Reborn: Back to the 1980s Chapter 81

Chapter 81: Vacation

The newlyweds, Zhao Shenggu and Guan Yuan, took Chanchan out to the seaside for a few days of fun.

"Daddy, Daddy…" A child's young voice rang out in the seaside villa early in the morning, but the only response was Guan Yuan pulling the blanket over his head and going back to sleep.

Chanchan tilted his head, backed up a little, then suddenly charged forward — bam! — and body-slammed onto Guan Yuan who was lying on the bed.

"Cough, cough, cough..." Guan Yuan was knocked so hard he saw stars. It took him a while to catch his breath before he rasped, "Trying to crush Daddy to death, are you?"

"Hee hee... Daddy, you're such a lazy pig! You still won't get up — the sun's already shining on your butt!" Chanchan shrieked in his little voice.

Guan Yuan pulled Chanchan into his arms and asked with his eyes closed, "Where's your dad?"

"Dad went running. He wanted me to go too, but I had to wake you up, so I didn't go!" Chanchan said matter-of-factly, with a look on his face that clearly said "you're welcome."

Guan Yuan snorted. "Don't think I don't know you're just being lazy. I'm not carrying the black pot for that."

"Daddy, what does 'carrying the black pot' mean? Do you have a pot on your back? Let me see, let me see!" Chanchan tried to pull Guan Yuan up to check whether he really had a pot on his back.

[背黑鍋 (bēi hēi guō): lit. "to carry a black pot"; fig. to take the blame for someone else — to be made a scapegoat.]

Guan Yuan sat up helplessly. Now that Chanchan had opened his chatterbox, there was no way he was getting back to sleep.

Just as the father and son were fooling around, Zhao Shenggu came back. "You're up. Why didn't you sleep a bit more?" He walked over and rubbed Guan Yuan's lower back.

Guan Yuan rolled his eyes. "If you hadn't left this little guy behind when you went out, do you think I could have slept?" Zhao Shenggu remembered Chanchan's chatterbox nature, touched his nose, and found it funny.

"Do you still want to sleep now? I'll take Chanchan out," Zhao Shenggu said, seeing that he hadn't rested well.

Guan Yuan covered his mouth and yawned. Last night they'd been at it until very late, and now his whole body ached. "Forget it. We came out here to have fun—what's the point of staying curled up in bed? I'm telling you, tonight I want to sleep. If you dare do that to me again… just see if I don't—"

Zhao Shenggu laughed. "Am I really that much of a beast? Wasn't last night our wedding night?"

Unfortunately, in this department, his credibility with Guan Yuan was zero. Guan Yuan pushed him away. "You are a beast—a great big beast."

Chanchan, standing nearby, heard his daddy calling his dad a beast and thought they were really fighting. His little mouth puckered, and he looked about to cry. "Daddy, Dad, don't fight, wuwuwu…"

When Zhao Shenggu and Guan Yuan saw that they'd actually scared Chanchan into crying, they forgot all about bickering and hurried to hold him and coax him. When they saw Chanchan go back to giggling happily, they both felt a weight lift off their shoulders. Guan Yuan sighed. "Being a daddy is more tiring than being a son!"

Zhao Shenggu found that funny. He scooped Guan Yuan up and tossed him over his shoulder. "Your husband will make sure you're not tired."

"What are you doing? Put me down…"

"Dad, I want uppies too…" So Zhao Shenggu carried one on each shoulder—Guan Yuan yelling on the left, Chanchan laughing on the right—and the villa was filled with laughter.

The bodyguards outside heard it and smiled to themselves. Mr. Zhao and Mr. Guan might be a same-sex couple, but they lived life with more zest than most people. Their love for each other was truly wonderful.

After playing around in the house and eating breakfast, Guan Yuan and Zhao Shenggu took Chanchan out—the family of three dressed in matching outfits. At this time of year, many people came to the seaside for vacation.

The family of three all wore hats and big sunglasses. When Chanchan wasn't talking, he looked quite cool and handsome. People who saw the three of them walking together couldn't help but think they were unbelievably easy on the eyes.

Some people thought Zhao Shenggu and Guan Yuan looked familiar — after all, their wedding of the century had been watched by the whole country.

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Zhao Shenggu and Mr. Guan Yuan?" A few girls walked up, and one of them asked cautiously. Zhao Shenggu had no choice but to take off his sunglasses.

"Wow! It really is them!…"

"Oh my god, how lucky! We actually ran into the century couple!"

Guan Yuan was confused and asked, "What century couple?"

"Wow, his voice is so nice. And look at his skin — it's so good, like cream."

Guan Yuan heard this and his forehead darkened. Girls, if you're going to whisper, at least keep your voices down, he thought.

"'Century couple' means you two! It's the name the fans gave you!"

Zhao Shenggu and Guan Yuan were truly surprised now. They weren't celebrities—they had fans?

"We're your fans! You have a lot of fans, you know. Um, could we take a photo with you?" Guan Yuan thought about it and agreed—after all, these people genuinely liked them.

The bodyguards on the periphery had been quietly on guard when the girls first approached, and only relaxed a little after Zhao Shenggu signaled them to stand down.

After taking photos with Guan Yuan and Zhao Shenggu, the girls immediately uploaded them online: "Ran into the century couple at the beach! Our Daogu is devastatingly handsome, and Yuanyuan looks delicious too, and they're both so nice…" They posted a group photo with Zhao Shenggu and Guan Yuan, plus another photo of Zhao Shenggu holding Guan Yuan.

Thanks to the Yuangu Group, Huaguo's internet was at the forefront of the world. Not long after the photos were posted, they blew up with comments.

"Wow, they look so good together."

"Oh my god, it's our century couple—so handsome…" A string of compliments followed. There were also haters who came over and mocked: "Two men hugging and cuddling is disgusting…" But they were quickly cursed away.

The two of them walked with Chanchan for a while, and people kept recognizing them. There was no helping it—the family of three had to head back.

"Honestly, we're not celebrities. Why are so many people interested in us?" Guan Yuan pounded his shoulders and complained.

Zhao Shenggu had Chanchan up on his shoulders. "Who told—" Guan Yuan looked over curiously, wondering what he was going to say.

"Who told us to be so handsome!"

Guan Yuan burst out laughing. "You've really picked up Chanchan's thick skin. You actually have the nerve to praise yourself like that."

But Zhao Shenggu wasn't wrong. Many people became fans precisely because the two were handsome. If Zhao Shenggu and Guan Yuan were ugly, there would probably be several times more people cursing them. No matter what era, "looks are justice" works everywhere.

Since they couldn't go out, they had to make themselves comfortable in the villa. Guan Yuan didn't mind—he had no energy anyway—and went back for a nap, leaving Zhao Shenggu alone to deal with the chatterbox Chanchan in the living room, looking utterly desolate.

Guan Yuan slept all the way until evening. Soon after dinner, the sky darkened. Zhao Shenggu had deliberately not let Chanchan nap during the day, so now, belly full, Chanchan was nodding off in Zhao Shenggu's arms like a little chick pecking at rice.

Zhao Shenggu put Chanchan to bed, then pulled Guan Yuan out of the villa. "I'm taking you somewhere."

"Where are you taking me? It's already dark!"

"Shh, we're almost there."

Zhao Shenggu dragged Guan Yuan to the beach. "Alright." Zhao Shenggu snapped his fingers, and fireworks exploded across the sky above Guan Yuan's head.

Guan Yuan was mesmerized, his mouth hanging open, forgetting to react.

Zhao Shenggu wrapped his arms around Guan Yuan from behind and rested his chin on his shoulder. "Xiao Yuan, I will always love you. This life, the next life, the life after that, forever and ever—we'll always, always be together. I really, really like you so much…"

Tears instantly filled Guan Yuan's eyes. Zhao Shenggu didn't know that they had already been together for two lifetimes — and that they would surely be together for all the lifetimes to come.

Guan Yuan sobbed uncontrollably. Zhao Shenggu turned him around and tenderly kissed the tears from his face. "Baby, don't cry. When you cry, my heart breaks..."

Guan Yuan laughed through his tears. "Are you filming a TV drama or something?"

"Yeah — we're going to turn our life into a drama, sweet like this forever."

"Why are you so smooth tonight? Did you go flip through some guidebook again?" Guan Yuan suddenly asked. Zhao Shenggu had a history of doing that sort of thing.

A flicker of embarrassment crossed Zhao Shenggu's face. His answer was to seal Guan Yuan's mouth firmly with a kiss.

"Mm..." Guan Yuan was kissed senseless and couldn't help kissing him back passionately. It wasn't until he was laid down and Zhao Shenggu started tugging his shirt off that he came to his senses. "What are you doing? Let go — someone might come!"

Zhao Shenggu kept going. "I've already cleared the area. No one will come."

Guan Yuan thought about how Zhao Shenggu had secretly prepared everything and even cleared the area, and found it funny. Before he knew it, he burst out laughing, which made Zhao Shenggu's ears burn. Zhao Shenggu sealed his mouth again, almost viciously. "You won't be laughing soon."

But Guan Yuan flipped him over instead, pinning him to the ground and climbing on top. "Brother, you really want it, huh?" After saying that, Guan Yuan licked the corner of his mouth, his gaze unspeakably seductive.

Zhao Shenggu had no resistance to Guan Yuan to begin with. Teased like this, a rush of heat shot straight from his lower abdomen to his brain. His eyes reddened, and just as he was about to move, Guan Yuan pressed him back down. "Tonight, you have to listen to me."

Fade to black.

By the time the two of them got back, their clothes were wrinkled, the corners of their mouths were split, and they were covered in marks — clear evidence of just how fierce the battle had been.

Thinking Chanchan was asleep, the two were about to tiptoe to the bedroom, but instead they found Chanchan sitting on the sofa with his little arms crossed and a sour expression. When he saw the two adults who had abandoned him come in, he let out a heavy "Hmph."

"Didn't he go to sleep?" Zhao Shenggu asked a servant.

"Young Master woke up not long after falling asleep to use the bathroom. After that he wanted to find you, and when you weren't here, he insisted on waiting for you to come back," the servant answered quickly.

Hearing this, Guan Yuan and Zhao Shenggu smiled at Chanchan ingratiatingly. Guan Yuan tried to coax Chanchan off to bed. "Chanchan, let's go to sleep, okay? Daddy and Dad promise we won't leave. We'll stay with you the whole time."

Chanchan climbed down from the sofa, put both hands behind his back like a little old man, and circled Guan Yuan and Zhao Shenggu, shaking his head as he said, "Something's fishy, something's fishy..."

Guan Yuan and Zhao Shenggu tensed up. Could Chanchan know what they'd gone off to do? Would that be bad for him?

"Did you two go behind my back to fight?!!!" Chanchan's shrill little voice made Guan Yuan and Zhao Shenggu nearly collapse.