DP Chapter 52
by VolareIf you want to get Xu Chuo to drink more, you have to ask him questions he’s unwilling or unable to answer. Given that he’s promised not to lie, it’s not difficult.
You could ask about Xu Chuo’s biological parents and his most honest opinions of them.
Xu Chuo didn’t used to shy away from such topics, but his descriptions always gave Xiang Yiye a feeling of being formulaic, as if he wasn’t being a son, but playing the role of one.
One’s family of origin involves a person’s most fundamental vulnerability. Someone who’s overly critical of themselves is unwilling to expose these aspects in front of others.
But such questions are like knives. Xiang Yiye thought about it and asked a bland question: “How many people have you been in love with? Give me a specific number.”
Xu Chuo tried to count, but quickly gave up. He simply couldn’t keep track.
Xiang Yiye raised his hand, signaling him to drink.
After finishing his drink, it was Xu Chuo’s turn to ask: “In the past few years, have you had a crush on anyone?”
Xiang Yiye cut his steak on his plate and said, “Yes.”
“Who is it?” Xu Chuo asked immediately.
“That’s the next question. Penalty for breaking the rules, one drink.” Xiang Yiye was like an impartial judge.
Xu Chuo drank two glasses and urged him with his eyes.
Xiang Yiye: “How many times have you initiated a breakup?”
“Apart from you, I initiated all the others,” Xu Chuo said.
“That doesn’t count. I’m asking for the number of times.” Xiang Yiye said, “You didn’t read the question carefully. Another penalty drink.”
Xu Chuo laughed: “Xiang Yiye, if you ask like this, I’m going to be drunk tonight.”
So Xiang Yiye slowed down his offensive, interspersing a few less difficult questions to answer, such as asking if he had continued painting in recent years.
Most of Xu Chuo’s questions revolved around Xiang Yiye’s love life. He first pressed him to clarify who he had a crush on in the past five years.
Xiang Yiye said it was a longtime fan of his, who had been following him since his first drama. The person had a Weibo account dedicated to posting photos of him at various events and would also send him handwritten letters, with lengthy film reviews after watching his dramas, which were very insightful for him.
Xu Chuo was penalized with countless drinks and finally understood that the crush Xiang Yiye was talking about was admiration. He said, “I feel like I’ve been tricked.”
Xiang Yiye choked him with one sentence: “It’s because you think of everything in terms of relationships.” He specifically called him a sex-obsessed brain.
At the end, Xu Chuo asked Xiang Yiye if he would accept him again if they started over.
Xiang Yiye bent his index finger and tapped it on the table, thinking for a while before saying, “No.”
Xu Chuo seemed to have anticipated this answer and showed a self-deprecating smile, drinking all the remaining wine in the bottle.
Xiang Yiye saw him drink more than half the bottle and still only be half-drunk. His eyes darted back and forth as he considered his next move.
Xu Chuo unbuttoned his shirt, stood up, and leaned over, supporting himself on the table with one hand, bringing his nose to nose with Xiang Yiye: “You deliberately got me drunk tonight.”
“Then why did you drink so much?”
“Because I want to know you more than you want to know me,” Xu Chuo said.
Xiang Yiye lowered his eyes and saw the skin-colored dressing on his neck. He touched the edge with his thumb and asked, “Hasn’t this healed yet?”
Xu Chuo only wanted a kiss. He didn’t plan to have any more intimate contact with Xiang Yiye in these two months.
But at this moment, he tensed his muscles and brought his neck closer to Xiang Yiye’s lips, saying, “This scar is too ugly. It should be bitten off and regrown.”
The aftereffects of the red wine were evaporating through his boiling blood. In the darkness, Xiang Yiye felt more scars on Xu Chuo’s body.
“Who did these?” Xiang Yiye asked.
“Accidental burns,” Xu Chuo replied.
Xiang Yiye knew it was another read-and-ignore reply. Those circular scars were below his shoulder blades. No matter how careless you are when smoking, you wouldn’t burn yourself there.
“Foreigners are good at having fun and know how to find excitement,” Xu Chuo added.
Xiang Yiye held back, putting aside all his doubts for the time being. His goal right now was to make Xu Chuo feel tired and then fall asleep.
In the latter half of the night, Xiang Yiye called Xu Chuo’s name a few times in his ear, confirmed that he was sound asleep, went downstairs to the study, and turned on the computer.
When he encountered the power-on password, he entered “0131”, but surprisingly, it didn’t open.
Xiang Yiye found it strange. Xu Chuo’s computer password had always been “0131”. Before, he had used this password to open his laptop when he wanted to stop Xu Chuo from participating in the competition.
He didn’t blindly try other numbers, in case the computer was locked.
He couldn’t stay in the study for too long. He went downstairs to the first floor, drinking water while thinking about the password.
Xu Chuo liked to use dates with special meanings, but it probably wouldn’t be his birthday, nor Xiang Yiye’s birthday. That would be too obvious.
It must be a date that only Xu Chuo would know, or so he thought.
Xiang Yiye put down his water glass and saw a bit of fluorescence in the dimly lit living room. He walked over and saw Xu Chuo’s phone lying on the sofa.
He picked it up and saw that the screen saver was the 3D model he had made before, with the blood-red camellia swaying gracefully on the cliff.
Xiang Yiye stared at the screen for a long time, and suddenly had a very strong and somewhat absurd idea.
Driven by that idea, he went back upstairs and entered a date.
The computer turned on. Xiang Yiye couldn’t believe it. His vision blurred for a moment. He saw the same desktop wallpaper as Xu Chuo’s phone screen saver in front of him. He walked to the safe and entered the same date.
The safe flashed a green light and also opened.
Xiang Yiye trembled all over, trying his best to dispel any distracting thoughts. He took out his phone, found Song An’s chat box, and sent him his situation, the location of the villa, how many people were around, and asked Song An to prepare first.
Tomorrow was Monday. Xu Chuo would go out during the day and come back in the evening. Xiang Yiye would take that opportunity to have Song An’s people come and rescue him.
“Don’t call the police yet,” Xiang Yiye told Song An at the end.
After doing all this, he returned to the bedroom and didn’t sleep all night.
When the sky was just beginning to dawn, Xu Chuo got up, took a shower, got dressed, and said to Xiang Yiye: “I’ll be going on a business trip for a few days. When I’m not here, if you need anything, contact Secretary Chen. I’ll have someone return your phone to you tonight.”
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll run away early?” Xiang Yiye said.
Xu Chuo’s expression showed a hint of compromise, saying, “Then can you wait for me? If I haven’t returned by the day before New Year’s Day, then you can leave.”
As he spoke, he changed his mind: “Never mind, you can leave whenever you want. You don’t have to wait for me. Have a good holiday and say hello to your aunt and uncle for me.”
Xiang Yiye sat on the edge of the bed and said, “Actually, you remember everything.”
“What?” Xu Chuo didn’t understand this nonsensical sentence.
“I went to the study last night and opened your computer,” Xiang Yiye said. “Your password is the day you died in your previous life.”
Xu Chuo’s eyes widened, his lips parted slightly, as if he had stopped breathing for a moment. He quickly said, “Did you have a nightmare last night?”
“Five years ago, on January 31st, you held your first art exhibition. But before that, your computer password was already 0131. I opened your laptop to stop you from participating in the competition, but you didn’t know,” Xiang Yiye said, his voice tightening. “You’ve always had memories of your past life.”
It was only now that he suddenly realized why the theme of Xu Chuo’s art exhibition back then was “Rebirth.”
“Speak!” Xiang Yiye was a little exasperated.
“Since I failed miserably in my previous life, then don’t bring it up again,” Xu Chuo said. “And I said it before, Xiang Yiye, let’s never meet again in the next life.”
He finally admitted that Xiang Yiye wasn’t the only one who had been reborn.
“Don’t meet again?” Xiang Yiye said. “Then you should have stayed as far away as possible. Why did you repeatedly entangle me? You hate me for using you to take revenge on Xie Zhimin in my previous life and want to abandon me again and again, isn’t that right?”
Xu Chuo was silent for a long time, saying, “Because I can’t help but want to be near you.”
On the day they reunited at Xinghui Film and Television Company, he crashed into the audition room, ruining Xiang Yiye’s ongoing audition. At that time, he wasn’t completely sure that Xiang Yiye also had memories of his previous life, but when he saw that Xiang Yiye seemed to need him, he couldn’t bring himself to leave.
Xu Chuo squatted down in front of Xiang Yiye, kneeling on one knee: “But once I get close to you, I don’t want to leave again. Only when you’re by my side do I feel like I’m truly alive.”
When he saw Xiang Yiye show concern for him, pull him back, and not want him to repeat the mistakes of his previous life, the longing in his heart tightened and deepened uncontrollably.
“I used you and hurt you in my previous life, but you say you can’t live without me? Don’t you think that’s absurd?” Xiang Yiye said.
“Believe me, Xiang Yiye,” Xu Chuo looked up at his eyes. “Living this life again is a torment for me.”
“At my father’s place, I’m the person to take over Yunhua. At Xie Lei’s place, I’m the continuation of his artistic dreams. As for Xie Zhimin… he only treated me as a tool to vent his desires and relieve his stress.”
In his previous life, he chose to jump from the top floor because he didn’t want to face this rotten life anymore.
“But with you, I can just be myself. You care about whether I’m doing what I like, and ask if I’m really happy when I smile. Xiang Yiye, you can question whether my feelings for you are genuine enough, but you can’t question what you mean to me,” Xu Chuo said.
He had been in the dating scene for many years and could come up with any kind of sweet talk, but his voice was trembling when he said these words.
“Then why did you leave five years ago?” Xiang Yiye said.
“Everyone has their fate, and that can’t be changed,” Xu Chuo said. “Even if I lived this life again, I would still give up the competition, break up with Xie Lei, and still go abroad. I would still meet you, fall in love with you, and then separate… I would still die at 33.”
Xiang Yiye was stunned. Just like he would still become an actor and Xiang Wan would still be diagnosed with liver cancer, these key moments in life hadn’t changed.
“No, that won’t happen,” Xiang Yiye said. “We met earlier, isn’t that different?”
“Yes, it won’t. I was the one who met you first in this life, so at least your ending will be different.” A smile appeared on Xu Chuo’s lips. Then he walked out and called two bodyguards up.
Xiang Yiye reacted and said, “Are you dealing with the Xie family? You want to bring down Xie Zhimin, don’t you?”
He thought of the scars on Xu Chuo’s body and remembered that the news about the Xie family hadn’t stopped for a while, but was getting bigger and bigger.
“Hold him down,” Xu Chuo ordered the bodyguards, taking out chains from the closet.
“Answer me, Xu Chuo!” Xiang Yiye struggled, watching Xu Chuo lock his ankles again.
“I’m sorry, Xiang Yiye. You’re too vigilant. I can only be at ease if you’re locked up,” Xu Chuo said. “I shouldn’t have gotten involved with you. In both this life and the previous one, I shouldn’t have dragged you in because of my own desires.”
But Xiang Yiye was still dragged in.
Xu Chuo shouldn’t have left too many traces before Xie Zhimin was completely brought down, but after returning to China and seeing Xiang Yiye being framed, he couldn’t help but take action.
“But if I hadn’t met you, I probably would have found a place to die quietly in this life,” Xu Chuo said.
In his previous life, six months after breaking up with Xiang Yiye, Yunhua went bankrupt and was acquired by the Xie family. Xu Mian was completely discouraged, attributing the main reason to Xu Chuo’s mismanagement.
Even in this life, before going abroad, he was still unable to protect himself in front of Xie Zhimin, or to put it another way, he was unwilling to protect himself.
But when he realized that as long as Xie Zhimin didn’t fall, he would always be an obstacle between him and Xiang Yiye, and would even be detrimental to Xiang Yiye, he was unwilling to continue drifting along like this.
So when he had completed most of his thesis and graduation project and was only half a year away from graduating from L University, Xu Chuo chose to give up his postgraduate degree and go abroad for further studies. Taking over Yunhua two years later was an attempt to escape his fate.
“I will drag the person who brought disaster to you and me in my previous life down to hell with me,” Xu Chuo said. “You gave me that courage.”
“What exactly are you going to do?” Xiang Yiye grabbed Xu Chuo’s arm tightly, crumpling his suit, and felt something on his side waist, like a dagger. “Aren’t you going on a business trip? Why are you carrying a knife?”
Xu Chuo looked at the time and cupped Xiang Yiye’s chin: “Xiang Yiye, before I leave, I still want to ask you a question. Five years ago, were your feelings for me genuine, or was it because you hurt me in your previous life and felt indebted, so you pitied me?”
“If you stay here, I’ll answer you,” Xiang Yiye said.
“Then I’ll tell you when I get back. No matter which answer it is…” Xu Chuo lowered his head and gave Xiang Yiye a long, lingering kiss, whispering, “I love you.”
“Don’t go,” Xiang Yiye pulled him, trapped in place by the chains, his ankles bound so painfully. “Chuo ge, don’t go, I’ll tell you…”
Xu Chuo went downstairs, hearing Xiang Yiye’s voice from upstairs, hoarse and strained: “It’s genuine, not pity, Xu Chuo! Did you hear me? Come back, don’t go—”