When Xiao Bai got home, he discovered that Jia Zhi Qing had already returned. He was sitting bored on the sofa, flipping the television from channel one to nine, then all the way back from nine to one.
“Why are you home so early today?” Didn’t he usually insist on mooching dinner at the company?
Jia Zhi Qing stretched lazily. “Hurry up and cook.”
“Oh.” Xiao Bai kicked off his shoes, went into the kitchen, washed his hands, and started cooking.
Halfway through stir-frying the vegetables, he suddenly remembered something and poked his head out. “The boss of Yimate asked me to sign a contract today.”
Jia Zhi Qing was staring blankly at an orange juice commercial on television and merely gave a distracted acknowledgment.
Xiao Bai went back into the kitchen. Once the dish was finished, he was just about to carry it out when he turned around and abruptly found Jia Zhi Qing leaning eerily against the doorway, silently staring at him. “What’s wrong?”
“Who did you just say asked you to do what?”
Xiao Bai answered blankly, “The boss of Yimate asked me to sign a contract.”
“Fuck!” Jia Zhi Qing spun around and charged headfirst into the bathroom.
Xiao Bai put the vegetables on the table.
Jia Zhi Qing suddenly charged back out. Water ran from his bangs all the way down to his chin before dripping onto the floor. “Did you sign it?”
Xiao Bai shook his head. “Didn’t you say I should ask you before making any major decisions?”
Jia Zhi Qing smiled and patted his head. “Good boy.”
Xiao Bai went into the kitchen to serve the rice.
Jia Zhi Qing eagerly trotted after him. “What kind of offer did that boss make you?”
Xiao Bai looked up and thought about it. “Within five years, I’d be living in a two-hundred-square-meter home and driving a car worth three or four hundred thousand yuan.”
Jia Zhi Qing’s heart went thump-thump-thump. “For someone like you, he actually dared make an offer like that?”
Xiao Bai rolled his eyes at him.
Jia Zhi Qing immediately surrendered. “Fine, fine, fine. I was wrong. Our Xiao Bai is handsome and dashing, suave and elegant, graceful as a jade tree in the wind, more handsome than Pan An, beautiful enough to make fish sink and geese fall, the moon hide and flowers blush… What other flattering expressions haven’t I used yet?”
Elio’s Notes:
- Pan An was a historical figure who became proverbial in Chinese culture for male beauty. “Fish sink and geese fall” and “the moon hides and flowers blush” are classical expressions for extraordinary female beauty, so Jia Zhi Qing indiscriminately piling all of them onto Xiao Bai makes the praise even more ridiculous.
“Dinner’s ready.”
“…That one’s pretty good too.”
After dinner, Jia Zhi Qing sat with one leg crossed over the other, picking his teeth with a toothpick.
Xiao Bai washed the dishes in the kitchen.
“Xiao Bai.”
“Mm?”
“The more I think about this, the more something feels off.” Jia Zhi Qing could not resist running into the kitchen again. “How did he find you?”
“He called.”
“My room?” Jia Zhi Qing froze, then asked suspiciously, “The person he actually wants to sign… couldn’t be me, could it?”
Xiao Bai glanced at him. “The contract says Zeng Bai.”
Jia Zhi Qing gave a dry ahem. “Oh. Fine, let’s say it’s you. How did he find you? Don’t tell me he once bought pork from you at the market and found it so unforgettable that he decided to sign you up so you’d only ever sell to him from now on?” After saying that, he knocked himself on the head and muttered, “Why does that make it sound like he wants to keep you as his private delicacy?”
Elio’s Notes:
- 禁脔 originally referred to a choice piece of meat reserved exclusively for someone and later came to mean a person or thing treated as one’s exclusive possession or favorite. Jia Zhi Qing’s joke deliberately works with both meanings because Xiao Bai used to sell pork.
After Xiao Bai finished washing the dishes and dried his hands, he turned and looked at him seriously. “Will you come with me at two tomorrow afternoon to discuss the contract?”
Jia Zhi Qing nodded.
“What about work?”
“That’s all just passing clouds.”
Elio’s Notes:
- “Passing clouds” (浮云) became popular internet slang for something fleeting, trivial, or not worth caring about.
Xiao Bai stared at him relentlessly.
The stare made Jia Zhi Qing increasingly uneasy until he finally surrendered. “Fine. Sigh. It’s really nothing major. It’s just that the old witch above me finally laid her poisonous claws on me this afternoon.” He pretended to wipe away tears. “You know how young and fresh I am. How could I possibly let an old witch devour me? Especially when she has a hairy black mole on her chin… When she leaned toward me, I almost threw up. I bet she had salted fish and garlic for lunch! Fuck, if you’re going to make a move on me, at least brush your teeth and rinse your mouth first. No man could stand that.”
Even several hours later, he still shuddered every time he remembered it.
Xiao Bai looked at him expressionlessly. “So…”
“So…” Jia Zhi Qing snuck a glance at his face. “I’m unemployed.”
Xiao Bai walked around him and headed outside.
Whenever Xiao Bai wore that expression, it meant he was genuinely angry.
“Uh, Xiao Bai.” Jia Zhi Qing followed him apprehensively. Xiao Bai rarely got angry, but once he did, it was serious. “I’ll look for work tomorrow. I’ll definitely find something, even if I have to wash dishes.”
“Zhi Qing.” Xiao Bai suddenly turned around and looked at him solemnly.
Jia Zhi Qing immediately perked up, his bright eyes signaling that he was listening with complete concentration.
“We have to fulfill Brother Xiong’s wish. We swore in front of Brother Xiong’s grave that we would buy back Xinglong Butcher Shop.”
Jia Zhi Qing’s expression dimmed, and he nodded silently.
“So we have to work hard and make money. Understand?” Xiao Bai patted his head.
Jia Zhi Qing obediently nodded again.
Satisfied, Xiao Bai prepared to return to his room.
Suddenly, Jia Zhi Qing threw an arm around his shoulders. “You still haven’t told me why Yimate’s boss took a fancy to you. The way you looked back when you worked at Xinglong Butcher Shop, I don’t think even Bole’s father could’ve spotted any talent in you.”
Elio’s Notes:
- Bole (伯乐) is the legendary judge of fine horses whose name became a metaphor for someone capable of recognizing hidden talent. “Even Bole’s father” is Jia Zhi Qing’s deliberately exaggerated way of saying that absolutely no talent scout could have seen star potential in Xiao Bai back then.
“Maybe…” Xiao Bai hesitated. “It’s because I was on a variety show yesterday.”
“You were on a variety show yesterday?!” Jia Zhi Qing jumped up. “How did I not know about this?! You didn’t even tell me to watch! We might not own a television, but I could’ve gone to the television section at a department store and watched it there!”
“It was live.” Xiao Bai paused. “And you were already asleep when I got home.”
Jia Zhi Qing suddenly ran back to his room for his ID card, then rushed out again. “Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“An internet café.” He declared confidently, “Maybe somebody uploaded it online.”
At that hour, the internet café was practically packed wall to wall.
Jia Zhi Qing and Xiao Bai waited quite a while before seats finally opened up. Worse, the seats they got faced a grimy black wall.
“What variety show were you on?” Jia Zhi Qing asked as his hands flew over the computer.
Xiao Bai racked his brains, even smacking himself on the head a few times, before finally answering foolishly, “They didn’t tell me.”
Jia Zhi Qing’s hand on the mouse stopped dead. Then, as though resigning himself to fate, he opened Baidu and typed in the two characters for Zeng Bai.
He had not really expected to find anything and was merely trying his luck, but what appeared on the screen startled him.
He cautiously opened several posts before rubbing his face. “Xiao Bai, you’re famous.”
“Mm?” Xiao Bai looked at him innocently.
“I didn’t know you actually knew how to pick a fight with Great God…” Whatever method he’d used, famous was famous. Jia Zhi Qing looked at his watch. “Fuck, time really flies.”
Elio’s Notes:
- 掐 is internet slang here for publicly fighting, flaming, or taking a shot at someone. Jia Zhi Qing assumes Xiao Bai somehow used his clash with Great God to attract attention.
“Aren’t you going to watch the show?” Xiao Bai watched him open one webpage, close it, then open another.
“I don’t need to watch it to know what kind of wonderful thing you did.” Jia Zhi Qing spat, shut down the computer, and left.
Xiao Bai followed right behind him, listening to Jia Zhi Qing curse and grumble the entire way.
“What are you saying?” Xiao Bai disliked profanity, so hearing him swear nonstop was starting to annoy him.
Jia Zhi Qing turned around and gripped Xiao Bai by both shoulders. “Even when I was at my poorest and most desperate, I never bowed my head to that man. But today, for you… I’m throwing caution to the wind.”
“What are you going to do?” Xiao Bai looked at him nervously and said with complete seriousness, “Don’t do anything illegal.”
“Who said anything about doing something illegal? I mean I’m going to ask someone for help.” Jia Zhi Qing ground his teeth as he spoke.
Xiao Bai thought for a moment. “Your cousin?”
Xiao Bai had always known that Jia Zhi Qing had an older cousin.
When Jia Zhi Qing had first arrived in the city, he had taken a letter of introduction from his mother and gone to ask his cousin for help. In the end, his cousin subjected him to cutting remarks for three days and three nights until he could no longer bear it and ran away. Jia Zhi Qing then solemnly swore that he would rather become a male escort and act in Category III films than ever go back and ask that man for help again.
Elio’s Notes:
- Category III is the Hong Kong adults-only film classification. It became especially associated with films containing explicit violence, sexual material, or erotic content, which is what Jia Zhi Qing is joking about here.
Xiao Bai and Brother Xiong had both been curious about exactly how Jia Zhi Qing had been tormented, but whenever they brought it up, his mouth turned into a locked safe that could not be pried open even with a shovel. Eventually, they stopped being curious.
Now that Jia Zhi Qing was actually volunteering to ask his cousin for help, Xiao Bai was startled and touched at the same time. “Actually, it’s not that big a deal. It’s only a contract…”
“I searched just now. That Yimate crowd isn’t exactly full of good birds either.”
Xiao Bai fell silent. Ma Rui had made him uncomfortable too. “Then what good will finding your cousin do?”
Jia Zhi Qing said through gritted teeth, “He’s one of the bad birds in that flock.”
On the way to find Jia Zhi Qing’s cousin, Jia Zhi Qing briefly told Xiao Bai about him.
Only then did Xiao Bai learn that the man was the manager of Yimate’s ace—the currently red-hot superstar Feng Ya Lun.
“Isn’t Feng Ya Lun the only male celebrity you like?” Given Jia Zhi Qing’s lecherous and jealous personality, the fact that he actually liked someone of the same sex at all was practically a miracle.
“Mm.” They sat in the last row of the bus. Neon lights from both sides of the road swept across Jia Zhi Qing’s face, making his expression seem to shift with every passing color. “Back then, you could say he was a fellow sufferer of mine.”
Xiao Bai knew how fiercely proud Jia Zhi Qing was. Seeing the restrained expression on his face, he instinctively stopped asking questions.
After getting off the bus and walking for another stretch, Xiao Bai finally saw three towering buildings rising like pillars supporting the sky. Meteor-like lights raced up and down their surfaces, resembling more than a dozen pairs of eyes gazing down from above to scrutinize every visitor.
Xiao Bai exclaimed admiringly, “The land here must be really expensive, right? The lights are so pretty.”
“Have a little dignity.” Jia Zhi Qing squished and kneaded his face. “When you meet him later, you absolutely cannot make that expression. You have to look serious, cold, and imposing.”
Before entering the building, Jia Zhi Qing looked up at the lights one more time. “Fuck. What a waste!”
But when they finally met the legendary cousin, forget looking imposing—they could not even muster a light breeze.
Jia Zhi Qing resentfully watched Gao Qin emerge from the elevator looking fresh and composed. “Were the security guards in your building KGB in their previous lives?” They had practically been one step away from pressing electric batons to their foreheads and interrogating them over whether they were paparazzi or kidnappers.
Gao Qin silently studied him for a long while. Just as Jia Zhi Qing was about to lose patience and start cursing, Gao Qin frowned and asked, “Did loan sharks just douse you in gasoline?”
Jia Zhi Qing: “I%¥##%@#!”
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