Chapter 12: CH 11

Translator: Zenne

Editor: Reya

Bai Zhi did not know of Du Huai’an innermost thoughts, but he was still cautious, and conscientiously displayed the duties of a little brother.

“I’ll pass you the dishes.”

“I’ll pour you water.”

“I’ll fan you.”

“I’ll——”

“Young Master Jiang Jiu.” Du Huai’an grabbed his hand. Trying to figure out how he should word this, he continued, “You1 don’t need to place your attention on me.”

“That won’t do.” Bai Zhi shook his head like it was a rattle, “I have to take good care of you.”

Du Huai’an faintly smiled, “Does Young Master Jiang have some misunderstanding of my identity?”

He paused for a moment, then continued saying, “Since Huai’an2 has already taken you3 on as a customer, Young Master Jiang, as the master, really shouldn’t condescend in order to take care of me.”

Bai Zhi heard what he said and propped up his chin, staring at Du Huai’an for a long time. He then spoke, “Then I won’t be your customer.”

“Hm?”

“I’ll be your little—— friend.”

Du Huai’an immediately laughed and voiced out, “My little friend?”

“No, no, no.” Bai Zhi promptly denied. He wasn’t thinking properly just now,  and nearly blurted out ‘little brother’. Fortunately, he was still quick-witted and corrected himself.

“I mean, I can be your friend.” Bai Zhi thought about it, “The type of friend that’s at your beck and call, does things for you, listens to your commands, provides you food and drinks, and can also make you happy.”

Du Huai’an’s gaze changed. Only after a long time did he speak again, his voice significantly  lowered.

“You want to be my boyfriend?”

…

Bai Zhi was no longer calm, “Uncle, why does the villain only think about falling in love?”

The system scolded him, “It ain’t that, your wording isn’t right!”

“Then how do I phrase it…” Bai Zhi felt wronged.

“Saying more is bad, do something.” The system was embarrassed to say that it also didn’t understand, and was forced to change the subject, “Go on, shuck the clams for him.”

“Oh…”

Bai Zhi hung his head, silently taking out his claws to shuck the meat out.

Du Huai’an looked at the young man who couldn’t look directly at him due to shyness from his words. His left eyelid twitched.

Twitching of the left eye. Tao Hua. Calamity.4

Strangely enough, he thought of these words.

Du Huai’an couldn’t help getting nervous. He slightly raised his eyes and looked at Bai Zhi in front of him who was still bowing his head. Before he could even sort out his scattered thoughts, a large spoon of clam meat was suddenly sent into his bowl.

Bai Zhi held up his face and very seriously looked at him, specks of stars shining in his eyes.

“It’s all yours.”

Du Huai’an silently drank water.

He lightly bit the clam meat – it was delicious. But Du Huai’an’s heart, however, wasn’t happy.

What exactly did this young master mean?

He didn’t believe that someone born with a golden spoon5 in their mouth would think something of someone of his status.

Du Huai’an’s eyes were obscure, and he was unable to sit still.

He stood up, took the porcelain bowl that Bai Zhi had not touched, and carefully ladled a spoonful of soup for him.

“If you don’t want to eat the food, drink some soup. This place is very good at making soup.”

Bai Zhi pursed his lips, he was silent for a while before asking the system in his mind, “Uncle, what should I do? Du Huai’an wants to feed me human food.”

“Eat it, how could you not eat what your big brother gives you?”

“…All right, I’ve got nothing to lose.”

Bai Zhi took a deep breath. He looked at the main cause of this sitting across him, and with trembling hands, he held up the porcelain bowl in front of him. He closed his eyes and drank.

“Ou6——” Bai Zhi covered his mouth, and hurriedly began drinking big glasses of water to regulate himself.

“Uncle, I’m dying.”

“Hang in there, hang in there, victory is in sight!”

Bai Zhi drank three glasses of water in a row then slowed down. Du Huai’an looked at him with some concern, “What’s wrong? Is there a problem with the soup?”

“No, no, no.” Bai Zhi repeatedly waved his hands, “It was very tasty, I intentionally – diluted it.”

Du Huai’an: “…Then I’ll give you another bowl containing it.”

Bai Zhi had an expression of death: “…”

Du Huai’an: “Hm?”

Bai Zhi immediately held up the bowl, “No, I’m too happy.”

After saying that, he pinched his nose and poured it down.

Du Huai’an lost interest in giving him soup to drink. He took a napkin from the table and was about to wipe Bai Zhi’s mouth for him. However, Bai Zhi suddenly stood up and ran to the bathroom.

Du Huai’an was surprised for a moment, and immediately got up and went after him, seeing a certain person leaning on the toilet and violently vomiting.

He was startled and immediately ran over.

“Jiang Jiu! What’s wrong with you?”

Bai Zhi waved his hand to show that he was all right. He stood up half-way7 and ran to the side to rinse his mouth.

“I… I can’t drink soup.”

“What?”

“Uh… about that, I have – Intermittent Carrie’s Neuropathic Gastritis Disorder, yeah, that’s it.” Bai Zhi spoke nonsense, “Today, I shouldn’t have drunk soup.”

Du Huai’an frowned, “I’m sorry, it’s my fault. We’ll go to the hospital.”

“It’s not your fault, I didn’t say so before.” Bai Zhi hurriedly spoke, “Furthermore, about this illness of mine, I’ll be okay after vomiting. There’s no need to go to the hospital.”

Bai Zhi panicked and avoided the topic, “You still haven’t eaten, right? We should go back.”

Du Huai’an, however, refused, “That won’t do, I have to consider your feelings. I——”

“I’m very happy now, you don’t have to take care of me.” Bai Zhi interrupted his words, “There’s really no need.”

“You’re happy?” Du Huai’an was puzzled.

Bai Zhi hurriedly tried to find a reason, “Yeah, it’s because – I’m together with you.”

Du Huai’an was stunned. After a moment, he spoke in a low voice.

“So, you also drank that bowl of soup for me?”

Bai Zhi: …Nonsense.

But on the surface, he still lowered his head. He was silent and didn’t say a word.

Du Huai’an looked at the young man who couldn’t bear revealing the truth to make him guilty. He sighed.

“Let’s return.”

Bai Zhi lifted his head and hummed in agreement.

On the journey back, Bai Zhi still drove the car. He drove all the way down to Du Huai’an’s house and parked. The bright car lights illuminated the road ahead, and he didn’t forget to call out to the man.

“Du Huai’an, good night, sweet dreams!”

The young man’s clear voice rang out from behind him. Du Huai’an turned his head. Seeing him just standing outside of the car, foolishly staying beneath the street light and smiling at him, his heart was suddenly somewhat gloomy.

“Jiang Jiu.”

He spoke.

“I’m here!”

Bai Zhi excitedly responded.

Du Huai’an’s words were stuck in his throat for a long time, but he still spoke out.

“Even if we become friends, we can only do so for three days. No, now it’s only two days remaining.”

He quickly slowed down his words, “When two days have passed, you should go find someone in the same world8 to be friends with. Don’t spend useless energy on me.”

After saying that, he turned around, slowly stepping away.

Bai Zhi looked at him for a long time whilst standing in the same spot. After a while, he got into the car.

“Uncle, why am I being disliked by the villain again?”

“You vomited the things he fed you and still expect him to like you.” The system voiced, once again, a little uneasy, “Hey, are you all right? Should I give you spiritual fruits to eat?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Bai Zhi spoke at once, “Human food is too unpalatable.”

The system placed a spiritual fruit onto the steering wheel, “Eat!”

Bai Zhi nibbled it, “Uncle, why do you have demonic spiritual fruits?”

“You’re in charge of me.”9

The system snorted, turning its head to sleep, “Don’t bother me.”

“Okay.” Bai Zhi took another bite, starting the car to return home.

The silver car slowly drove away from the neighbourhood. Du Huai’an let go of his curtains, and didn’t speak for a long time.

When he returned to his home, there was no one, as always. Bai Zhi lied down and slept until he was awoken by ringing the next day.

“Hello?”

“Young Master Jiang Jiu, good morning.”

“Good morning.” Bai Zhi answered in a daze, he suddenly shuddered and reacted, “Du Huai’an!”

There was some laughter on the other side of the phone, “It’s me.”

“Is there something Young Master Jiang Jiu wants for the next day?”

“I want…” Bai Zhi got to thinking, “Then, how about you call me Jiang Jiu.”

“That’s…”

“Jiang Jiu.” Bai Zhi repeated it, “It’s the ‘jiang’ in Chang Jiang, and the jiu in ‘niàngjiǔ’.” 10

It was silent for a moment on the other side of the phone, and he ended up compromising, “Okay, Jiang Jiu.”

As a result, Bai Zhi suddenly became happy, “I’ll go find you.”

He hurriedly hung up the call. Du Huai’an only heard a ‘du’11,  and then there was no more noise on the other side.

He shook his head and put down his phone.

He firmly believed in his judgement.

Jiang Jiu definitely likes him, but this ‘like’ is still a bit immature.

Du Huai’an turned around and sipped his coffee, looking far away.

Jiang Jiu wasn’t the type he liked. Too naive, and not clever enough. He wasn’t interested in playing a little game of adolescent love.

When three days have passed, he’ll forget him.

Du Huai’an silently thought.

Du Huai’an was blow drying his hair when the doorbell rang. He raised his hand to open the door. Bai Zhi – who was carrying a big bag of desserts – looked at him very expectantly.

“I’ll give you this bag of signature street food desserts, you wanna try them?”

Du Huai’an suddenly paused, “I don’t like eating sweet things.”

“Ah?” Bai Zhi froze, at a loss.

“I thought that people liked having desserts for breakfast.”

Bai Zhi silently moved the bag in his hand behind him, and asked in a low voice, “What do you like having in the mornings?”

“I don’t eat breakfast, you don’t have to bring any for me.”

Du Huai’an smiled, “First, come in. Did you eat?”

“I’ve already eaten.” Bai Zhi took off his shoes, and placed the desserts on the table in passing. In his mind, he silently poked the system.

“Didn’t you say Du Huai’an likes eating desserts in the morning?”

The system couldn’t argue even with a hundred mouths12, “That’s what the data shows. Maybe the system hasn’t been updated. Aiya, don’t be too hard on this lonely, old machine, okay?”

“Your eyes are so bad, you deserve to be a lonely, old machine,” said Bai Zhi who was panting with rage.

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Zenne: I’m back! I was having fun watching the Land of Wano arc in One Piece, it was great! Also, in previous chapters, the author mentioned Du Huai’an being the ‘lead role’. Whenever it mentions Du Huai’an being the ‘lead role’, I think they mean he’s a top-ranked host.

Reya: “You vomited the things he fed you and still expect him to like you.”… Uncle system, I don’t think this is the case.