Xiyu rubbed his temples, shut down his computer, and stood up. He took the trench coat hanging on the rack, pulled his car keys out of his pocket, and headed downstairs.
“President Xi.”
His newly hired assistant was a young man in his early twenties. Seeing Xiyu leaving at this hour, he hurried over to greet him.
Xiyu tossed out a single instruction. “Tell everyone they can go home for the day.”
Then he strode toward the elevator.
He was going to pick Lu Zhixing up from work. Tomorrow was New Year’s Day, after all—a day that called for being together with loved ones.
That afternoon, Lu Zhixing had said he would probably be busy until around nine.
Traffic was a little congested, but Xiyu wasn’t in a hurry. He even stopped at a popular cake shop nearby to buy a strawberry cake. He ended up waiting in line for half an hour.
It began snowing halfway through his drive. By the time Xiyu arrived downstairs at the company, braving the wind and snow, it was almost seven.
“Good evening, President Xi.”
“Good evening, President Xi.”
The employees greeted him one after another, and Xiyu responded with a nod.
The receptionist pressed the elevator button for him. Xiyu smiled. “Thank you.”
The young woman was momentarily dazzled by his extraordinary beauty, and her cheeks flushed pink.
“N-no problem.”
Even after Xiyu entered the elevator, she remained rooted to the spot. A colleague came over and teased her, “Stop staring. Be careful, or President Lu will fire you.”
“President Lu would never do that.” The young woman rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone. “I still have fan content to make for the Whatever the Stars Desire CP Super Topic. This has been officially authorized by one of the actual people involved!”
It all went back to the first day Lu Zhixing returned to the company, when Xiyu personally escorted him upstairs.
The young woman had only joined the company recently. She had originally been a fan of Lu Zhixing, but eventually became a fan of the pairing. After Lu Zhixing retired from the entertainment industry and she could no longer get her regular supply of romantic moments between them, she had applied for a receptionist position at the company.
Everyone knew that Lu Zhixing would eventually inherit the family business after retiring. The young woman had found an unconventional way in and successfully landed a job at the company where her idol worked.
However, several months passed without her seeing Lu Zhixing even once. There was no news online about Lu Zhixing and Xiyu, either. She had begun to suspect that Lu Zhixing wasn’t working at this branch.
Then, not long ago, Lu Zhixing suddenly showed up—and he arrived with Xiyu.
She had nearly been unable to suppress her scream.
Both her phone and computer screens were covered with pictures of Xiyu and Lu Zhixing. One day during lunch break, Lu Zhixing came downstairs. The young woman was so excited that when he walked past her, she accidentally dropped her phone on the floor.
From that day onward, she was officially granted permission to create fan content about the pair.
The young woman took a picture of the closed elevator doors and began typing furiously.
‘Baby Yu has come to pick Brother Lu up from work! I’m going to take a photo of their backs together in a moment. If you want to see it, comment 1. If you don’t, comment “eyeballs.” Artists, get ready!!!’
【111111! Give it to me, give it to me! Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting for this?!】
【1! Sis, you’re practically a living bodhisattva! If you hadn’t suddenly appeared, I would’ve thought my ship had sunk. Sob sob sob!】
【I’ve looked at the old pictures so many times they’ve practically developed a patina. Artists, come on! 1111!】
【A picture of closed elevator doors has somehow bewitched me. You damn sexy elevator! 1!】
【Brother Lu is a TOP! Do you see that? I said 1! I said Brother Lu is a TOP!】
In just one minute, the Super Topic exploded with activity. Looking at the comments, the young woman smiled with satisfaction. She picked one asking when they would get a picture of the two together and replied:
‘For the past two days, they’ve both been getting off work at nine. Today will probably be about the same.’
A flood of comments followed, all declaring that they would wait.
When Xiyu pushed open the office door, Lu Zhixing closed Weibo.
Xiyu walked over and hooked an arm around Lu Zhixing’s shoulders from behind.
“Have you eaten?”
Lu Zhixing’s neck bent slightly under the weight of his arm, but the curve of his lips was relaxed and content.
“Not yet. What about you?”
“Neither have I,” Xiyu said softly. “I wanted to eat with you.”
Xiyu had just come in from outside, so his face was a little cold. He pressed it against Lu Zhixing’s cheek, but the breath accompanying his words was warm and fragrant.
The cool, crisp scent of pear blossoms flowed from Xiyu’s warm breath. It no longer seemed cold and distant; instead, it carried a clinging, sensual sweetness.
Xiyu smelled wonderful. Lu Zhixing had noticed that from the very beginning.
Back then, his mind had still been muddled, and Xiyu had even slapped him across the face.
He had felt a little aggrieved at the time, but he still remembered that before the burning pain on his cheek registered, the first thing to reach him had been Xiyu’s fragrance—subtle and aloof.
Later, when he and Xiyu began sharing a bed, the scent of pear blossoms grew much stronger, rich and lingering.
It was a fragrance that belonged exclusively to Xiyu, one that could only be detected when someone was intimate enough with him.
…………………
“I’ll ask my assistant to buy something. What would you like to eat?”
Xiyu pointed at the cake on the desk.
“Let’s have a little cake to tide us over, then order some crab roe wontons.”
Perhaps because the weather had been so cold lately, Xiyu’s appetite had been unusually strong.
After Lu Zhixing used the office phone to ask his assistant to buy the food, he took hold of Xiyu’s hand, which was draped across his chest, and pulled him into his arms.
A gentle kiss landed like a feather.
Sitting on Lu Zhixing’s lap, Xiyu wrapped his arms around his neck. A fleeting brush of their lips wasn’t enough for him. He caught Lu Zhixing’s lips, pried open his teeth, and entwined their tongues.
Lu Zhixing wrapped an arm around Xiyu’s waist and soon took control of the kiss.
When they finally separated, Xiyu was breathing heavily. His lips and tongue were swollen and flushed from being kissed, glistening with moisture as though he had applied lip gloss.
Xiyu was strikingly beautiful. The way his eyes shifted and his gaze flowed was hardly reminiscent of a detached, desireless deity. Instead, he resembled an enchanting creature lurking deep within a forest, capable of captivating anyone who looked at him.
Xiyu rubbed the tip of his nose against Lu Zhixing’s and teased, “President Lu, you’re poking me.”
Lu Zhixing didn’t answer. He simply looked at Xiyu and smiled—a deeply suggestive smile that could make someone’s cheeks flush and their heart race for no apparent reason.
Xiyu knew that particular smile of Lu Zhixing’s all too well. He licked his lips, his throat suddenly dry.
But this really wasn’t the right place. The shop selling crab roe wontons was only one traffic light away from the company, and the assistant could return at any moment.
Xiyu released Lu Zhixing and stood up, trying to calm the heat in his heart.
“Let’s eat the cake. I stood in line for half an hour to buy it!”
Lu Zhixing picked up a small piece of cake. The strawberry on top was large and bright red. When he put it in his mouth and bit down, juice immediately burst from the fruit.
Xiyu looked at him expectantly.
“Is it good?”
Lu Zhixing nodded.
Xiyu picked up another piece and took a bite of the cream.
The taste of artificial sweetener spread across his tongue. He frowned slightly and put the cake down.
“You don’t like it?” Lu Zhixing asked.
Xiyu shook his head. “It’s average. If you don’t like it either, don’t force yourself to eat it.”
“I think it’s fine.”
He genuinely thought it was fine. He had heard employees talking about this cake shop; it had become very popular recently.
The shop was good at marketing, and the flavor was decent enough—nothing special, just the taste of an ordinary cake. It was perfectly edible.
Xiyu, however, couldn’t bring himself to eat any more. He had always been particular about food. Back when he still had his spiritual power, he simply ate whatever he liked. If he didn’t like something, he could go without it and wouldn’t starve to death.
Xiyu tapped Lu Zhixing between the eyebrows.
“You’re easy to feed.”
Back in the Ninth Heaven, Lu Zhixing had still needed to eat before ascending to immortality. Xiyu, however, couldn’t cook. At most, he could make some candied fruit or pastries. He had only learned to do even that because Zhixu, who needed to eat, had joined him at the Star-Gazing Palace.
At first, the meals Xiyu made were so terrible that even he could barely swallow a bite. Zhixu, however, ate them with great enthusiasm.
Eventually, Xiyu never did learn to cook. Zhixu learned instead, saving him a great deal of trouble.
Not only that, Zhixu had a real talent for cooking. Anything that passed through his hands somehow became exceptionally delicious. He could feed himself, and Xiyu benefited from his cooking, too.
Thinking about those days made Xiyu smile. He couldn’t resist adding, “I suddenly feel like eating something you cook. Let’s go to the supermarket later and buy some groceries. You can cook for me tomorrow.”
Xiyu didn’t think there was anything wrong with what he had said.
But Lu Zhixing lowered his eyes, and the sweet cream in his mouth suddenly became almost impossible to swallow.
“I’ve forgotten how to cook.”
Xiyu paused, then smiled.
“Then you owe me a meal. You can make it for me when you remember. It’s been so long since I’ve eaten your cooking. I’m starting to miss it.”
Lu Zhixing could no longer eat the cake. He set it down on the desk and raised his eyes to look at Xiyu.
“What if I never remember?”
Xiyu answered without hesitation. “You will. Once your soul is repaired, you’ll remember everything.”
Lu Zhixing refused to let the matter drop.
“What if my soul never gets repaired properly?”
There was a coldness in his voice.
Xiyu leaned his waist against the edge of the desk and looked down at Lu Zhixing. He shook his head and gave him the same firm answer.
“It’ll definitely get better.”
Xiyu was simply answering Lu Zhixing’s question. Of course it would get better. That was a certainty.
Lu Zhixing’s soul was already recovering. It was evident from his words and behavior that he had returned to a normal state of mind. His recovery was proceeding much faster than Xiyu had expected, which was a good thing.
And that wasn’t the only indication. Xiyu had already regained thirty percent of his spiritual power. Every night, he worked to repair Lu Zhixing’s soul, and he could clearly see the cracks in it gradually healing.
Before long, Lu Zhixing would remember everything.
But when those words reached Lu Zhixing’s ears, they took on a different meaning.
To him, Xiyu’s response sounded urgent and absolute, almost like a warning that allowed no argument.
Xiyu was eagerly waiting for him to recover his memories. He might even be impatient for it to happen.
All because of Zhixu.
He shouldn’t take his frustration out on Xiyu. He was Zhixu, after all. Perhaps, once he recovered his memories, he would look back on his present jealousy and think it had been utterly unreasonable.
But that did nothing to suppress what he was feeling now.
“Nothing is impossible.” Lu Zhixing placed his hands on either side of Xiyu on the edge of the desk, then slowly stood up, enclosing Xiyu between his arms. He looked directly into his eyes. “Maybe I’ll never recover my memories for the rest of my life. Maybe I’ll remain Lu Zhixing forever and never become Zhixu again. I might never remember a single thing about the past you keep telling me about. I might never remember anything that happened between us. If that’s what happens, what will you do?”
Xiyu could sense threads of hostility in Lu Zhixing’s eyes. He found the reaction rather baffling.
Yet he couldn’t help thinking about the possibility Lu Zhixing had raised.
What if Lu Zhixing never recovered his memories?
What if he remembered nothing about the Ninth Heaven—not even how he had used his divine bones to reconstruct Lu Zhixing, nor the suffering and despair they had endured through those countless nights?