CH 68

Chapter 68 – Direct Shot To The Heart

The number of votes is right!

Fang Juexia realized that he could not win against Pei Tingsong at all.

This guy was both cunning and confident. He wasn’t afraid of anything, and he was a naturally talented kind of competitor.

“Really amazing.” Fang Juexia pushed him away, pulled the towel over, and threw it on his face. He turned his back and then whispered, “Do you want me to give you a diploma?”

Pei Tingsong wiped his hair. “Oh right.” He came out of the bathtub, wrapped himself in a bath towel, and hugged Fang Juexia from behind. “Forget it, I’m going to apply for the master’s and doctoral studies.”

The more he talked, the higher his spirits became. Fang Juexia elbowed him once, then remembered that Lu Yuan was right outside. “How can I get out later? Every time he plays games, he does so in the living room.”

Pei Tingsong, holding his ice cream, went to the drying section of the bathroom, turned on the hair dryer, and started to blow-dry his hair. At the same time, he cracked open the bathroom door a bit, glanced over, then turned his head back and told Fang Juexia, “He’s really in the living room.”

Sure enough, Fang Juexia knew them all too well.

“I know what to do.” Pei Tingsong drew close to his ear and whispered his idea to him. Fang Juexia felt that currently, he really was like a high schooler who was dating and was trying not to get caught in the act by their guardian, but he had no choice but to do so.

Pei Tingsong turned off the hair dryer, cleared his throat, opened the bathroom door, and called out, “Yuan Ge.”

“Hey!” Lu Yuan stretched his neck over, but his eyes were still pinned on the screen as he asked, “What?”

“Um, help me get a bathrobe, I forgot to bring one in. After soaking for a long time, I came out and found it was cold outside.” Pei Tingsong poked half of his body out the bathroom door. “It’s in my closet, on the far right, the dark gray one.”

“One minute ah, just one minute, will go immediately.” Lu Yuan had already stood up, but his head was still hanging as he concentrated on the final melee, all the way until the game ended. “Got it.” He ran down the bedroom corridor without even putting on his slippers.

Fang Juexia, hiding behind Pei Tingsong, seized the opportunity to go out.

“Hey, wait!”

Upon seeing Lu Yuan come back, Pei Tingsong quickly and agilely blocked Fang Juexia. “What?”

Lu Yuan scratched his head and asked, “What did you just say? Get what?”

Pei Tingsong was in a good mood, and so found this amusing. People who were playing games were really no different from deaf people. “Bathrobe, a dark gray bathrobe, it’s right there in my closet.”

“Oh, right, right, right, ugh, my brain.” Lu Yuan turned around and said, “Wait there, don’t come out ah. Otherwise you’ll catch a cold in a bit.”

Hearing his voice fade away, Fang Juexia hurried out of the bathroom and sneaked into the living room like a thief. As soon as he got to the entranceway, he heard Lu Yuan’s voice. He was so scared that his shoulders trembled, and he quickly stuck himself against the wall.

“Why can’t I find it ah?”

Pei Tingsong broke out in a cold sweat and said, “You can just grab any one ba.”

“Ah, found it.”

After he heard this, Fang Juexia immediately ran to the main entrance, opened the door, and slipped out. With his back against the door, Fang Juexia breathed a long sigh of relief.

He had finally managed to escape; this was even more exciting than when they were filming ‘Escape For Your Life.’

Fang Juexia looked down and saw the slippers he was wearing. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry; he really was too miserable. Originally, he was going to take a few moments to calm his heart down outside, but he didn’t expect to see the up symbol on the display screen of the entrance elevator not far away.

Someone was coming back?

A pincer attack was converging, and Fang Juexia didn’t dare to stay at that spot any longer. He quickly opened the door using the facial recognition lock, pushing it open and entering as if nothing had happened.

Fortunately, Lu Yuan wasn’t at the main entrance, otherwise it would have been awkward to catch sight of Fang Juexia in his slippers.

“Who’s back?”

Hearing Lu Yuan’s voice, Fang Juexia answered, “Me.” His heart felt weak as he walked into the living room, and he just happened to see Lu Yuan come out of the bedroom with a white bathrobe in his hand. “Juexia, didn’t you go home earlier than me? How come you’re only back now?”

Watching him carry the bathrobe to the main bathroom, Fang Juexia explained, “I… I went out again later.”

“Oh.” Lu Yuan, who had accomplished his mission, went around and returned to his position, soon flopping back onto the sofa. But then, for some reason he flipped over again, just like a carp jumping out of the river, and stared at Fang Juexia. “Why are you so damp, is it raining outside?”

Only at this time did Fang Juexia discover that his top was already completely stuck to his body, and his hair was dripping with water and sticking to his face. He wasn’t a person who lied very often, so when he opened his mouth, he started to stammer, “Ah, because, I just…”

“You’re sweating like this after you run, and you’re still not going to take a bath ah.” Pei Tingsong put on his bathrobe and came out of the bathroom. He glanced at Fang Juexia and then threw the tie of the bathrobe in his hand over onto Lu Yuan. “Yuan Ge, help me tie it up.”

Seeing Pei Tingsong break his siege, Fang Juexia hurriedly went down the ladder he had brought and escaped the situation. “Right, I have to take a bath, I’m sweating all over.”

“You’re so awesome ah, Xiao Pei. You’re all hurt, but you can still undo and take off all your clothes on your own?”

“That’s right, otherwise how could I get on ‘Escape For Your Life’?”

Coincidentally, it was then that the rest of the people came back, and the dormitory grew noisy. Fang Juexia stood alone in the bathroom and helped Pei Tingsong by putting all of his changed clothes into the washing machine. He also took off his half wet shirt and threw it in.

He didn’t know why, but just seeing their clothes fall in the same place made Fang Juexia’s imagination run wild, with his face going red and his heart leaping. 

So it turned out that love was this kind of feeling.

After taking a bath, Fang Juexia was pulled by Ling Yi into playing a game. Although he seldom played games on weekdays, he was actually a very good player at this type of game and often carried his teammates. After all, he had good technique, excellent psychological quality, and high concentration, which was a kind of playing method that aimed very few cruel words towards one’s own teammates.

Ling Yi kicked his legs excitedly. “Juexia, we’re going to eat chicken in this match again!”

Fang Juexia, who was wearing earphones, didn’t speak, let alone relax his vigilance.

He Ziyan opened up a beverage can and sat down beside Ling Yi. “Again? How many matches have you guys won?”

Ling Yi proudly twisted around a bit. “Two, isn’t it awesome?”

“Juexia really is 6, last time when we said that we’d livestream it for the fans, he wouldn’t even let us.” Lu Yuan said, “How nice it would be to have a livestream for fans to enjoy ah.”

When Fang Juexia was gaming, he would be too focused and didn’t really listen to what they were saying, nor did he respond. He felt that there seemed to be footsteps approaching him. Just as he was turning to check, he suddenly heard Pei Tingsong’s voice.

“Really? So strong? Let me also have a look.”

As soon as he got close, Fang Juexia smelled the same shampoo aroma on him as the one he had. Pei Tingsong sat next to him, placing his chin on his shoulder.

Fang Juexia’s heart suddenly grew chaotic for a few seconds. Because of this, he was surprise-attacked and shot at by the only remaining group of enemies. Upon seeing the green liquid splashing on the screen, Fang Juexia immediately reacted and hid behind a tree. After finding the right position, he counter-attacked and killed one of the enemies quickly.

“Wow, really great.”

The heat of his breath as he spoke sprayed onto Fang Juexia’s ear, making his heart feel flustered. He dodged a bit from the proximity and said, “Go over there a bit, don’t let your hand bump into me.”

Because of you, I almost ended up dying.

When the last person showed themselves, Fang Juexia directly knocked them down, then finally let Ling Yi make a few shots to earn a kill.

“Yay!” Ling Yi was so happy that he threw his cellphone away, hugged Juexia, and then peppered him with a lot of kisses on his head as he exclaimed, “Juexia, you are my God!”

Upon suddenly receiving so many kisses, Fang Juexia’s first reaction was to actually look at Pei Tingsong while wearing an expression of complete confusion.

Pei Tingsong felt that his head had turned a glowing green, as green as that box lying in the grass that the enemy player had turned into after dying in the game. He pulled Ling Yi away with one hand. “Step aside, why are you kissing and hugging every single day?”

“What’s the matter? You’re not happy ah! You’re homophobic ah!”

With such a big pot getting smashed onto his head, Pei Tingsong’s eyes widened. “Who’s homophobic ah! Who are you saying is homophobic?!”

The two little children started to attack each other, and besides Fang Juexia, who was still stuck between them and trying to awkwardly mediate, the other guys who had already gotten used to this a long time, had already formed a team to play a new match. 

“Hey, my Yuan, you go over there a bit further.”

“Three Water, hand me those chips.”

“This flavor? Or this one?”

Pei Tingsong pressed Ling Yi’s head, but his mouth was still blaring, “I’m telling you, being homophobic is like being deeply closeted!”

“You can say I’m deeply closeted, you can’t say I’m homophobic.”

As soon as these words were uttered, the rest of the members all stopped moving their hands around and turned their heads towards Pei Tingsong in unison. 

Fang Juexia just wanted to quit this group conversation at that very moment.

The next morning, they went to MLH to record a new promotional performance. This time, they were dressed in a set of white Tang jackets, which gave the feel of being martial arts practitioners in the Republic of China era. Pei Tingsong’s sling matched along with  the style unexpectedly well, and also because of him performing with his injury, the fans on scene were also more enthusiastic.

Originally, when he was singing “Ten steps and a person will be dead and maimed”, Pei Tingsong’s dance move was to grab Fang Juexia’s collar, and then the two of them would suddenly draw close together, but because he was injured now, Fang Juexia changed from being passive in this killing action’s part, instead now moving forward to take the initiative. He held the folding fan as he moved forward, swept Pei Tingsong’s arm with the back end of the fan, and then finally used it to lift up his chin. 

This new move caused the supporting fans below to grow excited and start screaming, and the tension between the two of them was magnified as it collided heavily on the stage. Chasing Kaleido would produce more little surprises than when chasing other boy-bands. You would just never know how many adaptations and improvisations this group would incorporate when singing live. Just like the implied meaning behind the word Kaleido when it was being founded, this boy-band was indeed like a kaleidoscope, always shifting and changing.

Kaleido’s experience in just one week could be described as being the stuff of an Internet legend. Before, almost all the first places of the major song playing programs had been completely dominated by Seven Luminaries, which had already become a normal situation for this “heavenly group”. Yet, just a week later, these six boys, who weren’t even worthy of counting as being Seven Luminaries’ opponent in everyone’s eyes, were now prime candidates for the award, with millions of people waiting anxiously for the host to announce the result. 

From the corner of his eye, Fang Juexia could see Liang Ruo standing not far away. He stood at the corner with his group and looked over at him once before looking away. 

He couldn’t describe what kind of feeling this was, and Fang Juexia’s feelings at this moment were complicated. Finally, he could also compete openly with his friends, those who had once practiced and struggled together with him, without having to bear any of the prejudice or burdens imposed by the aura of the past.

He had really waited for this day for too long.

“This season’s first place, for Music Live Hall, will either be Seven Luminaries or Kaleido! Now I’d like to announce the achievements of these two groups!”

This was the first time they’d been in the running to win. Ling Yi was too nervous to look, but Lu Yuan read all of it seriously. “Wow, our numbers are that strong?”

There wasn’t much of a difference between the two sides in terms of the sales volume for their albums. Because Kaleido had more passers-by who bought their album, in terms of sales, they had a big advantage. The playback numbers for “Break Through” was twice that of Seven Luminaries’ new album. Combining the total score of these two items put Kaleido far ahead.

“Finally, let’s take a look at the voting section!” This section depended on die-hard fans. The number of fans Seven Luminaries possessed was always their strong point, and that was also why they would almost always win first place in these music playing programs. With this vote, they still had room to stage a comeback. 

As the host’s voice dropped, two numbers appeared on the big screen — 89,987 votes for Seven Luminaries and 87,092 votes for Kaleido.

“Congratulations Kaleido!”

Everyone had guessed that the result might be in favor of Kaleido, but no one had thought that K would attain so many votes, to the point where they could actually nearly reach the same number of votes as Seven Luminaries, who had debuted as a first tier group. 

Even Fang Juexia didn’t think that they actually turned out to have gained so many fans with this comeback. 

Seeing that the six members of K were a little stunned, the host quickly handed the trophy and microphone to Jiang Miao. “Congratulations to all of you!”

Compared with many big prizes, this small, little trophy didn’t count as anything at all. Some singers and groups could get seven or eight or even ten of these during their album’s promotional period. However, this was a very hard-fought win for Kaleido, who had never won first place for anything before. It also meant a new start.

Jiang Miao’s eyes stung a bit, and he didn’t know what was happening to him, but it felt like all their experiences from the past two years were playing back in reverse order in front of his eyes. However, he still maintained the attitude that a group leader should have. “Thank you very much to every Domino who supports us, and thank you President Chen and our agent, Qiang Ge, for never giving up on us. Thank you to all the staff who have devoted themselves to this album. Thank you.”

Standing in a corner backstage, Cheng Qiang’s nose also started stinging while listening to this. It wasn’t so much that they hadn’t given up on these six children as much as they had never given up on themselves.

Jiang Miao finished talking and handed the microphone to Fang Juexia, who seldom spoke. When he got the microphone, Fang Juexia didn’t know what to say for a moment. After thinking about it, he said, “Thank you everyone, you’ve all worked hard during this period of time.” He saw all the fans below start crying, and not only thought that they were cute, but also felt a bit distressed for them. “Don’t cry ah.”

The fans below cried and shouted, “Even Ling Yi is crying!”

As soon as Fang Juexia turned his head back, he saw Ling Yi sniffling his cries, even as he tried to hide behind He Ziyan. Lu Yuan dragged him out again and said, “Aren’t you losing face?”

The microphone was transferred from Fang Juexia’s hand to Pei Tingsong. “I’m not fit to speak on official occasions.”

These opening words made everyone laugh, and he continued, “We’re very happy to get this award. It’s the first time that the six of us have won an award, and it’s a much happier event than I imagined. Thank you all for letting us continue standing on the stage. Maybe we are not the most perfect idols in everyone’s hearts, but we will try our best to better ourselves.” Saying that, he deliberately pretended to be angry and teased, “Ling Yi, stop crying, you’re being so loud that I can’t even stir up any emotions.”

“Hahahahaha!”

Finally, Ling Yi was caught by the others. Lu Yuan put the microphone to his mouth as a public punishment. He was crying so hard he was sniffling and hiccupping, and his speech was completely muffled, “Tha-thank you…hic, everyone.”

He Ziyan joked, “Sorry guys, Ling Yi is too full from breakfast.” As soon as he released his hand, Ling Yi quickly moved away from the microphone and fell into Fang Juexia’s arms, and Fang Juexia then rubbed his hair.

Winning for the first time in a promotional performance made these several people cry and laugh. Other singers and groups present on the stage came to congratulate them one after another, including Seven Luminaries. Liang Ruo walked towards Fang Juexia and held out a hand. “Congratulations.”

He is much thinner than before; perhaps their comeback had also been very tiring. 

Fang Juexia gave a friendly smile, briefly held his hand, and then released it. “Thank you.”

The accompaniment for “Break Through” was played again on the stage, and then it was encore time. Only the six K members were left on the stage, and they played a rock-paper-scissors game while singing in a carefree fashion. Whoever lost in the game had to do a plank on the ground. The injured Pei Tingsong squatted beside them, keeping time and rapping, and the scene was very funny.

After the filming, the six people immediately changed their clothes to a different style and rushed to the autograph event.

Autograph events were almost one of the most desired activities for fans. They could get close to their favorite idols, line up in turn, and everyone had the opportunity to shake hands and chat with their idol, or even have more interaction than that. After the autograph session, there would be a long period of chatting and playing some games, which were all benefits that were usually unavailable.

Star Chart sorted out the album purchasers from those who bought the most to the least, and then the top 1000 were selected to draw lots. The 500 lucky winners would then be able to participate in the autograph event. 

Kaleido’s autograph events originally had always seen very sparse attendance. Not many fans had come when they had debuted, and later, when they had released their second mini album, they hadn’t held an autograph event at all. So this comeback’s autograph event was something their fans had been waiting a whole two years for. 

With the increase in fans, Star Chart was afraid of accidents, so it had changed the autograph venue from a semi outdoors venue to an interior one, and they had also added more security personnel, especially around Pei Tingsong.

When the six of them appeared in the stadium, the screams were mixed with the clicking sound of camera shutters, and looking out across the venue, one could see that it was all station Jies holding SLR cameras.

Jiang Miao looked around and said, “Let’s greet everyone first. One, two, three…”

“Hello everyone, we’re Kaleido!” The six people bowed together, then straightened up and waved to everyone.

The style for the autograph event was more comfortable and casual. Pei Tingsong was looking very American, with a black hair band, a wide white T-shirt, a blue jersey on top of that, and baggy pants with limited-edition AJs to finish it off. Fang Juexia’s long hair was tied behind his head in a low pony-tail. His upper body was wrapped in a white shirt with a lead gray sweater on top, and his lower body was covered with light blue jeans that had holes in them.

Based on their official positions, the six people sat from left to right in front of a long signing table, and wearing a particularly cool mask made of shiny laser fabric, Xiao Wen gave them a heap of signature pens, dividing them up between the six people like he was dividing up snacks for kindergarten children.

“Hey, Xiao Pei, you have just one hand, what are you doing taking so many?”

Ling Yi sarcastically taunted, “Hahahaha, that’s right ah. One hand and still taking so much.”

Pei Tingsong leaned over Fang Juexia and threw a small paper ball at Ling Yi. “Shut up.”

“Enough, are you guys children?” Fang Juexia pressed on Pei Tingsong’s shoulder, and really seemed a bit like a teacher. 

The songs from the “Break Through” album were playing in the stadium, and Cheng Qiang picked up the microphone to announce, “Thank you everyone, for coming to Kaleido’s autograph event. Next, please come to the stage in the order arranged by the staff.”

The first one who came up was a male fan, with red hair, and two strands of glittering lady earrings. When he came up to He Ziyan, his two small feet came together, and he jumped up and down excitedly. 

“Ziyan Ge, I’m your super diehard fan!”

He Ziyan had just gulped a mouthful of a drink and almost spat it out because he saw the big T-shirt on the boy’s body, which bore a photoshopped “group picture” of him and the boy. 

“Holy crap,” He Ziyan couldn’t help saying to Lu Yuan beside him, “I actually have a male fan!”

Lu Yuan was already nearly dying from laughter. He autographed things for his fans while saying, “Isn’t it ma, and you guys even have the same hair color.”

“I dyed it for Ziyan Ge.” The male fan’s whole face was completely red. “I really especially like you! This is my gift to you, Ziyan Ge! And a letter I wrote to you!”

“Wow, thank you, I’ll have a good look at it.”

“Congratulations to you guys for getting first place! Finally, our little obscure K ranked!”

“You guys already know that so soon ah.”

This wasn’t a unique event, and everything had its counterpart. A rare male fan appeared over on He Ziyan’s side, sandwiched in the middle of a large group of girls, who were all burning with ardor and confessing. On Fang Juexia’s side, another one appeared, one who went straight up to him. 

Fang Juexia, who had signed autographs for several girls in succession, now was already using a much gentler voice. “Hello, would you like to…”

Before he could finish talking, a bunch of roses were proffered over to him. Fang Juexia looked up in surprise and saw a tall boy. He sort of didn’t know what was going on. “This is?”

“It’s for you, I really like you very much!”

Pei Tingsong saw this, and the pen in his hand fell on the table. The fan in front of him shyly pushed the album over and requested, “Xiao Pei, please sign here for me.”

“Thank you…” Fang Juexia also seldom saw any male fans, so he felt a bit at loss. He reached for his bouquet and put it to one side. “It’s very beautiful, thank you.” He kept the smile on his face. “Do you have any special requirements for the autograph?”

This male fan, who looked like a very upright young man, declared, “Yes, my name is Youwei, the Youwei in ‘young and promising’, and I also want Juexia to write a sentence—‘Happy 20th birthday Youwei, love you.’ Um, and it would be perfect if you would also draw me a heart after that.”

Love you???

When Pei Tingsong heard this sentence, his pen directly slipped from his hand to draw out a straight line on the album. Looking up at the female fan in front of him awkwardly, Pei Tingsong explained, “I’m sorry ah, I only have one hand, and it’s a bit unstable. It’s alright, watch, I’ll draw you an arrow through the heart.”

Saying that, he really did draw it. The line was changed into an arrow and a big heart was drawn in the middle.

Pei Tingsong turned the album over to his fan and said, “Look, this arrow piercing the heart that I drew, doesn’t it look up to standard?”

The cute little fan immediately started to clap like a seal. “Standard! Looks nice!”

Fang Juexia, who was seated right next to him, still felt it a bit strange after signing it. “Do you want to add a surname? Will it seem a bit strange just to write Youwei?”

“No need.” The male fan’s face was wreathed in smiles, his whole being brimming with happiness as he said, “This way seems more intimate.”

Intimate…

Pei Tingsong handed the album back to his fan with a genial smile stuck to his face. She didn’t know why, but the fan kept feeling that he was off, and she felt a bit numb when he smiled. “Thank you, Xiao Pei. Xiao Pei, you need to keep fighting oh. Get better soon.”

Pei Tingsong raised his uninjured hand and waved at her. “Okay, I’m very good…”

The male fan took the album from Fang Juexia’s hand, not even being able to hide the smile on his face. Once he shook hands with Fang Juexia, he wouldn’t even let go. Pei Tingsong leaned against the back of his chair and coughed.

Ling Yi leaned over and glanced at Pei Tingsong.

“My throat feels really bad. This weather is really too dry.” Pei Tingsong insincerely explained, then took the opportunity to grab the Wangzai milk in front of Fang Juexia, unwrapped the straw with one hand, and poked it into the box.

The male fan, who had just loosened his hand, spoke up, “Thank you Juexia, Juexia, you’re so good!”

Of course he’s good, what do we need you to say that for?

He couldn’t poke the straw into the hole of the box at his first try, so he aligned it again.

“Juexia, I love you!”

Squelch, the straw once again slipped to the side. Pei Tingsong angrily threw the straw to the side.

No, were all male fans so flippant now?!

Fang Juexia kept nodding his thanks and watched the boy reluctantly move away from his seat towards Pei Tingsong’s seat.

Forget it, forget it. Pei Tingsong straightened up and took up his pen to sign. Whatever the case, he was also an idol, so how can he be angry with his fans? Even if you were angry, you still needed to keep autographing smoothly for fans. He was, after all, the good-tempered gentleman, Xiao Pei. Keeping it real was one thing, but for fans, they should still obediently perform fanservice. 

As a result, Pei Tingsong, who had managed to sort out his mental state, raised his face and gave a fake smile to the die-hard male fan who had just come from Fang Juexia’s seat. “Hello, what do you want me to sign?”

Who would have known that that male fan would turn cool in a second. “Oh no need, I just wanted Juexia’s autograph.”

—

The author has something to say:

[The number of votes is right. If you look at the original text carefully, the award is from the total score of the three parts (playbacks, album sales, and fan vote). Kaleido and Seven Luminaries had close album sales, close vote counts, but K had more playbacks. ]

Describing the autograph event is just for fun, and stopping here is just to be funny. Next chapter will still be the autograph session. Don’t take it seriously, don’t take it seriously, don’t take it seriously, and don’t bring up stuff in real life, let’s count it as me begging you guys.

Kaleido autograph session is also known as “Major CP fancily giving out fluff & Kaleido cross talk conference”

——————-

The following is a furtive conversation between TingJue CP station sisters:

“Juexia really looks so good. Wuwuwu, today I also shed tears for Juexia’s beauty.”

“Ahhhhhhhh, quickly look, is Xiao Pei mad, look at his terrifying smile!”

“It’s really breaking the rules to give red roses at an autograph event. Xiao Pei, learn from others!”

“That Wangzai milk is too innocent ba. Some vinegar kings really take these little things to get angry oh, tchtchtch…”

“Really jealous over there, so, so sour.”

“Ah, that male fan skipped Xiao Pei! Hahahaha what kind of scene of bloody slaughter is this?”

“My eyes turn red when I see my love rival!”

“We’re making up such a long story, talking as if it was real.”

“Yes, hahaha, fake, fake, it’s all fake.”