Translated by juurensha
Edited by Noks
Geges should take the initiative in caring for Didis
In the group photos taken after the event, Kaleido kept hovering around the corners. The six boys kept bowing, and even though the host and editor-in-chief kept telling them to go to the center, they always declined. As instructed by Cheng Qiang, Fang Juexia, who was standing beside Pei Tingsong, shouldered the arduous task of reminding the little devil king to bow. His hand continuously remained on Pei Tingsong’s back, and every time they bowed, he had to press him into bending down.
The group photo was an occasion where artists could contend with each other in terms of beauty and level of fascination, and thus, everyone posed in various ways in front of the camera. However, the six big boys in white suits didn’t try anything new, just tacitly putting up their group gesture and then stood straight, looking like six little princes whose white horses had fled far away.
Coincidentally, the same was true for their senior brother group High Five, and after the event, all of them were mocked by netizens on Weibo that day—StarChart groups didn’t try to fight for attention and just edged to the corner by themselves.
After the event, they flew directly back to Beijing. Besides Pei Tingsong and Fang Juexia, the other four members had their own variety shows to participate in. The company’s plan was to have everyone on a variety show right when the new album was being released, so as to ensure maximum exposure.
That night, the terms #Kaleido white suit#, #Kaleido’s scene#, and #TingJue CP# once again burst onto the Weibo Hot Search list, stirring up fevered debate. Some big verified music accounts even commented on Kaleido’s performance, praising it tremendously for it’s high quality, calling it a key example of live performances by boy-bands. Of course, many netizens also compared Seven Luminaries’ performance with that of Kaleido’s. The two groups of fans tore into each other a little bit, making this the first time they had actually fought each other. Seven Luminaries had a large fan following, and as soon as these fans appeared, they laid waste to Kaleido’s sphere, but such an onslaught actually made many passersby feel bad for Kaleido, and ended up turning many of them into Kaleido fans.
After spending a week away from the dorms, Fang Juexia had almost forgotten what it was like to sleep in his bed. After washing up quickly, he went to bed and curled up in his quilt. At 3:00 in the morning, the moonlight crept in through the balcony, and his vision turned hazy. He couldn’t help thinking of the night when he had been alone with Pei Tingsong, and although he didn’t remember anything after he had gotten drunk to the point where his consciousness was in pieces, there seemed to be some emotions leftover from that night in his heart.
Somehow, he suddenly recalled how he had bitten Pei Tingsong’s hand, and with that, all of his sleepiness flew away.
Fang Juexia was a person who couldn’t stand leaving things on hold for later at all. After tossing and turning around for a few minutes in his bed, he got out of it. There was no one else at home, so he turned on the light without any scruples, went to the living room to get the first-aid kit, and with light movements, walked over to Pei Tingsong’s bedroom. He knocked on the door, but no one responded; instead, the door opened with a squeak.
Pei Tingsong didn’t sleep with the door closed?
Fang Juexia hesitated for a moment. The bookshelf blocked the view of Pei Tingsong’s bed, but he felt that there was no movement at that end. Embracing the idea that some people would be more obedient when sleeping, Fang Juexia entered the room. He turned on the light located on He Ziyan’s side and crossed the bookshelf, all the while prepared to make a quick decision after understanding the situation on the other side.
Sure enough, Pei Tingsong was asleep. He was lying on his side with a book by his face, probably having fallen asleep while he was reading. He hadn’t even turned off the light at the head of the bed. Coincidentally, his bitten right hand was stretched out, half hanging out just over the edge of the bed. The bite on his hand had been covered by the glove all night, and so it was already inflamed and red.
If it still wasn’t dealt with, the injury may become even more serious. Fang Juexia didn’t want to have his bite mark remain on someone’s hand for a lifetime.
Fang Juexia walked around the bed, sat down quietly, carefully opened the first-aid kid, took out a cotton swab, and dipped it in anti-inflammatory medicine. He made his movements as light as possible, gently and carefully touching the wound with the cotton swab.
So deep? Fang Juexia looked at the wound that he had created by biting, and subconsciously poked at his teeth with the tip of his tongue.
The guilt in his heart suddenly increased exponentially.
The medicinal liquid seemed to sting a bit, for Pei Tingsong’s hand twitched a bit. Fang Juexia immediately withdrew the little cotton swab grasped in his hand, and then observed the hostile force’s reaction.
Fortunately, Pei Tingsong didn’t make any big movements, just shifting his right hand over to the side of his cheek. Fang Juexia also shifted over in order to draw closer to the head of the bed, then dripped a few drops of medicinal liquid on Pei Tingsong’s hand again, and gently wiped at it with a cotton swab.
Pei Tingsong’s fingers twitched again. Fang Juexia raised his eyes to look at him, only to see him frown and mutter something, which seemed to be in English.
Before he could understand what was being said, that hand had already lifted itself up and was groping around for something. Then, it suddenly slapped on the top of Fang Juexia’s head and ruffled his hair.
“Stop, Lily.” With his eyes still closed, Pei Tingsong spoke a few words in a confused way. His voice was soft, and Chinese and English were all mixed together as he continued, “Good girl, good… How about we sleep together?”
Upon hearing this, Fang Juexia immediately dropped his small cotton swab.
He waited for Pei Tingsong to finish ruffling his hair, then pulled his hand back and turned around. He quickly packed up his things and left the room hurriedly, like he was fleeing from a calamity.
That night, Fang Juexia had a strange dream.
In the dream, Pei Tingsong announced that he actually had a fiancée named Lily, and that he was going to leave the group and return to the United States to get married. The speed of this was as fast as the manner in which he had become an airborne member of their group, and everyone was caught off guard. They were all invited to the wedding and soon found themselves sitting in the chapel. However, there seemed to be something wrong with the church door; when the priest announced it was time for the bride to enter, the door couldn’t be opened no matter what. The bride smashed at the door desperately outside.
Then, Fang Juexia woke up.
“Bang, bang, bang.”
He had opened his eyes, but the knocking sound still continued.
This wasn’t a dream?
“Fang Juexia, are you up yet?”
It really wasn’t a dream. Fang Juexia rubbed his eyes vaguely, got out of bed, and rushed to open the bedroom door. It was actually Pei Tingsong who had been knocking.
“What’s the matter…”
Before he could finish his sentence, Pei Tingsong dragged him to the hallway entrance and dialed to call the property’s security. “The person downstairs tried calling you for a long time, but when they said you didn’t pick up your phone, they had to call the property’s security site. They said that someone who claims to be your family member has come.”
Fang Juexia suddenly woke up and thought of today’s date. Someone from the property management picked up the phone and greeted, “Hello, Mr. Fang?”
“Hello, can I ask, has my Mama arrived?”
Mama?
Pei Tingsong was surprised and asked in a low voice, “Your mom is about to come up?”
Fang Juexia let out an “en” and continued to communicate with the property management until the other party confirmed that there was no mistake, and the person being discussed was allowed up. Fang Juexia quickly went back to his room to wash up, leaving a standing Pei Tingsong on the porch alone.
Pei Tingsong was a person who couldn’t deal with family relationships at all. During his childhood, he had almost no elders besides his grandfather. As for other elders, he would only meet them just a few times in a year, and they were just his father, who criticized him, his mother, who was addicted to living an extravagant life all over the world, and his older sister, who had lived like the perfect example of an excellent specimen since childhood. These were the people who formed his absurd and complicated family.
When the doorbell rang, Pei Tingsong shouted towards the bathroom, but Fang Juexia was still washing up. He gritted his teeth, walked over, and opened the door.
Outside the door stood a dignified lady, dressed in a neat and elegant camel-colored coat, with a lot of things held in her hands, and she started smiling as soon as she saw him. Pei Tingsong was stunned at that moment, however, he quickly reacted and bent down to take the things from Mama Fang’s hands. “A-Auntie, I’ll take that for you.”
“Thank you~” Mama Fang said with an amiable smile. “You’re Xiao Pei ba, so tall. Very nice, you really are a good child,” Mama Fang exclaimed as soon as she came in. Pei Tingsong hadn’t received much praise from other adults before, so he was a bit unused to it. “Thank you… Would you like to change your shoes? Um, so, Fang Juexia is washing up right now.”
“Sleeping in so late ah,” Mama Fang changed into the guest slippers and glanced at the clock. “You guys worked really late again ba. What about the other little friends, is Yiyi not here today?”
“No, he went to his show.”
Used to being a teacher, Mama Fang kept calling people “little friends” and said, “Come, come, Xiao Pei, give the things over to Auntie, and I’ll put them in the refrigerator.”
“Then I’ll help you.”
When Fang Juexia came out, he saw Pei Tingsong beside the island in the kitchen, standing and handing things to his own mother, and both of them were cooperating together very well.
“Auntie, what’s this jar?”
“Ah, this is XO sauce. It’s really good in fried rice, have you had it before?”
“No.”
“It’s OK. Let Juexia stir-fry it for you next time. You’ll definitely love it.”
“En!”
Fang Juexia stood to the side and had the illusion that he was actually the outsider here.
“Mom, you sit down and rest. I’ll do it.” Fang Juexia rolled up his sleeves and went over to help. Mama Fang stopped him immediately and admonished, “You sit down ba, it’ll be fine with just me and Xiao Pei.”
After being refused by his own biological mother, Fang Juexia looked at Pei Tingsong. This guy actually turned around and stuck out his tongue at him, while looking very proud of himself.
Alright ba.
Fang Juexia could only sit at the bar and watch the popular food science program and cooking program that was jointly being performed by these two people. From time to time, he would offer a word or two, which was ignored by his own mother.
“Auntie, I’ve finished cutting up this green onion.”
“Give it over to Auntie.” Mama Fang took over Pei Tingsong’s crookedly chopped green onion and smiled like a blooming flower. “You cut it really well, Xiao Pei has talent.”
Pei Tingsong smiled just like a little pupil praised by his teacher, and Fang Juexia couldn’t help laughing at that.
Thanks to Mama Fang, they partook in a rare family meal. Fang Juexia and Pei Tingsong sat on one side, while Mama Fang sat opposite them. She kept using her chopsticks to put more food in their plates. “Eat more. You guys work too hard. Juexia, eat more carrots, your eyes…” Speaking until there, Mama Fang suddenly paused in her words.
Fang Juexia calmly opened his mouth and stuffed the food his mama had given him into his mouth. “It’s okay, he already knows.”
Fang Mama wore an expression of complete surprise. “Xiao Pei knows?!”
Pei Tingsong laughed in embarrassment. He was about to say that it had been an accident, but Fang Juexia took the lead.
“I told him,” Fang Juexia said, then put some food on his mama’s plate. “Eat more. How’s grandfather?”
“He’s the same as before. After a while, when we’re done eating, Mama will go see him at the hospital. He said he wanted to eat walnut cookies last night, and perfectly I just saw a Chinese snack shop right outside your neighborhood.”
“Walnut cookies are too oily for him, he shouldn’t eat too much.”
Pei Tingsong felt unused to listening to the two people chatting about their family matters, but he was actually more envious than anything else. His gaze kept switching between Fang Juexia and Mama Fang, as he watched them get along and quietly listened to every word they said. Such a warm moment was too unfamiliar for him.
This unfamiliar thing always seemed to be so good.
“Xiao Pei, eat more ah,” Mama Fang saw that he was in a daze, so she gave him some beef. “You grew up abroad right, so you should love beef ba.”
Pei Tingsong was a little surprised and asked, “Auntie, how do you know that?”
Fang Juexia turned to him and explained in a low voice, “At home, she’s always flipping around and watching our group’s activities every day, and she would also go search online…”
As soon as he said that, his chopsticks were clacked into by Mama Fang’s, and Fang Juexia immediately shut up.
“Auntie, you’re too cute.” Pei Tingsong chuckled and stuffed the beef into his mouth.
Hearing this, Mama Fang felt a little surprised. The environment Pei Tingsong had grown up in had taught him to express his feelings straightforwardly, but Fang Juexia wasn’t like that, therefore, this was the first time she had heard this kind of praise coming from the younger generation. Naturally, she was happy.
“Xiao Pei, you are also cute, Auntie likes you very much.” Her chopsticks moved nonstop while moving food around, and she nearly turned Pei Tingsong’s bowl into a small hill. “Auntie brought a lot of delicious food this time, so let Gege cook it for you.”
Gege….
As soon as this word came out, Fang Juexia and Pei Tingsong looked up at the same time, their expressions and movements completely synchronized.
“What are you looking at me for?” Mama Fang rebuked Fang Juexia. “You are three years older than Xiao Pei, so you should already have taken on the responsibility of being a Gege and should take good care of your Didi. It was so hard for Pei Tingsong to start following you guys around even before becoming an adult ah. A lot of kids usually don’t even develop fully by then.”
What else did he want to develop into ah… Fang Juexia tugged the corners of his mouth back down.
“Auntie, I have developed very well.” Pei Tingsong’s expression right now was almost like that of the fluffy fat birb emoticon, as he puffed out his chest and looked practically ready to take off.
Mama Fang smiled at him. “Yes, you are even taller than Juexia. He hasn’t grown at all these last two years.”
The attacks on his height had started up again. Fang Juexia silently listened to his own mother’s malice.
“A Gege should act like a Gege and take the initiative to take care of his Didi.”
Fang Juexia was like an emotionless nodding machine. “Understood.”
Seeing him like this, Pei Tingsong was overjoyed. He had thought that only a big iceberg could produce a small iceberg, and thus hadn’t expected Fang Juexia’s mama to be so friendly and talkative, along with the most important thing—she kept protecting him the whole time. Pei Tingsong liked this gentle auntie too much. Even after eating, after which Mama Fang had to rush to the hospital, he kept feeling a little reluctant to see her go.
“Auntie will come to see you guys next time. Quickly go back in, it’s cold outside.”
“Goodbye, Auntie~”
“Goodbye, goodbye. If something’s the matter, tell Gege and get him to help you.”
Upon seeing Pei Tingsong continue to stand there, reluctant to look away and sending off his own mother, Fang Juexia spoke with a trace of irony, “Someone who didn’t know better would even think that you’re her son.”
Pei Tingsong closed the door. He really did wish for that.
Fang Juexia walked over and took the slippers his mama had worn back to the shoe cabinet. He turned around and prepared to leave, but was suddenly stopped by Pei Tingsong. Two hands landed on both sides of the cabinet, encircling him inside.
“What’s the matter?” Fang Juexia looked up at Pei Tingsong serenely. He seemed to have already gotten used to Pei Tingsong’s mischievous behaviour, which could start anytime and anywhere.
A smile hung on Pei Tingsong’s face. “Nothing, just remembered that I forgot to praise you in front of Auntie just now.”
Fang Juexia frowned, looking puzzled.
As if he had already surmised a long time ago that Fang Juexia would be like this, Pei Tingsong raised his right hand, held the back of it towards him, and waved it.
The trace of medicinal liquid left on it was almost invisible. Fang Juexia didn’t want to admit that he had done it himself, even if the ridiculous act of applying medicine to someone who was asleep was something he had done last night.
“What’s the matter with it?”
Pei Tingsong had already guessed that Fang Juexia wouldn’t admit to it, so he took out a used cotton swab from his pajama pocket and twirled it around. “Pretend a little less, I’ve already figured it all out.”
“Gege also has times when he carefully takes care of me ma.” He shamelessly laughed.
Sure enough, it was finally still revealed. He simply shouldn’t have left anything to chance with Pei Tingsong, this sly guy.
In his heart, Fang Juexia sighed. His head had been rubbed suddenly, which had caused him to leave the cotton swab on the ground without even realizing it. He could hardly think of anyone else who would do something as stupid as leaving behind a thing that could be used against him.
Thinking along those lines, he actually did come up with a name.
Cinderella.
Compared to a crystal shoe, this small cotton swab seemed to become more and more of an eyesore. Fang Juexia reached out to grab it, but Pei Tingsong put it away. “I found it, so it’s mine. What are you trying to grab it for? Is it so hard for you to admit that you applied medicine on me last night ah?”
Even the corners of Pei Tingsong’s eyes carried a smile as he said, “In fact, when you’re not being stubborn, you’re a lot like a good Gege.”
“Get out of the way.” Fang Juexia was ready to force his way out of his arms, but Pei Tingsong drew them in tighter. “Why, haven’t we even hugged before?”
“Pei Tingsong…”
Upon hearing the sound of teeth being gnashed, Pei Tingsong’s sense of achievement grew even bigger. “Do you want me to play the recording again? I’ll play it on the home stereo ba.”
Fang Juexia tried very hard to calm his own emotions. “You’d better not.”
“Then you’d better beg me.”
Again.
Sure enough, he shouldn’t underestimate this devil incarnate at all.
“If you keep behaving like this, I will tell everyone else you actually have…”
Halfway through this threatening sentence, Fang Juexia’s cellphone rang. He took a deep breath and pulled it out to take a look. It was Cheng Qiang.
“Hello?”
The voice at the other end was obviously happy and even sounded a little excited. “Juexia? Come quickly to the company. Is Xiao Pei there?”
Fang Juexia glanced at Pei Tingsong and answered, “He’s here.” With that, he switched to speakerphone mode.
“Does he have classes in the afternoon? If he doesn’t have classes, then he should also come over.”
“Okay, we’re coming over now.”
Pei Tingsong interjected, “What’s the matter?”
“Something good.” Cheng Qiang just finished saying that when he realized something was wrong. “Are you two right next to each other? Why?”
The two people looked at their current posture at the same time. Fang Juexia was about to push him away, when Pei Tingsong caught hold of his hands to stop his actions and replied, “Shar—ing—feel—ings.”
“Ah, good, good, good. Then you guys come over here quickly. I still have some stuff to do, so I’ll hang up first.”
After ending the call, Fang Juexia shook Pei Tingsong off and went to change his clothes, but this person still hadn’t forgotten their previous topic of conversation, and so asked, “What did you just say? What do you want to tell everyone else?”
“You just behave yourself.”
Looking at Fang Juexia walking back to his room after tossing out such a sentence, Pei Tingsong found the whole thing inexplicable.
They drove to the company, with Pei Tingsong being entangled in these words of Fang Juexia’s for the entire duration. He didn’t understand how Fang Juexia could suddenly have something on him, he shouldn’t ah. However, Fang Juexia didn’t pay any attention to him the whole time, and didn’t even reply to him at all when they entered the company. This just made Pei Tingsong become even more curious.
As soon as they arrived at the company, they were called to a small conference room by Cheng Qiang. Opening the door, Fang Juexia caught sight of a familiar woman’s back. Upon hearing movement, the person inside turned around.
It was Jiang Yin.
“Hello, nice to see you guys again.” Jiang Yin reached out with her hand and said, “Sit down and let’s chat.”
They both sat opposite Jiang Yin. Jiang Yin took out two documents from her briefcase and pushed them towards Fang Juexia and Pei Tingsong. “You’re all smart people, so you should have guessed the purpose behind me coming here today.”
Pei Tingsong’s eyes drifted over the documents. “We can guess, but we don’t really dare to try.” Saying that, he jerked his chin over at Cheng Qing, since after all, this was the person who had said not to dream of pies in the sky just yesterday.
Jiang Yin smiled as she tapped her hand with red nail polish lightly on the table. “There’s actually something you, Pei Tingsong, don’t dare to guess?”
Fang Juexia opened the documents and found that both of them were contracts, guest contracts for ‘Escape For Your Life.’
Just like what Jiang Yin said, he had guessed and had a hunch about this, but he hadn’t expected that the program group would come to them so soon, let alone the fact that Jiang Yin herself had come.
“The purpose of my coming here was to reassure you,” Jiang Yin went straight to the point. “Moreover, it is imperative for me to book you too.” The assistant entered and brought her coffee. Jiang Yin thanked them in a low voice and took a sip before continuing, “You guys have shown a strong momentum recently, and I also paid special attention to the magazine sales this morning. Congratulations on setting a new record.”
Fang Juexia himself didn’t know about that; the two of them had still been asleep this morning.
“The last record was set by my artists, and they were also a pair who came out of ‘Escape For Your Life’.” Jiang Yin’s implication was obvious. “I know that right now, there should be an uncountable number of large and small programs coming to you and inviting you to be permanent guests on their shows. There may be a lot of reality TV shows on big satellite TV among them, and the exposure you will gain from those shows is much higher than that from our program.”
She folded her hands. “However, there are also differences between programs. Some variety shows actually consume your popularity, while others tap into your potential.”
Cheng Qiang asked, “Are there any additional conditions for signing the contract?”
“Hm…” Jiang Yin thought for a moment and added, “If we have to say it, it’s that Juexia and Tingsong have to come onto the show together. If we want them, we want both of them.”
Fang Juexia was very clear on the fact that this was a conscientious show, and he had always really liked it. Even if there were no additional benefits to their popularity to be gained through it, he would still be very willing to participate.
But he also knew that Pei Tingsong had always wanted to participate in a hip-hop program. If he signed this, and some music programs came with invitations later on, he may find himself with no room in his schedule then.
Cheng Qiang took over the conversation. “In fact, both of them are fans of ‘Escape For Your Life’. They said it in the interview as well, and we’re all very much looking forward to working together.”
“Very flattered,” Jiang Yin said with a smile. “However, I want to collect all the smart kids in the circle into my program. If you guys go, you can film with Sirui, and it’ll be really good.”
“I’m okay.” Pei Tingsong didn’t wait for them to talk any further and directly signed his name, not messing around at all. “Signed it.”
Jiang Yin thought that was interesting. “You’re not even going to look over it carefully?”
Pei Tingsong shrugged. “You’re even here in person, so can you pit me?”
Fang Juexia was a bit surprised at this and turned to look at Pei Tingsong. He didn’t understand why this guy was being so decisive at this time. Clearly speaking, he hadn’t agreed to participating in any programs before and had slacked off all day on that decision.
“What are you looking at me for?” Pei Tingsong said in a low voice before winking at him. “Sign ah.”
Really strange. Fang Juexia inhaled a deep breath, and still couldn’t make himself believe it. In the span of one night, his favorite program had taken the initiative to come to his door, and all good things seemed to have arrived all at once. He knew that the contract must have been confirmed in advance multiple times by Cheng Qiang, so he just quickly flipped through it and signed.
Jiang Yin wasn’t as aggressive as rumor had it. In fact, it seemed that she wasn’t much older than them, yet still carried the feeling of being a big Jiejie.
“Good.” After receiving the contract, Jiang Yin gave a long sigh of relief. “A big stone in my heart has finally fallen away. You guys don’t know how difficult it has been for me to find a guest.” As if she had suddenly changed her personality, she began to complain to them, “Everyone who came to us either asked us to change the script, saying that it was too difficult and that they couldn’t escape at all, or else they agreed to be on the show, but wanted us to give them scripts, so as to let them act according to the script, and they also wanted brilliant roles on top of that. Our little script writer disagreed. The good thing about our program is mainly our script, so of course the script is the most important thing.”
“Then how did you find us?” Fang Juexia was curious. “We are not actually very famous artists.”
“Don’t be modest, you guys are very popular now.” Jiang Yin laughed. “Our little script writer saw the magazine interview, and he thought you guys spoke especially well. He told me about it, and I just investigated you two. By the way, I also saw your math competition clip. You’re really good, you won a whole car of milk.”
When she said this, everyone else laughed, but Fang Juexia felt embarrassed.
After confirming the recording time and other basic requirements, Jiang Yin was anxious to return to attend a meeting and so left in a hurry. As soon as she left, Cheng Qiang showed his true colors. His professional agent aura disappeared, and he looked overwhelmed with joy. He hugged Fang Juexia first and then went over to hug Pei Tingsong. “That’s so great, that’s so great. I didn’t expect that this big cake would run over on its own for us to chomp into. You’re definitely the little friends that I brought up!”
“Qiang Ge!” Xiao Wen pushed open the door. “The boss is looking for you.”
“Going right now.” Cheng Qiang rubbed his hands happily and took the contracts. “The boss must already know.”
All of a sudden, they were the only ones left in the meeting room. Fang Juexia still didn’t understand. “Why did you agree to sign the contract so quickly?”
Pei Tingsong glanced at him. “Don’t you want to go on?”
“Me?” Fang Juexia was stunned.
So it was because of him?
“Just count it as having fun in an escape room at public expense ba.” Pei Tingsong sat on the table and smiled. “It’s also very interesting.” After saying that, he remembered that the problem from before still hadn’t been solved, and so continued, “Oh, by the way, you just said at home, that you wanted to tell everyone something about me. What is it ah? It can’t be that I was talking in my sleep last night and I told you some secret?”
Fang Juexia let out an “oh” and said, “You still remember.”
“Of course. If you don’t tell me, I won’t be able to sleep tonight.”
The corners of Fang Juexia’s mouth faintly quirked up and he replied, “It’s just…the matters between you and Lily. Don’t worry, I was just saying things. I won’t tell anyone else.”
“Lily?”
Fang Juexia had finished talking and started moving to go to the practice room. He totally didn’t take any notice of the strange expression on Pei Tingsong’s face.
“You wait.” Pei Tingsong, who was leaning against the table, grabbed Fang Juexia’s wrist and pulled him back towards him. “Tell me, what happened between Lily and me?”
The smile on his face seemed to carry a lot of implications. His legs stretched out and surrounded Fang Juexia, who was now standing in front of him. This sudden shortening of the distance between them made the air feel compressed and so thick that even the ending of this sentence gained an ambiguous aura.
“How did I say it in my dream? Hm?”
His voice was deep and soft, and in that moment, Fang Juexia returned to the early hours of this morning, when Pei Tingsong had also used this voice to stop him, rub his head, and had mistaken him for Lily.
“You…” Fang Juexia broke away from his grasp and said, “I didn’t hear what you said, anyway…”
You let Lily sleep with you.
“Anyway what?” The corners of Pei Tingsong’s eyes and his eyebrows were full of smiles, and he looked at the person in front of him from top to bottom while commenting, “How much inappropriate stuff did I say ah? Your neck is red.”
Fang Juexia uneasily felt his neck with his hand. “Quit that.”
Pei Tingsong revealed the smile that he couldn’t hold back anymore. “What are you afraid of? You are the Gege, one who is nearly four years older than me, and I have followed you since I was a minor.”
These words were clearly underlining the order left behind by his mother, but when Pei Tingsong said them, they became extremely ambiguous. Fang Juexia’s heartbeat grew disorderly again. He didn’t want to keep getting entangled with this person; anyway, all of this was a part of Pei Tingsong’s private matters, which had nothing to do with him.
“Whatever you say.”
Fang Juexia turned and was about to leave when he heard the person behind him suddenly burst out laughing.
Was there something wrong with this person? Fang Juexia wore a completely confused expression on his face. He turned his head to see Pei Tingsong sitting on the table, and he was unable to sit straight because of how hard he was laughing. It was as if he had just heard the funniest joke in the world, and he was almost out of breath.
“What exactly is your problem?” Fang Juexia finally couldn’t endure it any longer, and his tone turned fierce.
Pei Tingsong was laughing so hard that all his teeth were revealed and his eyes had disappeared, his face looking completely childish at this moment. He took a few deep breaths and tried to control his laughter. “I’m fine ah. You’re the one with a problem.”
Fang Juexia, who now had a bellyful of anger, was about to refute him, but then he heard this abominable guy speak again—
“Lily is my dog la.” Pei Tingsong jumped down from the table, his face wreathed in smiles.
“Dummy.”
Translated by juurensha
Edited by Noks
Geges should take the initiative in caring for Didis
In the group photos taken after the event, Kaleido kept hovering around the corners. The six boys kept bowing, and even though the host and editor-in-chief kept telling them to go to the center, they always declined. As instructed by Cheng Qiang, Fang Juexia, who was standing beside Pei Tingsong, shouldered the arduous task of reminding the little devil king to bow. His hand continuously remained on Pei Tingsong’s back, and every time they bowed, he had to press him into bending down.
The group photo was an occasion where artists could contend with each other in terms of beauty and level of fascination, and thus, everyone posed in various ways in front of the camera. However, the six big boys in white suits didn’t try anything new, just tacitly putting up their group gesture and then stood straight, looking like six little princes whose white horses had fled far away.
Coincidentally, the same was true for their senior brother group High Five, and after the event, all of them were mocked by netizens on Weibo that day—StarChart groups didn’t try to fight for attention and just edged to the corner by themselves.
After the event, they flew directly back to Beijing. Besides Pei Tingsong and Fang Juexia, the other four members had their own variety shows to participate in. The company’s plan was to have everyone on a variety show right when the new album was being released, so as to ensure maximum exposure.
That night, the terms #Kaleido white suit#, #Kaleido’s scene#, and #TingJue CP# once again burst onto the Weibo Hot Search list, stirring up fevered debate. Some big verified music accounts even commented on Kaleido’s performance, praising it tremendously for it’s high quality, calling it a key example of live performances by boy-bands. Of course, many netizens also compared Seven Luminaries’ performance with that of Kaleido’s. The two groups of fans tore into each other a little bit, making this the first time they had actually fought each other. Seven Luminaries had a large fan following, and as soon as these fans appeared, they laid waste to Kaleido’s sphere, but such an onslaught actually made many passersby feel bad for Kaleido, and ended up turning many of them into Kaleido fans.
After spending a week away from the dorms, Fang Juexia had almost forgotten what it was like to sleep in his bed. After washing up quickly, he went to bed and curled up in his quilt. At 3:00 in the morning, the moonlight crept in through the balcony, and his vision turned hazy. He couldn’t help thinking of the night when he had been alone with Pei Tingsong, and although he didn’t remember anything after he had gotten drunk to the point where his consciousness was in pieces, there seemed to be some emotions leftover from that night in his heart.
Somehow, he suddenly recalled how he had bitten Pei Tingsong’s hand, and with that, all of his sleepiness flew away.
Fang Juexia was a person who couldn’t stand leaving things on hold for later at all. After tossing and turning around for a few minutes in his bed, he got out of it. There was no one else at home, so he turned on the light without any scruples, went to the living room to get the first-aid kit, and with light movements, walked over to Pei Tingsong’s bedroom. He knocked on the door, but no one responded; instead, the door opened with a squeak.
Pei Tingsong didn’t sleep with the door closed?
Fang Juexia hesitated for a moment. The bookshelf blocked the view of Pei Tingsong’s bed, but he felt that there was no movement at that end. Embracing the idea that some people would be more obedient when sleeping, Fang Juexia entered the room. He turned on the light located on He Ziyan’s side and crossed the bookshelf, all the while prepared to make a quick decision after understanding the situation on the other side.
Sure enough, Pei Tingsong was asleep. He was lying on his side with a book by his face, probably having fallen asleep while he was reading. He hadn’t even turned off the light at the head of the bed. Coincidentally, his bitten right hand was stretched out, half hanging out just over the edge of the bed. The bite on his hand had been covered by the glove all night, and so it was already inflamed and red.
If it still wasn’t dealt with, the injury may become even more serious. Fang Juexia didn’t want to have his bite mark remain on someone’s hand for a lifetime.
Fang Juexia walked around the bed, sat down quietly, carefully opened the first-aid kid, took out a cotton swab, and dipped it in anti-inflammatory medicine. He made his movements as light as possible, gently and carefully touching the wound with the cotton swab.
So deep? Fang Juexia looked at the wound that he had created by biting, and subconsciously poked at his teeth with the tip of his tongue.
The guilt in his heart suddenly increased exponentially.
The medicinal liquid seemed to sting a bit, for Pei Tingsong’s hand twitched a bit. Fang Juexia immediately withdrew the little cotton swab grasped in his hand, and then observed the hostile force’s reaction.
Fortunately, Pei Tingsong didn’t make any big movements, just shifting his right hand over to the side of his cheek. Fang Juexia also shifted over in order to draw closer to the head of the bed, then dripped a few drops of medicinal liquid on Pei Tingsong’s hand again, and gently wiped at it with a cotton swab.
Pei Tingsong’s fingers twitched again. Fang Juexia raised his eyes to look at him, only to see him frown and mutter something, which seemed to be in English.
Before he could understand what was being said, that hand had already lifted itself up and was groping around for something. Then, it suddenly slapped on the top of Fang Juexia’s head and ruffled his hair.
“Stop, Lily.” With his eyes still closed, Pei Tingsong spoke a few words in a confused way. His voice was soft, and Chinese and English were all mixed together as he continued, “Good girl, good… How about we sleep together?”
Upon hearing this, Fang Juexia immediately dropped his small cotton swab.
He waited for Pei Tingsong to finish ruffling his hair, then pulled his hand back and turned around. He quickly packed up his things and left the room hurriedly, like he was fleeing from a calamity.
That night, Fang Juexia had a strange dream.
In the dream, Pei Tingsong announced that he actually had a fiancée named Lily, and that he was going to leave the group and return to the United States to get married. The speed of this was as fast as the manner in which he had become an airborne member of their group, and everyone was caught off guard. They were all invited to the wedding and soon found themselves sitting in the chapel. However, there seemed to be something wrong with the church door; when the priest announced it was time for the bride to enter, the door couldn’t be opened no matter what. The bride smashed at the door desperately outside.
Then, Fang Juexia woke up.
“Bang, bang, bang.”
He had opened his eyes, but the knocking sound still continued.
This wasn’t a dream?
“Fang Juexia, are you up yet?”
It really wasn’t a dream. Fang Juexia rubbed his eyes vaguely, got out of bed, and rushed to open the bedroom door. It was actually Pei Tingsong who had been knocking.
“What’s the matter…”
Before he could finish his sentence, Pei Tingsong dragged him to the hallway entrance and dialed to call the property’s security. “The person downstairs tried calling you for a long time, but when they said you didn’t pick up your phone, they had to call the property’s security site. They said that someone who claims to be your family member has come.”
Fang Juexia suddenly woke up and thought of today’s date. Someone from the property management picked up the phone and greeted, “Hello, Mr. Fang?”
“Hello, can I ask, has my Mama arrived?”
Mama?
Pei Tingsong was surprised and asked in a low voice, “Your mom is about to come up?”
Fang Juexia let out an “en” and continued to communicate with the property management until the other party confirmed that there was no mistake, and the person being discussed was allowed up. Fang Juexia quickly went back to his room to wash up, leaving a standing Pei Tingsong on the porch alone.
Pei Tingsong was a person who couldn’t deal with family relationships at all. During his childhood, he had almost no elders besides his grandfather. As for other elders, he would only meet them just a few times in a year, and they were just his father, who criticized him, his mother, who was addicted to living an extravagant life all over the world, and his older sister, who had lived like the perfect example of an excellent specimen since childhood. These were the people who formed his absurd and complicated family.
When the doorbell rang, Pei Tingsong shouted towards the bathroom, but Fang Juexia was still washing up. He gritted his teeth, walked over, and opened the door.
Outside the door stood a dignified lady, dressed in a neat and elegant camel-colored coat, with a lot of things held in her hands, and she started smiling as soon as she saw him. Pei Tingsong was stunned at that moment, however, he quickly reacted and bent down to take the things from Mama Fang’s hands. “A-Auntie, I’ll take that for you.”
“Thank you~” Mama Fang said with an amiable smile. “You’re Xiao Pei ba, so tall. Very nice, you really are a good child,” Mama Fang exclaimed as soon as she came in. Pei Tingsong hadn’t received much praise from other adults before, so he was a bit unused to it. “Thank you… Would you like to change your shoes? Um, so, Fang Juexia is washing up right now.”
“Sleeping in so late ah,” Mama Fang changed into the guest slippers and glanced at the clock. “You guys worked really late again ba. What about the other little friends, is Yiyi not here today?”
“No, he went to his show.”
Used to being a teacher, Mama Fang kept calling people “little friends” and said, “Come, come, Xiao Pei, give the things over to Auntie, and I’ll put them in the refrigerator.”
“Then I’ll help you.”
When Fang Juexia came out, he saw Pei Tingsong beside the island in the kitchen, standing and handing things to his own mother, and both of them were cooperating together very well.
“Auntie, what’s this jar?”
“Ah, this is XO sauce. It’s really good in fried rice, have you had it before?”
“No.”
“It’s OK. Let Juexia stir-fry it for you next time. You’ll definitely love it.”
“En!”
Fang Juexia stood to the side and had the illusion that he was actually the outsider here.
“Mom, you sit down and rest. I’ll do it.” Fang Juexia rolled up his sleeves and went over to help. Mama Fang stopped him immediately and admonished, “You sit down ba, it’ll be fine with just me and Xiao Pei.”
After being refused by his own biological mother, Fang Juexia looked at Pei Tingsong. This guy actually turned around and stuck out his tongue at him, while looking very proud of himself.
Alright ba.
Fang Juexia could only sit at the bar and watch the popular food science program and cooking program that was jointly being performed by these two people. From time to time, he would offer a word or two, which was ignored by his own mother.
“Auntie, I’ve finished cutting up this green onion.”
“Give it over to Auntie.” Mama Fang took over Pei Tingsong’s crookedly chopped green onion and smiled like a blooming flower. “You cut it really well, Xiao Pei has talent.”
Pei Tingsong smiled just like a little pupil praised by his teacher, and Fang Juexia couldn’t help laughing at that.
Thanks to Mama Fang, they partook in a rare family meal. Fang Juexia and Pei Tingsong sat on one side, while Mama Fang sat opposite them. She kept using her chopsticks to put more food in their plates. “Eat more. You guys work too hard. Juexia, eat more carrots, your eyes…” Speaking until there, Mama Fang suddenly paused in her words.
Fang Juexia calmly opened his mouth and stuffed the food his mama had given him into his mouth. “It’s okay, he already knows.”
Fang Mama wore an expression of complete surprise. “Xiao Pei knows?!”
Pei Tingsong laughed in embarrassment. He was about to say that it had been an accident, but Fang Juexia took the lead.
“I told him,” Fang Juexia said, then put some food on his mama’s plate. “Eat more. How’s grandfather?”
“He’s the same as before. After a while, when we’re done eating, Mama will go see him at the hospital. He said he wanted to eat walnut cookies last night, and perfectly I just saw a Chinese snack shop right outside your neighborhood.”
“Walnut cookies are too oily for him, he shouldn’t eat too much.”
Pei Tingsong felt unused to listening to the two people chatting about their family matters, but he was actually more envious than anything else. His gaze kept switching between Fang Juexia and Mama Fang, as he watched them get along and quietly listened to every word they said. Such a warm moment was too unfamiliar for him.
This unfamiliar thing always seemed to be so good.
“Xiao Pei, eat more ah,” Mama Fang saw that he was in a daze, so she gave him some beef. “You grew up abroad right, so you should love beef ba.”
Pei Tingsong was a little surprised and asked, “Auntie, how do you know that?”
Fang Juexia turned to him and explained in a low voice, “At home, she’s always flipping around and watching our group’s activities every day, and she would also go search online…”
As soon as he said that, his chopsticks were clacked into by Mama Fang’s, and Fang Juexia immediately shut up.
“Auntie, you’re too cute.” Pei Tingsong chuckled and stuffed the beef into his mouth.
Hearing this, Mama Fang felt a little surprised. The environment Pei Tingsong had grown up in had taught him to express his feelings straightforwardly, but Fang Juexia wasn’t like that, therefore, this was the first time she had heard this kind of praise coming from the younger generation. Naturally, she was happy.
“Xiao Pei, you are also cute, Auntie likes you very much.” Her chopsticks moved nonstop while moving food around, and she nearly turned Pei Tingsong’s bowl into a small hill. “Auntie brought a lot of delicious food this time, so let Gege cook it for you.”
Gege….
As soon as this word came out, Fang Juexia and Pei Tingsong looked up at the same time, their expressions and movements completely synchronized.
“What are you looking at me for?” Mama Fang rebuked Fang Juexia. “You are three years older than Xiao Pei, so you should already have taken on the responsibility of being a Gege and should take good care of your Didi. It was so hard for Pei Tingsong to start following you guys around even before becoming an adult ah. A lot of kids usually don’t even develop fully by then.”
What else did he want to develop into ah… Fang Juexia tugged the corners of his mouth back down.
“Auntie, I have developed very well.” Pei Tingsong’s expression right now was almost like that of the fluffy fat birb emoticon, as he puffed out his chest and looked practically ready to take off.
Mama Fang smiled at him. “Yes, you are even taller than Juexia. He hasn’t grown at all these last two years.”
The attacks on his height had started up again. Fang Juexia silently listened to his own mother’s malice.
“A Gege should act like a Gege and take the initiative to take care of his Didi.”
Fang Juexia was like an emotionless nodding machine. “Understood.”
Seeing him like this, Pei Tingsong was overjoyed. He had thought that only a big iceberg could produce a small iceberg, and thus hadn’t expected Fang Juexia’s mama to be so friendly and talkative, along with the most important thing—she kept protecting him the whole time. Pei Tingsong liked this gentle auntie too much. Even after eating, after which Mama Fang had to rush to the hospital, he kept feeling a little reluctant to see her go.
“Auntie will come to see you guys next time. Quickly go back in, it’s cold outside.”
“Goodbye, Auntie~”
“Goodbye, goodbye. If something’s the matter, tell Gege and get him to help you.”
Upon seeing Pei Tingsong continue to stand there, reluctant to look away and sending off his own mother, Fang Juexia spoke with a trace of irony, “Someone who didn’t know better would even think that you’re her son.”
Pei Tingsong closed the door. He really did wish for that.
Fang Juexia walked over and took the slippers his mama had worn back to the shoe cabinet. He turned around and prepared to leave, but was suddenly stopped by Pei Tingsong. Two hands landed on both sides of the cabinet, encircling him inside.
“What’s the matter?” Fang Juexia looked up at Pei Tingsong serenely. He seemed to have already gotten used to Pei Tingsong’s mischievous behaviour, which could start anytime and anywhere.
A smile hung on Pei Tingsong’s face. “Nothing, just remembered that I forgot to praise you in front of Auntie just now.”
Fang Juexia frowned, looking puzzled.
As if he had already surmised a long time ago that Fang Juexia would be like this, Pei Tingsong raised his right hand, held the back of it towards him, and waved it.
The trace of medicinal liquid left on it was almost invisible. Fang Juexia didn’t want to admit that he had done it himself, even if the ridiculous act of applying medicine to someone who was asleep was something he had done last night.
“What’s the matter with it?”
Pei Tingsong had already guessed that Fang Juexia wouldn’t admit to it, so he took out a used cotton swab from his pajama pocket and twirled it around. “Pretend a little less, I’ve already figured it all out.”
“Gege also has times when he carefully takes care of me ma.” He shamelessly laughed.
Sure enough, it was finally still revealed. He simply shouldn’t have left anything to chance with Pei Tingsong, this sly guy.
In his heart, Fang Juexia sighed. His head had been rubbed suddenly, which had caused him to leave the cotton swab on the ground without even realizing it. He could hardly think of anyone else who would do something as stupid as leaving behind a thing that could be used against him.
Thinking along those lines, he actually did come up with a name.
Cinderella.
Compared to a crystal shoe, this small cotton swab seemed to become more and more of an eyesore. Fang Juexia reached out to grab it, but Pei Tingsong put it away. “I found it, so it’s mine. What are you trying to grab it for? Is it so hard for you to admit that you applied medicine on me last night ah?”
Even the corners of Pei Tingsong’s eyes carried a smile as he said, “In fact, when you’re not being stubborn, you’re a lot like a good Gege.”
“Get out of the way.” Fang Juexia was ready to force his way out of his arms, but Pei Tingsong drew them in tighter. “Why, haven’t we even hugged before?”
“Pei Tingsong…”
Upon hearing the sound of teeth being gnashed, Pei Tingsong’s sense of achievement grew even bigger. “Do you want me to play the recording again? I’ll play it on the home stereo ba.”
Fang Juexia tried very hard to calm his own emotions. “You’d better not.”
“Then you’d better beg me.”
Again.
Sure enough, he shouldn’t underestimate this devil incarnate at all.
“If you keep behaving like this, I will tell everyone else you actually have…”
Halfway through this threatening sentence, Fang Juexia’s cellphone rang. He took a deep breath and pulled it out to take a look. It was Cheng Qiang.
“Hello?”
The voice at the other end was obviously happy and even sounded a little excited. “Juexia? Come quickly to the company. Is Xiao Pei there?”
Fang Juexia glanced at Pei Tingsong and answered, “He’s here.” With that, he switched to speakerphone mode.
“Does he have classes in the afternoon? If he doesn’t have classes, then he should also come over.”
“Okay, we’re coming over now.”
Pei Tingsong interjected, “What’s the matter?”
“Something good.” Cheng Qiang just finished saying that when he realized something was wrong. “Are you two right next to each other? Why?”
The two people looked at their current posture at the same time. Fang Juexia was about to push him away, when Pei Tingsong caught hold of his hands to stop his actions and replied, “Shar—ing—feel—ings.”
“Ah, good, good, good. Then you guys come over here quickly. I still have some stuff to do, so I’ll hang up first.”
After ending the call, Fang Juexia shook Pei Tingsong off and went to change his clothes, but this person still hadn’t forgotten their previous topic of conversation, and so asked, “What did you just say? What do you want to tell everyone else?”
“You just behave yourself.”
Looking at Fang Juexia walking back to his room after tossing out such a sentence, Pei Tingsong found the whole thing inexplicable.
They drove to the company, with Pei Tingsong being entangled in these words of Fang Juexia’s for the entire duration. He didn’t understand how Fang Juexia could suddenly have something on him, he shouldn’t ah. However, Fang Juexia didn’t pay any attention to him the whole time, and didn’t even reply to him at all when they entered the company. This just made Pei Tingsong become even more curious.
As soon as they arrived at the company, they were called to a small conference room by Cheng Qiang. Opening the door, Fang Juexia caught sight of a familiar woman’s back. Upon hearing movement, the person inside turned around.
It was Jiang Yin.
“Hello, nice to see you guys again.” Jiang Yin reached out with her hand and said, “Sit down and let’s chat.”
They both sat opposite Jiang Yin. Jiang Yin took out two documents from her briefcase and pushed them towards Fang Juexia and Pei Tingsong. “You’re all smart people, so you should have guessed the purpose behind me coming here today.”
Pei Tingsong’s eyes drifted over the documents. “We can guess, but we don’t really dare to try.” Saying that, he jerked his chin over at Cheng Qing, since after all, this was the person who had said not to dream of pies in the sky just yesterday.
Jiang Yin smiled as she tapped her hand with red nail polish lightly on the table. “There’s actually something you, Pei Tingsong, don’t dare to guess?”
Fang Juexia opened the documents and found that both of them were contracts, guest contracts for ‘Escape For Your Life.’
Just like what Jiang Yin said, he had guessed and had a hunch about this, but he hadn’t expected that the program group would come to them so soon, let alone the fact that Jiang Yin herself had come.
“The purpose of my coming here was to reassure you,” Jiang Yin went straight to the point. “Moreover, it is imperative for me to book you too.” The assistant entered and brought her coffee. Jiang Yin thanked them in a low voice and took a sip before continuing, “You guys have shown a strong momentum recently, and I also paid special attention to the magazine sales this morning. Congratulations on setting a new record.”
Fang Juexia himself didn’t know about that; the two of them had still been asleep this morning.
“The last record was set by my artists, and they were also a pair who came out of ‘Escape For Your Life’.” Jiang Yin’s implication was obvious. “I know that right now, there should be an uncountable number of large and small programs coming to you and inviting you to be permanent guests on their shows. There may be a lot of reality TV shows on big satellite TV among them, and the exposure you will gain from those shows is much higher than that from our program.”
She folded her hands. “However, there are also differences between programs. Some variety shows actually consume your popularity, while others tap into your potential.”
Cheng Qiang asked, “Are there any additional conditions for signing the contract?”
“Hm…” Jiang Yin thought for a moment and added, “If we have to say it, it’s that Juexia and Tingsong have to come onto the show together. If we want them, we want both of them.”
Fang Juexia was very clear on the fact that this was a conscientious show, and he had always really liked it. Even if there were no additional benefits to their popularity to be gained through it, he would still be very willing to participate.
But he also knew that Pei Tingsong had always wanted to participate in a hip-hop program. If he signed this, and some music programs came with invitations later on, he may find himself with no room in his schedule then.
Cheng Qiang took over the conversation. “In fact, both of them are fans of ‘Escape For Your Life’. They said it in the interview as well, and we’re all very much looking forward to working together.”
“Very flattered,” Jiang Yin said with a smile. “However, I want to collect all the smart kids in the circle into my program. If you guys go, you can film with Sirui, and it’ll be really good.”
“I’m okay.” Pei Tingsong didn’t wait for them to talk any further and directly signed his name, not messing around at all. “Signed it.”
Jiang Yin thought that was interesting. “You’re not even going to look over it carefully?”
Pei Tingsong shrugged. “You’re even here in person, so can you pit me?”
Fang Juexia was a bit surprised at this and turned to look at Pei Tingsong. He didn’t understand why this guy was being so decisive at this time. Clearly speaking, he hadn’t agreed to participating in any programs before and had slacked off all day on that decision.
“What are you looking at me for?” Pei Tingsong said in a low voice before winking at him. “Sign ah.”
Really strange. Fang Juexia inhaled a deep breath, and still couldn’t make himself believe it. In the span of one night, his favorite program had taken the initiative to come to his door, and all good things seemed to have arrived all at once. He knew that the contract must have been confirmed in advance multiple times by Cheng Qiang, so he just quickly flipped through it and signed.
Jiang Yin wasn’t as aggressive as rumor had it. In fact, it seemed that she wasn’t much older than them, yet still carried the feeling of being a big Jiejie.
“Good.” After receiving the contract, Jiang Yin gave a long sigh of relief. “A big stone in my heart has finally fallen away. You guys don’t know how difficult it has been for me to find a guest.” As if she had suddenly changed her personality, she began to complain to them, “Everyone who came to us either asked us to change the script, saying that it was too difficult and that they couldn’t escape at all, or else they agreed to be on the show, but wanted us to give them scripts, so as to let them act according to the script, and they also wanted brilliant roles on top of that. Our little script writer disagreed. The good thing about our program is mainly our script, so of course the script is the most important thing.”
“Then how did you find us?” Fang Juexia was curious. “We are not actually very famous artists.”
“Don’t be modest, you guys are very popular now.” Jiang Yin laughed. “Our little script writer saw the magazine interview, and he thought you guys spoke especially well. He told me about it, and I just investigated you two. By the way, I also saw your math competition clip. You’re really good, you won a whole car of milk.”
When she said this, everyone else laughed, but Fang Juexia felt embarrassed.
After confirming the recording time and other basic requirements, Jiang Yin was anxious to return to attend a meeting and so left in a hurry. As soon as she left, Cheng Qiang showed his true colors. His professional agent aura disappeared, and he looked overwhelmed with joy. He hugged Fang Juexia first and then went over to hug Pei Tingsong. “That’s so great, that’s so great. I didn’t expect that this big cake would run over on its own for us to chomp into. You’re definitely the little friends that I brought up!”
“Qiang Ge!” Xiao Wen pushed open the door. “The boss is looking for you.”
“Going right now.” Cheng Qiang rubbed his hands happily and took the contracts. “The boss must already know.”
All of a sudden, they were the only ones left in the meeting room. Fang Juexia still didn’t understand. “Why did you agree to sign the contract so quickly?”
Pei Tingsong glanced at him. “Don’t you want to go on?”
“Me?” Fang Juexia was stunned.
So it was because of him?
“Just count it as having fun in an escape room at public expense ba.” Pei Tingsong sat on the table and smiled. “It’s also very interesting.” After saying that, he remembered that the problem from before still hadn’t been solved, and so continued, “Oh, by the way, you just said at home, that you wanted to tell everyone something about me. What is it ah? It can’t be that I was talking in my sleep last night and I told you some secret?”
Fang Juexia let out an “oh” and said, “You still remember.”
“Of course. If you don’t tell me, I won’t be able to sleep tonight.”
The corners of Fang Juexia’s mouth faintly quirked up and he replied, “It’s just…the matters between you and Lily. Don’t worry, I was just saying things. I won’t tell anyone else.”
“Lily?”
Fang Juexia had finished talking and started moving to go to the practice room. He totally didn’t take any notice of the strange expression on Pei Tingsong’s face.
“You wait.” Pei Tingsong, who was leaning against the table, grabbed Fang Juexia’s wrist and pulled him back towards him. “Tell me, what happened between Lily and me?”
The smile on his face seemed to carry a lot of implications. His legs stretched out and surrounded Fang Juexia, who was now standing in front of him. This sudden shortening of the distance between them made the air feel compressed and so thick that even the ending of this sentence gained an ambiguous aura.
“How did I say it in my dream? Hm?”
His voice was deep and soft, and in that moment, Fang Juexia returned to the early hours of this morning, when Pei Tingsong had also used this voice to stop him, rub his head, and had mistaken him for Lily.
“You…” Fang Juexia broke away from his grasp and said, “I didn’t hear what you said, anyway…”
You let Lily sleep with you.
“Anyway what?” The corners of Pei Tingsong’s eyes and his eyebrows were full of smiles, and he looked at the person in front of him from top to bottom while commenting, “How much inappropriate stuff did I say ah? Your neck is red.”
Fang Juexia uneasily felt his neck with his hand. “Quit that.”
Pei Tingsong revealed the smile that he couldn’t hold back anymore. “What are you afraid of? You are the Gege, one who is nearly four years older than me, and I have followed you since I was a minor.”
These words were clearly underlining the order left behind by his mother, but when Pei Tingsong said them, they became extremely ambiguous. Fang Juexia’s heartbeat grew disorderly again. He didn’t want to keep getting entangled with this person; anyway, all of this was a part of Pei Tingsong’s private matters, which had nothing to do with him.
“Whatever you say.”
Fang Juexia turned and was about to leave when he heard the person behind him suddenly burst out laughing.
Was there something wrong with this person? Fang Juexia wore a completely confused expression on his face. He turned his head to see Pei Tingsong sitting on the table, and he was unable to sit straight because of how hard he was laughing. It was as if he had just heard the funniest joke in the world, and he was almost out of breath.
“What exactly is your problem?” Fang Juexia finally couldn’t endure it any longer, and his tone turned fierce.
Pei Tingsong was laughing so hard that all his teeth were revealed and his eyes had disappeared, his face looking completely childish at this moment. He took a few deep breaths and tried to control his laughter. “I’m fine ah. You’re the one with a problem.”
Fang Juexia, who now had a bellyful of anger, was about to refute him, but then he heard this abominable guy speak again—
“Lily is my dog la.” Pei Tingsong jumped down from the table, his face wreathed in smiles.
“Dummy.”
