One-sixth of a dream.
Fang Juexia wasn’t sure if Pei Tingsong was being sincere at that moment, but when he heard those words, his heart did indeed tremble violently, and his fingertips went numb. Just a short while ago, they had been merely going through the motions, but now, Fang Juexia found himself beginning to indulge in this sense of belonging that he had been drawn into.
When had he become like this?
So easily moved.
After hearing Pei Tingsong’s ruthless sarcasm, Liang Ruo, standing beside him, clenched his fists, feeling a lump in his throat. He had heard of Pei Tingsong’s style before, and even their agent had said to avoid conflicts with him, so Liang Ruo temporarily held back. He didn’t want to cause trouble, so he pretended Pei Tingsong didn’t exist.
“Juexia,” he turned his head, his eyes carrying a hint of weakness, “if you have time, we…”
“Sorry.” Fang Juexia interrupted him without expression, decisive with no room for negotiation, “I don’t have time, and neither do you.”
Liang Ruo couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t accept that Fang Juexia would walk down a different path from him, even if they had to part ways because of the past. Those memories were real.
“Actually, you really don’t need to take it to heart.” Fang Juexia’s lips curved slightly into a smile that was full of grace but devoid of emotion. “If it were anyone else, at that moment, I would have stood up for them.”
To Liang Ruo, those words were the ultimate irony.
“I’m going back. I’m tired.” Pei Tingsong wrapped his arm around his shoulder and left. “Hey, you didn’t bring headphones, so why did you come all the way here to listen?”
“It’s too noisy inside.”
“Why didn’t you ask someone else if they had headphones? You’re so stubborn.”
“You’ve even learned to use the word ‘stubborn’.”
Watching the two of them leave, Liang Ruo leaned on the sink, took a deep breath, faced the mirror, and tried his best to manage his expression.
The mirror seemed to have turned into the mirror in the practice room, and the indifferent person seemed to be standing next to him.
But everything had changed.
The two left the restroom, turned the corner, and walked down another corridor. Fang Juexia tried to take Pei Tingsong’s arm off hers.
“My shoulders are sore…” Fang Juexia murmured, glancing at Pei Tingsong, “How long have you been eavesdropping outside?”
That glance made Pei Tingsong sense a different emotion—it wasn’t the same indifferent Fang Juexia anymore. Pei Tingsong hummed deeply, “From the first word Liang Ruo spoke? Anyway, I followed him in.“ As he spoke, he thought of Fang Juexia’s behavior earlier, ”Why didn’t you just refuse him directly? Could it be that you really left me some room to maneuver?”
Fang Juexia lowered his head and smiled, “Do you think that by not refusing him and letting him keep talking, I look indecisive?”
Not exactly. Pei Tingsong knew his personality; he seemed calm on the surface, but was actually quite sharp.
He shrugged, “I just found it strange.”
“I know Liang Ruo’s personality better than you do. He’s a person with an overinflated sense of self-importance.” Fang Juexia said casually, “If I had firmly refused him and cut him off, it would only make him think I still care about the past, and he’d feel satisfied.”
Pei Tingsong frowned, “What kind of logic is that?”
Does that mean Fang Juexia has to hate him for him to feel better?
Sometimes Pei Tingsong felt that the person in front of him was terrifyingly precise. He categorized everyone into the categories they belonged to. Fang Juexia had no gray areas in his heart; everything was clearly defined. If someone had no emotional significance to him, they were automatically categorized as a stranger.
It seemed like even hatred was a waste of energy.
“But,” Pei Tingsong was still surprised, “he was saying those disgusting things there. Didn’t you feel like you couldn’t stand it anymore?”
Fang Juexia shook his head. “For someone you don’t care about at all, what’s there to endure?”
People who don’t care don’t have anything to care about. Fang Juexia was a strange person with a logic completely different from ordinary people. He could detach himself from his emotions. As long as he wanted to, he could move on from the past at the fastest speed.
The speaker meant no harm, but the listener took it to heart.
Pei Tingsong somehow picked up on something from his words.
“You’re crazy.” Fang Juexia tried to walk around him, but Pei Tingsong shifted his feet to the right, blocking his path again, almost bumping into his shoulder.
Seeing the obvious impatience on his brother’s face, Pei Tingsong didn’t get angry at all, but instead felt a little smug, like a child, and obediently stepped aside before completely pushing the other person to the limit, “Nothing.”
Confused, Fang Juexia shook his head and walked ahead alone. Pei Tingsong followed behind him step by step, his hands in his pockets, smiling contentedly.
It seemed that patience had become a measure of the depth of one’s feelings.
How interesting.
Back at the venue, Ling Yi couldn’t help but tease them, “You two even hold hands when you go to the bathroom.”
Fang Juexia looked at his own hands, “Did we hold hands?”
Lu Yuan ignored this fact and continued Ling Yi’s words, “You know, back when we were in high school, the girls in our class would rather not go to the restroom if they didn’t have someone to go with them. That’s how close they were.”
He Ziyan laughed, “Yuan Er, I’ll accompany you to the restroom later.”
Fang Juexia took out the headphones Pei Tingsong had given him earlier and connected them to his phone, but he only had one earpiece. He tapped Pei Tingsong’s arm and asked him for the other one in a low voice, but the venue was getting more and more crowded, and their voices were drowned out by the noise. The group at the Qiyao table stood up, as if they were preparing to go on stage.
“What did you say?”
The others didn’t notice this little incident; they were distracted by the stage preparing to open.
Pei Tingsong leaned in again, whispering in his ear, “What did you just say?”
“I…” Fang Juexia paused, regaining his composure, “I wanted to ask you for another headphone.”
“Oh,” Pei Tingsong nodded, “I’ll only lend you one.” Seeing Fang Juexia turn and glare at him, Pei Tingsong laughed, “Even if you glare at me, I’ll only lend you one.”
This guy is really… Fang Juexia struggled to control his emotions.
He really couldn’t do anything about Pei Tingsong.
“Just play it,” Pei Tingsong said, propping his chin on his hand. “What are you afraid of? The original file is on my phone. I can listen to it as many times as I want.”
Fang Juexia couldn’t take it anymore. He gritted his teeth and opened the recording, resting his arms on the table, his forehead on his arms, half-lying down to listen to the evidence Pei Tingsong had kept.
He didn’t want to think about anything else; he just wanted to figure out what had happened last night.
Pei Tingsong followed suit, leaning over the table with him, staring at the progress bar of the recording. The noisy conference hall was separated by a pair of headphones. They resembled two high school students secretly leaning together during lunch break to listen to music, sharing the same audio but harboring different thoughts.
Fang Juexia covered his other ear with his hand, turning the recording volume to maximum. Suddenly, he heard Pei Tingsong’s voice.
[This is all your fault for insisting on sleeping with me.]
His heart skipped a beat.
[Hmm!]
[Can I hug you then?]
Hearing his own voice spoken in such a tone, and used to respond to Pei Tingsong, Fang Juexia felt like dying. After just a few seconds, he had already given up and wanted to take off his headphones. But Pei Tingsong was faster, stopping his hand.
“There’s more to come.”
[Whatever.]
The Pei Tingsong in the recording sounded less arrogant than usual, but it was definitely him.
How could this happen, how could this happen…
When Fang Juexia heard his own voice, he couldn’t help but pinch his thigh.
[I can’t see you anymore.]
This was too interesting. Pei Tingsong had never encountered anything this amusing in his life. He struggled to suppress his laughter, lifting his head and propping himself up on his elbows, but the headphones still played his own prophetic words.
The sound of the blanket rustling as he turned over was unusually realistic. Even though the venue was so noisy that it was difficult to even have a conversation, their hearing seemed to be amplified infinitely. The embrace, the pat on the back, the sweet responses, the messy singing—every little detail was recreated in the sound, dragging Fang Juexia, who refused to believe it, back to that drunken night.
He even mistook Pei Tingsong for a small abacus.
At that moment, Fang Juexia seriously considered the feasibility and success rate of biting his tongue to commit suicide.
Jiang Miao accidentally discovered Fang Juexia pinching his thigh while lying on the table and asked with concern, “Are you okay, Juexia? What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”
Pei Tingsong suppressed a laugh and explained for him, “It’s okay, he’s fine.”
After saying that, he patted Fang Juexia’s back gently, “Right, Jue Xia?”
Seeing Fang Juexia’s flushed ears and neck, Pei Tingsong felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
The progress bar moved to the end, concluding with Fang Juexia’s final line, “Go to sleep, little calculator.”
Fang Juexia felt his self-respect had never been so shattered. He took off his headphones, slapped them onto Pei Tingsong’s thigh, then sat up and took a deep breath.
He had to pull himself together. This wasn’t him; it was him after drinking.
Pei Tingsong winced in pain but still smiled as he put away the headphones his brother had returned, then leaned in triumphantly and asked, “I didn’t lie to you, did I?”
Fang Juexia’s face was burning hot, and his whole body felt feverish.
“You have such thin skin.” Pei Tingsong stared at his crimson earlobes, lost in thought, and couldn’t help but think of the cherries from the magazine shoot.
They’d burst at the slightest touch.
The host appeared on stage, and everyone began to clap. The first performance was by Qiyao, but Fang Juexia couldn’t bring himself to watch. He had even forgotten that fans would be filming reactions at this moment, his mind filled with thoughts of last night.
“You… did you record anything else?”
Pei Tingsong spread his hands, “Just this one.”
At least that was good news. Fang Juexia blushed and asked, “What happened after that? Did I fall asleep?”
That later was too dangerous for him, so dangerous that even now, thinking about it, those butterflies were still desperately struggling for their lives.
“Yes,” he answered stiffly. “You fell asleep, slept soundly, and you know what happened afterward.”
Hearing his words, Fang Juexia exhaled in relief.
It was embarrassing, but if it was just holding each other while sleeping, it wasn’t a big deal. They were both men, and they wouldn’t do anything inappropriate. But it seemed to have little effect. He couldn’t even concentrate on watching the performance now.
“At an unprofessional banquet like this, the sound quality isn’t very good,” Jiang Miao said, preparing for the worst. “It might be the same when we go on stage, so everyone should be prepared in advance.”
Everyone was discussing the stage, but Pei Tingsong couldn’t hear a word they were saying. The half-dead butterfly in his heart seemed to be enjoying this last burst of energy, unable to stop. He needed to move on from that unexpected kiss and shift his focus. Unconsciously clenching his fist, Pei Tingsong felt something.
“There’s one more thing,” he reached his right hand under the table toward Fang Juexia, “Do you know why I’m wearing gloves today?”
Fang Juexia, of course, didn’t know. During the styling session, he had wondered why the stylist had only given Pei Tingsong a leather glove, and only on one hand, thinking it might be a new trend.
He glanced down at the glove and shook his head at Pei Tingsong.
Pei Tingsong gave him a look that said, “I knew it,” and motioned to him with a hint of authority in his voice, “Take it off.”
Although Fang Juexia found it strange, his hand involuntarily grabbed his fingertips and pulled off the white leather gloves.
Under the dim lights of the venue, he held Pei Tingsong’s hand and leaned in close to take a better look. On the palm of Pei Tingsong’s right hand was a clear tooth mark, with patches of blue and purple, and the bitten skin had already begun to scab over.
“What a fine mess you’ve made,” Pei Tingsong raised an eyebrow.
“Me?” Fang Juexia couldn’t believe it. Not only had he never bitten anyone, but he had never even gotten into a fight in his entire life.
However, after listening to the recording earlier, he was willing to believe anything.
Pei Tingsong adopted an innocent expression. “Who else could it be? I regret not recording it. You really should see yourself when you’re drunk.”
Could it really be him… Fang Juexia stared at the tooth mark, feeling a surge of guilt. He never thought his drinking habits could be this bad.
“Does it hurt?” Fang Juexia looked up at Pei Tingsong.
For some reason, whenever he locked eyes with Fang Juexia, Pei Tingsong couldn’t help but think back to that night, to the warmth of Fang Juexia’s skin and the scent of his shampoo.
“Nonsense,” Pei Tingsong turned his head away, pretending to look at the stage.
“I’m sorry,” Fang Juexia apologized to him, “There’s nothing here to bandage it with.”
Pei Tingsong glanced at him secretly, “It’s okay, I’m not that delicate.” After saying that, he added awkwardly, “Help me put on my gloves.”
Fang Juexia nodded, placed his hand on her knee, and carefully put the leather gloves on for him. After finishing, she pinched the tips of his fingers to make sure they weren’t loose.
Pei Tingsong withdrew his hand, awkwardly clenching his fist and coughing by his mouth, “Then, then wrap it up for me when you get back.”
Fang Juexia thought she had heard wrong and widened her eyes, “Huh?”
“Huh what? What if it gets infected from you biting it like that?” Pei Tingsong was extremely annoyed, “Wrap it up for me when you get back. You bit it, so you’re responsible for it.”
Fang Juexia’s eyes still looked at him, bright and clear, making Pei Tingsong’s heart race. He could only hold Fang Juexia’s shoulders and forcefully turn him to face the stage.
“Watch the performance. Why are you staring at me?”
Qiyao’s performance ended amid the enthusiastic cheers of the fans. Other acts followed in order, and soon it was Caledo’s turn. Six young men hurried backstage under the guidance of staff members. As they turned a corner, a woman accidentally bumped into Fang Juexia.
“Sorry.”
Fang Juexia politely helped her up. “Be careful.”
The woman looked to be in her thirties, dressed tastefully, and kept apologizing to them while offering to give up her seat.
He felt she looked familiar, but time was tight, so Fang Juexia didn’t think much of it. They took the stage as instructed, and the sound system was indeed the same as before, with the accompaniment very quiet. However, they had seen all kinds of poor sound systems during their previous commercial performances, so this was nothing new.
The six of them held their microphones, alternating between fast and slow songs, and held the entire audience in their grasp with their own talent. During the performance, they even improvised by swapping parts: Ling Yi and Fang Juexia swapped, with Fang Juexia effortlessly hitting three high notes; He Ziyan and Pei Tingsong swapped the rap sections; and Lu Yuan and Jiang Miao swapped dance moves.
Enjoying the performance is an idol’s instinct. In the unseen hours, Caledo approached every hard-earned stage with such dedication, even if the audience didn’t recognize or care about them, they poured out their passion.
They loved shouting their teammates’ names on stage, confidently handing over their parts to each other.
This ease wasn’t just talent; it was the chemistry and ability built up over countless quiet nights in a cramped practice room. Sweating, getting injured, falling down, getting back up, repeatedly singing a few lines of lyrics, imagining fans and stages that didn’t yet exist—they endured these tedious and exhausting days together, then held each other’s hands to explore the unknown path ahead.
So at this moment, Fang Juexia looked at his teammates on stage and thought of what Pei Tingsong had said.
[In the dream he finally achieved, one-sixth of it has my name written on it.]
He liked that one-sixth.
“Thank you all.”
He loved the sense of fulfillment he felt when he held hands with them and bowed together.
In the dark room, he wasn’t the only one feeling his way around. What he felt wasn’t the cold corner of a piece of furniture, but a hand.
The warm hands of the other five people.
The audience below had almost forgotten that this was a performance at a charity dinner, thinking instead that they had attended a concert. It wasn’t until Kaleido finished their performance that everyone belatedly began to clap. The host came on stage to chat with them, and only then did they realize that the company had donated 300,000 yuan in the name of Kaleido. Seeing the fleeting surprise on Jiang Miao’s face, Fang Juexia knew that Qiang Ge hadn’t told them.
However, what surprised them even more was that after Domino learned they would be attending this dinner, they raised and donated 200,000 yuan in just three days. This was their first time participating in such an event since they became famous. Fans kept reposting on Weibo, calling for donations, wanting to use their own small efforts to give these six young men some confidence.
“Now, we invite Ms. Jiang Yin, one of the directors of this charitable foundation, to the stage to present Kaleido with a commemorative small golden ring, in recognition of Kaleido’s contributions to children with autism.”
A woman in an evening gown gracefully walked onto the stage from backstage, picked up the small golden ring from the red velvet cushion held by the hostess, and walked over to present it to team captain Jiang Miao with both hands.
Fang Juexia looked at her and realized she was the woman who had accidentally bumped into him earlier.
Jiang Yin…
After their segment ended, Kaleido exited the stage under the staff’s instructions. As Fang Juexia left the backstage通道, he heard the host’s voice on stage, seemingly conversing with this woman named Jiang Yin, and it seemed to mention escaping to safety.
Cheng Qiang embraced each of them backstage, “You guys are amazing, you performed exceptionally well. You truly are my little ones. Let’s go eat something. Finally, we can relax and enjoy the performance.”
“Qiang Ge,” Fang Juexia asked, “Who is Ms. Jiang, the one presenting the awards?”
“Oh, she’s quite talented,” Cheng Qiang said. “Do you remember Zhou Ziheng, who won the Berlin Film Festival Best Actor Award recently? Well, she’s a former classmate of Xiao Pei’s, and Jiang Yin is his agent.”
“It’s not just that.” They left the backstage area and walked through the corridor outside the venue toward the audience seats. “She’s also the producer who escaped death. What, did she talk to you privately?”
Fang Juexia shook her head. “No, she didn’t.”
“Oh, I thought she might ask you to be on the show.” Cheng Qiang laughed, “No more empty promises.” He herded the six of them back to their seats like a duck herder, watching as Pei Tingsong supported Fang Juexia all the way, feeling quite relieved.
This promotional event not only boosted popularity but also seemed to have brought the young upstarts back on track.
The show continued one segment after another. The members of Kaleido watched with great interest. He Ziyan’s seat allowed him to see the fans, and they interacted with the fan club leader for a while. Since they didn’t have to go on stage anymore, everyone was in a stable mindset. Qi Yao was the most popular group in the venue, with every move drawing screams. The organizers had specially scheduled their award ceremony for last.
The Seven Stars group donated 500,000 yuan, and their fans donated another 500,000 yuan in their name. The host concluded the interview segment and invited the editor-in-chief of the organizing magazine to present them with a commemorative gold ring after the donation.
“Does the Seven Stars group have anything to say?” The host handed the microphone over, and Liang Ruo, standing at the center of the group, took the microphone and addressed the guests below.
“First of all, we would like to sincerely thank the organizers for giving us the opportunity to participate in this grand event. The theme of this charity event is to help children with autism improve their living and growth environments. I find this very meaningful. Actually, when I was a teenager, I wasn’t very talkative either, and socializing was a significant challenge for me. However, I was fortunate to receive help from a good friend at that time…” At this point, Liang Ruo looked toward Fang Juexia’s seat.
Here we go again.
Pei Tingsong struggled to maintain his composure, suppressing the urge to make a sarcastic expression, but he reached out with both hands, grabbed Fang Juexia’s shoulders, and turned him toward himself.
Fang Juexia looked puzzled as Pei Tingsong picked up a marshmallow from the table and stuffed it into his mouth.
“If you don’t eat it, Ling Yi will steal it all.”
Ling Yi was quietly chewing his food when he was suddenly startled, causing his shoulders to jerk.
Caught off guard by the sudden mouthful of candy, Fang Juexia’s eyes were filled with confusion. Pei Tingsong ate a piece of cotton candy himself, then placed his right hand in front of Fang Juexia.
Fang Juexia looked up at him, saying nothing, just staring at him.
“My hand hurts,” Pei Tingsong mouthed to him.
Fang Juexia’s cheeks puffed out, and he nodded at him, indicating that he understood.
After finishing the cotton candy, Fang Juexia also mouthed, “Oh, I thought you said it didn’t hurt anymore.”
Then he pointed to his ear.
“I have poor hearing.”
Author’s note: Hearing-impaired theater—
While Kaleido was attending the gala, what was the situation on the Weibo homepage of the hearing-impaired CP fans?
@Hearing Feast Official Weibo: Ahhhhh, Fang Juexia and Pei Tingsong are sitting together! They’re whispering to each other! [Image 1][Image 2]…[Image 9]
Retweets: 15,000; Comments: 6,000; Everyone is a groundhog.
Fifteen minutes later:
@Spring Snow CP Station: Ahhh, Grapevine and Brother came back from the restroom together. What were the two of you doing in there for so long? As soon as you came back, you were lying on the table listening to music. Grapevine, you little wolf cub, was even patting Brother’s back. How did you manage that? Are you high school students here on a government-funded date? [Image 1][Image 2]……
Fans retweeted 20,000 times, commented 10,000 times, everyone was a groundhog.
Thirty minutes later:
@Sect Dispersal I Only Do Auditory: The scenery is actually Grape Tree’s large, beautiful doll, right? Some kids kept turning Brother this way and that, their eyes couldn’t leave Brother, my DSLR’s flash couldn’t even outshine you guys! [Video]
Fans retweeted 25,000 times, with 18,000 comments.
…
Finally:
@Perfect Match for Hearing: I can’t stand this little couple anymore. Everyone else is watching the show seriously (01 is eating seriously). I’m calling you two out! You’ve been playing with each other’s hands for over ten minutes, taking off and putting on a leather glove, pinching fingers, and poking the back of the hand. I’m really fed up with the pain of love. (Sisters who can read lips might see a surprise.) [Video]
Fans shared it 28,000 times, with 20,000 comments. This time, it’s not everyone being groundhogs.
[Oh my gosh, this is too much! (Sisters, I can’t hold back anymore…)]
[This is too fake, too fake. This is the legendary industrial sugar, right? (Who can help me close the cabinet door?)]
[Don’t ask, just say it’s a coworker!]
A certain gala event turned into a night of celebration for Weibo’s auditory girls.
Leave a Reply