After Yu Cheng finished speaking, he paid no more attention to Liang You.
It was just that he couldn’t help muttering inwardly. Although Tong Shi’s disrepute was an expected outcome, compared to the original trajectory, the timing, location, and people involved were all wrong.
And what was going on with Liang You?
He had originally thought that dodging it was the end of the matter, but it turned out the one who ran into trouble was the other guy.
Could it be that because Chu Hanfeng had impulsively come to participate in the show, it caused a butterfly effect?
Filled with worries, Yu Cheng didn’t even find the remaining pan-fried buns appetizing anymore.
During a break, he called Yu Zhengxiang’s assistant to inquire about Yu Zhengxiang’s condition.
The person on the other end said that the surgery time had already been scheduled for the morning right after he finished recording the show.
Yu Cheng acknowledged it with an “uh” and casually sent a short text message to Yu Zhengxiang telling him to rest well, go to sleep early at night, and stop staying up late every day.
On the other end, Chou Xiangzhong had already discussed the show arrangement with Chu Hanfeng and had people prepare props, saying that they planned to go up into the mountains together later to dig up some bamboo shoots.
Even though they hadn’t even started climbing the mountain yet, Yu Cheng already began to feel tired.
Yet he was too embarrassed to refuse.
After all, since Chou Xiangzhong had already spoken up, he certainly couldn’t disrespect the senior’s face.
Finally, after some mutual discussion, aside from Liang You, who stayed behind at the cabin to look after the house because he felt unwell, everyone else hoisted hoes onto their shoulders and headed up the mountain.
Especially Chu Hanfeng; Yu Cheng actually found Chu Hanfeng’s appearance quite novel.
That person held a hoe in one hand and helped Chou Xiangzhong sling a bamboo basket over his arm, looking just like a noble young master who didn’t know the hardships of the mortal world had been suddenly dragged down from the clouds. Even his shirt and jacket, which were usually untainted by dust, took on a completely different aura of worldly warmth.
Yet he had clearly seen Chu Hanfeng covered in mud stains in movies before.
Whether it was playing the morally ambiguous undercover hoodlum in that suspense crime-investigation film, or past roles as a youthful general or a disgraced crown prince enduring hardships, there were high-contrast shots that made it impossible to tear one’s eyes away, as well as down-and-out scenes that looked utterly tragic.
None of them felt as real as this moment.
Perhaps noticing Yu Cheng’s prolonged, probing gaze, Chu Hanfeng turned back cluelessly to look, slowing down his pace, which had been closely following Chou Xiangzhong’s, by a beat.
Zeng Meng and Fu Nian lagged far behind them; even the cameramen responsible for them had just been advised by Chou Xiangzhong to rest for a short while, and were currently walking slowly at a distance of three or four meters away.
Only Yu Cheng suddenly walked shoulder-to-shoulder with Chu Hanfeng. He used his hoe to prod the muddy ground right in front of his heels, his pensive expression shifting abruptly and swiftly in an instant as he scoffed, “What, tired already?”
Chu Hanfeng raised an eyebrow and didn’t respond.
Yu Cheng clicked his tongue: “Can’t walk anymore?”
Chu Hanfeng turned off his microphone: “We are still recording.”
Yu Cheng was hit as if by a sudden bolt of lightning for a second, completely dazed.
In Chu Hanfeng’s cool and detached voice lurked a sort of faint amusement: “Done pretending?”
Yu Cheng: “…”
As expected.
Getting carried away brings retribution.
Without leaving a trace, Yu Cheng glanced at the few people behind them and said in a low voice, “Who is afraid of whom? At worst, I will just slack off and quit.”
Chu Hanfeng truly didn’t understand Yu Cheng’s thought process, pausing for half a second: “Nobody is forcing you to say those things.”
Actually, Chu Hanfeng had thought about it: if Yu Cheng had directly exposed yesterday that they had known each other before, he could actually have handled it.
Yet Yu Cheng acted detached and unfamiliar, even fabricating an idol-meeting persona out of thin air for himself.
Who on earth was the one slacking off?
Yet Yu Cheng didn’t understand this out-of-the-blue sentence from Chu Hanfeng, asking in puzzlement, “If you hadn’t suddenly stopped, why would I have said those things?”
Chu Hanfeng ignored him.
Yu Cheng said, “I am just a bit surprised your physical stamina is actually this bad.”
Without the slightest intention of conceding defeat, Chu Hanfeng cast a light, breezy glance at him: “Surprised at what?”
Yu Cheng rolled his eyes at the other person.
Chu Hanfeng sneered: “Haven’t you tried it?”
Yu Cheng: “???”
Yu Cheng frowned, momentarily unsure whether he had misheard or if his mind was impure and he was overthinking: “What does that mean?”
As a result, Chu Hanfeng didn’t look back, walking a few steps ahead of him.
Yu Cheng hurried to catch up: “Why do you people always say things halfway?”
Chu Hanfeng indifferently replied: “I feel like it.”
Yu Cheng: “…”
Yu Cheng had to admit that Chu Hanfeng truly possessed the ability to infuriate people to death without paying for it.
Hesitating again and again, he still couldn’t help asking, “The day you sent me back to the company dormitory, what on earth happened after we got inside?”
The doubts and hesitation that had accumulated for quite some time finally began to surface. Being glanced at by Chu Hanfeng with such a meaningful gaze, it was simply unstoppable.
Besides, the other person was acting like a scumbag who flirted and left, caring not a bit about the feelings of the person involved.
“And also, what you said last time…”
Yu Cheng had wanted to ask for a long time: “What did you mean by being gentler next time?”
Chu Hanfeng was unhurried and calm: “Literal meaning.”
Yu Cheng was dazed for a moment, subconsciously grabbing Chu Hanfeng’s wrist, his tone at the moment of speaking carrying a rather gritting-teeth flavor: “Are you intentionally playing tricks on me?”
Chu Hanfeng stopped in his tracks, his gaze sweeping over the five fingers with which Yu Cheng grasped his wrist, raising his eyes to meet Yu Cheng’s half-narrowed, light-colored pupils.
At this very moment, the person in front of him looked just like a bristling cat, the kind whose fur couldn’t be smoothed down for a good while.
Chu Hanfeng inexplicably felt a desire to laugh, his lips pulling gently: “Why would I play tricks on you?”
Yu Cheng froze slightly, subconsciously withdrawing his hand.
Compared to Chu Hanfeng’s frozen-stiff-enough-to-kill-someone cold face, he actually felt that this person was much more dangerous when suddenly smiling.
Who knew what fatal words might pop out next.
Much like back when he confessed his feelings to Chu Hanfeng, this person had spoken even words of rejection in such a humiliating manner, leaving him with not even a chance to vent his anger or harbor resentment.
He even remembered the arc that had suddenly bloomed at the corner of Chu Hanfeng’s lips back then, lowering his eyes as they breathed each other’s scorching breath, locking gazes with him so closely that any slight carelessness would let him touch the other’s nose tip.
Yet the smiling voice seemed to carry thorns: “If the two of them get married, what do you think you will have to call me?”
He never wanted to experience this kind of abruptly sobering-up sensation a second time.
Even though Yu Zhengxiang and Song Feiwan broke up without warning later on, and all the text messages he sent to Chu Hanfeng sank like stones in the ocean, that sense of loss didn’t compare to how deeply memorable that single night was.
For a moment, it felt as though even the scorching breath that had closely brushed against his lip seams that night was incomparably clear, and his heart inexplicably took a sudden plunge.
Yu Cheng quickly averted his gaze, putting on an indifferent attitude: “If you won’t say it, forget it. Who cares?”
As he spoke, he quickened his pace, deliberately walking ahead of Chu Hanfeng.
Unexpectedly, after only a brief moment, Chu Hanfeng actually took the initiative to bring it up: “Is that all you want to ask?”
Yu Cheng thought for a moment and said casually, “Does Tong Shi’s matter have anything to do with you?”
Chu Hanfeng paused for half a second: “Sort of.”
Yu Cheng was unconcerned: “Oh.”
He figured as much.
According to the original book’s plot, it was Zhong Kun who first made crude remarks about Chu Hanfeng, leading to the subsequent series of indecent photos spreading wildly online and implicating Tong Shi.
Judging from Liang You’s words just now, it was probably because he had mentioned something about Chu Hanfeng to Tong Shi last night that displeased Chu Hanfeng.
Either way, Tong Shi was a cannon fodder destined to be resented by Chu Hanfeng; whether he crashed and burned sooner or later, he was bound to crash and burn anyway.
Though it was Zhong Kun who managed to escape disaster for the time being.
Yu Cheng pondered in silence, then heard Chu Hanfeng say: “Don’t want to know why?”
Yu Cheng replied concisely: “Don’t want to.”
It wasn’t like he was the one crashing and burning.
What did it have to do with him?
Chu Hanfeng rarely tasted the feeling of being choked off by a retort. He lingered on Yu Cheng’s profile with a hesitant-to-speak gaze for two seconds before ultimately maintaining his silence.
Until they finished digging the bamboo shoots and carried the baskets back down the mountain, the two of them didn’t speak another word.
On the other hand, Fu Nian and Zeng Meng were brimming with enthusiasm, chattering relentlessly in Yu Cheng’s ears: “Why is it that even the action of digging bamboo shoots looks so handsome when Chu Hanfeng does it? It is simply devastatingly handsome.”
Yu Cheng had no choice but to cooperatively and frantically nod along while occasionally glancing at the tall figure not far away.
Was he really that handsome?
It was alright.
Just so-so. Or perhaps certain people’s fan filters were just too thick.
They were just digging bamboo shoots, yet his actions were so pretentious.
Was there really any need?
As if cooperating with Yu Cheng’s frantic inward complaints, before they could fully wrap up work, rain suddenly started pouring from the sky, pattering loudly across the forest and soaking Chu Hanfeng completely.
However, Chu Hanfeng wasn’t the only one drenched like a drowned rat; everyone else was too.
Fortunately, the mountain wasn’t too high, so it wasn’t overly dangerous, but everyone was more or less put through the wringer.
Zeng Meng was a girl after all; after changing into dry clothes in the car, everyone got back on board, and finally returning to the cabin wet all over, Fu Nian dashed straight back to his room the moment they arrived.
After helping Chou Xiangzhong put away those baskets of winter bamboo shoots, Yu Cheng walked toward the bedroom together with Chu Hanfeng.
Chu Hanfeng took out his clothes first, and before he could make any move, he was forcefully stopped by Yu Cheng: “What are you doing?”
Chu Hanfeng had originally intended to let Yu Cheng go to the bathroom to take a hot shower first. With these words blocked at the tip of Yu Cheng’s tongue, he briefly wondered if he had been amused by Yu Cheng’s overly guarded posture.
Chu Hanfeng paused for a few seconds, letting out a soft sigh from his nostrils: “What could I possibly do?”
Yu Cheng expressed disgust: “Even if you are going to change clothes, don’t change them here.”
“Then where?”
“Go inside.”
Yu Cheng pointed toward the direction of the bathroom.
Chu Hanfeng was speechless for a moment, too lazy to argue too much with Yu Cheng.
Back in the day, Yu Cheng never avoided anyone when changing clothes; nowadays, he had actually become particular.
Without looking at him anymore, Yu Cheng simply faced the landscape painting, looking listlessly at his own reflection mirrored on the framed glass, occasionally raising his hand to brush the stray locks of hair across his forehead.
Chu Hanfeng eyed Yu Cheng’s messy strands of hair and the water droplets dripping from the tips, watching that trace of moisture slide down the other’s slender neck. Even the white T-shirt, which remained wet after taking off his jacket, stuck to his body semi-transparently, outlining fine lines from his shoulders and neck all the way down to his smoothly contoured spine.
The air fell abruptly quiet for a moment.
Chu Hanfeng’s temple twitched as he said with displeasure, “You go in first.”
“Huh?”
Yu Cheng paused, failing to understand why Chu Hanfeng’s attitude had flipped so suddenly.
In sheer disbelief, he asked, “What, do you need to rest for a bit after changing clothes to give yourself a sense of ritual?”
“Are you going or not?”
Chu Hanfeng occasionally had his unreasonable moments too.
Yu Cheng felt it was inexplicable, giving Chu Hanfeng a few odd looks.
It wasn’t a big deal originally.
But being casually ordered around like this by Chu Hanfeng made his rebellious streak flare up.
“I just won’t go.”
“…”
“If you’ve got the guts, bite me.”
Chu Hanfeng seemed to have reached the limit of his patience: “Are you sure?”
Yu Cheng’s demeanor leaned toward being somewhat roguish, and when he smiled, it looked even more like he was asking for a beating: “What is there to be unsure about?”
Chu Hanfeng said: “The day you stubbornly refused to change your clothes, I was the one who stripped them off for you.”
Yu Cheng: “Huh?”
Chu Hanfeng: “Do you want to bet whether I will strip you again?”
Yu Cheng: “Ha?”
The smug expression from the previous second vanished instantly into thin air, and Yu Cheng’s mind was practically ready to split open.
The day he was referring to was… that time Chu Hanfeng brought him back to the company dormitory?
And what was this business about stripping clothes?
What kind of bizarre development is this, holy crap?!
Yu Cheng was horrified: “You scoundrel, why are you still acting like a hooligan?”
Chu Hanfeng sneered: “It is one thing that you threw up all over yourself, but what was up with you clinging to people and refusing to let go?”
Yu Cheng: “…”
Chu Hanfeng: “I did not even mind, yet you are disgusted.”
Yu Cheng: “…………”
Chu Hanfeng: “What are you still standing there for? Do you want to hear the detailed version again?”
Yu Cheng: “No!”
Chu Hanfeng: “For instance, how you pulled that jacket off my body?”
Yu Cheng: “…………”