She continued scrolling.
“Rich Young Master X Rural Boy: Qingshan Xiaobao’s Perspective. Detailed Sugar. Must-Read for New Fans. Updating.”
“Those who say Qingshan Xiaobao doesn’t love the young master, come in and get slapped!” (Bold, large, red font)
Look closely. This man is called Xiaobao.
He has a sickly grandmother at home, parents who haven’t appeared yet, and his own broken self.
This household radiates poverty in every way, yet on the very first day the young master arrived, the man made him noodles and added two eggs. The next day, he gave the young master the egg custard, and at noon he silently cut off a section of cured sausage.
The youth is not good with words.
His way of responding is through silent permission, through indulgence.
Indulging the young master in sleeping with him,
Indulging the young master in gifting him clothes,
Indulging the young master in feeding his precious pig (the way he cut that pig feed, so slowly, I was afraid the pig would starve to death).
Without the older one’s doting, where would the younger one’s wildness come from!
A mutual pursuit!
A devoted couple!
Supporting each other!
Old married couple!
Eye contact is their kiss without touching!
Working together is their daily life of mutual care!
Bowing their heads is their shyness at avoiding the camera!
Ah!
He loves him so much!
And he loves him so much too!
Yu Xinya’s phone dropped.
This…
It seemed too real, didn’t it?
Did this person really like her son?
No, no.
This was CP fan talk.
Though she wasn’t exactly young, she knew that CP fans only believed what they wanted to believe.
Even a coincidental matching pair of black pants could be seen as a secretly matching couple outfit in their eyes.
She didn’t know Shan Qingshan, but didn’t she know her own son?
Yu Xinya’s thoughts stalled for a moment.
She had watched this show and realized she didn’t seem to know her own son that well either.
So, perhaps, maybe, possibly.
This was real?!
After reading through several brainwashing packages, if the household register weren’t still in Yu Xinya’s hands, she would have almost believed the CP fans’ crazy claims—
That these two kids were already married.
Yu Xinya paused, then got up to check the household register.
Still there. Still there.
Yu Xinya exited the CP Super Topic and started watching the show again. This time was different from before—she began looking at Shan Qingshan with the eyes of a mother-in-law evaluating her daughter-in-law.
The more she looked, the more satisfied she became.
Shan Qingshan’s only flaw was being poor.
But that flaw, placed before the Zhou family, wasn’t worth mentioning at all.
Yu Xinya found a compilation post put together by a CP fan and forwarded it to Chairman Zhou.
[I’m kind of shipping these two now]
[Take a look, it seems to make some sense]
[But there’s one thing I don’t quite understand]
[Chairman Zhou, what is 0?]
A moment later, Chairman Zhou replied with a photo of Huang Xiaoming.
[Ms. Yu, do you know him?]
[The way you’re trying so hard right now really resembles him]
That evening, Shan Qingshan exchanged for pork ribs with the production crew and made soup. They ate half for dinner and saved the rest for noodles the next morning.
After the livestream ended, Shan Qingshan saw Zhuozhuo outside.
He turned around.
“Stop right there. I came to find you today.”
Shan Qingshan looked at her.
Zhuozhuo was furious. “I figured it out this afternoon. You deliberately let me have that plot of land this morning, didn’t you?”
That plot was the closest, but the entire plot had a slope.
The radishes would easily roll down.
When Shan Qingshan taught her how to pull radishes, he casually placed the pulled radishes in a spot where they would easily roll down.
“Only figured it out this afternoon? I thought you’d catch on sooner.”
“You admit it!”
“I admit it. I’m not you.”
Shan Qingshan’s every word dripped with sarcasm, and Zhuozhuo was absolutely furious.
“You’re nothing but a fucking farmer! Without Zhou Chong protecting you, you’re shit! Does everything you own, head to toe, cost as much as one of my hair clips? You’re dirt poor, and you fucking dare to scheme against me?”
Because they were all broken radishes, she hadn’t made a single cent today, let alone have any hope of selling them in town tomorrow!
“Do you know how many followers I have? If I so much as stir things up a little, you’re finished.” Zhuozhuo’s face twisted with malice. “What crime do you think I should pin on you to destroy you? How about attempted rape?”
Shan Qingshan’s expression remained calm. “My school is in town. The mountain path from here is at least three kilometers.”
“Trying to play the victim with me?”
“That’s where the nearest surveillance camera is.”
Zhuozhuo’s face changed. “What are you trying to do?”
“If I were you, I wouldn’t come here late at night after your livestream ends.”
Shan Qingshan took a step toward her.
Zhuozhuo stumbled back in fear.
Shan Qingshan: “This is a mountain. Deep in the woods, lives end every single day. Maybe one day when the sun rises, you’ll be found lying in the forest, your body picked clean by wild boars and wolves.”
Zhuozhuo trembled with terror. She looked back at the darkness and felt like something might lunge out at any moment and bite her neck clean off!
Shan Qingshan: “I don’t need anyone else. I can protect myself on my own. Do you want to give me a chance to prove it?”
Zhuozhuo was terrified out of her mind. She scrambled backward in a panic, lost her footing, and tumbled into a drainage ditch, breaking her leg.
Shan Qingshan cast her a sidelong glance, then turned and went inside.
The moment she entered the room, she saw Zhou Chong frantically shove something under the covers. His eyes darted away, and his voice sounded hollow.
“What were you doing out there? Why’d you take so long?”
A textbook performance of a guilty conscience.
Shan Qingshan walked over. “Went out to witness the diversity of species.”
“Oh. Well, let’s go to sleep then.”
“Mm.”
Shan Qingshan acknowledged, then abruptly flipped the covers open.
The phone was exposed to view.
The screen was still on, the video still playing.
A woman, lying in a man’s arms.
Indescribable…
Dead silence.
The room fell into a deathly stillness.
Shan Qingshan’s expression shifted from strange to flushed, to a struggle to stay calm, to failing to stay calm, and then she quietly pulled the covers back over.
Zhou Chong’s embarrassment was so intense that in that moment he could have clawed out an entire planet to go live on.
This was worse than getting caught by his parents while watching porn and jerking off.
He was watching porn.
Porn!
Caught by his wife!
This was practically another form of emotional infidelity and betrayal!
Zhou Chong: “Don’t misunderstand!”
I’m not straight.
Zhou Chong: “I was just looking.”
Shan Qingshan: “I know.”
Zhou Chong: “No! That’s not it—wait, I mean, I was thinking…”
Thinking of picking out a couple to watch together.
The videos came from You Liang.
That pervert had sent him a whole bunch.
Zhou Chong clicked on this one.
So fucking seductive.
Clicked on that one.
The actress was so pretty.
Clicked on others.
God, this was too damn sexy!
Zhou Chong was looking for hardcore stuff! Preferably pegging!
To give Shan Qingshan a little bit of misdirection, so he could naturally transition to gay porn! Bend her straight!
He absolutely had no interest in AVs!
Shan Qingshan raised a hand to stop him. “Where did you get that phone?”
“Hid it.”
A backup phone.
Shan Qingshan said nothing more. She lifted a corner of the covers.
Zhou Chong scooted over, tucking himself in and making room for her.
Shan Qingshan got into bed and lay down.
The covers were warm and toasty.
Zhou Chong leaned over cautiously. “Are you mad?”
“No.”
Why would I be angry about something so normal?
Shan Qingshan turned his back to him, pulling the blanket tighter. “You don’t need to warm me up…” He couldn’t bring himself to say the word “bed.”
“But I noticed yesterday that your hands and feet were very cold.”
Shan Qingshan was quiet for a moment, then turned over to face Zhou Chong. “If you have needs, go take care of it outside. Don’t do it in the blankets—you’ll dirty them. And don’t take too long. We still need to go to town tomorrow, so don’t stay up late.”
“I…”
Zhou Chong was like a mute swallowing bitter herbs—unable to express his suffering.
He wanted to say he was gay and that AVs did nothing for him.
But he was afraid that if he came clean now, in the middle of the night, Qingshan Xiaobao would kick him off the bed.
Zhou Chong felt miserable. He took off his Bluetooth earbuds and put away his phone.
After thinking it over, he figured he should at least prove his manly prowess.
“Even if I went at it all night, I wouldn’t oversleep.”
Shan Qingshan looked at him like he was some alien species. “Your… needs are that strong?” Strong enough to go all night?
“…”
Shan Qingshan paused, then spoke with some difficulty, choosing his words tactfully and with concern: “Do you want to go see a doctor while we’re in town tomorrow?”
Zhou Chong was about to die of frustration!
In his past life, he would have pinned the man down without a second word and shut him up with action.
But now…
Zhou Chong sulked alone, gritting his teeth and retracting his bold claim.
“No! I was just bragging.”