Top Stream Business – Chapter 81 Part 1

Chapter 81 – Stability

The gentle voice in his ear caused a tremor in his heart.

A warm feeling spread through his chest.

Qiao Huaiyao blinked lightly. He had many houses, but the standalone villa before him gave him a greater sense of belonging.

Bai Jinyan’s words echoed in his mind, and a smile unknowingly appeared on Qiao Huaiyao’s lips. “Brother,” he said softly, “When did you buy this?”

“It’s been a while,” Bai Jinyan replied, lifting his hand from Qiao Huaiyao’s shoulder to touch his cheek, and then gave him a gentle kiss. “The decor is a premium option we chose, and the air circulation system has been running constantly. Once we select the furniture and appliances, we can move in directly.”

The premium decor was handled by the developer, but the materials were only used after Bai Jinyan had them inspected by specialists.

This greatly reduced the presence of harmful substances from the renovation. After the renovation, the air circulation system was activated as soon as the cleaning phase began.

At fixed times and intervals, specialists would send him the air quality reports of the house.

In fact, it had already met the move-in standards last month.

However, due to being busy and… wanting to handle the basic furnishings himself.

Besides the furniture selected during the premium decoration, he wanted to add his own touch with some additional pieces.

Bai Jinyan wrapped his arms around Qiao Huaiyao’s waist, “Let’s go inside and take a look. Since we have some free time these days, we can start buying some furniture.”

Qiao Huaiyao’s eyes curved into a smile, “Okay.”

Without the furniture, the villa seemed a bit spacious and empty.

At Qiao Huaiyao’s home, everything was always prepared by the housekeeper. Most of the things he bought were for his lab, so furnishing a home himself was a first.

There wasn’t much to see in the living room.

The ground floor of the villa followed a conventional layout. Behind the living room, there was a large, separate room, no smaller in area than the living room itself.

Bai Jinyan opened the door, revealing several large pieces of equipment inside. “You can conduct your experiments here in the future.”

The equipment from Qiao Huaiyao’s lab at Tsinghua University was also present here.

There were also some large, stationary pieces of equipment lined up against the wall.

The only difference from the Tsinghua University lab, aside from the size, was the workstation.

The workstation here was designed to accommodate two people.

The smile on Qiao Huaiyao’s face hadn’t faded since he walked in, and seeing the workstation made his smile even broader.

Bai Jinyan lifted the dust cover from a massage chair, “There’s no rest room here, so I placed a massage chair. You can take a nap here if you get tired from your experiments.”

Since the lab was at home, if he got too tired to go upstairs, he could rest in the adjacent room on the ground floor.

In comparison, the massage chair was more practical.

In addition to the massage chair, there were many thoughtful details, such as the height of the countertops, which were adjusted to suit Qiao Huaiyao’s height.

The lab combined all the advantages of other laboratories.

Bai Jinyan personally supervised the renovation process of this villa, paying special attention to the laboratory.

He carefully replaced the dust cover on the massage chair, “When you start using this lab, we can add anything else you might need.”

Leaning against the workstation, Qiao Huaiyao chuckled, “You have more equipment here than in the New York lab. There’s nothing else we need.”

Even some consumable materials were well-stocked on nearby shelves.

As for some experimental equipment…

Qiao Huaiyao thought, he had bought many items at the international laboratory to prevent wear and tear.

When they arrived, he could leave some here.

Bai Jinyan approached, placing his hands on either side of Qiao Huaiyao and leaning in closer, “Shall we go outside now?”

Qiao Huaiyao raised an eyebrow, “Now?”

Bai Jinyan buried his head in Qiao Huaiyao’s neck. “Mm.”

“……”

Seeing that Bai Jinyan had no intention of getting up, Qiao Huaiyao raised his hand to wrap it around Bai Jinyan’s neck. A slight prickling pain made him tilt his head back, “Brother?”

Bai Jinyan savored the moment like a delicate pastry, slowly wrapping his arms around Qiao Huaiyao and pulling him into an embrace. He placed a gentle kiss on Qiao Huaiyao’s lips. “Do you like this villa?”

Qiao Huaiyao looked up, his eyes fixed on Bai Jinyan. “I like it.”

After a pause, before Bai Jinyan could ask anything else, Qiao Huaiyao moved closer, his lips almost touching Bai Jinyan’s, and said with a smile, “I like you.”

As soon as he spoke, the grip around his waist tightened.

Qiao Huaiyao’s attempt at a brief kiss was held firm by Bai Jinyan.

His fingers tightened, clutching the wrinkles of Qiao Huaiyao’s shirt.

Clumsy and unmethodical responses led to Bai Jinyan’s more assertive kisses.

A low whimper escaped Qiao Huaiyao’s throat. The elegant, cold fragrance in the air added to the dizzying illusion of suffocation brought by the increasingly intense kiss.

Noticing Qiao Huaiyao’s breath growing more rapid, Bai Jinyan released him, holding him close.

He gently patted Qiao Huaiyao’s back, kissed the delicate skin at the corner of his eye, and smoothed out the wrinkles on his shirt.

Qiao Huaiyao rested his forehead on Bai Jinyan’s shoulder, hiding half of his face.

As he caught his breath and noticed Bai Jinyan’s actions, he paused and murmured, “Why not…”

His voice was very soft, and the latter part of his sentence seemed to vanish into the air.

Bai Jinyan chuckled softly, “There’s nothing here. When we get home…”

“Are we going home now?”

Qiao Huaiyao nodded instinctively, then suddenly realized something was off. He bit his lip lightly, turned his head, and buried himself deeper into Bai Jinyan’s embrace, trying to hide his flushed ears.

Seeing this, Bai Jinyan didn’t ask further. Suppressing his laughter, he rubbed Qiao Huaiyao’s ear. “Let’s go. We’ll head back first.”

…

Furnishing a fully renovated villa was quite a hassle.

Especially with all the large items.

The first floor was manageable, but the second and third floors would complicate delivery.

Qiao Huaiyao lay on the bed, scrolling through furniture brands the housekeeper had sent him.

High-end furniture brands focus heavily on their image, with a low probability of issues. Moreover, some of these brands were subsidiaries of their group.

Choosing the right style, however, was the tricky part.

Bai Jinyan returned from the kitchen with a cup of warm water, seeing Qiao Huaiyao still awake.

He sat by the bed and helped Qiao Huaiyao take a few sips. “Not sleeping a bit more?”

Qiao Huaiyao shook his head. Having slept a lot on the plane, he wasn’t very tired despite the late hour.

Feeling thirsty, he drank half the cup in one go. Afterward, he lay back down, holding up his phone. “Brother, what do you think of this sofa?”

“It’s quite nice.” Bai Jinyan enlarged the picture. “But it looks a bit small. Maybe place it in the bedroom nook.”

“Okay.” Qiao Huaiyao added the sofa to the shopping cart and opened the list Bai Jinyan had sent him earlier.

The items with check marks were the ones prepared during the pre-wiring stage of the renovation, matching the villa’s current decor.

Seeing them before, they seemed quite fitting, so there was no need to replace them.

Avoiding those already in place, only things like the oven, sofa, and mattress remained. Together, they still amounted to quite a lot.

It would be convenient for him to find suitable furniture.

The company has created a simplified version of the app.

There are no advertisements, just plain, straightforward text describing the materials.

This includes potential pitfalls and maintenance instructions.

Perhaps to avoid bothering Qiao Huaiyao, the programmer added a note in parentheses after the maintenance section (the brand can provide maintenance services, available anytime, anywhere).

There are no flashy images or pop-up ads, making it simple and clear.

While choosing furniture, he occasionally checked the messages in the group chat to avoid missing any important information.

If the holiday schedule changes after the laboratory visit and they have to return earlier, Qiao Huaiyao also needs to return to school on the same day they do or the next day.

The holiday locations may differ, but the return-to-school time is still fixed.

Fortunately, most of the time, the group chat was just Teacher Peng @ everyone, reminding them to stay safe, without any messages about shortening the holiday.

After closing the group chat, Qiao Huaiyao picked several pieces of small furniture, ones without fixed positions that could be moved around easily.

After placing the order, there was no payment prompt; it just showed that the order was successful and being prepared.

Shopping for so long was tiring for his eyes.

Qiao Huaiyao put down his phone to rest for a while and turned to see Bai Jinyan leaning against the headboard, reading something.

He moved closer, resting his head on Bai Jinyan’s abs. “Is it a new script?”

“Yes.” Bai Jinyan opened the first page of the script to show him. “Still considering it.”

There was nothing wrong with the script.

However, with closed-set filming, you might not be able to leave the set for several months.

Additionally, the filming locations are often remote, and most similar shows use these locations.

Such scripts will mark the addresses to clearly inform actors about various situations they might encounter from previous shoots in those locations.

When considering a script, one must not only evaluate the script itself but also whether they can accept the filming location.

After all, once shooting begins, actors who are unaware of the location may feel tricked into suffering when they see the place.

Bai Jinyan’s hesitation is about the time and mobile signal issues.

If he stays away for so long and has difficulty communicating with the outside world…

Qiao Huaiyao glanced at the genre marked on the script—science fiction.

The director is quite well-known and has won many international awards.

It seems that his brother is very interested in this script. The fact that it was delivered to Bai Jinyan means it is a good script.

Qiao Huaiyao could roughly guess what he was hesitating about. “If you’re interested, go ahead and shoot it. It’s not very far, and if the shooting goes smoothly, it might wrap up faster than the director expects.”

“Yes.” Even so, Bai Jinyan did not quickly make a decision.

He placed a hand on Qiao Huaiyao’s shoulder, feeling a bit cold, and took the remote to increase the room temperature slightly. “Have you chosen the furniture?”

Qiao Huaiyao replied, “Picked out a few. The living room is almost done, but I haven’t decided on the bedroom yet.”

Bai Jinyan rubbed the mark on his shoulder. The very fair skin easily shows marks, and they fade slowly.

“I noticed some platforms offer custom options. You could choose a favorite style or design one yourself. If you rush it, it should arrive before the New Year.”

“Custom?” Qiao Huaiyao thought for a moment. He didn’t know much about furniture.

But custom furniture clearly has more significance. He hesitated and said, “I don’t have any ideas right now. If I get inspired later, I’ll order one then.”

“Once the teachers who visited the international lab come back, I’ll need to return to school. After a few more days of classes, exams will start,” Qiao Huaiyao calculated the time. He might not be there when the furniture arrives, and Bai Jinyan might have other plans.

Thinking of this, Qiao Huaiyao couldn’t help but ask, “Brother, are you not going to the No. 19 Middle School anymore?”

The filming should be almost wrapped up, so there shouldn’t be much left.

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