PART 3
Tang Yue: “I have my own things to do!”
Yao Lixin: “I mean, the child can’t always stay with you, can you transfer your clinginess elsewhere?”
“Second brother! Second senior brother, why don’t you just report Jiang Shulu’s ID number!”
“Is Tang Yue clingy? I didn’t notice.”
“He’s clingy in a more advanced way… Check out the videos on the super topic, I remember someone cut it.”
Tang Yue: “I know.”
He sat on a stone bench, still looking somewhat melancholy.
Yao Lixin: “Are you this unhappy to say goodbye to us?”
Tang Yue took a bite of the dried persimmon, “Happy.”
Yao Lixin: “Look in the mirror, does your expression really look like this?”
Tang Yue: “I just can’t figure some things out.”
Yao Lixin: “Relationship problems?”
Tang Yue: “Not entirely.”
Yao Lixin: “Work and relationship problems, you can both find the captain. Anyway, he loves to manage people, and he’ll arrange everything for you clearly. You just need to do what you like.”
Yao Lixin said this matter-of-factly, stemming from Jiang Shulu’s style during their time as a group.
This person’s aura of authority was too obvious, even in casual daily life, it would occasionally leak out.
“So no one thinks Jiang Shulu is controlling?”
“Someone dug this up before, even suspecting he might be very controlling in close relationships, but it seems fine now.”
Tang Yue: “That’s not it!”
Yao Lixin: “What’s not?”
Tang Yue: “The captain works hard too, he needs rest.”
Yao Lixin: “He’s a grown man, of course he knows how to adjust. You knew this before, Liu Xicháo and I can play games all night, but he knows when to stop after a couple of games, saying he has a lot of work.”
Tang Yue retorted: “That’s because you two are too bad.”
Yao Lixin made a sound of displeasure.
“I’m dying laughing, I understand why Tang Yue’s nickname is Little Cat, he really does have claws!”
“His tone sounds a little boastful.”
“It’s just the wrong identity; otherwise, it’s the kind of pride like ‘My husband is xx’.”
Just then, Jiang Shulu came down with Tang Mian. Tang Mian shouted “Dad” and ran over.
His hat fell off.
The big and small hugged tightly, creating a feeling of a long-awaited reunion.
Yao Lixin: “A few minutes apart, no need for this, should Tang Yue and the captain not hug too?”
His teasing was too obvious, and Jiang Shulu glanced at him.
Yao Lixin shut up and said to Tang Mian, “Come on, uncle will take you to eat first.”
Tang Yue: “What about me?”
Yao Lixin: “The program team said you and the captain have a special task, I’m not involved.”
This sounded resentful, but it also carried a sense of sadness. The post-production added a cold wind effect to Yao Lixin’s departing figure, causing the barrage to be filled with “hahahaha” and “male mom.”
Tang Yue looked at the staff outside the camera, Jiang Shulu pulled him over: “Let’s go, this is what you, little drunkard, will like.”
Tang Yue was reluctant to leave, but Tang Mian waved goodbye, reminding Tang Yue, “Dad, get along well with Uncle Jiang—”
Tang Yue nodded, almost turning back every step of the way.
Jiang Shulu: “I thought you didn’t like children before.”
There were more people in the small village at this time, it was just dinner time, and every household had cooking smoke.
Schoolchildren with backpacks ran past them, making a face at the filming cameras.
Tang Yue: “Did I?”
Jiang Shulu: “When Sister Lin’s child came to the dorm before, you avoided him.”
Tang Yue: “He was a bit noisy.”
Seeming to think that saying that about a child wasn’t right, Tang Yue explained, “I’m much happier with Little Me, but I’m worried that Little Me isn’t as lively as other children, did I not take good care of him?”
The sun set, the moon climbed the mountain, and the streetlights came on.
The place designated by the program team was still five or six minutes away, and Tang Yue didn’t ask, just followed Jiang Shulu.
He hung his head, looking a bit listless.
Jiang Shulu: “Isn’t Little Me lively enough? He’s very cute.”
Tang Yue: “And very smart.”
This sounded even more dejected, Jiang Shulu smiled and asked: “Isn’t being smart good? What were you like as a child?”
Tang Yue: “Me as a child?”
He thought of the environment on 9787 Star, there wasn’t much fun there.
If Tang Yue hadn’t read the novel about this world, he would have suspected that his was the world in the book.
Nutrient solution was always available, and he could choose the flavor he wanted, sweet or salty, all simulated sensory experiences.
For example, Tang Yue loved strawberry milk-flavored nutrient solution, and after coming here, he discovered that real strawberry flavor was completely different from what the nutrient solution could simulate.
He frowned: “There wasn’t that much delicious food.”
“Is it true that Tang Yue was an illegitimate child? Was his mother a pure foreigner who lived here?”
“He’s mixed-race, probably a quarter, anyway, she died very early, and Tang Yue did odd jobs and grew up on welfare.”
People in the barrage were discussing Tang Yue’s background, unaware that Tang Yue had been replaced.
Jiang Shulu only nodded and asked: “So you had a stomachache from drinking too much strawberry milk?”
This is something ordinary people wouldn’t know, and the barrage was filled with laughter.
Tang Yue: “That was years ago, I wouldn’t…”
Jiang Shulu: “Do you still drink too much now?”
Tang Yue: “Shulu, don’t always talk about me! What about you? You must have been very lively as a child, right?”
Little Me wasn’t like him, he must be like Jiang Shulu.
Tang Yue suddenly looked up at Jiang Shulu, meeting a pair of smiling eyes.
They seemed gentler than the moonlight overhead, making Tang Yue quickly look away and quicken his pace.
Jiang Shulu followed: “Me?”
“I can’t imagine Jiang Shulu being lively.”
“He’s not associated with that word.”
Jiang Shulu: “There was such a time, I often angered my mother.”
Tang Yue, thinking of Mrs. Jiang Zhu Qiong’s cold face, muttered, “Your mother looks angry even without speaking.”
After saying this, Tang Yue felt impolite and apologized.
“Laughing to death, did visiting the Jiang family hurt Tang Yue?”
“Mrs. Jiang is indeed a very noble lady, how should I put it, this family is too perfect.”
Jiang Shulu shook his head and took him into the rice wine shop arranged by the program team.
Tang Yue was immediately captivated by the shop owner’s introduction. Jiang Shulu was by his side, thinking about the difference between his mother and his mother.
He thought about the time he hadn’t returned to the Jiang family; he was indeed similar to Tang Mian.
It was just that the Jiang family was good at removing edges and creating dolls.
If it weren’t for seeing Tang Mian, Tang Yue bringing Tang Mian, Jiang Shulu almost forgot that he had such a time.
The proprietress ladled a paper cup of rice wine for Tang Yue. Tang Yue looked at Jiang Shulu, who was a few jars away, and he was looking down at his phone.
The general secretary sent Jiang Shulu a change notification.
Informing Jiang Shulu that the largest investor in the latest project had changed to Kunyu Technology.
The next second, a paper cup was handed over, Jiang Shulu put down his phone and asked: “What is this?”