Don’t Be a Kept Man

data-pub= ”f945e3bcc79c235c68e674ab0e2804ed ” data-adunit= ”28043 ” data-type= ”responsive ” data-format= ”standard ” data-init= ”false ”> Hearing this, Huo Ming Chen pouted and honestly shook his head, 

“4am this morning, no.”

Mentally ill.

Right now Huo Ming Chen was like an obnoxious child in Lu Qi’s eyes.
The two of them locked eyes silently for a few seconds and Lu Qi was the first to back down.
He accepted his fate as he threw his laptop bag in the back seat, feeling that raising a child would not be as taxing as this, 

“Whatever you want to talk about, it can wait.
Let’s go have a meal first.”

Huo Ming Chen glanced sideways at him and didn’t move.
His thumbs kept fidgeting under the wheel, exposing his troubled heart.
Lu Qi thought that he was just in a temper and so went around to the driver’s side and dragged the other out of the car, feeling weirdly that Huo Ming Chen seemed a bit down today.

Lu Qi couldn’t help but reach out and test the temperature on his forehead, asking in a low voice, 

“Are you sick? Or did you get scolded by your brother?”

Huo Ming Chen jokingly raised his eyebrows, finally looking a bit more normal, and tilted his head, chuckling, 

“Which one do you think it is?”

Seeing that he was fine, Lu Qi flicked him on the forehead,

 “I think you are so bloated with nothing to do.”

 

Nearby, there was a 24-hour dim sum shop and the best selling dish was the shumai.
Everyday, before the sun even rose up, there were already customers in a long line, lining up to buy it, and it would even extend all the way until lunch time.
Hot steam dissipated everywhere, with layers of the smell of flour and a hint of spiciness from black pepper, calling to the stomachs of everyone lining up.

Lu Qi and Huo Ming Chen grabbed a table, and the two of them ordered a couple baskets of the signature shumai dish and har gou2, adding in two glasses of soy milk.
Sitting all around them were seniors, making them feel a little like they were living in their old age.

Huo Ming Chen thought about something, and chuckled, asking in a light tone, 

“Ack, what are you going to do when you are older?”

 

Lu Qi lifted his dark eyes to look at him, with the afternoon sun shining some warmth into them.
He was lean and chewing on a few bites made him look like a hamster with its chubby cheeks.
He swallowed the food inside his mouth and replied after thinking a bit, 

“Not too sure.
However square dancing3 is definitely not my thing.”

Huo Ming Chen almost laughed out loud,

“No! Try it, square dancing is super hip.”

Lu Qi’s face looked like it was just enlightened, and he used his phone as a mirror to take a look at his handsome face.
He nodded his head and concluded, 

“That’s true.
Even when I’m old, I’ll still be handsome.
If I square dance, there would be no end to the elderly ladies chasing after me.”

Huo Ming Chen snorted coldly, mashing the har gou in the basket with his chopsticks until it was unrecognizable.
He coldly said, 

“You only think about attracting other people all day.
When I’m old, I’m not going to be that bad looking, ok? At that time, we will see if your popularity is high or if mine would be higher.”

By saying these words, it was as if it was inevitable that Lu Qi would still have a place in his life even when Huo Ming Chen became old.

Hearing this, Lu Qi thought about something but then felt that it was not the right timing, and decided to just continue eating.
He asked when he had a breath between bites, 

“What was the thing you had to do today?”

Following his question, Huo Ming Chen suddenly lost the courage he built up last night.
His heart pounded wildly, as if it could jump out of his throat.
In the end, he was not bold enough to say it and only pushed a basket towards Lu Qi, 

“Eat first.
We’ll talk when you’re full.”

Lu Qi said, “But I’m already full.”

Huo Ming Chen: “……”

Lu Qi’s face was full of suspicion and he leaned back on his chair, looking up and down at Huo Ming Chen, 

“You…… did you do something that I need to forgive you for?”

Huo Ming Chen: “……” 

What could he do to make Lu Qi need to forgive him? It’s not like he gave Lu Qi a green hat.

Seeing that he was not responding, Lu Qi paused for a moment, a pause so miniscule that no one could notice, and tentatively raised his eyebrows, asking, 

“……Did your family go bankrupt?” 

Didn’t hear any news reporting that though.

Huo Ming Chen threw his chopsticks on the table, angrily saying, 

“Your family’s bankrupt.”

Lu Qi shrugged his shoulders, 

“Too bad, my family has no fortune to go bankrupt.”

Hearing this, Huo Ming Chen recalled something and suddenly switched his train of thought.
He was not angry anymore and held his chin up with a hand, asking in interest, 

“Ack, what are you going to do if I go bankrupt?”

Lu Qi: “I will pity you.”

Huo Ming Chen became so angry that he wanted to slam the table, but somehow he held it in.
Silently he gritted his teeth and came closer to Lu Qi to probe further, 

“Pity and then? There’s nothing else??”

Lu Qi thought about it and then glanced downwards at his body.
He stifled the laughter that was coming up to his mouth and whispered slowly into Huo Ming Chen’s ear, 

“I could……”

“Could what?” Huo Ming Chen was suddenly a bit nervous.

“Could let you sleep with me one time for free.”

Then a bright laughter rang beside his ear, and Huo Ming Chen realized that he had just been played.
He lifted his eyes to look over and in the shadow of the sun, Lu Qi was laughing openly, so good looking that it made it hard for people to move their eyes away.

There were too many people around, so it was not a good time to beat this guy up.
Huo Ming Chen could only lightly kick him under the table and emotionlessly dragged Lu Qi closer by his collar and gritted his teeth to say, 

“What’s this about only once? For the rest of your life, I will sleep with you for free!”

This seemed to strike an arrow into the weakness in Lu Qi’s heart.
Huo Ming Chen could only hear him sigh, and like a glass of milk that had been spilled, he could only accept his fate, saying, 

“Up to you then.
After all I can’t get anything out of your body for the rest of this life time anyway.”

 

 

Notes:
*1 drawing eyebrows: historically, it was considered a very intimate act, usually for a husband to draw a wife’s eyebrow, it shows that the husband cares for the wife/they are loveydovey/they are in a good relationship.
In this case, it’s basically asking for marriage.

 

*2 Shumai and Har Gou are dim sum commonly dished out in baskets:

*3 Square dancing as in this video (which is in english describing square dancing very briefly): Why is Chinese Square Dancing Everywhere? or you can watch this terrible 240p quality video that I somehow found when trying to find videos, of Rowan Atkinson, acting as Mr.
Bean, trying it out (it’s from an entertainment news source so it’s actually mostly still pictures): “憨豆先生”大跳广场舞 经典搞怪表情再现.
Both links are to youtube.
If you want better quality, there’s some on other video sites if you search the chinese title in the second link.
There’s also a lot of other videos if you search “广场舞” which have some pretty amazing dance choreography.
Square dancing is usually referenced as an activity, which can be competitive, for older females, but it’s for all ages.

This is not in reference to the western style square dance.
The “square dancing” is taken literally as the dance happens in a city square/plaza vs the actual type of western square dance.

TL Tidbit:

Sneaky warning that Plum doesn’t want to me to put  as Plum suffered terribly when it happened:

Cliffhanger next chapter (which actually can also be a warning for the chapter after the next one too…) 

Also Plum: Author?! QAQ Did you forget you said Huo Ming Chen had given back his jacket through the car window in chp 2 or 3?!