If The Persona Is Wrong, Everything Else Is In Vain - Chapter 18

Lin Luo carried Zhou Wan on his back up to the second floor. Just as he reached the door of his room, he bumped into Ming Songqin coming out of the room at the end of the hallway.

The three of them locked eyes, and everyone was momentarily stunned.

Immediately after, Gu Ning’s shout of “You bastard!” echoed from inside the room, accompanied by the chaotic clattering and clanging of objects crashing to the floor. The sounds slammed into everyone’s ears simultaneously.

Ming Songqin’s body stiffened, and his expression turned sour. Clenching his teeth, he patiently closed the door that was halfway open.

He walked toward Lin Luo and exchanged a glance with Zhou Wan, who was resting on Lin Luo’s back with raised eyebrows, clearly enjoying the drama.

Zhou Wan tightened his arms around Lin Luo’s neck and nudged his head closer to Lin Luo’s.

“Where are you two… heading?” Ming Songqin asked.

“Just went to the school,” Lin Luo replied casually, having no intention of chatting further with him.

Then, remembering something, Lin Luo paused, “You and Gu Ning…”

“You went to the school?” Ming Songqin cut him off, his expression instantly turning serious. Frowning, he placed a hand on Lin Luo’s shoulder and anxiously checked him over from head to toe, “Are you alright?”

Lin Luo was flabbergasted, “…What could possibly happen?”

His gaze was sharp, attempting to find the truth behind Ming Songqin’s unusual behavior.

But Ming Songqin was a seasoned veteran who had weathered many storms in the business world, he was slick and guarded. Unless he chose to reveal something intentionally, how could Lin Luo easily pry it out of him?

He glossed over the topic lightly, “Nothing. I just heard from the program crew staff earlier that a group of fanatical fans came in, and I was worried it might cause a commotion.”

“Supposedly, they went over in that direction.” He pointed toward the tea mountain.

Lin Luo slapped his own forehead, only just remembering the fans settled in the pavilion. He hurriedly carried Zhou Wan into the room, set him down, and turned to leave.

Zhou Wan had been dropped onto the hard plank bed, which jolted his injured leg. Wincing in pain, he forced himself up and grabbed Lin Luo’s hand.

“I’ll also…”

When Lin Luo turned his head, Zhou Wan caught sight of the large beads of sweat drenching Lin Luo’s forehead, and he shut his mouth.

Changing his tune, he reluctantly let go of his hand, “Stay safe.”

Lin Luo froze for a moment, then reached out and casually ruffled Zhou Wan’s head. Zhou Wan’s smooth, slightly long hair was instantly messed up. Lin Luo smiled softly, “Don’t worry.”

As Lin Luo brushed past Ming Songqin, he gave him a deep look. Ming Songqin forced a tight smile, tilted his head slightly toward Lin Luo, and made a gesturing motion to clear the way.

By this time, it was already past four in the afternoon. Thick, low-hanging clouds pressed down heavily, and the sunlight hiding behind them cast mottled shadows on the road, hinting at an impending downpour.

After getting off the vehicle, Lin Luo quickened his pace. The moment his front foot stepped under the eaves of the roof, several heavy raindrops led a massive downpour that crashed down fiercely, instantly shattering the tranquility of the forest with its loud pattering.

The pavilion was connected to a long, winding corridor that snaked through the woods toward its destination. Lin Luo walked inside while brushing off the water droplets that had splashed onto him.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks. After a moment of thought, he pulled out his phone and called Xiao Li, instructing him to prepare a few more cars and rooms, as well as to bring some clean towels and dry clothes.

As he drew closer and could finally see the pavilion, he raised his eyes, his phone freezing beside his ear.

The entire pavilion was empty, except for a person with a mushroom haircut wearing a backpack. He was sitting there obediently with his back to Lin Luo, quietly listening to the rain, his hands typing away non-stop on a laptop.

Lin Luo walked closer and glanced at the laptop screen. Displayed clearly on it was a joint photo of himself and Zhou Wan.

Judging by their outfits and the background, wasn’t that the photo of them eating in the tea garden during their break this morning?

In the picture, Lin Luo was staring at the stir-fried pork with chili peppers in front of him, looking so overjoyed that his eyes seemed ready to pop out.

Lin Luo’s expression grew complicated, and his gaze quickly darted downward. Fortunately, he had controlled himself, he hadn’t embarrassingly drooled in the photo.

He secretly breathed a sigh of relief and tapped the mushroom haired guy on the shoulder, “Hello?”

The mushroom haired guy turned around blankly, his hand trembling so much that he accidentally messed up the photo edit.

This time, a streak resembling drool was artificially created right at the corner of Lin Luo’s mouth, making him look even more like a greedy kid who had never seen the world before.

“You…” The mushroom haired guy froze for a second.

The next second, he let out a piercing shriek, “Ah! Luoluo! It’s actually you! Why are you here! Let me tell you, I like you so much! Wait, no, I also like Zhou Wan, I like your CP! But I still…” He was so excited that he became incoherent.

He jumped up abruptly, his palms breaking out in sweat. He wiped them back and forth against his clothes. His hands and feet had gone cold from sheer excitement. He trembling stretched out his hand, but then thought it might be inappropriate given the circumstances. After a complex internal debate known only to himself, he awkwardly began to withdraw his hand.

Lin Luo was quick enough to catch it, gave it a warm shake, and said with a smile, “Thank you for your support.”

He looked around and asked, “Where is everyone else?”

“Don’t, don’t worry,” the mushroom-haired guy pushed up his glasses shyly, “I sent them all back. They’ve all gone down the mountain and headed home. Everything is fine.”

Lin Luo secretly gave this little mushroom head a thumbs-up in his mind and casually asked, “By the way, what’s your name?”

The moment the words left his mouth, the mushroom haired guy snapped his head up in disbelief. His mouth twitched, and tears looked ready to spill from his eyes.

He choked up, his voice trembling, “My, my name is Song Ranyu. You probably don’t know this name…”

As he spoke, he lowered his head and frantically pulled out his social media account from his phone, holding it up in front of Lin Luo, “But you should know this account. It’s always at the top of the comment section.”

Lin Luo leaned forward, squinting his eyes to take a look. He froze, then looked back at Song Ranyu, “This… is you?”

Song Ranyu was full of anticipation, as if waiting for Lin Luo’s praise. Behind his round, leopard-print glasses, a pair of watery, wide eyes stared at him expectively.

The praise Lin Luo was about to give got completely stuck in his throat.

He let out two dry laughs, “You’re… quite active.”

He was indeed familiar with this account name. It frequented the top of the comment sections of his own social media, Zhou Wan’s social media, and their joint CP promotional accounts.

Among these accounts, no matter who it was, as long as a post went out, this person would always rush to the front to like, comment, and repost, a complete three steps routine, almost never missing a single update.

Of course, he was the ultimate head fan of their CP.

In fact, just a few days ago, they had even chatted through private messages.

Lin Luo never expected to actually meet the most mysterious head fan of their CP in person, the one who never showed their face but could always get first hand material. Is Lin-Zhou Real Today.

“Yes, yes! If I’m not active, how could I catch my idol’s eye?” Song Ranyu scratched his head awkwardly. Suddenly remembering something, he said, “Oh right, Luoluo, you must know ‘Meng Luo Wan Zhou’, right? He was the one who told me you guys were here a few days ago.”

“But since I got here, I haven’t seen him at all. He hasn’t replied to my messages either. He’s so mysterious,” Song Ranyu muttered.

If he weren’t mysterious and just jumped out directly, that would cause a massive disaster, Lin Luo suppressed the words at the tip of his tongue.

“Let’s head back first,” Lin Luo looked around, changing the subject.

The pavilion was located in the center of a small pond that had been abandoned for years. The heavy rain was splattering into the pond, and as the downpour intensified, the water level was visibly rising, with the state of the drainage system being unknown.

Frowning, Lin Luo said, “I don’t know if this pavilion will get flooded. It’s not safe. I’ve arranged for someone to pick us up, let’s wait out in the long corridor first.”

“Okay, okay, okay,” Song Ranyu quickly agreed, turning around to pack up his photography equipment and laptop scattered all over the place.

Lin Luo stood silent for a moment, then pointed at the laptop screen. With an awkward expression, he interrupted him, “Can we… not post this version?”

Song Ranyu was entirely bewildered. After glancing at the computer, he instantly understood. He made a zipping motion across his lips, then gave Lin Luo a salute, “I promise to edit you to look incredibly handsome.”

He pounded his own shoulder, blinked, and smiled, “Trust me, you can’t go wrong.”

Lin Luo wasn’t worried about his editing skills; after all, the photos produced by him were universally acclaimed by fans as top-tier, serving as undeniable proof.

However, as he scanned the photo again, something felt off. Song Ranyu had only added a bit of a filter, and it didn’t look much different from what the naked eye could see, but…

Lin Luo’s squinted eyes suddenly went wide as a flash of inspiration hit his brain. He finally figured out the flaw, the same flaw he had failed to spot every single time before, but understood completely today.

The biggest issue was that the CP dynamic was reversed!

Every single photo that came from his hands always carried a “Zhou-Lin” vibe, completely reversing the CP roles. Ordinary people wouldn’t find anything wrong with it, after all, it was just two faces in one photo frame representing a heavily marketed official CP, so what could be the problem?

But with a closer look, it wasn’t hard to see that this guy was completely an undercover mole sent by the “Zhou-Lin” faction to fight against the official “Lin-Zhou” faction!

The prominent head fan of the Lin-Zhou CP, this little mushroom head, was actually a mole. Lin Luo’s gaze toward him turned probing.

As the two walked out side by side, Song Ranyu pulled a postcard out of his pocket and handed it to Lin Luo, saying sheepishly, “Could you give me an autograph on this?”

Lin Luo readily took the postcard and the pen, and began to sign his name.

Song Ranyu rubbed his hands together filled with anticipation, beginning to mutter to himself on the side, “I made a bet with ‘Meng Luo Wan Zhou’ to see who could be the first to collect the autographs for the ‘Eight Hundred Letters’. The loser has to provide the winner with a month’s worth of the latest photo updates.”

Lin Luo’s hand froze mid-signature. There did seem to be such a thing, but when did the bet become a month of photo updates? It was clearly supposed to be a month of following and checking in on the schedule.

The so-called “Eight Hundred Letters” referred to the eight hundred confession letters from the idol to the fans, which was Lin Luo’s personal habit.

Whenever he felt “sentimental,” he would always write some “sentimental” words on social media platforms. Sometimes, even he himself felt it was too cheesy and embarrassing.

But later, he accidentally learned from Song Ranyu that the long, emotional essays of cheesy literature he wrote during those impulsive moments were actually read thoroughly by the fans, who even printed them out to treasure.

From being an absolute nobody to being recognized today, it had been a total of one year and three months, exactly “eight hundred letters.”

Suppressing the upward curve of his lips, Lin Luo signed his name. He paused for a moment, and under Song Ranyu’s attentive gaze, he drew a tiny heart at the very end.

“The hidden edition!” Song Ranyu cried out in surprise.

When signing autographs, Lin Luo would occasionally drop a small heart at the end, but the probability was completely random. Old fans treated this unintentional behavior like opening a blind box.

It was exciting and fun, so no one would ever explicitly ask for it when standing in front of him just to get a guaranteed “hidden edition”; they all quietly waited for the thrill of the blind box.

Because of this small gesture, Real had also counted this little heart into his bet with Meng Luo Wan Zhou.

Song Ranyu gripped the postcard tightly, carefully slipping it into a prepared envelope, “Thank you!”

Lin Luo smiled gently, “I should be the one thanking you all.”

He reached out to brush away the water droplets that had splashed onto Song Ranyu’s shoulder, “It’s like I always say, without you guys, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”