MFIMM Chapter 74

Missing

Missing

Lin Xi sent Pei Jiashu to the airport. The two of them had been inseparable for the past half month while filming the program, and now that they had to separate, Lin Xi felt a sense of reluctance in his heart.

He stood outside to see Pei Jiashu off until he queued for boarding.

He was absent-minded all the way back to the homestay.

Li Zhijian teased him, “Pei Jiashu is just going to be busy with work, and you’re so reluctant to part with him?”

Lin Xi’s delicate face was scrunched up with all his features tightly knit together. Li Zhijian, as if thinking of something, looked at the back of Lin Xi’s neck.

His neck was covered with an adhesive gland patch, concealing the scent and any possible marks on the gland.

Li Zhijian moved closer to Lin Xi, carefully sniffing his scent, and could smell a faint scent of alpha pheromones. He raised his eyebrows and asked, “You were marked by Pei Jiashu so easily?”

“I wasn’t,” Lin Xi immediately retorted.

“Oh?” Li Zhijian’s expression became meaningful. “Generally, newly marked AOs will have a strong dependency on each other, but you two haven’t been marked, yet you’re acting like this. You must be deeply in love.”

“I…I’m not,” Lin Xi’s reaction seemed weak in front of Li Zhijian. He stood up from the sofa and said, flustered, “I’m going upstairs to pack my things.”

Lin Xi returned to his room and went to the bathroom first. His eyes were slightly drooped, and his mouth was pursed straight, visibly unhappy. He pinched the corners of his mouth with two fingers, trying to make himself smile.

Pei Jiashu is going out to work, and it’s only for a day or two at most, it’s not like he won’t see him again, what’s there to be sad about.

Lin Xi comforted himself and opened his suitcase to pack.

Pei Jiashu’s things had already been packed and taken away, leaving only Lin Xi’s things standing alone.

Lin Xi never had a specific goal when packing. He just packed whatever he saw, and occasionally, when he thought of something, he would ask Pei Jiashu where things were.

Pei Jiashu had a great memory and could find anything he had seen before.

He squatted in front of the suitcase, putting the clothes in one by one, and remembered that he hadn’t taken his pajamas. He subconsciously wanted to call Pei Jiashu, and the word “Pei” was already out of his mouth when he suddenly realized that Pei Jiashu wasn’t here.

But it wasn’t like he couldn’t do anything without Pei Jiashu. In the end, he neatly packed everything.

The next day, their large group set off for the airport again, embarking on their third journey.

Before leaving, Pei Jiashu seemed to have specifically told Ke Yun to take care of Lin Xi. Ke Yun accompanied him throughout the entire time.

They followed the guide that the production team had hired and went to their rooms to rest and refresh themselves before heading to the largest snack street in the area that night.

Rather than a snack street, it was more like a snack city.

The roadside was filled with all kinds of small stalls, with various signs and boards hanging on them, adding a touch of neon to the night.

“Today, you can eat anything you want here, and the program team will pay for it all, but…” the director came out to announce the rules to everyone. Everyone’s eyes lit up when they heard “free food.”

But as expected, there was no free lunch in the world. As soon as they heard the director say “but,” they had a bad feeling.

“But you need to choose a snack, learn how to make it, and set up a stall here. The team with the highest net profit will get a free activity experience in the next episode.”

“Learn how to make a snack? And set up a stall?” Jiang Xu Bai covered his head, feeling like his entire being was not very happy.

Lin Xi was also a little worried. Now he was alone, and he didn’t know when Pei Jiashu would be back.

The director looked at Lin Xi: “Lin Xi, you can join one of the groups. Because Pei Jiashu hasn’t given a specific time for his return. If the team you’re in wins, both of your teams will be counted as winners.”

Lin Xi’s eyes lit up. Wouldn’t that mean he could find a team with potential to join and then just wait to be carried to victory?

His eyes scanned everyone on the field. Everyone seemed to have no objection to the director’s arrangement and looked quite welcoming to Lin Xi.

Ke Yun took the lead and said, “Lin Xi, Lin Xi, come and join my group.”

Since Ke Yun had already invited Lin Xi first, Lin Xi didn’t refuse and joined Ke Yun’s group.

There were many snacks on the snack street. They walked from the beginning of the street, but there were too many stalls. Today wasn’t just about tasting snacks, so their goal was clear: to only look for snacks with a lot of foot traffic at the stalls.

But there was also a drawback to this, which was that there were too many people, and the lines were especially long. Originally, Lin Xi wanted to ask the owners about their secret recipes, but now he could only give up.

The three of them split up and lined up separately. After buying each type, they would come back and let the others try it.

Lin Xi was most satisfied with roadside snacks like starch sausages, roasted sweet potatoes, and candied hawthorns, which could be seen everywhere and were simple and easy to make.

Wei Qian hesitated, “These things are too common. Won’t business be bad?”

Ke Yun immediately argued with Wei Qian, “Candied hawthorns are great! They’re simple and easy to make, and I love eating candied hawthorns.”

Wei Qian looked at Ke Yun with some helplessness, “If you think it’s okay, then it’s okay.”

“What do you mean by that!” Ke Yun rolled up his sleeves, almost getting into a fight with Wei Qian. Lin Xi immediately pulled them apart.

These two were really something. They would start fighting at the drop of a hat. Jiang Xubai and Chi Qi, who were also childhood friends, were so inseparable.

But Lin Xi keenly felt that their interaction was actually a bit like the early days of him and Pei Jiashu.

Under Ke Yun’s “violence,” they chose candied hawthorns. On their way back to the homestay, they first bought a lot of hawthorns, strawberries, and a series of things that could be made into candied hawthorns.

Lin Xi went to the kitchen and put these things in the sink to wash. Their group’s progress was currently the fastest. The other groups were still discussing what to make.

Ke Yun approached Lin Xi and helped him wash the hawthorns, “Lin Xi, do you even know how to make candied hawthorns?”

“No, I’ll learn now.” Lin Xi took out his phone and opened a tutorial. “I’ve seen it before. It doesn’t seem too difficult.”

Wei Qian and Ke Yun were both bona fide young masters. Neither of them knew how to cook, and they could barely cut fruit.

With these two people as a comparison, Pei Jiashu’s image in Lin Xi’s mind suddenly rose a lot.

Fortunately, neither of them were stupid and could read instructions on their phones.

Lin Xi took out a pot to boil the sugar syrup, skewered the cut fruit with toothpicks, dipped them in the sugar syrup, took them out, and dipped them in cold water, then handed them to Ke Yun to try.

The sugar water cooled and solidified into a caramel crust. A bite into it was crunchy, mixed with the sweet and sour taste of the fruit, surprisingly good.

Ke Yun gave Lin Xi a thumbs up, “I think it’s about the same as what’s sold outside. You’re amazing.”

This was the first time Lin Xi was responsible for making and selling something from scratch. There were many things to consider and prepare. He first tried all the products, then took out a small notebook and opened the Gaode Map.

“We can only set up a stall for a few days. We don’t have time for on-site inspections, so we can only try to choose places with more traffic.”

Ke Yun looked at Lin Xi, half understanding, “Aren’t we going to set up a stall in the snack street?”

“There are too many people in the snack street, and you can see candied hawthorns every few stalls. We don’t have much competitiveness.” Lin Xi wrote down a few place names in the notebook. “I think these places are good.”

He showed the notebook to Wei Qian and Ke Yun, but when he looked up, he actually met Pei Jiashu’s gaze on his phone.

Pei Jiashu was in an unknown location, and it didn’t look like a company office. There was a hint of fatigue that he couldn’t hide between his eyebrows, and his eyes had faint dark circles.

Lin Xi wanted to scold Ke Yun, but when he saw Pei Jiashu’s face, he couldn’t say anything.

Pei Jiashu smiled first, washing away the fatigue between his eyebrows. His slightly gentle voice came through the phone, a little deep after mechanical processing, “How can my wife be good at everything?”

“Isn’t this a very simple thing? I just learned it by following the video.” Lin Xi’s eyes were wandering to the side, feeling happy because of Pei Jiashu’s praise.

The other two people in the room were watching him talk to Pei Jiashu on the phone. Lin Xi was a little embarrassed, but his eyes refused to leave Pei Jiashu.

He asked Pei Jiashu, “Is your work very hard?”

Pei Jiashu shook his head, intending to deny it, when a voice shouted, “Boss, you should control Pei Jiashu! I’ve slept less than ten hours in total these two days. He’s exploiting me here so he can go find you earlier!”

Lin Xi heard that it was Assistant Song’s voice. He couldn’t help but smile wryly and questioned Pei Jiashu, “Pei Jiashu, do you know that us working stiffs are also very tired! You’re actually making our Assistant Song work overtime with you. You’re simply inhuman.”

“I gave him triple pay. He volunteered to work overtime.” Pei Jiashu glared at Assistant Song.

Assistant Song immediately changed his tune, “Mr. Lin, I was just joking with you. After all, the boss is giving too much. I will work hard to let President Pei see you sooner.”

Lin Xi was speechless, “Assistant Song, what about your aloof persona?”

“The boss doesn’t want a persona, why would I want one.” Assistant Song was glared at by the boss again, and he quickly took his notebook computer and walked out of the boss’s sight.

Pei Jiashu then said, “I can go back the day after tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Lin Xi nodded. The two of them looked at their phones, neither speaking nor willing to hang up.

Lin Xi looked at the screen, his mouth opening and closing several times, but he couldn’t say a single mushy word.

“Boss, the partner on the other side has sent the documents.” Assistant Song’s voice broke the silence between the two. Pei Jiashu looked at the phone and said with some reluctance, “I have to get back to work.”

“Yeah.” Lin Xi nodded again.

“Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.” Lin Xi was like a robot.

Seeing that Pei Jiashu was about to hang up the phone, the words Lin Xi wanted to say suddenly blurted out, “I’ll be waiting for you!”

“Okay.” Pei Jiashu answered almost instantly, as if that little bit of back-and-forth before the separation was just to hear Lin Xi say those words.

Assistant Song shook his head with a doting smile beside him. People who have fallen in love are really too terrible.