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Chapter 82




Chapter 82
He Zhou didn't sleep at all the night before, so he was out like a light until 3:00 pm the next day. He would’ve slept even longer if the phone hadn’t started ringing.
He Zhou fumbled around for a while until he realized there was no one beside him in the bed. Only then did he sleepily pick up the phone.
Ever since he came to this world, Qiu Yanzhi was the only one who would call him.
He Zhou subconsciously murmured into the phone, "Qiu Yanzhi, where have you been?"
He Zhou's head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. He thought he was still in Qiu Yanzhi’s apartment, so his tone was tinged with a hint of grievance after not being able to find him when he woke up. That, along with the huskiness from just having woken up, made him sound almost flirtatious.
The other person was silent for a beat. Then a girl’s trembling voice came from the speaker, “…Big brother?”
He Zhou was silent for three seconds. While maintaining the exact same posture as before, he opened his eyes.
En. This was Qin He’s home.
He looked down at the clothes he was wearing.
En. This was Qin He’s body.
Then, he looked at the caller ID on the phone screen.
En. This was Qin He’s little sister.
He Zhou took five seconds to calmly think things over. Then he cooly hung up.
He was still in Qin He’s body after sleeping.
And he had just taken Qin He’s little sister’s call and called out for Qiu Yanzhi.
Thanks to the detailed information he gleaned from Qin He’s phone records as well as the basic research he did on Qin He’s family before, He Zhou had a general idea of who ‘Little Sister He Xiaoqing’ from the phone records was.
Qin He’s father was surnamed Qin and his mother was surnamed He.
His mother came from a distinguished family. She was the only daughter of He Pingfeng, the founder of the Shengyuan Group, but she eloped with a poor boy.
It was lucky that the two of them were in their prime. After Qin He was born, their life couldn’t be described as luxurious, but it was cozy and filled with happiness.
Unfortunately, the couple both passed away during a car accident. After that, Qin He was taken back to the He family and renamed He Zhou.
He Xiaoqing, on the other hand, is the granddaughter that He Pingfeng adopted after Qin He came to stay with the He family.
Everyone had an opinion on why he had done this: He Pingfeng had spent more than ten years alone after his daughter left, but now he adopted a little girl after taking in his grandson? Of course people would talk.
However, Qin He seemed to all but disappear three or four years ago. It was actually He Xiaoqing who was frequently in the public eye due to her bright and bubbly personality. This caused many people to publish lengthy discussions on the internal feuds of the rich, as well as detailed analyses of the likelihood of He Xiaoqing usurping the He family inheritance.
But at the end of the day, He Zhou didn’t care one bit if He Xiaoqing wanted to fight over the He family fortune or not. He was just worried about what kind of trouble his slip up would land Qiu Yanzhi in.
Before He Zhou could think more about whether to explain what just happened to He Xiaoqing, she called him again.
There was barely contained excitement in her voice: “Brother!! I remember now!! Isn’t Qiu Yanzhi that Xia Yuan?! So you finally successfully pursued your first love?!! That’s not bad! Sigh. Ge, how come you’re such so smooth now?! Are you finally making an attempt after chickening out for so many years?! It seems like you’re living together from what I just heard!! Brother! You’re way too much of a badass!!!! Why didn’t you tell me, ah! I want to see my sister-in-law in person!! Lemme see, lemme see, lemme see!!”
He Zhou: "……"
Was this the scheming, malicious and sinister He Xiaoqing fighting tooth and nail with Qin He over the He family inheritance according to the media?!
He Zhou shot her down coldly. “You don’t have a sister-in-law. I’m not close in any way with Qiu Yanzhi.”
He Xiaoqing: "But I clearly heard…"
"That was me talking in my sleep.” He Zhou cut her off immediately. “Some people you can only meet in your dreams. No, not even in your dreams later on.”
He Xiaoqing was taken back for a second. She quietly said, “…You…you can still try, right? Maybe he still has feelings for you.”
He Zhou cruelly shattered He Xiaoqing's delusions. "Qiu Yanzhi already has a boyfriend."
He coughed before shamelessly elaborating, “Qiu Yanzhi's boyfriend is excellent in every way. Even ten of me can’t measure up to one of him.” He Zhou paused before adding emphasis to his words, “And they’re deeply in love with each other.”
He Xiaoqing: …What should I do? I feel like my brother’s so pitiful…
He Xiaoqing couldn't help but struggled one last time. “…You…you’re pretty good too, ah! And you like him so much…”
“There’s no point in liking him because he doesn't belong to me and never will. I can never be with him. He has his boyfriend now, his own life. I shouldn’t bother him anymore."
He Xiaoqing: Wuwuwuwu… My brother trying to pretend to be strong by saying these words is so pitiful wuwuwuwu….
"I won't delude myself any longer. You should leave him alone too. It’s time for me to face reality. If you notice me short-circuiting and trying to pursue him again, please do everything you can to stop me.” With that, He Zhou repeated something he had already said, “After all, he and his boyfriend are very, very much in love with each other.”
He Xiaoqing choked up. “En…I…I get it now."
Satisfied, He Zhou nodded and said, "See you later then."
"Bye."
"Don't forget, Qiu Yanzhi and his boyfriend are very, very, very, very much in love. I have no chance with him, and pigs would fly before he becomes your sister-in-law. Got it?”
He Xiaoqing sniffled. “…En. Got it.”
He Zhou nodded once again in satisfaction before leisurely hanging up.
Only afterwards did he continued to think about why he hadn’t vacated Qin He’s body yet.
Originally, He Zhou thought he accidentally got into Qin He’s body because the man had lost consciousness after being brained by a vase.
He thought that going to sleep would mean giving up the ability to control Qin He’s body. That the man himself would wake up as he left.
Yet he was still in Qin He’s body now.
He Zhou frowned and reached up to touch the gauze covering the back of his head.
Did he remain in Qin He’s body because Qin He wasn’t ‘awake’ yet?
But He Zhou remembered that the doctor said yesterday the wound on this body’s head wasn’t too deep or serious.
If even Qin He waking up wasn’t enough to ‘squeeze’ him out, then how long would it be before he could get out?
He Zhou pursed his lips as he looked at Qiu Yanzhi’s number on the phone screen. He didn’t know how to break the news to Qiu Yanzhi.
…What if he was trapped in this body forever?
At that moment, Qin He’s phone rang again.
Qiu Yanzhi?
He Zhou was actually a little nervous as he looked down at the caller ID.
"Sister He Xiaoqing."
He Zhou let out a sigh of relief and picked up. “What’s the matter?”
“That’s right, brother. I called you earlier to tell you something. I can’t believe I almost forgot… I know you’re really busy and…not in a good mood, but don’t forget that tonight’s Grandpa’s birthday!”
“En. Got it.” He Zhou said.
He Xiaoqing knew that her brother was heartbroken, so she bit her tongue and just repeated the time and place of the dinner banquet before quickly hanging up.
The first thing Qiu Yanzhi did after waking up was check his phone to see if He Zhou had tried to get in touch with him.
Upon discovering there was nothing, he checked the apartment over once only to find no trace of He Zhou.
Qiu Yanzhi had his phone in his hand, but he didn’t dare to call Qin He. All he could do was wait.
It was only when his stomach started grumbling that ‘Qin He’ got in touch with him.
Not knowing whether the person on the other line was Qin He or He Zhou, Qiu Yanzhi was a bit nervous. “…Hello?”
The other party hesitated a beat before saying, “It’s me. I didn’t leave.”
“….Huh?” Qiu Yanzhi was taken aback. It took him a moment to respond, “Why, ah?”
“I don’t know either.” He Zhou’s voice was a bit gloomy.
Qiu Yanzhi sighed. “Forget it. There’s no point in ruminating over it. You’ll come out one day.”
Even though his words were meant to comfort He Zhou, Qiu Yanzhi couldn’t conceal all of his disappointment.
"En." He Zhou said.
Qiu Yanzhi asked, "So what are you going to do now? Continue to pretend to be Qin He and live his life?”
“That’s the only option left.”
“Won’t it be troublesome to deal with Qin He’s affairs so directly?”
“Maybe.” He Zhou admitted, “Today’s his grandpa’s birthday. I’m going to attend the banquet.”
Qiu Yanzhi’s brows furrowed. “How are you going to do that? You don’t know any of his family.”
“I’ve looked up some basic information, so I should be able to keep up pretences on a surface level. But I might expose myself if they ask more personal question.”
“Why don’t you…pretend to have amnesia?” Qiu Yanzhi suggested, “It just so happens you have a head wound. You can say something like you bumped your head and can’t remember some things as clearly.”
He Zhou: "We’ll see. I’ll try that if I get cornered.”
Qiu Yanzhi: "It's fine, don’t worry about it. There’s no way they’ll guess the truth.”
“En."
Qiu Yanzhi asked again, "Should I go with you?"
"No need." He Zhou didn't want Qiu Yanzhi to get anymore involved with ‘Qin He’. “I can take care of things myself. Why don’t you listen to Fei Sihao’s phone records again, see if he’s up to anything. We can’t neglect that side of things.”
"Mm-hmm. Got it." Qiu Yanzhi nodded.
He and He Zhou had been so busy with the matter of Qin He that they hadn’t paid attention to the mess that was Fei Sihao and Qiu Xicheng for a good few days.
After they hung up, Qiu Yaznhi booted up the computer and the recordings made by the listening software.
The amount of recordings that had accumulated after so many days was tiresome to listen to even at 4x speed. Qiu Yanzhi was falling asleep by the time he finally heard something of use.
It was a call between Qiu Xicheng and Fei Sihao.
Qiu Yanzhi stopped fast forwarding and listened carefully to their conversation.
It turned out that Qiu Xicheng was urging Fei Sihao to hurry up and make a move, but Fei Sihao kept blowing him off.
Qiu Xicheng finally lost his patience and asked, "Fei Sihao, are you going to do it or not? There’s plenty of people to take your place if you aren’t
Fei Sihao seemed to be drinking, for he threw a wine bottle on the floor and roared, “Laozi won’t do it! Fucking find someone else to do this digusting thing!”
Qiu Xicheng sneered. "Disgusting? Fei Sihao, why are you pretending to be all righteous in front of me? Didn’t you come up with this underhanded scheme?”
With that, Qiu Xicheng hung up.
Fei Sihao loudly cursed before throwing his phone on the ground too.
The listening spyware came to a screeching halt.
The last recording was at 8:00 last night.
Qiu Yanzhi sighed and took out his earphones. He didn’t understand why Fei Sihao suddenly straightened up.
Sigh. I’d rather you continue to be a shameless asshole. At least that wouldn’t make things harder for me. Arrgh, I’m so frustrated.
He ran a hand through his hair, feeling a bit stressed. Planting a bug on Qiu Xicheng’s phone was no small feat.
Qiu Yanzhi selected the recording of Qiu Xicheng and Fei Sihao's call and saved it.
If worse came to worst, he could give the recoding to his dad directly.
To be honest, with He Zhou coming out of the game and being in Qin He’s body right now, Qiu Yanzhi really wasn’t in the mood to deal with the mess that was Qiu Xicheng. Besides, his thirst for vengeance against the man had dulled as of late.
Qiu Yanzhi laid down on the bed and took out He Zhou’s picture from inside his phone case. He couldn’t help but rolled around the bed with a smile on his face.
–Right now, he wanted nothing more than to wait until He Zhou came out and live happily ever after with the man.
Whenever Qiu Yanzhi thought of He Zhou, his eyebrows would curve up uncontrollably. He traced He Zhou’s face with a finger again and again. When he got to the eyes, Qiu Yanzhi suddenly remembered that this was a photo of Fei Sihao he had someone retouch. Even though it looked very similar to He Zhou, a closer look revealed how different the eyebrows were.
It was time to change it.
Qiu Yanzhi jumped up from the bed, grabbed his phone and sent a message to He Zhou: "Take a selfie and send it over."
There was a long pause from the other end, long enough that Qiu Yanzhi was itching to start a video call. Only then did He Zhou sluggishly send a reply.
“No.”
Qiu Yanzhi: "……?"
He Zhou: "Qiu Yanzhi, I'm still in Qin He's body."
Qiu Yanzhi: "Don't you two look exactly the same? Take a pic and send it over. I'll pretend it's your face."
"This is Qin He's face." He Zhou insistently repeated.
Qiu Yanzhi gloomily sighed. He held down the button and sent a voice message: “Then what am I supposed to do when I miss you, ah?”
His voice was crisp and clear to begin with, like a bubbling spring. When he deliberately lowered his voice and softly acted petulant, it made He Zhou;s ears heat up against his will.
There was a long silence.
Then He Zhou initiated a video call through another social networking app.
The video was very high definition to the point where Qiu Yanzhi could see He Zhou's lowered eyelashes and the slightly red tips of his ears.
"You miss me?" He Zhou quietly asked.
Qiu Yanzhi felt like his heart was being smothered in honey. His words were dripping with sweetness as well. “Of course. A day apart from you feels like three autumns. That means I haven’t seen you for more than four months.”
“14 months, actually.” He Zhou corrected him. “The one you saw yesterday was Qin He. You haven’t seen me in a day and a half, which makes it 14 months.”
“Fine, fine, you’re right. So since I haven’t seen you for so long, isn’t it cruel to continue to not let me see the one on my mind?” Qiu Yanzhi blinked as he said self-righteously.
He Zhou hesitated for a moment. "My phone is in the drawer. There are pictures of me on it."
Qiu Yanzhi immediately pulled open the drawer.
He took out He Zhou's phone, unlocked it, and opened the photo album app.
What he saw there shocked him.
“…When did you take all these pictures of me?”
There were a few scenery shots in He Zhou’s photos. The rest were all of Qiu Yanzhi.
Sitting, lying down, walking, jumping…
Him doing all sorts of things had been captured on camera.
Qiu Yanzhi knew that He Zhou took pictures of him, but he never thought there would be so many.
He Zhou’s ears were burning. He was a little regretful about letting Qiu Yanzhi check his phone. “It’s just when I feel that you look…good. That’s why I take pictures.”
He Zhou's album had a few scattered scenery, the rest, all Qiu Yanzhi.
Qiu Yanzhi was taken aback. Then he smiled with curved eyes. “So you think I look good 800 times a day?”
He Zhou blinked at him. "…En."
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Qiu Yanzhi felt his cheeks suddenly get hot. "Ahem…where are the photos of you? I haven’t see any after scrolling for so long.”
"At the mirror maze of the amusement park."
"Found it." Qiu Yanzhi frowned. "But it's still me?"
"In the mirror." He Zhou clarified, "You should be able to see my reflection there."
Qiu Yanzhi finally found He Zhou in the corner of the mirror.
A blurry figure wearing a baseball cap and mask, holding his phone up. AKA He Zhou.
Qiu Yanzhi: "……"
Mr. He took so many pictures of me, so why couldn’t he take a decent one of himself?!
Looking at He Zhou on the video call screen, Qiu Yanzhi suddenly had an idea. He tapped to take a screenshot.
A window suddenly popped up on screen.
Sorry, the other party has disabled screenshots in settings.
Qiu Yanzhi was so angry that he almost laughed instead.
…Fuck.
No wonder he deliberately changed to another social media app.
…My man can’t be this cute.
Author’s Corner
Eleven years ago, the nth time that Little Trash was caught secretly taking pictures.
Xia Yuan couldn’t be more annoyed. "Why do you keep taking pictures of me?”
Little Trash: “I just occasionally feel that you look…good. That’s why I take pictures.”
Xia Yuan raised an eyebrow. “You think I look good? Are you a fucking idiot? I’m a guy.”
Little Trash flushed a bright red out of frustration, but he tried to keep his tone even. “Form and structure! I’m saying your form and structure look good. And art doesn’t discriminate between genders.”
Xia Yuan yawned. He pulled up his blanket and settled down to sleep again. “Then give me my modelling fee next time, oh great Mr. Artist. Fifty cents a pic.”
Qiu Yanzhi stopped fast forwarding and listened carefully to their conversation.
It turned out that Qiu Xicheng was urging Fei Sihao to hurry up and make a move, but Fei Sihao kept blowing him off.
Qiu Xicheng finally lost his patience and asked, "Fei Sihao, are you going to do it or not? There’s plenty of people to take your place if you aren’t
Fei Sihao seemed to be drinking, for he threw a wine bottle on the floor and roared, “Laozi won’t do it! Fucking find someone else to do this digusting thing!”
Qiu Xicheng sneered. "Disgusting? Fei Sihao, why are you pretending to be all righteous in front of me? Didn’t you come up with this underhanded scheme?”
With that, Qiu Xicheng hung up.
Fei Sihao loudly cursed before throwing his phone on the ground too.
The listening spyware came to a screeching halt.
The last recording was at 8:00 last night.
Qiu Yanzhi sighed and took out his earphones. He didn’t understand why Fei Sihao suddenly straightened up.
Sigh. I’d rather you continue to be a shameless asshole. At least that wouldn’t make things harder for me. Arrgh, I’m so frustrated.
He ran a hand through his hair, feeling a bit stressed. Planting a bug on Qiu Xicheng’s phone was no small feat.
Qiu Yanzhi selected the recording of Qiu Xicheng and Fei Sihao's call and saved it.
If worse came to worst, he could give the recoding to his dad directly.
To be honest, with He Zhou coming out of the game and being in Qin He’s body right now, Qiu Yanzhi really wasn’t in the mood to deal with the mess that was Qiu Xicheng. Besides, his thirst for vengeance against the man had dulled as of late.
Qiu Yanzhi laid down on the bed and took out He Zhou’s picture from inside his phone case. He couldn’t help but rolled around the bed with a smile on his face.
–Right now, he wanted nothing more than to wait until He Zhou came out and live happily ever after with the man.
Whenever Qiu Yanzhi thought of He Zhou, his eyebrows would curve up uncontrollably. He traced He Zhou’s face with a finger again and again. When he got to the eyes, Qiu Yanzhi suddenly remembered that this was a photo of Fei Sihao he had someone retouch. Even though it looked very similar to He Zhou, a closer look revealed how different the eyebrows were.
It was time to change it.
Qiu Yanzhi jumped up from the bed, grabbed his phone and sent a message to He Zhou: "Take a selfie and send it over."
There was a long pause from the other end, long enough that Qiu Yanzhi was itching to start a video call. Only then did He Zhou sluggishly send a reply.
“No.”
Qiu Yanzhi: "……?"
He Zhou: "Qiu Yanzhi, I'm still in Qin He's body."
Qiu Yanzhi: "Don't you two look exactly the same? Take a pic and send it over. I'll pretend it's your face."
"This is Qin He's face." He Zhou insistently repeated.
Qiu Yanzhi gloomily sighed. He held down the button and sent a voice message: “Then what am I supposed to do when I miss you, ah?”
His voice was crisp and clear to begin with, like a bubbling spring. When he deliberately lowered his voice and softly acted petulant, it made He Zhou;s ears heat up against his will.
There was a long silence.
Then He Zhou initiated a video call through another social networking app.
The video was very high definition to the point where Qiu Yanzhi could see He Zhou's lowered eyelashes and the slightly red tips of his ears.
"You miss me?" He Zhou quietly asked.
Qiu Yanzhi felt like his heart was being smothered in honey. His words were dripping with sweetness as well. “Of course. A day apart from you feels like three autumns. That means I haven’t seen you for more than four months.”
“14 months, actually.” He Zhou corrected him. “The one you saw yesterday was Qin He. You haven’t seen me in a day and a half, which makes it 14 months.”
“Fine, fine, you’re right. So since I haven’t seen you for so long, isn’t it cruel to continue to not let me see the one on my mind?” Qiu Yanzhi blinked as he said self-righteously.
He Zhou hesitated for a moment. "My phone is in the drawer. There are pictures of me on it."
Qiu Yanzhi immediately pulled open the drawer.
He took out He Zhou's phone, unlocked it, and opened the photo album app.
What he saw there shocked him.
“…When did you take all these pictures of me?”
There were a few scenery shots in He Zhou’s photos. The rest were all of Qiu Yanzhi.
Sitting, lying down, walking, jumping…
Him doing all sorts of things had been captured on camera.
Qiu Yanzhi knew that He Zhou took pictures of him, but he never thought there would be so many.
He Zhou’s ears were burning. He was a little regretful about letting Qiu Yanzhi check his phone. “It’s just when I feel that you look…good. That’s why I take pictures.”
He Zhou's album had a few scattered scenery, the rest, all Qiu Yanzhi.
Qiu Yanzhi was taken aback. Then he smiled with curved eyes. “So you think I look good 800 times a day?”
He Zhou blinked at him. "…En."
Qiu Yanzhi felt his cheeks suddenly get hot. "Ahem…where are the photos of you? I haven’t see any after scrolling for so long.”
"At the mirror maze of the amusement park."
"Found it." Qiu Yanzhi frowned. "But it's still me?"
"In the mirror." He Zhou clarified, "You should be able to see my reflection there."
Qiu Yanzhi finally found He Zhou in the corner of the mirror.
A blurry figure wearing a baseball cap and mask, holding his phone up. AKA He Zhou.
Qiu Yanzhi: "……"
Mr. He took so many pictures of me, so why couldn’t he take a decent one of himself?!
Looking at He Zhou on the video call screen, Qiu Yanzhi suddenly had an idea. He tapped to take a screenshot.
A window suddenly popped up on screen.
Sorry, the other party has disabled screenshots in settings.
Qiu Yanzhi was so angry that he almost laughed instead.
…Fuck.
No wonder he deliberately changed to another social media app.
…My man can’t be this cute.
Author’s Corner
Eleven years ago, the nth time that Little Trash was caught secretly taking pictures.
Xia Yuan couldn’t be more annoyed. "Why do you keep taking pictures of me?”
Little Trash: “I just occasionally feel that you look…good. That’s why I take pictures.”
Xia Yuan raised an eyebrow. “You think I look good? Are you a fucking idiot? I’m a guy.”
Little Trash flushed a bright red out of frustration, but he tried to keep his tone even. “Form and structure! I’m saying your form and structure look good. And art doesn’t discriminate between genders.”
Xia Yuan yawned. He pulled up his blanket and settled down to sleep again. “Then give me my modelling fee next time, oh great Mr. Artist. Fifty cents a pic.”