Chapter 18, Section 18: "Don't go, I'll let you pinch Yu Yu's chubby cheeks..."
Yan Xingli had received advance notice that Li Zhi was coming over. After coaxing Yu Yu to sleep, he tiptoed out of the room like a thief.
In the dark living room where the lights were off, a huge television screen emitted a fluorescent glow, and a round, dark figure sat in front of it.
The television was muted, and the entire room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. A soft, suppressed sob drifted into Yan Xingli's ears.
Yan Xingli's expression changed slightly. He tiptoed forward and tentatively asked, "Xiao Hua?"
"I am here."
The bald, hairless head turned mechanically, little by little, the flickering light casting an eerie atmosphere upon it.
Yan Xingli had never seen such a small flower before and was quite startled.
He patted his chest, annoyed: "Why don't you turn on the lights? I didn't ask you to save on electricity."
As soon as the white light came on, Xiaohua's green eyes, shimmering with moisture, trembled like waves.
It excitedly scurried over.
"Brother Xing, please help me contact the producer, screenwriter, and director of this drama. I need to immediately have an in-depth discussion with them about the rationality and necessity of Shen Meizhuang's death."
Robots are great; you can watch TV shows in the dark without worrying about nearsightedness or glaucoma.
Yan Xingli looked at it strangely: "Hey, you're crying? Robots can cry too??"
The TV series played silently, and in the background, the female lead Zhen Huan was crying with tears streaming down her face, which miraculously overlapped with Xiao Hua's face for a moment.
"You're right, robots don't cry. The fluid I shed is just artificial tears stored in my eyeballs by Master Fish."
"I only release artificial tears in specific situations."
Yan Xingli bent down and pulled two sheets of paper from the coffee table: "Wipe it first."
"OK, thanks."
"I have a guest coming in a little while." Yan Xingli looked at Xiaohua. "If you're not busy, go and watch over Yuyu."
Little Flower had no objection; it raised its antennae and turned off the television.
"Okay, have a great date."
Yan Xingli stiffened his neck, raised his eyebrows and glared: "No appointment, you're talking too much."
Li Zhi rushed over here immediately after getting off the plane, without even going home.
Winters in S City are damp and cold. Li Zhi's cheeks were red from the wind, and even her exquisite makeup couldn't hide her fatigue.
In contrast, his eyes remained sharp and bright.
Are you sure you don't know this person?
"I don't know him." Yan Xingli raised a finger to the sky and swore, "I didn't steal his fiancée."
Li Zhi crossed her arms and watched him quietly.
Yan Xingli offered his own guess: "I guess he's one of my biggest haters."
He is a law-abiding citizen who never makes enemies. The most hated people he has ever had are his haters.
"I trust you."
Li Zhi picked up the hot water on the table, blew on it, took a sip, and looked up, saying:
"However, Xiaoxing, this person is no ordinary person. He is the youngest son of the Bai family, the richest family in our city. I have seen his information. You two will go to the same university."
Yan Xingli nodded; he had heard that person mention it that morning.
Do you know Xia Li?
As Li Zhi asked, she opened the photo album and shoved a picture right in front of his eyes: "It's this girl."
He looked somewhat familiar, and Yan Xingli squinted as he tried to recall.
After a moment, he looked enlightened and said, "I know her, but we're not close. She's the student council president at our school."
He was also the class monitor. He remembered Xia Li because they had been deskmates several times.
Li Zhi: "That's right, she is Bai Ji's fiancée."
Li Zhi has been in the industry for over ten years and has her own connections and channels. As soon as that incident happened this morning, someone in the industry relayed a message to her.
The reason why the young master of the Bai family made that scene was to embarrass Yan Xingli and vent his anger.
Bai Ji and Xia Li were childhood sweethearts, and their families arranged their marriage when they were young.
According to their plan, they would get engaged after graduating from university, but Xia Li changed her mind halfway through and fell in love with Yan Xingli.
This turn of events not only caused a rift between the two families, but also made Bai Ji a laughing stock in the industry.
His fiancée abandoned him, a man of exceptional talent, and threw herself into the arms of a poor, penniless young man—it was an utter disgrace.
The proud young master of the Bai family thus developed a deep resentment towards Yan Xingli.
After hearing the inside information, Yan Xingli was completely speechless.
It's a miscarriage of justice! What an undeserved disaster!
"Xia Li did express her desire to date me, but I refused."
She didn't fall into my arms.
Li Zhi gave him a look that suggested he was a troublemaker: "Now they're using all their connections to blacklist you. The production team has received a lot of complaints, specifically asking you to get off the show."
Hearing this, Yan Xingli didn't even raise an eyebrow; he had already guessed it.
Don't panic, he's already received an offer from Boss Yuyu. There's no such thing as a big or small patron, as long as you have one.
"Alright, I have no objection."
Yan Xingli was in a "what's the use" attitude, completely indifferent to everything. If Li Zhi were in her usual temperament, she would have already started cursing him.
At this moment, she carefully looked him up and down, her expression changing subtly several times.
"Xiao Xing, when necessary, you should ask for help. No matter what you do, you have to be willing to put aside your pride."
Li Zhi's words carried a veiled meaning, and Yan Xingli seemed to understand but not quite. Li Zhi mistakenly thought that he was pretending to be ignorant and was trying to play the fool.
Without further ado, she unleashed her ultimate weapon: "Is this your behind-the-scenes boss?"
Yan Xingli stared intently, then his pupils suddenly contracted.
!!
Isn't this exactly what Yanshan wanted?
Although it was just a blurry, tall figure from behind, they were siblings, and he would recognize her even if she turned to ashes.
She's not some behind-the-scenes boss, she's clearly a demon king!
Yan Xingli's eyes held a complex expression: "Who took this picture?"
"Paparazzi, I guess."
When he first debuted, he wasn't a top boy band member, so there were no paparazzi around him. It's obvious that someone deliberately sent him to monitor and secretly photograph him.
Bai Ji, it must be him.
Yan Xingli realized that this was a huge misunderstanding.
He could only offer a futile and feeble explanation: "It's not what you think."
Li Zhi smiled without saying a word, her face saying one thing: Keep pretending, let's see how long you can keep up the act.
When the person next to her told her about it, the strange feeling that Li Zhi had previously sensed from Yan Xingli was immediately resolved.
She said that with Yan Xingli's looks, how come he hasn't encountered a powerful figure who wanted to sexually harass him in his four years and more since his debut?
It turns out he already had a powerful backer.
This kid is really good at hiding his true abilities.
Before leaving, Li Zhi gave him a reassuring look and said gently, "Just focus on recording the show. Someone else will handle those things. Oh, and remember to check out Weibo when you have time."
Yan Xingli's Weibo account is usually managed by Xiao Lin, and he was too lazy to bother Xiao Lin to verify it late at night.
So I logged into my alternate account and browsed the comments section of my main account.
The comments criticizing him on Weibo have disappeared, and the top comments are all people making jokes and asking for criticism. If you didn't know better, you'd think he'd joined some weird or strange circle.
Yan Xingli felt relieved.
He half-closed his eyes and clicked on the trending topics, and surprisingly, none of them were negative trending topics about him interfering in other people's relationships. Instead, he noticed that Xia Li had posted a long article to clarify the situation.
Yan Xingli breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't stupid; he immediately understood who he was owed this to.
"Sister, you are truly my only sister!"
"Please allow me to serve you for the rest of my life; I will be at your beck and call!"
Yan Shanyi: "Just this once. I won't help you anymore. If you can't get by, then go back to the company and clock in."
Yan Xingli's face was filled with a fawning smile: "I understand."
“My parents are going to France for a banquet next month. You speak French well, so why don’t you go with them this time?” Yan Shanyi said with a hint of relief in her voice.
Yan Xingli: "Ah...me?"
"Hmm, is there a problem?"
Yan Xingli no longer displayed the composure and arrogance he had shown when he slapped Bai Ji's face. He nervously rubbed the inconspicuous language bracelet on his wrist.
Even the most well-equipped fake academic genius is no match for a real academic genius.
“Your parents have been watching your live stream.” Yan Shanyi’s usually aloof tone softened for once. “They can tell you’ve been working hard, and they’re very happy.”
Yan Xingli forced a smile and agreed, then whispered, "But I'm starting a new project next month, and the company even signed me up for a crash course in acting."
Yan Shanyi put down her knife and fork, gently wiped her lips, and casually skipped over the topic:
"We'll talk about it later. There's one more thing. My parents are coming the day after tomorrow. I've sent you their flight information."
Yan Xingli's smile vanished in an instant, and the chibi-style figure above his head resembled a badger fleeing in disarray.
No, couldn't we have mentioned something this important at the beginning?
*
There are no more brothers dancing naked.
The following list is also gone.
Browsing history, all my favorites, cleared it all!!
The next day, Qi Youyu, who was scrolling through videos on her tablet, looked around blankly, feeling lost.
If it's broken, it can be fixed. The child held the tablet by both ends and tilted it downwards.
I kept refreshing, but still nothing; it was either children's paper cutting or funny children's videos.
Qi Youyu hugged the tablet tightly and stood up, asking Yan Xingli, who was lifting weights, for help: "Uncle, your tablet is broken."
Yan Xingli asked knowingly, "What's wrong?"
"It chased away all the older brothers who could dance."
"Really? Let me see."
Yan Xingli put down the dumbbells, pretended to take the tablet, and quickly swiped through it: "Brother is tired from jumping and is going to rest. Can sister do it?"
The platform's video recommendation mechanism is completely based on gender. Xiaohua helped Yuyu apply for a video account under a female identity, so the platform relentlessly recommended videos featuring male actors.
Yan Xingli manually searched for several female dance bloggers who spread positive energy.
The energetic background music, the female blogger's healthy and well-proportioned figure, and her confident and sunny body language make her stand out from the male lead who is just flirting with the wrong person.
Qi Youyu stared in disbelief, and the little guy never looked up again.
"Uncle, when I grow up, I want to marry my sister."
"This older sister is nice too."
"Uncle, I want to take all these older sisters with me," the child muttered, his little brows furrowed. "Oh no, the Little Fish can't hold that many people."
Yan Xingli glanced at her and said, "Are you bringing back local specialties? You want this and that. Why don't you just bring back the whole Earth?"
[Haha, is Little Fish also one of Fish's inventions?]
[A once-in-a-lifetime reunion! I actually saw my favorite blogger in the live stream!]
The little guy's body trembled, as if someone had opened up his meridians, and his eyes shone so brightly that Yan Xingli shivered.
No, that's not it.
He just said it casually; he didn't mean to suggest that aliens would attack Earth.
"uncle--"
Yan Xingli hurriedly covered the child's mouth and said with a dry laugh, "I can tell you just want some water. Wait here, I'll get you some."
"I don't want water, I want milk."
The child's uncle quickly fetched the milk.
Qi Youyu invited Yan Xingli to watch the pretty lady dance, but Yan Xingli waved his hand, pretending to be busy.
The child rested his chin on his hand, stared at him intently for a while, and concluded: "Uncle, you don't like my sister."
Yan Xingli's hand slipped while lifting weights, and the dumbbell nearly hit his toe.
"!!!"
Wow, thanks to the uncle and nephew for adding another memorable moment to the Chinese entertainment scene.
[I'm laughing so hard I'm going to throw up, Little Fish! Look how scared you made your uncle, here comes the meme!]
"That was close!" Yan Xingli, still shaken, wiped the sweat from his body with a towel, took a couple of gulps of water, and then slowly said:
"Your uncle is just busy, so he doesn't have time to watch with you."
"Good-looking people, regardless of gender, are liked by everyone, and this liking is also called appreciation."
Qi Youyu's mind raced, and she opened her big eyes: "Then why didn't you let me watch the brother dance yesterday, Uncle?"
Yan Xingli choked for a moment, then said matter-of-factly, "Your uncle is doing this for your own good."
“You’re too young to understand,” he said. “It’s not right to wait until you’re as old as your uncle to look at it; you should look at it less often.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Yan Xingli paused for a moment, realizing that the little guy would probably be no longer on Earth by the time he grew up.
He lowered his eyes, wanting to ask about the progress of Xiaoyuhao's collection of emotions, but then swallowed his words.
Although Yan Xingli clicked "not interested" on all the videos featuring men who were flirting with the wrong image overnight, he was still uneasy.
"Stop looking, come on, your uncle will take you out for a walk."
There are still many new and interesting things on Earth that she hasn't experienced yet.
The grandfather and granddaughter set off fully equipped. Yan Xingli had planned to drive Yu Yu to Disneyland for a day, but the child showed no interest whatsoever.
She pulled her uncle to squat by the roadside, watching the passing cars with great interest for twenty minutes straight.
"Pig-cart".
“That’s not a pig-cart.” Yan Xingli stood up and shook his sore legs, explaining simply, “It’s called a bus. It’s cheaper than a pig-cart, only two yuan for a ride, but it’s a bit slower.”
"I want to sit."
Yan Xingli: "Don't you want to ride in your uncle's car anymore? Tired of it?"
Qi Youyu looked on with amazement: "This car looks like a big loaf of bread!"
In a child's eyes, neither a Cullinan nor a Maserati is as attractive as a large, van-like bus.
The child wanted to play some inexpensive activities, and Yan Xingli, while fiddling with the bus boarding QR code, sighed that the little alien was so easy to raise.
The grandmother and grandson walked to the nearest bus stop to wait for the bus.
There is no off-season in S City; almost every bus is packed with people.
Yan Xingli glanced at the photographer beside him and whispered to Yu Yu:
"Yuyu, let's pick a car with fewer people later. It will be very inconvenient for Uncle Zhang to carry the machine if there are too many people."
The child had no objection and took a piece of candy from his pocket and gave it to the photographer, Xiao Zhang.
"Uncle, if you're tired, let my uncle carry you. Don't be shy."
[Fish, everyone gets a share! I want some candy from your hand too QAQ]
The grandmother and grandson waited for 15 minutes before a less crowded bus finally arrived, and coincidentally, there were three empty seats on the bus.
It's just that they're scattered.
Yan Xingli glanced around and realized it wasn't appropriate for him, a man, to sit between two girls. Luckily, there was another seat available on the other side.
Without much thought, he tossed Qi Youyu into the space between the two girls and sat down next to the young man next to him, with the photographer sitting behind him.
Qi Youyu tried her best to raise her head.
She looked at her uncle sitting next to the unfamiliar older boy, pouted her little face in dissatisfaction, and clenched her little fists in protest:
"Uncle, don't like handsome guys too much! You'd rather have a muscular uncle than me!"
Yan Xingli: "..."
The child's voice wasn't loud, but in the quiet carriage, it was like a drop of water falling into a pool, creating ripples.
The entire carriage erupted in laughter, leaving Yan Xingli awkwardly unsure whether to sit or stand.
That troublesome brat, always causing trouble for his ancestors!
The bus smelled strongly and kept stopping and starting. The child got so dizzy after only three stops that he wilted like a little cabbage.
Yan Xingli led Qi Youyu out of the car: "Do you want to go home and rest?"
"don't want."
The child paused for a moment, then continued to squat by the roadside to observe. This time, she took a liking to a pink electric scooter. The scooter was decorated very cutely, with stickers and a windmill, which was indeed eye-catching.
"Uncle, I want to sit on that one."
“This is someone else’s car, we can’t ride in it.”
Qi Youyu glanced at him and took out a red banknote from her pocket.
"Is it okay now?"
"..."
The owner of the electric scooter happened to be a fan of Yan Xingli; he was a college student who had just finished school.
When the girl learned that Yu Yu wanted to try out her electric scooter, she was overjoyed and said she was willing to give up all her money and just take a photo with her.
Yu Yu knew that Yan Xingli had a bad reputation online, and it was rare to see a fan who liked her uncle. The child couldn't help but adopt the boss-like demeanor of her uncle.
"Sister, thank you so much for liking my uncle. Here, take this."
"Please continue to like my uncle in the future."
The wealthy fish owner rented an electric scooter for 200 yuan for half an hour, and incidentally 'bought' a permanent fan for his uncle.
The child was overjoyed; she had done a good deed, and she was her uncle's good boss.
The electric scooter is a small model; the tall Yan Xingli felt like a small mountain sitting on it, leaving very little room for him.
Such a small child couldn't be placed alone on the back seat, and the electric scooter was too small, so in the end Yu Yu could only squat in the front.
Qi Youyu was overjoyed.
"Awoooooo!"
"Wind, come and chase me!"
Yan Xingli: "Put your hat on properly and close your mouth, or you'll get a headache from the wind."
"Okay, I am a mushroom."
After squatting for less than ten minutes, the child rubbed his short legs and pitifully called out to him, "Uncle, I want to change my shape."
The grandfather and grandson rode around on their electric scooter for half an hour, and Yan Xingli's old leg pain was about to flare up, his knees feeling cold.
After returning the car in the university town, he thought about finding a place to warm up.
At this moment, Qi Youyu, who was holding hands with him, shouted and faced the milk tea shop in front of her: "Uncle, there's another one of you over there."
A life-size standee of Yanxingli is displayed at the entrance of the milk tea shop.
The university town was too crowded, and Yan Xingli instinctively wanted to take Yu Yu away.
Unexpectedly, Yu Yu was faster than him.
The child deftly shook off his hand and, without a word, swung his short legs and rushed over: "I'll take him."
Yan Xingli's temple throbbed. "No, Yu Yu, put it down."
The life-size standee looks thin, but it actually has some weight; otherwise, it wouldn't be able to stand there so firmly.
“These belong to someone else’s shop; you can’t take them.”
“This is my uncle, not a thing.”
Hearing the commotion, the milk tea shop staff came out. They thought it was a naughty child causing trouble, but it turned out to be the spokesperson.
The bubble tea shop employee exclaimed in surprise, "Ah! Yan Xingli, he's alive!"
With professional ethics ingrained in his bones, Yan Xingli immediately smiled and said, "Yes, I'm alive. Hello, hello."
The shop assistant continued to scream excitedly, and a crowd gradually gathered around.
Yan Xingli's forehead was covered in cold sweat.
Children at this age have their own way of thinking, which adults cannot change in a short period of time.
Seeing that he couldn't reason with Yu Yu, Yan Xingli hardened his heart and said, "If you don't let go, I'll leave first. You can stay here by yourself."
His long legs can take as many steps as a child's three.
Qi Youyu was stunned for a moment, looking at her uncle in her hand, and then at her uncle who was gradually walking away.
The child decisively gave up on his immobile uncle.
"Uncle!"
"Don't go! You can pinch Yu Yu's chubby cheeks and play with them!"
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