I’m Afraid I’m Now a Salted Fish Chapter 31

< Prev | TOC | Next >

Translator: LiLi041

---

Also, thanks to teabiscuit for all the Ko-Fis so far~ The goal of $15 has pretty much been reached, so I’ll try to post a chapter this week or next week 😅

---

Chapter 31: Burying the Hatchet

　　Two weeks after “Brilliant Starlight” started filming, “Kongming Lock” started to play on a broadcasting platform.
　　Of course, Number One Fan Song Zhihuai started watching from the first possible moment.
　　In the first scene of the first episode, Chi Song, who had just entered the stage, gave Song Zhihuai a scare.
　　
　　He shut himself into the room alone, hunched over his desk as he silently wrote down the digits of Pi from memory.
　　For this scene, Chi Song didn’t make any sinister expressions. All he had to do was mechanically write one line after another of simple numbers. Although he was expressionless, he controlled his frozen facial muscles and the slight tremors of his body very well, so the audience could still see how tense and ill-at-ease he was deep inside.
　　Chi Song was like a human calculator, single-mindedly outputting data.
　　From outside the room, someone called him.
　　Chi Song put down his pen and went outside.
　　This was a long scene. The camera moved away from his stiff face and quickly spun around in a half circle to his back. By the time it once again focused on his front, Chi Song had already pushed open the door with an incomparably natural shallow smile on his face. “…Coming.”
　　
　　Song Zhihuai had paid the annual membership fee, so he was able to watch the first ten episodes all in one go.
　　He spent the whole night watching through those ten episodes.
　　“Kongming Lock” was an episoding show. Every five episodes would tell a story. Each could be viewed as a detective murder mystery novelette.
　　Chi Song was the male lead in this show. However, after watching ten episodes, Song Zhihuai could affirm that Chi Song’s character was arguably the most half-hearted, procrastinating character in this show.
　　Among the supporting roles, there was a silent, harsh but cool motorcyclist, a poison-tongued tsundere female forensic investigator, a kind gentlemanly lawyer, and a beautiful paranoid female psychologist. And even if the female forensic investigator didn’t have that much screen time, she was also a big bro there for comedic relief and someone who had multiple personality disorder. Every character was ‘trendy’ and multi-faceted.
　　
　　If this were a book and Chi Song were the leading role, he was afraid that Chi Song’s sense of existence wouldn’t be able to beat that of the other supporting roles’.
　　But in this TV show, surrounded by newcomers, Chi Song was the one who shone the brightest.
　　
　　The role he played was that of a nonprofessional detective. He didn’t have any unusual quirks; he was just a very ordinary mortician.
　　According to the show’s other characters, he was a person who “was easily liked and befriended by everyone else.”
　　Most of the time, the Chi Song in the show was like the big brother next door; he was dressed from head to toe in casual clothes, smiled, made dirty jokes, and was crafty. But, behind the scenes, he’d play at being a murderer.
　　When described, he didn’t seem like anything special, but Chi Song’s performance was a mix of the leisureness from everyday life and all kinds of crafty plots. On the surface, everything was normal, but there was still an inexplicable sense of strangeness.
　　
　　After watching the first ten episodes, Song Zhihuai watched the episode highlights.
　　The highlights were interviews of the main creators, along with some interesting anecdotes from behind the scenes.
　　When interviewing the director Lu Yuan, the interviewer asked if Chi Song’s simple, clever, and knowledgeable character setting would seem bland. The rather pretty and delicate youth said very self-confidently, “Chi Song is undoubtedly this show’s protagonist. Even his character setting isn’t enough to cover up his brilliance.”
　　
　　Song Zhihuai remembered this person. He’d blown a kiss at Chi Song on Weibo before.
　　Even though those words were in favor of Chi Song, Song Zhihuai still decisively skipped this section.
　　…Just looking at that face made him angry.
　　
　　Chi Song’s interview was right after the director’s.
　　After the interviewer asked a few questions about “Kongming Lock” itself, he started to chat with Chi Song. At the end, he asked, “Do you have anything you want to say to your fans?”
　　Chi Song’s face turned slightly red as he thought aloud, “…He should be able to see this, right?”
　　This sentence didn’t have captions because Chi Song had used his own native dialect to say it. Not only did the crew in charge of captioning not understand, even the interviewer was taken aback. “What?”
　　Chi Song thought for a bit before facing the camera. He coughed lightly and said, “Thank you, my fans¹. I like you the most.”
　　Then, he made a heart shape with his hands. The blush from his cheeks seeped down to the base of his neck, dying it red. He looked as bashful as a little wife, making people love him very, very dearly.
　　
　　…Probably only Song Zhihuai knew who this sentence was directed towards.
　　Very early in the morning, due to this simple sentence, Song Zhihuai’s beastly blood started to boil, and he picked up his phone to give Chi Song a call.
　　
　　“Oh… Zhihuai?””
　　Only after hearing the dazed little voice coming from the other side of the phone did Song Zhihuai calm down slightly. “Sorry, were you still sleeping?”
　　Rustling noises as Chi Song got out of bed and cat mews came from the other side. “I was just about ready to get up… Handsome was already licking me, urging me to let her outside to play.”
　　“Why are you up so early?”
　　Chi Song said, “Work, of course. The earlier I start, the earlier I can get off work.”
　　Then, he mumbled to himself, “Oh, I have a night scene tonight… so I can’t get off work.”
　　Song Zhihuai was amused by Chi Song’s act of conversing with himself. However, after he finished smiling, he felt a little distressed. “Is everything going well with the cast and crew?”
　　Chi Song yawned, and his voice became slightly clearer. “Everything’s going well. The meals are good, and work is also going smoothly. It’s just…” He paused, and his tone became softer. “It’s just that I miss you a little.”
　　
　　If this soft little guy was in front of him, Song Zhihuai thought that he would definitely push him down and rub against him a hundred times.
　　
　　The two chatted on the phone, as Chi Song first moved from the bed to the bathroom, then from the bathroom back to the bedroom. Song Zhihuai listened attentively to every subtle sound coming from the other side. It wasn’t until Chi Song said “if I don’t leave now, I’ll be late,” that he reluctantly put down the phone.
　　After calling his wife, Song Zhihuai’s sleepiness had completely disappeared and he ordered a plane ticket to Hengdian. He would probably be able to reach Hengdian tonight.
　　Then, Song Zhihuai laid back on the bed. He thought for a while before picking up his phone again and changed his ticket to one for a flight tomorrow night.
　　…He had a night scene today; it was hard on him.
　　
　　At six in the afternoon the next day, the cast and crew took a break.
　　Filming went especially smoothly for Chi Song today, so he was in a very good mood. He went back to the hotel to change into casual clothes, planning on going out for a walk.
　　When he went out the door, he met a similarly casually-dressed Bai Zhirong.
　　Chi Song greeted, “Hi.”
　　Bai Zhirong hesitated for a long while before awkwarding inviting, “…Let’s eat dinner together?”
　　
　　At first, Bai Zhirong firmly believed that Chi Song was the legendary scheming Holy Mother type who just wanted to have good relationships with everyone and make everyone like him.
　　Bai Zhirong’s character was straight-forward and stubborn, like that of a donkey’s. The third day Chi Song expressed goodwill towards him, he very rudely questioned him to his face, “Just what on earth are you trying to do? It’s not like I’m planning on snatching Song Zhihuai back.”
　　…He was just a tiny bit unreconciled.
　　
　　After Chi Song heard this, he showed a hesitant expression.
　　Bai Zhirong thought, aha, so I hit the nail on the head. Sure enough, he had a villainous heart.
　　Although, Bai Zhirong also knew his own identity was quite dislikable to the other. To Chi Song, he was Chi Song’s current boyfriend’s ex-boyfriend, but he still swaggered around in front of Chi Song every day, picking at his faults.
　　To be honest, not expressing his dissatisfaction or treating Bai Zhirong as air was probably already Chi Song’s limit.
　　
　　Chi Song deliberated over his words before looking at Bai Zhirong very sincerely and saying, “It’s not because of Zhihuai… I’m just worried that you won’t do your job well because you don’t like me… I’m afraid that it’ll mess up work.”
　　Bai Zhirong wanted to say, it’s just the two of us here, so why are you pretending to be an outstanding student? But when he thought back to what he had seen and heard during this period of time, he found Chi Song… really didn’t seem to be lying.
　　He was probably the one who got up the earliest out of the cast and crew.
　　His script was full of diligent annotations and sketches.
　　Whenever he had free time, he would always run over to discuss scenes with the director.
　　The hotel’s soundproofing wasn’t very good. Because Bai Zhirong lived diagonally across from him, he constantly saw the lights in Chi Song’s room stay on until very late at night and heard the sound of Chi Song saying the script’s lines floating out from below the door into his own ears.
　　
　　Chi Song stated his sincerity unpretentiously. “I really like acting, so I hope we can do everything to the best of our ability.”
　　Bai Zhirong was silent for a long time before mechanically reaching out his hand and patting Chi Song’s shoulder.
　　
　　…I know.
　　
　　Bai Zhirong suffered from insomnia until midnight and got up early in the morning the next day. He bought two cups of purple rice congee and took them to the dressing room.
　　He first went to check Cai Qingqing’s makeup and gave her a few suggestions. Then, he arrived in front of Chi Song.
　　He asked, “Have you eaten breakfast yet?”
　　Chi Song had gotten up a little earlier today. He replied honestly, “…I haven’t yet.”
　　Bai Zhirong pushed both the cup of purple rice congee and the straw into Chi Song’s arms.
　　Without waiting for Chi Song to express his gratitude, Bai Zhirong quickly turned to the makeup artist. “His clothes today don’t match his eyebrow shape. Fix them.”
　　Chi Song’s makeup artist was already used to being ridiculed by Bai Zhirong every morning. She replied numbly, “How should they be fixed?”
　　Bai Zhirong took an eyebrow pencil from the makeup artist’s bag and pressed close to Chi Song. With a simple outline on his eyebrows, he accurately drew the general form.
　　Chi Song whispered, “Thank you.”
　　
　　In such close proximity, Bai Zhirong took one whiff and discovered that the mouthwash Chi Song used was the same brand as the one Song Zhihuai used.
　　But strangely, Bai Zhirong was no longer jealous.
　　All aspects of Song Zhihuai had already permeated the person in front of him down to the bone. Mouthwash, cologne, even the habit of drinking soup before eating; everything was incredibly similar to the person whom he was infatuated back then.
　　For the first time in his life, he vividly felt that Song Zhihuai was already very far away from him, and only the person in front of him right now could be considered Song Zhihuai’s other half.
　　While his brows were being outlined, Chi Song, who felt Bai Zhirong’s intimate feelings, whispered to him, “Thank you.”
　　Bai Zhirong glanced at him. “…Mn.”
　　
　　By the side, Cai Qingqing inexplicably felt that the two were surrounded by a gay air.
　　
　　Both of them were bottoms, so they had a lot of common topics to talk about when it came to relationships. They also both had a career that they were very fond of. So once the curtain of prejudice was lifted, the two’s relationship advanced by leaps and bounds.
　　Bai Zhirong gradually discovered that Chi Song’s life was very simple. In one half of his life was acting. In the other half of his life, there was his family, Song Zhihuai, and his friends. His interpersonal relationships were very simple, and sometimes even a bit one-track minded. Bai Zhirong felt worried when he saw this, and when he ate with Chi Song, he couldn’t help but say a few words.
　　
　　Before, it was always Chi Song inviting him. Bai Zhirong was at a loss for a while, feeling that he should take the initiative to invite Chi Song for once. Taking advantage of the fact that filming finished earlier today, he invited Chi Song out to dinner.
　　Just as Chi Song was about to reply, he saw someone also come out from his room.
　　Chi Song greeted him. “Brother Harry.”
　　Brother Harry nodded towards Chi Song. Then, he nodded towards Bai Zhirong.
　　Chi Song found that Brother Harry, who had always presented himself as an unfeeling tough guy to everyone else, looked a bit odd today.
　　After hesitating for a while, Brother Harry seemed to have made up his mind and said to Bai Zhirong, “May I invite you to dinner?”
　　Then, he turned to Chi Song with pleading eyes. “…Chi Song, can you come too?”
　　
　　All the clothes Brother Harry wore during this time were picked out by Bai Zhirong, but even if Chi Song used his toes to think, he still absolutely didn’t believe that the reason Brother Harry invited Bai Zhirong out to dinner was to express his gratitude to Bai Zhirong for picking out his clothes.
　　…Chi Song started to realize why Brother Harry still hadn’t married at this age.
　　Detecting that the atmosphere wasn’t right, Chi Song said quick-wittedly, “Sorry, I have something to do tonight. I’ll leave first.”
　　Bai Zhirong: “…”
　　
　　Chi Song, who was unwilling to become a third wheel, took the initiative to back out, walking out onto the street by himself.
　　The sunset glow was really beautiful. He felt moved, taking a picture and sending it to Song Zhihuai.
　　
　　Chi Song put on his mask and stood on the side of the slightly darkened street. Then, he lowered his head and sent Song Zhihuai a message. “Look, it looks so good.”
　　Not even half a minute later, Song Zhihuai replied on WeChat.
　　He also sent a picture of Chi Song’s figure from the back, with his head lowered and his body bathed by the sunset glow, along with the line, “You are also very good-looking.”
　　Chi Song suddenly turned around.
　　Song Zhihuai stood in front of the stunning expanse of a deep red sunset, smiling as he waved his phone at him.

---

Translator’s Note: Ah!! Is Brother Harry *interested* in Bai Zhirong? And so romantic~~ I can imagine that as an anime scene LOL.

< Prev | TOC | Next >

---

Footnotes:

[1]: fans (粉丝, fěn sī)- in Chinese, there’s no difference between plural and singular nouns. So when Chi Song says “fan”, it can be interpreted as “fans” as well. It’s just a little wordplay, where to the general public, it seems like he’s expressing his love to all his fans, when he’s actually just expressing his love to one of his fans (Song Zhihuai). ↩