Edited by Yummers
The show finished at ten o’clock. Yuan Rui sang the title song he recorded with the other guests in front of the TV very lively, while Zheng Qiuyang watched him from the side with a smile.
Yuan Rui’s phone started ringing on the table. He took a glance and immediately stopped singing. He cleared his throat before picking up.
Li Lingling declared excitedly, “Yuan Rui, your new show’s viewing rate surpassed 2! Just with the first episode!”
“Ah…”
Li Lingling was overwhelmed, “Even the big boss watched your show! He said your performance was very good, you were awesome!”
Yuan Rui tried with great effort to remember the content he had read from the Shanghainese translation book, but nothing came to mind. Though from the tone, he could understand that Li Lingling was probably giving him many compliments.
Li Lingling didn’t stop, “The big boss said that it definitely wasn’t a wrong decision to train you to be Liang Xi’s successor. Keep working hard and putting in effort. Work hard work hard!”
“Yep yep, work hard work hard.”
Yuan Rui was actually a bit bewildered. Was the rating really that good? The ratings for his two previous shows would usually surpass the 2.0 rating as well, but the first episode’s ratings never did that well. The average rating for the show would usually be raised higher by the later episodes.
He looked at his phone with unease. He kept thinking that Li Lingling was going to call him back any moment now to inform him that the calculations were wrong.
Zheng Qiuyang saw the weird look on his face, so he asked, “What happened with your agent?”
Yuan Rui seemed completely out of it, “She-she said the viewing rate went past 2.0.”
Zheng Qiuyang was very happy for him. “That’s incredible! Just like I said, it was very good. Don’t keep that long face on, let’s get hyped! Let me go get some alcohol.”
As he left to get the drinks, Yuan Rui was still in disbelief. He picked up his phone to check the trendings again, the news of The Sparkling Friends surpassing the 2.0 rating had already come out.
Zheng Qiuyang came back with a bottle of red wine to see him laughing dumbly at his phone. He found it funny. “Baby, your reactions are so delayed.”
Yuan Rui took the wine and placed it on the tea table. He hugged Zheng Qiuyang as he smooched the other a few times, then started skipping around the tea table with his fists swinging in the air. He couldn’t help but yell, “2.0! 2.0! My one million! My one million!”
Suddenly, a neighbor opened their window to scream back, “What are you being so rowdy for?! I won five million! Stop dreaming!”
Yuan Rui, “……”
A few seconds passed, he continued skipping around while yelling in a low voice, “Ahhhhh, one million, my one million, hahahaha!”
There was nothing that could save Zheng Qiuyang from the cuteness overload. He laughed so much he almost couldn’t breathe.
Once Yuan Rui had enough, he dropped down to the sofa, letting out a thud sound. He laid his head on Zheng Qiuyang’s lap, laughing for a little longer before calming down. He spoke slowly, “The only thing is that they still haven’t paid me. The TV station only gave a deposit, I think it was like 40%, the remaining will be paid after the broadcasting is over. My company always delays its payments too, so I don’t when I’ll get my hands on it.”
Zheng Qiuyang rubbed his face, saying, “We aren’t in need of money anyway, it’s fine, it’d be the same sooner or later.”
Though inside, Yuan Rui thought, If I get my money faster, I’ll be able to open a studio for you faster! But he felt like he shouldn’t say such things so often, or else it could harm Zheng Qiuyang’s pride as a top.
Instead, he said, “Didn’t you say you want to go on a trip together? This show will be done after two more episodes. The TV station usually doesn’t film these types of outdoor stuff during the winter so I won’t get much work either, let’s go somewhere with just the two of us.”
Zheng Qiuyang had a troubled face. Recently, due to Zheng Shaoyang’s “training” under their dad’s order, he’d been busy to no end. A while later, he replied, “I don’t know if I’ll be able to have a break.”
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.
Yuan Rui was very surprised. “Did your design pass? Which series is it? The
Bewitching Forest Dream or Enchanted Droplet?”
Itfcu Hlesjcu kjr lc ugfja jkf. Tejc Eel tjv fnfc gfwfwyfgfv atf alaif bo tlr vfrlucr.
Yuan Rui kept asking, “Or is it Golden Garden?”
Itfcu Hlesjcu kjr j yla abemtfv. Lf gfqilfv njuefis, “Pa tjrc’a yffc vfmlvfv sfa, P wluta jirb wjxf j cfk rfglfr.”
“Tbeg qjra vfrlucr kfgf jigfjvs nfgs ubbv atbeut.” Tejc Eel ofia ilxf la kjr j qlas, tbkfnfg, tf ralii fcmbegjufv atf batfg, “Dea sbe mjc vfolclafis wjxf fnfc yfaafg vfrlucr!”
He took off the wine bottle’s cork before pouring two glasses of red wine. He expressed cheerfully, “Today has been such a good day, the future will be even better!”
Zheng Qiuyang clanged his cup against the other’s. “Yep, it’ll be even better.”
The Sparkling Friends was a dark horse that appeared on the battlefield of recent reality shows, for a long period of time, no other show could beat it. Suo Jianjun had even bought up the show for a bit when Yuan Rui went to visit him on Sunday. He said that a few young colleagues of his have all watched it and that their favorite guest was Yuan Rui.
Even if it was just a polite remark that may not be true, Yuan Rui was still happy just by hearing the praises.
Wednesday rolled around quickly. During the recording, everyone was in a good mood. Everyone else had received the news with greater impact as it was their first time exploding in popularity overnight. On the other hand, Yuan Rui had already experienced what it was like to become famous overnight from a reality show, especially gaining a large number of fans online.
Yuan Rui ordered milk tea delivery on his way there, there was enough for everyone in the crew. Zhao Zhengyi asked the production assistants to help him pass them out while Yuan Rui took the rest to pass them out to the guests. He handed the drink to the female artist from Taiwan with two hands, as if it was an offer.
“I only realized that you weren’t actually mad after watching the broadcast,” He said embarrassingly, “I’m very sorry. I didn’t dare to talk to you all this time.”
The female artist replied in surprise, “Really? I thought you just didn’t like me, I was so sad afterward.”
Yuan Rui instantly apologized again.
The female artist smiled though, “To be honest, ever since I came into the crew, I’ve heard a lot of people say that you had a great personality, yet you were always aloof towards me, I thought I did something wrong. But it’s all fine since it was just a misunderstanding, it’s good that we’ve resolved it.”
Yuan Rui thought, So she could be this ladylike in private. Though the moment the camera rolls, it’s like something possessed her, incredible.
With the high rating’s encouragement, everyone performed exceedingly well. The filming process also somehow went very successfully.
Once it was over, the crew proposed to go eat out together, to celebrate their 2.0 rating.
Due to that reason, Yuan Rui couldn’t refuse it either. He could only call Zheng Qiuyang to tell him that he couldn’t go home.
Zheng Qiuyang said from the other side, “I was just going to call you too, I’ve also got something to attend to.”
Yuan Rui discreetly stepped towards a less crowded place to remind him, “Don’t drink too much, you’ve been having way too much alcohol lately.”
“Mn, I’ll find a trustable designated driver.”
“It’s not only about that, it’s also not good for your body.”
“I know, I’ll drink as little as I can, the same goes for you.”
“Get home early, there’s no way I’d drink much.”
Then, past ten that night, Zhao Zhengyi dropped off a drunk Yuan Rui at his home.
Zheng Qiuyang didn’t know what to say when he opened the door.
Zhao Zhengyi’s face and neck were both red from the energy he’d put into dragging Yuan Rui upstairs. “Mr. Zheng, here you go.”
Zheng Qiuyang received Yuan Rui and said, “Thank you for the hard work, come in for a glass of water.”
Zhao Zhengyi quickly denied, “No no, I’m hurrying home too.” He hadn’t interacted with Zheng Qiuyang much, he always thought that Mr. Zheng was basically like Wang Chao. But now he thought that he seemed quite different, Wang Chao would never say something like, “come in for a glass of water”.
Zheng Qiuyang supported Yuan Rui to the bedroom, then placed him on the bed. He didn’t know what to do, oh how the tables have turned. Yuan Rui’s tolerance to alcohol wasn’t terrible, but he also wasn’t good at handling hard drinks either, just a cup will definitely make him drunk.
Yuan Rui looked at him with dazed eyes. “I’m home…”
Zheng Qiuyang helped him out of his shoes as he asked, “Yeah, do you still remember who you are?”
Yuan Rui spaced out for a while before speaking up, “Ran-Chan, I’m Shinichi.”
“……”
“Hahaha.”
“And you said you wouldn’t drink that much, look at you now.”
“I didn’t, my head’s just dizzy. Ah, we ordered Maotai, it was so expensive.”
“You ordered it?”
“Not me, it was director Yang.”
Zheng Qiuyang remembered that name, Yuan Rui had talked about her before. “She drank it with you guys?”
Yuan Rui took a really slow blink. “Not with us, it was just me and her. No one else drank it, I think. She talked to me while she drank, I couldn’t just sit there and not drink…Maotai is so expensive.”
“……”
“She really looks like my old math teacher, I accidentally called her Mrs. Wang so many times. She must’ve been upset, but I’m not afraid, I’m a one million per episode fresh meat! Hehe!”
“Let me wipe your hands and face for you.”
Yuan Rui licked his lips, saying, “Nah, Maotai is so expensive, it’d be a pity to wipe it off. Just let it do its thing.”
“……”
In the end, Zheng Qiuyang wiped Yuan Rui’s hands and face anyway. He proceeded to take off his clothes and change him into his pajamas before throwing the dirty clothes into the washer.
Yuan Rui was only quiet for a bit, then he called out again, “Qiuyang, Qiuyang, Qiuyang.”
Zheng Qiuyang could only go over and ask, “What is it now?”
Yuan Rui looked at him with a mysterious smile. “Lemme tell you a secret.”
Zheng Qiuyang coaxed him, “You’re a one million per episode fresh meat, I know.”
“Not that.”
He chuckled a little more, then said, “Before, I used to dream of my mom every night.”
“……”
Yuan Rui continued with a smile, “She told me, she will always stay with me.”
Zheng Qiuyang’s heart ached a bit, he helped adjust the blanket on top of Yuan Rui. “Go to sleep, you’ll see her once you go to sleep.”
Yuan Rui sniffed his nose. “She hasn’t come for a long time.”
Zheng Qiuyang comforted him gently, “She might be too busy lately.”
Yuan Rui shook his head. “No, I have you now, so she stopped coming.”
“……”
“After I got together with you, I told her, I love this person so much.”
“Mom told me, ‘Then love him with all you have, give him all the best things.’”
“She said, ‘Don’t be scared off by the short meeting. With efforts, every moment will be everlasting.’”
“She also said that she won’t stay with me anymore.”
“Because I am no longer alone.”
When Yuan Rui woke up the next morning, he felt like his brain was about to burst. He nudged on Zheng Qiuyang, who was still in a slumber. “Wake up, you’re going to be late.”
Zheng Qiuyang sat up slowly, the two made eye contact, each with a bird’s nest on their heads.
Yuan Rui questioned first, “Why are your eyes swollen?”
“……”
Yuan Rui tried to joke with him, “Did you cry in secret last night?”
“Yeah.”
“……”
Zheng Qiuyang didn’t want to mention what Yuan Rui had said last night as he didn’t want it to sadden him again, so he said, “You kept rambling over another man when you were drunk, I was so mad I cried until midnight.”
Yuan Rui’s eyes widened in bewilderment, “Who—who did I ramble about?”
Zheng Qiuyang gave him a side-eye look, putting on a full acting face. “What do you think?”
Yuan Rui said timidly, “Was it Bai Tu? Or Tomas? Or… could it be Wang Qi?”
“……”
He almost started bawling again.
T/N: WAAAHHHHH ADJFASK Yuan Rui talking about her mom was alskdjflaskfj, anyway here’s the AD clip, it really tugged on my heart:
There’s no audio clip :((
but Yuan Rui saying his mom wont be coming around anymore because he is no longer alone made me tear up. Our poor silly boy! and ZQ crying too. wuwuwu
thanks for the chapter! <3
my bad, i’ve been busy lately and all the recent chapters were scheduled ahead of time, i’m gonna try to get all the AD clips i wanted to edit as soon as possible and upload them 😅 esp this one ajsjjdjd
Fock me heart wasn’t ready for that. It wasn’t ready at all.
+1
+2
His mom must be as precious as him 😭😭😭
Thank you for the chapter ❤️
❤❤❤❤
Ah Yuan Rui is too precious ❤️❤️
Thanks for the chapter!
He really said “which one?”
So cute and dumb ah. I just want to hug the silliness out of him. Thank you for your hard work
thanks for the chapter!
Literal tears. Him talking about his mom was so sweet ;-;
Rui dreaming of his mom but it when Qiuyang went into his life almost had me crying, but that end made me laugh 😂😂
But it stopped*