CH 41

As soon as this Weibo post came out, there was a lot of discussion.

Ou Renjin himself looked good and could always become the focus of everyone’s attention for a variety of reasons. His relationships had always been the top priority of public opinion, and everyone cared very much about his casual show of love.

“Is this an official response? No break-up? It’s just settled? You’re not going to let me down again, are you?”

“Screenshot taken, I sincerely hope you won’t get face-slapped yourself.”

“Ah ah ah ah, thanks, dad, so much sugar, I’m so excited, ah! Is there any male-male couple in showbiz that can be more real than Double Ou? No!!!”

“Don’t get excited too early, sooner or later there will be a BE (bad ending).”

“Although there may be a BE, they are for real now… Do those who sell rotten dare to kiss on the cable car in public? No way!”

“Please go and see ‘Under The Lights’, little brother Shaowen’s performance is superb, let’s stop talking, I’m going to vote now.”

It had to be said that Ou Renjin’s publicity was so naturally effective that Qimeng didn’t even need to buy a navy (buy commenters on the Net to stir public opinion in the necessary direction). Most of the showbiz fans knew about Ou Shaowen’s participation in “Under the Lights”.

With a group of unfamiliar participants, many viewers who came to eat melons naturally devoted most of their attention to the only person they knew. Ou Shaowen already had enough power to attract attention, and the show’s editing and post-production demonstrated his unique personality and charm, so it was only natural to attract fans. 

At the same time, all the contestants in the recording camp had finished learning the theme song, re-evaluated the level, selected the c-position and recorded the theme song.

Perhaps because Ou Shaowen remembered everyone’s names from the very beginning when everyone was still unfamiliar, and perhaps because he learned the theme song so quickly and spent most of the rest of his time silently helping those who were not as good at dancing, he was surprisingly well liked and won the c-position with an overwhelming majority of votes.

After the end of the recording, Ou Shaowen jumped off the separate raised stage in the very middle, loosened his tie and walked backstage. He met a participant and the second they looked at each other, the participant turned his head away in a somewhat exaggerated manner and walked away quickly.

Ou Shaowen did not call him. He did not care much about this person, he was just a little confused: why, when Dong Qiao saw him this time, his attitude was completely different from before.

As if he was afraid of him.

In the evening, when he went downstairs to his and Song Yijiu’s room to sleep, he met Dong Qiao again in the corridor.

When Dong Qiao saw him from afar in the narrow corridor, he immediately turned around and walked back, while Ou Shaowen stopped in his tracks and stood still. Because the other man acted as if he was eager to avoid him, Ou Shaowen was considerate enough to give him time to move away from him.

“Can you stop staring at me?” After taking two steps, Dong Qiao suddenly stopped, turned his head and looked at him with a distorted face.

Ou Shaowen’s gaze was filled with bewilderment and confusion.

Dong Qiao’s chest was heaving and his tone even became a little tearful, “I’ve already avoided you and left, can you let me go? This opportunity is something I fought for with great difficulty. Just pretend that you don’t know me, don’t retaliate against me and ask President Ou to make trouble, okay? I beg you.”

Ou Shaowen shook his head, “I don’t quite understand what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, stop pretending to be stupid. I know that President Ou likes you. Last time I got carried away and caused you to be left in the mountains. President Ou has already retaliated against me and avenged you. I was also thrown in the same place by him, so I know how dangerous and helpless that situation was, it was a payback, I guess. Let’s pretend we don’t know each other after this, and I promise I won’t deliberately make things difficult for you again. And you won’t mention my name in front of President Ou again, and won’t make things difficult for me, okay?”

“Oh.” Ou Shaowen reacted after a while, understanding, “So last time I was left behind by the entire filming crew, it was you who caused it on purpose.”

The expression on Dong Qiao’s face changed slightly, and he looked at him in amazement.

“Ou Renjin retaliated against you? How did he know about that?” Ou Shaowen looked at him curiously, his expression somewhat pleased.

Seeing that the expression on his face did not seem to be false, Dong Qiao suddenly felt that he was so stupid to come over and beg for mercy, like the stupidest fool in the world.

It turned out that Ou Shaowen was really the most innocent and simple young man in the world, a canary that was so well protected by its master that he would be distressed for half a day if it lost a feather.

From the day Dong Qiao met Ou Shaowen at the show, every day he worried and feared that he would lose his last chance. He was really pathetic, wasn’t he?

He glared at Ou Shaowen fiercely for the last time, turned around and left, unwilling to say a word to him again.

Ou Shaowen looked at his back for a long time, then slowly smiled.

He remembered the day after he had walked back from the mountains, Ou Renjin had told him angrily that he should learn to ask him for help when he encountered any problem in the future.

In fact, he had never actually understood that statement properly until Dong Qiao told him just now that Ou Renjin had left him where he had been left and had made him taste the same feeling of loneliness as he had tasted.

It was a shocking feeling. He had always been in the position to be hurt by others, and for the first time in his life someone had gone and hurt someone else because of him. So even though it was bad to think that, he was particularly happy.

There will always be small or big antagonisms between people, and maybe when you have no friction or conflict of interests, you can just get along peacefully and smoothly. But once there is an antagonism, it is easy to feel the loneliness of being abandoned by everyone.

Ou Renjin made him feel as if he could begin to expect someone to stand by him unconditionally when he was pitted against others.

How long would he be protected like this?

“When can we call the outside world?” For the millionth time, Ou Shaowen asked the cameraman filming on the sidelines during a break in practice for the first group competition.

“Damn, you’ve asked that 800 times, haven’t you?” Zhang Houyue, who was practising with him, couldn’t help but complain, “What’s wrong? Do you miss your mom and dad? Or do you miss your boyfriend?”

Ou Shaowen was silent for a while and answered him honestly, “I miss Ou Renjin. I think I really need to hear his voice right now.”

“For f… for goodness sake.” Zhang Houyue swallowed half an expletive, “You’re awesome, just too awesome.”

He originally thought that Ou Shaowen, who had properly become a popular contestant on this show, would start to avoid talking about his ambiguous boyfriend status. After all, Ou Renjin’s status as the prodigal son of the entertainment circle and the boss of Qimeng Company always put him in a higher position in this relationship, and Ou Shaowen was naturally looked down upon a little bit.

Normally such a person, if he had a certain level of strength and was seeking self-realisation, would be eager to quickly get rid of the aura given to him by his other half, as well as the shadow cast over him, and take an independent path.

But unexpectedly, it looked like true love.

After Ou Shaowen asked the programme team several times when he would be able to contact the outside world, they finally couldn’t resist and released this footage in a daily clip.

Ou Renjin found the video when there was an explosion of him being tagged on Weibo.

“Oh my god, what kind of divine love is this? @OuRenjin”

“Oooh, I want to cry so bad, why does everyone always bring me back to the fact that my little brother has been ruined by scum?”

“I’m jealous @OuRenjin”

“Hahahahaha, help tag @OuRenjin”

As soon as he clicked on the video, he watched Ou Shaowen blink his misty eyes and look at the camera, aggrieved, “When can I call?”

“When can I make a phone call to the outside world?” There he asked the camera crew.

“I want to call so badly.” There he was chatting with the others.

“How soon is soon? Does the crew have a specific time scheduled for contacting the outside world?”

“How can I have this reward?”

“Can the time be advanced?”

“I miss Ou Renjin, I think I need to hear his voice right now.”

That was… too illegal, right?

Ou Renjin’s earlobes flushed a little; this was simply the most romantic moment he had experienced in all his life.

To him, it was much more romantic than kissing on the cable car.

Probably because the pride that Ou Shaowen caused him to feel when he said to him that he liked him was completely different from when he said to so many people that he liked him.

It was satisfying and dazzling.

How could he bear to have such a lovely little friend beg someone pathetically over and over again because he wanted to give him a call?

So, after the recording was over one night, a staff member suddenly found Ou Shaowen and without saying a word shoved a mobile phone into his hand and left.

“Eh?” Ou Shaowen froze with his hand outstretched, then immediately reacted by stuffing the phone into his pocket.

He hid in the safety of the stairs and leaned against the wall to call Ou Renjin.

“Hello.” When his voice sounded on the other end of the phone, Ou Shaowen’s throat choked, and suddenly he was unsure of what to say.

“Why aren’t you talking? Didn’t you clamour every day about wanting to call me during the recording?” Ou Renjin chided him with a smile, “Who told you to mention my name during the recording of the show?”

“Can’t I mention it?” Ou Shaowen’s voice was very soft.

“If you mention me, those kids who originally liked you will be upset that you like someone else.”

“But don’t they already know we were together? Everyone knows.” Ou Shaowen emphasised. “I liked you originally, much earlier than they liked me.”

Ou Renjin smiled and held his forehead, “Good to know, whatever, mention it as you please.”

The tone of his voice was gentle.

“Ou Renjin!” Ou Shaowen called his name.

“What’s the matter?”

He wanted to mention Dong Qiao, but Dong Qiao had said before that he hoped he wouldn’t mention his name in front of President Ou again, so he didn’t seem to have the chance to say anything and could only say “thank you” softly.

“You’re welcome.” Although he didn’t know what he was thanked for, Ou Renjin still replied very cooperatively.

“We have finished recording the first elimination.” Ou Shaowen struggled to find something to talk about, wanting to talk to Ou Renjin a little longer.

“Well, I know. I was invited by the show for your first public performance, but I won’t go.”

“Why?” He raised his voice slightly.

“How to put it, saying that I am busy with work would have fit my image better, but, actually, I would like to go.” Ou Renjin’s voice trailed off, sounding a little regretful, “It’s just that the set is too noisy, the sound too jarring, and the doctor says I am not really suited to being in such an environment, so I’m sorry.”