The bathroom became extremely silent. After a long period of silence, Chi Zhao finally moved.
Qi Yuyang thought he was going to leave so he cautiously turned his head back, but he saw that Chi Zhao hadn't left and had instead sat down in the water just like him.
With the lower half completely drenched, although the upper half was still dry, the water still quickly travelled up the clothes and it didn't take long for a large part of it to turn wet. The soaked clothes clung uncomfortably to the body. Chi Zhao pursed his lips and spoke, "Silence is the most useless method. If you want to solve a problem, you have to speak out."
Chi Zhao's voice turned softer, "Qi Yuyang."
Qi Yuyang who was named paused. He then slowly turned his head back and continued to silently look at Chi Zhao,
"Do you have anything you want to say to me?"
Yes.
A lot.
He wanted to know if Xue Qing had known about this all along. He wanted to know if Xue Qing had hated him all this time. He also wanted to know if Xue Qing had appeared in front of him just so that he could see how much of a mess he was.
There were too many things he wanted to know, but he couldn't ask anything.
Because he wasn't qualified. And because he didn't have the courage.
In all fairness, if Qi Yuyang was in Xue Qing's position, he would never be able to treat the other person the way Xue Qing had been treating him. He would most certainly make that person live in utter misery.
But Xue Qing had never shown much hostility towards him and he even talked to him about his parents without any hesitation.
Xue Qing was kind. Qi Yuyang had known this for a long time, but he also couldn't be kind to the point of being able to maintain a calm attitude towards the son of the enemy who had killed his mother.
Qi Yuyang felt that there was an 80% chance that Xue Qing…..probably didn't know about it.
Xue Qing didn't know about it, but he knew. What should he do from now on? Should he hide it from him? As the saying goes, paper cannot contain the fire and no truth can be buried forever. Sooner or later, Xue Qing will find out about the truth of the matter. Besides, perhaps someday Xue Xingfan would return. The moment he finds out about Xue Qing's relationship with himself, he would surely reveal the truth in a fit of anger.
At that time, what could he do?
Qi Yuyang couldn't hide the truth from Xue Qing, but he also couldn't bring himself to personally tell Xue Qing this cruel truth.
Xue Qing was his life, someone he cannot let go of in this lifetime. He would rather kill himself than push Xue Qing away.
Why?
Why was the world so unfair to him?
Before his life could even begin, his father had buried a powerful time bomb for him. Because of his father's faults, he was kidnapped. Because of his father's faults, he was forced to endure six years of inhumane torture. And now, because of his father's faults, he was about to lose his loved one.
He wasn't wrong and Xue Qing also wasn't wrong. Xue Xingfan who had directed his revenge onto him in order to avenge his wife also wasn't wrong. The wrong one was his father, but he was already dead.
So these faults, and this revenge, why did it all have to fall onto him?
Unwillingness is a manifestation of incompetence. One would only feel unwilling when they are faced with no other options. For the first time, Qi Yuyang felt strong unwillingness inside him.
Why?
Why did he have to live a miserable life because of mistakes made by someone else? Why did he have to lose the opportunity to be with his loved one because of mistakes made by someone else?
It was too ironic. Qi Yuyang was confident that he was most certainly the person who loves Xue Qing the most in this world but similarly, Qi Yuyang was also the last person in this world Xue Qing should be with.
The current Qi Yuyang was indeed drunk, but he was different from others when he gets drunk and wouldn't lose consciousness; he still knew who he is and is aware of everything happening around him. He however becomes taciturn when drunk, unable to say anything. On the other hand, he also become more willing to follow his heart.
So after getting drunk, the first thing he did was to go back to the apartment from the bar on foot. He didn't see Chi Zhao at home, so he walked out again and sat outside the door, quietly waiting for Chi Zhao's return.
At this moment, many complex and strong emotions were turbulent inside him. Qi Yuyang felt like he was about to explode. He had a lot of things he wanted to say to Xue Qing, but he couldn't utter a single word. He had many things he wanted to do but he similarly didn't have the courage to even raise his hand.
Because he wasn't worthy.
He wasn't even qualified enough to touch Xue Qing, let alone ask Xue Qing to stay by his side.
But what could he do? He couldn't live without Xue Qing and, if he were to live, he wanted to spend all his time with Xue Qing. He also didn't want to die, let alone die alone.
Looking at Chi Zhao, the corners of Qi Yuyang's eyes turned red. He opened his mouth for a long time before three words slowly rose from the depths of his throat. Because he hadn't spoken for so long, these three words were very hoarse. He was also drunk. After drinking a lot of alcohol, the words spoken were no longer firm like how it usually would be and was instead lighter and airier.
"...Don't leave me."
Don't leave me. They were just three simple words, but it was the most difficult promise for Chi Zhao to make.
Hearing those words, Chi Zhao didn't answer. He instead evaded Qi Yuyang's eyes and lowered his eyes. Qi Yuyang saw his reaction and his mood fell even further. It was as if there was a hole in his heart and his heart was falling deeper and deeper down every second. He clearly knew that he would die when it reaches the end but he had no way of stopping it because there was no one around to save him.
The only person who could save him was also unwilling to save him.
Qi Yuyang subconsciously stretched out his hand but before he could touch Chi Zhao, he hesitantly withdrew. Chi Zhao saw this and the doubts in him grew. He looked up and wanted to say something but when he was met with Qi Yuyang's painful and reluctant gaze, he could only swallow those words back down.
"I love you."
So...please, don't leave me.
Chi Zhao's expression only changed slightly. He lightly blinked his eyes a few times and then changed his position such that he was on his knees in the bathtub. With this position, he was about half a head taller than Qi Yuyang. He cradled the sides of Qi Yuyang's face and lightly printed a kiss between Qi Yuyang's eyebrows.
That touch was too gentle. Qi Yuyang couldn't help but close his eyes in response to this. In the darkness, he noticed that Chi Zhao didn't leave and only moved back slightly. He heard Chi Zhao whisper, "I know."
It was clearly a vague response but Qi Yuyang's heart magically relaxed when he heard those two words. He opened his eyes slightly and looked up at Chi Zhao quietly before pulling Chi Zhao into his embrace and burying his head in Chi Zhao shoulder. Completely exhausted, he slowly closed his eyes.
Qi Yuyang's hair was neither long nor short but his hair was relatively rough. A few of his hairs scratched Chi Zhao's neck, making it hurt and itch a little. Chi Zhao wanted to change the position, but he was afraid of waking Qi Yuyang up so he could only give up.
When Qi Yuyang finally fell asleep and Chi Zhao was finally able to stand back up, he could no longer feel his legs.
It took several minutes for him to recover. Chi Zhao then limped over to release the water, change Qi Yuyang into his pyjamas and then move him. During the entire process, Qi Yuyang was like a dead pig. No matter how Chi Zhao moved him, he didn't wake up. Thankfully the original owner was rather strong, or he really would not have been able to move Qi Yuyang.
When he was finally done with everything, Chi Zhao clutched his waist and waddled back to the bed, exhausted. He looked at the person lying beside him, still sleeping soundly.
Chi Zhao thought for a while and then called the system, "What happened to him today?"
[Who knows?]
"....If you don't know, who else would know? Can't you say something else?" Chi Zhao's tone was a little spiteful, "You can hear my thoughts so why can't you hear his?"
[Because the protagonists are immune to all foreign forces. I already told you about this. Besides, what good is it for me to hear his thoughts? I'll only be hearing about a bunch of useless 18+ thoughts anyway.]
Chi Zhao: "...…"
After a moment of silence, Chi Zhao forcibly changed the topic, "I still find it strange. Something serious must have happened today or Qi Yuyang wouldn't have drunk so much."
The system only played a supporting role. It didn't have the ability to analyse the progress of the world so it couldn't be of much help. After listening to Chi Zhao's analysis for a while, it snuck back to continue practicing singing. Chi Zhao turned over and continued to ponder seriously.
He had said 'don't leave me'. In other words, something that had happened today made Qi Yuyang feel that he would leave him.
What could it be?
Chi Zhao thought about it for most of the night, but it was to no avail. Even if he called the system out, the two of them together also would not have been able to come up with anything. Neither of them even considered the possibility of Chi Zhao accidentally triggering the hidden plotline in this world.
As the saying goes, where there is a cause, there is an effect. In fact, this hidden plotline was already present in the original plot but Xue Qing didn't like his father and had always been biased against him and Qi Yuyang also didn't like Xue Qing that much so, upon discovering that he was being manipulated, Qi Yuyang only thought about taking revenge. As for matters behind everything, he had never thought about it or considered looking into it. Furthermore, Cheng Ran in the original plot only cared about Qi Yuyang and had no interest in his teacher's son so he naturally wouldn't help him.
Qi Yuyang's father, Qi Shida, wasn't a good person. Xue Qing's father, Xue Xingfan was also not a good person. As for their sons, if you really had to be honest, they're also not very good people.
Xue Qing didn't show any sympathy or make any moves to help rescue his innocent classmate and even nonchalantly approached him later on to cheat benefits off him. As for the businessman Qi Yuyang, although he wasn't as bad as his father, he was still the same and only did things with the aim to gain a profit. If Xue Qing didn't have any hidden intentions of his own and was willing to stay with him, he would've imprisoned Xue Qing and used him for his own benefit.
They were all hypocrites.
None of them were upstanding characters.
The main system sighed as he looked through the information received on his end. As he sighed and sighed, it eventually turned into a hum.
"The pain from love~ The pain from hatred~ I can no longer distinguish between love and hate~ Why is it~~"
A familiar melody sounded from its own sound system and the main systems actions stopped. After about three seconds, he slowly lowered the documents in his hands and approached the communicator to dial the engineer's number.
After the communication channel was connected, the main system spoke in his usual gentle voice, "Hello Mr. Engineer. I would like to make an appointment with you. Next week, I would like to visit the factory for a repair. Yes, it's me. The slag shou system hasn't returned yet so make one for me first..."