HR Chapter 6

“It just so happens that I’m going abroad in a couple of days, and I was worried that Jia Jia would be bored at home alone, but he doesn’t want to go out.” Most programmers are homebodies. Qi Yue calculated that he would have to be separated from his precious Jia Jia for about a week, and his mood became even more depressed.

He found everyone unpleasant, especially the Weak Yama King, Lu Qinyuan, who was smiling brightly in front of him. Thinking of himself and others, Qi Yue approached Lu Qinyuan with a perverted look and asked in a low voice, “Lu-ge, Xiao Qi’s taste isn’t bad, right?” As he spoke, he gave a knowing look, smiling like a spring breeze, extremely annoying.

Lu Qinyuan closed the book he had only read a few pages of, and put on a look of serious consideration: “I’ll pick an auspicious day to unwrap the gift. As for the taste, I don’t need an outsider like you to inquire.”

Qi Yue widened his eyes, looking incredulous, and muttered, “It’s over, it’s over, it’s ruined, it’s ruined,” and left.

Used to Qi Yue’s crazy antics, Lu Qinyuan didn’t care. A sudden drowsiness made his eyes become terrifying. He looked at the door, no wonder Qi Yue was acting crazy and running away. He had once again taken it upon himself to add sleeping pills to his medicine. He could completely send someone to catch Qi Yue back and beat him up, but he preferred to invite Min Jia over as a guest. Min Jia was like a plant, taking root wherever he was moved and not moving. It would be difficult to move him again.

Lu Qinyuan yawned, got up, and went upstairs. When he passed the dining room, he saw Xiao Qi holding half a glass of milk, lost in thought, with Sha Tang sitting beside him, also spacing out.

A few years ago, construction suddenly began on Shijian Mountain, east of Shang Ning City. In two years, a villa district was built, nestled against the mountains and beside the water: Lan Yuan.

There weren’t many buildings in Lan Yuan, and the buildings were far apart, blocked by tall plants, forming a relatively closed private space. Each villa was named after the Twenty-Eight Mansions, and there was always a screen wall at the entrance, with a bas-relief of the guardian animal of the mansion’s namesake constellation. The architectural style also leaned heavily towards Chinese style, showing the donors’ love for Chinese culture.

Lu Qinyuan, whose surname was Lu, chose the villa named after Lu. Upon entering, he saw a screen wall with a phoenix-like divine bird soaring, exquisitely carved, lifelike, and majestic, not disgracing the huge amount of money invested in it.

Lan Yuan had strict security, so the owners of the villas didn’t have to worry about safety. This allowed their subordinates to worry less and have leisure to play, admiring the flowers and pulling weeds in the garden, clearing all the weeds in the garden, leaving not a blade of grass. Only the koi in the pond were pitiful, tired of being fished and resting, hungry of being grilled and eaten, with all the koi in the pond ending up in people’s stomachs.

Looking at the few young koi left in the pond, everyone finally had a twinge of conscience and stopped their evil hands of extermination.

Sha Tang was still savoring the taste of the grilled fish, frowning with a solemn expression: “The heat wasn’t good enough, the fish was overcooked.”

Bai Ze looked worried, with a hint of unbearable pain in his eyes, sprinkled a handful of fish food into the pond, and said nothing. Zhu Yan smacked his lips, still not satisfied, his eyes gleaming green as he looked at the pond, stretching his waist, feeling that this life of eating and sleeping and sleeping and eating was really boring.

The street gunfight last time had a bad influence, it was simply a public challenge to the authorities. Bai Ze had been busy dealing with this matter these past few days, and he had just received news that it had been suppressed, but the spotlight was still tight, so he told them to stay out of sight.

Bai Ze directly imposed a curfew on them, with Shu Xiu and Zhu Yan being listed as severely restricted individuals who could only enter and not leave. Shu Xiu thought it through, spending his days sleeping or training, living quite calmly. For Zhu Yan, this kind of life was too torturous. Not to mention anything else, just not being allowed to go out was enough to stifle Zhu Yan. Shijian Mountain outside the door was almost flattened by him. He knew everything about which tree had a bird’s nest and which nest had bird eggs.

After dinner, Zhu Yan stretched his legs and went out. Sha Tang put away the barbecue equipment. Bai Ze finished feeding a handful of fish food, clapped his hands, picked up the grilled fish wrapped in a lotus leaf and went to find Xiao Qi.

Xiao Qi’s life wasn’t just monotonous, it was also extremely boring. Besides curling up on the sofa to read, sitting under the flower trellis in the yard to read, lying in bed to read, he was also searching for book lists online. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Xiao Qi had never left Lu Qinyuan’s sight. As soon as Lu Qinyuan looked up, he could see the bookish youth holding a book, looking calm. When he first came, he was more talkative and lively, but now he basically didn’t speak, not even smiling, just stubbornly studying book after book, as if he was racing against someone.

When Lu Qinyuan had nothing to do, he would get close to him, and Xiao Qi didn’t mind, sharing half of the book with him and each reading their own. Xiao Qi read quickly, ten lines at a glance. Lu Qinyuan’s reading speed was already amazing, but it was still a little slower than Xiao Qi’s. Lu Qinyuan didn’t say anything about asking Xiao Qi to wait for him, he just pressed a finger on the page, controlling the speed of the page turning.

Xiao Qi waited patiently. He looked up and saw Bai Ze standing not far away, waving to him. He immediately ran over. Bai Ze pulled Xiao Qi out of the door and stuffed the grilled fish in his hand to Xiao Qi: “This is what Shixiong left for you, try it.”

Opening the lotus leaf, the aroma of the fish wafted out. Xiao Qi exclaimed how fragrant it was, opened his mouth and took a bite, immediately feeling the fragrance overflowing in his mouth. The fish was fresh, tender, and delicious, almost making him want to swallow his tongue. The grilled fish was deboned. Xiao Qi finished it in a few bites, wiped his mouth, and said, “It’s really delicious, thank you, Bai-ge. Where’s Uncle?”

Bai Ze pointed outside. Xiao Qi turned around to look for Zhu Yan but was stopped by Bai Ze, who pointed inside, the meaning was very clear, he had to ask for permission from that person before he could go.

Xiao Qi silently sulked for a while, then walked back into the house.

As soon as he entered, he heard Lu Qinyuan ask him, “What did Bai Ze want from you? Why did it take you so long to come back?” When Xiao Qi approached, he smelled a faint fish fragrance coming from him. He put down the book in his hand, reached out and pulled Xiao Qi to his side, and smiled, “Did you steal something good to eat? Did you leave any for me?”

Did he really think he was blind? All the koi in the pond were grilled and eaten, and he didn’t even leave him a share, but instead thoughtfully left some for this outsider. Where was he being placed?

Lu Qinyuan wasn’t really angry, he just wanted to make things difficult for Xiao Qi. Seeing him pursing his lips and saying nothing, he forcefully pressed him down on his lap, aimed at Xiao Qi’s lips and kissed him, lingering for a while, then let go, smacked his lips, and said, “I thought it was some delicacy, did you have to eat it behind my back? It’s just a few koi, if you like them, I’ll have someone send more to raise in the pond, and grill fish for you to eat until you’re sick of it.”

Xiao Qi’s eyes were wide open, still not having recovered. His mind was full of the scene of Lu Qinyuan kissing him just now, and the soft, moist sensation of Lu Qinyuan’s lips when he kissed him. His ears were buzzing, unable to hear anything else. Xiao Qi belatedly felt sad. This was his first kiss!

Seeing Xiao Qi staring at him with his round eyes, not blinking, Lu Qinyuan touched his face: “Why are you so surprised? Don’t tell me this is your first kiss.” Xiao Qi still didn’t speak. Lu Qinyuan smiled and raised an eyebrow: “It really is.” He lowered his head and deepened the kiss, deliberately making sucking sounds, making Xiao Qi blush with shame. He raised his hand to push against Lu Qinyuan’s chest, protesting with a moan-like sound between his lips, making Lu Qinyuan’s heart sway. He bit down hard, and only released him in a happy mood after hearing Xiao Qi’s muffled groan.

As soon as he let go, Xiao Qi jumped out of Lu Qinyuan’s arms, feeling his face burning and his earlobes hot. His eyes uncontrollably became wet. He felt very sad, but he forced himself not to shed tears, lowered his eyes, and said in a low voice, “I want to go out for a walk.”

Lu Qinyuan had already picked up the book he had thrown aside and continued reading, indifferently saying: “Go ahead.”

A pond of koi for Xiao Qi’s first kiss. Lu Qinyuan felt that this deal was still worthwhile. At least, this kiss could make Xiao Qi understand many things, realize that the environment he was in wasn’t as peaceful as it seemed on the surface.

As soon as Xiao Qi came out, Bai Ze greeted him. Seeing Xiao Qi’s red and swollen lips, he knew what had happened, patted his shoulder, and asked: “Do you still want to go out?”

Nodding, Xiao Qi walked towards the door. The closer he got to the door, the more excited he became, and he couldn’t help but quicken his pace. He went around the magnificent screen wall and pulled open the tightly closed door. When his feet stood on the land outside the four-sided cage, Xiao Qi laughed with red eyes. He tentatively took two steps forward and turned to look back. He was far away from the cage. He took two more steps and turned to look back. He was even further away, and Xiao Qi laughed even more happily.

Xiao Qi walked and stopped along a paved road. On both sides of the road were natural green plants. Various wildflowers of unknown names bloomed under the trees. When the wind blew, the flowers swayed and the grass swayed, all of which were especially intoxicating.

Walking away from the road and into the forest, the further he went, the more the forest was empty and the wind was quiet. Occasionally, there were a few melodious bird songs, and the echoes resounded throughout the forest. After walking for a while, Xiao Qi sat down against a tree, cleverly braided a handful of wildflowers in his hand into a garland and wore it on his head. Leaning against the green cypress behind him, listening to the birds singing and the light wind blowing, he slowly fell asleep.

He had a dream he had never had before. In the dream, he turned into a free and unrestrained white cloud, aimlessly drifting in the blue and magnificent sky, following the wind as he pleased, until he met a cloud that was also drifting with the wind. He wanted to avoid it, but a gust of wind blew and made him crash into it. At the moment of contact, bursts of thunder and lightning erupted. The two white clouds surged in the thunder and lightning, gradually turning into rainwater that flowed to the earth.

The sound of thunder was like a splitting in his heart. He wanted to prevent this terrible change from happening in terror. His ears were filled with the roar of thunder, accompanied by dazzling lightning, ruthlessly splitting into his eyes, watching as his body, which was originally a cloud, slowly disappeared. Looking down, he suddenly discovered that the rain was like blood and like the red thread of an old man, covering the sky and the earth, full of red, as bright as hell.

Fine sunlight scattered through the branches and leaves. Xiao Qi suddenly opened his eyes, injecting a full of light, gentle and soft like a gentle girl. The garland on his head attracted bees, buzzing on top of his head. The wind was still blowing and the birds were still singing. Xiao Qi tilted his head, it had been a long time since he had any other dreams.

Maybe the air was too good, the feeling was too good.

Xiao Qi stood up, holding on to the tree trunk, and walked back along the way he came. He didn’t know when the bee had left. When he noticed, he realized that it was no longer there. It had left silently.