Chapter 59
The five-day farming variety show came to an end. The guests packed their luggage and waited for the bus to pick them up.
During the off-season, the farmland and the poultry and livestock would be taken over by the production team. They would feed the chickens and ducks, but the fields would be left alone—any weeds or pests would be dealt with by the guests themselves next season.
It was like a group of old friends who regularly gathered in the fields. In farmers’ terms, this was called “pooling labor.” Since farming doesn’t make money, some people take up other jobs; in their spare time, they tend to the crops, saving up their effort and putting it into the land.
The guests on this farming show kept their heads down and worked. There was very little interaction, yet there was a genuine, mutual appreciation among them.
Meng Xueyuan said goodbye to each of them in turn, exchanging vegetables and local produce from the fields, filling a large foam box.
“These vegetables will last the two of us a whole week,” Meng Xueyuan said. Who should they give some to? The worker bees loved overtime and basically ate in the company cafeteria; no one cooked at home.
Lu Xiao said, “Give them to my dad.”
Meng Xueyuan still had five days of vacation left. Lu Xiao urged him to go on a honeymoon together. “Wife, you’ve worked so hard—time to reward yourself.”
“Where to?” Meng Xueyuan asked.
Lu Xiao’s mind instantly filled with images of beautiful, climate-perfect islands where no one knew them.
Meng Xueyuan refused. “Our queen bee doesn’t leave the country unless absolutely necessary.”
The spiritual energy of spirits and monsters relied on this land of China. They loved their homeland; once spiritual energy went overseas, it dissipated faster. Being far from the hive also accelerated its loss.
Although the dissipation of spiritual energy was an inevitable trend, even if they became ordinary people, they still followed the order of worker bees first, then the queen. The queen had to stay until the very end, to prevent the worker bees from experiencing “loss of the queen.”
Lu Xiao suggested, “Then let’s live it up at home for five days.”
He wondered what his wife would be like when drunk… maybe easier to fool.
Meng Xueyuan was scrolling through Weibo, reading comments under the trending topic “Farming Squad Season Two Finale.”
On a farming variety show, as long as celebrities didn’t stir trouble or slack off, netizens were generally quite forgiving in their overall evaluations. Favorability in all aspects would jump by a level.
Many comments praised him for having real farming skills and apologized for ever calling him a pretty face with no substance.
We forgive you o(???)o
Many passersby also fell into the “Snow Night” fandom. “I don’t usually like soft, delicate beauties, but I’m totally into the pig-playing-tiger contrast beauty type! I’m eating this up!”
[I always thought Meng Xueyuan was a silly sweetheart—clearly not! Snowflake fans, can you at least be professional when promoting him?]
[Who still remembers that Meng Xueyuan was supposed to be cold and aloof—yet he crashed Lu Xiao’s solo-fan forum, can ride a tricycle, dig fields, and do postpartum care for cows…]
[This is all Lu Xiao’s conspiracy. Such an amazing wife—other than his face, he won’t let us see a single one of his great qualities.]
[Suddenly feel like Meng Xueyuan could be a substitute for Lu Xiao.]
Meng Xueyuan’s follower count on Weibo was skyrocketing. When Lu Xiao retired from the industry, Meng Xueyuan took over most of his fans, not letting them drift to outsiders.
This was the best possible outcome.
The Night Watchers followed him for only a few reasons: camping for Lu Xiao’s photos, following the main idol deeper into the closet, or deciding after watching the show that he was pretty good too.
Meng Xueyuan couldn’t access Lu Xiao’s solo-fan forum, but he saw screenshots of it on the trending page.
#HowStubbornClosetedSoloFansCanBe#
[Original post (Highly Praised Night Watcher): I’ve discovered something—powerful love is contagious.]
[You’re back, sis! I thought you quit the fandom after the blow.]
[What did you get infected with?]
[Obviously, infected with Lu Xiao’s love for Meng Xueyuan.]
[@Highly Praised Night Watcher replies: That’s because my brother’s love is a powerful magnetic field, and we’re just compasses around him.]
[I get you! Powerful love really is infectious… okay, I won’t pretend anymore, I’m just closeted.]
…
Lu Xiao said, “Wife, do you approve of my proposal?”
“What proposal?” Meng Xueyuan replied. “Lin Mu sent me a lot of scripts. I need to read them.”
One variety show had broadened his acting prospects. Scripts that would never have been offered to him before were now coming in—directors watched the show and felt he fit the roles.
Lu Xiao: “…”
“You don’t need to go to work?” Meng Xueyuan asked.
Lu Xiao gritted his teeth. “I do.”
Before going, Lu Xiao pulled his wife into the bathroom. “I bought a pregnancy test. Wife, let’s use it.”
Lu Xiao stared at the result. This time, it wasn’t two red lines—meaning the hormone levels in his body were finally back to normal.
Still uneasy, he drove Meng Xueyuan to the hospital for a blood test. The doctor’s advice was: “Abstinence lifted.”
The chief physician said, “It was probably the physical labor speeding up hormone metabolism.”
One study showed that when the body senses the arrival of the busy farming season, false pregnancy symptoms disappear faster. The spiritual energy born from the land was just that magically considerate.
Lu Xiao left the hospital beaming, as if he’d just been released after three years.
More than three months! Heaven knew how hard it was to go from luxury to frugality—especially after discovering his wife’s secret. He wanted to cling to his wife even more.
His wife was a bee! If he fed him some sugar water and licked his skin hard enough, could he lick out some honey?
Meng Xueyuan thought this idea was extremely illiterate. “No. And only worker bees make honey.”
Lu Xiao resolved to be an illiterate man who licked his wife anyway. “I see. I didn’t sleep much last night. Let’s sleep well today.”
He tricked Meng Xueyuan into sleeping, secretly prepared a few things, then lay back down beside him.
No alarm needed—they slept as long as they wanted, from three in the afternoon until eight at night, waking up ravenous.
Meng Xueyuan held his growling stomach. After days of farming, his energy expenditure had increased his appetite—he felt like he could eat three bowls of rice.
Lu Xiao came in carrying a plate of sliced roast duck. He’d planned to wake his wife with the aroma of food, but seeing that Meng Xueyuan was already awake, he naturally sat down and virtuously began wrapping pancakes for him.
Two slices of crispy-skinned, tender roast duck, a small handful of cucumber shreds, scallions, a bit of sauce, and a drop of kumquat juice—wrapped and handed to Meng Xueyuan.
Meng Xueyuan’s appetite was instantly stirred. He took a big bite.
“More.”
No matter when he heard Meng Xueyuan say those words, Lu Xiao’s heart surged. He quickly wrapped two more for him, set another on the plate, then got up to fetch white fungus soup.
After serving his wife, Lu Xiao said seriously, “Wife, you said last time you wanted to supplement some pollen—does that still count?”
Meng Xueyuan nodded. “Mm.”
Lu Xiao was a peony! Before, he’d only been a metaphorical flower god in Meng Xueyuan’s imagination, but it turned out he was a real flower god. No bee could resist gathering pollen.
Blushing, while Lu Xiao was clearing the table, Meng Xueyuan hid in the bathroom. If they were going to kiss, he’d brush his teeth first. If he was going to gather nectar, he’d shower first.
The little bee happily imagined the nectar-gathering process.
In the end, he was the one being gathered.
They’d already said the queen bee didn’t produce honey anymore! His skin was licked red.
“It’s really sweet, wife. Don’t believe me? Try it.” Lu Xiao wiped a finger over Meng Xueyuan’s flushed skin and smeared it on his lower lip.
Meng Xueyuan instinctively pressed his lips together.
“…” Sweet.
Don’t think I don’t know you smeared honey on me.
The little bee thought he’d fallen into a peony flower, but it turned out to be a cactus. The petals closed around him, trapping him inside, rolling him around until he was covered in pollen.
…
The next day, Lu Xiao went to work. Meng Xueyuan didn’t read a single script; instead, he leaned against the headboard secretly studying management.
As he studied, his A4 notebook full of notes fell to the floor, and Meng Xueyuan grew drowsy.
Lu Xiao got off work early and caught him in the act. He was overjoyed—could it be just like the CP fanfics said, that Meng Xueyuan wanted to be his secretary, coming and going with him? In the office, inseparable during the day, and sharing the same bed at night?
Both Bai He and Lin Xilan liked being secretaries. Maybe Meng Xueyuan did too! He’d just suppressed his true nature because the entertainment industry paid well!
Lu Xiao felt qualified to help his wife realize this wish. He could start tomorrow.
But his beautiful dream was shattered within two minutes.
“I just want to have more common ground with you. If I retire, I’d rather take the meteorological bureau exam.”
Lu Xiao was slightly disappointed but encouraged him. “Wife, you’re amazing. Then I’ll study some meteorology too.”
“No need,” Meng Xueyuan said.
“Yes, I do. Today is the fifteenth day of the lunar month. There’s a family dinner tonight—do you want to come?”
Hearing this, Meng Xueyuan straightened his back and stared at Lu Xiao gloomily. “How exactly is your relationship with your brothers?”
If he was going to formally integrate into Lu Xiao’s family, how he treated the two brothers depended on Lu Xiao’s honesty.
Lu Xiao felt guilty. “…Just ordinary brotherly feelings, like any normal family.”
Meng Xueyuan folded his arms and coldly repeated, “Ordinary brotherly feelings. Ordinary families don’t fight over power.”
Lu Xiao dropped to his knees. “I admit it! I did smear my two brothers a bit on my path to courting you, to win your sympathy!”
“So?” Meng Xueyuan asked.
“It’s pretty good,” Lu Xiao said.
“Oh?” Meng Xueyuan replied.
“A bit better than average brothers.”
“…” Meng Xueyuan recalled his first visit to the Lu family—he didn’t think he’d given the brothers particularly friendly faces.
Lu Xiao hurriedly said, “It’s fine. We’re usually sarcastic to each other. My brother wouldn’t let me start a company for you—he’s stingy. I don’t even want to talk to him.”
Imagining Lu Xiao pestering his eldest brother to start a company for him made Meng Xueyuan cringe so hard his toes could dig out an entire beehive.
“You should sleep in the study tonight. Your eldest brother is right.”
…
The Lu family gathering was more like a banquet.
Lu Fengge invited Grandpa Lu back from his recuperation. Shen Ning invited his own father and his sister’s family. The eldest and second brothers also invited… their secretaries.
“I’ve met all your clan members. It’s time I introduced you to all my relatives.”
Lu Xiao formally introduced Meng Xueyuan to his family, beaming like a groom.
He specifically told his brothers to bring their secretaries, and also invited Shancha and the forensic doctor working in Nan Cheng.
With more people from the bee clan present, Meng Xueyuan felt less uncomfortable facing so many of Lu Xiao’s close relatives.
“Dinner’s ready. Sit wherever you like.”
No emphasis on head seats or guest seats, no rigid hierarchy.
Shen Ning’s niece’s granddaughter sat right between the two grandpas, her looks following the peony-flower lineage. She sweetly called them “Great-Grandpa.”
This side is Great-Grandpa, and this side is also Great-Grandpa.
Grandpa Lu thought: This is much better than those unfilial grandsons who only tell him to go to work.
He had nothing else—just lots of grandsons, and it seemed they’d all found boyfriends.
Grandpa Lu and Grandpa Shen exchanged a glance. Hmm, now there were six young people calling them Grandpa.
After the elders were seated, the younger ones chose seats freely.
Lu Xiao went to the kitchen to oversee the dishes, reminding them that strong-smelling durian ice cream couldn’t be placed in front of his wife.
Lu Lou casually picked a seat and sat down. Lu Yushu pulled out a chair with an empty seat between them.
Lu Lou’s secretary sat beside him—mutual understanding.
At the same time, Meng Xueyuan sat in an empty seat at the other table. Bai He and Lin Xilan reacted instinctively, pulling out chairs like bodyguards, sitting on either side of him. The two worker bees sat down as well. Lu Xiao’s aunt, uncle, and cousin smiled and joined them, chatting with Lu Xiao’s celebrity partner.
That table now had eight people. The other table had seven, with one seat left.
The Lu family set up two small tables. They disliked large tables—too distant, voices had to be raised. Two small tables felt warmer, better for conversation.
When Meng Xueyuan had just started elementary school, he’d been adorable, with a distinctive mole on his face. Anyone who’d gone to elementary school knew that “distinctive” often meant getting nicknames. Back then, the clan leader worried he’d be bullied and insisted that worker bees from the same school escort him, to intimidate troublesome kids.
Meng Xueyuan was used to having worker bees at his sides.
Everyone found it perfectly natural.
Lu Lou: “…”
Lu Yushu: “…”
Logically speaking, shouldn’t the secretaries be sitting with them? Didn’t he leave a seat?
When Lu Xiao came out after checking on the food, he found all the seats around his wife taken. The only empty seat was between his two brothers. It was just one meal—making a fuss over switching seats would seem petty.
“…”
He graciously sat between his two brothers. Being at a different table from his wife made the food taste bland.
“Lu Fengge,” Grandpa Shen said displeased, “did you arrange the seating?”
Three sons at one table, three partners sitting far away at another—even if it looked equal, it resembled some old-fashioned, segregated dining customs!
“One couple should sit together.”
Lu Fengge: “…” He was scolded by his father-in-law, but what exactly had happened?
Shen Ning whispered, “No, Dad—the other two are secretaries.”
Grandpa Shen whispered back, “…Even secretaries shouldn’t be arranged like this. It’s improper.”
Meng Xueyuan: “…”
Meng Xueyuan exchanged a look with the worker bees. Should they… just clear things up?
