Chapter 47 Falling in Love with You

Lin Yiwei pushed Xie Bo away, covering her left hand with her right hand as she walked out of the room to search for the medicine kit in the cabinet.

The two scraped cuts were nothing to make a fuss about, just oozing a bit of blood... which looked somewhat frightening.

Xie Bo followed her out, pulled out his phone, and dialed Yi Shiqi. Lin Yiwei reacted with lightning speed and snatched his phone away: "Just a minor scratch, no need to call that chatterbox over."

They had only met once, but Lin Yiwei already had severe psychological trauma from that chirpy fellow.

Xie Bo did not force the issue. He sat down beside her, watching as she carefully applied medicine to herself. Just as he was about to speak, Lin Yiwei interrupted him—

"You can either not ask, but once you ask, you have to back me up."

Xie Bo lowered his gaze to look at the few scratches on her hand. The wounds were indeed not deep; applying Yunnan Baiyao would allow scabs to form and heal within a couple of days.

Seeing him stay silent, Lin Yiwei said in a muffled voice: "Are you really not going to ask?"

"I was startled when it was bleeding just now, but looking at it now, it doesn't look very serious."

"Xie Bo, are you even human!"

He chuckled, seemingly enjoying the feeling of keeping her in suspense: "Do you need your boyfriend to back you up?"

"Will you?"

"Let's hear who did it first?"

"Chi Xiyu," Lin Yiwei said without hesitation. "Not certain, just guessing. I had a fight with her this morning, and quite a few people saw it. She was driven crazy with anger."

"If it's her, there's nothing I can do. I still have to humor her."

"......"

Lin Yiwei gave him a deep, scornful look. "I've never seen a man act so self-righteously scummy."

"If I weren't scummy, how could I help you find your brother?"

There had been a few times when she wanted to ask if he was truly willing to help with Lin Xie's matter, but she was afraid that asking too much would cause Xie Bo to develop a rebellious streak, so she didn't dare bring it up.

Now that he brought it up on his own initiative, Lin Yiwei instead felt a sense of relief.

Assured that he was willing to help, her tone immediately softened—

"Alright, alright, I won't call you scummy anymore. Xie Bo, we are grasshoppers on the same rope now; I won't make things difficult for you."

Xie Bo picked up a cotton ball, dipped it in iodophor, and wiped the wounds on her arm. The corners of his mouth twitched coldly: "So eager to please me, even though I wouldn't go back on my word."

"Hey hey! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!" She frantically tried to pull her hand back, but Xie Bo held her firmly in place, not letting her move. He dusted her with medicinal powder and wrapped her arm round and round with gauze bandages.

"Chi Xiyu didn't do it herself, did she?"

Since he couldn't touch the main culprit, he could at least sweep away all the small fry underneath in one go. "Tell me the specific details."

"I was on the night shift, and a few punks came to the store to make trouble, almost tearing the place apart. I thought to myself, this won't do—I was already planning to resign, and the store manager has been good to me, so I couldn't let them actually wreck the shop. I used a knife to scare them."

Lin Yiwei's emotions suddenly surged. "And it really did scare them! Once they saw blood, terrified of getting into big trouble, they greased their heels and ran away blindingly fast. They're all just paper tigers."

"......"

Xie Bo was driven utterly out of his mind with frustration by her. Seeing that she was still smiling, he reached out and pinched her cheek hard: "Lin Yiwei, I'm warning you—your person, your skin, and your flesh all belong to me now. If you ever dare to do something like this again..."

"Fine, fine, fine, I was wrong, okay? I'll never do it again." Lin Yiwei knew very well when to act endearing and when to back down. She grabbed his hand and mumbled, "It hurts, Master Bo, it hurts so much."

Xie Bo let go and even massaged her soft, tender cheek.

Once the medicine was applied, Lin Yiwei squatted in front of the cabinet and pulled out Xie Bo's unopened PSP game controller: "Xie Bo, can I play?"

"Why are you putting on false courtesies?"

Lin Yiwei giggled, turned on the television, and skillfully connected the gaming equipment.

Xie Bo cleaned up the bloody bandages and gauze, walked alone out to the balcony, and wanted to smoke, only to remember he had promised Lin Yiwei he would quit.

Watching the girl play games with one hand, her expression relaxed and carefree, occasionally a sweet dimpled smile breaking unbidden across the corners of her mouth.

Presumably, it wasn't because her hand stopped hurting, but because of his recent promise to help her rescue Lin Xie.

He didn't have much to be jealous of regarding sibling affection, but the fact that Lin Yiwei had gotten hurt left a suffocating ball of stifled anger trapped in Xie Bo's chest that he couldn't vent. He dialed Lu Du's number—

"Check if Yun Hui is the one who sent people to give my girlfriend trouble."

"Master Bo, I'm begging you..." On the other end of the line, Lu Du was nearly driven crazy upon hearing him say this. "You and Chi Xicheng have already fallen out to this extent; don't escalate it any further, will you? Do you really have to fight him to the death? If you mess with him again, how are you going to explain it to your dad?"

Xie Bo kicked over a potted small lemon sapling that Lin Yiwei had been raising.

It wasn't that he didn't know that pulling one hair would affect the whole body, nor was it that he had never endured before. For the past ten years, every single day Xie Bo had endured and bided his time...

But today, the one who suffered was not him; it was someone he cared about, and he had never cared this much about anyone before.

He had poured all the protective heartache he had accumulated over the years entirely into Lin Yiwei.

He couldn't endure it for even a single second.

Hearing the commotion, Lin Yiwei walked out holding the game controller. Seeing the leaves of her meticulously nurtured lemon sapling scattered all over the floor and the ceramic pot shattered as well, she couldn't help but frown.

Xie Bo thought she was going to get angry, and muttered, "Sorry, I'll buy you a new pot tomorrow."

With that, he hung up the phone and turned to leave.

Lin Yiwei saw through his intention and grabbed his sleeve: "Xie Bo, I'm really fine."

"Unsolicited sentimentality. Who cares whether you're fine or not?"

Xie Bo grabbed his jacket and strode out. As the elevator doors closed, he told her: "Sleep by yourself tonight. Don't go to school tomorrow, just stay at home obediently and wait for me to come back."

"Xie Bo!"

With a "ding," the elevator doors closed.

.........

After falling out completely with Chi Xiyu, Lin Yiwei stopped going to school altogether. Xie Bo wouldn't let her step outside the gates of Ramond Apartments, restricting her daily activities to the apartment complex grounds.

He didn't lock the apartment door, and he knew he didn't need to.

Now, this girl would obediently stay by his side until he rescued her brother.

If she was a person of her word and had promised to stay with him for a lifetime, then it would be a lifetime...

Lin Yiwei heard from Ye Anning over the phone that Chi Xicheng's West Club had been smashed up, Yun Hui had taken sick leave, and Chi Xicheng was dragging a body that hadn't fully recovered while hauling a bunch of people to DS Club to make trouble for Xie Bo.

"Is everything okay?" she asked hurriedly.

"Of course it's okay. Xie Bo called the police, Chi Xicheng had to swallow his anger and take the blow silently while getting chewed out by his own dad until he was cursing him out like a dog. Now he's so full of pent-up frustration that he's flown straight abroad on vacation to clear his head."

"That blockhead Chi Xicheng... is simply incapable of beating Xie Bo," Ye Anning said with a mocking laugh. "Xie Bo can quietly destroy him without getting a single speck of trouble on himself. Look at Chi Xicheng instead—he makes a fuss over the tiniest thing, wanting the whole world to know. Going up against Xie Bo, if he doesn't get ruined, who will?"

Lin Yiwei knew Xie Bo's methods and scheming nature.

"How is Chi Xiyu?" she asked again.

"You know, Chi Xiyu is something else too," Ye Anning said, a hint of sarcastic admiration in her tone. "With Chi Xicheng causing so much trouble, and you not coming to school either, anyone with half a brain knows what kind of relationship you and Xie Bo have. Everyone was waiting to watch Chi Xiyu throw a massive tantrum and make a scene with Xie Bo, pulling her rich-girl act! They wanted to see Xie Bo treat her coldly. But she's actually pretending not to know, still smiling sweetly whenever she sees Xie Bo, maintaining that kind of... ugh, I can't even describe what kind of relationship they have. It's not sweet, exactly. Polite? Or maybe like guests respecting each other..."

Ye Anning couldn't find any adjectives to describe the relationship between Xie Bo and Chi Xiyu.

This, Lin Yiwei could easily imagine.

Chi Xiyu was always like that. As long as it was something she didn't want to see or hear, she had the uncanny ability to pretend she couldn't see or hear it, only receiving messages that suited her own desires.

Sometimes, Lin Yiwei even thought with grim amusement that Chi Xiyu and Xie Bo were truly a match made in heaven.

One played innocent and naive, turning a blind eye to how many women he had outside while still playing the role of the sweet little wife upon returning home—wasn't this precisely the ideal post-marriage life Xie Bo wanted?

Lin Yiwei had not the slightest desire to disturb this match made in heaven.

She only wanted her brother back by her side.

.........

"Ding." The elevator doors opened, and Xie Bo returned, placing a rectangular object tightly wrapped in cardboard packaging in the entryway.

Lin Yiwei threw herself into his arms and held him tight.

It was the depths of winter, with a vast, boundless snowy night outside, but the girl's body was warm and fragrant, and the moment she threw herself into his embrace, it warmed Xie Bo's heart right through.

The girl cupped his face and took the initiative to part his lips, her warm, slippery tongue sliding inside, hooking and teasing him until the desires in his heart were almost too hard to suppress.

Xie Bo cupped the back of her head, forcing her up onto her tiptoes to bear the full force of his passion. Lin Yiwei leaped up, locking her legs around his waist, while Xie Bo scooped her up with one arm, the corners of his lips curving upward: "So proactive?"

"I haven't seen you in days, and you wouldn't let me go out. It's so boring at home," she complained with a hint of petulance.

"It's not that I wouldn't let you go out; I was afraid something would happen to you," Xie Bo explained with rare patience. "Everyone outside knows our relationship now."

"I told you not to go, but you went anyway. You made such a huge commotion that only a fool wouldn't know."

"Whose sake do you think I did it for?" Xie Bo set her down. "You were bullied—could I just swallow my pride?"

"When it all comes down to it, it was still for your own face."

"Ungrateful little wolf."

Lin Yiwei truly was an ungrateful little wolf; this wasn't the first time he had scolded her with that moniker.

"You can't expect me to stay locked up in your house until I go abroad, can you?"

"You can go out, but you have to let me accompany you. Don't worry, you won't be bored."

"Then when am I going to the UK?"

"After the new year begins, once they finish Christmas and have their spring break."

"Then when are you going to look into my brother's situation?" Lin Yiwei finally reached the core question. "When can I see him?"

"This matter is even more urgent than the last; you just have to trust me."

Lin Yiwei knew she couldn't be impatient either. The Chi family did not completely trust Xie Bo yet, so it was impossible for them to let him know where Lin Xie was hidden.

She trusted Xie Bo's character; he wouldn't make promises lightly, but once he gave his word, he wouldn't break it.

She walked to the entryway and looked at the package he had brought in: "Master Bo, what is this?"

"Lemons." Xie Bo unwrapped the package, revealing the lemon sapling inside. "I ruined yours earlier."

After doing all those things these past few days, he actually still remembered her little lemon tree.

Lin Yiwei pouted and said: "The previous one only had a broken pot; I had already replanted it long ago. You made a fuss and bought another one for nothing."

"Having an extra one doesn't matter."

"Right, right, it doesn't matter. You're the one who'll have to take care of it when I'm gone anyway! Remember that lemons like water and light—give it plenty of sunshine and water!"

"......"

Xie Bo put his hands on his hips and watched as she moved this lemon sapling out to the balcony, placing it side by side with the previous one: "I bought this for you—aren't you going to take it with you?"

"Are you kidding me? Am I going to take two lemon trees with me to the UK?"

"I can have someone carry them for you."

"Xie Bo, if you buy something yourself, you take care of it." Lin Yiwei looked at his south-facing balcony. "Your place gets such great sunlight; if I take them over there, they might suffer from the change in climate and environment, and it would be tragic if they died."

"I'm not raising them, I don't have time. Let them fend for themselves." With that, he turned and walked back into the living room.

"When I come back, if my tree is dead, you're dead meat too!" Lin Yiwei chased after him to issue a fierce threat, but Xie Bo didn't pamper her either—he scooped her up horizontally in his arms and strode toward the bedroom.

Knowing what he wanted to do, Lin Yiwei pushed against his chest and protested: "I haven't taken a shower yet!"

"Perfect, we'll wash together."

.........

The shower room was wreathed in steam. Lin Yiwei's flushed face was pressed against the mist-covered glass, and through the glass, the blurry, entangled figures of the two of them could be seen reflected in the mirror opposite.

Xie Bo kissed her back, noticing that she was looking at the mirror and studying their reflection.

A smile touched the corners of his mouth as he hauled her up so that her upper body was pressed flat against the glass, molding her into a seductive shape.

As he kissed her fair, slender neck, Lin Yiwei looked back at him with hazy eyes.

As he pressed his onslaught to the limit, she turned her head and, with a broken, trembling voice, told him: "Xie Bo, I love you."

She could clearly feel his breathing grow heavy; he looked as though he wanted to swallow her whole and seal her inside his own body.

"I love you..." She seemed to have found the switch that ignited him completely. "Xie Bo, I love you."

The man grabbed her fiercely.

Hot water cascaded down the backs of her feet, dripping steadily. He pressed against her back, his hands gently stroking the areas where he had just exerted his strength, kissing her earlobes: "Me too, Yi. I love you too, and I mean it."

Whether she meant it or not, he did.

.........

Xie Bo cleaned her up, carried her to the bed, wrapped his arms around her from behind, and buried his head in the crook of her neck.

Alternately kissing her and breathing in her scent, he shared his warm breath with her in silence.

He knew that after it was over, she needed this kind of tenderness, so no matter how tired he was, he would never instantly fall fast asleep and leave her alone to slowly regain her composure amidst extreme exhaustion.

"Xie Bo, in a few days I want to go to Chi Xiyu's Christmas art exhibition." She opened her wide, damp eyes, looking at him through the night with a pitiful expression. "Can you take me?"

"......"

"You're giving me another difficult problem."

Taking her to Chi Xiyu's New Year exhibition—that move... was simply too provocative.

At least during this period, no matter how he messed with Chi Xicheng, he had treated Chi Xiyu just as he always had, without any moves that would completely tear down the facade.

"It's fine, Xie Bo. I don't need you to take me, but I need an invitation." Lin Yiwei sat up and said to him solemnly, "I need to make sure my brother is... still safe."

Those paintings were her only medium to get close to Lin Xie. At least before she went abroad, she had to ensure Lin Xie was doing well.

Xie Bo thought for a moment, then spoke with a tone that suggested he had surrendered to her, saying with annoyed resignation: "When Chi Xiyu isn't around, call Ye Anning to go with you. I'll get two invitations for you. Just disguise yourselves and don't draw too much attention; I'll have the clothes prepared for you."

Lin Yiwei sat cross-legged beside him, lowering her head to look at him.

"What are you looking at?" He rested his hands behind his head and narrowed his eyes.

"Xie Bo, I can tell you've fallen in love with me."

Xie Bo pulled the quilt over her head, flipped over to pin her beneath him, and scoffed lightly through his nose: "I've certainly fallen in love *with* you."

He placed heavy emphasis on the word "in love with."

Lin Yiwei thrashed around playfully with him under the blanket for a moment before wrapping her arms around his neck: "I have my own principles—a drop of kindness received should be repaid with a gushing spring. Xie Bo, if you treat me well, I'll treat you well too."

At that moment, she meant it too.