Found Him! My 'Glass-Hearted' Ex is a Pop-Up Star - Chapter 26

Duan Zhuyan and Song Chengxu, two grown men, stood in the park, each holding a cup of coffee. Fallen leaves blanketed the ground, and the sunlight, a thin, pale gold, filtered through the branches. The light was bright and cast a hazy glow over everything. The London wind was a bit strong but not biting; the sound of it rustling through the dry leaves carried a crisp, refreshing chill.

Song Chengxu leaned back against a bench, dangling a straw from his mouth and crossing his legs. He looked at the man beside him and said lazily, “What is it now, Old Duan?”

Duan Zhuyan wore a long coat. He was looking down at his phone with a piece of candy in his mouth, his stray bangs casting a small shadow over the bridge of his nose. He paused for a moment, his thin lips parting to speak in a low, heavy voice. “He is not angry.”

This was yet another consultation for relationship advice.

“He is not angry? That is a good thing, is it not?” Song Chengxu remarked. “Why is your face so dark then?”

Duan Zhuyan remained silent. After a long while, he bit down on the candy, his jaw muscles bulging slightly. His eyes were turned away from the light, making them appear like deep, impenetrable pools of black. He looked gloomy, his aura far more volatile than usual. “He does not care about me at all.”

Song Chengxu blinked. “What?”

Duan Zhuyan stood perfectly still, his expression cold and sour, radiating a palpable sense of low pressure. “He does not care if I want to kiss him. I transferred money to him, but he would not accept it. I bought him things, but he did not want them. I asked him to dinner, and he said he had no time. He even spoke up for another man.”

“It is so cold, yet he does not know how to dress properly. He wears those cute clothes every day. Is his nervous system selectively failing him?”

Song Chengxu stared at him. “Transferring money, buying things, and inviting him to dinner sounds reasonable. Did you say something wrong? Let me see.”

Song Chengxu stepped forward and looked at their chat history.

Duan: [Transferred 90,000 RMB to you] Duan: [Transferred 80,000 RMB to you] Duan: [Transferred 70,000 RMB to you] Duan: I have too much money. I am just throwing it around. Duan: Is your stomach okay now? Why do you not take your medicine properly? If you cannot cook, order takeout. I could cook for you, of course. You are so thin you barely have any meat on your bones, yet you still skip meals. Are you trying to become an immortal through suffering? You look pitiful.

Song Chengxu was speechless. He scrolled down further.

Ying Ruo: I do not want it! Ying Ruo: [Forwarded Link: Student Aid Plan for Mountainous Areas. Providing scholarships for underprivileged students in remote areas to change their fate through knowledge. Alipay Charity.] Ying Ruo: You should throw your money at the children in the mountains instead. Ying Ruo: I am actually doing okay. They are much more pitiful than I am.

The conversation left Song Chengxu in stunned silence. The first half of Duan Zhuyan’s messages were so blunt they were barely human. It was no wonder he could not coax his partner back when he spoke like that. However, he had not expected the partner to be such a saint.

Song Chengxu tried to find the right words. “This 90k, 80k, 70k. Is there a special meaning behind those specific numbers?”

Duan Zhuyan frowned irritably. He tapped the screen with a finger. “Look at the first digits in order. 9, 8, 7.”

Song Chengxu tried to understand but failed. “And so?”

Duan Zhuyan gave him a look of utter disbelief. “It means ‘I am sorry’.”

Song Chengxu was speechless. He almost died of laughter. One person sends a coded apology through bank transfers instead of saying it, and the other person rejects the money and sends a charity link for children in the mountains. He thought they were a perfect match.

Song Chengxu gave up. He looked at the link and asked, “So, did you donate?”

“Obviously,” Duan Zhuyan said, looking into the distance as his tone calmed down. “Things really are hard for them. I donated a whole teaching building.”

Song Chengxu clasped his hands in a mock salute. “On behalf of the children in the mountains, I thank you.” Then he thought for a moment. “So, what is the deal with the other guy?”

At the mention of this, Duan Zhuyan’s face darkened again. Fury broke through his cold, sharp exterior. His jaw tightened as he said viciously, “He is just an arrogant nerd.”

“Is that all?” Song Chengxu waved it off. “Relax. He has already dated someone of your caliber; he is not going to settle for anyone else.”

Duan Zhuyan lowered his eyes and said nothing. He was confident in his looks, at the very least. Surely Ying Ruo was not so blind that he would make a poor choice. He assumed that after their brief meeting yesterday, they would have no further interaction.

The next second, he looked up and saw Ying Ruo walking out side by side with that nerd.

Duan Zhuyan froze. The nerd was still wearing a plaid shirt and black pants, looking like a wooden block. Ying Ruo accidentally tripped on a stone slab, and the nerd reached out to grab Ying Ruo’s arm to pull him back up. Once Ying Ruo was steady, he smiled and said thank you. The nerd then reached out to fix a stray tuft of Ying Ruo’s hair.

Duan Zhuyan exploded instantly.

“Wait, Old Duan!” Song Chengxu quickly held back the charging man. “Calm down! That was just a friendly gesture. Do not disturb the students while they are studying!”

“Studying? You call that studying?” Duan Zhuyan’s sharp brows furrowed as he snarled. “That bastard nerd is clearly trying to seduce Ying Ruo! He is putting his hands on him!”

“Do not be impulsive. They just finished class and are clearly heading to the Student Centre. Calm down,” Song Chengxu said, wiping sweat from his brow. “Besides, is there any point in going over there now? You are not his boyfriend. You have no standing and no right to interfere with his social life.”

Duan Zhuyan heard the words and withdrew his fist. His throat felt tight as he swallowed. He clenched his teeth so hard the veins in his neck bulged. It was true; he had no right to control him.

Song Chengxu did not know how else to advise him. “Exactly. You should think about how to win him back first.”

Before Song Chengxu could finish his thought, Duan Zhuyan ignored him and walked straight ahead. Song Chengxu was terrified. “Hey! I thought you said you were not going over there!”

“I am not going there to hit anyone,” Duan Zhuyan said in a low, slightly raspy voice. “I am just going to take a look.”

“A look at what?”

Duan Zhuyan’s voice did not waver. “I have not seen Ying Ruo all day.”

Song Chengxu stared at him in confusion.

“And he told me to come find him only after I have thought about what I want to say. I have not thought of it yet.”

Song Chengxu sighed. He thought Duan Zhuyan was behaving like a stalker and decided to let him be.

Ying Ruo and Pei Yuan found a spot in the library and sat down. They were teammates for a moot court competition and needed to refine the points of contention and draft their briefs.

“Take a look at this,” Pei Yuan said.

“Let me see,” Ying Ruo replied.

As they discussed the work, Ying Ruo felt like Pei Yuan was constantly staring at him. He asked, “Is there something on my face?”

“No,” Pei Yuan said bluntly. “I was just thinking about the fact that you rejected my confession.”

“Oh,” Ying Ruo said as if it were obvious. “Was that not inevitable? We have only known each other for a short time.”

“Besides, I always thought you were the kind of stiff, expressionless nerd who only had law codes in his head. You always wear the same clothes and black rimmed glasses. You seemed rather gloomy. I am quite surprised you had those kinds of thoughts about me.”

Pei Yuan adjusted his glasses and said without emotion, “Do you realize you can be quite blunt?”

Ying Ruo blinked. “Oh, I am sorry.”

“It is fine,” Pei Yuan replied. “I only tried because I felt I should, even though I knew I would be rejected.”

“Then why did you say it?” Ying Ruo asked.

Pei Yuan was silent for a long time. Finally, he said, “At least it is out in the open, right?” He glanced subtly behind him at Duan Zhuyan, who was hiding his face behind a book not far away. “So, are you more inclined toward that delinquent with the earring?”

Ying Ruo had also noticed Duan Zhuyan following them into the library. However, he did not like the description. He frowned, unaware of the annoyance in his voice. “He is not a delinquent. He is a very good person. He is kind, smart, and very caring. He is a great cook, too. He just looks a bit fierce.”

“Besides, getting an ear piercing is a personal choice,” Ying Ruo added.

After hearing this, Pei Yuan looked back at his computer and said nothing more. It seemed Ying Ruo’s heart already belonged to someone else. “I understand,” he said, wisely dropping the subject. “Let us continue our discussion.”

Not far away, Duan Zhuyan was seething. He wondered why the nerd was still there and what they were whispering about. The thought that they had likely sat next to each other during their lecture made him irritable. He wondered why Ying Ruo was still studying with him and questioned his taste. Duan Zhuyan was incredibly jealous.

He remembered what the fortune teller had told him. Even though he believed in science, he could not explain this situation. He really had no standing right now and no right to interfere with any of Ying Ruo’s decisions. His heart was a mess of complicated emotions. He wished he were still his boyfriend.

Duan Zhuyan irritably scratched his head, took out his phone, and called the fortune teller. His voice was low and heavy. “What is the most expensive love crystal in your shop?”

This was the forty-eighth time Ying Ruo had seen Duan Zhuyan in the last two days. He did not know what was wrong with the man. He always seemed to be in Ying Ruo’s line of sight, neither approaching nor leaving, pretending not to care while acting as if he were busy.

Furthermore, a pile of food had been appearing at his doorstep. There were all sorts of expensive desserts and snacks, vitamins, common medicines, and even takeout from the restaurant Ying Ruo had been wanting to try. He did not need to guess who was leaving them.

Ying Ruo sat at his desk, his chin resting on his pen. He peeked through the gap in his laptop screen at Duan Zhuyan, who had followed him into the library. He could ignore the food, but Duan Zhuyan’s outfit was another story. For some reason, the man had ditched his usual flashy style for something extremely plain. He was even wearing black rimmed glasses. He still had the earring, of course. He still looked handsome, but it was incredibly strange. Ying Ruo could not figure out what Duan Zhuyan was thinking.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated.

Duan Zhuyan: Why are you looking at me? Duan Zhuyan: I know I look very handsome today.

Ying Ruo bit his lip and blinked at the screen, wondering how he should respond. Just then, a colorful adult pop-up advertisement appeared on his laptop screen. Under normal circumstances, UK browsers do not show pop-up ads. Ying Ruo assumed it was a bug.

He tried to close the window, but the button would not work. Just as he was about to close the entire browser, he noticed that the person in the advertisement looked very familiar. Ying Ruo looked up at the man in the distance and then looked down at the computer.

The ad layout was old fashioned and gaudy, with a flashing title. A semi-naked, muscular man was lying on a lavish piece of furniture. His abdominal muscles pulsed in rhythm with the flashing lights. He was surrounded by English words full of sexual innuendo, and this man was winking at the camera with a rose in his mouth.

It was Duan Zhuyan’s face.