APCF – Chapter 89 Who Are You?

After listening to his sister, Qi Xingchen couldn’t help but feel happy.

The original owner of this body had liked Liang Jing for so long. Now, he had a boyfriend, and Liang Jing had also found someone he liked. Both had found their happiness, marking a perfect ending to that chapter of the past.

He dragged his suitcase upstairs and then went to the kitchen to help Qi Yujie prepare dinner. The Qi family had chefs to handle cooking, so there was no need for him to do it himself. But after thinking for a moment, Qi Xingchen said, “I’ll cook two dishes tonight.”

“You? Cooking?” Qi Yujie was surprised. “Do you even know how?”

“I learned while filming a variety show,” Qi Xingchen bluffed. “It’s nothing special, just let me give it a try.”

Today was a happy day. In the real world, he never had the chance to cook for his family, so now he wanted to experience it.

He first washed and chopped the ingredients himself, then stood aside, observing Qi Yujie’s method for making soup.

That’s when he saw this “little fairy” throw an unscaled fish directly into the pot.

Qi Xingchen: “……”

No wonder her fish soup always tasted so bad.

“Sis!” He quickly stopped her. “You need to remove the fish scales!”

“This fish has soft scales, so there’s no need,” Qi Yujie replied confidently. “Plus, fish scales contain a lot of vitamins and collagen. Removing them is just wasting nutrients.”

…That actually made sense, and Qi Xingchen couldn’t refute it. But he still grabbed the fish from her hands. “Sis, our family isn’t lacking in nutrition. Let me do it.”

The kitchen staff had already cleaned out the fish’s innards, leaving only the scales. Qi Xingchen picked up a knife and carefully scraped them off, bit by bit.

Qi Yujie watched his actions, hands on her hips. “Which damn variety show made you do the dirty work of descaling fish?!”

Qi Xingchen stayed silent.

The more time he spent with the Qi family, the more he liked them—the characters who were originally just minor cannon fodder in the book. And the more he liked this life.

A life where someone cared about him and worried about him.

When he had first arrived in this world, everything was unfamiliar. He had shut himself off, never truly treating the Qi family as his own. He had also never told them that the original Xingxing was gone, and standing before them now was an entirely different soul.

But as he grew closer to them, he no longer wanted to keep this secret.

I should find a chance to tell them, Qi Xingchen thought to himself. If they accept it, I will fulfill my duty in the original owner’s place.

If they don’t accept it, I’ll do my best to find clues—maybe there’s a way to bring the original soul back.

After all, this was a world inside a book. If the plot reached its end, perhaps things could reset.

Not wanting Qi Yujie to get exposed to oil fumes, Qi Xingchen sent her out of the kitchen. Half an hour later, he finished cooking three dishes. The chef only had two dishes left to prepare. He washed his hands and stepped out, planning to change into clean clothes before dinner.

That’s when he saw Liang Jing in the living room, holding a bouquet of fresh flowers, discussing with Qi Yujie how to arrange them in a vase.

“Liang Jing,” Qi Xingchen greeted with a smile. “How have you been? How’s your clinical work going?”

Liang Jing’s back stiffened. He turned around.

The moment Qi Xingchen saw his face, he almost thought he had the wrong person!

Liang Jing used to have a well-proportioned figure and a refined, scholarly appearance. But now, his complexion was pale with a sickly yellowish hue, his cheeks slightly sunken, dark circles under his eyes, and lips devoid of color.

He looked like he was in bad shape.

“…You look terrible. Did you run into trouble with your project?” Qi Xingchen asked with concern.

“No,” Liang Jing glanced at him briefly before looking away. “Maybe I haven’t been sleeping well because of the changing seasons. It’s nothing serious.”

“Are you sure? If anything’s wrong, just tell me. I’ll help however I can.”

Liang Jing responded with a soft “Mm” and turned back to arranging flowers with Qi Yujie.

Although Qi Xingchen hadn’t interacted with Liang Jing many times, he could clearly sense that Liang Jing’s attitude toward him was a bit strange today.

He vaguely remembered that when he went to pick up Liang Jing at the airport, the other man had instinctively reached out to ruffle his hair. When Liang Jing visited him in S City during filming, he had casually put an arm around his shoulder, acting quite intimate.

Even Bo Ye had been jealous because of that.

But today, Liang Jing was acting unusually distant.

Since Qi Yujie was around, Qi Xingchen didn’t find it convenient to ask. He stood in place, thinking for a moment, before heading to his room.

By the time he had quickly washed up and changed clothes, Qi Yunxiao and Father Qi had already returned.

“Oh wow, look who it is! Isn’t this our little Xingxing?” Father Qi’s mood was exceptionally cheerful. “You’ve been gone so long—do you even remember what home looks like?”

…That tone was dripping with sarcasm.

Qi Xingchen half-jokingly, half-explaining, said, “Dad, the show’s schedule was too tight. I really couldn’t leave.”

“Was it really that tight, or did you just not want to come back?”

Qi Xingchen was momentarily speechless.

He suspected his dad knew something.

Just then, dinner was ready, and Qi Xingchen quickly escaped to the dining table to avoid further questioning.

Liang Jing was about to sit at the far end of the table when Qi Yujie called out, “Xiaojing, why are you sitting over there all of a sudden? Go sit with Xingxing.”

Ever since they were kids, whether Qi Xingchen was eating at the Liang family’s house or Liang Jing was eating at the Qi family’s, they had always sat together like conjoined twins. Both families were used to it.

Liang Jing hesitated for a few seconds but had no choice but to sit back beside Qi Xingchen.

Qi Xingchen pushed a bowl and chopsticks toward him, then secretly took out his phone and snapped a picture of the dinner table.

He held his phone under the table and sent the picture to Bo Ye.

Xingxing: [Image]

Xingxing: [Have you landed yet?]

Bo Ye had a fashion event tomorrow and was flying to B City today. Before leaving, he had shown Qi Xingchen his flight details. Based on the estimated flight time, he should have landed by now—maybe he was held up by fans or waiting for luggage and hadn’t had time to reply.

Qi Xingchen was impatient to hear from Bo Ye, so he kept staring at his phone.

As Liang Jing reached for a napkin, his eyes caught a glimpse of Qi Xingchen’s phone screen.

…It was a familiar face.

A man stood at the edge of a high stage. Even though only his side profile was visible, his overwhelming aura couldn’t be concealed—proud, elegant, and dazzlingly handsome.

Liang Jing let out a soft scoff, unsure if he was laughing at himself or at Qi Xingchen for being a public figure yet daring to use Bo Ye’s photo as his lock screen.

He must really like him.

Before long, everyone was seated at the table. Since they were all familiar with each other, Father Qi simply said, “Welcome, Xiaojing. I won’t say much—treat this place like your home. Eat whatever you like.”

“Alright, thank you, Uncle Qi.” Liang Jing responded politely.

Due to their upbringing, both the Qi family and Liang Jing were quiet eaters, mostly focusing on their own food and exchanging occasional conversation.

Because of this, the short buzzing sound of a vibrating phone was especially noticeable.

“Whose phone?” Father Qi frowned. “Yunxiao, haven’t I told you not to handle non-urgent work matters during meals?”

Qi Yunxiao: “……”

“…Uh, Dad,” Qi Xingchen weakly raised his hand. “It’s my message.”

“Oh, then hurry up and reply so you can eat in peace,” Father Qi’s tone softened instantly. “Don’t be like your brother—always working during meals until he ruined his stomach.”

Qi Yunxiao: “……”

What did he do to deserve this?

Fine. For the sake of his beloved little brother, he endured it.

But both brothers knew that their father only said these things because he cared about their health.

Qi Xingchen obediently glanced at his phone.

Bo: [I just arrived at the hotel. The front desk staff happened to be my fan, so I signed an autograph for her—didn’t have time to reply right away.]

Bo: [Is this dinner?]

Seeing the long, detailed explanation, Qi Xingchen couldn’t help but smile.

When they first met, Bo Ye barely strung more than two or three words together when speaking to him. He never elaborated, nor had he ever been this patient in explaining things.

Bo Ye was changing for him.

He felt so incredibly lucky.

Qi Xingchen immediately threw his father’s warning out the window, clutching his phone with both hands as he typed a reply.

Xingxing: [Yeah, it’s dinner! Looks good, right?]

Bo: [Looks great.]

Xingxing: [I made three of the dishes. Guess which ones?]

Bo: [Braised beef with tomatoes, cold okra in sauce, and stir-fried squid in soy sauce.]

???

Xingxing: [How did you guess that?]

Bo: [You cooked during Backpacking on a Budget—I noticed back then that you’re more skilled at simple, homestyle northern dishes.]

That was true.

Qi Xingchen sighed inwardly—honestly, wasn’t the Creator a little too biased when making Bo Ye?

Why did he get all the good traits—beauty, talent, kindness, intelligence, charisma… everything?

How was anyone else supposed to compete?

Wait—no. Qi Xingchen suddenly had a realization.

This overpowered Bo Ye belongs to him.

Which means… when the Creator made him, they maxed out his luck stat instead!

Hahahaha!

Qi Xingchen tried hard to keep the corners of his mouth from lifting, preventing his family from noticing anything unusual. He continued typing:

[Alright, fine, you’re smart. When are you eating?~]

Seeing the “~” at the end of the message, Bo Ye’s exhaustion from the flight instantly disappeared, and he couldn’t help but smile.

[The brand representatives are coming to host a welcome dinner for me soon.]

Qi Xingchen: “!!!”

Xingxing: [How long will it take?]

Bo: [Not sure. They want to discuss a long-term collaboration.]

Xingxing: [Then…]

What about the video call they had planned?

Even though they had spent the entire morning together—technically outside the “video call” category—he still… really missed Bo Ye.

Just as that thought formed, Bo Ye immediately guessed what was on his mind. He glanced at his watch.

[Do you have time now? The brand reps will arrive in about ten minutes. We can video call before that.]

Qi Xingchen’s worries shattered in an instant. Overjoyed, he quickly replied:

[Give me two minutes!]

After sending the message, he raised his hand.

“Dad! I need to take an urgent call in my room. I’ll be back in seven or eight minutes!”

Qi Xiaoming: “Approved.”

“Thanks, Dad!”

Before the words even finished leaving his mouth, he had already bolted up the stairs.

As he locked the door behind him, he immediately sent Bo Ye a video call request. A few seconds later, a face he could never get tired of appeared on the screen.

Bo Ye was doing his usual check for hidden cameras in the hotel room. As he walked around, he asked, “Finished eating?”

“Yep, all done!” Qi Xingchen replied.

“Everything good at home?”

“Very good, thanks for asking.”

Qi Xingchen asked some casual, pointless questions—like whether Bo Ye had encountered paparazzi at the airport or how many fans had come to pick him up.

As he asked, he couldn’t help but repeatedly tap on Bo Ye’s face on the screen, as if he could feel his warmth through it.

After finishing his security check, Bo Ye looked down—only to see his little fan staring at him with wide eyes, fingers messing around on the screen.

Bo Ye raised an eyebrow. “What are you rubbing?”

“You.” Qi Xingchen answered matter-of-factly.

Hearing that, Bo Ye instinctively dodged.

Qi Xingchen frowned when his finger missed, then tried again.

Bo Ye, amused, decided to tease his little fan. If Qi Xingchen swiped left, he moved right. If Qi Xingchen swiped right, he moved left.

After five failed attempts, the little fan finally lost his patience and pouted in frustration.

“Why do you keep dodging?!”

Bo Ye smirked. “You want to catch me?”

Qi Xingchen let out a soft “Mhm.” from deep in his throat.

The more he pouted, the more Bo Ye wanted to tease him. He took the chance to set a condition.

“Then act cute for me.”

Qi Xingchen: “…”

His brain nearly exploded—how was he supposed to do that?!

“H-How do I even do that?” he reluctantly asked.

“Like you did in the bathroom that day, during the mentor showcase,” Bo Ye said casually. “Call me ‘gege’—the rest is up to you.”

Qi Xingchen: “…”

Hearing the request, Qi Xingchen nearly died of embarrassment.

Back then, he had said all sorts of things just to coax Bo Ye. But now that there was no urgency, how was he supposed to say that out loud?!

Ahhhhhh!!!

But after freaking out for a moment, he hesitated for only two seconds before deciding —catching Bo Ye was more important.

His face flushed red as he softly said, “Ge… gege, don’t move.”

After speaking, his gaze lowered slightly, his eyelashes trembling. Because of his shyness, he bit down on his lower lip, trapping his two small white teeth between his soft, pale pink lips.

Bo Ye suddenly felt his chest tighten.

—Damn it. Who was really suffering here?

Taking a deep breath to suppress the heat rising in his body, Bo Ye tapped his middle finger against the screen. “Xingxing.”

“…Hmm?” Qi Xingchen looked up immediately, meeting Bo Ye’s gaze with serious eyes.

Bo Ye switched from his middle finger to his index finger, turning his hand around and pressing his fingertip against the center of the screen.

Qi Xingchen paused for a moment, then realized what Bo Ye was doing.

He reached out his own index finger and gently touched the screen—aligning their fingertips.

In that instant, the cold, lifeless screen seemed to carry warmth.

That warmth came from two hearts, burning with longing for each other.

People in love always do silly, inexplicable things.

Qi Xingchen felt that he and Bo Ye had just been ridiculously foolish—beyond foolish, really—but that didn’t stop the grin on his face from growing stiff from overuse.

It took him a while to rein in his smile. Rubbing his face, he made his way downstairs. By then, everyone had nearly finished eating, so he quickly returned to his seat and picked up his bowl to catch up.

“Eat slowly, don’t rush,” Qi Yujie reminded him in a motherly tone before turning to Liang Jing. “By the way, Xiao Jing, I have something to ask you. Uncle Li said you’ve been getting close to a certain girl recently. Is there something going on?”

Uncle Li was the Liang family’s butler. At those words, Liang Jing’s expression subtly changed.

Qi Yujie, experienced in these matters, could tell just from his reaction. She reassured him, “I’m not trying to interfere. Who you date is entirely your choice. I’m just asking because, as a woman, I might be able to give you some advice on relationships.”

“We’re not dating!”

As if afraid of being misunderstood, Liang Jing immediately denied it. “We’re just… just…”

He couldn’t quite find the right words and eventually muttered, “We’re just getting to know each other.”

Getting to know each other? That was basically the same as pursuing someone. Qi Yujie saw through it but chose not to say anything outright. Instead, she raised an intrigued eyebrow. “Who is she? Tell us about her.”

Qi Xingchen also perked up his ears, curious about what kind of person Liang Jing’s potential partner was.

However, Liang Jing’s response nearly made him drop his bowl.

“She’s my patient’s older sister,” Liang Jing paused for a moment, “and she’s also an actress.”

…Patient’s older sister… Actress…

Qi Xingchen’s mind buzzed loudly, drowning out whatever Qi Yujie had been about to say next. In disbelief, he blurted out, “Are you talking about… Tao Tao-jie?”

A long fifteen seconds of silence passed before Liang Jing nodded.

Qi Xingchen slowly put down his chopsticks, tucking his hands under the tablecloth.

They were shaking. Badly.

Even though Qi Xingchen’s heart was completely filled with Bo Ye, he had still been messaging Qi Jiaze regularly, asking about the two little troublemakers.

As expected, Tao Xuan’s physical condition remained the same, but his mental state had improved. It was said that his personality had brightened a lot—sometimes he even seemed happy and could finish a big bowl of rice.

That was a good sign.

So Qi Xingchen had assumed that Liang Jing wouldn’t end up taking that step—the step of donating his kidney.

But who would’ve thought that, at some point, Liang Jing had gotten so close to Tao Tao?

In truth, if Tao Tao and Liang Jing could end up together, it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. But Qi Xingchen couldn’t shake an ominous feeling.

Even if Tao Xuan’s condition didn’t worsen in the near future, as long as Liang Jing remained involved with Tao Tao, one day, eventually, he would walk right back onto that doomed path—

Deep love. Kidney donation. Despair. Death.

…No. He had to keep a close watch on Liang Jing!

After dinner, they cleared the table and had some dessert while chatting. Eventually, Liang Jing stood up. “Thank you for the meal, Uncle Qi. Thank you, Yunxiao-ge, Yujie-jie. It’s getting late, so I should head home.”

“Alright,” Qi Yujie smiled. “Wait, I’ll walk you out.”

“No need!” Qi Xingchen interrupted, stopping her from standing up. “I’ll walk him out.”

Since it wasn’t unusual for Qi Xingchen to see Liang Jing off, Qi Yujie didn’t argue and let the two younger men leave together.

The Qi family’s courtyard was large. A brisk walk from the villa to the main gate took about five minutes, while a leisurely stroll could stretch to twenty. Qi Xingchen deliberately slowed his pace, carefully choosing his words.

“Liang Jing, when did you start liking Tao Tao-jie…? Do you remember our agreement? No matter who you fall for, you have to tell me immediately.”

After speaking, he turned his head, waiting for Liang Jing’s response.

Liang Jing said nothing.

In all their interactions, Liang Jing had never ignored him like this before. Qi Xingchen pressed, “Why aren’t you answering me?”

Instead, Liang Jing countered with a question of his own. “Do you really care?”

…Did he really care?

Qi Xingchen thought about it for a long time, but he couldn’t figure out what Liang Jing meant. He frowned in confusion. “Sorry, I don’t quite understand.”

“Don’t play dumb with me.”

Suddenly, Liang Jing turned to face him. Startled by the abrupt movement, Qi Xingchen instinctively stepped back—his heel catching on the edge of a flowerbed.

Just as he was about to fall, Liang Jing reached out and grabbed him, fingers tightening around his arm. His expression was dark as he enunciated each word carefully—

“Tell me—who exactly are you?”

_{ooohhh! Does our second lead know anything? Hmm}