CH 28.1

News! Broad! Cast!

Without asking, Qi Xingchen already knew who the video came from — the Overseas Chinese girl, who had exchanged contact information with him in Odense last week, was a Facebook blogger with millions of followers.

It was just that he never expected that the girl would have such a great influence, being able to spread the video to the point where even his own country knew about it!

“Xingxing is here! ”

After hearing footsteps behind him, he saw Liu Ziyu reach out to scrub at his arm heavily.

Qi Xingchen: “Why are you touching me? ”

“Rubbing off some good luck,” Liu Ziyu joked, “You are now a big shot who has appeared on the news before!” ”

Qi Xingchen was completely stupefied: “I performed acrobatics in the streets because we were short of money, and thus wanted to busk. But the news broadcast has instead forcefully twisted it to become the spreading of culture. It really……”

It really makes one have to accept the praise with shame.

“There is nothing low-level about busking,” Bo Ye said. “Making money from your own labour, and at the same time, giving others spiritual enjoyment; it is both noble and meaningful.”

“En……”Qi Xingchen voiced his response but was still a little incredulous.

At this moment, his phone vibrated all of a sudden. It was a call; under the ID, there was only a single character “Jing”.

Qi Xingchen searched his mind for a moment, but unfortunately could not think of anyone. He headed outside and pressed answer.

A gentle male voice drifted into his ears: “Xingxing, how are you doing?”

translated by astrid83 @foxaholic

“……Doing pretty well,” Qi Xingchen thought for a moment, and tentatively said, “My phone broke some time ago, so now I can’t see the caller ID. May I know who’s calling?”

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line, which then turned into a light laugh: “You’re still angry? What a child’s temper. ”

Qi Xingchen was taken aback.

“Alright, it was my fault. Wait a bit for me to return back to the country to coax you, okay? ”

“Angry”, “coax you”, and “return back”…… Fragments of memories re-spliced and assembled in his mind. And Qi Xingchen finally remembered.

This person was the childhood friend of the original owner, Liang Jing!

In 《Peach in the Night》, Liang Jing could be considered a cannon fodder with more prestige. He was two years older than the original owner. Even before graduating from Harvard Immunology, he was accepted under the wing of the leading Chinese immunology master as his last post-grad student.

With a gentle personality and a superior IQ, he was a Jack Sue-type medical genius.

At the same time, he was also one of the suitors of the female protagonist.

During a medical consultation with the female protagonist’s brother, he fell in love with the kind-hearted female protagonist at first sight. Later on, when the female protagonist’s younger brother suffered acute kidney failure and was facing a desperate situation of needing to replace his kidney, he was the one who stepped forward and donated one of his kidneys to her younger brother, saving his life.

……A plot that would purely appear in Mary Sue novels.

It was a pity that no matter how noble and selfless he was, at the very end, he still was unable to escape from his cannon fodder ending.

After guessing the identity of the other party, Qi Xingchen mumbled a vague response. Fortunately, Liang Jing had no desire to pursue this issue anymore, asking with a laugh in his voice: “You went to Northern Europe a few days ago. Why didn’t you stop by to play with me?”

Half a year ago, Liang Jin was posted to the Sino-Swedish Joint Medical Laboratory to conduct research, and right before it, he had an argument with the original owner. Qi Xingchen could not recall the reason for it, only that it was very unpleasant.

“I went to Denmark to film a programme. There was a specific itinerary, so I couldn’t get away,” Qi Xingchen somehow felt that the other’s tone was strange, and thus wanted to hang up as soon as possible, “You wanted to ask me about something?”

“Nothing much,” Liang Jing was still cheerful, “ I just wanted to ask when you learned acrobatics? I remember that acrobatics is a skill that has to be nurtured from a young age, but you were delicate and pampered as a child and never learnt that skill.”

Ever since he had shown his acrobatics skills in front of the camera, Qi Xingchen already expected this question to pop up, thus he already thought of an excuse: “Acrobatics was something I had learnt after joining the company. Since my singing and dancing skills are not on par with the others, I can only take a different route.”

“Then in just a year, you……”

“I practised rather painstakingly,” Qi Xingchen interrupted, “Why, you don’t believe me?”

The original owner and Liang Jing had known each other since they were in their mothers’ wombs. After they were born, they often squatted in the same pit to fling mud, shared their Gundam and Ultraman figurines with each other, and even competed over who could pee further.

translated by astrid83 @foxaholic

After they started schooling, the original owner’s personality became increasingly rebellious, frequently having disagreements with his family. Every time, he would always secretly escape to the Liang house and eat Liang Jing’s meals, or sleep in Liang Jing’s bed. The two could be said to have grown up and been scolded together.

Later on, the Qi family built their own villa in the middle of a lake. But compared to family members, the closeness Liang Jing felt with the original owner was more than one can expect. With this one question from Qi Xingchen, it was equivalent to pushing the question completely to the other.

Hence Liang Jing could only helplessly answer: “I do, of course I do believe you. But……”

All the hairs on Qi Xingchen’s skin stood up: “But what?”

“Acrobatics training is arduous, if it is painful just go home and rest well for a while. It’s not as if the Qi family can’t afford to feed you. Besides, you still have me.”

Hearing this, Qi Xingchen heaved a sigh of relief. He had thought that he acted off, and Liang Jing caught onto a flaw.

“En, I’ll think about it,” Qi Xingchen replied, “I’m still recording over here, so I’ll hang up now.”

“Alright, wait for me to return back.”

Once he hung up Liang Jing’s call, Qi Xingchen didn’t even have enough time to ponder over it before Qi Yuji’s call came seamlessly after.

A news broadcast was unlike any other programme, any family with elderly people would love to watch it. Dad Qi saw it on television and then asked Qi Yuji to call to inquire about it.

Qi Xingchen used the same excuse, causing Qi Yuji to transform once more into a crying monster: “So my Xingxing actually suffered so much outside, I’m going to make big brother bring you back right now, don’t take on the difficult and tiring road of becoming an idol anymore!”

“……No need, I don’t find it difficult. Boys need to toughen up after all.”

After the incident of Zhou Yu, the tone he used with Qi Yuji became soft and gentle: “And people have to grow up on their own eventually and learn to face the vast world on their own, isn’t that right?”

“Why are you speaking more and more like big brother? Full of chicken soup stench…… By the way, Xingxing, I realised you seem to have matured a lot recently. You’re even more stable in your work now too.”

“Maybe it was the experience of being hospitalised that made me grow up.”

Qi Xingchen’s voice lowered, not wishing to lie to Qi Yuji. But there were some lies that he had to tell; one wrong step, and the ending would be full of deaths and scattered souls.

Qi Yuji finally laughed amidst her tears, and took a deep breath: “Growing up is a good thing. However, Xingxing, you don’t really have to rush. With us around, you can be a wayward child forever.”