"Here it is, here it is," Xie Ruixin said, her eyes glued to the screen, a faint smile already lifting the corners of her lips.
Ning Yang began to play and sing.
Xie Ruixin's gaze remained fixed on her phone, a satisfied smile on her face. She glanced occasionally at Xiao Mei, keeping an eye on her reaction, wanting to discuss but afraid to interrupt and make Xiao Mei miss any part of Ning Yang's beautiful singing.
"Wow, his voice is amazing," Xiao Mei commented.
Xie Ruixin eagerly responded to Xiao Mei's unsolicited feedback, "Right?! You see, the comment section isn't lying. Some people say his voice isn't just kissed by an angel, but it's the purest spring water in the mountains, the most natural and beautiful sound formed by nature itself—this description is so accurate!"
Next to them, Ling Jiayi lay on a chair with her eyes closed, seemingly already asleep.
"His songs are really good, and the lyrics are great too," Xiao Mei said.
"Right?!" Xie Ruixin emphasized, adding extra weight to her words.
After listening to the song, Xie Ruixin had Xiao Mei continue watching. "Keep going, he also prepared a dance! He's super good at dancing too! You don't have to squat; sit here instead."
As she moved over, she made room for Xiao Mei. Most celebrities were very thin, and Xie Ruixin was no exception; she easily made space for her friends.
Xiao Mei, unable to refuse Xie Ruixin's enthusiasm, squeezed onto the chair with her, sharing one of Xie Ruixin's earbuds, and the two continued watching the video together.
"He's only been practicing for a month! It's amazing that he can dance so well! Look at the comments, everyone's saying he's a natural idol," Xie Ruixin seized every opportunity to praise Ning Yang.
"Look at his movements—they're so smooth. Even those who've trained for five or six years as trainees don't dance as well as him. And after watching his interviews, I found that he's humble and modest. I've become a fan!"
Xiao Mei nodded along.
When the dance segment finished, Xie Ruixin turned off the video. She had already watched this episode once, and had repeatedly viewed Ning Yang's segment several times.
"Have you voted for Ning Yang yet?" Xie Ruixin asked.
"Ah? No, I haven't." Xiao Mei considered herself a casual fan and felt that voting was something only devoted fans did.
"Go vote right now! You can vote on the TX video platform!" Xie Ruixin exclaimed. "I've already rallied all my friends to vote! I even bought a thirty-year membership just to vote for him!"
"Huh?" Xiao Mei was stunned.
"Wait!" Xie Ruixin suddenly recalled something important, her eyes lighting up as she turned to Xiao Mei. "Isn't Ning Yang from your company? He's also part of Huaying! Do you know him?"
Ling Jiayi, who had been sitting next to Xiao Mei with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them. "Who?"
"Oh right! Ling Jiayi, you know Ning Yang, right? Didn't you retweet his post on Weibo?" Xie Ruixin turned toward Ling Jiayi.
Ling Jiayi sat up from the bench. "When did I do that?" After a moment, he recalled something and called Xiao Dong over. "Did you tweet from my account?"
Xiao Dong looked perplexed. "Huh?"
Ling Jiayi frowned. "Give me your phone."
Xiao Dong handed over the phone.
Ling Jiayi logged into Weibo and checked his timeline, quickly finding the retweet from half a month ago, a promotional post by someone named Ning Yang about a show called Super Idol.
Ling Jiayi stared at the tweet, an ominous feeling washing over him. He looked up at Xiao Dong. "Did Xiang Qingwei ask you to retweet this?"
Xiao Dong took a peek at the profile and said, "Oh, it's him, right? Weiwei asked me to send this to you. Ning Yang seems to be Weiwei's new recruit, and he's been gaining popularity lately, I've seen a lot of people posting about him on Weibo."
Xie Ruixin gasped in excitement, "Really? Weiwei is Ning Yang's manager?! Oh my gosh! I need to ask Weiwei for an autograph!"
Ling Jiayi clenched his phone tighter, then suddenly stood up and walked toward the car holding his phone.
He got in the car, slammed the door shut, and opened up Weibo on his phone, searching for "Ning Yang."
He first clicked into Ning Yang's account.
The profile had two hundred and eighty thousand followers.
There were only two posts on the entire account.
One was a photo of the sky, and the other was a promotional tweet.
Both posts already had over twenty thousand retweets and comments.
Ling Jiayi pulled himself out of Ning Yang's account, feeling quite displeased, and then searched for his name again.
The first popular post was a video of Ning Yang singing and dancing on Super Idol.
Ling Jiayi clicked the video, expressionlessly watching the five-minute clip, then torturing himself by continuously refreshing new content about Ning Yang.
He watched the video for a full half hour before turning off his phone and leaning back in his seat, chest tight with suffocating unease.
So, Xiang Qingwei had been telling the truth when he said he was busy, because he was indeed spending time with this Ning Yang person. Taking care of him, just as Ling Jiayi had done, attentively and meticulously.
Comforting and encouraging him when he was down, removing his makeup when he was exhausted, staying by his side all night when he was sick...
Then what about this Ning Yang person? Would he also trust her, rely on her...fall in love with her?
Ling Jiayi's eyes suddenly prickled with a stinging sensation, as if his heart had been submerged in cold seawater, sinking to the bottom.
He had tried so hard. He had worked hard at his craft, performing all his own stunts no matter how difficult they were, and spent every night in his hotel room studying the next day's script, memorizing his lines until they could recite them backward, doing his best to avoid troubling her, quitting Weibo, and resisting the urge to call her every day, even though the thought crossed his mind a hundred times.
But why?
Was she still growing distant from him?
Ling Jiayi leaned forward, burying his face between his knees, feeling a little suffocated.
Knock, knock, knock.
Xiao Dong tapped on the car door, worry hidden in his voice. "Jiayi? Are you all right?"
Ling Jiayi straightened up slowly, the rims of his eyes still red, and gave a small sound of acknowledgment. "I'm fine. It's too loud over there, I just want to rest for a bit in here."
"Oh, go ahead and sleep. I'll wake you up when it's time to shoot." Xiao Dong felt relieved and walked away.
Ling Jiayi slid open his phone again, not opening Weibo this time but going straight to the photo album, looking at the pictures he took at the panda base with Xiang Qingwei.
He had taken many candid shots of Xiang Qingwei while she was watching the pandas, as well as pestering her into taking many selfies together.
In almost every photo, Xiang Qingwei's smiling face was radiant, and he also smiled brightly in response. Among them, there was one photo he liked the most: their faces were very close, Xiang Qingwei's eyes were beaming with joy, and his own smile was also bright and cheerful.
The three hours spent at the panda base were the happiest moments of his life, but they were also incredibly short.
Unable to contain the longing in his heart, Ling Jiayi gave Xiang Qingwei a call.
It rang many times before it was picked up.
"Hello? Jiayi? What's up?" Xiang Qingwei's familiar, gentle voice came through the receiver.
"Does there have to be something wrong for me to call you?" Ling Jiayi frowned, his tone gloomy.
Xiang Qingwei noticed the change in his mood. "What's wrong?"
"Ling Jiayi." After Ling Jiayi called her name, he paused for three seconds, then softly said, "I miss you."
Xiang Qingwei was taken aback. "Jiayi, did something happen on set?"
Ling Jiayi was sensitive and awkward, so he rarely expressed his feelings outright. Something must have occurred for him to suddenly say this. Xiang Qingwei's worry overpowered her gratitude.
"No, nothing happened." Ling Jiayi crossed one leg over the other and rested his chin on his knee, his gaze lost in space. He asked, as if he were desperately seeking comfort despite his reservations, "Do you miss me?"
After a pause, as if afraid of hearing an answer he didn't want, he said, "Can you say that you do? Because I'm feeling quite down right now."
Xiang Qingwei frowned, growing more concerned. Ling Jiayi's melancholy tone made her heart clench. She put down the pen in her hand and said, "Jiayi, I miss you too."
The corner of Ling Jiayi's lips curled up slightly.
"I'm okay now. You can keep working; I have to get ready for my own shoot too."
Then, he hung up the phone.
Xiang Qingwei was taken aback. She frowned and pondered for a while, still thinking something was off about Ling Jiayi's attitude earlier. She then called Xiao Dong.
"Xiao Dong, did something happen to Jiayi on set?"
Xiao Dong responded, slightly baffled, "Nothing happened. Jiayi's scenes went particularly smoothly today, and even the director praised him."
"Where is he now?" Xiang Qingwei asked.
Xiao Dong answered, "He's probably napping in the van right now. He just said that it's too noisy at the filming location, so he wanted to go to the van to sleep."
"Okay, thank you," Xiang Qingwei responded as she hung up.
Perhaps he had a dream while sleeping that made him act this way, Xiang Qingwei thought, putting down her phone and retrieving her pen to continue sorting the files.
The day of the performance.
Xiao Dong, who had only remembered to tell Ling Jiayi about Xiang Qingwei's absence at the airport, had prepared himself to console Ling Jiayi, but Ling Jiayi had no reaction whatsoever.
He only paused for a moment before saying, "Oh," as if nothing happened.
Instead of feeling relieved, Xiao Dong found himself getting even more anxious, feeling that this was the calm before the storm.
Yet Ling Jiayi remained perfectly normal throughout the entire day, so normal that it was almost abnormal.
When attending the event, not only was he incredibly cooperative, but he also kept a smile on his face throughout the entire trip.
He even chatted amiably with the brand manager and agreed to join the dinner banquet the brand was hosting that night. At the banquet, he cheerfully drank every toast offered to him, refusing Xiao Dong's attempts to help him out.
By the time they left, Ling Jiayi was so drunk that he could barely walk. Xiao Dong and Xiao Mei each took an arm to help carry him back to his room, but they didn't dare tell Xiang Qingwei.
Whenever Xiang Qingwei was around, she would not allow Ling Jiayi to attend events like these, let alone drink so much alcohol.
The two finally managed to get Ling Jiayi back to his hotel room.
Xiao Dong wetted a towel for Ling Jiayi's face. Ling Jiayi's cheeks were flushed red from drinking too much, his eyebrows furrowed in discomfort as he mumbled something incoherently.
"Did you say something?" Xiao Dong leaned in to listen.
"Work...don't...others..."
Despite listening for a while, Xiao Dong couldn't piece together a whole sentence, only hearing Ling Jiayi repeat those words over and over.
At the same time, Xiang Qingwei was at the live performance venue of Super Idol's first public show.
She had come prepared with a Ning Yang fan banner, wanting to experience the event in person.
"This is going to be recorded for about three hours. Are you sure you can stand that?" Miss K glanced down at Xiang Qingwei's high heels, which were quite uncomfortable for extended periods of time.
Xiang Qingwei looked at her in confusion. "Three hours? I only want to watch Ning Yang's performance, so I'll only come when he's on stage."
Miss K rolled her eyes. "Never mind, then."
Managers of the contestants were not allowed at the recording site, but everyone turned a blind eye when it came to Xiang Qingwei.
If not for the sake of Miss K, then at least for the sake of the coffee she'd bought them: thirty yuan a cup, Starbucks, and over a hundred cups altogether.
Even Miss K couldn't help asking, "Is your income enough to sustain your spending? Or can you expense this to the company?"
Xiang Qingwei's generosity was known to all. Miss K genuinely wondered whether her income was sufficient.
Xiang Qingwei smiled. "Money begets money."
Miss K also smiled. "True. Once Ning Yang debuts, you'll get quite a share of his earnings, won't you?"
Xiang Qingwei smiled without a word.
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The entire book has been translated, with a total of 414K words and more than 1,200 pages.
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