TA •Chapter 99

On the day the shop opened, Cheng Ke and Jiang Yuduo both woke up especially early. It wasn’t because they were excited, opening a shop was not that big a deal. The main reason was that their phones kept ringing, with messages coming in nonstop.

"Your bunch of brothers, when I see them later, I’m beating every single one of them. Not one is getting away!" Cheng Ke said into his pillow. "It’s just a milk tea shop opening, but with the way they’re acting, why do I feel like we opened a six-star hotel?"

Jiang Yuduo was holding his phone, laughing as he looked at it. "Somebody’s already here."

"Isn’t the lucky time supposed to be 11:18?" Cheng Ke sighed. "It’s not even eight yet. What are they doing? Planning to block the road too?"

"Ertu didn’t sleep at all after playing cards last night. As soon as they were done, he dragged everyone over." Jiang Yuduo said with a laugh. "Idiot."

"Are you happy?" Cheng Ke tilted his head to look at him.

"It’s all right," Jiang Yuduo flicked him a glance. "Just okay, I guess."

"Really?" Cheng Ke smiled.

"Happy," Jiang Yuduo had already sat up, but then lay back down and wrapped an arm around him. Leaning into his ear, he let out two sly little laughs. "Very happy."

"Idiot." Cheng Ke laughed too.

"Are you awake?" Jiang Yuduo asked quietly by his ear again.

"…No," Cheng Ke answered immediately, then caught on. "There’s going to be a busy day today, Third Brother, I’m reminding you…"

Jiang Yuduo didn’t say anything else. His hand had already found Cheng Ke’s waist.

"Get lost," Cheng Ke said quickly, rolling over and pushing him away, edging toward the side of the bed. "I…"

"Then get lost." Jiang Yuduo rolled over twice at lightning speed and pinned one of his arms down.

"Do you have some kind of problem? Are we even still going to the opening after you’re done messing around?" Cheng Ke held onto his chin.

"You know exactly what kind of problem I have," Jiang Yuduo clicked his tongue. "I’m a patient, okay? I have to get up and take a bunch of medicine later. If you make me unhappy now, I’ll be able to see people the moment I step outside."

"Fuck," Cheng Ke laughed, smacking his face once, then after thinking about it asked, "Have you seen them recently?"

"Only that time I told you about last week, then I haven’t seen them again." Jiang Yuduo buried his face in Cheng Ke’s shoulder hollow and bit him on the shoulder. "Stop changing the subject."

Before Cheng Ke could say anything else, Jiang Yuduo’s hand had already started moving lower.

When Chen Qing’s call came in, Cheng Ke and Jiang Yuduo had just left the house, and the car was stopped at a red light at the intersection.

"We’re at the intersection," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Which intersection?" Chen Qing asked.

"Just… that intersection." Jiang Yuduo glanced at Cheng Ke.

"What the fuck are you looking at me for? Am I the one who wouldn’t let you leave the house?" Cheng Ke bit into a glutinous rice ball, leaned over, and shouted, "Qing’er, we just left."

"I fuckin’ knew it!" Chen Qing yelled. "I fucking knew you two had just left, and you still say the intersection? You don’t even dare say which one!"

"Why wouldn’t I dare? The intersection where you’ve run a red light over eight thousand times making a right turn," Jiang Yuduo said. "There’s still time. Why are you panicking?"

"I’m not panicking! I just knew you two were unreliable, so Xiao Sun and I are already ready!" Chen Qing said. "I called just to remind you two that it’s time to fucking get up."

"We’re already up," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Then I’m relieved." Chen Qing hung up right after he said that.

"Without your main bodyguard, how the hell would this opening even happen today?" Cheng Ke said with a laugh.

"Without him, I definitely would’ve spent this morning… not busy with other things." Jiang Yuduo said.

"Write him a thank-you letter," Cheng Ke said. "Thank him for giving you time for your morning workout."

"Give me a bite." Jiang Yuduo looked at the rice ball in his hand.

"You already ate one," Cheng Ke said, taking a big bite. "And you had soy milk too."

"Give me a bite!" Jiang Yuduo shouted louder.

Cheng Ke clicked his tongue and held the rice ball up to his mouth. "Eat, eat."

Jiang Yuduo took a bite and nodded in satisfaction.

"You guys could sell rice balls," Cheng Ke said. "You could sell them while eating them."

"I really did think about it, but the place is so small," Jiang Yuduo said, glancing at the rearview mirror, where Miao was sprawled asleep in the back seat. "With all the buckets and machines and stuff, it’s almost full already. We’ll talk about it later."

"Yeah, right now the staff is just the three of you, right?" Cheng Ke said. "Are you hiring more people?"

"Not for now. Usually it’s just the two of them, and when they’re off, it’s me," Jiang Yuduo said. "Or the two of us."

"…Are you paying me?" Cheng Ke looked at him.

"No," Jiang Yuduo said. "You’re the investor. What salary are you taking? You get dividends, don’t you?"

"Oh, so you’re giving me dividends?" Cheng Ke asked.

"We’ll see," Jiang Yuduo said. "Depends on how business goes."

"Bully." Cheng Ke said.

Jiang Yuduo’s phone rang in his pocket. Cheng Ke helped him take it out and glanced at it. "It’s a voice message from Lu Xi."

"I’ll listen. She’s been traveling with the old lady these past few days, so she can’t come to the opening." Jiang Yuduo said.

Cheng Ke held the phone up to his ear.

"Old Three! Congratulations and make lots of money! Wishing you great success on your opening! I can’t make it today, but when I get back I’ll bring people over to support you!" Lu Xi’s voice sounded cheerful. "Hey, you’ve finally made something of yourself, huh? Remember to count me as VIP! Keep this red packet, and thank you. Over the years, it’s all thanks to you helping out. Sister owes you one."

"Did she transfer money to me?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

"Yeah," Cheng Ke looked at the phone. "Thirty-eight thousand, eight hundred."

"That much." Jiang Yuduo said.

"Accept it?" Cheng Ke asked.

"Accept it," Jiang Yuduo said with a laugh. "If I don’t, she’ll curse me out. For New Year’s, she always gives me huge red packets too, saying it counts as a year-end bonus."

"You’ve been with Lu Xi all these years," Cheng Ke said. "She’s probably paid you a lot of money. Where did it all go?"

"No idea," Jiang Yuduo thought for a while. "Really no idea. I’d treat little brothers to meals, give some to people who were short on money in emergencies… I never thought about saving before. If I had money, I spent it. If I didn’t, I didn’t. Life was just day by day anyway."

"You have to keep accounts from now on." Cheng Ke said.

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo nodded. "You manage the money for me?"

"…I don’t even know where my own money goes," Cheng Ke said, then started laughing again. "Fuck, we really are both pretty unreliable."

"Forget it. I’ll do it. At least I won’t just toss a watch worth over a hundred thousand to some stranger." Jiang Yuduo said.

When he mentioned that watch, Cheng Ke suddenly felt dazed.

The image of Jiang Yuduo from that day, startled and full of swagger, suddenly flashed in front of him.

"If you don’t move it now, I’m going to get hard."

The expression and tone Jiang Yuduo had when he said that were crystal clear.

Back then, Cheng Ke really hadn’t expected that Jiang Yuduo, who could say something so shameless, was actually as innocent as a three-and-a-half-year-old.

Of course, now he was definitely not innocent anymore.

"What are you thinking about? You’re smiling like a pervert." Jiang Yuduo said from the side.

"Did I smile?" Cheng Ke came back to himself and touched his face.

"You did. Like an idiot." Jiang Yuduo clicked his tongue.

"Where’s my watch?" Cheng Ke asked with a smile, turning to look at him.

"Didn’t you give it to me?" Jiang Yuduo said.

"I’m asking you," Cheng Ke said. "After I gave it to you, is it still there?"

"It’s there," Jiang Yuduo said. "Why, you want to take it back?"

"No, I’m just asking." Cheng Ke said.

"It’s still with me, in the cabinet, in the box where I keep my underwear," Jiang Yuduo said. "Don’t take it back. I’ve already figured out what I’m going to do with it."

"What do you mean, do with it?" Cheng Ke blinked.

"Anyway, you don’t treasure it, and it was from Cheng Yi. But if I take it apart and remake it into something else, it’ll be different." Jiang Yuduo said.

"Take it apart?" Cheng Ke still looked blank.

"Mm. I’m planning to dismantle it, then make some little thing out of it. Next year on your birthday, I’ll give you a surprise." Jiang Yuduo said. "How about that?"

"…Do you even know what a surprise is?" Cheng Ke was utterly speechless.

"It’s something you didn’t expect, right? Swish, and then I suddenly give it to you." Jiang Yuduo said.

"Yeah! A surprise for my birthday next year, and I fucking know it right now," Cheng Ke said. "So when my birthday comes next year, you’re still going to swish! What the hell are you swishing?"

"Ah," Jiang Yuduo looked at him. "Is that how it works?"

Cheng Ke sighed.

"But you won’t know what it is, so it’ll still be a surprise, right?" Jiang Yuduo said.

Hearing that, Cheng Ke felt like the scene from his own birthday this year was playing out again. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Third Brother, from now until the second you give me my birthday present next year, you’re not allowed to say another word."

"Okay, understood." Jiang Yuduo nodded seriously.

Miao’s opening was much simpler than the opening of Cheng Ke’s restaurant last time. The people invited were all Jiang Yuduo’s friends, basically just there to make the place look lively.

But just as the car turned into the small street by the mall and hadn’t even reached the shop yet, Cheng Ke felt like this wasn’t just casual showmanship at all.

"Didn’t you say fifty people, rotating in shifts over three days?" Cheng Ke looked at the crowd, where people were lined up every few steps all the way from the street corner, handing out Miao cards. "There are more than fifty people just handing out cards!"

"It’s fifty people a day, rotating over three days," Jiang Yuduo looked out the window and laughed. "Fuck, with this lineup, anyone who didn’t know better would think the whole floor of the mall belonged to Miao."

After they parked and got out, Cheng Ke looked again. There were only ten flower baskets at the entrance, a perfect ten, but the people were packed tight, and there were still plenty standing across the street.

As soon as Jiang Yuduo got out of the car, a whole bunch of them shouted over in a chaotic chorus.

Only the "Third Brother" came out neat and clear. Everything after that was impossible to make out.

"Third Brother, may your business thrive!"

"Third Brother, make lots of money!"

"Third Brother, congratulations on the opening!"

"Third Brother, a bright future ahead!"

When Cheng Ke got out of the car holding Miao, he even heard one voice yell, "Third Brother, good fortune…"

"Hurry up!" Jiang Yuduo waved at Chen Qing. "Is it about time yet?"

"Five more minutes," Chen Qing ran over, then turned to look at Sun Qinqin, who was following behind him. "Have them set up the firecrackers properly."

"Oh, okay!" Sun Qinqin said, looking nervous. Maybe she’d been scared by the crowd around them, who didn’t exactly look like a bunch of good people.

"Third Brother, give a little speech?" Chen Qing said.

"Get lost!" Jiang Yuduo jumped. "What speech? When the time comes, tell me, I’ll go light the firecrackers and that’ll be that. Are you getting a kick out of this?"

"Fine, go get ready. When the time’s up, light them." Chen Qing said.

"I’m going over there," Jiang Yuduo said, looking at Cheng Ke. "Where are you?"

"I’m just going to stand here and watch." Cheng Ke moved under a sun umbrella and took out his phone to get ready to take pictures.

"Okay." Jiang Yuduo nodded.

By then, there were quite a lot of people squeezed around the area, and people from the neighboring shops had come over to watch the excitement too. There probably wasn’t any little shop on this street whose opening managed to block the sidewalk so badly that no one could walk through.

When Xu Ding squeezed through the crowd, Cheng Ke froze. "He called you too?"

"Of course he had to call me," Xu Ding said with a smile. "This shop was rented thanks to my connections."

"How does it feel joining in the fun with these little brats?" Cheng Ke asked.

"Pretty good," Xu Ding said. "It’s a very simple kind of satisfaction."

"Have a drink later before you go." Cheng Ke said.

"Mm. Old Three’s friend, was it Chen Qing? He recommended the signature milk tea and said I absolutely had to try it." Xu Ding nodded with a smile.

"The signature? Which Miao is the signature one?" Cheng Ke asked.

All the milk teas in Jiang Yuduo’s shop weren’t called milk tea. They were all called Miao, and at a glance it was just miao miao miao miao everywhere.

"Ginger Fresh Milk Miao," Xu Ding said.

"That sounds kind of cutesy…" Cheng Ke laughed and pinched Miao’s ear. "Are we ready to light it?"

Miao shook its head very uncooperatively and shook Cheng Ke’s finger off its ear.

Before he could pinch it again, Jiang Yuduo had already lit the firecrackers.

The firecrackers and the cheers went off at the same time, and the whole area exploded with noise. Cheng Ke didn’t have time to keep looking for Miao’s ear, so he quickly grabbed its paw, afraid it would get scared and run off.

But Miao, worthy of being the cat on the signboard, only jumped a little and very quickly calmed down. It just stared hard at the sparks bursting on the ground.

Jiang Yuduo pulled the red cloth off the signboard, then came running over with his ears covered, leaning in front of Cheng Ke and shouting at the top of his lungs, "Fuck, that’s loud!"

Probably because he was excited, he leaned in so suddenly that he was almost pressing against Cheng Ke’s nose.

Cheng Ke leaned back a little and shouted too, "Fuck! If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to kiss me…"

Before he could finish shouting, Jiang Yuduo had already leaned in and kissed him on the lips.

"Holy shit!" Cheng Ke jumped and quickly looked around.

Everyone’s attention was on the firecrackers, so no one seemed to notice them, but Xu Ding had definitely seen it. When Cheng Ke turned his head, Xu Ding was smiling as he looked at the firecrackers on the ground.

Once the firecrackers were done and the red cloth had been lifted, the shop was officially open. Chen Qing and Sun Qinqin started getting busy behind the counter.

Jiang Yuduo carried Miao into the shop, put it in the cat bed beside the cat tree, and fastened it with a little harness. Miao was extremely calm, not running around at all. It came out of the bed and sat on the tree, watching the people coming and going.

"You guys move aside," Chen Qing said, pointing at the bunch of little brothers crammed into the shop. "Let the customers buy first! What are you all doing crowding around here? We’ll make yours later when we have time!"

Because of the discount, and probably because the whole scene was a bit over the top, people actually started lining up to buy milk tea. Jiang Yuduo sat under the sun umbrella at the entrance, laughing his head off. "Fuck, business is great."

"A lucky start," Cheng Ke said.

"I’m going to make two cups for you guys," Jiang Yuduo said, standing up. "I learned a bit from Xiao Sun before. I can make the signature Miao."

"Third Brother, don’t make trouble. They’re already busy enough." Xu Ding said with a smile.

"That’s a bit heartless of you. You don’t want to try the milk tea I made myself?" Jiang Yuduo said. "I definitely won’t get the chance to make it later… and even if I do, probably no one will drink it…"

This Ginger Fresh Milk Miao was pretty complicated to make. Jiang Yuduo stood behind the counter for quite a while before he found the juicer, but then Sun Qinqin stopped him.

"Third Brother, what are you doing?" she asked nervously.

"Making a signature Miao," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Better not," Sun Qinqin said even more nervously. "I’ll do it. You go greet your friends."

"I’m making it for Xu Ding and Cheng Ke," Jiang Yuduo said. "It’s not for sale."

"Oh." Sun Qinqin let out a breath of relief and took a measuring cup from the side. "Use this. It’s already been prepared. The machine’s really busy right now, so hurry up and finish it, then go back out."

"…Who’s the boss here?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

"You." Sun Qinqin handed him some fresh milk too. "Hurry up and make it over there."

Jiang Yuduo had no choice but to take the ingredients to the table by the lucky cat girl, and after messing around for a long time, he finally made two signature Miao drinks.

"Try it!" He put the two drinks in front of Xu Ding and Cheng Ke.

"Thanks, Boss Jiang." Xu Ding took one and had a sip.

"How is it?" Jiang Yuduo asked immediately.

Xu Ding bit the straw and gave him a thumbs-up.

He immediately lifted his eyebrows in smug satisfaction, then looked at Cheng Ke. "How is it!"

Cheng Ke took two sips, leaned back in his chair, and started laughing. He couldn’t stop at all.

"What the hell are you laughing at?" The moment Jiang Yuduo saw Cheng Ke like that, he knew it probably hadn’t turned out very signature, so he snatched the cup from his hand and took a sip.

The taste was indeed a little hard to handle.

Did he probably mess up the ratio?

"You fake bastard," Jiang Yuduo said, looking at Xu Ding. "With a flavor like this, and you still gave me a thumbs-up?"

"If you got Cheng Ke to make one and compare them, I’d still probably give you a thumbs-up," Xu Ding said with a laugh. "He can barely even squeeze a glass of juice for himself at the restaurant."

"Brother Xu, Brother Ke," Sun Qinqin came over holding two cups of milk tea. "This is our signature milk tea, Ginger Fresh Milk Miao. Try it."

"What are you doing?" Jiang Yuduo looked at her.

"Brother Qing asked me to make some and bring them over." Sun Qinqin said with a smile before running back into the shop.

Jiang Yuduo looked into the shop and saw Chen Qing standing behind the counter, waving at him.

"I’ll take them with me," Xu Ding said, holding the two cups of milk tea. "I still have to go back to the company. I’m leaving on a business trip tomorrow, and I’ve got a ton of stuff to handle."

"Go ahead and do your thing," Cheng Ke said.

"Third Brother, best wishes for booming business." Xu Ding smiled at Jiang Yuduo.

"Thanks." Jiang Yuduo had heard that line many times today, but every time he heard it, he still felt pleasantly and newly delighted. Especially hearing it from a big boss like Xu Ding made it feel even more satisfying.

He was still savoring it after Xu Ding left.

"Boss Jiang," Cheng Ke said while playing on his phone, "give me a line to write."

"What?" Jiang Yuduo looked at him.

"I’m posting to Moments, a nine-grid for Miao’s opening," Cheng Ke said. "What should I write?"

"You’re asking me?" Jiang Yuduo pointed at himself. "I don’t even post. If I did, I’d just say something useless… let me see what photos you’ve got."

Cheng Ke put his phone on the table, and Jiang Yuduo leaned over to look.

A whole bunch of pictures, a few from earlier of him messing around going in and out, Miao’s signboard, the firecrackers being lit, people lining up to buy milk tea, and a close-up of the signature Miao drink.

"This ad is pretty hard-core," Jiang Yuduo said.

"This isn’t an ad," Cheng Ke said with a smile. "This is… showing off."

"Showing off what?" Jiang Yuduo looked at him.

"Showing off my happiness." Cheng Ke cleared his throat. "That sounds a little cheesy, doesn’t it?"

"Not bad." Jiang Yuduo laughed, looking at the photos. "How about just leaving it uncaptioned? That’d show how happy you are you can’t even put it into words."

"…Your wording’s off." Cheng Ke said.

"Anyway, that’s the idea." Jiang Yuduo clicked his tongue. "Hurry up, post it and show off."

"Mm." Cheng Ke nodded, added a smiling face, and sent the photos.

Jiang Yuduo immediately took out his phone and liked it.

"So proactive," Cheng Ke said with a laugh.

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo put away his phone and looked at him.

"What are you doing?" Cheng Ke immediately got a little tense. "There are fewer people around now, but whatever you do, people can still see it!"

"I’m not planning to do anything," Jiang Yuduo still kept looking at him. "I just wanted to say…"

"Mm?" Cheng Ke looked at him.

Jiang Yuduo bit his lip. If he hadn’t still been riding the excitement from the opening, he really wouldn’t have had the nerve to say it out loud.

"I love you."

Cheng Ke froze. It took a long time before he softly said it back too. "I love you."

Author’s note: The main story is complete o(≧口≦)o.

There will be an extra update tomorrow, and another extra the day after tomorrow.

That’s probably how it goes ⊙▽⊙, thanks to all the little ones who kept reading all the way to here, muah muah ⊙▽⊙.