The Ceo Of The Company Next Door Seems To Have A Crush On Me Chapter 16

Sunset and “Good, good”

When Yan Xucheng walked, his back view showed his crimson hair like a tide surging with the moon.

Lu Zhijian, meanwhile, recalled the autumn he first arrived in the Jingji, when the hillsides covered in maple leaves were clearly visible from the classroom window. When the wind blew, the leaves jostled each other, creating clouds reminiscent of a sunset.

Lu Zhijian disliked sunsets. For some reason, seeing a sunset made him feel uneasy, as if everything was about to end. His heart felt heavy, filled with stones, making it hard to breathe.

Many times, he would draw the curtains, turn on the lights, and spend the time of day he hated most in confinement. But occasionally, there were times he would sit alone in one spot and watch the entire sunset.

Don’t misunderstand.

He hadn’t suddenly grown fond of sunsets; he disliked them as much as ever, and the suffocating feeling in his heart remained. But this time, he wanted to masochistically watch the sunset to its end, masochistically savoring the feeling of suffocation over and over. Doing this made him uncomfortable, but he wanted to feel uncomfortable.

During these moments, Lu Zhijian’s body and soul seemed separated. His body was relaxed, but his soul was curled up in a small corner of his heart.

A slender hand waved in front of him. Lu Zhijian caught a whiff of rose scent. It was Yan Xucheng, smiling, his voice slightly soft, as if afraid Jiang Mingyi and Yan Zhu would hear: “They went inside. Let’s wait outside.”

Lu Zhijian looked at Yan Xucheng, his voice also becoming very light, mimicking his tone: “Good, good.”

Yan Xucheng was jolted back to the previous night’s dream. He instinctively stepped back, as if afraid Lu Zhijian would suddenly hug him like in the dream. His cheeks flushed uncontrollably.

Lu Zhijian tilted his head, stepped forward, and quietly asked, “What’s wrong?”

Seeing his head tilt made Yan Xucheng even more flustered. The image of a large dog kept assaulting his mind.

He had no idea what he was doing!

Lu Zhijian certainly didn’t know he had such a small habit, nor did he know that Yan Xucheng would be startled by an inconspicuous movement: “Are you sick from wearing too little? I…”

“No, no, I, I just suddenly remembered something, haha.” Meeting Lu Zhijian’s confused yet concerned gaze, Yan Xucheng knew how strange and inexplicable his behavior must seem to the other person.

But Lu Zhijian had one particularly good quality: he was incredibly polite and had an excellent sense of boundaries. Even when Yan Xucheng gave such a vague answer, he still nodded seriously: “I see.”

Then he returned to his previous position.

Yan Xucheng took three seconds to compose himself and started a conversation with Lu Zhijian: “Why did you suddenly say that?”

?

Say what?

A question mark popped up in Lu Zhijian’s mind, but he apologized first: “I’m sorry, did I scare you? I shouldn’t pry.”

Huh? Pry about what?

Yan Xucheng reviewed their conversation and instantly felt a wave of tenderness toward Lu Zhijian: “How is that prying? I mean, when you first said ‘Good, good.’ You actually use onomatopoeia sometimes.”

Lu Zhijian felt the blood rush to his head. He was a little embarrassed; this linguistic habit was considered too soft for a Jingji Native: “My hometown is in Haicheng. I grew up there when I was little. Sometimes I can’t help but add ‘ya’ to my speech.”

He had been laughed at for this habit before—well, not exactly laughed at, perhaps good-natured teasing. But for a child who had just arrived in a completely unfamiliar environment, the teasing was hard to bear. Lu Zhijian was already a sensitive person, and during that particular period, he became especially so. Even now, he still tries hard to avoid these verbal tics when speaking.

Yan Xucheng was surprised: “So you’re from Haicheng. Haicheng must be very beautiful. I’ve never been. Speaking of which, your voice is lovely. Are all Haicheng people as gentle as you?”

Yes, gentle. Although Lu Zhijian didn’t talk much, Yan Xucheng always sensed a feeling from him, a fear of accidentally hurting others.

A bright ray of sunshine suddenly pierced Lu Zhijian’s gray past. He couldn’t help but want to talk more with Yan Xucheng, about himself, about the two of them: “Actually, I haven’t been back for a long time either. I don’t know what Haicheng looks like now. If we have time, should we go see it together?”

When he said, “Should we go see it together?” the sunlight passed through his glasses, refracting into his eyes and turning them a warm, light brown. Yan Xucheng felt as if he were bathed in spring light. He said, “Good, good! We’ll go together then!”

The word “together” made Lu Zhijian smile involuntarily.

Yan Zhu and Jiang Mingyi came out quickly. Divorce requires such a long process, with so much back-and-forth negotiation, but the final step is just stamping two seals.

Yan Xucheng had a built-in Jiang Mingyi radar. The second before Jiang Mingyi appeared, he quickly stepped aside, putting distance between himself and Lu Zhijian, adopting an innocent appearance.

When Jiang Mingyi emerged, Yan Xucheng was the first to rush over and look at the purplish-red booklet in her hand: “Divorced?”

“Divorced.” Jiang Mingyi couldn’t say whether she felt relief or sadness. Perhaps both, perhaps neither.

Yan Zhu took one last look at Jiang Mingyi, put the divorce certificate in his pocket, and said, “Goodbye.”

From now on, they had gone from being the most intimate people to complete strangers.

When he reached the bottom step, Yan Zhu looked up at the azure sky, quickly composed himself, and smiled at Lu Zhijian: “Thank you for your help these past few times. After my mother and the others are discharged, I’ll treat you to a drink. Don’t refuse.”

Lu Zhijian: “Mhm, next time for sure.”

Jiang Mingyi didn’t want to linger with Yan Zhu. After waiting ten minutes, she extended a hand to Yan Xucheng, who was sitting on a chair in the lobby, and pulled him up: “Let’s go. Let’s eat something good to commemorate this.”

“Yay! What should we eat?”

“Hotpot?”

“No! I just dyed my hair recently, I can’t wash it yet!”

“Then how about the place Nan Xing opened? The soup was quite good last time.”

“Yay!”

Lying in bed that night, Yan Xucheng suddenly remembered something. He opened his phone. The screen lighting up in the darkness was particularly harsh. His smoky-gray eyes were stimulated and began to water. Yan Xucheng quickly tossed the phone aside, reached for the bedside lamp switch, pressed it, and buried himself under the covers.

Waiting for his eyes to adjust to the light, he pulled himself out from under the sun-scented blanket. A few strands of hair had static electricity and were sticking to his cheek.

He set his phone to night mode and found his chat interface with Lu Zhijian: I forgot to mention something. You looked super handsome in glasses today, aloof yet refined. So… where did you buy your glasses?

Lu Zhijian’s look today had truly stunned him. Those calm, gentle eyes were shielded by cold lenses, and the gold wire frames gave him an indescribable sense of refinement and aristocracy. Especially when Lu Zhijian smiled, he would shyly push up his glasses.

After asking, Yan Xucheng turned off his phone and went to sleep. He had to work tomorrow.

Although he had witnessed another side of Lu Zhijian today, he slept soundly without dreams. Yan Xucheng’s sleep quality was better than usual.

The bad news was… Yan Xucheng woke up late again.

The alarm clock had clearly gone off, but Yan Xucheng looked at the time: “It’s still early.” He could linger in bed a little longer.

Unexpectedly, lingering turned into not waking up until Lan Lan started banging on the door.

Yan Xucheng was pulled out of bed by the sound, which resembled a great migration across the plains: “I’m awake!”

He didn’t have time for breakfast, so he grabbed a bag of bread to eat in the office. Fortunately, he arrived just in time. Yan Xucheng slumped into his chair and let out a long sigh: “Another day of hating work.”

How could something as malicious as work exist in the world?

Every night, Yan Xucheng set his phone to Do Not Disturb. He turned the ringer back on when he got to work. After adjusting the ringtone, he saw that Lu Zhijian had replied to his message. Yan Xucheng checked the time: 6:32 AM.

So early. Is this when a normal human should be awake?

Lu Zhijian: These were designed by one of my partners. They shouldn’t be on the market yet. I can send you an identical pair.

After a moment, he asked: Are you free on Saturday?

Yan Xucheng didn’t want to refuse him, but he already had plans with Jiang Mingyi for Saturday: I have to move on Saturday. Can we do Sunday?

Lu Zhijian was probably slacking off too: Good.

Looking at the word “Good,” Yan Xucheng imagined that if they were talking face-to-face, Lu Zhijian might say a light and quiet “Good, good,” like a whisper in one’s ear.