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Chapter Text

Shen Qingqiu didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he was given a second chance to live after dying as scum, but this second life wasn't very good either as he was left in an orphanage by his mother who only left a note 'Please take care of him, I can't afford to take care of him. His name is Shen Jiu'

ahh again like the nine characters can't be separated, but this world is very peaceful, there are no horrible monsters or equally horrible aphrodisiac herbs.

Living in an orphanage and being surrounded by abandoned children initially made his sick because it reminded he of his first life of being abandoned but he tried to make peace with it all even though it was very difficult. Shen Jiu decided to leave the orphanage when Shen Jiu was eighteen years old and the orphanage mother gave his money to rent a house.

But everything changed after Shen Jiu was recruited by a woman to join her newly established agency offering a life as an idol, Shen Jiu was offered after the woman saw his humming in the park near hhis house, initially Shen Jiu refused because he didn't want the public eye but the woman insisted on recruiting her until Shen Jiu was followed and because he was tired Shen Jiu accepted the offer.

Training was grueling as Shen Jiu had to adapt to the diverse types of music and dance in the world and be friendly in public. Shen Jiu spent two years training and preparing for his debut.

Hus debut was a success, people liked Shen Jiu's song and it made him happy, Shen Jiu was the first artist of R L Entertainment so he had to fight to make a name for himself.

His schedule is very busy especially since this is his second album, Shen Jiu has gained high popularity making himself famous, the woman who introduced herself as Yan Lian finally opened a job opening to become his manager. But to his surprise the traitor applied and passed! SHANG QINGHUA!!!

"Jiu'er this is your manager to help you manage your schedule, meet Shang Qinghua" Yan Lian said as she tapped Shang Qinghua on the shoulder and left the two of them.

"Don't think I'll forget your betrayal" Shen Jiu looked into Shang Qinghua's eyes which frightened her "for the sake of whatever Shen Shixiong did I had to do!" Shang Qinghua looked sad "how did you die?" "Strangled by mobei jun, yes" His answer made Shen Jiu smirk slightly "why did you apply to be my manager?" Shang Qinghua let out a long sigh.

"For the sake of everything Shen Shixiong I need money, surviving here is making me suffer, especially since my previous job was not good, I was only paid 455 Yuan! That's not enough to fulfill my daily needs Shen Shixiong. When I saw this job posting I was immediately tempted because the salary was 6000 Yuan! So I immediately applied... " Shang Qinghua explained at length which left Shen Jiu not knowing what else to say.

"Okay... Do you know that I'm an idol now?"
"Of course, I've known since last year I thought it was someone else but it turned out to be you, your stage name is Qingqiu".

On the eve of her debut Yan Lian gave him the choice to use a stage name or not, because his name was a number Shen Jiu didn't want people to remember him by a number so he used a stage name, Yan Lian let him choose for herself and Shen Jiu chose to use 'Qingqiu' because it was his Shizun's given name even though he hated the 'Qiu' character in the name.

"Shen Shixiong you're not going to interview me are you? I was already interviewed by your superiors yesterday"
"Hm, I don't tolerate Shang Qinghua's treachery, and don't call me Shixiong again we are no longer cultivators".

Shang Qinghua did his job well, his schedule became more neat and stable, Shang Qinghua also organized every event Shen Jiu went to. It has been five years since he debuted and Shen Jiu has a lot of fans Shen Jiu is grateful that his fans are mostly women although there are some men he is still hurt by the incident at Qiu's house in his first life, everything went peacefully until...

"Qingqiu"
"What?"
"Do you think Yue Qingyuan followed us into this life?" Asked Shang Qinghua, he had forgotten all about his seniority.
"I don't know, so what?"
"Did you hear about Qiong Ding's company?" Shen Jiu knew of the company, it had been established since he was in elementary school, but he didn't want to bother with its name which was similar to peak Qi- the leader of his sect.
"I know, if I'm not mistaken they are in the construction business right?" Shen Jiu replied

"Yes indeed, they are in the construction business but they have a subsidiary in the fashion business" Shang Qinghua explained which made Shen Jiu furrow his brows before realizing what he meant "So, don't tell me... "
"Yes, they made a request for you to be their brand ambassador, oh yes the clothes you wore for the promotion of the previous album came from them" Shang Qinghua explained making Shen Jiu raise his eyebrows "What's the name of the brand?" asked Shen Jiu. " Shen Jiu asked "Qing Jing"

Shang Qinghua's answer made the atmosphere instantly quiet, fortunately they were in a quiet recording room as everyone was away for lunch.
"Who is the owner?"
"The previous owner retired and is now taken over by his only son Yue Qingyuan... "
"Shit!"

The request could not be refused by his boss Yan Lian herself and now Shen Jiu was already at the Qing jing building preparing for the photo shoot Shen Jiu was dressed up by staylish while being watched by Shang Qinghua.
The photo shoot went smoothly and he was able to go home that was his plan but it turned out that he was called by Qing jing's manager and it turned out that the owner wanted to meet him, Hey! he wasn't ready that it was Qi- Yue Qingyuan!

Okay, now that Shen Jiu was inside the CEO's office, Shen Jiu's heart was beating fast as he heard the door opening and the sound of footsteps approaching him.
"With Qingqiu?" Shen Jiu's heart beat faster as he recognized the voice, it was Yue Qingyuan!, Shen Jiu still remembered, Shen Jiu turned around to look at the owner of the voice and it was Yue Qingyuan! Qi-ge! The man was still the same with a friendly and handsome face the only difference from him was his short hair and his clothes, Yue Qingyuan was wearing a black suit that suited him perfectly he was so tall Shen Jiu wanted to hug him and cry. Hitting him for being careless in the past.

"Yes, I am Qingqiu"

Chapter Text

"Yes, I am Qingqiu" Shen Jiu said looking at the person in front of him with mixed feelings, is the man in front of his Qi-ge? What if it's someone else, Qi-ge you're coming right?
They stared at each other for quite a while before the man in front of Shen Jiu made a sound.

"Xiao Jiu? " Shen Jiu grimaced, the man in front of him was Qi-ge. No! He must be professional Shen Jiu is an idol, he's been trained to have a neutral expression in public, plus he's a former peak lord which is cold okay.

"Greetings to young Master Yue, is there any need with this Qingqiu?" Shen Jiu cursed inwardly this conversation was too formal for the modern era!.

"No need to be so formal, I want to talk to you, Xiao Jiu."
"Don't call me that... "
"Xi- Qingqiu shidi, ah no, Qingqiu I didn't expect we would meet again" Yue Qingyuan smiled while Shen Jiu cursed inwardly again oh? Aren't you the one who invited me here, why are you acting as if our meeting was unplanned?. .

"What are you planning this time Yue Qingyuan, tying me into a cooperation contract?"
"That's not what I mean-"
"Shut up Yue Qingyuan, why did you come when Luo Binghe sent my leg to you? Didn't I warn you not to act like an idiot and make careless decisions? You're dead silly" Shen Jiu could see the puppy kicked face on Yue Qingyuan's face.

"Xi-Qingqiu I didn't mean to... But-"
"What nonsense are you going to throw this time Yue Qingyuan, aren't you enjoying life as a young master now?" His words made Yue Qingyuan shut up and looked at him sadly, Shen Jiu who saw his felt fed up and decided to leave.
"Don't call me unless it's business and.... The reason you didn't come to save me from Qiu" Shen Jiu said before he closed the door leaving Yue Qingyuan speechless.

Although Shen Jiu has tried to forget everything they happened in the past Shen Jiu still waits for Yue Qingyuan's explanation.

Arriving at the parking lot Shen Jiu saw Shang Qinghua who was waiting for him in front of the car door while looking at his cell phone.
"Let's go home." Shen Jiu said as he got into the car to which Shang Qinghua replied with a chuckle.
"How was it?" Asked Shang Qinghua while driving the car out of the parking lot of Qing Jing building.
"Yue Qingyuan followed us" Shen Jiu replied to which Shang Qinghua only replied wow.

"I wonder if the others will come too" Shang Qinghua obviously joked.
"I hope not, it will be troublesome" Shen Jiu replied, if all of them incarnated it would be a disaster considering their past reputation was not good Shen Jiu who was labeled as scum and Shang Qinghua who was labeled as a traitor they both had a great contribution of destruction it would be a problem if the others also came.

The drive to the apartment was silent with only the sound of songs playing until they reached the parking lot of the apartment, Shang Qinghua moved into his apartment occupying the space next to him as he was evicted by his previous landlord for not paying his bills for three months.

Shen Jiu would usually eat right away when he got home from work but right now he was not in the mood, his mind was occupied by Yue Qingyuan who returned to his life after living quietly for twenty-eight years since he was born into this world.

Shen Jiu threw his bag on the bed and lay on his soft bed thinking about his words to Yue Qingyuan, why did he still want an explanation from that man?! The words came out of his mouth just like that, Shen Jiu got up from the bed and went to the bathroom to take off his clothes and splash himself with cold water from the shower.

Shen Jiu spent quite a while in the bathroom before feeling cold it was already night! Shen Jiu is no longer a cultivator who can regulate his body temperature!, he is a mortal now.

Coming out of the bathroom Shen Jiu headed straight to the kitchen to eat until he saw Shang Qinghua in his living room sopa munching on a slightly burnt bun.

"What's wrong?" Shen Jiu asked and Shang Qinghua just held up his tablet
"There's some information and it looks like you'll be busy for the next few months" replied Shang Qinghua as he looked at the schedule on his tablet screen.

"First For the next five months you will be making a comeback, for more information we will discuss it with the music producer later. Secondly you will have another concert after your first concert three years ago" His first concert happened three years after he released his first song, it sold well so it's no wonder that the agency decided to hold another concert after three years.

"Three Your photoshoots will be uploaded to the internet later next month and your contract with Qing Jing brand will run for one year."

"Already?"
"For now yes, I'm going back to my house, bye"
Shang Qinghua walked away from the living room.
Shen Jiu continued her journey to the kitchen opening the drawer and taking out the instant noodles filling them with water, seasoning and cheese then putting them in the oven. Instant noodles were always his go-to if he was hungry in the middle of the night but it wasn't midnight it was only 9pm!.

Taking the noodles out of the oven Shen Jiu prepared to eat his noodles but after just a few mouthfuls he felt the anger that engulfed him.

Fuck you Yue Qingyuan!!!, my noodles have gone bad!.

Shen Jiu threw his chopsticks angrily and stomped his feet on the kitchen floor like a child who wasn't allowed to eat candy, trying to calm herself down but the image of Yue Qingyuan's sad face couldn't disappear from his head which made Shen Jiu even angrier.

"FUCK YOU!" Shen Jiu shouted angrily, like he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.

Chapter Text

"FUCK YOU!!!"

Shen Jiu really couldn't sleep last night, his mind was full of Yue Qingyuan who appeared in front of him yesterday so he couldn't focus on what the producer in front of him was talking about.

"Shen Jiu, are you okay?" Producer Ling asked Shen Jiu.
"I'm fine, Mr. Ling, I just didn't get enough sleep."
"Then let's adjourn the meeting, it's already lunch time." Producer Ling said as he patted Shen Jiu's shoulder before exiting the recording room followed by the staff who helped him and leaving only him and Shang Qinghua.

"What's wrong with you, not like usual?" Shang Qinghua asked him as he took a bite of his slightly burnt bread.

Why is his bread always burnt? Did he cook it with Teflon and leaving to play with his cell phone?.

"What do you think? Of course it's because of that guy that I couldn't sleep last night" Of course Shang Qinghua immediately knew who 'that guy' was and burst out laughing.
"I still didn't expect this to happen, after this what's next on my schedule?".
"Oh, of course dance practice again" Shang Qinghua replied while showing his tablet screen to Shen Jiu which made Shen Jiu furrowed his brows.

"For whatever reason, this is tiring" Shen Jiu said then stood up from his chair and walked out of the recording room.
"This job is more than my job at An Ding Hahaha" Shang Qinghua joked before Shen Jiu closed the door leaving him alone in the recording room.

Feeling bored in his agency building Shen Jiu decided to go out and walked out of the building to go to his favorite flower garden near the agency, seeing the supermarket Shen Jiu decided to buy some snacks to eat later.

Landing at the park Shen Jiu sat down on the park bench directly facing the lake there, thinking back to everything he had gone through during these twenty-eight years, he suddenly remembered the orphanage mother who took care of him in the past, it had been a long time since Shen Jiu visited her although Shen Jiu regularly sent money to the orphanage since he got his first salary but Shen Jiu always told Shang Qinghua to send it. Shen Jiu might have to visit the orphanage later.

Too preoccupied with his thoughts, Shen Jiu did not notice that the seat next to him was occupied by two people on a date. Shen Jiu saw them and felt annoyed and decided to leave without realizing that there was a camera taking pictures of him.

Upon Shen Jiu's return to the building, Shen Jiu was greeted by Shang Qinghua at the entrance with a smile on his face.

"Where have you been?" Shang Qinghua asked in exasperation
"Wherever I go is none of your business" replied Shen Jiu casually walking past Shang Qinghua who was in front of him and Shang Qinghua followed him.
"Cih, for now wherever you go is my business, what if when you are out there are fanatical fans who follow you and the media who are hungry for public attention, you are popular" Shang Qinghua said in an exasperated tone to him and he gaze fell on the supermarket plastic carried by Shen Jiu then took the plastic forcibly from Shen Jiu which made Shen Jiu annoyed and stopped his steps and looked at Shang Qinghua.

"This is confiscated" Shang Qinghua said as he held up the plastic "You have to diet for the upcoming comeback and the instant noodles in your drawer will be confiscated too, don't protest it's the agency's requirement, you gained two kilograms yesterday". Shang Qinghua clearly made Shen Jiu want to hit him with a fan but unfortunately now he didn't have one.

"I'll order a diet menu for you from tomorrow, now let's go back to the recording room producer Ling is waiting."

------------

Yue Qingyuan didn't know whether to cry or surrender after he was reborn after dying in Luo Binghe's trap to save Shen Jiu from Luo Binghe, even though as far as Yue Qingyuan knew he shouldn't be able to reincarnate because his soul was bound to Xuan Su but now he was reborn with the name his shizun gave him, there was no number four in his name now.

Living life as the only young master of a wealthy family Yue Qingyuan was always haunted by his past regrets towards Shen Jiu, crying every night thinking about the fact that he would not meet her Xiao Jiu and enjoy this wealth with him, in the past Yue Qingyuan always dreamed of becoming wealthy and spoiling Xiao Jiu but that was just a classic dream of a slave to be happy with another slave.

It backfired after Yue Qingyuan became the sect leader of a very famous cultivation sect, spoiling Xiao Jiu blindly. But Xiao Jiu who had already become Shen Qingqiu hated him for abandoning him and letting him rot in Qiu's cursed house, if it wasn't for Yue Qi rushing and forcibly pulling Xuan Su which led to he being locked up in a cave for a year he would have taken Shen Jiu with him and lived a peaceful life with him, but that was just his wishful thinking and would never materialize.

When Yue Qingyuan was in junior high school his regrets grew and grew which caused he to experience depression and trauma, his mother and father finally agreed to give Yue Qingyuan therapy which caused he to be absent for several months from school and made he barely make the grade, and as a result Yue Qingyuan had to take sedatives continuously.

After he took over his father's company which was named after his peak in the past and decided to buy a famous fashion company and rename it after his favorite shidi peak.

After years of Yue Qingyuan working as a CEO he got the news that there was an idol who debuted under the stage name Qingqiu, it triggered his trauma that was confirmed to be healed and made he have to go back to taking the winning drug again, trying to confirm whether it was his Xiao Jiu or not Yue Qingyuan managed to dig up the idol's identity with the connections he had now, and all the information he could get proved that the idol was Shen Qingqiu Xiao Jiu....

Yue Qingyuan didn't dare to approach him and only invested his money into the agency that housed him and watched from his computer screen, Xiao Jiu became prettier and cuter with a smile on her face that Yue Qingyuan knew was fake, Xiao Jiu was also eight years younger than him, this age difference was a bit more than his first life where Xiao Jiu and him were only four years apart. Yue Qingyuan was jealous when he saw Xiao Jiu paired up with a female idol on a variety show but he couldn't do anything to stop it, buying all things Qingqiu, buying albums of him songs, posters to put up in his bedroom, and products that collaborated with Qingqiu and seeing content about Qingqiu on social media made him a bit fanatical, but it worked to overcome his trauma and he no longer needed to take the drug.

When Qingqiu held his first concert Yue Qingyuan had to fight with thousands of Xiao Jiu fans to get the front seats to watch Xiao Jiu, but he lost quickly the tickets for the first and second cat were sold out immediately and inevitably Yue Qingyuan bought a seat in cat three which was quite far from the stage, Xiao Jiu was very beautiful when performing there especially when Xiao Jiu performed his song which was a little ehem 'erotic' Yue Qingyuan almost had a nosebleed when Xiao Jiu danced with minimal clothing and was very seductive Yue Qingyuan had to endure his jealousy because he had to share this scene with thousands of people especially around Yue Qingyuan many men watching him who added oil to the fire which further triggered his jealousy. Yue Qingyuan wanted this scene for hisself!!!

It was only later that Yue Qingyuan realized that Xiao Jiu's agency often used clothes from his brand that he thought of collaborating with R L Entertainment, the agency that houses Qingqiu and several other newly debuted idols. His offer was accepted and will discuss this further soon, his goal to meet personally with Xiao Jiu was immediately shattered after Yue Qingyuan realized that he is now a young master while Xiao Jiu lived his childhood in an orphanage, Xiao Jiu will not like it but Yue Qingyuan will still hold his goal.

Xiao Jiu
Xiao Jiu
Xiao Jiu
Xiao Jiu is here, he's here!
Xiao Jiu was so sweet, Yue Qingyuan had been waiting in the Qing Jing building while working on hisfiles, he couldn't leave, after waiting for a few hours Yue Qingyuan finally got to meet Xiao Jiu by asking the Qing Jing manager to call Qingqiu to his room, while Yue Qingyuan went to the bathroom trying to calm he fast beating heart.

Xiao Jiu snapped at him, Xiao Jiu hated him, Xiao Jiu said that Yue Qingyuan tied him to a partnership that held he together (good idea), Xiao Jiu still wanted an explanation from him, did Xiao Jiu still want Qi-ge? , maybe it was time for Qi-ge to act now.

Chapter Text

"Qingqiu, get off your waist!" The choreographer shouted at Shen Jiu which made Shen Jiu couldn't help but obey her while at the other end of the wall there was Shang Qinghua who sat leaning against the wall eating the snacks he bought one week ago while looking at his cell phone.

Damn it, I bought it, he eats it

"Stop!!, for today it's over and please Qingqiu your waist is fixed" The choreographer's words slightly offended Shen Jiu and left the two of them, in his first life he didn't often dance so it was fine. Walking up to Shang Qinghua, Shang Qinghua suddenly stood up which made Shen Jiu confused.

"OK, let's go home next!" said Shang Qinghua who immediately grabbed his bag and went running leaving Shen Jiu stunned.

What the hell?!

Shen Jiu immediately packed up his belongings and ran after Shang Qinghua. Arriving at the parking lot Shen Jiu saw Shang Qinghua already sitting on the driver's seat while eating candy which made Shen Jiu feel annoyed, at least this traitor didn't leave him at the building, no matter how Shen Jiu couldn't drive a vehicle! (other than a bicycle).

The ride to the apartment was relatively quiet with only the music Shang Qinghua was playing loudly, someone else's song. However, it was already midnight and the highway was deserted with only a few cars and people passing by.

It has been one week since Yue Qingyuan reappeared which makes his feelings mixed, currently Shen Jiu is preparing for his new song, the song has been recorded, the dance is in place and it is just filming for the music video. Shen Jiu spent hours to dozens of hours practicing which made him forget Yue Qingyuan although the man's face did not disappear from his head, Shen Jiu was grateful that the man did not contact him and show his face again.

Arriving at the apartment parking lot Shang Qinghua immediately left, staring at his back Shen Jiu was a little tempted to go to the supermarket next to his apartment before he could do so Shang Qinghua suddenly stopped his steps and turned to look at Shen Jiu.

"Don't you dare do it, I won't be missed this time, you have to diet I don't want to be scolded by Yan Lian" Shang Qinghua's words made Shen Jiu chuckle and then followed him from behind before hearing the sound of the camera taking pictures which made Shen Jiu look back, the parking lot was deserted there was only him and Shang Qinghua but Shen Jiu felt they were not just two.

Looking at Shen Jiu who stopped Shang Qinghua asked Shen Jiu.
"What's wrong Qingqiu?"
"Ah, it's fine" Shen Jiu replied then stepped up to Shang Qinghua's side then whispered.
"Did you hear the sound of the camera earlier?" Shang Qinghua looked back and saw a flash of white light a little distance away from them which made Shang Qinghua whisper to Shen Jiu
"This is bad, let's go" Shang Qinghua whispered to Shen Jiu then grabbed Shen Jiu's hand and pulled him out of the parking lot, the apartment lobby was already empty, after all this was already outside the working hours of the apartment staff. Then Shang Qinghua released Shen Jiu's hand and looked at him

"I hope it's not your fanatical fans, I don't want this song to be leaked to the public prematurely I don't want to be scolded by Yan Lian!" Shang Qinghua said while pointing at Shen Jiu with his index finger.
"I'm not sure it's not a fanatic fan, but honestly they're playing less neatly" Shen Jiu replied to Shang Qinghua in a confident tone even though Shen Jiu was not sure.

The apartment they lived in could be considered luxurious because uninvited visitors could not enter, because the front door of the apartment could only be opened by cards owned by apartment residents and some apartment staff so if there were visitors they had to wait to be picked up by apartment residents.

Arriving at his apartment room Shen Jiu immediately hung up his bag on the hanger and went to the kitchen, arriving at the kitchen Shen Jiu opened the drawer where he kept his instant noodles and found the drawer was completely empty confiscated Shang Qinghua lived next to his room and it was easy for him to enter Shen Jiu's room because he had a spare room card.

Feeling frustrated Shen Jiu went to his room and took a shower using cold water which slightly suppressed he frustration, after taking a shower Shen Jiu went to his living room and sat on the sofa and put his feet up on the sofa then turned on the television trying to find out what was happening in the world, the television news channel only showed useless and exaggerated artist news, Shen Jiu was grateful that so far the news about him had never been exaggerated (as far as he knew).

Moving the television channel to another channel Shen Jiu found that the colossal drama based on the novel he had read since high school was approaching the most exciting and most annoying conflict Shen Jiu was even more annoyed because the snacks to accompany his watching had been confiscated by Shang Qinghua which made Shen Jiu curse Shang Qinghua.

"Achoo!"
"Manager Shang are you okay?" Asked the lady on the phone to Shang Qinghua which made him reflexively answer
"I'm fine ma'am, just a sneeze" Shang Qinghua replied to Yan Lian on the phone.

Back to Shen Jiu After a while of watching Shen Jiu felt bored and an idea popped into his head it had been a long time since he did live, live itself required permission from Shang Qinghua as his manager but now he didn't need it anyway that traitor must be asleep.
Shen Jiu went to his room and intended to go live while doing skincare, took his cell phone and entered the live app, Shen Jiu leaned his cell phone against the book on his dressing table and looked at the crowd.

Jiujiu is my wife: Qingqiu, why are you silent?
Rimulina: It's been almost seven minutes that she's been standing still.
819201147: You still dare to live?
Love Xiao Jiu: Xiao Jiu aren't you asleep yet?

Shen Jiu tried to read the comments in the comment section one by one but Shen Jiu could barely read any of them because the previous comments had been drowned out by the new ones. Ten minutes had passed and the audience had reached fifty thousand and Shen Jiu finally decided to speak.

"Hello Qingqiu here, I apologize that I was reading the comments when many said why I haven't slept yet but I can turn it around on you guys, why haven't you slept yet? It's about one o'clock at night unless you live on the other side of the world". If this was his first life, Shen Jiu probably wouldn't have apologized so easily, it's all about keeping him and the agency's reputation intact in the public eye.

"Actually I went live without manager Shang's permission, I hope he's asleep" Shen Jiu said as he took his toner and poured it onto a cotton pad and wiped it on his face, after finishing Shen Jiu looked back at the camera to see the comments.

I'm rich now: what the hell?
I'm rich now: Qingqiu you think I'm asleep?!

Oops that username belongs to Shang Qinghua, he hasn't slept yet apparently. An evil idea popped into his head to prank Shang Qinghua by subtly ignoring the fact that Shang Qinghua must be restless right now.

"Ahhh manager Shang are you here?, I'm sorry but I want to greet fans, it's been a long time since I did a live right manager Shang?" Shen Jiu's words immediately made the comment section flooded with comments inquiring about Shang Qinghua's whereabouts.

Rimula: is manager Shang here?
Jiujiu is my wife: manager Shang is there a new song?
I'm rich now: what the hell, @Jiujiu is my wife no, no new song!.
I'm rich now: SHEN JIU TURN OFF THE CAMERA NOW!!!!!

"Upss like manager Shang will come to me now, for the live now I will end good night eh morning maybe?, bye bye!".

-------------------------------------------------

The bedroom door was forcibly opened to reveal a man wearing blue trousers and a white t-shirt looking at the girl lying on the bed with her cell phone on showing a live person, staring at the man who was her older brother.

"GEGE!!, don't just break the door if the door is broken how?!" The girl shouted at her brother angrily.
"Mingyan, it's half past one at night, why aren't you asleep yet?" The brother shouted angrily at his sister.

"Qingge... Mingyan... You guys aren't asleep yet?" A female voice appeared behind Liu Qingge who was their mother.

"Mom... Mingyan hasn't slept even though she has an exam tomorrow," Liu Qingge said in an annoyed tone.
"If you're Qingge, why aren't you sleeping?" Mrs. Liu replied to Liu Qingge.
"I was asleep, but I woke up and felt thirsty so I went downstairs to drink some water and then I heard a man's voice in Mingyan's room." Liu Qingge told his mother honestly.

"Well, you don't have to fight. Mingyan go to bed" Mrs. Liu said to Mingyan who had been staring at her cell phone and got out of bed and approached Liu Qingge who was standing at the door.

"Hah good, gege please go" Liu Mingyan said with a smile on her face then closed the door loudly.

"Qingge go back to your room" Mrs. Liu said to Liu Qingge then left to go to her own room.

Liu Qingge returned to his own room, the room seemed deserted as there were no displays on the walls unlike his younger sister's room which had elongated photos of her favorite singers, one of which Liu Qingge recognized.

Picking up his cell phone on the table, Liu Qingge opened his phone and was greeted by a photo of his practicing with a wooden sword. Entering his password the photo background changed to a photo background of a beautiful man that he missed so much, Liu Qingge squeezed his phone with a feeling of confusion.

"Shen-Shixiong... "

Chapter Text

Shen Jiu ran quickly with the camera filming him from the front, Shen Jiu ran until Shen Jiu heard the voice of the person leading the shooting shouting stop.

Shen Jiu walked towards the tent that was set up in a very large grass field, the shooting of his music video had started two days ago, his music video this time took a slightly different concept from his previous concepts which were always fun and swag, namely people who lost their loved ones. Shen Jiu somehow felt a little aware of something he shouldn't have realized.

Shen Jiu approached the screen displaying his acting then watched his stylishly redoing his makeup with another camera documenting Shang Qinghua leaving to buy his lunch. Then shortly after Shen Jiu heard someone shouting to stop and said it was time for lunch, some of the crew immediately stopped their work and took their lunch rations at the table set up by their boss.

Shen Jiu sat on one of the benches in the tent and then a woman wearing a mask on her face approached her "Qingqiu do you want this pudding?, it's milk pudding". The woman put the milk pudding on the table and pushed it towards Shen Jiu which made Shen Jiu confused, didn't all the crew know that he was on a diet? Why did this woman offer her a pudding that had a high sugar content.

Shen Jiu looked at the milk pudding and picked it up and tried to inhale the smell of the pudding and then he realized that he forgot that his sense of smell was not working properly,obviously he would not be able to feel the smell of the milk pudding. Shen Jiu put the pudding back down and looked at the woman in front of him and then said "I will accept this, thank you for giving it to me" Shen Jiu's words made the woman smile and then said her greetings and left Shen Jiu's table.

Shen Jiu looked at the pudding on the table he was not going to eat, Shen Jiu looked behind him to see Shang Qinghua who was walking towards him carrying a plastic bag, when Shang Qinghua arrived he looked at the pudding on the table and asked him "You bought this pudding?" Shang Qinghua asked then picked up the pudding and looked at it "We don't have a list of puddings for lunch this time" Shang Qinghua put the plastic bag he was carrying on his shirt while still staring at the pudding.

"There was a woman who gave it to me, from her clothes it looks like she's from the cameraman team? She also brought a camera that is usually used to record footage, and what took you so long?!" Shen Jiu protested then opened the plastic bag and took out her lunch, which was a vegetable salad.

Hearing that Shang Qinghua raised one eyebrow up as if confused "Women in the cameraman team?, we don't have women in the cameraman team" Shang Qinghua's answer made Shen Jiu stare at him in disbelief,
"Really?! "
"Yes" Shang Qinghua opened the lid of the pudding wrapper then smelled it and then furrowed her brows "What's up Manager Shang?" "I'll take this pudding with me, continue your meal" Shang Qinghua closed the pudding again then put it into he bag.

The filming went according to plan and the person in charge of the filming decided to end it because it was late, Shen Jiu cleaned up his luggage after finishing Shen Jiu approached the crew who were cleaning up and looked at them one by one then Shen Jiu realized that the woman who gave him pudding at lunch was not there. Shen Jiu thanked her for today and excused himself to leave first.

Shen Jiu arrived at the parking lot and saw Shang Qinghua who was on the phone with someone seriously, Shang Qinghua saw Shen Jiu who approached his then ended the call, "Are you done?" Shang Qinghua asked Shen Jiu
"do you think?" Shen Jiu replied which made Shang Qinghua massaged his eyebrows then opened the car door and got in, Shen Jiu walked in the other direction and sat next to the driver's seat.

The filming location was far from the apartment so it took an hour to drive. For the first time, Shang Qinghua didn't turn on the music in the car, so the ride was quiet and then Shang Qinghua spoke, "Your photo shoot last month has been posted to social media."
"It has, what's their account name?" "Just search Qing Jing, it will also appear".

Shen Jiu took out he cell phone from his pocket and searched for the account that belonged to Qing Jing company, but before going to the search field. Shen Jiu saw hisself trending on social media with the hashtags 'Qing Jing Qingqiu' and 'Shen Qingqiu'.

It made Shen Jiu confused because Shen's name was never put together with Qingqiu's name, clicking on one of the trending Shen Jiu was immediately greeted with a post from Qing Jing's account attaching her photo with the caption Shen Qingqiu!!! Not Qingqiu alone.

Checking the comments on the post, Shen Jiu saw that many of the comments started calling him Shen Qingqiu because they thought it was better than just 'Qingqiu'.

'Doesn't Shen Qingqiu look better than just Qingqiu?
'It's a good idea to add Shen in there, especially since Qingqiu's real name isn't Shen Jiu?
'Will Qingqiu like this?'
'I don't know if it's a technical error or what but Shen Qingqiu looks good!' .
'Disgusting'

On the other hand a man sitting on a chair with a lit cell phone in his hand was staring at a post posted by his own company with a strange feeling in his chest "Shen Qingqiu"

In a different city a young man was also staring at a cell phone displaying a similar post and staring at the name attached to it "Shen---Qingqiu?"

Shen Jiu stared at his phone in disbelief, was this a technical glitch, but the post had been posted for seven hours. Not wanting to think about things any further, Shen Jiu turned off his cell phone and stared ahead.

Shen Jiu turned his gaze towards the driver's seat and found Shang Qinghua who looked agitated, like she wanted to say something but hesitated, Shen Jiu wanted to ask what was wrong but didn't because he saw Shang Qinghua who gripped the steering wheel of the car so tightly that his nails were white.

Arriving at the apartment Shen Jiu was immediately dropped off by Shang Qinghua in front of the entrance and told him to go straight inside, realizing something was wrong Shen Jiu obeyed him and went straight into the apartment, Shen Jiu immediately entered his room and locked the door, Shang Qinghua rarely behaved like this he was hiding something from him.

Shen Jiu has been with Shang Qinghua for six years and knows for a fact that Shang Qinghua's behavior is no-nonsense and is classified as hiding things from him just like he did when he was at Cang Ciong Mountain.

It was already midnight when Shen Jiu wanted to charge his cell phone he received an incoming message from an unknown number.

? : with Shen Jiu?
97: Yes, I'm Shen Jiu what's up?
? : Xiao Jiu, this is Qi-ge.

Damn it, this number belongs to Yue Qingyuan. Shen Jiu was about to block this number then saw another message.

? : Xiao Jiu don't block it yet!, it's about that post.
97: Don't call me like that
97: Say it.
? : This happened because of a technical error, the staff in charge was not focused and accidentally added Shen there. But don't worry, the post has been fixed and the staff has promised not to repeat it again.
97: Just promise? , that post made half of my fans call me Shen Qingqiu, just so you know Yue Qingyuan!.
?: apologize
97: You can only apologize
?: I'm sorry Qingqiu. Are you at the apartment now? ,are you okay?
97: None of your business.

Shen Jiu immediately ended the chat and turned on airplane mode and silence, he did not block Yue Qingyuan.Shen Jiu charged the phone and put it on the wooden shelf beside his bed then lay down on his soft mattress and went to sleep.

The sound of the alarm going off loudly woke Shen Jiu up, grabbed his cell phone to turn off the alarm and looked at the clock, it was 8am. Shen Jiu got out of bed and went to the bathroom to get ready to continue shooting his music video.

Coming out of his bedroom, Shen Jiu found a blue meal box on her dining table with a note on it, surprised by the meal box Shen Jiu picked up the note to read.

I left food for you, today's shooting has been postponed for the next three days due to some problems. You stay in the apartment, don't go anywhere.

Shang Qinghua

What?,filming has been postponed for the next three days? , this is suspicious. Yesterday everything went well there was no problem whatsoever, what problem is Shang Qinghua referring to? Why did she tell Shen Jiu to stay in the apartment?

Feeling suspicious Shen Jiu took his cell phone which was in the bedroom to call Shang Qinghua and ask what happened, although Shen Jiu knew Shang Qinghua would not answer him.

97: Manager Shang, why has the filming been postponed? .
Shang Qinghua: There was a mistake on the set, so the crew had to postpone filming because of that.
97: What kind of mistake?
Shang Qinghua: It was related to the rental of the venue. Don't dwell on it, this has already been discussed with Miss Yan and she has agreed to the postponement.
97: ... Okay.
Shang Qinghua: Qingqiu, have you eaten the food I put on your table?
97: No, I haven't checked yet.
97: Did you cook it yourself?
Shang Qinghua: Yes.
Shang Qinghua: You are allowed to have snacks this time, I have prepared them in your kitchen drawer.
Shang Qinghua: And don't go anywhere.
97: Are you hiding something from me?.

Shang Qinghua did not reply to the chat, which made Shen Jiu wonder what happened. Opening the meal box Shen Jiu saw curry and fried chicken that looked delicious. Shen Jiu ate the food feeling happy after almost three weeks of eating only vegetables and fruits, it tastes good Shang Qinghua is a good cook thought Shen Jiu, Shen Jiu finished the food and washed the lunch box to return it to Shang Qinghua later.

Sitting himself on the living room sofa, Shen Jiu checked the internet to find out the things he didn't know. Checking Qing Jing's account, Shen Jiu saw that yesterday's post had been deleted and replaced with a new one attaching Qingqiu only instead of Shen Qingqiu, they had fixed it.

Shen Jiu looked back at he chat with Yue Qingyuan then felt annoyed and decided to give him contact a name.

'Qi-ge' ah nonono
'Yue Qi' ah no, he's the young master now
'Owner Qing Jing' ..........
'Qiong Ding' that's right
'Yue Qingyuan' looks impolite
'Owner of Qiong Ding, Yue Qingyuan' ...... That's it.

Shen Jiu spent the whole day at home bored, there was nothing to play with at home so Shen Jiu spent half the day looking at his cell phone and the rest of the day reading books and decided to soak in the bathtub in the evening.

Shen Jiu came out of the bathroom after spending about half an hour soaking, going to the kitchen Shen Jiu was surprised by the ringing of his apartment phone and picked it up.

'With Mr. Shen Jiu?'
'Yes, I am Shen Jiu'
'Mr. Shen sorry to interrupt, you have someone who wants to see you'
Who is visiting him?
'Who?'
'Your guest named Yue Qi, he wants to see you Mr. Shen, now Mr. Yue is waiting for you in the lobby'
Yue Qingyuan?!
'I'll be right there'.
Shen Jiu hung up the phone, and tried to calm his labored breathing. #What was he going to do now? Yue Qingyuan knew the location of his apartment, who told him?!.

Shen Jiu went down from the floor of his room, the floor of his room was on the 7th floor so Shen Jiu went down using the elevator, at this time Shen Jiu was wearing black cloth pants and a black T-shirt as well. The air around him felt heavy even though he was alone in the elevator. The elevator doors opened to the lobby, Shen Jiu stepped out of the elevator walking towards the lobby, Shen Jiu saw Yue Qingyuan who was sitting on a chair in front of guarding the apartment with one foot that kept tapping on the floor quickly.

Shen Jiu approached Yue Qingyuan, Yue Qingyuan who heard the footsteps towards he immediately turned he head to see Shen Jiu who approached he immediately stood up. Xiao Jiu in black, which is the color of his peak, is mine.

Shen Jiu stopped in front of Yue Qingyuan, the vast height difference made him have to look up to see he. Shen Jiu folded his arms across his chest.
"What's wrong?"
"Xiao Jiu, can we talk in private, there are too many people here?"
"Say it now, or you're outta here."
"Xiao Jiu... ..... It's... ...it's about my sword in the past."

Chapter Text

"What do you mean?" Shen Jiu looked at Yue Qingyuan.
"........ " The atmosphere was awkward. Shen Jiu turned his head to the left and found two women looking at them at the lobby door with embarrassment and one of the women holding a cell phone ready to record.

Shen Jiu looked at Yue Qingyuan who was also looking at him, then later Shen Jiu took Yue Qingyuan's hand and pulled him away from there. Shen Jiu forgot that in this day and age 'sword' could be a pronoun for penis!. Damn it, Shen Jiu dragged Yue Qingyuan into the elevator. It was better to talk in his apartment so that no one would think dirty....

As the elevator doors opened, there were several residents of the upstairs apartment, Shen Jiu entered while continuing to hold Yue Qingyuan's hand. The atmosphere was awkward again...

"Son, is that man your lover?, that man is very handsome" Shen Jiu could feel his face blushing in embarrassment, he and Yue Qingyuan?, with Qi-ge?, no way!Before Shen Jiu could deny it, Yue Qingyuan suddenly spoke "yes ma'am, I am Shen Jiu's lover".
!!!!!!!
Wth?!, that's impossible!

Shen Jiu's face flushed even more, his cheeks and ears felt hot.
"Oh!!!, look at that reaction!, so cute!" the woman pinched his cheeks anxiously, while Yue Qingyuan just smiled, top smiling!!!, what do you mean by that?!
"No need to be embarrassed Jiujiu, you've been working for 6 years, it's okay if you date someone!" The woman behind him teased Shen Jiu.For goodness sake when will this elevator get to the 7th floor?!!!

"Your taste is very good Jiu'er, handsome, rich and masculine, a man like Mr. Yue is respected by many!" The other woman's remarks in the elevator only made Shen Jiu feel even hotter.

Finally the elevator doors opened on the 7th floor, Shen Jiu immediately said goodbye and got out of the elevator still holding Yue Qingyuan's hand "have a good night son!" !!!??! What does that mean?!!, did they think that he would do something indecent with this man?!!

Shen Jiu pressed the password of his apartment door shakily and ended up entering the wrong password, shit! Get all these dirty thoughts out of my head!!!

Yue Qingyuan who saw Shen Jiu who was trembling felt worried, Yue Qingyuan took Shen Jiu's hand and rubbed it gently trying to calm him down. But unfortunately Shen Jiu brushed off his hand and backed up to lean against the wall in front of his door while covering his mouth.

Shen Jiu pointed at the door and said "9750" Yue Qingyuan immediately understood what he meant and pressed the row of numbers under the door handle. The door opened immediately, Shen Jiu pulled Yue Qingyuan's hand to go inside and closed the door. The door was automatically locked, Shen Jiu caught his breath trying to calm himself over by not looking at Yue Qingyuan.

"When I came back... Everything was already ashes. Qiu's house was on fire...I'm sorry.." Yue Qingyuan really made Shen Jiu cry.

Shen Jiu heard everything with a feeling of shock, her Qiu went through all this. he cares.Shen Jiu hugged Yue Qingyuan and cried tightly. He didn't care if Yue Qingyuan's expensive suit got wet, crying and crying, Shen Jiu hit Yue Qingyuan's chest hard shedding all his frustration.

"You idiot, you fool, why did you wait until I witnessed your death first?!!!" Shen Jiu was completely limp, his legs unable to support his weight. Yue Qingyuan immediately hugged Shen Jiu tightly and buried he face in his neck, holding back all the tightness, all the guilt of the thirty-plus years that would end today.

"I'm really sorry xiao Jiu, it's all my fault!. If I had come sooner... I'm such a fool. I'm sorry." Yue Qingyuan felt Shen Jiu's hands squeezing his suit firmly and was getting shaky.

"You idiot, all I need is your acknowledgment... I just want to know that you still care about me... " His voice was hoarse now Qi-ge why did you have to wait this long to tell me that you were back?.

shen Jiu released Yue Qingyuan's embrace and pulled his face, bringing their lips together, dry lips meeting soft lips with a slight salty taste from tears. Qi-ge's lips are dry, does he rarely drink water?

Yue Qingyuan was surprised by the sudden kiss. But just one second later he returned the kiss and reached out his hand to hold Shen Jiu's back neck deepening the kiss, his other hand holding Shen Jiu's slender waist holding him close to him.

The kiss lasted for quite a while, both Shen Jiu and Yue Qingyuan were panting to regain their breath. Shen Jiu was a mess, he bangs clinging to his face he lips swollen from the kiss opened to take a breath her face and eyes reddened from crying, this is a beautiful scene that he will never forget.

Yue Qingyuan gently wiped away the remaining tears with he thumb and then kissed Shen Jiu's cheek.
"Xiao Jiu"
"...Qi-ge"

-----------
Shen Jiu exited the elevator with Yue Qingyuan following behind and then stopped in front of the entrance turning around to look at Yue Qingyuan.

"I can only take you up to here" Shen Jiu knew that there was a possibility that fanatical fans or media hungry for artist's personal information might take photos of him with Yue Qingyuan, Shen Jiu did not want that.

"I understand, it must be hard living life with a camera ready to capture something. " Yue Qingyuan replied, "what else can I do, it's for my life, I'm used to it anyway." Shen Jiu was used to this life, it was to make ends meet. Shen Jiu is used to this life, it's to make ends meet, thanks to Yan Lian who forced him to join.

"I understand" Yue Qingyuan said bowing his head as if he felt sorry, "I'm going home, be careful Xiao Jiu... I'm leaving, see you later." Yue Qingyuan opened the entrance door of the apartment and walked towards the parking lot at the side of the apartment.
Shen Jiu watched Yue Qingyuan's disappearing back and sighed, Yue Qingyuan had told him everything this time, from the day he received his leg to his second life now.

Shen Jiu stepped out of the apartment lobby to his room. While in the elevator Shen Jiu thought back to what he had gone through now, when he opened his eyes in this life the first thing he tasted was his first meal which was milk from his mother who breastfed him while crying and apologizing and carried him away through the cold night, then put him on the basket, knocked on the door and left him.

Shen Jiu at that time could only hear only that too not very clearly, his vision was still very blurry. So Shen Jiu knew that he was still a few days or weeks old (?). The elevator doors opened Shen Jiu walked to his room, when he arrived at his room Shen Jiu saw a blue parcel on the table in front of the TV.

Shen Jiu opened the parcel inside was a packet of food from a restaurant that went viral recently with a note taped on it.

"I don't know if you've had this before but, you've made up with Yue Qingyuan right?"
-Shang Qinghua

Wait a minute... Who did Shang Qinghua know that Yue Qingyuan came here? The food is still warm so maybe Shang Qinghua came in while she was in the lobby, did Shang Qinghua see him? And why does Shang Qinghua seem to know about him and Yue Qingyuan's problem?

---------

The sun was shining signaling that the night had passed, Shen Jiu drank water from the water bottle he had brought, he had just finished jogging. Shen Jiu sat on one of the benches around the park and saw people starting to move.

Shen Jiu leaned his back against the bench and thought back to Shang Qinghua's note that night, ow did Shang Qinghua know?Shang Qinghua had not returned to he room, how busy was he, what was the problem with filming?.

Shen Jiu's mind floating in the air, his eyes saw someone across the street about to cross. The man was wearing a dark blue suit and his hair was shoulder length, like the length of his hair now.He looked familiar,as Shen Jiu continued to look at the man. Trying to remember something his cell phone rang, Shen Jiu picked up his cell phone and saw the name on the screen 'Manager Shang' this is Shang Qinghua. Why did he just contact he after disappearing for two days?! .

"Hello"
"Qingqiu hurry back to the apartment!"
"What's wrong?"
"Just go home, there's something sudden"
"Okay, I'm going home."
Shen Jiu pocketed his phone again and hurriedly left the park without realizing four pairs of eyes were watching him.

The door of his apartment opened to reveal Shang Qinghua with Yan Lian in front of him, Yan Lian who heard the sound of the door opening immediately approached he and asked a question.
"Jiu'er, are you okay?" Shen Jiu furrowed his brows in confusion, he had only gone jogging for an hour. "I'm fine. What's wrong?". Yan Lian who heard that immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Jiu'er do you remember the woman who gave you pudding during filming two days ago?"
"I remember her, what's wrong?"
"Jiu'er that pudding contains cyanide which has a fairly high dose."

Chapter Text

"Again?" Shen Jiu frowned as if this was a normal thing.
"Yes, this is the third time. And the poison is the same as before." Yan Lian said stressed while massaging her forehead. "It's a good thing you didn't eat the pudding... if you had, the music industry would be in an uproar."

"Has this news reached the media yet, I don't want this news to disrupt our schedule?" Shen Jiu asked Shang Qinghua who was leaning against the wall. "Not for now. But for the future, I don't know...but even so, for this time, I dare to conclude that the culprit is the same person from three years ago". Shang Qinghua looked at Shen Jiu and Yan Lian in turn, and then turned his face to the window, staring at the bright blue sky against his dark feelings.

It all started three years ago after Shen Jiu released his new single. A chocolate cake was anonymously sent to the agency, the cake was meant for Shen Jiu. But since Shen Jiu was on a diet at the time, the cake was given to the security guard of the agency building. The next day, the agency received a letter from the guard's family saying that their family member had left due to food poisoning.

Fortunately, Yan Lian bribed the media not to report it, and Yan Lian met with the abandoned family and apologized for the negligence, and then compensated them a very large amount and reported it to the police, but the police did not find anything.

The second one happened a year later, when the agency held a fan meeting, a woman wearing very tight clothes gave him a drink as a gift, and when it was checked after the event, it was found that the drink was mixed with glue. This made Yan Lian, the owner of the agency, very suspicious, and he finally made a rule to check all the food given by fans to all their idols.

The person who gave it couldn't be caught because it turned out that the identity used to register for the fan meeting was fake, which made the investigation difficult. And now he came back to kill him. Yan Lian asked him many times if Shen Jiu had ever hurt other people's feelings, for this time no, but for ancient China yes.

"I'm really confused. Why can't we catch this perpetrator!" Yan Lian became increasingly stressed. "I don't think this can be taken lightly anymore. But... Why just me? I haven't done anything to hurt other people's feelings... Not like your third idol Jie" Shen Jiu's words were directed at his junior who was exposed to the bullying scandal.
"Hey... I didn't realize it at the time. But who was that woman, and how did she get on the set?!"
"This proves that our security is still weak" Shen Jiu quipped. "Manager Shang... How much money do I have to spend on professional bodyguards?" Yan Lian looked at the confused Shang Qinghua. "It depends on the selection of bodyguards and the daily or hourly rate" Shang Qinghua replied while looking at his tablet screen.
"What is the best bodyguard company?".
"Eeee, according to Google, the first ranked escort service company is ***** with a daily rate of around 1000 Yuan to 2000 Yuan.... ".
"Okay that's still cheap, please manager Shang pick the top bodyguard in that company and send the data to me!" Yan Lian looked at Shang Qinghua with fire in her eyes (ignore that).

------

"LIU QINGGE?!!!" Shen Jiu spat out the water he had been drinking. "Yes... " Shang Qinghua's reply sounded desperate. "Shang Qinghua, please tell me you are joking."
"No... I'm not joking. His name is really Liu Qingge and look," Shang Qinghua showed the photo of the man on her tablet screen. "This is Liu Qingge, nothing has changed in his face... Only his hair is short."
"Huh... Meeting you and Yue Qingyuan already gave me a headache, and now it is even worse. I hope it's just that you look alike."

"Well... How can I explain. But it looks like this is the Liu Qingge we know." Shang Qinghua scrolled the tablet's screen to check for additional notes.

"Was he the only one chosen?"
"Yes, he was the only one chosen by Yan Lian. Actually, there were five more people that Yan Lian wanted to take, but considering that this matter has not been made public and that new song information has been leaked, Yan Lian decided to take only one for the beginning of her words... Oh yes, and this case has already started to be investigated by the police.

"Hahh... It's tiring, like I'm thinking of retiring." Shen Jiu said, causing Shang Qinghua to be surprised.
"Don't... It's too early for you to retire, after all, I'm not rich yet."
"You just want money."
"Of course, life needs money, especially in this modern age."

-----

It felt like a dream. Liu Qingge could barely digest the words of his superior, escorting Qingqiu... QINGQIU?!, Shen Shixiong?!. Although it is still unknown whether it is the real Shen Qingqiu or just a look-alike.

Liu Qingge only started his day at the office with a cup of coffee until he was summoned by his superiors. Working as a bodyguard is penance for him, escorting many people in trouble, keeping them safe. This was all Liu Qingge could do to make amends to his Shixiong whom he had treated badly, accused him, hurt him, and other things that if remembered would only bring shame to himself.

Ever since she found out that Shixiong who he thought was just a spoiled rich kid turned out to be just a slave who never felt the warmth of home. Witnessing how Shen Qingqiu died only added to his regret, the cold prison, the body without hands and feet, the dried blood everywhere, Lou Binghe's torture affected him deeply.

So when Shen Qingqiu breathed his last Liu Qingge also disappeared into the cold silence of the night in prison. Liu Qingge didn't know the reason why he could be reborn with the same name as his name when he became the peak lord, this world was very different from his world, this world was very peaceful without horrible creatures terrorizing the population randomly.

Living in a wealthy family reminded him of his past. His father's company could have been continued by him but Liu Qingge chose to apply for a security service company in the capital, fortunately his parents had no problem with this.

Until six years ago, an idol was introduced to the public with the attention-grabbing stage name Qingqiu. Liu Qingge was so curious about this name, that it occupied his attention for 2 whole days to find out about him, he was very similar to his Shixiong.

Liu Qingge had arrived at the glassy building in the center of the city, R L Entertainment. An agency that entered the ranks of the most successful entertainment companies in less than 7 years. Liu Qingge entered the building and was greeted by the CEO's secretary who immediately led him to the meeting room, there was only a neat black-clad woman who Liu Qingge guessed was Yan Lian the CEO and owner of this building.

Yan Lian looked at Liu Qingge and greeted him and invited him to sit down, Yan Lian then opened her mouth. "Liu Qingge... Introduce my name is Yan Lian the owner of this agency ... I will explain the situation first so that you are not confused about what happened" Yan Lian said with a small smile and only a nod from Liu Qingge.

"One of the senior artists in this agency is under a dangerous threat, two days ago he was poisoned by his haters." Liu Qingge was surprised by this. "Actually, this has happened twice, this is the third time, I hope you can guard my artist until the perpetrator is arrested. I also hope you can keep this confidential because the media does not know about this yet. " Liu Qingge was quite surprised by Yan Lian's honesty in telling him briefly but in detail.

"Ow, he's coming" Liu Qingge turned his gaze to the open door, revealing the man Liu Qingge had been longing for. Shen Qingqiu standing behind her walked to the side and sat down on the seat beside him two seats away followed by a short man standing beside him, like he was his manager...why does it feel like Liu Qingge knows that manager?

Chapter Text

Qinghua didn't know whether to laugh or cry, seeing Liu Qingge again was like a nightmare during the day. Seeing Yue Qingyuan with Shen Jiu was enough for him, but now? It has been over a month since Liu Qingge was here.

Shang Qinghua leaned against the corridor wall, flipping through papers to organize Shen Jiu's schedule. Until he saw Liu Qingge at the end of the corridor walking towards him which made Shang Qinghua immediately stand up straight trying to leave the corridor, but alas. Liu Qingge as if he knew that Shang Qinghua was avoiding him immediately grabbed Shang Qinghua's wrist which made him almost scream.

"Aa- o-h Mr. Liu are you looking for me? " Shang Qinghua tried to cover up his fear while trying to release Liu Qingge's hand grip.

Realizing that Shang Qinghua seemed to be scared Liu Qingge immediately released his hand grip. "Ah manager Shang I apologize for taking you by surprise, if I may I would like to ask you something. " Liu Qingge looked at the frightened Shang Qinghua which made his suspicion rise, is this the Shang Qinghua he knows?

'Holy shit has he noticed??!!!' Shang Qinghua grumbled inwardly as he looked at Liu Qingge who seemed to be suspicious of him.
"Manager Shang, are you familiar with Luo Binghe?" Liu Qingge's question instantly took his by surprise, awakening memories and guilt that drowned him for decades. Shang Qinghua quickly shook his head which left Liu Qingge confused.

"No, I don't know anyone named Luo Binghe, Mr. Liu why are you asking?"
"Nothing, I thought you knew the manager Shang, sorry to disturb you, thank you. " Liu Qingge walked away leaving Shang Qinghua alone in the corridor, his answer was not convincing, Shang Qinghua must be hiding something from him.

Seeing Liu Qingge walk away from him Shang Qinghua immediately took out his cell phone, typing quickly.

/my source of money/

You: Jiu where are you?, we need to meet.
My source of money: I'm on the 2nd floor of the practice room, what's up?.
You: it's about Liu Qingge.
You: as predicted he is the Liu Qingge we know.
My money source: what?
My source of money: come here, it happens to be quiet here.
You: okay.

Shang Qinghua put his phone into his pocket and walked towards the elevator quickly leaving the corridor unaware that a pair of eyes were watching him boarding the elevator.

Liu Qingge's suspicion immediately increased when he saw Shang Qinghua who immediately took out his cell phone typed quickly and left the corridor. he must be the Shang Qinghua he knew, but. If so that meant the Shen Qingqiu he saw was his Shixiong.

On the other side of a very messy room with broken glass and Shen Qingqiu's crossed out photo pasted on the wall with a knife, a woman dressed in black was looking at Shen Qingqiu's photo lying on a table with some messy items around her, the woman looked at it for a while before she suddenly laughed and ruffled the table making the items on it including the photo fall apart on the floor.

"Shen Jiu! Haha you think the extra protection will keep you safe?" She laughed loudly like crazy. "Just watch... You will pay the price for what you have done... "

"Tsk, tsk, tsk you crazy girl, how did you do it huh?"

"Two months left... I will kill him there... Out of four people, two must pay a price. "

Chapter Text

"Jiu'er aren't you going to visit the orphanage? " A woman's voice sounded behind Shen Jiu's mobile phone. "Mum, I don't know if I'll have any free time or not because the concert is coming up soon, so I have to prepare a lot of things". Shen Jiu replied to the woman.

"Jiu, I know you are busy, but can you go to the orphanage next week, your younger siblings miss you?" The woman turned out to be the orphanage mother of Shen Jiu's former orphanage, although Shen Jiu no longer lives with his mother and younger siblings but the old woman named Li Yuan never forgot her eldest son.

"Hah... Mum, I'll look at the schedule to see if I have free time or not later next week. I'll contact mum again. "
"Okay Jiu'er but please make sure you come, because there is someone who wants to meet you." The call was immediately cut off as Li Yuan hung up without letting Shen Jiu ask about who wanted to meet him.

Not wanting to care about that Shen Jiu went out of his bedroom to have breakfast, because today Yan Lian wanted to discuss something with him. Arriving at the kitchen as usual Shen Jiu saw the lunch box left by Shang Qinghua for him to eat so afterwards Shen Jiu immediately left his apartment.

Arriving at the building, everything looked as usual. Everyone was busy with their own work. Shen Jiu entered the room that Yan Lian used to discuss until Shen Jiu realised something.

Yue Qingyuan was there sitting in the chair Shen Jiu usually occupied, Yue Qingyuan who saw Shen Jiu enter the room immediately greeted him warmly. "Qingqiu, good morning" But the greeting did not get a reply from Shen Jiu which made the atmosphere of the room become a bit stiff. Fortunately, Yan Lian immediately broke the ice by telling Shen Jiu to sit next to Yue Qingyuan which made Shen Jiu feel a little annoyed. However, Shen Jiu still disliked Yue Qingyuan's presence after what happened to him in the past.

"Qingqiu, this is Mr Yue Qingyuan he is your sponsor all this time, the purpose of his coming this time is regarding the matter of terror that you got all this time" Yan Lian was obviously happy with the help from Yue Qingyuan for this case. "For more details we have to wait for Shang Qinghua to explain, right now Shang Qinghua is on his way here. While waiting how about you guys chat first, I'm going to go to the toilet first, so. Please the two of you who get along don't repeat the same mistakes as the past". After saying these words that made both of them shocked, Yan Lian immediately left the room with a big question mark for Shen Jiu.

The same mistake as the past, why is Yan Lian acting like she knows that they knew each other before? Shen Jiu glanced at Yue Qingyuan who was just smiling at him like a fool, why was he smiling as if he had no past sins? The atmosphere was awkward until Yue Qingyuan opened his mouth to start a conversation with Shen Jiu.

"I'm sorry, but I have to call you Qingqiu for now" Yue Qingyuan's words were only returned with a nod from Shen Jiu "How have you been?"
"I'm good, I'm healthy now"
"Ahh, what I mean is.... Forget it. How are your mum and younger siblings at the orphanage? " Yue Qingyuan's question obviously made Shen Jiu immediately look at him suspiciously, because he had never talked about the orphanage or family during his time as an idol.
"I'm sorry I investigated your background all this time" "....... ".
"You're crazy."

After that the room became awkward again, and the door opened revealing Yan Lian with Shang Qinghua and Liu Qingge behind her. Liu Qingge's shocked expression was clear when he saw Yue Qingyuan.

"I hope with the help of Mr Yue we can catch the perpetrator of this terror" Yan Lian and Shang Qinghua clearly conveyed the important matters at this meeting. Shang Qinghua also looked serious, like he was in the mode of making money to become wealthy, while Liu Qingge was also paying attention to the topic of this meeting but occasionally he glanced at Yue Qingyuan.

The meeting ended about 3 hours later, with the contents of the evidence collected and the plans to be implemented to catch the perpetrators of this terror. Shang Qinghua immediately approached Shen Jiu "hey Qingqiu, just like this Liu Qingge, is our Liu Qingge really? Look at the way he's looking at Yue Qingyuan" Shang Qinghua's words made Shen Jiu reflexively look at Liu Qingge, and sure enough Liu Qingge was still looking at Yue Qingyuan with a doubtful look.

Yue Qingyuan ignored Liu Qingge's gaze, Yue Qingyuan directly approached Shen Jiu with Shang Qinghua who left as Yue Qingyuan approached "Qingqiu, do you have free time tomorrow night?" "I don't know, my schedule is with Shang Qinghua". "If you have time tomorrow night... I'd like to invite you to have dinner with me, would you be able to?". "Just ask Shang Qinghua" Shen Jiu replied and immediately left the room followed by Yue Qingyuan leaving Liu Qingge confused, trying to digest what exactly happened.

Chapter Text

Shen Jiu stared at the gates of his orphanage, replaying all the happy and sad memories he had here, his orphanage mother and siblings always by his side. Thanks to Shang Qing hua for clearing his schedule today despite the possibility of him being scolded by Yan Lian.

Opening the gate raises the sound of a bell mounted on top of it, upon entering, Shen Jiu is immediately mobbed by the children of the orphanage now even though in the past he was labelled as a bad person, he still likes children even though it has to be covered up by his strict attitude towards his students. The door of the orphanage opened to reveal Li Yuan the owner of the orphanage as well as a mother figure to himself approaching him intending to welcome him.

"Ahh Jiu'er, it's nice of you to take the time to come here." Li Yuan said as she led Shen Jiu into the house.
"My manager helped me to apply for leave today, although it was a little difficult but at least my boss allowed me" Shen Jiu explained to Li Yuan.

The house is still the same as before, the decoration has not changed much, it still holds a sense of warmth and security for him, he remembers how when he was a child the difficulty of getting along with others was his main problem, how he always felt suspicious of his siblings, still feeling traumatised by his past. But Li Yuan and her husband did not remain silent, everything they did to make sure Shen Jiu could get along and play with other children was very difficult but they both managed to eliminate his feelings of suspicion.

But now only Li Yuan is left while her husband has passed away due to his illness, leaving her alone to take care of all the children they love alone, despite her age Li Yuan is still strong enough to face all the delinquency of the orphanage children.

There, on the sofa was a woman sitting on top of him looking down as if hesitant to look at him, Shen Jiu did not recognise her. Then Li Yuan told her to sit next to him which made her finally look at his face.

"Jiu'er before I say this thing.... Please don't get angry, okay?"
"Alright... But for what?" Shen Jiu asked Li Yuan which was only replied by her warm smile.
"In front of you now is your biological mother.... Liu Mei" Shen Jiu who had been living without knowing his mother's identity was obviously shocked by it, his mother left him in the orphanage many years ago now appeared in front of him.

What does she want? Why is she appearing now?

"Jiu'er I know you don't believe in this... But she is the one who wants to see you" Li Yuan had broken his reverie who still couldn't believe this, the woman suddenly kneeled in front of him which made him immediately panic because this was something he had never experienced in the present.

"Miss please get up, don't kneel" persuaded Shen Jiu trying to stop the woman's action.

"I'm sorry, I'm a useless mother! Forgive your mother for leaving you here!" The woman with the name Liu Mei cried while still refusing to get up. "I had to leave you because of your grandfather... I'm sorry my son. I know you must hate me. I know you must hate me." Liu Mei remained kneeling to Shen Jiu as she cried regretting everything she had done in the past.

Shen Jiu did not reply to Liu Mei's words as she was still confused about what happened. "Jiu'er, I'll leave for a while, please talk to her nicely" Li Yuan got up from his seat and walked towards the kitchen leaving the mother and son behind.

Shen Jiu looked at Liu Mei who was still crying and kneeling to him until he finally spoke, " mother.... Please get up don't kneel to me" Although it was hard for him to accept, Shen Jiu finally accepted the fact that his mother was now in front of him, the figure who thought never cared about him was now in front of him.

Liu Mei looked up to Shen Jiu and immediately hugged him, happy that her son was willing to accept her. Shen Jiu was surprised by her sudden hug feeling confused whether he should return it or not but this hug felt warm almost the same as the hug of his orphanage mother Li Yuan, is this what a mother's hug feels like?.
"My son...come with me for a moment? I have something to show you"

Shen Jiu's car left the orphanage after saying goodbye to Li Yuan, the journey was silent considering that they didn't know each other well yet Shen Jiu just drove following his mother's directions until they both arrived at a cemetery.

Liu Mei led at the front while Shen Jiu just followed behind looking back and forth only a cemetery, until they came to a grave and Liu Mei looked at the grave with a smile, making Shen Jiu confused with the grave looking at the headstone there was a name that had the same surname as him, Liu Mei finally spoke "I will explain everything my son...."

Chapter Text

Shen Jiu just stared at the reflection in the mirror in front of him, ignoring the staff who were busy preparing him for a radio appearance to promote his new music video. Shen Jiu's mind was focused on the story told by his mother who returned to him after disappearing for 28 years, fortunately she was willing to explain why she disappeared and left him at the orphanage.

The radio was quite comfortable for him, not too crowded and most importantly the host was a woman. Some questions related to his latest music video were asked to him "Mr. Qingqiu what was your inspiration for the song you published recently?" Good question for the first question after his introduction.

"This song was inspired by an old story I heard in my old hometown" Lies, the song was written based on his past life "ouh old story it is, but it doesn't seem to be a happy story, considering all the lyrics are so sad" Of course it is sad, his life was nothing happy until he died by swallowing the splinter of his Qi-ge sword.

After almost fifteen minutes of interviews related to his latest song, it was time to answer questions from his fans that had been collected and sorted out by the studio, this part he actually didn't like too much because there were some questions that were too curious about his personal life.

"Alright, the first question comes from user Sleeping Willow's Flower with the question 'Jiu'er, are you currently in a relationship? Please, answer me" Hell nah. Just the first question already nudged his personal life, why did the studio choose this question out of the hundreds of thousands of questions that came into their social accounts?! "Ehem, for now I'm not in any relationship... Lately I've been seeing my biological mother again and... I'm trying to reconcile with her again" Okay, maybe it's too soon to talk about her mom coming back to him, although fans already know that he was abandoned at an orphanage.

Shen Jiu didn't seem to know that his answer would become a hot topic for the next few days. "Okay congratulations? For you Mr. Qingqiu" "There's nothing to say" "Okay, for the second question from user rimulina 'Qingqiu is there anything you've wanted for a long time but never gotten?'"

"For this.... I once wanted my childhoodfriend for myself but looking at him now... I can't stand it anymore." Shen Jiu only hoped that this answer would not become the talk of the internet, of course he still wanted Qi- Yue Qingyuan, but, it seemed like later.

"Ouh childhood friend? Is this your first love?" "Please...don't think about it too much" The interview ended well even though there were a few questions that were too off topic, but at least he could be honest for a few questions. As Shen Jiu exited the studio accompanied by Liu Qingge protecting him, there were already many reporters taking photos blindly, for their news pages. After all, who doesn't know Shen Jiu, Qingqiu, a very talented and smart singer?

Fans were waiting to see him in person or ask for him autograph. Shen Jiu approached a woman wearing a mask holding one of his old song albums, ouch that album is so old since when did this woman like it? Shen Jiu took the pen and signed the album, feeling a sense of nostalgia for the grueling first year of being an Idol.

After passing through the crowd Shen Jiu leaned against the seat of the car that his manager was driving "How was it? Successful?" Shang Qinghua asked him
"Of course, it's just that the crowd earlier surprised me a little" "Sorry to interrupt Qingqiu, it seems that someone leaked about your interview today which should be confidential" Hearing Liu Qingge who spoke so formally felt very strange, the man politely answered him from the seat next to Shang Qinghua who was driving.

"It seems like this is the same party that leaked about your music last year" Shang Qinghua lead based on the similarity of events. A year ago when he was working on his song, someone leaked the instrument to the public by selling it at a high price, of course for fans who like to get information early and are very rich bought the leak and shared it for free to the internet. It really hurt Shen Jiu at that time because the song was written with the intention to suprise his fans so Shen Jiu completely overhauled the song which delayed the release of the song.

"Lately a lot of information has been leaking out from who knows where, but they are really hard to track down since they don't leave any traces.... I just hope this isn't the same person who threatened Qingqiu" Liu Qingge really seemed more reasonable now, unlike his shidi back then who jumped to conclusions without any evidence. "Maybe we should discuss this with Yan Lian later, Qingqiu you don't need to participate in this discussion if you don't want to hear it" Shang Qinghua is really a great actor when playing his role as his manager in front of Liu Qingge, maybe he can apply to be a movie actor and earn more money.

"I won't come because I still have something to do" "Alright".

The day was going very well, there were no excess distractions which made Shen Jiu very happy. he was walking towards his apartment floor, waiting for the elevator to take him to the right floor when his cell phone beeped indicating someone had just messaged him.

Qiong Ding Owner Yue Qingyuan: Xiao-Jio, this is Qi-ge
Owner of Qiong Ding, Yue Qingyuan: it's been almost a month since I asked you to dinner together
Owner of Qiong Ding, Yue Qingyuan: do you want to agree?

The messages came thick and fast at the same time, like Qi-ge could type fast.

You: I'm sorry, I forgot about that, but I'll look at my schedule first.
You: If there's free time, I'll agree to it.

Can't it hurt to improve his relationship with Yue Qingyuan?

Owner Qiong Ding, Yue Qingyuan: Good to hear.
Owner of Qiong Ding, Yue Qingyuan: Just let me know when Xiao Jiu has some free time, I'll prepare everything... Don't worry ❤.

What's with the emoticons? Of course Shen Jiu did not reply and walked quietly to his apartment, Shen Jiu cleaned himself up and lay down on his soft bed, contacting his manager, Shang Qinghua.

You: Qinghua, are you home yet?
Qinghua: just got home
Qinghua: what's up?
You: do I have free time this week?
Qinghua: how come you're asking this
Qinghua: do you have any plans?
You: Yue Qingyuan invited me to dinner, the invitation was a month ago btw, he stated my schedule to invite me to dinner
Qinghua: hell nah
Qinghua: I forgot about the invitation, let me see your schedule first.
Qinghua: Friday and Saturday you don't have any schedule
You: tomorrow I don't have any schedule?
Qinghua: yep
you: then
you: can I livestream tomorrow, manager?
Qinghua: it's rare for you to ask permission
Qinghua: usually you turn on your camera right away
You: ouh, you want to do that
Qinghua: no, it's okay, please give me permission first when you're going to livestream
You: okay

It's great that Shen Jiu doesn't have anything scheduled for two days, tomorrow he'll laze around after livestreaming and Saturday he'll go out with Yue Qingyuan.... Maybe it's time...

You: Saturday
You: Saturday I don't have any schedule
Owner of Qiong Ding, Yue Qingyuan: good to hear, Saturday night I will pick you up at your apartment
You: okay
Owner of Qiong Ding, Yue Qingyuan: thank you Xiao Jiu for taking your time for my invitation

... Shen Jiu you better not get your hopes up. Shen Jiu kept his cell phone on his bedside table to charge it, and went to bed, praying that he would sleep well.

—————

Jiujiu's concert is coming!

Mingyan: *sending a picture*
Mingyan: 😋🤭
Yuan: Wtf, how come you got Jiujiu's autograph?!!!
Hualing: It's not fair
Hualing: if only I had skipped the extra class, I would have met Jiujiu :(
Qinghua: how sad
Mingyan: hehe, but it's not just this that makes me shocked
Mingyan: but also my brother
Yuan: your brother? What's wrong with him?
Mingyan: like he's working with Jiujiu
Qinghua: wtf more sad
Hualing: ?!!
Yuan: No wonder, Mingyan's brother works for a security company. It's only natural that he works for R L entertainment
Mingyan: yeah I know, BUT THE PROBLEM IS WHY DIDN'T SHOW IT?!!!
Mingyan: I CAN ASK HIM TO HELP ME SEE JIUJIU UP CLOSE! ! !
Qinghua: it's unlikely
Yuan: of course it's unlikely, because it's related to confidential information 😪
Hualing: guys, the day after tomorrow the concert tickets will be released.... Do you think i can get it? :(
Qinghua: just pray, Jiujiu fans are amazing, remember, last year the concert tickets were sold out in just three minutes
Mingyan: I won't miss it again! It's enough that I lost the ticket war last year!
Hualing: Me too! I won't lose this year!
Yuan: 1+
Qinghua 1+

————

Shang Qinghua couldn't believe what he saw on his computer screen. The computer screen displayed an internet account with an unclear user and nickname.

There's nothing to say
@819201147
Wednesday, XX-XX-XXXX, radio station XXX Hour XX. XX

The post was posted a few hours before Shen Jiu came to the radio station building for an interview this morning. It was obvious that this user was revealing information about Shen Jiu on they account.

Shang Qinghua had just discovered the account by scrolling through his social media accounts, the account was public but the profile description had a link to a chat group that he had to pay to get into. Driven by curiosity after scrolling further and discovering that information about his idol was revealed, Shang Qinghua reluctantly spent his precious money to pay and enter the group chat.

To his surprise, the first sight he saw was a photo of Shen Jiu outside of hia idol hours, showing him going to the supermarket, walking in the park, and so on. The last photo sent in the admin-only messaging group was of Shen Jiu relaxing in the park near his apartment. Some of the photos were also indecently edited which made Shang Qinghua uncomfortable, it was obvious that the people in this group were not in their right mind.

Shang Qinghua didn't know whether he should report this group to Yang Lian or not, but this group was completely anonymous. It was unknown who was operating this group and sending photos to it. Shang Qinghua was really confused.