Chapter 24: Weekend
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
Shi Wenze’s first official day of pursuing someone couldn’t exactly be called a complete failure, but it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing either. He actually wanted to explain more, but compared to the terrifying scene at the Gluttony Restaurant, all words suddenly felt pale—paler even than Lin Su’s current complexion.
The painters working on the gallery walls were just as surprised. How did Boss Lin go out for a simple meal and come back so unsettled? How much protection money had he actually been forced to pay?
Watching Lin Su’s lonely retreating figure, Shi Wenze felt an uncontrollable urge rise inside him. He wanted to drag Xiao Tao back right then and there, to have him clarify everything face to face—that none of this had anything to do with him. An artist’s boyfriend might not understand Picasso or Mondrian, but he absolutely should not appreciate a seven-colored choir singing along with a suona horn. What the hell was that?
In the end, though, he didn’t do it. There were other things to take care of. After sending Lin Su back to Qinghu Garden, Shi Wenze returned to Kunlun Tower.
Lin Lu was cleaning up the aftermath in the kitchen. Even though the exhaust fan was running at full power, a strong burnt smell still lingered in the living room. Lin Su coughed as soon as he entered and didn’t even have time to change his clothes. He opened the window and asked, “What happened here?”
“I wanted to make some sweet soup, but I lost track of time while checking my phone.” Lin Lu laughed despite the burnt pot. She sent Lin Su a short video on WeChat and teased, “Check this out, brother. Join me in enjoying this.”
Lin Su hadn’t opened it yet, but the familiar pink disco lighting on the screen already gave him a bad feeling. His hands even began to tremble.
Lin Lu didn’t notice her brother’s odd reaction and continued, “I have a new friend who went to a monster restaurant today. She witnessed a really weird proposal—haha. The guy was supposedly handsome but seemed a bit crazy. You won’t believe it… it happened on the rooftop! I can’t take it. It’s a pity the lighting was too dark to record clearly.”
That last sentence probably saved Lin Su’s life. With a heavy heart, he finally opened the video. The wedding march and that little trill from earlier played again. Unfortunate and fortunate at the same time: unfortunate because someone had actually filmed the whole thing; fortunate because the restaurant’s dim lighting and swirling pink disco balls made the scene chaotic, leaving only a wild party visible, with no faces clear enough to identify. Lin Su let out a slight breath of relief. Lin Lu rubbed her stomach and asked, “Brother, why aren’t you laughing?”
“I’m tired,” Lin Su replied.
Lin Lu immediately felt guilty. Her brother worked so hard for the gallery, and here she was, carefree and laughing. Was she a terrible sister? Trying to lighten the mood, she asked with a bit of gossip, “Did Brother Shi seal the deal today? Didn’t he ride you home? I thought I heard a motorcycle outside. Why didn’t you invite him in? What did you eat tonight?”
As Lin Su climbed the stairs, his legs wobbled for the first time ever. For the first time, he thought his sister was genuinely too noisy.
Back at Kunlun Tower, Zhou Yuansong rushed over straight from work without even changing clothes. He looked at the mechanical bird, still smeared with burnt cream on the table. “That thing looks a bit like that Qiongqi mechanical skeleton. Where did you find it?”
“That Gluttony restaurant opened it,” Shi Wenze said. “I got the video from Xiao Tao tonight. But before I open it, there’s something I want to make clear—I did not propose.”
Zhou Yuansong looked confused. “What do you mean? You didn’t propose? Weren’t you chasing someone today?”
Shi Wenze felt reassured. True to form, the boss knew how to speak. Yes, I was chasing someone today—I didn’t propose.
The restaurant’s security cameras weren’t much better than a phone’s, but since the groom had been to the place a few times during the day, the footage at the entrance was relatively clear. After facial recognition, the system quickly generated a full profile—Yu Feizheng, male, 29 years old, a sheet metal specialist at Top-notch Auto Repair.
Yu Feizheng was a Silver Yāng, a rare kind of monster that used to hide in the silver boxes of wealthy families. In modern society, they usually worked in finance or as vault keepers. It was unusual to find one working in an auto repair shop.
Shi Wenze asked, “Does he have any other jobs in the monster world?”
Zhou Yuansong shook his head. “Not registered. I’ll head to the Investigation Department tomorrow and hand these clues over to Old He. Let’s see what they think.”
Shi Wenze reminded him, “That proposal video—”
“Don’t worry, I’ll tell Old He it has nothing to do with you and keep it strictly confidential,” Zhou Yuansong said seriously. “People in Emergency Incident Handling wouldn’t pull off such a bizarre theatrical stunt. If you ever do propose, we’ll have a meeting and make sure it’s high-class and stylish.”
Shi Wenze wasn’t totally convinced about the ‘high-class and stylish’ part, but at least he could clear his name for now. He went home. Neither of them slept well that night, haunted by dazzling disco dreams until dawn.
The proposal video went viral on MonsterAPP for two days straight, edited into all sorts of bizarre versions. The platform even released a filter named Seven-colored Choir. Shi Wenze and Lin Su felt complicated, wanting nothing to do with the world.
But it was precisely because the video exploded that bored viewers watched it over and over, clearing Shi Wenze’s suspicion. A marketing account suddenly realized the choir’s lyrics weren’t gibberish—they were barely intelligible French. Amid the noisy suona, you could faintly hear, “Linghu Tangtang, will you marry me?” Even the flickering lights on the wall, though fast-moving, spelled out the heroine’s name.
#LinghuTangtangDon’tSayYes trended, with people shouting to run away in the comments. By coincidence, Linghu Tangtang was the one who shared the video in Xia Jiayang’s monster fan group, calling everyone to watch the spectacle. She was also the person who caused Lin Lu to lose a whole pot of soup. Who would’ve thought? The heroine was herself.
Lin Lu laughed but felt she probably shouldn’t. It was too tragic. Holding a cushion with tears in her eyes, she told Lin Su, “That guy’s amazing. They’d only known each other for three months, and he was already arranging a proposal—such a bizarre one. It’s terrifying.”
Lin Su, grinding coffee in his pajamas, asked, “Did they argue?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Lin Lu said, bringing him a cup. “But I don’t really know her. I only met her twice at offline gatherings.”
A short honk sounded outside. Lin Lu raised her hand. “I’ll get the door!” Then she lowered her voice. “Brother, your look today was great, but your hair should’ve been messier. That way, Brother Shi wouldn’t have guessed you spent half an hour carefully styling this ‘casual’ look.”
She ran off and opened the door, smiling brightly. “Brother Shi, good morning! Come have the coffee my brother ground for you!”
“Why so happy today?” Shi Wenze handed her a piece of cake. “This is for you.”
“Thanks.” Lin Lu stepped aside to let him in. “We were just watching that viral proposal video. The heroine was found today—turns out she’s in Jia Jia’s fan club too.”
“You know her?” Shi Wenze asked, surprised.
“Kind of knew her, but not well,” Lin Lu said. “I only knew her boyfriend seemed pretty rich—always showering her with big-brand luxury gifts. He even rented a venue once so we could hold a party.”
“Yu Feizheng?”
“Yeah, yeah, his last name’s Yu.” Lin Lu grabbed the phone from the table. “Don’t tell me the main guy’s been dug up too?”
Lin Su brought over two cups of coffee and asked, puzzled, “How do you know all this so clearly?”
Work stuff had to stay confidential for now, so Shi Wenze didn’t elaborate. But from the information they had, Yu Feizheng was usually low-key and modest. His daily expenses matched a sheet metal worker’s income—he wasn’t the kind of rich second-generation heir who spent money on his girlfriend like water.
Lin Su finished his coffee and went upstairs to change. Shi Wenze asked Lin Lu, “You’re really not coming with us?”
“What would I do there?” Lin Lu said, holding a fork between her lips. “For this cake, I won’t disturb your ‘two-person world.’”
Shi Wenze smiled. “Out in the suburbs, a farm-style gathering with twenty or thirty coworkers—there’s really no time for just the two of you.”
“Then you make time for two,” Lin Lu said, lifting her coffee and cake. “That’s what dating is.” She added, “Good luck. I’m going upstairs to work.”
Shi Wenze leaned on the sofa and casually opened the Xia Jiayang fan group muted on his phone. Sure enough, someone had left the group this morning. It was probably Linghu Tangtang. Humans might never know about this, but she probably wanted to disconnect from the internet for a while.
Lin Su came downstairs, fixing his clothes as he asked, “What are you looking at?”
“The fan group,” Shi Wenze said. “The girl already left.”
“That guy wasn’t that bad, besides having no taste,” Lin Su said. “But netizens always mock first and then sympathize a few days later. Every internet scandal follows the same cycle—buzz for a few days, then it dies down.”
Shi Wenze nodded and set down his empty coffee cup, stepping forward to straighten Lin Su’s collar. The sunlight, the floor-to-ceiling windows, the kitchen, and the rich aroma of cold brew floating in the air—all of it felt less like a pursuit and more like the vibe of a couple married for at least three years. But what exactly a dating atmosphere should feel like eluded Lin Su, so he just let Shi Wenze continue with the ‘married’ act.
From Qinghu Garden to the suburban farmhouse it took about half an hour by motorcycle. Weekend mornings were traffic-free, and Shi Wenze pushed the bike to the speed limit. Lin Su wrapped his arms around Shi Wenze’s waist, taking a moment to appreciate the handsome man’s fit figure as the wind rushed past them.
Motorcycles—the light of transportation.
The farmhouse area was recently all about blue and white tones. Everywhere you looked, the buildings were painted in the same color scheme, Santorini style. Yue Xiaoyu’s farm was no exception. After all, paint wasn’t expensive, and a couple of skilled workers could handle it. Blue or white—whatever attracted customers was good enough.
But no matter how fancy the exterior looked, in the yard they still had to cook the traditional Bingzi firewood chicken. The taste had to break away from anything Greek, or the customers might leave bad reviews.
The mahjong table was already set up, and coworkers had brought their friends along. Shi Wenze greeted the host and was about to go check the flowers nearby with Lin Su when Xu You walked in laughing with a group.
Going out to play mahjong on a weekend and running into the inspection team was the last thing Xu You expected. The shadow of CCCDDC fell again. “Better to collide head-on today—today’s the first day of my live streaming career!”
The patrol team’s junior members watched Shi Wenze and Lin Su’s retreating backs, then ran back to comfort Xu You. “Maybe the boss is talking the inspectors down so they’ll give you a break.”
Another junior disagreed. “This blatant violation? Maybe the boss can handle that, but the inspection team is super strict. No way they’ll go easy.”
After a long discussion, they agreed the situation was hopeless. Helping Xu You cheat was even more impossible. The only thing they could do was pool money to send rockets during his live streams.
“Then we change our name to Paris L’Oreal Official, so it looks like Xu You has strong backing.”
“Xu You’s not a beauty blogger. Why Paris L’Oreal?”
“Cross-category sponsorships make it look more impressive.”
“If we’re going to fake it, better open multiple accounts to create a fake rivalry between L’Oreal and Olay, fighting over Xu You and throwing money around like crazy.”
“That’s badass!”
Xu You just stared. “…” Forget it. I’d better go back and memorize the laws.
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