Chapter 16: Bring Your Own and Bursting Bubbles

Translated by Ying of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

As the next day was the beginning of the weekend, there were a lot of people who came out to eat. Meadow had the best view in the area and its seats were always jam-packed.

“Do we still need to wait for our number to be called?” Although Su Nuo’s feelings were conflicted, as a qualified foodie, his stomach grumbled right on time.

“No need.” Ou YangLong led him in through the back door, going directly to the second floor.

The green bamboo stairs creaked under pressure, so it was fun to stand on it. On top of that, the air was filled with the fragrance of food. The model Su finally felt his mood elevate a little!

“I’m really close with the owner of this place. The taste of the food here is really good.” As they sat in the little private room, Ou YangLong poured tea for him, “Have a taste. It’s a special brew of pu-erh*.”

T/N: A type of Chinese tea.

What’s this about connections? How shameless! Su Nuo admired it quietly. He really wanted to be close with the owner of the restaurant!

“You debuted almost three years ago, right?” Ou YangLong made small talk with him leisurely as he sipped his tea.

“En.” Su Nuo nodded.

“Then you’ve probably walked quite a few fashion shows.” Ou YangLong asked. “We are currently planning a T themed show. Do you have any candidates to recommend?”

“You want me to recommend some?” Su Nuo was slightly bewildered.

“You’re in the industry, so before I start planning, I want to hear your opinion.” Ou YangLong’s answer couldn’t seem more frank. “For example, out of the people you’ve worked with so far, who do you think left a good impression?”

Su Nuo didn’t really have his guard up when it came to this man, so he put on a serious face and recommended a few people before explaining, “Their personalities are all quite good and they work responsibly.”

“Thanks.” Ou YangLong rubbed his chin and finally arrived at his ultimate goal. “The how about Qiu ZiYan?”

How far around did he go to get here?!

“Pfft.” Su Nuo hadn’t expected this and immediately spat his mouthful of tea out. W-w-w-why would that man’s name suddenly appear out of nowhere!? Ah, this was scary!

“Are you okay?” Ou YangLong pretended to be concerned, pulling out a handkerchief for him to wipe his mouth with.

“Sorry.” Su Nuo was a bit awkward.

“No worries.” Ou YangLong said understandingly, “Aren’t you and Mr. Qiu…”

“There’s absolutely nothing between us!” Su Nuo seemed to be shocked and apprehensive as he heard the words and hurried to cut the other man off! What was this goddamned topic!? Tears were running down his face. He only had a crush! At the very, very most, they’d never even held hands or hugged and definitely hadn’t kissed or slept together! It was super, super pure and innocent! Why did he suddenly have to ask this? Had he noticed somehow?! Aaaaaah! If that was the case, then he’d just have to hang himself and commit suicide as tears ran down his face!

“You two really aren’t on bad terms?” Ou YangLong contained his laughter.

So he was asking whether or not they were on bad terms… Su Nuo let out a sigh of relief, but even if he was asking about disagreements, they didn’t have any! He had never really interacted with Qiu ZiYan face to face. Insulting him under a fake username didn’t count!

So the model Su said seriously, “I haven’t worked with Mr.Qiu before, so there’s no way I can give you advice regarding him.”

“So this afternoon was the first time you interacted with him?” Ou YangLong was blunt. “No wonder you looked so stiff.”

Me being stuff has nothing to do with how many times I interacted with him! Even if I saw a lady with big breasts for the first time, I can still put on a bewitching image and work my hardest. I respect my work, but this isn’t the point! Things like missing the point is the most detestable! Su Nuo let out his rant in a single breath on the inside, the lack of oxygen making him pant.

Looking at his scarlet little face, Ou YangLong found it hilarious in his heart and ordered a glass of chilled mint water for him. Originally, he thought that the feelings had emerged over a long period of cooperation. Looking at it now, it was nothing more than a normal fan’s worshiping. Once his thoughts reached this point, Mr. Director’s mood was elevated by no small amount, so he took out a photo album from his bag!

Each step was intricately woven into the next. The amount of effort that was put in, he was so hardworking that you can’t look at it directly!

The model Su was once again shocked, “Why do you have my photo album?”

This didn’t make sense!

“The book shop was selling it, why wouldn’t I have it?” OuYang Long lifted an eyebrow and asked back.

“It’s true that it’s sold everywhere, but…” But what are you buying it for? Su Nuo was suspicious. Those were supposed to be sold to young girls! You’re a thirty-something year old macho man… And it even has underwear shots of me with my butt sticking out a lot!

This was too much to handle, okay?!

“I’m just kidding you. This is from my little niece’s private collection.” Ou YangLong handed the album to him, “She’s your die-hard fan, so I brought it out and wanted to trouble you into signing it.”

Is that right? Su Nuo let out a sigh. As he signed it, he offhandedly said, “Next time, you can bring her along.”

“I’d rather not.” Ou YangLong started laughing, “Looking at her level of worship towards you, she’d probably cry, then cling onto you and never leave.”

Su Nuo’s arrogant heart lit up with a fwoosh! Hahahaha! All these fans who love me and all that, this was too embarrassing! He was a little shy!

“When I get the chance, I can take a picture and send it to you.” Ou YangLong said, “At her house, the bookshelves are filled with your photo albums and magazines, her desktop background is you, her phone theme is you and even her book protectors are you.”

“Is that so?” Su Nuo was about to have hot tears decorate the rims of his eyes. Little fans and whatnot really were cute!

“Could you write for her to eat more vegetables?” OuYang Long pointed to the blank space on the page. “And it would be even better is you could tell her to learn the piano attentively.”

Of course I can! Su Nuo actually wanted to write a whole essay, not only telling his little fan that she had to eat more vegetables and concentrate on the piano and that she had to study seriously and not to start dating too early. If he hadn’t been stopped by Ou YangLong, he even wanted to write a few lines of advice on life!

“Even though she’s young, she’s probably one of your most loyal fans.” Ou YangLong collected the photo album and put it away, “When you first debuted, her number one hobby was insulting you.”

“Why would she insult me?” Su Nuo was extremely surprised. Shouldn’t she be complimenting me like crazy?!

“Saying something that doesn’t match their heart, a common practice with children.” Ou YangLong smiled. “They always use hate to show their love, hoping that they can get attention.”

Dammit dammit! Su Nuo felt a chill go down his spine, according to this logic, could he be crushing on Qiu ZiYan?

A clap of thunder could be heard. This was ripping apart his heart and lungs!

“But these feelings can only be defined as admiration or worshiping at the very most.” Ou YangLong refilled his glass. “It’s completely different from really liking someone.”

“Really?!” Su Nuo felt a little star light up on top of his head.

“Of course it’s real. Like is something that is established through two people’s communication and interaction.” OuYang Long looked at him, “If you don’t even interact at all in everyday life, and only understand the other person through pictures and articles on the internet, how could this sort of like be real?”

Su Nuo guiltily scratched his face. Even though he was talking about his niece… did it have to hit so close to home?!

“On top of that, the one she likes is the cold and elegant little prince on the screen.” OuYang Long’s eyes showed laughter. “And not this stupid and slow foodie.”

“…” He could admit to being a foodie, but what did he mean by calling him stupid and slow? The model Su was extremely unhappy!

“When you were young, you must also have had an idol you liked, right?” The steaming food had arrived at their table and Ou YangLong showed a caring side as he passed him a bowl of soup.

“Hng…” Su Nuo’s feelings were complicated. He didn’t have one when he was young, but now it seemed like he did! This was so embarrassing! He couldn’t help but want to dunk his head into the pot of soup!

“When I was in junior high, I liked one of the big kung fu stars at that time.” Seeing that he was a bit awkward, Ou YangLong shifted the focus of the topic to himself, he was black-bellied and yet considerate!

“You also chased stars?” Su Nuo’s curiosity grew as he heard this. However you looked at it, this sort of successful business man seemed to have had busy days since his childhood. How did he have time to follow the entertainment industry?

“Why wouldn’t I?” Ou YangLong laughed, “In the movie, he could leap from a high building and land safely; he could take on a hundred men by himself in a gun battle; he could drive a car straight through the line of fire safely… He had many things I didn’t have. So I admired him a lot, I didn’t just collect every single one of his posters, I even wanted to go to America and get him to teach me the art of shooting.”

“That’s so childish.” Su Nuo laughed.

“Confusing the screen and reality, it was pretty childish.” The director peeled the shell off a prawn and passed it to Su Nuo’s mouth. “Have a taste, it’s really sweet.”

All this about confusing the screen and reality… Su Nuo leant over and ate the prawn as his mind whirred at a high speed.

It seemed like the whole time, the one he had been admiring was Qiu ZiYan on the screen! Secretly admiring his connections; admiring his macho appearance; admiring how his promotional photos could be heroic and masculine but could also be evil and dark, a path that was extremely wide and open! Not like himself, only able to go down the bewitching path!

But the things on the screen couldn’t be taken as reality, with himself being the best example. On the outside he was the highland flower, and on the inside, eating pig trotters and whatnot, the label didn’t suit the real product and was super fake! According this logic, Qiu ZiYan could be completely un-macho! Not even that, he might even be into cross-dressing, a lunatic!

This sort of scenario was really… Hahahahahaha unexpectedly funny! The idiotic side of Su Nuo began to work its magic as he excitedly imagined what Qiu ZiYan was really like off the screen!

Once he had finished the shooting for a warzone based promotion, the embodiment of masculinity Qiu ZiYan wiped away the camouflage paint on his face and drove his car recklessly back home before getting into an… Essence and flower petal bath!

Damn! Su Nuo’s little body shook, the image elevating his good mood further!

Once he had finished with the flower petal bath, Qiu ZiYan would definitely apply skin moisturiser six, seven, no, eight times before opening his wardrobe, revealing it to be filled to the brim with spaghetti straps and high heels and maybe there was even that something!

Ayo ayo this was too much… Su XiaoNuo revealed an evil face.

Ou YangLong sat opposite him, wondering if those expressions dared to be even more plentiful.

But Su Nuo didn’t pay attention to Ou YangLong’s stare because his mind was saying ‘Qiu ZiYan’s username was definitely something like Aki no Murasaki Kemuri* to show his femininity!

T/N: 秋の紫烟 means the purple rose in autumn in Japanese.

“Open up.” Ou YangLong passed a spoon of corn to his mouth.

Su Nuo obediently opened his mouth and ate it while his brain thought at a breakneck speed. Even though crushing on Qiu ZiYan on the screen was so stupid that it insulted his worth but it was definitely ten thousand times better than crushing on the Qiu ZiYan in reality!

So even if the going was hard, the future was still bright and whatnot… Su Nuo let out a deep sigh!

This afternoon really was full of surprises!

“Are you feeling a bit better?” Ou YangLong asked.

“En.” Su Nuo nodded, looking at him very very gratefully! Even wanting to give him a ‘good person car’!

That’s more like it… Mr. Director was very satisfied, watching the other chew on sesame seeded pork ribs as he sipped tea.

Now that he had gotten rid of the rival in love that hardly qualified as a rival, now he could try chasing right?