DP Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Lin Xiao finished peeling the apple and naturally put it to her mouth for a bite. After eating, she realized, “Oh my, I forgot, I peeled this for you.”

Xiang Yiye said, “…It’s okay.” He could tell that he was the least like a patient in this ward.

Lin Xiao wasn’t polite and crunched away, “Oh yeah, one more thing. When are you getting discharged? Xinghui is holding its annual party soon.”

“Can I ask for leave?” Xiang Yiye asked. He was still thinking about Xu Chuo’s competition and felt that he might not be free for the next few days.

“Probably not,” Lin Xiao said, “President Du specifically wants you to be the host.”

“Huh? But I don’t know how to host. Can you change someone?” Xiang Yiye said.

“Relax, just familiarize yourself with the script and flow beforehand, and just read it out when you get on stage,” Lin Xiao said.

“Sister Xiao, did I offend President Du at Yunxi last time?” Xiang Yiye was a little confused. He just said a few more words, right?

“Silly, this is him appreciating you. I wanted to be the host, but President Du specifically asked for you. He’s seen your acting and said you have a good speaking voice,” Lin Xiao said.

Xiang Yiye didn’t want to give people the impression that he didn’t appreciate the opportunity just after joining the company, so he had no choice but to accept.

On the day of his discharge, Xu Chuo called Xiang Yiye and asked if it was convenient for him to be discharged.

“Are you coming to pick me up?” Xiang Yiye said.

Xu Chuo was obviously a little surprised by his proactive request, and said, “I really want to pick you up, but baby, I’m really too busy. How about I call a driver to pick you up?”

“Then forget it. When will you be done? I…” Xiang Yiye couldn’t make it up, so he said directly, “I want to see you.”

“Oh, what should I do?” Xu Chuo sighed with a smile on the other end of the phone, “Okay, wait for me at the hospital. I’ll pick you up.”

Xu Chuo rushed over, wearing a black down jacket for the first time, but the collar was wide open, as if he wasn’t wearing anything.

Xiang Yiye looked at his tired appearance and said, “Thank you for your trouble.”

“Should I take you back to your dorm?” Xu Chuo said.

Xiang Yiye glanced at the time and said, “You haven’t had lunch, right? Can I treat you to a meal?”

Xu Chuo hesitated. Xiang Yiye looked at him with sincere eyes, warmly inviting, “Let’s eat together. There’s a restaurant you’ll definitely like, and it won’t take up too much of your time.”

Xu Chuo compromised and said, “Okay, you decide the place, but it can’t be too far. I can only give you two hours at most.”

At the D University snack street, Xu Chuo lowered the car window and saw the unremarkable noodle restaurant. He asked, “Is it this one?”

“It looks ordinary, but the taste is amazing,” Xiang Yiye said.

Xu Chuo went in and was contemplating the menu on the wall when he heard Xiang Yiye say, “Boss, two bowls of mutton stewed noodles, one without cilantro.”

“I haven’t chosen yet, and you’ve already decided for me?” Xu Chuo said.

“You’ll definitely love it,” Xiang Yiye said with certainty, with a forceful recommendation.

“You said that,” Xu Chuo said. “If I don’t like it, you have to agree to one condition.”

Xiang Yiye agreed. He was very confident because the two of them had come to eat it in his previous life. Xu Chuo was a very picky eater, and everything else in this restaurant was okay, but the mutton stewed noodles suited his taste.

There were a lot of people in the store at this time, and all the visible seats were taken. They only found two side-by-side seats by the window.

Soon, two bowls of stewed noodles were served, the broth thick and steaming.

“Forgot to say, I don’t eat cilantro,” Xu Chuo rolled up his sleeves, broke open his chopsticks, and prepared for a big battle to remove the cilantro. “Don’t you eat it either?”

Xiang Yiye silently switched the two bowls, saying, “Then you eat my bowl. I can accept a little cilantro.” In fact, he did eat cilantro, and the bowl without cilantro was originally ordered for Xu Chuo.

Xu Chuo picked up a noodle and tasted it. Under Xiang Yiye’s expectant gaze, he said calmly, “Hmm… it’s okay.”

“Don’t you like it?” Xiang Yiye asked stubbornly.

Xu Chuo tasted the soup again and said, “It’s quite fresh.”

Xiang Yiye was a little disappointed. He remembered that when he brought Xu Chuo here in his previous life, the other party’s eyes lit up after taking a bite, completely unlike the calm politeness just now.

People’s tastes change at different ages. What they eat is like this, and other things are no exception.

Xu Chuo didn’t know what he was thinking and said with a smile, “It seems like you have to agree to one of my conditions.”

“Say it. I’m willing to admit defeat,” Xiang Yiye said. He bet on his understanding of Xu Chuo, but he lost, and he lost badly.

“Let me think…” Xu Chuo thought while holding his chopsticks and stirring in the large bowl, as if he was holding the Golden Cudgel and stirring up the sea. He accidentally gave Xiang Yiye an elbow strike, directly hitting the funny bone on the other’s elbow.

Xiang Yiye was still feeling sentimental the second before, and the next second he was holding his sore arm and ascending to heaven.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Xu Chuo immediately apologized, picked up his arm and rubbed it. “Next time, let’s not sit side by side, or you can sit on my right, and I won’t hit you.”

Xu Chuo was left-handed. He was holding chopsticks with his left hand and sitting next to Xiang Yiye’s right, so it would be strange if he didn’t hit him.

Xiang Yiye said “It’s okay, it’s okay” while trying to take back his arm. The disaster he suffered in his previous life had hit him right in the center of his forehead… no, right in the center of his funny bone, he could only blame himself for not learning his lesson, he thought.

Xu Chuo held on to his arm and didn’t let go, saying, “I’ve thought about it. My condition is to cancel the first condition you proposed to me before.”

The night Xiang Yiye injured his ankle, Xu Chuo went to his room—

“Didn’t you ask me to make a request? I don’t want your things, but I have a few conditions.”

“Okay, tell me.”

“First, you’re not allowed to suddenly approach me or have sudden physical contact with me in the future.”

“How is it? This condition isn’t too much, right?” Xu Chuo pressed his arm ambiguously. “Your muscles are good. They’ll be even better with more practice.”

Xiang Yiye’s face darkened. He shook off the other’s hand and looked down at the stewed noodles in front of him, saying, “Xu Chuo, if you want to play around, go find someone else. I’m not Han Fangyan, and I don’t have time to play along with you.”

Xu Chuo was bored and not annoyed. He said, “Forget it, you don’t like people touching you, so I won’t touch you. But why do I feel a little wronged?”

Xiang Yiye’s reason instantly returned, and he said, “I’m sorry, I overreacted.”

“I’m not blaming you,” Xu Chuo said. “You’re in a bad mood. Is it because it’s your birthday today?”

Xiang Yiye was stunned and picked up his phone to check. January 11th, it really was his birthday. He himself had forgotten. Coincidentally, a message popped up in the family group, wishing him a happy birthday from his parents. Then how did Xu Chuo know? Oh, he saw his information form.

“Wait for me for a while.” Xu Chuo left his seat and brought a paper box from the car: “A gift for you.”

Xiang Yiye opened it. It was an expensive watch with a sparkling surface.

“I prepared it a long time ago. I’ve been too busy these days. I originally wanted the driver to bring it to you,” Xu Chuo said. “If you wanted someone to celebrate your birthday with you, why didn’t you just say so?”

Although the actual situation was somewhat different from what Xu Chuo said, Xiang Yiye still said, “Thank you for remembering. I like it very much.”

“Smile if you like it,” Xu Chuo said. “A few hours ago, you said on the phone that you wanted to see me. I dropped what I was doing to see you, but you’re so serious and don’t even give me a smile.”

Xiang Yiye smiled, finally touching on the real purpose of this meeting: “How is your competition entry coming along?”

“There are still some finishing touches. It’s expected to be completed by noon today. Oh yeah, it’s now, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll just stay up all night and it’ll be about done. I’ll submit it before the deadline, not wasting a minute or a second,” Xu Chuo said.

“Is this competition very important to you?” Xiang Yiye said.

“It depends on how you look at it. From the process perspective, I enjoy the process of generating inspiration and putting it into practice,” Xu Chuo said.

Xiang Yiye had seen Xu Chuo paint and always remembered the scene. Xu Chuo stood in front of a huge canvas with a brush, fully immersed in the interwoven colors and lights, as if all the disturbances in the world had nothing to do with him. Xiang Yiye didn’t understand painting, but when Xu Chuo was immersed in creation, the attraction he exuded was almost soul-stirring.

“What about from the result perspective?” Xiang Yiye asked, “If the result of participating in this competition is not good, will you still participate?”

“For me personally, the result may not be that important,” Xu Chuo said. “Even if I get first place in the competition, it’s just another entry on my resume. And since I chose to participate, I’m prepared to fail. I’m not someone who can’t afford to lose.”

“You won’t lose. You’ll win the championship,” Xiang Yiye said. But the result he was talking about was not the win or loss of the competition, but the impact that competition had on Xu Chuo’s life.

Xu Chuo laughed and said, “You’re not playing a police officer anymore. Are you playing an astrologer? Great prophet, do your words count?”

“Yes, I predict that this competition will not be good for you in the future, and I advise you not to participate. Do you believe me?” Xiang Yiye said.

Only a few months after winning the competition, someone anonymously reported and falsely accused Xu Chuo of plagiarism. Countless accusations, abuse, and announcements of criticism on the school’s homepage swept over, becoming a stain on Xu Chuo’s life.

In his previous life, after graduating from L University with a master’s degree, Xu Chuo went abroad to study business. After returning to China, he took over the family business and didn’t touch a paintbrush or anything related to painting for many years until he met Xiang Yiye.

At that time, he liked Xiang Yiye, and there was another reason. He said that Xiang Yiye was the person who brought him the desire to create, his muse. After meeting Xiang Yiye, his dry spring of inspiration revived.

Even so, even with Xiang Yiye by Xu Chuo’s side, giving him inspiration and healing him, he could not erase the pain caused by the false accusation, and it was impossible to completely restore crumpled paper to its original state.

Besides, his previous life was over, and Xiang Yiye was not confident that he could warm Xu Chuo again.

“I know it’s not convincing for me to say this, but promise me, don’t participate, okay?” Xiang Yiye said.

“You’re so serious, I’m starting to suspect that you’re a spy sent to my side by other contestants,” Xu Chuo said. “Predicting the future… it’s a pretty interesting topic. People with this ability can perfectly avoid situations that are detrimental to themselves, but from another perspective, they also lose their freedom, right? Knowing there are tigers in the mountains, but still walking towards them, that’s more likely to be the kind of creature people are.”

“I don’t know what will happen in the future, but at least for now, I want to participate in this competition,” Xu Chuo said.

Xiang Yiye was silent, giving up on verbal persuasion. He said, “Then I won’t waste your time. Take me back to the dorm.”

Xu Chuo’s car stopped outside D University’s gate. “We’re here. Can outside vehicles enter your school? I’ll take you to the dorm building…” He suddenly stopped, feeling a weight on his right shoulder. It was Xiang Yiye suddenly leaning over.

“What’s wrong?” Xu Chuo noticed something was wrong, raised his hand to touch his face, and said with concern, “Are you feeling unwell?”

“Headache,” Xiang Yiye used all his acting skills, “Xu Chuo, could you please go to the nearby pharmacy to buy some painkillers?”

“Haven’t you recovered yet? I’ll take you back to the hospital,” Xu Chuo said.

“No need, it’s an old problem. I probably didn’t rest well yesterday. I’ll be fine with some medicine,” Xiang Yiye said.

“Okay, wait for me. I’ll go buy it,” Xu Chuo didn’t suspect anything else. “Is ordinary painkiller okay?”

Xu Chuo got out of the car, wrapped his coat around himself, and walked to the back of the car.

Xiang Yiye stretched out his arm and took the laptop from the back seat. He looked around using the rearview mirror while turning on the computer.

He calculated the time. It would take Xu Chuo about 20 minutes to go and come back, enough time for him to find Xu Chuo’s entry and deal with it. But the computer was stuck on the boot screen, and he didn’t know the password.

He first tried Xu Chuo’s birthday and Han Fangyan’s birthday, but both showed incorrect passwords. As the lock time increased and the remaining time decreased, Xiang Yiye quickly thought of possible numbers in his mind.

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