Chu Xingyun finished washing his hands, picked up two cloves of garlic, and began to peel them leisurely.
“I thought I’d be able to eat a dish made by you today, Brother,” he said in a regretful tone.
Cen Jing didn’t bother to engage with the bait. “I’ll personally pour some peanuts into a bowl for you later.”
“My cooking is actually quite good.” Ye Hancheng turned on one of the stove burners, started a pot of water, and began preparing the marinade for the meat. “You can have your brother cook next time. He knows how to make all those dishes you used to order now.”
Cen Jing: “…?”
How can a perfectly good Film Emperor be such a blabbermouth?
“Oh…” A playful, teasing smile appeared on Chu Xingyun’s face. “You won’t let me eat them, yet you went and learned how to make them? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I didn’t know what to learn, so I just learned the ones I had an impression of in my head,” Cen Jing replied, quickly regaining his composure. “Don’t overthink it.”
“I’m not overthinking anything.” Chu Xingyun dropped the peeled garlic cloves into a porcelain bowl. “I was just asking casually.”
Cen Jing: “Mm.”
“I’m really curious, though.” Seeing how ‘harmonious’ the two were being, Ye Hancheng couldn’t help but gossip. “You two seem to get along pretty well. Why did you have a falling out before?”
Cen Jing’s hand paused while chopping the side dishes. “…It’s hard to explain in one sentence.”
Ye Hancheng: “Then use a few more sentences. Since you’ve already come to this godforsaken show… you’ll have to talk about it eventually.”
“I’ll say it then.” Chu Xingyun took the initiative to speak. “Hmm… it was probably a mix of overlapping career positioning and a clash of philosophies.”
【Pfft, I got nervous for nothing. I really thought I’d hear some different explanation, but it’s just so official.】
【Isn’t this the same conclusion CP fans analyzed before? You brat, you’re just copying their answers, aren’t you?】
【You guys misunderstand; he’s just trying to leave some suspense for later.】
【Actually, they just broke up (I’m being bold here).】
“Oh… you both debuted from that survival show, right?” Ye Hancheng didn’t doubt Chu Xingyun’s answer. “Resource competition does happen in that case. Not long after I became famous, some meddling media did a roundup of ‘tough guy’ young actors and I suddenly had several rivals out of nowhere… So, you were stirred up by outside voices?”
Cen Jing: “…”
If he wasn’t one of the people involved, he would have believed that explanation by now.
“No,” Chu Xingyun said airily. “At that time, the entire internet was begging us to ‘get back together’ (reunite).”
Ye Hancheng felt his head buzz. “…Get back together?”
What a strange choice of words?
He probably meant ‘collaborate’ again?
Their collaborations worked well, so people wanted them to work together again?
“Yeah, get back together.” Chu Xingyun nodded to confirm the term, staring at Cen Jing. “Brother should know about that too, right?”
Cen Jing placed the chopped vegetables onto a plate. “I was offline. I didn’t know.”
“No wonder.” Chu Xingyun acted as if he had just realized something. “I was saying that someone who dotes on fans as much as Brother wouldn’t be so heartless. If you had seen it, you would have definitely come back to me to reunite.”
Back then, after they unfollowed each other on social media, their respective “solo-stans” (toxic fans) had indeed celebrated for a while.
However, they soon realized that after leaving each other, one’s work status plummeted while the other completely disappeared from the internet. They eventually gave a tacit approval for the CP fans’ massive “begging for reunion” campaign.
Of course in the end, it was all for nothing.
“…You two were in a relationship before?” Ye Hancheng’s eyes were filled with shock.
There are many people in the industry who aren’t picky about gender; being gay wasn’t that shocking to him. What shocked him was that these two actually had the courage to be public about it.
Is the environment so relaxed nowadays?
“No,” Cen Jing answered first. “…That’s just a joke the fans made up.”
“These are called CP fans,” Chu Xingyun added thoughtfully. “Does Senior not know? You and Teacher Lin have a significant number of CP fans too.”
Ye Hancheng: “?”
Chu Xingyun spoke enthusiastically: “Let me first educate you on what a CP fan is.”
【Validation from the source itself! [Thumbs up]】
【[Smile] Please, as the source, respect us CP fans and don’t spread our secrets everywhere, okay?】
【Now it feels like being thrown under the scorching sun by Chu Xingyun. It’s so agonizing.】
【What on earth has he been looking at online— [Covers ears]】
By the time Cen Jing finished chopping everything, Chu Xingyun had also finished his “education.”
Ye Hancheng was now as flustered as someone who had discovered a new continent. “Then… then why do Lin Shen and I have CP fans? He’s already married.”
Chu Xingyun smiled: “Probably because of your special history? They ‘ship’ a certain feeling; you don’t need to worry too much about it.”
“Oh…” Ye Hancheng shook off the goosebumps on his arms. “Fine! But this is truly terrifying.”
“Actually, I’ve even read about you and Lin—”
“Enough.” Cen Jing’s finger lightly poked Chu Xingyun’s waist. “There’s nothing left for you to do here. Go sit outside.”
If he didn’t stop him, Chu Xingyun might actually start reading fanfiction out loud in front of Ye Hancheng.
“Mm…” Chu Xingyun instinctively tensed his body, instantly forgetting what he was about to say.
A trace of coolness lingered on the fabric of his clothes, carrying the specific pressure and temperature of Cen Jing’s fingertip. He could even imagine the curve of that finger and the faint airflow created when it was withdrawn.
This feeling… was very good.
Like a small pebble being thrown into a calm lake, sending out ripples.
“Go once you’ve said ‘mm’.” Cen Jing tilted his chin toward the kitchen door. “That way.”
“Got it.” Chu Xingyun snapped out of his daze. When he reached the door, he looked back. “Don’t just serve peanuts. Make two other dishes… even one is fine.”
Cen Jing: “Okay.”
Chu Xingyun returned to the living room with a light step and found that Jiang Xun, who had been asleep, was now awake and discussing the plot with Lin Shen.
“It’s illogical for a general with a powerful army to act so cowardly. What was the screenwriter thinking?”
“War is quite tough, huh? A 20-year-old boy-general looks this old.”
“I saw someone online say that the protagonist suffering is actually another form of a ‘highlight’… That’s true in some cases, but you have to look at the situation, right? What charm does a purely cowardly protagonist like this have?”
“Exactly. I’d rather go up and act for a couple of episodes myself.”
“Taking any script that comes along, I wouldn’t have had the heart to let him suffer this grievance before.”
“Wasn’t that script given by you?”
“I…”
“Ahem.” Chu Xingyun walked around the sofa and sat down. “I’m back.”
Lin Shen glanced at him. “You didn’t clog the toilet, did you?”
“I stopped by the kitchen for an inspection,” Chu Xingyun said without a hint of a blush. “I also chatted with Teacher Ye for a bit.”
Lin Shen instinctively asked, “About what?”
“About how good his cooking is.”
“Tch, boring.”
At 12:40, the six of them took their seats in the dining room.
The table was filled with a rich variety of dishes, a well-balanced mix of meat and vegetables. No one would doubt it if you said they were brought in from a high-end hotel.
“Wow, this looks even better than what the auntie at our gaming base makes,” Jiang Xun exclaimed with sincere admiration. “So, you guys really do know how to cook? I thought it was just some trendy persona.”
Chen Shu distributed the freshly squeezed juice to everyone. “I beg you to say fewer stupid things every day.”
Jiang Xun, who only heard the first three words, said smugly, “So there are times when you beg me too?”
Chen Shu: “…I beg you to go die.”
“Even if you beg me, I won’t agree.”
Chu Xingyun quietly turned the lazy Susan on the table, scanning all the dishes. The corners of his mouth turned up uncontrollably.
“Alright, let’s wait until after dinner to argue.” He made a ‘shh’ gesture to Jiang Xun and then asked the others: “Do you want to drink something? I brought a few bottles of good wine.”
“We’re recording a show…”
“But a little bit should be okay, right?”
“Let’s have a little then.”
“Before coming to the show, the thing I feared most wasn’t meeting this old fellow.” After drinking more than half a glass of wine, Ye Hancheng began to pour his heart out. “What I feared most… was having absolutely nothing in common with you four young people.”
“That worry is a bit excessive.” Cen Jing added some more wine to Ye Hancheng’s glass. “We all speak Chinese; how could we have nothing in common?”
“Hahaha… true enough.” Ye Hancheng laughed heartily. “Just in this short half-day of being together, I really feel like my mindset has become much younger.”
Cen Jing said sincerely: “You’re only thirty-eight. That is very young.”
“My first TV drama was filmed when I was eighteen. Today, it’s been exactly 20 years… 20 years. I feel like I’ve always been in this circle, a big one that I can’t seem to walk out of…”
“Drink a bit of ‘horse urine’ (booze) and you start baring your soul again,” Lin Shen sneered, but he didn’t continue the mockery.
“There are some things he can’t say unless he drinks a little.”
While Cen Jing chatted with Ye Hancheng over there, on the other side, Jiang Xun, who was sitting next to Chu Xingyun, couldn’t hold back anymore.
“Buddy, have you never eaten spare ribs in your life? There are so many dishes on the table, and you’re only eating this one?” Puzzled, he picked up a rib and put it in his mouth, saying while chewing: “…I mean, it’s good, but it’s not mind-blowingly amazing, is it?”
“You’re meddling in this too?” Chu Xingyun gave him a dark look. “If it’s not mind-blowing, then don’t eat it.”
As soon as Jiang Xun heard he wasn’t allowed to eat it, he was instantly energized. He poked his chopsticks into the braised spare ribs. “Then I insist on eating it.”
Chu Xingyun shot him several “death glares.” “Shut your mouth.”
“Mmm-yum, it’s really good.” Jiang Xun nodded frantically while eating. “I want more!”
“Eat then. If you have a good appetite, then eat more.”
Chu Xingyun nodded with a smile and began to very “kindly” pile other dishes into Jiang Xun’s bowl until the food reached the height of a small mountain.
Jiang Xun’s eyes darted around. He grabbed the plate of braised spare ribs, making a move to pour them all into his mouth.
“Jiang Xun—” Chu Xingyun instinctively raised his voice. “Put that down!”
【He’s panicked, he’s panicked, he’s panicked!】
【I think I’ve realized something, guys… do you think he used to eat this dish often, but hasn’t had it in 7 years? [Hint]】
【* I’ve been thinking the same thing but I was afraid of being scolded by the ‘brothers’ for having a ‘shipping brain’…*】
【Being this protective over food, I don’t believe there isn’t something suspicious going on.】
As soon as Chu Xingyun spoke, he instantly attracted the attention of everyone else at the table—including Ye Hancheng, who was in the middle of baring his soul.
“What’s going on?” Ye Hancheng squinted. “…Why are you fighting?”
“He won’t let me eat the spare ribs!” Jiang Xun was the first to complain.
“Who won’t let you eat them?” Chu Xingyun took the opportunity to rescue the braised spare ribs and put them back on the table. “You’ve already eaten two pieces.”