Chapter 31: A Good Show

After answering the call, Zhu Zhixi went backstage and met up with Liang Yi’en. He was wearing a black suit that he almost never wore, most likely a costume. He didn’t look like the second male lead at all, but rather the male lead.

“What’s the emergency? Isn’t the show about to start…”

Before Zhu Zhixi could finish asking, a child came out from behind Liang Yi’en, holding his hand. In an instant, all sorts of strange and bizarre guesses flashed through his mind. He pointed at the two of them, “Wait a minute, where did this kid come from? I told you there was a kid at your place before, is it him? Liang Yi’en, you’ve really made it, raising a child behind my back!”

Liang Yi’en was overwhelmed. “Listen to me first. I did hide something from you. I was planning to tell you after the cultural festival ended, which is why I gave you the ticket to come and see the play. I was going to confess everything after the show. But honestly, this whole thing is so bizarre, you might not believe me even if I tell you…”

“I can totally relate to that,” Zhu Zhixi said, taking his hand and shaking it. “I feel like that every day.”

Hearing this, Liang Yi’en seemed to have made some kind of decision. “Senior Zhixi, do you believe in science?”

Zhu Zhixi nodded. “I do.”

Liang Yi’en: “Then let me do a little test. Do you believe in ghosts?”

Zhu Zhixi thought for a moment. “Maybe. I hope so.” After saying that, he looked back and up, blinking.

That way, maybe Mom is with me every day.

Liang Yi’en glanced at the play’s poster nearby and asked again, “Then do you believe in angels?”

Without thinking, Zhu Zhixi nodded again. “I do.”

Soon after, he added with a grin, “I am one.”

Liang Yi’en fell silent.

“Forget it, I can’t explain it clearly right now.” He pushed the child in front of him and instructed Zhu Zhixi, “Senior, help me watch this kid. He can’t be left alone.”

“Then why did you bring him here? As a child laborer?”

“Wasn’t I originally in charge of props? I wasn’t going on stage, so it was fine to bring him. But then the director insisted I play the second male lead. I only have one scene, and the set for that scene needed a fire hydrant prop. So I just had him dress up as a fire hydrant and stand with his back to the stage the whole time. But now the director has added more scenes for me, and I can’t just have a fire hydrant on stage every time I appear.”

Zhu Zhixi couldn’t stop laughing. He pulled the child over. “Alright, I just need to watch him?”

“Yes, and it’s best to hold his hand the whole time. If I’m not on stage and he can’t see me, he might get anxious. And when he gets anxious, nothing good happens. Just tell him I’ll be back soon. If necessary, give him a hug. Don’t let him out of your sight, absolutely not, or there will be trouble.”

Is it really that serious? Zhu Zhixi looked down at the child, and the child happened to look up at him.

He’s quite good-looking, doesn’t seem like a bad kid.

Looking closer, he suddenly noticed the child’s right hand was clutching a necklace on his chest. Upon careful inspection, it was a small black and gold angel pendant. Zhu Zhixi was a bit surprised. “Isn’t this the necklace you always wear? Has it become his little comfort toy?”

Liang Yi’en looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, his eyes lifeless. He sighed. “It’s fine. Right now, as long as it can soothe him, I wish I could turn him into a comfort toy and stuff him in my pocket. The key is, he won’t change even if I ask him to…”

“What are you mumbling about?”

“Nothing.” Liang Yi’en squatted down, hugged the child, and whispered a few instructions in his ear. He patted his back. “Xiao Yu, be good. This is Brother Zhixi. He’ll keep you company for a while.”

Xiao Yu? Zhu Zhixi thought of the little bird from the surveillance footage. He also squatted down and smiled at the child named Xiao Yu. “That’s right, brother has yummy snacks.”

But Xiao Yu just stared blankly at Zhu Zhixi, then lowered his head and stared at his left hand, his eyes unblinking.

“You don’t need to talk to him much. He doesn’t talk a lot,” Liang Yi’en said. “Just hold his hand.”

Zhu Zhixi nodded and obediently took Xiao Yu’s hand. To his surprise, the child pulled his hand away and moved to his right side to take his right hand instead.

“Why change hands?” he asked.

Xiao Yu didn’t answer.

Zhu Zhixi didn’t press further. He looked at Xiao Yu’s outfit and finally couldn’t help but speak.

“Does he not need to change his costume?”

“No, it’s warm,” Xiao Yu, sitting in the audience, said, shaking his head and once again refusing the request to change clothes. He stared unblinkingly at the still-dark stage.

Fu Rangyi’s face was grim. “But I don’t want to hold a fire hydrant’s hand the whole time.”

Zhu Zhixi smiled and even tugged at the fire hydrant mascot costume covering Xiao Yu. “It’s so cute.”

What’s cute about it?

“I already said I’d hold his hand,” Zhu Zhixi said, looking at Fu Rangyi sitting to his left.

Fu Rangyi remained silent.

Ever since they came in, Zhu Zhixi had been holding this unidentified child’s hand and insisted they sit together. And this child was very stubborn, insisting on sitting on the left, which led to the seat on Zhu Zhixi’s right being snatched by Yu Heng. Fu Rangyi could only squeeze in between Zhu Zhixi and the child, separating them, and volunteered to hold the little brat’s hand.

He glanced to his left. His vision went black.

The little fire hydrant, him, Zhu Zhixi, Yu Heng. How on earth did the seating arrangement turn into this?

Seeing Fu Rangyi looking glum and unhappy ever since he sat down, Zhu Zhixi almost asked several times if they should just switch seats so he could hold Xiao Yu’s hand himself. But then he remembered that Yu Heng was sitting on the right. If they switched, wouldn’t that be sending Fu Rangyi into the lion’s den? That would be too unfair to him.

But Fu Rangyi had insisted on sitting in the middle.

After much thought, he extended his left hand and said to Fu Rangyi with a grin, “How about you use your right hand to hold mine? One on each side, that’ll make us look more like a family of three.”

Fu Rangyi thought back to when he had asked the little fire hydrant why he had randomly called him ‘daddy’. The fire hydrant had said, “Because you wanted to hear it at that moment.”

I wanted to hear a strange kid call me daddy? Since when did I have this fetish?
What family of three?

He said with a cold face, “No need. I don’t want to give birth to a fire hydrant either.”

“Oh, okay then.” Zhu Zhixi withdrew his hand. He turned his head and accidentally saw Yu Heng sitting on his right, whose expression was even uglier.

Great. I’m surrounded by a team of sour faces.

He rummaged through his bag, took out the warm red bean bread he had bought at the food stall, and nudged Fu Rangyi. “Want some?”

“No thanks, I don’t like sweets,” Fu Rangyi replied.

“Oh.” He reached past Fu Rangyi. “Xiao Yu, want some?”

Xiao Yu was completely encased in the red cylindrical mascot costume, his vision severely obstructed. Every time he wanted to look to the right, he had to turn his whole body. He laboriously turned, took the red bean bread, said “thank you” in a small voice, and then said to Fu Rangyi, “You’re squishing my hand.”

Fu Rangyi: “…”

Before turning back, Xiao Yu asked again, “Brother Xixi, since he’s not eating, can I have another one?”

Fu Rangyi’s expression changed. “Who said I’m not eating?” He directly took the other bread from Zhu Zhixi’s hand.

Zhu Zhixi blinked and asked with a grin, “Which little kid just said he doesn’t like sweets?”

Fu Rangyi fell silent.

Zhu Zhixi looked down and saw there were still two left in the paper bag. He thought for a moment, took one out and put it in his mouth, then turned and stuffed the other one, along with the paper bag, into the hands of Yu Heng sitting next to him.

Yu Heng was stunned, his expression one of utter shock. “You! Why are you giving it to me?”

“To eat,” Zhu Zhixi said, his words muffled as he chewed on the bread. “It’s really good, trust me, try it!”

“I didn’t say it’s not good… No,” Yu Heng was in a complete fluster, his words jumbled. “Who wants your food! I don’t want it.”

Zhu Zhixi blinked twice, took the bread out of his mouth, and said seriously, “Since you’re here, and it’s my junior’s performance, anyone who comes to support is a friend.”

Yu Heng was completely dumbfounded. He stared at Zhu Zhixi, choked up for a long time, and ultimately couldn’t get a single word out. Instead, his face turned beet red.

The little fire hydrant on the far left slowly turned around again, craning his head out a little to stare at the hand Fu Rangyi was holding and the ring on it.

“You’re married,” he suddenly said.

Fu Rangyi didn’t turn his face, just gave a faint “mhm.”

The little fire hydrant asked again, “Then when are you having a baby?”

Fu Rangyi: “…”

Zhu Zhixi, who was next to him, also heard and almost choked on his bread. He quickly unscrewed his water bottle and took a big gulp.

Not getting an answer, the fire hydrant pressed on, “Have you two kissed?”

Zhu Zhixi almost choked on his water again. “Hey, you… why are you, a little kid, asking about these things?”

The little red cylinder eerily rotated ninety degrees to the right, stared at Zhu Zhixi, and said again, “So you have kissed.”

Fu Rangyi: “Your line of thought is quite clear.”

The fire hydrant kid turned back again. “If you’ve kissed, you can have a baby.”

Zhu Zhixi was completely baffled. “I can’t have babies.”

“Then maybe you’re not trying hard enough,” Xiao Yu asserted.

Fu Rangyi’s tone was calm and serious. “This kind of thing can’t be achieved by one person’s effort alone.”

“Is that the point?” Zhu Zhixi was speechless. The point is that I’m a Beta, okay?

But the little fire hydrant, upon hearing this, nodded and said to Fu Rangyi, “Then you should try hard too. That way it won’t be just one person trying.”

You two are really hitting it off.

Yu Heng, on the side, seemed to have reached his limit. The paper bag holding the bread crinkled loudly in his grip. He finally exploded, “Why does this kid talk so much? The show is about to start.”

This time, the red cylinder rotated even further, leaning forward to stare at Yu Heng, and asked in the same robotic tone, “Who are you?”

Yu Heng didn’t expect to be confronted directly and was stunned. “Me?”

“Yes,” Xiao Yu asked flatly. “Are you their wife?”

Now all three adults were speechless.

“What nonsense are you talking!” Yu Heng was fuming. “Can someone control him?”

“Oh, you’re not.” The little cylinder sat back properly. “Since you’re not, then don’t participate in our family’s discussion about having children.”

Zhu Zhixi’s vision went dark. He turned his head and saw Fu Rangyi pursing his lips, trying to hold back a laugh.

Amazing. He actually made Fu Rangyi laugh.

“You’re really something,” he said to the little fire hydrant, past his fake husband who was enjoying the show.

Xiao Yu nodded. “Mhm, I can also talk to small animals.”

Alarm bells went off in Zhu Zhixi’s head. He thought, instead of guessing wildly, why not just get the information straight from this kid? Acting on the thought, he crouched down, leaned over Fu Rangyi towards the little fire hydrant, tugged on his fire hose chain, and whispered, “Hey, then… could it be that you can also turn into a small animal?”

Fu Rangyi heard him and was a little angry. But not because of Zhu Zhixi’s nonsense.

“Why are you whispering to him like that?” He felt an inexplicable surge of anger.

Zhu Zhixi was already tired from crouching. He simply propped himself up with both hands on Fu Rangyi’s knees and looked up at him. “Why are you suddenly so fierce?”

He muttered again, “I don’t dare say this out loud either…”

“How did you know?” Xiao Yu ignored Fu Rangyi’s interruption, stared at Zhu Zhixi, and then looked at his left hand.

He seemed to want to imitate him and lean over, but he couldn’t bend down in the costume, and just as he was about to, Fu Rangyi pushed him away.

Hearing this, Zhu Zhixi got even more excited. “Really? You better not be lying to me!”

Fu Rangyi: “Zhu Zhixi, what on earth is in your head?” He even thought maybe he shouldn’t take him for a physical check-up, but for an exorcism.

“Hurry up and tell me, who are you?” Zhu Zhixi tugged on the fire hose chain again.

“I don’t know.” The little fire hydrant seemed a little unhappy. “I don’t remember. I’ll have to wait for more of my memories to come back to know.”

After saying that, he turned back and told Zhu Zhixi, “If you let Xiao En hug me more, I’ll be able to remember more.”

“Huh?”

Zhu Zhixi wanted to ask more, but applause suddenly erupted around them. The lights went out. The play began.

So he also quieted down. He was about to push off Fu Rangyi’s knees to get up, but suddenly thought of something, removed his hands, and used the chair in front to pull himself up.

Fu Rangyi noticed this small detail but didn’t understand the reason. On stage, the female lead appeared in a white dress, a spotlight on her. But Fu Rangyi turned his face and leaned close to Zhu Zhixi’s ear.

“Why did you move your hands?” he asked in a low voice.

The warm breath tickled his ear, making Zhu Zhixi feel a bit itchy. He dodged away, a little dazed, and didn’t understand the meaning of the question at first.

Move my hands?