Mr. Yuan is Always Unhappy - Chap 48
CH48 – HIS PRIDE
Edited by Yummers
Zheng Qiuyang took the Sunday flight at 6 in the evening back to Beijing. He had to leave for the airport during the afternoon and Yuan Rui was filming so he couldn’t send him off. Instead, he had Zhao Zhengyi go with him.
By the time Zhao Zhengyi came back, it was already dark out. Yuan Rui was preparing for the candlelight dinner scene he had with Song Huanyan. He quickly asked Zhao Zhengyi, “Has he left? Did the plane get delayed or anything?”
Zhao Zhengyi replied, “It didn’t, I waited until he boarded the plane before I left.”
Yuan Rui felt grateful. “Thank you for going through the trouble.”
Zhao Zhengyi smiled back at him. “Don’t worry about it, helping you is my job after all.”
Yuan Rui thought for a moment, then said, “Can you help me ask the TV station tomorrow if there’s any more of The Sparkly Friends plush merch left? If so, please have them save one for me.”
“There’s no need to ask the TV station about that, we have some at our company. They sent us a bunch when the dolls were released. Lingling-Jie has them all, you can just ask her once we get back to Beijing.”
Yuan Rui was very happy to hear that. He immediately called Li Lingling.
Li Lingling asked from the other line, “What is it? Aren’t you filming in Shanghai?”
“Lingling-Jie, I want a chibi plush of me, is that okay?”
Li Lingling spoke indifferently, “Which show’s merch? You can get it yourself once you’re back, it’s taking up space anyways.”
Yuan Rui didn’t want the others to hear, so he lowered his voice as he said, “But there’s still a month until I go back to Beijing. It’s because my boyfriend likes it, can you help me out and deliver one to my house?”
“…”
Yuan Rui tried his best to please her. “Lingling-Jie, you’re the best!”
But Li Lingling didn’t go along. “Tell him to come to get it himself. The doll will definitely be overweight with its size, the company won’t pay for the extra delivery fee.”
Yuan Rui has seen the doll before so he instantly came up with an estimated price in his head. “Then I’ll transfer fifty yuan to you, that should be enough to cover the fee.”
“…no, I’m already this busy, where do I have the time to make a delivery?”
Yuan Rui pleaded, “Lingling-Jie…”
Li Lingling was very firm. “Tell him to come himself.”
Yuan Rui could only agree. “Alright. I’ll ask him when he has time, and call you back after.”
Once Li Lingling hung up, she couldn’t help the smile from spreading across her face. Oh man, this is great! Now I can finally see what Yuan Rui’s boyfriend looks like in person!
Yuan Rui and Song Huanyan had a candlelight dinner together, passed around some romantic lines, then ended it with a kiss scene.
Since Yuan Rui overcame his mental dilemma last time, he wasn’t as nervous during kiss scenes anymore. He got a pass after two tries. Even the director complimented him endlessly.
They had one more scene left to shoot, though they had to wait a few minutes since the lights weren’t all in place. Yuan Rui put his coat on to go chat with Song Huanyan in her van.
Song Huanyan fixed her makeup as she commented, “Being honest here, you’re pretty naturally talented, a lot better than me. When I first acted as a female lead, I was scolded by the director from day to night.”
The compliments made Yuan Rui bashful as he replied, “But you’re an awesome actress now. Whenever the news makes a list of young actresses with both good looks and acting, you’re always mentioned.”
Song Huanyan put down her makeup mirror, saying with a smile, “Sigh, they are all fruits of labor from the scoldings I got.”
Yuan Rui knew that she had a competitive personality ever since he first met her. Unlike him, who was fine with mostly anything. Now that she had made several accomplishments, she was a lot more open-minded. Naturally, Yuan Rui felt happy for her.
Song Huanyan redid her eyebrows, then asked, “Did you-know-who leave? Your assistant wasn’t around for a while, did he accompany him?”
“He left, it’s Monday tomorrow so he has to go to work.” Simply bringing up Zheng Qiuyang would make Yuan Rui talkative. “He’s a jewelry designer. He used to study overseas in Italy with an internationally-known master as his mentor. That person designed for Chanel and Pomellato before too. He’s also very talented himself, his designs are all really pretty.”
He opened up his phone camera roll to show Song Huanyan. “Look, this is his work from last year, the Wonderland Series. Isn’t it pretty? I think it’s super pretty, it’s very elegant and bold as well.”
Song Huanyan agreed, “It is pretty. I’m not too much of an expert with jewelry though. What is this? Jade?”
“It’s green agate, although the diamonds on the edges are small, they all have an IF clarity. You can’t really tell from the picture alone. It dazzles incredibly when it’s in motion, just like the starry sky of a summer night. The overall design also has a great concept, this stands for the kingdom of a girl’s dream. Every girl is their own Alice, they all have a wonderland to themselves.”
Song Huanyan was astonished. “Woah, you actually know quite a lot.”
Yuan Rui got shy. “He told me all about it, he’s super talented! Isn’t he great?”
“…Great,” she replied.
Yuan Rui’s face was full of pride.
They finished filming that night at around ten. On his way back, Yuan Rui received messages from his “pride”. His pride told him that it was really cold, there was no heat, and even with the bath heater, he felt like a freezing dog.
Yuan Rui gave him a call, asking right away, “Did you finish showering?”
Zheng Qiuyang replied, “Woof woof woof!”
“Hahaha!”
The van had good sound insulation so there wasn’t much background noise. Thus, Zhao Zhengyi was able to hear their conversation clearly from the driver’s seat, he tried to hold his laughter back.
Zheng Qiuyang laughed from the other side as well. “I finished showering. It was so fucking cold, my leg got a cramp right when I got out.”
Yuan Rui felt bad for him, he said, “I saw on the news that Beijing’s heat is already back on, how come the heat in our house still isn’t back?”
“I asked the property management, they said, ‘how could everything possibly correspond to the news?’”
Yuan Rui couldn’t respond. “…”
Zheng Qiuyang chuckled. “I was actually going to yell at him, but then I thought that he was pretty right so I didn’t.”
Yuan Rui spoke out of worry, “There’s a cherry blossom patterned bag on the lowest layer of the closet. It has an extra thick duvet in it. Before I moved, not even the coldest nights had an effect on me when I used it.”
Zheng Qiuyang opened the closet to take a look. He picked up the storage bag and could already feel how heavy it was. He joked, “It’s so thick, did you used to live in the North Pole or something?”
Yuan Rui replied honestly, “In the small residential complex I used to live in, the pipeline was ancient and the heat was never sufficient during the winter. Since it usually didn’t work, I bought this blanket. It was a hot item on sale, I bought it for only 399! Hehe!”
“…”
Before Zheng Qiuyang and Yuan Rui started dating, he once dropped Yuan Rui off on his way home after a gathering with Fang Shiqing. The place that Yuan Rui used to live in was an ordinary complex owned by a small state-owned enterprise. It was over ten years old. By now, most of the people living there were all elderly people who had retired. The place was full of elders practicing Taiji, playing elephant chess, or taking care of their grandchildren.
Yuan Rui rented a little place that was a little over 70 square meters. The security door was made out of mere crude iron. It’d ring up a great ruckus when being pushed. But the inside was nicely organized by Yuan Rui. He had a bunch of green plants and dozens of goldfish. Alongside his good figure and aura, just him standing there made the old household furniture look like a fashion trend.
Zheng Qiuyang questioned him on why he lived in such a place. Yuan Rui told him truthfully that it was because of the cheap rent, plus, this place was really close to the subway station. Zheng Qiuyang didn’t have an insight on Yuan Rui’s family situation back then yet, but he could still tell that he wasn’t that poor. He was just an economical individual.
Later when Yuan Rui got more famous, his company rented the apartment he was currently living in. Or else, he most likely would still be living in that veteran-filled camp.
Zheng Qiuyang covered the blanket over himself, then turned off the lights to sleep. Yuan Rui probably laid the blanket under the sun not long ago since there was no musty smell of it being stuffed away for ages. Instead, it emitted a slight scent of the detergent they used in the house. Just like Yuan Rui said, it was very warm.
“Hot item on sale, only 399!”
Zheng Qiuyang couldn’t help but smile in the darkness. Yuan Rui was also a hot item that he managed to get his hands on. Yuan Rui was seriously a desirable gem, if he’d acted any slower, he might’ve been whisked away by someone else.
On the filming crew side, ever since Yang Lu arrived on set everyone brought out 120,000% of their energy. With such a stern and strict producer present at the set, it was as if the progress was winded up. The filming went by a lot faster.
Yuan Rui used to be a little afraid of her. Though he still was, it wasn’t as bad as before. He wasn’t as restrained when talking with her anymore. Although he was slow, he wasn’t straight-up stupid. He could tell if another person was truly being nice to him or not.
But Yang Lu wasn’t able to stay in Shanghai for a week as planned. She was needed for something else very soon. In two days, she had to leave again.
Ever since Song Huanyan had a taste of Yuan Rui’s home-cooked food last time, she became a little addicted. Yuan Rui cooked two more times for her after work, then they would share the meal together in her room. She always ate a great portion, but afterward, she’d feel extremely bloated.
“Oh god, oh god, I can’t eat anything anymore,” Song Huanyan spoke in shock as she stood on the scale. “I’ve gained two kilograms! The fact that I’m gaining weight during filming. Ahh, it’s all your fault!”
Yuan Rui replied innocently, “But I made them because you said you wanted them.”
“I always eat more than you, yet you don’t even stop me.”
Yuan Rui looked at her waist, speaking from his heart, “You really didn’t gain anything, you still look very beautiful. It won’t have a bad effect on the camera either, you were too thin before.”
Song Huanyan sat down next to him, letting out a long sigh. “My appearance on the camera isn’t the only thing I’m worried about. If I get too fat and become unattractive, my sugar daddy’s not going to want me anymore.”
Yuan Rui, “!!!”
Song Huanyan put on an anxious expression. “Ol’ mighty supermodel, you gotta teach me how to quickly lose weight. Or else by the time we finish filming, I’m going to turn into a ball. What do I do if he stops liking me and decides to support someone else instead?”
Yuan Rui, “…”
Yuan Rui’s eyes were wide in shock. He whispered in disbelief, “Do you really have a sugar daddy?”
“Yeah, you didn’t know? One of the sponsors for this show is my sugar daddy.”
Yuan Rui thought back to the few sponsors he saw during the launch conference. Just thinking about their grisly faces and their old age, he couldn’t help but scoot backward.
Song Huanyang’s face showed that she was hurt. “Are you also going to look down on me? We’re good friends though.”
“…”
Yuan Rui’s mind struggled for a moment, then he said, “If you quickly come back on the right road, we can still be good friends.”
“Hahaha!” Song Huanyan burst out laughing.
Yuan Rui’s eyebrows furrowed, he said sincerely, “I’m being serious! You’re still so young, it’s okay to be on the wrong path for a little while, but if you really keep going, your whole life will be ruined! Song Yanyan! Be more serious!”
Song Huanyan, “…”
Song Huanyan raised her hands in defeat. “Alright, I’ll stop playing. I was joking. He’s not my sugar daddy, he’s my boyfriend. We’re dating just like any other normal couple would.”
Yuan Rui was even more shocked. “…My little sis, what is it that you’re after?”
Song Huanyan could tell what he misunderstood when she observed his face. She said with a smile, “You haven’t seen him yet. He’s currently out of the country, so he didn’t show up at the launch conference.”
She showed Yuan Rui her boyfriend’s picture, which finally allowed Yuan Rui to drop his concern. Although the boyfriend wasn’t exceedingly attractive, he was still a nice-looking young man. He had quite a mature appearance, he seemed like a talented youngster from his looks.
After Yuan Rui left Song Huanyan’s room to go back to his room, he laid on his bed to video call Zheng Qiuyang.
He asked, “Is it still cold at home?”
Zheng Qiuyang replied, “The heat’s back on, the company said there was a leak in the pipeline before. It’s been fixed now.”
Yuan Rui was happy for him. “Awesome! Are you sketching right now? Is it for practicing or for work? Did I disturb you at all?”
Zheng Qiuyang spun the pencil in his hand, smiling. “You’d be disturbing me even if you aren’t calling me, I think about you sixty times each minute.”
Yuan Rui chuckled, rebutting, “I think about you sixty-one times.”
“Then I think about you sixty-two times.”
The two went on like they were at an auction, continuously raising the number. Up until the eighties, they realized that it was quite dumb and laughed out loud simultaneously. Zheng Qiuyang said, “You dummy.”
“Let me tell you, I really am a dummy. Tonight I was eating with Song Huanyan, she started joking with me and I took her seriously.”
He went on to describe Song Huanyan’s story very vividly.
“She and her boyfriend used to be classmates in middle school, then they lost touch for many years. After she entered the industry, she met a scum who lived off her. So not only did he trick her for her body, but he also tricked her for her money. When she was at the lowest point of her life, she met her current boyfriend again. That guy’s a pretty good person, he has a successful business and is a kind and considerate man. He helped take care of that scum for her, then he confessed that he’s liked her ever since middle school. The two naturally got together after that. Isn’t that super romantic? The princess has finally met her prince! I think this is more romantic than idol dramas!”
Zheng Qiuyang’s face has darkened entirely. Romantic my ass, the more I listen, the angrier I get.
Yuan Rui thought he just wasn’t interested in the topic, so he didn’t continue it. Instead, he asked, “Don’t you have work to do? Maybe I should go to shower first, we can keep talking once you’re done.”
Zheng Qiuyang spun the pencil in his hand again, saying, “It’s not for work. I want to attend the jewelry design tournament next Spring.”
