After returning from the amusement park and dropping Xiao Bai off at home, Yan Su Ang was just about to go upstairs and sit for a while when Lian Jue Xiu’s relentless death-summons began coming one after another.
The moment Yan Su Ang answered, Lian Jue Xiu roared from the other end, “I’ve finished filming everything on my side. Even if you took a day trip through hell, you should’ve made it back by now.”
With that tone of voice, there was no need to ask. He was definitely in demon mode right now.
Yan Su Ang did not waste words with him. “Fifteen minutes.”
Looking at his somewhat exhausted face, Xiao Bai said, “You should ask for leave. You don’t look very well.”
Yan Su Ang’s eyes suddenly shifted. “There’s one way to make me a little less tired.”
“What?”
Yan Su Ang crooked a finger at him. “Give me a kiss.”
Xiao Bai stared blankly at him for ten whole seconds before saying, “I’m an adult.”
“……” What does being an adult have to do with getting a kiss?
Xiao Bai continued, “That only works for tricking little kids.”
“……”
Why is he confused whenever I want him to be sharp, but impossibly sharp whenever I want him to be confused?
Yan Su Ang dejectedly lowered his head and stroked the steering wheel.
Suddenly, Xiao Bai wrapped his arms around his neck and planted a loud smack on his cheek.
Yan Su Ang had caught the whole thing from the corner of his eye in the rearview mirror, and his mood immediately soared. Outwardly, however, he remained reserved. “Didn’t you just say that only works for tricking little kids?”
Xiao Bai said, “Some people just never grow up.”
“……”
Is he calling me childish?
Xiao Bai continued, “The amusement park was fun, but going to the museum or the library would be more meaningful.”
“……”
He really is calling me childish.
A huge hole was blasted through Yan Su Ang’s heart.
Then Xiao Bai said, “I’ll take you next time.”
The hole was instantly patched up.
Yan Su Ang happily nodded.
Ever since the Crossing-the-Bridge Rice Noodles incident, Xiao Bai had never invited him anywhere again. Now that he had finally waited long enough for another invitation, did this mean Xiao Bai had already forgotten about what happened back then?
“But you’re not allowed to ignore my text again and pretend you didn’t see it.”
“……”
Apparently forgetting takes time. You can’t rush these things.
Yan Su Ang sighed.
Xiao Bai hopped out of the car, then waved to him. “Drive carefully.”
This is just like a husband leaving for work while his wife sees him off.
Yan Su Ang’s spirits immediately soared.
And so, Yan Su Ang headed off to work in an exceptionally good mood.
Whether Lian Jue Xiu would appreciate that good mood was, of course, another matter entirely.
When Xiao Bai returned home, he found Jia Zhi Qing boredly telling fortunes with a deck of playing cards.
“Aren’t you going out with Le Qing today?”
Jia Zhi Qing shot him a resentful look before continuing to turn over cards. “We were supposed to, but then she suddenly said something came up and canceled. How did things go with Great God?” His tone could not possibly have sounded more sour.
Xiao Bai said, “Not very well.”
“Oh?” Jia Zhi Qing immediately became interested. “How bad was it?”
Xiao Bai recounted everything that had happened that day.
After listening, Jia Zhi Qing spent quite a while processing it before saying, “So you asked Great God whether he was willing to spend the rest of his life with Lian Jue Xiu?”
Xiao Bai nodded, then shot him an almost reproachful look. “So don’t ask me such strange questions anymore.”
“You’re the strange one.” Jia Zhi Qing pulled out the King of Spades, placed it in the middle of the sofa, then bowed three times toward it.
Xiao Bai asked curiously, “What are you doing?”
“I’m offering incense for Great God and praying that after he falls in battle, he has a peaceful journey onward.”
Xiao Bai frowned unhappily. “How can you curse him like that?”
“I’m stating a fact.”
Xiao Bai glared at him for a long time, then angrily turned around, went back to his room, and stopped speaking to him.
“……”
So Xiao Bai is actually angry because of one little joke I made about him?
Jia Zhi Qing picked the King of Spades back up from the sofa and muttered, “I don’t think it’s time to offer incense yet.”
Early the next morning, Jia Zhi Qing was awakened by his ringing phone.
Gao Qin’s voice on the other end could practically be described as bone-chilling.
“Come back to the company immediately.”
“What about Xiao Bai?”
“Keep him at home for now.”
Gao Qin’s words came without any explanation, but opportunities to hear him speak in that tone were rare. Jia Zhi Qing immediately realized something serious had happened. He did not dare linger in bed, hurriedly gave Xiao Bai a few instructions, then rushed straight to the company.
When he found Gao Qin, Gao Qin was sitting with Ma Rui, both of them wearing grave expressions.
“What happened?” A bad feeling rose inside Jia Zhi Qing.
Gao Qin tossed a magazine at him.
On the cover was a photograph of Xiao Bai and Yan Su Ang sitting shoulder to shoulder eating hot dogs. Beside it, the enormous headline YAN SU ANG AND XIAO BAI’S SECRET AMUSEMENT-PARK DATE was impossible to miss.
Before Gao Qin could speak, Ma Rui demanded aggressively, “Did you know they were going to the amusement park together?”
Jia Zhi Qing knew there was no point hiding it. “Yes.”
Ma Rui slammed his palm onto the desk. “And you just let them go?”
Jia Zhi Qing protested, “I’m not their jailer or their school disciplinarian. How was I supposed to stop them?”
Hearing him talk back only sent Ma Rui’s temper soaring higher. “You’re his manager! Do you have a brain or not?! You’ve studied what entertainers should and shouldn’t do, haven’t you? Is an amusement park, with that many people, somewhere the two of them should be going? Even if you couldn’t stop them, you should’ve reported it to the company! And what exactly is going on with that Xiao Bai? He’s had so many scandals already—couldn’t you at least find me a female one for once? Every rumor is with a man! What exactly does he want? Is he secretly a woman dressed as a man or something?!”
Jia Zhi Qing was shouted at so fiercely that his neck stiffened.
Gao Qin lightly tapped a finger against the desk. “All right. You’ve vented enough. You can leave now.”
Ma Rui said, “Hey! I’m the president here. You’re seriously kicking me out?”
“Would you rather I leave and you handle this?”
Ma Rui choked, glared furiously at Jia Zhi Qing, then slammed the door behind him.
Jia Zhi Qing began, “Actually, what happened was…”
Gao Qin raised a hand. “Wait a moment.”
Jia Zhi Qing froze. Wait? Wait for what?
The door suddenly flew open again, and Ma Rui shouted, “This is my office!”
“So?”
“So…” Ma Rui’s momentum weakened. “So if you’re borrowing it, shouldn’t you at least ask first?”
Gao Qin said, “Thank you.”
“……You’re welcome.” Ma Rui closed the door again and left.
Gao Qin turned toward Jia Zhi Qing. “You can continue.”
Jia Zhi Qing said, “Great God invited Xiao Bai to the amusement park after we finished recording There’s Always a Higher Mountain.”
Gao Qin twirled a pen between his fingers and said calmly, “That isn’t what I meant. I mean, how did the information leak?”
Jia Zhi Qing thought for a moment. “Xiao Bai said another program was filming at the amusement park yesterday. There were probably reporters around, and maybe they happened to see Great God and Xiao Bai, so…”
The phone rang. The secretary could barely conceal her excitement as she said, “Great God is here.”
“Send him in.”
The door opened, and Yan Su Ang walked in looking equally unhappy. He had spent two straight days filming until dawn, only to be dragged out of bed early in the morning for something like this. His mood had hit rock bottom.
Gao Qin looked at him. “How do you think the information leaked?”
Yan Su Ang’s expression darkened. He closed the door behind himself, then turned to Jia Zhi Qing. “Did you tell Le Qing that Xiao Bai and I were going out?”
Jia Zhi Qing immediately became defensive. “You suspect her? That’s impossible. She doesn’t do entertainment news.”
“But it really is from her magazine.”
Jia Zhi Qing exclaimed, “No. The magazine she works for is Confidante.”
Gao Qin gave a cold laugh. “What exactly have you been learning these past few months? You don’t even know that Star-Chasing Times is a magazine under Confidante?”
Jia Zhi Qing stared in shock. After a long moment, he finally said, “But that still doesn’t prove she did it. Xiao Bai said there were lots of reporters at the amusement park. Maybe one of them saw you two. Why are you so sure it was her?”
Yan Su Ang said coldly, “Because those reporters couldn’t possibly have known I picked Xiao Bai up at eight-thirty in the morning.”
Jia Zhi Qing immediately fell silent.
Yesterday, he really had told Le Qing that Great God was coming at eight-thirty to pick Xiao Bai up for the amusement park. Not long afterward, Le Qing had called and said something had suddenly come up, so she could not meet him.
Seeing Jia Zhi Qing’s face turn pale, Yan Su Ang softened his tone slightly. “I wanted to tell you this last time. Le Qing isn’t as simple as you think she is.”
Jia Zhi Qing gave an unconvinced cold laugh. “How complicated could she possibly be?”
Yan Su Ang glanced at Gao Qin.
Gao Qin slowly said, “I never knew you were dating Le Qing.”
Jia Zhi Qing said, “That’s my private life, isn’t it?”
“Of course it is. But at least I can tell you that she used to be Zhang Fu Man’s mistress.”
Jia Zhi Qing’s face grew even paler, but he stubbornly said, “You said used to. Just because someone used to be something, does that mean they can never change? If someone stole something once, do they have to wear the label of thief for the rest of their life? Haven’t you heard that a prodigal son who turns back is worth more than gold? Don’t you know that if you lay down the butcher’s knife, you can become a Buddha on the spot?”
Gao Qin raised an eyebrow. “This is the first time I’ve learned you possess something resembling eloquence. Although you sound like a dog whose tail has been stepped on.”
“Gao Qin,” Yan Su Ang said sharply.
Jia Zhi Qing’s cheeks flushed red from the provocation, and his entire body took on an abnormal agitation. “Fine! I’m a dog whose tail got stepped on. But even if I’m a dog, I still look down on heartless, cold-blooded animals like you!”
He shoved aside the hand Yan Su Ang reached toward him and stormed out, slamming the door behind himself.
Yan Su Ang’s hand remained suspended in midair for a moment before he slowly lowered it. Looking at Gao Qin, he said, “Don’t you think you went too far just now?”
Gao Qin did not seem concerned. “He was only using the subject as an excuse to vent. Cause trouble, dust yourself off, walk away, and leave everyone else to clean up the mess. Brilliant move. In this particular field, I’m willing to acknowledge him as my teacher.”
Yan Su Ang asked, “You mean that?”
Gao Qin glanced at him. “I guarantee it. If you dare find even the slightest fault with me right now, I’ll copy him exactly—dust myself off, turn around, slam the door, and leave without looking back.”
Yan Su Ang mimed zipping his mouth shut.
Next
Leave a Reply