Married A Man I Hate - Chapter 23

Chapter 23: The Enticed Man · 100% Waaah, bastard Fu…

Like the other bars and nightclubs in the block, SPACE X was converted from an abandoned factory. Two floors: the first floor was the bar, and on the second floor, there were quite a few rooms with closed doors.

Le Qingfei wanted to go take a look, but was advised against it by the bartender, who said he shouldn’t go.

The bartender placed what was unknown to be the nth glass of alcohol sent over by other customers in front of Le Qingfei, “Kid, a place like this just doesn’t suit you.”

Le Qingfei gave it a sniff and didn’t like it either. Pushing it aside, he picked up his own strawberry juice and began drinking, “I’m not a kid, I’m turning 20 this month.”

The bartender glanced at him and let out a laugh: “It has nothing to do with age.”

To be able to make someone working an all-night shift laugh, it could only be a face like this—a pureness that was completely incompatible with the dim and ambiguous lighting, yet exceptionally caught people’s eyes.

The alcohol content of Le Qingfei’s strawberry juice was only 3°, but it still made him a bit flushed from drinking, so he propped himself on the bar counter to cool his face.

Through the thick glass cup, he spotted a familiar profile in a black suit.

Le Qingfei blinked his eyes, sat up, and ran over.

The result was a disappointment.

It wasn’t Fu Li.

He also looked far too different from Fu Li.

The man who was “struck up a conversation with” grew interested instead. Tonight, every man in this bar wanted to buy Le Qingfei a drink; they had even bet money to see who could be tonight’s first, and the stakes placed on him were the highest.

The man smiled, reaching out his hand to block Le Qingfei, “Since you came over on your own initiative, won’t you have a drink together?”

Just as Le Qingfei was about to open his mouth to refuse, Zeng Fenglan appeared, shoved the man’s hand away with a jerk, and cursed the guy into leaving.

Le Qingfei was somewhat surprised and told him thank you.

Returning to the bar counter, Le Qingfei messaged Fu Li while picking up the glass on the table to drink.

Seeing this, the bartender nearby frowned, wanting to remind him not to drink anything that had left his sight.

But the young master glared at him from the side, so he helplessly swallowed his words back down.

“Qingfei,” Zeng Fenglan tilted his chin, “Come on, let’s go upstairs to play.”

Le Qingfei glanced at the mysterious second floor, “Okay, I’ll wait for Xu Yi to come back from the restroom, then we’ll go.”

“Xu Yi is already upstairs.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, what would I lie to you for?” Zeng Fenglan smiled, picking up the crossbody bag he had placed aside, “Let’s go.”

Le Qingfei nodded.

The iron staircase leading to the second floor was wide, and there were many people, so Le Qingfei walked close to the handrail.

While the person beside him was describing to him how fun and exciting the games on the second floor were, he clearly saw the main doors of the bar be flung open with a crash.

A tall, handsome man in a long black coat entered with a heavy face, stepping in with the biting coldness of a snowy night.

Fu Li was very angry.

From the moment he heard Le Qingfei went to the Zeng family’s tennis club, he had immediately rushed back from the United States. Finding out he was also participating in some so-called party made him all the more infuriated.

What exactly was Le Qingfei thinking?

Someone with whom you had zero prior contact—someone who had even bullied you before—was playing the attentive host, did you not find it strange at all?

And besides—

Fu Li narrowed his eyes behind his lenses, dazed by the flashing neon lights. Men and women, whether truly or falsely drunk, were recklessly pursuing sensory stimulation under the excuses of alcohol and dim lighting; music, smoke, and the smell of booze were jumbled together into a mixed bag.

It was simply a perfect hunting ground prepared for an inexperienced little lamb.

He could guarantee that the moment Le Qingfei walked into this bar, the filthy gazes of all the men would fall upon him, and they would even pray and hope he was already of age.

Yet Le Qingfei was completely oblivious to all of this. He would very obediently reject all the conversations struck up in the open, but he wouldn’t think of what kind of methods these disgusting pieces of trash in the dark would use in order to get him.

Just thinking up to this point, Fu Li’s chest, wrapped in his vest and white shirt, heaved violently with anger.

Before he could smash this venue to pieces, Le Qingfei discovered him first.

“Fu Li!”

Le Qingfei looked at the person by the door in pleasant surprise.

He stuffed the glass in his hand to Zeng Fenglan, jumped down the steps like a rabbit, staggered upon landing, and was steadied by a kind person who gave him a brief support. After saying thank you, he ran stumblingly toward Fu Li.

That short distance made Fu Li’s fists clench tighter and tighter as he watched.

But in the next second, his open coat was gently tugged by a pair of hands. Le Qingfei stood on his tiptoes and drew close, staring at him, “It really is you.”

Fu Li looked down at him, “Who else could it be if not me?”

The music in the bar was noisy, and Le Qingfei’s brain was also dizzy and woozy. Failing to catch Fu Li’s tone, he began to answer the question seriously.

“I was over there just now, and through the glass I saw a man who was also wearing a black suit and looked a lot like you… No, it’s still different, you look much better than him.”

Le Qingfei muttered as his head swayed around, his hands also climbing higher and higher until they rested on Fu Li’s broad shoulders, “That glass looked a lot like the glass you use when drinking in the study, very thick, and a person’s shadow inside is curved, that’s why I saw wrong.”

Fu Li frowned. Feeling that Le Qingfei was quite drunk, he reached out his hand to feel his forehead.

“How much did you drink?”

The large hand was so hot.

Le Qingfei’s face was already hot enough; it didn’t need such a hot hand.

So, he also reached out his hand to grasp Fu Li’s hand, pulling it in front of himself, squeezing and playing with it like a child playing with an adult’s fingers.

“I only drank strawberry juice. I remember Fu Li said that I’m not allowed to drink recklessly outside.”

Le Qingfei’s tone was softer than usual, and the way he looked at Fu Li was also like throwing a tantrum/acting cute, “But just now I knew I didn’t see wrong, it really was Fu Li who came, because there is no glass in front of my eyes anymore, see.”

Fu Li’s expression improved slightly, and he reached out to pinch Le Qingfei’s delicate fingers back. They were like water.

In the next second, the water flowed away from his fingertips.

“No, let me double check.” Le Qingfei stood on his tiptoes again, cupping Fu Li’s face with both hands, as if returning to that snowy night of running away from the wedding, “Mmh, it is Fu Li.”

—The difference was, the answer Le Qingfei wanted this time was him.

“Mmh, since a confirmation is needed, do I need one too?”

“What?”

Le Qingfei’s hand was taken. Amidst the dumbfounded gaze of Zeng Fenglan, who was leaning half his body out from the stairs, he was led into a dark corner by Fu Li.

“F*ck!”

Zeng Fenglan hurriedly ran upstairs, finding Fu Qian in the billiards room.

“What did you say?”

Fu Qian stood up, his brows knitting into a deep scowl, “What the f*ck did you call him to this kind of place for?!”

Zeng Fenglan was momentarily at a loss for words, suspecting that Fu Qian had also mistaken the main point, so he repeated it once more: “I saw your elder brother Fu Li, he… he took Le Qingfei away.”

Fu Qian lowered his eyes, picked up the chalk to rub against the cue, and replied stiffly, “None of my f*cking business.”

“No, isn’t this way too strange? Could it be that Fu Li found out you like Le Qingfei, so he purposely wanted to disgust you, which is why he approached him?”

“……Shut the f*ck up.”

Fu Qian ground his teeth, “Also, this master doesn’t f*cking like men!”

After saying that, Xu Yi came running over, asking them in a frantic hurry if they had seen Le Qingfei.

Zeng Fenglan told him, the guy was together with Fu Li.

Xu Yi felt relieved.

Looking at Xu Yi’s appearance, Fu Qian figured he also knew, making him even more displeased. He lit a cigarette, pushed open the door, and walked out.

The door snapped back heavily.

Le Qingfei was pinned behind the door by Fu Li, held in his embrace as Fu Li lowered his head to confirm exactly how much alcohol he had drunk.

“Just a little bit, it’s strawberry fruit juice.”

Le Qingfei’s hands, placed in front of his chest, were pressed tightly by Fu Li’s torso. He didn’t seem to plan on moving recklessly either, just obediently being pressed like this, tilting his head up to look at the man whose handsome profile was outlined by the light.

“It’s very sweet, the strawberry fruit juice.”

“Is that so?” Fu Li looked down at him, drawing close slowly, catching the scent of the face mixed with the aroma of the strawberry special-mix fruit juice, “Mmh, I smell it.”

Having said that, Fu Li gently kissed that soft cheek radiating heat.

“Very fragrant,” Fu Li kissed again, “Feifei is very fragrant.”

Le Qingfei leaned against the wall relaxed, the back of his head resting in Fu Li’s broad palm, giggling loudly, “I’m not a strawberry, how could I be fragrant?”

“Is that so?” Fu Li feigned confusion, “Let me check again.”

He shifted angles, lowering his head to kiss Le Qingfei’s right cheek again. When kissing past the corner of his eye, he couldn’t resist giving it a lick. The delicate and soft skin, under the catalysis of alcohol, was like a ripe strawberry.

“It is a strawberry,” Fu Li gave a serious evaluation, “Feifei is a strawberry.”

Le Qingfei pursed his lips tightly and didn’t speak, just tilting his head up like that to look at Fu Li.

Fu Li raised his brows, “What’s wrong?”

Le Qingfei: “Strawberries don’t know how to speak.”

Fu Li froze for a moment, then burst into laughter. He kissed his forehead, the bridge of his nose, and his cheeks, and finally when he was about to kiss the corner of his lips, he asked: “Who am I?”

“Fu Li.”

Obtaining a satisfactory answer, Fu Li placed the reward kiss upon the corner of Le Qingfei’s lips, which carried a faint, fresh fragrance of strawberries.

So fragrant.

Fu Li gazed at Le Qingfei with a deep look.

Le Qingfei locked eyes with him, his large black eyes moist and lustrous, like moonlight shielded by layers of clouds.

Fu Li was the luckiest; only he was within the moonlight.

Le Qingfei’s voice was tiny, “Fu Li, you look like you want to eat me.”

In the narrow, cramped corner, the fire door cut off the deafening music, which shrouded the ears like a layer of fog.

Vague and indistinct, rendering one unable to think.

Le Qingfei was drunk; Fu Li ought to have enough self-control.

So, he let go of Le Qingfei and backed away.

“I was just thinking about how delicious the strawberry wine Feifei likes actually is.”

“It’s very delicious, I drank it all up, look.”

After saying that, Le Qingfei opened his mouth, slightly revealing a row of small, white teeth. Subsequently, a tender red tongue slowly peeked out from between his lips and teeth, the tip of his tongue lightly sweeping across his lower lip, leaving behind a sheen of wetness.

Le Qingfei clumsily proved his honesty.

Just as he was preparing to retract his tongue, a hand wearing a black leather glove pinched his lower jaw, silently commanding him to maintain this posture with a gentle yet powerful force.

Le Qingfei looked at Fu Li, obedient and submissive.

The light from above fell. Fu Li’s black hair was always combed back meticulously, and this moment was no exception; even that face carrying a mixed-race bone structure had no expression at this moment.

It was like a stubborn stone revealed after shedding its diamond shell.

He observed Le Qingfei like a dentist, calmly counting Le Qingfei’s small teeth with his eyes behind his lenses. Worried about an error, he extended his thumb, pressing down on Le Qingfei’s lower lip.

Gently parting it.

Slowly, Le Qingfei’s saliva wetted the black leather glove, glistening.

Le Qingfei struggled slightly with a bit of discomfort.

Fu Li let go of him, gently wiped away the water stains at the corner of his lips, looped an arm around his shoulder, and tenderly kissed his cheek and the corner of his lips. It was as if that person just now was merely an illusion in the dim corner.

Le Qingfei shouldn’t have gone along with him so obediently.

Just a little bit more, and Fu Li would have extended his own finger inside.

The two walked upstairs.

Le Qingfei’s drunkenness seemed to have cleared up a bit, and he began talking to Fu Li about those wonderful and fun things inside the rooms on the second floor.

“……Video game simulators, you can play a lot of ball games inside the room, just like the real thing! There’s also □□ (billiards/shooting), just like in TV dramas; and what board games, I’ve only heard them talk about it, I’ve never played them before…”

The person beside him stopped his footsteps.

Le Qingfei had walked a section out before realizing it, running back to Fu Li’s side woozily, “What’s wrong, you don’t want to go play?”

Fu Li looked at Le Qingfei, suddenly opening his mouth: “I’m sorry.”

He had originally thought he understood Le Qingfei well enough, believing his own love was tolerant enough, yet he still failed to truly stand in Le Qingfei’s perspective to think, merely being consistently arbitrary.

For a child who had never played with toys, on what grounds should he be expected to learn how to refuse first?

A brain blinded by worry didn’t even think of this point.

His love was not as grand as he thought it was either.

“I’m sorry,” Fu Li extended his hand, gently hugging him, apologizing once more, “I’m sorry, Feifei.”

Le Qingfei grew a bit anxious, patting his shoulder like a seal, “Why are you apologizing? Aren’t you going to accompany me to play? You accompany me, I really want to go play…!”

Fu Li smiled, promising him that he would definitely make him have a good time tonight.

Inside the game room, everyone’s reaction to Fu Li’s appearance was filled with the dread reserved for family elders.

Almost at the exact same time, those lying down and those sitting all stood up, tossing away the cigarette butts in their hands one after another, short of swallowing them in one gulp.

Ever since making an appearance at the ski resort last time, everyone had come to know Fu Li. Going home and mentioning it, their parents were so shocked they were asking if anyone had offended him, and repeatedly instructed that the Fu family was the one they couldn’t afford to offend in Jinggang, and the person they couldn’t afford to offend the most in the Fu family was Fu Li.

But—

Le Qingfei picked up the penalty paper strip from after he lost the card game and stuck it on Fu Li’s face, “Big brother, don’t knock it off.”

Fu Li looked at Le Qingfei with a smile, “Okay.”

What was the deal with this Le Qingfei, who could “offend” the entirety of Jinggang?

After playing cards, Le Qingfei dragged Fu Li along to play board games again.

Although the others had already heard about it in the group chat: Fu Li was Le Qingfei’s big brother.

But seeing it with their own eyes was still astonishing. Consequently, they all ran over to ask Xu Yi, who was nearby researching the basic principles of the claw machine.

Xu Yi only shook his head, telling them to go ask the parties involved themselves if they wanted to know anything.

No one dared to ask.

Even when Le Qingfei and Fu Li drew board game character cards and accidentally got a husband-and-wife pair, a group of people hurriedly stood out, saying they could redraw.

Fu Li looked toward Le Qingfei, and Le Qingfei nodded, “It indeed should be changed.”

Le Qingfei reached out his hand to swap his own character card with Fu Li’s, saying seriously: “I’m the wife.”

Fu Li turned his head away and let out a light laugh.

A drunk Le Qingfei was truly fun; his already abundant curiosity was magnified several times over, wanting to try everything, even including the wine glass in Fu Li’s hand.

“No,” Fu Li raised the whiskey glass high, “Feifei cannot drink strong liquor.”

As long as Le Qingfei wanted it, he would bring him to taste all the fine wines and exquisite brews where humans existed in the world. But clearly, the little drunk cat was not peaceful, even sitting face-to-face on his thighs right now, pulling his tie to act cute.

Fu Li seemed to have a premonition of the intimacy that might occur, but he didn’t want it.

He didn’t want Le Qingfei, under the influence of alcohol, to do a certain thing without the capacity to think, even if he would be the ultimate beneficiary.

Le Qingfei sat in his embrace, his cheeks thinly flushed, his moist eyes staring at him with immense disappointment. The moment he opened his mouth, he was so aggrieved it was as if he were about to wring out tears, “Why?”

“Aren’t you the best to me?” Le Qingfei raised his hands to hook around his neck, “Yan Song.”

Only the two of them were left on the sofa.

Fu Li’s slender torso leaned against the back of the sofa, looking at the person on his thighs at his own leisure, “I am Yan Song?”

“Yes.”

“Then who is Fu Li?”

Le Qingfei’s eyes blinked very slowly, seemingly thinking, like a cat, “He’s my husband.”

“Oh?” Fu Li picked up the whiskey and took a sip, “So the wife is already married, yet she is still sitting on another man’s lap?”

Le Qingfei lowered his eyes, his hair also sliding down from his shoulder to the side of his face out of spite, obscuring a small half of his face. Subsequently, he plunged into the man’s embrace sadly, burying his face into the solid, warm chest.

“It’s you who wouldn’t come find me… you never come find me…”

The eyes behind Fu Li’s lenses dimmed down. He extended his hand to touch Le Qingfei’s sad face, “Just teasing you, not blaming you.”

Suddenly, Le Qingfei reached out to snatch the wine glass from his hand and drained it in one gulp.

“……”

“It tastes so bad.” Le Qingfei wrinkled his face and stuck out his tongue, going to grab the strawberry juice on the table and taking several large gulps.

There wasn’t much whiskey in the glass.

But considering Le Qingfei’s alcohol tolerance, Fu Li realized that he should take him home right now.

Le Qingfei, having ingested an excess of alcohol, became excited once more, running off like a rabbit to play Never Have I Ever.

Everyone had ten fingers, taking turns to say one thing they hadn’t done. Those who had done it would bend down one finger, and whoever ran out of fingers first would lose and accept a penalty.

Fu Li naturally did not participate, leaning against the wall, watching as before a round could even finish, Le Qingfei was left with only a pitiful little pinky finger.

The things these wealthy heirs hadn’t done, Le Qingfei had done them all.

Fu Li was displeased, but Le Qingfei seemed completely oblivious to it, always honestly bending his fingers, not feeling that there was anything offensive, so he was left to play as he pleased.

“Ahem, I haven’t not kissed today.” someone said.

The crowd thought about it, followed by a chorus of boos.

Le Qingfei looked toward Fu Li. Fu Li understood what he was asking; with both hands in his pockets, he smiled and replied with his mouth shape: It counts.

Saving his last finger, Le Qingfei hugged his knees, wiggling very happily.

“It’s my turn,” a girl glanced around, seeing that most of those remaining were guys, “I have never kissed a girl.”

A chorus of wails arose; almost all the guys suffered defeat right then and there.

Only Le Qingfei was still sitting on the cushion hugging his legs, obediently holding up a single pinky finger. Looking like a lop-eared rabbit that hadn’t reached its complete form yet.

Someone let him off easy, “I have never kissed anyone other than a boyfriend.”

A very simple question, but Le Qingfei lowered his finger in disappointment.

It was as if a dark cloud had suddenly descended upon the little rabbit’s head—well, he completely turned into a lop-eared rabbit.

Accepting a dozen shots of tequila as a penalty on his behalf, Fu Li took Le Qingfei away. The rabbit, unable to jump anymore, lay very obediently in his arms.

Walking out of the second-floor room, Fu Li lifted Le Qingfei up vertically. Le Qingfei sat in the crook of his arm, wrapping around his neck, burying his face deeply inside.

It wasn’t until he felt the wetness on his neck that Fu Li discovered Le Qingfei was crying.

The Rolls-Royce drove through the snowy night, billowing waves of snow visible within the high beams.

Le Qingfei leaned against the car window, the streetlamps passing by one after another just happening to sweep across his crying, moist eyes. He closed his eyes, turned over, and went to seek the warm embrace of the man beside him.

Fu Li froze on the spot, not hugging him back. As if once more, returning to that snowy night.

He was unwilling for Le Qingfei to be sad, and even less did he want him to suffer the moral condemnation of his inner heart: The person I like is Yan Song, how can I kiss another man?

Fu Li decided to step back to merely being a qualified husband.

Even though he so desperately wanted to kiss and possess Le Qingfei, a person’s desires were always negligible; restraint and rationality were the sole smooth paths that could lead a person to happiness.

Just like how he had been taught over the past ten years.

The person in his embrace seemed dissatisfied with his lack of action, raising his head, looking at him with a face wetted by tears, lamenting pitifully: “Why, why aren’t you hugging me again…”

The warm-colored streetlamps shone upon Le Qingfei’s face like a burning bonfire; the tears were sparks, scorching Fu Li’s vision.

“Why is Qingfei crying?”

Le Qingfei looked at him sadly, like a child still waiting at the school entrance after dark, frozen and at a loss, “Why don’t you call me Feifei?”

Still couldn’t bear it.

Fu Li raised his hand, gently brushing away the moist strands of hair clinging to Le Qingfei’s cheek, “Why is Feifei crying?”

The alcohol magnified Le Qingfei’s emotions, making his eyes even redder.

He sobbed: “Because none of the people I kiss are my boyfriend.”

Fu Li let out a soft sigh, touching the top of his head like an affectionate father or elder brother, preparing to assure him that such a thing wouldn’t happen again.

But in the next second, Le Qingfei asked him an unexpected question.

“Why isn’t Yan Song my boyfriend either?”

What?

Fu Li froze.

Le Qingfei seemed to see his confusion, raising his index finger to point at his right chest, “You are my husband;” he raised the index finger of his other hand to point at his left chest, “You are my best friend from summer camp;”

Le Qingfei spread both hands open at the same time, “None of the people I kiss are my boyfriend.”

Fu Li: “You are crying because of this?”

“Yeah,” Le Qingfei’s large black-grape-like eyes blinked, tears rolling down, “I lost.”

Fu Li was amused to the point of anger.

He raised his hand, deliberately pinching Le Qingfei’s face to draw him toward himself, looking down at him through his lenses, “Mmh, then if we look into it carefully, none of the kisses the wife and I shared count.”

The thumb wearing the black leather glove rubbed across Le Qingfei’s lips, “It only counts if we kiss here, doesn’t it?”

Le Qingfei kissed him.

Without giving Fu Li any time to think, nor any opportunity to refuse, he kissed straight up.

The tip of his nose bumped against Fu Li’s nose bridge, tilting softly, but Fu Li only felt the even softer lips pressing against him, the tip of his tongue like a little snake breaking out of its shell, smoothly drilling into the space between his lips.

The eyes behind Fu Li’s lenses froze for a second.

Subsequently, he closed his eyes, reached out his hand to grip Le Qingfei’s slender neck, and deepened this kiss.

The taste of tequila.

Le Qingfei’s tongue was so hot, his already out-of-control body temperature boiling all the more violently.

His brain went completely blank, his nose hurt from being pressed, and with his lips blocked, he simply couldn’t breathe at all. He reached out his hands to push Fu Li, wanting breath and oxygen—

The hand holding him tightened its strength, yet the hand massaging the back of his neck was so gentle, as if they were two completely different people.

The alcohol and suffocation caused him to fall into a dream.

The car stopped by the sea, the freezing white waves sweeping away the even colder snow; the entire world’s only warm space was the cramped interior of the car.

Le Qingfei lay on the back row seat, his back resting against the car window covered in hot mist. His nose bridge, rising and falling slightly with his breathing, was facing the moonlight directly, elegant and beautiful.

Fu Li kissed right there.

The dark green strawberry stem was nowhere to be found, and the red strawberry was also pulled into disarray, revealing the small jade Buddha worn on his chest.

Worn close to the skin, very fragrant.

Fu Li kissed right there.

Le Qingfei bit the knuckle of his index finger, tilting his head up to look at the moonlight above. His cheeks were so red, and the moonlight was so bright.

Fu Li knelt devoutly by his legs, lowering his head like a knight of the moonlight.

Le Qingfei thought.

He reached out his hand to touch Fu Li’s black strands of hair, and Fu Li’s large, warm hand gripped him back.

So warm, so warm.

……

The abdominal soreness and bloating that plagued Le Qingfei finally disappeared, yet the drunkenness didn’t seem to have cleared up yet.

Not wanting to walk, Fu Li carried him back to the room.

A drunk person couldn’t take a bath, so Fu Li used a hot towel to wipe his body bit by bit.

First was the face. Le Qingfei’s eyes couldn’t close, continuously looking at him. The hot towel rubbed past—closed, opened, continuing to stare at him.

Fu Li let out a light chuckle, reaching out his hand to gently fiddle with Le Qingfei’s curled eyelashes. Le Qingfei still looked at him, like a fledgling bird that had never been hurt, blankly looking at the visitor who had landed in the nest.

“Does your mouth hurt?” Le Qingfei asked.

The corners of Fu Li’s lips hooked up and he shook his head. After wiping his thighs, knees, and toes well, he covered him with the blanket, stood up, and left.

The hangover soup was finished brewing.

Le Qingfei was still running to the restroom nonstop. Seeing that he had to drink something again, he was a bit unhappy, pulling Fu Li’s hand to touch his still very bulging lower abdomen, “Can I not drink it?”

“No, you’ll have a headache the next day.”

Holding the hangover soup in his left hand, Fu Li bent over, his right hand gripping Le Qingfei’s thigh to lift him up, returning to the bedside and feeding it to him bit by bit.

The drunk Le Qingfei was a happy Le Qingfei, talking a lot.

While answering, Fu Li took advantage of the gaps to feed him the soup. Sometimes when Le Qingfei asked him to kiss him, he would also taste a bit of the juice which wasn’t too bitter.

Fu Li scooped up the last mouthful of soup and delivered it into Le Qingfei’s mouth, “Feifei is so good, drank it all up.”

The polite Le Qingfei said thank you to Fu Li, reaching his hand out toward Fu Li.

Fu Li pressed his hand down, “What does Feifei want to do?”

“Don’t you need my help?”

Fu Li smiled, kissing his cheek and the corner of his lips, only kissing his lips after feeling Le Qingfei’s response, “Feifei doesn’t need to do anything for me, you know that?”

“Why?”

“Because I love you, and the person who is loved doesn’t need to do anything.”

Le Qingfei looked at Fu Li’s face under the moonlight, raising his hand to stroke it gently, “Then why are you unwilling to be my boyfriend?”

Fu Li: “Who am I?”

“Fu Li,” Le Qingfei said, “跑 (Yan) 松 (Song).”

Fu Li remained silent for a long time.

Le Qingfei couldn’t wait out an answer, the original anticipation in his eyes washed away and dissipated by sadness, and very soon he cried out.

There were too many tears for his hands to wipe away. Fu Li went to grab tissues, but Le Qingfei ran away stumblingly all the way.

Le Qingfei locked himself inside Fu Li’s study.

—The safest place.

Fu Li knocked on the door, coaxing him and apologizing, all to no effect; Le Qingfei was unwilling to open the door.

The bodyguard suggested smashing the door open.

Fu Li swept a glance at him, and the letter retreated on his own accord.

“Feifei,” Fu Li squatted down following Le Qingfei’s voice, speaking across the door, “It’s my fault, will you open the door and let me in, okay?”

“You tell me, why… why aren’t you my boyfriend?”

The drunk Le Qingfei couldn’t distinguish between him and Yan Song, yet he still didn’t forget to fixate on this dead end.

Fu Li let out a deep sigh. After dismissing everyone, he said helplessly to the person inside the door: “When we met, you were only 18 years old.”

“……”

Le Qingfei stopped talking.

After a long while, the door was pulled open, a gust of whiskey scent rushing at his face.

Fu Li: “……”

Le Qingfei was hugging a glass liquor bottle, “Then what about now? This year I’m 20 years old.”

“Mmh,” Fu Li took away the liquor bottle, “Now I am not only your best friend, I am also your boyfriend, your husband.”

Le Qingfei stared at him, stood on his tiptoes, and took off his glasses, “20 years old.”

Fu Li looked down to lock eyes with him, “So?”

One of Le Qingfei’s hands climbed onto his shoulder, the hand pinching the glasses hanging by his side, his soft lips kissing Fu Li’s lower jaw, cheek, and the corner of his lips, “You can date me now, see.”

“Yan Song, do you want to date me?”

Le Qingfei put his glasses back on properly for him, kissing his lips like a little butterfly, “Is it a yes, Fu Li?”

Fu Li was amused into a smile, reached out his hand to loop around his waist, and lowered his head to take Le Qingfei’s lip bead into his mouth.

The taste of whiskey.

It seemed like the taste of summer.

Le Qingfei seemed to return to that summer—so hot, sweating a lot.

He felt terror and shame toward those sports he had never attempted, unwilling to try, hiding in a remote corner. Yan Song walked out from behind the tree, placed the baseball cap on the top of his head, quietly waited for him to finish crying, and accompanied him in practicing.

An Song wouldn’t dislike him for being clumsy; Yan Song always taught him without ever getting tired of it.

“Feifei, lift your leg up.”

Unlike practicing the sailboat, it didn’t require him to do too much, but it was still so tiring, yet Yan Song kept praising him.

“Feifei is so good.”

Le Qingfei felt a bit overwhelmed/uncomfortable, wanting to cry, “Fu Li…”

Fu Li kissed him tenderly, coaxing him softly, as if he were the most fragile treasure in the world.

“It doesn’t matter, I will help Feifei change a lot of bedsheets.”

……

Le Qingfei had drunk too much liquid, feeling uncomfortable, especially when pressed.

Crying so many times, Fu Li apologizing and coaxing him again… as if the person who exerted the force just now wasn’t him.

“Feifei, you are so cute.”

……

“Feifei, why aren’t you talking anymore?”

……

“Feifei, did you turn back into a strawberry again?”

Le Qingfei’s face was buried in the pillow along with his tears—not tears of discomfort, there was also hot sweat, like the nourishment urging the strawberry to ripen.

“Strawberry King Le Qingfei.”

Fu Li’s light chuckle came from above his head.

So light,

yet falling upon Le Qingfei’s body, it was so heavy.

“I hate you…!”

“Baby, I know.”

Waaah, bastard Fu Li…! Waaah, feels so good…

The summer finally ended.

The evening of spring snow returned to tranquility.

The man’s voice seemed to be in a dream, drifting into Le Qingfei’s ear: “Feifei, I love you.”

“Both Fu Li and Yan Song love you.”

“Only love you, love you the most.”