MAPF Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Apology… That time was truly unintentional!

Xie Shiwei’s index finger throbbed with pain, but he stood frozen in place.

How could He Qin have conveniently arrived with a first-aid kit? Was he watching him all the time? No, it must have been a coincidence.

He Qin took out an alcohol swab and a band-aid from the first-aid kit: “Doesn’t it hurt? Come over here.”

Xie Shiwei stopped dwelling on it and obediently went over.

“Where did you hurt yourself?”

Xie Shiwei held out his left hand, asking tentatively, “Are you going to treat my wound?”

He Qin didn’t bother to answer, he lifted Xie Shiwei’s wrist and used an alcohol swab to disinfect the blood-red wound on the side of his index finger: “Bear with it if it hurts.”

It really hurt.

Xie Shiwei didn’t dare to shout, gritting his teeth to endure it, stealing glances at He Qin.

They were very close. He Qin was wearing the half-rimmed glasses he often wore when handling official business, doubling the lethal charm of his handsome face.

Through the thin lenses, Xie Shiwei noticed for the first time that He Qin’s eyelashes were slightly drooped. His skin was also very good, his face as perfect as a plaster sculpture by a master sculptor.

Alas, what a pity that he’s not able to do it.

It had almost become a conditioned reflex. Every time he was attracted by He Qin’s face, he would immediately remember his unspeakable secret, and his gaze would instantly fill with pity and sympathy.

He Qin seemed to sense the emotion-filled gaze of Xie Shiwei and raised his eyelids.

Their eyes met.

He Qin’s eyes no longer held the usual mockery and indifference, but his gaze was still sharp, scaring Xie Shiwei into quickly looking down at the floor.

He Qin stared at Xie Shiwei for a long time, but in the end, he didn’t say anything, threw away the cotton swab, and simply handed Xie Shiwei the waterproof band-aid: “Put it on first, and tear it off before going to bed at night.”

Xie Shiwei lowered his head and carefully put the band-aid on his index finger.

The flesh-colored tape wrapped around his fingertip, giving him a sense of security.

In the past, when he was injured, no one had ever disinfected and cleaned his wounds or handed him a band-aid.

He never expected that the first person to do these things for him would be He Qin, who had wanted to strangle him to death just a few days ago.

Xie Shiwei sighed that this world was truly crazy, and continued to cook, telling He Qin to wait outside.

“Let me stay, I’m afraid you’ll accidentally burn the kitchen down.”

Xie Shiwei knew that the original Xie Shiwei wasn’t very good at cooking, so he had prepared a countermeasure long ago: “I’ve been watching online cooking classes recently, I can definitely do it, you can wait outside with peace of mind.”

He Qin: “You also took professional courses in college, and you still failed every subject.”

Xie Shiwei: “…”

Heh, stay if you want, I don’t care.

The dishes that He Qin liked to eat weren’t complicated, and the ingredients weren’t particularly precious, so they were quick to prepare.

In order not to give himself away, Xie Shiwei slowed down his movements and deliberately made a few harmless mistakes. In less than half an hour, he stir-fried the garlic water spinach, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and lily shrimp, leaving only the tomato and winter melon soup.

Xie Shiwei first stir-fried the tomatoes, then added water to the pot. When the water boiled and bubbled, he poured a plate of winter melon along the edge of the pot, sprinkled a handful of small dried shrimp, re-covered the lid, and waited quietly for the water to boil before seasoning.

He Qin leaned against the island counter, watching Xie Shiwei bustling about. Only then did he open his mouth: “It’s best to put the winter melon in when the water is cold, it will be softer when cooked.”

Xie Shiwei relied on his own enlightenment to cook, and he really didn’t know this.

He was a little annoyed: “It’s too late to redo it now, why didn’t you remind me earlier?”

He Qin replied, “I was thinking about something else just now.”

“What?”

“Something from my childhood.” The water boiled. He Qin lifted the lid of the pot and added some salt and pepper to the pot. “Do you know why I like these dishes?”

Xie Shiwei was surprised that He Qin would take the initiative to talk to him about his own affairs. He took out a soup bowl from the cupboard, chuckled, and said he didn’t know.

Actually, he could guess.

Since He Qin was an adopted child of the He family, he must have spent a miserable and desolate childhood in the orphanage before being adopted.

These cheap and ordinary dishes were probably the best meal He Qin had at that time, so he remembered them for so long.

But He Qin’s words were confusing: “Because these are the best at reminding me who I am.”

Xie Shiwei didn’t understand. Just then, the pot boiled, so he didn’t dwell on He Qin’s deeper meaning. He stepped forward to turn off the heat and serve the soup, carrying the dishes and arranging them on the table.

He carried a table full of dishes to the dining table. Xie Shiwei wiped the sweat from his forehead, dismissed the nosy Wang butler and the others, and sat down face to face with He Qin.

He opened a bottle of Moutai, raised his glass solemnly, and said, “He Qin, this meal today is my way of personally apologizing to you for all my previous crazy actions.”

“You’re busy with work, and you eat nutritious meals or delicacies every day. I guess it’s been a long time since you’ve had home-cooked meals, so I called your mother and asked her what you usually like to eat.”

“It just so happened that I taught myself how to cook recently, so I presumptuously asked the butler to prepare the ingredients and made these dishes for you.” Xie Shiwei served He Qin dishes and soup, trying to act cute, “Try it and see if it tastes good. If it does, then don’t dwell on the mistakes I made when I was young and ignorant, okay?”

Xie Shiwei put his hands together, pouting slightly, his eyes flickering non-stop, his entire face written with flattery.

Xie Shiwei used to do this before, but at those times, He Qin only felt annoyed, wishing that Xie Shiwei would disappear from the earth immediately. But this time, the same face, the same expression, he no longer felt disgusted.

He Qin lowered his head to taste.

The water spinach stems were crisp, and the leaves were soft and tender, indicating that the heat control was very precise.

The scrambled eggs with tomatoes were rich, fragrant, and delicious. Most of the tomatoes melted into the juice, coating the scrambled eggs with a moderate balance of salty and sweet.

The lilies had a refreshing taste, soft and glutinous on the inside, and the shrimp were firm and chewy.

The dried shrimp in the winter melon soup enhanced the freshness of the soup, and the taste of the tomatoes permeated the winter melon, refreshing and delicious.

He Qin met Xie Shiwei’s large, expectant eyes: “The taste is good. Let’s write off the past.”

In Xie Shiwei’s ears, writing off the past was equivalent to a get-out-of-jail-free card. He almost stood up and gave He Qin a hug.

·

After eating their fill, the three dishes and one soup were empty.

Xie Shiwei didn’t want to miss this good opportunity to get closer, and propped his cheeks with his hands: “He Qin, what did you mean by ‘best at reminding you of your identity’ that you said just now? I didn’t quite understand.”

He Qin swirled the white porcelain wine glass, his dark eyes probing straight into Xie Shiwei’s eyes: “You already know that I’m not the He family’s biological son, right?”

Xie Shiwei’s smile froze.

He instinctively felt that He Qin was sensitive about his identity as an adopted son, but he didn’t want to lie to He Qin, so he said nervously that he did.

He Qin understood: “I should have guessed it long ago. You have so many friends, there must be some who know my identity, so you were looking at me with that sympathetic look just now.”

Xie Shiwei was dumbfounded: “What sympathetic look?”

“The kitchen.” He Qin reminded him.

Xie Shiwei pondered for a moment, then suddenly understood.

Misunderstanding!

Even if he was an adopted son, He Qin was living better than him, an orphan with millions in debt. What was there to sympathize with?

What he pitied was that He Qin, in the prime of his life, couldn’t experience that wonderful thing, and his top-notch appearance had become a paper-mâché decoration because of that unspeakable reason!

He randomly made something up: “You misunderstood. That’s not what I meant. I just think you’re working too hard and haven’t been able to eat a meal you like for a long time. It’s not easy for you.”

“Then why, for several nights, every time before going to bed, would you look at me with that slightly sympathetic look?” He Qin finally asked.

He had noticed it many times. After he changed into his pajamas, Xie Shiwei would look at him with a dazed and strange look, his eyes complex, mostly similar to sympathy, occasionally revealing a hint of lewdness. It was simply outrageous and inexplicable.

Xie Shiwei broke out in a cold sweat.

Was he really being that obvious?!

He quickly tried to cover it up, his expression pained: “That’s because I’ve been feeling guilty recently. Every time I see you, I feel like you’re being forced to marry me. It’s really too unlucky, too pitiful, too difficult for you.”

“Is that so?” He Qin was half-convinced. “Sorry, I initially misunderstood that you were, spying on my privacy.”

Xie Shiwei remembered the embarrassing scene of being caught staring at his crotch by He Qin, and his face turned red: “…That time was truly unintentional! Oh, let’s not talk about that. You haven’t explained what you meant by your words.”

He Qin was silent for a while, picking out some fragments from his memory: “These dishes were the lunch that the orphanage specially asked a chef in the village to make in order to welcome my parents on the day they went to the orphanage.”

“Later, I entered the He family, and the family’s conditions improved day by day. My parents treated me like their own child, taking care of me in every possible way. I once lost myself in the satisfaction of material things and the warmth of family, thinking that I could be their son without any burden, and do things according to my own will.”

“But later, I still realized that I am an adopted son, bearing responsibilities on my shoulders, and I have no right to pursue so-called freedom.”

“I like to eat these dishes, not because of the taste, but because they can remind me of where I came from, and also remind me of the promise I made to my parents when they took me away from the orphanage.”

Xie Shiwei was a little surprised.

It turned out that He Qin’s life wasn’t as easy as he thought.

He was always walking the path arranged by his parents, moving forward on a set track. It seemed like a smooth road, but it might all be shackles.

“Then would you hope that you hadn’t been taken away?” Xie Shiwei asked boldly, “If you hadn’t become a child of the He family, you might have been taken away by an ordinary couple, lived an ordinary life, wouldn’t have had to take over the company, wouldn’t have met me at a noble school, and wouldn’t have had to be forced to marry me.”

“Xie Shiwei, you’re really being sensible now,” He Qin crossed his index fingers. “But I won’t waste time thinking about these things.”

“There is no ‘what if’ in the world. There is no point in regretting things that have already happened.”

Xie Shiwei gave He Qin a thumbs up.

When he first transmigrated, he was humiliated by He Qin pointing his finger at him at the wedding, and he thought He Qin was a rude idiot.

Remembering the plot, he realized that the original Xie Shiwei was the idiot, but He Qin’s revenge was too ruthless later, and he was a little scary.

After living together, he spent every day alternating between “I want to beat this impotent man to death” and “sob sob sob, I’m so scared.” But after spending these days together and hearing these words, Xie Shiwei now thought that He Qin was actually not bad. He was a little lacking as a husband, but he was definitely worth making friends with.

He was determined to hug this thigh.

When he really falls in love in the future, he might even be able to go on a couples trip with He Qin and Bai An.

It sounded pretty cool just thinking about it.