Ch44 - His Body is Very Cold

Lai Chengshan had walked out of the apartment building, and then immediately got into a car accident. If this were to get onto the internet, who knew what everyone would think.

Fan Zeng was even a bit frustrated and regretted asking Lai Chengshan to come. He didn’t even have the chance to expose the other party as a liar, who would have thought that that person would be gone so soon.

“Really, it would’ve been better if I had never invited him in the first place.” As Fan Zeng spoke, he unconsciously thought about the butterfly effect. “Xiao Xu, say, if I hadn’t invited him here, would he not have died?”

Fan Zeng wasn’t a cruel person.

Whether it was discovering that Lai Chengshan was a scammer, or getting angry enough that he wanted to expose the scammer’s actions, Fan Zeng had never thought about wanting the other person to die.

It was also because of this, that his heart was somewhat unsettled, and he couldn’t help but think about this.

Lu Xu saw Fan Zeng’s expression and knew that he was feeling guilty. He snorted lightly and smiled as he said, “If it wasn’t for him selling himself as a master in the first place, Fan ge, you wouldn’t have found people to contact him. And no one could have known that he would get into an accident. If we were to go according to Lai Chengshan’s own words, life and death have fate and wealth in the heavens. If it has to be you, then you can’t run. Fame and fortune are like this, and so is death.”

Lu Xu’s words were simple, but they made sense.

“Xiao Xu, you’re right!” Fan Zeng nodded as he listened, and couldn’t help but lament to Lu Xu. “Although a kid like you is young, understanding all these philosophies is not easy. Now as for me, I’m afraid his death will impact our show and might implicate you as well…”

“Implicate what?” Ji Xiunian had just come out of the shower, his body wrapped in a bathrobe, his hair wet.

When Fan Zeng saw Ji Xiunian come out, he immediately sighed. “What else but that incident before Lai Chengshan’s death. Everything was fine, but he just had to cue Xiao Xu’s name on Weibo. In the end, the consequences immediately followed. He had just finished talking about Xiao Xu’s short life, and in the end, he got into a car accident himself. Of course, this has nothing to do with Xiao Xu, but everything that’s happened is very coincidental. What do you think the netizens will say?

Fan Zeng’s worries weren’t without reason. Just now, there were already people on the internet who were bringing up the timeline of events, using Lu Xu’s name and putting it together with Lai Chengshan to describe the situation.

Ji Xiunian looked at Lu Xu, not wanting him to feel too pressured.

Not to mention that Lu Xu was only 18 years old, and didn’t have much experience with death. For someone one had met to have suddenly passed away, many people would be unable to accept it.

However, what Ji Xiunian hadn’t expected was that Lu Xu didn’t have much of a reaction to it at all.

He just sat there quietly listening to Fan Zeng’s analysis, very calm from start to finish, as though he was listening to somebody else’s problems.

“Fan ge, I think that these aren’t problems we need to worry about.” Fan Zeng was afraid everyone would connect Lai Chengshan’s death with the show and Lu Xu, simply because Lai Chengshan had garnered so much popularity over the years. If there were the kind of people who wanted to fan the flames, they might use this as an invitation to talk about the incident.

But Lu Xu didn’t think so.

There might still be a little splash if it were Lai Chengshan or about tearing down the production team. But the person was already gone, and he hadn’t been a celebrity or an artist, so the attention on him hadn’t even been that high.

Also, he had definitely been a scammer.

When he was alive, there had been several exposés on him. It was just that he had still been popular at the time, and had used his own methods to suppress the information, so there hadn’t been much backlash.

Now he was gone, those things that had been forcibly suppressed would be like bamboo shoots sprouting up after the rain. When the time came, everyone would know that this metaphysical master was nothing but a scammer.

It was too late to even scold him; who would even think about or have the energy to challenge the production team?

Lu Xu’s analysis was straightforward and logical. When Fan Zeng heard it, he nodded his head. “Okay, my Xu, when you say it like that I suddenly feel like there’s nothing to worry about at all.”

Ji Xiunian also agreed with Lu Xu’s perspective, it was only that he felt even more so that Lu Xu looked young, but acted very old.

All that needed to be said had been said, Fan Zeng finally calmed down quite a bit.

“Aiya, it’s already past 1 A.M.!” He looked at the time and was a bit embarrassed. He chuckled. “See, I’ve already talked for so long and disturbed you two’s rest.”

When those words were said, it always made people feel a little strange. Ji Xiunian couldn’t help but say, “It’s nothing, we weren’t resting anyway.”

Fan Zeng knew that he was being considerate, and didn’t want to say too much more. He got up and prepared to go back to continue editing. “Then all right, you two rest well. I’m going to the office.”

Fan Zeng said those words and wanted to leave; however, Lu Xu opened his mouth to stop him instead. “Fan ge, I think you don’t look too well, it’s better to rest early today.”

Fan Zeng had been tired during this recent period of time. He barely slept an average of three hours a day. It was just that in his opinion, work was more important than anything else. He waved his hand dismissively. “I still have a bit of energy left, I’ll sleep right after finishing up work.”

When Lu Xu heard him say that, he didn’t insist any further.

Everyone had their own lives, and their choices were their own. He could only give some words of reminder, there was no need to interfere too much.

But when Fan Zeng walked to the entrance, Ji Xiunian who was at the side also opened his mouth. “Fan ge, do you think Lai Chengshan predicted that he would die?”

Fan Zeng didn’t know why Ji Xiunian would suddenly ask this, and immediately shook his head as he said, “He definitely didn’t know, otherwise he wouldn’t have used his last moments of life to cause trouble…”

“That’s right, a thousand pieces of gold can’t buy you hindsight. Look at Lai Chengshan, even if so many people had been tricked into believing him, now he’s dead and has nothing at all…”

The body was the currency of revolution, this was the truth.

It was hard for there to be fairness in the world, but everyone was equal in the face of death.

Ji Xiunian didn’t say anything else, but Fan Zeng understood what he meant. Recently, he had also been joking that he was so tired he was worried he would die, but after cracking those jokes he still buried his head in his work and didn’t leave.

In the case of the body being over-exhausted, who could guarantee that nothing would happen?

Today, the person who had suddenly gone was Lai Chengshan. What if tomorrow, it was his turn?

Fan Zeng was frightened by the situation his own mind had conjured, and immediately got rid of the thought of continuing to work. “Okay, I understand what you two are getting at. Let’s all have a good rest.”

After sending Fan Zeng off, Ji Xiunian saw the milk on the coffee table and remembered. “It’s already cold, I’ll warm it up for you again.”

“This is for me?” Lu Xu hadn’t thought that he would prepare milk for him. He didn’t want Ji Xiunian to go to the trouble, so he nodded and picked up the glass cup to drink it.

The milk was sweet and coated his entire mouth.

When Lu Xu finished drinking, he didn’t forget to smile at Ji Xiunian. “Thank you, Nian ge.”

The young man’s smile was bright and looked to be even sweeter than the milk. Seeing that there was a bit of milk foam on the corner of Lu Xu’s mouth, Ji Xiunian reached out and touched the side of Lu Xu’s mouth with his thumb, gently helping him wipe away the traces.

There was a soft feeling underneath his fingers, and it had to be said that Lu Xu had beautiful lips. At that moment, his eyes were watery and misty, looking at him with a bit of a dazed expression.

Ji Xiunian violently came back to his senses and showed Lu Xu his finger. “There was some milk on your mouth, I just wanted to help you wipe it.”

“Ohh.” Lu Xu raised his hand to wipe his mouth, then asked Ji Xiunian to help him look again. “Is there any more, Nian ge?”

“No more.” Ji Xiunian shook his head and urged Lu Xu to hurry and sleep. However, when Lu Xu got up, Ji Xiunian unconsciously looked at his finger, still able to vaguely feel the softness from just now.

“Meow…” Ba Mei opened its mouth and yawned, then came over to rub against Ji Xiunian’s calf.

Ji Xiunian’s attention immediately moved onto Ba Mei, and he couldn’t resist bending down to pick it up when he saw Lu Xu had already laid down on the couch to sleep.

Even if the couch was spacious, it still wasn’t a bed. Lu Xu was tall and his legs stuck out. Such a big boy having to curl his body up to lie on the couch was bound to make others feel a bit wronged.

Ji Xiunian glanced at the bed, then said to Lu Xu, “The bed is very big, there’s no problem at all for the two of us to sleep on it.”

Lu Xu raised his hand to rest his cheek in it, and poked his head out from the couch to look at Ji Xiunian. “But, Nian ge, didn’t you dislike people sleeping in your bed?”

People who were familiar with Ji Xiunian knew that he was someone who was particular about personal space. He basically never invited other people to his home, let alone allowing other people to sleep in his bed.

When Ji Xiunian had appeared on a variety show once, the host had asked him if it was possible for him to accept a lover into his bed if he couldn’t even accept his friends touching his bed.

The Ji Xiunian at that time had given an unsure answer and had even been laughed at, with them saying it would probably be very difficult for him to find a partner.

However his fans were very understanding of this, and even wished their male god would remain forever beautiful and single.

In order to understand Ji Xiunian, Lu Xu had watched many of his movies and interviews. He naturally knew about this matter.

Coming over to stay for the night was already troubling him; there was no need to step on the host’s bottom line.

Lu Xu was self-admittedly good at understanding others. He thought Ji Xiunian was merely being courteous and in order to not make things difficult, he refused.

But what he hadn’t expected was that not only did Ji Xiunian not play along, he even continued to insist. “No worries, come sleep.”

After saying this, even Ji Xiunian felt incredulous.

He had long since been used to living by himself. His quality of sleep was already poor and he completely could not withstand a person next to him.

But Lu Xu was different from other people. If the person staying over was him, then he could accept it.

Lu Xu didn’t want Ji Xiunian to force himself, but Ji Xiunian really didn’t feel like he was forcing himself. Seeing him insist, Lu Xu didn’t reject him and squinted his eyes as he smiled at him. “Then I’ll listen to you, Nian ge.”

The two metre long bed was very spacious for Ji Xiunian to sleep in by himself, but the addition of a Lu Xu added an overly noticeable presence.

Ba Mei was incredibly sleepy and fell deeply asleep sprawled at the foot of the bed. Ji Xiunian and Lu Xu, two big men who were both over 1.8m tall, lay down together, one on the left and the other on the right. They left the space of two or three people in between them.

Ji Xiunian originally felt a little self-conscious, but when he turned around and saw Lu Xu squeezing himself to the edge of the bed, he couldn’t help but want to laugh. “If you go any further you’ll fall off.”

When Lu Xu thought about it, he agreed, so he shuffled inward and didn’t forget to tell Ji Xiunian, “Nian ge, you should come inside a bit, or else the person who falls off the bed first will definitely be you.”

As soon as the conversation opened up, the surrounding air began to flow, breaking through the estranged and awkward atmosphere from earlier.

Ji Xiunian laughed and unconsciously leaned in closer.

When he turned around, he accidentally touched Lu Xu’s hand. Ji Xiunian couldn’t help but ask, “Your body is so cold, is it because of the wind earlier?”

“No, I was naturally born with a lower temperature.” Lu Xu didn’t want him to discuss the topic of his body temperature, so he said openly and jokingly, “I heard people with lower body temperatures have a longer lifespan than others because of the slow rate of oxidation.”

His attitude was lighthearted, and he obviously didn’t take his cool temperature too seriously. But Ji Xiunian secretly took it to heart and thought to ask his own Chinese medical doctor when he had the time to see if he could help Lu Xu fix this issue.

Men who were cold often had weak kidneys; Ji Xiunian hoped Lu Xu could be healthy enough.

The two of them lay parallel to each other, staring in a trance at the ceiling, not sure of what else to say.

Ji Xiunian said goodnight to Lu Xu first. But when Lu Xu turned his head around ten minutes later, he saw that Ji Xiunian’s eyes were still open.

“Nian ge, why aren’t you sleeping yet?”

“I have chronic insomnia.”

The moment he closed his eyes, that oppressive dark tide would rush in from all directions, enveloping him completely and making it even difficult to breathe.

Especially recently, his nightmares had become more intense. Every time he shut his eyes, Ji Xiunian always felt like there was something in the darkness staring at him, ready to harm him. Ji Xiunian really hated that kind of powerless feeling and thus began sleeping less and less.

“Can’t fall asleep?” When Lu Xu heard this, he couldn’t help feeling it was a little strange. People would become easily annoyed when they were chronically sleep-deprived, but Ji Xiunian didn’t seem abnormal in any way.

“Mn.” Ji Xiunian rarely told others about this and merely said casually, “I just can’t fall asleep. Neither melatonin nor sleeping pills do me any good. It’s fine if you just sleep, don’t mind me.”

Lu Xu had been thinking of waiting for Ji Xiunian to fall asleep so he could hunt around for a clue. How could he let him stay wide awake?

Lu Xu thought about it, then turned over and lay his hands across his chest. He crawled over and looked towards Ji Xiunian. “No worries, I can’t fall asleep right now either. Should we chat for a bit?”

The youth’s voice was nice to listen to; even speaking made others feel pleasant.

Ji Xiunian couldn’t fall asleep no matter what, so he decided to just turn around. “What do you want to talk about?”

The moonlight spilled in through the windows, reflecting gleamingly into Lu Xu’s eyes. Even in the darkness of the night, this boy’s visuals were not damaged in the slightest; the more he looked, the more beautiful Lu Xu became.

“Anything is fine. If you want to talk then talk, if you don’t want to talk then you don’t have to.”

“Okay.”

The two of them looked at each other unintentionally, and they couldn’t help laughing at the sight of the other trying hard to find a topic to discuss.

The two of them chatted about the competition and Lai Chengshan. They spoke a lot without realising it. With Lu Xu by his side, Ji Xiunian’s mood inexplicably became much more relaxed.

Not long after, his eyelids became heavier and heavier and his breathing more and more shallow. Finally, he fell deeply asleep.

“Nian ge?” Lu Xu did not receive an answer and tried calling him a couple of times.

Seeing that he didn’t receive any reaction, he scooted over and his gaze landed on Ji Xiunian’s wrist. That originally small as a fingertip mark was now the size of a coin. The death energy was heavier than before.

nao: thank u author…for finally giving us crumbs of fluff…44 chapters into this novel…also fun fact many important [spoilers] happen in chapters that end with the number 4 and we thought it happened too many times for it to be coincidental (4 in Chinese is often considered an unlucky number because it’s the homonym of 死, or death)