Did Not Say Anything About My Feelings - Chapter 25. Exchange

Lin Ye did not answer his question, because his lunch had arrived.

Because he was worried that there would be someone else who had yet to eat, Wen Mian bought an additional set for breakfast. Besides Lin Ye, all of his teammates had already eaten. Thus, Wen Mian went next door and gave the extra breakfast to the trainees next door.

The trainee that had been fed was too touched. He even held Wen Mian’s hand and promised, “The day the production team returns our phones, I’ll create an extra account and vote for you.”

Wen Mian thanked him and returned. He then raised an eyebrow at Lin Ye, who was still eating breakfast, “Look at him and look at you.”

Lin Ye’s expression did not change, “I’m different from him.” He smiled, “He’s only voting for you after he finishes voting for himself. My one pick is you.”

(T/N: AKA his first pick is Wen Mian~ (Not super sure if it means that he’s ONLY picking Wen Mian or his first pick is Wen Mian, but I think it’s more of the first one.))

Wen Mian kept laughing.

In the afternoon everyone in Group A went to the salon to dye their hair. The assistants were hurrying about as they did the preparation work. The stylists chose two colors for their team, based on their outfits and styles on the day of their performance, purple-gray and milky gray.

Jiang Lian, Cheng Chi, and Yan Changfei were in the group with purple-gray hair, while Lin Ye, Wen Mian, and Qi Huan had milky gray hair.

When they were waiting for their hair to be washed, Wen Mian excitedly asked, “Won’t the audience think that the three of us have matching hair like a couple?”

Everyone laughed, not taking these words to heart.

Qi Huan kept wanting to say something but seemed to be stopping himself. In the end, he carefully raised his hand and asked, “Teacher, can I dye my hair purple-gray as well?”

(T/N: The ‘teacher’ here is a form of respect. It’s not like the stylist is actually a teacher, but it’s just a respectful way of addressing people.)

The stylist said, “The reason why we chose the colors was not only because of your clothes that day. It is also dependent on your skin color and facial feature. If you change to purple-gray, it might not look as good.”

Qi Huan put down his hand in disappointment, “Thank you, teacher, I’ll just dye my hair milky gray.”

When Lin Ye saw Qi Huan’s expression change, he could not help but remember the sounds that he had heard that night from behind the curtains. There was a strange feeling in his heart, and he could not help but look past Yan Changfei, who was standing between them, and glanced at Jiang Lian who was behind Yan Changfei.

It happened that Jiang Lian was looking over as well. Their gazes met and Lin Ye stiffened. He was about to turn away when he saw that Jiang Lian curved his lips from behind Yan Changfei.

Lin Ye did not smile. It seemed that he was feeling competitive and raised an eyebrow at Jiang Lian.

When he saw Jiang Lian slowly stop smiling and return to his normal expression, for some reason, Lin Ye felt good.

The next second he realized that although Jiang Lian had no smile on his face, there was mild interest in Jiang Lian’s eyes as if he had already understood what Lin Ye was thinking.

He was stunned and in the end, chose to turn around, with his back facing the other.

The amount of time taken for the six of them to put on the hair dye was around the same. But because of different hair quality, it caused the time they had to leave the dye on to be different.

Lin Ye’s hair quality was not very good and his hair was not easy to dye. Therefore, he took the longest in the salon. After everyone finished dyeing their hair and started to leave, he was the only one left in the salon, sleepily sitting there.

In the middle, the stylist came over to take a look. The stylist saw how Lin Ye’s eyelids drooping and smiled as he said, “It’s taking quite long, you can take a nap first.”

Lin Ye raised her eyes and looked at the clock hung on the wall, “How long will this roughly take?”

The stylist also looked towards the clock, “You definitely can’t make it on time for dinner in the canteen. Call your teammates and ask them to help you keep some food for dinner.”

Lin Ye was about to nod his head when he remembered that his phone had been confiscated. He opened his mouth and said, “I don’t have my phone.”

The hairstylist immediately understood, “I’ll help you call them.”

Lin Ye did not understand what he meant and was about to stop him. However, he saw the stylist had already started to call the person, and the phone screen jumped to the ‘waiting for the receiver to accept the call’ page.

After a few seconds, the call was accepted. The stylist stood next to Lin Ye and pressed the speaker. Before the other person spoke, the stylist had already opened his mouth to speak, “There’s a kid from your team whose hair isn’t done yet. The canteen is about to close. Can you ask someone to bring him some dinner?”

A familiar voice sounded from the phone. It also had a familiar cold tone, “Who is it?”

“It’s a—“ The stylist paused for a while, bending down to look at the nametag on Lin Ye’s side and glancing at it, “A kid called Lin Ye.”

The person on the other end of the call paused for two seconds. Before he hung up, he gave a simple reply, “Alright.”

The hairstylist kept his phone and teased Lin Ye, “Could you tell who the person that accepted the call was?”

Lin Ye thought for a moment and took the initiative to ask, “Who is it?”

“It’s Jiang Lian,” The stylist put on a pair of gloves and check his hair, “I helped him style his hair a few times before, and hence, I have a decent relationship with him,” He took off his gloves and yawned as he walked out. “You can take a nap first. When you wake up, dinner would probably have arrived.”

Lin Ye nodded his head and watched as the door opened and closed in front of his eyes. The other’s figure vanished from his line of sight and he slowly closed his eyes.

He woke up half an hour later but realized that someone had suddenly appeared on the sofa next to him. That person was wearing a baseball hat and had his head lowered as he sat on the sofa and played with his phone. Lin Ye only needed to take one look before he recognized that it was Jiang Lian.

Perhaps because he heard movements, Jiang Lian raised his eyelids, “Since you’ve woken up, come and eat.”

Lin Ye reached out to take the box of food on the chair next to him, “Are we practicing tonight?”

“We aren’t practicing,” Jiang Lian put down his phone and leaned into the sofa, “There’ll be a surprise filming in the hostel rooms tonight.”

Lin Ye instantly understood that the reason Jiang Lian was here was probably that he did not like his private life being filmed.

He pretended to find it a pity that he was missing the filming. However, his expression did not show much disappointment. his tone was extremely casual, “I managed to perfectly miss another chance to be on camera.”

Jiang Lian suddenly stood up and walked to stand behind Lin Ye. His hat caused a small shadow on his sharp nose, “Even if you get filmed, your part might not be aired. There’s no need to have such high hope. When the actual show airs, the people with the screen time are the ones whose companies give the most money.”

Lin Ye was not a child that did not understand anything. He naturally knew it was impossible for these types of talent shows to be completely fair. He agreed with Jiang Lian’s words but did not say more.

He simply raised his head and looked at Jiang Lian’s perfect jawline that was above his head, “Are you like that too?”

Jiang Lian stood behind him, not wearing his winter jacket. His hands were in his trousers’ pockets and he was bending slightly. He looked at Lin Ye from above and answered simply, “I’m not.”

Lin Ye thought about the rumors that were spreading among the trainees. The rumor that was most often brought up was that even if Jiang Lian’s management company did not give them money, the production team would not dare to cut his screentime.

He was still in a daze when Jiang Lian suddenly leaned down.

Lin Ye had not expected it. He kept his head raised and did not move, his heart skipping a beat.

The other’s face got closer and closer, and the tip of Jiang Lian’s nose was about to touch the tip of his nose. His baseball cap blocked the overhead light and Lin Ye’s vision kept changing between bright and dark, it was not very clear.

The fragrance of his shower gel came from all directions, completely overwhelming his nose. It felt like if he closed his eyes, he would be able to see the waves in the distance.

Lin Ye’s lips moved slightly, wanting to say something.

Jiang Lian turned his head, avoiding Lin Ye’s face. The shadow moved slightly in his vision and the light poured down. He heard Jiang Lian say, “If you don’t eat soon, the food will turn cold.”

Jiang Lian froze slightly and lowered his head to look at the transparent container on his leg.

Jiang Lian turned to pick up his down feather jacket on the sofa, “I have something to do, I’ll leave first.”

Lin Ye turned his eyes away from the container of food and thanked Jiang Lian.

Jiang Lian, who was by the door, suddenly stopped walking and turned his head around to ask mildly, “What did you want to say just now?”

Lin Ye contemplated for two seconds before he raised his head and answered, “I wanted to ask what brand your shower gel is.”

Jiang Lian raised his eyebrow but did not answer him, instead, he pushed the door open and left.

He left Lin Ye sitting in the seat, staring at the door. After Lin Ye was sure that the other would not turn back, he raised his hand and pressed on his slightly sore neck.

Lin Ye only remembered what Jiang Lian had to do later on.

Not long after Jiang Lian left, about the time it took for him to finish his meal, the stylist came over and helped him do some final touch-ups. The stylist steadied Jiang Lian’s head and jaw with both hands and looked at him carefully in the mirror, his face full of satisfaction, “The milky gray color really makes your skin look whiter.”

Lin Ye thought to himself, there was no need for him to look so white. However, he kept a suitable smile on his face.

“There was a trainee who came to dye his hair yesterday. His skin was even whiter than yours. His name was also very cute. He seemed to have been called—“ The hairstylist who was not good with remembering names paused again, “I think he was called Su Yuan.”

Lin Ye corrected, “Li Yuan.”

The hairstylist said, “That’s right, that was his name. I remember that he had dyed his hair pink.”

He had barely interacted with Li Yuan, but Li Yuan was hostile to him.

The truth was, besides for when they were practicing the theme song, He barely saw Li Yuan in the training building. The only time he had heard Li Yuan’s name recently was when Xia Dongchan saw him picking up the magazine.

He started to think about Xia Dongchan and Lin Ye suddenly felt moved. In his head, he recalled the content of the note Li Yuan had written for Jiang Lian. He was surprised to realize that the time happened to be tonight.

It was almost time for the meeting, but it had nothing to do with him. Lin Ye got up on his own and washed off the hair dye. After he dried his hair, it became a milky gray colored short hair. He thanked the stylist and went downstairs, walking towards the hostel against the cold wind.

There was practically no one walking past him at night and when he occasionally met with trainees that were wearing their uniforms on the way back, he would not his head and smile in greeting.

The whole time, Lin Ye was quite distracted.

It was only when he saw the hostel building that was lit up in the dark night did he finally stop. His expression was troubled as he tousled his hair. After a while, it was like he came to a decision and he turned around to walk in the direction he had come from.

If it were in the past, Lin Ye would not do things like eavesdropping on conversations. It was just that tonight, this matter was troubling him. Lin Ye could not admit it, and he did not know why, but he did care about this.

Li Yuan asked Jiang Lian to meet on the roof of the training building. Lin Ye walked back to the training building and climbed to the roof through the dark emergency exit. The door to the roof was slightly open, but there was no one on the balcony.

Lin Ye hid behind the door to avoid the wind, suspecting that he had remembered the wrong meeting time, but had no way of checking it.

He waiting for a while but did not hear any sounds of people walking upstairs and had no patience to continue waiting. Thus, he turned around and went downstairs.

When he got down to the fifth floor, Lin Ye pushed the door of the stairway open and entered the corridor, following the signs in the corridor to look for the bathroom.

The bathroom was on the other end of the corridor. He walked past the gym in the building and could hear the sounds of a few people talking from the gym.

At the end of the corridor, if he took a left turn, it would be the washroom. Lin Ye raised his feet to walk towards the left and when his gaze swept across the open-air balcony at the end of the corridor, he froze.

There was an open-air balcony on every floor of the training building. However, the balcony on this level was a little different. The open-air balcony was not at the end of the corridor. There was a small door in the middle of the railing and there was a small corridor full of vines connected to the door outside.

Lin Ye walked to the balcony and raised his head to look further out using the moonlight. A hint of surprise appeared in his eyes, there seemed to be a sky garden across the corridor.

In the center of the sky garden, he could see two figures in the dark. The sound of talking could be heard from the balcony. Lin Ye squinted but was still unable to identify the two figures in the dark night.

He instinctively felt that it was probably Li Yuan and Jiang Lian. He gently pushed open the small unlocked door on the balcony and quietly walked through the corridor and bent down to hide behind the big flower bed in the garden.

Jiang Lian and Li Yuan were sitting on a rattan chair not far from him. There was a large round stone table separating them. Lin Ye could hear their conversation. Their words were especially clear in the silent night.

However, he was still unable to properly hear what the two of them were saying. From Lin Ye’s position squatting behind the flower bed, most of the time, he could only hear Li Yuan’s voice.

With his memory of the scene that he had witnessed when he moved into the hostel, Lin Ye had all kinds of guesses. What he thought had the highest possibility of happening was a confession.

However, what was actually happening was different from what he had imagined. Li Yuan only wanted to form a CP with Jiang Lian.

(T/N: Again, dunno if this has been mentioned, CP is like a couple. Basically, a pair that like the audience ships. etc.)

“It’s just acting and a way to attract fans. You do not lose anything by doing this. All you need to do is pretend to be close to me when the camera is on but when we aren’t being filmed, we can maintain our distance, or even not interact at all,” Li Yuan said.

“I don’t lose anything, but I also don’t gain anything,” Jiang Lian’s gaze was indifferent, “Your fanbase is not big enough to be attractive to me.”

“I can do other things in exchange,” There was a slight urgency in his tone. It was as if his main goal was not to act with Lin Ye. Instead, it was what he was doing in exchange.

Jiang Lian’s voice was calm, he did not even raise his eyelids, “What do you want to do in exchange for this favor?”

It seemed that he had calmed down quickly and Li Yuan said, “Anything is fine.”

Only then did Jiang Lian raise his gaze and look Li Yuan up and down like he was judging a product. There was a hint of impatience in his voice, “There’s nothing on you that I want.”

“How about sleeping together?” Li Yuan leaned forward, onto the stone table. He purposefully lowered his voice and gained a seductive tone, “You don’t want to sleep together?”

Jiang Lian gently smiled and repeated the two words, “Sleeping together?”

Li Yuan probably felt that there was a chance, so he smiled. He no longer hid the impatience in his eyes, “We can do an equivalent exchange. You can play with me however you like. I’m yours.”

“I’ve said before that I have no interest in you,” Jiang Lian said.

“If you don’t try, how will you know that you really have no interest?” Li Yuan stood up and leaned across the circular table, wanting to touch the hand that Jiang Lian placed on the table.

Jiang Lian grabbed his wrist and pulled him off the table. His gaze was unmoved but the two words he spat out were extremely cold, “Get lost.”

Li Yuan felt unwilling to give up but left in the end. Before he left, he stared at Jiang Lian, “Since you didn’t want to do such things, why did you come to meet me?”

Jiang Lian said, “It has nothing to do with you.”

When Li Yuan heard those words, he was both angry and confused. Lin Ye, who was squatting behind the flower bed felt his heart skip a beat and he instantly regretted coming here.

When the sounds of Li Yuan’s footsteps vanished, as expected, Lin Ye heard Jiang Lian say mildly, “What are you still squatting there for? Come on out.”

Lin Ye’s expression was quite calm as he stood up, but there was a numb feeling from the soles of his feet.

Jiang Lian was originally in a bad mood. When he saw that Lin Ye had yet to come out after waiting for a while, he directly stood up from the rattan chair and glanced at the flowerbed diagonally opposite him, frowning as he said, “Are you waiting for me to go over and carry you out?”

Lin Ye hesitated, “… My feet are numb, give me a moment.”

Jiang Lian did not give him time to rest. He walked to Lin Ye and asked, “Did you hear everything that was said just now?”

Lin Ye raised his head, his gaze meeting Jiang Lian’s, “I heard.”

Jiang Lian said, “Without screentime, without live fans, do you think that you’ll be able to stay past the first elimination?”

Lin Ye stayed silent. What Jiang Lian said was right. He had no way of refuting his words.

“The competition is crueler than you think. I can help you stay,” Jiang Lian looked at him, “The team that wins the group competition has a chance to save a teammate. If you’re eliminated, I can save you.”

Lin Ye seemed shocked.

“Of course, it’s not just that. After the elimination in the first round, I can help you gain a large amount of popularity in a short time. This time,” Jiang Lian’s expression was cold, as if he was a business negotiator, “What do you intend to give me in exchange?”

Jiang Lian helped him the first time and he had given Jiang Lian a piece of chocolate. The second time Jiang Lian helped him, he had helped the other m*sturbate.

He had a feeling he knew what Jiang Lian wanted his time, but he did not reply instantly and instead, asked, “What do you want?”

Jiang Lian squinted his eyes, his tone words simple, “Use yourself in exchange.”

Lin Ye remembered Li Yuan’s words and calmly blurted out, “Equivalent exchange?”

Jiang Lian did not respond.

Lin Ye lowered his gaze, his expression hard to read, “How long will the exchange last?”

Jiang Lian said, “Until the program ends.”

Lin Ye was a little tempted.

To be honest, he was not against getting close to Jiang Lian. They were adults and could sleep with whoever they wanted. To him, there was a bit of pain, but it was also very pleasant. Therefore, it could not be regarded as a loss.

It was just that Jiang Lian was asking him to use his future as an exchange and he was unwilling to. He had always looked down on this sort of physical transaction and did not want to lower himself to that extent.

Furthermore, they had yet to announce the first ranking. Lin Ye wanted to stay, but he did not want to rely on others to stay. Instead, he wanted to stay due to his own skill.

After he had that thought, he raised his head and smiled, “We can have s*x, but let’s not make it an exchange.”