Chapter 4: The Bitterness of Love
KTV.
Strange and dazzling laser lights danced across the young man’s face, revealing no sharp angles from any angle, only soft and beautiful features. Even dejectedly hiding in the corner, silent, everyone’s attention was still focused on him.
“Why haven’t you been singing?” A man with slicked-back hair sat down next to him, his direct gaze roaming his face, his tone frivolous as he asked, “Who upset our Jiayan?”
Luo Jiayan’s peace was disturbed. He glanced sideways at the newcomer, the young master of the Han family, Han You, a partner of his family’s company.
In terms of business, the Han family was a bit above his own. Han You’s attitude towards him could be described as attentive and flattering.
The two were considered friends, but not to the point of confiding in each other. Luo Jiayan appeared agreeable on the surface, but in reality, he had a clear understanding in his heart, so he simply replied perfunctorily: “Nothing.”
“By the way, why did Jiayan arrive so late today? Could it be he went to look for that someone again?”
“He doesn’t sing even when he comes, why bother looking for him?”
Luo Jiayan wasn’t a sensitive person, usually brushing off these gossips, but at this moment, he recalled Xi Leng’s words: I’ll just be a wet blanket.
The indifferent tone had unexpectedly shattered his composure, leaving him feeling completely unsettled.
He abruptly stood up, but the gossip continued.
Everyone was chatting and drinking, led by Han You, laughing disdainfully: “Isn’t he just a simp?”
Luo Jiayan froze, unable to believe he would hear such a description. Suddenly, he strode over to Han You, his face darkened as he called out his name: “…Han You. Don’t talk about Ah Zhao like that.”
“What’s wrong?” Han You remained unconcerned, his eyebrows raised arrogantly. “A simp is a simp, can’t people even say it?”
Luo Jiayan felt a pang of frustration. Even he, obtuse as he was, understood that “simp” was a derogatory term for a pathetic pursuer. Realizing this, he straightened his face and said righteously: “We are best friends, we grew up together. Don’t talk nonsense anymore, insulting him is insulting me!”
“Hey, Jiang-ge, look—”
A voice broke the tense atmosphere between the two.
Han You glanced over impatiently. The other person handed over a phone and gestured for Luo Jiayan to look as well.
“Jiayan, look at this photo, doesn’t it look like that simp… that someone?”
Luo Jiayan, who had only today learned how his group of friends misunderstood Xi Leng, furrowed his brows, about to explain further, when his gaze was instantly captured by the photo on the phone. He froze for a moment and snatched the phone.
This morning, after a six-month absence, Min Zhi returned to the country after filming overseas. Fans eagerly awaited his arrival, and the airport pickup was an unprecedented spectacle.
However, Min Zhi had pulled a disappearing act. Fans squeezed and jostled, following the bodyguards through the airport with difficulty, only to realize after a while that the baseball-cap-wearing young man protected by the security was just Min Zhi’s body double. The real person had long since disappeared.
Seven years ago, the 18-year-old Min Zhi debuted as a singer-songwriter, instantly becoming a sensation, the undisputed rising star of the music scene, his face recognized as synonymous with popularity.
But three years ago, for some unknown reason, he abandoned music and moved to the film and television industry. Although not professionally trained, his fans remained incredibly supportive, every drama he filmed becoming a hit, no doubt stepping on many people’s toes.
He was envied and resented, yet his personality was completely unreserved, covered in thorns, jokingly called the walking “powder keg” of the entertainment industry. Today, he had pulled such a stunt again, and his rivals seized the opportunity to stir up trouble. Combined with his own astonishing popularity, his return to the country also topped the trending topics, overshadowing all kinds of cheating, gossip, and relationship news.
Luo Jiayan didn’t have the time to care about his idol’s new scandals, his attention completely drawn to a fan’s Weibo post on the trending topic, a blurry, distant photo that had received several thousand likes.
【Who is this handsome guy? Does anyone know?? So tall and handsome, swoon, is he an ordinary person or a celebrity?】
In the accompanying photo, behind a blur of black figures, a young man in white shirt and black trousers stood by the window. Like an isolated island in a vast ocean. It was Xi Leng.
The composition of the photo also carried a cold and aloof aura. He stood quietly, his head slightly lowered, his curly black hair partially obscuring his face, completely out of sync with the surrounding excitement of the fan activity.
Everyone in the comment section displayed their investigative skills.
【That’s Min-shen’s light-up headband on his hat, Min-shen has such a handsome male fan and I didn’t even know??】
【@X.L. My goddess has finally been discovered, I didn’t expect Teacher XL to be Min-shen’s fan! What a dream collaboration!!】
【@X.L. A divine, hidden gem, don’t miss out, everyone come and see aaaaaah, their art style is super amazing! [Cheer][Cheer]】
【Teacher XL wore the same outfit to the bookstore event last time, but they were wearing a mask so their face wasn’t visible [Picture]】
【Just the physique and temperament alone have already killed me with handsomeness, I’m starting to simp】
【Such a high nose bridge… Amazing】
Of course, there were also some buzzkills.
【Aren’t all atmospheric handsome guys inseparable from masks and hats, there are tons of them online, lol】
【High-definition photos will only shatter the illusion, it’s better to look at our flawlessly handsome Min Zhi [Picture][Picture]】
Then they started arguing again.
【…Still blindly recommending him?? Fans waited so long for him to return, and then he just ran off, is that even acceptable??】
【Lol, did the handsome ordinary guy predict a certain someone’s shitty behavior in advance and decide not to go 233】
【To be fair, today’s schedule wasn’t publicly announced, it was leaked by the unscrupulous X Country airport… Min-shen and his team only found out after they got off the plane, they didn’t have security prepared in advance】
Min Zhi trended every now and then, half of the time it was fans and passersby praising his looks, the other half he became a target of concentrated fire. Part of it was his own fault, of course, and also partly due to his rivals stirring the waters behind the scenes.
A small airport pickup incident was gradually magnified into Min Zhi betraying fans’ expectations and deliberately messing with them.
Min Zhi was indifferent to this: “It’s fine, let them scold me. People have to vent somewhere, scolding me won’t hurt me.”
His manager, Zhu Minglang, had also gradually evolved from anxious and angry to completely unfazed.
He even started gossiping about others with interest, suddenly asking Min Zhi: “Hey, did you see that male fan in person? Is he really that handsome?”
“…What?”
Min Zhi frowned, yet the words “male fan” evoked a clear and unforgettable memory, causing him to forget to turn the page of the poetry collection in his hand.
After a moment, Min Zhi unexpectedly hummed in agreement, and to the puzzled Zhu Minglang, he simply said: “I even signed an autograph for him.”
“Really??” Zhu Minglang’s small eyes instantly widened threefold, disbelieving yet gratified. After a moment, he broke into a smile and used Min Zhi’s own words: “Not bad, haha, be more fan-serving like this in the future, smile and sign an autograph, it won’t hurt you.”
Min Zhi expressed his objection with silence, his lack of response purely because this was a recurring issue between them, and he didn’t want to waste his breath on it again.
“You…” Zhu Minglang sighed, feeling quite helpless towards his boss’s unresponsiveness. “When fans are happy you’re not happy, when fans are unhappy, you’re still not happy. If you don’t change your temper, your fans will be snatched away by others sooner or later.”
“What’s wrong with me?” Min Zhi threw down the book and stood up abruptly, his hands in his pockets as he looked down from above, spitting out a barrage of words like a machine gun: “I haven’t violated any rules or broken any laws. Doesn’t a normal person have a temper? At least I’m not as impressive as Meng Huai Zhi confessing to a man at his concert.”
Zhu Minglang was rendered speechless, his imposing manner solely supported by his physique: “Y-you, if you want to be an actor, you have to pay attention to your public image. You play a refined gentleman in dramas, and then beat up reporters off-screen, do you know how disillusioning that is?? The production team wouldn’t dare to trouble you, they’ll only come to me…”
Under the pressure of Min Zhi’s cold and sharp gaze, he retreated step by step, gulping as he muttered: “If you want to be true to yourself, go back to playing rock! Fans would love for you to be as individualistic as possible, the more willful and bad-tempered you are, the more they’ll support you.”
However, Min Zhi didn’t buy into these words. He didn’t curse, but simply pursed his lips and turned away, not wanting to talk about it anymore.
“You’re not as impressive as Meng Huai Zhi confessing to a man at his concert.” Zhu Minglang added fuel to the fire. “Oh right, and you don’t have anyone you like that you need to confess to publicly either.”
Min Zhi wouldn’t rise to the bait and ignored him completely.
Zhu Minglang sighed faintly, then changed the subject: “Sigh, I think you should experience some hardship.”
The topic shifting away from music, Min Zhi finally reacted, his sharp eyes narrowing: “Haven’t I suffered enough? Being lectured by idiots every day.”
Zhu Minglang didn’t acknowledge being called an idiot and chuckled: “The bitterness of love, you haven’t experienced that, have you?”
He wasn’t finished yet, continuing as he ran: “Even if you wanted to experience it, there’s nowhere for you to experience it, hahahahaha—”
As if anticipating Min Zhi’s reaction, he reached the door and pulled it closed behind him, the last trailing “ha” lingering on the door before dissipating.
The annoying fatty was gone in a flash. Min Zhi could only aimlessly kick the air, cursing with a darkened face: “Fuck off.”
This day felt particularly long. After the ten-plus-hour flight, the airport, and the subsequent messy events, Min Zhi still wasn’t tired when he returned to his apartment. He took his cigarettes and lighter to the open balcony.
Summer’s arrival in Beijing was slow, the June air crisp and cool, like a spring night, with a faint floral fragrance. Wearing only a long-sleeved shirt under the night sky, he felt slightly chilly.
In the tranquil night, the phone emitted a piercing blue light. Min Zhi held it casually, browsing for a while. He saw the post recommending the talented artist again, and driven by curiosity, he clicked on the green “@X.L.”, entering the other person’s Weibo page.
Unexpectedly, just as his aura suggested, he was an artist. Or rather, he could only be called a small artist, with only six thousand followers so far, an unknown number of them being bot accounts.
For even this to be dug up by his resourceful fans, Min Zhi thought, this was truly a superficial world.
Moreover, those fans, after all their digging, still didn’t know what this “divine artist” looked like, getting so excited based purely on imagination.
Perhaps the real person was even more handsome than they imagined? Human imagination was truly limited.
That breathtaking glimpse at the airport, even Min Zhi, who had seen countless handsome men and beautiful women in the entertainment industry, couldn’t have imagined it before today.
Excessively beautiful things always evoked a dark desire for destruction. Min Zhi recalled Zhu Minglang’s nonsense about the bitterness of love.
He wondered if that face, so calm and indifferent even upon seeing their idol, had ever been heartbroken because of love, consumed by passion.
