RAD Chapter 83

After Luo Xiao made up his mind, he shut himself in the study for three days and nights. Except for normal eating and sleeping, he used his time to recall the TV series “Passion and Confusion” that had once resonated with the drifters from the Beijing. This TV series mainly tells the inspirational youth romance story of a group of college graduates who have just entered society, from graduation to employment, from sharing a house to buying a house, and from love to family affection.

Ye Lan looked at the thick stack of papers in his hand, and then at the obvious dark circles on his Xiao Xiao’s face, feeling warmth in his heart. However, even so, his Xiao Xiao could not be so exhausted because of his matter. In an instant, he felt deeply guilty about his proposal.

“Xiao Xiao, you haven’t slept well these days. Now go and rest properly.” Ye Lan stroked his cheek worriedly, “Look at you, you’ve become so haggard!”

“Haa…” Luo Xiao yawned repeatedly and rubbed his eyes. With Ye Lan’s help, he took off his clothes and crawled into the quilt in daze, muttering softly: “Then you look at it first. If there’s any problem, wait for me to wake up and talk about it.”

As his voice grew softer and softer, Luo Xiao soon fell into a deep sleep. Ye Lan looked at him tenderly, pulled the quilt for him, and then left the room quietly.

Sitting on the sofa in the living room, Ye Lan carefully examined the thick stack of papers in his hand. As he turned the first page, he focused and began to read carefully.

“Ding-ling-ling!” The ringing of the phone suddenly woke up the already engrossed Ye Lan. He looked up and saw that the clock on the opposite wall showed that more than three hours had passed. But he was so immersed in reading that he did not noticed the passage of time. He looked at the manuscript in his hand with a complicated expression, and only then did he get up to answer the incessantly ringing phone.

“Hello, who is this?” As soon as Ye Lan finished the sentence, he heard Grandpa Ye’s voice on the other end of the line.

“Oh, it’s you. Why didn’t Xiao Xiao answer the phone?” Grandpa Ye’s tone was clearly full of disdain. “Go, let Xiao Xiao answer the phone. I still prefer to talk to him.”

Ye Lan clenched his fists and veins popped out on his forehead. “Grandpa, don’t always bother Xiao Xiao. He’s my person!”

“Hmph! What do you mean your person?” Grandpa Ye snorted coldly. “I know, you’re still in the probationary period! It’s not even certain whether you can be officially employed!”

“If your grandson can’t be officially employed, then Xiao Xiao will belong to someone else’s family!” Ye Lan twitched his mouth. “By the way, Grandpa, am I your real grandson? Why do you always curse that I can’t be officially employed? That’s going to be your future granddaughter-in-law, you know!”

“Wrong!” Grandpa Ye said calmly. “Even if he can’t become my granddaughter-in-law, he will still be my godgrandson. As his grandfather, I, must oversee his life’s happiness.”

“I’m your real grandson, whatever. If you don’t have anything else, then goodbye.” Ye Lan rolled his eyes and directly hung up the phone.

Hearing the busy tone from the other end of the phone, the Old Mr. Ye, who was sitting there, took a moment to react. He then confirmed it several times before saying incredulously to the butler beside him, “Old Xu, that little bastard Ah Lan actually dared to hang up on me.”

“Master, it seems you should play less with the young master in the future.” Butler Xu spoke lightly. “The young master’s pursuit of marriage has been long, more than seven years now and he’s still in the probationary period. You’d better not let the time be even longer.”

“But I just can’t stand it!” The Old Mr. Ye put down his serious look in front of outsiders and showed a rascal-like expression. “Old Xu, tell me, how come my grandson is so lucky to meet someone like Xiao Xiao who is good-natured, good-looking, obedient and sensible, and can bring good luck to his husband? Say, why didn’t I meet such a person when I was young? Obviously, I was more handsome and more popular than this little bastard when I was young!”

Butler Xu directly rolled his eyes and turned to leave: Well, he had a lot of other things to do and no time to listen to the old master’s narcissistic story here. He didn’t know when it started, but the old master would occasionally tell various heroic stories when they were alone. At first he had the patience to listen, but now as soon as he heard the beginning, he would just leave.

“Ah, Old Xu, don’t leave, I haven’t finished talking yet!” Seeing the butler leave without hesitation, Old Mr. Ye immediately chased after him. “Say, how about we go find Xiao Xiao tomorrow?”

Butler Xu glanced at him and replied lightly, “Master, I can assure you that if you go, the young master will really be unable to resist the righteousness of the family.”

Old Mr. Ye stroked his chin. Hmm, based on that little bastard’s character, he really might rebel against him! Forget it, leave it for next time. After all, he seemed to have gone there a bit too frequently recently.

Actually, Old Mr. Ye had known about the existence of this person named Luo Xiao ten years ago, when they were in their first year of junior high school. After that phone call from Ye Lan reporting he was safe, Old Mr. Ye had secretly sent someone to protect his only blood descendant. Even though he knew his good friend Mr. Huo’s care would ensure there were no problems, he still sent someone just in case.

The main task of the person he sent was not to protect, but to deliver messages so Old Mr. Ye could stay up to date on his grandson’s situation. From these messages, he learned that his grandson treated this young man named Luo Xiao very well, that his academic performance had rapidly improved, that he had gotten into a key high school, that he had made money following Luo Xiao, and that he used that money to buy land and start a company. In short, following Luo Xiao, his grandson was was eating and drinking happily, and was simply a winner in life!

So Old Mr. Ye grew increasingly curious. Just what kind of child Luo Xiao is? Through coercion and temptation, he finally got his grandson to bring Luo Xiao to study in City B. He was very satisfied at the thought of having the opportunity to meet him.

But! This little bastard Ye Lan didn’t even take the initiative to bring Luo Xiao to meet him and always made an excuse and putting it off. Unable to endure it any longer, Old Mr. Ye decided to secretly go visit them himself.

It must be said that perhaps Ye Lan and his old man was really fated to be at odds. Because on the day Old Mr. Ye went to visit, just as Ye Lan had finally managed to get a chance to eat some tofu and before he could take a few bites, the doorbell rang and interrupted them. Seeing Luo Xiao hurriedly straighten his clothes with a flushed face, he knew that his great opportunity had been snatched away again.

After Grandpa Ye and Luo Xiao had a conversation, it seemed that they really hit it off. In less than a day, the relationship between the two rapidly warmed up, which made Ye Lan feeling quite jealous on the sidelines. Even though it was his own grandpa, he couldn’t just occupy Xiao Xiao’s time like this. His Xiao Xiao’s time, even a minute or a second, should belong to him!

Afterwards, whether intentionally or not, more than fifty percent of the time when Ye Lan tried to get close to Xiao Xiao, he was interrupted by his own grandpa. It’s just a bit of eating tofu, does it really need to be this way? If this rate continues, when would he be able to get to eat the meat?

Anyway, let’s not talk about that for now. Let’s get back to the topic. After hanging up the phone, Ye Lan walked back to the sofa, picked up the unfinished manuscript and continued reading it. After finally finishing the last word, Ye Lan let out a deep sigh. He had to admit, if this script was made into a movie, he was willing to bet it would cause a huge sensation. After all, it fully described the real life of their generation. To be honest, he couldn’t wait to see the result after filming.

Putting down the manuscript and carefully putting it aside, he got up and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Although he had gone through four years and transformed from a living idiot to a cooking idiot, he still knew how to boil some noodles.

Luckily, there were two packs of leftover egg noodles, some eggs, and two tomatoes in the house, which would be perfect for making tomato and egg noodles.

After cooking the noodles, Ye Lan went to the bedroom and gently called out: “Xiao Xiao, get up and eat the noodles. Xiao Xiao, wake up, let’s eat first before sleeping again.”

“Mmm…” Luo Xiao opened his eyes drowsily and stared blankly at Ye Lan.

Ye Lan knew the situation right away. He skillfully helped Luo Xiao put on his clothes, then led him to the bathroom and handed him the toothbrush with toothpaste ready. Luo Xiao brushed his teeth in a still half-conscious state. Ye Lan then gently wiped his face with a towel and brought him to the dining table.

Smelling the light fragrance, Luo Xiao gradually regained his senses. He blinked his eyes and realized it was time to eat. He immediately picked up the chopsticks and started eating heartily. Mm, Ye Lan’s noodles were still really delicious!

After finishing the meal, Ye Lan cleaned up the bowls and utensils and then cuddled Luo Xiao on the sofa. “Xiao Xiao, I’ve read the thing you wrote, it’s really great!”

“Uh, thank you.” Luo Xiao said a bit awkwardly while rubbing his nose. There was no way, it wasn’t his original work after all.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing the final product!” Ye Lan smiled. “But we are facing a problem now.”

“The actors,” Luo Xiao replied tacitly.

“Yes, that’s right,” Ye Lan nodded. “As your debut work, I will find the best production team to assist you in the filming. But who should we cast as the main actors?”

Luo Xiao pondered for a while. Indeed, for a good drama to succeed, it requires not only an excellent script and outstanding directors and backstage staff, but even more so, appropriate actors. Since this drama was originally planned to be filmed and aired in about ten years, that meant the young leading actors would still be quite inexperienced at this point, and some might even be minors. In this case, the actor must be replaced!

Looking at it this way, it seems they would have to make a high-profile move!