Chapter 68: Continuous Critical Attacks

The living room is rarely this brightly lit at night. When Hanyu and Raku are alone at home, they prefer to simply light the floor-standing reading lamp by the sofa and curl up together. The warm orange light illuminates them in a limited area, and the interplay of light and shadow creates a warm and peaceful atmosphere, even when they are both busy with their own things.

But today was different. Le pulled the pillows off the sofa and used them as a cushion, sitting cross-legged in front of the coffee table. He positioned his phone facing him, but the video was projected onto the TV screen in front of him. Guan Yue wasn't visible on the screen, only her voice.

"Are you okay? It's been a long time since I changed into this dress!" Le complained, hugging his feet.

"Here it comes! Look! Is this okay?"

Guan Yue jumped into the frame and spun around. Her simple, elegant, solid-colored dress gave her a calm and refined air, though the tailoring wasn't particularly flattering. Turning sideways, one could see the roast duck she'd had for dinner. She glanced left and right, straining to hold her stomach in.

"I seem to have gained a little weight..." She pursed her lips sadly.

"Well... why don't you wear the cheongsam you just tried on? A cheongsam needs a little bit of fat on the belly to look charming. Our director Meng said so before~" Le answered seriously, and when she looked up, she saw Guan Yue's murderous eyes, "Well... the cheongsam is really beautiful..." she added carefully.

"With your low EQ and straightforward nature, how could Haniu tolerate you?" Guan Yue rolled her eyes and left the camera. Only the rustling sound of her changing clothes could be heard. After a while, she changed into the dark green modified cheongsam and returned to the camera.

"Look~ this one is really beautiful! What's it called in Chinese? A beauty on earth!"

"Why does your expression, when you're trying to get compliments, look so much like Hanyu?" Guan Yue swore she hadn't meant to cue Hanyu Yuzuru. But Le's eyes widened, a genuine smile plastered on his lips. He looked so much like her idol in the video. But now that it was brought up, she remembered to ask, "By the way, you didn't pick up Hanyu because you were picking out clothes with me. Will he be mad?"

Guan Yue asked this, and Le hesitated for a few seconds. She had sent a message, but received no reply. It was still read but not replied.

"He should be... okay, right? And I'm not standing him up. I asked He Jiu to pick him up."

"And Jiu?" Guan Yue repeated in disbelief. Seeing Le nodding innocently, she couldn't help but hold her forehead with her hand. "You really want to make me so angry that I'm going to die, right?"

"What's wrong with me? He Jiu betrayed me the last time he came to our house! This is the punishment he deserves!"

Le was speaking with righteous indignation, and Guan Yue was just about to lecture her when she heard a new movement on the other side of the video. A click sounded like the door opening, followed by a rather uninspired "I'm back."

Although she could tell it was Yuzuru Hanyu from the voice, Guan Yue didn't see the usual smiling Hanyu squeeze into the camera. She only heard a few bland Japanese words, and then saw a figure flash by in the corner of the camera.

"I told you that player Haniu was unhappy!"

"Maybe I'm too tired from work today..." Le felt a little guilty and looked back from time to time.

Seeing his absent-minded look, Guan Yue didn't want to continue to get involved and decided to slip away first.

"Okay, Haniu is back. I won't disturb you two anymore! I'm going to put on a facial mask and have a good beauty sleep~" After saying that, she hung up the video.

Beauty sleep? It's only... 8 o'clock, isn't it too early?

When Yuzuru Hanyu emerged from the bathroom, drying his hair, Anya's eyes were beaming as she watched her parents on the living room TV. The intriguing plot was unwatched, and Le was busy in the kitchen. The sizzling sound of the pan, the aroma of fried dumplings wafting through the cracks in the lid, made him want to lean in.

He leaned over, his cheeks puffed up with anger, and said nothing. The fragrance of the shower gel on his body was particularly obvious in the kitchen, and it was enough to attract Le's attention when it touched her.

"Are you hungry? Dinner will be ready in a while." Her hands were occupied, so she could only touch Yuzuru Hanyu's waist with her elbow.

He no longer stood there stubbornly, but came over and hugged her waist from behind, resting his puffy face on her shoulder.

"You stood me up today..." He pouted, his voice sounding very aggrieved.

"Today is a special situation. Guan Yue suddenly told me that she's going to meet Fang Li's parents tomorrow and she insisted that I accompany her to pick out some clothes." Le sighed slightly, knowing that he was upset about this matter. "Didn't I ask He Jiu to pick you up?"

"I'd rather have the driver take me."

Yuzuru Hanyu felt uncomfortable the moment he recalled sitting in Kazuki's car. Kazuki Tohara was driving diligently, not saying much to him, and the awkward atmosphere permeated the entire car. To break the awkwardness, he proactively turned on the car stereo and tuned in the radio. A prelude to a song with a strong Showa influence blared over the radio, and Noriko Sakai's sweet voice recited the first line, sending Yuzuru Hanyu into a frenzy.

Please, please return him to me.

Speaking of this, Noriko Sakai's song "Lighthearted Julia" replayed in Hanyu Yuzuru's mind, and he tightened his arms unhappily.

"Okay, I won't let him pick you up anymore." Le replied with a chuckle.

She didn't know that, in Yuzuru Hanyu's eyes, the curled corners of her mouth looked exactly like the frivolous, evasive Juliet in the lyrics. He let go of her hand, snorted, and sat down at the dining table.

The noise of the stool being dragged over there was particularly loud, naturally catching Le's attention. Distracted for a moment, she wasn't paying attention when she grabbed the pot lid. Her fingertips brushed against the edge of the pot, and she withdrew them with a hiss. Almost immediately, the plate was taken away by the person who was supposed to be sitting at the table. He pulled her finger over to examine it, and seeing the slight blushing, it seemed nothing serious, he quietly took the chef's seat.

He placed the plate upside down on the frying pan, spread his fingers to support the bottom, and quickly flipped it over with one hand holding the handle. A plate of fried dumplings, golden and crispy on the bottom, landed neatly on the plate. He held the plate in one hand and pulled Le out of the kitchen with the other.

She just kept on being angry with a pout.

"Alright, I told you not to pick you up with Jiu anymore." Le really thought Hanyu Yuzuru across from him looked too much like a little yellow duck, so he tried hard to hold back his laughter and explained, "Today is a special day. Yueyue's engagement party is tomorrow, and it's very important."

She hadn't stood him up on purpose. She'd only just seen the message Guan Yue had sent her before leaving work today, asking for her help with outfits for the engagement party. The tension and anxiety between their words made Le unable to sit idly by, so she had to send He Jiu to pick up Yuzuru Hanyu, feeling she owed him a favor.

These explanations were no longer important to Yuzuru Hanyu. He instantly grasped the important information.

"Engagement?" Yuzuru Hanyu asked with wide eyes as the chopsticks holding the fried dumplings hung there before hitting the target.

"Yes, you're surprised, aren't you! I think so too... it happened so fast. I remember Guan Yue and Fang Li officially started dating when I came to attend the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, and now they are getting married..." Le shrugged, picked up a fried dumpling, bit half of it, and chewed it slowly.

“Soon…?”

"Of course! They just started dating..." She lowered her head and raised her fingers to try to count the days.

"10 months." Yuzuru Hanyu answered without any expression.

"Ah yes, isn't that fast?"

Many years ago, Le saw the giant rubber duck in Victoria Harbour with his own eyes while performing in Hong Kong. I heard it had a leak. But I'd only seen it in pictures, and today it felt like seeing the real thing. The puffed-up "little rubber duck" seemed to be dejected after this conversation, far from being distracted.

But she had no evidence.

Although they didn't talk much, dinner went on as usual. He finished his meal diligently, though he didn't seem to enjoy it much, which was his usual habit. After dinner, he obediently took the dishes back to the kitchen, rinsed them briefly, and put them in the dishwasher. After cleaning up, he went to sit on the sofa and watch TV. As he passed by the table, he rubbed the top of Le's head.

After straightening her messed-up hair, Le looked at his silhouette leaning on the sofa, feeling a little depressed no matter how she looked at him.

Sure enough, it’s because I stood you up today…

She sighed, put away her own dishes, and pulled an ice cream cone from the refrigerator, then sat down next to him. As she tore open the package, he glanced at her. Le deliberately suppressed a smile, staring intently at the TV. The hand holding the ice cream cone, whether intentionally or not, tilted slightly toward him.

"You're eating ice again. I told you to eat less."

"Then help me eat some?" Le said as she handed the ice cream to his mouth. He just took a big bite of the ice cream with her hand. The excessive coldness made him calm down for a long time.

"Ouch! You bit off too much!" Le pretended to be angry. "Never mind, now I can even up the matter of me standing you up today, right?"

Hanyu blinked, not realizing that Le thought he was angry. He snorted deliberately and turned away.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow, for sure!"

Unmoved.

"I'll go the day after tomorrow too!"

"Are you going to the first show?"

"..." This person is getting too aggressive! But after all, she was in the wrong. Just as she was about to nod, a message on her phone interrupted her.

[The Moon Can't Be Confined: I suddenly remembered something. We've been planning to hold our wedding in May of next year. I was hoping you could come. We'll figure things out then. Also... um...]

Le immediately understood Guan Yue's hesitation. She turned to glance at the celebrity sitting next to her, which was a good opportunity to change the subject.

"I have something to discuss with you. Guan Yue just told me her wedding might be around this time next year. Would you like to come with me then? This is usually your off-season, so if it can avoid the ice show, you should be fine with it, right?"

The benefits that he had just been about to get were shattered by the blow of this annoying wedding, and Yuzuru Hanyu's face darkened in displeasure.

"There's still a whole year left. How should I know? Kevin used to be like this..."

"...Forget it if you don't want to go." Le interrupted him, rolled her eyes at her and was about to stand up, but he grabbed her by the waist.

"I didn't say I wouldn't go!"

"Don't go. It's hard to entertain big stars."

"I want to go!"

"Don't go!"

Yuzuru Hanyu was so busy bickering like an elementary school student that he didn't realize that he had already replied to the message before Le asked him.

Lele Raku: Yeah, we'll find a way! We'll take him with us, don't worry.