Gu Xie handed over a large bag of potato chips to Gu Qingchi and Mrs. Gu, both of which were sitting on the sofa. He had already opened the chips.
Gu Qingchi took it and gave it to Mrs. Gu, who was busy typing.
“Chi Chi, be good and have some yourself. Make sure not to eat too much since you still need to eat dinner later.”
Gu Qingchi held the bag in his arms, munching on potato chips as he chatted with Xie Luyu.
[How come you’re in your fan club? Isn’t there a rule against that?]
Xie Luyu quickly replied with a long string of words. Gu Qingchi didn’t know how he was able to type so quickly.
[I’m talking about your fan club, but I could get into my own fan club if I wanted to. It’s easy if I use a side account. I actually joined my own fan club when I was younger, but it wasn’t that interesting. Those fans were no good. They couldn’t beat me in an argument at all.]
Gu Qingchi silently expressed his condolences for Xie Luyu’s fans and brought them back on topic. He typed slowly. Xie Luyu could send three or four messages in the time it took him to send one.
[Did you get into a fight with someone else?]
Xie Luyu clicked his tongue and sent Gu Qingchi a series of voice messages.
[It’s not really a fight. I was just teasing this little girl. Girls these days are super wild and don’t know the rules. She’s even calling herself your mom. It’s fun to mess with her. I’ll be done with her soon.]
Immediately after this voice message was sent, Mrs. Gu jumped up and threw her phone on the coffee table. She stomped her feet on the carpet a few times, seeming very annoyed.
“Arrrgh!”
Gu Qingchi subconsciously clicked play on the voice message.
Gu Qingchi’s phone volume was turned all the way up. Xie Luyu’s voice then proceeded to ring out into the room.
Mrs. Gu looked at Gu Qingchi, and Gu Qingchi looked back at Mrs. Gu. He even stopped chewing the chips in his mouth.
Mrs. Gu stretched out her hand. Gu Qingchi sensibly handed the phone over to Mrs. Gu.
Mrs. Gu replied with a voice message, her voice gentle.
[Xiao Xie’s going to teach me the rules. Is that it?]
Xie Luyu received the message. He happily clicked on the voice note, eager to hear Xiao Gu’s voice.
He almost fell down to his knees after hearing it.
[Mom — wait, no — Mrs. Gu, I’m not — I didn’t — I was just — ]
His words were a jumbled mess, which was indicative of his scrambled mood at the moment.
Soon after, he was then met with a red exclamation mark.
He slammed his head into the throw pillow on the sofa and let out a groan.
Mrs. Gu earnestly warned Gu Qingchi.
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.
“Make sure to wait at least six hours before accepting his friend request.”
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Mrs. Gu couldn’t help but advise him once more.
“I’m not opposed to you dating, but you still need to lay down some ground rules. I don’t want you to get fooled by some guy.”
Mrs. Gu was very worried. He hadn’t even gotten his foot in the door, yet he was already calling her Mom. He must feel like he already has Xiao Chi in his grasp, doesn’t he? Xiao Chi, that silly boy of hers, would be willing to do anything as long as he was coaxed.
She gave him yet another heads up.
Gu Qingchi solemnly nodded his head.
Gu Qingchi, true to his word, did not accept Xie Luyu’s friend request right away. Instead, he sent a text message from his phone to Xie Luyu.
[Mom told me not to accept your friend request until six hours have passed. I have to wait until evening.]
Gu Qingchi had never texted Xie Luyu from this number before. Usually, the two of them chatted with each other through WeChat. Gu Qingchi’s message just now was the only one on the chat interface.
Xie Luyu sent a crying emoji.
[How is she feeling?]
Gu Qingchi answered truthfully.
[She almost smashed her phone just now.]
[She also set a curfew for me. I have to be home by nine o’clock from now on.]
Xie Luyu was worried. Still, he didn’t forget to remind the other about his doctor appointment, even though he was fairly sure his family wouldn’t forget about it.
[I’m going to reflect on myself. Make sure you go to your appointment today.]
⁂
Mrs. Gu was a solo stan, and everyone in the group pretty much knew of her. She had made a name for herself from the beginning because she’d bought a ton of posters of Gu Qingchi. It was truly a massive number of posters. If anyone else wanted one, she would send them a copy. Official merchandise was always super expensive, so this move had the entire chat singing her praises for almost half a month.
Much later, she became somewhat of a mascot for the group because she was just too cute.
She didn’t know a lot of fandom terminology. Most of the time, she would simply copy whatever everyone else was doing or saying, and she had a tendency to get overly serious about things.
One of the members shared a photo of Gu Qingchi. She jokingly said that he had a silly looking vibe here.
Mrs. Gu would earnesty reply that he wasn’t silly. He just hadn’t woken up yet, so he looked a little silly.
Others complained that they felt like they had no presence as fans of Gu Qingchi. Gu Qingchi hadn’t updated his social media in a year. It was almost as if they were following an inactive account.
Mrs. Gu would earnestly reply that he was very busy. Surfing the web wasn’t good for his eyes. Moreover, Gu Qingchi was an actor, so he needed to focus on filming.
Everyone in the group liked to tease her.
Meanwhile, Xie Luyu was one of the original members of the fan club. He was a long-time fan. He was even one of the moderators of the group, so he had quite a bit of prestige among them. He was often digging up a bunch of photos and edits of Gu Qingchi.
Usually, the two of them would log on at different times of the day. One logged on during the day and the other at night, so they had never really run into each other.
The conflict between them started when Xie Luyu reposted a video under a very striking screen name — Chi Chi’s Husband.
This name struck Mrs. Gu’s sensitive nerves. Chi Chi had only just returned to her side not too long ago, and he was still so young.
She then started an argument with Xie Luyu over the issue of his screen name.
Mrs. Gu wasn’t very good at arguing with others, so she kept repeating the same few talking points.
[It isn’t very good for Chi Chi since you aren’t actually in a relationship with Chi Chi. What if someone misunderstands you? Why don’t you change your name to something else?]
[I think Chi Chi Is The Best would make a good name.]
Xie Luyu was utterly unconvinced.
[Your screen name is Chi Chi’s Mom. Why should I be the one to change?]
[I’m not the one saying this, but don’t you think you’re being a little hypocritical? It’s okay for you to do it, but it’s not okay for me, right?]
In the beginning, there was a bit of tension, but, as the argument progressed, it deteriorated into a schoolyard fight between preschoolers.
One will say you can’t do that, and the other will say I’m not listening.
The two of them bickered back and forth for nearly a hundred messages. The other members tried to stop them, but nothing worked. Seeing as how the argument wasn’t too heated, they decided to just sit back and enjoy the show, watching as the moderator teased their group mascot.
Xie Luyu had always been reasonable and quick-spoken. Mrs. Gu quickly began losing the advantage.
The conversation was interesting, so everyone was rather happy. They all began comforting their group mascot, telling her that this kind of screen name wasn’t a big deal. It was common within fandom spaces! No one would take it seriously. It wouldn’t cause a bad influence for Chi Chi.
After a little while, Xie Luyu quietly changed his screen name. He changed it to the name that Mrs. Gu had suggested earlier — Chi Chi Is The Best.
Afterwards, he sent an incredibly long self reflection to the group chat, claiming that he was reviewing his inappropriate behavior.
It was plain to see that this self reflection had not been copied off the internet but rather typed out word by word.
Xie Luyu even gifted Mrs. Gu with the role of moderator.
All the onlookers were puzzled.
[What’s going on? What’s with the sudden boot-licking?]
[Have you discovered that Chi Chi’s Mom is actually super rich? No, aren’t you also rich enough to drive a different car every month?]
[Wow. What a cruel world we live in.]
Gu Qingchi had also seen these messages and laughed to himself for quite a while, wondering how the other could be so cute. Gu Xie, having kept an eye on the time, finally interrupted him by calling for him to see the doctor.
It was much too warm lately, so Gu Qingchi was only wearing a pair of sunglasses. He put his hands in his pockets and went tap, tap, tap up the stairs of the clinic. Gu Xie was right on his heels, going up the stairs two at a time. Then, he heard the sound of a camera shutter. The two of them turned around and saw someone awkwardly wave at them.
She gestured at the phone in her hands, hoping for another picture.
Gu Qingchi nodded. He turned around, trying to express as much goodwill as possible.
Gu Xie also turned around and asked him a question.
“Is it alright for her to take photos? Should we ask her not to post it online?”
“It’s okay. It’s not a big deal even if it gets online.”
This photo was uploaded to Weibo. The person who posted wasn’t a fan of Gu Qingchi’s, but she was still thrilled to run into celebrity.
It was a very good shot. Gu Qingchi was positioned towards the top. He’d deliberately removed his sunglasses and held them in his hands. He was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt. It had two slits at the shoulders, revealing a small sliver of skin. It also had an eye-catching pattern printed upon its chest. His pants were ripped jeans. Gu Qingchi was capable of pulling off any style of clothing, so his styling team tended to outfit him in clothes that draw attention and have a strong sense of style in order to leave an impression.
Gu Xie stood a few steps below him with his hands in his pockets. He was wearing a black suit, his entire person looking very sharp.
The two of them had entirely different styles. They seemed as though they shouldn’t have intersected, but, now, they were standing side by side, creating a strong sense of contrast.
[I’m so lucky! I ran into both Gu Xie and Gu Qingchi. Gu Qingchi was so nice. He even took off his sunglasses for the picture. I took the photo casually with my cell phone, but he looks even prettier in real life!]
Since this was the only photo of both Gu Xie and Gu Qingchi, the photo ended up spreading quite far.
[So good looking. I’m willing to bet he doesn’t even have a photo retoucher on his team.]
[He does have a photo retoucher, and they’re a professional too. However, I think his photo retoucher is probably pretty idle most of the time. I remember seeing a post from his photo retoucher. He was complaining that he was basically a colorist since the only thing required of him was to edit the colors.]
[Gu Qingchi’s brother is so handsome! He’s going to represent every domineering president from now on.]
[His brother is actually more like his father. Mr. Gu is a crazy good looking person. Mrs. Gu is also insanely beautiful. Chi Chi takes more after his mother. Gu Qingchi is the product of two crazy good looking people.]
[Is no one else curious as to why they’re there? I live near that place. It’s a super expensive clinic! Most of the doctors there are experts from abroad. I used to work there to practice my foreign languages skills. My sister, who studies psychiatry, was picking me up one time and discovered that everyone there is a big shot in their field.]
[I bet you’re super rich then. Land in that area is worth its weight in gold.]
[I could’ve told you that. I thought you guys were from Beijing. How could land there be anything less than expensive?]
[No, no, no, real estate in that area is super expensive, even for Beijing.]
Soon after, the topic of conversation turned towards housing prices in Beijing.
⁂
Some of the pictures from the photoshoot were published in magazines, some were printed in commercial brochures, and some were selected to be released online.
Immediately after its release, they then began spreading into China.
Gu Qingchi’s fans lapped it up, practically worshiping the expensive clothes or jewelry that he was wearing while they were at it.
[I love the demon king! He’s so smart for choosing a crop top for Chi Chi!]
[Have you guys noticed? Chi Chi is wearing heels in the twelfth photo! His heels and ankles are so sexy! I can’t do it! I’m gonna die!]
[Haha, that photo was also in the magazine. I ended up getting influenced by it and bought the heels. The heels aren’t easy to wear. They rub at my heels so much that I’m practically limping my way home.]
[Ahhh. Alan’s shoes are always like that, beautiful to look at yet painful to wear.]
[Have any of you guys noticed that he’s almost always wearing an accessory on his wrist? In pretty much every photo with a short sleeved shirt, he’s wearing some sort of accessory.]
Mommy Gu and Xie Luyu will never reconcile in this life lmao😭
Thanks for the update!
I seriously love their banter!! 😂
Thanks for the update!!
Thank you for the update!
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
I giggled so much in this chapter.
Thx for the ch ٩( >ヮ<)۶
Forgot a typo D:
».. Surfing the web wasn’t good for his eyes.« surfing
Thank You for the new chapter ♡⃛ ヾ(๑❛ ▿ ◠๑ )
mom vs son in law arguments will never get old. xD HAHAHA.
I don’t think I will notice it that much just based on one photoshoot that he ips wearing accessories huhuhuhuhuhu