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Two days later—
Today was Anran’s birthday, and also Jian Xingsui’s birthday.
When he got up from the dormitory in the morning, he went to wake Shen Xingchen up. He didn’t know when it became his task; but because Shen Xingchen couldn’t wake up the alarm clock at all, he could only rely on manpower.
However, to his surprise, Shen Xingchen woke up by himself today.
Jian Xingsui was shocked: “Why do you wake up so early?”
“You look down on me.” Shen Xingchen snorted lightly: “Can’t I get up early?” “
“
”
Jian Xingsui nodded, as if he didn’t experience how hard it was to wake Shen Xingchen up everyday.
He didn’t know if it’s just his imagination or not, but he always felt that Shen Xingchen behaved very unusually these two days. He didn’t know what the older man was doing – at times, he would go somewhere for a long time, and he wasn’t as lazy as usual. In fact, it looked like he was preoccupied with something.
Jian Xingsui was afraid that he would forget, so he specially reminded him: “It seems that the program crew has an arrangement this afternoon, let’s go to the auditorium.”
Shen Xingchen said while getting dressed, “It seems that there is such a thing scheduled today.”
Ning Ze was the diligent one in the dormitory. Not only did he wash up long ago, but he had even finished exercising. He walked over and said, “Well, today is Anran’s birthday party. We should participate.”
In order to prevent anything unpleasant from happening during the recording, the program team prepared a script for everyone to act.
Jian Xingsui went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He said as he walked, “I’ve been watching the layout of the auditorium for the past two days, it should be quite grand. You should try to find a good place for the recording, so you can get good camera shots.”
Although Ning Ze didn’t talk much, he was well-informed, “Jian Family ordered a very large five-layered cake, and it just arrived this morning. Because we have more than 50 trainees, I’m afraid it won’t be enough for everyone to eat. I heard it is specially customized.”
Jian Xingsui paused while brushing his teeth.
He wanted to smile along with him, but he couldn’t help the corner of his mouth twitch.
Shen Xingchen put on his clothes and walked over while still sniffing, “Who wants to eat that broken cake? It’ll probably taste boring anyways, and it will just be a waste of food and air.”
Jian Xingsui laughed after hearing it.
After washing up, they came out of the dormitory, but they didn’t expect to run into Anran’s group head-on.
Many trainees in the corridor knew that Anran was definitely going to make his debut, plus he has the backing of his wealthy family. It was no surprise that people flocked towards him, greeting him in a sensible way. Even if they were just gaining some level of familiarity, it was enough. They also verbally sent their blessings:
“Happy birthday, Ranran~”
“The birthday boy is here!”
“Ranran is very handsome today!”
Anran couldn’t stop smiling, and he thanked each one shyly, “Thank you everyone, I will invite you all later to the party. Let’s eat the cake together.”
Of course, the other trainees agreed, after all, they have done enough on the surface.
Soon, Anran also walked in front of Jian Xingsui. Just as the group was about to pass by, Jian Xingsui wanted to pretend to be invisible, but Anran’s voice came out: “Suisui.”
Jian Xingsui paused.
Anran followed the others and said hello: “Xingchen-ge, hello, how is Ning Ze?”
Shen Xingchen didn’t have anything good to say when he opened his mouth: “Huh? Who is talking? Oh, hello there, birthday star.”
Anran didn’t like Shen Xingchen’s tone. But no matter how he felt, he could only accept it, so he could only smile awkwardly in response.
But soon, Anran remembered his main purpose, so he set his sights on Jian Xingsui again, but he said it loudly for everyone to hear, “We have cooperated on several stages before, and we are all friends now. This time I want to thank everyone for their care, so don’t be polite, I have prepared gifts for you tonight, and I want to give them to you in person.”
Seeing Anran’s hypocritical smiling face, Jian Xingsui suddenly felt tired. He was too tired to continue pretending to feel okay in front of the camera. And today was his birthday, he wanted to treat himself by taking a day off.
Just a few days ago,he had a low fever and was hospitalized. Although he was recuperating during this time, he still occasionally coughed and felt weak, so he took the opportunity to say, “Thank you for the invitation, but I’m not feeling well. I’m afraid I’ll infect everyone if I attend the party. I’ll ask the director for a leave this afternoon, so I won’t go.”
Anran looked at him sideways in surprise: “What’s uncomfortable?”
“What else is uncomfortable, of course it’s because your eyes are uncomfortable to see.” Shen Xingchen actually felt fine but he said, “Anyway, I also feel uncomfortable.”
Anran glared at him angrily.
Jian Xingsui felt funny in his heart, but he didn’t show it. He just said to Anran, “That’s about it,  I’m sorry.”
Anran was a little disappointed. He knew that today was also Jian Xingsui’s birthday; however, Jian Xingsui didn’t say it himself, so Anran couldn’t say it if he still wanted to be in the viewer’s good graces1as in, if the viewer knows that Anran knew of Jian Xingsui’s birthday, they may criticize him for celebrating his own birthday so grandly and not Jian Xingsui’s.. In case other trainees asked them to celebrate their birthday together
 let’s not mention on how Jian Xingsui was more popular than him, and maybe the money invested by the Jian Family would only benefit Jian Xingsui instead. Although
 in that case, he could accuse Jian Xingsui for stealing the limelight he doesn’t deserve, but still, that wasn’t worth the loss of popularity Anran would feel if they celebrated their birthday together.
Therefore–
Anran thought about it in his heart, and actually felt that it would be better if Jian Xingsui really didn’t come, so he said, “Well, you can take a good rest at that time.”
Jian Xingsui nodded, and Anran let them go.
As the dusk settled, most of the trainees had gone to attend the birthday party. As for Jian Xingsui, he was reading alone in the library.
The library was situated one floor higher than the auditorium. He was sitting by the window, and he could see the cheery atmosphere of the party from here. The lights there were bright, the ribbons and balloons were fluttering wildly, looking so dazzling as it reflected the bright overhead lights. The lively sounds from the happy people below echoed loud and clear even to the library.
Jian Xingsui heard that both Jian Zhi and Jian Kuo were also here, somehow able to attend despite their busy schedule. The family reunion was very touching, and the photographer was seriously recording this beautiful moment.
Jian Xingsui looked at it with his chin propped up. He was a little sad when he first heard about this, but now his heart has calmed down. He looked at his former relatives surrounding another person, and it made him a little numb.
Xiao Mi came over and said, “Suisui.”
Jian Xingsui was a little surprised to see him coming.
“I sent you your mobile phone.” Xiao Mi looked at it and sighed, “I only found out about your birthday today from the director. They didn’t arrange anything for you this time, so I asked for special circumstances to send you back your mobile phone. He said that you can use it freely today.”
‘It was compensation.’
Xiao Mi couldn’t say the truth out loud.
Jian Xingsui took the phone and said with a smile, “Thank you.”
Xiao Mi looked at him and suddenly felt a little sad. On the same day, there were two different celebrations – one with a grand party, and the other could only sit alone in a quiet corner and spend his days silently. They were both popular trainees with the same age, but they led a completely different life. But no matter how much he pitied Jian Xingsui, he was helpless.
Xiao Mi said: “Then I’ll go first.”
Jian Xingsui was very polite: “I’m sorry
”
After he left, Jian Xingsui turned on his mobile phone. This was the first time he got his mobile phone back after a long time. After opening WeChat, the person who sent him the most messages was actually Wang-ge, his manager, and his words could be roughly divided into several categories:
[Anyway, you will definitely not make your debut. Stop wasting your time and retire from the program soon.]
[We already accepted one million yuan for you. You cannot breach the contract.]
[Think about the consequences yourself, otherwise I will not be able to help you.]
Jian Xingsui went through these in silence without replying.
In fact, he had already thought about it before he participated in “Starlight”. As the protagonist, Anran had a halo. If he didn’t want to die like he did in his previous life, the most important thing he should do is to avoid him. At first, he planned to get as much money as possible, then quitted the entertainment circle the moment his contract expired. After that, he hoped to move into another city, or even abroad, and build a new life for himself there. Even if there’s a couple of years left in his contract, it wouldn’t matter much. The worst thing that they could do to him was to hide him from the public eye, so he wouldn’t get any job or popularity. He didn’t care much about these things.
Scrolling further, there were no more messages.
Jian Xingsui clicked on the text message on his mobile phone, and found sadly that there were only text messages from 10086 and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China that wished him a happy birthday. Even the Zhang Family didn’t greet him.
When seeing this, Jian Xingsui’s heart sank a little bit, but he wasn’t that sad. Maybe because he had already prepared mentally before, and naturally he wouldn’t face that kind of sadness of not meeting his expectation.
However, he still felt lonely.
He needed to learn to get used to this feeling slowly.
While looking at his phone, someone came from behind and patted him on the shoulder: “What are you doing here?”
Jian Xingsui shivered, and looked back in disbelief: “Xingchen?”
Shen Xingchen leaned against the table and took Jian Xingsui’s book in his hand, “What is this? Grimm’s fairy tale? What a gloomy book, don’t read it, come with me.”
“Huh..?”
Jian Xingsui was caught off guard by him and pulled him outside, hesitatingly asking, ” Where are you going? Are you not filming the show? Why did you come out?”
Shen Xingchen said confidently, “I sneaked out.”
Jian Xingsui was silent, if someone else did such a thing, he might be surprised. But this was Young Master Xingchen. He was willful enough to do this kind of thing, and maybe, he should do whatever he wanted, that’s just how he is.
Jian Xingsui felt a tiny bit envious of that.
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1as in, if the viewer knows that Anran knew of Jian Xingsui’s birthday, they may criticize him for celebrating his own birthday so grandly and not Jian Xingsui’s.