Chapter 6 When did you two...?
Chapter 6
Luo Xiaoran was obviously faking it.
Although he was indeed very dizzy, he was not so dizzy that he collapsed into Chu Xingli's arms and couldn't get up.
"Eh?! You just collapsed like that? I can't carry you..." Chu Xingli said this, but she was quite responsible. She gritted her teeth and supported Luo Xiaoran's weight, kicking the car door shut. "My God... how can you be so heavy?"
Taking advantage of the moment when Chu Xingli put his arm on her shoulder, Luo Xiaoran exerted a little force to make things easier for Chu Xingli.
People with fever tend to feel cold, and Chu Xingli's thick coat came in handy.
He took off one sleeve and put the shirt over Luo Xiaoran's shoulders, so that he could also benefit from the other half, and neither of them would get cold.
Chu Xingli dragged the man into the elevator, making sure to check on Luo Xiaoran's condition along the way—to prevent him from suffocating from the mask and accidentally fainting again.
Luo Xiaoran's lips, hidden beneath his mask, maintained a smile throughout, yet he remained outwardly calm, perfectly portraying the character's feverish fainting spell and utter weakness.
"Wait a minute, I need to put my fingerprint on..."
Chu Xingli pushed open the front door with difficulty and stumbled as she brought Luo Xiaoran home.
This is the first time he has returned to this home since being discharged from the hospital.
"Meow—!!!" "Meow~~"
Chu Xingli had just closed the door when she was drawn to the loud, coquettish voice coming from the living room.
His cat lives in the old house, so how did it end up here?
Could it be that Ms. Ye Huihui is so shrewd that she guessed in advance that Luo Xiaoran would fall ill and that the two of them would return to this house at this moment?
Something's fishy.
Chu Xingli glared at the tall young man she was supporting, who looked so frightening that one might worry whether he was dead or alive.
The meowing of a cat coming from the living room grew louder as it approached, its voice tinged with a cute little tremor from its hurried running.
The weight sounded quite heavy, and the little paws slammed onto the floor one after another, making a series of "thump thump" sounds.
In the blink of an eye, a beautiful long-haired calico cat with agile movements and even coat coloring darted out and skillfully used the height of the wooden carving at the door to "soar" onto Luo Xiaoran's shoulder.
The impact made Luo Xiaoran, who was pretending to be unconscious, sway.
Chu Xingli was so frightened that she quickly helped him up.
However, misfortune never comes singly; the Siamese cat, the caretaker who had been following the black and white cat and causing it endless worry, also appeared next to the wooden carving.
Chu Xingli turned pale with fright.
Oh no, this thing is charging up!
If Luo Xiaoran gets hit again, it probably won't be as bad as just resting and taking some medicine to recover.
"Good boy, Er Gou! Don't jump! Let me help your dad to bed first."
Chu Xingli didn't think before she said those words.
In addition, he has a poor memory; after walking no more than two steps forward, he completely forgot about the incident and could no longer recall it.
But Luo Xiaoran heard it clearly.
Completely unaware of this, CEO Chu took the cow cat off Luo Xiaoran's shoulder and casually placed it on his head.
As he helped Luo Xiaoran to the bed in the master bedroom, he patiently comforted the cow-patterned cat that had jumped to the floor and was rubbing against his legs: "Be good, Er Gou. I'll play with you guys once we've settled everyone in. Dong Li, you play with Er Gou first."
The Siamese cat gave a soft meow in response, then bit Er Gou's nape and forcefully licked its fur.
.
Chu Xingli has a knack for taking care of people.
He first took Luo Xiaoran's temperature and found that although it was quite high, it was not high enough to warrant an IV drip to reduce the fever.
Take some medicine, drink plenty of warm water, and get a good night's sleep in bed at home, and you'll definitely recover.
Fortunately, Chu Xingli had all kinds of medicine at home, so she didn't have to ask someone to bring them over.
"Hug me." Luo Xiaoran was already asleep, his voice a little hoarse.
His whispered words startled Chu Xingli, who was squatting by the bedside counting pills, causing her to stop what she was doing and look at him.
Today, Chu Xingli heard Luo Xiaoran calling her name more often than yesterday's "hug," so when she heard it, she didn't associate it with her nickname.
Luo Xiaoran was fast asleep and, without receiving comfort from her lover, unconsciously murmured again, "Hug me."
Chu Xingli heard it clearly this time, and was completely dumbfounded.
Hug? How can we hug? There are two grown men.
With a formidable enemy at hand, Chu Xingli completely forgot her childhood nickname and simply assumed that Luo Xiaoran wanted a hug.
After all, he couldn't imagine how tender and affectionate Luo Xiaoran used to be when he called him "hug" in the past... People can't imagine scenes they haven't seen.
While Chu Xingli was still pondering, Luo Xiaoran, who was drowsy on the bed, reached out his arm and groped to grasp Chu Xingli's wrist.
"hug."
Chu Xingli took a deep breath.
Never mind, the patient comes first.
Chu Xingli resisted and bent down to hug Luo Xiaoran.
Almost immediately, Chu Xingli felt Luo Xiaoran's burning breath, clearly indicating that he was very ill.
Startled, Luo Xiaoran's hand instinctively gripped the back of Chu Xingli's neck. The moment his fingertips lightly caressed her, Chu Xingli reacted as if burned by the outer flames of a fire, quickly pushing away the person who was holding her. She then took two steps back, creating a safe distance.
"You, you should rest well! I'll go out first, and come back to see you in a bit."
Chu Xingli knew he couldn't hear her at all, but because she was nervous, she muttered this sentence to herself in a serious manner before turning around and running out of the bedroom.
Chu Xingli sat down on the sofa in the living room and sighed dejectedly.
He didn't know how he should face Luo Xiaoran when she regained consciousness.
Having just completed divorce proceedings, two people in the cooling-off period, one of whom feels particularly unfamiliar with the other, will find it extremely awkward to interact no matter how they choose to.
Chu Xingli scooped the frozen pear that had been offered to her into her arms, took out her phone, and opened Weibo to check the official Weibo account of the "Starting Over" program.
Although he accepted the show, he relied entirely on his trust in Luo Xiaoran and listened to his description.
Now that I have some time, I'll learn more about it myself.
After these two days, even if Chu Xingli was slow to realize, he clearly understood what level Luo Xiaoran was in his industry.
When a young celebrity who has reached this level of popularity suddenly announces that they will participate in a divorce reality show, the extent to which the trending topics will be paralyzed is predictable.
[A divorce reality show?! Luo Xiaoran?! I just can't connect these two topics at all!!!]
He's only 22 this year?! How come he's divorced?! Wait, when did he get married?!
[Who is it?! After tricking Luo Xiaoran into his life, they're now trying to dump him. Come out here if you dare, or I'll curse you to death!]
There were also quite a few people who made sarcastic remarks.
See? That's how celebrity relationships are—flash marriages and flash divorces; none of them last.
[Yeah, haha, even award-winning actors and actresses with superb acting skills still get divorced. They just can't handle marital relationships well.]
[Exactly, not to mention that Luo Xiaoran chose to get married at such a young age, so it's bound to end in divorce.]
Chu Xingli remained silent.
Even if he lost all his memories of spending time with Luo Xiaoran, it wouldn't be hard to tell what kind of person Luo Xiaoran was.
Luo Xiaoran is a good person and shouldn't be misunderstood by people with ulterior motives.
"Knock knock knock".
There was a knock on the front door.
Chu Xingli put away her phone, stood up, and walked towards the door, wondering who would come to her house at this time.
As soon as the door opened, a stylishly dressed young man greeted Chu Xingli with a beaming smile, "Xingli!"
Seeing the person standing outside the door, Chu Xingli was surprised, but even more delighted: "Hey? Cousin, what brings you back to China?"
"Come here! Let your brother hug you!" Nie Zi'an stretched out his arms and rushed towards Chu Xingli inside the house. "Brother missed you so much!"
Chu Xingli was just recovering from serious injuries; if he were to be pounced on like that, it would be disastrous.
Seeing this, Chu Xingli quickly dodged to the side, allowing her cousin to firmly hug the wooden carving used for decoration in the entryway.
Nie Zi'an: "..."
The friendly Siamese cat strolled over, raised its tail, and rubbed against Nie Zi'an's leg.
The two brothers exchanged pleasantries about the situation over the years, but Nie Zi'an did most of the talking.
"Xingli, do you know she's going to participate in a divorce reality show?" Nie Zian suddenly glanced at Chu Xingli with a slightly guilty look.
He looked like a spineless coward who wanted to say something from the bottom of his heart but was also afraid of being scolded.
Chu Xingli certainly knew who "she" Nie Zian was referring to, but she pretended to be confused out of anger at his lack of understanding: "Who is it?"
"It's...it's her," Nie Zian's voice trailed off, his voice growing increasingly humiliating. "Have you forgotten?"
The ever-concerned Frozen Pear jumped onto Nie Zi'an's lap and licked the back of his hand repeatedly.
The kitten comforted Nie Zi'an, who had been holding back his pent-up grievances, and he cried even harder.
How could Chu Xingli possibly forget?
For many years, my cousin's erectile dysfunction and varicocele have been a source of anxiety for the entire family.
To make matters worse, before he could even recover from his illness, Qiao Manyun, who had a whirlwind marriage with her cousin, quickly cheated on him and became pregnant with the other man's child.
Even after becoming pregnant, Qiao Manyun dared to brazenly return to the Nie family with her pregnant belly, arrogantly demanding that her cousin sign a divorce agreement. She also threatened the Nie family that if they didn't give her a large sum of money, she would spread the news that the Nie family's only son was impotent.
Adhering to the principle that family scandals should not be aired in public, Mr. and Mrs. Nie could only choose to keep the matter quiet and not cause their child any further distress.
Because my cousin was already severely depressed at this time, and the affair with Qiao Manyun had dragged on for a long time, lasting four months or even nearly half a year, my cousin's mental state could not withstand any more blows.
This incident became a shame that Nie Zian could not speak of, and a painful memory that he dared not easily touch.
Hearing him bring it up now, Chu Xingli felt that his cowardly behavior was quite disappointing, but to be honest, she was actually quite surprised.
"Xingli, do you think that child...could actually be mine?" Nie Zian pulled out a tissue and started sobbing. "Actually, Manyun wanted to give me a surprise, right?"
Chu Xingli: "..."
He was completely bewildered.
"Brother... what do you think is the point of her doing this?"
Chu Xingli dared not speak too directly, fearing it would hurt her cousin again, but she couldn't help but offer advice, since her cousin's idea was far too dangerous.
Is being cuckolded a good thing? Why are people fighting over it?
Since recovering from his illness, Nie Zian's emotions have come and gone quickly, and he can easily shift his focus to other things.
“Actually, what surprised me this time was Luo Xiaoran,” Nie Zian wiped away his tears, took the warm water Chu Xingli poured for him and took a sip.
"..." Chu Xingli almost dropped her water glass. After a moment of guilt, she turned to look at her cousin, "What do you mean?"
Nie Zian took out his phone, unlocked it, tapped a few times on the screen, and then said to Chu Xingli, "He's going to participate in this divorce reality show too."
Chu Xingli was caught off guard by the close-range attack and didn't know how to react for a moment. After a two-second pause, she stiffly replied, "Ah."
This reaction is equivalent to no reaction.
Nie Zian was dissatisfied and shook his shoulder: "Xing Li! This is Luo Xiaoran! Luo Xiaoran is going to participate in a divorce reality show!"
...And me too. Chu Xingli thought to herself.
It's unclear whether people's feelings are easily revealed by their expressions, but before Chu Xingli could recover from her thoughts, she heard Nie Zian mutter with extreme dissatisfaction, "He's already married! He's even getting a divorce! How could he keep it a secret so well!"
"You like him?" Chu Xingli suspected that after living abroad for so many years, it was questionable whether her cousin's sexual orientation had changed.
"No, I just admire him. I think his acting is good, and he's good-looking too," Nie Zi'an explained with a grin. "Oh, and he has a great physique too!"
Chu Xingli looked at Nie Zian with increasing suspicion, and her tone changed from questioning to stating: "You like him."
“No, no, no, I’m a straight man,” Nie Zi’an quickly waved his hands. Seeing that his younger brother still looked unconvinced, he emphasized again, “until I have no friends.”
Chu Xingli: "..."
“Actually, I was planning to invest in a movie for him before,” Nie Zi’an told his younger brother everything he knew about Luo Xiaoran without holding back a single thing. “But later, when I went to Europe to recuperate, I unexpectedly learned that his family background… seemed to be more than enough to support me.”
Chu Xingli was quite surprised: "What's his family background?"
Nie Zian recalled: "His father's side was both noble and wealthy, but unfortunately I never saw it with my own eyes. I heard that his father was from Northern Europe? He seemed to be a mixed-race person whose facial features were not very obvious?"
Chu Xingli agrees with this point.
Luo Xiaoran's bone structure and skeletal structure are a perfect inheritance from his father, who has never appeared in the public eye in China.
Nie Zian went around in circles and eventually returned to the topic of Luo Xiaoran's marital status.
"Hey, who did he marry? How could he have been so badly played?"
“Brother…” Chu Xingli, who was involved in the situation, felt powerless. “Why do you think he is the one who is more miserable in this marriage?”
Nie Zi'an, poised to intervene in a case of injustice, slapped Chu Xingli's thigh in a fit of rage: "I think he must have been played by that person! That person toyed with his feelings and is now dumping him! It's outrageous!"
Chu Xingli rubbed her thigh, which had gone numb from being slapped by her cousin, and was utterly speechless.
His cousin's sexual orientation is definitely problematic.
Chu Xingli's silence prevented Nie Zian from finding common ground, so Nie Zian broke his brother's silence.
"I remember you really love gossiping, do you really not know any inside information?"
Chu Xingli licked her lips: "What inside information?"
"For example, who did he marry? What happened during their marriage? Why did it develop into this situation, even to the point of divorce?" Nie Zian was quite enthusiastic when it came to gossiping about other people. "Do you really know absolutely nothing about these things?"
Chu Xingli shook his head, picked up his cup, and took a tactical sip of water.
“If Luo Xiaoran really gets his feelings played,” Nie Zian kept talking, “I won’t let that bitch get away with it!”
Chu Xingli: "..."
Seeing that her cousin was about to start cursing Luo Xiaoran's secret marriage partner, who had "played with his feelings," Chu Xingli thought to herself that she really had to speak up soon. If she didn't say something, Nie Zi'an would probably follow up and curse Ms. Ye Huihui.
Besides, given how much attention my cousin pays to Luo Xiaoran and Qiao Manyun, he'll find out sooner or later anyway, so it's better to tell him sooner rather than later.
"Who is this slutty, shameless woman?!" Nie Zian was getting anxious and wished he could drag that person out on the spot.
"Me," Chu Xingli admitted sheepishly.
Unexpectedly, the other person didn't believe it at all, and chuckled as they tugged at Chu Xingli's shoulder: "Stop messing around."
Chu Xingli, the seductive and shameless woman, said with a solemn expression, "It really is me."
Nie Zi'an laughed heartily, reaching out to put his arm around his younger brother's shoulder: "Our Bao Bao is just so kind, he can't stand seeing his cousin swearing, right? But you also need to distinguish between different situations. Someone like Luo Xiaoran's secret marriage partner will definitely not have a good ending! His whole family—"
Just as Nie Zian's lips changed, clearly indicating he was about to continue cursing, Chu Xingli quickly pulled out the phone Luo Xiaoran had prepared for him, randomly opened a photo of the two of them, and shoved it in front of Nie Zian's face.
The words "no house" that were on his lips were instantly swallowed back down by Nie Zian.
On the screen of the phone Chu Xingli was holding was a close-up photo of him and Luo Xiaoran with their faces close together.
...There's no other way. He has to win this battle to defend Zu'an no matter what, otherwise his cousin will never be able to face his parents again.
Nie Zi'an's brain froze for a second, completely stunned. After a long period of confusion, he took a deep breath, his voice instantly rising eight octaves—
"Holy crap! You two! When did you get together?!"
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