Chapter 75 – Title Pending

What does it mean to not be a scumbag?

Chu Yin didn’t have time to think it through. His brain had fled in terror from the spider, leaving him utterly consumed by fear. Stiff-limbed, he scrambled up Wei Lai’s body like a koala and plastered himself onto Wei Lai’s back like a giant, ghostly pancake.

Wei Lai, crushed under the weight, gasped out, “You go first. Don’t worry about me.”

Chu Yin shook his head violently, as if they were facing a tragic parting. Grief-stricken, he declared, “No! I can’t abandon you!”

Wei Lai: “…”

Wei Lai, now carrying Chu Yin on his back, shuffled over to the shoe rack. He grabbed a shoe, weighed it in his hand, and said, “Go outside first. Don’t look.”

Chu Yin shook his head again, sliding off Wei Lai’s back but sticking close to him like a shadow. “No. I’m going with you.”

Wei Lai felt inexplicably moved and dragged Chu Yin along as they advanced.

The two of them, tense and wary, tiptoed toward the giant spider in tiny, cautious steps. Before they could even get close, the spider suddenly moved! With terrifying speed, it scuttled down the wall, its menacing posture suggesting it was about to launch an attack on the humans.

“AHHHHHHHHH!”

“AAAAAAAH—!!!”

In this moment of crisis, Chu Yin and Wei Lai displayed remarkable synchronization, screaming like banshees as they bolted away as if fleeing a beast of legend. One after the other, they scrambled onto the table, clinging to each other pitifully, heads pressed together as they nervously scanned the surroundings.

“Where’d it go?! Where’d it go?! Is it chasing us?! Madam Wei, look! It’s getting closer!!!”

Wei Lai was deeply disappointed in himself. “AHHH, why can’t I even kill a spider?! What do I do?! How am I supposed to take responsibility for you?! I’m definitely gonna be a scumbag in the future!”

Chu Yin was baffled. “What are you even talking about? I haven’t understood a word since earlier. What does killing a spider have to do with being a scumbag?”

Wei Lai: “…”

Chu Yin tilted his head. “…Why do you need to take responsibility for me?”

Wei Lai’s adrenaline spiked—Was this the moment? Was this the right time to confess?! Fuck fuck fuck, whatever, just say it!

“Chu Yin, I—” Wei Lai was about to speak when the door slowly creaked open, and Qian Tianyi drifted in like a wisp of fog.

“Chu—Yin,” Qian Tianyi drawled, leaning bonelessly against the doorframe as he took in the sight of the two grown men huddled together on the table. Calmly, he said, “Script—reading—time.”

Wei Lai: “…”

Chu Yin: “You saw nothing.”

Qian Tianyi: “I—saw—it.”

Chu Yin said coolly, “We were just killing a spider.”

“O—h,” Qian Tianyi replied, lazily pointing at the spider still menacingly waving its legs on the floor. “That—one?”

Chu Yin nodded.

Qian Tianyi grabbed a cup, sauntered over without a care, flipped it upside down, and trapped the spider inside—swift and decisive, like a professional assassin.

It all happened in the blink of an eye. Before Chu Yin and Wei Lai could even process what was happening, the ordeal was over.

Qian Tianyi straightened up. “Let’s—go. Rehearse.”

Chu Yin: “…”

Wei Lai let out a chicken-like squawk: “You’re so manly!!”

Qian Tianyi replied, “Too—kind.”

After Chu Yin left to rehearse with Qian Tianyi, Wei Lai was left alone with his laptop and the spider imprisoned under the cup. He was deeply, profoundly disappointed in himself.

He didn’t even know why. Maybe it was because he wasn’t manly enough.

His father had always looked down on him, calling him a sissy and saying he’d never get a wife.

Wei Lai hadn’t cared back then. He figured if he couldn’t find a wife, he could always find a husband.

But now, Wei Lai was worried. What if Chu Yin looked down on him too?

Wei Lai slumped, dejected, like a molting old hen.

Then, his phone buzzed—a message from a name he hadn’t seen in a long time: Yao Chaowu.

—Wei. (with a crying emoji)

—You free? Your brother is not doing so hot.