Chapter 58

Chapter 58

"058"

Xiao Lancui walked out of the hospital and was nearing the parking lot when footsteps caught up from behind.

"Mr. Xiao!"

The newcomer was out of breath, hands on knees as he rested, looking up slightly. "I sent you messages but got no reply, so I thought I'd try visiting the hospital to run into you again."

He flashed a row of neat white teeth. "And here you are. Lucky me."

Xiao Lancui said flatly, "Your texts didn't warrant a reply."

Lately, besides Qi Ying, Jiang Xing, Fu Chen, and occasionally Lu Siye sending incomprehensible messages from various numbers, he read them all.

But he read them all without replying, unwilling to waste his time.

His bluntness made Qi Ying stumble for a split second. Two seconds later, Qi Ying caught his breath and stood straight, gazing at Xiao Lancui with even more interest. "Are you this cold with everyone, or is it just me? If it's the first one, I'd actually be a little thrilled—that'd mean I'm getting special treatment."

Xiao Lancui glanced at the time, ignoring Qi Ying's pointless question. "What do you want?"

He said flatly, "It's almost time. I need to eat on schedule."

Qi Ying said, "I came to talk about business." He blinked. "Chinese New Year's coming up, and I want to give my grandfather a gift, Xiao Zixian's calligraphy and paintings. You've still got some, right? I'll treat you to a meal. There's a nice place nearby. We can talk over dinner."

"I don't have any left." Xiao Lancui moved to leave.

"Fine, I admit it—" Qi Ying had no choice. Xiao Lancui wasn't just cold as ice; he was a snow-capped mountain.

An aloof peak that showed no warmth and cared about no one's feelings.

In desperation, Qi Ying spread his arms to block Xiao Lancui's path. It was his first time doing something like this. He was deeply embarrassed, his face flushing slightly as he confessed, "I have strong feelings for you. Give me a chance, will you?"

Xiao Lancui frowned slightly. He wasn't surprised that Qi Ying was also gay—after all, he'd loved Lu Ao with an earth-shattering love back in Dali. But he hadn't expected that interest to switch to him this time.

A wave of disgust washed over him.

"I don't feel the same." He shut down any possibility. "And I never will."

Qi Ying had expected that answer, but he still refused to give up. "You haven't gotten to know me yet—you never know—"

His phone suddenly rang. He pulled it out awkwardly and said, "Sorry, it's my grandpa. I gotta take this."

"Grandpa, I'm out..." Qi Ying stepped aside a few paces, still keeping his eyes on Xiao Lancui. He lowered his voice. "What Dali vase...?"

Xiao Lancui's phone also rang.

It was Zhou Sizhe, the owner of the Zhengu Auction House.

He answered.

"Mr. Xiao, when would you be able to stop by the auction house?" Zhou Sizhe said politely. "You see, for our important sellers, we send a small gift every New Year. I happened to receive a Dali vase a few days ago—not worth much, but it'd make a lovely flower holder. I don't have your address, so would you mind stopping by to pick it up?"

Zhou Sizhe paused, then sighed. "But guess what—Old Master Qi saw it and insists on buying it. Sigh... it's not for sale, you know..."

On the other end of the line, Zhou Sizhe stared at the small vase in its exquisite gift box and sighed for the umpteenth time.

Such a beautiful vase. Such a valuable vase.

Too bad it wasn't his to keep.

That strange young man had delivered it, specifically instructing him to come up with some excuse to give it to Xiao Lancui.

Wasn't that a joke? Who sends a multi-million-yuan antique vase as a New Year's gift...

And it might be worth even more than a few million.

This was the first time Zhou Sizhe had seen a Dali vase so well preserved, and precisely because he'd never seen one, he'd priced it based on market prices. The real value could easily be several times that.

There was silence on the other end, and Zhou Sizhe panicked. "Mr. Xiao, are you still there?" Don't tell me I can't even give this thing away now...

He didn't want to lose that strange, mysterious young golden goose, whose collection of antiques was utterly incalculable.

It was like they were mass-produced...

Fortunately, Xiao Lancui replied, "I'll come now."

Xiao Lancui put away his phone. Over there, Qi Ying was still calming down his grandfather. Xiao Lancui wasn't in the habit of doing others favors.

Even though Old Master Qi had impeccable taste and appreciated his calligraphy and paintings, Xiao Lancui did indeed lack a vase.

Those few branches of wintersweet the housekeeper had arranged the other day deserved a fine vase. If placed in a Dali white porcelain vase, they would surely look even more beautiful.

Xiao Lancui waited for Qi Ying to finish his call. He hurried back, ready to resume their earlier conversation, but Xiao Lancui spoke first.

"Don't waste your time. There's no future for us."

He said in a flat tone.

"I have someone now. And I always will have."

Without giving Qi Ying another glance, Xiao Lancui got into the car and had the driver take him to the Zhengu Auction House.

On the way, Qi Ying sent another message. "Pass along to that lucky person that I envy him and wish you both well."

Xiao Lancui didn't reply, though Qi Ying's text was gracious enough that he saw no need to respond.

Arriving at the Zhengu Auction House, he dismissed the driver. Once again, Sun Qinian came hurrying over to receive him.

Sun Qinian ran up and noticed Xiao Lancui giving him an extra look. He felt nervous for no reason. The auction house's sellers and buyers included major figures from politics and business, and he'd never been nervous around any of them—except for—

This one, and that mysterious Mr. Lu. Both were younger than him, yet both made him unusually tense.

"Is something wrong?" Sun Qinian asked weakly. "Mr. Xiao."

Xiao Lancui looked away and said flatly, "Are you in a relationship?"

The question was completely unexpected. Sun Qinian froze for a second, first shaking his head, then nodding. "Does a boyfriend count? I've got one..."

Xiao Lancui nodded. So this was indeed a gay romance. In this world, men loving men was extremely common.

Qi Ying's so-called attraction came from his appearance.

In any era, ancient or modern, this face of his seemed to be quite popular with people.

Xiao Lancui stopped asking questions and entered the auction house.

Perfectly preserved, by all rights, this should be a genuine white porcelain vase.

Xiao Lancui examined the vase. He'd checked the prices in the auction house's showroom to estimate its value—if it was genuine, this vase was worth at least eight million.

No idiot would hand a customer an antique worth eight million.

This increased the likelihood of it being a fake.

Modern technology had advanced way too fast; turning out a hundred-percent-perfect counterfeit wasn't out of the question.

"You can tell, right?" Zhou Sizhe, scared of getting caught, said quickly. "This is a replica, but with this level of craftsmanship, even a fake is worth a good few tens of thousands."

Xiao Lancui kept studying the vase—delicate and compact, it could easily fit four or five branches of wintersweet. He smiled and took it. "Well, I'd be rude to refuse. Thanks, Boss Zhou."

Zhou Sizhe broke into a grin. "Don't mention it—it's give and take. I'm counting on you, Mr. Xiao, to sell me more genuine pieces."

Xiao Lancui set the vase back down gently. This Boss Zhou really was thoughtful—even the gift box was in the simple style he liked. He smiled. "I will."

Vase in hand, Xiao Lancui left and found a nearby restaurant to grab lunch.

He'd just sat down when Xie Jingfang called. When she heard he'd already left the hospital, Xie Jingfang was clearly relieved. She'd been nervous, worried Xiao Lancui might go soft when he saw Xiao Jingli.

Hearts are made of flesh—even Xiao Anfeng, who'd been deliberately ignored for twenty-one years, couldn't let go of Xiao Jingli, let alone Xiao Lancui, who'd been "loved" under false pretenses for twenty years.

Luckily, Xiao Lancui hadn't. Xie Jingfang was both touched and relieved. "Good boy, you did well. Don't go back to that house tonight—we'll have a family dinner at your grandpa's place!"

Xie Jingfang's family was nothing to sneeze at; that was why Xiao Jingli had married into the Xie family in the first place.

Xiao Lancui agreed, chatted a little more, and hung up when the food came.

A Jiangnan-style restaurant.

Xiao Lancui started with a bite of squirrel-shaped mandarin fish. It tasted great, and the presentation was way better than Lu Ao's flawed attempt—but Xiao Lancui still preferred that flawed dish.

He chewed the tender fish slowly, then suddenly did something he'd never normally do.

He pulled out his phone and opened WeChat while still chewing.

The chat with the Pomeranian puppy had a few new red dots. He tapped in—around 10 a.m., Lu Ao had woken up and sent two pictures.

The first was his breakfast, a bowl of wontons, captioned, "It's really fresh—I learned it from the housekeeper. When you come home, big brother, I'll make it for you!"

The second was a matcha milk pudding ice bread that still looked a little wonky, with Lu Ao adding a message and two emojis: "Failed again QAQ I'll keep trying! [fist]"

The corner of Xiao Lancui's mouth twitched up slightly. He was about to reply when another photo suddenly popped up.

This time it was a plump, perfect-looking ice bread.

Then a voice message popped up, almost thirty seconds long.

Xiao Lancui glanced around—all the nearby tables were empty. He tapped the voice message and held it to his ear. Lu Ao's bright voice spoke right by his ear: "Big brother, I think I did it! From now on I can make you ice bread—come back and check it out!"

A burst of static, then the young man quickly added, "Big brother, I miss you so much! Mwah!"

Xiao Lancui didn't get what "mwah" meant. He highlighted it and searched, and a definition popped up.

"You might be looking for 'mwah'—an onomatopoeia used in online chats to mimic the sound of a kiss, usually expressing intimacy and affection. Simply put, 'mwah' is the text version of a kiss or a flying kiss."

He also accidentally hit the voice-to-text feature, and a line of text slowly appeared, ending on a small round yellow face blowing hearts out.

Xiao Lancui paused his chewing for a second. Then he swallowed his rice, deleted the few characters in the chat box, and opened the emoji panel—his first time ever using emojis.

A dazzling array spread out before him, and he quickly found the heart-blowing emoji.

There were quite a few: a single heart, a yellow round face with two hearts, a yellow round face with three hearts, one blowing hearts endlessly...

Xiao Lancui picked carefully, as if reviewing official memorials, and finally chose the single heart.

The others...

were way too cute.

With that thought, Xiao Lancui sent no text—just one pink heart.

Lu Ao was on a call. His phone buzzed, but he ignored it and kept talking to the person on the other end.

"Handle the class hours yourself—I'll show up for the exam. Schedule the fastest test date you can."

"Got it, got it. You're a busy man—I'll take care of these little things like logging your class hours for you!" the other person said cheerfully. "Don't worry, as long as you pass all the exams in one shot, I guarantee you'll have your license in 26 days."

Lu Ao hung up and was about to head back to the kitchen.

He was seriously busy. Cooking was harder than going into battle—way more complicated.

He'd finally managed to make ice bread that tasted about right, and now he couldn't roll wonton wrappers.

Thin and see-through—the housekeeper said that's what made the wrappers good.

Lu Ao wiped the flour off the back of his hand and suddenly spotted a new red dot in his WeChat chat. He stopped dead in his tracks.

He tapped in quickly.

Instantly, a pink heart burst into Lu Ao's dark eyes. His chest stopped for a second, then went wild, pounding so hard it felt like it might shatter. He stared hard at that small, delicate heart.

Then another message popped up.

"There's a vase to send back—make sure you sign for it later."

Lu Ao reined in his emotions and was about to reply when the message was suddenly recalled, followed by another.

"Never mind, I'm coming back. Have the ice bread ready."