Chapter 002 – Like Being Roasted by Fire
“What are you planning to do?”
As soon as Xie Chenyang turned around, he saw Zhai Zhi, who was resting one hand on the staircase railing, look at him with chilling eyes. Zhai Zhi wore a cool gray robe, which made him look all the more aloof in the light.
Xie Chenyang’s irritable mood abruptly disappeared. He placed his hand behind his back. “I sleepwalked…”
“Put it back.”
Xie Chenyang silently put the knife back.
After putting the knife away, he shuffled his slippers and plodded up the stairs, stopping in front of that man and stretching out his hand. “Thank you for taking me in. My name is… Li Xuyang.”
Zhai Zhi grasped his hand and let it go after a touch. “Zhai Zhi.” He held a thermos cup in his other hand and moved around the other side of the stairs, descending.
Xie Chenyang wriggled his fingers and obediently went back to his guest room. He laid down on the bed. “System, why did you pick me?”
“Well…” the system said in a serious manner, “because you’re stoic and straight enough. You definitely won’t forgive those scumbags!”
“Then you’ve picked the right man,” he said, burying his face in the pillow, and his muffled voice couldn’t hide his smugness. “Forgiveness? Forgiveness doesn’t exist in my vocabulary!”
The system exaggeratedly praised, “Wow, Host~ you’re great!”
Although he had taken a hot shower, he’d been drenched in the pouring rain for a while. He didn’t continue bantering with the system and drifted off to sleep.
Downstairs, Zhai Zhi made a pot of coffee and poured it into his thermos before returning to his room.
He sat on the sofa, holding his cell phone in one hand to make a call, and with the other, he pulled out a cigarette from the carton on the coffee table and held it in his mouth, lit it, and took a puff with a blank look on his face.
The call picked up.
“Mr. Zhai.”
“Hmm,” Zhai Zhi directly ordered, “investigate Li Xuyang who lives next door to me.”
The person on the other end of the line was his assistant, Zou Hao.
Zou Hao’s tone was calm. “If it’s the Li Xuyang next door to you, then I know some, but anything more specific would need to be investigated.”
Zhai Zhi put the phone on speaker and placed his cell phone on the coffee table. “Tell me what you know first.”
“This Li Xuyang is quite miserable. He was originally a young master who was spoiled to be simple and pampered. Both parents and big brother have now met with an unfortunate passing, and just watching him, I’m afraid that he wouldn’t be able to hold on to Feiyang Entertainment.”
“Accidents?”
“His father and elder brother were hit and died on the spot by a fatigued driver, and his mother fell to her death when she was overly upset and in shock.”
Zhai Zhi lowered his eyes and took a drag on his cigarette. “Unexpected?”
“On the surface. I didn’t investigate the specifics. I have only been briefly observing the households around you in preparation for your return.” Zou Hao queried, wondering about his sudden interest in Li Xuyang, “Do you want me to go and investigate?”
Zhai Zhi did not say anything.
“Right,” Zou Hao continued, “although Li Xuyang doesn’t have much ability, that husband of his is a capable one. With his husband around, Feiyang Entertainment might still be able to just barely pull through.”
“Husband?”
Zhai Zhi looked meaningfully at the wall as if he could somehow see into the guest room that was separated by a few walls. So, he brought a married person home?
“Yes, Li Xuyang is gay, but I don’t know anything specific about him and his husband. Do you want to investigate?”
“Investigate.”
– The next day. —
Zhai Zhi was woken up by the ringing of his cell phone. He closed his eyes and fumbled with the phone and impatiently picked up the call. “Speak.”
“Is my baby still sleeping?”
A gentle, feminine voice sounded in his ears. Zhai Zhi opened his eyes. He slowly sat up, glanced at the time, and lit a cigarette to dispel his sleepiness.
“Baby, are you smoking again? Smoke less ah, if you are sleepy then go back to…”
“Not sleepy.” Zhai Zhi stepped on the ground with his bare feet, “You know, I can’t sleep once I’m awake .”
“I’m sorry ah. Mom didn’t mean to…” Her voice was soft. “You haven’t sent me any messages since you returned to China. I was a bit worried, and I couldn’t help but call you when I saw that it was already ten o’clock, sweety…“
“I’m not upset. I messaged you last night.”
“Hmm?” She flipped through her phone for a moment before realizing her mistake. “That’s my fault, I didn’t see your message. There are too many new messages… and yours got bumped down to the bottom… I…”
“It’s alright.” Zhai Zhi reached the floor-to-ceiling window with a cigarette in his mouth and pulled open the curtains. “It’s already past ten o’clock at night for you there. Go ahead and sleep.”
“Okay, good night, baby.”
Zhai Zhi looked at the sun shining in; his smile was light. “Good night.” The half-smoked cigarette was extinguished. In the early morning, he went directly into the bathroom to take a cold shower.
After Zhai Zhi finished, he swept down the stairs and didn’t see anyone. His feet, paused, withdrew, and then redirected to the guest room where Xie Chenyang had slept in last night.
After several knocks on the door, no one responded.
Zhai Zhi reached out and opened the door, catching a glimpse of the humanoid chrysalis wrapped into a ball on the bed. “Li Xuyang?”
There was no response.
Zhai Zhi suddenly remembered what Zou Hao had told him last night. Li Xuyang’s house was right next door.With the fierce storm last night, why was he squatting beside the gate to his house miserably drenched in the rain?
Zhai Zhi’s mind flashed through all sorts of tragic dramas at once. This person wouldn’t… have committed suicide in his house, would he?
Zhai Zhi walked to the side of the bed, his long, slender, slightly white fingers pinched the quilt and violently pried it open.
Xie Chenyan was curled up with a flushed face, his breathing heavy.
Zhai Zhi: “… ” It was good that he wasn’t dead.
He reached out and touched Xie Chenyang’s forehead; it was scalding hot and he wanted to retract his hand, but he was captured in a tight grip.
His own body temperature was a tad on the cool side since he had just taken a cold shower.
Xie Chenyang dreamed that he was being roasted on a fire, and suddenly a coolness appeared. He caught hold of it tightly and pressed it against his face, but it wasn’t nearly enough…
As Zhai Zhi watched Xie Chenyang inch into his arms, his face became increasingly dark. He reached out and pushed, but failed to budge the other.
Xie Chenyang’s entire body was stuck close to him, causing him to sigh in relief from the coolness.
Zhai Zhi dropped his eyes and sat down on the bed, tugging and unable to pull free, so he simply let Xie Chenyang hold him firmly. With great difficulty, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Zou Hao’s number; his tone was cold,hard, and unchanging. “Call the family doctor here.”
Before he returned to China, Zou Hao had returned early to arrange everything. The family doctor naturally was not someone that would be missed.
After saying that, he hung up the phone.
Xie Chenyang leaned against his shirt for a moment and then felt that it wasn’t cool enough again. He fumbled with his hands in a daze, and his fingers fluttered when he touched a slight coolness through the shirt.
Zhai Zhi spoke in a cold voice, “Awake?”
Xie Chenyang’s hands had slipped into his clothes. Presumably this man wasn’t opportunistically taking advantage of him because of his fever, was he?
Or mistaking him for his husband?
When he thought of this, Zhai Zhi reached out to push him. “Get up.”
Xie Chenyang was still dreaming. He was in a field of flames, roasting him to a crisp.
It had been so hard to find a cool space, and this spot kept trying to float away, but that wouldn’t stand a chance.
Xie Chenyang quickly pushed up Zhai Zhi’s clothes and burrowed his head underneath. His hot cheeks pressed against his slightly cooler abdomen, making him so comfortable that he almost shed a tear.
Zhai Zhi’s scalp went numb and he instantly wanted to get up but was firmly pinned down by the other’s arms.
Xie Chenyang’s hands tightly bound his waist, as his head tossed around, one minute cooling his left cheek, the next cooling his right cheek.
No matter how well-educated he was, Zhai Zhi couldn’t help but want to curse.
“Li Xuyang! You let go!”
His grip was so strong that his waist was vaguely aching.
The cool abdomen was being warmed by Xie Chenyang’s face. When the cool place warmed up, he couldn’t help but rub up and down, seeking a new cool spot…
Zhai Zhi took a deep breath and slapped Xie Chenyang’s back. “Release me.”
Xie Chenyang was confused for a moment. The strength of the grip on Zhai Zhi’s waist loosened a few points, and Zhai Zhi took the opportunity to push him away extremely swiftly, leaving in large strides.
Xie Chenyang slowly opened his eyes, his brain feverishly groggy. “Why does it seem like… someone was hitting me…?”
The system that had been watching everything unfold: “…”
It couldn’t help but ponder.
Is this man really straight?
Honestly?
He wasn’t deliberately taking advantage of people while he was sick?
Xie Chenyang tried to prop himself up and sit up, but fell back down limply.
His body was weak, his head was heavy, and he thought for a long time before remembering his new identity. “System, am I going to die?”
The system reassured him. “This won’t kill you. It’s just a little fever.”
“I dreamed I was being cooked in a fire…”
“That’s because you have a fever and you’re wrapped up in a quilt.”
“It was so hard to find a comfortable place to cool off, but the coolness was only for a moment and then it was gone.”
“… That was from a human body you managed to catch.”
“Not only was I roasting in a fire, I was getting beat up.” His voice was hoarse, and his amorous eyes seemed to be on the verge of tears .
Aggrieved to his core.
System: “…” Forget it, let’s wait until he was more awake.
This little fool, he was all burnt silly.
When Zhai Zhi came in with the doctor, Xie Chenyang was once again asleep. He was lying on his side in bed, his eyelashes still wet with not yet-dried tears.
Zhai Zhi took out a cigarette. He walked over to the bedside and lit it, saying faintly, “Let’s see if he has been burned to death.”
The doctor opened his medical bag and took out a thermometer.
“Forty degrees140C is about 104F, this constitutes a severe fever that requires immediate medical attention.….if this continues, the fever will boil him to death.”
Zhai Zhi did not turn his head back. “Well, save him if you can, but just skip the treatment if you can’t.”
Doctor:“…a fever, I, ah, can still help.”
“Hmm.”
The doctor lowered his head and went about his business.
Zhai Zhi leaned against the windowsill, his fingers loosely pinching his cigarette, his indifferent gaze looking out with a faint frown.
The window of this room precisely overlooked the front gate of the villa.
Not only of his house but the one next door as well.
He exhaled a mouthful of smoke and watched indifferently as a luxury car pulled out from next door and sailed away.
“Mr. Zhai, I’ve administered him some things to help him physically cool down. The antipyretic2Fever reducer medicine is right here. Once he takes this and gets a good night’s sleep, his fever should be mostly gone. Do you want me to wake him up to give him the medicine?”
“No, you can go.”
“Okay.”
Zhai Zhi walked over to the bedside and reached out to pat Xie Chenyang’s cheek. “Get up and take your medicine.”
Xie Chenyang slowly came back to reality and stretched out his hand, his voice a little hoarse. “I’m a little weak. I can’t get up, brother, help me.”
Zhai Zhi: “… ” Who the hell is your brother?
He expressionlessly reached out and pulled him up.
Xie Chenyang’s body flopped and fell into his arms.
Zhai Zhi said coldly, “Are you doing this on purpose?”
“Brother, don’t misunderstand, I don’t have any strength…”
Xie Chenyang’s tone was sincere, and those slightly reddened eyes looked at him warmly.
Zhai Zhi lowered his eyes to pick up the antipyretic and sent it to the other man’s mouth.
Xie Chenyang ducked his head and clenched his mouth, looking at him expectantly, saying mumbly, “Water.”
Zhai Zhi reached out and retrieved the water that had been previously poured on the bedside table and handed it to him.
After taking the medicine with water, Xie Chenyang returned the empty glass to Zhai Zhi, his mind clearing slightly with each passing minute.
He collapsed back onto the bed softly and said in a fierce voice, “I will not forgive him!”
If it wasn’t for that scumbag kicking him out, would he have gotten drenched in the rain? Would he have gotten so sick if he hadn’t been in the rain for so long? If he didn’t get sick, would he have dreamed of being roasted by fire and would he have been so uncomfortable now?
Zhai Zhi looked down at him. “Can’t forgive who?”
“That scumbag.” Xie Chenyang’s eyes were red. “I’ll fucking kill him when I get better!”
“Heh.” Zhai Zhi stood up. “Then hurry up and get better. The rain stopped a long time ago. Don’t hang onto my house.”
Only then did Xie Chenyang remember that he was still in a parasitic situation; his voice couldn’t help but weaken a few points. “Let me stay for one more day to recuperate. I don’t have the strength to look for a place to live now.”
Zhai Zhi looked at him with a cold gaze and did not speak.
Xie Chenyang whispered, “I can pay for rent. My bank card is in my pants pocket… The ones I was wearing yesterday. I left them in the bathroom.”
Zhai Zhi turned around and walked away.
The door slammed shut.
Xie Chenyang wiped the corners of his eyes. “Last night I should have just rushed out and cut that guy down.”
System: “Host, this is a society ruled by law.”
Xie Chenyang pretended not to hear and closed his eyes.
Edited: Krone
Proofread: Choux_Choux
