Chapter 9 – The Battle of the Sweets

“Mr. Jiang.” Shen Fubai struggled to swallow his saliva, speaking with difficulty, “I have to, maintain, my, figure.”

Though he ate mini cakes every night at home and would die without bubble tea or ice cream during summer.

He was determined to present a perfect image in front of Heng Heng.

Jiang Heng let out an “Ah”, sounding regretful: “Actually, I really love these sweet treats. I can’t eat too much during work, and if my manager catches me sneaking a bite, I’ll get lectured. Now that I’m not being watched, I wanted to share my passion with you. Unfortunately…” He lowered his head, looking somewhat disappointed.

Jiang Heng wasn’t lying. He genuinely loved sweets as well, but unlike Shen Fubai, who could eat without gaining weight, he paid the price of two-hour gym sessions after each indulgence.

Jiang Heng could usually restrain himself, but his preference for browsing Shen Fubai’s Weibo did him in, as the latter’s Weibo was filled with pictures of delicious food… He often couldn’t help but order takeout while scrolling through Weibo.

Then it was gym time deep into the night.

Jiang Heng owed his stunning, smooth muscle lines largely to Shen Fubai.

__

As soon as Jiang Heng displayed his regret, Shen Fubai immediately said: “But it doesn’t hurt to have a little once in a while.”

As he said this with feigned reluctance, he gathered half the desserts into his lap.

Jiang Heng nearly burst out laughing when he saw this.

Jiang Heng raised his hand to cover his mouth and sat down opposite Shen Fubai. He picked up a small piece of ice cream with his fork and slowly placed it in his mouth, eating meticulously as if it were a grand banquet.

Shen Fubai also cut a piece of mini cake with his knife and fork, chewing it slowly with extremely graceful movements, as if having a tea party at Versailles.

They didn’t know why they were being so pretentious when they were normally capable of devouring an entire pizza in one bite.

— Wasn’t it all to leave a good impression on the other person?

Shen Fubai desperately wanted to stuff a whole cake in his mouth, but he held back.

Heng Heng was right in front of him! He needed to control himself!

“Mr. Jiang actually likes sweet treats, that’s really unexpected.” Shen Fubai smiled, raining a flurry of thoughts in his mind.

Note this point! Heng Heng also likes sweet treats! Remember it, make sure to remember it. This was exclusive insider information that the fans didn’t know yet!

He shared a common interest with his idol. What kind of god-defying destiny was this.

Heng Heng usually hid it so well, and would engage in antics like getting scolded by his manager for sneaking sweets; the distant award-winning actor had instantly become much more relatable.

Jiang Heng: “No need to call me Mr. Jiang…”

Shen Fubai, lost in thought, blurted out: “Okay, Heng Heng!”

Jiang Heng: “…You can call me by my name, Jiang Heng.”

“…”

That was awkward.

Shen Fubai quickly improvised: “Heng…a good suggestion, calling someone Mr. is a bit formal. You can call me by my name too.”

Jiang Heng gripped his cup tightly: “Can I call you Fubai? I’ve always felt that your name has a nice sound to it.” He lightly swirled his cup around. “It’s intoxicating like wine.”

Shen Fubai was stupefied: “But your cup is bubble tea.”

Jiang Heng: “A person can be as sweet as bubble tea too.”

Regardless of whether it was wine or tea, flattery was enough.

Shen Fubai’s face flushed with a wine-like flush, his heart sweet with honey as if it were melting; sweet liqueur and bubble tea melded together, making him feel light-headed.

This was admiration bestowed by his idol. His brain couldn’t function normally, filled with nothing but fermenting rice wine and sweet bubble tea.

More blatantly, his mind was full of mush.

“Good, good.” A faint redness spread across Shen Fubai’s face, luckily not visible under the dim lighting.

He needed to stay calm. He had seen larger scenes. He couldn’t lose face now. Shen Fubai repeated to himself silently and decided to eat some cream cake to calm down.

Jiang Heng raised his eyes, the tip of his tongue touching his lower jaw, his lips meeting as he softly addressed him: “Fubai.”

It wasn’t clear whether it was due to Jiang Heng’s impressive vocal skills or Shen Fubai’s active imagination.

In any case, Shen Fubai heard in the call a subtle four parts of gentleness, three parts of tenderness, two parts of indulgence, and one part of cautious yearning built up over a long time.

_

Then Shen Fubai inhaled some cream into his nose.

He had never seen this before! Who could handle this! Heng Heng, he, he, was calling his name!

Shen Fubai’s thoughts became incoherent.

Jiang Heng hastily grabbed a tissue to help him wipe it off: “Be careful, shall I turn on the lights?”

The young man’s voice was low and gentle. He slowly wiped the cream off the tip of his nose, his eyes radiant even in the darkness.

The fork in Shen Fubai’s hand dropped with a clatter.

They couldn’t continue with the dinner.

He felt that Heng Heng was so beautiful he could be eaten.

_

“No need to,” Shen Fubai grabbed a few tissues to press against his nose.

He was worried about a nosebleed.

He was even more concerned that if the lights were turned on, Heng Heng would notice his apple-red face.

Little did he know that at this proximity, Jiang Heng could clearly see his complexion.

Jiang Heng didn’t allow himself to think that Shen Fubai was blushing due to excitement and shyness. Instead he assumed that Shen Fubai was hot.

It was indeed not cool indoors on this summer night, not to mention the air conditioning wasn’t on.

They were just formally meeting for the first time today, and the act of wiping away cream was too intimate. After Jiang Heng hastily finished, he withdrew his hand, fingertips trembling slightly.

They both blushed.

Shen Fubai noticed and asked cautiously: “Are you…hot?”

Jiang Heng: “… A little.”

Shen Fubai: “I’m also pretty hot.”

It must be the temperature, and not the synergy of dining face-to-face with an idol, causing a spike in blood pressure, an accelerated heartbeat, and a surge in hormones.

Jiang Heng hesitated. “Then let’s open the skylight?” They had come up to see the stars. The clear dome would provide an unobstructed view, and the night breeze could offer a bit of coolness.

Shen Fubai: “Sure, let’s open the skylight and speak plainly.” Truth be told, I’ve been a fan for a long time, when are we going to officially announce our relationship?

Jiang Heng instructed the staff to use the remote to open the glass dome, and the night breeze quickly blew away the sobering thoughts.

But it didn’t sober up Shen Fubai and Jiang Heng.

These two were mutually intoxicated by each other.

“What do you mean, speak plainly?” Jiang Heng turned his head and asked out of curiosity from the unfinished conversation before.

Shen Fubai looked up, pointing at a star. “Look at that star, isn’t it bright?”

Jiang Heng: “Mm.”

Shen Fubai was being completely serious. “This is what it means to speak plainly from under an open sky.”

Jiang Heng: “…” He was almost convinced.

_

The two of them ate desserts under the stars, filled with artistic atmosphere.

At first, they both maintained elegant table manners, then when they realized that they wouldn’t be able to finish up if they continued nibbling at this leisurely pace, they both accelerated their speed uncontsciously.

Wasting food was shameful.

As they spontaneously lifted their heads and noticed that the other was also eating faster, they each increased their speed again, in a mutual challenge.

Therefore, it came to this.

Shen Fubai devoured a strawberry cake in three spoonfuls, Jiang Heng swallowed down a mango pudding in one bite. Jiang Heng had a slight edge.

Then Shen Fubai picked up the pace, quickly finishing two tarts, as Jiang Heng nipped off a vanilla ice cream ball; they were evenly matched.

Shen Fubai was attacking a raspberry mousse, while Jiang Heng was still fighting the ice cream ball, so Shen Fubai had the upper hand.

Shen Fubai started drinking pure milk, while Jiang Heng finished with the ice cream and set off to deal with the last half cup of chocolate bubble tea.

Shen Fubai had already finished the milk.

Shen Fubai won this round—

“Clap!” Shen Fubai put the empty milk cup down on the table, drew a tissue to delicately clean his mouth, “Accept my humble victory.”

Jiang Heng set down the chocolate bubble tea, which had a bit left undone, acknowledging defeat. “You’re skillful.”

The sweets on the table had been entirely cleared away by the two of them as if by a gust of wind, a perfect realization of the “clean plate” philosophy.

Shen Fubai stopped in mid-motion while wiping his mouth.

…Just what had he been doing?

How could he have been competing with Heng Heng to see who could eat faster?

Was it too late to turn over the table yet!—

“That…do you want to go to the restroom?” Shen Fubai was somewhat worried.

Not everyone had his powerful stomach, capable of eating so much sweet food without a stomachache.

If it was his fault that Heng Heng fell ill, he would be tortured by guilt, enough to commit seppuku!

“No worries.” Jiang Heng smiled gently, silently deciding to add another twenty hours of gym time to this week’s schedule.

Otherwise the lethal calorie intake tonight would cause him to bloat into a balloon in minutes.

“It’s getting late. Go back and rest. It was really enjoyable being with you tonight,” although he really wanted to spend more time with Shen Fubai, he didn’t want to sacrifice the latter’s rest for tomorrow’s early filming shoot.

Shen Fubai responded immediately: “Mm, okay.”

As Shen Fubai took the elevator down with Jiang Heng, he was still elated, just not as tense as before.

Perhaps… it was because he had realized that the idol was not that distant?

He’d been wolfing down desserts with his idol, stargazing with his idol, and discovering a side of him unknown to the public.

Now he knew that secret.

It felt like he shared a secret with the idol. It was a little exciting to think about—

When they returned to the sixth floor, both men were walking toward their respective rooms. As Jiang Heng opened the door, he turned to say: “See you tomorrow, goodnight.”

Shen Fubai also waved at him: “Goodnight.”

Then they each opened their own doors—

As soon as he got in the door, Shen Fubai emitted “Aaaaahh” as he pounced onto the bed, rolling around excitedly in the duvet.

Lin Xiao: “Back already? Did you add him on WeChat?”

Shen Fubai rolled to the end of the bed. “No.”

The two of them had completely forgotten about adding each other on WeChat.

Lin Xiao: “No, then why are you so excited?”

Shen Fubai rolled back to the head of the bed: “But I gained sustainable development. Heng Heng said goodnight to me, and told me he’d see me tomorrow.”

Lin Xiao: “That’s just basic courtesy.”

Shen Fubai: “Not so.”

Lin Xiao: “It really is.”

Shen Fubai: “I said it’s not.”

_

As soon as Jiang Heng entered the room, a “Aaaaahh” of lament rang out.

It wasn’t from him, but from Zhang Xiao.

“You ate sweets again, didn’t you!” Zhang Xiao fearfully eyed the cake crumbs stuck to the corner of Jiang Heng’s mouth. “Are you trying to get fat? You worked so hard to lose ten pounds for this drama, you you you—How much did you eat?”

Jiang Heng thought of that beautiful youth who had inhaled cream into his nose and couldn’t help but smile: “It was really sweet.”

“Even sweeter than all the sweets I’ve ever eaten combined.”

Just thinking about it now, Jiang Heng felt his heartbeat quicken.

Zhang Xiao only felt like he was having myocardial infarction.