TSIBAMS Chapter 127
by Volare“How is it? Did the robot vacuum arrive? Don’t thank me too much, hahahaha! I’m also amazed at my gift-picking skills!”
Shuai Xiaoyun on the other end of the phone was speaking like a machine gun, not stopping at all. Qi Guang hadn’t even had time to ask what was wrong when Bai Shu opened the door. A delivery guy in uniform stood at the door, holding a box that was neither too big nor too small, meeting their surprised gazes at the dining table.
“Is Mr. Ye Xing here? Your delivery!”
“Yes, do I sign here?” Bai Shu pointed to the form attached to the outside of the delivery box. After receiving a nod from the delivery guy, he lowered his head and signed Ye Xing’s name.
Qi Guang frowned and asked into the phone, “You picked this gift for Ye Xing?”
“Are you embarrassed to ask?”
“…”
“Ye Xing hasn’t posted anything on his Moments in ages. Yesterday, he actually complained on Moments about taking on all the housework, sweeping, mopping, wiping tables, washing, ironing, folding clothes, and having to cook for some ungrateful brat every day.”
“It’s fine, he’s just trying to make up for the guilt of living at my place and being kept by me, and showing off our love.” Qi Guang retorted at the person on the phone, while proudly smoothing Ye Xing’s hair. Ye Xing, who had just hung up the phone, was confused. So, with Qi Guang’s hand on his head, he continued to eat hotpot as if no one else was there. Qi Guang found him particularly cute, and his tone with Shuai Xiaoyun became even more irritating, “If you take it seriously, you’ve already lost.”
“Kept? Is the 30,000 monthly allowance enough? Looks like you’ve got yourself a free nanny.” Shuai Xiaoyun yelled at him.
Qi Guang glanced at the “nanny” beside him, who was innocent and oblivious to the battle, picking up a big shrimp ball with his chopsticks. He blew on it, then took a bite, and feeling it was not so hot, he brought it to him.
Qi Guang took a big bite with satisfaction, “Sis, don’t put it that way. Yesterday was because of spring cleaning at home, I also participated in some housework after finishing tutoring my sister. Besides, although Ye Xing cooks, the responsibility of washing dishes falls on me!”
“So, do you have any objections to this gift I got for Ye Xing?” Shuai Xiaoyun asked coldly.
Qi Guang was speechless.
“None, I hope you’ll send a dishwasher next time.”
“Hang up, bye!” Shuai Xiaoyun didn’t give him a chance to push his luck and hung up ruthlessly.
“Thank…” Qi Guang didn’t finish the word; the phone already started beeping. He sighed, tossed the phone aside, and muttered, “I don’t know where she gets so much spare money all the time.”
Ye Xing, not understanding his words, frowned, “Didn’t you say her family’s teppanyaki fried rice was the most famous in Chen Town? It seems they earn a lot, especially since she can casually attend an expensive art school and her part-time job is just a hobby…”
Xu Ge immediately caught the key words and said, “Wait! Even though it’s just a part-time job, the rate I pay her for being a resident singer is not low. Newcomers at other places don’t get this treatment.”
“See, she’s a sugar mommy.” Ye Xing clapped his hands as if stating a fact.
Bai Shu, who hadn’t spoken for a while, didn’t participate in their “sugar mommy” talk. He held the robot vacuum cleaner box, examining the various text descriptions for a long time. Then he flipped it a few times, with a slightly confused expression, “This robot vacuum…it’s an electronic product, so why is the packaging so pink?”
“Ahem,” Qi Guang seemed to have remembered something he couldn’t bring himself to say, and subconsciously cleared his throat, “Pink packaging is Shuai Xiaoyun’s obsession…wait!? This robot is pink?”
Xu Ge, not considering himself an outsider, had already opened the packaging. He took out a short cylindrical object from the foam box and nodded, “It really is!”
Qi Guang helplessly twitched the corner of his mouth, “It’s my first time seeing someone picking gifts based on their own preferences!”
After everyone had their fill of food and drink, they bragged until three in the morning before they were willing to go to sleep, not waking up until noon the next day.
Bai Shu woke up first, quietly washing the dishes that were left in the sink from last night. He also put some of the fruits from the box into the refrigerator, and the rest into a large container. Finally, he flattened the various delivery boxes and placed them outside the door.
—He was clearly more of a “nanny” than Ye Xing, the “nanny”.
After he finished working, the remaining three woke up at ease. By then, Bai Shu had already thoroughly studied the robot vacuum’s manual and set it to run around the house.
They followed the robot vacuum, looking at it with curiosity, like they were watching a small animal, their eyes clearly saying, “Such a sensible little fellow.”
After a while, the novelty wore off, and they started discussing their plans for the day. Whether it was because they drank too much or slept too long, they decided to go to the amusement park in the middle of the day.
The four of them, who had been staying in the air-conditioned room, didn’t think there was anything wrong.
—After all, a fashionable place like an amusement park never existed in a small town. Bai Shu had barely left Chen Town. Although Xu Ge had left with his brothers on short trips when he was young, he was still a gangster; how could a boss take his underlings to an amusement park? As for Qi Guang and Ye Xing, who had lived in the city, they weren’t excited about the novelty of the amusement park itself, but the novelty of going to an amusement park with their boyfriends.
It wasn’t until they picked up Li Ke in the car half an hour later that a different voice was heard.
“Amusement park?” Li Ke squeezed into the back seat between Ye Xing and Qi Guang. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at the two of them in disbelief, “You guys really know how to pick a day! Is it because you don’t feel hot enough or you’re too fair-skinned?”
The person in the driver’s seat, who was focused on driving, conjured up some sunscreen from somewhere with his right hand, “Put this on if you’re afraid of getting tanned.”
Li Ke then realized who was driving. The moment he was about to explode from the heat, the moment his smoke came to a complete stop.
He glanced at Ye Xing, who replied with his eyes: “You arranged everything and then told us you were coming. This inevitable situation is not something I can control.”
Li Ke glared at him, then looked at Qi Guang for help. Qi Guang immediately dropped his “watching a show” expression, tilted his head, and also replied with his eyes: “Weren’t you two perfect and even shipping each other a few days ago? Why are you a coward in front of the person now?”
He couldn’t expect these two to save him from his misery. He coughed awkwardly a couple of times and then, responding to Xu Ge, said, “I’m not afraid of getting tanned, I’m afraid of the heat!”
“Alright,” Xu Ge nodded slightly while looking at him in the rearview mirror, then handed the sunscreen to Bai Shu in the passenger seat, “You should put more on. You have to live up to your surname.”
Bai Shu ignored his bad joke, answered perfunctorily, and continued to bury his head in his phone’s navigation.
Ye Xing couldn’t help but sigh in his heart. As the oldest person there, Xu Ge was indeed Xu Ge. Facing his former love rival from half a year ago, who he had wanted to torture with his eyes, even if it wouldn’t come to a head, there would at least be some awkwardness, right? This guy not only didn’t act victorious at all, he even subtly defused the awkwardness.
And Bai Shu, as his partner, played along with his act.
It was as if the person who just got in the car was just an ordinary friend of a friend, someone who didn’t need much attention. The appropriate politeness was enough.
This relieved Ye Xing somewhat. He joked, “Xu Ge, I didn’t think you would carry such a girly thing like sunscreen.”
“Tsk,” Qi Guang immediately understood his meaning and agreed, “Even Brother Bai despises you.”
Boss Xu instantly turned into a three-year-old, his safety belt barely holding him back from running wild, “If I weren’t driving, I’d tie you two to the bottom of the car! How is applying sunscreen just a woman’s thing? When you reach my age, you’ll know the importance of anti-aging. You’re just taking advantage of your youth and recklessness!”
Bai Shu, who was still studying the navigation, had to reach out to smooth Xu San Sui’s hair.
The amusement park was in the suburbs. It took over an hour to drive there from the city. Everyone had woken up too late and didn’t feel like taking a nap, so they simply turned up the car stereo. Even though they were still stuck in city traffic, it felt like they were on a road trip.
Fortunately, the air conditioning in the car was sufficient, otherwise, they might have had heatstroke just from listening to the music in this hot weather.
After humming along to a few tunes, they decided to save their energy for the amusement park rides in the afternoon.
But when people are idle, their minds start to wander. Ye Xing suddenly thought of something and turned to look at Li Ke, a mischievous smile forming on his lips, “Oh right, did you meet your little online friend?”
“I did, it was truly a litt—” Li Ke was caught off guard by his question. He subconsciously blurted half a sentence, then suddenly looked embarrassed. He paused and then said, “A primary school student.”
“What the hell!” Ye Xing, who had been deliberately speaking in a low voice, couldn’t contain himself any longer. He pointed at Li Ke and lectured him earnestly, “I advise you not to be so indiscriminate, minors are illegal!”
“What minors?” Even Bai Shu, who had been staying out of it, couldn’t help but turn his head.
Li Ke glared at Ye Xing, pretending to be casual, “It was nothing, all a misunderstanding. I changed my gender in my previous game account to female, because the girls would always act spoiled and beg me to give them items if they knew I was male. I wasn’t going to give in so I changed my gender and even picked a cute girl’s name.”
“So, that’s how the misunderstanding began?” Qi Guang, who was sitting on the far left, curiously leaned forward. Ye Xing, who was in the middle, pushed him back mercilessly.
Li Ke nodded.
“Pretty much…I thought he knew I was a guy because I had used voice chat in the game. But now that I think about it, that kid must be playing games secretly at home and wouldn’t have his speaker on. He probably didn’t even hear my voice.”
Xu Ge, who had been holding back for a long time, couldn’t resist joining in, “So, you not only had an online relationship with a primary school student, but he was also a straight guy? Amazing!”
Li Ke wanted to cry but no tears came. “It really wasn’t my fault, he talked like a warm and considerate man. His EQ was through the roof. I thought he was at least a college student.”
When he cast a pleading look at Ye Xing, he received the completely heartless gaze of someone who was trying not to laugh.
He cursed to himself and, to avoid being kicked out of the car halfway, wisely chose a self-deprecating tone. He then immediately exclaimed, “Kids are so precocious now, it really isn’t a good thing to be exposed to the internet so early!”
“I wonder who was more embarrassed when you two met.” Qi Guang also sighed in agreement.
If the conversation had stopped there, it would have been a decent ending, but Li Ke’s mind was always peculiar, so he just had to add, “It was probably me, since he was convinced that I was a naive little girl, and he had saved up his allowance for a month to take me to KFC.”
“Damn, hahaha!” Xu Ge in the driver’s seat burst out laughing again.
Qi Guang’s slender arm easily reached over Ye Xing, patting Li Ke on the back as a gesture of “men don’t cry.”
Ye Xing smiled and buried his head, even holding his forehead to restrain his exaggerated expression, “You shattered the child’s innocent fantasy, you’re so terrible!”
Even Bai Shu quietly withdrew his gossipy gaze and turned to sit straight.
Li Ke didn’t have to guess to know that Bai Shu had used all his self-restraint to not participate in this cruel celebration.
But facing this scene, he was not afraid at all. He raised his eyebrows, gritted his teeth, and said, “Yes, it’s my fault, so in the end I paid the bill and got him a kids’ meal, was that enough to repair the child’s naive fantasy?!”