ITOTIABSAM | Entertainment Industry | 9
Like a calf unafraid of a tiger, this phrase perfectly describes Gu Cong.
He speaks straightforwardly, never bothering to mute himself, his eyes bright and earnest, carrying a hint of childlike innocence. It's hard to get annoyed with him. Xie Ye isn't really angry; he's just a bit bothered by the noise.
Nevertheless, Gu Cong's character and way of handling things impress him. Xie Ye gently curved his lips, a shallow smile that seemed harmless. However, not far away, Xue Minglang found it irritating.
On one hand, Xue Minglang was relieved to have escaped from Xie Ye's barrage of messages and pursuit. On the other hand, he felt that Xie Ye had changed his mind too quickly.
Just a few days ago, Xie Ye confessed his feelings, even turning down work to attend Xue Minglang's wrap-up party. Now, with just the time spent recording a show, Xie Ye and Gu Cong are already together.
Negative emotions gradually creeped into Xue Minglang's mind as he immersed himself in the game.
Even though he was making a conscious effort to suppress his frustration and disappointment, being a good actor, Xue Minglang couldn't completely hide his change of mood. Su Qingyue, who was his teammate, noticed the anomaly.
In the first round, their opponents were Team Wei Yan. Normally, Xue Minglang would be a gentleman when facing female opponents, especially when he had the upper hand. However, this time, the other side played quite aggressively, and even though Wei Yan and Qin Cheng were not novices in sports, the final score was somewhat embarrassing.
"I can't stay in the studio forever. When I move my arms and legs, I look like I'm forty," Qin Cheng found a step to sit on, bowed seriously to Wei Yan, and said with a smile, "Miss Wei, forgive me. I did my best."
Wei Yan, whose expression was a bit awkward just a second ago, burst into laughter immediately.
She didn't expect anyone to let her win, nor did she believe she would always win. However, the close calls with the volleyball made her feel a bit targeted.
On the other hand, in Xie Ye's team, due to the unexpected volleyball skills of Jiang Lingling, Gu Cong who was filled with enthusiasm, was defeated.
"Didn't expect that," Jiang Lingling excitedly high-fived her partner. She grinned and said, "I was on the volleyball team in high school. It's not in the encyclopedia."
Gu Cong, who had done his homework before recording the show: ...
He was careless.
Xie Ye originally worried that Gu Cong might be implicated by him, just like during the afternoon surfing. However, now it seemed that Jiang Lingling directly skipped the opportunity for him and the protagonist to meet.
As if seeing a drooping big tail behind the young man, Xie Ye moved his arm and bumped into the other's forearm, "Do you really want to live in a big house like this?"
"In fact, there is still a chance, as long as Jiang Lingling and others..."
"Wherever you live, it's the same," unusually, without waiting for Xie Ye to finish speaking, Gu Cong lowered his eyes, his voice as soft as a mosquito's, "I just don't want you to lose in front of your rival."
The words "rival" were very light, as if a cloud, just as they were uttered, they were blown away, and even the most sensitive microphone could not capture the young man's tangled thoughts.
Fortunately, Xie Ye's gaze was sharp, recognizing the movement of the other's lips: "He is not."
Gu Cong suddenly looked up, "Not?"
Not a rival? Is it because he no longer likes Xue Minglang, or because Xue Minglang is not interested in Su Qingyue?
In this glance, there was indeed a lot of implicit information, which Xie Ye didn't read. Seeing that the other clearly imagined a big drama, he teased intentionally, "Think whatever you want."
—That means he does not like Xue Minglang anymore.
Subconsciously, Gu Cong automatically filtered out the latter option, forgot about losing the game in a blink of an eye, and his mood visibly soared, almost acting as a cheerleader for Jiang Lingling's team.
1101: ???
Humans are really strange.
However, it's really difficult for the protagonist and antagonist to team up and intentionally lose. Jiang Lingling's team narrowly lost by one point, creating a very awkward situation on the scene:
Xie Ye's team and Xue Minglang's team tied.
This was not a script arranged by the program team in advance, but reality often turns out more melodramatic than scripts. Fortunately, the budget for this season was quite abundant. The chief director immediately stepped forward and waved his hand, "No need to panic, let's book another room."
This time, both Wei Yan's team and Jiang Lingling's team also "upgraded their rooms," barely considered a happy ending for everyone.
When all the guests went back to rest, a cameraman whispered, "Did the chief director have a change of heart?"
Such a scene, perfect for later editing and development, unexpectedly ended with the other side choosing a peaceful resolution. In the usual scenario, they would have insisted on having Xie Ye and Su Qingyue compete again.
"How is that possible?" Speaking in a hushed tone, another cameraman chimed in, gesturing with his mouth, "They've already played two rounds. Xue laoshi's team must be quite exhausted."
"But that's the young master of the Su family. He lost a match in the afternoon. If he loses again, where would that leave his face?"
【They're still trying to manipulate things so shamelessly!】 1101, eavesdropping, huffed, "Luckily, we didn't suffer any losses."
Xie Ye, lounging in the bathtub, lazily responded with a sound of agreement.
They were scheduled to stay in Country S for a total of four days and five nights, with the recorded content divided into four episodes. After today, there shouldn't be another chance for room assignments.
Great, Xie Ye thought with his eyes closed. If there were any more sports challenges, no matter what Gu Cong said, even if he cried in front of him, Xie Ye wouldn't budge.
1101: "You better not."
It seemed to have seen through him. This guy had no resistance against innocent, harmless, and lively cubs, even though, by human age standards, Gu Cong was not exactly young.
【I can turn into a cub too, a kitten, a puppy, a bunny, or a baby panda, anything!】 Feeling increasingly aggrieved, 1101 complained discontentedly, "When will you indulge me for once?"
Xie Ye: "No way."
Gu Cong didn't ask anything from him; he couldn't be compared to the system.
【If I had a mechanical heart, it would have broken in half by now.】 Unable to deny that it came with a purpose, 1101 hummed twice, "Rest assured, I'll cling to you for eternity."
Xie Ye: "That's fine too."
Anyway, he had already gotten used to having one more robot in his head.
1101: "!!"
Uneducated! It's clearly called an intelligent life form!
While Xie Ye and the system silently bantered, Gu Cong received a message from his manager. Earlier, he deviated from the script, which had infuriated the manager. He had also been handling various trivial matters during the recording of the variety show.
Now, however, the manager's attitude had done a complete 180-degree turn. The tone was as gentle as a spring breeze, and numerous photos were sent all at once.
Gu Cong opened and looked at them—they were all project proposals from various fast-moving consumer goods brands. The reputation was decent, and the offered conditions were sincere. The only requirement was that Xie Ye had to endorse them together with him.
【I didn't expect your judgment to be so accurate. I misunderstood you before.】 Knowing that Gu Cong and Xie Ye were living together, the manager didn't dare to send a voice message and instead typed out a long passage: "Now, the popularity of your CP with Xie Ye is very high, not much worse than Xue Minglang's group. Seize the opportunity to monetize it; it will be too late after the show airs."
【As for Xie Ye, I checked. He has only taken a few high-end endorsements in the past two years, but that's okay. You two have a good relationship now, and there should be a way to work it out.】
【Moreover, he was recently terminated by many brands, so he should be in need of...】
Gu Cong didn't bother reading the rest of the message.
When he chose Xie Ye initially, there was no calculation involved. He just thought that someone as beautiful as Xie Ye, who made his heart pound, shouldn't end up with a leftover role according to the script in front of countless viewers, allowing himself to be ridiculed and criticized by the audience.
However, Gu Cong didn't anticipate that, in the eyes of others, he would appear so scheming.
This made him both angry and disgusted, as if something pure had been tainted. Without hesitation, he replied, "Sorry, I don't have that much face."
【If you want Teacher Xie to endorse, talk to him directly.】
On the other side of the screen, there was indeed some urgency.
[What do you mean by that?] Perhaps due to voice-to-text, the manager's response was swift, "The company nurtures you and provides you with such a good opportunity. Now that you have wings, are you throwing tantrums?"
Nurtures? Good opportunity?
Gu Cong was not a fool. He wouldn't easily be brainwashed by a few words. He knew very well how the company treated him.
Realizing that it was impossible to communicate with the manager and not wanting to comply with their demands, Gu Cong simply blocked the notifications from his manager and logged into Weibo using a secondary account.
...Do he and Xie Ge really look like a couple?
---
The hotel bathtub came with a massage function, and after a comfortable soak, Xie Ye changed into his pajamas and went out, only to find that Gu Cong, who was usually full of energy, had gone to bed several hours early today.
There was a small bathroom outside the bedroom. Seeing that Gu Cong had also changed into pajamas and seemed not to be asleep, with messy hair, Xie Ye sat down on the edge of the bed, "Tired?"
The bed was large, and these days they had been sleeping separately. Except for Gu Cong getting a bit restless after falling asleep and occasionally bumping into him, there was minimal interference.
Without serious insomnia for several days, Xie Ye was in good spirits and reluctantly accepted that he had acquired a new bedmate.
"No." More than half of his head was buried in the blanket, and Gu Cong sounded muffled.
Curious, Xie Ye glanced at him, "Not feeling hot? Your ears are red."
Gu Cong shook his head, "Uh... maybe caught a cold."
【He's lying. He secretly browsed through both of your fan discussion boards and even read some fanfiction that fans wrote.】 Finally finding an opportunity to fight for favor from the little goblin, 1101 pulled up the browsing history.
In daily life, Gu Cong really had no acting skills. Without 1101's reminder, Xie Ye could still see that he was hiding something.
Seriously, Xie Ye said, "System, we should respect others' privacy."
1101: "?? You didn't say that when I monitored the protagonist and his relationships."
Xie Ye: "That's your task."
But Gu Cong wasn't.
Having been in the entertainment circle for a while, Xie Ye probably understood how shipping CP worked in the industry. But Gu Cong, being a newcomer and relatively young, seemed a bit uncomfortable. Xie Ye didn't reveal anything and instead silently reached out to fasten the top button of his loosely worn pajamas. He calmly poured a glass of water for Gu Cong, saying, "Have some warm water before sleeping."
Then, he turned off the lights, leaving only a lamp by Gu Cong's bedside.
Trying to stay close to the edge of the bed, Xie Ye closed his eyes, facing away from the young man, "Good night."
Gu Cong, holding the water glass in a daze: ...
Was it his illusion? Xie Ge seemed far away from him tonight.
But he didn't dare to ask. The articles and images he saw half an hour ago were still vivid in his mind. In the dim room, Gu Cong gazed at the young man's fair neck exposed as he lay on his side. His ears turned red again.
With a dry throat, Gu Cong raised his hand and took a gulp of water, replying:
"Good night."
Author's note:
The gradually awakening Xiao Gu.
Caught reading fanfiction, huh.
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