Read Daily Updated Light Novel, Web Novel, Chinese Novel, Japanese And Korean Novel Online.
Seizing Dreams (Web Novel) - Chapter 87 - Part-Time Job
Chapter 87 - Part-Time Job
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
Translator(s): Zryuu
Editor(s): Amelea, FistFullOfDollars, and juurensha
Zhou Sheng:【What did Satan say to you? Do you find me really annoying sometimes?】
Yu Hao:【How could that be? I love you so much I can barely stand it.】
Yu Hao turned around and looked into Zhou Sheng’s eyes. Zhou Sheng kissed him gently, his expression slightly sombre. Yu Hao thought that Satan’s words might represent the other side of Zhou Sheng being forsaken. While he sometimes hated himself, he was also afraid of hurting Yu Hao. Yu Hao thought that Zhou Sheng had always felt very conflicted before his confession, but looking at it now, it seemed that Zhou Sheng had been very careful every day after they had confirmed their relationship.
He wanted to protect his love with Yu Hao and was always trying to guess his thoughts. In the past, Yu Hao seldom directly spoke his mind. After he got together with Zhou Sheng, Zhou Sheng would always ask, “Can’t you be a bit more honest and face yourself head-on?” And thus under Zhou Sheng’s influence, Yu Hao gradually became more frank about his feelings.
On the contrary, Zhou Sheng was the one who often ruminated in silence during the month following the confession. Sometimes, he couldn’t tell if Yu Hao was angry or not and would always be a little anxious.
Yu Hao:【I think you’ve become a little dumb.】
Zhou Sheng:【How am I dumb? You’re dumb.】
Yu Hao laughed:【Actually you can just treat me like how you used to in the past.】
Zhou Sheng stopped typing. Yu Hao immediately sensed that Zhou Sheng might have misunderstood him, so he quickly explained:【I didn’t mean to return to how things were before we got together. I’m saying that even if you were like how you used to be, I would still be very happy. You’re too good to me, I’m a little scared.】
Zhou Sheng:【What are you scared of?】
Yu Hao:【Scared that you would exhaust all your enthusiasm, and that you’ll gradually stop liking me. You’re so outstanding, being with you is just like winning the lottery.】
Yu Hao could feel that Zhou Sheng was laughing. He was about to clarify further when Zhou Sheng pressed his phone down, made Yu Hao turn around, and held him tightly in his arms.
“Let’s get a room ba.” Yu Hao whispered into Zhou Sheng’s ear.
Zhou Sheng said in a soft voice, “Not yet, I’m worried that you’ll feel uncomfortable because of the pain.”
Yu Hao, “It’ll hurt no matter when we get a room……would it somehow not hurt if we keep delaying it?”
Zhou Sheng laughed again and whispered, “I’m already prepared, are you that eager? Ah?”
Yu Hao was originally very embarrassed about “seeking to join bodies”, but after today, he suddenly became frank. He once saw in a book that after a couple confirms their relationship and they enter a stable period, it would be easy for a kind of tug-of-war mentality to emerge. In order to compete for control of a relationship, they would seldom declare their admiration for their partner.
It was as if praising their partners too much would lead the other to become proud and complacent, and allow the other to hold the reins in the relationship. Jealousy could even arise in such an unhealthy relationship, and they could end up disparaging the other in order to feel better about themselves.
Yu Hao has always thought that Zhou Sheng was very handsome and outstanding -- he was practically his male god. However, after enduring those days in conflict, he rarely expressed his admiration for Zhou Sheng. That wasn’t good. Yu Hao decided that from now on, he would speak frankly and show how smitten he was with his boyfriend, to let his boyfriend know how much he loved him.
“What do you want to eat?” Zhou Sheng said, “Food and sex are men’s greatest desires; we won’t get a room, but it’ll be the same if we have good food. I’ll cook for you.”
“I want to eat too.” Fu Liqun said from the opposite bunk, “Now only good food can heal me.”
Yu Hao, “……”
Zhou Sheng, “……”
Zhou Sheng got up in resignation. He went down for a morning run and then made his way to the vegetable market in the mountains to buy groceries. Mandarin fish in the rivers were starting to grow plump as they entered autumn. After he came back, he made boiled mandarin fish porridge with the electric rice cooker; it was incredibly fresh and sweet with a side dish of sweet and sour pickled cucumbers. Fu Liqun sighed, “I feel so much better now!”
“Get lost!” Zhou Sheng said, “I haven’t gotten even with you over how your alarm woke me up!”
After breakfast, Yu Hao received news from Xiao Yujun asking if he could help out today, so Yu Hao prepared to go out. Meanwhile, Zhou Sheng accompanied Fu Liqun to search for a part-time job. Xiao Yujun planned to prepare two topics before the end of the National Day holidays, so that after the holidays, once her editors examine them, she could start publishing straight away.
Yu Hao hadn’t expected to start work so soon, and there were things about this job that felt a little strange to him as well. He had no official position, no contract, no salary that was explicitly discussed with him; but it was impossible for Xiao Yujun to cheat him because he still had Huang Ting as a backer. And thus, Yu Hao held back from asking. I’ll see how long you can hold back for.
“In a relationship?” In the cafe, Xiao Yujun was pondering about the interview and saw the hickey on Yu Hao’s neck at a glance.
Yu Hao quickly pulled his T-shirt up. Xiao Yujun said, “That’s practically torturing single dogs to death. Does your wife have any objections to you working a part-time job during the holidays?”
Yu Hao said, “They asked me to come, it’s okay. You can be in a relationship if you want ma, Huang Ting’s a pretty good guy.”
Yu Hao wanted to casually help Huang Ting even if he wasn’t very good at this.
Xiao Yujun said, “What did he say to you?”
“Nothing.” Yu Hao’s combat ability was obviously lacking, “I just think that the two of you seem to have a pretty good relationship.”
“If you want to be a matchmaker, why not matchmake me with male god?” Xiao Yujun smiled, “There must be something fishy about this.”
Yu Hao thought, every single one of you are human spirits, but Xiao Yujun said with a stern expression, “Bei Xiaozhou promised us only ten minutes. When the time comes, I’ll ask her the questions. Don’t interject, and I’ll tell you what to do once we're finished.”
Yu Hao nodded and looked at his watch -- it was still five minutes to nine o’clock. Bei Xiaozhou arrived. Xiao Yujun quickly rose to shake hands with her. It seemed Bei Xiaozhou was a little unwilling from her expression; she sat down and opened her compact mirror to draw her eyebrows and said coldly, “Ask ba.”
Xiao Yujun flipped through her printed materials. Bei Xiaozhou suddenly looked up from her compact mirror and looked at Yu Hao. She frowned, “It’s you?”
Yu Hao quickly smiled and nodded.
Yu Hao didn’t expect that Bei Xiaozhou would remember him after just seeing him once from afar.
“The two of you know each other?” Xiao Yujun smiled, “Why didn’t you say so?” As she spoke, she nudged Yu Hao.
Yu Hao, “You remember me?”
Bei Xiaozhou closed her compact and laughed. Xiao Yujun keenly became aware of something and said, “Yu Hao’s an intern accompanying me.”
“Aren’t you just a sophomore?” Bei Xiaozhou scrutinised Yu Hao.
Yu Hao answered, “We’re friends, I’m here to help.”
“Is that so……” Bei Xiaozhou briefly thought about it, then said, “Un, Xiao Laoshi, do your interview first ba.”
Xiao Yujun observed Bei Xiaozhou’s expression. She has more than two million fans and was definitely someone she couldn’t afford to provoke. If she was angered, her fans could blow it up, and she might even get scolded.
Xiao Yujun’s questions were very pointed, but she always smiled as she asked them -- they included questions about the branded bags Xiaozhou used online, her usual holidays, advertising fees, and so on. When Yu Hao heard the questions, even he thought they seemed too offensive, but Xiao Yujun’s smile as she asked the questions could effectively alleviate the displeasure of the interview.
After they spoke for about ten minutes, the person-in-charge from Bei Xiaozhou’s agency came. He didn’t look very happy, but when he saw that Xiaozhou’s attitude seemed good, he didn’t put a stop to things and only occasionally interjected from the side. Xiao Yujun would ask a question, then Bei Xiaozhou would answer it. Yu Hao looked at his watch; they had chatted for a full 50 minutes.
Finally, Xiao Yujun said, “Do you have anything you want to say to your fans?”
Bei Xiaozhou said, “Is this a feature article? You’re asking so many questions.”
Xiao Yujun smiled and didn’t answer. Bei Xiaozhou pondered over it for awhile before answering, “Live your own lives well ba, no matter how brilliant this life may seem, it still belongs to someone else in the end.”
Her manager suddenly turned pale, but Bei Xiaozhou still looked indifferent. Xiao Yujun said, “Thank you.”
“Yu Hao.” Bei Xiaozhou said to Yu Hao, “Let’s talk.”
Yu Hao thought, what's there for us to talk about? Don't tell me you want me to help you ask Zhou Sheng out ba? I'm sorry! He already belongs to someone else now!
The manager and Xiao Yujun left. Yu Hao said, “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Bei Xiaozhou said, “Oh? About how I’m a kept woman and such?”
Yu Hao smiled, “Of course not. They all say that you’re the goddess of my classmates in the opposite and adjacent dorms.”
Bei Xiaozhou kept silent. Yu Hao said, “As for Jingya and Zhou Sheng, I can’t help much……”
Bei Xiaozhou suddenly said, “Thank you, Yu Hao. Thank you both.” As she spoke, she smiled.
Yu Hao, “???”
“You’ve done me a huge favour.” Bei Xiaozhou’s eyebrows raised slightly, “I had no other choice but to accompany Xiao Ya the other day. At that time, I was even ready to give up.”
Yu Hao, “!!!”
“The two of you……you……” Yu Hao comprehended the ‘you understand’ gaze that Bei Xiaozhou gave him, and instantly felt a mutual tacit understanding with her. He couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Bei Xiaozhou sighed again helplessly.
“Then her?” Yu Hao asked Bei Xiaozhou tentatively.
Bei Xiaozhou revealed a slightly melancholic smile. When he connected it to when Zhou Sheng said ‘it’s hard for me to say’, Yu Hao immediately had a hunch that Bei Xiaozhou and Huang Jingya must have sunk into a muddy state in their relationship too. Perhaps they had dated once, but before the sky turned bright for them, Huang Jingya had to get in touch with Zhou Sheng because of the pressure from her father. Moreover, she had even very vaguely liked Zhou Sheng a little.
“What are you laughing at?” Bei Xiaozhou said, “Is it that funny?”
Yu Hao said, “I feel like you’re the female version of Zhou Sheng.”
Bei Xiaozhou flicked her long hair and said with a solemn countenance, “That’s practically the worst way I’ve ever been blackened so far. Jiejie is a very gentle person, okay? How am I in any way like that ruffian at all?!” Then her hair happened to fall weirdly on her face, which made Yu Hao laugh even harder as he laid on the table.
“Are you done laughing?!” Bei Xiaozhou said angrily.
(split here)
Yu Hao waved his hand, “I think for this kind of matter, the most important thing is for Jingya to first think it through carefully herself.”
Bei Xiaozhou said, “Girls tend to spend more time thinking things through compared to guys in the first place. But when it comes to feelings na, if they were so easy to understand clearly, then how could there be so many unhappy couples in this world?”
Yu Hao had to nod in response and answered, “You’re so right.”
“Do you have Weibo?” Bei Xiaozhou said, “I’ll follow you bei.”
Yu Hao was somewhat overwhelmed by these blessings from above, “Don’t ba! You have two million fans! If your fans end up making random speculations……”
Bei Xiaozhou said, “False reputations will never last, why bother about it? What’s your Weibo name?”
Yu Hao’s Weibo only contained simple pictures of his college’s scenery, as well as the trees, flowers, rainy days etc. that he uploaded after he got together with Zhou Sheng. Zhou Sheng often mocked his photos for being too lousy, but Yu Hao just quietly enjoyed them by himself—— he only wanted to record his feelings at the time, but he didn’t flaunt his affections in his Moments.
“Does Zhou Laichun know about it?” Bei Xiaozhou asked.
Yu Hao answered, “He shouldn’t know. I think it may be alright after graduation.”
Bei Xiaozhou said, “Be careful, Zhou Laichun isn’t someone to be trifled with. That guy’s a boor, too much of a ruffian.”
Yu Hao nodded, “Thank you.”
“But it’s nothing much, Zhou Sheng will protect you.” Bei Xiaozhou said casually, then stared out of the cafe’s French windows in a daze, “It’s natural to protect the person you like.”
Yu Hao said, “How could you tell?”
Bei Xiaozhou said, “Zhou Sheng never mentioned his dorm mates or classmates to Xiao Ya, I could tell that there was no chance just by listening to him. I guessed that he most likely already had someone he liked and asked Xiao Ya not to try. When I saw you follow him the other day, I guessed that it was you. Your T-shirt looks pretty good, you guys have already discussed it, right?”
Yu Hao tugged his collar again awkwardly to cover Zhou Sheng’s hickey and nodded.
“After discussing it,” Yu Hao said, “I actually feel quite guilty instead. The better he treats me, the more uneasy I become. After all, everything was going fine for him in the first place……”
“You must not think like that.” Bei Xiaozhou leaned forward slightly and said, “Being overly cautious and feeling like you’ve harmed him all the time is the most irresponsible thing to do. You must treat him well, under any circumstance, no matter how difficult it may be, you definitely can’t give up!”
“I understand.” Yu Hao felt moved. “Thank you.”
Xiao Yujun opened up her laptop at another table to sort out her manuscript, while Bei Xiaozhou’s manager would glance over at them from time to time. Half an hour had already passed, but Yu Hao was still chatting with Bei Xiaozhou. Only then did Yu Hao know that Huang Jingya was a fan of Bei Xiaozhou at first; she started following her and had even given her presents. Bei Xiaozhou met up with her since she was grateful for her support, and then the two of them gradually became close.
In many people’s eyes, Bei Xiaozhou’s bright and glamorous life was attained through selling her body. In reality, Bei Xiaozhou has never slept with anyone and even used to live a life of hardship.
“When I was at my poorest.” Bei Xiaozhou said, “I had to travel somewhere for my modelling interview, and in order to save on the bus fare, I walked three bus stops in winter. Do you understand that kind of feeling?”
“I do.” Yu Hao said, “I understand that very well. I used to do that as well; it was really despairing. Also, if it wasn’t for Zhou Sheng, I would’ve already been dead by now.”
“Right?” Bei Xiaozhou said, “But even when I was at my poorest, I never considered sleeping with anyone. When I see the comments left on my Weibo sometimes -- especially the ones left behind by guys -- that are full of unrestrained rebuke, I get so damn angry. In their eyes, I’m just a prostitute. I once cried for a whole night. At that time I thought, I relied on my own efforts to make money and live the life I want, so who did I provoke? And whose ancestor’s grave did I dig up? Why do they hate me so much? But Xiao Ya told me not to care about what they say. In that way, she’s the one who’s more like that ruffian.”
Yu Hao suddenly felt that he had touched upon something that Xiao Yujun couldn’t ask.
“Can I add all this into the interview piece?” Yu Hao said, “Regarding the clarification of your job and some rumours.”
“You can.” Bei Xiaozhou said, “You can write whatever, I don’t care. Just don’t mention the part about Xiao Ya.”
Yu Hao laughed, “Of course I won’t. They were both sent by God to save us.”
Bei Xiaozhou said, “Yeah, so it’s impossible for them to get together. If too many resources are wasted, they’ll get struck by lightning.”
Yu Hao laughed again. Bei Xiaozhou said, “I owe you a favour. If you need help in the future, feel free to look for me. Here, cheers.”
“You’re really something, aren’t you? How are you acquainted with that internet celebrity Jiejie?”
After Bei Xiaozhou left, Xiao Yujun was very surprised by this.
Yu Hao uttered an “uh” and said, “We talked about how hard she worked at her job.”
Xiao Yujun scrutinised Yu Hao for a moment, “Are you going to include it?”
Yu Hao said, “I can try?”
Xiao Yujun made a call and brought Yu Hao to their second appointment with another internet celebrity. Yu Hao took his laptop out in the other cafe and transcribed some of his interview with Bei Xiaozhou. They worked until 4pm; Zhou Sheng came to pick Yu Hao up while Xiao Yujun was still talking. They had interviewed six people in total. All the internet celebrity girls didn’t want to pay much attention to Xiao Yujun, but they were quite interested in Yu Hao.
“I’ll treat the little Gege to a sandwich ba.” One of the girls said, “He looks so hungry.”
Yu Hao was extremely touched that someone actually noticed that he hadn’t eaten yet.
In the end, Xiao Yujun nodded and passed Yu Hao a USB, “For Male God, you’ve worked hard.”
Zhou Sheng took over and went back to the college with Yu Hao. Zhou Sheng said, “Bei Xiaozhou didn’t do anything to you ba?”
Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng walked to a place devoid of people. He remembered how Bei Xiaozhou had said ‘you definitely can’t give up’, and as he thought about it, he turned around and hugged Zhou Sheng.
Zhou Sheng, “???”
Zhou Sheng instantly burst with joy and said, “What? What is it? After not seeing each other for the whole day, did you miss your hubby?”
Yu Hao didn’t say anything.
“You didn’t get bullied ba?” Zhou Sheng said, “If you got bullied then don’t do this anymore; I’ll take revenge for you.”
Yu Hao leaned on Zhou Sheng’s shoulder and felt Zhou Sheng’s heart beating wildly.
“I didn’t, everything’s fine.” Yu Hao smiled, “Let’s look for Kaikai first, then we can go for dinner. Let’s go.”
Zhou Sheng and Fu Liqun both found part-time jobs. Zhou Sheng began tutoring a junior high student in math, while Fu Liqun went to a gym to become an assistant equipment coach to protect customers from getting injured when they’re adding weights, as well as tidying up the equipment and other odd jobs.
“Oh my god,” Zhou Sheng was complaining about the junior high student, “He’s so difficult to teach, way too rebellious. I’m so tempted to hit him.”
Yu Hao didn’t know if he should cry or laugh, “They’re all like that, being a tutor is hard work.”
It was obvious that Chen Yekai hadn’t been getting much sleep recently. This was Yu Hao’s first time talking to him since the end of summer vacation. His house was now decorated in a similar style to the safe haven in his dream, and even the tablecloth was exactly the same. However there was a messy pile of materials on the table -- including the subjects and schedule used for their college’s appraisal, the course analysis for next semester, as well as Lin Xun’s case report.
“Want anything to drink?” Chen Yekai asked.
“How many hours of sleep are you getting a day?” Zhou Sheng couldn’t help but ask.
Chen Yekai used one hand to gesture a number and said, “I haven’t been sleeping much. Drink low caffeine coffee ba, don’t lose sleep at night. Still seizing dreams recently?”
Yu Hao passed the USB to Chen Yekai. Chen Yekai printed out the data, and made coffee for the both of them while it printed.
“Not anymore.” Zhou Sheng said, “But I can only give you the Golden Crow Wheel after a while.”
Yu Hao threw Zhou Sheng a meaningful look and pointed at himself, then pointed at Zhou Sheng to indicate whether or not they should tell Chen Yekai that they were together. But Zhou Sheng waved his hand and stopped Yu Hao from saying anything first.
“When Junjun approached me regarding this topic, I was very interested in it.” Chen Yekai said, “But since I’m still in the college, I can’t participate in social interviews, so I can only do it through you. Yu Hao, it must be hard on you, you should be very busy this semester.”
Yu Hao knew that Chen Yekai was always like this -- he was obviously the one helping others, yet he would talk about it as if he was troubling others instead. Chen Yekai sat down with the coffee he brought over. Yu Hao said, “There’s not much to do, it’ll only take a month or two at most. With Junjun Jie’s interview speed, it’ll all be done soon.”
“Un……let me take a look……” Chen Yekai began reading the printed material, while Zhou Sheng laid on Chen Yekai’s sofa and played with his new Switch.
Chen Yekai glanced at Zhou Sheng, “A friend gave me that, you can take it back to play with it?”
Zhou Sheng, “Don’t, it wasn’t easy for Fu Liqun to start getting his act together. Give him another console, and he’ll lead a befuddled existence again.”
“You’re hungry ba.” Chen Yekai could tell that Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng were slightly on edge. Zhou Sheng sporadically pressed down on the console buttons forcefully, while Yu Hao repeatedly flipped through the materials, so he got up and said, “I’ll make you guys something to eat.”
“I’ll do it ba.” Zhou Sheng threw the console aside and got up to rummage through Chen Yekai’s kitchen. There were only six eggs, half a bag of rice, and a pot of cold rice.
Zhou Sheng, “……”
“Accompanied her for the interview?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s good. By dealing with interviewees face to face, you’ll be able to better understand the unspoken subtext of her questions, and there might even be new discoveries.”
“Yes, it really is like that!” Yu Hao said, “Even though I was just watching from the side, I could roughly understand the interviewees today, but I'm often unable to figure out how to phrase the content coherently……”
“Language and words aren’t important. First of all, you need to understand it yourself and pursue the inherent nature through your observations.” Chen Yekai said to Yu Hao, “Why would Bei Xiaozhou say the things she did today? Why did she choose this kind of life? Does she really like it from the bottom of her heart, or was she influenced by her environment? Why would she like it? The quintessence behind studying Psychology is to ask ‘why’. This what it means to be people-oriented.”
Yu Hao’s gaze shifted from the materials to Chen Yekai’s face. Chen Yekai took out several thumbtacks from the stationery box and pinned an A1 paper to the wall of the dining room. He then took a pen and began to analyze Yu Hao’s social data.
“Learn how to draw a mind map.” Chen Yekai added, “Try to sort out all the convoluted and complicated information you obtained, then search for its underlying essence.”
As Yu Hao watched Chen Yekai begin to reconstruct the underlying thoughts of the interviewees according to the data he had, he just wanted to exclaim ‘male god!’ Chen Yekai was way too strong; his lines of thought were all very clear-cut.
“Consumerism culture redefines personal values in our era, and by involving ourselves in it, everyone will be affected. From the theme of this article, it can be said that Xiao Yujun is committed to eliminating the generation gap between parents and young people. The collision and conflict of these two different values is the essence behind this issue’s topic.”
“In the 1970s and 1980s, people still held the idea of starting from scratch and weren't very aware of the idea of consumerism, which is the root cause of the adolescents’ infatuation with internet celebrities. But their parents can’t understand it, and think that they’re bad role models……thank you.”
Zhou Sheng casually picked a handful of leaves from the peppermint plant in Chen Yekai’s house, and after he chopped it up, he made fried rice with peppermint and eggs. The three of them talked as they ate. Chen Yekai had a shocked expression after the first bite.
Chen Yekai, “……”
Yu Hao, “?”
Zhou Sheng, “???”
“Seems like I put in too much salt.” Zhou Sheng said to Yu Hao, “Drink more water later ba.”
“It’s just right.” Yu Hao said, “I’m starving, I only had a sandwich this afternoon……This fried rice with mint is really fragrant, it’s so good.”
Zhou Sheng, “Eat more, there’s still some in the pot. So Kaikai, you think it’s wrong to depend on buying bags, shoes, and other luxury goods to obtain happiness?”
“That’s the significance behind doing this topic.” Chen Yekai said, “Yu Hao, organise the piece first before sending it to me. I’ll help you revise it once and then send it to Xiao Yujun.”
Translator's Note:
Juurensha: I really like Bei Xiaozhou
Ame: I’m curious about the fried rice with peppermint and eggs o: …
