Chapter 16#

Chapter 16#

The atmosphere had reached this point.

Tan Xiao, not being very bright when it came to romance but being very good at reading people’s expressions, thought, This is bad. Things are very not good.

There was definitely something strange about this atmosphere; otherwise, why would he think of that “King of Giving Advice’s” illogical theory—that two straight men can fall in love?

Is this right? It’s completely wrong.

Zhang Xingchuan had never expected that Tan Xiao would have no dating experience.

In his eyes, Tan Xiao’s handsomeness and cuteness had already reached the peak; he was the darling of the Creator, perfect to the extreme, to the extent that the whole world should kiss him. Had no one actually beat him to the punch and dated him before this?

No, is he that hard to chase, zaizai?

Tan Xiao broke the silence. He had to; if this continued, something would happen.

As for what would happen, he hadn’t thought that specifically yet, but in short, he had to urgently control the situation first.

“Why aren’t you talking anymore?” Tan Xiao said. “Is a ‘solitary king’ PhD that rare?”

The solitary king CEO tried his best to restrain his expression. At such a time, he shouldn’t be too obviously happy.

“Not rare, it’s very normal,” Zhang Xingchuan said. “You prioritize your studies, which is very good.”

Tan Xiao persuaded himself internally again: Quickly dispel those wicked thoughts.

Look, how serious a straight man Zhang Xingchuan is. He’s even seizing the opportunity to encourage study, not like me, who’s so out of line.

Zhang Xingchuan also walked onto the balcony. At this moment, neither of them could quite look at each other. They turned around in unison, standing side by side. With no place to put their eyes, they both looked down. Below was the campus they were both very familiar with. It was slightly quiet at night, with lights as bright as stars.

“I didn’t date when I was studying either,” Zhang Xingchuan said. “I’m not very familiar with that place, Lover’s Slope.”

Ah? This is different from what Tan Xiao thought.

He said, “You mean, you didn’t date when you were an undergraduate?”

“No,” Zhang Xingchuan said. “No time. Endless homework, endless projects.”

In other words, the “white moonlight” sister was not an alumna of Tsinghua.

Then it was a story that happened in America.

Tan Xiao said, “Then when you were in graduate school in the US, you must have dated, right?”

Zhang Xingchuan said, “No, I was even busier there.”

The workload in the Computer Science Department was heavy, and he was a person with high self-expectations. His life planning was much clearer than most of his peers. As soon as he was admitted to the Computer Science Department at Tsinghua, he decided to go abroad for graduate studies, and while in the US for graduate school, he had already planned to return to China to start a business.

Tan Xiao said, “Then… then…”

He couldn’t say “then.” He really wanted to ask about Zhang Xingchuan’s dating experience, but felt it was inappropriate to ask such things. He and Zhang Xingchuan were just ordinary friends; would asking this be overstepping?

If they were truly ordinary friends and could reach the level of “deep-as-the-sea” affection they shared, asking about such things wouldn’t be overstepping at all—it would still be reasonable even if the question were much more private.

However, Tan Xiao was currently in the preparatory stage of being a “thief,” still looking around and struggling: to steal or not to steal? The naive, novice “heart-stealer” had already started feeling guilty, so he didn’t dare ask these.

Zhang Xingchuan then remembered something he had forgotten for a long time and said, “Later when I was working in Silicon Valley, I did have a bit of private time.”

Hearing this, Tan Xiao had a premonition. Something must have happened during that “private time.” Did the white moonlight sister appear then?

Zhang Xingchuan said, “At that time, I had dated a Chinese girl who also worked in Silicon Valley a few times.”

Tan Xiao felt this was very likely “the one.” He held his breath, waiting for Zhang Xingchuan to continue.

Zhang Xingchuan suddenly stopped speaking, glancing at Tan Xiao out of the corner of his eye. He saw that Tan Xiao was jealous for him again, and the feeling was truly refreshing.

Tan Xiao hesitated to speak, really wanting to ask but holding it in to the point of internal injury.

Zhang Xingchuan intentionally paused for a long while before saying, “Why don’t you ask me about the specifics?”

Tan Xiao suppressed his curiosity and said, “Because I can see you don’t really want to say.”

Zhang Xingchuan turned slightly, looking at him with a smile, and said, “You get jealous over something irrelevant like Secretary Feng, but when it’s something you should be jealous of, you don’t?”

Why bring that up again? Didn’t we agree to act as if it never happened? Tan Xiao was a bit embarrassed, but by this time he had partially “awakened” and realized that being jealous over who Zhang Xingchuan is good to is indeed very much like a small thought only lovers have.

“It’s not the same,” Tan Xiao said. “It’s not the same thing.”

“How is it not the same?” Zhang Xingchuan said.

“When you were dating in America,” Tan Xiao found a plausible reason, also to convince himself, “I didn’t know you.”

Zhang Xingchuan corrected him: “It wasn’t dating, just the ‘date’ stage.”

Tan Xiao didn’t care anymore, no more “pulling this way and that.” Speak clearly. He was going to ask: “So how many times did you date, and to what extent did it develop?”

Zhang Xingchuan felt very refreshed being asked like this. He confessed everything at once: “Two or three times. Meals, coffee, nothing else. No sparks on either side, no feelings.”

“Not even holding hands?” Tan Xiao asked.

“If a handshake goodbye counts, then yes.” Zhang Xingchuan said.

Just meals and coffee wouldn’t be enough to make Zhang Xingchuan remember her.

Then there should be another sister who came after the handshake goodbye with this one.

Tan Xiao was a bit annoyed. Just how many sisters are there?

Just a moment ago he really wanted to ask more clearly, but now he wished Zhang Xingchuan wouldn’t speak. To not have sparks with this sister yet still have meals and coffee—is “white person food” and American coffee something humans should eat and drink? Just how much did he want to meet her? And listen to this: a handshake goodbye. Then with the “true white moonlight,” who knows how they might have been entangled.

But Zhang Xingchuan had completely finished recounting his quite meager emotional experience.

Later he returned to China to start a business and had even less time, and he hadn’t encountered a person who sparked the “must-date” feeling.

Until probably now.

These past few days he had still been hesitating about how to respond to Tan Xiao’s sudden confession.

Before Tan Xiao’s confession, every time he met Tan Xiao he was unusually happy. After the confession, looking back at the details of their interactions, he had probably already “sparked” thousands of times. It was only because Tan Xiao was a boy that he hadn’t thought carefully about what he was being happy about.

That is the body’s magical chemical reaction. When the person you like is near, it appears again and again. It’s the body and brain together reminding him that love has come.

But, however.

For someone who had followed a plan every step of the way, suddenly deviating from the track to become a gay man was an absolutely subversive variable for Zhang Xingchuan’s life planning. He couldn’t make such a decision so easily.

Moreover, liking doesn’t mean having to possess. Human desire is endless and is something that needs constant restraint.

The result was seeing the Xiaohongshu post shared in the alumni group in the evening.

In less than half an hour, his thoughts had changed to: whoever wants to restrain, go ahead and restrain. He couldn’t restrain a bit.

If he didn’t get Tan Xiao, Tan Xiao would be gotten by someone else. Gay men in a relationship kiss and make love. Asking his own heart, he clearly couldn’t accept Tan Xiao having the aforementioned intimate behaviors with any unknown man.

The reality was that if he didn’t want him, he’d be given to someone else for free. On what grounds? He should have been his to begin with.

The CEO wants, and the CEO should get. As for the life planning, it’s not that hard to make a new one.

Zhang Xingchuan and Tan Xiao were also very similar in this regard. Both had a super strong sense of “deservingness.” If they didn’t want something that much, then fine. But once they truly wanted it, they had to get the most satisfactory one.

Tan Xiao now felt uncomfortable, very uncomfortable.

He had truly been successfully “awakened” by King Chen Shu and had unconsciously started to position Zhang Xingchuan as his romantic partner. Thinking of Zhang Xingchuan, a few years younger than now, holding hands and hugging a beautiful sister, with the fire of love burning—he felt itchy all over.

Do men have to do those things in a relationship?

Zhang Xingchuan was thinking about how to start pursuing Tan Xiao when he noticed Tan Xiao’s strange expression.

“Did you just glare at me?” Zhang Xingchuan said.

“No,” Tan Xiao said.

He now looked at Zhang Xingchuan like a “dirty bun” (chocolate pastry). Still very fragrant, sweet, and delicious, just a bit… not quite clean.

Zhang Xingchuan said amusedly, “Did I offend you? You’ve been provoking me with your eyes.”

“No,” Tan Xiao said. “I’m just jealous that you’ve dated beautiful sisters.”

Zhang Xingchuan thought he was talking about the lady he had briefly dated and said, “You’re allowed to ‘cosplay’ as a couple with a male classmate on Lover’s Slope? Don’t be too double-standard.”

Tan Xiao said, “I told you, we were just playing around.”

“I just saw the post today,” Zhang Xingchuan said. “I really thought you still had a partner at school.”

His emphasis in this sentence was on “still having a partner.” Having clearly expressed jealousy for him, how could Tan Xiao still have an unresolved romantic connection on campus? That definitely wouldn’t do. They couldn’t have a multi-person relationship; they could only have a “pure love” where two people are exclusively devoted to each other.

Tan Xiao didn’t catch the implication and said, “I told you, he has a girlfriend.”

Zhang Xingchuan said, “Well, I’m jealous too.”

Tan Xiao said, “I told you… Eh?”

He turned his head to look at Zhang Xingchuan, his large eyes wide and his face full of shock.

Zhang Xingchuan also looked at him and restated: “Don’t be too intimate with other guys. I’ll be jealous. Girls too.”

“…”

Tan Xiao was stunned for a long while. What, truly a domineering CEO? Where is my large capybara?

After coming back to his senses, his first reaction was to immediately escape from the balcony.

He hadn’t thought it through very clearly yet; his zero dating experience limited his upper bound for understanding such matters.

But he still had basic judgment. The “jealousy” Zhang Xingchuan just mentioned and the “jealousy” he himself mentioned last week were definitely not the same word.

“Where are you going?” Zhang Xingchuan asked from the balcony.

Tan Xiao scrambled for an excuse: “I need some water.”

Zhang Xingchuan also followed him in. Tan Xiao was at the desk, pretending to be busy pouring water, and even being polite to Zhang Xingchuan: “Do you want some water? Spring is too dry.”

“No, thank you,” Zhang Xingchuan said.

Tan Xiao poured the water and took two sips from the mug. When he looked up, he saw his reflection in the window glass; his face was terrifyingly red.

Zhang Xingchuan also noticed this. He had managed to see Tan Xiao shy twice in one day; the last time was on Xiaohongshu. He hadn’t noticed he was so prone to blushing before.

Zhang Xingchuan had a guess and said, “In that photo that was taken, what were you and that classmate chatting about? You looked very happy chatting.”

How should I say? Chatting about how I, a straight man, and you, a straight man, have been ‘dating’ lately.

Tan Xiao naturally couldn’t tell the truth; his head was buzzing. Normally, he could always think of a suitable excuse to end this question temporarily. Now, his mind was filled with Zhang Xingchuan’s two sentences of jealous declaration.

There’s a reason why domineering CEOs have a market; this really felt a bit different.

“Nothing,” Tan Xiao’s heart was beating fast. He felt he was temporarily mesmerized by the domineering CEO version of Zhang Xingchuan. He couldn’t give a high-EQ answer and said stupidly, “I forgot.”

So it was about me. Zhang Xingchuan was somewhat happy. Both times he blushed were because of me, both times.

He was also a bit thirsty. After thinking for a bit, he took the mug Tan Xiao was still holding and took a sip of water from it too.

Tan Xiao’s head was about to smoke. He said, “Why did you use my mug?”

“I used this side,” Zhang Xingchuan said.

He even turned the part he had drunk from toward Tan Xiao to show him.

Tan Xiao was now completely disoriented and had long forgotten which side he had used. At this moment, not only was his face burning, but his lips also began to burn, and he pursed them hard.

Lips are different from cheeks. When shy, the face turns red, but there’s no obvious change in the mouth. His pursing of his lips was a “no silver buried here” move, clearly telling Zhang Xingchuan that he was teased by this boring little trick.

Zhang Xingchuan thought to himself, Isn’t he quite easy to chase? What kind of idiots were those who had designs on ‘zaizai’ before?