Chapter 7
When Shen Jinfeng told Qin Ye “a while” before he started catching fish, it really was only a while in the literal sense.
In total, it had probably been less than ten minutes before he returned to the shore carrying a tree branch full of fish.
Including the circle of fish beside Qin Ye, there were fifteen in total.
“This should be about enough to eat. Shall we go back?”
Qin Ye moved his gaze away from the fish scattered all over the ground and looked at the young man in front of him.
This young man, who looked cold and detached on the outside, almost like someone untouched by worldly affairs, was actually a fishing expert?
It was to the point where even seeing it with his own eyes made it hard to believe.
“You’re very impressive.” He stared tightly at Shen Jinfeng’s hand gripping the forked branch, his gaze burning.
Shen Jinfeng was extremely sensitive to other people’s gazes. He noticed it almost immediately, and his right hand, which had originally been holding the fish spear steadily, could not help trembling.
“Thank you,” he said dryly.
After thinking for a moment, he snapped the originally long forked branch into two halves and handed Qin Ye the half already full of fish.
“These are yours.” They had already agreed on this earlier.
Qin Ye subconsciously reached out and took the branch. Only then did he react, raising his brows in disbelief. “For me?”
Shen Jinfeng nodded. “You helped me hold the fish. I said I’d give you half.”
Qin Ye’s gaze paused on the fish scattered across the ground for two seconds.
Had he held the fish?
Even he would be embarrassed to say that he had truly helped.
For once, Qin Ye, who had dominated the business world these past years and whose conscience had almost turned as black as a capitalist’s, was at a loss for words.
But only a fool refused a bargain. After hesitating for a moment, he slowly reached out and accepted it. “Thank you.”
Then, for the first time, he seriously examined the young man in front of him.
Shen Jinfeng looked to be only in his early twenties. His appearance was cool, elegant, and handsome. Only the pair of eyes currently looking at Qin Ye were dark and clear, slightly round in shape. When he spoke seriously, he looked a little obedient.
He was tall, slender, and thin. Because he had gone into the water earlier, his trouser legs were rolled up above his knees. The rolled-up edges were still a little wet, revealing a pair of calves dripping with water, so pale beneath the sun that they were almost dazzling.
Feeling Qin Ye’s obvious examining gaze, Shen Jinfeng’s heart began pounding wildly.
He wanted to drag 888 back and beat it up!
He had occasionally said that it was a little regrettable to have never been in love.
That he yearned for it a little.
But that did not mean he wanted this kind of romantic debt!
Because from the original owner’s memories, he knew that he and Qin Ye were not familiar either.
Qin Ye seemed to have fallen in love with him at first sight and handed him a note asking for his contact information. The original owner had not given it to him, so this person had found another path and joined the exploration team. Then, unfortunately, he had ended up stranded on a deserted island with them.
The original owner’s face was exactly the same as his.
Qin Ye really was shallow!
And what was going on now?
Earlier, he had stared at Shen Jinfeng’s hands. Now he was staring at his legs. What was he looking at? Was it not normal for a man to show his legs?
Could he be coveting his body?
Shen Jinfeng shuddered violently, quickly pulled his trouser legs down, bent over, and strung all the fish on the ground onto the remaining branches.
“We’re going back.”
Only then did Qin Ye realize that his gaze had been a little offensive, and he could not help coughing lightly.
It was all Madam Yun’s fault for bombarding him with blind dates, holding up piles of photos every day and commenting on them with him, explaining everything from appearance and figure to character and education.
He did not know what was wrong with himself either.
Deep inside, he yearned for love, but after meeting so many people, he simply never felt anything.
Perhaps because Shen Jinfeng had good character and outstanding looks and figure, Qin Ye had subconsciously looked at him with an assessing gaze just now.
But Shen Jinfeng did not need to react so strongly just because someone looked at him a few times, did he? Was he shy?
Yes, shy.
Although Shen Jinfeng hid it very well, as a legendary Best Actor whose acting skills had once climbed to the peak, Qin Ye saw through the discomfort of the person in front of him at a glance.
He calmly shifted his gaze away and walked back with Shen Jinfeng.
The branches were strung full of fish, heavy in their hands.
There was some distance between the seaside and the beach where the group had woken up earlier. When they had come over, all they had thought about was finding food. Now that the immediate survival crisis had been resolved, walking the whole way in silence felt a little strange.
Qin Ye thought of how the young man had unreservedly shared half the food with him, so pure and without schemes.
“Are you this selfless toward everyone?” he asked Shen Jinfeng, weighing the fish in his hand.
?
Shen Jinfeng froze.
This selfless toward everyone?
Shit. Qin Ye couldn’t have misunderstood and thought he had feelings for him, right?
He hurriedly shook his head. “No, you misunderstood.”
Qin Ye turned his face to look at him and discovered that, in an instant, the young man beside him had become somewhat nervous all over.
Was he that frightening?
He softened his expression, a hint of a smile appearing between his brows and eyes. His tone dragged out slightly, carrying a touch of teasing. “What did I misunderstand?”
Shen Jinfeng organized his wording and explained with a serious face, “Qin Ye, because you’re my teammate, and because we agreed in advance, I gave you half the fish. Don’t misunderstand.”
Why was Qin Ye actually smiling more the more he spoke?
“You really mustn’t misunderstand. I don’t mean anything else. Just… nothing in any other sense beyond teammates.”
Shen Jinfeng could not say it outright, so he could only rack his brains to hint this way.
Little did he know that the extra few sentences he added made a situation that had originally been nothing look more and more suspicious, vividly demonstrating what it meant to protest too much.
[I was eating and nearly choked to death. Shen Jinfeng’s words mean what I think they mean, right? He thinks Qin Ye is interested in him? Oh, no, he’s afraid Qin Ye is interested in him?]
[He’s so narcissistic. Are there usually that many people interested in him?]
[Isn’t that obvious? He’s a famously useless pretty face. Look at Shen Jinfeng’s face, that figure, that aura. It’s normal for a lot of people to be interested in him, right?]
[+1. And I always feel like Shen Jinfeng looks more than ten times better in “Being Human” than usual. Maybe a kind heart makes a person even more handsome. Thanks to Old Dog Sun’s persona arrangement for letting me see a handsome guy.]
[Fine then. If Shen Jinfeng can keep this up in “Being Human,” I swear I absolutely won’t curse him during the broadcast.]
[Hahahahahahaha, my male god is probably being secretly—openly—hinted at face to face for the first time: Don’t misunderstand and think I’m interested in you.]
[But seriously, the persona Old Dog Sun gave Shen Jinfeng is way too outrageous. Who gives away all the food, then turns around and gives half of his fish to someone else? If it were me, my heart would move too.]
[But looking at the previous two seasons, have you ever seen personas work this strongly? Is there a possibility that Shen Jinfeng really is selfless?]
[Shen Jinfeng warning: Don’t misunderstand. I’m not interested in you.]
[I’m dying of laughter. Looking at Qin Ye’s expression, I bet he’s so awkward right now he wants to dig into the ground with his toes.]
While the bullet comments were discussing heatedly, Director Sun Xinping and the heads of several teams in the core control room all had solemn expressions.
“That’s strange. Didn’t we implant into Shen Jinfeng’s persona subconscious that Qin Ye likes him?”
Sun Xinping’s brows were tightly furrowed. “Shen Jinfeng doesn’t like Qin Ye?”
Now he was actually trying every possible way to make Qin Ye not misunderstand?
He had no idea just how many people Shen Jinfeng had offended.
Before the show began airing, one person after another had come to him, either bribing him or pressuring him, wanting him to arrange a truly vicious, selfish persona for Shen Jinfeng—preferably one that would completely ruin his reputation on the show.
Originally, those people wanted Shen Jinfeng to be implanted with the subconscious idea that he was crazily in love with Qin Ye and would cling to Qin Ye on the show. With Qin Ye’s enormous influence, just one mouthful of spit from each netizen would be enough to drown him.
Sun Xinping was not familiar with Shen Jinfeng, but he had also sensitively realized that Shen Jinfeng’s usual reputation in the entertainment industry was probably inseparable from these people who had come looking for him.
However, he was happy for his own show to gain more traffic.
It was just that a vicious and selfish persona was not very different from Shen Jinfeng’s current image in the entertainment industry. There was nothing fresh about it.
If he really let Shen Jinfeng harass Qin Ye crazily on the show, he would not dare. He was afraid of truly offending Qin Ye and being retaliated against after the show ended.
Therefore, he had racked his brains to arrange a big-shot persona for Shen Jinfeng.
Because the big-shot persona was so ridiculously “big shot,” as long as Shen Jinfeng followed the persona, he would definitely make a fool of himself.
And implanting the subconscious belief that Qin Ye liked him could achieve the same effect. If he was narcissistic enough to think Qin Ye liked him and happened to do something stupid, Shen Jinfeng would still be torn apart.
Of course, this could not be known to the audience. Otherwise, the first person to be torn apart probably would not be Shen Jinfeng, but Sun Xinping himself.
But after all his calculations, Sun Xinping had never expected Shen Jinfeng to be unmoved by Qin Ye’s liking for him, and even want to get away from it?
For a moment, Sun Xinping’s head felt as big as an ox. He felt that things had exceeded his control.
At this moment, the publicity team leader analyzed hesitantly, “Is it possible that Shen Jinfeng is playing hard to get?”
“Hmm?” Sun Xinping was somewhat puzzled.
The publicity team leader pointed at the bullet comments on the screen, whose direction had changed again.
[No, has Shen Jinfeng just been whitewashed like this? Let me ask, was there anything ambiguous about what Qin Ye asked just now? If Shen Jinfeng wasn’t interested in Qin Ye himself and didn’t have a guilty conscience, would he have thought crookedly?]
[Is he deliberately trying to attract Qin Ye’s attention?]
[Exactly. I’ve wanted to say this for a while. Have you all forgotten that in real life, Shen Jinfeng publicly confessed to Qin Ye before!]
[Wasn’t that just riding popularity? That’s old history. Qin Ye is a star among stars. Look at interviews now—when male celebrities are asked who their favorite actor is, at least half of them say Qin Ye.]
[Not just male celebrities. Female celebrities too. Saying Qin Ye is safe.]
[Saying Qin Ye is safe doesn’t mean those celebrities aren’t sincere, okay? For example, Li Quan and Shen Yin both treated Qin Ye as their idol even before debuting.]
[But this is the “Being Human” show. The guests don’t remember one another, right? Even if Shen Jinfeng really treated Qin Ye as an idol before, that’s impossible now, okay?]
[Is there a possibility that Shen Jinfeng just likes Qin Ye’s type?]
[…You people are getting more and more ridiculous. Seeing gay everywhere with rotten eyes. You’re comparable to those CP fans.]
[Forget it, whatever. Liking Qin Ye is such a normal thing. Even if Shen Jinfeng really likes him, there’s nothing strange about it. Anyway, my brother is destined to die alone and will never date.]
[That’s true. When Qin Ye was in the entertainment industry, once he was out of character, he didn’t even give proper looks to all those male and female celebrities. Truly zero scandals. Some time ago, in a financial magazine interview, he also said he had no thoughts about dating or marriage.]
[Scatter, scatter. Wait… what did Qin Ye say?]
On the screen, Qin Ye nodded thoughtfully.
“It’s fine if there isn’t any right now.”
After saying this, he saw Shen Jinfeng’s pupils widen slightly as if frightened, just as he wished, and the corner of his lips hooked up in satisfaction.
This little trick to attract someone was a bit too clumsy.
Qin Ye thought.
Shen Jinfeng suddenly raised his head, only to see that after Qin Ye finished speaking, he immediately turned his head back, as if afraid Shen Jinfeng would continue saying something hurtful.
Shen Jinfeng tangledly furrowed his brows. After hesitating for a long time, he did not continue speaking.
[Why do I feel like something isn’t quite right?]
[Shouldn’t Qin Ye say, “Don’t flatter yourself”? Even if he’s taking into consideration that they’re teammates now, he should have a clear attitude of rejection, right?]
[Holy shit, did Old Dog Sun randomly assign another persona again?]
Sun Xinping was so frightened that his shoulders trembled. Steel-hearted, he gave the order in a slightly shaking voice.
“Release Qin Ye’s persona.”
If they released the persona now, Shen Jinfeng should still be able to help him share part of the scolding, right?
On the screen, several lines suddenly appeared in a persona box that was several times smaller than the previous ones.
[Name: Qin Ye
Identity: President of Qin Group, stranded on a deserted island due to an accident while taking a ship
Skills: Maintains the character’s original related skills. The production team only removed Mr. Qin Ye’s memories related to the entertainment industry
Personality: Maintains the character’s original personality, with an added persona subconscious: wants to find a partner]
After Qin Ye’s persona updated simultaneously on the livestream and major social platforms, it immediately caused an uproar.
[What the hell? No, does Old Dog Sun have some serious illness? The persona is to find a partner???]
