Chapter 45

Bai Siyi’s neck hurt from the bite. He couldn’t see it, but there was already a red bite mark on it.

But it was his own fault—who told him to flirt with Huo Xingming? He knew very well that Huo Xingming was extremely enthusiastic and bold.

Huo Xingming scooped the cooked dumplings onto a plate and brought them to the dining table. He then asked Bai Siyi, “By the way, I’m really good at frying steaks. Do you want some?”

The atmosphere between the two was still somewhat ambiguous, and neither of them dared to look directly into each other’s eyes. Bai Siyi, holding the mark on the back of his neck, slowly sat down at the table and glanced at the plate of dumplings. “Can we finish all these dumplings?”

Huo Xingming: “Of course, there’s not even enough for me.”

Bai Siyi: “……”

He had forgotten that Huo Xingming was a big eater.

Bai Siyi felt awkward after being bitten out of nowhere. He glared at Huo Xingming. “Then go fry the steak. Why are you just standing there?”

Huo Xingming had been standing by the table the whole time, staring intently at Bai Siyi, especially at his neck. Huo Xingming’s gaze lingered on the bite mark for quite some time.

Although Bai Siyi was happy that Huo Xingming liked him, having Huo Xingming stare at him like that still made him feel a little overwhelmed.

Huo Xingming, upon being glared at, felt pleased. He happily said, “Yes, sir. I’ll go right now.”

Bai Siyi: “……”

Huo Xingming’s steak-frying skills were indeed impressive, and Bai Siyi really enjoyed it. After eating their fill, Huo Xingming took Bai Siyi upstairs to watch a movie.

The plan to swim together had fallen through, but the movie date for couples was a must!

Bai Siyi was a little surprised. “You have a cinema in your house?”

The villa on the third floor wasn’t very big, his childhood home didn’t have a cinema.

Huo Xingming: “There’s no cinema, but I turned one of the rooms into a projector room. The effect is pretty good.”

He used to watch anime alone in there, but now that Bai Siyi was here, of course, they had to watch a romantic movie together.

Bai Siyi sat on the spacious couch and noticed a snack rack beside it. He grabbed a bag of beef jerky from the rack and sat on the couch eating.

Huo Xingming picked a classic romantic movie, Flipped, and sat down beside Bai Siyi to watch.

Huo Xingming: “There haven’t been any good romantic movies recently. Is it okay if we watch this?”

Bai Siyi took a bite of beef jerky, feeling a little confused. “If there aren’t any romantic movies, we could watch something else, right?”

Huo Xingming: “……”

Huo Xingming paused for two seconds, then reached out to pull Bai Siyi’s shoulder toward him, whispering, “But I just want to watch a romantic movie with you.”

Huo Xingming moved in very close, his breath warm, and hugged Bai Siyi. Bai Siyi instantly tensed up, his cheeks and ears turning bright red.

When Huo Xingming saw this, he knew Bai Siyi must also like him. Otherwise, Bai Siyi wouldn’t have allowed him to get so close. Even when he had just bitten him, Bai Siyi hadn’t scolded him.

Huo Xingming looked at the bite mark on Bai Siyi’s fair neck, and for a moment, he felt a rush of impulse.

He stretched out both arms and suddenly pulled Bai Siyi into his embrace, resting his head on Bai Siyi’s shoulder, and whining with a pitiful tone, “Xiao Bai, just agree to be with me. Let’s be in a relationship, okay?”

Bai Siyi still had beef jerky in his hands, one piece in his mouth. When Huo Xingming hugged him, the warmth and firmness of his embrace left him momentarily speechless.

A few seconds later, Bai Siyi continued eating the beef jerky, trying to adjust to Huo Xingming’s embrace. After carefully considering for a while, he said, “Huo Xingming, can you ask me this tomorrow afternoon instead?”

Huo Xingming: “???”

He looked up at Bai Siyi, confused. “Why tomorrow afternoon? Why not now?”

Bai Siyi turned to look at Huo Xingming and smiled. “Yes, I have something I need to tell you tomorrow.”

It was about the little white lamb account he had.

The company, Xingchen Empire, had privately messaged him, and he had agreed to meet with them.

The thing that attracted him most was their offer of professional voice acting.

Bai Siyi had many plans for the future, with a lot of things he wanted to do. The first step was to find a stable job with room for growth.

Voice acting for anime was something difficult to get into given his current conditions, but since they had approached him first, he didn’t want to miss the opportunity. He figured he would go meet them first, see what the situation was—he had nothing to lose.

After the meeting tomorrow, he planned to discuss his future with Huo Xingming, and also return the 500,000 he had received as a reward.

Huo Xingming mumbled, “What’s so hard that you can’t tell me now?”

Bai Siyi, still watching the movie, replied, “Because I’m not ready yet.”

Huo Xingming sighed. Just then, his phone rang. He checked it and saw a notification from the company’s internal system. His assistant had sent him an email, reminding him that there were two voice acting candidates he needed to personally interview tomorrow.

Huo Xingming’s company was still in its early stages, so he took care of many things himself. He was particularly strict when it came to talent acquisition, personally screening everyone. Even if someone wasn’t interviewed by him initially, he always participated in the final interview.

Besides, voice acting and artists were his top priorities.

Huo Xingming realized he hadn’t been back to the company in three days. It was about time he made a trip to handle the accumulated work.

He quickly replied to his assistant: 【Ok, send me the resumes.】

His assistant promptly sent over two resumes, but Huo Xingming didn’t read them. After replying, he closed his phone and, like an octopus, clung tightly to Bai Siyi again.

Huo Xingming was really getting more and more persistent. Seeing that Bai Siyi didn’t push him away, he hugged him even tighter, eventually pulling Bai Siyi into his arms, one hand wrapped around Bai Siyi’s waist and the other messing with his hair. He rested his chin on Bai Siyi’s shoulder and said, “Xiao Bai, you smell just like me.”

Because they had used the same shower gel.

Bai Siyi pushed his face away. “Stop sniffing around, you’re not a dog.”

Huo Xingming said seriously, “I am a dog.”

He grinned mischievously. “I’m your loyal dog.”

Bai Siyi: “…”

Bai Siyi pushed him away with a blank expression. “Stop talking nonsense.”

Huo Xingming’s mouth sometimes really made it hard to continue the conversation.

After watching the movie, the two played some games together for a while, then separated to go to bed.

Huo Xingming, feeling clingy, didn’t want to be apart from Bai Siyi at all.

Bai Siyi was soft, fragrant, and warm. Huo Xingming felt like he had developed skin hunger, he wanted to hug and snuggle with Bai Siyi every day, even just holding hands would be fine.

Less than two minutes after separating from Bai Siyi, he started to feel restless and regretful, thinking he should have been shameless and let Bai Siyi just move into his room instead of living separately.

Lying in bed, Huo Xingming couldn’t fall asleep. Thinking about how Bai Siyi was right next door, he felt restless and kept tossing and turning. He took out his phone, and since he didn’t have Bai Siyi’s WeChat, he sent him a text instead: 【Baibai, are you asleep yet?】

Well, shameless Huo Xingming had gone from calling Bai Siyi “Xiao Bai” to now calling him “Baibai.”

Bai Siyi, who was preparing clothes and shoes for the interview tomorrow, as well as looking up the questions to focus on for the job interview (since his only stable job had been in a factory assembly line and he wasn’t familiar with the interview process of formal companies), hadn’t fallen asleep yet when he received Huo Xingming’s message. He replied: 【I’m getting ready, why?】

Huo Xingming: 【Baibai, how about we go to the Underwater World together tomorrow?】

He had heard that the Underwater World was a popular date spot for couples, and Huo Xingming wasn’t about to miss it!

However, Bai Siyi declined: 【I have something to do at 2 o’clock tomorrow. Let’s go next time.】

Huo Xingming felt a bit disappointed, but then he realized he also had to go back to the company tomorrow afternoon.

“Sigh.”

Huo Xingming sighed. Not only was the date off, but he also had to go to work. Just thinking about it made him unhappy. He said goodnight to Bai Siyi and went to wash up and sleep.

The next morning, after Bai Siyi got up, Huo Xingming had already prepared breakfast. They ate together, then spent the whole morning at home playing games. There was no need to go out with how heated things were between them, they tried to avoid leaving the house whenever they could.

At 1 o’clock, Huo Xingming grabbed the car keys and personally drove Bai Siyi. “Xiao Bai, where are you going?”

Bai Siyi glanced at the address. “Hongxing Building.”

Huo Xingming paused for a moment. “Hmm? That’s the same place I’m going. I’ll go there too.”

Bai Siyi was a bit surprised. What a coincidence!

Bai Siyi: “What are you going there for?”

Huo Xingming felt a bit guilty. He had previously hidden his family background from Bai Siyi, and now if he said he had started a company, he wasn’t sure if Bai Siyi would be angry.

Huo Xingming scratched his head, conflicted. “Well, a friend works there, and I’m going to visit him.”

Bai Siyi didn’t think much of it and nodded. “I’m also going to see a friend. I’ll be out in less than an hour, it’ll be quick.”

Huo Xingming immediately said, “I’ll be quick too! Just wait for me in the building’s parking lot, and we can go back together.”

Bai Siyi nodded.

Huo Xingming set the navigation for Hongxing Building and drove off in a very low-key black SUV.

Bai Siyi wore a simple shirt and jeans, carrying a black chest bag, wearing a mask and a baseball cap.

Huo Xingming, on the other hand, was dressed in casual clothes and pants, also wearing a baseball cap. But now that he wasn’t on the show and had no more persona restrictions, he pulled out all his jewelry and wore it.

He wore six rings in total, a star earring in his left ear that Bai Siyi had given him, two necklaces around his neck, and even had two shiny silver hoops hanging from a hole in his baseball cap.

When they left the house, Bai Siyi was stunned by his appearance.

Huo Xingming was handsome, had a great physique, and his clothes looked great on him. He looked like a clothes hanger, and paired with the jewelry, it didn’t look out of place at all—it was stylish and cool.

Bai Siyi couldn’t even remember what Huo Xingming had looked like when he was working hard in the factory.

He was surprised. “You’re completely different from when you were on the show.”

Huo Xingming felt a little embarrassed. “Well, it’s a persona. I kind of overdid it. Xiao Bai, do you like me like this, or did you prefer me before?”

Bai Siyi studied him carefully for a moment, and Huo Xingming immediately straightened up, looking a little serious.

Unexpectedly, Bai Siyi didn’t answer his question. Instead, he said, “Drive well, and don’t talk.”

Huo Xingming: “……”