Chapter 62: [Damn, How Is He So Rich?!]
5:30 AM.
When the alarm rang, the person still in dreamland shuddered violently, struggling for a long time before extending a hand from the blanket to silence the noisy ringing.
Once the room returned to quiet, that hand quickly retracted into the blanket, pressing down the corner that had lifted and let in light, attempting to go back to sleep.
Last night, not only did Le Can delusionally try to drag Xi Yun into pulling an all-nighter, but he also shamelessly bragged that waking up early was easy.
In reality, the worker’s schedule of waking up early for years in his previous life had long since vanished after the indulgence of waking up naturally every day in this new world.
Fortunately, Xi Yun rejected his application to continue staying up late. But even so, Le Can was still hit hard by the debuffs of sleep deprivation early in the morning.
His head was heavy as if he’d been punched in his sleep, his thoughts sluggish as if stuck in a swamp, his limbs exhausted and weak—aching here, hurting there…
It was simply unimaginable—if he really did it with Xi Yun and slept even less, would he have coughed up blood when waking up?
When the second alarm rang, the young man, radiating low pressure from his entire body, threw off the covers. With sleepy eyes and full of resentment, he thought:
[Damn, as expected, it’s easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but hard to go from extravagance to frugality!]
At this moment, the bathroom door opened from the inside, and a tall figure walked out.
Le Can, sporting a bird’s nest of messy hair, lazily lifted his eyelids and met the gaze of Xi Yun, who was wearing a long robe-like dressing gown over his shirt.
After a weird silence of two seconds, Le Can narrowed his eyes hesitantly. Although he had shared a bed with Xi Yun for many days, this scene was damned unfamiliar.
He tentatively mumbled in a daze, “Morning?”
“Morning, Yao Yao. The people are already downstairs.”
The clear, cool voice poured into his ears. Le Can felt like he had suddenly gulped down a mouthful of iced mint water in the heat of a summer day where consciousness blurred; he instantly sobered up quite a bit.
Xi Yun, who was suddenly glared at the next second: “…”
He was the one disturbing someone’s dream; he deserved that look.
After quickly cleaning himself up and going downstairs, Le Can saw many unfamiliar faces on the first floor.
Auntie Liang, Yuan Cheng, and other staff in the villa were interspersed among the crowd, methodically directing the classification and placement of items.
Le Can didn’t feel nervous or constrained, nor did he feel the uneasiness of being the last to arrive.
Since Xi Yun hadn’t rushed him, it meant all his behavior was permitted. Besides, the one asking for a favor wasn’t him, Le Can.
Navigating around rows of person-high mobile clothing racks, Le Can’s gaze swept over the clothes covered in dust bags, his eyes unable to hide his curiosity.
But thinking that these were probably brought by the photography team for selection, he put away his curiosity and walked quickly toward the only person sitting in the entire space.
There was no other choice but Xi Yun.
Le Can naturally sat on the sofa. Due to his lowered line of sight, he met the gaze of Liang Yusheng, who was bending over holding a tablet to report to Xi Yun.
The moment he saw Le Can, Liang Yusheng blinked. maintaining his bent posture, he spoke respectfully, “Good morning, Mr. Le.”
Beside Liang Yusheng, a capable-looking woman with short hair and sharp attire flashed a cautious look in her eyes and echoed, “Good morning, Mr. Le.”
Le Can waved his hand nonchalantly. “Morning to you too.”
After speaking, he lifted his elbow and nudged Xi Yun beside him. “Is the schedule very tight today? Is there still time to eat breakfast?”
The good habit Le Can learned from his parents and elders—and maintained the longest—was eating breakfast. From childhood to adulthood, this habit was executed for over twenty years, rain or shine.
Although later, after starting work, many things were out of his control and the limited time for breakfast was gradually relaxed to “before noon,” Le Can never missed a single meal.
This was also why later, when many of Le Can’s colleagues had stomach problems, he remained the only healthy one.
Although… his family didn’t accompany him for very long, the things they left behind had always accompanied him well.
Hearing “Is the schedule very tight today,” a trace of confusion flashed across the short-haired elite woman’s brows. She looked sideways at Assistant Liang.
If Yi Ying remembered correctly, the time scheduled for the wedding photos was two days.
Although two days was indeed quite tight, considering both grooms were men and their appearances and figures were extremely superior, two days of shooting time was actually sufficient.
For the team, the trouble was actually the post-production. Image adjustment, video editing, physical product production, etc.—this client only gave them three days.
But the other party paid a lot. Yi Ying’s team would work overtime, and pull in some friends. With three days, she and her team were confident they could break their limits.
Two days versus three days—strictly speaking, the time her client left for his partner could be considered generous.
Another point that confused Yi Ying was that the time Assistant Liang initially agreed upon for their arrival was 8:00 AM. She didn’t know why it was advanced to 6:00 AM last night.
Liang Yusheng, questioned by her gaze, shook his head silently.
Because even he didn’t figure out why the boss sent him a message at past 1:00 AM, demanding he pay extra to advance the time.
At 1:00 AM, no one knew how messy Liang Yusheng felt in the wind when he was woken up by the call and saw the message.
Fortunately, Yi Ying was also an excellent corporate workhorse; receiving his message at that time, she was still able to reply promptly and agree.
Senior Corporate Workhorse Yi Ying: “…”
Who could refuse a payment increase of ten points?
With Le Can’s phrase “today,” neither Liang Yusheng nor Yi Ying could be sure if the two days of shooting were to be compressed into one…
Even after being nudged, Xi Yun remained immovable.
He looked up at his anxious newlywed partner beside him and answered unhurriedly, “No rush. There are two days for shooting.”
As if verifying Xi Yun’s statement, Auntie Liang led the others from the kitchen to bring the prepared breakfast to the table one after another.
Le Can and Xi Yun had specially made portions, while there were some large, easy-to-share portions prepared for Yi Ying’s team visiting the villa.
Looking at the steaming, colorful, and aromatic Chinese breakfast in front of him, Le Can instantly relaxed his brows, which had looked a bit listless due to waking up early.
After smiling, he remembered to ask back, “Two days? Wasn’t it one day?”
Xi Yun picked up the coffee at hand, took a slow sip, and said, “Who said it was only one day?”
Le Can held his chopsticks and widened his eyes. He opened his mouth, then slowly closed it. He carefully recalled what Xi Yun said last night; indeed, no one had mentioned a time limit for the photos.
Le Can blurted out, “Then why did you reject me last night and tell me to sleep early?!”
Because he didn’t deliberately lower his volume, Yuan Cheng, who was holding a cup of water at the same table, suddenly choked. He wanted to cough but didn’t dare, eventually turning his whole face red.
Liang Yusheng, who had just picked up his chopsticks, also shook his hand, dropping the chopsticks onto the table with a clatter. And some distance away, the place where Yi Ying’s team was resting and eating also fell suddenly silent.
Le Can fell awkwardly silent, wondering if he should explain.
Xi Yun pinched the center of his brows, which felt swollen. “Le Can, it was already 1:20 AM at that time.”
“If I didn’t refuse you, you wouldn’t even have gotten five hours of sleep.”
It was clearly a statement of fact, yet it inexplicably made people’s ears burn.
Bystanders who didn’t know the situation would think the young one loved to play and mess around, pestering the older lover to fool around until past one o’clock and still unwilling to stop.
The older one had the stamina to pull an all-nighter, but for the sake of the lover’s health, he endured his own desires, only to be accused in return…
For a moment, everyone simultaneously looked at their noses, and their noses looked at their hearts. Their faces were like boiling kettles, and their minds were wandering into the gutter…
They did fool around, but not in the way everyone imagined. Le Can felt a moment of guilty conscience. “Oh, fine then.”
When he looked up and scanned Yuan Cheng and the others’ drifting gazes, he faintly felt something was wrong, but couldn’t recall what it was for the moment.
In the end, he could only obediently lower his head to eat.
The savory pan-fried dumplings had crispy skins and juicy fillings. Paired with millet porridge that was light in flavor, soft and dense in texture, and just the right temperature. Plus a few stalks of blanched choy sum, verdant green and carrying a hint of sweetness…
Eating and eating, Le Can suddenly sighed happily, “It’s fortunate that you and I have the same taste and both like Chinese breakfast.”
Before entering Xi Yun’s villa, he thought rich people’s breakfasts would be like the kind Le Wenxin’s family tried hard to imitate in his memory.
Things like sterile onsen eggs, Wagyu fillet, black and white truffles, caviar, organic vegetable salad… things that were expensive and didn’t suit his appetite.
For Le Can, whether breakfast was satisfactory or not could set the mood for the day. He really didn’t want to go against his preferences and eat things he didn’t like.
Even if those things might be rare, expensive, and healthy.
Xi Yun’s spoon paused in mid-air, then slowly entered his mouth. he gave a flat “Mhm.”
Liang Yusheng and Yuan Cheng exchanged a surprised look.
Who was the one having coffee, steak, toast, and eggs every morning before?
Liang Yusheng was better off; eating at home or buying breakfast outside, it was reasonably varied. Yuan Cheng, who used to eat with Xi Yun, couldn’t take it anymore after eating until his face turned pale and had begged the kitchen to make him something else.
Yuan Cheng had even kindly asked Xi Yun if he wanted to adjust the breakfast content, but was cleanly rejected.
Only after Le Can came to the villa could Auntie Liang fully display her cooking skills.
Unexpectedly, oh unexpectedly, Xi Yun changed so much after getting married.
Liang Yusheng and Yuan Cheng were rarely on the same wavelength, secretly clicking their tongues.
When they were almost done eating, Le Can put down his chopsticks and asked about the next steps. “Wait, makeup and choosing clothes first, right? Where is the shooting location?”
Liang Yusheng first looked at his direct boss, then at the boss of his suspected direct boss.
It wasn’t any other intention; Liang Yusheng was just a bit curious. How come the boss, who was usually meticulous and detailed, seemed to have explained nothing to his partner last night?
Xi Yun, who had indeed forgotten to explain after being pestered by the young man all night: “…”
Curiosity aside, on the surface, Liang Yusheng replied very professionally:
“Those clothes outside are all custom-made private attire for the new season based on you and the boss’s measurements and usual dressing styles. They just happened to be delivered all together today.”
Le Can was glad his mouth was empty. He widened his eyes in surprise. “Private attire? That many?”
Liang Yusheng nodded as a matter of course. “Yes, all of them.”
“Not all necessarily have to be kept. If you think it’s too much, you and the boss can look over them later and decide which ones to keep and which ones to send back.”
“Of course, there are also some specially added couple/husband-husband outfits. If there are any you like, you can bring them along to include in the photography wardrobe.”
Pausing to let Le Can digest this, Liang Yusheng continued to answer the other questions.
“The costumes required for the formal shoot have already been transported to the private jet. Makeup and clothing selection will be completed on the plane.”
“The shooting location is on a private island under the boss’s name.”
At the mention of a private island, Le Can was completely stunned.
After a good while, he looked at Xi Yun. “Didn’t they say when you became independent from the Xi family, you only took Weiyuanjing?”
Le Can still couldn’t forget that entire building whose top couldn’t be seen when looking up.
Xi Yun gazed at the beautiful yet silly-looking peach-blossom eyes and nodded slowly.
“I took Weiyuanjing from the Xi family because it was the property my mother managed and developed single-handedly; it was her life’s blood.”
Le Can nodded in agreement. “Then where did the private island come from?”
Xi Yun chuckled helplessly. “Yao Yao, my unwillingness to take the Xi family’s things doesn’t mean I won’t inherit the wealth from my mother’s side.”
Nian Furou, the only biological daughter of the Nian family. As her son, Xi Yun naturally had full inheritance rights.
As for those distant relatives eyeing the wealth, and his aunt who was adopted and then kicked out but still lacked self-awareness, they couldn’t stir up any trouble long ago…
Le Can? Le Can was speechless.
He struggled to ask the final question.
“Then why did these photography team people come to the villa?”
Xi Yun glanced lightly at the young man suffering from information overload. “They came to select jewelry that can match the clothes.”
The jewelry and accessories Yi Ying’s team could coordinate obviously weren’t as high-end as those privately owned by Xi Yun. And given Xi Yun’s fastidiousness in certain aspects, he wasn’t willing to use other people’s items.
Thinking about it, Le Can finally fell silent.
[Damn, how is he so rich?!]
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