Liang Han had left, never once looking back, clearly unwilling to stay and continue speaking with him.
Although Song Yuanxi wanted to know the answer, he couldn’t very well call him back and force an interrogation. This was his chosen future boss; he really couldn’t afford to offend him this time.
But it didn’t matter. Liang Han was so famous that he should be able to find out news about him once he got back!
Song Yuanxi glanced around. Not daring to stay in the corridor and attract attention, he hurried back to the lounge.
There were still quite a few people waiting inside. Since no new guests had arrived for the moment, they were all playing on their phones. Seeing Song Yuanxi enter, they thought the manager had come to call someone.
One girl asked with concern, “Why are you back? Are you here to call us over?”
Song Yuanxi didn’t speak; he only shook his head.
The hopeful look in the girl’s eyes dimmed again.
The disgruntled boy from before started laughing, his gloomy expression turning into a sneer: “What else could it be? He wasn’t chosen, so he got kicked back here!”
The others remained silent, exchanging glances.
“No way? Someone looking like that could get kicked out? Not a single guest took a liking to him?”
Even they hadn’t been rejected like that before.
Under everyone’s astonished gazes, Song Yuanxi said nothing. He simply took his clothes from the locker, turned, and walked out of the lounge.
This time, no one stopped him. They all assumed he had been kicked out, so there was no point in stopping him. The boy was still laughing behind him.
All the way out, Song Yuanxi didn’t speak a word. It wasn’t until he stepped quickly out of the back door and left the club confirming no one would drag him back—that he finally relaxed.
His back had been so tense it felt stiff and painful.
He put on his mask, let out a breath, walked to the roadside, and pulled out his phone. Xu Rao had sent him a flurry of messages.
Xu Rao: [How’s it going?]
Xu Rao: [Have you left yet?]
Xu Rao: [You haven’t been trapped by Shen Yu, have you?]
Xu Rao: [[Voice Call Canceled]]
Xu Rao: [[Video Call Canceled]]
Song Yuanxi called Xu Rao back: “I’m fine.”
Xu Rao relaxed: “That’s good. You scared me to death just now. I couldn’t reach you no matter what! I was wondering if I should find someone to rescue you or call the police to fish you out.”
Song Yuanxi smiled and looked back at the roof of the club, which was now far away and still brightly lit. He explained, “I was just thinking about how to run away, and my phone was on silent, so I didn’t hear it.”
Xu Rao frowned: “Why was it silent!”
He then shared his experience: “Next time you go to a place like that, never put it on silent. Set some alarms in advance. If something happens, the ringtone can warn the people around you so they don’t get reckless, and you can take the chance to pretend to take a call and leave.”
Song Yuanxi listened with a smile and turned back to continue walking toward the taxi stand. “When I entered the private room, they asked us to turn them off, so I just put it on silent. Luckily, today was only my first day trying out as a waiter; the others actually have their phones confiscated.”
Hearing his normal tone, even sounding a bit happy, Xu Rao felt relieved: “So, are you heading back now?”
Song Yuanxi looked at the empty road, quietly waiting for a car: “Yeah, I’m out! Just about to call a car home.”
With the worry gone, Xu Rao’s topic became lighter. He asked curiously, “How did you get out? Shen Yu didn’t make things hard for you? You didn’t actually have to shout, did you?”
“No, I ran into Liang Han. He helped me.” Song Yuanxi leaned against a lamppost, still feeling lingering fear. “Otherwise, I’m not sure I could have escaped by now.”
Although he had been determined to reject Shen Yu, without Liang Han, the club manager would have surely been alerted, and it wouldn’t have been this easy to leave.
“What?” Xu Rao was startled, his tone surprised. “You ran into Liang Han there? He goes there too? No way.”
“It was him.”
Xu Rao sighed: “How can this be? I thought both he and Shen Yu were good men. Now they’ve both collapsed (their reputations).”
“No, they haven’t!”
Seeing him misunderstand, Song Yuanxi quickly explained: “Liang Han hasn’t collapsed.”
“He hasn’t? Then what was he doing at that club?” Xu Rao was skeptical, unable to help the association after the Shen Yu incident. “You go there as a waiter and Shen Yu mistakes you for a sex worker that means the place provides those services! If Liang Han is eating there, how could he be clean?”
Song Yuanxi had similar doubts initially, but after that encounter, he no longer doubted Liang Han. “I don’t know the specifics. I only know someone invited him to dinner there, but they didn’t ask for any ‘services.’ Many people go there; surely not everyone who eats there is looking for special services.”
Xu Rao huffed twice. “That’s hard to say. Anyway, I don’t really trust anyone who goes to those places now! If they go there, they’re definitely not clean in private. To think I greet Shen Yu every day on set turns out he’s not a decent person either!”
Song Yuanxi understood his attitude: “I was worried at first too, but after interacting with Liang Han just now, I found he’s different from Shen Yu. He really is a straight man! He wasn’t playing around at the club.”
Xu Rao was curious: “How so? How did he act when you interacted?”
Song Yuanxi recalled: “He really disliked me getting close to him. He originally misunderstood me for a sex worker and advised me not to go astray and to find a decent job. When I asked for his help, he told me not to overthink it, saying helping me was just a casual favor.”
“Is that so? Sounds like a decent person.” Xu Rao was half-convinced. “But you can’t be sure. Maybe his methods are just more sophisticated than Shen Yu’s, and he’s just tricking you? Some men have a hobby of ‘reforming’ people; that doesn’t prove he doesn’t play around.”
Xu Rao was a bit shell-shocked by the Shen Yu situation, losing trust even in Liang Han.
Song Yuanxi didn’t think so: “I don’t think so! I asked for his contact info, and he wouldn’t give it to me. If he were trying to trick me, he wouldn’t refuse to give me an opening. His attitude was very firm; he just kept rejecting me and telling me to leave. And the way he resisted me getting close—he’s clearly a homophobic straight man.”
“Really?”
“Yeah!” Song Yuanxi said with certainty. “Anyway, he definitely has no interest in me in that way!”
Xu Rao knew Song Yuanxi was very sensitive to whether people were coveting him—otherwise, he wouldn’t have sensed the intentions of the company executives so keenly or reacted so quickly to Shen Yu’s thoughts. Hearing him sound so confident, he believed him.
“Alright then, maybe I overthought it. Maybe he really is a straight man. After all, if he were gay, it would be impossible for him not to take an interest in you and instead keep his distance.”
Song Yuanxi remembered something else: “Do you know what ‘sexual-romance brain’ means?”
Xu Rao was puzzled: “Sexual-romance brain? It probably means someone who likes to view every situation through the lens of a romantic relationship. Why did you suddenly think of that word?”
Song Yuanxi said softly, “I asked him for his contact info just now, and he wouldn’t give it to me. He even told me not to have a ‘sexual-romance brain,’ saying his help was just a casual favor.”
Xu Rao was silent for a moment, then truly believed it: “No way… he called you ‘sexual-romance brained’? Then he really is a straight man with zero interest in you. If he liked you even a little, he would have taken the chance to flirt! To actually say that to you.”
Song Yuanxi laughed too, feeling inexplicably reassured: “Right? I feel like he’s a very suitable target for a boss now. He has no designs on me, so it’s safe. I just don’t know how to get him to agree to sign me and help pay my liquidated damages.”
Song Yuanxi was a bit worried. Signing him required paying a termination fee, and it wasn’t low. This was a tangible interest; to get someone to pay up, there had to be a reason and benefits to move them.
“Well…” Xu Rao pursed his lips and thought. “I don’t know. I haven’t looked into Liang Han deeply. I only know some rumors that he has a cold personality, a good work ethic, and high standards. Doesn’t seem very useful. Why don’t you think about how you moved your current company to sign you? Maybe it’s similar?”
“Back then, the manager said they signed me because I had a good image, decent acting, and good prospects.” Song Yuanxi gave a bitter smile. “Now that I think about it, it was probably just my face. They wanted to sell me from the very beginning.”
Xu Rao calmed down and started analyzing for him: “Hey, although your company’s motives were impure, what you said before is still useful! Those are the key points! You can ‘draw a big pie’ for Liang Han! Show him you have great acting skills and prospects. He has his own studio; he has to recruit artists anyway. As long as you’re excellent enough, he should consider it.”
Song Yuanxi pondered: “Draw a big pie for him…”
He hadn’t been very confident, but then he remembered Liang Han praising his image and advising him to audition. He started to get a concept.
He started to pump himself up: “You’re right! To sign with him, there must be benefits to move him. I’ll go back and think hard about how to draw a big pie for him!”
Seeing him energized, Xu Rao smiled and encouraged him: “Yeah! Give it your best! Win over this boss-benefactor Liang Han as soon as possible!”
…
On the way back to the private room, the future “benefactor” Liang Han did not look back. However, all the way back, his nerves were taut, and he felt inexplicably worried and tense.
He was afraid the boy would take the opportunity to follow him and pester him like the person he had encountered before.
But until he reached the door of the private room, he didn’t hear any following footsteps. Clearly, the boy had listened to him and left.
He let out a soft breath, his tense nerves relaxing, but his mood didn’t improve. He actually felt inexplicably… disappointed.
He actually gave up just like that?
It seemed his previous assessment wasn’t accurate. The boy wasn’t “sexual-romance brained.” Although he liked him and called him an idol, what he liked more was likely the benefits he could get from him.
So, once he offered a job opportunity, the boy stopped pestering him.
“…”
Liang Han wasn’t angry. Although he felt it was a bit too “realistic,” there was nothing wrong with being a bit realistic.
But even as he thought this, he wasn’t very happy, and even his expression turned sour.