QT: LAC Chapter 24: Second World (10)

Chapter 24: Second World (10)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Sulo

 

Every year’s award ceremony was a carnival feast for the entertainment industry.

The next day, the entertainment pages of newspapers and webpages were full of reports about the awards ceremony: who was shining brilliantly on the red carpet, fashionable and beautiful in appearance; who was dressed up in a unique way and was highly criticized; who was unlucky to bump into whom; who carelessly went out in disgrace; who won the award and was so thrilled they shed tears on the spot; who unfortunately failed and was criticized giving off sad smiles.

In the news, there was a unique report – it had nothing to do with the award ceremony, but attracted a lot of attention.

The cause of the incident was Fu Shaohua’s solemn and grateful thanks after winning the Best Supporting Actor Award. Then, after the award ceremony, he accepted an exclusive interview and admitted shyly that he was not only grateful to the benefactor.

It was inconvenient to reveal the name of the other party because the other party was not an insider. Fu Shaohua did not want his feelings with the other party to be influenced by public opinion. On the other hand, it was because — “I do not deserve her.”

In the video, Fu Shaohua was sincere, helpless, but not inferior. He confessed that with the other party’s high status, he was able to wash away his grievances so quickly, precisely because of the other party’s help. Although at present, he was not enough to stand beside the other, he had been working hard for this.

“If one day…” Fu Shaohua smiled shyly, nervous, but firm. “When I get better, get the recognition of their family and qualify to stand side by side with them, I will speak out their name to everyone loudly – I hope that day is not far away.”

For this unexpected announcement, although some people laughed at him because he climbed the high branch, most people’s views were supportive. They feel that this love sounded quite romantic, like a fairy tale between Prince Charming and Cinderella in distress, but the protagonist’s gender had been changed.

Anyone who knew Fu Shaohua knew that he was pitted by his ex-girlfriend and even got the title of ‘the worst green cap king.’ His fans sympathized with him and hoped that he could get out of the shadow of this relationship as soon as possible. What better way than to start a relationship afresh? Moreover, from Fu Shaohua’s description, this lover was noble, kind and beautiful, very reliable; an angel to save him from distress. Fans were willing to wish them a happy marriage, even if there was a status gap between them and the obstacles of their elders.

Fu Shaohua’s announcement of his love affair did not set off a big storm, except for his fans’ joy and encouragement. On the one hand, his fame was not so great, and the attention on him was not high. On the other hand, no one noticed the hidden truth behind this love affair – of course, even if someone knew, it was because of various reasons that they dared not disclose it.

In a word, Fu Shaohua got rid of his singleness quite smoothly. He had a lover outside the circle and also talked about his unknown lover with sweet love and occasionally leaked some dog food to his fans.

Faced with his behavior, the Bai family was so angry to the point of laughing that they had to agree with Big Brother Bai’s evaluation of Fu Shaohua, who was gentle and honest in his daily life, but was very frank when he met with emotional problems. He was so stuffy that he rushed forward, regardless of the consequences, and gave himself no way out. He was silly and sincere.

Once, he almost ruined himself by offending the vice-president’s son to save his ex-girlfriend; now, he offended the Bai family to be able to get along with Bai Duan. Once the Bai family was dissatisfied with him, even if Bai Duan was on his side, Fu Shaohua had absolutely no room to come back.

For such a young person, the Bai family still appreciated it. After all, their family had a big career and lacked nothing. The only thing they wanted were sincere feelings.

If Fu Shaohua’s gender changed, the Bai family would certainly not hesitate to allow Bai Duan to marry him into their family, but the other party was a man, and they needed to think twice.

Although Fu Shaohua had not touched the surface, the Bai family had been observing him, testing him, and setting various troubles for him to prove his character. They knew that Bai Duan would seldom like a person so much. If there were no reasonable excuses, it would be difficult to persuade the other party to leave Fu Shaohua. So they tried to find a place that was not suitable for them to butt in – except for his sex, of course.

But to their surprise, Fu Shaohua performed very well every time, so that they could not find fault completely, as if they were ascarids in their stomachs, they felt that they could do nothing. 

With each clash in the dark, the Bai family, instead of finding Fu Shaohua’s shortcomings, appreciated the young man more and more. Obviously, he was different from the person they knew from the data. The whole person had changed a lot, and he grew up overnight. He has matured a lot in his life, but his insistence and beliefs were reflected in his smoothness.

The Bai family was indeed arrogant. This arrogance stems from the environment in which they grew up, but it did not mean that they were domineering and unreasonable. Otherwise, the Bai family would not flourish for so many generations. For those who could get in their sights, the Bai family was not stingy and would show their friendliness. Fu Shaohua did not have the qualifications, but now he made the Bai family willing to contact and further understand him.

If this man was indeed worthy of Bai Duan, then they would not be unkind to the man, and stop interfering with the joy of their son’s hard harvest.

So, after Fu Shaohua passed the test they set perfectly, the Bai family invited him and took the lead in making an attempt to accept him. Fu Shaohua took the olive branch without hesitation and followed Bai Duan to ‘meet his parents.’

The Bai family’s house was handed down several generations ago. Although it had undergone several major renovations and modernized facilities, it still retained its antique appearance.

When Bai Duan and Fu Shaohua passed through the courtyard in front of the main entrance, they saw Father Bai and Master Bai playing chess in the pavilion. Seeing the two men coming, Bai Father nodded to them, while Old Man Bai touched his beard and looked Fu Shaohua up and down. “Xiao Fu (1), can you play chess?”

Father Bai and Master Bai’s attitude was very casual, and they did not show what they would to a formal visitor, but more like it was a family gathering – this made it like the big enemy (?) Fu Shaohua, who worked in Beijing, look relaxed.

Bai Duan silently looked at his lover, who nodded like a rabbit. “Go? I know a little bit.”

“Oh?” Master Bai was apparently somewhat surprised. “How about you come and stay with me for the rest of the game?”

Hearing what his father said, Father Bai quickly stood up and gave up his position, showing three points of relaxation in his serious face.

Fu Shaohua sat in the position vacated by Father Bai, took up the black side and carefully observed the whole situation. Bai Duan also stood by and looked for a few minutes, and found that his father seemed to have been defeated, no wonder he let it go so quickly.

Soon, Fu Shaohua and Master Bai began to get along. Although Bai Duan had learned something from Master Bai, he didn’t like this kind of sport, which required a lot of thinking and was slow to progress. So he had only learned a little. Now after watching it for more than ten minutes, he couldn’t sit still any longer. He simply made Fu Shaohua an envoy.

Anyway, from the attitude of Old Master Bai and Father Bai, it seemed that they did not intend to embarrass Fu Shaohua.

… In other words, playing Go was actually making him a hard nut to crack.

Bai Duan went to the kitchen to see Mother Bai, who was directing the servant to prepare dinner. Bai Duan was quickly driven out of the kitchen and sat down with Big Brother Bai, who was reading the newspaper in the living room.

Big Brother Bai looked up and glanced at him. “Where’s your man?”

“Outside, Grandpa is making him play Go.” Bai Duan was so bored that he picked up the remote control and turned on the TV, changed the channel, and finally stopped on a TV drama.

Looking at Fu Shaohua’s face flashing across the screen, Big Brother Bai showed some tolerance, “You haven’t got tired of looking at his face at home all day long?”

“No?” Bai Duan crooked his head and thought, “There are two different sensations from weekdays versus TV.”

“… You’re hopeless.” Big Brother Bai put down the newspaper and said this sentence.

Bai Duan shrugged and accepted the assessment frankly. He was really hopeless and never wanted to be saved.

Mother Bai came out of the kitchen and saw Fu Shaohua on TV. She shook her head helplessly but did not express any opinions about it.

Half an hour later, Fu Shaohua followed Master Bai and Father Bai into the living room. Bai Duan leaned over and asked in a low voice whether he won or lost. Fu Shaohua smiled gently and said in a sincere voice, “I won, but it was quite difficult to win.”

Well, in order not to win too much, lest let the elderly lose face, was really painstaking.

Master Bai was old, but with his hearing aids, his hearing was still very sensitive. He heard his words and coughed then looked at Fu Shaohua as if he was complaining and appreciating him.

The Bai family practiced ‘eating without saying anything’ at the table, so dinner was quite calm. After dinner, the entire family sat in the living room and chatted as usual, but the topic did not revolve around Bai Duan and Fu Shaohua’s affairs. Instead, it was free-wheeling and involved in every field.

The Bai family was knowledgeable, had received elite education since childhood, and with the family’s subtle cultivation and edification, each of them was quite versatile, and could talk about a variety of topics.

For such a conversation, Fu Shaohua initially showed some shyness and helplessness, but was prompted several times and then quickly integrated into it. Unexpectedly, he did not get stuck on any topics brought up during the half-hour; once again, he made the Bai family feel this was entirely unexpected.

Very good. Now they didn’t have to worry about the lack of common language between Bai Duan and Fu Shaohua. They were getting farther and farther away from their original goal.

… It was really a tangle.

At first, Master Bai was out of spirits and went back to his room to rest. The Bai family’s symposium soon ended. As for Fu Shaohua, he was invited to stay.

Watching his lover, who followed the servant to the guest room, Bai Duan breathed softly and rubbed his stiff neck.

Big Brother Bai looked at his younger brother and smiled, “What, are you still nervous?”

“I’m not nervous.” Bai Duan shook his head. “It just felt like everything was going too well. It’s a bit weird.”

“Everything went too smoothly, but he handled it well.” Big Brother Bai lifted his eyebrows and said, “For example, when Grandpa first asked him to play GO together, you thought it was just a simple game?”

“… Wasn’t it?” Bai Duan was thoughtful.

“Of course not.” Big Brother Bai raised his mouth and said, “Go is like watching a person. You can observe a person’s style by the way they play, we can understand his personality and character.”

“Seriously, you’re not lying?!” Bai Duan was surprised. “Grandpa’s chess ability is so strong?”

“Of course, I’m lying!” Big Brother Bai raised his hand and flicked his silly brother’s forehead fiercely. “At Grandpa’s level, let alone observe Fu Shaohua, I think he’s almost under observation! That little lover of yours is absolutely not bullied as he seems to be!”

Bai Duan rubbed his forehead, showing an innocent face, completely not understanding why he was suddenly beaten by his brother, “Ah, I know ah…”

“What do you know?! Beauty is in the eyes of the lover. Now, what’s wrong with Fu Shaohua?” Big Brother Bai spurned his younger brother, got up and went to the study, intending to continue to deal with his unfinished work.

Bai Duan was left in place, full of grievances.

Of course, he knew that Fu Shaohua was not bullied on the surface. He was a big gray wolf in rabbit skin. If he didn’t know better, he would think that they were brothers!

1. In Chinese culture, if Xiao is added in front of a person’s first name, it is the nickname that families, relatives, and good friends use to call the person.