CH 15

CHAPTER 15—Worried about the Inside Story

Xie Yu curled up in his bed, and fell deep into a nightmare.

His breathing became more and more rapid, and after he began panting heavily, he suddenly opened his eyes.

His eyes were wide open, and it took him a long time to regain his focus.

His whole body was tense and trembling.

The quilt on the bed had fallen to the ground at some point, and the pajamas on his body were soaked in cold sweat.

Xie Yu, leaned back on the head of the bed in panic, and he felt like all his strength was exhausted.

He then struggled to grab the water glass by his bedside, took a few big gulps, and then took a few deep breaths to calm down his rapid heartbeat.

He placed the water glass on his waist, recalled the scenes from his dream just now, and quickly found clues from the memory belonging to the original body—Star calendar 7281, on the Terran Star, the Spring Festival lantern market in its capital, Minglan City.

At that time, Xie Yu was ten years old and his younger sister, Xie Chan, was four years old.

After being separated from their parents, Xie Yu took his younger sister by the hand, and tried to find a passerby for help.

But unexpectedly, the crowd was too dense, and Xie Yu ended up being hit hard by someone.

Before falling down, he subconsciously let go of his sister’s hand, to prevent her from falling down with him.

But releasing her hand became an eternal regret in his heart.

Xie Chan disappeared.

Xie Yu panicked in that situation, crying and screaming, looking for his sister along the street, but in the end found nothing.

It wasn’t until he met a compassionate person, was he then sent to the service center nearby the scenic spot.

Xie Yu’s parents successfully found him by locating the chip embedded in their children’s bodies, but they never got feedback from Xie Chan’s chip.

Xie Yu’s parents immediately called the police and mobilized all their contacts to find Xie Chan.

It wasn’t until three months later that the Xie family finally got news that Xie Chan had been found.

They then rushed to the police station in a hurry, but when they reunited with their lost and recovered family member, they also learned of the more worrying inside story.

After Xie Chan became lost, she was targeted by human traffickers.

Those criminals not only blocked the signal of the chip in her body with jammers, but also fed her with drugs to make her lose her will.

They took her away from the Terran Star, and then sold her on the black market.

When the police found Xie Chan on a remote cargo transfer planet, the little girl had already been starved almost to death, and was covered in scars.

The abduction case was overturned, and the Xie family restored its peace on the surface, but pain took root in everyone’s heart.

Especially Xie Yu, who thought it was all because he didn’t take good care of his younger sister, and so it was his fault that she was kidnapped and abused.

He always felt guilty towards his family.

So, by relying on his own means and strength, Xie Yu actually found key information about the case.

When he started tracing the details of his sister’s abduction case, he discovered clues about the trafficking group hidden behind the scenes.

Trafficking cases not only occur frequently among the human race, but they also exist among other interstellar races.

Under the control of criminal groups, illegal activities like trafficking have formed into large-scale industrial chains.

And money stained with the lives of others flows into all walks of life, and many forces are involved.

******

Xie Yu, who was in a complicated mood, couldn’t fall asleep all night.

When his assistant Anna knocked on the door in the morning, she saw her artist with bloodshot panda eyes and a tired face.

“Good morning Ayu, let’s… eh?! What’s the matter with you?” Anna paused while holding up breakfast, and looked at Xie Yu’s face in surprise.

“It’s okay, I just didn’t sleep well.” Xie Yu waved off her worry with his hand, and took the box from Anna’s hand, weakly.

“Are you hungry? Do you want to sleep again after eating?” Anna glanced at the messy bedding that was squeezed into a corner on the bed, “We’re leaving for the Capital Star soon, and I’ve booked business seats this time, so Ayu, you can rest well.”

“Thank you.” Xie Yu opened the lid of the lunch box and found that there was a salad consisting of various vegetables inside. “Have you eaten?”

“I ate.“ Anna looked at Xie Yu’s skin condition, and placed the makeup box on the table, “If you don’t rest well, your skin will turn dry and red… how about I just put on some base makeup?”

“Okay.” Xie Yu nodded, holding the salad box with both hands and sticking it close to his mouth to eat, while keeping his head upright.

Anna grabbed Xie Yu’s chin with one hand, and with her other hand, she held all kinds of makeup tools that Xie Yu had never seen before, and her movements were very fast as she applied his makeup.

After finishing, she looked over Xie Yu’s face, “Yes, it’s perfect. It’s just that your eyes are too red. I don’t know if eye drops can help with your bloodshot eyes, otherwise it will be easily noticeable.”

“Is it obvious?” Xie Yu, who was chewing on leaves, asked curiously.

He hadn’t gone up to the mirror to see how his condition was yet.

“Yeah.” Anna nodded, clenched her fists with both hands, and rolled her eyes before saying, “It’s like you cried very sadly… Ayu, you didn’t just say it was okay in front of everyone, but then cried secretly by yourself did you?”

Xie Yu raised his eyebrows, smiled and said helplessly, “Isn’t that too much of an exaggeration? I said I didn’t sleep well last night, and I was telling the truth. I had a nightmare in the middle of the night, and I didn’t fall asleep again after waking up.”

Anna didn’t say a word, but instead looked carefully at Xie Yu’s eyes, and narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.

“Wait, I’ll call Brother Cheng here.” Anna said slowly, “I think it’s fine if you keep like this.”

As soon as Anna said that, Xie Yu immediately understood what she meant.

Just when he was about to refuse, Anna stepped out of the room and hurried over next door.

As a result, Zhou Cheng who came over was surprised, and he felt that Xie Yu’s appearance was just right, and was very suitable for the situation for after receiving the Golden Toilet Award.

And not only Zhou Cheng and Anna, but even Fei Chen who came after them didn’t believe that Xie Yu didn’t sleep well because of a nightmare.

But Xie Yu didn’t intend to create hype, so he finally insisted on using medicine.

But their departure time was soon, so before his red bloodshot eyes completely subsided, everyone had to leave the hotel.

*****

After the Golden Toilet Awards, Xie Yu’s Weibo became popular overnight, and many of his new followers were travelers who made a special trip to the Tourist Star to participate in the exhibition week of the film festival.

After many media released the news that “Xie Yu has rejected all interviews and is preparing to return the next morning”, many fans set off to the spaceport early, preparing to meet their idol up close.

A lot of fans had been waiting at the airport for a long time, and after seeing Xie Yu and his party, they became very excited.

“Ayu, come on! I’m cheering for you!”

“Look here, Ayu! I brought you a gift, take it!”

“Xie Yu, you are the best!”

They went forward and gathered around him, but when they got close enough to Xie Yu, the fans standing in front realized that something was wrong with their idol.

In addition to screaming and shouting, they also whispered from time to time.

“Do you feel that Ayu’s state is not right?”

“Why does it feel like he’s cried?”

“It looks like he’s very tired, and he didn’t rest well.”

“There must have been a lot of pressure. It’s so distressing.”

Xie Yu had just approached the crowd of fans, but before he could speak, the fans grabbed his sleeves.

Fei Chen took a few steps forward and stretched out his hand to block them.

Zhou Cheng was behind, pushing Xie Yu forward.

Xie Yu signed autographs for the fans, but didn’t take any gifts from them.

But because everyone was very enthusiastic, when Xie Yu finally got out of the crowd, his clothes were crooked and his arms were full of things.

Neither the luggage cart pushed by Fei Chen nor the large pockets of Anna’s sweater were spared.

They quickly boarded the spaceship, and when they got to the business seats, they were truly relieved.

There were no other passengers in the business class, so it was spacious and quiet.

“It wasn’t this crazy in the previous years…” Anna exhaled with lingering fear, as she ignored the big round pockets around her waist, and first reached out to help tidy up Xie Yu’s clothes and hair.

“It’s okay, I can do it by myself.” Xie Yu wasn’t particularly concerned with his appearance, and was used to taking care of himself.

So, he smoothly brushed his hair back, arranged his clothes, and helped Fei Chen store their luggage after he was done putting himself together, without any artist airs at all. (TL: ‘artist airs’ is referring to celebrity disease, in which fame gets to people and they start being arrogant and ordering others around, etc.)

Seeing that Xie Yu insisted on doing it himself, Anna turned around to pack up all the small gifts from the fans.

After sorting them out, she found a lot of interesting things.

“Hey, Ayu! Look, does this look like you?” Anna held up a plush toy and waved it excitedly.

As soon as Xie Yu turned his head to look, he saw a little rabbit-shaped doll the size of a palm holding a small trophy in his assistant’s arms.

The little doll was very delicate in shape, with round red eyes and long big ears.

“It’s pretty cute.” Xie Yu took the doll, raised it to his face in a good-tempered manner, and asked Zhou Cheng and Fei Chen, “Does it really look alike?”

Everyone nodded in agreement, and after they were settled down, they dragged Xie Yu over to take pictures.

Two hours later, Xie Yu updated his Weibo.

[Xie Yu: Does it look alike? (Picture) @Yuxiaomengmeng: I saw Ayu at the airport today. Although he was as handsome as ever, he looked very haggard. I can imagine the male god shrinking in the corner, and dropping tears like golden peas. Blame the Golden Toilet Award! (Distressed)]

In the photo, the handsome young man is nestled in the seat of the spaceship, with a sad expression on his face.

His head was lowered slightly and he looked down at the Golden Toilet trophy in his arms.

His posture was also exactly the same as the little doll on his shoulder.

Nonetheless, Xie Yu’s unconcealed tiredness made many fans heartbroken.

They wanted to leave a comment to comfort him, but before they sent it, they saw that Xie Yu’s account had updated a text Weibo.

[Xie Yu: I really didn’t cry. Believe me, I just had a nightmare last night. Don’t worry. By the way, I would like to thank everyone who was waiting at the airport this morning. You’ve worked hard. And please don’t spend money on gifts in the future. I’m very happy just receive your heart. (Happy) (Sun) (Love)]

Fans who were still worried about their idol were happy to see this photo.

[Yu Xiaomengmeng: I, I, I, I have been flopped! (To the point of fainting from excitement)]

[I love purple mint: This little doll is also a fan gift? Hahahaha it’s exactly the same!]

[Glasses chick: Accept the picture, lick his face, like it, and then laugh for an hour.]

[Mr. Convenience Tiao: Praise Xie Yu! He was squeezed into the photo, and he also subconsciously protected the assistant lady beside him!]

[Scratch your little head: This expression, the sun? Love? Hahahaha, Ayu, wake up! Do you know this is a special emoticon package for middle-aged and elderly people! Is being such an old timer really good?]

Xie Yu successfully allayed the concerns of his fans with a Weibo post, in exchange for a burst of laughter.

He satisfactorily finished brushing through his light brain, and then hugged a few small dolls given by his fans, and fell asleep in his seat.

*****

TL: Cherishing those dolls–such a cutie (*＾v＾*)