Part 2
Unfortunately, his other dad didn’t buy it at all.
Jiang Shulu: “If your daddy says no, then it’s no.”
He paused, then added, “We’ll take you to see the concert later. Shall we go get a balloon?”
Tang Mian: “Then we have to get one for Xiao Yue too.”
Tang Yue: “I’m going too.”
Liu Xichao checked the time. “Let’s grab a meal and then go?”
Yao Lixin was still holding Yao Xuanyu, sweating from the baby-carrying race with Jiang Shulu. He indicated he needed to go back and change clothes.
Tang Yue: “Change into a skirt?”
Yao Lixin let out a “Hey!”
Jiang Shulu laughed out loud. Tang Mian hugged Jiang Shulu’s neck; appearing in the frame, one big and one small, they looked biologically related no matter how you looked at them.
Liu Xichao also joined in the roasting: “Yeah, wear a skirt.”
Yao Lixin: “If I let you bamboozle me again, I’m a dog.”
Liu Xichao: “Er-ge, I’ve even shaved your leg hair for you. How can you say I bamboozled you?”
He even went to bump Yao Lixin’s shoulder, but the latter, holding the child, quickly bounced away—a superb reaction of “I need to avoid suspicion.”
Yao Lixin: “We’ve disbanded. We don’t need to generate hype.”
Tang Yue laughed too. Genius baby Tang Mian also had moments of ignorance and asked what “hype” (chaozuo) was.
Yao Xuanyu finally caught a question from Tang Mian and answered proudly, “It means people with no feelings looking like they have feelings!”
Tang Mian let out an “Oh.” “Then what about people who look like they have no feelings but actually do?”
Yao Xuanyu was stumped and looked blankly at his uncle.
Yao Lixin snorted: “Isn’t that our Captain and the Maknae?”
“So sarcastic, hahahaha!” “Some internal group bickering, this is what I love to see!” “So back then, were all the popular pairings really just hype?!” “Someone bring up the famous ‘hyping CP’ scenes of Liu Xichao selling queer-bait!” “But Liu Xichao also said he likes older men! What kind of misunderstanding do people who ship him and Jiang Shulu have about Jiang Shulu’s age!”
Jiang Shulu shook his head. “How could I look like I have no feelings?”
Tang Mian leaned into Jiang Shulu’s embrace, following Jiang Shulu’s gaze toward Tang Yue.
Liu Xichao picked up his jacket from the lawn, and the group walked back to their accommodation under the setting sun.
This scene was particularly similar to a certain shot in Away’s debut MV from years ago, except that Tang Yue, who had stood furthest from Jiang Shulu back then, had now walked to Jiang Shulu’s side.
Tang Mian jumped from Jiang Shulu’s arms into Tang Yue’s arms.
Hugging Tang Yue’s neck, he asked loudly, “Daddy, can I have one bite of dessert tonight? Just one bite!”
Tang Yue: “What do you want to eat?”
Tang Mian: “Can I have French toast (Lou Nai Hua)? I haven’t eaten it yet! Daddy Shulu said you like eating it very much, and then… then you ate five servings at once and…”
Tang Yue covered Tang Mian’s mouth and glared at Jiang Shulu.
This glare was incredibly lively, almost breaking through the residual moonlight that usually shrouded Tang Yue’s exterior. It was as if the moon in the sky had been scooped up by someone and was no longer lonely.
Jiang Shulu: “Is that not the truth?”
Liu Xichao in front heard it too. “Yeah, your dad is really gluttonous, but it’s understandable.”
Previously, Jiang Shulu thought Tang Yue had a hard life growing up. Now he saw that the alien simply hadn’t eaten good food before.
Essentially, it was about the same. Both made Jiang Shulu feel pity and want to treat him better, and then even better.
Tang Yue: “That was an accident. I’m usually very restrained, okay?”
Tang Mian: “But Uncle Yao said you even secretly ran off to participate in a street eating contest.”
Jiang Shulu didn’t know about this. He looked at Tang Yue in surprise: “When was this?”
Liu Xichao: “Those few days you took leave to go abroad for business.”
Jiang Shulu looked at Tang Yue. Tang Yue let out an “Uh.” “We were on break. What’s wrong with going out for a stroll?”
Yao Lixin: “Being recognized was inevitable. And because he couldn’t run as fast as the Zhanjie (fansite master), he ended up sitting on the curb crying.”
Jiang Shulu: “Why did no one tell me?”
Liu Xichao: “Tang Yue begged the manager to withdraw the news and almost spent his own private savings to suppress the press release. Jiang Shulu, reflect on yourself. How fierce were you back then to make Tang Yue that scared of you?”
Tang Yue didn’t dare lift his head.
“What kind of exposure conference is this? Hahaha!” “It’s true, Tang Yue was really scared of Jiang Shulu.” “@Zhanjie, post some pictures!!” “Why though!!! Tang Yue, speak up quickly!!”
Yao Lixin: “So what exactly did the Captain do that made you avoid him like the plague back then?”
Everyone looked at Tang Yue. The bullet comments were all spamming “Why.”
The sky was getting dark; there was an hour and a half before the concert started.
Tang Yue pursed his lips. The autumn wind blew his bangs. He hugged the child in his arms tighter. “The Captain knows.”
Everyone looked at Jiang Shulu again.
Jiang Shulu smiled: “I don’t know.”
Tang Yue: “I told you why!”
Jiang Shulu: “Did you?”
He was clearly doing it on purpose.
Tang Yue sniffled. His beautiful eyes seemed to contain the universe; even when glaring at someone, it was enough to make the recipient’s heart race.
Liu Xichao coughed once. “Stop flirting.”
Tang Yue smashed the pot (gave up hiding it): “Fine! I avoided him because I liked him!! How could you guys not know!—”
After saying that, he ran off holding the child.
Tang Mian hugged his dad’s neck, saying loudly amidst the bumps—
“Xiao Yue, your heart is beating so fast! Wow!”
Tang Yue: “Don’t laugh at me. When you grow up and like someone, you won’t be able to control it either!”
Varm’s concert was being broadcast both online and offline, and the ticket prices weren’t too expensive.
But many fans came, so the queues were exceptionally long.
coupled with the segment temporarily added by the variety show team, many fans who originally planned to watch the livestream online also rushed over in a hurry.
Tang Yue was still very worried that the child, who had never seen a concert, would get a headache from the atmosphere at the venue.
After dinner, he kept asking about his well-being, making the little friend a bit unhappy.
Tang Mian: “Can’t Daddy have some confidence in me?”
He looked at Yao Xuanyu, who was being held by Yao Lixin. “Look, Uncle Yao doesn’t worry about Brother Xuanyu.”
The other little friend laughed “Hehe,” completely losing the cool attitude from the first day.
Yao Xuanyu: “Because I’ve seen a concert before. I watched it with Uncle.”
Tang Mian: “I’m going to watch Daddy’s concert in the future too. I won’t get a headache!”
He held Tang Yue’s hand and glanced at Jiang Shulu, who had finished getting the tickets from the staff.
The weather had been a bit cold the last two days, so everyone was dressed warmly.
Tang Mian was forced to wear a small scarf Tang Yue put on him. From a distance, he looked like a radish spirit. Upon seeing Jiang Shulu, he hopped a few times.
Tang Mian: “Daddy Shulu! Can you carry me later?”
Jiang Shulu nodded, looked at Tang Yue, and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Liu Xichao: “Your wife and son had a fight.”
Jiang Shulu raised an eyebrow.
Both the variety show and the concert belonged to Chengkong Media.
Varm’s fans were originally worried that the livestream variety show would divert the crowd. For this reason, the official account specifically made a statement saying that the click-through rates for the variety show livestream that day would be counted toward the concert.
They also added a friendly reminder that since the main characters of the livestream variety show were the guests, the recording of the live performance might be incomplete.
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