Qiu Zheyan’s face darkened to an unprecedented degree.
It was bad enough that Zhuang Hanxue was chatting so enthusiastically with someone else, but was he also plotting to escape from him? Even borrowing money to move out when he had none?
Furious, Qiu Zheyan surprisingly found himself calm.
If he confronted Zhuang Hanxue now, wouldn’t it only provoke him and accelerate his escape plans? Zhuang Hanxue was surprisingly more receptive to gentle approaches than forceful ones.
So he placed the phone back on the nightstand beside Zhuang Hanxue.
Qiu Zheyan couldn’t shake off his concerns and quietly observed Zhuang Hanxue’s every move.
Terrified of returning home one day to find Zhuang Hanxue gone, he became increasingly indulgent towards him.
He allowed Zhuang Hanxue to smoke more cigarettes, refilled his drinks as soon as they were empty, and took every opportunity to treat him to delicious meals at restaurants.
Zhuang Hanxue was thrilled.
Recently, work had been exceptionally hectic, with everything going awry – perhaps Mercury was in retrograde.
His senior also kept urging him to come over for dinner.
He found a time, a few days before the New Year, intending to bring Zhuang Hanxue along to his senior’s house for a meal.
Though Zhuang Hanxue appeared perfectly normal, showing no signs of planning to run away, Qiu Zheyan still couldn’t relax. Even living together, Zhuang Hanxue gave him a sense of being simultaneously close yet distant.
When Zhuang Hanxue learned he was being taken to the senior’s house for dinner, he was quite surprised. “Huh? I’m coming too? Don’t you never bring me to meet your friends?”
Qiu Zheyan: “Aren’t I taking you to meet my friend now?”
Zhuang Hanxue: “You often go out drinking but never take me. I’d love to go to a bar for drinks too.”
Qiu Zheyan recalled the last time he took him to a bar and thought he could never bring him to such a lively place again. When this guy was in such an environment, he seemed to turn into a pampered rich kid, far too comfortable and at ease. Not to mention women, even men would likely be drawn to him.
Qiu Zheyan ruthlessly refused. “Forget it. You lose all sense of propriety when you’re out partying.”
Zhuang Hanxue was bewildered. “How do I lose my sense of propriety?”
Qiu Zheyan said sourly, “I can’t afford to create more romantic rivals for myself.”
Zhuang Hanxue was astonished and argued vehemently, “I can’t believe you. Didn’t you tell me to take a good look at myself last time? Now you’re worried about romantic rivals. I’m just a man in his thirties, past his prime, average-looking, unemployed, living off you – who would compete with you for me? You must be joking.”
Qiu Zheyan deeply regretted his hurtful words spoken in anger before. He embraced Zhuang Hanxue, kissing him once. “Don’t say that. I was just lashing out last time. You’re really cute. Every time you go out, I worry about attracting more rivals. You have so many wonderful qualities.”
After saying this, he kissed him again. “I’m sorry. Pretend I never said those things. I was wrong.”
Zhuang Hanxue’s vanity flared up. Since childhood, his parents had called him a fool – poor at studies, forgetful, lacking perseverance, running from difficulties, even a noob at video games. He eagerly asked, “What are my good qualities?”
He waited contentedly for Qiu Zheyan’s praise.
Qiu Zheyan froze.
Wait, what were Zhuang Hanxue’s good qualities?
Qiu Zheyan stared at that foolish face, looking left and right. He was quite handsome, but not exceptionally so. His physique, due to lack of exercise, was far from strong. Incredibly lazy, he couldn’t cook or do housework. He loved drinking and smoking; without supervision, he’d turn the house into a smoky mess. Moreover, he was frivolous and immature. Except for being in his early thirties, nothing about him seemed like a man in his thirties.
After waiting a while and seeing not only no praise but confusion on Qiu Zheyan’s face, Zhuang Hanxue’s heart sank. He said, “Well? Say something. What’s wrong?”
Qiu Zheyan said diplomatically, “…Being with you makes me very happy.”
Zhuang Hanxue: “Bullshit, you scold me all day.”
Qiu Zheyan felt his brain overheating, still unable to produce “Zhuang Hanxue’s good qualities” as a result. He blurted out, “Whenever I’m with you, I want to sleep with you.”
Zhuang Hanxue: “…”
Zhuang Hanxue asked incredulously, “Damn! Is that my only good quality?”
Qiu Zheyan: “You caught me off guard. I can’t think of anything right now. Give me some time to consider it properly. Love is just love, but asking me to specify what I love is difficult to articulate clearly. I only know that seeing you fills my heart with joy.”
Zhuang Hanxue couldn’t be bothered to discuss further. “Forget it then. I’m going to play games.”
Then Zhuang Hanxue slipped out of Qiu Zheyan’s arms like a loach, shuffling away in his slippers.
Qiu Zheyan noticed him pausing as he passed the full-length mirror, stepping back to examine himself from various angles, even lifting his shirt to look. Finally, he turned sideways, patted his bottom, and said as if agreeing with something. “My butt does seem quite perky.”
Qiu Zheyan: “…”
That night before bed, Qiu Zheyan found him lying face down on the bed, buttocks exposed, applying a face mask to his rear.
Qiu Zheyan’s face darkened. “What are you doing?”
Zhuang Hanxue, playing a mobile game with his chin on the pillow, mumbled indistinctly, “Maintaining my only good quality… Don’t take my face mask away! Give it back!”
Qiu Zheyan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
What a big fool.
Zhuang Hanxue pondered his own merits for days but couldn’t come up with any.
It seemed he had no good qualities.
Zhuang Hanxue messaged his little master: [I feel like I’m just serving with my looks now, with no other qualities to attract Xiao Qiu. But I’m not young anymore. What if I get older and uglier? Won’t I be abandoned?]
Little Master: [Didn’t you say he proposed to you, but you didn’t accept? So why worry about being abandoned? Isn’t that what you want?]
Zhuang Hanxue: [Me not wanting to marry him and him abandoning me are two different things.]
After a while, Little Master replied: [Suddenly, I find you quite frightening. The adult world is really dirty.]
Little Master advised him: [I still think, even if you don’t go to work, you could find something to do and earn some money. Not every job requires clocking in. For example, drawing, writing novels, livestreaming, making videos – aren’t these good options? Try livestreaming, I think it suits you. You’re playing all day anyway and love chatting, might as well do something with your free time.]
Zhuang Hanxue had an epiphany. Of course, he could do livestreaming. Doudou, who was sleeping by his feet, barked, “Woof woof woof.”
He had nothing else to do at home anyway.
Livestreaming didn’t require much preparation.
Zhuang Hanxue set it up casually.
However, after streaming for a day, he only had a few dozen viewers.
Shameless as he was, instead of working hard, he immediately thought about riding on someone’s coattails.
And wasn’t there a perfect candidate?
His Little Master! Chu Jue! A former child star, nationally famous, professional chess player, and national youth Go Championship winner! With millions of Weibo followers!
Zhuang Hanxue shamelessly begged the primary school student. “Master, please stream with me a few times. I’m begging you. You’re a little Bodhisattva who saves the suffering. Save the world, save me. Can you bear to see me remain so useless? Just one hour a day, okay? Just one hour!”
Fortunately, it was winter break, and the kind little Jiujiu couldn’t resist such pleading. He agreed to play on his livestream.
To attract viewers, they planned to start with card games.
Jiujiu posted the stream link on Weibo, and being his first livestream, it drew twenty thousand fans to watch.
Jiujiu came online and asked Zhuang Hanxue, “What are we playing? You want to play Go with me? Your Go is terrible, I don’t want to play with you.”
Zhuang Hanxue said, “I’m not that presumptuous. Let’s play Fight the Landlord. Have you played it before?”
Jiujiu said, “Never. Let’s give it a try. Give me three minutes to check the rules.”
Zhuang Hanxue said cheekily, “Hehe, viewers, you’re about to witness Chu Jue’s first defeat. If I can’t win this game, I’ll eat shit.”
Jiujiu chuckled. “Is that so?”
A few minutes later, after the game ended, Jiujiu asked, “When are you eating shit?”
Zhuang Hanxue, able to be both stubborn and flexible: “Master, I was wrong. Master, I’m sorry.”
They started another round.
Zhuang Hanxue said, “I underestimated you last time. That’s not my true ability. I’ll definitely win this round. If I don’t win, I’ll buy Little Master a set of exercise books.”
Jiujiu: “Buy what? Say that again if you dare.”
Zhuang Hanxue shouted, “Exercise books!!”
Jiujiu went offline.
Zhuang Hanxue instantly backed down. “Master, I was wrong. How about I buy a little dress for your kitten instead?”
Jiujiu came back online and won another round.
Zhuang Hanxue lost five games in a row. Checking the viewer count, it had surprisingly surpassed fifty thousand. Some viewers were even sending gifts, probably for Jiujiu, totaling four to five thousand.
He thought, livestreaming isn’t so difficult after all, it’s quite simple.
Zhuang Hanxue said happily, “Little Master, let’s switch to another game. How about we play [game name]?”
Jiujiu said, “Wait a moment, I need to check the rules again.”
Halfway through the game, Jiujiu suddenly said, “Not good, my dad’s home. I have to go do my homework. Goodbye.”
Then he abruptly went offline.
Zhuang Hanxue finally won a round. “I won!”
Comments section: [This guy is so shameless…]
Zhuang Hanxue played games with the schoolboy online every day, trying everything. After all, his goal wasn’t to be a technical streamer.
When Jiujiu wasn’t around, he played with random people. He was talkative, able to chat even when no one responded, with a standard tone and pleasant voice, even mimicking a heartthrob’s voice at times.
With his internet celebrity Little Master boosting him, and Jiujiu’s fans editing and sharing funny clips, he attracted quite a following. He received many donations, and after just a week, he met the platform’s requirements for a contracted streamer, even getting his own recording team.
Zhuang Hanxue was quite proud. He planned to tell Qiu Zheyan after receiving his first paycheck in a month and treat him to a meal.
Surely Xiao Qiu would praise him then! Just thinking about it made him feel cool!
On the day they were supposed to have dinner at the senior’s house.
Qiu Zheyan led the big fool to the door. As long as Zhuang Hanxue didn’t speak, he looked quite talented.
At the senior’s house, Qiu Zheyan vaguely noticed his senior constantly eyeing Zhuang Hanxue.
But his senior was married with children, so he wouldn’t be interested in their lazy bug. So why was he looking?
After observing for a while, the senior asked Zhuang Hanxue, “Mr. Zhuang, when I first saw you, I felt you looked familiar… Have you worked in S City before?”
Well, his family business was in S City, and he had taken over for a while after his brother left. Zhuang Hanxue remained calm and lied, “No, I haven’t.”
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