Just as Xia Xixi finished refusing, someone came running from afar.
He looked up and saw Li Quyin, dressed in a dark-colored shirt, running towards him.
Li Quyin had a tall and slender build, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, the perfect model's physique.
These features, coupled with a face that could rival that of the great movie star Shen Bailou, made him exceptionally striking even with dust on his clothes and face. He exuded an overwhelmingly masculine charm that was hard to ignore.
Especially when his eyes were full of tenderness upon seeing him, it was easy for anyone to become captivated.
Xia Xixi lowered his head, avoiding his gaze.
"Why didn't you say anything before coming?" Li Quyin asked, slightly out of breath, as he stopped in front of Xia Xixi.
Xia Xixi had suddenly run over, scaring him.
If Xia Xixi had just barged in without calling him, then Shen Bailou’s secret would have been exposed by now...
Just thinking about that possibility gave Li Quyin a headache.
"Can't I come to see you?" Xia Xixi raised the food box in his hand. "I brought some snacks."
"Of course not," Li Quyin quickly explained, "It's just that there's a lot of dust here."
He had come to make a cameo in this action movie, and the final scene was a fight in an abandoned construction building.
Catching his breath, Li Quyin tugged at his collar. He was slightly sweaty from running.
As he spoke, he scrutinized Xia Xixi in front of him.
A fitted white shirt and black slim-fit trousers—this simple outfit looked exceptionally good on Xia Xixi, accentuating his clean and attractive appearance.
To use a cliché phrase, he exuded an otherworldly aura, untouched by the mundane.
Especially his collarbones, which were faintly visible at the neckline, making Li Quyin's mouth dry and his body heat up.
He averted his gaze, but his eyes uncontrollably drifted toward the collarbone.
"This way." Li Quyin led the way out of the construction site, avoiding the film crew.
Moments later, the two arrived at the ground floor of a vacant building next to the construction site.
The building seemed to be intended for use as a hotel; the lobby on the first floor was spacious, with stone platforms prepared for installing large glass walls in the corners.
The surrounding area was an industrial zone under construction. This building had been completed ahead of schedule but was not yet occupied, so there were no film crew members or passersby there.
Li Quyin looked around, making sure no one was around, and silently breathed a sigh of relief.
Xia Xixi didn't notice all this. He took out the coffee and pastries he had brought and placed them on the stone platform.
"Try it." After setting everything up, Xia Xixi looked at Li Quyin.
"Did you make all of this yourself?" Li Quyin immediately recognized that the pastries weren't store-bought because the box containing them was a household container, and the pastries didn't look like the ones commonly seen outside.
It was a box of thumb-sized, long, rectangular white pastries, each with a little red dot in the center, looking very cute.
"Yes, do you like sweets?" Xia Xixi asked softly.
He suddenly realized he hadn't asked Li Quyin if he liked sweets before bringing them.
This was Xia Xixi's first time interacting with someone like this, so he was inexperienced in many things.
The same went for the trip to the vacation villa; he should have mentioned it in advance to give Li Quyin time to prepare.
Reflecting on these things, Xia Xixi lowered his eyes slightly, reminding himself to be more mindful in the future.
"Yes, I like them very much," Li Quyin replied.
As he spoke, he took a small piece of pastry and put it in his mouth.
The next moment, a sweet and fragrant aroma hit his nose.
Li Quyin barely managed not to frown; he really didn't like things that were too sweet.
The fact that the famous actor Shen Bailou didn't like sweets was well-known, but now he was Li Quyin, not Shen Bailou.
"It's quite delicious," Li Quyin commented.
Despite the overwhelming sweetness, Li Quyin thought the pastry was indeed very good, especially knowing that Xia Xixi had made it himself and brought it over personally.
Xia Xixi seemed to be in a good mood; he smiled with his eyes curved, "There's also coffee."
He took out a cup, poured coffee into it, and then handed the coffee to Li Quyin.
Xia Xixi was already quite good-looking, and with the clean and clear look of a young man, his smile was like the warm sunshine in March, instantly lifting people's spirits.
Li Quyin was momentarily stunned by the sight and then snapped out of it.
Returning to his senses, he quickly took the coffee and had a sip.
Xia Xixi had put a lot of sugar and cream in the coffee, diluting the bitterness of the coffee.
“It’s really good.” Li Quyin's throat felt sweet from the coffee. “Do you like sweets a lot?”
Li Quyin was quite surprised because Xia Xixi looked like a child with a sweet tooth.
This made him inexplicably cute.
“Actually, I don’t like coffee, but my friends all drink coffee.” Xia Xixi seemed to defend himself, his cheeks flushed, and he looked a little uneasy.
Li Quyin laughed sincerely, “If you don’t like it, don’t drink it. Have something you like instead, like milk tea?”
“No way.” Xia Xixi refused, “My... colleagues, friends, they all drink coffee or tea. If I drink milk tea, it’ll be too childish, and they’ll definitely laugh at me.”
Thinking of his group of gray-haired friends, Xia Xixi felt a bit indignant.
Those old guys always took advantage of their seniority to call him a kid whenever they got the chance.
Clearly, he was already in his twenties and had a boyfriend.
“You already look like a kid.” Li Quyin smiled faintly, a cute kid.
“I’m not much younger than you.” Xia Xixi glanced at Li Quyin wistfully; they were about the same age.
Xia Xixi felt that it wasn’t that he looked like a child, but that Li Quyin was too mature.
Li Quyin gives off a very mature and steady impression. As long as he's around, people feel reassured.
Perhaps it was precisely because of this maturity and steadiness that he agreed to date Li Quyin, even though they hadn't met many times before.
But regardless of the past, the man now in front of him is his boyfriend.
Li Quyin smiled but said nothing.
He felt the warm atmosphere surrounding them and put another piece of cake into his mouth.
Whether it was psychological or not, he suddenly found these sweets, which he never liked before, to be delicious.
The more he ate, the hungrier he felt. The more he ate, the more he wanted to eat. The more he ate, the thirstier he became.
Ten minutes quickly passed. Seeing that Li Quyin had finished his coffee, Xia Xixi stood up.
"I'll be heading back now," Xia Xixi still remembered the foreman urging Li Quyin, and he didn't want Li Quyin to get scolded because of him.
"So soon?"
"You should get back to work. We can go out together in a couple of days," Xia Xixi reassured him.
Seeing Li Quyin's reluctance, Xia Xixi felt pretty good.
Maybe having a boyfriend wasn't so bad after all.
After a bit more chatting, Xia Xixi declined Li Quyin's offer to walk him out and left alone.
Leaving the construction site, Xia Xixi walked down a nearby alley and came to a black sedan.
The driver got out and opened the door. Xia Xixi smiled and got in the car.
"Brother Wu, let's go home."
"Young master is in a good mood?" The driver laughed along, as Xia Xixi's smile was very infectious.
"Yes." Xia Xixi thought about what had just happened, and indeed, he was in a good mood.
But as he kept smiling, Xia Xixi started to worry a little.
Li Quyin still didn't know that he was very wealthy.
Wealthy enough that if Li Quyin was willing, he could even support Li Quyin completely.
Xia Xixi had never thought about this before, so he had never mentioned it. Now, knowing about Li Quyin's situation, it had become somewhat difficult to bring up.
He didn't want Li Quyin to feel any resentment or inferiority because of this.
"By the way, young master, there was a call from home just now. They said someone wants to invite you to direct a movie..."
Xia Xixi's good mood instantly vanished, and his face quickly turned cold. "Is it Shen Bailou?"
This Shen Bailou was really like a lingering ghost.
And if he remembered correctly, he had just refused him.
"How did you know?" The driver was surprised.
"Someone just asked me about it." Xia Xixi paused, "Just tell them I'm not going."
Just hearing the name Shen Bailou was enough to disgust him, let alone going to help him.
"Yes, sir."
The car drove out of the alley, heading towards the Xia family residence.
Xia Xixi took out his phone to check the time. When he turned it on, he found quite a few unread messages and even several missed calls from unknown numbers.
He had been with Li Quyin the whole time and didn't check his phone.
Xia Xixi unlocked the screen and opened the messages.
Most of the messages were from that friend of his, saying that Shen Bailou offered a very high price.
The rest were from that unknown caller, who was someone from Shen Bailou's side wanting to discuss the movie.
Xia Xixi skimmed through the messages but didn't have the patience to read them all, so he blocked the number.
"Did you give them my number?" Xia Xixi asked his friend.
Everyone around him knew he didn't like Shen Bailou.
This dislike wasn't just because of Li Quyin; it had been there for years. Meeting Li Quyin only intensified it.
Thinking about what happened a few years ago, Xia Xixi's expression grew darker, and he became more determined not to help Shen Bailou, whom he considered a hypocrite.
"Your number? No, how could I just give your number to someone else? Even if I needed to, I would definitely ask you first."
Xia Xixi breathed a sigh of relief. He had always had a good eye for friends.
But if it wasn't his friend, then who was it?
While Xia Xixi was wondering, his phone rang again with a new unknown caller.
He didn't hesitate and decisively rejected the call.
Despite the rejection, the other side was persistent and soon sent a bunch of messages.
Xia Xixi glanced briefly at the beginning. The tone and wording on the other side were very official, and right at the start, they mentioned Shen Bailou's name as if they thought that as long as he saw Shen Bailou's name, he would surely agree immediately.
Without finishing the message, Xia Xixi blocked the number again.
He didn't know who leaked his number, and this kind of behavior made him angry. But what he hated even more were the people from Shen Bailou's side.
He had already clearly refused, yet the other side persisted relentlessly, which really made it impossible for him to have any good feelings.
As a result, he grew even more disgusted with Shen Bailou.
At the construction site.
After sending Xia Xixi off, Li Quyin returned to the crew with a box of pastries.
Standing in front of the crew again, the smile and gentleness on Li Quyin's face had disappeared, leaving only a thin layer of frost.
The others were not surprised; instead, they breathed a sigh of relief. After all, this was the normal Shen Bailou.
An assistant hurriedly came forward to help with what he was holding, but Li Quyin avoided and refused, carefully placing the items on the table himself.
After placing them down, Li Quyin glanced around at the people and, still uneasy, coldly instructed, "Watch them. Don't let anyone steal the food."
Hearing this, everyone was puzzled. Who would steal your food?
Besides, wasn't it said that Shen Bailou hated sweets?
Why did he suddenly come back mysteriously with a box of pastries? And from the look of it, it was obvious that someone had made them personally.
If this news got out, it would definitely be the top trending topic tomorrow.