It was the first time that Ruan Cunyun stayed at Qin Fanglu's house for two consecutive nights. The two woke up from the same bed, hugging each other, both with traces of sleep, but they had to go to work as soon as they opened their eyes.
Qin Fanglu's most severely injured areas were his chest muscles and back, where he had been scratched and bitten by Yun Xiaomao, leaving a trail of light red marks and several tiny tooth marks.
In contrast, Ruan Cunyun's body was even more shocking, with mottled red marks extending from his neck down.
The lipstick signature had long since turned a deep red after being rubbed countless times. Clean water could wash away the lipstick dye, but it could not wash away the layered peach color that came through the skin.
The two of them put on shirts and trousers respectively and stood in front of the mirror. The serious clothes wrapped their bodies tightly, hiding those ambiguous and private traces.
Ruan Cunyun opened the can and fed the cat, Qin Fanglu made breakfast and fed Ruan Cunyun, and the two of them left home to go to work together for the first time.
Qin Fanglu drove the car himself without calling a driver. Ruan Cunyun tuned the radio in the passenger seat. The morning sun shone on the two of them.
While waiting for the traffic light, Qin Fanglu suddenly laughed: "If we live together, we can go to work together every day."
Ruan Cunyun was concentrating on humming along with the radio and didn't hear what Qin Fanglu said clearly. He paused and asked, "Hmm?"
The two girls who were practicing separately slowly stopped and focused their attention on Ruan Cunyun.
Time was almost up and Qin Fanglu was still on a video conference. Ruan Cunyun couldn't talk to him face to face, so he picked up his bag and ran away, sending a message on WeChat saying, "I'm going to rehearse, and I usually practice until 10 o'clock in the evening."
Then he carefully sent a second message: "Can I know the address of the dance studio?"
Ruan Cunyun was still wearing his work shirt, which made it difficult for him to stretch out, so he quickly ran to the locker room to change into a loose short-sleeved shirt and shorts, ready to join the dance practice group immediately.
"Oh, forget it, we've all been there." Rainbow Bear chuckled, "Ya Mei is so lucky."
Ruan Cunyun glanced at his cell phone and suddenly his body stiffened.
Rainbow Bear had an ambiguous look in his eyes, and his lips were pursed to reveal two dimples when he smiled. Bai Qiangwei was familiar with Ruan Cunyun, and she laughed wildly without any scruples, clapping her hands as she went along: "It's really fierce, it's really fierce."
These days everyone is very keen on guessing the story of Huya and Teacher Dan. Rainbow Bear, the surfing master, is also quite curious.
Ruan Cunyun grabbed his collar, his eyes wandering: "Well, I guess so."
As a result, the tendons in his thighs and calves were all sore, which was the result of being pressed on his back for too long in the past two days. He couldn't help but frown and secretly cursed Qin Fanglu in his heart for being an insatiable monster.
Work seemed to become less difficult. Ruan Cunyun finished his tasks for the day, turned off the computer, hummed a tune, and prepared to wait for Qin Fanglu to go home together.
Back at the company, they became elite bosses and hardworking employees again, sitting at their desks respectively, facing their computers. Occasionally their eyes met, but then separated in an instant, unable to hide the smiles on their lips.
The T-shirt has a loose neckline, revealing the clear collarbone lines and the layered kiss marks on it.
"Good evening!" Ruan Cunyun replied with a smile, "I'll go change my clothes first and come right back."
"Is Yamei here?" Rainbow Bear stopped what he was doing and raised his hand to greet Ruan Cunyun.
As the comic convention gets closer, their practice becomes more intense.
There was one action that Bai Qiangwei couldn't change. She was staring at the mirror and greeted casually, "Ya, good evening!"
"Thank you." Ruan Cunyun took it, smiled, and quickly put it on.
Ruan Cunyun was so embarrassed. The irrefutable evidence was right in front of him. He had no room for explanation and could only make up a random excuse: "Ah, this, actually..."
Bai Qiangwei, on the other hand, said in surprise: "You haven't been online for two days. Are you really online all the time? I thought you were just too lazy to reply to our messages."
Rainbow Bear laughed and grabbed one of his coats and gave it to Ruan Cunyun: "This one has a high collar and a large pattern. You can wear it. I'll lend it to you to cover yourself up."
White Rose and Rainbow Bear had already practiced once. Ruan Cunyun pushed the door open with sweat all over his forehead. After getting off the car and running two steps, some parts of his body began to ache.
He suddenly felt that he might not be able to dance tonight.
"To celebrate your birthday?" Rainbow Bear continued to ask.
Qin Fanglu replied after a while: "Okay, I have to work overtime today."
He forgot that today was the day for the house dance rehearsal.
Ruan Cunyun sent it to him without thinking.
Since the center of gossip was right in front of him, Rainbow Bear didn't want to hold it back any longer, and pointed at Ruan Cunyun's neck with a smile: "Teacher Huya, was it your boyfriend who did it?"
Ruan Cunyun didn't know why Bai Qiangwei said this until he raised his head and saw his current appearance in the mirror that covered the entire wall of the dance studio.
"You ask a very strange question..."
Ruan Cunyun also knew that everyone, from fans to gay friends, was very curious about who Mr. Dan’s mysterious three-dimensional partner was and whether he had any relationship with Ruan Cunyun.
Ruan Cunyun, who was concentrating on stretching, looked up in confusion.
White Rose asked with concern and sincerity: "Can you dance today?"
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Ruan Cunyun endured the discomfort and stretched himself to do warm-up exercises, intending to fight poison with poison.
His face suddenly turned red, Ruan Cunyun grabbed his collar and tightened his palm, trying to cover up the mark in a clumsy and panic manner.
"Nothing." The green light came on, Qin Fanglu turned around and slowly stepped on the accelerator.
There is the old dark red from the previous two days, and the bright red from the new bite last night, dotted on the fair skin in a mist-like manner. It is not difficult to imagine what Ruan Cunyun has experienced in the past few days.
"What's wrong?"
White Rose was happy to watch the show. As an insider, she felt a magical sense of superiority. She deliberately put her chin on her hand and chimed in, "To celebrate your birthday?"
Hu Ya said he had a boyfriend himself, it was not a secret, Ruan Cunyun nodded with a red face.
White Rose hugged Rainbow Bear and said with a smile, "Are you so eager to show your affection to our Ya sister? I know what you want to gossip about. Tiger Ya, why don't you confess and let her be lenient."
Now there was only Rainbow Bear in front of him, and this was not a big secret, so Ruan Cunyun was about to say: "Actually, it is true..."
The buzzing sound of the cell phone interrupted Ruan Cunyun's words.
"Eh, what the hell?" Rainbow Bear stared at his phone screen in surprise, "Why did Chuchu Dog suddenly call me?"
Rainbow Bear picked up the phone, asked enthusiastically what was going on, and then slowly opened his eyes.
"Damn it - no way - you are poisonous!" Rainbow Bear exclaimed with a smile, stood up under the puzzled gazes of Ruan Cunyun and Bai Qiangwei, rushed over and opened the door of the practice room.
"La la la!" A sunny boy appeared at the door, holding two large bags of milk tea in his hands. "Hello, Yamei Qiangwei Xiongxiong, everyone! You've worked hard in dancing, and here comes Jiujiu Dog!"
Following behind Jiujiu Dog was a little girl with pigtails, who looked like a high school student, happily hugging White Rose.
"Xiao Meng, why are you here suddenly?" Bai Qiangwei asked in surprise.
"Because the comic convention is coming soon, I came here a week in advance." Xiao Meng smiled sweetly, "Just to give you a surprise, are you surprised?"
At the end of the team were Boyue and Qita, each holding a hostage.
Xu Feifei just screamed: "Woo woo, when has my uncle Fei ever suffered such humiliation? He was actually regarded as an old horse who knows the way!"
Qi Chang held Bai Qiangwei and said, "Wife, it's not that I didn't tell you in advance, it's that they sealed my mouth."
Several cosplayers from other places made an appointment to come to Shenzhen in advance. When the plane arrived, it was afternoon. After chatting with Xu Feifei, they found out that Ruan Cunyun and others were practicing dancing at night. So they simply bought some milk tea, kidnapped two local tyrants, and made a surprise visit to the set.
It had been a long time since Ruan Cunyun had been surrounded by so many good online friends. Some of them he had known before, and some he had only happily chatted with online. When they suddenly met in a lively atmosphere, there was not a single bit of awkwardness. They each drank a cup of milk tea while chatting.
Xiao Meng took a sip of the milk tea, savored it for a few seconds, and frowned: "Hey, they sent me the wrong one."
Ruan Cunyun suggested: "Call them and ask them to send another cup."
"Alas, this is the only way."
Xiao Meng finished the call quickly, then recalled something and said excitedly, "Oh, yeah, when we came in just now, I saw a very handsome guy outside the dance room! He was wearing a suit and was very tall. It was a pity that it was too dark to see his face, but he had a very good temperament!"
"Who is it?" Qita came closer, "Why can't I see you?"
Xu Feifei also joined in the fun: "Who is it? Who is it? I didn't see it either."
Chuchu Dog sipped his milk tea elegantly and said narcissistically: "Can you be as handsome as me?"
A bunch of cosplayers got together and had endless topics to talk about.
They talked about their respective programs at the convention, the latest anime, what they were going to buy at the convention, and their common friends. The dance studio became like a tea party square, filled with laughter.
"Do you know, there is a huge breaking news that I just found out."
Xu Feifei leaned forward and lowered his voice, "It is said that this comic exhibition has a guest added temporarily, a super heavyweight, the kind that you won't see for a hundred years."
Xu Feifei was Xiao Lingtong, and the others immediately pricked up their ears and asked curiously, "Who is it?" "A painter, a god-level painter." Xu Feifei kept it a secret and gave Xiao Meng a meaningful look, "And you young people may not know him."
Xiao Meng was not convinced: "Let me hear you talk about it!"
Under everyone's urging gazes, Xu Feifei finally said, "It's the 'Ghost King'."
Ruan Cunyun was stunned and repeated, "Damn, Ghost King?"
Even Bai Qiangwei, who rarely looked at paintings, was surprised: "Is this the Ghost King I was thinking of? Eight out of ten people used his paintings as their avatars."
Xu Feifei smiled and nodded: "Yes."
Guiwang was probably one of the earliest people to get involved in the two-dimensional world. When the domestic anime and comics industry was just emerging, Guiwang was already active in various circles. The fan art he drew was widely loved by netizens. In that era when chefs were scarce, he provided Michelin-level meals to the few enthusiasts.
Later, for unknown reasons, the Ghost King suddenly retired and disappeared like a ghost, and has since become a god-like legend.
Since then, more and more people have fallen in love with the two-dimensional world. These newcomers may not have heard of Guiwang’s name, but they must have seen Guiwang’s paintings in various forum signatures, QQ space backgrounds, and archaeological Weibo posts. Each one is a classic.
Although the Ghost King has long disappeared from the world, his legend still remains.
No one expected that the Ghost King would return this summer.
Qita was the oldest of all the ACG people. He almost fell to his knees. He grabbed Xu Feifei's hand and asked in a trembling voice, "Will Mr. Ghost King show up in person?"
Xu Feifei said regretfully, "It shouldn't be, but the largest poster in the venue seems to be drawn by Mr. Ghost King."
Ruan Cunyun clapped his hands and sighed: "Awesome, this year's comic exhibition is so exciting, so many big names gathered..."
“Hahahaha, it’s really exciting!” Chuchugou couldn’t help laughing and interrupted, “For example, the double interview between Mr. BALLS and Mr. Huya.”
In fact, with so many people coming here, they are all more or less curious about this topic, but when they meet in real life, they are always shy and polite, unlike the indifference they receive online, so no one has dared to gossip directly with Ruan Cunyun.
Now that Jiujiugou mentioned this, everyone's inquiring eyes turned to Ruan Cunyun, and everyone was waiting to see what was going on.
Someone asked in a friendly and tentative manner, starting with an unimportant question: "Um, Yamei, so you... really like Mr. Dan, right?"
Bai Qiangwei tried hard to hold back her laughter, and Xu Feifei almost laughed out loud, but was covered back by Qi Chang.
It is well known that Huya likes Teacher Dan. Ruan Cunyun nodded, but he felt a little guilty.
Now he likes not only Teacher Dan, but also Teacher Qin.
Xiao Meng waved her phone, which showed the result of the first place vote: "Are you and Teacher Dan really going to attend together? Have you met?"
"We have to attend together." Ruan Cunyun said, "Meeting... The organizers haven't arranged for us to meet yet."
"You mean you've met in private?" Jiujiugou was very good at grasping the key points.
Ruan Cunyun nodded and shook his head, saying no, but if he continued like this, his underwear would be stripped off.
"Okay, I see." Bo Yue blinked, "Ya Mei has obviously succeeded in chasing her idol. She has started talking to her favorite artist and they are following each other. But they are not familiar with each other in the three-dimensional world. They just went from being strangers online to being strangers to friends."
Ruan Cunyun cut the Gordian knot and left future troubles to the future: "See you at the comic convention anyway."
Jiujiu Dog whispered: "Before, I thought that Huya and Teacher Dan were really together, just like some people. It must be a coincidence."
"Yeah." Qita also said with a smile, "Otherwise they should be on a couples-only show like Brother Qiangwei Chang!"
Once the gossip started, it couldn't be stopped, and the focus was soon shifted to Bai Qiangwei and Qi Chang, and Ruan Cunyun was temporarily out of danger.
Xiao Meng's milk tea arrived. She jumped out to get it, then ran back quickly like a frightened little white rabbit, her shrill voice cutting through the noisy chatter with great penetration.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck…” Xiao Meng shouted, “The handsome guy at the door just now is still here! And his phone screensaver is actually a picture of Huya—I saw it by accident when I was getting my milk tea!”
"I couldn't help but ask him casually, do you know Huya? The handsome guy said he was a fan of Huya."
Xiao Meng pulled Ruan Cunyun's arm and said, "Do you want to go out and have a look? There are handsome fans there. Maybe they are even more handsome than your current boyfriend?"
"Damn." Ruan Cunyun smiled and said sincerely, "He probably won't be more handsome than my boyfriend."
"Help." Xiao Meng was really about to turn into a lemon. "Do you have to be so masculine?"
Ruan Cunyun had been paying attention to the messages on his mobile phone. Qin Fanglu didn't send him any message. He didn't know if he was still working overtime. Ruan Cunyun didn't dare to disturb him and planned to ask him later.
"I don't think you can practice dancing today, and it's almost time." Chuchu Dog suggested, "How about we just take a walk together? We can walk back to the hotel together."
"Okay!" White Rose agreed, "Let's move to another location."
Ruan Cunyun also felt very good because his physical condition was not suitable for dancing today.
After thinking about it, he decided to send a message to Qin Fanglu, telling him that he was going to move to another place, and if Qin Fanglu got off work, he should go home by himself so as not to come back empty-handed.
Xiao Meng pulled Ruan Cunyun's sleeve and said, "If that handsome guy is still at the door, I'll point him out to you."
Ruan Cunyun didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
A group of people walked out of the door in a mighty and noisy manner, and into the night, and the view suddenly became dark.
Xiao Meng whispered to Ruan Cunyun, "Look, look, that's him. Isn't he handsome?"
Ruan Cunyun looked in the direction Xiao Meng pointed, and suddenly saw Qin Fanglu standing far away at the edge of the street corner, looking down at his cell phone.
At the same time, Ruan Cunyun received a message from Qin Fanglu, and he said, "Okay, then I'll go back first."
Ruan Cunyun felt a numbness in his heart. Qin Fanglu was the person Xiao Meng mentioned. So when did he stand outside and wait? Why didn't he tell him
"Hey! He seems to be leaving!" Xiao Meng pulled Ruan Cunyun's sleeve anxiously.
The sound was a bit loud, and several cosplayers nearby came over to ask, "Who is so-and-so?"
Xiao Meng whispered, "That's the Ya girl fan I just ran into outside. Isn't she very handsome?"
Seeing that Qin Fanglu was about to leave and his figure was about to blend into the darkness, Ruan Cunyun had no time to think, he ran over and stood in front of Qin Fanglu.
"Ruan Cunyun?" Qin Fanglu was stunned for a moment, then quickly laughed, "I thought you would come out in a while."
Ruan Cunyun complained: "When did you arrive? Why didn't you tell me? You were just standing outside waiting, and standing so far away?"
"It wasn't long. I didn't send you a message because I didn't want to disturb you while you were dancing." Qin Fanglu said calmly, "Besides, there are other cosplayers dancing with you, right? It's not convenient for them to see me."
Ruan Cunyun was slightly startled: "Why?"
"Don't you want to make it public?" Qin Fanglu chuckled and wiped away the sweat on Ruan Cunyun's forehead. "If they have met me, it will be exposed as soon as they go on stage."
Ruan Cunyun looked at him in a daze, speechless for a moment.
He didn't expect Qin Fanglu to be so meticulous, taking even the smallest details into consideration and remembering every word he said.
"Actually, I don't really miss it that much..." Ruan Cunyun felt a bitter feeling in his heart. He felt inexplicably sad to see Qin Fanglu standing far away in the darkness, and he choked for a moment.
Ruan Cunyun stopped the second half of his sentence and realized that there was a circle of onlookers surrounding him not far away.
A crowd of gossipy faces, except for three people standing in the last row just watching the show.
After making up his mind, Ruan Cunyun turned around, faced his friends, walked towards Qin Fanglu and leaned close to him.
He first introduced them to Qin Fanglu: "These are my friends, they are all cosplayers."
Qin Fanglu was secretly panicked by the sudden appearance of so many of Ruan Cunyun's gay friends. Then he felt Ruan Cunyun holding his hand tightly and interlocking their fingers in public.
Ruan Cunyun turned to the others, shook their hands, and said with a smile: "Let me introduce you to my boyfriend."
Unexpectedly, the passerby fan was actually her boyfriend. After being surprised, the group of people immediately became active and greeted Qin Fanglu enthusiastically.
But perhaps because Qin Fanglu looked so elite in his formal attire, everyone's tone involuntarily became respectful.
Xiao Meng held the milk tea in her hand and said, "Oh, it turns out to be Brother Ya himself! I'm sorry for offending you just now, hahaha."
Bo Yue waved his hand: "Hello, brother-in-law. Nice to meet you."
Jiujiu Dog was shocked: "Knock, my brother-in-law is so handsome, I am ashamed of myself."
Qita asked, "Wow, so Brother Ya is here to wait for Teacher Ya to finish dancing? It's a pity it's quite late now, maybe we can find time to play together later!"
Qin Fanglu couldn't make up his mind and didn't know how to answer.
Instead, I heard Ruan Cunyun say openly, "My husband is also going to the comic exhibition. See you there then."
(End of this chapter)