Chapter 117
Editor: Sahloknir
In the clean and bright kitchen, a handsome and distinguished man was stirring some long and thin noodles in a pot with his chopsticks.
It was certainly very touching to see that the Tan family’s chairman was willing to personally make soup for his beloved.
Unfortunately, he just had to choose to do this when Shi Qing wanted to engage in some, ahem, exercises.
The youth sat expressionlessly on a stool by the kitchen door, his dead fish eyes staring at Tan Mingjin’s lower area.
Tan Mingjin’s long legs shifted uneasily. “Shi Qing, are you unhappy right now?”
Shi Qing, with his dead fish eyes: “…No. I’m very happy.”
The man hesitantly glanced at little Shi Qing, who was spitting at him from Shi Qing’s shoulder. Then he glanced at the noodles in the pot.
He hesitantly said, “Why don’t I order some food from a restaurant then?”
Little Shi Qing: “Pei pei pei!”
Tan Mingjin became more and more hesitant.
Shi Qing was helpless in front of his bewildered demeanour.
He leaned back in his chair and brainwashed himself, “I found this man, so I’ll do whatever it takes to see things through.”
The young man looked up and began to expressionlessly unb.u.t.ton his shirt.
At first, Tan Mingjin was like: “?”
Then, he was like: “!”
It was getting late. As the streetlights came on outside, some of their light shone into the kitchen.
A pot of already cold noodles sat lonely and still in the pot.
The System could already be considered a veteran at estimating the amount of time remaining based on human patience.
And it even added in some extra time, just to be safe.
Five hours later, it cautiously emerged.
Mosaics everywhere.
The System: […]
This shouldn’t be, right? It’s been five hours already.
Moreover, it actually faintly heard Shi Qing whimpering and crying.
The System: [!!!]
The Host is actually crying!
Is that Tan Mingjin bullying him?!
It wanted to go out and help, but according to privacy regulations, the System had to avoid the Host when he was performing that kind of [censored] act.
So the System could only carefully crawl back to cover and worry.
At three in the morning, Tan Mingjin’s face was full of guilt as he carefully wiped down Shi Qing. The young man lying on the bed was already asleep, his face still streaked with tears. He occasionally whimpered in his sleep.
The man became more and more guilty. He hastened to replace the soft towel with a new one and carefully wiped Shi Qing’s face.
“No more…”
Perhaps sensing his close proximity even in his dreams, the sleeping youth sobbed and pushed the man.
Tan Mingjin’s heart melted. He hastily lowered his voice and coaxed, “Don’t be afraid. I’m just going to wipe your face.”
The gentle tone of the man’s voice soothed Shi Qing for the most part. He sniffled and pouted very aggrievedly before going back to sleep.
Tan Mingjin tiptoed to the window like he was a thief and gently opened it for some fresh air. Then he gathered their soiled clothing into a bag and threw it out. When everything was tidied up, the man who had ‘worked hard’ for several hours sat on the edge of the bed. There was nothing but sweetness in his gaze towards the fast asleep youth.
He really didn’t expect that Shi Qing actually liked him to such an extent.
The man contentedly burrowed under the blanket, protectively holding the youth’s entire body in his arms before he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Tan Mingjin was in a good mood.
But Shi Qing, who woke up the next morning to be greeted with the man’s careful attentiveness and millet porridge for breakfast, wasn’t so swell.
Tan Mingjin, the guy he failed to seduce several times, actually made him cry.
So this is what they meant by you’ll eat three years worth at once if you starve for three years.
Tan Mingjin pa.s.sed three years long ago. He used all of the strength acc.u.mulated over 30 years on Shi Qing.
Shi Qing was still sore about not being able to seduce him before. He burrowed under the blanket and ignored him.
As expected, this made Tan Mingjin feel even more guilty. He carefully coaxed, “It’s my fault. I won’t do that next time.”
Shi Qing turned up his nose with a huff.
Tan Mingjin coaxed softly again, “You can punish me any way you want, but get up and eat something first, alright?”
“My back is sore, I don’t want to get up.”
The man hastily stretched out his long and slender hands to carefully ma.s.sage the youth’s waist and maybe get back into his good graces.
As he pressed, Shi Qing, who was still angry, became antsy.
He urged in a wicked voice, “Go down more.”
“Hurry up!”
Tan Mingjin obediently continued to shift downward.
Shi Qing: “Go down a little more.”
The man’s large, slender hands followed his command.
Shi Qing: “Are you a snail?! I said go down more!”
Tan Mingjin, who felt the supple skin beneath his hand: “…”
On this morning of punishment…
Tan Mingjin atoned for his crimes through actions, obtaining a soft and contented little guy.
Of the two of them, one wanted this for a long time while the other suppressed his desire for a long time. The fiery pa.s.sion sparked after finally becoming a couple led them to entangle for several days.
They only parted ways when it was time for Shi Qing to go to school.
Of course, they didn’t stay apart for long. They just weren’t together during the day.
The employees at the company were a bit curious about why President Tan didn’t show up for so long, but no one dared to ask.
Everyone decided to let the a.s.sistant ask.
The a.s.sistant: h.e.l.lo, I’m not here to take your call right now.
So the unsolved case of [why President Tan disappeared for so long for no apparent reason] was left open for a long time.
The two of them were already in a caretaker and ward relationship before. They didn’t announce their new relationship publicly after getting together, but they didn’t particularly hide it either.
If someone figured it out they would go with the flow.
However, asking them to hide and deny their attraction for each other was definitely not an option.
But what puzzled Tan Mingjin was that, even though Shi Qing often came to the company to look for him…
Despite how sticky the two of them were or how Shi Qing liked to lean on his chest and play games while Tan Mingjin was working…
Although such ambiguous scenes suggested they were far more intimate than just relatives…
For some reason, everyone who saw them seemed to be blind and never said a word about it outside.
Naturally, he did not know how his good a.s.sistant, an excellent spokesperson, made everyone understand one thing.
Those who obey President Tan will get many bonuses.
It’s always been great working for the Tan family. It was a reputable company with high wages and no mandatory overtime. Anyone who spread rumours about their boss outside was just asking to get fired, right?
In this era where workers were like livestock, it’s better to keep a low profile.
Shi Qing was more than fine with this.
After all, he was supposed to be a child brought up by Tan Mingjin. If the two of them publicised their relationship, he would be fine, but Tan Mingjin would definitely be subjected to criticism.
Even if they made it clear that Shi Qing was the one who confessed after becoming an adult, some people would always have doubts.
Shi Qing didn’t care about these remarks, but he was quite protective of his food.
There was nothing wrong with avoiding problems you couldn’t solve. They’ve never covered up their intimacy outside anyway.
The media didn’t report it, so who could blame them (throws hands up).
Of course, Shi Qing didn’t know that one media outlet did try to report it, except their report was about Shi Qing’s pursuit of Cheng Yunling.
Unfortunately for this media outlet, the time they were about to report the story coincided with when Tan Mingjin and Shi Qing had just resolved their misunderstanding.
Think about it, if this story had been allowed to air, wouldn’t it be like telling everyone Tan Mingjin had a giant green prairie on his head?
Even if the prairie was fake, it was still a prairie.
The very resourceful a.s.sistant immediately intercepted the story after he got the news and told Tan Mingjin.
From that moment on, there was a rumour circulating in the news industry that “President Tan of the Tan Group hates it when people bring up Shi Qing”.
Thus, photos of Shi Qing were never put on the internet.
However, there’d been a rumour circulating online…
According to a certain crew member’s confession, a young master obsessed with filming movies (what, was he supposed to say ‘obsessed with chasing beautiful women’ and offend that young master?) once brought his own recliner to watch people film all day. He even treated the entire crew to drinks and food every day to prove that he wasn’t just freeloading.
Cakes, milk tea, chocolate, sandwiches, hot dogs, pancakes… You name it.
Apparently, by the time they finished filming, the entire crew had gained an average of ten pounds.
This shows how much money this wealthy second generation obsessed with filming was willing to spend.
This incident was so ridiculous that it entered the trending search list. Everyone was laughing their a.s.ses off in the comments.
Naturally, it wasn’t until Tan Mingjin was in his fifties, when he went on holiday hand in hand with Shi Qing, before a netizen commented hesitantly,
[Is it just me or do President Tan and Director Shi have something going on, ah. Just look at how they’re holding hands]
Before Tan Mingjin could be secretly happy for too long, this netizen was roasted to a crisp.
[Can you not have such thoughts when you see people in a better relationship than you? Do you think all handsome men want to be with each other?!]
[Right? If they really had something going on, why would they show you anything?]
[Just look at how naturally President Tan and Director Shi get along. Plus this photo was released by President Tan himself. What a depraved mind you have.]
[Director Shi donated so much money to those poor children in the mountainous areas. Is he the kind of person someone like you is fit to speculate about?]
After being berated by everyone, that netizen felt very ashamed. He quickly apologized, saying that he looked into things too much. To show his sincerity, he even deleted his original comment.
Tan Mingjin: “…”
It’s always been like this over the years. It seemed like no matter how close he and Shi Qing were, no one believed they were a couple.
Naturally, he didn’t know that Shi Qing had foreseen all this long ago. Sometimes he believed it was a good thing, but other times he felt regret.
There was nothing to be done about their age gap. Although Tan Mingjin had always worked out and maintained his body, looking much younger than other people his age, he still felt a need to stake his claim on his lover, who grew more radiant by the day.
His depressed state only lasted a few moments before he returned to Shi Qing’s side to earnestly peel walnuts for the fishing youth.
One day, when Tan Mingjin was seventy years old, his life came to an end.
The man was lying in a hospital bed. He wasn’t in pain, but there was no strength left in his body.
He knew that it was time for him to go.
By this time, his mental state was already a little confused. He would only call out one name.
“Shi Qing…”
Shi Qing, who had always been by his bedside, smiled and held his hand. The identical rings they were wearing became more and more conspicuous.
Tan Mingjin, who had the heart of an elderly child, inexplicably felt wronged. “We…wore these our whole lives, but no one saw them.”
“Then we’ll make them see.”
The years seem to have left no trace on Shi Qing. He was still as aggressive as ever. Holding Tan Mingjin’s hand, he snapped a picture of their matching rings.
He then posted it to his account in front of Tan Mingjin.
Tan Mingjin exhaled heavily, a contented smile on his face as he slowly held his lover’s hand tighter. “Now they all know.”
“Now they all know…you’re mine.”
He closed his eyes for the last time.
Shi Qing glanced at the comment section that had exploded. Then he silently regarded Tan Mingjin for a long time before leaning down slightly and planting a kiss on the forehead of the man who had left first. “I know. I’m yours.”
On the day Tan Mingjin died, his only heir, Shi Qing, who was also his lover that he had gotten married to abroad, died on the same day.
Before his death, he left a will donating their entire fortune to charity.
After their death, their love, which came to light decades too late, was revealed to the world.
Cheng Yunling saw the news as she lay in her recliner.
Next to her, A-Zhi, who had already advanced from boyfriend to partner, looked at her nervously, afraid that she would be upset.
Cheng Yunling shook her head. A smile appeared on her already old face.
“It’s fine for them to be like this. But I just wonder if President Tan knew that Shi Qing protected him all his life.”
[Ding! Congratulations Host on completing the task! Please choose to either: 1. Continue to the next task, or 2. Rest]
The System carefully looked at the sofa, where Shi Qing had a bottle of Wahaha in one hand while frowning and pensively touching his chest with the other. It carefully proposed: [I’m detecting above average mood fluctuations from Host. I suggest that you rest.]
Shi Qing extended his hand. An apple replaced his Wahaha. He bit into it, appearing as careless as ever.
[111111.]
System: [Ding! Please get ready. We are about to jump to the next world.]
****
Before Shi Qing could open his eyes, he heard a woman’s voice crying next to him, “How can I put up with that lowlife harming my Qing-er into this state?! What kind of low cla.s.s family did he come from?! How dare he slight our family’s Xi-er after taking her as a wife, and humiliate my Qing-er like this as well!”
Shi Qing continued to listen with his eyes closed for a while without moving. He guessed that the person crying was probably his birth mother.
Their family was quite powerful, and everyone doted on Shi Qing like a treasure was the only male child.
His twin sister wasn’t so lucky because she was a girl. She was married off to a family of the same social standing, but her husband disrespected her and, more importantly, his brother-in-law, Shi Qing. His mother was currently sobbing and planning to head over to ask for punishment.
When Shi Qing discerned that his mother was the one crying, he decided to take this time to check his memories.
They were in the midst of a war? Whoever controlled more forces was the one in charge?
The young master, who was lying in bed pretending to be asleep, immediately had an image of a broad-shouldered, slender-waisted man valiantly riding a horse in his mind.
Hehehehe.
He likey.
Arc 9 complete! Next up is the spoiled little master and his big bad wolf!