Chapter 143: Transmigrated as a Scumbag in a Boy Group Survival Show (25)
Xie Jinshen’s room wasn’t large.
Perhaps because it was originally designed as a maid’s room, its internal features were limited, though it did come with its own ensuite bathroom, as if completely partitioning its layout from the rest of the apartment.
The moment Cen Yu stepped into the room and shut the door behind him, Xie Jinshen wrapped him in a tight embrace.
His arms gripped him with intense force, almost enough to snap Cen Yu’s waist—
Looking for all the world as if he wished he could fuse his very bone and blood into Cen Yu’s body, becoming one with him.
“…Lighter,” Cen Yu couldn’t help letting out a muffled grunt, tapping his hand against Xie Jinshen’s arm.
Xie Jinshen embraced him in silence, as if hugging a giant plush doll. With the two of them sitting on the edge of the bed, Xie Jinshen practically enfolded Cen Yu entirely into his arms.
“Little Yu, touch my neck.”
Xie Jinshen buried his face into Cen Yu’s shoulder, his voice sounding muffled and thick.
Reaching out his hand, Cen Yu awkwardly reached behind to touch Xie Jinshen’s head, then slowly traced down from the back of his head to stroke his neck. After a moment, Xie Jinshen’s body finally relaxed.
Because Cen Yu had been talking with He Ci and Old Gao the entire time, he hadn’t changed out of his clothes yet.
Xie Jinshen’s arms pressed tightly against his lower abdomen, feeling the subtle rise and fall with every breath he took.
It was precisely at this moment that Cen Yu’s phone suddenly vibrated.
Withdrawing his arm, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw a friend request notification.
Positioned right behind Cen Yu, Xie Jinshen could naturally see the activity on his screen clearly. Resting his chin on Cen Yu’s shoulder, he looked at the friend request. “Who is it?”
“Mu Fengyin,” Cen Yu replied with zero intention of hiding it.
He swiftly accepted Mu Fengyin’s friend request, and after sending him a sticker, forwarded the recorded audio file saved on his phone over to him.
[Mu: …? What’s this?]
[Yu: You’ll know once you listen to it.]
Roughly a minute later, a new message from Mu Fengyin came back—
[Mu: Where did you record this?]
[Yu: In the restroom. His voice was too loud so I couldn’t help recording it :)]
No reply came from the other side for quite a while, until Cen Yu was just about to set his phone aside, when he caught another response from Mu Fengyin.
[Mu: Thanks. I have a slow-paced lifestyle variety show coming up, and one episode happens to have a vacant spot for a guest appearance.]
Cen Yu instantly picked up on Mu Fengyin’s drift—he was feeding him a variety show resource.
As a guest appearance for a single episode, it wasn’t too big nor too small, serving as a decent repayment for the audio recording favor—a recording that was optional to Mu Fengyin anyway, making it a net gain for Cen Yu.
Cen Yu had no intention of turning it down either. After replying with a thank-you sticker, he prepared to toss his phone to the side.
Yet he noticed Mu Fengyin had sent a voice message over.
Just as Cen Yu was about to convert it to text, Xie Jinshen behind him had already tapped it to play out loud on speaker.
Mu Fengyin’s voice echoed right beside the two of them—
“I heard there are only three slots for the magazine print cover,” Mu Fengyin’s voice sounded faint. “He Ci should receive the news in a few days.”
Cen Yu froze for a second before understanding Mu Fengyin’s meaning—
The magazine had initially designated only Jiang Jueming and Li Yanxiao. He estimated that the magazine’s original intention was to place the third slot on Zhan Kongqing.
However, since Mu Fengyin had given him a trending search boost, out of certain considerations, the magazine might lean toward him instead.
Naturally, Mu Fengyin wouldn’t go out of his way to negotiate with the magazine staff for this, but to put it plainly, after landing on a hot search like that, the magazine might indeed tilt the scales slightly toward him.
Furthermore, since He Ci already knew about the trending topic,
and knew that he had established a connection with Mu Fengyin, he would certainly be more inclined to recommend him for the magazine cover as well.
Pondering for a moment, Cen Yu pressed down on the voice recording button—
“Thank you.”
Pausing for a brief moment, as if attempting to remedy his tone, he sent another message.
“Thank you, Teacher Mu.”
Mu Fengyin replied with a sticker, bringing their conversation to a close.
Meanwhile, Xie Jinshen merely leaned against Cen Yu’s back, watching the chat between the two… He suddenly recalled the two periods of time when Cen Yu had vanished inside the venue.
The first was sending him to the restroom, and the second was after stepping down from the stage.
He remembered that only Gu Hanyin was inside the restroom during the first instance, so the meeting with Mu Fengyin clearly occurred during the second trip to the restroom.
Positioned behind Cen Yu, he seemed to be reflecting on something. “Little Yu.”
Pressing his forehead against the nape of Cen Yu’s neck exposed as he lowered his head, he murmured, “…Why did Mu Fengyin suddenly mutual-follow you on Weibo?”
Cen Yu held no intention of hiding the truth on this matter either, though he omitted the stealthy photo incident, simply stating he helped Mu Fengyin subdue a stalker in the restroom.
“A stalker?” Xie Jinshen leaned against Cen Yu. “The security at that venue was that abysmal?”
“To actually let a stalker sneak in.”
“That place is like a sieve; as long as you drop money, anyone can take a tour,” Cen Yu remarked indifferently. “If a stalker bought a press pass, naturally they could get in too.”
Xie Jinshen didn’t take up the conversation, his gaze locking onto the phone Cen Yu had tossed to the side.
He felt the matter wasn’t nearly as simple as Cen Yu made it out to be.
If it were merely a stalker, would Mu Fengyin need to specifically follow Cen Yu’s Weibo, grant him traffic exposure, add his contact information, and then hand over resources to Cen Yu?
However, Xie Jinshen showed no intention of prying further.
In Cen Yu’s eyes, he would remain eternally loyal, eternally harmless.
“Touch my neck again.”
Xie Jinshen spoke up once more, releasing Cen Yu from his embrace… allowing Cen Yu to stand up from the edge of the bed and look down at him from above.
Cen Yu wore a somewhat puzzled expression, seemingly unable to comprehend why he would make such a request, yet he extended his hand anyway and stroked his neck.
Xie Jinshen offered a faint smile. Under Cen Yu’s bewildered gaze, he guided both of the boy’s hands to rest against his own neck.
His overlapping palms almost completely covered his throat.
When he spoke, his Adam’s apple slid up and down, and Cen Yu naturally felt the faint vibration beneath his palms.
“As long as you’re willing,” Xie Jinshen said, “you can lead me anywhere on a leash.”
His hands cupped over Cen Yu’s palms pressed against his neck, looking for all the world like a loyal hound bound by a collar.
“Little Yu, I’m very obedient.”
He raised his head to look at Cen Yu, an underlying emotion swirling in his eyes. “Just like voting for you.”
“I can do so much more for you.”
He was just about to add something further when the alarm on the phone set aside by Cen Yu suddenly rang out—
Cen Yu released his hands from Xie Jinshen’s neck, turned around, and picked up his phone. Checking the set timer, he noted, “The half hour is up.”
Saying this, he tucked the phone into his pocket, preparing to open Xie Jinshen’s room door and take his leave.
Xie Jinshen made no move to stop him. He merely looked deeply at Cen Yu, then collapsed onto his bed once Cen Yu departed.
The moment Cen Yu stepped out of Xie Jinshen’s room, he ran straight into Jiang Jueming holding a bottle of mineral water.
The mineral water retrieved from the fridge moments ago had covered the bottle in a layer of condensation. He simply stared at Cen Yu, then unscrewed the bottle cap. “What were you doing in Little Xie’s room?”
Cen Yu naturally knew that Jiang Jueming was already aware of his relationship with Xie Jinshen.
Brushing past him indifferently, he replied, “Catching up with an old classmate.”
“Is that so?” Jiang Jueming remarked.
He suddenly grabbed Cen Yu’s arm, then extended a finger—chilled from touching the mineral water—and lightly tapped a patch of skin at the back of Cen Yu’s neck.
“Right here.”
Jiang Jueming stared emotionlessly at a small mark on the back of Cen Yu’s neck.
“Got bitten by a mosquito.”
