YA Ch36: Anger

Ming Yan’s train of thought was abruptly interrupted by the orthopedic reference, and he really wanted to stop the car and drag Lu Yu out for a fight, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the connections in G country. Felix?

Experiencing the nightlife in China, Felix sneezed at a barbecue stand, “Achoo, wow, these peppers are really strong.”

Returning home, his parents gave him lots of food and supplies. Ming Yan categorized everything and put it in the fridge.

Lu Yu enthusiastically tried to help but was refused, as the eighteen-year-old didn’t know how to organize things and was just making a mess.

Having nothing to do, Lu Yu sat cross-legged on the sofa, hugging the merman ball, watching Ming Yan’s busy back with a smile, “Yan-ge, I feel so happy. This is my ideal married life.”

Ming Yan ignored him and continued organizing.

“Bringing home lots of food from our parents’ house, categorizing it while complaining about who would eat all this pickled food, and then promising to eat it myself to avoid getting scolded, eagerly washing the kids,” Lu Yu said as he took out wipes to clean the merman ball.

President Shen, who came over to join the fun, was horrified and tried to escape but was caught by Lu Yu, who was immersed in the role of a good husband, and forced to join the cleaning.

The president ball was about to collapse, “I’m not dirty, I just washed yesterday.”

Ming Yan closed the fridge and saw the chaos on the sofa, shaking his head helplessly. He turned and prepared to go to bed, “Finish washing the kids and go to bed early. There’s a livestream tomorrow.”

Hearing the word “bed,” Lu Yu immediately put down the half-washed Lao’er, jumped off the sofa, and followed him to bed.

Shen Baishui got anxious and blocked Lu Yu’s path by lunging at his face: “If you’re going to clean, finish it. What’s the point of doing it halfway?”

Lu Yu impatiently picked up a wet wipe. Unlike his previous meticulous cleaning, he wrapped the kid completely and wiped from head to toe. The kid screamed: “You’re going to tear my hand off! My lens is blurry!”

The merman, now clean, lightly flicked his tail on the side and watched his yelling brother with a smile.

When Ming Yan was about to enter the room, Lu Yu appeared at the door on time and politely said, “What a coincidence, you’re sleeping in this room too. Let’s sleep together.”

Ming Yan crossed his arms: “There’s no thunderstorm today.”

Lu Yu chuckled, “We’re all family now. What’s wrong with brothers sleeping together? Right, brother?” He leaned in and called Ming Yan “brother” near his ear.

Ming Yan shivered, then suddenly got angry and pushed him hard: “Who wants to be your brother? Get lost!”

The push was strong, causing Lu Yu to stumble. Realizing Ming Yan was truly angry, Lu Yu didn’t retreat but advanced instead, pulling him into an embrace.

After a week of training, Lu Yu’s strength had increased significantly, enough to restrain the small-framed Ming Yan. It was a subconscious reaction. Only after hugging tightly did he realize what he had done, feeling both at a loss and extremely excited.

Lu Yu swallowed, soothingly stroked Ming Yan’s back, and softly said: “Why are you angry? Don’t be mad. I was joking. We’re not brothers; we’re a couple. Couples should sleep together.”

Ming Yan tried to push him away but couldn’t, ending up half-dragged, half-carried into the room.

They tumbled onto the bed, and Lu Yu braced himself just in time to avoid crushing Ming Yan: “Ah, my strength is still lacking. I can’t lift you up directly. Give me two more days of training…”

As he spoke, he trailed off. Lu Yu looked down at Ming Yan, who was panting between his arms. Perhaps the struggle had drained his energy, as a thin layer of sweat had formed on his fair neck, glistening under the light.

Lu Yu’s mind buzzed, his breathing grew heavy, and he lost focus, leaning in for a kiss.

Ming Yan turned his head to avoid the kiss. The hot breath on his neck reddened that patch of skin.

Lu Yu took a deep breath, coughed lightly, scratched his neck, and said, “Ahem, I, well, couldn’t help myself.”

Ming Yan said nothing. He got up, lay down in his usual spot, covered himself with the blanket, and turned off the scented lamp.

Lu Yu crawled to the other side, happily scooted closer to Ming Yan, and whispered: “Yan-ge, will you date me? I really like you, so much I don’t know what to do.”

Receiving no response, Lu Yu stared at Ming Yan’s beautiful neck for a long time, then slowly closed his eyes.

Hearing the steady breathing from behind, Ming Yan turned around and, in the faint light from outside, looked at the seemingly much younger face. He reached out, gently touched the furry head, and murmured, “If you were always Lu Xiaoyu, we wouldn’t have to divorce.”

Once Ming Yan fell asleep, Lu Yu opened his eyes and slowly pulled Ming Yan, who still had an arm exposed, into his embrace, moving as slowly as a sloth crossing the road, afraid of waking the light sleeper. Taking a deep breath of Ming Yan’s scent, he cursed “Lu Dayu, you’re a scoundrel,” and planned to interrogate Lao Yang after tomorrow’s livestream.

The next day’s task was light, only requiring the broadcast of ten chapters, which would be done in two hours. After a short meeting in the afternoon, he would take Lao Yang out for dinner, get him drunk, and find out what Lu Dayu had done.

Lao Yang, eating skewers with a brown-haired guy, sneezed.

Felix excitedly said, “See, I told you this chili is powerful, and you didn’t believe me.”

Yang Chen took a bite of the skewer: “Nonsense, someone must be thinking about me, and I doubt it’s good.”

The next day, as soon as Lu Yu and Ming Yan arrived at the company, the business director stopped them.

“Bajiao agreed to the non-exclusive offer of 10%, the contract is ready, and they sent technical guidance over. They will help us with the live broadcast access this morning.” The business director looked like he was sleepwalking, finding it hard to believe himself.

Lu Yu was shocked: “So fast?”

The business director frowned: “The Bajiao team doesn’t sleep; they held a meeting overnight, called me at 3 AM saying the contract was in my email and to check if any modifications were needed so they could make adjustments and deliver a paper version for our legal team to review this morning.”

As he spoke, a Bajiao employee in a suit appeared beside him.

Ming Yan frowned slightly: “We haven’t signed the contract yet; it’s not appropriate to access now.”

The Bajiao operations manager smiled: “Mr. Ming, don’t worry. Today is an internal test broadcast, not public, allowing our tech team to adjust any issues. If the signing goes smoothly this afternoon, we can officially start tomorrow.”

Behind the operations manager were two technicians carrying metal cases, responsible for the access and adjustments on their end, with adjustments also needed on the Bajiao side.

Ming Yan and Lu Yu exchanged a glance, then looked at the Bajiao operations manager: “Your efficiency is impressive.”

The operations manager maintained a professional smile: “Our boss, Mr. Jiao, has high standards.”

Ming Yan raised an eyebrow, made no comment, and led the group to the studio.

Lu Yu clicked his tongue in wonder: “This Mr. Jiao is a real go-getter; we should learn from him.”

Lao Yang heard this, nudged him with an elbow: “Shut up. With your tardiness, under Bajiao’s management, your salary would be negative in three days.”