Ch48 - Fruit Wine

Christmas was no different from an ordinary day for Ji Qinghuai. If he hadn’t seen the little girl wearing a Christmas hat and carrying a Santa Claus doll, he wouldn’t even have remembered that it was Christmas.

So why did he mention Christmas when sending a message to Xie Yan? Because he wanted to find a legitimate reason to have dinner with him. The event itself wasn’t important, the main focus was to see Xie Yan.

Ji Qinghuai hurried home and was met with a burst of warm air when he opened the door. The warmth collided with the bitter cold outside. He rubbed his frozen hands and quickly shut the door.

The light was switched on in the living room, but no one was there. Xie Yan had yet to arrive. In the kitchen, Qin Lang was preparing ingredients for the hotpot.

Ji Qinghuai pushed open the kitchen door and saw seven or eight types of vegetables on the table. Qin Lang was still washing the spinach and baby cabbage. The two of them alone wouldn’t be able to finish the large amount of food but if one more person was added, it was hard to tell.

Ji Qinghuai said to Qin Lang, “Little cutie, I invited Xie Yan to have hotpot together, add some more food.”

It was better to prepare more dishes. After all, if the three ran out of food and were still hungry, it would be embarrassing.

Qin Lang took out the baby cabbage and spinach and placed them in a small basket to filter out the excess water, “We have enough vegetable dishes already. There are other ingredients in the refrigerator, take them out.”

Originally, Qin Lang had bought a lot of ingredients today, but he and Ji Qinghuai couldn’t finish them all so he kept a small portion inside the refrigerator. With Xie Yan, there would be enough to feed them.

Just as Ji Qinghuai was thinking about it, there was a knock on the door. It should be Xie Yan coming. He was instantly excited and hurried to open the door.

Since Xie Yan went to visit Ji Qinghuai that time, the two had not seen each other again. They only contacted each other through their mobile phones. Now that he could finally see Xie Yan after two months, Ji Qinghuai was indescribably overjoyed.

As soon as the door opened, he saw Xie Yan standing outside the door with a bag. Because of the wind outside, some snow had settled on him and a chill was emanating from him.

Seeing this, Ji Qinghuai hurriedly passed him the slippers and said, “The air conditioner is turned on inside, come in and warm up.”

Xie Yan put on his slippers and entered the door. The temperature in the room was pleasant and dissipated some of the chills on him. Xie Yan put his bag aside and said to Ji Qinghuai, “I came in a hurry and didn’t have time to prepare Christmas gifts, so I brought two bottles of my own wine.”

“Fruit wine is good ah.” Ji Qinghuai continued, “On such a cold day, it’s fitting to eat hotpot and wine together. the wine can also help with the spice.”

Listening to his words, Xie Yan took out the two bottles of wine and placed them on the dining table. The orangish-yellow liquid was sealed in a glass bottle, looking very attractive.

Ji Qinghuai knew that Xie Yan’s cooking was delicious, but he didn’t expect that he could also make fruit wine. He was looking forward to the wine made by him.

Since the guest had arrived, they could start preparing for dinner. Qin Lang took out the pot with the soup base, plugged in the power and let it boil first. After that, he began bringing out the ingredients outside.

Ji Qinghuai and Xie Yan also helped him. They put all the dishes on the table one after another, and then took out the bowls and chopsticks. Qin Lang prepared two dipping sauces according to their preferences. After he was seated, the three of them began to move their chopsticks.

Tonight, they were having a Yuanyang hotpot with one spicy and one golden soup. The golden soup was used to cook vegetables such as baby cabbage and spinach.

Xie Yan opened the wine he brought, poured it into the three glasses in front of him, and handed Ji Qinghuai and Qin Lang a glass each.

Ji Qinghuai already had high expectations for this wine. As soon as the glass was handed to him, the rich peach aroma overflowed from the mouth of the glass, carrying an enticing sweetness.

“Peach wine?” Ji Qinghuai took a sip. It was slightly sweet and the flavour of the peach itself was well preserved. After the taste of peach, a faint trace of alcohol could be tasted but it was almost negligible.

This fruit wine was a surprise to Ji Qinghuai, he liked it a lot.

Ji Qinghuai couldn’t help but peek at Xie Yan.

His cooking was delicious and he could also brew an excellent fruit wine. Mr Xie was as outstanding as ever.

Ji Qinghuai drank the peach wine while eating hot pot and unknowingly downed three glasses, not because the hotpot was spicy, but because he thought it was delicious. In the end, he treated the wine as it was a casual drink.

Seeing that Ji Qinghuai was about to pour the fourth cup, Xie Yan stopped his outstretched hand and persuaded, “Drink less.”

Ji Qinghuai was completely dazed by the sweet taste. Only after hearing Xie Yan say so did he realize that he couldn’t drink too much of this wine. However, he was only halfway through the meal and he wanted to drink more.

“One last drink.” Ji Qinghuai tried negotiating with Xie Yan.

Xie Yan saw that Ji Qinghuai liked it a lot and didn’t want to stop his enjoyment so he acquiesced and withdrew his hand.

Ji Qinghuai gave him a big smile and reached out to pour the wine.

Xie Yan had brought two bottles of wine and Ji Qinghuai finished more than one bottle just by himself. His drinking capacity was not very good but at least he didn’t go crazy after drinking. After the fourth cup, he kept his words and stopped drinking.

While the three of them were eating hot pot, Xie Yan’s phone vibrated a few times. Xie Yan heard the sound but didn’t rush to look at it and left it at the side.

After eating the steaming hot pot, Ji Qinghuai was sweating. He wiped the oil stains off his mouth with a tissue, feeling extremely satisfied.

The clean-up was done by Qin Lang while Ji Qinghuai accompanied Xie Yan to chat in the living room. The snow was still falling outside and it didn’t seem that it would stop soon.

Ji Qinghuai glanced at the time. Eight o’clock was not too late, but the snow outside was getting heavier and colder.

He thought for a while and suggested, “Mr Xie, the snow doesn’t look like it’s going to stop soon so why don’t you stay here tonight?”

Xie Yan didn’t expect Ji Qinghuai to propose this. After all, the distance between the two communities wasn’t long and it only took about ten minutes to walk back.

Ji Qinghuai spoke again, “Or if you want to go back, I’ll send you off.”

Xie Yan and Ji Qinghuai looked at each other and saw his clear eyes that were full of sincerity. Ji Qinghuai was really afraid that the wind and snow outside would freeze him.

Xie Yan smiled warmly, “Then I’ll have to bother you for the night.”

The cold poison on Ji Qinghuai’s body had just been forced out, and he didn’t want Ji Qinghuai to go out and freeze, so it wasn’t a bad idea to stay for one night.

After reaching a consensus, Ji Qinghuai found a set of pyjamas for Xie Yan who went to take a bath first. After that, he helped him tidy up the room.

Qin Lang’s apartment was a three-bedroom apartment. It was just right for three people to have a room each. Ji Qinghuai changed the sheets and pillowcases in the unoccupied room, found a quilt and put it on the bed, then turned on the air conditioner to make the room warm for Xie Yan.

After Xie Yan came out of the shower, he saw that the room he was going to sleep in had been tidied up and was very warm. He smiled lightly at Ji Qinghuai, “Thank you.”

Xie Yan usually didn’t smile, but he had smiled twice tonight, showing that he was in a good mood. And once Xie Yan was in a good mood, Ji Qinghuai would be in an even better mood.

The winter night was unbearably cold, so the most important thing was to take a hot bath and go to bed. Ji Qinghuai returned to his room to get his pyjamas, and then went to take a bath.

Xie Yan sat beside the bed and did not sleep immediately. Instead, he took out his mobile phone to read the messages others had sent previously. Opening WeChat, Xu Luo’s message popped out.

Xu Luo: Mr Xie, I have a question for you.

Xu Luo: What is your relationship with Ji Qinghuai now?

Xu Luo: How far have you guys gone?

Xie Yan felt that the message was a bit baffling.

He thought that someone was looking for him for an important matter, but instead, they came to gossip.

How could the noble and indifferent Xie Yan answer such a question?

Xie Yan chose to ignore it and did not reply to Xu Luo.

After a while, Xie Yan’s phone vibrated twice and he saw that it was still Xu Luo.

Xu Luo didn’t get a reply from Xie Yan for a long time and was a little anxious.

Xu Luo: I asked the wrong question earlier, I’m not here to pry into gossip.

Xu Luo: I wanted to ask you, do you care about Ji Qinghuai’s life and death?

Xie Yan was startled.

Xie Yan: What do you mean?

Xu Luo on the other side of the screen angrily put down the cup of hot milk in his hand.

He knew that this guy Xie Yan had seen his message but ignored him!

Xu Luo: You answer my question first.

Xie Yan’s mood suddenly soured.

Xie Yan: Have you been too idle lately?

Xu Luo: “…”

Xu Luo: Excuse me, you rest early, good night.

Xie Yan refused to let Xu Luo mess with him like this.

Xie Yan: What do you mean by his life and death?

Xu Luo hesitated but this was Ji Qinghuai’s private matter. If Xie Yan and Ji Qinghuai were not familiar with each other, it would be inappropriate for him to tell Xie Yan the issue.

Xu Luo: Can you answer my question above?

Xie Yan: “…”

Xie Yan didn’t understand why Xu Luo was so obsessed with the relationship between him and Ji Qinghuai, but the sentence, “Ji Qinghuai’s life and death” worried him a lot.

His fingertips paused slightly, and Xie Yan typed out a sentence on the screen.

Xie Yan: He is very important to me.

When Xu Luo saw the message, he understood their relationship and told Xie Yan about Ji Qinghuai’s visit to him today.

If nothing else, the poison in Ji Qinghuai’s body shouldn’t be delayed for a long time. With Xie Yan’s help, maybe it would be resolved faster so that Ji Qinghuai can recover as soon as possible.

After reading the large piece of news Xu Luo sent, Xie Yan stared at the screen and fell silent.

At this moment in the bathroom, Ji Qinghuai was a little dizzy from the hot water. Xie Yan said that the peach wine was quite strong but he didn’t take it seriously, and now he started to feel uncomfortable.

The wine was so strong that Ji Qinghuai felt a little dizzy and his footsteps were so unsteady that he almost fell. He reached out to hold the washstand, only to feel the sky spinning in front of him.

Was the wine so powerful?

Ji Qinghuai turned on the faucet and splashed a few handfuls of water onto his face, wanting to clear his mind. He wanted to talk to Xie Yan for a while, but he couldn’t drift off to sleep again like last time.

Ji Qinghuai quickly sobered up from the cold water. He took the towel to wipe the water droplets off his face, and looked at the mirror, thinking silently, when will he and Xie Yan become as close as other young couples?

Just as Ji Qinghuai was wondering, a sharp pain pierced his head. He immediately lowered his head, his hand clutching his forehead tightly. His brows furrowed tightly as he tried to endure the splitting pain.

This burst of pain came without warning and he felt as if something was clamouring in his head, trying to tear him apart alive. It was extremely difficult to endure. Ji Qinghuai slowly lifted his face, and his eyes sank.

He opened the bathroom door, walked out, and headed straight back to his room.

After reading Xu Luo’s news, Xie Yan had been paying attention to the movement outside. He knew that Ji Qinghuai had returned to his room and he sat beside the bed and pondered for a moment.

Xie Yan was very disturbed by Xu Luo’s words, and he wanted to accompany Ji Qinghuai for a while.

After a little hesitation, he got up and walked to Ji Qinghuai’s room and knocked on the door lightly.

“Come in.”

Xie Yan pushed the door and went in.

At this time, Ji Qinghuai was sitting on the bed cross-legged and with bare feet. The air conditioner was switched on in the room, and it was warm so there was no need to worry about him catching a cold.

Xie Yan walked to the bedside, thinking about how to start.

“I…” He had only said one word when Ji Qinghuai put his index finger on his lips and shushed softly.

Xie Yan kept silent and saw Ji Qinghuai who was looking up at him and saying, “Mr Xie, there is something I want to tell you.”

Xie Yan thought that Ji Qinghuai was going to tell him about the poison, so his voice was a little softer than usual, “You tell me, I’ll listen.”

Ji Qinghuai looked at Xie Yan, “Then come closer.”

Xie Yan didn’t think much and got closer.

Ji Qinghuai urged, “A little more closer.”

Xie Yan was standing next to the bed now and it was impossible to move forward, so he had to lean down.

Suddenly, Ji Qinghuai grabbed Xie Yan’s arm and threw him directly onto the bed. Before Xie Yan could react, Ji Qinghuai suddenly overwhelmed him and pressed him down.

While editing this chapter, I was listening to soft background music with piano and imagining them having dinner with this music in the back was very cozy and warm.

Wait I just realised this ends on a cliffhanger LMAOOOO HMMMM

Maybe I’ll give you guys a bonus chapter but can’t guarantee because I’m busy #pain