The assistant looked at Gu Minghe in shock.
A film emperor participating in a dating variety show was an unprecedented event. Yet, his boss was willingly lowering his status just for Pei Huaiyue, going so far as to participate in that damned dating show.
Did Gu Minghe’s fans have any idea that their idol was an absolute brainless simp when it came to love?
The way Pei Huaiyue looked when he emerged from the restroom was witnessed not only by the netizens in the live broadcast room but also by Su Jin.
He had already been full of question marks regarding Gu Yanchen’s behavior just moments ago. Now, seeing Pei Huaiyue’s delicate, bashful, and alluring appearance as if he had been “ravished,” his heart felt as though it was being squeezed tightly by a giant hand, making it hard for him to breathe.
Pei Huaiyue and Gu Yanchen… What on earth did they do in the restroom just now?!
Su Jin did not dare to think further into it, terrified that he wouldn’t be able to bear it.
[Detected that Su Jin’s misunderstanding value has deepened, host is rewarded with +100 points.]
[Detected that Su Jin’s misunderstanding value has deepened, host is rewarded with +100 points.]
The system’s prompt tones rang incessantly in his mind once more, putting Pei Huaiyue in a rather good mood.
He flashed a sweet smile toward Su Jin. “Brother Su Jin, what’s wrong with you? Your complexion doesn’t look too good. Are you exhausted?”
Su Jin snapped back to his senses, looking at Pei Huaiyue with a complex gaze. “I’m fine. We should go downstairs.”
“Then let’s go together.”
As Pei Huaiyue spoke, he made to wrap his arm around Su Jin’s. Before he could even touch the other man, a large hand reached out and pulled Su Jin away in advance.
Gu Yanchen glanced back at Pei Huaiyue, his gaze still filled with a thick warning.
Pei Huaiyue smiled and glued himself to him in a coquettish manner. “Brother Chen, wait for me, don’t leave me behind.”
Gu Yanchen’s misunderstanding of him didn’t award points from the system. It seemed he could only make breakthroughs through Su Jin, so Pei Huaiyue had no choice but to continue playing that annoying role.
Meanwhile, seeing Pei Huaiyue catch up, Su Jin abruptly and nervously gripped Gu Yanchen’s hand, pulling him along as they walked away quickly, leaving Pei Huaiyue far behind in the dust.
Under Pei Huaiyue’s assisting pushes, the main gong and shou grew close to each other unconsciously just like that.
Once downstairs, Pei Huaiyue had already draped Gu Yanchen’s jacket over his shoulders, covering up the ambiguous marks on his neck.
The others came down one after another as well. Seeing that it was getting dark, everyone proposed that they could start making dinner.
Since Pei Huaiyue didn’t know how to cook, he was assigned to help prep.
Shen Zhimian and Zhou Jingyuan were responsible for going out to buy groceries, while Xia Mu and Su Jin were in charge of cooking.
Su Jin cooked Chinese cuisine, and Xia Mu cooked Western cuisine, striving to cater to everyone’s tastes.
As for Gu Yanchen, naturally, he revolved around Su Jin.
Seeing this, Pei Huaiyue followed along as well.
The three of them crammed the small kitchen so full that even turning around was difficult.
Fortunately, the villa had two kitchens, so Xia Mu went over to the other side, preventing himself from being crammed in with them.
“Yanchen, go wash these vegetables, and Xiaoxue, you come peel the garlic.” Su Jin distributed the tasks methodically. Pei Huaiyue agreed verbally, but his hands were clumsy and slow at peeling.
He never did any chores at home normally, being waited on hand and foot by Gu Minghe. Let alone peeling garlic, even oranges had someone else peel and feed straight into his mouth.
By the time Gu Yanchen finished washing the vegetables, the clove of garlic in Pei Huaiyue’s hand was still in its original state.
He said as a matter of course, “This garlic is no good, it’s too hard to peel! I want to change to another one!”
With that, he raised his fair, slender fingers, which were already turning red, and said pitifully, “Look, my hands are all peeled red…”
Gu Yanchen also witnessed firsthand just how well-pampered Pei Huaiyue was by his younger brother, to the point where he couldn’t even peel garlic.
Pushing up his glasses, he said helplessly, “Little master, go rest over there. Don’t trouble yourself with such rough work.”
“Brother Chen, I can do it…” Pei Huaiyue still wanted to complete his tasks.
Meeting Gu Yanchen’s glare, he sheepishly put down the garlic.
Whatever, he didn’t want to peel it anyway.
Garlic smelled stinky.
The live chat viewers were on the verge of being speechless to death upon seeing that Pei Huaiyue couldn’t even peel garlic.
Does Pei Huaiyue really think he came here to be a young master? He can’t even peel garlic; is he normally incapable of even taking care of basic living needs?
Is it possible that he really is a young master? Having people wait on him at home normally makes it completely normal that he doesn’t know how to peel garlic, and he doesn’t need to do it himself anyway.
Oh my, Pei Huaiyue’s fingers are all red; he looks so pitiful.
Doesn’t anyone find his clumsy look while peeling garlic cute?
Pei Huaiyue, hurry up and leave, don’t disturb me watching Su Jin and Gu Yanchen!
Su Jin is still the domestic, virtuous one; he can dance and cook, standing next to Gu Yanchen is just pleasing to the eye!
Driven out of the kitchen, Pei Huaiyue wandered around the villa for a bit out of sheer boredom.
His gaze fixed on the piano placed in the living room.
He walked over, his slender fingers brushing across the keys, and suddenly felt the urge to play.
Sitting before the piano, the sunset’s afterglow poured through the floor-to-ceiling windows, spilling over his slender, thin back. With his eyelashes lowered slightly, his ten fingers danced swiftly across the keys, and a rendition of Dream Wedding drifted into every corner of the villa.
Hearing the piano music, everyone looked toward Pei Huaiyue’s direction.
They saw the beauty sitting there with grace and elegance. With his eyes closed, the corners of his lips curved into a slight smile.
In the twilight, his pale face appeared so fragile, resembling a shattering piece of colored glass, transparent and lingeringly tender, making one want to protect him properly.
Everyone’s breathing hitched.
No matter how poor Pei Huaiyue’s public reputation was, one had to admit that he was indeed exceptionally good-looking.
Jiang Leran, who had been helping Xia Mu prep, finished the work in his hands and said to Xia Mu, “I’ve finished what you asked me to do. I’ll leave the rest to you.”
Without caring about what expression Xia Mu wore, he strode quickly toward Pei Huaiyue.
Meanwhile, Zhou Jingyuan, having some free time, also crowded over.
The two of them surrounded Pei Huaiyue, showering him with praise.
“Pei Huaiyue, your piano playing sounds so good.” Jiang Leran was completely captivated by him. “You’re so pretty and talented, is there anything you can’t do?”
Zhou Jingyuan’s gaze was also fixed straight on Pei Huaiyue. “Was this song played for me? I like it very much!”
Pei Huaiyue’s piano-playing motion paused as he cast a smile that didn’t reach his eyes toward Zhou Jingyuan.
“It wasn’t played for you.”
He was playing it for Gu Minghe.
This was the song he had played for Gu Minghe on the day they registered their marriage.
Because it was a secret marriage, they didn’t hold a wedding ceremony, which displeased Gu Minghe. Since the wedding he had meticulously planned couldn’t take place, he could only press Pei Huaiyue down on the bed to make up for the wedding instead.
Unable to take it, Pei Huaiyue had played a Dream Wedding to coax his husband into happiness.
Gu Minghe immediately stopped being angry and, with high spirits, pinned Pei Huaiyue down on the piano to go at it a few more times.
Remembering this, Pei Huaiyue could still recall the icy-cold sensation when his skin touched the piano, as well as the haphazard, chaotic piano notes echoing around… His face flushed quietly, and he wondered if Gu Minghe was watching this show. If he saw it, he would probably be very, very angry.
Right after divorcing him, he had eagerly come to a dating show to date.
He must be even more disappointed in him.
Pei Huaiyue pursed his lips, cast away distracting thoughts from his mind, and continued playing the piano.
Half an hour later, the dinner on both sides was ready.
Su Jin called everyone over to eat.
Naturally, Pei Huaiyue sat right next to Gu Yanchen again, heaping praise upon the dishes Su Jin had made: “Brother Su Jin, you’re amazing. These dishes look delicious at first glance, complete with color, aroma, and taste, unlike me who can’t do anything and can’t even handle prep work. Fortunately, Brother Chen pities me and didn’t let me continue. Brother Chen is truly so good to me.”
This speech instantly struck everyone at the dining table into silence.
Gu Yanchen’s mouth twitched. “I just didn’t want you to keep making a mess.”
As for Su Jin, his expression remained normal. Before Pei Huaiyue could reach out, he picked up a serving of vegetables with his chopsticks and fed it to Gu Yanchen first. “Yanchen, taste how this is?”
Being fed by Su Jin, Gu Yanchen naturally felt sweet inside. He took a bite and smiled, saying, “Delicious. Your culinary skills are as good as ever.”
With the two of them going back and forth like this, they practically had a locked-in CP trend going on.
The others present had also read the hot search gossip. While they previously thought Pei Huaiyue could contend with Su Jin, looking at it now, he was purely sticking to them shamelessly.
With Su Jin and Gu Yanchen locked down, and lacking Pei Huaiyue’s boldness to wedge themselves in the middle and endure the wrath of Gu-Su CP fans, they collectively abandoned these two prime targets and cast their thoughts elsewhere.
After finishing dinner, everyone knew each other a bit better.
After the meal, Xia Mu took the initiative to say, “I’ll wash the dishes.”
Jiang Leran blocked him. “That won’t do. You cooked tonight, how can we let you wash the dishes? I’ll do it.”
“No need, you helped me prep tonight, how can I trouble you again?” Xia Mu rejected him, but his gaze landed on Pei Huaiyue. “Sigh, I’m not like some young masters whose hands are only meant for playing the piano and can’t do rough work. This pair of hands of mine was born for doing labor.”
These words were practically pointing fingers and naming names.
Pei Huaiyue was startled. Yo, is he talking about me?
The live chat viewers also agreed with Xia Mu’s words.
Pei Huaiyue didn’t do a single thing all night, only playing the piano. He should be the one sent to wash the dishes!
Playing the piano lets him show off and stand out, so how could he showcase himself buried in the kitchen washing dishes?
Such a schemer, totally a schemer!
Xia Mu is practically my mouthpiece! Someone really needs to put Pei Huaiyue in his place!
Does he really think he’s on the show to be a young master?
Facing everyone’s gazes, Pei Huaiyue said with poise and grace, “Wash the dishes? Sure, I’ll wash them.”
Seeing that he didn’t push back at all, Xia Mu, who had prepared himself for a quarrel, was momentarily stunned. By the time he snapped back to reality, Pei Huaiyue was already bustling away in the kitchen.
Pei Huaiyue never washed dishes at home either; there was a dishwasher at home. In the program, to give everyone plenty of opportunities to showcase themselves, things like dishwashers naturally weren’t provided.
Looking at the tall stack of bowls, he found it quite a headache too.
The moment his fingers touched the cold water in the sink, it made him shiver, prompting him to quickly turn on the hot water instead.
And his fair fingers turned flushed red all over again.
Zhou Jingyuan and Jiang Leran hurriedly crowded over. “Pei Huaiyue, I’ll help you.” “How can you let someone do rough work like washing dishes!”
The two of them squeezed Pei Huaiyue aside, not letting him wash even a single bowl, and cleaned up the entire stack of tableware themselves.
Xia Mu, who originally wanted to watch Pei Huaiyue suffer a bit and incidentally take some flak, grew so furious inside seeing that he still hadn’t suffered the slightest hardship, though he couldn’t show it on his face and could only harbor silent anger.
Before sleeping at night, the production team asked them to send anonymous text messages to their crush of choice.
Without a second thought, Pei Huaiyue sent his to Gu Yanchen.
“Thank you for taking care of me today (heart)”
He placed his phone aside and was just about to go sleep when his phone started chiming ding-dong, ding-dong.
Pei Huaiyue received two text messages.
Both praised his piano playing, and without needing to guess, he knew who they were from. Pei Huaiyue didn’t pay them much mind.
Su Jin and Gu Yanchen’s phones also chimed once each.
Pei Huaiyue guessed they must have mutually chosen each other.
He yawned and spoke sweetly toward Gu Yanchen’s direction, “Goodnight, Brother Chen, Brother Su Jin, have a good dream.”
Just as Pei Huaiyue fell asleep, an online crusade began regarding his behavior today on the show, acting like a pampered young master, lazy and sluggish, refusing to do a lick of work.
Some netizens said, “No choice, who told Pei Huaiyue to actually be a young master? Even if you guys are jealous, it won’t change the facts!”
Quite a few people gave it a thumbs-up of agreement.
However, not long after, a newly created minor account posted an expository post:
“The recently viral internet celebrity Pei Huaiyue is no rich young master at all! My mom used to be neighbors with Pei Huaiyue’s mom, and Pei Huaiyue’s family is definitely not wealthy! His mom used to work as a hired maid for the Gu family, so how did she suddenly transform into a second-generation rich kid? Is it trendy to fake a rich second-generation persona on the internet now?”