Chapter 28: What Is “Like”?

That night, Xi Xingye slept particularly restlessly.

He felt as if he were strapped onto a furnace, kicking the blanket off a dozen times.

But then it got too cold, and he sheepishly pulled it back over himself.

He spent the night alternating between hot and cold.

By seven in the morning, Shen Qingci had already changed into a sports tank top and went downstairs.

As soon as she moved, Xi Xingye couldn’t sleep anymore and immediately got up to change.

Passing the balcony, he looked down.

Outside, the woman in the yard was wearing a sports tank top, warming up and running laps, doing all sorts of jumping jacks.

The morning light filtered through, glinting on Shen Qingci’s fair and delicate face like a piece of top-quality mutton-fat jade.

He forcefully tore his gaze away, but his phone suddenly vibrated.

He answered, “Hello,” lazily leaning on the balcony railing.

Xu Zijie seemed to have opened a box of gossip and started firing questions non-stop.

“Brother Xi, what happened after you went home last night?”

Almost instinctively, Xi Xingye’s mind flashed back to that kiss from last night.

His ears burned, but he quickly snorted, “What nonsense are you talking about? What feelings could I possibly have for that woman? Yesterday was just an accident…”

Just as he thought this, the bedroom door clicked open again.

Shen Qingci’s forehead was covered in sweat, a towel casually draped over her shoulder, and she walked straight to the bathroom.

Xi Xingye’s mouth immediately made a sharp turn: “You don’t like cilantro or scallions around me!”

Shen Qingci frowned, glancing at him.

Quite picky, huh.

After she went into the bathroom, Xi Xingye gritted his teeth.

Why did he care whether Shen Qingci heard that?

If she did hear it, even better.

It would make it clear to her that last night’s kiss had stirred nothing in him; falling in love with him would lead to nothing.

Steeling his thoughts, Xi Xingye closed his eyes and silently repeated several times the news about a recent murder case, forcing himself to calm down.

Xu Zijie on the phone continued: “Since you have no feelings for your wife, what about Lou Xinyue? She came back clearly trying to reconcile with you.”

“Don’t mention her!” Xi Xingye immediately felt sparks of rage.

Xu Zijie probed further: “Honestly, I think your wife is pretty great, and she’s beautiful…”

Xi Xingye snorted.

Beautiful? So what?

By the time he said this, Shen Qingci had finished her shower and stepped out of the bathroom.

Long, slender legs, skin like jade, hair damp and casually hanging over her shoulders. She was wearing his T-shirt, covering her hips, with water stains from washing her face on the chest…

Shen Qingci wiped her hair and turned, slightly startled: “What are you doing?”

“I-I can’t do anything, can I?” Xi Xingye stiffly said. “What else could I do? I didn’t do anything!”

“Then why are you bleeding from your nose?”

Ridiculous. Bleeding from the nose? Impossible…

Suddenly, his brain registered it.

Nosebleed?!

Xi Xingye realized his nose tip was warm.

Thinking Shen Qingci was teasing him, he raised a hand to wipe it—only to see bright red blood.

His face immediately felt like it had caught fire, and he bolted out the door, shouting: “None of your business!”

The door slammed behind him.

The servants in the villa glanced briefly but calmly continued their work.

“What was that noise?” Aunt Zhang asked, passing through the garden.

The gardener replied, “Nothing, the young master’s losing it again.”

“Oh,” Aunt Zhang continued hanging up clothes.

A flash of flashy pink, hitting the gas pedal, zoomed straight to the Chinese medicine clinic.

He kicked open the clinic’s door and stormed into the consultation room, ready to start yelling.

But the old doctor wasn’t in today.

The assistant, who was organizing medical records, saw Xi Xingye and immediately lit up, rushing over: “So? So? Did you get together with your girlfriend? Was it seven times a night, non-stop fun?”

Seven times a night?
Non-stop fun?

Xi Xingye’s face darkened; he almost glared a hole through the assistant.

But the assistant, being somewhat clueless, didn’t notice Xi Xingye’s anger.

He patted Xi Xingye’s shoulder: “Young man, finding someone you like isn’t easy. You have to seize the opportunity!”

“Even if it doesn’t work out this time, try again next time! Don’t worry, this kind of thing, you’ll get it eventually!”

The assistant rambled on.

All Xi Xingye could hear was one word—“like.”

What did it mean? Did he like Shen Qingci?!

Xi Xingye inhaled sharply, his heart in turmoil.

At ten o’clock exactly, Zheng Yaozong, hugging a body pillow, was sound asleep when a sudden phone call woke him.

He shivered, glanced at the caller ID:

Xi Gou.

“Damn it, why’s this big demon king calling me in the middle of the night?”

Half an hour later, the twelve young masters of the Beijing circle were all neatly assembled in the private room of the entertainment city.

Xi Xingye wore a silver-gray jacket over a simple black T-shirt. Normally, his hair was neatly combed up, but now it hung messily on both sides.

Even so, he still stood out among the crowd.

Zheng Yaozong arrived last, his heavy body huffing and puffing.

“Xi Xingye, why did you call me here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?”

Hands on his hips, he spoke with a shaky, uncertain tone.

“You were the one who told me I had to be home after eleven and couldn’t go out!”

“It’s already ten, soon it’ll be eleven! You’re the one making me rush here to the entertainment city!”

“You…”

Before Zheng Yaozong could finish, Xu Zijie waved him off.

Fearing a slap, Zheng Yaozong immediately shut up.

“There’s only one reason for calling everyone here today,” Xi Xingye said seriously, adjusting his gray jacket. “What do you guys understand by ‘like’?”

“Like?” Xu Zijie was the first to be surprised, then immediately started talking nonstop: “Brother Xi, I have authority on this!

“Recently, I liked a sports car. My dad wouldn’t buy it for me. Those days, I couldn’t eat or sleep, my eyes were dark from it.”

Zheng Yaozong rolled his eyes. “Come on! That’s not liking. I mean, liking is heart racing. Last month, my grandfather gave me an estate, and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest—that’s liking!”

“Is that it?” someone sneered. “Three days ago, my dad gave me a yacht worth a billion. You guys got that?”

The conversation was drifting into showing off wealth. Zheng Yaozong refused to fall behind. “I thought… Ah! Brother Xi, why did you hit me?”

“Is this the kind of ‘like’ I’m asking about?” Xi Xingye ground his teeth.

The young masters looked at each other, unsure.

Xu Zijie stepped closer: “Then what kind of ‘like’ do you mean, Brother Xi?”

“I asked… never mind.” Xi Xingye, frustrated, downed the glass of wine in one go.

“Brother Xi, we’re brothers. You can tell us. Which kind of ‘like’ is it? Don’t make us guess!” Xu Zijie chuckled.

Xi Xingye lit a cigarette, didn’t smoke it, and wrote two words in the air.

“Woman?!” Xu Zijie exclaimed.

“Slap!” A hand covered the back of his head.

“Why are you yelling? I’m not deaf!” Xi Xingye shouted, sitting back down.

Everyone stared at each other, too afraid to speak.

Zheng Yaozong cleared his throat and finally said: “Well… a woman! If you like her, you constantly think about her, hold her hand and want to sleep with her! After the first time, you want the second!”

“You just wish to die in her arms!”

Xi Xingye: “Next.”

What nonsense!

Clearly, Zheng Yaozong was useless for serious matters.

Each of the eleven present shared their own thoughts on ‘like.’

Comparing to his own situation, Xi Xingye finally calmed down. From what they said, that person didn’t seem like she ‘liked’ Shen Qingci at all!

Absolutely impossible!

Nearby, a female attendant serving them muttered: “That’s not liking! At most, it’s just craving someone’s body…”

Her voice wasn’t loud, but it reached Xi Xingye’s ears.

Hands in his pockets, he walked straight to the attendant and sat down.

“You speak. What exactly is ‘like’?”