CH 66

Chapter 66 – Sow The Wind And Reap The Whirlwind

I’m the official partner, understand?

As a satellite TV variety show with a super high reputation, the popularity of the first episode of ‘Escape For Your Life’ successfully propelled Fang Juexia and Pei Tingsong to national recognition. At the very least, Fang Juexia and Pei Tingsong, with their wonderful performance in the program, had managed to successfully enter into the mainstream audiences’ field of vision, coming out of the relatively small idol circle. With the endless stream of clips circulating on the major video sites, together with the consistent essays, analysis, and shilling from Escape fans, more and more people kept discovering how strong these two new guests were.

A major verified account published a long article analyzing all the experiences of Kaleido’s major accidents and the ways they had saved the day in their comeback performances, and ended with stating the key points to their popularity as a positive example. The most popular comment to the post was below it—

[@Eating tang yuan for Chinese New Year: If StarChart can play the TingJue CP card, they’re already halfway there to winning. As soon as the airport video showed up, it started planning for fanservice and paved the way with various resources for the CP. They comprehensively developed fluff to draw in fans, then they got on the magazine, and after that, also got into Escape; and even though none of these steps looked conspicuous, it was all ready in anticipation. The two people also strived hard, and are attractive, and strong. When they’re apart from each other, they may be able to balance each other out, but when they’re combined, they’re just too good at this. They belong to the typical and super standard “leading man” trope in their group, responsible for being eye-catching. If the other members are also awesome enough, then the whole group can retain their fans. It is obvious that the strength of the whole Kaleido group is there, so it is inevitable that their comeback would explode through word of mouth. I can responsibly say that once this group is popular, it will be popular for a long time.]

All kinds of accidents happened to this small group in just one week, and it was nearly like a roller coaster, making people feel frightened when they went to sort it all out. However, it is precisely because of this too bumpy experience of Kaleido’s that their comeback had taken on a life as being some kind of tragic legend. More and more people paid attention to this album for various reasons, and on music platforms, “Break Through” ranked first in streams for 30 continuous days, with the sales of their digital album also seeing a rise.

Fang Juexia, the dark horse of the direct videos, who took the lead by a landslide, became the fastest idol to gain one million views through three comeback performances in a row. Pei Tingsong’s rap clips also garnered amazing viewer counts and barrage comments on another video website, ranking first in the entertainment area. Within a few days, the number of Weibo fans these two people had nearly doubled, with more than 100 fan stations being created, and countless more CP stations. Discussions about their CP were ranked at a distant first, being widely discussed everywhere. Each member’s popularity was rising like a rocket, and a countless number of fans were being drawn in. 

Kaleido had become a fandom possessing thousands of fans, and it was being discussed everywhere; with fans discussing their albums, their strengths, and the silly things the group members did. Digging up Kaleido’s history had already become a large spontaneous activity. After a period of research, it was found that each member’s history contained a completely different tragic aspect, and ‘The most pitiful boy-band’ soon became a synonym for Kaleido.

Strong groups may not be able to draw in fans continuously, but when it came to a strong and pitiful group, their rate of drawing in fans doubled.

But these exaggerated figures were unknown to both of the main parties involved. Before light even dawned in the sky, Fang Juexia woke up; he hadn’t slept well all night. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel comfortable, but that he was very uneasy and often woke up. Then, whenever he saw Pei Tingsong lying beside him, he would feel more at ease and would put his head against his shoulder and fall asleep again. This happened quite a few times before he finally got up at six o’clock in the morning, getting off the bed with very light movements. After washing up, he sat down on the bed, at Pei Tingsong’s side.

Supporting his chin on the palm of his hand, Fang Juexia lay on his stomach, looking at Pei Tingsong in front of him without moving. He thought it was inconceivable; the word “lover” was a word he would almost never even think about in the past, but such a person suddenly appeared, and it was even the person Fang Juexia thought was the most unlikely one to occupy such a position.

Pei Tingsong’s appearance while sleeping was very well-behaved, and he didn’t look grumpy at all. Looking at the wound on his face, Fang Juexia couldn’t help but feel distressed. He reached out and touched his cheek gently, then pushed aside the drooping bangs on his forehead.

How was the bridge of his nose so high?

He couldn’t help but tap his finger on the bridge of his nose, then sliding his finger down the line of it, up to the place where it sank in, and then right to the edge of the peak of his lips, which he rubbed against lightly. 

All of a sudden, Pei Tingsong, who had clearly still been soundly asleep, stretched out his right hand, grabbed Fang Juexia’s hand, pulled it over and kissed it all over, from the palm to the tips of his fingers.

“You woke up?” Fang Juexia hurriedly withdrew his hand. “You even pretended to be asleep.”

Pei Tingsong rubbed his eyes and said, “As soon as you got up, I woke up, I don’t know why.” He turned over to face Fang Juexia. “I had a dream that lasted all night.”

Fang Juexia gave him the warm water on the table while asking, “What dream?”

“Well…” Pei Tingsong gulped down a big mouthful of water, handed the cup back to him, and then raised Fang Juexia’s chin a bit. “I’m afraid I’ll scare you, so I won’t say anything.” After that, he got down from the bed and walked to the bathroom while supporting his left hand.

Fang Juexia was left stunned for a few seconds, and then, when he suddenly realized what had been said, he felt that he had been teased again. “Pei Tingsong!”

Pei Tingsong, standing in the bathroom, stuck his head out with a toothbrush in his mouth. His hair was a mess, and he was smiling at Fang Juexia like a child.

He just couldn’t be angry with him or even refuse him.

Fang Juexia buried his head into the quilt on the hospital bed.

When the doctor on-duty came, they checked and confirmed that there were no problems left from the operation. After that, they went through the discharge procedures. The company’s car was arranged to wait at the side door of the private hospital, and the two of them were armed to the teeth in clothing to avoid the flow of people. Once they were in the car, Xiao Wen happily told them the ratings of the first episode of Escape and the latest numbers for the new album. Fang Juexia was very happy; compared to his own rising popularity, the thing that was most worth being proud of was that their songs would be heard by so many people.

“By the way, there will be an autograph session tomorrow afternoon,” said Xiao Wen, turning the steering wheel. “The boss said Xiao Pei does not need to attend and that he can keep resting in the dormitory.”

“I’ll go.” Pei Tingsong’s right hand supported his left. “Why should I not go? It’s not the hand that I write with that I hurt.”

“We’re afraid you’ll get tired ya. At that time, it will be very tiring to keep signing, and there will also be many people. What should we do if you keep bumping against things?”

Pei Tingsong took a look at Fang Juexia. Fang Juexia also glanced at him, and then quickly looked away.

“No, I’m going. I’m not some kind of fragile person who will break as soon as I get bumped into.” Pei Tingsong was very obstinate. “I have to go to school in the afternoon today to give a presentation. I have to arrive at two o’clock in the afternoon, so Xiao Wen, if you don’t have anything else to do then, just send me there.”

Fang Juexia thought this was unbelievable. “You’re giving a presentation? Are you ready for it?”

“I’ve already read all the literature. A few days ago, I would read a little every time we returned to the dorms.” Pei Tingsong shrugged and said, “It’s a presentation ma, I’ll just improvise, and it’ll be fine.”

He really did embody the style of a rapper.

As soon as they arrived at the company, they were called into the office by Cheng Qiang. Cheng Qiang had also been very busy these past few days, to the point that he slept directly in the company itself. His office was a complete mess, and Fang Juexia just wanted to clean it up for him upon seeing it.

“The response to this episode of Escape was much better than what we expected, and because we also didn’t expect for so many incidents to break out at the same time, we are a bit overwhelmed for the moment. But you two have really given me so much face.”

Pei Tingsong listened and lightly tapped the plaster of his left hand with his uninjured right hand in a kind of beat. Fang Juexia, however, just stared focusedly at the crooked papers on the desk, not listening to any word of Cheng Qiang’s at all. 

“Anyway, after Escape’s premiere, a heap of brands, program groups, and platforms have come to find you guys; they all want to cooperate with us.” Cheng Qiang took out an electronic file as he explained the details, “The hip-hop program that Xiao Pei mentioned before has also approached us, but because they are still in the planning stages for their program, they’ve just sent over a greeting first. By the way, there is also a variety show with the highest national popularity, which has invited the whole group to their stage. It fits perfectly into the album promotion period, so we’ve made room for it in our schedule and are getting ready to record this variety show as soon as possible.

“Juexia, you’ve been invited to several music and dance programs, as well as for roles in some dramas. I’ll send them over to you when I get back, and you guys can check them out for yourselves.”

Acting….

Fang Juexia automatically asked, “Can I act like this?” Then he pointed to his birthmark.

Cheng Qiang was about to open his mouth when he heard Pei Tingsong vent with a bad tone, “What the hell are you talking about?!”

“Hey, Xiao Pei, don’t…” Cheng Qiang hurriedly intervened, to keep the peace.

“Don’t you know you look so good? And you’re still like ‘can I act like this’? You’re much better looking than all those actors added together. Your self-awareness is too fuzzy, you say something irritating every day.”

Facing such rapid bombardment from Pei Tingsong, Fang Juexia was completely overwhelmed. However, Cheng Qiang couldn’t help laughing as he teased, “You’re still not apologizing to our maknae, look, he’s angry.”

Fang Juexia could only reach out and rub Pei Tingsong’s shoulder, consoling, “Don’t be angry, don’t be angry.” He then explained, “I meant that I have a birthmark, and so can’t act in a drama.”

Pei Tingsong grew irritated again and said, “You’re just good-looking. Your entire body, from your head to your toes and to your birthmark, everything is all good-looking.”

“Alright, alright, alright, good-looking, good-looking.”

Who dared to fight against this little devil?

“Oh, right. I almost forgot about the big thing because of you guys tossing me around,” Cheng Qiang suddenly remembered and told them, “The person who pulled at you guys was caught. Originally, according to the normal legal proceedings, this person would have run around for a while, and after we caught them, you guys would have to go to the police station to give your side of things and have the injury identified. The whole process is very complicated, and maybe he would have to be detained for more than ten days and pay for the meals.”

That’s right. Even if the person he injured was a celebrity, the legal treatment was almost the same. Fang Juexia had thought that maybe the person who had been hired by whoever was behind the scene was someone who didn’t fear going to the police station; they had been given a lot of money, and as long as he could hurt them, it would count as a victory.

“But where do you guys think we caught him?”

Hearing him talk like this, Pei Tingsong immediately understood that things weren’t so simple. “It can’t be at the company building ba?”

“How did you know?!” Cheng Qiang was surprised, but he quickly stuck his index finger in the air again and pointed. “Worthy of having a blood relation, you guys really have your methods.”

Fang Juexia was a little confused. “What do you mean?”

“I told Xiao Wen to go pick you guys up with my car this morning. Yet, as a result, Xiao Wen was given a scare.” Cheng Qiang explained, “Isn’t my car parked in the underground garage below the company? When he went there, he found a man lying on the ground near the car door and so he immediately called me. I went to take a look, and good god, that person had been beaten so heavily that I couldn’t recognize his battered up face. He had been tied with his hands behind his back and had been thrown next to my car.”

“Beaten up by someone…” Fang Juexia subconsciously looked at Pei Tingsong, but who knew that Pei Tingsong didn’t even need to think about it before guessing directly, “My Jie, right?”

Cheng Qiang nodded and said, “She’s really vicious when she takes action. I had to find four big guys to carry him away. He also had a recorder on him, and inside it was his confession.” He pushed the recorder forward and pressed play. “You guys listen.”

He confessed to all of it, and it was pretty much like what Fang Juexia had thought. The mastermind behind this was exactly that Astar official surnamed Jin, and he had captured this ruined gambler, paying him 50,000 yuan to find a chance to cripple Fang Juexia.

The interrogator in the recording was a calm man who repeated the other person’s words, “Cripple?”

That man’s voice trembled. “Yes, they said it would be best to blind him or break his legs, so that he couldn’t sing or dance for the rest of his life. I just wanted to get him to fall off the stage, but who would have known that I wouldn’t succeed? There were too many people at that time, and when I tried again, I found that I had pulled the wrong person.”

Pei Tingsong laughed scornfully. Coincidentally, another scornful laugh also sounded out from the recording at the same time, and it was a woman’s voice. She spoke in English and told someone to take the man down.

Cheng Qiang put the recording pen away. “Our Star Chart is a small company, and this kind of recording can only be used as a means of insurance, but we can’t place it online. To tell you the truth, if Juexia had really gotten injured this time, this kind of thing would probably happen again many times again in the future, because Juexia really has nothing and no one backing him. As long as others have the will, it’s really hard to defend against covert attacks.”

He started to smile as kept talking, “But who would have known that this bastard actually ended up pulling the wrong person? No matter how much Astar swaggers around, it’s still just an entertainment company, and now, it has kicked a big plutocrat’s iron plate. Tch, retribution always comes. Ms. Pei called Boss early in the morning and talked with him for an hour. She probably won’t just let Jin Xiangcheng go this time, you guys wait ba. Tomorrow, AS’s stock will fall.”

He also showed Pei Tingsong the photos he had taken on his cellphone. “Look at how much he was beaten up, it’s very satisfying.”

Pei Tingsong glanced at it with a frown. “Tch, protecting me now, what took her so long?”

The corners of Fang Juexia’s mouth drew up. “You talk about your own Jie that way ah.”

“It’s the truth ah.” Saying that, Pei Tingsong raised his eyebrows. “Is she really scary?”

Fang Juexia also started laughing. “You siblings are both scary, the big devil and the little devil.”

Pei Tingsong thought about it, but he didn’t refute it. “That’s right, I’d do the same thing if this matter was left to me.”

“By the way, Ms. Pei has hired a nurse for you, and they’ll arrive soon. She has asked you to go back to the apartment for this period of time and to stop working. The nurse will take care of you 24 hours a day.”

Rest was a must. However, Fang Juexia thought that in that case, he wouldn’t be able to see Pei Tingsong. 

“Nope,” Pei Tingsong said with an expression that indicated he would do whatever he wanted, and leaned against the back of a chair as he stated, “I’m going to work, and I’m going to school. I’m a young man who loves his job and works hard.”

“I can’t control a big Buddha like you. You go back and tell Ms. Pei that.”

“Don’t worry, Strong Ge,” Pei Tingsong raised his right hand and stretched it out, leaning it against Fang Juexia’s shoulder. “How many times have I listened to her since I was born? She doesn’t believe that I’ll just obediently stay there, she’s just saying that. It’ll be fine.”

When they came out of Cheng Qiang’s office, they met the other members, who were in the practice room. Since Pei Tingsong thought that they would have to perform on-stage soon, he adjusted his movements to fit the current situation.

“If it’s not okay, you can just sit down ba; it’ll be fine if you just sing your part while standing on the side.” Jiang Miao looked at him and felt a strange heartache. “Your body is the most important thing, and if a serious collision takes place on-stage, what are we going to do?”

“It looks so ugly with one person missing.” Pei Tingsong vetoed his proposal. “I’ll get used to it after practicing for a bit. It’s actually easier for me to do it when missing a hand.”

“Tch, tch, tch.” Ling Yi couldn’t believe it. “Is this still our little devil paddling along? He’s working harder and harder; people who didn’t know what was going on would think that you and Juexia had exchanged souls.”

Fang Juexia, who was sitting on the floor changing his shoes, was already in a good mood, and upon being amused by this, he simply leaned against Ling Yi and asked, “Then should I start to slack off now?”

“Yes!”

As soon as Pei Tingsong saw Fang Juexia leaning against Ling Yi, he started to get angry. “What yes?” He took a few steps forward and pulled Fang Juexia over, after which he forced himself into the middle of the two men, relying on the fact that since he was hurt, no one would dare to touch him.

“You little bastard, you just know how to steal Juexia from me!”

“Do I need to steal him from you?” Pei Tingsong said, “I’m the official partner, understand? It’s the kind of official partner where they held a meeting for several hours just for our CP.”

Ling Yi wiped his face since he couldn’t win an argument against him, then he pulled someone else into it. “Lu Yuan, he has spit all over me.”

Lu Yuan was wise enough to protect himself and pushed He Ziyan out. “If you quarrel with a rapper, you should ask another rapper for help.”

He Ziyan shrugged. “Who’s a rapper? Excuse me, I’m a bar DJ. What record would you like me to spin today?”

“No one is helping me!”

“Give up ba, M-dash.”

Fang Juexia was relieved to see everyone making a lot of noise together. Although he was a quiet bystander most of the time, as long as the six of them were together, it was as if they didn’t need to be afraid of anything.

After all, back during the times they couldn’t touch the sun, they could at least touch each other’s hands.

In the afternoon, Pei Tingsong went to school to give his presentation, and the other five spent the afternoon in the practice room. Jiang Miao, He Ziyan, and Ling Yi had another event scheduled in the evening, so that left only Lu Yuan and Fang Juexia behind. The two of them found another song to practice dancing to during that time, and coincidentally, Xiao Wen, who thought their performance was really handsome, was also there. He recorded it on his cellphone.

Fang Juexia stopped and sent a WeChat message to Pei Tingsong.

[Just a pretty face and also pretty: Is it over? I’ll pick you up in my car ba.]

Lu Yuan watched the video and liked it very much. “It’s very hot, Xiao Wen is pretty good at filming. Juexia, I’m going to post it to Weibo ah.”

Fang Juexia had been waiting for a message on his phone the entire time, and he didn’t even really register what Lu Yuan had said before he replied, “En.”

[@Kaleido Lu Yuan: The main dance line’s everyday [cool] [cool]]

In the video, two people were dancing in urban style, one of whom had super control over all his movements, while the other moved like flowing water. They had two completely different performance styles, but both of them were equally eye-catching. The fans excitedly liked the two main dancers, and the forwards and comments on this post grew quickly. 

[@Domino #1: AHHHHHHHH FJX IS THRUSTING HIS HIPS I’M DYIIIING! PLEASE TAKE MY LIFE AWAY!]

[@This is my cancelled K: I’ll praise Teacher Yuan’s control ten thousand times! Jxgg is really too beautiful. Dancing along with long legs, he’s both cold and sexy.]

[@domino 111: AHHHHHHH WHAT DID I SCROLL TO?! Grandpa, the dance blogger you follow has forwarded your post!]

Lu Yuan scrolled through Weibo with great interest, and said, “They’re asking if we can dance this again at the autograph event tomorrow?”

Fang Juexia nodded. “We can ah.”

Xiao Wen sat cross-legged on the ground, and was holding his feet as he agreed, “It’s so great ah, the autograph event is a fan benefit event. I need to choose a good-looking mask, or I will be embarrassed upon being photographed tomorrow.”

After Fang Juexia suffered through a long wait, his cellphone finally vibrated.

[Injured Guide Dog: It just finished, I’m so tired…When I saw your message, I had already booked a cab. I finally managed to see you attain such a high awareness, knowing that you should pick up your boyfriend, but I missed the opportunity. When I get back, we must make up for it.]

Make up for it…. How were they going to make that up?

His phone vibrated again.

[Injured Guide Dog: Miss me?]

Upon seeing this question, Fang Juexia felt a little embarrassed even though he was just reading these words from across the screen, and he gripped his cellphone to type a line of words, which he ended up deleting once, and before he could type anything else, a new message had already jumped into the chatbox.

[Injured Guide Dog: Let me say it first, I miss you so much.]

Fang Juexia’s fingers stopped.

He couldn’t beat him at all.

“Juexia? What are you up to?”

Fang Juexia had just typed out a heart, and ended up accidentally sending it when Xiao Wen asked him this question. “Ah? Nothing, it’s getting late, I want to go back to the dorm.”

“You go back first ba. Just now, Beizi asked me to help pull him around later,” Lu Yuan said.

So Fang Juexia, escorted by security personnel, went back to the dormitory. Before he left the company, he ordered Pei Tingsong’s favorite food, pizza, which was delivered right when he got home. Pei Tingsong was writing something in his bedroom with his headphones on, so he didn’t notice Fang Juexia’s return until the person appeared behind him and touched his shoulder.

As soon as he turned his head and saw Fang Juexia, Pei Tingsong, who was sitting in a swivel chair, spun around and threw his arms around his waist, exclaiming, “You’ve finally come back.”

Fang Juexia wasn’t used to his intimate gestures, but he was also afraid of bumping into his injured hand when pushing him away, so he simply let him do what he wanted. “Be careful with your wrist.”

Obviously, Pei Tingsong had already regarded his injury as some kind of gold medal. His face rubbed against Fang Juexia’s stomach, and his teeth bit into the upper and lower hem of his shirt. He raised his eyes towards Fang Juexia, as if to show off to him on purpose.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Fang Juexia reached out and pushed his forehead, but Pei Tingsong didn’t let go. He even separated his legs, dragging Fang Juexia between them, and then caught his legs with his thighs, making it impossible for him to escape.

He relaxed his mouth, looked at Fang Juexia, and raised his eyebrows.”Lower your head, I have something to say to you.”

Fang Juexia thought about it and followed his words. He didn’t expect Pei Tingsong to stretch up to him, kiss him on the mouth, and then lean back contentedly to say, “You’re so easy to trick.”

“It’s you who go too far.” Fang Juexia was angry and wanted to leave, but Pei Tingsong grabbed his arm pitifully. “I’m kidding, I really have something to say to you.”

Fang Juexia stopped to look down at him, with an expression of ‘I’m waiting to see what you have to say.’

Pei Tingsong looked at him and said, “I’m so tired, I want to take a bath.”

“Go ah. I’ve ordered pizza for you, and you can take a bath when you’re done eating.”

After listening to him, Pei Tingsong pretended to be weak and carefully raised his left hand, which was in a cast, using his right hand. He didn’t say another word, he just looked at Fang Juexia pitifully.

Oh right ah.

Fang Juexia had just been concerned about earning face and had forgotten all about Pei Tingsong’s injury. Forget about taking a bath, it would be very difficult for him to just wash his hair.

“Then what should you do? How about you just don’t take a bath today?”

“No, I can’t stand it.” Pei Tingsong was too lazy to continue hinting at things, and came straight to the point. “Help me wash up ba.”

Fang Juexia suddenly thought of the scene when Pei Tingsong had been drunk and had run off to take a bath. He suddenly felt a little embarrassed. “Help? How can I help ah…”

Pei Tingsong grew very irritated when he heard that. “Aren’t you very good at taking care of people? Why is it as soon as it comes to your boyfriend, you don’t know how ah?”

Fang Juexia was still not used to the word ‘boyfriend’. He thought of what he had heard in the office last afternoon. “You should have agreed to your Jie and gone to live in your apartment; the 24-hour nurse could be dispatched whenever, and they’d do whatever you wanted.”

“I don’t want a nurse, I just want you. You can just help me wash my hair ba, I don’t need your help in taking a bath. I’ll give you a small bench to sit on, and you definitely won’t be tired.”

“Ge,” Pei Tingsong tugged his hand around and pleaded, “Juexia Gege, take pity on me ba.”