Chapter 102 - Stay ba.
Edited by Noks
Yu Yan had originally come to Jincheng to celebrate Yi Chen’s birthday, and had wanted to laze around for three or five days before leaving again.
Yet, he unwittingly ended up staying in Jincheng for more than a month, watching as Yi Chen slowly grinded the days from the end of the year to his now-approaching annual leave.
That day, Yu Yan had just woken up when he received a call from Lu Xiuhe.
“You’re still in Jincheng?! It’s almost New Year’s, what day do you plan to come back on ah?” There were mouse-clicking sounds coming from Lu Xiuhe’s side, so he had probably gotten up early to play games. “My dad has been constantly asking me about when during the New Year’s you’ll come by to pay a visit. You’ll have to decide early; if you wait any longer, the tickets will only get more expensive.”
Yu Yan ate breakfast and said, “I may not return to Manyang for New Year’s this year.”
Lu Xiuhe was startled. “If you’re not coming back, where are you planning on going—it can’t be that you’re going to spend New Year’s with Boss 1 ba?”
Yu Yan let out an “en” and said, “…I should be.”
Lu Xiuhe grew quiet for a bit, before suddenly lowering his voice and asking, “Xiao Yan, is Boss 1 beside you?”
Yu Yan glanced at the person sitting on the not-so-far-away sofa and unconsciously lowered his voice as he replied, “He can’t hear us. What’s the matter?”
If it had been before, Lu Xiuhe definitely wouldn’t have been able to even imagine the relationship between these two people as being that of more than friends. However, ever since he had opened the door to a new world, he was frankly clearly aware of it.
“How long have you two been together for ah, and you’re already going to spend New Year’s with him? What about his family, have you met them?” Lu Xiuhe said, “Xiao Yan, it’s not that I’m just saying that casually…you can tell at a glance that Boss 1’s family circ.u.mstances are really good. Although we’re also not badly-off, after all, we’re still from small, humble families, we’re just ordinary people. Also, you guys are the same s.e.x… I’m afraid his family will look down on you, bully you, and force you guys to break up!”
The more he spoke, the more excited Lu Xiuhe grew. “It’s okay, Xiao Yan, if they really look down on you…The pendulum always swings back, don’t bully the youth when they’re poor! When you become the pillar of livestreaming, just let them regret it ba!”
Lu Xiuhe’s worries weren’t unreasonable.
It wasn’t that Yu Yan hadn’t thought about this matter, but he didn’t plan to run away from it just because he was afraid.
“Have you read too many novels where people have called off their engagements?” Yu Yan chuckled and said, “And if they really don’t like me, even if I became the pillar of livestreaming, they wouldn’t regret it.”
Lu Xiuhe replied, “…that’s true. No, I don’t mean that, I’m just afraid you’ll suffer grievances.”
“I’m an adult man, what grievances can I suffer?” Yu Yan a.s.sured him, “Don’t worry ba, it’s fine.”
Just after he hung up the phone, the person on the sofa raised his eyes and asked him, “What calling off engagements, and suffering what grievances?”
His hearing was too sharp.
Yu Yan said, “Nothing, you still haven’t left for work??”
“Leaving.” Yi Chen got up and put the newspaper on the side. “I’ll be back early today. Let’s go out.”
“Okay.” Yu Yan picked up the empty plate and stood up. “What are we going to do? Have dinner?”
“Go to the gym.”
“?” Yu Yan stopped in place.
“You’re sitting in front of the computer every day; it’ll be good for your health to get some exercise.”
Yu Yan would usually also go out to exercise every once in a while, but that was just limited to jogging, and he also wouldn’t do it for too long. He counted running around the lake located behind his house a few times as exercise. This would be the first time ever that he would be officially going to a gym to exercise.
They went to a residential gym, where only those staying in the community could enter. When they entered it, they found no one else there, except for the one manager manning the front desk.
They had changed into simple T-shirts and had rolled up the sleeves for convenience.
Yu Yan ran on the treadmill, wiping his sweat from his brow continuously while stealing looks at the person beside him.
The lines outlining Yi Chen’s muscles were really eye-catching; he didn’t have that kind of exaggerated musculature, and every undulating curve was just right.
Feeling his gaze, Yi Chen stopped his actions, “Tired?”
They had only just arrived here not too long ago, so how could Yu Yan even dare to say he was tired? He simply gasped for breath and shook his head.
40 minutes later, Yu Yan couldn’t run anymore.
He usually didn’t exercise much, and now that he had suddenly increased his amount of exercise, it had become really unbearable.
On the other hand, Yi Chen, who was by his side, was very quietly heading towards the next fitness equipment.
Yu Yan’s legs were already feeling a bit weak, but he still didn’t stop. He had only worked out for half an hour, and he felt that to already reach such a state in this short amount of time was a bit shameful.
Yi Chen, aware of the other person’s tiredness, glanced up at the clock on the wall. Only after counting away exactly five more minutes did he get up and go to him, to give him a way out.
“I’m going to do some sit-ups, come count for me?”
Yu Yan was stunned. He repeatedly hurried to press the pause key on the treadmill and gasped, “…okay.”
Yu Yan sat cross-legged next to the equipment, holding a cup of water in his hands as he counted out the number of sit-ups for him seriously.
After a while, Yi Chen didn’t get up after lying down again. He lay on the mat and gasped while looking at Yu Yan, “How many?”
“127.” Yu Yan couldn’t help adding, “…you’re really strong.”
During this entire duration that he had stayed in Jincheng, Yi Chen hadn’t exercised very much either. So how come their physiques were as different as heaven and earth?
“Not strong, I haven’t done it for a long time.” Yi Chen turned his head, his eyes shining as he requested, “Yanyan, give me a hand. Too tired to get up.”
Yu Yan let out an “oh” and grabbed his hand. As soon as he was ready to pull the other person up, he was instead dragged back by that person. He fell directly onto Yi Chen’s body.
He was startled. Fortunately, he hadn’t used too much strength, otherwise, the fall would have been pretty bad.
He had not yet recovered from his shock and asked, “What are you…”
Yi Chen didn’t say anything. He just pressed him down by his neck, and then their lips touched.
They had just finished exercising, so it couldn’t be said that they smelled good. Yu Yan could clearly smell the scent of Yi Chen’s sweat, and the pheromones of a mature man instantly stimulated his senses.
Yu Yan got absorbed into the kiss, but less than half a minute later, he sat up abruptly and lowered his voice as he said, “There’s someone at the front desk—”
Yi Chen glanced behind him. “He didn’t see anything.”
Only the two of them were in the gym, and with such large movements, how was it possible that they hadn’t been seen?
When the front desk manager heard that, he immediately lowered his head.
With sweat-soaked clothes and no way to wear a coat, they would freeze if they left like this, so the two people took a shower before leaving the gym.
As they walked, they discussed what to eat for a while. When they got to the door of their house, they found a car parked there.
A s.e.xy blue sports car.
With two big bags in his hands, Mo Nancheng was standing at the door and looking around, but he didn’t ring the doorbell even after standing there for a long time.
“…… Cheng Ge?” Seeing that Yi Chen wasn’t reacting, Yu Yan had to open his mouth and greet him instead.
Mo Nancheng was stunned, turned around, saw them, and then started looking embarra.s.sed. “Xiao Yan? Where did you guys go?”
Yi Chen’s voice was as calm as usual as he asked him, “Why are you here?”
“Oh,” Mo Nancheng said, holding up the bags in his hands, “…I’m here to treat you to a meal.”
Mo Nancheng knew that Yu Yan had recently started living in Yi Chen’s house, and it was only because he knew that that he even dared to come here. If Yu Yan hadn’t been present, he felt that he may not have even been able to step in through the door.
Because of the loose packaging, some of the soup started spilling out. Yu Yan took hold of the bag and said, “Give it to me ba, I’ll get a plate to hold it.”
“I’ll help you,” said Yi Chen.
“No need, not much has spilled out. It’ll be enough for me to handle it.”
Yu Yan went to the kitchen, while Yi Chen turned to go back to the bedroom, at which point, Mo Nancheng hurried to stop him. “Yi Chen, wait.”
Yi Chen stopped and turned his head. His expression was as usual as he asked, “What’s the matter?”
“Yi Chen, I—I just came to apologize to you.” Mo Nancheng clenched his teeth and said everything he wanted to, all in one breath, “I was in a bad mood last time, and I didn’t really guard my tongue. Don’t argue with me anymore.”
Yi Chen heard him and only answered back with a faint “en.”
Mo Nancheng wilted but didn’t give up. “What I said at that time was all nonsense, don’t take it to heart. If you’re really unhappy, you can curse me out bei. If that’s still not enough, and if worst comes to worst, you can even beat me up, and I definitely won’t fight back.”
Yi Chen frowned and didn’t speak for a long while.
After this long silent pause, he said, “What, haven’t you been laughed at enough?”
“…… I already said, I didn’t really take what they said to heart,” Mo Nancheng continued, “It was just a little bit at the beginning, and it kind of went to my head.”
Yi Chen didn’t give any reply to this, and simply he turned around to leave.
“Hey, wait ah,” Mo Nancheng blurted out, “The reason they said all that that day, was in fact because they are all jealous of you!”
This statement actually sounded quite novel. Yi Chen stopped and raised his eyebrows. “Jealous of me?”
“Yeah, and jealous of me.” Mo Nancheng explained, “You are the most promising one in our group. The rest of us all have to work under our own elders, but you are different. You manage your company all on your own, and you even made it boom… They listen to their parents praise you every day, and that’s obviously what makes them so unhappy.”
“They think I’ve learned a lot from you, so how can they not be jealous of me? But I’m just an idiot, and so rushed in to vent all of my anger on you…”
Listening to here, Yi Chen interrupted him, “Enough, don’t include yourself in your curses as well.”
Mo Nancheng said, “I’m not cursing myself out, I’m just stating the facts. So talk ba, how can you be mollified, and can we still remain bros?”
Yi Chen remained silent for a long time before saying, “I’m not angry.”
“Ah?”
He had definitely been angry, but a long period of time had pa.s.sed since that incident, so he wasn’t really angry anymore.
Yi Chen had known Mo Nancheng for so many years, and Mo Nancheng had never had such a falling out with him before, so after that incident, he had also reflected on himself.
He spoke few words, never took the initiative in making plans, and rarely shared anything about himself.
In any case, he wasn’t quite up to the standard of being a good friend.
Yi Chen said, “Why continue being my friend when you get no benefits and you even get laughed at?”
Mo Nancheng was stunned and immediately refuted him, “Bulls.h.i.t! When I had just entered the company, all of those people thought of me rising to my position on the basis of nepotism, and so looked down on me. It was all thanks to the things you taught me, and even though you don’t say much, you still hit all the main points, which was more effective than all the shoddy lessons I had taken before.”
“Of course, that’s not why I’m your friend.” Mo Nancheng scratched his head. “Yi Chen, I’ve always looked up to you…Really. I always wonder how you’re so formidable. Everyone learned pretty much the same thing, but you’re the most intelligent among us all. That’s probably your innate ability. I’ve always felt lucky to be your friend.”
Yi Chen stared at him for a long time and asked, “You’re so good at saying these things right now in front of me, but how come you didn’t curse back at those people when they were laughing at you?”
“How didn’t I not curse back at them?” Mo Nancheng asked, “I even waited until that person went to the bathroom to beat him up!”
“……” Yi Chen doubtfully asked, “Can you even beat up other people?”
“I’m not stupid, I called some other people to come beat him up. You remember Liu Zhen ba? Last time during my birthday, he was the one sitting next to you, and he idolizes you a lot. Once he heard that someone said something bad about you, he didn’t even have dinner before bringing his friends over…”
Hearing about this method of calling people over to fight it out, Yi Chen wondered if he was still in primary school.
“Called what people to come over?” asked Yu Yan as he came out with a plate in his hand, having just heard the last few sentences from their conversation.
“Nothing.” Afraid of corrupting little children, Yi Chen stopped the topic from going any further, turned around, and continued to walk towards the bedroom.
Mo Nancheng saw his back disappear into the bedroom, sighed heavily, and looked back. “Then Xiao Yan, I’ll head back first ah.”
Yu Yan was stunned and asked, “Not staying for the meal?”
Mo Nancheng smiled bitterly and shook his head. “I won’t disturb you guys…”
“You’re already here.” The voice that sounded out from the bedroom wasn’t cold or weak. “Stay ba.”
—
Juurensha: Hahaha, most of Yanyan’s trip to the gym is eyeing Yi Chen eye candy I bet. And yay, at last the besties make up. Much better apology than last time, Mo Nancheng.
Noks: Ohhhh…. They finally made up!!! And Yanyan got a lot of eye-candy to ogle at… hehe.
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