After Pei Hanzhou finished speaking, Wei Yao froze in place, no longer caring about pretending to be charming. The tears that had accumulated in her eyes suddenly fell down.
Wei Yao opened her lips, but they just moved and she couldn't utter a word.
The man picked up Lin Luosang's coat from the back of the chair, pulled Lin Luosang out of the private room, leaving Wei Yao alone.
Water was still flowing out slowly from the tilted pot, flowing all over the ground along the direction of the cracks.
Wei Yao realized the pain belatedly, shuddered and took a deep breath, slowly rolled up the hem of her skirt, and touched the red burn with her fingers.
It really... hurts.
But it was nothing compared to the pain of the man's words that were as sharp as icy spikes. She had never seen an expression like that on his face. Even if he hated her in the past, he would just look at her coldly and refuse to look at her.
She had never known that he could have other emotions besides indifference, that he could have such a cruel look, and that his tone was filled with chilling anger and disgust. It was as if if she took another wrong step, she would be in a bottomless abyss.
Wei Yao bit her lip tightly, finally unable to hold back her tears. Her heart felt like it was being strangled and suffocated. She recalled a rainy night long ago when he had drawn the line between them for the umpteenth time. His voice, muffled by the sound of the rain, carried his usual coldness and ruthlessness: "Don't be so moved. Stay away from me."
At that time, she was not frustrated at all. She thought, I am still so young, I have a long time to wait for him to like me. No one has known him longer than me. Even if he doesn't like me, he will not fall in love with a stranger.
Ten years passed in the blink of an eye. It turned out that she didn't deserve a future at all because of the bet she had spent her youth on.
Inside the car, Lin Luosang had just hung his clothes on the hanger in the RV bedroom. He tilted his head and heard the man ask, "Are you burned?"
"No... I dodged pretty quickly," Lin Luosang shrank his neck, "Who would have thought she wouldn't even dodge."
The weather was a little warmer today, and she had taken off her coat indoors, so she was only wearing a thin, light-colored shirt. The areas that were stained with water became darker and stuck to her arms.
Pei Hanzhou lowered his eyes and looked for a while, then reached out and pressed the wet spot.
Lin Luosang didn't feel anything at first, but when the man touched her, she felt a burning sensation on her skin. She turned up her sleeves and saw a small red area.
Perhaps it was because she often suffered skin injuries while practicing dancing, which made her less sensitive to pain.
The man stared at her speechlessly for a few seconds: "...You can't even notice that you're injured?"
Lin Luosang wanted to explain, but found himself at a loss for words. He allowed the man to slowly lower his gaze: "Is it on your legs?"
She was about to say that there shouldn't be any, but the man obviously didn't believe her. He frowned and decided to check it himself.
"Take off your pants and let me see them."
She had already reached out to touch the button, but then she thought something was wrong. Her features wrinkled slightly, and she turned to look at him stiffly: "..."
The man's Adam's apple also rolled: "......"
Pei Hanzhou seemed to realize what he had just said. The atmosphere in the car suddenly became a little awkward, and filled with an indescribable ambiguity and charm.
After an unknown number of seconds, the man turned stiffly and said:
"Check it yourself."
“…”
Lin Luosang swallowed and whispered, "I should have checked it myself..."
After a while, the assistant bought a big bag of medicine, which was almost half as tall as Lin Luosang.
Lin Luosang had a complicated expression: "You bought this. If someone didn't know, they would think I was terminally ill and about to die."
"I just bought an ointment," the assistant whispered. "The boss sent me back and said I couldn't come back unless I bought enough."
"Maybe all men make such a fuss. After all, all the straight men I know are afraid of death."
Lin Luosang rolled up his sleeves and applied some medicine to the affected area. It felt cool and refreshing. Actually, the wound didn't feel much now, but it was still safer to apply some medicine.
As for her legs - she was wearing thick pants and dodged in time, so she was not burned.
When applying the medicine, Lin Luosang thought of Wei Yao, her unwillingness that was hard to conceal, her obsessive fight for it, and what Wei Yan had said.
In fact, it can be seen that Wei Yao's love for Pei Hanzhou is not pure.
Pei Hanzhou was just a yearning and pursuit for beauty in her girlhood, and families with parents busy with work would make children more eager to be loved. Wei Yao also hoped to be valued deep in her heart, but she knew that her parents could not give her this care, so Pei Hanzhou became the embodiment of her desire.
The more she couldn't get, the more she wanted it. Therefore, the more Pei Hanzhou refused, the more Wei Yao became obsessed, refusing to let go even when she was torn apart by love. Ultimately, it was just that she liked herself a little more than the admiration she had in her teenage years.
Realizing that he was starting to suffer from the singer's occupational disease of liking to analyze people's inner thoughts, Lin Luosang shook his head, threw these messy thoughts out of his mind, and after a simple meal, went to the studio for rehearsal.
This time she was going to sing a love song. Although it was not her first time singing a love song on stage, this song was somewhat different. It was a song with extremely rich emotions. During the audition, she even made a female director cry.
Just as Lin Luosang was rehearsing, Pei Hanzhou also arrived at the office smoothly and began a new round of document approval.
Luo Xun, who was eating fried chicken next to him, bit the crispy skin with a crunching sound.
When Luo Xun picked up the third chicken wing, Pei Hanzhou finally frowned and said, "If you eat any more, get out of here."
"Don't be so heartless."
Luo Xun took off one of his gloves, shamelessly freed his hand to touch something, turned on Zeus's super-large screen TV, and started watching entertainment news. The sound of gossip soon filled the president's office.
Pei Hanzhou: "Do you have any disease?"
"I eat fried chicken because I like to read entertainment news! What's wrong with reading entertainment news? Aren't the female celebrities in the entertainment industry pretty?" Luo Xun bit off the crispy bone, "And by the way, I'll see if there's any new prey to hunt, hehe."
As soon as he finished speaking, the host announced in a very entertaining manner: "Duan Qing arrived at the Y City Airport this morning and will participate in the recording of the eighth episode of 'Audio-Visual Feast' next week. The fan reception at the airport was very lively. It seems that Duan Qing's charm is extraordinary even without his uncle persona. It is reported that Duan Qing will participate in the final round of 'Audio-Visual Feast' as a challenger singer. Fans, please vote for him."
"Duan Qing?" The name was quite familiar. Luo Xun frowned and recalled for a moment, "Oh yes, my sister-in-law's rumored boyfriend."
Seeing the man browsing the files looking at him, Luo Xun raised his eyebrows and said, "Well, you definitely don't know the story of Duan Qing and his sister-in-law, right?"
Pei Hanzhou lowered his head: "I'm not interested."
Luo Xun ignored him and continued on his own: "Duan Qing and my sister-in-law once participated in a music variety show together. Not long after the filming started, Duan Qing started pursuing her. I heard that the two of them were in a relationship for a while. Later, due to the unclear position of the director, the variety show was suspended. Maybe they were in different places, and then they broke up. But Duan Qing has always been paying attention to my sister-in-law..."
The man hummed softly, "And then?"
Luo Xun: "Aren't you fucking not interested?"
“…”
"Anyway, Duan Qing has always been one-sided with his sister-in-law. He occasionally comments, likes, and helps to forward posts. He even wrote a song specifically for Lin Luosang called "Hard to Let Go." What do you think? It sounds very affectionate, doesn't it?"
"How do you know the song was written for her?"
"Everyone just accepted it! He himself never denied it. Even if it wasn't written for my sister-in-law, not denying it means he has his own ideas! After all, my sister-in-law wasn't famous at all before, so there's no need to accuse him of hype to gain popularity."
Luo Xun took out his phone and swiped it twice, then clicked on the NetEase Cloud reviews of "Hard to Let Go" to show Pei Hanzhou. Sure enough, the heroines mentioned in the hot reviews were all related to Lin Luosang.
"It's written for her!" Luo Xun sighed. "Talent is great. He can write songs to chase girls, and he can also write songs to commemorate heartbreak. Oh my god, look at the lyrics 'After you left, every minute and every second was turned into an autumn by me'. How heartbreaking and tender!"
"Is that how he got his sister-in-law?"
“Tsk.”
"Tsk tsk tsk."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk."
"If your mouth is cramping, go get treatment," Pei Hanzhou said solemnly, "and don't make any noise in my ears."
Luo Xun picked up another rice cake and dipped it in the sweet and spicy sauce, sighing: "Oh, love——"
The man was too lazy to listen to him raging on the side, so he got up and left the office.
Luo Xun: “…”
"Tsk, you stingy guy, you can't even chat with people for a little nonsense."
In the studio, Lin Luosang, who had just finished rehearsing, happened to bump into Duan Qing.
Looking at Duan Qing, she was in a daze for a few seconds, until Duan Qing raised his hand and greeted her: "Good afternoon, have you eaten?"
Lin Luosang shook his head: "Why are you here? Do you want to help sing again?"
"No, it's a challenge. The director said the response to my last performance was quite good, so he asked me to come back for another performance," Duan Qing put his hands in his pockets and smiled, "If the challenge is successful, we will become rivals."
"No," Duan Qing corrected himself, "We are rivals, but also allies. We haven't communicated for a long time, right?"
She scribbled it down vaguely, then took off the hair tie from her wrist and tied her hair up, saying, "I'm leaving now. I'm going to eat."
"etc!"
Duan Qing quickly caught up with her and said, "I haven't eaten either. Let's eat together."
"Isn't it your turn to rehearse next? Go ahead and rehearse. The teachers are waiting for you."
In the dimly lit backstage, Duan Qing stood in the backlight, his eyes looking at her undisguisedly: "Then will you wait for me?"
Lin Luosang was stunned for a moment and shook his head: "I'm going to eat first, I'm a little hungry."
She turned and took a few steps. Duan Qing whispered behind her, "You know very well that's not what I'm talking about."
Afraid she'd leave too soon, Duan Qing poured out everything he wanted to say while there was still a chance: "I was invited to this show before, but I turned it down because it's too far from home. Plus, I don't like being constrained or having deadlines for my work. It just doesn't sit right with me."
"But when I later found out you were participating, I regretted it. So when the production team approached me the second time, I agreed without hesitation. The director who met with me at the time was very surprised and said they had no expectations at all."
"You may feel burdened by this, but I'm willing to endure these things that I hate, and I think you know who it is because of you."
Lin Luosang pinched his brows awkwardly: "You think that saying this will burden me, so why do you still say it?"
Duan Qing choked.
"I won't feel burdened," she said frankly. "We don't have any relationship. Adults should make their own decisions. I have never interfered with you from the beginning to the end. You are free, and so am I."
"Also, although my husband doesn't appear often, I still need to repeat that I am really married."
Under the light, her expression remained serious and unwavering, and her gaze never dodged.
"Do you love him?" Duan Qing suddenly asked.
Duan Qing frowned: "You don't even wear a wedding ring. How real is this marriage? Do you think I'm a fool?"
"Whether we love each other or hate each other, as long as we are married, we must be bound by the rules. Within the conditions of marriage, any extraneous feelings that arise are condemned," Lin Luosang said. "If you cheat after you've fallen out of love, it's no longer cheating. If you're no longer in love, a mistress is no longer a mistress? You haven't been so confused about right and wrong before."
Duan Qing blurted out: "What if I can wait until you divorce him?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the backstage of the studio fell silent. Even the stagehand who was moving the props was dumbfounded. He stood there in amazement, holding a huge staircase, and almost slipped and hit his foot.
Everyone was watching the scene between Lin Luosang and Duan Qing silently.
However, Duan Qing's expression was serious, without any trace of joking. He said, "Luosang, some words are forever valid, like what I said today and what I said a long time ago."
I don’t know how much time passed, but Lin Luosang still didn’t speak again.
Duan Qing suddenly laughed mockingly, unable to conceal his disappointment and self-mockery in his words: "That's right."
"I wasn't like this before, but now I actually think it's okay to break away from convention and resist extreme opinions for you. Really, I might be a little crazy."
Lin Luosang: “No.”
After hearing Lin Luosang's denial, Duan Qingyi thought there was still a glimmer of hope, and actually looked at her with some longing. He heard her say crisply -
"You're not just a little crazy, you're very crazy."
Duan Qing: "..."
Yue Hui, who was standing by, was trying so hard to hold back his laughter that he pinched his thighs.
"Don't even think about it. There's really no chance for us."
After saying this, Lin Luosang felt really hungry and had no time to chat about morality with Duan Qing anymore, so he left with Yue Hui and his assistant.
Walking out of the studio, Yue Hui was amused and emotional: "Our Lin musicians are very sensible. They were able to remain unmoved by a handsome guy like Duan Qing, and he even taught us a lesson."
Assistant: "Then I think Duan Qing is not as handsome as President Pei. President Pei is really handsome, and his handsomeness is not greasy at all. Duan Qing was a bit too mature when he didn't shave."
"Speaking of which," Yue Hui asked, "Do you know why Duan Qing shaved his beard?"
As a folk singer, Duan Qing has always had an uncle-like image and a beard, which is considered a relatively recognizable style in the entertainment industry. But one day, Duan Qing suddenly shaved off the beard that had been with him for several years and never grew it back.
The assistant had just been replaced a while ago, and now he asked hurriedly: "Why?"
"Because Lin Luosang said he doesn't like men with beards."
"Oh my god, so he did it for Sangsang..."
Lin Luosang: "I just rejected me casually because I was tired of thinking of other reasons. Who knew he would take it so seriously and want to rekindle our relationship after shaving his beard?"
Yue Hui was extremely amused: "You rejected him quite straightforwardly at the time, and we haven't been in touch since. I don't know why people would spread the rumor that you and he were in a relationship...amazing."
The assistant also came up to Lin Luosang and asked doubtfully, "But Duan Qing likes you so much, and his conditions are quite good. It seems to me that you and Mr. Pei just happened to get married at the right time... Then why didn't you choose Duan Qing?"
Yue Hui gave the first answer: "Duan Qing is okay, but how does he compare to Pei Hanzhou? If it were you, who would you choose?"
The assistant didn't even hesitate.
"Oh, if it were me, I would choose Pei Hanzhou too. Excuse me." The assistant suddenly realized, "After all, who doesn't like a pleasing ATM machine?"
When Lin Luosang returned on Wednesday, he happened to come across a mobile ATM machine.
ATM had just finished taking a shower and was tying his bathrobe at the bathroom door. When he saw her coming, he raised his eyelids, took a quick glance, and then lowered his head again.
He seems to have a lot of work to do in the city recently, and he goes home more often than before.
Lin Luosang put on a headband and began to remove her makeup. Just as she finished pouring the makeup remover, she heard the man say, "I heard Duan Qing is on the show."
"Well, he'll be the next challenger. Maybe the directors think he's popular."
The man half leaned against the door frame, his voice half-raised: "What's your relationship with him?"
Lin Luosang removed her foundation. Unsure how to respond, she simply played dumb. Her fair face turned to him innocently, "Ah? What's the relationship?"
Pei Hanzhou sneered as if he knew everything, and the corners of his lips curled slightly: "Don't pretend you don't understand."
Lin Luosang wanted to say, what does it matter? He pursued me for more than a month and I rejected him. We haven’t even been ambiguous with each other. The total interaction we had was not as much as the first interaction with you on the ferry.
But she thought again, Pei Hanzhou not only has Wei Yao who has been in love with him for several years, but also has more suitors than she can count on one hand. He should have had a lot of experience before her. If she admits that she was a blank slate before she met him, wouldn't she lose this round?
Lin Luosang pondered and felt that he must have some past to be able to compete with him. He twisted his fingers together, paused for a moment, and then said vaguely: "It's just... there was such a thing..."
"A what?"
"Well," she said, pretending to be unable to explain it, "it's just that, you know, sometimes there are thunder and lightning..."
The man folded his hands and laughed suddenly, mocking mercilessly:
"You can't even kiss, and you're flirting with him?"
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