“Why is Chu Hanfeng here?”
Yu Cheng slipped away to a vacant corner, covered his microphone, and lowered his voice to call Sun Can: “Is this show really that mandatory to record? Can you help me go negotiate if I can just quit?”
Earlier, the director’s team had explicitly stated that for the sake of the show’s authentic effect, managers or assistants should avoid being present during the recording as much as possible, so Yu Cheng had let Sun Can go back to rest for a few days.
Right then, Sun Can had just rushed back to the company when he received Yu Cheng’s call. Hearing a stream of complaints, he was utterly baffled like a monk in a maze.
“Chu Hanfeng?” Sun Can’s first reaction was, “Really? They were all saying Chu Hanfeng was going to go; was that actually true?”
Yu Cheng was speechless: “You are asking me?”
Sun Can turned several corners in his head, failing entirely to understand what Yu Cheng was feeling so aggrieved about, and instead became amused: “Isn’t this pretty good? A sudden surprise.”
Anyway, Yu Cheng was originally Chu Hanfeng’s fanboy, and coupled with Chu Hanfeng’s unexpected appearance, one could predict that after this episode aired, the response would definitely be extraordinary!
For Yu Cheng, this was killing two birds with one stone and a great opportunity.
Yu Cheng, however, did not think so.
Surprise, there was none.
Terror, on the other hand, was very real.
Sun Can: “Well, you can like Chu Hanfeng all you want, but you must exercise some restraint. Otherwise, your image will not look good after it broadcasts.”
The moment Yu Cheng heard the word “like” now, he panicked and hurriedly jumped in to reply: “I said I do not like him anymore. Please do not bring that up to me again. If worse comes to worst, we can…”
“There is a penalty fee for quitting temporarily,” Sun Can interrupted Yu Cheng’s words. “Since you are already there, do not throw a temper tantrum. There are only two days left.”
Sun Can simply figured Yu Cheng had run into some unpleasantness on the show again, gritted his teeth, and straightforwardly feigned deafness while moving the phone away: “Hello? Hello? My signal seems bad here…”
Yu Cheng: “…”
Sun Can: “Let us talk later.”
Yu Cheng looked numbly at the phone screen that had suddenly hung up. Just as he prepared to dial back, he happened to face the four-person group laughing and chatting as they carried plastic buckets into the house. Aside from an experienced senior actor, the other three were all his peers.
Before Yu Cheng could react, one of them stopped in their tracks and asked curiously, “Xiaocheng, what are you doing here?”
Yu Cheng was hesitant to speak: “Nothing, just came out to get some fresh air and take a call.”
As the words fell, he heard a scream ring out from behind: “Ah, Chu Hanfeng?”
The young actress Zeng Meng was a rising star who had made her mark over the past few years through several idol dramas. Pretty and sweet-voiced, the moment she stepped into the kitchen, she directly cracked her pitch: “My goodness! It is actually Chu Hanfeng!”
In an instant, the river fish that represented an afternoon’s hard work were left completely neglected. Everyone crowded into the kitchen to meet their idol, leaving the old senior standing by Yu Cheng’s side, unable to help laughing.
The next second, Chu Hanfeng walked out and offered a greeting: “Teacher Chou.”
As a household-name veteran actor, Chou Xiangzhong was past fifty years of age and had quite an accomplishment in the film and television industry. In his youth, he had once collaborated with Song Fewan, so they shared a bit of friendship. Seeing Chu Hanfeng now naturally brought a few extra fractions of warmth: “How come you did not give a heads-up before coming here? The production team told us beforehand that a mystery guest would drop in, and I thought they were going to pull some more weird stunts on us.”
Chu Hanfeng did not over-explain, only exchanging casual pleasantries with the senior. From the corner of his eye, he noticed that the few people who had dropped their jaws at the sight of him moments ago were swarming over again.
“Gosh, I still cannot believe the mystery guest is actually Chu Hanfeng!”
“It must be that the wish I made to the Earth God last episode finally came true.”
The one speaking was Fu Nian, who started out as a child star, participating in television dramas and commercials since age five. With exceptionally good public affinity, he had once been called the nation’s little brother by everyone. Now studying at the film academy, he still frequently appeared in the public eye.
Another was Liang You, who came from a talent show and became mildly popular online last year thanks to a drama theme song, prompting his company to strike while the iron was hot and let him soak up plenty of presence across major variety shows.
Zeng Meng was clearly a fan girl of Chu Hanfeng; her gaze had not left Chu Hanfeng since the idol appeared. Hearing this, she teased, “The Earth God cannot manage my idol. With that kind of effort, you would be better off begging the Earth God to make the green onions on your headboard sprout early.”
Everyone burst into laughter, and Liang You suddenly recalled something, interjecting, “I remember Yu Cheng is also Feng-ge’s fan, right?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, everyone unanimously focused their gazes on the speechless Yu Cheng.
Yu Cheng felt as though ten thousand horses were galloping through his mind. Right at this moment, he could only bite the bullet and nod his head.
Zeng Meng let out a snort of laughter: “I told you Yu Cheng is nothing like what they say online. Why is he even getting all shy?”
Yu Cheng: “…”
Fu Nian chimed in: “I am different. I will just shamelessly ask the male god for an autograph.”
“Is that so?”
Chu Hanfeng spoke up out of the blue. The people present lagged for half a second, failing to realize whose words Chu Hanfeng was picking up.
In a blink, they saw Chu Hanfeng fix his gaze in Yu Cheng’s direction and ask indifferently, “So that is why you did not even say hello and just ran away?”
Yu Cheng’s temple twitched, and he almost failed to keep a straight face.
Pausing for two seconds, he extended his hand forward: “Hello, Teacher Chu, I am Yu Cheng.”
Chu Hanfeng glanced lightly at Yu Cheng’s clean, white fingertips, tracing along that protruding wrist bone exposed from the cuff all the way up to the tightly pursed lip line and the faint gaze beneath thin eyelids that still refused to look at him.
Chu Hanfeng’s brows twitched imperceptibly as he replied flatly: “I know.”
With that, he raised his hand and gripped Yu Cheng’s fingers.
Unlike the icy sensation on Yu Cheng’s hands, perhaps due to traveling, Chu Hanfeng’s hand was still warm. By comparison, that trace of remaining warmth became all the more pronounced, causing Yu Cheng to curl his fingertips involuntarily.
Yu Cheng could feel the heat transmitting from the other’s palm. Just lightly enclosing his fingers like this was already enough to render him immobile. That spark-like burning sensation followed his beating pulse and flowing blood, scorching his entire body, leaving even his spine and the back of his neck hot for a moment.
Fortunately, Yu Cheng was wearing enough layers that these unusual signs were not very obvious.
Only his earlobes were tinged with a bit of color, looking as though they had been severely frozen by the midwinter cold air.
He stiffly scratched his ear, trying to pull his hand out of Chu Hanfeng’s palm.
As a result, Chu Hanfeng did not move.
As if locked in a contest of wills, Yu Cheng narrowed his eyes and made a motion to pull his hand back.
Yet Chu Hanfeng’s gaze remained fixed on his face, lingering for so long without speaking as if sizing something up, until Yu Cheng looked back at Chu Hanfeng’s face in sheer disbelief. Their gazes met, and only then did the man release his hand, shifting his gaze slightly to converse with Chou Xiangzhong once more.
Seizing the opportunity, Yu Cheng drilled back into the kitchen.
The subtle atmosphere from moments before instantly dissipated. The remaining few failed to detect the eerie vibe between the two, only feeling that Yu Cheng’s departing silhouette carried a somewhat fleeing-in-panic vibe.
Zeng Meng found it quite amusing: “Why is Yu Cheng so cute?”
She had never interacted with Yu Cheng before and had only brushed past a few reports about him during her spare time. Compared to promotional press releases, negative news was more frequent, naturally causing her to subconsciously slap many arrogant labels onto him just like everyone else.
Earlier, upon hearing Liang You gossip that Yu Cheng had squeezed out Tong Shi through connections and was coming to the cabin to record the show as a surprise new guest, she had even worried that this little tyrant would be hard to deal with.
To her unexpected surprise, this person was quite Buddhist.
Neither putting on airs nor fighting for camera time, he had instead turned out unfathomably sentimental upon seeing an old grandfather left all alone at home while his children were away, accompanying the old man to chat and help out for an entire afternoon.
Anyone who did variety shows knew that while such footage was good, not much of it was useful; after being heavily edited down over time, it basically amounted to just a few minutes, making it far less cost-effective than moving around and playing internet memes with the main group.
Even Chou Xiangzhong evaluated: “This temperament is rare indeed, quite uncommon in this circle.”
The circle was full of sophisticated operators; without a bit of shrewdness, one could never walk very far.
“That is how it is.”
Originally just making an unprompted sigh of sentiment, Chou Xiangzhong had not expected Chu Hanfeng to actually pick up the topic.
Only to see Chu Hanfeng keep his eyes lowered, unaware of what he was thinking as he said: “He does not suit the entertainment industry.”
Would it not be better to go home, live in peace of mind, and continue being his young master?
A lean camel is still bigger than a horse; no matter how unreliable Yu Zhengxiang was, at least basic freedom from hunger and cold could always be guaranteed.
Why bother coming to churn things up in this muddy water under the guise of doing it for him?
Before his voice faded, Chu Hanfeng took the lead and walked toward Yu Cheng.
The dim yellow dusk outside the window slowly submerged into overlapping mountain ranges as night fell.
Yu Cheng was squatting in a corner, resuming his old trade, wholeheartedly hunting for those few crabs of his.
Abruptly, the overhead light went out.
The sudden, pitch-black darkness made Yu Cheng freeze entirely. The next moment, a bright beam flashed abruptly right beside his feet.
Just as Yu Cheng intended to stand up, someone pressed down on his shoulder from behind.
Chu Hanfeng said in a low voice: “Wait.”
There was a moment of silence.
Yu Cheng blinked hard, and right after, he saw something crawling out bit by bit from a gap under the table, walking sideways to stop right beneath his eyes.
As if imprisoned under Chu Hanfeng’s blindingly harsh phone light, it finally came to a complete halt within that halo of light.
Full of deceit.
Walking right into the trap.
This gave Yu Cheng an illusion.
Himself, within the original book’s plot, was that very crab.
This thought made Yu Cheng feel completely out of sorts.
Fumbling flurriedly, he grabbed the shell, leaped away from Chu Hanfeng’s side in a rush, and ignoring Chu Hanfeng’s reaction altogether, he dumped the flailing crab right into the sink with a loud clatter that splashed up quite a bit of water.
Just then, hearing the commotion, Chou Xiangzhong and the others also walked in together.
“What is wrong?”
Zeng Meng looked at Yu Cheng, then glanced at Chu Hanfeng’s rather cold expression. After pondering for a few seconds, she trotted lightly over to Yu Cheng’s side with soft steps and smiled: “I wanted to say this earlier; your ears are so red.”
A simple, straightforward sentence immediately drew side-glances from the people nearby.
Yu Cheng: “…”
Yu Cheng exaggerated: “Teacher Chu helped me catch crabs; he is super amazing, peerlessly unmatched.”
The few of them were all taken aback: “Really?”
Chu Hanfeng knew how to catch crabs too?
Yu Cheng: “If you do not believe it, you can make Teacher Chu demonstrate it again.”
Zeng Meng and Fu Nian both turned their heads.
Chu Hanfeng met the two pairs of astonished gazes before him, his brow tips ticking up slightly.
Zeng Meng and Fu Nian looked inexplicably excited: “I want to see my idol catch crabs too!”
Chu Hanfeng: “…”
Yu Cheng nodded like a pounding pestle, giving off a strong vibe of watching the fun without fear of big stakes: “Me too.”
In the end, it was Chou Xiangzhong who reminded them: “You guys should let Hanfeng and Xiaocheng go pack their luggage first and see which rooms they are staying in.”
Zeng Meng reacted immediately and chirped, “I will go with Feng-ge and the others.”
Saying this, Zeng Meng turned her head to tell Yu Cheng, “People online all say you are Feng-ge’s loyal fanboy. Who knows, maybe we even have matching items with Feng-ge.”
Yu Cheng: “…”
This one, truly no.
How could he dare to have any!
Aside from Zeng Meng, Fu Nian was also full of enthusiasm, leaving only Liang You behind in the kitchen to help Chou Xiangzhong prep dinner as a kitchen assistant.
Following the advertiser’s instructions, when unboxing the luggage, Zeng Meng very familiarly asked a few more questions about the stain-removal spray and earphones Sun Can had prepared in advance, and even asked Yu Cheng to try on a pair of sun-shielding sunglasses.
As Yu Cheng cooperated one by one, he suddenly heard Fu Nian let out an exclamation: “You actually managed to buy this pair of sneakers! I stayed up all night in line and still could not get them!”
Hearing this, Yu Cheng looked over and spotted that pair of shoes stuffed at the bottom of the suitcase by Sun Can.
They were the exact same model as the pair he had previously given to Chu Hanfeng. He had kept them put away without wearing them, not expecting Sun Can to pack them into the suitcase and bring them along.
Anyway, he was not planning on wearing them anymore.
Yu Cheng chimed in: “Do you like them? How about I give them to you?”
As the words dropped, he heard Zeng Meng gasp in surprise: “The shoes the two of you brought look so alike.”
Fu Nian reluctantly cradled the shoes, waved a hand at Yu Cheng to indicate he did not need them, and glanced sideways at Chu Hanfeng’s suitcase: “Like what? They are the exact same model.”
Aside from the shoe size, even the color was identical.
Wasn’t this a coincidence?!