Sissy (Niang Niang Qiang) - Chap 64
Chapter 64
As expected, Xiao Ji couldn’t stay away. After a few days, he was waiting in the corridor for Li Chengxiu to come back from work.
Li Chengxiu got off work very late that day. May 1st[3] was coming up, and everybody who was shipping their goods wanted to complete the business before the holiday. Otherwise, even with the express delivery, the shipment would take two extra days due to the holiday, so this time of year was very busy.
Although their company was small, the accounts they handled were kind of complicated. Their boss was very stingy, and he didn’t want to pay any attention to the accountant’s workload. Li Chengxiu had spent the past few days reconciling the accounts in his office. He didn’t even have time to go to the bathroom.
After so many days like that in a row, Li Chengxiu felt a little overwhelmed and had problems even walking straight. So he didn’t have time to deal with Ji Yuanqi. When he saw him, he just gave him a quick glance.
Ji Yuanqi complained, “Why did you get off work so late?” Seeing that Li Chengxiu didn’t answer, his expression became a little nervous, and he cheekily followed Li Chengxiu through the door. Awkwardly and after a lot of hesitation he finally managed to squeeze out one sentence, “I’m sorry.”
Li Chengxiu glanced at him and sighed.
Xiao Ji made himself comfortable at the dining table , “Have you eaten already? Are you hungry?” After saying that, he looked at Li Chengxiu pitifully, “I’m hungry.”
Li Chengxiu was sleepy and tired. He barely managed to sit down for a while and rub his forehead, before he got up again to cook.
Ji Yuanqi had also realized that Li Chengxiu didn’t look too good, so he went over to him and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Li Chengxiu shook his head, “It’s okay. I’m just a little tired.”
Ji Yuanqi tilted his neck and looked at him, “Why don’t I cook this time?”
Li Chengxiu laughed, “What can you even cook? Just sit down. I’ll be done soon.”
Ji Yuanqi’s expression relaxed, and the tension between them just now seemed to have faded. Half-jokingly he said, “Li Chengxiu, you are really virtuous[4].”
While the two of them were having dinner, Ji Yuanqi was excitedly talking about a particularly wonderful basketball game he watched on TV today, and Li Chengxiu suddenly asked, “Xiao Ji, when are you going back home?”
Ji Yuanqi was stunned for a moment, then put down his chopsticks, “Are you chasing me away?”
“Me? I’m not chasing you away. But, sooner or later, you have to go home, right?”
Ji Yuanqi pouted, “It’s no fun to go home. I’m fine here. No one cares anyway.”
Li Chengxiu said sternly, “You have to go home sooner or later.”
Ji Yuanqi pulled his face down and glared at him : “Aren’t you driving me away? I already apologized to you. Why are you so small-minded?”
Li Chengxiu put down his chopsticks, “It has nothing to do with that.'”
Ji Yuanqi thought for a while, “Then how about you go back with me?”
Li Chengxiu felt an oncoming headache.
Ji Yuanqi suddenly became excited, “For real though, you can go back with me! Then you can come to my house… and be a chef? I guarantee you a much better salary than what you’re getting now. So how about it?”
Li Chengxiu shook his head, “Don’t talk nonsense.”
Ji Yuanqi pulled his face again, stuffed his mouth with food and muttered, “If I go back, I won’t be able to eat your cooking.”
Li Chengxiu’s heart softened a little after hearing this. He said gently: “You can still visit me later.”
Ji Yuanqi hummed, his face still gloomy, “You just wish for me to leave as soon as possible, so you can relax and not have to cook for me or talk to me anymore. Then you can also resume your relationship with your ex-boyfriend.”
These words were a bit hurtful, and Li Chengxiu wanted to refute something, but he really had no strength to argue and was too lazy to speak any more, so he lowered his head and continued eating.
Ji Yuanqi also knew that he had said something wrong again, but he really couldn’t hold it in. He actually had no idea what he wanted to do with this person in front of him. He only knew that he liked his current life, he liked hanging out with Li Chengxiu, he didn’t want anyone to disturb them and he didn’t want to share him with anybody else.
It would be great if Li Chengxiu could only cook for him and spend all his spare time with him too. Ji Yuanqi originally thought that the two of them could get along in such a peaceful way for a long time. But that was until that man appeared the other day. The way he looked at Li Chengxiu was full of affection and yearning which proved that the relationship between these two was definitely not so simple.
It was only at that moment that Ji Yuanqi suddenly realized that Li Chengxiu was not his. He had a past that belonged to others and had nothing to do with him. In Li Chengxiu’s eyes, he is just a “neighbor”.
He had a feeling that Li Chengxiu was about to be snatched away, but he didn’t know what to do about it. For the first time did Ji Yuanqi experience such a feeling of frustration and loss.
He secretly looked at Li Chengxiu’s slightly sad face and suddenly recalled the soft touch of his lips. This made his heart beat like a drum for a while.
Li Chengxiu was exhausted and dizzy all throughout the recent days, until May 1st finally came.
He didn’t know how he even managed to get home. He fell down on the sofa as soon as he entered the door and felt that his body was burning up and his eyes were so heavy that he couldn’t open them.
When Shao Qun came over from work ahead of schedule, he saw that the door to Li Chengxiu’s apartment was not closed. His heart jumped, and he tentatively called from outside, “Chengxiu?”
When he entered the room, he saw Li Chengxiu collapsed on the sofa, his face red with abnormal flush. Little Teacup was sitting beside him and trying to wake him up. Shao Qunxin quickly ran over and touched his face – it was concerningly hot.
Shao Qun picked Li Chengxiu up and rushed out. Right at that time, Ji Yuanqi was walking upstairs, dribbling his ball. When he noticed Shao Qun, he was stunned for a moment and then shouted, “Fuck! Why are you still hanging around here like an evil spirit? What do you want?”
Shao Qun didn’t have time to argue with him. “Li Chengxiu has a fever. Go and close his door, don’t let the dog run away.” Then he quickly passed Ji Yuanqi and ran downstairs.
Ji Yuanqi glanced at Li Chengxiu, who was unconscious, and realized that there was indeed a problem, so he hurriedly locked up Li Chnegxiu’s apartment and followed Shao Qun downstairs.
This place was densely populated, and parking spaces were particularly difficult to find. Shao Qun had to park his car two or three hundred meters away every time he came here. Now, he anxiously ran the whole distance holding Li Chengxiu in his arms, and his face was covered in sweat.
Ji Yuanqi looked at him with some jealousy and couldn’t help but say, “Give him to me!” Shao Qun did not even lift an eyelid. He rushed up to his car, gestured to Ji Yuanqi to take the keys out of his pocket and asked in passing: “Can you drive?”
Ji Yuanqi hummed, “Of course I can.”
In a dull voice Shao Qun said: “Then hurry up.”
Ji Yuanqi opened the car door, and Shao Qun carefully placed Li Chengxiu in the backseat. Then he got inside together with him. He leaned over and poked around the navigation to find the nearest hospital, while urging Ji Yuanqi to drive. The youngster was a little unwilling to be the one driving, while letting Li Chengxiu lie in the arms of that man, but now was obviously not the time to argue about this kind of thing.
While driving, Ji Yuanqi couldn’t help but keep looking at the rearview mirror to see what was happening behind him. The man whose face was covered in sweat carefully put Li Chengxiu in a position that made him as comfortable as possible, and gently tested his body temperature with a cautious and pitying expression on his face.
Ji Yuanqi felt very uncomfortable. When these two were together, it seemed that their mutual connection was so strong that whoever was standing beside them would automatically feel as an outsider and won’t be able to enter their little world.
When they arrived at the hospital, Shao Qun picked Li Chengxiu up again and rushed inside, ordering Ji Yuanqi to do all the registration procedures.
Ji Yuanqi used to have a family doctor who would come over whenever someone in the family was sick or something. Even if somebody needed to be hospitalized, Ji Yuanqi never had to take care of it. So when Shao Qun said “registration”, he was completely lost, since he had never heard that word before.
Shao Qun glanced at him impatiently, put Li Chengxiu down on the bench, wiped his sweat and ran over to the reception. After all the procedures were completed, he brought Li Chengxiu into the single-room ward.
Usually one doesn’t need to be hospitalized with a cold and a bit of fever, but Shao Qun didn’t want Li Chengxiu to stay in a noisy environment, so he insisted on getting a separate ward.
When the nurse came in to administer the IV, Shao Qun was already done with all the formalities and was sitting next to the bed watching Li Chengxiu.
Ji Yuanqi pursed his lips and sat beside him, his eyes full of resentment. He thought about what would have happened if he had brought Li Chengxiu to the hospital by himself. Not only did he have no money, but he also didn’t know how to deal with all the procedures. He suddenly felt completely outmatched by this man. Ji Yuanqi had always had a high self-esteem, but in everything that involved Li Chengxiu he had experienced only setbacks.
Li Chengxiu’s relationship with this person made him feel like a third wheel. Now, when Li Chengxiu got sick, Ji Yuanqi had completely lost to that man. No wonder… No wonder that Li Chengxiu didn’t like him…
These thoughts made Ji Yuanqi even more uncomfortable.
He had always refused to accept that the reason why Li Chengxiu didn’t like him was because he wasn’t good enough. But now that he had realized his unspeakable inferiority in front of this man, he couldn’t avoid thinking about this being a possible reason for rejection.
Ji Yuanqi looked at the two people in front of him, and the strong feeling of being an outsider made him both sad and resentful.
Shao Qun suddenly raised his head and glanced at him, “Go back and get Chengxiu some change of clothes. Also, feed the dog.”
Ji Yuanqi glared at him with an obvious “how dare you give me orders?” look.
Shao Qun snorted coldly, “You have no money, and you don’t know anything. If Chengxiu needs something, what’s the use of you staying here?”
Ji Yuanqi blushed, but he couldn’t argue, since everything the other party said was correct.
Shao Qun emptied Li Chengxiu’s pockets and found his keys. He threw them together with his own car keys to Ji Yuanqi and said, “Hurry up.”
Ji Yuanqi held the keys and hesitated. After a long time, he finally glared at Shao Qun, got up and left.
After Ji Yuanqi was gone, Shao Qun’s shoulders collapsed immediately, and the calm he was maintaining before disappeared from his face in an instant.
He lay down on the bed with his upper body, tilted his head and gently kissed Li Chengxiu’s cheek. After one kiss, he couldn’t stop kissing him for the second and the third time. Those were all very light and cautious kisses, as if he was afraid to disturb the fragile person in front of him.
Shao Qun revealed a bitter smile and murmured: “This might be my only chance, so I have to grab a few more kisses.”
He stroked Li Chengxiu’s hair on his forehead, revealing his beautiful but tired face. He then carefully looked at him. This person had confused him with his weak appearance, making him forget what kind of stubborn soul was hidden inside.
Shao Qun knew now how hard his life was and how tiring his work was, but no matter how exhausted and depleted, Li Chengxiu would never give in to Shao Qun again. No matter how much he wanted to take care of him or be nice to him, he would be rejected. This feeling of powerlessness was so painful.
Now that he thinks about it, only when Li Chengxiu was unconscious, were his defenses lowered and he wasn’t covered in thorns that hurt Shao Qun inside and out.
Shao Qun just kept looking at Li Chengxiu and stroking him. He hoped that through this touch, he could become a little closer to him. He felt that he was already numb to any kind of treatment by Li Chengxiu. If he could just get a little warmth, that would already be enough and worth everything. Even if Shao Qun only got to sit beside him and look at him, he could endure anything for it.
Shao Qun felt close to tears. He knew that he had no one to complain to and no one to blame. If he had known that one day he would love this person to this extent, how many things would he have done differently?
It was Shao Qun himself who ruined this relationship with his own hands. He regretted it to no end and wanted to beat himself up. Because when he finally dared to admit that he loved Li Chengxiu and then looked at the things from Li Chengxiu’s perspective, he realized how deeply he had hurt him and how much of a fucking asshole he had been.
He wanted to redeem himself. He wanted to go back to the good old days with Li Chengxiu. Although he didn’t know how far the road ahead of him was and how long it would take him to complete it, Shao Qun believed that there was no reason for him to give up. He shattered the most precious feelings of his life in pieces, so he had to fight to put it all back together little by little. Even if it took him a whole lifetime, he would continue fighting.
Shao Qun held Li Chengxiu’s hand in his. With melancholy and nostalgia, Shao Qun’s eyes lingered on his face.
Xiao Ji was still full of resentment when he returned to the house, and his mind was in a mess.
He went into Li Chengxiu’s apartment, packed some of his clothes and put some dog food in the bowl for Teacup. When he came out, he realized that his basketball was still rolling around in the hall, so he picked it up and planned to bring it quickly back to his own place.
He had just put the key in the door lock, when suddenly something felt wrong. He realized that the lights in the room were on, and his door was not locked at all.
Ji Yuanqi was stunned for a few seconds, and he couldn’t quite remember whether he turned off the lights and locked the door before he left. While he was still hesitating, the door was suddenly slammed open from the inside, and four people in black suits appeared in front of him.
Ji Yuanqi’s expression changed, and he dropped his ball on the ground.
The person in front of him said respectfully, “Young Master, we’re here to take you home.”
