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The guests had to split up after getting the points. Because they ate different things during that time, it’s only natural that they’ll get different ingredients too. Shen Xingsui and Xu Qinke ended up getting together because of it. Previously, they had minimal contact, so they were currently chatting as they did their tasks.
Xu Qinke said, “Thank you for what happened two days ago.”
Shen Xingsui was a bit hesitant in receiving that praise, “For what?”
“Ah, it’s that mirror game. Teacher Tuya and I failed to help you win.”
Shen Xingsui remembered it now, and to that, he replied, “It’s okay, you don’t have to thank me.”
Xu Qinke knew that Shen Xingsui was a bit of a transparent person. During “Starlight” recording, he had heard of him, but Xu Qinke wasn’t familiar with him. However, he remembered all sorts of negative rumors surrounding Shen Xingsui, but his impression towards him was never bad. The reason was simple – he was very diligent in his training, and even courteous enough to clean up for other people.
In short, he was hardworking, with good talents in songwriting.
Xu Qinke has always respected hardworking people. So during the finale, where Shen Xingsui “somehow” failed to debut, he didn’t look down on him at all. Instead, he felt sorry for him.
Later, when they participated in this reality show, he also faintly felt that Shen Xingsui was a person of good character, which was very different from the unsavory rumors.
“I haven’t worked with you much before,” Shen Xingsui also found a random topic to chat, “Do you have a good relationship with Feng Fan? You two also have a destiny and always get paired up together.”
Xu Qinke replied with, “Well, Teacher Fu and your relationship is also equally as good.”
Shen Xingsui froze, turned his head and glanced at Xu Qinke in disbelief. His brain was spinning around at high speed, analyzing, wondering what this sentence meant — or if it didn’t mean anything at all.
Xu Qinke mysteriously smiled, “Don’t be nervous, I won’t talk nonsense, just chatting.” Only then did Shen Xingsui realize that at some point, Xu Qinke had muted his microphone.
They were actually just chatting, and the audience couldn’t hear it. After thinking about it, if this was the case, Shen Xingsui would also do the same.
Xu Qinke trailed off, “You can see, me and Feng Fan…”
Shen Xingsui had guesses in his heart, but he never dared to say it out loud. “You…?”
“Yeah,” Xu Qinke nodded. He was a sunny-looking boy, and his smile was equally as bright as his image. “It’s not a secret, all the friends in our circle basically know it.”
Shen Xingsui suddenly felt enlightened.
Before, he thought that the relationship between these two brothers was really good. So good, in fact, that it made people feel that there’s something more. But if it was this kind of relationship, it wouldn’t be easy to say.
Xu Qinke looked at him and said, “You and Teacher Fu… are also… you know?”
Shen Xingsui choked up. If this question was asked yesterday, he could shake his head immediately. But today, he couldn’t shake his head no matter what.
He felt guilty for lying. But still very happy.
He has never talked about his lover with others, and he has never talked about it in this capacity. Still, this kind of feeling — discussing your romantic relationship with a friend – felt a little novel. He wanted to talk more.
Shen Xingsui was still cautious, though. He asked, “Why do you ask that? He has a good relationship with other people.”
“Just a feeling I have,” Xu Qinke continued, “I like Feng Fan, so I can see that he has a different look whenever he sees me compared to when he sees other people. So you see, whenever I see Teacher Fu looking at you, I can feel that his eyes are of the same kind. He might be a brilliant actor, but I know that this kind of emotions were on a subconscious level, and you can’t really cover it up.”
Shen Xingsui fell silent for a moment. He didn’t expect this answer.
At the same time, his calm heart also began to erratically jump in his ribcage. When thinking of Fu Jinxiao, his eyes flickered slightly, and the corners of his lips curled up.
Xu Qinke knew from his appearance that Fu Jinxiao’s love was requited. “I said this, and I didn’t mean to offend. As for my relationship with Feng Fan, we decided to not actively deny it, but also not make it public… at least not yet.”
After a while, the sunny young man continued, “I don’t think you have made it public either, and I guess you may have just been together for a short time. This is just a curiosity of mine. If I offend you, I apologize.”
Shen Xingsui pursed his lips and said softly, “It’s okay.”
Xu Qinke’s smile brightened at that. “Actually, I think your choice is correct.”
Shen Xingsui looked at him and listened quietly.
Xu Qinke went to the place where the potatoes were dug, picked up tools and started working, and said, “You know, in this society, although same-sex marriage has been legalized, most people still can’t accept it. Plus, many celebrities have their careers plummeting after announcing their love affair. I know many celebrities that were criticized and had to step down because of relationship problems. It’s a double whammy for people like us, basically.”
“You’re still a newcomer, and Teacher Fu is still at the peak of his career,” Xu Qinke’s smile now had a touch of melancholy in it as he continued, “I think it’s the most correct choice for you not to make it public.”
Shen Xingsui’s mood felt drenched.
The joy of confirming the relationship last night was instantly brought back to its original form by the cruel reality. After thinking about it carefully, he even thanked Xu Qinke for waking him up.
With his current reputation and strength–
Will the public accept that Teacher Fu’s lover is him?
What should he do if he delays and affects his idol’s career?
“We…” Shen Xingsui’s gaze sank slightly, and finally he said, “We really don’t intend to make it public.”
Xu Qinke paused as he hoed the ground, “Is this what Teacher Fu wants?”
Shen Xingsui pursed his lips. He said nothing.
Xu Qinke was an extremely smart person. Of course, what he said today was just to test the couple’s thoughts. Because, in the end, he also wanted to make his relationship public, but he didn’t dare. He wanted to let the world know what Feng Fan is his and vice versa.
But he is a coward.
In his mind, if Shen Xingsui and Fu Jinxiao wanted to make it public, he would have a reassurance. But so far…
It seemed that the other couple also faced the same problem.
In the afternoon.
All the guests gathered the ingredients and started to cook. After a long time of tossing and writhing, a table full of dishes was brought out. The locals were invited to taste and judge them. Fu Jinxiao and Tuya were the winners after a fair vote, which wasn’t a big surprise.
The director congratulated them, as he also finally revealed the “ultimate prize”:
“Congratulations to our two winners! Both of you are now the proud spokespersons of the National Culture Propaganda’s ambassadors~!”
“…”
Fu Jinxiao and Tuya were silent for a moment, then they both applauded.
In fact, this was a good endorsement. After all, this kind of promotion of national culture was good at establishing a good public image.
After this, there’s no more activities for the second episode. All left to be done was the editing, which was left to the experts.
It’s time for the guests to return back home.
Shen Xingsui and Shen Xingchen booked the air tickets for the evening, but Shen Xingchen still had an endorsement to shoot, so he couldn’t go home first and instead had to land at B City. In the end, Shen Xingsui had to go home alone.
When he packed his luggage and came out, he happened to meet Fu Jinxiao’s assistant. After seeing Fu Jinxiao behind him, he said, “You are also on the same flight?”
Fu Jinxiao replied, “Shen Xingchen is not in the same flight as you, is he?”
“Yes, he’s not,” Shen Xingsui answered, “He still has a gig to shoot.”
Fu Jinxiao said to his assistant, “Adjust my flight so I can go with him.”
The assistant was still a young lady, and she couldn’t hide her emotions. Her eyes were full of glee and gossip after glancing at Shen Xingsui. Then she ran away with a mysterious smile.
Shen Xingsui guessed that she already knew.
Of course, he was very happy to fly home with his idol-turned-boyfriend, so he didn’t refuse.
It was only when he got on the flight that he realized—
The flight might be first class, but their seats were basically glued together.
The plane hadn’t taken off yet. Shen Xingsui leaned on the chair, took out his mobile phone to open Weibo. He decided to check a certain… supertopic.
As he scrolled to the forums, he was surprised that despite him being not in public for several days, the topic surrounding him and Fu Jinxiao was still very hot. And there’s differing opinions between his shippers and others.
[I heard that Shen Xingsui and Fu-ge belong to the same company.]
[Did Fu-ge sign some kind of bundled marketing contract?]
[I don’t like that newcomer.]
[He is a newcomer who has been in the circle for less than a year, and he is currying favor with his seniors every day. It’s clear he just wants to take a shortcut.]
Shen Xingsui already knew that he had haters. But when he saw these comments, his heart still trembled unavoidably. Then when he opened Fu Jinxiao’s fan group, what a coincidence, the group was also discussing the same topic.
[Is the matter between the two of them true?]
[How is it possible?]
[s Shen Xingsui also worthy of Actor Fu? He still looks average.]
[It’s just…]
Some people’s comments were even more serious:
[I’m homophobic.]
[If Actor Fu likes him, I will no longer be his fan.]
[Why can’t he be normal and like girls?]
Shen Xingsui turned off his phone after scrolling for a while and didn’t dare to look at it again. Before seeing this, he suspected that if the matter between himself and Fu Jinxiao was made public, some people might disagree, but that was it. He didn’t expect the reaction on the Internet to be so intense.
His mind was still running a mile a minute while his body was slumped ungracefully into the seat. His state stayed like this even until he got off the plane.
He didn’t know who leaked the itinerary, but there were a lot of fans picking them up at the airport. Looking outside from the exit, many fans were holding Fu Jinxiao’s banner.
Fu Jinxiao saluted Shen Xingsui and said, “Let’s go, the car that came to pick you up is outside, and I’ll take you back.”
He has always been open-minded, and he doesn’t even shy away from fans.
Shen Xingsui paused, and said, “I’ll take another passage.”
Fu Jinxiao frowned slightly.
“It’s not good for fans to see…” Shen Xingsui was mumbling under his breath as he continued, “Go first, I’ll go later.”
Fu Jinxiao was silent for a moment. His face was tense, making Shen Xingsui felt a sense of oppression.
Just when Shen Xingsui was a little uneasy, Fu Jinxiao said, “Let’s go take the private passage, then.”
Shen Xingsui was surprised, “Aren’t you going over there?”
Fu Jinxiao said in an unhurried manner, “I don’t want to separate. Let’s go together.”
At any time, he would firmly choose to stand by Shen Xingsui’s side and would not let him go alone.
Shen Xingsui’s originally depressed heart slowly relaxed a lot for some reason. The two of them walked outside together and got into the nanny’s car. Now there was no one else but the driver.
Fu Jinxiao asked, “Tired?”
Shen Xingsui nodded sluggishly. He was a little reluctant to think that he might be separated from Fu Jinxiao for a while. And sitting close and holding his clothes brought him comfort. In his head, he was still thinking about his troubles.
Fu Jinxiao looked at him from the corner of his eyes. Under the warm yellow light in the car, the young man’s face was fair, although his downtrodden emotions were expressed clear to him. He knew that this started just this afternoon.
The whole world knows that Fu Jinxiao was a smart person with a high EQ. He could accurately guess that this had to do with Xu Qinke, and he could also guess why.
It’s just that he didn’t expect Shen Xingsui to be so capable of hiding things, and the youth would rather hold back than tell him.
Fu Jinxiao softly murmured, “What are you thinking?”
Shen Xingsui’s hands froze. He pursed his lips, a little unable to hold back. He was thinking about how he should tell Fu Jinxiao that they should keep their affair secret without jeopardizing their new relationship.
“I…” Shen Xingsui said hesitantly, “I’m thinking, should we…”
Fu Jinxiao’s eyes slowly dimmed, and he curled his lips into a reassuring smile, “Well, about this… I’ve thought about it too.”
Shen Xingsui was taken aback and looked up at him.
Fu Jinxiao was sitting next to him. The man’s tall body gave him a sense of security. There was a slight smile on his handsome face, a big compliment to his deep and warm voice.
“Let’s make it public.”
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