Chapter 65: “Why Are You Avoiding Me?”
Xie Shibai became busy. Grandfather Xie’s car accident directly drew out many people harboring evil designs, forcing Xie Shibai to advance the things he planned to do next.
He took Chen Qisheng’s call, rubbing his brow. Drinking the last sip of instant coffee, he felt nauseous and dizzy just hearing the words “Xie family.”
He scrolled through the trending searches Chen Qisheng sent on his phone.
Not only had Ye Yingpu’s academic fraud been exposed long ago, but the research projects he participated in—treatment-oriented ones—were also branded as inhumane. Student patients he had exploited appeared one after another to leak information. Academic scandals hung high at the top of the hot search.
Before Chen Qisheng even had time to act, someone else struck first. Not only did they thoroughly ruin Ye Yingpu’s attempt to be elected as an academician, but they also successfully nailed him to the pillar of shame in the academic circle, to be spurned by others. Things he did in the past were also dug up; netizens boycotted him en masse, demanding strict handling.
Chen Qisheng understood Xie Shibai’s personality and also knew a thing or two about the grievances, so he simply helped fan the flames to completely cut off Ye Yingpu’s retreat.
Simple and crude. The outcome was the same as expected, perhaps even hotter than anticipated.
Xie Shibai stared at the trending search, his memory drifting somewhat far away, as if returning to the white walls filled with the smell of disinfectant when he was eight.
Grandfather Xie hadn’t woken up from the car accident yet, so there was no time to help Ye Yingpu. No one in the circle would protect a person with such a reputation.
The most important thing for Xie Shibai next was to see what situation Xie Huacheng would send himself into with his “stroke of genius.”
Chen Qisheng said, “Their mouths are quite tight, and there are no large transfers. However, your stepmother recently auctioned a modern painting. Not a master’s, purely a novice’s. It should be around four hundred thousand. I sent people to investigate the seller; sure enough, there’s something fishy.”
Xie Shibai listened quietly. It wasn’t far off from his own guess.
Chen Qisheng said, “But the person who paid for this painting is your father.”
The person who spoke of filial piety every day was actually the ultimate culprit behind the car accident.
Xie Shibai chuckled lightly. “They can’t wait a moment longer.”
It saved him some trouble.
Chen Qisheng shrugged. “Maybe they’re worried that once you inherit, their lives will be over. If something happened to your grandfather, the subsequent inheritance would be hard to say. They roped in quite a few higher-ups. Without Xie Lingxi’s bit of shares, it might be a bit difficult, but at least it’s better than having no chance at all.”
Xie Shibai lowered his eyes. “Check whose studio that is, if they have financial dealings, how many paintings were bought, and who they were given to respectively.”
Chen Qisheng immediately understood Xie Shibai’s other meaning. He suspected the two Xies were involved in money laundering. “I understand.”
After the daily activity recording ended at the hut, they had to do solo interviews. The order depended on who was free first.
After Xie Shibai finished his call, he happened to miss Lu Ciheng.
When the interview ended, he walked back with Su Xingran, who finished at the same time.
Su Xingran followed beside Xie Shibai, his eyes rolling around in a circle. Perhaps due to the weird intuition from having been a “green tea” before, he had a premonition: Lu Ciheng must have made Xie Shibai angry. His chance had come!
“Brother Xie, did you wash the jacket from the game day? How about I help you wash it? I feel like it got a little dirty.” Su Xingran smiled apologetically. “I wanted to ask you how to wash it, worried I’d ruin it, but Senior Lu seemed to be in a bad mood that day…”
Xie Shibai recalled for a few seconds before realizing which day Su Xingran was talking about.
The memory of that day was simply too profound. So profound that Xie Shibai’s first reaction was: if he controlled himself not to have contact with Lu Ciheng, he would never be able to alleviate his symptoms when craving skin contact.
Like now.
Xie Shibai’s fingers curled up, his expression slightly distracted. He and Lu Ciheng had almost zero contact all day. From high-frequency contact every day before to the contact frequency suddenly dropping to zero now—for someone craving physical touch, restraining the urge once it was provoked was a huge torment.
He kind of wanted physical contact with Lu Ciheng.
Xie Shibai shook his head. “No need to wash.”
Su Xingran scratched his cheek, somewhat regretting not learning more green tea tactics before. Now that he needed them, he hated that he knew too few, leading to him failing to even sow discord properly. “Oh, okay.”
[Feel like the CP interaction is so little today. Teacher Xie and Dog Lu haven’t even met much; didn’t get any screenshots of them in the same frame.] [Quite busy la. The young couple will sleep together at night anyway.] [Can snuggle after the interview, right!] [Guaranteed snuggles! But the lens cap in the room was put on early this time.] [Is Teacher Xie physically unwell?]
Xie Shibai was slightly distracted. His beautiful face still looked expressionless; it was hard to notice his discomfort under the camera.
Su Xingran didn’t notice either, following beside Xie Shibai and chattering away.
The noise level was no lower than a beagle barking werwer.
But Xie Shibai didn’t have time to care about these. His body’s craving for skin contact was in a sudden minor eruption; his mind was filled with thoughts of wanting physical contact with Lu Ciheng.
Su Xingran was still sighing about the regression of his green tea skills. In a trance, he felt Xie Shibai seemed a bit off, like he was unwell. There was a thin layer of sweat on his forehead, making his black hair slightly wet and messy. His cold, beautiful eyes gave a ripple-less look that made Su Xingran’s heart skip a beat. An inexplicable, indescribable feeling made him stare blankly, looking at Xie Shibai foolishly, with only two words left in his mind: So pretty.
“Brother Xie, are you uncomfortable?” Su Xingran asked in a small voice.
Xie Shibai’s body was very uncomfortable. His brows furrowed slightly, his voice indifferent: “No.”
Su Xingran didn’t quite believe it. He felt Xie Shibai was uncomfortable somewhere, otherwise why would he sweat so much? He glanced at the water placed in the hut by the sponsor. “Brother Xie, do you want to drink some water? You definitely spoke a lot during the interview; drinking some water to moisten your throat would be good.”
Xie Shibai gave a light mn.
Su Xingran immediately took a bottle of water, carefully unscrewed it, and handed it to Xie Shibai. No matter how careful he was, their fingers still touched a little when Xie Shibai took the water bottle.
Xie Shibai frowned slightly. His hand holding the water bottle tightened. Irritation spread in his heart. There was a bit of physical contact, but not with Lu Ciheng; instead, because of this contact, his body’s craving for skin contact increased.
Su Xingran touched his own fingers, feeling they were fragrant. He secretly decided not to wash his hand when he got back.
Xie Shibai drank a mouthful of water. When he looked up and noticed the figure watching him from the top of the stairs, his body suddenly froze.
Lu Ciheng stood at the stairway with his height of 1.93 meters. His black eyes were hidden in the shadow of his black messy hair, mixed with intense danger and jealousy. When looking over directly, it inexplicably tightened one’s heart. His pitch-black gaze swept over Xie Shibai’s fingertips holding the water cup. His eyes narrowed like some large carnivore displeased that his prey was touched by others.
Lu Ciheng’s lips hooked. He walked down the stairs with a lazy posture, the bottom of his eyes intensely black. His tone was unhurried, hiding that danger: “Interview over?”
[Wok, such a male ghost (gloomy/obsessed) vibe.] [Yes!! That kind of gloomy vibe, hiding in the corner watching the wife interact with others, eating vinegar (jealous) while gloomily observing how others interact with the wife, until it becomes unbearable and he grabs the wife with a ghost vibe.] [Does this count as a Shuraba (battlefield/love triangle)?] [Count it…? After all, there’s a wife-grabbing plot.] [Grabbing again! Dog Lu’s life is really good.] [This time it’s real jealousy, right? Can feel such a strong vinegar smell even through the screen.]
Xie Shibai’s fingers twitched. His gaze landed on Lu Ciheng’s hand. He swallowed the water. “Mn.”
Really want to touch.
Su Xingran got goosebumps just from being swept by Lu Ciheng’s glance. Even now, he wasn’t used to this look reserved for rivals. Finding an opportunity, he greeted Xie Shibai and slipped away first.
Where there is life, there is hope.
[Su Xingran slipped away so fast.] [Laughing to death, ran away again. Every time no one is around Teacher Xie, he refuses to leave and talks tea language. As soon as LCH appears, he slips directly.] [Got a bit smart. But why does he still want to be the mistress?] [As long as he doesn’t cause trouble, whatever.]
Neither Xie Shibai nor Lu Ciheng spoke. They returned to the room one after another, leaving only empty footsteps in the corridor.
Xie Shibai walked in front, but his back felt uncomfortable. He constantly felt like his body was being stared at tightly by a scorching gaze, as if a hole would be burned through his body in the next second. It made his heartbeat accelerate for no reason.
As soon as his front foot entered the door, the room door slammed shut with a bang. The abrupt sound knocked heavily on his heart. Xie Shibai’s heart jumped fiercely. He turned back subconsciously. Suddenly, his waist was pinched tight by a large hand, and his back was pressed against a scalding chest. His legs were nudged apart by a knee. In an instant, his whole person was pinned against the wall. The posture was close, intimate, and dangerous, leaving no room for resistance.
The comfortable sensation of large-area skin contact suddenly spread through his body, shocking him dizzy and stripping his ability to think. Even though the contact was through clothes, the scorching body temperature was transmitted clearly. Delayed gratification made his legs go soft.
The hug from behind held him firmly with the most contact surface area, and the control was exceptionally heavy. As long as the slender waist was pinched tight and the legs separated, no matter how much force was used, one couldn’t escape the control.
Xie Shibai had no strength in his body. The scorching, firm, almost seamless hug from behind caused feelings of comfort to bloom in his mind like fireworks. The physical contact he had craved for a long time was satisfied in an instant; it was so comfortable he didn’t want to push it away.
But he still remembered he had to stay away from Lu Ciheng.
Xie Shibai’s long eyelashes were slightly moist. Black hair dampened with thin sweat stuck to his cheeks. He bit his rosy lips in endurance, turning his body slightly. His fingers pushed against Lu Ciheng’s chest, his breathing unsteady: “You…”
The pushing hand couldn’t exert any strength. His body was immersed in the comfortable, addictive contact. His mind even began to deceive itself.
Contact for a bit doesn’t matter; it’s for treating the illness.
Who made it so that the craving for skin contact could only be alleviated by Lu Ciheng?
In the end, the confusion became completely unreasonable—it was all Lu Ciheng’s fault.
Lu Ciheng’s large hand pinched Xie Shibai’s chin. His dangerous black eyes overflowed with intense emotion. The tip of his nose pressed against the pale skin, sniffing the addictive fragrance. Separated from Xie Shibai’s rosy lips by a faint distance, able to kiss with just a light touch, his tone was low and paranoid: “Teacher Xie, why are you avoiding me?”
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