After a D-List Celebrity and Their A-List Ex-Partner Join a Travel Reality Show - Chapter 20

Beautiful!

The curtains in the room were not drawn. Outside, the one o’clock Tromsø sky was tinged with a layer of blue, which in turn colored the interior of the room with the same hue.

Shen Shiqin was sitting in a spot with his back to the light. However, perhaps because his skin was so fair, He Lan still easily noticed a faint flush covering his cheeks.

Could he be running a fever again? It is even colder today than it was yesterday.

He Lan thought this, and the words slipped out: “What is wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

Shen Shiqin took a deep breath. “I am fine. Continue.”

“Okay.”

Agreeing to this, He Lan got up and went to the fireplace, put on his gloves, and added some firewood.

Shen Shiqin noticed him tending to the fire and said casually, “Teacher He is very thoughtful.”

He Lan did not react to this; he just added a few more logs to the fireplace. Once the fire was burning brightly, he returned and sat down beside Shen Shiqin. Shen Shiqin had already started answering other comments and did not continue the previous topic.

He Lan did not understand why the snow socks were such a forbidden topic, but the live stream comments had already moved on to many other questions, and he soon diverted his attention.

Among the three groups of guests, He Lan and Shen Shiqin’s live stream had the most viewers. As the popularity grew, the audience count rose to several hundred thousand. The comments on the screen scrolled by incredibly fast. There were many fans who tirelessly repeated their questions in hopes of getting them read.

The two of them identified and answered normal questions amidst a sea of chaotic comments. This sudden business-like demeanor made the comment section behave normally for a while.

There were many questions. By the second half of the stream, Shen Shiqin had subconsciously moved from the small sofa to the carpet, sitting cross-legged. Their knees touched occasionally, closing the distance between them unconsciously.

With the questions mostly answered and the comment section quieted down from asking bizarre things, they took a short break to think about what else to broadcast.

Lost in thought, the two maintained the same posture: elbows propped on the small tea table, chin supported by their hands as they watched the screen.

Suddenly, a comment flooded the screen: “The Kindergarten CP really has not been together in so long! This is a once-in-a-lifetime moment for us fans!”

Immediately after, several more appeared: “Hey, hey, hey! It is Yuan Bao!”

“It is about the same!”

Both of them saw the comment. The next second, they tacitly lowered their eyes, avoiding eye contact with each other on the screen.

These comments were like some kind of potion, stirring up deliberately sealed memories, memories that were once restless and thought to be long settled.

Before they were together, the two were publicly known for arguing whenever they met, though most of the time it was He Lan being noisy and making a scene. Shen Shiqin only acted as the atmosphere support, the type who was as cold as an iceberg but would occasionally chime in with a sharp critique. On various film sets and variety shows, as long as these two were present, one would be the comic relief and the other the straight man.

The Kindergarten CP had existed since that time.

Looking at these comments, it felt like returning to an ordinary afternoon several years ago. They were already together by then. That afternoon, Shen Shiqin had finished his last scene on set, and He Lan had come to pick him up.

The two had not seen each other for a month because of filming. When they stepped out of the car, although Shen Shiqin still had no expression on his face, sharp-eyed fans quickly noticed that his mouth was abnormally red and the corner of his lip was split.

Word spread quickly, and the fans became restless. The noise was so loud that He Lan felt his ears were going deaf. He shouted for them to keep their voices down, but no one listened.

After returning to the hotel, he posted on Weibo:

【@He Lan】: To the fans who came to pick up my wife from work today, firstly thank you for coming to see him. Secondly, can you please keep it down! It is just a kiss! Have you never seen one before! You even have the nerve to call us Kindergarten! Next time, just bring small stools and sit at the door! You all act more like kindergarteners than we do!

He added at the end: So sheltered.

From then on, the nickname Small Stool caught on. However, Shen Shiqin always felt it sounded terrible. Under his strong insistence, He Lan reluctantly changed his tune and followed him in calling it Yuan Bao.

Originally, he would not have backed down, until Shen Shiqin said at the time, “Do you not think Yuan Bao sounds a lot like a gold ingot?”

He Lan accepted the change of his CP fans’ name in a single second.

The comments were still scrolling. Shen Shiqin stood up first and said to the air, “I remember the souvenirs you bought have not been fully unpacked yet.”

“Ah, right,” He Lan replied. “We can unpack the rest for them to see.”

Shen Shiqin dropped an “Um” and turned toward the bedroom.

He Lan turned off the live stream camera temporarily, waiting for Shen Shiqin to return. His gaze followed that retreating figure toward the bedroom, while his pace was faster than usual.

The bedroom door closed slowly.

The phone gave a “ding,” signaling a message. It was a video sent by Meng Yichun. He Lan clicked on it; the content was from Shen Shiqin’s live stream earlier today. He had not known that the other person was still live-streaming at the time, so he had walked away right after speaking. His figure had been fully exposed to the lens, and the comment section had instantly boiled over.

Looking at Shen Shiqin’s expression in the video at that moment, it was very similar to the expression he had worn earlier when the fans asked about the snow socks.

Meng Yichun sent him another message: 【Little Meng: I am warning you two not to do anything strange in private on my variety show!】

Now, thinking back to what he said at noon, how could he not understand!

He closed his eyes peacefully and threw the phone aside. Then, with an expressionless face, he covered his face with both hands and let out a silent wail.

Why was Shen Shiqin’s stream still running with audio? He thought the broadcast had ended…

And what is going on with netizens these days? Why do they interpret his words like that!

So embarrassing.

Shen Shiqin came out carrying the tote bag. He Lan saw his figure in his peripheral vision and immediately sat up straight, looking at the screen. Shen Shiqin got closer and closer; He Lan could feel his palms becoming sweaty.

Shen Shiqin sat beside He Lan, not understanding why this person was suddenly sitting so stiffly. He stared at the man sitting bolt upright for a moment, then placed the tote bag in He Lan’s lap.

He Lan looked down at the half-unpacked souvenirs in the bag, then looked up at the comments, and finally handed the bag back to him, saying, “You unpack them all. There are not many left, and you can introduce them to them.”

Shen Shiqin took out both the unpacked and the unopened items from the tote bag and placed them on the small tea table.

“Let us unpack them together.”

He Lan had no choice but to nod, picking up a beautifully packaged small gift to start unpacking.

The souvenirs he had bought were all items with distinct Nordic characteristics, and the netizens were quickly dazzled. However, the two guests did not have much enthusiasm for the business, only occasionally interacting with the comments. Shen Shiqin put all his attention into the exquisite packaging that shimmered under the lights.

He Lan had only unpacked one or two when he turned his head and saw that Shen Shiqin had already unpacked many of the beautifully packaged souvenirs. Seeing him enjoying the process, He Lan pushed all the ones he had left onto his side.

Shen Shiqin was staring at the glittering wrapping paper in his hand when he suddenly saw the stack of unopened packages in front of him. He looked up at He Lan in a daze. The subtle light in his eyes had not yet faded away.

He Lan withdrew his gaze and said, “You unpack them. I will interact with the comments for a while.”

Shen Shiqin nodded in agreement, but then looked at He Lan suspiciously: “Is there some kind of trick in the rest of these?”

“Yes, there is a trick. Then do not unpack them.” He Lan’s tone revealed his dissatisfaction as he reached out to take the souvenirs back.

Shen Shiqin immediately spread his arms, pulling all the small gift boxes on the table into his embrace with a defensive look: “I did not say I would not unpack them!”

“Tsk.” He Lan withdrew his hand, seeing his protective behavior.

Shen Shiqin watched him vigilantly for a while, confirming the other man had no intention of taking them away, before relaxing and continuing to tear the wrapping paper.

He Lan propped his head up with one hand, looking at the comments listlessly, picking out questions to answer.

It was almost two o’clock. The sun had long set, and it was completely dark outside the window. There was a small wooden floor lamp on one side of the small sofa, to Shen Shiqin’s left. The only other light in the room was the overhead pendant lamp, which was still quite dim. He Lan reached out his arm, just brushing the switch of the floor lamp near Shen Shiqin’s back.

With a click, the light came on, illuminating a corner of the room.

Shen Shiqin was busy unpacking gifts with his head down. Feeling the faint touch behind him, he moved his back slightly forward. He Lan was about to withdraw his arm when he noticed the movement and stiffened. He looked down at Shen Shiqin.

The room was dark. Aside from the burning fireplace, the only area illuminated by warm yellow light was the small space where the two of them were. The warm light from the floor lamp fell first upon Shen Shiqin. It looked very much like sunset, casting a faint golden sheen over his chestnut hair.

He sat on the carpet with his legs crossed, eyes lowered as he unpacked the wrapping paper, not noticing that their knees were touching. It was a very relaxed posture. He was completely absorbed in unpacking gifts, and He Lan simply watched him.

The light cast a faint outline around them, as if the sunset were washing over Shen Shiqin’s shoulders, spilling onto He Lan’s hair, and then flowing over his eyes and brows. The light bathed both of them in warm silhouettes.

The netizens were clearly attracted by the two handsome people on the screen, and the number of comments decreased significantly.

Suddenly, Shen Shiqin made an “Oh” sound. He took an exquisite small box out of the wrapping paper. Judging by its appearance, the box did not look like a typical souvenir. He shook the small box in his hand, turned his head to look at He Lan, and asked, “Is this also a souvenir?”

Caught off guard by meeting Shen Shiqin’s eyes, He Lan calmly looked away, lowered his gaze to the box in his hand, and said, “I suppose.”

Shen Shiqin opened the small gift box. Inside lay two items. One was a silver Thor’s hammer brooch, connected by a silver chain, with a miniature silver mistletoe and a miniature dart at the ends. The other was a matching necklace, with a small silver dart and mistletoe hanging in the middle. Both pieces were handmade, with small pearls embedded in the silver mistletoe. They shimmered under the light.

Silver ornaments were common in Nordic traditions, but one with such craftsmanship was rare.

“Is this really a souvenir?” Shen Shiqin took out the brooch and asked.

“It is!” He Lan said confidently. “That shop sells souvenirs; what else could it be?”

Shen Shiqin lightly rubbed the patterns on the brooch with his fingers and said enigmatically, “That merchant’s souvenirs are really special.”