Ch26.2 - The Peak of Competition Between Beauty and Acting Skills (26)

In this way, Xu Qichen inexplicably found himself in the car with Lin Ran. Lin Ran drove with focus but Xu Qichen noticed him looking repeatedly in the rearview mirror, so he looked as well.

“Are we being followed?” 

“En, probably paparazzi.” Lin Ran made a call and reported a location, “Drive there and park near the backdoor. Be careful.”

Soon, they arrived at the aforementioned location. It’s a high-class KTV. Lin Ran brought Xu Qichen in, going straight to the second floor. The design of the place was strange. It had a hidden door in the second floor stairway that led straight to the backdoor of the KTV building. The door, hidden in a unit building, opened in a high-end district.

Lin Ran brought Xu Qichen to the car parked there. A man about the same age as them stood beside it.

“This is my friend.” 

The other party gave Xu Qichen a smile full of sunshine. Then he threw the keys to Lin Ran, “Ai, you’re not alone, drive slowly ah.”

Lin Ran nodded and brought Xu Qichen away again.

Xu Qichen was surprised by Lin Ran’s methods of escaping the paparazzi. But he was more apprehensive about where Lin Ran was taking him.

Just as he was thinking that, Lin Ran suddenly said, “I’ll give you a chance. If you don’t want to go with me, say it now.”

Xu Qichen turned his head and watched him silently for a minute. He then casually rested his head on the window, closed his eyes, and said, “I’m tired, and my eyes are sore.”

“Wake me up when we arrive.”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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He bent closer, watching his sleeping face carefully.

Frankly, this kind of eyepatch usually made the wearer give off a ‘bad boy’ vibe, but on him, the effect was not only the exact opposite but absolutely stunning. The eye patch made him look like a cold and mysterious beauty.

This was not the first time Xu Qichen had slept so deeply beside him. Whenever he slept, his mouth would open subconsciously, like a child. 

As he watched, he unconsciously leant closer. He really wanted to kiss him.

But right at that moment, Xu Qichen’s handphone rang, shocking him awake. Lin Ran immediately leant back and stood by the door, pretending like nothing had happened. He watched as Xu Qichen drowsily felt around for his phone before picking up the call.

“Hey! Where are you!”

Even from so far away he could hear Li Yun’s voice. What a terrifying woman. 

“Me?” Xu Qichen rubbed his right eye and glanced at Lin Ran confusedly, “I…”

Lin Ran mouthed at him: KTV

“En… I came out to sing with Lin Ran… en… I probably won’t go back tonight… I’ll be fine… I’ll go back tomorrow…”

Watching Xu Qichen lie, Lin Ran felt both guilty and happy. 

After dealing with Li Yun, Xu Qichen hung up and let out a relieved sigh. He was completely awake now.

It was only then that he realised he was in what seemed to be a villa’s yard. He asked Lin Ran, “Where is this?”

Lin Ran pulled him out of the car and closed the door. “My house.”

“Ah?” Xu Qichen did not expect him to bring him to his house. His heart began thumping, “I shouldn’t…” 

“There’s nothing wrong with it, I’m the only one living here.” Lin Ran brought him in, then turned around and said with a laugh, “Or did you already start thinking bad thoughts?”

Despite being teased, Xu Qichen felt quite happy. He shook his head, “No. I’m just wondering why you brought me here.”

Lin Ran closed the door. “Because it’s safe enough.”

Xu Qichen wanted to say something, but he couldn’t think of any suitable words at the moment. He moved his lips, but no words came out. 

Instead it was Lin Ran, who was facing away from him, who spoke first.

“After I met you, I hated this profession very much. There were cameras and flashing lights everywhere, and I was being stared at all the time. I couldn’t even find the right opportunity to tell you something.”

“I saw the news yesterday and almost ran to the hospital after the press conference. If not for everyone stopping me, I would be on the news too.” He chuckled. “If both leading actors were absent from the press conference, the producers would be furious. So I had to stay there and let the reporters ask me questions about you one by one. I didn’t know or understand anything, yet I had to keep smiling and repeating the official statement.”

“It seems that information asymmetry has never disappeared from between us, it was the same when we were shooting. I’m always looking at you, much more than you look at me. I know it in my heart, but I still can’t help it.” 

He spoke without pause, as though he did not want to give him the chance to interrupt him.

“Ah, by the way… I don’t like to eat sweet foods at all, neither do I like candy or ice cream. You must think I’m weird. If I don’t like them, why do I always snatch yours? I’m just that weird, just like how I’m so stubborn that I pulled you out to enjoy the sea at 3 AM, and even kissed you.”

“I overthink things. Even if it’s over a very small issue, I wonder over and over again, and then get angry at myself thinking, what must you be thinking of everything I have done? You’re so gentle, and you never get angry at anybody. Are you also only tolerating me? Do you actually hate me but just don’t want to say it? I can’t understand you at all, I don’t know what you’re thinking. Sometimes you seem like you really need me, and yet sometimes you seem to need only yourself. I really don’t understand. I regret every step I take towards you, hundreds of times.”

“Sometimes I think, this is just me getting myself riled up ba. Then I get even more frustrated when I see you being completely oblivious to all these. I knew that not contacting you will make me feel more uncomfortable, but I still chose to use this ‘killing a thousand enemies but losing eight hundred men’ method to test you. This is all due to the deeply rooted bad habits in my personality. I’m a terrible person.” 

“When I’m with you, my heart feels like a lamp that is cracked, but no one cares enough to want to repair it. Most of the time it’s lit up very very brightly. But then sometimes, it just sputters, and I think, one day it will just break completely ba. Since the day you finished filming your part, it has been dark for a hundred and thirty-three days. To be honest, I was afraid, no, terrified, that it would never light up again. But then I received your text after the recording earlier, and I think it blinked a few times, so I can’t give up.”

He turned around with a remorseful expression on his face. “My ability to express myself is really terrible. I ended up spouting a whole pile of rubbish when what I really wanted to say is…” He sighed, then took a deep breath.

He looked into Xu Qichen’s eyes.

“I like you.” 

“Are you willing…” He pointed towards his heart, “to help me fix this lamp?”