Chapter 32: Filthy Adult

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"Ge," he whispered into the phone.

[If You Love Me Please Send Me Money]: Good afternoon. You must be training hard today.

[If You Love Me Please Send Me Money]: PoursTea.jpg

[Filthy Adult]: Why are you so sweet and well-behaved today?

Even though Gu Wei had been the one to change Jiang Xun's nickname, it still took him by surprise to see it. He couldn't help but laugh at the sight of that new name on his phone.

[If You Love Me Please Send Me Money]: Ge, have you thought about what you actually need?

[If You Love Me Please Send Me Money]: And you're not allowed to say 'a fiancé'.

[Filthy Adult]: Then, my family needs a daughter-in-law who can call me 'husband' in bed.

[Filthy Adult]: Want to try calling it out?

Gu Wei stared at his phone.

"What are you staring at the railing and giggling about?"

The familiar voice came from behind him.

Gu Wei jumped, scared half to death, and instinctively used his fingers to cover his WeChat messages.

His rival had suddenly appeared at his back.

"What are you doing here?" Gu Wei asked.

"Recording a program," Jiang Ying said, spreading his hands like it should have been obvious. "The kind of on-stage variety show you can't get booked on."

Jiang Ying snuck at glance at Gu Wei's cell phone screen. He couldn't see the avatar of the person Gu Wei had been chatting with, but he could see the name—

Filthy Adult.

He also caught a glimpse of some decidedly not-safe-for-children content.

Jiang Ying gave Gu Wei a subtle onceover.

His rival was pretty young. Even a year younger than Jiang Ying himself. But it seemed he had some real balls when it came to talking to people on WeChat.

"Tsk." Jiang Ying only clicked his tongue before deciding he had spent enough time greeting his nemesis.

But as he got ready to go, Gu Wei reached out and tugged on the drawstring of his hoodie. "Hey, wait a sec."

Jiang Ying had started to leave in a hurry, and with that little tug, he was nearly choked to death by his nemesis.

"You're pretty rough, huh?" Jiang Ying hastily loosened the string around his throat while coughing a few times. "We haven't been feuding lately, have we?"

This couldn't be revenge for sharing his rival's dark past with his brother, could it?

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" Gu Wei apologized hastily. Before Jiang Ying could start to leave again, he quickly blurted out the question he had wanted to ask. "Your big brother, Jiang Xun—is there anything he needs in his life or anything he says he wants?"

Jiang Ying froze in place.

"Why are you so concerned with my brother?" Jiang Ying frowned, then muttered to himself, "That's weird, lately my bro also…"

"Your brother what?" Gu Wei asked, feeling a little anxious for no apparent reason.

"Nothing," Jiang Ying said, quickly brushing it off. He had almost let it slip that he'd passed along a ton of dirt on Gu Wei to his brother. "My brother asked nothing and saw nothing."

Gu Wei cocked his head to the side curiously.

"Then, what is your brother missing?" he asked, persistent.

"My brother…" Jiang Ying gave it some thought. "I don't really think he's missing anything. He's always had a clear idea of his goals, and he's always known how to achieve them. If I had to say there was one thing he lacked, it'd be a love life, but it seems like he's already found someone now."

Jiang Ying flashed Gu Wei a cryptic smile. "Men, you know. You get it."

Gu Wei absolutely did not get it. He got absolutely no useful information out of that, and decided he would have to find the right present all by himself after all.

"Here, take this," Gu Wei said. He had been given two bags of chocolate after shooting his commercial, and now he handed one to Jiang Ying.

"Trying to bribe your rival?" Jiang Ying asked, though he did accept the chocolate. "You want me to get fat, don't you?"

"It's not for you," Gu Wei said. "Give it to Jiang Xun for me."

"Absolutely not."

Jiang Ying walked away with the chocolate.

Later that night, back at Team TMW's training room, Jiang Ying flopped over the back of Jiang Xun's gaming chair and tossed the bag of chocolate onto the desk.

"You've started eating sweets?" Jiang Xun asked.

"I ran into my nemesis at Riverside today. It's from him," Jiang Ying said. Then he quickly flapped a hand and added, "He made it clear it wasn't for me, but for you."

Jiang Xun took the chocolate. The corners of his lips quirked up into a grin.

The little sweetheart had started giving Jiang Xun chocolates that Gu Wei himself had endorsed. How much longer would it be before Gu Wei gave himself over?

Jiang Ying caught sight of the smile on his brother's face. He shook his head disapprovingly and rapped his knuckles on the table twice. "Ge, even though you two filmed a reality show together and created some nice memories and feelings or whatever, I really still think you should stay far, far away from that nemesis of mine."

"Because?" Jiang Xun prompted.

"He's on WeChat talking about you-know-what with people," Jiang Ying whispered.

Jiang Xun frowned. "What's 'you-know-what'?"

"Just today," Jiang Ying said, "I saw him chatting with someone whose username was 'Filthy Adult'.

"This username, you can tell it doesn't belong to a proper adult.

"And I even saw this person telling Gu Wei to call him 'husband'.

"I only caught a glimpse and didn't see the avatar, but it was something yellow1. See? The avatar really is a reflection of the soul."

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1. In Chinese, someone or something who is said to be 'yellow' is perverted/lewd/etc. For example, 'yellow humor' means sexual jokes.

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