The Stream Is Paused—I'm Going to Pick Someone Up

[New story, dual male leads. If you didn't read the blurb, please note the words "dual male leads." If that bothers you, leave quickly! P.S. Extreme bottom-stans and top-stans should leave too. This is a sweet, lovey-dovey story about a young couple!]

[Same-sex marriage setting, mindless sweet fluff, written for relaxation. The author ate all the logic.]

[Su Tingbai x Shen Rui'an]

[Handsome top, beautiful bottom. The top is an outrageously handsome man, and the bottom is an absolutely stunning beauty.]

The main text begins—

·

"You brat, Xio has arrived. Did you go pick him up or not?"

Su Tingbai had been livestreaming himself cooking. The viewer count in the upper right had already reached 100,000+, when a phone call suddenly came in and he was immediately subjected to a furious scolding.

Used to it by now, Su Tingbai held his phone farther away. Only after the old man on the other end finished venting did he unhurriedly hang up.

He placed the steak he was grilling onto a plate and sprinkled it with coarse sea salt. Then he clapped his hands, not even bothering to take off his apron, and said to the viewers in the livestream, "The stream is paused. I'm going to pick someone up."

With that, he ignored the livestream and turned to leave.

The viewers immediately started flooding the chat with comments:

[Who the hell has that kind of status? Brother Ting has to pick them up himself?]

[Come back! The steak isn't even done yet!]

[That person must be a big shot if Brother Su has to personally pick them up. If I remember right, Brother Su is a rich second-generation kid too.]

[Pausing dinner—I'm going to do my homework.]

[Pausing videos—the delivery is here, I'm going to pick it up!]

[...]

Su Tingbai did not have a good impression of Shen Rui'an. He only found it presumptuous, but the two families had originally been old friends. On top of that, the Shen Household had helped the Su Household before, leaving them indebted by a tremendous favor. They could only repay it with him.

When Su Tingbai arrived at the front courtyard, he saw several cars pull up and people get out. The luggage alone filled an entire vehicle.

The Shen Household's butler stood at the front. Upon seeing him, he greeted him with impeccable manners. "Second Young Master Su."

"Mm." Su Tingbai nodded lightly. "The rooms have been prepared for you. Where's Shen Rui'an?"

He frowned slightly. Why wasn't he here?

Butler Shen said, "Our young master is unwell and is still resting in the car."

Su Tingbai's impression of Shen Rui'an worsened.

It was June, but the weather had been uncooperative, with rain falling again and again. Whenever the seasons changed, Shen Rui'an's body would start acting up again.

He had been frail since birth. Even with medicine as advanced as it was today, they could not find anything wrong with him. They could only say that he was weak because he had been born prematurely and needed to be carefully cared for.

Both Chinese and Western medicine gave the same explanation. The Shen family had been heartbroken and consumed with guilt, treating Shen Rui'an like a precious treasure since childhood. They doted on him and spoiled him, raising him to be domineering and pampered.

But the Shen family did not think there was anything wrong with that.

Their Xio had such a precious body. What was wrong with raising him a little more delicately? It was not as if their Household could not afford it.

Yet even so, after his twentieth birthday, he still fell ill. This time, it came violently and nearly took his life.

The Shen Household was brightly lit all night. They prayed to every god and Buddha they could think of, and then a turning point appeared.

A master suddenly showed up and fed him a pill. Shen Rui'an actually fell asleep afterward.

The Shen family thought he had recovered, but the master said it had merely kept him alive by force. If they wanted him to truly get better, he needed to stay by the side of someone with an extremely yang constitution.

At that point, the Shen family no longer had the luxury of wondering whether it was superstition. They hurriedly asked who had such a constitution.

The master pointed at the villa next door. "The Su Household's second young master."

Upon hearing that, the Shen family breathed a sigh of relief. That was easy enough to handle.

The Su Household's second young master, Su Tingbai, had loved cooking since childhood. After growing up, he enlisted in the military and worked as a cook for several years. After being discharged, he inherited a manor himself and cooked there. They had heard that he also filmed videos and livestreamed, and that he was doing quite well.

It was just that his personality was overly domineering and forceful. Even when the Su family opposed him, there was nothing they could do about him.

Would someone like that really be willing to take care of their Xio?

Besides, Su Family Manor was too remote, surrounded by nothing but wilderness. Going out would not be convenient either, would it?

The Shen family wore troubled expressions, but in the end, they decided to give it a try.

That was how Shen Rui'an came to stay temporarily at Su Family Manor.

Shen Rui'an knew about it too, but he got a little carsick and felt so uncomfortable that he fell asleep. After waking and taking a moment to recover, he heard Su Tingbai talking to the butler.

"Butler." Shen Rui'an's voice drifted weakly, utterly lacking strength.

Butler Shen hurriedly turned around. "Young master, you're awake?"

He stepped forward to support him.

Su Tingbai's frown deepened. Why was he so delicate?

Then the person behind Butler Shen raised his head, and Su Tingbai saw his face clearly.

His brow relaxed. It seemed the Shen family's youngest really was as fragile as a willow branch. Forget it—since his family owed the Shen Household a favor, it was only right for him to take good care of this young master. At most, it meant one more mouth to feed. No trouble at all!