Chapter 38#

You Should Learn to Live Alone#

Mo Xuzhi put down the wine glass and coughed twice more.

The friend immediately pulled back his leg, clearing a path for Mo Xuzhi.

Mo Xuzhi patted Xue Feng’s face, but the other man showed no reaction.

He was fast asleep.

Mo Xuzhi sighed, draped Xue Feng’s arm over his shoulder, and stood up from the sofa, his white coat becoming somewhat wrinkled under the weight.

Someone nearby wanted to help, but he declined in a calm voice.

Xue Feng’s friend handed the car keys to Mo Xuzhi, saying with some hesitation, “These are Xue Feng’s car keys. Can you drive? Or should I help you…”

“No need,” Mo Xuzhi supported Xue Feng with one hand and reached out the other to take the keys. “Thanks, goodbye.”

These people probably just wanted to play around; the alcohol content of the wine given to him wasn’t high, possibly even lower than fruit wine. He felt nothing after drinking it, and it tasted similar to fruit juice, so driving wouldn’t be a problem.

the friend added, “Do you have the keys to Xue Feng’s house? He has a flat within the inner ring; it’s quite close.”

“I do.”

Mo Xuzhi waved his hand, then covered his mouth and coughed twice more before supporting the man away.

The doorman had been waiting at the entrance; seeing him approach, he immediately came forward to help support Xue Feng.

Until the figures were out of sight, someone regained their rationality and asked with concern, “Is it really okay to hand Xue Feng over to him?”

Mo Xuzhi was notoriously money-loving, and Xue Feng happened to be wealthy. If he wanted to do something during this time, it would be too late for them to stop him.

Thinking this, he stood up wanting to follow, but was stopped by the person next to him.

That person looked at him with a very surprised expression and said, “Don’t you know about the history between Mo Xuzhi and Xue Feng?”

“What history?”

“You really don’t know.” Another woman who hadn’t spoken slightly widened her eyes and said, “Although Mo Xuzhi has some issues, he definitely doesn’t have those kinds of intentions toward Xue Feng.”

“How so?”

“When Director Xue got that A5-level key project, someone pulled a knife to stab him while everyone was out playing. None of us reacted then; it was Mo Xuzhi who blocked it. It seemed he was stabbed in the chest; fortunately, it didn’t hit his heart… at least I think it didn’t.”

They were present at the time and saw Mo Xuzhi block it almost instinctively, without the slightest hesitation.

It was the first time they had seen such a scene, and their legs went weak from fear. Except for screaming and staring blankly, they did nothing else. It was the manager there who called the hospital and the ambulance.

Fortunately, the manager reacted in time; otherwise, it would be another matter whether they could see Mo Xuzhi standing before them like this today.

Putting on a show wouldn’t go to that extent, since once your life is gone, everything is gone.

The woman’s tone was very certain: “Mo Xuzhi won’t be bad toward Director Xue.”

“He loves Director Xue, there’s no doubt about it.”

“So that was Mo Xuzhi. I almost didn’t recognize him.”

The fair-weather friend sitting next to Ji Baiwen sighed and added, “It turns out he already has someone he likes. My flower of love withered before it even bloomed.”

Ji Baiwen silently pushed him away, put down the glass of milk, and drained a glass of wine in one gulp.

Mo Xuzhi drove Xue Feng to his flat within the inner ring.

It was close to Bamboo Garden and very convenient. Additionally, he was registered in the resident system here, so he could enter.

Supporting Xue Feng into the community, Mo Xuzhi asked a security guard dozing in the booth about the location of the apartment and finally moved slowly to the corresponding unit.

It had been too long since he last came here, and combined with his dislike for wasting brainpower on remembering meaningless things, he always forgot after visiting once.

Supporting Xue Feng into the elevator, Mo Xuzhi caught his breath for a short while.

The elevator rose slowly.

Ding—

With a soft sound, the elevator doors opened.

This was a single-unit floor, so there was no need to distinguish which one was Xue Feng’s apartment; he just needed to enter his fingerprint.

Not wanting to touch Xue Feng’s hand, Mo Xuzhi pressed his own finger against it.

This apartment was chosen by Xue Feng and him together. Neither had put much heart into the selection. He pointed randomly, Xue Feng agreed casually, and the apartment was bought.

Although Xue Feng paid the full amount, given their relationship status at the time, Xue Feng clearly saw him as another Shen Le and gave it away without any heartache.

So it later evolved into both of them being registered as residents, and fingerprints were arranged as well.

The smart touchscreen lock made a soft sound, and the door opened.

The smell of air freshener greeted him.

Mo Xuzhi felt along the wall and found the switch, finally providing some light.

The room was very tidy, much like it was when Xue Feng and he first moved in. However, the apartment felt a bit stuffy; there was likely a cleaner who came every day and closed the windows afterward.

There was no one else here, and Xue Feng was fast asleep. Mo Xuzhi didn’t need to maintain appearances anymore and threw the man directly onto the sofa to fend for himself, then sat aside to catch his breath.

This journey had indeed been physically draining.

He usually spent his time either in the office or on the film set, which was just a change of workplace and didn’t involve much activity. It was only because Wang Zhifeng occasionally pulled him to run two laps around the Jingda playground that he wasn’t in too much of a sorry state today.

Mo Xuzhi silently planned in his mind to give Wang Zhifeng two more small cookies later and have Wang take him along when he went to the gym.

By then, forget about people—he wouldn’t even be afraid of carrying experimental equipment.

Once his breathing evened out, Mo Xuzhi wiped the sweat from his forehead and prepared to leave.

“Don’t go.”

His hem was grabbed, and a soft, raspy voice came from behind. Mo Xuzhi turned his head and saw Xue Feng with half-closed eyes, looking directly at him, unclear if he was conscious or not.

Mo Xuzhi paused, then pried Xue Feng’s hand away and asked, “Are you awake?”

Xue Feng didn’t respond, but his eyes were indeed open, though unfocused.

Mo Xuzhi sighed.

Now he couldn’t leave.

If Xue Feng were asleep, he could leave directly, but once the person was awake, it would be unreasonable for him to leave.

He ’loved’ Xue Feng and wouldn’t abandon him after he was drunk.

Mo Xuzhi casually gave Xue Feng a throw pillow and said, “Lie here by yourself for a bit. I’m going to boil some water.”

Xue Feng didn’t seem to understand and reached out to grab his clothes again.

Mo Xuzhi slapped his hand away. He didn’t use much force, but he successfully made Xue Feng quiet down.

Mo Xuzhi went to the kitchen, found the electric kettle, and after boiling the water, sat on a chair in the corner of the kitchen for a short nap with his eyes closed.

He was indeed a bit tired today.

His eyes hadn’t rested all day. When he went to Bamboo Garden earlier, he couldn’t even see the interior clearly; his vision was blurred, and it only improved after he put on his glasses.

Tomorrow would be a filming day, and the time spent in the laboratory would be drastically reduced, so he could only go to the laboratory to handle matters after filming stopped at night.

He probably wouldn’t be able to sleep again.

Beep beep—

The electric kettle made two sounds, not only waking Mo Xuzhi on the chair but also making Xue Feng in the living room notice.

He struggled to sit up, making quite a bit of noise. Mo Xuzhi poured the hot water into a pitcher and waited for it to cool down, then returned to the living room and pressed Xue Feng back down, saying, “Lie down properly.” Don’t cause trouble.

Xue Feng was pressed onto the sofa and seemed to listen to Mo Xuzhi’s words, as he stopped moving. With half-closed eyes, he asked, “Where did you go just now?”

Mo Xuzhi took off Xue Feng’s suit jacket, threw it aside, and said, “The kitchen.”

“You didn’t leave?”

“Mhm.”

Xue Feng smiled, a smile of certainty: “I knew you wouldn’t leave.”

Mo Xuzhi would never leave him.

Mo Xuzhi nodded noncommittally: “Perhaps.”

“I didn’t tell you to leave. Why did Uncle Chen say I was the one who asked him to move your things away?”

Xue Feng slowly closed his eyes, but his brow was furrowed, looking very confused. His voice was airy, then became a whisper:

“I clearly did nothing, but why… and the necklace, you said you liked it very much…”

He was talking incoherently and without logic; Mo Xuzhi could confirm he was completely drunk.

This made things easier.

Mo Xuzhi ignored Xue Feng, found an armchair to sit in, calculated how long it would take for the boiling water to cool to a warm temperature, set an alarm, and closed his eyes.

The apartment, which had been so empty it felt cold, once again had two people in it. The warm yellow light from the kitchen shone over, bringing back that plain and real feeling.

Xue Feng, lying on the sofa, opened his eyes. His vision cleared for an instant as he scanned the room, then he closed his eyes again in peace.

Buzz—

The moment the phone vibrated, Mo Xuzhi opened his eyes. He turned off the alarm, glanced at Xue Feng again, and seeing no sign of him waking up, let out a sigh of relief.

He went to the kitchen to pour a glass of warm water, found the honey in the cabinet, scooped a small spoonful into the warm water and stirred. Feeling it was about right, he carried the honey water back to the living room.

Xue Feng had woken up at some point.

He looked a bit dazed, but he should have regained some consciousness.

Saving the step of waking him up, Mo Xuzhi directly handed him the honey water for him to drink himself.

Xue Feng looked a bit reluctant, but seeing that Mo Xuzhi had no intention of helping him, he took the honey water and drank it himself.

Mo Xuzhi stood there watching him for a while, then said, “Since you’re awake, I’m leaving.”

Xue Feng said, “Stay.”

Mo Xuzhi didn’t respond and still prepared to leave.

Perhaps because of the alcohol, Xue Feng’s voice was a bit raspy. He looked up, his features, deeper than most, showing a bit of stubbornness. He said, “We haven’t been like this for a long time.”

“You said it—you wouldn’t leave me. You won’t leave me.”

Since Shen Le returned, Mo Xuzhi would only provoke him with cold words and had even moved out of the old residence.

He could even frequently see news of Mo Xuzhi being ambiguous with others online.

The time truly belonging to the two of them was almost zero.

“People change,” Mo Xuzhi asked, “Why are you so certain?”

Although he would occasionally take care of Xue Feng as the plot dictated, it shouldn’t have given Xue Feng this much confidence.

“You love me, I know it,” Xue Feng pointed to his chest and said, “I knew it from this moment.”

Perhaps because he was drunk, he spoke without thinking, saying whatever was on his mind.

Mo Xuzhi knew what he wanted to express.

Xue Feng believed that blocking a knife for him was enough to prove his true feelings.

So that was the source of the misunderstanding.

Mo Xuzhi smiled, still using that ambiguous phrase: “Perhaps.”

“Drink up and go to sleep early. I’m leaving.”

He gripped the doorknob, then turned his head and said, “Xue Feng, don’t take everything for granted. You should learn to live alone.”