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The online news titled 《Su Chi and Xia Rong Secretly Meeting at Night, Intimately Going Home Hand in Hand》 was released at 11:00 PM. At this time, the comments section of this article was already filled with fans who had caught wind of the news and passersby melon-seed eaters:
【And here I was wondering whose relationship has gotten exposed when I saw that ‘Secretly Meeting at Night’ [digging nose] and it turns out to be two men [digging nose]】
【Is there a hole in the editor’s brain? What good photos could one take of two men?】
【That’s not necessarily the case. I’ve heard that the entertainment industry is quite messy, that no one really cares whether it’s male or female. Perhaps…】
【As someone who seriously watched the uploaded video: the distance between the two people was normal, their actions were normal, their expressions weren’t clear, so won’t comment… A TMD clickbait through and through!!!】
【Just someone wanting to rub off some heat. Pompoms, don’t give him any attention.】
【But can this be taken to mean that they have a good relationship behind-the-scenes? Their two groups of fans have been fighting like dark-eyed chickens1 every day since Liang Ou’s first episode came out. Seeing this now, it sure is funny.】
【Good face and great body2 with long legs~~ slurp! Feels like there’s already a great sense of CP just from looking at their backs. What there for the fans to quarrel about.】
【Bringing away Xia Rong, not meeting. Since my Rong has already made his position clear, we Pompoms will follow his wishes. Recently, I’ve been busy rallying votes and haven’t had the time to pay attention to other people. Don’t use individual anti-fans to represent our entire fan group, OK ?】
【Then I’ll drag Su Chi away. Also, no one wants to argue with the talent-show-grade fans, OK ? Welcoming everyone to come watch Su Chi’s new movie #The Moon On The Sea Is The Moon In Front Of Your Eyes3# [cute]】
【Just a relationship between colleagues, that’s all. My Rong is just too pure and simple, trusting others too easily. Can’t you see the obvious signs that this photo was staged?】
【Upstairs, what do you mean? Is your friend circle so used to staging that you see everything as having been staged? My Su needs to rub off on your family’s heat?!】
【It’s precisely just because my Su’s team is too spicy chicken4 that he has to deal with everything by himself, that he could get used by others and still not know about it. Some people would rob other’s things on the program, while still forcefully pulling and provoking things outside the program.】
【Floor 2135, what do you mean by that? You’ve probably never played games, you don’t even understand what’s gamesmanship? My Rong did it for the show’s effect, okay?】
…
【Speaking of, am I the only one who feels that there’s a strong sense of CP when these two fan groups quarrel like this?】
…
Xia Rong thought it was some super explosive news, and had already opened Shu Yi’s news link in the car, prepared to read it thoroughly. However, even after he had more or less finished reading the comments section, he was still at a loss, so he finally called Shu Yi back. “Yi-jie, it’s just this?”
“What else did you want? You want to wait until photos of open curtains come out?”
“…That’s not what I mean.” Xia Rong drew his fingers back and forth on the car window. “I just got photographed going to play at his house for a bit. I didn’t even spend the night. Besides, we’re also both men. There shouldn’t be that many people paying attention to it aside from the fans internally, it probably wouldn’t have any impact?”
“You’ve actually thought it through quite thoroughly.” Shu Yi laughed for a bit and continued, “Indeed, probably even the reporter himself hadn’t felt that he had shot anything sensational and so didn’t even contact me but just made up an exaggerated headline and directly sent it out.”
“Yet you still…” Xia Rong yawned, glancing at the clock on the dashboard of the car, which showed that it was 5:00 AM.
“This news will indeed only attract attention among your fans, but have you forgotten that there is a certain strong figure in your fans group?”
“…Who?”
“Your mother.”
“If you weren’t Yi-jie, I would have thought you are cursing at me.”
“You think I don’t want to scold you? How many times have I told you to be careful of Su Chi, to stay farther away from him? Yet, even at this point, what are you two still doing together?”
“Nothing, nothing at all.” Xia Rong quickly moved to change the topic. “What had my mother said? Why would she suddenly pay attention to this of mine?”
“Lately, she got enchanted by Su Chi from watching movies, so at the beginning, she was very happy when she saw the scandals that came out between you two. She had even asked me what kind of intersections you two have had, how the relationship was between you two, and whether it would be convenient for you to bring him home for dinner,” Shu Yi mercilessly answered. “Since she had asked, I could only tell her what I know of the situation just as I knew it.”
“…Yi-jie, you betrayed me!” Xia Rong indignantly accused. “We agreed you wouldn’t snitch to my parents!”
“How could you put it that way? What do you mean ‘snitch’?” Shu Yi snorted coldly. “What I said was that I wouldn’t take the initiative to tell them, but I never said that I would still conceal the matters for you when they’re already asking me directly at my doorsteps.”
“Hah—” Xia Rong gave a long sigh. “And the result?”
“And the result was, I took a look at your itinerary. Three days later, you’ll need to go home, and have a good face-to-face chat with your mother.”
“Even a face-to-face?! There’s no need, right? There’s really nothing going on between Su Chi and me… “
“How about you save these words for when you’re with your mother.” Perhaps it was because she could hear Xia Rong’s distress, but Shu Yi’s tone also softened and became gentler. “There’s no need for you to be too anxious. Who has never had times when they were confused or have never made mistakes? As long as you keep a good distance from Su Chi from now on, proving through action that you will not repeat the same error, then she also won’t force you to do anything. After all, she’s already come to accept it after these five-odd years…”
Unprecedentedly, Xia Rong was silent for a few seconds, then solemnly started to say, “Yi-jie, I’m going to tell you something, but don’t get angry.”
“Hm?”
This successful career woman’s light ‘hm?’ conveyed how she wouldn’t be surprised or scrambled no matter what happened, indifferent to any gain or loss…
“I’ve moved to live at Su Chi’s house now.”
“…”
“His home is right in B City. I’m sitting in his car right now, on the way back, we’re almost at the door.”
“…”
“…Yi-jie? Can I still be saved?”
“…”
=====
Although Shu Yi used her silence to forebode Xia Rong’s future, Xia Rong still hoped to have one last final struggle before death. He found his mother dearest on WeChat and started off by first sending a sticker of a young chibi who was crying pitifully while kneeling on the ground.
{Mom!! Su Chi and I are really just friends! You have to believe me!!!}
{We’re really super clean! There were secret sorrows behind everything that Yi-jie saw!}
{Mom! [bawling_while_covering_chest_with_hand.jpg]}
…
Although he had flooded the WeChat screen full of messages, at this time in the day, Xia Rong really hadn’t dared to truly dial a call over to disturb his mother dearest’s rest. Seeing that the other side had yet to give a reaction even after he had sent so many messages, it was obvious that Mother Xia was still sleeping.
Xia Rong held the phone as he continued being in a tangle. Meanwhile, at some unknown time, the car had already slowly come to a stop. Su Chi turned around and called out to him, “Xia Rong, we’ve arrived.”
Xia Rong dragged his foot getting off the car and headed up the stairs absentmindedly until Su Chi had brought him all the way to the master bedroom on the second floor and pushed open the door when he suddenly felt blinded by a dazzle—
The originally extremely minimalistic, high-classed frigid bedroom had completely disappeared, in its place was a warm tone that was all sorts of romantic. The wooden floor was now covered with several large cashmere carpeting. Throughout the room, several beanbags have been casually placed around, there was even a MUJI body fit cushion, as if every spot was welcoming one for a lay.
And the three large French windows were now also installed with curtains— Although there were originally already curtains, they were only dark gray blackout panels that focused on function. Now, however, thick solid-color linen curtains had also been added, closely and quietly wrapping the entire small space, maxing out its points on security6.
Essentially all the bedding on the large bed had also been swapped out – from original duo-tone black and white, it had transformed into a sweet and refreshing grass-green. Also different from the original duvet, which used to be plain and flat in pursuit of simplicity and lightness, one could tell at a glance that this current set was extremely warm and fluffy, such that there would be a dip from even a touch. Just looking at it and one would want to jump in and have a roll around. On the bedside table was a warm yellow table lamp, which had a unique and cute shape, and next to it was a small humidifier to which essential oil had been added, which was currently spitting out white scented clouds of moisture.
“This, you changed this?” Xia Rong was tongue-tied. “This change in style, it’s simply as if everything has flipped!”
“En.” Su Chi’s hand rested in his pocket as he calmly nodded. “I also felt that the previous style was too dead. Just so happens that you’re coming, so I thought to change it to another style for a try. Sorry, I didn’t tell you in advance.”
Xia Rong shook his head several times. “No, no, I precisely like this style, it’s especially similar to my house…”
Speaking up to this point, he suddenly paused for a moment, then raised his eyes to look at Su Chi. Compared with the possibility of Su Chi’s sudden whim to change the decor in two days, and it just so coincides with his own aesthetic preferences, this subtle series of coincidences, no matter how you look at it, it seems more reasonable for it to be deliberate, right?
Then should he ask after all or not, test or not…
Su Chi walked over to the bedside to check on the humidifier, perfectly missing Xia Rong’s gaze. “Hurry and go sleep. We have to arrive on the scene by 10 AM. Taking account of the amount of time on the road to get there, you can still sleep—” He looked at his watch. “Two hours.”
Now that he knew he only had two hours to sleep, Xia Rong instantly gave up the idea of asking— No matter whether Su Chi answers or not, how he answers, all of it would take up a decent amount of time. At that point, what if he ended up unable to sleep because he became too bothered? And what if the discussion falls through and Su Chi drives him out of his house, what then? Then these precious two hours will be gone!
In any case, they’ll be together for the next three days, and he has also moved into Su Chi’s house already, there’s no need for him to worry that there wouldn’t be another opportunity to ask— If there’s anything, let’s just wait until after he wakes up!
Having made his decision, Xia Rong tossed all those doubts and misgivings to the back of his mind, yawned, and then said, “Then I should hurry up. You’ve made a good change, but I’m sleeping in the guest room, right? Let’s go, let’s go, hurry and take me there. I’m so sleepy.”
Su Chi replied, “The guest room hasn’t been completely renovated yet, the curtains still haven’t been properly hung. Since the master bedroom is more suitable for your sleeping habits, you sleep in the master bedroom. I’ll sleep in the guest room.”
“No, I…” As Xia Rong wanted to continue, Su Chi had already stepped back and closed the door. When he was turning off the main light by the door, his eyes curved at the other and he gently said, “Okay then, I wish you a good dream.”
Inside the room, only the table lamp emitting a faint yellow light was left. Sleepiness and the slight palpitation at the bottom of his heart swirled up together, such that they were indistinguishable from each other. It was only a long time later that Xia Rong finally said in the dark while still in a daze,
“…You as well.”
=====
The third episode of 《Liang Shanbo and Romeo》had the theme of ‘Fairy Tale Kingdom’ and would be recorded in one of B City TV Station’s special tent studios. Originally, if it was going to be filmed in an indoor studio, the program team could have shot it at their own TV station in H City, but supposedly, this issue was said to require some special indoor equipment. And given that they would only need it for this one episode, it seemed it would be a loss if they were to have their own station to set one up. Meanwhile, B City TV Station just so happens to have a long-term program that fulfilled all the needs of the Liang Ou program team.
As the leader of regional TV stations, Orange TV Station has always competed on one hand and cooperated on another with the other TV stations. So this time, they had successfully obtained the right to use B City’s special recording studio on the condition of “promising to promote B City TV Station’s long-term program on their program.”
At 10 AM, the six members met up outside the designated B City TV Station studio. It had been over a week since they had last seen each other but before they could even exchange pleasantries or discuss the weather, they were pulled by the directing team to draw their role cards for this episode— Their right to use the special studio was only one day, so they must seize the moment and race against time!
Since it was a fairy tale theme, there must be princes, witches, kings, hunters, and so on in the character role cards. These were all within Xia Rong’s expectations, so when he entered the small dark room, he was quite eager, hoping to draw the ‘Prince’ card— However, the result was, he was dumbstruck by his own role card.
What the hell is Little Red Riding Hood?!
The six of them are adult men! Why would a female character role appear! It’s even such a petite and cute little girl! When he goes out in a bit, will he also see the Big Bad Wolf, Snow White, and even the Evil Queen?