“Being disobedient won’t do.”
Xu Qingchen was not at all surprised to receive Hester’s call.
Hester was his manager. She represented him in his contact with the outside world, was responsible for selling his works, helped him manage Art Gallery, and provided him with channels to make money. At the same time, she was also his “life assistant.” Not only did she have to help him deal with the tedious art-related matters and socializing, she also had to help him plan his schedule, distribute his property, handle daily expenses, finalize his residence, and so on. In short, he could not do without Hester.
Using Hester’s words, he had become a nanny at a young age.
“I heard you hired an hourly worker?” Hester got straight to the point.
Xu Qingchen said yes.
Hester frowned, her tone doubtful. “I chatted with that young man online for a bit, um… Is it okay if I call him that?”
“No problem, your Chinese is very good.”
“OK,” Hester was very satisfied with being praised. “I chatted with him online a few times, and I feel like he doesn’t seem like someone who would do this kind of work.”
“How so?”
“He approaching you definitely has some other purpose, he doesn’t look like he’s short on money at all.”
Hester gave Xu Qingchen a few minutes to think.
The call fell silent for a moment, and in the end Xu Qingchen’s airy reply came through. “It doesn’t matter.”
“You think it’s fun?”
“That’s not it.”
“Keep an eye on your things,” Hester had long since gotten used to her family’s ‘money tree’ being this laid-back, and did not ramble or complain. She only cut to the important point and said, “You need to know your value, don’t get fooled. After working so hard, it’ll all be for nothing in the end.”
Xu Qingchen understood what she meant and could not help letting out a light laugh. “I don’t have any fame in City C at all.”
“Yes, he could take it to London or Italy to auction. Anyway, be careful, don’t get dazzled by beauty.”
“Beauty?”
“I saw that guy’s photo on social media. He’s unbelievably good-looking!”
“I think you’re overthinking it.”
After saying that, Xu Qingchen pressed at his brow, feeling that he had said too much as well.
Hearing his impatience, Hester gave her final summary. “If you’ve really decided, leave the rest to me.”
“OK.” Xu Qingchen was thinking about how to end the call when, just then, the doorbell at the door suddenly rang.
He felt a sense of relief, and hurriedly told Hester on the phone, “My hourly worker is here, let’s leave it at that, bye.”
He put down the landline and set it aside, then stood up from the huge cushion and took two steps to the entryway.
“Employer Xu, open the door.”
Through the door, Xu Qingchen could already hear that person’s voice.
He considered it for a moment before opening the door. The young man outside was exactly as Hester had described, good-looking and eye-catching. He wore clothes with personality, indeed not something one would wear for this kind of work, and even his hair looked more refined than other people’s.
Every time Xu Qingchen saw Shen Xuchuan, he was reminded of Roman statues, and of a kind of beauty that transcended gender.
“Hello, I’m here to start work.” Shen Xuchuan warmly extended a hand, his long eyelashes fluttering at Xu Qingchen a few times, not the least bit contrived, and even a little cute.
Xu Qingchen lowered his head to look at that slender yet powerful hand, took it, and immediately received the force conveyed from the other side, as if he wanted to compete with him over who was more masculine.
“Welcome.” He replied calmly, his expression carrying a hint of scrutiny.
“Ta-da-ta-da-ta-da!” Shen Xuchuan laughed as he made a playful sound, lifting both hands to show the ingredients. “Mr. Xu, I’m here for a trial shift. I bought the salmon and roast chicken you wanted to eat.”
Xu Qingchen’s sense of smell was very sensitive, and he had already caught the scent from the bag. It was indeed a roasted chicken, but not the kind he wanted.
“Come in first.” He was thinking about the ingredients he should have, and because he was distracted, his words sounded a little cold.
In the instant Shen Xuchuan could not see him, Shen Xuchuan puffed out his cheeks hard, very annoyed by his indifferent attitude, and almost wanted to bite him.
Xu Qingchen found a pair of clean slippers and casually took the bag from Shen Xuchuan’s hand. The smell of that low-quality chicken meat grew even stronger, and he could not stop himself from frowning.
The moment before, Shen Xuchuan had still been happy about his observant move. The next moment, he caught the disgust in his eyes.
“You’re really hard to please.” Shen Xuchuan changed into his shoes, snatched back the bag of ingredients, and started muttering with a bit of grievance. “Fine, I admit it. Since time was running out, I just went into a supermarket and bought a whole chicken, but which employee, before they’ve officially started work, would spend their own money? You’d better not nitpick…”
“Mm,” Xu Qingchen smiled faintly. “I forgive you.”
Do I need your forgiveness?
Shen Xuchuan glared at him.
Xu Qingchen smiled unexpectedly, once again taking the bag from his hands, then strode toward the kitchen.
Looking at his back, Shen Xuchuan muttered, “What is he doing, he doesn’t seem that cold after all.”
“Come here.” Xu Qingchen called from the kitchen, neither loud nor soft.
Shen Xuchuan followed the sound over. Along the way, he kept getting drawn to the objects and oil paintings in the living room, and if he was not careful he almost tripped over the landline phone blocking the middle of the floor.
The kitchen in this apartment was very spacious. It had been cleaned very neatly by the previous auntie, and it connected directly to the living room without a door. There were sideboards on both sides, with a large open space in the middle. Five adults could walk back and forth there without any problem.
Shen Xuchuan leaned against the wall, tilted his head to look inside, and found Xu Qingchen standing in the middle of the kitchen-dining area waiting for him. The way he looked at him was like a beam of bright light, illuminating his eyes.
“This is the kitchen.” Xu Qingchen introduced.
Shen Xuchuan instinctively shot back, “I’m not blind.”
After saying that, he felt it was not very polite. He slowly straightened up, like a child who had made a mistake, and awkwardly tried to cover it up. “Say something useful, don’t be so rigid. Shouldn’t artists be a little more carefree and unrestrained?”
Xu Qingchen did not care about his attitude just now, but instead felt puzzled. “Am I rigid?”
“Mm…” Shen Xuchuan habitually scratched his head, his gaze darting away a few times. “Sometimes you’re very serious, and you give people an unfathomable feeling. This is the first time I’ve dealt with someone like you.”
“Oh, I see.” Xu Qingchen stroked his chin with a straight face, as if he thought that made a lot of sense. Who would have thought that the next second he would not play by the rules. “Then you need to adapt quickly. I am that kind of person.”
“……..”
Shen Xuchuan’s eyes widened a little. He forcefully held back the urge to raise his middle finger, to the point that the roots of his ears turned red.
Xu Qingchen, however, did not care at all. He pointed at the ingredients on the cabinet and instructed unhurriedly, “Keep the roast chicken for yourself. Use the rest as lunch. I’ll have Hester transfer you the cost of the groceries. Start now.”
“You’re really something,” Shen Xuchuan said. That was honestly laughable.
This comment did not bother Xu Qingchen in the least. He walked out of the kitchen as if nothing had happened, and when he passed Shen Xuchuan, he even happily admired his hair up close. It looked very easy to stroke.
Suddenly thinking of something, he added appropriately, “Pay attention, don’t let your hair fall into the plates.”
Shen Xuchuan was so angry his mouth almost twisted, and he was ranting inwardly: Believe it or not, I’ll stir-fry you a whole platter of hair from head to toe?
“So damn fussy…” he muttered under his breath, unable to hold it in any longer.
Xu Qingchen not only had a keen sense of smell, he was also very sensitive to sound, and immediately followed up, “Don’t swear.”
“I’ll say it if I want!” Shen Xuchuan, furious, yanked off his jacket. The lightweight black top was flung onto the large cushion in the living room, and he glared at Xu Qingchen defiantly.
Xu Qingchen’s face did not change at all, as if paralyzed. He glanced at the black jacket and slowly walked toward Shen Xuchuan.
To Shen Xuchuan, the man was like a ghost. He made no sound when he walked, but his oppressive presence was still overwhelming.
“Pick up the coat.” Xu Qingchen lowered his chin slightly, his tone nearly commanding.
The distance between them closed without either of them noticing; their energies clashed, and neither would yield.
As if on purpose, Xu Qingchen insisted on adding one more line: “You can’t be disobedient.”
Shen Xuchuan let out a cold laugh. “Do you think you’re the emperor or something?”
He had not expected the two of them to clash on the very first day. The development really was fast. Whatever. Shen Xuchuan felt that he was ready to face him. Today, he was going to go head-to-head with this white-haired freak to the end.
“Pick up your coat.” Xu Qingchen was fixated on this point.
Shen Xuchuan said in a stubborn, boyish voice, “I won’t.”
Sudden silence appeared without warning.
Silence spread, and the two faced each other without a word.
Just as Shen Xuchuan thought Xu Qingchen was about to grab his collar and throw him out, Xu Qingchen suddenly sighed and tossed off, “Then don’t pick it up.” He stepped back, walked to the cushion, and used his foot to push the coat aside.
“Hey! Don’t use your dirty feet to step on my clothes!”
Shen Xuchuan hurriedly picked up his clothes and shook them hard a few times.
Xu Qingchen took the chance to sit down on the floor, took a small drawing board and placed it on his lap, then looked up and said, “Aren’t you going to cook yet?”
“What’s the rush? It’s only ten o’clock.” Shen Xuchuan hung his clothes in the entryway. His practiced movements made it hard to believe this was his first day on the job.
Xu Qingchen glanced at him, then lowered his head to look for his paintbrush. The corners of his lips rose imperceptibly. “I don’t care, I want to eat on time at eleven.”
Shen Xuchuan did not bother with him at all. He wandered around the living room on his own, looking here and there with a curious expression, but with one rule: look, but don’t touch.
He had come in a hurry yesterday, and had not even had time to carefully observe the rival’s lair.
He was not interested in art, but he had to admit that from the moment he stepped into this room, he had been irresistibly drawn to Xu Qingchen’s unusual paintings.
Xu Qingchen’s works were no ordinary thing, abstract and strange, the kind that could not be described even if all the words in the world were gathered together.
Shen Xuchuan walked around the living room once, and finally stopped in front of a black-and-white oil painting embedded in the wall.
“Do you like it?” Xu Qingchen’s voice suddenly drifted over.
Shen Xuchuan shot him a quick sideways glance. “You painted it?”
“Mm.”
“You painted it, so of course I don’t like it.”
These words reached Xu Qingchen’s ears, but they did not make him angry. It seemed that whether others liked it or not was not important to him.
Shen Xuchuan turned his head back, and his attention was once again drawn to the painting in front of him.
Inside the silver frame was a pitch-black forest. Within it was a long-haired man wrapped in white cloth, struggling to chase after something. This painting was not very large, less than a meter tall. It gave off a chill, and Shen Xuchuan shivered inwardly, as if someone had walked over his grave, making him think of The Platonic Mourning—frightening and magnetic.
He could not tell how long he had stared at this painting. His thoughts were jumping around everywhere, and he naturally recalled the scene when he first came into contact with Xu Qingchen’s work. That was a few months ago, at a VIP preview art exhibition in Poland. He had accompanied He Jinyue there to attend exhibition.
He Jinyue led him to a huge black-and-white oil painting titled “hell,” and passionately told him the story behind it.
It was only from that moment that he realized He Jinyue had someone like that in his heart, someone no one could replace.
Shen Xuchuan did not understand this kind of art, and he did not want to pretend otherwise. But after staring at “hell” for a long time, he still could not look away. Maybe it was the lighting, or maybe He Jinyue’s explanation; in any case, he sensed something uncanny in it, and for the first time, he felt the urge to understand it more deeply.
How could someone portray human ugliness and greed so vividly, so utterly? The strangest thing was that there was no obvious evil, only raw human nature.
He Jinyue rarely mentioned Xu Qingchen in front of Shen Xuchuan, as if deliberately hiding him away. The few times he did mention him were enough to leave a deep impression on Shen Xuchuan.
He would always remember the expression on He Jinyue’s face as he described him:
“People who don’t like him all say his paintings are some kind of evil nonsense.”
“To put it simply, he doesn’t paint to cater to people. Even when he paints religious subjects, he still keeps his own distinctive style.”
“Only a very proud artist can complete so many paintings using just one color or two or three colors without making them feel monotonous.”
“He’s like a messenger from hell, who clearly remembers what hell looks like and understands everything there.”
“His eyes are beautiful—the kind of color I can picture even with my eyes closed.”
How strange, he had actually remembered every word He Jinyue said. Back then it bothered him for several nights, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. He was curious and envious, and could not wait to understand this rival from hell.
Shen Xuchuan did not want to give up. He wanted to understand; he was just a willful child who had to know where he had lost.
“Shen Xuchuan, I’m hungry.”
Just as he was lost in thought, a cool voice interrupted his memories.
Shen Xuchuan reflexively whipped his head around, blinking his bewildered eyes. “Huh?”
His pupils were filled by a face. Xu Qingchen leaned a little closer in case he could not hear him, and slightly raised his volume. “I said, I’m hungry.”
Shen Xuchuan instantly felt a cool breath wash over him, the scent of Xu Qingchen’s body and hair. He slapped the other man’s chest and pushed him away, saying fiercely, “If you’re talking, then talk. Why are you leaning so close?”
Xu Qingchen looked reproachfully at the young man who had suddenly lost his temper.
He grabbed at his hair to hide his embarrassment. Who would have thought he’d get so absorbed in his rival’s work? His ears burned, and he felt like an idiot.
“It’s eleven o’clock.” Xu Qingchen tapped his wrist as a reminder.
Shen Xuchuan felt even more stifled. Being absorbed was one thing, but he had been absorbed for an entire hour.
“Don’t worry, I’ll handle it right away.” He patted his chest in assurance, quickly returning to normal, still that cheerful big boy.
Xu Qingchen did not buy it. He replied in a frosty tone, “Move faster. There are fruits in the fridge. Take them out, wash them, and eat them after the meal.”
“Eat, eat, eat, all you know is eating!” After complaining, Shen Xuchuan slipped into the kitchen-dining area.