Happy Winter Holidays!
Edited by: Akane, Fallen, Koi, Pierce
I decided to give Zhao Long another chance.
I asked him as he was sitting on the sofa reading the newspaper, if he had seen one of my poetry collection books. It had the poet’s autograph. It was super hard to attain it, as that poet was very prideful and lofty, I had only been able to get an audience with him by coincidence. I had originally wanted to keep it as a family heirloom to be passed down, but I didn’t think that it would go missing.
Whenever I can’t find something of mine, nine times out of ten it has something to do with Zhao Gongzi.
Zhao Gongzi didn’t even raise his head as he replied, “I haven’t seen it.”
Ten times out of ten, it had something to do with him.
If it truly had nothing to do with him, then he would have shouted that I was placing the blame on him again.
Last time, Jin Xian’er borrowed a picture album from me, and he had gotten one of my stamp collection pages stuck in the pages, then accidentally brought it back home with him. When I pleasantly asked Zhao Gongzi about it, he immediately hollered, “Laozi didn’t even know you had something like that! Whenever something of yours goes missing, you always think that Laozi was the one to get it lost!”
He really just never knows how to speak in a civil and nice manner, he really is super annoying.
This can be passed over, and other things can all be passed over, but my poetry collection must be retrieved.
I sat next to Zhao Gongzi and tried to coax him again. Yet he threw his newspaper to the side and hollered at me, “I already said I don’t know! What do you want to do, huh?! Revolt?!”
The first stage is acting cold, repressed and disdainful of everything. He acts like the high and lofty moon in the sky, not caring about anything like the solitary rabbit in the moon court.
The second stage is to lose his temper, roar and shout vehemently, and act as if he’s been deeply wronged. This is all in order to clear his name and prove his innocence(naturally, it’s to smear others’ names).
I picked up the newspaper, and put it back in his hand, then calmly said, “I don’t mean anything else by it, it’s just that the Third Young Master wants to borrow it from me, so I wanted to find it and lend it to him.”
Third Young Master is Zhao Gongzi’s eldest brother’s son, and isn’t ranked among the first hundred of Zhao Gongzi’s most disliked relatives list, which is very rare, and why I used him as an excuse.
Zhao Gongzi coldly said, “What the fuck does it have to do with me.”
He read the newspaper for half a minute more, then threw it away. He stood up and said, “I have something to do. I’m going out. I don’t want to see you, fuck, every day, in and out you have so much bullshit, just looking at you annoys me.”
The third stage: escape.
That day on my eighteenth birthday, I shouldn’t have had any alcohol in the first place.
Since the thing was lost by Zhao Gongzi, even if I feel antsy, there’s no use. So I just decided to stop looking for now and read another book.
Just as I’d flipped through a few pages, I received a call from Hao Da. His voice sounded very urgent, and also very mysterious. “Mister Qiu, is Zhao Gongzi there?”
“He went out.”
Hao Da released a breath. “Mr. Qiu, please please don’t tell Zhao Gongzi! Please, I beg you, save me!”
He, as before, receives the salary that Zhao Gongzi gives him. But since he works for me, I’ll obviously help him. So, I asked, “What is it?”
“I wanted to help Zhao Gongzi iron that windbreaker that he hangs up in his office, but Master Zhao Si suddenly phoned and asked about some company matters. I was on the phone for so long that I forgot about the iron and holes were burnt into the windbreaker!”
“Which windbreaker?” I asked.
Hao Da said, “The one that was once auctioned!”
I gently consoled him, “You’ve been working for Zhao Gongzi all these years, don’t you trust in the relationship between you two? What do you think?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Abruptly, Hao Da started panicking. “I think that I should beg you to save my life, sir!”
Itjb Xbcuhl’r qfgrbcji mbcvema kjr j yla bo j ojliegf.
That windbreaker of his was made by a foreign conman. That conman tricked him out of five hundred euros and made a…unique windbreaker that is hard to describe. I had donated that windbreaker to a charity auction, but Zhao Gongzi forced me to repurchase it.
Itjb Xbcuhl cb ibcufg agerar wf, jcv rb tf xfqa atlr qgfmlber klcvygfjxfg bo tlr ja atf mbwqjcs.
I’d known early on that that windbreaker was no good. After being kept at the company for a while, it ruined the good fengshui and Zhao Gongzi went from being the manager to a common office worker. His dad even took his office and gave it to Hao Da. The only thing is, Hao Da is sincere, but also a coward. Well, the main point is that he’s a wimp. He works in Zhao Gongzi’s office, but he doesn’t have the guts to throw out Zhao Gongzi’s things, what’s more, he would iron Zhao Gongzi’s clothes and tidy up his files.
Hao Da sounded like he was about to cry, so I could only take care of this. It counts as ‘one thing not needing to bother two masters’.
Ycmf P jgglnfv ja atf mbwqjcs, Ljb Gj lwwfvljafis mjwf eq ab wf, ygbeuta wf ab tlr boolmf jcv ibmxfv atf vbbg.
I glanced at the door, then reminded him to keep it open.
Hao Da fearfully, strickenly asked, “What if Zhao Gongzi suddenly comes to the company and sees us?”
He’s still too young, and doesn’t understand the love-hate relationship of adults.
If Zhao Gongzi suddenly came to the company, saw that the door was locked, and me and Hao Da were inside, then that would be a real situation.
Hao Da hesitated, then opened the door.
I took a look at the windbreaker. There were three thumb-sized burnt holes, so just resewing was probably not going to be enough. If we were going to save this, then we would have to get a master tailor to patch up the holes.
But this windbreaker was already ugly enough. If it was to be covered in patches, then that would be just piling more ugliness onto it, making it so ugly it blinded people’s eyes, to the point of ugliness that there was nothing uglier than it in the world.
The only way to go is to completely cut off the bottom of the jacket and redo the seaming. Luckily, this jacket was long enough, so that even once a section at the bottom was cut, it still went over the knee.
Hao Da said, “But, even that needs some time. And Zhao Gongzi is wearing this coat out tonight.”
“Where is he wearing this to?”
“Tonight, Zhao Gongzi is going with Young General Huo to watch Boss Jin’s new play.”
Young General Huo, General Huo’s younger brother, was a strong-willed and determined man and was also a gentleman. Others shoot a bullseye from a hundred steps away, he shoots the hearts of maidens and young men from a hundred steps away, his rakish charms and Casanova manner were comparable to Master Zhao Si. That’s why Zhao Gongzi doesn’t let me near him.
Zhao Gongzi worries too much, the one I like is Young General Huo’s oldest nephew, who is also General Huo’s eldest son. He is polite, gentle and refined: a true gentleman. When he smiles, it is like the blooming flowers of spring. Last month I heard San Ge say that he saw him in the capital during □□.
Oh, General Huo’s eldest son also ran away to the capital, for their freedom, for their dreams, for their passion, for their beliefs.
He and San Ge are all waiting for me.
I sighed.
Hao Da noticed and nervously asked, “What is it?”
I replied, “Nothing. How about this, I’ll take the coat with me. If Zhao Gongzi asks you, you can just tell him that I took it out to wear.”
Hao Da tearfully said, “Thank you, Mr. Qiu, I have nothing to repay great kindness with, so ——”
I stopped him from continuing with the ‘paying gratitude with my body’ that ended that sentence, and just said, “I also have something I need your help with.”
In truth, this was something that Master Zhao Si asked me to help him with. He had mistakenly gifted a pair of diamond earrings, that were originally meant for Thirteenth Madame, to Miss Bao instead. Miss Bao was the young lady that he was currently dating.
Originally this was just a pair of earrings and wasn’t much. However, Thirteenth Madame heard rumours that Master Zhao Si had bought a pair of earrings for a huge sum, and had professed in public that he was going to gift these earrings to the woman he loved the most.
What was even more of a coincidence, was that Miss Bao had arrived very late to that night’s mahjong group meeting. Her hair was piled high up on her head in a fashionable updo, and apart from that pair of diamond earrings, she had worn no other accessories.
There was nothing more coincidental, as Master Zhao Si and the mayor had gone there to discuss business matters, and chanced upon this scene.
In front of everyone, Master Zhao Si joked with the mayor without a hint of nerves or discomfort, “What a coincidence, it looks so much like the pair of earrings I bought, it’s a type of fate too.”
Young Miss Bao softly smiled.
Thirteenth Madame also smiled softly.
Afterwards, Master Zhao Si told me, “Reporters got photos of you and that young constable from the police station, the one called Huo whatever, and sent those photos to me. I obviously know that you and him are only old classmates, and were just out for a meal. That’s why I didn’t ask for any explanation, otherwise if Zhao Long were to know of this, he’d throw a tantrum.”
Under the weight of Master Zhao Si’s threat, the matter of recovering the earrings became my problem.
And now, I was going to make it Hao Da’s problem.
Hao Da asked me, puzzled, “What should I do?”
I enlightened him, “You go and beg Uncle Da Li for his help. He’s your uncle, so he’ll definitely help you.”
“How should my uncle help?” Hao Da asked.
I replied, “All you need to say is that Master Zhao Si entrusted the earrings to Zhao Gongzi’s care, then Zhao Gongzi gave them to you to hold onto. However, you accidentally made a mistake and somehow the earrings ended up in Miss Bao’s residence. And now, Master Zhao Si is angry, Zhao Gongzi is angry as well, so you have to ask Uncle Da Li to steal the earrings back.”
The reason why we must get Uncle Da Li to steal the earrings, is because Uncle Da Li’s wife is Miss Bao’s mother’s poker friend, and so it would be easier for him to do it.
Hao Da doubtfully asked, “Why doesn’t Master Zhao Si just go directly to my uncle and tell him to do this?”
This dumb kid.
Of course, that’s because Uncle Da Li is Thirteenth Madame’s sworn brother.
Do you think that Master Zhao Si would trust him with something as big as this?
The only thing that can make Uncle Da Li help keep this under wraps, is to drag Hao Da into this. Since the responsibility for this was placed on Hao Da’s shoulders, Uncle Da Li would, for the sake of this nephew, keep his mouth sealed and get the matter resolved.
Hao Da nodded; he’d agreed.
That night, when Zhao Gongzi came home he asked me, “You wore my jacket?”
I said, “I accompanied a customer at the European bank out on a trip, and on the way I dirtied my coat. Since I just so happened to be near your company, I went in and borrowed your coat.”
“Oh.”
Then I said, “Unfortunately, it was too long and made me trip. In the future I’d better not wear it, today I tripped twice.”
Zhao Gongzi cursed at me, “Fuck, are you a kid? You can still trip from just walking? Where did you get hurt? Fuck, all you do is embarrass me every day. Where did you get injured?”
“I hit my calf, help me apply some salve.”
As Zhao Gongzi got out the medicine, he swore at me, “Fuck, all you know is how to order me around, why don’t you not trip?”
“The fault lies with that jacket of yours.”
He hollered at me, “Everything is Laozi’s fault! Did Laozi make you fall?”
I didn’t say anything to that.
As he helped me apply ointment, he asked me, “Where’s Laozi’s jacket? You didn’t make up another excuse just to throw it away again did you? Fuck, your leg doesn’t even have any bruises or cuts, you’re tricking Laozi again, aren’t you?”
I replied, “I fell with my clothes on. Of course, I don’t have any cuts or bruises. It’s not like I’m a prince, my skin’s tough and thick, otherwise, what, would I be able to feel a pea underneath thirteen mattresses?
As Zhao Gongzi continued helping me apply ointment, he shouted at me, “Fuck, what nonsense are you spouting again? You’re insulting me, aren’t you? Fuck, every time you say stuff that Laozi can’t understand, it always seems like you’re insulting me!”
This bad habit of his of being suspicious of everything really needs to be fixed.
I said, “Although I wasn’t hurt in the fall, the coat was torn, so I took it to the tailors to be mended. I knew you’d be angry, you can beat me to death.”
Zhao Gongzi hollered at me, “Is Laozi so poor that Laozi would beat you to death over a shitty coat? What the fuck do you take me for? Fuck! Has Laozi ever not given you enough to eat and wear? Has Laozi hit you before? Shit! You want to run away with someone again, don’t you?! That’s why you’re slandering Laozi! Who is it this time?!”
“Keep rubbing the ointment in.” I said.
While Zhao Gongzi continued rubbing the ointment in, he shouted at me, “Fuck you!!!”
Two days later, Hao Da got that pair of diamond earrings from Uncle Da Li, and I handed the diamond earrings to Master Zhao Si.
One week later, Zhao Gongzi claimed to have found my poetry book from under the bedsheets and threw a huge temper tantrum. When I asked him why I didn’t see my poetry book two days ago when I changed the bedsheet for washing, he savagely threw a pillow on the ground. Then he said that I was being unreasonable and petulant, he wasn’t going to go along with me, and was going to go out and take a walk to settle his emotions, and ‘see no evil’, as seeing me made him irritated.
Zhao Gongzi’s journal:
Jin Xian’er knows that whatever poet and Laozi got him to get another autographed copy.
But now Laozi’s got to help Jin Xian’er with getting free of Huo Feng’s courtship.
Fuck, Laozi’s the one who got Huo Feng to go pursue him in the first place.
The author has something to say:
Huo Feng is Young General Huo
Rinrin: tricky Xiao Long hhhhh. Congrats on the new nickname, Pea Princess Zhao Long hhhh. And now Jin Xian’er’ got his cp (boyfriend)
Akane: wow this relationship diagram is expanding and intensifying
Koi: All I’ve learned from this novel is how chaotic Xiao Long can be
everyone is super chaotic in this
thanks for the chapter <3
Hahaha these two, why are they like this 😂
every new thing I learn about these two makes me wanna curse too 🤭
thanks for the chapter!
Bro I can’t keep up with all these relationships 😂😂 do I need to make a timeline chart with red string!??