Countless thoughts had surged through Chu Yao’s mind, but in reality only a few seconds had passed.
Soon, a pair of hands appeared in front of him, and a deep, magnetic voice reached his ears. “Do you need me to pick you up?”
That would be even more socially fatal.
The little figure inside Chu Yao’s head tearfully bit a handkerchief. Silently, he placed his hand into Jin Zhihan’s palm and let him pull him upright.
As soon as he regained his footing, Chu Yao heard Jin Zhihan ask with concern, “You didn’t scrape your hands, did you?”
He shook his head. “Other than some trauma to my mind and soul, I’m fine.”
Seeing how pitiful he looked, Jin Zhihan could not suppress the impulse in his heart and pulled him straight into his arms.
Caught off guard, Chu Yao was drawn into the man’s warm embrace, and his heart instantly began pounding like a drum.
He could feel the gentleness in Jin Zhihan’s movements as Jin Zhihan soothingly rubbed the back of his head. There was even a trace of guilt in his voice. “Sorry. I didn’t warn you in time.”
Of course Chu Yao would not blame him. Who would expect a man in his twenties to be incapable of watching where he was going and trip over a road barrier? He thought he himself looked like an idiot.
“I was careless.” As he spoke, Chu Yao secretly glanced to the side from the corner of his eye.
Why was the cameraman looking at the two of them with such an indulgent auntie smile?
With someone staring at them like that, Chu Yao felt too embarrassed even to push Jin Zhihan away.
After being held for a while, Chu Yao’s agitated heart gradually calmed down, though his face was still flushed.
He could not tell whether it had been heated by the warmth radiating from Jin Zhihan’s chest.
“Jin Zhihan, what do I do? I feel so humiliated,” Chu Yao whispered beside his ear. He truly did not know how to handle it.
His toes were still curling from embarrassment. He had always cared about his public image, and after something like this, he knew he would feel despair every time he remembered it over the next several days.
“No. I thought it was pretty cute.” Jin Zhihan was not good with words. After racking his brain for a description, he said, “You looked like a little kitten sprawled flat on the ground.”
Hearing how painfully hard Jin Zhihan was trying to comfort him, Chu Yao managed a weak smile.
It really must have taken effort to connect that full-prostration pose of his with a kitten.
[I’m sorry. I’m a true fan, but even though Chu Yao fell so hard, I still really want to laugh. I can’t hold it in anymore, hahahahaha.]
[I could feel the embarrassment through the screen. How socially fatal must that have been?!]
[I actually left the livestream for a moment just now because I couldn’t bear to keep watching. Ordinary people feel embarrassed falling in public, let alone a celebrity. This clip is probably going to become permanent black history that gets dragged out again and again.]
[Friends, the reaction memes are already on the way. Please wait for delivery~]
Fans really were the most ruthless of all. In less than an hour, reaction memes of Chu Yao’s fall were already flying everywhere through his fan community.
New captions kept appearing one after another.
“Me on the road to love,” “Need a kiss before I can get up,” “Tripped by the hardships of life,” “Laughed myself dead in the street,” “Wherever you fall, just lie there and sleep,” “I fell down—transfer me 200 and I won’t scam you.” There were endless hilarious reaction memes, adaptable to practically any situation.
Of course, Chu Yao currently knew absolutely nothing about them.
The production team prepared dinner for them at a farmhouse restaurant, saying it was time for everyone to have a heart-to-heart. They had already spent two days together and should be getting familiar with one another by now.
When dinner was nearly over, Lu Yiwen began steering the conversation. He first looked toward Bai Jishen. “Brother Shen, you’ve been married for more than five years. Have you two ever fought?”
“Of course. What married couple never fights?” Bai Jishen glanced at Zhao Jing. “Most of the time my wife is the one who feels wronged. Why don’t we let him tell it?”
Zhao Jing took over. “I’m the kind of person who can’t keep things bottled up. If I’m unhappy, I say it. He’s the opposite—more reserved, and embarrassed to express himself.”
Hearing this, Chu Yao interrupted, “Teacher Wen, pass me a piece of watermelon.”
Wen Xu laughed and handed him the watermelon. “It’ll be your turn in a minute.”
Hearing Zhao Jing say that, Bai Jishen looked a little embarrassed. “I just give way to you whenever I can. I don’t want to argue with you.”
Zhao Jing rolled his eyes slightly. “Why do I remember that time we were giving each other the cold shoulder two months ago? You heard I was going out to dinner with friends and deliberately went to my parents’ place for a meal, pretending you were so pitiful and no one was taking care of you. In the end, it was only because my parents called me that things between us eased up a little.”
By this point Zhao Jing did feel somewhat aggrieved, but in the end he merely sighed helplessly. “Actually, a lot of the time I’m not genuinely angry with you. But every time we argue, you say we both need to calm down, then you hide alone in the study. It leaves me with grievances I can’t even voice, so I can only swallow them.”
The atmosphere suddenly became a little heavy. Everyone had envied the seasoned-married-couple dynamic of Still Waters Run Deep, assuming their personalities had long since adjusted to each other. No one expected that they still had arguments both big and small.
Lu Yiwen frowned and pretended to speak very seriously. “Brother Shen, giving someone the silent treatment isn’t right. If your wife needs coaxing, then coax him. We’re grown men—what’s so hard about lowering our heads a little? If you’re the husband, you need to show some generosity.”
Bai Jishen smiled awkwardly. “You’re right. I really do need to change that.”
“Hey, I didn’t mean to criticize you on purpose. The conversation just got here.” Zhao Jing patted Bai Jishen’s hand. “Most of the time, you actually do very well.”
“I understand.” Bai Jishen closed his hand over Zhao Jing’s. “I hope coming on this show gives us something useful to take home. In the future, the fewer arguments we have, the better.”
“Now that’s more like it.” Lu Yiwen nodded approvingly, then looked at Jin Zhihan. “President Jin, what about you two?”
As far as Jin Zhihan could remember, he and Chu Yao had never even raised their voices at each other, let alone had an argument.
But telling the audience they had never fought at all would sound far too fake. As an outsider to the entertainment industry, Jin Zhihan was not sure how much was appropriate to say, so he turned toward Chu Yao and handed the difficult question to his wife.
“You tell them.”
Chu Yao actually did have something to say. He had not exactly held a grudge over the incident, but in the current setting, it was quite suitable to share with everyone.
“We’re both usually very busy with work and don’t spend much time together. Even when we argue, it isn’t the kind of thing people normally imagine. But there was one time I remember clearly. We went an entire day at home without saying a single word to each other.”
Surprise flashed through Jin Zhihan’s eyes after hearing this.
His instincts told him Chu Yao probably was not making it up.
The others immediately looked nosy, and Lu Yiwen hurried to ask, “Did President Jin do something to wrong you?”
“That morning I saw on the news that something had happened at his company, so I asked about it out of concern. He said, ‘I can handle the company’s affairs myself.’ After that, I didn’t know what else to say.”
After hearing Chu Yao’s explanation, a deep crease formed between Jin Zhihan’s brows.
He truly could not remember the incident very clearly. He had said that without thinking because he did not want Chu Yao worrying along with him. Perhaps his tone had been a little too heavy and caused Chu Yao to overthink it.
Wen Xu nodded in strong agreement. “I can understand what Chu Yao means, because something similar happened to me. We hadn’t been together long at the time. Lu Yiwen was being slandered by antis, and I was worried he was upset, so I wanted to message him and comfort him. He was probably irritated at the time too. He told me not to worry and said he could handle it himself.”
After listening, Zhao Jing nodded thoughtfully. “Actually, a lot of the time we shouldn’t reject the concern of people close to us. Your intention may be that you don’t want them to worry with you, but if they ask, that means they want to share the burden. Two people can only grow closer after going through things together. They’ll trust and depend on each other more and more. Especially in a marriage, whether between a husband and wife or two husbands, being open and honest with each other is one of the most important things.”
After that long speech, Jin Zhihan lowered his head in silence.
At that moment, he felt that joining this show had been the right decision. Otherwise, he would never have realized that his unconscious rejections had pushed Chu Yao farther away, nor would he have known what he could do to bring them closer.
Chu Yao only looked carefree on the surface. Inside, he was sensitive and thoughtful.
Jin Zhihan needed to change his strategy.
–
Lu Yiwen was always on the front lines of internet gossip. After returning to the villa, he opened his Weibo alt account and immediately saw that a meme blogger he followed had posted the day’s new collection—all reaction memes made from Chu Yao’s fall. The repost count was already nearing a million.
It was tragic, but Lu Yiwen still wanted to laugh when he saw them. He held his phone up for his wife. “How did Chu Yao manage to fall like this?”
“Judging from the surroundings, this was in the ancient town, right? Why didn’t he mention it?” Wen Xu muttered.
“He was definitely too embarrassed.”
Lu Yiwen had not forgotten about creating a group chat. He pulled in the other two couples, along with Jiang Xizhe, and gave the group a resounding name.
—Three Pretty Wives and Their Bodyguards.
After joining, Chu Yao worried someone would post one of his reaction memes to tease him, but everyone tacitly avoided bringing it up.
Even Lu Yiwen, the most active troublemaker of them all, said nothing. It showed he knew where to draw the line.
Jin Zhihan was holding a video conference in the study while Chu Yao happily chatted with everyone in the group. They had returned to the villa late tonight and the livestream had already ended, so Chu Yao could lie on the sofa and play with his phone as much as he liked.
Lu Yiwen was hilarious. He kept sharing videos edited by uploaders in the group chat. Some completely ordinary gestures, after a little artistic editing and a bright piece of background music, became so romantic that pink bubbles practically burst off the screen.
Watching a video that repeatedly cut between shots of him and Jin Zhihan holding hands, hugging, and kissing made Chu Yao feel unbearably embarrassed.
Had the two of them really looked that much like an idol drama at the time?
These uploaders were impressive! They knew how to shoot romance even better than directors did.
Chu Yao hummed unconsciously and, without noticing, tapped the little red-heart gift icon and sent a gift. By the time he realized what he had done, it was already too late to take it back.
Lu Yiwen saw Chu Yao’s verified main account appear on the gift leaderboard and tagged him in the group. [Using your main account to browse? You’ve got guts.]
Since it had already happened, Chu Yao could only stubbornly reply, [What, I’m not allowed to encourage people to create more content?]
Lu Yiwen: [Then you and President Jin need to provide them with more material. [mischievous grin.jpg] Don’t save all your best performances for when the audience can’t see you.]
Teacher Lu’s mouth really did run like a runaway train.
Amused, Chu Yao curled his lips and was about to reply when Jin Zhihan’s profile picture suddenly appeared.
[@Yao Wife, we’ll study it tonight.]
Author’s Note:
Happy New Year~
