138: Shocking! Yan Qinghe secretly kept photos!

Friday night was another period of happy time for Yan Qinghe.

Past two in the morning, he held Yan Zhuohua—who had just been washed fresh and clean, still smelling fragrant—in his arms, sighing with satisfaction. Besides Zhuohua himself, who could be happier than me?

It was just a pity that he had promised him not to cause trouble for three days.

"It's the middle of the night, why aren't you turning off the lights and going to sleep? What are you pondering now?" Yan Zhuohua patted his face.

"Pondering which set of clothes we should wear for tomorrow night's gathering to look more like a couple." Yan Qinghe held Yan Zhuohua's hand and kneaded it a few times. "I still think those formal suits from our wedding are good. Isn't there a spare set we haven't worn?"

"...I beg of you, just sleep." Stop making such boring jokes.

Yan Qinghe obediently closed his eyes to sleep.

Early the next morning, Yan Zhuohua was awakened by the sound of someone rummaging through chests and cupboards.

He frowned and raised his arm over his eyes to block out the bright light from the window. "What are you looking for now?"

Yan Qinghe pulled another piece of clothing out of the closet where the autumn and winter clothes were kept, not forgetting to take a moment from his busy schedule to answer, "The formal wear! The spare set from our wedding."

"..." Yan Zhuohua abruptly lowered his hand and turned his head to look at the man who had been busy for quite a while. "You haven't gone crazy, have you?" Who wears formal wedding suits to go out for a meal with friends? Especially a wedding suit.

"I'm not crazy, I'm very serious!" Yan Qinghe turned around and pounced on Yan Zhuohua. "Wife, you're the one who put away all the clothes in our house. Where did you put those two sets of formal wear?"

Yan Zhuohua closed his eyes and turned his head away, refusing to cooperate.

"Tell me, tell me, where did you put them? If you don't tell me, I won't let you sleep."

Yan Zhuohua couldn't help but retort, "You've already made it so I can't sleep."

Instead of being ashamed, Yan Qinghe chuckled, "Well, since you can't sleep anyway, get up and help me find clothes and pick out accessories!"

"I don't talk to fools."

"But you've already married this fool~"

"Get lost!!" Yan Zhuohua got goosebumps all over.

This time, he really couldn't sleep. Yan Zhuohua put on his clothes with a dark face and got out of bed with weak limbs.

"Stop looking." He kicked Yan Qinghe, who was sitting in front of the closet. "They aren't here; they're at the Main Residence."

Yan Qinghe instantly turned around and hugged Yan Zhuohua's leg, smiling like a dog seeing a meat bone. "Could you call Uncle Ye and ask him to send them over?"

Yan Zhuohua moved his leg in disgust but couldn't shake him off.

"Let go. I'll put together two matching couple outfits for you."

"Matched ones definitely won't be as obvious as ones that were originally a set!"

Yan Zhuohua looked quietly at Yan Qinghe by his feet, his eyes saying, "I'm being too nice to you."

Yan Qinghe sheepishly withdrew his hand, tactfully smoothing out Yan Zhuohua's pant leg that he had wrinkled, before looking up again with a brilliant smile.

"Then I'll have to trouble my wife." At the end, he plucked up his courage and added, "I want to wear the tie and cufflinks you gave me."

"Go cook, I'm hungry."

"Sure thing!"

Yan Qinghe was happily busy in the kitchen making breakfast, while in the room, Yan Zhuohua sighed as he tidied up the messy closet.

This life is becoming more and more like being a housekeeper. Yan Zhuohua looked at some out-of-season clothes that weren't suitable to wear out, thinking about clearing out this closet that hadn't been touched for months and donating the ones he didn't wear.

Fortunately, although Yan Qinghe had made a mess, he had thrown things out somewhat orderly. It didn't take long for Yan Zhuohua to fold all the clothes and prepare to put them back in.

Then, at the very back of the closet, he discovered a box he had never seen before.

"Hiding things behind my back!"

While grumbling, Yan Zhuohua checked to make sure no one was at the door and then quietly opened the box.

Inside was a thick stack of photos. Yan Zhuohua took them out curiously. The top part looked a bit old, likely having been rubbed countless times.

The first one was the one Yan Zhuole posted on the social media platform during the New Year, showing Yan Zhuohua swinging an iron shovel to smash ice.

The next six or seven were photos of him during competitions away from home—candid shots. It seemed Yan Qinghe had secretly gone to see his matches more than once. As for the largest portion at the bottom, they were all taken before Yan Zhuohua left home, every year from high school downwards.

Yan Zhuohua flipped through the photos, the corners of his mouth curling up unconsciously. Honestly, did these photos really need to be hidden? He felt a bit shy yet very warm, so he continued flipping through them.

Yan Zhuohua's eyes instantly widened. He eagerly looked at the remaining ones and immediately took two steps back involuntarily.

"Yan Qinghe!!!"

A roar came from upstairs, making Yan Qinghe, who was carrying plates out of the kitchen, almost drop and shatter the breakfast.

Yan Zhuohua stomped downstairs and slammed the photos onto the dining table. Instantly, over a dozen photos featuring Yan Zhuohua in a certain state were scattered before Yan Qinghe, interspersed with a few of a child bathing.

"Explain yourself." The voice was quite grit-toothed, as if any slight dissatisfaction would result in Yan Qinghe's immediate demise.

Standing at the other end of the table, Yan Qinghe's gaze swept over the photos, and he suddenly realized things were bad. What a huge mistake—how could he have forgotten the photos were hidden in there? He set the plates down with a slight tremble and tried to pull off a pleasing smile.

"I, this, this is for... for a souvenir! Yes, a souvenir."

Yan Zhuohua sneered. "The others are one thing, but these dozen or so, what's there to commemorate?"

Four were clearly childhood photos of him bathing obtained from Yan Zhuoyan; the other twelve... forget it, better not mention them!

Seeing that Yan Qinghe was slow to come up with an excuse, Yan Zhuohua's expression grew even darker.

"So every time you took advantage of me being tired and asleep, you were doing this? What, starting to commemorate now because you're afraid you're about to lose your edge?"

"Of course not!" Yan Qinghe hurriedly retorted, only to realize it might not be the best time. "Well, it's just a bit of fun, human nature. Don't you want mine..."

His voice quickly lowered under the threat of Yan Zhuohua's clenched fist until it disappeared. Yan Zhuohua endured it again and again before finally swallowing his anger with difficulty.

"Fine, I'll let you off for now." He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, then pointed at those photos of himself as a child and looked at Yan Qinghe again. "What about these? What's the story? When did you collude with Second Brother? And what benefits did you promise him to make him dare risk being beaten by me to give you the photos?"

"It was... during New Years Day, when you and Second Brother were bickering in the morning and it came up, so I went and asked."

Oh, so it's been over five months! Yan Zhuohua signaled him to continue.

"As for the benefits..." Yan Qinghe paused, and seeing that the person opposite him still seemed somewhat rational, he continued in a low voice, "I promised Second Brother that I would 'punish' you properly for 'disrespecting your elder brother,' and he agreed to give them to me."

Fine, fine, fine—sold out for such a trivial benefit. Truly my good brother and good husband!

"Yan Qinghe," Yan Zhuohua's eyes were full of murderous intent as he cracked his wrists. "If I don't beat half the life out of you today, I'll take your last name."

"Ah—"

Yan Qinghe's continuous screams instantly echoed through the room, the faint sound even startling a pair of birds outside the window.