Alcohol left his brain in a haze. His head felt like it had been stabbed with numerous needles, throbbing in pain. His eyes, irritated and painful from excessive tears, stung whenever his face moved, pulling on the traces of tears left behind.
Lin Qiong couldn't distinguish who was in front of him. He couldn't even hold onto the card in his hand. It felt precarious, as if hanging on the edge of a knife, ready to be pierced with any movement.
Tears blurred his vision, and the alcohol made his throat dry.
Fu Xingyun, seeming to tower over as the dominant figure, looked down at the pitiful figure before him. The person was crying miserably, with tears and snot smeared all over the face. The once lively appearance was gone, replaced by a pair of eyes filled with pleading and despair.
Fu Xingyun observed the salary card in Lin Qiong's hand. With every tremor caused by the fear, Fu Xingyun clenched his fists, his voice hoarse, seemingly carrying anger. "Why are you giving me money?"
Lin Qiong's hands shook, and due to the earlier struggle, his slightly reddened knees moved forward.
"I'll give you everything, as long as... as long as you let me go. All the money here is yours. If you think it's not enough... if you think it's not enough, I'll give you more later. I'll definitely give you more. I... I..."
"Aren't you fond of money?" Fu Xingyun watched this scene, deeply pained.
Thinking that the other person wouldn't come forward, Lin Qiong grabbed his sleeve like a beggar, trembling as if in extreme cold. "Please, I... I only have this. I have nothing else. I really have nothing left."
Fu Xingyun's chest heaved, aching in his heart. Lin Qiong had been so ruthless to him before, and now he was pretending to be pitiful. Who was this performance for?
Now he knew to beg him.
The anger in his chest had nowhere to hide. Looking at the person who had already collapsed, he asked coldly once again, "Aren't you the one who loves money the most?!"
Willing to do anything for money, even willing to get married, as if money was his life, his soul, more important and reliable than anything else.
Lin Qiong grabbed the person's hand, desperately stuffing the card into their palm.
Fu Xingyun, unable to bear it any longer, raised his hand and opened it dropping the card. Lin Qiong's hand was now empty, and he cried uncontrollably, like a child who had lost their beloved toy.
Fu Xingyun's throat tightened, hating his actions a moment ago.
Lin Qiong wailed, and his eyes gradually swelled with redness. "I like... I like money, but I like him more. I beg you, please let me go..."
At the moment the card fell, it was as if he was hanging on the edge of a cliff, forcibly suspended in the air. As long as the other person let go, he would quickly plummet, breaking into pieces.
Fu Xingyun raised his hand, pinching Lin Qiong's chin, questioning, "Like who?"
Terrified, Lin Qiong couldn't articulate his words.
Fu Xingyun frowned, "I can give you a chance. Call your lover. If he comes within ten minutes, I'll let you go."
Upon hearing this, Lin Qiong almost crawled to find his phone. His drunken limbs were uncoordinated, and it took him a while to retrieve the phone from the pile of clothes.
With his back turned to Fu Xingyun, his fair waist arched pitifully. He bowed his head to unlock the phone, but struggled for a long time without success. Lin Qiong couldn't even see the letters on the phone clearly now, with overlapping shadows making it impossible for his fingers to find the right spots.
It took almost seven or eight minutes to finally unlock the phone.
Subconsciously relying on muscle memory, Lin Qiong instinctively tapped the contacts icon at the bottom right corner. The phone trembled along with Lin Qiong's hands, and this time, he found that the person had always been listed as the first contact.
Trembling, Lin Qiong pressed the call button, and Fu Xingyun saw the person fumbling with the phone, then raising it to their ear.
The call began.
The phone in his pocket suddenly rang, and Fu Xingyun was momentarily surprised. He took the phone out of his pocket.
— Lin Qiong —
The ringing continued, but Lin Qiong couldn't hear it anymore. He instinctively called out.
"Hello... hello..."
Fu Xingyun took a deep breath and eventually pressed the answer button, asking, "Hello, what's the matter?"
The voice of the other person came through the phone, like a deity. Although they were in the same space, Lin Qiong, due to intoxication, couldn't recognize him. Subconsciously, he knew that if the person on the other end was not Fu Xingyun, he would be terrified. Now that he knew it was Fu Xingyun on the other end of the call, Lin Qiong almost instinctively burst into loud sobs as he held the phone.
Innocence, endurance, despair, collapse... all replaced by cries.
Listening to the helpless crying on the other end, Fu Xingyun felt like a piece of his heart had been taken away.
"F-Fu Xingyun, Fu Xingyun... someone is bullying me." Lin Qiong's voice was choked with sobs, like a child who had been bullied and returned home to complain.
Fu Xingyun gritted his teeth and said, "Didn't you say you don't like me? Why are you telling me this?"
"I like you." Lin Qiong held onto the phone as if it were a rare treasure, refusing to let go. "I like... I like you."
"Are you lying to me?"
"I'm not lying, I'm not..." Lin Qiong almost subconsciously shook his head. "I'm sorry, I was wrong before. I made a mistake. I'm afraid. I'm afraid that one day you'll get impatient with me, afraid of the environment around you. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Fu Xingyun, really sorry, I... I..."
Lin Qiong choked, almost passing out. "Can you..."
Fu Xingyun looked at the slender back of the person. "What?"
"Can you continue to love me? I will also... I will love you well."
Fu Xingyun, as if his ear had been burned, quickly moved the phone away.
"Xingyun, can you come and find me? Can you..."
He couldn't hear what the other person said next. His mind was filled with Lin Qiong's plea to continue loving him.
The lies and deception from the other person were undeniable. Would he forgive the other person just because of a bit of love offered as charity?
No, that wasn't him.
Fu Xingyun was never that kind of person.
Lin Qiong somehow accidentally pressed the disconnect button, ending the call. He thought it was the other person who hung up and cried out, "Why did you hang up, why did you hang up..."
After hearing the confession from the other person, Fu Xingyun couldn't bear to look at the pitiful and helpless figure any longer. He couldn't harden his heart and felt like his heart was breaking just by looking at him.
Fu Xingyun turned around, took a step, and closed the door to the room.
Just as the door closed with a click, Fu Xingyun heard another sound.
"Xingyun! Xingyun, is it you who came?!"
The man suddenly stopped in his tracks, clenching his fists tightly.
Damn it, Fu Xingyun, you're really despicable!
The man took off his smoke-scented suit jacket, deliberately knocked down a heavy ornament next to him when opening the door, creating a loud thud. This made the person inside think that the intruder was taken care of, and then he entered.
He almost closed his eyes in resignation.
Fu Xingyun! Someday you'll pay for this!
The door swung open, and Lin Qiong instinctively looked over. However, tears blurred his vision, and he couldn't see the tall man clearly. "Is it... Is it Xingyun?"
He looked like an abandoned house cat.
Fu Xingyun stepped forward and said stiffly, "Yes."
Lin Qiong, who was already crying, shed even more tears. "Xingyun, wuwuwu... Fu Xingyun... I..."
The man approached the bedside, and Lin Qiong almost forced himself to sit up. His hands weakly hooked around the man's shoulders, burying his face in the person's embrace, continuously sobbing. "Just now... someone, someone bullied me."
Even though he could barely articulate his words, Lin Qiong was still filing a complaint.
Lin Qiong had lived two lifetimes, and only now did he have someone to whom he could report being bullied.
In his childhood, when classmates teased him for having no family, he got into a fight, but in the end, the teacher contacted the parents. His classmates, sheltered by their parents, ridiculed him with sneers and sarcasm. He wanted to retort, but... he had no family, no one to stand up for him. He lowered his head, and even the old clothes on him were torn open.
Seeing the way he complained, Fu Xingyun's heart softened. He raised his hand, picked up a thin blanket from the side, and wrapped it around Lin Qiong. "I understand."
Lin Qiong looked up at him with his tear-stained face. "He... he also tore my clothes."
Fu Xingyun lifted him up and then sat on the nearby leather armchair, holding Lin Qiong in his arms.
Lin Qiong clung tightly to him, his tear-reddened face nuzzled against Fu Xingyun's neck, looking pitiful.
With both arms around Fu Xingyun's shoulders, Lin Qiong cautiously asked, "Did you punish him?"
Fu Xingyun took a deep breath, feeling a bit restless. He raised his hand and used the thin blanket to cover Lin Qiong again. "Of course."
"Okay." Lin Qiong nodded with a mournful face, like a little creature. Only Fu Xingyun, only Fu Xingyun could love and cherish him.
Lin Qiong raised his hand, wanting to hold Fu Xingyun's hand, but the man was supporting him and didn't reciprocate.
Lin Qiong looked up at him. "Haven't you forgiven me yet?"
"You did things I don't like, how can I forgive you?"
Despite the fiery words, Fu Xingyun freed one hand and held Lin Qiong's.
Looking at him with a pitiful expression, Lin Qiong asked, "I apologize to you, can you forgive me?"
This question touched on dignity, and Lin Qiong had been bouncing around on his pride almost every time. Fu Xingyun turned his head away. "Don't know."
The next moment, he felt a soft, wet sensation on his cheek as Lin Qiong's lips pecked him repeatedly.
"If I do things you like, will you forgive me?"
In Lin Qiong's subconscious, the only things Fu Xingyun liked were eating and being kissed.
The man was momentarily stunned.
Seeing no response, Lin Qiong persistently continued kissing him on the face, then sought his lips.
Gently sucking on the lower lip, Fu Xingyun stiffened, and a faint blush spread across his face.
He tried to turn his head away, but Lin Qiong continued chasing his lips.
"Want! Want!"
Each time Lin Qiong's lips landed near the corner of his mouth, there was a hint of disappointment, and then he moved to kiss elsewhere.
Fu Xingyun was almost mesmerized by the person in front of him. He took a deep breath, attempting to wake Lin Qiong up. "Lin Qiong! Lin Qiong..."
Lin Qiong ignored it and, looking at the man's lips, lowered his head and kissed him. This time, it wasn't a brief touch; he probed further.
As Fu Xingyun leaned back, Lin Qiong followed, and when Fu Xingyun's entire body was against the armchair, Lin Qiong also sprawled on top of him, leaving no chance to escape.
Feeling the softness pleasingly teasing his tongue, Fu Xingyun felt like he was going crazy.
Damn it! There were still over twenty pages left in the Love Manual before reaching the hundred-and-second rule about getting into bed!