“You said this is the first gift, what about the second gift?” Liu Lin was not in a hurry to read the book. Although it did pique his interest, his curiosity about Yao Qi’s other gift still triumphed over this.
“I’ll give it to you when the new year comes,” Yao Qi just smiled. As he stared at the man, he couldn’t help shaking his head, still smiling despite feeling somewhat helpless. He was going to bring this silly dog back home to meet his family for the new year—he didn’t know if Ah-Lin would get bullied or not.
Hearing what Yao Qi said, Liu Lin didn’t press him for the answer.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if he already knew what it was.
Just let Xiao Qi keep it a mystery for now.
Thinking so, Liu Lin began to read his first gift.
Since he never liked reading that much, Liu Lin initially thought he wouldn’t be too engrossed in this book. After all, he didn’t know it was written by Yao Qi especially for him. But as it turned out, from the moment he started reading, he simply couldn’t stop. Just by looking at him, you could tell that he really enjoyed the story.
The book wasn’t overly thick. It was about 200,000 words in total, but by the time Yao Qi told him to sleep, Liu Lin hadn’t even read a quarter of it. He was a very slow reader
Liu Lin didn’t want to stop reading, but after Yao Qi gave him a look with a half-smile, he reluctantly put down the book.
As a result, after Yao Qi fell asleep, he sneakily got up and went to the room where Yao Qi usually worked to continue reading.
Yao Qi woke up the moment Liu Lin left his arms, silently looking at him through half-open eyes. Seeing the man scurry out after taking the book on the bedside, Yao Qin could guess what he was up to. He let out a sigh, recalling how he used to do a similar thing when he was a child, hiding under the covers and using a flashlight to secretly read comic books well past his curfew.
So he closed one eye to Liu Lin’s behaviour this time.
When Yao Qi woke up the next morning, Liu Lin had already returned to the bedroom, sitting on the bed while reading the book. Seeing Yao Qi wake up, he happily gave him a wide grin.
How silly.
This was Yao Qi’s first thought upon seeing that smile.
Why are you so adorably silly?
This was Yao Qi’s second thought.
After changing out of his pyjamas, he saw that Liu Lin was still enthusiastically reading in the same position. Yao Qi raised his eyebrows. “Is it good?”
“Yes,” Liu Lin nodded, “It’s a story about an angel and a monster. Both of them are males.” Although the story seemed strangely familiar to him, he couldn’t remember where he had seen it before, so Liu Lin simply brushed it off as a false impression.
“Take your time, no one’s going to snatch it from you.” Yao Qi rubbed his head.
What a silly guy. He actually forgot his own dream.
Yao Qi smiled dotingly and shook his head, leaving the room to prepare breakfast.
Yao Yue woke up after Yao Qi started cooking. Hugging a pillow, she climbed onto the sofa to watch Yao Qi busying about in the kitchen.
“Brother.”
“Hm?”
“…Nothing.”
“What’s the matter? You can tell me.”
“I’m hungry.”
“Haha, the meal will be done soon.”
When Yao Qi brought the breakfast to the table, Yao Yue was using a tablet to browse the internet.
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.
Seeing Yao Qi taking off his apron before going to call Liu Lin, she put down her tablet and casually asked, “Is the slut still sleeping?”
“Lf’r gfjvlcu,” Tjb Hl rwlifv. Lf qertfv bqfc atf yfvgbbw vbbg jcv mjiifv bea ab atf wjc ktb kjr oilqqlcu atgbeut atf vlmalbcjgs, afiilcu tlw atja la kjr alwf ab fja.
“Yt.” Tjb Tef kjr j ilaaif mbcoerfv. Cr ojg jr rtf xcfk, atf wjvwjc vlvc’a ilxf ab gfjv. “Qtja’r atf alaif bo atja ybbx? P’ii ub jcv rfjgmt obg la.”
Her brother was the one who picked that book, and even the slut liked it a lot, so it should be a pretty good read.
“…I’ll send you the softcopy later.” It was a novel he started writing for Liu Lin because the man was dissatisfied by the ending of the dream he had six months ago. The addition of another lunatic in his house had greatly slowed down Yao Qi’s writing progress, but he still managed to complete it in the end. However, since he wrote it especially for Liu Lin, he did not publish it anywhere else.
“It’s not available online?” Yao Yue tilted her head and looked at him.
Yao Qi nodded.
“That book… Brother, don’t tell me—” you wrote it yourself?
Compared with Liu Lin who was actually smart but seemed stupid because he didn’t like to think, Yao Yue, although not as smart, had formed a habit of critical thinking. Moreover, it wasn’t hard to guess the answer for such a simple matter as long as you put a little thought into it.
Yao Qi put up a finger to his lips and winked at her with a gentle smile.
The moment she saw Yao Qi’s series of actions, Yao Yue spontaneously swallowed back the words that hadn’t been spoken. It seemed like her brother didn’t want the slut to know.
She suddenly thought that the slut was very lucky. How could he be so lucky? No wonder he was so afraid of other people snatching her brother away and treated him like a priceless treasure.
This won’t do! I’ll also find someone as good as my brother in the future!
Yao Yue, who felt envious, silently made a vow in her heart.
And thus, when Liu Lin slumped onto the sofa after he had finished his breakfast and washed the dishes, Yao Yue looked at him with contempt.
Annoyed by her stare, Liu Lin raised his head and scowled at her, “You asking for a beating?”
“Heh,” Yao Yue coldly turned away with a face full of disdain, picking up the tablet to continue surfing the net.
Not knowing what was going on, her attitude left Liu Lin somehow speechless.
This girl’s illness probably relapsed again, Liu Lin thought, before continuing to read his novel.
“Ding dong—”
At this time, the doorbell rang.
“Xiao Yue, go get the door,” Liu Lin ordered without taking his eyes off the book.
“No, you do it yourself!” Yao Yue defiantly refused, but after a few seconds, she lost her courage and put on her slippers to do as Liu Lin said.
“Hello, who are you looking for?”
Liu Lin stopped paying attention when he heard her opening the door. No one would look for him or Yao Yue, so usually, whoever came must be looking for Xiao Qi.
However, this was not a usual situation.
“Hi, may I ask if there’s anyone named Han Jue here?” The voice was polite and a little cautious, as if the person who spoke was afraid of scaring the little girl who opened the door.
This voice—
Without even wearing his slippers, Liu Lin tossed away the book in his hands and dashed from the living room to the doorway in large strides.
“There’s no such person.” Yao Yue had just finished answering when she heard Liu Lin’s steps. She turned to look at him, “…What’s wrong?”
Liu Lin’s throat was so dry he couldn’t even say a word.
Right now, he could only see the man standing at the door.
It was a man in his forties with an upright and honest face. The crow’s feet lining his smiling eyes made them look even more narrow.
He looked like a kind, friendly neighbour.
Heh.
Wasn’t Han Jue his own name?
What a nasty way to give him a warning.
Liu Lin felt like throwing his head back for a good laugh, but the corners of his mouth instead took a downturn as he coldly glared at the man.
He couldn’t laugh.
“I’m sorry, little sister, it seems like I’ve got the wrong place,” the man put on a sheepish look. Combined with his harmless face, his low and placating voice really gave off the impression of a humble and amiable person.
“…” This guy is so off-putting.
Yao Yue scrunched her nose, expressionlessly slamming the door shut the moment he turned around.
That man had an aura she was very familiar with.
An aura called ‘Yao Yu’ that she abhorred to death.
She instantly loathed him.
“Who came just now?” Walking out of the toilet, Yao Qi glanced at them in question.
“Someone who got the wrong place,” replied Yao Yue. Her brother was indeed the best—simply looking at him could put her back in a good mood~
“I see… Ah-Lin?” The moment his gaze moved to Liu Lin, Yao Qi seemed to catch a trace of the same look the man had when he first met and threatened him.
An impassive yet extremely dangerous look.
“Yes, what’s up,” Liu Lin grinned at him.
It was a goofy, silly grin. Just like always.
“Nothing, I’m just calling you.”
Did he see wrong? Yao Qi frowned, getting a slight headache all of a sudden.
He rubbed his temples as an uncomfortable feeling settled in his heart.
It seemed like he didn’t see it wrongly.
Just what kind of problem would appear next?
Yao Qi spent the whole day observing Liu Lin. He kept feeling like something was about to happen, but Liu Lin acted without a flaw, behaving just like he normally did.
He couldn’t find out what the man was hiding from him.
Liu Lin was in charge of dinner that night. He cooked so many dishes that for a moment, Yao Qi even thought there would be guests coming to their house.
“Why did you make so much?”
“It’s to reward that crazy girl for not attacking you yesterday,” Liu Lin whispered in his ear.
Yao Qi chuckled, accepting his explanation.
He knew the man was up to something, and he clearly could’ve taken some actions to prevent it—such as not eating whatever Liu Lin cooked tonight, or calling someone to keep a lookout when he noticed something off during the day…
In front of him, Liu Lin was like an open book.
So if Yao Qi couldn’t tell what he was thinking, then Liu Lin must be hiding something from him.
But Yao Qi didn’t intend to let the man know that he was aware.
If Liu Lin wouldn’t say it, then he wouldn’t ask. He wanted to see what his Ah-Lin was up to.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t be something that would anger him.
By the time they went to bed, Liu Lin finally finished reading the book. Of course, the ending was a cliché happily ever after where the angel and the monster stayed and lived together forever.
But Liu Lin was very satisfied with this.
He prattled on about the storyline to Yao Qi, talking about how the two protagonists gave him a sense of familiarity. It was probably because the contrast between the characters reminded him of Beauty and the Beast, he said.
Yao Qi quietly listened to him, nodding and patting his head from time to time in response to his babbling.
At this moment, Liu Lin was really very happy.
But Yao Qi still couldn’t see through him.
“Ah-Lin, be good, alright?” Don’t make me angry, Yao Qi thought. Without realising it, he had already said it out loud.
Both of them were taken aback.
“Alright.” With a bright smile, Liu Lin hugged and kissed him.
Yao Qi was prepared.
He was prepared for Liu Lin to provoke his anger.
And thus, when he woke up the next day and Liu Lin was nowhere to be found, his expression didn’t change at all.
Liu Lin ran away.
No matter what his reason was, Liu Lin still ran away without telling him a single thing.
A dog who ripped off its leash without permission was not a good dog.
“Heh,” Yao Qi chuckled, his lips curving into a superficial smile, but his eyes were dead cold.
“Brother?” Yao Yue meekly called out from the side. She thought she had seen Yao Qi at his scariest. She really thought she had. But despite the smile on his face, in spite of the fact that he looked no different from usual, the current Yao Qi was so terrifying she could barely suppress her shivers.
“It’s okay, let him run.” Yao Qi stroked Yao Yue’s hair and indifferently said, “I’ll just have to catch him back.”
—and then throw him away for good.
Ah-Lin had truly touched his reverse scale this time.
No longer able to hold it back, a violent shudder wrecked its way through Yao Yue’s body.
Small theatre
Xiao Qi: *coldly glances at the audience before looking back down at the book in his hands* There’s no small theatre today, I’m not in the mood.
Yao Yue: … (Why? When my brother got angry last time, the small theatre obviously still went on!)
Ah Lin: … (I’m done for.)
Shao Qing: That’s how it is, so we’ll see you next time *smiles and waves his hand goodbye*
What’s now?! Why they can’t have a minute of free time of any accidents?! (╬ Ò ‸ Ó)
Thank You for the new chapter ʚ♡⃛ɞ(ू•ᴗ•ू❁)
+1 We’ll never be peaceful unless it’s the last chapter QAQ
That’s what I keep asking too 🥲 why can’t Liu Lin get his peace and happiness hhh he’s suffered enough… Thank you for reading! 😘
AHH THANK YOU FOR THE UPDATE IM SO EXCITED
Thank you for reading!!! Your excitement is contagious hahaha 😂😂😂
Every chapter leaves me damn near speechless. Wow.
+1 Definitely one of the novels that I don’t mind reading chapter after chapter!
We’re about to get to the climax of the roller coaster 🥶
I’ll be waiting for it on Saturday 😆😆
This is so funny XD we’re getting the angry Yao Qi for real. Ah-Lin should hide well, if he’s found, I don’t know what will happen to him! Thank you so much for the update <3
Liu Lin has no idea of what’s coming for him 🥲🥲🥲 stay strong, Liu Lin, Yao Qi’s blackbelly-ness is about to appear in full force 😬 thank you so much for reading dear 😊💖💖💖
You mean this is his kind side? Oh holy hell! snicker