RSDH CH23

Duan Xingye’s inner world was shattered into pieces. Under normal circumstances, he would have smacked Cheng Duzhou’s dog head crooked by now.

Acting cute (selling moe) was already shameful enough. He had summoned so much determination and courage to complete the mission.

It was one thing for Cheng Duzhou not to appreciate it, but accusing him of acting slutty and seducing him?

Crawl! Crawl away from me!

But according to the program team’s rules, he couldn’t reveal any information to Cheng Duzhou before the challenge succeeded. This wasn’t just a constraint of integrity and ethics; there was no guarantee Cheng Duzhou wouldn’t act unnaturally and spill the beans if he knew about the secret mission. Two people entering a bathroom without cameras together looked suspicious; the staff must be monitoring backstage.

Duan Xingye couldn’t explain; his mouth was sealed, his lips pressed into a straight line.

For House No. 1, he endured it.

He raised his hand to pat Cheng Duzhou’s head buried in his neck, feigning calmness: “I didn’t mean that. No seduction. Get off, the livestream is still waiting outside.”

Cheng Duzhou panted heavily, fierce: “You did! You did! You definitely did!”

“…”

Duan Xingye took a deep breath and curled his fingers.

More than twenty years of merit were all clenched in this slap that wished it could smack Cheng Duzhou to death.

…

The streamers disappeared, but the livestream room was still watching eagerly.

Both of their lavalier microphones were connected to their phones. After the camera switched, the audio relied entirely on the camera in the room. But they closed the door, possibly whispering, so the audience couldn’t hear a sound and was getting anxious.

“Looking for what for so long?”

“If they’re showering together, then I won’t rush them.”

“Here they come, here they come.”

The door finally opened.

Duan Xingye came out first. His expression was normal, but his lip color was a moist red, and his collar was messed up.

“Oh ho~”

“Passionately kissed lips!”

“TAT An effect I can’t even achieve rubbing lipstick, President Cheng does it with one suck.”

“Hehehe, I was wondering what they were looking for so long. Turns out they were looking for thrills.”

The sound of running water came from the bathroom, lasted for a while, then stopped.

Then Cheng Duzhou walked out, wiping his hands with a paper towel. He lifted his eyes to glance at Duan Xingye, his voice faint: “If you can’t find it, forget it. I’ll buy another one next time.”

Duan Xingye: “…”

The livestream, having seen through everything long ago, burst into laughter: President Cheng, stop pretending!!!

…

Duan Xingye got done once in the bathroom. He felt frustrated but didn’t give up.

All livestream rooms received missions. If he didn’t work hard while others did, he and Cheng Duzhou could only sleep in a tent tomorrow night.

While Duan Xingye went to the walk-in closet to find a jacket, he stumbled upon a pair of white cat ears. They were fluffy, slippery to the touch, and very realistic.

A fan gave them to him, but he didn’t like fluffy things and never wore them once, keeping them only because the craftsmanship was good.

Now Duan Xingye clutched the headpiece in his hand, his own face hot. He squatted in front of the drawer rubbing his face for a long time, only going out after barely stabilizing his mood.

Cheng Duzhou was folding clothes. Duan Xingye walked over and handed him his phone: “Take a picture for me.”

“What for?” Cheng Duzhou took the phone and looked up at him.

Duan Xingye didn’t usually like taking pictures anytime, anywhere, let alone sharing them with fans. His Weibo operation was calm and official.

“Just because.” Duan Xingye couldn’t be bothered to make up a reason. “Just take it.”

The beauty camera app was already open on the phone.

Duan Xingye bent down, swiped left on the screen to trigger an effect: “What do you think of this?”

Pink bubbles popped up in the viewfinder, and a smiling little kitten poked its head out, then retracted, repeating endlessly.

Duan Xingye glanced secretly at Cheng Duzhou.

As long as Cheng Duzhou said the keyword of those two characters, he had a chance.

“Ugly.”

Cheng Duzhou didn’t think twice, swiping right to cancel the effect and return to the original camera.

“…”

Duan Xingye stopped talking. He walked to the opposite side of the open suitcase and sat cross-legged on the floor.

Cheng Duzhou raised the original camera viewfinder and aimed at him.

Duan Xingye’s facial proportions approached perfection; one point more or one point less would be wrong. Entering the frame coldly and clearly had the most visual texture. Those filter effects in the camera were all point deductions for him, so they looked bad.

Cheng Duzhou was about to press the shutter.

Duan Xingye fished a handful of something out of his pocket, tilted his head, and pressed both hands on one side of his head, leaving behind a cat ear.

Cheng Duzhou’s eyelid twitched. He moved his gaze from the screen to the person opposite.

Duan Xingye had already clipped the other ear on. He straightened his head, revealing snow-white triangular cat ears amidst his fluffy, soft black hair. They were furry, the outward-facing inner ears pink. With strands of milky white mixed in his hair tips, when those clear, dark, bright eyes looked this way, he resembled a cold, beautiful, yet soft cat.

Cheng Duzhou’s breath suddenly became chaotic.

Behind him, the livestream room howled in chaos:

“Why is Teacher Duan so cute tonight! I’m going crazy!”

“Cold beauty pretending to be a kitten, really so fatal!”

“I don’t care, from now on I’m Teacher Duan’s licking dog!”

“Begging Teacher Duan to post the photos on Weibo! I’m kowtowing to you, Teacher Duan!”

“Teacher Duan has been acting spoiled and selling moe all night; can President Cheng really handle it?”

Cheng Duzhou’s pitch-black eyes were too focused. Beneath the calm, something seemed to be burning.

Duan Xingye’s face burned under his gaze, but he held his expression steady and asked, “How’s this?”

Don’t say I’m acting slutty again.

Who would say a cat is acting slutty?

I’ve done my utmost to act cute.

Cheng Duzhou withdrew his gaze, looked at the screen, his Adam’s apple moving tightly, voice indifferent: “Pretty good.”

“?”

Does the word ‘cute’ not exist in your dictionary?

Outside the house.

The staff were covering their mouths and stomachs laughing. Only they knew why Duan Xingye was acting so abnormally tonight.

Duan Xingye was forced to do business twice, yet Cheng Duzhou always managed to perfectly avoid the correct phrase, making Duan Xingye want to explode but forced to endure. They were dying of laughter watching through the monitor.

In the phone viewfinder, Duan Xingye’s face clearly turned cold, yet he couldn’t stop the flush of shame spreading.

He had a bad temper to begin with, and now he received a mission full of pitfalls with a teammate who was also a pitfall. His patience bar was almost ground to zero.

But having lost face to this point, giving up felt unwilling.

Duan Xingye tensed his small face, planning to make one last attempt.

He lifted one hand toward Cheng Duzhou, made a fist by his face, and pressed his wrist down. “Meow~”

Fuck!

Cheng Duzhou suddenly let out a heavy pant.

“…”

Duan Xingye sat close and heard it. His lifted wrist stiffened, and his face gradually dyed with blood color.

Cheng Duzhou, are you okay?

Can you even get turned on by a cat?

The livestream room had collectively died instantly long ago, pawed straight in the heart by that “Meow.”

Cheng Duzhou hastily pressed the shutter, returned the phone to Duan Xingye, stood up himself, and walked into the bathroom without a word.

Duan Xingye’s face flushed red. He buried his head low, ignoring him, and checked the photo just taken.

A blur. The effect of moving the camera before the image stabilized.

“Do you know how to take photos?” Duan Xingye frowned and clicked delete.

A while later, the bathroom door opened.

Cheng Duzhou stepped halfway out and asked, “Duan Xingye, where is that thing of mine?”

Even the livestream understood: Hahahahahaha! Here we go again, here we go again!

Duan Xingye had already taken off the cat ears. Sitting by the suitcase with his back to him, he endured and endured, then snapped, “Stop looking, just buy another one.”

“…”

Cheng Duzhou gripped the doorknob, looking at Duan Xingye’s back, hesitating to speak. After a moment, he closed the door alone again.

How could he be like this.

Duan Xingye knew deeply that tonight’s mission was stranded here.

He didn’t understand cute.

Cheng Duzhou understood it even less than him.

He could only wait for the production team to change the phrase for him tomorrow.

Cheng Duzhou had already folded all his clothes for him. Shirts rolled into cylinders, sweaters folded into rectangles, corners and edges all very flat.

Duan Xingye repacked things into the suitcase. Cheng Duzhou squatted aside, helping to adjust whenever he saw something placed inappropriately. The suitcase became capable of holding even more than imagined.

In other guests’ livestreams, everyone was busy with their own things, talking and laughing. In [Lü Ye Shu Huai], it was slightly quiet one-on-one guidance.

But the audience felt it was heartwarming.

” Although it’s a small matter, President Cheng guiding Teacher Duan step by step to complete it together is so loving.”

“Teacher Duan looks like he’s been taken care of very well in life, truly blessed.”

“Whatever they do together feels so sweet awe!”

Cheng Duzhou zipped up the packing cube, stuffed it into a gap, and said, “Like this, understood?”

Duan Xingye looked up. seeing Cheng Duzhou looking down, strands of hair fell naturally, somewhat covering his eyes.

He thought of the past.

For a period in kindergarten, Duan Xingye couldn’t distinguish left from right when putting on shoes.

At home, there were nannies, so it didn’t matter. But waking up from a nap in kindergarten, kids had to put on their own shoes.

Every time Duan Xingye woke up, he dawdled by the bed, his two little feet circling and shaking above the shoes like drawing lots.

Cheng Duzhou stood by the small bed watching him every time, silent.

Duan Xingye put them on wrong.

Cheng Duzhou squatted down, helped him swap the shoes, and looked up: “Like this, understood?”

By the suitcase, Duan Xingye withdrew his gaze, rubbed his lips against his knees, and gave a vague mn.

“Right.” Cheng Duzhou checked once more, seeming to think of something else to bring.

He left, returned, and brought two stacks of clothing.

Looking closely, long johns (thermal underwear).

Duan Xingye’s face blackened. Without a word, he closed the suitcase, locked it, deadlocked. “No!”

Cheng Duzhou paused, walking toward his own suitcase. “I want.”

Duan Xingye pounced over and closed Cheng Duzhou’s suitcase too. “You’re not allowed to want either!”

Duan Xingye grew up in the south and never wore thermal underwear. The set Cheng Duzhou got for him was prepared for skiing abroad and had been sitting at the bottom of the chest for a long time.

Long johns were the lifelong enemy of fashion trendsetters; they easily ruined the shape of pants. Since Cheng Duzhou was appearing on the show in the same frame as him, he wouldn’t allow Cheng Duzhou to wear them either; it wouldn’t look good on camera.

Bullet comments rolled:

“Hahaha Teacher Duan really is a detail freak.”

“Teacher Duan hates every pair of long johns equally.”

“I was forced by my mom to wear long johns to school every day in winter. So ugly. My motivation for growing up was the freedom not to wear long johns!”

“Person above, you overthought. Grown up, Mom still forces you to wear them.”

Cheng Duzhou sat on the edge of the bed and said, “Over there isn’t like the island. It’s very cold. You can appropriately give up a little style.”

“So what if it’s cold?” Duan Xingye spoke with certainty. “Being an artist means paying attention to image management at all times.”

Cheng Duzhou lowered his eyes and said, “I don’t mind, just don’t regret it.”

Duan Xingye scoffed lightly. “Stop looking down on people.”

The audience began to worry:

“Suddenly remembered the night in the RV when Teacher Duan urged President Cheng to warm the bed…”

“Teacher Duan, don’t speak too absolutely! You are afraid of the cold!”

“Better bring the long johns. In case you can’t handle it, you really might have to drill wood for fire.”

Friday night’s livestream ended.

Before the filming team left, Duan Xingye privately found Old Xu and asked about the mission completion status of other groups.

Anyway, he could find out by watching the livestream replay.

Old Xu said, “No one succeeded in the challenge tonight. Everyone has to work hard tomorrow.”

Duan Xingye breathed a sigh of relief, terrified of falling behind.

Mission failed tonight, but Duan Xingye happily gained a trending search.

#Cat#

The tag was vague. Netizens who didn’t know clicked in to virtually pet cats.

Upon looking, it wasn’t the kind of cat they thought, but those who saw it became even more excited.

Thus, relying on the cat ear outfit and a “Meow~”, Duan Xingye broke out of the circle once again.

Duan Xingye looked at the comments section full of “Cute” and almost fainted.

So it’s not that he isn’t cute!

It’s that Cheng Duzhou can’t see it!

But even so, Duan Xingye couldn’t do anything to Cheng Duzhou. After all, he couldn’t let Cheng Duzhou know the truth, and he couldn’t find another reason to explode at him.

Duan Xingye turned off his phone and lay on the bed.

He didn’t care about the trending search, only about where they would sleep tomorrow night and how to complete the challenge ahead of others.

As for tonight’s failure, consider it gaining experience.

Judging from the results, he and Cheng Duzhou really had no tacit understanding to speak of.

Other couples might know what the other wanted to do with just one look.

With him and Cheng Duzhou, he practically wrote “Cute” on his face, and Cheng Duzhou was still like:

“Don’t be silly.”

“Why act so slutty.”

“Pretty good.”

“…”

Duan Xingye took a breath to calm down.

What to do tomorrow.

Cheng Duzhou might have been traumatized. He carried the camera from the decorative cabinet to outside the room, closed the door, walked back, slapped off the light on his side, and climbed into bed.

Duan Xingye was a bit agitated and turned on his side.

Nose tip to nose tip with Cheng Duzhou.

Both of their breaths paused very briefly.

Cheng Duzhou didn’t move, blinked, and said, “Sleep. Tired.”

Duan Xingye almost laughed coldly out loud.

The one who is truly tired at heart hasn’t spoken yet; what kind of tired are you?

“Cheng Duzhou.”

Duan Xingye called him.

Cheng Duzhou: “Hmm?”

Duan Xingye lowered his lashes slightly, then raised them. “How was I really today?”

Asking this now had nothing to do with the mission. The cameras were off, and no staff would verify it for him.

Duan Xingye was simply curious if Cheng Duzhou was truly indifferent and didn’t find him cute.

Is there a possibility that because of the camera’s presence, Cheng Duzhou wanted to maintain his aloof image and was unwilling to reveal his true thoughts in public?

Duan Xingye unconsciously leaned a few inches closer, his voice low: “Tell the truth.”

The wall lamp on Duan Xingye’s side wasn’t off yet. Under the warm light, his snow-white skin had a youthful tenderness, and his glistening black eyes flashed with an emotion close to expectation.

Cheng Duzhou looked at him. His mind automatically replayed Duan Xingye kneeling on the floor, a circle of milk foam on his lips, looking at him with a half-smile, as if he would stick out his tongue to lick his upper lip clean in the next second.

Then the scene changed. Duan Xingye wearing fluffy ears, pressing his wrist down at him, “Meow~”.

Then leaning forward, crawling over step by step, rubbing his face against his chest, neck…

Whoosh.

Cheng Duzhou bolted upright, reached back to grab his collar, and pulled off his pajamas: “If you talk about this, I’m not sleepy anymore.”

Duan Xingye: “…”

__

Author’s Note:

President Cheng: That is the truth.