The morning sunlight quietly crept into the room, illuminating a small corner. The house was filled with the scent of air freshener, and the bright light from outside the window spilled everywhere throughout the room.
In Jiang Yue’s room sat a light green suitcase, opened wide.
He opened the wardrobe, selected suitable clothes from inside, folded a white short-sleeved shirt, and placed it into the suitcase.
His phone was left on the bedside table. As he reached for the second piece of clothing, the phone on the table began to buzz.
Jiang Yue quickly finished folding the shirt and put it inside, picked up his phone, glanced at the caller ID, and answered the call.
“Hello? Brother Wang?”
The person calling was Wang Chenyang, his manager.
As Wang Chenyang’s call was connected, he remained expressionless and said, “I haven’t been able to get away from the company lately, so I found a personal assistant for you. Have him drive you to Director Wang’s variety show.”
Huh?
Jiang Yue felt that his manager had been acting very strange lately, especially regarding this personal assistant. When he first signed with the company, the manager had explicitly stated that a personal assistant wasn’t needed and that he would take care of all the artists himself.
He frowned and couldn’t help asking, “Brother Wang, has something happened at the company recently?”
“It’s nothing major, you don’t need to worry about it, just do what you’re supposed to do,” Wang Chenyang replied, his brows furrowing together as he offered an explanation upon hearing Jiang Yue’s words.
Jiang Yue let out an “oh,” but refusing to give up, asked, “You’ve been acting a bit weird lately, sigh.”
What met him was a death-like silence. He waited a full half-minute before finally getting Wang Chenyang’s response: “Have I? Haven’t I always been like this?”
“No! Why did you find a personal assistant for me when you clearly said before that you wouldn’t find one?” Jiang Yue chose to ignore his silence and persistently demanded an answer.
However, Wang Chenyang completely disregarded his persistence and brushed him off in just a few words: “No reason, the assistant is only temporary. I’m really busy lately, I’m hanging up first.”
“Wait! Don’t…” Jiang Yue still had a lot he wanted to ask, but the other person didn’t give him any time at all; the trailing end of his voice wasn’t even finished before the call was disconnected.
Jiang Yue looked at the disconnected interface on his phone screen and gritted his teeth: “If there’s nothing strange going on, I’m a ghost. What is he feeling guilty about? And running away so fast.”
Muttering some words under his breath, Jiang Yue didn’t stop his hands, neatly folding set after set of clothes and placing them into the suitcase.
Feeling that it was about enough, he pressed down the lid of the suitcase, zipped it shut, lifted it up, and placed it by the bedside.
His stomach gave a rumble. Holding his phone, he opened the bedroom door and found himself face-to-face with someone standing right outside.
Qi Jiahe’s hand was still frozen in the motion of wanting to knock on the door. Seeing him open the door and come out, he slowly withdrew his hand and put it into his pants pocket.
“What?” Jiang Yue caught a glimpse of the irrepressible joy on Qi Jiahe’s face and, for once, felt a spark of curiosity toward him.
Qi Jiahe stared at him for a moment before the corners of his lips curved into a smile: “Go downstairs to eat, I bought fried dough sticks this morning.”
“Oh.” Jiang Yue, hearing him not address the joy on his face, closed the door and followed him downstairs: “What are you smiling about?”
What was he smiling about?
Qi Jiahe raised a hand to touch the corner of his mouth, the smile on his face growing even wider: “Guess.”
Guess my foot!
Jiang Yue yawned, stared at the back of Qi Jiahe’s head for a couple of seconds, and said in a low voice, “What am I supposed to guess? Did you win a 200,000-yuan lottery?”
A 200,000-yuan lottery, that certainly would be something to be happy about.
Qi Jiahe shook his head; Jiang Yue watched his head move in a small, subtle motion.
“I’m not guessing anymore, just spit it out,” Jiang Yue snorted, picked up his pace from his side, overtook him, and muttered softly.