Even though the original plan had changed, Shi Linchuan still fulfilled his promise to Pei Yue, ceding a portion of the shares and executive authority to her—everything went smoothly, after all, he hadn’t made a public appearance in the past three years, and Pei Yue had always acted as the boss on the surface.

The handover process was swift.

Pei Yue satisfiedly accepted the documents, and the businesslike atmosphere between the two instantly vanished. She let out a long sigh and joked, “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of your boyfriend.”

Shi Linchuan didn’t even raise his eyes: “Mm.”

In truth, Xie Jinghe didn’t really need much taking care of from her. Back then, the agency contract he signed with NO.1 offered an exceptionally high degree of freedom. Coupled with his immense fame, he never lacked top-tier film and television offers.

Suddenly, Pei Yue raised an eyebrow and asked, “Boss, are you wearing contact lenses? You look much more pleasing to the eye than before.”

Hearing this, Shi Linchuan replied, “Not wearing them. Vision got corrected.”

With that, the man stood up. His suit was tailored with crisp, minimalist lines that flowed smoothly. Pei Yue assumed he would leave cleanly and decisively, but unexpectedly…

The man simply stood in place, his back straight. He kept one hand in his pocket while extending his other hand toward her.

“All this time, it’s been a pleasure collaborating with you.”

“You are a very exceptional business partner.”

Pei Yue froze for a second, then stood up as well to shake the man’s hand. An unrestrained, radiant expression swept across her gorgeous face. “Even though you’re pretty much a dog sometimes, still…”

“Pleasure collaborating with you.”

Just as Pei Yue wanted to chat a bit more, the man spoke before she could. “Leaving now. He’s waiting for me in the car.”

Who this “he” was went without saying.

Pei Yue stared speechless at the man’s tall, slender back as he walked out with quick strides. A moment later, she couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Right at that moment.

A young, handsome face unexpectedly popped out from the office doorway, looking at her with quite a bit of resentment:

“Finished with work yet? Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, and you promised to come home with me this year!”

“How did I end up with a workaholic like you!”

Pei Yue waved her hand at the young man and pulled him into a tight embrace, unable to help sighing with emotion, “Baby, I’m nowhere near that level. You just haven’t seen a real workaholic.”

Seriously.

Contrasted against that guy, Pei Yue often felt she wasn’t working hard enough—how could she fail to pull off both work and romance with equal force?

Still too weak!

Promptly, her lover questioned her with dissatisfaction:

“Then let me meet him?”

Pei Yue abruptly fell silent: “…”

Person just left, divorce just finalized, relationship just started.

—How on earth did he pull that off?

Bang.

Shi Linchuan took the elevator down to the B1 underground garage. Sitting down in the front passenger seat, he smoothly buckled the car door shut.

The heat was turned on inside the car.

Xie Jinghe was wearing cozy casual clothes. A bright orange sweater set off his fair, translucent skin. Seeing him get in, he asked impatiently, “Are we going home?”

A small suitcase was placed in the back seat.

Shi Linchuan turned his head to glance at it, then flicked his gaze back to the culprit, asking in a calm voice, “What do you think?”

Xie Jinghe pursed his lips into a smile, immediately turning the steering wheel to start the car. He babbled all along the way, mentioning that he gave his assistant a long holiday for the New Year, how much red packet money he distributed, how many groceries he bought, how the house had already been cleaned…

All sorts of trivial matters.

Shi Linchuan listened to his accounting-like chatter, occasionally letting out an “mm”. The scenery outside the window retreated in unison, while only he and Xie Jinghe drove forward.

Tomorrow would be New Year’s Eve.

The streets were decorated with lanterns and streamers, and Xie Jinghe drove him home.

Tongcity was exceptionally lively this year.

The municipal government spent two million to host a New Year’s Eve countdown fireworks display at Longzhou Square in the north of the city.

The vast night sky stretched overhead.

Magnificent fireworks burst continuously from 11:30 PM on New Year’s Eve all the way until midnight. Longzhou Square was packed with an ocean of people. Fully bundled up, Shi Linchuan and Xie Jinghe merged seamlessly into the crowd.

The weather was cold, but the crowd was warm and enthusiastic.

Most people around them were whole families with elders and kids, though there were also young couples who had run out on dates alone; the two standing inside didn’t look out of place at all.

Whistling pops and bangs echoed without end.

Gorgeous, colorful bursts of firework light flickered off and on, resembling a fallen galaxy scattered across the celestial canopy.

As it drew near the finale.

Countless hands holding phones were raised among the crowd, some recording video, others snapping photos. Everyone collectively shouted at the top of their lungs: “Happy New Year! Happy New Year—!”

Some people even slipped in their own private agendas, shouting confessions toward the sky.

The crowd instantly broke into laughter, followed by a chaotic wave of confessions rising one after another.

Suddenly.

Shi Linchuan heard a voice shout out loudly: “In the new year, let Shi Linchuan and Xie Jinghe remarry!”

“Right!!”

Shi Linchuan subconsciously looked toward the person beside him, colliding right into a pair of shimmering eyes as expected. Xie Jinghe smiled so broadly his eyes curved into crescents, the aegyo sal beneath his eyes looking exceptionally adorable.

He was currently hooking his arm through Shi Linchuan’s while holding a cup of hot milk tea in his other hand, a straw poked in underneath his mask.

Just like when they first met.

Shi Linchuan leaned his face over.

Xie Jinghe actively offered him a sip. The next second, he heard the man say, “So terrible. It coats the throat.”

“…You’re really annoying.”

Driven by a spirit of petty revenge, Shi Linchuan took a massive gulp, drinking Xie Jinghe’s milk tea completely dry and leaving him with only a few sunken toppings at the bottom.

Xie Jinghe: “!”

This was actually Shi Linchuan’s first time drinking milk tea. During their past relationship, he had bought it for Xie Jinghe several times, but he never drank it himself, nor did he ever accept the straw Xie Jinghe offered him.

His reason had been very convincing.

He was used to drinking coffee and didn’t like sweet things.

Just now, they had only bought a single cup.

Shi Linchuan swallowed the overly sweet drink with some effort, feeling that having it once in a while was okay—especially when paired with Xie Jinghe’s depressed expression as he sucked on the remaining boba pearls…

It was actually quite refreshing.

When midnight struck, Xie Jinghe hid in the man’s chest, pulled out his phone, and posted a New Year greeting on Weibo. The attached picture showed a dining table laden with a sumptuous feast. The two of them had prepared it together.

[Everything is well, Happy New Year [Image]]

Within a few minutes, the repost count began to climb.

Shi Linchuan contributed one to the count. His movement was noticed by the person in his arms, sparking the other’s curiosity.

Yet Shi Linchuan casually put his phone away, refusing to let him see.

And so, gently nudging and jostling each other, they nudged their way out of the crowd and arrived at a flowerbed hidden in the dark.

Xie Jinghe argued plausibly, “You installed surveillance on my phone before and I didn’t even hold it against you. Now I just want to take a single look and you won’t let me. That’s not fair!”

Having said that, he paused for two seconds, then asked again:

“…Wait, are you still using surveillance right now?”

Shi Linchuan let out an “mm”, without the slightest trace of a guilty conscience.

Xie Jinghe wasn’t overly angry either; he just kept stubbornly arguing his case: “Then let me look too.”

In the past, this person never minded Xie Jinghe looking through his phone, yet he had never demanded that Shi Linchuan show him his phone in return. Today was the first time.

Shi Linchuan raised an eyebrow: “What’s the situation? Do I look like someone who listens to fairness and reason?”

Xie Jinghe was instantly left at a loss for words.

Two seconds later.

Shi Linchuan saw Xie Jinghe raise his phone, flashing the screen toward him, and opening a video recording from his photo album.

In the frame, the man had his eyes half-closed, his voice raspy.

“Linchuan, can I come over to find you?”

Hearing this voice, the man lifted his eyelids and stared long and fixedly at the other end of the camera lens. The expression on his face made Shi Linchuan’s scalp go numb. Immediately after, he opened his mouth…

Shi Linchuan’s face darkened: “Delete it!”

Holding the “hostage phone” in hand, Xie Jinghe said vigilantly, “Show me your phone and I’ll delete it.”

Shi Linchuan handed over his phone with a frost-cold face, gritting his teeth as he questioned, “You’ve learned to play mind games with me now?”

Xie Jinghe went quiet for a moment, then replied:

“…Learned it from you.”

Getting his hands on the man’s phone, Xie Jinghe opened the photo album first. He discovered a private album inside and tried guessing the password a few times without success, so he had no choice but to ask the man,

“What’s inside?”

Shi Linchuan snorted coldness,

“Your nude photos.”

Xie Jinghe went silent for a moment. Half-believing and half-doubting, he didn’t ask whether it was real or fake, nor when they were taken. He only confirmed in a soft voice, “Is your phone secure? If there really are photos like that, I don’t want other people seeing them.”

After finishing, he even added:

“I don’t look very photogenic.”

Meaning, his real self looked a bit better than in front of the camera lens.

And…

He was only willing to let Shi Linchuan alone look at them.

Shi Linchuan thought Xie Jinghe was truly impressive; being love-brained to this degree was a rare sight in this world.

This person behaved completely normally on other occasions, yet the moment he faced Shi Linchuan, a nerve seemed to snap out of place, yielding reactions that could be called absurd.

Shi Linchuan had verified it countless times.

He stared at Xie Jinghe’s side profile. Seeing him indefatigably trying to guess the password, he suddenly blurted out a string of numbers.

It sounded like someone’s birth date.

Thinking so, Xie Jinghe voiced the question as well.

The fireworks display had concluded, and the surrounding crowd had dispersed a bit, but it was still lively. Sounds of laughing and playing reached the corner where the two were standing, sounding as if separated by a layer.

The man looked at him calmly, suddenly stating:

“—Mine.”

The moment the words landed.

Xie Jinghe’s expression froze slightly, but he quickly snapped back, lowering his head to input the password while asking softly, “This isn’t the birthday on your ID card.”

According to his identity background, Shi Linchuan came from an orphanage and, just like Xie Jinghe, didn’t know his true date of birth.

The birthday on his ID card was filled in by the orphanage director based on the date each child with unclear identity information entered the orphanage.

Shi Linchuan merely said, “Then remember this one from now on.”

Xie Jinghe looked up at him. After a long moment, he nodded wordlessly. The photo album unlocked accordingly, revealing the sealed images.

The man hadn’t lied.

They really were his nude photos.

In the photo, the environment was dim.

He was sleeping soundly, his bare shoulders exposed outside the blanket, his head leaning against the man’s chest. Even in his sleep, his posture and expression were deeply reliant and attached.

Only the lower half of the man’s face was in the frame.

Thin lips lightly pressed together, prominent Adam’s apple, very sexy.

Xie Jinghe asked him,

“Why did you take this? My face looks all crooked from sleep.”

After a long pause.

Shi Linchuan said in a flat tone, “Taking bad photos of you so I can post them online later to slander you, say you’re sleeping around with men, and ruin your reputation.”

To be honest, he had already forgotten what he was thinking at the time. Maybe, probably, perhaps…

He just thought the way Xie Jinghe looked right after being done by him was pretty hot, so his hand moved on its own.

Uncontrolled.

Listening to this explanation, Xie Jinghe had a speechless expression.

For some reason, his face felt a bit flushed and his heart felt somewhat restless, so he could only tap wildly on the phone. Finally, he clicked into the man’s Weibo account, scrolled for a while, reposted the Weibo post he had just sent earlier, and left a comment:

“…Hmph.”

Copying him, Shi Linchuan let out a “hmph” as well.

Immediately after, he skillfully and accurately entered the password, unlocked Xie Jinghe’s phone, and swiftly deleted that video recording.

The next second.

Xie Jinghe curved his eyes as if showing off, saying, “I already uploaded it to my cloud drive! Haha, let me tell you, I’m super smart now!”

Shi Linchuan smiled without saying a word.

With that string of cloud drive passwords he used, who could it possibly block?

It certainly couldn’t block him.

Soon, the Spring Festival slipped away just like that.

Xie Jinghe had just finished filming a movie, participated in a variety show, and suffered a hairline bone fracture during that period, so he smoothly entered a state of long-term vacation.

Shi Linchuan, on the other hand, was insanely busy, spending most of the day in the study working remotely. Xie Jinghe occasionally came in to bring him fruit, catching a glimpse of the entire screens of foreign languages on his computer…

Sinking into silence.

A few days later.

Shi Linchuan suddenly heard him ask,

“Linchuan, I want to learn English. Since I’m free right now anyway, how about I enroll in a class?”

At that time, the two had just finished taking a shower and were about to go to sleep. Shi Linchuan flipped him over, saying in a calm voice, “Why enroll in a class? I can teach you.”

He first touched Xie Jinghe’s head and uttered a word, followed by his eyes, nose, and mouth, patiently teaching him all the way down, ignoring Xie Jinghe’s own protests.

“I still know these!”

Shi Linchuan stared into his fire-spitting eyes and used himself as a demonstration, asking, “Then do you know what this is called?”

Immediately after, the man coldly uttered a word.

“Suck.”

“…Coach, I want to learn proper English.”

“Pay the tuition fee first.”

Fortunately, Xie Jinghe eventually got his wish and learned proper English.

The next afternoon.

The man came out of the study holding a stack of stapled printouts, then dragged him over to the table.

“Didn’t you want to learn?”

Halfway through learning, Xie Jinghe asked him,

“What if I want to learn French? Can you teach that too?”

Then he listed off a whole bunch of language names like reading off a menu.

Shi Linchuan pushed the corrected English test paper in front of him, tapping the pen cap against the paper that was completely covered in red marks. “I can teach it, but are you sure you…?”

He didn’t finish his sentence.

Yet the implied meaning was crystal clear.

Xie Jinghe: “Are you laughing at me?”

Shi Linchuan calmly refuted, “I held it in.”

Xie Jinghe glanced at the score at the top of the paper, his face feeling a bit hot.

A few more days passed.

Shi Linchuan was sitting in front of the computer in the study when he suddenly heard intermittent piano sounds coming from downstairs. Holding his empty glass cup, he walked downstairs to take a look—

A corner of the living room had been cleared out.

An extra grand piano, obviously quite expensive, had been added.

Xie Jinghe was currently sitting on the piano bench, pressing the keys one digit at a time, tapping out an almost tuneless version of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

Shi Linchuan leaned against the staircase handrail with an inscrutable expression, tapping the wall of his glass cup with the tip of his index finger rhythmically.

Not long after.

Xie Jinghe lowered both hands. Catching a glimpse of the man not far away out of the corner of his eye, he asked excitedly, “How was it?”

Shi Linchuan applauded him.

“Pretty good.”

“As nimble as your feet.”