An'an Likes

The name An'an was Qu An's parents' blessing for him. Later, because of what happened in his childhood, Qu An's parents became even more insistent on calling him An'an, though it was hard to say whose heart they were trying to reassure.

"I'm fine, Mom." Qu An would be taking a red-eye flight to Qingcheng later, a midnight plane.

In their family, everyone called each other "Dad" and "Mom," so even his father, the stern-faced company president, called the company's chairman—Grandpa Qu—"Dad."

"Is An'an angry?" Yan Zhenshu still used the same tone, but there was an odd hint of happiness in her voice.

"No, Mom."

Yan Zhenshu had instructed Zhu Fei to sign him up for this show, because Qu An disliked socializing with people outside of acting. Yan Zhenshu had not called Qu An for several days, and he had no idea why she had suddenly brought this up today.

"An'an can be angry. Mom hopes you're angry." Yan Zhenshu sounded somewhat disappointed.

"Mom, I'm doing pretty well right now." Yan Zhenshu always worried too much. Qu An knew she did it for him, but to him, these things truly did not make much difference.

Yan Zhenshu was silent on the other end for a long time before she finally spoke. "An'an, can Mom ask you a question?"

Qu An answered. He would not hide anything from Yan Zhenshu; after all, there was nothing he needed to conceal.

"Does An'an like that little friend Xiao Ming?" As if afraid he might misunderstand, she added, "Zhu Fei said you help him a lot."

"Mom, don't overthink it. Also, the opportunity on this show was something you arranged, wasn't it?" When the production team had wanted to sign Xiao Ming to a long-term contract, he had already sensed that something was off.

Although Xiao Ming was indeed a good choice all things considered, he was a newcomer with limited popularity, an unstable fanbase, no works to his name, and not much public discussion surrounding him.

More than half of the discussion surrounding Xiao Ming had to do with Qu An.

"This is the first time An'an has admired someone so much after playing a game with them, and you even helped him stream, right? An'an, don't lie to Mom." Yan Zhenshu spoke as if coaxing a child, but Qu An was used to it. After all these years, the person most affected by that incident had actually been his mother.

"He's very smart, and I feel like there's something familiar about him. I only admire him, that's all." Qu An answered honestly, though Xiao Ming's figure surfaced in his mind again.

"Little Xiao Ming looks very well-behaved. Mom likes him too."

Other celebrity parents would worry if their children had dating rumors or partners. Yan Zhenshu practically wished Qu An would have a dating rumor.

"Mom..." Qu An's tone carried a trace of helplessness.

But Yan Zhenshu's voice grew more distant as she excitedly spoke to someone in what she clearly thought was a quiet voice. "Brother, An'an seems like he's getting a little mad at me."

Someone else took the phone. Qu Tingye said, "An'an, your mother is just a little excited."

"I know, Dad."

After saying that, both of them fell silent for a while. In the end, Qu Tingye said, "If you like that kid, your mother and I don't mind," then hung up on the grounds that it was getting late.

"An'an, get some sleep early. Your mother and I are going to rest too."

He did not give Qu An a chance to respond. Qu An only managed to say, "Good night."

There was not much he could do to explain his parents' misunderstanding. Even he himself felt like he was drifting through a fog.

After speaking with his parents, Qu An arrived at the airport. While waiting in the departure lounge, he saw that Xiao Ming had replied to the message he had just sent.

He immediately sent another message: [Still awake?] The reply came: [Just finished showering. I'll sleep after my hair dries. ('▽')♪] His mind went blank for a moment, and by the time he came back to himself, he had already placed a voice call.

The call was brief, less than a minute long, but the low mood Qu An had deliberately suppressed all day seemed to ease somewhat when he looked at their chat window.

"See you tomorrow," he murmured to himself.

The news of Xiao Ming's injury during the third recording kept escalating. It trended several times, bringing him to many people's attention, and there were considerably more business collaboration offers in his private messages. However, many were from unheard-of small brands of uncertain reliability.

Besides, he had not come here to make money. He simply wanted to have fun. Now, there might be one more reason: recording a variety show with his idol.

Other people turned their idols into friends. He turned his friend into an idol.

He was still playing on a whole different level.

Ever since last time, Xiao Ming checked his work account whenever he had nothing to do, in case he missed any messages. At least until he finished recording the show, he still counted as a public figure.

He rejected every collaboration offer, ignored all insults, and read every compliment without replying.

The number of followers on his main page was astonishing to him, but after seeing that many fan edits were of Xiao Ming's junior disciple character, he accepted it.

Achievements that did not belong to him were nothing more than a string of numbers.

However, someone called "It's Yang Yiyi" seemed to be a fan, yet she had sent him plenty of brand collaboration offers and the like.

Xiao Ming clicked into her profile and found that she had even more followers than he did. It also seemed that she had originally liked Qu An.

Most importantly, the name "Yang Yiyi" sounded incredibly familiar. As Xiao Ming pondered it, he received a text saying, "Your delivery has arrived. Remember to collect it." It was the two boxes of Mint Soda Qu An had said he would send him.

Xiao Ming immediately remembered hearing the staff mention that the Mermaid who had originally filmed an advertisement with Qu An was named Yang Yiyi. It could not possibly be that much of a coincidence, could it?

Still, he was only surprised for a moment. Tang Gudu had sent him a message on WeChat. He had long since turned off notifications for him and habitually intended to ignore it, but when he saw the words "See you in the daytime," his heart inexplicably skipped a beat. During that year, the people who had spent time with Xiao Ming were the people from that production crew.

Although Xiao Ming's behavior in his memories was not too different from his own usual behavior, Xiao Ming still felt a little uneasy.

After reading Tang Gudu's message, Xiao Ming did not look at anything else. Tang Gudu wanted to hit on him, and it was painfully obvious.

The first episode of Full Speed Ahead! had been a favor exchanged between Xiao Ming and Tang Gudu, and that debt was settled. What happened afterward had nothing to do with him.

He had added the three people from Qu An's fan support association on WeChat, using his personal account.

He was pulled into several group chats. After joining, he was met with a flood of "Hello, sister," but he did not explain.

[Did I hear that our new sister is from Peking University?]

[Xiao Xiao: Yes, I'm about to start my first year of grad school.]

[We've gained another powerful member!]

[That's amazing! Welcome, Xiao Xiao!]

[Hi, Xiao Xiao! Since you're here... get ready to be worked to the bone! Anbao's Mountain is getting a second theatrical run! We need to arrange theater buyouts and publicity on the subway, buses, and more!]

Mountain was the film that had earned Qu An his Best Actor award. Since he had won the Golden Arts Award, the movie's popularity had surged again.

Since Xiao Ming was new and still needed time to familiarize himself with things, he was not actually assigned many tasks. His main responsibility was theater buyouts.

Theater buyouts were not as simple as he had imagined. Besides the screening itself, there were also support gifts the fan association distributed to fans afterward. Xiao Ming did not need to design them, but he had to choose the most suitable options based on cost-effectiveness.

Still, compared to his thesis, this was much easier. He only needed to research stores, check their reputations and buyer reviews, and confirm shipping and locations.

Since Xiao Ming was from the capital, he only needed to handle several theater buyouts there. Local fan support associations would arrange everything elsewhere.

It was not easy, but it was not as difficult as he had expected.

The Qu An Fan Support Association's primary source of income came from selling fan merchandise. The fundraising they had often used in the past had since been explicitly banned, but Qu An's fans included plenty of wealthy older sisters and brothers. There was always someone who could find a way.

Xiao Ming did not need to handle outreach, so it was not something he needed to worry about. It could be said that his work was genuinely quite easy.

That was also because he did not have any other work. It was summer break, and all he had to do was wait for school to start.

Though he said he was no longer going to grind himself to the bone, Xiao Ming still previewed the material he would be studying whenever he had time. After all, he still needed to graduate.

By the time Qu An arrived at the hotel, it was nearly two in the morning. That day's recording would begin at ten-thirty, so they would need to get up around six or seven.

The group left the hotel together. Xiao Ming and Qu An were in the same car, along with Lin Shange and Guan Jun.

"Xiao Ming, your outfit and Brother Qu's outfit look kind of similar today too." They were both wearing solid-colored clothes, one sky blue and the other mint green.

Lin Shange sounded curious as her eyes moved back and forth between them.

"Our clothes don't have little bells on them. Maybe they only look similar because they're simple."

Lin Shange and Guan Jun each had a bell on their clothes, one large and one small, and both were pink. No matter how you looked at it, those two looked more intentionally coordinated.

Qu An did not say it outright, but that one remark made Lin Shange close her mouth and turn to chat with Guan Jun instead.

Xiao Ming was not stupid. He caught Lin Shange's implied meaning and secretly gave Qu An a thumbs-up.

He and Qu An sat in the same row. When they were alone together, they did not lack things to talk about, but when there were more people around, they somehow did not know what to say.

"Did you change the dressing on your hand this morning?" Qu An asked in a lowered voice.

"I did. I changed it as soon as I got up, and medical staff came by too. They said the bandages could come off the day after tomorrow. I can't wrap it too tightly, or my skin won't be able to breathe and it will be hard for it to scab over."

Guan Jun, seated in the front row, heard him and turned around. "Can Xiao Ming's hand keep recording today? If not, you need to say so. It felt like the director was about to cry from anxiety yesterday." Though Guan Jun said it jokingly, it made people feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Xiao Ming did not say much and simply replied, "Okay."

Instead, Qu An gave Guan Jun a faint look, his emotions unreadable.

Lin Shange said, "But Xiao Ming is amazing! At that revival course yesterday, you ran so fast. Everyone said it was like you were about to take flight. It seems like your hand injury gave you an extra buff instead."

Guan Jun said, "You really were fast. When I got caught yesterday, Xiao Ming and Brother Qu disappeared the moment we turned around. Ridiculously fast."

"Xiao Ming does run pretty fast. He can get three Revival Cards. But the hunters seem to favor you too—they always go around us first to look for you. They're probably more into looks." Qu An replied.

Xiao Ming often felt that Qu An spoke for him, not counting those tactful remarks meant to smooth things over.

Honestly, after watching so many of Qu An's works, Xiao Ming had always felt that Qu An was familiar, especially when he first watched footage of Qu An at five or six years old. But after Qu An grew up, that sense of familiarity faded considerably. Xiao Ming had only assumed that he liked soft and adorable Qu An more.

Xiao Ming and Qu An did not talk much on the way. The other two in front were busy chattering about how early they had been caught. Perhaps remembering that their revival yesterday had partly been thanks to Xiao Ming and Qu An, they did not say anything else likely to cause controversy.

Situations like this were far too common in the entertainment industry, and not just there. They were everywhere in real workplaces too. In the past, Qu An would only smile and let them pass, but Xiao Ming looked so easy to bully that he could not help speaking up.

Among the regular participants recording today, Lin Xiang was absent due to other commitments. Yi Xiaoda, You Duidui, Yan Meng, Shan Yi, Jiang Yuefeng, Li Zichang, Jiang Yuan, and Sun Junlei had joined instead, along with newcomers Tang Gudu and Ning Shupei, both actors.

Jiang Yuefeng and Sun Junlei had participated in the second episode of Full Speed Ahead! Xiao Ming had never met either of them, but he had some impression of Jiang Yuefeng.

After Jiang Yuefeng's attempt to buy a trending topic with Qu An had failed last time, he had not stirred up trouble again. Yet the moment they met today, Jiang Yuefeng came over.

He was very cute-looking, with dimples when he smiled and crescent-shaped eyes, but the moment Xiao Ming saw him, he sensed hostility.

At first, he thought he was overthinking it, until he saw the gloomy malice in Jiang Yuefeng's gaze toward him, utterly mismatched with the smile on his face.

"Hello, you're Xiao Ming, right? I'm Jiang Yuefeng. I heard you're really impressive, so I'll have to trouble you and Brother Qu to look after me today."

When Jiang Yuefeng approached, he seemed to want to link arms with Qu An, but Qu An avoided him. Tang Gudu arrived a little later and headed straight for Xiao Ming as soon as he got out of the car.

"Xiao Ming, long time no see. Did you miss Brother Tang?" Tang Gudu tried to hug Xiao Ming as soon as he arrived, far too enthusiastic.

Xiao Ming discreetly took a step back and gave him a faint, distant smile. "Brother Tang, long time no see." He did not mention the latter half of Tang Gudu's words at all.

Tang Gudu's expression darkened for a moment before he patted Xiao Ming on the shoulder. "Ah, Xiao Ming, it feels like you've become more distant with me. Come to think of it, I was the one who introduced you to the production team."

The feeling of Tang Gudu's hand on his shoulder made Xiao Ming uncomfortable. Without hesitation, he stepped away again. "Yes. Luckily, I cushioned Brother Tang when the wire work went wrong. Otherwise, neither of us would probably be standing here chatting."

Xiao Ming had traded his own injury for the opportunity Tang Gudu gave him. And it had started because Tang Gudu wanted to show off. In the end, he failed, crashed into an artificial rockery, and fell straight to the ground. Xiao Ming had caught him, preventing a more serious injury.