His Venomous Former Boss Chased Him And Beat Him Fiercely Chapter 43

He missed, missed, missed Qiu Zhijie so much. He wanted to see him.

The surroundings were a kaleidoscope of bizarre, colorful ripples, saturated with overly intense reds and oranges. Everyone’s face was indistinct, causing a sudden catch in his chest.

Kong Xunwen vaguely felt he was dreaming, yet everything around him felt incredibly real. Soon, the colors faded, and the world became only black and white. A picture frame suddenly appeared, boxing in the entire world.

Kong Xunwen ran and ran desperately, but he couldn’t escape this black and white frame. A faint light ahead gradually expanded, finally revealing a familiar face.

It was the only splash of color in this black and white world, as if they existed in different realms.

He wanted to chase it, but the face quickly faded until, finally, the surroundings turned pitch black, like a giant black mouth biting down on him. He twisted his head and saw that such a mouth was indeed engulfing him.

He could barely breathe and couldn’t escape no matter what.

Shivering all over, Kong Xunwen abruptly opened his eyes. Before him was darkness. He instinctively moved, feeling constrained all around, but he now realized clearly that all the sensations in his dream were because he had buried himself under the blanket.

Finding it hard to breathe, Kong Xunwen quickly struggled free from the constraints, rescuing himself. He lay flat on the bed, breathing somewhat rapidly, staring blankly at the ceiling. The round light fixture seemed to be spinning.

A pattering sound came from outside the window. The young man, lying in bed with tired, reddened eyes, turned his head to look.

The weather outside had darkened at some point. Raindrops fell one by one, the sound growing more urgent as they beat against the window, leaving streaks of water running down.

The streaks converged, soaking the entire window pane, flowing down in streams of dampness.

The inner glass, however, was steamed up with condensation due due to the temperature difference, reflecting a hazy green tint on the window. The dark clouds outside seemed to have become slightly fresher.

This was the coldness he had felt in his dream just now.

Although he had just slept, his throat and lips were dry, his head was dizzy, and his limbs were weak, as if the person running and fleeing for his life in the dream had truly been him.

Kong Xunwen sighed softly, propping himself up to grab the phone resting nearby. It was 3:30 PM.

Qiu Zhijie had sent a message about ten minutes ago.

Blinking, Kong Xunwen finally read it clearly.

Boyfriend: Message me when you wake up

Unlocking the phone, he saw several messages before that one, starting from 1:30 PM, with a new message asking if he was awake every ten minutes or so.

Staring blankly for a moment, Kong Xunwen leaned back against the headboard, wrapping himself tightly in the blanket, only his head exposed. His pale fingertips, holding the phone, were also visible.

Qiu Zhijie always carried a pleasant scent. Previously, he could only detect it mixed with cologne, but now that they were together, he often smelled the scent without the cologne.

It was a very warm scent, impossible to describe precisely, but at this moment, being wrapped in it made him feel a little secure.

Kong Xunwen yawned lazily, his eyes drooping, his wet eyelashes hanging low. He raised a hand to press his eyes with his fingertips, then yawned again. He felt even sleepier after the nap.

He wanted to call, but Qiu Zhijie must be very busy right now.

Thinking this, his fingers acted against his will, instantly carrying out the former idea. Then came Qiu Zhijie’s ringtone—the crisp, pleasant sound of a babbling brook.

Staring at the screen, Kong Xunwen didn’t hang up the call.

The young man, surrounded by the warm-colored blanket, only showed his head, his fingertips pressing against the phone. The faint light from the screen illuminated his small face, making him look like a little hedgehog without its quills, hiding its belly inside.

*

In the afternoon, Qiu Zhijie had originally planned to stay in the office. He had finished reviewing the previous proposals, but wasn’t satisfied with any of them. He was about to return to handle other work when an emergency required him to attend another meeting.

This meeting lasted a long time. He managed to squeeze in a few moments to send messages in between.

Towards the end, everyone was starting to feel tired, and only minor issues remained, so the atmosphere became much more relaxed.

It was at this moment that Qiu Zhijie’s phone rang.

This was quite conspicuous in the conference room. Everyone’s eyes turned toward him, then widened in surprise. They had assumed it was some careless person, but this…

And CEO Qiu’s expression suggested the person on the other end was not simple.

The ringtone was the special one he set for Kong Xunwen. Without looking down, Qiu Zhijie quickly stood up: “You all continue.”

The people in the conference room exchanged glances. They didn’t say anything, but their previously weary eyes suddenly regained their focus.

On the other end, Kong Xunwen heard the familiar voice as desired, accompanied by some footsteps and a slight echo in the speech.

“Awen, you’re awake.”

Kong Xunwen rubbed his chin against the blanket, his voice sounding weak: “Mhm.”

Qiu Zhijie immediately asked with concern: “Didn’t sleep well?”

“…No, I just woke up.” Kong Xunwen turned his head to look at the condensation on the window glass, changing the subject: “It’s raining here.”

Qiu Zhijie paused, then followed his lead: “Yes, it’s drizzling here too. The temperature will be a bit low these next few days. Remember to keep warm, and wear a jacket when you go out into the yard…”

He said many things, detailing every little thing, but what he really wanted to say was—can we meet?

Whether I come to you, or you come here.

No, it should be him going over.

It couldn’t be today, but if he worked overtime tomorrow, he should be able to go back the day after. He could just say he was going to look for inspiration…

Time passed slowly. Kong Xunwen looked at the call duration, which was already over ten minutes. He made his voice sound a little more energetic: “Well, let’s leave it here. I want to watch some anime now. You must be busy too.”

Qiu Zhijie didn’t notice anything amiss, but he felt a little reluctant to hang up.

So, the little hedgehog, who was nestled in the blanket and had exposed himself slightly, heard the voice on the other end break the silence after a few seconds, but it wasn’t the farewell he expected.

“Alright, but we agreed on a video call before. I’ll let you off this time, but remember to video call me later.”

His watery eyes widened slightly. Kong Xunwen listened to the other side’s sophistry, which was both unreasonable and self-assured… When a person is speechless to the extreme, they really do laugh.

But the other side mercilessly ‘maliciously’ interpreted it: “You laughed, so that means you’re happy, that means you agree, that means you’ve consented. It’s settled, I’ll be waiting.”

He hung up after saying that.

The screen in front of Kong Xunwen went dark, and the room fell silent again.

The smile on the young man’s face gradually faded. His previously raised lips drooped once more. After a long moment, he slowly buried his face in the blanket in front of him. The warm phone rested on his chest near his collarbone.

The back of his neck looked like a small hill, its peak connecting to his undulating spine, the curve slightly exaggerated.

Kong Xunwen felt the dampness around his eyes, soaking the blanket. He felt a little angry. Why was he so weak, so easily dragged into an abyss of emotion? Why was he always so pessimistic?

He wasn’t like this before. He clearly wasn’t like this in the past.

…

He still sent Qiu Zhijie a video. His reddened eyes didn’t show much on camera. He tried hard to look spirited while filming, and the young man in the video looked better than he did in person.

Qiu Zhijie didn’t seem to notice anything wrong and sent him many heart and sun emojis.

Dinner was also completed under Qiu Zhijie’s supervision, as was the eating, but later, the supervisor had other things to attend to.

Kong Xunwen felt both relieved and reluctant. He didn’t want his distress to be discovered, yet he craved Qiu Zhijie’s company.

Before putting down his phone, he clicked on Lele’s video account.

Lele had many fans, all drawn in by the optimism the little girl displayed. The last video was an edit by Lele’s mother. Calling it an edit wasn’t quite right, as it was entirely composed of Lele’s photos, arranged chronologically according to her growth.

It felt like watching the little girl grow up again.

But that wasn’t right either, because she hadn’t had the chance to grow up yet.

Kong Xunwen watched for a long time, not daring to look at the previous videos. Finally, he sent many gifts to this video. It automatically jumped to the comments section, filled with countless blessings for Lele.

He scrolled for a long time but didn’t leave a comment. He closed his phone and set it aside.

Lying down, his brain felt swollen and painful, yet very active. As soon as he closed his eyes, his mind started racing.

Kong Xunwen didn’t sleep at all that night. He tossed and turned, then went upstairs and lay on Qiu Zhijie’s bed, still unable to sleep. He then curled up inside the closet.

The closet door was slowly pushed open. Kong Xunwen crawled out and threw himself onto the bed, burying his head in the blanket, taking a deep breath, then sitting up.

He seemed to have finally understood one thing.

He missed, missed, missed Qiu Zhijie so much.

He wanted to see him.

–

This seemed to be an obvious realization, in fact.

Late at night, Kong Xunwen pulled out his “dusty” suitcase and squatted beside it, contemplating what to pack.

Clothes, pajamas, toiletries—he didn’t need to bring too much of these; he could use his boyfriend’s things. But there was one very important matter.

His live streams.

So, all his streaming equipment had to come with him.

In that case, he might have to take a day off. He hoped his fans would understand… Forget it, he’d hold a giveaway as compensation later.

Since this was compensation, perhaps he could include some other items. He now had 200,000 fans, some of whom followed him only for his paintings, not his streams.

He also needed his tablet, digital painting screen, and computer. He wasn’t sure what he would use to paint, but he didn’t need paints or anything like that. He hadn’t taken on traditional painting commissions and had no plans to do so currently.

That certainly made things much easier.

He didn’t have many things to pack, but he needed to take care of the gas and other utilities at home.

After finishing up inside the house, Kong Xunwen went out to the living room. The rain outside had stopped. The lights in the yard weren’t very bright. He went back to grab a flashlight and shone it around.

In his memory, there wasn’t much to see. He wasn’t handy, and he didn’t dry things in the yard, but he felt like he had forgotten something, and he wouldn’t feel at ease without checking.

The beam of the flashlight shot out, landing on the ground. Kong Xunwen casually scanned the area, then suddenly froze, stopping in the middle of the yard. There were a few small, trembling seedlings, still dripping with water droplets, but—

Fearing he had misread the situation, Kong Xunwen walked closer and bent down.

It was a very tender green sprout, with glistening water droplets on it, gently swaying with the main stem.

Qiu Zhijie had brought these back before, being mysterious and refusing to say what they were. When pressed, he finally said it was a blind box—they would know what it was once it grew up.

He had thought he’d been tricked when the small seedlings showed no change, but it turned out they were still alive.

Kong Xunwen squatted and watched for a while, then went back to get his phone and take a picture.

He habitually went to send it to Qiu Zhijie, then saw the current time.

…

Hmm, he’d better wait until tomorrow.

He returned inside after a while, bought a plane ticket, and lay down on the bed, closing his eyes.