Even though he had slowly savored Jiang Tongyan’s ‘lovingly prepared ginseng chicken soup’ the night before, when Qian Xiaoke got up the next morning, this delicate and frail flower Qian Xiaoke still woke up to find himself with a cold
It was October—autumn had arrived. In their city, this was the time of year when it was warmer outside than indoors, especially at night. It was already cold to begin with, and Qian Xiaoke had spent all that time soaking in cold water. This delicate flower really couldn’t handle that kind of tossing.
He got out of bed to find his nose completely stuffed up and he couldn’t breathe through it at all. He rubbed it hard, then had no choice but to breathe through his mouth.
His whole body felt fuzzy and floaty. Stuffy nose aside, he was also running a bit of a fever—a textbook case of the common cold.
Though Qian Xiaoke didn’t always seem very sharp, he had lived on his own for long enough to have the basic life skills down.
He slowly shuffled off to wash up, then slowly shuffled off again to make himself a bowl of noodles.
Even just eating the noodles had him short of breath, and he felt incredibly pitiful.
After finishing the noodles, Qian Xiaoke rummaged through all the compartments of his suitcase until he finally found his last two cold medicine tablets. He casually snapped a photo and posted it to his Moments with the caption: Yay!
After posting that, he took the meds and headed off to work. Even though he was sick, he was still in an excellent mood—because the night before, he had had that delicious ginseng chicken soup.
Qian Xiaoke found that he was really easy to please; just give him something tasty to eat, and all his troubles vanished.
Well, he didn’t have that many troubles to begin with. The only thing bugging him these days was that little quirk of Jiang Tongyan’s.
Okay, fine—it wasn’t that little of a quirk.
Anyway, even though his physical condition wasn’t great, his spirits were high, and he still had a great time at work.
Cheng Sen saw him and asked, “So? How was that ginseng chicken soup?”
“Delicious, delicious, so delicious!” Qian Xiaoke had actually forgotten to thank Chairman Cheng last night. “Thank you, Chairman Cheng!”
After saying thank you, Qian Xiaoke suddenly remembered something and asked mysteriously, “Chairman Cheng, why did that guy ask you to order the food for him?”
That guy.
Cheng Sen laughed to himself, and thought if Jiang Tongyan knew he was calling him that guy, he would probably pass out from sheer frustration.
“He’s just shameless,” Cheng Sen said. “That guy’s abroad and didn’t know how to order delivery here, so he just told me: ginseng chicken soup, expensive, tasty—I took care of it.”
Expensive.
Tasty.
Qian Xiaoke felt a little embarrassed.
Seeing the bashful little smile bloom on Qian Xiaoke’s face, Cheng Sen couldn’t help but laugh to himself at the two of them.
He waved his hand. “Tell your guy not to make me order takeout in the middle of the night again. He should just download an app and learn how to use it.”
With that, he turned and walked away coolly, leaving Qian Xiaoke sitting there pondering over that phrase—your guy.
“He’s not my guy…” Qian Xiaoke mumbled but then sat down, grinning like an idiot.
He might’ve said he wasn’t his, but he was smiling brighter than anyone.
By the time Jiang Tongyan woke up, it was already nighttime over on Qian Xiaoke’s side. He had never been one to check Moments before, but ever since adding Qian Xiaoke on WeChat, he had gotten into the habit of taking a peek every morning and night just to see what kind of random nonsense the guy had posted.
And that was when Jiang Tongyan saw the cold medicine photo.
Wait—he caught a cold?!
Jiang Tongyan instantly snapped awake and messaged him right away: You caught a cold? What happened? Didn’t you have the ginseng chicken soup?
At that moment, Qian Xiaoke was squished in the subway, basically levitating from how packed it was. His phone buzzed, but he couldn’t check it. It wasn’t until he got off that he finally fished out his phone—by then, twenty minutes had passed since Jiang Tongyan’s message.
Qian Xiaoke: Yep, I caught a cold! Ginseng soup isn’t magic, okay? Don’t put so much pressure on yourself.
Jiang Tongyan rolled his eyes: Waste of money.
Qian Xiaoke chuckled and picked up a portion of cold noodles from a street vendor on his way home.
Because Qian Xiaoke was sick, Jiang Tongyan became increasingly restless, like Qian Xiaoke hadn’t just caught a cold but some kind of incurable disease. Jiang Tongyan was this close to booking a flight home on the spot.
Ah, love—how it could make a man completely lose his grip on logic.
That night, Qian Xiaoke suggested they have another ‘video interaction’ again. They had nearly succeeded the night before; maybe things would go more smoothly this time.
However, he was sternly rejected by Jiang Tongyan.
Jiang Tongyan snapped, “Qian Xiaoke, can you not make me worry so much?”
Qian Xiaoke blinked and was bewildered, “What did I do?”
Jiang Tongyan ordered him straight to bed. It was only 9 p.m., but he barked, “Sleep! You little pervert, quit thinking about that kind of stuff. You’re sick—rest properly and stop getting ideas!”
He sounded so righteously indignant that Qian Xiaoke was left speechless.
He kept yelling about going to sleep, but in the end, Jiang Tongyan couldn’t bring himself to hang up the video call.
He quickly placed an online order for a phone stand and had it express-delivered to Qian Xiaoke’s home. This way, Qian Xiaoke could free up his hands, and even if he fell asleep during their video calls, it wouldn’t be a problem anymore.
Jiang Tongyan found it all a bit surreal that he actually wanted to watch Qian Xiaoke sleep.
Had he lost his mind?
Whether it was love or witchcraft or just his brain short-circuiting, one thing was clear: in the days that followed, the two of them video-chatted almost every day. And every few days, they had ‘interact’ a little.
Jiang Tongyan’s mental state gradually improved. He wasn’t sure if it was thanks to Qian Xiaoke or because the therapy sessions he had been paying for were finally working. Either way, he could feel a dramatic shift for the better.
And it wasn’t just him—Qian Xiaoke was having a great time too.
From initial shyness to growing familiarity, the two of them seemed to fall into a natural rhythm. Throughout that whole autumn, they happily played the roles of each other’s ‘online hookup buddy’.
Of course, that was just Qian Xiaoke’s thought. Even though Jiang Tongyan treated him quite well, Qian Xiaoke wasn’t the type to daydream. There were many things he didn’t dare to hope for.
He might not dare to think about it, but Jiang Tongyan was thinking about it—he just hadn’t said anything yet.
Not because he didn’t want to, but because he was too embarrassed to bring it up and couldn’t find the right moment.
Still, he was enjoying the whole situation. Being clingy to Qian Xiaoke every day like this—wasn’t it basically the same as dating? He even found himself wondering if perhaps Qian Xiaoke had already assumed they were dating. In that case, Jiang Tongyan thought that there might not be a need for a formal confession at all.
Just skip straight to the proposal and call it a day.
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, Jiang Tongyan got embarrassed with himself. He scolded internally: What the hell are you thinking? Wake up, Jiang Tongyan! You’re not some man who’d get tied down by a little brat that easily!
He was supposed to be like the wind—free, unbound, untouched by emotional nonsense!
…And yet, that was all just talk. One moment, he was vowing to be a cool, untouchable lone wolf; the next, he was already daydreaming about when he could fly back to China.
Winter had officially arrived in New York, and his relationship with Qian Xiaoke had grown steadily—so steadily that it was practically an old married couple’s relationship.
Right now, Jiang Tongyan felt like he had things pretty well in hand. Aside from being just a tiny bit desperate to finally sleep with Qian Xiaoke properly, he felt their relationship was secure and was practically locked down.
So, on the day New York got its first snowfall, Jiang Tongyan was lounging in a cosy café, leisurely flipping through a newspaper and thought that in a couple of days, he could head back. However, he shouldn’t see Qian Xiaoke right away and he needed to keep him guessing, to spook him a little.
Lately, Jiang Tongyan had been studying The Thirty-Six Stratagems1The Thirty-Six Stratagems is a Chinese essay used to illustrate a series of stratagems used in politics, war, and civil interaction. Its focus on the use of cunning and deception both on the battlefield and in court have drawn comparisons to Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, and number sixteen was ‘Feign madness but keep your balance’—basically, the art of playing hard to get.
He had it all planned out. He would ghost Qian Xiaoke for a couple of days right after flying back. He would let the kid panic a bit, thinking he didn’t care anymore. Maybe—just maybe—Qian Xiaoke would end up crying and calling him ‘hubby’.
It was a beautiful plan.
Jiang Tongyan sipped his coffee with a satisfied grin, even picturing the scene of Qian Xiaoke clinging to him and sobbing.
So cute.
Ridiculously cute.
From the next table over, a young woman glanced sideways at him. This man was smiling in a way that could only be described as… suspicious. It was as if he was plotting something indecent.
But alas—plans were just plans. Jiang Tongyan himself had said before that Qian Xiaoke was his kryptonite.
And not just in terms of emotions. The guy could nuke any plan he had.
Just as Jiang Tongyan was getting smug about his ‘trap’, his phone buzzed with a message from Qian Xiaoke, all giddy with excitement.
Qian Xiaoke: Chairman Jiang! I have BIG news!!
Jiang Tongyan didn’t buy it. Ever since they met, Qian Xiaoke had sent him ‘big news’ announcements that included things like finding a 23-yuan shirt that was shockingly good quality, returning a lost wallet to its rightful owner, and successfully predicting rain and bringing an umbrella that morning.
Those were all the ‘big’ things he shared.
So it was no wonder Jiang Tongyan didn’t take this one seriously either.
Jiang Tongyan replied indifferently: What, someone proposed to you or something?
He was joking, of course. Who else would even dare to marry Qian Xiaoke?
But what Jiang Tongyan definitely didn’t expect was—
Qian Xiaoke: How did you know?! Did Zhou Mo already tell you?!
It was like a bolt of thunder in a clear sky.
Or was he hallucinating from heatstroke?
Wait… Could he even get heatstroke in winter?
Jiang Tongyan frowned and stared so hard at his phone he practically burned a hole in the screen. A barista passing by even asked politely, “Sir, would you like a pair of reading glasses?”
READING GLASS MY EYES.
Jiang Tongyan’s eyes were wide as saucers. He immediately hit the call button.
“Good morning!” Qian Xiaoke greeted brightly, then paused. “Oh wait—it’s night where you are.”
“Night your ass,” Jiang Tongyan snapped. “What’s going on? Who is it? Who’s the blind bastard that proposed to you?!”
“…Chairman Jiang,” Qian Xiaoke replied in a warning tone, half-asleep, “I suggest you watch your mouth.”
Jiang Tongyan knew he had been out of line. But he couldn’t help it—he was pissed. Really pissed.
Who the hell is this? So blind to dare try to steal my person!
Qian Xiaoke replied, “I don’t really know. I woke up just now and saw a message from Zhou Mo. He said one of his friends has a huge crush on me, like really bad, and asked if I wanted to meet him.”
Qian Xiaoke yawned. “I thought, well, I’m single, so I might as well get to know him.”
“Qian Xiaoke!” Jiang Tongyan gritted his teeth.
Qian Xiaoke chuckled. He sat up and pulled back the curtains.
“Ah, it’s snowing,” Qian Xiaoke murmured as he leaned on the windowsill. “But I turned him down.”
“Huh?” Jiang Tongyan was taken aback. “You turned him down?”
“Yeah,” Qian Xiaoke said. “I figured I would wait until you’re better. Right now, I’ve got you to take care of, and if I go after someone else, they might have issues with that. So, I turned him down.”
Qian Xiaoke smiled at the falling snow outside the window as he spoke. He sighed softly, “This year’s first snow is really heavy, huh?”
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