KC | Chapter 84

Chapter 95, Heart Fluttering

Chen Xi had taken the subway three times in one day, first from Lihua to the Science and Innovation Center, then from the Science and Innovation Center to Gulin, and finally from Gulin to Lin Yiran’s home, and perhaps this place would also become his home in the future.

The little rabbit keychain was carried on him just like his phone. Chen Xi called the elevator, opened the door, and went in with practiced ease. He lay down on the sofa, loosened his tie, and his muscles gradually relaxed as he completely let go.

The joy of signing the contract burst open in his mind like gorgeous fireworks, burning with a thick smell of gunpowder. Rolling black smoke invaded his tense nerves, and after the huge excitement came emptiness.

Chen Xi collapsed on the bed and looked up at the ceiling, his gaze drifting, like a firecracker that had already burned off, the powder spent and only an empty shell left.

His thoughts grew sluggish. Exhaustion spread upward from his bones and climbed into his eyes. Chen Xi’s eyelids seemed to have lost their elasticity, the light in his eyes gradually dimmed, and he slipped into a light sleep.

He did not know how long had passed before Chen Xi woke up on the bed. Lin Yiran was beside him, propping up a small folding table and typing on the computer. The bedroom door was open, and he could vaguely smell the food aroma from the living room.

Usually Lin Yiran looked meticulous and proper, but at this moment he was wearing home clothes, his hair slightly messy, his eyes fixed on the MacBook screen without blinking, brows furrowed as if he were thinking about something. Under the light, his sharp features carried a hard, steady air. Lin Yiran typed on the keyboard very quickly, facing heavy work in a way outsiders could not see.

Chen Xi lay on the bed watching him, unable to bear disturbing his work.

The food smell was tempting, tugging at his stomach until it growled. Lin Yiran lowered his eyes, and that sharp side profile instantly turned gentle. Like petting a cat, he smoothed the little head’s fur, “Awake?”

Chen Xi pressed his face against his hand and smiled. “You’re already seducing me the moment I wake up.”

Lin Yiran closed the MacBook, and his palm reached into the blanket, putting that “seducing” into practice.

Chen Xi smiled until a row of little white teeth showed. He grabbed Lin Yiran’s hand and put it on his belly, “Brother, don’t mess with me yet. I’m hungry, I’ve got no strength. I’m really hungry, feel it if you don’t believe me, my stomach is all deflated.”

Lin Yiran chuckled softly. “You say you don’t want me to mess with you, but then you undo your buttons and let me touch you, so hypocritical.”

“I just wore a shirt and got too hot.” Chen Xi argued weakly, “You already put me on the bed, why didn’t you change me into pajamas?”

Lin Yiran lifted the blanket and pulled off his clothes and pants. Chen Xi kept saying “don’t” while cooperating and taking them off.

The belt buckle fell to the floor, and Chen Xi suddenly remembered, “Brother Lin, lend me a belt.”

“You really are not polite at all.”

Chen Xi gave an “ah” and thought to himself: even underwear can be borrowed, what is a belt worth.

Lin Yiran yanked Chen Xi’s pajamas out of the nightstand and said, “Put them on first, then eat.”

While Chen Xi put on his pajamas, he glanced at the small table on the bed. The colorful puppy pattern was kind of cute.

Noticing his gaze, Lin Yiran put away the small table and carried Chen Xi off the bed to eat.

Chen Xi wolfed down fries, while Lin Yiran sat across from him and ate pasta slowly and unhurriedly. The two of them enjoyed this rare dinner together.

With oily hands, Chen Xi tore off a piece of Supreme pizza and stuffed his mouth full. Lin Yiran stood up and got a glass of water, placing it on the table. Less than three seconds later, Chen Xi hammered his chest, grabbed the water glass he had just put on the table, and gulped it down hard while struggling to swallow the pizza. Lin Yiran had accurately predicted his behavior.

“I’m not used to Western food. Pizza is too choking, and the crust is too rough and scratchy on the throat.” Chen Xi bit off the pizza center, leaving the thick crust behind. Feeling embarrassed, he said, “I know I shouldn’t waste food, but I really can’t eat this thing. Uh, Brother Lin, why didn’t you cook today?”

He first admitted fault and backed off to give himself an out, then used a question in reverse to steer the topic away. This single-celled creature had gotten smart.

Lin Yiran held the fork in his left hand and the knife in his right, skillfully cutting the steak into four pieces, then forked a piece to the good student as encouragement.

Chen Xi obediently opened his mouth. The steak at the corner of his lips went in and then was pulled away. The corners of Lin Yiran’s mouth lifted slightly. He turned his wrist, and the fork rubbed against Chen Xi’s teeth in his mouth, imitating some kind of rhythm.

Lin Yiran got up again to fetch some tissues, sat back down, took a bite of steak, the fresh juice seeping through the gaps in his teeth. The tip of his lips lifted as he licked over his teeth and asked in a low voice, “If you’re not used to Western food, then are you used to this?”

“Pfft,” Chen Xi sprayed out the steak in his mouth, blushing as he used the tissues Lin Yiran had just gotten to wipe the table, once again having his move predicted.

“Can we eat properly first? After we finish, after we finish we can study other things.” Chen Xi grabbed a chicken wing and stuffed the whole thing into his mouth.

“How is that eating properly? You’re just like Zhu Bajie eating a ginseng fruit.” Lin Yiran forked Chen Xi’s crust onto his own plate and slowly ate it with the steak.

Chen Xi, who had spent the day taking down key clients one after another and was dazzlingly impressive, turned into a stupid little rabbit in front of Lin Yiran, going whichever way he was pointed.

The newly promoted KA was unwilling to accept it, and driven by occupational habit, he insisted on giving the negotiation expert a fight.

Chen Xi puffed out his cheeks, sucked the meat off the chicken wing along with the bone, pressed his thumb and index finger against his lower lip, pulled out a chicken bone from his mouth, and started to set the board, “Us young people all eat like this. You old folks have bad digestion, Brother Lin, eat slowly. Eating too fast can give you stomach pain.”

Lin Yiran finished the last piece of steak, wiped his mouth elegantly, and thought: Before, when he talked to me, he stumbled over his words, and if I touched his leg he’d turn red; now he’s taking on heaven and earth, and his mouth is getting sharper and sharper. Are you trying to go to heaven, you little brat.

When both sides were at daggers drawn, the most important thing in a negotiation was not rhetoric, but control of the situation.

Control of the situation was reflected in actions, speech, expressions, and so on. To put it plainly, whichever side had the stronger aura was more likely to win the negotiation.

Lin Yiran had boasted without restraint as soon as he started out, making excessive promises to Gulin; after making some achievements, he even resorted to cheating and tricking, doing whatever it took to achieve his goals; now he had already reached a near-perfect state, and whatever situation he met, he could casually make things up on the spot.

Thirteen years of sales experience had forged Lin Yiran’s confidence and power. In terms of aura, he had never lost.

Today, Chen Xi first “ordered” him to go home, and now he was provoking him again. The marketing veteran felt offended, and he immediately shot back, “Fine, I’ll let you eat slowly all night.”

Chen Xi had long since become immune to his rogue behavior and was used to it. He licked the oil off his fingers, kicked off his slippers, and with his pure white sock suddenly stepping into Lin Yiran’s lap, he leaned forward provocatively and said, “Come on, let’s fight to the bitter end!”

That wildly vulgar declaration, enough to make a straight man instantly break down, paired with Chen Xi’s greasy, exaggerated facial expression, doubled the damage. The dirty talk that had been at the corner of Lin Yiran’s lips was swallowed back down again, even more choking than eating a whole pizza, and it directly caused internal injury.

A trace of cunning slid through Chen Xi’s eyes. He kept adding fuel to the fire, stepping on the stool, swinging his forearm, baring his teeth and claws as he shouted, “My big blade is already hungry and thirsty!”

Lin Yiran seized the claw waving in the air. Chen Xi did not dodge either. He stretched out his other hand, lightly hooked Lin Yiran’s chin with his index finger, and smiled obscenely and deliberately, “Heh heh, even if you shout your throat raw today, nobody will come save you!”

The air around them seemed to freeze. Beads of sweat seeped out on Lin Yiran’s forehead, and he cursed under his breath.

He had wilted.

If Chen Xi kept acting like this, maybe in the future he really would not be able to stand up straight anymore.

KA expert, seasoned lover, negotiation specialist, all of them were left speechless by Chen Xi’s bizarre tactic of hurting the enemy by a thousand and losing eight hundred himself. His negotiation aura was gone without a trace, and for the first time in his life he had been controlled by the other side.

Salespeople all had strong pride. Lin Yiran was unwilling to give up and still wanted to fight a few more rounds to get back his face, “For the sake of your happy sex life, I sincerely suggest you say a little less and accumulate some virtue with your mouth.”

Chen Xi had fought him several times before and always lost, but today he finally saw the key to suppressing a rogue, the wicked had to be dealt with by an even wickeder one, and using poison to fight poison was the right remedy.

“Ha, what kind of logic is that, Brother Lin? Only officials are allowed to set fires, and the common people aren’t allowed to light lamps?”

Lin Yiran’s face turned as dark as the bottom of a pot, and he thought: This negotiation style of Chen Xi’s, always talking around the point and changing the concept, where did he learn that shameless acting style from?

Truly hateful, hateful and detestable!

Then in an instant he thought: Oh, it seems like he learned it from me.

That really was throwing a stone and smashing his own foot, teaching the apprentice and starving the master.

“Go ahead and light them, light whatever you want.” Lin Yiran crossed his arms, and his tone carried quite a bit of irritation.

Chen Xi rolled his big eyes once and figured it out, he had played too hard and made the boss angry.

If Lin Yiran were only his boyfriend, Chen Xi could freely bicker and tease him to his heart’s content. But Lin Yiran was also his superior, and that relationship was very awkward.

A boss could give him special treatment, of course, but he could also make things difficult for him. Showing off verbal skill for a moment was definitely not a good thing. The humble little Chen assessed the situation and quietly withdrew the finger that had been poking at his boss’s chin, saying in a low voice, “I’ll light a candle, is that okay?”

Lin Yiran: …

The humble little Chen moved around behind the boss, wrapped his arms around his shoulders, and lightly brushed his forehead against Lin Yiran’s neck. His posture was very intimate.

Lin Yiran had done management for 10 years, and he hated subordinates who were adaptable to the wind, slick-tongued, and good at flattery. Chen Xi had all of those traits, but not only did he not hate it, he also rather enjoyed it. Even if his brain could predict the other’s behavior, his body would still unconsciously walk into his trap, like an old and muddle-headed emperor, bewitched by a demon consort until he lost his reason.

Habitual thinking forced Lin Yiran to analyze the logic in those words, and only then did he suddenly realize that Chen Xi had always been able to so easily destroy his principles and bottom line, and break all logic.

Lin Yiran had worn a shell all year round. Different colored shells were the camouflage of a chameleon, and now Chen Xi was peeling off his shell.

The outer shell had stuck to his body for too long, growing together with flesh and blood, and the feeling of being peeled was not pleasant at all. At first Lin Yiran was somewhat dazed, then came the panic of having his rotten inner core peered into, and finally the anger of being struck at his vital point but unable to resist.

Lin Yiran slightly turned his head. His lips brushed past Chen Xi’s cheek, and dark waves surged beneath his black eyes. His low voice carried danger, “Don’t use the same tactics you use on key clients to deal with me.”

Chen Xi took him as simply being flustered and angry, not afraid at all. He tightened his arms around him and gently shook his head. His tender cheek rubbed against the stubble, and it hurt a little.

“I didn’t want to negotiate with Brother Lin, I just signed two orders in a row today, so I got a little too excited. Brother, don’t be mad at me.”

Chen Xi’s voice was very soft. In order to please him, he deliberately blew into Lin Yiran’s ear while speaking, “The pizza is almost cold. Brother Lin must have come back a long time ago and not wanted to wake me because he saw me sleeping; before, it was always Brother Lin cooking, so this time you brought takeaway home because you were worried I’d be hungry; Brother Lin probably still had a lot of work unfinished today, otherwise you wouldn’t have been working on the bed, racing against time.”

Back when we were at Huiling Mountain, it was the same. You pretended to be calm, but in fact you were driving so fast.

You were nervous about me, cared about me.

I could feel your feelings, even if you didn’t say them.

Lin Yiran froze.

He had not expected Chen Xi to coax and indulge him, and even less had he expected Chen Xi to see him so clearly.

Chen Xi’s pupils were full of his reflection, looking at him into his eyes and writing him into his heart. He hooked his arms around Lin Yiran’s neck, slowly brought his face closer, forehead against forehead, nose tip against nose tip, and smiled, “Brother Lin isn’t a key client. I won’t use your care as a bargaining chip in a negotiation.”

The one in the advantageous position and controlling the situation offered up the power to negotiate. Lin Yiran only then realized belatedly that love had never been a negotiation, so where would control of the situation come from? It was nothing more than pride at work, insisting on competing for who was better.

Chen Xi cupped his face, lightly touched the center of his brow with his index finger, and pressed a soft kiss between his eyebrows.

The blood in his forehead instantly boiled, converging and flowing to the tip of his heart, burning his heart until it beat violently, like a kettle of boiling water, making a sharp roaring sound.

That feeling was, heart fluttering.