Chapter 7 - Quit the Game?

Qiu Yanzhi was humming an off-key tune when he came out of the game pod.

His eyebrows were curved, and he was very happy.

When he opened the door, the smile on his face suddenly stiffened for a moment, but quickly lifted again.

"Second brother!"

A man in a suit was sitting on the sofa drinking tea. When he saw Qiu Yanzhi come out, he waved with a smile on his face.

"Zhizhi, have you been well? Are you unused to living here alone?"

"I'm quite used to it. " Qiu Yanzhi smiled and sat next to Qiu Xicheng, "Besides, second brother, it's not like you don't know that I'm good at adapting to new circumstances. I can live anywhere. "

Qiu Xicheng petted Qiu Yanzhi's head indulgently. "Even if you are comfortable here, you have to go home and visit sometime. Dad almost misses you."

"I know. I'll go back during Dad’s birthday next month.” Qiu Yanzhi said obediently.

"You seemed to be in a good mood when you came out just now. Why? Did something good happen? Did you fall in love?" Qiu Xicheng teased.

"No way." Qiu Yanzhi smiled bashfully, "Second brother, you know me. I don't usually go out much, so when would I get the chance to fall in love?"

"Sigh. My silly brother. You're so introverted that you haven’t dated yet even at your age. What are you going to do in the future? Second brother will introduce you to someone…” Qiu Xicheng took out his phone and pulled up a photo, "This friend of mine isn’t bad. He’s a few years older than you and just returned from overseas. But most importantly..."

Qiu Xicheng leaned into Qiu Yanzhi's ear and whispered, "He only likes men, just like you."

Qiu Xicheng knew Qiu Yanzhi's sexual orientation.

Three months ago, he was also the one who suddenly knocked on Qiu Yanzhi's door with a friendly smile. "Zhizhi, why don’t you move out? I'm only saying this because I’m worried about you. If you stay at home like this then sooner or later Dad’s going to find out your secret."

It seemed to be advice, but it was actually a threat.

Qiu Yanzhi came back to his senses and took the business card Qiu Xicheng offered good-naturedly. "Thank you second brother for always taking care of me."

As Qiu Xicheng was about to leave, he suddenly remembered something and turned to Qiu Yanzhi again, "Right Zhizhi, I heard that you've started playing games recently? Have you been laying in that game pod whenever you’re not in class? You haven’t been eating properly either, have you? This can’t do.”

"Got it second brother." Qiu Yanzhi smiled apologetically, "I'll manage my gaming time more appropriately in the future."

Qiu Xicheng got up and left. Qiu Yanzhi smiled and sent him off to the door, waving goodbye.

The brilliantly bright smile on his face disappeared the moment he closed the door.

Qiu Yanzhi returned to the living room with a blank expression and threw the business card he had just collected into the trash. He then pulled out his phone to make a call.

"Hello, YR Home Management Service Center? I'm Qiu Yanzhi."

"Please tell your employee Chen Linjuan that she doesn't need to come back to work tomorrow. Also please find a new housekeeper for me. I just have one request: she must be tight-lipped and not divulge my habits and home security details to others, okay?”

The service center staff quickly apologized and began to profusely promise severe punishment for their employees. Qiu Yanzhi felt annoyed by all this noise and hung up. He threw his phone off to the side.

Remembering that Qiu Xicheng had just touched his head, Qiu Yanzhi felt a shiver run down his spine.

He went into the bathroom.

He suddenly felt that there was something faintly wrong.

...Why did his left toe hurt so much?

He took off his sock and noticed that his left toe was black and blue, like he had hit it somewhere.

But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't remember where.

He had been limited to the dining room, bedroom and bathroom during his two day gaming spree.

Even with such a small range of activities, he couldn't remember exactly where he had hit himself.

Qiu Xicheng was such a bad luck charm!

Qiu Yanzhi cursed him out under his breath.

His memory became all messed up when that idiot came.

When Qiu Yanzhi logged into the game again, He Zhou was already at work.

Qiu Yanzhi rolled around on the bed and wailed in frustration, "If I had known I wouldn’t have lazed around in bed this morning!  I could’ve had breakfast with him… It's not everyday that He Zhou decides to behave himself."

"It's almost noon. Why don’t you go and deliver lunch to He Zhou? You guys just got married so it wouldn’t be too out there to make him a bento filled with love.” Big Yellow said.

“A bento filled with love?" Qiu Yanzhi listened and waved dismissively, "No no no, that’s not my style.”

An hour later...

Qiu Yanzhi held a lunch box in his hand and looked up at the tall building, "This is where He Zhou works. What floor is he on, ah."

"The 18th floor! Dude, please try to keep something in that head of yours.” Big Yellow said.

Since he was on the same household register as He Zhou, Qiu Yanzhi was able to walk inside relatively unimpeded. The receptionist was a bit surprised when she saw Qiu Yanzhi. She rushed over, "Mr. Qiu, are you looking for President He? I'll take you to him..."

"No need." Qiu Yanzhi looked at the delicate lunch box in his hand, and his mood lifted, "18th floor, right? I know already."

There were quite a few people on the elevator though, and all of them were peeking at Qiu Yanzhi with varying degrees of covertness.

Qiu Yanzhi turned around, lifted the lunch box and said to them with a smile, "That's right, I'm your President He's partner! I'm here to deliver food for him today!"

Some faces slowly became embarrassed and confused.

Quite a number of them had probably seen the wedding livestream.

Qiu Yanzhi repented the 101st time for his lack of brain cells when he decided to livestream.

Even without looking back he knew those people were still staring at him. Qiu Yanzhi eventually couldn’t resist and turned to say to them, “We actually have a very loving relationship. Really.”

Those people also understood and offered words of congratulations, forcing themselves to pretend that nothing happened.

"Congratulations on getting married to President He!"

"May you two be happy for a hundred years!"

"May you have a child...no no...may you grow old together!”

The secretary that was working on a document with her head down only noticed Qiu Yanzhi when he was almost at He Zhou's office. She looked up with a panicked expression and ran over while stuttering,  "M-Mr. Qiu, what, what are you doing here?”

"I came to bring He Zhou some lunch." Qiu Yanzhi said as he moved open the door.

The secretary quickly stopped Qiu Yanzhi as sweat dripped down her forehead."President He is...still with a guest. Would you like to wait in the lounge first? I'll give him a call."

"It's fine, I won't disturb them. I'll just drop off his lunch. What are you so nervous about? It's not like He Zhou’s meeting with his side piece in there or doing that, right? Haha…”

The secretary's face became ashen.

Qiu Yanzhi: "......"

Could it really be...?

F*ck.

Qiu Yanzhi glanced over his shoulder.

A dozen heads eager for gossip immediately ducked from the nearby glass door.

Qiu Yanzhi slammed the door open.

He immediately saw Meng Qikang.

And the exquisite bag in Meng Qikang's hand.

Meng Qikang and He Zhou were both surprised to see Qiu Yanzhi.

"What's inside that bag?" Qiu Yanzhi asked.

Meng Qikang replied, "It's He Zhou's clothes. He left them at my house last night."

Qiu Yanzhi was relieved: good thing it wasn't a lunchbox, it would’ve been over if there were two lunchboxes. Whose would He Zhou eat?

Wouldn't it be super embarrassing for him if He Zhou ate Meng Qikang's.

Wait a minute.

What did he just say?

...Clothes?!

From last night?!

Left at Meng Qikang’s house?!

That's right.

Qiu Yanzhi could almost hear the dozen or so people behind him all suck in a breath of cold air as a blazing hot rumor seemed to flare to life.

He only remembered now that the clothes He Zhou came back with last night were not the ones he was wearing when he left.

No wonder He Zhou was so nice to him yesterday.

It was out of guilt after cheating on him.

Qiu Yanzhi's heart got frostbite.

According to common sense, Qiu Yanzhi should have slammed the door on his way out, showing the courage and anger that the main wife should have.

But Qiu Yanzhi calmly considered this situation.

He felt like this bastard He Zhou would definitely not chase after him if he slammed the door and left.

That would be awkward.

He would become the butt of a joke to the people behind him for nothing.

Qiu Yanzhi could almost easily anticipate the consequences of that.

Then rumors of He Zhou cheating on Qiu Yanzhi and his miserable departure would surely spread like wildfire.

Meng Qikang finally remembered to explain, "Um, don’t misunderstand. It was raining yesterday and He Zhou got drenched, so he took a shower and changed clothes at my house."

Do you think I’m a dumb*ss?!

Who would believe nothing happened between you two in the middle of the night based on your word alone?!

Let’s disregard that scum He Zhou for now. Even someone as righteous and kind as me would hook up with my first love if I was forced to get married to someone I hate! If you’re already at the point of showering and changing clothes at the other person’s house, how could you not do something more?!

But Qiu Yanzhi didn’t have a first love.

So this hypothetical scenario couldn’t apply to him.

But He Zhou was different.

He was a lovesick boy willing to skip his own honeymoon to pick someone up from the airport.

He was the incomparable scum who cupped Qiu Yanzhi's chin and asked him if he was worthy.

To one side was an obnoxious and borderline stalker partner with no chemistry who forced a marriage.

On the other was the white moonlight that he had secretly held in his heart for decades.

The choice was obvious.

...Why did it seem reasonable for He Zhou to cheat on him no matter how he thought about it, and he was the outsider who should show himself out?

No no no no!

Pull yourself together Qiu Yanzhi!

You’re the star of this game!!!

He Zhou is your private property, dude!

And you're a cold-blooded, hard-hearted, and spicy son of a b*tch!!!!!!

How can you surrender He Zhou to someone else so easily?!!!

Besides, even if Laozi was planning to throw him away, this was just too much to swallow in the end!

"Is that so. We’ve troubled you."

Qiu Yanzhi said with a smile, his posture airy and dignified.

He then deftly closed the door in the faces of everyone outside.

The smile on his face also slowly faded away.

He was looking at Meng Qikang, but his words were directed at He Zhou. "Did you two sleep together?"

Qiu Yanzhi's thought process was simple enough.

Even if Qiu Yanzhi was down and out, he wasn’t yet at the point of settling for sloppy seconds.

Besides, this was just a game after all.

If, in the worst-case scenario, He Zhou really did sleep with Meng Qikang, he could just reset the game and start all over again.

There were four characters in the game besides He Zhou, right?

Wasn’t there a puppy-dog student, a genius singer, a lonely painter and an arrogant school idol?

Those four didn’t look too bad either, and their temperaments were all pretty good.

Sunny, warm, aloof, bitter… There was every style he could possibly want, all laid out just waiting for him to choose.

Why did he, Qiu Yanzhi, have to hang himself on a tree that was useless except for his looks?

He Zhou finally looked up from the document. Meng Qikang also widened his eyes, startled.

Qiu Yanzhi patiently repeated his question, "I just want to know if you two have slept together."

Meng Qikang was befuddled, "Why would you..."

He Zhou put the document down and frowned as he issued a warning, "Qiu Yanzhi, what are you trying to do?!"

Qiu Yanzhi picked up the bag and dumped the clothes onto the table.

They were all made with very high quality materials.

And had just been dry cleaned.

And were neatly folded.

How attentive.

"Didn’t you get drenched from the rain last night?" Qiu Yanzhi spoke calmly, "Mr. He, you didn’t run there, you drove. Besides, you have an umbrella in your car. If you can’t remain faithful to me, can you at least come up with a believable cover up story?”

Qiu Yanzhi looked down at his watch.

"Moreover, you left at 8:30 last night and came back before 11. When you account for the travel time…” Qiu Yanzhi lightly chucked, his tone almost mocking.

"Tsk, I didn't expect you to only last that long."

I am so happy to move to this site! Future updates will usually be on Monday unless something really unexpected happens. Thanks for reading!