Chapter 026 (1/2)
The Complete Guide to the Use and Care of a Personal Assistant
Translator: Jury
Editor: NomNom
First Published on Chaleuria
—
Chapter Twenty-six
Su Yuyang’s phone beeped, cutting off Feng Ji’s words before they had even left his mouth. Seeing Su Yuyang’s troubled expression, Feng Ji could guess who the message was from.
Su Yuyang looked at Feng Ji and pretended to brush away tears, then lowered his head and opened QQ.
Feng Ji sympathetically patted Su Yuyang’s shoulder and was about to turn to Ling Miao to share the gossip when he heard Ling Miao scream, followed by the waiter apologizing.
“What happened?” Feng Ji was the store owner and even though Ling Miao might as well be family, Feng Ji still treated him like a customer, so Feng Ji rushed to Ling Miao’s side as quickly as possible (in other words, he turned around).
“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Ling Miao said dismissively.
Feng Ji passed Ling Miao a tissue and Ling Miao froze before taking it.
“The coffee’s good, isn’t it?” Feng Ji teased.
Ling Miao said regretfully, “Sorry, I didn’t taste it.”
“Another cup then.” Feng Ji waved over a waiter and whispered some instructions into his ear. The waiter left and returned several minutes later carrying two cups of coffee.
“You’re being suspiciously kind.” Ling Miao pushed away the cup of coffee that had been carefully set before him to the middle of the table. His wary gaze was trained on Feng Ji’s smiling face.
Feng Ji shrugged, then raised his cup of coffee and tasted it.
Although Feng Ji was drinking coffee, his attention was still on Ling Miao, who was idly observing the coffee shop’s new furnishings. Suddenly, Ling Miao’s wandering gaze stopped and his eyes lit up with surprise. Feng Ji followed the line of Ling Miao’s gaze.
It came to an end on Su Yuyang’s troubled face. Ling Miao had known Su Yuyang for more than a month—not too long a time, but also not too short—but he had never seen Su Yuyang this vexed. Even that time when he had deleted Su Yuyang’s chapter, Su Yuyang had only smiled and hadn’t shown any worry at all.
“And you say rabbits don’t eat the grass next to their burrows.” Feng Ji smiled to himself without feeling.
“Ling Miao.” Feng Ji lowered his voice and drew Ling Miao’s attention back to him. Ling Miao said “Mm” and nothing else, but his gaze told Feng Ji: Spit it out.
Feng Ji thought for a while, then tactfully asked the question that had been troubling him: “You’re really just Su Yuyang’s assistant?”
“Of course not,” Ling Miao said carelessly, but Feng Ji could hear boundless resentment in his tone and that made Feng Ji even more certain that his guess was right.
“I’m basically his nanny.”
Feng Ji was still immersed in his joy, so Ling Miao didn’t stand on ceremony and splashed cold water on him.
“Editing, publishing, moderating the comments, moderating the discussion forum, publicizing the novel and related materials—I do all of it and don’t complain. Three meals a day I cook for him, that’s fine. I have to eat too, anyway. But he even wants me to wash his clothes and clean his room—okay, I’m standing under the eaves so I have to bow my head, I’ll live with that too. But I do all of this, and he still complains. If he can do all of it better, then why doesn’t he do it? Fuck!” Ling Miao packaged up all Su Yuyang’s wrongdoings and spat them out. “He’s taller than me, and uses it to take advantage of me. If I wasn’t smart, I’d already have been molested. Even worse, he says I type too loud at night so that he can’t sleep—hell, I don’t have time during the day thanks to him and he still has the cheek to say that to me! Forget it. The things that bastard does— it makes me mad just to think about them. If I keep talking, I’ll explode.”
Feng Ji attentively listened at first, but by the end he was wearing an expression of pure schadenfreude. Ling Miao was too wrapped up in himself and so hadn’t seen the change in Feng Ji’s expression, and by the time Ling Miao came back to his senses, Su Yuyang was sitting next to him.
“Keep talking. I didn’t even know you had so many complaints about me.” Su Yuyang picked up the coffee Ling Miao hadn’t touched and took a small sip. From Ling Miao’s perspective, Su Yuyang seemed to be using the coffee to keep his temper in check.
Ling Miao lowered his head and stayed quiet, seemingly considering his next move. Su Yuyang calmly watched Ling Miao’s hair, the black strands shining like silk under the café light. As if possessed, Su Yuyang put his hand on Ling Miao’s head.
“Fuck!” Ling Miao batted away Su Yuyang’s hand and said angrily, “Gentlemen fight with words, not fists!”
Feng Ji grinned. “Su Yuyang’s never been a gentleman, especially in…”
Feng Ji intentionally didn’t finish, leaving Ling Miao to fill in the blanks. Ling Miao had a pretty good imagination and instantly figured out what Feng Ji was implying.
“You…” Ling Miao was going to say “you’re shameless,” but Feng Ji hadn’t actually said anything. If he called Feng Ji shameless, it’d look like he was the shameless one.
Ling Miao really couldn’t think of anything suitable to say in reply. He huffed loudly at Feng Ji, then raised his chin and pointed at Su Yuyang and Feng Ji’s noses. “You’re two of a kind! You deserve to be bedmates!”
“That’s right, we shared a bed before, but now… ahem, continue your conversation.” Feng Ji covered his mouth and coughed lightly, but his laugh was impossible to hide.
Feng Ji laughed, not out of pride or embarrassment or pity. He was tickled pink, the sort of laughter that caused stomachaches, provoked purely by Ling Miao’s expression.
Hah! Ling Miao’s expression—that’s plaintive, that’s pure jealousy! I don’t believe he doesn’t have some sort of emotional relationship with Su Yuyang, alright?!
Above: Feng Ji’s inner monologue.
“Hey!” Ling Miao didn’t know what Feng Ji was laughing about, but Feng Ji’s red face spoke volumes.