Yu Qiu heard his heart rapidly beating, “thump, thump, thump,” as if it wanted to jump out of his chest. When he came back to his senses, Xuan Yan had already gone to the kitchen to cook.
Half an hour later.
Xuan Yan’s cooking was indeed much better than his own.
While eating, Yu Qiu thought to himself.
Yu Qiu didn’t ask him about that question’s meaning, and neither of them brought it up again.
At the dining table, they occasionally exchanged words, chatting about casual topics. Xuan Yan seemed very interested in Yu Qiu’s novel “The Endless City” and kept asking about it.
“Yu Ge,” Xuan Yan asked, “Does the protagonist die in the end?”
“No,” Yu Qiu said, “It’s more like they become numb.”
They discussed the plot for a long time, and Yu Qiu hadn’t had this kind of interaction in a while. He usually submitted his work directly for publication and rarely read online comments unless they were formal book reviews.
This feeling was quite novel to him.
When it was time to leave, Xuan Yan leaned against the doorframe and asked, “Yu Ge, do you have any other books? I want to read more.”
“… ” Yu Qiu fell silent for a moment, then lifted his eyes and smiled, “I don’t have any more.”
Xuan Yan nodded with some regret and said, “Yu Ge, I have to go out of town with the company tomorrow for a performance. I probably won’t be able to entertain you for these few days.”
“Are you going to sing?”
“Yes,” Xuan Yan smiled, “I’m not really popular, and they wouldn’t have needed me, but someone got sick, and they couldn’t find a replacement.”
“If you can’t make it back on Saturday, it’s fine for another time,” Yu Qiu said, “Take care on the road.”
“But I’m a bit worried,” Xuan Yan said, looking at him.
“Worried about what?” Yu Qiu had a vague idea of what he meant.
“If I’m not here, will Yu Ge still eat dinner properly?” Xuan Yan asked.
Yu Qiu smiled and lowered his head, “If you keep saying that, I might misunderstand you.”
“Hmm?” Xuan Yan lazily leaned against the door, looking at him with a smile.
“I will,” Yu Qiu said, “I promise you.”
The next day, Yu Qiu discovered that at the end of the novel, Xuan Yan had written his WeChat ID in pencil and drew a blushing emoji. There was a small line of text below, saying, “Ge, don’t forget to add me!”
Yu Qiu couldn’t help but smile and cry at the same time, so he added Xuan Yan on WeChat.
After adding him, Yu Qiu hesitated for a moment and then downloaded Weibo.
Once the download was complete, he created a new account and didn’t dare to log in with his main account.
He clicked on the search bar and typed two words, “Xuan Yan.”
At first glance, Yu Qiu noticed the number of followers, which was 53,000. It wasn’t a large number, indeed.
He clicked into Xuan Yan’s Weibo profile.
His verification was simple, just two words: “Singer.” The profile picture was a plain black image, and there were many Weibo posts, but they didn’t seem to match his style. Yu Qiu guessed they were probably posted by his manager.
The most recent Weibo post read: “See you all in Xi’an [heart emoji].”
It was accompanied by a selfie, and Xuan Yan was smiling happily, but he had makeup on. At first, Yu Qiu didn’t recognize him with makeup and thought he looked better without it.
Although Xuan Yan’s number of followers wasn’t large, he still had a considerable number of active fans, and the comments section was lively. They seemed to enjoy this calm and peaceful fandom life.
“Yan Yan, wait for us!”
“Yan Yan posted on Weibo, I’m blown away by this world-class beauty!”
“Ahhhhhh!!!”
“Yan Yan is truly our little treasure!”
“I feel like Yan Yan is going to become popular in the next two years. How can such a beautiful and talented young man not become popular?”
Yu Qiu followed the trend and left a comment as well.
“Yan Yan, keep going!”
In his Weibo, there were many videos of him singing.
In one of those videos, Yu Qiu saw a different side of Xuan Yan.
Sitting on a high stool, he plucked the guitar strings, and gentle light illuminated him. He lowered his gaze to the strings, and the mole below his eye seemed as if it was painted on with a brush. He sang softly,
“But sometimes, I’d rather choose to linger and not let go
Wait until I see through all the scenery
Perhaps, you will accompany me to watch the flowing water.”
It was “Red Bean.”
At the end, Xuan Yan suddenly revealed a mischievous smile and blew a kiss to the camera. Yu Qiu couldn’t help but smile.
This was the real him.
But there was one thing his fans hadn’t gotten wrong.
He would become popular sooner or later.
When he was about to exit the page, he suddenly noticed that Xuan Yan’s following count was less than ten. For a celebrity, it seemed a bit incredible.
Yu Qiu clicked on Xuan Yan’s following list and slowly scrolled down.
They were all entertainment marketing accounts and official company accounts, nothing significant.
His hand suddenly froze.
Then, his whole body began to tremble uncontrollably.
He saw the last account on Xuan Yan’s following list, and the name was:
Yu Qiu.
