After My Rebirth, My Husband Pampers Me Everyday!

Chapter 160: SOMETHING YOU LOVE DOING

Peng Guoqing looked down at the cheque. His shoulders dropped, and he bent forward and wept. It was the release of a man who had carried something heavy for two weeks and could finally set it down.

"Thank you, Mr. Liu. Thank you."

Guiying placed a hand on his shoulder and helped him stand upright. He folded four bills into Peng Guoqing’s free hand.

"There is no need for that display. Take this for your ride home tonight. Look after yourself as well as Xiao Mei, because she needs you healthy."

Peng Guoqing could not speak. He bowed once, deeply, and walked back to the car.

Guiying and Liuxian watched the tail lights disappear through the gates.

Guiying turned to Liuxian and held up two fingers, a centimeter apart.

"You were this close to sleeping in a hotel tonight."

He smiled in his usual pleasant way and walked into the house.

Liuxian stood in the driveway for a moment. He understood that it had not been a joke, so he followed Guiying inside.

Guiying had barely taken off his shoes when his phone buzzed in his pocket.

He pulled it out and saw Jiang Wenxi’s name on the screen.

He opened the message in the entrance hall and read every line carefully.

Mr. Tang,

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to confirm that this Friday will be your final shoot for the collection. It has been a privilege working with you these past weeks. Your professionalism, your instincts in front of the camera, and the ease with which you carried every look have made this collection something we are genuinely proud of.

Regarding remuneration, your full payment will be processed and transferred to you by end of day Friday, after the shoot. A complimentary copy of the complete collection will be delivered to your registered address on Saturday.

I also extend a formal invitation to our collection showcase party next Wednesday evening. As our honoured model for this collection, your presence would mean a great deal to us and to the TongShu team.

We hope to have the opportunity to work with you again in the near future.

Warm regards,

Jiang Wenxi

Head Designer, TongShu

Guiying finished reading and returned to the last line of the message.

"We hope to have the opportunity to work with you again in the near future."

The warmth of the evening and the memory of dinner moved to the background of his mind.

A quiet tightness settled in his chest and stayed there without explanation.

He locked the phone and placed it back in his pocket without delay.

Friday would be the last shoot for the collection.

After that day, his work with TongShu would be finished.

This arrangement was only meant to be a cover for Tang XiaoYu’s identity.

Somewhere along the way, the work itself had become something he valued.

He had not noticed the change until this message made it clear.

He stood in the quiet entrance hall and listened to the house around him.

Liuxian came in behind him and looked at his face directly.

"Good news?" Liuxian asked in a normal tone.

Guiying met his gaze and kept his expression steady.

The ache in his chest was quiet and private, and he did not intend to explain it.

"Something like that," he said, and walked upstairs.

His room was quiet when he pushed the door open. The lamp on the side table was already on, casting warm light across the floor, and the curtains were drawn against the city outside.

He changed out of his clothes slowly, folding the houndstooth shirt over the chair with care. When he sat on the edge of the bed, his phone buzzed with a new message. Shao Mingye had sent through today’s photos.

Guiying opened the gallery and moved through the images frame by frame. Despite everything that had happened today. Shao Mingye had captured something in every frame that neither of them had been consciously giving.

The tension between Guiying and Quinn translated on camera into something electric and deliberate. It showed two people who occupied the same space with a clear awareness of each other, and it looked intentional, even artistic.

Guiying paused on a frame where Quinn was captured mid-turn while he himself was looking slightly past the camera. The cherry blossom ceiling in the background caught the light at the exact angle that made the shot stand out. Looking at it, he recognized the complicated and irritating reality that this was some of the best work he had ever been part of.

He locked his phone and sat on the edge of the bed for a moment while the house remained quiet around him. The ache he had felt in the entrance hall returned stronger now, settling heavier in his chest than it had downstairs. There was only one more shoot left, and after Friday it would be over. Shao Mingye would move on. Bai Zichen would find someone new to focus on. TongShu would continue without him. He would return to being Tang XiaoYu, an art collector who invested quietly in things, which had always been the plan.

Somewhere along the way, however, the plan had developed a feeling he had not accounted for. Now that feeling sat in his chest like something he did not know how to put down.

He stood up, walked out of his room and down the corridor, and knocked once on Liuxian’s door before pushing it open. Liuxian was at his desk in his shirt with his jacket off, reading something on his laptop, and he looked up immediately when Guiying entered.

Guiying crossed the room without speaking, climbed onto the bed behind him, and sat quietly. Liuxian closed the laptop, turned around, and looked at Guiying’s face. He recognized the particular quality of his silence. Without asking any questions, he moved to sit beside him and opened his arm. Guiying leaned into him and let out a long, slow breath.

After a moment, Guiying said, "The shoot is ending. Friday is the last one. I didn’t think it would bother me, but it does. And I don’t entirely understand why."

Liuxian did not answer right away. He held Guiying and moved his hand slowly against his arm while letting the words settle between them. Then he said quietly, "That’s because it’s something you love doing."