Chapter 18
Meng Xueyuan gave a quiet “mm.” Anything was fine—but there had to be payment.
In the split second before the universe was about to explode, Lu Xiao still remembered to ask his wife’s preference.
“The bathroom, or the bed?”
Meng Xueyuan pressed his lips together. “Either is fine.”
Lu Xiao wanted to openly help each other with his wife, but he was also afraid of fully exposing himself and scaring Meng Xueyuan. What he wanted wasn’t a one-time indulgence, but sustainable development.
Two taut strings in his mind pulled against each other for a moment. He grabbed Meng Xueyuan’s pale, beautiful wrist and brought it with him under the blanket.
The corners of Meng Xueyuan’s eyes turned completely red too. The two little moles were bright crimson, like two flickering flames, reflecting watery light in his clear eyes.
Who would’ve thought that something like a production scandal could let later generations reap the benefits of earlier ones’ punishment? Lu Xiao pushed his luck and asked, “Can you help me undo it?”
Meng Xueyuan’s fingers trembled.
So… so big.
He took a deep breath and forced himself to remain calm on the surface. If he acted flustered and panicked, what if Lu Xiao never asked him again in the future?
Meng Xueyuan fixed his gaze on the muted projection in front of him. The figure sweeping the street had sat down by the roadside to rest.
Not even serious about working! He didn’t like watching people like that!
Meng Xueyuan felt around for the remote and pressed it hard with his thumb, turning off the projection.
“Tsk—don’t press it.” Lu Xiao suddenly tightened his grip on Meng Xueyuan’s wrist.
Meng Xueyuan: ?
No way—was Lu Xiao multitasking and racking up viewing hours at the same time? He reached for the remote again, wanting to turn the program back on.
Lu Xiao rubbed his forehead. “I didn’t mean that hand.”
Meng Xueyuan: “……” So it turned out his two hands weren’t coordinated—his left hand pressed the remote, while his right hand subconsciously “pressed the remote” too.
…
His palm was hot, wet, and sticky.
The Bee Queen, who looked calm on the surface, already had his brain reduced to complete mush. Clearly, he was the one helping Lu Xiao, yet in the end it was he who went soft against Lu Xiao.
His hand ached terribly; he didn’t even know when it ended. If he’d known, he wouldn’t have turned off the TV. After such a long time, he could’ve finished a quarter of the required viewing hours.
Amid the scent of pollen, Meng Xueyuan’s mind went blank. He subconsciously curled his fingers into a loose fist, trying to hold onto something.
Lu Xiao, refreshed and clear-headed, lifted the dazed Meng Xueyuan and carried him to the sink, letting him lean against himself. He caught his hand and placed it under the running water, carefully cleaning it, fingers threading through the other’s.
Wash it off quickly—it was all his fault for losing control and making such a mess. His wife would be upset.
Only when the sound of running water stopped did Meng Xueyuan wake up as if from a dream. He looked at his clean palms, then at Lu Xiao.
Wait—my payment got washed away?!
After all that hard work, ending with nothing to show for it, Meng Xueyuan pressed his lips together, visibly unhappy.
Lu Xiao said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
Meng Xueyuan sighed. “It’s fine.”
First time—don’t make your intentions too obvious. Slow and steady wins the race. Rich second-generation heirs all paid great attention to contraception; look how forceful Lu Xiao had been when washing his hands, as if he were afraid that even one extra second might let something be stolen.
He stared at that part of Lu Xiao. He felt that Lu Xiao seemed… maybe… able to go another round?
Lu Xiao quickly picked up the disgruntled Meng Xueyuan and carried him away from the scene, placing him back on the bed. “Thank you. I’ll take care of myself.” Thank you, wife—wife has given me too much.
He’d been so busy cleaning Meng Xueyuan that he hadn’t dealt with himself yet.
A short while later, Lu Xiao was back to looking neat and proper. Just as he was about to apologize properly, his phone vibrated repeatedly. Meng Xueyuan fished Lu Xiao’s phone out from under the covers and held it up to him.
“Your call.”
“Thanks.” Lu Xiao glanced at the caller ID and walked into the living room to answer.
“Holy shit, you picked up instantly!” Chu Hao exclaimed in shock on the other end. He’d thought it wouldn’t go through and was already about to compose a text.
Lu Xiao: “……” When his wife told him to answer the phone, of course he had to.
Chu Hao said, “I heard you’re planning to go into business—so how about that project of mine—”
Lu Xiao knew what he was about to say and cut him off. “I’m somewhat interested, but I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
Chu Hao paused for a moment, then said, “Oh—you’re with your wife.”
Lu Xiao smiled without answering. What, is it that obvious that I’m with my wife?
Chu Hao really couldn’t bear to watch his buddy’s wife-chasing process. He’d tried to give advice several times, only to be shut down every time, so now he could only resort to provocation. “Tch, don’t let my wife be pregnant with our second kid before you’ve even touched yours.”
Lu Xiao snorted coldly. “If I’ve touched him, do I need to report it to you?”
Chu Hao said, “That reaction alone proves you haven’t. Are you chasing your wife? You’re guarding him like Fort Knox! Anyone who didn’t know better would think you’re some chastity-obsessed virtuous man.”
Lu Xiao: “…?”
Face to face, Chu Hao wouldn’t dare talk this wildly—one should always leave room to maneuver. But over the phone was different. He and Lu Xiao rarely talked, so this was a rare opportunity to unload everything.
Chu Hao said, “With such a high moral bottom line, why are you even trying to play the whole ‘forceful possession’ trope?”
Lu Xiao: “…?”
Chu Hao continued, “It’s because your marriage certificate wasn’t exactly aboveboard. You feel guilty, you hesitate, you keep looking forward and backward, afraid that one day the certificate will disappear. If you ask me, you never should’ve gotten that stupid certificate in the first place—if you’d pursued him properly, you’d have won long ago.”
Lu Xiao: “…?”
Chu Hao pressed on, “Listen to me—tear up the marriage certificate and fight with your back against the wall. Bare feet aren’t afraid of shoes. With the face your dad gave you, who couldn’t you chase down?”
Lu Xiao said, “I don’t believe it.”
Chu Hao said, “You’re confused. That certificate is exactly where you lost.” Afraid of divorce every step of the way—what kind of ‘pursuit’ is that?
Lu Xiao tugged at the corner of his mouth. When you stripped it down, wasn’t this just encouraging him to get divorced?
That would never happen in this lifetime.
Seeing that all thirty-six stratagems had failed, Chu Hao said somberly, “Forget it, Third Young Master Lu. We can’t count on your psychological awakening anymore. I’ll send you something good—get aggressive on the physiological front.”
Poor guy. It had to be that his physical desire wasn’t strong enough, so it never fed back into his mindset or actions.
Lu Xiao was already frustrated enough every day. With a dark expression, he refused. “Keep it for yourself.”
“Hey, it’s really good stuff—not medicine, just pure natural ingredients. Strengthens the body, warms the kidneys, boosts virility—ten times better than fish oil. I know your filming address. Just wait to sign for it.” Chu Hao hung up first, not giving him a chance to refuse.
Lu Xiao: “……”
Even without Chu Hao saying it, he’d already realized his cognitive bias. All along, in his eyes, Meng Xueyuan had been an untouchable alpine flower. But what happened tonight told him that his wife’s heart was actually very soft—willing to step down from the clouds and help him think of solutions.
His pursuit plan needed revision.
The full episode of Harmony of Marriage aired tonight. The post-production team would rather work harder now than spend days later mosaicking every single frame.
Lu Xiao thought of how Meng Xueyuan had invited him to rack up viewing hours together. In fact, Meng Xueyuan wasn’t the lone-wolf type—he got along just fine with those two guys from the esports group.
With flowers blooming and the moon full, he decided to invite Meng Xueyuan to watch Harmony of Marriage together. Who wanted to watch a disgraced-artist reform show anyway?
Knock, knock.
Lu Xiao knocked on the door.
Meng Xueyuan was chatting with Li Fei. The variety show had aired at eight and was already very popular. Li Fei was venting to him: “What kind of eyes do netizens even have? Everyone they see is a domineering CEO and his delicate wife!”
Meng Xueyuan could only comfort him. “Netizens’ eyesight really isn’t great.”
“Who are you chatting with?” Lu Xiao asked warily. Why was there that faint smile at the corner of his lips?
Meng Xueyuan looked up. “Oh, Li Fei.”
Lu Xiao stood down. “Want to watch the variety show together?”
As usual, Meng Xueyuan made room for half the bed, even propping up the pillow on the other side for Lu Xiao to lean against. “Sure.”
He logged into the video site and switched to screen casting.
Lu Xiao secretly decided that he’d install a top-tier home theater opposite the bed in their house someday. Watching TV together on the bed with his wife felt way too good.
He quietly slid the tablet closer. He used to be afraid CP fans would pick up on his unspeakable thoughts and let Meng Xueyuan notice. Now he wasn’t afraid anymore—he even wanted to use CP bullet comments to create some ambiguity.
His finger moved to the bullet-comment button and clicked.
[@hhhh Dear VIP member, your current plan does not support bullet comments during screen casting. To enable casting, please upgrade to SSVIP.]
Lu Xiao: ???
Meng Xueyuan scratched his cheek awkwardly. He’d never had a need for screen casting before, so he’d only bought a basic ad-free membership.
Lu Xiao pointed at the long string of “@hhhh” and said angrily, “Fine if it can’t cast, but why does it have to be so sarcastic?”
What company is this? Let it go bankrupt.
Meng Xueyuan suddenly realized his exposed secondary-account ID. @hhhh was famous in Lu Xiao’s solo-fan circles. If things went wrong, Lu Xiao might one day find out that someone called “hhhh” posted his photos on the forum every day.
“Right, how can they mock a distinguished VIP member? So uncivilized,” Meng Xueyuan said vaguely, silently apologizing to the website.
He took the tablet. “I’ll upgrade to SSVIP—otherwise I can’t cast or fast-forward.”
There were guest groups in this show he didn’t like; fast-forwarding was a necessity. He clicked upgrade, and a payment QR code popped up.
Lu Xiao raised his phone and paid instantly with password-free payment.
A flood of bullet comments poured down from the top of the wall.
[Joint statement: Lu Xiao and Meng Xueyuan are only collaborators. Please don’t speculate.]
[Joint statement: Meng Xueyuan and Lu Xiao are only collaborators. Please don’t speculate.]
Lu Xiao: “……”
At the start, the screen was packed with solo-fan comment control. Both sides had clearly coordinated to seize the opening screen, only irreconcilable when it came to billing order.
As for CP fans—they didn’t care about any of that. They rushed straight to the actual “sweet moments” later on to ship enthusiastically.
Lu Xiao was forced to watch until the ten-minute mark before CP fans finally overwhelmed the solo fans. He glanced sideways at Meng Xueyuan’s expression.
Great. Ambiguity dead, solo fans ascendant. His wife had clearly been brainwashed by those “solemn statements” at the beginning—his expression was so serious it looked like he was watching a legal program.
Why did CP fans drop the ball at such a critical moment?
Meng Xueyuan’s phone rang—it was his manager.
Lin Mu said, “Remember to repost the promo and have Lu Xiao repost too… wait, don’t repost yet. Something came up—hanging up first.”
