In a Relationship With the Rugged Guy Next Door - Chapter 29

Chapter 29: “Baby, You Are Truly Brave.”

The little interlude passed.

The girl who was a “fansite” hurried off to the ranch to take photos; she mentioned that if she arrived too late, all the good spots on the mountain would be taken.

“Baby.”

Jingming turned around. Chu Feng, Li Yongjing, and Hu Xianyun were walking toward him. Hu Xianyun was still wearing her restaurant apron. “Let’s go. If my mom sees the stall empty, she’ll scold me.”

Jingming smiled and gave them a deep, sincere bow. “Thank you.”

“What’s this for?” Hu Xianyun dodged out of the way. “I can’t handle this level of formality.”

Li Yongjing laughed, reaching out to clap Jingming on the shoulder before Chu Feng swatted his hand away. Li said, “Someone causing trouble here is my business. No need to treat it as a personal favor.”

Jingming was still deeply grateful. He reached out to squeeze Chu Feng’s hand briefly before letting go, his emotions high after the tension.

“I need to thank you,” Jingming insisted.

Chu Feng grabbed Jingming’s hand back, holding it openly, and said, “Once we’re done with these two busy days, I’ll treat you all to a meal.”

“You’re cooking?” Li Yongjing asked.

“Yes, I’m cooking. You can order whatever you want,” Chu Feng replied. “I’ll buy some beer; we can do BBQ.”

Hu Xianyun added, “And make crawfish! Jingming and I agreed to go catching them.”

Chu Feng glanced at Jingming and smiled. “No problem.”

…

The market remained bustling. Most visitors were ordinary tourists, with only a small fraction being fans, and Shao Yuting’s fans were only a subset of those.

As Li and Hu returned to their duties, Jingming and Chu Feng walked toward their own stall.

“Brother, are you heading to the ranch in a bit?” Jingming asked.

“Mm.” Chu Feng looked at him. “Baby, why don’t you go home and rest? I’ll find someone else to help at the stall.”

Jingming shook his head. “No need. Everyone is busy.”

“But if…”

“Brother,” Jingming leaned his weight against Chu Feng as they walked. “Look, today we faced extreme fans and things got ugly. But compared to being doxxed, attacked online, and sent weird packages back then, this was actually okay. I can fight back, and fair-minded people will stand up for me. I feel like they are arrogant when hiding in the shadows, but when faced in person, it’s a different story.”

Jingming expected Chu Feng to be relieved, but instead, he saw Chu Feng looking at him with a deep frown.

“Brother?” Jingming smiled, reaching up to poke the space between Chu Feng’s brows. “What’s wrong?”

“You consider this situation ‘okay’?” Chu Feng asked.

Jingming froze. After a moment, he said, “How can you think that way?” Thinking like that must make your heart ache so much.

Chu Feng let out a breath and didn’t say more, just gripped Jingming’s hand tighter.

“It’s fine, Brother,” Jingming comforted him. “It’s all in the past.”

Chu Feng finally managed a smile. “I’m just glad Baby came home.” After a few steps, he turned back and said, “Baby, you are truly brave.”

Perhaps Li Yongjing was right. The one who was more afraid than Jingming was himself. He was the one who needed to be brave.

“Alright,” Chu Feng patted the back of Jingming’s head. “To the stall. Brother will go with you.”

…

They busy themselves until 11:00 PM. After seeing Master Wei to her guesthouse, Jingming returned to a dark house. Chu Feng wasn’t back yet.

Jingming wanted to write something on his computer, but he was so exhausted that he fell asleep on the sofa with his laptop on his lap within minutes.

Just after midnight, Chu Feng burst through the door. He had been arguing with Chen Lang in the car about a filming issue and how they should have slapped anyone who bullied Jingming on their turf. He was fuming, but his anger evaporated when he saw Jingming sleeping soundly on the sofa.

Chu Feng gently took the laptop away and carried Jingming upstairs. Since they’d both been sweating all day, Chu Feng brought a basin of warm water to wipe Jingming down.

Jingming mumbled a bit as his clothes were removed, but he was too tired to open his eyes, only feeling himself being rolled around. Chu Feng started laughing to himself as he worked. My little brother is so small and fair, nothing like me.

After dressing him in clean pajamas, Chu Feng took a quick shower and, as usual, held him from behind to sleep.

…

Jingming woke up Sunday morning at 9:00 AM. His eyes were puffy from sleep. He kicked off the blankets and stumbled to the door, calling out, “Brother—”

“Coming!” Chu Feng ran upstairs immediately. “You’re up?”

“Mm. What time did you get back?” “After midnight.” “I’m hungry.” “Wash up. We’re having beef noodles for breakfast.”

While eating, Jingming checked his phone and found over twenty messages from Xue Dongni. He panicked, thinking something was wrong, only to find out the internet was blowing up again.

It was about yesterday’s incident. Although the four girls had deleted their footage, there were too many bystanders who had filmed the confrontation.

Jingming held his chopsticks mid-air, stunned. “Brother, yesterday’s thing is online.”

Chu Feng opened Weibo. They huddled together to look.

The source was untraceable. Tang Song’s fans were cursing Jingming; Shao Yuting’s fans were cursing Tang Song’s fans; some people were warning others that Changling Town locals were “violent,” while others were posting photos of cute ceramic cups they bought at the market. It was total chaos.

“Baby,” Chu Feng said as he cleared the bowls. “The lawyer said the materials are ready. We can officially file the lawsuits within three days.”

Jingming looked up. “I think I need to post a statement today. Dongni helped me get an appraisal report proving the video was faked, and I’ve re-organized the timeline of what happened.”

This time, Chu Feng didn’t stop him. He smiled and said, “Okay.”

Jingming blinked his puffy eyes in surprise.

“I support whatever decision you make.” Chu Feng leaned across the table and gave Jingming a kiss. They hadn’t been intimate for days due to the workload, and the kiss made Jingming blush, instinctively covering his mouth.

Chu Feng coughed. “Don’t want to kiss Brother anymore?”

Jingming shook his head, just sitting there with a shy grin. Chu Feng made it to the kitchen with the dishes before turning back, unable to resist more of “cute, shy Jingming.” He set the dishes down and walked behind Jingming.

Jingming stood up, hugged Chu Feng’s neck, and initiated a kiss. Chu Feng let out a muffled groan, lifted Jingming, and sat him on the dining table to bridge the height gap.

“Mmm…” Jingming felt breathless, his hands pushing gently against Chu Feng’s chest. They pulled apart by two centimeters, panting. Chu Feng stole two more pecks before pulling him into a hug.

Because Jingming was sitting on the table, their heights were perfectly aligned. Even through denim, he could feel Chu Feng’s arousal. Jingming’s heart fluttered, and he couldn’t help but shift his weight slightly.

“Alright, I’ll stop bothering you.” Chu Feng let go. “I’ll clean the kitchen. We have to head out soon.”

…

While Chu Feng washed dishes, Jingming logged into Weibo. He wrote a calm, factual timeline of the past two months, including the fake video and the harassment. He left out the fansite girl’s specific comments to avoid dragging Shao Yuting into the mess.

Chu Feng emerged from the kitchen, ripped off his loose T-shirt, and put on a fresh light-blue button-down. He wore shirts for “official” business. To Jingming, he looked incredibly handsome—not like a corporate elite, but like a reliable, stoic man dressing up to protect his family.

Chu Feng leaned over Jingming’s chair, his chin resting on Jingming’s head. He smelled faintly of aftershave. “Ready to post?”

“Mm. Brother, you hit ‘send’ for me?” “Sure, but why?” Chu Feng clicked the mouse. “If I get scolded, I’ll say you did it,” Jingming teased. “Hahaha! Fine, let them come find me.”

…

The second day of the market was even more crowded. News of the “confrontation” had actually acted as free advertising.

Jingming stamped maps until his wrist ached. Once the tourists left, he helped Master Wei pack up. Her stall had been one of the top three most popular.

“I sold out of almost all the small jewelry,” Wei said. “No one really buys the big embroidered garments, but I bring them for publicity.”

Jingming bought a small embroidered vest from her, secretly scanning the QR code to pay despite her attempt to gift it. When Chu Feng arrived, he ended the argument: “If you take it, you pay. That’s that.”

As they walked to the parking lot under an orange sunset, a college band nearby was singing a sweet love song. Wei Hongwen insisted on taking a photo of the “two brothers.”

“Stand closer,” she directed.

They were both stiff until the band nearby sang a lyric about being side-by-side. Jingming looked at the stage, and Chu Feng suddenly pulled him into a close embrace.

“We haven’t had a photo together in ages,” Chu Feng whispered, his eyes crinkling.

Jingming felt shy and thrilled. Maybe it was just because the sunset was too beautiful.

…

That night, the group went for “Stall Hotpot” on New Street. The base was fried fresh with fermented black beans and tomatoes. Hu Xianyun took Jingming to the self-service vegetable counter.

“Ten yuan per person, all you can eat,” she explained.

“Really? I have a friend, Xue Dongni, who loves vegetables. She’d adore this place.” “Bring her next month!”

They laughed together so hard that people outside stared. Even though they didn’t know the joke, the joy was infectious.

…

After dinner, while walking home, Jingming checked Weibo. “AH!” he yelled.

His followers had jumped from 12,000 (mostly haters) to 210,000!

“Looks like other fandoms are ‘cleaning the square’ [reporting bad posts and boosting good ones],” Hu Xianyun explained.

It turned out that fans of Tang Song’s rivals had joined the fray. While they weren’t doing it purely for Jingming, their “enemy-of-my-enemy” strategy was working wonders.

Back home, Chu Feng called the lawyer. Meanwhile, a massive new “bomb” dropped on Weibo.

A male makeup artist posted a long thread revealing he had dated Tang Song for two years while Tang was a poor student. He had paid for Tang’s life until Tang made it onto an idol show and dumped him. This was followed by more leaks: Tang Song had apparently stayed in the industry by being a “kept man” for a rich fansite girlfriend, and he had a history of cheating on her with men. It was rumored that the original “harassment” video was actually leaked by the girlfriend herself to “teach him a lesson” after he got drunk and acted out.

Tang Song’s major fans were jumping ship. His rivals were pouncing. Jingming realized he had just been a “cannonfodder” pawn in a much larger, messier drama.

The Shao Yuting fansite messaged him: Don’t worry, we cleared our statement with the agency. Did you see the new tea? The person leaking it is another one of Tang Song’s former top fans. No one can stand it when a ‘fellow fan’ turns out to be a secret girlfriend.

Jingming: 💢 Fansite: Many top fans are leaving. We’re going to win this time! Thank you for speaking up. Jingming: Thank you for speaking up for me. Fansite: I have someone I want to protect, too. Bye!

…

As he lay in bed, Jingming leaned against Chu Feng’s chest. “It turns out I was just a pawn. Brother, since it’s ending, do we still sue?”

“We sue,” Chu Feng said, putting the phone away. “Let them know people have tempers.”

Jingming hummed in agreement. Chu Feng turned off the lights and began gently patting Jingming’s back to soothe him to sleep.

After a moment…

“Brother.” “Hmm?” “Can you stop patting? It actually hurts.” Chu Feng: “…”