ASFSODS 72

As the night got colder, Wen Chi and Jiang Siheng didn’t stay outside for long. They held hands for a while but as they approached the guesthouse, Wen Chi took the initiative to release his hand and moved a little farther away, maintaining a distance that wasn’t too close but not too far either.

Jiang Siheng glanced at Wen Chi, who was obediently walking with his hands in his pockets, and clicked his tongue in annoyance.

He really wanted to go public.

Once back at the guesthouse, Wen Chi went straight to his room, but saw Jiang Siheng following him. “What are you doing?” Wen Chi asked.

Jiang Siheng looked at him and said, “I’ll apply the ointment for you, then I’ll go back.”

Wen Chi blinked and replied, “Oh.”

Wen Chi thought Jiang Siheng might be using the ointment as an excuse to go into his room and do something, but when Jiang Siheng entered his room, he simply told Wen Chi to sit down and turn his back to him. He applied the ointment quickly, screwed the cap back on, and finished the task. It wasn’t until Jiang Siheng turned around at the door and told him, “Good night, sleep early,” that Wen Chi finally realized.

… So Jiang Siheng was just really giving him the ointment, and it was Wen Chi’s thoughts that were impure.

Unable to hold back, Wen Chi covered his face, curling up in the chair. From between his fingers, his face was so red it looked like it could bleed.

Jiang Siheng returned to his room, and just as he closed his door, a room door on the other side of the hallway suddenly opened. Xu Yuqing stood at the doorway, his eyes shifting. He stood there in silence for a while, which felt a little eerie in the quiet night.

…

The next morning, sounds of different footsteps, talking, and some strange noises echoed down the corridor on the third floor of the guesthouse.

Wen Chi was woken up by the noise. He put on his slippers and groggily went to the door to see what was going on. He saw Zhou Ruoyao, Tian Yang, and Chen Peizhi, the three players who were ranked up, standing in the hallway, all dressed and ready. Wen Chi’s mind, which had been somewhat muddled, suddenly cleared up. “Where are you guys going?”

Wen Chi thought it might be a task or game the production team had organized, but he didn’t know about it.

Zhou Ruoyao, adjusting his fisherman’s hat, was startled when he heard Wen Chi’s voice. He turned around and saw Wen Chi with messy hair, wearing a wrinkled beige sleepwear, clearly just having woken up.

Although he had seen Wen Chi looking confused right after waking up a few times, Zhou Ruoyao still found him incredibly cute. He hurriedly went over to him and asked, “We’re going fishing. Xiao Chi, do you want to join us?”

“Is it a task from the production team?” Wen Chi asked.

“No, we’re going on our own,” Zhou Ruoyao replied. Then, he asked again, “So, Xiao Chi, do you want to join us?”

Wen Chi nodded. Since it wasn’t a task from the production team, he said, “No, you guys go ahead. I’ll go back to sleep.”

Although Zhou Ruoyao was a little disappointed, he was a true fan of Wen Chi. When he said something, he would follow his wishes. “Okay, then. You can go back to sleep, Xiao Chi.”

Wen Chi yawned, turned around, and saw Tian Yang waving at him. He nodded and smiled before going back to his room and closing the door.

Chen Peizhi checked if they had everything they needed. After confirming nothing was missing, he said, “Let’s go.”

With a ‘click’ sound, Tian Yang, who had been walking ahead, suddenly stopped. He froze when he saw Tong Xian’en standing in front of him.

As soon as Tian Yang stopped, Chen Peizhi and Zhou Ruoyao, who were behind, also halted. The three men stood in the middle of the hallway, like a row of statues.

Chen Peizhi asked in surprise, “Xian’en? You’re up this early?”

Tong Xian’en responded with a brief “Hmm.” He glanced at Tian Yang, who was standing a bit awkwardly to the side, then asked Chen Peizhi, “Are you guys going fishing?”

“Yeah, want to join us? We found a place nearby where we can fish, and we’re planning to check it out,” Chen Peizhi said with a smile.

“But I don’t have the equipment. Is that okay?” Tong Xian’en said.

“What’s the problem? These tools aren’t even ours,” Chen Peizhi replied.

Tong Xian’en smiled faintly, though he looked a bit tired, with noticeable dark circles under his eyes. “Alright, I’ll get ready. Wait for me for two minutes.”

Zhou Ruoyao had been silent throughout this exchange. He was still thinking about how Tong Xian’en had kept picking on Wen Chi earlier in the show, but he was also curious about Tian Yang, who had been unusually quiet. After spending some time as a partner, Zhou Ruoyao felt it was his duty to check on him, so he leaned over and asked, “What’s going on with you?”

Tian Yang glanced at him. “What do you mean?”

Zhou Ruoyao said, “I see you’re distracted. What are you thinking about?”

Tian Yang crossed his arms and replied, “I’m not thinking about anything.”

Zhou Ruoyao clicked his tongue, seeing that Tian Yang didn’t want to talk.

When Tong Xian’en came out with his things, the fishing group went from three to four people. All of them were tall, handsome, and young, and the rate of head turns was 100%.

With the three most talkative people on the show gone, the guesthouse felt a little quieter. Wen Chi woke up more than two hours later. After washing up and changing clothes, he opened the camera, and the black screen of the livestream suddenly came to life.

Wen Chi’s livestream chat:

[Good morning, baby!!!]

[Good morning, little brother!]

[I’ve already clocked in back at work, and you’re just waking up.]

[Looks like I want to rub Chi Bao’s head, so cute.]

[Isn’t this season almost over? T_T Only one more episode before we have to say goodbye to Chi Bao.]

[Chichi isn’t going fishing with the Young Master and the others?]

Wen Chi hadn’t checked his livestream in a while. Thinking he had nothing else to do today, he decided to open it up and chat with his fans for a bit. However, the livestream chat was scrolling so quickly that some messages passed by before he could even read them.

“Good morning, everyone! It’s been a while since we’ve had a proper chat. Let’s talk for about half an hour today. You can send your messages in the chat, and I can see what you’re saying,” Wen Chi said as he pulled up a finger chair and sat down.

Wen Chi’s livestream chat:

[Of course we know you’re in the livestream!]

[Baby, you didn’t realize you’re using the guest account given by the production team, right? As soon as you enter the livestream, you get special effects.]

[Alright, work break time, let’s go!]

[Teacher Wen, can you check if Jiang Ge is awake yet?]

[Wow, why are all of Jiang Siheng’s fans here?]

[Can’t help it, Jiang Ge hasn’t opened his livestream #Shrug#]

Wen Chi noticed the message from Jiang Siheng’s fans and said, “He should be awake by now. Jiang Siheng usually wakes up pretty early. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him sleep in.”

At this point, Wen Chi’s expression subtly changed, as if he had seen him sleep in before? He suddenly remembered the few days he had stayed at Jiang Siheng’s apartment. A couple of times, Jiang Siheng would wake up early, come to the guest room, not do anything else, just lie beside Wen Chi, hug him, and sleep until around nine.

Wen Chi’s livestream chat:

[What are you thinking about?]

[OMG, baby, do you want to look in the mirror and see yourself? You’re smiling so seductively.]

[Still thinking about other nasty men while chatting with us?]

[Angry.]

[Angry.]

Wen Chi snapped back to reality and saw all the “Angry” comments flooding the screen. He laughed helplessly, “What are you guys doing? I wasn’t thinking about any nasty men… No, wait, what nasty men?”

Wen Chi ended up chatting with his fans for more than half an hour, completely exceeding the “half an hour” he originally said. If it weren’t for Jiang Siheng coming to knock on the door, Wen Chi might’ve kept talking the entire morning.

Jiang Siheng stood at the door, watching Wen Chi still chatting with the fans. He raised an eyebrow and called out to him, “Wen Chi.”

Wen Chi instinctively looked up, “Huh?”

Fans in the livestream heard Jiang Siheng’s voice and the comments started flooding in even faster, so quickly that Wen Chi couldn’t keep up. He quickly said, “Hold on, wait, I haven’t finished hearing the gossip. Friend, you continue.”

Wen Chi’s livestream chat:

[Ahhhhh, it’s Jiang Ge!]

[Laughing to death, still listening to gossip while your husband is looking for you.]

[Actually, I want to keep listening too…]

[Huh? You still want to keep listening? But typing is too slow.] 

[Everyone, calm down! Let’s give the stage to the gossiping sisters!!]

[Jiang Ge’s fans, calm down…]

[Please don’t flood the chat so quickly!]

Jiang Siheng saw that Wen Chi had turned his attention back to the livestream and couldn’t help but laugh. He walked over and asked, “What are you watching?”

Wen Chi moved aside, patted the empty space beside him, and gestured for Jiang Siheng to sit down. “Teacher Jiang, let’s eat some gossip together.”

Jiang Siheng: “…”

Fans in the livestream, watching the scene: …

So for the next ten minutes, Jiang Siheng was forced by his boyfriend to watch the gossip about a fan encountering a scumbag man. He wasn’t really paying attention, though, as Wen Chi occasionally responded with things like “Hmm,” “No way, really?” “How did your friend find out?” “Good breakup!”—all while eating the gossip with great seriousness.

… Just really, he’s so cute.

Finally, the production team, who had been keeping an eye on the guests in the background, couldn’t watch any longer. They quickly sent a staff member to remind Wen Chi to stop eating gossip.

Wen Chi reluctantly exited the livestream, looking quite regretful, but at least he had finished reading the gossip. He stood up, dusted off the imaginary dust on his pants, and said, “Let’s go, Teacher Jiang. How about we go out for breakfast? I saw a place nearby that serves crab roe noodles.”

“Sure.”

Thinking about eating crab roe noodles made Wen Chi very happy, even more so than the meal the production team had treated them to at the seaside restaurant last night. He bounced down the stairs with excitement.

Main livestream chat:

[Oh, you two finally came downstairs?]

[Finished eating the gossip?]

[Why didn’t you chat with your fans for a bit longer? I was enjoying it.]

[Because the production team came to grab him.]

[This livestream is way more peaceful and harmonious than the noisy ones next door.]

[What’s noisy?]

[Of the four going fishing, three of them are the loudest.]

Zhou Yunbai and Yao Yiling were watching a TV show. When they saw the two of them come downstairs, Zhou Yunbai asked, “Where are you guys going?”

Wen Chi replied, “We’re going for breakfast! Xiao Bai and Yiling, do you want to join? They serve crab roe noodles!”

Jiang Siheng smiled behind Wen Chi but said nothing. It was clear that Wen Chi was really looking forward to the crab roe noodles.

Yao Yiling waved her hand and said, “We’ve already eaten. You two go ahead.”

As they were about to walk out, Yao Yiling suddenly remembered something she hadn’t told Wen Chi and the others and quickly called out to them, “Oh, right, Peizhi and the others said they won’t be back for lunch, so if you guys are coming back for lunch, Xiao Bai and I will cook for you. If not, we’ll just take care of ourselves.”

Wen Chi was unsure and looked toward Jiang Siheng.

Jiang Siheng replied, “We’ll be going out for a while. No need to make our lunch.”

Yao Yiling nodded, “Okay.”

Wen Chi looked at Jiang Siheng with confusion. “Are we going out later? I didn’t know about this.”

On the way to get the crab roe noodles, Wen Chi asked Jiang Siheng, “Where are we going later?”

Jiang Siheng replied, “To the hospital.”

Wen Chi asked, “What’s the hospital for?”

Jiang Siheng responded, “Just to check your head.”

Wen Chi blinked, finding the response a bit strange.

Wen Chi’s livestream chat:

[Huh? To the hospital?]

[Did Xiao Chi get hurt? He looks fine though, just bouncing around earlier.]

[Why are we going to the hospital?]

[If we’re going to the hospital, does that mean we can’t livestream?]

[Wait, no way, after leaving the hospital, we can still livestream, right?]

[So what’s going on with the check-up?]

Xiao Zou and the filming crew also realized that filming at the hospital wasn’t allowed unless it was a special situation. Xiao Zou scratched his head, thinking he would ask the director about it later.

Wen Chi remembered that Jiang Siheng had previously mentioned taking him to the hospital to check the recovery of his head. They had already sat down at a restaurant, waiting for their crab roe noodles.

He asked, “But isn’t this a different hospital from before? Can we still check there?”

Jiang Siheng answered, “We can.”

“Do you want to go?” Jiang Siheng suddenly asked.

Wen Chi was caught off guard and said, “Didn’t we already agree?”

“If we go to the hospital, we’ll need to leave the island. If you don’t want to go, we can leave the check-up for after the show finishes.”

To be honest, Wen Chi hesitated. He wasn’t someone who often went out unless necessary. In the past, he might have just agreed with what the other person wanted but now, sitting across from him was his boyfriend, Jiang Siheng, the one he could be a little spoiled with.

“Let’s go after the show finishes,” Wen Chi said.

Jiang Siheng smiled, “Okay.”

Wen Chi smiled back, his eyes turning into crescents. Jiang Siheng loved seeing Wen Chi smile.

On the island, there were many amusement activities. Sometimes Wen Chi would go with Jiang Siheng alone, and sometimes with the others. The filming for the next few days passed quickly.

On the final day, everyone decided to visit a farmstead to experience rural life and then wrap up the filming for this season. Although the farmstead was on the island, Wen Chi and the others planned to stay there for a night and leave Yanyun Island the next day.

Chen Peizhi was carrying the luggage for him and Yao Yiling downstairs when he bumped into Xu Yuqing on the stairs. He called out, “Yuqing, you’re coming with us to the farmstead, right?”

No one really knew what Xu Yuqing had been busy with these past few days. He hadn’t participated in several group activities, and he had been spending less time at the guesthouse. He didn’t interact much with the others and didn’t let the filming crew follow him, so his screen time was particularly short.

Xu Yuqing, seeing that it was Chen Peizhi, smiled and said, “Yeah, I’ll go. I’m going to pack my things now.”

“Well, we don’t leave until 10, so no rush.”

Xu Yuqing headed upstairs and bumped into Jiang Siheng as he was coming out of Wen Chi’s room and standing at the door. By Jiang Siheng’s side, there were two different colored suitcases.

Jiang Siheng looked up and met Xu Yuqing’s gaze. His expression was cold as he looked away, clearly showing no intention of greeting Xu Yuqing.

The sight of Jiang Siheng immediately reminded Xu Yuqing of the scene he had seen that night. His breath grew slightly more rapid, but it soon calmed. He glanced at the two suitcases and smiled as he said, “You and Wen Chi really have a good relationship.”

Jiang Siheng didn’t respond.

Xu Yuqing’s hand, which had been in his pocket, tightened into a fist. He looked at the handsome man who had seemed almost divine to him two years ago. A strange, stiff smile flickered at the corner of his mouth as he left a cryptic sentence before walking into his room and closing the door, finally blocking Jiang Siheng’s gaze.

Wen Chi finished washing his hands and came out, seeing Jiang Siheng standing at the door, his head slightly turned, his gaze cold as if he had seen something dangerous.

“Teacher Jiang? What’s wrong?”

Wen Chi’s clear, clean voice snapped Jiang Siheng out of his thoughts. He turned to look at Wen Chi, his boyfriend’s tousled hair soft, his delicate brows and eyes shining, his clear, bright eyes reflecting Jiang Siheng’s own image.

“It’s nothing,” Jiang Siheng shook his head. “Are you ready?”

Wen Chi scrutinized Jiang Siheng’s expression but didn’t notice anything unusual, so he relaxed and said, “Mm, everything’s packed.”

“Good, then let’s go.”

Passing by Xu Yuqing’s room, Jiang Siheng casually glanced sideways, catching the sound of Wen Chi’s voice.

He quickly withdrew his gaze, lowering his eyes to hide the emotions flickering in them.

Forget it, I’ll just pay more attention later, he thought.