Chapter 3#

They had already lived together for more than a year and had lain on the same bed countless times, so Zhao Rong wouldn’t be hypocritical.

Qiao Nanqi had needs, and so did he.

Even if they seemed to be in harmony but were actually at variance, they were still most familiar with each other’s bodies.

Zhao Rong raised his hand, his fingertips gently touching the light mole at the end of Qiao Nanqi’s left eye.

The warm touch came, and Qiao Nanqi seemed to pause for a moment. The next moment, this person’s hand had already wrapped around his waist, pulling him into his arms from front and back.

He didn’t refuse and leaned in following Qiao Nanqi’s strength.

The sky darkened little by little. The glow of the sunset and the night collided midway, one coming from the east and the other going to the west.

The floor-to-ceiling windows on the top floor overlooked the twilight, letting in a bit of dim and drowsy light amidst the darkness.

Zhao Rong narrowed his eyes halfway, still panting heavily, his cheeks slightly red, his mind blank.

He thought to himself—Mr. Qiao is quite a dog, but in this aspect, he could still approve of him a bit.

There was a soft sofa beside the desk, but they didn’t use it at all, leaning against the desk the whole time. Zhao Rong’s top was padded behind his back, offsetting some of the coldness.

In the interval after it ended, neither of them moved or spoke.

He looked down at Qiao Nanqi’s hand.

Qiao Nanqi’s hand was still pressing on his shoulder, his ring finger empty.

He turned his head, wanting to divert his attention, and saw a decorative Rubik’s Cube that had been pushed aside.

He was generally interested in such small toys, so he reached out and picked it up when he saw it.

After twisting it for a long time, there was no result.

Before his eyes, the man beside him let go of his shoulder, reached out, and held the Rubik’s Cube in a palm much larger than his.

This person’s hands had well-defined joints, and each finger was like a bendable fan rib, slender and powerful. When these hands held a pen to sign, they could casually write beautiful yet sharp strokes, but if placed on piano keys, they were elegant and calm.

Zhao Rong liked these hands very much, especially when the fingers moved.

…Another story when they were on him.

His attention was completely attracted by Qiao Nanqi’s hands with nimble fingers. Before his eyes even turned a few times, he suddenly found that the Rubik’s Cube in front of him had been solved.

This person was the male lead written over the length of a whole book, possessing many things that ordinary people couldn’t catch up with.

Even such small gadgets came easily to him.

Qiao Nanqi probably never played with this before.

When Zhao Rong played with this Rubik’s Cube, the rotation was a bit sticky, and the surface was also very new, not looking like it was frequently touched.

He didn’t know why Qiao Nanqi, who never played in the workplace, would put such a thing in the office.

He blinked, his eyelashes trembling slightly, his clear voice a bit hoarse due to overuse just now: “…Why did you put this kind of—”

There was a knock on the door outside.

Qiao Nanqi’s assistant, Xiao Wu, called out tentatively from outside: “Mr. Qiao?”

Qiao Nanqi didn’t like his own name.

People in the company called Qiao Nanqi President Qiao, but Qiao Nanqi didn’t only have this one company and industry. His personal assistants and secretaries all called him Sir.

Zhao Rong also knew this. He never called Qiao Nanqi by his full name lightly. When others were present, he would follow along and call him “President Qiao” or “Mr. Qiao”. If in private, he basically didn’t call Qiao Nanqi’s name, only occasionally deliberately calling him “Young Master Qiao” in an affected manner. Now he even called that less.

Zhao Rong glanced at the door, “Mr. Qiao, busy man.”

His hands were still hanging on Qiao Nanqi’s shoulders, his palms transmitting the man’s temperature.

Qiao Nanqi had already withdrawn all expressions on his face, his eyes solemn. This person pushed him away directly and said: “Don’t delay, there’s business.”

Qiao Nanqi got up directly, stirring up a weak breeze.

Caught off guard by his push, Zhao Rong’s back hit the edge of the desk. He cried out in pain, his eyebrows knitting together.

Mr. Qiao didn’t even look back. After saying “go back yourself” to Zhao Rong, he quickly took a shower in the small bathroom in the office, took out a spare shirt from the closet to change into, and walked out of the office.

Zhao Rong was still half-sitting on the desk, the sound of conversation coming through the door and wall.

“Sir, Miss Zhong asked if she could be your female companion tonight?”

“Who?”

“It’s a female star who signed an endorsement for the subsidiary a while ago.”

Although the head office under Qiao Nanqi focused on the most cutting-edge technology patent direction, the subsidiaries were all in the product direction connecting to the market.

“Tell her to wear light-colored clothes. I’ll go by myself. You stay here, let Zhao Rong go home.”

Then came the sound of Qiao Nanqi’s footsteps drifting away.

Zhao Rong was exhausted all over and didn’t move for a while.

He had been propped against the desk for a long time. Previously with Qiao Nanqi there, he didn’t feel cold. Now that the person was gone, he rested for a while, and soon sneezed from the cold.

Thinking of putting on some clothes, he propped himself up on the desk to stand, and looked down.

That light blue hoodie had been pressed behind him all along, and now it was wrinkled beyond recognition.

Zhao Rong: “…”

Qiao Nanqi’s assistant was still standing at the door.

It was unlikely he stayed to take care of him; instead, it seemed like he was worried Zhao Rong might do something in this office or rifle through some documents.

Zhao Rong had been hospitalized for several years in his previous life, diagnosed with a hereditary terminal illness at a young age and passed away. Before transmigrating, he had tasted all kinds of bitterness and was not someone who blamed god and man.

He stared at his wrinkled top for a good while and actually found it a bit funny.

The cannon fodder script upgraded to an underground lover script. If he put in a bit more thought, could he get a vicious male third lead script?

—Qiao Nanqi is really a dog thing.

He thought sincerely.

The assistant knocked on the door again from outside, asking if he needed help.

Zhao Rong refused.

He went into the bathroom and quickly cleaned himself up. The original top couldn’t be worn anymore, so Zhao Rong walked to Qiao Nanqi’s spare closet.

He was very familiar with the clothes in the closet. Picking any piece at random, he could quote the price down to the single digit.

These were all bought by him.

Because of that incident in the past… Qiao Nanqi was very guarded and didn’t have a single nanny or housekeeper at home. Even if hourly workers were hired to clean the house, no matter how busy Qiao Nanqi was, he would watch directly from the side.

Such private matters of life were previously handed over directly to clothing stores by Qiao Nanqi. But clothing stores occasionally had a few who wanted to climb connections, and sometimes inexplicable business cards would appear in clothes pockets. Harmless, but every time Qiao Nanqi took them out, his mood would always be affected a bit.

So after the two got together, the hourly workers were carefully selected by Zhao Rong. When they came to the house, he also watched seriously, and he bought all the clothes for Qiao Nanqi. He had suffered himself. Whether as an orphan in his previous life or living a life of financial constraints before being recognized by the Chen family after transmigrating, he didn’t have Qiao Nanqi’s upbringing environment. He didn’t have the chance to learn the etiquette and knowledge used for social interaction in high society, nor did he have the money to cultivate hobbies like piano and violin that came easily to Qiao Nanqi. Only this kind of thing was something he could be thorough in.

After they lived together, whether at home or in the company, Zhao Rong arranged everything very properly, and all utensils and supplies were tidied up according to Qiao Nanqi’s habits.

Since then, he never saw Qiao Nanqi frown because of these subtle trivial matters again.

At this moment, Zhao Rong stood in front of the closet and found that most white shirts showed signs of frequent use, while some dark shirts hadn’t even had their tags removed.

He thought for a moment, took a brand new black shirt to drape over himself, and walked out of the office.

The assistant locked the office door and asked if he needed a ride.

Zhao Rong mocked himself: “A qualified lover will go home by himself.”

The assistant didn’t hear clearly and asked him again, but he had already turned around and left carrying that wrinkled piece of clothing.

Qiao Nanqi’s office occupied the entire top floor and had a dedicated elevator. But Qiao Nanqi hadn’t registered Zhao Rong’s fingerprint, and he had refused the assistant’s ride, so he could only go down via the employee elevator.

It was already past off-work hours, and the whole building was empty, with only a few offices still lit. Zhao Rong had a poor sense of direction. He had forgotten by now and it wasn’t convenient to ask anyone—except for a few shareholders, he didn’t know anyone else, and he couldn’t explain why he appeared here.

Zhao Rong wandered up and down the top few floors for a while before finding the employee elevator down.

As the elevator slowly descended, Zhao Rong suddenly felt a vague stomach pain.

He seemed to have forgotten to eat.

He already had a bad stomach. When it hurt, cold sweat broke out on his forehead within seconds.

Not wanting to lose his composure, he held the handrail in the elevator, clutched his stomach, and gritted his teeth to endure.

With a “ding”, the elevator stopped at the floor where he usually worked.

The elevator doors slowly opened, and Song Xinxin and another female colleague Zhao Rong knew walked in one after another. Seeing Zhao Rong, both of them were stunned for a moment, forgetting to even say hello.

Zhao Rong was leaning slightly against the elevator wall at this moment, his face pale. Although he was 1.8 meters tall, the black shirt he wore on his upper body still appeared loose and ill-fitting. Most importantly, Song Xinxin clearly remembered that Zhao Rong wore a light blue hoodie to work today, which was now being carried in his hand. Although that hoodie was folded a few times, it was obvious that it was terribly wrinkled.

And the last time she saw Zhao Rong, he went to Qiao Nanqi’s office wearing that light blue hoodie.

When the elevator descended again, the female colleague beside Song Xinxin nudged her lightly before she said: “Xiao Zhao, you…”

The young man leaning in the corner turned his head slightly to look at her.

Under the pale light of the elevator, Zhao Rong’s face was even paler. He pulled the corner of his mouth and smiled at Song Xinxin, his surprisingly bright eyes reflecting the light.

Song Xinxin’s doubtful words suddenly couldn’t be asked.

The other female colleague was even less familiar with Zhao Rong and didn’t speak for a long time.

He didn’t speak, nor did he ask for help.

Accustomed to enduring alone and not used to relying on unfamiliar people, he forced himself to stand straight, enduring the stomach pain.

Arriving at the floor where he parked, he took the lead to walk out quickly.

Just as he sat in the driver’s seat, Zhao Rong felt the cramping pain in his stomach affecting his internal organs, and his hands and feet were a bit cold.

He couldn’t drive in this state. Zhao Rong dug into his pockets. There was only his phone, car keys, house keys, wallet, and a small alarm he had carried with him all these years.

Only stomach medicine was missing.

He usually carried stomach medicine with him, but he left in a hurry this morning and forgot.

When it rains, it pours.

Zhao Rong took out his phone and dialed the number in his memory that wasn’t saved in his contacts but had long been engraved in his mind.

No one answered.

Zhao Rong called two more times.

After the long busy tone, it was all an emotionless mechanical female voice.

Zhao Rong took a deep breath.

Illness sometimes really wears down a person’s consciousness and reason. He only realized at this moment that he shouldn’t have made this call at all.

The moment he dialed the number, it was destined there would be no response.

—The phone suddenly vibrated.

Zhao Rong answered directly without looking: “Qiao—”

“Third Young Master,” came a noisy rock sound from the other end of the phone, mixed with screams of unknown gender, “Coming to play? Brothers found a new venue!”

“…”

Zhao Rong hung up Liu Shun’s call directly.

He called Fang Zhuoqun. The busy tone rang only four times before Fang Zhuoqun’s voice came from the other end: “What do you want your dad for?”

“Your dad has a stomachache,” he said, so weak that it was almost just a breathy sound, “About to die in the company parking lot.”

Zhao Rong’s stomachache was an old problem.

After Fang Zhuoqun drove him home, following his instructions, he found the stomach medicine in the drawer, boiled water, and bought porridge. After a flurry of activity, Zhao Rong finally recovered a bit.

He lay on the sofa, covered with a blanket, curling up his body, his gaze lingering on the phone screen.

No return calls.

He sighed silently.

Fang Zhuoqun was chatting with him: “By the way, your partner is really amazing. I saw the news at work today saying their company has made some technical progress again.”

Zhao Rong couldn’t deny this: “Mm.”

“Haven’t been to your house for a long time. Looking at this, it’s too tidy, like no one has lived here. Compared to my dog kennel, it’s heaven and earth.” Fang Zhuoqun poured him another cup of hot water, placed it on the coffee table in front of the sofa, and asked him, “Why don’t you go lie on the bed? How uncomfortable to curl up on the sofa.”

“Not clean.” Qiao Nanqi’s requirement for a clean environment was too high. If he got into bed without showering and changing into pajamas, the first thing Qiao Nanqi would do upon returning home was wash the sheets. It would be him who suffered then. He might as well lie on the sofa now; anyway, the sofa at home was spacious.

“Yo, when did your mysophobia become so heavy? So many troubles.”

“Annoying or not? Isn’t your girlfriend calling you? Go quickly, troubled you today, filial son.”

“Step aside. Then I’m leaving. Where’s Qiao Nanqi? Why hasn’t he come back yet?”

Zhao Rong’s expression paused.

“Busy with work.”

“Work isn’t as important as your body.”

Zhao Rong pulled the corner of his mouth.

Let alone his body, there were several bottles of stomach medicine on the bedside table in their bedroom; Qiao Nanqi probably hadn’t even opened the drawer.

Even if he opened it, he would probably only think he was sickly and troublesome.

“Look at you, when we first met, your health was quite good. Instead, after getting rich later, don’t know when you started having stomachaches suddenly. How did it become like this?”

How did it become like this?

Since he transmigrated until now, for more than ten years, which of the things that could prompt such a question wasn’t related to Qiao Nanqi?