Yu Zhaohan had planned to take Shi Du home to see his parents on the first day of vacation, but his father was going abroad for academic exchanges, and his mother accompanied him.

Shi Du was not awake yet when Mother Yu called. Yu Zhaohan was afraid of waking him up, so he wanted to go to the bathroom to answer the phone, but Shi Du grabbed his waist and pulled him back into bed.

There was a faint red mark on Shi Du’s cheek, an imprint from the pillow, which made him look somewhat cute. With his eyes closed, Shi Du mumbled, “Mm… let’s sleep a little longer.”

Yu Zhaohan said, “Sorry, Shi Du, I need to talk to my mom.”

Shi Du had no response and seemed to have drifted back to sleep.

Yu Zhaohan did not want to miss his mother’s phone call, but he also did not want to disturb Shi Du. Furthermore, he couldn’t move because Shi Du was closely holding him, so he could only hold the phone between his head and shoulders, leaving his two free hands to cover Shi Du’s ears.

Mother Yu called mainly about Jiang Di. After hearing about Jiang Di’s experiences in college, Yu Zhaohan’s mother used her and her husband’s connections in the academic world to get in touch with high-ranking officials at the university basketball association. They had agreed to reopen an investigation into the alleged use of banned substances by Jiang Di, provided he could provide new evidence.

“That’s great,” Yu Zhaohan said happily in a hushed tone, “Thanks, Mom.”

“No need to thank me, dear,” his mother replied with a smile. “By the way, aren’t you about to start the playoffs soon? How are you feeling? Mom is worried you’ll get nervous and lose sleep again.”

Yu Zhaohan replied, “I’m a little nervous, but Shi Du has been comforting me, so I haven’t had trouble sleeping.”

Sitting on the bed and talking to his mother, he rambled on about his worries regarding the playoffs. His mother didn’t understand much about these matters, but she still listened patiently to her son.

Yu Zhaohan kept his voice as low as possible because it was challenging to wake Shi Du, who was deep in slumber. However, holding the phone between his shoulder and neck was straining, and he wanted to switch sides. In the process, he accidentally dropped the phone, and it landed squarely on Shi Du’s face.

Shi Du let out a muffled groan and slowly opened his eyes, looking confused.

“I’m sorry,” Yu Zhaohan hurriedly reached out to pat Shi Du’s nose, “It’s not hurting, is it?”

Mother Yu heard the noise and asked, “Baby, is there someone next to you?”

Yu Zhaohan said: “Yes, Shi Du is on my bed. We slept together yesterday.”

Mother Yu was stunned: “Huh?”

Shi Du wasn’t completely awake yet and asked, “Who are you talking to?”

Yu Zhaohan replied, “I’m talking to my mom.”

Shi Du was completely awake now. He grabbed Yu Zhaohan’s cell phone and said very politely: “Hello, aunt, it’s me, Shi Du. Because we stayed up late last night analyzing the game, I slept in the team captain’s room… No, he’s a very good sleeper, and he didn’t disturb me at all. He also didn’t steal my blanket.”

Shi Du never imagined that after sleeping with his boyfriend for the first time, he would be asked kindly by his mother-in-law if he slept well last night.

“Are you abroad now? You don’t need to bring me anything. You’re too polite.”

Yu Zhaohan looked at the well-mannered young man in front of him and felt like this was different from his usual boyfriend.

After hanging up the phone, Shi Du returned to normal Shi Du. He pinched Yu Zhaohan’s chin with one hand, feeling angry and funny at the same time: “How can there be a little idiot like you? Wouldn’t the little idiot feel embarrassed to tell your mother this?”

Although Shi Du scolded the little idiot, he barely used any force on his hands, and Yu Zhaohan didn’t feel uncomfortable at all. He looked up at Shi Du cooperatively and asked, “Why should I be embarrassed? We didn’t do anything; it’s just a pure bromance.”

Shi Du: “…”

Indeed, it was pure, so pure that they stuck to their respective sides. Human and rooster separated, independent entities with no correlation.

No wonder some people always say that men’s sex and love can be discussed separately, and he finally realized it.

Shi Du had just secured his position in the base, but he also had to worry about his image among his mother-in-law: “What else did you tell your mom? Repeat every word for me.”

Yu Zhaohan said, “I told her a lot.”

Upon learning that Yu Zhaohan didn’t need to go home, Shi Du said, “That’s perfect; accompany me to Beijing.”

“Why are you going back to Beijing?” Yu Zhaohan asked, “Do you want to meet your parents?”

“To buy a house,” Shi Du said half-seriously, “I’ve saved enough money.”

Once the regular season ended, the promised bonuses from their team owner came through. After much effort, Shi Du finally managed to earn enough money to buy a house.

Upon deciding to buy a house, he had asked his friends in Beijing to help him find several properties. He had virtually attended property viewings online and taken care of most of the preparations. All that was left was for him to return and complete the necessary paperwork.

Yu Zhaohan agreed without much consideration. Buying a house was a significant event, and he had experience in this area. He felt it was his duty to help oversee the process for his boyfriend.

Shi Du found Old Tan in the living room and asked him to help book two tickets to Beijing.

Old Tan, who was casually using his computer, asked, “Is it two round-trip tickets?”

“No,” Shi Du said, “One for me, and one for the team captain.”

Old Tan suddenly raised his head, thinking of his double C’s romance, and became furious: “More tickets! I just booked a flight for Stone to go home, and Cheese asked me to book tickets for him and Qi Xian to go to Shenyang to see the flowers. And now, you! Do I look like your servant here in this base?”

“I didn’t say that,” Shi Du put on an innocent victim look, “Why are you so angry.”

“None of you have given me any peace of mind.” Old Tan was filled with resentment. “You’re going on your honeymoon with Shine, so please be discreet. Make sure you engrave the words ‘low-profile’ into your DNA. Don’t forget about the curse on you; if the fans discover your relationship with Shine, the entire league will explode.”

Even though the whole R.H team were Shine’s fans, there was no guarantee that other fans would be as reasonable. Just imagining the scene where he had to handle the public relations fallout if their relationship was discovered made Old Tan’s head spin.

Shi Du waved it off, “I got it. If we don’t want fans to recognize us, we’ll take first-class, please.”

As soon as Shi Du left Jiang Di came in. He reported to Old Tan, “I’m going back to school during the holidays.”

Old Tan, unaware of the situation, asked, “Why are you going back to school?”

Jiang Di clenched his fists, “To find something.”

After booking their plane tickets, Yu Zhaohan and Shi Du did a quick check-out and left the house.

In order to ward off the curse that fans could recognize them anywhere, Shi Du was fully equipped. He had his face completely covered with a mask and sunglasses, and Yu Zhaohan helped tuck in any stray strands of hair.

If they could still be recognized after all these precautions, he wouldn’t bother struggling anymore; he could go around mask-less and pretend to be oblivious.

It was pretty smooth along the way. After getting off the plane, Shi Du’s friend came to pick them up and take them to view the properties.

Nearly half of the players who played Destination were Shine’s fans. Upon seeing Yu Zhaohan, the friend insisted on taking a picture and getting an autograph. They also added each other as in-game friends and played a few games together.

In front of fans, Yu Zhaohan was quite reserved and maintained an air of sophistication. The only time he initiated a conversation was to ask the friend how they had met Shi Du.

Shi Du was still under twenty, but his friend claimed to have been in the real estate industry for over ten years, making him older than Shi Du by a whole generation. The friend explained, “We first met as online friends.”

Before Shi Du started his professional career, he often played with friends to match up with professional players. These friends, who had begun playing with him, eventually became real-life friends after meeting him in person. They had developed a strong bond.

“When our four-player squad was just starting, everyone was just from different regional servers, and our goal was to compete at the national level. Timeless was our superstar, but he could only play on weekends. Without him, our squad’s efficiency in gaining ranks was terribly low, and we were really anxious. Later, we found out that Timeless had homework to do during weekdays, hahahaha—”

Shi Du: “.”

Yu Zhaohan asked: “Later, you mean after you met in person?”

“When we first met in person, we thought Timeless was tall and handsome, and we assumed he was a college student. Timeless never told us how old he was,” his friend continued, thoroughly enjoying the story. “Then, we successfully reached the top 500 in the national rankings, and we organized a second meeting. Timeless showed up wearing his high school uniform, with a backpack and headphones. When we asked him, we learned he was only a high school freshman. He even had a tutoring sister to help him with math…”

Shi Du sat in the back seat and listened to his friend revealing his secrets. He propped up his chin and said casually, “Uncle, did you get a raise this year?”

His friend fell silent for a second.

After getting out of the car, Yu Zhaohan and Shi Du said, “Don’t ask tutoring to teach you math in the future. You can ask me. I used to get perfect scores in math tests.”

Shi Du felt mixed: “Thank you.”

His younger high school self would never have imagined that he would later take a break from school to pursue a professional career and find a boyfriend who was a math whiz.

There weren’t many new housing developments available in central Beijing. Shi Du had three preselected options, and after viewing the model rooms one by one, he asked Yu Zhaohan which one he liked the most.

Yu Zhaohan didn’t hesitate and said, “I like the last one.”

Shi Du asked, “Why do you like it?”

“Because it has the most nearby shopping malls and restaurants, and you love to eat the most.”

Shi Du chuckled, “Alright, let’s go to the sales center to complete the paperwork. You have your ID with you, right?”

“I do. But why do you need my ID?”

“Because I want to add your name.” Shi Du tilted his head and looked at him, “Didn’t we discuss it before? Have you forgotten?”

Yu Zhaohan opened his eyes wide: “Are you serious?”

They had indeed joked about this before, and Yu Zhaohan never took it seriously.

Shi Du said, “Do I look like I’m joking?”

He had seen news about college roommates buying a villa together. Later, he consulted professionals and learned that it was indeed possible to add a friend’s name to the property deed, although the procedures were a bit complicated.

Yu Zhaohan stopped in his tracks and hesitated, taking out his phone. “Let me ask my mom if it’s okay…”

Shi Du pulled him forward. “It’s just a house; there’s no need to ask.”

Yu Zhaohan thought for a moment. “You’re right.” He thought about their financial situation. He could easily afford it with the money he earned in just a handful of years in his professional career, plus a few endorsements. “This amount is nothing to ask my mom about.”

With a friend’s help to process the paperwork, the procedures went smoothly. As he watched his name being written on the purchase contract, Yu Zhaohan had a sudden realization.

“Shi Du, I have something else to add,” Yu Zhaohan said with delight. “Once we’re back in Shanghai, I’ll add your name to my property too.”

Shi Du smirked, “Sure, let’s treat property deeds as marriage certificates. One certificate for each of us, and they’re both red.”

Yu Zhaohan hesitated and said, “But we haven’t reached the legal age for marriage yet.”

Shi Du said arrogantly: “I don’t care.”

Yu Zhaohan’s lips curved upward, forming a subtle smile. “Alright, I don’t care either.”