Mr. Yuan is Always Unhappy - Chap 66

CH66 – WHODUNNIT?

Edited by Yummers

Zheng Qiuyang found Yuan Rui’s silly scheme to be quite cute.

Furthermore, seeing that Yuan Rui finally decided to share his insecurities with him, indescribable happiness sparked within him.

Not long after the two started dating, he noticed how Yuan Rui always faced the world with an innocent heart. He treated others sincerely, and had a genuine passion for what he did. Even though he was very insecure, he would seldom express it.

Yuan Rui’s behavior was most likely caused by his childhood environment. The parting with his dad and the passing of his mom during his adolescence. Despite how well his stepdad and stepsister treated him, the years of living in an unfamiliar environment had a great impact on him as a young adult. He was used to hiding his uneasiness and unhappiness. He was used to pleasing those he liked and treating them with connivance. He was used to hiding his pain with a smile when hurt.

Deep down, he worried secretly about Zheng Qiuyang’s family. He was worried that Zheng Qiuyang might be attracted to a girl. He was worried that Zheng Qiuyang was only with him because of a moment of confusion. If it was anyone else, they would’ve most likely expressed their feelings already and then be on strict guard against their partner. They’d try to get on their partner’s mom’s good side and try to wipe out all the love rivals like a minesweeper.

But Yuan Rui didn’t say anything, nor did he do anything. Yuan Rui cautiously yet unreservedly gave Zheng Qiuyang his everything; letting Zheng Qiuyang indulge in his desires as Yuan Rui tried to treat him the best that he could.

Was it dumb? Indeed it was, it was super dumb. Although Yuan Rui was afraid that this romance might last no longer than the duration of a shooting star, he was still willing to offer all of his heart and sincerity.

Yuan Rui saying, “If you ever have a change of heart, I am willing to leave for you two,” sounded so heartless. But when one thought about it, for someone like Yuan Rui to say such words, he must’ve been filled with sorrow.

Aside from the last point that Yuan Rui said, everything else was a surprise to Zheng Qiuyang. He had always been aware of Yuan Rui’s internal troubles, but because Yuan Rui had never brought them up himself, he didn’t either.

Zheng Qiuyang was very clear on how much they loved each other; the two never had any misunderstandings between each other either. Yuan Rui’s forbearance and uneasiness did not come from his distrust of Zheng Qiuyang, but rather from the inherent lack of security in his character.

Zheng Qiuyang knew about it all, but how could he tell Yuan Rui that the blame was on his character and that he needed to change his outlook? Who in the world had no flaws in their character? Even Zheng Qiuyang—due to the family he was raised in—still goes with the flow every day in his thirties, with no effort to improve himself. Yuan Rui would never directly confront Zheng Qiuyang about his behavior either.

Zheng Qiuyang quit smoking, stopped going to bars, learned to save money, went to work on time, and started making designs seriously all by himself. From the inside out, his lifestyle had become both more healthy and progressive. Although it couldn’t be said that those changes were made entirely because of Yuan Rui, he was certainly one of the main driving forces that caused Zheng Qiuyang to start the change.

There was not much room for reasoning between two lovers to begin with. How many people in love have actually wasted their time on reasoning with one another? What is even the point of trying to come to a conclusion where they determine who is wrong, who is right, or who is the problem in the relationship? When in love, two lovers should try their best to embrace each other in times of conflict, then improve themselves to be a better person for the other.

Today, although Yuan Rui was a little embarrassed, he finally allowed himself to share his worries and insecurities with Zheng Qiuyang.

The two were getting better and better. Not just on an individual level, but both of them together.

Zheng Qiuyang was very pleased with their current relationship. It fulfilled hope in every corner of life for him. No matter what road they have to walk down in the future, they’ll firmly hold onto each other’s hand and face it together.

Zheng Qiuyang’s phone barely got a rest in the afternoon. His friends and family called him one after another. His dad scolded him without an ounce of mercy and his mom, as expected, put the blame on Yuan Rui. Surprisingly, Zheng Shaoyang didn’t join in on the scolding, he just passed on his wife’s concern and support for Yuan Rui in a very roundabout way.

His colleagues and friends comforted him over the phone. Since Zheng Qiuyang had been out of the closet for a while now, his close friends already knew about his sexuality. But a small part of them didn’t know that his boyfriend was Yuan Rui. So after the comforting, they’d noisily try to get the story of how he and Yuan Rui started dating.

On the other hand, Yuan Rui never gave out his number to many people. The media could also only get in contact with him through his company or Li Lingling. So aside from Suo Yue calling to spit on the paparazzi for having no heart, only a few other close colleagues contacted him.

Yuan Rui’s facial expression became physically drained as he picked up calls one after another, repeating the same words. Zheng Qiuyang said, “Maybe you should just shut your phone off.”

But Yuan Rui didn’t want to. “No, you don’t understand. With how this industry is, anyone who is still willing to call me at this point is the only people who really treat me as their friend.”

Zheng Qiuyang couldn’t shut his phone either. If he weren’t waiting for a call from that friend who could potentially be of help right now, he would’ve shut off his phone a long time ago.

The acting king who was in The Sparkling Friends called Yuan Rui and Yuan Rui picked it up with respect.

Zheng Qiuyang listened to their conversation for a while, then his phone started vibrating too. He picked it up to see who it was and his expression proceeded to become a little weird. He immediately hung up the call. But quickly, his phone vibrated again. It was the same person, he quickly hung up again.

Yuan Rui was sitting on the other sofa and saw him hanging up twice in a row, but he couldn’t tell who it was.

The acting king was filming in Shanxi, so he quickly gave Yuan Rui some guidance and had to hang up. He ended the call, saying he’ll call back once he had the time.

Yuan Rui asked, “Qiuyang, who was calling you?”

“Some insurance company.”

Yuan Rui felt like he was lying and wanted to keep asking when his phone rang again. He saw Bai Tu’s name flash across the screen and immediately tossed the question aside. With both excitement and nervousness, he exclaimed, “Ah! It’s my male god!”

Zheng Qiuyang side-eyed him as Yuan Rui picked up the call full of joy, ignoring him.

Zheng Qiuyang listened to Yuan Rui giving thanks to the other without an end. He could guess that Bai Tu was comforting him over the phone. Although Zheng Qiuyang was still a little jealous inside, he still thought that Bai Tu was a pretty good person. Bai Tu was a successful person, a bottom, and had nothing he’d need to leech from Yuan Rui; he most likely thought of Yuan Rui as a true friend.

Bai Tu comforted Yuan Rui, “There’s actually a lot of people who know about me and Liang Xi. There are quite a bit of our people in this industry too. Hundreds of people have their pictures taken all the time, there’s no way all of them missed the private life shots. It’s just that the news media in our country usually wouldn’t report this type of thing, it’s like a known custom. In your case this time, it was definitely instigated on purpose. What did your company say?”

Yuan Rui said, “My agent said that it may be because of the popularity of the last show I was on. From promotions alone right now, the second season has already made over three million. So one of our competitors might’ve instigated this.”

Bai Tu replied, “That is a possibility. Back in ‘08 or ‘09, I shot a film and on release day, there was high-quality footage uploaded to the internet already. Weibo wasn’t a big thing yet back then, so the female lead and I got a lot of hate on Tianya and other sites like that. They said I got the role through unspeakable methods, and that the girl used to be a prostitute. I was lucky enough to win an award later on and my company bought comments to clear up my reputation. But the actress’ company wasn’t as dependable. She wasn’t able to overcome that incident and never got any lead roles again. But she stayed pretty positive. Now she doesn’t really act anymore. She owns a hotpot restaurant back in her hometown, and her business seems to be doing well.”

Yuan Rui spoke with bits of disapproval, “I know. You’re talking about Yu Qianran, right? I’ve heard of her from Song Huanyan. She was Song Huanyan’s senior at the dance academy she used to be enrolled in. She’s actually a really nice girl who had a decent family background as well. There’s no way she would’ve been a prostitute. Those trolls who purposely tainted her reputation are so horrible.”

Bai Tu replied, “The trolls are bad, but there are also a bunch of people who like to jump on the bandwagon. If not for my company’s reliability, I probably would’ve had to stop acting a long time ago. So don’t take those online hate comments to heart. From what I’ve seen, your fans are all pretty good. The new trend that’s going around right now also creates a positive image for others. Nowadays, a lot more people are accepting of homosexuality too. Once the video’s fame dies down, not many will continue to hang onto this.”

Yuan Rui smiled. “Male god, rest assured. I’m not scared of their comments. I’ve done nothing wrong. For them to point their fingers at me is their own problem. It has nothing to do with me.”

Bai Tu smiled as well. “It’s great that you have that mentality. In today’s world, liking whichever sex isn’t that big of a deal at all. Think of all those people who were caught drug-abusing and cheating, they’re still able to appear on television and in movies. As long as your company handles this properly, there shouldn’t be much of a problem. Don’t be too worried.”

Yuan Rui was very thankful. “Thank you, male god. If I can’t appear on TV anymore in the future, can I still hang out with you?”

Bai Tu couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’re overthinking it. I have another thing to tell you.”

The number that Zheng Qiuyang did not want to pick up had called him several times by now. He was just irked as hell when he saw Yuan Rui suddenly jumping up from the sofa. Yuan Rui yelled happily, “Ah! For real?!”

Zheng Qiuyang quickly gave him a look to ask what was going on. However, Yuan Rui’s focus was still on the call as a bright smile plastered across his face.

“Yes! Yes!” Yuan Rui said to the phone, “Male god, you’re such a nice person! Liang-Ge is too! I wish you guys happiness forever and have a child soon…ah no, I meant, I hope you both are healthy! Healthy!”

Zheng Qiuyang waited until he was done on the phone with Bai Tu to ask, “What happened? Did something good happen?”

Yuan Rui jumped towards him and Zheng Qiuyang instinctively opened his arms to catch him. With the push from Yuan Rui, his back laid against the sofa as Yuan Rui was on top of him. Yuan Rui laughed out loud, saying, “Qiuyang! Now I definitely don’t have to quit this industry!”

Zheng Qiuyang continued questioning, “Just what happened?”

Yuan Rui said, “Have you seen Whodunnit?”

Zheng Qiuyang thought for a moment then said, “That American reality show?”

Yuan Rui nodded enthusiastically. “There’s a video website that has been testing the water for those types of reality shows for a long time. It has always had a reputation but not a high audience. Recently, it bought the remake copyright of the program at a high price and plans to shoot the Chinese version. The company is afraid that normal contestants won’t be able to bring in good views, so it’s going to be made into an all-star version. Many famous people have been contacted. Most people are still waiting and unsure because the original version of the program is a little limited. It couldn’t be broadcasted on television, so it could only be web-released Only Liang Xi has accepted the position as of now. He wants to try another genre of entertainment, he doesn’t want to stick with only comedy anymore. Just now, my male god asked me if I want to do this program. If I want to do it, then Liang Xi will bring me along.”

Zheng Qiuyang, “…”

Yuan Rui was still lying atop him, he shook him harshly. “Say something! Give me a reaction! Are you so happy that you’ve gone silent?”

Zheng Qiuyang spoke up, “If I recall correctly, this show…requires a lot of IQ.”

Yuan Rui’s hands pulled Zheng Qiuyang’s cheeks to the sides as hard as he could as he said proudly, “Don’t look down on me! I became a Mathematical Olympiad Gold Medalist at the age of 12!”

Zheng Qiuyang thought to himself, Then your IQ never managed to climb any higher, only your height did.