The Complete Guide to the Use and Care of a Personal a.s.sistant
Translator: Jury
Editor: NomNom
First Published on Chaleuria
Chapter Seventy-nine
Su Yuyang wasn"t sure what to do about Ling Miao"s sudden att.i.tude change. His current state of mind was that of a parched person who suddenly saw a gla.s.s of water but discovered the water was so hot it was difficult to drink. Su Yuyang stood frozen as he stared at Ling Miao, who looked up and gazed back at Su Yuyang. Ling Miao raised a hand and patted Su Yuyang"s cheek. "Why are you giving me that frightened look? Don"t you know I"m timid?"
Su Yuyang affectionately ruffled Ling Miao"s hair and said quietly, "If you"re scared, then come here. I"ll protect you." Su Yuyang stood up and opened his arms, indicating to Ling Miao to come over. Ling Miao punched Su Yuyang"s chest and laughed, "Who needs your protection? I don"t need to be protected by a b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"
"Xiao Miao." Su Yuyang"s tone suddenly grew grave and Ling Miao"s grin instantly disappeared. He thought he knew what Su Yuyang was going to say and watched Su Yuyang with a resolute expression. Su Yuyang took a deep breath. Feeling that he"d been seen through, he didn"t know what to say either.
"Not a lot of people I know in real life read my microblog," Ling Miao said out of nowhere. Light flashed through Su Yuyang"s eyes; he understood Ling Miao"s meaning. Su Yuyang laughed, "My followers are mostly fans of my book, and some people from the companies I"ve worked with and some online friends." Of Su Yuyang"s online friends, probably less than five had seen him in real life.
"I"ll go post on my microblog." Su Yuyang bent to kiss Ling Miao"s forehead.
Su Yuyang opened his microblog and was instantly drawn in by the trending topics: #YanLiKissesMysteriousGuy #OurQueenHasABoyfriend?
He forgot all about making a post about coming out of the closet. He clicked on the thread with trembling hands.
Su Yuyang clicked on the pictures the top-level poster had embedded. In the photo, a woman was pressing a man up against a streetlight and kissing him; from the man"s posture, he hadn"t been expecting it. The first three photographs were from a distance, the last few, close-up. The woman in the photo was clearly Yan Li, and the man… couldn"t be anyone but Ji Linxi.
"Xiao Miao!" Su Yuyang called Ling Miao in a panic. Ling Miao said faux-leisurely: "Did you get mobbed by angry fans the moment you came out of the closet?" Ling Miao"s tone showed his happiness at Su Yuyang"s misfortune and his expression was disgustingly sweet. But as Ling Miao caught sight of the content on the screen, his smile froze and his jaw dropped open so wide it almost came unhinged.
Ling Miao pointed to the picture on the screen and said disbelievingly: "f.u.c.k, Ji Linxi got taken advantage of?"
Three black lines slid down the side of Su Yuyang"s head. He was speechless, then said, "Shouldn"t you be worried that Yan Li was secretly photographed?"
"What"s so surprising about it?" Ling Miao didn"t care. "Yan Li"s protective detail isn"t very good, and the paparazzi are very good at finding an in. It"s not strange that she got photographed. But, tsk tsk—Yan Li"s too forceful. She even kissed Ji Linxi!"
"Hey…" Unbridled joy had appeared on Ling Miao"s face as he spoke Ji Linxi"s name, and Su Yuyang wasn"t pleased to see it. He said jealously: "Are you unhappy because you didn"t get kissed?" As he spoke, Ling Miao"s vision went dark and a face loomed before his eyes.
As Su Yuyang spoke he had stood up and turned to face Ling Miao, then wrapped an arm around Ling Miao"s waist and pulled him close. Amidst Ling Miao"s surprise, Su Yuyang lowered his head and bit Ling Miao"s lips.
"Mmph mmph mmph (you b.a.s.t.a.r.d)!" Ling Miao"s hands forcefully beat Su Yuyang"s back, but Su Yuyang didn"t notice. He wrapped his arms more tightly around Ling Miao and kissed more forcefully. Ling Miao knew that struggling was futile, so he instead put his hands on Su Yuyang"s waist and hugged him tightly.
Su Yuyang"s kiss was very clumsy but Ling Miao could feel his pa.s.sion.
When Su Yuyang was done biting Ling Miao"s mouth, he let go. Ling Miao"s cheeks had gone thoroughly red and at the time Su Yuyang let him go, he hadn"t gotten his wits back. Looking at Ling Miao"s dazed eyes, Su Yuyang teasingly blew on Ling Miao"s neck. Ling Miao shot back into awareness.
"f.u.c.k!" Ling Miao cursed softly. "Su Yuyang, all you know is how to take advantage of me."
"This isn"t taking advantage. This is being romantic."
"It"s just us here. Who"s there to put on a show for? Also, I haven"t agreed to be your anything. What right do you have to be romantic with me?" Ling Miao didn"t want to admit that he"d enjoyed Su Yuyang"s kiss very much, although it hadn"t been very comfortable.
"You!" Su Yuyang looked at Ling Miao with a faint smile and said, "When did your mouth get so hard?"¹
"If my mouth wasn"t hard, you"d have bitten me to shreds," Ling Miao snapped. Now that Ling Miao had said it, Su Yuyang wasn"t so confident any more. He hurriedly turned his gaze to his computer, pointed at the screen, and asked Ling Miao: "What is Ji Linxi going to do?"
"How would I know what he"s going to do?" Ling Miao suddenly understood something. He touched Su Yuyang"s shoulder and said with satisfaction, "You"re not jealous of Ji Linxi, right?"
"So what if I am?" Su Yuyang narrowed his eyes at Ling Miao, who saw danger in Su Yuyang"s gaze. Thinking of Su Yuyang"s kiss just now, Ling Miao shuddered and swore never to use such a foolish method to dispel Su Yuyang"s jealousy again.
This time Su Yuyang had kissed him but next time, it might be…
f.u.c.k, why do I think I"d bottom? Ling Miao berated himself in his heart.
"I"ll call him and ask." Ling Miao pulled out his phone and prepared to call Ji Linxi, but Su Yuyang s.n.a.t.c.hed the phone away.
Su Yuyang"s actions were within Ling Miao"s expectations, but he"d done it so quickly… Ling Miao looked at Su Yuyang in fright. Su Yuyang asked curiously, "Why are you looking at me like I"m a tiger? Do you want me to eat² you?"
At the end, Su Yuyang"s tone changed. The low voice seemed to be inviting Ling Miao. If Ling Miao hadn"t caught on in time, he might have nodded.
While Su Yuyang was distracted, Ling Miao s.n.a.t.c.hed the phone and ran out.
Su Yuyang heard someone start knocking at the door. Several seconds later he heard the door shut and he shrugged helplessly.
"Ah, I have a good friend but not a boyfriend. My life is hard!" As Su Yuyang complained, a blogpost materialized under his fingers. After verifying that the content and the person he mentioned were both accurate, he hit send.
Su Yuyang didn"t care what reactions the blogpost would evoke. He cared only about one person"s reaction.
Yan Li was currently curled up in a corner of the room, her phone vibrating at her feet. Ling Miao walked over to look and saw that the caller was just a string of numbers. Yan Li didn"t reject the call but didn"t pick up, either, which indicated that that she knew who was calling.
"Yan-jie?" Ling Miao called quietly.
Yan Li looked up at Ling Miao, then looked down again. "Linxi must hate me."
"Actually…" He hadn"t finished when his own phone rang. The display showed: Ji Linxi.
Translation notes:
[1] There is a wordplay here: "hard mouth" == stubborn
[2] "eat" also has the connotation of "sleep with"