RSDH CH6

Pfft—

Sister Yu was caught off guard and sprayed everywhere.

Xiao Dai pressed his lips tightly together, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably.

One called “Husband,” the other responded “Wifey.” Although the two were clearly butting heads, the CP fans were ecstatic.

Cheng Duzhou got out of the car.

Duan Xingye shot a sharp glance at the front seat, somewhat taking his anger out on them.

Sister Yu instantly wiped the expression from her face and slapped Xiao Dai on the head, neither lightly nor heavily. “What are you laughing at?”

…

After entering the base, the group headed straight for the lounge.

Duan Xingye was afraid of the cold, so he didn’t take off his long down jacket, but he left it unzipped, revealing the exquisite suit underneath, tailored to cinch tightly at his narrow waist.

Inside was a bright white shirt, buttoned to the top. A long collar pin spanned across the collar, connecting a platinum chain at both ends. The pin’s tail featured a rose gemstone, perfectly complementing his lip color.

Not only were the details—from his hair to his clothes to his collar pin—impeccable, but his face was also so snow-white and smooth that he was camera-ready instantly.

The program team had assigned a makeup artist, but faced with a man as exquisitely beautiful as Duan Xingye, he could only stand aside rubbing his hands together, looking useless.

He sighed from the bottom of his heart, “If there were a few more stars like you, I’d be out of a job.”

“There won’t be.” Duan Xingye turned his head to look at him and stated with certainty, “There’s only one me.”

“…”

The makeup artist’s expression was a bit conflicted.

After Cheng Duzhou had his hair simply styled, a staff member came to call them, leading the guests to the recording studio.

The fill lights in the studio were very bright, the set simple: just two high stools placed in front of a white backdrop.

The person conducting the interview was the production team’s head writer, who was already waiting in the room.

She was a woman in her thirties, capable, intense, and serious. Seeing the two enter, she forced a slight movement at the corners of her mouth.

The cameras rolled, and the interview began.

The head writer sat in the shadows opposite the guests and got straight to the point: “Describe the moment you fell for each other.”

Given they had a script, this kind of interview was just going through the motions.

Duan Xingye rested one foot on the floor and the other on the bar of the high stool. His posture was relaxed but not sloppy. With a calm expression, he shot a glance at Cheng Duzhou.

Cheng Duzhou got into character quickly. He adjusted his watch with one hand, his voice unhurried. “I’ve known him since we were very young—”

“How young is ‘very young’?” the head writer suddenly interrupted.

The couple both fell silent for a moment.

Cheng Duzhou answered, “Five years old.”

“So you grew up together. No wonder…”

The head writer leaned forward, the clipboard pressing against her leg, forming an idea of her own.

“The audience is tired of adult meet-cutes. They lack the experience of childhood sweethearts growing up together. The theme of ‘bamboo horses turning into lovers’ is quite interesting… You remember the scene of your first meeting as kids, right?”

“…”

“…”

For a moment, no one answered.

The head writer looked at Duan Xingye.

“Sorry.” Duan Xingye clasped his knee with his fingers, his expression unchanging. “It’s been too long, I can’t remember clearly.”

Refusing to answer questions outside the script. With the tacit understanding between him and Cheng Duzhou, barring any accidents, there would definitely be an accident.

“What about President Cheng?”

The head writer’s gaze was sharp. When she encountered a topic she wanted to dig into, she would get to the bottom of it and never let anyone slip by easily.

Finally.

Cheng Duzhou lowered his gaze, ignoring the warning look shot from beside him, and said, “The first time we met, I made him cry.”

Duan Xingye held his breath.

Why bring that up, you blockhead!

A certain day in the summer of 2004.

Yu City, Qingyang District, in front of a detached house.

“Report to the Commander! Bad guy spotted! …Fire! Tu-tu-tu-tu-tu!”

A boy manipulated a toy soldier, shooting at the air, his watery red lips puckered as he made endless tu-tu noises.

His cheeks were flushed with two red spots from the heat. His jet-black hair was soaked with sweat, sticking to his forehead in strands. He had bright, upturned eyes like those painted in Chinese ink wash. Dressed in a sweat-absorbing tank top and shorts, his exposed arms and legs were pink and white like lotus roots, as if Nuwa had molded him from snow.

—It was exactly five-year-old Duan Xingye.

“Quick! Save Flower-Flower!”

Duan Xingye lunged forward, flopping onto the grass and crawling towards a small blue-purple flower ahead.

—Blue flax. Seeds given by the kindergarten. Duan Xingye had planted it in the center of the lawn and forbade anyone from getting close.

He watered it every day, caring for it meticulously, watching it sprout, grow tall, and bloom. He was incredibly proud of himself.

The next second.

Splat!

A canvas shoe landed.

The little flower snapped and collapsed onto the ground.

Duan Xingye froze and looked up.

Standing before him was a little boy about his age, with delicate features and deep black eyes.

Cheng Duzhou realized belatedly, looked down, and lifted his toe.

A wild flower, tragically crushed, stuck to the sole of his shoe.

He then looked up.

He saw the snowy-white little kid on the ground knitting his brows slightly. Dark pupils stared at his shoe. First, a small patch of pink appeared at the corner of his eyes, then slowly, the rims of his eyes turned red. Both corners of his mouth turned down, trembling at high speed. Finally, unable to hold it in, his mouth opened wide, erupting in a loud wail: “You! —Pay! —Me! —Back!”

“…”

Cheng Duzhou’s eardrums were pierced, a burst of pain.

Soon, the commotion in the yard attracted five nannies. They surrounded Duan Xingye, hugging him, holding him, coaxing him. Nothing worked.

Duan Xingye pounded the ground with two small fists, huge teardrops falling. “I want Flower-Flower, I want my Flower-Flower sai!” (Note: ‘sai’ is a particle typical of Sichuan/Chongqing dialect)

Cheng Duzhou was embarrassed by his crying. He wanted to apologize but couldn’t get a word in.

Cheng Xian was the Duan family’s driver. He signaled his son to go inside and hide for a bit.

Cheng Duzhou just moved.

Duan Xingye scrambled up from the ground, ran to the door, and spread his arms to block it. “This is my house! You’re not allowed in!”

A child’s petulance knows no bounds, and Duan Xingye was the champion among them.

Cheng Duzhou had just arrived. The unfamiliar environment already made him uneasy, and now he inevitably felt wronged. He pursed his lips, leaned his body against the adult’s leg, and turned his wet eyes upward to look at his father.

Cheng Xian was helpless and led Cheng Duzhou away.

But even then, Duan Xingye wouldn’t let it go. He stomped his feet and flung his hands. “I’m not leaving! He’ll come back in a bit, I’m watching!”

The nannies: “…”

Cheng Duzhou naturally didn’t leave; he just went around to enter the house through the back door.

From a room on the first floor, he pulled open a crack in the curtains and peeked outside.

That little kid dug the flower out of the soil, went back to the door to squat, poked the limp little flower with his finger, and cried until his face was bright red.

In all the picture books Cheng Duzhou had read, even Daiyu burying flowers wasn’t as sad as him.

That afternoon, Duan Xingye squatted guard at the door. No one could persuade him to leave, terrified that the annoying little kid would return while he went inside.

And until his anger subsided, no one dared to tell him the fact that Cheng Duzhou was already inside the house.

So Duan Xingye guarded from mid-afternoon until dusk. Finally, tired from crying, he fell asleep and was carried home.

…

Duan Xingye listened to the end without making a sound.

Even the stupid things from his childhood were exposed. Did he not need face?

The head writer looked down taking notes, smiling at something unknown, and asked Cheng Duzhou, “So what was your first impression of Teacher Duan?”

Duan Xingye glanced sideways at the man beside him, hoping he would seize the opportunity and speak properly.

Cheng Duzhou thought for a moment and said, “Difficult. Like a rabbit that chases people to bite them.”

After speaking, he sensed the gaze directed at him by Duan Xingye.

Cheng Duzhou turned his face. “What?”

Duan Xingye looked at him for a while, got off the stool, dragged his high chair a distance away to the other side, and sat back down.

“…”

The interview went on for nearly half an hour.

A staff member came in and signaled to the head writer from afar, indicating this pair of guests had gone overtime and the next pair was due.

Although the head writer still had many questions, she could only indicate that was all for today.

As soon as they wrapped, Duan Xingye stood up and walked out of the recording studio without waiting for Cheng Duzhou.

Cheng Duzhou sensed something and looked at Duan Xingye’s retreating figure.

The head writer quickly checked the script, suddenly frowned, and inwardly cried oops. “Missed a key question.”

She hurriedly called out to Cheng Duzhou, who hadn’t left the door yet. “President Cheng, please wait a moment. Could you help record one supplementary answer?”

Cheng Duzhou stopped and pointed at the door.

Meaning Duan Xingye had already left.

“It’s fine,” the head writer said. “You can answer it alone.”

Cheng Duzhou had no choice but to sit back down.

The head writer said, “Describe the moment you fell for Teacher Duan.”

It was the very first question they hadn’t finished discussing at the start of the interview.

Cheng Duzhou, however, wasn’t as composed as he was at the beginning. He lowered his head, his long, clean hands clasped together.

Silence fell over the venue for a moment, making the hum of the incandescent lights seem somewhat loud.

The staff member who had just come to remind them of the time quietly opened the door and slipped out. As he turned, he heard the low, magnetic, quiet voice from inside.

“It was the school anniversary gala when we were sixteen. I was in the audience, watching him on stage…”

The door closed, shutting the voice inside.

…

Duan Xingye returned to the lounge.

“Finished?” Sister Yu looked behind him and asked, “Where’s President Cheng?”

“Don’t know.” Duan Xingye was concise. “Call a car. Let’s go.”

Sister Yu went “Huh?” “Not taking President Cheng’s car back?”

Duan Xingye didn’t speak, picking up his coat to drape over himself.

Sister Yu and Xiao Dai exchanged a look, finally realizing the atmosphere was wrong.

Xiao Dai called a car, but it would take some time to arrive.

Duan Xingye sat on the sofa waiting, seemingly playing with his phone, but in reality, getting angrier the more he thought about it.

Throughout the interview, not only did Cheng Duzhou fail to act like a lover should, but he also exposed quite a few of his shortcomings as a childhood friend.

…Although he also ruthlessly exposed Cheng Duzhou’s shortcomings, that was all started by Cheng Duzhou first.

Their trailer was ruined.

Duan Xingye frowned in irritation, questioning why he insisted on dragging Cheng Duzhou onto a romance variety show.

Was he afraid people didn’t know they were a contract couple?

Xiao Dai suddenly said, “Car’s here.”

Duan Xingye put away his phone and was the first to get up and walk out.

Right at this moment.

The door was pushed open from the outside. Cheng Duzhou was looking down replying to a message on his phone. When he looked up, he came face-to-face with Duan Xingye.

Duan Xingye didn’t care where Cheng Duzhou had just been. He tried to walk around him to leave.

But Cheng Duzhou grabbed him. “Leaving?”

Duan Xingye gave a faint mm-hmm.

Cheng Duzhou said, “I’ll have the driver take you.”

“No need, we have a car.”

Cheng Duzhou looked at him silently for a moment, temporarily suppressing some words, and said, “I won’t be back tonight. I’m going out of town on a business trip for a few days.”

“Hmph.” Duan Xingye sneered and pulled his hand back. “Go ahead. You can’t come home these few days anyway.”

“…”

When Sister Yu and Xiao Dai passed Cheng Duzhou on their way out, they both cast sympathetic glances at him.

Cheng Duzhou watched Duan Xingye leave, placed his hands on his hips, and bit his lip.