Yu Wenning realized something was off when he heard a low and soft inhalation sound coming from under the table. Thinking of how Lian Qing suddenly disappeared, he looked around and noticed one of the cameras was aimed at the table where he sat.
Yu Wenning immediately understood what was going on – it was Lian Qing playing a prank by hiding under the table to scare them. Without making a fuss, Yu Wenning lowered the heat and bent down to meet Lian Qing’s gaze, who was holding a half-eaten red potato chip and staring at him with wide eyes.
Lian Qing was caught off guard but quickly stuffed the remaining potato chip into his mouth, chewed and swallowed it, and then nervously said, “It’s a bit hot.”
Yu Wenning couldn’t help but laugh and suggested, “Blow on it then.”
Embarrassed, Lian Qing asked if Yu Wenning was angry at him for stealing food when he was cooking and unable to help. Yu Wenning kindly told him not to worry and encouraged him to eat openly since the food was made for him anyway.
TN: This is the part where my mom would have beat my ass. Yu Wenning, you’re a whipped man!
These words touched Lian Qing deeply, as he remembered how his master would scold him for stealing food while cooking. He realized how kind Yu Wenning was for allowing him to eat openly without judgment.
Lian Qing held Yu Wenning’s hand and peeked around under the table, relieved that no one else had noticed him.
Later, he remembered that his hand was still holding onto Yu Wenning’s hand, and he couldn’t help but use his fingers to gently rub it, sighing: “Your hand is really soft, unlike mine, which has a lot of calluses.” Since he started studying martial arts and helping his master chop firewood and cook since he was young, his hands looked slender and beautiful from the back, but when he turned them over, there were many old calluses on his palms and fingertips.
Holding Yu Wenning’s hand now, he felt that the texture was really comfortable, soft and tender, and couldn’t help but rub it a few more times.
Unbeknownst to him, those few strokes felt like tickling on Yu Wenning’s heart, making it hard for him to control himself. Fortunately, at that moment, Luo Zisheng suddenly came over and said, “Did you burn the food in the pot?”
Lian Qing quickly let go of Yu Wenning’s hand, took a glance at the pot, and then pulled Yu Wenning and asked, “Brother, what should we do?”
“It’s okay, I’ll handle it,” Yu Wenning said with some regret, glancing at Lian Qing’s hand holding onto his sleeve, and then calmly picked up the chopsticks and picked up the sweet potato chips in the pot…
Luo Zisheng looked at them in disgust from the side, he couldn’t believe that Yu Wenning was already so aware of his feelings without even pursuing him yet…
When it was completely dark, Lian Qing and Yu Wenning finally caught up with everyone else and had dinner.
Yu Wenning fried steaks, sweet potato chips, and made a meat sauce pasta, all of which looked rich and delicious. Lian Qing couldn’t help but salivate at the sight of the dishes. He turned around and picked up the kitchen knife, and cut the steak in half in one go. After comparing them, he gave the bigger piece to Yu Wenning and even said, “Thank you for helping me, you worked hard.”
Yu Wenning shook his head and said, “It’s okay, I’m used to cooking for myself, it’s not hard.” He then picked up the steak and put it back into Lian Qing’s plate, saying, “You eat the steak, I don’t really like it.”
“Last time, you also said you didn’t like fried eggs and ham, who is so picky?” Lian Qing wasn’t fooled this time, he put the steak back and said, “Eat it, otherwise I won’t dare to ask you for help next time.”
Yu Wenning had no choice but to take it and take a bite. They didn’t have knives and forks, so they had to use chopsticks to eat.
Qian Linsen, who was standing next to them, overheard their conversation and curiously asked, “Do you two know each other from before?”
Lian Qing nodded, “We are neighbors.”
Qian Linsen was surprised, “Neighbors? But wait, Little Monk, didn’t you say you were poor and had no money? How come you’re living in a villa area now?” The chairman of Yu Corporation lived in a certain villa area, and Qian Linsen knew that because one of his relatives lived there. The people there were either rich or powerful, and the value of the villas was in the billions.
“I’m not living in a villa. I live in an apartment arranged by the company,” Lian Qing said, puzzled. “Yu Wenning doesn’t live in a villa either. He lives next door to me. And, by the way, Zhao Chengyi lives across from me, but he’s always busy, so I haven’t met him yet since I moved in.”
Yu Wenning coughed lightly and said with a smile, “Living in a big house alone is quite uncomfortable. So, I recently moved out. It just so happened that I became neighbors with Lian Qing. It’s quite a coincidence.”
“So, you two met because you became neighbors?” Qian Linsen asked, gossiping. He always felt that Yu Wenning was not the type of person who would treat someone differently just because they were neighbors.
“No, we first met on the street,” Lian Qing said, looking at Yu Wenning, not knowing whether to continue.
But Yu Wenning didn’t mind and took over the conversation, “At that time, my car went out of control and almost hit someone. Lian Qing happened to pass by, saw the situation, and saved the person who was almost hit by my car. He indirectly helped me a lot.”
Suddenly, Luo Zisheng had a flash of realization and slapped his palm, shouting, “I remember now! Little Monk, you were on the hot search before, right? They said you saved someone who was almost hit by an out of control car on the street, the owner of the car was Mr. Yu?”
Yu Wenning nodded, “Yes. At that time, we didn’t know each other, and after he saved the person, he left before I had a chance to get his name and contact information.”
Thinking back to that incident, Lian Qing couldn’t help but smile, “Otherwise, how can we say that we are destined? We met in the community shortly after that. When we asked, we turned out to be neighbors.”
Luo Zisheng and Qian Linsen looked at each other, then smiled knowingly.
Li Chengsi said with a sigh, “You are really connected by fate…”
Lian Qing nodded, suddenly thought of something, and looked up at Yu Wenning, “Why don’t we become sworn brothers? Like in the TV shows, how about it?”
Luo Zisheng sprayed his soup all over Qian Linsen next to him, and Qian Linsen naturally refused to let it go and gave Luo Zisheng a beating. Sun Yazhi and Li Chengsi approached to break it up, half seriously and half jokingly, but of course they didn’t hesitate to use some underhanded tactics. With such a commotion, the four of them naturally had no time to ridicule the little monk.
Yu Wenning felt a mix of sourness, sweetness, and bitterness in his heart. He really didn’t want to become sworn brothers with the little monk…
He smiled softly and said, “Let’s forget about becoming sworn brothers. These things are no longer popular in modern society.”
“True…” Lian Qing couldn’t help but bite his chopsticks and thought for a moment before saying, “Anyway, I’ll still call you Big Brother from now on.” It wasn’t good to always call someone by their full name, and calling Yu Wenning Mr. Yu was not intimate enough. Calling him Big Brother was also appropriate, since Yu Wenning was several years older than him.
TN: Just call him husband😏.
Yu Wenning paused for a moment before slowly saying, “Okay.” At least they didn’t become sworn brothers.
The little monk happily ate his food with a smile on his face, his eyes lighting up after taking a bite of steak, and he ate it in big mouthfuls.
After dinner, he leaned back in his chair and rubbed his satisfied little belly, sighing, “Big Brother, if you were a girl, I might have fallen for you. Your cooking is too delicious!”
The sweet potatoes were golden brown and slightly crisp, the steak was fragrant and tender, and the pasta was sweet and sour and delicious. Lian Qing was so full that he wished he could chew his own tongue.
Yu Wenning paused in his motion of wiping his mouth, and asked in a low voice, “Do you only like girls?”
Lian Qing was momentarily stunned by the question. He thought about it seriously and shook his head, “I don’t know.”
He knew that there were people in the world who were “homosexuals,” and his classmates had explained it to him before. His classmates had also said that these people just happened to like people of the same sex, and it was a normal situation. They could also be homosexual, which was not strange or shameful.
Lian Qing had never liked anyone before, so he didn’t know if he would like a boy or a girl. He had just said what he said earlier because he had heard others ask him questions like “Do you like any girls?” too many times.
“You don’t know…” Yu Wenning realized for the first time that this answer was quite wonderful. At least, this answer gave him a glimmer of hope.
He lowered his head, covering his smile with a tissue, and stopped talking.
Later that night, Yu Wenning said goodbye to them and left the program group.
After sending him off, Lian Qing felt a bit reluctant, but quickly regained his composure and followed everyone to soak in the hot springs.
During their time in the hot springs, the program group didn’t assign them any tasks, allowing everyone to truly relax for once. They talked and laughed together, occasionally splashing water at each other and having fun, creating a harmonious atmosphere.
Among them, Lian Qing was the one who was teased and joked around with the most. Not only because he was young, but also because he was the only one among them who was thin when dressed and had six-pack abs when undressed.
The four uncles were deeply envious and jealous when they saw his body, and couldn’t resist teasing him. Lian Qing was outnumbered and couldn’t defend himself, especially in the water, so he was touched all over by the four seniors. The only thing he could do was to tightly guard his swim trunks…
After the fun in the hot springs, everyone returned to the lounge and started chatting. Since Lian Qing had only recently entered the industry, many people didn’t know him and he didn’t know much about things, so he mostly listened and rarely spoke.
Since Luo Zisheng had been a host before, he noticed this and specifically brought up the topic of Lian Qing, smiling while asking, “Little Monk, did you have fun on this program? Will you come back next time?”
Lian Qing instinctively tugged at his pants and honestly replied, “I did have fun, and I’ll come back as long as you guys don’t pull down my pants again.”
He was almost stripped of his pants in the hot springs, which scared him to death. He had never shown his private parts to anyone except his master and junior apprentice brother.
Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then burst into laughter, “Hahaha, hehehehe…”
Certified member of the IIO(International Introverts Organization), PhD holder in Overthinking and Ghosting, Spokesperson for BOBAH(Benefits of Being a Homebody), Founder of SFA(Salted Fish Association), Brand Ambassador for Couch Potato fall line Pajama set.
