Chapter 18: Xi Xingling
The original novel says Xi Xingling is a designer brimming with instinct. His inspiration comes straight from his love life; his emotions, whatever they are, flow directly into his work.
Li Dong’s take was simpler: Xi Xingling is a deeply emotional person.
Most people learn to hide their feelings. The more mature you are, the better you are at tucking them away. Xi Xingling was the opposite. His feelings came amplified.
Call it the madness of an artist, maybe. Either way, he was not ordinary.
“What design did you finalize? Can I see it?” Li Dong texted back.
In his mind, a real designer guards their work. A normal one does not hand out drafts casually.
“Sure, give me a sec.” Xi Xingling did not overthink it. He pulled up a photo of his saved sketch and sent it over immediately.
He really was unreserved with the people he had decided to trust.
“If my brother asked for your design, would you give it to him?” Li Dong asked before even looking. Then he opened the image and paused. Even as a layman he could feel it. The piece had a mood that settled over you and felt right.
“I would have before. Not anymore,” Xi Xingling replied after a beat. “I have plenty of reason to refuse him.”
Li Dong corrected him: “Not that you have reason to refuse him. It is that you have no reason to give it to him.” He decided to teach over text today. “Before you do anything, think about whether it has value. I do not mean the value you assign it yourself. I mean the value it has in other people’s eyes.”
“Okay…”
“In my brother’s eyes, do you have value?”
Lips pressed together, Xi Xingling faced the truth. “No.” To Han Tianlin he was worthless. Not even amusing enough to toy with.
“In my eyes, do you?”
Xi Xingling cupped his face with his hands, a flush of joy rushing up. He sent a shy voice message. “I feel like I do…”
“Then get back to work,” Li Dong said. Lesson over.
“Second Young Master, you are amazing…” Xi Xingling murmured softly. His body and mind completely fell into a wonderful state. He felt unprecedented happiness, which Li Dong had given him.
Moreover, those few short sentences had cured his anxiety problem.
Now his heart wasn’t panicked at all. Instead, it was full of hope and motivation.
He threw himself into work. His focus and energy set off alarm bells around the office. A newcomer with spark and skill charging into the ranks will do that to people.
Word also spread that he was “good friends” with Han Group’s Second Young Master, which drew even more envy.
“Xingling, were you serious the other day? Is your rich second-gen boyfriend really treating us on Saturday?” Qian Xiaozhun called to ask.
“I need to check with him. He is very busy. I do not know if he has time,” Xi Xingling lied smoothly. In truth he had no idea what Li Dong did all day, much less that Li Dong was gloriously unemployed.
When his tentative inquiry came in, Li Dong was about to head out on a solo road trip. He replied, “What you need right now is not surface-level vanity. You need to feel full inside. I am not going to respond to you again until I believe you have changed.”
The settled calm from yesterday flipped into a churning tide. Xi Xingling scrambled to coax him: “I am really trying to change. Could you at least reply once a day? Just one message. One is enough.”
Li Dong did not even answer that one.
Xi Xingling typed out a long, pleading paragraph and hovered over send. At the last second his finger froze in midair.
“Xingling? Well? Did you ask? Do not tell me you made it up,” Qian Xiaozhun prodded, hoping he had.
“Second Young Master wants me to focus on bettering myself for now. Tomorrow’s dinner is probably off.”
“Is he sick in the head?” His bestie had just leapt from one pit into another. This Second Young Master did not sound easy to serve either.
Route 318 to Tibet, a must-travel route in every backpacker's heart. It used to be on Li Dong’s bucket list. Now he was living it.
“Sir, can I buy you a drink?” In a bar along the route, more than a few guys tried their luck.
Li Dong raised a brow. Was Han Yubai’s face really that attractive to every gay man in a hundred-meter radius?
“No thanks.” He tossed back his own drink and stood to leave.
“So aloof.” The persistent bottom tailed him out the door. This was the finest specimen he had seen in ages. “Quit pretending to be straight. I can tell you are not.”
Li Dong smiled faintly, lit a cigarette under the street tree, and said, “I cannot stand bottoms who throw themselves at people like they have never touched a man in their lives.”
Color drained from the guy’s face. “Do you have to be that sharp-tongued?”
Li Dong ignored him and took a few drags, ready to go, when a flashy sports car slid to the curb. Both he and the bottom stared, curious which kind of person stepped out of a multimillion-yuan machine.
One look and Li Dong almost choked on smoke. For a split second he thought the lovesick maniac Xi Xingling had tracked him down. Obviously Xi Xingling could not afford a car like that. Which meant the man had to be Han Yubai’s white moonlight, Gu Xichen.
Hidden in the tree’s shadow, Li Dong stepped farther back and turned away, pretending not to notice.
“Wow, handsome. Same tier as you,” breathed the flirty bottom, shamelessly poking Li Dong’s arm.
“Scram,” Li Dong snapped, flicking away his cigarette and striding off.
Gu Xichen had already walked past, but the sharp “scram” and the bottom’s gasp drew his gaze. He frowned. “Yubai?”
Li Dong paused for a heartbeat. Keep walking and act deaf, or turn around and say hello?
“Ah, you two know each other?” sang the nosy bottom. “No wonder people say birds of a feather flock together. So it is true…”
Li Dong could not take another second of him. He turned back to Gu Xichen. “What a coincidence. I thought you were abroad.” He glanced at the car. No one else inside.
“Just got back. Planning to head to Beijing in a few days.” There was a reason the bottom deemed him top shelf. Though his looks were similar to Xi Xingling’s, his poise left Xi nine streets behind. Even blind, Li Dong would not mistake the two. “What about you? Your brother said you graduated a year ago. What are you doing now?”
“Nothing much. Road-tripping. Wanted to see some places.” Li Dong tipped his chin toward the hotel. “You are probably here on business. I will get out of your way. I am heading back to my room.”
“Wait.” Gu Xichen reached for his wrist.
Li Dong flinched and pulled free, a reflex that froze the air between them. He had not meant to be rude. He simply did not want anything that could be read as a tie, or worse, a flirtation. He was not Han Yubai. Unrequited love was his least favorite game on earth.
There were so many interesting things in the world. Sex and romance were just one small part.
“You are prickly,” Gu said with an indulgent smile. “It has been two years. You are not even curious how I am?”
“How are you?” Li Dong offered him an easy step down.
“I am divorced. Ended a two-year political marriage. I feel… all right.” The practiced composure in his voice turned Li Dong off. Across the face and words, there was no telling what lay underneath.
“Congratulations then. Out of the sea of suffering and back on shore.” Li Dong put on a polite smile, gave his shoulder a pat. “Chen-ge, when I am back in Beijing, let us grab dinner.”
Gu blinked.
“Oh, right. I cannot go back yet. I have more of the 318 to drive.” Li Dong added, “When I get back, we will eat. I will hurry. You are not just here a few days, are you? Heading abroad again?”
“No.” Composure restored, Gu smiled. “You have changed a lot in two years.” The open, volatile kid had become smooth and circumspect. It surprised him.
Li Dong rolled his eyes inside. You have no idea. I changed into a completely different person.
“Done then. See you in Beijing.” He turned away. In Gu’s eyes, the departing figure had shed all the heat and clinging softness he remembered.
“Tianlin, what happened to Yubai?” Back at his hotel, Gu abandoned his other plans and called Han Tianlin.
“What? You ran into Yubai out there?” Han’s brows knit. “Be honest, A-Chen. Did you always know he liked you?”
Gu hesitated, then admitted, “Yes. I knew.”
“Your sudden divorce, does it have to do with Yubai?” Han had only learned today that Gu was newly single.
“Not really. I would have divorced even without Yubai.” Gu knew what Han meant and gave a wry smile. “You know me. Caution is my default. Divorcing was already my biggest leap. I do not know how much farther I can go.”
“He is been with some little sl*t who looks a lot like you.”
“…”
“That brat has no other merits besides doting on Yubai,” Han sneered. Even over the phone you could hear the contempt for Xi Xingling. “A-Chen, Yubai still likes you. If you crook your finger, that kid will come running.”
“You sure?” Gu thought of Li Dong’s smile earlier. Something felt irretrievable.
“Maybe that cheap knockoff is keeping him entertained.” Han chuckled. “Simple fix. One phone call from me.”
They hung up. Han pulled up Xi Xingling’s number and dialed.
Knowing Han Yubai’s usual temperament, if Xi Xingling pulled the same shameless stunt again, he would cut him off for real. And now that Gu Xichen had returned, what was the point of keeping a counterfeit around?
Author’s Note:
VIP starts tomorrow. Triple updates incoming. The white moonlight is here. There will be angst at some point, but not yet. Let our classmate Xi strut for a few more chapters.
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