tiantianyingshi

Yu Zhan, who rarely did chores, realized for the first time that doing chores was interesting, and he enjoyed this process. Maybe it was because he was working with the person he liked, so he felt fatigued but happy at the same time.

The study’s floor was already tidied up. The Guqin was placed on the desk, the ink, brush, and ink-stone were all placed in one corner. Paper was scrolled up and placed next to the Guqin. Mr. Zhang’s modern-styled study instantly seemed to have a taste of ancient China.

Liu Man put the books she brought here onto the table.

She was now cleaning Mr. Zhang’s bookshelves with a cloth, and her eyes browsed his collection of books. He deserved the title of a Chinese major teacher. Although he taught literature from other countries, his types of books ranged from ancient times, the modern era, abroad, and Chinese. Liu Man also saw books related to Tang poetries, Song poems, and Yuan songs. She felt it was time to return the books she borrowed from Professor Su.

After Yu Zhan finished mopping, he went to the entrance of the study and saw Liu Man, standing in front of the bookshelves and attentively reading the titles of each book with her head raised. Such an elegant posture made her seem as if she completely combined with these ancient books. She was sophisticated while being dignified and not mundane. This really was a peaceful and wonderful scene.

No wonder Professor Su really liked and cherished Liu Man.

And no wonder Liu Man told him that, in the end, she chose Chinese Ancient Literature, a major that was scholarly just from the sound of it.

Yu Zhan saw the English-to-Chinese lexicon, Chinese-to-English dictionary, and other English materials on the desk. As he recalled how Liu Man only got a 63 for her English 4, he suddenly had a thought,

“Man Man,”

Man Man turned her head around, “What?”

“I’ll tutor you in English.”

“Do you have the time?” Liu Man knew Yu Zhan worked from day to night, and each day, when he got off work and returned home, it would already be 11 p.m.

“I go on break on Tuesdays. From now on, I will come here every Tuesday to teach you English. We have a deal!” Yu Zhan did not give Liu Man any chance to decline his suggestion.

“You are taking the initiative to offer this. When the lessons happen, don’t blame me for being stupid,” Liu Man thought of how fluent Yu Zhan and Song Junzhe’s English were when they had their conversations, and she felt very self-abased!!!

He definitely will mock her!

Yu Zhan saw the ambivalence on her face and couldn’t help but laugh. He wanted to hear her accent when she speaks English. The way she recited vocabulary must be very cute and interesting.

“You, Daylight, and Moonlight should come to rest at my place tonight. We’ve just cleaned this place up, and the air quality isn’t so good. You haven’t bought anything like a pillow, bedsheet, bedspread, or even a blanket. You can’t just sleep on the mattress.”

“Okay, I will buy everything else in the supermarket tomorrow.”

Yu Zhan laughed softly, “Now, you are a lady with your own little house.”

“Yeah. I can control my time freely without caring about how others feel,” Liu Man used to be alone, and now when she returned to her independent state, she felt it was quite good.

Yu Zhan’s house was not so far away from Capital University. They only had to drive for around ten minutes.

Daylight was already familiar with the place. As soon as they entered the elevator, she started meowing excitedly. Moonlight, confused and dumb, lay in the pet box. As soon as the elevator doors got opened, Paul didn’t directly jump onto Yu Zhan but first nudged the pet box in Yu Zhan’s hands with his nose.

Yu Zhan immediately let the two cats out. Daylight, taking a huge leap, jumped onto Paul’s back and looked down at Moonlight from a superior position. It was as if she was a cat queen.

Moonlight, however, completely ignored her. Taking small steps, he curiously walked into Yu Zhan’s house, glancing at everything and taking in all the scents.

Paul, seeing this unfamiliar face, hurriedly followed. He continuously barked at him, and Moonlight was so afraid he jumped onto the tall cupboards in the living room. He hid behind the flower vase and was too afraid to come out.

Liu Man felt bad for Moonlight and wanted to comfort him, but Yu Zhan stopped her, “Don’t mind them. Tomorrow, they will be all familiar with each other.”

As soon as he finished his words, his phone started ringing.

Yu Zhan took a look at the caller ID and picked up, smiling, “Is it Melon this time or Bitter Gourd?”

Liu Man laughed. Was Yu Zhan shopping for vegetables and fruits, or was he playing a riddle game?

Yu Zhan was in this call for a long time. He didn’t say anything in the last part of the call, and it was all the person at the other end talking. Yu Zhan only responded with an “mhm” at times.

In the end, he said, “Let me think about it,” and hung up.

Facing Liu Man’s curious looks, Yu Zhan said, “This call was from Ye Ziliang.”

“Oh, I remember now. His cat’s named Melon.”

“His dog is called Bitter Gourd,” Yu Zhan added on.

Liu Man burst into laughter, “He knows how to name his pets.”

“It’s so late; why is he calling you? Is his cat or dog sick?”

Yu Zhan shook his head, “His pets are fine. He wants me to help him shoot an internet documentary.”

“Is Ye Ziliang a director, just like his brother?” Liu Man didn’t know Ye Ziliang at all.

Because Ye Ziliang had taken the initiative to talk to him multiple times, Yu Zhan was already very familiar with him. They could be counted as friends.

Yu Zhan told Liu Man: “Ye Ziliang only came back to China at the end of last year since he had been studying in England. He has been an intern assistant producer at the national television documentary department for half a year, now, and he’s about to finish his internship. The spot he wants is the position of assistant producer. Three people are competing against him, and this is getting very intense. The department gave them all a task as an assessment to evaluate whether the four of them had actual skills to have this job. They have to each film a thirty-minutes long documentary and post their product onto an internet platform. The producer of the most popular documentary, in the end, will get accepted.”

Liu Man felt this requirement was too strict.

“They get to improvise on the topic of their documentaries. Ye Ziliang has thought about it for a few days and decided to center it around “Vet’s Cuties”. He wants to shoot his documentary in my clinic and make me the main character — a normal vet. He says that he’s willing to pay me 20,000 RMB.”

“He came to my clinic today just to look for me. Realizing I wasn’t there, he called me.”

Liu Man’s eyes glowed, “That’s a great idea, and you get to earn 20,000. Are you willing to help him?”

“I haven’t thought about it yet,” how could Yu Zhan have the mind to shoot a documentary now? His main worry now was to sweep clean all the people and things standing in Liu Man’s way so Liu Man could settle down in her new house.

Besides, his family members had always stayed low-profile and hadn’t shown their faces on any public occasions in front of large crowds. They hadn’t even gotten on any news reports. Before, he got caught by a live-streaming camera on Tang Tu’s graduation concert, and the screenshot from the video was posted onto the internet. Luckily, the lights below the stage weren’t that good, and only the outline of his silhouette could be seen. What was also fortunate was that nobody watching the live-stream knew him, or else his identity would’ve been exposed within one glance.

Translated by: Sydney