Chapter 19
Edited by Isalee
296.
Sing my ass!
The company wanted us to do fanservice, not to really become gay!
According to what happened just now, somehow we were already living together, sleeping together, playing video games together, and even insisted on wearing couple-wear. If we were to sing Niangzi together, we might as well just quit the entertainment industry and go overseas to register our marriage, okay?
297.
I feigned ignorance. “Jay Chou sang this song?”
Gu Yiliang looked astonished. “You were born after the millennium?”
“… Oh, Niangzi? That’s an old song.” With much difficulty, I put on an enlightened expression. “I don’t remember much of the lyrics anymore.”
He took the phone I left on the table, waving it imposingly in front of the camera. “It’s not a problem, we can look it up.”
298.
The! Phone! Cover!
299.
My heart burst, and I tried my best to control my body language. Like trying to persuade a robber holding hostages at gunpoint, my hands motioned downwards. I tried gesturing at him to quickly put my phone down as I said, “The beat of this song is very strange, and there’s also a rap. It’s not easy to sing.”
He completely ignored my signals and look at the comments section instead. “So many of them want to listen to it. Look, they’re all spamming the screen. How about we just sing it? Even if we don’t sing well, it’ll still entertain the crowd.”
No, the Niangzi they’re spamming is not referring to the song title!
Distressed, I watched Gu Yiliang — casually unlock my phone.
…
300.
I froze. He froze as well. Ten seconds of silence appeared in the comments section.
He looked at the screen of the phone that clearly did not belong to him. Finally realising what had happened, he handed the phone over to me. “Sorry, I thought it was my phone… Your password is also 8888?”
I laughed dryly. “Yes, it’s lucky.”
He nodded along. “Mine too, it’s easy to remember.”
301.
Stop trying to recover from this!
He didn’t even look when he entered the password, and even I thought that he had unlocked the phone with his fingerprint. How were they going to clean this mess up?! Even with intense scrubbing and cleaning, there was no way to wash this stigma off their names!
302.
With tears in my eyes, I smiled, “Then we’ll just sing the song. Hurry up, I’ll treat you to supper when we’re done.”
Anyway, singing or not was already meaningless. We needed to quickly end this disaster, and before I would be forced to quit the industry, I would still be able to eat at the rice noodle stall next to the set one last time.
Most likely, I would never be able to eat it again in the future.
303.
The song ended.
Gu Yiliang looked at me with unexpected surprise, smiling and complimenting me. “So it turns out that you’re good at singing. Why were you so modest just now?”
Yes, I’ve always been decent at singing. I studied it professionally and used 120% of my ability to sing just now.
After all, this might be the very last time for me to sing in front of a camera.
I looked at him disdainfully, cupping my hands at him. “My singing capability isn’t as good as yours, and so I could only tap along, trying to find the beat.”
He laughed as he shoved me lightly, then feigned a crying face at the camera. “Yanyan says I can’t follow the beat and even went offkey.”
Stop calling me Yanyan!
I pulled him back, unable to cry or laugh. “I already said that it was a difficult song to sing, but you insisted…”
“Then we’ll choose an easier one next time?” He smiled and asked me.
I agreed non-stop, but I secretly wondered, how would there be a next time? Next time, you’ll be singing with your new ship.
304.
With professional model-like smiles, we chatted a while more. Gu Yiliang leaned over, picking up the phone. After saying some closing words with me, he finally pressed the button to stop the livestream, and we ended this hour that had been very frightening for me.
…
Like a huge salted fish, I collapsed on the couch. With listless eyes, I sighed loudly. Tears streamed internally, and I remained silent.
Gu Yiliang packed up. He saw that I was still lying there, and walked over to nudge at my waist.
I spoke feebly, “What are you doing?”
He answered, “I’ll flip you over?”
As a salted fish, I swiftly sat up and called out angrily. “Gu Yiliang!”
With a face ignorant of worldly affairs, he looked at me with childlike innocence. “Hmm?”
I looked at that pair of innocent eyes, and my reproachful words twisted about my tongue. In the end, I just waved him off. “… Forget it, let’s go have supper.”
His eyes curved up. “Mn.”
305.
With a smile, his steps were as swift as the wind. With a bitter expression, my steps were weak and lethargic.
We walked to our destination, taking our seats after placing our orders. Supporting my heavy head in my hand, I watched him remove the covers off the cutlery and pour hot water over them to disinfect them.
Maybe because I was quiet for too long, but he reached out, wanting to ruffle my hair. I smacked his hand away.
He laughed and pushed the disinfected bowl and chopsticks towards me before he took my set over to disinfect them too. “You’re angry? But it was the company who requested it—”
I interrupted glumly, “But we should still have restrained ourselves a little…”
Hold on.
I swallowed the rest of my words and stared at him with round eyes. “You knew that the company wanted us to do fanservice?”
Then what was with the whole straight buddy-buddy thing at the start???
He rubbed his nose. “… I knew.”
My face collapsed, and I looked at him. “Huh?!”
306.
The skewers arrived first. He removed the meat from the skewers and placed them in my bowl. “At first, I didn’t want to comply with the company’s request. We don’t lack popularity, and I also don’t need to rely on this to get my roles.”
He paused, then continued, “Also, I saw that you were very cooperative as well, and you were rebelling against the company with quite some effort too…”
That was because I could not lose to you!
I adjusted my expression while picking up a pair of chopsticks. Like a reporter interviewing him, I placed them next to his mouth. “Then, may I ask what made you change your mind?”
He was silent for a moment. “I suddenly realised that it couldn’t hurt to be more popular. In fact, it would also be good, and I might even be able to broaden the type of roles available to me?”
He did not wait for me to respond and switched to a complaining tone. “I only wanted to just call you Yanyan once, then end it after sharing the peaches. In the end, you weren’t cooperative at all — was performing fanservice with me a great inconvenience to you…”
And you’re even blaming me for it now? I’m not your Gu’s Imperial Consorts, your crying face is useless against me—
Actually, it did work a little.
My voice trembled. “Blame me, blame me for not realising it. But we should have still restrained ourselves, bro—”
He froze slightly due to my wail. Seeing that I was pretending to cry, he laughed aloud. “What are you afraid of?”
This fearless image was really too enraging. I bit into the meat in anger, “Your acting skills are good, so of course you won’t have to be afraid. I’ve always been less popular than you, and smaller than you in every area. If I screwed up this fanservice, all the blame would fall on me, alright?”
307.
Him: “… You should think about what you just said.”
Me: “…I’m not small, not small at all, I’m very big!”
308.
He laughed until he shook, and only calmed down after I shoved him in embarrassed anger. He spoke steadily, “I didn’t go overboard.”
I glared at him. “Then your idea of overboard is clearly different from mine.”
He said, “Come, tell me about the things you have issues with.”
Me: “Yanyan?”
Him: “Don’t your assistant and your fans address you like this too? The viewers didn’t have a problem with it.”
Me: “Disturb me in my sleep?”
Him: “We are just next door to each other. Guan-erge is so powerful, his knocks will definitely be very loud.”
Me: “The time we sleep?”
Him: “Your answer was very clear. The Chinese language is broad and profound. If they misunderstood, then it’s their problem.”
Me: “Our clothes in the show match each other very well?”
Him: “Didn’t you say this yourself?”
Me: “…”
309.
Blame me! Blame everything on me!
My existence is just a mistake!
310.
I waved the phone in my hand. “… Then how should we explain our phone covers?”
He drank some herbal tea, blinking, “We’ll go back and sign a few more later and just offer them as lucky draw prizes on Weibo.”
… What a genius. Like this, even his Weibo message could be explained.
He pinched my face. “For fanservice, all we have to do is do anything together, and the fans will come up with the rest themselves. There are absolutely no problems with our interactions since they’re all perfectly out in the open. You’re the one who has been overthinking it—”
It seemed like… that really was the case? But could I not overthink it? After all, I was a fan of my own ship!
Hearing his seemingly logical explanation, I calmed down.
Prodding the rice noodles with my chopsticks, I asked hesitantly. “… Why did you insist on singing Niangzi?”
“Huh?” He looked at me in incomprehension. “Didn’t the fans choose it?”
311.
So, other than not knowing about Niangzi, you’re actually very familiar with the rest?!
A bias who did not even know his own ship name could actually shove the gay down everyone’s throat. What sort of good fortune was this?!
312.
I looked up, thinking that I should just forget about it. I could only trouble Man-jie, and make her work a little harder to direct the public’s comments. Then I would pray for something to happen tomorrow in the entertainment industry to help cover up this matter. If that did not work, then I would then go stir up some of my rumours, letting the popularity of Niangzi decrease a bit. Then, after some time, Gu Yiliang and I will be able to go our separate ways and seek our own happiness.
Gu Yiliang saw the change in my expression, and exhaled. He laughed, “You’re really that unwilling? Is it so unbearable to perform fanservice with me?”
Biting into the barbecued meat, I spoke with a small voice, “How could that be? It’s just that my qualifications are really too poor, and we’re not equal in status. You’re too good for me.”
He smiled, his eyes curving. “Didn’t I say that I’ll be teaching you how to act? Just work hard.”
So that sentence meant… We will really go down this path?
I was dazzled by his smile. Forgetting that the company might not plan on wanting us to perform fanservice for a long time, I agreed foolishly. “Oh, sure.”
He nodded, then pulled the cartilage off another skewer and placed them in my bowl.
313.
I watched his actions and felt a little moved.
He would pinch my face, ruffle my hair, wrap his arm around my shoulder, and go along with whatever I wanted. When he noticed I was unhappy, he would coax me out of my bad mood. He did not disdain my poor acting skills, and even said he would help me improve.
He knew what to say and showed concern for me, secretly taking care of my well-being, and would adjust the lens according to my request. He would insist on me finishing my dinner, disinfect my cutlery for me, and he noticed that I like to eat cartilage.
This fanservice partner of mine was really perfection in itself, and all the fluff he gave was extremely delicious.
314.
Then, I suddenly realised something.
All this was not done according to the company’s request, and we also were not in front of any cameras!