Chapter 41

When Su Xingyao returned to the villa, he found some materials piled up in the yard, and several workers were busy moving in and out.

Aunt Zhang stood by the lawn and waved enthusiastically when she saw him.

“Xiao Su, you’re back!”

Su Xingyao looked at the workers moving the materials, rolling his suitcase over to Aunt Zhang. “Aunt Zhang, what are they doing?”

Aunt Zhang pointed towards the building behind the villa.

“Mr. Lu wants to renovate that building.”

Su Xingyao followed Aunt Zhang’s gaze and looked over.

From what he knew, the Lu family’s villa was already very well decorated.

Logically, there was no need to renovate midway.

However, Su Xingyao didn’t pry into other people’s private preferences, so he didn’t ask further.

He walked past the renovation materials and into the villa, but then glanced back again.

He felt that the materials looked somewhat familiar.

After returning to his bedroom, Su Xingyao took out the dog costume and began cleaning it.

Next, he watered the juice plants on the room’s balcony.

After finishing these tasks, he took out paper and a pen, habitually starting to sketch on it.

The next competition would be in two weeks. During this time, he needed to design the mascot costume for the third round.

For the first two competitions, his costume ideas came from existing themes. He was so familiar with the images of Sunset and Coral that as soon as he started drawing, the final design came to him almost immediately.

But this time, he was a bit clueless.

A panda, a little white rabbit, a snow leopard…

There were many animal options in his mind, but when he picked up the pen, he found himself strangely unable to draw.

Su Xingyao, frustrated, lowered his head, absently waving the pen near his cheek, lost in thought as he stared at the discarded sketches.

It was really frustrating when there was no inspiration, no matter how hard he tried, nothing seemed right.

He sat there, deep in thought, not sure how much time had passed.

It wasn’t until the evening when he heard a polite knock on the door that he snapped back to reality.

Su Xingyao stood up to open the door, and was greeted by the sight of Lu Jiuxu, who couldn’t help laughing when he saw him.

Lu Jiuxu’s gaze moved from top to bottom.

First, he scanned the slightly furrowed brows of Su Xingyao, then his eyes settled on the three red marks on his left cheek.

They looked like cat whiskers.

“You turned into Coral,” Lu Jiuxu said.

“Huh?”

Su Xingyao looked at him in confusion.

Coral?

Seeing that Su Xingyao hadn’t realized the cat-related reference, Lu Jiuxu reached up and drew three lines on his own face. “There are three red marks here.”

Finally, Su Xingyao understood.

He picked up the pen in his hand and immediately noticed that the pen had leaked ink when he was distracted earlier…

Su Xingyao quickly grabbed a wet wipe and wiped the spots on his cheek where Lu Jiuxu had pointed.

He then looked up at Lu Jiuxu. “Is it better now?”

Lu Jiuxu, acting as a human mirror, reassured him, “There’s still a bit here.”

Following the directions, Su Xingyao rubbed the left side of his face hard with the tissue.

Because he was wiping so forcefully, his cheek turned red almost instantly.

Unable to bear watching Su Xingyao treat his beautiful face so roughly, Lu Jiuxu gently intervened.

“Here.”

In a soft voice, he helped Su Xingyao, using the tissue to gently erase the final mark from his face.

Compared to Su Xingyao’s rough movements, Lu Jiuxu’s touch was much gentler.

But the patience in his gentle touch caused Su Xingyao to become a bit dazed when his cheek and Lu Jiuxu’s fingers briefly brushed against each other through the thin wet wipe.

“All done.”

When Lu Jiuxu tossed the used wet wipe into the trash, he noticed a pile of crumpled papers inside.

“What’s going on here?”

Su Xingyao, stuck in a creative block, gestured toward the half-finished sketch. “I can’t come up with any ideas for the mascot costume for the next competition.”

After speaking, he shook his head in frustration as he looked at the drawing.

“I just can’t get any inspiration today.”

Lu Jiuxu picked up the unfinished sketch, looking at it against the backdrop of the sunset.

He didn’t comment on how well Su Xingyao had drawn it but instead offered a suggestion.

“Since you can’t draw it, how about we go out for hotpot?”

Lu Jiuxu’s narrow eyes curved slightly as he smiled. “Maybe you’ll get inspired when we come back.”

Having spent the entire afternoon drawing without producing a satisfactory result, Su Xingyao knew that staying stuck wouldn’t help.

Lu Jiuxu’s suggestion hit the mark, and Su Xingyao, who hadn’t had hotpot in a long time, put down his paintbrush, met Lu Jiuxu’s gaze, and nodded in agreement.

“Let’s go then.”

He then reached for his phone, preparing to head out.

But the moment he found his phone, Su Xingyao habitually turned on the screen to check the time.

That’s when he noticed that Lu Zhiyun had sent him a message an hour ago.

“Zhiyun said he’s on his way and wants to stay over tonight.”

Su Xingyao relayed this message to Lu Jiuxu, who was still waiting for him, then hesitated and asked, “So, are we still going out?”

Lu Jiuxu didn’t answer immediately. After a brief pause, he spoke.

“Then let’s invite him along.”

Su Xingyao immediately passed the message on to Lu Zhiyun, inviting him to join them for hotpot.

But there was no reply from him.

Guessing that Lu Zhiyun might be driving, Su Xingyao figured he must be getting close and decided to put on a mask and wait for him downstairs.

Just as he went downstairs, he saw a flashy yellow sports car boldly drive into Lu Jiuxu’s driveway.

The sports car circled the garden path, heading straight and finally stopped in front of Su Xingyao.

Lu Zhiyun, sitting in the car, coolly pushed his sunglasses up, resting one hand on the steering wheel, and flashed a bright smile, raising an eyebrow at Su Xingyao.

“Susu, get in the car. I’ll take you for a spin with my new wife.”

Lu Jiuxu, who had been walking behind Su Xingyao, gave a quick glance at Lu Zhiyun, who looked like a peacock spreading its feathers, and spoke up suddenly.

“We’re going to Nanhai Bay for hotpot. Are you sure your wife can handle a spin?”

The road to Nanhai Bay passed through the city center, so there was no way to enjoy a breeze!

Finally, sitting in the passenger seat of Lu Jiuxu’s equally expensive but much more low-key car, Su Xingyao couldn’t help but look back when they passed the busiest part of the city center.

Behind them, the flashy, attention-grabbing sports car was now stuck in traffic, crawling along at barely twenty miles per hour.

As for Lu Zhiyun, the driver of the sports car, he had long since tossed his standard-issue sunglasses aside.

He listened to the words, “Aston Martin blocked, Rolls-Royce blocked…” his eyes fixed on the red light, frowning as he obediently waited in the long line of cars.

After more than an hour of driving, the three finally reached Nanhai Bay.

Although they had encountered some rush hour traffic along the way, fortunately, the place wasn’t crowded.

Lu Jiuxu had reserved a more private room, and as soon as they arrived, the waiter led them in.

The owner, who was a friend of Lu Jiuxu, greeted him at the door and exchanged pleasantries.

Seeing that his brother hadn’t entered yet, Lu Zhiyun, who had been sitting across from Su Xingyao, moved over to the seat beside him. He started ordering food and brought up something they hadn’t finished discussing earlier.

“Susu, do you have time on June 1st? I’ll take you for a spin with my first wife!”

Fearing Su Xingyao might misunderstand, he quickly reassured him. “Don’t worry, there won’t be any traffic in that place!”

Hearing Lu Zhiyun constantly mention “wife,” Su Xingyao almost got distracted from his original thoughts.

It turned out Lu Zhiyun also liked sports cars.

That was a hobby similar to Qin Mingchuan’s.

“So, what do you think, Susu?”

Not many could refuse such a passionate look from Lu Zhiyun.

Su Xingyao was also surprised.

After checking that his schedule for recording the show didn’t overlap, Su Xingyao agreed.

Once they had agreed on a time, Lu Zhiyun started gossiping with Su Xingyao about other things.

He leaned in closer to Su Xingyao, lowered his voice, and mysteriously said, “Susu, I’m going to share a huge secret with you.”

After speaking, he glanced at the door.

Once he confirmed that no one was entering, he spoke quietly.

“I recently found out that my brother is actually a fan of a celebrity!”

Lu Zhiyun emphasized the last three words, making them stand out.

After hearing this bombshell, Su Xingyao looked at him, confused. “What?”

Lu Zhiyun was so excited about discovering his brother’s new hobby that his curiosity couldn’t be contained. He quickly pulled out his phone and found the show.

“This one, the super popular cat lately.”

With intense curiosity but no filter, Lu Zhiyun excitedly shared everything with Su Xingyao.

“That day when I was looking for him, my workaholic brother actually skipped work to watch a live stream…”

“And I seriously suspect that he knows this person because the headgear they wore was the same as ours—Sunset and Coral—and even the name is exactly the same.”

After finishing, Lu Zhiyun looked at Su Xingyao, now seriously asking, “Susu, you have a good relationship with my brother and are in the entertainment industry—do you know this person?”

He chuckled mischievously, “Actually, I’ve been following the show too… I’m pretty curious about it.”

After hearing Lu Zhiyun’s mysterious tale, Su Xingyao suddenly didn’t know how to respond.

Should he tell him that he knows this person, and… that they’re right in front of him?

Just as Su Xingyao was about to reveal the truth, Lu Jiuxu came back into the room.

As he walked past Lu Zhiyun, his long fingers landed on his shoulder, giving it a light tap, and the corners of his eyes lifted in a charming smile.

“Next time you share my secrets, could you keep your voice down?”

Lu Zhiyun, like a child caught in the act by a parent, instantly deflated.

He tilted his head to look at his brother, pleading, “No, no, my focus was actually on the last sentence…”

Seeing Lu Zhiyun suddenly turn into a big puppy in front of Lu Jiuxu, Su Xingyao couldn’t help but laugh.

He then pulled out a photo of when he had just finished the mascot costume, with Lu Jiuxu, Coral, and Sunset posing with it.

He handed the phone to Lu Zhiyun.

After looking at the photo, Lu Zhiyun stared at Su Xingyao, his eyes wide in disbelief, for a long time.

“Susu, you’re amazing!”

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Lu Zhiyun finally managed to say this.

No wonder his brother takes the live stream so seriously!

Once Lu Zhiyun realized this, he suddenly understood that he might be one of only two people in the entire internet who knew the identity of Cat.

Thinking of this, Lu Zhiyun felt a sense of joy, as if he had unknowingly learned a huge secret.

But before he could revel in his excitement, he heard Lu Jiuxu’s reminder.

“He signed an agreement, so don’t go spreading it outside.”

Lu Zhiyun immediately made an ‘OK’ gesture with his hand, then mimicked zipping his mouth from left to right.

“Okay, sir~”

Su Xingyao was happily watching Lu Jiuxu tease Lu Zhiyun, but hearing the reminder, he suddenly recalled what Lu Zhiyun had said earlier.

So, Lu Jiuxu skipped work to watch the live stream that day?

With that thought, Su Xingyao couldn’t help but glance up at him.

Lu Jiuxu met his gaze.

Su Xingyao didn’t ask, but it seemed like Lu Jiuxu could read his mind and understand what he meant with just a look.

Lu Jiuxu handed him a cup of water and slowly said, “It wasn’t exactly skipping work.”

Su Xingyao lowered his head and picked up the cup.

Just as he was about to take the first sip, his phone, which was on the table, vibrated.

Still thinking about what Lu Jiuxu had just said, Su Xingyao didn’t pay much attention to the phone number.

Moreover, lately, the production team had been contacting him frequently from unfamiliar numbers, so he simply answered the call.

“Hello, good afternoon.”

As soon as Su Xingyao said those three words, he suddenly felt that something was off.

Normally, the staff would have immediately spoken to him and gotten to the point.

But now, the other end of the line was eerily silent, and there was a pause of several seconds without any sound.

Su Xingyao was about to hang up, not bothering to ask further, when a voice, slightly emotional, called his name.

“Xingyao, it’s me.”

After three months, she finally managed to get through to her son, and for a brief moment, Wen Ningzhu almost felt like she was about to cry.

It was hard to describe the emotions she felt.

But at this moment, she longed to hear her son’s voice more than ever before.

It felt as though, from some moment recently, she had suddenly awoken from a long dream, and her longing for Su Xingyao was stronger than it had ever been in the past six years.

“You haven’t come home for a long time. How have you been lately?”

Su Xingyao’s smile instantly vanished when he realized who was on the other end of the line.

Although he hadn’t thought about these people in a long time, physiologically, the last call—the one cut off, a desperate cry for help—was too deeply ingrained in his memory.

Therefore, when he received Wen Ningzhu’s call again, his mind couldn’t help but replay the image from that moment.

Su Xingyao closed his eyes, hiding all his emotions, then spoke flatly, “Sorry, ma’am, you must have dialed the wrong number.”

Meanwhile, Lu Zhiyun, who was unaware of anything and busy ordering food, thought that Su Xingyao had indeed received a wrong number.

Since this time he had carefully remembered all of Su Xingyao’s dislikes, he immediately spoke up to seek praise.

“Susu, Susu, I didn’t—”

Before Lu Zhiyun could finish his sentence, Lu Jiuxu stopped him with a look.

With just a glance from Lu Jiuxu, Lu Zhiyun quickly and smartly shut his mouth.

After Su Xingyao finished his sentence, he hung up the phone with a neutral expression.

But the pleasant mood he had been in was genuinely affected.

On the other end of the line, Wen Ningzhu, whose call had been abruptly ended by her son, no longer felt the anger from before. Instead, she felt a hollow emptiness in her heart.

In fact, she knew better than anyone that even if Su Xingyao had changed his phone number, as long as he remained active in the entertainment industry, it would always be easy for people from their family’s network to find his contact information.

The only difference was whether or not she chose to seriously look for it.

This time, it had only taken her half a day to find his new contact information.

But before this, she had deliberately ignored him for three whole months.

And correspondingly…

Su Xingyao had been away from this home for three months…

However, those three months had brought about dramatic changes, and although she had heard someone call him “Susu,” Su Xingyao had told her that she had dialed the wrong number…

For a brief moment, Wen Ningzhu felt that her child was slipping further and further away from her.

—

The sudden disruption to his good mood took Su Xingyao a moment to recover from.

During this time, Lu Jiuxu had been subtly trying to engage him in conversation.

As they talked, Su Xingyao’s attention gradually shifted elsewhere.

Soon, the broth in the hotpot began to boil, and Lu Zhiyun poured all the meat in front of him into the pot.

While waiting for the food to cook, he suddenly noticed the phone cases on Lu Jiuxu’s and Su Xingyao’s phones.

His gaze shifted back and forth between the two, then he curiously asked Su Xingyao.

“Susu, where did you and my brother get your phone cases?”

Su Xingyao, who had been intently staring at the kung fu-style potatoes for a few seconds, glanced at his phone case after hearing Lu Zhiyun’s question.

“Are you talking about this one?”

While replying to him, Su Xingyao grumbled as he looked back at the potatoes, “How many seconds did I count just now…?”

Lu Jiuxu smoothly picked up where he left off. “Six seconds.”

After speaking, he scooped up some shredded potatoes from the hotpot and placed them into Su Xingyao’s bowl. “But it’s been eight seconds now.”

The steaming shredded potatoes in the bowl released a spicy aroma, filling the air with the scent of hotpot.

Su Xingyao put down his phone, picked up his chopsticks, and after a brief taste, he answered Lu Zhiyun’s question.

“We won them as a prize at a claw machine competition.”

“There’s such a thing?”

Lu Zhiyun perked up at this, initially planning to ask where he could go to win one of the same series.

However, as he opened his mouth, a sudden realization struck him. He looked up at the phone cases on Su Xingyao’s and his brother’s phones again.

Wait… the more he looked, the more they seemed like couples’ phone cases?

Especially his brother’s!! He actually agreed to use something like this???

Lu Zhiyun immediately sensed that something was off.

He quickly put together what he had inadvertently noticed about his brother’s unusual behavior toward Su Xingyao…

And soon, a bold conclusion popped into his head!

No way, no way!!

Lu Zhiyun’s eyes widened, and he suddenly felt like the tripe in his mouth wasn’t appetizing anymore.

Because he finally realized that the dinner he’d come to mooch off was actually interrupting a date between the couple…

The thought made his hairs stand on end.

Damn, had he not just said, in front of his brother, that he was going to take Susu for a drive?

Lu Zhiyun: …

No wonder his brother snapped at him earlier!!

Suddenly understanding that he shouldn’t even be here but under the car, Lu Zhiyun instantly wanted to sneak away.

But emotions told him it would be wrong to leave halfway through dinner—it would be really unfair to Su Xingyao.

So, torn and overthinking the relationship between Su Xingyao and Lu Jiuxu, Lu Zhiyun found that he had completely lost his appetite for the hotpot.

“Zhiyun, what’s wrong with you?”

Lu Zhiyun’s emotions were written all over his face, and Su Xingyao, noticing that he wasn’t focused on eating, glancing at him one moment and then at Lu Jiuxu the next, began to worry that something was wrong.

Upon being asked, Lu Zhiyun quickly shook his head.

“I just suddenly realized that I might not be in the mood for hotpot today.”

As soon as the hotpot was finished, Lu Zhiyun quickly found an excuse to leave.

Before leaving, he specifically reminded his brother and sister-in-law, “You two enjoy yourselves.”

However, the two of them, not quite understanding what he meant, didn’t go anywhere to have fun after he left. Instead, they drove straight home.

After the evening rush hour had passed, the drive home was much smoother.

Lu Jiuxu didn’t drive very fast, so Su Xingyao rolled down the car window.

He looked up at the sky. “There are stars tonight.”

“How rare.”

The sky was clear, and a few bright stars twinkled in the night.

Su Xingyao smiled slightly as memories of his childhood came to mind, when his sister used to take him stargazing. He turned to Lu Jiuxu and said,

“When I was little, the place I lived at often had a sky full of stars at night. Our teacher would even have us observe the ^[1]Big Dipper is a well-known group of seven stars that form part of the constellation Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear. It is one of the most recognizable patterns in the night sky, especially … Continue readingBig Dipper.”

Su Xingyao sighed a little. “I used to think the stars in the sky were so many that I could never count them all. I never thought that when I grew up, I wouldn’t be able to see them as often.”

The few stars that could occasionally be seen now were sparse.

In the night breeze, Lu Jiuxu looked at Su Xingyao, who was gazing at the stars with longing.

Seeing him so focused, Lu Jiuxu quietly asked, “I know a place that’s perfect for stargazing.”

“Su Catcat, would you like to go tomorrow?”

Su Xingyao turned his head to look at Lu Jiuxu, his eyes shining with excitement.

He was clearly very tempted by the idea.

However, before Lu Jiuxu could say the next sentence, a look of regret appeared on Su Xingyao’s face.

“But I have to record a show tomorrow…”

The response to the show We’re Going Traveling had been so positive that Zhang Shanfeng had contacted him, hoping he and Xu Xiang could be guest stars for another episode.

He had enjoyed recording that show, so he agreed right away.

At the time, he hadn’t anticipated that it would clash with Lu Jiuxu’s invitation.

“How about next time?”

In the quiet car, Lu Jiuxu’s deep voice sounded, “Whenever you want to go, we can.”

Su Xingyao nodded.

He no longer looked at the stars but instead rested his head lightly on the window, holding it with one hand, and said softly,

“Mr. Lu, besides cats and dogs, are there any other small animals you like?”

Because the topic had shifted suddenly, Su Xingyao thought Lu Jiuxu would need a few seconds to think before answering.

But to his surprise, Lu Jiuxu responded almost immediately.

“Little foxes.”

“Little foxes?”

This answer caught Su Xingyao completely off guard.

Curiosity sparkled in his eyes.

Lu Jiuxu didn’t explain why, but he smiled as his gaze fell on Su Xingyao’s light-colored fox-like eyes.

After hearing this answer from Lu Jiuxu, Su Xingyao quickly finalized his design sketches that night.

The next afternoon, he boarded a plane to the new recording location.