Mr. Yuan is Always Unhappy - Chap 78
CH78 – OLD MATTERS
The road condition wasn’t great over the weekend and Yuan Rui was afraid of being late. The appointment he made with Yang Lu was to meet at 7pm. However, the time just passed 5pm and he was already urging Zheng QiuYang out the door.
Zheng QiuYang saw him take out several bags from the cabinets. They were all gifts for Yang Lu. There were things like make up, clothes, and even a handbag for women. He asked in bewilderment: “When did you buy all this?”
Yuan Rui said: “I asked Fang ShiQing to help me buy them. He’s the most reliable for this kind of thing.”
Zheng QiuYang thought the same and asked: “Where did he go? I haven’t seen him all day.”
Yuan Rui chuckled and said: “He said— Without him, Wang Qi must find it hard to make it through the night, unable to eat and unable to sleep. It just so happens he has nothing to do today, so out of benevolence and kindness, he went to check on Wang Qi.”
Zheng QiuYang had a face of disgust. He really couldn’t understand Wang Qi’s aesthetics. Just considering Fang ShiQing’s theatrics alone… If it were him, he would have beaten this guy to death 800 times already. Good thing, Fang ShiQing only acted dramatically towards Wang Qi alone. Otherwise, who’d be able to stand it. Just take a look in comparison— his family’s Yuan XiaoRui. Both soft and obedient, doesn’t cause trouble or make a fuss, practically perfection. It’s no wonder that from yesterday to today, his mom sent him over 20 messages on WeiBo asking him if he had chased out the little vixen yet.
Before leaving, Yuan Rui extremely thoughtfully inserted the height-enhancing insole pads for him. Zheng QiuYang even feigned nonchalance and said: “It’s fine without them. She’s seen me so many times already.”
Despite saying this, he still ‘reluctantly’ used the pads.
40 minutes later, when they encountered Meng Lai while parking in front of the restaurant, Zheng QiuYang deeply regretted inserting just one pair only.
Meanwhile, Yuan Rui was so nervous he almost peed. He had bought that many gifts because he came to say thank you and goodbye to Yang Lu. He never imagined Meng Lai would come! A meeting between his first love and current boyfriend— how could such a dog-blooded thing happen to him? He’s really too unlucky!
“What a coincidence,” To cover up his nervousness, his expression and tone were very exaggerated: “How can it be such a coincidence? Did you also come here to eat?”
Even Zheng QiuYang felt awkward hearing these words. If he didn’t come here to eat, did he make a special trip here…to use the bathroom?
Smiling, Meng Lai got straight to the point: “Did my mom invite you here also?”
“Ye, yes.” Yuan Rui felt like he was practically suffocating under the bucketful of dog-blood that just splashed all over his face.
Zheng QiuYang continued to fire away profanities in his head. Sure enough, this mother and son pair did not have good intentions. Good thing he insisted on coming along.
Meng Lai turned his gaze towards Zheng QiuYang and reached out a hand, saying: “Hello, I’m Meng Lai, Yuan Rui’s high school classmate.”
“Hello.” Zheng QiuYang reached out and shook his hand briefly. He introduced himself in a not too friendly, but not too distant manner: “Zheng QiuYang.”
In the past, he has only seen Meng Lai from a distance. This was actually the first time they came face to face. Meng Lai didn’t seem too unfamiliar with him either. Clearly the two people had already known about each other and furthermore, they both didn’t look too favorably on each other— Not only because of Yuan Rui. The two of them were already two different types of people, different as black and white. If they had met in daily life instead, they would have just nodded at each other in exchange at most. If things went poorly, they might have even called each other dumbasses behind each other’s back.
At this moment, the two people both had cold and lofty expressions on their faces. Zheng QiuYang didn’t know what Meng Lai was thinking. However, besides regretting that he didn’t insert enough padding to enhance his height, Zheng QiuYang also really wanted to take out his phone and play that secretly filmed paparazzi video of the passionate kiss on repeat for this guy to watch and let him die of complete envy.
Yuan Rui calmed down somewhat; his head was a bit more astute than before. He felt the most important thing right now was to express his stance clearly. To make things easier, he moved closer to Zheng QiuYang and said to Meng Lai: “He’s my boyfriend.”
Zheng QiuYang felt elated and pleased internally; however, his face remained in a high and lofty state.
Meng Lai was still smiling faintly as he said: “I know.”
Yuan Rui opened his eyes wide. ‘If you know, then why are you here adding trouble?’ was written all over his face.
Meng Lai couldn’t maintain his smile anymore. He touched his nose briefly and said: “Let’s head inside first and I’ll explain.”
He walked in the front. Behind him, Zheng QiuYang squeezed Yuan Rui’s wrist and gave him a smile of approval.
There were still 40 more minutes to the arranged time. The three people sat down inside the reserved private room, waiting for Yang Lu. Only Yuan Rui was preoccupied and apprehensive. The other two people appeared normal. They even started chatting. From the smog to the GDP. From the disappearance of the Malaysia Airline MH370 to a Russian aircraft being shot down by Turkey. After discussing economics, they discussed politics. After discussing work, they discussed gossip, as if they were extremely agreeable.
Yuan Rui sat to the side silently drinking tea.
Those two people finally started chatting about him. Zheng QiuYang said a bit proudly: “Lately, he’s been filming a detective reality show, which is a remake of an ABC program. In the first episode, he has already bested the group and obtained victory with his skills. It’s airing next month. If you have time, you can check it out.”
Meng Lai said: “I’m definitely going to watch. I watch all of his shows.”
Zheng QiuYang smiled briefly and said: “Aren’t you guys who work in media all pretty busy? You sure have a lot of free time.”
Meng Lai also smiled: “I am busy. I need to make time to watch.”
Zheng QiuYang said: “How considerate of you.”
Meng Lai said: “This is all I can do now.”
Zheng QiuYang didn’t reply anymore.
Meng Lai also closed his mouth.
The atmosphere was very terrible.
Yuan Rui felt a bit alarmed and said hastily: “Why hasn’t Aunty Yang arrived yet?”
He had said this to change the topic of conversation; however Zheng QiuYang immediately followed up with: “You can give Director Yang a call and ask her.”
Yuan Rui: “…….” Even if they needed to ask, the person’s own son was right here. Why would he be the one making the call?
Meng Lai said: “Yuan Rui, go ahead and ask her. I also think she should be here by now.”
Yuan Rui had no choice but to take out his phone. However, Zheng QiuYang now said: “The signal here is not good. Go make the call outside.”
Yuan Rui: “…… It’s full bars.”
Meng Lai gave him a smile and said: “You go make the call outside. We have some serious things to talk about.”
Yuan Rui thought to himself: Who are you trying to trick? Do you think he’s stupid They must be trying to kick him out so they could curse at each other.
Zheng QiuYang urged him bluntly: “Hurry and go, hurry.”
Yuan Rui had no choice but to stand up. However, he was too worried to leave and he whispered to Zheng QiuYang: “If you’re going to swear, don’t involve his mom. His mom is still my godmother.”
Zheng QiuYang: “……”
Yuan Rui walked out of the private room. Although he wore black frames, he was still afraid of being recognized. Therefore, he walked to the end of the hallway where there was no one to make a phone call to Yang Lu.
Yang Lu said: “I’m on the way. I’ll be there in 20 minutes. Have you guys been there for a while?”
Actually she has always been very punctual. If the appointment was at 7:00, she wouldn’t come at 7:01. Yuan Rui didn’t beat around the bush and said directly: “Aunty Yang, yesterday you didn’t say that Meng Lai come as well.”
Yang Lu said: “If I said that, would you still come?”
Yuan Rui said to himself, Too crafty. Since you don’t regret it then don’t blame me for being unjust. He said righteously: “Not only am I here, my boyfriend is also here.”
Yang Lu: “……”
His boyfriend and first love have also ripped off their outer pretense and revealed their true selves underneath the masks.
Meng Lai looked down and straightened his cuffs, saying: “He should have told you before. I’m his first love.”
Zheng QiuYang shot him a glance and said: “He didn’t know any better when he was younger and liked you for a few days, so what? Didn’t you consider yourself too good for him? How many years has it been now? Why pretend to be a Casanova here and now?”
Meng Lai said: “This is a matter between the two of us. What do you know?”
Zheng QiuYang’s face instantly fell. He said coldly: “Who are you calling ‘the two of us’? That’s my partner. He has nothing to do with you.”
Meng Lai said expressionlessly: “When he was writing love letters to me, you were still god knows where, picking up girls.”
“I have picked up girls before, but straight or bent, I did it openly and honorably.” Zheng QiuYang sneered mockingly: “Not like some people, scared of everything and irresponsible.”
Meng Lai fell silent for a moment and then raised an eyebrow, saying: “No need to make obscure accusations. I know what you’re sour about. You’re jealous of me.”
Zheng QiuYang felt this was even more ridiculous and said unpleasantly: “What do you have for me to feel jealous of?”
Meng Lai gave a somewhat nasty smile: “You’re jealous that Yuan Rui liked me. Jealous that we were able to meet each other at the best ages of our lives. Jealous that I’m the first person he liked in his life and also jealous that I’m the first person who kissed him…… oh right, I even used tongue.”
Zheng QiuYang: “……”
“I divorced Meng Lai’s dad 6 years ago. He was a senior at that time and lived in the school dormitory. Even during breaks, he refused to return home. He also didn’t answer my phone calls.” Yang Lu said on the other side of the phone call: “Even when he applied to study graduate school overseas, he didn’t mention a word to me.”
Yuan Rui didn’t know why she was suddenly saying all this, but he still said: “The impact of parental divorce is great on children.”
Yang Lu said: “He had refused to forgive me for 6 entire years, not because his dad and I divorced. Rather, it’s because I lied to him.”
She fell silent for a moment and said: “When he was 17 years old, I lied to him, saying that I had breast cancer surgery and everyday was a countdown. Later on, his dad and I divorced and we filed a lawsuit over the distribution of property. He stood on my side so his dad panicked and told him the truth.”
Yuan Rui was dumbfounded. There seemed to be quite a bit of information here. His head couldn’t handle it properly. He asked: “Why did you lie to him about that?”
Yang Lu said: “Because at that time, I thought I was saving my son from taking a wrong step in life.”
Yuan Rui: “???”
“My marriage with Meng Lai’s dad was a political union between our families. There’s never been any feelings between us. I was busy with work. He always had lovers outside.” Yang Lu said slowly: “Our marriage was just like an empty shell. Other than having a son, there was nothing. However, I had high hopes in Meng Lai. He has always been very outstanding, even as a child. He was bound to have a bright future awaiting him and I had always felt very assured by him…until he reached the 2nd year of high school. I had a friend on the school committee who told me something. They told me that my son and a male classmate were hiding in the school’s flower garden, kissing each other.”
Yuan Rui: “……”
Zheng QiuYang and Meng Lai had a fight. Fortunately, the private room was big enough. They only knocked over a few chairs, and basically didn’t cause any damage.
Zheng QiuYang had been kicked by Meng Lai, but he hit Meng Lai in the face, and not only once. Nice.
The two people stopped, panting for breath.
Meng Lai rubbed the corner of his mouth with his thumb. It had split open slightly and was bleeding. On the contrary, however, he laughed and said: “I’ll count that as you hitting me in Yuan Rui’s stead. I owed him.”
Zheng QiuYang said furiously: “Quit finding different fucking ways to get involved ambiguously with him. If you persist, I really won’t show any more mercy.”
Still laughing, Meng Lai said: “This time, I’m really not picking a fight. My entire family owes him.”
Zheng QiuYang: “…… What the hell are you saying?”
Meng Lai lowered his head and said: “He wrote a love letter to me and stuck it in between the pages of my notebook. I didn’t notice and photocopied it, making the entire class and all of our classmates see it. The entire school knew about it. Someone also disclosed the information to my mom. At that time, Yuan Rui’s mom was sick. My mom took the love letter and went to visit her. She made his mom so angry she went to acute care. If that didn’t happen, maybe his mom could have stayed with him for a few more years. After that mess, he didn’t even manage to pass the college entrance exam. His grades weren’t bad, yet he couldn’t even get into a basic undergraduate school. Then he just went abroad obliviously.
Zheng QiuYang: “……”
He has never heard Yuan Rui talk about this before. Yuan Rui probably didn’t even know about it.
Zheng QiuYang became even more angry and said furiously: “Is there something wrong with your mom’s head? It’s not like you guys really got together, why did she visit his house?”
Meng Lai pressed his tongue against his cheek and spat out blood and spit. With a chuckle, he said: “We were about to get together. I had already kissed him. I had even thought seriously about what to do in the future. In a little over a year, it would have been the college entrance exam. After getting into a college, I’d come out to my family. If my mom didn’t approve, I’d study and work part-time. Regardless, I’d find a way to support the two of us. I even thought about how we were going to adopt a child in the future.”
Zheng QiuYang: “……”
“That day, the sky was exceptionally blue. The clouds were huge and beautiful.” Meng Lai’s mouth split open into a smile as he said: “I’ve never felt so happy in my entire life. On the way back home, I didn’t even step on the brakes while riding my bike.”
He stopped, expression far away and dazed, as if he had sunk into that beautiful, fleeting memory.
Zheng QiuYang opened his mouth, but ultimately, he swallowed the words of ridicule back down.
“When I got home,” Meng Lai returned from his thoughts and continued to say: “My mom was surprisingly at home. Unexpectedly she told me, she had a tumor and underwent surgery, but she still had to live counting down her days. She said she saw the love letter that Yuan Rui wrote to me and heard some things from our teacher. She asked me, while she was still alive and well, can she not hear others calling her son abnormal.”
Zheng QiuYang said suspiciously: “She lied to you?”
Not answering, Meng Lai only said: “I didn’t sleep for the entire night. The next day, Yuan Rui held back two classes before he finally asked me, why did I kiss him the previous day. I said…… I kissed you for fun, don’t take it seriously.”
Zheng QiuYang: “…….”
He remembered the first time he kissed Yuan Rui, Yuan Rui also asked him the same question. His answer was also ‘I kissed you for fun’. Fucking god dammit. Really.
