His Venomous Former Boss Chased Him And Beat Him Fiercely Chapter 10

I like you—you like me?

Kong Xunwen hadn’t expected to see Qiu Zhijie again, especially not after the circumstances of yesterday.

But he quickly recalled the brief yet profound chat history from last night.

Compared to that baffling conversation, the fact that Qiu Zhijie came looking for him today seemed less strange, perhaps?

He slightly raised his head to look at the man standing before him, his mind involuntarily recalling a line of text—Typing…

The other man happened to look over, and their eyes met unexpectedly.

Kong Xunwen instinctively looked away, tightening his grip on the basket and pressing his fingertips into his palm.

Qiu Zhijie seemed to look away too.

This reminded Kong Xunwen of his absurd, baseless guess from yesterday.

No, no, no, impossible.

Kong Xunwen took a deep breath. He didn’t notice Qiu Zhijie’s curled fingers. Just as he was about to speak, he heard a dull thud as something dropped to the ground.

Looking down, he saw it was Qiu Zhijie’s phone. He didn’t know how it had fallen, but it had slid directly into the grass beside them.

Qiu Zhijie quickly crouched down to pick it up.

Kong Xunwen felt his vision brighten slightly; Qiu Zhijie had been completely blocking the light just now. He didn’t join him in picking it up, instead stepping his right foot back to make room for Qiu Zhijie. When he tried to move his other foot to follow, it wouldn’t budge.

Heat transferred through his trousers to his calf. Qiu Zhijie had suddenly grabbed his calf for some unknown reason.

Kong Xunwen looked down. The man also looked up, wearing a surprised expression, as if the hand gripping him didn’t belong to him. He looked utterly innocent.

The stark contrast between the white of his hand and the black of the trousers made it impossible to ignore.

“…Let go first.”

Only then did the hand release him. In that instant, it felt as if the heat from that palm had transferred directly up his calf.

Qiu Zhijie remained looking up. He had released his hand but hadn’t moved. He saw a faint blush creeping up the young man’s neck and cheeks—it wasn’t obvious, but he saw it clearly.

Suddenly, a patch of sunlight fell onto the young man’s cheek, making the redness there more noticeable.

His Adam’s apple bobbed. His brain slowly processed the information his ears had just registered. Only then did he retrieve the phone that had slid away. Standing up, he looked at Kong Xunwen’s cheek and said, “My apologies.”

The gentle, almost imperceptible patch of light was now blocked.

As for why he had done that just now, he offered no explanation or defense.

Kong Xunwen didn’t want to ask.

The atmosphere was too strange, he thought.

Clearing his throat, Kong Xunwen tried to pull himself out of the sticky, or rather, awkward atmosphere: “What are you doing here?”

As he spoke, the young man’s expression noticeably flattened, which somewhat cooled Qiu Zhijie’s previously turbulent emotions, leaving a trace of bitterness.

“I…” Qiu Zhijie paused. “I shouldn’t have spoken that way yesterday. I plan to invest in projects related to the Variant Genetic Disorder.”

Kong Xunwen also recalled the situation from yesterday. He admitted he had an avoidance mentality regarding this topic, which was why he had suddenly lashed out when Qiu Zhijie brought it up.

Qiu Zhijie hadn’t really done anything wrong and certainly didn’t need to apologize repeatedly.

But what did that last sentence mean?

He wouldn’t be so conceited as to think Qiu Zhijie would spend a fortune investing in such a project just because of him.

“So that’s why you suddenly came to find me? Because of this?” Kong Xunwen’s tone was declarative, lacking the intensity of yesterday.

Ignoring the look on Qiu Zhijie’s face, who seemed about to speak, he continued, “I don’t want to discuss this right now. If that’s why you’re here, you can leave now. I’ll contact you later if I have any thoughts.”

Without waiting for Qiu Zhijie to explain, Kong Xunwen walked straight past him, heading back to his own yard.

But a familiar warmth grabbed him. It was the same hand. Qiu Zhijie’s hand was large with long fingers, and the grip completely encircled Kong Xunwen’s wrist, tightening further because of the space between his fingers.

Kong Xunwen frowned, turning his head to stare directly into Qiu Zhijie’s eyes, demanding, “What are you doing?!”

“Let go!”

He emphasized the word.

Qiu Zhijie’s expression was different from what he had expected. The man was currently backlit, his broad shoulders sinking slightly with the outstretched arm, but the midday sun still illuminated his entire face clearly, including his lips poised to speak, his hesitant yet somewhat urgent eyes, and his furrowed brow.

Those dark pupils looked at him with an almost pleading earnestness.

Kong Xunwen stopped speaking, just watching him.

But after a few seconds of deadlock, seeing the other man still hesitating, Kong Xunwen didn’t want to waste any more time here. He raised his hand, struggling to shake Qiu Zhijie off.

Qiu Zhijie pulled him back with renewed force. This time, there was no hesitation in his eyes. He spoke decisively: “I didn’t come here because of that—”

He gritted his teeth internally, and the words he had hidden for so long finally burst from his chest.

“I like you!”

Silence descended briefly after the words fell, broken only by the distant chirping of birds and the sound of the wind nearby.

Kong Xunwen doubted if he had heard correctly. After realizing what he had just heard, he looked at Qiu Zhijie and repeated, “You like me?”

Having already said it, Qiu Zhijie nodded directly: “Yes, I was originally planning to confess to you after I returned from my business trip, but it shouldn’t have been at this moment.”

This unexpected development left Kong Xunwen momentarily flustered. He had certainly considered this possibility yesterday, but, but…

He hadn’t expected it to be confirmed.

The atmosphere became strange again. The gaze fixed on him had become incredibly intense since that sentence was spoken, almost making Kong Xunwen feel hot himself.

He raised his hand, feeling helpless, and could only say, “Let go first.”

Qiu Zhijie pursed his lips. He was reluctant, but obediently released his hand. His hand dropped, clenching into a fist at his side, as if trying to retain that lingering warmth.

Then, the young man’s figure vanished quickly before his eyes.

Qiu Zhijie stood rooted to the spot, not chasing after him. He watched the tightly shut door he had been looking at all morning quickly open and then close again, seemingly returning to how it was before.

But he knew it was different now.

He returned to the driver’s seat, opened his phone. The last message was still that “Good night.”

Qiu Zhijie tapped the input box. The keyboard popped up. He typed a sentence, but just as his finger was about to press send, he suddenly deleted it all.

He tapped the voice message button again. His deep voice sounded in the car, and a voice message was sent.

He kept refreshing the chat interface, watching the tightly closed door.

After a long while, he fastened his seatbelt, started the engine, and drove away.

Kong Xunwen heard the sound of the car leaving. His phone screen was lit, paused on the chat interface with Qiu Zhijie. He saw the voice message, but it still had a red dot, unlistened to.

The basket placed to the side had a strong presence, intruding on every breath.

Today’s events reminded Kong Xunwen of some things about Qiu Zhijie, from when they were more distant strangers.

He remembered it was six months after he joined the company, during his first performance review. Some of the familiar intern designers had passed, others hadn’t, but all had left.

He hadn’t passed the review. To be honest, although he had somewhat expected it, he was still very frustrated.

Kong Xunwen sat at his desk, managing his emotions. He wouldn’t allow himself to waste too much time on this.

His desk was suddenly tapped.

Qiu Zhijie walked up to him, seemingly casually dropping a document onto the desk. He said, “I’ll email you the details later.”

Following that was a casual remark that was perhaps meant as comfort: “It’s just one failed review.”

After he left, Kong Xunwen looked at the detailed contents of the document.

It was about Qiu Zhijie’s next themed runway show, currently only containing some rough ideas.

But this was Qiu Zhijie’s show.

Moreover, the email that arrived later assigned Kong Xunwen very important tasks—all things that allowed him to learn a lot and were excellent for training.

Kong Xunwen no longer had time to dwell on his failed review. What he needed to focus on now was how to execute the tasks Qiu Zhijie had given him well.

This was the first time he had to do these things without the help of familiar seniors. Because he had heard the seniors and his colleagues at the studio talk about how CEO Qiu was this and that, he didn’t dare approach this boss who had become a legendary Great Demon King.

He messed up something very serious: the venue.

The key theme for this runway show was rugged and steep. The initial idea was for models to descend from a helicopter before starting the walk—not a particularly unique concept.

Therefore, the venue was especially crucial. There was a unique place that was perfect: a castle built on the edge of a cliff. The rooftop was right on the cliff edge, without even a railing, offering a direct view down to the unseen bottom of the abyss. White mist permeated the bottom, sparking boundless imagination.

The castle’s owner was down on his luck and hadn’t maintained the castle for years, but renting the castle from the owner was not an issue. Setting up a runway show inherently required massive expenditure, and Qiu Zhijie was never stingy with investment in this area.

Kong Xunwen needed to negotiate with the castle owner. Before setting off, he doubted himself, wondering if he could pull it off, as his personality was far from gentle. Or, to be blunt, he lacked high emotional intelligence.

But to become a fashion designer, this was something he needed to be able to do.

He forced himself forward, but what a person couldn’t do, they simply couldn’t. Even though he had prepared beforehand, memorizing many taboos that shouldn’t be mentioned in front of the owner before their meeting.

But Kong Xunwen still underestimated the pride of a fallen noble. Just one wrong word, and he was thrown out.

He heard the owner’s furious words: “Is this how much importance you place on me?! I will never receive guests like you again!”

When he returned, he saw Qiu Zhijie. His head was bowed low, his neck impossibly heavy, unable to lift. He could only see Qiu Zhijie’s hand resting on the table, his wrist wrapped in a bandage—an accidental injury from working too hard.

Kong Xunwen thought he would be scolded or something worse. There would certainly be no good outcome. He had messed up such an important matter. If only he had been more careful…

“Thank you for your hard work. He will agree later. You can go back to your tasks.”

That was all he said. Kong Xunwen didn’t dare look up at the time. After leaving, he found everything was normal. The runway show proceeded smoothly. He felt anxious himself, but in the midst of his busy work, he gradually returned to normal.

Later, just as he was about to forget the incident, he saw the fallen noble again at the runway show’s “celebration party,” and received a red-faced, “I apologize, please forgive my rudeness at the time.”

A crisp notification sound brought Kong Xunwen back to the present.

He looked down. It was a message from Teacher Yun, carrying a beautiful picture taken from the mountaintop there.

Teacher Yun: The scenery here is really wonderful. I highly recommend you come see it when you have time.

Teacher Yun: By the way, how are you doing now that you’re back? You should rest more.

Kong Xunwen unconsciously curved his eyes. He sent back the photo he had taken of the honeysuckle bushes just before returning, and then a picture of the basket.

Kong Xunwen: Very good. I went to pick honeysuckle today with a group of children. I’ll dry it and send you some later.

Teacher Yun: That sounds lovely. But perhaps I won’t need to wait for you to send it; I might just come find you myself.

Kong Xunwen replied with a smile: Then I must treat you well.

After chatting for a while, he felt hungry and got up to go to the kitchen.