When he took back the phone Duan Qiong handed him, Yu Huaili casually swiped through the background apps and noticed that Duan Qiong had only opened the video app.
…Why was he looking through his phone like that?
“Bro, I’m heading to the company gym to run first.” Yu Huaili put his phone in his pocket, set down his chopsticks, and said to Duan Qiong and Jiang Qing, “You two coming?”
Jiang Qing didn’t lift his head, saying in a sardonic tone: “So competitive… I’m not going. I didn’t have fried eggs this morning.”
Duan Qiong nodded, saying “Give me three minutes,” and stood up to place the dishes and chopsticks from the table into the sink.
Watching Duan Qiong put on latex gloves to wash the dishes, Yu Huaili casually peeled a piece of candy and held it up to Duan Qiong’s lips. “Bro, when we make money in the future, we can buy a dishwasher.”
The gesture was natural, but it caught Duan Qiong off guard, startling him for a moment.
He lowered his eyes, his gaze landing on Yu Huaili’s fingertips—faintly tinted pink—and the candy he was pinching. His Adam’s apple moved, and that image from last night inexplicably flashed through his mind again.
It had flashed through his mind more times than he could count already.
…Was it because he was young? Why did Yu Huaili seem to be pink all over?
Yu Huaili nudged the candy against his lips again. Duan Qiong’s dishwashing froze for two or three seconds before returning to normal.
Looking at Yu Huaili’s fingertip, Duan Qiong parted his lips and took the candy, his lips inadvertently brushing against Yu Huaili’s fingertip.
With the candy in his mouth, Duan Qiong finished washing the two bowls. Rinsing the foam from his hands, he answered Yu Huaili’s question: “Sure.”
After a pause, Duan Qiong thought of something else. In the previous life, after Solaron-X actually made money and became famous across the land, they no longer squeezed into this dorm but each had their own residence…
Because sharing a frame was nothing but bloodshed and storms, in the later period they only appeared together when absolutely necessary. They became increasingly estranged from one another.
In the previous life, Duan Qiong hadn’t seen a problem with that. But now, imagining it would turn into that again, he felt a faint, inexplicable tightness in his chest.
Duan Qiong lowered his gaze. “When we make money, we can buy a big house with a dishwasher built in.”
Yu Huaili blinked. “Huh? But can I really afford a big house?”
“So the two of us will buy it together.” Duan Qiong said. “The two of us will be able to afford it.”
Yu Huaili curved his eyes into a smile. “Just me and you, Bro?”
Was Duan Qiong finally starting to get it?
That sounded pretty gay today.
“Mm. Because we’re friends.” After speaking, Duan Qiong subtly furrowed his brow. “…You don’t have other brothers, do you? Or would you prefer Jiang Qing? Want to live with him?”
Jiang Qing was no longer in the living room—he’d probably retreated to his room. Yu Huaili slipped on a jacket and replied casually, “That’s a stretch, Bro. You know I definitely like you.”
“Definitely like you.”
…
Duan Qiong knew Yu Huaili meant a friend’s affection. A faint smile slowly curved at the corner of his mouth.
He said quietly, “Mm. I know.”
He definitely liked Yu Huaili too.
As a friend.
Looking at Duan Qiong’s unchanged expression, Yu Huaili raised an eyebrow and suddenly asked, “Bro, you really don’t think it’s sour?”
The candy he’d just given the protagonist top was from the batch Sister Chen had the staff buy to celebrate Solaron-X’s debut. Yu Huaili had grabbed a handful.
It was very sour. Sour enough that Yu Huaili had spat one out after a single bite.
He knew it. How could Sister Chen suddenly be so careless as to leave candy out in the open?
But why did the protagonist top show no reaction?
Were his taste buds completely dead?
“Hm?” Only after Yu Huaili spoke did Duan Qiong belatedly register the sourness spreading through his mouth.
Swallowing the saliva the sourness had triggered, Duan Qiong curved his lips. “It’s fine. Quite sweet.”
Yu Huaili: …
He glanced at the candy wrapper he’d shoved back into his pocket. He hadn’t grabbed the wrong one.
Duan Qiong’s taste buds really were dead.
Around noon was the ribbon-cutting event for Morning Star Entertainment’s overseas branch. As Morning Star’s flagship artists, Solaron-X’s members naturally had to be present.
Around ten, the staff notified them to get their makeup done. But half their styling was finished when Sister Chen received a call and hurried out.
When she came back, there was a bit of joy in her brows.
“Kids, I’ve brought you a new task.” Sister Chen smiled. “Because Solaron-X just debuted and has been generating a lot of buzz recently, the Chairman originally said Solaron-X needed to be present for the entire event. Since it’s a full live stream, this way it shows the company’s emphasis on our team and also boosts the heat of the company’s ribbon-cutting live stream…”
“But when the Chairman learned that Solaron-X had other schedules, he changed his words, saying we only need to be there for the ribbon-cutting.”
“So you’ll need to go on stage when the ribbon-cutting happens. The Chairman has been very considerate of us, and now there are many eyes on you, plus plenty of media offstage. You must perform well—don’t give anyone anything to nitpick. Got it?”
The four acknowledged in unison.
The company event was livestreamed in full to the stage. The first row was Morning Star Entertainment’s decision-makers, while Solaron-X and a few popular trainees sat in the second row.
Now, a long-winded speech from a company executive was underway.
A boy with blue hair came in from the side at that moment. “Sorry, sorry, excuse me.”
Yu Huaili pulled his legs in to let the kid pass.
Funnily enough, the boy’s seat was precisely the empty spot next to Yu Huaili.
“Sheng Fang?” Yu Huaili raised an eyebrow in slight surprise, glancing at Sheng Fang’s hair. “When did you dye it that color?”
“Does it look good?” Sheng Fang touched his hair, grinning. “Felt like it’d look cool, so I just dyed it.”
You could see right here that Sheng Fang was different from ordinary trainees. Morning Star Entertainment had strict control over trainees—even their meals were managed, let alone their hair and makeup. Forget dyeing your hair however you pleased; even trimming it shorter required a report.
Originally, Yu Huaili and Sheng Fang’s relationship was just at the “can exchange a few words” level. But during that period when Yu Huaili often used Duan Qiong’s meal card to indulge at the cafeteria, he kept running into Sheng Fang, who was also genuinely wolfing down food.
Over time, their relationship inexplicably improved quite a bit.
Later, even the posture coach was so angry she said the two of them were birds of a feather, incorrigible.
“Pretty cool.” Yu Huaili asked, “When did you dye it?”
“It’s been a while…” Sheng Fang glanced at Yu Huaili meaningfully, then half-jokingly, half-accusingly said, “Bro, you haven’t been around the company much lately. I’ve lost my eating buddy.”
“It’s more like you’ve lost your partner in getting scolded.” Yu Huaili laughed. “I just debuted. I’ve been busy lately.”
“I know. So busy, really busy.” Sheng Fang sighed. “So busy you don’t even reply to my messages. Sigh… but I’m a considerate guy, so I understand.”
He should’ve just lied about his age and pushed hard for a debut. Then he’d probably be in the same group as Bro right now.
Looking at Sheng Fang’s magnanimous expression, Yu Huaili was speechless: “It’s because you keep sending me unproductive stuff.”
Maybe because Sheng Fang was genuinely young and loved surfing the internet, he often sent Yu Huaili those cliché prank memes and screenshots of his losing streaks in games.
How was he supposed to reply to that?
“Then I sent you my ab progress pics and you didn’t reply either!” Sheng Fang looked at Yu Huaili with pleading eyes. “Is that also unproductive, Bro?”
Bro, bro, bro…
Why did this blue-haired kid keep clucking like a hen laying eggs?
Though their conversation wasn’t loud, Duan Qiong, sitting right next to them, absorbed every word.
When he heard Sheng Fang had been sending Yu Huaili shirtless photos, he finally couldn’t help but furrow his brow.
Duan Qiong thought Yu Huaili was a very proper, hardworking person. Although Yu Huaili was gay, Duan Qiong had never seen him show interest in any boy—he worked diligently every single day.
No wonder Yu Huaili had rashly confessed to Sheng Fang in the previous life. It was because Sheng Fang had given him the wrong signals.
Duan Qiong frowned, thinking: what kind of good boy sends other men half-naked pictures? Even if he was young, that was still unacceptable!
It was completely shameless.
“Not yet. Talk to me when you’ve trained to be in better shape than me.” Yu Huaili said helplessly. “Keep your voice down a little, little bro. The cameras are on you.”
Sheng Fang glanced at the camera, then smiled. “Alright, since Bro is a big star now…”
Their interaction had indeed been captured on camera.
Because it was a live broadcast, and Morning Star Entertainment had also bought traffic boosts, the live stream room now had all kinds of people mixed in.
[Excuse me, where’s our Yu-Duan? Why can’t I see them?]
[The two good kids Yu-Duan are still sitting offstage.]
[Damn, every time the camera sweeps over the second row my heart races. Solaron-X’s four could conquer the world with their faces alone.]
[The power of a perfect visual group.]
[Don’t know the other three, don’t care. I only know one pear who’s effortlessly handsome.]
[Bother Duan Qiong, you’re handsome.]
[Xingheng’s styling is so good.]
[How pitiful, I have to dig my husband’s shots out of the corners.]
[Why is Bad Pear sitting so far from Xingheng? Who’s the person in between? So annoying.]
[You’re wearing the “Yu-Duan is real” ID and saying that? You hate Duan Qiong but you ship Yu-Duan?]
[Well, I’m not shipping them anymore (picking nose). Can’t change the ID for fifteen days. Stop worrying about me, okay? Bad Pear and Xingheng are the perfect couple.]
[Hey, Xingheng’s just staring at his husband.]
[Damn, we said Xi Xingheng is a peacock and he really is one? His styling today is so flashy.]
[Because he’s fanning his tail for Bad Pear.]
[The current situation is…? Isn’t Solaron-X’s top ship Yu-Duan?]
[Bro… watch last night’s interview and you’ll know. After watching it, I feel like Xi Xingheng and Yu Huaili both love each other… while Yu-Duan is more like friends.]
[Huai Xing shippers, try throwing shade at Yu-Duan again? Shipping a CP while stepping on another one is so insecure, isn’t it??]
[Sheng Fang, can you not be so edgy? Thought a blueberry had walked in.]
[Xi Xingheng’s fans, keep your skins on. No matter how you dress it up, your bro still stole Sheng Fang’s debut slot.]
[Honestly, Sheng Fang wasn’t going to debut anyway. Sheng Fang’s fans just need a scapegoat to cover up the fact that their bro is useless. Xi Xingheng’s seriously suffering.]
[Sheng Fang baby… seeing you happy makes me happy…]
[Oh dear, Bad Pear and Fangfang seem really familiar? Brother and younger brother are a treat for my eyes.]
[They’re definitely familiar. They were both reserve debut trainees originally.]
[Husband, husband, stop biting the dead skin off your lips TvT]
[At least Duan Qiong has good eyes, knowing to hand Bad Pear water when he sees him licking his lips.]
[Brother Duan’s actually been paying close attention to Bad Pear’s mouth. Maybe they’ve been kissing a lot.]
[Oh my god, Solaron-X is actually going on stage for the ribbon-cutting. OK, fine, Morning Star Entertainment finally giving our top boy group Solaron-X the treatment they deserve.]
[Such ambitious kids. With so many seniors around, they get to sit in the second row and even go on stage with Wen Zheng to cut the ribbon. Who’s feeling good?]
[Is Solaron-X determined to sell Huai Xing now… I’m done… is their first promotional content really about the two of them…]
[Really? Then I’ll go check it out.]
