Chapter 14: Mr. Gentle and the Furious Goblin
Translated by Ying of Exiled Rebels Scanslations
Even if his manager was extremely against it, Qiu ZiYan still cleared his entire afternoon schedule and accompanied Tang XiaoYu in his ward for a whole five hours waiting for him to wake up.
“Sorry.” After opening his eyes to see Qiu ZiYan sitting beside him, Tang XiaoYu apologized awkwardly.
“No worries.” Qiu ZiYan helped him to sit up, “Hungry? Mai Ke went out to buy dinner, he’ll be back soon.”
“Can you please not tell my family about this?” Tang XiaoYu requested cautiously.
“Don’t worry, I haven’t notified uncle Tang.” Qiu ZiYan rearranged the cushions for him, “But you need to tell me, what exactly happened today?”
“… I don’t know.” Tang XiaoYu shook his head, “I was just planning on buying something, but then I was suddenly hit with a stick by someone behind me. It was probably a thief or something.”
Qiu ZiYan frowned, “You’re not allowed to lie to me.”
“I didn’t lie.” Tang XiaYu’s tone was a bit unnatural.
“There are so many supermarkets and shops on the street, what did you want to buy that was in that back alley?” Qiu ZiYan met the other man’s eyes, “And what thief would knock you out then beat your face up like this, and your wallet didn’t even move from your pocket.”
“I don’t want to say.” As his lie was discovered, Tang XiaoYu could only look away and avoid the other man’s gaze. “Then you should hurry up and fire me… As long as you don’t tell my uncle.”
“What would firing you achieve?” Qiu ZiYan felt helpless. “When Uncle Tang left, he told me that I had to look after you to the best of my abilities.”
Tang XiaoYu lowered his head and didn’t speak.
“Never mind, let’s talk about this later.” Seeing how he looked, Qiu ZiYan didn’t want to interrogate him. “You had a slight concussion, the doctor said that after a night’s observation, you can leave tomorrow.”
“Thank you.” Seeing that he didn’t force question, Tang XiaoYu let out a sigh of relief.
The manager was back soon with the dinner, after he had finished eating, Tang XiaoYu obediently snuggled into his blankets and went to sleep. Qiu ZiYan turned to look at Mai Ke, “You go back first, tomorrow drive over here to pick him up when he leaves.”
“You want to stay with him?” The manager was shocked. “We can just find a nurse!”
“No worries, it’s just one night.” Qiu ZiYan was persistent.
“Why?” The manager couldn’t understand. A super star staying with a little driver?
“Bye, be careful on the road.” Qiu ZiYan sent him off, obviously not planning to offer an explanation.
The manager, Mr. Mai, could only helplessly follow the order. Although being humble was a good thing, this was just a little over the top! He really couldn’t understand what was going on in that head of his.
That night, Qiu ZiYan didn’t sleep much, because as Tang XiaoYu had nightmares, his mouth kept murmuring unclear words while his forehead broke out in cold sweat.
“XiaoYu.” Qiu ZiYan watched on worriedly from the side and decided to wake him.
Tang XiaoYu groaned quietly then like a little animal, instinctively jumped into the other man’s arms.
“Don’t be scared.” Qiu ZiYan patted his sweat drenched back.
Tang XiaoYu hugged his waist tightly, his entire body trembling. The loose hospital clothing’s button had been rubbed open, revealing the crisscrossing scars on his shoulder, the pale skin they belonged to made them stand out all the more.
Qiu ZiYan froze for a moment and tugged his clothes downwards further – it wasn’t exclusive to the man’s shoulders, even his back was covered with scars.
He was only a kid, who would do this to him? Qiu ZiYan frowned slightly, after helping him fix his clothes up, he darkened the lights further.
As though he felt that he had support, Tang XiaoYu quietened and fell into heavy sleep.
Qiu ZiYan leaned on the headboard of the bed, allowing him to lie in his arms. Late morning, guessing that the nurse would be doing her rounds soon, he carefully tucked the person in.
Not long afterwards, the manager pushed the door open and entered. He was really scared that Qui ZiYan would be seen by the media, so he came early in the morning to pick Tang XiaoYu up. Once he had processed all the necessary paperwork, he took the other man to the car, asking, “Where do you live?”
“… You don’t need to take me home.” Tang XiaoYu sounded as though he was trying to hide. “I’ll go with Mr. Qiu to the company.”
“You can’t drive at the moment. The doctor said that you have to pay attention to resting.” The manager turned his head to look at him, “I’ve already taken a holiday off for you, you can come back to work after Monday.”
“You really don’t have to go to the trouble.” Tang XiaoYu pulled the car door open, “How about you take Mr. Qiu to the company and I call a taxi for myself.”
“Come back!” Qiu ZiYan reached out and grabbed onto him, saying straightforwardly, “Mai Ke, drive back to my place.”
“…” Tang XiaoYu was suspicious to the point of speechlessness, the manager was even more suspicious. “You still have work in the afternoon, what are you doing, going back home now?”
“To get something.” Qiu ZiYan closed the car door.
“Get what?” The manager persisted.
“Drive.” Qiu ZiYan leaned into the seat, closing his eyes to get some rest.
Mr. Mai was extremely unhappy. What type of manner was this? How hurtful! What was even more hurtful was that after he had driven the car to Qiu ZiYan’s place at the North of the city, he didn’t even get a cup of tea! To be exact, he didn’t even get to go upstairs before he was sent off coldly!
“I’ll be on time for the magazine cover in the afternoon.” Qiu ZiYan took Tang XiaoYu with him as he got out of the car then closed the door behind him. “You can go back first. Goodbye.”
He had obviously just been used and discarded! The manager’s heart fell to pieces in an instant! So he only sees me as a tool! This world was so very cold!
“… What do you need to get?” In the lift, Tang XiaoYu inquired.
“For this period of time, stay at my place.” Qiu ZiYan spoke bluntly, taking out a key to open the door to his place.
“Why?” Tang XiaoYu was shocked.
“It’s more convenient for me to use the car.” Qiu ZiYan answered matter-of-factly.
Although this reason seemed quite logical on the surface, Tang XiaoYu wasn’t stupid and hesitated at the doorway.
“You scared I’m gonna charge you rent?” Qiu ZiYan joked.
“You really don’t have to go to so much trouble.” Tang XiaoYu bit his bottom lip. “I can rent a new house.”
“Even though I don’t know what happened and I don’t know who it is that scared you so much that you don’t even dare to go home. It is definitely safe here.” Qiu ZiYan opened the door to the guestroom, “If you want to go back to get something, I’ll get a professional bodyguard to accompany you.”
“I…”
“Stops I I I-ing.” Qiu ZiYan rubbed his head. “When you feel like talking about it come tell me.”
“… Thank you.” The other’s tone was just too gentle, the rims of Tang XiaoYu’s eyes heated up.
“No problem.” Qiu ZiYan smiled, taking out a new set of blankets and sheets to make his bed.
“Are you this good to everyone?” Tang XiaoYu stood at the door as he asked hesitantly.
“I’m not that good a person.” Qiu ZiYan straightened the sheets. “I’m good to you because Uncle Tang is good to me and the last time someone was looking to start trouble with me, it was him who drove like crazy to get me out of there.”
“Really?” Tang XiaoYu was surprised at those words.
“Of course.” Qiu ZiYan looked at him, “Uncle Tang sees me as his own son, so I’ll treat you as my younger brother.”
Tang XiaoYu didn’t know what he should say.
“From now on don’t mess around with those messed up people.” Qiu ZiYan passed him a key, “Apart from my bedroom, you can go to any of the other rooms. There’s a number for takeaway on top of the fridge. When you get hungry, order something for yourself.”
“En.” Tang XiaoYu’s voice was extremely quiet.
“Rest up a bit.” Qiu ZiYan picked his jacket up, “I need to go work so I might be a bit late tonight.”
After sending him out with his eyes, Tang XiaoYu lay on the sofa, his mind in shambles. It seemed as though every time he was in trouble, some super star would help him! First Su Nuo, now Qiu ZiYan, this sort of luck was really… He didn’t even know how to describe it.
Because it took some time to drop Tang XiaoYu off at home and the traffic was terrible, when Qiu ZiYan got to the photographing location, Su Nuo had already waited for a full fifteen minutes!
“He must be late on purpose!” The model Su had a mean heart.
“Why?” Dai An didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“Because he wants to seem more important than me!” Su Nuo gritted his teeth together. “Dammit, how could we not think of this?!” This was really a fail in strategy!
“You’re overthinking it.” The manager tried to soothe him, “Do you want a cup of mango juice?”
“No.” Su Nuo was still very unhappy!
“I’m really so sorry.” Before Qiu ZiYan got his hair done, he especially dropped by the resting room to apologise to Su Nuo. “The traffic was terrible on the way here, so I arrived late.”
“I…”
Su Nuo didn’t even finish talking when the manager revealed a toothy smile and cut him off. “Of course it’s fine! Our Nuonuo would never mind something like this, Mr. Qiu should hurry and get yourself styled!”
Who said I don’t mind this?! Su Nuo was extremely angry, I’m about to die from minding okay! Lying with the eyes wide open was so fake! The fakest!
“Please calm down, young master.” After sending Qiu ZiYan off, the manager used his sleeve to fan at the other man. “High quality people like us are on a completely different rank. We can’t have the same sense as an ab man.”
“Next time I’m definitely going to be later than him by two hours!” Su Nuo furiously clenched his fist!
“How is two hours enough?!” The manager put on his serious face, “Two and a half at the very least!”
“No! No!” Su Nuo hit the table. “I don’t want a next time!” This sort of infuriating cooperation only needed to happen once in his lifetime okay?!
“Yes yes yes, of course.” The manager hurriedly went with the flow. To have a young master in the house really kept one on their toes!
Ten minutes later, a worker walked over and knocked on the door, “Mr. Qiu has finished his styling, he is ready to be photographed.”
“… How can he be so fast?” As Su Nuo walked, he murmured to himself. He usually required an hour to get ready.
“Because he’s not as important as you, the stylist just did it carelessly.” The manager said it offhandedly. But the reality was more depressing. This was because Qiu ZiYan was a hardened masculine man! No matter his hair or his facial features, all of it didn’t need much work for them to seem macho and stand out. But a bewitching spirit like Su Nuo wasn’t the same, just his hair took more than half an hour and already took a lot of time and money!
What was that about not being as important as me? This sounded like music to my ears! Su Nuo cackled on the inside and walked into the photographing location with a spring in his step.
Then he saw Ouyang Long.
“Huh!” The model Su was shocked and suspicious. “What are you doing here?”
“… This magazine company’s chief editor is friends with me, and I just walked by so I decided to drop in and visit him. I didn’t expect to bump into you.” Director OuYang’s lies flowed smoothly.
“What a coincident.” Su Nuo didn’t have any sort of doubt, giving out an invitation happily, “I still owe you a meal, how about we eat together tonight?”
“Of course.” Ou YangLong agreed immediately, his eyes shone with a… Hidden version black bellied leer!