“Duan Qiong.”
After the afternoon’s group training ended the next day, the posture coach called out to Duan Qiong.
Yu Huaili, who had been walking out side by side with him, paused for two beats.
Duan Qiong turned to look at the posture coach, raising an eyebrow in slight confusion. “Hm?”
“Have you been under a lot of psychological pressure lately? Or did something happen?” The posture coach said earnestly, “If you’re facing difficulties you can’t solve, you can talk to me. Though I can’t actually solve them for you, I’m definitely a very good listener.”
Yu Huaili rubbed his nose, feeling like he should leave.
Her concern had come out of nowhere with zero warning, and Duan Qiong let out another confused “Hm?” “No.”
She pressed on: “Hm? Really?”
Duan Qiong: “No.”
The posture coach let out a laugh, her tone growing gentler but her words speeding up. “Duan Qiong, then tell me—are you crazy today? How dare you consume two fried items at the cafeteria? Do you still want to debut?!”
When she got worked up, the coach couldn’t help but curse in her hometown dialect. Before Duan Qiong could even make out what she was saying, Yu Huaili poked his head out from behind him.
“Um. Teacher, actually, I was the one who used Duan Qiong’s meal card today…” Before the coach could react, Yu Huaili quickly added an excuse for himself: “But I went straight to the gym and did extra training after lunch, so my exercise quota definitely got met.”
It was obvious Yu Huaili had done this kind of thing plenty of times. The coach wore a subtle expression of “what am I supposed to do with you,” pressing a hand to her throbbing temple.
Before she could speak again, Yu Huaili said, “See you next time, teacher!” and dragged Duan Qiong away at a run.
Posture coach: …
Duan Qiong: …
He glanced down at the hand Yu Huaili was using to grip his wrist.
Duan Qiong thought, Yu Huaili had forgotten again that he didn’t like to be touched.
But was Yu Huaili eighteen this year? Or nineteen? Only one or two years younger than him—how could his palm be so hot?
In that instant, Duan Qiong instinctively wanted to shake Yu Huaili’s hand off, yet somehow felt he could endure occasional contact from others.
“Brother Duan Qiong, looks like I got you scolded by the posture coach.” Once they were a good distance from the training room, Yu Huaili stopped and let go of Duan Qiong’s wrist.
Duan Qiong’s thoughts snapped back. He glanced at his own wrist briefly, shook his head, and answered honestly: “No. I didn’t catch what she was saying.”
Yu Huaili sighed mournfully. “Honestly, even though I’ve been scolded by her many times, I still can’t understand her dialect. This time all I caught was her asking if you were crazy.”
He paused, dragging out his voice: “I only ate one extra bite of food. What crime did I even commit?”
Hearing this, Duan Qiong stared at Yu Huaili for a full two seconds, then let out an inexplicable soft laugh.
Yu Huaili: …?
Damn, he hadn’t been telling a joke just now. Was the protagonist top laughing at him? That was just mean.
Actually, Duan Qiong was remembering how, the night before, the person who’d said he’d keep him company while he wrote songs had only lasted a little while before his head dropped and thunked onto Duan Qiong’s shoulder.
Perhaps due to the intense training and going so long without food, when Yu Huaili’s head fell onto his shoulder, his stomach had let out an audible rumble.
Then Yu Huaili had woken with a start.
The two had stared at each other for a few seconds. Yu Huaili stood up with a straight face, but his ears flushed bright red.
Duan Qiong had watched him go to the living room for two sips of water. After two seconds of silence, Yu Huaili had turned back around, curving his eyes as if genuinely surprised: “Bro, why aren’t you asleep? What are you doing in the living room? Ah… so sleepy, I’m going to bed. Goodnight.”
Only when the dorm room door was gently shut by Yu Huaili did Duan Qiong let out a belated laugh.
But the next day, Yu Huaili seemed to have forgotten all about it.
Remembering this, Duan Qiong said, “Are you very hungry? The meal card—you can borrow it again tomorrow.”
“Thanks, but I’ve decided to do a light fast tomorrow.” Yu Huaili sighed. “Can’t end up too fat to debut.”
Duan Qiong narrowed his eyes, looking at Yu Huaili’s tall, lean figure, and said quietly, “You won’t.”
But his words happened to be cut off by the sound of a ringing phone.
“Hello? Brother Zhou?” Yu Huaili straightened up as he answered, his expression gradually turning serious. “Yeah, I’m with Duan Qiong right now. I haven’t seen Jiang Qing…”
Duan Qiong could roughly guess what the call was about. He watched Yu Huaili, whose face had unconsciously cooled, and found himself thinking that at least Solaron-X’s positioning had been accurate.
Yu Huaili’s looks really did match the mainstream aesthetic of youths, middle-aged people, and seniors alike. After debut, he really should have been the Visual.
“Okay, we’re heading over now.”
After hanging up, Yu Huaili smiled. “Brother Zhou just said he couldn’t reach you, and asked if we were together. He told us to go to the meeting room—there’s something to announce… Bro, I have a feeling I know what it is. Does Brother Zhou looking for us mean we’re going to debut?”
Duan Qiong rubbed the back of his neck, looking at Yu Huaili, who was anticipating the future with complete sincerity. His lips moved, but all he said was: “Perhaps.”
Forget it.
He didn’t seem to have the standing to ask Yu Huaili what would happen if life after debut wasn’t what he’d expected.
Maybe Yu Huaili was just into messy relationships between men?
After all, there were way too many people in the entertainment industry chasing thrills.
Several people had already arrived in the spacious meeting room. Yu Huaili only recognized Brother Zhou and Jiang Qing.
The one who’d called Yu Huaili just now was Brother Zhou, the manager in charge of all the trainees in the company.
Jiang Qing was also a member of Solaron-X. He didn’t have much screen time in the plot, but this guy wasn’t a good person either—he had even fewer scruples than Yu Huaili. He was the one who got caught for soliciting prostitution.
Hiss…
Yu Huaili reconsidered. An idol being kept by a sponsor and an idol getting caught soliciting—neither was exactly a glorious thing. At this point, it was better not to point fingers.
Just as the two sat down, Brother Zhou spoke with a stern face: “You are the promising talents we personally selected. The company places great importance on this group debut project. We’ve not only arranged a renowned agent for you—even the Chairman will be coming in a bit. Keep your talking to a minimum and just listen to what our Chairman has to say…”
Brother Zhou droned on and on. The moment his words ended, the meeting room door swung open.
Walking in first alongside the Chairman was the protagonist bottom, Xi Xingheng.
Yu Huaili’s gaze swept lightly over the Chairman and Xi Xingheng, then slowly looked away.
He blinked, thinking: well, well, all the people who mattered most in his plotline were now in this meeting room.
The entertainment company’s chairman, Wen Zheng, was the financial backer he’d struggled so hard to latch onto after debut.
Wen Zheng was nearly thirty, yet lived like a monk in need of abstinence—uninterested in men or women. In all these years, not a single peach blossom had bloomed around him.
Although after Wen Zheng truly took him in, he didn’t actually abuse his power over Yu Huaili. His attitude toward him was lukewarm, as if just keeping him around like a lucky charm, occasionally throwing a resource his way for amusement.
But just being connected to Wen Zheng was enough to make his tail wag to the sky. He often used Wen Zheng’s name to throw his weight around outside. The fact that Wen Zheng knew but didn’t rein him in was itself a statement of attitude.
And he’d always been the best at climbing the pole once it was extended to him.
But in the previous life, the man in his nude scandal photos wasn’t Wen Zheng. It was some male prostitute from who-knows-where.
Once those photos circulated, everyone who knew about him and Wen Zheng laughed that even Wen Zheng had finally gotten cuckolded.
Wen Zheng didn’t care about that, because they’d never slept together. And Wen Zheng had long known that Yu Huaili had been secretly dating a boyfriend behind his back.
Wen Zheng just thought Yu Huaili had talent, ambition, a face that was pleasant to look at, and was from his own company. He’d come to him voluntarily, begging for a hand up.
For Wen Zheng, it wasn’t a difficult favor, so he agreed.
But Wen Zheng never expected a man who’d been in the entertainment industry to actually be this stupid.
He might have a bit of street smarts, but his cleverness was never used in the right places. His heart was higher than the sky, but his fate was thinner than paper.
What fully made Wen Zheng cut ties with him was the realization that this young man was just an idiot.
And in this life, Wen Zheng realized that fact even earlier—the moment he went to the paparazzi to expose them, Wen Zheng kicked him to the curb.
Brother Zhou’s face was plastered with smiles as he hurriedly stood to greet them.
“Everyone, sit.” Wen Zheng raised his hand slightly, then looked at the group and said simply, “This is Xi Xingheng on my left. He’ll be debuting alongside these three trainees.”
Xi Xingheng curved his lips into a faint smile, nodded at them, and sat down.
Even though this was their group debut, at present, they had no say in this meeting room.
Listening to the heated discussion around them about the group’s debut date, name, and all the big and small details, Yu Huaili propped his chin on his hand and asked the system: [System, my mission is to capture Duan Qiong, right? I don’t have to follow my plotline to the letter?]
The system thought it over: [Theoretically, no. But Bad Pear, the final score includes a persona score. If there are key plot points you can hit, it’s best to hit them—otherwise I’m worried your persona score will be low.]
[Mm.] Yu Huaili’s gaze drifted back to Wen Zheng. [I understand. Let’s see how it goes.]
His mission target was Duan Qiong. He wouldn’t sacrifice the big picture for the small. If the persona score could be higher, great; if it was lower, he’d make up for it elsewhere.
In any case, his mission absolutely had to be completed.
As Yu Huaili withdrew his gaze and looked down at the live stream bullet comments, two pairs of eyes landed on him.
But one of those gazes swept past quickly.
Duan Qiong looked at Yu Huaili, then at Wen Zheng, and lightly raised an eyebrow.
He remembered now.
Wen Zheng was one of the men Yu Huaili had messed around with.
Mm, one of them.
