Chapter 110 – The Road to Reconciliation
The call came from a bartender. His voice sounded quite anxious, and the faint sound of a commotion could be heard in the background. At that moment, Xiao Fang had just prepared another candlelight dinner—oh, no, a family dinner—at home with Fei Xiangnan. Standing by the dinner table were three little ones with expectant eyes, and of course, Fei Xiangnan, who was already seated.
Xiao Fang put down the last bowl of food. He had the phone on speaker, and right now, Fei Xiangnan’s face was as black as it could possibly be.
“Um, the situation is quite serious. How about you make a trip with me?” Xiao Fang said helplessly. He felt incredibly frustrated himself, as if he were watching two children having a never-ending fight.
“Finish your dinner,” President Fei commanded with the air of the head of the household.
“But they’re already fighting!” Xiao Fang was worried.
Fei Xiangnan had long wanted to grab these two troublemakers and give them a good spanking. How could a relationship be so dramatic? All this endless drama was affecting other people’s married life. At this moment, the complaining President Fei had completely forgotten how dramatic his own adjustment period with Xiao Fang had been.
Fei Xiangnan discontentedly took out his phone, found a number, and dialed it directly.
The call was answered quickly. Fei Xiangnan said with a dark expression, “Can you or can you not resolve your issues with Ma Rui?”
“I can. It will be over after this period. I’ve already made things clear to him.” The detached tone on the other end of the line made Fei Xiangnan want to slap him. Originally, tonight, he should have been snuggling with his soft wife and kids in a warm bed, but who knew!
“Is that so? Then I suppose you don’t care that he’s fighting with someone in a bar and is about to be tricked into bed by a stranger.”
Was it that exaggerated? Xiao Fang was shaking his head and waving his hands frantically on the side, but President Fei paid him no mind. Exaggeration was a necessary means to ignite passion in a subordinate. Otherwise, he’d have to keep cleaning up their messes every day.
As expected, there was silence on the other end of the line.
“Boss, you’re not one to joke around.”
Fei Xiangnan raised an eyebrow, lying without even a blush. “That’s right, I’m not one to joke around.” But for the sake of a happy married life, this little joke was worth it. The consequences were predictable.
***
By the time Que Jiang arrived on the scene, the situation had escalated from a physical fight to a verbal one, mainly because the two protagonists had run out of energy to fight.
“Hmph, it’s because your ass isn’t perky enough that your man abandoned you!” a flamboyantly dressed young man in a tank top sneered in a shrill tone. His voice was not low, and everyone in the crowd of onlookers heard him clearly.
“Screw you! I’m not gay, so stop being so damn effeminate around me!” Ma Rui could guarantee that if so many people weren’t holding him back, he would have already killed this little brat who interrupted his drinking!
“Hmph, you’re not gay? Then why did you start a fight with me when I said I wanted you to give me your man? It’s because you have no confidence, isn’t it?” the other person said sarcastically.
No confidence? Ma Rui, like an ignited firecracker, started lashing out again. Fueled by alcohol, he was capable of anything.
“Screw your ‘no confidence,’ you fucking sissy!”
The young man, who was even smaller than Ma Rui, showed no fear at all and continued his attack, wearing heavy makeup. However, this chicken fight was forcibly stopped before it could even begin. Ma Rui was lifted up with one hand by a tall man.
The flamboyant man let out a cry of surprise, his reaction even bigger than Ma Rui’s. There was no other reason than the fact that this man was just too handsome! In a city full of beautiful people, he was the cream of the crop.
The next second, the flamboyant man immediately took out his powder compact to touch up his makeup, acting as if he was completely unaware of the chaos around him.
“Had enough fun?” The familiar voice sobered Ma Rui up quite a bit, followed by a stinging sensation in his nose.
“What fun? I just came here for a drink. Let go of me first.” Ma Rui felt that this position was extremely humiliating.
“Brother, if you think he’s being noisy, you can consider me. I’m very well-behaved and only make noise when I’m supposed to,” he said, throwing a flirtatious wink at Que Jiang behind him.
This time, before Ma Rui could launch a verbal attack, Que Jiang coldly blocked him. “Not needed.” His words seemed to drip with ice, but the flamboyant man didn’t want to give up on this top-quality specimen so easily. He was about to struggle a bit more, but Que Jiang had already left with Ma Rui in tow, even settling the bill before he left.
Que Jiang dragged Ma Rui to the car, then went out to buy him some sobering medicine, forcing him to take it with a stern gaze.
“Drinking at this hour, don’t you know it’s dangerous? Your girlfriend is still waiting at home, right?” When Que Jiang said this, he didn’t even realize how sour his own words were. In his mind, everything seemed to be resolved.
Ma Rui’s thoughts were a bit muddled, but he knew he couldn’t let Que Jiang know about this, so he had to continue the lie.
“She had some family matters these past two days, so she went back to her hometown.”
“You’re not going with her?” Que Jiang seemed determined to get to the bottom of it.
Ma Rui, with a belly full of fire, finally wanted to let it all out. “My business with her has nothing to do with you, does it? You left without a word, and I don’t think I ever asked you about it!”
This was a minefield. Que Jiang could only say, “My situation is different from yours.”
Ma Rui snorted coldly. “What’s different? Que Jiang, you can leave without a word, and I… I can drink here. I don’t interfere with you, and you can’t interfere with me. Even if I, Ma Rui, kick the bucket here, ugh, it’s none of your business!”
Que Jiang’s face was terrifyingly ugly. He couldn’t even bear to belittle the person he liked, so how could he let him treat himself so carelessly?
“Ma Rui, are you serious about that?” Que Jiang looked directly into Ma Rui’s eyes.
Ma Rui smiled mockingly and met his gaze without fear. At this point, what did he have to be afraid of? “Yeah, more real than gold. Even if I, Ma Rui, get screwed over, it has nothing to do with you. You don’t need to pity me with your sympathy. I,” Ma Rui pointed at Que Jiang, his gaze unusually serious, “am nothing to you. You… you don’t need to go to this extent. To put it bluntly, even if I, Ma Rui, die outside, it has nothing to do with you. We… have no relationship.”
Bang!
With a loud noise, Ma Rui was pinned to the back seat by Que Jiang. Que Jiang’s usually calm expression was now exceptionally ferocious. His voice, like a sharp blade, slid past Ma Rui’s ear. “Who allowed you to cheapen yourself like this? Don’t you have a girlfriend? Aren’t you getting married? Is this your so-called pre-marital life?”
Being shaken like this made Ma Rui completely dizzy, and his mouth lost all restraint. “Pre-marital life? Hahahaha!” Ma Rui laughed sarcastically. “Who the hell has a pre-marital life? After being messed up like this, what girl would still want to be with me? You, on the other hand, just up and leave without a word, can’t even be reached by phone. I’m such a fucking idiot!”
As he spoke, Ma Rui shed tears of regret. He hated that he hadn’t been able to hold back, and by the time he had confirmed his feelings, the other person had already left without a sound.
Que Jiang was also stunned by his words. He didn’t even realize what that sentence meant.
“Today, I’ve already made my decision. Find someone, forget properly, and live a good life. Always living in your shadow, I feel like I’m a good-for-nothing!” Falling for a man was something Ma Rui had never imagined, but it had happened. A change in feelings, a complex and difficult process. By the time Ma Rui had gotten through it, that person was already gone. What a great irony.
Que Jiang looked at this person who was crying his eyes out, sillier than anyone he had ever dealt with, so simple he was the type to count money for the person who scammed him. Yet he had fallen in love with such a person so easily.
“I’m very sorry.”
Ma Rui tried to push Que Jiang away, but he didn’t have the strength. “I don’t need that. Let me go. After I beat up that fucking sissy, I’ll find a clean gigolo, and we’ll be even.” This was the decision he had made after countless self-suggestions at home.
“You dare!” Que Jiang got angry just thinking about it, but looking at Ma Rui’s pitiful state, the harsh words on the tip of his tongue were swallowed back down. “I had a reason for leaving before. As for our situation, I thought maybe you really didn’t like men, so I wanted to make a clean break. I didn’t expect you to think this way. If I had known, I definitely wouldn’t have left. And you also said you were getting married. I was furious at the time too.”
Ma Rui’s strength gradually waned, and in the end, he stopped struggling. He looked at the person in front of him with a red nose. He had thought before that this person might come back to find him, but after repeated disappointments, and last time he got drunk, he still woke up alone. The person he missed the most was not by his side.
“You won’t… leave without a word again, will you?” Ma Rui asked, feeling insecure.
Now that he had the person in his grasp, so-called excuses were no longer a problem. If one day, Ma Rui wanted to know the truth about his departure, he would tell him honestly after the plan was over. “I won’t.”
Ma Rui’s heart gradually settled, and his body suddenly felt extremely tired. He had been thinking about these issues all these days and had become a bit mentally fragile. Now that the great weight in his heart was lifted, and with the help of the alcohol, Ma Rui finally felt a strong urge to rest.
Que Jiang’s embrace gave him an inexplicable sense of security, a feeling of, ah, this person has finally come back. He no longer had to live on edge.
Ma Rui clutched Que Jiang’s clothes, overcome with drowsiness. He muttered explanations of the past as he slowly closed his eyes.
“The marriage was just to piss you off. I was just unsure, unsure of my own feelings. You… I don’t have a fiancée. I… don’t like men, I just happen to like you…”
Que Jiang held Ma Rui tightly, a trace of warmth finding its way into his pale pupils. It felt like he was truly home.
***
Meanwhile, Fei Xiangnan received the news. He looked at Xiao Fang, who had been too worried to sleep, and hugged him, kissing his wife’s forehead. “They’ve made up. He’s probably worked through it himself. This time you don’t have to worry like a parent anymore. Go to sleep.”
Worked through what? Xiao Fang, who had been about to fall asleep, was completely jolted awake by this sentence. “Worked through what? What did he work through?”
“I’m not telling you.” Fei Xiangnan interrupted his little pampered wife’s gossipy thoughts and was about to turn off the light when Xiao Fang clung to him. “Tell me, tell me! If you don’t tell me, you’re not allowed to sleep!”
“I have an even better way to keep you from sleeping. Want to try it?”
Xiao Fang was stunned for a moment, and then he was stripped down to a pair of little yellow duck underwear. It was incredibly fast!
And so, before he could find out the gossip, Xiao Bunny had been eaten clean by Fei Wolf.