Deeply Affectionate Male Supporting Character Topped the Protagonist 3

Chapter 3: Side Hustle of a Fake Fan

Half an hour after his rebirth, the new clothes suffered tragic damage.

Xi Leng closed his eyes, fingers against the seam of his trousers, feeling the bulge in his pocket.

A memory from three years ago was triggered like a switch, emerging from the dust of forgotten things and entering his mind. Xi Leng hurriedly called out to Min Zhi, who was turning to leave with a carefree air: “Wait.”

For over twenty years of his life, he had spent more than ten years working various part-time jobs, gaining extremely rich experience. Like a delivery driver grabbing convenient orders along the way, he would also earn a little extra money within his capabilities. It was a convenient matter, why not do it?

Chasing stars wasn’t cheap. No matter how foolish he was in his past life, he wouldn’t bankrupt himself for Luo Jiayan’s entertainment. For instance, during this airport pickup, he had also taken a job delivering a letter for a fan. Unfortunately, he hadn’t seen Min Zhi in his past life, so the letter wasn’t delivered.

Min Zhi paused slightly. Xi Leng quickly took out the creased envelope from his pocket and handed it over: “This is for you.”

He then asked: “Can I take a verification photo?”

The client could definitely find out about Min Zhi’s escape act at the airport today. His words alone weren’t enough proof; besides the photo, he had no way to prove he had successfully delivered the letter.

Min Zhi didn’t know what Xi Leng was thinking. Hearing this, he frowned slightly, thinking that this scheming fan might be playing hard to get, taking advantage of the situation, and trying to profit even more.

The restroom wasn’t a good place to take photos, and a photo together would be even more troublesome. If it were to spread, who knew how the marketing accounts would spin it. A DSLR camera hung prominently from Xi Leng’s chest; whether this person was a real fan or a reporter was still unknown.

Afraid that Min Zhi would leave, Xi Leng quickly picked up his phone, holding it low, not pointing it at his face: “Just a photo of your hand will do.”

This request was so minimal it barely counted as a request. Passersby and fans took photos of celebrities’ faces on the street, and he’d never seen anyone ask for permission beforehand.

Min Zhi was stunned, caught off guard.

He had debuted for seven years and had seen all sorts of strange things, but incredibly, he had once again misjudged this male fan’s intentions.

Xi Leng took the other party’s silence as consent and quickly snapped a picture of Min Zhi holding the letter, showing him the phone screen—a close-up of the hand, just capturing the tattoo on half of his middle finger, the background his black clothing, not revealing anything about his surroundings.

Smoothly finishing a job, Xi Leng stepped back slightly, his eyes and brows hidden in the shadow of the cap’s brim, only revealing the tip of his nose and his delicate chin.

“Thank you.”

Polite and courteous.

Min Zhi was still in a daze when he got into the van.

He had clearly been cornered by a fan in an empty restroom, yet the whole process went surprisingly smoothly.

On the other side, Xi Leng also got into a car.

He was reborn, his heart beating vividly and powerfully in his chest. He spent a rare extravagant sum, hailing a taxi at the airport entrance as his simple and unadorned celebration.

His white clothes had a large blemish, but fortunately, today’s earnings were enough to cover the expenses, with a considerable surplus.

Opening QQ, he found the client from three years ago through the chat history, a female fan named “Nuannuan” with Min Zhi as her profile picture, and sent the verification photo.

Nuannuan replied instantly, filling his screen with exclamation marks, her disbelief evident.

【！！！！Damn, how did you manage to hand it directly to him? I heard even the fansite masters couldn’t get a picture today aaaaaaaaaaah】

Xi Leng stared at the screen impassively.

A new notification popped up.

【“Nuannuan” transferred 200 Yuan to you】

A second later.

Leng: 【Received payment】
Leng: 【Thank you [/Happy]】

Back in his rented apartment, Xi Leng was utterly exhausted and collapsed directly onto the single bed.

Waking up, then sleeping, sleeping to the point of losing track of time, his thoughts muddled, dreams, hallucinations, and reality intermingling bizarrely.

As dusk fell, the inside of the old residential building was particularly dim. His pale, bony ankles peeked out from under the covers. After a few seconds of searching for his slippers, Xi Leng ran a hand through his black hair, which had grown past his jawline, got out of bed, and went to the bathroom to wash his face with cold water again.

He looked at his moist hazel eyes in the mirror.

He had truly come back to life.

Knock, knock, knock, came the urgent knocking at the door. The apartment wasn’t big, and the soundproofing wasn’t good, every knock clearly audible.

Xi Leng’s movements paused.

According to his memory, he would be living peacefully in this rented apartment for more than half a year. But his return, like a butterfly stirring up a storm, he had seen Min Zhi with his own eyes, delivered the letter he hadn’t in his past life. It was possible that other things would also change as a result.

That man – his biological father, Rong Haigao, was a complete lunatic, a violent man, an incorrigible gambler. Even though he had escaped from that home years ago, Rong Haigao still relentlessly hounded him.

If he couldn’t get money from him, Rong Haigao would harass Rong Xingyi, who was still in middle school. He couldn’t truly escape to a place where Rong Haigao couldn’t find him.

Hesitating for a moment, Xi Leng opened the door.

The sight that greeted him was a familiar, bright and gentle face, yet a layer of unfamiliar anxiety hung between his delicate brows.

“…Ah Zhao!” Meeting Xi Leng’s gaze, Luo Jiayan’s furrowed brows relaxed, his eyes instantly reddening with a mix of relief and lingering fear. “You scared me to death! I thought something happened to you, you didn’t reply to my messages, and you didn’t answer the phone…”

Xi Leng’s gaze rested on his face for a moment before shifting away, simply replying with three words: “I was sleeping.”

Luo Jiayan was speechless, a strange feeling rising in his heart. Although Xi Leng always maintained an indifferent demeanor, he could always sense a subtle gentleness beneath that cold exterior.

The strange feeling vanished as Xi Leng turned around. He hurriedly followed into the apartment, putting his delicate face close to the young man, his clear, large eyes blinking as they followed him.

But Xi Leng didn’t even spare him a glance, rummaging through a jacket on the coat rack and pulling out a pack of cigarettes. Without a word, he actually lit a cigarette right in front of him.

Luo Jiayan didn’t like the smell of smoke and couldn’t help but frown. However, his intuition told him something was on Xi Leng’s mind. Instead of retreating, he pressed forward, following closely behind, tentatively asking: “You went to the airport pickup today, right?”

Xi Leng didn’t hide it: “I went.”

Still concise and to the point.

The sunny and kind protagonist shou was never deterred by coldness. He let out a long “Oh,” his bright almond eyes fixed on Xi Leng, picking up the conversation again: “I saw on the trending topics that he used a body double, and then he ran off himself, such a bold move… He’s Min-shen, after all. You went for nothing, you must be tired, right?”

“Yeah, a bit.” Xi Leng’s reply was extremely brief. “Do you have anything else?”

Luo Jiayan choked, suppressing the strange, sour feeling in his heart, becoming even more cautious: “Um… I also wanted to ask if you want to go out for dinner together?”

“No.” Xi Leng refused directly. “You go eat with other friends. I’ll just be a wet blanket.”

Ah Zhao was definitely unhappy.

Luo Jiayan pursed his lips, forcing a smile: “What’s wrong? Are you tired?”

He offered a way out, and Xi Leng followed it: “Yeah, tired. If there’s nothing else, you can go back now, get some rest.”

After all, there were more than ten years of friendship. Xi Leng still walked Luo Jiayan to the door.

But Luo Jiayan had never been treated so coldly by him before, managing a smile uglier than crying: “Um, then you rest.”

Luo Jiayan was always considerate, with high emotional intelligence, good at providing emotional support, and often wouldn’t directly express his unwillingness or dislike.

However, Xi Leng understood him. His sensitive inner self was contrary to his outward appearance, and he could always see through his forced smiles or insincere words.

At this moment, Xi Leng seemed indifferent, silently closing the door.

Luo Jiayan lowered his head, dejected like a wilted eggplant, and listlessly walked down the stairs.

Suddenly remembering the poor soundproofing of the old residential building, he stomped heavily on the cement floor, thump, thump, thump, running up and down, deliberately making loud noises, finally returning to the closed security door, panting.

He waited at the door for a while, then squatted down and waited some more. The smile on his face gradually disappeared as he stared intently at the security door, almost as if he could see through it. He still didn’t hear Xi Leng’s footsteps from inside.

His phone rang, he deliberately let the ringtone play until it automatically disconnected, Xi Leng still didn’t come to open the door for him.

Luo Jiayan bit his lower lip, answering the phone when it rang for the third time, talking to the person on the phone as he went downstairs.

Because he hadn’t answered the phone, his friends, just like he cared for Xi Leng, fussed over him on the phone, asking him what was wrong.

Luo Jiayan smiled at the air: “I’m fine, I’ll be right there, you guys eat first.”

Things weren’t over even after seeing Luo Jiayan off.

First, the landlord called to urge him to pay the rent. Xi Leng had to pay him several thousand from his savings, leaving the remaining delivery fee as living expenses for the next few days.

Then, the phone rang. Three characters were clearly displayed on the screen: Rong Haigao.

Perhaps because he’d died once, Xi Leng’s mood was unusually calm as he pressed the answer button.

“…Rong Zhao?”

The speed at which he answered the call surprised the other party,  who was momentarily stunned and called out the cursed name attached to his surname.

Xi Leng didn’t respond. The man came to his senses and continued to talk to himself: “You fucking moved again? Hiding from me, are you? Believe it or not, I can find you even if you hide at the ends of the earth?”

Rong Haigao had indeed found this place not long after in his past life. The casino he owed money to had immense power and likely helped him a great deal in finding his son to demand money.

The threat from his biological father was like a sharp blade piercing his heart, yet the reborn Xi Leng calmly accepted it, unmoved even as blood flowed from his palm, his voice indifferent: “Then find me.”

Rong Haigao was successfully enraged, just as he was brewing a bellyful of foul language, he was met with the beeping of the disconnected line.

Hanging up the phone, he saw the brand new jacket on the sofa, the pristine white marred by the black signature.

After a moment of thought, Xi Leng hung up the jacket and took pictures of it, one of the front and one of the back, emphasizing the close-up of the signature.

With a cigarette dangling from his mouth, he impassively operated his phone, listing the jacket on the secondhand trading app, Xianyu.

His fingertips tapped the keyboard, entering: Min Zhi’s personally signed, guaranteed authentic jacket, 90% new…