CH 7

Chapter 7 – Ensemble Livestream

Hello everyone, we are Kaleido!

“I said it’s just a little scrape, what are you mobilizing all your forces for?”

It seemed as if Fang Juexia was unable to hear him, and the expression on his face seemed to have congealed from the start. In fact, when he had run out to fetch the first-aid kit just now, he had even imagined the scene of him rushing Pei Tingsong into the emergency room. There were just the two of them in the dormitory right now, and what would he do if an unexpected misfortune befell Pei Tingsong? He wouldn’t be able to explain it clearly, and things that couldn’t be explained clearly were the most troublesome. 

Even if no unexpected misfortune befell Pei Tingsong, if his appearance was ruined because of this incident, Fang Juexia would still not be able to escape that responsibility for it. However you put it, they all depended on their faces to earn a living to a certain extent. 

Fang Juexia opened the medicine box immediately after fetching it. Although Pei Tingsong kept covering half his face with his hands and was not letting him do anything, he still went ahead and took out a cotton swab, dipped it into the iodine solution, and then reached out to his face with it. 

“Are you doing some sort of patient-nurse roleplay?” Pei Tingsong asked a little angrily, not bothering to cover up his face anymore, and instead grabbed that hand holding the cotton swab in front of his face. 

He was also slightly dazed. After saying those words, he actually went ahead and really imagined Fang Juexia acting out this kind of role-playing scene with some unknown boss. However, in this two-person scenario that he imagined, he could only see Fang Juexia’s face. 

Originally, because Fang Juexia had wanted to help him deal with the wound quickly, he had leaned over quite a bit, so now their faces were really much too close to each other’s. 

Pei Tingsong could smell the fragrance of the shower gel Fang Juexia had used on his body. The soft smell of milk mixed with a hint of bitter herbs wafted up from the side of his pale neck, and like threads of soft yarn, fluttered across Pei Tingsong’s face. 

“It’s bleeding.” Fang Juexia stared at the corner of his eye. His voice contained a slight surprise, and even his cold eyes had widened a bit, which made it seem as if he had been infused with life, and his whole cold person had become enlivened as he said, “Almost hit your temple.”

It was actually a really serious injury. The area where the corner of the hardcover book had hit was very dangerous, being between the corner of his eye and his temple; a slight amount of carelessness could have led to an even more serious injury. Blood had welled out of that spot, and two drops had landed on his sweater before disappearing into its fibers.

Fang Juexia’s wrist was being held very tightly by Pei Tingsong. He turned his wrist around, trying to break free from the other’s grasp, and his protruding carpal bone rubbed into Pei Tingsong’s palm.

When he lifted his eyes in response to this struggle, he caught a glimpse of Fang Juexia’s slightly pursed lips. The bow of his lips had sunk into his soft lower lip, which gave the misconception of him being both stubborn and delicate to most people. 

Pei Tingsong let go of his hand and quickly sobered up his thoughts. The person in front of him wasn’t delicate at all, but was just born with the kind of face that made people come up with misconceptions about it. 

Fang Juexia acquiesced to the resistance being put forth by this devil incarnate, so he simply wiped off the blood on his face and then handed him an alcohol wipe, saying, “Wipe the blood on your hands by yourself.”

He had been dancing for many years, and injuries were common fare in this field, so he was also used to resolving them by himself. After becoming a trainee, he had begun to help his friends in dealing with minor injuries, so this didn’t count as anything new. However, Fang Juexia had unexpectedly discovered that if he observed Pei Tingsong by drawing closer to him, then this person seemed to look different than he usually did. 

He was the one who looked the most aggressive in the entire band. His facial bones were so defined that it gave off the feeling that he was a mixed-blood. In addition, his skin was also quite pale, which made him look even more like a person with mixed-blood, and so he had always been called the “unofficial face of the band”.

Pei Tingsong’s eyes were long and narrow, his double eyelids were long and deep, the angle at which his eyebrows protruded over his eyes was deep, and there were two very light moles situated underneath the curve of his right eye.  Fang Juexia had never discovered any of this before, and only saw it now, after drawing so close to his face. 

It was this very pair of eyes that allowed both perversity and boyishness to coexist in harmony in Pei Tingsong’s appearance, because his true smiles didn’t originate from his lips, but from his eyes. If his eyes didn’t smile, and he just hooked up the corners of his mouth, he looked very evil. But if his eyes were also smiling, then he looked very much like a child. 

“Hey, have you gone mute?”

Fang Juexia stopped scanning his appearance, came back to his senses, and tore off a section of the medical bandages in his hands as he said, “Wood, ice, mute. Your description of me is starting to look more and more like a biological classification.”

How strangely he talked, this nerd.

“You’re more lifeless than non-living things,” He consciously said this, in a mean way, but Fang Juexia actually thanked him for it, which left him bereft of any way to retort.

Pei Tingsong, like a broken recording, had been repeatedly saying the entire time that he could just stick a bandage on it, but Fang Juexia was just like a bad robot who didn’t listen to any instructions, and used the best quality bandages on his wound. The movements of his hands were very light, and from time to time, the outer edge of his palm would gently press against Pei Tingsong’s cheekbones, soft to the touch.

The neckline of his sweater was too high and tight, so he couldn’t breathe freely, and there was blood on the top of it too, so Pei Tingsong’s desire to change out of it grew even more. The warm air seemed to bake the scent of Fang Juexia’s shower-gel on his body, making it grow even richer and stronger. Pei Tingsong tried to glance over, but his gaze accidentally fell on the birthmark at the corner of the other’s party’s eye. It was such a small mark, but when he didn’t put on any foundation, it looked even more pink and soft, and drew in all the color from his skin. 

This seemed to be the most vibrant part of Fang Juexia’s body.

“Enough.”

Pei Tingsong quickly shifted his gaze away, and then rubbed at the gauze placed at the corner of his eye. 

“Making a mountain out of a molehill,” he said in a low voice. 

Fang Juexia didn’t hear him clearly, so his hands paused for a moment as he was packing up the medical kit. 

He raised his head, his beautiful eyes widened slightly, looking not so-cold anymore, and instead showing a hint of muddled confusion. 

Pei Tingsong glanced at him and curtly said, “Didn’t say anything.” He pulled at the collar of his sweater. “I need to change clothes.”

Fang Juexia had always ignored this kind of a ‘Young Master’ tone, so he just kept looking at him, and so these two people ended up looking at each other awkwardly.

“I didn’t bring any clothes,” Pei Tingsong continued. 

Fang Juexia was still looking at him, not moving even a bit to take any action. 

“Forget it.” Pei Tingsong understood that he couldn’t communicate with him, so he took out his cellphone to call He Ziyan. “I’ll take something of Yan Ge’s.”

Fang Juexia tidied up the medical kit and returned it to its original spot, only to discover that Pei Tingsong hadn’t moved after he came back. 

“He didn’t pick up,” Pei Tingsong murmured, “What is he doing…”

Fang Juexia, who was standing at the side, stared at the little spots of blood on his sweater. They had nearly dried, and it probably didn’t feel good. 

“I have a sweater that I’ve only worn once. It’s very big, and you should be able to wear it.” Having said that, he quickly added, “If you want to wear it.”

Pei Tingsong finally ended up acquiescing to this. It was a round-collared lavender gray sweater, with a long black frame printed on the chest, and with grayish-white words written inside it—Melt for you.

Melt for you.

At this moment, Pei Tingsong began to imagine what this sweater would look like on Fang Juexia’s body. It definitely wouldn’t look ugly, but this phrase was too inconsistent and really didn’t fit his style. 

He changed his clothes and came out. He had matched it with a pair of black overalls, so the overall style gave him a fresh air of youthfulness.

“Just right.” Pei Tingsong pulled at the cuffs of his sleeves. In fact, Fang Juexia wasn’t short; his stature of 1.8 meters also counted as being absolutely tall in the boy band, but it was just that Pei Tingsong was too good at growing. When he had entered the band as an airborne, he was still in the midst of his growing stage, but even at that time, he had  already reached a height of 184 cm. He had then made another leap, and now was already 188 cm, which made him the tallest in the entire band. 

Fang Juexia didn’t make a sound, simply taking the sweater he had changed out of, and putting it into the washing machine. He was pondering by himself on how he could go back to his room alone without seeming too cold or indifferent. 

He was just hesitating on what to do when a voice called out from the direction of the door.

“Juexia!”

He walked into the living room and saw that everyone had returned. He Ziyan was carrying two boxes of fried chicken in his hands, and as soon as he came in, he bumped his shoulder against Pei Tingsong’s shoulder and greeted, “Hey, bro.”

Real ABC Xiao Pei used Chinese to reply, “I just called you, but you didn’t answer.”

“Really? Let me see.”

Ling Yi rushed over, bitterly embracing Fang Juexia and complaining, “Two Fire isn’t letting me eat fried chicken.”

He Ziyan turned his cellphone on while his voice carried some ridicule as he replied, “It’s not me, it’s the flesh on your stomach that prevented you first.”

Lu Yuan and Jiang Miao walked into the house behind them, and the two of them seemed to be talking to someone else. 

“Who else is there?” Fang Juexia asked.

“Ah, we came with the staff of the production team,” Ling Yi said. “They’re going to start recording today, just as soon as the cameras are installed. Qiang Ge said that since Xiao Pei also came back today, it’s the perfect occasion for us to do a livestream to celebrate all of us being together again!”

“We’re starting today?” Fang Juexia felt that it was too sudden, but Jiang Miao had already brought the staff inside. They turned around for a bit and then started to install the cameras.

Lu Yuan was cradling two large tubs of popcorn in his hands. “Strong Ge said that we should make a pilot livestream episode to build up momentum for the group, and it’s already been publicized.”

He Ziyan put down the fried chicken in his hand. “The topic once again returns to our Dalian Hunk’s home field.”

“Iron bros, double click 666, yo~” Pei Tingsong suddenly inserted.

“See,” He Ziyan patted Pei Tingsong on the shoulder and said, “Even our Xiao Pei, an overseas returnee, knows this phrase!” He suddenly discovered something. “Yi? Xiao Pei, what’s wrong with your face?”

Fang Juexia glanced at him. The corners of his eyes seemed to be a bit swollen, but Pei Tingsong just answered casually, “Got it while practicing boxing.”

This person was really strange. On one hand, he was frank enough that he didn’t fear offending anyone, but on the other hand, he could spout lies without having to come up with a draft beforehand, and his face wouldn’t carry even the slightest tinge of red while he did so. 

“Juexia, you’re not going to clean up a bit?” Ling Yi ran over and hugged Fang Juexia, rubbing his arms against the fluffy sweater he was wearing.

Fang Juexia shook his head, and pulled up the plush hood of his pajamas, which then covered most of his face. “Forget it. Let’s not make everyone wait for me.”

Ling Yi sighed, “Ah, the basic strength of the face of a group is that you can meet anyone without any makeup at any time, not even being afraid of a livestream.”

The staff’s efficiency was very high, and soon, all the machines were installed and debugged successfully. As soon as they took their first steps out of the house, Cheng Qiang arrived right on their heels. Behind him was a young woman around 30 years old, who was the director of the ensemble show this time. Based on how she talked, she seemed very energetic and experienced. After finishing his chat with the director, Cheng Qiang came to them and told them the things they had to pay attention to during the recording process, before pulling Pei Tingsong and Fang Juexia to the side.

“They’re going to start the fanservice now.” He Ziyan had gotten Pocky from somewhere and had a stick of it dangling from his mouth. 

Ling Yi snapped the stick hanging out of his mouth in half and very quickly ate it. “Our Two Fire is the emperor of truth.”

Lu Yuan seemed to think of something, and spoke while heading over to the spot the two of them were. “Hey, do you need me to provide a plan for you? I’ve read a lot of comments by your CP fans online…” Before he could finish saying that, he was grabbed by their smiling captain, who rebuked him, “Enough, you.”

Ling Yi clicked his tongue a few times. “The Dalian Hunk looks sophisticated on the surface.”

He Ziyan was expressionless as he said, “In reality though, he’s crazily shipping the CP of his own family’s teammates.”

The two of them high-fived each other. 

“OK! Let’s all get ready, we can start now!”

Their ensemble show would be a combination of footage gathered from both manual shooting and the fixed cameras. 24 hours of source material would be gathered by the fixed cameras, while manual shooting would only take place during certain periods of time, and only when everyone was present, such as the livestream right now. However, in order to make it seem as real as possible, there weren’t many people in the camera crew.

“The livestream has started.”

As soon as they said that, the livestream froze. This was the first time it had actually frozen like this. 

Jiang Miao asked, “Is it a problem with the network speed?”

Lu Yuan replied, “No ah, our dormitory network is excellent.”

The staff member explained, “It’s because there are too many people. It’s fine, it’ll be good in just a bit.”

This “just a bit” took nearly 15 minutes. During this period, they moved the sofa back, spread a tablecloth on the floor, and placed all the food and drinks on it. Everyone sat down on the carpet, and several people also ate and drank for a while. Finally, they saw the barrage start scrolling smoothly, and almost all the words were in Klein Blue, which was the Kaleido support group color. 

[AAAAAHHHHHH I’M HERE GEGES! Was crying over it freezing 5555]

[Three Water, Two Fire, Yiyi, Juexia, Yuanyuan, and there’s even Xiao Pei! I love you all!]

Jiang Miao clapped his hands twice, prompting the members around him. “Let’s greet everyone ba. 1, 2, 3.”

The six big boys sitting in a row raised their right hands at the same time, with their thumbs, index fingers, and middle fingers stretched out in front of their faces to make a “K” character. They all cried out in unison, “Hello everyone, we are Kaleido!”

After greeting everyone, Ling Yi and Lu Yuan started clapping for themselves. “Good!”

“Do some more!” The more Ling Yi clapped, the more excited he got. “Yuanyuan, do some breakdancing!”

Fang Juexia silently grabbed Ling Yi’s small excited hand, pulled it down, and stuffed him with some jelly drops. 

[Teacher Fang: As a calm person, I am so tired of living with this crazy group.]

[Hahahahahaha the Roommate CP is really cute! You cause trouble, while I pull you back hhhhhh]

[How are Juexia’s pajamas this cute? It’s so fuzzy, really want to stroke it!]

Ling Yi’s eyes were sharp. “Juexia! They say your clothes are really cute, and they want to pet you!”

Juexia squinted at the screen. He pulled a bit at the fluffy pajamas on his body, and his tone was flat as he responded slowly, “What brand is this… Yiyi gave this to me last year for my birthday, and I already cut off the tag, so I can’t check.”

“Hey, they’re sure to be able to get the same one, don’t worry ba,” Ling Yi said.

[Ahhhhh, the Roommate line is so real!]

[Yiyi is super sticky with Juexia~ Cold, doting gong x soft adorable cutie shou, we’re fed so well!]

Jiang Miao, as always, cued them up, “In order to celebrate our Xiao Pei’s return to dorm life, Ziyan bought a lot of delicious food today.”

[Every time I watch K group activities, I feel like I’m watching Three Water and Two Fire take little children out to play~ The spring outing of the Kaleidoscope kindergarten has started la.]

[Captain, your yellow sweater today looks really good ah!]

[The little band is really very handsome! The Wanyan band was honest and didn’t deceive me.]

“Thank you, Two Fire!” Ling Yi clapped his hands like a little seal, then flew to open the box of fried chicken, but was quickly knocked aside by Lu Yuan with his chopsticks. “We’re letting you eat, so you just immediately make a grab for it? Don’t you know how many jin and liang you’re at?”

“Lu Yuan is implying things about me!” After shouting, Ling Yi fell on Fang Juexia’s shoulder and lamented, “I’ll give it to Juexia, he’s thin!”

Fang Juexia couldn’t hold back anymore, and so he lowered his eyes and laughed gently. This laugh just happened to be spotted by Pei Tingsong, who was handing out the utensils, and he felt that it was strange. 

It turned out that he could also laugh like this. 

[Where’s Xiao Pei?]

[The black pants belong to Xiao Pei ba! Completely can’t see his face ah hhh Xiao Pei, quickly come out and let mama seeee!]

“They’re calling for you,” Fang Juexia lifted his head up and said so suddenly to the close-by Pei Tingsong, while taking over the utensils at the same time. He saw that during this spare time, Pei Tingsong had put on a pair of black-rimmed glasses, which gave him a very school-boy look. 

Pei Tingsong froze for a moment, and then realized what he meant, so he sat down next to Fang Juexia. As soon as he sat down, his face finally appeared on the screen.

They were too close, and Fang Juexia felt unaccustomed to it, so out of habit, he moved a bit to the left. However, Pei Tingsong reached out and grabbed him around his waist. He simply dragged him back to the right, and the two of them ended up close together. 

Pei Tingsong kept his composure and then let go of Fang Juexia’s waist, using his hand to push up his glasses a bit as he smiled at the camera.

[AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH MY XIAO PEI!!!!]

[What’s wrong with the corner of Putuo Temple Site’s eye? Are you hurt?]

[Nearly didn’t see it since it’s blocked by the glasses, there’s even gauze on there.]

[TingJue CP combo!!! Screenshot it ma! In a daze ah!]

[Shit! Did Xiao Fei embrace jxgg for a bit just now?!! Such a gong of a man!]

[Ahhhhhhh Putuo Temple Site is too sue-ish! It’s all over for me!]

[Joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy]

The livestream was instantly covered with red ‘joy’ words spamming the barrage. 

“Stop,” Pei Tingsong said, pointing at the camera with a finger. 

[AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH XIAO FEI IS SO HOT!]

Seeing this sentence, Pei Tingsong furrowed his eyebrows, seeming helpless to the extreme as he insisted, “It’s Xiao Pei, Pei—not Fei.”

[He’s frantic he’s frantic he’s frantic he’s frantic he’s frantic he’s frantic he’s frantic he’s frantic he’s frantic he’s frantic he’s frantic he’s frantic he’s frantic he’s frantic he’s frantic he’s frantic he’s frantic]

[Hahahahahaha who hit you, Xiao Fei?! Banished from the fan group! Crawl around for this lordship!]

[Hahahaha why does my fave keep getting called the wrong name?!]

[Whispering a secret passcode, is the girl who “keeps calling the wrong name” an Alpha physics department actor fan hahahaha]

[Hahahaha I know, you’re Zhou Ziyan’s fan ba]

However, who knew that Fang Juexia, who had been staring at the screen, would suddenly look up at this moment and smile. The corner of his eyes curved into a beautiful arc, extending all the way to the edge of his pink birthmark.

“Xiao Pei, take off the yi and start up the wen.”

He said this rather inexplicably, and Pei Tingsong didn’t know what he was talking about, so he stared at him, only to see Fang Juexia’s index finger stretch out from the cuffs of his sleeves and write out the yi character in the air. 

[I get it!!! Change the character of yi into wen, and Pei becomes Fei! Ah, our Juexia is such a smart baby ah!]

[When Juexia isn’t smiling, he looks pretty cold, with a completely chilly and domineering face. Once he smiles, it’s too sweet ba. The curve of his eyes and his beautiful birthmark all go together then la~]

[55555 a giant mouthful of fluff as soon as I come on! That pun of ‘take off the yi character, and start up the wen’ is also too cute! Deadpan Fang Juexia!]

Pei Tingsong realized what was going on and wanted to laugh, but also thought that doing so would be too stupid. So he tried to hold back his smile and pursed the corners of his mouth instead. He turned his face to shake his head at the screen, saying in a deep voice, “What a rotten pun.”

This was the first time he had heard Fang Juexia say Xiao Pei, although the purpose wasn’t to call out to him.

[Oh my God, this year’s doting is coming!! Wuwu kswl!]

[OMG Pinot Tree Supreme is such a good gong!! Him suppressing his smile is too sue-ish, too sue-ish. I’m thinking again of that scene where PTS was taking that plane ticket and lightly swatting Gege’s face with it!]

[Hahahaha what the hell is a Pinot Tree Supreme la, Pei Tingsong has a few too many nicknames!]

[Thanks to the sister who misspelled Xiao Pei’s name. Don’t crawl around, quickly come back!]

[Wait, that sweater Xiao Pei is wearing… Isn’t that the birthday present Awakening Juexia Station sent this year? Juexia wore it once, and Awakening Juexia Station’s Weibo even verified it before…]

The appearance of this line in the barrage soon caused a great disturbance.

[I just exited to flip through Awakening Juexia Station’s Weibo for a bit, and it really is there! It’s the same style!!]

[It’s Juexia’s ba!]

[TingJue is rio!!!! ]

[Xiao Pei, how is this taking off yi to start up wen, when it’s clearly you putting on clothes to start up with Xia ah !]