Chapter 20: Xi Xingling
Getting into a taxi with Xi Xingling in his arms, Li Dong kissed the sl*tty protagonist shou breathless in the back seat.
“Stop it… people are watching,” Xi Xingling kept whispering, playing shy, even as his arms clamped around Li Dong and refused to let go.
Even a blind person could see he loved every second of it. If Li Dong wanted him right here, he would not have said no.
“Alright, then I will stop.” Li Dong sat back, lazy as a cat. He glanced out the window. “How did you get here?”
“I took a cab. I don’t have a car.” Xi answered, nestling obediently into his arms. His fingers traced Li Dong’s wrist, wandered, and tried to guide that hand somewhere suggestive.
“What car do you like? I will buy you one,” Li Dong said casually. It was Han Yubai’s money anyway. Use it or lose it.
“Buy me a car?” Xi’s eyes lit up. “BMW” reached his lips, then he balked at how tacky that sounded. It screamed nouveau riche. “A Crown would be fine.” Affordable, just over 300,000, and perfect for commuting.
“So modest?” Li Dong knew perfectly well this little vixen loved flashy things. A Crown was a big, very masculine sedan, nothing like Xi’s saucy vibe. “I will get you a BMW. White suits you.”
“Okay.” If Second Young Master insisted, what could he do besides accept it sweetly?
If anyone at work asked, he would just say he borrowed a friend’s car. Who is to say he cannot have rich friends?
Li Dong fell quiet after that. A day on planes had left him exhausted.
By the time Xi shook him awake at the restaurant, he was running on fumes. He sat through lunch, then started worrying.
He was the one who summoned Xi. Now he had to figure out how to send him away.
“Second Young Master…” Xi sensed it instantly. He looked up at Li Dong with pleading eyes. “Where are you going next?”
“I…”
“You just got off a flight. Want to come to my place and rest?” The hope in his eyes sparkled like Christmas lights.
Li Dong meant to refuse, but Xi’s hand slid under the table and settled on his knee.
He looked down. That hand was pale and beautiful against dark-blue trousers. It was a striking sight.
Men are sensory creatures. One look and the engine turns over. Li Dong arched a brow and smiled. “If I go to your place, are you really going to let me rest?”
“You’re awful.” Xingling shivered with delight. “You can just lie there. You don’t even have to move.”
Three or four in the afternoon is awkward for most things, except for getting horizontal and passing the time in bed.
Xi Xingling opened his door full of anticipation and bashfully invited Li Dong in, squatting down to take off his shoes for him. “Second Young Master, I feel so happy right now,” he said, sl*ttily and sweet.
“Good.” From Li Dong’s angle, he saw the point of Xi’s chin, then the clean line of his waist when he stood.
“Mhm…” Xi rose and looped his arms around Li Dong’s neck, eyes full of worship. “Can I have a kiss?”
“As you wish.” While Li Dong leaned in, a thrill ran through Xi. His soul seemed to tremble. Every hair stood on end. The feeling was that strong.
“Didn’t you say you could do the aloof-and-cool act?” Li Dong murmured against his lips. “Show me.”
Xi stared, blank. Aloof and cool? He shook his head, mortified. “I can’t. Not with you.” He only wanted to act sl*tty toward him.
Li Dong’s suave setup fell apart in an instant. D*mn, why did it feel a bit cute?
Then he pinched Xi Xingling’s chin and kissed him tenderly, giving Xi Xingling a long, lingering kiss.
“I feel like I’m walking on clouds… like I could ascend any second… Second Young Master?”
“Is it really that dramatic?” To Li Dong’s feeling was just ordinary kissing, at most pleasant. He did not mind kissing Xi at all.
“It is… really…” Xi’s eyes were damp as he spoke.
“Alright, but I feel really tired.” Li Dong let him go and stretched out, finding a comfortable spot on the bed. “Do whatever you want. I am going to nap.”
Anyone else might have been offended by being dismissed like that. Xi nearly bowed in thanks. “Okay! I’ll take a quick shower. Wait for me, Second Young Master~”
Li Dong laughed under his breath and waited.
Ten minutes later, Xi popped out in only a towel and bounced onto the bed, rubbing against him for kisses until he had collected a handful, then slid down to get to work.
“Second Young Master, I’m starting.”
“…”
Li Dong watched him play. A look here, hooking up the corner of his mouth, a low hum was enough to keep the other man fired up.
He was genuinely happy; you could see it. He kept at it for a long time before finally stopping.
When he crawled back up, he was syrup-sweet again. “Second Young Master…” His smile looked rich enough to drown a cow. “I’m tired too. Kiss me?”
Li Dong kissed him.
“Why are you so good?” Xingling murmured with his eyes closed, looking blissed enough to keel over. “I could die for you right now, Second Young Master.”
“What about tomorrow?”
Xi collapsed into his arms and burst into helpless laughter. “You are so heartless. It’s killing me.”
“Your laugh threshold is way too low.” Li Dong yawned. “Stop giggling and find me a cigarette.”
“Again?” Xi pushed at his chest. “Don’t smoke. It’s bad for you.”
“What do I do if I crave one?” Li Dong asked. The addiction was not even his; maybe it was something he had inherited from someone else.
“If your mouth is itchy, just kiss me. I very much welcome it.” Xi clung closer, still nuzzling and rubbing even after getting off twice.
He loved the intimacy of skin on skin.
“You are kind of terrifying,” Thinking about that thing all the time. To put it nicely, he was an emotional creature. To put it bluntly, he was a creature of desire.
He hated people ruled by their bodies. Which was why it surprised him that he could tolerate Xi glued to him like this.
“I’m not…” Xi realized Li Dong was not in a chatty mood and sensibly settled down. “Then sleep. I won’t bother you.” He even put a little space between them so Li Dong could rest.
“So obedient?” Was this really the same stage-five clinger?
Li Dong glanced over, then scratched his chin lightly as a reward. “I’m sleeping. Wake me before eight.”
“Are you going home after?” Xi asked in a small voice.
“Missing me already? Don’t you have a toy to keep you company?” Li Dong teased, eyes already closing.
Xi could only give a pitiful little smile. Of course he missed him. He wished he could tie himself to Li Dong’s belt loop.
But for now, Li Dong was in his bed. That alone made him happy.
He did not make it to eight. A little after six, Han Tianlian called and told him to come home immediately.
Xingling, in loose pajamas, stood in the doorway with a cup of floral tea, quietly watching him.
“I’m going.” Li Dong walked over, took a sip from his cup, and left.
Back at the family mansion, every light was on. His parents were there, Han Tianlin was there, and so was someone both expected and inevitable: Gu Xichen.
With that prince-like air, seated in their grand living room, he was exactly the kind of man to make the gays swoon.
No wonder Han Yubai had been infatuated for years.
But because Li Dong had met Xi Xingling first, every time he saw Gu’s face, so much like Xi’s, and that elegant reserve, he felt a little… comedic dissonance.
“So everyone’s here?” Li Dong strolled in, greeted them in turn, and finally took the seat beside Han Tianlin, the chair his brother had pulled out for him.
“Yubai, why aren’t you calling him ‘Chen-ge’?” Tianlin tapped his shoe against Li Dong’s and reminded him.
Li Dong lifted his eyes to Gu Xichen, who was also looking at him. “Yubai,” Gu Xichen said first, as if he could not understand why the boy who used to adore him was so indifferent after meeting again.
“Chen-ge,” Li Dong said mildly, and smiled.
“Now that Yubai is back, let’s eat,” Wang Yun said, then looked back to her youngest with soft fondness. A month away had made her miss him even more. “Now that you are home, stop running around. Either come work in my company or follow your brother. Your choice. What you cannot do is drift around doing nothing. Understood?”
“Your mother is right,” Han Zheng added, face stern. Unlike his wife and elder son, he never coddled the youngest. “You graduated long ago and still do nothing all day. Look at your peers. Who else your age loafs like you?”
Li Dong pursed his lips. He did not bother arguing.
“Look at A-Chen. He built a thriving business overseas and came back to start several companies, all on his own dime,” Han Zheng said.
“Uncle overpraises me. It took years of work to get here.” Gu Xichen found Li Dong’s devil-may-care expression a little funny. “Yubai is young and not made for a cage. It is fine if he is happy. Besides, with me and Tianlin around, why make him suffer?”
Wang Yun’s mouth, which had been pressed thin, softened again. She smiled. “With Tianlin and A-Chen here, I am at ease.” They were both indulgent of the youngest. Even if he accomplished nothing, she did not worry.
“Hmph.” Han Zheng kept his face hard. He had plenty of issues with Yubai, who in his eyes was lazy and lacked character.
“Alright, let’s eat,” Tianlin said, and tugged his brother to his feet. “Come on, wash your hands.” Out of sight of the others, he added, “Dad is always like that. Don’t take it to heart.”
“I don’t,” Li Dong said with a shrug. It was not like that was his real dad.
He knew what he wanted to do in this life and did not need anyone’s pointers. And he had never taken the book’s world or people too seriously anyway.
“What is going on with you and A-Chen? He divorced and came back. You are not happy?” At the sink, Tianlin washed his hands and asked.
“Don’t get involved,” Li Dong said, meeting Tianlin’s eyes in the mirror. “I did like him before. Feelings change. They are not fixed forever.”
“So you are saying you don’t like him now?” Then why were you grinning ear to ear a month ago when you accepted a stand-in? “Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for that little sl*t and decided you don’t want A-Chen?”
“Stop calling him that,” Li Dong said with a laugh. “He is pretty shameless, sure, but after what you put him through last time, he would not dare try it with you again, not in this lifetime.”
Tianlin thought of that phone call where Xi had said he would slowly forget him. “Heh. Funny.” Then his face cooled. “Play if you want, but don’t actually like him. I won’t agree to you being with someone like that.”
“What is so wrong with him?” Li Dong said. “Anyway, drop it. There’s nothing to debate. Just know I don’t like Chen-ge now. I am not the guy who gets married when he says marry and divorces when he says divorce, waiting faithfully the whole time. I am not that deeply in love.”
“You’re blaming him?” Tianlin nodded, understanding. As a textbook chauvinist, he got it. “Fine. I will tell A-Chen, so he stops being troubled.”
Li Dong thought, Shouldn’t I be the one who is more troubled here?
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