BPDSB Chapter 16: That doctor is indeed Mr. Qin’s little favorite!

Neither Xu Xiliu nor Qin Li paid any attention to how the banquet was actually going.

Xu Xiliu considered himself merely an accessory at the protagonist gong’s side. He didn’t go anywhere, worried he’d get lost in this unfamiliar place. After discovering that the desserts here were delicious, he quickly realized something else — the fruit was also excellent. Each piece was neatly arranged in fruit platters, fresh and thoughtfully peeled and cut into small chunks. Things like peaches, mangoes, and kiwis were easy to eat with just a fork, both convenient and elegant.

Before he realized it, Xu Xiliu had polished off another entire fruit platter.

Feeling the fullness in his stomach, he blinked and, for once, felt a twinge of guilt.

Everyone else came here with hopes of networking in high society, while he was just here to eat. Basically treating it like a free buffet. He wondered what the protagonist gong would think if he saw this — would he feel embarrassed because of him…

Just as he was thinking this, Xu Xiliu belatedly turned his head to look at the man, only to meet his gaze head-on.

Qin Li was still sitting on the sofa in the same elegant posture he had when they arrived, long legs crossed, head tilted lazily. Those black eyes, always laced with menace, stared fixedly at Xu Xiliu without even blinking. He didn’t say a word, and who knew how long he’d been sitting there watching.

Hiss… was he angry?

Anyone would feel a bit uneasy being stared at like that, but oddly, Xu Xiliu didn’t sense it at all.

No… wait, maybe he wasn’t angry. If anything, he looked a little amused…

Following his gaze to the table, Xu Xiliu noticed the four empty plates he’d cleared. His heart skipped a beat. As realization hit, he felt his face flush slightly, a faint blush creeping up behind his ears.

…Had he really eaten that much?

And just like that, the guilt deepened.

Despite feeling guilty, Xu Xiliu had no intention of showing it—he had his pride. In the blink of an eye, he adjusted his mindset, keeping his expression unchanged. He maintained his usual calm and gentle demeanor as he smiled with crescent eyes at the man. “Mr. Qin, would you like some fruit?”

Xu Xiliu thought for a moment and offered a fair assessment: “It’s really sweet.”

Dragging the other man down with him.

That way, he wouldn’t be the only one eating.

Qin Li suddenly chuckled.

“Oh?”

“Then I suppose I’ll have to try some for myself. Just how sweet must it be for Dr. Xu to like it this much?”

His tone was full of implication.

He had watched his personal doctor eat plate after plate ever since they sat down. His movements were elegant and composed, but his mouth had hardly stopped.

He looked so slim, yet could eat this much?

Wasn’t he always the picture of a gentle, refined gentleman? But now, faced with something he liked, he’d dropped the act entirely.

Once Qin Li noticed, Xu Xiliu had tried to put the mask back on. He looked calm on the surface, but the imaginary fox tail behind him was swaying nervously back and forth.

Qin Li narrowed his eyes, a dark gleam flashing through them.

Xu Xiliu pretended not to catch the sarcasm in the man’s words and swiftly placed a new fruit platter beside Qin Li. Seeing that the man was lounging lazily and unwilling to move, Xu Xiliu grumbled inwardly but kept a pleasant smile on his face as he picked up a fork, speared a piece, and offered it over.

“Mr. Qin, would you like to try?”

Qin Li stared at his face for a few seconds before finally moving.

He sat up and took the fork from Xu Xiliu’s hand, remarking coolly in passing, “Your smile looks a bit fake.”

Xu Xiliu’s smile stiffened.

…His fists clenched in frustration!

He silently recited a mantra for calm and redirected his gaze to watch the man eat the fruit. Out of the corner of his eye, however, he noticed that the empty plate he had used for cake earlier hadn’t been placed properly. Somehow, it had ended up teetering at the edge of the table. As Qin Li sat up and stretched his long legs forward, they brushed against the table and pushed the plate even closer to falling.

“Wait, don’t move—”

Xu Xiliu had just spoken when Qin Li, hearing his voice, turned his head and shifted his legs. The plate spun halfway around, tilted, and dramatically began to fall.

Xu Xiliu lunged forward to stop it, pressing down forcefully in an attempt to push the plate back onto the table.

The idea was good. The result, not so much.

He failed to get the plate back on the table in time. A beat too late, he ended up slamming the cream-smeared plate—once holding cake—straight onto the man’s thigh with a loud splat.

Both of them froze.

After a moment of awkward silence, Xu Xiliu remained in a strange half-crouched position over the man’s leg. He paused, then looked up—only to meet Qin Li’s lowered, unfriendly gaze.

Seeing the stark white, sticky mess smeared across his thigh, Qin Li narrowed his eyes, the look in them growing more menacing.

He sneered coldly, “How does Dr. Xu explain this?”

Xu Xiliu instantly felt the temperature around him drop several degrees.

At this point, he had no time to dwell on their earlier unpleasant exchange. His gaze flicked to the glaring stain on the man’s black dress pants, and he hurriedly climbed off Qin Li’s leg. Pulling out a tissue, he began dabbing at the mess, apologizing as he worked, “I’m sorry, Mr. Qin, I moved too quickly…”

Even though it was Qin Li who had knocked the plate off in the first place.

But the fact remained—it was his own palm that had smacked the plate straight onto the other man’s lap.

…Why had he even bothered? He should’ve just let the plate fall to the ground! Xu Xiliu silently vowed to carve “mind your own business” into his soul from this day forward.

Staring at the stain, he felt a chill settle over his heart.

As he wiped, he grew more anxious. Despite moving quickly, the stain still left an obvious white mark on the man’s black pants.

Xu Xiliu pressed his lips together, his brows furrowing involuntarily.

They were still at the banquet, surrounded by people of status—individuals who would go to great lengths to maintain decorum and save face. The protagonist gong was already in a somewhat awkward position, and now, with a stained outfit in this setting? Wouldn’t those who already disliked him seize the chance to gossip and nitpick?

Xu Xiliu felt he’d completely messed up. His lips tightened further.

Qin Li watched as the young man desperately rubbed at his thigh with a tissue, scrubbing so hard his knuckles turned pale. His brow twitched sharply, and he suddenly grabbed Xu Xiliu’s wrist, pulling him up with a look of impatience.

“Enough. Stop wiping. It’s already dirty—just throw it out.”

Xu Xiliu was shocked. “Throw it out?”

“You’re not going to wash it? Wait… how much did that outfit cost?”

Xu Xiliu immediately realized the real issue.

Logically speaking, since he had dirtied the protagonist gong’s clothes, he would have to compensate him.

Qin Li responded carelessly, “Not much, just a little over a hundred thousand.”

…What?

Over a hundred thousand?

Xu Xiliu wondered if he had misheard.

Great. That was basically his entire monthly salary from working tirelessly under the man.

His gaze instantly sharpened.

For a moment, his presence actually outmatched Qin Li’s.

“No way!” Xu Xiliu slapped the table, his voice firm and full of vigor. “You can’t just throw it out. If you do, what, are you going to walk home without pants, Mr. Qin?”

Qin Li was momentarily stunned by the words. He opened his mouth but couldn’t get anything out.

When he came back to his senses, his expression turned gloomy, but he kept quiet and didn’t bring up throwing the clothes away again.

Xu Xiliu was quite satisfied. “Tissues won’t clean it properly. If we add a bit of water, it should come off much better. Let’s get the cream stain out first and send it for dry cleaning when we get back…”

He looked around, and after confirming the direction of the restroom, he turned around and grabbed the man’s wrist, pulling him to his feet.

Qin Li was caught off guard and actually let himself be pulled up by the younger man, even taking a few steps along with him.

He frowned slightly.

When he tried to pull away, he couldn’t.

Realizing this, Qin Li’s expression grew darker.

Xu Xiliu didn’t slow down. “Let’s go. While there aren’t many people around, let’s get this over with quickly.”

And just like that, before Qin Li could react, he was dragged into the restroom by Xu Xiliu.

They were lucky. At that moment, there was no one else inside. Xu Xiliu wet the handkerchief that came with his suit under the faucet, then turned back to clean the man’s clothes. To avoid blocking anyone’s path, he even pulled Qin Li to a more secluded spot before starting.

“Mr. Qin, hold still. I’ll clean it for you.”

After saying that, Xu Xiliu bent over and began wiping seriously and diligently.

At that moment, he felt like he wasn’t just cleaning a suit—he was performing an emergency rescue on over a hundred thousand yuan.

Qin Li remained silent and indifferent. Though there was irritation in his eyes and brow, he didn’t move, and in the end, his stillness counted as tacit approval of Xu Xiliu’s actions.

Most of the cream stain was on the man’s thigh, with a bit splashed near the base of his leg. The spots were both low and awkwardly placed, so Xu Xiliu had no choice but to bend down to clean them. The position put a lot of strain on his waist, and before long, it began to ache. To make things easier, he unconsciously crouched down, continuing to wipe while now face-to-face with the area in question.

Thanks to his persistent effort, most of the stain was wiped away, which only made Xu Xiliu scrub even more vigorously.

Qin Li stood in place, lowering his gaze to watch his personal doctor crouched in front of him, carefully and seriously wiping his pants with a handkerchief. His handsome face remained expressionless, though his brows had unconsciously drawn together.

He looked quite well-behaved like this.

But why put on such a well-behaved act?

There had to be something suspicious.

A thoughtful glint passed through Qin Li’s eyes.

In the otherwise quiet restroom, the only sound was the faint rustling of fabric being wiped.

At some point, a man entered from the restroom doorway. He strolled in casually, but the moment he saw what was happening inside, he froze mid-step.

He stared wide-eyed at the pair—one standing, one crouching—in the corner.

What the hell!

This was way too explosive!

Doing that kind of thing out in the open? At least go into a stall, right?

From his angle, he could see a tall man standing with his back facing outward. The man was long-legged and well-dressed, with an air of refinement, yet someone was crouched right in front of him.

The crouching young man was completely enveloped by the man’s silhouette, looking especially slender and pitiful. He didn’t even seem steady in his crouched position, gripping the man’s pants tightly for support, his head tilted upward. From time to time, faint sounds came from that direction.

Then came a soft voice from the young man: “Mr. Qin, don’t rush, I… hiss!”

Good grief, how intense was that?

Wait a second—Qin?

The man who had just walked in was stunned. He quickly focused his eyes on the man standing there. Sure enough, he recognized the side profile—it was Qin Li. And the one crouching… wasn’t that the young man Qin Li had brought with him?

His eyes immediately lit up.

So he hadn’t been wrong. That doctor really was President Qin’s little favorite.

Just look at how indulgent he was. They couldn’t even hold back during a banquet.

He sighed inwardly, but didn’t dare stick around. If Qin Li noticed him and got annoyed, there would be hell to pay. Not daring to take another look, he quickly turned around, lowered his head, and tiptoed out, retreating in silence with his observations carefully tucked away.

Back over in the corner, Xu Xiliu, who had crouched so long that his legs had gone numb, let out a small grunt. He had finally managed to clean off the stain and nodded in satisfaction. Because of the numbness, he instinctively tugged on the man’s pants to stand up—nearly pulling them down in the process.

Qin Li gave him another frosty glare.

Xu Xiliu offered an awkward smile and quickly reached out to help straighten the esteemed President Qin’s slacks.

Qin Li’s expression turned even darker.

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TN: Not these two unintentionally giving the random guy a show