"Ah Chang! Ah Chang!"
Nie Chang dashed into the room from the other side of the house. "What happened?!"
"Come look at this!" Su Yan pointed at the screen of his notebook with an excited expression.
Nie Chang suppressed a sigh. It had been seven months since Su Yan’s father had helped them make appointments to go see all the empty houses around the residence of the Su’s. By now, they had long moved in and resumed their everyday life as a happy couple. In comparison to the days when Su Yan did the tasks the system gave him it was a very laid-back style of life. Every now and then, there was an episode like this though.
While he was somewhere else in the house, maybe cooking their dinner or doing the laundry or even when he was on the toilet, Su Yan would start screaming his name as if the ground had collapsed beneath his feet and he needed to be rescued. As a responsible boyfriend, Nie Chang would run right over only to find his darling sitting behind his notebook, looking very much as if he had found out that his birthday and Christmas would fall on the same day this year.
Even though he could imagine what it was about again, Nie Chang still went over and ruffled Su Yan’s hair. "So, what great thing happened to my little darling?"
Su Yan grinned and pointed at his screen again. "You have to take a look!"
Nie Chang propped himself up on the desk and glanced over the graph that was displayed on the screen. "Oh? Did your views go up?"
"Yes!" Su Yan jumped from his chair and hugged Nie Chang’s neck and kissed his cheek.
"That’s great, darling!" But could you not scream as if your life depended on me seeing this the next time? My heart is going to give out one day if you do that every single time.
Su Yan had no idea that his boyfriend felt troubled by his behavior. Instead, he let go and clicked on a button on the top of the graph. "And look at this too!"
Nie Chang didn’t even need to look at the heading to know that this was the ad revenue Su Yan had earned over the month. He ignored the first half of the month and looked at the pink bar that was displayed for the previous day. "Oh?" His brows raised. "Is that … ten Yuan?"
"Yes!" Su Yan once again leaped up and clung to Nie Chang’s neck. "Isn’t that great?! I earned ten Yuan in a single day!"
Nie Chang smiled. Each time, he was surprised anew how much Su Yan was able to rejoice over this small amount of money. Still, he should talk him out of screaming every time he saw that graph move. After all, he checked it at least five times a day. "Ah Yan …"
"Mn?" Su Yan blinked. "What is it?"
"Well … Do you have to … always call me when —"
"Why? Could it be you don’t think it’s great?"
"No, that —"
"But that’s my hard-earned money!"
Nie Chang nodded. "Sure, but —"
"Don’t look down on my ten Yuan! At first, wasn’t it only one? You just wait! A month from now, I’ll probably earn a hundred a day. Hmph." Su Yan let go of him and sat back down, his gaze roaming through the room. "Xiao Bai! Come here!"
The pitter-patter of paws approached from behind and Nie Chang was pushed out of the way with a woof. A dog half the size of a Shetland pony jumped onto Su Yan’s lap and extended his paw.
"Aw, Xiao Bai, you’re so cute!" Su Yan shook the paw, grabbed the dog’s head and kissed his forehead. "You won’t be like Ah Chang, will you? No, you won’t! You’re such a good boy! Look over there! See how much money I earned?" He pointed at the screen of his notebook again.
The Samoyed glanced at Su Yan’s hand before turning back to his face and looking at him expectantly.
Su Yan shook his head. "No, no, look at the screen! I earned ten Yuan. Ten! That’s great, you know?"
Xiao Bai woofed again and panted, staring at Su Yan’s face with an expression that said he’d much rather play or eat than to look at the notebook.
Nie Chang chuckled and reached out, ruffling Su Yan’s hair. "Don’t take it wrong. We’re both very happy for you."
"You didn’t sound like it! Xiao Bai at least congratulated me!"
Nie Chang smiled. "I also congratulated you. I just wanted to ask if you could stop screaming for me to come over. I was afraid something might have happened to you. Just call me normally, yes? Or write me a message."
"How could I write you a message? We’re living together!"
"You also wrote me messages when we were living in your apartment. And you’re always texting me when we’re in the shop."
"That … That’s not the same!"
Nie Chang chuckled. "Alright, that’s not the same. Absolutely not. But still, don’t scream like that, yes? I’d much rather … have you come running and then celebrate with me." He leaned down and kissed Su Yan’s cheek again.
"Al—"
A wet tongue licked Su Yan’s other cheek and the Samoyed woofed happily. Su Yan grimaced and looked up at Nie Chang accusingly.
"Uh … For ten Yuan, you can buy a lot of tissues to free yourself from dog drool." He opened the drawer of the desk and took one out, wiping Su Yan’s cheek. "Alright, Xiao Bai, get down now. You’re too big to sit on Su Yan’s lap all the time." He petted him and then pushed him down, pulling Su Yan up instead. "And you should take a break. I finished preparing dinner."
"Oh." Su Yan followed him into the kitchen where a set of bowls already stood on the table. Mn, if he remembered correctly, then Nie Chang should have made his favorite food! He pulled his hand away and rushed forward. Unfortunately … "Ah Chang, what happened to the bowl?"
Nie Chang raised his brows and hurried over, looking at the bowl that only contained a few grains of rice. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before whirling around. "Xiao Bai! What did you do this time?"
"Ah Chang!" Su Yan looked up with watery eyes. "Don’t tell me I won’t get anything to eat? Didn’t you make egg-fried rice?"
"I … I made more than those two bowls." He hurried back to the cupboard, took out another set of bowls and filled one of them to the brim. "Here." He carried it to Su Yan and pushed it into his hands before the dog could get ideas again. "I’ll get you another pair of chopsticks too." He put the dirty bowls away and took out two pairs of chopsticks, handing one to Su Yan before he sat down opposite him with his.
With his food secured, Su Yan also looked a lot better. "Thank you! Let’s eat then!" He didn’t wait for an answer and just started to stuff himself.
Nie Chang shook his head. Well, as long as his darling was happy …
