Chapter 15: Another Round

Xie Jing fell into a mysterious silence again.

The sofa remained quiet for a while before Jian Mingzhou, still in a contemplative state, spoke, “Xiao Jing, do you have a younger sister?”

Xie Jing looked at him and said, “No.”

“Oh, is your relationship with your sister good?”

“…Uncle, I said I don’t have one.”

Jian Mingzhou pinched his brow. “Then under what circumstances would you break ties with your sister?”

Xie Jing remained silent.

He probably wasn’t even listening to him.

Watching the furrowed brows, Jian Mingzhou said after a moment, “It’s when something you least want to happen occurs.”

Jian Mingzhou thought for a moment, “Hmm, makes sense.”

Xie Jing glanced at him. So he only selectively listened to what he said.

Having adopted the earlier suggestion, Jian Mingzhou rephrased his script and sat up, reopening WeChat. On WeChat, He Yu was still excitedly messaging him.

【Happy Xiao Yu】: Where’s my sister? Where’s my sister?

Jian Mingzhou adjusted his mood and typed heavily: In my blacklist.

【Happy Xiao Yu】:?

【Mingzhou】: I haven’t mentioned it before, but we’ve already severed ties.

【Happy Xiao Yu】: [Scared me into hugging my little goldfish! ] Why?

【Mingzhou】: She stuffed all the BL manga she bought into my room, and my parents found out.

After sending the message, he added, To eliminate any future  problems, BL manga is now a forbidden topic between us.”

The message was sent, and the other side remained silent for a long time.

Jian Mingzhou reviewed the conversation: heavy emotions, meticulous thoughts. Well, it should be fine.

Just as he was thinking this, his phone vibrated.

【Happy Xiao Yu】: Will breaking ties with your sister really happen because of this?

… Was the impact not enough?

【Happy Xiao Yu】: But I’ve always been secretly hiding BL manga at Big Cousin’s place.

Jian Mingzhou:!!!

His eyelashes trembled, and he replied with shock: And he has no objections?

【Happy Xiao Yu】: [Shy] Big Cousin hasn’t noticed~

Jian Mingzhou took a deep breath. “…”

He dared not think about what would happen if He Lucheng ever found out, or if his parents found out, or if his colleagues and friends found out…

No, the immersion was too strong.

He was already sitting on a spaceship.

Xie Jing returned with the water and stopped in front of him. “…Uncle, did you infiltrate someone’s life again?”

Jian Mingzhou closed his eyes and leaned against his forehead. “…I’m just tired lately.”

…

This trance-like state persisted until Monday.

Upon seeing Xia Ye’s stern face, Jian Mingzhou’s wandering thoughts finally settled.

Indeed, no matter when it was, the face of a superior could instantly bring a person back to reality.

He stared at Xia Ye’s face to ground himself.

The little fish on the opposite side was wriggling again. “Why is the deputy editor always watching the editor-in-chief?”

Xia Ye raised his head, adjusting his glasses with a serious look. “Office romances are prohibited.”

Jian Mingzhou, “…”

Who wants to develop a BL relationship with you?

But as he looked at Xia Ye’s punchable face, he suddenly remembered the point that he had almost forgotten. Jian Mingzhou pursed his lips, seemingly casually asking,

“Did you call Editor-in-Chief He over the weekend?”

“Oh, yes, I did.”

“Did he pick up?”

“Of course he did,” Xia Ye replied seriously, but his face darkened suddenly. “But can you imagine? In the background noise, there was actually a record player playing.”

“I was working tirelessly on the planning report all weekend, and he was casually drinking coffee and listening to CDs!”

Jian Mingzhou’s lips curled: Oh!

Xia Ye, perceptive, asked, “…What are you smiling about?”

“It’s nothing. I thought of something happy.” Jian Mingzhou hinted at him, “You probably don’t know; Editor-in-Chief He never answers calls from colleagues on weekends.”

“What?” Xia Ye leaned back warily. “We’re not in the same department; what counts as colleagues?”

Jian Mingzhou mimicked him, “Oh~”

Xia Ye’s gaze suddenly turned frosty. “To be honest, are you retaliating against me for saying that you were drunk and lived together with your roommate?”

Jian Mingzhou also had a sharp retort!

Mid-sentence, a loud shout interrupted them:

“Damn!!! Deputy Editor—”

“What?” Jian Mingzhou turned his head.

Editor Qian Qian was waving frantically at the computer screen, motioning for him to come over.

Jian Mingzhou approached for a closer look.

On the computer, the Weibo webpage was open, displaying posts from readers about the signing event last Saturday. Surprisingly, there were a few posts with his photos in various blog posts:

【Lighthouse of Changming】: #HD Joint Signing Event# Met many big names over the weekend, so excited! There’s also a super handsome guy on the scene [images][images]

【Ruyu0129】: #HD Joint Signing Event# Help! I saw the handsome guy from the manga! [image]

…

Clicking on the images, you could see Jian Mingzhou in a white shirt standing in the center of the venue. Under the spotlight, his profile was clear, with a gentle smile on his lips.

The image was clean and pleasing to the eye.

Immediately, someone in the comments asked:

“Is this a teacher?”

“I’m at the scene! He’s an editor; I talked to Teacher Xiaolu.”

Jian Mingzhou felt a tightness in his chest.

“No, no, I also greeted other teachers; it seems like he’s in charge or something!”

He breathed a sigh of relief: … scared him a bit.

Xia Ye looked at his expression and said, “I don’t want people to know you’re a BL editor; why act so high-profile?”

Jian Mingzhou was incredulous. Where was he being high-profile?

He stated, “I just appeared at my desk normally.”

“Look at these photos, just like your personal press conference; is that normal?”

“…”

Qianqian was flipping and exclaiming on the side, “Wow, this angle, this clarity! If I didn’t know, I’d think you were a stand-in for a sister, Deputy Editor.”

Jian Mingzhou turned his head and asked, “What’s a stand-in for a sister?”

As soon as he said that, everyone around him looked at him.

After a while, Xia Ye spoke softly, “Mingzhou, occasionally open the window and look at the three-dimensional world.”

Jian Mingzhou, “…”

—

Fortunately, these posts only received some attention within a small circle.

The signing event was not exclusively for BL, so his role as a BL editor wasn’t exposed.

Jianming Zhou quickly pushed this episode to the back of his mind.

These days, Xie Jing seems to be in a not-so-good mood.

Although he still had that casual and indifferent appearance, after spending days and nights together, Jian Mingzhou could still keenly sense a difference in his usual atmosphere.

Adding to that, Xie Chi was sneakily infiltrating his conversations, inquiring, “How’s Xiao Jing recently?”

Jianming Zhou felt like Xie Chi was jumping around like an assassin, keeping track of his family’s movements.

He responded with a straightforward answer: “Eating and sleeping.”

Xie Chi seemed to choke a bit, then went back into hiding.

And so, two days passed.

On Wednesday, when Jian Mingzhou returned home after work, he saw Xie Jing preparing dinner at the kitchen counter.

“Xiao Jing.”

“Back? Uncle.”

Xie Jing’s lips curved slightly, but his eyelashes drooped lightly.

“Yeah.” Jian Mingzhou walked over to wash his hands next to him, thought for a moment, and then asked, “Not in a good mood?”

Xie Jing’s peeling action paused for a moment. “Very obvious?”

“Not concealed.”

A soft laugh suddenly fell beside them.

“Nothing, I…”

Just then, the nearby phone suddenly buzzed. Xie Jing’s smile quickly faded. She glanced at it but didn’t pay it any mind.

“Aren’t you going to answer?”

“Ignore it.”

The ringing lasted for about ten seconds before it was disconnected.

The kitchen returned to quietude, and Jian Mingzhou, watching Xie Jing’s profile, noticed a hint of melancholy between his deep brows.

He was about to say something when Xie Jing, as if casually chatting, spoke: “I was asked to attend a gathering at home, but I’m not interested, so I didn’t bother picking up.”

Jian Mingzhou remembered that Xie Jing’s family was quite wealthy.

Unexpectedly, at such a young age, he was being summoned back for a meeting…

His gaze flickered, and he cared softly, “Is it a board meeting, a quarterly report, or something?”

Xie Jing, seriously peeling potatoes, interrupted, “It’s just a social, eating kind of banquet.”

“…”

Jian Mingzhou’s sympathy vanished in an instant.

Wasn’t that just an upscale buffet? Why not go?

Thinking of the buffet, his throat moved.

Just when he was about to casually ask, “When are you going?” the words slipped out, “How long until we eat?”

“…” Xie Jing.

The kitchen fell into silent stillness for a moment.

Jian Mingzhou closed his eyes with the Memory Erasure Technique.

After a moment, Xie Jing suddenly chuckled, “Uncle, hungry? Then let’s eat early.”

He opened his eyes, nodded calmly, and said, “Yeah.”

Saying they’d eat early, Jian Mingzhou also joined in to help.

Standing next to Xie Jing, chopping green peppers, before he finished cutting two, the phone placed nearby suddenly vibrated.

—Xie Chi sent him some video.

Jian Mingzhou’s hands were occupied, so he glanced at it but didn’t watch. The next second, a call came in.

He was about to answer when Xie Jing said, “Don’t let Uncle know I’m here; just say I’m not around if asked.”

“?”

“Fear, he knows, and he’ll come as a mediator.”

Jian Mingzhou just nodded and answered the call.

As soon as the call connected, Xie Chi’s loud voice immediately echoed through half of the living room: “Mingzhou, what are you doing?”

“Preparing dinner.”

“Cow horse… I mean, what about Xie Jing?”

“I didn’t come back today.”

“Tsk… this kid. Forget about him; did you watch the video?”

“What video?”

“I just saw it! There’s a blogger called ‘Handsome Guy in the Folk;’ the latest video has your pictures!”

Damn? Jian Mingzhou was side-eyed.

At the same time, Xie Jing also cast a glance at him.

Xie Chi asked, “When did you take this, and why did you post it online?”

Jianming Zhou explained to the phone, “Taken during work. I was the person in charge at the event.”

“Wow! No wonder.” Xie Chi praised him with full force. “You’ve really blossomed these past two years; look at that appearance; they captured you so well!”

 “…” Jian Mingzhou looked silently over, calm as a snowy field.

After Xie Chi finished praising himself, he started reading the comments.

“Look, someone praises you as the main character in a manga… and this one says you have a first love face…”

Jian Mingzhou’s gaze warmed slightly.

Indeed, some words are more pleasant to hear.

“Oh, this one!” Xie Chi suddenly said. “The most liked comment says something about immortal quality… gentle and restrained abstinence.”

Jian Mingzhou remained reserved. “It’s not that…”

Xie Chi interrupted, “But what about that ‘circle’?”

Jian Mingzhou paused while cutting green peppers. “What ‘circle’?”

The other side quieted down, as if studying.

The brief silence made both Xie Jing and Jian Mingzhou unconsciously look over. Then Xie Chi said,

“Following ‘immortal quality and gentle and restrained abstinence,’ there’s a ‘circle.'”

“…”

Jian Mingzhou’s knife shook suddenly.

What circle? Isn’t that ABO’s ‘O’?