APCF -Chapter 17 (2)

He had to admit that the medicinal oil was very efficacious; by bedtime, his back did not even have a tinge of pain.

Qi Xingchen laid in bed tossing and turning, unable to sleep. It was as if there was a stone weighing his heart down, and he felt that he should say something to Bo Ye.

Yet he did not know how to start the conversation; words of gratitude had already been said and there was not much point in saying them again.

He fished his phone out from under his pillow and pondered while facing Bo Ye’s profile picture for a long time. He typed a line, deleted it, typed another line, deleted it.

After finalizing the next itinerary with his manager on WeChat, Bo Ye wanted to remind his little fan not to put pressure on his back as much as possible while sleeping. Opening the chatbox, what he saw was 【The other party is typing……】

Three minutes passed by: 【The other party is typing……】

Eight minutes passed by: 【The other party is typing……】

“……” Bo Ye was speechless. This person couldn’t be writing him a letter of commendation, could he?

In that case, it was better to not let him. Bo Ye forthrightly1 typed out a word: 【Speak.】

Xingxing: 【……Oh】
Xingxing: 【I just wanted to, you know, thank you. 】

Bo: 【You’re welcome.】

Xingxing: 【Okay, then I won’t disturb your rest, goodnight】

Bo Ye read the word “goodnight”, felt his mood relax a lot, and was just prepared to lock his screen to go to sleep.

Xingxing: 【Wait!】

Bo: 【?】

Xingxing: 【May I ask, why do you treat me this well?】

Why?

Images of the boy biting his lower lip while insisting on not stretching out his arm, his pupils that contained sparks while performing acrobatics, as well as the waistline that was unintentionally exposed as he stooped down flashed before Bo Ye’s eyes.

Tsk, it was really white.

【No reason,】
Bo Ye replied, 【I dote on fans.】

…

With the money Qi Xingchen earned, the three days remaining were not great for everyone, but they were not hard-pressed for money either. Every day they would roam about in happiness and harmony.

On the last day of the trip, when it was time to buy gifts for the fans, Zhang Yunfei said, “Xingxing, take your pick first.”

The number of forwards of the lucky draw gift would directly determine whether there would be an individual reward for the gifter during the next trip. The money used to buy the gifts was all earned by Qi Xingchen, so Zhang Yunfei letting him pick first was understandable, and everyone agreed as well.

Qi Xingchen, however, shook his head, “I’m not going to buy anything, I’m planning to give the umbrella and plates I used for my performances to the fans …… Don’t you laugh, Qiuman-jie, those are the tools I make a living with!”

“Fine, fine, I won’t laugh anymore.” Hearing that Qi Xingchen wanted to give the discounted umbrella and the broken-edged plate to his fans, Luo Qiuman could not stop laughing, guessing that not many fans would want this.

In truth, Qi Xingchen knew that this gift was shabby, but he had his own considerations.

If he took the money and was the first to pick a gift, other than it being not so respectful towards his seniors, in the case where the number of forwards of his gift really made it into the top three, his actions would seem too showy.

He did want to be popular in a short amount of time, but being in the limelight enough in the first episode, he had to let others experience some benefits. If by any chance, he had caused the other guests to bear a grudge against him and thus find water troops to secretly find materials to vilify him, he did not have enough power to clear his name.

So when it’s time to let go, let go; and when it’s time to hold back, hold back. This was what he had summed up from experience after being schemed against many times.

Seeing that he was determined not to buy a gift, everyone stopped trying to persuade him and rushed to the shopping centre together to choose.
There wasn’t much money left, each person had about a hundred kroner at their disposal, so it was all up to whose gift was more creative and thoughtful.

While everyone was choosing, Qi Xingchen was not idle either. Yesterday Qi Yuji had called and acted like a spoiled child saying that she wanted a Danish speciality.

Actually, which speciality did she not have? She just wanted “a speciality bought by her younger brother”, that’s all.

Qi Xingchen bought Qi Yuji a small decoration, which was a painting. In the end, he felt that it was not practical enough and bought her a bag of the latest fashion from a niche brand as an addition.

Still unassured, Qi Yuji called him, “Xingxing, you didn’t forget your jiejie‘s present, did you?”

“No, I just finished shopping for it.”

“What did you say, Yuji?” Through the phone, Dad Qi’s voice came through.

Qi Yuji covered the microphone, “Xingxing bought me presents HAHAHAHA, Dad you don’t have any oh!!”

Qi Yuji was so pleased with herself that her voice could not help but be louder than usual, and all of it entered Qi Xingchen’s ears. He suddenly remembered how Dad Qi had lied in order to see him off before he left, and turned back resignedly, picking out a tie for Dad Qi and a pair of shirt cufflinks for Qi Yunxiao.

After doing all this, Qi Xingchen, who had no manager to help with maintaining interpersonal relationships, chose a gift for everyone in the crew. The director’s gift was the most expensive, followed by the assistant director, the camera-crew chief, and so on; even the small production assistants who did odd jobs were not left out.

Trinkets with local features were bought for the female guests, while oil painting albums were bought for Zhang Yunfei. When it came to Bo Ye, he was placed in an awkward position.

In Bo Ye’s heart, he was his fan and thus had to be treated differently from others. In his heart, he now owed Bo Ye two favours, and it would be inexcusable to buy something without thought.

He walked round the place twice and a shop that made hand-painted goods finally caught his gaze. He took out his AirPods case and walked in.