Chapter 15 – I’m Yours Now

The weather turned cold overnight.

As a native of G City, Xu Ji, who was awakened by the freezing air conditioner, picked up his phone to check the time; 7:24 in the morning. He yawned, then with familiarity, he got out of bed and walked to the storage room in his slippers, where he took out a cotton quilt that had been sun-dried all summer.

His body felt heavy from oversleeping and he could barely move. As he was slowly walking back, the sound of keys jingling outside caught his attention. Soon after, Li Ting’s face appeared behind the door.

Both of them were startled. Xu Ji frowned and asked, “Why are you ba…”

Li Ting sneezed and closed the door with his backhand.

Xu Ji, “…”

Li Ting also dragged a suitcase behind him, and he said, “Why did it suddenly get so cold?”

Xu Ji repeated expressionlessly, “Why are you back?”

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“Yd?” Nk Mkdt pyke, “Mbl nsxrydu’p yqqykap yal yzxspv plvvzle, vblal’p ds dlle vs pvyu kd F Ukvu yduxsal.”

Dw Kk pyke, “R xlyd, obu yal usw nsxkdt cynj blal?”

Nk Mkdt oyp y zkvvzl nsdqwple, “Eblal lzpl oswze R ts kq dsv blal?”

Dw Kk bye y ckv sq y xsadkdt vlxrla, lprlnkyzzu obld bl bye fwpv osjld wr yde pyo yd wdlmrlnvle rlapsd sd vsr sq vbyv. Tl pvsse kd vbl xkeezl sq vbl byzz yde pwrralpple bkp ydtla ps bl oswzed’v zspl bkp vlxrla, “Eblalhla usw oldv ewakdt vbl alxykdkdt qkhl eyup sq vbl ollj clqsal, ts cynj vblal.”

“R pvyule yv y vos bwdeale uwyd rla dktbv bsxlpvyu,” Nk Mkdt pyke okvb y bkdv sq taklhydnl, “R esd’v byhl y bswpl.”

Dw Kk ypjle cynj, “Psd’v usw byhl xsdlu?”

“Zlp, cwv R kdhlpvle kv yzz kd vbl nsxrydu,” Nk Mkdt lmrzykdle, “Gde vbl bswpkdt raknlp blal yal vss bktb… R byhl vs osaj byae qsa ydsvbla vld ulyap clqsal R nyd yqqsae kv.”

Dw Kk oyp yv y zspp qsa osaep. Mbl bswpkdt raknlp blal olal kdelle dsvsakswpzu bktb, yde lhld kq Nk Mkdt bye y bswpl, bl bye ds alypsd vs pvsr bkx qasx nsxkdt cynj.

After all, Li Ting was still his legal wife.

Xu Ji didn’t say anything and returned to his room with the quilt. But he couldn’t go back to sleep anymore. Instead, he took out his suitcase again and started packing up the things he had brought back.

He was a little irritated, not at Li Ting, but at himself, for assuming things without Li Ting asking first. It made everything so complicated, moving in and out again.

In addition, compared to Hanjing, he liked living here more, whether it be comfort, familiarity or convenience.

One suitcase wasn’t enough. Xu Ji took a deep breath, then washed up and changed his clothes.

Li Ting was looking at the small liquor cabinet in the room, pondering what could have caused the bottle worth tens of thousands of dollars to jump off… It seemed like the earthquake from the neighboring G City had affected it that day. Then from the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Xu Ji walking out with a suitcase.

Li Ting followed him out and asked, “Are you leaving now?”

Xu Ji bent down slightly to put on his shoes and replied, “Mn.”

“Because of me?”

Xu Ji, “Mn.”

Li Ting fell silent and stood straight on the side. He waited until Xu Ji opened the door before asking, “Although not disturbing each other also works best for me, I’m really curious, why do you hate me so much?”

In the end, it was just his pride at work. Upon examining his own heart, Li Ting realized that he had never been hated by someone to such an extent before.

Xu Ji stopped, and after a moment, he said, “I don’t hate you anymore.”

This is the truth, to be precise, once he learned that Li Ting was planning to acquire the company and had brought down the Li family himself, all the various disgust that had accumulated at the beginning mostly disappeared. That behavior of Li Ting’s was even somewhat to Xu Ji’s liking, he would have done the same thing if he were in Li Ting’s shoes.

When a person’s values and personality aren’t entirely opposed to his, Xu Ji wouldn’t have any bad feelings toward that person. After all, Li Ting has no relationship to him, nor is he an important person to him. No matter how Li Ting is, it has nothing to do with him. It’s fine as long as he doesn’t disturb him.

“Then why are you leaving as soon as you see me?” Li Ting asked.

“I just don’t like being in the same private space with other people,” Xu Ji said.

Li Ting clicked his tongue when he realized he had to drive someone out of their house, then said, “Then I’ll go out and rent a house?”

“No need,” Xu Ji said indifferently.

So Li Ting shut up and let Xu Ji leave.

After that, the two of them had no contact again.

As the new year approached, there were many event promotions, which kept Xu Ji busy to death. In addition, he had to drive for more than half an hour every day to get home after work. He even wanted to just buy a bed for his studio, but the studio was also too cold.

Although the temperature in G City wasn’t low, it was humidly cold, which could penetrate into the bones.

Perhaps due to rolling in the snow all year round, Xu Ji had become more resistant to the cold than most people in G City. Today, he was wearing a black cashmere jacket, and a large part of his neck was exposed, faintly revealing the shape of his collarbone.

Chu Qi came to work in his grandmother’s thick padded jacket. When he saw Xu Ji, he squatted down and pinched his pants, “You’re not wearing long johns again? You’ll suffer sooner or later if you keep this up.”

He also touched Xu Ji’s cold neck and said, “You didn’t even put on a scarf, is your blood frozen yet?!”

The studio was spacious and well-ventilated. With the cold air rushing in, it was indeed colder than outside. Xu Ji wasn’t shivering from the cold, though Chu Qi’s touch did make him shudder a bit. “It’s only six degrees today, not too bad.”

The artist hadn’t arrived yet, so everyone present was relatively relaxed, doing their own things.

Chu Qi secretly leaned over to Xu Ji’s ear and said, “Um… boss, can we discuss something?”

Xu Ji was still adjusting the script and didn’t even lift his head, “What?”

Chu Qi was full of anxiety. “It’s just, after work today… at night, since it’s Saturday tomorrow anyways haha, so, um, can you come to the club with me?”

Xu Ji decisively said, “No.”

Very well, this was the answer he expected, Chu Qi rambled on, “It’s all my fault. Yesterday I drank too much and told a guy that I know a super handsome top, even more handsome than the guy he was trying to pursue! The other guy didn’t believe me, and we ended up arguing. I got angry and said that if I’m lying, then I’m a dog! And I promised to bring the guy to show him tomorrow!”

Xu Ji looked at him helplessly.

Chu Qi pressed his palms together on his head and begged, “Boss, I’m begging you! This is a matter of dignity! I don’t want to lose my dignity, wuwu!”

Xu Ji, “…”

Chu Qi, “I’d rather leave this world right now if I can’t take you there!”

Xu Ji understands that nothing is more important than dignity for men. Regardless of their sexual orientation, men are creatures who value their dignity more than their lives.

The result was as expected, Chu Qi was overjoyed and said to Xu Ji, “Yeah, yeah, that’s it! Keep that cold expression! So damn handsome!”

Xu Ji hadn’t been to a club in a long time, and he sighed, “The guy you’re talking about is at least a celebrity. Are you sure it won’t be even more humiliating to bring me?”

“Humiliating my ass!” Chu Qi’s new manicure was even more glittering under the neon lights. “I’ve never even heard of that guy. He’s really meh, and short too. He just raps a bit and makes a few yo yo hand gestures, calling himself a super star just by streaming. Did the actual stars agree to that? He’s just a poser.”

Xu Ji had no choice but to follow Chu Qi in with his head up.

It was around eight or nine in the evening, the peak hours. The club looked small from the outside, but after walking through a tunnel, the deafening music suddenly burst into their minds.

The bar was at the very front, and they had to pass through a bit of open space before reaching the private rooms and booths, which meant that the moment Xu Ji appeared, all the eyes that could see him immediately focused on him.

Xu Ji was used to these scorching gazes, so he calmly followed Chu Qi into the private room without looking around.

“Hey Chu Qi, where’s the guy? Don’t tell me you…”

The voice abruptly stopped when they saw Xu Ji.

Xu Ji was already very cool, but in order to help Chu Qi out, he pretended to be even cooler, “Hello.”

That person couldn’t help but exclaim, “Holy shit.”

The layout of this club is almost square, with private rooms surrounding the outer edge, plus a section of tables and a stage in the middle. The private rooms are fully open, providing a clear view of everything outside.

Xu Ji sat on the outer edge, the person who had made a bet with Chu Qi earlier approached with a drink in hand and said, “Sorry to bother you, handsome. You’re really good-looking. Can we be friends¹can we be friends = can i add you on wechat?”

In Chu Qi’s case, the people he brings with him were basically all assumed to be single, otherwise it would be too boring. Although in reality, Xu Ji is considered single, he just has a wife on his household registration.

Of course, he wouldn’t want to offend Chu Qi, so he politely refused, “Sorry, I won’t be giving out my contact information.”

Suddenly, the lights dimmed even further, and an MC took the stage and started hyping up the crowd over the mic.

With the music blasting, several laser lights began to spin, casting colorful lights on everyone’s faces. In that moment, it seemed like somewhere in the crowd, a familiar figure flashed before Xu Ji’s eyes.

He ordered a c*cktail and drank it slowly, scanning the faces of people outside one by one.

“Hey handsome, you can’t drink like that,”

Retracting his gaze, Xu Ji saw another person approaching to strike up a conversation, that person continued with a smile, “You have to down it in one go.”

What Xu Ji ordered was called “Irish Mist,” which is made of Irish whiskey, water, ice, and a slice of lemon. The taste is relatively balanced, but the alcohol content is not low at all. It’s a strong c*cktail that can make people experience extreme dizziness.

The person sitting next to Chu Qi obviously knew about this drink and kindly reminded him, “Tell your friend not to drink it all at once, he won’t be able to take it.”

Chu Qi glanced over and said, “Irish Mist? No worries, when he drank five or six glasses back to back, we were still drinking beer.”

Not wanting to get entangled in the conversation, Xu Ji finished the drink in one go, felt his adam’s apple move, and then gently placed the glass on the table. “You may leave now.”

As the person left, the lights flashed in his eyes and in that moment, Xu Ji caught a glimpse of the person sitting in the private room diagonally opposite to them, also sitting on the outermost edge.

Li Ting had his hair down, partly tucked behind his ear, revealing half of his fair nape. He casually hooked the corner of his mouth, his eyes so light that it was elusive, his left leg crossed over his right, and every gesture and movement he made was suggestive.

Sitting next to him was a tall, crew-cut man who was attentively talking to him, and his gaze was so intense that even Xu Ji sitting far away could feel it.

It’s just that, looking at him like this, Li Ting didn’t look like a bottom at all. The aura that emanated from his body was rather strong.

However, Li Ting didn’t seem to pay much attention to the crew-cut man, occasionally responding to one or two things he said. Instead, when he lazily looked over, that was when his smile was the most pronounced.

The two locked eyes.

Xu Ji raised an eyebrow, seemed like Li Ting had already seen him a while ago.

People gradually crowded towards the stage. There were so many people that even the nearby booths were being populated.

Chu Qi leaned over and asked if he wanted a refill. Xu Ji retracted his eyes and said agreed. He isn’t good at socializing with people he just met, he looked at the dice and said with little enthusiasm, “14 sixes.”

The next person didn’t challenge his bet. Xu Ji raised his eyes bored and caught Li Ting’s gaze from the other side.

The shadows were constantly shifting, and they were often obscured by people passing by, but after the shadow passed, they could still see each other’s gaze fixed on themselves.

Xu Ji saw Li Ting take out his phone from his pocket, press a few buttons, and then put it to his ear.

The next second, Xu Ji’s phone rang.

Chu Qi patted him on the shoulder, “Boss, what are you doing? They’re playing rock-paper-scissors, do you want to join?”

Xu Ji turned his head and said, “Wait,” and then answered the phone. His elbow rested on the armrest of the sofa, and the collar of his jacket opened slightly as he moved. His posture of holding the phone was casual yet sexy, “Hello.”

Even though it was noisy around them, and Li Ting’s voice wasn’t loud, but Xu Ji still heard the other’s low and smiling voice, “I noticed that, no one here is as good-looking as you.”

Xu Ji could of course hear the teasing and mocking tone in the other’s words. He tugged at the corner of his mouth, feeling an inexplicable desire to win.

He can’t lose.

Both of them saw each other as the only source of entertainment on this boring night.

On the other side, Li Ting waited for a reply with a smile.

Under the dim light, there happened to be a person between them who raised their hand to interact with someone else. The position of the hand blocked the upper half of Xu Ji’s face, revealing only his superior chin and thin lips.

Li Ting tilted his head slightly and was about to change direction when a bright light fell on the lower half of Xu Ji’s face, making his face clear in an instant.

He looked at him intently, and those thin lips opened slowly and said a few words.

The voice wasn’t clear, the people on Xu Ji’s side were making too much noise.

But Li Ting understood. Xu Ji said, “You as well.”

–

Li Ting: My wifey is seducing me, I can’t hold back anymore.