Chapter 16: Transmigrated as a Cheapskate Phoenix Man (16)
Cen Yu leaned on the sofa with his ears perked up, trying his best to eavesdrop on the conversation between the two male leads—
“What are they saying?” he asked the system.
He realized his hearing was truly terrible—or could it be that those two had already hit it off and were speaking in hushed whispers?
“Host, Yu Xinyu is putting in a good word for you,” the orange cat said after listening in on the conversation between Yu Xinyu and Lou Baichuan. “He said he doesn’t blame you, that you’re usually very gentle to him, and that you only act like this when you’re drunk…”
It let out a purring sound and rubbed against the back of Cen Yu’s hand.
Holy crap, he’s actually defending me after all that?!
Although Cen Yu had already read the original plot, hearing the system say this still made him click his tongue in disbelief.
“What about Lou Baichuan then? He’s so sharp, there’s no way he’d be fooled by Yu Xinyu’s words, right?” Back when he was hitching a ride, he had aggressively ordered Yu Xinyu to wash his clothes by hand, and after coming back, he had barked at Yu Xinyu to fetch his slippers and serve him.
Lou Baichuan couldn’t possibly be like Yu Xinyu, that hopeless romantic, thinking he was actually some modern-day ideal man, right?
The cat listened in a bit longer—
“Host, Lou Baichuan said he won’t bring personal feelings into his work. He cares more about his subordinates’ working competence, so he told Yu Xinyu not to worry.”
“Polite pleasantries!” Cen Yu stated decisively.
“He definitely saw through the forced smile on Yu Xinyu’s face and has already started detesting a scumbag like me!”
Cen Yu casually patted the cat. “Doing missions doesn’t seem as hard as I thought!”
The cat didn’t fully understand, but it still affectionately rubbed against Cen Yu a few times until it noticed Yu Xinyu preparing to walk back in, whereupon it vanished into thin air.
Seeing this, Cen Yu slumped back against the sofa as well.
“…Why did you drink so much today?” Yu Xinyu murmured softly, slowly drawing closer to Cen Yu, who lay sprawled on the sofa.
Perhaps because he was thoroughly drunk, Cen Yu—who had originally been sitting upright against the sofa—was now curled entirely into the cushions. One arm rested over the armrest, his body lying nearly flat across the couch.
“You clearly can’t hold your liquor.”
Saying this, Yu Xinyu reached out and gently stroked Cen Yu’s reddened earlobe.
“You’ve drunk so much your whole body is flushed red.”
Gazing at Cen Yu, who had his eyes closed, he mapped out the man’s features almost greedily… His eyes flicked toward the hidden cameras scattered around the room. Cen Yu knew those cameras were there; Yu Xinyu had claimed they were strictly for security purposes, to prevent burglars from breaking in.
In front of the table, on the ceiling, atop the cabinet behind the sofa, and the most obvious one mounted in the corner of the wall.
He had backed up every single bit of footage from each camera, purely so that he could watch him through the feeds whenever he missed Cen Yu.
There was a projector in his bedroom. Every time Cen Yu was at work, he would play these saved recordings inside his room—sometimes Cen Yu was angry, sometimes he lay on the sofa in exhaustion, but most of the time, he simply sat quietly, looking cold, detached, and striking.
Cen Yu probably had no idea just how captivating he was when he wore a stern face.
Especially those two beauty marks under his eye.
During the countless days and nights when Cen Yu wasn’t home and Yu Xinyu was left alone, the fantasy in his mind was always the image of Cen Yu’s tears trickling down past those two beauty marks, alongside his snake bone tattoo.
Yu Xinyu grew completely lost in his thoughts. It wasn’t until he noticed Cen Yu in front of him slowly coming around that he reined in his expression, putting back on that gentle, submissive facade. “Should I make you some honey water?”
Without waiting for Cen Yu’s answer, he stepped into the kitchen and quickly poured him a cup of honey water at just the right temperature.
Leaning on the sofa, Cen Yu reached out and took the honey water Yu Xinyu handed him.
He took a sip.
—The temperature was just right, sweet and soothing. For someone feeling miserable after drinking too much, it was indeed better than anything else.
He carefully observed the look in Yu Xinyu’s eyes before him.
He found that the gaze the man directed at him contained nothing but docile attachment. Looking at him with those light brown eyes tinged with green, it felt as though he were gazing upon some grand hero.
…Hopeless. Just bury him already.
After taking a few sips of honey water, Cen Yu let out an unnatural cough.
“You didn’t say anything to Lou Baichuan just now, did you?” He looked at Yu Xinyu, putting on the anxious demeanor of someone terrified the other would blab and expose their relationship.
Even Cen Yu himself felt that this spineless scumbag act was utterly bottom-tier.
Yet to avoid breaking character, he had to bite the bullet and soldier on.
“Let me tell you, don’t go blabbering around everywhere,” Cen Yu said, avoiding Yu Xinyu’s fixated gaze. “Otherwise, I won’t let you off easy.”
“…And how are you not going to let me off easy?” Yu Xinyu suddenly murmured in a low voice.
Cen Yu looked at Yu Xinyu. The man’s voice just now had been too quiet and spoken too fast, making it almost impossible to hear clearly.
“Nothing,” Yu Xinyu offered a gentle smile, carrying a holy, saint-like tolerance as he looked at Cen Yu. “Of course I wouldn’t blabber around.”
Squatting beside the sofa, he looked up at Cen Yu sitting there, almost reverently gazing at him.
Placing one hand on Cen Yu’s knee, he saw that the man didn’t want any more honey water, so he took the glass from his hand and set it aside. “When you voiced called me in the car earlier, were you with them?”
“Yeah.”
“…Then did what I accidentally said have any bad impact on you?” Yu Xinyu wore an expression of genuine apology.
Squatting before Cen Yu, his face was filled with panic and dread.
“I called you Hubby…” He straightened up slightly, looking at Cen Yu nestled in the sofa. “Will they misunderstand something?”
There’s no way they’d misunderstand, Cen Yu thought to himself.
They’ll only think I’m a 1000% trashy scumbag!
“Ha, you think there are that many gay people in the company?” Cen Yu immediately went off. “They’ll only think we’re straight guys messing around!”
“Besides, I already said we’re roommates. What could they possibly suspect?”
Cen Yu looked at Yu Xinyu again. “As for you, don’t call me Hubby when you call me in the future.”
Hearing this, Yu Xinyu suddenly lowered his head, his voice turning dejected—
“…But I really, really want to call you Hubby…”
“…” Beyond saving.
Cen Yu stared up at the ceiling.
No wonder this novel could drag out its drama over hundreds of thousands of words! Even with a character like this, Yu Xinyu could still stay blindly devoted—mad respect.
“Fine, do whatever you want when nobody’s around,” Cen Yu gave a half-hearted response.
He looked at Yu Xinyu resting his head on his knee, his mood instantly plummeting because of those words… Cen Yu’s gaze lingered for a moment on the man’s fingers, which were peeling slightly from hand-washing clothes.
Ultimately, he couldn’t help feeling a touch of sympathy.
Even though he knew this was merely a character in a novel, he still wanted to say to Yu Xinyu—
Bro, go find yourself a good man already! Don’t go hanging yourself on a single scumbag tree.
He reached out, his fingers threading through Yu Xinyu’s soft hair. “Get up, don’t slack off.”
“Go do the laundry.”
