Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Tuesday.

Early in the morning.

Zhang Ye had set his alarm the day before. When he woke up, the first thing he did was check on the Weibo organized Beautifulest and Ugliest Celebrities Rankings polls. The voting had ended and the results were published!

The Ugliest Celebrities Rankings polls:

First: The Clown (10.7 million votes)

Second: Zhang Ye (8.85 million votes)

Third: Zhao Xiaoyan (2.7 million votes)

There were no changes to the rankings whatsoever. All that had changed was the number of votes, with the numbers increasing from before. Whether it was the first place Clown\'s votes or his own votes in second place, the tallies were several times higher than the third place\'s votes. There was essentially no suspense to the outcome!

The netizens were still gloating over it.

"Hahaha!"

"Teacher Zhang\'s ranked firmly in second!"

"I love what I\'m seeing!"

"So The Clown still ended up in first place?"

"This result is defying all common sense!"

"Who voted for him? Damn, why are there so many votes?"

"I did!"

"I contributed 10 votes to The Clown from my household!"

"I contributed seven votes to my idol, Teacher Zhang Ye!"

"I registered several accounts and gave all my votes to The Clown!"

"Pfft, do you guys have nothing better to do?!"

The Clown\'s name was really a hot topic now. Ignoring he was attractive or not for now, at least there were people who knew about him and paid attention to his happenings and thus gave him their votes. This was also a reflection of The Clown\'s current level of fame. This was not previously seen on Beijing Television\'s King of Masked Singers\' official website when the show\'s contestants\' popularity polls were held. The individual singers had each gotten hundreds of thousands of votes over several days at the beginning, which rose up to the millions later on. This was because the reach of Beijing Television\'s official website was small, and it was not accessed by everyone. But it was a different case for Weibo since virtually everyone had access to it. A singer who had not taken off their mask and who nobody knew could garner this many votes? This was a miracle that would never be replicated!

At home.

The main person involved in that poll was getting unhappy with the outcome and got up from bed listlessly.

His mother was sweeping the living room floor. "Eh, why are you up so early?"

Zhang Ye mumbled in response.

"I haven\'t made breakfast yet," his mother said.

"I\'ll go out and eat then." Zhang Ye yawned and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

His mother made a sound in understanding and said with a smile, "What\'s the matter? Are you still angry over the Ugliest Celebrities Rankings? Don\'t be bothered by it. They\'re all just having fun. Besides, this clearly shows that your popularity has not dropped."

Zhang Ye said, "I\'d rather it dropped a little."

He changed clothes and went downstairs to get his car.

On the road, he called Wu Zeqing.

Du du du, du du du.

After four or five rings, the call finally connected.

Zhang Ye: "Old Wu, are you up yet?"

Wu Zeqing: "I\'m awake now."

Zhang Ye: "Were you still sleeping? It\'s about time to go to work, isn\'t it?"

Wu Zeqing: "Yes."

Zhang Ye: "What time are you leaving?"

Wu Zeqing: "At eight, but I\'ll be eating breakfast first."

Zhang Ye: "Don\'t bother making it. I\'m coming over now. I\'ll get you something on the way."

He heard a graceful sounding yawn. "Alright, I\'ll get changed then."

When he reached Old Wu\'s house, it was just a quarter past seven.

In the villa.

Wu Zeqing was already up and watering the plants in the yard.

Zhang Ye ran in. "Quick, eat it while it\'s hot. I got held up on the way here when someone recognized me. The breakfast stall\'s boss insisted that I give him a signature and even asked me in disbelief why a famous celebrity like me would eat breakfast. I didn\'t even know how to answer him."

Wu Zeqing laughed gently and set the things in her hands down. "Alright, what did you buy?"

"Soy milk and fried dough sticks, and there\'s also a tray of buns. Have whatever you like."

"You haven\'t eaten either?"

"Not yet. I just got up too."

They started eating.

The two of them sat at the table and shared the food.

As Zhang Ye ate, his gaze fell on Wu Zeqing\'s face. He was happy just to see her. "How\'s the taste? I bought this from that roadside stall on Taiping Street."

Wu Zeqing nodded. "It\'s pretty good." Then she smiled and looked at him. "If you\'re coming over in the morning next time, you don\'t have to go out of your way to bring me breakfast. There are quite a few people who can recognize you even if you have your sunglasses on, so just come over. There\'s food at home, and I can always make breakfast for you."

Zhang Ye said happily, "How would that do? You have to go to work early every day, so don\'t make yourself any busier than you have to. I\'m just twiddling my thumbs at home nowadays anyway, so I have plenty of time."

After breakfast.

It was 20 till 8 AM.

Wu Zeqing suddenly said, "How do I look today?"

She was dressed in a bog standard gray women\'s suit over a white dress shirt.

Zhang Ye took a look, smiled, and said, "You look fine."

"Does fine mean middling?"

"Hai, you look good no matter what you wear."

"Why don\'t you help me to choose something to wear then?"

"Sure!"

"I don\'t even know what I should wear to work these days."

"Let me think for you. I\'m a professional!"

Zhang Ye volunteered himself and went upstairs with Wu Zeqing. He went to her wardrobe and searched through it, even lowering his head to a drawer and opening it. In there, he saw undergarments of all kinds of colors before coughing and quickly closing it.

But Wu Zeqing did not mind and sat down next to him, smiling and watching him.

A moment later, Zhang Ye took a pair of pants off their hanger and walked over to Wu Zeqing, gesturing to her. "How\'s this? It\'s also gray, but it\'s slimmer than the one you\'re wearing. Those pant leg openings are wider and look ungainly. It doesn\'t seem all that put together."

Wu Zeqing glanced at it. "OK."

Zhang Ye nodded. "Here, change."

When Zhang Ye was about to leave the room to let Wu Zeqing get changed, he was startled to see that Old Wu had already taken her belt off with a click after taking the pants from him.

Ah?

She\'s taking it off just like that?

Zhang Ye got nervous and instinctively turned away. "I won\'t look. Please change."

"OK."

He could hear rustling behind him.

Zhang Ye could not resist the thought of turning around. Then he remembered that he had successfully proposed to her, so what would it matter if he turned? If Old Wu did not avoid him or say anything, why couldn\'t he just watch?

It would be such a waste to not look!

After a moment\'s struggle, Zhang Ye turned around.

He even tried to cover his actions. "You\'re done?"

Her new pair of pants were up to her fair and supple thighs, although they weren\'t fully put on yet and just slightly above her knees.

"Almost," Wu Zeqing said.

Zhang Ye blinked.

Wu Zeqing finally put her belt back on.

Zhang Ye snapped his fingers. "These pants look good!"

Wu Zeqing walked to the mirror on the front of her dresser and took a look. Then she smiled and said, "Yes, this is pretty good. I\'ll wear this." She glanced at her watch and turned around, saying, "Alright, I\'ve got to get to work. Any later and I\'ll be late."

Zhang Ye said, "Hurry up then."

"That\'s right," Wu Zeqing said as she suddenly walked to her nightstand. She pulled open the drawer and took out a set of keys for Zhang Ye. "These are the keys to my house. Whenever you wish to come over, you won\'t need me to open the doors for you anymore." She pointed at a large number of keys at the top of the set and said, "This is for the main door, this is for the gate to the yard, this electronic one is for the garage, this one is for the master bedroom on the second floor, and this is the master key for the cabinets, although I don\'t usually keep those locked."

Key to her house?

Zhang Ye held the keychain in his hand. "Are you serious about giving this to me?"

Wu Zeqing asked, "Why?"

"Nothing." Zhang Ye smiled. "Then I\'ll tuck them away."

Wu Zeqing said, "OK. Don\'t rush to get a job. Take a break for a while."

Zhang Ye said, "Thanks."

Wu Zeqing said, "If you\'re still sleepy, you can sleep here before you leave. You can sleep in the other room or my room, whichever one you prefer. I\'ll be leaving now."

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "I won\'t see you off, then. If someone spots me sending you to work early in the morning, I bet the entertainment industry will blow up!"

Wu Zeqing smiled and said, "Alright."

This was no joke.

If someone found out that Zhang Ye and Wu Zeqing were going to get married?

The SARFT would be thrown into disarray!

The entertainment industry would be tossed in chaos as well!