His Venomous Former Boss Chased Him And Beat Him Fiercely Chapter 69
bypoked that gleaming arm muscle
The village was quiet at the moment, punctuated by the chirping of cicadas and the occasional crowing of a rooster. The afternoon sun was dazzlingly bright, and the fragmented sounds of the village brought a sense of weariness.
“Brother Kong!”
As the car pulled up to the gate, Kong Xunwen saw several little dark-skinned kids running toward him.
They looked even darker than when he had left in a hurry last time.
He got out of the car, and the little kids rushed over in an instant.
Little Boss, his face much darker, didn’t seem to mind at all. He looked up, his eyes sparkling, “Brother Kong, you’re finally back.”
Kong Xunwen smiled and nodded, “I left in a bit of a rush and didn’t have time to tell you.”
Little Boss shook his head, his expression serious, “It’s okay, I know you adults have your own things to do.”
Ni’er pulled Little Bai, who was the fairest among the group of dark-skinned kids, closer. She looked at Kong Xunwen eagerly, “Brother Kong, did you go to work? That’s so amazing.”
Hearing this, Little Bai gave his friend a speechless look, then seriously addressed Kong Xunwen, “Next time you leave, you have to tell us.”
Kong Xunwen quickly nodded, “Next time, I definitely will.”
After some time away, the children seemed to have grown taller. Combined with their darker skin, Kong Xunwen felt a little unfamiliar with them. Returning to the village felt somewhat surreal.
“Why are you standing at the door? Aren’t you coming in?”
Qiu Zhijie had just gotten out of the car and was unloading the luggage from the trunk.
Kong Xunwen, who was slightly distracted, turned his head to look, “Ah, yes, it’s so hot outside. Let’s go in first.”
The children swarmed forward, following Kong Xunwen to help move the belongings.
Pangpang immediately spotted the watermelons they had bought recently at a roadside stall. He swallowed, “I’ll take the watermelons.”
Qiu Zhijie glanced at him, “These watermelons are almost bigger than your stomach.”
Kong Xunwen instinctively looked at Pangpang.
Pangpang chuckled innocently, rubbing his belly, then looking at the watermelons, “Yeah, my stomach holds lots and lots of food.”
Qiu Zhijie took the bag of watermelons out of the trunk, “Come on, who wants to carry them with him?”
Little Boss stepped forward, “I will.”
The two children felt the weight in their hands. They walked toward the courtyard, carrying the bag together, looking quite familiar with the routine. Their bodies leaned to the sides to balance the weight, which looked amusing.
Kong Xunwen watched them, then watched them again, and finally took a picture to keep.
Little Bai and Ni’er were also carrying some fruit on the side. Ni’er, sharp-eyed, noticed Kong Xunwen’s action and immediately moved closer to Brother Kong, her dark face showing a hint of shyness.
Kong Xunwen was looking at the photo and didn’t notice anything at first, until Qiu Zhijie spoke, “What are you doing?”
Only then did he look down and see Ni’er by his leg.
“What is it?” Unlike the man beside him whose words could be frustrating, the young man’s voice wasn’t overly gentle, just very calm and pleasant to listen to.
The children had interacted with Qiu Zhijie before and knew that this older brother had that kind of personality, so Ni’er just puffed out her cheeks. Seeing that Brother Kong had noticed her, she immediately smiled.
Her clean white teeth gleamed brightly along with her eyes on her dark face, “Brother Kong, take a picture of me too.”
The child said earnestly, “That way, when I go to school, my grandma and grandpa can look at my picture when they miss me.”
Kong Xunwen was momentarily stunned. He suddenly remembered that, indeed, the children would be starting school soon.
School starts in September, and it was already late July. Summer came late this year, only officially starting recently, more than a month later than usual.
It arrived late, but fiercely, and it was especially hot now.
In about a month, the children would start school.
He had only heard them briefly mention this before—that they would return to their parents to attend school.
“Ah.” Time passes so quickly.
“Aren’t you going to video call them then?” Little Bai tugged her hand.
Ni’er lifted her chin, stating matter-of-factly, “But they’ll miss me during the day too.”
Kong Xunwen was only stunned for a moment. Hearing this, he couldn’t help but curve his lips into a smile, “Alright, let’s do it.”
As they suddenly started taking pictures here, Qiu Zhijie, who was busy moving things, glanced at the people taking photos and then withdrew his gaze, though his eyes held a thoughtful look.
The photo session ended quickly because it was too hot outside, and the children were starting to feel uncomfortable. So, everyone, mainly Kong Xunwen and Qiu Zhijie, quickly moved the belongings inside.
The courtyard was still neat and tidy. There wasn’t even a single weed.
Kong Xunwen looked around in surprise. Yezi’s voice was a little quiet, “We came in and pulled the weeds out.”
“Pulled weeds?” Kong Xunwen looked at the door, which had been securely locked earlier.
Little Boss was very casual, pointing a finger, “Yeah, we came in through there.”
Kong Xunwen followed the direction of the finger and saw a small door wide open, not far from the pomegranate tree, like a large, smiling mouth.
…
This was a small, exclusive door his parents had opened for him when he was little. It had been hidden by weeds before, and reappeared after the cleanup, but he had forgotten about it when he went to find Qiu Zhijie.
“…Thank you, guys.” Kong Xunwen said with a hint of helplessness in his smile.
Little Boss poked his head forward, “Wasn’t this left open for us?”
Kong Xunwen paused for a moment, then his expression became natural, “That’s right. You guys are so smart, you actually figured out my hidden intention.”
Little Boss giggled.
The group roughly settled their things and sat together in the living room. Kong Xunwen turned on the large screen and played games with the children after a long absence. Everyone was completely focused.
Qiu Zhijie watched for a while, took out his phone, tapped a few times, and then went to the kitchen. The sound of running water could be heard.
After playing for a while, Qiu Zhijie was still in the kitchen. The children were happily and noisily playing games. There weren’t many controllers, so they took turns playing, while the others gathered around the player, excitedly offering advice.
Kong Xunwen didn’t have a controller at the moment. He was watching from the side when sweat suddenly dripped down his forehead, stinging his eyes. He frowned, looked at the children, then looked outside, and finally checked the temperature displayed on the central air conditioner.
With this series of movements, the spot where his back rested against the sofa felt loose, suddenly feeling bright, followed by a sticky sensation.
Was the air conditioner on? But why was it so hot?
Kong Xunwen pulled a tissue to wipe the sweat from his forehead and the tip of his nose, and then pressed the back of his neck.
Fortunately, because it was hot today, he had tied up his overly long hair and clipped back the stray strands. This made his neck feel much better, but his head felt hot and stuffy.
Unable to bear it any longer, Kong Xunwen poked the child in front of him, “Aren’t you guys hot?”
The child turned his head. It was Little Boss. The stray hairs on his forehead were wet, and his face was covered in sweat. The other children moved too. As the air circulated, a certain smell wafted over.
Every face was sweaty, and their clothes had damp patches.
Coupled with their dark faces, they looked… smelly. Well, they actually were smelly.
Kong Xunwen subtly shifted away, “If you’re hot, why didn’t you say anything?”
Little Boss wiped his sweat, “My grandparents don’t like turning on the air conditioner either.”
But there wasn’t even a fan here.
Kong Xunwen opened his mouth. He really wasn’t that frugal, but it was true that the children wouldn’t easily speak up. This was something he should have noticed.
“What’s wrong?” Qiu Zhijie emerged from the kitchen, completely dry, carrying a fruit platter. As soon as he came out, he frowned.
“It’s so hot, isn’t the air conditioner on?”
Kong Xunwen stood up and walked over, “It was on when we came in, and the display looks fine, but it’s still so hot.”
The two walked over to the air conditioner. Kong Xunwen reached out to check, “Why is… why is it blowing hot air?”
Qiu Zhijie stepped closer, carefully examined the display screen, pressed a few buttons, and finally looked at the young man beside him, “The mode is set to cooling, so it must be broken.”
“Let’s turn it off then.” No wonder it had gotten hotter after they came inside. Kong Xunwen had no choice but to say.
With the air conditioner off, Kong Xunwen went upstairs to fetch a fan. Fortunately, this fan had also been replaced. He had thought they could use it during the transition between summer and autumn instead of turning on the AC.
The main door of the living room was also opened. The outside breeze blowing in made things much better, although the stickiness of the sweat on their bodies was still uncomfortable.
As soon as Qiu Zhijie placed the fruit platter on the table, Kong Xunwen arrived and started inviting the children to eat the fruit.
Pangpang, who had been watching the fruit platter and swallowing, neglecting the game, immediately cheered up.
Taking the half watermelon Qiu Zhijie handed him, the smile on Kong Xunwen’s face turned to surprise as he looked at Qiu Zhijie.
A beautiful silver spoon was handed over along with it.
Seeing that the young man didn’t take the spoon, Qiu Zhijie simply used the spoon to scoop out a piece from the center of the half watermelon and offered it to the young man’s lips.
Just as Kong Xunwen was about to open his mouth, he noticed the envious looks from the children beside him. However, it was clear that the children’s focus was on that large, central, and sweetest piece of watermelon heart.
Realizing this, Kong Xunwen felt a little amused and speechless. It was the first time he had been envied for something like this.
Perhaps out of a certain mischievousness, the young man narrowed his eyes slightly, opened his lips, and ate the sweetest piece of watermelon heart, which was as precious as a ruby, in one bite.
He could almost hear the children’s deep disappointment.
Kong Xunwen savored the sweet juice, his eyes crinkling into a smile.
*
After eating the fruit, Kong Xunwen didn’t let the children play games anymore. Not long after, the children suggested leaving.
After saying goodbye to them, Kong Xunwen returned to the living room.
Qiu Zhijie was standing in front of the air conditioner. Hearing footsteps, he turned his head and frowned, “I just checked, the air conditioner upstairs is also broken. It might take until tomorrow to fix it.”
Ah, this was the most important issue today. Kong Xunwen felt the current temperature and looked up.
They had been sitting together with the fan blowing, but areas not reached by the fan were still sweaty. What about lying in bed tonight?
Not having air conditioning in this weather was pure torture.
He still had the soft, spring/autumn quilt on his bed.
Putting the evening situation aside for the moment, Kong Xunwen was still very uncomfortable. He temporarily put the matter aside and went to the bathroom.
He felt much better after showering, but before long, he started feeling sticky again.
Kong Xunwen looked at Qiu Zhijie, who seemed completely unaffected by the heat, and felt genuinely envious. He said sourly, “Aren’t you hot?”
“I am, but it’s fine with the fan blowing,” Qiu Zhijie said calmly.
Raising an eyebrow, Kong Xunwen quickly moved closer and pressed the man’s arm. It was slightly cool—at least a very comfortable temperature compared to the heat of his palm.
When one spot got warm, he’d move to another, and then move back when that spot warmed up again.
Unlike ice, this gentle warmth was much more soothing.
In the afternoon, he still held a live stream. He finished early today. Before Qiu Zhijie could call him for dinner, Kong Xunwen stood up, stretched, and left the streaming room. Sounds came from the kitchen. He followed the noise and indeed saw Qiu Zhijie busy cooking.
Broad shoulders and a narrow waist. The short sleeves rarely exposed the muscle definition of his arms. As the cooking started, heat surged from the kitchen, making it much hotter than outside. Qiu Zhijie’s skin was slightly gleaming.
Kong Xunwen quietly approached and poked that gleaming arm muscle.