Chapter 56
Before Xi Chongyang took him back to Lincheng, Xi Shi spent some time in a mental hospital.
Shi Fengsheng had sent him there, claiming that Xi Shi had severe mental problems and a tendency towards violence. Doctors had evaluated him to have antisocial personality disorder and recommended taking mandatory measures.
The mental hospital had strict control over its patients. The patients had to take a lot of psychiatric drugs every day. Because of this, Xi Shi had spent two whole months recovering in the hospital after returning to Lincheng.
Regardless of what the doctors or his family said, everyone thought he was mentally unstable. In an instant, everyone thought that there was something wrong with Xi Shi.
At first, Xi Shi had thought that he really had a problem. Later, he learned from Xi Chongyang that he was perfectly normal and that Shi Fengsheng had colluded with the doctors to create a fake psychological report.
“Shi Fengsheng, you have no right to lecture me.”
He had always known that meeting Shi Chengze again was inevitable. Xi Shi had already decided to cut ties with Shi Fengsheng, and he didn’t plan on saying anything to him today.
Xi Shi was about to drag Zhong Yuxiao away, but he didn’t move. He looked at him in confusion. “What’s wrong?”
Zhong Yuxiao’s hand was trembling slightly, and his mind was filled with Xi Shi’s words. His understanding of mental hospitals was limited to documentaries and reports. He couldn’t imagine what Xi Shi had experienced.
The person he cared about had been sent to a mental hospital and tortured.
Zhong Yuxiao couldn’t hold back anymore. He pushed away the bodyguards and kicked Shi Fengsheng.
His concern for Xi Shi gave him extraordinary strength. Zhong Yuxiao kicked Shi Fengsheng to the ground, his eyes red as he punched and kicked him.
“How could you do that to him!”
Everything had happened too suddenly, and even Xi Shi hadn’t reacted.
“Xiaoyao!” Xi Shi quickly pulled him away, and the bodyguards protected him, holding Shi Fengsheng down.
“He, he…” Zhong Yuxiao was so upset that he couldn’t talk. His hand, holding Xi Shi’s, was trembling uncontrollably.
“Okay, okay, I know, I know what you want to say.” Xi Shi patted his shoulder, soothing him. “It’s over, it’s over. See, I’m fine.”
Zhong Yuxiao’s emotions gradually calmed down. He wasn’t usually someone who was easily angered, but he had been too upset just now. Now, with Xi Shi’s comfort, he slowly regained his composure.
Shi Fengsheng was still being held down by the bodyguards, his face flushed red and then pale. Zhong Yuxiao had left him alone. His body ached, and his pride was hurt. He yelled angrily. “Xi Shi, is this the kind of friend you make? I think you’ve been led astray by this kind of person!”
Xi Shi’s face was expressionless. You could say whatever you wanted about him, but not about Zhong Yuxiao.
He gave a look to the bodyguards. “You were too gentle just now, you should have broken his arms and legs.”
“You dare!” Shi Fengsheng yelled pathetically. “You’ll be struck by lightning if you beat your own father!”
“Then let the lightning strike.”
Xi Shi didn’t care.
Just when the bodyguards were about to take action, a voice came from behind, stopping them.
Xi Shi turned around in surprise. “Grandpa, why are you here?”
The housekeeper said, “After learning that you had come to C-city, Sir immediately came over. He just arrived.”
“I’ve been meaning to settle the scores here. No time like the present.”
Xi Chongyang looked at Xi Shi and Zhong Yuxiao. On the way here, he had learned about everything from the bodyguards, including Zhong Yuxiao protecting Xi Shi and teaching Shi Chengze and Shi Fengsheng a lesson.
“Zhong family kid, you’re not bad.”
Zhong Yuxiao was slightly surprised. Xi Chongyang had given him a look of approval. “My grandson is too soft-hearted and always thinks too much. What you did was right.”
“I didn’t do much.” Zhong Yuxiao was praised, making him feel shy. He was starting to feel like Xi Chongyang had seen through something.
“Let Xi Shi take you to eat and look around. C-city isn’t as prosperous as Lincheng, but there’s a pink Ferris wheel that I heard is popular with young people. You two should go and try it out.”
Xi Chongyang held his cane, his years of high status giving him a stern presence. His light words were authoritative. “Leave the adults’ matters to the adults.”
Xi Chongyang looked at Shi Fengsheng, as if he was looking at a dead man.
Shi Fengsheng felt a chill run down his spine.
Zhong Yuxiao and Xi Shi were “pushed” out. The driver took them to the Ferris wheel.
It was a very large Ferris wheel, as Xi Chongyang had said, and it was pink. The lights on the Ferris wheel made it look like a huge pink sun in the night.
There was a food street nearby. Couples were walking hand in hand. It was said that if you kissed when the Ferris wheel reached its highest point, you would be with your loved one forever.
Countless couples came there, making promises at the height of their love.
Zhong Yuxiao and Xi Shi, two men, standing in this pink, bubble-filled place, looked out of place.
Xi Shi covered his mouth and coughed lightly. The lights of the Ferris wheel were bright, reflecting a pink hue on his face. “My grandfather is old, and we have a generation gap. He probably chose a strange place.”
“I don’t think it’s strange. It’s pink, it looks good.” Zhong Yuxiao squinted his eyes, the Ferris wheel reflecting in his eyes, like countless pink bubbles turning into substance.
He turned to look at Xi Shi. His pupils reflected Xi Shi’s reflection. He hadn’t been on a Ferris wheel before, “Let’s go buy some snacks and take a few rounds.”
“A few rounds?”
Xi Shi had never been on a Ferris wheel either. In his mind, one ride was enough. He had never heard of riding it round and round.
“Can’t we?”
“Of course.”
There wasn’t anything they couldn’t do.
As long as Zhong Yuxiao asked, Xi Shi felt like he could go to the stars for him. Riding a Ferris wheel was nothing.
He could even buy the land where the Ferris wheel stood and build a bigger one for Zhong Yuxiao.
After that, they bought food from the street vendors, carrying bags full of snacks, and entered the Ferris wheel.
The Ferris wheel slowly ascended, and Zhong Yuxiao looked out the window. They were getting higher and higher. “Xi Shi, are you sure you want to wait until after the college entrance exam to ask for payment?”
He smiled. “If I pay you in advance, and I run away, you’ll have nothing.”
“I won’t lose everything. I might be able to run away, but the temple will always be there.” Xi Shi cracked open a pair of chopsticks and held a piece of stinky tofu to his mouth.
Zhong Yuxiao shook his head. “That has a strong smell, I can’t eat that.”
“What, are you afraid of ruining your image?” Xi Shi chuckled, and then put the stinky tofu in his own mouth and held a strawberry tanghulu to his mouth.
The sweet sugar coating and the sour strawberry were a good combination.
Zhong Yuxiao readily accepted it. “I’m afraid you’ll dislike me.”
“I won’t. You’re the one I’m relying on now. Why would I dislike you?”
“You never know.”
Zhong Yuxiao took a bite out of the strawberry, the sweet and sour juice bursting in his mouth. He breathed out lightly, the scent of strawberries thick in the air.
“It’s too late to give me the payment in three years. How about a down payment now?”
Xi Shi was amused. “Do you think this is a house?”
“If you need one, I can buy you a house, as a betrothal gift.”
When those words left his mouth, Xi Shi’s expression immediately changed.
Zhong Yuxiao’s heart beat faster. The words he had been preparing to say for a long time were about to come out, making his entire body feel hot.
“Xi Shi, I don’t know if what I want to give you is what you want, but I think there’s a 99% chance.”
He had seen everything Xi Shi had done for him. The spark of love was strange and unexpected, but the possessiveness and tenderness were signs that his feelings were starting to grow.
He believed that Xi Shi had the same feelings for him.
Zhong Yuxiao gripped the tanghulu tightly, leaning closer, his eyes fixed on Xi Shi’s.
The Ferris wheel was about to reach its highest point. Everything on the ground had shrunk. In this small, enclosed space, they could only see each other.
“Xi Shi, I don’t like calling you ‘gege’ because I don’t want to be just brothers with you.”
Zhong Yuxiao’s eyes were sparkling, making Xi Shi think of the stars twinkling in the Milky Way.
He used the sun to describe the light in Zhong Yuxiao’s eyes, and now he was using the stars to describe his eyes. In Xi Shi’s mind, these beautiful miracles were all related to Zhong Yuxiao.
The young man in front of him was the embodiment of all that was beautiful.
“I…”
Xi Shi covered his mouth. “Okay, stop there.”
It was already frustrating that his younger childhood friend had confessed first, if he fell behind in confessing his feelings as well, then he would have no face to see anyone.
Xi Shi pinched his cheek. “Leave the rest to your older brother.”
Without spells or force, the little rice ball he wanted had already jumped into his bowl.
Xi Shi had complained countless times about the unfairness of the heavens, making him lose his mother, and giving him a terrible father. But now he realized that the heavens hadn’t been so bad to him.
In those bitter years, the heavens had sent him a sweet little rice ball, letting him find a bit of sweetness in his life.
Zhong Yuxiao was a miracle in his life.
“I think I like you a lot, far more than I expected.”
Xi Shi had originally planned to confess after Zhong Yuxiao had finished the college entrance exam. He had prepared himself mentally and wanted to get through those three years. But he hadn’t expected that Zhong Yuxiao would give him such a big gift.
“Zhong Yuxiao, do you want to kiss me when the Ferris wheel reaches its highest point?”
Do you want to be with me forever?
With everything in place, his heart was at peace. Zhong Yuxiao’s heart had finally settled.
He raised his head and smiled, shaking his head. “No, I don’t.”
Xi Shi’s expression immediately froze.
Zhong Yuxiao raised his hand, and brought the red strawberry tanghulu to Xi Shi’s lips. “You just ate stinky tofu, and I don’t want to kiss you.”
The Ferris wheel had passed its highest point and was slowly descending.
“But if you can get rid of the stinky tofu taste before the Ferris wheel goes up again, I might consider it.”
In an instant, he had fallen from the depths to the sky. Xi Shi couldn’t help but curse under his breath.
Damn.
“You did that on purpose!”
So, that was why he had said he was afraid of him disliking him.
The stinky tofu was thrown far away, and Xi Shi resigned himself to his fate and bit into a strawberry, taking a bottle of water and gargling it, like a confident warrior, preparing for the upcoming challenge.
When the Ferris wheel reached its highest point again, he would win a kiss from the person he loved.
