previous chapter¦ TOC ¦ next chapter

Luo Ding felt like Duan Xiubo was truly haunting him. But of course, he wouldn’t be so inconsiderate as to say that out loud. Instead, he feigned a very surprised expression: “Duan ge, we meet again.”

“You sang well.” Duan Xiubo stared at the tired shadows under Luo Ding’s eyes and lowered his voice while slowing his pace. In fact, after entering the music club he had felt some regret. He normally kept his distance from most of the people around him, so he understood that it appeared a bit abrupt for him to meet Luo Ding so often. Putting himself in Luo Ding’s shoes, under the same circumstances, he would have even begun to think that the other party was acting abnormally.  

So, he had quickly revised his purpose for coming in to find Luo Ding and started the conversation by simply emphasizing that it was a coincidence.

Within that short period of time he did not perceive any negative feelings from Luo Ding’s expression, so he also put on a straight face and directly led the topic to Luo Ding’s performance in the public audition room just now: “I heard that Mao Laoshi is also here today. Are you planning to release an album? “

Mao Xiaorun, who was standing beside Gong Liangguang and close to Luo Ding yet had been neglected for a long time, said weakly, “I am here …”

“Oh! Mao Laoshi! Hey? Uncle Gongliang!” Duan Xiubo saw them all at once. He felt no shame from the fact that they had been nearby, yet he had failed to see them. He said hello in a natural manner, “I’m afraid I have interrupted your conversation. How are you doing? It has been a long time since we last met.”

Mao Xiaorun paused before answering: “… I am well.”

Gong Liangguang simply rolled his eyes. From the moment he entered, Duan Xiubo’s eyes had not even glanced in his direction and now he was pretending? What a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Yu Shaotian stood quietly in the distance beside Mi Rui. He poked Mi Rui’s side with his elbow while his eyes held a strange look: “Xiao Mi, who is that person?”

“That’s Luo Ding, Duan’s ge’s friend.” Mi Rui thought for a moment and added, “Currently, he’s working with Duan ge on a film. He’s an actor.”

Friend? This form of introduction was actually placed in front of his description as an actor? Yu Shaotian pondered for a while and felt that from the beginning to end, this description had a subtle subtext.

Duan Xiubo’s friend? Other people may not know but how could he not know? His younger brother looked easy-going, but in fact, he was very arrogant and there were only a few people in the entertainment circle that he deemed worthy.

Other than several Hollywood actors in Duan Xiubo’s circle and respected personages like Gong Liangguang, Yu Shaotian couldn’t think of any other friends. Oh, that unreliable editor-in-chief, Ji Jiahe was also one. Although he hated to admit it, that guy and Duan Xiubo unexpectedly got along very well.

When any one of these people were taken out they could not be underestimated. At least in terms of their careers they all had well deserved success. But Yu Shaotian really had no impression of the young man in front of him. … Wait, Luo Ding!?

“Luo Ding?” Yu Shaotian said with some surprise. “Is that the same Luo Ding who is hot on Weibo right now? The Luo Ding who also participated in Pan Yiming’s album filming?

Mi Rui pushed up his glasses and nodded. He could somewhat understand why Yu Shaotian would respond so strongly.

Triumph Media had one of the most complete talent production chains in the music industry. Every year, it injected new blood into the company through talent shows and then cultivated several of the potential candidates through training, in order to continuously expand its strength. Because they followed the idol route of the Korean Hallyu wave, these singers from Triumph Media, whether groups or solo acts, had quite a lot of fans.

Every year, almost half of the best-selling albums in the mainland were occupied by musicians from Triumph. This had been status quo for about six or seven years and had never changed until the present.

Actually, the sales of the new album released by Triumph’s most popular singer, Zhang Wenwei, had been vigorous at the beginning due to strong publicity. Triumph was, naturally focused on reaching the top of the album sales list.

Mi Rui had heard that when Zhang Wenwei’s release schedule was found to clash with that of Pan Yiming’s new album, no one took it seriously, after all, Pan Yiming ’s position in the music scene had slowly declined after she moved to the film and television industry. Thus, basking in the limelight of the mainland’s best-selling singer, Triumph confidently put their record on the market before Pan Yiming’s news conference.

However, this time around reality gave Triumph a strong and loud slap.

Zhang Wenwei’s album sales had risen quite gratifyingly at the start. In just three days, the sales volume for the album had exceeded their original sales targets and was close to securing the championship throne.

But just when everyone thought that the sales champion throne was already Triumph Media’s possession, Pan Yiming’s album release conference was held.

Then came a barrage of news, fan forum posts, official media and entertainment media campaigns. All kinds of media outlets were filled with news of this album. From the mainland to Hong Kong and Taiwan, from Hong Kong and Taiwan, it invaded Japan, and then from Japan to South Korea. Finally, even the Southeast Asian countries were all filled with news of this album.

This was simply foul and unreasonable! Things changed instantly and Zhang Wenwei’s new album which was close to clinching the championship title was quickly thrown aside.

At the start, Triumph Media had thought that because this was Pan Yiming’s long-awaited return to the music scene, Tian Media Entertainment had manipulated the news outlets in an attempt to reverse public opinion by increasing sales through publicity and by buying rankings on social media trending lists. 

At the very least Mi Rui knew that shortly after the release of Pan Yiming’s album, Triumph Media had quickly repurchased nearly 50,000 copies of Zhang Wenwei’s albums in an attempt to reverse their disadvantage.

Regardless, later on things became even clearer to the eyes of the discerning audience. In a little over a week, the gap between the top of the list and the second runner-up widened to a degree that was difficult to describe without using disparaging words. Subsequently, the enthusiastic response from overseas further confirmed these opinions.

Zhang Wenwei’s flagging album sales naturally caused many people to doubt the integrity of Triumph Media’s sales numbers. Many people ridiculed Triumph Media for losing so miserably. Fortunately, there was no tangible evidence to prove any of the public’s speculations otherwise, both the company and its artists would have been thoroughly embarrassed.

After such a big tumble, it would have been unreasonable for Yu Shaotian to not immediately remember who Luo Ding was. Thus, Mi Rui was not surprised that the other party had a strong impression of Luo Ding.

Yu Shaotian stared at Luo Ding. His mouth twitched for a moment and he became more and more certain that his brother absolutely had a feud with him in his last life.

After all, look at the sort of “friends” Duan Xiubo has made. Gong Liangguang, like a donkey, pretends to not know how to speak when they meet. The first time, Yu shaotian and Ji Jiahe met privately, Ji Jiahe frivolously touched his face and flirted with him. Because Yuan Bing was an actor signed to a rival company she was fake and cold in front of him and always acted like a goddess …. Now another new “friend” had appeared and even before Yu shaotian could show his face he had already eaten a big loss.

But Yu Shaotian was not an unreasonable person. For that album release event, Triumph Media also held its share of the blame because it had gone too far with its initial album hype yet had been too conceited and had not carefully researched the strength of its opponent. This was the fault of the company’s imperfect management system. Luo Ding was merely the trigger.

Combined with the song that Luo Ding just sang…Yu Shaotian nodded his head imperceptibly. People who could be included into Duan Xiubo’s category of friends, regardless of their level of fame, all had talents that were out of the ordinary.

At present, Triumph Media occupied the largest share of the mainland’s music market. No one in the industry could match it in terms of hard or soft power.

Compared with other media executives in the music industry, Yu Shaotian was undoubtedly the one who attached the greatest importance to the selection of good candidates. When Luo Ding had opened his mouth, his singing skills and voice had shocked him. Any qualified businessman would put aside his personal grudges to find a partner worthy of communicating with. Besides, Luo Ding’s talent made him feel a little bit excited.

Who was Yu Shaotian? He and Duan Xiubo came out of the womb of the same mother. Both brothers had thick skins. Just now, the younger brother had closed his eyes and shamelessly lied about meeting Luo Ding in a chance encounter. The elder brother now also flipped his hair calmly and slowly moved towards the group of people that were the focus of everyone’s eyes.

Luo Ding was talking to Duan Xiubo about his EP. Duan Xiubo was very enthusiastic and even offered to guest star in the MV if necessary. This great god was currently earning eight to nine digits per movie, and at least six to seven digits to attend an event. In order to maintain his image, he had never touched any work in the TV and Music Industry. His international influence currently far exceeded that of Luo Ding, who was only popular in Japan. With his participation, the gold content of this EP had undoubtedly greatly increased.

Even though he had known that Duan Xiubo was good at buying people’s hearts, Luo Ding still couldn’t help feeling a little moved at this time. After walking through this world once, he had long understood that while there are often many to offer icing on a cake, and it was rare for people to send charcoal in the snow.

Regardless of his talent, Duan Xiubo, who was countless times higher in status than he was, had sincerely expressed his goodwill. As the beneficiary, Luo Ding, did not reject this expression of friendship.

He accepted Duan Xiubo’s goodwill and agreed to mail him the MV script when the time came. At the same time quietly, he removed the three words Duan Xiubo from probation and into the “friend” category. Subsequently, the two then took advantage of this opportunity to ask one another for their email addresses in order to truly share each other’s social account information.

Luo Ding yawned again, and a tear squeezed out from the corner of his eyes.

Seeing this, Duan Xiubo, consciously put away his mobile phone: “Tired? Are you tired from filming over the past few days? You don’t actually have to join the preparations before the recording of the EP. Since you are done discussing things you should go back and rest. Do you still live at the Yaxing apartments? I know the way. I’ll take you back.”

Luo Ding thought of all the disgusting crying and vomiting Hu Xiao had done in his room before he had left. He had said he didn’t want to enter that room anymore: “I’m moving, I don’t live there anymore, you don’t need to send me off Duan ge. You can just tell me what hotels are near this business district, I’ll just go and sleep there. “

This is an office area. How many hotels can it have? Duan Xiubo responded solemnly: “With the traffic situation, the closest hotel you can go to from here is at least three hours away. Alternatively, I have a member-only lounge room here next to the club that teaches martial arts combat training, you just go directly to my lounge to sleep, it’s near here. “

Luo Ding was almost overwhelmed by drowsiness, so after hearing these words he stopped trying to escape: “Thank you then.”

This was practically the first time that Luo Ding had freely accepted an invitation from Duan Xiubo since the two had met. Luo Ding’s generous attitude instantly caused Duan Xiubo’s heart to rise in a kind of joyful surprise. The smile on Duan Xiubo’s face instantly become a couple of degrees more real.

As the duo were looking at each other, they were inconsiderately joined by a shameless Yu Shaotian: “Mr. Luo, hello.”

Only then did Luo Ding realize that there was another party present besides Duan Xiubo. Over Yu Shaotian’s shoulder, he also saw Mi Rui standing in the distance. Then he quietly observed Duan Xiubo’s casual attitude towards Yu Shaotian. Luo Ding suppressed his uncertainty and naturally shook hands with him.  

Yu Shaotian asked with a smile: “Mr. Luo’s singing was really amazing, are you currently signed with an agency?”

Luo Ding nodded: “I am an artist from Yaxing Studio.”

Oh, it turned out that he was signed to a small unknown studio. Yu Shaotian was immediately in a good mood. He gracefully pulled out a business card from the front pocket of his shirt and passed it with both hands: “Mr. Luo is a capable person so you definitely understand what it would take for people to rise in this industry. If you need to, you can give me a call.” Such a great appearance and talent. With the influence of Triumph Media, as long as a little attention was paid to his packaging it will only take a little effort to make him popular all over the country.

“…” Luo Ding pursed his lips hesitantly, wondering whether he should tell Yu Shaotian that the boss of his agency was standing behind him.

Duan Xiubo folded his arms and glanced at Yu Shaotian. When he did shameless things like digging a wall[1], his face actually looked upright like he was a decent elite. The thickness of Yu Shaotian’s face had really exceeded his estimation.

Gu Yaxing maintain a bland expression and drifted to Yu Shaotian’s side. At this time, he stretched out his hand and patted his opponent’s shoulder softly.

“…” Yu Shaotian turned his head timidly to stare at the man who was standing very close. He seemed to feel as though this man did not want to communicate with him in a friendly manner, so he asked with some vigilance, “Hello … you are?”

These big companies in the industry were the existence that studio bosses like Gu Yaxing hated the most. It was not only once or twice that their emerging stars had been poached away. These thieves paid the contract termination default fee, then took away the efforts of the small studios to generate new blood for themselves. With little effort they could win over the little stars that small companies had worked hard to discover. The liquidated damages they paid will then be regained in minutes. This was a profit-making business.

Destroying a person’s path to wealth was like killing their parents. It was not just once or twice that Gu Yaxing had wanted to tear up this scum.  It was hard to quietly bear this. This son of a bitch had even lobbied in front of him to poach Luo Ding, the person on who Gu Yaxing had poured all his hopes!?

Gu Yaxing introduced himself quietly: “General Manager Yu, my name is Gu Yaxing, the director of Yaxing Studio. Hello.”

Being stared at by Gu Yaxing’s fierce gaze, Yu Shaotian felt countless hairs on the back his neck rise up.

It should have been a bit embarrassing to be caught attempting to poach an artist by the person in charge, but Yu Shaotian was not embarrassed at all, even his face was not the slightest bit red. He shook hands with Gu Yaxing in a particularly calm manner: “Hello.”

Gu Yaxing stared at him and felt more and more discouraged.

He believed that he had now understood why Yaxing Studio had not been able to do much. As the person in charge, the difference between the thickness of his and Yu Shaotian’s face was almost the difference between a door panel and the city wall.

After bidding farewell to Mao Xiaorun, Duan Xiubo took Luo Ding to martial arts hall. As soon as Luo Ding came out of the music club’s door, he was surrounded by many fans who cornered him outside the door of the club. In front of the public, Luo Ding quickly recovered his normal calm and kept a smile from beginning to end in response to the clamor of the surrounding people.

“My son is awesome!!! You will definitely be popular !!!” Despite the noise, this voice was extremely sharp and unusual, Luo Ding was startled and turned his head to look at the speaker.

The speaker looked to be at most twenty-five or twenty-six years old. She was dressed in neat and tidy clothing, with charming curly hair and a smile full of excitement and adoration. A very beautiful young girl.

Son ……

Although Luo Ding was not as well-built as he was in his last life, he was still a very tall and strong man. From the very beginning of his career to his old age, he had never had such a terribly cute mother-fan. Now his mood was a bit complicated.

The encouragement of this mother fan seemed to give the other shy mother-fans full courage. The female fans tried to hand the paper bags in their hands to Luo Ding desperately: “Son, you must remember to eat!” ” Son, you are too skinny, so thin! “” Son, look at your dark under-eye circles!!! “

Luo Ding didn’t dare to receive these gifts. In fact, he had not been called a son by anyone for two lives. So, he was not very good at handling it. His ears were quickly stained with red and he could barely hide his embarrassment. It was very rare for him to be so nervous.

The concern shown by these fans really gave him the illusion that he was being taken care of by his mother.

But fan gifts could never be accepted casually. Should this start, the gifts given by the fans in the future will only become more and more valuable. It was not a good thing for either the fans or the artist.  For ordinary fans with less economic strength comparing themselves with wealthy fans could easily become burdensome. Also, from the outside, artists who casually accept fan gifts could easily be crowned with a frivolous and greedy reputation.

Luo Ding stood at the doorway of the music club, bowed to the people who approached him, and then left with Duan Xiubo.

Some of the fans who had stayed in front of the music club were originally familiar with Luo Ding from the start. Others who were close to the Shanhai building had rushed there after learning about Luo Ding’s performance on weibo thus they were all extremely excited. After Luo Ding’s figure completely disappeared from their field of vision, these fans all breathed a sigh of relief, and then clenched their fists, screamed and jumped in place.

“The real person is so handsome ah ah ah ah ah!!! I’m dead! I’m dead !!!”

“Yes, he’s ten times more handsome in person than in pictures! Isn’t that so?”

“My son is born with beauty!”

“He just looked at me! We stared at each other! WE stared at each other!! Oh wow wow wow his eyes are really beautiful!!!!”

“He’s so lovely! He didn’t accept gifts and he bowed back to us! My heart aches. That bow was almost 100 degrees!”

“Who took pictures? Who recorded video? The quality of my pictures is so poor. I beg you please let me save it!”

After this wave of national celebrations had passed, the fans found time to excavate more cute points and small details from their short encounter with Luo Ding.

Shanhai Building, including the gyms and clubs inside in the building, was not open for sightseeing. One needed to have a membership card to permit entry. Ordinary members could only stop at the forty-fifth floor. For the higher floors, visitors needed to use their identification cards to go through another passage.

This meant that the fans who could stand here and come in close contact with Luo Ding were wealthy people. Therefore high-definition cameras were easily available.  During the playback process, a group of fans crowded together to watch the captured footage one frame at a time. Despite being infatuated by handsomeness, some people gradually found some abnormal pictures.

“Huh …? How can this person be so familiar?” Someone pointed at the person wearing a mask who had been protecting Luo Ding from the start to the end. Even under the cover of the mask, the other person’s handsome features and excellent temperament could be seen. In no way was he inferior to Luo Ding, who he was protecting. Moments ago everyone placed all their attention on Luo Ding so no one had noticed him at all, but now it was different.

“Isn’t this Duan Xiubo !?” The first person to recognize him shouted in surprise. Duan Xiubo’s features were too discernible. Although all parts of his face, except his eyes, were covered by a large mask as long as such a guess had been made, all subsequent clues will also follow.

“Look at this, that is Duan Xiubo’s agent Mi Rui!” A finger pointed at the bespectacled man who walking behind the group with his head down.

“That is Yu Shaotian, the Chairman of Triumph Media!” Many of the wealthy fans also recognized this behind the scenes executive.

The fans looked at one another.

In other words, not only did they find Luo Ding, they also met Duan Xiubo, the rarely seen film emperor and also faced the chairman of Triumph Media, one of the most influential people in the entertainment circle all at the same time. Their son was this powerful?!!

What kind of magical network was this?!! How could they be so lucky? Duan Xiubo’s support team was much larger than Luo Ding’s so there were very few opportunities to get close to him. Celebrities of this status had several layers of protection from the company. Usually, when they traveled they had at least five or six body guards because they would be followed if their itinerary was ever leaked.

An inexplicable feeling of pride spread through the crowd. These comrades-in-arms were all starstruck: “My son / boyfriend / husband is really terrific. All the friends around him are increasingly powerful …”

This picture of the tall man who frowned and carefully protected Luo Ding in his arms, combined with those weibo posts which Duan Xiubo had posted earlier in support of Luo Ding, caused many people with big brain holes[2] to begin to think wildly.

Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee … Could this be the “La Lang Pei CP”[3] or something? How cute …

Duan Xiubo was relieved when the door was closed and all the noise outside was cut off. He put down his arm that was protecting Luo Ding and glanced at him: “there were so many people just now. Did you get hurt?”

The screaming had given Luo Ding a mild headache, but he was very happy. He shook his head, and at the same time opened a gift box that had just been thrown into his arms and had caught him off guard. Inside was a handkerchief with delicate white fabric. The corners were embroidered with the word “Luo Ding” with superb embroidery. The end of the word was entwined with green vines, and the color was bright and fresh.

This was obviously a handmade gift. He didn’t know who had sent it, so he couldn’t return it. Luo Ding took out the handkerchief, folded it and placed it into his trouser pocket. He then took out a greeting card from the bottom of the box, and saw that it read–

“Oh my god, I didn’t mean to force this on you on purpose! It took me a month to embroider this handkerchief. Now I give it to you with my hands while I’m on my knees, I hope you like it ah ah ah! “

Luo Ding laughed, and Duan Xiubo glanced from the side, his eyes dimmed: “This handwriting is not very good.”

“It’s all right. It’s heartfelt.” Luo Ding folded the paper into his wallet, and thanked Duan Xiubo with a smile, “Thank you just now, Duan ge.”

Duan Xiubo clapped his hands on Luo Ding’s shoulder. After placing his hand there, he did not remove it again, and his tone was very gentle: “I’m ok if you are OK. I can take you to the lounge first, and then I’ll go see my friends.”

Luo Ding had been energized by the fans’ farewell just now thus he was no longer so sleepy. Hearing Duan Xiubo’s words he quickly waved his hand: “No need to do this, it is important to finish your business first, I am not too sleepy now.”

Duan Xiubo seemed to think of something, his eyes narrowed, and he looked Luo Ding up and down several times.

“Yes, let’s go together. It’s good for you to get to know some more people.” As he said this, he told Mi Rui to take the others to the reception hall of the martial arts school for drinks. While maintaining the posture of holding on to Luo Ding’s shoulders, Duan Xiubo half-cuddled and half-pushed the other party as he walked inside with him.

Duan Xiubo’s strength made Luo Ding a bit uneasy. He couldn’t say it clearly, so he just tried to shake off his opponent’s hand which was resting on his shoulder.

“What’s wrong?” The hand on Luo Ding’s shoulder gripped tighter instead. Duan Xiubo seemed to not notice Luo Ding’s resistance, instead he lowered his head to appease him with a gentle tone. “Don’t worry, I am just taking you to see a director. Do you know Carmen Clovis? He’s the person we are going to meet. He’s easily excited, but I’ll be around, and I’ll protect you.”

“…” Luo Ding repressed his discomfort. Duan Xiubo’s affectionate tone made him very apprehensive. However, the other party’s actions did not differ from his regular behavior, so Luo Ding could find no signs that Duan Xiubo was actually coming on to him.

He frowned and thought that it would be better to just speak directly to Duan Xiubo, so he simply grasped Duan Xiubo’s big palm which was resting on his shoulder and put it down.

“Duan ge.” Regardless of whether Duan Xiubo was interested in him or not, Luo Ding currently had no intention to develop a new relationship. He slowly overwhelmed Duan Xiubo’s aura with his own momentum. His tone was calm, and his words were clear. “I’m not nervous, you don’t have to treat me like a child.”

Duan Xiubo lowered his head and stared deeply: “… oh?”

Luo Ding refused to let the issue go, and looked at him calmly, with a smile in his eyes: “I am a man.”

The wording of that expression contained a double pun[4] that another party would likely not notice. However, Duan Xiubo vaguely perceived something and he clenched his fist slightly. At the same time, he quickly broke eye contact with Luo Ding.

“Okay, you’re a man, I won’t treat you like a kid anymore, okay?” He squinted his eyes like two peas and smiled even more brightly. Then he pushed Luo Ding in a teasing gesture, “At your age I was exactly like you are now. “

After speaking directly, Luo Ding could see no trace of embarrassment in Duan Xiubo, therefore he suddenly had the impression that he had made a mountain out of a molehill. Consequently, in embarrassment, he pulled up the corner of his mouth, smiled and let go of the awkwardness and precaution he had just raised in his heart.

At this time, Duan Xiubo did not attempt to have any more physical contact with Luo Ding but kept about an arm’s length distance beside him.

Duan Xiubo spoke to Luo Ding in a clear and orderly voice and while the other party was slowly responding, Duan Xiubo fixed his gaze forward and kept his fists clenched in his pocket until his head, which had gone blank, gradually returned to normal.

Damn it, He was really scared to death.

[1] Trying to steal another company’s artist.

[2] Vivid imagination

[3] Making up a ship name. shipping Duan Xuibo and Luo Ding. CP refers to a ship. Not sure what it actually translates to so I left the pinyin as is.

[4] My understanding: On the surface he’s saying don’t treat me like a child I’m a man. His real meaning is Don’t treat me like you are interested in me. I’m a man (I don’t want a relationship/ we are both men).

Duan Xiubo risking it all. Also the brothers are amusing :’)

previous chapter¦ TOC ¦ next chapter

Please follow and like us: