Zhou Zike was half asleep when he faintly heard a voice calling his name.
“Xiao Zhou, Xiao Zhou. Whatever you want, whatever you desire, I promise you.”
Restless, he sat up on the narrow sofa, his cheek rubbing against the cushion in discomfort. He wanted more kisses, more warmth. He wanted to pull that person closer, hold him tightly, embrace him tightly. He wanted to tell him that Zhou Zike was not a possession, not something to be angry about or cry over. He didn’t want anything at all.
Early in the morning, Xiao Yang arrived at the company, wearing headphones and a hat. As soon as he stepped out of the car, he was startled by the bustling crowd queuing up outside the company’s doors. Assistant Zhu yawned behind him and informed him that today was ASE’s visiting day: “It will be like this until 5 pm.”
Xiao Yang had spent the night sleeping on the flight back from Singapore. After landing, Kaiser and the others had all gone their separate ways, leaving Xiao Zhu to drive Xiao Yang back home. Xiao Zhu thought he would have a break as well, but to his surprise, Xiao Yang woke his younger brother and sister, dressed them, made breakfast, and escorted the mischievous sixth-grades to school. After changing into a different outfit, Xiao Yang headed straight back to the company. Xiao Zhu had no mental preparation at all. When Xiao Yang asked if the demo for the new song had arrived, Xiao Zhu was drenched in sweat, saying he would go and ask Guo-jie. When Xiao Yang asked about rescheduling the recording for “Caesar’s World” and “Midnight Train” this week, Xiao Zhu stammered and quickly rushed upstairs, saying he would go and ask Guo-jie.
Xiao Yang entered the underground rehearsal room alone, and there were already several girls in the corridor who had come for the visit. He kept his head down as he walked through the crowd. The girls were excited, their eyes gleaming, but they refrained from approaching him due to the rules of the visiting day. They could only cover their mouths and watch as he entered Room No. 9, which was exclusively used by KAIser.
As soon as Xiao Yang entered, he was dumbfounded. There was someone he never expected to see at this moment, sitting in the corner of the rehearsal room, wearing a hat pulled low over his face.
“What a surprise!” Xiao Yang exclaimed, taking off his headphones and quickly walking over to the person. He looked at him in disbelief, taking several glances. “Hey, how come you have time to come here today?”
Zhou Zike raised his head and gave him a displeased glance.
Xiao Yang plopped down next to him, looking at his watch. “What’s the matter? It’s so early in the morning. This isn’t like you.”
the rehearsal room faced the corridor with a transparent glass wall, allowing people passing by to clearly see the activities inside each room. From the moment Xiao Yang entered, more and more people gathered outside the wall. They hesitantly raised their phones, taking photos and videos, afraid to disturb the atmosphere.
Zhou Zike tilted his head and gave Xiao Yang a glance. Sometimes Zhou Zike couldn’t understand why Guo Xiaoli, against the company’s wishes, insisted on appointing Xiao Yang as Tang Zhen’s successor, even though there was always more buzz around Luo Tiantian on the company’s side. “Did you see it wrong that day?” Zhou Zike asked him.
Xiao Yang was taken aback, not hearing clearly what Zhou Zike had asked. “What did you say?”
Zhou Zike slowed down his speech, showing more patience than ever before when talking to Xiao Yang. “Tell me, Tang Zhen came to this place looking for me on the day of his suicide.”
Xiao Yang nodded. “That’s right.”
Zhou Zike said, “He said he never came here.”
Xiao Yang blinked a few times. “That’s impossible!”
Zhou Zike watched the subtle change in Xiao Yang’s facial expression. Suddenly, Xiao Yang turned pale, his eyes staring blankly, his voice trembling. “Could it be that what I encountered… was a ghost?”
Zhou Zike had initially thought that Xiao Yang wouldn’t make up lies to deceive him, so he helplessly replied, “How could it be a ghost?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“No, I didn’t mean that Tang Zhen Laoshi is a ghost. I meant…” Xiao Yang spoke seriously, “Maybe there’s a ghost here pretending to be Tang Zhen Laoshi, specifically coming out at midnight to scare us younger ones.”
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“Tfjt.”
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Zhou Zike remained silent, and Xiao Yang covered his mouth with his hat and said, “Don’t let the girls outside smell it, or Guo-jie will give you a hard time.”
Zhou Zike replied, “You wish she would give me a hard time.”
Xiao Yang was surprised. “How do you know?”
Xiao Yang’s assistant, Xiao Zhu, ran down from upstairs, panting. The area in front of Room No. 9 was packed with people, making it difficult to get through. Xiao Zhu exerted all his strength to squeeze through the crowd and took a look inside, which startled him.
“Yangyang, Guo-jie is looking for you,” he gasped.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yang stopped talking to Zhou Zike. He stood up, propped himself against the floor, put on his hat, and walked briskly towards the exit. “Guo-jie is looking for me?”
When Guo Xiaoli arrived at the office today, she heard that someone had seen Zhou Zike in the underground rehearsal room. At first, she was somewhat surprised, but then she thought it wasn’t worth making a big deal out of it. After all, she didn’t know if Zhou Zike had received a scolding and decided to focus on his work or if he had some other plans in mind.
The desk was already piled high with documents, with one file at the front titled “Mattias 10th Anniversary Special Event Proposal.” Since Liang Qiuyun and Guo Xiaoli had finalized the general direction of the event, ASE was preparing to mobilize the entire company’s resources for this project. At a time when Tang Zhen’s suicide was still fresh in people’s minds, ASE urgently needed a major event to divert public attention. They decided to play the emotional card, focusing their promotion on Tang Zhen’s comeback, recovery, and the enduring friendship with Mattias. As long as the final outcome was positive enough, they believed they could overshadow his suicide. Guo Xiaoli had already assigned her subordinates the task of reporting all their ideas.
Ten years, in these ten years, there were too many things worth “commemorating” for both members and Guo Xiaoli herself.
Wen Xin called Guo Xiaoli, her voice filled with urgency and anger. “Guo-jie, is this schedule you sent me real or fake?”
“It’s real,” Guo Xiaoli replied.
“But he just got out of the hospital!” Wen Xin exclaimed loudly. “Is it necessary to rush like this?”
“The company doesn’t have a choice,” Guo Xiaoli said. “The company is currently in a state of panic, and it’s not advisable to delay A-zhen’s public appearance. Fortunately, his health has recovered quite well. It’s just a press conference, and he’ll be fine.”
Wen Xin argued, “It’s not about whether he’ll be okay or not. At least give him a few days to prepare!”
Guo Xiaoli fell silent for a moment and then said, “This isn’t just A-zhen’s press conference. We also have to consider the schedule of the other person.”
Wen Xin burst into a string of curses.
When Xiao Yang knocked on the door and entered, Guo Xiaoli had just hung up the phone. She looked up and saw Xiao Yang coming in.
“What does Guo-jie need?” Xiao Yang asked, taking off his hat.
“You’re going to the radio station tomorrow at 4 p.m. to record ‘Midnight Train’,” Guo Xiaoli said, looking at him. “Tell Zike to come along.”
Xiao Yang was taken aback. “What?”
“I’ve already talked to the radio station. We’re squeezing Zike in as a guest for this episode,” Guo Xiaoli pulled out a piece of paper from the desk behind her. It had a few handwritten points on it. As she took it out, a sticky note also fell to the ground. Guo Xiaoli bent down to pick up the sticky note and handed the paper to Xiao Yang. “I’m assigning this task to you. Make sure he apologizes properly on the show for the incident at the awards ceremony.”
Xiao Yang was dumbfounded but still took the paper. “How did you…”
“What’s the matter?”
“Before making decisions like this, couldn’t you discuss it with me, Guo-jie? If it were for ‘Caesar’s World,’ it would be understandable since it’s a show we all do together. ‘Midnight Train’ is my own—”
“This program was given to you by Tang.”
“If it’s given to me, then it’s mine,” Xiao Yang protested, lowering his head to read the contents written on the paper. He sighed, “Guo-jie, what were you thinking? This is simply impossible to accomplish.”
“Why is it impossible?”
“You know that Zhou Zike is not a talkative person. If you say ten sentences to him, he might respond with only two. On TV, he can at least show his face to the audience. You should have him apologize on television instead.”
“Television is not possible. It would only make things worse,” Guo Xiaoli said. “Time is crucial here. If he wears a sour face, and the audience sees that, does that look like an apology?”
“But on a radio program, where they can only hear his voice, if he doesn’t speak, will the listeners just hear him breathing? That’s even less like an apology. If he remains silent, am I supposed to talk to myself the whole time?”
Guo Xiaoli spoke seriously, “That’s when you, Xiao Yang, will truly shine with your clever words and remarkable wit. You’ll be indispensable.”
Xiao Yang listened and pondered for a moment. “Hmm,” he said, realizing there was some truth to it.
“By then, for the listeners tuning in to hear Zike, they’ll have to listen to you throughout the entire program,” Guo Xiaoli continued to coax him, while looking down at the sticky note she had picked up. It had a series of messy handwritten characters with asterisks and hashtags, totaling 11 digits. Guo Xiaoli crumpled the note and stuffed it into her pocket. She looked up at Xiao Yang. “There’s a little over a month until this year’s music festival. We have to seize the opportunity, Yang Yang. There aren’t many chances to surpass Zike.”
The story of a fallen genius is the most captivating. The more someone is idolized, the more onlookers love to witness their devastating downfall. When they die, they become legends, praised by people. In this life and beyond, they will never have the chance to become ordinary or grow old. Tang Zhen’s suicide story somewhat belongs to this category. It feels almost destined, as if the story of “Tang Zhen” cannot be complete without ending in suicide. Unfortunately, human lives are easy to calculate, but destiny is unpredictable. Tang Zhen wandered near the gates of the afterlife, only to be forcibly pulled back into the realm of the living.
The press conference organized by Asia Star Entertainment took place at 1 p.m. that day in the eighth-floor conference hall of a hotel in Beijing. Regardless of whether they were invited or not, the journalists crowded together, shoulder to shoulder, pushing and shoving, making it impossible for even a fly to enter the venue. Mattias Captain, Liang Qiuyun, arrived ahead of everyone else. He was dressed in formal attire, his suit clinging to his broad shoulders and narrow waist, and his trousers accentuating his long legs. Camera flashes popped and chased after him, while Liang Qiuyun occasionally smiled for the cameras.
“Yun Laoban seems to be in a good mood today,” the journalists shouted.
Liang Qiuyun replied, “It’s A-zhen’s big day. How could I be in a bad mood?”
Two seats were arranged on the stage. As Liang Qiuyun stepped up, the journalists in the front row swarmed around him to strike up conversations. Liang Qiuyun pulled out a chair, unbuttoned his coat, sat down, and received a bottle of water from his assistant. While drinking, he casually chatted with the reporters.
By 3 p.m., Tang Zhen still hadn’t appeared.
Many people have almost forgotten about that incident. Perhaps the previous sensationalized news about Tang Zhen’s suicide was too overwhelming, causing everyone to be a bit disoriented for a while. He died, Tang Zhen actually died, and people couldn’t help but immediately gather and cherish everything they could find about him, reminiscing with a touch of sentimentality. Suddenly, everyone let go of their biases and became particularly tolerant. Regardless of the good or bad things that happened to Tang Zhen, as long as they added the phrase “he’s already dead,” it immediately seemed insignificant.
Tang Zhen himself probably didn’t anticipate that suicide would have this effect. But in the end, he didn’t die. Not only did he not die, but the company even invited hundreds of journalists in his name to hold a grand press conference. The two-hour wait was enough to help all the journalists present regain a sense of the past, as if Tang Zhen was originally nothing but a collection of flaws in their writings.
Even Liang Qiuyun’s patience was starting to run out. He occasionally glanced at his wristwatch and whispered to his assistant, but he never once neglected the journalists below the stage. The journalists gave him face as well. Every time someone asked him why Tang Zhen hadn’t appeared yet or when Tang Zhen would arrive, Liang Qiuyun smiled helplessly and tried to please them, saying that they should wait a little longer. He explained that A-zhen had special health conditions, having just been discharged from the hospital, and he asked everyone to be more understanding.
Some journalists remarked, “Does it really have anything to do with his health condition? The conference time was set yesterday. Even if he’s not feeling well, he should have arrived by now if he left home early. It’s obvious he has a habit of being late, just like before, not keeping time and making everyone wait here.”
“If he’s not feeling well, he should stay in the hospital and continue treatment rather than coming out to play with people. Is it fun for him?” another journalist said.
Liang Qiuyun didn’t refute either. He listened as if he couldn’t find a word to defend Tang Zhen’s lateness, and he could only bear the blame on behalf of Tang Zhen.
“Yun Laoban, you are too dedicated,” another journalist couldn’t bear it anymore. “If it weren’t for you still sitting here, we would have left long ago. It’s thanks to his suicide that there’s such a big fuss, but his behavior is still the same after coming out.”
Someone else commented, “With Yun Laoban’s influence, how can Tang Zhen have the audacity to make everyone wait for so long?”
At 3:50, the assistant came up to inform Liang Qiuyun that Tang Zhen had arrived downstairs.
Liang Qiuyun’s face was already grim, and he hurriedly stepped down from the stage. The journalists below became flustered, hastily raising their cameras, thinking they would capture the scene of Tang Zhen arriving late and Liang Qiuyun storming off with a scowl. However, Assistant Xiao Meng shouted loudly from behind, saying that Professor Tang Zhen would be arriving shortly, and asking everyone to remain calm.
Liang Qiuyun walked briskly towards the exit, and just as he reached the hotel entrance, he saw it open. The first person to enter was Wen Xin. She looked anxious and disheveled, with sweat pouring down her forehead. Her hair clung to her face in strands, and she held a water cup in her hand while carrying a jacket. In her loosely closed backpack, there was a large red shadow, obviously the red envelopes prepared for the journalists.
Following her were Qi Lu and several hotel staff members, carrying numerous paper bags. From the logos printed on the bags, it seemed that they contained some valuable items. Liang Qiuyun furrowed his brow, realizing that ASE, this small company, had really spared no expense for Tang Zhen.
Lastly, Tang Zhen entered, with his head hanging down and an absent-minded look on his face. He was being carried in by someone.
Liang Qiuyun’s eyes widened, and he made eye contact with Zhou Zike.
Omg this novel is stressing me out. The HE tag better deliver is all I have to say because damn, the trauma is intense right now.
Thanks to the translator!