RSDH CH17

Sister Yu was lurking in the livestream, watching her artist, her sheet mask splitting open from laughing yet again. She had never imagined Duan Xingye’s entertainment value could be this phenomenal.

Previously, her assessment of Duan Xingye lacking variety sense was because those other shows were pre-recorded, and Duan Xingye hated showing off, often ending up with the most footage left on the cutting room floor among the cast.

Now that it had switched to a 24/7 livestream, even the best of them would slip up and fail to keep up their guard at times. What’s more, there was a wondrous chemistry between Duan Xingye and his partner Cheng Duzhou. This was likely because they were childhood friends and married husbands; being familiar enough to forget all reservations led to Duan Xingye’s aloof persona crashing and burning time and time again.

Sister Yu opened Weibo, where the topic #DuanXingyeIconicMomentsCompilation# was once again pushed to the trending searches.

While other teams were throwing money around to buy trending spots, her team didn’t need to lift a finger for promotions at all, pulling off a comeback purely on organic, viral word-of-mouth traffic.

In a single word: glorious!

At the seaside campsite, the production crew had arranged an RV for each guest couple. Just from the vehicles’ exteriors alone, one could tell the gulf in their specs and class tiers.

The largest one featured an understated, luxurious paint job, tall and wide like a mobile cottage.

The smallest one was covered in dust, boxy and square—a generic minivan.

Confirmed by the production crew, Cheng Duzhou and Duan Xingye were the first to arrive at the campsite.

After waiting another ten minutes or so, Jiang Li and Wu Enqi arrived one after another.

Having completed the mission successfully, the two married couples wept tears of joy. Seeing Cheng Duzhou and Duan Xingye, the initial awkward distance was gone, warmly stepping forward to chat and thanking them once more for their help during the first checkpoint.

While Wu Enqi poured out her grievances to everyone, Jiang Li nudged Cheng Duzhou conspiratorially, darting a glance at Duan Xingye, holding back a laugh: “Your husband is so adorable, just like a cat.”

Cheng Duzhou looked in that direction.

Duan Xingye sat on a folding chair beside a sea hibiscus not far away, his wrists dangling loosely. The evening breeze gently rustled the highlighted strands of his hair. Half of his radiant face was bathed in the twilight, orange-red firelight dancing along the edge of his jawline—and that same flame leaped into the limpid depths of his eyes as he watched Wu Enqi chatter on nonstop.

He didn’t join the crowd, whether unwilling or simply too aloof to care. The deepening twilight glow masked the pride and sharpness in his expression, lending him a touch of well-behaved, quiet detachment—like a cat crouching in a corner, poking its head out to observe humans.

At this moment, a sea breeze as gentle as water swept past, nudging open the door to Cheng Duzhou’s heart, flooding it with an indescribable tenderness.

As Duan Xingye rested alone to the side, a bundle of feathers suddenly dangled before his eyes.

A few pure white feathers tied together with hemp twine—a wind chime meant to hang by the RV door, making no sound and serving purely as a decorative trinket. The other end was held in Cheng Duzhou’s hand.

Duan Xingye lazily lifted his eyelids, took a look, and nonchalantly turned his gaze back to the crowd.

Cheng Duzhou, however, took endless delight in it, dangling and jiggling the wind chime in front of Duan Xingye.

Duan Xingye’s brow furrowed slightly, lifting an impatient gaze: “Are you bored or what?”

Looking slightly sheepish, Cheng Duzhou let out an “Oh,” fiddled with the feathers on his own for a bit, and casually hung it from a branch of the sea hibiscus above.

Everyone had finished chatting.

Jiang Li asked the production crew, “The rooms are decided. Can we head inside now?”

The head director showed an awkward expression and said, “There’s still one couple on the way, but they’re almost here. Once everyone is gathered, we’ll tour the rooms together.”

Everyone could tell who the two holding things up were, so nobody pressed further.

Cheng Duzhou walked back, only to look up and see Duan Xingye beneath the sea hibiscus ahead, leaning back against the chair, stretching one arm straight upward to bat at the white feathers dangling from the branch. The feathers swayed and fluttered in the breeze; unable to catch them, he extended his fingertips to keep trying, repeatedly playing all by himself with immense amusement.

Unable to hold it in, Cheng Duzhou let out a “pfft,” the corners of his lips curling into a broad grin.

The camera first captured Cheng Duzhou’s uncontrollable smile, then panned toward where his gaze rested.

The bullet comments, which had slowed down, erupted in rolling ecstasy once more.

“It feels like Teacher Duan is playing with a cat teaser wand!”

“Who is he trying to kill with cuteness?!”

“Why is it that just one watching the other with a smile is this sweet?”

“President Cheng definitely wants to keep the little cat all to himself.”

By the time the sky turned pitch black, Huang Liang and Tao Ziyi finally arrived at the campsite.

Streams across the other groups erupted into sarcastic applause.

“Welcome the Ultimate Big Brains~”

“Here’s a joke: they were dead set on venturing out to sea, couldn’t be dragged back even by the crew, and ended up stranded on a deserted island.”

“Dying of laughter, the crew even had to send a boat to rescue them. Such prestige! The Huang Tao CP must be the ones truly favored by the production team, right?”

“My idol doesn’t know how to pack luggage, but was the first to reach the finish line. Your idol is so badass, how come the production crew had to fish them out of the water?”

Huang Liang and Tao Ziyi’s afternoon could only be described as a comedy of errors. Disembarking from the car covered in dust, facing the others waiting by the beach, their smiles were exceedingly strained.

Everyone else urged to tour the RVs, wanting to settle in as soon as possible.

Starting from the fourth-place minivan, sliding open the door, the conditions were clear at a glance—only an air mattress inside.

Essentially, they could only curl up inside to sleep, while showering and using the restroom had to be done at public beach facilities.

Now, Tao Ziyi couldn’t maintain even the faintest shred of a smile.

As for the second and third-place RVs, they had every necessary amenity, differing only in space, both somewhat cramped.

When the first-place RV was unveiled, the other couples let out choruses of “Wow~” in admiration. The space inside was more than twice as large as the others’. Someone as tall as Cheng Duzhou didn’t even need to duck his head inside. In particular, the bathroom was extraordinarily spacious, instantly elevating the sense of comfort, with clean, sleek decor resembling a luxury boutique suite.

Amidst everyone’s envious gazes, Cheng Duzhou and Duan Xingye boarded the vehicle.

The production crew announced that a seaside banquet was set up, granting everyone one hour of rest before gathering outside.

Because the follow-up directors didn’t enter the RVs, the guests launched livestreams on their phones, allowing them to continue interacting with viewers after boarding.

Only Tao Ziyi’s group was an exception. Their vehicle lacked partitioned spaces, making changing clothes or doing anything else awkward, so the phone tripod had to be set up outside.

The moment Tao Ziyi climbed into the minivan, he flattened out, staring up at the mottled faux-leather ceiling. After a long while, he punched the air mattress beneath him in fury. “No wonder I didn’t see Duan Xingye and the other guy catching up along the way!”

Duan Xingye and Cheng Duzhou had deduced everything with such sound logic after landing, and he had believed it, yet that couple hadn’t even intended to act on it.

His pair had waited on a desolate island for passing fishing boats, battered and humiliated, their stream’s viewership plummeting in a straight dive. In contrast, Duan Xingye’s group had stayed solidly at number one in ratings, detonating two trending searches in a single afternoon:

#WeddingAnniversary#

#ChildhoodFriendsDualFirstLove#

More and more people were falling down the rabbit hole.

Before the broadcast, Tao Ziyi and Huang Liang were the most favored CP, yet now he was being suppressed by his mortal enemy, unable to turn the tables.

“Their only advantage is that they know how to act,” Tao Ziyi grumbled unwillingly, recalling the trending video he saw on the road. “They couldn’t even give a consistent wedding anniversary, which proves they never had the habit of celebrating anniversaries together at all—they’re absolute plastic lovers! Acting all lovey-dovey on camera, but pull back the surface and it’s riddled with holes!”

Huang Liang felt like he had bought into the rival couple’s scheme and been played for a fool, seething with anger: “What lunar calendar, solar calendar? I bet Cheng Duzhou didn’t even remember it himself. In the end it was just dumb luck—a blind cat running into a dead mouse.”

Sharing a mutual enemy, the two hatched a plan: during tonight’s banquet, they would find an opportunity to point out that Cheng Duzhou and Duan Xingye never celebrated their wedding anniversary, then make a big deal out of it. It would definitely deal a heavy blow to their image in the audience’s hearts.

Having walked outside all afternoon and worked up a sweat, Duan Xingye prepared to take a shower during the break.

Inside the inner cabin of the RV, he opened the suitcase, only to find it was packed practically to the brim.

Just the towels Cheng Duzhou had packed for him included four different sizes, ranging from small face cloths to full-body bath sheets.

Three outfits were packed, one of which was evidently a spare.

All the daily essentials he casually used at home were accounted for in the suitcase.

Duan Xingye also spotted a jewelry box.

He opened the box. Inside was a brownish sapphire watch. It looked undeniably high-end, though the brand was one he hadn’t heard of and details were obscure online. Cheng Duzhou had given it to him last year, seemingly as an apology for something. Exactly what that had been, he had long forgotten.

Duan Xingye had never worn it once, purely feeling there was no reason to wear a gift from Cheng Duzhou; thus, the watch usually sat in the glass display cabinet of the walk-in closet.

Cheng Duzhou bringing it along this time was likely considering that he always wore accessories with his outfits.

Looking at the jewelry, Duan Xingye suddenly thought of something and pulled out his phone—the production crew had returned them after the mission was completed.

He had an Instagram account with an IP address set to Iceland and a gibberish username, “uriensdkgm.” It was his private alt account—very low-profile, private to non-followers, comments turned off, and DMs rarely checked.

Duan Xingye occasionally shared photos there, among which was this watch.

He scrolled up, found the post, and checked the date.

The post was published on March 5th, which was the day he had received the gift.

Duan Xingye opened the calendar and looked up March 5th of last year.

His fingertip swept across a row of numbers, then froze.

March 5th, 2022, was the third day of the second lunar month.

Their wedding anniversary.

Squatting there, Duan Xingye lowered his head, his lips lightly brushing his knee, his upturned eyes staring at that yellowish-brown sapphire watch.

Holding that posture for quite a while, he picked out an amber-yellow shirt from the suitcase.

Just right to pair with the watch.

…

After Duan Xingye rinsed off and came out, Cheng Duzhou went in to shower as well.

Duan Xingye walked into the small living area of the RV, sat on the chair by the window, and plugged in the hair dryer to dry his hair.

The hair dryer had also been brought from home by Cheng Duzhou.

Under the blow of warm air, Duan Xingye tilted his head and stroked his hair strands. As he lifted his arm, the brownish sapphire watch on his left wrist slipped out from beneath his sleeve, reflecting against the deep blue sea shimmering with moonlight outside the window.

The phone streaming live rested right beside him.

“Oh my god! My Teacher Duan casually drying his hair looks like a painting!”

“It looks just like a luxury fashion commercial, the watch is so gorgeous.”

“Never seen Teacher Duan wear this before?”

“Quick, drop a price tag so I can give up on my dreams!”

“Image search returns nothing! Where did Teacher Duan buy that watch? Link please!”

“Daring guess: this probably isn’t a watch you can buy from a direct link.”

Focused on drying his hair, Duan Xingye had no mind to care about the enthusiastically rolling comments.

Once his hair was eighty percent dry, he stopped and began playing on his phone on his own.

No matter how the audience pleaded, he didn’t respond.

Bullet comments wept: Visual streamers really are this willful.

With ten minutes left before the gathering, Cheng Duzhou finally stepped out from the inner cabin.

Duan Xingye looked up at the sound, his gaze freezing slightly.

Cheng Duzhou wasn’t wearing a shirt, wiping his hair with a towel, putting his lean, sculpted muscles on full display.

The bullet comments blew up again, flooded with gasps of “This physique is insane!”

Only, all of a sudden, the chatter shifted tone.

“Sisters! Screenshot and zoom in! There’s a highlight on his back!”

Duan Xingye clearly noticed the lingering scratch marks on Cheng Duzhou’s back as well, heat rushing to his face as he looked almost instinctively at the livestream.

“Those claw marks might be semi-permanent :)”

“Teacher Duan still hasn’t clipped his nails?”

“You two have quite a high frequency, huh.”

“…”

If this continued unchecked, Duan Xingye wouldn’t be surprised if the stream got banned.

He hastily warned, “Cheng Duzhou, put a shirt on.”

Cheng Duzhou looked at him: “What’s wrong?”

Before his hair was completely dry, Cheng Duzhou generally didn’t wear a shirt, disliking the feel of damp water droplets wetting the collar and sticking to his skin.

Duan Xingye’s voice deepened: “If I tell you to put it on, put it on!”

Noticing his impatience, Cheng Duzhou found it somewhat odd, but soon his gaze flickered to the phone tripod standing beside Duan Xingye.

His dark eyes shifted subtly.

He was annoyed that Cheng Duzhou was exposing too much for the audience to see.

When it came to things that belonged to him, Duan Xingye had a stubborn and fierce possessiveness, just as he had since childhood.

Cheng Duzhou lowered his eyes and sluggishly turned his back to the camera, preventing the audience from seeing more.

Having already conceded in action, his mouth intentionally muttered softly, “I won’t.”

With his head lowered drying his hair, the corners of his lips curved upward into a faint smirk.

“You!” Duan Xingye nearly fainted from rage.

With this turn of Cheng Duzhou’s body, the mottled scratch marks across his back were put completely on display right before the audience’s eyes.

The livestream was practically going insane.

Unable to sit still, Duan Xingye grabbed a large bath towel from the side, strode over in a few quick steps, and draped it right over Cheng Duzhou’s head, covering the man’s lean upper body. Gripping both sides of the towel, he yanked him forward, fierce and demanding:

“Put your clothes on properly right this instant!”

With the towel draped over his head and wet hair strands dangling over his eyelids, Cheng Duzhou stared unblinkingly at Duan Xingye. Suddenly, without warning, he reached out to cup Duan Xingye’s cheeks, bent his spine, and planted a loud, wet kiss on his lips.

Duan Xingye was stunned: “?”

Tracing a fingertip lightly across Duan Xingye’s cheek, a gentle smile surfaced in Cheng Duzhou’s eyes.

Jealous.

What to do? So cute.

__

Author’s Note:

Teacher Duan: Me, jealous? In your fucking dreams.