Due to the abundance of material, the preliminary screening and ranking rescue segments could be split into two episodes, to facilitate the audience’s joyful stock buying as much as possible.
The suburban recording building is an SPF asset, with floors ten to fifteen all being dormitories and practice rooms for the trainees, and the public performance stage in the opposite broadcast building.
The twentieth floor is exclusively for instructors, with no cameras or recording equipment inside.
After all, it’s their own program, so it feels secure.
However, Mei Heng usually drives home, and Feng Jin is busy with another variety show recording; neither of them had even brought up their luggage.
—That means Huo Ren and Pei Ruye are sharing the entire floor.
The chief director handed them two suite room cards, confidently waving his hand: “There’s tuning equipment and a recording studio, I’ve checked everything.”
Huo Ren nodded, and only when getting on the elevator did he remember an important question.
Wait?
This arrangement was indeed taken for granted, and outsiders were completely unaware of his current condition.
But…
The young man ran his fingertip along the edge of the room card, turning his head to look at Pei Ruye.
The man gave him an inquiring look.
…It’s okay to live alone.
Huo Ren has never been one to back down, thinking to himself that he had managed to separate for four hours before, so probably it wouldn’t matter to sleep through the night with his head covered.
The elevator door opened with a ding, and the corridor with four suites on both sides was silent.
They swiped their cards on the same side and entered their respective rooms.
The suite, nearly one hundred and eighty square meters in size, complete with a yoga room, an oxygen room, and an outdoor hot spring, the Nordic style and marble color division made the whole space look low-key yet warm.
Huo Ren, alone pushing his suitcase into the bedroom, felt as if a sandglass inside him had turned the moment he lost contact with Pei Ruye, silently starting to count time with his heartbeat.
His sense of connection with the world was disappearing.
The young man steadied his spirit and opened his suitcase to organize his commonly used personal items.
Coats and underwear had been placed in advance by an assistant, and the suitcase contained other items.
Scores, recent manuscripts, sleep spray, pajamas…
His fingertips touched a neatly folded pure black ribbon.
Before returning to the country, the two of them had packed the luggage together, putting all the necessary items in the suitcase.
Pei Ruye was mostly organizing paper documents, occasionally helping him tidy up the desktop clutter.
Huo Ren’s personal belongings in the United States weren’t much, and after a couple of rounds, his thoughts suddenly touched on a node, like an electric shock in his brain.
The ribbon in the bedside drawer…
He unconsciously treated the ribbon as some sort of switch, feeling a bit uneasy when he remembered it again.
So, he placed his hands on the edge of the bedside table and turned his head to look at Pei Ruye.
“Did we leave anything behind?” the man asked with concern.
Huo Ren’s Adam’s apple moved, indicating with his eyes for him to look at a certain place.
“The bedside drawer, what about it?”
Huo Ren vaguely felt that the other party was pretending not to know, feeling a bit anxious inside.
He cleared his throat, trying to sound nonchalant: “Should we also take the ribbon?”
“If you need it.”
Just then, a conference call came in, and Pei Ruye signaled him to decide for himself before turning to go to the study.
Leaving Huo Ren alone with this freely available pleasure.
He opened and closed the drawer several times, eventually taking out the black ribbon with a complex emotion.
During his time in the United States… he indeed learned a lot.
After returning to the country and seeing this old item, he felt a kind of enlightenment.
Rather than saying the black ribbon was a switch for a psychological state, it’s more accurate to say that Pei Ruye was the embodiment of his true desires.
From the beginning to the end, it never changed.
Before he was sixteen, he escaped from a completely degenerate family, feeling guilty even for eating an extra apple at the company.
His appetite and survival instincts were severely suppressed, feeling as if he didn’t deserve anything.
But Pei Ruye quietly brought a birthday cake.
Strawberries, cheese, cream, chocolate.
It was calories, the joy of the human world, the desire never acknowledged before.
Later, he became a trainee, packaging himself as a product in an even more demanding environment.
The noble-like demeanor and speech cultivated through acquired training, meticulous management of one’s physique and image packaging, necessitating the control of oil, sugar, and salt intake, aiming to be the most steadfast and composed leader.
One must not have weaknesses, nor exhibit joy or sorrow.
The sixteenth floor had become an unwitting haven once again.
Dancing served as a good pretext, even if it was just to quietly stay for a while, watching friends and strangers enjoy dancing to the jazz beats, allowing the long-accumulated stress to be embraced and released.
Huo Ren held the black ribbon in his hand, sitting alone by the luggage for a long time.
It was this person who took him away from the company, to the night market at three in the morning to eat soup dumplings and stir-fried noodles, telling him he suited the bright red color.
It was also this person who, when he was swallowed by fear and helplessness, once again handed him the ribbon as the key to release.
To use as one wishes, without shame.
Appetite, sexual desire, love.
These three things were the remedies that supported him through the various trials of life.
They were also the tender gifts given to him by Pei Ruye.
Vivid and profound, entwined and pure.
The young man slowly closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and pressing the ribbon against his chest.
…Teacher.
Suddenly, two knocks on the door came from not far away.
Huo Ren came back to his senses, quickly hid the ribbon deep in the luggage, and turned to locate the source of the knocking.
It was surprisingly coming from the study room next to the bedroom.
There was no one in the study, but there was a small door next to the long table.
—This design is quite common in certain hotel room types.
In family rooms or business rooms, for guests who need frequent access, there is a double door between two rooms.
In the past, when Corona six stayed, it was always in a triple-connected room. The first time they stayed, Xie Lianyun even pretended to be a ghost, scaring Mei Shengyao into a frenzy.
Huo Ren tentatively called out.
“Teacher?”
“Are you okay?”
“I…” He realized what he had just been thinking, and his tone was a bit unnatural: “Wait, I’ll unlock it.”
The small door creaked open, feeling like unwrapping a gift.
Pei Ruye used his palm to check his forehead, confirming again: “Don’t endure when your breathing is off, you have emergency call bells by your bed and in the recording studio.”
Huo Ren’s heartbeat slowed down a lot upon touching him again, and after a long while, he responded.
He suddenly felt a bit ashamed of this condition.
It was as if an invisible chain was tied between their hearts, not allowing them to be apart for too long.
“Take your medicine first.” The new manager handed over the thermos cup: “I’ll deal with official duties this afternoon, take your time writing songs.”
“The study is quite large, if you don’t mind the noise, we can work together.”
Huo Ren paused when taking the transparent medicine box, his fingertips lingering in his palm for a few seconds longer.
He liked him.
Their gazes met more, the distance between them narrowed even further.
Wanting to stay by his side forever, listening to him talk about anything.
Even if it was just to catch a few inches of shallow breath.
“Teacher, I…”
“Hmm?”
Huo Ren wanted to express this feeling, to tell the man how much he hoped to be hugged again.
But the words turned several circles in his throat and just couldn’t come out.
He had never formally confessed before, and now he couldn’t even complete his sentence with his cheeks burning hot.
“It’s nothing, let’s go out to eat.”
Pei Ruye habitually smoothed out his collar, inadvertently brushing his neck with the back of his hand.
Huo Ren’s breath hitched, and he looked at him again, feeling inexplicably downcast.
“You’re not quite yourself today.”
Pei Ruye said softly, “If you’re not accustomed to being alone, I’ll stay with you tonight. Separation anxiety can be treated slowly.”
…This has nothing to do with treatment.
I like you.
I really want to tell you, why can’t I just say it?
Huo Ren responded in a subdued tone and continued to walk forward.
Out of caution, Pei Ruye sent a message to the therapist.
“When a person is in a vulnerable state, their animal instincts are very evident,” the therapist replied. “He has just settled in Los Angeles not long ago, and now changing his living environment again will make him more dependent on your company.”
“Okay, I will take good care of him.”
Meanwhile, Weibo and various forums were still organizing clues from over the years.
The devoted fans usually couldn’t be bothered with the chaos among CP (couple pairing) fans, but it was inevitable that there would be some crossover in social relationships, and some rumors could be heard.
Listening to them made something seem off.
Some fans who were new to the fandom initially shouted, “How come there’s another wild man competing with me for Ren Ren?” But after watching the first episode in its entirety, they instantly switched sides, exclaiming, “Ren Ren, you’re actually my rival! Let go of Boss Pei and let me do it!”
Many insisted that “Nightfire” and the live broadcasting platform Nightfire were just coincidentally named the same, but “The Crown’s Live Room” was also dug up.
“Eh—could it be that the one who made the four-leaf clover pendant for Ren Ren is??”
“Damn! I even wished the old man good health back then, Ren Ren, you should have made it clear your teacher is the handsome Boss Pei!!”
While watching these programs, people couldn’t help but feel nostalgic and sad for Corona and Xiao Chi once again.
On one hand, they resented SPF for ruining their happiness, and on the other hand, they were conflicted because the company’s new variety show seemed to treat the trainees quite well.
…This time, a 24-hour counseling service was arranged, so similar tragedies should not happen again.
They never knew it was all a plot.
After the trainees were assigned their dorms, their phones, snacks, and other unrelated items were taken away, and they started to get to know each other.
The first episode had already been recorded, but only half of it had been broadcast, and the rankings were already all set.
—The “Heaven” and “Upper” groups were in four-person dorms, while the “Earth” and “Lower” needed six people to share.
Han Yang did not participate in the instructor assessment, holding tightly to his spot among the top forty-three in the “Upper” group and looking for a dorm.
He was quite small, his height of 1.6 meters a bit unusual among the group of taller boys, most of whom were around 1.8 or 1.9 meters.
As a result, many boys would unconsciously take an extra look at him, their surprised gazes seeming to ask, “You managed to get through the preliminaries?”
Many taller boys offered to show him the way or even tried to help him carry his luggage with gentlemanly manners.
“No, thank you!!”
Finally entering the trainee dorm, three people inside were already organizing their closets, clearly having been there for quite some time.
“Hi?” The long-haired boy greeted with a smile: “Have you been on TV before?”
“Han Yang?” Another boy suddenly remembered something: “Oh, you were with Huo God, on that deadline… what was it called? ‘DEADLINE is the First Production Line’?”
“Hello,” Han Yang bowed quickly: “Please take care of me!”
At that moment, he was still bewildered.
Before leaving to record the show, his mother suddenly became much more serious, pulling him aside, almost tripping over the shoes at the door.
“Yang Yang, there’s something Mom never told you.”
“Huh?”
“I didn’t expect you to participate in this kind of program to earn money for paint, but the contract has already been signed, and it’s too late to back out.”
The woman paused for a long time, her expression complex as she touched the boy’s cheek.
“Actually… you’re a rich second-generation.”
“Huh???”
The author has something to say:
There will be another update later.
Oh no… Please don’t tell me this kid is related to that sociopath Han Qu.