Translator-Rhapsodite
Editor- yuki_shuichi, Proofreader- adjective
Ruan Song heard Chen Yan press the keycode to enter the door, so he went out of the room to greet him, specifically checking if there was someone tailing him.
Chen Yan held a big bag in one hand and leaned against the wall to change shoes.
He rolled his eyes aggressively and said, “Stop looking, no one followed. Ren Qinming knows you don’t want to see him. But you better organize your thoughts and figure out how you’re going to explain this to me.”
Ruan Song pretended not to hear him and asked, “What did you buy?” as he took the paper bag from him. To his surprise, it was unexpectedly heavy. He opened it and found a wooden box inside.
“It’s Japanese food. Ren Qinming got it for you, saying it’s your favorite.” Chen Yan couldn’t help but roll his eyes again. “We’ve been living together for so long, how did I not know you still liked eating this?”
Ruan Song initially got excited when he heard “Japanese food,” but as soon as he heard it was from Ren Qinming, he immediately dropped it as if he had touched something dirty. “Cheap Japanese food doesn’t taste good, and I can’t afford proper Japanese food. I can’t even bring myself to take a ride-hailing car. If I had extra money, I wouldn’t spend it on this.”
Well, he did like it, he just didn’t express it.
Chen Yan changed his shoes and entered the room.
“Don’t try to change the subject with me. Come clean and tell me how you ended up with the movie star.”
Ruan Song pretended not to hear again, as if the soles of his feet were greased, and quickly turned to head back to his room, saying, “Oh, I suddenly remembered that I have an unfinished script.”
“You have a script to write?!” Chen Yan couldn’t help but wonder if Ruan Song’s schedule was empty or not.
Without hesitation, Chen Yan pulled Ruan Song to sit at the dining table and, as if he were interrogating a criminal, grabbed his arm. “The melon is right next to me, but it turns out the melon wants to keep it all a secret. Don’t tell me in a couple of days you’ll suddenly say that you’re the illegitimate child of some prominent family, and now that the main line has died out, you’re going back to inherit the family fortune.”
Ruan Song immediately gave him a look as if to say, ‘Are you crazy?’ “If I were an illegitimate child, I would expose scandals, threaten for money, contact the media, or even directly camp out at their doorstep until they give me money. Isn’t that better than groveling like an idiot?”
“Well, I haven’t seen you ask Ren Qinming for money either! You even said his annual income is over ten million, getting him to pay for your mother’s surgery fee wouldn’t even make a dent in his income,” Chen Yan said, feeling frustrated. “Am I just deluding myself? Do you even consider me your brother, Ruan Song?”
Ruan Song’s gaze towards Chen Yan was filled with hesitation and fear. Just as he was about to speak up for himself, Chen Yan had already begun to bring out all the receipts.
“Come on, let’s use our fingers to count carefully. Even though we’ve only been roommates for half a year, I’m the one who cooks, right? I’m the one who takes out the trash, right? And the clothes you don’t want to hang out to dry, I’m the one who helps you with that too, right? You said you’re responsible for doing the dishes, but I even bought gloves and hand cream for you so that you wouldn’t hurt your hands. Isn’t this what true brothers do? But it turns out that you would go so far as to hide such a big melon from me!”
Ruan Song immediately felt ashamed and closed his mouth, rubbing his hands in guilt. “I was wrong to hide it from you. I… have nothing to argue about, but we indeed broke up before I met you! It’s been a year since we broke up! I didn’t plan on continuing any kind of relationship with him…”
Chen Yan seemed to hear the biggest joke in the world. “Are you trying to make me understand that someone like Ren Qinming, with that status and appearance, has been pining after you for a whole year after you broke up??”
As long as Ren Qinming opened his mouth, there was no person he couldn’t get, but Ruan Song was going so far as to say that Ren Qinming was keeping himself pure in the industry for Ruan Song.
Ruan Song understood the underlying meaning and immediately pressed his temples. The tension in his bones couldn’t be suppressed and came up again as if he were dissatisfied with Ren Qinming, whom everyone else loved and admired. “No, what kind of appearance and status does he have? When I knew him, he was just a little tail. Even if I could control the earth or the sky, why would I care about who he’s thinking of?”
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.
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Chen Yan had already prepared the wasabi and handed him the chopsticks with a smile, saying, “Better late than never. Let’s start with how Ren Qinming became a little tail.”
“……”
Ruan Song only realized later that he had fallen for Chen Yan’s provocation.
…
At the same time, inside the van that was taking Ren Qinming home, it was silent.
Outside the car window, the sky had turned dark, and the night draped the city in a dark coat adorned with neon lights. Assistant Xiao Lu had been drinking on behalf of Ren Qinming at the evening gathering, so he sat in the passenger seat.
Now, driving the car was the manager, Xu Lan.
Xu Lan herself sat in the back row with Ren Qinming, one on each side by the window, both gazing outside “admiring the view.”
To be honest, with Xu Lan’s personality, Ren Qinming was mentally prepared for a barrage of questions, but in reality, they hadn’t said a word since they left the police station.
Xu Lan neither scolded him nor asked him anything, creating an unusually quiet atmosphere that made Ren Qinming feel a bit uncomfortable.
Maybe Xu Lan would resign tomorrow.
Just like countless previous managers before her, unable to bear the frustration of being deliberately ignored by him.
Ren Qinming simply closed his eyes, leaned back against the car seat, pressed the brim of his hat down, and fell into a deep sleep with his arms crossed.
To be honest, they weren’t wrong. If anyone was to blame, it was the first manager who brought him to fame. That manager always acted behind the scenes and caused trouble between him and Ruan Song, all in the name of making him “focus on work.” In the end, their breakup was probably at least 80% instigated by that manager.
Since then, Ren Qinming had resisted all the managers who lectured and restricted him under the pretense of doing what was best for him.
“So even though you two have broken up, you still want to get back together?” Xu Lan asked abruptly.
Ren Qinming, who had planned to pretend to be asleep, responded, “Hmm.”
Because of some conventional agreement, all those who took over the position of his manager were unwilling to let him fall in love.
Before, Xu Lan’s attitude was also one of disapproval, but Ren Qinming inevitably brought her to the other side.
But the next words that came out of her mouth were unexpectedly, “I can help you.”
The silence in the car lasted for a few seconds.
To check that Ren Qinming hadn’t heard wrong, he asked, “What did you say?”
Xu Lan repeated as requested, “I said it doesn’t seem like you’re having much luck reconciling, I can help you.”
Upon hearing this, Ren Qinming immediately couldn’t “sleep” anymore.
He hesitated, lifted the brim of his hat, sat up slightly, and turned his head to look at the person sitting on his left. The distrust in his eyes conveyed his feelings.
“Finally willing to look at me directly, huh?”
The woman sat upright, crossed her legs, and showed him her phone screen. “I’ve already had someone gather information. Ruan Song, right? He’s also from City B’s Xiliu area and met you when studying at No. 1 First High School. He had good grades and got into the Double First Class University Plan and a 985 A University, while you struggled and could only attend a regular 211 university in City A.”
Seeing the growing gap between them, Ren Qinming, who initially had no intention of entering the entertainment industry, finally had the thought of taking a shortcut, hoping to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ruan Song.
They didn’t start dating in high school.
Ren Qinming spent three years in high school figuring out his feelings and then spent the first two years of college relentlessly pursuing Ruan Song. Finally, on his twentieth birthday, he successfully won Ruan Song’s heart.
Then began their five-year-long-distance relationship. Ruan Song remained like a flower of the high mountains in a greenhouse, while Ren Qinming became a wildflower growing wantonly outside the greenhouse. One grew towards heaven, and the other grew underground.
Who could have imagined that their circumstances would take a nosedive now?
Xu Lan accurately summarized their past experiences word for word, and even Xiao Lu in the passenger seat couldn’t help but secretly look through the rearview mirror, amazed in his heart.
With her skill, she found Ren Qinming’s weak spot in a matter of minutes.
“I don’t care about the exact reason why you two broke up a year ago, but I promise to help you create an opportunity to win him back, on the condition that you sign an agreement with me.” Xu Lan didn’t waste any words and raised her hand, pulling out a printed contract from her bag.
This contract had already taken shape in her mind after Wang Duan explained Ren Qinming’s entire past.
But Ren Qinming didn’t reach out to take it. His deep eyes were filled with caution as he asked, “First, tell me what kind of opportunity you can create.”
“Dating variety show.”
Xu Lan quickly pulled out another document from her bag and said, “After thinking it over, I agree with what Director Wang said. The ‘single’ advantage can’t last forever, but ‘long-lasting love’ can. Since the opportunity has presented itself, why not transition early? This is the new plan I’ve come up with for your future development direction. If you’re interested, you can take it back and have a look.”
This meant she not only didn’t want to restrict him from dating, but even planned to strongly support him, and it would be best for him to be in a relationship that would last forever.
Ren Qinming’s attitude relaxed, and he reached out to take the plan, asking, “What do you mean by dating variety show?”
“The platform producer from today doesn’t only have interview-type variety shows. He also invited you to participate in one of the most popular dating shows. There’s quite a lot of enthusiasm for it, it’s just that it wasn’t quite in line with your career, so no one mentioned it to you.”
Xu Lan held the contract in one hand and her phone in the other. She had already found the producer’s WeChat and played her trump card, saying, “As long as you sign this agreement in my hand right now, I will support you in publicly announcing your relationship and promise to help you persuade your ex-boyfriend to pretend to be a couple with you on the variety show.”
As for whether or not he could successfully win him back, that was not her concern. It all depended on Ren Qinming’s abilities.
The moon reached its zenith, and the chilly night seeped into the van through the glass windows.
After hearing Xu Lan’s proposal, Ren Qingming felt a rare hesitation coming over him. A pair of black yet bright eyes were hidden under the brim of his cap, but from beginning to end, his mind remained clear. His jaw tightened, then he coldly opened his mouth.
“Ruan Song won’t agree to your request.”
Xu Lan was prepared in advance. “He will. His mother is lying in the hospital right now, with a tumor pressing on her nerves. The sooner she has the surgery, the better. Do you think he would refuse such a good opportunity to earn money?”
The silence fell once again.
When it came to the matter of the surgery expenses, Ren Qinming naturally couldn’t be unaware.
However, he knew Ruan Song. No matter whether Ren Qinming directly gave the other money or asked someone to help introduce a project to him, Ruan Song wouldn’t accept it.
Even if he accepted the money as a last resort to save his mother’s life, his life would come to an end, as Ruan Song definitely wouldn’t get back together with him then.
In the silent tug-of-war, Ren Qinming finally loosened his grip and asked, “What does the agreement say?”
Xu Lan finally raised an eyebrow, breathed a sigh of relief, and flashed a victorious smile. “No matter what it says, you’ll sign it, won’t you?”
When Ren Qinming asked that question, he had already lost.
Xu Lan, “If you’re good, then I’m good. The only challenge for you in this agreement is that you can’t refuse to communicate with me without reason. Do you need me to lend you a pen? Or do you want to take it back and think about it carefully?”
Ren Qinming was directly caught in a tight spot, gritting his teeth. “Damn it, I’ll sign.”
The perfectionist nature of this professional manager was finally satisfied. There was no artist in this world that Xu Lan couldn’t handle.
The woman smiled generously and extended her hand to Ren Qinming. “Let’s have a pleasant collaboration from now on.”
The author has something to say:
Your strongest human plugin is online~
Zhongrui Entertainment’s Director Wang smiled: Never would have thought this day would come for Xiao Ren
Ren Qinming who lowered his head for love: ……
Thank You for the new chapter（*’∀’人）♥
thank you for the chapterrrr
I’m really loving Manager Xu 😂
I’m hoping manager Xu is good person and not someone who’s trying to tie a leash around Ren Qinming (T^T)
I really wanna know what happened!