Some students finished the exam early and trickled out of the venue. To everyone's surprise, a few reporters were still waiting outside. They spotted the first young man to come out and rushed over. "How was this year's test? Were you confident enough to finish so early?"
The young man replied, "It was easy. I'm confident."
The reporter thought, This kid must be a top student!
They quickly shoved the camera in his face.
Parents also crowded around, firing off questions about the exam. Then the young man said in a cocky tone, "When I say 'easy,' I mean I didn't know how to do any of it—I left everything blank. So I just handed it in early. And by 'confident,' I mean I'm definitely not getting into college."
Everyone else: ???
Do you really think you're funny?
The reporter was at a loss for words. They'd thought he was a star student, but he turned out to be a fearless underachiever.
"Another one's coming out!"
This time it was another young man. The parents murmured, "He's pretty good-looking. Probably another slacker."
"One less competitor—that's fine. There are plenty of other paths in life."
"Right, right. I hope my kid stays for the full time and double-checks everything."
The reporter went through the motions and approached him. Qi Cheng took one look, widened his eyes, and said to Uncle Quan, "...Well, would you look at that—it's actually Lu Yang!" He swallowed the "oh crap" he was about to say.
This time, the parents didn't swarm him like before.
The reporter asked again, "What did you think of this year's test? Was it hard? Do you feel confident?"
The camera zoomed in on Lu Yang's face.
Lu Yang wore a blue-and-white school T-shirt with his school's emblem on the chest, though it was so washed out that the letters were no longer legible. He looked neat and clean, with a black backpack slung over his shoulder. His expression didn't change when facing the camera—he glanced briefly at Qi Cheng behind him, as if to say, Wait for me, I'll be quick.
"It was okay. The basic questions were easy; the big ones were a bit tougher."
"Confident about what? Getting into college? No problem."
After saying that, he muttered "excuse me," slipped past the reporter, and found Uncle Quan and Qi Cheng. Qi Cheng patted his arm. "Nice one, kid. Calm under pressure—you've got the poise of a general." He also didn't ask if he'd double-checked his answers before leaving early. Since Lu Yang was already out, there was no point shoving him back in. Asking that would just mess with his mindset for the afternoon exam anyway.
"The car's parked a bit far. Oh, by the way, lunch—" Uncle Quan suddenly remembered.
Lu Yang mumbled, "I booked a restaurant. There's a good one nearby." Truth was, he'd left early partly to avoid Liu Sinian catching him.
But as if on cue—
Liu Sinian arrived. "Everyone's here? I figured Xiao Lu would get out early. Let's head back first."
Lu Yang: ...
!
"Sorry for the trouble, Sinian. Thanks for thinking of us," Uncle Quan said.
They all rode back in Liu Sinian's car. The place was indeed close to the school—a smooth, traffic-free drive of about five or six minutes. The neighborhood was nice, quiet, with good greenery. The apartment was on the eighth floor, got plenty of natural light, and had wide spacing between buildings.
As soon as the door opened, the air conditioning felt perfect—just the right temperature. The place was sparse, clean, and looked unoccupied, with a three-bedroom, two-living-room layout.
"I'll get lunch started," Liu Sinian said, rolling up his sleeves and heading to the kitchen.
The moment he opened the door, a rich aroma wafted out.
Uncle Quan caught a whiff. "Just from the smell, I can tell Sinian's a great cook."
When the food hit the table, the soup wasn't a heavy meat broth but a light, clear bamboo shoot soup. Four dishes plus soup—a balanced mix of meat and vegetables, with the veggie dishes being light and fresh. No seafood in the meat dishes—just a small pork rib plate and steamed lotus-leaf chicken.
As Qi Cheng dug in, he found himself genuinely impressed by Liu Sinian.
"This is so good."
"Whoever marries Mr. Liu is going to be one lucky person."
Liu Sinian smiled but didn't respond. Only afterward did Qi Cheng remember that Liu Sinian was staunchly unmarried. He quickly apologized, "I forgot—I'm sorry. I just meant your cooking is amazing."
"It's fine. I studied abroad in college and didn't like the food there. Learning to cook turned out to be pretty enjoyable."
Uncle Quan nodded in agreement—cooking really was a joyful thing.
"Is it to your taste?" Liu Sinian asked Lu Yang.
Lu Yang paused with his chopsticks, gave a soft "mm," and added a quiet "thank you."
Liu Sinian smiled, unfazed. "You didn't say much last night, so I wasn't sure if you liked it. But this morning when I went to your room to clear the bowl, I saw it was empty, so I figured you must enjoy bamboo shoots."
They'd arrived late last night, so Liu Sinian hadn't wanted to make anything too heavy. He'd kept it simple—bamboo shoot soup with some noodles. Lu Yang's expression hadn't revealed much when he'd brought it over, but this morning told him everything.
After lunch, they didn't linger chatting. Qi Cheng volunteered to wash the dishes.
Can't freeload for nothing.
They urged Lu Yang to take an afternoon nap. Liu Sinian mentioned there was a guest room, and since Uncle Quan had a habit of napping, he went in to rest. Qi Cheng finished washing up, sat in the living room, put on his headphones, and video-called his husband and their little goose.
Hehe.
Fanfan was such a little goofball—he didn't understand it was a video call. Every time he saw Qi Cheng, he'd shove his chubby face right up to the camera and try to kiss the screen.
"Husband, Fanfan is so silly."
"Fanfan reminds me of Chengcheng."
"Hey! Don't think I didn't catch that—are you calling me silly, Husband?"
"Adorable."
Hehehehe.
Lu Yang's exams lasted two days, and everyone stayed busy for those two days—not too tiring, not too much running around. The real hard work fell on Liu Sinian, though he said it was nothing and even promised to treat everyone to roasted lamb chops once Lu Yang's results came out.
Over those two days, Qi Cheng had gotten a real taste of Liu Sinian's cooking and was already drooling at the thought.
"Our Xiao Lu's results are definitely going to be great!"
The exams were over. Most kids might go out to celebrate, travel, or hang out with friends afterward. But Lu Yang? He'd already booked himself for several cosplay events—both Lolita and Hanfu. Qi Cheng couldn't really interfere, knowing Lu Yang was earning money for his college tuition.
"...You don't have to rush like this. Go have some fun," Qi Cheng offered. "Travel around with your classmates."
Lu Yang replied, "I'm going to Shanghai, Beijing, and Sucheng. That's enough for me."
That's not sightseeing—that's three cities of back-to-back events. Qi Cheng grumbled internally but said out loud, "Bring Lao Ke and Zhuzhu along. And take some postcards too—hand them out while you're at it."
On second thought, he also hired an assistant for Lu Yang.
Lu Yang, who'd planned to go solo: ???
"You're a pretty well-known influencer now. You need to have some presence, you know?" Qi Cheng was very particular about that kind of thing.
Lu Yang: ...
Fine.
After the Lantern Festival shoot earlier this year, Lao Ke and Zhuzhu had both returned to Shanghai. Zhuzhu had thought about coming to work at the studio full-time, but in the end, it never happened. Lao Ke, however, got in touch not long after and asked to join the team.
In April, Lao Ke moved to Mingcheng. His base salary wasn't high—since they often had months with no work—but there were bonuses for outdoor shoots. Couldn't let Lao Ke lose out.
They also covered his social insurance and housing fund.
Even though the studio only had two people running it, Qi Cheng still made sure to provide proper benefits—social insurance, housing fund, and everything else he could offer.
Lao Ke lived on the first floor of the studio, which they'd fixed up. The entire second floor was taken up by clothes, props, and an indoor studio setup—though they mostly shot outdoors. The first-floor living room served as a reception area, and the remaining three rooms included a meeting room.
The other empty room was the boss's office.
Lu Yang was heading out of town, with Lao Ke going along. They also hired a temp assistant, plus Zhuzhu, so Qi Cheng felt at ease.
"Don't forget to promote it on Weibo," Qi Cheng reminded.
As it turned out, no promotion was needed—Lu Yang went viral again. With the college entrance exam dominating the news cycle, that early-exit interview clip got pushed onto the trending charts.
It started as a local news segment, but the first guy's ridiculous clown energy and the second candidate's striking looks drew attention. Someone posted it on a local forum asking, "Who is this? I need his info in three minutes." Others said he looked familiar—like some influencer.
And then it blew up.
Most Beautiful Exam Taker?
After that Lolita photoshoot went viral, Lu Yang had gone from a small-time influencer with 100,000 followers to a mid-tier one with over 400,000. His face was memorable and always caught people's attention.
Qi Cheng scrolled through the comments under the trending topic, then looked at Lu Yang's face, paused, and said, "Maybe I should get you a bodyguard too?"
"???" Lu Yang took off running.
When Jiang Zhi saw the post, he sent a voice message in their group chat: "...I just remembered that kid Lu Yang is taking the exams this year. I've been so busy it slipped my mind. Wishing you good luck—oh wait, you're done. Then I hope you get great results."
"Have you been super busy? Haven't seen you in a while," Qi Cheng said, thinking back to the original story timeline.
Around this time, Jiang Erha and Yu Qingshi were supposed to be in their honeymoon phase, all lovey-dovey, until Zhao Jing found out at the end of the year and things started to get angsty.
No wonder he'd been too busy to remember.
Sure enough, Qi Cheng heard Jiang Erha's signature hehehehe laugh over the voice message.
He'd stepped right into Jiang Erha's trap—the guy was dying to show off. Qi Cheng immediately tossed the phone to his husband. "I'm not listening anymore. Xiao Zhi is going to trick me into getting crushed again."
Bai Zongyin was busy working when a phone landed in his lap, and a voice message started playing automatically.
"Sister-in-law, you have no idea—I've been so busy lately. Brother Qingshi got a movie role and had to go shoot in Thailand. It was so hot there, and he was exhausted every day. I was so happy every day—no, wait, that doesn't mean I'm happy when he's tired. You wouldn't get it. We held hands eating ice cream, watched the sunrise, hugged... and in the scenes, whatever Brother Qingshi did with the actresses, we did too..."
Qi Cheng snatched the phone. "Let me handle this."
He sent back a voice message: "So did Qingshi and the actress do it?"
Jiang Erha sent a shy dog emoji. Qi Cheng got the message. Things were indeed progressing nicely—they were deep in the honeymoon phase. Good for them.
Bai Zongyin set the phone aside, pulled his drama-loving lover close, and asked, "What did Chengcheng just say? Trick Chengcheng in and then—"
"Oh, it's a meme thing. It just means Erha is ruthless—he tricks me into listening to his lovey-dovey stories with Qingshi and force-feeds me dog food," Qi Cheng explained to his husband, who wasn't into internet memes.
Bai Zongyin wrapped an arm around the young man's waist, his eyes warm with amusement.
"But Chengcheng isn't single. We could trick Xiao Zhi and..."
His voice dropped lower.
Jiang Zhi had sent several voice messages with no reply. Finally, his sister-in-law responded. He tapped to play it—and heard a loud smooch, followed by his sister-in-law calling out to his husband.
Jiang Erha: ...
Since when did Big Brother get this competitive?!
And also—Jiang Zhi secretly thought—when would Brother Qingshi ever call him husband?
Before he could finish that thought, his face turned bright red.
Ahhhh what am I even thinking! If Brother Qingshi found out, he'd kick me out of bed!
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