Edited by Yummers
The two went to shower together. While Zheng Qiuyang was drying his hair, Yuan Rui tidied up the dining table cloth and the bedsheets. Although he was getting through these tasks swiftly, Zheng Qiuyang was clearly unsatisfied on the side. He’s been thinking of ways to devour Yuan Rui since last night! Yet he’s not allowed to make any of them come true now!
Despite the various dirty thoughts he had in his head, he was able to endure them when he saw how Yuan Rui’s face was full of anticipation for their new home. Well, he can devour him anytime now that he’s back anyway.
They got to the new house very quickly. Compared to the last time they were here, the place seemed to have gone through a complete makeover. Not only has furniture been added, but Zheng Qiuyang had also diligently prepared tiny details, such as sofa towels, table cloths, and coasters. Both the study room and the wall that used to hold a TV had also been redesigned. One side of the wall was redecorated into a wool-felt wall of collage pictures. It was covered with Yuan Rui and his day-to-day pictures. The pictures spelled out “ZY”, the first initials of Yuan Rui and Zheng Qiuyang’s name. Since he was a designer to begin with, his aesthetic was outstanding. The color combinations were fresh and didn’t follow one single pattern. While it created the warmth of a home, it was very fashionable as well.
Yuan Rui observed the area from the inside out a few times. He especially liked it as he complimented, “This is awesome! You’re incredible!”
That made Zheng Qiuyang a little proud of himself. He replied, “It’s alright.”
Yuan Rui looked around again, and asked, “Did you record all the fees? How much did it cost?”
He told Zheng Qiuyang that he must record such things before, so Zheng Qiuyang got out a little notebook very swiftly.
Then, starting from the sofa, Yuan Rui asked the price of each piece of furniture one after another. Zheng Qiuyang followed behind him as he answered his questions. Everything was going well until they got to the cabinet-type air conditioner. Yuan Rui carefully observed the rose design of the air conditioner. Suddenly, he had a shocked face as he said, “This…this is very similar to the super expensive one that I dreamed about…it’s not actually fifteen thousand, right?”
“…No.”
Yuan Rui let out a light breath then. “Our living room isn’t that big. An air conditioner ranging from seven to eight thousand would suffice. How much did this one cost?”
Zheng Qiuyang looked at his notebook, saying dryly, “This cost…seventeen thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine.”
Yuan Rui went silent.
Zheng Qiuyang quickly wrapped his arm around his waist. He said with a faithful face, “Go ahead and scold me all you want, I won’t get mad. Your cooking is so delicious; there is no way I’d leave. My mom’s not coming, and I don’t have a fiancée either.”
Yuan Rui was a bit dumbfounded, it took a little while before he laughed out loud. Though, his heart still ached at the price. He forcefully said, “Whatever, it’s already been bought anyway. It’s pretty good looking too. Things are expensive for a reason, so it probably functions well too.”
Zheng Qiuyang added, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. It can save a lot of electricity.”
Yuan Rui kind of wanted to smack him. Even if they saved all the electricity they could for the rest of their lives, they still wouldn’t be able to get the seventeen thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine yuan back! He took several glances at the rose air conditioner; those roses definitely have some thorns, a simple prick can cause so much blood to seep.
Fortunately, almost everything else was an acceptable price. In the end, only the air conditioner and the water heater were very very expensive. Yuan Rui calculated in his head. The money spent was thirty thousand over what he had expected, but it was alright.
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.
“Ycis atf megajlc lr ifoa,” Itfcu Hlesjcu rajgafv, “P kfca ab qlmx bea bcf rfnfgji alwfr, yea P vlvc’a olcv jcs atja P gfjiis ilxfv. Qf mjc ub abufatfg rbwfvjs joafg, jcv sbe mjc vfmlvf.”
Tejc Eel rabbv lc ogbca bo atf klcvbk ab ajxf j ibbx. Lf aegcfv jgbecv, rqfjxlcu klat tlr yjmx ifjcfv jujlcra atf klcvbk ogjwf, “Dea ws ajraf obg atfrf asqfr bo atlcur lrc’a jr ubbv jr sbegr, P atlcx sbe rtbeiv qlmx la obg beg tberf ralii.”
The words “our house” were extremely pleasing to Zheng Qiuyang’s ear. He placed down his notebook to come to stand shoulder to shoulder with him. Both of them leaned against the window as they looked at their home, and both of them couldn’t help a smile from spreading; they felt an overwhelming joy that was about to burst from their heart.
After a while, Yuan Rui started off softly, “We have a home now, that’s awesome!”
Zheng Qiuyang was slightly touched even. “Mn.”
He looked at Yuan Rui, and Yuan Rui looked back at him. The two went in for a kiss; they felt like they were the happiest people in this world.
Once they let go of each other, Yuan Rui said joyously, “We’ll move in right away tomorrow!”
Zheng Qiuyang smiled. “Okay.”
Yuan Rui continued, “We need to invite some friends over as well.”
“Okay.”
“I wanna invite Xiao Zhao, Lingling-Jie, Fang Shiqing—ah! Wang Qi too! I haven’t seen him in so long!”
“…Okay.”
Yuan Rui added excitedly, “Wang Chao! Tomas! And my male god, Bai Tu!”
“…”
Although he didn’t say anything out loud, Zheng Qiuyang was cursing viciously internally. Is he hosting a hot guy party or what?
On their way home, the two bought some groceries from the supermarket. At home, with Zheng Qiuyang helping on the side, the two made a nice heart-warming homemade meal. After they finished eating, Zheng Qiuyang started eating Yuan Rui as well. He flipped and tossed him in various positions to enjoy him. Zheng Qiuyang felt like his current life was just too perfect.
The next morning, Zheng Qiuyang went to work all refreshed. Since Yuan Rui wasn’t able to get up anyway, they won’t be moving that day.
Yuan Rui’s waist was sore, his butt ached, and his chest felt numb and swollen. He couldn’t lie flat on his stomach or back. He could only lie on his side. When he wanted to turn around, he had to be careful as well. Or else, he might pull something down there and rub against the swollen part above. All this pain was too embarrassing for him to describe.
After Zheng Qiuyang left, he wasn’t able to sleep well, but he didn’t want to get up either. He dawdled in bed until ten when his phone started ringing. He picked it up with his eyes still closed, asking, “Hello, who is this?”
The other side replied, “Are you still in bed? Good timing, I’m near your house. Is it okay if I come to visit you right now?”
Yuan Rui’s eyes opened from shock. He stuttered, “Auntie Yang…how—how far away are you?”
Yang Lu responded, “I can already see the entrance of your apartment complex.”
Yuan Rui flung out of bed. He had to bare his teeth as he put on his clothes, especially when his woolen sweater rubbed against his chest. It was both ticklish and painful. He dug around the cabinet to see that there were no chest pastes left. He had no choice but to endure it as he sped through the process of brushing his teeth and washing his face.
Just as he finished splattering moisturizer on himself, the doorbell rang. It felt like he was in a war.
He opened the door. Yang Lu was carrying a big Burberry shopping bag in her hand. She said from outside the door, “Did I disturb your sleep?”
Yuan Rui’s face was flustered. “Of course not. Come on in.”
Yang Lu came in, then looked around. Yuan Rui quickly said, “Sorry, the house is a bit messy right now, please don’t mind it. Take a seat.”
Yang Lu sat on the sofa, then said with a smile, “It’s pretty nice. It’s cleaner than what most guys’ places are like.”
Yuan Rui was a bit nervous, he spoke carefully, “I’ve got canned juice and soda. For tea, we only have iron guanyin, and instant coffee for coffee. What would you like?”
Yang Lu answered with a smile, “Just warm water will be fine.”
Yuan Rui awkwardly went to get a cup of warm water, then placed it in front of Yang Lu with both hands.
Yang Lu started, “I’ve been too busy the last month so I didn’t get the chance to contact you. Did your trip to Hainan go well?”
Yuan Rui nodded. “Yep, everyone worked hard.”
It was true that the two of them hadn’t seen each other for a while. They barely called each other too. Yuan Rui heard from Zhao Zhengyi that Yang Lu had invested in a new company, so she’s been spending all her time in Beijing working on that. She didn’t even have the time to attend the celebration meal when the filming was over.
After chatting a bit more about Hainan and The Sand Between, he didn’t know what else to talk about. Should he mention Meng Lai? Scratch that. Yang Lu might be completely unaware that they were high school classmates. Additionally, the rumors all say that they had a bad relationship. If Yuan Rui brings up Meng Lai now, it might upset her.
Yang Lu suddenly asked, “Where did your boyfriend go?”
Yuan Rui was taken aback for a second. He replied, “He’s at work.”
Yang Lu replied without a change in tone. “I remember that he works at his family’s company.”
Yuan Rui found her comments to be a bit weird, but he still replied casually, “He only does design work. He still has to go to work regularly, he’s off during the weekends.”
Yang Lu looked at him, asking, “You guys are in a pretty good relationship, right?”
Yuan Rui found her question to be even weirder. He couldn’t really tell what she was getting at. “Yeah.”
“What has he been doing recently?”
Yuan Rui replied with confusion, “He’s been making designs and all that. Why are you asking about him now?”
“I spoke carelessly the last time we met in Shanghai. At the time, I thought that would be for your own good. But later, I realized that I might’ve gone overboard.”
Yuan Rui had a shocked expression. He asked, “What did you say to him?”
Yang Lu was not expecting that question. “Did you not tell you at all?”
Yuan Rui remembered how Zheng Qiuyang kept asking him if he loved him that night. Instantly, he got a little worried. “No! What did you say to him?”
“It wasn’t much actually. I just wanted to give him a warning.” Yang Lu’s expression was a bit helpless. “You guys haven’t even been together for a year, and you guys have limited knowledge about each other. I’m not saying that he isn’t a good person, but his family is complicated. Both his parents are arrogant and he himself isn’t tough either. If anything happens in the future, you’d be the one with the short end of the stick.”
Yuan Rui immediately replied, “I don’t care about that.”
“…But I care.”
Yuan Rui was a bit touched. “Auntie Yang, I know that you had my best interest at heart, but I trust him. I also trust his future. Our lives will only get better and better. To be frank, even if something were to happen, I can protect him. Even if I end up with the short end of the stick, I’d be willing if it’s for him.”
Yang Lu looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. After a while, she gave up and said, “You foolish child.”
Yuan Rui felt a little flustered by the intimate title. “Auntie, you don’t need to worry. He treats me very well, seriously, very well.”
Yang Lu nodded, saying hopelessly, “It’d be priceless to get you to agree with me anyway.”
He asked Yang Lu to stay until noon for lunch, but Yang Lu already had other errands planned. She gave him the bag of stuff she brought and told him that it was clothes she bought for him. He tried declining it until Yang Lu said that the tags had already been removed, and the size could only fit him. He had no choice but to accept it. Internally, he was thinking that he definitely needed to get her some kind of gift as a thank you for her kind gesture.
After walking Yang Lu downstairs, he thought to himself in the elevator. No wonder Zheng Qiuyang wanted to compete in a jewelry design tournament. Did her words get to him?
Thinking back to that night in Shanghai, Zheng Qiuyang really didn’t seem to be very happy. How did he not notice back then? Although the other looked super careless on the surface, he was actually rather sensitive. Zheng Qiuyang rarely mentioned his family affairs to other people. Even in front of Yuan Rui, he’s barely ever brought up his dad.
Yuan Rui was becoming a little regretful. If only he’d been more attentive. He wouldn’t have allowed Zheng Qiuyang to endure the pain and anger of having his old wounds being reopened alone.
He couldn’t resist the criticism against his godmother that popped up in his mind. He tried his best to treat Zheng Qiuyang well, yet she used the reason “it’s for his own good” as a high moral to stab Zheng Qiuyang ruthlessly.
Yang Lu must’ve been used to using that type of parenting. Maybe the reason why she and Meng Lai have a bad relationship was because of her overbearing attitude. As her biological son, Meng Lai was pretty overbearing as well.
Sigh, there’s no use in thinking about them.
His boyfriend didn’t tell him after suffering through so much criticism. To be so far away, alone in Beijing as he numbed his brain from thinking up designs. Yuan Rui couldn’t imagine how sad he must’ve been. It was seriously too pitiful.
🥺🥺🥺
Thank you for the chapter ❤️
Oho, at least Yang Lu acknowledged that she’s overboard with her words. Kinda reminds me of my mom 😂 when you already know your lacking in your fields also all of your efforts seems to not working, and then someone points that out. I know that it was for ‘my own good’ but it’s really frustrating to handle the criticism.
Anyway enough of my rambling, thank chu so much of your translation!!
I think he’s exaggerating it a little too much tho it makes him cute… And he’s now all happy that you’ve got back
Thanks for the chapter ♥️♥️Thanks for the chapter ♥️♥️
I’m glad he stood up for our boy! and I’m glad she knows she overstepped. They might not have known each other long but she has known them even less.
I wish Meng Lai would just disappear lol
I cant wait for Yuan Rui to meet the Zheng brother and his wife!
thanks for the chapter <3
ABSOLUTLY, she went totally overboard that time!
In What YL told ZQY, probably YR will know in future what he is not good for him is the most crossed-line sentence. Who is she to determine YR’s feelings to ZQY? “In the name of love” sigh, this is what happens always in real life too.
thanks for the chapter!