AHFAFTGTTT Chapter 71

Chapter 71: Apron

“Change the color, brother, please?”

Xu Chengyue silently complained in his heart, wondering where the production team found these aprons. It’s impossible to tie one on your own; you need someone else’s help.

Just as he was about to look up for assistance, Fu Yang immediately gestured behind his back to Chu Sheng.

Chu Sheng finally got the hint: “Wow! Qu PD is putting coins in the dumplings, I’m going to take a look!”

With that, he scurried away without a trace.

Resigned, Xu Chengyue took a new apron from the drawer, but hesitated slightly over the color, a faint smile playing on his lips. He pulled out a pink lace-trimmed apron.

Fu Yang became alert: “I don’t want this color!”

The one-meter-ninety tall, macho man who had just been eager to have someone tie his apron now refused.

Xu Chengyue put on a serious face: “This is the only color.”

People are always full of energy and move quickly when they’re up to mischief.

Fu Yang retreated step by step, while Xu Chengyue advanced with the little pink apron.

Facing each other, maintaining a certain distance, Xu Chengyue quickly put the shoulder straps on him from the front, then came to the tying part. He was about to go around to the back when the young man suddenly struggled.

“Change the color, brother, please,” he pleaded with blinking eyes, trying to take it off.

Xu Chengyue, of course, wouldn’t allow this to happen when he was about to succeed. He quickly held him down, reached around his waist, and went to tie the two back straps.

The two of them were in a face-to-face embrace, separated by a small distance.

Feeling the slightly rapid breathing of the person in front of him, Xu Chengyue looked up and realized that the other’s eyes were not struggling at all, but filled with excited laughter.

His hands paused as he was tying the waistband. Just as he was about to back away, Fu Yang suddenly took a step back. Because the straps in his hand were not yet loosened, Xu Chengyue was pulled forward abruptly, lost his balance, and stumbled forward, his forehead hitting the other man’s chest muscles. Now they were truly pressed tightly together.

“Are you okay?” Fu Yang lowered his head anxiously.

“I’m okay.”

A hand gently stroked his forehead, and Xu Chengyue felt his face heat up. He covered his forehead and pushed away. Sure enough, you shouldn’t do bad things; retribution comes quickly. It hurt quite a bit when he bumped into him.

People appear particularly busy when they feel guilty. Xu Chengyue flusteredly added flour, then went to get water, followed by kneading the dough, rolling it out, a series of operations moving back and forth, looking very busy. But behind him, there was always a little tail following him, like a character in a game with “follow” turned on.

Fu Yang watched all the movements. He had indeed done it on purpose just now, but now he regretted it a little.

Was he too hasty? Why was Xu Chengyue ignoring him?

“I’m sorry…” Fu Yang apologized, observing his expression.

“Why are you saying sorry to me?” Xu Chengyue skillfully rolled the dough thin. His face was expressionless, occasionally looking up at the other man, looking at the pink lace trim, trying hard to suppress his laughter, putting on a serious and stern face, which made Fu Yang even more uneasy.

“I’m sorry my chest muscles are too hard, and I hurt you,” Fu Yang said quickly.

“?”

Xu Chengyue finally couldn’t help but “pfft” burst out laughing, bending over. “You’re too cute, little brother.”

“Then why were you unhappy just now?” Fu Yang tilted his head, looking at him curiously.

Xu Chengyue took the stainless steel water basin on the chopping board and held it upside down, looking at his face reflected on the smooth surface. “I wasn’t unhappy, maybe… I haven’t slept well these past few days.”

Without makeup, he did look a little weak.

Fu Yang: “Why haven’t you slept well?”

Xu Chengyue said helplessly: “Are you a ‘Ten Thousand Whys’?”

Fu Yang: “Can’t I ask? Or you don’t want to tell me.”

Xu Chengyue looked towards Shangguan Yaoguang at another table not far away. The other man was wrestling with a ball of dough, adding water, adding flour, adding water, adding flour, messing with a big basin. “It’s just… it’s not related to you.”

Fu Yang followed his gaze forward, feeling a burst of heartache. He had to take a deep breath to calm down.

It turned out that what was more painful than “I don’t like you” was “It’s not related to you.”

Because of the latter sentence, he didn’t even have the qualifications to get to the table. Fu Yang slammed the dough onto the chopping board in anger, “thump thump thump,” kneading it vigorously, venting his anger. He tilted his head:

“If I get first place in the performance, can you give me another gift?”

Xu Chengyue had been looking at the opposite side. Hearing this, he tilted his head slightly. “What do you want?”

“I haven’t thought about it yet. Anyway, you promise me.” Fu Yang didn’t know what to do now and was being somewhat unreasonable in his helplessness.

Xu Chengyue smiled and replied subconsciously, “Okay, I promise you.”

Each team cooked their dumplings and glutinous rice balls, and everyone gathered together to eat. Inevitably, there was a north-south debate.

“The Lantern Festival is supposed to be for eating glutinous rice balls! Lantern Festival, Lantern Festival, of course, it refers to glutinous rice balls!”

“It’s clearly for eating dumplings, a family reunion to eat dumplings!”

“I remember it’s for eating glutinous rice balls, and you have to eat savory glutinous rice balls.”

“WTF, what kind of bizarre food preference are savory glutinous rice balls? Glutinous rice balls must be sweet; savory glutinous rice balls get out of this world!”

“Why not? Glutinous rice balls should be eaten savory!”

“Sweet!”

“Savory!”

“Shangguan mentor, do you choose sweet glutinous rice balls or savory glutinous rice balls?”

Shangguan Yaoguang lazily raised his eyes: “I choose dumplings.”

“Xu mentor, do you choose sweet glutinous rice balls or savory glutinous rice balls?”

Xu Chengyue: “…They’re… about the same, right…”

They all tasted the same when you ate them.

Fu Yang: “I think sweet ones are good.”

Xu Chengyue immediately nodded: “Then I think so too.”

Shangguan Yaoguang lurked in the crowd, his slightly long bangs covering half of his eyes, his gaze shifting between the two of them, his eyes cool.

Fu Yang felt himself being stared at by a sticky, damp gaze. He suddenly turned his head. Shangguan Yaoguang instantly restrained himself, lowered his eyes, and didn’t dare to meet his gaze.

After the Lantern Festival gala ended, Xu Chengyue and Shangguan Yaoguang were going to take a car back to B City together. The company had issued a final ultimatum a week ago: Spark would officially announce its disbandment in a week, and after the disbandment, the apartment dormitory would also have to be vacated, and everyone would have to move.

Xu Chengyue stared at Spark’s official Weibo page on his phone, silent for nearly half an hour, and finally forwarded the disbandment announcement.

Their boy band journey ended quietly like this.

The company had a new plan for the future development of each person.

Shangguan Yaoguang was taking the path of original singer, so he had already started preparing a new album.

Hao Yun would immediately start a rap variety show after the travelogue ended.

Zhou Qingqing had already signed a contract and would join a big-budget historical drama a month later.

The Lantern Festival was supposed to be a day for family reunions, but they disbanded so calmly.

Xu Chengyue sorted out his emotions alone and realized that this was the first time he and Shangguan Yaoguang had been in such close proximity in a confined space since the island.

He suddenly didn’t know what to say.

Time passed quietly for about half an hour, the scenery outside the car window constantly moving backward. Shangguan Yaoguang finally couldn’t help it and suddenly said:

“You’ve been getting very close to Fu Yang lately.”

Before Xu Chengyue could respond, he heard the other man’s shocking statement:

“So, do you gays like any man you see?”

Xu Chengyue was stunned, his mind a little muddled: “What…”

“Isn’t that right? You said you liked me before, and now you like him again.” Shangguan Yaoguang didn’t have much expression on his face, pretending not to care.

Xu Chengyue was silent for a long time. “Shangguan, were the words you said when you rescued me from the fire that day fake?”

Shangguan Yaoguang hesitated for a moment, “…Yes.”

“Then you can also think that I don’t have to answer you. Who I get close to, who I admire, that’s all my business, isn’t it?” Xu Chengyue said.

The leader, who always went along with him, didn’t say what he wanted. Shangguan Yaoguang seemed to be venting his belated rebellion on the person in front of him—

“What if it’s true? What if what I said that day was true?”

Shangguan Yaoguang actually didn’t know what he said at that time. In the month he lost his memory, he remembered being trapped in a place with the smell of medicine and the sound of drips. He went through a long time like this vaguely until he opened his eyes again and heard Xu Chengyue’s confession in his ear.

He suddenly felt a sense of unwillingness.

Even though he knew that everything he had now, his thriving career, soaring popularity, and Xu Chengyue’s affection were actually brought about by the person who used to be in his body.

He should thank him.

However, Shangguan Yaoguang felt that he couldn’t do it.

He tried his best not to be jealous of him, but he couldn’t do it either.

Maybe he was just a rat in the gutter, an ungrateful ingrate.

From childhood to adulthood, he was not a noble good person, but not a bad person in the abyss either.

He stood in the gray area in the middle, just an ordinary person who was neither good nor bad, but this time, that gray area gradually spread towards the abyss.

“Then… you’re really going too far.”

In the silent night, the car was driving smoothly, the assistant was driving seriously, and Xu Chengyue’s voice trembled slightly, like ripples on a clear lake.

He felt his tears about to overflow and turned away, pretending to look at the scenery outside the window, his voice unnatural: “I really don’t have time to play with you right now.”

Sometimes real, sometimes fake, he was really taking advantage of his affection to do whatever he wanted.

“Don’t torture me anymore.”

Xu Chengyue didn’t often say such straightforward words. If he cared about his emotions, he would know that he had reached the verge of collapse at this time, and his hands began to tremble physiologically.

“Are you treating him as my substitute?”

Obviously, Shangguan Yaoguang didn’t care. At this moment, he was wholeheartedly immersed in his own world, realizing that Fu Yang might be a bit like the personality in his body before.

He guessed that Xu Chengyue just liked this type.

“How can you say such a thing?” Xu Chengyue’s eyes had a hint of disbelief.

“Isn’t it because he’s like me that you’re so nice to him?” Shangguan Yaoguang stared at him through his slightly long bangs, looking a bit gloomy in the late night.

Xu Chengyue took a deep breath: “Shangguan, you’re being too unreasonable now. Talk to me when you calm down.”

“You wouldn’t say that to Fu Yang when he’s being unreasonable with you.” Shangguan Yaoguang felt the difference and felt even more uncomfortable. He murmured in a low voice: “If you have to choose someone as a substitute, it’s better to choose me… Wouldn’t I look even more like him if I swept my hair up…”

Shangguan Yaoguang clenched his fists and then loosened them, finally resigning himself.

He wanted to give himself a chance.

He still stubbornly refused to admit that he was gay. He just wanted to give himself a chance.

“Pursue me,” he said.

Xu Chengyue: “…What?”

“Didn’t you say you liked me before?”

The gray area in Shangguan Yaoguang’s heart had completely stepped into the darkness.

Slightly guilty from doing something bad for the first time, he lowered his head unnaturally and didn’t dare to look Xu Chengyue in the eye.

“Pursue me, please.”