RALP Chapter 34

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Night falls, but Shen Chen has yet to visit Xiao Tiantian.

Though it’s only been one day since he let himself be seen, true, and it’s not unreasonable for him not to make it there immediately, but Xiao Tiantian still feels upset.

This café is the location he decided on after a long consideration.

Elegant, classy, quiet, reserved, and most importantly, appealing clothes.

Simple, classic black and white uniform. Definitely most suited to people with white skin and small build like him. Helps with that pure, clean image.

Yet, Shen Chen did not come. That could only mean that he does not care enough about him.

Xiao Tiantian thinks, somewhat bitter.

He walks out of the shop and is waiting for the green light at an intersection.

Though suddenly, he hears unexpected news.

[What? X has left Australia already?!]

[Yes] The main system’s voice is monotone, unchanging [His movement speed indicates that he will reach the airport in four hours]

A sudden wrench thrown in his schedule.

The flight scheduled for three days later have suddenly been changed to today.

He has already planned out the outfit for that day.

A cute fur coat with tight fitting pants, and a pair of snow boots. A hat with two fur balls at the top. Teasing but adorable.

If he is to arrive tonight, then he must immediately change his clothes.

‘Welcoming Flight’ is an important ceremony for him, and he would be able to enjoy admiring gazes from the onlookers as well. He cannot miss it.

Though this has also planted a small seed of worry in Xiao Tiantian.

Not notifying him about such an important schedule change, did he want to come back alone discreetly?

Before, Xiao Tiantian would have thought that he must have been planning a surprise for him.

But You, Shen Chen, Haoyu have gone awry one by one. He cannot afford to be as optimistic as before.

Gradually, the person in bed opens his eyes, staring at the familiar ceiling. The sunlight is dimming. Tilting his head, he looks outside to find the sky darkening.

The window is open and cold wind is blowing inside. The curtains dance in turn.

This is his parents’ mansion, and this is his bedroom, but since he moved out, he has rarely come back.

His clothes are unchanged, still in the suit he was wearing earlier, but his coat has been taken away. The shirt left on him is all wrinkled.

Shen Chen’s head does not hurt that much now. After sitting up, he discovers that his neck actually hurts more.

He rubs his nape. His memories are still fuzzy. A brief moment later, he recalls what happened before he fainted.

Since he’s at home now, has Du You left already?

He walks out of his bedroom, forehead covered by his hand.

On the first floor, he can hear the television from the living room, along with his father’s roarous laughter.

It might be the first time he has seen his father so happy outside of cooking meals for as long as he can remember.

“Young master, you’re awake?”

A servant sees him, then tells him, “the mistress is cooking. I’ll inform her.”

“Mom’s cooking?”

“Yes,” the servant continues, “as the last meal was interrupted; the guest is here this time and you too…”

Guest?

A person flashes through Shen Chen’s mind, hurrying him along the way into the living room.

He sees two people sitting in the living room sofa.

A warm yellow light is filling up the living room from the elegantly decorated chandelier on the ceiling. While the television is on, no one is watching. Instead, his father is all smiles as he speaks to the other person.

That person only has a silhouette, but Shen Chen recognises him immediately.

His father sees him, “you’re awake?”

Shen Chen’s gaze is on Du You, however.

Noticing him, Du You asks, “is your body alright?”

“… I’m fine.”

Though he was forcibly knocked unconscious, but, having had a decent shut-eye for once, he actually feels less burdened physically than before.

But his neck is still hurting.

“Say, at least tell me if you were going to Xiao You’s company. I wouldn’t have misunderstood otherwise.”

After a friendly conversation through the evening, his father has already started calling Du You more immediately. Continuing, his father says with a slightly surprised tone, “and falling asleep in their company and troubling them with driving you back, really.”

That is probably the excuse Du You made up for him, and Shen Chen accepts the favour, “sorry. I forgot.”

“But I really didn’t know that Xiao You is the rumoured rising talent. What a great lad you are,” his father is looking at Du You like the way he would look at him, full of fatherly affection.

Shen Chen is in shock.

What did he mean. Did father not know who Du You was before? Then why did he arrange for him in the blind date?

In fact, he is beginning to suspect everything he thought was ‘true.’

His father is still heaping the praises on him. Shen Chen cuts him off, “father, I need to talk to Du You.”

His father gestures ‘feel free,’ but looking at his son’s hesitant expression, he suddenly ‘gets’ something.

He stands up, “I wonder how your mother’s meals are coming along. I’ll go have a look.”

Then he smiles as he tells Du You, “have fun you two.”

Then he gradually saunters out of the living room.

Shen Chen tells Du You, hesitation evident in his tone, “let’s talk at the balcony.”

There’s a glass wall with a protruding balcony outside about 2 sq. metres across. It is not covered, but has a white fencing on its edges with vines tangled across it.

Outside, the television’s noise is all but blocked.

It’s well into winter now, and the temperature is approaching freezing.

“I want to believe in what you said,” as Shen Chen speaks, white huffs of warm air comes out, “you said, that I would die, if I continued to approach Xiao Tiantian, didn’t you?”

He thought it was nonsense Du You was pulling to approach him, so he didn’t think much of it. Several months since, and with all these things happening, he has finally decided to take it seriously.

He cannot recall much of the details now, but he does remember that it was related to parallel worlds.

He, Du You, X, and the man he met in the hospital before. Four of them. All rather intimately related to Xiao Tiantian himself.

Since he has developed an awareness of the oddities occuring on him, he is really starting to suspect that there’s something wrong with Xiao Tiantian the person.

It takes very little for a planted seed of doubt to blossom.

And when he actually gave this matter a deep pondering, for some reason, his inexplicable, almost possessed-like obsessiveness with that person is fading away.

Not disappear, but, recalling everything he did to Xiao Tiantian, he cannot actually find good justification for the courses of action taken.

And that supposed white moonlight. The two of them were in the same class, but they were never close in the first place.

Plus, he was already well stressed out from realising his father’s unreliability in his highschool days. He was so preoccupied with studying that he definitely didn’t have time to engage in romance.

So, why is that person suddenly his ‘white moonlight,’ and then put up this whole drama with him?

Shen Chen’s mind is muddled.

Hearing Shen Chen’s thoughts, Du You considers his words before saying, “it might not exactly be ‘death;’ we’re all still alive, but, we’re all fused into one person.”

Shen Chen cannot fathom becoming one person with Du You or with any of the other two people.

Most importantly, would he still be himself?

Du You then says, “also, that ‘white moonlight’ you said may have been caused by ‘plot correction.'”

He explains what that term entailed.

Shen Chen was listening in a daze at first, but then, his expression starts to darken, and darken, and his brows are deeply furrowed.

So sometimes he felt as if he was schizophrenic because of something like that. And, that absolutely ludicrous action and subsequent fainting of his mother was also caused by Xiao Tiantian.

Though there might not have been any dire consequences, but, toying with him, toying with his family like monkeys in a circus…

Shen Chen grips his fists tightly. He can feel an anger building up in him.

Du You then says, seeing him go quiet, “you just have to avoid contact with Xiao Tiantian here on out and that will hopefully stop triggering ‘plot correction.’ I will take care of everything else.”

Hearing that, Shen Chen looks back at Du You and shakes his head, “this problem is not yours to burden alone.”

Besides, he has helped him quite a lot now. He does not want to owe any favours.

Or rather, he actually wants to help Du You.

“If nothing else I also have quite a lot of contacts on my hands. If you need them, feel free to ask.”

While Du You is not certain of the usefulness of contacts in this world since Xiao Tiantian is in control of supernatural powers, but a gesture a goodwill this is nonetheless, so he nods.

The discussion thus concludes and Shen Chen pulls the glass wall open, letting Du You enter first.

They walk back into the living room only to see Shen Chen’s parents suspiciously leaning on the wall right next to the window.

They immediately act innocent upon seeing them enter, remarking upon the decoration of the wall.

“Beautiful, isn’t it, my dear,” says his father.

“That’s right, darling,” says his mother.

Du You “?”

Shen Chen “…”

There’s nothing on this blank section of wall…

The two actors continue their play until the mother turns to, as if just seeing them now, with an exaggerated tone, “oh, are you finished? Why run outside, it’s so cold, you know.”

“Come come come, the meal is done. Xiao You, let’s go,” the father says, leading him towards the dining room.

Dozens of mouth-watering meals on the long table. Just the appearance is enough to distinguish its separate class from Shen Chen’s father’s ‘work.’

Before they sit down, though, both Shen Chen and Du You’s phones ring.

The father understands, “CEOs, I understand. Suddenly, calls from work. No worries, do take it.”

Shen Chen accepts the call, and before anything else, the other side starts blabbering on, “Mr. Shen, Xiao Tiantian has suddenly started moving! He’s heading towards the international airport. We didn’t find anything about departing flights, so it might be…”

Then Shen Chen cuts him off, “no need to report to me from now on.”

“Huh?”

“Unless I contact you myself, you do not need to report his whereabouts anymore,” with that, Shen Chen cuts off the call.

That is when Du You puts the phone to his ear, “hello.”

A greeting, but, no response.

Du You feels odd. The caller is an unknown contact, the number is not recorded.

“Is anyone there?”

Then, the other side finally answers.

“It’s me,” his throat sounds somewhat parched, but it’s You Haoyu’s voice.

Currently, You Haoyu is in the training room in the company.

The clock is fast approaching 8, and it is completely dark outside. Under the white light, sitting with legs crossed on the wooden floor, he is leaning with his back on the cold mirror surface.

He is the last person left inside. But, this time, his mental state is completely different (cf. Day before audition).

“I just got a mail. My audition passed,” You Haoyu lowers his head, “I wanted to be the first one to tell you this news.”

He is nervous after saying that, a rare occurrence for him.

He rarely contacts anyone of his own volition, nor does he normally care about what others thought of him. But, only when it involves Du You would he suppress his aggressive and prideful demeanour.

“Congratulations.”

Du You hasn’t paid much attention to Xinwen Entertainment recently, since he’s confident about the former movie star. Given that he decided to tell him this on purpose, though, perhaps he wanted a reward?

Before he could ask, You Haoyu says, “do you want to have dinner together?” His voice grows a bit gravelly, “just as thanks. Nothing else to it.”

Du You’s thoughts are led astray, “I didn’t bribe the director.”

“Huh?…” Then You Haoyu realises what happened, “dumba——! I’m talking about the thing from before.”

Thing from before? The penalty?

Du You then takes a look at the meal in front of him, “I’m a friend’s right now though.”

Hearing that, You Haoyu’s fingers gripping tightly on his phone slightly loosens.

“I see.”

He’s a bit frustrated. The words of invitation just blurted out of him. He didn’t want to say that in the first place. That was too forward.

He really isn’t suited to things like this.

But then, he hears Du You ask, “it might be a bit late, but what about a late-night snack?”

You Haoyu appears stunned. His face seems to burn up slightly, “…sure.”

“Then I’ll call you after dinner.”

Du You hangs up.

He raises his head back up, and sees Shen Chen looking fixedly at him.

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TL’s notes: Xiao Tiantian’s parts are almost over for now! And the happy love polygon is about to commence! … And before you ask, no, he won’t be gone for good for a little while longer at least, but he’ll be appearing less until the scene of his departure from the story~