Chapter 4 Smile and Nod

Translated by Eve

Edited by Kara

The sports car slowly drove into a well-developed, high-class villa district. It passed a detached villa and turned into the parking lot of the high-rise apartment inside the district.

Song Xuanhe glanced over at Xiao Yuanmu, who was sitting in the passenger seat, eyes closed and face expressionless. When he thought that he not only had to cohabit with this future big boss from today onwards but also had to torment him in various ways, he couldn’t help but shed tears for his future self. His future self who will have an ending so tragic, it couldn’t possibly be any more tragic.

The car had just stopped when Xiao Yuanmu opened his eyes. His eyes were cold like a deep abyss. They were also clear and awake without any vestiges of sleep.

Song Xuanhe wasn’t surprised. If Xiao Yuanmu could sleep in the car of the man who was forcing him to submit, then that would be as horrifying as if the dinosaurs from the Jurassic period were to come back to life.

“We’re here. Get off, ba,” Song Xuanhe responsibly and diligently said his lines, “From now on, you’ll live here with me. I’ll take you to see your room in a bit. After that, go make dinner.”

Xiao Yuanmu gave him an insipid glance and then opened the car door.

Song Xuanhe sighed in relief. He first took him on a tour of the two-story loft they would be living in and then opened the door to one of the rooms. He said, “From now on, this is where you’ll stay.”

In the book, the only thing Song Xuanhe thought that the original host did correctly probably was choosing to sleep separately from Xiao Yuanmu. Although he didn’t know why he would sleep separately when keeping a lover, it was because of this that Song Xuanhe could at least avoid being guarded and on edge at night. He didn’t have to fear that Xiao Yuanmu would kill him if he was unhappy.

Xiao Yuanmu gave an indifferent look at the clean and tidy room. He then shifted his gaze onto Song Xuanhe and said apathetically, “What do you want to eat?”

“Whatever.” If the plot didn’t necessitate it, Song Xuanhe didn’t want to make this future big boss even more annoyed with him. Moreover, he wasn’t a picky eater anyway, “I eat everything. Just make a bit of whatever.”

Xiao Yuanmu didn’t say anything more. He directly turned around and descended the stairs.

Song Xuanhe watched as the other’s back disappeared down the stairs. He let out a long sigh. He then opened the door to the adjacent room and lied onto the bed. All of his muscles began to relax. He had received too many scares today. He needed some time to recover.

After lying down for a few minutes, just as Song Xuanhe was about to fall asleep, his phone’s ringtone suddenly sounded, pulling him out of the muddled darkness.

He lifted his phone up lazily, glanced at the unknown number, and picked up the call. “What?”

“Song shao, the arrangements that you’ve asked for have been made. When do you plan on visiting?” From the other side of the phone, Song Xuanhe could hear the cajoling tone.

Only, after hearing these words, he recalled who this person was and what he had been planning since two days ago.

“I’ll come this weekend.” Because he had nearly fallen asleep just now, Song Xuanhe’s voice was husky, light, and slow. There was a carelessness that could be heard in his tone, characteristic of hedonistic rich kids. “No need to make a show of it. I’m only coming to have some fun.”

“Understood, understood.” The person on the other side promptly went along with Song Xuanhe, sensibly coming up with a very dignified excuse for him, “Song shao plans to invest in a few films. You’re only coming to inspect the set this weekend, that’s all.”

Song Xuanhe thought that this person was quite interesting upon hearing this. He couldn’t help but laugh and remind the other, “I’ve admired Film Empress Liu for a long time. I hope that I can meet her in person tomorrow.”

There was a chuckle of tacit understanding from the other side. That person said, “It is Film Empress Liu’s honour to be favored by Song shao. She will definitely be here during the weekend.”

After hanging up, Song Xuanhe couldn’t help but smile. The other person was a director named Huang Cong with his own crew. His directing skills weren’t necessarily outstanding, but he was slick and smooth in doing things: the epitome of a boot-licker. He was also a very humorous man. If he were to be placed in the ancient times, he would be remarkably similar to the great eunuch in charge of the Dongchang. He was the type to readily kiss up to those in power and bully those beneath him.

Only, Song Xuanhe didn’t think that there was anything wrong with this. So long as your status was much higher than this person’s, he would not be able to cause any big waves. To Song Xuanhe, speaking with him was rather interesting. As soon as he began to say something, the other would finish his thought for him. He felt that talking to him was very easy.

Throwing his phone to the side, Song Xuanhe wriggled around in bed, reluctant to get up. Then, he sat up and stretched. He was planning on going down to see how Xiao Yuanmu was doing with the cooking.

Who would expect that as soon as he turned around, he would quickly and exaggeratedly shoot backwards as if he was a little kitten that suddenly discovered that there was a cucumber behind it. He nearly fell headlong onto the bed.

With great difficulty, he managed to steady himself by pulling onto the frame at the end of his bed. Song Xuanhe crawled back up, face pale from having yet to fully recover from his panic. He was flustered. “Why the f*ck did you suddenly appear behind me?!”

It was an extremely difficult thing to remain calm after suddenly seeing a person standing behind you when you were completely off guard, even if you were Song xiao shaoye, who was extremely daring. Since he was young, the only thing that he was afraid of were those ferocious-looking, unnatural entities that would pop out of nowhere in movies and stories—ghosts.

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Xiao Yuanmu’s silent appearance behind him had nearly scared him stiff. If it wasn’t because he still had his wits with him, with his usual temper, he would have recklessly gone over to give Xiao Yuanmu a kick to vent his rage for having startled him.

From a certain perspective, it could be said that Song Xuanhe’s temper was no less worse than the original host’s own. It was just that, although he loved to play around, he fortunately still abided by the principles that ordinary people followed and also had a normal bottom line he didn’t cross. He could judge what he should do and shouldn’t do. Otherwise, with how his parents had left the world so early, how else would he have been able to grow up willfully and safe within the exploitative Song Family all on his own?

After lashing out, Song Xuanhe felt a bit guilty. He didn’t know how long Xiao Yuanmu had stood outside for and also didn’t know whether he had overheard his conversation on the phone just now. When he thought about how he had just forced this person to become his lover and then turned around, saying he was interested in some woman, he felt like he had been caught cheating in bed red-handed.

However, the original host would not feel guilty, so he straightened his back and raised his chin. He dragged his voice, “Is dinner ready?”

Sweeping a glance over Song Xuanhe’s eyes, which were especially wet because he had just been startled, and his slightly shuddering, dense, black eyelashes, Xiao Yuanmu suddenly felt the gloominess that had been repressed in the depths of his heart all this time disperse quite a bit. His mood became much better for some baffling reason.

Xiao Yuanmu nodded. For once, he spoke a little more than normal, “Noodles with tomato egg sauce.”

Song Xuanhe’s eyes lit up. Noodles with tomato egg sauce was his favourite kind of noodles. Nothing could compare to it!

“Then let’s go, ba.” Song Xuanhe got out of the bed and strolled over to Xiao Yuanmu’s side. He then side-eyed him and said with an arrogant tone, “From now on, don’t randomly come into my room without my permission.”

Xiao Yuanmu didn’t speak. He only gave him a cold glance back and then left the room first.

Before, he had read in the book that Xiao Yuanmu’s cooking skill was extremely good. One of his seven boyfriends had become crazily infatuated with him after eating a bowl of somen Xiao Yuanmu had casually made. When he saw this, Song Xuanhe had only sneered at the time and scoffed. He thought that the author had become unprincipled and illogical in her desire to give Xiao Yuanmu more boyfriends.

However, after eating Xiao Yuanmu’s noodles himself, Song Xuanhe felt that he should apologize for his youthful frivolity, ignorance, and narrow-mindedness. He would swear by his twenty-two-year-old, spoiled, picky taste buds that this was the most delicious bowl of noodles with tomato egg sauce that he had ever eaten!

If he could only eat one dish for the rest of his life, he was really willing to eat the noodles Xiao Yuanmu made every day, three meals a day, for every day of the rest of his life!

When Song Xuanhe ate, he was extremely refined. He sat up straight and ate very peacefully with a lowered gaze. Even if he was eating noodles, it was hard to hear any inelegant noises. However, Xiao Yuanmu didn’t know why, but although he didn’t have much of an appetite before, upon seeing Song Xuanhe eat all of his noodles, he felt that he was actually quite hungry.

Moreover, when he saw Song Xuanhe look up from the bowl and stare at him with sparkling eyes, very earnestly telling him, “It’s delicious,” he suddenly felt that if the other had said that he wanted more, he would have developed an urge to immediately prepare him another bowl.

Song Xuanhe didn’t say that he wanted to eat more. Although he felt that he could still eat, he was very self-aware. Furthermore, he had already decided that aside from what was necessitated by the plot, he would not annoy Boss Xiao any more than necessary. For the sake of ensuring that his future would not become even more tragic, even if he wanted to eat, he would hold himself back.

For Song Xuanhe, telling the chef that the food they made was delicious after eating something good was nothing but a little habit of his. His mother had been a very well-known celebrity chef. From a young age, before he had even learned any table manners, his mother and father taught him that he had to respect all food that entered his mouth as well as the person who made that delicious dish.

This was a habit deeply ingrained within Song Xuanhe since even before he could talk. Therefore, even after saying this, Song Xuanhe didn’t even think about whether it was compliant with the original host’s settings. After all, this was too natural for him. It was like how one would naturally use chopsticks to eat Chinese cuisine and cutlery to eat Western cuisine. There was no need to think when complying with the most basic of principles.

After eating, Song Xuanhe sat on the sofa and stared at Xiao Yuanmu’s back as he did the dishes. Song Xuanhe’s fingers tapped against his pillow rather fretfully.

When he thought about how he had to push Xiao Yuanmu down and then force him to do that, he felt his legs go soft. Although he knew that he would not succeed, he was still a bit terrified. After all, comparing his physique to Xiao Yuanmu’s, if Xiao Yuanmu were to break his legs in a fit of anger, what would he do then?

However, this was an important scene in the plot. Even if Xiao Yuanmu would break his legs, he still had to act it out.

Xiao Yuanmu came out of the kitchen and saw Song Xuanhe curled up on the sofa, hugging a pillow with his legs crossed. His lips were gently pursed, and he was thinking about who-knows-what. His dense eyelashes left a shadow on his face. It was probably because the sofa was too big and soft, Song Xuanhe’s entire body sunk into it. Inexplicably, he looked rather innocent and pitiful.

However, Xiao Yuanmu knew that this was just an illusion.

In this world, there were many pitiful people, but they did not include a domineering, arrogant, rich third-generation like Song Xuanhe.

The author has something to say:

Song Xuanhe: Weak, pitiful, and helpless.

Xiao Yuanmu: Be good, I’ll make noodles for you to eat.

A kitty suddenly sees a cucumber—you can search it up! It’s super cute, la! (Eve: Link to the compilation)