Finally, after hesitating for a long time, Mo Yunyu crept up like a cat beside Zuo Yan. First, he gently petted the soundly sleeping kitten, stroking its fur from messy curls down until it was completely smooth, still unable to figure out how to bring up the topic.
Zuo Yan lost his patience entirely. “If you have something to say, just say it.”
“I want to go watch the grand finale.” Blurting it out at lightning speed, Mo Yunyu poked the fluffy kitten’s head, not daring to look at Zuo Yan.
“Alright.”
To his utter surprise, Zuo Yan agreed so casually and lightly.
Mo Yunyu leaped into the air, planning to pack up and leave immediately, only for his face to fall the second he heard Zuo Yan’s next sentence.
“You are coming with me.” Zuo Yan put down his work, his expression as calm as if he were simply accompanying Mo Yunyu on a trivial errand.
However, after spending this much time together, Mo Yunyu had thoroughly grasped the man’s extremely possessive, paranoid, and volatile personality. The attitude right now was clearly suspicious; he was definitely plotting something malicious.
“Your sister is coming over to see you in a bit anyway.” Zuo Yan smiled with clear amusement in his eyes. “You should know what to say when that happens.”
Mo Yunyu felt the world go dark before his eyes. He knew it, how could the man have agreed so easily? The trap was waiting right here!
“You are so shameless!” Mo Yunyu immediately issued an accusation.
Zuo Yan accepted it with complete poise. “If I were not shameless, how could I become your boyfriend, and your future fiancé?”
Hearing the word fiancé, Mo Yunyu felt goosebumps erupt across his skin instantly, making him want to jump up and clamp his hand over Zuo Yan’s irritating mouth.
“You are not allowed to say it!” Seeing that Zuo Yan still looked like he wanted to continue, Mo Yunyu covered his ears and bolted away as if a pack of wolves were chasing him.
Yet no matter how reluctant Mo Yunyu felt, Mo Yunniao arrived right on schedule by the afternoon. She nodded in satisfaction upon seeing that her younger brother hadn’t lost weight, and if anything, looked a bit rounder.
“I told you before that being a celebrity isn’t as easy as it looks. Now that you’ve taken a hit, you know better, right?” Poking her brother’s head with her finger, Mo Yunniao sighed.
That action was identical to Mo Yunyu’s way of poking the kitten’s head, truly, they were siblings, Zuo Yan thought to himself off to the side.
After finishing with Mo Yunyu, Mo Yunniao finally shifted her gaze to Zuo Yan, which was when she remembered another matter.
“Are you sure you want to be together with him?” Mo Yunniao phrased it euphemistically, unwilling to slap a commercialized label onto her younger brother.
Mo Yunyu’s brain spun at breakneck speed. He figured that if he just told the truth right now and went home with his sister, he could go watch the grand finale tonight whenever he pleased, and shake off Zuo Yan for good.
Out of the corner of his eye, however, he caught Zuo Yan cradling the kitten in his palm, the implied threat painfully obvious.
“Yes.” Mo Yunyu felt like crying without tears. “Sis, you should just focus on shining bright at the company.”
The guilt in Mo Yunniao’s eyes deepened. “The security at home has already been upgraded to perfection. I’m taking you home today.”
Meanwhile, Zuo Yan’s hand was slowly stroking the fluff on the kitten’s neck.
As a man, Mo Yunyu finally understood at this exact moment why some women couldn’t find the heart to leave their homes once they had children, if he were in their shoes, he couldn’t do it either.
“Sis, I think I won’t go back just yet.” Forcing the words out with immense difficulty, Mo Yunyu finally watched Zuo Yan place the kitten back down onto its mat.
Mo Yunniao frowned slightly. She didn’t support young people cohabitating before marriage. “Why?”
“We’re raising a cat together, and it’s still small, so the two of us have to take turns caring for it,” Mo Yunyu replied.
Mo Yunniao, who spent every waking second busy making money, didn’t quite understand this logic, but she eventually compromised. “Alright then.”
After finishing her chat with her brother, the look Mo Yunniao cast at Zuo Yan lacked all its former politeness, filled instead with critical scrutiny.
Ultimately, she could only drop a single sentence: “Practice safe protection.”
Mo Yunniao left after bidding her brother farewell.
Having seen his sister out, Mo Yunyu returned to the sofa and sat down, still failing to grasp what Mo Yunniao’s final sentence implied.
“Isn’t it safe here?”
Listening to Mo Yunyu’s soft mutter, Zuo Yan couldn’t help a chuckle, reaching out to ruffle the youth’s fluffy hair as he clarified, “I am probably the dangerous object your sister was referring to.”
Mo Yunyu finally caught on, his face instantly flushing bright red.
Covering his burning cheeks, Mo Yunyu fled back to the bedroom, making sure to shout at the top of his lungs before slamming the door, “Pervert!”
For two individuals possessing immense wealth and power, the rule requiring audience members to enter an hour before the show started was practically non-existent. Thus, they strolled in right as the show was about to kick off, taking their seats in the absolute best viewing spots in the auditorium.
Bundled up completely in disguise, Mo Yunyu looked around the surroundings with fresh curiosity, only to realize that practically everyone was holding a light stick or cheering banner, making both him and Zuo Yan look completely out of place.
At that moment, a girl next to him poked his arm.
“Are you Yun-bao’s fan too? Were your cheering props confiscated?”
Mo Yunyu didn’t quite understand, so he simply nodded blindly.
“The organizers only confiscate them because they’re afraid fans will riot, but we can sneak them in.” With that, she fished two palm-sized light boards out of her tote bag, bearing Zhou Xingyu’s name.
Miraculously, the light boards could flip open like a book, instantly doubling in size to reveal the text: Mom loves you, Yun-bao!
“Take it, they’re way too busy right now to bother us.” The girl enthusiastically handed a light board over to Mo Yunyu, then reached into her bag to pull out an even larger one.
Staring in astonishment for a long time at that bag, which seemed to possess the magical properties of Doraemon’s four-dimensional pocket, Mo Yunyu muttered a quiet thank you.
When he turned around with the light board, he caught Zuo Yan trying to stifle his laughter behind a face mask.
Glancing at the light board in his hand, Mo Yunyu chose to point fingers at the man. “Laugh all you want. What do you know? Mom fans are fans too.”
Zuo Yan’s amusement grew even more obvious. Furthermore, the aura radiating from the two of them was distinctly different from everyone else around them, practically broadcasting the unmistakable vibe that they were a couple.
The girl sitting beside them noticed something off about the pair’s dynamic and eagerly whipped out her phone to spam her group chat with messages.
OMG, I think I’m shipping a real couple! The two handsome guys sitting next to me are definitely a pair!!
Friend: ?
Finally, the show officially kicked off, and the three mentors took their seats in order.
Shi Jingchi looked slightly less gentle than usual, but he still drew a wave of shrill screams and cheers from the audience.
Caught right in the middle of the shrieks, Mo Yunyu instinctively covered his ears in frustration. It was even louder here than hearing it on stage.
Teacher Yin’s seat had been urgently replaced by a famous composer invited by the director. To be precise, the entire show had undergone a massive reshuffle, since far too many individuals had been implicated in criminal activities.
Mo Yunyu didn’t dwell on the fates of those people anymore, turning his full attention to listening to Orange explain the competition format.
“Welcome everyone to the live grand finale of Shining Stars! Following an intense and fierce team competition, we have finally ushered in our debut night,” Orange said with deep emotion.
“Tonight belongs to the individual stages of our final nine contestants. This time, we are no longer using live audience voting, but instead relying on official online votes. You can earn ten votes simply by linking the mobile account you use to watch the stream.”
“The voting channel is now open, so everyone can go vote for your favorite contestants right now. Of course, you can also save your votes for the end.”
Time seemed to have looped around, bringing them right back to where it all began, starting with individual performances and ending with individual performances.
It was a pity he no longer had the chance to take the stage.
Seemingly sensing Mo Yunyu’s mood, Zuo Yan grabbed his hand and brought it closer. “There is still time.”
Showing no trace of politeness, Mo Yunyu wrenched his hand free and gave the man a sharp elbow nudge. “Shut your mouth.”
The girl sitting nearby, who happened to witness the entire exchange, typed away at her phone with even greater fervor.
While the audience section was harmonious, the stage was equally peaceful.
Every single contestant was giving it their absolute all in singing and dancing, eager to wear their ambitions to debut proudly on their sleeves.
The untainted solo performances were exceptionally brilliant. Absorbed in watching, Mo Yunyu lost track of time until the match was already more than halfway through, right up until Orange announced the arrival of Zhou Xingyu.
The surrounding crowd stirred with faint surprise, and whispered conversations drifted into Mo Yunyu’s ears.
“Why isn’t Zhou Xingyu performing as the grand finale this time?”
“What else could it be? Probably because Yun-bao withdrew from the show, so he lost his coattails to ride.”
“You toxic solo stan.”
The girl’s voice clearly hitched for a second. “Did I say something wrong? He only rode his way into the finals anyway, doesn’t that count?”
Seeing that a quarrel was about to break out nearby, the dimming of the stage lights arrived just in time to cut it off.
Mo Yunyu heaved a sigh of relief, turning his undivided attention back to the stage.
A grand piano appeared under the lights, and Zhou Xingyu walked on from the side. Dressed in a sleek black suit adorned with a pure white rose pinned to his chest, he took a seat before the piano.
He looked largely unchanged from before, save for seeming far more composed and quiet.
Zhou Xingyu cast a brief glance toward the audience before retracting it and resting his hands upon the keys.
Simultaneously, the atmosphere shifted imperceptibly.
The deep, resonant sound of a cello kicked off the melody, and the center platform began to revolve along with the music, slowly turning the piano and the person seated upon it in a gentle rotation.
A single spotlight remained permanently locked onto him, making him appear as the sole existence in the world.
Finally, Zhou Xingyu raised his hands and pressed down on the keys.
“Will you share your life with me.”
“For the next ten minutes.”
The moment he began singing, an infinite depth of tenderness bled through his voice.
“As the time ticks by.”
“And if we make it till then.”
“Can I ask you again.”
“For another ten.”
This was a grand, public confession.
Everyone listened with rapt attention, save for Zuo Yan, whose chest heaved with hidden emotional turbulence, he alone understood the truth.
“There are so many lives I want to share with you.”
“I will never be complete until I do.”
The piano melody grew increasingly passionate, culminating amidst a recurring chant of Forever, followed softly by the final line, I do.
In that exact instant, countless pure white rose petals drifted downward from the ceiling like a gentle snowstorm.