Chapter 89 – Extra: The Drone Bee. Lian Qiao × Gu Yunlang
Just as Gu Yunlang was about to head into the bedroom to check on Lian Qiao—who was supposedly “not feeling well and needed someone to cook”—Lian Qiao came out rubbing his eyes and yawning. A true lazy person didn’t even spare a glance for irrelevant places; he walked straight to the kitchen without noticing there was a whole living person there.
“Rose Brother, are you chopping dumplings?”
Between the kitchen and dining area was a glass door. Lian Qiao pressed his cheek against the glass, like a piece of squashed cheese. He always liked leaning and sticking to things, boneless as could be. “It smells so good. Tomorrow we can cook dumplings for lunch too.”
Lian Qiao flashed a cheerful smile. That meant tomorrow at noon they wouldn’t need to ask someone to cook again. Having worker bees take turns cooking really wasn’t a long-term solution. He’d already discussed it with Xiang Jin—they needed to find a way to dump the housework, fast.
On the surface, Gu Yunlang had no presence. Inside, though, it was a storm—earth-shattering.
Rose Brother? What a powerful name. He doesn’t even call me ‘brother.’ He calls me ‘boss.’
Calling someone else “brother” so sweetly? Where did he look unwell? He was smiling! He looked more comfortable than ever!
If anyone was uncomfortable, it was Gu Yunlang himself.
Gu Yunlang glanced at Lian Qiao’s hands tucked into his pockets and was one hundred percent sure—not a single meal here had been cooked by Lian Qiao himself.
Once again, Gu Yunlang was impressed by how worker bees could reach the level of walking without looking where they were going. He was such a big person standing there, and Lian Qiao hadn’t seen him at all.
The worker bee shot Lian Qiao a look. “Didn’t you say your stomach hurt? You’re better now? Good timing—your boss is back. I was worried no one would take care of you if I left.”
The worker bee cleverly hinted to Gu Yunlang that he’d be leaving after finishing the cooking.
But to Gu Yunlang’s ears, it sounded faintly provocative.
Lian Qiao slowly turned his head and saw Gu Yunlang gulp hard. The panic lasted only a second—he immediately realized that if he handled today properly, he’d never have to cook again in the future.
“Boss, you’re back.”
Gu Yunlang: “……”
I’m furious. He’s still calling me ‘boss.’ Hiding our real relationship right in front of this pretty boy.
Gu Yunlang adjusted his breathing. Family shame shouldn’t be aired; now wasn’t the time to explode. He forced a smile and said to the suspected love rival, “Is this your first time here?”
“Yes, I was just passing by.” The worker bee raised the cleaver and slammed it down on two cloves of garlic to hide his guilt. No—this was actually his second turn.
Gu Yunlang closed his eyes briefly. The love rival’s swagger was outrageous, yet he wore the badge of a good Samaritan, leaving Gu Yunlang only able to say thanks. “Sorry to trouble you. Actually, if Lian Qiao isn’t feeling well, he could just call me—I wouldn’t need anyone to cook.”
Lian Qiao snapped his gaze to Gu Yunlang. Oh my god. How had neither he nor Xiang Jin thought of pretending to be sick? Rose Brother was quick-thinking—he’d found him an escape route in one move.
He and Xiang Jin had never worked before and weren’t familiar with taking-leave excuses. And the worker bees were too diligent—their first instinct in trouble was always to band together, not to fake illness like seasoned office veterans.
Time was of the essence. Xiang Jin’s side probably hadn’t started cooking yet. Lian Qiao immediately pounced on the sofa, grabbed his phone, and told his best friend the ultimate slacking technique.
Gu Yunlang felt that after saying all that, Lian Qiao should at least look at him gratefully. But he didn’t.
After a while, Lian Qiao said perfunctorily, “Thanks, boss. I’ll do that next time.”
Gu Yunlang ground his teeth. “Mm. Just take leave. Don’t trouble other people.”
Lian Qiao asked, “Then how often can I take leave?”
Gu Yunlang smiled. “Unlimited, baby.”
The worker bee read the room and asked, “So… do you still need me to wrap the dumplings?”
Gu Yunlang said, “I’ll do it.”
Lian Qiao asked doubtfully, “You know how?” If Rose Brother left and it turned into him wrapping them—or worse, wasting a whole bowl of filling—that would be shameful. Waste was disgraceful.
Gu Yunlang: “……”
The worker bee said, “Then I’ll just see this good deed through.”
The filling was already mixed; they could start wrapping right away.
Gu Yunlang washed his hands and was about to join in, but suddenly felt it was inappropriate. Competing on dumpling-wrapping skills on the same stage as a love rival—wasn’t that just asking for humiliation?
He stopped, pretended he still had work to do, and opened his laptop at the other side of the long dining table.
Lian Qiao had no idol baggage. With his employer watching, he could only participate actively in wrapping dumplings.
Left hand spreading out the wrapper, right hand greedily scooping a big spoonful of filling. Make them bigger—once the filling was used up, that was it.
“That’s too much filling. It’ll leak.” The worker bee reached over directly and scooped away half the meat from Lian Qiao’s wrapper.
“Oh. I like them big. Two and I’m full.”
“No matter how big dumplings are, you can’t get full on just two.” The worker bee’s technique was very skilled. “What you’re thinking of is probably glutinous rice shumai.”
Lian Qiao nodded. “I like those too.” Rice, corn kernels, diced meat, mushrooms—the flavors went well together. He liked food where one bite gave him all the nutrients he needed.
Gu Yunlang tapped at the keyboard meaninglessly, watching the two exchange glances right in front of him. In front of the love rival, Lian Qiao was actually even more relaxed and at ease.
Who could even eat these dumplings? He certainly couldn’t.
Gu Yunlang’s mind wasn’t on work; he was analyzing the rival. This guy was very good with dough—every pleat on the dumplings was evenly pinched, like they were machine-made. Did he run a noodle shop or something?
He glanced at the dumplings Lian Qiao had wrapped. Though flat and plain-looking, the pleats were unexpectedly just as perfect as the rival’s.
His wife subconsciously imitating the rival made Gu Yunlang intensely jealous.
After the dumplings were done, Lian Qiao found a storage box and lined up a row inside. “Rose Brother, thanks for your hard work. Take these home and eat them.”
The worker bee felt immensely relieved, grabbed the box, and left at top speed. No wonder the forensic doctor had told them not to be caught by the employer—this high-pressure gaze was not a place for humans.
With no outsiders left, Gu Yunlang asked bluntly, “Have you been asking other people to cook all your meals this week?”
Lian Qiao: “Oh.”
Gu Yunlang recalled the meals of the past week—different flavors every time, almost a full collection of the eight major cuisines. “Different people every time?”
Lian Qiao: “Mm.”
Gu Yunlang thought hopefully that maybe they were all hired chefs—like that noodle guy just now?
Gu Yunlang asked, “Your monthly salary is three thousand. You still have money to hire people?” He’d really thought Lian Qiao cared about those three thousand and had even wrapped them in a red envelope.
What was this? He was spending money to keep a canary, and the canary was spending money to keep pretty boys?
Lian Qiao said, “I didn’t spend any money.”
Gu Yunlang: “Then…?”
Lian Qiao said innocently, “I just call ‘brother’ in the group, and someone comes to help.”
Gu Yunlang: “……”
The fantasy shattered. They really were love rivals. He’d wanted Lian Qiao to cook so Lian Qiao would act cute toward him—not toward people on the internet!
This was Gu Yunlang’s biggest decision-making failure ever. He was so upset he could fast for three days.
“Starting tomorrow, you don’t need to cook. Come eat at the company with me. There’s a cafeteria—you can order dishes or eat the buffet.”
He’d thought it through. Letting his wife stay home all day wasn’t okay. He couldn’t prevent his wife from bringing people home, and he couldn’t order Lian Qiao not to have friends over—that would really cross a line.
Better to keep him under his own watch.
Lian Qiao grew nervous. He’d just stepped into a big city—now he was stepping into a Fortune 500 company too? “If I go to the company, what would I do?”
Gu Yunlang said, “My office has a partition where you can sleep. You can sleep all day if you want, wander around the building if you want. If you’re willing, you can even be my secretary or front desk.”
Being alone in a big house was boring anyway—worse than herding sheep in the countryside. Gu Yunlang’s proposal was good. He agreed immediately. “Okay, I’ll go to work with you tomorrow.”
Gu Yunlang said, “Those men in the group—don’t contact them anymore. Got it?”
Lian Qiao looked troubled. “That wouldn’t be good.”
Gu Yunlang said, “You only need me. I can solve all your problems.”
He pressed his lips together and coughed lightly. “As long as you call me ‘brother.’”
Lian Qiao didn’t hesitate at all. “Brother Yunlang, you’re so nice.”
Gu Yunlang’s jealousy eased a little.
Lian Qiao said, “Want to eat dumplings? The dumplings Rose Brother made are really good.”
Gu Yunlang: “……”
“Save the dumplings for a late-night snack. I’ll take you out to eat today. Go change your clothes.”
Lian Qiao seemed to like shabby clothes. It was fine for him to wear those in front of Gu Yunlang, but when going out, it was better to wear the clothes Gu Yunlang bought.
Lian Qiao went back to his room and changed into “work clothes”—dress pants that needed a belt, shoes that weren’t slippers, shirts that needed ironing. In his eyes, anything like that counted as work clothes, worn only for going to work.
He took the chance to message Xiang Jin: “I don’t have to cook anymore! Didn’t spend a single soldier!”
At the same time, President Gu—who knew his wife took forever to change—seized the moment to open the home security cameras. There were only cameras at the entryway and outside the door.
As soon as Gu Yunlang opened them, the smart system automatically pushed marked clips of any activity from the past seven days.
He looked at the footage outside first. “One, two, three…”
Seven! A full seven! Lunch and dinner! And today’s guy had come twice!
What else could he believe now?
Watching Lian Qiao welcome and see people off every day, smiling in ways Gu Yunlang had never seen before, a place in his heart gradually darkened.
He took a deep breath and then checked the entryway footage.
He’d thought Lian Qiao waited at the door for him to get off work. In reality, he was seeing off the previous person, too lazy to move, and just waited for Gu Yunlang to come back.
The entryway camera could catch a corner of the dining room. Gu Yunlang realized… he’d been eating his wife’s and the love rivals’ leftovers every day.
“……”
“Leftovers” wasn’t quite right, but Gu Yunlang couldn’t think of a better word.
His wife had already happily eaten one dinner, then had to force himself to accompany Gu Yunlang for another at night. No wonder Gu Yunlang thought Lian Qiao had a small appetite.
How did Lian Qiao feel eating a second meal?
The dark corner of Gu Yunlang’s heart grew pitch-black.
But when he fast-forwarded, zoomed in, and looked at the details—Lian Qiao’s anticipation before opening the door, the brief loneliness after seeing people off—it was like a dull knife slowly stabbing his heart.
Marrying a wife wasn’t just about paying money and leaving him at home all day.
He’d been too lonely—that was why he’d called people to cook.
Gu Yunlang’s heart brightened a little.
But the next second, seeing Lian Qiao with an unfamiliar man in the bathroom, closing the door for thirty minutes with no idea what they were doing—his defenses collapsed again.
I mean… what could you even do in a bathroom? It wasn’t like going to the bedroom… but bathrooms had their advantages—easy cleanup. Turn on the faucet and all traces were gone… Isn’t that why even murderers choose bathrooms?
When Lian Qiao came out, Gu Yunlang couldn’t hold it in anymore. “What were you doing in the bathroom?”
Lian Qiao raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Of course, cleaning.”
Gu Yunlang said, “Cleaning can wait for housekeeping. You doing this makes me feel unsafe.”
Lian Qiao said, “If we wait for housekeeping, wouldn’t it be obvious someone else had been here?”
Bathrooms were places where traces were easy to leave—like how fast the hand soap ran out because of frequent washing after greasy cooking, short hairs of different thicknesses on the floor, or… the scent of other males that normal people couldn’t smell.
Gu Yunlang frowned. “How could that be? What traces would there be?”
Lian Qiao said, “I don’t know. Someone told me that.”
Gu Yunlang asked sharply, “Who?” Which dog-headed strategist was secretly advising his wife?
Lian Qiao shut his mouth. He wasn’t about to betray the queen bee.
After trying to process it several times, Gu Yunlang was still upset. He couldn’t call Lu Xiao for after-sales service—that would really make Lu Xiao look like a pimp.
He called a mutual friend instead, hoping to pass on a message indirectly.
After hearing his story, their mutual friend Chu Hao said, “So you mean, you spent three thousand big bucks to recruit a college student from Lu Third as a household assistant, and in the end this college student can’t do anything—he only knows how to summon people?”
Gu Yunlang said, “Mm, more or less.”
Chu Hao sneered. “Then didn’t you strike gold? Three thousand a month can’t hire a chef, but it can hire a college student with seven good brothers who know the eight major cuisines.”
That’s it? And he wanted Chu Hao to judge this?
“Sometimes when I can’t poach top engineers, I just poach their wives. As long as there are resources behind them, who actually shows up to work doesn’t matter.”
Gu Yunlang felt stifled. It’s different. They want to poach my wife.
