Your Boyfriend is Great! He's Mine Now - Chapter 14

“Why are you so angry?” Xiao Yu stood up, leaning his hands on the desk, casting a shadow that loomed over the other man. “I just wanted to teach you a lesson: when faced with power, hard work is worthless.”

“Master Xiao is right. I was foolish; I’ve been punching above my weight all these years.”

Xiao Yu grabbed his chin viciously. “You have such a stubborn mouth. Why can’t you learn to beg for mercy? If you were willing to soften your stance, your client’s performance targets would be settled with just a word from me.”

Shen Xubai shoved him away abruptly and said coldly, “It seems we can’t reach an agreement.”

Xiao Yu glared at him for a moment, silently cursing Wang Yao; things were not going as he had expected.

He had forgotten that Shen Xubai was a man who yielded to soft tactics but never to force. He couldn’t afford to push him too far.

“Apologies, I was just joking earlier.”

A flicker of surprise passed through Shen Xubai’s eyes; he didn’t understand what game Xiao Yu was playing now.

Xiao Yu acted as if nothing had happened. “I’m not that lacking in character. I clearly said to take good care of you; perhaps those people misunderstood and misinterpreted my meaning.”

Shen Xubai didn’t believe a single word of it. However, the result was ultimately what he wanted, and he didn’t want to dwell on it further. “Since that is the case, please trouble Master Xiao to resolve it.”

“Of course. I will call them tomorrow.”

“That would be best.”

Shen Xubai stood up, turned, and pulled the door open, ready to leave.

“Wait.”

Xiao Yu stepped forward, holding his drink. “Since you’re already here, let’s have a meal together.”

“No, I have other matters to attend to.”

“Is that how you treat everyone when negotiating business?”

Shen Xubai’s tone was indifferent. “There is no need for you to know that.”

Xiao Yu finished the crimson liquid in one gulp, his gaze turning fierce. “Try walking out that door if you dare.”

As Shen Xubai narrowed his long, cold eyes, preparing to respond, a familiar, languid voice interrupted him.

“Senior.”

Gu Linyuan was leaning lazily against the door frame. “You had an appointment to eat with me; why are you still here chatting?”

Shen Xubai went along with it. “I ran into an acquaintance and chatted for a bit.”

“You two know each other?”

Xiao Yu’s eyes drifted between the two, lost in thought.

“Ah, Senior, didn’t you introduce me to your ex-boyfriend?”

Whether it was his imagination or not, Xiao Yu felt that Gu Linyuan emphasized the words “ex-boyfriend” a bit too heavily. A bizarre, eerie feeling arose.

“You said it yourself, he is an ex-boyfriend. There is nothing to introduce.”

Xiao Yu felt an absurd sense of betrayal. “Are you saying Shen Xubai had a dinner appointment with you?”

Gu Linyuan raised an eyebrow. “Is there a problem with that?”

There was a huge problem!

It was he who had invited Shen Xubai, so why was this man attending two dinners at once? And was the reason Shen Xubai wouldn’t eat with him because he had another dinner to attend? How could Shen Xubai even know Gu Linyuan? Why had he never heard him mention it before?

Question after question swirled in his head.

Shen Xubai grew impatient. “Are you coming or not?”

“Wait.” Xiao Yu adjusted his expression and smiled. “Since it’s such a coincidence, why doesn’t Young Master Gu sit down and join us?”

Gu Linyuan seemed very easygoing. “Sure, let’s go to my table.”

The three moved to the private room Gu Linyuan had booked coincidentally, it was right next door. Xiao Yu’s suspicions only deepened. His father always said: when there are too many coincidences, they aren’t coincidences at all. He wanted to see exactly what was going on between the two of them.

The three sat around a circular table, the atmosphere appearing peaceful on the surface. Shen Xubai found the scene truly bizarre: on his left was his ex-boyfriend, and on his right was his self-proclaimed suitor. The three of them sitting at one table to eat it felt unreal.

“How do Young Master Gu and ‘Xiao Bai’ know each other?”

Gu Linyuan was picking fish bones out of the meat; he looked up, puzzled, upon hearing this. “I don’t know anyone named ‘Xiao Bai’.”

Xiao Yu choked, but looking at Gu Linyuan, he saw only a composed expression, as if he were genuinely confused.

“Young Master Gu is joking, surely. You called him ‘Senior Xiao Bai’ just a moment ago.”

Gu Linyuan let out an “Ah,” as if he had just realized. “You mean Senior? We’ve known each other for a long time.”

As he spoke, he placed the boneless fish into Shen Xubai’s bowl. Meeting the latter’s displeased gaze, he added pointedly, “Since Senior didn’t tell you, I suppose it’s because it wasn’t necessary.”

Not necessary? Because he wasn’t important, so he deemed it unnecessary? And who exactly was the unimportant one?

Xiao Yu stared at the fish in Shen Xubai’s bowl. As if he had found a flaw, he felt as though he had regained the upper hand. He placed a piece of pork kidney into Shen Xubai’s bowl, pressing it down on top of the fish, his smile filled with provocation. “Xiao Bai doesn’t like to eat fish.”

“Is that so? Senior, I remember you quite enjoyed it.”

Gu Linyuan’s posture remained relaxed, and beneath his dark, deep eyes was an impeccable, gentle smile, yet Shen Xubai still tasted a hint of oppression from it.

He calmly moved his gaze away and met Xiao Yu’s eyes. It was a look of self-assured certainty that was somewhat repulsive.

The pork kidney was ruthlessly tossed onto a side plate, and the carefully de-boned fish was finished.

Shen Xubai wiped his mouth and offered Gu Linyuan a faint, clear smile, saying approvingly, “You’re good at picking out bones.”

The aloofness that usually kept people at a distance vanished like frost, and his cold eyes rippled, more dazzling than the first ray of dawn in spring.

Gu Linyuan felt as though he had just turned into a dog, and Shen Xubai had tossed him his favorite bone. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and his blood began to boil.

“Don’t you dislike fish?”

Xiao Yu’s expression turned ugly. Shen Xubai must be doing this to deliberately anger him using an outsider to spite him.

Shen Xubai thought to himself: Do I dislike it? No, not really. He liked it fine, he just couldn’t be bothered to pick out the bones, even if there were only a few large ones. But as a grown man, he wouldn’t take the initiative to ask someone else to pick them out for him. Therefore, he had never mentioned it, and rarely ate it, so Xiao Yu had never noticed.

Gu Linyuan had stumbled upon it by accident. Of course, no matter what that chopstick had brought him, he would have eaten it. After all, Xiao Yu’s confident, composed, and “sure-to-win” demeanor was truly an eyesore.

“I like it now. People’s tastes change, don’t they?”

Xiao Yu’s expression grew even darker. Since when did Shen Xubai speak with such barbed irony?

Gu Linyuan didn’t get involved, happily picking out fish bones the entire time. From then on, Shen Xubai was served peeled shrimp and crab without shells; his bowl was always filled with the things he wanted to eat. Those serving chopsticks shuttled back and forth in his bowl, always picking his favorite dishes. Looking closely, the entire table was filled with food he liked.

Shen Xubai glanced over thoughtfully, and coincidentally, Gu Linyuan looked back. The dark, deep eyes were shining with tiny, fragmented lights, as if… as if he were an excited puppy.

“Cough, cough…”

Shen Xubai was choked by this groundless association, coughing until the corners of his eyes turned red.

“Slow down.”

A warm napkin wiped the corner of his mouth. Shen Xubai felt a bit embarrassed by his earlier train of thought and looked away, uncomfortable. Unbeknownst to him, this appearance, in Xiao Yu’s eyes, looked like shyness.

Shen Xubai was being so intimate with someone else, even showing signs of shyness. This made him feel extraordinarily angry. The fire he had suppressed all night erupted in an instant.

His chair pushed back abruptly, scraping against the floor with a harsh sound like a sudden clap of thunder.

“Enough! Do you think I’m dead?”

Gu Linyuan slowly withdrew his gaze from Shen Xubai’s lips. The previously soft eyes instantly radiated a chill. He crossed his arms leisurely, his thin lips curling into a sneer. “A qualified ex-partner really should act as if they were dead.”

“Gu Linyuan, what exactly do you mean by this!”

“Is it not obvious?”

Gu Linyuan’s tone seemed troubled, then he tilted his head and smiled at Shen Xubai. “I’m pursuing Senior.”