How about it…..

He had never expected such an answer, and Lu Qi was stunned by this question. He stared dumbly like a little hamster that suddenly had its melon seeds taken away and was holding its little paws at a loss.

His original intention was really just to remind Mu Nanqiao to pay attention. He knew that many straight men looked more gay than gay men, and boys might not feel that it was a problem to horseplay like this, but Lu Qi was a little concerned about it. 

When he was a freshman in high school, he was short, with pale skin and big eyes. Even with short hair, he looked a bit like a girl, and some boys in class would come over and touch him intentionally or unintentionally. At the age when hormones were exploding, they didn’t dare to be blatant about their love for girls, but were unscrupulous with him because he was a boy of the same sex.

Unlike Mu Nanqiao’s sense of proportion, Lu Qi didn’t like that kind of touching. He was sensitive to the ill intentions of those boys. After a harsh rebuke, the boys in class who loved to make dirty jokes about girls pointed at Lu Qi’s nose and called him a sissy.

One also said in an ill-mannered way that perhaps Lu Qi didn’t have that thing growing down there after all, so he should go to the bathroom and take off his pants for him to check.

That was the closest Lu Qi had come to violence in school, but as soon as the boy finished saying this, a girl slapped him in the face with a duster.

Before the boy could curse, many people in class stood up, boys and girls included. One of the boys said: “You guys have a lot of free time, do you? Let me tell you, Lu Qi is my buddy. Do you want me and your father to take off our pants too?”

Someone said: “Lu Qi, let’s go together to eat at my house after school. Thanks to you giving me a little bit of tutoring, I did well in the physics exam this time. My mom said she would make sweet and sour pork ribs for you.”

Someone else said: “Lu Qi, have you finished that portrait you’re painting for me? Once you’ve finished it, I’ll treat you to a seafood buffet…..”

The girl who slapped someone with a duster pointed her middle finger at that boy and shouted: “Don’t even try to compete with me! After school, Lu Qi has to go with me to do makeup and cosplay Zhuang Zhou with me like he promised last week.”

Lu Qi: “When did that happen…..”

However, no one listened to what he said. When they heard that he wanted to cosplay Zhuang Zhou, the boys and girls all made a racket. The atmosphere inside and outside the classroom was filled with joy, and no one gave those bedbugs another look.

The matter ended just like this. In the next two years, he suddenly started to grow taller. When he met the male classmate who had humiliated him, he had dropped out of school and dyed his hair yellow. Lu Qi realized that the other person hadn’t grown taller, but had gotten shorter due to his hunchback.

When he passed by Lu Qi, he wished he could make himself smaller. Lu Qi had to lower his head slightly to look at him.

Therefore, this unpleasant episode during high school left no psychological shadow on him. He didn’t object to the intimacy of same-sex friends, but Mu Nanqiao was really…..

En, he was so handsome, a male Bodhisattva. It was hard for his imagination not to run wild.

Lu Qi cherished this friend, and didn’t want to misunderstand Mu Nanqiao and end up causing an ugly situation. 

Now, Mu Nanqiao was saying that he hadn’t misunderstood.

Lu Qi blinked, slowly coming back to his senses. “But, it seems that we just met not too long ago…..”

They had met for the first time at a bar on a summer night. Now the leaves hadn’t even turned yellow yet, and at most had a small edge of it.

But as Mu Nanqiao knew, they had known each other for a long time. It was only that the little sun shone every day, and the sunshine warmed many people. He, the cunning fox who secretly treasured the sunlight in his dark cave, was only one of them.

“Some people are still strangers after spending a lot of time together, and some feel like old friends as soon as they meet…..” Mu Nanqiao raised his hand and touched the corner of his mouth where the cotton swab had just rubbed. “The heart can’t be measured by the length of time we have known each other, right?”

If he was still probing just now, then this sentence was almost a confession. Lu Qi pursed his lower lip, and was about to say something when Mu Nanqiao asked again: “Do you hate it when I touch you?”

“No, no, no…..” Lu Qi shook his head repeatedly, like a kitten that had just climbed ashore.

Mu Nanqiao laughed in spite of himself and raised his hand to hold his head. “Okay, I get it. Why did you suddenly enter vibration mode?”

Lu Qi gave a sheepish cough. Lowering his head to avoid Mu Nanqiao’s gaze, he explained in a low voice: “I really…..haven’t wanted to fall in love recently. As you know, the matter with Lin Yuan has consumed a lot of my energy…..”

Mu Nanqiao suddenly felt that he had been too benevolent today.

But he was in no rush. Only trash like Lin Yuan would call in a favor for such a trivial matter as delivering food and hurry to establish a relationship.

There was no trace of disappointment at being rejected in his tone, and he gave a lazy shrug as he said, “I understand. You’ve been so tired lately. I didn’t plan to say anything, but it seems that my bad intentions were a bit obvious, and since you asked, I’ll certainly admit that I like you. There is no need to be secretive about it.”

He confessed repeatedly with sincere eyes. It was as if there was a river of stars in those eyes, but the only magnificent star was Lu Qi.

“I, I…..I…..” Lu Qi was tongue-tied, feeling that he couldn’t bear it anymore.

“You said you don’t hate it when I touch you.” Mu Nanqiao pinched his hot earlobe and laughed softly. “I really hope it’s not my finger that lands here next time…..”

. . . . . . .

“Ahhhhhh—” Lu Qi rolled around on the bed, holding Xiao Sanhua, his cheek pressed against the kitty’s soft belly. He complained in a whisper: “Why won’t you nurse the babies? You irresponsible scumbag cat…..”

“Meow~” Xiao Sanhua’s paw pressed against Lu Qi’s cheek, pressing a little plum blossom mark into the human’s soft face. Her green eyes looked at this unreasonable human with contempt, and she seemed to ask Lu Qi: 

Is it really the problem with the babies that has you so upset?

She broke away from Lu Qi with a meow, jumping off the bed lightly, and left the little human to continue rolling around. 

After that day, Mu Nanqiao never brought the matter up again. He went to work early and came back late as usual, occasionally coming over for a meal or to feed the grown cat and the kittens in the apartment.

It was just that this person was very good at playing to his own advantages. Every day when he walked in, he looked like he had just come from a fashion show. Those broad shoulders, long legs, and narrow waist were clad in an abstinent three-piece suit. And when he undid the buttons with one hand, the veins on the back of his hand flexed. It was simply…..

Naked seduction.

“Wu…..” Lu Qi put a pillow over his head and groaned in shame. He felt that he was actually a sanctimonious pervert. Otherwise, why would he have dreamed about Mu Nanqiao last night? Nothing too extreme happened in the dream, but Mu Nanqiao kept taking off his clothes. His beautiful fox-like eyes were mesmerizing, and he said as he removed his clothing, “Do you want to draw the human body? Totally nude?”

What kind of perverted thought was this? He was actually just a pervert who coveted a person’s body as soon as he rejected them. He was so despicable, ah, wuwuwu…..

From a certain point of view, Mu Nanqiao’s goal had been achieved. He was like a thousand-year-old vixen who had seduced a little scholar, and finally brought out some reveries in the little scholar who was full of the teachings of sages.

Lu Qi finally escaped from his embarrassing state of digging his toes into the ground. While he was washing up, his mobile phone buzzed with a message.

It was from an unknown number, and the content read: Xiao Qi, you still don’t know Mu Nanqiao’s true identity, do you? Have you ever thought about why a man of his worth insists on getting close to you? Why he stays in such a trashy apartment with you? He’s doing this just to take revenge on me.

Lu Qi: Bad luck! I can’t have my mobile phone anymore!

But immediately after, there was a multimedia message.

These days, it was really not common to still receive picture text messages, but that trash Lin Yuan probably couldn’t help it. After all, he couldn’t add Lu Qi to WeChat.

The picture he sent was of a ribbon-cutting ceremony, with a group of men and women in suits and ties standing on a red carpet. The crystal ornaments behind them were dazzling, and the light of a golden champagne tower created a halo. The high-hanging banner read: Groundbreaking ceremony of Longwan Yi City Elegant Garden.

There was a man with a tall figure who stood out from the crowd. He wore a low-key muted black suit with dark patterns. The exquisite tailoring was perfectly tight around his waist, and this tall and handsome appearance formed a sharp contrast against the bald old man with a big belly next to him.

But this young man was standing in the front position, eyes lowered and face stern as he cut the ribbon. Even though the temperament was completely different, nobody could fail to recognize the person they saw almost every single day. Not to mention that Mu Nanqiao had come to his apartment in this suit last night to spread his peacock tail.

A new text message came in:

Let me introduce him to you again: Mu Nanqiao, general manager of Mu Group and the rightful crown prince of the Mu family.

Lu Qi: ……

Oh! No wonder. That suit last night was really not something that a driver could afford.

The final message said: If you don’t believe me, come to this place to verify it. Tonight, everyone here knows who he is.

Lin Yuan gave him an address. Lu Qi felt that something about it was familiar, and thought for a while before coming to a realization. Wasn’t this the bar where he and Mu Nanqiao first met?

. . . . . . .

Making an appointment with “old friends” at the bar where he first met Lu Qi didn’t seem so annoying anymore. Mu Nanqiao greeted every flattering face, but was in fact bored with this sort of entertainment. 

But what could be done?

He couldn’t let his dad come to a club in a wheelchair.

However, he didn’t expect that Lin Yuan would also be there.

Lin Yuan’s condition was obviously not good to the naked eye. People who were unlucky in love couldn’t hide their low mood no matter how they faked it. What’s more, he had not only been unlucky in love recently, but he had also been beaten by Mu Nanqiao in the business field. Several bids had fallen into Mu Nanqiao’s hands, one of which was Longwan No.1.

Unexpectedly, Lin Yuan actually walked toward Mu Nanqiao with a glass of wine in his hand.

He came to a stop in front of Mu Nanqiao, and the arrogance in his tone was all-encompassing. “Nanqiao, the Mu family has been targeting our family everywhere these days. Is it really worth making such an ugly fuss over a man?”

Their location was not a private room, but a semi-open booth. When others saw these two come together, they thought they were reminiscing about old times. Mu Nanqiao even heard someone say with a smile that he had the best relationship with Mu Nanqiao when he was in school.

However, only those involved knew the truth. Mu Nanqiao couldn’t be bothered to say a word to Lin Yuan. He crossed his long legs, and his toes swayed impatiently. Just when he wanted Lin Yuan to go away, his wandering eyes inadvertently caught sight of someone.

It was very odd. In the dazzling lights and bustling crowd, he caught a glimpse of a little friend shrinking his head. He was also wearing a baseball cap to conceal his face. When he looked over, that person immediately lowered his head and pretended to drink.

Aw, cute.

Mu Nanqiao felt his teeth itch. He brushed his tongue over his canine teeth and suddenly had a change of mind.

He raised his hand to take Lin Yuan’s glass of wine, then glanced with satisfaction at the round eyes under the baseball cap.

En, the way he bit the hook so easily was also cute.

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Chapter Eighteen << Table of Contents >> Chapter Twenty