Chapter 80: Brother White Moonlight

Chapter 80: Brother White Moonlight

Chen Bai went to open the door.

"How did you sneak out without telling me?"

With his phone in one hand, he was quick to throw accusations as he walked, already pinning two big labels on someone by the time he opened the door.

The door swung open, and the first thing to enter the room was the wind that blew down the corridor. It carried a faint, pleasant scent.

Still holding his phone, the screen's light illuminated the strands of hair around his ear and the side of his face. When Chen Yibai looked over, the first thing that caught his eye was a large bouquet of flowers.

They were roses, ranging from pale pink to lilac, a splendid bunch. The two central blooms were Pink Snow Mountains, while the rest were Mantas, all in full bloom and held firmly in a large hand.

"?"

Startled awake, Chen Yibai raised his head to look at the person behind the flowers. His brain turned for a moment before giving up due to sleepiness, so he asked with his eyes.

Holding the flowers, Xu Sinian met his gaze and lowered his head, saying, "These are the production team's flowers for you."

The photographer, back at work, arrived with the camera, just in time to bring the live stream audience to the scene.

"No way! The director didn't send any flowers! These are clearly the ones you wanted to give him yourself, Comrade Old Xu! What trick are you playing!"

"They're from the director...just those two in the middle. A careful comparison would reveal it."

"Wait, last time I saw these flowers, they were just the two on top of the box. How did they turn into such a huge bunch when I came back? They're drowned among the other flowers, completely unrecognizable. This is clearly Comrade Old Xu wanting to give flowers!"

"The non-existent flowers from the production team have appeared."

"The Friends"

The bouquet was large, and the considerate Chen Yibai took it first to help out. Only when he actually took it did he realize that the good neighbor had been holding the flowers much more easily than they appeared. They were quite heavy, requiring both hands to hold.

"Flowers from the production team," Chen Yibai said, holding the flowers in both arms. He lowered his head in slight contemplation, then lifted his golden brain and said, "I could sell them at a stall and make a decent profit. With the extra, I could even treat you to hotpot."

Xu Sinian lowered his eyes.

Afterwards, Chen Bai remembered something, "Oh, the filming has ended."

The image of extortion had taken root deep in everyone's hearts, manifesting in the relationship between the production team and the guests as the willingness to sell received flowers without hesitation.

With the filming over, there was no need to diligently save coins anymore. The flowers were saved.

A boomerang circled once, landing safely just before it could pierce through the viewers' hearts.

"Woah, I almost couldn't catch my breath. Chen Yibai, remember to say everything in one go (deep breath)."

"True to form, eight dollars and ninety-one cents (wide-eyed)."

"Why would I be nervous when I'm not Xu Sinian! My heart almost stopped when you said you'd sell the flowers."

"You can't fault him; he almost sold the flowers, but you can't call him bad either; he still remembered to invite Comrade Old Xu to hotpot (closed eyes)."

The flowers escaped their fate, carried into the room. As they passed by the window, the petals of the blooming flowers were dyed the color of the sunset by the crimson glow, falling into his pale irises.

On the side not captured by the camera, the sound of a phone shutter clicked.

Although he initially had the wicked thought of selling the flowers, once he decided to keep them, Chen Yibai placed them carefully on the table and wondered if they could last until tomorrow when he could put them in a vase at home.

Placing the gift box with two fewer roses on the table, Xu Sinian said, "They should."

He glanced at the box and added, "This is also from the production team."

"This too?" Chen Yibai turned to take another look and said, "Why are they being so generous this time."

Xu Sinian acknowledged with a sound but didn't elaborate.

Checking his phone and thinking he still had some time, Chen Yibai originally intended to tidy up his things. However, he noticed that his suitcase had already been packed and set aside.

After a moment of thought, he turned to give a thumbs-up to the diligent and kind-hearted Comrade Old Xu.

Without needing to pack, Comrade Old Xu directly took him to the hotel.

From the inn to the luxurious suite of a grand hotel, Chen Yibai exclaimed about how extravagant it was.

Everyone else was staying at the hotel and had already gathered before them. The basic shooting tasks were over, but the live stream continued. Someone had originally wanted to suggest having a small drink, but they quickly held back. By the time they arrived, the table was already filled with a pile of fruit juices and soft drinks.

The fruit juices had no sponsors, and the others were very cautious, removing the outer packaging to make them unidentifiable as a brand.

A little bit of the prudence and self-discipline of variety show participants.

The timing was perfect; as soon as they arrived, the director also showed up, ready to start the surprise draw for today's last-place group.

The last-place group was the Variety Show Masters team. The two of them had been smiling at first, but when it came time to draw, they found it hard to smile. Eyes closed and opened quickly, they pulled out a card and opened it immediately.

Following the card drawn by the Best Actress Sister during the first draw, after several days, they drew the Urban Emotional Issues card again, and both of them got it.

They exposed their love histories, and Chen Yibai, who had no romantic experience, listened with great interest, naturally providing comic relief, making him a qualified atmosphere creator.

Originally just part of the atmosphere group, the topic somehow turned to him when he picked up a glass of juice. The Variety Show Master asked, "Has Yibai ever been in a relationship?"

Yibai replied that he hadn't been in a relationship.

Best Actress Sister was curious and asked, "Then when does Yibai plan to try it out?"

As she spoke, the others couldn't help but glance at the man quietly sitting next to him.

Caught up in the urban emotional drama despite not drawing a card, fortunately, Chen Yibai didn't mind. He answered every question, taking a sip of juice and honestly saying, "I plan to stay single for life."

Sister Movie Queen: "Huh?"

Everyone else: "Huh?"

Not expecting such a strong reaction, Chen Yibai: "Huh?"

He looked genuinely puzzled, not as if he was joking. The others now truly felt confused and took a closer look at the two people sitting together.

"…"

Facing everyone's gaze, the Eternal White Water Party merely drank some water quietly, his expression unreadable.

"If you were to talk about it," the variety show master interjected, "I mean, hypothetically, when would you consider talking about it?"

Swirling the juice cup in his hand, Chen Yibai said, "After achieving economic freedom, I suppose."

Economic freedom clearly referred to paying off his debt.

Given his current status, it was difficult for him to pay off the debt that seemed like an astronomical figure anytime soon. And from the looks of it, he was clearly planning to pay it off himself.

…It didn't seem promising from any angle.

It turned out that friends were just friends. Putting aside the lack of intention to date, the time when this person could achieve economic freedom seemed far off.

Throughout the night, Xu, who spoke the least, received the most covert glances.

The Eternal White Water Party didn't end up drinking only plain water. Chen Yibai, who enjoyed sharing, recommended a nice-tasting juice to him, which he drank.

Staying up late was inevitable. The live stream ended at ten PM, but they continued chatting until midnight, and by the time they actually went to bed, it was already one AM.

While they slept, their friends who were always on the front lines of staying up late didn't sleep, nor did the staff managing the official Weibo accounts of various brands.

Upon learning that Chen Moubai had no intention of dating before paying off his debt, enthusiastic netizens tagged a bunch of brands, with all sorts of comments flooding in. In short, they were saying, "Hello, please drop some gold coins."

The staff managing the official accounts logged in late at night and responded online.

Unaware of what was happening online since he disconnected from the internet after work, Chen Bai went to bed at one AM and woke up the next morning.

Going to bed at one AM could still be considered early. He woke up refreshed the next day, tidied up his pajamas, and was ready to head home.

Once again, Old Xu carried the suitcase for him, while his task was to carry the flowers placed on the table.

Holding a large bouquet of flowers in his arms, the faint fragrance filled his nose. He lowered his head and gently touched the petals with his nose, feeling the velvety texture.

Xu Sinian asked him, "Do you like them?"

Chen Yibai smiled while holding the flowers and honestly replied, "Yes, I do."

The production team had surprisingly gotten his aesthetic preferences right this time.

His good neighbor smiled. "Good, as long as you like them."

"…"

The agent standing at the door fell silent, closed her eyes, and chose to look away.

When leaving, Chen Moubai and his small team departed together as they had arrived, with his good neighbor helping him load the suitcase into the car.

Having had a comfortable few days, his friend's brain wasn't particularly resistant to parting ways. He sat in the car honestly, holding the flowers in his hands, and waved through the window.

His car left first. The people standing by the roadside slightly raised their hands, their figures gradually left behind by the car until they disappeared completely.

The agent sat beside him, watching him constantly looking back. She then opened her eyes and said, "Passenger, please keep your head and hands inside the vehicle."

Passenger Bai then turned his head back.

The agent, who was checking her phone, asked him, "Are you going back to your aunt and uncle's place or your own place this time?"

Chen Bai said he was going to his own place. He had work in a couple of days, so it was convenient to stay in the neighborhood.

After finishing his messages and switching screens to check other messages, the agent casually asked, "Is your friend going there too?"

"No."

Putting the flowers in the backseat and asking the assistant to help him fasten his seatbelt, Chen Yibai said, "He has work in City A and is heading straight to his workplace."

"So busy," the agent finally finished replying to her messages, put her phone away, and said, "You should also be busy for a while after this."

Chen Yibai looked at her.

"Besides the work I previously mentioned to you, there's an invitation for a public service short film here, scheduled to start filming in the second half of the month."

The agent said, "Do you remember that watch the client gave you that you left at home?"

There was only one watch at home, the one given by the former god of wealth. Chen Yibai remembered it and said, "I've already returned it. Why?"

To her surprise, he really returned it.

A normal person wouldn't store a new, unopened watch without reason. The only explanation she could think of was that the client had some ulterior motives, and she thought it was a pity that he encountered a blockhead.

Unexpectedly, the client genuinely stored it and returned it upon request.

Putting the matter of the client aside for now, she said, "Yesterday, your fans helped you secure an endorsement deal, and they actually got one for you, Veent."

Veent had already been considering communicating with the company, but their attitude wasn't clear yet. Coincidentally, they encountered yesterday's fan campaign to attract clients, so they responded favorably.

Since they had already made a public response, the collaboration was basically confirmed, and the rest would be handled by her and the company.

Veent positioned itself in the high-end market. His well-known debt situation didn't quite align with the brand's positioning, but he won over the deal due to his good aura when not speaking, combined with his talent, cultural sophistication, and exceptional piano skills. Thus, the deal was sealed.

"..."

Listening intently, Chen Yibai raised his hand like a primary school student and asked with wide eyes, "What does it mean to have good temperament when not speaking?"

The agent, caught off guard by the slip of the tongue, let out a laugh and brushed it off, "In short, it's praise for your good temperament."

Chen Yibai straightened up, feeling that it didn't quite sound right.

The assistant, sitting behind, looked left and right, failing to understand how the person who had lashed out in anger was rumored to be throwing their weight around.

After several hours on the road, they arrived back in the city in the afternoon after setting out in the morning.

It had been half a month since the last time he returned. After seeing off the assistant and agent who helped carry the luggage, Chen Bai closed the door and placed the bouquet of flowers he brought back into a vase filled with a shallow layer of water.

With that, everything was settled. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the sky was painted with crimson hues of dusk. With no other matters at hand, he returned to his room with a glass of water, bent down to turn on his computer, and slowly took a sip of freshly brewed black coffee while seated on his chair.

When he had nothing else to do, he would stream, and his streaming sessions were always packed, taking up a considerable amount of time.

Turning on the computer also took time. Leaning back with his glass of water in hand, he glanced over his desk, feeling as if something was missing from the corner.

He remembered. There used to be a box for watches there, which had been there for some time, and his eyes had grown accustomed to its presence.

—Finally, it has been returned.

Before, if the items placed there were lost, it would have been his gold coins that suffered. Now that they were gone, his gold coins were safe, and his mood was much better.

He just wondered how the former God of Wealth and Brother White Moonlight were faring now.

"Hum—"

As the computer booted up, emitting a faint sound, the vibration of his phone joined in.

The sound was weak, easily drowned out by the noise of the computer, but he noticed it,收回ed his gaze, and picked up his phone for a look.

It was an unknown number calling.

With one hand on the mouse, clicking open the game interface, and switching to his left hand to hold the phone, he answered the call.

When faced with an unfamiliar caller, Chen Moubai, cautious against telecom fraud, usually chose silence, allowing the other party to speak first.

His silence proved effective, as the person on the other end of the line spoke first, "Hello, I am Yang Shu."

The voice was calm and steady.

The hand holding the mouse paused slightly as Chen Bai tilted his head slightly.

It sounded somewhat familiar, but not too much.

A perfectly polite response, even though he didn't know the person well, he responded politely.

Changing his posture on the chair, he listened to the person on the other end while operating his computer. His eyebrows slightly raised at certain points in the conversation.

"..."

As the person on the other end spoke, he opened the game, logged into his streaming account, adjusted the equipment settings, and finally typed on the keyboard to search for his gaming buddies, multitasking to the fullest extent.

The call was short, lasting only three minutes, and promptly ended after that.

When he wasn't streaming, nothing happened. But once he decided to start streaming, all sorts of things seemed to come up. No sooner had he hung up the call than his phone, still in his hand, received a message from his agent asking if he had any plans for tomorrow.

Lowering his head and raising his hand to reply, he wrote, "Meeting someone tomorrow afternoon."

Not until new messages stopped popping up did he finally put down his phone, lifted his hand to adjust his headphones, and clicked to start the stream.

—

Chen Bai had arranged to meet the person he talked to on the phone yesterday.

It wasn't until halfway through the call, when he heard the name Huochuan from the other party's mouth, that he finally remembered why the name Yang Shu sounded familiar.

It was very familiar, considering he had heard it before from Ms. Jiang and Mr. Xu.

He had only remembered that Brother White Moonlight was called 'Yang something', but his full name turned out to be Yang Shu.

Unexpectedly, after the work was done, this melodramatic plot twist still had a role for him. Brother White Moonlight had obtained his contact information from someone he knew and wanted to meet him, saying there was something he wanted to discuss with him.

Even if the other party was Brother White Moonlight, someone as careful and cautious as him wouldn't easily meet someone he had only spoken to once on the phone.

But Brother White Moonlight suggested meeting at Yeba.

Those who agreed to meet at Yeba couldn't be bad people, especially in the afternoon, without having to get up early.

Chen Moubai felt that it wouldn't hurt to go.

The location was in a nearby mall, quite close, reachable by a few subway stops.

The weather had been experiencing significant temperature fluctuations recently, and today's temperature was less than ideal, leaning towards the cold side. The difference in brightness between inside and outside the mall was quite noticeable. Slightly lowering the brim of his cap, he stepped into the mall.

When he arrived, Brother White Moonlight was already there. Yeba had private small rooms, originally intended for guests to play games with friends, which now conveniently provided a hiding place for someone like him who preferred to stay out of sight.

The door to the small room was sliding. As he petted the dog that eagerly approached, he knocked on the door. Upon hearing the voice inside say, "Come in," he opened the door.

Before he could enter, the dog darted in first, slipping through the opening. He followed suit, jumping in and carrying the dog into the small room with him.

Inside the room was only one person, a man, not sitting on a regular chair, but on a wheelchair, looking in his direction as he entered.

This was Brother White Moonlight. His figure was slender, with a noticeable air of illness, and his eye color was lighter than average.

Quickly catching Yeba, who was charging in fiercely, the diligent Master Chen wiped away a nonexistent bead of sweat and greeted him proactively.

Yang Shu returned the greeting and maneuvered the wheelchair slightly to help close the door that was left open.

The drinks were already ordered and placed on the table, accompanied by freeze-dried treats for the little dog, showing remarkable thoughtfulness.

Removing his hat and mask, Chen Moubai's unruly hair was exposed to the air. The straightforward Master Chen, who was direct in certain aspects, asked bluntly, "What is it that your friend wants to talk about?"

His directness wasn't off-putting but rather akin to the frankness between friends, as if they had known each other for centuries upon sitting down.

"It's indeed as they said."

Yang Shu looked over, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly as he followed suit with directness, "I want to talk to you about Huochuan."

The matter concerning the former God of Wealth.

Putting aside the mention of "they" for the moment, Chen Bai, while petting the dog's head, pondered slightly, thinking that all matters regarding salary and work had been settled, and there shouldn't be anything else to discuss.

Yang Shu said, "I hope you can leave him."

Huh.

A phrase that Chen Moubai hadn't heard before but felt strangely classic burst out unexpectedly. His hand, which had been stroking the dog's head, paused momentarily as he processed the statement.

After a few seconds of mental processing, drawing from his limited knowledge of matters related to emotions, he realized that this White Moonlight Brother, whom he had assumed was indifferent to the former God of Wealth, seemed to have feelings for him.

It was good news. Despite not having any personal experience in relationships, the accommodating Master Chen immediately raised his hand to clarify, stating that he had no romantic involvement with the former God of Wealth.

Without any relationship, there was no question of leaving.

As he spoke, inhaling and exhaling, a strand of dog hair drifted into his nostril. He wanted to sneeze but deemed it impolite and held it back, exhaling instead.

"..."

His response was so swift that the person in the wheelchair opposite him hadn't even reacted yet, leaving the rest of his words hanging at the tip of his tongue.

Lowering his gaze to scrutinize the scene, Yang Shu caught sight of the man bent over the dog raising his head slightly, their eyes meeting—damp pupils and a reddened nose tip.

...This didn't look like the appearance of someone without a connection.

Indeed, just as others had said, Huochuan had found someone who genuinely cared for him.

Upon returning, among the frequent mentions of Chen Bai's name from those people, what he heard most often was how interesting, likable, attractive, and devoted to Huochuan he was.

He had initially thought these descriptions were exaggerated, diluted with sentimentality, but now he realized they were true.

The person across from him, dressed in a white hoodie, resembled the color of the big white dog's fur. He appeared enveloped in softness, warm and comfortable, except for the redness at the tip of his nose. Yang Shu said, "You two aren't suited for each other."

His hands still surreptitiously caressing the furry creature, Chen Yibai nodded habitually, about to say, "Inde..." when he was interrupted.

Before he could utter the last syllable, he saw the White Moonlight Brother smile gently, "He doesn't deserve happiness."

Chen Moubai started to nod...but his head froze mid-nod, "Hmm?"