Carrying a man while doing squats was not easy. Mu Chen and Zhong Yibin stubbornly went head to head, their pace increasing.
“Thirty-one, thirty-three…forty-four, forty-five…” Lin Xiaoxiao was counting enthusiastically at a corner. The audience also followed along, counting in excitment. The pace of the two teams gradually differed. Lin Xiaoxiao counted for one team while Zhu Chang counted for the other.
Zhong Yibin appeared extremely relaxed; he had long gotten used to hugging Chu Qin. The two people seemed to blend into one another. Chu Qin even had the leeway to pick the microphone and make a statement, “I have this feeling that I’m sitting on a merry-go-round; a spoilt turntable.”
The audience erupted into laughter. A merry-go-round would have up-down motions, along with the turning movements of a record player. If the record player was spoilt, the only thing left would be the up-down motions. Just thinking about such a scene was quite entertaining.
Zhong Yibin was holding his breath to improve his strength and thus couldn’t laugh. As punishment, he pinched Chu Qin’s leg. Chu Qin promptly behaved himself and flopped over Zhong Yibin’s shoulder without moving.
“My god… To be a fan at this level, wouldn’t it be considered as dying without regrets…” The girl who gave Zhong Yibin the LED board covered her mouth, excited beyond compare. Just thinking about hugging Qin-ge and having him tightly plastered to her was exciting enough to send her into a dead faint.
“Seventy-three, seventy-four…” The content gradually reached a climax.
Mu Chen seemed calm and relaxed but in fact, he was gradually reaching his limit. Just the fact that he was carrying Qiao Su was already enough to make his palms sweaty. In addition, their positions were awkward and draining when maintained for long periods of time. Qiao Su could also feel the strain on him and turned to watch the two people on the other side.
Those two guys were already an old couple, carrying and being carried was like a walk in the park for them since their bodies melded together well. If not for the fact that there was an audience, Chu Qin would probably place both his legs on Zhong Yibin’s body.
“Chen-ge, forget about it if you’re tired…” A drop of sweat trickled down Mu Chen’s land and landed on Qiao Su’s. He could hear Mu Chen’s increasingly labored breathing.
“It’s no trouble,” Mu Chen said lightly and continued the up-down motions.
Qiao Su pursed his lips, gritted his teeth, and grabbed tightly onto Mu Chen. He mimicked Chu Qin’s movements and plastered his entire person onto Mu Chen’s body. Half his weight was on Mu Chen’s shoulders, suggesting that he was a sack.
The closeness of the warm body caused Mu Chen to suddenly burst out with energy, involuntarily increasing the speed of his movements.
“That’s about it, let the guests win,” Chu Qin patted Zhong Yibin’s back and said in a soft voice.
“No!” Zhong Yibin harrumphed. Mu Chen had never been pleasing to his eyes. Now that he had an opportunity to beat him down, he couldn’t lose no matter what!
“Ninety-two, ninety-three…” The sound of Lin Xiaoxiao counting dragged on the longer it went. This implied that the squatting movements were becoming slower and slower. In the broadcasting room, Teacher Liang watched dumbstruck, exclaiming inwardly that this week’s program would definitely blow up. The film emperor and Shengshi’s director had engaged in a battle of strength till they were red in the face…
Mu Chen’s consumption of energy was significant in the early stage, so carrying out the movements became increasingly difficult. On the other hand, Zhong Yibin was still okay. Though he was also dripping droplets of sweat like rain, he could still endure it.
“117, 118, 100…ah!” The last number had yet to be counted when Mu Chen’s arms loosened, causing Qiao Su to slide down. He quickly reached out his hands to grab Qiao Su, nd the two of them fell onto the long-prepared padded mats.
Qiao Su was pressed underneath Mu Chen and he raised his head to watch him blankly. The two of them were extremely close, even their breaths could be felt. Mu Chen panted heavily, sweat trickling down the graceful contours of his chin and onto Qiao Su’s neck, before flowing down his collarbone.
“119, 120, victory!” Zhu Chang on the other end was still counting. The minute he saw them, he instantly burst into cheer.
Zhong Yibin carried Chu Qin as he fell onto the padded mats with a satisfied heart. Taking advantage of the chaos, he pecked Chu Qin on the lips.
Shocked, Chu Qin almost forgot to breathe. Blatantly kissing him under the eyes of so many people and the camera lens was really too exciting.
The good thing was that Zhong Yibin knew his limits. He only gave him a peck before moving away and slumping over motionlessly like a dead dog.
“Director Zhong, the competition is over, don’t take advantage of the host,” Zhu Chang smiled mischievously and went up to pull him away. Lin Xiaoxiao also did the same on the other side.
Father Zhong, who was seated in front of the television, had noticed their intimate attitude and his face was a little dark. “This dirty youngster, it must have been on purpose.”
The Zhong family’s big brother had already gotten used to it and was very calm.
“How are the ratings this week?” Father Zhong turned and asked his eldest son.
Zhong Jiabin knew that his father couldn’t bear to continue watching and was finding something out of nothing to talk about. “Father, we’re watching the broadcast, the ratings haven’t come out yet.” It wasn’t like his father didn’t know that ratings could not be seen on the spot.
Father Zhong pretended to make a sound of agreement and turned back to continue watching the program.
The ending was only shown after the group of people had rested backstage. Thus, on television, Zhong Yibin and Mu Chen no longer had the appearance of being red in the face. It was just that Zhong Yibin still had yet to go down and was hanging around on stage with Chu Qin.
The ratings this week had indeed blown up. Chu Qin’s fans were pleasantly surprised and fervently expressed that in the past, they had felt that no one was compatible with their Qin-ge but the minute they saw the ruthlessly handsome Director Zhong, they only thought of kneeling down to sing praises.
Chu Qin and Zhong Yibin were also at home watching the broadcast. According to his usual practice, Chu Qin would send out a Weibo post after the broadcast to thank that day’s guests. Chu Qin sent out a post thanking the cast of <The Golden Age of the Great Jing> and wishing them high viewership, before thanking Director Zhong for his guest appearance. He also tagged Zhong Yibin’s Weibo account.
After that, he switched to Zhong Yibin’s Weibo account and forwarded his post.
“You’re quite quick,” Zhong Yibin shifted over and slumped against his shoulder to look.
“En…eh?” Chu Qin made an indifferent sound of agreement when he suddenly saw a hot topic titled ‘Zhong Qin’ on the interface. Originally, Mu Chen and Qiao Su were a pair in the drama so when they broadcasted the program, they also hyped up this couple. However, the topic ‘Mu Qiao’ had yet to rise when this mysterious ‘Zhong Qin’ had already made it to the top.
When he clicked on it, the content revolved around him and Zhong Yibin. The host for this topic was actually one of Chu Qin’s deadly loyal fans. Chu Qin had some impression of her.
[I saw Director Zhong the last time during the program recording and even tried to pull him into our society. I feel ashamed now that I think about it, ahhhhhhh!]
[Director Zhong is actually one of Qin-ge’s loyal fans, so cute!]
The shots of Zhong Yibin off-stage this week had been cut during the program’s editing process and hadn’t been broadcasted. But the eyes of the masses were sharp, and someone dug out the shots of Zhong Yibin when he attended the previous recording. The shots were edited out and swept onto the audience’s screens. The young director was dressed in a black suit, his hair inch-length, his hands holding on to an LED board with the words ‘Qinqin’ written on it, and his expression serious and strict.
[Goodness gracious, Director Zhong is too cute, I’m about to suffocate!]