His Venomous Former Boss Chased Him And Beat Him Fiercely Chapter 9
byFlower Fragrance—An Imagined Embrace
Kong Xunwen woke up very early. It was still dark. As he cooked wontons in the kitchen, he looked at the side window; only the edge of the sky was showing a faint glimmer of light.
He hadn’t expected to be so excited about today’s outing with the children.
After he finished his wontons, the outside finally brightened, but it was only a little past seven, still too early. Since they hadn’t agreed on a specific time yesterday, he decided to go to the streaming room to clean up the mess from the previous day.
Because he hadn’t felt inspired at the time, he had tried switching to the canvas, so paints and other materials were scattered on the floor, and the tripod and phone for the stream were still set up.
After tidying up, Kong Xunwen got up, ready to wait for the children in the living room.
As he opened the door, he suddenly felt like a child waiting for his companions, though, in fact, when he was Little Kong, he always preferred to play alone.
He hadn’t expected that after growing up, he would suddenly acquire such a group of little companions, and he was surprisingly happy about it.
Just as he was thinking this, a familiar chorus of children’s voices suddenly rang out from outside: “Kong Guoguo! We’re here!”
The sound arrived before the people.
Immediately following were the small figures appearing through the courtyard gate.
The children today looked genuinely different from before. Perhaps it was because Kong Xunwen had always seen them after they had been playing for a while, and even if they had tidied up, they were usually already messy.
They were never as clean and neat as they looked now.
Another difference was the small baskets hanging from the children’s hands.
Kong Xunwen’s gaze swept around, landing on the little boy’s meticulously combed hair, and then on the little girls beside him. Every one of them had a beautiful little braid on their head, each styled differently.
He also picked up the basket he had prepared earlier, which contained scissors, a small knife, and gloves. He wasn’t sure if they would be needed, but he brought them just in case.
“Your hair looks nice,” he complimented. Although his expression remained calm, the praise was evident.
The children didn’t care whether the compliment was heartfelt or not; it warmed their hearts.
Little Boss lifted her chin, and Pangpang followed suit, raising his round chin as well. Although the other children didn’t do this, they were still beaming.
Only Yezi lowered her head, her ears red, before looking up again.
Little Boss remained reserved. Without replying, she simply raised her chin and said, “We came to find you. Let’s go.”
Little Bai looked at Kong Xunwen, raising her hand. She had a sleeve cover over the sleeve of her top, and she reminded him, “Wearing this means your clothes won’t get dirty.”
Kong Xunwen looked over and nodded, but said, “I don’t have one of those. But it’s okay, my clothes are dirt-resistant.”
Only then did Little Bai nod.
Ni’er raised her hand, clenching it into a fist: “Then let’s set off!”
Kong Xunwen followed the children, who had lined up again, and walked out, carrying his basket.
Shortly after Kong Xunwen left with his “date” for the day, a car pulled up at the courtyard gate.
If Kong Xunwen had been present, he would have recognized that this car had been here yesterday as well. Soon, a tall man stepped out. It was indeed Qiu Zhijie.
Today, he was dressed meticulously, even his hair was styled. He wore a black and white casual shirt.
However, the man was faced with a tightly closed door.
Standing at the entrance, Qiu Zhijie hesitated, glanced at his phone, and then got back into the car. It was still early; perhaps Kong Xunwen hadn’t woken up yet.
He decided to wait. If Kong Xunwen woke up, he would likely come and open the door first.
Thinking this, Qiu Zhijie sat down in the driver’s seat and looked at his phone again, reviewing his chat history with Kong Xunwen from yesterday.
The more he looked, the more he wondered why he had sent those messages yesterday.
His finger slid down, the ring on it gliding across the screen. The silver band gleamed faintly under the screen light. He scrolled down the chat interface until it couldn’t go any further.
Then, his gaze lingered on the final “Good night.”
*
Kong Xunwen walked at the back. The children’s parents were busy on the other side of the small hill. After the little group rushed past and announced their arrival, the parents’ calls, using the children’s nicknames, constantly drifted over from that side.
The trees on the other side of the hill were not very tall. It used to be an empty field, but now fresh wild vegetables grew there every year, were picked, and then grew back the following year. Every time they looked, it was a lush green expanse.
Little Kong had also come to pick vegetables, keeping his distance from the villagers but staying close to his parents.
This side of the hill didn’t have as many types of wild vegetables, so it had always been the children’s playground. Before, there were so many children that Little Kong found it noisy.
Now, there were five children, plus Kong Xunwen.
Fortunately, the trees here were tall. As they walked along the small path opened by the parents, the separated wild grasses and vines emitted a somewhat pungent, grassy smell.
Little Boss, Pangpang, Ni’er, Little Bai, and Yezi, lined up in a row, wrinkled their noses, trying to escape the smell that was too strong for them.
For Kong Xunwen, however, it was fine. It even smelled fresh and a little comforting. He took a deep breath.
The sound made the five heads in front turn around.
Kong Xunwen smiled slightly: “It might be better if you cover your noses with your sleeves.”
Then, five noses were covered by five flowery sleeve covers. The little group stopped chattering, and their responses to their parents’ calls sounded muffled.
They quickly followed the man-made path to their destination. In fact, the scent had reached them as soon as they got close—it was very fragrant, and as they got nearer, it aggressively dominated their nasal passages.
Kong Xunwen, the only one who hadn’t covered his nose, felt his nose tickle and he sneezed.
Amidst the rustling laughter of the little group, he also covered his nose with his sleeve.
When they reached the end of the path, the large patch of honeysuckle appeared before their eyes. The background of green leaves set off the white and golden flowers in front. Some flowers were long, slender buds with cute bulges at the tip. The opened flowers looked like threads pulled out, with curled petals.
It was April, and most of this large patch of honeysuckle was still in bud, which was their target.
Kong Xunwen was still immersed in the vast, sweet fragrance before him when his pants were tugged.
He looked down to see Little Boss.
The girl looked up, her sleeves lowered, her large eyes fixed on him with a very serious expression. The braid at the back of her head, which had been meticulously styled, had somehow become messy again.
As Liu Tingfang looked up, the braid fell onto her back.
Kong Xunwen couldn’t help but become serious too.
“You remember to pick the flower buds, okay?”
Little Bai carefully lifted her trouser leg and approached. Beside her was Ni’er, holding something in her hand.
Little Bai said, “It’s like this.”
It was a honeysuckle bud whose tip had not yet split open.
Kong Xunwen nodded: “Okay, I know.”
The morning passed quickly as they picked flowers. At first, Kong Xunwen was slower than the children, and some buds at the bottom of his basket were put there by Little Boss. Later, his speed caught up, and the girl looked quite relieved.
When they finally gathered their harvest, everyone’s baskets were almost full. Kong Xunwen saw the little group huddle together. He squatted down and asked, “What are you doing?”
After the morning’s activity, although he wasn’t smiling, his expression was much softer than before.
Ni’er was right next to Kong Xunwen and was the first to answer: “It’s for Little Bai’s grandma. Grandma He braided our pretty hair!”
Kong Xunwen looked around. The heads that had been neat and beautiful this morning now had flowers and leaves sticking out, looking messy and stubbly.
Before he could say anything, the little group had finished their task. They had piled the honeysuckle for Grandma He into a small cloth bag. It didn’t look like much, but the bag was placed on top of Little Bai’s basket, and the children’s own baskets had noticeably less in them.
The voices of the children’s respective parents drifted over from the other side of the hill.
They had to go back.
Kong Xunwen watched the little group rush off again, leaving behind only a chorus of goodbyes.
The villagers used a different path to get to the small hill, so they generally wouldn’t pass his door. The little group had acted separately from their parents earlier.
“Goodbye,” he said. He looked at the honeysuckle vines behind him, which now had far fewer flowers.
The surroundings became quiet again, but this was actually the environment he was used to, both as Kong Xunwen and as Little Kong—an environment he was accustomed to and genuinely loved.
On the way back, accompanied by the scent of honeysuckle wafting from his basket, Kong Xunwen felt his heart gently floating. If he sat down in front of his canvas again this time, he certainly wouldn’t come away empty-handed.
*
Qiu Zhijie waited all morning, but the door never opened. He had also handled several hours of work in the car. Only when he had a moment of leisure did he begin to feel suspicious about the closed door.
Could he have been wrong? Was it actually because Kong Xunwen didn’t want to see him today, so…
He pulled out his phone again.
The car was parked in the shade, and the man’s features were not clearly visible inside the car. He held the phone with both hands, his thumbs resting on the screen. The phone looked somewhat small and cute in his large hands, resting on the steering wheel.
In the quiet space of the car, the ticking sound of the clock hands was very clear, occasionally punctuated by the hard sound of his ring tapping the screen, accompanied by a muffled whooshing sound from outside—the wind blowing through the treetops.
However, no message was sent in the chat interface that frequently appeared on the screen. This time, there wasn’t even a retraction.
Qiu Zhijie was once again carefully typing words into the search bar when his ears twitched. He seemed to hear something and immediately looked up.
He didn’t have to search for long before he saw the figure, light-footed and carrying a basket, appearing in his line of sight, accompanied by the rustling sound of footsteps.
The already large figure straightened up, making the car interior feel somewhat cramped. He held this stiff posture for a few seconds before quickly opening the car door and stepping out.
The scent of flowers, carried by the wind, entered his nostrils, gradually becoming stronger.
Qiu Zhijie had been hesitant moments ago, but now that he was out of the car, his steps became firm. He walked a few paces until he was in front of Kong Xunwen, meeting the young man’s slightly widened eyes.
His gaze dropped, falling upon the flower buds in the basket—the apparent source of the fragrance—piled tightly together. A few rolled on the surface, seemingly looking up at him, curious about his relationship with the young man who had picked them.
But Qiu Zhijie felt that a heavier floral scent seemed to envelop the young man—this was the smell he had caught on the wind just now.
If thinking this made him happy, then he would think it.
Yes, he would be happy because of it.
He shuffled his feet forward, moving closer to the young man. If some of the scent could rub off on him, that would be even better.
It was as if they had embraced through the fragrance of the flowers.