Chapter 59 Perfect Family

Chapter 59: Perfect Family

Chi Luoxi's reputation out of nowhere and for no reason began to improve.

But the price for this improved reputation was steep—it came at the cost of his husband He Angxiao's dignity as a man.

In the swirling rumors around the city, Chi Luoxi had become a devoted living saint, while He Angxiao was the unfortunate impotent CEO.

Because of this, Chi Luoxi often had to use a soft voice at home to soothe the furious man. But the cost of this comfort was high; in the end, it drained his own slender waist entirely.

After all, in this world, it was perfectly natural for any man to be sensitive about this topic.

He Angxiao gritted his teeth and swore a fierce oath: he would never rest until Long Lezhi was destroyed.

Long Lezhi must have realized he'd poked a tiger's backside. Sensing that staying any longer would only lead to being systematically crushed by that business butcher He Angxiao, he made a hasty getaway. Sure enough, soon there was no room left in Jiangzhou for Lord Long.

On the day he left Jiangzhou, Long Lezhi left in utter disgrace, yet he still forced himself to leave a tough parting shot at the airport: "I will come back!" Then he stormed off, leaving his hometown with the desolation of a beaten dog.

Chi Luoxi curiously asked He Angxiao what he'd done to him behind his back.

He Angxiao curled his lips into a cruel smirk. "Nothing much. The real estate market is already shaky. He can't rely on his old man's shrinking fortune anymore. Whatever industry he tries to enter next, I'll cut him off at the front. Whatever industry he tries, I'll eat it up, starving him of his supply. No one who crosses He Angxiao ever gets a good ending."

Chi Luoxi watched his arrogant demeanor and genuinely felt that his husband was like a villain straight out of a prime-time soap opera.

Chi Luoxi couldn't help worrying that his husband's ruthless elimination of enemies would make too many enemies, and one day he might hit a brick wall and go bankrupt, forcing the couple to live on the streets.

But then he thought, maybe it wouldn't come to that. At worst, they could pack up and return to the Chi family village, scratching out a living on their little plot.

Just as he was lost in thought, He Angxiao suddenly pressed close, his tall frame enveloping Chi Luoxi.

That usually arrogant face now wore a look of grievance. He stared at Chi Luoxi and whispered, "Baby, if I really do go limp in the future, what will you do?"

Chi Luoxi felt a pang of absurdity. In certain moments, talking to He Angxiao was exactly like the child psychology he'd been studying lately—a giant baby that needed to be soothed.

Chi Luoxi spoke softly, giving his husband plenty of reassurance: "Honey, don't worry. Even if that happens, I will never leave you."

He Angxiao was instantly moved, pressing his whole body clingily against Chi Luoxi, his thin lips brushing against Chi Luoxi's neck, his words sickeningly sweet: "Don't worry, baby, my slutty baby. Even if your husband can't get hard, I'll still satisfy you with other means."

Chi Luoxi said he believed him, but the words came out strained. Being with He Angxiao this long, he knew all too well about He Angxiao's secret perversions.

He Angxiao loved coaxing Chi Luoxi into wearing skimpy little clothes. The closet was full of oddly shaped toys, and he had countless ways to torment his partner.

At home, He Angxiao reclaimed his manhood by putting on a show of virility, so outside, he wasn't as irritable anymore.

After all, CEO He had been a stormy figure from the start of his career—tough as nails. If he had to respond to every absurd vulgar rumor in the circle, that would be far too tacky and would lower his status.

But the socialites and young masters who had previously added Chi Luoxi on WeChat couldn't resist their burning need to gossip. One by one, private chat windows popped up, probing in every way to find out if CEO He was really impotent.

Chi Luoxi's head started to ache. He really wanted to explain, but how could he explain something so private? Would he have to submit a detailed report?

Even Yang Jing came to kick him while he was down, saying he'd never guessed that the formidable CEO He was all show and no substance.

Yang Jing had just finished his mockery when he looked up and met Chi Luoxi's face. The sharp mockery caught in his throat. Chi Luoxi's skin was fair with a rosy glow, and the corners of his eyes and brows carried a radiance of being well-loved at night.

This look of being thoroughly ravished and adored made Yang Jing's taunt fall flat.

The sleazy rich second-generation heirs who had always been suppressed by He Angxiao finally had a golden opportunity. They gathered privately, raising glasses with smirks, muttering sourly that people indeed had their strengths and weaknesses. CEO He might dominate the business world with unmatched power, but inside, he was still a useless showpiece.

But of course, they only dared to say these things behind his back. With Long Lezhi's example before them, not a single one dared to let a single word slip in front of He Angxiao.

Unless they had a death wish.

After all, He Angxiao's vengefulness was well-known. He held grudges fiercely, and his mouth was laced with venom. Offend him, and you'd be guaranteed to be skinned alive in Jiangzhou's business circles.

In the end, in the same circle, even without deep personal friendships, everyone knew each other's backgrounds fairly well.

He Angxiao and the core group of young masters like Jiang Ran and Meng Xuan were fundamentally different from those vulgar rich second-generation kids who only knew how to race cars, fool around with minor celebrities, and make a mess of their lives.

These few kept their private lives clean, well-behaved, and never messed around with disreputable people.

But the absurd rumor spread like wildfire, and eventually even He Deye caught wind of it.

A few days later, when He Deye saw his son again, the look in his eyes was a mixture of emotions beyond words.

His gaze nervously roamed over his son's tall, strong figure, then he awkwardly coughed behind his fist, making himself say, "...Ahem, you know, Dad recently met a fairly famous old Chinese doctor who's good at this kind of thing... Would you like to..."

He never got to finish saying "go see him." He Angxiao's face had already turned black as thunder, and he barked three words: "No need!"

He Deye was stung by his son's glare and couldn't help muttering, "If you don't want it, no need to be so fierce."

He secretly wondered if this eldest son's increasingly strange temper and moodiness were actually caused by some unspeakable physical problem.

Days dragged by with He Angxiao in a funk. His thirtieth birthday fell in August.

A man born at the tail end of August—truly a fussy, typical Virgo.

By this semester, Chi Luoxi's course load at school had significantly decreased. With free time on his hands, he focused on planning a surprise for He Angxiao's thirtieth birthday.

But He Angxiao himself showed zero excitement for his big 3-0; in fact, he was deeply resistant and repulsed.

Two weeks before his birthday, he lay on the bed sulking with a face like thunder, tugging at Chi Luoxi's clothes and whining, commanding Chi Luoxi not to remind him of such a depressing topic.

To He Angxiao, Chi Luoxi was only in his early twenties—still a young man no matter what—while He Angxiao was about to cross thirty and head straight for forty. This midlife crisis brought him unprecedented anxiety.

Even though He Angxiao said he didn't want it, Chi Luoxi's preparations didn't let up at all.

He sneaked off to an upscale private pastry shop in the city, planning to make a custom cake himself.

Chi Luoxi was a clever little radish, so he did everything with flair. He personally designed the style, chose He Angxiao's favorite black forest flavor, and had the chef pipe a realistic peacock on the cake with frosting. In his heart, He Angxiao was just like a peacock.

But a cake alone wasn't enough. Chi Luoxi also wanted to give a gift that would hit He Angxiao right in the feels.

So he created a small group on WeChat and asked Meng Xuan and Jiang Ran—He Angxiao's childhood friends—what childhood dream He Angxiao had always cherished and wanted to fulfill.

The chat window paused for a few seconds, then Jiang Ran's message popped up: ...When he was about ten, he said his dream was to become the world's richest man.

Chi Luoxi stared at the screen: ...Pick another one.

That wish is way too ambitious; he, a mere college student radish, couldn't manage it.

A moment later, Meng Xuan also sent a message: When he sat next to me at school, he said he wanted to invent a potion that would make everyone he hated disappear instantly.

Chi Luoxi stared at his phone. How come He Angxiao's dreams from childhood to adulthood were all strange, impossible grand ambitions—pretty much the end goals of a villain.

Wasn't there a more realistic unfulfilled childhood wish?

He Angxiao probably never had a normal, carefree childhood at all.

For this so-called birthday surprise, Chi Luoxi racked his brain at home for days, his little radish brain about to explode, but still couldn't think of a single thing.

Since all those sketchy wishes from his childhood friends were pipe dreams, Chi Luoxi made up his mind to go straight to the source and dig up some real, tangible childhood regrets he could actually help fix.

So, without telling He Angxiao, he went to Grandma He's house.

Grandma He was thrilled to see him, grabbed his hand, and chatted with him in the living room for a good while.

After hearing Chi Luoxi's purpose, the old lady smiled and lowered her voice, telling him the second-floor bedroom He Angxiao used to live in was still exactly the same, and she hadn't gotten rid of a single bit of his old stuff.

Chi Luoxi glanced guiltily toward the stairs and whispered, "Grandma, please don't tell him I stopped by."

Grandma He leaned in with a mysterious air and whispered, "Don't worry, I sure won't tell that kid. I even snuck a peek at the diary he kept in his drawer. I promise you, he was a total goody-two-shoes back then—definitely never had a crush on anyone."

Chi Luoxi knew all about He Angxiao's nonexistent romantic history.

Given how stuck-up and condescending He Angxiao was in school, anyone even slightly impressive his age was automatically labeled as a rival to crush. He was too busy trying to one-up everyone every day, barely enough time, let alone for some romantic fling.

Even though Chi Luoxi knew it was wrong to invade someone's privacy, when he stood in He Angxiao's old room, an intense curiosity itched at him like a cat scratch.

He was dying to know what a weird, awkward little oddball young He Angxiao had been.

A solo photo of He Angxiao as a teen sat in a crystal frame on the desk corner. The boy in the photo wore the stiff uniform of an elite international school, his bow tie perfectly tied, chin slightly raised, his eyes practically radiating that arrogant, blue-blooded pride only a rich kid could have.

This guy He Angxiao was a straight-up genius IQ-wise, skipped grades left and right as a kid, and was shipped off abroad young. In the photo, his slightly baby face showed he'd had a ridiculously smooth and brilliant path.

Chi Luoxi found He Angxiao's thick diary buried at the bottom of the desk.

However, when Chi Luoxi, his heart pounding with excitement to uncover the kid's secret thoughts, opened the yellowed title page, the expression on his face quickly turned... complicated.

This was absolutely not a diary about teenage angst or puppy love.

It was a thick, detailed grudge book.

The thick pages had entries written in detail: "On such-and-such day in middle school, that punk Jiang Ran bought himself a fixed-gear bike without even telling me. Then the next day he didn't ride the same school van with me. So stubborn little me went out and bought the exact same bike after class that day. But on day three, Jiang Ran got tired of biking, gave up, and went back to his comfy private car. Poor me—too proud to back down—ended up biking over an hour under the blazing sun just to get to school." And at the end of the entry, I wrote through gritted teeth: "Cutting ties with Jiang Ran for a week."

Flipping further, there was something about volleyball in PE—a kid from the other class scored a few more points than me, and in some minor subject final, Meng Xuan somehow got two points higher than me.

So the young master held a ton of secret grudges back then, no one had a clue.

Chi Luoxi kept flipping, and among all those old scores, he found a crumpled piece of drawing paper with frayed edges.

It must've been some art class assignment—the title was in bold: "Dream Family."

He Angxiao had just scribbled a couple stiff lines and handed in a blank sheet—naturally scoring his first zero ever in his long, brilliant genius life.

He must've held a grudge about it right then, because he'd carefully kept this shameful zero-score paper tucked in his grudge book all these years.

Chi Luoxi's fingertips gently brushed the rough paper, and through all those petty grudges, it felt like he was finally touching that lonely boy who grew up alone in that rich mansion, watched his parents split up coldly, and handed in a blank paper for a "family" assignment.

On the day of He Angxiao's thirtieth birthday, early that morning, Chi Luoxi told He Angxiao he absolutely had to cancel all his plans and come home early.

He Angxiao wheedled a condition out of him—he said he wanted to see a radish in a maid outfit when he got back.

Since it was He Angxiao's thirtieth, Chi Luoxi gave in: "...Fine, master, but you better come back early. I already told Aunt Su not to cook tonight."

He Angxiao lit up: "Master will definitely come home early."

Sure enough, before five in the afternoon, the engine roared in the yard.

When He Angxiao got home, he was practically buzzing. He slammed the car door, barely containing his excitement, his head full of naughty thoughts, and strode in with huge, hurried steps.

However, when he opened the door, he found the curtains were pulled tight, not a sliver of daylight coming in, and the pets had been let out into the yard.

He Angxiao called Chi Luoxi's name, and from the darkness, a soft, low musical note rang out. Chi Luoxi came slowly out of the shadows, holding a homemade cake with a candle in the shape of "30."

The flickering orange candlelight danced, lighting up his face, which looked especially pale in the dark. His eyebrows curved softly, his eyes sparkling, making him look beautiful and vibrant.

He was gorgeous. He Angxiao actually forgot to breathe for a second.

When Chi Luoxi reached him, Young Master He's focus went way off track. His eyes radar-scanned Chi Luoxi up and down, and spotting the plain everyday t-shirt, he bluntly blurted, "...Where's the maid outfit?"

Chi Luoxi: "............"

God, such a horndog! That's all he thinks about. How the hell did anyone ever buy the rumor that this pervert, who gets turned on any time any place, was impotent?

Chi Luoxi rolled his eyes, too lazy to bother with his nonsense, and pushed the cake forward: "...Honey, blow out the candle first."

He Angxiao clicked his tongue but complied, leaning in to blow out the candle in one breath. The living room instantly darkened. Chi Luoxi casually switched on a soft wall lamp, then brought out a beautifully wrapped gift box from behind him, placing it steadily in front of He Angxiao with expectant eyes.

He Angxiao reached out and pulled the ribbon, and the moment he opened the lid, his movements froze.

He unfolded a stiff piece of drawing paper from the box.

It was exactly that zero-score class assignment from years ago, except the zero had been rewritten into a hundred with the brightest watercolor pen, as if by force.

Chi Luoxi had drawn it with the simplest lines. In the drawing, He Angxiao was a stick figure wearing a black suit and shiny leather shoes. Although the artwork was a bit hard to describe, the few arrogant strands of hair on his forehead and his haughty expression were captured vividly.

The stick-figure He Angxiao was holding tightly with a long line-hand a big white radish next to him, which was Chi Luoxi, and not far from their feet on the grass, two dogs and a sassy cat were squeezed in crookedly.

The background of the drawing was filled with pink hearts.

The big title read: "Family."

He Angxiao, who as a child could only angrily submit a blank sheet for that assignment, never imagined that more than twenty years later, he would one day truly have a family that scored a perfect hundred.

Chi Luoxi stood in the light and shadow, catching the deep emotion in He Angxiao's eyes. The tender feelings in his chest spread, and his heart softened. He was just about to step forward and hug He Angxiao.

But the next moment, He Angxiao suddenly raised his head and reminded, "...Baby, the maid outfit."

Chi Luoxi was almost furious with him. He spitefully stamped on He Angxiao's instep, told him to stand still, and then turned and went upstairs indignantly.

When he changed into the outfit he had ordered online in the bedroom, Chi Luoxi was stunned. The skirt was so short it offered no coverage at all, the apron was just a narrow strip, and the fabric was pitifully scant.

When he came downstairs, he used both hands to cover his inner thighs tightly and moved slowly down the railing.

What followed went without saying. That night, the poor radish maid suffered from the wicked and vicious employer at home, who used extremely vile and varied methods to repeatedly "exploit" him all night long.

At around 3 a.m., Chi Luoxi woke up groggily. He reached out to the side and felt that the spot next to him was empty.

Puzzled, Chi Luoxi threw on a loose robe and went downstairs. However, when he reached the corner, he saw the light in the living room still on.

The tall He Angxiao was now bare-chested, in sleep pants, sitting cross-legged on the carpet, pursing his lips with an expression that could even be called devout. He was seriously holding a solid wood frame, carefully framing the drawing of the stick figure and the big white radish, then seemed to wipe his eyes and kissed the artwork.

The next morning, that slightly childish drawing was placed steadily in the center of their living room, in the most prominent spot.

Author's note: Little Radish's mood: Moved — Speechless — Moved — Speechless

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Boss He: