A gentleman does not take what others love.

"Brother, are you really not coming back to Tang Dynasty with me?" Jiang Songyun's armpit was pressed against the bus window frame, his arms hanging outside the bus, his drumsticks, which had helped him win, never leaving his hand. "So what if we're staying on the top floor? What's there to avoid?"

Jiang Songhe covered the bottom of his phone, gestured with his chin towards Jiang Songyun, indicating that he should pull his arm back and sit down: "Tsk, dirty. Not just for that, I need to take this call. Don't drink at the dinner party, go back to your room and sleep early after you've eaten, when you're with the other players..."

"Watch out! Here you go again! Go ahead and answer the phone, the car's about to leave, I'm heading home now."

Jiang Songyun was still immersed in excitement, and Jiang Songhe's fatherly admonitions were bound to spoil the mood. So he waved his drumsticks hastily instead of waving his hand, quickly sat back in his seat, rolled up the car window, and separated his idol dream from conspiracy theories.

With a few roars of the engine, the bus slowly started moving.

Jiang Songyun leaned back in his chair, absentmindedly tossing and catching the drumsticks, subtly reenacting his signature stage moves with his hands, savoring the lingering melody and cheers in his mind.

"May I sit here?" A somewhat broken porcelain voice suddenly sounded from above.

Hearing his mother tongue spoken by the other contestants, Jiang Songyun looked up in surprise and curiosity. He saw a boy wearing black-rimmed glasses standing in the aisle, with one hand on the back of the chair in front of him, smiling at him.

At first glance, he had a Western face with thick eyebrows and big eyes, but his hair was jet black, and he could speak the porcelain language, which made Jiang Songyun look closer—putting aside the strong contrast, his skin tone was actually yellowish-white, and his nose and chin were rounded, which made him look somewhat like an Easterner.

Seventeen is the age when one is looking for recognition from peers. Jiang Songyun moved the black nanny bag on the seat next to her to her feet. After the other person was settled, she warmly bumped into the shoulder of the boy who was similar in blood to her: "Hey, what's your phone number? Let's be friends?"

The boy's smile froze for a moment, then quickly returned to normal, and he recited a string of numbers one by one.

Jiang Songyun quickly gathered the two drumsticks into one hand, huddled in the seat, pulled out his phone from his back pocket, unlocked it, and brought up his contacts: "Wait a minute, wait a minute, say it again?"

The boy then began counting again, speaking slowly and seemingly with a good temperament. Behind his transparent glasses, however, his eyes, which were peering at the back of the head as he repeated the numbers, were like a loosely strung bow, revealing a hint of malevolence.

"Huh? LEO?" Jiang Songyun scratched his head and propped his neck up. "I have your number! When did we add each other?"

Leo concealed the strange glint in his eyes, raised one eyebrow, removed his glasses, and offered his entire face.

Jiang Songyun compared the face in front of him to the face in his mind, recalling the faces of the contestants he had met like a slideshow. After a moment, as he matched the face, his curiosity and desire for similarity vanished.

"You're the one who ruined my chances during the auditions..." Jiang Songyun was about to answer "drunk and eliminated," but then he remembered Jiang Songhe's warning and, being cautious, changed his answer to "the one who drank toffee milk wine!"

Despite being reprimanded, LEO showed no remorse or panic. Instead, he smiled even more and leaned closer to laugh it off, saying, "How was I supposed to know you had such a low alcohol tolerance that you would pass out on stage? I was just trying to share Maner's specialties with my new friends."

Jiang Songyun, forgetting that few of the contestants understood the porcelain script, craned his neck to look around the car and, seeing that most of the other contestants were dozing off, pulled back and continued his accusation: "You know you made me faint on stage? Then do you know..."

“I also know how to explain to Janus why you were eliminated.” LEO put on a serious expression. “I said, ‘It was my fault.’”

"..." The other party's attitude suddenly changed 180 degrees, leaving Jiang Songyun speechless for a moment. He had no outlet for his anger, so he crossed his arms, faced the car window, used the drumstick under his elbow to draw a line, and sulked in silence.

“You’re staying in Star Show now, doesn’t that prove I wasn’t lying? Hey~” LEO glanced at the obstacle, stepped aside, and bumped into Jiang Songyun’s shoulder in the same way. “Don’t be angry? I watched your performance in the preparation booth, it was really cool.”

Jiang Songyun didn't appreciate it, shrugged and moved away, shrinking even further in, but her tightly furrowed brows relaxed and she fluttered her eyelashes.

LEO's delivery of porcelain script was not smooth, as if he had to translate and convert it internally first. It was both lukewarm and sticky, not much different from coquettish flattery, which made Jiang Songyun feel very awkward.

But it has a magical power that makes people listen to every single word without even realizing it.

Jiang Songyun had already started thinking: "No matter how strong my brother's business skills are, in Manel, a place where he doesn't know anyone, it's impossible that he could easily put me back on the shortlist after only one interaction with the competition organizers. This person probably wasn't lying..."

"This one is also very handsome. Where did you find it?"

The tingling sensation from the two drumsticks being struck sent a jolt through his palm, and the word "find" instantly snapped Jiang Songyun out of his reverie. He glared at LEO, annoyed and confused, and carefully put the lucky charm away, holding it parallel to his forearm. He asked strangely, "'Find'? You know it was lost?"

"What?! You actually lost such a rare limited edition CrystalBeat?!" LEO was even more agitated than Jiang Songyun, the owner of the lost item. As if realizing he had overreacted, he immediately raised both hands to apologize, "I'm sorry, my wording was inaccurate and caused you to misunderstand."

"The reason I used 'search' is because I have a hobby of collecting drumsticks. To be honest, I've been looking for this one for a long time, and it should have been mine. But because of the training camp, you know, by the time I had time to get it, it would probably already have your name engraved on it."

"What a coincidence..." Jiang Songyun pulled the drumsticks out of his pocket and subconsciously brought them to his eyes to examine them.

"So, how did you, who were also undergoing closed training, get started?" LEO pressed on relentlessly, clearly unwilling to give up, yet still maintaining a polite and persistent tone, "If it's convenient for you to tell me."

Jiang Songyun was inexplicably stirred by the tone of the voice, feeling guilty and ashamed for taking someone else's love. Her guard loosened slightly, and she gave an ambiguous answer: "My brother gave it to me."

Although this "brother" is not that "brother," why doesn't Nasi-ge count as a brother?

With everything in order, Jiang Songyun finally understood. He hadn't stolen or robbed anyone; the reward was only due to his efforts, and it was only right and proper. What had he taken from anyone? On the contrary, this person was being unreasonable, saying things like "it should have been mine."

So he cleared away his unfounded guilt and remorse, and hesitantly advised, "You're at least half a Chinese, you must have heard the old saying 'strike first, strike hard,' and that other saying..."

“I know that a gentleman does not take what others love.” LEO answered again, then smiled bitterly as if resigned to his fate. “I’m sorry again, I just… feel sorry about missing a good opportunity.”

Seeing this, Jiang Songyun softened and felt embarrassed again, so she changed the subject and asked, "You said you collect drumsticks, so you can play the drums too?"

"Yes, of course I will! But," LEO scratched his nose, put his glasses back on, and perfectly conveyed a hint of defeat with his expression and tone, "I can't play as well as you."

"What's the point of comparing? I've been playing the drums since I was a kid. The drumsticks are like an extension of my body." Jiang Songyun was pleased to receive recognition from his peer, and he even found that this person had something in common with him. He couldn't help but feel a little smug. "You play better than me? It's a bit difficult in a short time, but if there's a chance in the future, I can teach you."

LEO's eyes lit up immediately: "Really?"

Jiang Songyun tilted his chin in a magnanimous manner: "It's more real than real gold, I'd be a dog if I lied to you."

“So, are we cool?” LEO reached out his hand to Kang Song-yoon. Perhaps because he was speaking a language he was more familiar with, the stickiness in his tone and the timidity in his expression had disappeared.

Still basking in the praise, Jiang Songyun, though a little uncomfortable with the contrast in LEO's address, didn't dwell on it. Having taken on the role of master, he acted arrogantly and proudly towards his apprentice.

He didn't shake the hand that was trying to make peace; instead, he casually patted it.

"You also need to practice your porcelain calligraphy more."

-

The top floor of the Tang Dynasty Hotel.

Jonah walked out of the elevator with a blank expression. Carrying the burden of his idol image, he had been professionally faking a smile for more than twenty hours. Exhausted, he could no longer squeeze out even a trace of outward emotion.

He first arrived at the door of room B, and subconsciously reached out to knock. Then, remembering something, he smiled, moved to the next room, swiped his card, and entered the room.

"I forgot to check, he's not here. He'll probably wait until Songyun finishes drawing lots before he comes back."

He went straight to the living room upon entering, and Jonathan untied his shoelaces, which were unusually difficult to untangle today. After struggling with his left and right feet for a moment, he finally took off his heavy leather boots, flung them off, and then spread his limbs into a "big" shape before leaning back and falling into the soft sofa.

After resting for a while, he began to feel more and more real. He looked around the room he hadn't stayed in for half a month, and a silent shadow appeared in his eyes, briefly lingering in the mirrored reflections of various places.

There was one spot that was frequented the most; in the past two weeks, that shadowy figure had smoked a lot there.

Jonathan recalled, turning his gaze to the floor-to-ceiling window.

A gust of cold wind blew the semi-transparent gauze curtains high, and the floor-to-ceiling window, which should have served as a partition between the sky and the interior, was now wide open.

Jonathan saw something move in the corner, barely visible. He rubbed his eyes and tentatively called out, "Is that you? When did you get back?"

A male silhouette appeared in response, backlit, and stood in the center of the straight, ventilated area behind the gauze curtain.

He just stood there, without saying a word.

As the cold wind subsided, the gauze curtains swayed gently, carrying the tail of the lingering convection, casting magnified shadows upon them.

Jonathan walked over barefoot, and asked through the gradually calming obstacle, "Why aren't you saying anything? Are you angry because you've been waiting too long?"

Once the gauze curtain was completely drawn, Jonathan suddenly realized that the figure was much shorter than he had expected.

He was startled and tried to back away, but it was too late to dodge.

Suddenly, her wrist was grabbed, and Jonathan slipped and stumbled. Reflexively, she used her free hand to push aside the curtain, and the person behind the curtain turned out to be the contestant that Jiang Songyun had eliminated!

"You?!" Jonathan bent his elbow, raised his forearm, and stepped back with one leg, lowering his center of gravity as he coldly questioned, "How did you get in? What do you want, huh?"

I want to destroy you!

The contestant grinned eerily, gripped Jonathan's wrist tightly, and fell backward toward the window without any cushioning.

Jonah suddenly felt weightless and was pulled high into the air by a rapid pull.

“What the…Ahh… (You fucking…ah…)”