The Sickly Green Tea Prince Lied and Said He Loved Him

Xuncheng has springlike weather all year round. It never snows.

Yet Bo Xingye was frail and sickly, like a thin layer of snow that might scatter at the slightest gust of wind.

Bo Xingye had a pitifully lovely look about him. He gazed at Qi Yu with pleading black eyes, the corners of his eyes tinged with color.

"Qi Yu," Bo Xingye said, his voice so hoarse it was barely recognizable. "Don't leave me."

Qi Yu looked down at the fluffy black head nestled motionless against his chest and fell silent for a long while. "I can't leave you."

No one doubted that he was so fragile.

Not even Qi Yu.

1.

At first, Qi Yu felt nothing but sympathy.

Bo Xingye's act was flawless. When he was bullied, he kept quiet. When he was unwell, he looked pitiful and insisted he was fine. In front of Qi Yu, he was always obedient, frail, and sickly, a picture of vulnerability.

The young master was completely out of place in those grimy alleys, yet he risked his own safety to help Qi Yu deal with trouble.

At a sports meet filled with roaring crowds and fluttering flags, he found a way to express his hidden feelings.

Then, under Qi Yu's gaze, he went limp in his arms. Bo Xingye's voice was muffled against Qi Yu's shoulder as he mumbled, "I'm dirty... I'm sorry..."

His instinctive guilt tugged at the heartstrings.

Qi Yu's heart softened. He brought him breakfast without fail, fed him his bitter medicine one spoonful at a time, and coaxed him with candy, one piece at a time.

He willingly accepted what seemed like Bo Xingye's sincere affection.

2.

Until the possessiveness hidden beneath that gentleness became the sweetest cage between lovers.

Qi Yu's genuine feelings had been used as a bargaining chip, and he'd been fooled every which way. The harsh words slipped out before he could stop them. "Bo Xingye, you're disgusting."

Bo Xingye's composure fell apart. Panicking, he said, "Don't go."

What a hunter fears most isn't prey that's too clever. It's prey that has become his weakness.

Bo Xingye had painstakingly laid a trap, a net with no escape, and ended up ensnaring himself as well.

3.

He knew exactly what was going on, but he couldn't control his feelings.

He remembered the deception of the nightmare that invaded his dreams perfectly well. But when Bo Xingye furrowed his brow, pressed a hand to his chest, and called out hoarsely, "Qi Yu, I don't feel well..."

Qi Yu stopped in his tracks. A clear crack appeared in his icy exterior.

Reason told him to turn and walk away, but his heart couldn't stop lingering over the man who was pretending to be weak.

So Qi Yu turned back and saw Bo Xingye's pale lips, the light sweat on his forehead, and his rapidly flaring nostrils. In short, shallow breaths, he said, "I can't breathe."

Qi Yu cursed himself for falling for the same trick over and over, but still walked over and comforted him more deftly than anyone.

He was torn back and forth, caught between wariness and reluctance to let go.

4.

The one who was acting fell in love first.

Beneath the false facade, a burning, genuine obsession took root.

Later, after a long separation, the decisive, no-nonsense Mr. Bo at work would take off his mask around Qi Yu, flustered and helpless as he learned how to love someone. His feigned weakness, once used to win Qi Yu's affection, now carried genuine fear. He would plead pitifully, "Qi Yu, please save me... I beg you."

"Hold me, okay?"

"Baby, can I kiss you?"

Qi Yu was trapped between love and hate. The lies he'd suffered stood between them, and though the pain remained, he couldn't bear to let go.

Even when he ignored Bo Xingye's hints that he wanted a kiss, whenever Bo Xingye had an attack, Qi Yu would immediately pull him into his arms, rub his back, and soothe him.

The pain was real. His obsession had only been the clumsy way a boy who didn't know how to love had tried to show it.

Scheming, sickly, seemingly gentle top X short-tempered, sharp-tongued, soft-hearted bottom

Bo Xingye (top) X Qi Yu (bottom)

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