Chapter 86

Curtain Call: Fame the Musical (3)

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On the New Year’s Eve of the Gregorian calendar, Xiang Cai and Tan Yiming were not able to eat hot pot and so they decided that on the New Year’s Eve of the lunar calendar, they will eat hot pot to their hearts content.

In fact, both of them loved spicy food but spicy food affects their vocal cords. In order to protect their focal cords during work season, they could only eat a clear soup base hot pot. However, taking advantage of this holiday, the two did not have to be so cautious and could openly enjoy the spicy base hot pot.

In addition to the basic soup fillers, Tan Yiming bought a lot of soft-boiled meat, vegetables, fish balls, and prawns. There was enough food to feed a small family. 

At around ten o'clock in the morning, Tan Yiming began to work: washing and cutting all the vegetables, taking out a roll of lamb from the freezer to thaw in advance...

Xiang Cai said in surprise: "Although New Year's Eve dinners should be prepared in advance, but does it need to be done this early? " He looked at the dishes on the table and got a headache: "Moreover, you have prepared way too much. Do we have to spend the whole Spring Festival eating leftovers from tonight's dinner?

"No." Tan Yiming said confidently, "It will definitely all be eaten."

"...?"

Soon, the mystery was revealed - Tan Yiming had actually invited two guests to come over to their house to have a reunion dinner together!

The guests he invited were not outsiders, but Xiang Cai best friends during high school, Chen Ziran and Jin Qi Ji.

When his two friends walked into the living room with smiles on their faces and stopped in front of him, Xiang Cai was shocked by this sudden huge surprise. He couldn't return to his senses for a long time.

"You... how are you two..."

"Is it a surprise or not, is it a coincidence or not?" Chen Ziran put his hands in his pockets and scornfully said, "Your partner is really interesting. For this dinner, he contacted me a month in advance. I only managed to squeeze out an hour of spare time, so stop talking nonsense. Let’s hurry up and eat, I'm in a rush to get to the venue after eating!"

Xiang Cai asked dumbfoundedly: "What venue?"

"What other venue is there?! The Spring Festival Gala venue!" Chen Ziran stomped. "Wow, you call yourself my brother, but do you even care about me at all? The phrase ‘Chen Ziran Spring Festival Gala Show' has been on the hot search for two days. Haven’t you seen it?"

In order to gild Chen Ziran, his brokerage company did a lot of networking and spent a lot of money. He and other companies' small fresh meat were put on a platter and sent to the stage of the Spring Festival Gala for the show.

For the Spring Festival Gala, all the actors were required to be there early for rehearsal. Chen Ziran insisted on facing the death glare of the agent and squeezed out an hour's lunch break to accompany Xiang Cai for the meal.

"Alright, alright. You well-known male artist, do you need me to hire a Yangko* team to beat gongs and drums and help you promote your Spring Festival Gala appearance?" Qi Ji deliberately opposed him.

[T/N: northern Chinese folk dance]

Within three minutes of being together, those two quarreled.

Qi Ji held a fruit basket in her left hand and a bag of Korean specialties in her right hand. She said she had just gotten off her plane.

Compared to half a year ago, she had more of the feminine intellectuality that was unique to women. Her short hair just covered her ears, and she seemed to be filled with a sense of happiness.

She raised her hand to pin her short hair behind her ear, and with that movement, the diamond engagement ring on her finger gleamed.

Xiang Cai asked her, "Did you come alone? Where is your fiance?"

"He is with his parents in their hotel." Qi Ji smiled, "Both of our parents wanted to meet and discuss our marriage during this year’s Spring Festival. His parents have come to China and just arrived in Huacheng yesterday, they will fly back to my house is this afternoon."

"Ze, getting married so early?" Chen Ziran blurted out when he heard her. "Weren’t you two just engaged half a year ago?"

His eyes subconsciously fell on Qi Ji's lower abdomen and saw her swollen, round belly - could it be…

"Chen! Zi! Ran! What are you looking at?!" Qi Ji yelled, "I have a genuine belly, forget those messy third-rate vulgar thoughts in your head!"

Chen Ziran hurriedly retracted his gaze and curled his lips: "I didn't say anything...you admitted it yourself."

With the two of them together, the atmosphere of the whole room stirred up.

Time was tight, so Tan Yiming invited them both to quickly sit down.

This was the first time guests came to visit after Tan Yiming and Xiang Cai began to live together.

Xiang Cai had also been Tan Yiming’s guest, because a ‘tenant’ can also be deemed to be a ‘guest’, and he had always felt like an outsider. But now, he had become an intimate boyfriend, a member of this family, and an owner of this house.

He was the ‘master’ for the first time, so he was both nervous and excited displaying a small grin on his face. He spent time pouring juice, adding bowls and chopsticks for their guests, not pausing for a second.

Their dining area was not big, and their dining table was an exquisite small four-sided. When it was just Tan Yiming and Xiang Cai having their meal, the space was just a cozy fit. However, now that two people had been added, it was inevitably a little more crowded.

Under the dining table, the legs of four people bumped together.

Chen Ziran said in a strange voice: "Hey, who's big fat legs are touching my knees!"

Qi Ji, who was sitting opposite him, raised her eyebrows and snorted coldly: "Whose chicken feet are these, if you’re so bored why don’t you just kick the ground?"

Chen Ziran had a short temper, and he immediately knocked on his bowl: "Who are you calling chicken feet?"

Qi Ji was not to be outdone: "Who are you calling big fat legs?"

As they spoke, the two of them began a game of ‘you kick me and I kick you’ under the cover of the tablecloth to decide the outcome.

Tan Yiming: "...Excuse me."

Qi Ji and Chen Ziran turned to look at him at the same time.

Tan Yiming cleared his throat: "It was I who accidentally kicked you both."

Qi Ji: "..."

Chen Ziran: "..."

Xiang Cai: "Pfft, hahahaha!!!!"

Sure enough, New Year's Eve was meant to be rowdy.

The hot pot soup base gurgled, and it boiled quickly.

Qi Ji took the lead, using her chopsticks, placed the lamb into the pot. The thinly sliced ​​mutton was cooked in five seconds. The tender meat was soaked in the delicious spicy soup base and was eaten in one bite; making her taste buds danced wildly with joy.

She wailed: "South Korea's ‘spicy’ is too fake and sweet. Every time I return to China, I have to eat spicy hot pot and crayfish skewers one after the other to soothe my Chinese food cravings."

While she spoke, she slammed her chopsticks down again, not being polite with the host at all.

There are some people who would complain about meat balls been fake and starchy, but Xiang Cai loved and relished eating all kinds of meatballs. To spoil him, Tan Yiming specifically selected a large bag of mixed types of balls from the supermarket. One by one, the small balls floated to the top of the hot pot. Xiang Cai with his mouth watering anticipation, guarded the balls with his gaze, just like a dragon guarding its treasure.

They did not have a colander at home, and Xiang Guai couldn’t ‘catch it all’*, so he can only use chopsticks one by one. But those little balls are slippery. Once they were caught, they could still swish and fly to the other side of the pot.

[T/N: from the Chinese idiom ‘catch it all in one net’ which means to catch or purge all of something.]

Tan Yiming helped him catch the fugitive fish balls, shrimp balls, and egg dumplings. The two husbands worked together, and within a short while, Xiang Cai’s bowl had a hill-sized pile of scrumptious looking meat balls and dumplings.

Those who didn't know would have thought that Xiang Cai was hoarding takoyaki.

The three others at the table ate in a lively manner, but Chen Ziran didn't move his chopsticks. He only held a glass of pure water and drank slowly.

Qi Ji asked, "What's the matter?"

Chen Ziran rolled his eyes: "I see that someone is picking up food for Xiang Cai, and I'm waiting for someone to also pick food for me."

"Big star, I’m used to your behavior by now." Qi Ji snorted, but still took the initiative to fish out a few slices of beef from the pot and put it into Chen Ziran's bowl along with vegetables and noodles.

Chen Ziran was stunned. He looked at the vegetables and meat in his bowl and said after a while: "...I have known you for ten years, but this is the first time you’ve picked food for me."

Tan Yiming was curious: "Ten years?"

Xiang Cai explained to him: "Huawu Affiliated Academy is a six-year school that doesn’t have a strictly divided junior and senior high school. I switched to the Musical Theatre Department during our fifth year, but they have been classmates since the first year."

Qi Ji nodded: "Yes, before Xiang Cai joined, Chen Ziran had been my deskmate for four years."

"Ah..." It was Xiang Cai’s first time learning about this.

From twelve to sixteen, growing from ignorant children to fresh youth, Jin Qi Ji and Chen Ziran had sat side by side. They could see the other as long as they turned their head.

"He was so annoying." Qi Ji sulked, "I had long hair at the time, and he would pull on my pigtails all day long. Also, he would always start some silly pranks! He passed me notes, and even when I ignored him, he would continue to pass them. As a result, my parents were invited by Teacher Chu...Since then, Teacher Chu separated us. Later on—"

Later on, the campus prince Xiang Cai transferred to their class.

That was, on that day, the girl understood what it meant to have a first love.

"Okay, what happened when we were kids has long passed, and it's no fun bringing those things up again," Chen Ziran hastily interrupted her reminiscing. He deliberately teased, "I’d like to interview this Miss Jin, how does it feel to be a 'bending wharf'*??"

[T/N: * = being in a relationship with someone of the opposite sex while unaware that they are homosexual.]

Jin Qi Ji's round eyes widened, and she roared, "Chen Ziran, you can’t even close your rude mouth while eating?"

The pair of bickering classmates could always find a reason to quarrel, and their quarrel had spanned ten years.

Tan Yiming never thought that such a well-known artist would be such a rogue in private. He whispered to Xiang Cai: "Shouldn’t you mediate?"

Xiang Cai shook his head and replied softly, "They can continue their bickering. Ziran doesn’t have many more opportunities to bicker with Qi Ji, let him enjoy it, he should actually be quite happy."

Before he was even halfway done eating and drinking at the dinner table, Chen Ziran's mobile phone suddenly received a bunch of WeChat notifications, followed by a ringtone from a call.

Chen Ziran glanced at the screen, and the hairs on his head seemed to rise: "F*ck, it’s my manager's phone number!"

He quickly motioned for everyone to quiet down, then accepted the call.

"Hey..."

Before he could finish speaking, the agent's voice rang loudly.

"Chen Ziran!! Where are you right now???"

"Ah? Did I not report to you that I have a reunion with my classmates?"

"Which classmates? How many people? Where?"

"Wait a minute, what's the matter?" Chen Ziran asked impatiently, "Can you not interrogate me like I’m a prisoner?"

The two quarreled over the line while the other three on the table looked at each other, too afraid to speak. For some time, only the sound of the hot pot gurgling could be heard.

The agent took a rough breath: "Are you really attending a class reunion?"

"Yes, I don't have a reason to lie to you."

"Chen Ziran! Today is New Year’s Eve, you should be preparing for your rehearsal backstage at the Spring Festival Gala shooting! However, half an hour ago, paparazzi photographed you and a young pregnant woman walking together into a residential building while holding New Year’s goods in your hands. Don’t you know that the gossip of your hidden marriage and childbirth has exploded on the Internet!!!"

Audience member Xiang Cai: "..."

Audience member Tan Yiming: "..."

Audience member Qi Ji: "..."

Jin Qi Ji stood up against the slander and roared: "Try saying that again, I am well rounded!!! I am not pregnant!!!"

This misunderstanding was inexplicable, but who made Chen Ziran such a rising, popular star? If a hair on his head was changed, he could get on the hot search.

The agent said that he should post photos of the reunion in order to clarify things right, right away - not even a second late.

Chen Ziran answered obediently, hung up the call, and sighed: "It's really hard to make money, this shit is unpalatable."

The other three at the table exchanged glances. They had just witnessed an entertainment industry storm up close. The true entertainment industry was much more chaotic than in the news.

Chen Ziran handed his phone to Tan Yiming: "Tan Ge, could you please take a group photo of the three of us."

Tan Yiming asked, seemingly used to it: "Do you want a beautifying filter?"

Chen Ziran: "No need, this young master is naturally handsome!"

Qi Ji: "Use it, face-lift to the highest level!"

Chen Ziran: "..."

Qi Ji: "..."

The two looked at each other and grunted at the same time, turning their heads aside.

Xiang Cai hurriedly ended the farce and asked: "Shall we just sit and take the picture like this or should we pose?"

Chen Ziran thought for a moment, then moved a chair to sit between Xiang Cai and Qi Ji.

“Act natural."

With that said, Chen Ziran stretched out his right hand and hugged Xiang Cai's neck, while Xiang Cai leaned aside towards Chen Ziran.

Chen Ziran's other hand stretched towards the girl on the left. However, when his hand was about to rest on Qi Ji's shoulder, he paused - he then raised his left hand towards the back of her head and formed a ‘V’ sign, giving her a pair of bunny ears.

Chen Ziran smiled brightly at the camera and urged: "Take it."

So Tan Yiming pressed the camera button and captured the smiling faces of the three young friends.

This photo was taken very successfully. The three of them were good with shooting, so the photo taken did not need to be edited. As long as the color was slightly adjusted, it would be very beautiful.

Chen Ziran quickly posted the photos on his Weibo, and at the same time tagged Xiang Cai and Jin Qiji's Weibo, saying that he would help them ‘increase their fan base’.

@Chen Ziran V: [Share Photos] After graduating for many years, we finally reunited. My friends for ten years, I wish you futures full of miracles [flowers]. @Musical Acter - Xiang Cai @Your Classmate Xiao Jin is in Korea

As soon as Chen Ziran's clarification Weibo post appeared, the direction of the wind immediately turned back.

Qi Ji had gone to South Korea before graduating from high school. In the past few years, she had still been studying and developing there. Her Weibo account was purely private, recording her studies and sharing her thoughts. She also posted photos of her fiance on it....The main thing was, as one could see from her photo album, she had been chubby for many years; she was definitely not pregnant.

In this way, Chen Ziran's hat of ‘childbirth out of wedlock’ was directly thrown away.

The melon-eating crowd turned their eyes towards the other person in the photo - the little brother whose neck was wrapped by Chen Ziran. He had delicate eyebrows and was slender and tall, too [can], right???

Everyone immediately rushed to Xiang Cai’s Weibo and took a close look at every Weibo he had posted.

@Melon-eater A: Am I wrong? ? How come I see my new idol on Chen Ziran’s Weibo?? Is my treasure brother finally going to be discovered? ?

@Melon-eater B: I just found out that I have watched Xiang Cai’s musical...Fan Letter and First Love Is Now were both performed by him, right? I didn't remember his name, but I remembered his face.

@Melon-eater C: Since you’re here, don't leave! Let me introduce to you our little brother Xiang Cai! He’s a top student of Huawu Affiliated Academy, recommended by the Huawu Musical Theatre Department! With his fresh singing voice + over ten years of ballet experience, his new drama Waiting for the Midnight Sun is on tour across the country!

@Melon-eater D: Waiting for the Midnight Sun? Could that be the one Wang Qingyun dubbed? My whole family is shocked, this circle is too small.

@Melon-eater E: Did you know that Xiang Cai and Chen Ziran were old classmates? As long as Xiang Cai is on tour, Chen Ziran has to send him bouquets: this has been photographed many times by passersby! Moreover, the relationship between Xiang Chai and Wang Qingyun is very poor, like a plastic relationship between colleagues. In the previous variety show, Sound in the Ear, Xiang Cai was drawn to be with Wang Qingyun, but he directly refused, saying that he was a fan of Chen Ziran so he and wanted to support him.

Seeing these gossipy comments, Tan Yiming: "..."

He really didn’t expect the melon-eating crowd to be so powerful, they actually brought up the variety show video from over half a year ago...

Tan Yiming really wanted to reply to that melon-eater that ate too many melon seeds: he and Xiang Cai’s relationship was nothing like plastic. They slept on the same bed at night, which was especially not-plastic-relationship-like.

Forget it, since it was a festival, let them restrain their affection.

...

That supposedly happy lunch ended hastily. Chen Ziran could only stay for a little over a half hour before being called away by his agent. The nanny car was parked outside the complex, waiting for him. The agent said that if he did not show up within five minutes, he would come upstairs and fetch him himself.

Chen Ziran couldn't help but hug Xiang Cai before leaving, "Brother, see you next year."

Xiang Cai also hugged him tightly: "En, goodbye."

After hugging Xiang Cai, Chen Ziran turned to Qi Ji, rubbed his nose in embarrassment, and said, "...Can we hug too?"

Qi Ji shook: "That will be so strange, we've never haven’t hugged in all these ten years."

"...That's why I want to."

Qi Ji had no choice but to get up from her seat and greet him with open arms.

It was an extremely short yet extremely long hug.

One of them was a popular celebrity artist who had countless fans, and any gesture of his could cause his fans to scream; the other was a girl who seemed ordinary, but when she stood on the stage of a drama, her acting skills would engage and move the audience.

In this decade of their lives, they had known each other since their youthful appearances to a gradually grown mature appearance that they both almost could not recognize.

"Goodbye." Qi Ji let go and took the lead to leave Chen Ziran's arms. She smiled cutely, as she had many years ago. "Chen Ziran, I wish you a happy New Year."

"Goodbye." Chen Ziran fixedly looked at the girl in front of him, and solemnly gave his blessing: "Jin Qi Ji, I wish you a happy wedding."

This relationship that had never been named out loud could finally be let go today.

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The author has something to say: Goodbye, Ziran and Qi Ji.

[T/N: Sorry for the extremely late update, I was on vacation last week. I wish future career success for Qi Ji (and Chen Ziran, he seems pretty unhappy)!]

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