TUMZ Chapter 14

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Qui Zheyan was momentarily stunned, rendered speechless.

Taking advantage of the pause, Zhuang Hanxue glanced at him, quickly operated the computer to turn off the livestream, and then turned back, looking at Qui Zheyan in bewilderment. “I don’t even understand why you’re angry.”

That was exactly what infuriated Qui Zheyan the most.

Zhuang Hanxue was always so oblivious.

Qui Zheyan was so angry that his voice trembled. “Don’t try to change the subject! I’ve put up with you for a long time. I’ve been waiting for you to bring this up yourself. Who exactly is this ‘Little Master’? What’s your relationship with him? How long have you known him? And is he really urging you to leave me?”

Zhuang Hanxue scratched his head and stammered, “I was planning to tell you in a few days… The ‘Little Master’ is Jiujiu. Don’t you know Jiujiu?”

Qui Zheyan was momentarily stunned, then became even angrier. “Damn it, I actually know this person too?!”

Zhuang Hanxue nodded. “Yeah, he’s that child star. Haven’t you watched Jiujiu’s Culinary Journey?”

“?” Qui Zheyan felt like he might have some vague impression of it. “…”

Seeing that he was starting to remember, Zhuang Hanxue innocently added, “He’s really famous. You should know about him. You can look him up online. He’s that Jiujiu. He’s my Little Master.”

A kid?

Qui Zheyan quickly looked it up on his phone: Chu Yu, born in 20XX… He didn’t even bother reading further—he was twelve years old this year!!

A literal child!

The scene suddenly became incredibly awkward.

Qui Zheyan didn’t know what to say.

So this ‘Little Master’ was an elementary school student?

An elementary school student??

Was he seriously getting jealous over a child???

This was so damn embarrassing. Really.

Qui Zheyan’s face turned red, and his overwhelming anger instantly turned into shame.

He knew he had this problem. Over the years, he had tried his best to control it, to make himself more mature, to tone down his possessiveness—but some things were just hard to change.

When Zhuang Hanxue flirted with women, he got jealous.

When Zhuang Hanxue had an outstanding ex-girlfriend, he got jealous.

When Zhuang Hanxue played games with a supposed adult male online, he also got jealous.

Even he thought he was ridiculously prone to jealousy.

He hesitated for a moment, his lips moving slightly, before apologizing: “I’m sorry.”

“I misunderstood…”

“I thought he was an adult.”

“You’ve been secretly chatting with him all this time, and last time, I even saw him discussing with you about moving out.”

Zhuang Hanxue explained calmly, “This really is a misunderstanding. Jiujiu’s dad is actually a friend of mine. I even attended his first birthday celebration. But his dad doesn’t really like me, so we haven’t kept in touch much since then. Last year, we happened to become friends online. You know how I am—I’m shameless enough to befriend even an elementary school kid.”

He took Qui Zheyan’s hand, soothing the flustered man, and playfully said, “Jiujiu doesn’t really like you. He did suggest that I probably shouldn’t be with you. But I told him that I like you, that I wouldn’t move out. If I left, where would I ever find another Xiao Qiu who treats me so well?”

“Right?”

Qui Zheyan finally calmed down, letting out a sigh of relief. But after making such a huge misunderstanding, he felt utterly humiliated. Awkwardly, he muttered, “You should have told me sooner. I kept waiting for you to bring it up, but no matter how long I waited, you never did… If you had, I wouldn’t have misunderstood. I want to be less jealous, but I just can’t help it. Sorry for yelling at you earlier—did I scare you?”

Zhuang Hanxue pretended to be upset, seizing the rare upper hand. “Yeah, you did scare me a little. I was actually planning to tell you in two weeks. You know how I just laze around at home all day? Little Master said I couldn’t keep eating and sleeping like this, that I should find a way to make money from home.”

“So I thought, maybe I could try livestreaming. Now I’ve signed with a platform, all thanks to Little Master helping me. He’s been helping me attract viewers these past few days. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have gained so much attention so quickly. I owe him a big thanks.”

“He even sacrificed his winter break homework time to help me out. And you were here getting jealous for no reason. If he finds out, he’s going to laugh himself silly.”

“In two more weeks, I’ll have been signed for a full month. I was planning to use the money I earned to buy you a New Year’s gift—it was supposed to be a surprise. That’s why I hadn’t told you yet.”

Zhuang Hanxue’s explanation was logical and convincing, and Qui Zheyan was successfully pacified.

This lazy bum was working so hard just to buy him a New Year’s gift. Qui Zheyan felt his heart melting.

He had wronged Zhuang Hanxue.

This whole mess was completely his fault.

Qui Zheyan repeatedly apologized: “I was wrong, I was really wrong. I got jealous over nothing. I’ll buy him a gift to make up for it. Please don’t be mad at me anymore. What do you want me to do?”

Zhuang Hanxue kept a straight face. “What do you think?”

Qui Zheyan said, “What do you want? I—I’ll buy it for you.”

Zhuang Hanxue couldn’t hold it in anymore. After trying to keep a serious expression for a while, he finally broke and laughed, pinching Qui Zheyan’s cheek. “Alright, alright. You look like a golden retriever who just got scolded for making a mess. I’m not mad at you. When have I ever been mad at you? You don’t need to buy me anything. Just give me a kiss, and I’ll forgive you.”

Qui Zheyan immediately kissed him with a smack.

Zhuang Hanxue sighed. “Well, great. Now you found out ahead of time. No more surprise. I worked so hard to keep it from you for so long.”

Qui Zheyan held his hand. “It’s okay. As long as you’re not moving out and you still want to buy me a gift, I’m already happy.”

Zhuang Hanxue patted his head. “Your hair is so stiff, it pokes my hand. Doudou’s fur is much nicer to pet. So, are you satisfied now, my little majesty? I think you could be crowned the King of Jealousy—you get jealous of my ex-girlfriend, and now even a little kid. That’s some talent.”

Qui Zheyan finally felt embarrassed. “Well, that’s because you flirt with everyone when you talk.”

Zhuang Hanxue was shameless. “That’s just how I talk. That’s why my livestream is so popular. Wanna see? I’ve got 150,000 subscribers now!”

He sat back down and pulled up his livestream page to show Qui Zheyan. “Look, isn’t it impressive?”

But as soon as he opened it, the viewer count had skyrocketed by hundreds of thousands, and the blacked-out screen was still flooded with chat messages:

【Sweet sweet sweet sweet sweet sweet sweet】

【OMG, this is even better than listening to a BL audio drama】

【Is it over? Is it over?】

【I heard there’s a gay guy here, so I rushed over to watch】

【Wait, but didn’t the streamer say he had a girlfriend?】

Zhuang Hanxue only noticed the last comment.

His heart skipped a beat. Seeing that Qui Zheyan hadn’t reacted yet, he quickly declared with righteous conviction: “No! Xiao Qiu, don’t misunderstand! The other day on my stream, I said I had a girlfriend, but I made that up… I was playing a game with a female streamer, and she was kinda hitting on me, so I told her I had a wife! That I live with my wife! That my wife treats me really well! That I would never betray my wife!!”

“I was talking about you…”

“I just didn’t want to admit I was dating a guy…”

“I mean, I’m a guy too. I have my pride, okay?”

Qui Zheyan couldn’t help but chuckle dryly. “And who’s your wife?”

Zhuang Hanxue immediately caved, mumbling, “I’m the wife. I’m your wife, okay?”

Qui Zheyan nodded, finally satisfied, letting him off the hook. As he watched the chat still scrolling like crazy and the viewer count climbing, he glanced at the computer and pointed at an icon. “That icon in the bottom right is still lit up. That means your voice chat software is still on.”

Zhuang Hanxue followed Qui Zheyan’s finger, froze, and then went completely pale with horror. “Shit! I didn’t turn off my mic!!”

Qui Zheyan: “…”

He finally turned it off.

Zhuang Hanxue checked it four or five more times, PTSD kicking in, just to make absolutely sure the mic was really off this time.

Then he asked, “Is it off now?”

Qui Zheyan confirmed, “Yeah, it’s off.”

A brief silence followed.

Zhuang Hanxue collapsed onto the desk.

Qui Zheyan held back, really tried to hold back, but in the end, he couldn’t. His shoulders started shaking, and then he burst out laughing. “Hahahahahaha.”

Zhuang Hanxue turned back with a miserable face. “You’re still laughing? Stop laughing! I think I’m gonna get banned for broadcasting inappropriate content. I just started this livestream, damn it.”

Qui Zheyan pulled him into a hug and patted his back. “It’s fine, it’s fine. You don’t need to do this anyway—I can take care of you.”

Zhuang Hanxue huffed twice, still grumpy, then stormed off.

He unplugged the internet, turned off his phone, went back to his room, flopped onto the bed like a mummy, and lay there stiffly, looking completely at peace.

“Don’t call me.”

“I’m dead.”

“I hereby declare my social death.”

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