Chapter 21: Can He Really Be Straight? Part 2

“Ah…” Yu Huaili held the water glass, turning to glance at Duan Qiong, whose movements were stiff, as if he was hiding something. He smiled. “The group has a good relationship. I get along well with Brother Duan, Brother Xingheng, and Brother Jiang Qing. If they didn’t care about me, I’d be heartbroken.”

Zhang Zhidong chatted with Yu Huaili for a bit more, and the director team reminded them that they could record the last part.

Just then, Xi Xingheng came down from the second floor, but his expression looked a little strange. Several times, his gaze fell on Yu Huaili as if he wanted to say something.

Yu Huaili: …?

Who’d provoked Xi Xingheng just now?

The photographers had already set up their cameras. Zhang Chenyu took out a record and played a melodious, winding tune.

Jiang Yanru poured himself a cup of tea and looked at Solaron-X’s four members, asking conversationally, “So, why did you all come to love music?”

Yu Huaili set down his cup, thinking: Here it comes.

In the plot, after Jiang Yanru asked a similar question, Duan Qiong said that at the orphanage, a boy had taught him a simple piano piece—that was his first contact with music, and it was what made him fall in love with it completely.

As one of the parties involved, Xi Xingheng naturally recognized it. At first he was a little incredulous, but after tactfully asking Duan Qiong a few questions, he became fully certain that Duan Qiong was indeed that boy from his memories.

After this part ended, Xi Xingheng gently started a conversation with Duan Qiong, asking if he’d like to take a walk together.

The two didn’t let the photographers follow. After chatting a few sentences—neither warm nor cold—their childhood memories slowly aligned.

Xi Xingheng curved his eyes, smiling at Duan Qiong, “What a coincidence. I can’t believe I ran into you again.”

That was the first time Duan Qiong clearly saw Xi Xingheng’s features.

After Jiang Yanru’s words fell, Jiang Qing, who was inexplicably a bit excited, answered his question. “My mom studied music. I was influenced by her. When I was little, I always felt playing piano and singing were meaningful.”

Because of Jiang Qing’s words, the regular cast members’ topic unexpectedly drifted to “whether children raised in musical families are more talented.”

“I’d say it’s fifty-fifty. My family was poor when I was little, so I never had contact with music.” Jiang Yanru said. “Little Li, what do you think?”

“Me?” Yu Huaili smiled. “Honestly, in my first fifteen years, the only chance I had to touch music was when a friend secretly snuck an MP3 player to school. He’d share one earbud with me.”

Hearing this, Duan Qiong narrowed his eyes and couldn’t help asking in a low voice, “Are you two still in contact?”

Yu Huaili said, “We lost contact after middle school. I didn’t have a phone back then, so I didn’t add their contact info.”

Duan Qiong nodded calmly. “I see.”

But inside, he was extremely bothered.

He couldn’t help but think: It must have been a really good friend to be willing to share earbuds. Did Yu Huaili ever get drunk in front of them?

Jiang Yanru asked, “And Little Duan? Did music ever cross your path?”

Duan Qiong pulled his thoughts back. He seemed to think carefully for two seconds, but his mind was still full of the bathroom scene from earlier and nothing else would come.

He said, “No special encounter. But making music makes me feel relaxed.”

Yu Huaili raised an eyebrow.

Duan Qiong didn’t follow the plot…

And the Protagonist Bottom also seemed quite distracted.

Although Xi Xingheng hid it well, Yu Huaili still felt that when he chatted with the people at the table, his tone was a bit perfunctory.

But he’d been normal just a moment ago?

Until the segment neared its end, when Zhang Chenyu and Zhang Zhidong both prepared to go rest, Yu Huaili still hadn’t seen any sign of the Protagonist Top and Bottom “recognizing each other.”

After filming ended, the camera crew and director team turned off the machines.

Jiang Yanru hammered his numb calf, stood up, and said, “You all go rest soon too. There’s not much hot water on the second floor, but you four grown men shouldn’t need that much.”

Duan Qiong glanced at Yu Huaili. “Mm, I’m going to shower. I’ll be quick.”

All night, what had thrown his heart into chaos wasn’t just what happened in the bathroom—it was that the thing below hadn’t gone down the whole evening he’d sat next to Yu Huaili.

Xi Xingheng narrowed his eyes at Duan Qiong, then let his gaze fall on Yu Huaili. “Little Pear, want to go for a walk? The night breeze is nice and cool.”

Hiss… The Protagonist Bottom really was mapping the Protagonist Top’s plot onto himself.

Yu Huaili tilted his head and didn’t refuse.

The cool night breeze ruffled Yu Huaili’s hair. Xi Xingheng walked shoulder to shoulder with him, but neither spoke first.

Until they reached a secluded, dark alley without streetlights. Xi Xingheng stopped, and so did Yu Huaili.

Yu Huaili asked, “Bro, did you want to say something to me?”

Xi Xingheng nodded. “But I want to hug you first.”

Walked this far just for a hug? Was this what Xi Xingheng had been hesitating about all night?

Yu Huaili felt he really couldn’t understand what the protagonists of this world were thinking.

He blinked. “Pay up. One minute costs a thousand, capped at five minutes. Small business. No bargaining, no haggling.”

Xi Xingheng laughed. Without a moment’s hesitation, he pulled out his phone and transferred five thousand yuan to Yu Huaili. “Do you support annual subscriptions?”

“Of course not.” Yu Huaili had just accepted the transfer and was putting his phone away when Xi Xingheng hugged him tightly, gently stroking his hair.

“Little Pear…”

“Mm.” Yu Huaili waited a moment, but no follow-up came. He asked, “Bro, what did you want to say?”

Xi Xingheng was silent for a moment, burying his head in Yu Huaili’s neck, muffled. “What did you and Duan Qiong do in the bathroom just now?”

Actually, Xi Xingheng would have preferred to remove the word “what” from that sentence.

Just now, when he’d walked into the bathroom, Yu Huaili’s scent hit his nose directly, choking him, making his head spin a little.

Xi Xingheng was a man. He knew what that smell meant.

No wonder.

No wonder he’d vaguely heard wrong sounds. No wonder Duan Qiong hadn’t dared answer a single question in the bathroom. No wonder Duan Qiong’s state was so strange. When he said he was going to shower earlier, even his walk was strange…

What the hell did Duan Qiong want? Could he do something this beastly even while recording?

Yu Huaili let out a vague “mm.”

Seeing Yu Huaili not answer head-on, Xi Xingheng frowned, lowered his voice, and asked directly. “Just now… in the bathroom, did you do it with Duan Qiong?”

“Ah?” Yu Huaili frowned, a little surprised. “Bro, what are you talking about?”

Seeing that Yu Huaili’s shock didn’t look fake, Xi Xingheng froze for two seconds. “No? Sorry. I just smelled semen in the bathroom… I thought… Sorry.”

Yu Huaili: …

Okay. He’d forgotten about that.

“Five minutes are up. No renewal.” Yu Huaili raised his hand to push away Xi Xingheng, who was about to hug him again. “Brother Duan Qiong is straight.”

Rejected mercilessly when he begged for a hug, Xi Xingheng pressed his lips together in irritation. “Can Duan Qiong really be straight? Even John seems straighter than him.”

John was Solaron-X’s makeup artist, a man who was thoroughly, completely gay.

After a pause, Xi Xingheng belatedly asked, “Then the smell I caught was purely yours? You… yourself…?”

“Mm.”

“Oh…”

Xi Xingheng cleared his throat a little awkwardly, regretting the words he’d said.

He shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions and “wrongfully accused” Yu Huaili and Duan Qiong of having something going on.

Then, thinking again, he should have taken a few more sniffs in the bathroom…

Duan Qiong and Jiang Qing had already showered.

Seeing Yu Huaili and Xi Xingheng come back together, Duan Qiong narrowed his eyes. Without saying anything, he stood up and covered all the cameras in the room.

Until the night deepened.

Duan Qiong lay on his side, his face toward Yu Huaili, using the moonlight filtering through the window to trace Yu Huaili’s features in silence.

His increasingly sticky, burning gaze was hard to ignore. Yu Huaili half-lifted his eyelids and glanced at Duan Qiong.

Duan Qiong, bold enough to turn the accusation around, asked in a low voice, “Why aren’t you asleep yet?”

Yu Huaili: …

“With you staring at me like that, I can’t sleep.” Yu Huaili fully opened his eyes. “Bro, what are you thinking about? Why aren’t you asleep?”

“…” Duan Qiong’s lips moved, but Yu Huaili couldn’t hear what he said. He narrowed his eyes and leaned a little closer to Duan Qiong.

But Duan Qiong’s reaction was explosive—his whole body stiffened.

“Oh.” Yu Huaili understood, and asked casually, “Is Bro so hard he can’t sleep?”

Duan Qiong: …

“No.” Duan Qiong said in a low voice. “I’m worried you’ll be angry.”

Yu Huaili raised an eyebrow. “Angry?”

“Like me kissing—no. Touching—I mean what happened tonight.” Duan Qiong thought. “Even though we’re friends, and I feel like doing this kind of thing is perfectly normal, because what you like… isn’t my type, I feel like I was defiling you. I’m worried you’ll be angry.”

“I won’t be angry, because we’re good friends.” Yu Huaili narrowed his eyes, yawned, and said softly, “Didn’t Bro just say it’s normal for friends to do these things.”

Duan Qiong let out a relieved breath. “I’m glad you think so too.”

“So Bro was hard all night because of this matter?” Yu Huaili’s voice was muffled.

“No.” Duan Qiong felt embarrassed, something rare for him, and said in a low voice, “It’s hard to… finish.”

He hadn’t been able to finish in the shower. Before getting into bed, he’d already tried his best to squeeze it soft. But the moment he touched Yu Huaili, it just…

Duan Qiong thought this might be the aftereffect of earlier. It should be fine tomorrow morning.

“Then stop staring at me and go to sleep.” Yu Huaili said. “I’m really not angry.”

Duan Qiong nodded. He’d just closed his eyes when he felt Yu Huaili casually touch him through his pajama pants.

Before his brain could react, Duan Qiong’s body had already given the most honest response.

“Mm,” Yu Huaili said. “That wasn’t that hard.”

Duan Qiong: …

With a wooden face, he said, “I’m getting up to change my pants.”

Was this right?

How could this happen?

Would Yu Huaili think he was useless?