I’m Afraid I’m Now a Salted Fish Chapter 6

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Chapter 6: Mother’s Call

　　Chi Song spent the rest of his weekend in a state of anxiety. On Monday, he went to the headquarters of Nebula Entertainment to find Zhou Yaming.
　　Zhou Yaming wore a pair of glasses and exuded a friendly aura, giving off a feeling quite like that of a high school Chinese teacher.
　　She gave Chi Song the initiative and asked Chi Song if he had any questions for her.
　　Chi Song thought for a while before finally asking the question that had been bothering him to the point that he couldn’t even sleep properly these past few nights, “… If I don’t manage to become popular, would I be dragging you down?”
　　Zhou Yaming comforted, “Rest assured. I also have a little low-presence star under me that I couldn’t manage to push into popularity.”
　　
　　Chi Song was greatly relieved.
　　
　　Zhou Yaming found it funny. “Everyone always asks me what to do if they become popular. You are the first one to ask me what to do if you don’t become popular.”
　　Chi Song was too embarrassed to say that after returning to China, his luck had all been lost. He could only make a joke, “… The company is not giving out charity, so I had to make the risks clear first.”
　　”Yes, this is not a charity company.” Zhou Yaming flipped through Chi Song’s information. Without raising her head, she continued, “But this is the Song family’s company.”
　　Chi Song: “…”
　　Zhou Yaming then raised her head and said, “‘I chose to take you under my name simply because of your potential and acting skills.’ If I dared to say this, do you dare to believe me?”
　　
　　… Of course he didn’t dare.
　　
　　Chi Song blushed. He was done for. In the end, his hidden relationship was exposed.
　　
　　Chi Song left Zhou Yaming’s office with his itinerary for the next month.
　　Starting from this Wednesday, he would not have much free time. The shooting spot for the Taikoo watches poster was in Shanghai. In order to make sure the shooting progress was smooth without late arrivals or accidents, he would board the plane tonight.
　　After the poster shoot, there would be a series of follow-up trips awaiting him.
　　At the end of the month, the show “Brilliant Starlight,” where Chi Song acted as the dream-chasing third male lead, would officially be aired.
　　
　　Upon returning home, he rubbed Handsome Song several times and thought hard for the next half hour on whether he should take Handsome Song with him.
　　After reluctantly dismissing the idea, he ran to the kitchen and stuck a few notes on the refrigerator.
　　Song Zhihuai was used to living alone, so of course he could take care of himself. Thus, Chi Song didn’t need to remind him to feed Handsome Song or tell him to not drink or smoke.
　　On the refrigerator, he wrote a lot of blush-inducing words, all the romantic lines that he usually didn’t dare to say aloud.
　　During the days he would be away, the notes on the refrigerator would accompany Mr. Song.
　　
　　While he was writing, his phone lit up.
　　Like other celebrities, Chi Song had two phones. One was for his own life and contained a bunch of game apps and the phone numbers of his friends and family. The other was his work phone and contained the contact information for all tiers of directors and producers.
　　Looking at the caller name “Mom” displayed on the screen, Chi Song instinctively clenched the small note in his hand harder.
　　He felt very panicked, as if he was a child that had been caught by his parents reading manga when he was supposed to be doing homework.
　　
　　After he picked up the phone, Mother Chi was still as straightforward as ever, “Little Song, I heard from your younger brother that you were on some hot search.”
　　His parents’ reaction time to online news was always slower than others.
　　Chi Song scratched his head. “Yes.”
　　Mother Chi said, “It seems like it’s because you’re raising a cat?”
　　Chi Song agreed, “Yes, the credit belongs to Handsome Song.”
　　Mother Chi said in a tone that one would use to encourage elementary school students, “It’s not good for you to get attention just because of your cat. Next time, you have to try to let others praise your acting skills.”
　　Chi Song nodded earnestly, “Okay.”
　　Mother continued, “I listened to your brother’s advice and got a Weibo account. You should teach me how to use Weibo. Your dad is very useless and old. He doesn’t know how to do anything and is overcautious. He used to be able to fix the refrigerator and the light bulbs as easily as if he were playing a game, but now he’s afraid to even tap the phone, afraid that the screen will crack.”
　　Chi Song listened to his mother’s chatter and laughed from the bottom of his heart. “Okay, next time I go back home, I’ll teach you guys how to use it.”
　　
　　… That said, according to Mother Chi’s character, she’d start to study it herself after a little while.
　　The next time he returned home, he feared that she might be able to use Weibo even better than him.
　　
　　After asking about Weibo, Mother Chi directly broached the topic of marriage as usual. “Little Song, you have to listen to me. You’ve already been in China for more than two years. It’s time to find someone. Our neighbor Aunt Wang recently got a granddaughter to hold and cuddle. She came to our family’s house to show off, saying things like ‘My granddaughter isn’t willing to part with me’ and ‘If I leave just for a little while, my granddaughter will throw a tantrum.’ It angered me to death! Little Song, you have to help your mother. Mother and Father are not old and can still take care of a child. I won’t be picky about whether it is a boy or girl, although it would be better if it was a little girl. Your father said, it was too tiring to take care of you two stinky boys. Since we are growing old, it’s better to have a cute and sweet little granddaughter to hug and kiss. Then we won’t have any more regrets in this life.”
　　Chi Song had long been rendered speechless.
　　After a while, he said, “Mother, I still need to work. I’ll also go back to Shanghai this week, so maybe I can visit home then.”
　　Mother Chi was overjoyed and threw the idea of a granddaughter out the window. “Okay, you won’t be far from home then. It’s less than an hour if you take the high-speed rail. If you are busy, tell me the address of your hotel. Mom and Dad will visit you.”
　　
　　After hanging up, Chi Song laid on the table for a long time before arranging the love notes one by one on the refrigerator. Then he stuck a heart shaped magnet on the refrigerator.
　　Chi Song checked his watch after packing his bags and found that he still had time before he needed to leave. He opened the refrigerator, planning to make a lunch for Mr. Song and then send it to the company.
　　
　　It wasn’t that Chi Song didn’t know how to cook. Those years he was abroad, if he had been forced to eat fried fish and potato muffins everyday, he would have long lost his will to live.
　　He was fond of researching food since he was a child. On his second day in his dormitory in England, he cooked beef stew with potatoes. His foreign classmates in the dormitory building followed the aroma to the kitchen and lined up to ask Chi Song to give them a spoonful of beef. If there was no beef, even a little soup would do.
　　But after getting together with Mr. Song, the cooking duties were taken over by Mr. Song.
　　According to Mr. Song, Chi Song was a star, an actor. He was a person that would be photographed under high-definition lens. If he cooked everyday, what would they do if he hurt his hand?
　　Song Zhihuai also said, he was looking for a young wife, not an experienced auntie to cook rice for him.
　　
　　An hour later, the young wife Chi Song lifted the lid of the porcelain saucepan.
　　A thick scent of gravy wafted over his face. The ochre red soup was bubbling. It was dark, sweet, and fragrant. With a single poke of the chopstick, the red meat fell apart easily. The meat was dipped in the shiny juice and the skin was extremely tender. After boiling, the flavor and fragrance became especially apparent.
　　On the other side, the scented rice in the pressure cooker was also ready. The valve spouted steam that carried the sweet scent of rice.
　　
　　He placed half the meat into a lunch box and the other half in the refrigerator. Then he filled the rest of the box full with rice and happily ran to Director Song’s office.
　　The company was not far from the Song family villa. He used WeChat to call over a small taxi, placed the lunchbox on the handlebar, and rode to Nebula Entertainment.
　　
　　Chi Song had an elevator pass that led directly to the management level, so he didn’t meet anyone along the way to Boss Song’s office.
　　When he went in, Boss Song was tearing open the takeout his assistant had packed for him from the company cafeteria.
　　
　　The end result was that the two of them met and ate together. Both the takeout and the home-cooked food were eaten clean.
　　Chi Song and Song Zhihuai both ate a lot, so they naturally did some post-meal exercise afterwards.
　　Of course, considering the fact that Chi Song would become very busy starting from today and that the prerequisite for action was having a healthy body, Gold Backer Song was very considerate and stopped before the last step.
　　
　　After putting on his pants and leaving Gold Backer Song’s office, Chi Song felt very guilty and ran like the wind the whole way to the special elevator. It wasn’t until he entered the elevator that the heat on his face subsided.
　　In order to alleviate his embarrassment, Chi Song put on a mask and pulled out his phone, swiping through Weibo in a normal manner.
　　
　　For this swipe, he had swiped into something new.
　　Zhu Ziqi had reposted his Weibo with a comment saying cute, she also wanted to pet the cat. Then she asked for Chi Song’s address.
　　The fans cheered in the comments below, saying that their family’s Qi Qi was elegant while teasing Chi Song, so cute.
　　On this point, Zhou Yaming had already discussed with him. She had contacted Zhu Ziqi’s agent and the two agents came to the mutual agreement of publicizing the two as a CP¹.
　　After all, Zhu Ziqi and Chi Song had acted together as siblings and friends in the same movies and TV shows when they were young. By letting Zhu Ziqi do this, not only can they set off a wave of nostalgia, but also maintain the attention and discussion on the two parties on the Internet.
　　Zhou Yaming also asked Chi Song for a video of Handsome Song’s daily life.
　　The Handsome Song in the video squatted at the table, licking her paw and letting out a sweet meow sound.
　　
　　Half an hour after Zhu Ziqi posted that Weibo message, Zhou Yaming posted the short video of Handsome Song in lieu of Chi Song and added an @ Le Zhu Ziqi, as if the cat video was a response to Zhu Ziqi’s request.
　　
　　The following cheers of the fans, Chi Song dared not to look nor reply.
　　Because he found that among the fans, there was an additional netizen named “Mother.”
　　
　　After “Mother” observed him, she sent a reply under the Weibo he had previously sent out mistakenly, saying, “Cat hair has to be cleaned on the spot. You have to be careful not to breathe it in, since your respiratory tract isn’t good.”
　　This reply was quickly drowned out by other replies and didn’t receive even a single like.
　　… Chi Song decided that when he went to Shanghai and visited his parents, the first thing he would teach them was to not use Weibo like they would their friend circle.
　　
　　Thinking along this path, Chi Song registered for a number of accounts to give the reply that “Mother” sent about twenty likes.
　　After satisfying the elderly’s desire for attention, Chi Song was ready to pack up and go to the airport for his flight.
　　
　　Chi Song hadn’t become popular yet, so he didn’t have a personal assistant to take care of his daily life. Zhou Yaming was too busy and couldn’t possibly accompany him personally, so Chi Song took his luggage to the airport himself.
　　After he sat down in his seat, he planned to put on his sleep mask and sleep.
　　But as soon as he put it on, his hand was gripped harshly by the person sitting on his right.
　　
　　Chi Song felt excited. That hand was too familiar to him.
　　He hurriedly took off his sleep mask.
　　After confirming that it was indeed Song Zhihuai, Chi Song was at a loss, surprised, and delighted at the same time. “… Why are you here?”
　　Song Zhihuai held his hand and scratched his palm. “I’m going to Shanghai for a meeting and thought to accompany you on the way.”
　　
　　Chi Song was particularly moved. Just as he wanted to say some words, Song Zhihuai remembered something.
　　He unbuttoned the two upper buttons of his suit, revealing the lines of his hand-made suit.
　　… It was covered with cheap refrigerator magnets inside, the notes filled with shameful words.
　　Upon seeing Chi Song’s red face, Song Zhihuai smiled. Under his gold-rimmed glasses, his eyes were full of tenderness. “I have received your notes… But next time, you can just tell me directly, okay?”
　　
　　Chi Song bit his lip and felt that if he didn’t say something now, then he wouldn’t be able to resist the urge to kiss Song Zhihuai.
　　He asked flusteredly, “What about Handsome Song? There’s no one to feed him now.”
　　”I sent the application to the airline on Sunday.” Song Zhihuai took advantage of the fact that no one was watching them and intimately pinched Chi Song’s nose. “… Handsome Song will wait for us at Shanghai Airport.”

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Translator’s Note: So I have also gone back and done some basic editing and proofreading on the previous chapters for past tense and stuff. Especially with the terms I was unsure with due to not knowing what happened in the plot in the future (I have not read ahead, so no spoilers!) You can tell if a chapter if edited based on if most of the dialogue is preceded by colons (the “:”s) or not~ Actually, proofreading is very tiring!

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Footnotes:

[1]: CP- originally in English. Stands for “Couple.” Essentially, when fans ship people~ CPs can be both official and unofficial. Here, making Chi Song and Zhu Ziqi into a couple would be “big news” and thus boost both their popularities, I think. ↩