What kind of blessed life was this? Lin Fanxing finally believed that fate had stopped screwing him over this time.
His benefactor’s fever had finally gone down, and after resting for a while, he started ordering takeout. Lin Fanxing’s stomach had long since gone empty, yet he still sat cross-legged by the sofa, fully embracing the mindset of becoming someone’s pampered little canary.
Qin Xin glanced at the way he sat with his legs folded up. The real Fanxing turned out to be different from the Fanxing he had imagined. Before, he could only know him through interviews or fan-recorded clips. In front of the camera, he had never been this casual, as he always seemed cold and distant.
Now, the supposedly cold and distant Lin Fanxing carelessly lifted his T-shirt and scratched at his faint abs, asking softly, “What are we eating?”
“What do you want?” Qin Xin was oddly happy. It gave him the illusion of…
…being a sugar daddy.
Even the kind from some shabby rental-apartment romance novel wasn’t bad… but then Qin Xin looked around the apartment again. It really was pretty run-down. If this were a traditional story, the two male leads living here definitely shouldn’t be a young movie emperor and a celebrity. There should be a dropout older brother, a rebellious younger brother, a father who didn’t want them, and a mother who mysteriously vanished.
“I want something light,” Lin Fanxing said, not wanting to ask for too much.
“You should eat more meat right now.” Qin Xin glanced at his calves again.
It was fine… He still had the helmet on, so Lin Fanxing couldn’t tell he was staring at his legs.
“Are you looking at my legs?” Lin Fanxing asked the very next second.
“…”
The stranger immediately lowered his head toward his phone. “No.”
“Sigh, if you want to look, then look. My legs are pretty nice. Back when I debuted, people even voted me ‘the guy with model legs.’ Lots of people thought I came from the nightclub scene.” Lin Fanxing stretched out his legs, bare feet propped up on the coffee table.
Qin Xin’s gaze traveled from his knees down to his calves.
Then to his ankles.
Then to the soles of his feet.
“Can we get barbecue?” Lin Fanxing finally gave up pretending. He really wanted it. More importantly, he hadn’t eaten in two whole days, for the little money left in his phone account had all gone toward paying debts.
“Sure,” sugar daddy Qin Xin nodded. “But don’t eat anything too spicy right now.”
“I’ll listen to you. But how are you supposed to eat?” Lin Fanxing stood up and tapped on the helmet with his fingers. The dull thumping echoed inside the helmet, reverberating around Qin Xin’s ears like echoes in a canyon.
“…”
“I’ll eat after I get home.”
“Then take the medicine with you. Don’t take it on an empty stomach. Your fever was probably from catching a chill because your health is too weak. You’ll probably come down with a cold after this, too…” Lin Fanxing scampered over to the medicine boxes, grabbed them, then ran back and stuffed them all into his benefactor’s pocket. “You know how to take medicine, right?”
That question actually left Qin Xin unsure how to answer. “…I can read the instructions.”
“Thank you for thoughtfully clarifying that; otherwise, I wouldn’t have known you were literate.” Lin Fanxing shot him a helpless look. “That’s not what I meant. I mean, like… You know not to drink alcohol after taking cold medicine, right?”
At that, the tall, skinny stranger actually… couldn’t answer.
Lin Fanxing’s fluffy hair practically stood on end in exasperation, his expression growing even more helpless. “I thought you’d be really experienced with medicine, you fragile little high schooler!”
I have taken a lot of medicine, just not skillfully… Qin Xin couldn’t explain too much, so he only corrected him, “I’m… a college student. An adult.”
“Alright, alright, fragile college ‘adult’ student! Remember this: don’t take medicine on an empty stomach, don’t drink after taking it, go home, take a hot shower, and sleep under a thin blanket! Otherwise, you’ll sweat and kick it off in your sleep and catch another chill.” Lin Fanxing deliberately emphasized it. “Will your family take care of you?”
For the first time in over twenty years of quiet, Qin Xin felt like life had become unbearably lively. Helplessly, he said, “My relationship with my parents is very distant.”
“Oh…” Then you’re kind of like me. Lin Fanxing didn’t want his benefactor to end up down the same path. With what he believed was flawless, subtle instigation, he added, “Even though people say your body comes from your parents and shouldn’t be harmed… that doesn’t mean we should just suffer silently. You get what I’m really saying, right?”
“Thank you,” Qin Xin felt even more helpless. “I get it.”
“Adult college students really are smart.” Lin Fanxing finally relaxed. Saving one person at a time was still saving someone.
Time was limited, so Qin Xin hurried to order food for the chirping little canary he’d decided to keep. But he had never eaten barbecue before, and once he opened the app, he had no idea what to pick. Suddenly, warmth pressed close beside him. That nearly perfectly round head leaned over, the hair whorl blocking Qin Xin’s view.
A few unruly strands brushed against Qin Xin’s neck. It tickled. The feeling reminded him of the Doberman he used to raise as a child, but the difference was that the Doberman obviously… wasn’t nearly this talkative, ah!
“This, this, and this.” Lin Fanxing tapped away at the screen. Fully embracing the obedient attitude of someone being “kept,” he looked up again and asked, “Want a cup of boba to drink on the way home? After rain, it gets really muggy. I’m worried you’ll get heatstroke again.”
Sigh, his benefactor really was fragile. Lin Fanxing worried himself sick over him.
Qin Xin, who had never ordered “boba” before and wasn’t even sure what that was, lowered his voice. “Then help me pick one.”
And so, a little over ten minutes later, the delivery guy arrived with still-hot barbecue skewers and two cups of coconut boba milk tea. Before leaving, Qin Xin checked all the windows and doors and repeatedly warned Lin Fanxing not to wander around, who nodded so hard it looked like he was pounding garlic. Even if the King of Hell himself came, he wouldn’t step outside.
After all, the moment he did, he’d probably get hacked to death.
“Don’t worry, no matter who comes, I’m not leaving!” Lin Fanxing raised three fingers and swore. Even if Qin Xin himself stood at the doorway, he wouldn’t take a single step out!
“…”
Standing at the doorway, Qin Xin himself nodded before finally heading downstairs.
Once downstairs, he went to retrieve the motorcycle first. The body had several new scratches, obviously from last night’s panic, probably from scraping against something in the dark. Before getting on, he suddenly wanted to look up, though he didn’t expect much.
But when he turned around, behind a small rectangular window, Lin Fanxing was waving at him with a skewer dangling from his mouth. Qin Xin was startled. He wasn’t even sure if he should wave back, and in the end, he twisted the throttle and rode off coolly.
Watching his figure disappear, Lin Fanxing chuckled softly. Honestly, this guy really suffered from terminal pride, with a severe case of… chunibyo. Even if he claimed to be an adult technically, he was still pretty young, right?
So now… what should he do?
He looked toward the table. Besides the barbecue and a cup of milk tea, there was also an old notebook, probably left behind by whoever used to live here. A ballpoint pen was clipped inside. So Lin Fanxing bit down on a squid skewer while opening the notebook, preparing to sort through his thoughts and organize whatever connections from the next two years might still be useful to him.
He still had to work hard on his career. His benefactor couldn’t support him forever.
…………….
In the Donghu Villa District of South City, a young man paced anxiously outside Villa No. 05. Only when the familiar sound of a motorcycle approached from afar did relief finally bloom across his face.
“You actually ran off by yourself?! And stayed out all night?! Your guts are getting bigger and bigger!” He stopped the black motorcycle. “My dad’s been worried sick!”
Qin Xin had no choice but to stop. Finally, he took off the helmet and breathed in fresh air properly. A cup of untouched coconut milk tea still hung from the handlebars.
“I had something urgent to handle outside.”
Seeing Fang Feiyu again, Qin Xin studied him deeply for a long moment. This was probably the only friend he truly trusted. They had grown up together since childhood, and Fang Feiyu was the only son of the family doctor, Fang Bo. He also had far more courage than Qin Xin, not only secretly buying a motorcycle, but also secretly teaching Qin Xin how to ride one too.
But later, a huge disaster would happen. According to the timeline of his previous life, Fang Feiyu would suffer an accident two weeks from now. And that accident would completely change Qin Xin’s life in his last lifetime.
“What urgent thing?! You even took my bike…” Fang Feiyu still hadn’t noticed anything strange about Qin Xin’s gaze. Obsessed with his motorcycle, all he cared about was the damage. “Holy shit! You scratched it! My wife’s been disfigured!”
Then he pointed at the drink hanging from the handlebars and reached for it.
“What’s this? Compensation you bought me?”
“This isn’t.” Qin Xin snatched the cup away first. “This is… something I bought for myself.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding. You drinking iced stuff? Aren’t you afraid you’ll end up with an upset stomach for a whole week?!” Fang Feiyu wasn’t wrong. Qin Xin was famously sickly at home, and he’d basically been taking medicine ever since he learned how to eat solid food. “My dad said your condition’s been getting worse lately. He’s planning to change your meds.”
The moment he heard the words “change your meds,” Qin Xin’s expression subtly shifted, though he quickly smiled again afterward, mumbling, “…Uncle Fang really does care about me.”
“Let’s not talk here. If my dad sees us, or your mom sees us, we’re both dead.” Fang Feiyu helped Qin Xin push the motorcycle along while constantly sizing him up. “Hey, tell me something, are we bros or not?”
Qin Xin was stroking the cup of boba. The white coconut milk tea, the translucent water chestnut pearls, the square ice cubes… everything about it felt fresh and unfamiliar.
“We are. Which is why I need to discuss something with you.”
They pushed the motorcycle back into the private garage. The Qin family’s gardener was cleaning up leaves knocked down by last night’s storm in the courtyard. Using his tall frame to block Qin Xin from view, Fang Feiyu lowered his voice and asked, “What is it?”
Qin Xin paused. Truly short on money, he admitted frankly, “Lend me some money.”
“You should’ve said so earlier. One of my stocks just hit the daily limit yesterday.” Fang Feiyu’s thick brows lifted proudly. “How much?”
“Five million,” Qin Xin answered openly.
“You owe money outside?” Fang Feiyu’s eyebrows immediately drooped, but Qin Xin shook his head.
“You’re keeping a little lover outside?” Fang Feiyu’s thoughts immediately sped off in another direction. No matter how restrained Qin Xin acted, he was still part of the entertainment industry. Back then, Fang Feiyu’s dad had nearly broken one of his legs just to stop him from applying to an arts academy alongside Qin Xin, terrified he’d pick up the industry’s bad habits.
But Qin Xin shouldn’t be that kind of person, right? He kept himself clean… But the moment Fang Feiyu finished thinking that, Qin Xin actually nodded.
“Holy shit… You really are keeping someone?!” Fang Feiyu was completely stunned. Sure enough, his dad had been right all along: the entertainment industry was a giant dye vat! No matter how clean a person was going in, after a couple of years inside, they’d still come out corrupted!
“I am,” Qin Xin admitted. In his mind, his relationship with Lin Fanxing already counted as a kept relationship, but he genuinely didn’t have much money. Even though he was a movie emperor, he had become famous too early. His breakout film and the two projects after that had all been completed before he turned eighteen, and all the paychecks had gone straight into the bank account of his guardian.
Namely, his legal father, the famous director Qin Guangze.
But after turning eighteen, Qin Xin’s mental state had become extremely unstable, leaving him in a semi-retired state.
Fang Feiyu was speechless. He clearly hadn’t expected such a straightforward confession, so he quickly asked, “Who are you keeping? Do I know her? Which actress is it? You suddenly need this much money, don’t tell me she’s in debt too?”
It wasn’t an unreasonable guess. Artists being in debt was perfectly normal. Sometimes a celebrity could work nonstop for an entire year, only to discover during end-of-year accounting that they somehow owed the company hundreds of thousands instead.
But Fang Feiyu had only asked casually. Qin Xin shouldn’t be stupid enough to keep a canary who came with endless baggage…
Right?
“Mhm. Owes quite a lot. I need to figure something out.” Qin Xin nodded again.
Fang Feiyu nearly exploded.
“Tell me her name. Hurry up! I’ll hire a private investigator and see what kind of person managed to completely enchant you, keeping you out all night and even making you willingly pay off her debts?! And seriously…” Fang Feiyu lowered his voice, “be careful. With your current health… don’t let her suck you dry, ah!”
He was genuinely afraid his father would tell him tomorrow that Qin Xin had a kidney deficiency. After all, everyone knew that after excessive indulgence, kidney deficiency was a given!
“Not only am I paying off debts, but I’m also making a comeback.” Qin Xin was already planning out his return to the entertainment industry in his head. “Help me buy stocks first. I’ll tell you which ones in a bit. Also, dump all the stocks you’re currently holding. Sell them this afternoon.”
“Wait… why? Do you even understand stocks?!” Fang Feiyu was utterly baffled. No matter how well he knew Qin Xin, he still didn’t dare blindly follow his advice. The stocks he currently held were all performing incredibly well, and he had even planned to increase his position that afternoon!
Weird.
Qin Xin seemed like a completely different person now, and he wanted to make a comeback, too? Fang Feiyu watched his thin figure disappear through the doorway, unable to make sense of any of it.
By the time Qin Xin returned to his bedroom, the last of his strength gave out, and he collapsed directly onto the bed.
Two seconds later, he struggled back up again.
No. He didn’t have time to rest.
So he personally unlocked the safe and took out his diary.
[June 6. Weather: Rainstorm
Tonight I saw a legal news report. A male actor was injured in a financial dispute and rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment. Information leaked from the hospital said the injured actor was named Lin Fanxing. His left eye might not be saved.
It was actually Lin Fanxing… I don’t want to believe it, and I can’t believe it. From now on, he’ll only have one eye. How is he supposed to live like that? And what exactly happened with his financial dispute?
I really want to ask him, but we don’t know each other at all. I really want to visit the hospital, even if it’s only to secretly look at him once.
Who exactly hurt him?!]
Qin Xin had written it himself, and several more long paragraphs followed underneath. In his previous life, he had gone nearly insane trying to uncover the truth, regretting that he could do absolutely nothing. Even now, after successfully saving Fanxing this time around, rereading those diary entries still filled him with lingering fear.
Further into the diary came the major event involving Fang Feiyu, the unprecedented disaster the young man would experience.
A stock market crash.
No, he had to make Fang Feiyu sell immediately. Qin Xin couldn’t let history repeat itself…
Knock knock knock.
The sound at the door interrupted his thoughts. Outside came the housekeeper’s voice.
“Young Master Qin, Madam asks that you come to her room.”
“Alright. I’ll come now.”
Qin Xin put away the notebook, opened the wardrobe, and selected a clean set of lounge clothes to change into. Even if his mother hadn’t summoned him, Qin Xin would have gone on his own initiative anyway. After all, she was the other person most deeply tied to his fate.
Ten minutes later, Qin Xin stood outside Qiao Lian’s bedroom door and knocked softly three times.
“Mother, it’s me.”
“Come in,” came Qiao Lian’s voice.
This time, when Qin Xin pushed the door open, he didn’t immediately step inside. Instead, he remained standing there for several seconds. Suddenly, a glass ashtray flew through the air and smashed directly into the wooden door, leaving behind a deep dent.
That was exactly how it had happened in his previous life. On June 7th, his mother had called him into her room to talk. The moment he entered, he failed to dodge the glass ashtray and ended up with a black eye.
“I’m here.”
This time, Qin Xin bent down, picked up the ashtray, gripped it tightly in his hand, and walked into the room.
T.N: If you like his novel, you can read up to chapter 18 on my Patreon, with new updates coming every week!
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