Jin Zhihan returned carrying the crabs and found Chu Yao staring blankly at the table. Everyone else was chatting noisily, while he alone looked deep in thought, as though troubled by something.
“President Jin squeezed you a huge glass of orange juice.” Zhao Jing set the glass beside Chu Yao’s hand, pulling him back from his wandering thoughts.
Chu Yao looked at Jin Zhihan and instinctively wanted to say thank you, but when he met those deep eyes, the words silently went back down his throat.
Jin Zhihan set a large platter piled with crabs on the table and picked up the crab tools beside it.
Crab roe naturally tasted best while it was hot.
“Go ahead and eat.” Jin Zhihan invited everyone as he cracked open a shell.
Lu Yiwen saw that the crab was nearly the size of a small watermelon and could not help marveling, “It’s hard to find crabs this plump at this time of year.”
Bai Jishen followed up, “I feel like I’m not eating crab roe. I’m eating gold. We’re all benefiting from Chu Yao tonight.”
“Why be so polite? As long as everyone enjoys themselves.”
As Chu Yao spoke, he reached out to take one too, only for a perfectly dismantled crab to suddenly appear on the plate in front of him.
For some inexplicable reason, his heartbeat accelerated at that instant. Maybe he was flustered.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” Chu Yao asked quietly.
“I’ll eat later.” Jin Zhihan watched him put a crab leg into his mouth. “Is it good?”
“Mm. Really, really good.” Chu Yao could not bring himself to say anything overly sentimental, so he could only emphasize his tone.
His eyes shone brightly, as though stars from the night sky had fallen into them.
“I’m going over to help for a bit.” Jin Zhihan stood up after speaking. Before leaving, he still could not resist reminding him, “If you want more later, you can call me. You can take one apart yourself too, but be careful.”
Chu Yao felt as though Jin Zhihan saw him as some hopelessly careless klutz.
Before he could say anything, the man had already walked away.
Jin Zhihan went over to the barbecue grill and told Lu Yiwen to go eat the crabs while they were hot. He would grill for a while instead.
Lu Yiwen was too embarrassed to accept. “President Jin, you bought the crabs, and you haven’t even eaten one yourself.”
Jin Zhihan undid his cuff links, casually rolled his sleeves up a little, and took over the grilling.
He glanced at Chu Yao’s back, a barely perceptible smile curving his lips. “As long as he’s happy eating them.”
Hearing that without warning sent a jolt through half of Lu Yiwen’s body.
As the self-appointed head of their fan club, he complained inwardly: Why are you telling me something that moving? Go say it to your wife’s face!
Chu Yao was still worrying about how to begin his punishment tasks. The production team had completely pinpointed exactly what viewers wanted to see. All three tasks he had drawn were enough to make shippers’ hearts race and blood boil.
—Feed each other while looking into one another’s eyes.
—Sing the other person a deeply romantic song.
—Act spoiled with the other person and coax him into calling you cute.
Every single task was painfully suggestive, making Chu Yao’s scalp tingle.
Lu Yiwen sat down beside Chu Yao and frantically signaled at him with his eyes.
Teacher Chu, you’re running out of time.
Chu Yao understood the hint and decided to start with the relatively easy one.
Wasn’t it just singing a love song? He had sung in front of tens of thousands at New Year’s Eve concerts. What was there to be afraid of?
Chu Yao abruptly sprang to his feet. He cleared his throat and, without seeming to feel awkward at all, announced, “To thank my husband for bringing me crabs from so far away, I’ll sing a song.”
After saying that, he raised his glass slightly toward Jin Zhihan, as though declaring—Brother, everything I want to say is in the song.
He could not bring himself to say anything mushy, so this would have to count.
Judging by Jin Zhihan’s expression, he was clearly surprised.
Chu Yao stopped caring what he thought and simply began singing a cappella: “Meeting you was life’s most wondrous encounter; as two hearts slowly drew close, I fell in love…”
The young man’s voice was clean, touched by that faint lazy nasal quality of his. When he sang, it felt like a gentle breeze drifting in. Combined with the song’s bright, lively rhythm, it was as if spring had suddenly arrived.
[Baby Yao sings so beautifully, but there’s one thing you need to watch: when you sing, you’re supposed to land on the beat, not land straight on my heart.]
[I had a physical at the hospital today and somehow developed osteoporosis at such a young age. After careful investigation, I discovered it was because listening to Chu Yao sing made all my bones go weak.]
[I’m different. Listening to him made my ears pregnant.]
[Production team, hurry up and cut to a close-up of President Jin! His wife is singing him a love song—has he been moved to tears?]
[I see him! I see him! Are President Jin’s eyes shining with tears? They’re absolutely true love!]
[Isn’t that a bit much? Why does it look like reflected light to me?]
When Chu Yao finished the song, his fair face was flushed as though steamed by heat. He hurriedly poured himself a glass of beer and drained it in one go.
Jin Zhihan looked at him, the corners of his lips curved with indulgence.
The boy he liked stood in the eyes of countless people, yet to him, Chu Yao was still the brightest star of all.
“President Jin, the skewers are almost burnt.” Lu Yiwen came over, helped turn the skewers, and teased him in passing.
Wen Xu had been immersed in the beautiful atmosphere, only to be yanked abruptly back to reality. He could not help rolling his eyes at his husband. What a master at ruining the mood.
“You sang beautifully.” Jin Zhihan came over and sat beside Chu Yao, deliberately pretending not to know as he asked, “What’s that song called?”
Chu Yao blurted out, “You, My Greatest Love.”
“Oh.” Jin Zhihan nodded meaningfully. “Got it.”
“……” Why did his tone sound so ambiguous?
What exactly had he “gotten”?!
Chu Yao used drinking to hide his embarrassment. He filled his glass again and decided to strike while the iron was hot.
“Big brother.” Forcing the words out through sheer nerve, Chu Yao tugged at Jin Zhihan’s shirt sleeve. “Um… do you like hearing me sing?”
Sitting opposite them, Bai Jishen nearly burst out laughing at Chu Yao’s deliberately sweet, coquettish tone. He hurriedly pressed his lips together and turned his head aside.
The production team was truly wicked, making a man over one meter eighty act spoiled.
Jin Zhihan was clearly not used to Chu Yao speaking to him like that, but he still cooperatively nodded. “Of course I do.”
Chu Yao immediately followed up, “Then what do you think I’m like when I sing?”
“Dazzling.”
“What else?”
“Handsome. And very cute.”
Yes!! Only one task left!
The little version of Chu Yao in his heart spun and leaped with excitement.
Jin Zhihan did not miss the flash of delight in his eyes. If Chu Yao was that happy, he must have completed one of the tasks the production team had assigned him.
How else could his unusual behavior be explained?
“Whew, finally finished grilling.” Lu Yiwen came back to the table carrying two platters of barbecue and deliberately placed one in front of Chu Yao. “Your husband grilled this one.”
“No wonder.” Chu Yao picked up a lamb skewer. “It looks so good.”
“Hey, are you saying mine doesn’t look good?”
Chu Yao nodded without hesitation. “Compared with my husband’s, yours is naturally a little worse.”
Jin Zhihan’s gaze deepened. No one could see his hand beneath the table quietly clenching into a fist.
No one knew how long he had waited to hear Chu Yao openly show him off like this.
