CH 101

Chapter 101 – Hot Spring Resort

Pei Tingsong immediately defended himself regarding the matter. “It’s not like that! My hand really did just accidentally slip!”

Ling Yi didn’t believe him, and slyly drew closer. “You were on your main account here yi, can your hand really slip and land on a fan’s Weibo ah?”

“There is only one truth.” Lu Yuan mercilessly tore away the facade. “Xiao Pei was following certain keywords.”

“Keywords…” Jiang Miao play-acted with them, asking innocently, “It couldn’t be [Juexia girl group dance]?”

“Tch, tch, tch.” He Ziyan stretched out his index finger and pointed at Pei Tingsong a few times. “My bandmate is actually a clay figurine type fan.”

By now, Fang Juexia already had no face left to face everyone and could only use his eyes to gouge at Pei Tingsong. This Weibo post had been written so explicitly, and his hand had actually slipped and liked it. 

It couldn’t be that he also wanted to see him dance a girl group dance?

What was with all this ah?

Usually, when Fang Juexia wasn’t happy, he would be just like a little bodhisattva who had a cold face but was actually warm-hearted. However, this incident had made him really angry, and even Pei Tingsong, who was usually the one with the big temper, could only quickly admit his inferiority. He stretched out one of his legs under the table to touch Fang Juexia’s toes. Unfortunately, the other party was still angry and shrank back.

“Don’t do such messy things next time.” Cheng Qiang also began to scold him, “Fortunately it wasn’t a post cursing out your bandmates or other whatever messy melons, or else this like would have gone on the Hot Search list. Every time I see your guys’ names on the Hot Search list name, I get scared.”

Like an abiding henchman, Ling Yi immediately nodded and agreed, “Yeah, please remember to use a side account when scrolling through Weibo!”

“What side account?” Cheng Qiang used the documents in his hand to swat Ling Yi’s head. “Last time I said to not create side accounts. Sooner or later, it’ll be dug out, and once it’s dug out, it’ll create another pile of crap.”

Pei Tingsong didn’t give up. “My side account is completely clean, and I guarantee that there is nothing to dig up.”

Ling Yi whispered a complaint, “Like hell I believe you.”

“Alright, everyone be more well-behaved ba. I don’t want to go through those days again, when, in a blink of an eye, I find you all in the headlines one after another again.” After saying a few more final words, Cheng Qiang ended the meeting and asked the driver to drive them back to the dormitory.

As soon as they got in the car, Fang Juexia switched seats with Jiang Miao, to sit beside the window, not willing to be next to Pei Tingsong at all. Pei Tingsong hinted at him quite a few times, but it was all useless, and Jiang Miao, who was sandwiched between the two, could only smile.

Although Pei Tingsong had cancelled his like, since even He Ziyan had managed to find the slip of his hand, and quite a long period of time had passed, it had been discovered by TingJue girls wearing microscopes long ago.

[@I’m just deaf, what about it: Shit, Pinot Tree Supreme, calm down a bit….]

[@TingJue is real: Don’t know why, but the like being cancelled was too much like the feeling of PTS protesting his innocence to me. A slip of the hand means that he already had that search pulled up ah.]

[@How do I merit doing TingJue: Sisters, after cramming my mouth with fluff, my heart is growing weak]

[@Fine Jeweled Xeriscape of the Pinot Tree Supreme replying to @How do I merit doing TingJue: Me too… No, no, no (waking myself up) if anyone asks, it’s just band friendship, if anyone asks, it’s just Pei Tingsong liking clay figurine fans.]

[@Has TingJue gone public today: No, I’m a bit afraid when looking at my ID now, I even want to change it. PTS is too fierce, I haven’t really shipped something xx ba…]

It wasn’t only the TingJue girls online who were addicted to fluff, but even the Kaleido four-person group chat that was bustling with activity. 

[National first-class flower hand dance performing artist: The slip of the hand means something]

[Kaleido’s number one boss: What something?]

[Your Fire Ge is still your Fire Ge: I even suspect he did it on purpose. Is Pei Tingsong hinting at something to us?]

[Kaleido’s number one boss: Hinting what? Let me hear it!]

[The Household’s Essential Good Captain: You guys don’t messily say stuff ah, I’m stuck between the two of them, and I don’t even dare to read your guys’ messages.]

[Your Fire Ge is still your Fire Ge: Is Juexia really angry? He shouldn’t be ah, I would actually think it’s normal if Juexia wasn’t this angry…. ]

On seeing He Ziyan’s message, Jiang Miao turned his head and confirmed Fang Juexia’s state. He was wearing headphones, had his eyes closed, and was resting; although he looked like nothing had happened, his lips were slightly pressed together, and it was obvious that he wasn’t in a relaxed state with just a glance. Then, Jiang Miao turned his head to the other side, and saw Pei Tingsong propped against the window, holding his cellphone, with his hand flying quickly as he typed, never pausing. 

[The Household’s Essential Good Captain: I feel like he’s still angry. Juexia’s WeChat has been vibrating nonstop, but he hasn’t even glanced at it.]

[Kaleido’s number one boss: Why shouldn’t he be angry? What’s wrong with being angry?]

[National first-class flower hand dance performing artist: Ling Yi, are you dumb ah? When have you ever seen Juexia really angry at us? Him being angry isn’t normal, understand? Let’s say it was you today, and your fans begged you to dance a girl group dance, and I accidentally liked that post, you would get frantic at me, right?]

[Kaleido’s number one boss: Frantic ah, I’d have to drag you in to dance with me!]

[National first-class flower hand dance performing artist: ….]

When they finally got back to the dormitory, Fang Juexia slipped into his own room as soon as they entered. Ling Yi also slipped in. “Juexia ah, let’s pack our luggage together ba.”

Fang Juexia took off his coat and took out his cellphone; the screen was covered with WeChat prompts, 20 prompts folded on top of each other, all of which were sent by Pei Tingsong. He didn’t bother to read them, instead agreed with Ling Yi’s proposal, and the two of them began to organize things for the hot spring resort trip tomorrow. Ling Yi had a childish personality, and although he said that they would organize their luggage, half of what he packed was food and stuff for fun. When half of their luggage was packed, He Ziyan called Ling Yi outside to play games for a bit.

“Coming, coming.” Ling Yi quickly sorted everything out and closed his suitcase. “I’m going la.”

“En.” Fang Juexia took out a black sweater from the closet, laid it on the bed, and folded it seriously. He didn’t know why, but when he saw this sweater, he was immediately reminded of the time when he was doing the magazine shoot with Pei Tingsong. They had shot on the snowy grounds for a long time, and his hands had frozen. At that time, even though Pei Tingsong clearly didn’t like him, he had still taken his hands and put them into the pockets of his big coat. 

He fell into a reverie without realizing it, then a pile of clothes suddenly fell on his bed. After Fang Juexia returned to his senses, he straightened up and saw Pei Tingsong standing next to him, with his hand outstretched; he hadn’t retracted it after throwing out these clothes on the bed. 

“What are you doing ma?” Fang Juexia’s brow wrinkled. “Who let you come in?” 

“Still angry with me ah.” Pei Tingsong came closer and tried to hug him, but as soon as he reached for him, Fang Juexia pushed him away. Fang Juexia then glared at him, looking like a frantic rabbit. The red color at the corner of his eyes made him look beautiful even in this angry state. “What are you doing here? You messed up my bed, too.”

“I’ve messed up more than that,” Pei Tingsong whispered.

Fang Juexia gritted his back teeth. “Pei Tingsong…”

“I really know I was wrong. I admit I searched for it, but I didn’t want to like it…” Pei Tingsong tentatively pulled at Fang Juexia’s sleeve, pulling his sweater sleeve long. “My suitcase is broken, and I don’t have anywhere to put my clothes. Can I put it in with your luggage?” After that, he immediately added, “Of course, I’ll carry the luggage. I’ll be your valet the entire time.”

Fang Juexia pursed his lips. “It’s really broken?”

“Really, would you like to go and check? The wheel fell off.”

His eyes caught a glimpse of the pile of clothes Pei Tingsong had brought, which included the brown windbreaker he had worn before. Fang Juexia also didn’t know what was wrong with him; every time he wanted to be angry, Pei Tingsong’s good sides would appear on their own in his head, and then he didn’t even have the heart to be angry anymore.

“Just going for two days, you don’t need to bring so many clothes,” Fang Juexia said in a sullen voice.

Hearing his words, Pei Tingsong knew that he had already succeeded halfway, and his tone couldn’t help cheering up. “I wanted you to help me choose, and I’ll take whichever ones you tell me to take.”

Fang Juexia didn’t say a word, but he had already started to sort through the clothes on the bed. Pei Tingsong was beside himself with joy. While watching Fang Juexia seriously fold clothes, he remembered some books he had read before. Every time the husband went on a trip, the wife would organize and pack his luggage, and every time that happened, the husband would always be very happy. Previously, he had felt that sort of happiness was strange; it was just someone sorting out luggage; when the nanny packed his luggage for him, he didn’t feel anything at all. Sometimes he even wanted to say that this was such a little matter, and he didn’t want to trouble others to do it for him. 

But now, as he watched Fang Juexia fold his clothes beautifully one by one and put them into his small silver suitcase and stick them intimately together with his own clothes, the feeling this scene bought him was too amazing. 

Happiness sometimes would come inexplicably.

As Fang Juexia bowed his head to sort out the clothes, what came to his face was the familiar smell of sea salt, which was very nice, and which was the smell of Pei Tingsong. He was thinking about matching his shirts with his pants, but he got a little embarrassed when he picked up Pei Tingsong’s underwear, and his ears started to become hot again. He folded it casually and stuffed it to the side of the suitcase. But who would have known that at this time, Pei Tingsong would also crouch down right next to him, and suddenly ask without any rhyme or reason, “Can you call me husband once?”

There was a splat sound, and Fang Juexia was no longer crouching, but was actually sitting on the ground. He turned his head and frowned at Pei Tingsong. He looked at him with a look of witnessing a fool act up. “What’s the matter with you?”

“Just call me that once, I just want to hear it now.” Pei Tingsong wanted to satisfy the fantasy in his mind, and pulled at Fang Juexia’s arm. “Anyway, it’s not like you haven’t called me that before.”

He clearly had problems.

Fang Juexia wanted to stand up directly, but Pei Tingsong, who had already seen through his moves, pulled his hand, brought him over to the edge of the bed, and hugged him around his waist in broad daylight, his hands even stretching into his sweater. Fang Juexia twisted to avoid him, lowered his voice, and threatened, “Ling Yi will come in in a bit.”

“If he comes in, then he comes in,” Pei Tingsong stated very stubbornly. He had a very special appearance; when he was happy and laughing, he was always full of youthful spirit, but once he got a little tough, he would have a strong oppressive air about him. “You can’t go until you call me that.”

“Dream on.” Fang Juexia was also not willing to show any weakness, and so grabbed his hands, wanting to pull  them away from his waist. Pei Tingsong was the best at combining hard tactics with soft tactics, and he also knew that his family’s little white flower could be persuaded by reason but not by force, so he immediately switched gears to act flirty. “Call me that once ma, I just want to hear it now.” Putting aside his flirtiness, Pei Tingsong even sat down in front of him, folded his legs and arms to encircle Fang Juexia, and taking advantage of no one else being there, smacked a kiss on his lips. “Begging you.”

When he remembered how Pei Tingsong’s catchphrase to him was pretty much, “beg me”, Fang Juexia’s heart was filled with the pleasure of seeing how karma had turned around. His chin raised slightly. “Call you what?”

“Husband ah.”

“Hey,” Fang Juexia replied quickly, and his face was filled with a happy little expression of having taken advantage of him. He couldn’t hide his sweet smile.

“Really, you…” Pei Tingsong stretched out his hand to pinch his face, but he couldn’t bear to use strength, so he pinched it gently. “Don’t play dumb, quickly call me that.”

Fang Juexia held back his smile, let out an “oh”, and looked at Pei Tingsong with his beautiful eyes. “Didi.” Then, seeing Pei Tingsong’s sudden change in expression, he started laughing again, laughing until his head was thrown back. 

Although Pei Tingsong didn’t succeed, as he watched Fang Juexia laugh so sweetly, he felt very happy in his heart because he knew that no one else could see such a lovely smile except him. Fang Juexia had never laughed like this in front of others.

“You are too good at being perverse, you think I can’t do anything to you ba. Okay, you wait…” Pei Tingsong began to tickle the side of his waist. Fang Juexia was very ticklish, and ducked away as soon as he started, laughing like a child.

“Are you going to say it? Are you going to say it?”

Fang Juexia had ducked away so much that he was lying on the ground, but he was still stubborn. “Say what, Didi? You’re a Didi.”

As the two people were fussing away, they suddenly heard some movement from outside. Ling Yi was coming back, calling out Juexia’s name. Pei Tingsong quickly pulled him up and sat down on the floor himself. Fang Juexia’s face was red with laughter, looking like a juicy peach, and his birthmark was even redder.

Just before Ling Yi came, Pei Tingsong couldn’t help but put down his last fierce words. “There will definitely be a time when you beg to say it.”

“What are you guys doing?” Ling Yi held half a popsicle in his hand and handed the other half to Fang Juexia. Fang Juexia shook his head. “Too icy.”

Pei Tingsong took the other half away, stood up, and walked out. “My suitcase is broken, so I put my clothes in Juexia’s suitcase.”

Ling Yi thought of something and ran after him. “Xiao Pei, they said you bought a new game console. Can you lend it to me to play for two days? Is it waterproof, will it break if it falls into the hot springs…”

Closing the suitcase, Fang Juexia thought of Pei Tingsong’s last words, and he couldn’t help the many images that appeared in his mind. The glass door of the balcony wasn’t closed, and a gust of wind blew in with it the aroma of red irises, which filled the space until it made him dizzy. He stood up for just a bit before falling onto his bed, his body laid out on the clothes that Pei Tingsong hadn’t taken away. Burying his head there, he found himself surrounded by Pei Tingsong’s smell.

It felt like it was time to tell the other members about their relationship.

But Fang Juexia was a little worried; he didn’t know whether they would accept it.

However, he had already concealed several things before and hadn’t told them to everyone, so he didn’t want to continue hiding this matter from them. No matter what the final result was, it was reasonable to be frank with your family.

The next morning, Xiao Wen came to pick them up with the driver. The destination was quite far away, and the time spent on the road wasn’t short. Everyone was noisy at first, but fell asleep after they ran out of energy to kick up a fuss anymore. It was only after arriving at their destination that they woke up one by one. 

As soon as they got out of the car, several uniformed staff members came to pick them up. The leading staff member was dressed in a slim suit and displayed a refined and courteous manner as he took them into the resort. It was different from Fang Juexia’s imagination; he had thought it would be a large expanse of magnificent buildings, so he hadn’t expected the scenery to be this beautiful; they were surrounded by green trees and verdant distant mountains all around. It didn’t feel like a hot spring resort at all. The entrance wasn’t covered by a grand gate, but by a huge ancient ginkgo tree. The ground beside it was golden with fallen leaves, and there was a path on the side. There were only a few words on the sign there, and they had been all hand carved.

Fang Juexia looked around and couldn’t help saying, “The scenery here is so beautiful.”

The person leading them said with a smile, “We’re on a large area of flat land constructed between two mountains and a lake. On the basis of preserving the original landscape, we have built some buildings, and the hot springs inside are all natural hot springs, which are very suitable for recuperation and rest.”

This was probably the reason why there were so many hot springs here. Looking out into the distance, there was a vast white mist, ethereal in the mountain scenery. In addition to the greens and yellows, the shade of the trees closer by was also mixed with a lot of warm red, probably maple leaves.

No wonder the boss had said it was a good place. Sure enough, it was nice, both private and beautiful. It looked like a mountain view from the outside, and it was only upon entering it that you would come to know that it was a hidden but beautiful place.

Lu Yuan happily joked, “This place is beautiful ah. It’s like we’re here to cultivate into becoming immortals.”

“The air is so good oh.” Ling Yi suddenly took in a breath of fresh air. “I feel better all over.”

The staff escorted them all the way in. The path they took was filled with rich scenery, overlapping rockeries, and every tree seemed to have been carefully designed. Even Pei Tingsong, who was used to seeing good places and was always nitpicky, affirmed, “It’s alright.”

“We have a lot of entertainment here. In addition to watching movies, singing, and playing golf, you can also ride horses, climb, have a picnic, and feed the peacocks.” Then the staff member laughed again. “Of course, please be rest assured that we have an appointment system here. For the next two days, you guys are the only guests we are serving, so you can all be at ease and relax and enjoy to your heart’s content. Our confidentiality and privacy are very good.”

“Boss is really awesome this time.”

“That’s so great, finally, there’s no need to hide around and we can just play.” Ling Yi was already itching to try things. “I want to have fun with all the entertainment!”

The person leading them looked at his watch and motioned for the other staff members to leave with their luggage. He told Fang Juexia and the rest himself, “It’s already lunch time now. We’ve prepared special private meals for you. Please come with us.”

They were taken to a golden ginkgo forest and walked along a stone path laid with stones as big as goose eggs. At the end of the path was a simple and elegantly carved pavilion. This was where they had lunch. The windowsills were very big, and as they sat inside and looked out, gingko leaves drifted around on the autumn breeze.

As soon as they were seated, a waiter in white served a plate of cold dishes, chopped blanched purslane mixed with smoked ham dice. The bottom of the dish was padded with shredded Manchurian wild rice simmered in chicken soup.

“They really took a lot of pains.” Jiang Miao said, “Just with this cold dish, we’ll have eaten all the flavors of autumn.”

Let alone Pei Tingsong, someone who had grown up eating Western style food, not being able to recognize it,  even Ling Yi couldn’t recognize it. “What’s this vegetable? The leaves are very round and kind of cute.”

“Purslane, it’s a kind of wild vegetable, it’s good for your health.” Jiang Miao scooped a small spoon for everyone. Fang Juexia tasted a bit, and that bite was filled with the fragrance of mountains and fields, with the Manchurian wild rice being chewy; sure enough, it was delicious.

The second dish also came out, and it was Fang Juexia’s favorite course, soup. He reached out and uncovered the lid to release a clear and soft aroma.

The waiter who served the dish explained, “This is the soup stock created with ginkgo, ginseng, and Sanhuang chicken. The grouper fillets were cut into pieces and then rolled up. You can eat the fish while it’s hot, and then drink the soup after eating the fish.”

He Ziyan fished out some fish fillets. “Too exquisite.”

Lu Yuan tried the fish, which was fresh and tender. “That privately cooked food we ate last time was also very exquisite, but they specialize in cooking. It’s really rare for a hot spring club to be able to do so well.”

Other dishes came out one after another, each of them being a seasonal delicacy. These six boys were usually busy with their work and always ate irregularly, sometimes not even eating for the sake of body management. All of their stomachs were not in a good condition, especially Fang Juexia, who often suffered from stomach aches.

Pei Tingsong didn’t have the time to care about eating. He scooped out a bowl of soup and stirred it carefully with a small porcelain spoon to cool it for Fang Juexia. He didn’t care whether there was anyone else around him and just placed it directly in front of Fang Juexia. Fang Juexia turned his head, looked at him, and was about to remind him, but he had already been caught by the others. 

“Well, well, the maknae only has one Gege in his eyes ah.” Lu Yuan took his chopsticks and knocked on the edge of the bowl.

“Only Pretty Gege,” He Ziyan joked while holding his chopsticks, “Anyone who isn’t pretty isn’t a Gege.”

—

The author has something to say:

I feel like I’m writing a food novel. 

The next chapter may go to weavi. You should prepare for it yourself.

—

Juurensha: The resort sounds so nice! And ahahahaha guys, you know what that means for the next chapter right?  it’s snunsu time again. Buy the raws guys!

And let me just address prettylucky675 from Novelupdates: when I decided to implement this thing about buying the raws for smut, I knew it wasn’t going to be popular. But guess what? You’re getting this entire translation for free, besides the smut. This is exactly what is on jjwxc, and honestly, I didn’t have to go find and translate the smut at all if I didn’t want to. I work full-time, and I do this translation in my spare time as a hobby, and guess what, it takes hours to translate, research, edit, and then post chapters. I don’t get paid for this, and no one is entitled to anything about this translation. Did the author ask me to do this? Of course not, but what author is going to say no to more people buying her stuff. And yes, I understand people not being able to use certain Chinese apps/not trusting them, but in that case, just don’t use them. For example, I would love to be able to buy episodes on Maoer, but I don’t have an Apple phone, and I don’t trust Alipay with my passport information, so I can’t buy anything off of Maoer, and I just accept it. Again, you’re not entitled to anything here. Honestly, this kind of thing is very discouraging towards all fan translators. If you don’t like what I’m doing, you’re free to stop reading this translation. 

Noks: For those who have a problem with not being able to access the edited smut chapters without buying the raws (the money for which goes completely to the author), understand, it’s just the smut you don’t have access to here, you are getting the rest of the story for free. That’s like a total of five half-chapters out of a 120 that you’re not getting access to. Yes, I know that smut is a huge pull of danmei stories like these, of why we read them, but this story is beautiful even without the smut. Contributing to the author for writing such a beautiful story is not something that will take much, and if you don’t want to or are unable to do so, it’s okay, you don’t have to, there is no one forcing you to. Just please remember, fan translators like Juurensha do what they do because they want to share such stories with a wider audience, so don’t downplay all the effort that has been put into translating and editing the story simply because you can’t access the smut.