The Transmigration Guide to Seducing Men - Chapter 7

He had been tense the whole way, and by the time they reached the room, he was exhausted. He flopped onto the bed and looked out the window. Since it was daytime, the view of the room opposite wasn’t very clear. It was still raining, and through the curtain of rain, everything was blurred.

He lay there watching for a while and actually fell asleep. When he woke up again, the sky was completely dark. Just as he sat up, there was a knock at the door. It was Auntie Chun: “Xiao Qi, it’s time for dinner.”

Qi Liang answered, turned on the light, and looked in the mirror. He found his hair was sticking up in a way that wouldn’t stay down no matter how he pressed it. He hurried to the bathroom to dampen his hair and comb it through.

One must maintain one’s image in front of Yan Baizong—actually, in front of any handsome guy, he was very careful about his appearance.

Coming out of the room, the food was already laid out, but no one was at the table. He turned to Auntie Chun in the kitchen: “Is it just the two of us?”

Auntie Chun smiled and said, “Baizong went out this afternoon; he said he wouldn’t be back for dinner. I’m about to take some soup to the old lady, so you eat by yourself.”

Qi Liang felt a sense of loss. Actually, Yan Baizong’s absence was a good thing. According to the novel’s plot, after the “wiping incident” in the car, the next chapter takes place a week later.

Qi Liang thought: So what should I do during this week? A novel can’t describe every single detail of a 24-hour day, but as Qi Liangqin, he had to live through the days step-by-step. This week was his time; perhaps the only thing he had to be careful about was not breaking the rhythm of the plot. In other words, he couldn’t do anything with Yan Baizong this week that might influence the plot a week later.

So it was a blessing that Yan Baizong was away; even if he were here, Qi Liang would have to avoid him slightly. He couldn’t have any physical or emotional contact with Yan Baizong before the next week arrived, lest he break the continuity of the story.

It was a very ordinary week. As a “house husband,” Qi Liang had nothing to do all day except go to the hospital every morning to “pay respects” to the Yan matriarch. This old lady was strange—clearly she loathed him and never gave him a good look, yet if he missed a day at the hospital, she would nag Yan Songwei endlessly, saying he didn’t know the rules and didn’t know to visit his hospitalized mother-in-law daily.

Going to the hospital was a form of torture for Qi Liang. He didn’t dare play with his phone, so he just stood there foolishly for about an hour until the matriarch would say: “You can go now, don’t just stand there like a post.”

This day, however, was a bit different. Qi Liang knew it would be, because according to the plot, sometime before he and Yan Baizong met again, his sister-in-law Yan Yuan returned.

He had been waiting for this day with trepidation. He was actually a bit afraid of Yan Yuan, because she was the classic “difficult sister-in-law” seen in melodramatic family dramas. Being young, she was far more pungent and flamboyant than the old lady, making her very hard to handle.

Sure enough, just as he reached the ward door and was about to push it open, he heard a young woman’s voice: “My second brother has been incredibly lustful since high school—he even hit on my best friend. When did he change his nature to like men? If you ask me, he’s just angry that you disliked his stripper girlfriend and is doing this to spite you.”

“Spiting me has to have a limit; the two of them even got a marriage certificate.”

“They really got hitched?”

“The household registration has even been moved out of the family book. That ungrateful white-eyed wolf—I truly raised him for nothing.”

Qi Liang felt sheepish. Hearing mother and daughter sharing heart-to-heart talk, he wondered if he should wait a bit before entering. Suddenly, someone behind him shouted: “Are you here to visit a patient? Don’t block the door.”

Qi Liang turned to see a nurse with a small notebook. Blushing, he pushed the door and entered, calling out: “Mom.”

Yan Yuan turned to look at him, sizing him up from head to toe. “So this is my ‘second sister-in-law’?”

Qi Liang wanted nothing more than to find a hole in the ground to crawl into. The nurse glanced at him and seemed to suppress a laugh. The Yan matriarch likely felt it was embarrassing too, as she patted Yan Yuan’s hand with a look of reproach. Although same-sex marriage was legal and many men married, it was still a minority; heterosexuality was always the mainstream. For someone as old-fashioned and status-conscious as the matriarch, it was still a source of shame.

Yan Yuan didn’t say anything more. The matriarch said displeasurably: “What are you doing here again?”

“I came to see you…” Qi Liang stood to the side, at a loss. The nurse checked the IV drip and said a few reassuring words to Yan Yuan like “It’s fine” and “No problem,” finally concluding: “As long as she keeps a pleasant mood and doesn’t get angry, it’ll be fine. She can be discharged soon.”

After the nurse left, Yan Yuan said: “Mom, you heard that? The nurse said not to get angry. If you ruin your health with anger, you’re the only one who suffers.”

“I don’t want to get angry, but look at your two brothers, and you… which one of you brings me peace?”

“I heard my eldest brother went back to the US; he said Sister-in-law is sick.”

“Sick,” the matriarch snorted. “She sure is delicate, running to the hospital every few days.”

“Where’s my second brother? Why didn’t he come?”

“Isn’t someone here in his place?” The matriarch looked at Qi Liang. “You come here and just stand there like a piece of wood. You don’t even know how to speak. I remember you weren’t like this a few days ago—your mouth was like it was smeared with honey. What, did I hurt your feelings by saying you were noisy, so now you refuse to talk?”

“No, no… I… I just didn’t know what to say, fearing I’d disturb your rest.”

“Then don’t stand there. Go outside and let us mother and daughter talk.”

“Alright.”

“Truly no sense of observation. We women are talking; how can you, a man, feel comfortable standing nearby?”

Qi Liang hurriedly left the ward, only to hear Yan Yuan laughing: “How does he look like this? I thought he’d be some vixen, but he looks quite pure. I didn’t expect my second brother to change his taste.”

Then he heard the matriarch say with dissatisfaction: “What’s the use of looking pure? He’s still a little slut begging a man to sleep with him.”

Qi Liang’s face turned beet red as he walked to the window in the corridor and stood still. It was late spring, and the air was warm with a faint smell of disinfectant. He opened the window a crack, and wind instantly surged in, blowing his hair and brushing his forehead.

He wondered when this Yan Baizong would return. And as for the “one week later,” was it exactly seven days or just an approximate time?

Human emotions are truly strange. Sometimes you know something is impossible, yet you still keep thinking about it—as if just seeing them once a day makes your heart happy. His liking for Yan Baizong hadn’t just started; during the two months he followed the story, he had already fallen deeply. Seeing the real person only made him feel more authentic, and the attraction was more real, as was his affection.

Late spring this year seemed particularly rainy. After two or three days, it began to rain again. The Yan matriarch returned home, and Yan Yuan resigned from her job to stay home and accompany her. This made the old lady very happy. Despite being a strong woman herself, she hoped her young daughter would be a pampered lady—never leaving the inner chambers, eventually marrying a rich or noble man, spending her days eating, shopping, and going to beauty salons. That, in her eyes, was the luckiest kind of woman.

Qi Liang lay on the bed talking to Tan Qingqing on the phone: “Of course she hates me; she never has a good word for me…” He sighed with a look of worry: “I think she’s about to lose her patience.”

The “she” he referred to was the Yan matriarch. Tan Qingqing’s greatest hope was that the old lady would soon get tired of Qi Liang—so tired that she wouldn’t care if his replacement was a nightclub girl, so long as he was replaced. Then Tan Qingqing could take Qi Liang’s place and marry into the Yan family properly. Qi Liang’s purpose in marrying Yan Songwei was to show the old lady that no matter how bad Tan Qingqing was, she was a hundred times better than Qi Liang.

After reporting on his “work,” Qi Liang tossed his phone onto the bed and rolled around a few times. This large bed was so big and soft—the most comfortable bed he had ever slept in.

“Xiao Qi, it’s time to eat!”

Auntie Chun’s voice came from outside. He answered, scrambled up, and changed his clothes. The Yan matriarch dressed very strictly at home; she allowed her children to be however they liked in their bedrooms, but they had to be properly dressed once they stepped out. Qi Liang understood this, so he picked a more formal outfit, pushed the door, and went out—only to hear the matriarch already complaining about his slowness: “I called for so long and he’s still not out! Does he really expect me to wait for him to eat?!”

Yan Yuan chuckled: “Mom, since you dislike him so much, why don’t you use some forceful means to get Second Brother to divorce him? I don’t believe you can’t handle Second Brother.”

Qi Liang froze and stopped his footsteps, only to hear the matriarch sigh: “Mom doesn’t like him, and if I had known before your second brother got the certificate, I definitely would have made them break up completely—your mother has plenty of means. But the two of them already have the certificate… they already have the certificate…”

“What about the certificate? Divorce is very normal now; it’s not like your time.”

“I don’t care how other families are; people of our family are not allowed to divorce easily. Marriages are fated by Heaven. Since these two are married, they cannot easily separate. It’s better to tear down a temple than to destroy a marriage. Your mother is a woman who eats vegetarian and prays to Buddha; no matter how much I dislike him, I won’t drive him away. Not only will I not drive him away, but if your second brother wants to divorce him, I won’t even be willing. Look at your second brother’s temperament—who could he stay with for long? We have to cure him of this habit. He thought finding a random man to marry was just to spite me, but in the end, who knows who’s being spited.”

Yan Yuan burst out laughing: “You think so too? I think so too. Second Brother is definitely just looking for a bit of novelty. It seems the heavy responsibility of continuing the Yan family line has fallen onto my eldest brother’s head.”

“Don’t mention your eldest brother. I don’t know if his heart is blinded or what, but what’s so good about that Shen He? Cold as ice, never a smile on her face, and married for so many years without wanting a child. She’s already thirty; does she really want to be an advanced-age mother? I told your brother to divorce her, but he’s not willing…”

“Mom, that’s not fair. You just said it’s better to tear down a temple than destroy a marriage.”

“Is that the same?” The matriarch was incredibly annoyed. “Though I can’t stand Xiao Qin’s ‘slutty’ manner, I can understand why your second brother is temporarily interested. Men, who doesn’t love beauty when they’re young? Look at Xiao Qin’s face and figure…” The matriarch lowered her voice: “Since he’s not here, I have to say something fair. My friends have sons who brought back men to marry, quite a few of them, but look at those male ‘daughters-in-law’—which one can compare to Xiao Qin? That waist is a waist, that butt is a butt, those slender legs and cherry lips… tsk, tsk, tsk.”