APCF – Chapter 121 Guidance

Even though it felt like they could stick together for a long, long time, in the blink of an eye, the time was up. On April 13th, An Ran came as promised to pick up Qi Xingchen, and Bo Ye resumed his work that had been on hold for ten days.

Red Sun was set to start shooting on the 15th. The reason Qi Xingchen chose to leave on the 13th was because the season was changing, and he needed to go home to pack some seasonal clothes—and to spend time with his family. Once he joined the production team, he might be gone for three or four months. He was afraid his family would miss him, and he also feared he’d miss home.

Ever since the fire incident, Father Qi hadn’t been sleeping well. Qi Xingchen ordered him a pair of pillows designed to aid sleep. After arriving in H City and picking up the pillows from the store, he headed straight to the company.

When he pushed open the chairman’s office door, he saw Qi Yunxiao sitting across from Qi Xiaoming. The father and son were facing a stack of documents, seemingly discussing something.

“Dad, Bro,” Qi Xingchen called out happily, “I’m back.”

Hearing his youngest son’s voice, Qi Xiaoming looked up and instantly broke into a smile. “Why didn’t you let us know in advance? We could’ve picked you up at the airport.”

“He probably didn’t dare to say,” Qi Yunxiao said with a hint of grievance. “Chen Noah told me he finished his work early but didn’t come home. He ran off to G City to mess around with Bo Ye for half a month.”

“……”

Why does Chen Noah snitch about everything? Qi Xingchen mentally smacked Chen Noah and then quickly tried to make up for it by pouring tea for his father and brother. “It wasn’t half a month—barely ten days, really. Hehe…”

Father Qi immediately felt a pang in his heart.

A son who’s out of the house is like water thrown out—you can’t take it back. Who would’ve thought that after only dating for a few months, his son would already be stolen away?

Is Bo Ye really that charming?!

Heartache aside, as a father, he still had to give the necessary reminders. Qi Xiaoming said sternly, “When you two live together, remember to draw the curtains. Protect your privacy.”

Qi Xingchen nodded. “Got it.”

“Don’t go overboard with anything. Don’t play around too much. That kid looks skinny—he’s probably weak. Don’t always bully him.”

“……Got it.”

Qi Xingchen was on the verge of tears. Wasn’t he the one being bullied by that skinny guy all the time?

Seeing his son obediently agree, Father Qi waved him over. “Come here, let me take a look at you… Mm, you’ve gotten sturdier. Seems like he’s taking good care of you.”

Qi Xingchen had no idea what to say anymore. He looked to his older brother with a numb expression for help. But then he noticed that his brother’s gaze was fixed on the stack of documents on the desk, brows slightly furrowed, as if he was troubled.

“Bro,” he asked curiously, “Is the company in some kind of trouble?”

Qi Yunxiao snapped out of it. “At the beginning of the year, a client placed a big order. Now that the products are finished, we tried to contact him for inspection and final payment, but we haven’t been able to reach him for days.”

They couldn’t get in touch with the client?

“Did you go to his company? Or involve the business bureau?”

“We did,” Qi Yunxiao said, rubbing his temples. “Their finance department said the chairman suddenly moved a large amount of money a few days ago and hasn’t shown up since. According to the police investigation, his identity was recorded at customs…”

He lowered his hand, the spot between his brows red from all the rubbing. “The initial assessment is that he took the company and investors’ money and fled with the funds.”

Qi Xingchen didn’t understand much about business, but from Qi Yunxiao’s demeanor, he could tell this was a big blow to the company. A small deal wouldn’t make his brother frown like this.

“Bro, if we can’t recover the final payment, how much will we lose?”

Qi Yunxiao replied, “The branch company might not recover for two years.”

“If the other party refuses to pay, it counts as a breach of contract, right? Then can we terminate the contract and sell the products to other companies?”

“That’s exactly where the difficulty lies,” Qi Yunxiao said in a low voice. “The technology for this product was provided by the client. We signed a confidentiality agreement—that’s the first issue. Secondly, even if the client goes bankrupt and the agreement becomes void, there’s currently no domestic company with a demand that large. And as for international markets, their production capacity is self-sufficient—they don’t need us. So this batch… is essentially stuck in our hands.”

Hearing that, a surge of frustration welled up in Qi Xingchen. He felt heartache for the company’s money and couldn’t help but think the whole situation was just too coincidental.

Normally, before choosing to work with a company, you’d have to assess their qualifications, credit, and market reputation. Qi Yunxiao had a business background and had been managing the Qi Group for a long time—there’s no way he would forget something that basic.

And under the premise that the background check had been completed and the company deemed suitable, the chairman suddenly fled, knowing full well that it was illegal—abandoning the company, his reputation, and even risking prison. Was there really nothing fishy going on?

For some reason, Qi Xingchen thought of that damned plotline again.

At this point, there was nothing they could do except wait for the police investigation results. Besides, the business world was like a battlefield—taking a hit or suffering a setback was perfectly normal. Overthinking would only bring more anxiety. Qi Xingchen didn’t want to stress out his father and brother any further, so he dropped the subject. He stayed at the company all afternoon reading the script and returned home with them after work.

He didn’t like sitting around waiting for doom. Even though he didn’t yet know how the storyline would unfold or whether this order fiasco had anything to do with Taotao, he wasn’t going to let things develop unchecked. He contacted the private investigator who had previously looked into Liang Jing and Taotao and asked him to keep a close eye on Taotao. If anything unusual happened, he was to report it immediately.

That night, the more he thought about the screwed-up order, the more annoyed he became. Tossing aside the script, he went to knock on Qi Yunxiao’s door.

“Bro, I have a question I want to ask you—how does a company go public?”

Qi Yunxiao was reading a book and didn’t even lift his head. “What industry? What’s the financial report look like? How much funding do you need? How has the business been in recent years? Is your current share structure adaptable enough to respond quickly to short selling or speculative trading after going public? Are there any operable…”

Faced with this barrage of questions, Qi Xingchen was instantly stunned. “Uh…”

“Who wants to go public?” Qi Yunxiao narrowed his eyes. “Don’t tell me it’s you? If you want to switch careers and return to the Qi Group, don’t bother starting your own business. It’s too exhausting.”

“It’s not about switching careers.”

It was to prepare for the worst, to leave a backup plan for the family. Qi Xingchen put on his young master act and shrugged. “I just want to play around a little.”

If it was just for fun, there was no need to go overboard or invest too much. Qi Yunxiao thought for a moment. “It’s really hard to get approved for an IPO these days. You’d be better off going to the NEEQ and acquiring a struggling company that’s about to be delisted, then use it as a shell for a backdoor listing. That way, it costs less and skips the IPO waiting line. If the company doesn’t work out or you don’t want to keep running it, you can resell the shell and recover some cash.”

Qi Xingchen made a mental note of all that.

“Do you have enough money right now?” Qi Yunxiao paused. “If not, I’ll have the securities department pick a company for you. Once we acquire it, I’ll hand it over directly.”

Qi Xingchen hadn’t transferred all his money to Liang Jing, so he still had some funds. He quickly waved his hand. “No need for that. Just help me pick a suitable company. Once you do, let me know and I’ll transfer the money to you.”

Money stayed in the family anyway, so Qi Yunxiao didn’t say much and nodded in agreement. Qi Xingchen then asked him a few more finance-related questions before heading back to his room, lying in bed, and trying to lull himself to sleep by counting sheep.

Then he made a tragic discovery—after spending so many nights sleeping with Bo Ye, now that he was sleeping alone again, he had insomnia.

…Wasn’t he fine for the first twenty-some years of his life?

Why did he feel so empty now without Bo Ye hugging him? Like something was missing?

Bo Ye really was a little demon, Qi Xingchen thought bitterly. So unfair!

He tossed and turned all night and only finally fell asleep as dawn approached. The next day was filled with chatting with family and packing up items to take to the film set. It was a full and pleasant day. On the morning of the 15th, he said goodbye to his family like he had in the past and flew to China’s biggest film studio to begin filming Red Sun.

Red Sun told the story of military academy students transitioning from school to the battlefield. The school segments were lighthearted and humorous, showing a group of young and naive students studying and goofing around together. Their thoughts about serving the country were vague and distant, and it was during this time that the romance between the male and female leads began to blossom.

Once the first shot of the war of resistance was fired, the crisis became imminent, and those abstract ideals were suddenly forced into reality. Some, after witnessing the brutality of war, ran back home. Some threw in with warlords and became their lackeys. Some were tempted by money and betrayed their country. But others—like the male and female leads—chose to go to the front lines, becoming the most ordinary, yet most noble, soldiers.

Blood, severed limbs, the unblinking eyes of fallen comrades… the battlefield scenes were tragic, but also stirring and powerful. It was in these moments that the characters grew rapidly, and human nature was revealed in its rawest form.

All in all, the drama had distinct layers, and the characters’ emotional shifts were simple and clear. After his experience with playing Liang Xiaolong in Grey Trajectory, Qi Xingchen found this role effortless. From his emotional control to the rhythm and speed of his line delivery, he handled everything smoothly. The director and the cast were full of praise:

“Wow, our little Qi really is worthy of that Best Newcomer Award!”

Qi Xingchen smiled shyly and turned to brag to Bo Ye: [Everyone’s saying I acted great!]

Bo Ye immediately reposted Red Sun’s official behind-the-scenes photos, saying outright that he was looking forward to Qi Xingchen’s performance.

The fan account “NightSky&Starlight” replied with a deadpan emoji:

“It’s fine, go ahead and flaunt. We’re used to the dog food.”

“There are no dogs who die from overeating—only not enough dog food. (manual wave goodbye)”

With a new job and new challenges, Qi Xingchen didn’t think about Bo Ye too much for a while.

But once he got used to the filming schedule and became more adept, every night before bed, he would scroll through Bo Ye’s photos, updates, and variety show clips using a private account. If he couldn’t see Bo Ye in person, seeing him through the screen was better than nothing.

And if photos weren’t enough, he’d go looking for fanfiction. Ever since their relationship became public, more and more prolific fanfic writers had emerged, and the quality kept rising. Reading those stories left him buzzing with emotion. When he reached particularly touching parts, he’d often marvel at how beautiful their love was, no matter what roles or identities they had.

That night, he found a beautifully written short fic. Just as he finished reading it, still lingering in the aftertaste, Bo Ye’s call came in.

“Done filming?”

“Yeah,” Qi Xingchen answered. “Was just playing on my phone.”

“What’s so fun about your phone? Looking at my pictures?”

“…No,” Qi Xingchen began to suspect Bo Ye had installed surveillance in his room, “I was reading a novel, not thinking about you.”

Bo Ye clearly caught the change in tone when his little fan said “not thinking about you,” the words growing noticeably softer. He couldn’t help but chuckle, “Oh, I see. Then I’ll hang up.”

“…Don’t hang up!” Qi Xingchen said helplessly. “I missed you… just a little.”

“Only a little?”

“…Fine,” Qi Xingchen gave up lying, “I missed you a whole lot of little bits.”

Listening to his little fan’s aggrieved tone, Bo Ye felt thoroughly satisfied. As a reward, he went to the official store and bought him two pieces of clothing.

After confirming the shipping address and settling the purchase, Bo Ye continued, “So, what novel were you reading just now?”

That got Qi Xingchen excited. “It’s a fanfic about us! Set in ancient times—one’s a general, the other’s the emperor. It’s super well-written!”

“General and emperor… So who’s who between us?”

“I’m the emperor,” Qi Xingchen said. “You’re the tsundere scheming top.”

Bo Ye had no understanding of fanfiction tropes, let alone how these “roles” were divided. Curious, he said, “Send it to me, I want to learn.”

So Qi Xingchen pulled up the file and hit send—

It wasn’t until his phone buzzed with the “sent” notification that he realized… he’d sent the wrong file. There were two with similar titles, and he’d sent the other one—one he hadn’t even read yet.

Panicking, he tried to stop Bo Ye. “I sent the wrong one! It’s not that one, hang on—I’ll send you the right one!”

But Bo Ye had already opened the file and started reading… and encountered some rather peculiar text.

Frowning, he read aloud: “Bo Ye led troops and stormed the Jiulong Palace. At this point, Qi Xingchen had already evacuated all his kin. Seated on the throne, his fingers—white and delicate like jade shoots—gripped the armrests tightly. His gaze passed over Bo Ye, ignoring him entirely, which enraged Bo Ye.”

Qi Xingchen thought, Must be a political intrigue story…

“Bo Ye approached him with his sword: ‘What are you looking at, Your Majesty? Consort Liu? Noble Lady Fang?’”

Wait, there’s a harem?! Oh no—must be a tragedy, Qi Xingchen felt a little upset.

“Qi Xingchen remained silent. Bo Ye grew furious, twirled his sword with force. The energy burst into a blade of light, shredding Qi Xingchen’s clothes into fragments!”

Qi Xingchen: “……”

Is this turning into a cultivation story now?!

“‘Your Majesty, do you know? I’m seizing the throne today all for you.’ Bo Ye caressed Qi Xingchen’s cheek with one hand and held Little Xingchen with the other. ‘I don’t want to see those other birds fluttering around you anymore. From now on, you’ll be king to me alone, okay?’”

!!!

Qi Xingchen was shaken.

What the hell—he’d guessed and guessed, and it turned out to be a freaking smutty fic!

God, this is terrifying. Bo Ye absolutely cannot read this! Qi Xingchen yelled, “Didn’t you hear me?! I sent the wrong one! Don’t read it—I’ll send the right one now!”

But Bo Ye ignored him completely and kept reading.

The rest, Qi Xingchen could imagine with his toes: the general overthrows the emperor’s throne just to claim him, and there’s no way the story doesn’t go full possessive domination. The longer Bo Ye read, the more on edge Qi Xingchen became.

Bo Ye, on the other hand, sounded utterly calm—as if he were just a text-to-speech bot. Aside from his voice being pleasant and his tone rising and falling more naturally during the intense scenes, it was as mechanical and emotionless as any audiobook narrator.

This torture lasted a full twenty minutes. Finally, when the general had completely claimed the emperor and taken him to the harem, Bo Ye closed the file and said, with great meaning:

“So this is what you like to read when you’re missing me.”

Qi Xingchen: “…”

“The general’s character… what would you call it? Feels too obsessive, like he never considers the emperor’s thoughts.”

Qi Xingchen: “…”

Actually, Bo Ye was teasing him on purpose, trying to get his little fan to act spoiled with him. But after a few jabs without any reaction, he frowned and asked, “Xingxing?”

This time, there was a sound. “…Mm, I’m here.”

“Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“I—I… Can I call you back in a bit? I need to go to the bathroom.”

There was no real conflict between going to the bathroom and being on a call. Bo Ye was about to tell him he didn’t need to hang up—but then a certain possibility crossed his mind.

“Xingxing,” he asked tentatively, “you’re not… having a reaction, are you?”

Qi Xingchen, already extremely uncomfortable: “…”

Why did you have to say it out loud!!!

On the verge of tears, he whispered pleadingly, “Brother Ye, please let me hang up for now.”

Hearing his lover’s strained voice, Bo Ye didn’t feel great either. He took a deep breath and said, “Listen to me. Put on your earphones, leave your phone in the bedroom, and go to the bathroom.”

Qi Xingchen didn’t know what he was up to, but desperate for relief, he followed his instructions without question.

Once he got to the bathroom, Bo Ye told him to close the door and asked softly, “Have you done it yourself at all this past month?”

“N-No…”

They’d been apart for so long, and he hadn’t done it even once—no wonder the reaction was so strong. Bo Ye continued gently, “Then… Do you know how?”

To be honest, Qi Xingchen wasn’t particularly good at it. Back in the acrobat troupe dorms or the school dorms, he’d always had roommates around and felt too embarrassed.

Then he transmigrated into this book, where one thing after another happened nonstop—he never had the time or mindset for anything else. Thinking back, he realized he’d barely done it at all in his life.

There was a pause on the other end of the line. Bo Ye understood, and began to guide him, “Baby, first wash your hands.”

Qi Xingchen obediently washed his hands.

“Hold it the way I did for you last time. Close your eyes. Can you hear my voice? Right now, I’m with you… standing right in front of you…”

Qi Xingchen turned out to be even more hopeless than he thought. He’d assumed doing it with his own hand might take longer, but surrounded by Bo Ye’s voice, it took barely more than the cost of a one-yuan phone call before he finished, washed his hands, and came out of the bathroom.

Hearing the sound of rushing water, Bo Ye couldn’t help teasing, “Feel better?”

Qi Xingchen: “…Yeah.”

“You sounded pretty nice just now. Next time, be louder, okay? I shouldn’t be giving guidance for free, right?”

“…Got it.” Qi Xingchen’s face was red enough to drip blood.

It was getting late. Bo Ye didn’t want to disturb his rest and said, “Alright, time to sleep. If this happens again, come to me. Don’t hold it in by yourself.”

Qi Xingchen: “But… but you’re always so busy. I don’t want to bother you…”

“No buts,” Bo Ye interrupted him. “It’s my fault. I didn’t manage my time properly. I’ll come see you in a few days. Until then, be good, okay?”

“…Mm.”

“Remember to miss me.”

Qi Xingchen finally told the truth: “Actually… actually, I haven’t stopped missing you for even a moment.”

_{Oooohhh~ So this was the kind of “guidance” he meant! Forget guarding the border, General—just surrender yourself to His Majesty already! 💥👑🫣}