“…” Yan Xiu himself doesn’t watch many TV dramas, but he had accompanied quite a few with Tang Ying. The Yan family seemed to fall into two extremes in this regard—Yan Xiu’s tastes aligned more with Old Yan’s, while Tang Ying and the housekeeper aunt preferred classic operas and family ethics dramas.
In such shows, divination sticks were often imbued with whatever elements the plot required—they could be made to mean anything the writers wanted.
Sure enough, after barely two seconds of hesitation, Yu Sui chuckled and said, “Just kidding.”
He shook the divination stick tube. “My brother’s the professional kind.”
But Minister Yan had heard his nonsense so many times that this time, no matter how much Yu Sui bragged, he didn’t believe him.
The young master practically drove nearly halfway across Yandu, just to bring Yan Xiu to the Yu family.
Today, there was no one else at the Yu residence. Yuan Yu had made plans with other ladies, Yu Liao and Yu Sizhao were, as usual, not coming back, and Yu Zhen, after attending Yu Sui’s parent-teacher conference, still had an evening event to attend.
Aunt Sun hadn’t expected Yu Sui to suddenly bring Yan Xiu over. She stood in the entryway watching them come in, wiped her hands, and went back into the kitchen, muttering, “Why didn’t you send me a message before you came back? I haven’t even kept any food aside”
Yu Sui stopped her, saying that he and Yan Xiu had already eaten out.
“That’s different,” Aunt Sun said. “Have a bowl of sweet soup later. You should have something hot to eat when you come home.”
Aunt Sun was someone Yu Jingyuan had brought from his hometown—within ten generations of ancestry, she might even be distantly related to Yu Sui
The elders from that area had many rules and unspoken beliefs. For example, Aunt Sun’s family never ate beef, and she firmly believed that after being away for several days, you had to have something hot to drink upon returning home.
She always had a set of rules to follow, and Yu Sui couldn’t quite remember them all, so he just hummed in agreement.
The two of them went upstairs one after the other, leaving the bedroom door ajar for Aunt Sun to come up.
When Aunt Sun entered, she saw a table set up on the carpet, with two boys sitting on either side. The table was covered with test papers and sheets, and Yu Sui was holding a rolled-up book, quizzing Yan Xiu.
This was the first time Aunt Sun had personally witnessed Yu Sui studying at the house ever since he graduated from middle school. She stood at the door, unsure whether to go in.
In the end, it was Yan Xiu who glanced toward the door, silently got up, and went to take the bowls of sweet soup from Aunt Sun’s hands.
Aunt Sun waited beside them as they drank the soup, remarking in amazement, “It really does take an older sibling closer in age to guide him properly.”
Yu Sui, who had just taken a sip, abruptly stretched his arm to hold the bowl away, coughing until his neck flushed red.
Aunt Sun was startled and quickly patted his back, “What’s wrong? Did you burn yourself?”
Yu Sui waved his hand casually, not daring to look at Yan Xiu’s expression.
But Aunt Sun hadn’t dropped the subject. Despite Yan Xiu clearly appearing uninterested in small talk, she still loved chatting with him. “Don’t be fooled by how many older siblings Xiao Sui has, he never listens to any of them. When he was younger, it was easier; you could coax him into obeying. But after his rebellious phase, it just didn’t work anymore.”
To her surprise, Yan Xiu actually responded, “Why?”
“Rebellious phase—always arguing with the family,” Aunt Sun shook her head, not elaborating further. Instead, she added, “Back then, we said it would be much better if he had a sibling closer in age. The eldest and the second child hardly ever fought.”
Yu Sui: “…”
Much of one’s life is spent listening to the nagging of elders. As the youngest member of the Yu family, Young Master Yu had spent the vast majority of his teenage years enduring others’ lectures.
By now, Yu Sui was probably so accustomed to the nagging that he had developed an impenetrable shield against it. Yet this moment was undoubtedly one of the most awkward in his life.
He put his hand on the back of his neck and opened his mouth, “Aunt Sun, I’ve finished drinking—”
Only then did Auntie Sun shift her attention. She collected the two empty bowls, her gaze filled with approval as she left, thoughtfully closing the bedroom door behind them.
The lock clicked shut.
Yu Sui glanced at Yan Xiu, then tucked his hands into his pockets and slunk back to his original spot, curling up there.
This time, he didn’t bother Yan Xiu with his textbook again.
The table was placed beside the bed. So, Yu Sui leaned against the edge of the bed, his head resting on the edge with his short hair all pressed down.
“Not going to quiz me anymore?” Yan Xiu looked down at him from above.
Yu Sui shook his head, squinting slightly, “How about you tell me which parts you’re not familiar with, and I’ll just quiz you on those?”
Yan Xiu’s tone was light and faint, yet he had memorized even the punctuation marks in the textbook.
When Yu Sui quizzed him, it was like grabbing a talking pen—effortless. The young master was spouting nonsense again. Yan Xiu curled his lips slightly. “How about switching to your music theory book?”
“…” That would truly be bullying, and Yu Sui wasn’t having it.
He picked up the textbook again, furrowing his brows as he began to read. This was the homework assigned to Class 3 for the week. Their class assignments had become increasingly straightforward and brutal. Since the start of the semester, the teacher had instructed them to memorize the entire required textbook, punctuation marks and all. By the end of this week’s memorization, they would have nearly finished the book.
When no one spoke, the room was very quiet.
If nothing unexpected happened, in about thirty to sixty minutes, Yang Feiwen and Liang Wen would log in to play games with them.
They used this time to finish all the homework they could.
With a few minutes left, Yang Feiwen finally showed up.
That guy had just narrowly escaped a double-team scolding from his parents and was now hiding sneakily in his room. “It’s so unfair! I forgot to hide the note I wrote telling my mom to lose weight, and she found it in the drawer… You should’ve seen how furious she was!”
Yu Sui turned on the speakerphone, tossed his phone onto the bed, and squatted down to pick up the test papers scattered all over the floor. Then he picked up the fortune-telling container and slowly moved it to the desk.
Yang Feiwen complained without getting a response and asked unwillingly, “I’m in such a bad situation, why aren’t you reacting? Fine, I’ll go online first, you can ask Yan-ge.”
Yan Xiu slid the folding table into a gap and replied calmly, “Got it.”
The other end of the line fell silent instantly.
After a long pause, Yang Feiwen timidly spoke up again. “Brother Yan?”
Yan Xiu: “Hmm.”
The next second, the call ended.
Yan Xiu picked up Yu Sui’s phone, tossing it to someone hunched over trying to suppress a laugh. Then, he logged into the small group chat where they had arranged to play games that night and sent a question mark.
Yang Feiwen immediately sent a crying emoji.
Gossip Fei: [Yan-ge, I really just hung up on you by accident. I didn’t mean to hang up on you!]
Fish Can: [Yeah, I believe you.]
Then, Yu Sui turned to Yan Xiu and complained, “He did it on purpose! This idiot thought he dialed the wrong number.”
Yan Xiu didn’t react much, just pulled up a chair and sat down.
That day, someone must have leaked the news that they were playing games together that night. Although only the five of them—him, Yan Xiu, Yang Feiwen, Liang Wen, and Yi Tian—had agreed to play online, an unexpectedly large number of anonymous onlookers from No. 26 High School had joined to watch the spectacle.
What was truly touching was that Minister Yan seemed to have secretly practiced on his own, as his skills had improved dramatically. He no longer needed Yu Sui shouting at him to realize this wasn’t a game about heroic sacrifice.
After two rounds, Yu Sui moved to Yan Xiu’s side and said, “Could you turn off the spectator option when we go out later?”
Yan Xiu lowered his eyes slightly, frowning in puzzlement.
Yu Sui moved aside and sat up on the table. “If you don’t turn it off, people will keep coming in to watch their Minister Yan’s skills.”
As he spoke, he tapped the tablet resting nearby, swiping through it a few times before pausing meaningfully. “Seems like there are quite a few of them.”
Yan Xiu rested his arm on the table and leaned in to look at the tablet.
The screen was open to the No. 26 High School forum, where a thread had grown exceptionally long and was updating rapidly. It was obvious which thread it was.
Floor #7749: [Did anyone capture the moment Sui’er blocked the damage for the minister?]
Floor #7750: [Those who don’t understand the game are crying.]
Floor #7751: [Why do you all have Sui’er and the Minister’s WeChat? Is everyone in Class 3 or the student council?]
Floor #7752: [No, but I added A-Wen.]
Floor 7753: [Is it just my imagination? Sui’er didn’t need to follow the Minister today, so why is he following him the whole time?]
In the voice chat, Yi Tian interjected, “I turned off the spectator open, but A-Wen might not have. Did A-Wen tell someone that Yan and Sui are together? Otherwise, why is everyone so excited? It’s not like it’s the first time we’ve played a game together.”
Yang Feiwen felt particularly guilty: “Ah… I think it was me.”
In fact, he hadn’t just mentioned it, but also said that Yan Xiu was at Yu Sui’s house. The “official pairing” group immediately became lively, and some people even formed a team to “accidentally” run in them in-game.
“I was really scared,” Yang Feiwen said, feeling extremely aggrieved. “It was a moment of impulse. I’ll turn off spectating right away.”
After five of them turned off spectating, the official pairing thread calmed down a bit.
The game has a healer option, and Yu Sui has played the healer in several games, always following behind Yan Xiu. After this round, Yan Xiu suddenly switched to a healer in the last few seconds. The others couldn’t stop him in time and watched helplessly as the game entered the login screen.
Now, Yu Sui and Yan Xiu, the two healers, looked at each other in bewilderment.
Yu Sui: “……”
Yang Feiwen: “……”
Liang Wen: “……”
Yi Tian: “……”
Liang Wen couldn’t help but ask, “Yan-ge, did your hand slip?”
Yan Xiu remained calm: “No.”
Yang Feiwen and Yi Tian, having recovered from their initial confusion, started chattering amongst themselves.
Yu Sui remained silent. He slid off the table, found a spot on the bed, and sat cross-legged. As if suddenly sleepy, he leaned lazily against the edge of the bed, glancing casually at Yan Xiu before quickly looking away.
He adjusted his earphones and abruptly said, “Liang, I’ll follow you this game Yan Xiu, you go with A-Wen, that short guy with the short legs.”
No one objected, as this seemed like the most suitable solution. However, since everyone was in a different space, only Yu Sui knew that Yan Xiu had gotten off the chair and sat next to him.
The close proximity, where a slight bend of the leg could make contact, left Yu Sui feeling a bit flustered
His mind raced through a series of images, trying to figure out which step would most likely expose him.
But lately, he’d been incredibly arrogant, always pushing the boundaries of what Yan Xiu should do. For a moment, he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what might have aroused Yan Xiu’s suspicion.
Was it the forum?
Lost in thought, Yu Sui suddenly noticed Liang Wen’s avatar suddenly went gray.
Liang Wen’s furious roar echoed in the voice channel: “You actually let me die right under your nose?”
Yu Sui quickly moved away, maneuvering his healer out from the enemy’s encirclement.
In less than ten seconds, only Yan Xiu and Yu Sui remained on the map.
Yang Feiwen, equally despairing, said tactfully, “Yan-ge, next time you secretly practice, you could try to familiarize yourself with this character a little.”
Yan Xiu’s apology at this moment was particularly straightforward: “…I’m sorry.”
Yang Feiwen: “It’s okay, it’s okay…”
While waiting for their teammates to respawn, Yu Sui and Yan Xiu were utterly bored. Yu Sui was completely absorbed in his thoughts and watched helplessly as another healer crossed half the map to give him a heal.
At that, all four of them, including Yu Sui, burst out laughing.
Yu Sui laughed so hard he almost fell to the side, only to be steadied by Yan Xiu.
Yan Xiu’s hand instinctively moved to shield him, preventing Yu Sui from falling forward. Yu Sui’s forehead brushed against Yan Xiu’s palm, and his cheek briefly rested against Yan Xiu’s shoulder before he quickly straightened up and sat back properly.
“Is it really that funny?” Yan Xiu’s voice sounded somewhat resigned.
“A little,” Yu Sui pursed his lips. He suddenly muted his own voice channel and grasped the microphone on Yan Xiu’s headphone cord, asking, “Did you suddenly switch to this because you didn’t want me following you anymore?”
The game was actually a bit noisy, with game sound effects and the shouts of the other three.
Yu Sui took off one earphone, glancing at the screen, then at Yan Xiu, calmly waiting for his answer.
Yang Feiwen and the others could assume Yan Xiu was unfamiliar with the game, but Yu Sui knew better. Yan Xiu had long since figured out how to play the game and understood what attributes each character had. Unless someone suddenly snatched his phone, this guy wouldn’t do something like switching characters at the last minute, catching his teammates off guard.
The question was blunt, so blunt it didn’t seem like the young master’s usual style.
Yan Xiu maneuvered his character leisurely toward Yang Feiwen: “No.”
As he spoke, he seemed to tilt his head slightly: “I wanted to see if you’d still follow me if I played this character.”
So he wasn’t avoiding him after all.
Yu Sui’s heart slowly settled back into place. He unplugged his earphones and said with an “Oh, that’s good.”
“What’s good?” Liang Wen asked.
“Nothing,” Yu Sui replied dismissively.
He was too busy sighing in relief that he didn’t realize he felt a tingling sensation until the game finally ended in defeat.
Yu Sui instinctively kicked Yan Xiu, but after doing so, he didn’t know what to say. Under Yan Xiu’s possibly puzzled gaze, he turned around, leaning his entire back against Yan Xiu’s shoulder like a rascal.
The sounds from their side occasionally rustled softly. Yi Tian, who had held back all night, finally asked the question everyone was curious about: “How did you two end up together again tonight?”
Yang Feiwen said sourly, “I’ve never even been to Sui’s house.
“It’s different.” Yu Sui glanced at Yan Xiu, and seeing his lack of reaction, he said, “Yan Xiu has to call my dad ‘Uncle’.”
“Uncle?” Everyone was bewildered by this unfamiliar term.
Yu Sui picked someone both Yang Feiwen and Liang Wen knew to explain: “He’s Yan Ying’s cousin.”
Yang Feiwen instantly understood: “Holy crap?”
Yi Tian didn’t know Yan Ying and didn’t understand, but she could gauge the shock factor from their reactions. She hesitated, wondering if she shouldn’t have asked, when Yang Feiwen suddenly blurted out, “Damn, so you have to call Yan-Ge ‘Gege’ too?”
It was purely a reaction born of shock, forgetting that boys at this age generally dislike feeling like they’re being looked down upon.
Yan Xiu also opened his mouth, wanting to change the subject, but then he heard Yu Sui respond calmly, “Yeah, I call him Gege.”
Yan Xiu turned to look at him: “Do you?”
“Yes.” Yu Sui spread his hands, gesturing casually, “I’m giving you a chance to boss me around; most people don’t have that honor.”
After saying this, he started a new round of the game. Probably because they were on public voice chat, Yan Xiu didn’t say anything more afterward.
They played until very late that day, so late that Yuan Yu and Yu Zhen had already returned and gone to bed. Yan Xiu didn’t even consider moving to the guest room next door. After a quick wash-up, he mustered the last bit of his energy, went back, and dragged Yu Sui into the bathroom to get cleaned up.
The young master was still quite particular, but when pushed to the brink of exhaustion, he couldn’t help but vent his frustration everywhere. He kept a straight face and stayed silent, like a cat forced into a bath and sulking afterward.
Yan Xiu wasn’t much more awake himself. Even he wasn’t quite sure why he had waited for Yu Sui here for so long.
He rubbed his temples, his mind racing with random thoughts. First, he remembered Yu Sui clasping his hands together and saying, “Please, Gege,” then he remembered him leaning against the door saying, “I don’t need a brother,” and finally, he remembered that moment not long ago when Yu Sui said, “I’ll give you a chance to control me.”
Lately, he often sensed Yu Sui struggling, teetering on a line, which made him seem moody and distant at times.
And yet, Yan Xiu couldn’t bring himself to get angry.
The bathroom door creaked open, and Yu Sui emerged in fresh clothes, drifting like a ghost straight to the bed, where he flopped down and didn’t move.
Yan Xiu watched for a moment before slowly walking over to turn off the light.
He picked up the bamboo cylinder of fortune sticks Yu Sui had left on the floor and placed it on the table, casually drawing one out.
Best of luck.
Yan Xiu only saw that much before putting it back. Then he reached out and turned off the light.
Author’s Note: I think it’s getting close.
Recommending a friend’s fantasy BL novel → “Trending Search Online,” by Zong Ye
Ji Wenxia recently gained a strange ability—when in danger, he can instantly teleport to the side of a film emperor.
And he just happens to run into danger a lot.
Walking at night, the manhole cover was missing.
The stage collapsed on the show he was on.
At first, he felt embarrassed, but then he realized.
Life is tough, survival is key. Teleport while you can.
Actor Shen Tinghe is currently embroiled in scandal, with the woman being Ji Wenxia, who seems completely unrelated.
He said he’d go to the restroom alone, but came out with a disheveled handsome man.
He said he wouldn’t bring his family on variety shows, but a familiar head suddenly popped out from under the covers.
He said he wouldn’t date for three years, but his Weibo verification was mysteriously changed to “Ji Wenxia’s Mysterious Boyfriend.”
Fans: Mysterious.
Fans: Seriously, so damn mysterious.
Fans: When did these two even get together?
Translator’s Note: I’m trying to search for the novel above. It intrigues me and make me want to read it hahahaha. If you like this chapter, consider donating on my kofi! Thank you!
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152