His Venomous Former Boss Chased Him And Beat Him Fiercely Chapter 75

Entwined, Rubbed

Kong Xunwen was leaning on the table by the window, staring at the sketchbook Qiu Zhijie had generously given him. It contained the results of his work over the past period. After flipping through it for a while, he lowered his eyes and sighed softly.

“What’s wrong?” Qiu Zhijie was right beside him. He retrieved the fountain pen that had rolled toward the youth due to his movement and held it in his hand.

He was quite indifferent about showing his design drafts to his lover.

“This is your talent, truly…” Kong Xunwen said, lazily closing the book.

The unfinished half-sentence wasn’t pleasant to hear, but Qiu Zhijie understood the true meaning behind it. After all, it was a former dream, one he had stumbled through, and now he had to watch his partner walk a clear, open path ahead.

Qiu Zhijie never doubted his own talent in this area.

Kong Xunwen stingily extended a finger and pushed the sketchbook forward: “But it’s much better now that you’ve confirmed your direction, for you.”

Qiu Zhijie, who was about to say something, paused for a few seconds: “Mhm.”

He took the book, didn’t open it, and tucked it under his arm. He then reached out to pinch the solitary finger that was still extended, continuing, “Actually, I completely couldn’t understand it before.”

Kong Xunwen looked up.

“Don’t get angry at what I’m about to say.”

This phrase sounded familiar. Kong Xunwen didn’t react, just raised an eyebrow in his current posture: “Go ahead.”

He never allowed himself to easily leave such potential trouble unresolved.

Qiu Zhijie thought for a moment, then continued: “Actually, before, I found it very hard to understand those people who made terrible designs.”

Kong Xunwen blinked. That group, of course, included him. It was expected, and there was nothing to be angry about.

After all, Qiu Zhijie hadn’t targeted him specifically.

It was just inevitably frustrating, concerning something unchangeable like talent.

“I thought it was their own fault, but then I saw you…”

Kong Xunwen stopped him in time: “Alright, don’t say any more.”

Any more would be hurtful.

Qiu Zhijie closed his mouth.

Kong Xunwen glanced at him again: “Forget it, you can continue.”

Hearing this, Qiu Zhijie couldn’t help but smile: “It’s nothing much, really. It’s just that you work incredibly hard, so I was a little emotional.”

Examining Qiu Zhijie closely, Kong Xunwen raised one eyebrow: “Isn’t it because you saw me work so hard without results that you realized how important talent is?”

Qiu Zhijie fell silent.

Kong Xunwen, however, laughed: “Alright, I’ve found what I’m truly good at now, and in a way, this really isn’t a big deal.”

“But since you said something like that in front of me, I really should get angry for a moment.”

As he spoke, Kong Xunwen looked at Qiu Zhijie, who had raised his head following his movement, smiled with curved eyes, and then mercilessly left him behind and walked out the door.

He heard some movement behind him. Through the reflection of the figure on the glass outside the door, he saw the man hesitate, wanting to follow, but ultimately stopping himself.

In reality, Kong Xunwen, whose back was turned, was smiling.

He finally saw a little bit of the process of Qiu Zhijie falling for him. So, that’s when he started paying attention to him.

Kong Xunwen smiled, walking down the stairs step by step, then paused.

His gaze fell upon the second floor, which he had deliberately ignored.

The smile gradually faded.

It was a perfectly ordinary afternoon. The summer sun was scorching, and the cicadas’ chirping was hoarse and sharp. However, the air conditioning was on indoors, making the air a bit dry but the temperature comfortable.

The creak of the door opening—a sound that now belonged to this rarely used door because Little Kong had mischievously opened and closed it many times.

Hearing it now felt somewhat unfamiliar, perhaps because things had changed.

This area was also covered in many white sheets, heavy dust, and stale air rushed toward him.

Kong Xunwen covered the tip of his nose, then reacted, turning around to go downstairs. He retrieved cleaning tools before walking into the room again.

Upstairs, Qiu Zhijie watched the youth’s back disappear through the doorway. Perhaps the other person didn’t want to see him right now; it was better to let him have some quiet time.

He turned back, staring at the sketchbook in his hand for a long while.

A bird flew over and landed on the window ledge, seemingly to escape the scorching sunlight. Its feathers were pressed against the bright glass, and its round black eyes stared at this motionless behemoth.

After a moment, it tilted its head, confirmed that it wouldn’t move, and looked away. But then it suddenly heard something, frantically spread its wings, and flew away awkwardly.

The man who suddenly stood up frowned deeply, overturning his previous thought.

Communication was the most important thing between partners. How could he let someone stay alone in this situation? It wouldn’t do if something happened and he wasn’t there.

The world was never short of accidents.

Qiu Zhijie relaxed his brows. Yes, that was right. His steps became more resolute.

He had just heard the sound of footsteps going downstairs. He smoothly descended one floor. The original wooden door on the second floor, which had been tightly shut, was now open.

Bright sunlight spilled out, illuminating this small, dark corner.

Qiu Zhijie hesitated, peering in, but didn’t step inside.

The room was completely unfamiliar to him. He didn’t know that this entire floor had been covered with white sheets until recently; he only saw that it was covered in dust.

Of course, that wasn’t the reason he didn’t enter.

Because the first thing he noticed was a slightly tilted photo frame placed on the living room coffee table. It contained a somewhat familiar couple and a child in the middle who looked unhappy, pursing his lips.

Clearly, this place was special.

Qiu Zhijie had never met Kong Xunwen’s parents, only his teacher. The two of them hadn’t discussed this before, but he had some guesses.

However, since Kong Xunwen hadn’t brought it up, he didn’t dare to mention it first.

As he was thinking, the youth, who had changed into comfortable clothes, his body smelling strongly of dust but moving efficiently, emerged from a room holding a rag and a basin. Seeing him, his eyes widened slightly.

Qiu Zhijie met his gaze, unsure what expression was appropriate.

Kong Xunwen froze for a moment, stopping in his tracks. Then, he saw the man, whose expression had been somewhat complex, suddenly break into a smile.

He tilted his head in confusion, stopping the words he was about to say, and couldn’t help but ask: “What are you laughing at?”

Qiu Zhijie finally stood properly and walked in, trying to take the basin of dirty water, but Kong Xunwen dodged him. He gave up on that, but his other hand smoothly wiped a patch of dirt off the youth’s cheek.

“Here, it’s dirty.” He showed him, though he actually thought the sight was quite endearing.

Kong Xunwen glanced at it, then looked up and said: “Change your clothes before you come back to help.”

Qiu Zhijie agreed. Kong Xunwen poured out the water in the basin and walked downstairs empty-handed. Qiu Zhijie watched him for a few moments, then quickly went back upstairs. His movements were very swift.

Kong Xunwen smiled with some pleasure. Now he had a helper.

However, even without a helper, he wouldn’t have hired someone to clean. This house was too special to him. As he cleaned and tidied it little by little, it felt as if those memories were slowly returning.

He rubbed his fingertips, cleared his thoughts, and quickened his pace.

When Kong Xunwen went back upstairs, Qiu Zhijie had also changed his clothes.

He held a larger basin he had brought up and scrutinized the person in front of him.

Qiu Zhijie displayed himself openly.

Kong Xunwen looked exasperated: “…Couldn’t you wear something like…”

He thought for a while before finding the right descriptive words: “Something more plain.”

Qiu Zhijie looked down, then up, looking very innocent and a little wronged: “It is very plain.”

To him, it was indeed very plain, but in Kong Xunwen’s eyes, this pure white outfit, which wouldn’t hide dirt at all and looked brand new, and the slightly distressed pants—that was just the style, the style!

“Forget it, wear my clothes.”

Kong Xunwen put down the basin he had brought for Qiu Zhijie and reached out—

Qiu Zhijie also reached out, offering his hand to be held.

After looking for a moment, Kong Xunwen withdrew his hand. Although he had washed them, he had just been cleaning, and his hands still felt dirty.

“Never mind, come with me.”

He walked ahead, shaking his hand, but someone appeared beside him. In the blink of an eye, his free hand was taken.

*

“Is this you crying when you were little?”

Though they were cleaning together, Qiu Zhijie’s movements sped up once he got the hang of it, but he kept getting distracted.

Kong Xunwen didn’t even look, continuing his work: “Let’s finish cleaning first.”

He frowned as he spoke. There was a lot of dust in the room. The air conditioning was running, but the air was still dry. He had just moved a humidifier in, but it clearly wasn’t taking effect that quickly.

Because of his vigorous movements, his tightly tied hair had loosened again. Stray strands fell onto his forehead and neck, floating with his scrubbing motions, feeling prickly and uncomfortable.

He had lost count of how many times he had tied his hair back up.

Lifting his clean, dry hands to tie his hair, Kong Xunwen finally had a moment to watch how Qiu Zhijie was working.

The man’s movements weren’t slow, and he wasn’t slacking off, but his whole body exuded a strange cheerfulness, as if he were treating this like some kind of game.

Kong Xunwen leaned against the doorway, utterly bewildered.

Qiu Zhijie was indeed happy. There were so many traces of Kong Xunwen here, from childhood to the present. It felt like he could piece together a complete trajectory of Kong Xunwen’s growth, like searching for treasure.

Fortunately, the place had been tidied before being covered with sheets, so although the area wasn’t small, it didn’t require much organizing, just cleaning.

It was completely dark when they finally finished.

Kong Xunwen took off his gloves. He hadn’t worn any initially, but later, thinking it was bad for his hands to be constantly soaked in water, he dug out some gloves. But because they had been cleaning for so long and the rubber gloves were too stuffy, his fingertips were wrinkled and his palms felt sticky.

He pulled over Qiu Zhijie’s hand, who was still lingering over the photo of him as a child.

He had been uncomfortable for a while and felt much better having taken them off, but this man seemed completely unfazed, having only taken off one glove and remaining motionless while holding the photo.

The hand that had removed the glove was indeed wrinkled and sticky.

Kong Xunwen looked at it for a moment and squeezed the fingertips.

Qiu Zhijie’s fingers involuntarily curled slightly. He put down the photo, turned around, and immediately enveloped both of the youth’s hands with his other hand. The hand that had been pinched flipped over, joining the other in wrapping around the pair of hands that were slightly more slender than his own.

“Are you hungry?” he asked, but didn’t release his grip. Holding them together, he brought them under the faucet. Their fingers entwined, rubbing together. He pumped some soap, lathered it up, and finally rinsed them clean.

Then he held them again.

It was very late, and the two decided to eat out.

This time, Qiu Zhijie drove, and Kong Xunwen sat in the passenger seat, resting his head on his hand. He remembered: “I need a haircut.”

The streetlights outside the car window flickered and receded as the car moved. Light and shadow fell across their faces and bodies. The wind rushed in through the open window, feeling very comfortable.

They chatted like this. Kong Xunwen narrowed his eyes, feeling comfortably drowsy, yet he stayed awake to keep the driver company, speaking a few words now and then.