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Chapter 48.1
After practicing the kissing technique for almost half an hour, while Qi Chang’an was on the phone, Xu Luoyang took out his cell phone, quickly switched to his hidden account, deleted the latest post then re-posted it– He changed ‘Chang’an Ge-ge’ to ‘Qi Qi’.
After that, he diligently blacklisted all the followers that the system had put in and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
He had a lot of little secrets in his hidden account that he couldn’t let anyone find out about. He had never dared to underestimate his fans’ detective powers. ‘Qi’ and ‘Xu’ weren’t uncommon, but if the name ‘Chang’an’ also came up, it would be a matter of minutes before he would be exposed!
But if he was exposed, he could say that these were his ideas for a career in mystery novels? It didn’t seem like there was anything wrong with this logic!
After Qi Chang’an finished with his phone call, he saw Xu Luoyang poking at the screen of his cell phone with a nervous expression, his expression changing from one to the other. He opened his Weibo account and found ‘Xu Nao Nao’s little emotions ‘, but ‘Chang’an Ge-ge’ had been changed to ‘Qi Qi’.
Qi Chang’an smiled a little helplessly when he thought of the reason why Xu Luoyang did this. His Nao Nao.
Qi Chang’an stood still then waited for Xu Luoyang to turn his cell phone off before he walked over to him, “What are you doing?”
“I was going through the Weibo comments.” Xu Luoyang cleared his throat in a pretentious manner, “I went to see if the general direction of the wind has changed again.”
Qi Chang’an knew he hadn’t done much posting in the past two days. His fingers rubbed his earlobe gently, “You’re not sad anymore?”
“I’m still sad.” Feeling the tingle coming from his earlobe, Xu Luoyang couldn’t help but tell the truth, “The contrast between the fans who said they liked me a lot before and the ones who kept on cursing me in the past few days…..” he couldn’t think of any words to describe the feeling so he continued dryly, ” It’s just quite hard to bear.”
Saying this, he laughed, “But seeing how many people have come under my feed and left comments saying that they believe me and that all those things must be fake and slanderous makes me feel happy! So I’m a lot more happy than sad.”
Leaning over, Qi Chang’an kissed the smile at the corner of his lips then realized with a start that Xu Luoyang always seemed to have such strength, as if all the darkness was beneath his toes.
Standing upright again, Qi Chang’an spoke, “I just got off the phone with Liang Qiu. Dai Xueqing has replied.”
Xu Luoyang’s attention drawn, he responded quickly, his eyes widening slightly, “Chang’an, you–“
“You’re working on it, I’m also working on it.”
In this moment, there was a little bit of sourness in Xu Luoyang’s heart. He said a little incoherently, “Actually, I’ve been rather cool about this whole thing up until now.” Looking at Qi Chang’an, he spoke his thoughts, “My decision to go see Dai Xueqing before wasn’t very well thought out and rather idealistic, but I thought I’d give it a go, because no matter what, it couldn’t be any worse anyway.”
Qi Chang’an listened intently.
The look in Qi Chang’an’s eyes gave Xu Luoyang the courage to tear open, bit by bit, the scars that had never scabbed over.
“I still remember very clearly that when I was sent abroad in a hurry by Uncle Zhang in my freshman year, I was actually very unresigned at that time. I didn’t understand why I had to flee abroad, absconding as if I was afraid when I had clearly done nothing wrong. So when I arrived at school there, I couldn’t pull myself together for a long time. I was a mess and depressed every day and couldn’t get my head around day and night.”
Xu Luoyang was a little embarrassed, “I was still very young at that time and before my parents died, I really belonged to the type of group of people who were completely ignorant of human suffering. It was only later that I realized that often the truth isn’t that important. A lot of people only believe what they want to believe and see what they want to see.”
Qi Chang’an didn’t interrupt him, he just looked intently at the man standing in front of him, imagining how many storms and bruises he had gone through to grow into the Xu Luoyang he was now.
“But I still understand in my heart that at that time, it was already a very rare action that Uncle Zhang was willing to step in to help me.” Xu Luoyang sighed, “My dad was a very pure person but a little bit stupid. His IQ was all reflected in making films. He wasn’t as adaptable as Director Zhang and he was particularly stubborn and easily offended. Basically, he put all his passion into his films, gave all his feelings to my mother and gave the rest to me, so he had very few friends at all.”
Seeing the heartache flooding Qi Chang’an’s eyes, Xu Luoyang pursed his lips and smiled, comforting him instead, “It’s okay.”
He continued, “When we arrived at the airport, Uncle Zhang even apologized to me, saying that it was because he was incompetent that’s why he wasn’t able to help me clear up the truth and had to let me leave in such a mess, but I was already grateful to him; he was an associate professor at a university abroad, doing academics and not very good at dealing with people. Taking me straight to school abroad was the best arrangement he could think of and do at the time.”
“Are you still in touch with him?” Qi Chang’an was grateful to this man, because he had been there, making it so that Xu Luoyang didn’t fall into isolation at that time.
“Yes, but I seldom contact him. I was abroad at that time and when I heard that Dai Xueqing had been sent to South America, I wanted to come back. Because of this, I almost quarreled with Uncle Zhang who wanted me not to come back. Whether it was staying in Europe or developing in the US, it was better than coming back.
But I probably inherited my character from my dad who was also super stubborn. I was very determined to buy a plane ticket and come back and not long after that I signed a contract with Zheng Ge and started making films as well as singing.”
“Was he angry?”
Xu Luoyang was a little smug, “Yes, very, but I sent him gifts for the Mid-Autumn Festival, National Day, C Country New Year, Christmas, and even Women’s Day to wish him happy holidays. It went on like that for over a year before he was finally willing to take my calls.”
“He also reminded me that, in line with Dai Xueqing’s usual unscrupulousness, he would definitely be able to reclaim his things and would return from South America one day. At that time, if Dai Xueqing still couldn’t tolerate me, Uncle Zhang told me to join him and said he would introduce me to female friends–“
Realizing that he had spoken out of turn, Xu Luoyang raised his hand sharply and hurriedly covered his mouth, pretending that he had said nothing at all.
Qi Chang’an’s tone sounded a little dangerous, “Girlfriend?”
Xu Luoyang hurriedly shook his head, speaking with his mouth covered, “I already have Chang’an Ge-ge, how could I possibly want any girlfriend!”
Qi Chang’an leaned close to his ear, his voice laced with warm breath, “I’m yours and Nao Nao can only be mine, right?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Xu Luoyang felt that if he answered a little slower, Qi Chang’an would turn into a big demon in the next second. He changed the subject hurriedly, “Let’s continue, let’s continue. Of course I refused that offer adamantly! After all, I’m already an adult and Uncle Zhang has his own family and his own life, so I’m really just the son of a former best friend to him.”
Because of his former experiences, Xu Luoyang actually drew the line between people very clearly; he didn’t like to trouble people and would return the favor twice as much if he received help.
Lifting his hand, Qi Chang’an rubbed his hair, “I’m here for you from now on.”
“En!”
The tingling sensation coming from his scalp made Xu Luoyang’s entire body relax, so he resumed talking about his visit to Dai Xueqing.
“When I entered the office, it really felt cold and gloomy in there! And at first, the way Dai Xueqing treated Wang Yuxing actually scared me a little bit, but it was also clear that he was remembering my dad through Wang Yuxing. He treated Wang Yuxing like a stone carving a puppet, and his raison d’être was because Wang Yuxing’s side profile resembled that of a deceased person.”
“So after you found this out, you played the emotion card?” Qi Chang’an had listened to the conversation between the two throughout and so remembered the conversation well.
“Yeah, he got quite emotional back there, which means he valued my parents, only with some psychological distortion. So I just tried to play the emotion card straight.”
Smiling, Qi Chang’an asked, “Have you really seen the painting he drew?”
“I really have and I do have the painting he drew at home, but after I turned it over, my mother took it and used it as a counterpoint.” Xu Luoyang wrenched his fingers together, “My mother told me not to be unscrupulous like the person who painted this painting, that I must have a bottom line as a human being. In particular, one must not treat human life like grass.
I’m guessing, based on what Dai Xueqing said, that Dai Xueqing probably had human lives on his hands in order to gain power in the Jiang family and didn’t think he was at fault, which is why my parents gradually distanced themselves from him.”
Qi Chang’an nodded, “It’s possible, but Dai Xueqing himself didn’t think it through. He returned to the Jiang family as an illegitimate son who had been abandoned and what he had to face must have been another world, which meant he and your parents could only get further and further apart.”
Having said that, he added complimentingly, “Nao Nao is very clever.”
“Of course I’m clever!” Xu Luoyang smile and after a moment, went on, “He hates me because what I got, he never got again. So I mentioned awards and essay books to prove that my parents had always remembered the Dai Xueqing from before. It was a long time ago and those essay books weren’t anything special and Dai Xueqing himself must not have remembered them.
I’ve done all I can and so if he finds a conscience and stops targeting me for my parents’ sake, then that’s great. But if he still thinks my parents have wronged him and still can’t figure it out, then I’ll have to think of something else.”
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