“By the way, *cough*… I have a question.”
On this rare occasion where the atmosphere was just right, Xia Rong cleared his throat and finally asked the question that had long been buried at the bottom of his heart.
It was obvious that Su Chi had been prepared for this; he turned his head over and relaxedly asked, “Is it why I would like you?”
“Cough cough!… Well… Just about.” Xia Rong greatly suspected whether that lick from Glass just now had bestowed Su Chi a mind-reading ability. Otherwise, how could his guess be so accurate…
“Is it that much of a difficult thing to be able to guess your thoughts?” The mind-reading ability activated once again, and Su Chi smiled. “It’s obvious that all your thoughts are already written on your face.”
Xia Rong subconsciously raised his hand to touch his face, but then quickly put it down again, pretending as if nothing had happened. “What, you mind?!”
“Don’t mind, don’t dare to mind. I’ll just answer your question, okay?” Su Chi said with a smile. “Do you still remember five years ago when you first entered the circle and had participated in the talent competition?”
“Ah? Five years ago?” Xia Rong’s eyes opened wide, he was just short of asking: You had already started to like me that early?
“Yes. I still remember for one round that was to determine the top ten, you guys were filming a ‘Preparing for Top Ten” promotional clip in the suburbs of B City.” Su Chi calmly recollected, “The theme you guys were filming was ‘Princes and War’. On that day, due to impromptu changes, the personnel arrangement had been very chaotic, and many of them had been temps. There was someone playing piano accompaniment for you guys as others were responsible for resetting the backdrops. There was one person who was part of building the backdrop, but everything had just been too messy and chaotic, so a mistake had been made. You guys went up one by one, but then that backdrop ended up collapsing halfway through the filming, resulting in all the shooting having to restart from the beginning.”
Xia Rong gave it a thought for a moment before replying with hesitance, “…I seem to have an impression? I seem to remember it was very cold at the time.”
“That’s right. It was very cold that winter and B City had just had a heavy snowfall. To look good in the promotional film, you guys wore very little. After a few hours, everyone’s faces were already blue from the cold. So as soon as the problem with the set occurred and everyone had to start all over again, you – contestants – became so incredibly angry that complaints rose all around, wanting to beat that person a round to vent. As a result, however, you didn’t say anything but directly called for delivery from a famous hot drink shop in the city, paying a large sum for them to send it all the way out to the set for the crew. That confused temporary worker also had a share. Afterward, during the time to reset the backdrop, everyone was busy huddling together drinking the hot drinks, so no one had time to continue to scold the person anymore.”
“…That, should’ve been mainly because I wanted to drink it.” Xia Rong scratched his head and ruthlessly broke open the truth. “So you were that set worker1? And because of this, you started to like me?”
“No.” Su Chi had a faint smile. “I was one on the side playing the piano.”
Xia Rong: “…”
So why did you spend so much energy telling this ‘story of the set worker’!
“Because it was through this incident that I started to have a good impression of you.” Su Chi said this as if it was a matter of course.
…Can you not sneak any more reads of the complaints I’m making in my head, can you?!
“Okay.” Su Chi nodded.
Xia Rong, “…”
“Fine, I’ll stop teasing you.” Su Chi smiled and continued, “I’ve started paying attention to you ever then. I had also watched your competition. You sing very well, the champion title is well deserved.”
“A pity that there are few opportunities for me to sing nowadays.” Xia Rong sighed and lamented.
“A chance will eventually come.” Su Chi comforted him.
“Wait, that’s not right… shouldn’t you have been filming at that time?《Sunny Days After A Chance Encounter》? It was called that, right?” Xia Rong still quite remembered this idol drama that stole his limelight for the first time. “How did you still have time to come play the piano?”
“At that time, I was a sophomore at Zhong Xi. All the teachers had encouraged us that practical experience was the best way to learn, so I looked everywhere for projects to participate in. If there was an audition, I would go audition; if there weren’t any auditions, I would go pick up a background mob character part. It was also quite nice to earn some pocket money. I also hadn’t expected for that drama to become so successful,” Su Chi said, “On the night you won the championship, I even guarded the TV the entire time to vote for you.”
“*Puff*…” Su Chi, who has always been glamorous and aloof in front of others, would actually be like an acute braindead fan and guard in front of the TV, voting for an idol with a serious face… As soon as he imagined this picture, Xia Rong couldn’t help wanting to laugh.
“So… It was just that simple?” However, Xia Rong still found it a bit unbelievable. “Isn’t it a bit too easy for you to fall in love with someone?”
“How hard can it be to fall in love with someone?” Su Chi drew up a smile. “You’re good-looking and fit my aesthetics. Your personality and character are also very good. If we consider the initial favorability to be 50, the next time we met, you had taken the initiative to pick up some litter on the ground, so it increased by one. The time after, though it wasn’t you who won the award at the award ceremony, you didn’t get angry or jealous at all but instead was truly happy for the person who did win; the favorability increased by one. The time we met after that, you mistakenly thought that my performance costume was torn, and though obviously, we were in a competitive relationship, you still took the initiative to try and help me solve the crisis. Favorability increased by five… Then the following time, you sang a particularly beautiful song while appearing very good-looking on stage, favorability increased by ten… After five years, wouldn’t it be an easy thing to fall in love with you?”
“No, no, no, when you put it that way, I actually think it’s very difficult for you to fall in love with someone.” Xia Rong continued to retort, “Moreover, isn’t there a bug with this adding-subtracting favorability system? The favorability increase from righteously helping can’t even compare with casually standing on stage and singing a song?”
“How is it casual?” Su Chi explained, “That day, you were wearing a European-style two-piece top and bottom formal attire, overlaid with a black short cloak and a small top hat. Your figure was good and your eyes were bright, just like a little prince that had come out of a fairy tale…”
“Enough, enough…!” Xia Rong couldn’t bear it anymore. “I’m about to die from the sappiness, I get it, you stupid face-con!”
“I think so too.” He actually admits to it without any sense of shame!
“However,” Su Chi cast a sidelong glance at Xia Rong, his lips slightly upturned, “Having lived for more than 20 years, I’ve still only fallen for you this one person.”
“…Just because there haven’t been any before doesn’t mean there won’t be any in the future.” Xia Rong picked up the cell phone, playing with it by flipping it around and around, and said with lowered eyes, “Who knows, maybe you’ll meet someone else more in line with your aesthetics in the future?”
“You saying this, are you afraid that I will regret it in the future, or are you afraid that I will come to like someone else?” Su Chi said meaningfully, “The former represents that you’re starting to make considerations for me even before we are together; the latter means you’re je2…”
“How is that possible!” Xia Rong was just short of jumping up to interrupt him. “I just…”
“—Just that you also don’t hate me.” Su Chi closely followed up on the other’s words, then called out his name, “Xia Rong.”
“…Mhm?”
“Let me try,” Su Chi softly said. He raised his hand, as if to give Xia Rong’s face a pinch, but then hesitated for a moment and took it back. He opened his hand and held it in front of him, making a gesture as if he was giving an oath. “Let me try and treat you well. You don’t have to do anything, it’ll be enough if you just don’t avoid me.”
“…”
“If you’re afraid that I will affect your everyday life in the future, we can also set a deadline. When we reach that time and if you still haven’t changed your mind, I’ll give up and won’t ever disturb your life again.”
“Then…” In a muddle, Xia Rong was foolishly led off track. “How long will it take?”
“One year?”
“…That seems a bit too long?”
“Then 10 months?”
“…”
“Half a year.” Su Chi’s eyes were eager and earnest. “Is that okay?”
“Okay, fine…” The other party has already made so many concessions, it seems it would be a bit unreasonable if he still doesn’t agree…
“En.” Someone secretly breathed out a sigh in relief. Fortunately, Xia Rong’s heart softened, relenting even earlier than the three months that he had imagined. =v=
“If you change your mind by that time, you also won’t have to worry about anything. Whether it’s career or family, I’ll do my best to solve them so that you won’t have any concerns to fear.” Su Chi still had his hands raised as he solemnly vowed.
“That, actually, won’t be necessary. I’m also a man. At that time, I’ll also bear the responsibility with you.” Xia Rong continued, “Oh right, speaking about family, I remembered something.”
“What is it?” Su Chi, who had finally made a big step in this long journey, was in a splendid sunny mood, so much so that even his questioning tone was particularly gentle.
Xia Rong waved his cell phone for the other person to see. “My mom wants you to come home for dinner, will you come?”
“…Your home?”
“That’s right, my home.” Xia Rong patted the other’s right foot that was in a cast. “Originally, I was going to postpone it for a few days before bringing it up again because you were injured, but you’re completely fine now. If you don’t have any problems with it, how about going today?”
Su Chi: “…”
Why did I have to get better so fast!
“By the way, *cough*… I have a question.”
On this rare occasion where the atmosphere was just right, Xia Rong cleared his throat and finally asked the question that had long been buried at the bottom of his heart.
It was obvious that Su Chi had been prepared for this; he turned his head over and relaxedly asked, “Is it why I would like you?”
“Cough cough!… Well… Just about.” Xia Rong greatly suspected whether that lick from Glass just now had bestowed Su Chi a mind-reading ability. Otherwise, how could his guess be so accurate…
“Is it that much of a difficult thing to be able to guess your thoughts?” The mind-reading ability activated once again, and Su Chi smiled. “It’s obvious that all your thoughts are already written on your face.”
Xia Rong subconsciously raised his hand to touch his face, but then quickly put it down again, pretending as if nothing had happened. “What, you mind?!”
“Don’t mind, don’t dare to mind. I’ll just answer your question, okay?” Su Chi said with a smile. “Do you still remember five years ago when you first entered the circle and had participated in the talent competition?”
“Ah? Five years ago?” Xia Rong’s eyes opened wide, he was just short of asking: You had already started to like me that early?
“Yes. I still remember for one round that was to determine the top ten, you guys were filming a ‘Preparing for Top Ten” promotional clip in the suburbs of B City.” Su Chi calmly recollected, “The theme you guys were filming was ‘Princes and War’. On that day, due to impromptu changes, the personnel arrangement had been very chaotic, and many of them had been temps. There was someone playing piano accompaniment for you guys as others were responsible for resetting the backdrops. There was one person who was part of building the backdrop, but everything had just been too messy and chaotic, so a mistake had been made. You guys went up one by one, but then that backdrop ended up collapsing halfway through the filming, resulting in all the shooting having to restart from the beginning.”
Xia Rong gave it a thought for a moment before replying with hesitance, “…I seem to have an impression? I seem to remember it was very cold at the time.”
“That’s right. It was very cold that winter and B City had just had a heavy snowfall. To look good in the promotional film, you guys wore very little. After a few hours, everyone’s faces were already blue from the cold. So as soon as the problem with the set occurred and everyone had to start all over again, you – contestants – became so incredibly angry that complaints rose all around, wanting to beat that person a round to vent. As a result, however, you didn’t say anything but directly called for delivery from a famous hot drink shop in the city, paying a large sum for them to send it all the way out to the set for the crew. That confused temporary worker also had a share. Afterward, during the time to reset the backdrop, everyone was busy huddling together drinking the hot drinks, so no one had time to continue to scold the person anymore.”
“…That, should’ve been mainly because I wanted to drink it.” Xia Rong scratched his head and ruthlessly broke open the truth. “So you were that set worker1? And because of this, you started to like me?”
“No.” Su Chi had a faint smile. “I was one on the side playing the piano.”
Xia Rong: “…”
So why did you spend so much energy telling this ‘story of the set worker’!
“Because it was through this incident that I started to have a good impression of you.” Su Chi said this as if it was a matter of course.
…Can you not sneak any more reads of the complaints I’m making in my head, can you?!
“Okay.” Su Chi nodded.
Xia Rong, “…”
“Fine, I’ll stop teasing you.” Su Chi smiled and continued, “I’ve started paying attention to you ever then. I had also watched your competition. You sing very well, the champion title is well deserved.”
“A pity that there are few opportunities for me to sing nowadays.” Xia Rong sighed and lamented.
“A chance will eventually come.” Su Chi comforted him.
“Wait, that’s not right… shouldn’t you have been filming at that time?《Sunny Days After A Chance Encounter》? It was called that, right?” Xia Rong still quite remembered this idol drama that stole his limelight for the first time. “How did you still have time to come play the piano?”
“At that time, I was a sophomore at Zhong Xi. All the teachers had encouraged us that practical experience was the best way to learn, so I looked everywhere for projects to participate in. If there was an audition, I would go audition; if there weren’t any auditions, I would go pick up a background mob character part. It was also quite nice to earn some pocket money. I also hadn’t expected for that drama to become so successful,” Su Chi said, “On the night you won the championship, I even guarded the TV the entire time to vote for you.”
“*Puff*…” Su Chi, who has always been glamorous and aloof in front of others, would actually be like an acute braindead fan and guard in front of the TV, voting for an idol with a serious face… As soon as he imagined this picture, Xia Rong couldn’t help wanting to laugh.
“So… It was just that simple?” However, Xia Rong still found it a bit unbelievable. “Isn’t it a bit too easy for you to fall in love with someone?”
“How hard can it be to fall in love with someone?” Su Chi drew up a smile. “You’re good-looking and fit my aesthetics. Your personality and character are also very good. If we consider the initial favorability to be 50, the next time we met, you had taken the initiative to pick up some litter on the ground, so it increased by one. The time after, though it wasn’t you who won the award at the award ceremony, you didn’t get angry or jealous at all but instead was truly happy for the person who did win; the favorability increased by one. The time we met after that, you mistakenly thought that my performance costume was torn, and though obviously, we were in a competitive relationship, you still took the initiative to try and help me solve the crisis. Favorability increased by five… Then the following time, you sang a particularly beautiful song while appearing very good-looking on stage, favorability increased by ten… After five years, wouldn’t it be an easy thing to fall in love with you?”
“No, no, no, when you put it that way, I actually think it’s very difficult for you to fall in love with someone.” Xia Rong continued to retort, “Moreover, isn’t there a bug with this adding-subtracting favorability system? The favorability increase from righteously helping can’t even compare with casually standing on stage and singing a song?”
“How is it casual?” Su Chi explained, “That day, you were wearing a European-style two-piece top and bottom formal attire, overlaid with a black short cloak and a small top hat. Your figure was good and your eyes were bright, just like a little prince that had come out of a fairy tale…”
“Enough, enough…!” Xia Rong couldn’t bear it anymore. “I’m about to die from the sappiness, I get it, you stupid face-con!”
“I think so too.” He actually admits to it without any sense of shame!
“However,” Su Chi cast a sidelong glance at Xia Rong, his lips slightly upturned, “Having lived for more than 20 years, I’ve still only fallen for you this one person.”
“…Just because there haven’t been any before doesn’t mean there won’t be any in the future.” Xia Rong picked up the cell phone, playing with it by flipping it around and around, and said with lowered eyes, “Who knows, maybe you’ll meet someone else more in line with your aesthetics in the future?”
“You saying this, are you afraid that I will regret it in the future, or are you afraid that I will come to like someone else?” Su Chi said meaningfully, “The former represents that you’re starting to make considerations for me even before we are together; the latter means you’re je2…”
“How is that possible!” Xia Rong was just short of jumping up to interrupt him. “I just…”
“—Just that you also don’t hate me.” Su Chi closely followed up on the other’s words, then called out his name, “Xia Rong.”
“…Mhm?”
“Let me try,” Su Chi softly said. He raised his hand, as if to give Xia Rong’s face a pinch, but then hesitated for a moment and took it back. He opened his hand and held it in front of him, making a gesture as if he was giving an oath. “Let me try and treat you well. You don’t have to do anything, it’ll be enough if you just don’t avoid me.”
“…”
“If you’re afraid that I will affect your everyday life in the future, we can also set a deadline. When we reach that time and if you still haven’t changed your mind, I’ll give up and won’t ever disturb your life again.”
“Then…” In a muddle, Xia Rong was foolishly led off track. “How long will it take?”
“One year?”
“…That seems a bit too long?”
“Then 10 months?”
“…”
“Half a year.” Su Chi’s eyes were eager and earnest. “Is that okay?”
“Okay, fine…” The other party has already made so many concessions, it seems it would be a bit unreasonable if he still doesn’t agree…
“En.” Someone secretly breathed out a sigh in relief. Fortunately, Xia Rong’s heart softened, relenting even earlier than the three months that he had imagined. =v=
“If you change your mind by that time, you also won’t have to worry about anything. Whether it’s career or family, I’ll do my best to solve them so that you won’t have any concerns to fear.” Su Chi still had his hands raised as he solemnly vowed.
“That, actually, won’t be necessary. I’m also a man. At that time, I’ll also bear the responsibility with you.” Xia Rong continued, “Oh right, speaking about family, I remembered something.”
“What is it?” Su Chi, who had finally made a big step in this long journey, was in a splendid sunny mood, so much so that even his questioning tone was particularly gentle.
Xia Rong waved his cell phone for the other person to see. “My mom wants you to come home for dinner, will you come?”
“…Your home?”
“That’s right, my home.” Xia Rong patted the other’s right foot that was in a cast. “Originally, I was going to postpone it for a few days before bringing it up again because you were injured, but you’re completely fine now. If you don’t have any problems with it, how about going today?”
Su Chi: “…”
Why did I have to get better so fast!
