A breeze swept through, and the subtle awkward atmosphere amidst the noise returned.
The distance was still a bit too close—close enough to see the glitter makeup at the corner of Mu Huai’s eyes. Yu Yi muttered something inaudible to others and stepped back slightly.
Yu Yi: “… They don’t really care.”
Mu Huai remained noncommittal, smiling slightly. This answer was basically the standard response a high school student would give when avoiding adult questioning.
Yu Yi: “Not going in?”
No.
Mu Huai offered a hastily prepared excuse: “I suddenly remembered that the water dispenser in the room broke down this morning and probably won’t work now. Why don’t you wait for me at the west gate for a bit? I’ll tidy up and come pick you up, and I’ll even buy you a drink…”
“Huai-ge.”
The door opened without warning.
Lan Sha stood by the door, staring coldly at him: “Why don’t you come in and talk?”
Mu Huai: “… Lan-jie.”
“So you know how to come back?”
Lan Sha usually didn’t expose him, but today, he stood up four CEOs and even invited a big shot to sit in the break room. Lan Sha didn’t seem inclined to give him face, probably harboring a lot of sarcastic remarks.
So, sometimes, you can’t be too cocky. Mu Huai remained outwardly calm, but inwardly he was already thinking about how to maintain his composure in front of Yu Yi while stopping Lan Sha’s nagging.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yu Yi seem to nod, as if greeting someone.
His obedient demeanor seemed quite different from his image on their chat.
Mu Huai was momentarily distracted when Lan Sha turned and went inside with a cold snort. Mu Xi poked his head out: “Uncle, Yu Ying-ge has been waiting for you both for a long time.”
Mu Huai paused slightly: “Us?”
For a moment, Mu Huai thought Yu Ying was referring to Yin En.
Yu Yi, who had been standing quietly beside him for a long time, quickly explained: “I came to wait for Yu Ying to go back together.”
Mu Huai didn’t hide his surprise, giving a subtle “hmm.” He belatedly realized how stupid his action of stopping them had been, and now he didn’t want to say another word.
In the room, Yu Ying sat on the sofa with his legs crossed, playing on his phone.
Yu Ying looked up and saw Mu Huai, forcing a smile. “Hey, isn’t this Master Huai? I thought I wouldn’t see you today!”
Mu Huai raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly. “Well, there was a little incident.”
“What happened…” Yu Ying was about to retort—but somehow swallowed his words, his eyes darting around inconspicuously.
Mu Huai turned to look at Yu Yi, who stared back at him questioningly.
Mu Huai chuckled briefly. “Oh, that was an incident too.”
Taking selfies was a mood-draining task, especially with someone as image-conscious as Yu Ying.
Mu Huai patiently waited for his former leader to choose a camera and filters, his gaze casually sweeping around the room. The staff were finishing up with the clean-ups. Lan Sha was always on the phone, and his nephew was with Yu Yi… and Yu Yi was examining the water dispenser.
He coughed lightly, meeting Yu Ying’s gaze, which held a hint of confusion.
Mu Huai calmly said, “Hurry up.”
Yu Ying clicked his tongue and buried his head in choosing a filter again. Mu Huai suggested he just cover his face with a mask, leaving only his eyes showing.
Speaking of which, Yu Ying1餘鷹 \Yú Yīng\ and Yu Yi2餘易 \Yú Yì\‘s names differed by only two letters3To be honest, I am not sure what the author means. But I think, Mu Huai thought that Yu Ying and Yu Yi have different ‘Yu’ characters but same hanzi.. If he hadn’t already known Yu Ying was an only child, he might have wondered if the two were brothers.
“I’ll still wear a mask. It’s too much of a disadvantage to take pictures with you,” Yu Ying finally conceded, settling for the filter automatically selected by the software.
Mu Huai had no objections. They often took photos together in the group, so Mu Huai naturally stood to Yu Ying’s right. He was about to put his arm around Yu Ying’s shoulder when a chill inexplicably ran down his spine.
Mu Huai turned around, puzzled. The staff were still packing up, and Yu Yi and his adopted nephew were still examining the water dispenser.
Yu Ying: “What are you doing?”
“Nothing, just taking pictures.” Mu Huai smiled slightly at the camera.
Yu Ying took over a dozen pictures, saving them on his phone for a selection later. Mu Huai randomly picked one and started editing his Weibo post.
“Is it okay?”
Yu Ying: “It’s okay, let’s go.”
Mu Huai looked up and met Yu Yi’s gaze. The latter blinked slowly: “By the way, the water dispenser doesn’t seem to be broken.”
Mu Huai paused, then chuckled softly: “Sorry.”
He wasn’t in a hurry to post on Weibo, casually placing his phone on the table. The table had been tidied up, so there was no paper or pen. Mu Huai grabbed a tissue, then took out the eyeliner pen left in the crevices, and lightly sketched a signature on the tissue, finishing with a long, thin line. Then he carefully folded the tissue.
Mu Huai handed a tissue to Yu Yi, his deep black eyes making him appear serious. “Want to grab a coffee sometime?” he asked.
Yu Yi remained silent, still holding the tissue. Yu Ying immediately glared at him. “Mu Huai?”
Mu Huai continued, “I can’t find any paper right now. I’ll make it up to you with a different one next time.”
“…” Yu Yi put the signed tissue into his palm. “This is fine.”
“I have something to tell you.” Yu Ying frowned and suddenly pulled Mu Huai towards a corner.
Yu Yi followed, but Yu Ying didn’t turn around. “You stay there!”
Okay. Yu Yi narrowed his eyes slightly.
The former leader seemed impulsive, but he was actually a very polite person. Mu Huai had always admired him, both before and after the group disbanded. Yu Ying had so many excellent qualities; for example, when his former bandmate4will change the colleague to bandmate, because that sounds so awkward Yin En visited the break room, Yu Ying hadn’t mentioned it to him.
Although, he didn’t mind people mentioning Yin En in front of him.
Mu Huai braced his heels against the wall and took a small step forward.
“How did you and Yu Yi run into each other?” Yu Ying’s tone was urgent.
I was about to ask that too, why were you with Yu Yi on Valentine’s Day? Mu Huai chuckled inwardly, realizing how naive his thought was.
Mu Huai smiled: “Just a coincidence.”
“Really?” Yu Ying glanced at Yu Yi, his anger rising: “You’d better stay away from him.”
This was a bit inexplicable, and Mu Huai was both annoyed and amused.
The leader was as straight as a ruler. He’d never bend over. Mu Huai had only suspected the little streamer had a crush on Yu Ying, but now it seemed more like Yu Ying was guarding Yu Yi.
I just handed him an autograph… oh, and exchanged WeChat contacts while I was at it.
What you think in your heart is one thing, what comes out of your mouth is another.
Mu Huai smiled and said, “Okay. I’ll stay away from him.”
Staying away from him meant standing inside and watching them leave, but the fans gathered outside hadn’t left. So, Yu Ying and his companion left in a hurry. Even if Mu Huai wanted to see them off personally, he couldn’t.
The rest of the schedule was rather monotonous.
Back at the hotel, he packed up, listened to Lan Sha’s nagging, and then watched Mu Xi act silly.
His WeChat was flooded with 99+ notifications; whether truly single or pretending, everyone was celebrating Valentine’s Day with great enthusiasm. Scrolling through his Moments, it was a sea of lovey-dovey photos and captions, which left Mu Huai feeling rather uninterested.
Several strangers requested to add him, but because he had just added Yu Yi, Mu Huai rarely glanced at his contact list today.
Two or three might be influencers. The others were people in the industry he’d met at recent events.
One had a cigarette box-shaped profile picture, nicknamed YIN EN, with the note: “Happy Valentine’s Day, gege.”
Actually, people don’t really need to be curious. Mu Huai’s smile cooled, and without hesitation, he clicked on that profile picture and added it to his blacklist.
In the middle of the message list, a row of comments ended with “Happy Valentine’s Day,” and many were opportunistic confessions. Mu Huai glanced at the messages briefly, not opening them for the moment, before swiping through his contact list to find the little streamer he’d just added today.
Exchanging WeChat contacts with the streamer went smoothly. The other person was a little surprised at first, but the action of taking out his phone to add him on WeChat was swift.
However…
Mu Huai scrolled through Yu Yi’s Moments; there was only one picture of a soda can taken two years ago.
WeChat nickname: Yu Yi. Gender: Male.
His idol calmly gave him an extremely simple ghost account.
His idol was a bit unapproachable.
Mu Huai stared at the screen for a while, then chuckled softly.
It’s okay. Outstanding people are often hard to approach.
By the time he felt sleepy, the clock had long passed midnight, and Mu Huai finally started replying to messages. Everyone knew he was busy today, and most of his friends on WeChat weren’t usually free either, so they all expressed their understanding. The more difficult ones were those who took advantage of the opportune moment to confess their feelings; both men and women were involved. Mu Huai mentally categorized them by their familiarity with the situation and began carefully choosing his words.
Confessing to Mu Huai was a very comfortable thing. He rejected people decisively, but it always gave people the illusion that he had loved them before. So, those who confessed weren’t necessarily truly there to confess.
Zi Fei Yu: I’ve really liked you for a long time.
Mu Mu: Let’s be together then.
Zi Fei Yu: !!!!!!!!!!!!
Zi Fei Yu: Damn it, get away from me!
Mu Mu: How can I fuck you if I’m far away?
Zi Fei Yu: Mu Huai, can you be a little more civilized?!
Mu Mu: No, I’m already too civilized.
Zi Fei Yu was the youngest member of Demons, a very lively kid… Perhaps because Yin En had come today, Mu Huai thought of Yin En after only a few words with Zi Fei Yu. It’s not even the New Year yet, but they’ve all arrived.
Mu Huai lit a cigarette, then picked up his phone to move to the balcony.
Several neighboring rooms in the hotel could see the adjacent balconies, so Mu Huai heard Mu Xi making a phone call as soon as he stepped onto his balcony.
“He’s already asleep.”
“There’s nothing I can do. I won’t wake him for you.”
“He doesn’t owe you anything!”
Mu Xi is twenty-two this year—just out of school—and always follows Mu Huai around calling him “Uncle.”
Sometimes Mu Huai even wonders if he really looks that old, even though he’s only just turned twenty-five.
Mu Huai listened for half a minute, with a cigarette dangling from his lips. Staring at the dark sky, he then turned and left his room.
Mu Xi was a little confused when there was a knock on the door, letting go of his phone to open it for Mu Huai.
Mu Xi: “Uncle?”
As he got closer, the voice on the other end of the phone became clearer.
“Your uncle’s here?”
“Xiao Huai, actually we also…”
Mu Huai snatched the phone, interrupting her expressionlessly: “Sister-in-law, long time no see. Did you receive the 300,000?”
“Yes, but…”
“Good that you received it.” Mu Huai had no patience for her nonsense. “Remember when we agreed that Mu Xi had nothing to do with you?”
“He’s my son!”
“Not anymore. He’s just Mu Xi now.” Mu Huai said sarcastically. “He wasn’t your son from the moment you traded his life for money. Since we’ve already settled things, I’ll remind you one last time: disappear cleanly. It’ll be better for both of us.”
“Uncle Huai!” Mu Xi stood beside the shelf, his eyes red. He didn’t know how long he’d been holding back.
Mu Huai casually poked Mu Xi’s forehead: “Remember to cancel the phone number.”
The other end started yelling and cursing, especially disturbing the peace late at night. Mu Huai hung up the phone, blocked the number, and then returned the phone to Mu Xi.
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