Edited by Yummers
Right after work, Yuan Rui wanted to call Zheng Qiuyang. Zhao Zhengyi handed him the phone, saying, “You got a message earlier.”
Only then did Yuan Rui see Zheng Qiuyang’s message saying that he was at his mom’s place. Thus, he could only wait to call Zheng Qiuyang after he’s back home.
Song Huanyan called out to him from afar, “Yuan Rui! If we go back to the hotel right now, we’d make it for the replay of The Sparkling Friends. The last episode is on today, I’ll go to your room so that we can watch it together!”
Song Huanyan was a great fan of these entertainment shows. She’d always watch these types of programs on her iPad whenever there was a break. She liked any type of show, it didn’t matter if it was family-themed, an adventure, or missions, she liked them all.
Yuan Rui didn’t want to turn her down since she was so passionate about the subject, so he could only comply.
When the show was over and Song Huanyan had gone back to her room, he was finally able to call Zheng Qiuyang.
Zheng Qiuyang asked from the other side, “Did you just finish filming? Why did it take so long today?
Yuan Rui explained, “No, a co-worker wanted to watch my show together with me in my room. I was too shy to call you in front of her.”
“I was watching your show just now too, it was a pretty good episode.” Zheng Qiuyang commented, then he copied Yuan Rui, “Di-di the door goes, come and ride my taxi!”
Yuan Rui was both happy and embarrassed. “My co-worker just said I looked super dumb.”
“Yeah, it was a little.”
Since Yuan Rui already thought of himself like that, it didn’t anger him. Though, he detected that Zheng Qiuyang’s voice was slightly deeper than usual. He asked, “Were you already asleep?”
“Nah, I was waiting for your call.”
Yuan Rui checked his watch. It was already super late, he said guilty, “I should’ve told you earlier, sorry.”
“Don’t say dumb stuff like that. I’m happy to wait for you, however long it may be.”
A smile appeared on Yuan Rui’s face. “You’re seriously the best…I miss you so much, let’s video call, I wanna see you.”
But Zheng Qiuyang refused, “I’ve been lying down for a while. My hair’s an ugly mess now, not today.”
Yuan Rui really wanted to FaceTime still. “A little messy hair won’t affect your charisma when you’re already so handsome, I wanna see you.”
“If we video call now, who knows when we’ll hang up. I have to wake up early tomorrow to run some errands, let’s not.”
“It’s Saturday tomorrow, do you still have to work?” Yuan Rui asked.
Zheng Qiuyang stumbled for a few seconds before replying, “I ordered a closet for our new home, I have to pick it up tomorrow morning.”
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.
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“Mn, it’s warm over there and the beach is nice too, it should be fun.”
The two talked for a few minutes before Yuan Rui forced out a farewell from himself. “You have to wake up early tomorrow, sleep now. Remember to take pictures of the closet.”
“Yeah, you should sleep too. Goodnight.”
After hanging up, Zheng Qiuyang went to the master bedroom to check on his mom. She was sleeping normally, her breathing steady. He closed the door quietly and walked to the bathroom to wash his face. Facing the mirror, he smiled. However, the smile was very unnatural, even a little unsightly.
Good thing that he didn’t agree to get on video call Yuan Rui, or else the other would’ve definitely noticed.
That night, he came out to his dad, and he went feral. He scolded and yelled with no restrain, Zheng Qiuyang didn’t respond to his harsh words as he stood there, merely listening. That caused his dad to be even more furious and also caused him to push the blame onto his mom for spoiling him. His mom argued back a little from the comment, then the two started arguing with each other.
Zheng Qiuyang’s mom has had high blood pressure for years already. After the sudden rush of adrenaline from the heated argument, she became lightheaded and couldn’t stand up properly. Zheng Qiuyang saw the look on her face and quickly helped her sit down. Upon seeing the situation, all his dad did was leave as he slammed the door on his way out.
Zheng Qiuyang gave his mom her antihypertensive medicines and coaxed her to sleep. Even then, he didn’t leave. He stayed there and watched over her. Fortunately, nothing else happened.
He didn’t want Yuan Rui to know. It wasn’t because he wanted to hide it from him, but rather it was purely because he didn’t want Yuan Rui to end up sad over this matter as well. All this mess wasn’t worth causing Yuan Rui to become so concerned for him, he could digest the issue by himself.
Looking at the Yuan Rui wallpaper on his phone, Zheng Qiuyang’s finger poked Yuan Rui’s big raven eyes.
He missed him so much.
On the other side in Shanghai, Yuan Rui had just finished showering. He was ready to go to bed as he opened WeChat to listen to past voice messages from Zheng Qiuyang on repeat. There were caring messages of Zheng Qiuyang asking if he’s eaten or if he was wearing proper clothes for the weather. There were also some lewd teasing messages and some gently-spoken cheesy lines. The more he listened, the happier it made him. He chuckled discreetly from underneath the blanket and before he knew it, he was asleep.
The next day, Zheng Qiuyang woke up early in the morning to order a closet. Then, after half an hour, he called to pester the seller about the delivery. By noon, the closet arrived.
He’s never acted like such an annoying customer before, but since he’s already promised Yuan Rui a picture of it, he decided to be one.
About all of the furniture and appliances for their new place had arrived by now, only the curtains were left. He went to the store twice and saw nothing that really fit, so he planned on waiting until Yuan Rui was back to pick one out together. It wasn’t like they were in a rush for it anyway.
During the filming break, Zhao Zhengyi and Yuan Rui had a chat in the van.
“It’s going to be Double 11 the day we go to Hainan,” Zhao Zhengyi began, “there’s a bunch of things on sale, do you have anything in mind?”
Yuan Rui replied, “All I’m going after is this pair of Nike Air Max shoes for Zheng Qiuyang. I can try to get that when the time comes.”
Zhao Zhengyi was in disbelief. “That’s it?”
Yuan Rui was sure. “Yep.”
Zhao Zhengyi was incredulous. “Nuh uh. Yuan-Ge, for someone like you who’s always careful about saving money, isn’t it usual to go on a shopping haul at this time?”
“But buying a bunch still costs a lot of money, it doesn’t help save money at all.”
“…”
“Lingling-Jie wants me to stay with big brands so I can’t wear any of those clothes from Alibaba. I just signed another year of the contract with the Japanese skincare company so I can use all their stuff for free until the end of next year.”
Zhao Zhengyi was envious. “You could still buy some daily necessities.”
Yuan Rui replied excitedly, “I have a friend who’s always shopping constantly and stocked up on a bunch of things like that. Every time he’s not able to use all the excessive stuff or doesn’t like it after buying it, he’d give them to me. Now I’ve got a bunch in my house, so there’s really no need for me to go shopping.”
Zhao Zhengyi was even more envious now, he pleaded pretentiously, “You should introduce me to him!”
Yuan Rui said in a roundabout way, “He’s also gay.”
“…”
Zhao Zhengyi opened his shopping cart a little reluctantly, saying, “Yuan-Ge, can you help me delete anything that I really wouldn’t need? I can’t do it myself.”
Yuan Rui took his phone and looked through his cart items carefully. In the end, he suggested, “Xiao Zhao, I think only this pack of toilet paper is worth buying.”
“…”
Yuan Rui thought that the joke he just made was quite hilarious. “Hahaha!”
Zhao Zhengyi’s mouth couldn’t help but twitch as he thought, Is this that funny? Is it funny to treat a single dog like this? Does the world even have any love left?!
On Monday, just as Zheng Qiuyang sat down in front of his desk at work, Zheng Shaoyang called him to have him come to his office.
Zhao Zhengyi was perplexed when he went over to his office. His brother rarely talked to him in private and whenever the two saw each other, they would just ignore the other. Why would he suddenly call for him?
Once Zheng Shaoyang saw him coming in, he motioned. “Have a seat.”
And so he did.
Zheng Shaoyang began, “Dad came home and told us about you.”
“…”
Zheng Shaoyang glanced at him and asked weirdly, “Are you…serious about that celebrity?”
Zheng Qiuyang found that question a bit irritating, he replied, “That’s none of your business.”
Zheng Shaoyang felt awkward as he responded, “Don’t misunderstand. Since you two are proper—proper…friends.” He took a moment to decide on his choice of wording, then continued, “He has my gratitude for helping out my wife and daughter. The last time we talked, I didn’t have much time. So I hope that when the chance arrives, I’ll be able to thank him properly in person again.”
Both his attitude and tone had no bad intent. To beat down on a man showing good intentions wasn’t right, so Zheng Qiuyang could only say awkwardly, “He’s out of the city filming right now. Last time was just a coincidence and not a bother either. There’s no need to thank him or anything…is your baby still at the hospital?”
“It’s already been over forty days, she’s back home.”
“Mhm, that’s good.”
Then, the two brothers ran out of topics to talk about. They sat in silence for a while before Zheng Shaoyang went, “Then when he comes back, if there is time, you should bring him over to hang out at my house.”
“…”
Zheng Shaoyang tried his hardest to hide the uncomfortableness. “We aren’t living at the main house as of now. Right now, we have a place rented somewhere else…my wife is a big fan of his. When she heard the thing about you two last weekend, she said you had a good eye.”
Zheng Qiuyang wanted to laugh, but also realized that laughing at such a time wasn’t very right so he pushed it back down. “He won’t be back until next month.”
Zheng Shaoyang felt like he’d said all that was necessary and waved his hand. “We can talk about it once he’s back, you can go back to work.”
Zheng Qiuyang got up to leave, but then Zheng Shaoyang spoke up again, “About the bracelet you designed a while ago, the mold is done. Go check it out later and see if there are any problems. If not, then they can be made in stocks.”
“…”
Said bracelet was one of Zheng Qiuyang’s accepted designs during Zheng Shaoyang’s absence. After Zheng Shaoyang returned, he even mocked it coldly in front of everyone.
It was trickling in Shanghai again. Yuan Rui recited his lines with a heavy coat on. “To me, you’re just like…just like a light in the dark night. The guiding star that led me forward, all of my…all of my efforts was to make myself a worthy star to…star to—what was it? A worthy star to radiant and shine with you…a worthy star to radiant and shine with you…”
He couldn’t help but make fun of it. “Why is this so awkward? It’s not like this is Xu Zhimo. Who’d say this to their lover? It’s so cringy.”
Zhao Zhengyi thought to himself, No one can beat you and your boyfriend when it comes to cheesiness. He replied, “Well, it is an idol drama. The romance is expressed in a more beautiful way.”
Yuan Rui continued to try to burn the line, “a worthy star to radiant and shine with you”, into his mind when his phone vibrated. He took it out to see a text from Zheng Qiuyang, it said:
“You’re my mascot! I love you so much!”
Yuan Rui stared at the words “I love you so much” for a long time, he felt so happy that he could fly. He couldn’t wait to show it off to Zhao Zhengyi. “Look! Isn’t reality beautiful too?”
“…What does the mascot mean?”
They were currently really close to the Shanghai Expo Park and there was a Haibao statue. Yuan Rui quickly made up an assumption of what Zheng Qiuyang meant, he pointed at the statue happily. “It means baby!”
Instead, Zhao Zhengyi was reminded of another mascot. He asked, “Yuan-Ge, do you know about the Erhu Egg mascot?”
Aawww 🥰🥰
Thank you for the chapter ❤️
Do I see a mending relationship?? Between a protagonist and a cannon fodder without transmigration??
Thanks for the chapter!
Thanks for the chapter ♥️♥️
the two brothers should forget their parents shady business and just become bros… why not? the baby will have 2 doting uncles!
thanks for the chapter <3
Yay for Yuan Rui saving the day, again!
thanks for the chapter!