“Xie Ge, where are you going?” Xie Wanxing received a text message from Wang Xiaoming in the car and finally remembered his forgotten assistant.

“Going to eat. You just go home, no need to wait for me.” Xie Wanxing replied.

But just two seconds later, he couldn’t help but send another message, “Honestly, did I look particularly stupid just now…”

Even thinking back on it, he felt embarrassed, purely because Yao Ren had angered him.

He leaned his head against the car window in frustration.

Wang Xiaoming’s reply came quickly. “Ge, you really looked like the seductive antagonist male lead in a drama just now.”

Xie Wanxing was displeased, “With a face like mine, I’m the second male lead at best. What do you mean? He’s the cunning guy, and I’m the one bullying him? Don’t you want your salary anymore?”

Wang Xiaoming silently sent an emoji with a mouth shut tight.

But after a while, he couldn’t help but send another message, “Ge, now I can see that you like him. Why don’t you just confess? Look at you, your appearance, your temperament, your physique, your good temper. My god, whoever marries you would be ecstatic.”

Xie Wanxing chuckled at the teasing, but soon, the smile vanished.

Indeed, he had good looks, a good physique, and a good family background, but so what?

He had argued with Yao Ren just now with confidence, but deep down, he knew very well that whether he was good or not, and whether Fu Wenshan liked him, couldn’t be equated.

The reason for liking someone wasn’t because they were outstanding, but simply because of affection.

…..

Fu Wenshan was on the phone with the person in charge of Wen Gui Garden. Wen Gui Garden had been closed to the public for the past few days, ready for Xie Wanxing’s visit.

After finishing the call, Fu Wenshan turned to find Xie Wanxing pretending to sleep, probably avoiding facing him, sleeping soundly without moving his eyelids.

He chuckled softly. Although he had a lot to say to Xie Wanxing, he wasn’t in a hurry.

He started humming a song lightly as he drove, the theme song from “Rain in the Demon City”.

He was driving with his beloved person to a long-planned date.

…

When they arrived at their destination, Xie Wanxing couldn’t pretend to sleep anymore.

He reluctantly got out of the car and saw the large courtyard in front of him, with the sign “Wen Gui Garden” written on it.

Fu Wenshan handed the keys to the gatekeeper, took Xie Wanxing’s hand, and walked in together, saying as they walked, “This was given to me by my brother. Inside there’s a courtyard that’s exclusively mine. I only bring family and childhood friends here.”

Xie Wanxing responded with an “oh”, not grasping the deeper meaning, just casually looking around.

In the middle of Wen Gui Garden was a large garden, with trees casting dappled shadows and a pleasant fragrance of incense in the air, mixed with the fresh scent of grass and trees. Around the garden were several different courtyards, each with a different view when you entered.

Fu Wenshan led Xie Wanxing into the courtyard with a ‘starry sky’ sign.

They sat at the only table by the window, with flowers on the table, mainly rosemary that Xie Wanxing liked, and outside the window was a view of fiery red maple trees in the courtyard.

Xie Wanxing absentmindedly ate his meal.

The waiters seemed invisible, never disturbing them except when serving dishes. There were only the two of them in the room.

“That day on the phone, you said you had something important to tell me. What was it?” Xie Wanxing couldn’t help but ask.

Fu Wenshan thought for a moment. Before confessing, he felt he should first explain the situation with Yao Ren.

It was a historical legacy problem. He had never been in a relationship before, but now it seemed like the whole world thought he and Yao Ren had a thing.

“We’ll talk about that later. I think you have some misunderstandings about me, I need to explain first,” Fu Wenshan wiped his mouth with a napkin, looking at Xie Wanxing seriously. “I’ve never been with Yao Ren. He confessed to me, but I rejected him.”

Xie Wanxing almost dropped his utensils into the plate.

This plot seemed a bit different from what he knew?

He couldn’t help but listen intently.

Fu Wenshan continued, “You know, when I met Yao Ren, I was broke. He didn’t even know I was from the Fu family, but he treated me well. He helped me with laundry in the dead of winter, and went to buy breakfast for me in the morning. When we got into a fight at a bar and someone attacked us, he used his hand to protect me, almost injuring his tendons and veins, never being able to play the guitar again. So when he confessed to me, saying he liked me, I hesitated. I was afraid of hurting him. People always have a soft spot for someone who sincerely likes them.”

Fu Wenshan paused here because the impression Yao Ren had left on him was too good. For a long time afterward, he would think about the Yao Ren he knew and the one he met later. Stealing his song and going solo, was it really the same person?

But later on, he vaguely heard people who had dealt with Yao Ren praising him for being attentive and understanding, unlike other flings, particularly caring and considerate.

He didn’t feel much about it, just understood that Yao Ren’s kindness and gentleness were cheap and common.

Xie Wanxing sliced a piece of meat on the opposite side, stuffing it into his mouth expressionlessly. What sin had he committed to have to listen to Fu Wenshan reminisce about the past here?

But almost masochistically, he wanted to hear more, and he listened attentively.

Fu Wenshan continued, “Later on, you also know, he slept with the company’s higher-ups, went solo, and took away the works we created together.”

Xie Wanxing snorted.

Sourly, he thought to himself, if Yao Ren hadn’t gone after sugar daddies, would you have been cheated out of everything before you saw through him? Maybe now you would’ve married this cunning guy into the family.

He viciously cut another piece of meat.

“But there’s a detail I haven’t told you yet. That sugar daddy actually took a liking to me at the time. Yao Ren wasn’t just kept, he actively cut in himself.” Fu Wenshan’s face showed an expression of indescribable discomfort, even now, thinking about it made him uncomfortable, “Later, when I fell out with him, that idiot even asked me if I was mad because he stole my sugar daddy… he even asked if we could have a threesome.”

Xie Wanxing almost spit out his water.

Although it wasn’t appropriate to laugh now, he was still shocked by Yao Ren’s thought process.

He glanced at Fu Wenshan a few times, the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but twitch up, “That sugar daddy had quite a unique taste.”

Fu Wenshan: “…” He knew it would be like this.

But Xie Wanxing quickly stopped smiling because he heard Fu Wenshan say, “At that time, I was really disappointed in Yao Ren. Because he was the first person in the industry who treated me sincerely. He said so many words of love to me, I believed him, I thought even if I couldn’t accept him, I should arrange a path for him, let him do the music he liked, and not be forced to do things he didn’t want to. But then he turned around and slapped me hard in the face.”

The smile disappeared from Xie Wanxing’s face, he toyed with a peach-shaped dessert in his bowl, feeling particularly uncomfortable.

That was the Fu Wenshan who wasn’t even twenty yet, finally opening his heart, only to be betrayed like this.

Thrown cheaply to the ground, and even stepped on.

Xie Wanxing felt a bit stifled in his chest, only able to hide it by looking outside at the red maple leaves on the ground.

But he soon heard Fu Wenshan say, “But I never liked Yao Ren. I hesitated before, thinking he was so good to me, but I still couldn’t accept him. I felt I was a jerk. But now I understand, you can’t force yourself to like someone.

Whether he’s good or not doesn’t matter. Liking someone means no matter how good or bad they are, I love them, I want to take care of them, and I want to see them every morning when I wake up.”

The air suddenly became quiet, and outside the window, the red maple leaves made a hoarse sound in the night wind.

Xie Wanxing’s heart suddenly started beating faster.

He heard Fu Wenshan call his name softly, “Wanxing…”

He knew, Fu Wenshan was about to tell him that important thing, the thing that couldn’t be said over the phone, the thing that had to be said seriously face to face.

A bunch of thoughts popped into his mind, he remembered Fu Wenshan’s kisses on his eyes and brows, remembered Fu Wenshan’s focused smile at him, and also remembered the comments on the gossip forums…

Either they were going official or breaking up.

His hand under the table discreetly clenched the tablecloth, praying anxiously in his heart.

Fu Wenshan was also nervous, he could almost certainly say Xie Wanxing liked him, but there are always exceptions. What if he guessed wrong? What if Xie Wanxing didn’t want to be with him…

But he couldn’t retreat anymore.

Fu Wenshan closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he looked straight into Xie Wanxing’s eyes, enunciating clearly, “I have someone I like now. I don’t know when I started liking him, but I sincerely want to be with him. So…”

“Xie Wanxing, I don’t want to continue being friends with benefits with you…”

?

Xie Wanxing slammed the cutlery in his hand into the plate, directly interrupting Fu Wenshan’s next words.

He stood up, “I suddenly remembered I have something to attend to, I’ll leave first.”

Without even lifting his head, he slipped away from Fu Wenshan’s sight, almost running out of the door.

Xie Wanxing didn’t even know where he was going, his mind was in chaos, with only Fu Wenshan’s words “I don’t want to continue being friends with benefits with you” echoing.

He drew the short straw in the fifty-fifty choice.

He didn’t even have the courage to listen to the end; he just fled in panic.

Xie Wanxing bit his lip, feeling like Fu Wenshan had ulterior motives for inviting him to dinner, this was basically a trap.

Fu Wenshan must have encountered true love, stimulated by Yao Ren, he felt he needed to turn over a new leaf, so he came to break off their friends with benefits relationship.

The more Xie Wanxing thought about it, the sadder he felt, his eyes became red, and even though he bit his lip, tears still rolled down his cheeks, wetting the edges of his eyes.

He thought, fortunately he ran fast, otherwise wouldn’t he have just experienced a breakup?

But he also knew it was self-deception. What was the use of running away this time? Fu Wenshan would continue to bring up the break up next time.

Xie Wanxing stopped in his tracks and realized he had run to the center of the garden. The garden was filled with shadows from the lights, making the plants and trees look like a fairyland in a phone call.

He wiped away his tears and stopped running, just sitting down, trying to figure out who Fu Wenshan had encountered was his true love.

But as he frowned and went through the options, he suddenly realized that Fu Wenshan seemed to spend almost all his spare time with him.

Did he have no time for other guys?

And if Fu Wenshan wanted to break up with him, why did he bother to explain Yao Ren’s situation to him?

Xie Wanxing’s disappearing intelligence suddenly came back online.

Xie Wanxing: “???”

Could he be confessing to me?

Breaking off a friends with benefits relationship doesn’t have only one explanation.

Damn, why did I run!!

I should have listened before running aaaaa!!!

………..

Fu Wenshan looked bewildered as Xie Wanxing fled from him. Because he was too shocked, he didn’t even think to chase after him.

He panicked, wondering if he had guessed wrong?

Xie Wanxing didn’t like him at all, so as soon as he heard that he wanted to be in a relationship, he left in a hurry.

The more Fu Wenshan thought about it, the worse his complexion became.

He also stood up and asked the waiter at the door, finding out that Xie Wanxing had run to the garden.

As soon as he entered the garden, he saw Xie Wanxing sitting under an osmanthus tree in a daze. It was autumn, and the osmanthus was full of golden, rice-sized flowers, falling on Xie Wanxing’s shoulders and hair tips.

He slowly approached, only to find Xie Wanxing’s eyes were red. As if hearing his footsteps, Xie Wanxing looked up, bewildered and lost.

Fu Wenshan’s heart tightened, he walked over, knelt in front of Xie Wanxing, and wiped the corner of his eyes with his thumb.

“Why are you crying? Did you guess what I was going to say and got scared?” Fu Wenshan looked helplessly at Xie Wanxing’s beautiful eyes, truly like stars, even brighter after being washed by tears.

He really liked this star in front of him, wanting to capture him into his own starry sea.

He said, “Whether you want to hear it or not, you have to hear it. Xie Wanxing, I really like you. I don’t want to be friends with benefits with you anymore. I want to pursue you, be your boyfriend, and your future husband.”

This time Xie Wanxing really cried. He pursed his lips, choked up, and said, “I don’t want you to pursue me.”

Fu Wenshan panicked, “You can’t just decide to ignore my pursuit, it’s not fair.”

Xie Wanxing wiped away his tears and decisively planted a kiss on Fu Wenshan’s lips. “I mean, I like you too, no need to pursue me, let’s be together.”