BFILWY CH 26

Chapter 26: Someone Got Played

The next day, Saturday, at 8 a.m., An Yue arrived punctually at Greenview Mountain Forest. He opened the apartment door, and just as he was about to step inside and change his shoes, he overheard someone talking inside.

“You’re too ruthless,” He Zhifan’s voice sounded weak and filled with resentment as he complained. “Even if I lost the bet, you didn’t have to force me like this. So much in one night… oh God, my back…”

An Yue looked up to see Ye Qinghe leisurely sitting at the dining table, eating toasted bread, which was obviously prepared by He Zhifan, who had dragged his half-dead body to make it.

“You’re so weak. You really should exercise more,” Ye Qinghe casually criticized, showing no concern. “With you like this in bed…”

Before he could finish, An Yue, standing at the entrance, loudly coughed to interrupt.

Cough, cough…

He didn’t want to draw attention but certainly didn’t want to hear the flirtatious banter between the two. He had absolutely no interest in knowing the details of what happened between them in bed.

“An Yue’s back,” Ye Qinghe, although unable to see, turned toward the door as usual. “Have you had breakfast yet? Come eat, I’ll spread it for you…”

“No need.” An Yue coldly interrupted Ye Qinghe’s offer.

He Zhifan, looking like a pregnant woman, supported his back with one hand and awkwardly held onto the wall with the other as he shuffled toward the bedroom. “Mr. An, Ye Qinghe’s in your care. I’m going back to lie down.” He didn’t care whether An Yue would deal with Ye Qinghe, since he himself didn’t feel like dealing with him.

“I told you not to do sit-ups in bed, but you wouldn’t listen. Look, you’ve hurt your back.” Ye Qinghe was still making snide remarks.

“If you hadn’t forced me to do two hundred at once, would I have hurt my back? It’s your fault!” He Zhifan grumbled. If walking back hadn’t been so exhausting, he’d probably have gone back and hit Ye Qinghe a couple of times. He slammed the bedroom door, flopped onto the sofa bed, and collapsed, too tired to move.

“Oh, so it was sit-ups.” An Yue silently thought to himself.

“Yeah, what else did you think happened?” Ye Qinghe naturally continued the conversation.

“…” So it turns out that An Yue wasn’t just thinking silently earlier. He cursed his own stupidity inwardly. Ye Qinghe didn’t seem to notice An Yu’s change in mood and, with a look of schadenfreude, said, “Last night we were watching soccer. Well, actually, he was watching and I was listening. Anyway, we made a bet on which team would win, and the team he supported lost. So, he had to do two hundred sit-ups. Who knew this morning he’d end up like this. Tsk tsk tsk, such poor stamina. I wonder who’s been moving his cello for him all this time.”

Achoo!.The band conductor Shao Ye, who was driving, sneezed multiple times for no apparent reason.

“Don’t laugh at Mr. He. You’re just lucky you didn’t lose. If it were you who lost, it’d be you who couldn’t get out of bed this morning,” An Yue suddenly felt a little hungry, so he walked over to the table, sat down, and spread some cream on a piece of toasted bread.

“Me?” Ye Qinghe raised an eyebrow. “I do two hundred sit-ups and two hundred push-ups almost every night. The only time I didn’t do it was when I was hospitalized. After I was discharged, I started right back up. You see, I’m fine; I can get out of bed anytime.” He said this proudly, looking like someone asking to be hit. “Want to see my abs?” He hooked the hem of his shirt with his pinky, pretending to lift it up.

“No.” An Yue coldly refused, but his eyes couldn’t help but glance toward his abdomen. He really thought Ye Qinghe was asking for trouble, but then, thinking about how strict his self-training was, he couldn’t help but say, “But don’t overdo it. You were lying in bed for so long, and your fracture’s just healed. If you push your muscles too hard, they won’t be able to handle it.”

“No worries. I’ve been doing this for years; I’m used to it. After being discharged, I gradually increased the intensity. I didn’t push myself to do two hundred right away. I know the saying: ‘Haste makes waste,’ I understand that.” Ye Qinghe, pleased to hear An Yue’s concern, said, “Mr. An is worried about me? Thank you, An Yue.”

An Yue rolled his eyes. “I’m not worried about you. I’m just afraid you’ll hurt yourself and cause trouble for me and Aunt Chen.” He took a bite of the toast. “Eat up, we’re leaving after.”

Ye Qinghe obediently ate breakfast. But inwardly, he wondered why An Yue’s mood had suddenly improved and why he was willing to eat breakfast together today. He couldn’t figure it out.

And don’t think it was only Ye Qinghe who couldn’t figure things out.

An Yue himself couldn’t understand his own fluctuating emotions.

While driving, he glanced at Ye Qinghe in the rearview mirror. Ye Qinghe was quietly sitting in the backseat, not saying a word. He knew An Yue, being a new driver, would get nervous and needed to focus more. So, whenever he was in An Yue’s car, if An Yue didn’t speak first, Ye Qinghe would never disturb him.

From the rearview mirror, An Yue could see Ye Qinghe sitting there with his eyes closed, looking relaxed and at ease. Not a trace of the scumbag he was supposed to be.

Scumbag. Just thinking about that night’s confession from Ye Qinghe made An Yue angry again.

Although he had been very calm these past few days, An Yue still hadn’t calmed down. Besides being angry, there was a lingering uncomfortable feeling.

This person was casually flirting right under his boyfriend’s nose, flirting and running off irresponsibly, and then shamelessly acting all lovey-dovey with He Zhifan in front of him. One moment, he was ordering He Zhifan to cook, the next, he was asking him to play the violin. The two of them were inseparable.

Poor He Zhifan didn’t even realize that he almost got cuckolded, still foolishly running around doing things for that man.

What the h*ll! An Yue couldn’t understand how someone could be so shameless and despicable, looking all proper while making a confession saying “I like you,” and then enjoying the services of his boyfriend without any burden. He had no awareness of betraying his boyfriend at all. Instead, it was An Yue, who had already rejected him, who felt vaguely guilty every time he saw He Zhifan.

The person who should be feeling guilty was Ye Qinghe!

An Yue shot a fierce glare at Ye Qinghe through the rearview mirror and then refocused on driving. However, less than two minutes later, his thoughts began to wander again.

Mr. An was actually a very self-reflective person. He thought about his recent behavior and, in his heart, he understood. He had been in a bad mood these past few days and had taken it out on Ye Qinghe. On the surface, he was angry about Ye Qinghe’s scumbag behavior, but deep down, wasn’t there a bit of self-indulgence in his anger, a kind of pretentiousness that came from being a little too spoiled?

He was just being unreasonable.

Unreasonable people usually have an ulterior motive. But what was his motive?

An Yue furrowed his brows, thinking carefully. He knew he was angry because, after being confessed to, Ye Qinghe had run off to be all lovey-dovey with his boyfriend. But he couldn’t understand it. He had already rejected Ye Qinghe, and he really didn’t want to have anything to do with such a scumbag. So why was he still angry?

And what right did he have to be angry?

The two of them were in a sweet and loving relationship, so what was he even jealous about? It was really ridiculous!

An Yue exhaled a deep breath. Alright, now that he had sorted out his thoughts, it was fine. The strange dynamic between him and Ye Qinghe these past few days should return to normal.

Although Ye Qinghe was at fault for confessing out of the blue, after that, he had indeed stopped bothering him. It was his own mentality that was off, treating his employer with an attitude that was neither respectful nor professional. Both of them had made mistakes, so that made it even.

With his thoughts cleared, An Yue, as expected, adjusted his attitude and became very professional, greeting Ye Qinghe warmly and kindly as they went from department to department for his check-ups at the hospital. It was as if the cold, distant, and confrontational person from the past few days wasn’t him at all.

Ye Qinghe was a little confused by the sudden shift in An Yue’s attitude. However, An Yue’s improved attitude was a good thing. The weight that had been hanging over him for the past few days slowly lifted, and with a lighter heart, a smile finally appeared on his lips.

After the ophthalmologist, Dr. Zhong Qifang, finished checking Ye Qinghe’s eyes, there hadn’t been much change. The vision loss caused by the brain injury wasn’t an issue with the eyes themselves, and so the ophthalmology department couldn’t do much. They could only confirm that the eyeball structure hadn’t further atrophied or deteriorated. The fact that there had been no change in his condition was considered good news.

Dr. Zhong was about to offer some words of comfort to Ye Qinghe but saw that his smile was still as calm as it had been when he was first hospitalized. Unable to help himself, he said, “You’re still so cheerful, huh? That’s good. You’ve got a great attitude.”

“I don’t have anything to be unhappy about. Mr. An has taken such good care of me, I should thank you.” Ye Qinghe replied with a smile.

Dr. Zhong glanced at An Yue and nodded with a smile, “That’s good then.”

The senior doctor asked a few more detailed questions, which Ye Qinghe answered one by one, and he even subtly praised An Yue in the process.

“Now I can rest easy,” Dr. Zhong said. “I was a little worried that An Yue might not be able to handle it, and I was even looking for a new caregiver for you. But now it looks like you’re both working really well together, so no need to change anyone.”

“No, no need,” Ye Qinghe quickly replied. “I’ve already gotten used to Mr. An’s help. Don’t change anyone.”

By the time An Yue realized that he had the opportunity to step down from the position, he had already helped Ye Qinghe into the car.

Hey, you two, don’t just decide things on your own! An Yue was exasperated with his own absent-mindedness as he helplessly took Ye Qinghe back home. But to his surprise, when they stepped out of the elevator, he was shocked by the commotion in front of him.

He saw He Zhifan, of all people, in his pajamas, fighting with someone at the door. No, to be more precise, he was being pinned against the door and being kissed recklessly.

(To be continued…)