BPDSB Chapter 44: Qin Li isn’t a dog.

Xu Xiliu held the frisbee, and his whole person looked as confident and high-spirited as someone facing demons with a peachwood sword^[1] in hand.

He saw that the man in front of him, whose white shirt had originally been neat and tidy, was now a complete mess. The buttons had no idea where they had burst off to, and during the chase with him just now, a small patch of chest had been exposed, rising and falling violently with his labored breathing. Some kind of liquid, whether water droplets or sweat, slid across that patch of skin, making Xu Xiliu feel, for reasons unknown, that his ears were a little warm.

He clicked his tongue, thinking at this moment that the man’s physique was actually quite sexy.

However, the very next second, he noticed the other party’s dazed and gloomy gaze fixed straight on the frisbee in his hand, and he could not help but smile again, feeling that he had really brought the right thing.

As for the confusion hidden within that dazed look, Xu Xiliu subconsciously ignored it completely.

Holding the frisbee, Xu Xiliu tentatively swayed it left and right. Seeing the man’s eyes follow along, he felt even more satisfied.

Once satisfied, his mouth started to disobey him, as if some kind of impulse carved into his bones had awakened together with the frisbee. It made Xu Xiliu feel that the scene before him, this development, inexplicably fit some kind of law, to the point that without paying attention, he heard himself make two sounds:

“Tsuk tsuk——”

“……”

The room instantly fell into silence.

The silence did not belong only to the man who was panting heavily with a dazed expression. Xu Xiliu himself was silent too.

At this point, Xu Xiliu finally understood where the familiarity of this scene came from. Was this not the universal language for calling dogs on the street? When out for a walk, seeing any dog at all, you could give two tsuk tsuk sounds, and almost every big yellow dog on the entire street would snap its head around. Of course, big black ones, big white ones, big spotted ones were no exception either.

This was practically a dog-attracting divine tool!

Xu Xiliu covered his mouth, feeling that he had really gone a bit possessed.

Qin Li was not a dog. How could he possibly respond to this?

Just as he lightly cleared his throat to cover up his idiotic behavior, he suddenly saw the man in front of him tilt his head at him. That expression, dazed with a hint of confusion, confusion with a hint of docility, made Xu Xiliu almost instantly widen his eyes, his gaze filled with shock and disbelief——

Could it be that the other party actually reacted to that “tsuk tsuk”?!

……This was too damn wild.

If the other party remembered this after waking up, this would probably become the kind of existence that counted as a black-history moment for him, right?

But there was also the possibility that the man did not know the meaning of “tsuk tsuk.”

After all, a domineering CEO like him did not seem like the type who would call cats and tease dogs on the street. Naturally, he would not be forming deep friendships with the neighborhood big yellows through “tsuk tsuk.”

At this moment, Xu Xiliu felt three parts astonishment, three parts amusement, and four parts tongue-clicking disbelief. Seeing the man still staring at the orange frisbee in his hand, on an impulse, he lightly tossed it out. It did not go far, and he did not use much strength. It just happened to land a little behind the man’s feet. As the frisbee flew out, he could not help but tsuk tsuk twice again.

Only after doing it did Xu Xiliu realize what he had done, and he could not help covering his mouth.

Before realizing it, it was fine. After realizing it, it simply became unstoppable.

It was too addictive.

He steadied himself, resolved to stop acting like an idiot, and instead focused all his attention on the man. The expression on his face turned serious.

But immediately after, Xu Xiliu discovered that something seemed off. He remembered that last time, after he accidentally threw the frisbee out, the man immediately went to pick it up and even forcefully ordered him to continue, as if throwing and fetching the frisbee had left an indelible impression in the other party’s memory, to the point that even during an episode of mental confusion, he still remembered it. But now, the frisbee had been thrown out and had already been lying on the ground for half a minute, yet the other party had no reaction at all. That fixed gaze shifted from the frisbee to him, as if he had suddenly stopped caring about the object altogether.

Xu Xiliu frowned.

Could it be that the frisbee only worked as a sudden, accidental trigger, rather than something inevitable?

Then why was there no reaction this time?

Chapter 44

If the frisbee lost its effect, then he would not be able to calm the man down by himself, nor would he be able to continue the follow-up work. On top of that, the man had just seemed to show signs of attacking him. This made Xu Xiliu involuntarily tense up. His gaze flicked toward the direction of the door as he considered the chances of successfully going out to call someone. He did not notice that he had already muttered most of his thoughts out loud.

Qin Li, who was full of confusion yet still struggling to keep up appearances, keenly caught the young man’s quiet mumbling: “Didn’t he used to proactively pick it up before, why is there no reaction this time……”

Pick up the frisbee?

Why would he pick up a frisbee?

Had he picked up frisbees during his previous episodes?

And also, why was his personal doctor sitting in his office chair?

Sitting there so naturally, too?

Were the things that happened during his episodes actually like this?

Qin Li was astonished, baffled, and found it hard to believe.

But when he noticed the young man sitting in the office chair frowning, scrutinizing him with a gaze that looked as if he had discovered some clue of him faking his illness, and occasionally glancing toward the door, Qin Li’s whole body jolted again and he grew nervous. No, this had only just started. He had not obtained any important information yet and could not end it lightly. Even though he did not know what this behavior meant, he might as well do it.

Thinking this, Qin Li did not hesitate and turned around to pick up that strange frisbee.

He even recalled the young man’s muttered words just now and tentatively said to him, “…Continue?”

As soon as Xu Xiliu heard this, it felt right.

He did not catch the doubt in the man’s trailing tone and only thought that the other party was slow to react and was only realizing it now.

So he let out another breath and relaxed, a smile appearing on his face, and tossed out the frisbee that the other party had obediently placed in his palm once more.

The frisbee again landed a little behind the man’s feet.

Qin Li: “?”

……So this action was not a one-time thing, but something continuous?

Did he really do this when he was having an episode? Why did it feel so strange?

At this moment, Qin Li suddenly had the thought that from now on, he really needed to keep his mental state in good condition at all times.

Qin Li hesitated for a moment, turned his head to glance at that frisbee, felt resistance in his heart, but still went over to pick it up again. After hesitating for a bit, he handed it back to the young man once more, obedient to an unbelievable degree.

Then Qin Li saw his personal doctor smiling as he threw the frisbee in his hand out yet again.

Still landing squarely a little behind his feet.

Three times the charm.

“??”

Even the feigned daze in Qin Li’s eyes became a bit more real.

This time, without the young man needing to mutter anything, Qin Li very proactively picked the thing up and handed it over to the other party, and then watched that ugly object land by his feet again, like a terrifying loop that would keep going forever unless interrupted.

Qin Li: “……”

While thinking what the hell this thing even was, he extremely cooperatively played this damned frisbee toss-and-fetch game, back and forth, worried that if he failed to cooperate even once, his crafty and sharp personal doctor would discover that he was faking an episode, and then all his subsequent plans would vanish into thin air.

At this moment, he had never understood the meaning of “sunk cost^[2]” so clearly before.

After several rounds, as if it were toxic, Qin Li had even forgotten most of his original purpose, his entire mind filled with the question of why he was doing something this stupid.

Until his personal doctor took the frisbee and did not throw it out again, but instead put it away, then stared at him appraisingly for a few seconds and muttered to himself a few words: “……Looks about right, we can proceed to the next step.”

Qin Li’s mind instantly cleared.

He felt a long-lost sense of ease.

So now, was this little fox finally going to make a move on him?

Qin Li was feeling excited when he saw the young man turn around to open the medicine case. While opening it, he glanced at him a few more times, and then Qin Li’s keen ears caught what the other party said: “Tsk, this time he actually looks pretty quiet, he didn’t even say any of those weird quotations of his……”

Qin Li paused.

What quotations?

What exactly had he done when he was having an episode?

Qin Li stared at his personal doctor. After thinking for a moment, a bit of realization suddenly dawned on him, and so he tentatively spoke in a hoarse tone filled with desolation, grief, and anger: “……If I cannot behold the light, then what is wrong with being devoured by darkness!”

The young man over there moved slightly, turned around, and raised his brows at him.

There was a reaction!

Qin Li did not notice the complicated pity in the young man’s eyes. Feeling as if he had been encouraged, he followed up one after another:

“Accept pain, and then let the world feel pain!”

“Heh, the weather has turned cold. It is time for Qin Zhangyuan to die!”

“……”

He was not yet satisfied. The more he spoke, the more it felt as if he were returning to those dark nights of solitary awakening beneath the moon. Then, all of a sudden, he saw the young man carrying the medicine case walk up to him and speak gently and affectionately: “Alright, Mr. Qin, be quiet now. I am going to start preparing to give you an injection.”

Xu Xiliu picked up the syringe, his gaze settling on the man’s arm. He thought that he would still need to roll the other party’s sleeve up. If the man moved a bit, the sleeve might slide back down. Would it be better to just take the shirt off directly?

He pondered for a moment.

At this exact moment, Qin Li also realized what the young man was about to do. He was actually going to give him an injection! Granted, when his condition had been severe before, he had been injected too, but that had been normal. Right now, he was not having an episode at all. He was faking it. What would happen if this needle went in was simply unimaginable.

Qin Li belatedly felt that things had gone a little too far, but he did not want to waste the opportunity he had painstakingly created for so long. So, in a flash of inspiration, he called out the young man’s name: “……Xu Xiliu!”

“Hm?” Xu Xiliu froze, meeting the man’s deep eyes that still carried a trace of daze, and asked in surprise, “Mr. Qin, you recognized me?”

“……”

Qin Li did not dare to respond, guilt weighing on him.

He neither dared to expose that he was faking it, nor dared to let that shot of sedative be injected into his veins.

So after two seconds, he lightly called out to the young man again: “Doctor Xu.”

Xu Xiliu found himself in a dilemma.

Judging from how accurately the man had called out his name and identity, it did not seem like he was that deranged after all. If the other party could recognize him and had relatively clear cognitive ability, only with a muddled state of mind, then there was no need to give this injection. After all, getting injected too often was not a good thing. He had just been preparing to inject him based on the fact that the other party had been running around the room chasing him in a crazed state.

Xu Xiliu clicked his tongue and decided to observe the situation first.

He pointed at himself and asked the man: “Mr. Qin, who am I?”

“……My personal doctor.”

Hearing this, Xu Xiliu nodded. Mm, he had a sense of self and others. Much better than that completely crazed, uncommunicable state just now.

He swept his gaze around the room once, then pointed at the decorative painting on the wall. “Mr. Qin, what is that?”

“……A wall painting.”

Xu Xiliu nodded in satisfaction again, then finally flicked the frisbee placed nearby. “Then Mr. Qin, what is this?”

“An ugly thing,” Qin Li replied without thinking.

Xu Xiliu: “?”

Qin Li did not understand what trick his personal doctor was playing again. He was just fretting over why the other party still was not revealing his true intentions, when his gaze suddenly fixed on something peeking out from the bag placed on his desk behind the young man.

That bag had been casually set on the desk when Xu Xiliu entered the room. Earlier, his personal doctor had gone over and taken out that round, pancake-like frisbee-shaped ugly thing from it. After that, the bag had remained open. Now, with his sharp eyes, Qin Li caught sight of a corner inside the bag. Tilted at an angle was an item, white and cylindrical, unmistakably the medicine bottle he had seen the young man take out while changing medicine on the surveillance footage that day!

Qin Li: “!!!”

Finally, he had caught him red-handed!

This little fox was audacious beyond measure. He actually carried this bottle of poison on him, even stuffing it into his bag and bringing it over while he was having an episode. He was absolutely taking advantage of Qin Li’s compromised state to do something!

Qin Li had gone to great lengths to fish for evidence, and now he had finally caught him in the act. He felt delighted.

Just as he was about to expose the young man’s mask on the spot, reason stopped his impulse.

On second thought, this little fox was cunning by nature. Since he dared to carry this medicine bottle so openly on his person, he probably had a backup plan. Just like that day, when Qin Li thought he had taken problematic medicine, only to find that what the other party had fed him was completely normal.

Before everything was nailed down for good, he could not let his guard down.

Several consecutive failures had made Qin Li vigilant. Almost instantly, he suppressed the urge to erupt on the spot. Qin Li clenched his teeth hard, swallowing the surging fury in his chest, and quickly made a decision. He planned to take advantage of the opportunity to remove one pill from inside and rush it off for testing, then slap the problematic test results right in this little fox’s face, making him break down crying and beg for mercy in front of him!

Qin Li revealed a sinister smile.

Xu Xiliu noticed that the man in front of him seemed to have suddenly changed expression for some reason, his gaze fixed straight behind him. He could not help but feel a chill creep up his spine.

What was going on?

Wasn’t he just a bit more normal a moment ago?

“Mr. Qin—” He had only just opened his mouth when he saw the man in front of him suddenly move, lunging at him and wrapping him in a tight embrace, holding him especially hard so he could not move at all. The momentum drove him backward again and again. “Mm—”

Xu Xiliu’s words were immediately swallowed back. He widened his eyes in shock.

Damn, this is not going to turn into a medical dispute, is it?

He has nothing in his hands right now!

While he was still shaken and struggling, the man only held him tighter. At his ear came the man’s low, hoarse, hard-to-interpret voice:

“Doctor Xu, I feel terrible. My head hurts……”

Xu Xiliu froze. The body that had been tensed with nerves relaxed again. He blinked. The gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose had been knocked askew by the man’s sudden hug and fell to the floor, but he had no time to pick them up. His entire body was trapped within the other party’s embrace. He could even feel the man’s chin buried at his neck, rubbing lightly a few times, rubbing him into an oddly uncomfortable sensation.

“Doctor Xu, I’m not feeling well……”

The hoarse, obscure tone came again by his ear, yet the embrace did not loosen in the slightest. The man pressed himself against him with force, as if he wanted to stick his whole body onto him, while at the same time tightly locking his arms around Xu Xiliu’s, the strength driving him backward until he was finally pressed against the office desk.

The hard edge of the desk dug into Xu Xiliu’s lower back, making him a little uncomfortable. He could not help narrowing his eyes. He was a bit dazed, not knowing what kind of turn this was now, but hearing the man’s pained, almost coquettish words by his ear, his heart still softened a little. He gently comforted him: “I know, Mr. Qin. Can you let go of me first, alright? Let me take a look at you……”

“No.”

Qin Li answered without hesitation.

The person in his arms was warm and soft. The feeling of holding him was unbelievably good. When he buried his face in the other party’s neck, he could even smell a familiar floral and fruity scent, sweet and pleasant. Qin Li’s mind wandered for a moment, then he shook his head, his gaze shifting from hazy to cold and merciless in an instant.

…No, his objective was to take advantage of the situation to get the pills from the medicine bottle in the bag behind him!

The timing was perfect now. He was holding the young man, pressing him into his arms so that he could not see what was happening behind him. He could speak by the other party’s ear to distract his senses, then seize the chance to open the medicine bottle and quietly take a pill without anyone noticing.

Qin Li held the young man and moved him to the desk, his chin buried in the other party’s neck, his eyes locked tightly on the corner of the medicine bottle peeking out from the bag.

While speaking softly by the young man’s ear, saying that this hurt and that felt uncomfortable, his words vague and muddled, and humming indistinctly when the young man asked him questions, his dark eyes remained completely clear. Staring at the bottle, his hand carefully took it out, twisted the cap open, and secretly poured out one white round pill.

Got it!

Qin Li was exhilarated.

Hearing a faint rustling sound behind him, Xu Xiliu could not help asking, “Mr. Qin, what’s going on back there?”

Qin Li’s body stiffened. In his agitation, he almost flung the bottle away.

Keeping his composure, he slowly screwed the white bottle closed and stuffed it back exactly as it was, while softly humming a few more times: “Doctor Xu, I feel so dizzy, my body feels really uncomfortable……”

Feeling too good, he even unconsciously rubbed against the soft skin at the side of the young man’s neck again.

Qin Li quietly curled the pill he had obtained into his palm, then finally released the young man.

At this moment, Xu Xiliu was completely in a dazed, bewildered state. The man by his ear had been humming and mumbling the whole time, and the things he hummed and mumbled were completely lacking in substance, making it impossible for Xu Xiliu to judge for a while what exactly was going on with him. He had also been held for so long that he could not break free. With no one else in the room, he felt both anxious and confused.

It was not until the other party finally let go that he still stood there a bit blankly.

The next second, Xu Xiliu snapped back to his senses and immediately examined the man in front of him.

“……Are you okay? So what exactly is going on?”

Although when the man had an episode, it was often accompanied by headaches.

But it had never been like this before.

Xu Xiliu suspected that the other party might have caught another cold or developed a fever, so he reached out to touch the man’s forehead.

Then he felt puzzled.

It was not hot at all.

What on earth was going on?

Qin Li was just delighted at having gotten his hands on the pill when he turned around and met the young man’s suspicious, appraising gaze.

Only then did he remember that he was still faking an episode. What he had just done had gone a bit too far.

But since it had already come to this, in order to make the act complete, Qin Li still steeled himself and continued, pretending that he was having an episode and mentally muddled, yet gradually regaining clarity: “Doctor Xu, I just feel a bit of a headache. There is no need for the sedative injection. Taking some medicine will be enough. My medicine is on the bedside cabinet in the bedroom. Could you help me get it……”

Xu Xiliu raised his brows when he heard this.

Recovered so quickly?

He had not even had the chance to do anything yet.

Still, hearing this, he nodded. “Alright, I will go get it. But Mr. Qin, will you be okay by yourself?”

Qin Li clutched his head, pretending the pain was splitting, and said in a hoarse, weak voice: “I will be……”

Xu Xiliu looked at him a few more times, then went out.

The moment the young man left, Qin Li immediately shed the feeble look on his face, his gaze turning sinister.

He revealed a cold smile.

Sending the other party away for this brief moment was precisely so he could get this hard-won pill in his hand delivered out, letting his trusted subordinate run a test on it. Test results usually came out quite fast and did not take much time. Tonight, he would get the results. As long as he dragged things out for a little longer, this little fox would definitely fall into his hands tonight!

Qin Li hurriedly called the butler up, instructing him to keep his voice low and move quickly when coming up, and to avoid Xu Xiliu.

In less than a minute, the butler appeared at the study door.

Qin Li opened the door and saw that Xu Xiliu had not shown up yet. He narrowed his dark eyes and quickly explained to the butler: “Uncle Zhong, take this thing away. Give it to Zhang Li and have him go find a trustworthy person to test it right now, then bring the test results back. The sooner the better. I want it tonight.”

As he spoke, he reached out and stuffed the pill he had gone through so much trouble to obtain from the young man into the butler’s palm, then patted the back of the butler’s hand. “Uncle Zhong, it would be best if you move fast.”

The butler was completely bewildered. Tonight, the man had first pretended to be ill and called for a doctor, and now he was having something tested. Everything was a mess. Still, the instructions themselves were clear.

He lowered his head and glanced at the thing Qin Li had pressed into his palm.

Round, thin, and white.

There was even an exquisite pattern floating on it. Looking closely, one could make out a beautiful rose.

The butler was puzzled.

Wasn’t this the kind of candy Doctor Xu liked to eat the most?

He remembered it was called something like rose lychee candy. The name sounded quite nice.

A few days ago, Doctor Xu had even shared some with him.

So why was his sir asking to have this kind of candy tested?

The butler was confused, but when he looked up and saw the man’s tense, serious expression, he also became serious.

Although he did not know why his sir was doing this, there must be a reason.

It was probably that there was something wrong with this candy Doctor Xu liked to eat. His sir was worried, so he had him secretly get it tested, then bring back the results to persuade Doctor Xu afterward.

Feeling that he had uncovered the truth, the butler smiled and agreed.

He quietly left according to Qin Li’s instructions. As he was going downstairs, Xu Xiliu came out of Qin Li’s bedroom. Hearing the movement from the stairway, he raised his brows.

---

T/N:

Qin Li: Heh, let’s see where you can hide now.
Xu Xiliu: Are you okay?

Their dynamic is so hahaha