Chapter 6: Xi Xingling
Dinner had not been that long ago, so Li Dong was not very hungry. He ate the noodles slowly and unhurriedly, which suited Xi Xingling perfectly.
What else could he do? Every extra second was a win. Li Dong had already said staying the night was impossible.
Still, the fact that Li Dong came up to eat noodles with him moved Xi Xingling. If it had been Han Tianlin, there might have been another ringing slap and a curt order to get lost.
“Second Young Master…” Xi Xingling leaned close to Li Dong’s neck and called to him softly, wearing the aggrieved look of a lonely wife staring at an empty bed.
“Eat your noodles properly. Quit with the nonsense.” Li Dong sat upright, eyes fixed on the bowl.
“I don’t want noodles…” Pressing against him, Xi Xingling whispered, “I am not hungry. What is so good about noodles? Are they better than Second Young Master?”
Li Dong paused for two beats, pretended he had heard nothing, and kept eating, as if unmoved. Inside though, his mind was in chaos. The ticker tape running across his brain said: this is real, not a scene from a movie.
“Please?” Xi Xingling hugged his arm and rubbed his cheek along Li Dong’s solid bicep.
Li Dong felt he had put up with this a long time. Now he could not anymore. He kept his voice low. “You are a man. Stop pinching your voice like that. Do you know what it means to have some backbone? A man should have some.”
Not be coquettish all day, hanging off another man’s arm and wheedling like some… machine.
“I know. Like you. You’re all masculinity and handsome.” Xi Xingling fluttered his brows, clinging with happy little shakes. “I am so happy today I could explode.”
Li Dong: “…” You are happy, and I am supposed to just suffer?
“Second Young Master is the best man I have ever met. Everything about you is good. You’re good to me too…” He puckered up, hoping for a quick kiss.
“Oh? I thought my brother was the best.” Flattery was one thing, but lying with your eyes closed was another. Did he think Li Dong did not know the score?
“Ah, didn’t Second Young Master say I am not allowed to bring him up?” In truth, Xi Xingling had wanted to discuss Han Tianlin for ages, but Li Dong had drawn the line first, so he did not dare.
“I said you are not allowed. I never said I am not allowed. Understand?” Li Dong tapped his cheek with the tip of his chopsticks.
The little menace closed his eyes and let him poke, even wearing a look of bliss, as if Li Dong were poking somewhere very different…
“Ahem.” Li Dong could not take it. He set down the chopsticks and lost his appetite. “That’s enough. I’m leaving. See you.”
“What? Second Young Master?” Xi Xingling clamped onto his arm, almost in tears. “Why are you in such a rush? I did not say anything I am not allowed to say…”
“Are you really that clueless or just pretending…” He had a whole lecture ready, then thought better of it. “Forget it. Let go. I have to get home to keep my mother company.” He shook him off.
“Don’t. I will be lonely tonight.” Xi Xingling switched to hugging his calf and refused to let go. “It is already late. Can’t you leave in the morning?”
“No.” Li Dong lifted his leg and shook hard. “If you are lonely, take care of it yourself. Stop bothering me.”
“I don’t want to take care of it myself. I want you.” Xi Xingling said, “I just want to be with you. Have I not done enough? Then keep tormenting me. I can take it.”
“Get lost…” Li Dong was out of words. The neediness was suffocating.
How had he not noticed in the book that the male lead could be this punchable?
If he were Han Tianlin, he might have wanted to kick him too. This clingy act could drive a saint mad.
“I will say it once more. Let go. Do not push me.” Li Dong looked down at him, face set.
Even a fool could see he meant it this time.
Xi Xingling was no fool. His shoulders twitched and he released Li Dong’s leg, looking more miserable than if he had burst into tears.
Good looks had their privileges. Even when he wanted to scold him, Li Dong could not bring himself to.
He shut his mouth and walked out.
Xi Xingling ran to the balcony and watched until Li Dong’s car disappeared. Then he went back inside with a face full of sadness, tidied the table, changed his clothes, and opened Moments.
His WeChat handle was “Xinglin,” a mashup of one character from his own name and one from Han Tianlin’s. He did not dare write the “Lin” outright, so he used pinyin.
He grabbed his phone, entered Li Dong’s number, found him on WeChat, and sent a friend request.
“Second Young Master, it’s Xingling.”
Seeing his handle, he changed it from “Xinglin” to “Xingling.”
It hurt to do it. He had used that name for three years and poured his feelings for Han Tianlin into it.
He scrolled through his posts as well. He could not bring himself to delete any of them.
But he was also afraid of making Li Dong angry, so he hesitated with the phone in his hand.
Time slipped by. Li Dong got home and saw the friend request, along with the flood of confessional Moments posts, nearly every one soaked with his obsession over Han Tianlin.
It made Li Dong’s blood boil.
“Delete all your Moments posts or don’t add me,” Li Dong messaged.
“Second Young Master [teary emoji], not even one?” Xi Xingling replied.
“No. Either your Moments or me. Choose.”
This time Xi Xingling did not reply. He clenched his teeth and started deleting them by hand. One by one. Three whole years, often several a day. It took a very, very long time.
Li Dong only saw the idiotic male lead’s message the next morning when he woke up. It had been sent at 2 AM.
Second Young Master, I finished deleting. Are you asleep? - Idiot Male Lead
Then I will sleep too. Please remember to approve me tomorrow. Mwa~ - Idiot Male Lead
Li Dong could not say what he felt. He opened WeChat and approved the request.
“Morning.”
Because he had been up late cleaning Moments, Xi Xingling slept until nine-thirty. When he saw the time…
“Ahhhh, Second Young Master! I am going to be late [cry][cry]”
Li Dong looked at the message mid-breakfast with a shrug.
Another came in right after. “But I am still so happy. Good morning!”
“Nutcase,” Li Dong muttered, set the phone down, and kept eating.
“Are you coming with me to the company again today?” Wang Yun asked, watching her son mumble at his phone.
“Not today. I want to wander and check out other companies,” Li Dong said, and texted Han Tianlin’s assistant to ask where he would be working today.
“That is fine. If there is anything you don’t understand, ask your brother. If you like a place, he can arrange a position… or do you want to start something yourself?” Wang Yun shrugged. “Either way is fine.”
Sometimes the conditions Han Yubai enjoyed were enough to make a person jealous.
“I know. You don’t need to worry,” Li Dong thought. He might not measure up to Han Yubai in other ways, but at least he would be less trouble.
At 10:30 a.m., at a certain financial center…
“Yubai.” Seeing his energetic “brother,” Han Tianlin slung an arm over his shoulders. “Come on. Tag along to today’s meetings. I’ll show you how those old foxes play their tricks…”
“Is there going to be drinking again?” Li Dong hated drinking. Otherwise he would have been promoted ages ago. “Ge, I am cutting alcohol. My stomach acts up.”
Han Tianlin tensed. “Did you see a doctor? What did they say?”
For a moment, Li Dong truly envied Han Yubai for having a brother like this. “The doctor said rest and no alcohol. No medication needed.”
A lie off the cuff, and Han Tianlin swallowed it whole.
In his mind, his brother disdained lying. “All right. No alcohol for you. If you are nursing your stomach, we will have them bring milk.”
“…,” Li Dong immediately regretted the story. He did not envy Han Yubai at all now.
As a small-time civil servant with few banquets to attend, Li Dong had not seen much.
The biggest scene he had known was drinking with a mayor, trading small talk and shining shoes, and he had been the kind of underling the mayor never remembered.
So sitting here today, watching senior executives come up to toast him, Li Dong wore a mysterious smile.
He lifted his milk and took a restrained sip.
“Wonderful! Second Young Master honors us!”
“…”
“Mr. Han, I will do my utmost. We will aim for a perfect close with no surprises. My plan is…” On and on it went.
They talked business. Li Dong listened here and there, but without a history in this work, it was all half-understood.
He had come along to feel out the financial world and see if he had interest or ability.
He soon found out: a humanities kid was a humanities kid. He had neither interest nor capacity.
Fine. If Han Yubai’s role in life was the pampered second son, he would accept it. Being a good second son did not sound so bad.
“Second Young Master, do you have a moment to text?” After a whole morning of restraint, Xi Xingling could not hold back during lunch break.
He and Xia Bailun were at a dessert shop downstairs. Xia was on the phone with his girlfriend, whispering sweet nothings across the table.
Xi Xingling’s mind kept circling back to Li Dong. He did not dare think about Han Tianlin. That only led to pain and a longing he could not touch.
Li Dong, at least, he could touch. He could sleep with him.
At this stage, of course he wanted Li Dong more.
What is it? I’m with my brother at meetings, Li Dong replied on purpose.
Holding his phone, Xi Xingling read that WeChat and felt empty and tormented. He wanted to ask what Young Master looked like right now, what he was saying, maybe even a photo he did not dare hope for… but he held back.
He is drinking. I’m no good with alcohol, so he ordered milk for me. Isn’t he asking for a beating? Li Dong sent another.
Reading that, Xi Xingling could not bear it. He clutched his chest, breath catching.
He pictured Han Tianlin in his mind, and the result was pressing his knees together in embarrassment because his body reacted.
Second Young Master, I’m sorry. I have to get back to work. Can I message you after? he typed carefully, certain that if he kept going now he would break the rules.
Oh. How rare. Not clingy for once.
So Han Tianlin worked as an excellent distraction. Even so, Li Dong felt no joy. Call him sanctimonious or nosy, but he truly did not want Xi Xingling to repeat the same mistakes.
Do you want to see a photo of my brother? Li Dong asked again, choosing to fight poison with poison.
The message landed like a bomb. Xi Xingling’s first reaction was wild joy, followed by the urge to cry. He did not dare forget the rule. He did not dare mention Han Tianlin at all. Second Young Master, please don’t do this to me. It hurts.
As he sent this message, he was banging his head against the wall, trying to maintain his rationality.
Li Dong took pity and eased off. He needed to go slow.
How about dinner tonight? I’ll take you to a hot spring, then send you home. Wear that lingerie for me.
His phone pinged again. Another message from Second Young Master.
Xi Xingling squeezed his eyes shut, afraid to look in case it was an even bigger temptation.
In the end he opened it with trembling fingers. Reading Li Dong’s plan, his mood flipped again and again like a roller coaster.
“!!!!”
Four exclamation marks did not cover it.
If he had a tail, he could ascend to heaven by the speed of its wagging.
Second Young Master! [cry][cry][cry] Are you serious? Really taking me to a hot spring? And he could wear sexy lingerie for him. It was like a dream come true!
He bent at the waist and did not dare straighten, because he was already… well. So embarrassing.
“Xingling? Why aren't you walking?” Xia Bailun turned back and said, “Do you have a stomachache?” Otherwise, why was he bent over? Really, always having little ailments.
“Mm… I’ll use the restroom. Don’t wait for me.” Playing the stomachache patient, Xi Xingling slipped away and locked himself in a stall.
Next step: immediately call Li Dong. “Second Young Master, Second Young Master, Second Young Master~~”
Li Dong answered the phone. He heard a sound like a cat in heat and immediately shuddered all over.
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