The heavy atmosphere in the room only eased slightly after the waiter jogged back from the kitchen, out of breath, and explained everything he had learned from the chef.
“That plate of buns was specially requested by someone; that… that gentleman actually wanted to surprise Mr. Ming,” the waiter explained. “He said that Mr. Ming doesn’t like pork belly buns or dumplings, but prefers lean meat and crab roe fillings…”
“The head chef had received a prior warning that President Yun was allergic to crab roe, so that plate of buns was processed entirely in a different area using different utensils. I didn’t expect it to be served to the wrong person… I am truly sorry, this is entirely my mistake. I am so sorry.”
Yun Qi didn’t say anything upon hearing this, but Duan Xingge frowned, intending to speak clearly wanting to interrogate who the person was.
However, before he could speak, someone voluntarily admitted it.
“Um… I asked the chef to make that plate of buns,” Cheng Xi said, suddenly speaking up from the side. “I really didn’t know President Yun was allergic to crab roe. I just wanted to give Xiao Jiao a surprise. I… I’m sorry… I’m really sorry!”
Duan Xingge didn’t intend to let it go so easily; instead, he narrowed his eyes: “Since it was served for Ming Jiao, and there were only eight people in total, how could it be served to the wrong person?”
Hearing him call his name directly, Ming Jiao was clearly stunned, his expression tinged with a bit of gloom and grievance.
Upon hearing this, the waiter quickly added: “It was the position”
“I told the chef the position,” Cheng Xi hurriedly explained. “Before you all came, Xiao Jiao was sitting in President Yun’s seat. After I noted the position, I went to the kitchen to tell the chef. I didn’t expect that when I came back, Xiao Jiao had been pulled over to sit there by Luo Guang… I really didn’t do it on purpose. I’m truly sorry.”
Cheng Xi’s apology was very sincere, but there was one thing Duan Xingge couldn’t accept: “If it wasn’t on purpose, why didn’t you admit it just now?”
“I… sigh, President Duan, the way you looked just now was like… like you were going to eat someone. How would I dare to say anything,” Cheng Xi said embarrassedly. “I really haven’t seen you lose your temper like this before… President Yun, I’m truly sorry.”
Duan Xingge’s expression remained somewhat gloomy. Seeing this, Ming Jiao spoke up cautiously: “I… I’m sorry, A-Yun. I didn’t know he had prepared a surprise for me. If I had known, I wouldn’t have switched seats.”
Yun Qi waved his hand, but his emotions were still immersed in the unfinished thoughts from just a moment ago.
Fortunately, no one, including Duan Xingge, noticed his anomaly. Seeing that he didn’t speak, Ming Jiao couldn’t help but ask with concern: “A-Yun, your complexion doesn’t look good… Is Xing-Xing’s medicine not working? Should you go back to your room and rest for a while?”
This gave Yun Qi an excellent excuse. He cleared his throat and said: “My throat is a bit swollen, the medicine might take a while to take effect. I’ll go back and rest first; you all continue eating.”
Having said that, he took the opportunity to get up and turned to leave the venue first.
When he left, he didn’t dare to look at Duan Xingge at all; he didn’t dare to face this person who might be… the dreamer who died because of him.
Duan Xingge, however, didn’t know what Yun Qi was thinking; he only knew that Ming Jiao had asked Yun Qi to return to his room, and the other party had left without saying a single word to him.
Duan Xingge withdrew his gaze. He didn’t say anything on the surface, only lowered his eyes to gently conceal the dark emotions at the bottom of his pupils.
Not long after, the other guests also finished lunch and rose to return to their rooms to rest.
Before the guests dispersed, the host announced the activities for this afternoon: “After everyone has finished their afternoon nap, please gather in the activity room on the first floor. This afternoon’s activity is titled ‘The Counterfeit Auction.’ The rewards and penalties are quite unique, so remember to wear thinner clothes!”
The host didn’t describe the specific content of the activity in detail, and as for what that punishment—which required wearing thinner clothes—actually was, he said even less.
Although the curiosity of the viewers had been greatly piqued, they obviously had more important things to do before the afternoon activity arrived.
With this interruption at noon, the “A Promise of Mountains and Seas” production team keenly grasped the popularity. Upholding the attitude that “bad publicity is still publicity,” they dared to touch any trending topic even phrases like “suspected wealthy family infighting, Yun family head nearly harmed” were topics they dared to buy, not to mention other CP-related topics.
So, one after another, the trends took the stage; Weibo became a platform for an all-out brawl.
When Ming Jiao’s CP fans dominated the scene, the show’s popularity was decent, but that was only enough to attract netizens who already liked watching dating shows. For an excellent variety show to truly break out of its niche, it needed more complex and impactful topics.
Countless passersby saw such explosive trending topics and thought they were news about wealthy family infighting. When they clicked in, they realized it was a dating show. But before they could feel disappointed and back out, they were shocked by the massive verbal battle under the entries.
As a result, the dating show, which originally had mid-to-high ratings, ushered in unprecedented popularity. But at the same time, a large number of true passersby—who had no experience watching dating shows, or even variety shows at all, and were only there to watch the gossip—poured into the livestream room.
The influence eventually brought by these viewers was naturally enormous, and it even reversed the direction of the bullet comments and comments for the entire show.
However, Yun Qi was unaware of what was happening on the internet. Not long after he returned to the room, the symptoms in his throat subsided, but before he could breathe a sigh of relief, a familiar itching sensation spread over his body.
He had already taken the medicine Duan Xingge gave him. Although he also brought his own allergy medicine, obviously, the two shouldn’t be taken together.
Moreover, the medicine had clearly taken effect; the itching was considered the most negligible symptom. Based on Yun Qi’s experience, it only needed a cold compress to be relieved.
However, just as he came out of the bathroom with a washed towel and was preparing to take off his shirt, the door was suddenly opened by someone.
Yun Qi raised his eyes abruptly. The moment the light shone in, the two lifetimes seemed to overlap at this instant; a scene of déjà vu played out once more. The feeling of being in another world made Yun Qi’s heart tighten.
While his mind was blank, he couldn’t help but want to ask the question directly: “You…”
Duan Xingge, however, was one step faster than him: “The chef’s confession is the same as Cheng’s. Since no established fact was formed, reporting to the police might not have substantial results, but I always feel…”
His expression was still somewhat displeased; it was clear he didn’t believe this was truly a coincidence. He was deliberating whether to call the police, but halfway through his sentence, he stopped, turned around, and closed the door: “What’s wrong with me? What were you just about to say?”
Yun Qi, however, suddenly recovered from that state of emotion, lowering his eyes to silently look at his own pale fingertips.
If things were indeed as he suspected… before he clarified the situation and was certain of it, he couldn’t drag Duan Xingge into the water again.
Moreover, what the other party said coincided with his own thoughts. Reporting to the police now was nothing more than “beating the grass to scare the snake.” In a situation where it was impossible to determine how many perpetrators there were from the previous life, if one was allowed to escape, the consequences after leaving the cruise ship would be immeasurable.
Either don’t do it at all, or do it thoroughly.
“Nothing, I just wanted to ask…” Yun Qi pressed his lips together, throwing out a question similar to the one in his previous life, “How did you know I was allergic to crab roe?”
Hearing this, Duan Xingge changed from his previous gloom, took the initiative to raise an eyebrow, and deliberately drew out his voice: “President Yun before questioning others, why don’t you explain why you were secretly looking at me before you ate the bun?”
Yun Qi’s heart tightened; an unprovoked panic surfaced. He never expected Duan Xingge to actually notice.
Right now, others probably couldn’t see Yun Qi’s nervousness, but Duan Xingge saw it clearly.
“Is it possible you knew early on that I could taste it?” he said, curling the corners of his mouth meaningfully. “But I remember I only mentioned this on one variety show. How did President Yun know? Could it be that you secretly watch my variety shows alone?”
Yun Qi was caught off guard and exposed the fact that he secretly watched Duan Xingge’s variety shows after their falling out. At this moment, any explanation was pale. He could only choose the lesser of two evils and found an excuse that wasn’t exactly perfect: “…I just saw it casually on Weibo.”
Duan Xingge didn’t intend to let him go, but instead nodded knowingly: “Oh that means President Yun specifically downloaded Weibo for me and even secretly looked up my search terms.”
Yun Qi: “…I didn’t.”
Duan Xingge deliberately took two steps forward, leaned against the bedside, lowered his voice, and said: “Dare to do it but dare not admit it… Does President Yun have a crush on me?”
Yun Qi was exasperated: “I told you I don’t! You better be”
Yun Qi was so angry that he wanted to scold him, but halfway through his words, he suddenly remembered the one-in-ten-thousand possibility and thought of that bottomless, icy, bone-chilling seabed. The rest of his words suddenly became stuck on the tip of his tongue.
Seeing that he suddenly stopped talking, Duan Xingge thought his allergy symptoms had flared up again and immediately put on a serious face: “What’s wrong? Is the medicine not working? Is your throat still blocked?”
Yun Qi didn’t want to continue the previous topic, so he went with the flow and shook his head: “It’s not blocked, just a little itchy on my body.”
However, he didn’t know that these words were pushing him from one fire pit into another.
Yun Qi had only said it casually; he never expected Duan Xingge to take out a specialized topical ointment from his luggage.
Seeing this, Yun Qi’s eyelids couldn’t help but twitch; a sudden illusion arose that the other party was Doraemon.
He didn’t know if Duan Xingge had brought the same ointment in his previous life.
If he had brought it, it meant that even though the two of them had almost no interaction, Duan Xingge still carried the ointment just in case, even if Yun Qi might never know everything he had done.
If he hadn’t brought it in the previous life, it meant that a subtle difference had occurred between the two lifetimes.
So, was this difference the butterfly effect caused by his choice to meet with Duan Xingge before the dating show, or…
Yun Qi pressed his lips together, as if to divert his own attention, raised his hand to receive the ointment, while stubbornly saying: “How on earth did you know I was allergic?”
Duan Xingge paused at this, but instead of giving him the ointment, he said something that was nonsensical yet meaningful: “Who told you to be so defenseless against me all the time.”
Yun Qi frowned: “What do you mean?”
“It means…” Duan Xingge approached holding the ointment, “President Yun should ask himself more often why you always stay in the bedroom without locking the door every time you have an allergic reaction. How confident are you in yourself to think you could hide it from someone under the same roof, let alone someone who is to you”
Saying this, Duan Xingge suddenly paused, curled the corners of his mouth without continuing, and instead blurted out: “Do you know where you like to get red the most every time you have an allergic reaction?”
Yun Qi was stunned. After realizing exactly what obscene words this rebellious little bastard had said, his face became burning hot with anger: “You”
“Want to know?” Duan Xingge deliberately misinterpreted Yun Qi’s meaning, leaned forward, and while Yun Qi was exasperated, he raised his hand and flirtatiously hooked the necklace out from the other’s collar: “Then take off your clothes, behave, and let me finish applying the medicine for you, and I’ll tell you.”
Follow-up question: Would you like me to continue translating the next chapter, or is there a specific interaction or plot detail you would like to analyze?