Let Me Be Spoiled - Chapter 40

It was three o’clock in the morning. The moon was full, hanging high in the sky. There wasn’t a soul in sight, and even cars were rare. The silence was absolute.

Fu Qing paused for a moment before asking softly, “Xiao Xie asked what kind of gift would make me happy?”

To Fu Qing, there were very few things in this world that he couldn’t obtain and in contrast, his material desires were extremely low.

Even so, he still had wishes that were just out of reach.

Like right now—Fu Qing paused, then added another sentence.

“I just want Xiao Xie. Can Xiao Xie give himself to me?”

His voice was softer than the wind brushing against the treetops.

Xie Yan, standing in front of Fu Qing, only vaguely caught a few words.

He tilted his head slightly, about to ask, when Fu Qing let out a soft laugh and said, “Hasn’t Xiao Xie always wanted to help me pay the bill? That’s a great gift. I really like it.”

Xie Yan looked skeptical. He wasn’t someone easily fooled. “Didn’t you refuse last time, Fu Ge?”

Fu Qing explained, “Last time you’d only just gotten one job—one that paid a hundred thousand, and it was unstable. How could I accept that? But now it’s different. Xiao Xie signed with a new company, has a new job, acted in a new drama—things will definitely go well from now on.”

His features softened, amber eyes glowing with warmth. “Now that you’ve paid the bill, that means Xiao Xie will be the one earning money to support me from now on.”

Xie Yan nodded. “Alright, from now on, I’ll be the one supporting Fu Ge.”

He didn’t say how long he’d do it. He just felt that it was something worth doing for a lifetime.

The car was parked a little distance away. After getting in and fastening his seatbelt, Xie Yan suddenly asked, “What was the first thing you said, Fu Ge? I didn’t catch it.”

Fu Qing turned to look out the window, his tone calm. “I asked if Xiao Xie could give himself to me. That’s the only gift I want.”

Xie Yan had been shivering slightly from the night wind, but that one sentence made him burn all over. Even the back of his neck broke into a light sweat.

Fu Qing didn’t seem to notice anything unusual and continued casually, “But since Xiao Xie asked me so seriously, I shouldn’t have joked like that.”

So it was a joke?

Xie Yan let out a slow breath and pressed his lips together.

Just thinking about the words—“Can Xiao Xie give himself to me?”—whether real or a joke, just as a hypothetical “gift,” was enough to make Xie Yan’s heart race.

He thought, this summer came too fast, and far too suddenly.

It made his heart burn, his breathing quicken, his body heat up, and his mind race with wild, uncontrollable thoughts.

Facing the cold wind, Xie Yan wondered when it would all come to an end.

Fu Qing dropped Xie Yan off at his rented apartment first. By the time he got back to the old street, it was nearly six o’clock, and he had to be at the company by eight.

He lay down for a bit, but the image of Xie Yan from the night before kept replaying in his mind—he was just too adorable. So adorable that Fu Qing couldn’t fall asleep. In the end, he got up to make breakfast.

Grandpa Fu, on the other hand, had been getting up at six sharp every day for the past thirty years. Hearing noise outside, he walked into the kitchen and asked, “You went to pick up Xiao Xie last night—what time did you get back?”

Fu Qing was rinsing rice. He turned the tap down a bit so he could hear clearly and said, “He had a late shoot. I got back a little after five. Just making breakfast before heading out.”

Grandpa Fu scolded him, “You’re thirty-two now and still think you’re twenty-three? Staying up all night?”

Fu Qing chuckled. “Couldn’t sleep. By the way, Grandpa, did you give that jade pendant to Xiao Xie?”

Grandpa Fu responded confidently, “It’s mine. Why shouldn’t I give it to my granddaughter-in-law?”

Fu Qing shook his head. “The kid doesn’t even know what’s going on, and you’re already forcing gifts on him?”

The two jade pendants had come from Grandma Fu’s dowry. Originally, they were part of a single raw jade stone, high in clarity and color. When she was young, it wasn’t the right time to wear them. Before she passed away, while Mother Fu’s was pregnant with Fu Qing, she said the jade should go to the child in her belly—regardless of gender—and asked Grandpa Fu to have it carved into a pair by a master craftsman, so that one could be given to the child’s future partner. It was meant to be passed down.

Fu Qing looked at the jade pendant hanging on his chest and couldn’t hold back from telling Grandpa Fu, “Last night, Xiao Xie said he wanted to give me a gift.”

Grandpa Fu replied, “And what are you bragging to this old man for?”

Fu Qing thought of the way Xie Yan had looked then—so sweet, so adorable. “He said he wants to take care of me.”

He didn’t say anything more, didn’t share any more details.

Grandpa Fu snorted. “You’re really living in reverse now. You want that kid to take care of you?”

Still, he did like Xie Yan. He was obedient, cute, and lovable.

A moment later, Grandpa Fu suddenly sighed, as if letting go of a long-held burden. “A-Qing, let me be honest with you. Before I met Xiao Xie, sometimes I really thought you said you liked men just to avoid getting married and avoid having kids.”

When Fu Qing was sixteen, he once entered a physics competition and won a national first prize, which meant he could go straight to Nanshan University, thousands of miles away. He had always done well in school, but his father, Fu Lun, had never planned on letting him go to college—he had said early on that once Fu Qing reached his senior year, he would go help out at the factory.

When the teacher called home to congratulate them on Fu Qing’s admission, Fu Lun found out for the first time.

He refused to let Fu Qing leave the old street for school.

Fu Lun had a violent temper and a heavy hand—he nearly broke Fu Qing’s right hand, threatening that he would never be able to hold a pen again in this lifetime.

He had demanded of Fu Qing, “You’ve lived all these years and learned nothing? Just thinking about running off and enjoying yourself—what about the people on Old Street? You don’t care if they live or die?”

Fu Qing knelt for three days. In the end, he stayed and told his teacher to turn down the guaranteed admission.

It wasn’t surrender—it was understanding.

At that time, the factory was already doing poorly. People were anxious and scared, all wondering whether the factory could survive. If Old Street collapsed, no one would have food to eat.

Fu Qing’s last name was Fu. Anyone else could leave Old Street—but he couldn’t. Even just the thought of leaving to see the world wasn’t allowed.

But he told Fu Lun, “I’ll be the last.”

Back then, Grandpa Fu thought Fu Qing was just being stubborn, trying to spite Fu Lun. It wasn’t until Fu Qing took on the burden of supporting Old Street that Grandpa Fu finally understood—that wasn’t it at all.

What Fu Qing meant was, if this responsibility had to be borne by someone, then he would be the one because he already lived here. There wouldn’t be a next person.

Later, when Fu Qing came out and said he didn’t like women, Grandpa Fu couldn’t even tell if it was true or not but he didn’t dare try to talk him out of it.

Until that rainy night, when Fu Qing brought Xie Yan home. Grandpa Fu couldn’t see, but he could hear the tone in Fu Qing’s voice. It was a gentleness and affection he had never heard before, something carefully hidden yet unmistakably real.

That’s when he knew—Fu Qing’s fate had arrived.

Grandpa Fu rarely brought up the past anymore. He knew Old Street truly owed Fu Qing. If not for that burden, Fu Qing wouldn’t have had to live so bitterly and harshly from such a young age.

Other teenagers at seventeen or eighteen were troubled by nothing more than whether the girl they liked liked them back. But Fu Qing was already putting his life on the line to fight for a future for the whole street.

That was why he grew more silent, more withdrawn, and more reserved. He asked for nothing.

Grandpa Fu couldn’t help but say, “All these years—you’ve had it hard.”

Fu Qing poured the rinsed rice into the pot, gave a small smile, and replied casually, “It’s nothing. It’s what I should do.”

Now things were different, Grandpa Fu thought. Xie Yan was what he wanted now.