Good dream, little heartless

The top singer dropped a bombshell and handed the stage over to Jiang Songyun, saying he had other things to do, and then made a grand exit.

As Jiang Songhe listened to the flying kiss and "darling" on the other end of the video call, her temples throbbed with each heartbeat, her mind filled with countless questions: Did Jonah tell Songyun? How much did he tell? Could Songyun accept that his own brother is gay?

"Brother, you're not saying anything." Jiang Songyun waved at the camera on the screen. "Have you been this tired lately?"

Saying "a little" would be more reasonable. Jiang Songhe focused his gaze and was about to speak when he saw Jiang Songyun's face show a serious expression of concern, and he actually said, "You've worked hard, brother."

Jiang Songhe's nose suddenly stung with tears. He leaned his phone against the tissue box on the kitchen island, rolled up his sleeves, put on latex gloves, and began to polish the gleaming countertop. "Hey, I'm not tired. I'm just as good as you."

After rubbing for a while, once the soreness subsided, he tentatively asked in a casual tone, "Hey... Naxi-ge, do you call everyone that?"

"What's that?" Jiang Songyun walked a short distance with his phone, then sat down on the ground, propped his phone up somewhere, looked away from the screen for a moment, quickly grabbed something and put it on his lap, then looked down and started fiddling with it. "'Darling'?"

Jiang Songhe paused, her hands wiping the island counter repeatedly. "Hmm."

Jiang Songyun looked up, chuckled twice, and then put on a cheeky expression again: "He probably only calls you that."

So that's what they said? Why do they tell everything to kids?

Jiang Songhe's lips curled up uncontrollably, and realizing it, she quickly lowered her head to rinse the scouring pad: "You're so unprofessional..."

Before the word "xing'er" could even leave his mouth, Jiang Songyun added insult to injury: "Naxi-ge, you should call others things like 'honey' or 'sweetie,' right? Oh right, and 'cutie.' You're the client, so we have to use English translations to accommodate you."

The smile vanished.

Jiang Songhe gripped a scouring pad tightly and tossed it into the pool. He braced himself against the edge of the island counter, no longer wanting to hear about the top idol's usual frivolous behavior, and prepared to get to the business of being an agent for an artist.

Wait a minute, "Party A"?

In other words, Jonah only told Song Yun about the collaboration.

Jiang Songhe felt both relieved and disappointed, a little confused. This was for the best, he thought. He wasn't really ready yet; he needed more time to consider how to let his younger brother know about their relationship.

"Look what this is?" Jiang Songyun finally unfolded what he was holding, pinching a limp yellow strip and extending it in front of the camera.

After seeing it clearly, Jiang Songhe replied with mixed feelings: "Baked pumpkin with salted egg yolk?"

"Hehe, Naxi brought this to me." Jiang Songyun stuffed the baked pumpkin with salted egg yolk into his mouth. "He said you made it especially for me."

Jiang Songhe rubbed his knuckles inside his gloves, his brow furrowing slightly: "Will it still taste good?"

"Hmm, it's a bit cold and a little chewy." Jiang Songyun smacked his lips, savored it a couple of times, and his eyes brightened even more. "But it's still delicious!"

She ate two more as she spoke, then stopped: "But I can't eat any more. I need to lose fat before the finals, otherwise I'll have to appear on camera."

It's probably another example of Nassi's teachings.

Jiang Songhe raised an eyebrow, disagreeing: "You're already doing great, why would you need to lose any more fat?"

"How can that be?! My plan for the finals is to sing and dance, with a fighting segment in between. No fat loss, and if I miss a turn, my face won't be all jiggle? Oh, that'll be how it has to be!" Jiang Songyun picked up his phone, looking down and scanning up and down.

Jiang Songhe's phone vibrated twice. He took off his gloves, picked it up, and minimized the video call window. A photo appeared on the chat screen. He opened it and saw: "..."

It's a photo taken with a high-speed camera, showing the face of a figure skater distorted as they spin.

Jiang Songhe sighed and zoomed in on the video call: "You can't go on a diet, you hear me? You need to eat plenty of eggs, dairy, meat, and vegetables. Do you have enough money?"

"Have you forgotten about the closed training? Besides, Star Show provides everything for the players, there's no need to spend money at all. The credit card that Brother Lang gave me, I didn't have a chance to touch a single cent."

Jiang Songyun answered casually, her gaze seemingly still lingering on the photo album.

A moment later, Jiang Songhe's phone started vibrating incessantly. He switched back to the chat interface and saw that the screen was full of videos and photos taken from Jiang Songyun's selfie perspective. Judging from the state and environment, they should all be daily records during the preparation for the Star Show competition.

Jiang Songhe enlarged each image and saved the original.

“Brother Naxi told me that ‘Yan Ge Xing’ was your coming-of-age gift to me, which is why you asked my idol to collaborate with me.” Jiang Songyun finished recounting the story as if it were a treasure, then held the phone closer, expressing his attitude towards “Yan Ge Xing” for the first time in over a year, “I really like it, thank you, brother.”

A warm current spread from the bottom of my heart upwards, reaching my eyes, making them red and hot.

Jiang Songhe never said that; it was Jonathan who guessed it.

“Uh, him,” Jiang Songhe pursed her lips, composed herself, and forced a smile, “what else did he say?”

"You still say that? You also said that even though you've been busy with filming lately, you've been thinking about me. You said you went back to Jingting and visited our company, saw my picture on the wall in the corridor, and said that wishing me to become a rising star is inaccurate, because I've been shining for a long time, hehe..."

Jiang Songhe clicked on the last few photos of the two of them. Judging from their outfits, they were obviously taken today, but the backgrounds were different from the ones in front of her.

In the recording studio of the TANG building, Jonathan affectionately put his arm around Kang Song-yoon's shoulder. Kang Song-yoon shyly held the drumsticks that Jonathan had given him and gave them both thumbs up.

Private jets are faster than commercial airliners, but even at their fastest, it would still take at least ten hours to get to Manr. Did they go to Tang to see Songyun as soon as they landed, and did they do all this specifically for that purpose? The baked pumpkin with salted egg yolk was left for Songyun, so he probably didn't eat it. Did he behave and eat anything else properly during those ten hours...?

Once Jiang Songyun started talking about his idol, he couldn't stop: "Brother, did Naxi really watch the whole 'Yan Ge Xing'? He praised my acting skills, but I'm always afraid that he's just comforting me."

"Yes, I saw it." Jiang Songhe forwarded the official Weibo post to Jiang Songyun. "Whether it's sincere or just for comfort, you'll know for yourself when you see it."

"This is..." The screen went black. Jiang Songyun was probably playing a reaction video and it was taking up signal. He was standing in front of the dance studio, mindful of other contestants passing by, so he kept his voice low. But after seeing the video, he couldn't hold back anymore and exclaimed in surprise, "Wow!!!"

"The full version will be released gradually after the premiere, and you can also watch it in Maner." Jiang Songhe checked the time; there wasn't much time left for lunch break, so she had to get to the point. "The company's promotional materials for the drama require you to log into your social media account and post some interactive content."

Jiang Songhe paused here, wanting to observe her younger brother's reaction. After all, Jiang Songyun had been very resistant to the suggestion over the past year, and his personal account had been neglected due to setbacks in his acting career.

To everyone's surprise, Jiang Songyun readily agreed, showing no sign of resistance: "Sure, I have a competition and don't have time for this. Those photos and videos I just sent you were for the company's promotional material, weren't they?"

Jiang Songhe looked out the window, wondering if the sun would rise in the west in a few hours.

"Oh, and you can also post the photo of me and Nasi. Nasi said you needed it urgently, so he specially asked me to take it in the recording studio."

At this point, Jiang Songyun's tone became indignant: "But bro, can't you be a little nicer to my idol? Don't be like those evil capitalists. Brother Naxi just got off the plane and came straight here. How urgent was your request?!"

Jiang Songhe was choked by a pot that flew at him: "..."

"Songyun, what are you looking at?" Another boy's voice suddenly came through the signal. "The assessment is about to begin."

The accent was familiar yet strange, but the porcelain writing was better than the last time I heard it.

Jiang Songhe guessed that it should be attributed to his younger brother. He didn't have a chance to ask last time, but this time he had to see for himself whether the person Songyun had made during the competition was a genuine good friend.

"Who's talking next to you?" Jiang Songhe added "ne" at the end of his sentence, trying to make his tone more amiable. "Introduce him to me, brother."

"Huh? Him?" Jiang Songyun heard the assessment was about to begin and switched the focus from his idol reaction back to his older brother's creepy smile. The two brothers' eyes met across the distance, and Jiang Songyun blinked and shuddered.

The young man, quite unreserved, put his arm around Jiang Songhe's shoulder and squeezed into the camera's field of vision, greeting him with a smile: "Hello, brother, I'm LEO, Songyun's teammate."

Who is your brother?

Jiang Songhe caught a glimpse of a sinister aura in the eyes behind the black-rimmed glasses, a strange and familiar feeling that intensified, while a strange sense of hostility and wariness rose within her. Her smile, which had never been genuine, vanished instantly: "You and Song Yun are both on the Janus team?"

“Yes, we help each other.” LEO smiled even more. “Songyun taught me drums and porcelain writing, and I taught Songyun music theory and dancing.”

Jiang Songhe rolled her eyes at him in her mind, thinking to herself, "Does my brother need a little brat like you to teach him?"

"It's already 1 a.m.?! We have a group assessment this afternoon, and Janus is there too." Jiang Songyun turned his phone away, his fiery posture reappearing. "Brother, I'm not talking to you anymore, LEO and I need to hurry up and practice."

"Bye-bye-bye~~~" After saying goodbye, she hung up the phone.

Mentioning Janus, Jiang Songhe remembered why the kid seemed familiar. Wasn't he the black-haired contestant whom Jonah had interviewed before to verify whether Songyun had voluntarily drunk toffee before the audition?

Song Yun was re-entered into the Star Show, and this guy must have told the truth to clear Song Yun of suspicion.

Am I judging people by their appearance and overthinking things?

Jiang Songhe, remembering that Jiang Songyun was in the presence of outsiders, consciously changed his address from "Naxi Ge" to "Janus," showing some caution. Suppressing his hostility, he forwarded the materials he had just saved from Jiang Songyun to Yunhe's publicity group, along with a message that the artist had agreed to post them on his behalf.

"I had to take an assessment right after getting off the plane, so I didn't have time to eat or rest properly."

-

As midnight approached, Jiang Songhe estimated that the assessment should be over by now, given the various combinations of the five contestants. So, at exactly midnight, he called Jonathan.

Answered instantly.

Caught off guard, Jiang Songhe opened and closed his mouth twice before finally managing to say, "Are you asleep?"

A long breath came from the other end of the phone, like a tired sigh after being woken up.

"..." Jiang Songhe had planned everything perfectly, but it turned out that she had disturbed the other party's rest. She wanted to tell Jonathan to continue sleeping and prepared to end the call quickly.

"Beep, Janus is telling you the time, Manr time, 5 PM sharp." Jonathan then chuckled softly, his voice thick and sweet, playful and obedient, "Humans usually don't sleep until it's very dark."

Jiang Songhe laughed along, but didn't make much of a sound.

I heard a turning over in the receiver; Jonathan must have already returned to Manle's place. "But it's the middle of the night where you are, so why aren't you asleep yet?"

Because I wanted to express my gratitude, or perhaps I should remove the word "thank you".

Jiang Songhe nibbled at her lip and replied, "I promise to call you every day."

You're welcome, darling.

Jiang Songhe felt embarrassed after being exposed, her heart pounding twice. She attributed her shame to the cheesy nickname. She quickly recalled how Jonathan could use such nicknames so readily, and since she was in Mann, she didn't need to translate them into English, which made her a little angry again.

"You've had a long day, get some rest." Jiang Songhe felt her words sounded a bit awkward, so she added, "I'll call again tomorrow."

"How will you thank me? Only when I receive payment can I get some rest."

Being so far apart, Jiang Songhe didn't know how to thank him.

Tell me, what did you do today?

"Going to work, attending meetings."

"Continue..." A faint rustling sound came from the receiver, and Jonathan probably turned over again. "The weather... is the weather nice, hmm?"

Jiang Songhe paused for a moment, then hesitated and slowed his speech: "It's about the same as this morning, the air is dry and cold. Jingting... isn't as humid as Maner."

Jonathan sighed again, his voice growing increasingly hoarse and unsteady: "While driving home...uh...what...places did I pass by..."

Jiang Songhe swallowed hard, swallowed his saliva, and then opened his lips to truthfully report the landmarks along the route.

Jonathan's demands gradually increased. One moment he asked for the report to be slower, the next he asked for it to be faster. He was never satisfied and protested with whimpering sounds.

Jiang Songhe was quickly agitated by the instructions. The faint fragrance still lingered in the bedroom bedding, like flammable phosphorus, burning his blood and making his ears burn. His ears were unbearably hot, so he jumped out of bed and paced back and forth in the room.

But because he tacitly agreed to thank her, he couldn't stop talking.

The route finally led to the Jiang family villa. Jiang Songhe breathed a sigh of relief and announced the stop in a hoarse voice: "We're home."

Jonah cheered: "Jiang Songhe... Jiang Ha... Songhe... Jiang ah Jiang...!!!"

The world is quiet, and time stands still.

After a long while, Jonathan, that heartless little devil, chuckled and said, "Your driving skills are amazing, baby."

I said goodnight and then fell asleep.

"..."

Jiang Songhe glanced down, clicked her tongue, and gently placed her phone on the bedside table. She left the room, rushed to the basement gym, soaked until exhausted, then quickly took a shower and went back upstairs to rest.

The call was still going on.

Helpless, Jiang Songhe could only tiptoe to lie down, move her phone to the side of her pillow, and fall asleep listening to her breathing.

"Sweet dreams, you heartless little thing."