“Ptooey, ptooey.” Lan Xi spat out the snack he had just eaten.
He said, “It’s sour.”
Fang Nianqing had not tried many foreign snacks himself. He had only thought something novel might improve Lan Xi’s appetite a little.
Hearing that, he quickly picked one up and tried a bite too.
The strawberry yogurt bar was coated in a layer of crisp chocolate. Judging from the packaging alone, it looked exactly like something Lan Xi would enjoy. Fang Nianqing took a bite and found that it tasted pretty good. It was a little too sweet, but the tartness of the strawberry balanced the sweetness nicely, and the milky flavor was rich enough…
Fang Nianqing himself was extremely easy to feed, so he genuinely had no idea how to solve the problem in front of him.
Lan Xi did not like the food Fang Nianqing bought outside, and when Fang Nianqing tried cooking for him himself, Lan Xi had once cursed him right to his face.
Fang Nianqing did not particularly want to bring up “Fu Hui,” but at this point he had no choice but to ask, “Before you ran away, what did you eat every day?”
He needed something to go by.
Lan Xi found it hard to summarize. “Lots of things.”
Fang Nianqing gave him examples of cuisines. “Chinese food? Cantonese? Anhui cuisine? Do you eat Western food?”
“All of it.” After answering, Lan Xi vaguely remembered that Fu Hui seemed to have said he would take him to eat Hunan cuisine. When had he said that? Had Lan Xi ever gotten to eat it in the end? He had forgotten.
Fang Nianqing realized that had been a useless question and changed it. “Then what do you like eating most?”
Lan Xi licked his lips and tried to remember the taste of all those foods, but it was as though the connection between him and those memories had been cut. They no longer brought him that same happiness and pleasure.
He said listlessly, “I won’t die even if I don’t eat anyway.”
Fang Nianqing nearly felt faint hearing that.
What did he mean, he would not die even if he did not eat?
He was only so beautiful that he hardly looked human, more like some kind of spirit. He was not actually a spirit.
“People can’t just stop eating. Maybe you’ve only lost your appetite lately.” Fang Nianqing paused. “When you couldn’t eat, what did Fu Hui do?”
Lan Xi was already very thin. He could not afford to get any thinner.
Lan Xi thought again. “Changed the chef.”
Fang Nianqing lowered his eyes and had nothing to say.
Lan Xi thought some more. “He fed me.”
Before, Fu Hui had not allowed him to eat in bed. But later, when Lan Xi lay there and refused to move, Fu Hui stopped caring. He had the bodyguards bring the food to the bedside and held Lan Xi while feeding him.
Did Fu Hui feed other people like that too?
Lan Xi suddenly frowned, looking pitiful. “I feel like throwing up.”
Fang Nianqing hurriedly reached out, intending to help him to the bathroom.
Lan Xi knocked him aside and rushed in by himself.
Outside, Fang Nianqing’s brows pulled tight at the sounds coming from within.
After a while, the door opened and Lan Xi floated out like a ghost. Whether or not he had actually thrown up, his face had grown considerably paler.
Fang Nianqing could not help saying, “Should we go to a hospital?”
“No.”
Fang Nianqing thought that wealthy families probably had private doctors make house calls. But where was he supposed to find one? How much did one visit cost?
Completely inexperienced in such matters, Fang Nianqing could only lower his head in silence.
Lan Xi suddenly walked toward the window.
Fang Nianqing jumped in fright and hurried after him. “What are you doing?”
Lan Xi gave him a strange look. “It feels like someone is watching me.”
Fang Nianqing breathed a sigh of relief.
Lan Xi’s current condition made it impossible for him not to overthink things…
Fang Nianqing squeezed in beside him at the window. A trace of hot air seeped through the screen from outside and collided with the cold air-conditioning behind them, making him shiver involuntarily.
He looked left and right. In the end, all he saw was a point of glaring sunlight reflected from the glass curtain wall of the building opposite.
Fu Hui moved away from the telescope and suddenly strode toward the door.
Cheng Yiran jerked awake from his doze. “Brother! Where are you going?”
Fu Hui still sounded calm. “Just giving Fang Nianqing some money isn’t enough. He has no idea how to take care of someone.”
Cheng Yiran immediately perked up. “Then are we going to get Sister-in-law now?”
Fu Hui’s steps stopped instead. “You go.”
“I go get him?”
Fu Hui beckoned him closer and quietly gave him several instructions.
Cheng Yiran listened in astonishment, nodding repeatedly, then turned and went downstairs.
A few seconds later, Fu Hui returned to the telescope.
Lan Xi had barely spoken to him lately. He even ignored Wen Yue and the others, yet he had talked quite a lot with Fang Nianqing… What, was being poor somehow that special?
Fang Nianqing was suddenly called away by the person in charge.
“The client says your work has been especially outstanding these past two days…”
Usually, when something began with that much setup, it was not good news.
Fang Nianqing’s face darkened. He was worried about only one thing. If his work no longer gave him a reason to stay at Qingshi Hotel, where could he take Lan Xi to hide?
“…so the client has decided to sign a long-term contract with you. Of course, your compensation will increase too.” The person in charge paused. “Did you hear me?”
Fang Nianqing came back to himself. “More money?”
“Yes.” The person in charge looked a little conflicted. “Someone from the client side will come over to discuss it with you. Wait here for a while.”
Fang Nianqing had no choice but to suppress the urge to hurry back to Lan Xi.
He sat on a sofa in the lobby to wait, and while waiting, he received another call from his school.
“Student Fang Nianqing, we’re calling to inform you that you qualify for the school’s newly established New Hope Scholarship. Please submit the required documents to the Student Affairs Office as soon as possible.”
By the time the school call ended, the person from the client side had arrived too.
“So this time, the compensation is five times higher?”
Fang Nianqing was not a fucking idiot. He quickly sensed that something was wrong.
The hairs all over his body stood on end.
He immediately remembered Lan Xi saying just now, “It feels like someone is watching me.”
Perhaps there really was a pair of eyes, silent and cold, following them like a shadow and watching their every move.
Inside Room 703, Lan Xi heard the doorbell.
The housekeeper and Fang Nianqing could both swipe their cards to enter directly, so whoever was ringing had to be someone else. Lan Xi warily approached the door and heard Cheng Yiran’s voice. “Sister-in-law, open the door.”
Lan Xi pressed his eye to the peephole and twisted his head around, trying to somehow inspect all three hundred and sixty degrees behind Cheng Yiran for anyone else…
…There was no one.
Cheng Yiran shouted, “I secretly came by myself! My brother doesn’t know!”
Lan Xi hesitated.
But he really did want to know what Fu Hui had become after he left.
Ha. He’s finally gone.
Was that what Fu Hui was thinking?
If it was, Lan Xi would fly back and strangle him to death.
“Sister-in-law?” Cheng Yiran continued pressing the doorbell.
He was racking his brain for a way to trick Lan Xi into opening the door when, with a click, it opened, revealing a beautiful face behind it.
Cheng Yiran instinctively went dazed for a moment. …Did Fang Nianqing really live with his sister-in-law like this every day?
He suddenly felt as though their family had been broken apart.
Two days already felt like too much. He kind of wanted to turn around and go call his brother immediately.
“What do you want?” Lan Xi asked.
Cheng Yiran squeezed through the door. The first thing he said was, “Song Fan got beaten up.”
Lan Xi said nothing, but his ears practically perked up.
“That day, my brother walked in and kicked him straight to the floor, then slapped him twice. He’s in the hospital now with a concussion and two missing teeth. The Song family won’t allow his branch of the family through their doors anymore. They’ll probably slink off overseas after this,” Cheng Yiran said in one breath.
Lan Xi said, “Oh… Why did he get beaten?”
“He talked nonsense! He really thought too highly of himself. My brother likes you. What business is that of his? And my brother could never marry some other woman anyway.”
Lan Xi: “Oh.”
Cheng Yiran studied his expression, but unfortunately could not read anything from it.
He could only continue. “Have you been sleeping well these past two days?”
That was something Fu Hui cared about very much.
Lan Xi said, “It’s been okay.”
“Have you been eating well?”
“…No.”
“Are you really bored?”
“Mm.”
Even Cheng Yiran felt an ache rising in his chest as he listened. He thought, Then how much worse must it be for my brother on the other end?
Cheng Yiran softened his voice. “Are you really unhappy?”
Lan Xi did not answer that question.
Cheng Yiran asked quietly, “How about I come keep you company every day? My brother won’t find out.”
“…”
“Whatever you want to eat, I’ll bring it every day. You can’t keep wearing the same clothes, so I’ll bring you some new ones. Whatever you want to do, I’ll go with you.” Cheng Yiran paused, then asked another question Fu Hui cared deeply about. “Now that you’ve left my brother’s place, what do you want to do?”
Lan Xi lowered his eyes. “Nothing to do.”
Cheng Yiran began suggesting ideas. “How about we find you a job?”
Lan Xi said, “Then I want to rule the world.”
Cheng Yiran choked. “Th-then… that probably won’t work.”
“Why?”
H-how was he supposed to explain this?
The last person who wanted to rule the whole world was that little mustached guy in the history books!
Nobody had dared think like that in ages!
At that moment, Fu Hui’s voice came through Cheng Yiran’s wireless earpiece.
Cheng Yiran repeated it word for word. “…Every country has its own nuclear weapons. They’re extremely destructive. You can’t beat them.”
The explanation was extraordinarily serious.
After saying that, Cheng Yiran hurriedly pulled out his phone, searched for a relevant video, and showed it to Lan Xi.
A gigantic mushroom cloud exploded into the sky, destroying everything around it. Lan Xi’s eyes widened slightly as he watched.
Wasn’t this exactly the power of a seraph?
Were there really no seraphs here?
“What does a nuclear weapon look like?”
Cheng Yiran immediately searched for pictures of an atomic bomb.
It looked like nothing more than a cold lump of iron.
Lan Xi was disappointed at first, but hope quickly flared again.
If he could bring this back to Hell, wouldn’t the angels be completely unable to fight back?
Lan Xi stared reluctantly at the picture of the atomic bomb as though looking at a dearly beloved lover. “Send me the picture.”
“Okay.”
Lan Xi took out the phone.
The screen lit up, displaying a photo of Fang Nianqing.
Cheng Yiran was stunned. “Y-you-you set his picture as your lock screen?”
Lan Xi gave him a strange look. “Because this isn’t my phone.”
Cheng Yiran understood, breathed a sigh of relief, and loudly said, “Oh! So this is Fang Nianqing’s phone!”
Then Cheng Yiran immediately began belittling Fang Nianqing’s phone. “This model isn’t very good. The screen isn’t even clear…”
Fu Hui coached him from the other end.
Cheng Yiran parroted him from this end. “Mm, uh… it’ll affect how clearly you can look at high-definition pictures of atomic bombs. I’ll buy you a new one.”
Fang Nianqing’s phone really was not particularly good.
Lan Xi answered, “Mm-hm.”
Cheng Yiran continued parroting. “Did you eat today?”
Lan Xi lifted his eyelids.
Cheng Yiran continued, “I haven’t eaten yet either. Shrimp are at their fattest this season, rich with roe and full of eggs. How about we eat shrimp?”
Lan Xi tilted his head and stared steadily at him until Cheng Yiran began to feel faintly uneasy.
“Wh-what?” Cheng Yiran stammered.
It was almost as if Lan Xi could see a little of Fu Hui’s shadow in him.
Lan Xi suddenly asked, “Where’s Fu Hui?”
Cheng Yiran became so excited at the question that he almost blurted out, “I’ll call my brother over right now.”
“Is he angry?” Lan Xi asked curiously.
Of course Cheng Yiran wanted to put in a good word for Fu Hui and fully embellish his brother’s “broad-minded” tolerance.
“He’s not…”
“He’s very angry. Tell him exactly that.” Fu Hui cut him off at once.
Cheng Yiran did not understand, but he still forcibly yanked the words already at his lips in another direction. “How could he not be angry?”
Cheng Yiran put on a frightened expression. “He’s about to go insane from anger. Do you want to see what Song Fan looked like after getting beaten?”
Only then did Lan Xi’s expression change. He said viciously, “Let him die of anger!”
Cheng Yiran could not quite understand. He could not resist asking, “Aren’t you scared?”
Lan Xi had already lazily leaned back against the bed, happily lifting his toes and giving them a little wiggle. “Scared of what?”
Every pore in his body seemed to open with happiness.
Lan Xi did not forget to add, “I want to see Song Fan getting beaten.”
Even Cheng Yiran had to admit that his brother understood Lan Xi far too well.
The preparations he had made in advance had actually come in handy…
Cheng Yiran took out his phone and pulled up the photos for Lan Xi.
In the pictures, Song Fan looked utterly humiliated.
But this was how a demon happily savored another person’s pain.
Lan Xi laughed with delight as he looked.
When Cheng Yiran realized Lan Xi was smiling, he could not help freezing for a moment. Then, still dazed, he hurried to seize the opportunity. “Lan Xi, how about… we go back? My brother was actually planning to take you to the Vatican to look for angels.”
“The what? What place is that?” Lan Xi wrinkled his nose, and the smile vanished from his face in an instant.
Cheng Yiran opened his mouth to explain.
Fu Hui said, “Tell him you don’t know either.”
Cheng Yiran immediately repeated it like a parrot.
Now Lan Xi’s whole face scrunched up too.
“Go buy him shrimp. Take the phone.” Fu Hui continued directing him remotely.
Cheng Yiran nodded and stood up.
Lan Xi suddenly asked, “Who are you nodding at?”
Cheng Yiran broke into a cold sweat. “I-I…”
Fu Hui said, “You saw wrong.”
Cheng Yiran steadied himself and repeated, “You saw wrong.”
Lan Xi did not believe him, but he did not argue either. He only looked thoughtful.
Just then, the door opened with a swipe of a keycard.
Fang Nianqing walked in. When he saw Cheng Yiran, his steps stopped abruptly. “Why are you here?”
Cheng Yiran stood up. “Lan Xi opened the door for me. I’m going to buy him something first.”
Then he hurried past Fang Nianqing and left.
Fang Nianqing was immediately on guard. He went over to Lan Xi and asked, “How did he find this place?”
Lan Xi said lazily, “Forgot to ask.”
Seeing how little Lan Xi cared, Fang Nianqing first told him about his own situation. “My pay suddenly increased. What do you want to eat? I’ll buy it for you.”
Lan Xi shook his head.
Fang Nianqing hesitated, then still told him, “I don’t think this makes much sense… Could that Mr. Fu already know you’re here?”
Lan Xi said, “Mm…”
He still looked deep in thought, neither panicked nor angry.
Fang Nianqing continued, “If he knows you’re here but hasn’t shown up right away, what is he trying to do?”
Lan Xi shook his head, his curiosity stirred again. “Don’t know.”
At dusk, Cheng Yiran came back again.
He brought salt-and-pepper shrimp and garlic shrimp, along with a bag full of beer and other drinks. In his other hand, he carried a new phone.
Fu Hui said to him, “Thanks for the trouble.”
Cheng Yiran was getting rather enthusiastic now. “No trouble, no trouble.”
After saying that, Cheng Yiran adjusted his expression and pushed the door open. Only then, right in front of Fang Nianqing, did he call out, “Sister-in-law.”
Fang Nianqing immediately looked at him with a gaze that was both startled and icy.
Under that stare, Cheng Yiran bravely smiled, set down the shrimp and drinks, then handed Fang Nianqing the new phone. “Your phone looked like it wasn’t working very well…” Bracing himself, Cheng Yiran continued, “So I got you a new one. I hope you’ll accept it. You’ve worked hard taking care of my sister-in-law too.”
Fu Hui had instructed the bodyguards to buy the new phone.
Cheng Yiran had been surprised at the time.
Was his brother really this generous? So tolerant even toward the random man hanging around Sister-in-law?
But now Fang Nianqing’s expression was extremely ugly. Even his eyes had darkened.
Cheng Yiran abruptly realized that giving Fang Nianqing a new phone was both “generous” and a reminder of the difference in their positions. It told this rival exactly where he stood: Fu Hui was treating him like a nanny.
Cheng Yiran involuntarily shivered. Even he felt his brother was frighteningly devious.
He quickly turned away and took out another phone for Lan Xi instead.
This phone had no new packaging. It simply lay there, plain and ordinary, in Cheng Yiran’s palm.
Lan Xi tilted his head in confusion.
Cheng Yiran immediately explained, “I stole my brother’s phone and brought it to you.”
Lan Xi’s eyes lit up. He snatched it out of Cheng Yiran’s hand.
Wen Yue and the others were always checking Lan Xi’s phone.
And Lan Xi himself could never quite figure out how the stupid thing worked.
Ha! Ha! Now it was finally his turn to check Fu Hui’s phone!
He was going to control everything about Fu Hui!!!
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