CH 69

Chapter 69 – The Secret In The Flowers

Supernatural event happening at the Kaleido autograph event

“What,” Pei Tingsong threw up both hands, and his face was full of disbelief as he asked, “Seriously?”

But that male fan very soon burst into laughter before replying, “Nonono, just joking! Please autograph for me, troubling you.” He also bowed.

He just knew it.

Pei Tingsong pulled at the hair band on his forehead. “Alright ba. Seeing as we’re both 20 now, I’ll write ‘Forever twenty’ ba.”

“Thank you, thank you,” The male fan quickly added, “But Juexia said in an interview before that his ideal type was a more mature person, so I think I still need to grow up more quickly.”

Pei Tingsong had just written out an “F”, and he nearly ended up turning it into “Fuck.”

As soon as he heard this, Fang Juexia roused himself and raised his head. First, he looked at that upright young man who was wearing a completely sunny expression. Then he glanced at Pei Tingsong, who was on the verge of losing control of his facial expression. Finally, he quickly turned his head to Ling Yi, who was watching the show, and asked in a low voice, “When did I say that?”

Ling Yi also whispered, “How do I know when you made such a thing up…”

“Fine.” The smile on Pei Tingsong’s face grew more and more kind. “Then I’ll wish you an early maturity.” When he signed the album, the strength he used was extraordinary. The sound of his pen scratching against the album sounded scary, but Pei Tingsong still presented the signed album back with a smile. “Here you go.”

“Thank you.” The male fan took hold of the album and put it in his bag, then he held onto Pei Tingsong’s hand with both hands with an expression that showed complete earnestness.

Heh, he still knows to be distressed for a wounded member ah. It seemed that this fan still had a conscience.

Pei Tingsong took the lead and said, “No need to wish me better soon…”

“Please take good care of our Juexia!” The male fan held Pei Tingsong’s hand tightly and cut off his speech with this request.

No? Wait a minute….

Whose?

Our Juexia???

Fang Juexia, watching all this from the side, felt both awkward and amused, so he could only bury his head in autographing things for his little fans. Ling Yi was pulling the fans in front of him to watch the show together, laughing joyfully.

The veins in Pei Tingsong’s forehead were about to pop out, but fortunately, his hair band covered him up. “What are you talking about…”

“Although I know you guys are just doing fanservice!” The male fan continued, “But please take more care of our Juexia! Our Juexia really has a difficult time!” With that, he released his hand and bowed again to Pei Tingsong, who hadn’t yet pulled his hand back. 

Pei Tingsong’s head started aching while listening to this. “Wait…”

Fanservice???

Laozi is real! The absolute real thing!

“This is a physical rehabilitation tool I bought for you, as well as some nutritional supplements for calcium.” The male fan took each of these items out of his bag, marketing them just like a pyramid-scheme salesman. “I heard that boys over 190m tall actually have weaker constitutions, so you need to supplement your nutrition.”

“I’m not weak at all!”

This was totally questioning his physical strength! This was basically a personal insult! 

Looking at how close his family’s little wolf dog was to jumping over the wall, Fang Juexia immediately came out to clean up the scene. “Thank you for your gift, I will urge Xiao Pei to take it.”

As soon as the male fan saw Fang Juexia talking, his face once again showed a shy smile as he replied, “Thank you Juexia, I will find another chance to see you!”

Fang Juexia humbly bowed his head and smiled. “Okay, thank you very much for your support.”

After great effort, they managed to send this die-hard male fan off, and then Ling Yi opened his mouth, activating his gossip mode again. “Tall but weak, he’s talking about the group bully who usually fights against both the heavens and the earth. I’ll sing a song for you today called, ‘You also have such a day.’”

Pei Tingsong picked up one of the plushie bolas on the table and pointed it at Ling Yi. “Shut up! I’m not weak at all.”

Lu Yuan handed the album in his hands to his fans using both his hands and said, “Yes, Xiao Pei has a great body, it’s really delicious.”

“Respect, Yuan Ge,” Pei Tingsong saluted him.

Lu Yuan returned the salute and continued, “It’s just really a bit weak. He even needs someone to get him a bathrobe after he takes a bath.”

All the fans standing at the side laughed.

“Hahahahaha!”

“It’s impossible to do this job anymore.”

Fang Juexia patted him on the back, looked at him, and smiled. From the fans’ point of view below the stage, this smile was just like that of a Gege’s doting smile towards the maknae. Then, he noticed that Pei Tingsong wanted to drink Wangzai milk that was in front of him, so he inserted the straw for him, and pushed it over to him. “Drink ba.”

“Sure enough, the fans are like their idol.”

Fang Juexia frowned suspiciously.

“You’re all heartless.” Pei Tingsong picked up the straw and took a sip, and felt as if he had gone back to the terrible period when he had drunk Wangzai milk every day a year and a half ago.

“Too sweet.” He frowned and put the milk down.

In a natural manner, Fang Juexia picked up the box of Wangzai milk and took a sip of it. “It’s okay.”

The CP fans below saw the two people drinking from the same box of milk together, and it was so sweet that they just wanted to faint right then and there.

Another new fan came up, wearing a T-shirt that looked like something a fan station had created. There were two small cartoon figures on it, one with blue hair, the other with long black and styled hair, and there were three big letters above the little people—Nap.

“Ling Yi! Do you remember me, Yiyi?!”

This little girl was very enthusiastic. “I’m the stationmaster for the Nap CP station!” She said this, then looked at Fang Juexia who was at Ling Yi’s side and asked, “Juexia, do you still remember me?”

To be honest, Fang Juexia couldn’t remember faces very well, so he thought about it carefully. However, since she had mentioned the Nap CP station, Fang Juexia guessed that she should be a big CP fan of his and Ling Yi’s ship, so he nodded. “Hello.”

The Nap stationmaster grew excited. “Ahhhhhhh, I’m so happy!”

Ling Yi also imitated her appearance to cry out, “Ahhhhhhh, I’m so happy!” Then he reached out and high-fived the girl.

“I’ve brought you guys some of the things made by our CP station, there are dolls! And our photobook!” The stationmaster worked hard to rummage through her Minion backpack.

Ling Yi stared at her backpack. “Your bag there looks really good!”

“Right ba, I’ve got one for you, too!” She found the dolls and photobooks, as well as the Minion backpack and Minion Polaroid camera she bought for Ling Yi, and offered them up. “These are all for you.”

“Thank you! I really like it!”

Ling Yi wrote her requested words for the CP station on her album, and the station master put it away contentedly before shifting over to Fang Juexia’s side. “Juexia Gege, I bought you a new type of game console. It has Sudoku games and many difficult number puzzle games, which you can play before you go to bed.”

“Thank you.” Fang Juexia liked his present very much and took a few more glances at the box as he took it over. 

“And there’s also this, one photobook each for you and Ling Yi.”

Fang Juexia accepted all the gifts she gave him one by one. He kept thanking her, and then signed everything based on her requirements. 

“Ah, I have one last little request.”

Fang Juexia put the cap of his pen back on. “Alright, tell us.”

Ms. Stationmaster grabbed her backpack strap. “Can Juexia and Ling Yi raise their hands together to make a heart?”

Ling Yi put down his signature pen. “Of course we can la!” Saying that, he raised his left hand and bent it into the shape of half a heart, obediently leaning his body against Fang Juexia’s shoulder. 

In the past, Fang Juexia didn’t have any mental burdens when doing CP fanservice, but now, as long as he was doing fanservice for other CPs, he kept getting this chilly feeling emanating from behind him. 

Sure enough, as soon as he turned his head, he saw Pei Tingsong, who had finished autographing something, throw a genial smile in his direction. 

Fang Juexia pretended that he didn’t see him. He quickly made a heart with Ling Yi and waved at the exiting cute Nap stationmaster. 

Turning his head and seeing Ling Yi show off the CP dolls everywhere, Pei Tingsong felt that it really wasn’t to his taste. 

What about the TingJue CP station? Didn’t they say that their CP was trending? That it was the number one most talked about CP?

Fake, it was all fake!

Just as he was cursing out his own family’s disappointing CP fans, unexpectedly, a loli with short hair came up, and there were several big words written on her coat —‘TingJue girl’— on a background of blue skies overhead. 

Pei Tingsong, who had just wilted away, immediately grew energized. 

“Hello, Juexia!” The loli with short hair had a little cartoon TingJue sticker stuck on her face. Fang Juexia looked up, thought it was very cute, and praised, “This sticker is very cute.”

“Really?!” The loli with short hair was so excited that she took out all the remaining stickers from her pocket. “Here, mama, pei,” the little girl immediately corrected her words and said, “I-I’ll give all this to you!”

Fang Juexia put the stickers away with a smile. “Thank you.”

“And mine?” Pei Tingsong inserted his tilted head and demanded, “I want some too.”

“Go back and share with Juexia ba.” The girl also deliberately added a sentence, “Juexia gets first pick.”

Based on what?

Pei Tingsong was perplexed; were his CP fans not even partial towards him?!

“I’m the stationmaster of the ‘Snow Imprisoned In Spring’ CP station. We’ve prepared too many gifts for you, so we’ve delivered them all over to Star Chart by car. We wanted to give these few to you guys personally.” The little head of the station first handed Fang Juexia the bouquet in her hand. Inside it were baby’s breath, white eustoma, peonies, and white roses. They were all tied up with pearlescent paper and tied with light gray ribbons.

“Wow, that is so pretty,” Ling Yi added. “It’s like a wedding bouquet.”

It really was a bit like that. Fang Juexia really liked the color combination of the flowers. He thanked her twice and put the flowers on the table.

The stationmaster took out a spectacle box, opened it, and handed a pair of special glasses, with gold chains on them, to Juexia. What was special was that there was a very delicate white flower on the left lens of the glasses.

“It’s a white eustoma made from resin, and we specially made it for you,” she specifically explained. 

Pei Tingsong thought that that flower was beautiful and suited Fang Juexia very well. “It’s really beautiful. Can you wear it to show it to them?”

Fang Juexia nodded and put on the glasses. His left eye was covered by the eustoma, leaving only one eye on display. Immediately after, the rapid-fire clicking sound of shutters came from below the stage. 

“Too beautiful!” The stationmaster excitedly began to dig into her bag again. Seeing the beautiful glasses Fang Juexia got, Pei Tingsong naturally had higher expectations for his gift.

“This is what we’re giving Xiao Pei!”

As soon as she took it out, Pei Tingsong’s little expectant face collapsed. What he saw was a long string of Hawaiian style ornaments, with each ornament being a fist-sized cactus doll. The expression of each cactus was different; some were angry to the point that their eyebrows were nearly vertical, while some were cool and had sunglasses on.

The stationmaster eagerly hung it on Pei Tingsong’s neck. “We specially made this, and the cactuses there can be taken off oh.”

Pei Tingsong pinched the small green cactus, then pulled a bit on their soft thorns. 

Fang Juexia glanced at these little dolls, and his originally cold face suddenly filled with life, with his eyes brimming with affection. “I’m also raising a cactus, but it’s the long, thin kind.”

On hearing this, the loli with short hair suddenly burst out with a crowing sound, and turned her head to her sisters standing below, making an exaggerated expression excitedly, and even stamping her feet. This startled Fang Juexia to the point that he thought he had said something wrong, “What’s the matter?”

The stationmaster’s voice floated up, “Nothing, nothing, just feel that the cactus Juexia Gege is raising is very cute.”

Alright ba. Pei Tingsong thought of the cactus that Fang Juexia was raising on the balcony, and he pinched the cactus doll a few more times. The more he looked at it, the more pleasing it actually seemed to the eye. “It’s very cute, thank you la.”

“You’re welcome! And there’s this one.” The stationmaster took out a hairband and wanted to force Pei Tingsong to wear it. The security personnel standing next to Pei Tingsong moved to stop her, but Pei Tingsong held out his hand and stopped him. “It’s okay, you can let her help me put it on ba. It’s not convenient for me with one hand.”

“Thank you, Xiao Pei!” The stationmaster put the hairband on him. On one side was a small soft cotton eustoma flower, and on the other side was a little cactus doll.

“Does it look good?” Pei Tingsong turned to Fang Juexia after wearing it.

Fang Juexia stretched his hand and adjusted his bangs for him. “Very cute.”

Pei Tingsong was very satisfied, and even modeled a lot of cool poses for the station Jies carrying their SLR cameras below. 

The CP station Jie told them what she wanted them to sign, and then painstakingly exhorted them, “Juexia Gege and Xiao Pei must take good care of their bodies, and must not get hurt again. We are all worried about your guys’ health.”

Pei Tingsong signed naturally and unrestrainedly. “Don’t worry, look, doesn’t it look quite handsome even though I’m signing with one hand.”

Fang Juexia also laughed and added, “You guys must also take care of yourselves.”

“Thank you, Juexia Gege, then I’ll go la.”

“Hey, wait a minute…” Pei Tingsong thought—How come their CP fans just don’t try much, not even knowing to have the two of them make a heart gesture? 

He winked at the small stationmaster, and the small stationmaster who failed to understand his thought process also winked back at him.

Tch. Pei Tingsong made a heart gesture at her to remind her. 

“Xiao Pei, I love you, too!” The stationmaster then gestured back with a heart too. 

Really…

Pei Tingsong gave up, “Um, the two of us, let’s make a heart ba.”

He elbowed Fang Juexia a few times and forcefully pulled him in to do fanservice. Of course, Fang Juexia wouldn’t refuse. He was just worried about Pei Tingsong’s hand, so even while they were making a heart, his empty right hand was supporting Pei Tingsong’s hand in a sling. 

Only after listening to the clicks of the shutter and the excited screams of the fans did Pei Tingsong finally feel at ease.

In the middle of the autograph session, they took a break, and the staff gave them some snacks and drinks, and also prepared some snacks for the fans below the stage.

He Ziyan opened a bag of potato chips, took the microphone, and said to the fans below, “OK, it’s time for the elementary school sports meeting.”

Ling Yi quickly got his point. “When I was a child, every sports meeting was a snack meeting. Everyone brought a small bag of snacks to those events, and everyone traded and ate.”

Jiang Miao joked, “That must be Yiyi’s favorite school activity.”

“Hahahaha!”

Lu Yuan tore open a bag of Mimi prawn crackers. “Now I want to eat big spicy slices. But I can’t, with so many cameras pointed at us, I can’t lose the dignity of the beautiful main dancer.”

Ling Yi clicked his tongue. “Really shameless enough.”

These four people chatted enthusiastically, while Fang Juexia and Pei Tingsong were on the far right of the long table, living in another dimension.

“I’ll stick a sticker on for you ba.” Fang Juexia poked Pei Tingsong’s plaster with the tip of his finger and suggested, “I’ll stick it here.”

“Then you choose a good-looking sticker.”

The two of them buried their heads into the task and picked for a long time. Fang Juexia stuck the stickers they picked out one by one onto his fingers. Then, based on Pei Tingsong’s request, he carefully stuck them on the plaster, forming a big letter P. 

Pei Tingsong, now wearing a satisfied expression, showed off the stickers on his plaster to the people below the stage, with the little doll on his head swinging back and forth.

On the other side, Ling Yi, who was tired from doing crosstalk with Lu Yuan, looked back, and saw that Juexia’s chair had traveled to who knows where. Clearly, when they had arrived on stage, the staff members had spaced the chairs apart evenly, but now, there was enough space between him and Juexia to even insert another chair there.

Just like the heart of its master.

Ling Yi joked into the microphone, “So it turns out that Kaleido has a seventh member?” Then he stretched his hand and sketched out a figure in the gigantic space between him and Fang Juexia. “See, friends, here he is.”

The fans below the stage laughed, “Hahahahahaha!”

Jiang Miao added, “This is the emperor member.”

He Ziyan also joined in, “What kind of supernatural event is happening at the Kaleido autograph event?”

Lu Yuan tilted his stool and looked to the right. “Not as handsome as I am, the appraisal is over.”

Only then did Fang Juexia realize that he was the one being complained about, so he tried to shift his seat back to the right a bit, while explaining, “I was just putting stickers on him.”

“No, don’t move over. It won’t be good if you squash the legs of our hidden member.” Ling Yi made a show of being sad and kept talking, “Don’t explain, explanation is a cover-up. In this situation, I can’t help but sing a song for this scene.”

Saying this, he really started singing, “I’m sitting on your left today, it’s just like we’re separated by the Milky Way~”

“Hahahahahaha drama queen Ling Yi!”

“Hahahahaha!”

Fang Juexia could only helplessly smile and move the chair when Ling Yi wasn’t paying attention. He also didn’t know what was going on, but he couldn’t help but keep getting closer to Pei Tingsong.

The fans below the stage yelled his name, “Juexia Gege! Can Juexia wear those glasses?! We want to take a picture of you!”

Fang Juexia responded to every request. Once again, he put on the eustoma glasses that his fans had given him. With his scholarly style and long softly-black hair, he looked beautiful and refined.

The station Jies went crazy to capture his beauty with their cameras, and then he heard some fans from the other side shouting, “Juexia Gege! Can you hold the bouquet ah?!”

“Yes! The bouquet is pretty!”

Pei Tingsong laughed while complaining, “Like a model.”

“Is this okay?” Fang Juexia picked up the bouquet based on their requests and smiled at the cameras below. He wasn’t a person who would really fawn on his fans, or it could be said, who would really try to curry favor with fans. 

Compared to the many celebrities who interacted with fans by treating them like “girlfriends”, Fang Juexia seemed to maintain more of a sense of distance. His Weibo pretty much didn’t do any fanservice, and he usually wouldn’t say things like ‘love you guys’ and so on. Adding on his naturally cold face, many people had misunderstandings about him, and there were even a lot of anti-fans who slandered him by saying that he had a cold face, never looked happy, and was very cold towards his fans. 

But only his real fans knew that while Fang Juexia wasn’t good at expressing himself, he would sincerely express his thanks over and over again. He’d help up fans who fell over at the airport and would hand tissues to the crying fans. He would truly care about them and act as if they were all in an equal friendship.

After the photos were taken, Fang Juexia lowered his head to neaten up the flowers in the bouquet. He then heard Pei Tingsong at his side complaining in a low voice, saying that clearly, even though these were their CP fans, they hadn’t given him a bouquet. 

Fang Juexia didn’t look up and started laughing. “Do you like flowers?”

Pei Tingsong said honestly, “That’s not it.”

The table blocked Fang Juexia’s movements from the fans’ view. Pei Tingsong continued to interact with the fans below, but if the fans said East, he’d go West. The fans asked him to pick up the toy gun on the table to pose with for pictures, but he picked up the toy katana.

Just when he was fighting with his fans happily, suddenly Pei Tingsong felt his elbow being touched. He turned his head and saw a bunch of small flowers entangled with ribbons in front of him.

“For you,” Fang Juexia said in a low voice.

He had picked out every single eustoma from the bouquet, creating a snow white bunch of flowers, and was offering it to Pei Tingsong.

Veiled love was hidden in every single eustoma, and only they knew about it, or else the whole world would know. 

Pei Tingsong blankly took the bunch of flowers and looked at Fang Juexia. One of his eyes was blocked by the eustoma blossom on his glasses, while the other was bright, reflecting his face.

How could there be such a well-behaved, such a lovely person in this world?

He really wanted to kiss him.

Really wanted to.

“Thank you.”

Pei Tingsong picked up his own bouquet and did all kinds of poses with it for fans to take pictures of.

At this time, the staff came to them and handed them microphones. Fang Juexia took it and turned on the switch. As soon as he turned it on, Ling Yi brought him a sandwich. “Do you want to eat, Juexia?”

Fang Juexia nodded, put the microphone on the table, and turned to unpack the sandwich.

The people on his right were still performing group crosstalk, and Pei Tingsong only cared about showing off the bouquet of eustoma that Fang Juexia had tied for him, not building on the tone of his bandmates at all. 

Fang Juexia hadn’t eaten much this whole morning, and he hadn’t had much time to eat at noon either. He was really a little hungry, but as soon as he took a bite of the sandwich, he felt that there was something in it. After a careful inspection, it turned out that it was pickles again. Whether it was fresh cucumbers or pickles, Fang Juexia didn’t like them very much. He put the sandwich that he had taken a bite of back into the box, as he didn’t want to eat it any more.

Pei Tingsong seized on this little action again. He picked up the sandwich, picked out the pickles, and ate them by himself. He also complained, “Pickles are so good ah, and yet you don’t eat them.”

Unexpectedly, this sentence was amplified and broadcast directly through the microphone in front of them, and the whole venue heard it.

Fang Juexia’s whole body was petrified, not moving a muscle at all, and only his eyes were left spinning.

His bandmates to the left all showed embarrassed expressions of having to close the closet door. He Ziyan let out a “wow” again, and then group leader Jiang Miao directly and subconsciously saved the show by intervening, “Ah, is Juexia being picky again? That’s why our Juexia is so thin, the whole group knows he’s picky.”

Listening to the embarrassed laugh of their leader, Ling Yi, who hadn’t recovered his senses, questioned, “How could I not have known this?”

Lu Yuan leaned across Jiang Miao and attacked him, “Because you only know how to eat.”

Pei Tingsong hadn’t thought that the microphone was on, but turning it off now would make things look even more suspicious. He picked up the microphone and was ready to say something, but unexpectedly, a fan below suddenly yelled, being even louder than his voice.

“Pei Tingsong, didn’t you say you don’t like pickles?”

“Your voice is really loud ah…” Pei Tingsong took the microphone and inquired, “When did I say that?”

The fan who was talking to him continued to shout, “During the interview for the pair cover for the magazine! The rapid-fire Q&A session! You said that you like eating cheeseburgers best, with no pickles!”

The following fans below all let out a, “Wow…” There was also a small group of CP fans covering their mouths and screaming within their midst. 

He Ziyan’s expression was as if he was watching a good show. “This Meimei is really capable, with a loud voice and also a good memory.”

Ling Yi looked at the pickles in his own sandwich and sighed, “Alas, after so many years of pickiness and disgust, all for naught.”

Only after hearing what the fan said did Fang Juexia remember. He carefully recalled the interview from back then, and Pei Tingsong truly did seem to have answered in this way at that time.

So, in fact, he also didn’t like pickles…

But every time, Pei Tingsong would pick out the pickles he didn’t like to eat while lecturing him on how being picky was a bad habit. 

“So, I’m not allowed to like them now?” Pei Tingsong continued to argue for himself through the microphone, “I didn’t think it was delicious at the time of the interview. Later, after I ate them several times, I thought they tasted really good now, is that not okay ah?”

Another girl from below the stage yelled, “Really flip-flopping!!”

—

The author has something to say:

Nap CP doesn’t imply an order, in Juexia and Ling Yi’s CP, he’s the gong (why am I explaining this??)

In fact, Juexia has always been in the gong group! 180cm cold beauty gong!

————————

After the on-the-spot TingJue CP fans posted the photo previews and video clips to Weibo:

@Snow Imprisoned in Spring CP station: [picture] [picture] [picture]

[Ahhhhhh, our Juexia’s fairy beauty is being properly put on display today too 555]

[My God, this photo with glasses is so beautiful! Immortal station, immortal picture! Mama fan deteriorating!]

[The cactuses on Xiao Pei are too cute ba!]

@TingJue Feast CP station: Every eustoma bestowed upon you. [picture] [picture]

[Shit! The eustoma is the flower that represents Juexia ah. He took apart the bouquet sent by the Imprisoned Snow station and picked out each eustoma to give to Xiao Pei. Isn’t that “giving myself to you?” kswlkswlkswl]

[AHHHHHHHHH WHAT KIND OF HEAVEN SHAKING FLUFF IS ‘GIVING MYSELF TO YOU’ AH! Wuwuwuwu, what kind of peerless, cold but sweet little idol is our Juexia ah!]

[I’m surprised, Fine Jewelike Xeriscape looks so cold, but how can he be so sweet? It’s like ice cream and pastries, too sweet.]

[Who doesn’t want to fall in love with the beautiful Fine Jewelike Xeriscape wuwuwuwu?]

Snow Imprisoned in Spring CP station: Postscript is here la. When we gave the cactus doll to Xiao Pei, Juexia said that he also was raising a cactus oh~ A long and thin cactus.

[AHHHHH ISN’T THAT! [covers mouth]]

[The cactus that Fine Jewelike Xeriscape is raising, isn’t it just Xiao Pei?!!!]

[Begging you, troubling the posters to not dance in front of the CP fans wwww]

Eustoma With Thorns station: Didn’t someone say they didn’t eat pickles? [Video]

[So TingJue completely doesn’t like eating pickles? God, I need oxygen….]

[Hahahaha, is Ling Yi really a member of our organization? Does he keep the closet door shut with his main account while eating fluff with his side account ah?]

[PTS is awesome, is there another wolfdog born on New Year’s that’s sweeter than Pinot Tree Supreme?]

[Eating pickles he doesn’t like for Gege, it’s too real….]