Chapter 85
Besides the sweetness and lovey-doveyness of a newlywed, Zong Mo also thought of another rather important matter.
“CEO Ruan, do you want children?”
“Why the sudden question?”
Zong Mo said with genuine regret, “I can’t give you any.”
Ruan Chi’s expression was complicated, “Even if you could, would you be willing?”
Zong Mo: …
He would probably have to consider the matter of being a 0 for love for a few more decades.
To this day, he was still very curious.
How satisfying was it?
He shook his head to clear it and continued to ask, “Doesn’t your property need someone to inherit it?”
“Don’t I have you to inherit it?”
Zong Mo immediately remembered the matter of the will. He felt a little unpleasant in his heart and reprimanded, “By that time, I’ll be an old man too. Don’t mention the will anymore, and the insurance too.”
“Okay,” Ruan Chi returned to the topic of children and said, “Raising a child is much more troublesome than raising a dog.”
“If you want a child…” Zong Mo said tentatively, “Can we adopt?”
Ruan Chi finally guessed the meaning behind his words and asked directly, “Are you afraid I’ll go and have a child with someone else?”
Zong Mo: …
“What are you thinking about again?” Ruan Chi pinched his face and threw the question back. “Do you want to adopt a child?”
“I think so? In a few more years?”
Even if it’s not a biological child, taking care of and raising them together will surely tie the two of them even more tightly!!
Ruan Chi did not answer at first and asked again, “Will you be envious of the child I adopt?”
Zong Mo was puzzled, “Hmm?”
“That’s what it means to soar to the heavens in one step.”
Zong Mo: …
He understood. What Ruan Chi meant was that the child he chose would go from a poor orphan to a rich young master, flying up a branch to become a phoenix overnight.
But Zong Mo did not think that being rich meant a happy family and said, “But you’re very fierce?”
Even if he were rich, with a sick father like his CEO Ruan, he would be materially rich, but his mental state might not be much better than before.
In terms of raising children, he could definitely do a better job than Ruan Chi, and could also complement Ruan Chi perfectly!!
After a moment of silence, Ruan Chi suddenly changed the subject, “If you had been adopted by me when you were a child, you wouldn’t have had to work so hard.”
Zong Mo was stunned, then his face turned pale.
“No! That’s incest, CEO Ruan!”
They would definitely be kicked out of “Green JJ,” permanently.
Ruan Chi was speechless for a rare moment, “…Is that the point?”
“What’s the point?”
“The point is you wouldn’t have had to work so hard.”
Zong Mo came to his senses, “Are you feeling sorry for me?”
Ruan Chi gently stroked the old scar on his arm that was like a brand and let out a soft “mm.”
When Zong Mo was a child, his social circle was full of orphans like himself. They were all in the same boat. There was no one to feel sorry for anyone. At most, they would huddle together for warmth, or envy the children who were adopted.
After he started working to earn money, because of his easy-going and optimistic personality, no one had ever shown much concern for his experiences.
Occasionally, when someone inadvertently touched upon his sad past, they would often just change the subject, or leave a “sorry” and not bring it up again. More often than not, it was people who came to him for comfort when they were sad.
Zong Mo’s eyelashes lowered. He thought seriously for a long time because of these few words from Ruan Chi.
“If I had been adopted by a very rich family, I might not have written novels, would not have come to this world, and would not have met you,” Zong Mo’s tone was firm and gentle. “It’s better this way. I feel very lucky and very happy.”
Zong Mo had bought a few books on screenwriting and acting last time. He did not treat the books as decorations but had been reading them seriously for several days. But he was a self-taught person, after all, and found it a little difficult to read. He had to pause for a long time on each page.
Ruan Chi accompanied him and read on the side. He suddenly asked, “Baby, have you been to junior high?”
Zong Mo was stunned, “…I have.”
What on earth had he done to make Ruan Chi have such a ridiculous misunderstanding?
Ruan Chi asked again, “Then have you been to high school?”
Zong Mo quickly defended himself, “I graduated from high school! I even got into university! It’s just that I didn’t go because I didn’t have money…”
Ruan Chi nodded and asked, “Then do you still want to go to university?”
Zong Mo was stunned for a long time. Ruan Chi quietly waited for his reply.
Zong Mo said hesitantly, “It’s already December. If I start preparing now and go to university next year, I’ll be twenty-three.”
Ruan Chi said nonchalantly, “There’s no age limit for going to university.”
“Won’t it be very embarrassing to go to university at such an age?” Zong Mo was still hesitating. “And I’m a public figure. Maybe some unscrupulous media will use this to blacken my name, and it will also affect you…”
Zong Mo had indeed been torn over his education for a while, because he felt it was too far from Ruan Chi’s. But the main shou had gotten into a film academy and had only dropped out because of his debt. After the incident of being rumored to be sponsored and then cleared, no one had used his education to blacken his name.
But if he were to go and take the university entrance exam now, whether he got in or not in the end, it would be easy for people to talk.
Ruan Chi saw through his hesitation and asked again, “What I’m asking is if you want to go to university.”
“Hmm… a little?” Zong Mo murmured. “It’s not because I care that much about the degree, but I just feel a little regretful for not having been to university…”
“Mm. But you have to take the exam yourself. I can only hire a few tutors to help you,” Ruan Chi said.
Zong Mo was stunned again. Ruan Chi really wanted him to go to university.
However, he had thought that Ruan Chi was planning to spend money to help him realize his university dream. But that way, it would be no different from buying a diploma, which was meaningless to him now.
In the following days, Zong Mo seriously considered the matter of taking the university entrance exam.
There were no pure liberal arts majors that he liked so much that he had to have them, and the admission scores were also high. He was picking up his high school studies again after many years. If he were to take the cultural student route, it would be difficult to get into a good university in City A.
It would be better to study acting and take the film academy exam again.
Participating in the art exam naturally required offline training. So Ruan Chi hired professional tutors to come to their home for one-on-one tutoring. He also hired famous teachers for each cultural subject, who came to their home in turns for tutoring to ensure the best teaching effect.
Zong Mo, who was doing practice questions under the supervision of the teachers, began to regret it a little.
He was in his twenties, eating soft rice worth hundreds of millions. Why did he have to suffer like this…!
But since he had made this decision, he would not give up easily. He buried his head and studied hard almost from scratch.
In February of the following year, Zong Mo celebrated his first Valentine’s Day, and it was with Ruan Chi as a married man.
Unfortunately, he still had to study during the day. The two of them had a simple candlelight dinner at home at night.
After dinner, Zong Mo received the first bouquet of flowers in his life. It was a bouquet of intense and flamboyant red roses. There were so many of them he couldn’t count, and anyway… it was so heavy he could barely hold it.
Zong Mo simply put the flowers on the floor and noticed a small card in the center of the flowers.
He had taken it for granted that the card would have sweet words like “I love you” written on it. When he picked it up and looked at it, there were a few beautiful and thoughtful handwritten words, but the content was—
Baby, good luck on the college entrance exam.
Zong Mo: …
Thinking on the bright side, he was probably the only person in this world who would receive such a special Valentine’s Day rose.
He would probably only receive it once in his life. Because he would definitely get into university this year!!
“Wait,” Ruan Chi said. “There’s more.”
Zong Mo saw him go out for a moment and come back with another bouquet.
Only when he got closer did he see that although it was in the style of a bouquet, the places where the flowers should be were all sparkling gold chocolates.
What Zong Mo was most curious about was still the card in the middle.
This card said: I hope you will always be cute.
“Not cute! Next time, I want to be forever handsome!” Zong Mo said, and then rummaged through the chocolate bouquet again. “How is it gone? Is there no ‘I love you’?”
“I’m just about to say it,” Ruan Chi smiled. “I love you.”
Zong Mo replied in a low voice, “I love you too,” and said regretfully, “I didn’t prepare a gift for you…”
He hadn’t even thought that Ruan Chi would celebrate Valentine’s Day. Plus, he had been busy with his studies and had accidentally forgotten.
Reminded by him, Ruan Chi said, “Hmm~ then how are you going to compensate me?”
“Hmm… no evening self-study tonight?” Zong Mo thought for a moment and hinted. “I can still do well in the exam even if I have a few less evening self-study sessions a week!”
At the end of February, Zong Mo also had to go to the film academy to take the professional course exam. And at this time every year, a large number of media reporters would squat near the film academy, taking pictures of the artists who came to take the art exam, and searching for outstanding faces among the amateurs.
When Zong Mo appeared at the entrance of the examination hall, he naturally could not escape the reporters’ filming and even got on the trending list.
At first, the netizens naturally thought that he was there as a senior to cheer on his juniors. But it was well-known that the main shou had dropped out of the film academy. To still call himself a senior after dropping out would inevitably cause questions.
With his current tens of millions of fans, those questioning voices could not stir up much of a wave.
It wasn’t until an insider revealed Zong Mo’s admission ticket that the trending topic immediately exploded.
【Shocking, so the truth is not a considerate senior cheering on the spot, but this year’s most handsome art examinee, hahaha】
【He’s already so famous and he’s still choosing to go to school… is there anything the teachers can still teach him?】
【It’s never too late to learn. Mo Mo’s acting has been improving. Isn’t that proof of his humble learning! Wuwuwu, Mo Mo baby, mama loves you. I hope we can get into university together this year!!】
Zong Mo happened to see this comment from a high school student who called herself a mother. His feelings were complicated and indescribable.
【Eh, wasn’t Zong Mo originally from the film academy? Does he need to take the exam again?】
【Generally speaking, you can’t just go back to school after dropping out. But with Zong Mo’s current popularity, he can probably go back just by talking to the teachers, right? The teachers would probably be eager for him to go back… I don’t know why he has to take the exam again.】
Zong Mo replied silently in his heart: It’s all because CEO Ruan is unwilling to help me open a backdoor!!
Even so, it was a good thing he hadn’t opened a backdoor. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have felt much joy from getting into university by taking a shortcut, and the regret would have been a regret forever.
Even without opening a backdoor, Zong Mo, with his well-known face and rich performance experience, could easily beat the other competitors and easily get first place in the professional course.
But the cultural courses were not so easy.
In his first attempt at a mock exam for all subjects, Zong Mo tried his best, but the results he handed in were still not satisfactory.
Ruan Chi got his report card with a score of over four hundred. He held back from questioning the famous teacher in front of him but inadvertently filled his mockery to the brim, asking, “Is the full score for the college entrance exam in City A five hundred?”
A certain famous teacher: …
Zong Mo interjected, “It’s seven hundred and fifty.”
Ruan Chi: …
The teacher quickly explained, “Zong Mo’s current cultural score is already stable enough to get into the film academy. He hasn’t studied these things for many years. At the beginning, he even forgot what x and y were in math. His progress is really great. It’s just that he’s a little behind on the memorization part. Anyway, there are still two months. No rush.”
To hand in a more beautiful report card, Zong Mo was full of energy and worked hard with a passion. He also looked forward to the two-person activities after nine o’clock at night even more.
His frustrating high school life had no such entertainment, and the pressure was much greater than now. The future was full of unknowns.
But Ruan Chi, for the sake of his studies, had actually taken the initiative to restrain himself.
After calling him over, he held him and didn’t move, and also checked his homework, “How was your study today?”
“There’s too much to memorize in liberal arts. I’ve been memorizing all day, and I forget as soon as I’ve memorized it…”
“Then use different methods to memorize it repeatedly. You can memorize it,” Ruan Chi said. “Bring your book over. I’ll test you.”
Zong Mo: …
Memorizing at night?
And it really was memorizing.
What was even more depressing was that he had actually fallen asleep while memorizing by Ruan Chi’s side. The beautiful night was gone in the blink of an eye. After he opened his eyes, he had to face the stern-faced tutor.
Zong Mo: …
Isn’t it just studying! Who’s afraid of whom!!
The tutoring could be done at home, but the official college entrance exam had to be taken with ordinary students. It was also inevitable to be followed and photographed by reporters and paparazzi.
Zong Mo was full of confidence and had a calm mentality. Ruan Chi accompanied him in the nanny van for two days. At noon, the two of them ate and rested together in the car.
Zong Mo was so relaxed he even took an afternoon nap. After the last exam in the afternoon, the two of them happened to go out on a date to celebrate.
After the college entrance exam, Zong Mo’s twenty-third birthday was also approaching.
Zong Mo was born in the summer. If you asked him if there was any place he wanted to go for his birthday, the answer would naturally be the seaside, which was most in line with the summer atmosphere.
So Ruan Chi asked him, “Are you going to the seaside for your birthday? To City B, or somewhere else?”
Zong Mo was slightly stunned. After a moment of recollection, he finally said, “Do you still remember I said I wanted to go to the seaside for my birthday last year?”
Ruan Chi: “Mm.”
Zong Mo: “Actually, I didn’t mean I had to go to the seaside. I just hoped that I could still be with you this year. It doesn’t matter where we go.”
Ruan Chi was silent for a few seconds, “How could I have guessed that?”
“You know now…?”
“Then where do you want to go for your birthday this year?”
Zong Mo thought for a moment and said, “Is there any other fun place besides the seaside? I can’t think of any…”
It was all poverty that had limited his imagination!
“It’s very hot recently,” Ruan Chi suggested. “Do you want to go skiing?”
“I don’t know how to ski,” Zong Mo said first, then showed a strange expression. “Skiing in the summer?”
Isn’t this a little too extravagant and wasteful?
“Mm, we’ll go abroad, to the southern hemisphere,” Ruan Chi said. “Didn’t you just finish your geography exam?”
Zong Mo: …Isn’t it normal to have amnesia right after the exam!
“Then isn’t it all over? And I feel very good. There were no questions I couldn’t answer. I will definitely do better than the previous mock exam…”
After Zong Mo agreed to the invitation to go skiing in the middle of summer, Ruan Chi quickly helped him with all the procedures. A few days later, the two of them arrived on a continent with a completely opposite season to City A.
They skied and rode sleds during the day. When they were tired, they would take a cable car to admire the beautiful snow-capped mountains from a high position. At night, they would rest in a small cabin homestay nearby, sitting by the fireplace to warm up and drink hot tea.
Zong Mo was so happy he forgot to go home. He had completely forgotten about the college entrance exam until Ruan Chi reminded him to check his scores.
Zong Mo nervously looked at the numbers one by one. It was over five hundred in total, which was already dozens of points higher than the first-tier line in City A in previous years.
…It was even better than the score he had gotten after studying seriously for three years before. A large part of it was probably due to the several famous teachers.
The nightly activity of checking his memorization should have also contributed a part.
After all, the full score was seven hundred and fifty. Ruan Chi didn’t show much surprise and just asked, “Is this score considered good?”
Zong Mo nodded vigorously, “Mm, even if I didn’t get first place in the professional course and just passed the line, this score can still get me into the film academy. Now I might be able to get first place in both the professional and public courses and stun everyone!!”
Ruan Chi smiled, “Hmm~ then that’s quite impressive?”
Zong Mo held his head high, “Of course!”
As a good husband who is both talented and beautiful and peerless in the world, how could he lose face for his CEO Ruan!
After dropping out of school for many years, Zong Mo returned to campus with the first place in both the professional and public courses, and once again happily topped the trending list.
He even started a trend of creating a “top student” persona in the entertainment industry.
And he himself really went to school after receiving the admission letter, pausing his time-consuming filming activities, and only occasionally appeared on a few variety shows, shooting for magazines and commercials.
An important part of university life was dormitory life. Unfortunately, Zong Mo was a public figure and had also come out with his same-sex partner, so it was not very convenient for him to live with the young boys.
He had taken a dormitory bed at the beginning of the school year, but he had only gone to look at it and put some things there, and had not lived in the dormitory.
He didn’t know if it was specially arranged by Ruan Chi, but his three roommates were also artists who had already debuted, either child stars or second-generation stars. Their backgrounds were clean, and their personalities were cheerful and easy-going.
On this afternoon, during a break between classes, a few of his classmates and nominal roommates called him out and asked him if he wanted to have hot pot in the dormitory at night.
Zong Mo couldn’t help but ask doubtfully, “…Can we have hot pot in the dormitory?”
Roommate A: “Of course not.”
Roommate B: “Why do you think we have to be so secretive?”
Roommate C: “A university life without secretly eating hot pot in the dormitory is not complete!!”
Although he felt it was not appropriate, Zong Mo still couldn’t help but get on the pirate ship.
To avoid being discovered by the dormitory supervisor, the few of them tightly closed the doors and windows to cook the fragrant hot pot. Before long, they were all covered in the smell of spices.
Because he was not going back for dinner at night, Zong Mo had sent a message to Ruan Chi in advance, telling him that he was having hot pot in the dormitory and would go home after he was done, and that he should have dinner by himself.
Ruan Chi was very at ease and let him have fun. He would contact him after he was done so he could go and pick him up.
Speaking of which, after a month of university, Ruan Chi had picked him up and dropped him off almost every day, even more diligently than the parents of a middle school student.
A luxury car parked at the entrance of the film academy would naturally attract gossip.
Passersby would gather around the luxury car and whisper, but they did not wait for the “greasy tycoon” and “school belle mistress” they had fabricated. Only a handsome young man walked out of the school gate, ran forward without any cover, and opened the car door to hug his young and handsome lover.
Even the nosiest onlookers could only fall silent.
Wait, a male university student and his gay lover, isn’t that also quite explosive?
Oh, wait again. Although he is a male university student, he is already married…
That night’s hot pot gathering had reached the final chat session. Zong Mo was answering while secretly glancing at his phone.
CEO Ruan: [I’m here.]
Zong Mo immediately stood up and said goodbye, “Everyone, then I’ll go home first?”
The roommates cheerfully waved goodbye to him and said they would meet again next time.
The university campus was also very lively at night. Zong Mo, however, walked quickly out of the main gate without looking sideways and saw a dazzling red sports car from a distance.
…His CEO Ruan had changed his car again. Since he had started picking him up and dropping him off at school, he had changed it particularly frequently. It was nothing, just that he was rich and liked to show off.
Zong Mo got into this brand-new car with the smell of hot pot all over him and uncomfortably grabbed his sleeve and sniffed it.
Ruan Chi didn’t even have to move closer to smell it, “Why do you smell so much like hot pot? Did you fall into the pot?”
Zong Mo: …
“The dormitory is too small, and the doors and windows were closed, so it wasn’t well-ventilated.”
Ruan Chi leaned over and sniffed a few more times up close.
The cotton fabric of his clothes was particularly absorbent of smells, so strong it was choking. Ruan Chi sniffed his hair again. It was not much different from his clothes. Even a wipe of his smooth cheek was full of the smell of hot pot.
Zong Mo couldn’t stand being sniffed and gently pushed him, “Stop sniffing, stop sniffing! You’re like a dog!!”
Ruan Chi smiled, “It’s quite fragrant. Was it delicious?”
Zong Mo nodded, “It was.”
After speaking, he looked at Ruan Chi again, thinking he would take a taste from him, but his hands were already on the steering wheel, entering a fully focused driving mode.
Zong Mo: …
To air out the smell, the convertible top slowly opened, revealing a deep night sky.
The city’s night sky was always gray and hazy, with no stars or moon. But there were brilliant streetlights on the side of the bustling streets, and dazzling fireworks during festivals.
Zong Mo withdrew his gaze and found the brightest area under the night sky in the car.
The streetlights outside the window were rapidly receding. The fireworks were not being set off at this moment.
In the speeding night, only he was quietly and permanently by his side.
“CEO Ruan, let’s have hot pot at home together next time.”
“Okay.”
-END OF MAIN STORY-
