YA Ch60: Embarrassment

Ming Yan covered his face with one hand, unable to look directly.

Lu Yu quickly jumped up, shook off the blanket, and removed the spilled chips. Dongdong called the vacuum robot to quickly clean up the crumbs.

Ming Yan paused the video and tentatively asked, “How about we watch something else?” He suddenly realized that watching himself on TV was awkward, and with the ambiguous relationship and the barrage of comments, the embarrassment was exponentially increasing.

Lu Yu tossed the small money-patterned blanket into the washing machine, replaced it with a clean one covered in sea patterns, and snuggled back into Ming Yan’s arms. “It’s fine, I’m not afraid of losing face, I can handle it. Look, it’s so good.”

This was the documentary of him and Yan-ge’s public romance, which, when rounded up, was basically the wedding documentary; it had to be watched frame by frame.

Ming Yan reluctantly pressed play and looked at Lu Yu, who was enjoying the show in his arms. Helplessly, he waved his hand at the president ball, asking Shen Baishui to project the screen. He doodled absentmindedly above Lu Yu’s head to alleviate his embarrassment of watching himself on the screen.

The program continued.

The barrage was already laughing uncontrollably, saying it was even funnier than the live broadcast. Because this segment was from the first day, and on the simple Niao Shu platform, it could only be watched in split-screen, without the direct comparison of perspectives.

Now, with the segments linked together, the comedic effect was maximized: heavy snow on one side, a perched eagle on the other.① 

Later, Hua Wenyuan noticed something unusual on the mountaintop and looked over. Lu Yu shouted, “Key, come here,” and quickly changed the settings. This segment had been tense during the live broadcast, and the program had added special effects, switching the camera back and forth. Hua Wenyuan scanned the distance; Lu Yu’s keyboard sparked; Hua Wenyuan frowned; Lu Yu hit the return key; Hua Wenyuan looked away; Lu Yu sighed with relief.

The audience couldn’t help but feel nervous.

[Wow, wow, Han Di Ba Yu, hurry up, show the spirit of updating thirty thousand words a day!]

[Ahhhh, it’s too late, it’s going to be OOC, this game will be restarted.]

Lu Yu clicked his tongue and said to Ming Yan, “This is so tense.”

Ming Yan was drawing above his head and, seeing him turn around, quickly put away the screen, revealing a forced smile that seemed rather strained.

Lu Yu’s eyes widened. “Yan-ge, you’ve been watching me all the time?”

What kind of emperor-level treatment was this? He was somewhat flattered. Just after two weeks of training, his handsome face hadn’t yet recovered to its peak state, and Yan-ge was already smitten? If he went to a beauty salon for maintenance, wouldn’t he directly seduce Yan-ge into doing some naughty things with him!

Ming Yan pulled the corner of his mouth and didn’t say anything.

Lu Yu came back to his senses from his fantasies. “Aren’t you tired? Oh, I’ve been leaning on you the whole time, come on, lie on me.”

He only realized then that his big frame being constantly in Ming Yan’s arms wasn’t very friendly to Yan-ge’s small body. He quickly sat up and unceremoniously pulled Ming Yan into his arms, letting him comfortably lie on him to watch.

“Ah, no…” Ming Yan’s words of rejection hadn’t been finished before Lu Yu stuffed a piece of snack into his mouth. With the chip held between his white teeth, Ming Yan was at a loss.

“Don’t you like chips?” Lu Yu, seeing that he hadn’t eaten, regretted his rashness and leaned over to take the chip from Ming Yan’s mouth, eating it naturally in Ming Yan’s astonished gaze.

“Ah haha, I was too hasty. But, the ones you’ve bitten seem to taste better than the ones in the bag.”

Lu Yu, realizing what he had done, scratched his head in panic.

Ming Yan also felt somewhat at a loss, and the two ended up with flushed faces.

Lu Yu grinned and turned to continue commanding the President ball. “Qian Qian, get dad a bag of melon seeds.”

This time, the President ball didn’t say anything, and handed Lu Yu a bag of Cheetos. “I’m just a balloon person, can’t carry a bag of melon seeds, make do with this.”

With their positions swapped, Ming Yan lost the chance to sneak away and was forced to watch the program, observing the amplified interactions between the two.

The camera always focused on Lu Yu, even zooming in when it was unclear. Ming Yan then realized that while he was working, Lu Yu was always watching him: adjusting the drawing brush, watching him draw clothes, looking at the scenery. The later editing even added an “eye” effect, drawing a guiding line from Lu Yu’s gaze directly to his face.

Lu Yu pretended to be serious and said, “I didn’t even realize it myself; tsk tsk, am I this lecherous? Always staring at you. But it’s good this way, the martial world always says that dry land fish is a eunuch, with no desire for men or women. Now, I can clear my name.”

Ming Yan cleared his throat, looked away, and a drink with a straw was handed to him.

Ming Yan: “…”

The barrage was already happily gossiping.

[Han Di Ba Yu, please control your gaze, or you’ll set your wife on fire.]

[Who says it’s an arranged marriage, he obviously loves him.]

[If this is brotherhood, I’ll eat poop on live stream.]

Lu Yu chuckled, “The eyes of the masses are indeed sharp.” He waved for Dongdong to come over and also sent a barrage, bold and colorful for members.

[Loudly read with me, Han Di Ba Yu is not a eunuch, but a strong man!]

Ming Yan endured watching the hour-long program and felt it was more exhausting than drawing all night.

Lu Yu was still not satisfied and dragged Dongdong to scroll through short videos and check online reviews, liking every comment that said they were a perfect match.

The program’s popularity was average in the morning, as it was the weekend and everyone was sleeping in. By noon, however, it exploded in popularity and quickly dominated several trending searches.

Netizen A: “I haven’t seen such a good variety show in years, please go watch it!”

Netizen B: “Hahaha, this couple is so funny, mainly because Lu Yu doesn’t have any idol baggage. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a funny variety show.”

In the past ten years of rapid technological development, the entertainment industry hasn’t made much progress, with no good variety shows for years. Due to the internet being so developed, every action of celebrities on variety shows is analyzed frame by frame—”his gaze is menacing,” “her smile indicates impatience”—leading celebrities to become increasingly reserved, saying nothing beyond the minimum.

Suddenly, a variety show like this, with such unrestrained performances, appeared. And it wasn’t all amateurs—Lu Yu is considered a star too, so the audience naturally liked it.

After lunch, Lu Yu was still engrossed in browsing the comments on Zhinao.

Ming Yan yawned, barely able to hold on. “I’m going to take a nap.”

The bedroom was quite close to the living room, and to avoid disturbing Ming Yan with the sounds from Zhinao, Lu Yu gently closed the bedroom door and moved to the small lounge where Ming Yan often read and drank coffee, continuing to play there.

After scrolling for a while and finishing all the hot posts and videos, he jumped to Lu Tingze’s social media page.

In fact, Lu Yu knew that Ming Yan’s temptation today was to prevent him from going out to find the Lu family.

Looking at Lu Tingze’s show-off pictures on a skateboard, Lu Yu wanted to rush in and give him a good beating. The kid had no real skills, and the pictures were all just poses on the skateboard, with a pretentious caption: “Youth as wild as the wind.”

He placed his hand on the scar on his chest, slowly clenching his fingers, wrinkling the soft silk pajamas into star-shaped creases.

He could have attended the best high school, but because of this kid, he was injured and had to take the entrance exam, getting a terrible score and almost not being able to attend high school. That Monday, when he went to the school to find Lu Tingze and disturbed the kid’s studies, it probably didn’t count for much, right?

The weather was not good. The reading chair faced a floor-to-ceiling window, reflecting the gray sky outside and the city’s dark, damp concrete cage. Lu Yu sat alone in this corner, with various dark thoughts surfacing.

“What are you thinking so bitterly about?”

A slender, fair hand covered Lu Yu’s right hand that was on his chest. The clear and melodious voice instantly dissipated the faint haze swirling above his head.

Lu Yu looked up, smiling brightly at Ming Yan. “You’re awake, why didn’t you sleep a bit longer?”

Ming Yan lay on the high back of the reading chair, using a cooing tone like his mother’s. “I’m getting older, sleeping too much gives me a headache.”

Lu Yu was amused and laughed. “I was thinking, if I hadn’t failed the high school entrance exam, I would have met you in high school, and we could have been in a relationship earlier!”

Ming Yan quietly looked at him. The smile at the corner of his mouth gradually faded, and he gently sighed, holding Lu Yu’s relaxed right hand and speaking in a low voice. “Don’t go looking for them. If you want to know something, I can tell you.”

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Author’s Note:

Note ① Taken from the ancient poem “塞下曲” by Lu Lun