Chapter 43

Haliyeh’s music, often sounding plain at first but growing increasingly melancholic upon repeated listening, stands out among the myriad of trivial songs due to his rich baritone and meaningful lyrics. Despite his talent, Mr. Lin remained skeptical about his latest “sweet little love song” but couldn’t help being intrigued. He called across the ocean: “Zhou Kai! Haven’t you signed Yang Yunran yet?”

Zhou Kai, feeling emo from his days in the US, replied, “Mr. Lin… I asked him, but he said he needed a few more days to think about it.”

“Then what’s the point of you being in Boston? Get him out to a casino!”

Their usual tactic was to lure artists to international waters for gambling, leveraging their contracts or movie deals for betting capital.

Zhou Kai hesitated, “That might not work, Mr. Lin. His dad is Yang Liming. Yang Yunran wouldn’t miss a few million. He’s building his career meticulously, even earning a mere two thousand in royalties… These rich second-generation kids want to prove themselves to their families. If he owes millions at the casino, he can pay it back easily, and we’ll end up offending him.”

Mr. Lin abruptly changed the subject, “How’s Boston?”

“It’s… fine.”

“I’m not paying you to vacation. Think of another way.”

Zhou Kai had an idea. “Yang Yunran has a boyfriend. They seem to be living together. I could get his contact information and offer him 300,000 to convince Yang Yunran. Do you think that’ll work?”

Mr. Lin responded, “Settle this for under a million.”

Agreeing, Zhou Kai messaged Jiang Yi: “Evan, Hello! There’s something regarding Yang Yunran’s work. Could we meet for a cup of tea?”

Jiang Yi received the message in the afternoon, removing his rubber gloves before replying: “What’s this about?”

Zhou Kai responded with a neutral expression, “Can we discuss this in person? It’s good news~ But let’s keep it a secret from Yang Yunran for now. Can you manage that?”

Jiang Yi replied with an equally expressionless, “I’m busy.”

Zhou Kai tried again, “When would you be free?”

“Not anytime soon,” was Jiang Yi’s curt reply.

He had to pick up Yang Yunran from the Deberman Library. Jimmy was preparing his thesis, and Yang Yunran was with him and some other classmates.

Ignoring Zhou Kai, Jiang Yi prepared to leave the lab when his supervisor, William, called out: “Evan, there’s an International Cell Biology Conference at the New York Academy of Sciences at the end of the month. The invitation was sent to your email last week. Did you see it?”

“Yes, I saw it,” Jiang Yi replied.

William pressed, “You haven’t responded. Your paper on ‘Breakthroughs in Biological Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine’ from earlier this year in PNAS makes it essential for you to attend this symposium. I know you prefer staying behind the scenes, but this will benefit both you and the lab.”

Jiang Yi rarely stepped into the spotlight, his name in academic journals being far more renowned than his actual presence. Considering his relationship with Yang Yunran and the need for advanced equipment and funding for further research, Jiang Yi agreed, realizing the advantages of participating.

Declining William’s invitation for dinner, Jiang Yi hung his lab coat and left, navigating the familiar route to Yang Yunran’s school library. He found several students, including Yang Yunran, diligently working on their papers in a small room on the second floor.

Yang Yunran, deeply focused, had an unfamiliar blond-haired student beside him, seemingly engaged in conversation. Jimmy remarked, “How did you finish your paper so quickly? You were just looking for references a few days ago.”

“Jiang Yi helped me. He spent a night sorting through everything, filtering the useful bits for me, so I didn’t have to wade through pages of tiny English text!” Yang Yunran’s expression was one of pride, likely unnoticed by himself.

Jimmy joked, “Showing off your relationship, huh? Hard to believe you fell for a broke guy, totally smitten.”

Yang Yunran, still facing his screen, replied with a hint of defiance, “I’m not smitten. I’m playing with him. I know what I’m doing! It’s all part of my plan!”

Jimmy: “What plan? A plan to get into bed with him?”

“Uh… no, that’s not it. I don’t have such a plan,” Yang Yunran replied, feeling a bit guilty, not because he didn’t have a plan, but because his boyfriend wasn’t even eligible for such plans. Yang Yunran corrected himself, “It’s the muse for inspiration plan… Anyway, stop bothering me with your paper, hurry up and write yours.”

Jimmy said, “I hired someone to write mine, it’s so boring.”

Jiang Yi hadn’t heard what they were talking about. Standing just outside, he carefully looked through the glass and recognized the blond hair of Jimmy by his tattoos.

Jimmy’s appearance was rather delinquent with piercings, blonde hair, ear studs, and tattoos. But Yang Yunran always told him, “Jimmy is good to me, he’s not a bad person. Bad guys don’t always look bad.”

Jiang Yi observed silently for a while and then said, “I don’t care who you hang out with, but you know what’s acceptable and what’s not.”

So even though it bothered him, Jiang Yi just furrowed his brow.

He stood outside the semi-transparent discussion room door and didn’t say anything. Yang Yunran was so focused that he didn’t look outward. It was Jimmy, scratching his head in front of his computer screen, who saw Jiang Yi first.

Giving him a disdainful look, Jimmy lifted his arm and hooked it around Yang Yunran’s shoulder.

Yang Yunran looked up from his computer screen, “What’s up?”

Jimmy made a smirking sound like a hooligan, “Baby, yo, is your man here to pick you up?”

At that moment, Jiang Yi pushed the door open and entered with a cold face, “What did you call him?”

Jimmy laughed playfully, “If you’re not okay with it, you can call him whatever you want. What’s it to me?”

The meeting between the boyfriend and Jimmy escalated. Yang Yunran felt overwhelmed by it all. “Jiang Yi, you’re here!”

He quickly saved his file, packed up his computer, walked over to Jiang Yi, and said to Jimmy, “I’m leaving with him now. See you in class another day, bye.”

Jimmy blew a kiss at him as he left and said goodbye in a flirtatious tone. Jiang Yi gave him a cold glare, making Jimmy even more proud.

Intentionally, when Jiang Yi drove away, Jimmy parked his Hummer next to Jiang Yi’s car, leaning his arm on the window frame, “Baby, how about camping this weekend?”

Yang Yunran declined, “No, thanks.”

Jimmy scoffed, “Whatever, not interested. Enjoy your rich and well-equipped life at home.”

With that, he drove off, leaving Yang Yunran in a cloud of exhaust fumes.

Jiang Yi rolled up the car window expressionlessly and accelerated, pushing Jimmy’s Hummer to the rear. Through the rearview mirror, he saw a blonde head sticking out of the car window, flipping him off and shouting, “F**k.”

Helplessly, Yang Yunran raised his hand to his forehead, realizing Jiang Yi could be quite childish at times.

Jiang Yi asked calmly, “What did he mean just now?”

Yang Yunran replied, “The name? Probably learned it from my uncle. I can’t correct it, so let it be.”

“I wasn’t referring to that,” Jiang Yi turned his head, “When he said ‘rich and well-equipped’, who was he referring to?” They hadn’t even gone to bed together; they were still at the stage where Jiang Yi was helping him with his physiological needs by hand.

Considering they met every day, Jiang Yi believed he had no chance to sleep with anyone else.

So who was Jimmy referring to?

Yang Yunran hurriedly chuckled, “That doesn’t matter!! He’s just talking nonsense.”

Jiang Yi glanced at him through the central rearview mirror.

Yang Yunran met his gaze and silently admitted, “He meant you. I boasted about you outside, to save face.”

“Next time, don’t say that,” Jiang Yi sighed, “I mean, don’t talk about bedroom matters in front of guys.”

Yang Yunran looked puzzled, “What bedroom matters? Have we…?”

Jiang Yi fell silent.

After a while, he spoke again.

“What about ‘baby’? Why does he call you that?”

“Oh, I explained that just now,” Yang Yunran quickly replied, “He heard my uncle call me that way, and I didn’t bother correcting him. Don’t mind it too much. Online, I’m many people’s wife, baby, and husband.”

Probably due to recent years of online fandom, various terms like “Ye Ye Baby, Ye Ye Darling, Ye Ye Husband, Ye Ye Wife, Ye Ye Cutie…” were used to describe him, even with his wolf head mask.

Jiang Yi cared deeply about this, so when he watched Yang Yunran’s livestreams, he set up many keyword blocks because reporting wasn’t enough.

Yang Yunran added, “If you mind it… I’ll tell Jimmy not to call me that next time, at least not in front of you. But I’m not sure if he’ll listen.”

He knew it was impossible. The moment they met, they already bore a deep grudge against each other. If Yang Yunran hadn’t been in the car, Jimmy probably would have rammed his Accord’s bumper off.

Jiang Yi said calmly, “It’s okay.”

Such terms were too difficult to utter; he wouldn’t say them.

As if unconcerned, Yang Yunran wasn’t sure if Jiang Yi was being sincere or not, but he didn’t say anything and felt a bit disappointed.

Jiang Yi wasn’t someone who expressed affection through words.

Yang Yunran noticed a missed call on his screen and glanced at it, “Kevin? Why did he call you?”

Jiang Yi said, “From earlier, he seemed to want to talk to me about something, but I was busy.”

Yang Yunran sensitively suggested, “Does he often bother you? You should delete his number.”

Jiang Yi agreed and deleted Zhou Kai’s number in front of Yang Yunran. He asked, “Will this affect your work?”

“… No, I’m me, and you’re you.” Seeing Jiang Yi delete it so readily, Yang Yunran wondered if his own actions were inappropriate. Maybe he shouldn’t stop Jiang Yi from advancing his career… Wan Yan was a big company with excellent resources.

Yang Yunran said, “If he contacts you again… you should add him back if you want.”

Jiang Yi replied, “There’s no need for that.”

“Oh.”

Jiang Yi parked the car, came over to hold his hand, and interlocked their fingers, “Let’s cross the street.”

His fingers were long and slender, his skin warm. His palms were larger than Yang Yunran’s, and when they held hands, it felt like he was in control. Yang Yunran was close to Jiang Yi’s side, feeling warm inside again, as he looked up to admire Jiang Yi’s handsome profile.

The two walked towards the crosswalk, where a group of teenagers in crop tops and skateboards stood nearby. One of them, a boy who looked like a mini version of Jimmy in Jiang Yi’s eyes, approached, chewing gum and suddenly reaching out.

Jiang Yi pulled Yang Yunran closer behind him.

But the boy handed Jiang Yi something similar to gum, giggling, shoved it into his hand, and walked away.

“What did he give you?” Yang Yunran glanced at it, and Jiang Yi frowned. “A condom.”

“These teenagers…” Yang Yunran took it, unsure what to say, and casually tossed it into a nearby trash can. “Let’s just throw it away; we won’t need it anyway.”

Jiang Yi pursed his lips slightly, glanced at Yang Yunran, paused for a few seconds, and said, “We’ll buy it when we need it.”

Yang Yunran seemed uncertain about him, but agreed, “Okay, we’ll buy it later.”

Jiang Yi realized and added, “The quality of those handed out on the street isn’t good, and they might not fit well.”