Bai Le was holding his phone and was almost asleep, his head bobbing like a chick pecking at grain.
A knock at the door woke him. Bai Yin came in carrying a plate of fruit.
"Your mom asked me to bring you some grapes. She said she saw how much you liked them."
Bai Le was still half asleep and gave a drowsy grunt, but when he suddenly saw a solid-color profile picture appear in his WeChat message list, he jolted awake.
Had he really accepted my request?
Whatever else he was like, he did use WeChat after all. Thinking about it that way, Bai Le felt he was approachable and someone he could talk to.
Bai Le hurriedly shooed his younger sister away, then lay on his bed eating grapes as he tapped on his keyboard. After deleting and revising his message repeatedly, he settled on the most straightforward way to ask.
It wasn't as though asking would cost him a piece of flesh, and it might clear up a question that had been bothering him for a long time.
Xi Yan was already lying in bed. The room was pitch-black, and a bowl of dark medicinal brew sat on the bedside table. Usually, he would have drunk it and gone to sleep by this hour, but for some reason, today was a little different.
His phone vibrated with a ping. Xi Yan opened his eyes and looked at the message on the screen, narrowing them in an unreadable manner.
It read: "Do you like Ye Feifei? Even a little bit counts."
Author's note: Xi Yan: He asked whether I like Ye Feifei → he's jealous of me → he likes Ye Feifei?
He asked whether I like Ye Feifei → he's jealous of her → he likes me?
What? I could tell before that he was lying when he said he liked me? You know, my powers of observation aren't always accurate. Mm, that's it.
P.S. Everyone who got the wrong idea from the title, go face the wall. Let me see how many of you there are.
You've been reading too much spicy stuff. And those of you in a hurry to stockpile chapters, don't panic—they'll go abroad for their "honeymoon" in the next chapter, haha.
Thank you to the little angels who sent me gifts or nutrient solution between 2020-02-03 23:24:37 and 2020-02-05 23:52:56~
Thanks to the little angel who sent a landmine: 41981898, 1;
Thanks to the little angels who gave nutrient solution: Xue Yang's Little Moci and ghost, 1 bottle each;
Thank you all so much for your support. I'll keep working hard!
Chapter 9
When Xi Yan opened his eyes again, it was already past four in the morning. He glanced at the clock and pinched the bridge of his nose, looking a little tired.
The sleeping pills were gradually becoming less effective on him now. He propped himself up slightly and leaned against the pillow, his gaze drifting involuntarily to the phone beside him. Thinking of the message he had received, he frowned slightly, his expression somewhat complicated.
He reached over and turned on the bedside lamp, intending to read for a while. Whenever he couldn't settle his mind, that was what he did.
When Xi Yan had first been brought back to the Xi Family, he had been completely unable to sleep at night without a light on.
He was extremely disciplined and self-restrained, pursuing perfection in everything and allowing himself no weaknesses. The more afraid he was, the more he forced himself to get used to it. Others said he was ruthless toward others, but only Old Master Xi had told him that he was even more ruthless toward himself.
So by now, he had gradually grown accustomed to the dark. Except when he was forced into a completely enclosed, dark
space,
he hardly ever had an episode.
He had only just opened his book when a woman's hysterical screams rang out downstairs.
Xi Yan was naturally very familiar with the voice. His expression didn't change in the slightest as he calmly turned to the next page and focused on the book, as though he were already used to it.
A rhythmic knock, knock sounded at the door.
"Come in."
The door opened, and a middle-aged man dressed like a butler walked in. "Sorry we woke you, Fourth Master," he said guiltily. "Madam just came back dead drunk, and we couldn't talk her down." Presumably, he had seen the light on in the room and assumed Xi Yan had been woken up.
"There's no need to talk her down. Just tell her I'm awake, and she'll 'sober up.'"
"Yes."
After the butler left, Xi Yan was no longer in the mood to read. He put the book on the bedside table and turned off the lamp.
Even if he couldn't sleep, it would still be good to rest his eyes for a while.
But unexpectedly, he drifted off without realizing it, and Xi Yan dreamed of his childhood again.
He was trapped in a small, dark cabinet, hungry and thirsty. Through a narrow crack, he seemed to hear his younger brother wheedling their parents downstairs.
His throat was already hoarse from shouting, and he could only count silently to himself. One, two, three, four...
When they used to play hide-and-seek, he liked to count silently to a hundred whenever it was his turn to hide, hoping someone would find him. He had been different from other children since he was little: he was afraid no one would find him.
Ninety-nine.
One hundred...
He opened his eyes. Unlike the countless times before, this time someone seemed to have taken his hand.
It was so warm that it made him want to hold on to that hand, so its owner could never leave and would belong to him alone forever.
When Xi Yan woke from the dream with a start and sat up, he glanced at the time again. It was already nine o'clock. He had never slept so late before.
And once he had fallen asleep, he hadn't woken up again.
Xi Yan lowered his head to look at his hand. The lingering sensation from the dream still felt incredibly real.
His lips curled in a self-mocking smile. It seemed he really was getting old, to be having such useless dreams.
And why had he dreamed of him?
Xi Yan narrowed his eyes slightly. That boy and he belonged to entirely different worlds. In his view, only someone who had grown up pampered and carefree could have developed a personality like that.
He hesitated for a while, but eventually picked up his phone and tapped out a message. After sending it, he seemed to realize what he was doing and tried to recall it, but it was already too late.
Bai Le didn't wake up until after ten the next morning. He had waited a long while the previous night, but Xi Yan hadn't replied, so he had given up and drifted off to sleep.
After getting up, he checked his phone. A whole string of app notifications had piled up overnight, but he didn't look at them closely and hurried straight to work at the company.