BPDSB Chapter 39: “Tearing the house apart.”

The scene in the study was a bit too tragic and chaotic, beyond what a person could imagine, to the point that Xu Xiliu froze at the doorway for a moment, losing both speech and the ability to move.

He could neither go in nor retreat. One hand gripped the doorknob as he stood at the entrance, staring wide-eyed at the man inside, the two of them locking eyes.

At this very moment, Xu Xiliu felt suffocated, with a kind of beauty in being unable to breathe.

This suffocation reached its peak when he saw the red dragon fruit juice still dripping drop by drop along the edge of the desk, and the man, his face stained with red juice, was still wearing a cold smile. It made Xu Xiliu feel his forehead heat up and his vision darken, as if he too were about to drift into a daze.

He had never known that dragon fruit could have so much juice.

He truly had never seen a scene like this.

Xu Xiliu clenched his fist again and again, took deep breaths over and over, and only then barely revealed a faint smile. “Mr. Qin, are you still conscious?”

This situation… had he gone mad?

If it were an episode, that could still be understood. After all, once an episode occurs, anything can be done.

But when Xu Xiliu had just entered, the other party had accurately called out his name, clearly recognizing him. That did not seem like madness.

Xu Xiliu stared fixedly at the person over there.

The computer screen had already dimmed at some unknown point, but Qin Li was still immersed in those frame after frame of surveillance footage. His dark eyes were unfocused, his mind automatically replaying the images he had seen. The young man had stayed honestly on the sofa, without a single abnormal movement. Qin Li could not help but mutter softly, “Impossible…… this is impossible……”

He felt his fingertips were cool and sticky. He could not help looking over, yet in the darkness he saw his hands full of sticky dark red, not just a little. It spread over from the desk, and even his own body was smeared with it as well. This scarlet, terrifying color instantly dragged his thoughts even deeper. He stared blankly, and the scene before his eyes seemed to overlap with a certain frame deep in his memories, making his entire head ache as if it were about to split.

At this moment, the door was opened a crack, and a vaguely familiar voice passed through. Qin Li subconsciously looked over, yet in an instant the lights blazed on.

He was stabbed by the dazzling light and narrowed his eyes. The memories that had invaded his mind were interrupted, and he once again thought of the surveillance footage. The figure on the screen gradually overlapped with the one before his eyes, making Qin Li unable to control himself as he let out a cold laugh, gnashing his teeth as he shouted the other party’s name.

“Heh, you are feeling guilty too, aren’t you……”

Xu Xiliu heard the other party’s words enter his ears in a hazy way. Because the other party’s voice was too low, he did not hear clearly. He only caught something about feeling guilty, and could not help but have a forehead full of question marks.

So had he actually fallen ill or not?

He hesitated for a moment, then called out again, “Qin Li?”

From over there came an immediate, teeth-gnashing reply, “Xu Xiliu.”

The corner of Xu Xiliu’s mouth twitched.

Alright then.

They were even trading lines back and forth. It seemed the problem was not too serious.

It was probably that he had been stimulated by something again and gotten a bit dazed. Once he sobered up, it would be fine.

Thinking this way, Xu Xiliu glanced again at the mess over there. With his very good eyesight, he noticed that there was a little black thing on the man’s face. Looking closely, he saw that it was tiny black seeds from the dragon fruit, and he immediately felt even more suffocated.

He felt that he could not handle this scene by himself, and that it would be better to call the butler over.

Xu Xiliu had originally intended to leave and directly go look for the butler, but after stealing a few more glances at Qin Li inside, he hesitated again. He was worried that in the short span of time after he left, the man inside might do something else. After all, just eating a red-fleshed dragon fruit had already allowed him to make such a huge scene. Who knew what might happen in the next few short minutes.

So after thinking it over, he simply did not leave. While keeping his eyes on the movements of the man over there, he took out his phone and prepared to call the butler to ask him to come up.

Who would have thought that after taking out his phone, he did not tap into the contacts. Instead, his attention was drawn away by the continuous messages popping up at the top of the screen.

He subconsciously tapped them open and discovered that it was that dog owners chat group he had joined a long time ago.

When he first looked, Xu Xiliu was momentarily stunned, not knowing where this group had come from, since he rarely joined any groups, until the messages on the screen kept flashing non stop.

Someone had started a topic, complaining that their own dog was too capable of causing trouble, jumping up and down, and that if you did not keep an eye on it for even a moment, it could chew up a pile of things. This immediately struck a chord with everyone. Those who had been lurking all popped out at once, each beginning to recount their own hardships. Some had their newly bought game consoles chewed to pieces by their dogs. Some went out and, upon returning, discovered that the sofa had been ruined by their dogs. Some had their kitchens sabotaged, including vegetables and bottles and jars. In a short amount of time, the message count shot up to 99+, showing that this was the norm.

Someone suddenly @ mentioned Xu Xiliu and asked: 【Bro, yours is a husky. Compared to us, it should be even worse, right?】

Xu Xiliu was stunned for a moment. In a flash of lightning, this question suddenly connected with the scene before his eyes, making his breathing grow a bit heavier in an instant. His urge to share suddenly surged, and he could not help but on the spot take a photo of the floor and carpet not far away, soaked in red dragon fruit juice in a complete mess, and send it over.

He was very careful not to photograph even a corner of the man’s clothing. He only took a picture of the edges, but this was already enough.

True tragedy needs no words. A single photo is sufficient.

In an instant, the people in the group were so shocked that they lost their voices. After a long while, they all came over with sympathy and comfort:

【Sigh, I was originally quite sad, but now I am suddenly happy. Sure enough, without comparison there is no harm……】

【This, sigh, this really leaves me with nothing to say (bitter smile) (shake head) (pat the well behaved dog beside me)】

【This carpet looks expensive at a glance. My condolences】

Xu Xiliu did not really have any concern about “my condolences” or not. The carpet was not his carpet anyway. But after that photo was sent out, the replies from the group members were as if they had smoothed over the suffocating feeling in his heart that had been there ever since he saw this scene, causing the pent-up gloom within him to dissipate by more than half all at once. When he looked again at the man over there, he was able to remain calm and even tempered.

He smiled as he exited the group chat and called the butler.

“Uncle Zhong, Mr. Qin has run into a bit of a problem in the study on the third floor. Please come take a look.”

Xu Xiliu explained things in just a few words, not saying exactly what the problem was, but it was nothing more than those few possibilities. He believed Uncle Zhong would understand what he meant. Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, the other party responded with a grave acknowledgment, then hung up the phone, seemingly already on the way over.

Xu Xiliu once again glanced a few times at the man surrounded by red dragon fruit juice, smiling.

It was not that he could not hold the scene by himself, but that two people were more cost effective.

Xu Xiliu, thinking this way, suddenly felt his phone vibrate again. There was an incoming call. He thought it was the butler, and without thinking much, he answered it. “Hello……”

Who would have thought that the voice on the other end was not the butler’s at all, but another person who sounded somewhat familiar.

“Doctor Xu, long time no see. How is the matter I instructed you to handle coming along?”

The other party’s voice carried a hint of irritability, yet he was forcefully restraining himself to sound calm, making it sound extremely twisted.

Hearing this all of a sudden, Xu Xiliu froze for a moment. It took him a full two seconds to react and realize that this was the villain’s voice. He hurriedly glanced at the phone number on the screen, and sure enough, it was an unfamiliar one. The previous number the villain used to call him from had already been marked by him as a harassment call and was probably unusable by now.

Thinking of this, Xu Xiliu could not help but play out a scene in his mind of the villain wearing a distorted expression, cursing nonstop while changing phone numbers. He failed to hold it in and let out a small laugh.

Qin Zhangyuan immediately reacted as if he had been stabbed, his voice becoming even more distorted. “What are you laughing at??”

Qin Zhangyuan gripped the phone, wishing he could just throw it straight out.

He really had changed to another number, and had even switched phones, because his previous phone had already been smashed by him.

His ankle bone fracture had forced him to lie in a hospital ward. Watching helplessly as Qin Li took back most of the authority, Qin Zhangyuan was already suffocatingly aggrieved. Who would have thought that in the past two days, paparazzi were being caught outside the ward every single day, one after another. Even after catching them, there were more. If they were not caught, they would jump up and down outside, endlessly appearing. Immediately after that came reports exposing his scandals, leaving him unable to fend left or right. Qin Zhangyuan instantly thought that this was all stirred up by his good nephew, deliberately done to prevent him from having any peace.

The more he thought about it, the more he hated it.

Then he thought of the private doctor.

The last time he called the other party, it showed up as a harassment call. Even when he called his subordinates, it was the same. With no other choice, Qin Zhangyuan had to grit his teeth and change his number. After all that trouble, he finally had time to call Xu Xiliu again. As soon as the call connected, he impatiently asked about Qin Li’s recent condition.

Only by hearing bad news about Qin Li could he relieve the hatred in his heart.

Xu Xiliu withdrew his smile and suddenly seemed to think of something, his expression turning subtle. He lowered his voice, making his tone sound tinged with hesitation and fear. “……What if I cannot do it?”

“Cannot do it?” Qin Zhangyuan’s voice shot up at once, so shrill that it made Xu Xiliu frown, really wanting to hang up on the spot. The other party threatened viciously, “Doctor Xu should not say things like that. You also would not want the studio you worked so hard to establish to go under, would you?”

Studio?

Xu Xiliu raised an eyebrow.

He had obtained what he wanted to hear, and once again became serious. He knew what the villain most wanted to know, so his gaze shifted toward the man to one side, and he let out a faint sigh. “Ai, Mr. Qin, he…… ai……”

Qin Zhangyuan’s interest was immediately piqued when he heard this, and he became animated. “What is Qin Li like now?”

If his physical condition had allowed it, he would really have wanted to prop himself up with a cane and go to the villa to see it with his own eyes.

Xu Xiliu sighed as he spoke, deliberately keeping things vague. “Mr. Qin, over this long period of time, his thinking has degenerated from that of a meticulously acting human into that of a certain common animal, and he has developed a certain misunderstanding about his own identity……”

Qin Zhangyuan did not quite understand, yet somehow felt it sounded impressive. However, what he wanted more was to hear about Qin Li’s miserable state, the more direct and vivid the better. So he impatiently cut in, “So what? Speak like a human.”

Xu Xiliu immediately said, “He turned into a husky and is tearing the house apart!”

Qin Zhangyuan: “……?”

Xu Xiliu cleared his throat lightly.

This could not really be considered lying. Judging by the man’s current achievements, even a husky would have to bow in admiration. If a husky came, it would feel inferior, howl once, and call him big brother.

Moreover, with all this “Mr. Qin, Mr. Qin” talk, the villain on the other end also had the surname Qin. Xu Xiliu did harbor a bit of intent to scold him through this.

Tui~

Still thinking about watching the protagonist gong make a fool of himself.

Qin Zhangyuan pondered over the doctor’s words. Although he did not quite understand them and suspected they were professional terminology used by doctors, he was still able to glimpse most of the meaning from the scattered phrases.

It seemed that his good nephew was having an episode and was about to turn into a dog. Turning into a dog was good. If he turned into a dog, he would no longer have the ability to compete with him for the family property, and his own objective could also be achieved.

Given time, Qin Li would certainly go mad and die!

Thus Qin Zhangyuan was all smiles, and even his twisted tone softened considerably. “Work hard, Doctor Xu. I believe in your ability!”

Then, with a snap, he hung up the phone.

Xu Xiliu let out a disdainful cold laugh. He really knew how to paint big pies^[1]. He hated people who liked to paint pies the most.

Look at the protagonist gong. Look at how decisive he is when it comes to sending money. At the slightest disagreement, he sends money.^[2]

That is what a good leader is like.

Xu Xiliu was in the middle of sighing with emotion when suddenly a black shadow pounced in front of him. He was grabbed by the wrist and squeezed against the wall, and beside his ear came a sinister, chilling interrogation: “Xu Xiliu, what were you just doing?”

Qin Li had only just regained a bit of clarity. He had not yet had time to notice the mess all over himself when he heard the young man at the doorway seeming to be on the phone with someone. Because he had only just woken up, he could not hear very clearly, only vaguely catching his own name. His spirits immediately lifted, and he sobered up by more than half. Without thinking too much, he lunged straight at the other party.

Xu Xiliu watched helplessly as the man, one hand covered in bright red dragon fruit juice, grabbed his wrist. He was instantly terrified out of his wits. “Don’t, don’t come over!”

The reason he had stood at the doorway for so long without going in was precisely to prevent himself from getting smeared as well.

But clearly, this sentence came too late. He was seized by the wrist, and the other party’s body pressed up against him as well, his whole person pinned against the wall. Behind him was the hard, cold wall. In front of him was an equally hard body. The man squeezed forcefully, and he was pressed so hard that he could not help letting out a muffled groan. At the same time, the man’s other hand also reached over, forcefully prying his face back from where it had turned away, making him face the other party head-on.

As a result, several finger marks dyed by red-fleshed dragon fruit juice immediately appeared on Xu Xiliu’s clean face.

Along with that, because he was pressed so close to the man and had his wrist grabbed, his light-colored clothes were also stained with color, and were basically completely ruined.

Xu Xiliu’s pair of peach blossom eyes instantly turned into dead fish eyes^[3]. His whole body went numb.

Destroy it all. He was tired.^[4]

“Are you afraid of me?”

“If you have not done anything with a guilty conscience, you do not fear ghosts knocking at the door. Why are you afraid of me!”

Qin Li clenched his teeth.

Who was this little fox talking to?

Damn it, he had not heard a single thing clearly!

Xu Xiliu looked straight into the man’s sinister eyes at close range. He restrained himself for a moment, but still could not hold it in, and smiled as he said, “Because you are dirty.”

“What?” Qin Li suspected there was something wrong with his ears.

Xu Xiliu smiled, irritation surging up uncontrollably.

“I said you are dirty. Can’t you see what kind of sorry state you’re in right now.”

Damn it, now he was dirty too.

Covered head to toe in dragon fruit juice, and these hands even directly touched his hand, touched his face.

Qin Li did not believe the answer he had heard and questioned suspiciously, “Who were you just on the phone with?”

Hearing this, Xu Xiliu raised an eyebrow and carefully examined the man’s expression, discovering that the other party seemed to be somewhat clear headed. His speaking logic was already normal. Being suddenly asked this, could it be that he had heard the villain calling him? Xu Xiliu’s heart gave a jolt. But after thinking it over carefully, he realized that his conversation with the villain had not revealed anything. Even if it were replaced with the butler, it would not feel out of place at all. So with a normal expression, he said, “I was on the phone with Uncle Zhong.”

“Uncle Zhong? I don’t believe it.”

Qin Li’s expression was gloomy, and within that gloom there was still a trace of dazedness that had not yet completely faded.

Xu Xiliu’s entire body was firmly pinned down, leaving him no way to make a helpless spreading of the hands gesture, so he could only blink innocently. “Even if you don’t believe it, you have to. Uncle Zhong will be here soon, and then won’t you know?”

As soon as the words fell, the middle-aged butler hurried up, calling out to Xu Xiliu as he came, “Doctor Xu, how is sir doing right now……”

This sentence came to an abrupt stop when he saw the two people “playing stacking blocks” against the wall.

The “stacking blocks” on the wall were stacked very tightly. It was completely obvious that the young man underneath was being forced, with his cheek pinched and his wrist seized, a look of restrained endurance on his gentle, good-looking face.

The butler’s heart immediately sank.

Could it be that his master, after evolving into madness, had started playing at coercion……

---