With the âCelebsâ Wilderness Survivalâ shooting finally over, Liu Yuâan planned to spend a few amorous days with Shao Yanxi, but he ended up called to Evernight with one phone call as soon as heâs done.
The Emperorâs parts in Evernight is not exactly much, especially as heâs just the third male supporting antagonist in an arc of the entire saga, heâs got most of his parts done before joining the show.
The remaining parts only take about two weeks to complete. For reference, the Evernight crew has been working for three months now.
Though this arc is also nearing completion too.
When Liu Yuâanâs parts are all done, the director asked if he wanted to have a farewell party, but Liu Yuâan refused.
âItâs almost done for everyone else as well. We might as well do it together,â Liu Yuâan is not one for parties anyway, especially because itâs Mid-Autumn Festival today. His mother has called three times already telling him to go home tonight.
âSure, make sure you come,â as some would not return once their work is done.
âOf course,â then Liu Yuâan bids farewell to the director and others at the studio, before taking his limited-edition van back to his family home. Itâs his first time driving that van there, and runs into Liu Yuxi at the door.
He raises his brow at it, ânice ride youâve got there,â with a sofa and even a bed, âenjoying life, arenât we?â
âOf course, Yanxi bought it.â
Liu Yuxi hmphs, saying, âleave it to you to mooch off people while sounding all justified.â
âNobody would even let you if you want to mooch,â Liu Yuâan has a brotherly argument with him as they go in.
The living room is empty.
âWhereâs everyone?â
Shao Yanxi said heâs here already earlier. Why isnât anyone here? And whereâs his mother?
He calls out, and a response finally comes from the kitchen.
The brothers head towards the source of the call, to find not just their mother, but Shao Yanxi as well.
They are currently holding a spatula⌠making fried eggs with tomato?!
â!!!â
âYouâre making dinner?â
Do they plan to starve them for the night?
The mother is already absurdly talented at ruining meals. Add to that a Shao Yanxi.
At least the rice should be done well, right? Soy sauce with rice is also an option.
âMom is teaching me fried eggs with tomato,â Shao Yanxi says, looking back at Liu Yuâan.
ââŚâ How do you teach someone when you don't even know the thing yourself?
âIâll do it,â Liu Yuâan walks over to confiscate the spatula from Shao Yanxi.
⌠How have you managed to end up making a black fried egg in the first place?
âYou and mom should go take a seat outside. Zuozuo and I will do it.â
âIâll help,â Shao Yanxi doesnât want to go.
âLeave it to the professionals, ok?â
Finally, the domestic worker who sees an opportunity to interject interjects, âplease leave it to me. Shaoye s and Yanxi-shaoye and the missus, would you mind waiting a little bit in the living room?â
âSure,â Liu Yuâan isnât really in the mood for cooking either after a whole day of work.
He drags Shao Yanxi out of the kitchen and indicates to Liu Yuxi to drag his mother out.
âMom, didnât you want to see Youyou and Yanxiâs show? Itâll be on by eight. If youâre making dinner we wonât be done before that.â
And she is finally convinced to leave the cooking to someone else.
Liu Yuxi is ready to head back upstairs after the emergency has been resolved, but his mother calls out as he heads for the stairs, âyou can always work, but you wonât be able to have a family chat like this often, you know.â
And they really havenât had a friendly family chat for a long time.
âSure,â Liu Yuxi goes along with it, but then quickly regrets his decision.
Because of the disgusting waft of a smutty couple drifting over from Liu Yuâan and Shao Yanxi.
And most importantly, because his mother is in matchmaking mode.
The daughter of some Executive has finished a Masters and just returned from America; the daughter of another COO has finished her studies from Belgium and is so fair-looking with a good personality, definitely wife material; the daughter of this manager has finished her undergraduate degree and is especially well-educated; that daughter of this vice executive has even founded her own company and will probably have lots of common interests with him on workâŚ
âI have their WeChats. Or do you want to see face-to-face some other day?â
Looking at the smirk on the smug faces of the couple sitting opposite him is making him have a heart attack, âmom, Iâm twenty-four. Twenty-four! Not forty-two! Why are you so worried?â
âYou think twenty-four is still young? Iâve had you already when I was twenty-four.â
Liu Yuxi ââŚâ Generation gap sure makes conversation hard.
âYouyou is already married even when heâs younger than you. Youâre his older brother, canât you be a little bit more concerned about this?â
âHeâs one minute younger than me! Only one single minute!â
âThen donât you feel jealous looking at Youyou and Yanxi?â
âI donâŚâ And Liu Yuxi switches his words halfway from his motherâs death glare, âdo feel jealous, very very jealous, ok?â
âThen you should quickly find one yourself,â she says, taking out her phone, âIâll give you their contacts. Chat with them ok? Iâm looking forward to grandchildren.â
Liu Yuxi ââŚâ
Depressed as he was, and Liu Yuâan continues to tease him, âge, think of it this way. Youâre looking for a wife for yourself, not just for mom. Think about it, youâre always alone when you get off work, returning to a dark, lonely house, with no one by your side as you eat dinner, with no one caring for you if you donât call for a doctor when youâre sick. If you have a wife, youâll have someone keeping the house alive, by your side at dinner, by your bedside when youâre sick, and most importantly, mom and feel relieved.â
Liu Yuxi ââŚâ
His fist is itching. He wants to beat Liu Yuâan up.
âYeah, itâs true,â his mother is in agreement, âlook at Youyou after getting married. You, you know⌠Weâre not looking to make you feel bad telling you to find someone, you know.â
Liu Yuâan then plants his head on Shao Yanxiâs shoulder, chuckling quietly at Liu Yuxiâs predicament out of his motherâs sight.
Ho, to stop my pocket money? Give them back. Now.
Even if he doesnât care for the pocket change, but theyâre still his .
Shao Yanxi can of course feel him holding back his chuckle, and glances over at Liu Yuâan.
Then he sees Liu Yuxi give Liu Yuâan a fierce glare behind his motherâs sights.
Shao Yanxi ââŚâ
Are you both three-year-olds?
That said, he adores the relationship a bit. In fact, it reminds him of his late sister.
Like all boys his age back then, he was once lively and unruly, the kind that makes teachers have headaches. And because of his family background, he was the boss of his class as well, he even has lackeys.
They would pull dumb tricks together, and fight against âthe authorityâ of their one homeroom teacher together.
After his sister knew she beat him up. She beat him up bad, but, she also stood up for him when other people told him off.
When he got in fights with older, burlier students, even if his sister is even worse a fighter than he was, she would rush in to help, and end up bruised even worse than he was.
And the time they got home from that was the first time he could remember that his mother scolded her for real.
âŚ
Recalling his older sister, and he canât help but also recall the woman that pushed her off the stairs and killed her, but still ended up re-wed into his home by his father. And that son the two of them got. A son that is three years older than even his older sister; in other words, they have been together since even before his father knew his mother.
But his father and his mother still ended up marrying each other.
He could never help but wonder whether his mother knew when she married him.
âŚ
Last time, Liu Yuâan told him some odd information, but he still had Xue Zhi and others investigate. There really are signs already.
That bastard his father fathered, the one thatâs three years his older sisterâs senior, has already managed to get out of jail by Jiang Heâs help.
Not just him, Jiang He also managed to get two others out from their respective psychiatric institutions.
They are still trying to work out where they went after theyâre out of prison/psychiatric institution.
And besides them, Jiang He even got two of the brats he sent offshore back here. In fact, theyâre currently students in the school next to Qingjiangshui already. One is in primary school, the other in junior high. They all had their names changed.