Ch9 - Charming

Surprisingly, there weren’t any paparazzi bothering them during the dinner. Still, the two of them were recognized by two of the waitstaff. The waitstaff kept their cool and served the two of them very calmly. It wasn’t until checkout that they finally asked for an autograph and a photo.

“An autograph is okay.” Liang Yu didn’t pretend to be polite. “A photo is not. He’s still in costume. This can’t be leaked.” 

The waitstaff naturally wouldn’t refuse. An autograph was already more than enough.

Xu Jingzhe followed Liang Yu into the nanny van. He couldn’t help but say, “Are you always like this towards your fans?”

 

 

Liang Yu glanced at him. “Those were your fans.”

Xu Jingzhe raised an eyebrow. 

Liang Yu: “According to our current relationship, your fans”—he pointed to himself—”are all my rivals.”

 

Xu Jingzhe really laughed this time. He skipped a couple grades in acting school and, as a result, made his debut very early. At that time, he was just eighteen or nineteen years old. He still had a face full of baby fat. It was clear that he had an excellent facial structure, but, from certain angles, he still looked cute and chubby. It was a far cry from the exquisite facial features he had now. Xu Jingzhe had the kind of face that didn’t seem to age. The older he got, the more outstanding and brilliant he became.

Whenever he smiled, the folds in his eyelids became deeper, and his brows smoothened out. He was truly alluring.

Liang Yu stared at his face for a while. Then, he calmly looked away and asked, “Why don’t you act in movies?”

 

Xu Jingzhe hadn’t expected him to ask about this, but it wasn’t like he was opposed to talking about it either. He honestly replied, “I haven’t had the chance. There haven’t been any good scripts either. I made my debut through television. I guess my career went a little too smoothly. After all, you can’t have everything, right?”

Liang Yu looked up at him. “Didn’t something bad happen this time? Now, you have to act out this fake relationship with me. How is this ‘smooth’?”

Xu Jingzhe smiled. He was quite optimistic. “I’m sure we’ll turn things around. Besides, I get to act out this relationship with Mr. Liang. I’m not the one losing out.”

 

Liang Yu was silent for a while. His tone of voice became a little more earnest. “What were you doing there that day?” 

Xu Jingzhe probably hadn’t expected Liang Yu to ask so directly. He wasn’t able to recover right away. The reason was actually a little difficult for him to speak about. Thus, the expression on his face seemed a little more guilty.

“Forget it.” Liang Yu suddenly became angry, his expression visibly worsening. His words were once again covered in thorns. “If you like to play around, that’s your business. What’s it got to do with me?”

Xu Jingzhe: “…”

Liang Yu shut his mouth. He really didn’t want to overreact too much, but he couldn’t help himself. “Why do you have to go sleeping around? You’re just going to let someone take advantage of you? Look at your face. Can’t you just find someone better…” 

“Mr. Liang.” Xu Jingzhe couldn’t keep listening. He interrupted Liang Yu and tried to reply as tactfully as he could. “I think you’ve misunderstood. I don’t actually have that kind of desire.”

“?” The anger had clearly gone to Liang Yu’s head. He didn’t actually understand what Xu Jingzhe said. “What are you talking about? You want an award or something?”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Xu Jingzhe: “…”

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Zhu Xiaoxiao had Xiao Luo’s WeChat. The two of them kept in touch frequently.

“It seems like something happened between them.” Xiao Luo sent over a voice memo. She was probably eating something as her voice was a little muffled. “Liang Yu’s mood has been awful these past couple of days. It’s making the staff kind of nervous. They’re worried about setting him off.”

 

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Xiao Luo: “I’m used to it. Anyway, Mr. Xu has such a good temper. I’m so jealous of you.” 

Zhu Xiaoxiao thought to herself, “Don’t be jealous of me. You have no idea how many times I’ve built my ship and torn it back down. It’s a kind of pain that no other shipper could understand.”

It was clear that Xiao Luo liked chatting with others. “Tell Mr. Xu to coax him a little bit. He might have a bad temper, but he’s really a good person. He’s actually a big softie. ”

Zhu Xiaoxiao didn’t quite agree. She said, “Why does Mr. Xu have to coax him? It takes two to have a fight. Isn’t Mr. Liang a little too old for others to have to coax him?”

Xiao Luo: “Sigh. You don’t understand. In a relationship, this is called flirting.” 

Zhu Xiaoxiao was dumbfounded. “What relationship? It’s all fake.”

“So what?” Xiao Luo nonchalantly remarked. “A fake relationship is still a relationship. Mr. Xu is really dedicated to his job, so I’m sure coaxing someone’s easy-peasy for him. Besides, Liang Yu’s probably waiting for Mr. Xu to coax him. He’s just too embarrassed to say it.”

“…” Zhu Xiaoxiao was a little surprised. She couldn’t help but ask, “Why do you support them so much?”

It took a while for Xiao Luo to get back to her. For some reason, she took on the tone of a mother-in-law towards her daughter-in-law. “I used to think that no one was good enough for Liang Yu, but … how should I say it? Liang Yu’s around that age already, and Mr. Xu is actually pretty good.” 

“What are you chatting about?” Zhang Man plopped a stack of materials on Zhu Xiaoxiao’s head. “What’s this about ‘Mr. Xu is pretty good’?”

Zhu Xiaoxiao quickly muted her cell phone. She brought the stack of materials down from her head and asked, “Do you want me to pick up Mr. Xu?”

Today was one of Xu Jingzhe’s rare breaks. He said that he was meeting a friend, so he left without taking anyone with him. Zhang Man was actually rather worried that he would be followed by paparazzi, but, after thinking about it, she waved the thought away. Liang Yu wasn’t going to be there, so there probably wouldn’t be anything for the paparazzi to catch.

“You don’t have to go if he doesn’t call for you.” Zhang Man wanted to be lazy today. “Mr. Xu also needs to rest.” 

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Due to the sex scandal from last time, Dr. Chen was very careful when picking a location this time. In order to meet with celebrities without getting caught, it was necessary for his clinic to have more than one location.

Xu Jingzhe drove himself to a high-end residential area in the suburbs. After parking his car, he walked for nearly twenty minutes before arriving at the door of the psychological clinic.

“I saw the news.” Dr. Chen was over fifty. His hair was graying, but he still looked full of energy. “You guys looked good in the photos.”

Xu Jingzhe sat down on the treatment chair. The treatment was mostly conversational, but, for comfort, the clinic was equipped with soft reclining chairs in which he could lie down and rest. 

“It’s just work.” Xu Jingzhe was lying down. Dr. Chen had been treating him on and off for two or three years. In terms of psychogenic erectile dysfunction, this wasn’t a short period of time.

When Xu Jingzhe first discovered that there was a problem, he assumed that it was because he was under too much pressure. However, he wasn’t someone with a lot of sexual desire to beign with, so he hadn’t paid much attention to it at first. That was until he discovered that he couldn’t get it up even with his hand. It was only then that he realized that he couldn’t go on like this.

 

Even if he didn’t sleep with anyone, the fact that he couldn’t get it up was a matter of pride. No matter how open-minded Xu Jingzhe was, he still felt a faint sense of insecurity and frustration about it. This was something he could not escape.

“Actually, it’s not like there hasn’t been any improvement.” Dr. Chen looked through some files and asked, “Have you had any morning wood recently?” 

Xu Jingzhe thought for a while and said, “Maybe twice a week.”

Dr. Chen encouragingly asked, “Did you masturbate at all?”

“No.” Xu Jingzhe hesitated. Then, he said, “It usually calms down pretty quickly.”

Dr. Chen: “You don’t need to be too nervous. Whenever it happens, just think about happy thoughts. Has anything good happened recently?” 

Xu Jingzhe awkwardly said, “I really don’t have that kind of relationship with Liang Yu. We’re cooperating with each other right now. We’re just ordinary friends at most.”

Dr. Chen hummed in response. Then, he suddenly said, “Have you ever thought about starting a new relationship? Having someone you can share secrets with? Sometimes, keeping too much stuff to yourself can cause psychological pressure.”

He pointedly said, “Who knows? Maybe Mr. Liang can be that person for you.”

Xu Jingzhe was silent. He didn’t look too opposed to the idea, but he wasn’t exactly happy with it either. He thought about it a lot before finally replying, “He’s a man. And he likes men.” 

Dr. Chen: “Isn’t that good…”

“I don’t feel particularly insecure about myself,” Xu Jingzhe calmly interrupted him. “But it’s true that I won’t be able to do it. Even if there were something between us, it would only be an emotional relationship, not a physical one. However, he’s a normal guy, and he has his own desires. It wouldn’t be fair to him.”

“I’m not saying that anything has to happen between the two of you.” Dr. Chen laughed. He looked at Xu Jingzhe and changed the subject. “I’m guessing you’ve been under a lot of pressure recently? Let’s talk about something else then. For instance, what kind of person do you think Liang Yu is?”

“I don’t know.” Xu Jingzhe blanked for a long time before finally answering with this. He emptied his gaze and stared at the ceiling of the consultation room. His mind seemed to be drifting off. “He’s completely different from me. He’s got a huge temper. He likes to do as he pleases. He’s headstrong. He’s got a foul mouth. In my mind, he’s like a boiling kettle of water.” 

Doctor Chen: “…”

Xu Jingzhe paused for a while. Finally, he reluctantly admitted, “Of course, he’s still very charming.”

This two-hour consultation wasn’t exactly particularly meaningful, but Xu Jingzhe did feel a little more relaxed afterwards. No matter how omnipotent he was, there would still be times when he needed someone to just listen. There were a lot of things he couldn’t say to anyone else, but he could say it to a psychologist.

Dr. Chen’s advice was the same as always: reduce anxiety, try masturbating, and open up with others a bit more. 

This last piece of advice was actually the most difficult for Xu Jingzhe. It’s not like he could just go up to Liang Yu and say, “I can’t get an erection”.

If he really wanted to get into it, this could be considered sexual harassment.

 

Moreover, Liang Yu’s mood seemed to finally have improved a little bit. The two of them were now able to calmly exchange text messages on WeChat.

“What time does your flight arrive?” Xu Jingzhe sent him a message. 

Liang Yu quickly replied, “Four o’clock in the afternoon.”

Xu Jingzhe: “I’ll pick you up then. What do you want to eat tonight?”

It took a while before Liang Yu finally replied with a single word: “Whatever”.

Liang Yu didn’t say anything about what he wanted to eat, but he didn’t reject Xu Jingzhe’s proposal to pick him up either. Xu Jingzhe held his phone and smiled. When Zhu Xiaoxiao saw this, her heart was once again filled with sugar. 

“Mr. Liang isn’t angry anymore?” Zhu Xiaoxiao cautiously felt him out. “I heard Xiao Luo say that Mr. Liang’s been in a bad mood these days. I thought that you two were fighting.”

Xu Jingzhe still had a smile on his face. He patiently explained, “We’re not fighting. There was just a little misunderstanding. When he gets back, I’ll explain it to him.”

Zhu Xiaoxiao responded, “Oh.” Then, she heard Xu Jingzhe continue. “Mr. Liang’s a little temperamental. He’ll be fine once you coax him a bit. I was also at fault this time. I didn’t make things clear beforehand. I’ve ended up causing trouble for you all.”

“…” Zhu Xiaoxiao didn’t want to hear the word “trouble” right now. What about her ship?! When will her ship become real?! 

The author has something to say:

Zhu Xiaoxiao: “It’s so hard. My ship is being put together and torn apart before my very eyes.”

Xiao Luo: “Ship? What ship? That’s my sister-in-law.”

Translator’s Corner: 

There it is. The big secret. He has ED.

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