Ch109 - Mutual Aid Squad

Lu Xu had wanted to leave, but the new director was standing right outside the door. He glanced back at Ji Xiunian as if to ask whether he should open the door or not.

The two of them had not done anything wrong, but after having been so careful before, it felt strange to bump into people like that.

Lu Xu did not feel like there was anything to it, but he did not want to cause trouble for Ji Xiunian.

Ji Xiunian was surprised to find out that Tang Yanqing was outside. He did not think it was a big deal however, and didn’t have any qualms about others seeing Lu Xu.

“It’s fine. Tang Yanqing is a good friend of mine. He won’t overthink it.”

Since he said so, Lu Xu would not struggle with the problem anymore. He very naturally opened the door, and greeted Tang Yanqing. “Hello, Director Tang.”

The youth had pale, smooth skin, with a peaceful smile on his face. Not only was he good looking, it was clear there was something more to him.

“Hello, Lu Xu.” Tang Yanqing smiled and nodded at Lu Xu. It seemed that he was not surprised. As if he already knew Lu Xu was there.

Lu Xu inconspicuously looked him up and down, before turning to Ji Xiunian and saying, “You two have a chat then. I’ll be on my way.”

Ji Xiunian nodded. “Okay.”

Tang Yanqing pursed his lips, and stepped aside to give way for Lu Xu to exit.

The two of them nodded, their shoulders brushing as he left.

“You two are pretty close.” After Lu Xu left, Tang Yanqing strolled into the room, and immediately headed towards the fridge to grab a bottle of water.

He glanced at the bed, noticing the cat and the tousled state of the bed, and laughed. “You slept with him?”

Ji Xiunian went to his closet, changing clothes as he explained, “We’re just friends. Don’t overthink it.”

“Oh?” Tang Yanqing chuckled, and stretched out his hand to Ba Mei, trying to pet its head.

Ba Mei, who was pretending to be asleep, lazily opened one eye, yawned, and ignored him.

Tang Yanqing’s laughed in spite of that, and asked Ji Xiunian again, “This is Lu Xu’s cat, right?”

“Yeah. Isn’t Ba Mei super cute?” Ji Xiunian was a pretty cold-looking guy, but any mention of Lu Xu, or things related to Lu Xu, would make him look excited and happy, as if he cared quite a bit.

“Yes, it’s quite cute. Then do you think the cat or the person is more cute?”

When Ji Xiunian heard this, his gaze moved from Ba Mei to Tang Yanqing.

Seeing Ji Xiunian’s expression suddenly become so serious, Tang Yanqing immediately let out a casual laugh, showing that he had no ulterior implication. “I was just asking. You don’t need to be so serious.”

Ji Xiunian shook his head, and still gave an answer. “Lu Xu and Ba Mei are both nice. There’s no need to compare.”

“Is that so?” Tang Yanqing nodded, and nonchalantly replied, “I always knew you were the kind of person that loved everything about someone, hahaha.”

The surprising thing was that the statement of “loving everything about someone” needed no explanation. There was a tacit kind of understanding.

“What a good fellow. You’re serious about it this time?” Tang Yanqing could not help but feel that it was strange, and had to ask.

Ji Xiunian, as always, neither confirmed nor denied it. He did not want to create any trouble for Lu Xu. “There’s nothing between Lu Xu and I. It’s not what you think.”

Aha.

He had not even said anything about what he thought was going on between them, but Ji Xiunian went straight to defending the matter. It seemed like this was not a simple case of liking someone.

“I’d always been curious about what kind of person would finally move you. I thought you’d never want to experience this feeling of having your heart race, but you really did meet someone.” When Tang Yanqing spoke, he felt that this situation was quite incredible, but he was not surprised.

He had known Ji Xiunian for quite a long time, and they were very close.

Even by looking at the trending searches alone, he could tell that Lu Xu was something special to Ji Xiunian.

Ever since the show had started its broadcast, their names had been stuck together a number of times in the trending searches, to the point that there were fans shipping them.

If it had been anyone else, Ji Xiunian would have shot the news down, but when it was Lu Xu, not only did he not immediately clear up the air, it seemed he was even quite happy about it.

Tang Yanqing was a very intuitive person, and he immediately understood what Ji Xiunian thought about Lu Xu.

“I have to say, Lu Xu is pretty good. No matter in looks or in talent, he always stands out. He’s just a little bit young. He’s only 18, and a lot of people are impulsive at this young age. Your relationship might not last long because of that…” For his friend, Tang Yanqing still hoped that Ji Xiunian could logically consider and think through things.

He was only 18…

When Ji Xiunian heard about his age, he started to have some complicated feelings. He could not tell Tang Yanqing the truth, so he could only pretend nothing was wrong and say, “Lu Xu is very level-headed, and is much more mature than you think.”

When Tang Yanqing heard those words, he felt like emotions were blinding him, but since Ji Xiunian had already said so, he did not want to be a downer. “All right, since you seem to have thought things through already, I have nothing else to say. But, brother, if you like him, you have to make a move, otherwise things might become stale.”

“I never thought to…” Ji Xiunian immediately wanted to explain himself, but Tang Yanqing shook his head. “If you like it, you have to go and grab it, otherwise you’ll regret it one day.”

Ji Xiunian was silent, and carefully considered his relationship with Lu Xu. He suddenly realised that he really did not want to just be friends.

But when he thought about Lu Xu’s identity and his work attitude, Ji Xiunian shook his head. “He seems to only be focused on his work right now. Other things don’t seem to be as important to him…”

“He’s that career-minded?” Tang Yanqing always thought that Lu Xu was talented and very popular after watching the show, but he never expected such a hardworking and focused mind to be lying underneath such a casual-looking composure. “Then you have to work hard and create common ground between you and his work. Show him how capable you are. Whether it’s a man or woman, they all admire a strong sense of ethics. Lu Xu is definitely the same.”

“Must I be better than him?” The image of Lu Xu collecting clients and his professionalism and passion while doing so came to mind, and Ji Xiunian felt that the pressure was quite heavy.

But even he noticed that he was subconsciously taking Tang Yanqing’s words to heart, and it was all for Lu Xu.

“Seriously, if you want to capture the beauty, you’ll need a catalyst to speed things up. The slow burn just isn’t going to work.” Tang Yanqing was serious, and if one did not know better, he was much like a mentor educating his student.

Ji Xiunian kept saying that he had no other motives towards Lu Xu, but his thoughts kept following Tang Yanqing’s words, and he was even starting to think about what could happen between him and Lu Xu to speed things up.

“So, what kind of a catalyst would help?” After being quiet for so long, he finally had to ask.

“There are so many kinds. Physical contact, a love rival… Anyway, you have to make him notice you but not understand you. As long as he’s falling for you, half the work is already done…”

Tang Yanqing nodded as he spoke, and it gave off the air of a very logical train of thought.

However, Ji Xiunian who had been taking notes mentally suddenly snapped out of it, and expressed that he thought things were going fine as is.

Tang Yanqing squinted. “I’m speaking from experience here. You’d do well to learn.”

But Ji Xiunian raised his brows, and asked, “Have you ever been in a relationship?”

The once confident Tang Yanqing heard this and was stunned. He cleared his throat before saying, “I’m enriching myself with theory first. With the knowledge and research at the ready, practical application is easy.”

In other words, he was single.

Ji Xiunian pursed his lips. He clearly did not want to listen to these weird theories anymore.

Tang Yanqing was a strange person. He had such a good-looking face, but his emotional intelligence was zero.

Both him and Ji Xiunian were single from birth. Even though there were a lot of people trying to get together with them, neither of them fell for it.

Ji Xiunian felt like he had been possessed or something. He had even seriously listened to Tang Yanqing’s analysis of charming people.

He no longer wanted to continue this conversation, so he asked Tang Yanqing, “Isn’t your schedule quite packed? How come you suddenly took on this program?”

Movies and variety shows were two entirely different realms. A lot of movie directors could not keep up with the pace of variety shows. These two kinds of directors were like heaven and earth.

But Tang Yanqing was different. Whether it was movies or reality shows, he did it with ease.

When he was a student, he always went to film variety shows. At the time, his mentor even praised him as the god of variety shows. Even when he went to film movies later, Tang Yanqing kept a firm grasp over the rhythm of such films.

Although “Birth of an Idol” was extremely popular, it did not warrant him coming for such a minor project.

Ji Xiunian had an inkling that things were not as simple as they seemed, so he just asked.

Tang Yanqing was silent for a moment, but he did not hide it from Ji Xiunian. “I won’t hide it from you. I’m actually here for someone.”

For someone?

Ji Xiunian frowned. “A trainee?”

Tang Yanqing immediately waved that away. “What the hell, I’m a 100% pure straight man. I’m definitely not here for the trainees.”

Ji Xiunian thought about it. Other than the trainees, there were only the instructors left. “Don’t tell me you’re here for Qin Ruowei?”

It seemed like other than the trainees, Qin Ruowei was the only person in the show that could possibly have common ground with Tang Yanqing.

But Tang Yanqing still shook his head. “No, no. The person I like is the same person you like. You surely know who it is now, right?”

The same…

An image of a person’s face flashed in his mind, and he said in surprise, “It’s Yu Manman?”

The usually merry Tang Yanqing suddenly seemed quite reserved, and he nodded his head lightly. “That’s right. I feel like she’s the one…”

Tang Yanqing had been saved after falling into the ocean when he was young, and he vaguely remembered that it was a girl who saved him. But when he opened his eyes, there was no one around him.

Others said that he had been extremely fortunate, but Tang Yanqing still believed that the girl was real.

He had always hoped to meet her again, but that chance never came.

He even started to doubt himself, and wondered if he had simply imagined it. Then Yu Manman emerged from the crowd.

The blurry face in his memory suddenly became crystal clear. There was no guarantee that Yu Manman was the girl in his dreams, but Tang Yanqing felt that it was destiny.

He tried to make the first move with Yu Manman, but she had been quite aloof, and expressed that she had no interest in looking for relationships.

Other people might have given up after trying for two years, but Tang Yanqing would not. As long as he tried again and again, maybe he would succeed one day.

Since Yu Manman was filming this variety show, Tang Yanqing thought that he should come and give it a shot, and maybe there might be some sparks.

He also did not think that there was anything shameful in chasing for love. An idea suddenly came to mind and he said, “Xiunian, let’s help each other. I’ll help you chase Lu Xu. When you two get together, he can help me with Yu Manman. This is like killing two birds with one stone, right?”