Chapter 30 Part 2

Because Cloud City’s summer high temperatures had become routine in recent years, July and August were major energy-saving months. Past nine PM, neighborhood decorative lighting was all off, and even streetlights were only half-lit. Thus, the video showed the park and the plastic running track around its perimeter shrouded in complete darkness.

Affected by light and distance, the video’s clarity wasn’t high. But one could indeed make out two specks of fluorescent yellow light moving at a constant speed.

Of course, if one zoomed in and looked carefully, one could also faintly sense this movement wasn’t entirely ground-hugging. It was an alternating, swinging motion, with small obstructions occasionally catching up from time to time, blocking part of the light.

If Ji Nuo hadn’t had his eyes assaulted by fluorescent yellow the previous day, he might also have been scared by this bizarre phenomenon. After checking the video’s posting time, he told Sister Li with absolute certainty, “This is not ball lightning.”

“It’s obviously Han Cheng wearing his fluorescent sneakers, and little friend Lu Ao’ao trying to overtake Han Cheng with his stubby little legs…”

Sister Li was shocked. “You can even recognize that?”

“Recognize what?” Han Cheng’s voice suddenly sounded from behind.

Ji Nuo turned around. Han Cheng was dressed in a pure black sportswear, his breathing slightly uneven, clearly just back from his morning run outside.

Ji Nuo stepped back three paces and looked toward the door. Noticing the other party hadn’t worn the fluorescent yellow running shoes for his morning run, he then showed him the video from the phone.

At first, Ji Nuo just found it absurd yet wondrous. Now, seeing the ball lightning himself, he almost couldn’t hold back his laughter. But meeting Han Cheng’s usual aloof, noble demeanor, he cleared his throat to suppress his mirth and handed the phone over. “Look at the ball lightning posted in the owners’ group.”

Han Cheng recognized himself within two seconds. After all, the previous night, thanks to the specially-made fluorescent material, he had strode like flying. His heart still remembered that wonderful feeling of stepping on clouds, a psychological boost no other color could provide.

During his morning run, he had regretted that with too many people in the morning, wearing fluorescent running shoes was too eye-catching. It wouldn’t be great if someone recognized him…

After Han Cheng quickly scanned the chat history in the owners’ group, his ashen face was no less grim than when he’d seen the report message the previous night.

Ji Nuo was holding back laughter so hard he choked on his water. Finally, unable to resist, he asked, “What fluorescent material are these shoes? They look brighter than fireflies at night.”

Han Cheng glanced at Ji Nuo with a complicated expression. “I’ll go tell the property manager first.”

Before leaving, his steps paused. After some thought, he solemnly added a warning: “…Don’t tell Ao’ao.”

Hearing this, Ji Nuo could no longer hold it together. “Hahahahahaha okay hahahahaha!”

Han Cheng: “…………”

~

Han Cheng had just finished explaining to the property manager and hung up the phone when Xu Li called.

Xu Li complained with a laugh, “Great Movie Emperor Han, when do you plan to read the message in a bottle I sent you last night?”

Han Cheng’s already dark face instantly darkened further. He used to never believe the Eight Trigrams of the I Ching, Vedic Astrology, or whatever zodiac theories Chu Haohan spouted. But at this moment, he felt he was indeed experiencing some Mercury retrograde.

But what had happened couldn’t be undone. No matter how dark Han Cheng’s face was, the main WeChat account was still not unbanned. Ji Nuo said it might take 48 hours. He had a lot of work recently, so he naturally needed to tell Xu Li to arrange things early.

Hearing this, Xu Li was very surprised. “The SIM card suddenly couldn’t be read?”

Han Cheng’s voice was cold. “…Mm.”

Xu Li clicked her tongue. “So strange. But perfect timing since you’re in Cloud City these two days, you can go directly to the carrier’s service hall to get a replacement card.”

“Mm.” Han Cheng thought for a moment and added a reminder: “If Ji Nuo asks later, just say my main account has been unusable for this period.”

Though Han Cheng didn’t say the reason, Xu Li’s imagination was astonishing. She instantly connected it to the earlier incident of insisting Ji Nuo add his alt account.

Was he regretting it now? Afraid Ji Nuo would know he deliberately had him add the alt to distance himself…

After hanging up, Xu Li looked at her screen and clicked her tongue twice. And he still says he’s not interested in him? Tsk tsk!

Ah, men. Is the hardest thing on their whole body their mouth?

Seeing this cautious, tentative manner, Xu Li felt she needed to prepare in advance to confront Ji Nuo’s talent agency.

Though initially it was just Han Cheng radiating Buddha-like compassion, Xu Li had always thought: since you’re pulling him up anyway, why not sign him under your own management? Instead, you’re letting that trash company benefit?

Even if Ji Nuo had almost enough money for contract termination, once his fame rose, he could go anywhere. But why let that good water flow into someone else’s field?

Xu Li twirled the fountain pen in her hand, her striking brows and eyes lifting slightly.

~

Wednesday night, 8 PM. The viewers of “Where Are the Cubs Going?”, who had been anxiously waiting the whole day, finally got to see the daily vlog episode for Ao’ao’s and Ruirui’s families.

Although all four families’ little cubs were very cute, it was undeniable that little friend Lu Ao’ao topped the most-anticipated cub rankings with absolutely crushing strength.

Each family’s vlog was edited down to only fifteen minutes. The viewers practically watched it in a flash and then screamed wildly in the comments section and danmaku:

[Ahhh my cub my cub, I miss ee so much wuwuwu, still two more days until we see the cub, fifteen minutes is too little! /rolling around.gif]

[Didn’t they say Han Cheng doesn’t eat fish? Is the food Ji Nuo makes really that good?]

[Right? I remember cub also saying he doesn’t eat fish! That day’s Chicken Stewed with Fish looked so fragrant, but the cub didn’t touch a bite.]

[Really? Fake? This fish-hater slowly types a question mark. Can someone really make fish that’s not fishy at all?]

[Hahahaha laughing so hard, Teacher Han actually swallowed his saliva at the same time as the cub. Synchronized to this degree, are they really not biological father and son!!! Too cute Ao’aoAo’ao!]

[Wowowow, so that’s how it is? So drinking white broth is all drinking oil???]

[It’s normal for soup and dishes to have oil, no need to panic at the mention of oil. As a white-broth lover, let me say that this water-encased-oil micro-molecular emulsified system doesn’t feel greasy drinking it~]

[To each their own with daikon or cabbage. Clear-broth fans, please don’t hate just because you don’t like it~skr~]

[Hahaha every time I see Ao’ao standing with the Movie Emperor, I inexplicably want to laugh. How do these two manage to look exactly alike yet so utterly disharmonious?]

[Eating melons made me, a real mom fan, cry to death. The best little baby in the world, Ao’ao, is actually an orphan… wuwuwu how can there be such bad parents who give birth to a child and don’t take responsibility!]

[+1 I hate that I’m single and don’t meet adoption requirements, otherwise I really want to take cub home and pamper him properly!!!]

[…]

Of course, some anti-fans and paid trolls still got in the way. Like they couldn’t stand Ji Nuo’s reputation improving, they kept bringing up those old scandals. The most disgusting was implying Ji Nuo had a big shot backing him, selling himself to whitewash his reputation, and so on.

But this time, the melon-eating masses, having just experienced the reversal of the black post, were at their most resistant. They didn’t believe a single word of “I Have a Friend”‘s insinuations about Ji Nuo and Ao’ao in the post. Seeing the haters right in front of them, they immediately opened fire with full force, fiercely lashing out.

Normally, no one was bringing up Xu Chengyi and his three generations of ancestors and descendants. But the haters’ behavior made it hard not to recall those water armies in the black post that stomped on Ji Nuo while praising the Xu Family. This wave of haters was thus naturally branded as the Xu Family’s lackeys, and Xu Chengyi was dragged out and blasted again:

[CEO Xu, stop jumping around. Can your Hengyun Pharmaceutical withstand checks on its taxes and drug inspections?]

[If not for feeling sorry for the Feifei beauty, I’d really wish to tear Xu Chengyi apart…]

Over here, Han Cheng cropped out the quarreling parts and seemingly casually sent Ji Nuo a screenshot of the vlog’s playback interface, coincidentally capturing a few enthusiastic fan comments: [Vlog aired, reactions are good./image.jpg]

~

Over there, Xu Chengyi saw the verbal condemnation of the Xu Family in the comments section at almost the exact same time, his face black as the bottom of a pot.

Beside him, the secretary carefully offered a fawning smile. “CEO Xu, the PR firm said this is normal. After all, the incident just happened. Wait a couple of days for a new hot topic, and these people will all forget. Netizens, well, most have goldfish brains.”

Xu Chengyi was also clear that for the anonymous forum incident, he had already had the PR firm delete too many messages. This kind of thing couldn’t be overdone. More deletions could easily cause backlash. And the vlog’s heat was only intense for the initial period…

But what truly infuriated him was, of course, more than just these negative online comments. Needing to guard against his elder sister and the old master discovering these already irritated him greatly. Yet at this time, instead of comforting him, his wife was quarreling with him and living separately.

Women were just troublesome. Even an Ivy League-educated beauty queen was just so-so. If it weren’t for the old master’s insistence, he wouldn’t have paid the price of losing his youngest son. And what he got in return was the daughter in Kang Feier’s belly…

But since Kang Feier chose now to make a fuss, he naturally couldn’t indulge her. It just so happened he needed a suitable reason to refuse participating in the second phase.

The little fatty, Xu Xiaolin, had made a scene in front of his grandmother all day, claiming he was bullied by other guests and bratty kids. He felt humiliated and wanted his grandmother to find a way to give him back his standing.

Now Xu Chengyi had both internal and external reasons. He directly had his secretary inform Bai Yong that for the second phase, the Island Trip, his own bodyguard would go in his place to protect his wife and children.

Bai Yong, upon hearing he had important business and couldn’t make it for the second phase, was as happy as if he’d been offered a gong and drums parade, naturally agreeing without any objection.

In his view, the little fatty was so bratty largely thanks to Xu Chengyi’s influence. And without his wealthy father backing him up, the little fatty, however bad, would be limited. He could peacefully wreak havoc on the guests.

Little did he know, Xu Chengyi was deliberately extracting himself, having long arranged for a retired Special Forces, ethnic Chinese bodyguard to carry out a secret mission.

~

When Ji Nuo received the picture Han Cheng sent from his alt account, he was first surprised for a moment, then clearly felt a warm current flowing in his heart.

He truly didn’t like being chased and scolded. Probably no one liked being misunderstood, misinterpreted, or reviled. But when he had spoken to Han Cheng the day before, it was just a pretext he’d found on the spot, and he’d intentionally been very vague. He hadn’t expected Han Cheng to use this method to encourage him today.

Ji Nuo’s nose tingled slightly. After the excitement, he couldn’t help feeling a little down. He had met such a wonderful Han Cheng, yet his time was running short… But no matter what, being able to have such precious memories during this time, he should be very content.

Ji Nuo had spent the previous night discussing Han Cheng’s account issue with the volunteer and hadn’t had time to check the online feedback on the kid variety show’s live stream. He did look during the day, though, and only then, very belatedly, learned about so many things that had happened earlier.

And it was indeed as Han Cheng said: many people online liked his daily interactions with Ao’ao. Some netizens seemed willing to try putting aside their prejudices and re-evaluate him…

For a moment, Ji Nuo felt deeply moved by the “unexpected turn of events” before him, his eyes growing slightly warm as he looked at the chat interface on the screen.

But the next day, as Ji Nuo carried his luggage, leading the cub out the door again, the determination in his heart to set off Han Cheng grew even stronger. He didn’t need any good reputation right now.

Since going against the production team’s direction was wrong in the first phase—viewers actually really liked watching someone live-stream cooking—in that case, he just needed to do the opposite.

Fresh seafood could be brought out in its deliciousness using the simplest methods. Letting Han Cheng come and steam it simply could showcase the other party, and Ao’ao would have something to eat too. Killing two birds with one stone.

Ji Nuo adjusted his reverse tactics in his mind based on online comments, not noticing that the other family exiting the elevator at the same time had been discussing ball lightning the whole time. Lu Aotian, sitting on the suitcase and swinging his legs, raised his little head and asked Ji Nuo, “What’s the deal with ball lightning?”

Ji Nuo was deep in thought. Hearing the question, he answered subconsciously, “Ball lightning isn’t your Uncle Han Cheng.”

Lu Aotian’s little brows slowly furrowed. “?”

Half an hour later, when Ji Nuo brought the cub to the first-class lounge, Han Cheng, who had gone out early to handle accumulated business, was already waiting there, flipping through a weighty foreign-language book.

Seeing Han Cheng, looking even more like a modern Long Aotian than himself with that aloof, ascetic, high-forbiddance face, Lu Aotian’s little brows lifted with keen interest, the corner of his lips curving, dimples floating.

He took the initiative to hop off his suitcase, pattered over, then raised his noticeably rounder little face, and crooked his finger at Han Cheng, beckoning him.

Han Cheng’s brow arched slightly, his gaze shifting back from behind the child. “Hmm?”

A wicked, charming curve lifted the corner of Lu Aotian’s lips. His tone extremely cool, domineering, and arrogant, he declared, “I heard those limited-edition fluorescent yellow running shoes of yours were mistaken by a neighbor for ball lightning and even made it into the Cloud City Metropolis Evening News’ Oddities section?”