Power Up, Artist Yang!

It was in the evening, after his father talked to him about marriage again. Zhiyuan was surprised that Zixu wanted to have a drink, but he did accept, so Zixu went over to the Bo Villa. There, with a cup of wine down, Zixu told Zhiyuan that there was a person he liked.

Zhiyuan practically spat out his drink the moment he heard those words leave Zixu's mouth.

"You— what—" he stuttered. 

"I have someone I like," Zixu repeated. "Are you growing hard of hearing now?"

"Who? Who's the lucky girl? Or… well, guy?"

Zixu stared at his friend for a long moment, wondering why he was friends with someone like this.

"What?" Zhiyuan exclaimed defensively. "You never talk about these things, so who knows your taste in love?"

"You know her, " Zixu decided to say,  "My Junior Sister, Yang Yujia."

"Oh,   so Artist Yang!" Zhiyuan nodded appreciatively,  pouring the two of them another cup. "I approve, I approve. I feel like a proud father who's finally seen his stone-hearted son feel an emotion called 'love' for the first time."

Zixu only stared at Zhiyuan blankly some more, giving a slightly disappointed shake of his head.

And then, Zhiyuan paused, setting the small jug of wine down. He looked up at Zixu, eyes widening. "Wait— Yang Yujia— wasn't she supposed to be… married to your father?"

Not everyone in the world knew of this news that Yang Yujia technically married the Yu Family's Old Master, but a few families that had close ties with the Yu Family did. The Bo Family was one of them.

"Indeed. And that's where the problem comes in." Zixu raised his cup to his lips.

"So you like your relationships messy…" Zhiyuan mused,  which earned another glare from Zixu. He quickly corrected, "I mean— what are you going to do now? She's your father's concubine in everyone's eyes."

"I'm not entirely sure either. And that's why I'm drinking with you."

"Well, to be fair, if she's good enough to make your heart skip an extra beat, then she's someone you shouldn't let go of just like that."

"I know." Zixu looked at the rest of the wine in his cup. "I've thought about that. I've thought about all of it a lot. At the end of every scenario,  it seems hopeless. I want to be a filial son, and so I cannot bring disgrace to my father like that. I want to be a good husband, and so I cannot bring shame to my future wife either. Our story will become the world's laughing stock if it is ever revealed. Imagine that: father and son, fighting over a woman."

Zhiyuan frowned. "Surely there must be a way."

"What way?"

"That's true," Zixu agreed. "Though then, the problem becomes: I don't even know if she likes me or not. As far as I know, it's not mutual? She seems to treat Ye Yunhe the same way, and she's also kind to the rest of her senior brothers."

"Communicate, my friend, communicate." Zhiyuan pounded the table with a fist. "For all you know, she's bottling her feelings up just like you. And for all I know, if you two do not communicate, these feelings will stay buried until the end of time. Miss Yang is a woman. You can't expect her to be confessing to you first."

"What would I do if she doesn't share the same feelings?"

Zhiyuan pointed at Zixu. "Right now, you're letting your pride overshadow everything. You think I just sat around and married Luowei because I was prideful and never told her about my true feelings? No way. And besides, if she doesn't like you, just look at yourself. Yu Zixu, you're from a good background and handsome. Besides the shallow things, you're talented at practically everything, skilled at art, highly intelligent, and though… well… your personality may be a little demented, I know you have a good heart in the end."

"You think that I'm kind and compassionate?" Zixu raised his eyebrows, almost laughing.

"Well, no." Zhiyuan blinked. "Actually scratch out the part of having a good heart. You only have a good heart towards a few certain people. But at least having a heart is better than none at all."

"I appreciate your honesty."

"Anytime." Zhiyuan nodded, before continuing, "Anyways, as I was saying, if she doesn't like you, you can always make her like you." There was a brief pause, before he added on, "And no, I don't mean holding a knife up to her throat and saying, 'fall in love with me or else.' You know that, right?"

"You think I don't know that?" Zixu stared exasperatedly at this friend of his. 

Zhiyuan threw his hands up. "I don't know— I've known you for so long and I still have no idea what exactly goes on in that brain of yours. You seem so clueless about this, so who knows which direction you will choose to take my words in?"

"I do admit to not having as much experience as you in terms of things like this," Zixu responded, "but I have common sense." He thought for a moment, then said, "Tell me, how did you make your wife fall in love with you? What tricks did you have up your sleeve?"

"Ah, I do have one trick." Zhiyuan leaned forward, lowering his voice although the two of them were alone, and no one could've possibly heard what he was about to say next. "It is the secret technique of the Bo Family. My father used it, my grandfather used it, and the grandfather of my grandfather also used it."

Zixu looked skeptical. "Did they really?" 

Zhiyuan returned Zixu's gaze but quickly dropped it, scratching the back of his neck. "Well, no. I came up with it. But it's still a good technique. It's why I'm in a happy marriage today."

"Alright then. Enough with the suspense. What is it?"

"The idea is simple. If you want to make someone like you, you need to know their interests. And then, once you know everything they like, just put it all in one big, surprising, and heartwarming proposal." 

"Finding information like that takes time," Zixu retorted, "and I have a business trip coming up soon. You know that."

"I know, I know. And that's why the secret technique comes in. To keep it a surprise, just pretend like you like someone else. Then, you can get all the info you need about the person you like under this pretense."

Zixu narrowed his eyes. Something about this plan seemed very, very wrong. "Are you sure that even works?"

"It worked for me, so it must, right?" Zhiyuan grinned brightly. "Trust me on this one. It'll definitely work. And once you get to know if she likes you or not, take it from there. Work things through together. Don't try to do it all alone."

After a brief pause, Zixu nodded. "Alright." 

He would give it a shot. 

Seeing that Zixu agreed, Bo Zhiyuan went and poured another cup of wine for the two of them, raising his cup up high. "Cheers, then! In hopes that you'll win her love."

…

Later that evening, when the two had long finished drinking and Zixu had returned to his home, Bo Zhiyuan was getting ready to go to bed, washing his face.

Luowei, meanwhile, was finishing the last few stitches on a piece of embroidery she had been working on. When Zhiyuan finished, he walked over to look at what she was doing, sitting down by her side and leaning his chin on her shoulder. She explained the piece she embroidered— a handkerchief— and then asked him how his day was.

"Good," Zhiyuan replied, "really good. I had a drink with Yu Zixu."

"Ah, really?" she looked up. "How was that?"

"He has a person he likes, so I gave him some advice on that."

"What advice?"

"I told him to use the same trick that I used to win your heart. Pretty good, ay?"

At this, Luowei's expression fell. She set the embroidery in her hands down. "You do realize that I hated you when you did that, right?"

"Huh?" Zhiyuan sat back, jaw dropping.

Luowei nodded indignantly, continuing, "You upset me so badly. How could you not remember?"

Flashes of memories of Luowei being furious came back to Zhiyuan's mind. He drew in a sharp breath, realizing his mistake. But then, he relaxed. "You have to admit my proposal was pretty darn good though."

She sighed. "Fine. That was the only decent part of the whole thing."

"End result was also that you ended up with me, no? So… maybe the process does not matter, as long as you get good results."

Luowei gave him a look of complete bewilderment. 

…

Five days ago from the confession under the magnolia trees, Yu Zixu began the plan that Zhiyuan advised him with.

He hoped that it would go well.

Except, when he returned back from Lingxin, the plan already set in action, that was when he received word that Bo Zhiyuan wanted to see him urgently. The moment the two met up again, Zhiyuan immediately blurted out, "Friend, I have done you wrong."

"Explain."

And so, Zhiyuan did, about how his plan may have been utter trash.

Upon hearing all of this, Zixu wanted to facepalm. 

He had already begun the plan. How could he take it back now? He told these things to Zhiyuan, and his friend only had one thing to say, expression grim, "Good luck."

…

Three days before his confession, Zixu tried to carry on with the plan as well as he could.

He visited countless pastry stores, sampling and picking out the best ones to buy. While he did it, he could only feel regret, regret, and more regret, yet he tried to reassure himself that if he was already this far stuck in the plan, carrying on was the only possible solution for now. He had to try his best, in hopes that the end scenario was somewhat decent.

…

Two days before his confession, Zixu began to grow a little more confident over his plan, but only slightly. Just a miniscule, tiny percentage more confident.

He still felt like Zhiyuan set him up to fail.

…

The day of the confession, Zixu tried not to think too much. 

Let things naturally unfold. Perhaps that would be the best choice.

Except, the moment he confessed, all the dread from the past few days came crashing back when he saw the expression Yujia wore. 

"Yu Zixu," she said, the smile long gone from her face, "I hate you so, so much."