Chapter 22: It’s Normal for Good Friends to Do These Things

Duan Qiong was still hung up on what had happened that night, even after finishing Love Song of Life. Every time Yu Huaili shot him one of those knowing, half-smiling looks, his throat felt dry and itchy.

That night, he’d held back for far too long, with no other choice but to force himself to go soft. Maybe he had already been at his limit while looking at Yu Huaili, and one light touch from the latter had been all it took to reduce him to that miserable state…

But Yu Huaili treated him exactly the same as always. Clearly, he hadn’t taken either of that night’s events to heart at all.

Duan Qiong should have been grateful for that attitude. The two of them were friends, after all, and Yu Huaili was gay. Being able to still get along normally like friends after something like that… yes, he should have been grateful.

But Duan Qiong inexplicably felt… not quite comfortable. He had to admit that he was torn up about it.

Yet he had no idea what exactly he was torn up about, leaving him in a contradictory, gloomy state.

【Bad Pear, Duan Qiong has been staring at you for almost ten minutes without blinking. Why has he gotten so weird since recording the variety show?】

The System, who had been playing Fruit Ninja, felt its hackles raised by Duan Qiong’s staring. As it talked, its hand slipped and it accidentally sliced two bombs.

Seeing that it was about to break the server-wide record, the System stared at the “GAME OVER” screen, stomping and beating its chest in fury: 【Damn it, I’m dead! It’s all the Protagonist Top’s fault!】

It was a rare day off. Yu Huaili was curled up on the couch on the balcony, idly scrolling short videos, and said casually: 【Maybe Duan Qiong has some kind of eye disease. Ignore him.】

The System, finally finished gaming, flopped onto Yu Huaili’s lap: 【By the way, Bad Pear, why was your livestream offline that night? Did it malfunction? I was busy gaming at the time and didn’t notice. FOX has been bombarding me for days asking about what happened that day.】

【Hm?】Thinking of that night, Yu Huaili raised an eyebrow: 【It wasn’t a malfunction. I did it on purpose. Nothing happened either.】

That green plum wine hadn’t been all that strong, and it had been loaded with rock sugar. The only moment Yu Huaili felt like he couldn’t control himself was when it first went down. After splashing his face with water a couple of times, he felt much better.

Right after that, the Protagonist Top had come in with that dumb look on his face.

But even after Yu Huaili had gone along and done all those things, Duan Qiong still managed to hold firm to his conviction that they were friends.

Yu Huaili felt a bit speechless. These past couple of days, he didn’t really feel like dealing with Duan Qiong, that lunatic.

【Huh?】The System didn’t quite understand. It blinked: 【Bad Pear, can I tell FOX that then? FOX is pretty worried about you.】

Yu Huaili tilted his head, thinking for a moment: 【Sure. I think Brother Fox will want to——】meet me after this world ends.

But before Yu Huaili could finish, a series of honks interrupted his chat with the System.

Sitting on the balcony, Yu Huaili glanced down and saw a Huolala moving truck parked downstairs.

Not long after, Sister Chen came in through the door, followed by a few workmen carrying a bed.

Her eyes curved into a smile as she said, “I’ve already worked out the format for Solaron-X’s group show with the company. It’s definitely the most novel format out there right now. It should start in a few days… kids, once all of Solaron-X is here, I’ll give you the details.”

Sister Chen then pointed at the workmen. “And Xingheng mentioned wanting to move in before the group show, right… I applied to the company for a four-person dorm for you guys a few days ago. But the company just brought in a new batch of trainees, so dorm space is really tight. My application hasn’t been approved yet.”

She said to Yu Huaili with a beaming smile, “Little Li, you and Little Duan will have to make do for a couple of days, sharing the master bedroom. —Here, I bought you a bed out of my own pocket.”

The workmen seized the opening to ask where the bed should go. Yu Huaili closed the balcony door and pointed them toward the master bedroom: “That room is fine.”

Seeing the workmen nod and start assembling the bed briskly, Yu Huaili turned back to Sister Chen: “It’s not a hardship, Sister Chen. How much was this bed? I’ll transfer you the money along with Duan Qiong. We can’t keep letting you subsidize us for work.”

Duan Qiong nodded along: “No need for Yu Huaili to split it. I’ll pay.”

“Alright, you two, stop playing off each other. This didn’t cost much. Don’t be so polite with your sister.” Sister Chen waved her hand, then thought for a moment and asked, “When is Xingheng moving in? Has he told you?”

Yu Huaili thought for a moment: “Brother Xingheng told us this morning. He said he could move in this morning. We’ve tidied up our side, but something unexpected came up on his end.”

Duan Qiong’s room had been spotless, clean enough to eat off the floor. His belongings were pitifully few—just a few thin clothes and a laptop, as if this were a hotel you checked in and out of at will. In just a few minutes, he had transferred everything into Yu Huaili’s room.

When Xi Xingheng said something unexpected had come up, Duan Qiong frowned and quietly asked Yu Huaili whether he should move back, as if that would be too much trouble.

Yu Huaili had answered vaguely, “We’ll see.”

Duan Qiong: …

Perhaps that was also why Duan Qiong had been looking at him far more often than usual today.

Sister Chen raised an eyebrow in confusion: “Hm? What unexpected thing?”

“No idea. Brother Xingheng didn’t tell us.” The moment Yu Huaili’s words fell, the phone he’d casually placed on the balcony rang.

It was Xi Xingheng.

When he picked up, Xi Xingheng’s tone was rarely this frazzled: “…Little Pear, would you all be okay with an extra large dog in the dorm? I’ll hire a nanny to take care of it.”

Xi Xingheng’s belongings had been almost entirely moved into the dorm, along with all the luxury furniture he could take from his villa.

Treading on the luxury-brand carpet underfoot, Jiang Qing looked at Xi Xingheng walking in with the dog, and his last shred of dissatisfaction dissolved into smoke. Even the Samoyed on the leash looked a bit cuter to him now.

“Sorry.” Unfamiliar with the new environment, the Samoyed was rather hyper. Xi Xingheng frowned and yanked hard on the leash, saying in a low voice to Yu Huaili, “But I really couldn’t think of where else to put him.”

When he’d decided to move into the dorm, Xi Xingheng had wanted to board the dog with a professional. But after arranging it and sending the dog over, the dog had howled as if it had been abandoned. No matter what the dog trainer did all morning, it was useless.

In the end, the person couldn’t take it anymore and refunded Xi Xingheng in full at noon, begging him to come take the dog back.

Xi Xingheng tried two more places. The moment he dropped the dog off, the next-door neighbor would come knocking aggressively, complaining about noise disturbances.

Xi Xingheng: …

But he couldn’t abandon the dog, so he had no choice but to let it move into the Solaron-X dorm with him for now.

When he’d asked the question, Xi Xingheng had expected Duan Qiong, with his annoying cleanliness obsession, to object. But after Yu Huaili and Jiang Qing agreed, Duan Qiong only asked two things: whether the dog was male or female, and whether it had been neutered.

When he heard it was a neutered male, Duan Qiong said no more.

“It’s fine.” Yu Huaili lowered his eyes to pat the dog’s head, his eyes curving into a smile: “Baby, how are you this cute?”

Then he asked Xi Xingheng: “What’s his name?”

Watching the Samoyed gently nudge its head against Yu Huaili’s leg, Xi Xingheng smiled: “His full name is Xi Mituan. Sometimes I call him Fatty… It looks like he really likes you.”

Very fitting. That Samoyed really did look like a jumbo onigiri.

Yu Huaili crouched down and gently rubbed Mi Tuan’s head twice: “He’s adorable. I really like him too.”

Mi Tuan’s tongue lolled out even happier.

Sister Chen, who had just stepped onto the balcony to take a call, pushed open the balcony door. Seeing Mi Tuan, she laughed: “Long time no see, little Mi Tuan. How come you came along with your dad?”

Mi Tuan grinned goofily: “Woof.”

She rubbed his head again, then sat down on the couch and said, “Let me briefly tell you about the group show. It definitely has to be wrapped before your fan sign. Originally, we were going to use the same format as your seniors’ group shows. But after discussing it, the company decided to let Solaron-X carve out a brand-new path—namely, live streaming.”

“Even though the group show’s tagline is ‘all-round, no blind spots,’ I suspect the company will have fixed camera positions and will also pay attention to protecting your privacy.”

Seeing all four Solaron-X members fall silent, Sister Chen blinked: “If you have any opinions, you can raise them, and I’ll report them all to the company. But whether they’re adopted in the end will still depend on the company.”

But who in the industry didn’t know about Morning Star’s “dictatorship”? At their current stage, they had no say in what the company’s higher-ups decided.

Jiang Qing hissed through his teeth: “Then I have no objections.”

“Alright.” Sister Chen thought for a moment, then added, “But during the group show, don’t sell the bromance so hard. The live streaming format is meant to let fans see your ‘down-to-earth’ side, to convert them into girlfriend fans who’ll spend more on you… Ah, forget it. We’ll talk about all that once filming is confirmed.”

“Oh, Jiang Qing.” Sister Chen narrowed her eyes, her tone shifting and her expression turning serious: “Come with me to the balcony. I have something to ask you.”

The balcony door stayed shut tight. Sister Chen and Jiang Qing talked for a long time.

So long that Xi Xingheng, muttering about needing to celebrate their “housewarming,” went off to cook, and they still hadn’t finished.

Hearing Sister Chen cursing at someone, Yu Huaili cast a couple of curious glances over there and asked Duan Qiong what was going on. But Duan Qiong had no heart for other people’s business. He only felt that the dog truly took after its owner.

All evening, Xi Xingheng’s dog kept circling around Yu Huaili with soft whines, acting cute and clingy in an attempt to win his attention.

What a shameless dog.

Watching Yu Huaili not only pet Xi Xingheng’s dog’s head but also coo “baby” at it over and over, Duan Qiong knitted his brows, even more irritated.

He knew Yu Huaili’s true form was also a little dog. Could Yu Huaili not only like men, but also…

Duan Qiong immediately cut off that terrifying thought.

Xi Xingheng’s dog is already neutered. What are you even thinking?

“Bad Pear.” Xi Xingheng poked his head out of the kitchen, eyes curving as he beckoned Yu Huaili: “Come taste this.”

“Braised pork?” Yu Huaili, who had been playing ball with Mi Tuan, stood up. Mi Tuan pattered after him like a little tail. Yu Huaili looked at the meat clamped between Xi Xingheng’s chopsticks, leaned in, and took a bite: “Brother Xingheng, you can cook?”

“Mm. I studied abroad in high school. The food over there was terrible, so I started cooking for myself.” Xi Xingheng smiled: “What do you think? Decent?”

Yu Huaili gave him a thumbs up: “Pretty great.”

“I’m glad you like it.” Xi Xingheng said with a beaming smile: “I can cook for you often from now on.”

That sentence was familiar.

Yu Huaili felt he’d heard words like that from the Protagonist Top before.

Sure enough, without a single footstep, Duan Qiong appeared behind him like a ghost. He said flatly: “No need to trouble yourself. I’ll cook for Yu Huaili.”

“How is that trouble?” The smile at the corners of Xi Xingheng’s mouth deepened: “Mi Tuan likes Bad Pear, and Bad Pear plays with Mi Tuan, like Mi Tuan’s second dad. Isn’t it only right that I cook for them?”

Hearing his name, Mi Tuan let out a timely “woof” and happily circled around Xi Xingheng and Yu Huaili.

Duan Qiong: …

Second dad? Was Xi Xingheng insane?

And that was complete nonsense!

But Yu Huaili accepted it perfectly well. After dinner, he even went downstairs with Xi Xingheng to walk Xi Xingheng’s dog.

Just the thought of Yu Huaili doing something as intimate as walking a dog with Xi Xingheng made Duan Qiong restless. He felt Xi Xingheng might harbor impure intentions toward Yu Huaili.

Otherwise, why would a pampered young master like Xi Xingheng be willing to slum it in the kitchen?

He’d worked with Xi Xingheng in Solaron-X for so long in his past life, and he’d never once noticed that Xi Xingheng could cook.

It was already getting cold outside, and a light drizzle had begun to fall. Duan Qiong, rooted at the window, staring intently at their stroll, grabbed an umbrella and wanted to go bring Yu Huaili back.

But Sister Chen, who had just finished tearing Jiang Qing a new one, blocked him.

“It just started raining outside. I need to go now.” Sister Chen frowned: “Duan Qiong, let me confirm one last time—you’re straight, right?”

Duan Qiong: …

Sister Chen waited two seconds and got no answer, so she took Duan Qiong’s silence as confirmation. She patted his shoulder: “As long as you know where to draw the line.”

Duan Qiong nodded: “Mm, I do.”

He was just afraid some people didn’t.

Mi Tuan’s fur was thick; the drizzling rain hadn’t even soaked through his topcoat. As soon as they got back to the dorm, he was shut into his crate.

But Yu Huaili’s hair was a bit damp. When he returned, he grabbed his pajamas and went to shower.

Listening to the clear sound of water in the bathroom, Duan Qiong tapped at his computer absentmindedly. When the water stopped abruptly, his thoughts were pulled back too.

He looked at the lyrics he’d typed.

The lines above were still steeped in the melancholy of unrequited love; the line below had turned into “walking, together, Yu Huaili. That goddamn bastard and his dog.”

Duan Qiong silently deleted the last line.

Yu Huaili opened the bathroom door: “Bro? You’re not sleeping yet? We have a schedule tomorrow. I’m going to bed first. Bro, I’m setting an alarm for around six. While there aren’t many people out in the early morning, I’ll get up and walk Mi Tuan with Brother Xingheng.”

Duan Qiong’s fingers hammered out a string of “ffffffffff……”

But his expression was extremely composed, as if he genuinely had Yu Huaili’s best interests at heart. He said in a low voice: “Little Pear, I think Xi Xingheng is very strange. And you and Xi Xingheng are a little… too close.”

Yu Huaili gave Duan Qiong a slightly surprised look: “What?”

Duan Qiong frowned, trying hard to explain: “It’s that Xi Xingheng deliberately feeds you things, the two of you walk the dog together, and he even says to let the dog call you dad. I think he doesn’t mean well.”

“Huh?” Yu Huaili laughed, looking unconcerned: “Bro, you’re overthinking it. Brother Xingheng and I are good friends. Doing these things is normal.”

Duan Qiong froze for two seconds.

…Good friends?