The Ying family estate.
“He left with that boy?” Old Master Ying asked slowly, looking at Bai Ling and the others beside him.
“Yes,” Bai Ling replied with a weary expression.
“Call him and ask whether he is coming back or not. If he refuses, see how I deal with him,” the Ying father said in a fury.
Just as Bai Ling picked up her phone, she heard Old Master Ying’s voice.
“Don’t bother calling. If he doesn’t want to come back, then he needn’t.” Though he had once been sharp and vigorous, Old Master Ying seemed to have aged significantly in a short span of time.
“Dad, then you should rest first. We can deal with Xiaochi’s matters after he returns.”
Old Master Ying waved a hand to dismiss them and added unhurriedly, “Have another child.”
Bai Ling sighed. “Alright, Dad.”
Zhu Xing knew nothing about the Ying parents planning a second child, or he might have started worrying about his points acting up again.
When he went home and brought up the idea of getting engaged to Qu Qingyu, the Zhu family didn’t object, but they still felt that a rushed engagement so soon was improper.
Somehow, Qu Qingyu managed to persuade his own family. The very next morning when Zhu Xing woke up and went downstairs, he found the entire Qu family gathered there, save for Qu Wenning who was away on a temporary business trip.
Though Mother Zhu felt the engagement was happening too fast, Qu’s mother, Yun Jiahe, was a smooth and tactful woman whose few words quickly softened Mother Zhu’s stance.
Thinking of the articulate Qu mother, the mild-tempered Qu father, and the gentle Qu Wenning, Zhu Xing found it somewhat odd that Qu Qingyu turned out entirely different.
“How are you so completely different from your parents and your older brother?”
“Oh, good bamboo shoots grow from bad shoots, you know,” Qu Qingyu said unhurriedly, leaning against Zhu Xing’s shoulder with zero regard for the surrounding crowd.
Choosing to ignore her unpresentable younger son, Yun Jiahe maintained an elegant smile as she discussed the wedding arrangements for the two youths with Mother Zhu.
“Is that even how that phrase is used?” Zhu Xing knew all too well that Qu Qingyu treated everyone with indiscriminate toxicity.
After a prolonged round of negotiations between the two families, the engagement was finally scheduled for two months later, though the actual marriage would have to wait until Zhu Xing finished his studies.
Qu Qingyu was dissatisfied with the timeline, but since Zhu Xing had agreed to it, throwing a solo tantrum wouldn’t change a thing.
Life slowly drifted by as Zhu Xing awaited his final plot point.
“Qu Qingyu, no matter how much you beg me this time, it’s not going to work!” Zhu Xing had reached his limit. He needed to establish some boundaries, otherwise Qu Qingyu’s talent for pushing his luck would only keep growing.
The first time, Zhu Xing had let Qu Qingyu coax him, resulting in his lips aching for days. The second time, he fell for Qu Qingyu’s aggrieved expression, leaving his hand sore for ages, as that fireplace poker had nearly given him trauma.
Ignoring Qu Qingyu’s pitiful and resentful expression, Zhu Xing grabbed his schoolbag and bolted the moment class ended.
No sooner had he sprinted out of the classroom than Qu Qingyu intercepted him in a tight embrace. “Xingxing, we have serious business to attend to.”
Trying to twist his arm free while walking, Zhu Xing was covered in a light sheen of sweat within moments.
“What serious business could you possibly have? I don’t believe a word of it.”
Qu Qingyu leaned close to Zhu Xing’s ear. “Baby, our engagement is next week, and we still haven’t tried on the formal wear.”
Halting his struggle, Zhu Xing looked skeptically at the recidivist offender before him.
“I’m not lying to you. They were custom-made in a rush, so we have to go try them on, otherwise it will be too late next week.”
Deciding that Qu Qingyu’s reason was valid, Zhu Xing followed him to try on the engagement attire.
On the way home.
Qu Qingyu looked at Zhu Xing, who was sitting as close to the opposite door as physically possible.
“Baby Xingxing, it was my fault,” Qu Qingyu apologized promptly, while Zhu Xing remained entirely silent.
Oh no, I pushed it too far. Qu Qingyu pondered internally on how to coax him back.
For the entire ride, he offered sweet words and played the victim, but Zhu Xing remained completely unmoved.
Disregarding the driver up front, Qu Qingyu flipped the privacy partition closed.
Terrified by Qu Qingyu’s sudden embrace, Zhu Xing braced himself, thinking the guy was about to go wild.
“Alright, baby, don’t be angry anymore. Let me apologize to you, okay?” Qu Qingyu coaxed him softly.
“Who told you to break your promises every single time? You never listen to me.”
“I’ll listen to you. How about this: for the next week, you call the shots.”
“Just think about how many times you’ve said you’d listen to me before.”
Resting his chin gently on the shoulder of the person in his arms, Qu Qingyu lowered his voice. “I mean you call the shots at any given time. If you say move, I move; if you say stay still, I stay still.”
The ambiguous voice brushed against his ear, leaving Zhu Xing wondering if that sentence meant what he thought it meant.
Qu Qingyu lightly kissed Zhu Xing’s earlobe, then couldn’t resist lightly sucking and nibbling on it.
It didn’t hurt, but it tickled.
“You said you’d listen to me, so stop touching me.”
The moment those words left his mouth, Qu Qingyu released him instantly, sitting upright in his seat without a single further instance of wandering hands.
Zhu Xing had just been lazily lounging in Qu Qingyu’s arms when the warmth suddenly vanished.
Yet the words had come out of his own mouth, leaving him too embarrassed to ask to be held again.
He could only sit there glumly, sneaking sidelong glances at Qu Qingyu.
Who would have thought the guy would genuinely behave like a student in primary school, keeping his hands neatly off him.
Upon arriving home, Qu Qingyu said, “See you tomorrow, Xingxing.”
Watching in a daze as Qu Qingyu climbed back into the car and drove off right after stepping out at the main estate, Zhu Xing stared in disbelief.
Qu Qingyu just left like that?
Previously, whenever they reached home, Qu Qingyu would stick to him like someone suffering from touch starvation. Before getting out of the car, he would kiss him; before entering the door, he would hug him.
Once Zhu Xing went upstairs, he would still receive a string of flirtatious messages.
He checked his phone several times. Nothing. Still nothing.
It was as though Qu Qingyu had suddenly turned completely proper.
Zhu Xing felt somewhat unaccustomed to it, but since it was only the first day, he certainly didn’t dare say, “Come hug me, Qu Qingyu,” as the burning sensation on his hands felt like it was about to return just at the thought.
That night, he read his manga desultorily, drifting off to sleep after receiving nothing more than a frigid “Goodnight.”
The video call was gone. Growing angrier the more he thought about it, Zhu Xing simply powered off his phone to keep himself from giving in and checking it countless times.
The next morning, he naturally overslept.
Sitting at his desk with a darkened face, Zhu Xing acted as though he couldn’t hear Qu Qingyu’s morning greeting.
He pretended not to see the breakfast on his desk either. By the second period that morning, Qu Qingyu firmly gripped Zhu Xing’s hand and gave it a light shake, ignoring his attempts to pull away.
Whatever, let him be.
Reflecting on how every single one of the three banquets he had attended in this small world had ended in unexpected disasters, Zhu Xing couldn’t help feeling a twinge of worry for his own upcoming engagement party.
Qu Qingyu seemed to read his thoughts, offering repeated assurances that absolutely nothing would go wrong.
On the day of the engagement, true to Qu Qingyu’s word, everything proceeded smoothly from start to finish without a single hitch, and came with a pleasant little surprise to boot.
Ying Chi and Lin Yu arrived at the venue together, though the Ying family members acted as though they didn’t even exist.
Zhu Xing always felt those two were acting a bit strange around each other, but since they had both won the approval of their families, it meant his mission had been successfully completed!
This realization made him far less irritated by Qu Qingyu’s wandering hands and affectionate rubbing.
[System, can I stay in this world after completing the mission?]
[Host, are you reluctant to leave Qu Qingyu?]
[Yes.] The mere thought of leaving filled Zhu Xing with a heavy ache.
[Host, staying behind will consume a certain amount of your points. Are you sure you want to do this?]
[Mn…] Zhu Xing hesitated.
Though the roles of Ying Chi and Lin Yu seemed to have swapped, with Lin Yu constantly hovering like a shadow while Ying Chi grew much colder, as long as the two of them were together, Zhu Xing had stopped caring what went on between them.
Recalling that in the original novel the pair married the moment they graduated from university and turned twenty-two, Zhu Xing finally saw a chance to embrace his inner slacker and wait for their romance to naturally run its course.