The night was already deep when An Ruifeng rushed to Ling Xi’s residence. His agent Xu Zhiqiang was so enraged that he sat in the front passenger seat with a black face the entire ride because he insisted on sacrificing his time off to accompany Ling Xi. Even when An Ruifeng discussed tomorrow’s job with him, he refused to pay attention, answering three of An Ruifeng’s inquiries with only one sentence.
In a peculiar tone, Xu Zhiqiang stated: “Are you sure you don’t want me to help you postpone your work tomorrow morning? It’s nothing more than a variety show. We can afford to pay the penalty.” He was thirty-eight this year, but his angry appearance was reminiscent of an eight-year-old child.
An Ruifeng could only raise his hands to surrender while being run on a bank like this by his own agent. He felt guilty but also laughed, and assured his agent that he would definitely conserve his energy tonight and rest as quickly as possible, ready to tackle the early morning job tomorrow.
Before stepping out of the car, he advised Xu Zhiqiang to book a room and stay at a nearby hotel to avoid the racing back and forth interfering with his sleep.
“I need to return to your flat to get you a change of clothes. If you wear these clothes and go to the recording studio tomorrow, I reckon all the paparazzi will know within an hour that you stayed out all night and haven’t changed your clothes,” Xu Zhiqiang resignedly replied.
“It’s not a problem. I’ll claim I went to play at a friend’s house or to a bar.”
“Having reasonable grounds is also useless. You’re a star. You cannot wear the same outfit in public for two days in a row.”
An Ruifeng had no choice but to disclose the truth after Xu Zhiqiang insisted on leaving: “You don’t have to bother… Ling Xi’s house has a change of clothes for me. I stashed a set of clothes in his suitcase for a rainy day before we walked down the mountain.”
“…… When did you start having so many thoughts?”
“I’m afraid I started having thoughts the instant I saw him,” An Ruifeng smiled.
※ ※ ※
Ling Xi was still taking a shower in the bathroom when An Ruifeng knocked on the door. When he heard noises outside the door, he rushed out of the bathroom butt naked, opening the front door without even looking through the peephole.
An Ruifeng was surprised when the door opened and revealed his naked lover inside, thinking he was facing the “eat first or eat you first” dilemma. As a result, Ling Xi tossed out a casual “Take a seat!” and squelch, squelch ran back to the bathroom, his bare feet leaving bright water tracks on the floor.
“…I’m about to take off my pants, and you actually ran away?” remarked An Ruifeng.
Ten minutes later, Ling Xi, who had finished cleaning up, walked out of the bathroom while wiping his hair. His pajama buttons were tightly fastened till his collarbone. An Ruifeng regretfully looked at Ling Xi, who was as white and tender as water, and opened his arms to hug him.
Ling Xi, who had just taken a shower, smelled of the fragrant body wash. An Ruifeng gave him a sweet kiss and sat on the sofa with him. Only then did he get the opportunity to take a closer look at Ling Xi’s home. There were Ling Xi’s shadows all over the place, which made it feel especially friendly.
He was the first person to enter this house, aside from Ling Xi’s agent and his parents. Ling Xi joyfully dragged him to show him around. Despite the fact that the company provided a two-bedroom and one-living room apartment, the area was small, only forty square meters. The living area was small but elegant. A sofa, a coffee table, and a series of LP cabinets were crammed into the narrow space, totally filling it.
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.
The smaller of the two bedrooms had a 1.2-meter-wide bed. A four-door wardrobe stood next to the bed. Ling Xi was leaning against the closet door to keep An Ruifeng from seeing in, but his cover up attitude just made matters worse and piqued An Ruifeng’s curiosity. An Ruifeng embraced Ling Xi in his arms with one hand while pulling the closet door open with the other — whomp! Piles of clothes that a certain someone was too lazy to tidy up poured down from the wardrobe in a torrent, stacking more than half a meter high on the floor. Some of the clothes were crumpled, while others were filthy. Ling Xi, embarrassed, said: “I went up the mountain to film before I had time to clean up after the tour. These clothes have accumulated for two months. You’d better not touch them.”
Olcu Wl tjv wbvlolfv atf rilutais ijgufg gbbw lcab j qljcb gbbw. Dfmjerf la kjr j gfrlvfcalji jgfj, atf rbecv-jyrbgylcu wjafgljir atja kfgf uiefv jgbecv atf gbbw kfgf bo atf tlutfra dejilas (bo mbegrf, Tjcualjc Zfvlj vlv cba ulnf j rlcuif qfccs). C wjuclolmfca qljcb kjr qea lc atf mfcafg bo atf qljcb gbbw, lar yijmx qjlca regojmf mifjc bo vera jcv klatbea j rlcuif olcufgqglca. Pa uilrafcfv rboais lc atf iluta. Yc atf rtfio cfza ab la kfgf akb uelajgr atja Olcu Wl ogfdefcais erfv. Ktfs kfgf jii cfjais klqfv vbkc. Ktfgf kjrc’a j rlcuif ragjcv bo tjlg bc atf oibbg. Ktlr gbbw jcv atf yfvgbbw kfgf qbijg bqqbrlafr. Tbe mbeiv afii tbk wemt Olcu Wl ibnfv werlm jcv tlr werlmji lcragewfcar pera ys uijcmlcu ja tbk mifjc atlr gbbw kjr.
Ling Xi pointed to the musical instruments in this room and described each one to An Ruifeng. This guitar was purchased after he finished third in the draft. That guitar was purchased after he saved money for five years following his debut. The piano was the most important item. Because it was too large to be moved in, he simply removed the balcony’s sliding door and hoisted it in with a crane. The piano loan had still not been repaid…
Ling Xi couldn’t stop talking about his beloved musical instruments. What An Ruifeng liked best about him was his lively personality. Listening to his dancing and gesticulating for excitement appeared to provide An Ruifeng a continual supply of energy from Ling Xi. When An Ruifeng unexpectedly hugged Ling Xi, he was busy expressing his ardent love for musical instruments by gesticulating as he spoke. He kissed him for a long time, pressing the back of his head. He kissed him till both of them were panting and was reluctant to let go of Ling Xi.
“Why are you kissing me?” Ling Xi asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
“To recharge batteries.”
“Yeah right,” scoffed Ling Xi. “Do you need me to find you a socket?”
“Aren’t you the socket?” An Ruifeng kissed him again. He sighed as he spoke of this: “I should not have promised Xu-ge that I would go to bed early tonight. Otherwise, I’d like to recharge my batteries someplace else.”
The two men joked for a while. When Ling Xi saw it was late, he pushed An Ruifeng to the bathroom to freshen up. An Ruifeng clutched his hand and refused to let him go, so Ling Xi followed him to the bathroom to shower again, half willingly, half unwillingly.
The bathroom was small but functional, with a shower. Two stark naked men squeezed under the shower head, their bodies inevitably touching. For a while, they couldn’t tell if the water raining from above was hotter or whether the other party’s body temperature was more searing.
An Ruifeng couldn’t contain his feelings of love when he saw his beloved sweetheart standing in front of him without a thread of cloth. He hugged Ling Xi, eager for further intimacy.
Ling Xi pushed him away firmly: “No. There is water here, and I leak electricity.”
“……….”
They didn’t have any dry bath towels to use after they finished showering, so they had to rush dripping wet to the bedroom and burrow between the covers to get warm. The water droplets on their body and hair quickly soaked through the sheets. It was obviously an embarrassing sight, but An Ruifeng found it extremely interesting. Doing happy things with a lover always makes one happy.
They were unconcerned about catching a cold, and they didn’t even wear pajamas. They talked while lying face to face under the covers on the bed. Ling Xi nestled in An Ruifeng’s arms, his cheek resting on his shoulder, his heart warm and at ease.
Ling Xi chastised: “You don’t need to waste so much time coming over here in this manner. You have to rush to the recording studio tomorrow morning to record the variety show. I checked your schedule and noticed that you’re supposed to reach there at 7 a.m. I calculated it. You can only sleep for five hours.”
“How can that be okay?” Under the quilt, An Ruifeng lay on his side, his breaths entwined with Ling Xi’s. Despite the fact that the lights had been turned off in the room, his shining eyes were still clearly visible. “You’re my boyfriend. I know how much you value your work and how much you like music. No creative artist willingly acts as a gunman, forced to hide behind others and contribute his abilities for the rest of his life.”
“Yeah. I was furious at the time. I felt a buzzing in my mind after he finished speaking. You have no idea how badly I wanted to splash water on his face, but I couldn’t.” On this day, Ling Xi had recalled what the general manager had said, as well as his tone, gestures, and demeanor. He could now face the matter again, calmly and without stress, after scouring the memories over and over. “I had a bad feeling the moment I knew Wu-ge was transferred, but I assumed the company was going to abandon me. In the end, I didn’t expect them to be more despicable than I had anticipated.”
An Ruifeng kissed his brow and hugged him tighter. He hadn’t gone through everything Ling Xi had gone through. He hadn’t been a singer who debuted for eleven years and was still unknown, nor had he experienced the Singers Club’s failure to sell tickets, let alone the company withdrawing resources and forcing him to be a gunman for the newly debuting combination group… If this had happened to someone else, they may have been resentful, sensitive, and skeptical of everything. Even An Ruifeng did not dare to guarantee that he would be able to preserve his original objective in the face of such a blow. But Ling Xi did it. He still loved his music, he still loved his fans, and he always moved towards the end, seeking to bloom his own flowers inside his slice of the underbrush.
Ling Xi grumbled about An Ruifeng running over late at night to waste energy, but he was actually extremely happy. His better half could leave work aside and forsake rest to accompany him when he was sad and downcast. What could possibly be better than this? If Ling Xi didn’t know An Ruifeng still had a job tomorrow, he’d love to combine his socket and the other party’s plug into one.
Ling Xi wiggled upwards, causing his and An Ruifeng’s mouths to cling together. An Ruifeng’s mouth didn’t taste like mint or lemon this time. Instead, it had a wonderfully refreshing strawberry flavor — the same as his own toothpaste.
“AnAn, I intend to cancel the contract.”
“I understand. Have you considered what you want to do next? Start your own studio or come straight to Upstart?”
“Neither.” Ling Xi raised his head and spoke to him for the first time about his future plans: “If I retire this time, I’m going to retire fully. I don’t want to release another album, I don’t want to participate on variety shows, and I don’t want to release a song only to be forced to compete for a spot on some “new song list of the week” with other singers.”
An Ruifeng was greatly surprised by his response. He had always known that Ling Xi intended to retire, but Ling Xi had never told him that he would no longer be a singer after the termination of the contract. He didn’t even think Ling Xi would decide to break the cauldrons and sink the boats, especially after seeing the musical instruments in Ling Xi’s room.
“You won’t sing anymore?” An Ruifeng inquired in a daze.
“Sing. Of course I’ll sing.” Ling Xi said emphatically: “But I’d rather release an online album under a new stage name than fight in the complicated entertainment circle… I like singing, but I only like singing simple tunes. I hope that those who listen to my songs genuinely love my music; not my external appearance as packaged by the talent company.”
He paused before adding: “AnAn, I… I’m not the same as you. I know deep down that I’m simply a regular nobody. I can’t stand being liked or disliked by too many people. This puts me under too much pressure. Sometimes I wonder why my fans are so few, why my song can’t ever win the crown, am I not working hard enough? In reality, the only reason I decided to sign the contract in the first place was to utilize songs to make friends.”
“So you’re going to step back now?” said an understanding An Ruifeng.
“That’s right. This is my preferred option. When I don’t think of work as work, I’ll be able to break the shackles and grow. I’ve saved some money and plan to start a small business as my main source of income later. I’m going to open a milk tea shop. You must provide me with a free endorsement.”
An Ruifeng could understand his reasoning, but the notion of the person by his side leaving this circle made An Ruifeng feel sorry for him.
Ling Xi’s thoughts turned to soothe An Ruifeng when he saw his depression: “AnAn, we’re both stars, but don’t view my situation from that angle. We’re different after all. You are a star that will continue to shine in the sky, whereas I’m merely a dying meteorite approaching Earth. It can only generate a small blaze when it passes through the atmosphere and leaves no trace.”
An Ruifeng didn’t want to hear him belittle himself. He found his mouth was astringent and lacked the sweetness it had only a second before. “Who said you’re a meteorite? If you wish, I can completely transform you into another star by my side. You don’t lack talent; all you need is a lucky break. You see, your work has clearly improved recently…”
Ling Xi cut him off: “It’s really not necessary. When I streaked close to you, you caught me with your gravitational pull and turned me from a meteorite to your satellite. In this manner, I can always revolve around you. This is more than enough for me.”
… …
Xu Zhiqiang arrived early the next morning to pick up An Ruifeng. Ling Xi got out of bed with bleary eyes to see off An Ruifeng. He was too drowsy to open his eyes when he said goodbye at the front door and snuggled into An Ruifeng’s arms and nodded his head, ready to doze off.
“All right, my little satellite, get back to sleep.” An Ruifeng patted his ass, telling him to return to his room and rest as soon as possible.
“Okay, my big star, jiayou~ today,” Ling Xi kissed his cheek and glided back to the bedroom as if sleepwalking.
The ‘dazzlingly’ saccharine show nearly blinded Xu Zhiqiang, who was watching the whole scene from the sidelines.
Xu Zhiqiang couldn’t help but ask after getting inside the car: “What’s with the new nicknames? Small satellite and big star?! They sound weird.”
An Ruifeng was anxious that there was nowhere for him to flaunt the nicknames. When Xu Zhiqiang inquired, he happily recounted their previous night’s chat. He first talked about Ling Xi’s pride in presenting the musical instruments, then about Ling Xi’s composure when he stated he was quitting the entertainment circle, and finally he spent a lot of time talking about Ling Xi’s philosophy of “meteorite, star, and satellite.”
His voice was brimming with pride: “Ling Xi is deserving of the title “creative.” The metaphors he came up with on the spur of the moment are so beautiful.”
After hearing this, Xu Zhiqiang practically fell out of his chair with laughter.
“Don’t tell me you, too, don’t understand the concept of common sense. Let’s ignore the remote possibility of a meteorite turning into a satellite after being sucked in by gravity and focus on the relationship between satellites and stars… Please! Satellites revolve around planets. Where do stars have satellites, eh?!”
Seeing him breathless with laughter, An Ruifeng didn’t talk. He leaned quietly on the sofa and watched Xu Zhiqiang laugh madly. Xu Zhiqiang laughed for a long time before noticing An Ruifeng’s gaze. He trembled and asked An Ruifeng why he was staring at him so intently.
An Ruifeng asked him an irrelevant question with a smile on his face: “Xu-ge, do you know why I have a lover but you don’t?”
“…Ah?”
Translator:
Happy holidays. Have a blast
As usual, LX is super cute! Thanks for the chapter. Happy Holidays.
Hahahaha 🤣🤣🤣 Xu-ge do you know??🤭🤭
Stars have satellites. They’re called planets. 😉.
Best line: “There is water here, and I leak electricity.” 😂. Thank you
And Happy Holidays!
Poor Xu Zhiqiang, he has no creativity
Thank you!
Happy Holidays 😘
Sparking electricity and joy! 🤣 Such poetry! Lmao! Thanks for the chapter ❤️
Happy Holidays! 🎄🎉🥳
We do.
»He found his mouth was astringent..« mouth which was (I guess)
LX is so sweet and down-to-earth :3 Good luck with your milk tea shop.
Thx for the ch ٩(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )و
Awww!!! Full of sweetness ❤️❤️❤️. Thanks for the chapter~
I love LX, he is the healthiest MC ever. He can see himself objectively, has a plan B, takes good care of himself, never letting others smash him down. He knows himself and what he is willing or but willing to accept. Working in the field you love many times make you unable to enjoy that thing you love the most, so doing not for profit but because you enjoy it is the best, ever. Thank you for the translation!
Since reading this novel a few days ago, I got craving for bubble milk tea that yesterday I bought palm sugar and bobba pearl to make bubble tea at home. 😆
I don’t know who I should pity more Xu-ge who is always forced to eat dog food or Wu-ge who always has to listen to thier (ARF & LX) sex life either way they’re both pitiful 🤣🤣🤣
Ahh…I guess Andrew withdrew fr the circle bcos he has a lover?And mayb Wu Ge was his agent bfore
I should confirm LX philosophy is feasible. Satellite revolves around planets but planets revolve around stars. So technically… Anyway, leave common sense aside when reading fiction bah!╮(＾▽＾)╭
Thx 4 de chp
Pfft 🤣
Thanks for the chapter <3
ARF that was foul 😂😂😂
The last line equals an incoming burn….
Poor Xu ge 😂❤️🩹
KO!!! A single sentence from ML beautifully defeated his agent!