An Xumo shook his head and retracted his freed right hand to his side to block it. “It’s fine.”
Judging from Zhou Jinchen’s reaction, it was clear that he had experienced something before, which made him so vigilant upon waking up.
In fact, ever since Zhou Jinchen debuted, An Xumo has been following his Moments. Back when he was in the Zhou family, he could freely buy all sorts of things related to Zhou Jinchen. Moreover, the Zhou family didn’t really care, so tidying up these items naturally became An Xumo’s responsibility. Later, when he left to become a trainee, he had fewer opportunities to buy such things, but he still kept up with the latest information as soon as it was available.
Even so, what An Xumo could see of Zhou Jinchen was merely the images filtered through countless camera lenses. As for what was actually happening around him, An Xumo had very limited knowledge.
Zhou Jinchen didn’t seem to want to talk about it either. He didn’t even notice the obvious red marks on An Xumo’s wrist. Rubbing his temple, he opened his carry-on bag. After a quick cleanup with hand sanitizer, he looked slightly better, and the imposing aura around him also softened considerably.
The accompanying bodyguards were seated in business class. Following Zhou Jinchen’s instructions, they also took An Xumo’s luggage along with his. Tang Tang, who was about to collect the luggage, was visibly startled. A group of tall, expressionless men suddenly took their name-tagged luggage—if not for Zhou Jinchen standing nearby, she would have thought they were about to experience some kind of airport thriller.
Many fans were waiting at the airport exit to pick up their idols. Before even reaching downstairs, An Xumo saw the spectacular scene below through the glass while riding the elevator. The recording of <Weekend with a Sunny Day> hasn’t been officially announced, but devoted fans have still managed to find out through various channels. These past two days were when the guests and regular members were arriving, so several fan groups had set up grand welcome formations outside the airport, showcasing the program’s immense popularity.
However, Zhou Jinchen had never been fond of making appearances during his private time. Since his debut, he has made this clear and has maintained this stance for the past five years. His fans were also very cooperative, consistently joining forces to resist the resale of their idol’s flight information and never proactively organizing airport receptions, always standing firmly in support of his privacy.
Airport receptions were a way for fans to express their affection, but at the same time, they were also an important metric. Various resources considered these statistics when selecting representatives. To some extent, an artist’s popularity could be directly reflected in the number of fans present at the airport, which was also why hiring people to pose as fans for airport receptions had become a short-term gig in the industry.
Clearly, Zhou Jinchen had no need to prove his popularity through such means. An Xumo and Tang Tang followed him, along with the accompanying bodyguards, as they took the VIP passage to leave the airport directly.
By the time they arrived at the hotel, it was already afternoon. Since the production team needed to film some behind-the-scenes footage of other guests arriving at the airport, for now, the only artists at the hotel were the two of them. These clips wouldn’t be included in the main episode but would only appear in later behind-the-scenes edits, making it a relatively unimportant task. Because of this, Zhou Jinchen didn’t have An Xumo make an appearance.
The front desk staff guided them to their rooms—An Xumo was staying next door to Zhou Jinchen, while Tang Tang was with the program staff. After briefly unpacking, An Xumo, feeling uncertain about his first time on a variety show, hesitated for a moment before finally knocking on the door next door.
The door opened from the inside, and Zhou Jinchen, still damp from his shower, looked down at him. Droplets of water slid down his handsome face and even wrapped in a bathrobe, his well-proportioned physique remained evident. An Xumo froze for a second. “Sorry… I didn’t mean to disturb you.”
Zhou Jinchen said nothing, simply stepping aside to let him in. As An Xumo entered, Zhou Jinchen’s gaze lingered briefly on the red marks around his slender wrist.
An Xumo didn’t notice this. He stepped in carefully while Zhou Jinchen walked past him, drying his hair, and tapped his phone to answer a call.
Since he was still wet, Zhou Jinchen put the call on speaker. A man’s voice came through from the phone: “Third Young Master, we recorded a conversation at the airport.”
“Who?”
“A guest from the same program as you.”
An Xumo instinctively wanted to step away, but the door was already closed. No matter what he did now, it would seem deliberate. Before he could finish hesitating, the bodyguard added, “They mentioned you and Mr. An Xumo during their conversation.”
Before An Xumo could react, Zhou Jinchen had already given a direct order over the phone. “Play it.”
A burst of noisy background sounds played before the audio gradually cleared up. A stranger’s male voice spoke: “Brother Chen should have arrived by now, right? Hey, Han Ming, should we wait for him?”
It was clear that they had caught the attention of Zhou Jinchen’s bodyguards because they mentioned him. Due to the distortion from the recording, An Xumo couldn’t immediately recognize the speaker, but based on what he had learned about the first season, he could make an educated guess about their identities.
The person speaking was likely Yi Tianming, a young artist who, like Han Ming, rose to fame during the first season of <Weekend with a Sunny Day>. In the second season, both he and Han Ming secured permanent cast positions.
Han Ming’s voice soon followed though he didn’t seem to agree with Yi Tianming’s suggestion. “Brother Chen probably doesn’t like airport receptions much. I haven’t seen any airport photos of him before. Besides, even if we go, we might not run into him.”
Yi Tianming was also an idol with a background in singing and dancing, but his real breakthrough came from appearing in several variety shows. Compared to Han Ming, his persona leaned more toward comedic roles. He had even guest-starred in a few web dramas, taking on some rather eccentric characters. He was clearly more uninhibited than Han Ming. “Let’s give it a shot. If we run into him, we can say hi in advance—we’re working together tomorrow anyway.”
The recording didn’t reveal their actions, but what truly caught An Xumo off guard was hearing his own name mentioned.
“Forget Brother Chen for a second. Don’t you think the new guest is more worth paying attention to?” Han Ming said to Yi Tianming. “We might even see him at the airport today.”
“Even if we do, we wouldn’t recognize him,” Yi Tianming replied dismissively. “I asked Brother Yan about it before. He said the newcomer is an artist who hasn’t debuted yet, so he’ll probably have to rely on the production team to give him screen time. We definitely haven’t seen him before.”
The Brother Yan he referred to was Yan Xiangshen, a veteran host and one of the true big names in the <Weekend with a Sunny Day> lineup.
“Oh, an artist who hasn’t debuted yet…” Han Ming’s tone carried a hint of contemplation.
Yi Tianming continued, “Anyway, he’s just someone the investors forced into the show. No one in the production team even knows much about him. But from what I see, he’s probably like that surprise addition in the first season—just here to grab some screen time and keep the investors happy. There’s no way he’s going to outshine us.”
Han Ming agreed, adding, “Yeah, screen time has to be earned with some skill.”
Yi Tianming let out a short laugh. “Now that you mention it, I remember that cringeworthy surprise addition from the first season. Even Brother Yan threw him some prompts, but he didn’t pick up on a single one. When the show aired, all his screen time was just close-ups of his stunning looks, but in the end? He attracted more haters than fans. It made me laugh to death.”
Listening from the side, An Xumo couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward. He could tell that the resident cast members weren’t particularly welcoming toward temporary additions.
Yi Tianming’s voice continued, though this time, he lowered it slightly. Whatever tools Zhou Jinchen’s bodyguards were using, they had managed to record everything clearly. “I heard ah, one of the show’s investors this time is a bald old man who specifically keeps young male artists. He’s the same creep who harassed your former groupmate. The surprise addition today is probably another guy, right? Maybe…”
An Xumo instinctively glanced at Zhou Jinchen beside him. The man, whom Yi Tianming had just referred to as a “bald old man,” was casually combing back his damp hair with the back of his fingers. His sharp and handsome features became even more pronounced with the movement. He acted as if he hadn’t heard a word from the phone, casually tossing his towel aside and wordlessly pulling out his still-unopened suitcase.
The sound of rolling suitcase wheels blended with the continued conversation on the phone. Yi Tianming hadn’t finished his sentence, but his meaning was already clear. They chatted a bit more about Zhou Jinchen’s schedule, though it was obvious they wouldn’t have been able to wait for him since he had already left early.
Once the recording ended, the bodyguard briefly reported a few other things, but An Xumo didn’t quite understand them. Zhou Jinchen, still unfazed, responded with a few simple acknowledgments before hanging up.
The room fell into silence. Though An Xumo had mentally prepared himself for this kind of reception, and he didn’t particularly care about others’ opinions, he still felt a bit uneasy in front of Zhou Jinchen. After all, this was an opportunity Zhou Jinchen had fought for on his behalf—it was a significant starting point for him.
Just as An Xumo was about to speak, a knock suddenly sounded at the door. Zhou Jinchen glanced toward it and said to An Xumo, “Stand further inside.”
The layout of the room meant that the person at the door wouldn’t be able to see the inner area. An Xumo obediently pressed himself against the wall, watching as Zhou Jinchen walked past him. The man was still wrapped in his bathrobe, but now that the moisture on his body had been wiped away, he looked a little less like the enticing, just-out-of-the-shower version from earlier.
But even though he appeared more restrained, it was only in comparison—An Xumo had been aware of Zhou Jinchen’s charm long before his debut.
As the door opened, a chorus of startled exclamations erupted from outside. Clearly, more than one person was standing at the door. Amid the commotion, An Xumo heard Han Ming’s voice: “Brother Chen, we meet again.”
The most conspicuous reaction, however, came from Yi Tianming, who grinned and said, “Following Brother Yan really brings good fortune—I didn’t expect to see Brother Chen fresh out of the bath.”
Thinking about it, he knew that when he marveled so much, he had completely failed to remember the bald old man he had spat out earlier.
It was obvious that when he marveled like this, he had completely forgotten his earlier remark about the bald old man.
The author has something to say:
I originally planned for an extra update at chapter twenty, but at this rate, it looks like reaching a thousand comments might have to wait until after the VIP chapters go up QAQ.
Looking forward to today’s comments (☆-☆)!
Translator’s Note:
Hi! I just translated chapters 1-13 so as to have complete translated chapters here. Just a heads up, the next chapters till the end are translations from 2020, so they are different from these ones. In case you guys might wonder about the sudden change of style in translation. Thank you. Enjoy^^
Leave a Reply