Being carried over the shoulder like a sack of potatoes had Wen Qinxi feeling a wide range of emotions including humiliation. He couldn't understand Qie Ranzhe's thought process right now, he even suspected the guy was bipolar or something similar. Just a minute ago he was livid even pushing away his best friend in anger. Though Qie Ranzhe didn't show it, Wen Qinxi could tell that he was more relaxed than before baring an indescribable mood that the nerd couldn't decrypt.
Qie Ranzhe carried him all the way to his room kicking the door open before gently placing him down with a blank expression. This scenario seemed a bit off to Wen Qinxi, he couldn't help but stray his mind towards a scene were the groom carries his bride over the threshold and the only difference was that this wasn't a princess carry.
His weird thoughts were soon interrupted when Qie Ranzhe embraced him in a trice and long tight hug at that. The embraced could be described as an emotional lingering tight hug with Qie Ranzhe's face buried into Wen Qinxi's shoulder. Wen Qinxi could feel his neck exponentially heating up with a tingly sensation accompanying it. This was a bit much for Wen Qinxi so he prematurely broke contact before scolding him.
Qie Ranzhe was obviously discontented with a strong sense of loss but he didn't have the courage to pull Lin Jingxie back into his embrace. Wen Qinxi was so focused on scolding him that he didn't pay attention to Qie Ranzhe's subtle changes in expression. "Why did you have to take things that far? Even if she said something you don't like, killing her wouldn't be the solution? Ai.....you are so impulsive. You can't let your emotions control you," said Wen Qinxi as the words flowed like a river past his tongue without even thinking.
He paced back and forth as though mulling over something before he abruptly stopped in front of Qie Ranzhe saying, "Do you know the consequences of your actions? The Zhao Family would have dragged us to hell and back if you had killed her. They would take retribution by force and cause trouble for us. Fuck, l might have had to run away with you so they wouldn't kill you," feeling like the rouge Bonnie and Clyde though he hoped their ending would have been better than those two.
All the while, Qie Ranzhe had his head bowed giving off an illusion of remorse but in truth, he was busy thinking about something else only snapping back when he heard the part about running away together. He raised his head in astonishment with rapturous joy that Lin Jingxie was willing to be a fugitive with him. This realization made his heart melt into a sweet fluffy goo that spread all over his chest.
Without thinking he nervously asked, "Aren't you afraid of me?" though he was afraid to hear the answer. All his life he was fully aware of what he was capable of though he didn't know he could get angry to the point of killing someone. When he was an infant he had once gotten angry though he didn't remember what he was angry about, all he knew is that he blacked out and when he woke up the old lady had bite marks all over her body, bite marks caused by him.
Qie Ranzhe was so remorseful and couldn't stop apologizing to her in tears. The old lady wasn't at all angry but patted his head to soothe him and told him to watch his anger so as not to hurt others. From then on he knew he was different and did a good job suppressing his anger that is until he developed feelings for Lin Jingxie. Whenever Lin Jingxie was disrespected he couldn't hold back which unfortunately led him to kill those bandits.
His memory of what happened that day was a bit fuzzy and could only piece two or three things together but everything else was blurry. He felt bad about killing those bandits but wasn't penitent because they dared lay a hand on his man. The moment they put their filthy hands on Lin Jingxie they were already walking corpses. His only regret was that he had frightened Lin Jingxie so much so that the guy didn't even show his face for three days straight which was the longest they had been apart ever since they started getting along with each other.
Those three days felt like hell pushing Qie Ranzhe towards the thin barrier between sane and insane. If Lin Jingxie hadn't shown up today Qie Ranzhe was planning to kidnap him and air everything out into the open knowing that the captive wouldn't have any means of escape no matter what he said.
"No.....maybe," replied Wen Qinxi when he realised Qie Ranzhe was staring at him in such way that made him feel like he could clearly see through him, "Okay fine, l am scared who wouldn't be?" Wen Qinxi chose to speak the truth which Qie Ranzhe had already anticipated. The boy looked sickly pale with a downcast expression as though his entire world came crashing down into rubble.
The doleful look on Qie Ranzhe's face was just too unbearable so Wen Qinxi added on saying, "But l know you would never hurt me. I might have been scared of seeing you that angry but l am also confident that you would never hurt me. I will help you manage your anger so you don't have to worry about it, okay?"
This statement seemed to bring back some colour on Qie Ranzhe's face as he rushed in to embrace him again. "Lin Jingxie l like you. Please don't abandon me," blurted out an emotional Qie Ranzhe in a husky voice. He never meant to confess this early but found himself unable to control his emotions evincing his feelings without thinking. He instantly regretted it just as the words left his mouth but they were already out into the universe and couldn't be taken back.
Wen Qinxi's heart skipped a beat when Qie Ranzhe said that but instantly calmed down when he deciphered what he meant. Based on his knowledge of Qie Ranzhe from the past he deduced the like as the one among friends. Firstly, Qie Ranzhe was as straight as an ironing board though he had both fan girls and fan boys. Secondly, he remembered Qie Ranzhe yelled the same thing in class to his close friend a couple of times. It was always 'Laozi likes you very much or 'this ancestor loves you to bits' even for things as simple as buying breakfast though personally at that time he felt it awkward when the boys were saying that to each other.
Hinging on this he knew the kind of like Qie Ranzhe was referring to and so replied, "l like you too and l would never abandon you. You are stuck with me like white on rice and can't get rid of me no matter what," with a genuine reassuring smile on his visage.
"Really?" asked an ecstatic Qie Ranzhe with his brain hovering above seventh Heaven that is before he came crashing down like a spacecraft that suddenly lost fuel while leaving the earth stratosphere. He came crashing down hard with his heart bursting in flames when he realised they were referring to different kinds of like.
"Do you have to ask me that? You are my friend how can I abandon you?" said Wen Qinxi creating distance between them. With the warmth disappearing from his arms, Qie Ranzhe was disheartened but didn't attempt to clarify as it was clear Lin Jingxie would surely reject him. He seemed stuck in the friend zone and didn't know how to change the way Lin Jingxie viewed him without going full psycho on him.