Chapter 41
The scene fell into a deathly silence.
The first person to react was the accompanying doctor, who had just set down his stethoscope.
With a shocked, frozen look, he glanced at Shu Lin, who was still unconscious, his eyes full of obvious suspicion.
He picked up Shu Lin’s wrist and gave a light cough. “Don’t panic yet. Let me check his pulse first.”
Qin Ye, who had been crying in agony, stopped mid-sob as though someone had clamped a hand over his throat.
The doctor’s expression shifted from suspicion to shock, then to the kind of wild delight someone might have upon discovering a priceless treasure in the world.
“It’s there—it’s really there!” The doctor was so excited he could hardly contain himself. “A pregnancy pulse! This is a pregnancy pulse!!!”
Qin Ye opened his mouth and let out a ridiculous, “Gah—?”
Lin Zhiqiao rubbed his ear.
Although he had long heard from 888 that this world was far more complicated than he had imagined, seeing it with his own eyes was still much more shocking than just hearing about it.
—No wonder Shu Lin had been feeling unwell lately.
Not being able to eat, feeling weak, having no appetite, unstable emotions…
All of those could have been explained away as seasickness, poor rest, or weak health, but if the answer was pregnancy, then the symptoms suddenly became a lot more reasonable.
Inside the tent, Qin Ye asked the question on everyone’s mind. “Men… can get pregnant too?”
“An unusual constitution. Extremely rare in the world, but not nonexistent.” The doctor sounded mysteriously profound. “I’d only heard of it before. This is the first time I’ve ever encountered a living, breathing case—”
His eyes were so feverishly bright they seemed almost able to pierce through Shu Lin’s stomach and study the structure inside his body.
Alarm bells rang wildly in Qin Ye’s head. He immediately shifted his body to shield Shu Lin from the doctor’s overenthusiastic gaze.
Sensing Qin Ye’s defensive movement, the doctor gave an awkward cough and patted him on the shoulder. “Congratulations. You’re going to be a father.”
It was at that exact moment that the unconscious Shu Lin woke up.
He opened his eyes, then shut them again, perhaps because the light above his head felt too glaring.
At his ear came Qin Ye’s voice: “I—I’m, I’m going to be, I’m going to be a father?”
Shu Lin’s eyes snapped open. “What did you just say?”
Qin Ye still hadn’t processed things. He repeated on instinct, “I’m going to be a father!”
Shu Lin’s pupils contracted. So shocked that the words slipped right out of his mouth, he blurted, “You… whose belly did you get big?”
Qin Ye remained dazed. “I got your belly big!”
Shu Lin: “…?”
He pushed on one arm, trying to sit up, but Qin Ye pressed him back down by the shoulders. “Don’t, don’t get up. Lie down. You can’t move. You’re carrying a baby. You need to rest!”
“Qin Ye, let go of me first.” Shu Lin tried to stay rational, but failed. “Are you drunk? How could I possibly be preg—”
Qin Ye softened his tone, not even daring to breathe too heavily. “I’m not drunk, A-Lin. You really are pregnant!”
At the side, the doctor nodded firmly and very helpfully took over the role of explaining.
All throughout the explanation, Qin Ye crouched beside Shu Lin and stared eagerly at his stomach, clearly dying to reach out and touch it.
After hearing the doctor out, Shu Lin: “…”
Shu Lin completely froze.
Taking advantage of the chance, Qin Ye finally stretched out a hand and successfully touched Shu Lin’s stomach.
Hurried footsteps sounded outside the tent.
Lin Zhiqiao and the others turned to look and discovered that the director had arrived with additional medical staff who had been urgently brought to the island.
Not far away, the roar of a helicopter sounded through the air.
[Whoa! They even sent a private helicopter to pick him up—]
To make sure everything moved efficiently, the director had directly summoned a helicopter to take Shu Lin off the island.
Shu Lin didn’t refuse the helicopter transfer, and he also didn’t refuse letting Qin Ye go with him.
Qin Ye protected him the whole way. Once the two of them boarded the helicopter, Qin Ye suddenly said, “A-Lin, don’t worry. No matter whether you decide to keep this child or not, I’ll take responsibility.”
Shu Lin was stunned for a second and met Qin Ye’s serious, solemn gaze.
The heart that had been thrown into panic by the sudden pregnancy seemed, in that instant, to settle back down.
The helicopter lifted off with the two of them aboard.
Lin Zhiqiao waved at it. “They’ve made up now, right?”
Ji Yuan lowered the phone she had been furiously using to take pictures. “If that doesn’t count as making up, then what on earth would?”
At the side, Jiang Qianqian nodded. “Exactly! Just now, if Qin Ye had suddenly proposed, I honestly wouldn’t even have found it surprising!!!”
Tears of emotion streamed through Lin Zhiqiao’s heart—
He had finally! Finally shipped a real couple!!!
This time, even the cheerful jingle announcing another cash reward entering his account wasn’t as exciting to him as successfully shipping a real CP.
The melon-eating crowd declared this gossip operation a complete success.
There was only one exception.
Although Shu Lin had already left, there was still more than a day left before the show ended. The remaining guests still had to continue completing their survival or romance tasks.
Zhou Zenian still took on the role of cook.
Perhaps because he had just had his heart broken, that very same evening after Shu Lin left, everyone found a faint bitterness hidden inside the carefully prepared dinner Zhou Zenian made.
Night deepened, and another day’s tasks came to an end.
Lin Zhiqiao lay in bed. With two people now gone from the tent, what had originally been a crowded space suddenly felt much emptier.
A faint rustling sound came from not too far away.
Lin Zhiqiao quietly opened one eye and saw someone sneaking out of the tent under cover of darkness.
Once that person was gone, Lin Zhiqiao sat up and found himself staring directly at Zhou Zenian across the tent.
The person who had just left was Xu Mo.
Over these first few days of the program, the melon-eating crowd’s attention had basically all been focused on the main trio, with only Xu Mo being the exception.
He seemed to be the only one who still remembered that they were currently participating in a dating show, not some giant gossip-themed variety show.
Dating show. Late night. Sneaking off alone—
Lin Zhiqiao’s heart began itching again. He struggled with himself for less than half a second before leaping up and quietly following Xu Mo’s footsteps.
Only after stepping into the night did Lin Zhiqiao realize he was far from the only one following Xu Mo.
For some reason Zhou Zenian had also come along. In the not-too-distant female guest tent, the flap stirred, and several figures came slipping out one after another.
From the darkness farther away, the cameraman’s figure flashed by discreetly.
The melon-eating crowd had assembled once again.
Lin Zhiqiao gave them a little wave and softly greeted them, “What a coincidence, everyone.”
They all returned his greeting with their most elegant smiles.
Ji Yuan took a few quick steps forward and fell into stride beside Lin Zhiqiao. “We followed Yao Wan out.”
Lin Zhiqiao replied too, “I’m following Xu Mo.”
Ji Yuan’s tone was worried. “Xu Mo has been constantly looking for Yao Wan these past few days. He’s being a little too diligent, and it feels off.”
Lin Zhiqiao hesitated for a moment, then said, “This is a dating show. Did you forget? Maybe they’ve taken a liking to each other.”
Ji Yuan fell into a suspicious silence for a very long time, and the atmosphere gradually turned awkward.
Wen Li coughed lightly and said in a low voice, “That may be true, but I’m still a little worried about Xiao Wan.”
Jiang Qianqian nodded. “Yeah. Just the other day she told us that Xu Mo was being a little too enthusiastic with her. She couldn’t really handle it, but she also didn’t know how to refuse.”
“She doesn’t have much experience with relationships. She’s too innocent.” Jiang Yang, who had come along as well, spoke up and couldn’t help muttering, “Who asks a girl out for a walk in the middle of the night?”
In other words, they were afraid Yao Wan might end up being taken advantage of.
Lin Zhiqiao’s gossip radar gave another sharp di-li!
[A handsome young man secretly meeting an innocent young girl late at night— is this a case of feelings running too deep to restrain, or does he have an ulterior motive—]
Ahead of them, Yao Wan’s step wobbled slightly. It seemed as though she wanted to glance back, but she held herself back.
Xu Mo reached out and steadied her. “Be careful.”
He, however, noticed nothing unusual behind them.
The two of them kept walking until they reached the shore.
Lin Zhiqiao and the others found a huge reef and squeezed together behind it, hiding noisily in a heap.
“Cough cough.” Suddenly someone spoke. “Could you make a little room for me? I need to set up a camera.”
At some unknown point, the cameraman had slipped into their midst and was now carefully guarding the camera in his arms.
With perfect mutual understanding, everyone shifted to give him the best filming position.
Lin Zhiqiao glanced at Xu Mo’s favorability toward him—
Very stable.
Still negative.
Lin Zhiqiao sank into mild contemplation.
Now that he thought about it, it really was strange. Aside from the Lin family themselves, no one actually knew about his relationship with the Lin family or with Lin Mubai.
And yet, so far, anyone around Lin Mubai—or rather, anyone whose favorability toward Lin Mubai was very high—had shown a very low initial favorability toward him.
Ji Ran, for example. Ji Yuan, too. And now Xu Mo.
As for Lin Zhiqiao’s one-sentence summary of the matter—
He and Lin Mubai—or rather, he and the entire Lin family—were simply born not to get along!
Ji Ran and Ji Yuan were only Lin Mubai’s fans, but Xu Mo was Lin Mubai’s junior from the same company, and they were even signed under the same manager.
If Lin Zhiqiao remembered correctly, Xu Mo had already secured the role of third male lead in the new drama Lin Mubai was currently preparing.
The official styled cast photos had already been released, and Lin Mubai had specifically reposted the news.
Whether because of company instructions or his own private intentions, Lin Mubai was clearly planning to help elevate Xu Mo, who had only recently entered the industry and still had very little footing.
Lin Zhiqiao wasn’t surprised. After all, Lin Mubai had bound the Universal Heartthrob System, and becoming a life-guiding mentor figure to others was one of the important ways he gathered favorability points.
The sea wind blew hard, scattering Xu Mo and Yao Wan’s voices into the air.
No one could hear what the two of them were saying. All they could do was turn anxious eyes toward Lin Zhiqiao, but they had no way to openly urge him to provide a live broadcast of the situation.
After pondering the meaning of life for a while, Lin Zhiqiao finally remembered that he had gotten out of bed in the middle of the night to eat gossip!
Now that his favorability reserves were extremely rich, opening gossip blind boxes anytime, anywhere was no longer just a dream.
So Lin Zhiqiao waved a grand hand, had 888 open a blind box, and on top of that, used a designated gossip card on Xu Mo.
At the shore, Xu Mo and Yao Wan were walking side by side.
Like Xu Mo, Yao Wan had only recently entered the industry. Some time ago, she had gotten lucky and played a female supporting role, and because the character setting was likable—and because Yao Wan herself had played it quite well—she’d gained a wave of fans and a bit of popularity.
Yao Wan was currently in an upward stage of her career, and falling in love was clearly not the best choice for her right now.
When she first received the invitation for Celebrity Deserted Island, she had hesitated too, but in the end she couldn’t bear to give up such a good opportunity to get exposure.
From the very beginning, Yao Wan had known that her purpose for appearing on the show was not romance, but career advancement.
But Xu Mo’s pursuit had disrupted her plans.
Before joining the program, her manager had told her that if she met a suitable person on the show, then whether it turned into a real relationship or just a CP arrangement, she should grasp the opportunity herself.
The Xu Mo beside her suddenly spoke. “Xiao Wan, have you ever thought about… trying to start a new kind of relationship?”
Yao Wan hesitated.
Did a situation like this count as the opportunity her manager had talked about?
Xu Mo didn’t pressure her. He merely looked at her gently and waited for her answer.
Yao Wan turned to look at him. Just as she was wondering how to respond, she suddenly heard a scream carried in on the sea wind—
[Never thought about it! No way! Scumbags are absolutely forbidden——]
[He already has a girlfriend and he still came on a dating show? Is he scared his public image isn’t collapsing fast enough?!]
