The heat from Duan Xingge’s words brushed against Yun Qi’s ear, like a goose feather landing on a still, waveless lake, stirring up a layer of ripples.
Yun Qi had never expected to hear that “Brother” again under such circumstances. Duan Xingge’s voice was very soft, but it fell on his ears like a thunderclap, causing his heart and lungs to stop and his breathing to hitch; he was terrified that others might hear.
The others and the livestream cameras looked toward them as expected. As a qualified actor, Duan Xingge wore a perfectly standard smile under the lens, looking down at the person in the chair, and said, “Does President Yun intend to go back on his word? If so, why not let everyone be the judge…”
He had always known how to handle Yun Qi, or rather, the two of them had always known how to handle each other.
Before Duan Xingge could finish, Yun Qi, terrified that he would say those things in front of the camera, interrupted immediately: “…No need to judge, it stands.”
“Really?” Duan Xingge raised an eyebrow. “Not forced?”
Faced with his smug and shameless attitude, Yun Qi directly picked up a piece of durian pastry and threw it onto his plate, squeezing a sentence out through his teeth: “Is that enough to shut your mouth?”
Duan Xingge knew when to stop while he was ahead; he smiled and pulled out the chair to sit down.
As for that piece of durian pastry, the person who had clamped it seemed to have done so out of habit, and the person who sat down ate it with great composure. Only Ming Jiao, seeing that piece of pastry, was slightly stunned; a strange, indescribable feeling suddenly welled up in his heart.
Sharp-eyed viewers also noticed this. For a time, curious bullet comments and angry ones were mixed together, making the livestream room exceptionally lively:
“What, what? So what exactly did President Yun promise Xing-Xing!!”
“Did no one notice what President Yun just said?? Who needs to be fed? How to feed? With what to feed? Please explain in detail!!”
“Woc, they were just arguing, and President Yun still clamped a durian pastry for Xing-Xing. The people here for the drama are about to be converted; it’s really so good to ship, ahhhhh.”
“This action is really like those people who, even though they’ve broken up, their bodies are still very honest about clamping food for their younger brother… The ‘pseudo-incest’ soul has awakened intensely, who understands?”
“Shipping this even with high blood sugar? My baby asked for durian pastry for ages and no one clamped any for him! The baby is almost crying!!”
“Heavens, production team, how could you be so cruel? Truly throwing away your reputation for traffic.”
Following this, someone unknown posted:
“Hiss, that action when Xing just lowered his head, was it a bit too proficient? Based on my years of experience, maybe, and I mean is it possible, that they have slept together?”
This one sentence instantly ignited the entire battlefield. Because of the sudden madness Duan Xingge had displayed, the netizens who hadn’t settled down for a moment went from bickering in the livestream room directly to Weibo.
Yun Qi had no idea about this, but he was truly eating his meal in a distracted state.
Although he wanted to grab Duan Xingge by the collar and interrogate him about why he was acting crazy all of a sudden, the other party’s words reminded him of their childhood.
At that time, Duan Xingge was only eight years old and had been living with them for a little over a year after Duan Yungang brought him home.
Duan Xingge grew up in a single-parent family and was often pointed at and scolded for having no father. Although he was someone who never suffered from internal conflict or low self-esteem, he was still a child after all; in that kind of environment, it was inevitable that he lacked a sense of security.
Yun Qi was like his own mother, Yun Mingyue; he was a man of few words since he was a child, and the rare times he opened his mouth, what he said was likely not pleasant to hear.
So, facing Duan Xingge, who was seeking security, Yun Qi could only offer some dry and brief comfort it sounded perfunctory even to his own ears.
But Duan Xingge was someone who knew how to comfort himself. Relying on this tiny bit of favoritism, he climbed up the pole and became wildly whimsical.
Yun Qi still remembered that afternoon when he returned home from school, carrying his suitcase.
It was raining in the street; the driver opened the door for him, and his dull life seemed as bleak as the sky at that moment.
But as soon as he got out of the car, a figure stumbling through the rain made him freeze under the driver’s umbrella.
“Brother!” The child, covered in mud, was holding a bunch of fresh, dripping flowers, not even a single leaf stained with mud. “Mom said only people who get married can stay together forever… So when I grow up, can you marry me?”
His eyes were shining brightly, so much so that even now, when Yun Qi asked himself, he found he still couldn’t bear to refuse.
What did a child know about marriage and love? Duan Xingge didn’t understand, and neither did Yun Qi.
One said it happily, and the other, though he remained silent for a long time, ultimately couldn’t bear to refuse and ended up agreeing.
At that time, Duan Xingge was eight, and Yun Qi was thirteen.
For a long time afterward, Duan Xingge kept this matter on his lips.
Whenever Yun Qi was annoyed and didn’t want to deal with him, he would become even more outrageous, chasing after Yun Qi like a broken record player that could only shout “Brother”: “Brother, why don’t you ignore me? Do you not like me anymore…? Tell me what I did wrong, okay? I will definitely change! I don’t want to be a child that Brother doesn’t like…”
If Yun Qi still ignored him, he would tug at the person’s sleeve and say pitifully: “Brother, the promise you made to me before… does it not count anymore?”
He was annoying in a very skillful way; in the end, he would always pester the helpless Yun Qi until he confirmed the promise stood, only then would he stop.
However, this state of affairs didn’t cease until the day Duan Xingge ran away from home.
Since that day, Duan Xingge had never mentioned a word about it again.
Yun Qi thought he had forgotten, and thought he had forgotten too, but until today, he realized that neither of them had forgotten.
What Yun Qi didn’t know was that the first truth Duan Xingge learned after reaching adulthood was: until you are ten percent sure, do not let others know your true wish.
If you recite a wish too many times, it won’t come true.
Duan Xingge believed this, but Yun Qi didn’t believe in these things at all. At the moment, he was just silently complaining in his heart: the way this little bastard used to beg him so pitifully could barely be called cute, otherwise, he wouldn’t have agreed out of softness.
…So, how did that cute child grow into the current version that everyone and every dog despises?
While Yun Qi was lost in thought, another dessert was served at the table; it looked exceptionally delicious.
The waiter who served the food specifically placed the first plate of buns in front of Yun Qi. Yun Qi paused: “May I ask what kind of filling these buns are?”
“Mushroom and pork filling,” the person replied. “One portion per person; the kitchen is still making more if it’s not enough.”
As he spoke, the next few plates were also served, just as the waiter had said; every guest had a plate in front of them.
Because of what happened in his previous life, Yun Qi had been on guard against the food and drinks on the ship since boarding.
Duan Xingge had once bragged on a food variety show about his specially practiced techniques for tasting food; even if there was only a drop of ginger water or egg white in the filling, he could clearly distinguish it from other foods.
At that time, a guest asked him why he specifically practiced these useless things, and Duan Xingge joked: “More skills don’t weigh you down. Maybe when I’m old and senile in the future with no job, I can go be a poison tester for someone.”
At that time, the guests and the audience all thought he was joking, and the term “Xing-Xing the Poison Tester” hung on the trending list for a while.
Yun Qi deliberately waited for Duan Xingge to take a bite, and seeing that the other party had no reaction, he safely picked up his own bun.
Yun Qi’s talent seemed to be entirely focused on the aesthetics and design of jewelry. As for gourmet food, as the eldest son of the Yun family, he couldn’t even distinguish between rainbow trout and salmon; other than having a slight dislike for oily things, he had no dietary restrictions at all.
Even if he was born allergic to alcohol and crab roe, as long as these things were mixed with other food in sufficient quantities, he couldn’t distinguish them at all—otherwise, he wouldn’t have downed that glass of fruit juice in his previous life.
He had learned his lesson in this life, but unfortunately, his taste buds hadn’t grown with it.
When Yun Qi took a bite, he didn’t feel anything wrong with the bun at all; he even felt that the filling was quite tasty and well-made.
Ming Jiao took a bite of his own bun, frowned, swallowed it with difficulty, and said: “This pork is so oily.”
Duan Xingge paused at these words and suddenly looked up at Yun Qi. Seeing that someone who disliked oily food so much was showing no reaction, he immediately noticed something was wrong.
Before Yun Qi could react, he snatched the half-eaten bun from the other person’s chopsticks and took a bite exactly where Yun Qi had just bitten.
The audience and guests were stunned; they had no idea what kind of madness this person was engaging in now.
The fact that Duan Xingge had a clean-freak habit was not news in the industry.
Previously, Ming Jiao poured a cup of water from his thermos and handed it to Duan Xingge. Although he didn’t drink it, he held it for a long time until the water was cold before pouring it out. Just this point alone had been screenshotted by countless CP fans to ship for several days, saying that he was different toward Ming Jiao; although his germaphobia couldn’t be changed, he was afraid of hurting Ming Jiao’s heart, so he chose to hold that cup of water tirelessly.
But the situation right now left countless people dumbfounded. All those frame-by-frame screenshots and thousand-word analyses seemed to have become a joke at this moment.
Afterward, some people, in order to make up for it, did not hesitate to scold Duan Xingge for using germaphobia as a persona to deceive fans.
But right now, Duan Xingge couldn’t care whether anyone would suspect he was faking a germaphobia persona, because one bite was all it took for him to taste that something was wrong.
The filling in Yun Qi’s bun was indeed pork, but the creator didn’t use fatty pork belly that melts in your mouth; instead, they specifically used lean meat with very little fat.
And within this lean meat, a little bit of crab roe was mixed in. The chef had handled it with masterful skill; not only was the possible fishy smell of the crab unnoticeable, but it was also exceptionally delicious.
After tasting it, Duan Xingge’s face turned black on the spot, and he put the chopsticks and bun directly on the plate: “Stop eating.”
Having said that, he immediately pulled out a single-piece allergy medication from somewhere and placed it directly in front of Yun Qi: “Eat this medicine.”
Yun Qi looked down and realized it was allergy medicine. He never expected Duan Xingge to carry allergy medicine with him. He was stunned for a moment before asking: “What did you taste?”
“There is crab roe in the bun.” Duan Xingge stared unblinkingly at the waiter, his tone chillingly cold: “It was clearly stated that it was pork filling, so why is there crab roe inside? And all the buns on the table are pork filling; only the one served to him, who is allergic to crab roe, has crab roe mixed in. What exactly is the chef trying to do?”
Duan Xingge had been in the industry for so many years; he had appeared on no less than six or eight variety shows, with a total duration of thousands of hours, yet he had never appeared as uncomposed as he was right now.
At this moment, he was like a wolf with nowhere to retreat, desperately protecting his partner; the bared fangs and gloomy gaze made people shudder.
The waiter was frightened by him and hurriedly said: “I, I will go ask for you…!”
Because of Duan Xingge’s sudden outburst, the atmosphere at the dining table suddenly froze.
In the eerie silence, no one dared to speak and provoke Duan Xingge. The viewers, however, had all regained their senses, and after the shock, the dense bullet comments immediately filled the screen:
“Woc… is this really that Duan Xingge who never loses his temper and is a germaphobe?”
“You call this germaphobia? Ah? Then weren’t those CP fans who were analyzing things on Weibo just now just a joke?”
“You kid are too double-standard, ahhhhh, I’m really going to start shipping, don’t stop me!!”
“Ahhhhh, in-, indirect kiss…! Oh my, I’m fainting directly.”
“Mom, the sense of immersion is too strong; I feel like I’ve become the imperial physician who is about to be executed by the emperor because the queen is having a difficult birth.”
However, compared to Duan Xingge’s germaphobia, more people were paying attention to Yun Qi’s state:
“Is President Yun allergic to just crab roe or all seafood?? If he’s allergic to seafood, it can be fatal if it’s severe. Woc, isn’t this that kind of business war novel where the rival wants to buy off the chef to harm President Yun?”
“Is it possible that the rival of Yue-Yun Jewelry is Xing-Yun, and the boss of Xing-Yun is sitting right there, and he’s still going crazy now?”
“The word ‘going crazy’ is used so well; it perfectly describes your Xing’s wonderful mental state in this phase… Mmm, Xing-Yun, why didn’t I notice it before, this company name is also quite wonderful.”
“!! What? President Duan’s company is called Xing-Yun?!”
Duan Xingge was someone who valued his career. Previously, he had never been so uncomposed under the lens.
Therefore, not only were the audience and guests surprised, but Yun Qi was also somewhat incredulous at the sight.
But other than emotional intelligence, Yun Qi was a top-tier intelligent person in all other aspects. After the incredulity, a conjecture immediately arose from Duan Xingge’s abnormalities.
A conjecture that made him even more concerned, but which he didn’t dare to delve into deeply; a conjecture that, once thought of, made him feel almost desperate.
Suppressing the throbbing in his heart, Yun Qi unwrapped the medicine package and swallowed it directly without water.
Carrying allergy medicine, an attitude of being overly concerned about food, the change of forcefully demanding he live with him, and his appearance of no longer pretending under the lens.
Everything, everything, had a huge deviation from the previous life, as if…
That vague conjecture was about to be revealed, yet Yun Qi dared not believe it.
He couldn’t believe that the person who possessed a diving certificate, who clearly could have easily returned to the cruise ship to embrace a bright future, had chosen to embrace a corpse suspended at the bottom of the sea—chosen to abandon life and bury hope together with his young life in the boundless, cold sea.
The medicine hadn’t taken effect yet, but the allergy symptoms appeared first. Yun Qi suddenly felt his throat tighten and swell; the bitterness of the medicine permeated his mouth.
It was so bitter that he was almost on the verge of tears.
Follow-up question: Would you like me to continue translating the next chapter, or would you like to discuss the plot developments revealed in this chapter?