Chapter 77   - Kissed gently

Yu Yan wrote up a list of computer parts he needed that night and got up early the next morning to buy the parts.

The shop near Lu Xiuhe’s home was owned by a person Father Lu knew well, so it would be less likely that he would get fleeced. Yu Yan had just gotten off the bus when he saw Lu Xiuhe standing at the bus station and waving to him with two boxes of stir-fried rice noodles in his hands.

“Here, breakfast.” Lu Xiuhe said, “You came too early , I nearly didn’t even get up.”

“I already told you that I don’t need you to accompany me.” Yu Yan looked at the dark circles under his eyes. “Didn’t you tell me you were going to bed at eleven last night?”

Thinking of last night’s quarrel, Lu Xiuhe only felt a throbbing pain at his temples.

What kind of wretched situation was this ?

“How can someone just lie in bed and immediately fall asleep? I just dawdled there for a long time. Whatever, I’m not that sleepy. Let’s go and get the parts .”

With the list of parts in hand, buying things went very quickly. If the store didn’t have some part, the boss would go to another store to get it. The computer was ready after a few trips.

Yu Yan tried it on the spot, and because it was new, its operating speed could even compare to the one in Yi Chen’s home.

There was no young Internet addict who didn’t like high-performance machines; it was like choosing a gun to take onto a battlefield. What’s more, this was what Yu Yan used to make money, and he was usually accompanied by this thing for most of the day.

So when he finally got the computer in his hands, he was very happy. He took a taxi and even treated Lu Xiuhe to a box of good cigarettes before saying goodbye.

He got in the taxi and couldn’t help sending a message to Yi Chen.

Yu Yan: I got my computer set up [picture]

Five minutes later, an incoming voice call popped up on the phone screen.

Yu Yan was stunned and picked it up.

“Are you home?” There was a bit of noise in the background at Yi Chen’s end.

“Not yet, in the car.” Yu Yan asked, “Where are you?”

“Airport.”

“Where are you going?”

“Business trip,” Yi Chen said, “Three days.”

Yu Yan rolled down the window a bit. “…Why is it so sudden?”

“An impromptu decision, just going there for an inspection, it’s not a big matter.” Yi Chen handed the ticket to the staff at the counter as he continued speaking, “I may not be able to access the Internet these next few days.”

“That’s fine.” Yu Yan looked in the driver’s direction and lowered his voice as he said, “We… can still use voice and video calls.”

Yi Chen raised his eyebrows as if he had thought of something. “Did you forget something last night?”

Yu Yan replied, “Ah. What did I forget?”

The man’s voice was serious. “Forgot to call it out for me to hear.”

The staff person at the counter who was checking in the boarding pass froze for a bit, but soon snapped out of it as well.

She handed the boarding pass back with both hands, and with her smile not changing at all, said, “Have a good trip.”

Yu Yan choked.

They had had a video call after last night’s stream. Yu Yan had been checking for parts needed while chatting, and had already completely forgotten about that small interlude.

Yi Chen took the boarding pass and asked him, “Make it up to me today?”

His life assistant, who was following him, had heard this entire conversation. His face was as calm as water, but his heart was experiencing earthquake-like tremors.

Was his boss… flirting??

Wait! When did his boss start dating? He spent more than ten hours every day following his boss around and taking care of everything, how come he’d detected no signs of this???

Yu Yan’s voice went quieter. “L-let’s talk about it tonight . Are you about to board the flight?”

“It’s still early…” Yi Chen raised his eyes and motioned to the people behind him to go through the security check first. He would follow after them after having finished this call.

“I’ll wait for you,” the assistant quickly said.

Yi Chen nodded and walked to a quiet corner, leaving the two assistants to stand in their spot and look at each other with very confused eyes.

Yi Chen didn’t like to waste time in the airport. He would always step into the airport, and it wouldn’t be long before he boarded the plane after receiving his boarding pass. So he couldn’t chat for very long with Yu Yan before the broadcast system announcements started up.

Finally, one of the assistants came forward and reminded him, “President Yi, we’re going to board the plane soon…”

Yu Yan heard this, and immediately stopped speaking mid-sentence. “Then, you should board the plane first.”

“En.” Yi Chen said, and got ready to hang up.

“Then, when you get off the plane, send me a message,” the other side said suddenly.

Reporting a safe landing was a common practice, but Yi Chen seldom heard reminders of it. It was too common for him to fly here and there; sometimes, he would go out on multiple business trips, and his friends wouldn’t even know; his parents were always somewhere that had a big time difference with him.

There was no one waiting for him to report his safe landing to them.

Yi Chen held his cellphone, and his original feelings of being a little upset because of the impromptu business trip were suddenly soothed a lot.

“Alright.”

After hanging up the phone, Yu Yan’s smile deepened.

“Young man.” At the red light, the taxi driver stopped and chatted with him, “Girlfriend ?”

Most taxi drivers loved chatting, and Yu Yan would usually be perfunctory, but this time he blinked and said, “En… sweetheart.”

The word “sweetheart” felt a bit awkward coming out of his mouth. Everyone was used to using “boyfriend” or “girlfriend”, so the taxi driver was stunned when he heard it. Then he laughed and said, “Oh, very good. At your age, you should date. You’re so handsome, so there’s probably a lot of young women who like you ? Your girlfriend must constantly feel an impending sense of crisis.”

“No, no young women like me.” Yu Yan looked out of the window, thinking of his sweetheart. He couldn’t help muttering, “It’s me who should be the one feeling an impending sense of crisis.”That seemed to be the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Mo Nancheng said, “You know, when I go out and tell others that I’m your good bro, do you know how they all look at me? They all think I’m ridiculous. After all, Yi Chen, what do you see me as? You see me as a boot-licker, a fool who sticks his hot face to your cold ass every day. What bro am I calling myself here, isn’t that all a joke?”

“I sometimes also wonder why I fucking have to hold onto you all day long. Yes, your family’s business is big, but I don’t lack any meals from you. We’ve known each other for a long time, but I’m always the fucking one to take the intiative to invite you out, and I even have to beg, plead, and wait upon you to come. You’re handsome, but that has fuck all to do with me, I’m so straight, I could shoot up into the sky.”

“Then, I understood.”

Mo Nancheng said all this, and then paused.

In fact, he already had some regrets, but he had already said this much, and stopping this speech was already out of his control——

“I thought you seemed pitiful.”

Yi Chen stood upright, motionless and still, his face unchanged, but his eyes were heavy enough to scare people.

“Everyone always says, you, Yi Chen, are so awesome, so amazing. You just took over the company, and you pressed down on that group of relatives until they didn’t even dare to show their faces. Over the past few years, the company has grown larger and larger.”

“But what else do you have besides money?” Mo Nancheng asked.

“Friends—if you leave out your business partners, do you even need one hand to count up the number of friends you have?”

“Family—I won’t mention those relatives of yours, but even with Yi Ran, who you’re closer to—he’s no different from me in your eyes, all of us are just boot-licking dogs. Your parents—I fear they only think that their son is a Philistine, not caring about anything else but making money.”

“Love… haha.”

“You’ve nearly turned into a machine… so you tell me, are you pitiful or not?”

Mo Nancheng had thought that he was in a rage, but the more he said, the more upset he got, and the worse he felt.

The two of them remained silent for a long time after this.

The assistants standing below didn’t even dare to breathe, and no one dared to remind Yi Chen that it was time to go.

After a while, it was Yi Chen who made the first move.

He didn’t change his posture, and he didn’t get angry or ridicule him. He just asked, “Are you finished?”

Mo Nancheng: “…”

“If so, I’m leaving.” Yi Chen fastened his last cuff link and took two steps forward.

Then he stopped.

“Although I don’t really want to discuss these meaningless matters with you, I think it’s necessary to make a correction.”

He looked sideways at Mo Nancheng. “I have a boyfriend.”

Mo Nancheng was shocked and abruptly spun his head around. “That little anchor?”

“It has nothing to do with you.” Yi Chen’s tone was light, but his eyes were cold. “Also, if you really like a person, you should respect her choice and follow her ideas instead of accosting her at her door.”

Having finished saying that, Yi Chen left without looking back, bringing in a cool breeze.

When he got off the ship, the assistant hurried to meet him and asked cautiously, “President Yi… Where are we going?”

They’d been quarreling so violently up there just now. If it was a normal person, they wouldn’t be able to go work .

Yi Chen got into the car. “The company.”

After a while, the black car started.

Yi Chen looked out of the window.

Because of the material of the glass, even the best scenery would get covered with a layer of lifeless grey.

At last, there was a slight crack in his expression.

He subconsciously picked up his cellphone, and before he could react, he had already sent a message.

: Yanyan.

After looking at this message, he kept feeling like it was a bit dumb. Yi Chen opened the chat dialog box and just wanted to type “It’s nothing”, but before he could finish typing those words, his palm felt a bit of vibration.

Little Anchor: What’s the matter?

Little Anchor: [picture]

There was a bowl of hot and sour noodles with steam still coming out of it in the picture. It looked really delicious.

Little Anchor: I’m having lunch. The hot and sour noodles from this shop are really tasty. Next time you come to Manyang… I’ll take you to this shop to eat.

Little Anchor: Have you eaten yet?

Yi Chen held his cell phone tightly. He repeatedly opened the picture of the hot and sour noodles, and it felt like his originally unsettled heart had been safely and securely scooped up, and had even been kissed gently.

: Nothing much.

: Just miss you a little.

—

Juurensha: So sweet! (Although Yi Chen, you should probably talk to Yanyan about your fight with your bestie). Regarding the fight, I feel like while Yi Chen was in the right for not giving Mo Nancheng Lulu’s info (Mo Nancheng, that’s veering into stalker territory, and trying to convince your friend to use his authority over her as her boss to force her to talk to you is really not cool either), I also feel like Mo Nancheng has been biting back a lot of things he’s wanted to complain about about Yi Chen. He definitely didn’t have to be as mean and brutal as he was about it, like that went way over the line, but I have thought that Yi Chen doesn’t seem to treat him especially well. It does feel like sometimes he was just putting up with him, but if you’re besties, it has to be a two-way street.

xiin: … i want to stab Mo Nancheng wtf

Noks: That was brutal, Mo Nancheng. Part of it true, but part of it was just pure rage, and that’s gonna hurt both of you…

Some entries for the CG5k fanart contest:

Boss Yi by Neils:

And that scene of Yanyan and Boss Yi from that fanfic Yanyan read by lemonmangosteen:

Please check out and support the raws if you can!

And you guys can buy the published version here! Shipping was both cheap and fast!

And there’s an audio drama for PUBG that came out! It’s more condensed than the novel, but it’s fun!

And check out our fanart/fanfic page!