Chapter 14: Add a Friend
Qiao Yusen was as excited as a butterfly flitting among flowers.
Making Min Zhi want to swat him dead.
He stood at the doorway for a while, like a motionless stone statue.
However, Qiao Yusen, immersed in styling the handsome men, was oblivious, gesturing back and forth between the two: “This one looks good, this one looks good too. Little Jiayan, what do you think? Xiao Leng, you studied art, do you have any insights?”
“Anything is fine.” Luo Jiayan smiled slightly, his attitude agreeable. He took the clothes Qiao Yusen gave him and held them against his chest, turning to ask, “Ah Zhao, do you think it looks good?”
Xi Leng inexplicably became the center of attention, locked onto by two pairs… three pairs of eyes.
Xi Leng didn’t really care, but the clothes Qiao Yusen picked for him were a bit too flamboyant, so he said: “A see-through knit top… isn’t that a bit too much for the show? Can I wear my own clothes? Or other clothes with a collar?”
He was also wearing a scarf today and had two more in his bag, thinking that if the stylist found this one unsuitable, he had other colors and styles to replace it with. Or he could change into a collared shirt and raise the collar to cover his neck.
Then he looked at Luo Jiayan and sincerely praised: “It suits you very well.”
Receiving four simple words of praise, Luo Jiayan was quite content, his mood brightening considerably, hopping and spinning around.
Turning to the doorway, he suddenly froze: “Min… Min… Min-shen?”
This time, the eavesdropping was clearer than in the bar. Min Zhi accurately caught the name Luo Jiayan used, “Ah Zhao.”
But “Xi Leng” wasn’t a stage name. The name he signed on the contract was this name.
Min Zhi raised an eyebrow.
Being discovered eavesdropping, he remained calm and collected, walking into the room and asking Qiao Yusen: “Where are my clothes?”
“Don’t you always bring your own?” Qiao Yusen replied matter-of-factly, too busy to pay him any attention.
Min Zhi, ignored, was silent for a moment. Logically, he should scold Qiao Yusen a couple of times and then leave the wardrobe to get his makeup done.
But he stood there for a moment, then walked over again.
Qiao Yusen agreed with Xi Leng’s taste, allowing him to wear his own clothes and accepting the scarf accessory, only asking him to sit down so he could style his hair.
Min Zhi frowned unconsciously, asking suspiciously: “You’re doing hair now too?”
“What, have you only known me for a day?” Qiao Yusen continued stroking the young man’s naturally curly wolf-cut, smiling at Min Zhi in the mirror. “See, Xiao Leng understands me better than you do.”
Xi Leng, suddenly caught in the crossfire: “…”
His heart also skipped a beat.
Come to think of it, this was his first official meeting with Qiao Yusen, they were just strangers.
But the moment he heard Luo Jiayan’s address, he connected this face with the words in the novel.
Qiao Yusen, Jackson—Min Zhi’s childhood friend, the dedicated wingman, with no romantic interest in the universally adored protagonist shou. He seemed to be the most free and unrestrained character in the novel, passing through the two protagonists’ complex love lives, living a life of freedom.
He was also a renowned stylist, with exceptional talent and skill in art. Unlike Xi Leng, who gave up on his dreams midway, he persevered on this path, unimpeded.
Therefore, even on their first meeting, Xi Leng already had a good impression of him.
But at this moment, in the mirror, the protagonist gong, Min Zhi, was standing behind them with a cold expression, silent, the atmosphere strange and tense.
“…”
After a while, Luo Jiayan was called to get his makeup done, looking back reluctantly with every step.
Min Zhi’s own stylist arrived just then, and the wardrobe became a harmonious group of four again.
Qiao Yusen was quite talkative, seizing every opportunity to ask Xi Leng a few questions: “Hey, why did you decide to join this show?”
“…I’m short of money.” Xi Leng told the truth, then, remembering his persona, added, “And also for… Min-shen.”
Min Zhi, halfway through getting his hair done, suddenly walked over, like a robot triggered by a command, and warned Qiao Yusen in a low voice: “Did you hear that? He’s my fan, behave yourself.”
“Your fan?” Qiao Yusen was unconcerned, smiling brightly. “Then, by extension, he’s my good friend, right? By the way, Xiao Leng, Min Zhi and I have known each other since we were young, our relationship… so-so, we barely manage not to fight.”
Min Zhi sneered inwardly, wanting to shut him up in the most direct and violent way, when he suddenly heard him ask a question he liked—
“You’ve known Jiayan for a long time too, right?”
Min Zhi silently sat back down, listening with one ear.
“Yes.” Xi Leng replied indifferently. “A long time, we met in our first year of junior high, six years in the same class.”
“Then you’re also childhood friends.” Qiao Yusen continued. “Or perhaps, childhood sweethearts?”
Xi Leng didn’t respond, only lowering his long eyes, a calmer and more indifferent expression replacing his previous one.
His reaction was unexpected for Qiao Yusen.
Judging by their appearance and personality, Xi Leng and Luo Jiayan were a good match, complementary, and with more than ten years of history, it would be hard not to develop something more.
Unless, their sexual orientations were incompatible. But he had ruled out this possibility at first glance. His intuition about his own kind was always very sharp.
After some effort, Xi Leng’s messy natural curls were styled smoothly and neatly, his bangs parted in the middle, accentuating his delicate features and high nose bridge. The ends were left slightly curled, playfully framing his ears.
Qiao Yusen bent down, leaning close to Xi Leng’s shoulder, admiring his work through the mirror, one hand reaching forward to brush aside the stray hairs covering his eyes.
The chain of his glasses touched Xi Leng’s forehead, and he heard a rather suggestive compliment: “Damn fine.”
He liked physical contact, he wasn’t very reserved, the opposite of Xi Leng.
This kind of physical contact was actually insignificant, but Xi Leng was overly perceptive, or perhaps sensitive. He wasn’t used to it and felt slightly uncomfortable.
Qiao Yusen didn’t hide his sexual orientation, and Xi Leng could sense it. He also knew from the novel that he was indeed the wingman for the protagonist gong and shou, but his private life was less than admirable, a promiscuous and indulgent playboy.
But he didn’t have an omniscient perspective and didn’t know Xi Leng’s situation. Xi Leng only thought he had some misunderstanding and said tactfully: “We’re the same, Jackson.”
Qiao Yusen wasn’t surprised. After finishing styling the hair, he straightened up and smiled: “I thought so too.”
This made Xi Leng frown slightly. Since he knew their preferences were the same, what was the meaning behind the subtle flirting, probing, and questioning hidden beneath that charming smile?
Min Zhi left.
The next second, Qiao Yusen received a message. He looked at his phone, then at the person who had just stormed out, baffled.
He maintained his smile and said goodbye to Xi Leng.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Qiao Yusen was forcefully slammed against the bathroom door, his glasses almost falling off.
He pushed his glasses back up, meeting his childhood friend’s fierce and dangerous gaze, retorting: “I should be asking you what’s wrong, cursing at people for no reason, and now resorting to violence.”
“I told you,” Min Zhi said in a low voice, “he’s my fan. Stop with your tricks.”
“No matter how clever the tricks, he has to be willing to play along.” Qiao Yusen said nonchalantly. “Besides, I’m helping you, don’t wrong the good guy.”
Min Zhi was driven to laughter by his words, his eyes dark as they stared at him: “Heh, helping me?”
“Yeah, helping you. Didn’t I help you last time? To stop that Han guy for you, I dragged him into a drinking game, somehow it got back to my dad, who thought I was trying to pursue him, it disgusted me so much.”
The topic strayed, Min Zhi’s face growing colder, while Qiao Yusen maintained his smile, suddenly humming a tune: “Of course, I’m helping you this time too… helping you… see clearly…”
He then pointed a finger at Min Zhi’s left chest.
The last two words fell, light as a feather, yet heavy as a thousand-pound boulder, pressing down on the beating heart in his chest.
“Here.”
Min Zhi froze briefly, then his brows furrowed tightly. With a cold and ungrateful expression, he slapped Qiao Yusen’s hand away, as if swatting away the strange feeling in his heart.
“…What the hell?”
“If you can’t speak properly, just shut up.”
Qiao Yusen, the veteran of the love scene, rolled his eyes, then smiled again under Min Zhi’s intimidating gaze, appearing gentle and harmless, no longer making a sound, keeping the mystery to himself, just as Min Zhi wanted.
Besides confirming that there was nothing ambiguous between Xi Leng and Luo Jiayan, and also confirming that Xi Leng was a top, there seemed to be no need to tell his bad-tempered childhood friend, who had thought he was straight for 25 years, heh.
He also had a temper 🙂
“Xiao Leng~ let’s add each other as friends.”
Qiao Yusen returned to the wardrobe, smiling as he displayed his QR code, completely ignoring the certain someone glaring at him from behind.
Although the previous probing was a bit strange, Xi Leng still had a good impression of him. He took out his phone and scanned the code, sending a friend request.
Min Zhi hesitated, just as the now made-up Luo Jiayan returned, showering the styled idol with compliments.
Min Zhi’s reaction was indifferent. He suppressed the urge to frown, looking at the excited little fan in front of him, his mind wandering elsewhere.
“Added.” Qiao Yusen operated his phone, accepting Xi Leng’s friend request on the spot.
Xi Leng didn’t use his phone much and simply hummed in acknowledgement, not bothering to check his phone.
Min Zhi thought for a moment, then said to Luo Jiayan: “We’ll be filming together, let’s add each other as friends first.”
“O-okay.” Luo Jiayan was stunned by the unexpected surprise, speechless and at a loss for words. “Then… should you scan mine, or should you scan mine?”
“I’ll scan yours.”
Luo Jiayan’s hand trembled slightly as he handed over his phone. Min Zhi scanned it a few times before it finally beeped.
Xi Leng looked away after the beep.
Knowing the novel’s plot in advance, he felt very calm, only a sense of “as expected, it’s destiny.”
Unexpectedly, Min Zhi then walked over to him.
“I’ll scan yours.”
Xi Leng looked up, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
Min Zhi’s words weren’t a question. Xi Leng, for various reasons, including his fan persona, had no reason to refuse, so he took out his phone again.
Min Zhi’s expression relaxed slightly, then he noticed the scarf around Xi Leng’s neck.
Unwilling to remove the scarf even for the poster shoot, why? He had met him so many times, yet he had never seen Xi Leng’s neck completely. What was hidden beneath that scarf? A youthful indiscretion, perhaps? A tattoo?
Someone else’s name, someone else’s birthday, or someone else’s portrait, something commemorative like that?
The throat, like the left side of the chest, was where the lifeline was, how important must something hidden there be?
Min Zhi, lost in thought, scanned the QR code on Xi Leng’s phone, a new page popping up.
Xi Leng put away his phone after seeing that the scan was successful. He had to go shoot the poster.
Xi Leng went to the photography studio, but Min Zhi stayed where he was, his head lowered, lost in thought.
Three lines of text were displayed on his phone screen.
Payment to Leng (*Leng)
Payment Amount ￥_____
Add a note
“…?”
After the shoot, he went home. Perhaps because Qiao Yusen was too annoying, even though Min Zhi wasn’t consciously thinking about anything, his brows were still furrowed, the feeling of irritation lingering.
Min Zhi rubbed his temples and opened his phone.
The transfer he sent was like a stone sinking into the sea, WeChat remained calm, a sea of green, no red dot indicating a new friend request.
He had sent the ten thousand yuan, hadn’t he?
Min Zhi had a moment of doubt, a sense of absurdity as he checked the transfer record, yet he couldn’t help but continue thinking, or was ten thousand too little?
…After all, his little male fan was really poor.
That night, after eating, washing up, and tidying up, after bustling around for a while, Xi Leng finally relaxed and took out his phone, freezing on the spot.
A new payment notification caught his eye.
Payment Received Notification
Amount Received: ￥10000
Note: My WeChat is 188********, same as my phone number.
Xi Leng: “…?”
