Chapter 22: The Reception
The reception was held at a hotel invested in by Luo Jing’s father.
After a whole day of brutal styling, Lin Xue was mostly satisfied and took her youngest son to the reception.
As the hostess, Lin Xue needed to accompany Luo Jing’s father and socialize with the guests. Plus, the reception hadn’t officially started yet, and she needed to check if everything was in place, so she dropped Luo Jing off at the venue and left early.
They arrived early, and there weren’t many people in the banquet hall yet, so Luo Jing went to a nearby lounge to wait.
Wu Li didn’t wake up until eleven o’clock. Seeing the message Luo Jing sent him four hours ago, he laughed gloatingly.
AAA.Holiday Wholesaler Xiao Luo: [Why can you sleep in so late?]
Wu Li: [Because it’s not my family’s reception.]
AAA.Holiday Wholesaler Xiao Luo: […]
Luo Jing sulked for a moment, then, putting aside their previous disagreement, invited Wu Li to play a duo game.
Midway through the game, Wu Li sighed and said, when can you invite that brother of yours again? He’s so damn good at games.
Luo Jing sighed and said, I don’t know, he’s probably busy. I haven’t dared to contact him these past two days.
But after all, the exams were over, and the joy of having plenty of time to play without having to study overshadowed everything. There was no time for melancholy, and their attention returned to the game.
Luo Jing had been waiting here for over an hour.
Time flew by while playing games. In the lounge, the two were playing a crucial promotion match for Luo Jing’s rank.
He stared intently at the screen, carefully maneuvering his character.
“By the way, are you on your way now?” Luo Jing suddenly asked, remembering something.
“I’m in the car now,” Wu Li skillfully cleared a wave of minions. “You’re already there?”
“Yeah, I’ve been here for a while, alone in the lounge… Go mid, go mid!”
They played for another ten minutes until the word “Victory” flashed on the screen.
Seeing his rank icon change after the results were calculated, Luo Jing looked satisfied and stood up to stretch: “Let’s stop for now. I’m a bit thirsty. I’ll go get some water. Wait for me to come back.”
He was a bit tired after playing games for so long.
“Okay, I’ll hang up then.”
After ending the call, Luo Jing stood up, intending to go outside.
The lounge was too stuffy, and he wanted some fresh air.
“Click.”
The door opened, and an unfamiliar person walked in.
Luo Jing instinctively frowned.
He didn’t like it when people entered a room without knocking. It was a matter of basic courtesy.
But thinking that the person might not know anyone was inside, he relaxed his frown and said politely, “Hello?”
The boy who entered had heavy makeup and purple hair. Although he was wearing a suit, he didn’t look very formal. The moment he entered, the smell of his cologne filled the lounge, making Luo Jing frown slightly again.
Hearing his words, the boy looked him up and down, his gaze carrying a hint of disdain that Luo Jing disliked.
In his eyes, although this child looked good, he was unfamiliar. He hadn’t seen him in the entertainment industry or at the company before. Because he was good-looking, he naturally assumed he was a trainee from some unknown small company, an unimportant minor character.
“This is the lounge for Fengjing Entertainment artists. Why are you here?” After making his assumption, the boy’s tone was arrogant and annoyed.
His tone made Luo Jing uncomfortable, but since it was indeed his fault, he endured it and replied coldly, “Really? Sorry, I didn’t notice.”
He meant he hadn’t noticed it was the artists’ lounge, but the boy mistakenly thought he meant he hadn’t noticed that the lounge was exclusively for their company’s artists, so his expression became even more disgusted: “Then get out. Don’t stay where you don’t belong.”
His manager finally arrived and saw Luo Jing standing inside. After thinking for a moment, he realized he had never seen this person at the company before. Seeing his artist clearly angry, he quickly said, “Where did you come from? Get out.”
Luo Jing almost laughed in disbelief.
Such a dramatic thing was actually happening to him.
Did he look that easy to bully?
But since today was an important event for his family’s company, he didn’t want to cause any trouble before it even started. Plus, he really hadn’t known this was designated as the artists’ lounge, so he left with a cold expression.
Before leaving, he glanced at the young celebrity’s face again.
It wasn’t very familiar, perhaps because of the heavy makeup.
He would ask about it later.
As soon as he stepped out, the door behind him slammed shut. Luo Jing found himself facing five boys lined up neatly against the wall outside.
Luo Jing: “?”
He recognized these. They were members of a new boy group about to debut under one of his family’s company’s producers.
Luo Jing was always good at recognizing people. He could remember almost everyone’s face and had never experienced face blindness.
He just didn’t remember names.
These boys were wearing the same style of clothes as the boy inside the room. Luo Jing recalled that the boy group currently had six members.
That was right. The person inside was the remaining one.
The difference between the person and his photos was quite significant.
“Why aren’t you going in?” he asked.
The five boys were also stunned to see him come out.
Luo Jing rarely participated in his family’s receptions. They were usually held when he was at school. The last time he attended one was when he was in third or fourth grade.
Not only had his appearance changed as he grew older, but these boys had only recently joined the company, so it was normal that they didn’t recognize him.
In their eyes, he was just a pretty boy who had been kicked out by his teammate, coming from who knows where.
Quite pitiful.
After a moment, one of the taller boys replied vaguely and asked kindly, “We’re just waiting outside… Are you an artist from another company? Are you lost? Don’t be angry, he’s always like this.”
Luo Jing frowned: “He wouldn’t let you in? Aren’t you in the same group?”
Although they didn’t know where this child’s inexplicable aura came from, they were completely deceived by his appearance. A shorter boy with a baby face instinctively wanted to protect the young boy’s innocent heart and didn’t want him to know too much about the dark side of the entertainment industry: “No, we… we just don’t want to go in, we’re getting some fresh air.”
“Did the manager only bring him alone?” Luo Jing didn’t buy it.
“No, no…” The boy felt overwhelmed by his inexplicable pressure and tried to change the subject: “Which company are you from? What’s your name? Can you tell us?”
He spoke in a tone used to coax children.
“Yes.” Now that they mentioned it, Luo Jing was reminded and asked, “What are your names?”
The boys were caught off guard by his sudden question and didn’t know who should answer first.
“Starting with you, one by one,” Luo Jing said.
The boys were stunned, but instinctively, they started introducing themselves one by one, from right to left.
“Then he must be Jiang Kun,” Luo Jing said with certainty after hearing their names.
This “he” referred to the rude person in the room.
And besides that, Luo Jing felt he had discovered something more important.
Why was that person so arrogant and privileged, and why did these boys seem so used to it?
This wasn’t right.
As he was pondering, the other five boys came back to their senses. The baby-faced boy couldn’t stay quiet and asked, “Hey, we’ve told you our names, little brother, what’s your name?”
“Luo Jing,” Luo Jing replied casually.
“Oh, oh, it’s a nice name.” Why did it sound familiar?
He couldn’t remember, so he let it go.
The important thing was:
“Let’s add each other on WeChat. You’re really good-looking,” the baby-faced boy praised sincerely.
He seemed to be the extroverted type, and Luo Jing felt the same. He readily showed his QR code for him to scan.
After scanning it, Lin Xue’s message arrived just in time, reminding him that the reception was about to start. Luo Jing put away his phone and said goodbye to them: “I have to go now. See you next time.”
“See you, keep in touch, little brother,” the baby-faced boy replied cheerfully.
After Luo Jing left, he turned to the tall boy beside him: “Have you heard of this name before?”
“I think so, but I might be wrong. I’ve never seen him before anyway,” he scratched his head.
Indeed, if they had seen someone who looked like that, they would definitely remember.
“Maybe he’s a trainee from another company who hasn’t debuted yet,” another boy chimed in, sighing, “He’s promising, looks like he’ll be popular. I wonder which company has such good taste… His skin is so good, it seems like he’s not wearing any makeup.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
A usually quiet member surprisingly also spoke: “I think so too.”
Because he had to go pick up Wu Li, who couldn’t find the entrance, Luo Jing was a bit late. When he hurriedly arrived at the banquet hall, most of the guests had already arrived.
Only a few people were still entering the hall. Faint music could be heard from inside, indicating the official start of the reception.
Luo Jing quickly slipped to the front of the banquet hall while everyone was still moving around and hadn’t taken their seats yet.
The lights in the hall were all turned off, except for the spotlights on the stage. Under the cover of darkness and the not-yet-seated crowd, Luo Jing smoothly and inconspicuously reached his seat.
Wu Li, because he woke up late, came alone. His seat wasn’t with Luo Jing, so they parted ways midway and had now also taken their seats.
He gave Luo Jing an “okay” sign. Luo Jing was relieved and finally had the time to observe his surroundings.
Due to the special seating arrangement, Luo Jing had been prepared to be alone, but when he turned his head, he saw a boy sitting two seats away.
The boy was good-looking and seemed relaxed, sitting with his legs crossed, playing on his phone. Noticing his gaze, he looked over, a smile on his face, but then froze when he saw him.
Then he subconsciously glanced at the person sitting next to him.
