IMGH Chapter 59

Qiu Rui Loses Control

Jiang Yi walked into the living room carrying a fruit platter, vaguely sensing that the atmosphere was strange.

Chen Yuhe still sat on the sofa with her legs crossed, watching cartoons and laughing without a care in the world.

Qiu Rui sat with his expression as composed as usual, his gaze unfocused and drifting to nowhere in particular.

It was a peaceful and tranquil scene, yet Jiang Yi had a vague feeling that something was off, though he couldn’t pinpoint what the problem was. He shook his head, deciding he was probably overthinking it.

He set the fruit platter on the low table and invited Chen Yuhe to have some fruit.

Chen Yuhe stuffed pieces of fruit into her mouth while murmuring indistinctly, “This Bald Qiang is actually quite capable — a folk inventor! Don’t let his looks fool you, his skills aren’t bad at all!”

“When looking for a boyfriend, you should find someone like him — so thoughtful! Don’t you think so, Jiang Yi?”

Chen Yuhe flashed Jiang Yi a smile with an ambiguous meaning, and Jiang Yi instinctively felt that her smile was strange.

No matter how he looked at it, it unsettled him. Jiang Yi tugged at the corner of his mouth nervously as a response.

It wasn’t until the cartoon ended that Chen Yuhe said her goodbyes and left. Jiang Yi walked her to the door, and in the gap while waiting for the elevator, he asked with some unease, “Yuhe, what did you mean by what you said just now?”

“What did I say?” Chen Yuhe blinked her big eyes, her face full of confusion. “I said so much today — give me a hint!”

“Never mind!” Chen Yuhe was clearly playing dumb, but Jiang Yi didn’t call her out on it. He smiled calmly and changed the subject. “Are you really sure you don’t need me to walk you home?”

Chen Yuhe pursed her lips. “You have the willingness but not the heart — why bother with empty gestures!”

Jiang Yi rubbed his nose, feeling a little embarrassed. Chen Yuhe had guessed correctly — he had only been saying it for the sake of politeness, and if she had actually taken him up on it, he wouldn’t have been willing.

The two stood in silence, waiting for the elevator without a word.

But as it turned out, Chen Yuhe had only been playing games with him. She winked at him, stuck out her tongue, and darted into the elevator.

“Jiang Yi, see you tomorrow!”

Chen Yuhe’s lively figure disappeared behind the elevator doors, and Jiang Yi shook his head helplessly. He had actually been played by a little girl.

He returned home and sat on the sofa to type.

He felt his field of vision darken, and Jiang Yi looked up to find Qiu Rui standing not far from his side.

“Something the matter?” Jiang Yi closed his laptop and stretched his stiff body.

“Why do you like me?” Qiu Rui lowered his eyelids, his gaze not meeting Jiang Yi’s eyes, instead falling on the smooth wooden floor of the living room.

Jiang Yi narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, “What made you think to ask that?”

“Just asking. Forget it if you don’t want to answer.” Qiu Rui made to leave, but Jiang Yi’s voice rang out as he turned away. “There’s no why. I fell in love, and that was that.”

Qiu Rui was infuriated by the matter-of-fact tone in Jiang Yi’s voice. “Do you have any idea how much trouble your casual declaration of love causes me? Do you have any idea how difficult your so-called matter-of-factness makes things for me?”

Qiu Rui let out a cold laugh. “You don’t know anything at all! All you know is how to pester and harass people, all you do is talk nonsense! If it weren’t for this cursed formation, I would never have stayed with you in this lifetime! You bastard! You absolute bastard!”

Jiang Yi stared in astonishment at Qiu Rui, whose face had flushed red and who had completely lost control and was hurling curses.

This was a side of Qiu Rui he had never seen before. The cold aloofness and indifference of previous days were nowhere to be found.

Jiang Yi laughed softly. He knew — Qiu Rui’s heart had truly been thrown into turmoil because of him.

After a long outburst of cursing, Qiu Rui noticed that Jiang Yi had positioned himself entirely as a spectator, showing none of the guilt and unease that would have been appropriate.

And then, as if things weren’t bad enough, Jiang Yi even said, “Qiu Rui, what are you getting so worked up about?”

His tone carried a note of grievance that left Qiu Rui completely speechless.

Qiu Rui stared, his expression still frozen in indignation.

Right — what was he getting so worked up about?

Qiu Rui was puzzled by this himself. After a long moment of silent contemplation, he looked up and met the man’s teasing, somewhat smug gaze.

With a resentful glare, Qiu Rui turned away and drifted back to the bedroom, his face dark with anger.

The speed, the force of it — like a gust of wind sweeping up waves of cold air. In the wake of that icy draft, Jiang Yi smiled like a fox that had successfully stolen what it was after.

…

That night, Jiang Yi slept very well, wearing a faint smile even in his dreams.

Qiu Rui, by contrast, tossed and turned and couldn’t sleep. He seethed inwardly, furious at his own loss of control.

Qiu Rui abruptly sat up from the bed and stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, tilting his head back to gaze at the vast expanse of stars across the sky.

In the living room, Jiang Yi continued to sleep soundly and sweetly. Five meters separated them — not far, not near, yet it felt as though the distance between them was the ends of the earth.

The bright, full moon blended together with the distant neon lights in the distance, dazzling and brilliant, illuminating the quiet night sky.

Yet Qiu Rui had no heart at all to appreciate the night scenery. His mind was restless and agitated.

He couldn’t articulate what he felt toward Jiang Yi. He was annoyed by his relentless pestering, he resented his calm certainty, he was unsettled by his strange and captivating pull, he was thrown into chaos by his wholehearted devotion…

This man had given him a feeling unlike anything he had experienced before, yet the feeling was something he couldn’t grasp or define — or perhaps, deep down, he simply didn’t want to figure it out.

Jiang Yi is nothing more than a passing stranger in my life, Qiu Rui thought. This accident brought the two of us together by chance for a time, but once things were over, they would each return to their own paths — parallel lines, as they had always been, never intersecting again.

Qiu Rui felt this was for the best. He would not fall for Jiang Yi. He could not fall for Jiang Yi.

He had his mission. He had things he needed to do.

He would not allow anyone to influence him, to sway him.

Qiu Rui snapped his eyes open. There was no longer the slightest trace of confusion in them — replaced instead by an icy stillness and an imposing presence that made others shrink back in fear.