Inside the kitchen.
Xu Qinghe leaned against the counter, chatting with Chen Yuxi while occasionally helping to hand over the oil pot and salt container.
The ingredients had all been prepped: an electric steamer, a pressure cooker, a pot of beef stewing on one burner, and another burner dedicated to stir-frying…
Before long, the dishes were practically ready.
Xu Qinghe put on heat-insulated gloves to carry out the fish head, calling out to the two gentlemen drinking tea in the living room: “Dinner is ready, go wash your hands!”
The moment he set the fish down, Pei Shengye was right beside him: “Why didn’t you call me?”
Xu Qinghe gave him a sidelong glance and handed the heat-insulated gloves to Qi Xun: “Go carry out the beef brisket and soup.”
Then he patted Pei Shengye’s arm: “Ge, if you help out, you’ll scare Yuxi and the others. Just sit back and wait to eat.”
Qi Xun brought out the remaining dishes, carried the rice cooker to the dining table, and began dishing out the rice.
Just as the rice was served, Chen Yuxi’s final stir-fried vegetable dish was finished as well. He placed the vegetables on the table, turning to Qi Xun with a look of gratitude and apology: “I really troubled you today, Teacher Qi.”
Qi Xun: “Indeed.”
Xu Qinghe was currently laying out the chopsticks and chuckled upon hearing that: “You’re calling sharing a meal trouble? Better watch out, or Yuxi won’t ask you over for meals anymore.”
Qi Xun: “…”
Chen Yuxi quickly chimed in: “How could that be? As long as Teacher Qi doesn’t find it bothersome, you’re welcome to come eat every day.”
Xu Qinghe pouted: “Didn’t he just act like it was a bother?”
Under Pei Shengye’s half-smiling gaze, Qi Xun dryly added a footnote: “Just joking.”
Xu Qinghe teased him: “Didn’t look much like a joke.”
Qi Xun: “…We aren’t close enough for you to tell.”
Xu Qinghe feigned anger: “Are you and I not close?”
Qi Xun: “Doesn’t count.”
Xu Qinghe turned to Chen Yuxi: “Look at that, this kid just loves asking for a beating, so just ignore whatever he says normally.”
Through this playful banter, Chen Yuxi genuinely relaxed and smiled, “Alright, I’ll just look at what Teacher Qi actually did instead.”
He invited everyone to take their seats.
The four of them didn’t stand on ceremony regarding seating hierarchy and sat down in turn.
Xu Qinghe: “That’s right. My Lao Pei is just like that—he radiates cold auras and death glares all day long, but when it comes to getting things done, he’s insanely reliable. His subordinates come to me with petty complaints all the time, but after all these years, not a single person has ever quit. You see, people ultimately have to be judged by their actions and results.”
Pei Shengye calmly picked up a piece of food and placed it in his bowl: “As long as the pay is high enough.”
“Oh please, if the pay wasn’t high enough, who could stand you?”
Chen Yuxi smiled, revealing two little tiger teeth.
Qi Xun glanced at him twice.
Xu Qinghe continued his lighthearted venting: “Personalities like theirs might fly in the business world, but they suffer massive losses in interpersonal interactions. My Lao Pei still barely has any friends to this day; when he has free time, he just drinks tea with old men. Xiao Xun used to go to the movies by himself, but now he tags along drinking tea with old men too…”
Chen Yuxi glanced at Qi Xun, who was eating calmly, and couldn’t help his curiosity: “How old were you when Teacher Qi first got to know you guys?”
Xu Qinghe reminisced: “Around eighteen or nineteen, I think…”
Qi Xun swallowed his food: “Seventeen.”
Chen Yuxi chimed in naturally: “Back before Teacher Qi even debuted?”
Qi Xun: “Mhm.”
Xu Qinghe: “Right, right. At the time, he had just entered university, studying business and law simultaneously while learning management from his grandfather, and even squeezed in time to study directing. He’s a terrifyingly high-energy person.”
What was even more terrifying was that under such monstrous study pressure, he still debuted in the entertainment industry and swept the Grand Slam Film King titles across just a few works.
Chen Yuxi looked at Qi Xun with newfound admiration: “Teacher Qi is truly amazing…”
With an air of casual indifference, Qi Xun picked up a piece of food and placed it in Chen Yuxi’s bowl, saying, “If you had a bunch of people waiting on you hand and foot so you never had to worry about daily trifles, you could do it too.”
Completely missing the subtext, Chen Yuxi was simply startled by his words: “No way. Even if everything was handed to me on a silver platter, I could never study that much.”
Being able to excel in just one industry was already hard enough.
Xu Qinghe expressed deep agreement: “We’re just ordinary folks, no point comparing ourselves to freaks. These freaks not only have good brains, but whatever they do seems effortless…”
The lunch smoothly concluded amidst Xu Qinghe’s lively complaints and Chen Yuxi’s shocks and exclamations.
Together, the four of them cleared the dining table, transferred the remaining dishes to the kitchen, and migrated to the living room for tea and conversation—Xu Qinghe chatted with Chen Yuxi, while Pei Shengye talked with Qi Xun.
Whenever public topics came up, the four of them would merge into one conversation. Even so, the primary talkers remained Xu Qinghe and Chen Yuxi.
After chatting for a bit, Chen Yuxi led Xu Qinghe toward the corner of the living room, where a modest little music corner had been set up: electric piano, guitar, audio interface, sound card, microphone… completely equipped.
The two of them tinkered with everything one by one, shifting timbres and pitches back and forth, occasionally breaking into an impromptu verse—making quite a chaotic ruckus.
When Chen Yuxi finally snapped back to reality, he noticed that the two gentlemen on the other side of the living room had stopped talking at some point and were simply watching them.
He paused his guitar playing, feeling somewhat flustered: “Is it too loud?”
Xu Qinghe turned back.
Pei Shengye: “Not at all, carry on.”
Qi Xun: “Not at all.”
Chen Yuxi looked at Xu Qinghe, hesitating: “Will Mr. Pei and Teacher Qi find it too boring?”
Xu Qinghe: “Don’t worry about it, let’s play our music. If they get bored, they’ll just open their phones and work.”
The two gentlemen on the sofa nodded simultaneously.
Still feeling nervous, Chen Yuxi took off the guitar: “We can do this another day—”
“No, no, don’t do it another day. That segment just now sounded great, stick with that part, hurry up and write it down!” Xu Qinghe forcefully looped the guitar strap back over his shoulder. “The melody is practically spilling out, why are you worrying about them?”
Before Chen Yuxi could protest further, Qi Xun turned his head from across the room to bring up a topic with Pei Shengye: “President Pei, the investment Goldschs made into XX Company at the beginning of the year was…”
The two of them had switched back to their business channel.
Xu Qinghe patted Chen Yuxi’s arm: “See? Told you not to worry about them. They aren’t kids, they know how to entertain themselves.”
Chen Yuxi still glanced over there.
Xu Qinghe directly asked a question: “What was that chord progression again?”
Only then did Chen Yuxi’s attention snap back: “It’s 3-2-5-3-2…”
Over the course of the afternoon, he managed to hammer out a piece of sheet music—the melody intended for Xu Qinghe.
Xu Qinghe loved it dearly and happily departed with the score, saying he was going back to practice and that they would schedule a time to record the song once Chen Yuxi finished arranging it.
Chen Yuxi saw them off to the parking lot and watched their car drive away, bringing the gratitude-themed gathering to a formal close—
Wait, no, not quite.
Chen Yuxi looked at Qi Xun, who was still lingering by his side, and offered a polite, courteous out: “Would Teacher Qi like to stay for dinner? There are still plenty of leftovers.”
“Sure.”
Chen Yuxi froze.
Unfazed, Qi Xun calmly pressed the elevator button and gestured to him: “What are you standing there daydreaming for? Get in.”
Chen Yuxi hurried to follow him in.
All the way back to his apartment, watching Qi Xun change into that brand-new pair of oversized slippers, Chen Yuxi still hadn’t fully processed reality.
He checked his phone. It wasn’t even four o’clock yet. If they waited for dinner, it was barely an hour away… seems there was nothing wrong with that?
Qi Xun naturally noticed him checking the time and stated calmly, “I’d still have to figure out what to eat back home anyway. Since you’ve got so many dishes left over, I couldn’t be bothered to move.”
Chen Yuxi: “Huh?”
As a major corporate director and top film king, didn’t he have a personal chef at home?
As if reading his mind, Qi Xun remarked, “Moved out to live on my own before the New Year. I usually just eat takeout.”
Chen Yuxi: “…Isn’t that a bit unhealthy?”
Qi Xun: “It’s fine, won’t kill me.”
Chen Yuxi mused to himself that the takeout ordered by wealthy folks was probably special-grade provisions from five-star hotels and grand restaurants made with top-tier ingredients anyway.
He began pondering how he should spend the next hour or so with Qi Xun, when he heard Qi Xun ask: “May I borrow your computer for a bit?”
Chen Yuxi quickly moved his music-production laptop over from the music corner for him.
Without standing on ceremony, Qi Xun took the laptop, sat down on the sofa, opened his email, and started reviewing documents.
Intimidated by a screen full of foreign text, Chen Yuxi stammered, “Then… should I go busy myself?”
Qi Xun spared him a glance and nodded: “Go ahead.”
Chen Yuxi: “…”
Carrying a surreal sense of unreality, he went to the kitchen to wash the remaining dishes from lunch. When he came back out, Qi Xun had already connected to an online conference call.
Chen Yuxi rubbed the side of his cheek, tempted to pull out his phone and message Bai Shuyang, but hesitated and put it down.
Glancing once more at Qi Xun, who had completely commandeered the sofa, he felt a spark of smug satisfaction. He plugged his monitoring headphones into the electric piano, grabbed his notebook and pen, and began tweaking the melody he had just composed.
The moment the monitoring headphones went on, the rest of the world was sealed away.
It wasn’t until a long-fingered hand reached out and tapped a random sequence of notes on his electric piano keys that he snapped back to his senses, hurriedly taking off his headphones to look at the young man.
Qi Xun’s expression was calm: “I’m hungry.”
Chen Yuxi: “…”
Checking the time, he was shocked to see it was already approaching six o’clock.
He stood up immediately. “I’ll go make dinner right now.”
With an affirming “Mhm,” Qi Xun retreated back to the sofa to sit down like a lord of the manor.
Chen Yuxi: “…”
There were plenty of leftovers from noon. After reheating them and whipping up an additional plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, he managed to put together five or six dishes.
Fortunately, Qi Xun wasn’t picky and wolfed down the reheated food with gusto. After polishing off three bowls of rice, he wiped his mouth and finally took his leave.
Remembering that Qi Xun’s car was parked outside the residential compound, Chen Yuxi didn’t even bother washing the bowls and escorted him out.
Only after walking him all the way to that somewhat flashy Cullinan and watching it drive off into the distance did Chen Yuxi return to his apartment with a head full of wild, stray thoughts.
The moment he opened the door, those boat-sized brand-new oversized slippers were sitting there glaringly right in front of him.
Chen Yuxi: “…”
He dialed Bai Shuyang’s number.
Bai Shuyang: “Stop thinking about it. The big Film King going to your place today hit the hot searches, its ranking only dropped this afternoon, and his company already issued a clarification statement at noon… Just look for yourself.”
Chen Yuxi opened WeChat.
Two photos: one showed Qi Xun helping him carry groceries, the two of them walking side by side. The other showed him standing on tiptoe to cover the other man’s mouth while the other looked down at him.
The photos were quite blurry, showing a noticeable distance, and required captions just to clarify who was who; slapping anyone else’s name on them would probably pass muster.
Even so, the parties involved definitely wouldn’t mistake them.
Chen Yuxi stared at the slightly intimate second photo for a long while before switching over to the next screenshot.
It was an official announcement released by Yangguang Culture, the agency founded by Qi Xun.
@YangguangCulture: Some media accounts have unauthorizedly published private itinerary photos of our company’s artist Qi Xun and spread rumors that Qi Xun is cohabiting. This has rapidly spread across the internet, causing adverse effects on the artist’s personal image and reputation. A clarification regarding the relevant gossip is hereby issued:
Qi Xun is currently single, with no partner and no cohabitation. The photos captured were from a private gathering itinerary, and no cohabitation exists. Please refrain from believing or spreading rumors, and respect the artist’s personal life. Thank you.
Bai Shuyang was full of indignation: “You hadn’t even finished eating your meal yet over there, and their official statement was already out, as if they were terrified of affecting someone else.”
Chen Yuxi rubbed the edge of his phone, speaking slowly: “They aren’t wrong either. He still has to find a partner eventually; being rumored to be in a same-sex relationship really isn’t great…”
Bai Shuyang: “Fine, as long as you have a clear head about it.”
Chen Yuxi hummed in agreement: “I’m going to clean up the kitchen, talk to you later.”
“OK~”
Hanging up the phone, Chen Yuxi squatted down and shoved that brand-new pair of slippers into the very bottom of his wardrobe.