Chapter 395: Xi Rensheng: Frail, Pitiful, and Helpless

Yang Yichen stared at that poster for a while.

To be precise, he was staring at the green‑haired girl on the left side of the poster for a long time.

The green that seemed about to explode out of the screen, compared with his brother's fluorescent green hair in front of him......

Fine, at least that green is dyed, not glowing.

His gaze shifted downward, and after reading the fine print at the bottom of the poster, Yang Yichen's brows slowly furrowed.

What did he just say? That he'll be relatively free later; he can't now tell Yang Yixie that, "by coincidence I happen to have something on the day you invited me," can he?

"Um..." Yang Yichen's tone carried an unnatural guilt, "Xiao Xie, when exactly is the concert you just mentioned?"

Ying Duo had already taken the communicator back, "It should be very late, I heard it's apparently happening at the same time as some fashion show?"

Yang Yichen's brows knit tighter, "I happen to have an unavoidable meeting that day......"

Ying Duo gave him a glance; there was neither disappointment nor reproach in that look, just a terrifying calm.

"Oh, you really are a very busy person."

He leaned against the sofa, lifted his hood, and the cat ears swayed with the motion, adopting a "that's the end of that topic" stance.

Even in a parallel world, their temperaments are the same.

Yang Yichen felt a headache; each time his mother fell into a coma and was hospitalized, whenever he couldn't rush back because of various matters, Yang Yixie would jab at him a few times.

Although he had long gotten used to it, Yang Yichen always felt something off in his heart.

He had just said he was free, his brother invited him to a concert, and then he contradicted himself by saying he had no time.

He wanted to say something to make up, but Ying Duo had already closed his eyes, the hood covering most of his face, looking like he didn't want to continue the conversation.

"Um, how about we exchange communication numbers first?" Yang Yichen pulled out his communicator, which looked far less high‑end than Ying Duo's, "You can contact me anytime you want to reach me."

Ying Duo opened one eye, glanced at him, and handed over his communicator.

Yang Yichen quickly took it, bent down to fiddle with it, saved his own number, then stored Ying Duo's into his communicator.

While operating, he furtively glanced at the contacts; aside from a note marked "Teacher," there was not a single contact.

Yang Yichen's mouth twitched, and he decided not to dwell on it.

He lifted Yang Yixie, spread a blanket on the sofa, fetched a pillow from the bedroom and tossed it onto the sofa, then nudged him toward the bedroom.

"Go to sleep; call me if you have something tomorrow."

Yang Yichen collapsed onto the sofa, shirt unchanged, slumped like that; he had truly been busy all day and was now exhausted beyond belief.

His brother had always been a heartless little brat; the fact that he could obediently go to sleep without further pestering was a huge blessing.

In this world, his brother is still too taciturn, which is probably the biggest difference from the real‑world Yang Yixie.

A thin crack ran across the ceiling; Yang Yichen stared at it, spacing out for a while, his mind a mess, making it hard to fall asleep.

He fished out his communicator, set the brightness to the lowest, and typed the idol group's name into the search bar—"Neon‑X".

When the search results popped up, he realized the group had recently been blazing hot in Heavenly Dome City.

The concert tickets were indeed hard to get, scalped tickets had skyrocketed, but he truly couldn't attend the concert time; after the organizers had prepared for so long, he couldn't miss it.

But as he scrolled down, his finger suddenly stopped.

Fan meet‑and‑greet.

It happens to be tomorrow afternoon from two to five, at the central exhibition center in Heavenly Dome City.

Meet‑and‑greet tickets are a bit easier to get than concert tickets, but still only "some".

Official channels had long sold out; the rest were scalpers. He opened a few links, and even the cheapest cost a third of his monthly salary.

Yang Yichen hesitated; Ying Duo had shown no expression, but he felt the kid must be disappointed.

Yang Yichen clenched his teeth and opened a scalper link.

Payment successful.

Anyway, he has no quality standards for life in this world, so let it be pricey.

And the bed Yang Yichen had cleared out for Ying Duo to sleep on was completely empty.

——————————————

The bar lights still looked half‑dead, but at this moment neither of the two people sitting at the bar felt like caring about the lights.

Lao Bao sat on the left, a stack of daytime documents still in front of him, though he hadn't read a single word.

His gaze landed on the person beside him opposite, Hua Jian Lei's silver‑pink long hair draped over her shoulders, her peach‑colored eyes half‑closed, eyelashes casting a small shadow on her cheekbones.

Xi Rensheng sat on the floor, legs crossed, hands on his knees, looking as obedient as a primary‑school student.

His grass‑green head drooped, his gaze fixed on a crack in the floor and wouldn't lift; occasionally he would sneak a glance toward Hua Jian Lei, then quickly look back down.

On the bar counter lay several sheets of paper: Xi Rensheng's fish‑tail dress design draft, rushed out today after Ying Duo arrived, its outline, pleats, and hem curvature a near‑perfect textbook replica.

Only the paper edges were slightly curled, as if someone had tightly grasped them.

Neither Xi Rensheng nor Lao Bao dared speak, until Hua Jian Lei finally broke the awkward atmosphere.

"So," Hua Jian Lei finally said, "you've already sent this design draft to the fashion show?"

Xi Rensheng's shoulders twitched, "Hmm."

"They were very satisfied after seeing it?"

"…Hmm."

"And they said the dress design was stunning, making it the opening feature of this fashion show, even assigning someone to oversee its production?"

Xi Rensheng's voice was as tiny as a mosquito's hum, "...... Hmm."

Hua Jian Lei lifted the design draft; the pages floated down gently, finally landing right in front of Xi Rensheng.

Xi Rensheng stared at the few drafts he had painstakingly drawn, not daring to pick them up.

A faint footstep sounded at the bar entrance; the three looked up simultaneously, and Ying Duo's fluorescent‑green hair flashed at the doorway as he entered, wearing his familiar cat‑ear hood.

Xi Rensheng's eyes lit up instantly, "Partner—!"

He leapt in a flash to Ying Duo's back, his whole body tucked behind the black hoodie, and only half of his grass‑green head cautiously poked out.