Ch128.2 – Accept or Reject

“What’s wrong?” Lin Ze gave Yu Hao three days off, yet he now saw a depressed Yu Hao back in the office.

Yu Hao sat quietly. He looked at Lin Ze and his lips moved, “Ah Ze, I’m going back to school next month to prepare for my graduation thesis.”

Lin Ze answered, “Un, when will you come back?”

Yu Hao didn’t say anything. He wanted to say “I’ll think about it,” but Lin Ze said, “We’re all comrades who’ve gone through life and death situations together, I understand. Focus on your thesis.”

Situ Ye was still editing photos, and a mischievous hint of a smile flashed through his eyes, “Miss home?”

Yu Hao felt a little guilty. Lin Ze suddenly asked, “Does lil Director Zhou’s parents know about your relationship?”

Yu Hao thought, what if he just doesn’t come back after returning, yet he couldn’t bear to part with them either, and couldn’t bear to give up on this job that had just started taking a turn for the better. But in order to be with Zhou Sheng, one of them would have to make a choice. It’s just that, he couldn’t help himself from feeling regret and sorrow.

He planned to help out at Fu Liqun’s gym for a few months first, and help him build up his business as much as he could, then look for another job at the appropriate time. Or he could see if Zhou Sheng could come to Beijing and open a shop here.

Situ Ye said, “That’s really great, they’ve accepted you? Didn’t they buy you a house or car or something?”

Yu Hao said, “His father offered me a cup of tea, gave me a plate and an ashtray.”

Lin Ze nodded understandingly, “Those are pretty good presents. In those days, my mum gave me a plate of boiled beef.”

Situ Ye said, “And a plate of fried rice with eggs, then offered me a cup of Qingdao Chunsheng.”

Lin Ze uttered a “un”. Yu Hao sat for a while, feeling a sense of loss, “Am I fit to be a reporter?”

Lin Ze smiled and shook his head, not saying anything. Situ Ye just calmly edited the photos.

“You are.” Lin Ze said, “You’ll be one of China’s best and finest investigative reporters in the future.”

Yu Hao seemed to see a glimmer of hope, “Then I……after finishing my graduation thesis……”

Lin Ze said, “Don’t need to be anxious. You can come back at anytime, we’ll be hiring for a long time. Maybe you’ll even change your mind tomorrow morning?”

Situ Ye suddenly burst out laughing. A bunch of question marks appeared over Yu Hao’s head. Situ Ye said with a stern countenance, “Ah Ze, there are only a little more than 100 investigative reporters in China, okay?”

Yu Hao looked at Situ Ye edit photos, and for some reason, his heart was calm. He didn’t tell Zhou Sheng his decision.

“Lady boss,” Yu Hao said, “I didn’t know what true genius meant until I saw your pictures.”

Situ Ye said modestly, “You’re flattering me too much.”

Yu Hao pondered in a daze for a while, “I can learn your skills through hard work, but even if I take photos for a lifetime, I don’t think I’ll be able to even come close to you.”

“Aiyo you’re really praising old me until I’m blushing so hard right now. Come, lady boss will make a photo album for you.” Situ Ye answered, “As your birthday gift.”

Even that day when he stood in the office with Lin Ze as they got scolded by the vice editor-in-chief, Situ Ye had recorded the moment when Yu Hao had looked down gloomily through the open window.

When Yu Hao looked at the photos taken by Situ Ye, he really experienced the difference in talent. It was a kind of understanding Situ Ye had of the world, as if he was naturally one with this world, without the slightest trace of estrangement. To him, holding up his camera to record every moment was as natural as watering verdant plants.

Lin Ze frowned as he looked at WeChat on his phone and thought about how to respond to a leader’s voice messages.

Yu Hao remembered that today was his birthday, but Zhou Sheng had already left, and there was no news from him all day. Yu Hao couldn’t help but ask if he had arrived home. Zhou Sheng only replied him at 4pm.

【I’ve been busy until now ever since I got off the plane. I won’t be able to spend your birthday with you this year, but I’ve prepared a gift for you. I’ve prepared it for a long time, go to this place.】

Zhou Sheng sent him a location through WeChat. Yu Hao looked at his phone and thought, what did Zhou Sheng buy for him? It couldn’t be a house ba, that’s impossible……now that he thought about it, no present could match up to having Zhou Sheng by his side right now.

Zhou Sheng:【Someone will be waiting there to celebrate your birthday with you. After you arrive, he’ll turn on a video to connect to my side. Go at 6.30, don’t go any earlier, there’s nobody inside.】

Yu Hao sorted out a small portion of Jin Weicheng’s articles, but his mind wasn’t on this task at all. “I’ll take this back to finish.”

“Go ba.” Lin Ze smiled, “Happy birthday.”

Situ Ye whistled, “Happy birthday.”

At six o’clock, Yu Hao went to the address sent to him. He wanted to send Chen Yekai a message, but he thought that Zhou Sheng should’ve asked Chen Yekai to celebrate his birthday with him, so he should pretend to be very surprised ba. Huang Ting may be there too……

The address was a high-rise apartment. Yu Hao pressed the intercom in front of the security guard, and the other side didn’t say anything before opening it for him. Yu Hao went to the 12th floor, and pressed the doorbell of 12-6.

The sound of footsteps could be heard from the inside, the door was opened, then the person ran away.

Yu Hao pushed the door open and went in. This suite was very beautiful and comfortable, one bedroom and one living room. Resplendent lights could be seen outside the landing windows, there was an integrated kitchen, and the apartment was decorated with European furniture.

Zhou Sheng, “Happy birthday, my dear wife.”

Yu Hao was so excited he let out a loud shout, then turned around and hugged Zhou Sheng tight. He shouted, “Why haven’t you left?! I thought you had gone back!”

Zhou Sheng was wearing a shirt and suit pants, as well as non prescription glasses as his head bowed down slightly to look at Yu Hao, and a faintly perceptible smile hung on his lips. There was a hot pot and an induction cooker on the dining table. The entire apartment was only about 40 square meters, but the space was well utilised.

“I’ve really been too busy today.” Zhou Sheng said regretfully, “I didn’t have time to cook anything too complicated, so we can only eat hot pot.”

Yu Hao hugged him, “I really thought you asked Chen Laoshi and Ou Qihang to come celebrate my birthday with me!”

Zhou Sheng said, “Do you think there’s something fucking wrong with me?! Not having me around is one thing, but why would I ask my love rivals to come and celebrate my wife’s birthday? Do you have some kind of misunderstanding about my IQ?!”

Yu Hao laughed madly, “I’m hungry, I want to eat!”

This hotel apartment even had a yuanyang hotpot! Zhou Sheng bought the freshest ingredients. Yu Hao couldn’t stomach anything at noon, so he was starving right now. Zhou Sheng rolled his sleeves up and cooked some food for him to eat. Yu Hao said, “When will you be going back tomorrow? Where did you go today? How could shopping have taken so long?”

“My flight’s at 8am tomorrow.” Zhou Sheng said, “I really don’t want to leave you, I’ll just skip work ba, and stay with you for another night.”

Yu Hao nodded and looked around. This high-rise apartment really was very romantic, but he wondered how much it cost for a night. He said, “Today, I wanted to tell Ah Ze……un.”

Zhou Sheng, “?”

Yu Hao smiled, “Nothing.” He decided not to tell Zhou Sheng that he planned to return to Ying City. One day, he’ll cook dinner at home and give him a surprise instead.

Zhou Sheng uttered an “oh”, “The soup base was stewed for two hours, the fish paste isn’t too mushy, but the Thai peppers in the supermarket nearby isn’t that good. I’ll buy seafood for you another day, so make do with this for now ba.”

Yu Hao peeled the prawns skewered with bamboo sticks for Zhou Sheng. Zhou Sheng said, “You went to work today? Are the manuscripts alright?”

Yu Hao said, “I won’t go tomorrow. I have to send you to the airport and make sure you leave before I’ll feel at ease.”

“Do you want me to leave that much?” Zhou Sheng kind of wanted to throw his chopsticks now.

Yu Hao said sadly, “I don’t wanna, but one of us will eventually have to make a tough choice. Okay let’s stop talking about it, it’s really too beautiful here.”

After they were done eating hot pot, Zhou Sheng took out a cake from the refrigerator. There was an angel and a Sun Wukong on the cake that had been moulded to be very ugly. Zhou Sheng threw those dolls straight into the trash bin and inserted candles, “They’re so ugly, I can’t even look at them. Come, make a wish and blow the candles.” Then he turned off the lights and took out Yu Hao’s camera to take a picture of him.

Yu Hao blew the candles. Zhou Sheng lit a cigarette and looked at Yu Hao slovenly, “You’re another year older now, could you stop making me angry?”

Yu Hao smiled as he studied the hooligan-looking Zhou Sheng, “I think you’re still the same you.”

Zhou Sheng said sternly, “I’ve always been me. What wish did you make?”

Yu Hao, “I wished that……you would wash the dishes later.”

Zhou Sheng, “……”

Yu Hao studied him. Zhou Sheng said sternly, “If you say your wish out loud, it won’t come true.”

Yu Hao said, “Let’s clean up a little when we check out tomorrow ba, the cleaners should be coming to clean it up, I want……”

Zhou Sheng, “Let’s dance? Exercise a little, aren’t you afraid of puking now?’

Yu Hao thought that was true. He was really full now. If Zhou Sheng slams into him from the back, he might actually want to puke, so he got up. Zhou Sheng turned on his phone and played music, then turned sideways and kicked the sofa to the front of the landing window to clear up some space and slowly danced with Yu Hao.

“The hotel may ask you for compensation tomorrow.” Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng hugged as they swayed from side to side in the living room. Zhou Sheng would kick anything he bumped into, and cleared away all the decorations.

“No one will ask me for compensation.” Zhou Sheng said, “Hotel? Young Master Zhou rented this place.”

“What?!” Yu Hao was dumbstruck “You rented this place?”

Zhou Sheng pulled Yu Hao and made him turn around, then hugged him from behind. They took a few graceful steps across while dancing to the music.

“Why, do you have a problem with that?’

“How much does it cost a month?!” Yu Hao was in disbelief.

“8,900, deposit for one and rent for three months paid.” Zhou Sheng pulled Yu Hao, and pulled him back into his embrace such that they stuck close together and hummed with the music.

Yu Hao thought oh my God. He turned his head and looked around; the sofa was overturned on the floor, the floor lamp was leaning slanted against the induction cooker, there was a mess left behind after their hot pot meal and quite a bit of condiments had spilled onto the table cloth on the dining table.

“The rent is 9,000 a month, we’ll go cold and hungry! What do we eat next month?!” Yu Hao shouted in despair.

Zhou Sheng hooped one arm around Yu Hao’s waist and turned sideways in a tango style. He said with a solemn and affectionate expression,

“Eat my dick.”

Yu Hao, “………………”

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