Chapter 10 Like You

Chapter 10: I Like You

Chi Luoxi made up his mind to go after He Angxiao.

Chi Luoxi felt this was kind of like the mountain folk back home going deep into the mountains to pick herbs—knowing the road ahead was dangerous, with possible wild beasts and the risk of tumbling off a cliff, but for the sake of survival, they still had to grit their teeth and push forward.

Besides, Mr. He wasn’t that scary.

To him, leaving the club and escaping the terrifying environment where he might rot, He Angxiao was the life-saving medicine he had to get his hands on right now.

The decision was made, but when it came to actual execution, he immediately hit a snag.

Chi Luoxi doubted himself: "But Mr. He has never shown that kind of interest in me, right?"

That kind of groping, that pure sexual interest that guests often showed toward the boys.

Chi Luoxi thought back on every little moment with He Angxiao.

Mr. He would come to see him, listen to him sing, invite him to dinner, give him money, give him that Little Radish keychain, and seemed to really like hearing his voice messages saying goodnight.

But Mr. He had never looked at him with that sticky, predatory gaze like other guests, nor had he ever touched him inappropriately or said anything vulgar.

He just comes to see me, and that's it?

Bai Man had completely wasted his eyeliner. He looked at Chi Luoxi as if he were an alien.

"...Then what do you think He Angxiao comes to see you every now and then for? To do charity work for the mentally challenged? Or is he just so rich he’s bored and wants to experience life? A man rich enough to buy ten Chunhuis, busy with a million things every day, has nothing better to do than come chat with a janitor like you?"

Chi Luoxi shook his head, confused.

"If he had no interest in you, what does he get out of it? Because you’re naive? Because your phone wallpaper is the Calabash Brothers? Just go tell him you want to be with him, let him keep you—problem solved."

Chi Luoxi seriously defended He Angxiao: "Mr. He is a good person. He’s different from the others."

He remembered the clean, comfortable vibe He Angxiao gave off. The other guests at the club only seemed to think about one thing—their eyes and vibes were filthy.

But Mr. He wasn’t like that. Mr. He might have a sharp tongue and a weird temper, but he was clean.

That proved He Angxiao was a good person.

Asking him to go after a good person made Chi Luoxi’s simple moral sense and guilt start to stir again.

Bai Man: "...Ok."

He gave up arguing with Chi Luoxi about that philosophical yet practical question of "whether He Angxiao is a good person" and "whether a good person would keep a little fool."

Bai Man gave Chi Luoxi advice: "Fine, you insist he’s a good guy, then go after him like a good guy. He’s not too repulsed by you, right? So do everything you can to create opportunities for physical contact—hold his hand, lean on his shoulder, pretend to fall into his arms. As long as he doesn’t immediately shake you off or show obvious disgust, it means he doesn’t mind.

"Once he gets used to you being close, even starts to enjoy it, then casually suggest you want to be with him, you get what I mean?"

"Physical contact?" Chi Luoxi blinked.

Hold hands? Lean on shoulders? Fall into arms? Doing those things to Mr. He feels a bit weird?

Bai Man looked at him with a bewildered expression: "Holding hands, hugging, then kissing, sleeping together—you do know what those mean, right? Chi Luoxi, I beg you, watch a little less of the Calabash Brothers and watch some grown-up stuff, okay?"

"Kissing... sleeping together..." Chi Luoxi repeated the words, and his cheeks instantly flushed a deep red, like a ripe tomato, all the way to his ears.

Of course he knew what those words meant.

Back in the mountains, he used to watch TV dramas where the main characters would sometimes kiss and do even more intimate things.

Every time he saw that, he would feel shy and cover his eyes, but he couldn't help peeking through his fingers with a flushed face, sneaking a quick glance.

Chi Luoxi's heart would race, his face would burn, and he'd feel a strange, indescribable sensation.

Kissing Mr. He?

As soon as this thought popped up, Chi Luoxi felt his face grow even hotter.

He defended himself weakly: "...I-I've been watching fewer cartoons lately..."

Bai Man took out a cigarette, took a few drags, blew out a smoke ring, and watched Chi Luoxi's bashful demeanor as he nearly buried himself. "Good thing you're watching less of that stuff," she snorted coldly. "It messes with your brain and makes you even dumber."

"Think about it—if you really manage to latch onto Master He's deep pockets, forget about watching cartoons. You could even ask him to fund a live-action version of 'Calabash Brothers,' starring the biggest celebrities. It wouldn't be a problem. Which one do you want to be? First Brother? Or Seventh Brother?"

A live-action Calabash Brothers?

Chi Luoxi muttered softly, "No one could play... my idol."

Bai Man gave Chi Luoxi her orders: "Enough. Stop daydreaming. Remember, landing He Angxiao is your career now—it's your only way out of this misery. Those cleaning jobs, dishwashing, and scrubbing are none of your business anymore. From now on, dodge whatever you can, half-ass whatever you must, and focus all your attention on Master He. Got it?"

Chi Luoxi nodded firmly.

He might be slow, but his grandfather had taught him that taking good advice leads to a full belly.

Bai Man had been through it all and knew a lot. Though her tongue was sharp, she'd never actually harmed him.

He decided to listen to her.

Chi Luoxi said, "But my grandpa also told me to get married. If I sleep with Mr. He, does that mean I can't get married anymore?"

Bai Man: "...Who said that? Don't you know that Jason guy? He's straight but still sells his ass. Who can say for sure about anyone's sexuality? But in the end, everyone's just chasing money."

Chi Luoxi shook his head and sighed, "Ah, city folks sure know how to live it up."

Soon he'd be one of them too.

Chi Luoxi: "So what exactly should I do? What should I say? I'm not very good with words, I think."

He recalled how he often made Manager Yang furious and even left Mr. He speechless sometimes.

Bai Man recalled Chi Luoxi's talent for talking—he could make a dead person speak or drive the living crazy, and how Manager Yang's face would turn blue every time his blunt remarks choked her. The corner of her mouth involuntarily twitched.

"...Alright, from now on, no matter what you say to Master He—anything at all—just add 'I like you' at the end, whether it fits or not. Got it? Once you've said it enough times and he gets comfortable with it, find an opportunity to cry and tell him you can't live without him, that you need him to take you under his wing and get you out of this hellhole."

No matter what you say, add 'I like you' at the end?

That sounds really weird.

But it also seems simple? He doesn't have to rack his brains for clever words.

Doesn't seem too hard either?

Chi Luoxi nodded, "Got it!"

Seeing him look so delighted, as if he'd found a treasure, Bai Man felt a subtle twinge of guilt for corrupting the boy, but then something complicated dawned on her. "Alright, if you've got it, go and put it into practice."

Chi Luoxi was a single-minded man of action.

First, he had to get Mr. He to go out with him before he could have a chance to practice those physical contacts.

So he picked up his phone, pondering how to invite him: "Mr. He, when are you free? I'd like to treat you to a meal."

Mr. He had treated him to a meal, so he should return the favor. And treating him to dinner would give them a chance to meet.

He sent the message. After a while, He Angxiao replied curtly: "In a meeting."

Oh, he's in a meeting.

Meetings were important and serious; he shouldn't bother him. He was a bit disappointed, but soon remembered Bai Man's advice.

Chi Luoxi replied: "Mr. He, I like you."

He typed it out and hit send.

Chi Luoxi's face began to burn after a moment. The feeling was strange, a bit embarrassing.

He stared at the message for a few seconds, feeling it was too plain, missing something.

Chi Luoxi rummaged through his sticker collection and found a big, chubby white radish covering its face with its leaves, with the words "shy" beside it.

He thought this sticker suited his current mood, so he sent it right after.

Thus, on He Angxiao's phone screen, these two messages appeared one after the other.

—— Mr. He, I like you.

—— [Radish covering face.jpg]

On the other side of the city, on the twenty-fifth floor of Xiaoheng Technology's headquarters.

In the spacious and bright conference room, the atmosphere was heavy.

On the huge projection screen were the charts and graphs of this quarter's financial report. The AC was blasting, and coffee's faint bitter scent hung in the air, along with a palpable tension characteristic of a high-pressure work environment.

On both sides of the long conference table sat executives and core project leaders from various departments, all dressed in suits and ties, with serious expressions. Some stared intently at the screen, others looked down taking notes.

He Angxiao sat at the head of the table, with documents spread open in front of him, fiddling with an expensive custom pen, his gaze fixed on the projection screen. He didn't look happy.

The marketing director who was giving the report started speaking more quietly and slowing down, because He Angxiao had not said a word. That kind of pressure was more suffocating than direct questioning.

Just then, the phone that He Angxiao had casually placed on the table suddenly vibrated. He picked it up and looked at the message.

Then, under the watchful eyes of all the executives and directors in the conference room, their boss, known for his stern expression, pickiness, and unpredictable temper, put down his phone and the corner of his mouth curled into a slight smile.

A soft chuckle escaped from his throat.

This unexpected chuckle instantly made everyone's heart leap into their throats.

The marketing director, who had just been wiping his sweat, froze with his hand in midair, not daring to wipe anymore. Was the boss laughing out of anger, or did he find his report ridiculous?

The other executives also exchanged bewildered looks. The atmosphere was even more unnerving than when the boss had just been silent and scowling.

He Angxiao seemed not to notice the sudden change in the conference room's atmosphere. He stared at his phone screen for another two seconds, then looked up, his gaze returning to the projection screen. The faint smile on his face had vanished without a trace as he looked at the frozen marketing director:

"Go on, why did you stop?"

Marketing director: "…………"

He picked up the laser pointer and went on with his report.

Meanwhile, the one who had started it all, Chi Luoxi, after sending the messages, waited a while but received no further reply from He Angxiao.

He thought Mr. He must be busy indeed.

Chi Luoxi put down his phone and sighed. Mr. He works so hard as well, having such long meetings.

He then thought of himself. He also worked hard every day, but what he earned was pitifully small, and he was burdened with a huge debt.

During his time in the city, he had finally realized that knowledge was what creates wealth. The people who sat in high-rise buildings, who held meetings and typed on computers, making a lot of money, all seemed to have a lot of knowledge.

But hard work sometimes didn't pay off. No matter how hard he worked, he was still stuck in debt.

It was all his fault for not studying hard when he was in the mountains.

His grandfather sent him to the mountain elementary school, but he couldn't sit still. He always felt the characters in the books looked like gibberish, and he couldn't understand what the teacher said. He preferred to head to the back mountain to look at radishes and help his grandfather with farm work.

If he had worked harder back then, learned more characters, and studied more, wouldn't he have been less easily deceived into signing that contract that tricked him?

Chi Luoxi felt a bit annoyed with himself, but he soon perked up.

It's not too late to learn now, right? It's never too late to start learning.

He took out his phone. Instead of just playing "Carrot Defense" or watching "Calabash Brothers," he started searching online: "How to win someone over?"

Various answers popped up on the web page. Some he couldn't understand, and some seemed very unreliable.

He scrolled through them one by one, reading very carefully. He saw an answer that mentioned swimming.

The answer said that if you have a good body, you should invite someone to swim to show off your assets. If you want to see the other person's body, you should definitely invite them to swim. People who swim well usually have good stamina.

Chi Luoxi's eyes lit up. Swimming? That idea seemed pretty good.

If they swim, less clothing would make physical contact easier, right?

He felt he had found a brilliant idea and immediately rushed over excitedly to ask Bai Man: "Mana, do you think it's a good idea for me to invite Mr. He to go swimming?"

Bai Man was wearing a face mask. Hearing this, she gave him a sideways glance from under the mask and mumbled, her voice somewhat distorted by the mask: "... You're getting quite savvy, huh? Know how to flaunt your assets?"

Chi Luoxi didn't understand what "assets" meant, but he could hear the affirmation in Bai Man's tone.

He was too embarrassed to say he learned it online, so he just assumed Bai Man was praising his cleverness and accepted the compliment modestly.

Chi Luoxi became more confident: "Mr. He, you treated me to a meal last time. Let me take you swimming?" [Cute radish.jpg]

This time He Angxiao replied quite quickly, but the content instantly deflated Chi Luoxi: "I don't go to public pools."

Failed. Mr. He is a germaphobe; he probably thinks public pools are dirty. Right, Mr. He is such a clean person, he surely wouldn't like crowded and messy places. It seemed this brilliant plan was dead in the water.

Chi Luoxi was a bit dejected and replied: "Alright."

Just as he was about to put down his phone and think of another way, a message from He Angxiao popped up: "I have a pool at home."

Chi Luoxi: "Can I come?"

This time, He Angxiao replied after a few seconds, as if reluctant: "You can come."

Author's note:

----------------------

He Angxiao: Redefining "reluctant"

Little Rad