Resisting Arranged Marriages: Starting with Myself - Chapter 21

After staying up until past three in the morning the night before, the two of them slept until noon the next day.

When Xiao Xiao opened his eyes, Ye Jiming was still asleep. His eyelashes trembled slightly, and the corners of his mouth were turned up in a faint smile, bearing the small mark where Xiao Xiao had bitten him the previous night. Xiao Xiao could not help himself; his thumb gently brushed over that sweet wound. Once was not enough; he had to feel it several times.

Then, just like that night in Nanfeng Village, he quietly leaned forward to look at the sleeping face from only millimeters away.

Back then, he had not dared to do anything; he could only watch silently, listening to his own heartbeat amplified by the night until it was deafening.

Today was different. He smiled as he leaned in and gave Ye Jiming’s lips a light peck. Afterward, he provocatively licked the small wound.

“Are you awake?” He had not expected that Ye Jiming was not actually asleep and had caught him red-handed.

“So many little movements,” Ye Jiming said, catching Xiao Xiao’s restless hands. “Just like a kitten.”

“Do you want to kiss more?” he asked with a beaming smile. Those few words instantly pulled Xiao Xiao’s thoughts back to the previous night.

Whether it was that gentle peck by the faint light of the screen in the dark cinema, or the intense, deep kisses on the soft bed in the warm bedroom, everything left Xiao Xiao with an endless aftertaste.

“Hmm? Speak up. Do you still want to kiss?”

His voice was like the girdle of Aphrodite; a single wave could make one drown, and Xiao Xiao fell for it involuntarily.

Under his “enchantment,” Xiao Xiao’s brain almost stopped functioning. “I want to.”

Ye Jiming smiled as he cupped the back of Xiao Xiao’s head. Their lips pressed together, tenderly sucking and intertwining, making them inseparable.

Unlike a fleeting touch or a desperate embrace, this kiss was lingering and long, like a butterfly wandering among its favorite flowers for a long time, or like an innocent child cherishing a sweet candy or licking a melting ice cream.

When the kiss ended, Xiao Xiao’s chest rose and fell slightly, and his cheeks were stained with threads of light red, making him look even more endearing.

“More,” he requested stubbornly, like a greedy child.

Ye Jiming gave his lips a doting kiss. “Time to get up, little glutton.”

It was not until the afternoon that the two finally headed out. Wearing matching white hoodies and baseball caps with brims low enough to cover most of their faces, they walked through the park holding hands.

In the late autumn park, golden leaves covered the ground. The autumn wind swirled the fallen leaves, making a rustling sound. The blue sky was reflected in the clear water, where several wild ducks quacked loudly at tourists for food. The reed beds by the shore were over a person’s height, swaying gently in the breeze; the drooping tassels brushed against their cheeks, making them laugh from the itchiness.

Xiao Xiao was like a playful child, finding everything novel. Even at twenty years old, he was at the age to pick green bristlegrass by the roadside to tickle people. He skipped over to buy a bag of fish food and leaned over the wooden walkway railing to watch the koi.

Groups of koi were attracted by the food, scrambling to grab it and causing ripples on the water.

He raised his hand and tossed the fish food toward the distant water, watching the fish follow the food with their tails wagging, never tiring of the game.

Ye Jiming followed his example, leaning his arms on the railing and tilting his head to look at him, his eyes full of the laughing boy.

After feeding half the bag of fish food, Xiao Xiao’s attention was drawn to a hillside covered in fallen leaves. The dry leaves crunched underfoot, thick enough to almost bury one’s ankles.

Xiao Xiao climbed all the way to the top of the hill, sat down, and smiled sillily at Ye Jiming, who was a few steps behind. After laughing, he suddenly lay down, burying himself in the bedding of withered branches and leaves, rolling down several times until he was caught firmly.

“I used to play like this when I was a child,” he said to Ye Jiming while bracing himself with his hands. He took off his hat, and as the sunlight hit his face, he closed his eyes slightly, his long eyelashes casting fan-like shadows.

Ye Jiming smiled and kissed his cheek. “It was very cute. You are still very cute now, just like a child.”

Since discovering the experience of “kissing” the night before, they could kiss almost anytime and anywhere. Xiao Xiao seemed to have developed a “kissing addiction” overnight; he would suddenly lean in to kiss Ye Jiming’s lips while he was talking, and even after being kissed unexpectedly by Ye Jiming, he would still lean forward, as if he could not get enough.

“You like it that much?” Ye Jiming coaxed him with a smile. “I did not see you like it this much before. Back then, you would be angry for a long time if I even touched your head.”

“Before was before,” Xiao Xiao said, pouting as if acting spoiled. “I like it now.”

“Really? You like it now?” On the surface, Ye Jiming was calm and encouraging, but only he knew that at this moment, his heart skipped several beats.

“Yes, I like it now.” Xiao Xiao seemed completely unaware that he had said something significant as he hugged Ye Jiming and kissed the corner of his mouth.

“Then I am very happy that Xiao Xiao likes it.” His words made Ye Jiming’s heart soften into a pool of water as he gently caught Xiao Xiao’s lips and returned the kiss.

Monday arrived as scheduled, meaning the filming of “Perfect Weekend” had ended. After two days of romantic dates, life returned to its normal track with work and the 9-to-5 routine.

They were like any ordinary couple in the world, working in their respective fields during the day and returning home at night to snuggle in each other’s arms. They watched childish, boring programs and talked about meaningless nonsense, kissing each other’s lips in the gaps between words and then smiling sillily into each other’s eyes.

While laughing, Xiao Xiao suddenly said, “We seem like we are in a relationship.”

This sentence made Ye Jiming not know whether to laugh or cry. He rubbed Xiao Xiao’s ring finger gently. “We have already registered our marriage, and you still think we are ‘dating’? Was this ring worn for nothing?”

“You can still date after getting married,” Xiao Xiao said with a smile. “Others take it step by step, but we went straight to the end. A legal romance.”

“The kind that lasts a lifetime.”

Ye Jiming’s eyes grew warm as he heard this, and he could not help but press his lips against Xiao Xiao’s.

His life also returned to the line between the company and home. As the year drew to a close, work became increasingly busy with project closures, meetings, and analysis. There was always endless work to do. His arrival time at home began to get later and later, delaying from a normal finish to 8:00, 9:00, or sometimes even midnight. Occasionally, when he did return early, he would lock himself in the study for online meetings.

Xiao Xiao was no less busy. To film the variety show earlier, he had accumulated a large number of announcements to attend to. He was flying everywhere almost every day, and was away from home five or six days a week, let alone seeing Ye Jiming.

Their “legal romance” was hard work. Distance, time differences, and workloads stood before them like a chasm.

Now, they stayed in touch through a few messages and occasional video calls; sometimes they did not say a word for three to five days.

Neither of them had complaints about this. They were adults with their own work and ideals; there was nothing they could not understand. It was just that when they did meet, they made sure to spend every possible moment together, whispering their longing for each other like a pair of inseparable mandarin ducks.

Time flew from the middle of the month to the end. The last Monday morning of the month was the time for Mingkong’s monthly summary meeting.

Winter had already arrived, and the gloomy sky hung down like a large net or an inverted bowl. Pedestrians on the road hurried like ants, busy under the bottom of the bowl. They pulled up their zippers and wrapped their scarves tightly in the cold wind, keeping their heads down for fear of the wind and sand blowing into their eyes.

Bare branches stood lonely on the streets, as if someone had heartlessly stripped off their coats, leaving only a thin skeleton. The bird nests, without the cover of leaves, became particularly conspicuous, perched precariously on the thin branches.

Ye Jiming looked out the conference room window, his mind wandering slightly.

At this time, Xiao Xiao was probably still rushing to an announcement. They had agreed that after Xiao Xiao returned home, they would go out for hotpot or grilled fish. In Xiao Xiao’s words, it was to “reward himself for his days of rushing about.”

A child’s small wish naturally had to be granted. As soon as Xiao Xiao finished speaking on the phone, Ye Jiming had already booked the restaurant. It was Xiao Xiao’s favorite seafood hotpot place, where seats were usually so tight that one needed to book several days in advance. He treated it as a small surprise for the boy.

Everything was ready, just waiting for the plane to land in two days.

“President Ye?” The CFO’s voice pulled his wandering thoughts back to the conference room. “President Ye, this is last month’s financial report.”

Ye Jiming scanned the slides quickly. The lingering trace of a smile in his eyes was completely extinguished. He asked with a cold face, “What is going on here?”

In the charts on the financial report, several curves intersected, but the most important one had shifted from the steady growth of previous months to a nearly horizontal line, even showing a faint downward trend.

In short, the company did not make money this month.

Ye Jiming’s gaze suddenly became sharp. His eyes behind the lenses were like searchlights, scanning everyone in the conference room.

Perhaps feeling the intensity of Ye Jiming’s gaze, the CTO spoke up with a face full of worry. “President Ye, it is the project we are collaborating on with T University.”

Ye Jiming looked at him in disbelief, his heart skipping a violent beat.

The new project in collaboration with T University and Duan Weiyue’s experimental team had run into problems.

This was not a result Ye Jiming had failed to anticipate. Duan Weiyue’s ideas were too advanced, and there were many areas where current technology could not keep up. To turn the vision into practice, it required continuous collaboration and refinement between Mingkong and T University. It was inevitable that small problems would arise in the middle.

But Ye Jiming had not expected that what he thought were “small problems” had already grown unrestrained in the dark. Like a virus devouring its host, it was now faintly threatening the stability of Mingkong.

Once the financial report was announced, there was an uproar in the room.

Everyone secretly wondered whether this project should continue.

It was a surreal concept to begin with, a vision held high in an ivory tower. Could it really come true?

Was it really worth burning so much time and money and paying such a high price?

Ye Jiming was the one who had approved the project. In an instant, countless gazes from all directions converged on him.

Ye Jiming frowned slightly.

He waved his hand gently and said a few words, asking the reporting employee to temporarily skip this slide and move on to the next item.

But everyone knew that a temporary halt was not the final result. Ye Jiming would have to give a response to the project, to Mingkong, to T University, and to everyone else.

Ye Jiming knew this himself.

Although the subsequent items were not complicated or difficult, his brow never relaxed again.

The meeting ended, and the employees left in small groups, but he could still feel everyone’s gaze lingering on him.

Even after everyone had gone, the lights in the conference room remained on.

An hour later, Duan Weiyue was led into the conference room by the president’s secretary.

From day to night, the lights in the conference room never went out.

Ye Jiming, Duan Weiyue, Mingkong’s CTO, CFO, and several other executives and senior engineers gathered together. Everyone’s eyes were bloodshot, and the veins on the hands holding their pens were bulging. Looking up at each other, they saw the exhaustion that had grown within a single day.

What now? What about the project? What about Mingkong?

These were the questions weighing on everyone’s mind.

Should they continue the research and development at all costs, or should they stop now to minimize losses?

The atmosphere in the conference room was so tense it seemed capable of sparking. Duan Weiyue and the Mingkong employees seemed to have formed two factions, staring at each other warily.

Then, they all turned their urgent gazes toward Ye Jiming.

Ye Jiming felt the strings in his mind tightening, throbbing violently.

He knew there was another invisible gaze staring at him from behind.

It was the Board of Directors.

The Board was still waiting for a result. The development of the project, and even the survival of the company, was in the hands of the people on the Board.

Thinking about having to argue with the Board the next day, Ye Jiming’s temples began to throb uncontrollably, as if a machine gun was firing recklessly in his head.

Unknowingly, it had grown late.

After seeing off Duan Weiyue and the other employees, he sat alone in the dark conference room. Outside the window were the whistling cold wind and the lights of thousands of homes.

With a heavy sigh, he took off his glasses and placed them on the table. The frame made a slight clicking sound against the tabletop.

He pinched his aching brow, but could not smooth out the frown.

As the day finally came to an end, he picked up his phone and found two missed calls, both from Xiao Xiao.

The two calls were made at around 9:00 PM, five minutes apart. He had not called again after that, probably guessing that Ye Jiming was busy.

The time on the screen happened to jump to midnight.

Support