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Su Chi, who had finished the photo-shooting process with the two phones, placed one back down and handed the other one to Xia Rong. “Should be your turn now.”
Xia Rong, who had just turned back, was still buttoning his shirt. Having heard the other, he received the phone with one hand and placed it on his lap, then continued to finish fastening the remaining buttons.
Su Chi leaned back against the head of the bed and asked with a smile, “How does it feel now that you’re able to freely control the transformation?”
“Well.” Xia Rong gave it a thought. “Like what you said, after figuring out the trick, it actually becomes quite easy. Moreover, in the past, there would always be a feeling of being tired out after changing back to being a human, so more effort would be needed to summon up the energy to eventually recover. Now that I can control the transformation, it feels much better.”
“En, that’s also the case with me.”
“Hahaha! Now I also can control this transformation skill, dates would be much more convenient in the future…” Xia Rong still hasn’t forgotten about that glorious life that he imagined he could have after becoming a cat.
Su Chi lifted his hand. From the look of it, it seemed as if he wanted to give the other another slap, however, it was as if he only realized after the hand was raised that they were both human right now, so it wouldn’t be good for him to do so just at the drop of a hat. Thus, his palm finally fell on Xia Rong’s head, becoming a half-ruffle half-push. “…Hurry up and switch accounts. Where’s that compensation that you promised me?”
“Give me a minute, my pants still aren’t fully on..” Xia Rong was under the duvet squirming left and right to put his pants back on. Only afterward did he pick up the phone that had been placed aside to log into Weibo, which at the top showed: ‘There are 9999+ new messages.’
Thus, five minutes after Su Chi has sent out his microblog, these onlookers, who were camping in front of the TV for the program to start and so had started playing with their phones and browsing Weibo in the meantime, again found Xia Rong’s microblog—
【Xia Rong V: Must definitely believe, because my family’s cat is also always like this [Erha] PS: your cat is too cute, I’ve never seen such a handsome cat! // Su Chi: My cat clicked it, truly. @Xia Rong V [picture]】
So in comparison to Su Chi’s, as the ‘victim’, the direction of the comments on Xia Rong’s side was much more harmonious:
“Our Rongrong is truly generous, never fussing over these sorts of things!”
“Rongrong actually praised another cat like this, Popo1 is going to be angry!”
“That’s right! hhh Rongrong, have you forgotten the Popo from the shore of Daming Lake2?”
However, in the midst of this harmonious chatter, there also appeared some rather strange voices:
“Gurgling and bubbling, floating up from the bottom of the lake to eat candy”
“Secretly eating candy +1, originally after seeing the preview, I thought there would be another big tearing fest, but who knew there would actually be candy to eat before the broadcast! [face full of tears]”
“Two public interactions within a month, the second one is even on the day of 5203! It’s complete, complete! Even if the pure fans of the two sides start tearing later, I still won’t have any regrets [sob-cry] Did our Arctic-cold circle unexpectedly save the galaxy or something?”
“The CP fans of the Su Xia evil cult still aren’t dead yet [sidelong glance]”
“Ah! Here come the pure fans, hurry and run!!!”
After the so-called “evil cult” dispersed in the confusion, the passersby who just arrived also began to express their views:
“Looking at it like this, the interior end of Liang Ou’s is actually quite harmonious. Disregarding whether Su Chi really did it intentionally or not, at least Xia Rong is willing to help put on a good face.”
“According to Xia Rong’s character, this already shows that there’s certainly a problem [laughing with tears]”
“Xia Rong’s pure appearance-value passerby fan would like to ask, what kind of character is he?”
“Replying XXX: Just rather egoistic. For those that he likes, it doesn’t matter what trouble they make. But if it was someone who he doesn’t like, even if the other side proactively stick themselves to him, he wouldn’t even bother to give them a like [laughing with tears]”
“To sum up, a bit of a young master’s temperament [Erha] But have yet to offend anyone and his EQ isn’t that low.”
“If passerby fans pay a bit more attention, then you’ll be able to notice that Xia Rong’s family should be quite rich. From his food and clothing to his speech patterns, none of it is ordinary, but he has never promoted it as an image. If you think about it like this, his family is rich, he is handsome, and his popularity remains high after his debut, for winners in life like this to still retain a bit of a young master’s temperament, on the contrary, I think it’s rather cute [ doge ]”
…
In the last five minutes before 《Liang Shanbo and Romeo》 broadcasted, due to having been promoted in the “Universe’s Most Handsome People” group, the other members also stepped up to forward it one after another:
【Kang Yifan: The two on the right are suspected of covertly trying to show off their cats. They have been reported. // Xia Rong V: … // Su Chi: … 】
【Gao Junming: I like dogs. Hahaha // …】
【Zhang Xin: That infinitely evil slip of the hand! When I tried to choose invisible mode just now, my hand slipped and it fell all the way to the bottom of the bed! [driven mad] // …】
【Ye Mang: A small mishap to cheer everyone up before the broadcast starts [laughs] The program’s about to start, is everyone ready? #520 Liang Shanbo and Romeo# // …】
…
Those who were keen on sightseeing still unrelenting in the comments of each of these microblogs, meanwhile, those who were looking forward to the program— such as Xia Rong and Su Chi, were already hugging their family buckets with their phones already down, concentrating and waiting for the program to start.
The program opened with an early morning panoramic view of S City:
“…Before we officially start, let us first probe into each male god’s secret…”
Xia Rong originally thought that after this subtitle, the director would bring the camera to visit each person’s room for a “surprise inspection” scene. Unexpectedly, the scene changed and it directly arrived at the university gymnasium in S City, where the six members were standing in line, getting their heights measured one by one.
…Well fine, that also is one of their secrets, but they’re just going to cut that other part4?
Xia Rong felt that it was a bit regretful in his heart. However, as the program unfolded, he couldn’t not sigh and be impressed by the magic Orange TV had put into the later stages— the smooth transitioning between close-ups and long-range shots, the perfect subtitles, and the cute, lively, and detailed interpretation of each and every detail. Not only were appropriate opportunities created to induce laughter but they could also serve as reminders for the audience. Moreover, there were even remarkably true to life cartoon chibis of the six of them on the side, which were very cute and vivid. With these rich and delicate embellishments, even some slightly embarrassing scenes were set off to be mischievous, playful, and interesting in comparison.
Watching it for the first time around, there was an unmissable feeling that there was just too much information being transmitted. So Xia Rong decided that once he had the time, he would look up and watch the “barrage version” on the internet again, then he can follow along with the audience in the barrage and have a good look at the details and highlights that he might have missed or ignored.
Everyone would have a different perspective when watching variety shows. The ordinary passerby audience watched just to enjoy themselves. Fans would be concerned about their idol’s performance, which scene might attract new fans or which would invite mockery. Meanwhile, what Xia Rong paid attention to was how the screen time was allocated by the program’s crew.
Overall, the division of the camera lens between the six members was still rather equal. Though young, everyone had already experienced being in front of the camera countless times, so even though everyone had been followed by a camera, they still appeared natural and relaxed. The only one who was relatively more reserved was Su Chi, who had never been on a variety show before. However, he still had on that cold and ascetic expression of his as always, and no tension or cautiousness could be seen. So later, when shooting his scenes, his image had been paired with Zhang Xin’s, crowning them the ‘Brothers with Facial Paralysis’.
But because of the shortage of their words, aside from when they were playing jokes or gags, these ‘Brothers with Facial Paralysis’ would have comparatively slightly less camera time than the others. Su Chi’s greatest highlight in the early stages was when Xia Rong pointed to the little folded-ear cat, asking Su Chi ‘Is this your son?’ and Su Chi responded coldly while holding a Shiba Inu and calmly asking back ‘Then this is just your biological brother who you’ve been separated from for many years?’”
At that time, because Xia Rong himself had been a bit flustered and everyone was rather unfamiliar with each other, he still felt that the situation was slightly embarrassing when everyone had cooperatively laughed. Unexpectedly, they had added in a rather impassioned score to the background here during the post-production. Behind the two people, red and blue flames also blazed respectively as Su Chi’s rhetorical question played on a loop, instantly creating the backdrop effect of a ‘battle of the century’. The effect was worth full points, such that even Xia Rong almost spurted out the coke in his mouth from the amusement.
Xia Rong knew that he was a bit weak against jokes and so could simple-minded and foolishly enjoy himself on this one gag for such a long time, but then, other funny scenes in the show came out one after another. With this, he couldn’t stop laughing once he started. He almost couldn’t even sit upright anymore, tilting to one side, only for Su Chi to help him by propping him up by the shoulder. And so, unconsciously, the two were now sitting closer together.
All these scenes, there were those that Xia Rong had personally experienced but also those that he hadn’t been able to witness as the second round had been filmed at a separate location.
But when the program arrived at the part where ‘Xia Rong entered the museum alone to answer questions but was caught by a cat by his pant leg’, Xia Rong couldn’t help but sit back upright with an increased focus on staring at the screen.
He knew, the part – that he should be in the highest agony of suspense about – has arrived.