Chapter 19: Xiao Yibo, How Can You Always Be Like This?

He Yinhui rubbed his eyes and tidied up the bed.

The doorbell rang, and he went to answer it.

“Mom, you’re here already? No traffic?”

His mother, He Changping, was an excellent and fashionable career woman. Now a CEO, she was busy with businesses both domestically and internationally.

With enough money at home, she didn’t restrict her son’s career choices. He could do whatever he wanted. If he failed, he could always come home and inherit the family business.

She hurried into the house and immediately lay down on the sofa: “What time is it for there to be traffic? You must have gotten up too late, thinking it’s still rush hour.”

The bodyguard behind her brought in the luggage, arranged it neatly, and then stood quietly by the door.

“Mom, what do you want for lunch? I’m not streaming today, so I’ll spend the whole day with you.”

“My son is the best! Then you’ll spend the whole day with me today. When I’m abroad, apart from our chef’s cooking, I can’t taste anything else.”

“Alright, how about I take three days off and spend every day with you?”

“I don’t mind, but if you don’t do well with your streams, won’t you have to come home and inherit the family business?”

“Whether it’s the family business or streaming, nothing is more important than my beautiful, kind, capable, and gentle mother.”

“You’re so sweet~ By the way, son, do you have a partner now?”

“…No.”

“It’s been so long since Xie Mingming, and you still haven’t moved on.”

He Yinhui shook his head: “It’s not that I can’t let him go, but I don’t want to find someone who’ll cheat on me like he did.”

“Right, right, right. If you can’t find the right one, it’s better not to look. Don’t end up like your dad, abandoning us for mistresses. Being a womanizer is in his genes; he’ll never change.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep my eyes open and won’t be fooled again.”

He Changping’s eyes welled up: “No matter what, don’t punish yourself for someone else’s mistakes. I really don’t want to see you skin and bones again.”

“That won’t happen again, don’t worry.”

Back then, when He Yinhui saw Xie Mingming with someone else, he turned around and left.

Returning to the team, he sent Xie Mingming an email: “Since you’ve already fallen for someone else, don’t put on an act with me. We don’t need to see each other anymore. I should have broken up with you long ago.”

He poured all his energy into training. Everything else seemed normal, but when it came to eating, he couldn’t keep anything down; he would vomit as soon as he ate.

When He Changping heard about it, she immediately brought a doctor to check on him and discovered he had developed anorexia.

With a competition approaching, He Yinhui didn’t want to delay his training, so the doctor injected him with nutrients daily. To avoid affecting his hand movements, they switched to infusing the nutrients through his foot.

Like this, he persevered for two months and achieved good results in the competition.

But he had become skin and bones.

After the competition, He Changping took him abroad to relax, and he gradually started eating again.

Since then, for the sake of his health, He Yinhui has been exercising daily, making him much more robust than other professional players.

…

Luo Tiancheng logged into the game and noticed He Yinhui was offline.

Normally, he would be online all day. Why isn’t he online today? Did I upset him last night?

He quickly logged into his alternate account and went to the stream of “So Handsome It’s Beyond Help,” where he saw the message: “Due to family matters, I’m taking three days off. Wishing everyone a great time.”

“Family matters… Is it really family matters, or is it because I’ve caused him trouble?”

Luo Tiancheng buried his head under the blanket for a while, then logged into the game and started his live stream to work.

Before going to bed at night, Luo Tiancheng chose to activate Xiao Yibo’s Dream Connection.

He thought Qin Yue was right—Xiao Yibo might have feelings for him, so he didn’t pressure him in real life, and he indeed felt jealous of He Yinhui.

Putting the task aside for now, Luo Tiancheng genuinely wanted to have a good talk with him and ask why he would like someone as ordinary as himself.

Entering Xiao Yibo’s Dreamscape, it was another dark place, which felt quite oppressive.

It looked like a small town, but everything was black. Black walls, black roads, black roofs. Even on a clear day, everything before his eyes was black. Thankfully, the greenery wasn’t black, or it would have been terrifying.

Luo Tiancheng opened his phone to check the map and found Xiao Yibo by a pond.

Good, the pond wasn’t black either. The light green water was soothing to look at, and there were some flowers and plants nearby.

Xiao Yibo was sitting on the grass by the pond, writing songs in a notebook.

Luo Tiancheng’s eyes lit up: a ready-made grassy spot—wasn’t this tempting him to complete the task? The task was to kiss him on the grass.

He walked over with a smile, “Hello, Teacher Xiao, sorry to disturb you. Are you writing a song?”

Seeing it was him, Xiao Yibo immediately stood up, “Luo Tiancheng?”

“Yes. Do you have some time? I’d like to talk with you.”

“Of course!”

“Let’s sit down then.”

“Alright.”

Luo Tiancheng sat across from him, gazing at his deep features, thinking, “This face is truly captivating.”

“Teacher Xiao, have you met me before? I mean, before the concert.”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t remember… My memory isn’t great, please forgive me. When was it?”

“…Last year.”

“Last year?”

“Last spring, after I won an award, I attended a celebration party and was drugged.”

“What? That’s awful! What happened next?”

“I escaped through the back door, and they sent people after me. I had to hide in an alley. I happened to see a beggar’s bedding on the ground, and to save myself, I hid under that dirty, smelly blanket.”

“An alley… a blanket… Ah! That was you?”

Xiao Yibo nodded, “It was me.”

That day, Luo Tiancheng had just finished work, received his paycheck, and bought a bag of steaming hot shengjianbao to reward himself.

The early spring weather was still cold, especially with the wind blowing at night.

Luo Tiancheng took a shortcut through an alley and saw a beggar shivering under a blanket by the streetlight.

Having grown up with unloving parents and often going hungry, Luo Tiancheng had begged for food like a vagrant more than once. Seeing the beggar shivering from the cold made his heart ache.

He approached softly and asked, “Hello, are you cold?”

The person under the blanket seemed startled and trembled even more.

“Don’t be afraid, I don’t have much else, but here’s a scarf and some hot buns. Eat them to warm up.”

Hearing this, the person under the blanket looked out and saw a handsome, gentle young man.

It was dark under the streetlight, and Luo Tiancheng couldn’t see what the person under the blanket looked like, nor did he pay attention to it. He just stuffed the scarf and buns inside and then left.

…

Recalling this, Luo Tiancheng asked, “Did they catch the person who drugged you in the end?”

Xiao Yibo shook his head: “I couldn’t find out who did it. But from that day on, I remembered you. Later, I searched everywhere for you but couldn’t find you. After all, it’s hard to track someone down without knowing their name. When I saw you backstage at the concert, I was especially happy.”

“So that’s how it was…”

Suddenly, Xiao Yibo came over and hugged him, saying, “Do you know? That day when I was poisoned, it was by thinking of you that I managed to soothe myself and detoxify. After that, I often thought of you. On the day of the concert, you kissed me, and I was very happy, but then you turned and left…”

“Wait! What are you trying to do?” Luo Tiancheng tried to break free from his embrace, but the man’s strength was too great!

Xiao Yibo pressed tightly against him, his deep voice murmuring in his ear: “What do you think I want to do?”

“Xiao Yibo! How can you always be like this?”