Chapter 51: The End

The lucky draw event at “Musong” was quite simple. The host brought over a box and had everyone draw a piece of paper at random. Each paper had a number on it, and whether someone won depended entirely on luck.

The number on Song Wenzhou’s paper was 122, and when Mu Chi saw the number, he exaggeratedly exclaimed, “Wow!”

Song Wenzhou: “?”

“Don’t you remember?” Mu Chi gave him a forlorn look. “We got together on January 22nd.”

“Ah, is that so?” Song Wenzhou felt guilty and quickly changed the subject. “How come you drew one too? Are you giving out your own prizes?”

Mu Chi snorted, clearly still upset that Song Wenzhou forgot their anniversary. He didn’t let Song Wenzhou’s awkward attempt at changing the topic distract him.

Song Wenzhou thought for a moment and realized that Mu Chi did indeed give him gifts every January 22nd. However, Mu Chi gave him presents so often that he hadn’t really noticed any particular significance.

Moreover, Mu Chi never told him what the gift was for, and even when Song Wenzhou hadn’t returned the gesture, Mu Chi hadn’t shown any reaction.

In the end, it was Mu Chi’s fault for not reminding him. Yes, that’s right.

“Alright, don’t be angry. Let me see your number,” Song Wenzhou said as he opened the piece of paper in Mu Chi’s hand. “Wow, you’re 78—”

Mu Chi: “?”

“Don’t you remember?” Song Wenzhou also made a sad expression. “July 8th is the day we first met.”

Mu Chi: “???”

Song Wenzhou shrugged. “Now we’re even.”

Mu Chi stared at him, feeling like Song Wenzhou thought he was a fool.

After all, Song Wenzhou had only transferred to their class in the first semester of sophomore year, and Mu Chi remembered very clearly that Song Wenzhou joined the school almost a week after it had already started. How could it have been July?

Forget it, Mu Chi quickly convinced himself. It was rare for Song Wenzhou to make up silly stories to cheer him up, so he decided not to argue.

After everyone had drawn their numbers, the host announced the prizes.

There were 30 third-place prizes, each worth 2,000 yuan.

There were 20 second-place prizes, each worth 5,000 yuan.

And there were 10 first-place prizes, each worth 10,000 yuan.

Song Wenzhou: “…”

Song Wenzhou: “Can you make it any more simple and direct?”

Mu Chi raised an eyebrow. “I did think about having the assistant buy things, but I realized that money is the most straightforward thing. Besides, I think they really like it.”

Indeed, Song Wenzhou noticed that everyone else looked genuinely surprised. Mu Chi was wealthy and generous, and there were about 200 people in total attending today, with 60 prizes. The odds of winning were quite high.

Song Wenzhou squeezed the 122 number in his hand, thinking that his luck was decent when he played cards during the New Year, so he should be able to win today, right?

Mu Chi passed his own number to Song Wenzhou and buttoned his suit jacket as he walked onto the stage to present the awards.

The assistant stood behind him, holding a tray piled with 60 plump red envelopes.

The host brought over another box, and Mu Chi randomly picked out a slip of paper, with the corresponding number being the winner.

Song Wenzhou focused intently on Mu Chi’s actions, listening as he read out one number after another, watching as he handed out red envelopes one by one.

The third prize was announced, but there was no 122.

Halfway through the second prize, 122 still hadn’t appeared.

Song Wenzhou didn’t believe it. He was confident in his luck. If he didn’t win in the remaining second prize draws, he was certain that he would win the first prize and take it home, saving Mu Chi 10,000 yuan!

Mu Chi, on stage, was unaware that Song Wenzhou had taken his words so seriously. He read out the number he was holding: “78.”

In Song Wenzhou’s line of sight, a pale white hand slowly rose, two slender fingers holding a slip of paper. Song Wenzhou was a little surprised: “It’s yours.”

The crowd immediately erupted into teasing.

“Ah, sorry everyone, I’ve won,” Mu Chi lowered his head and looked at Song Wenzhou, “Mr. Song, could you help me collect my prize?”

In the corner, Shi Mu raised his head. He couldn’t tell if it was his imagination, but Mu Chi had been much more gentle when calling Song Wenzhou to the stage than he had been with others earlier.

It wasn’t just Shi Mu, most of the people present were thinking the same thing.

Song Wenzhou walked up to the stage. Unlike earlier, Mu Chi didn’t just hand over the red envelope and be done with it. He held him on stage for a while, congratulating him with so many words that it felt like they were waiting for him to give an acceptance speech.

Even though it was Mu Chi who had won the prize, it was so annoying.

That shameless person even pinched his fingers while giving him the red envelope.

When Song Wenzhou came down from the stage, he noticed that more and more people were live-streaming from behind.

After this little interlude, Mu Chi continued drawing the remaining prizes seriously. Unfortunately, even by the end of the first prize draw, 122 still hadn’t been called.

Perhaps Mu Chi’s number was in his hand too, and his luck had been used up on 78, Song Wenzhou thought. He couldn’t consider his luck bad, at least, between the two of them, they had won a second prize, saving Mu Chi 5,000 yuan.

The assistant’s tray of red envelopes had been handed out, but Mu Chi didn’t immediately leave the stage.

He took the microphone off the stand, walked toward Song Wenzhou’s seat, squatted down, and blinked. “Mr. Song, didn’t you win anything?”

Song Wenzhou didn’t speak. He crossed his arms and leaned back, curious about what Mu Chi was up to.

“Don’t be discouraged,” Mu Chi gave a symbolic consolation, “When the assistant moved the box earlier, I picked out a slip of paper too.”

He revealed the small folded paper in his palm. “Actually, besides the earlier prizes, there’s one grand prize left, and it’s a single winner.”

Song Wenzhou played along, making an expression of sudden realization.

“Zhouzhou,” Mu Chi stopped pretending, calling him directly, “Do you think the winner will be you?”

Song Wenzhou nodded without hesitation, “Yes.”

Mu Chi suddenly burst into laughter, “You’re so confident in your luck.”

Song Wenzhou wasn’t confident, he was absolutely certain that Mu Chi had manipulated the draw.

Of course, the numbers drawn earlier were indeed chosen at random, but his 122 number was most likely taken by the assistant before the box was lifted onto the stage.

Mu Chi treasured Song Wenzhou so much that he couldn’t possibly let him watch others win while he went home empty-handed.

Although Song Wenzhou was just joining in for the fun, not caring about the small prize money, or perhaps could have won based on his own luck, Mu Chi wouldn’t let him rely on luck. Mu Chi wanted certainty. How could Song Wenzhou not have what others had? Mu Chi not only wanted him to have it, but to also have the best prize.

The ten first prizes wouldn’t do, only the unique grand prize would be acceptable.

“Alright.” Mu Chi unfolded the slip of paper, “Congratulations, you guessed right. Please come up and claim your prize again.”

A wave of exclamations filled the hall, everyone could see this was Mu Chi’s way of pampering his loved one.

Song Wenzhou appeared calm on the surface, but his ears were burning hot. He still wasn’t used to showing affection in front of so many people. Yet Mu Chi, ever since childhood, had been one to love drawing attention to himself. It wasn’t enough for him to stand out, he had to drag Song Wenzhou into the spotlight as well.

What could the grand prize be? Based on Mu Chi’s nature, it wouldn’t be just 100,000 yuan, right?

Song Wenzhou thought as he climbed the steps.

Behind him, in the crowd he couldn’t see, another batch of people raised their phones and opened live-streaming platforms. By this point, half of the people in the room had started streaming, but they all tacitly remained silent.

Many fans, having received the notification that their favorite host had started streaming, entered the live stream one by one. Instead of seeing the host’s face, they saw two unfamiliar but handsome young men.

The fans were confused and bombarded the comments section with question marks. However, the hosts didn’t respond, so they had to guess for themselves.

Some fans had been following the host for a longer time and knew the host sometimes interacted with other hosts from the same company. Therefore, they guessed that the two young men on stage were also signed artists of “Musong Media.”

Others followed several hosts from “Musong,” and in the live stream of the host who started earlier, they had already figured out that the two men were the CEO and the second-in-command of “Musong.” They rushed to the new live stream to answer the questions.

【By the way, about the relationship between these two bosses… I’m already shipping them!】

—

All of this was unknown to Song Wenzhou. Right now, he was standing alone on stage—Mu Chi was about to give him his prize but noticed the assistant had forgotten to bring it. He told Song Wenzhou to wait and ran off to get it himself.

As Song Wenzhou watched Mu Chi walk toward his assistant, the lights in the hall suddenly went out, plunging everything into darkness.

His eyes couldn’t adjust to the sudden darkness, and Song Wenzhou couldn’t see anything. He instinctively called out Mu Chi’s name.

There was some commotion around him, but he didn’t hear Mu Chi’s reply.

Was there a power outage? No, the music hadn’t stopped and had even switched to a different song.

…Who could be so leisurely as to change the music at a time like this?

Song Wenzhou didn’t dare move around, afraid of falling off the stage. He widened his eyes, trying to make out anyone’s silhouette.

The darkness stretched the moment out, though it had only been around ten seconds. The lights flickered back on, now glowing with a warm yellow hue.

The already beautifully decorated room now looked even softer and sweeter.

Mu Chi, holding a bouquet of flowers, stood in front of Song Wenzhou, smiling.

Song Wenzhou realized something and immediately turned his head to look at the people below holding their phones, wondering why they hadn’t stopped the broadcast yet.

“Zhouzhou,” Mu Chi called softly.

Song Wenzhou came back to his senses and noticed that Mu Chi’s hand holding the microphone was trembling slightly.

“I…” Mu Chi’s voice was a little hoarse, and he licked his dry lips. “I have a lot to say to you.”

“I’ve been preparing for a long time, but I didn’t expect to be this nervous. I didn’t prepare any notes, so if I forget my words later, don’t laugh at me.”

Song Wenzhou curved the corner of his lips. He was nervous too, but he had never seen Mu Chi so genuinely nervous, which made him feel much calmer in contrast.

“We’ve known each other for almost ten years, and I’m so grateful that you’ve been part of my life. I’ve always regretted not being clear with you before I went abroad, which caused us to miss a lot of time, but thankfully, after I came back, you still haven’t changed.”

“In these past few years we’ve been together, I’ve never felt secure. I want to see you all the time, to hear you talk more, so sometimes I end up annoying you.”

“No.” Song Wenzhou softly interjected.

How could he not feel insecure? The relationship between two men, even if they didn’t care about the opinions of others, still had many challenges.

“Really? That’s great.” Mu Chi couldn’t stay serious anymore. “I was about to say, this is something I might not be able to change. In the future, I’ll still cling to you like I used to. If you find me annoying again, feel free to hit me or scold me, just don’t run away from home.”

Song Wenzhou: “…”

On various live-streaming platforms, in dozens or even hundreds of streams, the comments section had exploded.

Those who had been shipping Mu Chi and Song Wenzhou as a couple had undoubtedly just witnessed the most genuine and swift public declaration of a couple ever.

“I didn’t get your permission to let people from all over the country watch this scene today, but I just couldn’t hold back from wanting the whole world to know how much I like you. You can blame me later.”

“Everyone is a witness. This is definitely the last time I do something behind your back. From now on, I’ll tell you everything I plan to do. If you disagree, I won’t do it.”

“The bed matters will have to be discussed in private later.”

Mu Chi took out the wedding rings from his suit pocket, knelt down on one knee, and looked into Song Wenzhou’s eyes. “So, Zhouzhou, would you let me cook for you for the rest of our lives?”

Song Wenzhou looked back at him, quietly responded with an “Mm” but didn’t make a sound. He cleared his throat and said, “I do.”

The two of them on stage exchanged rings, and the long-silent streamers came back to life, shouting for the couple to kiss.

Mu Chi, true to his word, first asked for Song Wenzhou’s opinion. “Is it okay if they watch?”

Song Wenzhou shyly lifted his head. “Just once.”

The kiss lasted a bit longer than expected, causing many live streams to be forcibly shut down. The few surviving streams were soon flooded with fans rushing in, and they would likely be shutting down soon as well.

Once the kiss ended, Mu Chi said, “You all have fun,” and with that, he put down the microphone and dragged Song Wenzhou away.

Mu Chi took Song Wenzhou to the mountaintop. They lay side by side on the grass, the excitement fading away to leave only peace.

The city lights were too bright, and only a few dim stars could be seen in the night sky.

“The moon is pretty round tonight,” Mu Chi said as he turned to Song Wenzhou. “Doesn’t it feel like it’s just right for the moment?”

Song Wenzhou hummed softly, his eyes closed as he drifted off to sleep.

Mu Chi smiled and leaned in to kiss his cheek. “When I was in the UK, I used to sit alone at night, looking at the moon, imagining that you might be doing the same thing as me.”

Song Wenzhou held back but couldn’t help saying, “We have a time difference.”

Mu Chi: “…”

Forget it, he wasn’t cut out for anything artistic.

“Actually, I wanted to ask you, should we go to the UK to get married, or… wait a bit?”

Song Wenzhou opened his eyes and stared at the round moon. After a while, he said, “I want to wait.”

If they could wait, they would get married in their home country. If not, it was okay—they would spend their lives together like this.

Mu Chi had expected him to choose this, and smiled as he said, “Alright, I’ll go with your choice.”

The End

Translated By JustMeow18