After the Storm

"He didn't plan to stay in the entertainment industry. I don't think he's suited for it either. That kid's too innocent."

"Can you stop acting so old-fashioned all day? You're calling him a kid when you're actually a year younger than him." She muttered, "Little old man," afterward.

Qu An did not argue. His reply seemed to carry a smile, but his eyes on this end of the call held not the slightest ripple, only cold indifference.

"Got it, Sister Fei. I'll leave the rest to you. We probably won't have any more dealings after this."

Zhu Fei did not know whether it was an illusion, but she felt that final sentence sounded like a sigh.

But she was busy handling public relations and had no time to dwell on it.

After hanging up, Qu An recalled what had happened today, and the curve of his lips became a little more genuine before quickly fading again.

They had merely crossed paths by chance. There was no need to care.

Zhu Fei truly lived up to the expectations of Qu An's mother. Qu An's good reputation with the public over the years was partly thanks to her, and she handled matters quickly and decisively.

Before long, the rumor online that Qu An had kept Xiao Ming as a lover collapsed on its own.

Zhu Fei mainly promoted the two men's excellent performance during the day's program recording, saying that Qu An knew how to repay kindness. It had clearly only been a game, yet he had taken it seriously and still remembered that favor afterward.

Because they could not reveal the program's content, she only spoke vaguely about it. Instead, it piqued everyone's curiosity and made them look forward to the show even more, urging the production team to release the finished episode. The crew was happy to see it happen and also said a few words in support.

That afternoon, someone from the advertising endorsement side spoke up as well, explaining that Xiao Ming had been invited to help them out. Otherwise, the commercial shoot would have been delayed another day. Xiao Ming had not known beforehand that Qu An and the others would be filming there, and the advertisement team had only made the decision on a whim.

They also called on everyone to pay more attention to the work itself, subtly expressing dissatisfaction toward the people who had gone to the beach to watch the excitement that day. However, they did not say it outright, leaving everyone to read between the lines. They even set aside the reason involving Qu An and only said that the locals had been too enthusiastic.

As for dinner, they directly stated that Qu An had saved Xiao Ming, which was why Xiao Ming had offered to treat him.

After speaking with Qu An, Zhu Fei understood that everything the boy said, directly or indirectly, meant one thing—this had nothing to do with Xiao Ming. The man would not be staying in the industry, so do not drag him into it.

But Zhu Fei did not say much. She still trusted Qu An's judgment of people. Anyone who had ulterior motives toward him did not even need her to deal with them; Qu An would settle it himself and would not have much contact with them afterward.

The tide online quickly turned. After the paid commenters controlled the comments, most people were praising Qu An, while some said that Xiao Ming seemed like a decent, straightforward person.

Of course, some people said it might be hype, another attempt to build momentum, but those remarks did not last long before being drowned out by other discussions.

Xiao Ming had been exhausted after running around all day, and as soon as he arrived, he headed straight to the hotel to rest.

Only when he woke early the next morning and saw the message Xiao Le had sent on WeChat did he learn that so much had happened yesterday.

His handsome brows furrowed on his beautiful face, though his naturally cold expression made people assume he was angry whenever they saw it.

In reality, Xiao Ming was only annoyed and conflicted over whether he should apologize to Qu An.

In the internet age, there were many ways to learn about other people and how interpersonal relationships worked. Recently, Xiao Ming had been experiencing this through novels.

He remembered a book he had somehow clicked into yesterday, one whose title he could not see. It had said, "If you don't know whether you were wrong, don't argue anyway. Apologize sincerely—it must be your fault. When apologizing, you can act cute appropriately to ease some of the other person's anger."

Xiao Ming thought that made sense. Advice summarized by netizens should not be nonsense, so he spent a long time composing an apology before sending it over.

[I'm really sorry about what happened today ≥﹏≤. It was all my fault (｡•́︿•̀｡). I affected you, and there definitely won't be a next time (๑•́ωก̀๑).]

Qu An had just finished showering and was getting ready for bed. He still had recording early tomorrow morning. Hearing the WeChat notification, he wiped his hair with a towel, unlocked his phone with his fingerprint, and opened it.

All of Qu An's WeChat contacts except his family had Do Not Disturb enabled, while work groups active during work hours were pinned to the top. He had initially thought something had happened at home, only to realize after opening it that he had forgotten to turn on Do Not Disturb for Xiao Ming.

He had never hesitated when setting others to Do Not Disturb, but as he looked at Xiao Ming's profile picture now, he froze for a moment, unable to tap the option.

Forget it. They probably would not have any contact afterward anyway, so it made no difference whether he enabled it or not.

At this point, he had not realized that this was special treatment.

When he saw the actual message, Qu An did not know how to react at all. Could words that used emoticons to act cute really have been sent by Xiao Ming?

Imagining the other man typing those words with a cold expression, Qu An found it amusing.

Maybe young people had seen something new again. Xiao Le was always like that—whenever he saw something new, he could not resist following the trend and imitating it. Though Xiao Ming did not look like the type who liked chasing trends.

[It's okay. Thank you for keeping the hunters away from me all day. The seafood tonight was delicious too. /happy.jpg]

Only after seeing Qu An's reply did Xiao Ming finally relax. But he quickly realized it was late and that the other man had recording the next day, so he hurriedly said goodbye.

Xiao Ming knew that the second episode was being filmed in a neighboring city, but he did not know which neighboring city. When choosing a city to travel to, he had not considered that at all.

When he was about to enter the scenic area and saw a group of people queuing ahead of him, his thoughts wandered to whether they might happen to be in the same city again. But he quickly dismissed it. Yesterday at dinner, he had mentioned where he was headed. If it were the same place, Qu An... or Xiao Le probably would have said something.

Putting his mind at ease, Xiao Ming began seriously appreciating the beauty of nature.

But Xiao Ming had only been worried because he had been startled by what happened on the ferry and beach yesterday.

Since the commercial shoot had lasted quite a while, fans and curious passersby had gradually gathered around them afterward. There had not been too many, but it was enough to trigger Xiao Ming's social anxiety. Fortunately, Qu An and Xiao Le had been there then.

Realizing that he was thinking about yesterday again, Xiao Ming shook his head.

Xiao Ming, you'll make new friends in the future. You can't be reluctant to let go just because you had too much fun yesterday.

Even if he did not understand the entertainment industry, he knew that he and Qu An probably would not have any more interaction after this. Whenever his exam results had been less than ideal, he would encourage himself in this way.

Xiao Ming, it's okay. There are still chances. Forget the last time.

Whether he had succeeded or failed, he would keep striving forward. That had been his way of motivating himself in the past.

Now it had become: whether he had been happy or had failed, he still had to live through the next day, facing it with a brand-new attitude.

Yesterday, Xiao Ming had learned from Xiao Le about Weibo's popularity. Last night, he had specifically downloaded it and registered a new account, since "Xiao Ming" had been using the old one, and Xiao Le had told him about accidentally liking posts.

Last night, still unfamiliar with the app, he had followed Qu An and his fan supertopic, then logged out and went to sleep.

After walking around the scenic area for quite some time, he was tired. When he stopped to rest, he took out his phone and, as if possessed, opened it. The supertopic would not directly reveal Qu An's information now.

Xiao Ming felt a little disappointed and exited, but he accidentally tapped something while leaving and entered the homepage of a major fan account, then followed it.

Then he saw images visible only to followers, along with Qu An's recording location.

It was not Xiao Ming's city, but it was still a neighboring city. The three cities happened to be right next to one another.

From the leaked photos, it seemed to be somewhere like an ancient town or old houses, since all that could be seen were buildings, bricks, and roof tiles.

A strange young man Xiao Ming had never seen was following beside Qu An. He was probably a new guest.

The regular cast of Full Speed Ahead! made up exactly half the participants in each episode. Qu An was one of them, as were Meng Na and Lin Shange from the five-member girl group, along with Lin Xiang and Xing Tong. Adding Guan Jun, Yuan Yangming, and Zhong Ka, there were eight regulars in total.

This was not something the production team had directly told him, since they would not reveal contract information about other guests, including the number of episodes.

Xiao Ming had merely guessed it from the fan leaks and some of the things they said.

It was not hard to guess. Once he knew how many people remained, he could infer it from the few casual remarks they had made in the Pause Room after recording ended.

But he was looking forward to Qu An being a regular. The first episode had not been especially difficult to understand, though it had mostly depended on physical ability. Qu An also thought quickly and ran fast. If he had not been attacked from both sides, he should have been able to become the Acceleration King.

For some reason, Xiao Ming felt that Qu An would win an Acceleration King title in the second episode.

However, in the fan leaks, the unfamiliar new young man had stayed close to Qu An almost the entire time. But his "entire time" was only the entirety of his own time.

Fans revealed that when half the time remained, that young man had been caught. After that, Qu An had acted alone.

No one knew who started it first, but perhaps because only fans could see it, their comments were more uninhibited.

[Looking at it this way, xm seems better. At least last time he helped Anbao lure the hunters away several times. This one kept leading the hunters toward Anbao the whole time.]

[I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like Anbao seems to quite appreciate that xm guy. I mean appreciate in the ordinary, literal sense.]

[I feel it too. But honestly, when I watched from far away on the Mountain last time, I vaguely saw xm constantly running around doing missions.]

[And Anbao rarely eats with people. At the very least, he acknowledges this person.]

These fans had followed him for years, and some even had spouses and children. Compared with noisy new fans, their views were closer to Qu An himself.

[Seeing Anbao getting more and more popular now, with so many casual fans who are hard to manage, I'm getting more worried.]

[Me too. I'm always afraid our Anbao will go from being known for his talent to becoming an idol-type star, though that face definitely has the qualifications.]

[Don't think like that, everyone. We've known Anbao for so many years. Don't we understand him? Let's just manage the people in the fan group properly and try to recruit some more capable people.]

[Are you talking about an accountant?]

[Delete it, talk privately!]