At this moment, the livestream for A Promise of Mountains and Seas reached its highest popularity in history. The exploding bullet comments practically covered the entire screen:
“??? No, wait, did I mishear??”
“Xing-Xing, what did you just call President Yun?! I’m asking you what you just called him??!! ”
“‘Brother, Oh my god, you kid really know how to call him that, ahhhhhh, I’ve gone mad, don’t stop me!”
“Fine, fine, fine. You pretended not to know each other, pretended to be strangers, pretended to have broken up in the first phase, and called him ‘President Yun’ so coldly—it turns out you were all acting!!”
“Ahhhhhhh, I don’t even dare to look at this position.”
“President Yun is still wearing the blindfold!! The production team deserves to be worshipped in the imperial temple!!”
Although the guests still couldn’t see the state of the bullet comments, Yun Qi knew exactly what kind of situation the livestream room must be in right now, even without checking.
Even he himself felt a wave of numbness in his heart after hearing that “Brother” unexpectedly; not to mention the audience who had been deceived by Duan Xingge’s innocent appearance until now.
Enduring the heat in his earlobes while cursing that brat for his lack of discretion, Yun Qi pressed his lips together and sat up, pretending nothing had happened. His right hand, clutching the gemstone, had no point of support and was forced to press down on Duan Xingge’s abdominal muscles.
Even though Yun Qi used two hundred percent of his self-control, his wrist still couldn’t help but tremble slightly.
By the time he finally managed to stand up and grope for Duan Xingge, pulling him up from the ground, the other groups had already taken the opportunity to complete the second round of inspection.
And while he gritted his teeth to finish all of this, Duan Xingge remained as silent as if he had been poisoned into muteness, as if he feared that opening his mouth would reveal some unspeakable anomaly.
The good news was that in the first round, Yun Qi’s judgment was correct. Apart from the emerald, the other gemstone wasn’t the tsavorite Duan Xingge had initially thought, but the chrome tourmaline Yun Qi had identified.
But the bad news was that a tiny scratch had been left on the fragile emerald.
He could certainly afford to pay for two, but according to the initial rules, the production team didn’t ask them to pay for damages.
According to the rules, although the final identification result was correct, they still had to choose a person to receive punishment, just like the group that made the mistake.
The host gave this result with “regret” after seeing the state of the gemstones, watching the two, waiting for them to produce a “victim” to accept the punishment.
Logically, since it was Yun Qi who scratched the gemstone, he should have been the one to accept the punishment.
However, just at this moment, Duan Xingge, who hadn’t spoken for a while, finally opened his mouth. He cleared his throat before speaking, but his voice was inexplicably hoarse: “…President Yun has only just recovered; I should be the one to accept the punishment.”
He was rarely this serious, but the sharp-eyed bullet comments had no intention of letting him off:
“? Why is your voice a bit hoarse, you kid? You’re acting suspicious.”
“Standing there in silence for so long and then opening your mouth sounding like you’re suffering from ‘internal heat’—Xing-Xing’s suppression technique isn’t working, he needs to go study next door.”
“Oh my, my, my. You just called him ‘Brother’ a moment ago, and in the blink of an eye, it’s ‘President Yun.’ You kid—pronounced ‘President Yun,’ written as ‘Brother,’ scientific name ‘Wife,’ you know what I mean.”
“Started pretending not to know each other again. This acting get that Yan guy down here immediately. I nominate Xing for Best Actor next year. Who agrees, who disagrees?”
“The way he said ‘President Yun’—it carried thirty percent restraint, thirty percent distance, twenty percent sentiment, and twenty percent complexity.”
“? Laughing to death, what kind of radar chart is this?”
The bullet comments were unprecedentedly heated, while the two under the lens were rarely quiet. Through the second and third rounds, they strangely didn’t bicker a single time.
Under this rare collaboration, the results were naturally smooth sailing.
However, due to the mistake in the first round, although the two had a one-hundred-percent accuracy rate, they still only managed to secure second place because they didn’t have enough identification attempts.
The production team clearly took care of the other non-professional guests, preparing gemstones that were relatively easy to identify.
However, Yun Qi and Duan Xingge clearly didn’t care about the victory or defeat against the others; they only cared about the victory or defeat between themselves.
Although their identification results for the later two rounds were consistent, they hadn’t been in the first round, Duan Xingge thought the gemstone was a tsavorite, when it was actually a chrome tourmaline.
According to the initial agreement, Yun Qi, having won three to two against Duan Xingge, rarely hooked the corners of his mouth: “President Duan, a bet is a bet.”
Since the dating show began airing, Yun Qi had almost never smiled under the camera.
At this time, the twilight of the sunset at sea slanted in through the cruise ship’s windows, casting a faint golden light on Yun Qi, making him appear much softer. Coupled with the faint smile on his lips, the bullet comments were stunned.
Duan Xingge was also clearly stunned for a moment, but after all, he wasn’t as fragile as the bullet comments; he quickly regained his senses and raised his hands with a smile, signaling: “A bet is a bet… what punishment does President Yun want to give me?”
“Haven’t decided yet, keep it as a debt for now.” Yun Qi was clearly in a good mood, and after saying this, he unexpectedly added, “Twice now.”
Duan Xingge was stunned for a moment before realizing that Yun Qi was referring to the “forfeit drink” he owed for arriving late to the banquet not long ago.
He suddenly smiled; being marked for punishment felt to him like receiving a reward: “Fine, fine, fine, twice now. I’ll remember, I won’t forget. In any case, one doesn’t worry about too much debt.”
The audience was confused. Some sharp-eyed bullet comments were questioning if they had met in private before, when the production team had the props ready, and the host smilingly invited them to the deck to accept the punishment.
Having the experience from his previous life, Yun Qi already knew the content of the punishment, and couldn’t help but glance at Duan Xingge, a bit of sympathy welling up in his heart.
However, recalling that Duan Xingge had also accepted the punishment due to their last-place score in the previous life, as well as the bastard’s attitude of having done all kinds of evil today, Yun Qi suddenly didn’t feel as sympathetic toward him anymore, and instead, a subtle sense of schadenfreude arose.
Everyone stood still on the deck. The salty sea breeze blew past slowly. Looking at the three large buckets of ice water prepared by the production team, the guests widened their eyes in unison.
“Ice, ice water challenge?!” Ming Jiao said in disbelief.
The only ones currently needing to accept the punishment were the last-place group, Ming Jiao and Bai Yiming, as well as Duan Xingge, who had damaged the prop.
The temperature was currently scorching, but even so, having ice water poured over one’s head wasn’t a pleasant experience.
Ming Jiao, shivering, clutched Bai Yiming’s clothes, refusing to be the first one.
Seeing this, the old viewers felt their affection stirred; the bullet comments were full of words of comfort, like “kisses and hugs.”
This emotion reached its peak after Bai Yiming finished his punishment, especially when Ming Jiao pitifully shriveled beneath the ice bucket, clutching his shoulders, and let out a soft, delicate “Ya—” after being soaked with ice water. Heart-aching bullet comments instantly covered the entire livestream room:
“Let me hug my baby!!”
“Poor thing, qaq. Brother Yiming, why are you so useless?”
“Bring a towel quickly!! Didn’t you see Jiao-bao is frozen like this? Why are you still standing there like poles with no sense!”
“This kind of activity is simply unfair to a beautiful idiot like our Jiao-bao! Can the production team design simpler activities in the future?”
Amidst the protests from Ming Jiao’s fans, Cheng Xi hurriedly rushed over with a towel.
At this moment, only one person remained on the field who hadn’t accepted the punishment.
The camera and the eyes of the other guests turned to Duan Xingge.
Duan Xingge smiled at the sight, walked forward generously, and prepared to accept the punishment with poise.
Although he hadn’t done much marketing, Duan Xingge, as the boss of Xing-Yun, had always been hands-on when filming, and whether it was his physique or his physical fitness, both were famous within and outside the industry.
Therefore, a mere ice bucket challenge should have been completely non-problematic for him.
The audience didn’t see anything unusual, but Yun Qi, for some reason, slightly frowned.
The pity in the bullet comments decreased a bit, gradually replaced by some sounds of cheering, and these sounds suddenly stopped after Duan Xingge was really soaked with ice water.
A waterfall-like amount of ice water poured from his hair all the way down his body. Duan Xingge closed his eyes immediately; the fabric, which was already tight-fitting, now clung thoroughly to his body. The semi-transparent visual impact was a hundred times more stimulating than being completely transparent. His toned muscle lines were visible at a glance—from his pectorals to his abdominals, the shapes were distinct yet unclear.
Quite a few viewers who were pitying the little beauty a second ago stared straight ahead, frozen in front of their screens.
After about three seconds, Duan Xingge opened his eyes slowly in the water with a blank expression. For some reason, his expression was somewhat icy, his eyes staring straight ahead into the distance.
He frowned slightly, seemingly annoyed that his hair was obstructing his view, so he raised his hand and wiped the hair blocking his eyes upward, revealing his clean forehead.
The gentleness he had performed in the past completely faded away, and an inexplicable sense of oppression accompanied by an indescribable tension rushed forward. The hormones that broke out for some unknown reason left both new and old viewers stunned. After recovering, the bullet comments grew geometrically:
“??? So ‘A’ (alpha)?!”
“Woc, woc, are you still the Xing-Xing I know?”
“This abdominal muscle, woc, these eyes, and that ‘Brother’ from before…!! Ahhhhh, who can resist a wolf dog that can be both salty and sweet?! Just let me ship until I die!!”
“Too ‘A’, mom, the sexual tension of an adult—it’s making my face blush.”
“Can the camera be a bit more aware?! Who exactly is Xing-Xing looking at!!”
The audience was only concerned with celebrating. Yun Qi, with his lips pressed together, watched Duan Xingge, who was staring straight at him from afar. His heartbeat grew faster and faster; that feeling of something being wrong was about to burst out.
—Duan Xingge’s state was very abnormal.
In his previous life, the one in last place was also Bai Yiming; this person was basically a jinx—whoever was in a group with him would be unlucky. Even Duan Xingge couldn’t carry him when they were in a group, ultimately having to be punished together.
But Duan Xingge, who was being punished at that time, had been full of life, standing up and chatting and laughing immediately after being soaked with ice water, without showing the current situation.
Others couldn’t tell his abnormality, and the bullet comments were still excitedly admiring Duan Xingge’s abdominal muscles, but Yun Qi couldn’t help but frown, forgetting even the gloves he should have been wearing.
In a flash, Yun Qi suddenly thought of a sentence spoken by a staff member in his previous life: “The ice water used in the show is made by quick-freezing seawater. Because it contains inorganic salts and other substances, it is slightly colder than pure ice water, but it is mixed with pure water, so the temperature won’t be too low. Please rest assured.”
Yun Qi’s pupils contracted uncontrollably; he suddenly understood something.
Duan Xingge was afraid of seawater.
Yun Qi’s heart trembled; he couldn’t help but walk up. However, before he could open his mouth to ask, Duan Xingge suddenly raised his hand and grabbed Yun Qi’s right hand, which had yet to be covered by a glove.
The ice water slowly trickled down from where their hands met, so cold that Yun Qi couldn’t help but shiver. But beneath the ice water, Duan Xingge’s hand was inexplicably burning hot.
After being stunned for a moment, Yun Qi suddenly opened his eyes wide, blushing for the first time in front of the camera. He tried to pull his hand away, trembling, but couldn’t get it free. He wanted to open his mouth to scold him, but when he looked up, he was met with Duan Xingge’s raised pupils.
How should one describe those eyes?
It was like holding onto the only straw to save one’s life at the bottom of the water; hope and despair coexisted, or like catching a firefly about to be extinguished in the dark.
The words Yun Qi had on the tip of his tongue stopped instantly, as if he had returned to the bottom of the sea in an instant; the world became quiet at this moment.
By the time he recovered, it was already too late.
Duan Xingge gripped his hand further. His earlobes were heating up unnaturally, his fingers wanting to curl up incessantly, yet they were forcibly pried open one by one by the other party, who gripped them tight and rubbed them without a word.
Yun Qi’s entire being was practically melting; his lower lip was bitten red, and the corners of his eyes were almost beginning to well with water.
Having missed the best timing, even with precautions, he couldn’t bear to scold him, couldn’t bear to hit him, and couldn’t pull his hand away—Yun Qi could only ultimately be taken advantage of under the eyes of everyone.
Since the broadcast began, when had the audience ever seen Yun Qi in such a state? They were all stunned for a moment.
At this moment, they finally realized why Yun Qi always wore gloves. The livestream room, which had been boiling over, fell silent for less than two seconds, then was suddenly engulfed by frenzied bullet comments.
Follow-up question: Would you like to proceed to the next chapter, or is there a specific interaction or plot detail you would like to analyze?