His Venomous Former Boss Chased Him And Beat Him Fiercely Chapter 12

The Lingering Scent—Don’t Rush

Having escaped the awkwardness of the live stream, Kong Xunwen exited the streaming app. As he swiped away the background apps, he saw the chat interface with Qiu Zhijie again.

…

God, why was this happening to him?

Kong Xunwen felt that this single day had been more dramatic than the past three years combined (a slight exaggeration). He tilted his head back, wondering how he should reply.

With a feeling of throwing caution to the wind, he entered the chat, recorded a voice message, and sent it without even listening to what he said.

Let it be. A quick cut is the best way to untangle a mess. In any case, given his current situation, it was impossible for him to date anyone.

Date someone who could die at any moment?

Thinking about it now, Kong Xunwen suddenly felt able to face the slight wavering he had experienced after Qiu Zhijie’s confession.

What wasn’t good about Qiu Zhijie?

He was handsome, had good character, and had founded Zhijie Studio at such a young age, making him well-known in the industry. His minor personality flaws were nothing—he was just sharp-tongued, but not a baseless troll.

But no matter what, none of that mattered to his current self. It wasn’t that Qiu Zhijie was bad; it was that he was bad… no, that wasn’t right either. It was his current situation.

Thinking about these things easily plunged him into negative emotions. Kong Xunwen didn’t want that, so he shook his head.

“Hiss…” He felt a little dizzy, along with a throbbing fatigue.

Right, he hadn’t eaten dinner yet.

Although he was very sleepy, for the sake of his health, Kong Xunwen grabbed a banana to fill his stomach. After eating, he washed up, changed into his pajamas, and collapsed onto the bed.

In a daze, he remembered that the basket of honeysuckle hadn’t been dealt with, but he quickly convinced himself otherwise.

Forget it, tomorrow. If necessary, he could pick more.

The next second, he fell straight into a deep sleep.

*

Qiu Zhijie drove back to the hotel where he was temporarily staying and immediately plunged back into work. Fortunately, these were all matters that could be handled remotely. After speeding through them, it was already seven-thirty.

He ate dinner while waiting for a message, read a magazine while waiting for a message…

He received a reply!

Wait! Why would he think that? Clarify quickly! How could he send the wrong message! Change it, change it, change it! Forget it, he’d send a voice message to explain! Why wasn’t he replying? Should he call? But would that be too presumptuous…

Qiu Zhijie finally received the last message—a voice message.

He stared at the short voice clip, his fingertip hovering. What would he say? Would he believe his explanation, or…?

But he sent me a voice message.

The man, sitting on the sofa with a serious and heavy expression, faced his phone, seemingly deep in thought, troubled by some particularly difficult matter.

His hair was slicked back, emphasizing his brows and eyes, which intensified the atmosphere of anxiety.

Qiu Zhijie played the voice clip with extreme caution.

“I understand. But I’m sorry, I don’t feel that way. You will meet someone more suitable for you.”

The young man’s voice was originally as pleasant as flowing water, and it was the same now, only the frequency seemed to rise, as if falling rapidly from a great height, crashing into Qiu Zhijie’s heart.

His heart sank heavily along with it.

But his fingertip instinctively tapped the clip again, and the sentence played once more.

This was Kong Xunwen’s personality, actually—his refusal was straightforward. If he didn’t like something, he rejected it cleanly.

At least, he had briefly hesitated.

Otherwise, Kong Xunwen would have said this from the very beginning.

Moreover, too much had changed in just a few days. Everything that happened during this time could have been a factor influencing him.

Don’t rush.

Qiu Zhijie told himself.

He found the assistant in charge of his investment affairs on his phone.

The assistant was still screening candidates.

Qiu Zhijie told himself again.

Don’t rush.

That was the thought, but he couldn’t settle down. He simply got up and went to the bathroom, preparing to wash up and go to sleep. Just as he was about to enter the bathroom, he paused, turned back, picked up his phone, and replied to the person marked with two hearts.

Qiu Zhijie: It’s okay. Good night.

He waited a few seconds, but this time, there was no reply from the other side.

Qiu Zhijie simply took the phone with him into the bathroom. Standing in front of the mirror, he removed the jingling accessories on his body and placed them aside, followed by his outer jacket.

One sleeve, then the other sleeve. He pinched them together and folded the jacket neatly. As he flipped it over, the fabric lifted, and a familiar scent suddenly wafted to his nose.

Qiu Zhijie paused, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

Perhaps because Kong Xunwen had spent too long near the honeysuckle bushes and picked so many flowers, even Qiu Zhijie, who had only been in contact with him briefly, had caught the scent, and it lingered even now.

The scent was strongest on this jacket.

Qiu Zhijie continued, but when he set down his other clothes, he kept them separate from the jacket; he didn’t put them together.

When he stepped under the showerhead, his hand rested on the shower switch. After a few seconds, he suddenly turned back, grabbed the jacket, stared at it for a moment, brought it to his nose, and closed his eyes.

The shower switch was accidentally turned on, and cold water poured down, but it was quickly warmed by the heat on his body. The jacket got wet, and the scent on it was mostly washed away.

Qiu Zhijie frowned deeply, tilting his head slightly, his eyes tightly shut. The scent at his nose suddenly dissipated. At this crucial moment, it just stopped, neither here nor there.

The jacket, which had been neatly folded and carefully placed, was now tossed aside. The wet clothes piled up, losing their previous neatness, resembling a heap of wrung-out pickled vegetables.

Suddenly, the man standing under the cold shower raised one hand. That hand had been holding the clothes, but now he lifted it to cover the lower half of his face, below his nose. The veins on the back of his hand stood out clearly, extending up his arm.

He breathed deeply, as if desperately thirsty.

His eyes were closed. The light above illuminated the previously hidden desire, making it clear and unobstructed.

*

Kong Xunwen had a dream that night. The dream was filled with Qiu Zhijie confessing, his repeated “I like you” threatening to drown him.

But he actually slept quite well; it wasn’t a nightmare.

He reached for his phone and was satisfied to see the time was 7:56 AM.

Hmm, he woke up a little later today. Maintaining this approximate time would be good, though he hoped he wouldn’t relax too much.

He got up, washed, and changed clothes. He had no other plans for the morning, mainly just checking on the honeysuckle he picked yesterday. If they were okay, he would process some. This shouldn’t take too long. After processing them and setting them out to dry away from the sun, he planned to spend the remaining time tidying up the front and back yards.

He would clean up as much as he could, and then start the live stream after lunch, as he had promised his viewers yesterday.

Speaking of which, he had uploaded the photo before going to bed and announced that the live stream would start at 2:30 PM today. He wondered if anyone would watch.

Kong Xunwen thought about this as he walked toward the kitchen and opened the app to look at his post.

Overnight, the post had accumulated a few comments and several hundred likes. Most of the usernames looked familiar; they were likely viewers from yesterday’s stream, and the comments mostly mentioned waiting for the stream.

This wasn’t a huge number, but Kong Xunwen was satisfied. Compared to his first stream, at least people were watching him now.

Seeing his new followers, Kong Xunwen felt a little happy, and even his appetite improved slightly.

He usually didn’t have an appetite in the morning and wouldn’t eat if it weren’t for maintaining his health.

Feeling a bit inspired, he searched for breakfast recipes. He saw tomato and egg noodles, which looked quite simple, and something light was good for the morning.

The success of his previous attempts gave Kong Xunwen more confidence in his cooking skills. He quickly glanced at the tutorial, full of self-assurance. Wasn’t this easy?

And so… he started improvising again…

In the same spot, facing the same bowl—it looked pretty, but half the tomatoes were raw, the egg was completely scrambled, and only the noodles were normal. Kong Xunwen lowered his head in shame.

Yet, he had to face the cruel reality: he still had to eat the bowl of noodles he had improvised.

It was all because he thought “close enough” and got lazy, so he just stir-fried the tomatoes, immediately added water to boil the noodles, and cracked an egg into it. The tomatoes hadn’t been stirred in time because of the splattering oil, so only half of them cooked.

He should be thankful he chose tomato and egg noodles; raw tomatoes were still edible.

Just as Kong Xunwen resigned himself to eating the noodles, a sound suddenly came from outside.

If anyone were watching, they would notice the young man’s ears twitching slightly, and his eyes immediately lit up.

Great! Could it be the little group had arrived? Was he saved?

After all, kids weren’t picky eaters.

But the next second, he realized something was wrong. Why did the sound seem like… a car?

Good heavens, it sounded even more like it. Was it parking?

While Kong Xunwen was still wondering if he had misheard, there was a knock at the courtyard gate.

Who would come looking for him at this hour?

Could it be Teacher Yun?

Kong Xunwen thought as he walked toward the gate. The door had been left open before, but he had forgotten about it after closing it when Qiu Zhijie confessed yesterday.

Could it be…

Impossible. Kong Xunwen shook his head, denying his own guess while unlocking the door. He had rejected him so directly; how could someone like Qiu Zhijie come back?

However, as soon as the door opened a crack, he saw the familiar “Qiu Zhijie” style of dressing, and that height.

Huh? He really came back?

Kong Xunwen immediately wanted to close the door again, but after thinking it over, he opened it fully.

Since the other party had come to his door, it meant Qiu Zhijie either didn’t trust or didn’t accept his voice message. If that was the case, clarifying things in person was just as well.

In short, hiding was useless, and unnecessary.

He opened the door and looked up at Qiu Zhijie, his gaze unwavering. But that quick sweep had already taken in the man’s entire appearance, and his peripheral vision registered his outfit for the day.

The entire outfit screamed Qiu Zhijie. Today, the style was simpler: a structured, orange-red button-down jacket over a white tank top, paired with structured, beige trousers. A dark brown leather belt cinched his waist. He couldn’t see the shoes, which were mostly hidden by his pants.

It looked like a very basic combination, but his earlobes and cartilage were adorned with simple yet abstract ear clips. His chest, against the white background, was covered in necklaces, harmoniously layered one over the other. On his wrist was a relatively thin watch strap today. Aside from a noticeable silver ring on his thumb, the rings on his other fingers were less prominent.

There was a hint of rebellion, but it was suppressed by Qiu Zhijie’s own demeanor, giving him an air of calm and composure, as if nothing was difficult in his eyes.

Kong Xunwen overturned this idea the moment their eyes met. No, not just now. Perhaps it was because he had rejected his confession, but even back at the company, there were many times when they encountered difficulties. He wasn’t always so calm, but the studio’s long-time employees knew that no matter what:

With CEO Qiu present, everything would be fine. Failure was okay, making mistakes was okay…

Qiu Zhijie was definitely not someone who couldn’t handle failure.

So, how could he not accept Kong Xunwen’s rejection?