The Complete Guide to the Use and Care of a Personal a.s.sistant
Translator: Jury
Editor: NomNom
First Published on Chaleuria
Chapter Eighty-one
"Yan-jie?" Ling Miao smiled awkwardly when he saw who was at the door.
Yan Li wasn"t upset to see Su Yuyang hugging Ling Miao. She handed the phone to Ling Miao and said in frustration, "Help me convince Ji Linxi."
"Convince him of what?" Ling Miao asked, not understanding.
Yan Li rubbed her temple and lay down on Su Yuyang"s bed. She said in a low voice, "I want Ji Linxi to move into Old Su"s house for now. His address was revealed and I"m pretty sure reporters will come knocking before long. They still don"t know about this place. We can discuss our next steps once he"s here."
Ling Miao knew Ji Linxi"s temperament: he wasn"t a stubborn man. As long as things weren"t set in stone, he"d still be open to a change of plans. But once he had backed himself into a corner, no amount of convincing would work.
Ling Miao dialed Ji Linxi back and asked, "Yan-jie, what did you tell Linxi?"
"I asked him to come over so the reporters wouldn"t give him trouble. I told him what I thought, but he said he didn"t care." The more Yan Li spoke the more angry she got. "Ah, he says he doesn"t want trouble, but he isn"t worried about getting mobbed by reporters?"
"That"s because he knows that he can"t avoid the trouble any more. Instead of hiding and running, he might as well face it head-on." Ling Miao immediately figured out Ji Linxi"s thought process, and he was fairly on the mark.
By the time he finished speaking, Ling Miao had already reached Ji Linxi, who seemed to have guessed that Ling Miao would call him. As the call connected, Ling Miao didn"t have the chance to say anything before Ji Linxi said, "Tell Yan Li to forget about it. I"m not going over."
Ling Miao shrugged and cast Yan Li a helpless glance. She said ill-temperedly, "What did he say?"
"He said to forget about it. He"s not coming over," Ling Miao murmured. "Ah, what"s all this? Su Yuyang and I just cleared up a matter and now something"s up with the two of you."
"You say it like it"s my fault," Yan Li said aggrievedly. "If Ji Linxi hadn"t made me mad, would I have kissed him? And I didn"t know there were reporters nearby. Ah, the paparazzi—they always find a way!"
Yan Li kept running her hands through her hair as she cursed the person who"d taken secret photos of her. Su Yuyang felt bad for her hair and reached out to stop her. She looked up at Su Yuyang and pouted: "Su Yuyang, what should we do?"
"Admit that Ji Linxi is your boyfriend or say nothing," Su Yuyang said coldly.
Yan Li stared at Su Yuyang. Seeing his somber expression, she suddenly laughed: "Old Su, the way you"re saying it— you don"t want Ji Linxi to come over? Is it because of his relations.h.i.+p with Ling Miao?"
"So what if it is?" Su Yuyang threw an arm around Ling Miao and said, like he was declaring possession, "Ling Miao"s mine. Even if Ji Linxi has known him for longer than I have, and knows him better, my future with Ling Miao will be longer!"
"In that case, why are you worried about Ji Linxi coming over?" Yan Li said meaningfully.
Su Yuyang glanced at Yan Li, then at Ling Miao who was frowning. He sighed, "I just don"t like it! You don"t have to look at me like that. It"s true, I"m jealous, but so what? My boyfriend"s close to someone else. If it were you, you wouldn"t be comfortable either, would you?"
"That"s true," Yan Li agreed.
Ling Miao"s gaze swept from Su Yuyang to Yan Li. He said in a low voice, "If you two are going to keep flirting in front of me, will you at least consider my feelings?"
"It"s you two who are being affectionate in front of me." Yan Li huffed and made a face like she was about to cry. Su Yuyang let go of Ling Miao and sat beside Yan Li, consoling: "Yan Yan, I won"t interfere with you and Ji Linxi. Also, even if I don"t agree to let Ji Linxi stay, you"re going to let him in anyway, aren"t you? As for whether Ji Linxi is willing to come over, that"s up to whether you can convince him."
Ling Miao blinked at Su Yuyang, as if to ask why he"d suddenly changed his tune. Su Yuyang threw his arm around Ling Miao and bent close to his ear: "Yan Yan is really doing this for Ji Linxi"s own good, and I was thinking too much and spoke rashly. Ji Linxi, you, me, Yan Li… the relations.h.i.+p between the four of us is pretty messy."
Ling Miao heard Su Yuyang"s words and understood what he was thinking. Ling Miao replied, "You"re thinking way too much, aren"t you? I think I"d better reconsider being with someone who overthinks this much. Ah, Su Yuyang, come to think of it, I haven"t agreed to be your boyfriend. If I go back on it now…"
Ling Miao hadn"t finished speaking when his lips were blocked by something soft. Then he heard the click of a camera shutter and frantically turned his head in the direction of the sound. Yan Li was waving her phone like a cat who"d gotten the canary–in her phone was recorded the scene of Su Yuyang kissing him.
"Ling Miao and Old Su sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G… I"ll make a blog post later." Yan Li made a show of humming a song. Su Yuyang said with indifference, "Remember to mention me, then everyone will know that you"re living at my place. Then everyone will wonder about your relations.h.i.+p with me, and…"
"Stuff it." Ling Miao kicked Su Yuyang and stopped him from continuing. "You overthink from morning "til night. Aren"t you exhausted?"
"Always prepare for the worst-case scenario. You can"t go wrong," Su Yuyang said matter-of-factly.
Suddenly, Ling Miao"s phone buzzed. He picked it up uncertainly and glanced at the screen, which displayed the words Call ended.
"Ah?" Ling Miao exclaimed in frustration. "I didn"t hang up the phone just now. Linxi probably heard most of our conversation."
"It"s fine if he hears it," Yan Li said leisurely. "Then he knows what we"re thinking."
Ling Miao was still worried and called Ji Linxi again, but only got the voicemail.
"Linxi turned off his phone!" Ling Miao exclaimed in surprise. "Did someone sell his contact details?"
"Most likely," Yan Li stood up uncertainly. "Ling Miao, get on QQ and contact Ji Linxi."
"Already on it," Ling Miao said helplessly.
Ji Linxi: My phone keeps ringing so I had to turn it off. Say whatever you need to here.
ZeroSecondsAgo: Linxi, come over to Su Yuyang"s place for the time being. It"s safer than where you are now.
Ji Linxi: Will Su Yuyang let me in?
ZeroSecondsAgo: He says that if you"re willing to come over, he won"t stop you.
Ji Linxi: I"m worried that he"ll regret it when he sees me.
ZeroSecondsAgo:¹ Regretted it many times already, a few more won"t matter. Yan Yan is very worried about you. She"s afraid that her mistakes got you into trouble. Also, once you get here, we can devise a plan of action. You two have to get your stories straight.
Ji Linxi: Shu Yang? Since you say so yourself, it"d be rude of me not to come over. I"ll stop by later. There are reporters at the door right now.
Ling Miao looked at the words on the screen and suddenly got annoyed. These two were getting on far too well, weren"t they?
Translation notes:
[1] This is probably Su Yuyang talking via Ling Miao"s account, going by the way he refers to Yan Li as "Yan Yan".