Did Not Say Anything About My Feelings - Chapter 27. Wavering

Only when he turned his head back did he realize that there was really someone calling him.

Ming Rang had a smile on his face as he walked towards Lin Ye, a canned drink that had yet to be opened in his hand, “What are you looking backward for?”

Lin Ye said, “I’m not looking at anything, I’m waiting for someone.”

Ming Rang glanced at the empty path behind Lin Ye, “Who are you waiting for? He hasn’t come after such a long time.”

Lin Ye said, “I’m waiting for my roommate.”

Ming Rang smiled carelessly again, raising a hand to put it on Lin Ye’s shoulder. He raised his chin slightly and pointed it towards the entrance of the supermarket opposite, “Stop waiting for him, I’ll treat you to a drink.”

When Lin Ye heard that he turned his face to look at Ming Rang, the tension in his eyes dissipating, “What drink?”

“Whatever you want,” Ming Rang pressed on his shoulders and pushed him forward slightly, “Yiu can go in and pick one yourself. Tell the counter staff to help you pay for it first and tell him that I’ll return him the money later.”

Lin Ye thanked him, crossing the road to walk up the steps, entering the supermarket from the back door. He took a can of coke from the shelves and turned around to walk to the front entrance. Only then did he realize that the person standing at the counter and paying was Jiang Lian. At that moment, he did not really want to see Jiang Lian, so he took a step back, purposely distancing himself from Jiang Lian.

The latter seemed to feel something and turned his head around. His gaze landed on the can of coke in Lin Ye’s hand. He then turned to the side to allow the cashier to see Lin Ye, pointing at the coke in his hand, his tone natural, “Add the cost of that can of coke to my bill.”

Lin Ye could only step forward and lower his head to check his pockets, saying without raising his head, “I’ll return you the money.”

However, a voice sounded from above him, “I only accept bank transfers, I don’t accept cash.”

Lin Ye paused and could only stop moving, “I’ll return the money to you after I get my phone back.”

Jiang Lian did not respond, he picked up the shopping bag on the counter and pushed the door open to walk out. He glanced at Lin Ye, who was standing still and held the door open with one hand as he urged, “What are you waiting for?”

Lin Ye lowered his eyes and walked out. He then heard Jiang Lian’s voice, “Rather than immerse yourself in your disappointment over your ranking, why don’t you spend some time thinking about how to catch the attention of fans on the performance stage. At least there’ll be a chance to make a comeback.”

Lin Ye had probably not expected Jiang Lian to say that to him, and he was slightly stunned. He opened his mouth, wanting to speak, but he saw from the corner of his eye that Ming Rang was getting closer and closer. Lin Ye swallowed his words and saw Ming Rang climb up the stairs with large strides, smiling as he asked Lin Ye, “We’re going to the screening room, do you want to come with us?”

Lin Ye raised his head to look opposite the road. The three people at the edge of his vision did not seem to show any signs of appearing, thus he simply nodded, “Let’s go.”

The three of them walked through the path near the small forest to return to the training room. When they walked past the noisy screening room that was next to the gym, Lin Ye saw that Jiang Lian and Ming Rang did not stop. Lin Ye could not help but remind them, “If we continue walking, we’ll be walking past the screening room.”

Ming Rang turned around, lifting the key that was dangling between his fingers, “We can go to the other room alone.”

Lin Ye suddenly understood and stopped talking.

It was probably only Lin Ye and Ming Rang who wanted to see the show, after Jiang Lian entered the room, he sat down and played with his phone, disinterested. Only Lin Ye and Ming Rang sat in front of the screen, watching the first episode.

After spitting the two hours of screentime among the hundred trainees, Jiang Lian and Ming Rang did not have a lot of screentime, but their screentime was not considered little either. Lin Ye on the other hand had so little screentime that it was pitiful.

The screentime he had from the initial rating and the re-rating added up was only about ten seconds, and the filming from the camera in the training room before the re-rating would only sweep past his face from afar. The scene where he handed in his phone and the checking of the dormitory and luggage portion had been completely cut out, with only the scene of Xia Dongchan checking Ming Rang’s luggage being left in.

It was like from the start to the end, Lin Ye did not exist.

While he was distracted, the progress bar of the video happened to reach the segment where Jiang Lian called his family and got interviewed. When Xia Dongchan’s name came out of Jiang Lian’s mouth, Lin Ye suddenly raised his head, recalling the rumor that his roommates spread many days ago.

It turned out that it wasn’t a rumor. Jiang Lian had indeed brought up Xia Dongchan’s name in his interview.

Xia Dongchan and Jiang Lian had not really interacted with each other. When did Jiang Lian remember Xia Dongchan’s name? Lin Ye could not help but turn his head to glance at Jiang Lian.

Jiang Lian lifted his gaze at the appropriate moment and met Lin Ye’s eyes. After that, he turned towards the screen to look at himself, not opening his mouth to explain.

On the other hand, Ming Rang seemed to be pondering something, his finger lightly pointing at Xia Dongchan’s name, asking Lin Ye, “That’s your friend, right? He has quite a lot of screentime and his ranking this time is quite high.”

Lin Ye said ‘yes’, and after that, he heard Jiang Lian say mildly, “His amount of screentime has nothing to do with me bringing him out.”

“That has nothing to do with you, but the groups supporting both you and Xia Dongchan are directly related to your actions,” Ming Rang had a funny expression, and he looked towards Lin Ye, “What company are the two of you from?”

Lin Ye reported his company’s name.

Ming Rang asked again, “How many people did your company send in?”

Lin Ye said, “Four.”

Ming Rang supported his cheek in his hand and nodded his head, looking like he suddenly understood things, “I heard that a few companies have discussed with the organizers about the debut positions, and your company is included. Based on the screentime, your company has probably sent money to the production team to try to make him popular. If they managed to negotiate for a debut position, it’ll probably be for Xia Dongchan. For the other three from the same company, it’ll be fine if you get eliminated midway. But if you stay till the end, you might become an obstacle for Xia Dongchan’s debut.”

After he said that, he raised his eyebrow and smiled, “I’m not trying to sow discord between you and him.”

The things that Ming Rang said, Lin Ye had not heard a single word from Xia Dongchan. However, it was not hard for him to guess that if Xia Dongchan could get the debut position that the company negotiated with the program team, he had probably signed an even stricter confidentiality contract with the company than the other three.

He smiled carelessly, “It isn’t sowing discord, if anything, I should be scolding the company for being biased.”

No matter how Xia Dongchan was, that was the decision made by him. Lin Ye did not have the energy to care about others. At that moment, the only thing that he was thinking was that based on the screentime he had now, did he have any chances of making a comeback in terms of his ranking on the public performance stage.

He realized with an unprecedented intensity that his heart was wavering.

Lin Ye did not notice, but Ming Rang had left while he was distracted, and only Jiang Lian and he were left in the screening room. Lin Ye raised his head to look at Jiang Lian, the latter seemed to notice and lifted his eyelids, carelessly glancing at Lin Ye.

A moment later, Jiang Lian stood up, his expression calm. He stopped in front of Lin Ye and bent down, tidying the hairs on Lin Ye’s forehead that had been messed up by the wind. Lin Ye raised his head to look at him, a questioning look in his eyes.

However, Jiang Lian squatted down and raised a hand to cover Lin Ye’s eyes.

The laughing and speaking sounds from the show slowly vanished with the light and his whole world turned silent. The thoughts in Lin Ye’s head became clearer than ever.

“Three days,” Jiang Lian said in a low voice, his tone clearly very calm. However, when Lin Ye heard him speak, he felt that Jiang Lian was like a hunter who was trying to lead his prey into a trap, “If you change your mind, you can come to find me anytime you want.”