Mr. Yuan is Always Unhappy - Chap 18
T/N: The “cluck cluck” in the chapter title refers to sounds made by chickens. The joke works better in Chinese because a man’s balls are commonly known as “eggs” in Chinese, so it’s talking about how their balls/eggs cracked and baby chickens are coming out LMAO
Edited by Yummers
As expected, after Yuan Rui posted pictures of the signature from all 360 degrees angle on Weibo, there were some anti-fans in the comments saying he was trying to hug Bai Tu’s leg. Though Bai Tu’s fans were very friendly, under the post, they teased him to be a god among the Bai Tu fandom, asking him for a chance to hug his legs.
Li Lingling wasn’t mad at him over that either. Instead, she asked to talk with him about the last time he recorded the first episode of the show.
“Did you offend the production team during the recording?” Her tone was full of interrogation. “My friend from the TV station told me in private that the editor made you seem like an entire log. They cut out all your funny parts and all that’s left is you looking stupid. If the show ends up getting released like that, instead of attracting new fans, it’d only attract a bunch of antis over.”
Yuan Rui was baffled. “I shouldn’t have. Aside from the film director who followed along and the cameraman, I barely spoke with anyone else. The female director who followed me said she was my fan and liked me a lot. The cameraman was a Simida, I had a smile on the whole time we talked. I couldn’t understand his English though, their pronunciation is so weird…could he have realized that I wasn’t a fan of his accent? But I even bought him something to drink.”
“……”
Yuan Rui then confessed guiltily. “Although when we ate at night, Director Yang said that I was constantly like a log. I wasn’t funny or lively. I probably just really didn’t perform well.”
Li Lingling was taken aback. “Did she say that in front of everyone during the team meal?”
Yuan Rui nodded. “She seems like a very strict person. Every time she talks to me, I get a little scared.”
That was unexpected for Li Lingling. Over ten years ago, Yang Lu was a TV host that every family in the country knew of. Then, she resigned from CCTV to start her own business. Not only was she good at managing and had good connections, both her father and her husband had good connections too. Years ago, she would produce movies and shows, she basically did whatever was popular. Now that reality shows had blown up in recent years, she pulled together a team to start producing variety works. For someone like that, it would be logical to think that their EQ was very high. So why would she taunt a little celebrity who did nothing to her?
Yuan Rui seemed to not have really made her expectations as she scolded, “Look at yourself, what is there to be scared of when she talks to you?”
Yuan Rui felt embarrassed. “She really looks a lot like my elementary math teacher. I was really bad at math back then, so my teacher always pinched my ears. Every time Director Yang talks to me, it makes me want to cover my ears.”
“……”
“I endured, I didn’t cover them.”
Li Lingling was enraged, “Are you looking for a compliment? Literally every single day, you have no idea what you’re doing, plus the way you talk! What kind of luck did I end up with, having to be in charge of you?! She isn’t even that scary, did she slap you or something?! What’s there to be scared of?!”
“……”
Once the scolding was over, Li Lingling switched back to normal mandarin. “The day after tomorrow, which is Wednesday, make sure to be more attentive when you go to the recording set. You aren’t a newbie anymore, observe people’s looks. I’ll ask for help from the TV station to see if they can not use the current copy and re-edit it.”
When Yuan Rui came out of her office, Zhan Zhengyi came up to him. He consoled him, “Yuan-Ge, don’t take this to heart. Just lend an ear when she’s scolding, that’ll be all.”
Yuan Rui said in a low voice, “Then, I have to at least understand the scoldings, I don’t even know what she said.”
“……”
Yuan Rui said, “But right after she scolded me, she said she was going to ask the people on the team to help me. I know she’s only hard on the surface but soft inside.”
Zhao Zhengyi went along with him. “Right right right.”
“When we pass by a bookstore on the way back, go get a book of Shanghainese translation for me.”
“……For what?”
“So I can study it. Or else if I never understand her and I can’t respond, that’ll make it very awkward for her.”
“……”
Wednesday was their second recording of The Sparkling Friends. Yuan Rui set his mind on putting effort into his performance this time. He can’t be disfavored like that again, so he worked even harder during the gaming round.
It was past eleven in the evening when the recording was over. The production team invited everyone out for some late-night snacks. But all the guests expressed that they were already bloated from the games, politely refusing the offer.
Yuan Rui looked around. Somehow he hadn’t seen his math teacher for the entire day. He asked the film director who followed him around, “Did Director Yang not come today?”
The director said, “Director Yang has some business at home so she didn’t come. She doesn’t come to the set for every recording either. The last time was because it was the first episode.”
Yuan Rui felt like he had performed very well that day. The fact that Director Yang wasn’t there in person to witness it was a bit of a pity. But no matter what, sooner or later, he’ll let the other see his hard work and improvement.
Satisfied, he said goodbye to everyone, then went home.
Opening the door to his house, a resistance-against-Japan-troop type of show was being displayed on the TV in the living room. However, Zheng Qiuyang had already fallen asleep lying on the sofa.
Yuan Rui carefully switched his shoes before entering. He closed the TV, then went to remove his makeup in the bathroom. He also got out a set of clean clothes, wanting to go take a shower. By then, Zheng Qiuyang was standing at the bedroom entrance, looking at him with an exhausted expression.
Yuan Rui spoke to him, “I saw that you were sleeping really deeply, so I was going to wake you up to go back in the room to sleep after a while.”
Zheng Qiuyang rubbed his face. “Have you eaten yet?”
Yuan Rui nodded. “What about you?”
“No. I took my mom to get another check-up then bought something to eat, only ate lunch at her place.”
“Is her hand feeling better?”
Zheng Qiuyang smiled. “She’s healed, it doesn’t hurt anymore. Her mood improved too, she didn’t really nag me that much today either. I’m really about to light an incense and pray that she never gets discomfort in any other places again.”
Yuan Rui smiled back. “It is best that she is physically and mentally well.”
Zheng Qiuyang didn’t want to continue the topic about his mom. He saw the clothes in Yuan Rui’s hands. He expressed coquettishly, “Oh~? Are you going to shower? Wanna go in together?”
A while after they went into the bathroom together.
Yuan Rui spoke up, “…Something doesn’t seem right.”
Zheng Qiuyang was bewildered. “What’s not right?”
“Hang on, something’s seriously not right!”
“What is not right? Don’t you have tomorrow off?”
Yuan Rui struggled out of his hold, his face was in a disaster. “I’m not joking!”
Zheng Qiuyang felt speechless. “What? You don’t want to do it, yet you lured me in to shower with you?”
Yuan Rui felt wronged. “No, I do want to.”
Zheng Qiuyang reached out his arms, wanting to hug him. “Then what are you hesitating for? Your husband here is about to burst.”
Yuan Rui pushed against his chest. He requested embarrassingly, “H-h-hurry and look take a look for me, I-I-I…think something’s teared.”
“……”
Yuan Rui was agitated. “I’m being serious. It hurt a little when you touched it earlier.”
During the day time recording, one of the activities was doing car races on children’s bicycles. It was already hard for an average grown man to ride on those things, but for Yuan Rui on the other hand, the task was a lot more difficult for his long legs. Merely a few meters of distance brought him pain. But, his mind was set on putting on a good performance. Seeing that everyone else was fine, he endured through it and even got first place. He felt the discomfort later as well, but his only choice was to hold it in…until earlier when he felt the piercing pain.
Zheng Qiuyang checked for him. “Your balls didn’t tear, but the skin did.”
Yuan Rui let out a huge sigh of relief. He was pleased to say, “Oh good good.”
Zheng Qiuyang went off though. “Good my ass, you also went down a mud puddle! What if you got infected?!”
“The mud puddle game happened before the car race, it’s fine.”
Zheng Qiuyang scolded him, “Yuan Xiao Rui, are you dumb? It’s a variety show, not the Olympics. Why did you push yourself so much?”
“……”
Seeing his pitiful face, Zheng Qiuyang couldn’t bear to scold him any longer. “Whatever. Let’s go check it out at the hospital tomorrow, we have to get some medicine for you. It’d be troublesome if it gets inflamed.”
Yuan Rui was shocked. “Ah? I have to get checked by a doctor?”
Zheng Qiuyang replied angrily, “Do you think I want other people to look at your balls?!”
