Chapter 22

Ruan Jiangjiu was silent for a few seconds. With a light sigh that seemed to be helpless, he grinned a little. “It’s okay. Accompanying and sleeping are originally a canary’s duties, are they not?”

Lu Bai’s eyes lit up as he tugged on Ruan Jiangjiu’s sleeve saying with the utmost earnestness, “Xiao Ruan, I will definitely be good to you.”

Ruan Jiangjiu chuckled quietly, then he met Lu Bai’s eyes, which contained some emotions that Lu Bai was unable to read, before saying, “If one day-” He paused but did not finish his sentence, before eventually saying, “Xiao Bai, in front of you, I have always been myself.” He has never disguised himself in front of this young man.

“Xiao Ruan, what are you talking about?” Lu Bai looked at him with an amused air, “Are you not yourself, or are you really that bastard Qu Xueyu?” Over the words spoken, Lu Bai also knew that the main character could not be blamed for what happened that day. After all, he was the one who provoked him first. When he thought of this, he sheepishly rolled his eyes and quietly said, “Although, I was also at fault…”

Ruan Jiangjiu: “…”

Lu Bai rarely saw Ruan Jiangjiu look like he was troubled by something, and he found this Ruan Jiangjiu to be somewhat cute, but he couldn’t help but be a little worried.

Not knowing what was on his mind, Lu Bai’s heart ached. It couldn’t have felt more natural as he covered the other’s slightly cool hand, “Is it your mother?” The original Ruan Jiangjiu’s mother seemed to be sick during this time period, so thinking of this Lu Bai resolutely spoke: “I will help find your mother a good doctor.” The Lu family and many large hospitals frequently work together, so helping Ruan Jiangjiu’s mother find a good and reliable doctor would not be considered too difficult.

Ruan Jiangjiu’s eyebrows twitched, and his face had a slightly strange expression. He didn’t understand why this young man was so sure that he had a sickly and poor mother. At the same time, the hand of the young man that was covering his hand was soft and warm. Ruan Jiangjiu can not reasonably be expected to hold back. So seemingly unintentionally, he started playing with the lovely knuckles of the young man, without making a big fuss about it.

Lu Bai normally hated and was very resistant to physical contact with others, yet at this time, he was holding someone’s hand, unthinkingly, as if it was just a natural habit he had. He even leaned forward and patted the other’s shoulder, exclaiming, “Xiao Ruan, don’t worry! Nowadays, medicine is so advanced. Auntie will be fine.”

Ruan Jiangjiu felt that there was no need for this misunderstanding to continue to exist at all, so he simply explained, “Xiao Bai, my mother… she… It’s not what you think. She is healthy. With a strong personality. And… she does not love me.” As he said the last sentence, Ruan Jiangjiu’s eyes only slightly dimmed, like a light ripple in a pool of water after a breeze, the wind stopped and it was calm again.

Lu Bai felt that something was not right. This was too different from the original description of Raun Jiangjiu’s background, but he instinctively felt the little fluctuations in the heart of the young man in front of him. He then gently stroked the young man’s hair as he had done many times: “Xiao Ruan, you still have me.” In fact, this statement is a little over the line of proprietary, but Lu Bai had said it, and it was already too late to withdraw now.

Ruan Jiangjiu quietly regarded the younger man, his black eyes seemed to have something churning around. After a long pause, he let out a low laugh, and for the first time decisively overstepped the rules by pulling the young man’s wrist, embracing him in his arms.

Lu Bai’s pupils shrunk and subconsciously wanted to struggle, but felt that Ruan Jiangjiu’s movements were so gentle and solemn, so it was an instant stiffness and then subconscious relaxation of the body. He figured he was a gold owner after all, and it seemed like he was obligated to solve the other’s troubles when his canary didn’t seem to be in a good mood.

So Lu Bai, who was determined to be a competent gold owner, gently patted the other’s back, like he was coaxing a wounded beast into putting away its claws and teeth, and he softly spoke, “Xiao Ruan, don’t be sad. I’m here.”

Ruan Jiangjiu, who was thought to not be in a very good mood, instead had a smug grin on his lips as he contentedly breathed in the pleasant fragrance coming from the young man’s neck and possessively hugged him tighter. He then softly whispered, “Xiao Bai, actually I’m not…”

The phone on the table buzzed loudly. Lu Bai heard the ringing and blinked, then very naturally pushed the other party aside, picked up his phone, and pressed the answer button.

Ruan Jiangjiu, whose arms are now empty: “…”

“Guan Guan, What’s up?” Lu Bai said.

“Brother,” Lu Guanguan blurted over the phone. “You should come back home tomorrow night.”

“What?”

“Grandpa is coming back to Jinghai tomorrow, and also…” Lu Guanguan hesitated a bit as she trailed off.

Lu Bai’s voice became more gentle: “Guan Guan, just tell me.”

Lu Guanguan bit her lips, before saying, “Auntie is also coming back.” Their aunt, Lu Min, didn’t like Lu Guanguan, or her mother, and was also very critical of Lu Bai. As a result, Lu Guanguan’s fiery nature was always quenched as soon as she meets that beautiful but cold lady.

“Guan Guan,” Lu Bai said, “Grandpa’s home will always be our aunt’s home. But our home is just our home, and tomorrow, Auntie will be a guest at our home.”

Lu Guanguan felt relieved hearing this, and her eyes got a little red. She smiled and said, “Yes, brother, so we’re waiting for you to come back.”

Hanging up the phone, Lu Bai looked at Ruan Jiangjiu: he needed to go home tomorrow, and Ruan Jiangjiu would have to be alone in this house.

Ruan Jiangjiu just shrugged and sighed, “I will indeed be sad if you are not here-” and he leaned forward and put his lips next to the young man’s ear— his warm breath puffed over his ear— he quietly added: “In order not to let your canary feel lonely, Xiao Bai, come back early tomorrow.”

Lu Bai’s eyes widened and looked at Ruan Jiangjiu in bewilderment, his body seemingly stimulated with electricity.

Thump, Thump, Thump

The sound of a beating heart seemed to echo in his ears. Lu Bai felt that it was too audible and also too unfamiliar. He gulped, “I, I will try.”

Ruan Jiangjiu looked at the young man’s now crimson ears, and a rather happy smile appeared on his face: “I’ll wait for you to come home.”

~~~~~~

The next day.

“Xiao Yu.”

An elderly but dignified and loving voice sounded from the other side of the phone, Ruan Jiangjiu froze for a moment before answering. “Grandfather.” Lu Bai had returned to his family home that afternoon, so he was the only one at home at this time.

“The old man of the Lu family is coming back to Jinghai tonight, you go see him for Grandpa and say hello. Grandpa is old and can’t stay up all night.” Although the Lu family was having a homecoming dinner this evening, they had also invited a few others which was a good opportunity to make some connections. Old man Qu knew that his grandson did not like this kind of scene, and had already thought of what to say as soon as he refused.

“Alright.” Ruan Jiangjiu stated.

The words that Old Man Qu had been about to say were stuck in his throat, he coughed lightly and asked, “You, uh, agree to it?”

Ruan Jiangjiu: “Grandpa, I agreed on going to the Lu family, but you’re not happy?”

“I am happy, so you should go.” The old man hung up the phone cheerfully, then his movements paused: The Lu family… Not long ago the paparazzo photographed the Lu family’s kid and his grandson. His grandson had even asked him to help catch that paparazzo. Now his grandson, who does not like dealing with social functions, is so quick to go to the Lu family… Just thinking about this made his eyebrows twitch, so he hastily summoned his butler.

~~~~~~

The Lu family’s banquet tonight is a low-key affair, but they did invite a lot of prominent figures from Jinghai. The Lu Family was not very close with the Qu Family, so their invitation was handed over to the Elder Qu alone.

Qu Xueyu was dressed in formal attire, casually carrying a flute1Flute for Champagne, to provide less surface area for the bubbles to escape from. Causing it to stay fresh longer. For more information check the dropdown at the bottom of the chapter! of champagne while wandering the floor, his expression bland and his whole self exuding an aura of “Do Not Approach”. After dryly dismissing the Nth2Nth, is using a letter in place of a number to indicate a large amount without having to say an exact amount. It’s not a spelling mistake. person who came forward to strike up a conversation, finally, no one dared to come forward.

He casually took a sip of his drink, but his eyes were searching around the room for someone.

“Xiao Yang is not an outsider.” Qu Xueyu’s ears caught the voice of a lady not far away: “If you didn’t know, Xiao Yang almost became my nephew once! Although it didn’t happen, to me, he’s my half-nephew. He will certainly be more outstanding than my own nephew who is not very good.”

“Oh, you said my niece? You must be misremembering. My elder brother only has an incompetent dandy of a son, where would he get a daughter?”

When Qu Xueyu overheard these words, he had a faint hunch, so he turned and walked toward where the conversation emanated from.

Sure enough, there was a very beautiful and elegant middle-aged lady chatting with another noble lady. By her side stood the young man named Xiao Yang, and beside him was Qin Gu, who looked like he was searching for something and was somewhat disinterested in their conversation, as his mind was somewhere else.

Xiao Yang was still full of gentle and modest smiles, as he said, ” Auntie Minmin, you’re joking too much, Xiao Bai is just young.”

“Young!?” The woman’s face glinted with disdain. “Xiao Yang, you’re only two years older than him. He’s just spoiled by my big brother.”

Qu Xueyu frowned slightly at these words, then he scanned over the gentle smile of Xiao Yang’s. There was a transient aversion within him, and at that moment, he finally found the one he had been searching and longing for all night running out from the crowd like an enraged lion.

“Get out of my house!”

Lu Bai stood in front of the crowd now, pointing at Xiao Yang without any civility. With deliberate malice and genuine disgust on his face, he spat out: “Leave my house now. And stay away from Brother Qin.”

There was silence before the crowd spectating them, collectively gasped.

Lu Bai had noticed the people around him starting to subtly gossip about him now. Twitching the corners of his mouth down and then sighing. Truthfully, he really didn’t like Xiao Yang, and he also didn’t like Xiao Yang coming to his house. However, no matter how stupid he was, he wouldn’t have chosen this way of making himself lose face willingly. Of course, this was all happening because of that damn plot.

Real anger leaked out from Lu Min’s face, as she sheltered Xiao Yang behind her body, demanding: “What are you trying to do? Did big brother and your real mother not teach you any manners?”

Lu Bai grew a bit annoyed, wondering how it was polite on her end, to speak ill of the master’s child behind their backs in their own home. Yet he still had to loudly continue in accordance with the plot, “He must leave at once!”

After the vicious male character, Lu Bai, yells, the scene is to strike at Xiao Yang. It is blocked by Qin Gu and then he falls flat on the ground. After losing so much face in public, even the grandfather who loved him the most becomes a little frustrated with him. Lu Bai thought that this kind of job is really worse than a social animals’3Went on quite the journey because of this phrase. Long answer short, ‘Corporate Slave/Donkey at a grindstone’ Long answer at the bottom of the chapter in a dropdown!, he had to suffer such a big loss at home, rather than staying with his Xiao Ruan happily.

Xiao Yang was still wearing the same gentle white lotus expression, even with a little apology on his face. Lu Bai quietly sighed but still stepped forward to slap Xiao Yang in accordance with the plot. Qin Gu’s pupils shrank as he was about to reach out to stop the youth. Before it occurred to him that he should be protecting Xiao Yang from being bullied, the first thought that actually crossed his mind was: ‘If he really does slap him, Lu Bai will become thoroughly disgraced’.

“Xiao Bai,” a man suddenly appeared from the crowd of people. He caught Lu Bai’s arm at that moment and pulled them both back a step: “Check the invitations, you can send your butler to do it”, he deliberately stressed: “You are the master here, you do not need to do anything.”

Lu Bai’s eyes widened in astonishment as he looked up at Qu Xueyu, who was holding him with his arms wrapped around his back: “???” What the hell? What’s happening?! How could the protagonist shou be here? Also, what the heck is with checking invitations??!

The crowd: “????”

When the young man was firmly stabilized, Qu Xueyu scanned the crowd as well as that beautiful but scathing lady: “The Lu family is famous for its proper discipline in Jinghai. And only those with invitations are allowed to enter here, is that not so?” Finally, he fixed his gaze on the young man named Xiao Yang and smiled slightly as he showed just the right amount of curiosity and innocence: “This Mr. Xiao, I think he must have an invitation as well?”

Flutes?? Here is a link to different drink glasses and why for those interested.

https://www.bottleneckmgmt.com/blog/which-glass-for-which-drink-using-correct-types-of-glassware/

Not relevant to the story, but just a fact that came to mind while editing I thought others might want to learn.

Social Animal

“社畜”

Since the introduction of “community animal” to China, it has quickly replaced “overtime dog” and has become a hot phrase that people who are deeply squeezed by work are seated and frequently quoted. Although the blunt confession of “overtime dog” also “ensures” the psychological conveyance of the hardship of life and the firmness of self-derogation, but in terms of language warmth, it is still not as cold as the word “community animal”. The Chinese word “社物” is precisely between the abbreviation and expansion of the combination of “society” and “livestock”, which demonstrates the roughness of survival more brilliantly and powerfully. Moreover, “community animals” extended the hopelessness caused by endless overtime work to a larger social field, that is to say, the feeling of exhaustion and labor caused by heavy work quickly aroused more and more people who were “named” by “community animals”. Association of slaughter conditions. Under the mobilization of “community animals”, all kinds of bad situations where happiness is pushed out suddenly burst out, showing everyone’s ubiquitous survival dilemma.

“Social animal” essentially describes the state of social alienation characterized by survival and labor relations, that is, the social representation of human beings is covered up, and the physiological representations that maintain basic human biological needs are amplified and become the most important part of labor

This was pulled directly from ‘Baidu Answers’, the Chinese equivalent of a popular forum where the general public answers questions. It is mostly used for self-deprecating and can also be translated as “corporate slave”. The term comes from the self-deprecating term of the low-level office workers in Japanese companies. It was spread through Japanese TV dramas and has now become a common Internet buzzword in China.

Funny little aside, I spent a good long while trying to get the Nth to superscript in Google Docs as I was working on it. Had to give up and look up how to do it.  THen It DIdn’t WoRk! So when I finally got it too I was so happy. Made it look all pretty with a fancy-looking “N” and a properly superscripted ‘th’ ! Then I transferred it to Knoxt… and it didn’t work anymore (T-T) so you guys just get a boring italicized N and regular ‘th’.

Edited: Krone

Proofread: Nitta

1Flute for Champagne, to provide less surface area for the bubbles to escape from. Causing it to stay fresh longer. For more information check the dropdown at the bottom of the chapter!2Nth, is using a letter in place of a number to indicate a large amount without having to say an exact amount. It’s not a spelling mistake.3Went on quite the journey because of this phrase. Long answer short, ‘Corporate Slave/Donkey at a grindstone’ Long answer at the bottom of the chapter in a dropdown!