DP Chapter 15

Chapter 15

The whole morning, Gu Wenyu had a relatively comprehensive understanding of Xiang Yiye. He smiled and waved his hand, “Alright, I’ll take one more closed-door disciple. It’s not easy to find a good seedling, and I can’t bear to see him buried.”

Happiness came too suddenly. Xiang Yiye was stunned for a long time before he remembered to raise his glass to Gu Wenyu and say, “Teacher Gu, I toast you. Thank you for giving me this opportunity.”

Gu Wenyu nodded and accepted his toast.

Before leaving, Gu Wenyu gave Xiang Yiye his assistant’s business card, telling him that he would be settling in City S afterward and would call him to chat and tutor him at home when he had time. Xiang Yiye carefully noted it down.

At the entrance of the hotel, after Xu Chuo sent several uncles and elders into the car, he prepared to drive Xie Lei and Xiang Yiye back.

Xiang Yiye had something to say to Xu Chuo, but seeing Xie Lei next to them, he tactfully said, “No need, Brother Chuo, you take Teacher Xie. I can go back to school myself, it’s easy to get a taxi.”

“I have something to say to you,” Xu Chuo said, “I’ll take you after I take the teacher. It’s not a hassle, it’s on the way.”

After dropping Xie Lei off, Xu Chuo steered the steering wheel, glanced at Xiang Yiye, and couldn’t help but say, “You’ve been spacing out since just now. What are you thinking about?”

Watching Xie Lei enter a drawing studio named Stone^3, Xiang Yiye retracted his gaze and said, “I always feel like I’m dreaming. Brother Chuo, I don’t know how to thank you.”

“If you didn’t have the ability, it would be useless no matter how eloquently I spoke,” Xu Chuo said. “Besides, didn’t you help me today too?”

“I hope I didn’t just cause trouble,” Xiang Yiye felt a little embarrassed to recall, “I was just talking nonsense in the exhibition hall.”

“You didn’t see it, everyone in the venue today was attracted to you, fascinated by you,” Xu Chuo said.

“That’s also because of your paintings,” Xiang Yiye said.

He also wanted to say that he didn’t care about others, that his courage today was all because of the other person. When he realized that Xu Chuo’s efforts might be in vain, he immediately had a determination and strength to not back down.

Xu Chuo glanced at him, seemingly able to sense the unspoken words in his eyes, and sighed with some joy and some annoyance, “Xiang Yiye, if this continues, I really will fall in love with you.”

“Don’t joke around,” Xiang Yiye said.

“Heaven can attest, I’m sincere,” Xu Chuo said.

Xiang Yiye never doubted this. He knew that Xu Chuo was genuine in every moment of his infatuation.

The problem was that Xu Chuo’s heart was moved too frequently. In 24 hours a day, subtracting 8 hours of sleep, in the 16 hours he was awake, he was moved for 17 hours, and not just by one person.

So Xiang Yiye had always been rational, but there was always a voice in his heart that uncontrollably persuaded him: then just continue. As long as Xu Chuo truly took that step towards him, he would no longer hesitate and respond with all his heart and soul.

Xu Chuo looked at the still-bright sunlight outside the car window and said, “It’s still early, want to sit in my apartment? You’re going home tomorrow, and the next time we meet will be at least a month from now, right? I’ll have Aunt Wang make your favorite dishes tonight.”

Xiang Yiye’s heart softened a little, and he asked, “Just me?”

“If you feel lonely, I can call a few more friends. We said before that we’d treat Director Li and the others to a meal, let’s do it together,” Xu Chuo said.

This wasn’t what Xiang Yiye wanted, but he didn’t say it explicitly, and continued, “I don’t mean that, I’m not trying to get to know you because of those things.”

“I know, you’re not that kind of person, and that’s one of the reasons why I like you.” Xu Chuo probably felt that he was in a good mood now, and jokingly used a manipulative tactic: “If you don’t come, I’ll call someone else. I’ll call them right now.”

As soon as the second sentence came out, it immediately hit Xiang Yiye’s wavering heart hard. He said with a straight face, “Then go ahead, I haven’t packed my luggage for home yet, I can’t keep you company.”

Xu Chuo immediately noticed that his tone was wrong, and tried to make up for it, “I won’t look for anyone else, I’ll only accompany you tonight. It’s too far to go back to D University after dinner, you can just rest at my place. Isn’t your flight tomorrow afternoon? I’ll be your driver for the day tomorrow, I’ll take you back to school in the morning to get your luggage, and then take you to the airport in the afternoon.”

But it was too late. When Xiang Yiye became stubborn, he was like a stubborn stone. No matter how Xu Chuo’s words blew in all directions, he remained unmoved.

In the silence, Xu Chuo’s car stopped at the entrance of D University. Watching Xiang Yiye’s back as he got out of the car, Xu Chuo felt a little helpless. He thought that as a veteran in the game of love, he always had a good grasp of the situation and rarely failed, but Xiang Yiye just didn’t buy his act. He didn’t know what went wrong.

In Xu Chuo’s original plan, tonight would definitely be unforgettable, but in the end, it fell through, which made him inexplicably anxious.

Xu Chuo opened the car window and lit a cigarette in the car. The cold winter wind blew in from the window, exacerbating the restlessness in his heart.

Counting the time, it had been almost a month since he and Han Fangyan broke up. During this time, he was busy with the competition and the art exhibition, and most of the time he was alone. Thinking that the apartment would be empty and cold again tonight, he didn’t want to go back.

He actually had a slight case of skin hunger. Especially when he felt stressed or not so emotionally full, he would be particularly eager to be close to someone else, the closer the better, preferably without anything separating them, whispering sweet nothings in each other’s ears.

However, the closest prey within reach was not buying it at all. Xu Chuo smoked his cigarette, opened his phone’s address book, and picked a number to dial.

On the way back to the dormitory building, Xiang Yiye remembered that he had to contact Teacher Gu’s assistant after he got back. He subconsciously searched his pockets, but found that the business card wasn’t on him. His upper pocket was slightly larger, so it was likely that it had fallen in Xu Chuo’s car.

Xiang Yiye clicked his tongue and took out his phone to call Xu Chuo, but only received a busy signal. A sentence immediately popped into his mind—

“If you don’t come, I’ll call someone else. I’ll call them right now.”

He really found someone else. Xiang Yiye felt a wave of bitterness in his heart, but he also felt that this was within expectations.

Even if he responded to Xu Chuo, what would happen? Xiang Yiye couldn’t help but think about the long term. Could he accept that he only had a three-month deadline? Could he accept that while Xu Chuo was still by his side, his eyes were searching for the next prey?

He couldn’t accept it.

In his previous life, they met in a bar, didn’t even know each other’s names, and went straight to the hotel after a few words. He thought it was just a purely one-night stand, and it wouldn’t leave any traces after it was over, until Xiang Yiye learned that the person Xie Zhimin had been thinking about for many years was Xu Chuo.

Even when he was with him, Xu Chuo hadn’t completely settled down. At that time, Xiang Yiye could turn a blind eye, because his main purpose wasn’t whether his lover was wholehearted, but to disgust Xie Zhimin. As long as his relationship with Xu Chuo was maintained, he didn’t mind if the other person occasionally made a “mistake that all men make.”

But it was different now. When Xiang Yiye looked at Xu Chuo, he only hoped that the other person’s eyes would only have him, but that was simply as difficult as ascending to heaven for Xu Chuo, who was always distracted.

If he hadn’t seen Xie Zhimin’s name on Xu Chuo’s phone on the bedside table the morning after the one-night stand, everything might have been different, Xiang Yiye thought.

Early in the morning, the phone on the bedside table rang loudly. Xu Chuo was still wrapped in the blanket, reached out an arm to fumble for the phone on the bedside table, closed his eyes, and put it to his ear: “Hello?”

“Come find me this afternoon.”

Hearing clearly who was on the other end of the phone, most of Xu Chuo’s sleepiness disappeared. He glanced at the person in the bed and said coldly, “Wait a minute.”

The person on the other end of the phone heard a rustling sound, then Xu Chuo’s voice. He seemed to be talking to someone in a low voice: “It’s nothing, you continue to sleep, I’ll go out to take a call.”

“Looks like I’m disturbing you and someone else’s good time,” the person on the other end of the phone said.

Xu Chuo picked up the clothes on the floor and put them on, walked to the living room, and said in a businesslike tone: “The power outage on Lichuan Road yesterday, did you do it?”

“Do you just love to blame everything on me?”

“As soon as I came back, you sent people to block me in the bar and smashed my drawing studio. Xie Zhimin, who else can I blame?” Xu Chuo’s words were filled with anger. His temper was already extraordinarily good, and it would take something truly terrible to make him angry.

“You never listen to people, so I can only put in a little more effort,” Xie Zhimin said. “Come to my house this afternoon, alone.”

“I have something to do this afternoon, I can’t go,” Xu Chuo said.

“Besides hanging out with some unsavory people all day, what else could you possibly have to do?” Xie Zhimin laughed. “Xu Chuo, I always have ways to make you come see me, do you believe that?”

Xu Chuo silently endured in silence, as he had done most of the time before.

Xie Zhimin continued to urge: “You can not see me, but you always have to go home. Uncle Xu will definitely welcome me. You can hide from me, but you can’t hide from the Xie Group.”

Xu Chuo clenched his fists, suddenly saw the business card on the coffee table – Xiang Yiye had dropped it on the passenger seat last night – and suddenly didn’t want to endure it anymore.

“Then you can try,” Xu Chuo said, throwing down the sentence and hanging up the phone directly.

In the afternoon, Xiang Yiye was waiting in the business class lounge at the airport. He took out his computer and planned to make a schedule.

The training arranged for him by Xinghui Film and Television Company hadn’t ended yet, and he would continue it after returning to City S after the new year. His plan was mainly for the upcoming less-than-twenty-day vacation.

He was listing fitness and watching movies as the main daily activities when he glanced up at the seats across the aisle and saw the person on the soft leather sofa chair. His hand on the keyboard froze.

Wait, doesn’t that person wearing a hat look a lot like Xu Chuo?

The next second, Xu Chuo also saw him, walked over with a smile, sat down in the empty seat next to him, leaned over, and glanced at the schedule on the computer screen, saying, “So detailed, looks like you’re a J-type person.”

Xiang Yiye closed the computer and said, “What are you doing here… you can’t be here to see me off, right?”

“I thought about it when I got back, I said the wrong things last night, so I came here today to apologize to you,” Xu Chuo said.

Xiang Yiye bypassed the topic, glimpsed a corner of a ticket sticking out of his pocket, and quickly pulled it out to take a look. He said in shock, “You’re going to City M too?”

Xu Chuo hummed in affirmation.

“You… what are you going to do?”

“Go back with you to see my future father-in-law and mother-in-law, of course,” Xu Chuo smiled, revealing the dimples at the corners of his mouth.

Xiang Yiye rolled his eyes at him and said unhappily, “Be serious.”