Chapter 12: Caught in the Act

Chapter 12 Caught in the Act

As Song Shimu spoke, Qin Xu realized he had been played. His face darkened. "Get off me."

Song Shimu chuckled softly, leaning in slightly. "If you don’t tell me, I’ll send you back to the hospital."

Qin Xu’s face turned completely grim. "So, you’re not even pretending anymore, are you?"

Song Shimu glanced around the living room and said indifferently, "It’s just the two of us. Some things are known only to heaven, earth, you, and me."

Qin Xu was silent for a couple of seconds before asking, "Can you control it?"

Song Shimu ignored the question and steered the conversation back. "Well? Are you going to talk?"

At the same time, he moved his hand to Qin Xu’s neck, right next to the edge of his collar, lightly trailing it as a constant reminder of the threat.

The sensation from the collar was faint, almost imperceptible if one wasn’t paying attention, yet that slight touch could determine whether he would finish his work today.

Qin Xu’s gaze deepened, his perfectly shaped phoenix eyes fixed intently on Song Shimu. "That's a reasonable suspicion."

Song Shimu snorted in disbelief, increasing the pressure on the collar. "If lying made your nose grow longer, yours would already be piercing through the ceiling."

"You’re no better," Qin Xu retorted.

Song Shimu sighed. "There’s not a shred of trust between people."

"If you want to talk about trust, take your wandering hands off me first." Qin Xu couldn’t believe Song Shimu had the nerve to mention trust while threatening him with a taser.

"Tsk, have you ever seen such a pretty 'wandering hand'?" Song Shimu glanced at his own hand, pale and slender with well-defined knuckles. He was pleased—not just because it looked good, but because the protagonist’s appearance and physical traits were identical to his original ones.

Qin Xu’s eyes sharpened, sensing an opportunity. While the other was still admiring himself, he swiftly seized the hand near his neck, then restrained the other one. Quickly adjusting his position to avoid direct skin contact with Song Shimu, he flipped them over and pinned Song Shimu beneath him.

"Hey!"

The situation reversed in the blink of an eye. Before Song Shimu could react, he was pinned under Qin Xu, unable to break free no matter how hard he struggled.

"The standard for judging 'wandering hands' isn’t about how pretty they are, but whether they offend others. And you, clearly, have offended me," Qin Xu said coldly.

Though his threat had failed and he was at a disadvantage, Song Shimu remained unflustered and quipped, "Now you’re pinning me down, seriously crossing personal boundaries. I feel deeply offended. Should I call you the 'offensive pig'?"

"This is called self-defense," Qin Xu replied.

"If everyone defended themselves like you, perverts would be overjoyed," Song Shimu retorted.

Qin Xu snorted and pressed further, asking what he wanted to know. "Besides electrocution, what else can you do?"

Song Shimu’s eyelashes flickered, again noticing the odd phrasing of Qin Xu’s question. But this time, he didn’t point it out directly, playing dumb instead. "What do you mean? What could an ordinary person like me possibly know?"

"Just now you were threatening me with electrocution, and now you’re calling yourself ordinary? Song Shimu, you change your tune faster than flipping a page."

Song Shimu smiled. "I really don’t know anything."

"Aren’t you—"

*Click—*

Before Qin Xu could finish, just as Song Shimu was eagerly awaiting the rest, the villa door swung open. Their entangled figures were laid bare before the eyes of everyone outside.

"Gasp—"

Song Shimu and Qin Xu looked up simultaneously, locking eyes with Tan Manjin. Beside her, Qin Song the butler and the driver were staring at them, while Aunt Sun, standing at the back and straining to see due to her height, was utterly shocked, her mouth forming an "O."

*Thud—*

The shopping bags in the butler and driver’s hands fell to the ground simultaneously, snapping the stunned Tan Manjin and Qin Song out of their daze.

"You two…"

"Qin Xu!"

It seemed like the hospital scene had been copy-pasted to today, except the actions were more intimate, the audience larger, and they wished they were dead.

Qin Song quickly picked up the bags from the floor, ushering Tan Manjin inside and swiftly closing the door, shutting out the butler, driver, and Aunt Sun.

The people outside exchanged glances and, as if by unspoken agreement, rubbed their noses.

Meanwhile, Qin Xu got off Song Shimu and sat up straight. Song Shimu, with his injured leg, was a beat slower. Qin Xu casually tugged him up, and he finally straightened.

As Qin Song closed the door and turned around, he saw both sons sitting upright. The elder son frowned slightly, his thin eyes tense and downward—clearly thinking of an excuse to explain.

The younger son avoided eye contact, looking utterly intimidated—clearly bullied by the elder son!

Tan Manjin, who had watched them get up, asked, "Were you two fighting just now?"

"No."

"Yes."

"…" Qin Xu and Song Shimu spoke simultaneously, then fell silent.

Qin Xu turned to glare at Song Shimu, his gloomy eyes filled with accusation. *Were we fighting?*

Song Shimu bit his lip. It wasn’t his fault for lying—blame the system for telling him this was a Boys' Love novel. The situation had instinctively reminded him of being "caught in the act," and fearing he’d be labeled "gay," he affirmed the first alternative explanation that came to mind!

It was all the system’s fault!

Qin Song observed their interaction, further convinced that Qin Xu was bullying Song Shimu. "Qin Xu, can’t you hold back your dissatisfaction? Do you have to take advantage of someone when they’re vulnerable?! Shi Mu’s leg is still injured. Even if you win, it’s an unfair victory!"

"…" Qin Xu remained silent.

Song Shimu’s eyes darted around, wondering how to navigate the situation.

Tan Manjin patted Qin Song, signaling him to stay quiet, and asked again, "Did you really fight?"

"Yes."

"No."

Qin Xu and Song Shimu spoke at the same time again, then fell silent once more.

Qin Xu, growing impatient, tossed the question to Song Shimu. "Ask him. If he says we fought, then we fought. If not, then not."

Seeing Qin Xu’s attitude, Qin Song scolded him, "What kind of attitude is that?"

Tan Manjin massaged her temples, again stopping Qin Song from reprimanding their son, and turned to Song Shimu. "Shi Mu, you tell me. What’s going on with you two? Did you have another disagreement?"

Song Shimu forced a smile. "A minor one, but it’s not a big deal."

Tan Manjin pressed further, "What exactly happened?"

Song Shimu replied, "So, he asked me about work stuff. I gave my opinion, but he didn’t agree with it, and I didn’t agree with his approach either, so we got into an argument."

As he spoke, Song Shimu pointed to the documents on the table.

Tan Manjin looked at her eldest son. "Is that true, Qin Xu?"

"Yeah."

When it came to work, Qin Song got a lot calmer. He picked up the documents and asked Qin Xu and Song Shimu, "Where don't you see eye to eye? Let me take a look."

Song Shimu nudged Qin Xu with his elbow, signaling he should take over.

Qin Xu shifted slightly, putting some distance between himself and Song Shimu, and began making up reasons they'd argued.

Song Shimu sat listening beside him and, for the first time, really got a sense of Qin Song’s logical thinking.

Before, whenever he interacted with Qin Xu, he always felt the man was so contradictory—outwardly disliking him yet helping him quite a bit, seeming reluctant to assist yet unhappy if his help was refused. Qin Xu was the most contradictory person Song Shimu had met in his over twenty years of life.

But now, listening to Qin Xu make up reasons for their argument, he realized that Qin Xu actually had solid logic. He could quickly identify debatable points in the documents, act out their disagreements, supplement evidence based on those points, and even expand on them.

His reasoning was tight and well-organized. With such skills, it was no wonder he was capable of playing the role of a major antagonist.

Still... Song Shimu recalled the antagonist’s fate in the original story and felt it was all too rushed.

As Qin Song listened to Qin Xu’s points of disagreement, he found both sides reasonable and struggled to decide which approach to choose.

Then, Tan Manjin suddenly raised a key point, and Qin Song immediately understood. He proposed a method for both sons, Qin Xu refined the plan accordingly, and Song Shimu chimed in with amazement at just the right time, pretending to be won over, thus wrapping up this whole charade.

After discussing work, Tan Manjin told her sons, "No matter what happens, try to resolve issues through communication instead of resorting to physical fights, understand?"

Qin Xu nodded, and Song Shimu responded with an "Okay."

"Alright, now try on the clothes I got you," Tan Manjin said, placing the shopping bags in front of them. Qin Xu suddenly stood up and said, "I’m going on a business trip tomorrow and still have work to finish today. I’ll try them on later when I get back."

With that, Qin Xu left, his steps quicker than usual, making it difficult for Tan Manjin to stop him.

Song Shimu didn’t understand why Qin Xu acted that way until Tan Manjin dragged him to the closet and had him try on one outfit after another. She was very satisfied with the first set and decided to keep it.

Then he tried on another set, all-black, which Tan Manjin found too plain, so she didn’t keep it.

Tan Manjin produced a pink set from somewhere. After Song Shimu changed into it, she was delighted and immediately decided to keep it.

Song Shimu thought it was over, but then Tan Manjin pulled out a bunch of shopping bags from nowhere, filled with clothes of various styles and colors. Instantly, Song Shimu understood why Qin Xu had run away.

There were too many clothes—endless, it seemed...

For the first time, Song Shimu became the protagonist of a dress-up game. Though he didn’t want to disappoint Tan Manjin’s kindness, his leg couldn’t handle it. After changing five outfits, it started to hurt.

Noticing this, Tan Manjin didn't have him try on any more clothes and instead let him rest on the living room sofa.

Aunt Sun had been let back in while Song Shimu was changing clothes. Dinner was quickly prepared, and the family of four enjoyed their most harmonious meal so far.

The next day, Song Shimu showed up unexpectedly at the company and instantly became what all the Qinfeng employees were talking about during breaks.

The discussions mainly focused on two aspects: first, his position—that the real young master was now the fake young master’s secretary? Anyone would exclaim, "What is this world coming to?"

Second, his looks—comparable to, no, surpassing most celebrities. They had thought someone like Qin Xu was as good as it gets, but who knew there was another one with such god-tier looks!

Song Shimu was used to getting attention everywhere he went. Not bothered at all, he made his way to Qin Xu’s office.

When he arrived, he knocked on the door first and entered only after hearing a response from inside.

But once inside, he realized Qin Xu wasn’t there—only his assistant was present.

"Where’s Qin Xu?" Song Shimu asked.

"He’s on a business trip. This one will take over half a month," the assistant replied, guiding Song Shimu to the secretary’s dedicated desk and handing him a contract.

Song Shimu’s lip twitched and he accepted it. Qin Xu had indeed mentioned the business trip yesterday, but Song Shimu assumed he would at least see him at the company before leaving. He hadn’t expected him to leave directly.

The assistant smiled, trying to smooth things over. "The fact that Mr. Qin asked you to come shows he trusts you. He’s been busy dealing with issues at the branch offices lately and hasn't been able to keep up with things at headquarters, so he can only rely on you."

Song Shimu glanced at the contract—it was an employment agreement. He flipped through it carefully, muttering, "If he trusts me so much, he should let me have his job too."

The assistant was startled and and said tactfully, "Young Master, you’ve just joined the company. Many matters will take some getting used to."

Song Shimu chuckled but didn’t respond. After reading through the contract and confirming it was a standard labor agreement with decent benefits, he signed it.

"Did Qin Xu assign me any work for today?" Now that he was in Qin Xu’s hands, he didn’t believe Qin Xu would be kind enough to go easy on him.

"Yes," the assistant said, pointing to three knee-high stacks of documents on the desk. "These are the tasks Mr. Qin assigned you for today. You need to review all of them. Keep the ones without issues for Mr. Qin to sign when he returns, and send down the ones with problems for revisions."

"?" Song Shimu stared at the pile of documents, strongly suspecting Qin Xu had dug out every project from the last few years just to get back at him.

Seeing Song Shimu hesitate, the assistant thought he was worried about not understanding the business and explained, "Mr. Qin asked me to assist you. If you have any questions or aren’t familiar with something, you can ask me."

Song Shimu chuckled softly. Was this supposed to be help, or just keeping an eye on him?