Xue Hui tactfully stepped out to help Ji Hanxing with his discharge paperwork.
Seeing how much Ji Hanxing enjoyed his food, Yan Jinyue, who had not felt particularly hungry, found his appetite returning.
Yan Jinyue had eaten breakfast from Xue's plenty of times, but for some reason, the congee tasted unusually delicious today. As he ate, he occasionally looked up at Ji Hanxing.
Ji Hanxing paid no attention whatsoever to Yan Jinyue's gaze, never even lifting his eyelids as he ate. Just as he was digging in with gusto, the system's mood-killing alert sounded in his consciousness.
His spoon hand paused, and a faint sense of foreboding arose in his heart.
[Host, please mind your table manners. You are now a domineering CEO. As the saying goes, nine out of ten domineering CEOs have stomach trouble, and the remaining one has anorexia.]
Ji Hanxing: ???
So?
[Host, you have already eaten twenty mouthfuls. Please drop the spoon in your hand and maintain your domineering CEO persona in front of others.]
Ji Hanxing said, "Are you out of your mind?"
It even counted how many mouthfuls he had eaten?
"Why don't you count how many grains of rice I've eaten, too?"
[If you wish to know, Host, this system can also report that number to you.]
Ji Hanxing couldn't help curling his lip. He looked up at Yan Jinyue sitting beside him and demanded of the system, "Isn't he a domineering CEO, too? Why can he keep eating?"
[Yan Jinyue is the villain. He will always be written out in the end.]
Ji Hanxing: ...
The system sure thinks highly of me! Get Yan Jinyue written out, too? I'm not doing anything illegal. This is a society governed by law!
Oh, right. After his crash course in domineering CEO novels over the past few days, Ji Hanxing remembered that most of the domineering CEOs in those novels were legally illiterate and knew nothing about the law.
But Ji Hanxing felt he couldn't do that. He was living in this world now, and the people and things he encountered were incredibly real. He couldn't treat people as flat characters in a book.
For now, he was merely keeping his head down and getting by.
[Host, please maintain your domineering CEO persona. Maintain the persona for one week to receive one day of life.]
Ji Hanxing: For the sake of staying alive, I'll put up with it. It's just not eating!
At worst, he could go home and eat behind everyone's backs.
Ji Hanxing couldn't help glaring at Yan Jinyue beside him. If Yan Jinyue would just leave, he could hide in the hospital room alone and happily eat his congee.
Yan Jinyue keenly picked up on it and raised his eyes to stare at Ji Hanxing. Having just glared at him behind his back, Ji Hanxing felt guilty and averted his gaze.
Ji Hanxing looked longingly at the spoon in his hand, then painfully set it down. "I'm done eating."
He had put down his spoon, but his eyes remained on the congee in the bowl, which was still more than half full. Yan Jinyue raised an eyebrow. Ji Hanxing's gaze did not match what he was saying.
"You're not eating any more?"
Ji Hanxing tore his gaze away from the congee and closed his eyes. "Mm, I'm done."
However, while he could close his eyes, he couldn't block out the aroma of the nourishing congee. With his vision gone, his sense of smell was especially keen.
Ji Hanxing unconsciously sniffed, his Adam's apple bobbing lightly.
Yan Jinyue's deep gaze lingered on Ji Hanxing's protruding Adam's apple for a while. Then he put down his own spoon and reached for the bowl of nourishing congee in front of Ji Hanxing.
As though sensing something, Ji Hanxing's eyelids fluttered. When he opened his eyes, he saw Yan Jinyue holding his nourishing congee and instinctively reached out.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
Each held one side of the bowl, their fingertips touching. Yan Jinyue glanced down, but Ji Hanxing didn't notice. His attention was still on the bowl of congee in his hands as he quietly exerted force.
"Didn't you say you weren't eating any more? I'll put it away for you. It's easy to spill if you leave it on the table."
Yan Jinyue's hand holding the bowl did not budge, and he showed no intention of putting it down.
Ji Hanxing secretly pulled harder on the bowl. "Sorry for the trouble, President Yan, but I'll do it myself."
[Is it that I don't want to eat? I can't eat.]
Ji Hanxing's wail reached Yan Jinyue's ears. Gazing at him, Yan Jinyue thought, Just as I suspected.
He also began to wonder why Ji Hanxing couldn't eat.
Ji Hanxing was merely short on rest and had caught a slight chill. When Director Xu had reported Ji Hanxing's condition to Yan Jinyue earlier, he hadn't mentioned any dietary restrictions.
[If you weren't here, I'd definitely finish this whole bowl of congee!]
Yan Jinyue froze. How had this become his fault?
While Yan Jinyue was distracted, Ji Hanxing snatched the bowl of congee back.
[Surely Big Boss Yan isn't planning to dump out my bowl of congee?]
Yan Jinyue had indeed been considering that.
[Wasting food is shameful! I can take it home and keep eating! Hehehe, I'll eat behind their backs.]
Yan Jinyue's gaze turned inquisitive. Was the Ji Family so frugal?
He simply watched as Ji Hanxing put the lid back on the congee on the little tray table and packed it away. He seemed to casually set it aside, but had actually increased the distance between Yan Jinyue and the congee.
After doing all this, Ji Hanxing craned his neck to peek into Yan Jinyue's bowl. Seeing it was still more than half full, a trace of regret appeared in his eyes.
[What a waste, what a waste.]
Ji Hanxing looked Yan Jinyue up and down again. Such a big, strapping man, and that was all he could eat?
Still, after his crash course in domineering CEO novels, Ji Hanxing no longer found it strange. The domineering CEOs in those novels could maintain eight-pack abs even with anorexia, eating nothing every day like little fairy boys.
"You're done eating already, President Yan?"
Ji Hanxing still asked Yan Jinyue with some hope. Wasting food was shameful, and it genuinely pained Ji Hanxing.
Meeting Ji Hanxing's bright, dark, phoenix-shaped eyes, Yan Jinyue instinctively picked up his spoon. "I'll eat."
Ji Hanxing was a little surprised, and the corners of his mouth curved upward. I knew it. How could such a big man eat so little? I could eat three bowls of this congee!
He propped his chin on his hand and watched Yan Jinyue eat, growing more impressed the longer he looked. The villain might be a villain, but his looks were truly outstanding-a feast for the eyes. His physique was good, too, especially...
Ji Hanxing couldn't help smacking his lips. As for what had happened that night, having had a taste, he rather wanted more.
His behavior made Yan Jinyue's spoon hand pause. Yan Jinyue found it amusing. If he wanted to eat so badly, why didn't he?
He was even staring at him and drooling.
"Would you like some more?"
Yan Jinyue held a spoonful of congee right in front of Ji Hanxing, giving him a fright.
Only then did Ji Hanxing snap out of his wandering fantasies. Seeing Yan Jinyue's handsome face so close, he recoiled in alarm, putting distance between them.
Then he realized he had actually been fantasizing about Yan Jinyue just now. His embarrassment made the roots of his ears burn red, and his earlobes turned so crimson they looked ready to drip blood.
If Yan Jinyue hadn't been there, Ji Hanxing would have wanted to slap himself twice.
The villain might be tempting, but my life comes first! If what happened between us gets exposed and the plot falls apart, I'm completely done for!
Tsk, a handsome man is trouble.
Ji Hanxing turned his head slightly, avoiding Yan Jinyue's gaze.
Seeing him so embarrassed, Yan Jinyue merely assumed it was because he had caught him drooling.
Ji Hanxing had indeed been drooling, but not over the congee. He had been drooling over this breathtakingly handsome villain, a feast for the eyes.