Chapter 86 I already have you, I don't want to be with anyone else...

As the weekend drew to a close, Fang Xin booked Xu Subo's flight back to Shanghai and arranged a hotel for her in advance. Finally, on Monday night, after Jing Yitong returned home, Fang Xin told her that she was about to embark on her journey back to Shanghai.

Fang Xin Gu: "Brother, I need to go back to Shen City tomorrow."

When Jing Yitong first heard the news, he only felt reluctant to part with Fang Xin Gu: "Is there work?"

Fang Xingu squatted on the ground packing his luggage: "No, Subo is going back to China to hold her wedding. I'm going to pick her up."

This news was like a bolt from the blue for Jing Yitong. It was one thing for Fang Xin to have passed away, but why was he going to pick up Xu Subo?

Alarm bells rang in his mind. He had only been with Fang Xin Gu for a few days, and Xu Subo was already coming back. She really knew how to pick her timing.

Jing Yitong angrily blocked Fang Xingu's path: "You're not even in Shen City, yet she still insists you pick her up. Does she have no sense of reason?"

Fang Xin looked up: "After all, she hasn't been back to China for a long time and has lost contact with her other friends in China. She's only familiar with me, so it's only right that I go and visit her."

Jing Yitong was silent for a moment. Seeing that Fang Xingu was still packing his luggage and had filled the suitcase in a short time, Jing Yitong quickly went to Fang Xingu's side and hugged him, stopping him from packing: "You still need to pack a few more clothes. The suitcase is already full. Are you planning to go back to Shen City for ten days or half a month?"

Fang Xingu was both amused and exasperated. He thought Jing Yitong was simply reluctant to part with him, so he explained, "Look, these are all the autumn clothes I've packed down here. I'm going to take them home and put them away. I'll only be gone for two or three days, and I'll definitely be back before the weekend."

Jing Yitong still held onto him tightly, refusing to let go, protesting with silence.

Fang Xin planted a kiss on his cheek: "I didn't want to go either, but I already promised her."

In fact, if Xu Subo had another friend in China, Fang Xingu wouldn't have made a special trip to Shanghai to pick her up. After all, he and Jing Yitong were inseparable and deeply in love during this period. Every morning when Jing Yitong went to work, the two of them would linger at the door for a while, not to mention that they would be gone for several days at a time.

Jing Yitong snorted and suddenly asked, "Does she know that we're together?"

Fang Xingu didn't understand why he was still concerned about this, and truthfully replied, "I don't know yet."

Jing Yitong said sarcastically, "Aren't you two on good terms? Why didn't you tell her?"

"...I forgot to mention it before, I was planning to tell her in person tomorrow."

Jing Yitong bit his neck in a huff: "Then tell her as soon as you see her tomorrow."

Fang Xingu laughed and pushed his head away: "You have nowhere else to show off your love, so you can only do it in front of her, right?"

Jing Yitong: "Anyway, she needs to know about this."

"Okay, okay."

So the next evening, as soon as Fang Xingu picked up Xu Subo, he mysteriously raised an eyebrow at her, his face full of an uncontrollable smile: "I'll tell you a big secret."

Xu Subo had just fastened her seatbelt when she heard this and turned to look at him: "What secret... wait, don't move!"

Before Fang Xingu could even speak, he was startled by Xu Subo's commotion: "What?"

Xu Subo stared wide-eyed at the red mark on Fang Xingu's neck in disbelief, feeling as if her eyes were about to pop out. She knew exactly what it was, given its size and shape!

She exclaimed in shock, "Holy crap, how come you have a hickey on your neck? Which little vixen left that!"

Fang Xin Gu: ...Now I finally understand why Jing Yitong insisted on kissing his neck yesterday.

"Weren't you going to marry Jing Yitong?" Thinking of this, Xu Subo clapped her hands and laughed. "Hahaha, have you finally come to your senses and are you going to give Jing Yitong a good cuckold's horns before the wedding?"

Fang Xingu interrupted her calmly: "What if I said this is Jing Yitong's relative?"

Xu Subo's laughter stopped abruptly. She stared blankly at Fang Xingu. After confirming that her ears weren't broken, the smile on her lips grew smaller and smaller until it finally drooped.

Xu Subo asked stiffly, "So what was the secret you were trying to tell me?"

Fang Xingu nodded: "That's right, Jing Yitong and I are together now."

"Ahhh!"

Xu Subo yelled, closed his eyes, and tilted his head back, slamming it against the backrest. He then pretended to be dead.

Fang Xingu was amused by her reaction and slapped her without hesitation: "What kind of reaction is this? Shouldn't you be happy for me that my crush has come true?"

Xu Subo stared into the void, murmuring absentmindedly, "I'm afraid you're not happy, but I'm also afraid Jing Yitong is too happy."

Fang Xingu sneered, his voice sinister: "Your disgust for Jing Yitong is now on par with your well wishes for me?"

Xu Subo shuddered and quickly sat up straight: "Haha, then your happiness is definitely more important!"

Fang Xingu then dropped the dangerous expression on his face and revealed a bright smile: "That's good then, so wish me luck."

Xu Su sighed repeatedly, and during that time she thought she was being discreet as she glanced at Fang Xingu several times, but Fang Xingu didn't bother to call her out.

It was getting late, so the two went to a restaurant for dinner.

This is a local Shanghainese restaurant that Fang Xin had booked in advance. Although it has only been open for two years, it uses fresh ingredients, has exquisite decor, and most importantly, the food is very authentic, representing the most classic local flavors of Shanghai.

Xu Subo felt tears welling up as soon as she took the first bite. She kept stuffing more food into her mouth, saying, "It tastes like home."

She's been gone for six or seven years. In those years, she's managed to find some excellent chefs specializing in Shanghainese cuisine abroad, but while she has the chefs, the ingredients are hard to come by. Even if they can be air-freighted, their freshness can't compare to that in China. Although a good chef will try his best to compensate for the difference in taste caused by the ingredients, a discerning palate can still tell something's off in one bite.

Fang Xin said, "If you had come back earlier, you could have eaten more seasonal dishes. It's a pity that it's almost June now, and it's too late."

Xu Subo was so engrossed in her food that she didn't even have time to look up: "I've just been too busy. I haven't been able to find the time before."

Fang Xingu gracefully picked up two pieces of food with his chopsticks: "Is there anything else going on in China?"

"It's said that a branch of the Xu family in China has recently run into trouble. I'm planning to come back to see if I can add fuel to the fire and take back our share in China. I want them to taste the same bitterness they showed us back then."

"Oh my, the female lead drama is starting," Fang Xingu asked casually, with a gossip-loving attitude. "What trouble have they gotten themselves into?"

Xu Subo replied vaguely, "They said someone reported that the person was a pimp, and the police started to investigate. But you know how the Xu family members in China are, they can't withstand any investigation. If this investigation leads to more problems, I'll definitely have to come back and cause some trouble."

Fang Xingu felt something was off as he listened. He seemed to have heard a similar version of the story recently. After a moment, he realized: "Xu Xingye?"

The first thing Xu Subo looked up after entering the restaurant was her eyes wide open as she stared at Fang Xingu: "You know him?"

Fang Xingu tapped rhythmically on the table with the tip of his left finger: "Not only do I know him, I also know who reported him for pimping."

Xu Subo stopped eating and slammed her chopsticks down, shouting, "Who did this good deed? I want to award this hero! Tell me what happened!"

Fang Xin briefly recounted the mess Jiang Zhou and Xu Xingye had made to Xu Subo. Xu Subo was both angry and pleased. She was angry that these people were doing such disgusting things, but pleased that Xu Xingye had dug a pit for her, giving her an opportunity to take advantage of it.

Xu Subo narrowed his eyes: "Tsk, watch me make them pay this time."

Fang Xingu served her a bowl of soup: "Don't worry, none of them will get away this time. Stop thinking about how to kill them and eat your food."

Xu Subo smiled and took the soup bowl with a quick change of expression. She took a sip, closed her eyes, and sighed, "This soup tastes so familiar, but this shop must have only been open for a few years. I don't remember ever being here before."

Fang Xingu nodded: "The restaurant is newly opened, but the chef is not new. The owner poached him from the old restaurant. It should still taste the same as before, right?"

"I knew it!"

The two chatted about the old restaurant for a while before Fang Xingu's phone rang. He picked it up and saw that it was a video call from Jing Yitong.

Fang Xingu mentioned to Xu Subo, "My brother video-called me, and I answered."

Xu Subo winked and said, "Oh, you still don't trust me? You've come to check up on me?"

"He's not that bored."

“Jing Yitong isn’t that bored?” Xu Subo said as if she had heard the biggest joke in the world. She pointed at Fang Xingu’s neck and said, “I wonder who stamped your neck with that seal.”

Fang Xin, somewhat embarrassed, looked down and answered the video call: "Brother, are you done with work today?"

Jing Yitong must be in the car right now; his face isn't very clear in the dim light. "Yeah, just finished. Are you having dinner?"

"Yes, the one we ate at last time. Do you want to say hello to Subo?"

Jing Yitong's expression twisted for a moment, but quickly returned to normal: "Okay."

Seeing that he was unusually willing to talk to Xu Subo, Fang Xin was about to hand the phone to Xu Subo when he saw Xu Subo, who had just been eating and drinking heartily, suddenly wipe his mouth clean, straighten his back, and stick out his collarbone, thus restoring his elegant and proper image in front of outsiders.

Fang Xin Gu: ...Anyone who didn't know better would think you had a crush on Jing Yi Tong.

Fortunately, Xu Subo couldn't hear Fang Xingu's inner thoughts, otherwise she would probably be furious. She looked at Jing Yitong in the video and gave a forced smile: "You've been doing pretty well lately, haven't you?"

Jing Yitong smiled and said, "Of course. Xin Gu has already told you, right? We're together now, and we're inseparable lately. We'll be getting married in a while, and then it'll be our turn to invite you to our wedding."

Xu Subo couldn't hold back her smile and almost rolled her eyes: "Did I disturb your time together?"

Jing Yitong immediately chimed in, "It's good that you know what's going on. Have you finished eating? If you have, hurry back to the hotel. Don't linger with Xin Gu; he needs to rest."

Xu Subo took a deep breath: "I'm going to stay here. Anyway, you can't see Xin Gu now, but I can, and I'll make you furious."

"Alright, alright, stop arguing."

Seeing that the two were about to start arguing again, Fang Xingu reluctantly took back his phone, abruptly ending a pointless argument.

Jing Yitong looked at him with a wronged expression: "Xin Gu, can you go home early after you finish today?"

Fang Xingu sighed and smiled helplessly, "Okay, I'll listen to you."

Jing Yitong then straightened up: "Go home early, I have a surprise for you."

Fang Xingu naturally pressed for details about the surprise, but Jing Yitong remained tight-lipped and refused to answer, which piqued Fang Xingu's curiosity. After hanging up the video call, he kept urging Xu Subo to eat, which annoyed Xu Subo quite a bit.

After dropping Xu Subo off at her hotel, Fang Xin rushed home, but it was already past nine o'clock in the evening.

At first, he thought Jing Yitong had sent him something, but he didn't receive any packages. He searched around the house, but it didn't seem like there was any surprise.

Fang Xingu was completely confused and sent a message to Jing Yitong to ask, but the message went unanswered for more than an hour.

He had no choice but to first pack up the clothes in his suitcase and hang them up, then go to the shower room to take a shower. By the time he changed into his pajamas and came out of the bathroom, it was almost eleven o'clock, but Jing Yitong still hadn't replied to his message.

Fang Xin Gu couldn't help but worry. If Jing Yi Tong were on set during the day and didn't reply to messages for several hours, he wouldn't think there was anything wrong. But it was already late at night, and Jing Yi Tong should have been home by now. Moreover, he had told him in advance that there would be a surprise, so he shouldn't have disappeared suddenly.

Fang Xin was in the living room contemplating whether to ask Song Kan or Yang Qing about the situation when he suddenly heard a "ding" from the front door behind him, indicating that someone was trying to open the combination lock.

Fang Xin was startled and instinctively looked towards the door—who was it?

The next second, the combination lock emitted a sound indicating that the password had been entered correctly, and then the heavy door of Fang Xin's house was pushed open, revealing Jing Yitong's face behind it.

Fang Xin looked at Jing Yitong, who should have been in Suizhou at that moment, in disbelief. He even thought he was hallucinating because he was so worried about the other person.

Fang Xin's heart pounded, and his voice trembled as he asked, "Brother? What brings you here?"

Jing Yitong closed the door, not even having time to put on slippers, and walked over barefoot to hug Fang Xingu tightly, taking two deep breaths of his scent: "I'm having separation anxiety, I just wanted to make sure you haven't been kidnapped."

Fang Xingu hugged him back with relief: "How could that be? I already have you, and I don't want to be taken away by someone else."

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

Author's note: Update schedule may be a bit irregular during the National Day holiday, but I will try my best to maintain daily updates [please!]. Happy National Day everyone!