Sissy (Niang Niang Qiang) - Chap 34
Chapter 34
Li Chengxiu didn’t go far after he left the house. He realized that due to leaving in such a haste he forgot to bring any money, his mobile phone and even his keys.
It was an escape.
In front of his sister, Shao Qun treated him with complete indifference, like a housekeeper. Although Li Chengxiu understood that their relationship could not be revealed just like that, especially to his family, he still felt uncomfortable.
Shao Qun could have introduced him as a friend…
Li Chengxiu didn’t have any money on him. He didn’t dare to go far, nor to go to any restaurant. But the weather was so cold that he had no choice but to walk to the nearest supermarket to wander around inside.
After staying in the supermarket until it was about to close at 10 o’clock, Li Chengxiu reluctantly came out, clutching his arms, as he shuffled back.
When he got back, he saw that the lights in the house were on, but one of Shao Qun’s cars was missing. He knew that Shao Qun never had the awareness to turn off the lights or switch off the air conditioner when he went out.
Li Chengxiu was looking at the beautiful little villa in confusion.
It was brightly lit inside, yet he was standing on the outside, shivering from the cold, unable to get in. As if it was someone else’s house, and the owners were staying inside in the warmth and had nothing to do with Li Chengxiu.
In fact, wasn’t that the case? This was Shao Qun’s house after all, and Li Chengxiu was only allowed to live here.
Shao Qun could let him in or throw him out at any time. Just like today.
At this point, Li Chengxiu didn’t know where to go, so he cowered at the gate, hoping that Shao Qun would come back sooner.
He thought that he should move out after the exams.
He could rent a place with his own savings. It wasn’t an option to live in someone else’s house all the time. After finding a place to live, he could look for a job. Now, at least he doesn’t have to pay off his debts every month. With the salary that Shao Qun gave him for the sea party last time, he could continue taking classes and slowly repay what he owed to Shao Qun.
If the two of them were on an equal footing, like when they first met, and didn’t owe each other anything, Li Chengxiu could talk to Shao Qun with his back straight.
He didn’t know how long he waited. But his feet were already numb by the time he heard the sounds of the car coming from the driveway.
The automatic gate opened with a “beep”, and the sensor lights immediately turned on. Li Chengxiu, who was standing by the gate, suddenly appeared in front of Shao Qun. He braked hard and almost grazed Li Chengxiu.
Shao Qun got out of the car and angrily shouted, “Are you insane? What are you doing standing here? Don’t you fucking know that I could have hit you right now?”
Li Chengxiu said tremblingly, “I forgot my keys.”
Seeing that he was shivering from the cold, Shao Qun walked up to him and touched his face: “How long have you been standing here? Why didn’t you go somewhere?”
“I forgot to bring any money.”
“And you didn’t bring your phone?”
Li Chengxiu shook his head stiffly.
Shao Qun scolded: “You idiot.”
He took out his key and threw it to Li Chengxiu, “Hurry up, get inside.I’ll park the car.”
Li Chengxiu’s hands were still trembling. He failed to catch the key, and it fell to the ground.
Shao Qun picked up the key for him and pressed it into Li Chengxiu’s hand, when he realized that it felt like an ice cube. He took his coat from the car seat, wrapped Li Chengxiu inside it, picked him up and walked into the house .
He put Li Chengxiu on the bed, covered him with a quilt and then went to the bathroom to run hot water. By the time he returned after parking the car in the yard, the bath was almost ready.
He took Li Chengxiu out of the quilt again: “Come on. Take off your clothes and go take a bath. You must be really cold.”
Li Chengxiu nodded and did as he was told. Shao Qun carried him to the bathroom and gently placed him in the bathtub.
The moment Li Chengxiu was surrounded by warm water, he felt as if the pores all over his body were slowly thawing. His limbs and his bones finally regained vitality, and he took a deep breath.
Shao Qun also took off his clothes and got into the huge jacuzzi. He hugged Li Chengxiu from behind and rubbed his slowly warming hands.
“Since you didn’t bring anything, why didn’t you come back to get it?”
“Your sister was here.”
Shao Qun couldn’t help biting the snow-white neck in front of him: “Idiot. Just look at how cold you were!”
Li Chengxiu stared absently at the surface of the water and asked, “Your sister… does she know that we…”
Shao Qun responded casually, “She knows. But it’s fine, don’t worry.”
Li Chengxiu’s heart felt sore. He almost couldn’t hold back the words: “Since she knows, why did you have to kick me out?”
Shao Qun squeezed his cold hand, feeling somewhat uneasy.
He didn’t plan to let Li Chengxiu know about his marriage. Whether he gets married or not has nothing to do with Li Chengxiu anyway. But he couldn’t help thinking that if Li Chengxiu was a woman…
If he was a woman, he might have actually married him. Such a virtuous, gentle, obedient and considerate wife would truly be one of a kind.
Damn, why wasn’t he a woman?
However, Shao Qun decided to treat him well. Li Chengxiu was different from his former lovers. When they got together, Li Chengxiu was still inexperienced. Shao Qun was the one who taught him every little thing, which naturally made him treat Li Chengxiu more or less as his own private property. And Li Chengxiu’s performance was really good, so Shao Qun felt that he liked him very much. No matter how long they would be together in the future, Shao Qun was not going to treat him badly.
As he thought about it, he kissed Li Chengxiu’s smooth shoulder and said, “Let’s get you a driver’s license. In my free time I can teach you how to drive. You can choose any of the three cars in the yard. If you don’t like any of those, I can buy you a new one, okay?”
Li Chengxiu shook his head gently: “No need, I’m not used to all of this.”
“Then it’s time to get a driver for you. It’s cold, and it’s too inconvenient for you to go outside like that.”
Li Chengxiu did not respond. Everything was up to Shao Qun anyway.
Shao Qun felt that Li Chengxiu should be happy right now. He stroked Li Chengxiu’s gradually warming body, and then they did it once in the bathtub.
The days were still passing by smoothly.
What comforted Li Chengxiu a little was that Shao Qun seemed to be a lot more enthusiastic about him than before. The frequency of him coming home for dinner at night had increased significantly, and he often brought him various valuable gifts. Since all these things came from Shao Qun’s heart, Li Chengxiu didn’t really mind receiving them. They all stayed in the house anyway. When one day Li Chengxiu moved out, he just wouldn’t take them with him.
There were still a few days left before the exam, and Li Chengxiu concentrated entirely on his preparations.
Never before in his life had his wish to make more money been so strong.
Although the previous days were a little tough, Li Chengxiu still felt content. It was going to be different from now on. He hoped to give good things to Shao Qun too, and hoped that Shao Qun might look up to him.
After Shao Qun went to work during the day, Li Chengxiu tidied up the house as usual and then flipped through the daily newspaper while resting on the sofa.
He usually didn’t watch a lot of TV. When he was bored, he just read newspapers.
When he flipped to the entertainment page, the picture on the headline made his body freeze.
The article was about a famous model with a certain background who was photographed while on a date with an unknown man in Kowloon[5]. It was rumored that the man also came from a great family, and their parents were close friends. According to the article, the two were engaged, and were going to have a bright future together.
The picture was very clear. It was not a candid shot at all.
Li Chengxiu didn’t know this beautiful actress, but the man next to her seemed familiar. Although his eyes were covered by a black bar, the handsome silhouette and slender body shape could be clearly identified by anyone who knew him…
Besides, Shao Qun was wearing the clothes that Li Chengxiu had prepared for him that day by the bedside.
Li Chengxiu tremblingly looked at the date again. It was the night of the 13th.
That night, Shao Qun didn’t come back home at all. He told Li Chengxiu that he went to Guangzhou[6] for business and was too tired to come back.
He was obviously in Hong Kong…
Li Chengxiu’s heart throbbed, and his hands were shaking so much that he couldn’t even hold the newspaper anymore.
Engaged… Shao Qun was getting married?
The matter, which Li Chengxiu had been avoiding this entire time and dared not to even think about, was finally exposed right in front of him.
Shao Qun never mentioned anything about his family to him. He only found out that he had a sister because she came over the other day.
When one gave it a serious thought, how could a rich man like Shao Qun not get married?
But what about Li Chengxiu? What did he take him for? If Shao Qun wanted to get married, shouldn’t he first tell him that? Even if it meant breaking up…
Li Chengxiu saw black spots in front of his eyes, and it was so difficult for him to even breathe. He tremblingly picked up his mobile phone and dialed Shao Qun.
Shao Qun rarely answered his personal calls when he was working. Li Chengxiu knew that most likely his call would be ignored, but he was really eager to hear Shao Qun’s voice now.
It would be great if Shao Qun could tell him that this was all fake.
Shao Qun didn’t pick up.
Li Chengxiu clutched the newspaper tightly, sitting on the sofa with his back stiff and staring at the wall in a daze.
Li Chengxiu spent more than an hour sitting like this, before Shao Qun came back home for lunch.
As soon as Shao Qun entered the door, he saw Li Chengxiu jump up from the sofa. His eyes were flickering, and he gave Shao Qun a sad look.
Shao Qun felt that something wasn’t right and frowned, “What’s wrong?”
Li Chengxiu asked witlessly, “Are you getting married?”
Shao Qun stared at Li Chengxiu in shock, wondering how he managed to find out. Yet he quickly regained his composure, lowered his head to change his slippers and said as indifferently as possible: “Who told you that?”
Li Chengxiu put the newspaper he was holding in his hand on the coffee table.
Shao Qun walked over and picked it up. His face immediately turned gloomy.
No wonder those girls in the company were constantly looking at him weirdly when he went to work today. Naturally, they didn’t dare to gossip right in front of him, and Shao Qun never read those stupid pages in the newspaper that were meant for women. So he didn’t even know when an article about him came out.
Li Chengxiu’s eyes were empty, as he asked, “Is it true?”
Since it had come to this point, at first Shao Qun planned to just lay all his cards on the table and let it be. But looking at Li Chengxiu’s expression as if he was about to cry at any time, Shao Qun swallowed his words.
Li Chengxiu was sad, and his heart was in pain.
He crumpled up the newspaper and threw it in the trash.
“Don’t believe all the nonsense in those messy newspapers. I know her, and we are just friends.”
Li Chengxiu choked and said, “On the 13th…you said you were in Guangzhou… but you were in Hong Kong.”
Shao Qun casually responded: “I was indeed in Guangzhou at the beginning. But it was my friend’s birthday that day, so I had to go to Hong Kong to visit him. What’s the big deal? These newspapers like to write about celebrities and gossip just to increase sales. Why would you believe any of that?”
Seeing that Shao Qun was acting so righteously, Li Chengxiu really started to have some doubts. He thought for a while and then said: “But… you had your arms around her waist…”
“Li Chengxiu!” Shao Qun finally became annoyed, “Are you fucking done with this? Can’t you see that we’re crossing the street? It’s common courtesy to protect the lady next to you, not to mention that we’re actually friends. Do you have to make a scene? ”
Li Chengxiu cowered and recalled the photos in the newspaper, his face pale. No matter how he looked at it, he felt that the actions on the photos were too ambiguous. They didn’t seem to be just friends.
When Shao Qun felt guilty, he tended to become more and more irritable, as he was trying to cover up his lack of confidence with anger. At this time, under Li Chengxiu’s repeated questioning, he felt especially vulnerable.
Since when was he, Shao Qun, such a little bitch that he needed to explain himself to anybody? If it wasn’t for the fear that Li Chengxiu would get upset and start crying again, Shao Qun would have thrown the newspaper right in his face. Was it up to him to control whom he slept with?
Li Chengxiu slowly sat back down on the sofa, hugged his chest and stared absently at the patterns on the coffee table.
Last time at the hot springs, when Li Chengxiu only started to say something about that youngster, Shao Qun was just as furious.
Did Li Chengxiu really misunderstand him, or…
He really didn’t dare to think any further. He also didn’t have any evidence to confirm his guess. And once Shao Qun was shouting, Li Chengxiu didn’t dare to continue asking questions.
He didn’t want to damage his relationship with Shao Qun because of unfounded accusations. But at this point, he really couldn’t trust Shao Qun anymore.
Shao Qun calmed down slightly, sat down next to Li Chengxiu, hugged his shoulders and said, “Chengxiu, don’t look at these stupid things in the future. Our life is so good now, and I want it to continue like this. ”
Li Chengxiu turned his head to look at him, his bright eyes as clear as the winter spring.
Shao Qun felt flustered under the gaze of such eyes.
After a long time, Li Chengxiu said softly, “Shao Qun. If you get married, you should tell me.”
Shao Qun’s eyes instantly turned cold: “Are you still not fucking done with this shit?”
Li Chengxiu’s eyes were red, but he calmly continued, “I mean… if… if you get married, tell me… tell me… and I’ll go.”
“What the hell? I already told you I wasn’t getting married!”
Li Chengxiu choked: “My family… my mother… She was ruined by extramarital affairs. So, in the future, if you get married, please tell me.”
Shao Qun could no longer look at Li Chengxiu’s eyes that seemed to stare right into the depths of his soul. He jumped up from the sofa angrily, slammed the door and left.
Li Chengxiu picked up the newspaper from the trash can, straightened it out slowly and gently rubbed the corner of Shao Qun’s smiling mouth with his fingers, feeling that his heart was being gutted with a knife.
He didn’t know since when his feelings for Shao Qun had become so deep-rooted in his heart. When he moved even a little, it hurt him so much that he couldn’t bear it. Li Chengxiu couldn’t imagine a day when Shao Qun wouldn’t want him anymore. What would he do then?
With a gloomy face, Shao Qun took out his mobile phone, as he was driving: “Hey, Xiao Zhou, go find out which idiot published those photos of me and Qi Ming.”
It was noon, and the roads were jampacked. Shao Qun looked at the cars that surrounded him from all sides, and felt like he was being stared at by countless pairs of eyes. Those eyes were clear and bright, with an unexpressed sadness deep inside them. Shao Qun felt that his chest was being squeezed by some unknown force, and his anger just couldn’t escape anymore. An ear-piercing car horn brought Shao Qun back to reality.
