Chapter 41 41 Looks soft, I want to kiss

That night, at one in the morning, Qin Jixiu's phone suddenly vibrated and rang. He jolted awake, his heart pounding. He had deliberately turned off the internet before going to bed, so the ringing could only mean someone was calling.

In the darkness, Qin Jixiu fumbled for his phone on the bedside table. The bright light from the screen made him squint. The moment he saw the name "Shi Rui" on the caller ID, Qin Jixiu sat up in a hurry, rubbing his eyes as he quickly answered the phone: "What's wrong?"

His eyelids were wrinkled even deeper as he rubbed them. A sharp voice rang in his ears: "Why didn't you reply to my message?"

Qin Jixiu moved the phone away from his ear and checked the time again: one past three. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, suppressed the frustration in his heart, and said in a deep voice, "You're calling me in the middle of the night just to ask this? If you can't sleep, go out for a few laps. Don't get so mad."

Having said that, Qin Jixiu still connected to the room's wifi, and several messages popped up on WeChat.

Squid: [Video]

Squid: [The snow has stopped, and the garden is covered in a thick layer of snow. It makes a nice sound when you step on it. Look at the rabbit I'm stepping on. Does it look like a rabbit?]

Squid: [Video]

Squid: [Are you busy? Let me show you the heart I just made. I'll put it on a branch. If it hasn't melted by tomorrow morning, can you come and see it?]

Qin Jixiu: ...

Shi Rui was silent for a long while on the other end of the phone. His nasal voice suddenly became heavier, and he whispered in defense: "I was just trying to see if the call could go through. Who could have predicted that you would leave your phone on when you sleep?"

Qin Jixiu said sarcastically, "I'm such an important person, the earth can't even turn on its own without me. Would I just turn off my phone?"

"Oh," Shi Rui responded obediently, paused for two seconds, and added, "Since you're awake, good night."

"Do you want to listen to what you are saying?" Qin Jixiu was so angry that he laughed.

Shi Rui suddenly sneezed.

The smile on Qin Jixiu's face instantly disappeared, and his brows furrowed again. "Cold? Running out in the middle of the night to step on the snow and make hearts, you're so smart! Do you want the front desk to bring you some cold medicine?"

"No, I'm fine."

Qin Jixiu: "Don't be so stubborn. Take medicine when you are sick. Which room are you staying in? I'll call the front desk." After saying that, Qin Jixiu grabbed the landline in the room and dialed the hotel front desk, asking them to send the cold medicine to room 3208.

"They will be sent upstairs soon. Clear your mind of unimportant things first. Take your medicine and rest quickly. Don't go downstairs to watch the snow again. No matter how much you like snow, you can't bring snow back to Jiangcheng."

Shi Rui immediately understood Qin Jixiu's subtext, which was that one shouldn't force things that are impossible, but he insisted on doing it. Moreover, they loved each other, so why couldn't they force it?

He deliberately coughed twice, his voice soft and weak: "I understand. I will have a good rest after taking the medicine. I will definitely not cause you any trouble."

Qin Jixiu opened his mouth, and Shi Rui's obedience at this moment made him feel uncomfortable.

"What kind of trouble can you cause? Before, you always solved the problems for me."

Qin Jixiu comforted him, but he still felt bad. He had indeed been inconsiderate about what happened last night. He shouldn't have agreed so easily in the first place. After agreeing, he suddenly regretted it. Shi Rui must have been heartbroken. Now he suddenly fell ill. No matter how he thought about it, it was definitely related to him.

He rubbed his brows and said to Shi Rui, "Wait a moment, I'll go over to see you."

"Don't bother, I can do it on my own."

"Are you sure?"

Shi Rui was silent for two seconds before giving up pretending to be polite: "I opened the door."

Arriving at the door of Room 3208, Qin Jixiu glanced around cautiously. Although there was no one in the corridor at this time, it would be bad if it got out that he entered his subordinate's room in the middle of the night.

Shi Rui really left a gap for him.

Qin Jixiu pushed the door open and closed it gently.

As he turned around, a large, hot hand suddenly grabbed his palm. Qin Jixiu's heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively tried to pull his hand back, but his fingertips touched the other person's palm, which was surprisingly hot. He hurriedly raised his hand to turn on the light in the hallway, and the warm yellow light instantly illuminated the person in front of him.

Shi Rui was wearing loose grey pajamas, his hair was a little messy, and his cheeks were abnormally flushed, obviously he had a high fever. Without waiting for Qin Jixiu to resist, he grabbed Qin Jixiu's hand and pressed it against his forehead. He pouted and said, "I think I have a fever."

Qin Jixiu stiffened when he heard this man, who was several centimeters taller than him, acting like a spoiled child. He tried to shake off the other person's hand, but Shi Rui, who didn't know where he got the strength from, held it tightly. He tried twice but couldn't pull it free.

He had no choice but to say, "I'll be fine after taking the medicine."

Shi Rui still didn't let go of his hand and blinked. Qin Jixiu looked over and found that the roots of his eyelashes were wet. He didn't know if it was because he was sick. His heart softened and he let the other party lead him inside.

Qin Jixiu was about to say something when Shi Rui finally let go of his hand. He pointed to the boxes of medicine that the front desk staff had just brought over and asked innocently, "Which one should I take?"

Qin Jixiu bent down to pick up the boxes of medicine and looked at them. He opened the package of one of the boxes and glanced at the instructions. He looked around and Shi Rui said, "I've boiled the hot water."

"Yeah." Qin Jixiu responded, walked to the entrance, took a clean white porcelain cup, poured in the powder and added water.

Shi Rui followed him obediently, stood beside him and drank the medicine in big gulps. After drinking it, he had work in his eyes. He washed the cup and put it back in its place, then looked at him with a pitiful expression.

Qin Jixiu felt uncomfortable being stared at by him and pointed in the direction of the bed: "Go and rest."

"I don't."

Qin Jixiu choked and asked him why.

"I'm going to bed, and you're leaving, right?"

Qin Jixiu was so confused by his question that he didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "What else? You have a cold and a fever, and I have to stay by your bedside to take care of you all night?"

Shi Rui didn't say anything, just lowered his eyelids.

Qin Jixiu couldn't stand his bullied expression, so he asked, "What's wrong?"

Shi Rui whispered, "So, you still think that my illness is causing you trouble."

Qin Jixiu sighed helplessly: "You are the one who is sick and uncomfortable, why do you bother me?"

"I woke you up in the middle of the night, and you asked someone to deliver medicine and even came to my room in person. Isn't this a bother to you?" Shi Rui whispered.

Qin Jixiu had no choice but to say, "Last time I was sick, I also called you and asked you to send me medicine. We are even now."

What do you mean by even? Shi Rui approached him and asked anxiously, "You're in a hurry to distance yourself from me, right?"

"No, you think too much." Qin Jixiu took half a step back to avoid his approach.

"Am I really overthinking it? Have you fallen in love with someone else?"

Qin Jixiu denied: "I'm not in love with anyone else."

Shi Rui immediately responded: "That means you still like me."

Qin Jixiu thought to himself, "You are such a logical genius!" He took the opportunity to clarify, "I don't like anyone, and I won't fall in love with my subordinates casually. Don't make random guesses. Get some rest. Aren't we going hiking tomorrow? Save your energy."

"I don't believe it," Shi Rui refused to buy it, staring at him stubbornly. "If you just treated me as your subordinate, and I called you in the middle of the night, you would just scold me and wouldn't rush downstairs to see how I was. You just like me, why don't you dare admit it?"

Qin Jixiu took a half step back and said, "If any other employee had fallen ill, I wouldn't have just sat back and watched. Besides, you've been in the CEO's office before, so I definitely had to come see you. We're out of town, and it's really risky for you to get sick alone."

"You can ask Minister Chen to come."

"Yes, but you called me and I was woken up by you, and I didn't want to wake up a third person, it's that simple."

Shi Rui looked into those calm eyes and thought, why not just come clean with Qin Jixiu and tell him he wasn't a poor kid, that his father, Shi Wenjun, was the richest man in Lincheng, not a small businessman as he'd described. If he did that, would Qin Jixiu stop avoiding him?

Or should he be more assertive? If playing nice doesn't win Qin Jixiu's favor, should he try something else?

Shi Rui's thoughts became increasingly confused, so he decided to cut the Gordian knot and took another step forward. Qin Jixiu, upon seeing this, immediately took two steps back, looking at him warily: "What do you want to do?"

Before he could react, Shi Rui suddenly reached out and grabbed his wrist, yanking it hard and pulling Qin Jixiu in front of him. The distance between them instantly closed, and Qin Jixiu could even smell the faint scent of medicine on Shi Rui, mixed with his unique and refreshing aura.

Qin Jixiu was shocked and angry, and shouted: "Let go!"

"I won't let go," Shi Rui said word by word, "You promised to hold hands, you can't go back on your word like this."

Qin Jixiu was speechless after hearing this, feeling anxious and guilty, and his face flushed unconsciously. If he hadn't considered that Shi Rui was sick, he would have pushed him away long ago.

Shi Rui stared at his face and suddenly said absentmindedly, "Why do you look so good even when you're angry?"

Qin Jixiu was surprised and opened his mouth slightly.

Shi Rui lowered his gaze and stared at Qin Jixiu's rosy lips. They looked very soft and he wanted to kiss them.

He lowered his head suddenly.

Qin Jixiu reacted quickly, raising his hand to cover Shi Rui's mouth before he could touch him. Then he felt something hot and wet touching his palm. When he realized what it was, his eyes widened and he pushed the person away.

Shi Rui staggered two steps after being pushed by him, and started coughing violently while holding his chest.

Qin Jixiu subconsciously took a step forward, then quickly stopped. Shi Rui had actually wanted to kiss him just now. He couldn't stay in this room any longer. If he stayed too long, something bad would happen.

"Stay still. If your cold isn't gone by tomorrow morning, I'll tell Director Chen you can't climb the mountain." Qin Jixiu straightened his clothes, took a deep breath, and tried to make his voice sound calm. "This is out of consideration for my employees, not affection. Don't let any misunderstandings arise."

After saying that, he didn't dare to look into Shi Rui's eyes again. He turned around and walked quickly to the door, gently opened it, and walked out as if escaping.

After returning to the room, Qin Jixiu paced back and forth anxiously.

The feeling of the touch from earlier was still lingering in his palm, and the thought of Shi Rui made his heart tingle. He drew all the curtains in the room, lay back on the bed, and tried to fall asleep.

But the strange feeling in his body made him keep his eyes open and be very alert.

After an unknown amount of time, Qin Jixiu finally fell into a drowsy sleep.

He began to dream.

In the dream, Shi Rui's face finally fell on him, and they kissed each other. Qin Jixiu kissed him hard, domineeringly thrusting his tongue into his mouth, earning a gentle response from him. Shi Rui licked his palate and tongue, making him itch all over, his heart beating so fast that it felt like it was about to explode.

Qin Jixiu suddenly opened his eyes. The room was pitch black, with only his heavy breathing echoing in the quiet air.

Somewhere is quietly becoming lively.

He weakly raised his hands to cover his eyes.

It’s not the fault of a single man who has abstained from sex for too long and cannot withstand any provocation.

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The author has something to say: Today is Green Tea Puppy [Dog head holding a rose]