Chapter 21
Chen Zi came to their venue unexpectedly early, even before their performance began.
He stood far away, covered from head to toe. If Xu Ou hadn’t pointed him out to them, Chen Zi would have been completely unrecognizable.
Lu Ming muttered: "Why do I feel like I've seen that coat before ......"
It was a limited edition design released by a popular street wear brand in collaboration with a luxury brand. The original pricing of the item wasn’t expensive. Lu Ming thought about buying it, but changed his mind after seeing how the price was ramped up by purchasing agents.
"Has he been here before?" Lu Ming asked Xu Gou, "I feel like I’ve seen the coat in the audience before. There weren't a lot of people that time, so I remember.”
"No, he told me that this is the first time he’s watching our performance on stage." Xu Ou is quite confident, "so perform better this time, don't make a mistake again."
"Worry about yourself, don’t forget your lines," Lu Ming said. He was actually a little nervous, obviously not because of Chen Zi, but because Liang Yesheng was also present.
He was bored today, so he searched for Liang Yesheng's name on Weibo, and there were actually posts that came up. Most of the content is posted by ordinary people recording dental implants, and recommending Liang Yesheng, saying that he is highly skilled and has good aesthetics; going to him is expensive but also worth the value. Lu Ming only then found out that Liang Yesheng has an account on Weibo.
Liang Yesheng’s profile picture looks a lot like an ID photo, his Weibo content mostly consists of scientific articles and publications, and he barely answers the questions in the comments.
"He actually followed me on Weibo." Lu Ming said, "He didn't even tell me about it! And I took a the time going through my followers list, he’s been following for a long time, so doesn’t this mean that he has seen all my previous stupid commentaries! Fuck, just thinking about it makes me cold sweat."
Compared to others, Lu Ming felt that his own Weibo style was quite normal, but he was not so sure that Liang Yesheng would also think so.
His Weibo even has records of his bad deeds, such as the time when he had stomach pain from gastroenteritis, Liang Yesheng specifically told him to eat a bland diet. But he had friends visiting who specifically wanted to eat City C’s spicy food1. Lu Ming, who was the host, had to accompany them, after all, he also had not eaten flavorful food in a long time.
If he had known that Liang Yesheng would look at his weibo, he would not have posted photos of the food, leaving evidence for his guilty act.
"So that’s the reason why you deleted all those Weibo posts," Xu Ou finally understood, "people were coming to me asking if you were going to quit, please do not give the false impression of internal conflicts, okay?"
Lu Ming had no choice but to delete the weibo posts. If he hadn’t, Lu Ming did not know he had reposted so many photos of beautiful female celebrities back when he still thought he was straight.
"I even went to him earlier," Lu Ming said, "to ask him if he has been looking at my weibo posts, he...... you know what, forget it, I don’t want to talk about it!"
As more people started checking in, Lu Ming began playing warm-up music, and wiped his hands hard on his pants to wipe off all the sweat from his palms.
He thought, maybe Liang Yesheng would like it.
Liang Yesheng listened to his songs, followed his microblogging, and secretly went to his past performance, even though he left after getting splashed in the face with water. Back then, Lu Ming didn’t really know what he was doing wrong, now he could only count his mistakes one by one–such as coming home too late, such playing loud songs without closing the door, such as promising to go out with Liang Yesheng but ended up oversleeping–he thought it might be these reasons.
Liang Yesheng has been trying to come into his world, he has been unaware of it, and he also never took any steps toward Liang Yesheng.
Lu Ming thinks his brain may really have a problem. Of course, by still saying to him, “I didn’t stop liking you,” Liang Yesheng probably doesn't have a good brain either.
"He told me there was no need to chase him again." Lu Ming sent a message to Teacher L, "Thank you! I think those suggestions you gave me were really useful, I could pay you the tuition now, as long as it's within my financial capabilities."
But Teacher L, probably wanting to continue doing business with him, was a little less willing, "So he said no, you think you really don't need to do anything more?"
Liang Yesheng was in the audience, he looked at Lu Ming, who seemed to be playing with his phone, and let out a long breath.
There really are a lot of things money can’t solve, such as saving Lu Ming's brain circuit.
Lu Ming acted as if he knew Liang Yesheng well, "I certainly can’t rely on you for this type of thing, I have to do something on my own. Besides, I'm not completely inexperienced, back when we got married, I was the one who chased him, and I didn’t ask anyone for advice."
"I'll see what happens," said Teacher L. "If it doesn't work out, come back to me."
But she still wouldn't say how much she would charge, and told Lu Ming to gauge for himself how much the consulting was worth.
Lu Ming thought, really no matter how thoughtful a consultant may seem, in the end they are still a businessman. If he pays too little, then it would be as if he doesn’t value Liang Yesheng enough, so Lu Ming simply made a very generous wechat transfer to Teacher L.
"I have other things to do, I’ll contact you later if I have questions." Lu Ming quickly put his phone to the side and prepared to start the show.
Teacher L, or Liang Yesheng, was just placed on ignore, but it didn't matter, he was given a large sum of money to compensate. He looked at the overly high figure and was very worried. He used to think that Lu Ming was the kind of person who would be easily deceived–if Lu Ming were being sold, he would probably be cluelessly counting money for the seller. But now Liang Yesheng changed his mind, he really overestimated Lu Ming, Lu Ming didn’t even know how to count money.
Rappers from Deer Mountain were the first to perform a cypher. For a rapper, being able to mobilize the audience's emotions is also part of their ability to perform. During the entire performance, the performers kept asking the audience to "jump up!” And from time to time they interacted with the audience and gave their microphones to the audience. Some people got excited while singing, and others turned their backs on the crowd and began to stage dive, leaping into the crowd.
It’s not that this kind of atmosphere is bad, but when Liang Yesheng stood in the middle, he just seemed really out of place.
But Liang Yesheng did not feel bored, Lu Ming was standing in front of the console, a place where Liang Yesheng could see when he looked up. Under the changing lights, Lu Ming's young face and emotions were unrestrained, and he was controlling the rhythm and atmosphere of the whole venue. Sweat dripped down as if they were diamonds that belonged to Lu Ming alone. There are also female viewers beside him saying, “Lu Ming is really fucking handsome, it's just a pity that he's gay, I don’t even have a chance of sleeping with him.”
Lu Ming was oblivious, still stuck in his own world, not realizing that he is shining far brighter than he thought.
1 Many Chinese readers have guessed which Chinese city “City C” refers to. The choices are between Chongqing (重庆), Changsha (长沙), and Chengdu (成都), whose dishes are all known for their spiciness.
2 Cypher means a freestyle session between a few rappers. A cypher typically goes in a circle.
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