Translator: Midori
Proofreader: Jesse
Wu Ming always got home before Qin Kong.
As usual, the first thing he did when he got home is to reply to each of Clear Sky's weibo statuses. Actually it was nothing more than just words of praise or his thoughts concerning the status. They were the same as hundreds other comments below the status, but it was enough to make him feel happy.
Because Wu Ming knows that even though Clear Sky dislikes being @ [1], occasionally he would read some of the comments.
Every day he would post his comment below each status, it was like punching a work card and after awhile he naturally grew to accustomed to it.
Sometimes Clear Sky would reply to some of his comments, which caused the little die hard fan in him to scream in excitement---Sama replied to my comment!
When that happened he always felt happy knowing that the person he likes acknowledged his concern for them.
But he rarely forwarded[2] the other's status, because he felt quite embarrassed to have the forwarded message posted on his weibo. Could this being considered as self-deceiving?
Wu Ming also followed the weibo's of other people in the CV world or the relevant people, most of them are connected to Clear Sky. For these people, he only read through their statuses, he had never once commented or forwarded their weibo status; after he skimmed through all the updates on weibo, he would go to the audio drama forum.
The audio drama forum is the best place to check on news and updates regarding the CV world, most of the audio dramas are posted here first. A lot of CVs and STAFF (working group staff) are recruited from here; it's also a place for first-hand gossip, creating a discussion page[3] for favorite CPs {couples}, and to make friends with people that have the same interests...etc, you get the idea.
Of course, those fan wars[4] are inevitable in this place.
Right when he logged into the forum, he immediately saw the hottest topic of the day pinned at the top headline of the forum---
CV does not diligently work on his part of the audio drama project but keeps coming to YY to sing every day, is that really ok? By the way I am not an anti
Wu Ming slightly frowned, then clicked on the post. The curious and ignorant original poster asked with a doubt, is it really okay? (Japanese emoticon of "no problem?") there was even lots of laughing words in the post. It was very obvious that the poster was not being curious, but was trying to imply something. As the post attracted more and more peoples comments, the discussion became intense and as expected, Clear Sky was named in the later posts.
Popular people tend to attract lots of rumors about them. As he skimmed through the post to read the key points, Wu Ming quickly clicked on the X button. These kinds of profound gossip content should be dealt with by people with authority.
Every three or five days there would be a post pinching on Clear Sky's name, either directly criticizing him or just beating around the bush about his name. However, Clear Sky just kept on doing what he always does. According to what he said on his channel: "These people sure have a lot of time to waste, everyone should not care about those posts; I'm a very straightforward person, so I'm not afraid of them trying to stain my name."
Wu Ming nodded, yup, well said.
Everyone then asked: "Sama, when are you going to finish your part of the recording?"
Clear Sky: "I've already sent my part of the recording to the production staff, right now I'm temporarily not taking on any new audio projects."
Wu Ming nodded his head, that's right, he heard him recording it at midnight.
Day by day went by just like that, then one day Wu Ming came home, as usual he checked on Clear Sky's weibo and was surprised for a moment.
CV Clear Sky: Everyone has been asking me whether I'm going to have a singing party on my birthday, of course I cannot manage such a grandeur thing. How about everyone just gathers in the channel as usual, so that the majority of working people can be relaxed and at ease. [haha]
In the years past , no matter whether a red name person has a little or a lot of fame on the internet, as long as it is their birthday, they would anxiously invite all the people they know to their channel and make it into a lively "stars gathering"[5] singing party. To put it simply, one person after another goes up to the mic and sings one or two songs, or says some kind of blessing to the birthday host.
Clear Sky's birthday is on May 1st, last year around this time...Wu Ming thought about it for a bit, it seemed that they did the usual singing on the channel. There were a lot of uninvited pink names and red names[6] in the CV world that came to join them. All of the CVs gathered together in the same channel just to chit chat, which had caused the fangirl population to make their way to the channel just to listen to their idols talk.
This year May 1st would be on a Saturday and it is also happened to fall on an official holiday[7], it seemed that the channel would be overloaded.
*
On Saturday, May 1st, Wu Ming used the excuse of having unfinished work to turn down his colleagues' travel invitation.
In the afternoon, he wrapped a lot of dumplings at home. After he was finished and stood there looking at his finished products he wondered---what type of excuse could he use to send the dumplings next door?
Everyone must eat dumplings on their birthday[8]? Not good, he "doesn't know" today is Qin Kong's birthday.
Can't finish them by himself? This excuse is being overused.
Because it's May 1st? This holiday does not have the tradition of eating dumplings.
It is more unreasonable to say these dumplings are from friends...
He picked up his phone to check on his weibo and saw a new update from Clear Sky.
CV Clear Sky: [tearing] What to do what to do, laptop fell on the ground and is broken; really cannot turn it on, looks like I can't keep my promise for tonight.
This weibo status was being sent from a mobile device.
He looked through the previous statuses, at noon went out to eat with friends to celebrate his birthday, in the afternoon went to KTV {karaoke} with friends, then came home and found my laptop is broken. The fans commenting on the weibo status seemed to be even more worried than the main host himself. They suggested many ideas, the most rancid one was to let it fall on the ground again; Clear Sky replied back with a sweating emoticon.
His birthday only happens once a year and there were so many people anxiously waiting for it, if he could not make it...
I have a spare one, I can lend that to him.
Wu Ming gave it some thought and replied---
No Name in the Name: Sama, go over to your neighbor and ask if you can borrow one from them, maybe they have a spare one.
Clear Sky replied: *sweating* Bad idea! Who would trust another with their laptop?
No Name in the Name: How do you know if you haven't tried it? Plus, the neighbor is usually so good to you. ^_^
Clear Sky did not reply.
Wu Ming unhappily pouted: "Do you really want me to go over and say: Sama, do you need a laptop?"
If he had decided on it then he must finish it, so Wu Ming went out to press on Qin Kong's door bell.
Qin Kong was sulking in his room when he heard the doorbell, he put down his laptop and dejectedly walked out to open the door.
"Hi, I made some dumplings, wanna come over to eat?" Wu Ming said while smiling at Qin Kong.
"...Aiye" Qin Kong heaved out a sigh as he was not in any kind of mood to eat dumplings.
"What's up? Do you need help with something?"
"Not..." Qin Kong paused then asked: "Do you happen to have a laptop?"
"Yeah, so?"
"My laptop broke after it fell on the floor, but tonight I need it for an emergency. I wonder if...ehem, I can borrow yours for one night?"
Wu Ming pretended to be hesitant: "I have a spare one, but..."
"I will only borrow it for one night, it's really urgent! I'll give it back to you tomorrow, I promise!"
"Okay."
"Thank you so so much!" You're such a good neighbor!
"But you have to agree to a request of mine."
"Ah?"
"Come eat dumplings with me!" Just a small request from a fan, it's not too much eh.
"!!!"
Notes:
[1] @ - this function on Weibo is the same as twitter's @
[2] forward in Weibo - it has the same function as "share" button on facebook and retweet on twitter ^^
[3] discussion page - if you guys have used soompi, you will be familiar with this. It is where one post is made about a couple and that post becomes the "home page" post for that couple. Essentially all news, gossip or even hints of the favorite pair will be updated in that post only.
[4] fan wars - I really don't think I have to explain much about this, since all K-pop fans are very familiar with this, but I will explain it for those who are not really into K-pop {hey, not everyone likes Kpop, ok? Don't judge people ^^}. Like the words said, it's a war that breaks out between fans of two or three idols, usually these wars happen on the internet (thank goodness that it is just the internet for now; sometimes it gets physical when the fans of both parties meet in real life, but I think that happening is quite low hehe), usually the fans would attack the other idol's fans with cynical words or by criticizing the idol. It's a never ending mess...and it has become a serious issue nowadays. I think this doesn't just happen in the Kpop industry, this happens in every culture.
[5] Stars gathering - mostly the well-known people in the CV world, not like those big name actors or singers that we all know; these people can be considered as "minority" in the entertainment world ^^
[6] Pink Names and Red Names - those are famous people's ID color. Their IDs usually are listed as red color, depending on how popular they are, the more popular the redder it gets, to the point it would turn purple red XDDD
[7] May 1st - International Labor Day, I think most people in the States do not know this, so I'll put it here for everyone^^
[8] To eat dumplings on one's birthday - it's a Chinese tradition, since the dumpling piece looks like the gold coin, you know that ingot gold looking thing; therefore, to eat dumplings on one's birthday is to represent good fortune/wealth. There are other traditional food to eat on one's birthday like: Longevity noodle (representing long life, and just as it sounds "LONGevity" - consists of a single, long and unbroken strand of noodle, lengthy enough to fill up a bowl), and 2 red hard-boiled eggs (representing fertility, since the egg represents birth or new start. 2 eggs - because pairs have a good tune and it is better than being singled out; red is for good luck)
