Cheng Chen looked at the 200 yuan bill that the teenager pushed in front of him and was about to push it back. “It’s my treat, you don’t need…”
Lu Zheyu insisted. “I’ve already paid you. It doesn’t matter to me if you don’t accept it or throw it away. I won’t feel any psychological burden.”
Cheng Chen: “…”
He had never met such a stubborn person before. He had no choice but to accept the money.
Then, he asked in confusion, “The money you earn now is more than enough to support you. You don’t have to treat yourself so badly, right?”
Lu Zheyu looked up at him, then stared back at his laptop, as if he didn’t hear anything.
With such blatant disregard, Cheng Chen wasn’t even angry – he was just curious.
He stared at Lu Zheyu. Sure enough, good-looking people are pleasing to the eye no matter what they do, but especially when they’re serious and focused.
Unlike the teenager’s flawless and delicate face, Lu Zheyu’s hands were rather rough but still quite slender. He tapped his keyboard quickly, and if Cheng Chen focused on them, he could vaguely see the thin calluses on his fingertips as they danced on the keys.
Cheng Chen saw the teenager continue to type for more than 10 minutes without stopping. He wondered, ‘Wouldn’t his hands get sore?’
He scooted over, sitting next to Lu Zheyu. “Send me a copy of your previous drafts.”
Lu Zheyu: “?”
Cheng Chen: “What are you looking at? How many times do you want to revise it? Can’t you see that your client is clearly trying to make things difficult for you?”
Lu Zheyu replied calmly, “I know, but he said he’ll pay more.”
Cheng Chen: “….”
He revised five times in total, and the current sixth version was on the way.
Cheng Chen ignored the teenager’s “money slave” attitude and read the previous drafts. If anything, it convinced him further that this so-called client was just looking for trouble.
He wanted to train Lu Zheyu and brought him to his company. At first, he thought of it as a practice for Lu Zheyu, so he let the teenager take not-famous clients, in order to lessen the stress level.
However, some people just have a huge ego despite their nonexistent fame. This particular client, for example, is not only nitpicky about the melody, but especially about the lyrics.
[This is a song about a broken heart. But not just a mere broken heart. I hope the lyrics can be more carefree and easy to remember.]
[While it is carefree, it is still about a broken heart. Make the mood gloomier.]
[I want to show the helplessness of a broken heart, not just mere sadness. Your lyrics only make me feel depressed.]
Cheng Chen: “…”
After reading the chat records, Cheng Chen directly snatched his laptop as Lu Zheyu was revising the lyrics.
<Lao Er>: I can revise the lyrics, the price is negotiable. For each revision, the price will double. So currently, it is now 6x the base price. If you can accept this, I’ll continue. If you can’t, you can find someone else.
Lu Zheyu: “…”
Cheng Chen returned the laptop to him and started to lecture, “You must learn to be flexible but firm. You have completed his requirements. However, he kept moving the goalpost. You can humor him, but you must also learn to fight for more benefits for yourself. You must know that the lyrics you have written and the things completed according to the client’s requirements are still yours. Even if they’re scrapped in the end, you absolutely cannot give them to others. This is your hard work, your work cannot be fruitless.”
Lu Zheyu fell silent for a moment. Then, he suddenly asked, “Are you really my agent?”
Cheng Chen choked on pure air.
Soon, the reply for the client interrupted their conversation.
<Client>: What’s with your attitude? You don’t have the ability but you’re still arrogant enough to raise the price? I’m going to file a complaint!
Before Lu Zheyu could do anything, Cheng Chen already grabbed the laptop.
<Lao Er>: Feel free to do so. I don’t mind making the previous rejected drafts public. I’ll let the masses judge.
Lu Zheyu: “….”
‘Is this something an agent can do? Where does he get the confidence from?’
After being interrupted, Cheng Chen had calmed down. “Our agency offers very good employee benefits. There’s no need to worry about future client’s useless complaints affecting your future work.”
Lu Zheyu: “……”
After saying that, Cheng Chen already flipped through the rejected drafts and seemed very satisfied. After reading them for a while, he said, “How did you come up with so many words in your head? You’re still so young, but your emotions are this rich?”
Lu Zheyu continued to ignore him.
The client didn’t reply again – probably too angry.
Cheng Chen continued, “You don’t look like you have been in a relationship… how can you write it down so well?”
Lu Zheyu was neither angry nor annoyed. “No?”
Cheng Chen: “Alright, alright.”
But his lips subconsciously curved up.
The client was probably feeling guilty, as Cheng Chen successfully threatened him. In the end, he didn’t pay up to 6x the price, but he no longer makes things needlessly difficult.
Lu Zheyu still had an unshakably flat expression, but his body changed from sitting upright to leaning back. He was obviously relaxed.
Cheng Chen looked at him with a smile. Thinking of his WeChat handle, he curiously asked, “Why are you called Lao Er?”
Lu Zheyu readily answered, “I always got second place in my grade for monthly exams.”
The first person to christened him with this nickname was Luo Suo. Lu Zheyu himself thought of it as appropriate, so he used it as his WeChat handle. After that, other people went along, calling him Lao Er or Lu Lao’er. He didn’t object.
Cheng Chen was a little surprised. “You’re still second place in your grade?”
Lu Zheyu: “Yes.”
“…..”
Cheng Chen could only speechlessly stare at him.
After that day, Cheng Chen never bought meals for Lu Zheyu again. However, he would eat with the teenager.
His menu changed from steamed crab roe, Australian lobster, with high-quality bread to instant noodles and spicy hotpot. Cheng-zong’s life quality sharply plummeted.
Every time he ate, he would be baptized by Lu Zheyu’s stare that seemed to say that he’s an idiot.
Cheng Chen ate the spicy hotpot without raising his head. “What? You can eat it but I can’t?”
Lu Zheyu wanted to reply, but he decided to only shook his head.
As a result, the next day, Cheng Chen, who had eaten too much spicy food, had a pimple on his face. I was red and swollen, very hurt when pressed.
Cheng Chen: “….”
Lu Zheyu didn’t laugh at him. Instead, when the two of them eat together in the future, they never went to eat spicy hotpot again.
Using work as an excuse, the two people gradually interacted more. Cheng Chen accidentally discovered thateven when the teenager wasn’t working, Lu Zheyu always sported faint dark circles under his eyes.
Taking the opportunity of sending Lu Zheyu home after meeting a client, Cheng Chen went to where Lu Zheyu lived.
He never hesitated to expose his embarrassing situation to others. His rental house was small, with tiny windows, filled with many things. There was simply no place to sit after entering.
Cheng Chen tried to hold back for a long time. But he couldn’t help it. He asked, “You’ve been… living here?”
Lu Zheyu was very frugal with his words. “Yes.”
He didn’t directly order Cheng Chen to leave. Instead, he asked, “Would you like to come in?”
Most people would consciously wave their hands and refuse wherever they’re faced with this kind of clutter.
But Cheng-zong obviously had zero tact. “Okay.”
Lu Zheyu: “…”
After entering the house, Cheng Chen probably guessed why Lu Zheyu always had dark circles under his eyes. In this rental house, he saw a lot of books – some about music, some had topics that surprised Cheng Chen.
“You learned programming?”
Lu Zheyu nodded.
Cheng Chen flipped through a few books. “These don’t seem to be entry-level courses. Can you understand them already?”
“Yes, I can.”
“…”
Cheng Chen diverted his attention to a few music-related books. The artistic covers seemed to be out of place with this narrow rental house. He suddenly thought of something and asked hesitantly, “You write lyrics and compose music. Are you self-taught?”
Lu Zheyu: “No.”
Cheng Chen breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, Lu Zheyu added, “I found online courses.”
Cheng Chen: “…”
Cheng-zong felt the world was deeply unfair. “You learned programming, but you also signed up for online courses?”
Lu Zheyu: “Yes.”
He was calm, but Cheng Chen’s heart was in turmoil.
No wonder he never made enough money to spend. Signing up for good online courses was expensive.
“Why did you learn programming?”
Lu Zheyu: “It’s interesting and I want to learn.”
Cheng Chen was speechless.
Can any excuse be more perfunctory than this?
Cheng Chen had seen hard-working people before, but not on Lu Zheyu’s level.
‘Is his brain capacity enough to learn so many different things?’
—it is for Lu Zheyu.
During his three years of junior high school, he couldn’t get rid of his parents’ control. He had nothing else to do besides studying. The junior high school courses were easy, so he challenged himself by teaching himself high school courses. So after entering high school, studying the lessons was quite easy.
In addition, music was his hobby. He’s better at writing lyrics and composing. There’s still many things he needed to learn in order to master his crafts.
As for programming, he first learned it because someone refused to pay him after a successful commission. Because the transaction was illegal, he couldn’t get his rightful payment. He then learned about hacking. On a whim, he learned the skill and got immersed in it.
But he never told this to others.
Cheng Chen found this incredible, but he couldn’t ask for more details.
Lu Zheyu stayed in E City for the entire winter vacation. He didn’t even go home for the Spring Festival.
Seeing him alone, Cheng Chen invited him. “Since we’re both alone, why don’t you come back with me to celebrate the New Year?”
Lu Zheyu refused him in an indifferent manner. “No.”
Cheng Chen: “Oh…”
“…”
What Lu Zheyu didn’t expect was… Cheng Chen then went to stay and celebrate the New Year with him.
Cheng Chen also didn’t expect his own decision – he would actually go to spend the New Year with someone he had only known for half a year, and went along for less than a month.
When he knocked on the door of Lu Zheyu’s house with the things he bought, he clearly saw the shock in Lu Zheyu’s eyes.
At that moment, Cheng Chen had only one thought in his mind: ‘I came to the right place.’
On New Year’s Eve, the two young men drank a lot of wine. Cheng Chen was drunk, and went on to hug Lu Zheyu in a sticky manner. Lookin at the mess made by the two of them (well, mostly by him), he said, “If my cousin sees this, he’ll go crazy.”
“…..”
Cheng Chen continued, “I have a younger cousin that’s about the same age as you. He’s also a big introvert, but his health is really poor. You’re better than him. He’ll just straight-up drive people away… You, at least, won’t.”
Lu Zheyu: “…”
In fact, he actually wants to drive Cheng Chen away now.
Then the older man leaned his head on Lu Zheyu’s shoulder, and assigned the “mature one” role to the teenager. “We are both half-grown children, anyways. Why are you trying so hard? Can’t someone take care of you? Isn’t it more lively with more people? Right, right?”
Lu Zheyu said, “We’re both half-grown children? How old are you?”
Cheng Chen laughed. “Unfortunately, I passed the legal age of marriage two years ago. I’m an adult now.1in China, it’s 22 years for male, so he’s 24 now”
Lu Zheyu: “….”
‘Is this guy really an agent?’
In fact, if Lu Zheyu followed entertainment gossip, he would know the name “Cheng Chen”. Unfortunately, he had no interest in such topics.
After drinking, Cheng Chen didn’t want to ask someone to pick him up and went home. He clamored to take a shower and stood up while unbuttoning his shirt. “I want to take a shower. Where’s the bathtub?”
Lu Zheyu helped him to the bathroom. “There’s no bathtub, only a shower.”
Cheng Chen: “Oh.”
After sending the older man to the bathroom, Lu Zheyu turned around and wanted to go out.
But Cheng Chen reached out and grabbed him. “How do you use this thing?”
Lu Zheyu: “……”
![Don’t run, its not marked yet! [Entertainment circle]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/d0ed5cbffda6d3c0e77d4bdf8824237a.jpg "Don’t run, its not marked yet! [Entertainment circle]")
