My Two Dads

Chapter 4.1 - About The Weekend Part 1

The entertainment industry now was filled with artists who shot to fame and faded just as quickly followed by generations getting replaced at lightning speed. There were also too many up-and-coming newcomers to count.

However, for an ‘artist’ like Han Shi Yu, his stage would be the product launch press release and his work was a company with the market value of billions. Concerning his degree of exposure, one ‘like’ was all it took to get him on the hot search list. His target audience was netizens of all ages – this was the true definition of an artist with a huge traffic.

As long as Ji Xun didn’t go bankrupt, Han Shi Yu would continue to wreak havoc wherever he went.

The six of them got into the car and turned into five stone statues sitting in a row.

Fang Jia held onto the bucket of drinks they got. After experiencing the mishap of being dropped to the ground by their owner, there were a lot of gas bubbling up inside.

Shang Xue thought to himself: “I’m going to become popular.”

Fang Jia thought to himself: “I want to go home.”

Xu Jia thought to herself: “AWSL.” 1

Yang Han thought to herself: “This idiot.”

Han Shi Yu was the idiot she was referring to.

This black sports car had been locked up in the garage collecting dust all this while. Han Shi Yu said he wanted to let his precious daughter show off a little and insisted on driving this car to pick her up.

Yang Han glanced at the five petrified figures and held up her cheeks.

She didn’t want to look good or show off. She only wanted Han Shi Yu to act more normally in front of her classmates.

Xu Jia grabbed onto her hand.

She stared at her.

Yang Han stared back.

Xu Jia asked, “Who exactly are you?”

Yang Han answered, “I’m your deskmate.”

Xu Jia: “Are you sent by Ji Xun to travel incognito?2”

Yang Han: “?”

The remaining five people: “……”

Han Shi Yu found the situation amusing and said, “She’s sent to experience and observe the people’s circumstances.”

Xu Jia immediately changed how she spoke, “I greet the eldest princess.”

That earned a laugh out of Han Shi Yu and the atmosphere in the car eased up a little. As though he was just chatting about the ordinary things, he asked, “Can you guys eat spicy food?”

All five of them were so nervous that they answered ‘yes’ one by one like it was a rollcall. Yet, the flow stopped when it came to Yang Han who said ‘no’.

Han Shi Yu asked again, “Any girls who can’t have cold drinks? I only prepared cold ones, but if there is, I’ll go and buy again.”

Fang Jia shook his head and held up the big bucket of soda in his hands. “It’s okay – we bought it already.”

Han Shi Yu: “Oh.”

Silenced filled the air once again.

Only the whirring sounds from the car remained.

When the traffic light flashed red, Han Shi Yu turned around and looked at them. “Aren’t you guys going to chat?”

Five of them shook their heads at the same time.

Han Shi Yu shrugged his shoulders, as though he was looking at five nervous puppies in front of him. He turned back and muttered, “Okay then.”

When they arrived at their residence, Yang Mo had already prepared five new pairs of slippers. He stood at the door and said ‘welcome’ to the bunch of kids coming in.

Han Shi Yu happily kissed him on his cheek.

Yang Mo was puzzled, “I wasn’t welcoming you.”

Han Shi Yu pretended that he didn’t hear that and entered the house, brushing past his shoulder.

Yang Han noticed how in sync her classmates’ movements were today. They had never been this unified even during gymnastic classes.

Their actions resembled a consort entering the emperor’s chamber, carefully tiptoeing their way around, putting on the slippers in slow motion as if the floor here was made of jade.

Yang Han brushed aside all the weird descriptions in her mind and called out to Yang Mo, “Dad, we’re going to my room!”

Yang Mo: “Do you want some fruits?”

Yang Mo asked them, “Wanna eat some fruits?”

The five of them nodded in sync.

Yang Han waved her hand in front of their eyes, “Wake up, you guys!”

Only after they were brought into Yang Han’s room did they all explode.

Shang Xue’s pupils were trembling, “Yang Han…Who is Han Shi Yu to you?”

Fang Jia repeatedly asked his surroundings in disbelief, “This is the CEO of Qu Di, right? They don’t just share the same name, right?”

The class president: “Let me calm down for a bit first.”

Xu Jia deeply regretted it, “Eldest princess, this slave was wrong.”

Lu Yue Ming: “……”

Yang Han sat down cross-legged on the floor. After hesitating for a while, she scratched her cheek and said, “Han Shi Yu is…my brother.”

All of them collectively made an ‘oh’ sound.

Youngsters these days had a strong receptivity. They digested it for a while and ultimately accepted the fact that the classmate beside them was a relative of the president of Ji Xun.

They started discussing what happened just now.

Shang Xue: “I really didn’t expect this…No wonder you had so much pocket money, Yang Han. Can I get a signature later?”

Fang Jia: “Yang Han, the one you said who would be making us a barbecue, it’s him, right? He knows how to make one?”

The class president: “…What else do you think of except for food?”

Xu Jia knew that the handsome guy at the door just now was Yang Han’s dad. Although Han Shi Yu leaning in and kissing his cheek was still relatively normal in the eyes of ordinary people, it was different for Xu Jia.

Fujoshis3 could tell when a person is gay.

Yang Han answered them one by one, stopping Shang Xue who wanted to show it off in his WeChat moments4 and begged them not to spread this around.

They looked at each other for a moment and understood the reason behind that. Yang Han was desperately begging Shang Xue, so he held back, put his phone back into his pocket and did a zipping up his mouth action.

Xu Jia leaned in and asked, “Your dad…and your brother…Do they have a really close relationship?”

Yang Han stared at her quietly, “Oh. They do.”

Afraid that Xu Jia would dive deeper into just how ‘deep’ their relationship was, Yang Han spoke up and interrupt her first, “The 13th question in the homework that our math teacher gave us, who has done it? Can you explain it to me?”

The class president said: “I did. Which part do you have doubts about?”

Xu Jia noticed how obvious she changed the topic and said, “Are you doing this to cover up something else?”

Yang Han rolled her eyes at her, “Hurry up and focus on studying.”

——————-

With a fruit platter in hand, Yang Mo carefully walked into the room where he saw the group of children having a heated discussion over a question. He made a small sound notifying them after putting the plate down. Just as he was about to leave, Yang Han called out to him.

She waved at him with a defiant look, “Dad, come over here and look at this question…”

Shang Xue let out a ‘tsk’, “Why won’t you believe me? The teacher said C is the correct answer and choosing D is a common mistake…Furthermore, this is a single choice question. Choosing two answers is just asking for trouble.”

Yang Han said, “But the class president and I both feel like Xiao Lu has a point.”

Shang Xue sighed before taking out the answers to this set of question. He pointed at question 13’s answer ‘C’, “Look, do you believe me yet?”

Xu Jia quietly ate some snacks while watching them squabble.

Yang Han had been tutored by Yang Mo in maths since young. He walked over, bent down and asked, “Which question?”

Xu Jia stopped munching on the potato chips now that Yang Mo was right beside her. With a turn of her head, she could see the mole on his side profile.

Xu Jia was so nervous that she forgot how to breathe.

Yang Mo grabbed a pencil and calculated for a bit. On the other hand, Xu Jia couldn’t resist sneaking more glances at him. However, she never expected to find a mark on his neck.

Xu Jia squinted her eyes to focus while she quickly searched through the reading history in her mind to find a match. Before long, she deduced that the red mark on his neck which was a clear sign of someone arrogantly claiming ownership was definitely not a mosquito bite.

It was probably a strawberry5.

And a fresh one too.

Xu Jia’s pupils trembled.

Yang Mo put down the pencil and said, “It should be C.”

Shang Xue let out a triumphant ‘yay’ as Yang Mo showed them a different working on the paper. Aside from Fang Jia who was distracted and Xu Jia who was still utterly shocked, Yang Mo’s clean and concise working managed to grab a tight hold on everyone’s attention. If there was any unclear step, someone would raise their hand and stop him – or they would end up more confused later on.

""

Once he finished explaining and put down his pencil, Lu Yue Ming who was quietly frowning at the side suddenly spoke up.

“I think there’s something wrong.”

Yang Mo looked at him, “Where?”

Lu Yue Ming placed his original working beside Yang Mo’s, grabbed his pencil and started to explain from the start.

Fang Jia glanced over, whispering to Xu Jia at a low voice, “Can I have some?”

Xu Jia passed the entire bag of chips to him.

In this moment, she was thinking to herself…’Didn’t Yang Han say…she doesn’t have a mom anymore?’

The room was filled with the voices of Lu Yue Ming, Yang Mo, everyone’s breathing sounds and the scribbling of pencil across the paper. Lu Yue Ming was explaining to him why he couldn’t use the other working method.

His way of thinking was very clear and his choice of words were precise. Furthermore, he spoke with a bright voice and a gentle tone that made it very comfortable to listen to.

In the end, Yang Mo pursed his lips together and nodded. He let out a relieved sigh, “I was wrong. The answer is more than one choice.”

Shang Xue: “Ah?”

Yang Han cheered, “Xiao Lu is amazing!”

""

The class president praised him, “I agree.”

Lu Yue Ming rubbed his nose in embarrassment.

Yang Mo nodded, “There’s no need to be modest. You have a keen eye for details and a clear, logical thinking.”

Lu Yue Ming looked up at him. When he smiled, his lower eyelids6 looked really pretty. “Thank you.”

“Have some fruits if you’re tired.” Yang Mo said, “Keep it up, you guys. I’ll be leaving first.”

Yang Han happily said, “Okay, dad.”

After Yang Mo gently closed the door, Shang Xue crawled over and asked curiously, “Where does your dad work at? Why doesn’t he leave for work?”

Yang Han was in a great mood from finding out the mistake in the question. She answered, “He works from home. He’s a software programmer at Ji Xun.”

Having heard that, Lu Yue Ming was stunned. He looked up at Yang Han.

Shang Xue: “Ohh, so it’s a family business.”

“That…” Lu Yue Ming suddenly spoke up – showing a lot of interest in this topic – and smiled, “To think uncle is a Ji Xun employee. Does he…have an alias in the industry?”

Yang Han replied, “He does. It’s called Starry. The mouse pad on my desk…That one, it’s the edition with his signature.

Lu Yue Ming’s smile froze in place, then his face went back and forth between red and white.

“Are you sure?”

Yang Han stuffed a strawberry into her mouth, “Many of his trophies have this name engraved on them and I’ve even touched them myself when I was a child.”

Lu Yue Ming’s voice sounded very humble, “Can I take a look…”

There are many ups and downs in a person’s life but usually, they don’t often get crammed all into a single day.

That was what Lu Yue Ming thought to himself when he saw the various types of trophies Yang Han brought over.

Due to occupational reasons, the name Starry wasn’t that well-known in the country. But within the IT world, especially in the eyes of an extremely passionate enthusiast like Lu Yue Ming, he was like a legend.

“Starry, his real Chinese name has yet to be released to the public as of now. Graduated from Shou Cheng University, he majored in Mathematics. In the third year of his university, he single-handedly found 6 iOS loopholes, which was comparable to the amount that Apple’s own researchers found in that period of time. After graduating, he submitted dozens of loopholes to Microsoft and successfully obtained an offer from them. He returned to China shortly after working overseas to join the newly established Ji Xun Technology Limited Company and became a T5 software programmer. He took up the position of Ji Xun’s Dennis Lab’s chief scientist and led his team to win the overall championship in the World Hacking Competition twice. He’s a world-class hacker…”

Yang Han interrupted him, “Wait…W-What’s all that? I didn’t understand.”

She only knew that Yang Mo often became the project leader for Han Shi Yu.

Lu Yue Ming took a deep breath and said shakily, “Anyhow, it means that uncle is really amazing…He’s my idol.”

Fang Jia caught on to the main point, “So, you basically just explained a math question in front of your idol and even got complimented by him?”

Lu Yue Ming’s face was suddenly flushed as he lowered his head, “…Yes.”

Shang Xue joined in, “How awesome, Xiao Lu. Shou Cheng University’s mathematics major. You’re amazing.”

Lu Yue Ming hurriedly explained, “No…It has been a long time since uncle graduated, maybe he forgotten a few things…The legends said that he was already working on his computer all day long in his third year of university while others were flunking from skipping classes.”

“That I know!” Yang Han raised her hand, “But you don’t have to be modest either. My father really rarely compliments anyone.”

Lu Yue Ming’s face turned a darker shade of red as he buried it in his hands.

Shang Xue passed him a piece of fruit to calm him down, turning around and said, “Yang Han…your family is too amazing.”

The class president nodded after hearing that and added on, “Sitting here now feels like a dream…”

Xu Jia crunched on the pineapples, swallowed it and asked, “Yang Yang, do you have a stepmother?”

The group of people stared at her.

Yang Han frowned at Xu Jia as if she hadn’t connected to the internet for many years. “How did you come to this deduction?”

Footnotes

啊我死了 = Internet slang and the acronym that stands for ‘Ah, I’m dead.’ Visiting somewhere while hiding your identity to experience the common life. Used for Kings or royalties when they visit commoners’ towns to check out their condition and experience 腐女 = Fujoshis, literal meaning is ‘rotten girls’ aka female fans who are obsessed with mangas, novels, any fanworks that features romantic relationships between men.Like posting on your Facebook/Instagram feed. A hickey 卧蚕 / Aegyo Sal = The pocket of fat found directly under the eyes that make you appear younger and more cheerful/charming.