Why was he being so protective?
Fan Jing's suspicions deepened again.
The meal passed quietly. After eating, Lin Fengmian grew sleepy. Having finally caught a chance to spend time with him, Xia Qinghe naturally wouldn't go home so easily.
"Miss Fan, a small token of appreciation. These are some specialties from the estate. Please accept them." Xia Qinghe put the local specialties the estate's butler had prepared into the car.
Everything came from the estate, from wine to assorted fruit and vegetables, all organically grown and free of pollutants, supplied exclusively to the Xia Family.
Xia Qinghe had driven all the younger members out of the Xia Family. Now only he and Qian Yulan remained in the entire household, and they couldn't use up so much produce, so the butler had started supplying the estate's output to the Xia Corporation's large supermarkets.
Looking at the fresh, green produce, Fan Jing gladly accepted the inexpensive gifts. "Aren't you heading back into town too, Qinghe?"
Xia Qinghe stood to one side, bored out of his mind, wishing he could stuff Fan Jing, who was still exchanging pleasantries, into the car and get her to leave so he could go back and nap with Mianmian.
But he still offered a perfectly respectable excuse. "I'm going back tonight. You're a woman, so it wouldn't be convenient for you to stay that late."
Fan Jing looked at the estate behind him with some regret. "All right, I'll be off, then."
Xia Qinghe and the butler stood at the estate's entrance, watching the car leave. Xia Qinghe asked, "She just glanced at the house behind me and looked a little regretful. What did that mean?"
The butler stayed utterly silent, truly not daring to answer.
After all, it wasn't unheard of for someone's blind date to fall for his buddy.
Xia Qinghe said, "Why do I feel like she's fallen for Mianmian?"
The butler said, "..." You said it, not me. Don't take it out on me.
Xia Qinghe soon had confirmation. When he went home that evening to report back, Qian Yulan grabbed him by the ear. "Why did you take Lin Fengmian on your blind date? Don't you know how devastating that face of his is? Huh-?"
Even when Qian Yulan got angry, she was gentle about it, but this time she was truly furious. After painstakingly screening candidates, she had finally found someone she liked as a prospective daughter-in-law, only for the woman to ask her for Lin Fengmian's contact information today and tactfully reject Xia Qinghe, saying she felt nothing for him.
This was the first time anyone had rejected him so explicitly.
Qian Yulan was so furious she could have spat blood thirty feet, wishing she could finish off this oh-so-filial son.
Xia Qinghe's expression was even darker than Qian Yulan's. He'd known it. That glance had been regret that Lin Fengmian hadn't come out to see her off.
Fuck, he was furious.
His anger lodged in his chest, refusing to budge. He wished he could pull out a forty-meter cleaver, charge into Fan Jing's house, and chop her into mince. Who was she to covet his Mianmian?
Anyone less beautiful than his Mianmian was a toad lusting after a swan.
"What's with that look? I'm telling you you were wrong, and you're still not convinced?"
"No, she's so average-looking. How does she have the nerve to fall for Mianmian?"
Qian Yulan twisted his ear a full 360 degrees, and Xia Qinghe squealed like a pig being slaughtered. "Mom, Mom, my ear's going to come off!"
"You won't learn unless it hurts. Are you going to take Lin Fengmian on a blind date again?"
"No."
"Swear it."
Xia Qinghe held up three fingers. "I swear, if I ever take Mianmian on another blind date, I'm a dog." 's dad.
Qian Yulan let go and sat on the sofa, so angry that Auntie Liu came forward to rub her chest and soothe her.
The young master said he wouldn't take him, but he would do it again next time. Everyone knew what he was like.
Qian Yulan was only giving herself a way to back down. After both of them had spent ages huffing and puffing in anger, Xia Qinghe finally remembered. "Mom, did you give her Mianmian's contact information?"
Qian Yulan tugged at her slipping shawl. "I did." The woman wasn't interested in her son, but she didn't want such a nice girl ending up with some outsider either. Since she had fallen for her good friend's son, of course she had given it to her.
Xia Qinghe stamped his feet in fury. "How could you give it to her?"
Qian Yulan looked her furious son up and down. "Why couldn't I? You're not interested in her, but maybe Mianmian will like her."
Remembering how Lin Fengmian had praised Fan Jing in front of him, Xia Qinghe's heart clenched. His whole body felt so awful he wanted to vomit. His head hurt, his feet hurt, everything hurt.
It hurt so much he could barely breathe.
"He..." Xia Qinghe gasped for breath. "He..."
No matter how he opened his mouth, he couldn't say that Lin Fengmian wouldn't like Fan Jing.
How had Mianmian praised Fan Jing in front of him again?
He'd said Fan Jing was emotionally stable and mentally strong, well suited to being the lady of the household, and would make a capable, supportive wife.
Did Fan Jing have that many good qualities in Mianmian's eyes?
What about him?
Did he have that many good qualities in Mianmian's eyes?
Xia Qinghe abruptly sprang up from the sofa and ran outside.
Qian Yulan watched her son's retreating back with some concern, feeling that he seemed rather panicked and at a loss. "Where are you going?"
Xia Qinghe didn't answer. He hurried into his car, turned the key, and sped away.
Lin Fengmian had already gone to bed. After a full day of fun, he was exhausted. He'd eaten at the Xia Family estate, then come home, washed up, and gone to sleep.
As he slept, a meteor suddenly fell from the sky and smashed into him, making him spurt blood like a showerhead. The pain jolted him awake.
He opened his eyes to a panicked face.
"Why are you so clingy? Get off." All the air had been knocked out of Lin Fengmian's chest. If he stayed pinned like this any longer, he would definitely die.
The world might be pretty dull, but he wasn't ready to leave it yet.
Xia Qinghe hugged Lin Fengmian and rolled over, switching their positions so Lin Fengmian was on top. "Mianmian."
"Mm."
"Mianmian."
"Mm."
"Mianmian?"
"If you've got something to fucking say, say it. What's with all this Mianmian, Mianmian crap? Have you been possessed by a broken record?"
Xia Qinghe held him tight. "My mom gave Fan Jing your contact information."
Lin Fengmian said, "...Don't tell me she's planning to tear into me because I ruined things for her."
"I only went there to sabotage things for your sake. You have to take the heat for this. If she actually comes after me, I'll kill you."
Xia Qinghe froze for a moment, then released his tight hold to cup Lin Fengmian's face instead. The unease in his eyes receded, replaced by overflowing laughter. Fuck, I almost forgot. My Mianmian's brain works differently.
Anyone else would assume she was interested in him. Only he would think someone wanted his contact information to make trouble for him.
Xia Qinghe burst out laughing, his chest rising and falling and taking Lin Fengmian along with it, jostling away the last trace of his sleepiness.
"Are you having another fucking fit?" Lin Fengmian felt Xia Qinghe's forehead. "You haven't caught some horse plague, have you? You don't have a fever, though."
Xia Qinghe cupped his face and kissed his forehead several times in a row. "How are you so cute?"
"You're cute. You're a big cutie." Lin Fengmian broke free, pulled up Xia Qinghe's shirt, and wiped his forehead with it several times.
"If there's nothing else, get lost. I'm going to sleep."
"Don't add her."
"I'd have to be out of my mind to add someone who wants to yell at me."
With that definite answer, Xia Qinghe finally relaxed. He gently moved Lin Fengmian onto the bed and even tucked him in. "Go to sleep, go to sleep. I'll take a shower. I'm sleeping here tonight too."
His only answer was a fist waving outside the covers.
Xia Qinghe smiled. He'd almost lost his buddy.
Thank goodness.
Before you continue