This was Chi Zhao's first time hearing Li Yihan say that he loved him.
He had thought that this might happen some day, but never would he have thought that it would be under these circumstances.
As he looked at Qu Yuan who stood there dumbfounded, Li Yihan slightly lowered his eyes. He leaned down, kissed the corner of the youth's mouth, then passed him on his way out of the room, heading downstairs to fry eggs.
In the next ten long minutes, Chi Zhao didn't say anything. The system didn't dare to breathe loudly. It had this feeling that this kind of host seemed to be a little silent to the point of scary. After ten minutes, it heard the words that Chi Zhao sent over through his brainwaves.
"Does his brain have soap suds in it?!"
System: "..." As a device that didn't even have a brain, forgive it for being unable to answer this question.
Chi Zhao was truly unable to understand. Never mind that Li Yihan wasn't the slightest bit angry after personally witnessing Chi Zhao reserving a room with someone else, how could he still tell him the three words "I love you"? Even if he (LYH) was a masochist, he shouldn't be acting like this, right?!
At this time, the system's faint voice sounded.
[You asked~how deep~my love~for you was~How much~did I~love you~Go and think about it~Go and take a look [at the moon]~The moonlight represents my heart~~~]1
Chi Zhao: "...Do you have a death wish?"
System: QAQ The host is so fierce.
Like this, the "cheating affair" was swept under the rug. And well, it wasn't like Chi Zhao could stay in the room for an eternity. As soon as he walked out, the fragrant smell of fried eggs reached his nose. In the end, he sat down in the dining area like a loser.
After breakfast, Li Yihan personally drove Chi Zhao to school. The car arrived, but Chi Zhao didn't get off the car. He sat in the passenger seat, hugging his backpack to his chest. It was very quiet in the car, to the point that Chi Zhao could clearly hear the sound of their breaths.
He rolled the front of his bag under his fingers and said in a low voice, "Then I'm off, Mister."
Li Yihan didn't answer. Chi Zhao turned his body. Just as his hand touched the door handle, Li Yihan called out to him,
"Qi Yuan."
Chi Zhao immediately retracted his hand. He turned back, his eyes slightly widening, "Hm?"
Li Yihan caressed the top of his head lightly. After two caresses, his hand habitually fell down to Chi Zhao's nape. Feeling slightly ticklish, Chi Zhao couldn't help but to scrunch his neck. Li Yihan's hand faltered, but he didn't remove it. Instead, he continued to caress and stroke him.
His voice was very gentle, "Don't come back so late in the future."
Chi Zhao's pupils slightly contracted. For a moment, he was frozen in place. In the end, he gave a low grunt.
Li Yihan smiled faintly and retrieved his hand, "Go then, I'll pick you up at night."
Chi Zhao left. Li Yihan sat in the car, watching him enter the school grounds, then turned his steering wheel around heading towards another location.
Zhao Bin was currently in the hotel that Chi Zhao had stayed in last night. He looked at the young boy before him who was in his early twenties with a deeply troubled expression on his face, completely mystified.
Li Yihan had stayed here the whole time last night. Chi Zhao didn't sleep for a night, he didn't sleep for a night either. He just passed the night watching Chi Zhao's electrocardiogram. Afterwards, when Chi Zhao came out, only then did he start the car and return home. In actuality, he had arrived home right before Chi Zhao did. They had entered one after the other through the house door, not more than ten minutes apart.
After he left, Li Yihan called Zhao Bin out. Zhao Bin was a skilled fighter; he served as an assistant and doubled as a bodyguard. He took two men with him and headed straight for Zhou Hetian's room, restraining the man on the bed who was still unconscious.
What caused Zhao Bin to be so troubled was that this guy slept so soundly. They had stripped him bare and tied him up, yet Zhou Hetian managed to sleep through the whole process without waking up once.
Just as Zhao Bin was debating whether he should throw a bucket of ice-cold water in the man's face to wake him up, Li Yihan arrived. He walked in, glanced at Zhou Hetian who was like a Cantonese white cut chicken2, then made his way over to sit in a chair that was in the corner of the room. He lifted his chin towards Zhao Bin, followed by pulling his phone out to look at the wavelengths on Qi Yuan's electrocardiogram.
Since morning till now, Li Yihan had been busy with other matters. He hadn't had a chance to check it. After going through the logs of the wavelengths and increased speed of Qi Yuan's heart in the morning, his lips curled in a good mood.
No matter how good of a liar someone is or how good they are at pretending, they could not fool their own heart. Qi Yuan did feel something towards him. And this feeling was very clear, otherwise his heart wouldn't react so strongly when he heard him (LYH) say the word "love".
Qi Yuan would meet many people at school and chat with many people, but none of them would affect his mood. On the other hand, every time that he was by Li Yihan's side, Qi Yuan's heartbeat would be slightly quicker than usual. The range of the waves would also be larger, like he was very excited.
As he thought of these, Li Yihan was in an even better mood. When he heard a splashing sound from the side, he raised his eyes in an unhurried manner.
Zhou Hetian had just been fast asleep when he was suddenly woken up by a bucket of ice-cold water. His eyes shot open in astonishment. Just as he was about to get angry, he saw three burly, buff men who seemed to be bad news at just one glance. Although these three men seemed formidable, their clothing clearly signified that they were subordinates. His eyes subconsciously darted across the room, searching for their boss. Subsequently, Li Yihan's peerlessly handsome face came into his sight.
Half an hour later, Li Yihan walked out of the room, followed by Zhao Bin.
"Tell Zhou Zhenyang to leave this place if he still wants to stay in the business. He better go far away. As for his son, since he didn't bring him up properly, then he should take him along with him and teach him again.
Zhou Zhenyang was Zhou Hetian's dad. Zhao Bin nodded and said, "Understood." Li Yihan stood before him. He paused for a moment, then turned around and asked, "How many people right now know about my relationship with Qi Yuan?"
"Not many. I've been dispatching people to keep tabs on the situation. The ones who know right now are all our people. They are aware of their position; they won't let it leak."
Li Yihan furrowed his brows, "Let them."
Zhao Bin was blindsided, "Huh?"
"Let them leak the news," Li Yihan repeated again. Then he emphasized,"No need to spread it too far, as long as the people over there know."
"The people over there"?
A lightbulb went on in his head, and Zhao Bin understood who he was referring to. But now he was even more befuddled. Were there any benefits in letting them know? The Li family already took Li Yihan and Qi Yuan to be a large chunk of fat meat. If they learned of this, then wouldn't they kick up a huge fuss?
However, he did not dare to go against the boss's orders. Lowering his head, Zhao Bin replied with another "Understood."
Zhao Bin's efficiency rate was very high. The next day, there was an elder who came to the company using his identity to find Li Yihan for a chat. Li Yihan didn't pay him any mind, neglecting the other party for a whole day. Then he let his secretary go out to tell the elder that Li Yihan wouldn't be returning to the company, he was already on his way home.
Li Yihan naturally knew how angry the other party would be. These Li family elders shared a bad habit. Despite not having any capabilities, they each thought highly of themselves and felt that others should as well. The elder would definitely not be happy with the treatment that he had received and would continue to come find Li Yihan.
Li Yihan knew this, yet he didn't interfere. He lowered his eyes towards the acquisition proposal in his hands. Chi Zhao laid sideways in his lap, with Lil Fatty in his arms. While he caressed the cat, his other hand kept pressing the remote control to find something to watch. Li Yihan moved his gaze from the acquisition proposal, lowered his head to glance at Qi Yuan, then silently smirked.
Suddenly, Uncle Zhang walked in and reported, "Mister, Er Ye 3 has come."
Er Ye was Li Yihan's second granduncle, meaning that he was Li Yihan's grandfather's younger brother. Chi Zhao hadn't really met the members of the Li family before. He sat up, sending Li Yihan an inquiring look. However, he was met with the sight of the other man making a very burdened expression.
"Mister..." Chi Zhao called him in a low voice.
The rest of his words hadn't even fallen off his lips before Li Yihan scooped up Lil' Fatty and shoved it into his arms. In a gentle tone, Li Yihan coaxed, "Be good, you go upstairs first. Come back down after I'm finished with this."
Visitors rarely came to the house. Yet even if it was rare, Li Yihan never told Qi Yuan to hide upstairs. Chi Zhao furrowed his brows in confusion. But the other man acted like he didn't notice. Instead, he turned to command Uncle Zhang, "Take the young master upstairs."
Ever since they got together, Li Yihan hadn't used such a commanding tone towards him. This caused Chi Zhao to become even more bewildered, yet he had no other choice but to follow Uncle Zhang up the stairs.
Chi Zhao appeared to be a good, obedient kid, but was he really?
Even Uncle Zhang who had already interacted with him long enough to see through his true personality could answer that he certainly was not!
Chi Zhao sat in his room for a while. When the sound of talking traveled from downstairs, he immediately cracked open his door and ran over to squat by the head of the stairs. There was a wall at the head of the stairs which helped hide him perfectly. Chi Zhao's ears perked as he heard the commotion from outside.
Er Ye was almost eighty years old this year. He was quite lively and his temper was equally as explosive. As soon as he came in, he pulled on a long face and rebuked Li Yihan.
"The foster son becoming the lover, no one would believe it if you spoke about it in public! Do you still know that you're a man? Two men becoming entangled together—if you don't feel any embarrassment for it, I find it disgusting! You are the head of the Li family. How could you commit such foolishness? You want to adopt a child, we cannot say anything about that. But if you want to mess around like this, that won't do! I'm telling you right now, the Li family is not just your Li family. If you don't drive him out, don't even think about continuing to be this family head anymore!"
The more Chi Zhao heard, the tighter his brows furrowed. It was quiet outside for about three seconds, then Li Yihan's calm reply traveled to his ears, "The Li family may not be just my Li family, but the Li Corporation is solely mine. Since you [formal] have said so, then I won't be this family head anymore. Please return. And while you're at it, tell the other members of the Li family that from now on, the Li Corporation has nothing to do with them."
Er Ye's eyes bulged, and he lifted his cane to hit Li Yihan, "You scoundrel, how dare you talk to me so impudently. Today I will teach you a lesson in your grandfather's stead!"
Uncle Zhang immediately rushed up and restrained Er Ye. Li Yihan stood across him, giving him an unveiled sneer, "You [formal] have truly become muddle-headed from age, to actually think that I would listen to you if you threatened me. I will also tell you right now, the only person on this planet who could threaten me is Qi Yuan. As for you [formal], you're better off staying wherever it's cool."