Chapter 71

Zhai Xingchen decided he was overthinking it.

He'd felt Yan Zhi's gaze on him was a bit off when they left earlier, and while he was dancing, it seemed like a lot of people were watching him a little too intently.

And now, he was even starting to suspect the most aloof one of all, Pei Xu.

Suspect what?

Could Pei Xu really have ended up like that because of him?

'Are you hot?' he asked.

Pei Xu hummed in agreement. 'A little.'

Too much inner fire?

If a Jinjiang male lead was sensitive in both body and mind, that didn't just mean physically — it meant his heart too.

Playing a fiery, intense piano piece like that required channeling all your emotion to do it well. His own playing was clearly less passionate, less full than Pei Xu's. Maybe while playing that piece, the Jinjiang male lead had tapped into his entire emotional reservoir.

As a Jinjiang male lead, his frozen heart surely hid a vast, turbulent sea of feeling.

Maybe that was why?

That had to be why.

Zhai Xingchen decided the one who was really off was himself.

Lately he'd been getting a bit carried away. He'd grown so narcissistic he needed to cool down.

He stood up from the chair. 'I'm gonna go see how Huo-ge's practice is going.'

Pei Xu gave another 'Mm.'

The camera caught Pei Xu's fingers relaxing slightly. Guo Bing and the others burst out laughing.

'I've never seen anyone's ears turn that red!'

'I'd heard some people blush instantly when they get shy, like they've been drinking, but this is the first time I've watched the whole process of someone's face gradually turning from white to red. My god, I had no idea it was this intense!'

They owed all this to listening to Liu Screenwriter.

Because Liu Screenwriter had told them: 'The piano playing is definitely a highlight scene. Focus on their hands and micro-expressions. With a repressed, aloof guy like Pei Xu, all the good stuff is in his micro-expressions!'

Liu Screenwriter, YYDS!

They were all old hands at Love Variety Shows; they knew exactly what shots would hit the audience hardest. Based on their experience, the entire process of Pei Xu's ears gradually turning red was definitely going to make people scream louder than a lot of physical contact shots!

After Zhai Xingchen left, the camera kept trained on Pei Xu.

Pei Xu lifted his head slightly. 'Still filming.'

'Your ears are really red,' a crew member couldn't help but say.

Pei Xu hadn't even noticed himself. 'Are they?'

His ears were that red, but his face was that cold. He opened the sheet music for The Desert Dance Hall and went back to practicing.

'Why are you practicing this song?' the crew member asked.

'For exactly the reason you're all thinking,' Pei Xu said.

Hah. Still playing it cool.

Zhai Xingchen left the piano room and went to the restroom first. After finishing up, he went to wash his hands. The water was ice-cold, biting to the bone. He rubbed his hands together and looked up at his reflection in the mirror.

This face was admittedly good-looking, but maybe because he'd seen it too much, it felt far less handsome than Pei Xu and the others looked.

Duan Yihua liked him, Yan Zhi liked him, Pei Xu liked him, or maybe Huo Cheng liked him too?

Zhai Xingchen laughed at himself, embarrassed.

He really had some nerve!

He left the restroom and went into the dance studio. Hu Ying and Wen Nu were sitting on the floor laughing, while the tall, burly Huo Cheng was watching a video to learn the dance.

This was Hu Ying's idea. While Zhai Xingchen was dancing, she'd recorded it all on her phone. She had Huo Cheng learn from the video so Zhai Xingchen wouldn't have to teach him over and over.

'Should we get something to eat?' Zhai Xingchen asked as he walked in.

'I've been hungry for ages,' Hu Ying said.

Huo Cheng stopped, panting. 'I'm hungry too. Dancing is exhausting.'

He felt a bit sorry for Zhai Xingchen.

Dancing really wasn't as glamorous or easy as it looked. Three minutes on stage, ten years of practice off it — it wasn't an exaggeration at all.

They were having lunch at the Little Theater, which had its own cafeteria.

'Yan-ge and the others seem to still be practicing,' Wen Nu said.

They went to the next room and found Duan Yihua playing the guitar.

Duan Yihua was the first to see the four of them come in. He immediately hit a wrong note, pursed his lips, and tried to act like he didn't care. Yan Zhi, who'd been watching a magic video on his phone, suddenly sensed Duan Yihua's tension and looked up.

'I didn't realize Duan-ge played in this style,' Huo Cheng said.

He hadn't expected Soaring to be this kind of song — like an eagle soaring, the world vast and wide.

And then connecting it to the fact that Yan Zhi had chosen this piece, he couldn't help but marvel at Yan Zhi's cunning and talent.

If Yan Zhi played it himself, he didn't know how many people would be captivated.

For a moment, he felt ashamed of his own choice of magic again.

This Lottery Draw really had buried Yan Zhi's charm.

Duan Yihua was too nervous. He wasn't nervous running a huge company, but being watched by Zhai Xingchen made him flustered enough to keep hitting wrong notes. He simply put the guitar down.

'Finish it,' Hu Ying said curiously. 'I think it sounds really good.'

'Yeah, don't stop, Duan-ge. Let us hear it,' Wen Nu said.

So Duan Yihua picked the guitar back up, steadied himself, and continued playing.

Zhai Xingchen and the others stood listening. Duan Yihua played the guitar very well, his fingering skilled and fluent. Soaring was just too beautiful a piece — very youthful, dynamic, making your heart surge. After listening for a while, Zhai Xingchen felt Duan Yihua still hadn't fully let go playing this song. He was still a bit restrained. If Yan Zhi were playing it, it would definitely be more explosive.

Thinking this, he glanced at Yan Zhi beside him and happened to meet Yan Zhi's gaze.

Duan Yihua finished the song, put down the guitar, and stood up.

'How was it?' he asked.

They all gave him thumbs up.

Duan Yihua said, 'Actually, Yan Zhi plays it better than I do.'

Lin Qingning agreed with that statement completely.

Because they'd all heard Yan Zhi play it once. You simply couldn't imagine how effortlessly cool and skilled someone as gentle and gentlemanly as Yan Zhi was when playing Soaring. He was as quiet as ever, but the melody flowing from his fingers was so free and unrestrained, like driving a car or riding a motorcycle across the land, mountains and rivers, desert and lone smoke. He'd really mastered the guitar to perfection. There were so many little finger tricks in it that even someone like Duan Yihua, who could play guitar, couldn't replicate — too complex.

Those hands of Yan Zhi's didn't just make fans scream when he was gaming; they were even more mesmerizing when he played guitar.

This guy was so popular, had so many fans, and it really wasn't just because of his face.

The seven of them came out of the room and ran right into Pei Xu.

Zhai Xingchen glanced at Pei Xu's ears.

White. Normal.

The eight of them headed to the cafeteria together. The theater's cafeteria was small, seating maybe a few dozen people at most. Its biggest flaw was that, like everywhere else, it was a bit cold. They put their things on a table, then picked up trays to get food. Zhai Xingchen looked back and saw Yan Zhi actually pull a tissue from his pocket and start bending over to wipe down a chair.

'Yan Zhi's germaphobia is really severe,' Huo Cheng said.

Yan Zhi wiped down everyone's chairs, so by the time Hu Ying and Zhai Xingchen came back with their food, he was only just going to get his.

Hu Ying looked at the tissue he'd used to wipe the table and chairs. 'Not a speck of dust.'

'You don't understand his germaphobia,' Zhai Xingchen said. 'It's not just physical; it's psychological too. Sometimes he wipes things not because they're dirty, but because he needs to wipe them once to feel comfortable sitting down.'

Hu Ying thought to herself, now she understood why Yan Zhi liked Zhai Xingchen.

He wanted the first-love type.

Zhai Xingchen really could satisfy all the requirements of someone with that kind of dual psychological and physical germaphobia.

By that logic, Yan Zhi himself should have the same standards, right?

She suddenly felt Yan Zhi might not possess the gentleness and Asceticism he appeared to have.

Because people with these more extreme traits were either extremely sexually cold or extremely repressed.

Zhai Xingchen glanced at Hu Ying, feeling her expression was a bit complicated.

Actually, ever since arriving in North City, he'd felt Hu Ying's enthusiasm for Yan Zhi had dropped off sharply.

That time they went to the market, she'd suddenly gotten enthusiastic again, but it was just a three-minute burst. Hu Ying usually told him everything, but last time she and Yan Zhi went to Snow World, she hadn't even mentioned it to him afterward.

Was it because Yan Zhi's germaphobia made Hu Ying hesitate?

That was entirely possible.

Not everyone liked germaphobia.

Some people found it particularly troublesome.

But Yan Zhi was a double-standard top.

He didn't have germaphobia toward people he liked. He didn't find anything about them dirty.

He was just about to ask Hu Ying when he saw Pei Xu and the others coming over with their trays.

So he didn't continue the question.

Everyone took their seats one by one. Pei Xu sat across from him.

Lin Qingning sat at the very end, diagonally across from Pei Xu.

Lin Qingning and Pei Xu had had almost zero interaction today. Those two were completely done.

Zhai Xingchen suddenly realized all the CP he'd been shipping seemed to have gone BE.

This was the worst possible outcome for shipping a Love Variety Show.

He remembered the looks the four Red Team Guests had given Yan Zhi and Pei Xu on his first day entering the Red and Blue Signal house — how fiery, ambiguous they were, those glances they wanted to give, the way they'd look away the moment eye contact was made. Back then, the Red and Blue Signal house was truly filled with pink bubbles of romance!

Now look at the looks the four Red Team Guests were giving them.

As he was thinking this, he met Huo Cheng's gaze.

Huo Cheng glanced at him, then lowered his eyes, poked at the rice in his plate, looked up at him again, realized Zhai Xingchen was still looking, and seemed to fluster a bit.

Zhai Xingchen: '…'

Yeah. Exactly that kind of look.

Then he saw Yan Zhi, drinking water, glance over at him and Huo Cheng from under lowered lids.