Chapter 011: “Last night, I dreamed of you. Today, I want you.”
Zhai Zhi slowly walked up to Xie Chenyang. In his profile, Li Xuyang was a delicate and simple noble son. Whereas during their time together, the man was strangely strong, big-headed, and occasionally bristled with a grumpy temperament, though much of the time it was repressed. He didn’t hide it from him.
Guessing scientifically, maybe he had a dual personality. Perhaps his former delicate simplicity was all a facade he was performing. Looking towards the not so scientific possibilities…
Xie Chenyang glared at the person who stood silently in front of him and exasperatedly snapped, “Speak up!”
Zhai Zhi leaned down and hugged him, whispering, “I’m sorry. I’ll tell you where I’m going next time, or I’ll bring you along.”
Xie Chenyang instantly deflated. “…” After saying that, why did it feel like he was being unreasonable? He tried to clarify, “I’m not mad; it’s just that we have a different relationship now, and for you to leave without saying a word like that…”
“I’m sorry.”
Xie Chenyang gently pushed him away and stood up. “Don’t be like this next time.”
Zhai Zhi: “Mmm.”
Xie Chenyang licked his lips. “I’m hungry.”
Zhai Zhi’s lips rose slightly. “I’ll take you to lunch.”
—- The downstairs restaurant. —-
Xie Chenyang ate lighter foods because he still had a wound in his mouth.
The system quietly waited for him to eat his fill before announcing, “Have a look on the internet. Cen He has been interviewed.”
Xie Chenyang: [There’s no rush. I’ll wait for Ah-Zhi to finish eating before returning to the office to watch it.]
System: “Okay, it’s just a heads up.” It was the only task that the system would regularly observe his movements without Xie Chenyang’s command.
Only after they went back to the office did Xie Chenyang take out his cell phone and go online, clicking on the video of Cen He’s interview.
In the face of the reporters’ aggressiveness, Cen He wore a stoic expression. “I have not wronged Ah-Yang; he has someone else by his side right now, too.”
Zhai Zhi’s stony voice: “The man is implying that you cheated on him first and is trying to shift the spotlight onto you.”
Xie Chenyang: “He’s looking for death.”
Soon, a person called ‘Xu Family’s Ershao’1Second young master posted a video, tagging keywords and @’d Cen He and Li Xuyang’s microblogs, as well as the microblogs of the big V’s2 Verified accounts of entertainment. The accompanying text stated:
”Unluckily, I live across the street from Li Xuyang’s and Cen He’s house… It was raining heavily that day, so I was intending to make a short weather video to complain about it, but I didn’t expect that I would catch a scene like this one. Recently, I’ve seen that the internet is in an uproar, and I couldn’t help but post this.”
In the video, first a male voice exclaims how stormy it is today. Then the opposite door was seen, the scene where Xie Chenyang was pushed out.
The male voice let out a, “Wow, isn’t that Little Mr. Li? Did he have a fight with his husband?”
After that, Xie Chenyang shrank into the corner of the next door to try to hide from the rain, then he was given an umbrella by Mr. Zhai and brought to his home.
‘Xu family’s Ershao’ added in the comments: Not that I’m one to gossip, but that’s the Li family’s villa, isn’t it? At least it was the Li family across the street when I moved in eight years ago… Cen He hadn’t even met Li Xuyang yet, right? But if Cen He can do something like kick Li Xuyang out of his own house on such a stormy night, I don’t believe in his “whitewashing” anyway.
The system: “I sent the video to Xu Ershao, and he added a voiceover, which I combined into the final version; nobody will be able to detect it.”
Xie Chenyang: [I’m lucky to have met you.]
System: “Each of my hosts has given me a favorable review.”
Xie Chenyang: [I will also give.]
The system smiled with satisfaction.
Li Xuyang’s account was previously authenticated as a Feiyang Entertainment shareholder, and it still was. Xie Chenyang took a selfie with Zhai Zhi right in the office and posted it on Weibo: @CenHe ‘By someone else you mean the neighbor I’ve known since I was a teenager? What’s the matter with you? Disgusting, don’t talk nonsense, he’s not someone else.’
–This is the first time the young master has spoken out since the incident, right?–
–Cen He is really small-minded. What other party? It’s just his childhood friend, his bamboo horse!–
–Truly, Cen He has sucked the blood from the Li3Was “秦 / Qín” in raw. Might have been a typo as one of the radicals matches with “黎 / Lí” family, and now he’s kicking the young master out, which is really shameless.–
–Are you blind? I think what Mr. He’s saying is possible. Look at Li Xuyang’s mouth. It’s obviously been bitten by someone!–
–The young master’s neighbors must be rich, right? Does anyone know them?–
–He’s right. Cen He is disgusting. I hate cheaters. If it doesn’t work out, then get a divorce.–
–Cen He is a total EX.4EX is a loan word from english. It’s written with capitals, but its meaning stays the same as ‘ex-husband’, ‘ex-boyfriend’, etc He won’t even let his best friend’s woman go.–
–The young master was conned into marriage, wasn’t he? Cen He cheated on him with a woman… Do you think he doesn’t like men at all? Was he just trying to cheat the young master out of his money??–
Due to the video of Xie Chenyang being kicked out of his house on that stormy night and Xie Chenyang’s response, the PR that Cen He had only just begun to work on collapsed again.
At Xie Chenyang’s nod, the system manipulated all of his virtual accounts, and with a hundred to one, steered public opinion towards Cen He’s deceitful marriage, taking advantage of his friend’s absence to sleep with other people’s wives, and so on.
Striving to make Cen He black to the end.
—- That night. —-
Xie Chenyang had already fallen asleep, and Zhai Zhi was sitting in his study, loosely holding a cigarette in one hand and gripping the mouse in the other hand to look through the information that came from Zou Hao.
The information wasn’t much different from the previous ones, only that Zou Hao exhausted his efforts to dig up some more details. Zhai Zhi leaned back in his chair, put on his headphones, and played a video on his computer. It was a video that Li Xuyang had filmed when he was in college.
The video was stationary, with a sunny and handsome boy smiling at the camera. “Thank you everyone for coming to my birthday party! Xuyang, you said you’d sing me a song when it’s my birthday, so I want to record it.”
Li Xuyang was wearing a beige colored vest, and just sitting there showed his elegance.
Those eyes with a soft smile of innocent mirth made him appear like a young master who didn’t know the hardships of the world. “Alright, I’ve composed a song for you, wishing you a happy birthday.”
Li Xuyang’s voice was neither too fast nor too slow; it was just right, giving people a good feeling.
Zhai Zhi’s eyes were indifferent as he observed the Li Xuyang in the video walk over to the piano and sit down to play a cheerful tune; his lips tightened, and he periodically flicked the ashes of his cigarette.
It wasn’t at all like he was watching his favorite person. Before the video was even finished, he took off his headphones and turned off the computer. It wasn’t him.
Zhai Zhi returned to his room, and as soon as he arrived at the bedside, he was pulled into Xie Chenyang’s arms, his voice carrying the huskiness of someone who had just woken up. “Where did you go?”
Zhai Zhi nudged him away and lifted the covers to get in. “Went out for a smoke.”
Xie Chenyang lowered his head and swept a circle on his mouth, the faint tobacco flavor lingered; as he kissed Zhai Zhi, his sleepiness dissipated. He gently caressed Zhai Zhi’s lips. “I’ve changed my mind.”
Zhai Zhi: “Huh?”
Xie Chenyang slightly straightened his body. “I want to marry you earlier so that we can have our wedding night.”
Feeling it being pushed against him, Zhai Zhi’s breathing tightened. “Then you have to divorce Cen He quicker.”
“Alright.” Xie Chenyang moved his hands to encircle his waist. “Go to sleep.”
Zhai Zhi closed his eyes.
Only after confirming that he was asleep did Xie Chenyang open his eyes. He lightly walked over to the closet rack and changed his clothes while whispering, [System, are you sleeping?]
System: “…not asleep.”
Xie Chenyang: [Do you know where Cen He put the divorce agreement?]
System: “I can scan for it.”
Xie Chenyang: [Let’s go next door. I don’t want to take my time anymore; let’s make this quick.]
System: “You want to destroy the divorce agreement directly?”
[Yeah.]
System: “You… don’t you want to go to the bathroom to solve that first?”
[No, it’ll be fine in a while.]
System: “…” OK.
Xie Chenyang changed his clothes, glanced at Zhai Zhi on the bed, and wordlessly went out.
He entered the house next door and snickered. [This house is still in my name, right? I’m not trespassing, am I?]
System: “Not necessarily.”
Xie Chenyang had climbed through the bathroom window . After walking to the bedroom and pulling the quilt over Cen He’s face, he directly struck him over the head and knocked him unconscious.
The system saw him withdraw his hand and confirmed that Cen He wasn’t seriously injured, before saying, “The agreements are in the safe. If you remove the company’s equity transfer, it’s a sure win, and if the divorce agreement is destroyed, it won’t count.”
Cen He’s divorce agreement had only been reserved as a backup.
With his understanding of Li Xuyang, he was certain that he could break him down and have him sent to a sanatorium; then even if he didn’t divorce, all the property belonging to him as his partner, Cen He, can be utilized.
The agreement was just a precautionary measure.
– – – –
The next morning, Xie Chenyang and Zhai Zhi were still eating breakfast when the doorbell rang.
Confronting the bruised and swollen Cen He in their front yard, Xie Chenyang nonchalantly sneered. “You’ve got too many mistresses and they’ve beaten you up? Hahaha, it’s pretty even.”
Cen He furiously shouted, “It was you, wasn’t it!? Li Xuyang, I didn’t expect you to become this despicable, you–”
“Don’t talk nonsense.” Xie Chenyang raised an eyebrow. “I’ll sue you for slander. I was with Ah-Zhi the whole time last night. Do you have any evidence, or you just want to put the pot on my head5Long backstory short. Pot = Blame, placing the blame on someone else.?”
The anger in Cen He’s eyes increased. If he had evidence, would he still be here!? He would have already called the police instead! “You stole those agreements, didn’t you? Other than you, who else would–”
“What agreements?”
“Don’t play dumb, I–”
“Enough, I don’t want to waste my words with you,” Xie Chenyang said impatiently. “I’ll lend you my house for a few more days. Wait for the court summons and find a good lawyer. Let’s see how you try to twist things around when you’ve cheated on your legal partner for real, and you have an illegitimate child.”
“Ah-Yang, you can’t…”
“Fuck off.” Xie Chenyang kicked him out of the front gate and walked away, holding Zhai Zhi’s hand.
Zhai Zhi looked back at Cen He who’d risen from the ground, his face full of bruises and with his eyes swollen, and could not see any of the warmth and fortitude in Zou Hao’s face.
Then, in the end, was he a swapped personality, or was it all a disguise before? The two of them mutual pretending? The delicate gentleman was actually easily irritated and frank while the warm and resilient self-supporting person was actually vicious and insidious.
Zhai Zhi: “…” It’s me who was defeated.
—-
In this world, after being married and the partner had cheated, upon filing a lawsuit it’d be directly ruled as a divorce, and the shared marital property will be divided three to seven in favor of the faithful spouse.
As the court passed judgment, Cen He was unwilling but could only comply with the ruling. In order to prevent Feiyang from falling in Xie Chenyang’s hands again, Cen He was forced to reach an agreement with him in the courtroom; the shares of Feiyang belonged to Cen He while the rest of the property belonged to Xie Chenyang.
As soon as the divorce certificate arrived, Xie Chenyang and Zhai Zhi applied for a marriage license.
Zhai Zhi pocketed the marriage license; his voice took on a bit of lightness. “So are we going to the company now?”
“No, going home.” Xie Chenyang pressed him into the passenger seat and drove at a controlled speed. “It’s our wedding night.”
Zhai Zhi turned his head slightly sideways, looking at Xie Chenyang’s increasingly eager face, and rubbed his forehead. “There’s no need to be in such a hurry, right?”
Xie Chenyang kept his gaze on the road ahead. “Last night, I dreamt of you.”
Xie Chenyang: “Today, I want you.”
Zhai Zhi’s face changed slightly. What kind of corny love story was this?
Xie Chenyang: “Otherwise, I will not sleep comfortably.” He would be thinking about it all the time.
Edit: Krone
Proofread: Choux_choux
