Epiphanies of Rebirth 42.2
Chapter 42.2
As soon as they left the crowd behind, Qi Qing rebuked Jiang Qiaqia, “Why did you start talking nonsense? Don’t you understand the gravity of our situation?!”
Jiang Qiaqia couldn’t understand why Lin Jingzhe suddenly took offense to what she said. “What nonsense did I say?” she asked, feeling wronged. “I was just trying to help you get close to him!”
Qi Qing thought back to the conversation, but he couldn’t figure out the reason either. Jiang Qiaqia’s words had hardly been disrespectful—they were just regular, run-of-the-mill flattery. Even if they had been not to his liking, it didn’t stand to reason for Lin Jingzhe to get so offended.
In the past, at this point, his anger would have already faded away—after all, Jiang Qiaqia’s aggrieved face used to always disarm him and make him abandon his principles. However, their close, affectionate relationship had long been worn down by the troubles and difficulties in Qunnan. In the end, Qiqing Real Estate failed to survive the trial by fire, and the two abandoned everything and fled Qunnan Province.
Deep inside, Qi Qing felt resentment towards Jiang Qiaqia. If it weren’t for her, he never would’ve had anything to do with that official who got exposed for corruption—not only had they gotten no benefits from him, but this supposed “backer” ended up pulling them down with him.
Therefore, he became more and more impatient with Jiang Qiaqia. The way Lin Jingzhe gave him the cold shoulder just now made him feel completely humiliated, and he took his anger out on his wife,: “Then you shouldn’t have been so dumb as to compare Lin Jingzhe to your brother! Who would’ve felt flattered being compared to that younger brother of yours!”
Jiang Qiaqia stared at him in shock. She couldn’t comprehend how the elegant, well-mannered, and charming man could become someone so mean and spiteful.
From Qunnan to Changqing, she always stayed by Qi Qing’s side despite suffering many hardships; she couldn’t even remember how long she hadn’t had a good rest. Although outwardly, she looked as gentle and agreeable as before, her patience was no less frayed than Qi Qing’s.
After Lin Runsheng stopped paying her child support, her finances abruptly became tight. Thousands of yuan a month, suddenly gone! Without this money, her quality of life deteriorated tremendously, forcing her to endure all kinds of discomforts and inconveniences. This wasn’t the life she had dreamed of!
Even Qi Qing became more and more unkind to her.
As such, Jiang Qiaqia, who ordinarily always knew when to push and when to retreat, couldn’t control her temper: “What exactly do you mean by this, Qi Qing? Are you looking down on my family?”
For years, she’d been trying to cut off all relations with her blood relatives for fear the Qi family would turn their noses up at her because of them. However, everything she had feared had finally happened despite her doing everything to avoid it! That her mother-in-law, the sanctimonious old hag, was always acting snidely towards her was one thing, but now this man who repeated over and over that he loved her was behaving this way towards her too?
She followed him to Changqing, enduring snubs and disdainful attitudes as they tried to revive their business, only to get this kind of treatment from him?!
The couple both harbored hidden resentment towards each other. As it often happened these days, they began to quarrel regardless of the original subject of their disagreement.
Wang Quan watched them from the distance, his expression a bit unsightly. Qi Qing and his families were distantly related; if it weren’t for this, he never would’ve let the man accompany him out several times to get acquainted with Changqing Province’s leaders. Since Qi Qing’s real estate company in Qunnan went bankrupt, in the spirit of looking out for relatives, Wang Quan had intended to help him start over. Taking advantage of Changqing’s development, Qi Qing and Jiang Qiaqia would be able to make a sure and steady comeback. From the looks of it, however, his little business in Changqing Province was not good enough for them, huh? They seemed to have got some big ambitions!
Inwardly angry and upset, Wang Quan said goodbye to Dai Gaofeng and the others and stepped inside the coach to apologize to Lin Jingzhe. “Please don’t take offense, Mr. Lin. I’m very sorry for those two. They came from the province and don’t understand the rules.”
A bit upset, Lin Jingzhe was staring outside the bus window. He turned his head to glance at Wang Quan and asked, “Do you have a smoke?”
Wang Quan hurriedly offered him one. Lin Jingzhe opened the window and took a puff, then patted the seat beside him, motioning for the older man to sit down.
Wang Quan’s cigarettes were an imported brand and had a strong flavor. In this life, Lin Jingzhe’s body was not used to smoking, and he felt light-headed for a moment. He exhaled and closed his eyes, the tension slowly draining out of him. Hanging an arm out the window, he relaxed in his seat, a smile again appearing on his face. “Why would I be offended? It’s fine. By the way, I’ve heard you’re in the manufacturing industry, Mr. Wang. What exactly do you produce?”
Lin Jingzhe leaned against the window, his profile a bit hazy behind the cigarette smoke. Wang Quan stared at him in a daze, stunned by the young man’s languid demeanor. A few seconds later, he came back to his senses and replied, “It’s actually quite miscellaneous. Around ten years ago, I mainly owned clothing factories. A few years ago, I switched to making electrical appliances, mostly TVs, movie projectors, and the like.”
Lin Jingzhe raised his eyebrows. If Wang Quan had been in the electrical appliances for the past ten years, his profits must’ve been staggering. At this point, that part of the domestic market was quite barren and offered almost limitless prospects; it seemed that in a few years, the other party’s current net worth of 1 billion yuan would double several times.
Lin Jingzhe couldn’t help but feel admiration for the man. In fact, he felt genuine respect for any capable person.
While he was thinking, his hand hanging out of the window was caught.
He turned his head to look down and faced Xiao Chi’s sharp, calm eyes. The other man took the cigarette out of Lin Jingzhe’s fingers, his actions and gaze silently expressing disapproval.
Lin Jingzhe’s eyebrows rose. He stared Xiao Chi in the eye and smiled provocatively, then glanced back at Wang Quan, who was somewhat confused by this scene. “Do you have another smoke?” he asked.
Without thinking, Wang Quan offered him the cigarette pack. Lin Jingzhe opened it, pulled out one, and lit it. He took a drag and blew a smoke ring at Xiao Chi, his lips curved into a half-smile.
Xiao Chi’s eyebrows wrinkled.
Wang Quan suddenly remembered Xiao Chi’s several quirks and habits that Mayor Cao told him about, including the fact that the young man especially hated the smell of cigarette smoke. He hesitated, at a loss about what to do. Earlier, he heard that Lin Jingzhe and Xiao Chi seemed to be at odds; this appeared to be true as Lin Jingzhe’s attitude was clearly unkind and Xiao Chi didn’t seem to be in a happy mood either. The problem was, he didn’t want to offend either of these two! What if Xiao Chi took his action of passing the cigarette pack to Lin Jingzhe as a deliberate provocation?
When Xiao Chi’s gaze left Lin Jingzhe and fell on him, his throat suddenly tightened. “Mr. Lin…” he called out weakly.
Lin Jingzhe turned to him with a smile. It was the same smile he faced Xiao Chi with, but somehow, Wang Quan felt it looked a little different. Holding a cigarette in his mouth, Lin Jingzhe shook hands with him, saying affably, “Thank you for the smoke, Mr. Wang, it tastes very good. I hope we’ll have an opportunity to cooperate some time in the future.”
“Certainly!” Wang Quan wiped the cold sweat off his forehead. Perplexed by the current strange atmosphere, he left Lin Jingzhe his business card and hurried away.
Qi Kai’s absence on the way back drew the alliance members’ attention to him, and they flocked together to gossip, occupying the front seats of the bus.
On the trip to Changqing, Dai Gaofeng arranged for Lin Jingzhe to sit in the first row, but this time, the youth chose to sit in the back. Xiao Chi immediately followed and sat next to him. With the strange atmosphere between these two, the back half of the bus pretty much became a no man’s land; no one, Dai Gaofeng included, was willing to risk getting caught in the crossfire just to watch the excitement up close.
Xiao Chi’s frown when he got in the coach had been too intimidating!
Lin Jingzhe opened the window and leaned towards it to enjoy the breeze, the lit cigarette that he’d barely smoked dangling between his fingers. The warm wind immediately rushed inside, whipping against his face. Xiao Chi took the cigarette from his hand and extinguished it in the small trash bin at the side of the seat, then reached out and closed the window.
With the last unwilling whistle, the roaring wind was shut outside again. Lin Jingzhe turned his head and looked at him quietly.
They stared at each other. They could hear the murmur of conversations, but it was coming from the front of the bus, and the nearest person sat three rows away from them.
The vestige of cigarette smoke lingered in their noses. Not knowing who moved first, they pulled together for a brief kiss.
When their lips parted, Xiao Chi tilted his head to whisper in Lin Jingzhe’s ear, “It smells awful and tastes bad.”
Lin Jingzhe gave him a sidelong glance—hypocritical much?
He lowered the backrest and half-laid down, narrowing his eyes in a faint smile. Despite professing to hate his smell, Xiao Chi immediately chased after him, leaning down to capture his lips in a kiss.
Even the disgusting smell of smoke couldn’t quench the fire burning in Xiao Chi’s chest. He put an arm around Lin Jingzhe’s waist, his hand sneaking into the youth’s clothes and roaming over his skin. Lin Jingzhe gasped softly. He reached out to hold down the misbehaving hand, giving an admonishing bite to the tongue ravaging his mouth. Confronted with the grievance in the other man’s eyes that even their usual sharpness couldn’t conceal, he hugged Xiao Chi’s neck, sliding his fingers into his hair. Because of the hair gel, they were not nearly as soft and fluffy as in the morning. “What do you think you’re doing?” he whispered warningly, his fingers gently rubbing Xiao Chi’s scalp.
Xiao Chi looked into his eyes, then his gaze fell lower, drawn to the moist lips. “Kissing you,” he murmured.
Lin Jingzhe sneered. “Doesn’t it taste bad?”
“It does.” When Xiao Chi leaned down, the clean woody scent of his body filled Lin Jingzhe’s nose. Just before touching Lin Jingzhe’s lips, he paused to whisper, “Don’t smoke again.”
Lin Jingzhe opened his lips, accepting him. In consideration of their surroundings, he tried to control the kiss to keep it relatively light. The tip of Xiao Chi’s nose was touching his cheek, and his hand was entangled in Lin Jingzhe’s hair, pushing it back and exposing his forehead. His tongue explored Lin Jingzhe’s mouth, clumsy and forceful, with the most instinctive and sincere enthusiasm. Lin Jingzhe liked Xiao Chi’s taste and smell, and the strength of his body. The palms kneading his waist radiated heat; it made him feel as if he was completely under the other man’s control, yielding and relying on him.
Those hands gradually became a little too unruly. Lin Jingzhe grabbed a handful of Xiao Chi’s hair and turned his head to avoid the man’s hungry mouth. “Hey!” he protested, panting, his eyes misty.
Xiao Chi shifted slightly lower, his eyes never leaving Lin Jingzhe’s. His Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed, he took his hand from under Lin Jingzhe’s shirt and eagerly explored downwards—
Lin Jingzhe’s tight muscles softened at once. He bounced up, half-rising from the reclined seat, then tried to curl up. He gripped Xiao Chi’s wrist, attempting to pull his hand away, but soon stopped resisting.
Xiao Chi kissed his cheek, his temple, and the tip of his nose, then his mouth found Lin Jingzhe’s lips.
Lin Jingzhe’s legs convulsed, and his hands clenched in Xiao Chi’s hair. Later, he simply buried his head against the other man’s neck, biting and nibbling on his skin.
When he got out of the coach, Lin Jingzhe’s legs were a little wobbly. Xiao Chi steadied him, then immediately returned to his usual indifferent appearance.
By the time they returned to Yan City, it was late enough that the sky was already dark. “You must be tired, you didn’t sleep well last night,” Dai Gaofeng said embarrassedly. “The arrangements we made were quite negligent this time. You should hurry back home and rest.”
Lin Jingzhe smiled and nodded in reply, and Dai Gaofeng’s gaze moved to the other party who shouldn’t have rested well last night. The lights in the parking lot, amplified by the coach’s lights, made the surroundings bright enough that he noticed something strange. “What’s that on your neck?” he asked, staring at Xiao Chi’s neck in bemusement.
Xiao Chi was passing the prayer beads that never left his person through his fingers, his calm and detached attitude no different from usual. “Huh?”
Dai Gaofeng felt even more ashamed. What was it with the arrangements for this trip?! As if the room blunder wasn’t enough, even the interior of the bus was so unsanitary that Xiao Chi’s neck was full of red and blue marks. “There may be bugs in the coach. Later, I’ll have someone disinfect it immediately,” he exclaimed.
Xiao Chi glanced at Lin Jingzhe. Lin Jingzhe calmly looked back—dare to blame him?
Deng Mai drove the car out of the parking lot, then got out and opened the door for Lin Jingzhe. “Big Bro, let’s go home.”
Lin Jingzhe nodded and shot Xiao Chi a meaningful look. Under Dai Gaofeng and Deng Mai’s puzzled gazes, the two walked a bit away to a more secluded place. With no one close enough to see, Xiao Chi touched Lin Jingzhe’s cheek. “My place?” he asked softly, his thumb caressing Lin Jingzhe’s lips.
It wasn’t that he didn’t have certain vague thoughts.
What the hell? Lin Jingzhe thought. “No,” he replied.
Xiao Chi stepped closer and put an arm around his waist, pressing their lower bodies together, and kissed him gently.
Lin Jingzhe swept his fingers across Xiao Chi’s Adam’s apple and chuckled, amused by the other man’s silent demonstration of unwillingness. “I’m going back.”
Xiao Chi’s hands slid lower and squeezed his buns.
Lin Jingzhe pinched his earlobe. “Let go.”
Instead, Xiao Chi tightened his arms around him, almost lifting him off the ground.
Lin Jingzhe couldn’t get free. Left with no choice, he reached down to a certain strategic place and squeezed hard.
Seized with sudden sharp pain, Xiao Chi immediately loosened his embrace and staggered back a few steps.
He raised his head, but before he could say anything, something moved in the distance—Dai Gaofeng was rushing over.
In the dim light, Dai Gaofeng only saw that the two got close, then suddenly separated. Naturally, he thought they had some sort of conflict and hurried over to stop it. “Xiao Chi! Mr. Lin!” he called out nervously as he approached.
Lin Jingzhe let out a cough and finally looked at Xiao Chi. Seeing that the man’s gaze was fixed on him, and the expression in his eyes was still the same as earlier, he decided to take his leave: “Let me excuse myself, then. I wish you a good night.”
“Goodnight, please be careful on the way back,” Dai Gaofeng replied politely. He watched the youth leave, then turned to Xiao Chi, casting him a reproving look. “You, really! Just because of a mistake with rooms!”
What did he mean? Xiao Chi was baffled. Almost all of his attention was focused on Lin Jingzhe’s disappearing back, however, so he only perfunctorily grunted in reply.
Ahhhh, it’s over! Now you have done it!
Had Dai Gaofeng known what kind of bad experience this trip would turn out to be, he would’ve never invited Lin Jingzhe. Now, there was actually enmity between these two!
On the way back, Lin Jingzhe leaned against the car window, lost in thought. The car radio played Deng Mai’s favorite new Cantonese song, which the future generations would be very familiar with. The husky voice of the female singer echoed in the car, seeming to whisper in your ear.
Deng Mai let out a long breath, loosening up. “The trip is finally over, Big Bro. Let’s not go back to Yan University tonight, okay? Let’s go home and have a good rest.”
Lin Jingzhe hummed an agreement. “Yeah.”
This trip widened Deng Mai’s horizons quite a lot, and he found many plots of land in Changqing City to be very promising. The current him was able to consider things more deeply and from more angles than in the past. He drove, humming softly to the song, until he glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Lin Jingzhe’s eyes were closed. Immediately, he reached for the volume knob and turned the radio down.
Asleep already?
Big Bro really worked hard, Deng Mai thought.
Lin Jingzhe’s eyes were closed, but he wasn’t asleep. Rather, he was thinking about what happened in the coach.
He couldn’t believe it really happened. It was like madness, as if the spark suddenly started a wildfire that set everything ablaze and was impossible to put out.
He had had a good time, but currently, what he had was a headache. What exactly was Xiao Chi and his relationship now?
What happened seemed to have been just an impulse, nothing more than a sudden physical urge. Having never experienced anything like this before, Lin Jingzhe couldn’t figure out how everything happened.
He raised a hand to massage the bridge of his nose, and his fingers accidentally touched his eyelid. The warmth left behind by Xiao Chi’s kiss seemed to still linger on it.
Were they in a romantic relationship? This didn’t seem to be the case.
At most, it could be described as two men helping each other solve physical needs… right?
Translator: Eques
Editor: Taalia
Eques:
I blushed translating this chapter… _(┐ 「ε:)_❤
Anyway, do you think this is explicit? I mean, should I add the NSFW warning? The descriptions are kinda vague but still.
lol, Xiao Chi would be hurt if he knew what you think of your guys’ relationship, Lin Jingzhe! 😂 // though, i do agree they’re not at the romantic stage yet, more like testing the waters still 😏
thank you for the great translation ^•^
Thank you for the chapter, it always makes my day 1000x better! This chapter though… me likey 😏
Also, I don’t think this is explicit enough to put a NSFW warning 😀
Oh MY GOD! This chapter was beautiful, really i love these two so much! Hahaha poor Xiao Xi is gonna get blue balls 😂
Thanks so much for the translation ❤️❤️❤️
The ambiguity in their relationship, the sexual tension, and the way that they interact. Damn. This kind of testing the waters and atmosphere is one I’ve kept searching for in other novels and fics but some just doesn’t feel right or don’t portray that feeling very well. And with that, I am grateful for the great translation.
I dont think it is explicit -no need for an nsfw warning XD Thank You for the new chapter <3
Well, you guys are at least attracted to each other, so we will just wait for the development >3
Thx for the food ( •̀ ᴗ •́ ) And I don’t think it needs a NSFW warning.
Love this chapter. Such cuties 🙂
Thank you so much! I love this story, and you’re translations are great.
I don’t think it was explicit , everything was very vague and left to the imagination.
Can’t wait for the next chapter
LOL are they even aware that ppl think they’re fighting?
They are horknee mfs lmao
At the very least it’s friends with benefits. Luckily both parties have somewhat similar personalities that don’t clash too much, so it wouldn’t take much to step over into a romantic relationship. Probably for the best that he hung the ML’s appetite today so they could both figure out what kind of relationship they wanted.
Just started their relationship yet already so daring.