CH 11

Since Yang Duoduo was still at the inn, it wasn’t good for the two of them to meet. After obtaining Yu Li’s consent, Xie Fei decided to let An Mingyi live downstairs in the first floor’s guest room.

He didn’t know how Xu Lingyi fooled her cousin but the next morning, Yang Duoduo came to breakfast alone. Seeing that Xie Fei didn’t inquire about yesterday’s incident, she only told him that her cousin needed rest from the accidental injury. As a result, she’ll go to the film and television base by herself.

Xie Fei served her a bowl of porridge and asked, “Didn’t you go there yesterday?”

Yang Duoduo hummed an “En” then added, “But I’m leaving tomorrow and it’s hard for me to come back again. Also, it’s the perfect time to catch up with oppa in Shaoyang town. I want to see him again.”

Xie Fei expressed his understanding with a smile. After Yang Duoduo finished her breakfast, he called Xiang Fei to send off Yang Duoduo to the village entrance.

However, Yang Duoduo was destined to never meet her idol because Yu Li slept until noon.

When Yu Li came downstairs, he saw An Mingyi and Xu Lingyi sitting in the living room. Compared to yesterday, the two of them were in good spirits. At the very least, they didn’t look miserable as if misfortune fell upon them. Especially Xu Lingyi’s eyes that still held faint indescribable ripples…….

Sure enough, as soon as she saw him, Xu Lingyi excitedly announced, “Mr. Yu, we have decided to give birth to this child!”

Yu Li glanced at An Mingyi who reluctantly smiled. Then, he walked to the sofa in an unhurried manner. After settling down, he straightened his legs without any care for his image and placed it leisurely atop the coffee table.

“Have you thought about it?”

Xu Lingyi tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and smiled shyly. “Although it’s a bit difficult to understand, the child is indeed mine……”

“It’s not hard to understand,” Yu Li idly said. “Once the blood is awakened, the male seahorse demon can absorb the egg of their mate by itself.”

Xu Lingyi’s face increasingly grew more and more red. She uncomfortably looked away and said, “So, so I should take on the responsibility of being a father….mother.”

An Mingyi seemed that he couldn’t listen any longer and asked, “Mr. Yu, will the child be born a half-demon as well?”

Yu Li looked up at him and said, “Of course. Your children have the same blood as you but they may not be able to awaken it.”

An Mingyi was silent for a long time, "What if it's a girl?"

Yu Li gave an ambiguous smile. “If the blood is awakened, it’s best to find a DINK1 and fall in love with them."

“Why?”

“The female seahorse itself cannot give birth. In other words if her partner isn’t a male seahorse it’s essentially the same as being infertile.”

“......”

An Mingyi suffered a heavy blow once again. They now hesitated over their original decision. Just as they were about to leave and enter their rooms to discuss this important matter, Yang Duoduo came back early.

“Why are you back so early?” Xie Fei glanced at the wall clock on the lobby’s wall. It wasn’t even 1 o’clock.

Yang Duoduo’s face was full of loss and disappointment. “There’s no shooting for oppa today so he's not with the crew.”

Xie Fei hadn’t seen Yu Li since morning so he assumed that the man left very early. Hearing this, he was quite surprised and asked, “Isn’t he the leading man?”

“‘Dynasty’s’ female lead is Jian Yiyi. She signed under a film directed by the show’s director and was said that the crew's schedule only had 70 days. So they decided to focus shooting her parts first,” Yang Duoduo said dejectedly. “I haven’t even seen oppa’s side.”

“Sorry……”

The two people remained silent.

A few seconds later, Yang Duoduo bounced back and naturally talked about the various gossips in the entertainment industry, pretending that the previous conversation didn’t happen. Unfortunately Xie Fei wasn’t able to match her enthusiasm since he didn’t know the celebrities she mentioned. He could only smile politely until he heard a familiar name.

“Xie Yao?” Xie Fei repeated the name, uncertain if he heard it right. Wasn’t this the name of the protagonist?

“Yeah. Little boss, do you know him?”

“It sounds familiar.”

“Oh, he won the Koi Grand Prize before. The media covered it so you might have heard of it.” Yang Duoduo’s lips twitched and added, “Right now he’s signed with M entertainment. In ‘Dynasty’ he plays the third male lead. Today he kept making a lot of mistakes with Jian Yiyi and she practically lost her temper on the spot.”

Koi Grand Prize…...

Hearing these three words, Xie Fei had no doubt that this was the protagonist.

He didn’t expect that Xie Yao and Yu Li were filming together and so close to him at that.

Seems like he wouldn’t be able to go to town now.

Ah! Annoying!

After Yang Duoduo finally satisfied her desire to vent, she returned to her room. Xie Fei quickly unlocked his mobile phone and searched for information about ‘Dynasty’ and its crew. After tracking them down, he found Xie Yao’s Weibo.

Xie Yao was very active on Weibo. His microblog contained many selfies, gourmet food, beautiful sceneries, and chicken soup for the soul. In total, the number reached more than 6,000. The top post was Xie Yao expressing his thanks after winning the Koi Grand Prize. Looking at the list of the hundreds of prizes in the microblog, Xie Fei couldn’t help choke on a lemon.

He bitterly gave him a thumbs up and scrolled down one by one until he found out that Xie Yao was actually Yu Li’s fan. A lot were reposted news related to Yu Li and were forwarded on his microblog.

Xie Fei suddenly had the suspicion that the reason Xie Yao left everyone in the business sector and rushed wholeheartedly to the entertainment industry was that he wanted to chase stars? To be closer to a celebrity?

After looking around for more than ten minutes, Xie Fei finally found a post published by Xie Yao on the day of the original owner’s accident. It only contained five words--all sufferings have their reward.

With a loud tap, and he hurriedly pulled back to the top post and revoked his earlier praise.

Suddenly, a clap of thunder roared in the sky. Xie Fei’s long eyelashes trembled. He looked up and glanced out the door. The sky was somehow dark and the air became moist and sticky--humid--indicating that a rainstorm was coming.

He put down his phone, rolled his shirt sleeves up, and ran out the door. He wanted to collect and pile up the bamboo in the front yard before it rained. The bamboos will be used to make furniture and it was important that they were dry and free from moisture.

Xie Fei rushed to the fence wall and tied up about a dozen bamboos scattered on the ground with a piece of cloth. Even though he was strong, he still struggled to hold them together.

A drop of water hit him on the face and Xie Fei looked up. It was raining.

Bean sized raindrops hit the stone-slabbed ground and soon enough they were stained with dark water marks. With it, the smell of petrichor came.

Xie Fei tried to drag the bamboo to the pavilion when suddenly, he sensed a shadow on his head. In the blink of an eye, the rain was blocked off.

“Let go.”

Xie Fei turned his head at the sound and saw Yu Li standing right behind him. His hand was hooked around the cloth binding the bamboo together while he glanced at him indifferently. On Yu Li’s head was a baseball cap shielding him from the rain.

He subconsciously loosened his hold on the cloth and Yu Li’s muscles showed their vigorous power. Yu Li gathered the bundle of bamboo in the crook of his arm and easily hoisted it over his shoulder.

“......”

Xie Fei once again confirmed the difference in strength between a man and a demon.

As Yu Li returned from the pavilion the rain turned into a downpour with the rain drops falling more and more. The two of them hurried into the lobby. Xie Fei removed his cap then mumbled a “thank you” to Yu Li. Then he asked, “Ah, didn’t you leave earlier? Why come over here? Yang Duoduo is still in the inn.”

“It’s raining so she won’t be able to come out. Yin Su’s also keeping watch.” Yu Li said with an air of nonchalance. “Do I still need to hide then?”

Xie Fei couldn’t be bothered to engage in such a childish argument with him. Then he suddenly remembered the fact that Yu Li and Xie Yao were in the same crew. With the intention of reminding Yu Li of his position in all of this, Xie Fei stopped short thinking of two things. One, Yu Li didn’t need his reminder. Two, Yu Li naturally would have no use for Xie Fei’s words since he’s a demon--he could do whatever he wanted however he pleased.

Although a half-demon’s cunning tricks weren’t worth mentioning in front of Yu Li’s face, it was still quite lethal to ordinary people. Xie Fei’s sense of crisis wasn’t abated and so he tentatively asked the man, “By the way, since a demon… or a half-demon have some special abilities, what happens if a bad person awakens their blood and uses their ability to hurt others?”

Yu Li rested his elbow against the reception desk and gave a half-crooked smile. “Why? You scared?”

Of course Xie Fei’s scared. Otherwise why else would he have escaped to this place thousand of miles away? He just wanted to have a major discussion on self-preservation, okay? Xie Fei attempted to explain better but then heard Yu Li’s calm and firm response.

“You’re with me. Who would dare hurt you?”

“......”

Okay ba.

Xie Fei was stunned speechless at the other’s cool and assured tone. He momentarily lost himself in a daze while the one responsible for his reaction had no idea of his complicated mood. Yu Li raised his hand and knocked on the table complaining, “I’m hungry.”

“Do you want……” Xie Fei trailed off and recalled the second code of conduct in getting along with Yu Li. He immediately swallowed down the question lingering in his mouth and threw out a random expression instead. “I’ll cook something to eat.”

Before going out, Yu Li specifically pointed out, “I can eat more at noon.”

With this in mind, Xie Fei cooked fish.

The fish was bought yesterday and was kept in a water tank. He peeled off the scales and dirt then washed the fish under running water. Afterwards, he placed it on a plate and covered it with ginger and scallion to remove the fishy smell. Finally he poured in some water in a pot, added the fish, and lit a fire for it to cook. He also mixed in some cucumber. Knowing that Yu Li wanted to lose weight, Xie Fei deliberately left out the sugar.

The whole process took less than half an hour to finish. In the end, Xie Fei prepared two dishes which he believed to be pretty good. However when Yu Li arrived at the restaurant, he wasn’t satisfied at all.

“I don’t like eating fish.” Yu Li poked the tender white fish with his chopsticks

Xie Fei turned a deaf ear and supported his chin with a hand. With a smile he gestured, “Quickly eat ba, it’ll be cold soon and the taste will be affected.”

Yu Li refused to comment any further and instead pushed the plate towards him. “You, go to the kitchen and get a pair of chopsticks.”

Xie Fei simply thought that Yu Li was inviting him to eat together. He turned Yu Li down politely and said, “Thank you but I’ve already eaten.”

“I asked you to help debone the fish for me.”

“......”

“Of course, no problem.” Xie Fei suddenly stood up and leaned forward. With one hand on the table balancing his body, he stretched out his other arm and deftly took Yu Li’s chopsticks. Xie Fei ignored the surprised look on Yu Li’s face and stubbornly said, “But aren’t there chopsticks here?”

A touch of anger flashed in Yu Li’s dark eyes. He carried a displeased expression but remained calm and steady, not uttering a single word. Xie Fei didn’t see this and instead took an empty bowl and sat down. He blurted out a question and asked, “Did you sleep until noon?”

“Am I not allowed?”

Judging from his tone, Xie Fei sensed that the other person seemed to be in a bad mood. He lowered his head and his lips curled into a slight smile, hidden from the other’s view. “Did you meet Mr. An today? Have they...figured out what to do?”

Yu Li replied in a cold voice. “Of course they’ll keep the child.”

“Ah? Mr. An can easily accept this?” Xie Fei raised his head, disbelief written all over his face.

Yu Li blinked and lifted his eyes. With words full of meaning, he said, “It’s better to be a mother.”

For quite some time, Xie Fei couldn’t tell if Yu Li’s “mother” referred to An Mingyi or Xu Lingyi…...

After picking out half of the bones in the small piece of fish, Xie Fei returned the chopsticks and gave the bowl to Yu Li. The latter took it slowly, picked up a piece of fish, and closely examined it for a moment.

“Are all the bones gone?”

Xie Fei’s dimples deepened as he smiled at him. “Rest assured, I took them all out.”

Yu Li snorted and took a bite.

The way Yu Li ate was very particular. His posture and movements could be considered as pleasing to the eye which made Xie Fei think of those princes and nobles in historical dramas. It even made him think of those distinguished celebrities and refined scholars or gourmets.

Suddenly Yu Li’s chewing slowed down into a violent cough. His hand immediately reached for his throat. He felt dizziness overcome him and his usual pale face turned into an abnormal shade of red. Seeing Yu Li cough his heart out to the point that his back was bent into a tight bow, Xie Fie quickly came forward. He was left in a state of shock and anxiety as he stared at Yu Li.

“What’s wrong? Is it stuck?”

From the corner of their eyes, a leg wrapped in a light gray cloth stretched out. Xie Fei couldn’t pull back his momentum and in the end, he tripped over it, his whole body landing on Yu Li. The moment he was about to fall, he felt something heavy land on his waist

Xie Fei carefully stabilized his body. His eyes looked down and saw the top of Yu Li’s head, then the man’s eyes. Yu Li fixed his gaze on him, as if taking his time watching him, while both Yu Li’s hands were wrapped around Xie Fei’s waist. Xie Fei had one arm slung around the other’s shoulder while his other hand was pressed against Yu Li’s chest. The palm of his hand laid flat on the center of Yu Li’s chest, feeling the man’s slow and steady heartbeat, clearly slower than the average person.

Looking down, he could see Yu Li’s thick lashes lining his eyes, creating a sharp arc. Looking up, he could see Yu Li’s exceptionally clear eyes, like shattered stars full of silver light.

A provocative smile slipped through the starlight and light colored lips moved slightly opening and closing---

“Are you a pig2? What a liar.”