Chapter 9
Meng Xueyuan almost bounced up—but failed due to the position.
With one press from Lu Xiao, he was flattened back down.
Anyone who drives long-term knows this: the web between the thumb and index finger, and the pad of the thumb, are the easiest places to develop calluses. A Formula race involves about 2,500 gear changes. Lu Xiao had calluses on both hands.
He roughly knew what effect Meng Xueyuan wanted, and used the roughest part of his hands to scrape downward along both shoulder blades.
Wherever he touched, it was like handling the softest silk—yet his fingers could easily snag the threads. Do it a few more times and it could ruin it completely.
Meng Xueyuan let out a small sound, then hurriedly swallowed it back in embarrassment. Half to cover it up, half out of real need, he said, “The sides too.”
Don’t just scrape along one fixed path—it’ll peel the skin.
Hearing this, Lu Xiao’s hands, which hadn’t wanted to roam too widely, obediently shifted outward by a couple of inches.
His palms were broad, his middle fingers long. When he reached the lower back, it was almost as if he’d completely gripped Meng Xueyuan’s waist.
The web of his hand swept heavily over the shoulder blades, and the tips of his overly long middle fingers suddenly scraped against something.
Lu Xiao: “…”
Meng Xueyuan: “…”
Like two foolish kids playing with fire who suddenly ignited a pile of dry straw, they hurried to put it out.
Lu Xiao let go.
Meng Xueyuan yanked his pajama top down in a flash.
His eyes were forced to glisten. “I—I’m sweating. That’s enough.”
Just touching his back and this happened… mating flight was terrifying. The queen bee needed to recuperate.
Lu Xiao replied dully, “Mm.”
……
Lu Xiao went into the bathroom.
He really hadn’t meant to. Seeing Meng Xueyuan’s back had made his head heat up—there’d been no room left to think about anywhere he couldn’t see.
He should’ve apologized before leaving. Would Meng Xueyuan be angry with him?
Now it wouldn’t be appropriate to go back and apologize.
Lu Xiao reached for the faucet, then suddenly an image flashed through his mind—the beauty trembling in his palms. He felt a sudden reluctance to wash his hands.
He stared solemnly at his two palms, then glanced down at something that had long since been tempered by extreme restraint… He didn’t want to wash. He wanted to just—
The strong smell of medicated oil snapped him awake instantly.
No. Absolutely not.
……
Half an hour later, Lu Xiao was mopping the living room. Mopping with mugwort water could repel mosquitoes. He’d seen nearby villagers drying mugwort, so he’d bought some as soon as filming wrapped.
Burning dried mugwort could also drive mosquitoes away, and moxibustion could dispel cold. Leaning on the mop handle, Lu Xiao stared at the tightly closed bedroom door. Since Meng Xueyuan liked such a traditional way of dispelling cold as back scraping, he probably liked mugwort too.
Lu Xiao set the mop aside, found a bucket, carefully bundled a clump of dried mugwort, borrowed a lighter from the assistant, gathered his courage, and knocked on the door.
He could take the opportunity to see whether Meng Xueyuan was angry.
Hearing the knock, Meng Xueyuan patted his cheeks and composed his usual expression. Adults were used to tacitly letting awkward things pass—Lu Xiao would surely think the same.
He opened the door and saw Lu Xiao holding an iron bucket. The tips of his ears warmed as he avoided Lu Xiao’s gaze; the two red moles on either side of his nose bridge were strikingly vivid. “Is something wrong?”
The lighter spun twice between Lu Xiao’s fingers. He withdrew his gaze—was it just his imagination, or were the two moles at the corners of Meng Xueyuan’s eyes more alluring than usual?
He pressed his thumb, sparked the flame, and lit the mugwort in the bucket. A small wisp of bluish smoke curled upward. “There are mosquitoes in my room. I bought some mugwort to repel them. Want to try it?”
Burning mugwort!
Meng Xueyuan’s brow knit, and he held his breath.
Bees feared smoke the most; when they encountered it, they became quiet. Beekeepers used this habit—before harvesting honey, they would light a bundle of mugwort to drive the bees out of the hive.
“I don’t like the smell of mugwort,” he said.
“Oh.” Hearing this, Lu Xiao reached into the bucket with his bare hand and pinched out the half-burning mugwort in one squeeze. His wife must be a little upset.
Watching Lu Xiao extinguish the smoke with his bare hand, Meng Xueyuan thought he shouldn’t have shown such resistance. Lu Xiao had meant well; out of courtesy, he should have accepted it. He tried to make amends. “Did you burn your hand? If not, why don’t you bring it inside?”
Lu Xiao said, “No. I also think the smell’s too strong. Better to use mosquito repellent.” Just a few sparks—nothing compared to touching his wife’s… hot.
“Get some rest early. We’re filming again tomorrow.”
“You too,” Meng Xueyuan replied.
Lu Xiao set the iron bucket down and stared at the floor he’d mopped with mugwort water. He needed to find a solution that satisfied both sides.
Full of energy, he mopped the floor three times, driving away the mosquitoes. Then at five in the morning he got up and mopped it three more times with clean water to wash away the mugwort smell.
No matter how much he did, he didn’t feel tired.
Lu Xiao wrapped up his last day of filming with a pleasant demeanor, displaying an unusually high tolerance for the ramshackle crew.
During breaks, Meng Xueyuan wanted to avoid Lu Xiao a little, but worried it would be too obvious—he’d finally gotten used to things somewhat.
It was just… that incident had been far too stimulating, beyond Meng Xueyuan’s imagination of a mating flight. He needed to do a bit of research.
Lu Xiao left, but he left an assistant behind. Meng Xueyuan liked to do things himself; the two assistants were bored stiff every day.
Filming in the mountains lasted only ten days, and buying ingredients wasn’t convenient. Meng Xueyuan hadn’t brought his own cookware to cook. When idle, he checked the progress of construction back home or browsed Lu Xiao’s solo-fan forums.
Promoting with Lu Xiao required immense calm and rationality to avoid falling into the illusion that he was in a relationship. Whenever Meng Xueyuan felt a bit self-indulgent, he’d go to the solo-fan forums to sober up.
Just then, the official account of Harmony of Marriage announced the trainee-couple guests. His agent told Meng Xueyuan to remember to repost it.
Meng Xueyuan opened Weibo and reposted it, captioning it, “Studying seriously.”
Lu Xiao reposted as well—reposting Meng Xueyuan’s post—with the caption, “Studying together (handshake jpg.).”
Meng Xueyuan lowered his lashes and opened the solo-fan forum. As expected, it had already been pinned at the top for discussion.
He clicked in and found the forum unusually smooth—was it because there were fewer people? Had Lu Xiao lost fans because of this?
Meng Xueyuan exited the True Love Lu Xiao Fan Forum and clicked into other subforums. The few he randomly opened were all smooth. He slowly relaxed.
The entire forum had undergone a transformation; it had nothing to do with Lu Xiao.
[Main Post (Devoted Night Watcher)]: What does Meng Xueyuan mean by “studying”? Does he actually want to learn how to enter marriage with my bro?
1L (Consult Me for Almanacs): OP, don’t worry. The trainee couple from last season broke up as soon as the show ended. Sometimes you have to believe in a bit of metaphysics.
227L (Blessed Mouth): This show will really put Meng Xueyuan through the wringer. A lot of segments will break personas. I’m betting he’ll lose his temper and let my bro see his true colors.
333L (Loves the South): My bro’s response is so official—just four characters, not one more. He has nothing to say to Meng Xueyuan.
……
Meng Xueyuan (Level 12): Posting pics o(???)o
……
Lu Xiao spent seven days shooting a cameo film in the Northwest. As soon as he returned, a friend asked him out for dinner.
He hadn’t wanted to go, but considering the friend was about to get married, it was appropriate to congratulate him in person. “All right—tonight. You pick the place.”
The friend was named Chu Hao, also a second-generation rich kid working in the family business. They got along fairly well.
Lu Xiao disliked going to messy places, so Chu Hao booked a private room for Huaiyang cuisine. Like a devoted fan chasing a star, he’d studied Lu Xiao’s schedule thoroughly. “From what I see, you don’t have much new personal career planning lately. Everything revolves around Meng Xueyuan—either filming with him or doing variety shows with him. You’ve been in the entertainment industry two years now. Finally bored? Where are you planning to go next?”
Chu Hao tried to recruit him. “Want to take a look at my cross-border project?”
Lu Xiao replied, “What ‘next’? I only have Meng Xueyuan.”
Chu Hao said, “I’m talking about your career!” Who’s talking about your wife?
Getting married was easy—just nod and the family would arrange a business marriage. He himself was holding the wedding next month.
Lu Xiao said indifferently, “With two older brothers above me, what career do I need?”
Chu Hao started, “You really think—”
Lu Xiao cut in, “Wishing you a happy marriage.”
That clearly ended the conversation. Chu Hao thought of the Lu family’s situation.
Lu Xiao’s biological father, Lu Fengge, had single-handedly led the Lu family into the global top fifty conglomerates. He had three sons.
The eldest, Lu Lou, had shown business talent from a young age, surpassing his father. After graduation, he naturally became the successor. For a massive group like Lu Corp, Lu Fengge’s own presence was the best advertisement and stabilizer. The father–son transition inevitably raised concerns that the son might not measure up, but after one year in office, Lu Lou silenced all doubts.
The second son, Lu Yushu, was no less elite. Trained in law and well-versed in major legal systems, he sat firmly as the group’s chief legal officer, assisting his brother in expanding overseas business. With that, Lu Corp’s overseas operations surged forward, breaking through the legal and policy constraints that had long hampered Chinese companies going abroad, becoming an immovable behemoth.
The Lu family’s odds of pulling SSR-level heirs made every entrepreneur of Lu Fengge’s generation green with envy. With families just as wealthy and enterprises just as large, many of them faced the awkward problem of having no successor and could only entrust things to professional managers and family foundations.
Yet Lu Fengge still had a third son. Everyone watched with shining, covetous eyes, convinced that at least an R-card responsible for squandering the family fortune ought to appear.
Even Lu Fengge himself felt that the youngest son only needed to eat, drink, and have fun; he had no expectations of Lu Xiao.
Sure enough, the third young master of the Lu family was a true scoundrel. Competitors carefully pressed down their bloodshot eyes and relished recounting Lu Third Young Master’s extravagant, money-burning exploits. Talking about “other people’s sons” hurt too much; talking about Lu Third Young Master at least preserved a shred of dignity.
They forcibly ignored Lu Xiao’s ability to excel at anything he touched. Unlike their own sons who played with cars and chased girls, they deceived themselves—
[It’s all thanks to his two brothers. If the Lu family were handed to him, it’d be finished—he’d be asking his dad for money every day.]
[A wastrel who doesn’t even make it to the table at Lu family banquets; Lu Fengge flies into a rage whenever he’s mentioned.]
Chu Hao felt that these fragile old men were seriously underestimating Lu Xiao. Lu Xiao was simply going along with their expectations, playing at being a prodigal.
“Fine then—put your career aside for now and focus wholeheartedly on chasing Meng Xueyuan. Hurry up; I’m anxious for you. You’ve been registered for years already—other people’s kids can practically buy soy sauce.” Chu Hao’s mind sparked. “How about this: when the movie wraps, drink a bit more at the wrap party to steel your courage.”
Lu Xiao was noncommittal. “We’re just in a straightforward contract marriage, a win-win in terms of economic interests. If Meng Xueyuan finds out I have ulterior motives, what would the image I’ve cultivated over the past two years amount to?”
“Give me a break,” Chu Hao scoffed without mercy. “You make it sound so lofty because you don’t have the guts.” Some people looked pure and detached on the surface, but secretly called someone ‘wife.’
Lu Xiao emphasized, “That’s called letting things take their natural course.”
As they spoke, the phone on the table rang. Chu Hao answered, “Hello, Mom.”
Mrs. Chu said, “You’re about to get married. Remember to accompany your girlfriend to buy a few outfits—there will be many occasions to attend.”
“Got it,” Chu Hao replied.
It wasn’t that they lacked clothes; it was about putting on a show of harmony for others to see—counting as a date, more or less.
After hanging up, Chu Hao didn’t forget to tease the overly cautious Lu Xiao. “Go on, keep pretending to be wooden. I can give my wife clothes—can you?”
“Giving clothes is nothing,” Lu Xiao said dismissively.
He’d covered Meng Xueyuan in top-tier luxury endorsements—every strand of hair gleaming. How was that not dressing his wife with his own hands?
“And the clothes you’re wearing were endorsed by my wife.”
Chu Hao: “……”
