Fu Wenshan spent a few minutes explaining to his buddies the cause and effect, why he suddenly wanted to confess to Xie Wanxing.

“I thought of waiting for him to realize it himself, but it might take until the next life. I can see it. Maybe he doesn’t even have the string of love in his brain,” Fu Wenshan grabbed a bottle of beer, leaning back on the sofa. “But he also can’t have absolutely no feelings for me. Anyway, this relationship will be exposed sooner or later, so I might as well confess now.”

His buddies looked at him with approving eyes, like disciples learning from the master.

Of course, it’s better to strike early than to regret later.

“So how are you going to confess?” Li Siheng asked while munching on melon seeds. “Do you want us to help you prepare anything?”

Fu Wenshan had actually thought about it seriously, “What do you guys think about me taking him to my private island to confess? If I do that, and he wants to refuse me, he’ll find there’s nowhere to run, so he’ll have to agree.”

His eighteenth birthday gift was a private island, with beautiful scenery and perfect privacy. In addition to vacation villas, all other facilities on the island were fully equipped, and staying for several months was no problem, making it the best place to isolate from the world.

Li Siheng praised, “Xiao Fu, you’re taking such a risk, but I like it.”

Fu Wenshan modestly smiled, “You flatter me.”

The two of them, in agreement, thought it was a good idea and earnestly began discussing how to lure Xie Wanxing onto the island.

Finally, the silent friend, D, couldn’t hold back any longer. “Forgive me for reminding you both, illegal detention is a crime.”

D’s real name was Yan Wei, the eldest among the group present. He had just finished a company meeting when Fu Wenshan hosted the video call.

Fu Wenshan and Li Siheng looked at him. “Then where do you suggest we go?”

Yan Wei calmly replied, “How about Starry Sea? We’ve been there for gatherings before. It’s a good place for a confession. It’s remote, and it’s also your private property. If you arrange it romantically, when you close the door, it’ll be just the two of you inside. Even if the confession fails, you won’t be embarrassed.”

Fu Wenshan didn’t like that. “You’re the one who’ll face the failure.”

But “Starry Sea” was indeed a good place.

When he was sixteen, his brother had given him a private club called “Wen Gui Garden” as a birthday gift. It was a huge estate located in the suburbs, with each room opening onto a courtyard with different scenery. Only a few guests were entertained here each day, and appointments had to be made in advance.

“Starry Sea” was the name of the secluded courtyard owned by Fu Wenshan.

When he received this gift at the age of sixteen, he didn’t have any special feelings. It was just another place for friends to gather.

But now, thinking about it, the name seemed to have been a premonition.

Xie Wanxing was his Starry Sea.

As Fu Wenshan thought about it, he couldn’t help but smile, his gaze drifting elsewhere.

The friends in the video felt a bit sour, then secretly chatted in a small group without Fu Wenshan.

Luo He mocked, “Whenever I see Fu ge’s face now, I can’t help but think of my Teddy at home.”

Below was an emoji of a Teddy bear in slippers.

The other three people all clicked like.

…

In the next few days, Xie Wanxing didn’t see much of Fu Wenshan, thinking it was because he was too busy with work.

In reality, Fu Wenshan was inspecting Wen Gui Garden, making sure everything was perfect for the confession day, ensuring nothing would go wrong.

Although Xie Wanxing was a bit upset, he didn’t say much. He had pushed back two jobs already, just to spend more time with Fu Wenshan. Now that Fu Wenshan was nowhere to be found all day, he could only squat in the garden and feed the birds.

Two days later, a charity short film asked him urgently for help. One of the actors scheduled to participate in the filming had been in a car accident. While the person was fine, they had broken a leg.

The other actors in the same rank were all unavailable, so they turned to Xie Wanxing.

The person in charge of the short film had helped Xie Wanxing out once before, so Xie Wanxing thought about it and, since he had nothing else going on, he agreed.

When Fu Wenshan found out about this, Xie Wanxing was already at the shooting location, on a small island abroad, lying on the beach enjoying the sun, dozing off from time to time, his words all jumbled up when talking to Fu Wenshan.

“It’s mainly because of the urgency of the job, so I had to leave in a hurry. I forgot to tell you yesterday because I fell asleep on the plane,” Xie Wanxing drank some chilled fruit juice. Although it was autumn now, it was still hot on the island. “But this shoot won’t take long, probably three to five days. What’s wrong? Do you need me to come back for something?”

Yes, to confess to you.

Fu Wenshan thought secretly. He had almost finished arranging everything at “Starry Sea”. He had carefully selected the flowers on the table, the music to be played that day, the final dessert. Everything was ready, just waiting for Xie Wanxing to fall into this gentle trap.

He held his phone, feeling increasingly uneasy, even though Xie Wanxing was still thousands of miles away.

From the moment he decided to confess, he had been feeling both anxious and hesitant.

He didn’t know if Xie Wanxing would accept this expression of love.

In fact, he didn’t ask for much.

He didn’t expect Xie Wanxing to fall in love with him immediately.

He just wanted Xie Wanxing to have a little bit of affection for him, willing to give him a chance to pursue him.

Fu Wenshan was afraid that Xie Wanxing would finish filming the short film and then casually travel abroad.

So he didn’t deny it either. He said seriously, “Um, I’ll come pick you up when you get back. There’s something very important I need to tell you.”

Xie Wanxing was surprised, “Can’t you say it over the phone?”

Fu Wenshan chuckled, “It would be too hasty to say it over the phone. I want to tell you in person.”

I want to tell you in person that I like you.

Fu Wenshan was afraid of giving too much away, so after chatting casually with Xie Wanxing for a while, he hung up the phone.

But Xie Wanxing was still holding his phone, suspicious.

Since it couldn’t be work-related if Fu Wenshan didn’t want to talk about it over the phone. And there were no business dealings between his family and Fu Wenshan’s family, nor were they competitors.

After some thought, the only thing that could warrant a serious discussion and couldn’t be talked about casually was their “friends with benefits” relationship.

Thinking of this, Xie Wanxing couldn’t help but shiver, his face turning a bit paler.

He had a bad feeling.

He quickly logged into the gossip forum he usually frequented, put on his disguise, and posted anonymously.

“My friend with benefits said he has something important to tell me but refused to say it over the phone, asking me to come back first. Can anyone tell me what this could mean? PS: There’s no economic dispute between us, everything is clean and pure, just a relationship of physical intimacy. PPS: I quite like my friend with benefits.”

There were plenty of onlookers on the forum.

When Xie Wanxing finished his conversation with the director about his short film and came back to the forum, he found there were already quite a few replies, and they were surprisingly consistent.

“Louzhu, you should have the answer in your heart by now. This looks like either a breakup or wanting to take your relationship to the next level.”

“Agree with the above, but Louzhu, the transition from friends with benefits to a serious relationship is not always guaranteed. If you like him, you better prepare yourself mentally; transitioning is the minority.”

“Louzhu, you should wise up a bit. This looks like a goodbye, but your friend with benefits still has a bit of conscience, not breaking up over the phone.”

The comments below were all similar, either guessing a transition to a serious relationship or a breakup.

Xie Wanxing’s face turned green as he read.

He closed the forum, feeling even more uncertain.

He just felt like nothing good was going to come out of this.

He tossed and turned until he fell asleep that night, but he had a dream that Fu Wenshan was leading a blurry figure to him, saying, “I’m sorry, let’s end this. I’ve found true love.”

He woke up in a fright.

The next day, when he was filming, his eyelids were a bit swollen, and he had dark circles under his eyes. The makeup artist, who had previously admired his flawless skin, was surprised and asked, “Teacher Xie, what did you do last night? Why did you mess up your skin like this?”

Xie Wanxing, propping his head up with one hand, squinted his eyes and replied weakly, “Had a nightmare, couldn’t sleep after waking up.”

The makeup artist glanced sympathetically at him, thinking that although celebrities looked glamorous, the pressure they faced was truly immense.