The young man Fu You was a butterfly he couldn't catch. ...
Ever since Xiao Xi met the Jiang family's frail and beautiful new heir at the funeral, his heart has been stirring.
It was a strange feeling, like a door hidden deep in my mind suddenly opened. But after it was opened, there was nothing behind it.
But it was this empty door that caused ripples in Xiao Xi's heart.
According to the plan, he should have gotten rid of the young man named Jiang Fuyou as soon as possible - such a sickly person, just a poor bird with frail bones, helpless and helpless, who could be easily crushed and no one would feel sorry for him even if he died.
However, for some unknown reason, Xiao Xi did not order anyone to take action.
Those forgotten memories increasingly tormented his mind, a hazy, foggy, indescribable mass swirling within it. Unseen and intangible, they reappeared only in dreams, becoming a murky pot of water upon awakening, unrecognizable.
That day, Xiao Xi took several more melatonin pills before bed. Lying in bed, he felt sleepy faster than usual. Soon, his eyelids became heavy, his mind was hazy, and his consciousness drifted away.
He had a very special dream.
When Xiao Xi regained consciousness, he found himself standing on a very unfamiliar piece of land. The ground beneath his feet was soft, and not far away was a white, six-story building he had never seen before. A gentle breeze blew by, bringing with it the scent of freshly cut grass.
Everything seemed so real, as if he had experienced it.
"Er Ge!" A clear young voice came from behind.
It was a very unfamiliar name, but Xiao Xi somehow knew that the other party was calling him. He turned around and found that he had shrunk in height.
Xiao Xi was slightly startled, lowered his head, and saw his very rough hands.
His hands were not as broad and slender as those of an adult, nor were they decorated with luxury watches or expensive cufflinks - these hands clearly belonged to a poor young man who worked constantly, rather than the pampered head of the Chu family.
Xiao Xi realized that in his dream, he had inexplicably become a poor child called "Er Ge". Perhaps this was related to the memory he had lost?
"Er Ge, come quickly! Those bad kids are bullying us again!" the man shouted anxiously.
Xiao Xi didn't want to care, but his body ran after them uncontrollably. The scene in front of him suddenly changed to an open space. Four or five teenagers, who looked to be in their teens, surrounded them, holding sticks in their hands, looking fierce and strong.
It’s worthy of being a dream, it’s so unreasonable.
The Xiao family master had been active in the business world for decades. Besides being smart, he also knew a bit of martial arts. Even these few heads of garlic weren't enough for him to beat with one hand.
He was rolling up his sleeves to take action and see how this strange dream would develop.
A clear, cold and pleasant voice suddenly sounded behind everyone.
"Where's that barking dog? It's so noisy."
Under the tree, a beautiful black-haired child stood there.
He was holding a book in his arms, wearing simple trousers and a long shirt. His figure was extremely slender, like a dodder with no tree to climb, so slender that it would fall over if the wind blew.
In the sunlight, the child's snow-like face looked extremely pale, with the tips of his long eyelashes touching the teardrop mole at the corner of his eyes, making him look cold and world-weary.
Xiao Xi was startled, and ripples appeared in his heart again - he recognized those bamboo green eyes.
"Isn't this the new sickly kid?" Over there, the leader of the bad kids sneered and glanced disdainfully at the still-child Fu You: "What, you're willing to come out and bask in the sun instead of staying in your little room and growing mushrooms?"
When Xiao Xi saw Fu You at the funeral, he thought she was beautiful but frail, spoke softly, and had a false face. She was a smiling tiger who was even more ruthless than him, a killer with a soft knife.
But he didn't know that he had met him in his long-forgotten youth. Back then, Fu You was cold and hard, like a lonely and difficult wild cat.
Wildcat Fuyou frowned after hearing what the bad boy said, "Why do you speak in such an unpleasant voice?"
The leader's face darkened when he heard this - he was in the voice-changing period, and his voice sounded like a drake when he spoke. He usually hated people mentioning this.
As a result, before he could speak, Fu You glanced at his ugly expression, and the disgust in his eyes deepened.
"You're so ugly too." Fu You took two steps back in disgust, his eyes looking at a bug. "Don't talk to me, it's disgusting. If I were to live like you, I'd better find a crooked tree and end my life right away."
"...Ha!" The other party gasped in anger.
The bad boys immediately forgot about Xiao Xi and rushed towards Fu You, shouting about dignity and face. Xiao Xi, who was left out, took the opportunity to attack and took care of them all in a few minutes.
The crisis is resolved.
Xiao Xi broke the stick he had snatched from the bad boy and threw it to the ground. He wiped the sweat off his face with his hand and walked to Fu You.
"Little sister, are you new here? What's your name?" He smiled brightly, but couldn't control his tongue and kept saying forbidden words: "You are really pretty, but don't be so rude next time. It's easy to get into trouble."
Fu You's already cold little face was visibly frozen.
Trapped in his shell, Xiao Xi's heart sank, knowing that he must have thoroughly offended this vengeful cat on their first encounter. However, the young Xiao Xi continued to smile heartlessly.
How could there be such an embarrassing moment in the world?
Fortunately, the children who arrived in time rescued the young boy Xiao Xi who got into trouble with his mouth.
"Brother Xiaoyou, I called the administrator! Are you okay?"
The young Xiao Xi was stunned when he heard this, and looked at Fu You with a sullen expression. Fu You lowered his head and said a few words to the child, then gave Xiao Xi a noble and cold look, turned around and left, holding the book.
In the end, Xiao Xi, who had worked hard but received no thanks, was punished by the late-coming administrator to be locked up in a small dark room for a day because of a fight.
It was called a small dark room, but in fact it was just a single room slightly smaller than a normal dormitory, and it was much better than the conditions he lived in when he first arrived at the Xiao family. The head of the Xiao family just thought of it as a memory of the good times and experienced the rare confinement life without any burden.
He was still surprised that he had known Fu You since he was a teenager.
However, judging by this first meeting today, their relationship later on was probably very bad.
I don't know why I had such a strange dream, and I don't know when this dream will end.
Just as he was thinking about it, Xiao Xi suddenly heard someone knock twice on the door of the confinement room.
Then, a bag of flattened bread was stuffed through the crack in the door.
"Today you taught those bad kids a lesson and protected everyone. These are the thank-you gifts everyone left for you at dinner." Fu You's low, cold voice came into the room through the door.
Xiao Xi hadn't expected Fu You to come up to him, and for a moment he was a little surprised. He got up from the bed and walked to the door. In the dim light of the room, he saw a thin picture album under the bread.
He raised his eyebrows in surprise and asked, "Is this also a thank you gift?"
There was silence behind the door for a long time. Xiao Xi thought Fu You had left, so he bent down to pick up the food and book.
Before he could turn around, the young man's voice, as clear as spring water, rang out again.
"I don't owe you any favors. I'll give you a little book to cheer you up, and we'll be even."
Fu You paused and said coldly: "But your eyesight is so bad, so I hate you."
Xiao Xi lowered his eyes to look at the bread and book in his hands, and something in his heart moved. He lay back on the bed, opened the bag, and while reading the picture book that was too childish for him, he stuffed the flat bread into his mouth.
He hadn't eaten such crude food for several years, but inexplicably, he found it sweet.
That year, Xiao Xi was fifteen years old and was locked up in a small dark room for fighting; Fu You was thirteen years old, lonely and world-weary, a wild cat.
The two of them were wasted in an orphanage, with no one to adopt them.
The speed of time flowing in dreams is very different from that outside. In the blink of an eye, several months have slipped away.
The orphanage holds adoption activities every quarter, but the young boy Xiao Xi always causes some kind of trouble before the activities, gets fined and locked up, and it is never his turn to be adopted.
Xiao Xi never knew that he used to be such a fool who could cause trouble.
The children at the orphanage called him "Er Ge" because they didn't have names before being adopted, so they were simply called by their age. The young Xiao Xi thought "Er Ge" sounded too unpleasant, so he changed the pronunciation to "Er."
The children loved Xiao Xi because he could fight, protect them, and had a sunny disposition. But Xiao Xi knew his own character. What did the life and death of a bunch of idiots have to do with him? As a teenager, he simply enjoyed being looked up to and admired by others.
Just like the tallest tree in the forest, although it provides shelter from wind and rain for the smaller trees around it, it also robs them of their nutrients. Where it grows, no other tree can possibly stand out.
But Fu You is different.
Fuyou is like a gorgeous poisonous mushroom, growing quietly beside a tree, not fighting or competing. It is harmless to its own people, but will kill anyone else if it touches it.
Not knowing when the dream would end, Xiao Xi simply curled up in his shell and observed Fu You, who was completely different from when he grew up, and vaguely felt a bit of interest.
The summer is so hot that children don't want to play outside.
Only Fu You likes to sit under the tree and read a book.
There is an artificial pond behind the orphanage building, and beside the pond there is a plum tree. The leaves are green and black under the scorching sun, and the fruits are emerald green, which makes people's mouths water just by looking at them.
Xiao Xi looked over to the tree across the pond and saw Fu You leaning against the tree, reading quietly with his eyes lowered. The shadows of the tree and his eyelashes formed a mottled patch on his snow-white face, which looked very beautiful.
He couldn't help but walk over.
Halfway through, he saw a smoky blue butterfly land between the pages of Fu You's book, as light as a falling leaf. Fu You raised his eyes from the book and stretched out his hand, as if to chase it away.
The butterfly flapped its wings and landed on the young man's slender and beautiful fingertips.
Fu You stared at the butterfly, while Xiao Xi hid not far away and watched Fu You. He had never seen that kind of expression in the boy's bamboo-colored eyes. Fu You usually looked at everyone as if they were insects, but when he really looked at an insect, his eyes were as gentle as a pool of autumn water.
Like this kind of thing?
Xiao Xi had an idea and turned to look for something in the bushes.
The butterfly fluttered away a moment later, and Fu You returned his attention to the book. As he was reading, something green suddenly landed between the pages.
He thought it was a fallen leaf from a tree and raised his hand to brush it away. As his fingers touched it, he felt something soft.
Fu You paused with his knuckles, and took a closer look—
A chubby green caterpillar shyly twisted its waist and raised its head to greet him.
Fu You's heartbeat stopped for a moment.
Xiao Xi, who was happily preparing to take credit, didn't have time to say anything before a book hit his face!
He cried out in pain, covering his tall nose that was almost broken, and two bright red blood marks appeared under his nose.
Without bothering to think about why he felt pain in his dream, Xiao Xi put down his hand angrily and looked up at Fu You.
Fu You's beautiful eyes were wide open, and there seemed to be a hint of red at the corners of her eyes. Her snow-white face was even paler, like a shattered glass cup under the light and shadow, and there was no trace of blood on her lips.
So pitiful, so beautiful.
Xiao Xi was bleeding from his nose, standing there in a daze, thinking.
It took Fu You a long time to come back to his senses from the shock. His beautiful eyebrows frowned and he suddenly raised his eyes to look at the culprit.
Xiao Xi, who was intoxicated, suddenly came back to his senses. Seeing Fu You's cold and questioning gaze, he actually felt a little guilty.
"I thought you liked it." The young Xiao Xi coughed lightly and looked away like a child who had done something wrong: "Butterflies are hard to catch, but caterpillars grow up to become butterflies. They are the same thing."
"People poop after eating." Fu You laughed angrily and asked coldly, "Why don't you just eat poop?"
The vulgarity of the words used once again fell below the other party's lowest point in life, which shows that he was really angry.
But Xiao Xi felt good about himself - Fu You told people to go to hell once every three sentences, but now that he was so scared, he didn't tell him to die, which showed that he still showed mercy to him.
Just as he was thinking about it, Fu Youlingding's figure suddenly shook and he slowly fell forward.
Xiao Xi reached out to take it. He looked down and saw Fu You holding his chest with his eyes tightly closed. His long black eyelashes were like trembling feather fans. His face was pale and his breathing was so shallow that it seemed as if he was about to stop.
An unprecedented sense of fear suddenly came over Xiao Xi, and he was a little panicked. For a moment he couldn't tell whether it was the emotions of his youth that affected him.
He only had time to pick up the unconscious Fu You and rush to the infirmary!
Xiao Xi ran at the fastest speed in his life. By the time he handed the patient to the doctor, he felt completely exhausted and fell to the ground with a thud. His throat felt like it was being cut by a knife and he felt like his lungs were about to jump out.
After calming down, he realized that it was just a dream.
But Meng still didn't wake up.
The doctor quickly told the administrator about Fu You's illness. After the administrator learned the whole story from Xiao Xi, he locked him up in the small dark room again.
This time it lasted the longest, a full three days.
But when he thought of Fu You's fragile face lying in his arms, as if he would stop breathing at any time, Xiao Xi felt that it was not unfair for him to be locked up in this small dark room.
But this time, no one brought him food or books.
Clearly, several years had passed in this dream, but after just two days without seeing Fu You, Xiao Xi felt a subtle itch in his heart, as if being bitten by ants.
When will this dream end?
Or rather, isn't this just a dream...
On the third day of the torment, at night, the familiar knocking sound suddenly came from outside the door again.
There was a bag of flattened bread in the crack of the door.
"Everyone is worried that you will starve to death here, so they donated some food to you." Fu You's very light voice sounded outside the door. After he finished speaking, the boy coughed lightly twice, as if he had not recovered yet.
Xiao Xi was very surprised. He hadn't expected Fu You to come to him again after this incident. He quickly stood up and went to the door, picked up the bread, and then heard Fu You's cold voice say, "This time, although you scared me, you sent me to the infirmary, so we're even. I won't give you any books to read."
"...Okay." Xiao Xi's voice was filled with an unconcealable smile.
Outside the door, Fu You was silent for a while before snorting coldly, "This quarter's adoption event has ended today. Congratulations, you're tied with me, a sickly kid, for the top spot on the list of stubborn individuals who give the administrators the most headaches."
Xiao Xi didn't think this was something worth being sad about. He heard Fu You's breathing outside the door, so he simply sat down with his knees against the door, opened the bag and started eating the dry bread.
Fu You should also be leaning against the door panel. The soft voice seemed to ring in his ears, like the sound of jade being polished, and was particularly moving.
"No matter what your surname is, Wang Er, Zhang Er, Zhao Er, it sounds so ugly." Fu You suddenly said with disgust.
"Why not add '玉' under '尔' and change it to '篆'?" He paused and chuckled softly, a faint, delicate chuckle that made people's hearts itch. "Such a noble word, I wonder if you can suppress it."
Xiao Xi was stunned and stopped holding the bread. He suddenly felt that almost all the blood in his body was rushing to his head - his head was splitting with pain, and he saw the empty door again in a trance.
There is something that is completing him bit by bit, making him complete.
His breathing suddenly became heavy, and after a long time, the voice of the young man Xiao Xi came from behind the door. He suppressed an inexplicable emotion in his voice and asked in a low voice: "Xiao You, what about you?"
"Me?" It seemed like it was the first time someone asked him such a question, and Fu You looked a little confused.
After a long pause, he said with self-mockery, "I'm a rootless duckweed. I don't know where I'll go in the future, nor when I'll die. Even if I die, no one will care. If there really is a future... then I'll just call myself 'Fuyou'."
The pure white moonlight streamed in through the small window on the roof of the confinement room, like a pool of cold autumn water, extremely clear.
Xiao Xi leaned against the door, listening to Fu You's gradual and steady breathing outside, and looked up to see a butterfly flying in from the small window.
Perhaps because of the dream, it was the smoky blue butterfly that had once rested on Fu You's fingertips.
The butterfly landed gently on the bag of bread.
Xiao Xi lowered his eyes and looked at the butterfly, and the depth of adulthood suddenly welled up in the boy's eyes.
He reached out and gently pinched the butterfly's wings.
The butterfly's wings were thin and light, trembling between the boy's rough fingertips, shaking off a piece of scales, as if it was dying.
Xiao Xi has always been a person who is very good at disguising himself. He appears to be open and easy-going on the surface, but in fact he is extremely scheming and never exposes the dark side of his heart to the sun.
But at this moment, in this room in the orphanage of my dream.
He used so much force that he broke the wings of a butterfly.
The butterfly's beautiful scales and feathers soon stopped moving between his fingers. Xiao Xi listened to Fu You's breathing outside the door, and with a calm expression, he took the wing between his lips.
Under the moonlight, the boy's eyes were blindingly black, his eyelashes drooped, and he didn't know what he was thinking.
That year, Xiao Xi was seventeen years old. He was locked up in a small dark room for playing a prank on someone. Fu You was fifteen years old. He was sick and weak and no one cared about him.
The two of them stayed in the orphanage, but still no one adopted them.
The dream continues.
At first, Xiao Xi roughly calculated how many years he had spent in his dream, but later he was too lazy to count. He just continued to live a comfortable life of getting into trouble every three months and asking Fu You to bring him bread in the middle of the night.
This dream world actually had its own logic. Everyone around him and he grew and changed. Even Fu You, the slowest growing child, went from a sickly kitten to a striking young man.
But he is still cold and unpopular. I really don’t know what he went through to become that smiling but dagger-hiding look.
A group of adolescent boys aged sixteen or seventeen gathered together, and it was easy to imagine what they usually talked about in the dormitory.
Fu You is in poor health, is sleepy and likes quietness. He is afraid of being disturbed and usually lives alone.
Taking advantage of the fact that the main character was not around, the boys started to talk even louder.
"Xiaoyou is getting more and more beautiful." Someone sighed and started a conversation.
The topic could not be stopped and others began to respond.
"We all grew up eating the same food, so why is he getting whiter and whiter? Last time we went to the bathroom together, I took a peek and saw his waist was so thin."
"Exactly! It's a shame that she's a man with such a beautiful face."
Someone suddenly lowered his voice mysteriously, revealing an ambiguous expression: "Don't you know, men can actually do it too..."
Before he could finish his words, someone grabbed his collar and threw him to the ground!
He was thrown to the ground and saw stars. He screamed in pain and looked up angrily, only to see Xiao Xi standing in front of him.
He swallowed the curse that was about to come out of his mouth and immediately became silent.
But Xiao Xi still beat up everyone in the room who had said anything about Fu You. Finally, the young man wiped the blood from the side of his face and stood among the crowd.
"I don't care how you fantasize about others or what disgusting things you say. Just don't set your sights on Xiaoyou."
He threw the wooden stick in his hand to the ground, startling the boys who were lying there wailing.
"Have you remembered everything?" Xiao Xi asked with a bright smile.
"I remember, I remember!" The boys answered hurriedly and fearfully, each of them shaking like quails.
That year, Xiao Xi was a month shy of turning eighteen, and was locked up in a dark cell for malicious assault; Fu You was sixteen...
Someone said they wanted to adopt Fu You.
Fu You told Xiao Xi the news when he went to deliver bread.
When he spoke, he was still separated by the door panel, so Xiao Xi couldn't see the other person, but he was stunned for a moment.
The door was as thin as paper, and Xiao Xi could easily break it open. With one palm, he pulled Fu You, who was outside the door, into the room.
Fu You was so light that he tugged her down to the ground. Xiao Xi lowered his eyes, gazing at the stunned, handsome boy. His dark, smooth, semi-long hair spread out beneath him like an unfurled silk fan.
"Are you leaving?" Xiao Xi pinched Fu You's chin and asked in a low voice.
Fu You didn't answer, but looked at him coldly with a pair of bamboo-green eyes. Filled with the bright moonlight, so beautiful.
Xiao Xi suddenly felt dizzy.
He had been in the dream for so long, nearly four years. His entire life that he could remember had lasted less than ten years, and these four years had taken up a small part of his life.
He watched the boy in front of him day after day, watching him grow from a little cat-like child to his current appearance.
But he didn't know that eventually, the other party would leave him.
Fu You has left, will the dream continue?
Does this mean that from now on, he will have to endure this dream alone without seeing Fu You again?
No, he couldn't bear it.
Not even a minute.
He would not let him leave him.
Xiao Xi thought darkly. His palm had already moved to Fu You's slender neck. With a little force, the young man revealed an expression of unbearable pain.
In the hazy darkness, he saw Fu You's beautiful pupils shrink, gradually covered with tears. Xiao Xi felt the skin under his palm tremble violently, like a butterfly with its wings plucked out, and a pang of pain rose in his heart. But he did not let go.
The palm of his hand was cold and delicate, and the tears in his dark green eyes slowly faded away with the moonlight, returning to silence.
Xiao Xi suddenly felt a sense of confusion and emptiness.
Fu You might never leave him again. But her body on the ground would never speak again. She would no longer be so soft-hearted as to secretly crush her own bread and leave it for him to eat.
Is this body still Fuyou?
Xiao Xi stared at her with his dark eyes for a long time before letting go of her hand.
The moment he let go, Fu You's body turned into countless fluttering butterflies, flying towards him!
Butterflies fluttered in the air, and countless scales and powder were scattered in the wind, like a starry sky, rushing towards Xiao Xi's chest.
Ten thousand butterflies flew through Xiao Xi's heart.
Finally, they hid together in that empty door.
A strong feeling of dizziness surged into his brain, accompanied by a near-death suffocation. Xiao Xi's eyes fell into a heavy darkness.
When he woke up again, he was still lying in his bedroom with the curtains closed, just as he was before going to sleep.
What a dream.
Xiao Xi sat up, feeling as if he were in another world for a moment.
Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains, illuminating the man's face. He had a high nose, thin lips, deep brows, and a sharp line from brow bone to jawline. It was a face of remarkable maturity and handsomeness, a face free of the bleak immaturity of his youth.
Xiao Xi subconsciously reached for the cigarette case on the bedside table, but couldn't find it. His Adam's apple rolled, and he turned to look at the watch on the pillow.
Three o'clock in the afternoon.
He slept almost the entire day.
No wonder.
The dream scene seemed to still linger in his mind, surprisingly not becoming as chaotic as before. Xiao Xi frowned and pressed his knuckles against his swollen solar plexus.
Just as I was organizing my thoughts, the sound of a door opening suddenly came from the first floor.
Xiao Xi was slightly startled. He had not expected Xiao Lehui to come back today. He got up, washed up briefly, changed into decent clothes, and went downstairs.
When he stepped into the sunlight again, the man regained his former elegant appearance as the head of the Xiao family.
Xiao Xi easily organized himself to respond to Xiao Le's hypocritical words of concern. He walked downstairs with a perfect smile on his face.
However, after seeing the young man who followed Xiao Le in, the smile on his face suddenly froze.
This year, Xiao Xi was 28 years old and was the rightful head of the Xiao family; Fu You was 26 years old and inherited the Jiang Group under tremendous pressure.
There were two lives and a deep blood feud between them.
"Uncle, let me introduce you." Xiao Lehui smiled with his dog eyes, behaving very well in front of the young man: "This is my friend, his name is..."
"Jiang Fuyou."
After many years, the cold voice rang in Xiao Xi's ears again.
Fu Youcai came in from outside, his body covered in cold frost and snow. He slowly raised his dark eyelashes, and his green eyes, once filled with tears, smiled at the stunned Xiao Xi.
He said, "Mr. Xiao, please take care of me."
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The author has something to say: Xiao Xi: Nephew, your friend is fine, and will soon be mine
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