Chapter 5
Lin Zhiqiao: [Wow!]
The livestream viewers: Wooooow!
Ji Ran: “…”
Ji Ran: “………………”
As if noticing that everyone’s eyes were focused on the little yellow chick in his hand, Yuan Yu lifted the hanger and gave it a shake. The little yellow chick swayed along with it. “I saw Little Yellow in the washing machine, and it was already clean, so I helped you—”
Before he could finish, Ji Ran’s face flushed bright red. He practically launched himself on the spot and charged at Yuan Yu. “Brother Yu! Put it away, quick! Put it away now, ahhhh!”
Yuan Yu: “…?”
He glanced at the camera in the cameraman’s hand, then belatedly realized something and hurriedly explained, “Th-this is my Little Yellow Chick, not Ran’s. Please don’t misunderstand!”
‘LMAO, what kind of hopelessly straight man is our Brother Yu hahahaha’
‘Dense straight guy trying his best to cover for his wife, but failed [dog head.jpg]’
Ji Ran: “…”
That was even worse than not explaining at all, okay?!
He covered his face hard with both hands, and all the exposed skin on his body turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye.
It was over, over—everything was over…
His glorious reputation! Completely ruined in one go!!!
Lin Zhiqiao screamed inwardly: [Wooooow! I ship it, I ship it! The CP I ship is actually real, ahhhh!]
‘Double Fire is too sweet hehe [holding face and grinning like an idiot.jpg]’
‘Xiao Qiao: I’m shipping it so hard, but my expression cannot crack, I must stay in character [trying hard to stay calm but ears bright red.jpg]’
Ji Ran shot Lin Zhiqiao a vicious glare.
Although he knew this was not Lin Zhiqiao’s fault, he was annoyed at everyone right now. Lin Zhiqiao, whose inner voice was the loudest and had his brain buzzing the most, looked especially irritating.
Lin Zhiqiao quietly shrank his presence.
[Wuhu, so when someone gets shy, their eyes really do go watery too? Ranran baby is way too cute, isn’t he!]
Ji Ran’s expression stiffened. He turned his head away sharply and refused to look at Lin Zhiqiao.
The cameraman gave a light cough, his voice sounding a little off-key.
Ji Ran glanced at Yuan Yu. The other man showed no unusual reaction and apparently could not hear Lin Zhiqiao’s inner thoughts, so Ji Ran let out a small sigh of relief.
Right then, 888 reported: [Gossip rating: F. Reward: 2,888 RMB. Congratulations, Host, you have triggered a hidden reward: on-site gossip bonus doubled! 5,776 RMB has been deposited into your little vault. Please check it!]
Lin Zhiqiao: !!!
[The reward doubles if I witness the gossip on-site too?!]
888’s electronic voice trembled with excitement. [That’s right! Please keep up the good work, Host! Don’t miss any live gossip scenes!]
Ji Ran barely managed to pull himself together and picked up the luggage he had packed by the bed. “I’m going.”
Yuan Yu stepped forward. “I’ll help you carry it over.”
Ji Ran turned his head stubbornly. “No need. I’ll carry it myself.”
“Okay, okay, you carry it yourself.” Yuan Yu went along with him. The tall man, who stood half a head taller than Ji Ran, bent slightly, his posture intimate to the extreme.
Ji Ran gave a light huff and dragged his luggage out of the room.
Yuan Yu suddenly let out an “ah.” “Your little yellow… no, no, my Little Yellow Chick—do you want to bring it with you?”
Ji Ran: “…”
Almost as if giving up completely, he snatched the little yellow chick, stuffed it into the pocket of his hoodie, and snarled, “Yes, I’m bringing it!”
Lin Zhiqiao held his face in his heart. [Sure enough, shipping food really does taste best when it’s produced by the couple themselves. So fragrant, so sweet, so delicious!]
*
The footsteps outside the door gradually faded away.
The smile on Yuan Yu’s face disappeared at once, replaced by undisguised disgust.
He pulled out an alcohol wipe and carefully wiped both hands all over, even the gaps under his fingernails were not spared.
Damn gay.
Absolutely disgusting.
Yuan Yu’s face was full of loathing. He used up three wipes before finally stopping.
Then he picked up his phone, skillfully logged into a burner Weibo account, and posted—
‘Fuck fuck fuck fuck! So disgusting, so fucking disgusting! It’s disgustingly over the limit! I’m so grossed out I’m about to throw up last night’s dinner! That damn gay better die a horrible death in this lifetime! Sooner or later, I’ll beat one up every time I see one, beat two up every time I see a pair! May this world never have any stupid homosexuals ever again!!!’
After posting, Yuan Yu kicked Ji Ran’s door hard several times before finally feeling relieved.
*
Lin Zhiqiao followed Ji Ran to the dormitory.
Ji Ran asked, “Can we pick any room?”
The cameraman nodded.
Lin Zhiqiao chose the room furthest inside. Hidden, inconspicuous—an excellent spot for eating gossip.
Lin Zhiqiao was very satisfied.
There were fixed cameras in both the rooms and the living room. After putting his luggage away, Lin Zhiqiao heard voices from outside.
There was Ji Ran’s voice, along with the voices of one unfamiliar man and three unfamiliar women.
Lin Zhiqiao opened the door and walked out, and his gaze collided with Ji Ran’s.
Ji Ran gave a silent snort and turned his head away without looking at him.
Lin Zhiqiao blinked.
[Ah, kind of cute!]
Ji Ran: “…”
Not listening, not listening, turtle chanting scriptures!
888 asked: [Their favorability toward you is negative in both cases, so why is your attitude toward Ji Ran and Lin Mubai so different?]
[Of course it’s different!] Lin Zhiqiao replied righteously. [Don’t you think Ji Ran is a lot like some kind of feline? Especially when he gets angry—his red hair looks like it’s about to puff up and explode!]
[Besides, what does Ji Ran not liking me have to do with whether I like eating his gossip?] Lin Zhiqiao declared loudly. [The gossip is innocent, and money even more so!]
Of course, the most important thing was that Lin Zhiqiao could tell Ji Ran was not bad by nature.
As for Lin Mubai… heh.
There was not a single good thing in the Lin family.
888 was persuaded by his logic. [Th-that makes so much sense!]
Lin Zhiqiao greeted the four new guests one by one.
Director Fang had invited six guests in total. Aside from male actor Lin Zhiqiao and boy group trainee Ji Ran, the other four were female singer Pei Ning, female athlete Wen Li, female influencer Jiang Qianqian, and male model Tang Zhou.
Three men and three women, and every one of them had a different profession.
Lin Zhiqiao felt a little excited.
[Differences are good! Every episode will have a different melon field. Gossip has to come in different flavors, otherwise it gets boring!]
Other than Ji Ran, everyone else in the room turned their eyes toward Lin Zhiqiao almost at the same time.
Lin Zhiqiao instinctively stepped back a little.
[Don’t look at me, don’t look at me. I only want to be the raccoon dog in the melon field, not the melon under the spotlight…]
Ji Ran gave a cold snort and exchanged glances with the others.
One look was enough.
All of them were people who could hear Lin Zhiqiao’s inner thoughts.
A knock at the door broke the silence in the room.
Ji Ran opened the door and was instantly dazzled by Yuan Yu’s handsome, sunny smile. The tips of his ears turned red with a whoosh.
“Brother Yu? Why are you here?”
“You forgot something, so I brought it over for you.” Yuan Yu handed him a black bag and lowered his voice. “Open it after you go back inside your room. Don’t open it here.”
“What is it that’s so mysterious?” Ji Ran refused to believe it. “It’s not like I’ve got anything shameful.”
His hands moved too fast for Yuan Yu to stop him, and the black bag was opened at once.
Red, yellow, pink, blue, floral…
The clothes for Little Yellow Chick were suddenly exposed right under the camera.
The cameraman really knew how to seize the moment. His reaction was lightning fast—he shoved the camera right at those doll outfits and gave them an enormous close-up.
Ji Ran: “…”
Ahhhhhhh!!!
He gathered the bag up in one swoop, his face exploding red, and dashed into the room to stuff it into the wardrobe.
Lin Zhiqiao pressed his lips together and laughed secretly.
[It’s okay, Ran baby. Gap moe is super trendy these days. Your fans definitely won’t mind that you secretly like Little Yellow Chick in private!]
Ji Ran slammed the door shut with a bang, looking more than a little flustered and angry.
‘Congrats to Brother Ran on unlocking a new nickname: Princess Little Yellow Chick!’
‘Don’t be scared, Ran baby. Little Yellow Chick is a plus point. We still love you [shy.jpg]’
After all the chaos, Director Fang, Fang Xinnan, finally appeared.
“Next, I’m going to announce your first mission,” Fang Xinnan said. “Please come with me.”
Everyone followed after him.
But the more they walked, the more Ji Ran was the first to notice something was off. “This direction…”
Athlete Wen Li asked him, “What’s wrong?”
Ji Ran hesitated. “Over here… if I remember right, these are all the girl group practice rooms.”
Could it be that they had specially cleared out an empty classroom for them on this side?
Fang Xinnan shot him a meaningful look, then stopped and suddenly pushed open the door beside him.
Inside the practice room, more than ten female idol trainees were warming up and stretching.
Hearing the sound, they all turned around in unison and said brightly, “Welcome, new members!”
Fang Xinnan somehow produced a party popper from who knew where. With a whoosh, he pulled it open, and colorful confetti fluttered everywhere.
“Congratulations! You’ve unlocked your new identity for the first episode—girl group idol trainees!”
The three male guests all fell silent.
Lin Zhiqiao: [No big deal, no big deal. It’s all gossip anyway. It doesn’t matter where I eat it!]
Ji Ran: “…Heh.”
Yeah right, as if I’d believe that!
*
The filming period for the first season of Life was ten days.
The task for these newly minted “girl group trainees” was to learn the group dance and song within those ten days, then perform onstage ten days later.
Pei Ning, the singer known as the Ice Queen goddess, looked troubled. “I can sing, but dance… I know absolutely nothing about it.”
Male model Tang Zhou smiled bitterly. “Sister Pei, no matter how hard it is for you, it won’t be harder than it is for me and Zhiqiao.”
Ji Ran, at least, had come from a trainee background. His singing and dancing fundamentals were there. As long as he could throw away his pride, it would not be too much of a problem.
Lin Zhiqiao was stretching nearby and casually opened a few blind boxes.
Maybe because he had spent the most time with Ji Ran today, all of the gossip just happened to be about Ji Ran.
[So Ji Ran and Yuan Yu got together back when they were filming Summer Night! Summer Night started filming a year ago, right? So they really did fall in love through acting together! So shippable, so shippable!]
[Wow, wow! So Double Fire’s first kiss happened while they were rehearsing a scene!]
[At first the director said they could fake the angle, but after Ji Ran and Yuan Yu tried several times, it still didn’t feel right. So they stopped to work through the scene and find the mood, and Yuan Yu took the initiative and suggested, why not just make it real instead of fake?]
[So in a dimly lit lounge with only the two of them there, the pair immersed themselves in rehearsing the scene. When the emotions deepened, Yuan Yu directly pinned Ji Ran against the wall! Then lowered his head—]
“LIN ZHIQIAO!!!”
Ji Ran could not hold it in any longer. His face burning bright red, he shouted in fury!
Lin Zhiqiao: Scared!!!
Startled in the middle of stretching with one leg propped up, Lin Zhiqiao instinctively let his waist go soft, and his two long legs split straight into one clean line!
Everyone stared in shock.
Ji Ran stammered from surprise. “Y-you… you… are you okay?”
With such a huge movement, was it really okay for a guy to do that?
But Lin Zhiqiao looked completely fine. He pulled his legs back in, stood upright, switched to the other leg, and kept stretching. Then he turned back with a baffled look. “Huh? Why were you calling me?”
Ji Ran was silent for two seconds. “…Nothing.”
Lin Zhiqiao gave an “oh.”
Then he muttered inwardly: [What’s with this kid, always jumping at everything…]
‘Holy shit! That split was almost 200 degrees!!’
‘Lin Zhiqiao is that flexible?!’
‘Doesn’t that really hurt? [sharp inhale.jpg]’
‘Fun fact: Baidu says Lin Zhiqiao graduated from a dance academy’
Ji Ran withdrew his gaze and secretly let out a sigh of relief.
Good, good. Lin Zhiqiao did not seem hurt, and those annoying inner thoughts had apparently stopped too.
But in the very next second, a sharp mental shriek suddenly exploded—
[HOLY SHIT?! Yuan Yu is actually a homophobic straight guy? The CP I ship… has collapsed???]
