TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 33

After Qin Yiyuan left, the room fell silent again.

Zhuang Yanyu placed the towel used for drying his hair to the side, and only after hearing no more sounds did he lower his head to look at his phone. The call hadn’t been ended.

He asked, “Axi, are you still there?”

Wen Chenxi’s voice came low: “I’m here.”

He asked again, “Who was that just now?”

Zhuang Yanyu replied, “A colleague from the engineering department, I’ve mentioned him to you before.”

Wen Chenxi quickly pulled up an image in his mind: “The one with the last name Qin?”

Zhuang Yanyu: “Qin Yiyuan.”

Wen Chenxi: “…”

Wen Chenxi had completely forgotten about this person.

Or perhaps, since he told Xiaoyu to stop talking to him, he hadn’t heard about this person from Xiaoyu since then.

So much so that he had completely overlooked him.

To his surprise, the guy who had disappeared for so long suddenly reappeared in front of him.

Wen Chenxi asked, “How did he end up on this business trip with you?”

Weren’t they no longer in contact?

Zhuang Yanyu explained, saying that he had worked on the A City dock project with Qin Yiyuan before.

Now that Qin Yiyuan had experience, it was easier for him to jump into projects compared to unfamiliar engineers.

Qin Yiyuan also expressed interest in continuing with the project, so Zhuang Yanyu agreed.

Moreover, Supervisor Xu had specifically recommended Qin Yiyuan.

Wen Chenxi: “…”

They had been working together for over a month without him knowing.

Wen Chenxi remained silent for a long while. Rationally, he knew that requesting someone to transfer Qin Yiyuan would be impossible. Once a project had been assigned, unless there was a serious accident, people typically wouldn’t be swapped out.

Which meant they would be working together for a long time to come.

But emotionally, just the thought of someone else eyeing his fish, watching from the sidelines, made him want to transfer him immediately.

After a while, Wen Chenxi finally asked, “Does he know who I am?”

Zhuang Yanyu: “He probably knows by now.”

Wen Chenxi: “Probably?”

Wen Chenxi suddenly had an unsettling premonition, and his voice turned cold, “Xiaoyu, which photo did he see on the pillow?”

Zhuang Yanyu glanced over: “The one where you’re sitting.”

Wen Chenxi: “…”

That photo that had been stretched and distorted, making his face look like the snake spirit from the Gourd Brothers.

Honestly, he had later checked online and found that other people’s pillow designs looked pretty good. He didn’t know why Uncle Zhuang made it look like this.

But then again, given that both Uncle Zhuang and Zhuang Yanyu had such concrete, straight-laced thinking, Wen Chenxi figured he could understand.

Seeing that his brother was silent again, Zhuang Yanyu wondered if it was because he didn’t think the photo was handsome.

Zhuang Yanyu looked again and again, and still thought his brother looked incredibly handsome!

Zhuang Yanyu comforted him, “Axi, don’t worry. The photo really does look good. He should be able to recognize it’s you.”

See?

This was the aesthetic of the Zhuang family.

Wen Chenxi was silent for a long time before saying, “…Don’t go for a walk with him.”

Zhuang Yanyu: “Okay.”

Zhuang Yanyu’s voice at night had a strangely obedient tone. Whether it was the time before bed or just his natural tone, it was softer than during the day when he spoke with no fluctuation of emotions.

Through the phone, his voice reached Wen Chenxi’s ears and calmed his heart, as if by some magical effect.

Neither of them spoke again for a while.

Zhuang Yanyu thought that Wen Chenxi must have started getting busy.

Before he showered, he had been on the phone with Wen Chenxi, but they were both busy with their own things.

Wen Chenxi was working overtime reviewing documents, and Zhuang Yanyu was fixing the bathroom’s hairdryer.

He showered only after finishing.

Though they hadn’t been talking, Zhuang Yanyu enjoyed hearing the other person’s breathing and the sounds of their work, even if it was just the quiet company.

Seeing that Wen Chenxi wasn’t speaking, Zhuang Yanyu opened the laptop provided by the company and began looking at the 3D scene images.

As he watched, he thought of what Qin Yiyuan had just said.

It seemed that men could marry men?

Zhuang Yanyu had always had a great attitude toward learning about unfamiliar fields.

He started searching for information online.

There was so much fragmented information on the internet, but Zhuang Yanyu was very skilled at piecing together the correct answers from all the scattered pieces.

Perhaps because Zhuang Yanyu remained silent but could be heard typing, Wen Chenxi finally spoke up, asking, “Xiao Yu, are you still working?”

Zhuang Yanyu replied, “No, I’m looking something up.”

Wen Chenxi asked, “What are you looking up?”

Zhuang Yanyu said, “What Qin senior mentioned earlier—seemed like he was saying that marriage isn’t just for men and women, so I’m checking into it.”

Upon hearing this, Wen Chenxi’s voice softened a little, “Why are you curious about this?”

In Wen Chenxi’s eyes, Zhuang Yanyu was really too straightforward. He thought that even if Zhuang Yanyu had heard such a thing, he wouldn’t take it to heart. At most, he would be curious for a moment and then quickly forget about it.

But to his surprise, Zhuang Yanyu was actively seeking to understand it.

Zhuang Yanyu said, “I’ve never looked into it, so I’m seeing what’s up.”

Wen Chenxi didn’t speak again, even lowering his breathing, not wanting to disturb him at this moment.

He lowered his gaze to the papers on the desk but found he couldn’t read a word.

Despite the phone volume being turned up to its maximum, he couldn’t help but press the plus button, wanting to clearly hear every action on the other side.

He wanted to know whether Zhuang Yanyu had come across anything about same-sex couples in his research.

He wanted to know if, upon seeing same-sex couples, Zhuang Yanyu would feel more curiosity, disgust, or indifference.

There was so much he wanted to know, which is why Wen Chenxi didn’t want to interrupt him.

But in his heart, he was also worried—would this new century’s doors open too wide and scare away this little steel bar?

After quite a while, Wen Chenxi couldn’t hold back any longer and asked softly, “How’s the search going?”

Zhuang Yanyu’s voice was the same as before, calmly stating the facts, “I’ve learned quite a bit. Although marriage laws haven’t passed, there are indeed many same-sex couples who’ve found ways to ‘marry’—both male and female.”

Some go abroad to get married, some sign cohabitation agreements, and others simply hold a small ceremony with family and friends, etc.

Wen Chenxi loosened his tie and quietly asked, “What’s your view on same-sex couples?”

Zhuang Yanyu answered honestly, “I just think it’s not easy for them.”

“Would you reject them?”

“No.”

Hearing that, Wen Chenxi breathed a sigh of relief.

Not rejecting them was a good start.

But people are easily tempted to push further.

Once they learn the result isn’t as bad as they imagined, they begin to wonder—could there be an even better outcome?

So Wen Chenxi couldn’t help but ask, “What if you had to marry a same-sex partner? Would you feel disgusted or repulsed?”

After asking, Wen Chenxi held his breath, not even realizing that his palms were sweating. A nervousness unlike any he had ever felt, not even during countless exams or the college entrance exam, spread through his body.

Zhuang Yanyu paused, slightly stunned.

Marry a same-sex partner?

Zhuang Yanyu instinctively replied, “But I don’t have a partner.”

He didn’t have a partner, let alone a same-sex one.

Wen Chenxi had expected this answer. After all, Zhuang Yanyu had always seen him as a brother, and if he had said he liked him, that would have been strange.

Wen Chenxi said, “So it’s a hypothetical. It’s just an assumption.”

“If…” Zhuang Yanyu thought for a moment, not sure what to make of it. He instinctively glanced at the door of the room. Seeing it was closed and Qin Yiyuan had left, he felt safe talking since no one else could hear him.

Zhuang Yanyu then lowered his voice and said softly, “I can tell you, when Qin Yiyuan was here earlier, I didn’t tell him the truth. I deliberately told him that my father would have the neighbors introduce me to a girl. But although my father said there would be someone introducing, it wasn’t for me.”

Zhuang Yanyu didn’t want others to think he was strange.

His words were a bit disjointed, not quite an answer, and it took Wen Chenxi a moment to process, “What?”

Zhuang Yanyu lowered his voice even more, “I probably won’t get married.”

Wen Chenxi was slightly stunned.

Zhuang Yanyu didn’t say whether he would be willing to marry a same-sex partner, but instead said he probably wouldn’t marry at all.

Wen Chenxi asked, “Why do you say that?”

Zhuang Yanyu hugged a cushion to his chest, furrowing his brow, “I just feel… it would be weird.”

“What’s weird about it?”

“It’s hard to explain.”

“Huh? Why’s it hard to explain?”

Zhuang Yanyu remained silent.

He didn’t want to lie to his brother; it really was hard to explain.

He guessed the reason why Old Zhuang didn’t want to marry was probably the same as his own—it just felt strange.

Though they were human now, there was still a sense of… being a different species from humans.

Perhaps it was because they had been systems for so long, and only had a short time being human.

This made it hard for them to have a strong sense of belonging to a human body.

Like now, he couldn’t help but compare how things were when he was a system and how they were now as a human.

He chose to be human because he no longer wanted to spend every day carrying out tasks with a host.

He wanted to do something he truly desired, to feel whether the world truly existed, to feel whether he himself truly existed, and to experience what it felt like to truly exist in this world.

Although, compared to before, they now had less than a century of lifespan remaining, if he could experience true existence, he felt it wouldn’t be a loss at all.

He was utterly tired of endlessly repeating those cliché, overpowered protagonist storylines.

He envied how the host had family and brothers of his own, while he could only watch them achieve their happy endings from inside the host’s mind.

After the only system that had been close to Zhuang Yanyu, System 03, chose to become human, Zhuang Yanyu no longer had any familiar friends within the system.

Every system was busy, busy accumulating points.

It was at that moment that Zhuang Yanyu made up his mind—he wanted to be like System 03, to become human and experience everything for himself.

But now, he couldn’t even figure out how to be human properly—how could he possibly consider getting married?

According to the data he had collected, marriage was a lifelong commitment.

It meant that both individuals entrusted their future to each other—it was a serious and solemn matter.

Thinking back to the host’s past romantic partners, almost all of them had sacrificed so much for him before finally getting their happy ending together.

Right now, he only had one body, and he had so little time left with his brothers—how could he even consider marriage? He couldn’t afford to delay someone else’s life like that.

“Xiaoyu?”

Seeing that Zhuang Yanyu remained silent for a long time, Wen Chenxi called out softly, “Did you fall asleep?”

Zhuang Yanyu hugged the pillow in his arms a little tighter. “No.”

Hearing that slightly softened voice from the other side, Wen Chenxi felt his heart grow tender. He no longer pressed for an answer and instead said in a gentle tone, “Then close your eyes and sleep.”

Zhuang Yanyu: “Okay.”

Wen Chenxi quietly listened for a while until he heard the sound of slow, steady breathing on the other end of the phone—the sound of Zhuang Yanyu asleep. Only then did he hang up the call.

He actually didn’t want to hang up. But he remembered that Zhuang Yanyu never charged his phone while talking on the phone, and he didn’t know how much battery was left. To prevent the phone from shutting down automatically, he had no choice but to end the call.

–

The next day.

As soon as Zhuang Yanyu arrived at the construction site, he felt something was off—he didn’t see Qin Yiyuan.

Qin Yiyuan usually arrived quite early.

He asked Wang Nan, “Did Engineer Qin come in today?”

Wang Nan replied, “Yeah, he’s right over there.”

Wang Nan pointed in a direction.

Following Wang Nan’s gaze, Zhuang Yanyu saw someone wearing a black hat, black sunglasses, and a black mask, wrapping their entire face up tightly.

As if sensing Zhuang Yanyu’s gaze, that person flinched and quickly looked away.

No wonder he hadn’t noticed Qin Yiyuan earlier—with his face covered up like that, Zhuang Yanyu really didn’t recognize him.

The only physical data in his mind belonged to Old Zhuang and Wen Chenxi.

Zhuang Yanyu walked toward Qin Yiyuan.

Qin Yiyuan, who had completely hidden his face, never expected Zhuang Yanyu to approach him. His heart clenched in panic.

Why was he coming over?!

What did he want?!

Ahhh, he was already embarrassed enough! Couldn’t he just stay away?!

Qin Yiyuan wanted to run but didn’t dare. It was obvious Zhuang Yanyu was walking straight toward him—there was nowhere to escape. He could only brace himself and wait.

When Zhuang Yanyu stopped in front of him, Qin Yiyuan stiffened. Though he was a tall, grown man, at this moment, his aura inexplicably shrank by half.

“D-Do you need something?” Qin Yiyuan asked in a small, stammering voice, nervous beyond words.

Zhuang Yanyu frowned at him. “You still haven’t sent me the revised 3D model.”

Qin Yiyuan: “…”

Crap, he had totally forgotten about that.

After returning to the hotel last night, he had been too busy dying of embarrassment!

But there were no intergalactic tickets available for sale to let him flee Earth. He had spent the entire night wallowing in despair—how could he have remembered that task?

Qin Yiyuan: “…I’ll send it right away.”

He immediately turned to head toward the temporary workstation.

After taking a couple of steps, he hesitated, then turned back, cleared his throat, and asked, “L-Last night… if I wasn’t mistaken, that brother of yours… his surname is Wen?”

Zhuang Yanyu replied, “Yes.”

Qin Yiyuan was dazed. “So it really was him… I kept debating last night whether it was or wasn’t.”

Having worked at the company for years and participated in major projects, Qin Yiyuan had naturally seen the big boss several times.

He hesitated for a moment.

Zhuang Yanyu: “What do you want to say?”

Qin Yiyuan: “…The boss is actually really handsome… I don’t think you needed to edit the photo so much…”

He was already good-looking without edits!

Zhuang Yanyu had always thought his brother was handsome, so hearing others compliment him made him happy. “Thank you.”

Qin Yiyuan: “…”

He couldn’t stay here any longer—he turned and fled immediately.

Internally, he wondered whether he’d lose his job over this.

Last night, he had said all those things in front of the big boss himself…

And what was going on between the big boss and Xiaoyu?

Could they at least clarify a little…?

But even if they weren’t together, Qin Yiyuan no longer dared to have any thoughts.

Five days passed in the blink of an eye.

The first phase of the auxiliary construction was finally nearing completion, though it was a few days behind Zhuang Yanyu’s original schedule.

The delay was mostly due to several days of rain, which made construction impossible.

Working near the coast also posed unique challenges—when digging foundations or laying pipelines, they often found that certain areas weren’t suitable, or that seawater would seep in, forcing them to relocate the pipes.

When they had to change locations, they had to reorganize the technical route using a different plan. Back and forth, the work took nearly two more weeks to complete.

Next up was the work on the harbor group’s side. Once they completed the foundation and ground construction, his team would return to continue.

Although the progress was slightly delayed from Zhuang Yanyu’s initial estimate, overall, the project was still ahead of schedule. The first phase of construction was considered a success.

The person in charge at the harbor group was pleased. Upon inquiry, he learned that the greatest contributor to this achievement was Zhuang Yanyu.

So, he wondered whether he should prepare a small red envelope as a token of appreciation for the engineers from Azure Technology to celebrate a good start.

This was similar to the customary red envelopes given after the completion of major milestones—an entirely normal practice.

Normally, treating them to a meal would suffice, but he heard that they weren’t fond of dining out. Giving a red envelope was actually more convenient, and frankly, no one at the harbor group wanted to drink either.

The only headache was deciding how much to give.

That day, while packing his luggage to leave, Zhuang Yanyu received a call from Chen Kang.

Chen Kang was the general manager of the project and the lead negotiator when they initially partnered with the harbor group.

Zhuang Yanyu answered, “President Chen?”

Chen Kang hesitantly asked, “Xiao Zhuang, how is your relationship with our big boss lately?”

Zhuang Yanyu was puzzled. “Ah Xi and I are fine. Why?”

As long as they hadn’t fallen out, that was good!

Chen Kang let out a breath of relief and chuckled. “Well, the harbor group wants to give you and Xiao Qin a red envelope for a good start, but they’re unsure about the amount. So, they asked me for some background on you.”

Zhuang Yanyu asked, “Why ask about me?”

Chen Kang laughed. “Think about what you’ve done at the construction site. They subtly asked me if you came from a poor family and might be struggling financially. If so, they’d make the red envelope more generous—since they’ll be working with you again in the future.”

Zhuang Yanyu was confused. “I was just doing my job.”

Chen Kang chuckled. “Sure, you were just doing your job. But you also ended up ‘fixing’ the entire construction site.”

When the harbor group’s representative called Chen Kang, he was utterly dumbfounded.

They told him that when the excavator broke down, Zhuang Yanyu fixed it. When several pieces of equipment failed, he fixed them too. When the vehicles malfunctioned, he fixed them. And that wasn’t even mentioning the drones, walkie-talkies, and various operational devices used by workers—he fixed them all.

Over the past two weeks, no machinery at the site had been out of commission for more than an hour.

This greatly accelerated the project’s progress. Even on rainy days when construction had to be paused, the overall schedule remained unaffected.

So, the harbor group’s representative suspected that Zhuang Yanyu might have learned all these skills out of necessity due to financial hardship. If that were the case, they wanted to offer him a larger red envelope as a gesture of goodwill.

After all, everyone faces hardships at some point. Lending a helping hand was never a bad thing.

Chen Kang, however, was speechless.

Was Zhuang Yanyu short on money?

His brother was the big boss!

Unless the two had a falling out.

Zhuang Yanyu responded seriously, “I just didn’t want to delay progress.”

But now, he wasn’t in a rush to return.

A couple of days ago, Wen Chenxi had also gone on a business trip.

“Alright, alright, I’ll let them know,” Chen Kang said with amusement.

“Oh.”

Less than an hour after the call ended, Zhuang Yanyu received a red envelope.

It was quite thick. He glanced at it—1,000 yuan.

In this world, he rarely handled cash since almost everything was paid for via mobile transactions. This was the first time he’d received such a large sum in physical money.

For some reason, holding the red envelope made him feel unexpectedly happy.

He took a photo of it and sent it to Wen Chenxi.

[Wen Chenxi: A gift from the partner?]
[Zhuang Yanyu: Yes.]
[Zhuang Yanyu: This is my first time receiving a red envelope.]

On the other end, Wen Chenxi frowned slightly as he read the message.

As a Chinese person, giving red envelopes during the New Year was a tradition. How could someone reach this age without ever having received one before?

Had Uncle Zhuang never given him one before?

Had his mother never given him one either?

Suppressing these thoughts, Wen Chenxi replied: [You’ll receive many more in the future.]

Zhuang Yanyu pursed his lips, smiling faintly. The dimples on his face appeared and disappeared.

Then, he sent a picture of the red envelope to Lao Zhuang.

Lao Zhuang, who knew this was his first red envelope, chuckled and sent a voice message: “From now on, Dad will give you a big red envelope every year!”

[Zhuang Yanyu: Thank you, Dad.]

The next day, Zhuang Yanyu and Qin Yiyuan flew back to A City together.

Although Wen Chenxi was still on his business trip, he had arranged for Li Xi to pick them up. Li Xi dutifully dropped him off at Wen Chenxi’s home.

Originally, since Wen Chenxi wasn’t home, Zhuang Yanyu had planned to return to his own apartment.

But Li Xi wouldn’t let him. He kept insisting, “Lao Wen told me to bring you here. Just stay—you’ve lived here before, haven’t you?”

After thinking it over, Zhuang Yanyu agreed and stayed.

Strangely, he had never felt the house was too big before, but now, being alone, it suddenly seemed a little empty.

Especially since Wen Chenxi’s bed was quite large. When they had slept in it together before, it wasn’t exactly snug, but at least it didn’t feel so spacious.

Now, with just him and his body pillow, he was unexpectedly unable to fall asleep. He stayed awake for a long time before finally dozing off.

For some reason, he missed his brother.

Even though he woke up on time the next morning, for the first time, he felt the urge to take a day off and just stay home instead of going to work.

That was when Wen Chenxi called.

“Just woke up?”

Lazily, Zhuang Yanyu hummed in response.

Wen Chenxi chuckled. The past few days, as soon as Zhuang Yanyu woke up, he would message him. But today, that usual timing had already passed, and Wen Chenxi thought something might have happened. After all, for someone as precise as a clock, a delay was unusual. So, he hurriedly called.

Turns out, the “clockwork machine” wanted to take a break.

Wen Chenxi found it amusing. “Then why not sleep a bit longer? I’ll request leave for you.”

Zhuang Yanyu thought about it, then declined. “No need. I’m awake now.”

“Then go wash up and have some breakfast.”

“Okay.”

Zhuang Yanyu kept the phone on speaker and went to freshen up. Just as he finished, he heard someone speaking on Wen Chenxi’s end, seemingly calling him “brother”?

He paused in confusion. “You have someone there?”

Wen Chenxi replied, “Mm.”

Zhuang Yanyu immediately perked up. “Who is it?”

Who dared to call Ah Xi “brother”? He hadn’t even managed to call him “big bro” yet, and now someone else had beaten him to it?

He had originally planned that, since Wen Chenxi refused to call him “little brother,” he would just follow Liu Shu and Ji Zhiyuan’s example—if the mountain won’t come to him, he’ll go to the mountain.

After all, when Ji Zhiyuan called Liu Shu “big bro,” Liu Shu naturally responded with “little bro.”

Wen Chenxi answered, “It’s my younger brother. He had some business here yesterday and stayed over for the night.”

After a slight pause, he added, “I’ll introduce you next time.”

Zhuang Yanyu asked, “Biological?”

Wen Chenxi chuckled. “Yeah.”

Only then did Zhuang Yanyu breathe a sigh of relief.

He had worked hard to surpass Ji Zhiyuan and Li Xi, becoming Ah Xi’s closest brother—he couldn’t have another competitor popping up!

Wen Chenxi had work to do, and seeing that Zhuang Yanyu had started eating breakfast, he hung up.

As soon as the call ended, Old Zhuang called.

Zhuang Yanyu explained, “I was just chatting with Ah Xi.”

Old Zhuang chuckled. “Figured. I sent a big bag of fruit into the city for you—remember to pick it up.”

Zhuang Yanyu agreed.

Old Zhuang then curiously asked, “What were you and Xiao Wen talking about? Sounded like a long chat.”

Zhuang Yanyu told him, “Ah Xi has a younger brother.”

“I knew that already. Old Zhou mentioned it before. But apparently, his brother doesn’t have the same last name as him. Not sure what’s up with that… But Old Zhou also said that Wen treats you even better than his own brother. You two aren’t blood-related, but you’re closer than real brothers.”

Zhuang Yanyu was a little pleased. “Really?”

“Of course! Old Zhou said it himself. Xiao Wen is such a good kid, it’s no surprise.” Old Zhuang added, “But remember, all relationships go both ways. Since he treats you like family, you should treat him like a real older brother too, alright?”

Zhuang Yanyu responded seriously, “I will. If this were a cultivation world, I would’ve already formed a life-and-death pact with Ah Xi.”

Old Zhuang was delighted. “Then from now on, you’re family.”

Zhuang Yanyu grinned. “Exactly!”

After hanging up, Zhuang Yanyu opened WeChat and created a group chat. Based on his research, every family has a group called something like Loving Family.

He added Old Zhuang and Wen Chenxi to the group.

[Wen Chenxi: ?]
[Wen Chenxi: What is this?]

Wen Chenxi stared at the group name, then at the members—just Old Zhuang and himself. His heart skipped a beat.

What was Xiaoyu trying to say with this?

[Zhuang Yanyu: Ah Xi, from now on, we’re family.]
[Old Zhuang: That’s right, hehe.]
[Zhuang Yanyu: Not born on the same day, but let’s die on the same day.]
[Zhuang Yanyu: Ah Xi, from now on, you’re my real brother.]

Wen Chenxi immediately exited the Loving Family group chat.

—

Author’s Note:

PS—

Zhuang Yanyu: First time losing sleep because you’re not here. I miss you. (Progress!)

Wen Chenxi: But your actions say otherwise… (Are you trying to kill me?)

Feel free to donate for earlier/bonus chapter releases! Thanks for supporting me and enjoy reading 😀