I’m Face-Blind, But I Devoted Myself To Three Guys - Chapter 47

Chapter 47: Chi Hui Lowered His Head and Took His Fingertips into His Mouth…

The afternoon shoot was split into two sessions.

The first half was Chi Hui’s solo session, which went very smoothly.

“As expected of someone with a modeling background, Teacher Chi Hui captures the exact poses and vibes we’re looking for.”

However, the second half—the joint shoot—was stuck for a long time.

“This shot is okay, but Teacher Lin’s smile is a bit unnatural.” “Teacher Lin, your arm is blocking the shot in this one.”

The “Teacher Lin” co-starring with Chi Hui was none other than the minor celebrity from the same company, Lin Yaozhi.

They had been shooting for over an hour, but Lin Yaozhi was constantly out of form. Chi Hui had to cooperate and retake the shots over and over again.

“Teacher Lin, you can relax your expression a bit more.” “Teacher Lin, turn your body slightly.” “Teacher Lin, don’t look at the camera so deliberately.” … “…It’s still not quite natural.”

Lin Yaozhi couldn’t keep up with the rhythm and began to break into a cold sweat. He was so guilty that he became paranoid; whenever he saw people chatting together, he felt they were discussing him. His nerves were so frayed that he made more and more mistakes.

“Tsk.” Chi Hui was growing impatient.

During a break while the makeup artist was doing touch-ups, Lin Yaozhi stole a guilty and resentful glance at Chi Hui.

To his surprise, Chi Hui was already looking at him sideways. The moment their eyes met, Lin Yaozhi caught the impatience and disdain in the other man’s eyes, causing his already stiff expression to crumble further.

“Let’s take a break. Teacher Lin, try to find your feeling again,” the photography crew suggested, seeing how rigid Lin Yaozhi was.

Hearing that they could rest, Qi Xu immediately hurried to Chi Hui’s side and handed him water.

“Are we going to have to work overtime today?” he asked.

The shoot had started after 2:00 PM and it was now nearly 6:00 PM. The scheduled finish time was 6:30 PM, but looking at the current progress, it was clearly impossible.

Chi Hui glanced at Lin Yaozhi, who was dragging the progress down, said nothing, and took the water from Qi Xu’s hand—which, of course, Qi Xu had bought specifically to “make up for his previous mistake.”

“Where did this come from?” Chi Hui noticed a square box in Qi Xu’s other hand.

“Oh, this is liqueur chocolate the manager gave me just now. He said a friend gave it to him, but he doesn’t like it, so he gave it to me.”

Xu Changshu was very busy today. After dropping them off in the morning, he had vanished. He had returned briefly just now, stayed for a short while, dropped off the box of chocolates, and left again.

Chi Hui tilted his head back to take a sip of water, staring at the exquisite packaging with understanding.

This was clearly Xu Changshu trying to coax Qi Xu, attempting to salvage his image in the young man’s heart.

Thinking of this, Chi Hui couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle.

Qi Xu didn’t understand why he was suddenly laughing and blinked blankly.

“I just tried one, it’s quite delicious. Do you want one?” he asked, opening the box.

The two were standing close. Chi Hui’s gaze reflexively landed on Qi Xu’s moving lips.

A bit of melted chocolate remained at the corner of his mouth, likely unnoticed when he had wiped his lips earlier.

Since the person in front of him neither agreed nor refused, Qi Xu tilted his head uncertainly. “Hmm?”

Chi Hui lowered his gaze, casually scanning the chocolate spheres in the box before looking back up at Qi Xu’s lips.

The hand resting at his side instinctively lifted.

Seeing him reach out, Qi Xu thought he was going to take a chocolate, so he proactively lifted the box higher.

However, the hand bypassed the box and reached straight for his face.

Confused, Qi Xu instinctively leaned his head back.

Qi Xu’s unconscious flinch caused Chi Hui’s eyelashes to tremor as if he had suddenly snapped awake. His raised hand hovered in mid-air, advancing no further.

“Ah, do you not like sweets?” Qi Xu realized, glancing at his hesitating hand.

Chi Hui stared at the person before him, his lips pressed into a straight line. He instinctively wanted to deny it, but before he could speak, another voice cut in.

“I’ll eat them, Minou.” Lucas’s hand arrived before his voice; he unceremoniously snatched one from the box.

“…” Chi Hui watched the “plaster-like” foreigner, his gaze darkening abruptly as his brow furrowed.

Qi Xu’s attention was drawn to Lucas. “Why are you here?”

“My shoot is finished.” Ignoring Chi Hui’s hostile glare, Lucas popped the entire liqueur chocolate into his mouth.

Staring at Qi Xu, who was talking and laughing with someone he had just met, Chi Hui suddenly felt a surge of irritation.

The hand hovering by Qi Xu’s face no longer hesitated; he reached out directly.

His fingertips brushed imperceptibly against the soft corner of Qi Xu’s mouth as he pulled up the mask hanging around the boy’s chin.

“Keep your mask on.” Chi Hui frowned, shooting a meaningful glance at Lucas.

Qi Xu raised his hand to press against his mouth through the mask. It took a long moment before he looked up at Chi Hui, blinking.

He wasn’t sure if it was an illusion, but Chi Hui’s hand seemed to have grazed his lips just now. It was itchy.

Being stared at by Qi Xu’s round eyes, Chi Hui suddenly felt guilty. The fingers hanging at his side rubbed against each other unconsciously.

“If he doesn’t like them, don’t give them to him,” Lucas said, sensing the strange atmosphere between the two and immediately squeezing himself into the conversation.

Qi Xu’s train of thought was interrupted, and he withdrew his gaze.

Chi Hui turned his head and breathed a silent sigh of relief, feeling for the first time that Lucas wasn’t entirely useless.

Qi Xu looked down at the remaining chocolates and nodded. “Then let’s share them with everyone.”

He couldn’t eat that many by himself anyway.

There happened to be several staff members resting nearby, so Qi Xu distributed the chocolates to them.

However, Qi Xu didn’t notice the inadvertent glance from the person behind him as he gave the chocolates away.

At that moment, Lin Yaozhi, seeing Qi Xu handing out treats, approached as well and joked, “Haha, is there one for me?”

His smile was awkward and stiff. Despite his obvious reluctance, he came forward to strike up a conversation.

His motive wasn’t hard to guess; he likely wanted to curry favor with Chi Hui to ease the tension caused by his repeated mistakes. After all, this shooting opportunity was essentially a “buy-one-get-one-free” deal forced by the company because of Chi Hui’s fame.

Qi Xu looked at the person trying hard to maintain a smile, remembering the gossip he had heard about Chi Hui that morning.

He clutched the last chocolate, looking hesitantly at the man beside him.

Chi Hui turned his head to take another sip of water, not giving Lin Yaozhi a second glance, nor did he look at Qi Xu.

His attitude essentially said: Do whatever you want.

Qi Xu couldn’t tell what he was thinking, so he reached his hand out. It was just a chocolate, after all; it shouldn’t matter much.

But just as Lin Yaozhi was about to take it, Qi Xu saw from the corner of his eye that Chi Hui had turned his head. His gaze fell on the chocolate in Qi Xu’s hand, and his handsome brow furrowed unconsciously.

Qi Xu blinked. Certain he hadn’t seen wrong, he tightened his grip on the chocolate he was about to release.

Lin Yaozhi looked at the withdrawn chocolate and looked up in confusion.

Qi Xu pursed his lips, staring at the face that had become slightly puffy from wearing makeup all day. He spoke up in reminder: “This is liqueur chocolate. Should you be watching your diet? It’s best not to touch alcohol during your recovery period.”

Lin Yaozhi was stunned, failing to react for a moment.

Lucas, however, understood immediately and stifled a laugh while staring at Lin Yaozhi’s overworked face.

The gazes of those around them gathered. The scrutinizing looks stung Lin Yaozhi; he quickly realized Qi Xu was referring to his plastic surgery.

But his recovery period was long over. Saying this was a blatant attempt to embarrass him in public.

Lin Yaozhi’s face turned from blue to white. He gritted his teeth hard to keep from losing his temper on the spot.

From the moment Qi Xu withdrew his hand, Chi Hui had been watching Lin Yaozhi. Seeing his reddened face, he subtly pulled Qi Xu toward himself.

Lin Yaozhi looked at the small assistant who dared to toy with him, then at Chi Hui standing in front of him. Finally, he could only huddle his fists, let out a dry laugh, and slink away toward the restroom.

Chi Hui watched Lin Yaozhi’s retreating back and frowned.

Qi Xu, holding the successfully retained chocolate, felt the atmosphere was a bit strange.

“You…” Chi Hui watched the person who was still unaware of the problem. He wanted to ask why he had picked a fight with the other man, but the words died in his throat.

“Stay away from him in the future.”

Qi Xu pursed his lips, his eyes rolling slowly. “?”

Why do I have to stay away from everyone after coming out once?

On the other side, in the restroom stall, Lin Yaozhi nearly ground his teeth to dust.

As fate would have it, two people who had been present just now walked past the door.

“Chi Hui’s assistant said that on purpose, right? Is Chi Hui using his assistant to deliberately spite Lin? Lin’s face changed instantly.”

“If so, it’s understandable. Who wants to be a blood bag forever? Every event has to include that dead weight.”

The two left together quickly, leaving Lin Yaozhi in the stall, the veins on his forehead bulging with hatred.

“Fuck! Dammit!”

To finish work as soon as possible, everyone returned to their posts after a brief rest.

This time, the photography crew stopped chasing perfection. Things went much more smoothly, and it looked like they would finish soon.

Halfway through, Qi Xu went to take a phone call. When he returned, he was stopped by a young man.

“You’re Chi Hui’s assistant, right?”

The person stopping him was also wearing a mask. Qi Xu couldn’t see his face or recognize his voice, but since he didn’t know most of the people here anyway, he didn’t think much of it.

He nodded and replied, “Yes.”

The man looked up and explained, “The photography team said they want to add a temporary set of shots. They need someone to go to the warehouse to get costumes and props.”

Qi Xu had never worked as a celebrity assistant before, so he wasn’t sure if this was within his scope of responsibility. “I’m going to get them?”

“The props team is busy packing up. This added shoot isn’t complicated and doesn’t involve many items, so they wanted you to come along. After all, you know the required sizes better.”

Qi Xu looked past him toward the ongoing shoot. They did indeed look busy. So he nodded. “Okay.”

The man led the way. “The warehouse is over here.”

Qi Xu looked in the direction he pointed and saw a flat-roofed building in a secluded corner. The warehouse looked much larger than expected.

“Is this the warehouse? It looks huge.” Qi Xu felt it was strange; he thought a warehouse would just be a room.

“This place was originally meant to be another studio, but there were some problems and it was put on hold. Now it’s just used as a warehouse for storage,” the man explained.

“What do we need to get?”

The man kept his eyes half-lowered, his voice muffled under the mask. “The new shots have a baseball theme. We just need a baseball uniform and some props.”

The two arrived at the entrance. The interior was indeed spacious, filled with many shelves.

“I’ll look for the clothes,” Qi Xu offered.

The man nodded and said nothing.

Qi Xu searched through several layers of shelves for a long time. They were mostly tools; he didn’t see a single piece of fabric.

“Hello? I haven’t found any clothes,” Qi Xu called out, turning around.

But there was no response from the staff member after several seconds.

Qi Xu walked toward where they had separated but saw no one.

He looked up at the open door, wondering if the person had stepped out for something.

Qi Xu walked around the warehouse one more time. Finally, with no other choice, he called Chi Hui.

Meanwhile, Chi Hui, who had already finished removing his makeup, was looking for him.

“Where did you run off to?” “I can’t find the clothes.”

As soon as the call connected, both spoke almost simultaneously.

Qi Xu’s voice was breaking up, but Chi Hui heard him clearly and frowned in confusion. “What clothes?”

“Didn’t they say there’s an extra shoot that needs clothes?” Qi Xu replied.

Chi Hui immediately realized something was wrong. “When did they say there was—”

Before he could finish, the call cut out.

Chi Hui immediately redialed, only to find the line was dead.

Qi Xu looked at the disconnected call, a bit stunned. “Eh? Why is there no signal?” He hadn’t heard what Chi Hui said at the end.

Chi Hui tried to call again while walking quickly toward the exit. He stopped a nearby staff member to ask.

As it happened, she had seen Qi Xu walking away with someone not long ago. She pointed in the direction of the warehouse.

Chi Hui immediately ran toward the warehouse without stopping.

When he reached the warehouse entrance, he saw Qi Xu squatting in front of a shelf, rummaging through some items.

Chi Hui scanned him from top to bottom. Once certain he was safe, his worry turned into anger.

“Qi Xu!”

The person suddenly called out flinched, his shoulders shaking as he slowly turned his head.

Chi Hui was slightly out of breath from running, his expression stern.

Qi Xu blinked. “Why are you here?”

“I wanted to ask you the same thing. What are you doing here?” Chi Hui questioned crossly as he walked toward him.

“Someone asked me to help get the clothes and props for the shoot.” Qi Xu stood up, still unaware of the problem.

He had planned to look for a bit longer and leave if he really couldn’t find them. He hadn’t expected Chi Hui to find him first.

Chi Hui frowned immediately upon hearing this. “The shoot is over. Who told you to come? What did the person who brought you here look like?”

Qi Xu was stunned. It took a beat for him to realize he had been played.

He shook his head. “I don’t know, he was wearing a mask.” Even if the man hadn’t been wearing a mask, Qi Xu wouldn’t have recognized him.

Chi Hui was almost driven to laughter by Qi Xu’s near-zero sense of self-preservation. “Tsk. A masked man finds you out of the blue, and you don’t even have a shred of suspicion?”

Qi Xu blinked, feeling a bit aggrieved. “But I was wearing a mask too.” And it was this man who had demanded it.

How could he suspect someone just based on a mask? Perhaps the other person also had an unreasonable boss.

“…” Chi Hui was rendered speechless for a moment.

At least he was unharmed.

“You wouldn’t even know if you were being sold,” Chi Hui scoffed, turning around. “Let’s go. Home.”

Hearing that they could go home, Qi Xu followed happily.

But after only a few steps, both of them froze. They noticed that the door, which had been wide open, had silently closed at some point.

Chi Hui strode forward and pressed the handle.

It wouldn’t open.

Qi Xu clung to the door and pounded on it twice. “Is anyone out there? There are people in here!”

No response.

The two looked at each other. They both realized the person had lured Qi Xu here just to lock him inside.

At the same time, under a tree not far from the warehouse, a masked man was on the phone. He reported in a low voice, “I’ve locked him in, but Chi Hui seems to be in there as well.”

“What? Didn’t I tell you to only mess with that one guy?” Lin Yaozhi bit his nails, his tone dissatisfied.

He had originally just wanted someone to teach that arrogant little assistant a lesson. He hadn’t expected Chi Hui to get involved. Suddenly, the matter had become serious.

The masked man didn’t dare speak. He had intended to lock Qi Xu in as requested, but before he could act, he saw someone running toward the warehouse. He had to hide until the newcomer entered before finding a chance to lock the door.

“Stupid as hell. Get out of there quickly, don’t let anyone see you.”

…

Qi Xu turned his phone off and on again, but eventually had to accept reality. With the door closed, even the last bit of unstable signal was cut off.

Chi Hui looked at his own signal-less phone and let out a displeased “Tsk.”

Qi Xu looked at him guiltily, knowing he had caused trouble for him again.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized weakly.

Chi Hui glanced at him. “Why are you apologizing? You aren’t the one doing bad things.” With that, he walked to a window and tried to pry at the security bars.

They didn’t budge. It seemed escaping through the window was out of the question.

Qi Xu breathed a sigh of relief seeing that he wasn’t angry.

He followed Chi Hui’s lead and checked the surrounding windows, but unfortunately, the security bars were of high quality.

However, he soon made an unexpected discovery.

“There’s a door here.” Qi Xu looked in surprise at a small, hidden door blocked by clutter. He stepped forward to move the boxes aside.

Hearing this, Chi Hui walked over as well.

With a hint of anticipation, Qi Xu gripped the door handle and tried to turn it.

The long-unused handle was rusty and difficult to turn. As he applied force, it let out a piercing, overburdened sound.

But the specific resistance of a lock being turned meant there was hope. Qi Xu’s eyes sparkled.

The next moment, a faint “crack” sounded beneath his hand.

“…” Qi Xu’s movements froze instantly. He didn’t dare move.

“What is it? Can it open?” Chi Hui asked from behind, curious as to why he had stopped.

Qi Xu looked back at him, pursing his lips nervously. “Initially… it seemed it could.”

Chi Hui didn’t know what he was playing at and frowned as he leaned forward.

Before Qi Xu could warn him, Chi Hui had already reached over his shoulder and gripped his hand.

Chi Hui’s palm covered Qi Xu’s hand. He pressed down hard on the handle.

It opened.

The handle snapped off.

“…” “…” “…”

Chi Hui looked at the handle that had broken off completely from the root, a brief blankness appearing on his face.

“Um… it was supposed to open.” Qi Xu turned his head to look at Chi Hui, repeating his words softly.

Fearing Chi Hui would blame him, he licked his lips and reminded him, “We broke it together.”

Chi Hui: “…”

The two struggled with the door for a long time. After confirming that the broken door would not open at all, they gave up in frustration.

“Forget it. Just wait. Xu Changshu must be looking for us by now,” Chi Hui said, wiping the dust from his hands in compromise.

However, this area wasn’t frequently visited, and Xu Changshu didn’t find them immediately.

As the sky grew darker, the empty warehouse became colder. Qi Xu hunched his neck and walked in circles.

Chi Hui crossed his arms, noticing the shivering boy.

“Come here.”

Hearing this, Qi Xu looked over and saw Chi Hui unzipping his long down jacket.

Qi Xu blinked and guessed, “Are you going to give me your coat?”

“…” Chi Hui paused, looking at Qi Xu as if he were an idiot. “And let myself die?”

Qi Xu was choked up. He gave an embarrassed giggle and walked over.

Chi Hui watched the person slowly trudge over, his face expressionless.

Qi Xu stood in front of Chi Hui and looked up at him. “What am I coming here for?”

As soon as he finished speaking, his arm was grabbed. Then, a strong arm encircled him, dragging him directly into a warm embrace.

Qi Xu’s chin bumped against Chi Hui’s hard chest. He reached out to touch the sore spot, muttering, “It hurts.”

Chi Hui glanced at the person who was getting a bargain but still acting spoiled. “Endure it.”

Qi Xu obediently “endured it,” but he couldn’t help the corners of his mouth from curling up high.

Chi Hui’s body was very warm. While enjoying the warmth of the “human air conditioner,” he calculated in his mind how much “Simp Value” this physical contact would be worth.

Seeing that the other man didn’t reject him, Qi Xu rolled his eyes and simply reached out to wrap his arms around Chi Hui’s waist, pressing the two of them closer together.

“…” Chi Hui felt the arms around his waist. His lips moved, but he didn’t know what to say.

Chi Hui carried a familiar scent. Qi Xu buried his face in his chest and secretly took a deep breath, feeling a strange sense of security.

Warm, moist breath transmitted through the thin inner layer to Chi Hui’s skin, causing a wave of itchiness. Chi Hui pursed his lips, choosing to pretend he didn’t notice the little movements of the person in his arms.

They stayed like that for an unknown amount of time before Chi Hui suddenly asked, “Why did you provoke Lin Yaozhi earlier?”

“Provoke him?” Qi Xu’s sniffing paused; he was a bit stunned. “Me?”

Seeing his blank expression, Chi Hui frowned. “He’s not a good person. You exposed his weakness in public with liqueur chocolate and sarcastically implied he had plastic surgery. He’s most likely holding a grudge now.”

He even suspected their current situation was related to the man.

Upon hearing this, Qi Xu’s eyes slowly widened. It took a long time before he propped himself against Chi Hui’s chest and shook his head. “I wasn’t trying to be sarcastic. I was just afraid he’d get sick, so I reminded him.”

Qi Xu had noticed the man’s face was puffy and thought he was still in the recovery period after surgery, so he had spoken out of concern. Although he also wanted to keep that chocolate, his intention wasn’t to mock.

“…” Chi Hui stared at the top of Qi Xu’s head and remained silent for a moment.

He had originally thought Qi Xu said those things to vent anger on his behalf. Now it seemed Qi Xu really was unintentional.

But inexplicably, Chi Hui’s temper rose again.

When he spoke, his tone was chilly. “Oh, so you actually had the time to care about what he can or cannot eat.”

Qi Xu blinked. “I don’t care about him.”

“Then just give him the chocolate. Why bother so much?” Chi Hui frowned.

Qi Xu leaned against Chi Hui’s chest and explained softly, “Because you wanted to eat it.”

Chi Hui didn’t react for a second. “What?”

“Because it was the last one. I felt like you wanted to eat it.” At that time, Qi Xu had noticed Chi Hui’s gaze and the somewhat obscure emotions in his eyes.

Speaking of chocolate, Qi Xu remembered something. He felt in his pocket, found the chocolate, and held it up to Chi Hui.

” I saved it for you.”

Chi Hui stared at the small ball wrapped in gold foil. His gaze gradually darkened.

Qi Xu, nestled in Chi Hui’s arms and seeing that it wasn’t convenient for him to move, proactively helped him tear open the foil.

Qi Xu moved around inside the down jacket, scattering the hard-earned warmth, but neither of them noticed.

The chocolate had been kept close to his body for so long that it had melted slightly from his body heat. His fair fingertips lightly held the chocolate sphere and brought it to Chi Hui’s lips.

“Here.” Qi Xu’s eyes were curved.

Chi Hui lowered his eyelashes, staring at those sparkling eyes. After a long while, he slowly opened his lips and took the chocolate—faintly emitting the scent of wine—into his mouth.

His lips brushed over the fingertips holding the chocolate.

Whether it was intentional or accidental, no one knew.

He bit open the bitter, delicate chocolate. The alcohol encased in the sugar shell surged out instantly, the mellow aroma of wine spreading.

Chi Hui stared at the person in his arms and unconsciously swallowed.

Qi Xu looked up to meet Chi Hui’s eyes, but the other man’s gaze was too scorching, causing his long eyelashes to tremble uncontrollably.

The fingertips hovering by Chi Hui’s lips were stained with melted chocolate. Qi Xu was a beat late in remembering to withdraw his hand.

But before he could move, his wrist was caught.

Then, Chi Hui slowly lowered his head and took his fingertips into his mouth.