Translated by Eve

Edited by Kara

Thank you Golden Fish and someone (anonymous) for the kofi! ???

A clap of thunder woke Song Xuanhe up from his dreams.

He stared at the dense, dark clouds gathered outside his window in a daze, letting out a large yawn. Only then did he sit up on his bed and take a look at the time. It was eleven in the morning. However, the black clouds, lightning, and rain shower outside made him feel absent-minded like he didn't quite know what time it was.

He quietly sat on the bed as he came back to himself. After that, he slowly crawled out of bed and took a shower. After was.h.i.+ng away the scent of alcohol, he felt much more refreshed.

He hadn't actually drank all that much yesterday. According to his usual drinking habits, it should have been fine. It was just that he hadn't expected that this body was such a lightweight. It had only been a few gla.s.ses of white wine, and his head had immediately turned fuzzy.

It seemed that he should limit the times he goes out to drink. Song Xuanhe clicked his tongue, lamenting. He wiped his hair and then made his way downstairs.

When he reached the living room, he discovered that Xiao Yuanmu, who was usually in his own room reading or fiddling with something, was actually sitting on the sofa watching TV. Song Xuanhe couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in surprise. However, before he could even say anything, his gaze turned to the TV screen, and he paused.

"——Although the picture is fuzzy, we can see that Film Empress Liu is drinking with a certain gentleman. The hand gestures of the two of them are quite suggestive. It looks like the exchange of wine from ancient weddings. There is also a rumour that this isn't the first time Mr. S has come to visit Liu Xu at her workplace. They had both gone in and left from a certain hotel before."

Two fuzzy pictures of a hotel with its name blurred out appeared. Song Xuanhe looked at them. It was from when he had accidentally run into Liu Xu and Song Guochao just as they were booking a room. He didn't expect that the entertainment reporter would ignore Song Guochao. Instead, they had taken a picture of Song Xuanhe at the front desk during his inspection as well as another with Liu Xu entering the elevator with a mask on. In this way, they had forced the two of them together.

Song Xuanhe wasn't angry. On the contrary, he found it funny and was looking forward to what would happen. What was funny was that, no matter what world it was, to be able to weave a story from photos was an essential skill for any media reporter. What he was looking forward to was Song Guochao's reaction upon seeing the news.

Song Guochao was probably already cursing him.

There was a smile tinted with schadenfreude in his eyes. He went over and sat down on the sofa. While listening to the sound of the rain pouring from outside the window, he crossed his legs on top of the sofa. He grabbed a pillow and was just about to take out his phone to play games when he saw Xiao Yuanmu stand up.

Song Xuanhe looked up, meeting with Xiao Yuanmu's eyes. He subconsciously curled backwards. He thought that Xiao Yuanmu's gaze right now was even more turbulent than the downpour outside.

However, Xiao Yuanmu only gave him an askanced look before leaving. He did not stay for even a moment.

Song Xuanhe felt rather baffled. He grabbed his phone and thought for a while. He discovered that an ordinary person could not see through this big boss's thoughts. Furthermore, he was too lazy to think about it anymore. They were just acting as a couple without any real feelings anyway. In the future, it would be a relations.h.i.+p of predator and prey. Even if he guessed correctly, nothing would change, so there was no use in wasting his brain cells.

Song Xuanhe played games downstairs thoughtlessly. Meanwhile, upstairs, Xiao Yuanmu drenched himself with cold water three times before he could suppress the dark emotions inside his heart.

Xiao Yuanmu stood by his bed and stared out at the oppressing, dark clouds in the sky through the window. He felt the gloominess and stuffiness in his heart, which had just dispersed a bit, deepen once more. His eyes darkened. He suddenly really wanted to smoke. However, he did not move. He only stood there with a straight back.

He knew that something was different.

He did not doubt that he had absolutely loathed Song Xuanhe and only had impatience for him in the beginning. However, right now, he wasn't sure what he thought of Song Xuanhe anymore.

He didn't like him, but he didn't loathe him. And, he couldn't quite treat him as an ordinary person, whom he didn't care about. The current Song Xuanhe was a complicated existence who was difficult to describe in one word.

There was something odd, hard to make sense of, that shouldn't have ever appeared in Xiao Yuanmu's heart. It had appeared without warning like a ray of light breaking through the mist. It was also like a mirage, tempting travellers into dropping down into a valley. It wasn't good or bad. It was like silk, entangling him thread by thread until he couldn't escape.

This emotion had caught him off guard and felt baffling. There had been no omens. He didn't know what to do, but he didn't reject it or want to go against it. Therefore, he had become curious about it. He was curious as to what was causing this emotion as well as curious to how it would develop.

Since he could not break free, he would just wait and see.

After Song Xuanhe finished a round of games, he finally looked up and discovered that it was already past noon. His stomach growled appropriately, and his hunger grew with every rumble. This caused him to suddenly bolster his courage to go upstairs and tell Xiao Yuanmu to make lunch.

In any case, he would have to offend him in the days to come anyway. Right now, he might as well enjoy some good food. From a certain standpoint, he was winning on this front.

Song Xuanhe stood at Xiao Yuanmu's door with his hand raised, but before Song Xuanhe could knock, the door was pulled open. Xiao Yuanmu looked down at him and said blandly, “Hungry?”

Song Xuanhe was startled. He took a step back and folded his arms to his chest. “Why haven't you made lunch yet?”

“What do you want to eat?”

Right now, Song Xuanhe just wanted to eat something. But when he thought of the ingredients in the fridge, he didn't want to inconvenience Xiao Yuanmu too badly, so he directly said, “Chicken. General Tso's Chicken.”

Xiao Yuanmu nodded slightly and said indifferently, “OK.”

Song Xuanhe was honestly really hungry. He randomly found something in the kitchen to temporarily sate his stomach but didn't dare eat too much. Xiao Yuanmu's cooking was worth leaving s.p.a.ce for in his stomach.

Xiao Yuanmu finished cooking very quickly. In but half an hour, three dishes were displayed. And, Song Xuanhe had already been sitting at the dining table, eagerly waiting.

Even though Song Xuanhe was hungry, he ate slowly. He slowly tasted and chewed every bite, carefully savoring the food.

When they had nearly finished their meal, Xiao Yuanmu suddenly said, “The day you overturned the dining table, the poached fish in chilli oil had yet to be placed on the table. After what had happened, I placed it in the fridge.”

Song Xuanhe froze in the middle of picking up food with his chopsticks. Recovering from his pause, he very naturally placed a piece of chicken in his mouth. After swallowing it, he looked up at Xiao Yuanmu and said with a puzzled expression, “Is that so?”

“Yes.”

Song Xuanhe blinked. He seemed to be scrunching up his eyebrows in deep thought. He then said, “I don't remember if the poached fish was on the table or not.”

Xiao Yuanmu was expressionless. His tone was very dull, “The next morning, the poached fish in the fridge was gone.”

“This had happened?” Song Xuanhe looked shocked. He innocently said, “Perhaps the cleaning aunty, who comes in the morning, threw it away.”

“The bowl containing the fish also disappeared.”

“Maybe the aunty took it with her?” Song Xuanhe looked like he suddenly understood what had happened, “She might have taken it to eat.”

Xiao Yuanmu gave him a dull glance, “Is that so?”

“It's possible.” Song Xuanhe clicked his tongue, acting as if he was taking this very seriously, and said, “She probably thought that it looked pretty good, so she ate it.”

Xiao Yuanmu put down his chopsticks. He didn't say anything more and resumed his typical aloof appearance.

Song Xuanhe secretly sighed in relief. Luckily, he was quick-witted and was able to toss the blame onto someone else in time. If Xiao Yuanmu found out that he had crawled out of bed in the middle of the night, ate the poached fish in chili oil, and had thrown the bowl away to destroy the evidence since he didn't know how to wash dishes, then how could he be convincing when he acted like a despotic and arrogant spoiled rich boy?

Monday was calmer than expected. It was now 5:30pm.

Song Xuanhe waited outside the door to the venture investment department as per usual. People came out one after another. They didn't find it odd to see him anymore. They all smiled and greeted him, tone of voice no longer as cautious as before.

Not long after, Xiao Yuanmu came over. When he saw him, he said in an apathetic voice, “Let's go.”

The two of them were just about to leave when they heard someone call out anxiously, “Young Mr. Song! Xiao Xiao!”

Song Xuanhe turned his head and caught a glimpse at the impatience flickering through Xiao Yuanmu's eyes. He still asked the approaching man, “What's the matter?”

“It's like this.” This person was dressed in a suit and leather shoes. He also had on a pair of gold-rimmed gla.s.ses. He beamed and said, “Today is the dinner party for our venture investment department. This afternoon, Xiao Xiao said that he wasn't going. However, I think that since this is Xiao Xiao's first dinner party since entering the company, pus.h.i.+ng away his coworkers like this would inevitably leave an impression of not being too sociable. Moreover, wouldn't interacting with his coworkers more only benefit his work? Besides, if Young Mr. Song  comes along as well, it might just encourage everyone and make everyone feel a bit more enthusiastic towards the company.”

Even if he had to go to the dinner party to complete scenes in the plot, Song Xuanhe still raised a brow and coldly said, "I didn't know that I, who is from the marketing department, could boost company morale by eating with you, venture investment people?"

The bespectacled man choked, but the smile on his face remained the same. He said, "Even if it's not to boost morale, Young Mr. Song can still attend as a family member."

Everyone who was able to rise to management was shrewd. With his words, if Song Xuanhe and Xiao Yuanmu were really dating, they would have been unable to refuse.

However, although he and Xiao Yuanmu were not actually dating, he still couldn't refuse.

Therefore, Song Xuanhe did not continue to make things difficult for the venture investment project manager. He instead smiled and said, "Since you've put it like that, we'll go, ba."

When the three of them arrived, the private room was already full with people. There was smoke from the barbecued meat in the air; the meat on the grills sizzled, and there was a special kind of liveliness.

When they saw them enter, the majority of the people were shocked. Those who were quick-witted had already stood up and made s.p.a.ce, "Young Mr. Song, Xiao Xiao, Mr. Zhang, sit here.

Song Xuanhe wasn't polite. He pulled Xiao Yuanmu down and sat in two empty seats. Very soon, new bowls and chopsticks arrived. There were even people who placed already cooked meat in a bowl and gave it to them.

"No need." Song Xuanhe waved his hand and refused the dish that a woman had handed over. He raised his chin and indicated towards Xiao Yuanmu as he said, "I'll eat what he cooks."

Everyone's expressions changed slightly. Their expressions grew suggestive. There were even some male coworkers who laughed and said, "Understood, understood."

Xiao Yuanmu gave him an insipid glance. He rolled up his sleeves, calm and composed, and picked up the tongs and scissors for grilling meat. He grilled meat and placed every single piece in Song Xuanhe's bowl. The meat was cooked just right and was even paired with vegetables.

Upon seeing this, Song Xuanhe frowned. Why did he feel like Xiao Yuanmu wasn't actually angry? After all, the original novel had described Xiao Yuanmu as having a cold face at this moment.

Only, Xiao Yuanmu was typically expressionless. He was very proficient at hiding his emotions. It was very normal for him not to be able to notice any changes in emotion. After all, this big boss was very good at enduring.

He hoped that Xiao Yuanmu  would remain as steady as a mountain and refrain from acting against him when Song Xuanhe finished the plot.

The author has something to say:

Song Xuanhe: I like the way you won't hit me even if you dislike me.

Xiao Yuanmu: I don't want to hit you. I just want to….

Eve: Hehehe, Xuanhe thinks he's slick but Mumu knows. But also…he doesn't know how to wash dishes. Truly a young master.

Kara: LOL I literally was like "Did I just really read that with my own eyes?" when I read the part of SX not knowing how to wash dishes. Also, isn't it cute how XY is already exasperatedly fond of SX's whims? (｡'▽'｡)♡