The King of Soft Rice in Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 341 Chinese New Year
“Yuanyuan, since you’re a writer, your uncle wants to test you…”

"Back then, there were so few books available to read, so if you could borrow one, you wouldn't return it unless you flipped through it more than ten times..."

"You didn't experience that era; a single sentence could mean the difference between heaven and earth..."

At the dinner table, his father started rambling on about his old stories again, making Xu Jiuyang just want to sigh.

At first, things were fine. He would pull Gao Yuanyuan aside and talk about poetry and literature. His father was quite knowledgeable about these topics.

As I mentioned before, his poems and lyrics are no match for those of most people, but in this day and age, they can at least be considered to be of above-average quality.

But... how should I put it? When he was starting his business, he had a focused direction, and the occasional poem he wrote was just for his own enjoyment. But as he got older, he couldn't keep up with his career anymore, and he was preparing for retirement. Now that this was his only hobby, he started to show off.

Fortunately, Gao Yuanyuan's literary skills have improved over the years. Even though she doesn't know much about poetry, she can still occasionally chime in with a few lines. Otherwise, the situation might have become incredibly awkward.

This is also why Xu Jiuyang believes she draws inspiration from him. After all, he has watched her writing improve little by little, and someone who can publish articles in serious literature cannot rely solely on subject matter and imagination... Well, that's questionable. At least after reading the original novel of "A World Without Thieves," Xu Jiuyang had only one feeling: I can totally do it too!

Even so, later on, Gao Yuanyuan was somewhat overwhelmed and had to give him meaningful glances.

Fortunately, Xu Jiuyang was prepared. He immediately took out a small notebook from his bag, flipped to a page, and handed it to his father: "Speaking of which, Dad, I wrote a poem when I was revising the script for 'Hero'. Could you take a look at it?"

"Hey, you can even write lyrics, huh?" Dad chuckled. "He Xinlang...Wukong?"

He looked at Xu Jiuyang with a hint of disbelief, then recited: "The staff is made of golden iron. It can wield a thousand pounds of force, stop the wind and waves, calm the sea and put the gods at rest... Its name is known throughout the universe, sweeping away demons with its awe-inspiring power. It can reach the palace, mend the cracks in the sky... It can be used to cultivate the fighting spirit and ascend to the immortal palace. Looking at the mortal world, looking back on the past, the bitterness and injustice are hard to quell... A crane soars into the sky, stirring the nine heavens, how deep is the feeling in the azure sky. The song is not yet finished, let's start again."

After reading it aloud, he clicked his tongue and said, "This is no good. Everything else is passable, but the second part doesn't use Liu Yuxi's 'Autumn Poem' well. What aspect of Sun Wukong's spirit are you trying to embody?"

"Didn't the last two lines already point it out? The song isn't over yet, so let's start from the beginning." Xu Jiuyang shrugged, and although he had an "that's how it is" expression, he really wanted to laugh out loud.

He wrote this poem, but it wasn't entirely his. In a past life, when he celebrated his father's birthday, his father insisted that he write another poem because he had previously written a poem called "Jiang Cheng Zi" to congratulate him.

It just so happened that Heimalou had only been released for a short time then, so he put together a song called "He Xinlang: Wukong" for his father. His father was not satisfied with it, so he revised and modified it based on his original work, and it eventually became what it is now.

However, he wanted to retain his theme while also modifying it to fit the word pattern, but his ability wasn't particularly high, so it still felt quite awkward when read carefully.

So when Xu Jiuyang was preparing in advance, he specially produced this poem, which his father had revised, just to see how his father would read his own poem without knowing the details.

Such a scene is quite rare.

In fact, the person wasn't disappointed. The old man fully expressed his disdain for the embellishment of classical allusions, and then began to think about how to modify it, thus refraining from showing off anything further.

"Uncle is quite funny." In the new bedroom that evening, Gao Yuanyuan laughed heartily, her eyes crinkling with joy.

"Don't worry, Dad is very friendly to outsiders," Xu Jiuyang said, waving his hand.

"So am I an outsider or an insider?" Gao Yuanyuan asked, blinking.

“Hmm…that’s a good question,” Xu Jiuyang said, stroking his chin with a serious expression. “How about this, Sister Yuanyuan, let me examine this carefully to see if it’s an outsider or an insider.”

As he spoke, he flexed his fingers, chuckled, and moved closer to her.

"Hey, what are you doing!" Gao Yuanyuan threw a pillow at him, but then pretended to cry out and fall onto the bed.

Xu Jiuyang pressed down on top of him, and the two began to roll around, their laughter filling the air—a truly intimate scene for a young couple. Just then, a knock on the door startled them apart.

"Who is it?" Xu Jiuyang asked loudly.

“Your mom!” Mom answered in a strong voice.

Gao Yuanyuan stuck out her tongue, touched her face, and quickly jumped off the bed and ran into the bathroom.

"Wait a minute." Xu Jiuyang answered while straightening his clothes. After reaching the door, he touched himself all over to make sure everything was alright before opening the door and putting on a playful smile: "What's up, Mom?"

His mother glared at him, then sighed, took the blanket from the nanny, and stuffed it into his arms: "I was worried you'd be cold, so I brought you an extra blanket."

"Okay, thank you, Mom." Xu Jiuyang nodded and bowed, about to close the door, but his mother stopped him.

She glanced inside a few times, and after hearing the sound of water coming from the bathroom, she added with a reminder, "Be careful."

After saying that, he pointed to his neck.

After closing the door, Xu Jiuyang threw the new quilt onto the bed and ran to the dressing mirror to look at himself. Well, there was a mark, but it was very faint. As expected of his mother, she could even notice this.

"What's wrong?" Gao Yuanyuan asked, peeking out of the bathroom.

"It's nothing, it's just that Mom was worried we'd be cold, so she brought an extra quilt." Xu Jiuyang chuckled.

However, even when they were intimate again afterward, they were very restrained and did not do anything unnecessary.

After all, when we're out, we're used to having non-stop battles every time, so doing the same thing at home is a bit much.

It's only about ten days at home, so this little problem... should be bearable, right?

That said, I haven't experienced sleeping in the same bed with my husband like this since breaking up with Li Dabai, so it's nice to reminisce about it now.

Aside from that incident, the New Year was quite comfortable. Gao Yuanyuan not only won the unanimous favor of Xu Jiuyang's parents, but also gained a good impression among relatives and friends, a stark contrast to the situation when someone else visited her home.

Basically, everyone praised his parents for being lucky to have such a good daughter-in-law, and some busybodies even asked Xu Jiuyang directly when he was going to have children.

Asking once wasn't enough; they had to ask two or three times, to the point that Xu Jiuyang wanted nothing more than to throw Yangyang's photo in the other person's face.

Gao Yuanyuan, on the other hand, said with composure that it would probably be in the next few years.

"Don't answer these kinds of questions. If you're too easygoing, you'll only get endless questions," Xu Jiuyang said to her afterwards, half-complaining and half-advising.

However, Gao Yuanyuan asked thoughtfully, "Xiaoyang, what if I really want a child?"

Xu Jiuyang was taken aback for a moment, then sighed: "If Sister Yuanyuan wants it, I will naturally oblige."

Actually, his first reaction was to refuse, and his second reaction was to run away.

If he agrees to this, it would be like taking sides among them. But if he doesn't agree, he would feel sorry for Sister Yuanyuan. He had seen too many terrible things in his past life, so when faced with a situation that was too complicated and completely unsolvable, he would always think of just running away.

(End of this chapter)