Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Ye Weian slept soundly in Zhou Huaichen's arms, completely unaware that Zhou Huaichen's single social media post had sent shockwaves through nearly the entire established family circles.

The first to reach out to Zhou Huaichen were, naturally, his childhood friends.

Qi Zhangsong, who appeared serious but secretly loved gossip, was the first to tag Zhou Huaichen in the group chat: "When are we having a meal together?"

Last time, when Zhou Huaichen brought Ye Weian to the Xiangzhang Lanting gathering, Qi Zhangsong couldn’t make it due to other commitments, so he was the only one who hadn’t met Ye Weian yet.

Lu Cong: "You just want to meet President Ye, right? Helping you tag A Chen@Zhou."

Zhu Hongke: "I’ve met President Ye a few times—he’s quite an interesting person."

Qi Zhangsong: "You sound so proud of yourself@Zhu."

Zhuang Wenting: "Why call him President Ye? We should call him brother-in-law@Lu@Zhu. When are you bringing brother-in-law to meet us?@Zhou."

Zhuang Wenting was also at the last gathering, but he hadn’t spoken with Ye Weian and didn’t know him well.

Having heard that Ye Weian had chased after a minor celebrity for five years before suddenly ending up with A Chen, Zhuang Wenting was actually a bit concerned.

When it came to background and ability, A Chen was undoubtedly the most impressive among their childhood friends, but in matters of the heart, A Chen was as celibate as a monk. Zhuang Wenting felt that their group of friends needed to check things out carefully.

The leap from a minor celebrity to A Chen was quite significant.

President Ye’s tastes seemed to have changed rather quickly.

After reading the messages in the group chat, Zhou Huaichen replied: "When he’s free."

Whether to meet his childhood friends, and when, would naturally be up to Wei An.

Qi Zhangsong: "Tsk tsk, awaiting his schedule."

Lu Cong: "Tsk tsk, Wei An’s charm is undeniable."

Zhuang Wenting: "Tsk tsk, head over heels."

Zhu Hongke: "Too scared to join the tsk tsk queue, afraid A Chen might hit me… tsk tsk."

Zhou Huaichen ignored them.

He glanced down at the person sleeping in his arms, remembering how this person had said he wanted to thank his childhood friends.

It seemed it wouldn’t be long before his friends got to meet Wei An.

His childhood friends were used to being unrestrained around him, but around outsiders, they could be quite proper. He wasn’t worried that they would make things difficult for Wei An.

Still, since he and Wei An were going to spend their lives together, there was no need to be overly formal or distant.

After a moment’s thought, he sent a message in the group: "Wei An is wonderful. Treat him as you would treat me."

It took a while for his friends to respond.

Qi Zhangsong: "He’s fallen."

Lu Cong: "He’s fallen."

Zhuang Wenting: "Is he set on him?"

Zhu Hongke, as usual, was out of step: "Understood."

Zhou Huaichen picked out Zhuang Wenting’s question to reply: "Yes."

He put down his phone, ignoring both the group chat and the hundreds of likes on his social media post, and prepared to take a nap with Ye Weian.

Just then, he received a call from his family’s patriarch.

The vibrating phone didn’t wake Ye Weian, who continued to sleep soundly in Zhou Huaichen’s arms.

Zhou Huaichen smiled, kissed his lips, gently placed him on the pillow, and got out of bed to answer the call.

The patriarch’s robust voice came through the phone: "When are you bringing him home? Are we preparing a bride price or a dowry? Never mind, the preparations are the same either way. Just tell me, when are you two getting engaged?"

Zhou Huaichen: "..."

Zhou Huaichen sighed.

Ever since he took over the Zhou Corporation, the old man had plenty of free time to meddle in such matters.

He said calmly, "Don’t do anything rash. Don’t scare him."

Old Master Zhou was displeased: "That Ye boy runs the Ye Corporation—how could he be scared by me?"

"Stop wasting words. Just tell me straight: is the engagement happening this year or after the New Year?"

Zhou Huaichen was silent for a few seconds before saying, "Dad, if you scare him, I’ll hand the company over to Zhou Yongnan."

"...How dare you!" Old Master Zhou’s voice rose several octaves in anger. "You brat, always making me angry!"

Handing the company to Zhou Yongnan would mean the end of the Zhou family!

It took the old man a while to calm down: "Fine, I won’t interfere. But you have to bring him to see me soon."

Zhou Huaichen hummed in agreement: "There’s no rush. When the time is right, I’ll bring him to see you."

Satisfied, the old man hung up.

Zhou Huaichen turned off his phone and walked back to the bedside.

The room’s air conditioning was set rather high, and Ye Weian’s cheeks were flushed from sleep. His long eyelashes fluttered slightly with each breath, and his plump, red lips looked irresistibly tempting.

Unable to resist, Zhou Huaichen leaned down and gently nibbled on his lip before getting into bed and pulling him back into his arms.

...

When Ye Weian woke up, it was already two hours later.

Zhou Huaichen was already awake, holding him with one arm while reviewing a document with the other.

Ye Weian breathed in the scent of grapes on him and felt particularly content.

Lazily, he slipped his hand under Zhou Huaichen’s pajamas and freely felt his abs.

—"So nice to touch."

—"Don’t want to get up, just want to keep touching."

Zhou Huaichen set the document aside, looked down at him, and said in a husky voice, "Time to get up. We need to pack and leave for the airport."

Ye Weian stared at him with a blank face.

—"I'm such a crisp, fresh cabbage touching him, and he actually has no reaction?"

—"A Chen, are you not into this?"

Zhou Huaichen: "..."

He was already turned on by the touch, but he was afraid of startling him.

"Behave now." He scooped him up and kissed his forehead. "Before your nap, you asked me to change the flight time. I had Li Ceng move it to 6 p.m."

Ye Weian: "...Oh."

—"I regret it."

—"I really want to stay here with A Chen forever, just the two of us. Wouldn't that be perfect?"

Zhou Huaichen lowered his eyes and let out a soft sigh.

If it weren’t for an important meeting at the company tomorrow and Wei'an’s busy work schedule, he would have wanted to stay too.

The scenery here was beautiful, with no outside interruptions, and a pleasant place to live.

Unfortunately, he and Wei'an had to return eventually.

After Zhou Huaichen sweet-talked him, Ye Weian finally got out of bed reluctantly.

Seeing him head to the bathroom alone, the System popped up excitedly: "Host, President Zhou has a surprise for you!"

The System: "Do you want to know what it is?"

Ye Weian mumbled lazily, "No."

The System: "..."

It had wanted to secretly tell the Host about the surprise.

Ye Weian guessed what it was up to and said with exasperation, "Since it’s a surprise, don’t spoil it in advance."

A Chen said he wanted to court him—he probably prepared some kind of gift, right?

He was quite looking forward to it.

The System: "...Alright then."

It was just afraid the Host would be startled and wanted to give him a heads-up.

Oh well, let the Host receive the shock... surprise completely unaware!

Ye Weian soon found out what Zhou Huaichen’s surprise was.

Just after coming out of the bathroom, he received a call. An excited young male voice came through: "You’re with President Zhou?!"

Ye Weian: "?"

"Bro, you finally wised up and stopped obsessing over that B-list celebrity Yan Qing?"

"Thank God!" The other person rambled excitedly, "I just went to your place to celebrate, but Grandpa Lin said you’re away. Bro, when you get back, I’ll set off some fireworks at your place!"

Ye Weian: "?"

Who are you?

When his phone rang earlier, he hadn’t checked the name before answering.

Now, looking at the screen, the caller ID showed Ye Jia.

He searched the body's original memories—Ye Jia was the original host’s cousin.

Elder Ye had only one son and only one grandson, but Elder Ye had two younger brothers, and those two brothers had a total of seven children and over twenty grandchildren.

Honestly, the Ye family was a huge family.

Ye Jia was the grandson of the original host’s third grandpa.

Of course, the most important thing now wasn’t figuring out the family tree but another question.

Ye Weian: "How do you know A Chen and I are together?"

He didn’t deny his relationship with Zhou Huaichen.

In this relationship, both he and Zhou Huaichen were serious.

He wasn’t opposed to making it public either—he was just curious about Ye Jia’s source of information.

From his memories, Yan Qing had once schemingly set up Ye Jia in front of the original host, causing Ye Jia to despise Yan Qing and strongly oppose the original host’s pursuit of him.

But the original host stubbornly persisted, leading to a falling out with Ye Jia. They had barely spoken for nearly two years.

Where did Ye Jia get the news?

After all, he and A Chen had only just got together a few hours ago.

—A Chen said he wanted to pursue him, and he wasn’t even sure if they counted as together, but anyway, he and A Chen were already sleeping together.

Ye Jia continued rambling excitedly: "President Zhou put something on his Moments! He’s telling the whole world, promising to treat you right!"

"Confident and romantic," Ye Jia said enthusiastically, as if he were the one being pursued. "As expected of the President Zhou I admire most!"

Ye Weian: "?"

Moments?

Announcing to the world?

Ye Weian ended the call and opened WeChat to check Zhou Huaichen’s Moments.

The first thing he saw was Zhou Huaichen’s profile pic.

It used to be a cartoon grape, but now it had been changed to a good-looking pig.

Ye Weian remembered asking Zhou Huaichen before when he would change it to the good-looking pig, and Zhou Huaichen had said it wasn’t time yet.

Back then, he didn’t understand.

Now he did.

Because the pig had successfully "sniffed him out," the cabbage—the timing was right, so he changed the profile pic.

Ye Weian poked the anthropomorphic handsome cartoon pig and murmured, "You're such a smooth operator."

A Chen was a man who cherished rituals—whether it was stepping back to be friends when he learned Ye Weian wanted to pursue Yan Qing, or giving him the purple jade peace knot and blue diamond, or even now, when they were already in a supportive relationship, he still insisted on pursuing him.

It was truly heartwarming.

In a good mood, Ye Weian opened his Moments and saw the post shared by Zhou Huaichen.

He suddenly couldn't describe his feelings.

Having been a lonely zombie king for ten years, of course he yearned to grow old with someone.

This feeling of being treasured like precious jewelry—it wasn’t bad at all.

Zhou Huaichen finished packing their bags, took a work call, and turned to see Ye Weian sitting silently at the head of the bed, staring at his phone. His heart tightened with worry.

Was something wrong?

He walked over, gently took Ye Weian’s hand, and asked in a soft, soothing voice, "Is everything okay?"

Ye Weian looked up, staring straight at him.

Zhou Huaichen’s eyes were focused, containing only his reflection—as if nothing else in the world existed.

Ye Weian’s heart ached with tenderness: "It’s nothing, I just saw your Moments post."

"A Chen really! Loves! Me!"

"Aww, I’m going to post on Moments too, I want to flaunt our relationship!"

Zhou Huaichen had been worried something might have happened with the Ye family, but hearing what he was thinking, he relaxed.

So he was so moved after seeing his Moments post.

He gently stroked Ye Weian’s cheek and said tenderly, "I’m glad you don’t mind me making it so public."

Ye Weian shook his head: "I don’t mind."

He pointed at Zhou Huaichen’s WeChat and said, "But I suggest you change your profile picture."

Zhou Huaichen: "Hmm?"

Ye Weian: "Change it to a Buddha-like handsome zombie king."

Then he pointed at his own WeChat profile picture: "I’ve changed mine to grapes."

A Chen valued rituals, and swapping profile pictures could be considered a kind of ritual too.

The system tsked: "You're going to kill me with sweetness."

Author’s Note: 3,000+ words.

The second update will still be at 3 PM this afternoon, everyone, remember to come on time~

Thank you all so much for your support, I will continue working hard!