Part 2
Jiang Shulu raised an eyebrow. “Well, for it to be proper shipping, I think your daddy would have to say he loves me, right?”
[What is happening! Why are they exposing industry secrets on the show! (clutches handkerchief)]
[Is this shipping? More, please! I hope Jiang Shulu ships (with) Tang Yue every day!]
Tang Yue looked up, stunned, only to meet Jiang Shulu’s smiling gaze. The sincerity in his eyes was undeniable. He even gave a playful wink, as if to signal Tang Yue to play along.
[That’s cheating!!]
[Jiang Shulu is using his sedu— I mean, his eyes to hint at him!!]
This was a side of Jiang Shulu that Tang Yue had never seen before. Jiang Shulu was almost always calm and dependable. To others, his smiles never quite reached his eyes, giving him an air of gentle detachment. He rarely showed a side that was so lively, so vibrant. It was as if he carried a heavy burden he could never speak of, forcing him to keep up a front without knowing when he could finally let it down.
Now, with the setting sun behind him, the last golden rays tracing an outline around him and Tang Mian in his arms, the image overlapped perfectly with the first time Tang Yue had ever laid eyes on him. Back then, Jiang Shulu’s expression was one of shock and wonder, his aloofness not yet fully formed. He was purely happy about not having to find a replacement member anymore, and his smile was overwhelmingly gentle.
It was enough to make Tang Yue’s heart skip a beat, sending his heart rate monitor haywire for reasons no one else understood.
This person was just too important.
Even though the original novel was a mess and never explained Jiang Shulu’s past, the current Tang Yue knew that he had a hidden history. He once had great troubles, but he also had his happiest moments.
In the novel, the main male lead was meant to be redeemed by the main love interest, their relationship a culmination of their lives intertwining. But fate had twisted things. The person Liu Xichao ended up saving was Jiang Shulu’s uncle, Jiang He.
Jiang Shulu used to be an unsolvable puzzle to Tang Yue. But time had passed, the moment was gone, and now, Jiang Shulu was holding his hand again. It made Tang Yue remember the nights he’d seen Jiang Shulu smoking alone, and he finally understood the source of the sorrow hidden beneath his polished exterior.
Now, a desire stirred within Tang Yue. He wanted to go deeper. Even if he didn’t know when the next planetary alignment would be, he wanted to throw caution to the wind just this once.
Five years of longing had fermented, and just a few days of being together were enough to nearly erase the loneliness of those five years.
Mian Mian was growing up, and Jiang Shulu was still here. A sudden wave of happiness washed over Tang Yue.
I want to be with this person for a long, long time, he thought.
The sea breeze was a little chilly. Jiang Shulu pulled up the collar of Tang Mian’s jacket and told Yao Xuanyu, who was nearby, not to lean too close to the edge. He felt he might be going a bit too far, just as Liu Xichao said—getting too carried away. Just as his mother, Mrs. Jiang, would say—losing his composure.
Just as Jiang Shulu was about to say, “I was just kidding,” Tang Yue’s voice, carried by the sea wind, reached his ears.
“I love you.”
[WHO AM I!! WHERE THE HELL AM I! WHAT AM I WATCHING?]
[Today’s boy groups have no idea how to captivate a variety show audience… I need an oxygen tank right now.]
[HOLY SHT, are those words that can actually come out of Tang Yue’s mouth? Is there really no script?]*
[What variety show writer would script a guide to shipping CPs? This has to be improv. I thought Tang Yue would just ignore it, but he actually…]
[If this isn’t mutual pining, what is?]
[I’ve already got the headline: MASSIVE SCANDAL IN TOP BOY GROUP, THE TRUTH WILL SHOCK YOU! A certain top group’s leader and youngest member secretly have a love child… Ah, I’m so good at this.]
[Tang Yue, do you know what you’re saying? (shakes him by the shoulders) He seems so much… bolder than before!]
[Historic moment: Jiang Shulu is stunned. Screenshotting this immediately.]
This time, Tang Mian stayed quiet. He burrowed into Jiang Shulu’s arms, looking back and forth between Tang Yue and Jiang Shulu. Then he glanced at the off-camera crew. The staff on the other boats looked equally shocked, a few of them struggling to hold back laughter.
Uncle Jiang really is my other dad, Tang Mian thought. It felt nice, kind of like the pictures in his storybooks. Am I the little kid born from my parents’ love?
Tang Mian zoned out, remembering when Liang Yi had visited their home and they watched TV together. It was some popular idol drama where the kid’s parents had a business marriage with no love between them, and they ended up divorcing.
Liang Yi had told him, “Don’t worry, Mian Mian. Even if your dad marries someone in the future, she’ll dote on you even more than he does.”
At the time, Tang Mian hadn’t really understood, thinking she was talking about a stepmom. “But books say stepmoms don’t love kids that aren’t their own.”
The auntie, who looked more like a big sister, just smiled. “Who’s to say the kid isn’t her own?”
Liang Yi saw Tang Yue as something like a game character, the last relative fate had bestowed upon her. The fact that this relative could produce a tiny new relative didn’t seem to faze her. She accepted it quickly, even finding it amusing.
This variety show was, in a way, an observation from Liang Yi’s perspective. An attempt to dismantle something, to tear something down, to gain something. This included Tang Yue’s secret, Jiang Shulu’s rebellious streak, and the secondary expansion of her own business empire through the hidden assets Jiang Shulu represented.
It was also a study on the topic of true love in the world. Even though Liang Yi was married, she and Jiang Xiuyun were still in a period of adjustment. One was a terrifyingly popular new manga artist who didn’t understand love and was constantly threatened by readers to stop torturing her main characters or they’d mail her knives. The other was a “villainess” CEO who, in everyone’s eyes, had lots of money but had never been in love.
The world seemed to fall silent.
Yao Xuanyu, hugging the dog, suddenly understood why his uncle always said he had a lot of experience being a third wheel. Even though Tang Mian and Uncle Jiang aren’t father and son, I feel so out of place right now. I should have taken the dog and gone to the other side of the boat.
Ahead of them lay their destination: the island.
The wind rustled through Jiang Shulu’s and Tang Yue’s hair. They were already sitting close, but the boat was so narrow that even turning around was difficult. If Tang Yue wanted to, he could easily rest his head on Jiang Shulu’s shoulder.
It took him a few seconds to process what he’d just blurted out.
But Jiang Shulu smiled.
It wasn’t the lukewarm smile he gave even after winning an award. This was a smile so radiant it made you think he ought to have canine teeth. It outshone the setting sun, like the moment golden light bathes a snow-capped mountain. The mountain, still frozen, becomes an object of breathtaking beauty.
Tang Yue was the first ray of sunrise, and his three words had shattered all of Jiang Shulu’s inhibitions.
To hell with composure and poise, he thought. To hell with family rules and debts of gratitude.
I just want to be with this person.
I don’t care about Tang Yue’s identity or his background.
All I want is Tang Yue.
The Tang Yue who was, at this very moment, incoherently trying to explain himself.
Before Tang Mian could tease his own father, his eyes were covered. The world went dark, and he heard a chorus of “holy sh*t” from all around, like the live comments had manifested in real life.
Even the crew couldn’t contain their emotions; the livestream camera even shook a little. The commotion reached Yao Lixin and Liu Xichao, but it was too dark for them to see what was happening. They had no idea that, in front of millions of viewers, Jiang Shulu had just kissed Tang Yue on the lips. They didn’t know that Tang Yue had just impulsively said, “I love you.”
They didn’t know that, at that exact moment, the trending topics on social media exploded.
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