Ch84.1 – Getting Even
Every day was brilliantly sunny, and Ying City was gradually ushering in the autumn season. Ever since Zhou Sheng confessed to him, Yu Hao felt like he had entered the most blissful time of his life. It was as if all the previous trials he had endured were now insignificant in comparison.
If only Grandma was still here… Yu Hao thought that his Grandma would have understood him. After all, when she was still active in theatre and singing, good-looking xiao shengs were sometimes also h.o.m.os.e.xual. And what Grandma wanted the most was to see him live a happy life.
His life with Zhou Sheng didn’t seem to have changed significantly following the new affirmation of their relationship, which felt a little strange to Yu Hao. But when he considered it carefully, the two of them had been inseparable and basically behaved like they were already in a relationship ever since he moved to the dormitory and lived together with Zhou Sheng.
Fu Liqun had to endure critical hits from them every day in the dormitory, but he couldn’t get the pa.s.sionately in love couple to rein themselves in even a bit, so he could only endure it for now.
“I’m sorry Gege.” Yu Hao said, “I’ll definitely be more aware of it. “Whenever you’re not happy, just let me know ba.”
Zhou Sheng was really too proactive; he was so proactive that it caught Yu Hao by surprise. It was as if his emotions were suddenly surging forth after having been repressed for too long, so his Boyfriend Power was now overwhelming and peerless.
“This must be retribution for all the times I flirted madly with your sis-in-law in front of my dorm mates in high school.” Fu Liqun said sincerely, “I’ve already come to terms with the reality. Upon deep introspection, after seeing Zhou Sheng, I feel like I haven’t done enough for your sis-in-law in many respects.”
After that, as long as Zhou Sheng didn’t have lessons for the day, he would accompany Yu Hao to his lessons. Sometimes, he would read books, while at other times he would put on his earphones to listen to public lectures on his phone. As he sat beside Yu Hao, he would fold a pink heart for him with a hundred yuan note every day.
Yu Hao said, “One hundred a day, that’ll be 3,000 in a month. You only get 2,400 for your living expenses per month……I’ll see how you get by starting from next month.”
Zhou Sheng whispered, “From today on, I’ll manage the finances, wash your hands of it.”
Yu Hao said, “We’re about to run out of money for food! You’ve finished spending your compet.i.tion’s prize money!”
Zhou Sheng, “How could we have no money to eat? I only spent 10,000 out of the 30,000 prize money, and I still have 8,000 from my scholarship. Get a certificate of proof tomorrow and stop your student loan, and be sure to return the loan from last semester first.”
Yu Hao showed Zhou Sheng the account book he usually used. Zhou Sheng closed the account book and said, “Don’t work anymore in the future, it really makes my heart ache. When I saw you running around and even enduring scoldings everywhere, I really couldn’t stand it.”
Yu Hao said, “If I don’t work then am I supposed to go cold and hungry?”
Zhou Sheng, “I’ll support you ah.”
The two of them sat in a corner to avoid accidentally dealing critical hits to the other students. Since it was nearing the National Day holiday, there weren’t many people attending cla.s.ses, and most had skipped. Yu Hao had previously considered the issue of their livelihood. In fact, he wanted to work at least one more job after he got together with Zhou Sheng. He wanted to see if there were any other jobs he could do while continuing to translate part-time in order to earn at least 3,000 a month. In that way, he would at least have more money to use while dating, and he would be able to buy Zhou Sheng some of the things he likes.
Even though they lived in the same dormitory, Yu Hao couldn’t help but begin paying more attention to tidying himself up. When Zhou Sheng wasn’t around, he would occasionally look in the mirror, striving to make himself look more clean and refreshing and less of a fashion disaster. Now that he thought about it, the fact that Zhou Sheng actually came to like him seemed quite miraculous. He found it a spectacle too horrible to endure whenever he occasionally flipped through his photos from his freshman year.
But he would have to spend a lot of money in order to make himself look slightly trendier. Yu Hao was even less willing to let Zhou Sheng carry such a large cost, but this guy was a full-on Young Master and always only had one criterion for spending money: our happiness would be difficult to buy even with a thousand gold. The guiding principle behind his expenditures was always the unshakable phrase ‘I’ll support you’. However, as soon as his scholarship money and compet.i.tion prize money were depleted, the two of them would have to wait for the 2,400 yuan that Zhou Sheng’s mother gave him every month for his living expenses. It was barely tolerable for Yu Hao to allow Zhou Sheng to support him a little bit, but letting Zhou Sheng’s mother support him was absolutely unacceptable.
“Who’re you on the phone with?” Zhou Sheng was unhappy now, “Why are you still on the call?”
Yu Hao said into his phone, “I’m in cla.s.s, I’ll call you back later.” Then he turned around to Zhou Sheng and said earnestly, “I’ll support you.”
Zhou Sheng refuted him, “Nope, I’ll support you.”
Yu Hao, “You’re always like this!”
Zhou Sheng just smiled happily. He had changed a lot recently and hardly got into any disputes with Yu Hao. Most of the time, whatever Yu Hao says goes, and he would just listen to him giddily. His temper in cla.s.s had also improved a lot.
“Confiscated.” Zhou Sheng kept Yu Hao’s account book.
“That won’t do.” Yu Hao said, “I’ll manage the finances; you don’t even have any plans!”
Zhou Sheng, “No, you’re always so reluctant to spend money, you can’t manage it anymore……”
“Be careful, Laoshi……shh! Shh!”
Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng began fighting for the account book. Zhou Sheng caught Yu Hao unprepared and tickled him, and Yu Hao’s grip loosened in an instant. The account book was s.n.a.t.c.hed away.
Yu Hao looked at Zhou Sheng bitterly. Zhou Sheng kept the account book and suddenly became serious, “Is your old habit acting up again? You don’t want to owe me? So if there comes a day where we can’t continue any longer, it’ll be easier for you to be independent when we break up?”
Yu Hao, “You……”
The bell signalling the end of cla.s.s rang. When he heard this, Yu Hao glanced at Zhou Sheng, stood up, and left. Zhou Sheng followed him. He packed Yu Hao’s textbooks into his bag, “Angry?”
Yu Hao stood outside the corridor, which was packed with people who had just gotten out of cla.s.s. He went back to the dormitory to take his skateboard and planned to partic.i.p.ate in his club activities. Zhou Sheng tossed his bag down, stuffed his hands into his pockets, and followed Yu Hao the entire way.
A long vacation was about to start soon. Barely anyone came to the club today as they had all gone home long ago. Yu Hao stepped on his skateboard as he looked at Zhou Sheng, who was sitting close by. When Yu Hao had just entered the club to practice skateboarding, Zhou Sheng would always keep vigil just in case Yu Hao jumped accidentally into the street, and was ready to pull him back at all times.
Yu Hao looked at Zhou Sheng for awhile, and thought he seemed like a child who was sometimes quite insecure.
“Still angry?” Zhou Sheng asked, “You’re not angry anymore ba?”
Yu Hao said, “You seem so insecure when you say things like that.”
Zhou Sheng said, “I really am insecure, it’s not like you don’t know that. Don’t be angry anymore, I was wrong.”
When Yu Hao heard this, his anger immediately dissipated. His father pa.s.sed away when he was young and his mother had left their home, so he was brought up by his grandmother. But his grandmother loved him, so he and Zhou Sheng grew up in different ways.
“Because ownership has been transferred.” Yu Hao suddenly said.
“What?” Zhou Sheng was baffled.
Yu Hao thought about it for a moment and said, “We’re together now; there actually isn’t a distinction between who gets to support whom. Ownership of you no longer belongs to just your parents, you’re my boyfriend now.”
“So, let’s take care of each other.” Yu Hao said earnestly, “That’s independence. Without the need to rely on your parents anymore, you’ll obtain autonomy over your own life.”
Zhou Sheng said, “Actually, I really didn’t spend much of my Dad’s money. I get it now. Is that what you’re thinking?”
Yu Hao responded with an “un”, then continued, “I’ve always been thinking, what if your parents oppose us in the future? If we can be independent, then they won’t have much of a reason to object. But if we’re always relying on them financially……ok ba. Forget I said anything, I’m not angry anymore. I haven’t finished thinking it through for myself yet.”
Yu Hao put on his cap backwards. He was wearing Monet’s “Sunrise Impression” commemorative T-shirt, jeans, and a pair of skateboarding shoes. He stepped on his skateboard to practice his skills in going up the ramp, while Zhou Sheng just earnestly watched Yu Hao. Yu Hao tried to go up and down the ramp a few times, then moved his center of gravity to the tail of the skateboard, crouched slightly, and carefully tried the 360-degree rotation he learned recently. Zhou Sheng said, “You’re so cool, Wifey.”
Yu Hao thought, of course, I even especially waxed my hair a bit today and ironed my clothes too……but he feigned nonchalance and said, “Oh, really? Do you like it?” As he spoke, he smiled at Zhou Sheng and whistled.
Fireworks immediately went off in Zhou Sheng’s head with several loud bangs.
“I knew you’d like these clothes. I saw a Van Gogh’s Starry Night commemorative edition one yesterday; I’ll take you to go buy it tomorrow?”
“Stop buying things!”
“I did some financial management with the two million that my Dad gave me.” Zhou Sheng said, “Don’t worry about money.”
Yu Hao, “Two million!!!”
Yu Hao almost fell. Zhou Sheng was about to get up, but Yu Hao struggled to stabilise himself.
“The annual interest rate is 5.4%, $1.50 per $10,000 per day.” Zhou Sheng said, “$9,000 a month.”
“But that’s your father’s money.” Yu Hao said, “I know he’s very rich, so two million is nothing to him……”
“Yes!” Zhou Sheng said, “But think about it, where did his money come from?”
Yu Hao, “Of course he earned it himself.”
Zhou Sheng, “Could he have earned that much without me?”
Yu Hao recalled how Zhou Sheng had said that Zhou Laichun’s life used to be a mess as well. It was not until Zhou Sheng risked his life to enter his father’s dream that his life began to slowly change to become what it is now.
“I changed his life.” Zhou Sheng said, “Do you still think it’s too much to take this as a little bit of a reward?”
Yu Hao laughed, “You can’t say it like that ba.”
Zhou Sheng said, “This is my legal income from work! And he’s my Dad!”
Yu Hao laughed. Zhou Sheng continued, “What’s wrong with taking a little remuneration sometimes?”
Yu Hao said, “Plus, you didn’t touch his princ.i.p.al sum and only used the interest from it, right?”
“Yes!” Zhou Sheng said.
“Okay then.” Yu Hao said, “You’ve convinced me, but only partially. I understand the reason behind it, but I still can’t accept it from an emotional standpoint.”
“Ever since I got the card.” Zhou Sheng said, “I didn’t think much of it and didn’t see a problem with spending it. But see, you would never be able to accept that anyway.”
Yu Hao just felt that if Zhou Laichun gave them the card as a reward, then it would be considered Zhou Sheng’s fair gain — because if it wasn’t for Zhou Sheng’s strength, his father may not be where he is today. But the Golden Crow Wheel couldn’t be mentioned, and they’ve never asked Chen Yekai for rewards for their help……but Zhou Laichun was Zhou Sheng’s Dad too……it was all so convoluted and complex; the more he thought about it, the more confused he became. It was really difficult to draw clear distinctions.
“Have you thought about our future?” Yu Hao asked Zhou Sheng.
Zhou Sheng answered, “I have; I think about it every day.”
Yu Hao had intended to tell him about his ideal future, but when he heard this, he took his skateboard and walked over to Zhou Sheng to sit beside him.
Zhou Sheng extended a hand, palm outstretched. Yu Hao placed his hand on his and Zhou Sheng intertwined their fingers. Yu Hao waited quietly for a long while, but Zhou Sheng didn’t continue.
“And then?” Yu Hao asked, “That’s it?”
Zhou Sheng said, “You smell really good, so clean and refreshing. You’ve been much trendier recently and look so cool; a whole bunch of female freshmen were even taking photos of you in secret yesterday.”
Yu Hao, “……”
Someone called Yu Hao again. His phone had been ringing constantly since this afternoon.
Zhou Sheng said, “Who the h.e.l.l has been calling you all this time? Laozi’s not happy now! Let me see!”
“Your mother……” Yu Hao said.
Zhou Sheng, “Oh Medusa……”