After Cheng Yue said that, the entire room fell silent.
Duang Changsheng was also stunned by the sudden statement, staring at Cheng Yue with a complex look in his eyes.
Cheng Yue didn’t shy away, leaving the shrimp in his bowl untouched as he and Duang Changsheng locked eyes.
It was Tang Jing who reacted first, awkwardly trying to smooth things over. “The dishes are getting cold. Everyone, go ahead and eat. Cheng Yue, aren’t you hungry? The shrimp is a specialty here. Should I order another plate?”
Cheng Yue didn’t respond, turning his gaze to Ji Xu, who was wiping his hands, and then to the man opposite who was already chatting and laughing with others. He felt a pang of discomfort in his chest.
He looked down at his stomach, feeling like he had eaten too much and regretting coming over.
He felt like he had just made a fool of himself.
Ji Xu, who had been methodically drying his hands, poured a glass of juice and handed it to Cheng Yue.
“Have you eaten enough?”
Cheng Yue was initially considering whether to leave but was surprised when he heard Ji Xu’s voice. He looked up at Ji Xu.
Ji Xu smiled, reached out to wipe the sweat from Cheng Yue’s nose, and brought the glass of juice to his mouth.
Cheng Yue, startled, instinctively pulled his hand back and quickly took the glass, taking a sip.
“Do you want more?” Ji Xu asked again.
At this moment, the room fell silent once more. Tang Jing, who was sitting next to Ji Xu, had a distressed expression.
Cheng Yue placed the juice on the table and shook his head.
“Then let’s go.” Ji Xu stood up, grabbed Cheng Yue’s hand, and led him to stand.
Cheng Yue was a bit dazed, looking down at Ji Xu holding his hand, his ears starting to flush red.
“Hey, Ji Xu,” Tang Jing called out, “You haven’t eaten anything. At least take some leftovers with you.”
“No need,” Ji Xu said, narrowing his eyes as he looked at Duang Changsheng, who still had a smiling face. He then smiled at the people in the room and said, “We’re leaving.”
Duang Changsheng watched as Ji Xu and the boy left, feeling a bit stiff as he recalled the warning in Ji Xu’s eyes.
“Why did you have to provoke Cheng Yue?” Tang Jing frowned, feeling a bit disheartened. “I went through a lot of trouble to get Ji Xu here, and you did this.”
“I wanted Ji Xu here, but I never asked for you to bring along a kid,” Duang Changsheng said, looking at the table full of food.
“What’s wrong with a kid? Cheng Yue is Ji Xu’s nephew,” Tang Jing said, not knowing where to look.
Duang Changsheng understood his expression and chuckled self-deprecatingly. “Nephew? Does that guy, who’s obsessed with cleanliness, peel shrimp for his nephew? Who does he think he’s fooling?”
Cheng Yue was led out of the restaurant by Ji Xu, his palms sweaty, not from the heat but from excitement.
Ji Xu, with his long legs and big strides, dragged Cheng Yue along behind him. Cheng Yue looked up at Ji Xu, feeling a bit dizzy, as if he had had too much to drink.
Cheng Yue licked his lips, actually sensing a hint of the wine.
Before getting into the car, Ji Xu let go of Cheng Yue’s hand to open the door.
Feeling the sudden release, Cheng Yue reflexively grabbed Ji Xu’s hand again. Realizing something was off, he hesitated but couldn’t bring himself to let go.
Just as Cheng Yue was feeling uneasy, he suddenly heard Ji Xu laugh.
“Your hand is sweaty,” Ji Xu said with a smile, squeezing Cheng Yue’s hand in his palm and then ruffling his hair. “Alright, let’s get in the car and go home.”
“Okay.” Cheng Yue smiled shyly and, feeling elated, almost stumbled into the car.
When they got home, Cheng Yue’s smile never faded.
“Why is your face so red?” Ji Xu asked, examining Cheng Yue’s forehead and frowning. “The shrimp must have been soaked in a strong alcohol. Are you feeling dizzy?”
Cheng Yue touched his forehead and shook his head. He wasn’t dizzy, just a bit overly excited.
Ji Xu looked at Cheng Yue’s smiling eyes and dimples and couldn’t help but pinch his cheek.
Cheng Yue smiled back and was about to say something when he suddenly felt a bit warm and started sweating.
“Go take a shower,” Ji Xu said, wiping the sweat from Cheng Yue’s forehead. “Even with the air conditioning, why are you still so hot?”
“I ate too many of those shrimp,” Cheng Yue said, pressing his stomach. “It feels a bit burning.”
After Cheng Yue took his clothes into the bathroom, Ji Xu turned and put the documents he had been holding back into his room.
These documents were the list of key personnel and supply channels for the villa area construction project involved in the earlier incident with the Ke Miao company.
Ji Xu never believed in coincidences. To him, all coincidences were the result of careful planning and deliberate arrangements.
The collapse of one of those villas was too incredible and too timely, almost like a man-made strong wind blowing against Cheng Yue’s company.
Ji Xu had spent the whole morning with Tan Minmin. It was confirmed that there were psychological issues with Tan Minmin, and the cause and source of these issues were almost certain.
Tan Minmin could be an opportunity but also posed some risks.
But it didn’t matter. Sometimes, certain risks could become stronger motivations.
After Cheng Yue finished his shower, he wasn’t dizzy before, but after the steam, he felt a bit light-headed when he came out of the bathroom. He heard footsteps outside the study door and quickly shook his head to clear the haze.
“Finished with the shower?” Ji Xu asked, looking at Cheng Yue’s damp hair. He picked up a towel from Cheng Yue’s shoulder and rubbed his head vigorously.
“How many times have I told you to dry your hair after a shower?”
“The TV show is about to start,” Cheng Yue said, rubbing his hair with the towel and then running to the sofa to turn on the TV.
Ji Xu sighed with a smile and went into the bathroom with his clothes.
Once Cheng Yue heard the bathroom door closing, he quietly let out a sigh of relief. He had just realized how he had declared in front of a room full of people that he didn’t like girls.
He might have really been confused by the shrimp and not thinking straight.
Now that he had finished his shower and was looking at Ji Xu, he felt uneasy and worried.
He didn’t know how Ji Xu would react after hearing this.
As Cheng Yue was deep in thought, the TV suddenly erupted with a man’s angry shout.
Startled by the noise, Cheng Yue looked up at the TV.
Just in time to see a man on the screen about to stab someone on the ground, Cheng Yue quickly closed his eyes and turned off the TV.
So close, so close.
Cheng Yue patted his chest with a sigh, almost spoiling the plot by seeing who the man was about to kill.
But it was already late, and the TV drama was halfway through. Cheng Yue sighed, took an apple from the coffee table, took a bite, and then his eyes fixed on the computer that Ji Xu had left aside.
After taking another bite of the apple, he opened the computer while trying to recall the name of the TV drama he had been watching these past few days.
Just as Cheng Yue was about to click on the media player, his attention was drawn to an unnamed folder on the desktop.
He wasn’t sure how he ended up clicking on that folder.
Nor did he know how he ended up playing one of the many videos inside the folder.
When the video started, it seemed normal at first—an American man swimming alone in a pool.
Cheng Yue frowned as he watched him swim for a while, starting to feel that something was off.
Then another American man appeared in the video.
As Cheng Yue watched, his eyes grew wider and his mouth slowly formed an “O.”
Wow…
When Ji Xu heard the strange noises coming from the living room, he hadn’t even put on his clothes and had just wrapped a towel around his waist as he walked out of the bathroom with a stern face.
Seeing Cheng Yue staring curiously at the computer screen, Ji Xu’s face darkened completely.
He furrowed his brows and walked over, giving Cheng Yue a smack on the back of his head. “What are you doing?”
Cheng Yue jumped in surprise, startled from the sofa. Seeing it was Ji Xu, his face immediately turned red.
Cheng Yue thought he might be losing his mind. How had he ended up watching videos in the living room, and not just watching but getting absorbed in them?
The more Cheng Yue thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. He was certain that shrimp he had today must have been problematic.
“Turn it off,” Ji Xu said in a deep voice.
“Okay, okay.” Cheng Yue hurriedly responded, his face showing a bit of embarrassment as he fumbled with the keyboard, trying to stop the video. But his nervousness only made him more clumsy.
After some frantic attempts, the actions of the two men in the video seemed to speed up instead.
Cheng Yue’s face turned beet red, and he finally slammed the laptop shut, his whole body starting to shiver.
Ji Xu’s Adam’s apple bobbed uncontrollably, feeling overheated after just having showered.
“I… I didn’t mean to mess with your computer…” Cheng Yue’s throat felt dry.
“I was just trying to watch a drama… this video…”
Seeing that Ji Xu remained silent, Cheng Yue gritted his teeth and looked up, trying to explain further.
When he locked eyes with Ji Xu, Cheng Yue was stunned.
Without a shirt, water droplets from Ji Xu’s hair traced down his neck, slowly sliding down to his chest, then to his abs, and finally disappearing behind the towel.
The sight made Cheng Yue’s eyes go blank, and he could hear himself swallowing nervously.
Ji Xu frowned, remembering some of the other videos on his computer and worrying that they might scare Cheng Yue. He sternly advised, “Next time you use my computer, let me know. Don’t click on these things. I remember telling you before, you’re young, so stay away from this stuff.”
“Ah…” Cheng Yue awkwardly rubbed his nose. “I didn’t mean to.”
Ji Xu nodded and was about to say something when suddenly, the video inside the closed laptop started playing again.
The two men in the video were making more noise, and Ji Xu’s face darkened.
“This…” Cheng Yue panicked, bending down to open the laptop again, and after a few clicks, managed to stop the video.
Ji Xu watched the screen go black with a serious expression, about to offer more advice when the screen lit up again.
The video with the two men resumed playing.
Ji Xu: “…”
Cheng Yue: “…”
Seeing the atmosphere growing more awkward, Cheng Yue had a brainwave and awkwardly patted Ji Xu’s solid bare arm, mumbling, “You like watching this stuff too? How… how coincidental…”
Author’s Note:
Cheng Yue: What to do if you get caught watching videos by a parent? Urgently waiting for answers online!!!
