Zhu Lianzhen had been famous from the moment he debuted, and over the years, he was used to people trying to piggyback on his popularity. But this was the first time he’d encountered a marketing team that so blatantly treated him as a tool to prop up another couple, and it truly left him speechless.
He didn’t fuss over it—he had that much grace. Besides, Zuige Entertainment, as an industry giant, didn’t have time to deal with every small company trying to grab attention.
But his fans weren’t nearly as magnanimous. Overnight, they went full attack mode. They cursed several trending tags into oblivion and forced the team behind the “Upholding Purity” to revise their photo captions and marketing content by morning.
When Koty, who was always up to date on the latest drama, caught wind of the situation, he tagged Zhu Lianzhen in their group chat and messaged gleefully: “When I saw ‘Poor Zhu Lianzhen’ trending, I thought something happened to you. Turns out it’s just people clowning on you for being single.”
Zhu Lianzhen couldn’t be bothered to explain and replied: “Don’t talk to me.”
Koty said: “Who are those two anyway? Are you close with them? They don’t look like good people. You should stay away.”
“Not close.” Zhu Lianzhen said: “Since when do you know how to read faces?”
Koty: “Fu Rong does fortune-telling, so I read faces. Perfect combo, right?”
Fu Rong popped into the chat right then and used the dice feature: it landed on 1.
He told Koty: “You’ve got one month left to live.”
“I don’t believe that.” Koty rolled again and hit a lucky six.
Fu Rong: “Six days.”
Ji Yunting: “I’ll be filming tomorrow. I’m nervous. I heard we’ll be staying there for half a month.”
Zhu Lianzhen: “Stop pretending. Turn on your camera right now. I bet your grin’s already stretching up to your temples.”
Koty: “Wanna bet? I think the leader’s being serious this time. Though obviously, it’ll end in failure.”
Fu Rong rolled the dice—got a four.
Zhu Lianzhen: “Deal. Next time he brings this topic up, he’ll be crying.”
Ji Yunting fumed: “Can the three of you stop jinxing me? @TanQing, bro, back me up here.”
Tan Qing said nothing.
Zhu Lianzhen tapped on his profile picture and entered his Moments feed. There was nothing recent, just a few sparse posts promoting work. When he wasn’t around, Zhu Lianzhen couldn’t even picture what he might be doing.
He waited another ten minutes or so, but Tan Qing still didn’t say anything in the group chat. Zhu Lianzhen set down his phone, planning to wash up and head to bed.
When he came out of the bathroom and picked up his phone again, two missed calls from Tan Qing had appeared prominently on the screen.
Zhu Lianzhen hastened his towel-drying, wiped the water from his ears, and called Tan Qing back. The call wasn’t answered. He called again, but was met with a busy tone.
He sent a WeChat message: “What’s up?”
There was no reply. Maybe Tan Qing had gone to shower too.
Zhu Lianzhen was already sleepy, but he stayed up scrolling on his phone for another half hour, just in case Tan Qing responded. His sleep was light at first, and he suddenly woke up not long after. He turned on his phone to check for unread messages.
No red dot appeared over Tan Qing’s profile picture.
Zhu Lianzhen curled his lips, flipped the phone face down, tossed it to the side of the bed, and fell into a deep sleep.
–
The next day, the sky was clear and bright.
“And that concludes this week’s ‘Truly Beautiful Weather.’ Thanks for listening, and see you next week.” Tan Qing’s voice was warm and clear. After reading the closing remarks, he took off his headset. A staff member handed him a large bouquet of flowers. “Congratulations on the 300th episode!”
“Thank you.” Tan Qing accepted the bouquet with a smile and stood to take a group photo with the radio station staff. He said, “The breakfast truck I ordered has arrived downstairs. Make sure to grab something, don’t work hungry.”
His assistant approached and handed him a hefty gift box. “CEO Chu heard it’s the 300th episode today and sent a commemorative gift.” Inside was a square-shaped, solid gold medal with “Acemon Tan Qing” engraved on it.
When the radio show had first launched, no one expected it to last this long. The audience was small, it was hard to attract fans, and it made little profit. But Tan Qing had stuck with it as the main host, delivering every episode on schedule each week.
“Shall I take you back? The car’s ready,” the assistant asked.
“No need. You all go get breakfast. Come back around ten.” Tan Qing crushed his empty coffee cup, stuffed it into a paper bag meant for trash, gathered his things, and left the station.
He drove down to the basement garage and turned off the engine, then glanced at the bouquet on the passenger seat. Champagne roses and chamomile, dotted with eucalyptus leaves—the only bright color in the car.
Tan Qing unbuckled his seatbelt and stayed sitting in the car, slowly fiddling with the bouquet. When he pressed a little harder with his fingers, the petals released a bit of sticky juice that clung uncomfortably to his skin. His expression stayed calm, but his gaze on the flowers wasn’t focused. He just kept repeating the same motion, patiently pinching every flower.
Sunlight from the summer morning streamed in through the windshield. The sour scent of crushed flowers mixed with the floral fragrance, made even stronger by the heat. Tan Qing rolled down the window to let the air clear. Only after the smell had mostly dispersed did he get out of the car, toss the wilted bouquet away, and head upstairs to go home.
At ten in the morning, the driver arrived on time to take him to the recording.
Tan Qing had been on this show three times before and was familiar with the host team, so their conversations were always relaxed. A new segment had been added today, requiring each guest to call a celebrity friend live and, based on a randomly drawn prompt, get them to help with a task.
“Has everyone drawn their prompts?” the host asked.
The other guests had drawn things like “Ask them to lend you one million yuan,” “Get them to say ‘I love you’ to you,” or “Tell them you accidentally revealed their secret to someone else”… Tan Qing opened his slip of paper, which read: Say you want to stay at their place for half a year.
“Tan Qing, do you want to go first?”
“Mm, I’ll go first.” Tan Qing took the phone his assistant handed him. The host asked, “Have you decided who to call? A teammate, or another actor?”
Before Tan Qing could answer, the audience began to cheer loudly, “A teammate!”
He looked down at his contact list. “I can call a teammate, but they probably haven’t woken up yet.”
“It’s already the afternoon, and they’re still in bed?”
“We often flip day and night when things get busy,” Tan Qing said. “The team leader has other work today, and Fu Rong usually doesn’t answer calls. I’ll try one of the other two.”
He dialed a number and held the phone up to the microphone. The ringing tone played for over ten seconds with no answer. Someone whispered, “Who’s he calling?”
Tan Qing replied, “Koty.”
Soon, the call failed. Tan Qing hung up and asked the host, “Should I try him again?”
“You could, or you could switch to someone else. Koty’s still not awake?”
“Not sure. Sometimes when he goes out, he doesn’t hear his phone.” Tan Qing said, “Then I’ll call Zhu Lianzhen.”
This time, the fans’ anticipation was noticeably higher. The call was picked up after just a few seconds, and Zhu Lianzhen’s lazy voice came from the other end. “Hmm?”
Judging from the way he just hummed through his throat, he hadn’t even opened his mouth. Tan Qing smiled and asked, “Still not awake?”
Zhu Lianzhen was indeed asleep. He hadn’t even looked at the caller ID and just found the phone by muscle memory. His brain took a moment to catch up before he recognized Tan Qing’s voice.
“What is it?” Zhu Lianzhen still had his eyes closed.
“Waking you up.”
“You’re acting up again…” Zhu Lianzhen didn’t have time to get cranky about being woken up before suddenly remembering what happened last night. “Did you call me yesterday for something?”
“You saw it?”
Zhu Lianzhen had half his face buried in the pillow, and his voice was a little muffled. “Didn’t I reply to you on WeChat?”
“I had something to discuss with you. If you’re sleepy, go back to sleep first.”
Zhu Lianzhen slowly took a deep breath. His articulation then became clear, “Hurry up and say it. You already woke me up—how am I supposed to fall back asleep?”
“I want to stay at your place for half a year.”
Zhu Lianzhen’s eyes were too dry to fully open, but his mind was clear. He frowned and said, “Stay at my place for half a year?”
“Is that okay?”
The call fell silent. On the other end, the live audience remained quiet, waiting for Zhu Lianzhen’s answer.
“Why half a year?” Zhu Lianzhen asked. “Is your place getting renovated or something?”
“So that means you agree?”
Zhu Lianzhen’s lips parted slightly, unsure how to respond.
After a brief pause, Tan Qing called his name again, “Zhu Lianzhen, are you listening?”
Zhu Lianzhen reacted quickly. “Are you on a show right now?”
After being exposed, Tan Qing didn’t deny it. The host immediately jumped in, greeting Zhu Lianzhen and explaining that Tan Qing was currently completing a task for the program. Zhu Lianzhen heard the clear cheers from the audience on the other side and laughed, greeting them back.
“Tan Qing drew a prompt where he had to ask a friend if he could stay at their place for half a year. Zhu Lianzhen, if he really asked you this in private, would you take him in?”
Zhu Lianzhen answered without hesitation, “Of course I would. Who turns down free rent?”
The people on the other end burst into laughter, but Tan Qing’s voice quickly quieted them. “I won’t bother you anymore. Go back to sleep.”
He was just about to hang up when Zhu Lianzhen suddenly called out, “Wait! Wait!”
“You still haven’t told me why you called me last night?”
Tan Qing asked, “You want me to say it on the show? With all these people listening?”
Zhu Lianzhen: “What, you got something to hide?”
The host and other guests eagerly jumped in, “Gossip? We want to hear it too. We love secrets!”
Tan Qing chuckled softly. “You probably don’t remember what day it is today. When you figure it out, come find me.”
Zhu Lianzhen couldn’t tell if Tan Qing was being mysterious on purpose or just playing it up for the show.
The host teased from the side, “Look at you two, talking in code like we’re strangers.” Sensing there might be something the two didn’t want to say publicly, the host smoothed things over and wrapped up the segment, finally saying to Zhu Lianzhen, “We won’t disturb you any longer. When you’re free sometime, we’d love to have you on the show too.”
“Sure, definitely!” Zhu Lianzhen replied cheerfully. “Bye!”
As soon as the call ended, Zhu Lianzhen checked the calendar—it showed three digits that didn’t connect to anything in his memory.
But it was Monday.
Monday… If it had anything to do with Tan Qing, Zhu Lianzhen would think of his radio program.
He opened Weibo and clicked into the account for “Truly Beautiful Weather.” Zhu Lianzhen saw a group photo from that morning. The caption read: “Today’s Kissy-laoshi—Episode 300 successfully reached!”
So it really was that.
Zhu Lianzhen liked the post, feeling a bit sentimental.
About a year after their debut, their popularity had more or less stabilized, and the company assigned suitable variety show opportunities to each of them. Tan Qing had originally been offered a spot as a regular host on a new TV program, but he turned it down using his studies as a reason. He only kept this radio show on his schedule.
Other people didn’t understand. They thought he was wasting a great opportunity. Zhu Lianzhen had no particular opinion and simply wished Tan Qing success with the program. Tan Qing had asked him, “Do you understand this decision?”
“If it were me, I definitely wouldn’t have made the same choice. But you’re not me,” Zhu Lianzhen said. “A decision you’ve thought through carefully doesn’t need anyone else’s approval.”
Then he couldn’t help but add, “But this show you picked doesn’t look like it’ll last very long! Everyone’s so busy on Monday mornings. Who’s going to think about listening to the radio?”
Tan Qing had considered it and said, “It’s because people don’t like Mondays. If I can become something they look forward to on those mornings, maybe they’ll feel more motivated to face work and school.”
Zhu Lianzhen had never thought about it that way before. After hearing Tan Qing’s explanation, he suddenly felt like this job did have some real meaning behind it.
When “Truly Beautiful Weather” reached its 100th episode, Zhu Lianzhen had sent a whole car full of flowers to congratulate him, parked right outside the company building. The tall buildings on both sides were cold and hard, while those flowers were the only splash of color in the grey cityscape.
Tan Qing accepted them gladly and asked Zhu Lianzhen, “With so many flowers, how am I supposed to take them home?”
“Just drive the car back.”
“And how do I take care of them once they’re home?”
Zhu Lianzhen had almost forgotten that Tan Qing was even more practical than he was. He stood there staring at the packed car of flowers, troubled for a while, then suddenly had an idea. “You could use them for a flower bath!”
Tan Qing laughed at the joke and decided to take the flowers home first and figure out what to do with them later. He asked Zhu Lianzhen, “If the show keeps going, will you bring me flowers again next time?”
Zhu Lianzhen said, “Of course. Do you like them?”
“I didn’t use to,” Tan Qing looked at him and said, “But I do now.”
