HIM Chapter 25: They Will Really Like You.
The moment those words were spoken, He Xizhou, who had just arrived, stopped in his tracks.
Bo Qin looked up at him and asked, “Finished?”
He Xizhou responded with a quiet “Mm” and glanced at Xiao Chen, who was crouching on the ground. He didn’t ask anything. Instead, he walked over, picked up Bo Qin’s slippers, placed himself between Bo Qin and Xiao Chen, and set the slippers beside Bo Qin’s feet. “Ready to go?”
Although He Xizhou’s tone was casual, Bo Qin could tell he was holding back laughter. Bo Qin placed a hand on He Xizhou’s shoulder to steady himself as he put on the slippers. Sure enough, when he looked up, he saw a smirk on He Xizhou’s lips. Rolling his eyes, Bo Qin handed the flowers to He Xizhou, flung his jacket over his shoulder, and said, “Let’s go. I’m starving.”
He Xizhou gave another glance at the crouching Xiao Chen. Bo Qin understood what he meant. “I know my limits,” he said. “At most, it just hurts a bit.”
He Xizhou raised an eyebrow. That wasn’t what he was worried about. The two sons of the Xiao family—one had inherited the family business and had some professional ties with He Xizhou, while the younger was a notorious playboy. He Xizhou had heard of him, given how infamous he was.
He had always assumed Bo Qin had dated Xiao Chen before, but from today’s scene, it clearly wasn’t that simple.
Clutching his stomach, Xiao Chen looked up at He Xizhou and asked, “Who is he?”
The melodramatic tone gave Bo Qin goosebumps. He immediately dragged He Xizhou away. “Ignore him.”
Xiao Chen stood up, still holding the bouquet. “He’s your boyfriend, isn’t he?”
He Xizhou chuckled. Bo Qin rolled his eyes and said, “No. He’s my fiancé.”
Xiao Chen’s face turned completely dark. “I know who he is—He Xizhou, CEO of the He Group. You’re really getting married?”
This kind of soap-opera dialogue was giving Bo Qin indigestion. He stopped He Xizhou from speaking and said, “If you claim not to know him, then He Xizhou might as well be a nobody.”
Xiao Chen, eyes reddened, stared at Bo Qin. “So you’re really getting married?”
“Engaged. Haven’t registered yet. We’ll pick a lucky date soon.” Bo Qin added, “Who I marry is none of your business. Don’t make it sound like we ever had a thing.”
His voice was calm. “Let’s be clear. I used to treat you like a brother, like a friend. I was blind about people, I admit that. But our relationship is over and can’t be fixed.”
Bo Qin continued, “There’s no going back. Not now, not ever. You stomped on my bottom line and showed off doing it. You think just because time passes, my boundaries disappear?”
“This isn’t some childish game.”
Inside the car, soft music played. The air was filled with a familiar, cool fragrance. He Xizhou started the engine and glanced at Bo Qin. His expression revealed little, but his emotions seemed steady.
“I’m fine,” Bo Qin said. “Where’s Assistant Xu?”
“He’s handling something,” He Xizhou said as he turned the wheel. “Don’t worry about today.”
“Worry about what?” Bo Qin glanced at the backseat full of gift boxes he had prepared for He Xizhou’s family. Turning back, he asked, “Do you think your family will like what I picked?”
“They will. They don’t really need anything. It’s the thought that counts.”
“True.” Bo Qin leaned against the window and yawned. He Xizhou laughed. “Tired again?”
“A little,” Bo Qin replied. “When you told me not to worry earlier, I really didn’t.”
“You had the guts to come pick me up in the open. You must’ve done a good job keeping it under wraps.” He gave He Xizhou a look. “Aren’t you curious about what happened between me and Xiao Chen?”
He Xizhou rested one hand on the wheel and the other propping his head. “Curious, sure. But you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to—it’s just not that big a deal.” Bo Qin sat up straight. “I wanna sit cross-legged.”
He Xizhou chuckled. “Bo Qin, you don’t need my permission for that.”
“Well, it’s your car.” Bo Qin kicked off his slippers and sat cross-legged in the passenger seat. “Everyone thinks Xiao Chen and I dated—or that he was my sugar daddy.”
He Xizhou said, “I’ve heard those rumors, but I never believed them.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Bo Qin said. “I met Xiao Chen when I was around seventeen or eighteen.”
It wasn’t some dramatic story. At seventeen, Bo Qin signed as a trainee with Tiancheng Entertainment. It was when China’s idol industry was just starting. Training was dull and grueling, and the system was closed off. Bo Qin trained there for three years.
Back then, he was rebellious, clashed with everyone, and got fined a lot for causing trouble—especially since trainees didn’t get paid.
“Tiancheng Entertainment is owned by the Xiao family, so yeah—very cliché. One day I got into a scuffle with their second young master who was sneaking around incognito.”
Bo Qin took a sip of water. “Xiao Chen and I got along because of our temperaments. I didn’t have many friends. He used to visit Tiancheng often. I thought he was a rich trainee. He didn’t correct me, and we became close friends.”
He paused. “Like, really good friends.”
“But we didn’t fall out because of his hidden identity. That wasn’t a big deal to me. The real issue was how differently we were raised. Our values clashed constantly. Back then, we were young—fights and arguments were easy to patch up. Things truly changed the day I accidentally walked in on him and another trainee from my class… in the bathroom.”
“They were really doing it. All the way.”
He Xizhou glanced in the rearview mirror. “...Are you actually homophobic?”
Bo Qin replied, “...Not really? I just wasn’t exposed to any of that. Didn’t expect the upper crust to be so wild. It was a lot.”
“But honestly, that alone wouldn’t have ended our friendship. I respect people’s orientations.”
The car went quiet. Bo Qin didn’t speak for a long time, and He Xizhou didn’t push. He kept him company in the silence.
“You know Jiang Rong?” Bo Qin suddenly asked. “I look a lot like him.”
He Xizhou: “You’re way better looking.”
Bo Qin chuckled. “Thanks. Now comes the dramatic climax. Super cheesy. Want to guess?”
He Xizhou hit the nail on the head: “He used you as Jiang Rong’s substitute.”
“Exactly. There’s this iconic line—‘I treated you like a brother, but you wanted to sleep with me.’”
“Can you imagine? I hadn’t even figured out what love was, and I got dragged into this drama.”
Bo Qin laughed bitterly. “After I debuted and our group was doing well, Jiang Rong returned to China. I already sensed something was off with Xiao Chen by then and started distancing myself. But it became a power struggle between the two of them, and I was caught in the middle. Jiang Rong blocked my resources; Xiao Chen kept shoving them at me. For every one I refused, Jiang Rong hit back harder. My career had just begun, and they nearly crushed it.”
“They’re nuts.” Bo Qin was now wide awake. “The rest’s simple. With my family’s help, I paid the huge penalty fee to break my contract with Tiancheng and went solo.”
But He Xizhou could tell it wasn’t that simple. He could sense there was a deeper pain behind it, something worse than what Xiao Chen and Jiang Rong caused—something that made Bo Qin choose to leave it all behind. But he didn’t ask. He changed the subject with a light tone: “So you agreed to the arranged marriage to repay the Bo family’s help?”
“What else?” Bo Qin looked at him and smiled. “You think Bo Youzhao would marry you himself?”
He Xizhou chuckled, looked at him, and said, “No thanks. I like your type.”
Bo Qin’s heart skipped a beat. He called out, “He Xizhou.”
“What is it?” He Xizhou asked.
Bo Qin didn’t reply. He didn’t know how. Anything he said would make him sound presumptuous. He Xizhou was too good at playing this game. If he really wanted to toy with someone, Bo Qin knew he wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Don’t worry,” He Xizhou said gently. “You are my type, but only in theory.”
Bo Qin smiled and wisely said nothing more.
When the car pulled into the garage, Bo Qin rushed to grab the gift boxes from the backseat. He Xizhou stood beside him, helping. After taking the last box, Bo Qin looked troubled at the large bouquet of blue enchantress roses.
Blue roses are tricky—they can easily look tacky if not wrapped well. But He Xizhou had impeccable taste. This bouquet was stunning, elegant to the point of breathtaking.
“What’s wrong?” He Xizhou asked.
Kneeling on the back seat, Bo Qin turned and said, “I want to keep this bouquet.”
He Xizhou smiled. “Then leave it. When we get back to Fengjiang, put it on the second floor. Once it dries, you can turn the petals into bookmarks.”
Bo Qin gave him a thumbs up. “Such a bookworm.”
As Bo Qin exited, He Xizhou placed his hand lightly on the car frame above his head. Bo Qin said, “No need to be so careful. I’m a grown man—I can take it.”
He Xizhou just smiled in response.
Bo Qin was probably nervous. He kept talking, even saying nonsense. He Xizhou patiently answered everything. Scanning his iris, Bo Qin asked, “Do you like flowers?”
“Not exactly. It’s more that I like the sentiment behind them. My fans love giving me flowers.” Bo Qin added, “I even have a whole room on the second floor of my studio just for flowers and fan gifts.”
He pressed the elevator button. “During concert season, there were so many flowers it looked like a flower shop.” He smiled at He Xizhou. “I’ll take you to see it sometime.”
He Xizhou: “To see the flowers or the concert?”
Bo Qin: “Both. But my concert just ended. Next one won’t be till at least next year.”
As they reached the third floor, Bo Qin suddenly stammered. He closed his eyes briefly and said, “Don’t laugh at me, okay? I’m nervous.”
“I won’t,” He Xizhou placed a hand on Bo Qin’s shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “They’ll really like you.”
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