CH 17

Xu Jingzhe squatted down on the ground, holding a small hoe in his hand. He was digging the soil very, very cautiously. Liang Yu didn’t really give him any instructions. It was as if he was just trying to find something for him to do.

“Did I get any dirt on my face?” Xu Jingzhe asked. “The soil flew up just now.” 

Liang Yu couldn’t stand it anymore. He said, “You are in a vegetable field. Why are you still so obsessed with your image?”

Xu Jingzhe replied earnestly, “It’s an image management issue.” He re-examined his rolled up sleeves and pant legs. It was only after he made sure there was nothing wrong that he finally relaxed.

Liang Yu looked at him. “Are you always like this even without the cameras?”

“I’m used to it,” Xu Jingzhe said lightly. He put down the hoe and showed off the small hole he had just dug. “Do you want to plant something?” 

Liang Yu said, “You can just keep playing.”

Xu Jingzhe continued to dig. He had never done something like this before. He was a bit like a child who had discovered something new. Liang Yu watched him play for a while. Then, he asked, “Are you happy?”

Xu Jingzhe replied honestly, “It’s fun to move around.” He thought to himself for a while. Then, he said, “You know, I’ve always spent the holidays alone. This is actually the first year that I’m spending it with someone else.”

His parents lived abroad all year round. Due to the unique nature of the circle he stayed in, Xu Jingzhe was able to climb up to where he was today, step by step. It wasn’t a herculean task by any means, but it wasn’t a walk in the park either.

If asked what time during the holidays was the liveliest, Xu Jingzhe would probably say the fifth day of the new year. The fifth day of the new year was the day in which everyone welcomed the God of Wealth. The liveliest part of his holidays would be when he sent out red envelopes in the work group chat.

Xu Jingzhe looked up and smiled at Liang Yu. “I know that I care too much about my image. I’m too polite towards others, so it’s hard for me to make friends. A lot of people say that I’ve gotten too comfortable with being put on a pedestal, I’m not down-to-earth enough, I’m pretentious.” He paused. “But there’s nothing I can do about that. I entered the industry way too early, so I never really had the chance to learn how to let loose. I made a name for myself really quickly, so I’m always under a lot of pressure. The thing I’m afraid of the most is losing and making mistakes. I have to be responsible for the people who work with me. It’s always been that way.”

Liang Yu listened to him in earnest. He didn’t speak. Xu Jingzhe seemed to have finished talking. He dug another small hole and, inexplicably, felt a burst of happiness. “If I bury my words in this hole, wouldn’t it be as if I didn’t say anything?”

Liang Yu stared at his face. He was silent for a while before saying, “You can just bury it here with me.” 

Xu Jingzhe was stunned for a moment. Then, he laughed once more.

Liang Yu started telling him about his sister. “Yanzi has mild autism. You shouldn’t spoil her too much.”

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Xu Jingzhe wasn’t fooled. “You’re jealous of whoever you want to be jealous of.”

Xu Jingzhe didn’t know whether Liang Yu was just embarrassed or what, but Liang Yu ended up kicking a bit of the soil on the ground. Xu Jingzhe ran away, refusing to get near him. However, he still needed to loosen the soil. In the end, this image-conscious celebrity continued to squat on the ground and dig holes. 

“Mr. Xu.” Liang Yu watched as he picked rapeseed plants and couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you curious about what I was doing at the hotel that day?”

Xu Jingzhe lowered his head and started picking through the plants in the palm of his hand. Since he had a drama coming up, he’d been covering up under the sun in order to maintain his pale skin. His neckline was especially beautiful. He didn’t answer the question directly. He simply said, “I don’t really understand a whole lot when you guys speak in dialect, but I think I was able to pick out a few words.” Xu Jingzhe raised his head. He hesitated for a while. Then, he said, “‘Extortion’. ‘Arranged marriage’. ‘Catch her’.” Xu Jingzhe observed the expression on Liang Yu’s face. He did not continue to speak.

Liang Yu looked down at him. Xu Jingzhe couldn’t tell if the expression on his face was mockery or some other more complicated emotion. He smiled and said, “So you know about everything already. Why didn’t you ask?”

“I don’t know everything.” Xu Jingzhe looked into Liang Yu’s eyes. He was very sincere. “I just felt that you were probably already exhausted trying to deal with your own family affairs. I don’t really have the right to ask. I might not even have the right to comfort you.” 

As he spoke, he started thinking to himself. Suddenly, he picked up the hoe and dug a hole in the soil. “Look. If there’s ever a day in which you feel like telling me about it…” He filled the hole back up and blinked at Liang Yu. “I’ll bury it here just like this.”

That evening, Xu Jingzhe received a big red envelope from Liang Yu. It was about three times what he paid for the photos. Liang Yu told him, “It’s payment for all the holes you dug.”

Xu Jingzhe couldn’t help laughing. It was only later that he realized he’d smiled a little too wide. He quickly rubbed his cheeks, a little worried that he would develop wrinkles.

Since Liang Shu and Liang Yan believed that they were a couple, Xu Jingzhe and Liang Yu had to sleep in the same room at night. The two of them weren’t actually all that embarrassed about it. After all, they had experience in filming. Xu Jingzhe simply treated this like another scene. All he had to do was maintain the scene until dawn. 

Liang Yu’s family was also raising two dogs and three cats. They were typically accompanied by Liang Yan and Liang Shu. Apparently, they were all female.

“Your family really is all women.” Xu Jingzhe had just taken a shower. His hair hadn’t been dried yet. He was currently applying a mask to his face. When Liang Yu saw Xu Jingzhe’s colorful face, he couldn’t help but comment, “Mr. Xu, you’re actually pretty gay.”

Xu Jingzhe shot him a look and ignored him. The pets were pretty clingy with Liang Yu. They all came prancing into the room in twos and threes. Xu Jingzhe found them adorable. He wanted to bring them onto the bed and sleep together.

“No.” Liang Yu stopped him and said, “You can’t let them get on the bed.” 

Xu Jingzhe: “Can you give them orders?”

Liang Yu didn’t answer. The dogs might listen, but cats definitely wouldn’t. The three cats were a hidden threat. They were pretty much guaranteed to make their way onto your face or your chest by the time morning rolled around.

Xu Jingzhe had always wanted to keep a pet, but, due to his busy schedule, he didn’t have the time to care of one. Thus, he regretfully gave up on the idea.

Being able to sleep with the cat in his arms was like a dream come true for him, so he was incredibly grateful for the opportunity. 

He washed his face, applied some eye cream, and checked his skin for wrinkles. It was only after going through this entire routine that he finally went to bed. He neatly and properly laid down on his back. Then, he piously dragged a couple of cats over to his side.

Liang Yu: “…”

In order to get a good night’s sleep, Xu Jingzhe usually didn’t stay up too late. Liang Yu lay beside him, listening to the other person’s steady breathing. He almost found it a little unreal.

“Did he forget that I happen to be attracted to men?” Liang Yu thought to himself incredulously. “Does he really not have any worldly desires at all?!” 

Xu Jingzhe didn’t lay around in bed the next morning. He had a habit of waking up early, getting some exercise, and eating a light breakfast. Liang Shu also woke up early. She was lame in one leg. She leaned against her walking stick as she slowly made her way down the stairs.

Xu Jingzhe hurried over to help her. Liang Shu looked at his face and asked with a smile, “Did you sleep well?”

Xu Jingzhe nodded. “I slept very well.”

Liang Shu: “Xiao Yu tends to have trouble sleeping on a bed that isn’t his own, so I was a little worried that you wouldn’t be able to sleep well either.” 

“Don’t worry about it.” Xu Jingzhe took a while to realize that “Xiao Yu” was referring to Liang Yu. He said gently, “I’m tough. I can sleep anywhere.”

Xu Jingzhe helped Liang Shu over to the dining table. The housekeeper had already prepared breakfast. Liang Shu didn’t have that big of an appetite. She simply ate half a bowl of congee and half a plate of vegetables.

“Xiao Yu started working very early on, and he quickly became independent. It’s always been him taking care of us.” Liang Shu liked to talk to Xu Jingzhe. As she prattled away, she was also peeling some hard-boiled eggs. “He’s gotten used to being the pillar of the family, so he can have a bit of a temper. If you ever get into a fight with him, just come and tell me. He’ll apologize to you after a while.”

Xu Jingzhe smiled and said, “Our relationship’s pretty good, so we usually don’t get into fights.” 

“Really?” It was obvious that Liang Shu was truly very happy to hear this. She spoke from the bottom of her heart. “I think you’re a good person as well. He’s lucky to have found you.”

Xu Jingzhe was a little too embarrassed to say more. He knew that there was definitely no problem with his acting skills. It is very easy for him to show affection. However, he still found himself hesitating a bit when faced with Liang Shu.

Liang Shu didn’t notice any cracks in his act. She offered an egg for him to eat. Xu Jingzhe accepted it. Then, he waved his hand to express that he didn’t need any more.

Liang Shu insisted, “It’s hard to be an actor. You’re too thin.” 

Xu Jingzhe swallowed the egg and said, “Liang Yu has it even harder. He has to carry the box office sales of his movie.”

Unsurprisingly, Liang Yu’s holiday film topped the box office. Once box office sales exceeded four billion yuan, Xu Jingzhe had even made a special post on Weibo, which he hadn’t used in a while. He shared the celebratory post from the film’s official account.

The most popular comment under this post was complaining that he’d finally come back after his honeymoon period but it was only because he wanted to advertise for his husband.

Xu Jingzhe scrolled through the comments for a while. After thinking about it, he ran to the backyard and took a photo of the vegetable field. Then, he posted it onto Weibo with a caption: “Happy New Year! I hope that, for whatever we sow in this coming year, we’ll get to reap our rewards!” 

During the first couple days of vacation, Zhu Xiaoxiao almost couldn’t believe that she was actually able to relax like this. After all, she’d heard complaints from other agents about how their artists liked to randomly post on social media, especially during the holidays. However, that wasn’t the case with Xu Jingzhe. Man jie was so unconcerned that she booked a flight to Hainan as soon as she could. She was probably at the beach with that cute male model of hers right now.

Therefore, Zhu Xiaoxiao’s hadn’t been expecting any notifications. When she saw the push notification from Weibo, she caught a glimpse of the phrase “reap our rewards” on the trending list.

When she clicked on it, she found a post with screenshots of Xu Jingzhe and Liang Yu’s Weibo accounts. It was captioned with the text: “Oh! My! Gosh! Reap our rewards? I can’t believe the first reward of the new year was sowed by the main characters themselves! Is this the legendary YuJing?! I’m going to die!!!”