*Reminder: shura field (修罗场) = refers to one person making a desperate struggle in a difficult situation.
As soon as Shen Jintai had reappeared, he immediately occupied the hot topics of all major entertainment sectors.
"Touhua is finally out of the mountain!"
"Have you noticed that Shen Jintai is getting better and better, and it's completely different from before?"
"I discovered a long time ago that Touhua becomes more beautiful every time he appears. Maybe he's gotten plastic surgery, but it doesn't feel like he has the time. If you look closely, his facial features hadn't changed much, but it feels different somehow."
"Red can nourish people. After the fire, the quality of the team will go up. His makeup, wardrobe, style will all be improved. That being said, his eyebrows, eyes, and nose does look different than before. I think it might be because he's still growing. After all, he's not even 21 yet."
"He has a good height and good bone structure. He usually doesn't look particularly stunning, but he has never lost in a group photo. After the past two years, he has become prettier. The peak of a man's facial value is about 25, and Touhua is still a few years away. It can only go up from here."
Shen Jintai was getting prettier. This was everyone's opinion, especially Yan Yaoxuan, who hadn't seen him for a long time.
Shen Jintai already had the temperament of a big star. His facial features were outstanding and it complimented his fair skin and rosy lips. He becomes especially charming when he smiles. It could immediately brighten anyone up, which made Yan Yaoxuan particularly dumbstruck whenever he looks at it.
"I got a gift for you. Come to my room later to get it." Shen Jintai said.
Yan Yaoxuan was taken aback for a moment and asked: "You got me a gift?"
Without waiting for Shen Jintai to answer, he heard his brother interject: "He bought gifts for everyone in the family."
Yan Yaoxuan sneered in his heart. His brother hasn't even snag Shen Jintai yet and he's already acting like this. Yan Yaoxuan gave Shen Jintai a smile and said: "I'll like whatever you give me."
"I didn't know what to get, so I picked out a watch for you." Shen Jintai laughed: "I hope you like it."
Naturally, he would treat both brothers equally. After thinking about it for a long time, he didn't know what gift would be similar to a watch, so he decided to give them both watches. To avoid any conflict, he held the same weight for the two brothers in his heart.
He patted Yan Yaoxuan on the shoulder and went to greet Mrs. Yan. Yan Yaoxuan followed, leaving Yan Qiuchi with a .
Shen Jintai's gift to his younger brother was also a watch? Isn't that the same as his? Does this mean he was the same as Yan Yaoxuan in Shen Jintai's mind?
On the surface there didn't seem to be anything wrong with that. However, if the watch was the same as the one he was wearing...
Yan Qiuchi put his hand in his pockets and followed slowly.
—
There were two birthday banquets for Yan Tiefeng. One was held in a five-star hotel, where acquaintances and friends were invited, and the other was at his own home there would only be relatives and close friends.
"I also sent invitations to your dad and his family," Mrs. Yan said: "Did you come back this time to see them?"
"I came here after I went home first." Shen Jintai said.
Mrs. Yan nodded and said: "Last time when I returned, Qiuchi also went to your house and gave them some Northwest specialties for you."
Recalling this, Mrs. Yan couldn't help but feel proud. Her son was more careful and thoughtful than she was.
Shen Jintai was surprised. He looked back to Yan Qiuchi and said: "I didn't know about this."
Yan Qiuchi had an unassuming character when he does good deeds so he usually don't tell others about it. Fortunately, there was Mrs. Yan!
"Thank you very much." Shen Jintai said to Yan Qiuchi.
Yan Qiuchi said lightly: "It's nothing."
"Xiao Jin, aren't you going to give me my gift? I can't wait to see it." Yan Yaoxuan interrupted.
Shen Jintai took him upstairs. Mrs. Yan watched them go and said: "Xiao Jin is finally staying in our house for two days. You have to seize the opportunity."
"Not in a hurry." Yan Qiuchi said.
Mrs. Yan who was arranging flowers suddenly paused when she heard his words. She gave him a look.
Not in a hurry? Seriously, are you really not in a hurry?
Yan Qiuchi glanced upstairs and saw Yan Yaoxuan with one hand on Shen Jintai's waist, looking very affectionate.
"Look at how good Yaoxuan and Xiao Jin relationship is." Mrs. Yan also sighed with emotion. They look just like brothers.
Yan Qiuchi discovered that the first thing he had to solve was Yan Yaoxuan. He knew Shen Jintai didn't like Yan Yaoxuan in that way. There was no ambiguity between them. The main issue was to make Yan Yaoxuan give up. Not only to give up but to draw the line between him and Shen Jintai. He needs to have the awareness that a younger brother-in-law should have. They must have a clean break so that they can get along well in the future.
Shen Jintai himself was also figuring out how to get along with Yan Yaoxuan. Yan Yaoxuan had confessed to him previously. There was a brief period of embarrassment, but they have stopped mentioning the event of that day and returned to a state of friends. He felt this current state was pretty good.
Shen Jintai: "I bought one for you and your brother. I hope you'll like it."
Yan Yaoxuan put on the watch and said: "If you get along with my brother, you must tell me in advance."
Shen Jintai was stunned: "I haven't told you but that's all in the past now. Between me, Qiuchi, and you, we'll all be brothers in the future."
Yan Yaoxuan glanced up at him, feeling that Shen Jintai didn't seem to be lying. He became puzzled and said: "He is chasing you yet you're not at all tempted?"
Shen Jintai laughed: "Do you think your brother is someone who will take the initiative to pursue others?"
Yan Yaoxuan realized that his brother hadn't officially started his pursuit yet. It turns out that it was still in the stage of secret admiration. A smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, and he said to Shen Jintai: "He used to treat you like that, and even if he wants to chase you in the future, you must not easily agree to him." It is best never to agree, this was his selfishness.
Shen Jintai smiled. Despite telling everyone that it was impossible between him and Yan Qiuchi, it seems others refuse to fully believe him. Perhaps the previous crazy pursuit in the past was too deeply rooted in their hearts that only time could dilute their views.
During lunch, Yan Qiuchi saw the watch on Yan Yaoxuan's wrist. Fortunately, it wasn't the same model as his and the color was also different. Yaoxuan's was blue. This gave him a bit of comfort.
The birthday party held at the five-star hotel was tonight. Everyone had been busy in the afternoon. The Yan and the Fang families were both powerful, so all the guest attending were either rich or elites. Even if there was a professional team hired to take care of things, there were still honored guest that needed to be entertained personally. After lunch their group headed over to the hotel.
Mrs. Yan specially put on the necklace that Shen Jintai gave her. She was dressed in a red evening dress, make her look plump and luxurious. Yan Yaoxuan and Yan Qiuchi were both in black formal wear. When the brothers came down from upstairs, Shen Jintai felt like he was watching a blockbuster movie.
The two sons of the Yan family were eye catching. One was icy and cold, and the other was warm and sunny. They both were like walking clothes hangers.
Shen Jintai didn't plan to attend such a public occasion. Mrs. Yan had told him to take a good rest at home.
Mrs. Yan: "I see dark circles around your eyes. Go and get a good night's sleep. Just let the chef know what you want to eat for dinner, and they'll cook it for you."
"Qingquan asked me to have dinner just now, and I want to invite him to come here to eat. Is it okay?" Shen Jintai asked.
Mrs. Yan was taken aback for a moment and said: "This is your own home, so you can invite anyone you want." Hearing her own words shocked both Mrs. Yan and Yan Qiuchi.
Yan Yaoxuan also asked: "Qingquan, is Bai Qingquan? Is it the handsome guy you acted with in The East Palace?"
Shen Jintai nodded: "That's him."
Mrs. Yan glanced at Yan Qiuchi with complicated eyes and found that Yan Qiuchi was in a sordid state. He was overcome with anxiety because he felt the possibility of Shen Jintai and Bai Qingquan getting together could commenced at any time. Who knows what would happen if the two of them were together alone tonight.
Yan Qiuchi's heart was disturbed, but as the eldest son of the family, he could not be absent for Yan Tiefeng's birthday party. No matter how worried he was, he needed to attend to his obligations.
Yan Yaoxuan wanted to drive his own sports car, so Mrs. Yan took Yan Qiuchi's car.
"It should be fine." She comforted Yan Qiuchi: "Isn't Bai Qingquan from your company? Why don't you find a way to find someone to ask and see where his feelings lies?"
Yan Qiuchi was distracted all night. The birthday party was destined to run late into the night, and even after it was over, he had to stay behind to see off the guests.
Yan Tiefeng's birthday party was held very solemnly. Celebrities from all walks of life came. For the two sons of the Yan family, tonight was also a time for them to broaden their contacts, especially Yan Qiuchi. His film and television company had done such an excellent job proving his abilities and aptitude. In the next few years, Yan Tiefang most likely will put more responsibility on his shoulders, thus he must visit those big bosses and high-level officials one by one.
Yan Qiuchi was the focus at the banquet. He was outstanding among the younger generation in terms of height, appearance, and abilities. His reputation was good that wasn't hampered by any gossip. Let alone single women, even married ones couldn't help but give him multiple glances. He stood upright behind Yan Tiefeng, exuding his heroic and abstemious appearance that touched numerous hearts that night.
Yan Qiuchi raised his hand and looked at his watch. It was 8 PM.
—
A sports car was driving through the deep woods. Bai Qingquan saw the villa in the distance, shining in the dark night. The Yan family mansion was famous that even he had heard about it. Sure enough, seeing was better than hearing.
The car stopped in front of the villa. Shen Jintai was smiling as he stood in the courtyard with one hand in his pocket. Bai Qingquan got out of the car and glanced up at the villa in front of him. He gasped: "Wow."
"I'm starving to death waiting for you." Shen Jintai said.
"I went to record a show in the afternoon, but it went over time and didn't end until almost 6." Bai Qingquan took a fruit basket from the car and a maid immediately took it off his hands.
Bai Qingquan followed Shen Jintai into the house as he kept looking around with a smile. The interior was different from what he thought. It wasn't a European royal style but a combination of Chinese and Western. There were lots of furniture but because the mansion was so big, it looked very spacious.
The next area by the mansion was the municipal government, making this area the most expensive in Nanchang. A villa with a manor like the Yan's was not something that you can afford with just money.
Near the end of the July was the hottest time of the season. After eating, the two of them went out for a walk and wandered around underneath the moonlight. It was particularly luminescent in July. The fragrance of the flowers and trees wafted, and the night breeze was warm and damp.
Shen Jintai was just listening to the sound of nature when suddenly a ding dong rang and Xiao Ai came online: "Dear!"
Shen Jintai immediately said: "I know what you are going to say. Heroes often see eye to eye!"
Xiao Ai: "It is indeed a good time. My dear, you haven't made any progress at all recently so we can't send out the beauty reward!"
Isn't the current mood exciting?
"Just watch." Shen Jintai told Xiao Ai.
When they reached the swimming pool in the back yard, Shen Jintai coyly asked Bai Qingquan: "Do you want to go for a swim?"
The author has something to say：
It's time to use the rewards of becoming beautiful to create a shura field.
Kinky Thoughts: As many of you are already aware, many translators have taken down/deleted/locked/password protected their translations and a lot of their works are no longer listed on NovelsUpdate. The reason behind this is because jjwxc, the publisher where most danmei are published, recently announced they are launching an international version that will have novel translations hosted on their website.
While this should be good in theory and help support the authors and have their work reach a wider audience, the implementation can only be said to be absolute garbage. They are offering monetary incentive for translator however the condition are stringent and you need to be a Chinese citizen with a Chinese bank account. The worst part is that there is no plagiarism protection in place so anyone can just steal translations from someone else and post it there to earn money off of someone else's hard work. (Oh BTW if you think you can make money off of being a "translator" good luck with that. You're going to be earning pennies on the dollar; actually you'll be lucky if you earn even pennies).
This has now led to many translator removing their works or taking extra measures to protect themselves because:
They don't want their works to be stolen and profit off of.They don't want to be hit with a DMCA and be force to take their work down or deal with legal action.
This has now created a knee jerk response to the danmei reading community where readers are angry and disappointed that they can no longer read the novels they wanted. In turn some have even harassed the translators for their decision to protect themselves (which I find quite abhorrent). Know that as a reader you are not entitled to anything. What you get is free for your own enjoyment off of someone else's hard work. You're literally turning into black powder when you harass others. It's quite disgusting to see. I can understand your disappointment as I too have many novels that I can no longer read. What I don't do is shit-talk and attack the very people who spend their free time to provide enjoyment for me and ask nothing in return except to be nice and respectful.
My thoughts regarding this matter is this. I will continue posting my translations, until I receive a DMCA notice. You think Yan Qiuchi is face slapping himself hard right now? Think about how a translator would feel getting a DMCA notice against their own stolen translation being posted by someone else. That is a face slap. The chances of getting a DMCA is probably pretty low, but probable doesn't mean impossible. I will wait it out and see how this new system jjwxc implements go, though I predict it'll crash and burn.
Besides my translation has already been stolen with no credits given and its posted on aggregator sites. Now added on that there's monetary incentives, it's a given that any translation will get stolen. But that's what happens when you share things online. There's no use crying over spilt milk. Ultimately my goal is to provide a good reading experience for a novel I really like so that people who read this book won't be turned off by the horrible translation quality. If this means that my translation will get stolen... well then so be it.
Without any plagiarism and quality control in place, the entire jjwxc international site will most likely be filled with shitty MTLs full of spelling errors, broken English, and terrible grammar. Oh and good luck getting footnotes for idioms and Chinese terms. Your reading experience is going to be one confusing mess. I don't know about you but as a native English speaker, I don't have that kind of brain capacity to wade through hundreds of chapters of that crap and in addition be expected to pay for it. This is the whole reason why I'm translating this novel in the first place. Honestly, if jjwxc wants to make more money, they should first improve their website so it doesn't look like something from the fucking 90's and actually make things easier to navigate for English speakers. I'm sure many people would love to support the author by buying the original raws but when there's a 20 page guide you have to use in order to do this, a majority of people will not put in that effort. It also doesn't help that their website isn't secure and your credit card most likely would be stolen if you try to buy something there. SMH.
Anyways until further notice, everything remains unchanged. I get enjoyment from translating and I figure I might as well share it with others. It's a shame that other translator are pulling out but I don't blame them. Too many shitty people in the world. Best we can do is read some danmei and comfort ourselves.