Married A Man I Hate - Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Giving an Inch and Taking a Mile · Green Tea “Baby.”

Fu Li: Did you have fun playing, Feifei?

SugarCube: So much fun! The weather today was just as great as when we went skiing together. I even had curry rice for lunch [empty bowl].

SugarCube: I also tried snowboarding, but I couldn’t do it well. The others couldn’t teach me properly either; none of them praised me for being smart the way you do.

…

Le Qingfei typed incredibly fast, his messages and photos popping up one after another like bounding rabbits.

The assistant was busy reporting on work when he suddenly noticed Fu Li set down his black coffee and ask, “Fu Qian is back in the country?”

Checking through the data, the assistant nodded and said, “He returned from Barcelona last night. It was a last-minute decision to join the ski trip organized by his school fraternity. They are currently at the Duolai Ski Resort.”

Fu Li gave a dark “mm” in response, instructed the assistant to get the car ready, and picked up his phone to call Le Qingfei back.

“Feifei, do you want to stay overnight with your friends tonight?”

…

“Of course you can. Feifei is very honest and didn’t make up lies when it was time to come home. I’m very happy.”

…

“Oh? You’re going to the hot springs with your classmates tonight too? That sounds wonderful.”

The assistant stole a glance at his boss’s grim face, handed over the suit jacket, and hardly dared to breathe.

When Fu Li arrived at the ski resort, he immediately spotted the man smiling foolishly in front of Le Qingfei—he truly looked hopelessly stupid.

Shifting his gaze to the top of Le Qingfei’s head, he saw the pastel yellow floppy-eared rabbit hat. Without even needing Le Qingfei to turn around, Fu Li knew exactly how adorable he would look wearing it.

Puppies, kittens, and little rabbits should all be kept at home.

Especially someone like Le Qingfei, who possessed absolutely no defenses against other people.

He claimed to dislike Fu Li so much, yet on his very first night moving in, he forgot to close his door before going to sleep. Upon learning that Fu Li was forced into the marriage, he easily developed pity and consideration for him. And simply because they were both men, he had the audacity to take off his pants right in front of him.

Didn’t he say he had changed? Didn’t he say he would reject others and protect himself?

Fu Li didn’t want to say Le Qingfei had made zero progress. It wasn’t Le Qingfei’s fault; it was because Fu Li himself had taught him too little, taught him insufficiently.

Right now, he needed to teach Le Qingfei the most direct way a married person should reject someone with ulterior motives.

“I am his husband.”

The ski instructor’s face turned incredibly pale. There was probably nothing more embarrassing than getting caught red-handed by a person’s husband while trying to flirt.

Actually, there was—getting caught twice.

With a pale face, the instructor stammered in self-defense, “He… he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring…”

Fu Li looked at Le Qingfei, who was trying hard to process what was happening. Le Qingfei blinked and answered earnestly, “Because it’s very expensive. What if I lose it?”

Fu Li let out a soft chuckle and used the floppy rabbit ears to cover Le Qingfei’s ears. “Now, get lost.”

“Huh?”

Watching the instructor quickly ski away, Le Qingfei looked up and asked Fu Li, “What did you say to him?”

“Nothing,” Fu Li smiled slightly, “I just told them not to interrupt our private time together.”

“Private time? Aren’t you going back?”

Fu Li looked up at the sky, which was gradually darkening. “The sky is too dark. Driving on a snowy night is very dangerous.”

“But you aren’t the one driving, Lucas is.”

“Then it means Lucas will be in great danger.”

Le Qingfei felt that something was a bit strange. Staring at him, he said, “Didn’t we agree that we can’t tell others about our relationship? Why did you just say that to a complete stranger?”

“He isn’t your classmate or friend.”

“What if he goes around talking about it?”

“He won’t.” Fu Li took a step closer. “Do you really not want our relationship to be made public that badly?”

Le Qingfei nodded. “Yeah.”

With that, Le Qingfei turned around to walk toward the restaurant, pulling out his phone to send a message to Xu Yi.

“Feifei.”

Le Qingfei stopped in his tracks and turned back to look at Fu Li, who remained standing in place.

Dressed in a long black coat, Fu Li almost blended into the encroaching darkness in the distance. In the wind and snow, his face looked pale, making him appear deeply hurt.

“I know I’ve bothered you. I shouldn’t have rushed out of the office to go home and grab your plushie the moment I heard you weren’t coming back tonight out of fear you wouldn’t sleep well. Looking at it now, perhaps what you need more is your personal space.”

Fu Li cast his eyes downward. “I’m sorry. I’ll leave right now so I won’t cause any trouble for you.”

Le Qingfei: “…”

…

Inside the restaurant, Xu Yi had just set down the juice when the glass door was pushed open.

Le Qingfei carried the strawberries in both hands, his cheeks puffed up with anger, while Fu Li followed quietly behind him.

Xu Yi stood up to greet them. After introducing himself to Fu Li, he explained that the grape juice was sold out, so the restaurant only had orange juice left.

What?

Fu Li was slightly surprised.

Xu Yi was also stunned and said, “Could it be an allergy? I’m so sorry, let me go buy something else then.”

Just as Fu Li was about to speak, Le Qingfei, who had already finished nearly half a bowl of his food, said angrily, “Don’t go. We aren’t buying juice for inexplicable people. If he doesn’t want to drink it, the two of us will just drink more.”

With that, as if to prove his determination, Le Qingfei picked up the juice and chugged it down.

Fu Li realized what was happening. Even though his Feifei was upset, he didn’t actually want to chase him away. He had even asked his friend to help buy dinner and still remembered that Fu Li had eaten a sandwich with grape jam that night.

What a sweet Feifei.

“Feifei.”

Fu Li gently nudged Le Qingfei’s arm.

“Don’t touch me, and you’re not allowed to call me Feifei either.”

Le Qingfei was truly angry, revoking the right to use his nickname.

“Baby.”

“…What on earth are you calling me?!”

Xu Yi’s eyes widened, a shock that had begun the moment he heard Fu Li call him “Feifei.”

Since returning from the summer camp last year, Le Qingfei had changed a lot, and one of those changes was that no one was allowed to call him “Feifei” anymore.

Though he didn’t understand the relationship between the two, Xu Yi understood Le Qingfei. Thus, he buried his face in his food and pretended he didn’t exist.

The meal ended amidst the bickering.

Fu Li escorted them to the entrance of the hotel villa. Out of politeness, Xu Yi invited him in to sit for a while. Le Qingfei didn’t object; after all, this private courtyard hot spring villa—which wasn’t open to the public—could only be booked using Fu Li’s card.

Fu Li sat down on the sofa, facing a bouquet of roses on the coffee table. The confession written on the card came entirely into his view.

“Feifei, is this the reason why you didn’t want to come home?”

Le Qingfei came out after changing into slippers, only to see Fu Li looking at him with a hurt expression once again. “What are you trying to do now?”

Fu Li’s brow furrowed slightly, and even his glasses couldn’t hide the disappointment in his eyes. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to come home or don’t want to make things public, but seeing something like this with my own eyes really breaks my heart.”

Le Qingfei didn’t understand what he was talking about. Following his gaze, he saw the bouquet of flowers that he had previously rejected, which had somehow ended up in the room anyway.

“Feifei, don’t treat me like this, okay? Even if you don’t care about my feelings, you should at least care about our legal relationship…”

A gust of wind carried a sweet fragrance straight toward Fu Li.

Le Qingfei covered his mouth, glanced at Xu Yi who was in the side lounge, and whispered, “Don’t talk nonsense.”

Fu Li pulled Le Qingfei’s hand away from his mouth. “I’m not talking nonsense. We are husbands in the eyes of the law, and you know that I truly like you.” After saying this, he placed Le Qingfei’s hand right back over his mouth.

Le Qingfei wanted to say something more, but looking at those eyes so close up—eyes that looked exactly like Yan Song’s—he really couldn’t bring himself to stay angry, nor did he want to argue anymore.

“I didn’t accept them. I don’t know why they’re in the room. If you don’t believe me, then forget it.”

Le Qingfei stood up to leave, but he was pulled back down by his wrist, landing shoulder-to-shoulder with Fu Li.

“I believe you. If Feifei says so, I believe it. I’m just sad, and also,” Fu Li leaned in a bit closer, no longer intentionally lowering his voice, “I heard you guys are going to the hot springs tonight. I’m really worried. Can you take me with you?”

His voice sounded so similar too.

There was no way Le Qingfei could ever reject Yan Song.

…

After changing his clothes, Le Qingfei arrived at the agreed-upon hot spring pool, only to find Fu Li sitting alone amidst the swirling steam.

“Huh? Where are the others?”

“I’m not sure. They left the moment I got here.” Fu Li produced a strawberry chocolate mousse from behind him and called out with a smile, “Feifei, come here quick.”