Second Update

After seeing Huo Cheng off, Duan Yihua and Hu Ying came downstairs together.

Duan Yihua didn't look great.

When he saw Zhai Xingchen, Duan Yihua got awkward.

Once the alcohol wore off, he was locked up in himself again. He'd slept in so late because the second he woke up, he remembered everything he'd done last night—those brazen things—and the shame made him not want to face the world.

Falling for a guy ten years younger was one thing. But he'd been the one to make the first move—drunk out of his mind, he'd grabbed the guy's arm and couldn't let go.

There had been cameras everywhere in that private room. They definitely caught it all.

And that text he'd sent. God, the shame of it.

He'd sent a blank message. Like he had so much to say he couldn't say any of it.

So dramatic. Like some little boy.

Zhai Xingchen kept his face normal. "Duan-ge, want breakfast? I saved you some."

"No time. I gotta run." Duan Yihua said.

Hu Ying glanced at him quietly and carried his luggage down.

Hu Ying thought the vibe was bizarre.

Just yesterday, she'd been trying to set Duan Yihua up with Zhai Xingchen!

Hu Ying snuck a look at Zhai Xingchen's eyes. Zhai Xingchen was treating Duan Yihua exactly the same as always—no extra shyness, no extra joy.

Three people, three sets of thoughts. Zhai Xingchen reached for the suitcase in Duan Yihua's hand. Duan Yihua handed it over, grabbed a sandwich, ate half of it, and was already rushing out the door.

Duan Yihua was fleeing. Hu Ying and Zhai Xingchen walked him out, and he just gave them a small wave—back to looking like the polished thirty-year-old success he was.

When he'd come here, Duan Yihua hadn't planned on falling for anyone either.

He'd joined this variety show mainly to promote his family's milk tea brand—they were one of the sponsors.

As the oldest guest, at first he'd only really noticed Huo Cheng and Pei Xu.

Now a twenty-year-old college kid had stolen all his attention, and he'd run off like a coward.

Duan Yihua figured maybe three or four days apart would let him cool down.

A few minutes later, Zhai Xingchen and Hu Ying got into Pei Xu's car.

Hu Ying had Zhai Xingchen take the passenger seat.

Pei Xu felt loose all over. Lighter than he'd ever felt.

Everyone was gone.

The weather was beautiful. After last night's rain, the sky looked freshly washed—endless blue, not a single cloud. Hu Ying needed to run an errand at the Citizen's House, so they dropped her off in the New District first.

"Hu Ying." Zhai Xingchen called.

Hu Ying, sitting in the back, answered. Her makeup today was immaculate—she looked even more like a human Chanel. "Yeah?"

Zhai Xingchen turned around. "You seem off today. Low energy."

"Didn't sleep enough. Went to bed late last night," Hu Ying said.

"Then close your eyes for a bit," Zhai Xingchen said.

They dropped Hu Ying at the Citizen's House. "Want us to come with you?" Zhai Xingchen asked.

Hu Ying shook her head. "Might take half an hour. You guys can go watch the pigeons in the square behind it."

Behind the Citizen's House was a huge Forest Park with a music stage out front where people always fed pigeons—one of South City's famous tourist spots now.

Zhai Xingchen asked Pei Xu, "Wanna go?"

Pei Xu shut the car door. "Let's go."

They'd barely taken two steps when someone shouted, "Zhai Xingchen!"

Zhai Xingchen turned. It was someone from the Production Team.

The guy ran over holding a Handheld Camera. "You gotta take this."

Zhai Xingchen took it. "You've been following us?"

Pei Xu reached out and took the camera. "Give it here."

The staffer still seemed a little scared of Pei Xu and rushed to say, "You film yourselves! We're not following you!"

That should be enough, right!

It was a weekday, so the park wasn't crowded—just an old man with a three-or-four-year-old kid feeding pigeons.

"You wanna feed them?" Pei Xu asked.

"Didn't bring food," Zhai Xingchen said.

"They sell some." Pei Xu walked over to a little kiosk and came back with a bread roll.

Zhai Xingchen grabbed the bread and ran off to feed the pigeons. The pigeons were used to being fed—they weren't scared at all. The second he tossed crumbs, a whole flock flew over.

Pei Xu adjusted the lens and filmed Zhai Xingchen.

With the camera, he had an excuse to stare at Zhai Xingchen. In his frame, only Zhai Xingchen's face was left—every smile, every flicker of expression blown up to full size. His eyes so bright, his lips so red, his nose tilted up just so, his skin translucent white in the sun, his neck pale and slender—the whole of him bursting with bright, boyish energy. A pigeon landed right on his shoulder. "Look, look! They're not scared at all!" Zhai Xingchen said.

Pei Xu smiled. No camera on him—he was completely unaware of it, smiling with his whole heart. His gaze drifted out of the lens to the real Zhai Xingchen in front of him, then dropped back down to the Zhai Xingchen in the frame.

He'd never liked anyone like this. His heart was clear and joyful.

Zhai Xingchen turned and split the bread with him. "You wanna feed them?"

"Give me a pinch." Pei Xu held out his hand.

Zhai Xingchen tore off a piece and handed it over.

Pei Xu put the crumbs in his palm and held it out, waiting for a pigeon. Zhai Xingchen spotted a water dish nearby and reached for it—just then a pigeon came flapping in. He yanked his hand back. The pigeon landed on the water dish and splashed him all over.

Zhai Xingchen jumped up. There was gunk in that water—his shirt was soaked through in a big patch.

Pei Xu patted his pocket. "Hold on."

He took the camera over to the kiosk and came back with a pack of tissues.

Pei Xu set the camera on the ground, bent down, and dabbed at Zhai Xingchen a few times. "I've got clothes in the car. Go change."

They went back to the car. Pei Xu pulled a suit jacket out of the trunk and handed it to him.

Zhai Xingchen started unbuttoning his shirt. Pei Xu glanced at the camera inside the car, reached over and blocked the lens, then sat back in the front seat without turning around.

Not turning around didn't mean he wasn't looking.

He leaned back in his seat and watched through the rearview mirror—Zhai Xingchen's pale arms.

Zhai Xingchen was the palest person he'd ever seen in real life. Pale enough to glow.

Zhai Xingchen and Pei Xu were only a couple centimeters apart in height, but Pei Xu's jacket hung loose on him. His shoulders weren't as broad as Pei Xu's ocean-wide frame, and not as thick either—the whole suit couldn't quite hold him up.

But Pei Xu's heart was burning.

His clothes. Wrapped around him. Now wrapped around Zhai Xingchen.

Just that thought alone was enough to make him hard.

When Hu Ying came back and saw Zhai Xingchen, she blinked. "You changed?"

Zhai Xingchen told her what happened.

"You're lucky you didn't get blessed by a pigeon," Hu Ying said. "Whenever I see people feeding pigeons or seagulls at the beach, I always wonder if that'll happen!"

"Right? I thought I was the only one who worried about that!" Zhai Xingchen said. "Every time I see birds flying around, I think—what if something drops on me!"

He wasn't wearing anything underneath. The jacket was buttoned up, but a suit only has so many buttons—the faint outline of lean muscle showed through.

Young guys—even without working out—always have that simple, lean line to their chest. Especially someone like Zhai Xingchen who'd been dancing for years. Hu Ying glanced at him. "You actually look great in suits. You should try them more often."

Pei Xu glanced at Hu Ying through the rearview mirror.

There was nothing wrong with what Hu Ying said. She always liked complimenting Zhai Xingchen.

But today her tone was quieter. Almost offhand.

At the supermarket, Zhai Xingchen actually bought pork belly—said he was going to make Mao-style braised pork.

Hu Ying thought—what he was making wasn't braised pork at all.

He was making his heart.

Hu Ying was gentle the whole time.

She hadn't known she could be this quiet. Like she'd suddenly gone back to being a teenager. The dazzling version of her was gone—those striking features had turned inward, restrained.

She regretted what she'd said to Zhai Xingchen back when they'd gone on that date.

Now Zhai Xingchen treated her purely as a friend.

Pei Xu kept filming with the Handheld Camera. He wasn't specifically filming Zhai Xingchen—in fact, the frame unconsciously drifted more toward Hu Ying.

Occasionally the frame caught Zhai Xingchen—wearing Pei Xu's black jacket.

"Anything you especially want to eat?" Zhai Xingchen asked Pei Xu.

Pei Xu had been about to say crawfish.

Because back at the bar, he'd heard Zhai Xingchen say he loved crawfish.

But Yan Zhi and Huo Cheng had both been quietly peeling shrimp for Zhai Xingchen, so he hadn't pushed in.

He pointed the camera at him. "Whatever you make, I'll eat."

Hu Ying laughed and looked at Pei Xu. "My opinion of you has really changed."

Pei Xu looked up. Hu Ying said, "At first I—no, I should say we—all thought you had a terrible temper. Super picky."

That was common knowledge—even the Production Team people called him 'Grumpy Bro' behind his back.

Zhai Xingchen looked at Pei Xu, sizing him up. "Pei-ge really has changed a lot."

He even smiles now.

Pei Xu gave him a small smile.

See? Smiling again.

Pei Xu looked great when he smiled, but Hu Ying didn't notice anything off about him at all.

She had no energy to spare for Pei Xu the third wheel right now.

That's right. She thought Pei Xu was a third wheel.

Even though they didn't have a cameraman following them, these days people doing Live Streaming with cameras was common. Still, the three of them standing together got recognized fast. Zhai Xingchen moved fast—grabbed the groceries and got out of the supermarket.

When they came out, someone was still holding up their phone filming their car.

Zhai Xingchen wasn't panicked this time at all.

He'd expected this. Their season of The Red and Blue Signal was destined to blow up—a national-level hit variety show. Even the supporting cast would get famous.

Then he heard a guy holding up his phone shout, "Zhai Xingchen!"

See? Even the supporting cast is getting famous.

Great omen.

He smiled and waved at the guy through the car window.

"Oh my god, Pei Xu is so handsome, Hu Ying is so beautiful, Zhai Xingchen's smile is so pretty—"

The guy stopped to gush to his friend.

Back at the Red and Blue House, Zhai Xingchen changed clothes and returned Pei Xu's jacket.

Pei Xu took the jacket back to his room, put it in his suitcase—same suitcase as the Rose Flower Zhai Xingchen had given him.

A pink rose, a black suit jacket—like him, always cold, suddenly sprouting love.

Zhai Xingchen got to work cooking.

Unlike before, everything he made this time was impeccable—five-star chef level.

Hu Ying's heart kept fluttering. The confusion and worry in her chest faded. She stood next to Zhai Xingchen, leaned in. "Smells amazing."

The braised pork was a feast for the eyes—soft, jiggly meat that made your mouth water just looking at it.

Hu Ying tilted her head slightly to look at Pei Xu sitting at the table.

She really didn't get why Pei Xu, if he had work to do, didn't just go back to his own room.

Shut the door. Wouldn't it be quieter?

Had to work in the kitchen.

This big third wheel—she finally noticed.

She said to Pei Xu, "Pei-ge, are we bothering your work, talking like this?"

Her subtext was obvious enough, right?

Pei Xu had seen every little move Hu Ying made.

Compared to Huo Cheng and Yan Zhi, Hu Ying was actually the bigger threat. Because Hu Ying loved physical contact.

Sure, anyone had the right to pursue someone on a Love Variety Show, but rivals weren't rational. Huo Cheng and Yan Zhi would be annoyed. He was calmer, sure, but he wasn't exactly thrilled either. "You two never stop talking when you're together. I'm used to it."

"We're just too in sync. Wish we'd met sooner." Hu Ying said. "Now I think the biggest thing I got from this show was meeting Xing-ge."

Oh, now it was Xing-ge this, Xing-ge that.

But Pei Xu wasn't Huo Cheng—he didn't talk with barbs and gunpowder. And he wasn't Yan Zhi either, all needles hidden in silk.

He was more honest. Green in love. So he said nothing.

Hu Ying kept pushing. She was always one to act first. When Zhai Xingchen finished the shrimp later, Hu Ying leaned in and opened her mouth. "Let me try."

Zhai Xingchen picked one up and put it in her mouth.

Hu Ying laid on the praise. "So good. I've never had shrimp and eggs this good. How are you this good at cooking?"

Pei Xu couldn't hold back this time. He picked up the water bottle on the table, gave Hu Ying a side-eye, and squeezed the bottle so hard it cracked.

"Hu Ying, Yan Zhi's supposed to be on a gaming Live Streaming today. You know that?"

Hu Ying turned to look at him.

Sure enough, before Hu Ying could say anything, Zhai Xingchen said, "Yeah, he's going live. You wanna go vote for him?"

Hu Ying's heart sank. "We'll see."

Pei Xu took a sip of water and set it down.

Rivals being annoyed at each other, hostile—that was innate. Even the most aloof man wasn't immune.