CH 25

Chapter 25

Lu Bai looked at the elegant invitation card in his hand and sighed softly.

This was the invitation to his mother’s painting exhibition tomorrow. There were many things happening these days; the painting exhibition, the painting exhibitions banquet, and the web drama opening ceremony were all crammed together. Even his school year will be starting in the next few days.

But the only event he was struggling with was the painting exhibition.

This exhibition was another key venue for the plot. More precisely, the plot event took place at the banquet after the exhibition. His mother, Ming Yan, was an internationally famous painter and came from Jinghai. Many celebrities in Jinghai naturally wanted to attend her exhibition. While she and Father Lu divorced, she still had a good relationship with the Lu family, so both the Lu family and the Qin family would be present.

At that evening’s banquet, not only will Qin Gu be there, but Qu Xueyu will also attend.

As the vicious male character Lu Bai, who hates Qu Xueyu, he naturally couldn’t help but be a bully. Lu Bai tried to pull off an evil stunt, but it was just dirty and shameless. Lu Bai, the wicked side character, specifically brought Ruan Jiangjiu, who looked very much like Qu Xueyu, to the banquet in order to insult him, but that was not enough. At the banquet, he also deliberately forced Ruan Jiangjiu to drink spiked wine, and after the drug took effect, he stripped Ruan Jiangjiu’s clothes to humiliate him in public. Thus, Lu Bai, with his own power, ruined his mother’s exhibition and completely crushed Ruan Jiangjiu’s self-esteem.

Lu Bai frowned slightly. Even if the plot world were to punish him, and even if he were to die because of pain, he would never do such a thing to his Ruan Jiangjiu. This time, Xiao Ruan just won’t be brought to the exhibition.

After making up his mind, Lu Bai focused on the invitation again, and another train of thought came to mind. The first two times he did not complete the plot at all, the plot world did not punish him. If he did not follow the plot this time, and the punishment mechanism still did not activate, does that mean…

“Do you want a rabbit apple?” A pleasant-sounding voice startled Lu Bai but then nodded his head. Before he could even move to get a piece, he saw Ruan Jiangjiu’s fair and beautiful hand had reached out to him, holding a toothpick with a piece of rabbit-shaped apple. Lu Bai just nonchalantly opened his mouth and bit off the slice of apple, and the sweet and tart juice flowed across his tongue.

Ruan Jiangjiu watched the teenager’s cheeks slightly bulge while chewing with a smile and shook his head. He was about to continue happily hand-feeding him when Lu Bai swallowed the piece of fruit and said with some hesitation, “Xiao Ruan, I have to go out tomorrow.”

Ruan Jiangjiu stopped his movements before remembering that tomorrow seemed to be the painting exhibition of Ms. Ming. Lu Bai was Ms. Ming’s child. Therefore, it was natural for him to go to the painting exhibition.

Thinking that the teenager was inviting him to go there with him, he opened his mouth to say yes when he heard the teenager firmly say, “Xiao Ruan, you must not go to the exhibition tomorrow.”

Ruan Jiangjiu: “…?”

Lu Bai stared closely into Ruan Jiangjiu’s eyes and carefully repeated: “Xiao Ruan, you can go wherever you want tomorrow, just… not to the painting exhibition.” Even with the exception of the first two times the plot changed, he still did not dare to bet.

Ruan Jiangjiu frowned with a bit of puzzlement: “Xiao Bai, why?”

Lu Bai lowered his eyes and sighed: “Sorry, I can’t say the reason.”

Ruan Jiangjiu quietly regarded the youth, and after a short interval, he smiled, reached out, and ruffled the other’s hair. Leisurely saying, “All right. You can rest assured that your Xiao Ruan will not go.”

Lu Bai felt relieved, a big smile appeared on his face and he exclaimed, “Xiao Ruan, I’ll be back in no time!”

Ruan Jiangjiu cocked an eyebrow: “Do you need the ‘accompanying and sleeping service’ after coming back?”

Lu Bai gave a start, cheeks and ear tips blushing slightly. He has been bothering the youth and was a little embarrassed, but still honestly whispered, “Yes.”

Appreciating the young man’s flustered appearance, Ruan Jiangjiu almost laughed out loud. He picked up the fruit plate again and continued to feed the other person with relish while saying slowly and meaningfully, “Then, I’ll wait for you to come back.”

~~~~~~

“Grandpa. I remember you mentioning before that you have an invitation to Ms. Ming’s painting exhibition?” Lu Bai was taking a shower in the bathroom, so Ruan Jiangjiu made a quick phone call. Xiao Bai’s attitude today was simply too strange, and he really didn’t feel at ease.

Elder Qu paused as he held the phone: “Xiao Yu, Why are you asking about this?”

Ruan Jiangjiu just replied, “I’m recently very interested in oil painting and would like to go enjoy some art. Can I have your invitation?”

Elder Qu was silent for a few seconds before grumpily saying, “Xiao Yu, do you think your grandfather is a fool?”

Ruan Jiangjiu laughed lightly, then he seriously admitted, “Grandpa. I want to chase Lu Bai. I like him.” There was nothing wrong with admitting it, as he never had any intention of hiding it in the first place. Besides, his grandfather was his closest family member.

The old man’s eyes twitched after hearing this—both feeling that a certain stone in his heart finally fell to the ground, yet that his heart wasn’t exactly happy about it either. However, he was not willing to let his grandson slide just like that. After a long pause, he loudly shouted: “You stinky brat! You’re just going to tell me like that?! Are you not afraid that I’ll find trouble with that kid!?” Although the thunder was loud, in the end, the rain was light.1Similar to “All bark, no bite” Pretty much saying that his Grandpa talks big but doesn’t actually do anything in the end.

“Grandpa,” Ruan Jiangjiu just shrugged. “Grandpa Lu won’t let you do that.”

Elder Qu was stunned by his casual confidence, then chuckled, and shouted “Stinky boy” a few more times, followed by: “Come and get it tomorrow!”

Ruan Jiangjiu: “Thank you.”

The old man smiled and said, “Although I love you very much and it’s natural to be able to speak well with me, the old man of the Lu family also loves his grandson the most, and you will not be able to speak so smoothly in front of him. So when you encounter a wall, you can solve it yourself. I won’t help you.” With these rather gleeful words, a gloating Elder Qu promptly hung up the phone.

Ruan Jiangjiu laughed helplessly after the call was hung up; right now, where even approaching the other party had to be done with a false identity, Elder Lu’s hellish BOSS battle was not even available for him to press start.

“Xiao Ruan, I’m done washing! Are you ready for bed yet?” Lu Bai stood at the bathroom door in his pajamas. His wide collar was crooked, revealing a large area of fair and shower-flushed skin, his dark hair was only half dried and in disarray. As he stepped barefoot onto the dark carpet, his cute toes scrunched up slightly—-Lu Bai never liked to wear shoes when he was at home.

Ruan Jiangjiu turned around and took in the young man’s damp and disheveled appearance. His pupils dilated before he lightly heaved a sigh. Walking towards the young man, he casually grabbed a soft white towel and covered Lu Bai’s head.

“Xiao Bai, I have told you before. You should blow-dry your hair after you have towel-dried it.” He said and resigned himself to helping the teenager to towel dry his hair.

Under the cover of the towel, Lu Bai rolled his eyes and muttered in a quiet whisper, “Xiao Ruan will help me dry it anyway ah.”

When he finished drying Lu Bai’s hair for him, Ruan Jiangjiu removed the towel. A large area of skin and a delicate collarbone appeared in front of him, taking a deep breath before moving away. “Xiao Bai, clothes should also be worn properly. Otherwise, you may catch a cold.”

Lu Bai had a straight face: “Xiao Ruan. We are going to sleep soon. It’s hot in here.” After a pause, he added: “It’s even warmer when we are sleeping together.”

Ruan Jiangjiu: “…”

“Xiao Ruan, why are your ears so red?” Lu Bai’s eyes betrayed some slight concern. “Are you okay?”

Ruan Jiangjiu gave the young man a deep look but did not reply. Simply took two steps and put the towel away, turned around, made his way to the bed, and laid down on his side.

Lu Bai followed him to the bed. When he got into the soft quilt, he placed his messy black hair beside Ruan Jiangjiu. As he approached the youth’s increasingly flushed earlobe, he was both curious and worried, “Xiao Ruan, are you really okay?”

The young man’s warm breath sprayed over his ear, Ruan Jiangjiu’s pupils fluttered, he stiffened his body and simply closed his eyes – there was no one who could maintain restraint in front of the object of their affection, not even him. But he still hasn’t gotten the young man’s consent, and he doesn’t want to scare him.

“Xiao Ruan! Even your face is red! Ahh… and the neck is also red!” Lu Bai’s voice was now excited as if he was observing an interesting experiment subject.

Crash!

Ruan Jiangjiu finally couldn’t hold back. He rolled over and pressed the restless person under his body, reaching out and capturing the other person’s thin wrists and stretching them over his head.

His body and the quilt formed a kind of silent, enclosed but ambiguous space. The person he had longed for was confined by him in such a narrow place, and their breaths were practically intertwined.

In the warm, dim light, Lu Bai’s eyes shone brightly, he stared at the good-looking young man pressing himself down on top of him, not the least afraid. He even had a wry smile, “I was wrong. I shouldn’t have teased you so much.” He just felt that this Xiao Ruan was strange yet cute so that he couldn’t help but tease the other person a little.

The young man pressing himself down didn’t move at all, only looking at the teenager underneath him with his ink-soaked eyes, as if he wanted to eat the other person into his belly.

Lu Bai finally felt that something was wrong, he blinked: “Xiao Ruan?”

After a moment of silence, Ruan Jiangjiu closed his eyes and opened them again, a feigned smile appeared on his face as well. “Are you ready for bed?”

Lu Bai’s throat twitched and nodded: “En… goodnight.”

Only then did Ruan Jiangjiu let go of his hands and roll off the younger man.

“Then sleep, ba.” He turned his back to the teenager, his voice somewhat stifled and hoarse.

With one side of Lu Bai’s body pressing against the other’s back, he looked at the ceiling and blinked: “Oh.”

~~~~~~

Day of the exhibition.

The exhibition hall was quite large, and Ming Yan’s exhibition was on display for a week. On the first day, the gallery only released a small number of tickets along with a limited number of invitations. This was also the only exchange day within these seven days. If an invited party wanted a piece of artwork that could be purchased, they could pay for it, and then Ming Yan and the gallery would donate the money.

Ming Yan’s paintings were indeed outstanding and full of life, yet, while Qu Xueyu walked among the paintings, his attention was obviously not on them.

He had been strolling around for some time but had not yet found Lu Bai. After passing a vibrant portrait, he turned a corner and arrived at a smaller out-of-the-way hall, where there was no other person and no works hanging on any of the four walls. There was only a simple exhibition table in the center, with a single open book displayed on it. Qu Xueyu was about to leave when he glanced at it; his pupils shrank and he stopped in his tracks.

“How rare. Are you interested in the sketches here?”

A pleasant feminine voice sounded from behind, and Qu Xueyu’s hand paused in flipping through the art book on the table. He put it down and turned around, revealing a polished smile. “Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Qu Xueyu. I’m quite interested in these works.”

Ming Yan was surprised and gave a snort of laughter, “I wasn’t expecting to be meeting you here.” Her invitation to Elder Qu was only a polite courtesy; she hadn’t thought that he would actually come over. At the same time, she had never anticipated that he would send this grandson who was also a famous actor.

Qu Xueyu chuckled and then continued, “Ms. Ming, is there a price for this art book?”

Ming Yan was stunned and shook her head with a polite smile, “I’m sorry, Mr. Qu. Unfortunately, this is not for sale.” She took two steps forward and gently stroked her fingers across the cover of the book, her eyes revealing some nostalgia. “This is probably the most treasured item in my collection.” Inside this book, she depicted her son and the memories of the time they shared.

Qu Xueyu’s eyes softened as he touched the album. Thinking of him, a gentle smile permeated the corners of his lips: “I can understand.”

Ming Yan was struck when she saw the young man’s genuinely disappointed expression as she asked, “Do you like these drawings so much?”

Qu Xueyu raised his eyebrows as he nodded. “Like you, I probably like the works here the most.”

Ming Yan smiled. Remembering something, she decided, “I am happy that you like it so much. Although I can’t give you this art book, I can offer you another souvenir.” Pausing, she said, “When he was a child, he always hoped to share this painting with others. By giving it to you, I am fulfilling his wish.” This idea of hers had emerged whimsically because of the softness in the young man’s eyes when he looked at those works. “Please, come with me.”

She led Qu Xueyu to her personal studio, where she opened a desk and took out a thin art portfolio, which she opened and presented to Qu Xueyu.

It was a painting composed of youthful yet sophisticated brushwork. The artist who painted it seemed to have paid great attention to every line and depicted them with great care. The background of the painting seemed to be some kind of warehouse, in which the artist had depicted a young teenager with a firm and steady pose from an upward perspective. The young man was steeped in the moonlight with fine dust flying, just like an immortal that came down from above, but his face was blurred.

“My son made this when he was twelve years old. He had no friends at the time, so he could only share it with me. He said he owed this young man in the painting a thank you.” Saying this, Ming Yan’s eyes betrayed endless nostalgia as she looked at the somewhat stunned young man and stated, “Now. It’s yours.”

___________

Edit: Krone

Proof: Nitta