Edited by Yummers
Zheng Qiuyang notified him before leaving, “I might be busy tonight and won’t make it back for dinner.”
Yuan Rui was holding up his jacket for him to put on as he said, “You’ve been so busy lately.”
Zheng Qiuyang sighed. “My dad wants my brother to train me a little, he never gives me any actual work. The moment work is over, he brings me along to business dinners. Although his wife is almost about to go into labor, he’s never home. It was bad enough that he’s out to get drunk in a field of flowers, but he’s also dragging me everywhere with him.”
Yuan Rui was shocked, “Ah? That’s so sad for your sister-in-law…you guys also hire prostitutes at business dinners?”
“…Field of flowers is figurative language.”
Yuan Rui let out a relieved breath. “Oh, so you guys don’t, that scared me. Then I’ll ask Fang Shiqing if he wants to eat hotpot together tonight.”
“Alright, don’t get home too late.”
As he pressed the elevator button, Yuan Rui poked his head out of the doorframe to say, “Don’t drink too much—also, don’t pick any flowers.”
Zheng Qiuyang gave him a middle finger from inside the elevator.
Yuan Rui waited until he was out of sight to close the door properly. He first washed the utensils they had used for breakfast, then went back on the bed to play with his phone since his head was still hurting a bit from drinking so much the night before. Gradually, he fell asleep while playing on his phone. By the time he woke up, it was already noon. He dialed Fang Shiqing’s number, asking him to go eat hotpot together later tonight.
But Fang Shiqing couldn’t comply. “I can’t, Wang Qi’s parents are here, I need to go home and eat with them tonight,” he said.
“Are they going to stay for a while or is it just a one-time visit?”
“They’re going to stay here for a few days. I’ll invite you out when they leave.”
Yuan Rui could only agree, “Alright.”
“Let me carefully study the ways to please my in-laws and then I’ll go teach you.”
Yuan Rui, “……”
He said, “Just don’t make them mad. You don’t need to teach me, his mom doesn’t even want to see me.”
Fang Shiqing questioned weirdly, “Still? How long has it been? I thought you guys were already on good terms, that woman’s sure got a bad temper.”
“It’s because she’s worried for Qiuyang after all. Probably because she thinks that if he doesn’t have a child, no one would take care of him when he’s old.”
Fang Shiqing sighed heavily. “There’s really no way around this. Everyone’s parents have a different mindset. The moment my mom saw me kneeling down to cry, she softened.”
Yuan Rui was a bit envious. “He also kneeled when he came out, then his mom fainted on the spot.”
“Hahaha.”
Yuan Rui laughed along. “Well, that’s all, we can hang out again when you’re free.”
He cooked rice for himself, then made a stir-fried plate of cabbage. He also chopped about a dozen millet peppers and added them all in. Zheng Qiuyang couldn’t eat spice, but he loved it. He only let himself cook like this when Zheng Qiuyang wasn’t home.
The spiced cabbage was super compatible with rice, even after a big bowl of it, he still didn’t feel satisfied. However, his stomach was already giving up, he couldn’t take in any more.
During the beginning years of his model career, he often had very restrictive diets. His portions naturally decreased over the years, Zheng Qiuyang also commented that he doesn’t even eat as much as girls.
When reminded of that, Yuan Rui suddenly felt a bit bothered. Why didn’t he know that girls don’t eat a lot, but Zheng Qiuyang did?
He faced the empty bowl sullenly for a while, then went to wash the dishes.
He went to take another short nap, then woke up and cleaned up the house. At last, he read comics all the way till evening before leaving the house with his keys. After being holed up inside the whole day, he wanted to go out for some fresh air. On the way, he could also get dinner over with.
As he walked out the gate of his residential quarter, a few dozens of meters away from the right was a congee house. They not only had great congee, but their egg pancake was also very yummy. Just watching the chopped coriander and scallion being sprinkled onto the golden yellow pancakes could boost his mood. The married couple who owned the place was also very friendly. Every time Yuan Rui ate there, they would give him a little side dish for free. It was the vegetables they pickled themselves, crisp and fresh.
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.
After dinner, Yuan Rui took a slow walk on his way home.
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He thought about the interview as he waited for the elevator, even when someone called out to him, he reacted half a beat late.
“Yuan Rui?” The coming person was shocked, “you also live here?”
Yuan Rui took a careful look at the other before speaking, “…Wang Chao?”
Wang Chao’s cheeks were red from drinking while a person was hovering over him. He said with a thick accent, “It’s great to meet someone I know. Help me out here, he’s bouta pancake me.”
Yuan Rui could only comply. They each held the person on one side, said person turned out to be Liang Xi.
Liang Xi didn’t look like he was drunk at all, instead, he had a very serious face.
Yuan Rui was a little scared of him, he said quietly, “Hello, Liang-Ge.”
“Hello.”
“…”
Wang Chao broke in, “He’s like this when drunk. Although his legs already gave out, his face looks like he’s giving a speech.”
“Oh…”
Wang Chao continued cheerfully, “So you and Lao Zheng live here? He only said he was living with you but never told me where. He won’t even lemme freeload a meal at y’all’s place, now I’ve caught him. Is he home right now?”
Yuan Rui didn’t know what Zheng Qiuyang told him, he was a bit lost. “He’s not home yet.”
The elevator was there, the two of them supported Liang Xi inside.
Yuan Rui was taller than Wang Chao, so Liang Xi leaned more towards Wang Chao.
Wang Chao put his arm around Liang Xi’s shoulder very naturally, he patted him and spoke like he was comforting a kid, “Alright, alright, we’ll be home real soon, don’t cry.”
Yuan Rui “…”
Liang Xi nudged against Wang Chao’s shoulder, blurting out, “Wifey, are you wearing perfume today?” He even stuck up closer to take a sniff.
Yuan Rui, “!!!”
Wang Chao yelled, “Don’t you mess around with me! Watch it, I’ll beat you up.”
The words didn’t enter Liang Xi’s ears as he kept hugging him with his hands rubbing here and there.
Wang Chao kept scolding him, yet he didn’t make much of a struggle.
Inside, Yuan Rui went Beep——beep——beep—— They were all censorable words.
Bai Tu was currently filming out of the city, he left two days ago. He also told him before leaving, saying that he’ll hang out with him again once he was back.
Yuan Rui really liked Bai Tu and after their interactions, he liked him even more. The other was handsome, had a nice personality, could cook, liked little animals, and he was super famous but wasn’t so full of himself. Without work, he’d just hole up at home to read books in silence and take care of his dogs. It was not a wonder that such a perfect person would catch the eyes of the little overlord, Liang Xi. Bai Tu never told him anything so he didn’t feel right to ask for the details either. He sympathized with Bai Tu a lot, yet couldn’t do anything. He could only hope that Liang Xi would lose his interest in Bai Tu as soon as possible.
But it was unacceptable to him that the moment Bai Tu left, he ended up seeing Liang Xi bringing another person home to mess around with.
The moment they arrived at the nineteenth floor, Yuan Rui lunged out.
Wang Chao shouted from behind, “You guys live on the nineteenth floor? I’ll come visit y’all next time!”
Yuan Rui didn’t even turn back, he thought, Go visit a yo-yo!
Wang Chao closed the elevator door, Liang Xi nudged against him again. “Wifey, we aren’t home yet?”
Wang Chao expressed helplessly, “Ge, it didn’t feel right to do this earlier because someone else was here, but if you keep messing around, imma record this and send it to Bai Tu.”
Liang Xi tried his hardest to open his eyes, then, he finally realized the one he was rubbing against wasn’t Bai Tu. Instantly, he had a disgusted expression that seemed like he’d just eaten shit. He immediately let go as he backed out, yelling, “Fuck fuck fuck.”
“…You think I wasn’t disgusted by you touching me?”
The two’s eyes met for a moment, then they both turned away to gag.
At a later time, Zheng Qiuyang came home to see Yuan Rui holding up the signature he received from Bai Tu. He was sitting on the bed with his legs crossed, a sorrowful expression displayed on his face.
Zheng Qiuyang spoke in displeasure, “Are you imagining how you and your male god would meet each other on the bridge across the Milky Way again?”
Yuan Rui promised Bai Tu that he wouldn’t tell anyone, the words that made it to his mouth were swallowed back down. “What are you saying? He went out of the city to film, I was just missing him a little.”
Zheng Qiuyang was even more displeased. “If I remember correctly, didn’t he just leave two days ago?”
Yuan Rui thought inside, Right, only two days, and Liang Xi already couldn’t hold back from cheating, how vile!
“I ran into Wang Chao in the elevator today, he asked me if you were home and I said you weren’t. He also said he was going to visit us next time.”
Zheng Qiuyang was stunned. “Did you agree?”
Yuan Rui shook his head, “No, I ignored him.”
“Good, don’t pay him any mind. He’d be like a monster in a village if he came here, we’d have to clean up for days after he leaves. I’ll ask him to hang out at some other place later.”
“Is he and Tomas still in a relationship?”
Zheng Qiuyang found the question to be odd. “Yeah.”
Yuan Rui expressed melancholy, “Sigh, all the good cabbages were taken by pigs.”
Zheng Qiuyang, “…”
He took a sullen piss. Afterward, he remembered something then came out to ask, “Didn’t you say you were going to eat hotpot with Fang Shiqing? Did you not?”
Yuan Rui put away the signature. “No. Wang Qi’s parents came over so he couldn’t come out, he had to go home with Wang Qi.”
Zheng Qiuyang quietly backed into the bathroom to wash his hands.
He was well aware that they couldn’t just be stuck on his mom forever. But he really had no other way. His mom had a messy life, for years, she carried a bad reputation. Coincidentally, what she cared for the most was her pride, she especially hated to lose face in front of the Zheng family.
So up until now, he still hadn’t told his dad that he had gotten a boyfriend. His mom didn’t allow him to. Whenever his dad would ask about his marriage plan, she’d help make it vague.
The next day, Yuan Rui left early in the morning for the interview at the TV station while Zheng Qiuyang went to work at the company.
Just as he sat his butt down on his office chair, his mom’s phone call came in. She roared from the other side, “Your dad told me you wanted to resign? What are you doing?!”
“…”
“You’re still the young master of the Zheng Family at the end of the day, resigning so you can go out into the market? What kind of decision is that? All these years I’ve worked hard and gained nothing but a name for you, yet you don’t want it? Are you trying to anger me to death?”
“Mom, my surname will still be Zheng even if I leave Yun Chang…”
“I get it now. Was it that little vixen Yuan Rui who egged you on? He’s hoping that we’d turn on each other, I know what a pretentious bitch like him is thinking. He wants you to disobey me, to think that I’m unreasonable and all I do is drag you down. He sure is a delicate white lotus, shameless!”
Zheng Qiuyang pulled his phone away, pretending as he said, “What? My brother’s looking for me? Alright, I’ll be there right away.”
Mom Zheng’s tone changed, “What’s he looking for you for?”
“Mom, I’m going to hang up now, I’ll call you back later.”
He quickly hung up the phone then let out a long sigh. He felt so mentally exhausted. He didn’t want his mom to know that he tried to resign. However, his dad knew his mom would stop him.
Now that plan was down the drain. He won’t get any good results from being Zheng Shaoyang’s tool to take drinks for him either, Zheng Shaoyang would never see him as an insider.
His future was so clouded. Was he really going to rely on Yuan Rui to bring home all his hard-earned money and be dependent on him?
Yuan Rui didn’t want to be late so he arrived at the TV station very early, only to find out that the others weren’t even there yet.
Zhao Zhengyi yawned. “Yuan-Ge, you want some coffee? I can go buy some.”
“I’m not sleepy, you can go buy one yourself, it’s my treat.”
Zhao Zhengyi didn’t object as he went to buy a coffee and egg tart, he ate it outside once he was back.
Yuan Rui rolled down the car window to say, “It’s really cold outside, the wind’s quite strong too, get in to eat.”
Zhao Zhengyi smiled, “It’s fine. I’ll be done with this in no time, I shouldn’t make the smell stain the car.”
Yuan Rui got out of the car. “I’ll get some fresh air, you get in and eat. Just let the smell out once you’re done, eating with the wind blowing will give you a stomachache.”
Very soon, Li Lingling arrived as well. The first thing she did was pass a file folder to him. “Look through this first, this is the script me and the production team went through yesterday. Those are the general questions, make some mental notes first.”
Yuan Rui quickly opened it to take a look, there weren’t many questions so he was done with it very fast. He thought seriously while holding the folder, his mouth kept reading the lines as well.
Li Lingling tried to rehearse with him, “What’s something interesting from when you were young?”
“I was very short as a kid, the adults were worried that I’d be very short when I grew up, so they made me drink milk every day. I also did stretches before bed every night. Then during sixth grade, I suddenly sprouted to 180.”
Li Lingling nodded. “So your parents divorced and you’re in a reformed family now?”
Yuan Rui took a moment, then answered, “My mom’s a teacher who loved to nag, my dad had a bad temperature and the two broke up since they weren’t compatible. But…my step-dad treats me very well, including the times after my mom passed away. I’ve never told him thanks because to me, he is my dad.”
Li Lingling’s eyes reddened for a moment, she quickly asked another question, “Why did you decide to become a model?”
Yuan Rui was a little embarrassed. “When I was studying overseas, I part-timed as a server in a coffee shop. An agent from a modeling company said I had the looks and body, so he asked if I wanted to be one. At that time, I happened to want to buy a motorcycle. Since he explained how the pay would be much higher than what I got by working in a coffee shop, I signed the contract…would I look too dumb saying it like that?”
Li Lingling gave him a smile. “It’s alright, just say it like that.”
After some more questions, Li Lingling reminded him, “The host loves to exaggerate, don’t overthink her words. Though she actually really likes you, when I met her yesterday, she said she’ll definitely be kind to you.”
A little joy sprouted in Yuan Rui, being liked by others made him happy.
Li Lingling put on a serious tone. “In the end, they’ll definitely ask questions about your love life. Remember that no matter what, you have to say you’re single.”
Yuan Rui quickly nodded.
Li Lingling continued, “What do you say when she asks for your ideal type?”
Yuan Rui answered with absolutely no hesitation, “Bai Tu!”
“…You have to say Lin Chiling.”
“…Oh.”
At last, Li Lingling said, “Also, they’ll probably ask about your first love, like how old were you, what kind of person was the other like, how did you confess, were there any romantic memories? Think about it, make up a nice one. Can you try now?”
Yuan Rui thought for a moment then said, “It was when I was seventeen. The other was a really nice person, I confessed with a handwritten love letter. We kissed beneath the school’s wisteria as the flower petals showered us.”
Li Lingling snapped her fingers. “Great, good story-making skill.”
Yuan Rui lowered his head. “…I didn’t make it up, it really happened.”
T/N: I wanna eat Yuan Rui’s spicy cabbage too TAT Yuan Rui baby I love spice too, I can eat it with you TAT
I literally googled “stir fry cabbage” as soon as I read that part because I happen to have cabbage available in my fridge xD
Yuan Rui, I hope he doesn’t speak out of turn and causes problems in two relationships.
thanks for the chapter! <3
Will Yuan and Bai ever be a thing?
I REALLY WISH THEY WERE AAAAAAA, i love bai tu so much :(( his story is one of my favs in this series
I would’ve loved to see him say his type was Bai Tu! That would’ve been hilarious!
Thanks for the chapter!
Lol it’d be like Jin saying his Hollywood crush is Brad Pitt even tho the host asked for actresses 🤣🤣
Thank you for the chapter ❤️
Haahahaa +1
Hhhaahaahahah yuan is so cute💖😘
Thanks for the chapter! If he talks about an old love, but not the one right now, it’s a problem…
I really wish people would stop sticking their nose in celebrities’ private business, expecting them to stay single just so they can selfishly serve as fantasy material, not making the distinction between the artist & the private citizen…
Thanks for your hard work!
I’m finally all caught up again! ZQY’s mom is such a bitch!! 😠
thanks for the chapter!
Yuan Rui’s types of handsome men are all bottoms hahahahahahahahaha
Or not ( I dunno I haven’t read the other characters story)
That was one hell of a romantic first kiss!!!!!!!