Edited by Yummers
Yuan Rui was buying some clothes for Fang Shiqing. But once he was done picking them out, he was afraid that they might not be Fang Shiqing’s liking. So he sent a picture to Fang Shiqing to ask for his opinion.
Fang Shiqing quickly replied: Are you with Zheng Qiuyang right now?
Yuan Rui: No. He’s at work, I’m by myself.
Fang Shiqing: I came to the printing house for work, and I’m done now. I don’t wanna go back to the magazine studio, so I’ll come to hang out with you. Don’t buy anything yet, wait for me.
He was at Zhongguancun while Yuan Rui was at Xuanwumen. It would take at least half an hour before the other would be here, so Yuan Rui went to the Starbucks on the mall’s ground floor. Seeing that there weren’t many customers inside at the moment, he put on his black-framed glasses and decided to go in for a coffee and pass time on his phone.
He wasn’t near-sighted, but he had a habit of keeping this pair of glasses on him when he went out. That way, he could use it as a disguise in crowded places.
As he took out his Starbucks reward card in line, the girl in front of him recognized him. She greeted him in bewilderment and insisted on treating Yuan Rui to coffee. Yuan Rui quickly swiped with his own card. The girl’s caramel macchiato was already done, but it seemed she didn’t want to leave. She stood beside Yuan Rui, just staring at him. Yuan Rui was getting a little embarrassed so he asked first, “Do you want a picture?”
The girl nodded furiously, “Yesyesyes.”
So Yuan Rui took a picture with her before she finally left unwillingly.
By the time Fang Shiqing arrived, he’d already taken seven pictures and signed sixteen autographs, with the employees included.
Fang Shiqing teased him, “Why didn’t you go somewhere else to wait for me after they recognized you?”
Yuan Rui replied, “I already bought a coffee so of course, I’m going to take advantage of the free WiFi here.”
“So were you able to use it?”
Yuan Rui had a dismal face, “No. I didn’t even get to take out my phone. My coffee’s cold too.”
“Hahaha!”
While buying clothes upstairs, they didn’t meet many of his fans. After all, it was a workday. There weren’t many customers and the employees couldn’t just abandon their work.
Fang Shiqing picked out the clothes he liked and Yuan Rui quickly tried to swipe his card. But Fang Shiqing stopped him. The two pushed and pulled in front of the register. In the end, Yuan Rui said, “If you keep doing this, I’m going to return all the things you gave me.”
“…”
In the end, Yuan Rui paid for the clothes.
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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“P ujnf sbe jii atbrf ubbvr yfmjerf P tjv cb erf obg atfw. Rbk, P’w atf bcf ktb’r ajxlcu jvnjcajuf bo sbe.”
Yuan Rui didn’t back down. “Then why don’t you give those things to other people? Why did you give them to me? Isn’t that you being nice to me?”
Fang Shiqing said with disdain, “Shameless. Who wants to be nice to you?”
Yuan Rui knew that he didn’t mean what he said, so he wasn’t mad. Instead, he even helped Fang Shiqings carry two of his bags. “We’re moving this Sunday. Once we’ve got everything set up, come over and hang out.”
“Sure, what housewarming gift do you guys want?”
“No, no. We have everything already. While I was away filming, Qiuyang took care of everything. It’s incredible. You’ll understand once you see it.” His face was full of unconcealed joy and pride.
After being shown off to, Fang Shiqing said on purpose, “Wang Qi’s too busy to do those trivial things. But he has two properties under my name.”
“He treats you so well.” Yuan Rui commented sincerely, then continued, “Zheng Qiuyang bought that house before he met me, so he said he’ll add my name on it later.”
Fang Shiqing thought about it. Their property had both of their names while he only had his own. He suddenly felt like he’d lost. He scorned, “Once I find the time, I’ll add Wang Qi’s name too.”
Yuan Rui looked at him and advised with good intentions, “Chief Fang, comparing people easily comes with rage, don’t make invidious comparisons.”
Now Fang Shiqing really felt like the rage was about to burst out of him.
That evening, Yuan Rui drove back to Yun Chang to pick up Zheng Qiuyang.
Zheng Qiuyang had Yuan Rui move to the passenger seat so that he could drive. He asked him on the road, “Did you not buy clothes for him?”
Yuan Rui told him about how he got to shop with said person, then added, “I told him about us moving, and invited him to come over afterward.”
Zheng Qiuyang nodded, saying, “After you left this afternoon, my brother called me. He said that the celebrity who used to endorse our company doesn’t plan on renewing their contract with us, so we’d need a new one. He wanted me to ask you if you want to work with Yun Chang.”
Yuan Rui was a bit shocked. He contemplated before saying, “I have to ask my agent, I can’t make the decision. Though, don’t jewelry brands like to hire female celebrities? Why would he want me?”
Zheng Qiuyang wasn’t too sure either. He guessed, “It’s probably to pay back the favor.”
“Because of his wife?”
“Probably. I forgot to tell you, but when the episode where you met his wife and sent her to the hospital aired, both my mom and dad were there. The old man seemed to quite like you so I came out to him and said that you were my partner.”
Yuan Rui was extremely shocked. He immediately remembered how Zheng Qiuyang wasn’t willing to video call him that night. He quickly asked, “Did he hit you? Was your face injured?”
Zheng Qiuyang chuckled, “What are you thinking? He’s never hit me even when I skipped school and got into fights as a kid. Now that I’m over thirty, he’s even less likely to beat me.”
Yuan Rui listened to him explaining with a smile and felt more pitiful. “So did you guys argue?”
“He didn’t argue with me, but he did with my mom. He said that my mom didn’t know how to raise a son, how she spoiled me too much and made me end up a freak.”
A little anger fumed up inside Yuan Rui, he thought, That’s so scummy!
Zheng Qiuyang continued to say, “After my dad left, he told his wife and son about it. The reason why my brother always looked down on me these years was mainly that
he saw me as an illegitimate bastard. I even had the same surname as him. Once the old man passes away, there’s a possibility I’d fight with him for control over the company. Now that he knows I won’t have any children in the future, or I’m guessing, the old man has already said he wouldn’t give me anything. So now he doesn’t see me as a threat. I’m just gonna be a designer working under him in the future anyway, I won’t be able to freeload anything from him.”
Hearing the words “illegitimate bastard”, Yuan Rui’s eyebrows furrowed. “Why would you call yourself that? I’m gonna cry.”
They were stopped in front of a red light as they spoke. Zheng Qiuyang braked the car and turned to see Yuan Rui, who had his eyebrows knitted with an aching expression plastered on his face.
Zheng Qiuyang kept smiling, “Aiya, it’s really nothing. My dad’s wife used to always call me that when I was a kid, even my biological uncle called me that. I’ve gotten used to it since forever ago.”
Yuan Rui let out a little whimper.
Zheng Qiuyang, “…”
Zheng Qiuyang quickly passed him a tissue. “You’re actually crying? That was from forever ago, I was still a kid then. They wouldn’t dare to say that to my face now.”
Yuan Rui wiped his eyes with the tissues and said with sniffles, “It’s because you were a kid that makes it so sad. I wish I was Superman, I could time travel back right now and protect you. I’d fight whoever bullies you.”
Zheng Qiuyang, “…”
Back at home, Yuan Rui went to wash his face first before coming back out with red eyes. He asked, “There’s still a piece of beef in the freezer, do you wanna eat beef ramen?”
Zheng Qiuyang replied, “Don’t cook tonight. We can order delivery, I wanna eat hot pot.”
Yuan Rui didn’t really want to cook either, so the two started placing an online delivery together. Yuan Rui first ordered a two-flavored hot pot, then added Zheng Qiuyang’s favorites: beef tripes and mashed shrimps. He asked, “What else do you want?”
“Duck intestines and the mushroom platter. The rest can be whatever.”
Yuan Rui was a bit happy that Zheng Qiuyang remembered his favorites. He loved eating mushrooms and duck intestines when eating hot pot. He always ordered them when they ate at this restaurant.
As the two ate hot pot by the table, Zheng Qiuyang kept moving his bangs out of his vision as they had grown out lately.
After watching his struggle for a bit, Yuan Rui grabbed the rubber band that came with the food. Clumsily, he tied up Zheng Qiuyang’s bangs. Zheng Qiuyang ended up with a little piece of hair that stood tall and proud on his head.
Zheng Qiuyang grabbed his phone to look at him with the camera. He jokingly insulted, “Who’s this dude? So ugly.”
Yuan Rui sighed, “I saw that Fang Shiqing looked cute when he tied his hair up like that. I might’ve tied it wrong.”
As Zheng Qiuyang swayed his head, the braid on his head swayed along. He asked Yuan Rui, “Don’t I look like a Teletubby?”
Yuan Rui, “…”
“Hahaha!”
He kept the Teletubby braid on even after they finished eating hot pot. He seemed to really like it. While Yuan Rui was packing their things, Zheng Qiuyang mimicked Teletubbies on the side. “Teletubby time! Teletubby time! Tubby toast! Tubby toast!”
Yuan Rui didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Gradually, the sorrow he felt on the way home faded away.
Zheng Qiuyang hugged him from behind until they turned off the light to sleep. Zheng Qiuyang’s day must’ve been too exhausting, as he fell asleep in no time. His steady breathing puffed against the back of Yuan Rui’s ear.
However, Yuan Rui wasn’t too sleepy. All the pitiful events Zheng Qiuyang went through as a child circulated in his mind, making it hard to fall asleep. Although Yuan Rui’s own parents’ marriage didn’t work out either—one of them passed away early and the other vanished—they still treated him super well when they were present in his life. If he could go back in time, he would’ve let Zheng Qiuyang borrow one of his parents. At the very least, he wanted Zheng Qiuyang to have a happy childhood.
Yuan Rui made up his mind. He wanted to treat Zheng Qiuyang even better in the future; he’ll work hard to help him forget all the bad memories from his childhood and create the happiest future for him.
The next day, Li Lingling happened to call him about the skincare product’s commercial endorsement. He took the chance to inform her about Yun Chang’s endorsement opportunity.
Li Lingling said, “Yun Chang Jewelry? That’s a double win since it’s also under your boyfriend’s family, pretty good. We can schedule a time to talk about it in person.”
When Yuan Rui heard that, he quickly said, “No, no. My boyfriend isn’t the one in charge, he only works on designs. His older brother takes care of these things.”
The Zheng Family wasn’t very high-profile with no one in the family that has ever been on the gossiping news before. Li Lingling wasn’t aware of their family situation. She was confused for a moment before saying, “If it’s not dependent on your boyfriend’s influence, then we’ll take care of this as any other normal business collaboration.”
“Mn, that’s what I meant.”
Li Lingling thought about the conversation and had a pretty good guess on what the situation was like. “Alright, I got it. This will go through like a normal contract.”
Yuan Rui contemplated and added, “Actually…maybe not too expensive, we should offer a friendly price after all.”
Li Lingling didn’t know what to say. “What exactly do you want me to do?”
Yuan Rui expressed his foresight, “But what if his brother thinks that I’m being snobby? He won’t be able to trouble me, but what if he bullies him in secret?”
Li Lingling, “…”
<3
Too sweet 🤤 the dog food just too sweet for this single dog
Thank chu so much for your translation!!
Ahh our precious Yuan Rui 🥰🥰
Thank you for the chapter ❤️
Thanks for the chapter ♥️♥️
The award for the best boyfriend in the world goes to 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀
Yuan Rui! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Yuan Rui deserves the world. Give him all the love, security, money, endorsements, work, awards… in short, give him everything!
thanks for the chapter <3
I’m sad, but I understand that not every family can accept their sons being gay, sometimes they even cut off contact immediately. Although I can’t help but wish that everyone will be accepted fully. Will ZQ’s family accept them in the future?
This story is so realistic it hurts. But you can really appreciate everything in it.
thanks for the chapter!