Blazing fire is hard to extinguish chapter 69
Extra If Line: Personal Nurturing 9
The ceremony ended, and it was only natural for Lin Chi to go celebrate with his classmates.
Not the kind where Li Tingyan would tag along.
Xi Zhiwen, however, would follow. Although he wasn’t from Lin Chi’s school, he often visited to hang out with Lin Chi and was quite familiar with Lin Chi’s classmates.
“We’re not sure how late we’ll be,” Lin Chi said naturally, tossing his bag into Li Tingyan’s car, “but it won’t be too crazy. Everyone just graduated from the college entrance exam and wants to relax. I’ll head back on my own, and Xi Zhiwen will be with me, so don’t worry.”
Li Tingyan understood perfectly.
It meant Lin Chi didn’t want him to interfere.
He raised his eyebrows, somewhat displeased.
But Lin Chi was eighteen now, having just finished his college entrance exam. Wanting to party with friends was completely normal.
When he was eighteen, he wasn’t as well-behaved as Lin Chi was now, and he had done plenty of rebellious things.
“Alright,” He finally relented but still gave a typical worried parent’s warning, “just don’t come back too late.”
Lin Chi shrugged, not sure if he even heard the words, and turned back to continue chatting with his classmates.
Standing outside the car, Li Tingyan frowned, watching the girl talking to Lin Chi.
She was quite pretty for a high schooler—fair-skinned, with a bright face, wearing a plaid skirt and a high ponytail. The kind of girl boys would eagerly pursue.
But she looked at Lin Chi with smiling eyes and even handed him her water.
Even if Li Tingyan wasn’t blind, he could clearly see that she liked him.
This left him with a somewhat unreadable expression.
Even though Lin Chi was already over 180 cm tall, with long legs, broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and increasingly defined facial features—if he wore a suit, he could almost pass for an adult.
But in Li Tingyan’s eyes, he was still the same cautious, thin boy from over three years ago, who had come into his life.
Alert, fragile.
Like a wild little leopard, hard to approach but pitifully small when held.
He still couldn’t get used to the fact that Lin Chi had grown up, that he was now attracting the attention of his peers, who were all vying for his affection.
And there were quite a few of them.
In the twenty minutes he stood there, wave after wave came to find Lin Chi.
Maybe because he wasn’t a parent, the high schoolers were bold, paying no attention to his presence. Some, brashly, even confessed their feelings to Lin Chi, saying they didn’t want to leave any regrets behind.
And it wasn’t just girls.
There were boys, too.
Li Tingyan didn’t intervene, because Lin Chi politely rejected them all.
But as he watched the boy who had been turned down run away, he blinked softly.
He thought, today’s high school students sure are daring and open-minded.
People around were making a fuss, but everyone seemed calm. No one objected to the fact that a boy liked Lin Chi.
Some even teased Lin Chi, saying he must be really charming, and joked that maybe he wanted to become a monk, since he remained so calm amidst all the advances.
Lin Chi responded with a playful punch.
“We’re leaving now.”
While Li Tingyan was lost in thought, Lin Chi ran back and said, “I’m not riding with you. We’re taking a taxi.”
Without looking back, he waved and ran off with his classmates.
A group of energetic teenagers, laughing and shoving each other playfully.
Childish.
But there was indeed something vibrant and glowing about them.
Li Tingyan kept watching until the noisy group got into a taxi and left. Only then did he turn around and leave.
“Let’s go home,” he said to the driver.
On the way, Li Tingyan rested with his eyes closed, and it wasn’t until they reached home that he remembered to ask his secretary to cancel that night’s reservation.
He had booked a rooftop French restaurant that Lin Chi really liked to celebrate his graduation and prepared a gift.
But Lin Chi had gone off with his classmates.
It wasn’t unexpected, though.
Li Tingyan changed into casual clothes and sat on the sofa, resting his chin on his hand, his expression calm, though the atmosphere around him was heavy.
He had subconsciously assumed that Lin Chi would spend the day of his graduation with him and had even prepared a surprise.
Now that he thought about it, it seemed like he had been too presumptuous.
Li Tingyan picked up the box beside him, which contained a car key.
Considering Lin Chi’s convenience when he went to university, Li Tingyan had ordered a Lamborghini for him, just waiting for him to get his driver’s license.
He took out the car key and held it in his palm, finding it weightless.
After staring at it for a moment, he disinterestedly put it back in the box and tossed it aside.
On the other side, Lin Chi was sitting in a bar, with only a low-alcohol sweet wine in front of him, but he was distracted.
Although this group of graduates wanted to party, they weren’t getting too wild and had only come to a quiet bar.
To Xi Zhiwen, it was as boring as bland porridge and vegetables. He would have preferred taking a yacht out to sea with Lin Chi.
He clinked glasses with Lin Chi and complained, “This is so dull. Is this alcohol even stronger than beer?”
Lin Chi glanced at him. “Stop whining. Weren’t you the one who insisted on coming?”
That’s true.
Xi Zhiwen shrugged and shut his mouth.
But then he nudged Lin Chi’s shoulder again, “So, what do you think about what I said before, about moving in with me?”
Lin Chi raised an eyebrow and teased, “Don’t you want to live with your Mr. Xi?”
He knew Xi Zhiwen was in a relationship with an older man.
But as for how far it had progressed, he wasn’t sure.
“Of course, I want to live with him,” Xi Zhiwen said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “I’ll live upstairs with him, and you can live downstairs. Isn’t that great?”
“……”
Lin Chi thought, “Well, thank you so much for arranging everything so neatly for me.”
He couldn’t be bothered to respond to Xi Zhiwen and continued drinking. The alcohol content was so low that it couldn’t get him drunk.
But he couldn’t help feeling a bit envious of Xi Zhiwen.
How nice.
To be in the first bloom of love, and to have the person you like, like you back.
Whether it’s a man or a woman, the other person holds your hand.
As for him, despite all his advantages, he had grown to look more and more like an adult—tall, handsome, with sharp features.
Yet he was still treated like a child by that person, someone who could be appeased with pretty gifts and chocolates.
Thinking of this made Lin Chi even more irritated, so he picked up the menu again.
“This drink is indeed too weak,” he murmured. “Give me something stronger.”
Li Tingyan waited until after midnight. Just as he was about to lose his patience, Lin Chi finally came home.
But he was drunk.
Xi Zhiwen had brought him back. Knowing how strict Li Tingyan was with Lin Chi, Xi Zhiwen felt a bit guilty when he saw Li Tingyan standing coldly at the door, glaring at him.
“He just had a few extra drinks,” Xi Zhiwen awkwardly explained, “but not too many. He should sober up in a bit.”
Li Tingyan didn’t care for his explanation. All he knew was that Lin Chi had gone out perfectly fine but returned completely intoxicated.
He took him from Xi Zhiwen’s arms.
“Thanks.”
Though it was meant as a thank-you, there was a hint of sarcasm in his tone.
“I won’t keep you, young master Xi. Be safe on your way back.”
With that, Li Tingyan gave a cold nod and carried Lin Chi back inside.
Only the butler remained, offering Xi Zhiwen an apologetic farewell.
Xi Zhiwen frowned and looked up at Lin Chi, but could only see Lin Chi’s hand resting on Li Tingyan’s shoulder.
Li Tingyan carried him back to the room.
Now that Lin Chi had developed well, he was tall and quite heavy, but Li Tingyan carried him with ease.
Lin Chi, still intoxicated, kept his eyes closed and didn’t wake up, even when Li Tingyan placed him in the bathtub.
Li Tingyan felt an indescribable annoyance.
Looking at Lin Chi’s drowsy face, he wished he could lift the little rascal up and give him a good beating.
But he had no right to say Lin Chi was misbehaving.
After all, he had been even more reckless than him once.
But that didn’t stop him from acting like a stern and rigid parent, angry that Lin Chi had slipped out of his control.
Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to do anything to him.
He reached out his hand, intending to undo Lin Chi’s clothes and give him a bath.
But just as he touched his collar and a bit of skin was revealed, Lin Chi’s face, illuminated by the light, looked perfect like a porcelain statue, lightly brushing against the back of his hand.
Li Tingyan quickly pulled his hand back as if he had been burned.