Chapter 33.2

Wen Xiaohui stuffed Xiao Ai into Li Shuo’s car, and the three of them quickly fled the scene.

Inside the car, Xiao Ai burst into tears while Wen Xiaohui hugged her and consoled her in a gentle voice.

Li Shuo watched them from his rearview mirror, and he broke out into a smile.

When they reached Xiao Ai’s house, Wen Xiaohui decided to stay the night to keep her company. He told Xiao Ai to go up by herself first, so that he could be alone to thank Li Shuo.

Li Shuo leaned against the door of the car and looked at him with interest.

Wen Xiaohui rubbed his hair in embarrassment. "I’m so sorry, I’ve made a fool of myself in front of you. I swear, I’m not normally like this." He’d never been foul-mouthed in the presence of Li Shuo, and he’d always acted according to Li Shuo’s preference for ‘virtuous men’, pretending to be well-behaved, gentle and charming. However, he'd revealed his true nature to Li Shuo today. Li Shuo didn’t seem to be that interested in him originally and now he could wave bye bye to his chances.

Li Shuo laughed, "You really surprised me."

"Hehe." Wen Xiaohui forced himself to laugh along, struggling to respond.

All of a sudden, Li Shuo reached out and his fingers gently caressed Wen Xiaohui’s cheek. "Does it hurt?"

Wen Xiaohui felt his heart skip a beat; he was overwhelmed by Li Shuo’s sudden tenderness.

"Should I take you to the hospital to get it checked out?"

"It’s fine - it’s only a bit of swelling." Wen Xiaohui’s face flushed as he felt Li Shuo’s scalding hot fingers.

"How about everywhere else? Are you okay?"

"I-I’m fine." Wen Xiaohui stretched his neck. "I’m actually great at fighting." He regretted it as soon as he finished speaking. How could he blurt out the truth? Didn’t he agree to act as a ‘virtuous man’?

Li Shuo's eyes were twinkling. "You really surprised me today."

"Haha." Wen Xiaohui said with embarrassment, "I’m not normally like that."

"Yeah, you’re usually like an ornately packaged doll, but you seemed more real today. You're so heroic and handsome when you’re standing up for your friends."

Wen Xiaohui’s eyes widened and he shouted internally: Dage, your tastes are a bit hardcore1. He stuttered, "Yeah, really? Oh, I just have a strong sense of justice."

Li Shuo smiled and said, "That’s great, it means that you’re a true friend."

Wen Xiaohui felt self-conscious after hearing Li Shuo’s words. In fact, he was the kind of person who was especially protective of others. Once he acknowledged someone as his friend, he would do anything to protect them. This was a trait that he inherited from his mum.

Li Shuo spoke again, "However, the way you handled things today wasn’t ideal. You might get a buzz out of it, but it could result in retaliation."

Wen Xiaohui scratched his head, and he replied in agreement, "Mn, yes." He was also aware of his impulsiveness and his lack of consideration of the consequences, which meant that it was easy for him to get into trouble. He found it difficult to hold himself back whenever he got angry. He wasn’t worried about the bastard retaliating; his only worry was that Xiao Ai could be implicated.

"Do you have that man’s contact details? I’ll help you handle it."

"Nooo, there’s no need. How could I trouble you like that?" Wen Xiaohui repeatedly waved his hands in the air.

Li Shuo smiled and replied, "It’s no bother, I have a lot of friends who are lawyers. I was also involved in the incident, so I need to make sure it doesn’t cause me any issues."

Feeling guilty, Wen Xiaohui said, "I'm sorry..."

"You don’t need to apologise - it’s no big deal. I’m glad I could help you and your friend. Send me his phone number when you get back, and then you can stay out of it."

Wen Xiaohui responded softly, "Thanks."

Li Shuo stroked Wen Xiaohui's head. "Is Xiaohui your Chinese name?"

"Erm, yeah."

"It sounds a lot nicer than Adrian."

Wen Xiaohui looked at Li Shuo’s smiling appearance and he felt like his heart was about to pop out of his throat.

Wen Xiaohui went upstairs after he watched Li Shuo’s departing figure. Xiao Ai was hugging her knees as she sat on the sofa, and she stared at Wen Xiaohui with her bloodshot eyes as he came in. She sobbed, "Xiaohui, I don’t want to involve you in this."

"Why are you saying this now?" Wen Xiaohui gave her a hug. "Tell me, did you get a kick out of it?"

Xiao Ai stared at him for a while and then she laughed through her tears2. "Yeah, it was so amazing."

Wen Xiaohui chuckled, "That's good."

"Xiaohui, you were so handsome today - so manly."

"Of course, I'm that cool."

"I called you Xiaohui loads of times, but you didn’t even swear at me."

"I’m allowing you to call me that once in a while." Wen Xiaohui couldn’t help but smile. "I suddenly decided that it sounds quite nice."

The next day, Wen Xiaohui let out a high-pitched scream when he saw himself in the mirror because one side of his face was horribly swollen.

Xiao Ai rushed into the bathroom, and she was shocked when she saw him. She looked at him with a face full of guilt.

Wen Xiaohui said dejectedly, "You can repay me with 10 fried chicken."

"Aren’t you afraid of getting fat?"

"Once I’ve eaten them, I’ll have the strength to lose weight."

—-------------------

Wen Xiaohui found himself the centre of attention when he went to the studio, and he was once again the subject of people’s stares when he got to Luo Rui’s bakery. He was in a terrible mood by the end of the day.

Luo Rui clapped non-stop when he heard about his heroic deed. "How satisfying! I wish I was there."

"You? You’d only scream if you were there. It’s not like you could help."

"I could cheer you on."

Wen Xiaohui glared at him.

Luo Rui’s hands cupped his cheeks and he stared dreamily into space. "Li Shuo’s really handsome."

"Yeah, he is really handsome." Wen Xiaohui also had a dreamy look on his face.

"Did he change his mind? He’s suddenly so gentle towards you."

"Perhaps. This dage’s tastes are too intense. Didn't he say that he likes the ‘virtuous man’ type?

"Maybe he prefers you to be more real?"

"In what way wasn't I real?" Wen Xiaohui fluttered his eyelashes. "I’m a beautiful and sexy cutie pie."

Luo Rui rolled his eyes.

"Do you think Li Shuo might have a secret masochistic kink?"

"How would I know? Anyway, isn’t it good that he’s changed his opinion of you?"

"It’s good that he’s changed his opinion of me, but it’s not how I’d pictured it. The damage to my image seems irreversible." Wen Xiaohui let out a long sigh.

Luo Rui felt heartbroken as he touched Wen Xiaohui’s face. He said, "It’s so swollen. Is it still sore?"

"It's sooo painful. My beautiful face…."

"How are you going to explain this to your mum?"

"I’ll sleep over at Xiao Ai and Luo Yi’s for the time being; I won’t go home until the swelling’s gone. Besides, my mum’s busy with her date, so she doesn’t have time for me."

"What about Luo Yi?" Luo Rui grabbed Wen Xiaohui’s hand abruptly. "Could this be a good opportunity for testing Luo Yi?"

Wen Xiaohui blinked. "You’re saying that..."

"If Luo Yi really did those things for you, then…"

Wen Xiaohui shook his head fiercely. "I can’t. I really can’t. How could I test him like that?"

Luo Rui nodded. "That’s true. Li Shuo said that he would help you settle matters as well."

Wen Xiaohui rubbed his own face. "I’ll just have to lie to Luo Yi about my face."

"Do you think that you could deceive him with your IQ?!"

"...How annoying are you?"

"I’m just being honest."

Wen Xiaohui’s expression became gloomy.

When you speak of the devil, the devil shall appear4 and Luo Yi walked into the bakery as soon as this conversation ended. Wen Xiaohui turned his head and he noticed how Luo Yi’s expression changed as soon as he saw his face. His heart immediately skipped a beat.

"Luo Yi? What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to get you a slice of cake. What happened to your face?"

Wen Xiaohui had already thought of an excuse so he was able to lie convincingly. "Oh shit! Do you know how bad my luck was yesterday? I went shopping with Xiao Ai yesterday and we bumped into some people causing trouble in a shop. I was watching from the side when the security guard was taking them out, and an elbow smashed into my face. It was really sore."

Perhaps it was because Wen Xiaohui had practised it so many times that it seemed so believable and Luo Yi couldn’t tell that he was lying. Luo Yi only exhaled deeply for a while. "Why were you being so nosy?"

Wen Xiaohui scowled. "I didn’t know I was going to be so unlucky - my face is ruined for the week."

Wen Xiaohui nodded. Luo Yi didn’t try to hide his pained expression, which subconsciously caused ripples to appear within the depths of Wen Xiaohui’s heart.

Warning bells went off inside Wen Xiaohui’s head, and on the alternating sides were the faces of Luo Yi and Li Shuo…