Just as things were getting awkward, a staff member sitting in the front row quickly pulled out a new topic and quietly rescued the female journalist away.
Qi Xun leaned back lazily, pulled down the brim of his hat, and began to rest.
Sitting in the very back row, Chen Yuxi looked at Qi Xun, who was resting with complete composure, and pulled out his phone… to play a mobile game.
Not long after he started playing, the female journalist turned around and quietly asked for his contact info.
Flattered, Chen Yuxi obliged.
He didn’t have much to do with financial journalists, so he figured the other person was just being polite as a formality.
Shortly after, the female journalist and her colleague got out of the car first.
Before getting into the car at the hotel, while the journalist was exchanging pleasantries with Qi Xun, a staff member took the opportunity to pull Chen Yuxi aside. Very politely and awkwardly, they informed him that because Qi Xun’s interview involved exclusive rights, they hadn’t installed any cameras in their car, meaning all of his footage along this stretch of the road was essentially gone.
The obscure, low-tier artist Chen Yuxi didn’t mind in the slightest and even turned around to comfort the staff member, telling them not to worry, as being able to come record the show at all was already an honor.
The staff member breathed a sigh of relief and then brought up another matter:
Although there was no on-road footage, Chen Yuxi could still re-record some segments, including an introduction to how he received the show invitation, getting in and out of the car… done separately.
Chen Yuxi was surprised.
He had long anticipated that his screen time would be minimal, but he hadn’t expected the production team to still think of making up for it with reshoots… Regardless of whether it would actually end up being used, at least they showed sincerity.
So he readily agreed.
As for why Qi Xun, who also had practically no usable footage, didn’t need to reshoot anything, he didn’t bother asking.
Thinking about the upcoming reshoots and having to meet a bunch of industry heavyweights, Chen Yuxi stopped playing Link Link altogether and began mentally simulating the scenarios he might encounter to prevent himself from saying the wrong thing.
Just a few minutes after the two journalists got out, the car began to slow down—they had arrived at the filming location.
Chen Yuxi hurriedly opened his eyes and looked outside through the car window.
Green mountains, clear waters, surrounded by trees and flowers, with terraced paddies along the way reflecting the blue sky and white clouds—it was breathtakingly pretty.
However, he had no time to appreciate it—a whole bunch of cameramen carrying massive professional video cameras were waiting ahead.
The staff member sitting in the front also spoke up to remind them: “Teacher Qi, Teacher Chen, do you need to prepare?”
The question was asked, but the cameraman sitting right next to him had already hoisted his camera—aiming it squarely at the cap-wearing, resting Qi Xun.
Chen Yuxi offered a polite response: “Thank you, I’m fine.”
Then he looked over at Qi Xun.
Qi Xun pushed up the brim of his hat: “No need.”
His demeanor was calm and fully alert, making it impossible to tell whether he had actually slept just now or not.
He stood up and walked straight out.
The staff member didn’t move, instead waving at Chen Yuxi in the back.
Chen Yuxi sat securely, quietly waiting for the Film King’s entrance sequence to finish playing out.
The car door opened.
A flurry of cameras swarmed toward it.
Yet Qi Xun, who had walked up to the car door, suddenly paused and looked back at Chen Yuxi.
Startled, Chen Yuxi hurriedly waved his hands, gesturing for him to get out quickly.
Qi Xun raised an eyebrow, glanced at the photographers outside the car, gave him a slight nod, and stepped out with effortless swagger.
Chen Yuxi breathed a sigh of relief, watching Qi Xun get surrounded and escorted by the photographers into the courtyard, followed closely by a few nervous staff members.
“Teacher Chen.” Teacher Zhang, who had been coordinating with him since morning, walked over. “Let’s switch to another small business van for the supplementary shots.”
“Okay.”
Chen Yuxi moved over to another small commercial van to reshoot his footage. A short mini-interview inside the car plus getting-out-of-the-car shots—simple and straightforward, wrapping up in about half a minute.
Then, feigning that he had just arrived, he walked through the wooden lattice gate into the courtyard under the watchful lens of the cameraman.
A row of wooden cabins stood in the courtyard, with the main front door wide open and the sound of voices spilling out from inside.
Gathering his composure, Chen Yuxi stepped forward and knocked on the door.
“Oh my, another guest has arrived!”
“Welcome, welcome!”
“Welcome!”
A few people were seated in the living room directly facing the door.
The two main seats were occupied by the permanent guests of Long Vacation, Duan Xirui and Wang Lanyin—both seasoned, evergreen veterans of the entertainment industry.
Flanking them on the left and right were Qi Xun, Xu Qinghe, plus the lead actor and actress currently starring in a hit airing drama, Jiang Yunhai and Jiang Xinwen.
No matter who they were, every single one of them was massively popular!
Chen Yuxi’s nervousness doubled. Before even stepping through the threshold, he bowed: “Hello, everyone. I am the singer-songwriter Chen Yuxi. Please take good care of me over the next two days.”
Duan Xirui and Wang Lanyin, being veterans, remained seated with composed poise.
Jiang Yunhai and Jiang Xinwen were also at the peak of their popularity, currently raking in all sorts of awards.
Facing the completely unknown Chen Yuxi, the four of them either waved or clapped, wearing warm smiles as they put on a show of enthusiastic welcome.
However, Qi Xun and Xu Qinghe, who were seated on either side, stood up together.
“Welcome.” This was from Qi Xun, who offered a cool, indifferent nod.
“Welcome, Teacher Chen~” This was from the triple-threat Film King senior, Xu Qinghe. Not only did he stand up, but he also walked over and gave Chen Yuxi a hug, “It’s been a long time since we last saw each other~”
Everyone else: “The [censored]?!”
They immediately stood up following suit, their smiles widening even further. The younger Jiang Xinwen even began exaggeratingly waving her arms.
Flustered and overwhelmed, Chen Yuxi said, “Teacher Xu, long time no see—I didn’t expect you to come record this too.” As far as he knew, Xu Qinghe rarely participated in reality shows.
Xu Qinghe said with a beaming smile, “I happened to have some free time recently, and the production team invited me, so I came over to have some fun.”
Then, resting a hand on Chen Yuxi’s shoulder, he half-jokingly announced to the other guests, “Yuxi is a treasure songwriter I personally recommended to come here. Please everyone take good care of him, alright~”
Dawning comprehension dawned on the others, who nodded and smiled in agreement.
Chen Yuxi subconsciously glanced at Qi Xun—who had known about this all along—and locked eyes with a pair of dark, ink-like pupils. Feeling a jolt, he quickly looked away.
The next second, he heard Qi Xun speak: “Brother Qinghe, sit back down when you talk. With you standing up, no one else dares to sit.”
Xu Qinghe let out an “Oh” and laughed jokingly, “Stop putting a high hat on me. With you just standing there, nobody would dare sit down either, alright.”
That said, he still pulled Chen Yuxi inside and guided him to the seat at the very end.
Once Xu Qinghe returned to his own seat, the rest of the group sat down in order.
Duan Xirui, acting in the role of the host, poured a cup of tea and handed it to Chen Yuxi: “If I remember correctly, Teacher Chen was the third-place winner of the XX year singing competition, right?”
And so began the indirect introduction of him to the various guests… Presumably, the production team had given Duan Xirui a heads-up beforehand.
Chen Yuxi expressed his thanks, accepted the tea, and replied, “Yes. Everyone here is exceptionally talented; I just got lucky and managed to snag third place.”
Xu Qinghe smiled warmly: “Being too modest now, aren’t you? The song Undercurrent that you wrote and composed just won me a Golden Melody Award!”
The room gasped in astonishment.
“Teacher Chen is that amazing?”
” Undercurrent is genuinely such a great song. If Teacher Xu hadn’t mentioned it, I would never have known you composed it.”
“Right, right. It’s so hard for people to pay attention to the creators behind the scenes normally.”
Chen Yuxi blushed bashfully: “I didn’t write anything special; it’s all thanks to Teacher Xu’s great vocal performance.”
Xu Qinghe raised an eyebrow: “I don’t win a Golden Melody Award with every song I sing.”
He then seized the opportunity to request a song on the spot, “Write another song for me when you have time. Let’s see if I can make a run for next year’s Golden Melody Awards.”
Chen Yuxi chuckled along: “Alright, I’ll write one for you for free. If it doesn’t win an award, it’ll be entirely my fault.”
Amused, Xu Qinghe laughed: “Can anything free actually be any good?”
Blinking, Chen Yuxi replied: “Then should I charge you a higher price instead?”
Xu Qinghe: “…”
Everyone burst into laughter.
Even Qi Xun, who had been sitting quietly without a word, curved the corners of his lips upward in a faint smile.
Following the conversational flow, Wang Lanyin asked out of curiosity: “Besides Undercurrent, what other works does Teacher Chen have?”
Chen Yuxi didn’t act coy and brought up two television and film works with higher popularity: “The drama Fairy fate’s theme song That Year, and Grand Reunion’s In a Hurry.”
Everyone was startled anew, their expressions shifting to one of genuine admiration.
“Those two songs were both written by you?!”
“I know how to sing both of them, oh!”
“When I was binge-watching Grand Reunion back then, the moment the music for In a Hurry played, I felt like crying my eyes out… I never expected it to be you!”
Xu Qinghe shared in the pride: “Right? I told you Yuxi is a treasure songwriter~”
Whether it was just polite lip service or not, everyone praised him with genuine emotion, leaving Chen Yuxi with no room to remain modest—excessive modesty was just hypocrisy, after all.
Still, not wanting to hog the spotlight further, he took the initiative to steer the conversation away toward a safe topic: “I heard that coming to our show means getting our hands dirty with farm work. Should we start getting ready?”
Long Vacation didn’t feature mini-games, lotteries, or battles of wits with the production staff; it operated on a single core principle: self-reliance.
Aside from basic personal items, whatever food and drink they wanted had to be earned through labor.
For instance, if they helped villagers harvest corn, they would be rewarded with some corn.
Of course, behind the scenes, these ingredients were purchased by the production team from the villagers, but placed in front of the camera, glamorous celebrities rolling up their sleeves to do actual manual labor already counted as a form of self-reliance.
Hearing Chen Yuxi cue the program flow, the others snapped out of it and hurriedly began discussing what to eat today.
Wang Lanyin said, “When I drove over this morning, I saw bitter gourds hanging all over the racks in the fields. We all have to stay up late when work gets busy; eating some bitter gourd helps clear inner heat. How about that? Nobody hates bitter gourd, right?”
Everyone nodded, indicating they were fine with it.
Duan Xirui smiled and added another suggestion: “The village also grows a lot of chili peppers. Today we can go harvest chili peppers and bitter gourds, and trade them with the village chief for some meat. Then we can make stuffed bitter gourd, stuffed chili peppers, braised pork with bitter gourd, and stir-fried pork with chilies.”
No one had any objections.
The group stood up to gather their gear: arm sleeves, sun hats, and a bamboo back-basket for each person.
The bitter gourd field and the chili pepper field were in opposite directions of the village, so they had to divide into groups before setting off.
Seven people split into two groups, drawing lots via rock-paper-scissors. Wang Lanyin, Qi Xun, and Chen Yuxi wound up in the bitter gourd group.
The youngest female guest, Jiang Xinwen, still lacked composure and let out a look of disappointment after glancing at the calm, silent Qi Xun.
Wang Lanyin smiled warmly: “Oh my, I get to work with two handsome guys… It’s a pity our group isn’t a foursome, otherwise if Yunhai came along too, I’d be sitting pretty reaping all the blessings today.”
Xu Qinghe feigned dissatisfaction: “Sister Lanyin, you’re ditching me and Xirui!”
Duan Xirui joined in on the fun: “I demand an explanation too!”
Wang Lanyin: “I have no interest in married handsome men!”
She turned around and hugged Chen Yuxi’s arm instead: “Single handsome guys are still much easier on the eyes—oh right, Yuxi is single, right?”
Chen Yuxi awkwardly glanced at the camera and honestly replied, “Yes, I’m single.”
Wang Lanyin looked triumphant: “See!”
Xu Qinghe slanted a sideways glance at Qi Xun: “Can’t say the same for Qi Xun.”
The room fell silent. This was right in front of the cameras, after all.
Asking Chen Yuxi was totally normal; after all, singer-songwriters spent most of their time behind the scenes and didn’t have many obsessive fans.
But asking Qi Xun… Only a heavyweight like Xu Qinghe dared to ask something like that.
Regardless, the moment Xu Qinghe’s words dropped, everyone turned in unison toward Qi Xun, including the staff positioned behind the lenses.
Even Chen Yuxi looked at him with curiosity.
Qi Xun, who hadn’t spoken for a while, swept his gaze over the crowd and finally opened his mouth.
“Mango TV invited me over to record a reality show just so they could get my exclusive scoop on my relationship status?”
His opening line dripped with sarcasm.
Everyone: “…”
Xu Qinghe let out a joking retort: “Look at that mouth of yours… Who cares if your scoop is exclusive or not? We just care whether you’re single—and it’s not just me who cares, the general public cares too.”
Qi Xun answered calmly: “Well, apologies then. I am still single. I’ll trouble the production team to notify the general public accordingly.”
Everyone: “…”
Chen Yuxi mentally reviewed Qi Xun’s resume: he debuted at 19, meaning he had been in the industry for 13 or 14 years.
At any rate, he had to be at least 32.
He was considered young among the circle of Film Kings.
Yet in the entertainment industry, given that kind of status and appearance, remaining single in one’s thirties was quite rare.
Or rather, people like that were either outwardly single while playing fast and loose behind closed doors.
He couldn’t help but secretly scrutinize Qi Xun. Could Qi Xun be one of those guys who plays around in private?
As if sensing his gaze, Qi Xun suddenly turned toward him. That deep, dark gaze, as if equipped with a GPS tracker, nailed itself precisely onto his face.
Chen Yuxi’s heart skipped a beat. He instinctively flashed a smile, then whipped his head away.
Right then, Xu Qinghe let out a “tsk”: “How many years have you been single? Brother had kids in middle school by your age. If you don’t find a partner soon, you’d better watch out that nobody else will want you.”
Qi Xun looked away as well and drawled slowly, “True. I’ll find one this year.”
Everyone: “!!”
Even Xu Qinghe was startled. Glancing at the camera, he threw him a ladder to back down gracefully: “Can you even schedule something like that? Did you find some master fortuneteller who calculated that you’re going to break out of singlehood this year?”
Qi Xun: “Mhm. I have a target in mind, and the master said this is my destined true match.”
Everyone: “!!!”
And they still claimed this wasn’t an exclusive scoop?!
Chen Yuxi, who had only known Qi Xun for a few hours, blinked with curiosity. Was Qi Xun always this easygoing in front of the camera?
Facing the ecstatic expressions of a bunch of staff members behind the lens, Xu Qinghe said dryly, “You aren’t actually serious, are you?”
Qi Xun propped his cap up with a finger, revealing his handsome face laced with sarcasm: “You guys actually believe me when I say things? What if I told you I’m Qin Shi Huang and I’m short five thousand yuan to unify the earth, would you wire me the money?”
Everyone: “…”
Chen Yuxi: Ah, this flavor is just right!!