He was especially protective of his own people, and there was nothing he could do about Qi Du’s bandit-like, mad-dog style. The first time was awkward, the second time was familiar; the two of them still had a mission to do and couldn’t part ways anyway, so they just had to make do.
0617 comforted himself inwardly and later simply gave in and lay flat.
Qi Du was delighted to see him compromise. After the man dozed off for a bit longer, he came over to call him to eat.
“I told you from the start that we’re family. Why are you still throwing a fit with me? Isn’t it pretty good now? Am I good to you or not?”
0617 was utterly amazed by his thick skin. “Can you have some shame?”
Qi Du lowered his head and kissed him once. “No. If I were thin-skinned, when would I ever get a wife? Get up, it’s time to eat. Auntie Wang made chicken soup for you.”
0617 reached out and pinched his face in annoyance. “If you keep messing around without any decency next time, just see if I don’t hit you!”
Qi Du laughed, took his hand, and kissed it. “Buddy, with our revolutionary friendship, it’s not like we’d come to blows, right?”
0617 lowered his eyes and glanced at him, his tone teasing. “You looked pretty energetic when you were showing off against me. What? Not happy about being managed now?”
His tone carried no real anger at all. Qi Du laughed and obediently begged for mercy. “How would I dare? Having a wife to keep me in line is happiness. I’m the kind of man who listens to his wife. Wherever she points, I go.”
As he spoke, he leaned in all clingy and tried to ask for another kiss, but 0617 was too exasperated by his rogue behavior and simply pinched his mouth shut. “No kissing, get lost~”
Qi Du indulged his little temper and simply picked him up. Otherwise, if 0617 went downstairs later with a sore back and aching legs and got upset, he might end up getting punched a few more times.
They say a hit is affection and a scolding is love, but Qi Du still felt that holding his wife was more comfortable.
0617 had a soft temperament, an even softer body, and skin so tender it seemed you could pinch water out of it. Just sitting there in ordinary moments, Qi Du thought he was almost beautiful beyond words, gentle and warm, like a white magnolia blooming in the soft sunlight.
If he happened to be holding a book and glancing at it a couple of times, Qi Du found it even harder to look away, feeling that only a young scion from an ancient aristocratic family could match the air of dignity 0617 had.
After all, they had been married for several years and knew each other very well. 0617 was fairly indulgent toward Qi Du too.
He naturally had a good temper and stable emotions, and neither he nor Qi Du was the sort to bottle things up. They were direct, said what they meant, and saved themselves a lot of trouble.
Any occasional friction was resolved quickly. These past two years, because Qi Du had been busy with work, the two of them actually hadn’t had much time to fool around together at first. But having a mouth was a good thing; they never let their worries overstay the night. With Qi Du nagging him more and more, 0617 gradually came to accept it.
Xu Yangxia was still young, so at first he really couldn’t tell whether the feelings between the two of them were genuine or fake.
But over these past two years, Qi Du and 0617 had managed their relationship so well that the act had simply become reality.
The little male lead was even less able to tell. When he came downstairs for dinner and saw that 0617 and Qi Du had both changed clothes, he was a little confused. “Daddy, are you two going out tonight? Why did you change clothes?”
“Cough, cough…”
0617 nearly choked on his water. Qi Du was startled and hurried over to pat him.
“Why are you so jumpy? Little Treasure just said one sentence and look at how worked up you got.”
0617 shot him a look. “Get lost.”
Qi Du was smiling the whole time, clearly spoiling his own wife.
Xu Yangxia didn’t notice anything off. He still had a month until summer break, and his schoolwork was going fine. After all these years by Qi Du and 0617’s side, he had long since gotten used to it and adapted very well. After sitting down to eat, he casually said, “I just called brother. He told me to study hard for my exams. If I’m still first in the grade this time, then he’ll be willing to play with me.”
Qi Du smiled, and after serving 0617 a bowl of soup, he filled one for him too. “Then study hard. What, feeling any pressure?”
Xu Yangxia shook his head. “Nope. Getting first place is still easy for me. Don’t worry, Daddy~”
Qi Du’s smile got even wider. “Good. My Little Treasure is so easy to take care of. I don’t need Daddy to go to any great lengths to keep an eye on you.”
Xu Yangxia really liked them both now. He trusted and depended on Qi Du and 0617 in a way that was hard to put into words, and whenever something happened at school, he would mention it when he came back.
0617 had originally wanted to ask whether there were any transfer students at school, but after fooling around with Qi Du that day, he forgot all about it.
Unexpectedly, a couple of days later, when Xu Yangxia came back from class, he brought it up himself. “Two transfer students came to class today. They’re called Gao Xinyuan and Xia Die. Qiqi, do you know who their parents are? They said something about an international logistics company and a cosmetics company. They came in with a lot of swagger, and they even gave me an invitation saying their family is having a party this weekend.”
“Should I go?”
0617 paused. After setting down his teacup, he took the invitation and looked it over. It was rather nicely made, and the address was in a famous villa district. It looked like the male second lead and female second lead were making their entrance pretty quickly.
“Do you want to go, sweetheart?”
Xu Yangxia scratched his head. For some reason, he just didn’t really like the two new classmates. “I don’t really want to go, Qiqi~”
“I already made plans with brother this weekend to take riding lessons. This kind of gathering doesn’t seem very interesting.”
0617 tossed the invitation straight into the trash. “Then don’t go. Your Daddy has his own standing; we don’t need to go out of our way to give them face. Go take care of your own things.”
Xu Yangxia felt relieved hearing that and didn’t think about it anymore.
The next day at school, Xia Die specially stopped him and asked expectantly several times, but Xu Yangxia kept refusing, saying he had class on the weekend.
Xia Die was actually a pretty little girl, pink and well-behaved, doll-like and quite cute. From the moment she arrived, the boys in the class had surrounded her and been very attentive.
A little princess like her usually didn’t get refused.
She had already asked Xu Yangxia several times, and when the little male lead still wouldn’t agree, Xia Die immediately felt a little aggrieved. When Gao Xinyuan came over, he saw Xia Die with red-rimmed eyes, looking wronged and on the verge of tears, while Xu Yangxia beside her looked completely unconcerned, his expression very calm.
“What did you do?! Bullying Xiaodie here?”
Xu Yangxia gave him a cold sideways glance. “If you’re sick, go get treated. Don’t be annoying here.”
“I already said I wasn’t going to your family’s party. Did you hear me clearly? I politely refused you, and you just pretended not to hear and kept pestering me.”
“And now you’re trying to guilt-trip me?”
Xu Yangxia’s tone was not friendly at all. After class, he still had to go find Qi Lan; brother was far more appealing than these two transfer students.
He didn’t want to waste any time at all.
Gao Xinyuan and Xia Die hadn’t expected him to say it so openly, and their faces immediately turned ugly.
Xia Die, that young lady, had never been treated like this before. She stamped her foot right there. “Fine, don’t come then! I…”
“Little Treasure.”
Before she could finish, a clear and gentle male voice cut her off. Qi Lan stopped at the classroom door, looked over, and his gaze landed tenderly on Xu Yangxia. “Brother is here to take you home.”