CH 90

Chapter 90 – Youthful Matters Of Heart

Only in the real world can I meet you

At the end of the song, Fang Juexia uttered ‘happy birthday’ in a soft voice, and his bandmates followed suit, congratulating the friend who had requested the song.

Pei Tingsong put down his guitar, opened up the water bottle next to him, and handed it to Fang Juexia. Fang Juexia took it naturally and after taking a small sip, handed it back to him. Pei Tingsong blocked this action with his wrist, urging him to take another sip in a low voice.

Only then did Fang Juexia take another mouthful before putting the water bottle on the table.

The host continued to read the messages being sent by the audience. “A listener with the ID ‘Peanut Smoothie’ asked, ‘I want to ask the little group leader what his deepest summer memory is?’”

Pei Tingsong grabbed the water bottle, took a big gulp himself, and then screwed the bottle shut.

Jiang Miao, who had been named, spoke into the microphone, “Thank you for asking.”

His deepest summer memory.

He thought about it, and his eyes turned soft. “My deepest memory should be the scene of eating watermelon with my little sister. We grew up in my uncle’s house, so it was a bit different from other children….”

He hesitated for a moment, and then laughed. “I remember, back during my first year of junior high, I came back from studying one night, and since the school was a little far away from where we lived, it was already very late by the time I got home. However, it turned out that my little sister hadn’t slept yet. Instead, she quietly snuck out of her bed with a bowl in her arms and came into my room. 

“The watermelon in the bowl was the portion she had saved for me after dinner, instead of eating it herself. However, she was too young to know that when the weather was hot, watermelon had to be kept in the refrigerator, so the portion she had for me had already gotten a bit stale. But in order to make her happy, I still ate it. We sat facing each other on the bed, and she laughed at me and told me that she had dug out the seeds and buried them in the flowerpot. Then, while eating, when I found another seed, she became very angry and said the watermelon was insidious.”

Fang Juexia looked at Jiang Miao. He was very seldom emotional, but unlike Fang Juexia’s cold and introverted self, Jiang Miao was always steady and self-sustaining. He would take the overall situation into consideration and protect every member; this was already his nature, carved straight into his bones. 

But, in fact, he had suffered a lot in his youth ba.

After saying that, Jiang Miao laughed and looked at the host. “I feel like that is the best watermelon I’ve ever eaten.”

Fang Juexia, who didn’t like talking much, suddenly spoke up, “If Miao Ge and I had known each other when we were at school, we would have been good friends.”

Jiang Miao looked at him and said with a smile, “Yes, we would have been classmates with the best relationship.”

These words weren’t false.

Back when the group had first been formed, he and Jiang Miao were the first members to have been finalized before the group’s debut. At that time, they often had meals together, and he had gotten to know a lot about Jiang Miao’s past through their conversations. If Jiang Miao had not been forced to, he might not have made a debut in an idol group at all.

Fang Juexia knew that back then, in order to raise his little sister, Jiang Miao had done a lot of things, such as working some jobs, working as an anchor, playing guzheng for people in livestreams, and that he had also received a lot of contemptuous looks and bad comments. The environment he had grown up in had caused him to mature earlier than others, and had allowed him to become a person who can protect others.

But he had also been just a teenager at that time.

He Ziyan patted Jiang Miao on the shoulder and said, “As Yao Mei’s gossip boyfriend, I want to clarify that this Meimei has been silly since she was a child. In a way, she is very similar to her big brother.”

Ling Yi laughed and said, “Yao Mei is now in her rebellious phase, be careful or else she’ll hit you.”

He Ziyan retorted back, “What am I afraid of? There are too many people undergoing their rebellious phase around me. I even share a room in the dorm with the rebellious child.”

Pei Tingsong hit him with the little doll in his hand. “How much do you owe me for my appearance?”

Everyone laughed and created a fuss while talking as usual.

The host then threw the question to Lu Yuan, who was sitting right beside him. “Is there anything profound that Lu Yuan remembers about summer?”

“Summer…” Lu Yuan looked up at the ceiling and said, “I won a prize a few years ago during the summer. At that time, I was still very young and didn’t really understand everything that was going on, and so the subsequent developments caught me like a runaway horse, with nothing being under my control at all.”

After saying that, he laughed a bit. “When you feel like you’ve won everything, and then you lose everything at the same time and become all alone, that feeling was a very hard thing for me to accept. I was depressed for a long time after that. It was only when I came to Kaleido through a strange combination of circumstances that I discovered that God is actually fair. He takes things away from you, but as long as you don’t give up, he will give you better stuff in return.”

This was a very frank remark, and Lu Yuan didn’t launch an attack against his former bros who had kicked him out of the dance group with this topic. He also didn’t indulge himself in past glories. He had reached the point where he could recall his youth peacefully.

“Now that I think about it, I actually miss that summer of the competition a lot. There were so many people working hard together, chasing dreams together. I’m now a judge, and when I go to watch the contestants compete, it’s like I’m looking at myself from back then. So I tell all of them— ‘The result isn’t actually what’s important, what’s truly important is every moment you are in.’”

It was rare for Lu Yuan to not indulge in crosstalk or crack jokes on purpose. On the contrary, he was very serious as he recalled the events of that summer.

“So what that summer taught me was that people are very easily separated. Sometimes, it’s because no one did anything wrong, but as we keep walking, we just separate from each other. So, we must cherish everyone who is still around us.”

Fate was a huge wave, and human beings were tiny existences in front of such waves. They could only be pushed forth, either in the form of groups, or even scattered individually.

These six people with different personalities were the kind who were pushed together. 

The host agreed with him very much. “Very emotional ah, this segment.”

Ling Yi also said with a smile, “How come today’s program isn’t much like Kaleido at all?”

Pei Tingsong said, “Every time we accidentally fall into an emotional segment, we quickly try to retreat, so it’s still very much Kaleido.”

“Hahahaha.”

The host continued, “The audience member with the id ‘It’s a long time until Pinot Tree is full-grown’…”

Ling Yi started laughing out loud. “I can sing this audience member’s ID.”

Fang Juexia looked at Pei Tingsong beside him. “They must be looking for you.”

Pei Tingsong shrugged. “I’m the king of nicknames.”

The host was also amused. “The audience member said, “Xiao Pei was only 17 years old when he joined Kaleido. He had been living abroad all the way before that, and I’d like to know what his original thought process had been when he had to come to Kaleido?”

After listening to this question, Fang Juexia first started sweating. Pei Tingsong hadn’t joined a boyband voluntarily; in fact, to tell the truth, Fang Juexia was the only one in the entire group who had wanted to be an idol from the beginning to the end.

Pei Tingsong was an accident within accidents.

“When I first arrived, Kaleido had actually already been formed.” Pei Tingsong spoke directly, without thinking much about it. “All their plans had been formulated to fit a five person group, and the configuration was very complete; they already had the lead dancer, lead singer, rapper, and face of the group. My joining them was quite sudden at that time, and it also caused a lot of trouble for everyone. The choreographed main dance, which should have been in a line shape, and the main song for the debut, both of them fell through unexpectedly, and we had to change to a new one.”

This was the first time that the rest of Kaleido had heard Pei Tingsong apologize for how he had originally parachuted in. Everyone was a little surprised.

“No, it’s not like that,” Ling Yi said. “When we heard a new Didi was coming, we were really happy. We just didn’t expect this Didi to be so tall…”

“Hahahaha.”

Pei Tingsong also laughed. “My original thought process about this was actually not good; I had a lot of prejudices, and using the words ‘young and frivolous’ to describe my attitude back then would be too nice. At that time, my definition of dreams was very narrow, and I put up a lot of self-righteous resistance. After my family member, who loved me the most, passed away, I felt like a lonely bird in a cage; I wanted to fly out, but I just couldn’t.

“When I was a teenager, I went to the underground rap scene. You know, the environment there was very chaotic and crazy.” He shook his head slightly. “So later, my Jie came to find me and scolded me.”

He Ziyan was startled. “There are actually people who dare to scold you ah.”

Lu Yuan laughed. “Hahahaha, what’s the matter? Can’t you let people express their feelings?”

Fang Juexia looked at Pei Tingsong. “What did she say?”

“She said that for people like me, dreams already no longer counted as being a luxury, and that it was my own arrogance trapping me. She wanted me to see the real world.”

To try and pursue your dreams like an ordinary person.

Jiang Miao’s tone was mild. “Although this sounds a little harsh, it really was good for you.”

The entertainment circle was an extreme miniature of a small world, a petri dish filled with good and evil. Pei Tingsong was a cynical idealist, who, whilst embracing his own rebellious view of the truth, had fallen from the sky into the ups and downs of this small world.

“Maybe ba.” Pei Tingsong shrugged. “But even she may have not imagined that I would be so lucky.”

It was originally a trial to “see the world”, but he ended up falling into this group, which contained these kind and brave people.

Falling right in front of Fang Juexia.

Fang Juexia turned his head and asked him, “How is the real world?”

Pei Tingsong smiled and nodded. “Very good.”

Only in the real world can I meet you, so no matter how hard it is, it’s good.

The radio program was being broadcast in real time, and the program team also edited and put together a special version with video, publishing it on their website. That night, several members of Kaleido went onto the Hot Search list, with tags like #Jiang Miao’s Family#, #Lu Yuan’s Championship#, and #Acoustic Version of ‘Night Trip’# trending.

In the eyes of most netizens, the Kaleido group had many inherent labels, such as “strong abilities”, “not like a boyband”, “crosstalk group”, and so on. They were always said to be beautiful, strong, and pitiful, and even though they were called unlucky, they rarely came out to talk about their pasts themselves. If it hadn’t been for the fact that the theme of this program was [Summer Youth], they might not have recalled their past in public.

This program also allowed more people to understand the past experiences of the members, thereby letting them see not only what they were like when performing on stage, but rather the real Kaleido.

[@Need to be an upright person: After listening to some of their clips and then listening to the songs, I’m feeling very emotional. Every one of us can’t return to a certain summer, and when we were young, we always thought that we were the world. However, it was only when we kept going forward that we realized that the world was so big and we were so small.]

[@7788 is not 6: This group really moves people, P.S. “Night Trip” is really wonderful, FJX’s voice is amazing.]

[@Is it raining today: Before, whenever Kaleido was mentioned, I only thought about FJX and PTS, but after listening to this radio program, I’ve suddenly fallen in love with the leader of the group. How gentle ah.]

[@Online waiting for a boyfriend: I used to watch Lu Yuan’s performance in that competition, but after the competition finished, a lot of things happened, and so there was no follow-up. Later, I saw him in Kaleido, and I was very surprised. Sure enough, some people are destined to succeed.]

[@Never shipping RPS again: Has my CP brain worked against me again? Why do I feel that the atmosphere when PTS and FJX were singing ‘Night Trip’ was especially subtle ah? Is it this song being a filter? I’m plainly not their CPF ah!]

[@Lolololololo replying to @Never shipping RPS again: I also think so…. (whisper, only-fans Jiejies, don’t flame me, my idol can flame better than you)]

[@Hidden secret: The previous “Break Through” gave off a tragic feel of them fighting with their backs against the water, but seeing these boys singing while chatting on the radio, gently comforting the audience, and sharing their stories, I got the feeling like they were just my friends, seated next to me, so I felt a lot closer to them. I have to admit that I learned about this group only after listening to “Night Trip”. In the beginning, I couldn’t imagine that this was a boyband song, but now after watching this program, my thoughts have undergone a lot of changes. I hope they will get better and better and have more good works.]

The effect of the song “Night Trip” on the audience was very successful in driving the whole album of “Last Summer” into popularity, as it attracted many music lovers who weren’t so sure about the usual boyband style. Originally, they had created this summer mini-album with the core idea of creating more niche music. They hadn’t intended for it to make it to the Hot Search list, so they had played around with many new styles and types of music arrangement, giving it a more experimental feel overall.

However, this new attempt was widely praised by music critics, while also breaking their inherent impression of the music created by boybands. 

[@Verified Little Fish chats about music: After listening to Kaleido’s ‘Last Summer,’ even though there are only four songs in the whole album, the contents are very rich. The lyrics are all good, and Pei Tingsong finally broke through his previous works this time, changing from a rebellious boy to a gentle narrator; it was very surprising. 

The level of arrangement in the main song is very rich, and the atmosphere created by the drum set is very strong. In particular, there is a sound that is very similar to the sound of dulcimer, it sounds especially fresh. The piano cover in the chorus part gives off the feeling of the rainy season in summer. Seeing that He Ziyan completed the music arrangement independently, you have to praise him for the great progress he has made.

About the European electronic style ‘Daydream,’ its psychedelic arrangement and lyrics fit its daydreaming mood very well, especially the part that loops. And there’s ‘Swim Across the Sea’ that comes off with a bit of a country music style; it’s very rare for a boyband to try this style. The guitar is good, and it captures the hot feeling of summer well. The whole song is like a picture, with the country, the ocean, endless sun, and sunburnt shoulders.

Finally, I have already praised ‘Night Trip.’ Fang Juexia’s talent for composing music has gone beyond many people’s expectations. This kind of sensitivity and creativity in the melody is very vital. Compared with the six-person version, I think the solo version has more soul, and while the arrangement is very depressing and addictive, this is the trade-off between two very good versions.

Generally speaking, this is an album that you can listen to without any prejudices. It can be said that after Kaleido came out with ‘Break Through’, an excellent work from a standard boyband group, they came out with their own high-leveled answer. I appreciate their attitude towards creating original music and believe that there will be even better works from them in the future.]

Having gotten a lot of good reviews from professional music critics, this album became the summer’s dark horse. From the public’s point of view, the most difficult thing for a boyband was to have a national track that managed to get out of the circle. Including “Break Through” as well, Kaleido currently boasted of two masterpieces. After its initial burst of popularity, it now showed off a stable fan-base, and the saying that they were “a flash in the plan” collapsed in on itself. 

What’s more, with Kaleido being this kind of boyband that was in charge of their creative works, as long as they kept creating such songs, they did not have to fear a decline in popularity.

Cheng Qiang walked into the dressing room and clapped his hands. “After a while, the new album’s face-to-face meetup will be over, and we will directly have a celebration banquet.”

“Yeah!”

“What are we eating, what are we eating?”

“Ling Yi, you just know how to eat.”

“Barbecue ba, Qiang Ge.” He Ziyan leaned back on the chair and projected a pleading look at Cheng Qiang.

“Alright ah.” Cheng Qiang crossed his arms over his chest. “They can, but you eat less. You’re going to be filming a drama soon, so you have to do a good job with weight management.”

“Hahahahaha!”

Pei Tingsong had already finished his make-up and hair, and had been scrolling through Weibo on the sofa for a long time now. Fang Juexia also took a seat beside him after getting his hair blown out. Since only the two of them were on the sofa, Fang Juexia nudged Pei Tingsong’s foot with his own.

After looking down, Pei Tingsong raised his eyes again, looked at Fang Juexia, and praised, “Today’s hairstyle looks really good.”

I didn’t come here to ask for your praise, Fang Juexia said in his heart.

“Are you scrolling through Weibo?”

Pei Tingsong nodded, thought of something, and then drew especially close to his ear to tell him, “The thing with you wearing the ‘Snow Imprisoned in Spring’ station shirt, they picked it out.”

“What??” Fang Juexia’s eyes went wide. “How can that be?”

“What do you think?” Pei Tingsong couldn’t help laughing as he explained, “CP fans all carry around a microscope to find fluff with. They can even start licking up fluff from the tip of a knife, and you’re fighting with them.”

Fang Juexia still couldn’t understand how he had been found out. “But I didn’t even wear the nameplate ah. That shirt was similar to all my other white shirts, and I even took some out to compare before wearing it. How did they find out?”

“Look.” Pei Tingsong handed him his cellphone. On the screen was a Weibo post made by a TingJue girl.

[@Helping TingJue keep the closet door shut every day: Sisters! Beautiful Baby at the radio station was absolutely wearing the clothes sent by @Snow Imprisoned in Spring CP station! Look at the picture I screenshotted, it’s a close-up of Baby singing. The embroidery at the front are clearly words! I used PS to process it, and I can see some clear words in P2, and there’s the word ‘summer’ there! (today is another day when I don’t fulfill my ID’s duty) [picture] [picture]]

Fang Juexia clicked open the picture and enlarged it.

God, it was actually true; he had thought they wouldn’t be able to see it clearly. 

He couldn’t help scrolling through the comments.

[@When I’m deaf, I’m happy: My God, I never thought that this amazing giant fluff would be given by our beautiful eustoma. Who would dare to believe it….]

Why can’t you believe it? Fang Juexia was puzzled.

[@Ordinary TingJue girl: It’s really the white shirt embroidered with the sentence, “I say summer is so long and a delight”! God, I love FJX forever, the beautiful baby is so brave!]

[@TJSZD: This is really a two-way relationship….How can I be getting done by TingJue?]

[@The Fine Jeweled Xeriscape around the Pinot Tree Supreme: So sweet, wuwuwu, the compilation of the radio fluff spots next door adds up to 15 minutes, sisters, go watch it! When the wolf cub played the guitar, he looked at Juexia Gege 17 times. There were too many small movements, and they are completely a warm, in love xql ah!]

Was-was it so obvious?

Fang Juexia felt some guilt, as if he had been caught doing something bad. He put the cellphone into Pei Tingsong’s hand and said, “Not reading anymore.”

“Read enough ah?”

Fang Juexia thought that his own contraband goods had been so obviously caught, but Pei Tingsong’s weren’t.

Because he was too cunning.

Wait. Fang Juexia suddenly thought of something. “How did you know that they had discovered the shirt?”

Pei Tingsong was stunned upon being interrogated so suddenly. “That…”

When the last person’s styling was finished, Cheng Qiang urged them to prepare for the meetup. Pei Tingsong used this as a pretext to duck away, but was caught by Fang Juexia, who stood up at the same time. “Talk.”

“I-I just follow some CP stations.”

“Follow?” Fang Juexia couldn’t believe his own ears. “Are you crazy?”

“No,” Pei Tingsong explained immediately, “My side account is following them.”

Fang Juexia felt this was even more unbelievable. “You even have a side account? Are you not afraid of people digging it out?”

“What do I have to be afraid of?” Pei Tingsong shrugged, grabbed his wrist, and walked through the dark passageway of the dressing room. “I never curse out people in my side account, only in my main account.”

Who did it like that?

Fang Juesha expressionlessly put forth an illogical request. “Show me your side account.”

“That won’t do.” Then Pei Tingsong called out to Xiao Wen and transferred his cellphone to their assistant on the grounds that the meetup was about to start.

Cunning. He was really cunning.

The venue of this meetup was a little different from those held before. Star Chart had reserved a large cafe with many green plants spread about, a large projection screen was set as the center of the stage, and it was like a music salon. Not many fans had been invited, but the whole event was being livestreamed so that all the other fans could see it.

The six of them were all dressed in very simple summer clothes, and they came down from the second floor to greet their fans. The fans tried hard to control their screams as they waved at them.

Sitting on the six high stools in front of the projection screen, according to their official positions, Ling Yi, who had gotten the microphone, said, “There is no host today.”

He Ziyan said, “Maybe the company has finally realized that it’s a waste of money to invite a host for us.”

“Hahahahaha!”

Jiang Miao looked to the members seated on the left and right to him. “Let’s say hello to the fans first ba, one, two, three…”

“Hello, everyone! We are Kaleido!”

The fans, who were just a few meters apart from them, also followed them to make the K gesture.

Jiang Miao, as the official spokesman, continued after greeting, “First of all, thank you all very much for your support for ‘Last Summer.’ We have also received many excellent comments.”

One fan yelled, “You’ve been nominated for the BMA!” BMA stood for the Best Music Awards. At present, it was the most authoritative music award ceremony in the Chinese-speaking circles, and included many categories of awards.

“Really?” Ling Yi asked without thinking.

“Hahahaha, what’s the matter with you guys?”

Lu Yuan was also a little confused. “No, we really don’t know. Qiang Ge also didn’t say anything ah.”

Not far away, Cheng Qiang stood up and expressed that he also didn’t know about this. 

“The list just came out!” That particular fan raised their cell phone with a smile.

Only then did the six of them nod, and then Ling Yi suddenly turned to hold Fang Juexia’s hand. “Congratulations, congratulations.” He turned to the other side and shook Lu Yuan’s hand. “Congratulations, congratulations.”

“Congratulations to you too, congratulations to you too.” The stage suddenly turned into a strange scene where six people were congratulating each other.

“Enough, we’re acting as if we got the real prize.” Pei Tingsong said disdainfully. “Hopefully anti-fans won’t start mocking us online about getting an award on loan.”

The fans laughed loudly. “Pei Tingsong, how can you be so practiced!”

“Practiced to the point that people feel distressed!”

“Hahahaha!”

After causing enough of a fuss, Jiang Miao returned to the main topic again. “Then our first song today is still our main song ‘Last Summer.’” He turned to the music conductor behind him and said, “Teachers can all start now.”

The music started, and the six of them sang the main song while seated on high stools in this cafe filled with a summer atmosphere. Then, the scene from “Green Waves” with “Night Trip” playing as BGM was shown on the screen, and the six people watched it with relish.

Fang Juexia watched the short clip. The male and female leads, dressed in school uniforms, stopped riding their bikes and walked across the lawn. The accompaniment was right in their ears at this moment, and it created a youthful, heart pounding atmosphere. He couldn’t help thinking of what Pei Tingsong had said about the accompaniment on the radio program.

The drumming in this version was really different from the six-person version. It wasn’t as complicated, but the rhythm was a bit special.

Vaguely realising something, Fang Juexia didn’t take up his microphone, and drew close to Pei Tingsong’s ear. “The rhythm of this drum is very special.”

Pei Tingsong turned his chair so that he could face Fang Juexia with a smile. “You can hear that?”

Fang Juexia looked into his eyes. “What drum is it?”

On the screen, the backs of two hands were shown close to each other as they kept brushing against one another and then separating, with fingertips restlessly moving, wanting to grasp each other in the desire to hold hands under the moonlight.

“The afternoon I wrote the lyrics, when you fell asleep…” His voice was light and slow, and every word was fatally matched with the drumbeat being played out in the accompaniment. In full view of the public, he confessed to the moonlight.

“I sampled your heartbeat.”