DP Chapter 55

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In the early winter of his 28th year, Xiang Yiye returned to his hotel after attending an awards ceremony in another city.

The room door wasn’t closed. He went inside and saw the laptop on the coffee table was open. Xu Chuo was sitting in a relaxed posture, making a video call.

Seeing Xiang Yiye return, Xu Chuo adjusted his posture and said to the other end of the video, “Let’s stop here for today.” He was about to close the laptop.

Xiang Yiye went over and intervened, “Is the time up?”

The psychology consultant on the other end, about to be cut off, truthfully and helplessly said, “Mr. Xu, our consultation today has been going on for less than ten minutes…”

For the past few years, Xu Chuo had been regularly receiving psychological therapy. Symptoms like anxiety and depression had improved a lot, and then he started feeling good about himself. He would find ways to be perfunctory during his consultations, which only occurred once a month.

Xiang Yiye unceremoniously straightened the laptop, “Then you guys continue chatting.” Then he went to the next room.

An hour later, Xu Chuo finished and ran to the next room, where he saw a cake and Song An and the little assistant were there.

Xu Chuo knew that there was originally a celebration banquet today, but it clashed with his birthday, so he apologized and said he would treat Song An and the others to dinner next time to make up for it.

Song An, always perceptive, waved his hand and pulled the little assistant away, turning off all but one lamp before leaving.

Xiang Yiye lit the candles while asking, “How was the consultation?”

The dim candlelight flickered on Xiang Yiye, and Xu Chuo said, “I haven’t had much of an appetite lately, and I’ve been having trouble sleeping.”

They contacted each other every day, and he hadn’t mentioned these things. Xiang Yiye frowned and put down the lighter, “When did this start? Why are you only telling me now… What did Teacher Qian say?”

Xu Chuo seamlessly replied, “Probably lovesickness.”

Xiang Yiye: “…More nonsense.”

Xu Chuo argued, “I feel better when I see you, isn’t that lovesickness?”

Xiang Yiye scooped a piece of cream and smeared it on his mouth, “Always causing trouble.”

Xu Chuo took advantage of his birthday to cause trouble, leaning over to smear the cream on his face, “Then will you grant the birthday star a wish?”

“What is it?”

“I want to paint on you.”

“Huh?”

“I brought the tools.” Xu Chuo took them from the next room.

Xiang Yiye had always admired Xu Chuo’s spur-of-the-moment ideas. Seeing all the bottles and jars, as well as the paintbrushes, he realized Xu Chuo was serious and immediately felt a headache, “Why don’t you paint on paper? I can be your model.”

“That’s different.”

Xiang Yiye: “But won’t this paint be hard to wash off…”

“It’s washable, it just takes a few more washes.” Xu Chuo said, “I’ll wash it for you.”

Xiang Yiye still didn’t think it was a good idea, “I have work tomorrow, what if someone sees it when I’m changing clothes…”

“It won’t happen, I’ll paint in a hidden spot. Do you never change clothes without anyone around?” Xu Chuo continued to coax, “This is my only birthday wish.”

Xiang Yiye relented, completely unaware of how much he would regret this decision an hour later.

Xu Chuo told him to lie down, “I’ll give you a massage first.”

Xiang Yiye wondered if this was part of the process. Xu Chuo said, “Yes, yes, body painting is like this…”

Little did Xiang Yiye know that Xu Chuo was just doing this to lower his guard. Half an hour later, Xiang Yiye was getting sleepy from the massage and was dozing off when he suddenly felt something cold on his neck.

Huh? Is he painting on my neck? He immediately woke up and grabbed Xu Chuo’s left arm.

“Hey, don’t move, you’ll mess it up…” Xu Chuo said.

You said you wouldn’t paint in an obvious place! Xiang Yiye felt his tone was too harsh and stopped himself, wanting to find a mirror to see, but Xu Chuo held him down.

“Sorry, I got too into painting and couldn’t help it.” Xu Chuo said, “Since I’ve already started, should I just finish it? Otherwise, I won’t be able to sleep tonight… Yiye, you’re the best.”

Xiang Yiye felt hopeless, his body still lying there obediently, his mind already thinking about remedies. Later, he would check the ingredient list of the paint to see what could dissolve it.

Before long, another problem bothered him.

He couldn’t stay completely calm when the paintbrush was sweeping over his body.

Especially when Xu Chuo would occasionally stare at him with a smile that wasn’t a smile, as if he was doing it on purpose.

Finally, when he was finished, Xu Chuo pulled Xiang Yiye to the full-length mirror, “Look, isn’t it pretty good?”

The background was a brown twill rock layer, and a flower grew between his collarbone and heart.

It’s really well-painted, Xiang Yiye thought, but the process was a bit torturous.

Xu Chuo said in his ear, “It’s so beautiful, I don’t know where to look…”

Xiang Yiye glanced at Xu Chuo’s white shirt, tightened his arms, and decided to stage a tragedy involving wet paint.

Anyway, CEO Xu had a whole closet full of designer shirts, so it wouldn’t matter if one or two got dirty.

In the middle of the night, Xiang Yiye got out of bed, preparing to wash the paint off his neck again.

“You’ll scrub your skin raw.” Xu Chuo said, “Why don’t you take a few days off? You haven’t rested in a long time.”

Xiang Yiye: “That won’t work, I have to finish the work at hand first.” After saying that, he went into the bathroom.

Xu Chuo followed, found a bottle of something he didn’t know what it was, sprayed it on Xiang Yiye’s neck, and rinsed it again, and a lot of the paint came off.

“What is this?” Xiang Yiye asked.

“Magic, or the power of love.” Xu Chuo said.

Xiang Yiye rolled his eyes, took the bottle and saw the words “solvent” and realized he had been tricked by Xu Chuo.

A cunning birthday star! Xiang Yiye said indignantly, seeing Xu Chuo laughing uncontrollably, he said helplessly, “You’ve been teasing me all night, are you happy now?”

“Who told you to stare at other people’s calves before.” Xu Chuo said.

When did that happen? Xiang Yiye thought for a long time before remembering one rainy day a while ago, while waiting for the traffic light, Xu Chuo rolled down the car window and saw a boy’s calf with a few splashes of mud, which only accentuated the muscle lines, and said, “Look at that boy’s legs, they’re suitable for sculpture material.”

At that time, Xiang Yiye turned his head and only saw a bunch of people outside, and before he could find the person or the legs, the car started moving. However, he hurriedly played along, “Really? Not bad.”

What a misattribution and distortion of facts, Xiang Yiye reasoned logically: “To be reasonable, I didn’t even see it clearly. Who brought it up first that day? I haven’t even gotten upset, and you’re already trying to extort me.”

“You’re not upset?” Xu Chuo suppressed himself for a while, “I thought you would say… don’t look or something.”

Xiang Yiye finally understood what Xu Chuo was acting up about, he was upset that he wasn’t as jealous as before.

That was because Xu Chuo was now honest and well-behaved, and Xiang Yiye didn’t need to be so meticulous.

But he very cooperatively took out his nearly ten years of acting skills and put on a sickly and obsessive look: “If you look again next time, I’ll break your legs, drag you home, and lock you up, so you can only look at me.”

Xu Chuo was satisfied, but he didn’t expect that whatever he said would come true. The next day, he sprained his ankle on the stairs and almost had a broken leg.

He didn’t think much of it, but Xiang Yiye felt guilty for a long time and decided that he shouldn’t use his acting skills so casually in the future.

Years passed, and the day before Xiang Yiye’s 30th birthday, he was still filming on set.

After finishing his scenes, he hurried home, but his flight was delayed. By the time he got off the plane, there were already several missed calls on his phone, all from Xu Chuo.

Xiang Yiye immediately called back, and Xu Chuo said, “Can you not hang up? I want to hear your voice.”

He could hear that Xu Chuo was a little anxious, especially when the other party had the driver act as a bodyguard to send him to his door.

Before entering the door, Xiang Yiye rubbed his face to dispel some of his drowsiness.

If Xu Chuo had decorated the house in a grand way like before, he would cooperate no matter how tired he was.

But fortunately, although Xu Chuo loved to put on airs, he didn’t make such a big show this time, only decorating the dining table with a cake, flowers, and balloons.

He saw that Xiang Yiye looked tired and asked if he was tired.

“Yes, I’m a little sleepy… but I also want to have a good birthday with you. It’s okay, I’ll rest for a while, wait for me.” Xiang Yiye took off his hat and mask.

Xu Chuo saw the hairspray on his head, he hadn’t even had time to take it off before rushing home, and said, “Big star, how about I wash your hair?”

In the bathroom, Xiang Yiye soaked in hot water, feeling his body and mind relax.

Xu Chuo brought a stool and sat down, his long legs a little cramped, awkwardly wedged against the edge of the bathtub. He rolled up his sleeves, poured shampoo into his palm, and before long, Xiang Yiye had a head full of bubbles.

Xiang Yiye took a nap for a while, regained his energy, and chatted about a few trivial things.

Next month was the second anniversary of Xiang Wan’s death, and they were planning to take the time to go home to see him.

In the war against cancer cells, Xiang Wan still couldn’t make it through. But the difference was that this time, he didn’t close his eyes in the hospital.

In his previous life, Xiang Wan didn’t want to be treated anymore in the later stages, he just wanted to go home to spend his last days. At that time, Xiang Yiye didn’t agree no matter what.

But in this life, Xiang Yiye began to think about whether that was the right thing to do.

Finally, Xiang Wan said, “I don’t care about you, so don’t care about me either.”

So Xiang Yiye knew that Xiang Wan knew everything about his orientation.

Xiang Wan had seen all of Xiang Yiye’s works, including “Tares” (Weeds). But after watching it, he only knew that there was another absurd possibility in this world, that a man could love a man. But when it happened to his son, he still couldn’t accept it.

But he was powerless to change anything anymore.

Qiao Sha was more open-minded than Xiang Wan, and would even let Xiang Yiye bring Xu Chuo home to see them.

They also talked about other things, such as Tao Muya going abroad to study for a master’s degree, meeting a foreign boyfriend, and probably settling abroad in the future.

Later, Xu Chuo suddenly laughed and said, “You’re especially cute right now.”

Being called cute at the age of thirty, Xiang Yiye refused in his heart.

Xu Chuo brought a mirror over, Xiang Yiye looked at it and found that Xu Chuo had secretly done a hairstyle for him, the irregular bubbles on his head were piled into the shape of a sheep, the outline of the shape was lifelike.

Xiang Yiye smiled when he saw it, “You’re so good with your hands.”

Encouraged, Xu Chuo conjured up flames and clouds, and finally seemed to be about to pinch out a clump of decorations that only a certain lazy cartoon sheep had on its head.

Xiang Yiye smiled and grabbed his wrist, not letting him play anymore.

Xu Chuo took the shower and asked Xiang Yiye what he wanted to eat: “Should I cook you a bowl of longevity noodles?”

“Okay.” Compared to a grand ceremony, Xiang Yiye preferred this kind of warm and ordinary way.

Xu Chuo also blew his hair, so considerate that it was a little too much, but Xiang Yiye knew that Xu Chuo wanted to do this, so he would let him do it.

But he wouldn’t exhaust him because of it.

Xu Chuo could feel this respect and understanding, so he also understood that it was impossible to meet someone like this again.

Other people were no longer important.

Xiang Yiye didn’t wait for the bowl of longevity noodles. He only maintained his energy for a short time after taking a bath, and his nerves relaxed, so he fell asleep by the sofa.

Xu Chuo put down the bowl and walked over quietly, wanting to let Xiang Yiye go back to his room to sleep, but found that he had a fever.

During the drowsy sleep, Xiang Yiye could occasionally hear someone walking around, a cool hand stroking his cheeks and forehead, and a voice often calling him in his ear: “Yiye, wake up after sleeping a few more hours.”

The voice became a little desperate later on.

After a night and a day, Xiang Yiye woke up and saw Xu Chuo sitting by the bed, his face pale and his eyes dark. Xu Chuo must have been guarding him for as long as he had slept.

Xu Chuo looked at him for a long time and said, “I’ll pour you a glass of warm water.” He was about to get up from the chair, but he couldn’t do it, and instead hunched over, as if he had a sudden stomachache, and his whole body trembled violently.

Xiang Yiye knew that this was a somatic symptom of anxiety and depression. It hadn’t happened in a long time. He quickly hugged him and told him to take a deep breath.

Xu Chuo took a long time to recover, “I didn’t dare to take you to the hospital.”

It would take a car to get to the nearest hospital, and he was afraid that there would be an accident on the way.

“I called a doctor to come to see you, they said you had a slight flu, but I don’t know why you had a low fever and couldn’t wake up.” Xu Chuo said.

Xiang Yiye leaned on his back, “Yeah, it’s just the flu, the flu is too severe these days.”

“I thought you would never wake up again.” Xu Chuo said.

“I’m fine, aren’t I?” Xiang Yiye comforted, “Let me look at you, okay?”

Xu Chuo got up, his expression still not good.

In the year that Xiang Yiye turned 30, his anxiety had been climbing. More than once, he wanted to ask Xiang Yiye to cancel all his work, lock him up by his side, and make sure he got through his birthday completely unscathed before letting him go.

But he knew he couldn’t do that, and he didn’t want to let this anxiety affect the other person, so he had been controlling this idea.

He didn’t tell Xiang Yiye that after the plane took off, he kept staring at the flight path, and even put a tracking device on the driver who picked him up.

But even at home, he couldn’t calm down and decorate properly. He kept looking at the time, calculating when Xiang Yiye would be back.

Xiang Yiye hugged him and suddenly said, “Chuo Ge, I realized that I’m always getting sick or injured in this life.”

Xu Chuo stiffened and began to recall what harm Xiang Yiye had suffered both physically and mentally over the years, and how many times he had caused it himself. Then he continued to think, what did Xiang Yiye mean by saying this?

Was he finally tired?

Xiang Yiye then said, “But none of them are going to kill me. So I think, these are things I have to go through. If I don’t, I won’t be able to disperse the threats that would have been there.”

“Really?”

In fact, Xiang Yiye didn’t know if it was true, but even if it wasn’t, he was willing to believe it and leave himself and the other person with a positive psychological suggestion: “Think about it, didn’t you almost break a bone on your birthday last year?”

Xu Chuo thought for a long time and thought it made sense: “Then I’ll do more charity work later. Find a place to worship? To ward off disasters. If it’s not convenient in the country, then go abroad. Do you believe in Eastern or Western things more?”

Xiang Yiye: “…” They actually did a lot of charity work. The main point of Xu Chuo’s words was in the back, he couldn’t wait for Xiang Yiye to work less.

Xu Chuo: “I’m just saying, your fans will scold me if they find out.” After a while, he asked again, “Really not going? I’ve already planned to resign from my dad’s company. I’ll have a lot of time in the second half of the year.”

Xiang Yiye was certain: “Will he agree? What will happen to your family’s company?”

Xu Chuo: “I’ll find him an illegitimate child, and he won’t just target one person anymore.”

Xiang Yiye: “…”

“Once I’m free from my family, there won’t be a CEO Xu in the future,” Xu Chuo added, “Maybe I’ll be as poor as Xie Lei.”

Xiang Yiye didn’t think there was anything wrong, “Then come be my assistant.”

“Okay, besides that, what else do you want me to do for you?” Xu Chuo pounced over, grinding his teeth, “Anything is fine, I guarantee you’ll be satisfied.”

Xiang Yiye’s cheeks flushed slightly, and he hugged the person back, trapping him in his arms, “I want you to paint a lot of paintings for me.”

Xu Chuo was silent for a moment, then slowly said, “That would be my honor.”

Being able to meet Xiang Yiye and be accepted by Xiang Yiye was his greatest honor.