Chapter 55 Don't Want to Lose
The following week was spent on investment roadshows in several major cities. The rest of the time was spent meeting with investors and institutions individually, and attending dinner parties from time to time. Qi Xing was busy every day. He would start working as soon as he opened his eyes in the morning, and fall asleep in exhaustion at night. Occasionally, he would check his phone and tease Ye Xingzhou to relax.
"I have to meet with a big fund soon. The appointment time is 4 pm. If you are tired, close your eyes and take a nap now."
Qi Xing was slumped on the sofa in the hotel lobby. When he heard Li Zechen coming over and saying this, he groaned weakly.
Li Zechen sat down on the single sofa opposite him and couldn't help laughing when he saw him like this. The young man who grew up in luxury probably had never experienced such hardship. It was really not easy for Qi Xing to hold on for so many days and not show weakness or be taken advantage of by those hyena-like investors.
After being in a daze for a moment, Qi Xing lazily picked up his mobile phone and took a selfie. Half of Li Zechen's leg was in the picture.
He was quite satisfied, and edited the photos of the roadshow this morning that his assistant had just sent him, and posted them on his Moments.
In just a few minutes, there were seven or eight likes and comments, all from Yang Kaiming and his friends, boringly praising him for becoming more and more like an elite talent. Qi Xing was too lazy to reply as it was not originally intended for them to see.
It is now past three in the morning, local time, and his godfather is probably sleeping.
He did the same thing almost every day, taking various photos and posting them on WeChat Moments, inadvertently showing Li Zechen's legs, a hand, or even half of his face. Although Ye Xingzhou didn't react much, he didn't believe that Ye Xingzhou had no reaction.
Keep pretending and see how long you can last.
Qi Xing put away his phone, sat up and stretched his neck. Although he was tired, he couldn't fall asleep here. He casually asked Li Zechen, "Is there a shopping mall upstairs in this hotel? I want to go shopping. Do you want to come with me?"
Li Zechen didn't care. Qi Xing said he wanted to go shopping in the mall, so they went together.
The mall sells all kinds of luxury goods. After a casual stroll around, Qi Xing felt a little uninterested. Finally, he stopped in a men's boutique store. His eyes swept over the row of expensive tie clips of various styles in the glass display cabinet. He waved someone over and pointed to one of them, saying he wanted to see it.
Li Zechen asked curiously: "Do you want to buy a tie clip?"
Qi Xing smiled but didn't answer. He picked out the one inlaid with a ruby, took it from the clerk, handed it to Li Zechen, compared it to him, and looked up at his face.
This man's temperament is too sunny and cheerful, completely different from his godfather, and he can't suppress such a dazzling ruby. If it were Ye Xingzhou, he would definitely look good wearing this.
Thinking of this, he simply asked someone to pack it up. Li Zechen raised his eyebrows: "Give it to someone else?"
"For a friend." Qi Xing took the wrapped things and put them in his pocket without wanting to explain.
This can be considered as a Labor Day gift. I will give it to Ye Xingzhou next time I see him.
In fact, whether it is Qingming Festival or Labor Day, it is just an excuse. He just saw something nice and wanted to buy it for his godfather.
This kind of mentality is probably like those kittens who will catch birds and mice and give them to the people they like. Ye Xingzhou knows it, but Qi Xing himself may not be clear about it.
Li Zechen's gaze paused slightly, staring at the corners of Qi Xing's smiling lips, as if he understood something.
Qi Xing didn't notice his gaze, and swiped his card to pay, feeling satisfied: "Let's go."
When he returned to New York, it was the day before the official listing. Although he should have been excited, Qi Xing was exhausted and just wanted to finish it quickly and return home.
When he returned to the hotel after dinner in the evening, just as he was about to enter the room, a delivery man brought him a large bouquet of red roses and asked him to sign for it.
Qi Xing was a little confused. He signed and waited for the person who sent the flowers to leave. Then he saw the card inside. He opened it and found that it was from Li Zechen, wishing him all the best for the next day in advance.
Qi Xing sighed, and turned around to see the person who had delivered the flowers appear behind him. He was leaning against the wall with his arms folded, smiling at him: "Do you like this flower?"
Qi Xing: "It's okay."
Li Zechen smiled and nodded: "As long as you like it."
Qi Xing: "... this, roses?"
"It doesn't mean anything else," Li Zechen explained. "It's written on the card that I wish you all the best tomorrow and success."
If he said he didn't mean anything else, then he didn't mean anything else. Qi Xing walked in and put the flowers down. He turned around and looked at the person who followed him in. He glanced at him up and down, and decided to make it clear: "Actually, I added you on WeChat because my parents asked me to. Do you understand what I mean?"
Li Zechen was not surprised: "You have a partner, is it the friend I bought the tie clip for before? But your family is not satisfied?"
Qi Xing did not deny it: "I guess so."
Li Zechen: "Can you tell me? Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, just chatting casually."
"I don't know how to put it," Qi Xing looked up at the sky and hesitated for a moment before saying, "I have a boyfriend. My mom doesn't care, but my dad is not happy about it. He thinks he's not a good person."
"He's not a good person?" Li Zechen was really surprised. "He's really not a good person?"
Qi Xing spread his hands: "My dad thinks so."
Li Zechen: "So is he a good person?"
Qi Xing himself couldn't answer it. Simply defining Ye Xingzhou as good or bad was too one-sided: "I don't know. Who cares? I like him whether he is a good person or not."
Li Zechen's eyes became a little subtle. He probably suspected that he was deceived by a wild man just like his father. Qi Xing felt a little uncomfortable. After thinking for a while, he explained: "Actually, he is quite good to me."
Li Zechen: "You take photos and post them on your Moments every day, and include me in them. Is that intentional for him to see?"
Qi Xing shut up. He felt a little embarrassed to be exposed in front of people for treating people as tools.
The other party took it as his tacit agreement: "Why? If you were a stable partner, you wouldn't have to spend so much time thinking about it, right?"
Qi Xing said helplessly: "I just... want to provoke him. He is too comfortable and always in control of the overall situation. I am always led by him like a fool."
She knew clearly what he wanted to hear, but she just wouldn't say it out loud. She also picked a day to keep him hanging, letting him guess and think about it day and night. It’s not that he couldn’t speak first, but with Ye Xingzhou’s attitude, if he spoke first, he would lose completely. He had to win this time.
To put it bluntly, he just wanted to see Ye Xingzhou lose his cool and go crazy for him.
It's not appropriate to tell anyone about this awkward feeling, but I can chat with Li Zechen, an old friend who I'm not too familiar with.
Li Zechen understood and asked with a smile: "Now that you put it that way, I'm curious about what kind of person he is. How long have you been together?"
Qi Xing: "Not long, just the beginning."
"It's just the beginning?" Li Zechen said regretfully, "I wish I had been more proactive earlier."
Qi Xing was a little embarrassed: "That's no use, I don't like your type."
He used to like handsome pretty boys, but now he likes Ye Xingzhou, a pretentious guy. His aesthetic taste has long been distorted.
Li Zechen smiled and shrugged: "Okay, that's just my own fault, but if you want to stimulate him, just sending a few photos is not enough, let's go, I'll take you out to play tonight."
Qi Xing: "Now? It will be listed tomorrow..."
Li Zechen: "Just come back early. Don't worry. You haven't enjoyed the nightlife here yet, right? Do you want to go?"
Qi Xing hesitated for three seconds, then said, "Okay, let's go."
It was nightfall when they arrived, and New York's nightlife was just beginning.
Neon signs flashed exaggeratedly, dazzling people's eyes. Naked men with colorful tattoos all over their bodies warmly welcomed guests at the door. You could hear the noisy sounds inside before you even entered.
The place where Li Zechen brought Qi to wake up was, as he expected, a gay bar.
The moment you enter the door, you are hit by a wave of heat, followed by a clamor of voices and deafening music. Even a frequent nightclub visitor like Qi Xing couldn't help but raise his hands to rub his ears.
The scene before him was just as he had imagined, with men dancing passionately against each other, entangled in intimacy without any scruples, and wantonly venting their excess hormones.
As they walked in, they bumped into other people several times, and from time to time, hands came up from nowhere. Qi Xing could no longer bear it, so he grabbed a paw that almost touched his butt, pushed the person hard, and glared at him.
The man who touched him was a tall, muscular white man. After being pushed, he whistled with a smile and winked at him.
Qi Xing rolled his eyes. Li Zechen, who was walking in front of him, turned around and pulled him over. He warned the person who was harassing him with his eyes, and discouraged the person from following him.
"Let's go, don't get into conflict with others."
Li Zechen pushed Qi Xing to sit down at the bar, ordered two glasses of wine, and handed one to him: "Such a big reaction? Haven't you been to a place like this before?"
Qi Xing drank half a glass of wine and said angrily: "I hate ugly people touching me."
Of course he had been to gay bars, but not often. Firstly, Yang Kaiming and his gang had no interest in such places, and it would be boring for him to go alone. Secondly, he had been teased in the same way before, and he felt embarrassed, so he beat the man up on the spot. After that, he didn't bother to go anymore.
Li Zechen sat down, drinking and laughing: "So your partner must be very good-looking?"
Qi Xing: "That's no nonsense."
If Ye Xingzhou wasn't good-looking, he would have chopped him into pieces and fed him to the dogs long ago.
"When you come to a place like this, just relax and have a drink." Li Zechen clinked glasses with him.
Qi Xing poured the wine into his mouth indifferently. Although this place was not very good, the wine ordered by Li Zechen was quite delicious.
The two of them drank and chatted while watching the performance on the stage in front.
There were pole dancing, uniform play, and small whips. Qi Xing saw the fun and asked Li Zechen, "Do you often come to places like this to play?"
"I come here occasionally, just to have a look and a few drinks. I don't play around," Li Zechen reminded him with a smile, "You can just have a look too, lest your dad finds out and thinks I'm corrupting the kids."
Qi Xing: “Heh.”
Here comes another guy who calls him little friend, and he has played all kinds of games with his godfather.
...Okay, these things performed on stage have indeed never been played before.
After a round of performances, the program on the stage changed. Now the singer was singing. The light country music temporarily brought the audience out of the previous crazy craze.
Qi Xing felt that his ears felt much better. He propped up his head to listen to music and drank slowly, feeling more and more comfortable.
Li Zechen smiled when he saw him like this, put down his wine glass, gestured to him, and went to the front to go on stage.
Qi Xing was a little confused, then he saw Li Zechen pick up an accordion and join the performing band.
A beam of light shone on him. The handsome man with an oriental face smiled brightly and played the accordion casually and wantonly, causing whistles and screams from the audience.
Qi Xing couldn't help but want to whistle when he saw this. There are so many good men in this world, why did he hang himself on a tree like that bastard Ye Xingzhou?
Maybe because he had drunk two too many glasses of wine, his head was a little hot. He raised his mobile phone, turned on the video mode, and filmed Li Zechen performing on the stage for more than ten seconds. The camera then turned to the audience, scanning countless men hugging each other affectionately.
Afterwards, he edited the video and posted it on his Moments, choosing to let Ye Xingzhou watch it alone, and also attached the location of the bar here.
When he finished sending the message and exited, he opened the WeChat chat interface with Ye Xingzhou and couldn't help feeling annoyed.
I sent a message last night, but there has been no reply yet. Is it fun to leave him alone?
Bastard Ye Xingzhou.
"Are you doing this on purpose? Are you deliberately not replying to my message?"
"If you ignore me, I won't care about you either. Who cares about you?"
"I'm having a lot of fun here. The little brother from the Li family is much more interesting than you."
"asshole."
After waiting for half a minute, he felt it was boring, so he withdrew the messages one by one and turned off the screen.
Without realizing it, he drank two more glasses of wine. Qi Xing put down his glass, stood up, staggered through the crowd, and went to the bathroom.
Even in this place, there were people hiding here to make out. Two men, one black and one white, were kissing each other closely beside the sink. They separated reluctantly when they saw Qi Xing coming in, and left to another place pulling each other's legs.
Qi Xing walked to the urinal and thought to himself, you guys just kiss each other, I won’t watch, and I thought these Americans were very open-minded.
There were also some who were more relaxed. From the innermost compartment came the creaking sound of the door, along with the unsuppressed gasps and groans of men. Qi Xing shook his head and listened to the scene for a moment, feeling inexplicably envious.
He walked to the sink and turned on the water. The sound of the running water could not block the screams that were getting louder and louder.
Qi Xing slowly washed his hands, took one last look at his drunken face in the mirror in front of him, closed his eyes lightly, and turned away.
He did not go back to the bar immediately. Instead, he went into the venue and sat down on a stool in the corner. The turbid and hot air around him made him feel even more stuffy. He raised his hand and tugged at the collar of his shirt to get a breath, and was suddenly stunned.
Suddenly someone approached from behind, and before he could react, a black scarf slid down from above and covered his eyes, plunging him into darkness.
For a moment, Qi Xing even thought he smelled a familiar scent, but his confused mind was a beat slow to react and realized that this was New York, thousands of miles away, and that person couldn't possibly be here.
The next second he struggled violently, but it was too late.
The silent man carried him up and quickly retreated away from the noise.
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