I trust you
The mornings at Huding Mountain are always shrouded in a lingering mist. Li Huaizhou was awakened by the sound of a suitcase's wheels scraping across the cobblestones below. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up to find Xie Mo standing by the window, tying his tie. His black shirt had two buttons open, the morning light falling on his clean-cut profile. "Awake?" Xie Mo turned around, his fingertips pausing. "Ji Jiancheng's high-speed train leaves at 9:30. We need to be at the station half an hour early."
Li Huaizhou came to him in slippers and put his arm around his waist. "I don't want to get up, I want to stay for a while longer." Although he said that, he still let Xie Mo rub his hair and turned to go to the bathroom to wash up. The self in the mirror no longer had the blue color of the past few days, and there was still a smile on the corner of his mouth.
When the two of them finished packing and went downstairs, Ji Jiancheng was squatting at the door of the hotel feeding stray cats. Shen Qitang was leaning against the car door and looking at him, holding two packaged meat buns in his hand. Seeing them, Ji Jiancheng immediately stood up and patted the cat hair on his pants: "Brother Zhou, Mr. Xie, good morning! This kitten followed me yesterday. Do you want to "enroll" it? "The enrolling Ji Jiancheng said meant to bring it back to Mint Velvet Tail.
As they chatted, they got into the car. Ji Jiancheng sat in the passenger seat, muttering all the way, sometimes complaining about the company's performance review, sometimes saying he'd wait until the next holiday to come out and play again. Li Huaizhou leaned on Xie Mo's shoulder, listening to his chatter, and couldn't help laughing: "You're already looking forward to the next time you leave. If you had this kind of energy at work, you'd have been promoted long ago."
"How can that be the same? How can I have fun at work than with you guys?" Ji Jiancheng turned around and caught a glimpse of the green ring on Li Huaizhou's ring finger. He suddenly laughed mischievously, "Hey, Brother Zhou, you're still wearing the ring? Mr. Xie's proposal was too hasty. We have to make it formal next time."
Xie Mo tightened his grip on the steering wheel, but the corners of his mouth curled up: "I will."
Li Huaizhou's ears instantly turned red, and he reached out and patted Ji Jiancheng: "Don't talk nonsense, it's just a commemoration." "What commemoration? I saw Brother Zhou's official announcement." Ji Jiancheng took out his mobile phone and clicked on the dynamic posted by Li Huaizhou yesterday. "More than four million fans are watching. Mr. Xie, you have to be nice to our Brother Zhou, otherwise our family will be the first to disagree."
Xie Mo responded with a smile: "Don't worry, I can't bear to leave."
As they were talking, they arrived at the station. Ji Jiancheng, dragging his suitcase, hesitated and refused to go in. Finally, Shen Qitang pushed him and said, "Hurry up and go. You'll miss the train if you dawdle any longer. Next time you have a holiday, tell me in advance and I'll close the shop and go out with you."
Ji Jiancheng's eyes lit up. "Brother Chen, you're so nice! I'm leaving now. See you next time!" He waved and ran into the station. Li Huaizhou looked at his back and couldn't help laughing. Turning around, he saw Shen Qitang put away his smile and took out his car keys from his bag. "I should go back too. The guys at the store said it's peak season and they're afraid they won't be able to handle it."
"Don't you want to play for a few more days?" Li Huaizhou asked.
Chen Qitang shook his head, smiled and patted his shoulder: "No, you little couple should enjoy your two-person world. By the way, Brother Zhou, don't pay too much attention to the comments on the Internet, call me anytime if you have anything." After seeing Chen Qitang off, only Li Huaizhou and Xie Mo were left in the car. Li Huaizhou leaned back in the seat, looking at the street scene passing by outside the window, and suddenly felt a little unreal. Xie Mo started the car, reached out and held his hand, and gently stroked the ring on his ring finger with his fingertips: "Let's play here for a few more days. I can handle the company's affairs online, and accompany you to visit all the places you haven't visited yet."
Li Huaizhou's eyes lit up: "Really?"
"Yeah." Xie Mo smiled. "Yesterday I saw you staring at the dyeing workshop in the ancient village for a long time. I'll take you there today."
In the next few days, Xie Mo really fulfilled his promise. Every morning, he would order a local specialty breakfast in advance and wait for Li Huaizhou to get up slowly; during the day, he would accompany him to visit various fun places in Zhaoqing; they also went to the nearby wetland park, where the two sat by the lake to feed the swans, the sun shining on their bodies, so warm that they wanted to sleep. At night, Xie Mo would return to the hotel to handle work. He would put his laptop in front of the desk, while Li Huaizhou would lazily lie on the bed, either playing games or browsing social software with his mobile phone. Xie Mo was very serious when handling his work, his brows slightly furrowed, his fingertips tapping quickly on the keyboard, and occasionally he would stop to rub his eyebrows. Whenever this happened, Li Huaizhou would quietly crawl over, hug his waist from behind, and put his face on his back: "Are you tired? Do you want to take a break?"
Xie Mohui patted his head with his backhand: "Almost there, wait for me another ten minutes."
Xie Mo was busy with work again that day. Li Huaizhou lay on the bed, flipping through the photos they had taken that day, and couldn't help laughing. In the photo, he tilted his head and made a "V" sign, with a little ice cream on the corner of his mouth, while Xie Mo stood beside him, only half of his face exposed, his eyes filled with a helpless and doting look. Xie Mo didn't like having his photo taken much, and it took Li Huaizhou's soft and hard coaxing to get him in the photo.
He thought for a moment, opened his social media app, and posted the photo with a simple caption: "On the fifth day of our outing, someone was forced to open a business." After posting it, he threw his phone aside, got up, and walked over to Xie Mo, poking his arm: "Mr. Xie, are you done with your work? I'm hungry." Xie Mo looked up and turned off his computer: "When you're done, what do you want to eat? I'll take you to the night market."
"Okay," Li Huaizhou said, holding his hand, his eyes sparkling. The two of them strolled around the night market, eating grilled cold noodles, fried skewers, and buying a cup of taro ball milk tea. On the way back, Li Huaizhou's phone kept vibrating. He took it out and saw that the comments on the post had exceeded 10,000, and the number of likes was soaring. "Why are there so many comments?" Li Huaizhou was a little confused. He clicked on the comment section, but was stunned for a moment.
The comments section was almost entirely filled with comments like, "Oh my god, this Xie Mo! Brother Zhou, run! Run faster! You'd better fly!" "Oh my god! Is this Mr. Xie?" "Brother Zhou, are you being coerced? Hurry up and ask for help!" Li Huaizhou was confused and turned to look at Xie Mo beside him: "What the hell are they talking about?" Xie Mo paused, his eyes dimmed, but he still smiled and rubbed his hair, "It's okay, don't worry about it."
Although Li Huaizhou felt strange, he nodded. He swiped the screen and saw a particularly eye-catching reply among the pile of "Run" comments: "That's Xie Mo! Brother Zhou, you really should go online more! Xie Shi and Xie Changliu are crazy, they're sick! Do you know how his mother died? She was forced to death by his father! His father is extremely terrifying, like father, like son, and Xie Mo is also terrifying, he killed his own father!"
Li Huaizhou's fingers suddenly stopped, and his heart felt like something was gripping it, the pain making him breathless. He looked up at Xie Mo, his lips moved, but no sound came out. He rarely went online. Besides watching the shop, writing songs, and playing games, he knew almost nothing about Xie Mo's family. He had met Xie Changliu once, and he did think he was scary, but "killing his own father"...how could Xie Mo do such a thing?
He subconsciously wanted to refute, and his fingers quickly tapped on the screen: "What's wrong?"
After a while, the other party replied: "Brother Zhou, are you really not aware or are you pretending not to know? People in the circle are saying that it was Xie Mo who did it! Xie Changliu has a strong control over Xie Mo, and the relationship between the two has always been bad. Xie Mo has wanted to get rid of him for a long time!" Li Huaizhou looked at the reply and felt cold all over. He knew that the comments on the Internet could not be fully believed, and he was unwilling to believe that Xie Mo was that kind of person. Xie Mo was obviously so good.
He took a deep breath, opened the edit box, typed a paragraph, and set it to be pinned. "Thank you for your concern, but please stop spreading unfounded rumors. Xie Mo has been very good to me, and I don't like seeing people making malicious remarks about him. If I see similar content again, I will block you directly, and in serious cases, I will pursue legal action."
After sending the message, he put his phone in his pocket and looked up at Xie Mo. Xie Mo was standing under the street light, looking at him with a complex look in his eyes: worry, helplessness, and a hint of imperceptible fatigue.
"Did you see everything?" Li Huaizhou asked softly. Xie Mo nodded. "I've locked your account." Li Huaizhou couldn't help it any longer. He walked over quickly, put his arms around Xie Mo's waist, and buried his face in his arms. "What they said isn't true, right?" Xie Mo's body stiffened for a moment, then he reached out and gently hugged him, resting his chin on the top of his head. "Well, not really..."
The two stood in silence for a moment before Li Huaizhou raised his head and looked at Xie Mo seriously. "I just want to get to know you better. If you don't want to talk, that's fine. I believe you." Xie Mo looked into his clear eyes, and something in his heart softened. He hesitated, then pulled Li Huaizhou over to a nearby bench and sat down. He slowly began, "My mother's name is Wen Yuan. She died when I was eight."
Li Huaizhou listened quietly without interrupting him.
"My father is an extremely controlling man." Xie Mo's voice was very soft, with a subtle tremor. "He took a fancy to my mother back then, used some means to capture her, locked her up in the old house, and forced her to get pregnant with me. My mother was very resistant at first, but later... maybe because of me, or maybe she really compromised, she actually fell in love with him."
"As far as I can remember, there were only my mother, my nanny, and me at home." Xie Mo paused, his fingertips curled slightly. "Then my mother got bone cancer in the late stage. She passed away peacefully. After she passed away, Xie Changliu went to the main company in France and left me in the old house in China."
"Except for my room, there are surveillance cameras everywhere in the old house. He would remotely monitor my every move, dictating what time I got up, what time I ate, and what time I studied. If I didn't meet his requirements in any way, he would have the housekeeper punish me." Xie Mo's voice became increasingly low. "Later, during the eight years we were apart, I started to try to quarrel with him, give him the silent treatment, and even deliberately do things he didn't like."
"Last year, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. We had a fight in the hospital. I told him that I couldn't live without you, just like he couldn't live without his mother. Not long after that, he passed away." Xie Mo turned to look at Li Huaizhou, with a hint of self-mockery in his eyes. "That's how the saying 'killing your own father' came about on the Internet." Li Huaizhou listened quietly, feeling a pain in his heart like being pricked by a needle. He reached out and hugged Xie Mo, gently patting his back, like coaxing a child: "It's okay, it's all over. I will be with you in the future."
Xie Mo was amused by his serious look and reached out to rub his cheek: "Aren't you afraid that I will be like what they say on the Internet, like father, like son?" "Not at all." Li Huaizhou frowned, his eyes serious, "You are not like him at all. You care about me, you can comfort me, you will accompany me to do what I like, you are very good."
Xie Mo looked into his clear eyes, and the haze in his heart was instantly dispelled. He leaned over and kissed the corner of Li Huaizhou's mouth. "Thank you, baby."
"We are in love, of course I have to believe you." Li Huaizhou threw himself into Xie Mo's arms and put his arms around Xie Mo's neck. "Besides, I know you better than them. You are not the kind of person they say you are."
Xie Mo smiled and let him make trouble, reaching out and gently pinching his waist: "Okay, stop making trouble, the weather is getting cold, let's go back." "No, I want to stay a little longer." Li Huaizhou lay on him like a naughty child "Okay, I'll listen to you." Xie Mo smiled helplessly.
The two stayed on the road for a while before slowly walking back to the hotel. On the way back, Li Huaizhou couldn't help but take out his phone and found that the comment section had changed. Some people began to refute the previous rumors: "What era is it still the 'like father, like son' thing? Don't spread rumors without evidence." "Xie Changliu clearly died of brain cancer. The hospital has a diagnosis certificate. Don't spread rumors." "Brother Zhou is obviously in much better condition than before. President Xie must be very good to him. The two of them look very compatible."
After returning to the hotel, the two washed up and lay down on the bed. Li Huaizhou leaned in Xie Mo's arms, listening to his steady heartbeat, and felt particularly at ease. He reached out and touched the green ring on his ring finger, and said softly: "Mr. Xie, when we get back, you have to make a formal proposal."
Xie Mo was stunned for a moment, then smiled and reached out to ruffle his hair. "Okay, I'll definitely make a more formal one." Li Huaizhou nodded and obediently closed his eyes. The moonlight from outside the window shone through the gap in the curtains, falling on their clasped hands. The green ring on the ring finger shone faintly in the moonlight.
That night, Li Huaizhou slept very soundly. He knew that Xie Mo's past might be filled with haze, but from now on, he would accompany Xie Mo to dispel the haze and walk towards a sunny future together. Just like the morning light, it can always penetrate the fog and bring warmth and hope.
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