censure him, Xia Yu suddenly said:

“I don’t believe that Li Chengyuan isn’t dead. Li Shengrui, did the police really not contact you? Or are you lying to me?”

Even if Li Shengrui was just a cheap illegitimate half-brother, he was still Li Chengyuan’s nominal “brother” in the end, and the police might call him if he died.

“They didn’t!!” Li Shengrui was accused and doubted again and again, and said angrily, “He must still be alive!”

In fact, Li Shengrui himself was unsure. Although their relationship was bad, he and Li Chengyuan had grown up under the same roof.

He knew exactly how cold-blooded and ruthless Li Chengyuan was. How come the first thing he did after waking up was to send an affectionate message and hold hands sweetly to take pictures?

Was it really Xia Xingchi bluffing to maintain peace, or was Li Chengyuan deliberately scaring people to make them lose their heads?

The more Li Shengrui thought about it, the more fretful he became. On the other end of the line, Xia Yu was still accusing him in a fluster, seeming more and more vicious and stupid.

In contrast, Xia Xingchi was better than Xia Yu in almost everything, much more likable than him in everything from appearance to personality.

This idea caused Li Shengrui to be unable to maintain his mental balance. Since he was a child, he had developed the habit of comparing himself to Li Chengyuan. 

His unglamorous status as an illegitimate child made him feel inferior and gradually warped him. Even the occasional servant calling Li Chengyuan “Young Master” instead of “Second Young Master” would make Li Shengrui instantly suspect that his identity had not been acknowledged.

Even worse was that Li Chengyuan was better than him at everything, with outstanding abilities and excellent grades, winning various awards when he was a student.

And he even looked extraordinarily good. Clearly he was a half-dead sick seedling with a cold and arrogant personality, but he was still sought-after and admired by everyone.

Even though everything Li Chengyuan owned was robbed from him later, and he suffered so much that it looked like he would go completely insane.

Who could have known that he could put up a struggle again and even succeed in seizing power, multiplying his family power countless times.

Li Shengrui became more and more irritable as he thought about it, and the fact that he couldn’t even find a partner as good as Li Chengyuan’s made him dislike Xia Yu even more.

But he could only continue to hypocritically appease Xia Yu, and at the same time coax him:

“How about this, A-Yu, we will get the marriage certificate as soon as you return to Beijing.”

“……But in order to keep the police from suspecting you, we must first destroy all evidence.”

Xia Yu finally calmed down when he heard the word “marriage,” and a calculating look appeared in his eyes.

He compromised at last and said coquettishly:

“All right. Then I’ll delete the recordings and come back, you can’t lie to me!”

— Deleting the recordings was impossible. A backup copy must be made in order to hold onto Li Shengrui.

– – –

It was already past one o’clock in the afternoon when Xia Xingchi finally finished making a clean sweep of the takeout. Ever since Li Chengyuan entered the emergency room, he hadn’t felt like eating, but now he could almost eat a cow.

It was a pity that he sat at the table to eat, but Li Chengyuan, as a patient, could only sit on the side of the bed and watch until his millet porridge cooled and he could take a few sips.

— His stomach had bled slightly when he vomited, so the doctor had told him that he could only have some cool liquid food today.

Xia Xingchi said in distress: “I’ll make some delicious food for you when we get back, guaranteed to be better than those chefs’!……Speaking of which, when are we going home, ah?”

Hearing this, Li Chengyuan was stunned for a moment at the words “going home.” Clearly pleased by this sentence, he then smiled lightly: “We’ll leave after you finish your meal.”

Xia Xingchi let out an “Oh.” It sounded like a casual joke, but he knew Li Chengyuan was serious.

While he was lying on the hospital bed and trying to get a little more sleep, he heard Li Chengyuan instruct Secretary Ye on the phone: “You don’t need to come, go and inform Xiao Wu to get the plane ready. I’m returning to Beijing today.”

Then he received a call from Zhao Yinhe, who actually acted like a serious doctor: “The transfer procedures have all been taken care of for you. Send me the results of today’s checkup, and I’ll see if I can come meet the plane.”

He was thousands of miles away, after all. Not being able to see it, Zhao Yinhe doubted the quality of the medical equipment in this remote small town, and wanted to come see for himself.

However, he was so busy that he couldn’t spare the time. As soon as he heard about the accident yesterday, he immediately ran around contacting the top experts in the cardiovascular field, and completed all the transfer procedures today.

After Li Chengyuan was out of danger and able to be moved, he hastened to transfer him back to his hospital as soon as possible, so that he could give a comprehensive examination and uncover why a healthy-looking person fell ill so suddenly.

Xia Xingchi naturally wanted him to return to the capital as soon as possible. He was unfamiliar with this place and dared not even hire a nurse, for fear that some unscrupulous person would come in and poison his big cat.

. . . . . .

When Lin Meng heard the news that they were leaving, she had just finished the work at hand and connected with the program team for various follow-up tasks.

The filming of the reality show almost had such a horrifying accident. Coupled with the collapse of Xia Yu’s character design and the exposure of Xia Xingchi’s identity, it was impossible to continue filming under the circumstances.

Fortunately, the ratings and popularity instantly climbed to the peak level in the nation, so although the broadcast was temporarily suspended, there was no major loss.

Xia Xingchi pricked up his ears. He was happy to hear that money hadn’t been lost – after all, he still remembered that Li Chengyuan had invested in this reality show.

Li Chengyuan smiled upon hearing this, thinking that it was nothing more than spending a little money to entertain Xia Xingchi, but his little money-grubber had firmly remembered it.

Thus, he coaxed this person in a low voice: “The surplus of this investment will be transferred to your salary card.”

Xia Xingchi was touching everything within reach on Li Chengyuan’s private jet, but when he heard money being mentioned, he sat up and said excitedly: “Really? I won’t be polite and refuse if you say such a thing!”

Seeing that he was so easy to coax, Li Chengyuan thought he looked cute with his dimpled smile and couldn’t help but raise a hand to pinch Xia Xingchi’s soft, warm earlobe with his cool fingertips.

Xia Xingchi’s whole body immediately trembled when he was pinched. He had clearly stated before that this place was not allowed to be touched. When his sensitive spot was stimulated by this kind of action, his whole body went weak.

But the big villain didn’t change his ways after repeated admonitions, and couldn’t help stretching his claws out to pinch.

“Why are you doing this again!” Xia Xingchi wasted no time getting angry.

If he hadn’t just received a reward from his wealthy benefactor, he would have definitely pounced on Li Chengyuan and crushed him to death, because he suspected that Li Chengyuan was doing this on purpose.

But now, for the sake of his future income, he decided not to lower himself to Li Chengyuan’s level, and jumped up to grab a drink while hiding far away.

Lin Meng, who was sitting nearby and trying not to be a third wheel, saw this flirtatious scene and was stunned. There were only the words “knock CP” left in her mind.

She had always been a member of the CP fan army, but compared to other sisters who were happy to eat sugar, Lin Meng wanted to eat sugar but always felt awkward — 

Thinking about the two of them being together for monetary and stand-in purposes, she couldn’t help but weep over the sadomasochistic relationship.

Although it was said that in dog-blood sadomasochism plots, the boss would always fall in love with the double, the texts also said that the aloof White Moonlight would come back at that time.

When Xia Xingchi was asked earlier, “Are you in love with President Li?” he still insisted that he wasn’t.

Now there was no need to even ask. Sitting at the door of the emergency room and crying with snot and tears, it was obvious that the little stand-in had fallen in love without knowing it.

Li Chengyuan turned his eyes slowly, and abruptly asked with a blank expression: “Did he tell you that he was a stand-in?”

Lin Meng was startled.

Although she knocked CP, when the boss suddenly spoke to her and asked such a terrifying question, she immediately panicked and dared not speak. She thought to herself that Li Chengyuan was too sharp, being able to tell what she was thinking just now at a glance.

“You don’t have to be nervous,” Li Chengyuan said lightly, taking a sip of warm water. “This little fool thinks he’s just a stand-in, but he’s the one I was looking for. He just forgot.”

Lin Meng’s spirit of gossip immediately broke through the fear, and she was quite shocked by this enormous information bomb.

Heaven knew how many times the script in her mind had changed. One moment it was a sadomasochistic love triangle between a beautiful boy, a wealthy old man, and a handsome driver, and the next moment he became the stand-in lover of a scumbag gold master. Unexpectedly, the male lead stamped him with the label of a silly lost sweetheart with amnesia?

The stand-in sadomasochism script in her hands suddenly had a strong taste of sugar.

“I gave him a ‘salary’ just to make him happy, but in fact, all of my property was given to him.”

Not only was it all given to him, but it was also earned for Xia Xingchi from the very beginning.

After all, more than ten years ago, Li Chengyuan knew that Xia Xingchi was a little money-grubber.

No one could have imagined that a business legend like himself had no interest in money, but worked specially to earn so much only because he thought a certain person would like it.

Then, he waited every day for the little liar who cheated him of all his money and ran away irretrievably to fulfill his promise and return to him.

In fact, if Li Chengyuan had really died in the emergency room, the property would not go to Li Shengrui according to the legal order of succession – he had already made a will and left it all to Xia Xingchi.

In the distance, Xia Xingchi was studying the plane’s ice cream machine, happily tasting a strawberry-vanilla mixed cone, and would not be coming back for a while. He couldn’t hear the conversation between the two.

Lin Meng was hit hard on the head by this shocking lump of sugar, and after a long moment of bewilderment, she asked cautiously: “But……Mr. Li, haven’t you already married the young master of the Xia family?”

As everyone knew, the Xia family only had one young master, and that was Xia Yu.

Li Chengyuan pursed his lips slightly, then raised his hand to signal Lin Meng to take a look at her phone.

Confused, Lin Meng took out her cell phone and looked down. While she was shocked that there was WiFi on the plane, she also found that the hot search had ushered in a new round of earth-shaking bombs:

#Xia Xingchi: A wealthy young master on the run#

#Jack-of-all-trades is a low-key noble son#

#Xia Xingchi: This is real self-reliance#

#A deeper look into Xia Xingchi and Xia Yu’s relationship#

. . . . . .

Lin Meng could hardly believe her eyes.

She never imagined that the poor boy beside her who was so impoverished that he could barely afford to eat was also a rich second generation from a wealthy family, and that he belonged to the same family as Xia Yu, who always flaunted his wealth in flashy ways.

[My god, isn’t Xia Xingchi a vegetable seller from the countryside? How is this possible?]

[But those photos are indeed real. If he’s really a son of the Xia family, how could this happen?]

[Who can give an explanation? Why is it that Xia Yu spends money like water to show off his wealth every day, but Xingchi is impoverished and able to be bullied by everyone? Xia family, are you fucking sick?”]

[Damn, Xia Yu is still marketed as “the rich second generation who doesn’t rely on family support” all day long, so what is our Xingchi? Clenching fist hard]

[Real self-reliance VS fake self-reliance]

[Understood, you want to grab your brother’s boyfriend, right? @ Xia Yu, you’re a fucking disgusting green tea]

[Not only that, ah, but he bought black hot searches and made the company suppress Xia Xingchi. The internet doesn’t forget]

[No wonder Mr. Li didn’t let that bitch Xia Yu get close. This kind of person is really disgusting. He’s an “innocent young master?” (Li-style Cold Shoulder.GIF)]

. . . . . .

The hot search set off turbulent waves. Xia Yu stared at the phone and read the comments one after another, gnashing his teeth with hatred and horror.

What he cared most about was his face and reputation. He had used these despicable methods of wanton bullying all these years, and no one had ever dared to contend with him.

Therefore, it never occurred to him that Xia Xingchi, the most inconspicuous piece of trash, would actually make him kick an iron board.[1]

The more he looked at him, the more he trembled with anger and resentment. Xia Xingchi never should have existed in the first place.

He had been the only young master of the Xia family all these years. How could such a shitty charity-case deserve to be compared with him?

How could he take away his status and all the reputation he was proud of? Why should this bastard be equal to him?

– If there was no Xia Xingchi, I would have married Li Chengyuan.

– I would definitely be able to receive his unparalleled protection and favor, and obtain the most enviable status and wealth.

But now it was all gone. Now there were only endless negative revelations and the constant terror of being discovered by the police for his crime of poisoning.

What scared him the most was that once everyone discovered the truth about the true identities of the true and fake young masters, then his identity as an illegitimate child would lead to endless insults.

Everyone would find that he was just a pheasant occupying the phoenix’s nest. Everything would be returned to its original state, and his previous character marketing would become an eternal laughing stock.

The more Xia Yu thought about it, the more terrified he became. The scene was unimaginable, and he shuddered all over, wishing he could go mad and rush out to cover everyone’s mouths.

Li Chengyuan had always been ruthless. Since the villainous big boss had restrained his temper due to finding the person whom he thought about night and day, he didn’t lose his mind, but his style of behavior remained nasty and villainous.

He didn’t immediately reveal the truth that Xia Yu most wanted to hide, the truth that he least wanted to be discovered by others, but instead released it bit by bit.

Waiting for death was more terrifying than actually dying, especially when there was no way of knowing when the blade of the guillotine would suddenly fall.

This fear almost made Xia Yu unable to sleep. Even if he accidentally dozed off for a moment on the plane back to the capital, he would instantly wake up trembling from nightmares of his life experience being revealed.

. . . . . . 

The more Lin Meng looked at the phone, the more shocked she became. No matter what, she had never imagined that the two could be “brothers.”

She asked cluelessly: “But Xia Yu has been marketing his character as an only child, saying that he wants to go back to inherit the family property, ah. How could Xia Xingchi…..”

Li Chengyuan said calmly: “The Xia family indeed has only one child – and it is not Xia Yu.”

Xia Xingchi finally squeezed out a perfectly shaped ice cream and happily forgot about who had pinched his ear just now, excitedly holding up the ice cream to show off to Li Chengyuan: “Look! Doesn’t it look very artistic?”

Waiting for his answer, he turned around and saw Lin Meng, who was numbly digesting a huge amount of information.

“Sister Mengmeng? What are you thinking about?” Xia Xingchi tilted his head slightly in confusion.

Lin Meng came back to her senses, looked at the two people who were a perfect match, and finally let out a sincere cry from the bottom of her heart: “I’m thinking, Yuanchi CP is real!”

Xia Xingchi: ? ? ?

Li Chengyuan, that bastard, what new distorted facts did he tell Sister Mengmeng?

T/N: On an unrelated note, if my life was a BL novel, it would be called <<I Rely On My Tax Refund to Pay My Medical Bills>> (It’s a dog-blood crematorium where the US healthcare system begs for my forgiveness and I dump it for Canada.)

[1] If you kick an iron board (踢到铁板), you’re used to kicking wooden boards that break easily, and unexpectedly kick an iron board that hurts your foot. ⮐