Asteroid

Chapter 6: Nosebleed

 

Xu Tangzhou slept poorly that night and had a long dream.

 

It was stormy in the dream.
He wasn’t sure if it was a typhoon, but the trees outside the window bent over.
There seemed to be a hole in the sky as the rain poured down.

The room was blanketed with silence.
The glass of the French windows seemed to block out the tumultuous storm and the claps of thunder.
Only the creaking sounds from the rotating ceiling fan above his head could be heard.

There was a solid wood desk in front of him with exam papers laid out on top.
Looking down, he saw “Year of 2203, Qinian City Mock College Entrance Exam*” written on the exam as he held a fountain pen in his hand.

(*TN: otherwise known as the gaokao, it’s an insanely difficult exam in China that comes once per year as everyone fights for a good enough score to get into college.)

At this moment, Xu Tangzhou still knew that he was dreaming.

F*ck.
He was startled into a cold sweat.
Dreaming of doing the college entrance exams again, this terrible memory was too unforgettable.

 

Suddenly, someone spoke from behind him: “You don’t understand this question?”

That lukewarm voice with a hint of laziness sounded incredibly pleasant.

 

Only then did Xu Tangzhou realize that he was sitting on his Alpha’s legs and curled up within his Alpha’s arms.
It was an extremely ambiguous posture.

Immediately, a clean and slender hand reached out from behind him and clasped the back of his hand to help write the answer.

He wanted the Alpha to write the answer.

 

The Alpha deliberately did not lower the pen, leaning a bit closer, and biting his earlobe: “Beg me.
Beg me and I’ll teach you.”

He trembled once after being bitten, and the glands on his nape couldn’t stop feeling itchy.
The tip of the pen drew a line on the paper, as he angrily spoke: “Can’t you act like a human?* Can’t you take pity on us students studying for the college entrance exams? Dating while also studying, it’s truly difficult.”

(TN: 人干事 is shorthand for 这是人干的事吗, which roughly translates to “is this how humans act?”, remedied in the audio drama)

 

His view flickered within the dream.
The Alpha already kissed him.

Xu Tangzhou had completely forgotten that he was still dreaming.
He only heard the beating of his heartbeat, passively yet longingly welcoming this kiss.
It was unclear who was more active in the fervent kiss.

Under the hazy light, he saw the deep contours of the other person’s face.
He had long and dense brown eyelashes, kissing him with a boyish smile as if he succeeded in playing a prank.
The other person looked extremely content.

As per usual, don’t forget to check for whited words 🙂

The thunder sounded again and again, the dull sound resounding far beyond the horizon.

Within the half-dark and half-lit room, their figures were reflected on the window.
The youthful Alpha bit the gland on his nape.
It appeared fierce, but the bite was very gentle.
Xu Tangzhou looked at the glass and was met with a pair of amber eyes.

That pair of eyes made Xu Tangzhou slowly recall his name: “……
Ling Che.”

 

When Xu Tangzhou called out that name, he awoke.

The sky was bright, and the view of the Fisher Hotel room ceiling reminded him that he was just dreaming.

The glands on his nape felt slightly itchy as if he was actually bitten.

 

He was the only person in the room.
Lu Jia seemed to have already left, but didn’t say goodbye.
Weren’t they friends?

 

However, Xu Tangzhou let out a breath and said in relief: Fortunately, he was alone.

How… long had it been since he had that kind of dream?

Could it be because he met the subject of his dreams yesterday? Or when he used the phone in Ling Che’s room last night, he conjured up a car without a license plate* from that strange posture?

(TN: Car = R18+ scenes, no license plate = unwritten, from my understanding.
In other words, Zaizai was thinking naughty things…)

 

Xu Tangzhou started having these dreams right when he just differentiated.
At his next doctor’s visit, he shyly told it to the doctor.

The doctor comforted him and said it was a normal phenomenon.

After every Omega matured, they would subconsciously dream of their ideal type.
This showed they have fully matured.
Xu Tangzhou differentiated late, so this situation would occur later than his peers and he shouldn’t worry about it.

 

The doctor also teased him: “How was it, is your sexual fantasy partner your ideal type?”

Xu Tangzhou thought a bit, and replied with a blush: “I couldn’t see their face, but they were so A*, my legs turned to jelly!”

(TN: *A as in acted like an ideal Alpha)

 

Until one day, Xu Tangzhou saw Ling Che on TV.
Every last detail of the person in the dream seemed to have fallen into place, completely matching with Ling Che.

And do us all a favor and don’t take this

His half-eaten apple fell from shock.

 

He asked his family: “Mom, do I know him?”

Xie Rui walked over to see the person on the screen: “Did you remember anything?”

How could he dare say what had transpired within his dreams? He only said: “I think he looks very familiar.
It seems I know him.”

Xie Rui smiled and told him: “He is a famous celebrity called Ling Che.
You used to be his fan, of course you’d know him.”

At that time, Xu Tangzhou was shocked by his shamelessness.
He was only thankful that he wasn’t a solo stan* before, because he found a lot of different Alphas saved in his computer’s hard drive.

(TN: Solo stans are people who just like one person in a group and hates on the others)

 

Facts proved there was a difference between fantasy and reality.

Xu Tangzhou was very excited when he attended the annual party, but now he felt it was a pity that Ling Che wasn’t half as gentle as he was in his dreams.
Furthermore, he might even be prejudiced against Omegas.

Xu Tangzhou doesn’t want to be his face fan anymore.

 

Please, he really doesn’t want to have that type of dream starring Ling Che’s face anymore.

 

*

 

When Huang Qian went to Xu Tangzhou’s room, his face was beaming: “What did you say to Ling Che last night? How did you manage to convince him?”

 

Xu Tangzhou sat cross-legged on the bed, eating the breakfast sent by the room service.
A cute little bulge appeared on his cheeks.

“What? I only wanted to borrow a phone.”

 

Huang Qian was very happy: “I already heard from Xiao An.
Did you say something when you borrowed the phone to make him change his opinion? Earlier this morning, Ya jie called and said that this matter was settled.
Ling Che expressed that he could reconsider, and his attitude wasn’t that unyielding anymore.”

If an artist wanted to have good exposure, then they needed a good starting point.
Huang Qian wasn’t someone who would fuss over every little thing.
Nothing was as important as the career, and occasionally being bullied was within his tolerance.

 

Xu Tangzhou was stunned.

What?!

Could the situation actually be reversed like this?

 

Could it be like those clichéd idol dramas, where the male lead had the thought “Heh.
Woman, you have succeeded in attracting my attention” because of a few careless words he said?

(TN: PLEASE I BEG LISTEN TO THE AUDIO DRAMA FOR THIS LINE, link at end of chapter)

Thinking about it carefully, it seemed that Ling Che asked him what he thought about the rumors of Ling Che being prejudiced against Omegas.
While he said: based on his music, it doesn’t seem to be the case.

He couldn’t clearly remember the contents of the discussion.

Could this be the reason?

 

There are all kinds of people in the company.

After eating breakfast, they needed to leave.
The protesters and news reporters were so energetic, they didn’t leave and even stayed overnight.
They probably knew that Ling Che would leave Fisher Hotel today no matter what, so they were even more vigorous than yesterday.
They vowed to not let Ling Che escape.

 

Entering the elevator, Huang Qian said: “Zhouzhou, your face looks a little pale.
Did you not sleep well last night?”

“No I didn’t.” Xu Tangzhou spoke honestly.
It’d be strange if he slept well, he felt like he was hollowed out*.

(TN: felt hollowed out means completely exhausted)

“Lu Jia really knows how to cause trouble.” Huang Qian misunderstood his meaning and reminded him, “However, you need to pay attention to sleep.
Although you are still young, you are still an artist and you have to take care of yourself.
Look at Lu Jia, he’s already twenty six years old.”

Xu Tangzhou was shocked.
He thought Lu Jia was twenty years old at most.

All artists are monsters!

(TN: Not western monsters! They’re the Chinese version of supernatural creatures)

 

Upon arriving at the parking lot, Huang Qian had just opened the car door to let Xu Tangzhou get in when Xiao An ran over: “Huang ge!”

Xiao An was breathless as he requested a favor from them.

The two spoke a few words, but Xu Tangzhou didn’t listen, only closing his eyes and relaxing.
He really needed to catch up on sleep.

I’d rather not resort to a few choice actions

Huang Qian got in the car again and called out to him: “Zhouzhou, sit a row in.”

Thx <3

Xu Tangzhou didn’t know why, but he still moved to the second row of seats.

As soon as he sat down, a long leg stretched in.

 

Ling Che wore a mask and a baseball hat.
He probably wanted to disguise himself, but even if he turned to ashes, Xu Tangzhou would still recognize him.
Not to mention his unique S-class scorching sun pheromone.

It was scorching hot, as if it could boil someone.

He silently sat down next to Xu Tangzhou and casually adjusted the seat into a comfortable position.
Luckily, the seats of the nanny van were wide, so this tall person wouldn’t be too grumpy.

 

Xu Tangzhou: “……”

So do I have to greet him?

 

Xiao An followed closely behind and happily sat in the row in front of them.
He looked back and said: “Sorry for bothering.
The paparazzi took a picture of our car’s license plate number so Ya jie is driving that one to shake them off.
Coincidentally, we met you, so we decided to hitch a ride.
I guarantee that no one would ever guess that we are in your car.
Zhouzhou, do you mind?”

That was true.
The media doesn’t know Xu Tangzhou’s car, they’d even be confused if they were asked if they recognized him.

As expected of Situ Ya.

 

“I don’t mind.” Xu Tangzhou looked at Ling Che.

 

Ling Che didn’t seem like he wanted to greet them.

‘Fine, let’s all be silent together’ Xu Tangzhou decided.

 

Huang Qian started the car: “Does Ling Che need to go home or somewhere else? I heard that Ying Chen is living happily in the north of the city and convinced you to also buy a house.
Do you want to go there?”

 

 

Ying Chen! The multi-award winning actor!

Xu Tangzhou thought, so Ling Che’s friends are all of this level.
Birds of a feather truly do flock together.

As for him, his greatest achievement was to drag his genius roommate into playing a children’s version of “connect the dots” with him.

(TN: Well, not exactly like connect the dots.
The actual game plays like “Flow Free” or “Connect the pipes”, but I don't know the name of that type)

 

“Home.” Ling Che finally spoke.

Perhaps because it was due to the events of this morning, his voice had a rough quality, “Thank you.”

 

No one mentioned the awkward meeting last night.

No, for Xu Tangzhou and Ling Che, it was two awkward meetings.

 

No one spoke in the car.
They successfully passed through the bustling crowd outside the hotel without arousing an ounce of suspicion.
They didn’t drive too far when they heard a loud shout: “Ling Che’s car!!!”

The group of people flocked over.
Situ Ya only drove the car out an inch and it was completely surrounded.

Xiao An almost started happily applauding while Ling Che looked back at those people.
He only opened his mouth to say a word.

 

Xu Tangzhou thought he said “Idiots”.

But Xu Tangzhou had no evidence.

 

Just as he thought that, Ling Che suddenly took off his mask and hat, relaxing completely.
He looked extremely exhausted as he leaned back against the seat.
His eye bags… looked very frightening.

This superstar couldn’t have stayed up all night, right?

 

“What are you looking at?” Ling Che looked over.

Xu Tangzhou: “???”

Ling Che said coldly: “Don’t keep staring at me.”

Xu Tangzhou: “……
I wasn’t.”

 

Huang Qian glanced at them through the rearview mirror.
From his perspective, he couldn’t see Xu Tangzhou.
He only saw Ling Che’s cold face as he rummaged for something in his overcoat pocket.
He looked very impatient.

Huang Qian felt as if they were about to start fighting.

 

Xu Tangzhou also didn’t dare to look at Ling Che anymore.
He felt that Ling Che was a bit irritable now, perhaps he’s moody in the mornings.
It’s best if he doesn’t speak and try to be as quiet as a chicken*.

(TN: Quiet as a chicken English equivalent is more or less “reading the mood”.
Aka: Stop speaking when needed)

He didn’t know why, but his glands felt itchy again, and it felt even itchier than when he woke up in the morning.

He couldn’t help reaching out to touch it, and he discovered a small part of his skin was slightly bulging and felt boiling hot, as if waiting for something to pierce it.

 

A hand suddenly stretched out in front of him.

The beauty of that finger overlapped with the hand in Xu Tangzhou’s dreams.

 

Xu Tangzhou looked up, revealing a puzzled look upon seeing the item held in that hand.

 

It turned out the thing Ling Che was rummaging for in his coat pocket was a packet of tissues.

When Huang Qian, who was secretly observing, saw this scene, the corner of his mouth twitched.

 

Ling Che handed the tissue to Xu Tangzhou and said flatly: “Your nose is bleeding.”

 

 

The author has something to say:

The two people didn’t sleep well last night, both of them thinking: Feeling hollowed out.*

(TN: as mentioned above, felt hollowed out means completely exhausted)

 

 

 

TN: Extra easter egg from the audio drama: So the voice actor for Ling Che also voiced Zhang Chengfei from Mr.
Dior, who would always say “Man, (insert some random line)” so the audio drama switched the word “woman” to “man” which is a true stroke of genius on their part imo, but that’s beside the point.