Bai Sijun hastily opened the door, and as he changed shoes in the entrance, he couldn’t help but glance into the living room. No one was there, and he found it strange. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a knife scraping against a cutting board coming from the kitchen.
Bai Sijun was surprised; what was Mei Yuchen doing with a knife again?
Feeling a bit anxious, ever since he left in the afternoon, the whole world seemed out of order. He didn’t like this feeling of being out of control.
Without taking off his somewhat formal suit jacket, Bai Sijun loosened his tie as he walked towards the kitchen. In no time, he was stunned by the scene before him.
Mei Yuchen was actually cooking.
Recalling that Mei Yuchen had cooked for him once, the extremely salty green pepper shredded pork left an unforgettable impression on him. However, the feeling of directly enjoying the finished product and witnessing the cooking process were different. The lazy cat was standing in front of the marble countertop, struggling with a lump of pork belly, and Bai Sijun…
Found it utterly ridiculous.
When Mei Yuchen turned to look at him, he casually said, “You’re back,” and then immersed himself in his work, as if the whole world was less important than the piece of pork belly in front of him.
Bai Sijun had initially wanted to grab Mei Yuchen by the collar and question what he had said during the interview. But now, he had lost the motivation. He walked behind him, wrapped his arms around his waist, and rested his chin on his shoulder, asking, “What are you doing?”
Mei Yuchen didn’t stop his actions. “Braised pork belly.”
Bai Sijun found it amusing. “You can’t even cook green pepper shredded pork, and now you’re making braised pork belly?”
Snap!
The sound of the knife being placed on the cutting board echoed, and Mei Yuchen turned around, discontented. “Complaining when I’m making you food?”
“Not complaining.” Bai Sijun smiled. “Why the sudden desire to cook?”
Mei Yuchen lightly snorted. “You said you are tired.”
After saying that, Mei Yuchen turned back around, not looking at Bai Sijun, and continued cutting the meat. Bai Sijun, seeing a subtle blush on Mei Yuchen’s ears, felt it was cute. He reached down and pinched Mei Yuchen’s butt, saying, “Come on, my wife, you can do it.”
Mei Yuchen put the knife down and turned around, his face serious. “What did you call me?”
“Cough, cough.” Bai Sijun quickly stepped back, placing his hands behind his back, covering his butt. “Uh, that, I was cheering you on.”
Finally, the braised pork belly didn’t turn out as expected. Mei Yuchen didn’t manage the caramelization time well, resulting in a burnt appearance. Perhaps it should be called “charred pork belly.”
Mei Yuchen frowned, obviously not happy with how it turned out. Bai Sijun, eating the bitter braised pork belly, tried to comfort him against his conscience. “It’s quite delicious.”
Mei Yuchen obviously didn’t buy it.
Bai Sijun chuckled. “It’s delicious because you are the one who made it.”
Mei Yuchen’s tense mouth immediately relaxed, and Bai Sijun chuckled in his heart, thinking that this cat was indeed easy to please.
Although he didn’t grab Mei Yuchen’s collar, there were still things that needed clarification. Bai Sijun tried to act nonchalant and asked, “Did you publicly come out?”
Mei Yuchen replied nonchalantly, “I already came out in college.”
Bai Sijun could tell that he was intentionally avoiding his question. So, he asked directly, “Did you tell them that ‘Confession’ was written for me?”
“No,” Mei Yuchen paused, then continued, “I said it was for my same-sex lover.”
Wasn’t that him?
Bai Sijun sighed almost imperceptibly and asked, “Why didn’t you consult with me?”
Although the online comments were mostly positive, Bai Sijun still felt a bit uneasy. He couldn’t imagine Mei Yuchen enduring online harassment. He didn’t even dare to recall the suffocating feeling before he checked the comments on Weibo.
Even if Mei Yuchen himself could ignore it, he couldn’t stay calm.
“They don’t know who you are,” Mei Yuchen said. “You don’t need to worry.”
Mei Yuchen’s tone was as casual as ever, as if he was discussing a trivial matter. But Bai Sijun suddenly felt angry. He frowned and said, “Do you think I’m worried about being exposed?”
Mei Yuchen raised his eyelids and looked at him without answering.
“Have you ever thought, what if everyone bullies you?” Bai Sijun continued.
“Did they bully me?” Mei Yuchen asked, still without looking at Bai Sijun.
“Well…” Bai Sijun’s momentum diminished. “No.”
“Then it’s fine,” Mei Yuchen smiled.
“You’re still laughing.” Bai Sijun stabbed his chopsticks into the rice bowl. “Do you know how worried I am about you?”
“Bai.” Mei Yuchen bit the chopsticks and looked at him sincerely. “I wish for the whole world to knpw that you are mine.”
“You…” Bai Sijun blushed. He had seen through it; Mei Yuchen had played him again with his sweet words.
Just like when Mei Yuchen was unhappy, a few sweet words could easily make him happy. When he was angry, a few romantic words from Mei Yuchen could completely dissipate his anger.
Lowering his head to eat, he awkwardly said, “Discuss such things with me in the future.”
Mei Yuchen said, “Aren’t you the one who told me to do this?”
“I…” Bai Sijun took a deep breath. Here it was again, this familiar reversal of right and wrong. Through gritted teeth, he said, “Well, you did a good job with the promotion.”
Mei Yuchen chuckled. “Of course.”
As it turned out, Mei Yuchen’s promotion did indeed work well.
At nine o’clock in the evening, the Weibo influencer released all the interview content. Mei Yuchen admitted that it took him three years to release this new book, not the so-called three years of honing a sword, but encountering a creative bottleneck, exhausting his thoughts and unable to write a satisfactory work. Of course, this bottleneck had passed, and in his words, “He was a beam of light shining into my life when I was at my lowest. He brings me endless inspiration, and I believe he is the muse in my life.”
When Bai Sijun saw this passage, he felt nauseated with goosebumps all over his body. He thought Mei Yuchen’s readers must find him overly sentimental. However, shortly after this blog post was published, #Mei Yuchen’s Muse# quickly rose to the top of the Weibo hot search, and people were shedding tears over the so-called “immortal love” in the comments.
Bai Sijun felt he couldn’t keep up with the trends of the times. When did same-sex relationships become so openly displayed?
However, things didn’t end there.
Around midnight, after finishing his routine exercise, Bai Sijun curiously opened JD and Dangdang. He saw Mei Yuchen’s new book “Confession” had reached the number one spot on the bestseller list.
This result was unexpected, yet not so surprising.
When Bai Sijun had angrily confronted the chief editor for Mei Yuchen, he boldly stated that Mei Yuchen’s new book would definitely top the bestseller list. However, when that day actually arrived, he didn’t feel as excited as he had anticipated. Instead, he remained calm, with only a hint of emotion.
Mei Yuchen took the phone from his hand, dissatisfied, and said, “Is the phone your husband, or am I your husband?”
Bai Sijun wordlessly twitched the corner of his mouth; this big cat was truly possessive, even jealous of the phone.
“Aren’t you curious about the sales of ‘Confession’?” Bai Sijun asked.
“First place,” Mei Yuchen succinctly replied.
Bai Sijun couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you that confident?”
Mei Yuchen leaned in, tightly embracing him and casually said. “I have to be. I worked hard on it.”
“Indeed,” Bai Sijun hugged his waist in return. “Congratulations, Mei.”
“Too soon for congratulations,” Mei Yuchen calmly said. “Have you forgotten our goal?”
Indeed, their goal was not the top of the bestseller list but the Xingmu Award this year.
The significant factor for topping the bestseller list was promotion, but the Xingmu Award was different. It didn’t consider popularity and sales but focused solely on the work’s quality. Additionally, each judge had different preferences, influencing the final award results. Therefore, no one could confidently assert that they would win, not even Mei Yuchen.
Thinking about this, Bai Sijun’s momentarily eased heart became tense again. He asked, “Will the shortlist be announced in early October?”
“Yes.”
“Then we’ll have to continue waiting.”
The next morning, Bai Sijun, like before, was browsing job listings on a job-seeking website when he unexpectedly received a call from an unexpected person.
He frowned and answered, “Chief Editor?”
“Xiao Bai, how has work been lately?” The chief editor asked amiably. “Mei Yuchen’s new book is selling well, bringing good benefits to our company. It’s all thanks to you.”
Bai Sijun sneered inwardly but patiently replied, “Chief Editor, you’re too kind.”
The chief editor continued, “After the final draft of ‘Confession,’ Mei Yuchen insisted on changing the editor’s name to yours; otherwise, he wouldn’t allow the publication. I made quite a concession for that.”
Bai Sijun was taken aback. He had thought that the issue of attribution was settled by Zhao Lin convincing the chief editor. He didn’t expect Mei Yuchen to fight for him.
Continuing the conversation, Bai Sijun said with polite words, “Thank you, Chief Editor.”
“Speaking of which, if I hadn’t pressured you back then, I don’t know when this manuscript would have been finished.” The chief editor chuckled twice. “Actually, I only did it to stimulate you. I didn’t really want you to leave. Who knew you would resign on your own. Was it necessary?”
Bai Sijun wasn’t a fool. He sensed that the chief editor wanted him to return.
The interview results from Publisher A hadn’t come out yet, and there was no guarantee that they would be favorable. Returning to Hongtu would mean immediate employment and a quick return to a normal routine. However…
He didn’t want to work with that kind of person.
“Thank you for your cultivation, Chief Editor.” Bai Sijun spoke diplomatically. “I’m doing my own thing now, and it’s going well.”
In reality, his own thing was just looking for a job. Even though this matter hadn’t progressed yet, he didn’t even know if the suit he struggled with last night could still be worn. But even if no publishing company accepted him, he didn’t want to work under the chief editor again.
The chief editor continued to subtly persuade him to return, even offering a promotion and a raise, but Bai Sijun still refused.
After hanging up the phone, he found it strange. He asked Mei Yuchen, who was sitting on the sofa, “Why does he want me to come back so badly?”
Mei Yuchen, currently reading a book, lifted his head without much interest and replied, “Hongtu wants to sign me for the next book.”
Ah, that explained it.
Bai Sijun suddenly thought of something and asked, “Did you tell him that I must be your editor for it to work?”
Mei Yuchen lightly laughed and nodded. “You are really smart.”
“You’re really too willful.” Bai Sijun frowned. “You could have just refused directly, no need to make things difficult for him by setting conditions. It’s easy to offend people like this. What if it plants the seeds of trouble for your future development…”
“I’m afraid of offending him?” Mei Yuchen raised an eyebrow. “I haven’t settled the score with him for bullying you yet.”
Bai Sijun was helpless; this cat really couldn’t let go of grudges. After thinking for a moment, he said, “If I get an interview with Publisher A, I’ll write a proposal specifically to convince them to sign your next book.”
Mei Yuchen nodded with a smile. “Good.”
Bai Sijun was about to continue asking Mei Yuchen about any plans for the next book when his phone rang again.
Glancing at the caller ID, he said in exasperation, “It looks like someone is anxious after getting to the top of the bestseller list.”
Mei Yuchen asked, “Qi Jun?”
“Exactly.”
Bai Sijun slowly answered the call, “Professor Qi?”
Qi Jun got straight to the point, saying, “Congratulations, Editor Bai. Your book is selling well.”
His tone sounded normal, but Bai Sijun felt something odd about it.
“I’m so angry!” Bai Sijun felt that he didn’t handle it well just now on the phone with Qi Jun, and there was a lingering frustration in his heart. He crawled to Mei Yuchen, clutching him and said, “hold me.”
