Ye Yuyao met Deng You’s semi-mocking gaze.
Ding— A soft chime rang out.
“It’s time once again for tonight’s heart-throbbing goodnight message~ Please write down your goodnight message for your object of affection!”
It turned out to be this late already.
The production crew’s timed automated message broke the slightly confrontational atmosphere.
Cheng Yanzhi, who had remained silent on the sidelines the entire time, let out a somewhat regretful click of his tongue. “Let’s call it a night for today then; we can play the game another time. I’m getting sleepy, too. How are we dividing the tents?”
With three people per tent, splitting up was bound to be an issue.
“Should we draw lots again?” Huo Zheng chimed in, “Just like what Xu Qingnan did earlier.”
Everyone’s gazes naturally shifted toward Xu Qingnan.
Only to see the protagonist at the center of attention unhurriedly drinking down the last drop of his beverage. A single transparent droplet lingered precariously at the corner of his lips before following the motion of the man’s rolling Adam’s apple, sliding down from the corner of his mouth along his jawline and neck, and finally vanishing into the collar of his shirt.
Everyone’s gazes instinctively followed the movement, watching that droplet disappear out of sight past the collar, all simultaneously and inexplicably feeling a sense of disappointment.
“Didn’t you say I was cheating?” Xu Qingnan didn’t look the least bit uncomfortable under their scrutiny; on the contrary, he calmly looked back at each of them one by one from left to right. “You organize it this time, I’ll follow the arrangement.”
With those words spoken, he stood up. Meeting Ye Yuyao’s gaze directly and unblinkingly from a height of absolute condescension, he said flatly, “Same as before the last stick left over is mine.”
A strange flutter stirred in Ye Yuyao’s chest.
He felt as though he were being targeted by a wolf.
His wine-red hair took on an enchanting, seductive charm under the reflection of the night, and those slender eyes gazed at him with intense focus. There was zero emotion within those pitch-black pupils, as if the other person hadn’t taken his provocation from just a moment ago seriously at all.
It was a coldness bordering on contempt.
Even though Xu Qingnan hadn’t done a thing.
Yet Ye Yuyao felt as though his heartbeat, his breathing, and even the very flow of time had all slowed down.
He ought to tear his gaze away and pretend to be nonchalant, just like he excelled at doing.
But he didn’t.
His vision seemed to have slipped out of the control of his rational mind, firmly dragged along by a person whose background remained entirely unknown a situation fraught with extreme danger according to all the education he had received since childhood.
Someone nearby spoke.
The flow of time seemed to normalize once more.
Yet his heartbeat began to thump frantically and violently, as if it had beaten far too slowly just a moment ago and was now rushing to make up for the missing frequencies of those few seconds.
Yet Ye Yuyao found that he still couldn’t bear to look away.
Even when the other person proactively broke eye contact, an inexplicable urge to make him stay welled up in Ye Yuyao’s heart, nearly compelling him to chase after the man.
He wanted to look into those eyes once more, or perhaps be looked at by those eyes again.
Ye Yuyao was practically jolted back to his senses by Huo Zheng slapping him on the shoulder.
His complexion turned unsightly in a split second.
Is even my own composure slipping out of my control now?
Ye Yuyao looked toward Xu Qingnan’s broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted back
He had analyzed it thoroughly: Xu Qingnan was merely an ordinary person with an unruly personality. Whether from the perspective of power struggles or standards of preference, he was utterly unsuitable.
He was the very option he had crossed off first.
Ye Yuyao repeated this sentence to himself over and over again.
Suddenly, a tiny voice piped up: Even without any help, there’s no need to turn hostile.
Ye Yuyao instinctively retorted: We haven’t turned hostile.
Then what are you doing today?
Why did you suddenly develop hostility toward Xu Qingnan? Why did you give Huo Zheng such a relatively obvious hint? Are you truly thinking Xu Qingnan has a common family background, or are you constantly reminding yourself not to forget your original intention?
It was utterly absurd.
Suddenly, Huo Zheng’s face materialized before Ye Yuyao’s eyes, his mouth opening and closing, though what he was saying couldn’t be heard.
It was as if he were reminding him that Huo Zheng and Cheng Yanzhi were the directions he ought to be striving toward.
“What’s wrong, spaced out for a second,” Ye Yuyao had already adjusted his facial expressions so that not a single flaw could be detected. “Are we drawing lots now?”
“No,” Huo Zheng pressed his lips together; the current situation was indeed rather awkward. “We don’t need to draw anymore.”
Ye Yuyao asked with a puzzled look, “What do you mean?”
Huo Zheng fell silent for a brief moment before opening his palm. “Those three already finished drawing the long sticks.”
Lying right in the center of his palm were three wooden sticks matching in length all long ones.
The expression Ye Yuyao had just managed to readjust froze instantly on his face.
Meeting Huo Zheng’s worried gaze, he shook his head. “It’s fine, it’s actually great.”
“Then I’ll go tell him.” Huo Zheng nodded, gesturing toward Xu Qingnan’s direction.
The exact instant Huo Zheng turned away, he missed the sliver of a smile leaking from the outer corner of Ye Yuyao’s eye a smile of which even its owner remained completely unaware.
Once the tents were assigned, everyone proceeded to send out their respective heart-throbbing goodnight messages. In the next second, the wristbands chimed in unison.
“The mountain forest at night is dangerous! All six guests are requested to take turns keeping watch ordered alphabetically by first name. One hour per person, and starting from the second person onward, you must arrive at your post fifteen minutes early~”
“Alphabetical order by first name?” Deng You repeated, immediately counting off the six names on his fingers. “That means Cheng Yanzhi is first, I’m second, followed by Huo Zheng, Ren Xubai, Qingnan, and Ye Yuyao.”
Hearing this, Ren Xubai’s eyes lit up. His gait still somewhat stiff and unsteady, he shuffled over to Xu Qingnan’s side. “Xu-ge, why don’t you come find me a bit early later? I’m afraid of the dark.”
Xu Qingnan slanted a sidelong glance at him. “There are lights.”
“But the post for night watch is quite far from the lights, and who knows if there’ll be snakes,” Ren Xubai tugged at the cuff of Xu Qingnan’s sleeve. “Or is Xu-ge still mad at me, using this to punish me? But didn’t Xu-ge offer to apply my medicine? You already took the money for it.”
Xu Qingnan hadn’t forgotten this detail. “Fifteen minutes is plenty.”
Dragging out his tone, Ren Xubai attempted to haggle, “That’s definitely not enough—”
Xu Qingnan: “Pushing your luck?”
Stiffening slightly at Xu Qingnan’s cold face and recalling the way Xu Qingnan had disciplined him shortly before, Ren Xubai felt a mix of itching anticipation and dread in his chest. “I wouldn’t dare, I’ll listen to whatever you say. I’ll be waiting for you then!”
Without glancing at him again, Xu Qingnan turned and stepped inside the tent.
Only to find himself walking right into Huo Zheng changing into his pajamas.
Xu Qingnan only had enough time to catch a glimpse of the network of bruises new and old, overlapping layer upon layer in shades of blue and purple across the lean, muscular torso before lowering his eyes, murmuring an apology, and stepping back out.
He crossed paths with Ye Yuyao, who had lingered outside for a long while and only made a move to enter the tent the moment Xu Qingnan stepped in.
Ye Yuyao: “…”
He had no choice but to stride inside as if nothing were amiss.
Yet he was intercepted by Xu Qingnan.
Ye Yuyao: “?”
Meeting Ye Yuyao’s inexplicably guarded gaze, Xu Qingnan said, “Huo Zheng is changing clothes.”
Ye Yuyao offered an “oh.”
And stepped right up to Xu Qingnan’s side.
The heart hammering inside his chest, which had only just managed to barely normalize, attempted to go haywire once more.
Ye Yuyao adjusted his glasses.
His head wasn’t entirely clear today; in truth, he ought to apologize to Xu Qingnan.
They still had to spend another month together, so it wouldn’t do for every encounter to be icy cold.
Take the night watch coming up shortly, for instance the two of them were scheduled right back-to-back.
With a span of fifteen minutes, they couldn’t possibly stay completely silent the whole time.
Besides, this was still on a reality show with the entire interstellar web watching; failing to apologize would reflect poorly on his reputation.
Running all of these thoughts through his mind, Ye Yuyao finally spoke up, “Qingnan, I might have acted a bit inappropriately today. Did I make you feel uncomfortable?”
Smoothing over flowery apologies rolled off Ye Yuyao’s tongue effortlessly; it could be considered one of the traits he took the most pride in.
Yet he received no response from Xu Qingnan.
Was my phrasing too perfunctory?
Ye Yuyao tried again, “My spiritual power might be acting up a bit; I wasn’t deliberately targeting you.”
Still no response.
“If there’s anything you want, you can tell me. I’ll do my absolute best to make it happen for whatever is in my power.”
“…”
Ye Yuyao’s heartbeat grew increasingly frantic and chaotic. Finally pushed past his limit, he turned his head to glare straight at Xu Qingnan. “Is what I’m doing really that unacce—”
Only to discover that the other person was spacing out.
“What are you thinking about?”
As if triggered by this question, Xu Qingnan unconsciously replied, “Huo Zheng has a great physique.”
Unlike the muscles ordinary people built up in a gym which merely looked good aesthetically Huo Zheng’s muscles possessed a quality where you could genuinely sense the explosive power contained within them, while the bruises scattered across his skin served as the crowning touch of battle damage.
Though the market offered similar builds, most were overwhelmingly bulky, and none possessed the lean, whip-cord agility of Huo Zheng’s type.
Aside from the sketch he had drawn for Deng You, the last time Xu Qingnan had sketched a human anatomy figure was several years ago, after which he gradually lost interest.
However, Huo Zheng’s physique was a category Xu Qingnan hadn’t yet touched.
If Huo Zheng were willing, he could certainly serve as his model for a change.
The moment Xu Qingnan’s unconscious reply finished dropping, before Ye Yuyao could even utter a response, a rustling noise sounded from inside the tent. As the two of them pulled back the door flap, Huo Zheng was crouched on the ground picking up shards of broken glass, having already changed back into his sleepwear.
Huo Zheng swore he wasn’t intentionally eavesdropping.
Initially, he had locked onto Ye Yuyao, but later Xu Qingnan also captured more and more of his attention. Yet Ye Yuyao inexplicably kept targeting Xu Qingnan, leaving Huo Zheng somewhat baffled as to which side he should lean toward, though he still hoped the two of them could live together in peace.
Therefore, after changing his clothes and hearing Ye Yuyao offering an apology right outside the entrance, Huo Zheng hadn’t interrupted.
Seeing that Xu Qingnan remained silent the whole time, Huo Zheng simply assumed Ye Yuyao’s sincerity in apologizing hadn’t been quite enough yet.
Until—
“What are you thinking about?”
“Huo Zheng has a great physique.”