A Good-for-Nothing

317. Spin-Off (5): Zhao Fei, My Love

Translator: Dragon Rider

Zhou Yize — well, his name was Zhang Dabao now — successfully landed a job in SMB because of his amazing powers and competence. In addition, since he was Zhang Jingqiu’s grandson and thus deserved some special treatment, Li Zong in person showed him around the bureau to help him familiarize himself with the latest version of procedures. Apart from everything else, the soul in this body was Zhou Yize, a former doyen of SMB, so Zhang Dabao soon hit his stride and did his job pretty well. Therefore, the couple of top-ranking officials of SMB began to entrust him with important tasks.

He volunteered to join an action group. Zhao Fei believed that Zhou Yize would be on endless business trips if he did that, and he might as well go with Zhou Yize. But Zhou Yize disagreed. Zhao Fei normally preferred not to quarrel with Zhou Yize over this kind of trivial matters, so he did not return to SMB.

Speaking of Zhao Fei, he had found himself in a fairly troublesome situation lately.

Many years had passed since Zhao Fei had been a pop star, but the Internet was thriving and there were tons of movies and dramas starring him on it. People could easily found pictures of Zhao Fei on the Internet with search engines. In order to stay out of trouble, Zhao Fei had not involved himself in show business again.

But Zhao Fei still got accosted by talent scouts on a frequent basis when talking on the street, and they always asked him if he wanted to be a TV star.

Zhao Fei, vexed beyond endurance, sent photos of Li Zong to those talent scouts, who were amazed by his charming appearance and shifted their attention to their new-found “Venus”.

Zhao Fei, carrying his briefcase, leisurely walked towards a college.

Yes, Zhao Fei, a former superstar, as if by magic, had suddenly become a teacher in a college in Coastal City, teaching Culture of Tang Dynasty.

Nobody had a more intimate knowledge of that history, which had been recorded in written forms and were still talked about by citizens, than Zhao Fei did, who had personally lived through that dynasty.

In addition, he used to be a jade mirror, one that the empress had carried with her at all times. He had witnessed the rise and fall of that imperial dynasty.

Zhao Fei’s gave lectures featuring novel perspectives, and he was very physically attractive, so the lecture hall was always packed every time he was the lecturer, though the subject he taught was only an elective.

The bell rang for break. Zhao Fei gathered up his things and was just about to leave when a voice called out, “Mr. Zhao, your brother came!”

Zhao Fei, when giving a lecture, always appeared listless. He had an air of languidness about him. On hearing this, he lifted his eyes slightly and looked in that direction. The man standing at the back door had grayish eyes.

Zhao Fei’s eyebrows lifted. He walked up, his face giving little away.

“Mr. Zhao, do we still have to do our essays?” an observant student promptly asked, taking advantage of the opportunity.

They kept secretly taking photos of Zhao Fei during the lecture instead of focusing on the lesson, so Zhao Fei given them extra homework as punishment.

“Mr. Zhao, you see, tomorrow’s Saturday. We want to go out to relax and have some fun. You and your brother could do the same. Everything will be so perfect if you just rid our fragile shoulders of the heavy burden of extra homework!”

“Brother of Mr. Zhao, please help us persuade your brother!” a girl said with the air of a spoiled little girl speaking to her doting parent, capitalizing on the mood.

Zhou Yize silently looked at Zhao Fei, appearing resigned.

“Fine.” Zhao Fei’s lips curved in a smile.

The students burst into cheers. They knew that Mr. Zhao was always in such a good mood when his brother came to visit him he would grant their every request!

Soon the two of them got in a car. Zhao Fei recalled Zhou Yize being fairly awkward a short while ago and felt an urge to chuckle. The Zhou Yize in his last incarnation had been faintly unapproachable, but the Zhou Yize reincarnated as Zhang Dabao seemed more like the man Zhao Fei had known many many incarnations ago.

Fairly wooden, poised and taciturn.

However, he was also incurably soft-hearted and could never say no to youngsters who asked him for help with the air of a spoiled child.

“This mission is fulfilled. When will the next one begin?” Zhao Fei in a natural way poked the touch screen with his finger to turn on the car’s player and with that a deep, faintly husky, male voice flowed out of the speaker, singing a slow song.

“There won’t be any new missions for a very long time.”

“Um?” Zhao Fei, suspected that he misheard, looked at Zhou Yize but could only see the graceful curve of the latter’s lower jaw.

The car slowly drove out and soon was on the way to their home, a separate three-story building located not far away from the college. The building covered only a moderate area, but it was in a relatively secluded area and was very comfortable to live in.

Having returned, Zhou Yize cleaned his hands and washed some rice to make a meal for Zhao Fei.

Zhao Fei took off his suit coat, removed his ornamental gold-rimmed spectacles from his nose bridge and put them down on the side before he pivoted around, went into the kitchen, put his arms around Zhou Yize’s waist and said in his usual, fairly languid voice, “Well, you still haven’t answered my question yet. The one I asked in the car.”

Zhou Yize cut the vegetable into a particular pattern and put it in a dish on the side. Zhao Fei’s hand slid along Zhou Yize’s arm and tapped at it.

“My hands are dirty.”

Zhao Fei twisted his head aside and glanced at him as his eyebrows lifted.

“I’m going to ask you one last time. What did you mean by that remark you made in the car?”

Zhou Yize, having no other choice, cleaned his hands and looked resignedly over his shoulder at him. Their eyes met. Zhao Fei’s smiling face was reflected in Zhou Yize’s grayish eyes.

“I’ve quit my job at SMB, so there won’t be any more tasks.”

Zhao Fei felt as though his heart skipped a beat and with that he frowned despite himself. “Uh, why did you do that? I thought you liked the job pretty much.”

Zhou Yize, however, suddenly chuckled and kissed Zhao Fei on the lips. “Yes. It’s true that sometimes I feel it’s the duty of artefact spirits like me to maintain order in this world and ensure the security of the society, but I’ve been getting this increasingly clear sense that some choices are more important than protecting the world.”

Zhou Yize added, “You’ve waited too long for me.”

Zhao Fei felt his eyes burning somewhat. In order to conceal his embarrassment, he lowered his head and chuckled.

“Is that so?”

Zhou Yize, after a quiet, said, “I left something for you in your room. You may go and check it out first before coming back here for the food.”

Zhao Fei kissed Zhou Yize’s lips. They kissed in such a natural way as though they were merely breathing.

“All right. I hope it’s a pleasant surprise.”

As Zhou Yize watched Zhao Fei leave, the look in his eyes was so deep as though it were a river of stars, from which soft starlight was emanating. Even in this small detail there was something tender enough to overwhelm his lover.

Their bedroom was on the second floor. The balcony windows were open, and wind was blowing in, rustling the curtains.

Zhao Fei’s eyes swept through the room before resting on the bed.

He lifted his eyebrows, walked up and saw that it was not something special but a thin envelope.

It was the size of half a page and very light.

It bore the words “To Zhao Fei, my love”.

It was signed by a single Chinese character “Ze”.

Zhao Fei’s hands trembled. He opened the envelope and unfolded the letter.

On it was actually one sentence, one of cliché honeyed words that Zhou Yize had copied from somewhere on the Internet.

May our love last for all eternity.

Zhao Fei found it an effort to keep from bursting into laughter. “Even a romantic novelist doesn’t dare write such things. Where did he get this?”

When he was smiling, sunlight hit Zhao Fei’s face and torso, something shining like small diamonds at the corners of his eyes.

He knew what Zhou Yize meant. They had never said the word “love” to each other, but the bonding between them had gone far beyond that concept. There was no need for either of them to say anything like that, for they both knew how they felt for each other, and they had known about it for many many years.

Zhao Fei put the envelope back to where it had been, pushed the door open and headed for the dining room.

He was in the bedroom. His significant other was in the kitchen. The rice was in the pressure cooker.

You have to make countless decisions in your life. When you look back on your life at a contented old age, you’ll find that the days when you made those significant decisions were just as ordinary as any of the others. Maybe it was an uneventful afternoon, and the weather could be either rainy or sunny that day. Maybe you reach a strange intersection with an umbrella in your hand, and the course of your life takes a turn right there.

Zhao Fei had become more important than anything else in Zhou Yize’s life, which was why he had made this decision so calmly.

Nobody knew what the future held for them, but so far, everything was perfect.