Chapter 27 – Is He This Nice to Everyone?

Not long after eating, Xiao Fang was forced back to sleep by Fei Xiangnan. Watching Xiao Fang’s peaceful sleeping face, Fei Xiangnan smiled to himself and prepared to go to the study to handle some work.

Just as he sat down in his study chair, his phone rang. It was Que Jiang.

“Boss, is Young Master Xiao alright?” Que Jiang’s voice was as cool as ever.

Fei Xiangnan was used to this mode of interaction and let out a soft “mm” from his throat. “What did the director over there say?”

“His attitude was fine. Young Master Xiao is quite popular in this crew, and with his father’s influence, no one will say much.”

Fei Xiangnan nodded with satisfaction. A thought suddenly popped into his head. “Do you think their attitude would be even better if they knew Xiao Fang was my, Fei Xiangnan’s, spouse?”

This time, Que Jiang went completely silent on the other end.

Fei Xiangnan savored his own words for a moment. It didn’t feel strange when he said it, but now, thinking back, it sounded odd. Should he not be indulging Xiao Fang so much?

Unlike Xiao Ma, who would flatter him just for the sake of it, Que Jiang didn’t manage Fei Xiangnan’s trivial affairs. It was just that his previous mission had been too heavy, and Fei Xiangnan wanted him to have a change of pace, which was why he had given him the job of being Xiao Fang’s assistant. Therefore, Que Jiang didn’t beat around the bush; he said what he meant.

“Boss, you’ve developed real feelings,” it was a statement, not a question.

Fei Xiangnan didn’t hesitate. “Yes,” he said directly. Fei Xiangnan was the type to admit what he’d done, especially to his most loyal subordinate.

Que Jiang was silent for a moment before saying, “I support the boss’s decision.”

“Good. When Xiao Fang comes home for his confinement, I’ll give you a long vacation. You can take on new missions when you feel ready,” Fei Xiangnan said, in a rather good mood. At this point, he was happy to have anyone jump out and support him.

***

Xiao Fang couldn’t sleep much longer. Around five o’clock, he couldn’t help but get up. There was no sign of Fei Xiangnan in the room.

His own clothes were neatly folded on a hanger. Xiao Fang quickly got dressed and tiptoed into the living room, which was also empty. It was only when he approached the study that he heard the sound of a keyboard clicking.

For some reason, Xiao Fang felt a little relieved. He didn’t disturb Fei Xiangnan, but instead turned and went into the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator; the ingredients he had bought yesterday were all neatly arranged on every shelf. Xiao Fang calculated the time. He should be leaving tonight. He would make dinner for Fei Xiangnan before he left.

Xiao Fang’s cooking skills were no joke. In half an hour, several dishes were on the table.

Poached spicy sliced pork, fish-fragrant shredded pork, pickled fish, braised pork belly, mapo tofu, cumin beef, and stir-fried seasonal vegetables. It was a well-balanced meal, savory without being greasy. Fei Xiangnan could smell the aroma from his study.

“President Fei, I’ve made dinner. You should come out and have some. I’m sorry for the trouble yesterday,” Xiao Fang said apologetically, his attitude as sincere as could be.

Fei Xiangnan stood up, looking pleased. “You celebrated my birthday yesterday. How could that be trouble? I should be the one thanking you.”

Looking at the cheerful Fei Xiangnan, Xiao Fang’s first reaction was to wonder if he had taken the wrong medicine. For him to be so pleasant to a small fry like him was really something he wasn’t used to.

“Let’s go, time to eat.” Fei Xiangnan had heard the commotion when Xiao Fang started cooking in the kitchen and guessed he wouldn’t be able to sit still, so he didn’t say much. Xiao Fang nodded like a sycophant and followed obediently behind him.

Fei Xiangnan had thought Xiao Fang’s skills were limited to boiling noodles and frying eggs. Seeing this spread of dishes truly shocked him. It was surprising that a rich young master could cook such a fine meal.

“Your mother… taught you a lot,” was all Fei Xiangnan could say.

Xiao Fang scratched his head in embarrassment. “Not really, I figured out the rest on my own later. I just didn’t have much chance to show it off. President Fei, please try some.”

Xiao Fang enthusiastically pulled out a chair for Fei Xiangnan.

Fei Xiangnan looked at Xiao Fang’s foolishly attentive display and didn’t know how to describe it. This was the kind of thing he should be doing to pursue someone, but now this guy had done it all. How was he supposed to chase him now? It seemed the most urgent thing was to make Xiao Fang understand that they were equals, and he didn’t need to be so obsequious.

“You don’t have to do this in the future. Legally, we are a married couple, and our status is equal. Even if we don’t want too many people to know about our relationship, there’s no need for one of us to be subservient to the other.”

After hearing this, Xiao Fang put down his chopsticks and looked at Fei Xiangnan with a grave expression. “President Fei, is it that my cooking isn’t to your taste? Or was my service unsatisfactory?”

Looking at the wilting Xiao Fang before him, Fei Xiangnan felt a headache coming on.

“No.”

Xiao Fang looked at Fei Xiangnan cautiously. “Then did I disturb your work today?”

He was a lost cause. The thought flashed through Fei Xiangnan’s mind. It seemed that kind words were useless on this type of person. Fei Xiangnan would have to find another way.

“It’s nothing. Let’s eat. Pretend I didn’t say anything,” Fei Xiangnan said, feeling his jaw clench as he spoke.

Xiao Fang watched Fei Xiangnan anxiously for a while. Seeing that he had picked up his chopsticks and hadn’t stopped eating, he seemed to be enjoying it. Only then did Xiao Fang put his worries to rest.

At the end of the meal, Xiao Fang saw Fei Xiangnan put down his chopsticks with satisfaction and dutifully followed suit. The several dishes had been successfully devoured by two people with huge appetites. Although Fei Xiangnan ate elegantly, his stomach capacity was larger than that of an average person.

In Xiao Fang’s words, it was probably because his brain consumed more energy than the average person’s. As for himself, he only needed to use his brain when acting. At other times, he avoided it if he could. He cherished his brain cells.

“President Fei, I have to go back to the set later. I still need to study the script for tomorrow’s scenes,” Xiao Fang said as he cleared the table.

Fei Xiangnan’s eyes turned cold. “Are you saying you’re going to drive back to the set on the highway late at night?”

Fei Xiangnan’s glare made Xiao Fang’s scalp tingle. “Y-yes, I don’t want to trouble them too much.”

A wave of frustration welled up in Fei Xiangnan’s chest. He shot a cold glance at Xiao Fang. “No.”

Xiao Fang’s heart trembled. President Fei, can’t you say ‘no’ a little less decisively?

“But my script…”

Fei Xiangnan immediately cut him off. “Don’t you have a digital copy?”

“I also want to rehearse my lines. I have a complicated scene with Wen An’an tomorrow,” Xiao Fang said pitifully.

As soon as he said that, Xiao Fang felt as if his body had been frozen by a piercing gaze. “Rehearsing scripts late at night? Xiao Fang, you’re really hardworking.”

When Fei Xiangnan was being sarcastic, his words cut right to the heart. Rehearsing a script was such an innocent thing, yet he had to add “late at night.”

Xiao Fang looked at Fei Xiangnan with some embarrassment, feeling a little anxious. He couldn’t stand being misunderstood. “It’s not just Wen An’an, there are other actors too. We’re all just professional colleagues.”

Professional? Had Wen An’an ever said they were just professional? Zhang Hang had just left, and now Wen An’an was taking his place. Fei Xiangnan resisted the urge to blacklist Wen An’an. Looking at Xiao Fang’s face, he knew that questioning him further would be useless. If he continued to oppose him, he would only push him further away.

“Do you really have to go back tonight?” Fei Xiangnan asked again, reining in his temper.

Surprised and secretly pleased by Fei Xiangnan’s sudden change in attitude, Xiao Fang thought, So President Fei is a reasonable person after all. “Yes, I’m going back tonight.”

Fei Xiangnan looked at Xiao Fang for a long moment before finally conceding. “Have you finished the snacks I brought you last time?”

The snacks Fei Xiangnan had brought last time were all delicious, a high-class taste that Xiao Fang had never experienced in his previous life. Xiao Fang had eaten them all while feeling conflicted.

“I finished them. They were delicious,” Xiao Fang said sincerely.

Fei Xiangnan glanced at him silently. It seemed that only when it came to food was Xiao Fang so genuine.

“Then I’ll take you to buy some more later. Don’t worry about packing up, I’ll have the maid come over. Get yourself ready, quickly,” Fei Xiangnan said, interrupting Xiao Fang’s tidying and standing up.

Xiao Fang was stunned. “President Fei, weren’t those snacks you brought from abroad? Also, why would you trouble yourself to drive me?”

Fei Xiangnan glanced at him, stood up, and said lightly, “The driver’s wife is giving birth today, so he doesn’t have time to take you. Besides, they have them at the import supermarket here. Hurry up and get ready, don’t be too late.”

With that, Fei Xiangnan went to the master bedroom first. Xiao Fang slowly walked into the guest room behind him.

It was strange. He seemed to remember that the driver who drove him last time looked to be in his forties or fifties. That would be a late birth. Last time, he even heard him say that his own son was about to get married. Was he planning to have a joint first-month celebration for his child and his grandchild?

Xiao Fang resisted the urge to ask. It was better not to spoil President Fei’s good mood.

After quickly getting ready, Xiao Fang’s first stop with Fei Xiangnan was the supermarket.

Fei Xiangnan, dressed in casual clothes, pulling along the similarly dressed Xiao Fang, gave off the feeling of a newly married couple shopping at the supermarket.

The thrill of shopping with a big shot like President Fei was that you didn’t need to look at the price tags. Although he could afford it now, he was used to being frugal, so it was still better to be extravagant with someone else.

“Was this yogurt good last time?”

“Delicious!” Xiao Fang nodded eagerly. Fei Xiangnan grabbed two cases without batting an eye.

“What about the dried fruit? Which flavor do you like?”

“The durian and black raisin ones were both good,” Xiao Fang said honestly.

Fei Xiangnan took ten bags of each of those two flavors, and two bags of all the others. “It’s important to have a balanced diet.”

“What about the jerky?”

“They were all delicious.”

Fei Xiangnan grabbed more than twenty bags with both hands.

After that, Xiao Fang didn’t say much more. Whether it was delicious or not, Fei Xiangnan would buy it all for him. By the time they got to the checkout, two shopping carts were almost overflowing.

Looking at the man whose profile was so sharp it seemed almost cold, Xiao Fang for the first time thought that this person was actually very warm. He could have pushed a cart himself, but he was stopped by him. To be honest, except for their first negotiation and when he was angry, Fei Xiangnan had been nothing but good to him. Although he would scold him when necessary, when he was good, he was really good.

He had assigned one of his subordinates to be responsible for his three meals a day, and he still thought of him after work. If Xiao Fang ever met someone he liked in the future who was like Fei Xiangnan, he would be very satisfied.

On the way, Xiao Fang continued to find topics to chat with Fei Xiangnan about. This time, surprisingly, Fei Xiangnan wasn’t just giving one-word answers. He engaged with him every time, sometimes even going into depth, which left Xiao Fang feeling a bit flattered.

After getting off the highway and approaching the hotel, Fei Xiangnan took the initiative to speak. “If you have any grievances here, just tell Que Jiang directly. I can’t guarantee what will happen in the future, but right now, you are my legal husband. Don’t bottle things up too much. I can still protect you. But,” Fei Xiangnan suddenly shot him a serious look, “don’t let me catch you with the food. Even if the weather is hot, you can’t drink ice water, understand?”

Watching this man who controlled the winds and clouds now nagging him about these small things, Xiao Fang was deeply moved, a new sense of gratitude filling his heart.

When it was finally time to get out of the car, Que Jiang was already waiting downstairs. It was already ten o’clock, so Xiao Ma was probably asleep. Xiao Fang hadn’t notified him. Que Jiang single-handedly carried all the snacks.

Xiao Fang looked at the sky, which was as black as it could be, and then at the somewhat weary Fei Xiangnan.

“President Fei, why don’t you stay here for the night?”

He knows how to care about me. Not bad.

Fei Xiangnan raised an eyebrow and reached out to ruffle Xiao Fang’s hair. “I have a meeting tomorrow morning. It’s only ten o’clock. I’ll be back by one, which is about the same time I finish work when I’m working overtime. Eat a little of the snacks at a set time each day, but not too much. Que Jiang, you watch him. He can’t control his mouth.”

Que Jiang responded with a respectful “yes.”

Xiao Fang wanted to say more, but Fei Xiangnan had already gotten into the car. He rolled down the window and gave him a deep look. “I’m leaving now. Take good care of yourself.”

Xiao Fang was stunned for a moment, and could only manage a foolish “goodbye.” He stood there until the car’s taillights disappeared into the night, still not having fully processed it.

“Que Jiang, do you think President Fei is this nice to all his subordinates?”

Que Jiang raised an eyebrow and replied respectfully, “Yes, President Fei treats all his subordinates well.”

Xiao Fang blinked, his eyelashes brushing against his lower eyelids, a strange tickle spreading deep inside him. He said in a daze, “Then I can rest assured.”