The blooming smile on her face (1)
There was a celebration banquet after the concert and it was very late1 when Huo Xi returned to his room after a night of drinking. He then went on Weibo to wish safety to his fans and he flipped through yesterday’s red carpet news.
The Sheng Qiao he saw in the photo was very different from the cowardly girl he believed he knew.
After thinking about it for a while, he dialed her number. The voice that responded when the call connected was as happy as ever: “Huo Xi! Is the celebration over?”
He hummed: “Were you there tonight?”
“Of course! I took a lot of photos!”
Because of the current contract termination, he had thought she would be depressed but she still was in the mood to attend his concert.
Huo Xi paused before saying: “Preparing for the concert was a lot of work and I have been very busy.”
He had wanted to call her after she had shared the recordings. Everybody was now aware of what had happened and of course people showed sympathy.
Xingyao Media had threatened her with naked pictures and had not expected her to share her own dirty laundry. Did she think she would get out of it without a scratch? Although she had earned the pity of the whole network, in insiders’ eyes, this kind of self confidence was destructive.
In the future, when people would see her, they would only think about her naked photos. Although no one had seen them, everybody knew about them and knew they had existed. Everybody was curious and once people had shown weakness, it would always be there.
She seemed different from before. He had never seen in her such courage, confidence and optimism. Huo Xi tried to find his words and added: “If you need my help, you just need to ask.”
Sheng Qiao was shaking her head repeatedly in her room: “No, no, no, no, it’s really nothing. It will be resolved soon. You already called me to check on me, I am already very grateful.”
She had to be satisfied with what she had, she had understood this truth long ago.
She happily said: “Huo Xi, you go rest. You’ve worked hard, the concert was perfect.”
At this point, Huo Xi did not press further: “Okay, good night.”
“Good night!”
After hearing her idol wishing her good night, Sheng Qiao had a dreamless good night sleep. When she woke up the next morning, after washing and doing her business, she logged on her official fan club. As she was about to send her good morning blog, she discovered the number of members had risen by two millions overnight and the number of comments that she usually tried her best to maintain was now in the three digit.
Whether it came from sympathy, curiosity or her red carpert’s beautiful appearance, new members of the official fan club meant they were no longer haters and willing to pay attention to her. Even if they were still passersby in their core, it was enough to make Sheng Qiao happy.
One should not ask for more fans but for less haters!
At the same moment, Huo Xi posted a statement about his termination with Xingyao Media and announced the establishment of his own studio. Fans remembered he had supported Sheng Qiao’s post earlier and it turned out he had already been about to terminate his own contract. It dispelled most previous speculations.
After breakfast, Sheng Qiao called Qiao Yu. Yesterday, he had reminded her she had a document to sign and Sheng Qiao wanted to confirm with him. After all, since Xingyao Media had cancelled her schedule, she had some free time and planned to go to the mall to buy things for her home.
She had to call twice before Qiao Yu answered, his voice filled with worry: “I am sorry, Miss Sheng, I have something to do today. Let’s meet tomorrow instead.”
Sheng Qiao hurriedly asked: “Is something wrong? Did anything happen?”
Qiao Yu said: “My mother is sick and I have to take care of her. I will contact you tomorrow.” And he hung up.
Sheng Qiao was frozen for a while. Mother Qiao’s health had never been good since her early years and it worsened more every season. In addition, because of her bad legs, she had to stay in a wheelchair. Qiao Yu’s voice sounded panicked, was something wrong with her mother?
Sheng Qiao’s head exploded and she heard a ringing noise in her ears. She tried to call Qiao Yu again to find out which hospital they were at but he did not answer. Sheng Qiao was really anxious and she could only think of taking a taxi to the Qiao household.
The door was closed tightly and no one opened after she knocked on it for a long time. Sheng Qiao did not know what to do and she sat down on the floor.
She stayed put until dark. The nights in winter always came too soon and were always accompanied by the cold wind. Because she had come out in a hurry, Sheng Qiao had not taken any scarf nor gloves and she was shaking with the cold.
She was rubbing her hands and ears when a young man in running clothes jogged across the track in front of the house. He kept running, stopped and went back on his steps. After a moment, he took out his headphones and yelled: “Sheng Qiao, what are you doing here?”
Sheng Qiao raised her head quickly. Even if it was dark and she could not see the man’s face, she knew who it was from his voice and silhouette.
“Huo Xi!”
She was a little happy and wanted to walk over but as she stood up too abruptly, her frozen limbs gave up. She staggered and fell forward.
Fortunately, Huo Xi reacted quickly, reached her in two or three steps and grabbed her hand. He frowned when his fingers felt the back of her cold hand.
Sheng Qiao held his arm and waited until the world stopped spinning. After recovering, she apologized and thanked him. Huo Xi looked at her and asked: “It’s so cold tonight, why are you sitting in front of someone else’s door?”
“I… I’m waiting for someone.”
“Do you know this family?”
“The lawyer I hired is from this house…” She did not want to lie to her idol or even cover the truth and quickly changed the subject: “Huo Xi, you are running at night?”
“Yeah.” He observed her a bit longer and when he noticed she was shaking and trying to keep herself warm with her arms, he asked: “If nobody comes back, are you planning on freezing to death here?”
Sheng Qiao said nothing but looked at him with a cheerful expression.
So close… Yesterday he was a light she could not have touched on the stage but today, he was standing just in front of her, within reach. She wanted to get on her tiptoe and hug him. And tell him how much she liked him.
No! No way! She had to stop her dangerous thoughts immediately. Huo Xi did not like physical contact and she should not bring him any discomfort! She had to restrain herself!
Huo Xi stared at Sheng Qiao take two steps back with a serious expression on her face.
“… How long are you going to stay there?”
“Two more hours.”
He frowned and looked at the sky. After a long silence, he quietly said: “Come wait at my house. It’s too cold outside.”
Besides, the residence’s security would soon start patrolling. She was a popular celebrity and was currently in a lawsuit, she did not need any unwanted attention. Huo Xi had thought she had became smarter but she still acted quite stupid.
Sheng Qiao’s eyes lit up. Last time, when she had gone to her idol’s house, she had only been crying and had not looked around. She was getting another chance?
She immediately agreed: “Let’s go.” But after two steps, she remembered something and asked: “Huo Xi, you are sure there are no paparazzi here? Be sure to not get photographed.”
He answered: “Just cover yourself up.” Sheng Qiao then took off her coat and covered her head with it.
- Actually, the author said early morning but I took some liberties. I believe the author meant something like 2 in the morning but it was confusing me with the timeline as changing day would put the red carpet at two days ago (and Sheng Qiao hasn’t fallen asleep yet!). Anyway, liberties.
TL note: Okay, to be honest, this chapter is largely interpreted. Meaning is the same but a more literal translation made the thing so messed up and I had to switch some sentences to make the lot somewhat more understandable. Don’t ask me why this was a mess, I might have just been tired.
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