RSDH CH7

As the three of them walked through the corridor, they ran into another group head-on.

Xiao Dai took a closer look and was startled. “Tao Ziyi?!”

Tao Ziyi was a singer with a status comparable to Duan Xingye. Walking beside him was his husband, Huang Liang, a painter.

So far, All the Way With You had only officially announced the “Lü Ye Shu Huai” couple. The other guests hadn’t been revealed yet, but seeing Tao Ziyi and Huang Liang here meant they were definitely part of the show.

Xiao Dai’s tone turned sour. “The production team invited Teacher Duan, yet they also invited Tao Ziyi. Isn’t this just messing with people’s heads?”

Tao Ziyi was right ahead, so Xiao Dai didn’t dare complain loudly. After muttering, he subconsciously checked Duan Xingye’s expression.

Duan Xingye and Tao Ziyi once belonged to the same record label.

Compared to Duan Xingye, who became famous overnight with one song, Tao Ziyi debuted earlier but made no splash at all. To compensate, the company bundled them together for marketing, releasing a collaboration single. This resulted in Duan Xingye never having a solo stage during his rookie period; whenever he appeared, he had to drag Tao Ziyi along.

It was no exaggeration to say that Tao Ziyi’s fame was entirely lifted by Duan Xingye.

That collaboration single quickly became popular, but the company, chasing the “selling rot” (BL baiting) trend, promoted their relationship as ambiguous.

Duan Xingye explicitly refused. Facing coercion from the company, he went on strike directly, ending up in a very stiff standoff with the boss.

Coinciding with that time, Duan Xingye wrote and composed a song. After submitting it for review, the first draft demo somehow fell into Tao Ziyi’s hands.

Tao Ziyi polished the demo, changed the credits to himself, and released it first. It exploded in popularity, and he even won the All-Chinese Music Award that year with that song.

The company turned a blind eye, taking advantage of the heat to promote Tao Ziyi.

With the boss protecting Tao Ziyi, getting the song back was impossible. But after this shameless operation, Duan Xingye ignored the high penalty fee and forcefully proposed to terminate his contract with the company.

While Duan Xingye was entangled in lawsuits, Tao Ziyi kicked him while he was down. He posted a lengthy essay on Weibo, naming and shaming Duan Xingye for being ungrateful, accusing him of kicking away his old agency after gaining a little fame and betraying the team that worked hard behind the scenes. This triggered a wave of cyberbullying against Duan Xingye.

Everyone thought this would end with Tao Ziyi gaining both fame and fortune while Duan Xingye faded into obscurity. Who could have guessed that on the day Tao Ziyi attended the award ceremony, Duan Xingye would come online and release a new song he wrote himself, titled Fame.

A section of the chorus read:

“I have no intention of envying your achievements

Because I am the one who made your name”

That day, as Tao Ziyi stood in the interview zone clutching his trophy, the reporters didn’t offer congratulations but grilled him on the true ownership of the award-winning work.

Tao Ziyi’s face turned green and pale.

Duan Xingye’s song ignited heated discussions, but he offered no further response. Not long after, he signed with Shengxing and threw himself wholeheartedly into music creation.

Although Duan Xingye’s stardom had been smooth sailing since then, Xiao Dai still felt indignant whenever he thought about the disgusting things he encountered as a rookie.

Discovering that All the Way With You also included Tao Ziyi felt as uncomfortable as swallowing a fly.

Sister Yu tugged at Xiao Dai’s arm, signaling him not to speak out of turn.

The two groups approached each other and gradually stopped.

Duan Xingye and Tao Ziyi stood at the front, face to face.

“Junior brother, long time no see.” Tao Ziyi looked him up and down, his gaze intriguing. “Heading back already? Why isn’t President Cheng with you?”

Duan Xingye skipped the pleasantries entirely. “Do you need him for something?”

“Ha.” Tao Ziyi laughed, not minding the awkwardness. “Nothing. It’s just that you don’t look too good. It shouldn’t have anything to do with the interview, right? On the way here, I was just telling Huang Liang that without even thinking, your group’s trailer will definitely be the most exciting among all the guests, and your audience votes will be the highest too.”

According to the tradition of the previous season, a voting channel would be displayed at the end of the trailer to visualize the audience’s anticipation for each group of guests. The guest with the highest votes would get a brand endorsement shout-out opportunity in the first episode.

“After all, everyone online is saying your relationship as a couple isn’t good. If the trailer isn’t exciting, how will you slap those netizens in the face? If it were me and Huang Liang, we’d have to perform well today no matter what—even if we had to act, we’d act like we were passionately in love.” Tao Ziyi raised his eyebrows and continued, “Besides, if you can’t even dispel the audience’s suspicions, what face do you have to stay on a romance variety show? Don’t you think so, Junior Brother?”

Xiao Dai ground his teeth in anger, clenching his fists.

Tao Ziyi’s words were basically telling Duan Xingye to get out of the show.

Tao Ziyi and Huang Liang were famously loving. They went on variety shows together, attended music festivals as a unit, and even jointly ran a children’s art foundation. Their marriage was so happy and perfect it looked fake.

He clearly saw that President Cheng and Teacher Duan had an unpleasant moment, yet he deliberately brought up the interview. His tone was full of schadenfreude and superiority; it was nauseating.

If they met at any other event, Tao Ziyi wouldn’t be worth a fart!

…But this happened to be the recording site for a romance variety show. Whether in terms of personal performance or partner cooperation, Tao Ziyi indeed had the advantage over Duan Xingye.

Now Teacher Duan didn’t even have the confidence to retort.

Xiao Dai was furiously impotent!

Sure enough.

Duan Xingye didn’t take the bait and continued walking forward.

Tao Ziyi glanced at him, his face full of triumph.

Just as the two were about to pass each other.

Duan Xingye suddenly stopped. He lowered his voice, yet spoke loud enough for everyone in the corridor to hear: “Cheng Duzhou and I don’t get along, but at least we have looks to make up for it. If it were you and Huang Liang, you’d have been cursed into divorce long ago.”

Tao Ziyi’s smile stiffened.

Calling people ugly in a roundabout way?

“Don’t worry about me. As for you, today you’ll have to properly explain the cause and effect of your husband burying his face in a 36D chest at a nightclub. A bad relationship isn’t nearly as explosive as a straight man scamming a gay marriage. If you can’t even dispel the audience’s suspicions, what face do you have to stay on a romance variety show?” Duan Xingye asked. “Don’t you think so?”

The smile on Tao Ziyi’s face fell completely. “You!”

Duan Xingye didn’t even put him in his eyes and walked away.

Sister Yu coughed lightly to hide her smile.

Xiao Dai suppressed his excitement and jogged to catch up.

What was I worried about before?

When it comes to combat power, Teacher Duan has never disappointed!

…

The remaining staff members looked at each other, lowered their heads, and acted cautious on the surface while screaming WTF internally.

It seemed the scandal about Huang Liang burying his face in a chest was fishy after all, not just a “friend playing a prank while high” as the clarification stated.

Huang Liang’s face flushed red. He rubbed his nose and went to pull Tao Ziyi’s arm. “Why lower yourself to his level? He’s just uneducated… Let’s go, we’re almost late for the interview.”

Tao Ziyi flung his hand away violently.

Huang Liang frowned in displeasure. He quickly glanced at the staff members behind him who were playing deaf and dumb, but his breath was weak. “Wh… what are you doing?”

Tao Ziyi looked at Huang Liang, his eyes filled with resentment and disgust.

The messy affairs of the art world left the entertainment industry in the dust. Huang Liang played around too much, and he couldn’t control him at all. The only saving grace was that Huang Liang knew how to read the room and was even more diligent than him at putting on a show in public. But if you walk by the river often enough, your shoes are bound to get wet; Huang Liang was eventually photographed by paparazzi picking up girls at a nightclub.

Duan Xingye using this to provoke him left him with no temper to fight back.

A couple was a single entity. It was bad enough Huang Liang didn’t bring him honor, but now he was being mocked by his arch-nemesis because of him. He was furious!

…

It wasn’t until they were in the car that Sister Yu found a chance to ask, “How was the interview?”

Duan Xingye looked out the window, his voice void of emotion. “Even if I divorced and found someone else, it would be better than being with Cheng Duzhou.”

“…” Sister Yu seemed to swallow something with difficulty. After a moment, she said, “Let’s not talk about that. Since All the Way With You was announced, I’ve received a lot of variety show invitations. Don’t be in a rush to refuse them. There’s a singer-songwriter music show inviting you to be a mentor. It aligns perfectly with your profession and is good for building your reputation. Do you want to try it?”

Sister Yu had been an agent for so many years. When accepting jobs for her artists, she only used a coaxing tone with Duan Xingye; for everyone else, it was a direct notification.

Duan Xingye would rather quit the entertainment industry than compromise himself even a little.

He was that kind of “Ancestor.” Unless he figured it out himself, no one could arrange things for him.

But even though Sister Yu was this humble, she still didn’t hold much hope. Duan Xingye’s lack of career ambition worried her…

Duan Xingye: “Sure.”

“…”

“Let’s try it.”

“…”

Sister Yu was bewildered. Duan Xingye agreeing so easily was something she wasn’t used to.

Duan Xingye propped his head on one hand, watching the evening clouds retreat in the sky.

Since the trailer was a wreck, he might as well regain some ground in his professional field. He couldn’t let netizens think he was failing in both love and career.

Since he was already showing his face on a romance variety show, one more variety show wouldn’t hurt.

In the following days, All the Way With You successively announced the remaining three groups of guests.

Aside from Tao Ziyi and Huang Liang being a same-sex couple, the other two groups were husband-and-wife pairs.

On the day the trailer was set to go online, near the end of the workday, Duan Xingye was still in a meeting with the music department.

Suddenly, the phone on the table vibrated. He picked it up and glanced at it.

Cheng Duzhou: [Landed.]

Duan Xingye knew he was returning from his business trip today.

Since Duan Xingye’s outburst at the annual gala, Cheng Duzhou had been reporting his itinerary once or twice a day.

When Duan Xingye was in a good mood before, he would reply to a couple of messages. But from the end of the romance variety interview until now, whenever he saw Cheng Duzhou’s messages, he pretended not to see them.

Duan Xingye was about to put down the phone.

Another message popped up.

Cheng Duzhou: [Still angry?]

Duan Xingye paused.

Cheng Duzhou: [You know that head writer’s interview style. If we didn’t tell the truth, she would have found the flaws eventually. Scripts are useless on this show; the production team excels at the unexpected.]

Duan Xingye changed his mind. He put his phone under the table and typed.

Seen: [I reckon you didn’t want to accept that script either. Meeting such a serious production team played right into your hands, didn’t it?]

Cheng Duzhou: [[Sigh] Fine.]

Seen: [?]

What does “sigh” mean?

What does “fine” mean?

Cheng Duzhou: [I’m at Hongqiao Airport, waiting for the car.]

Duan Xingye ignored him and slammed the phone onto the table.

The sudden noise drew sideways glances from colleagues nearby.

The phone vibrated again.

Duan Xingye patiently glanced at it.

Cheng Duzhou: [Car is almost here.]

Duan Xingye sent one last reply.

Seen: [Oh.]

Meaning: that’s enough, end the topic here. Chatting more would be impolite.

He tossed the phone into his pocket.

Then he felt his pocket vibrate once.

Twice.

…

Suddenly, at a certain moment, the phone vibrated continuously as if it had lost its mind.

Duan Xingye frowned, didn’t want to deal with Cheng Duzhou, and continued the meeting.

…

Half an hour later, Duan Xingye walked out of the conference room, ready to get off work.

He took out his phone to check and found ten unread messages from Cheng Duzhou.

Duan Xingye swiped open the notification bar, and the chat box popped up automatically.

Cheng Duzhou: [Can I come home?]

Cheng Duzhou: [Can I come home?]

Cheng Duzhou: [Can I come home?]

Cheng Duzhou: [Can I come home?]

Cheng Duzhou: [Can I come home?]

Cheng Duzhou: [Can I come home?]

Cheng Duzhou: [Can I come home?]

…

…

Cheng Duzhou: [Crying Cat Meme.jpg]

Cheng Duzhou: [Don’t stop talking to me.]

Duan Xingye: “…”

__

Author’s Note:

Teacher Duan: Fine, permission granted.