After a D-List Celebrity and Their A-List Ex-Partner Join a Travel Reality Show - Chapter 4

“Why are you so fierce? If it were not for the fact that there is only one quilt, do you think I would want to squeeze in with you?”

He Lan finished speaking, stood up, and patted his pajamas.

Shen Shiqin’s kick just now had been quite solid. Fortunately, the bed here was very low, and aside from his bottom taking a heavy hit the moment he landed, nothing else was seriously injured.

He was currently standing barefoot on the floor, looking resentfully at the lump on the bed.

The person on the bed was sleeping extremely peacefully, with only the back of his head visible, his hair a bit messy from the earlier scuffle.

He Lan stood there and unceremoniously rolled his eyes at the back of that person’s head several times before climbing back into bed. This time, however, he was much more restrained, grabbing only a corner of the quilt to cover himself.

The room was silent, save for the gradually steady breathing of the person beside him.

He Lan could not quite fall asleep.

He had originally thought that he was long used to living alone, but after such a long time, three years of only seeing this person on screens and media, having him lying by his side again, with his warm body temperature slowly seeping through, the memories he had deliberately sealed away in the deepest parts of his mind were uncontrollably resurfacing.

His relationship with Shen Shiqin could truly be described as passionate and intense. They had done everything that couples do, and they had also tried almost everything that most couples would not dare to attempt.

They loved traveling and extreme sports.

During the years they were together, they went diving, skydiving, racing, and horseback riding on the grasslands.

They had ridden the most thrilling roller coasters, but they had also argued in amusement parks over a stick of cotton candy because He Lan would not let Shen Shiqin eat sweets.

The romance had been fiery, and the breakup had been equally tumultuous and messy.

Neither side had any intention of yielding to the other.

He Lan lay with his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. He wondered, could their romance be described as deeply engraved in the bones?

Probably not.

After all, they had broken up without a shred of lingering attachment, and neither had shown any mercy to the other.

At eight o’clock the next morning, the guests gathered at the recording site.

They were scheduled to shoot promotional posters this morning and conduct their first group live stream to answer questions from netizens and solicit votes for the most anticipated landmarks to visit.

When He Lan walked into the room after finishing his hair and makeup, the staff were busy adjusting the equipment. The other guests had already arrived and were sitting together, chatting while eating breakfast.

Shen Shiqin was still sitting at the very edge, eating a breakfast featuring Norwegian specialties, occasionally chatting with Yu An, who sat beside him, without noticing that anyone had entered.

He Lan glanced at the seating, noticing that the group had already tacitly left the other end of the table open for him.

He had just sat down when Zuo Jiaxi, who was sitting next to him, asked in surprise, “Teacher He, did you not sleep well last night? Why do you look a bit haggard?”

Duan Nan also looked over and asked with concern, “Is it because you are not used to being here yet?”

He Lan rubbed his eyes and put on a smile. “Yes, I am a bit sensitive to new beds. It is fine, I will be awake in a moment.”

He picked up his iced Americano and took two sips. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the culprit behind his insomnia. He frowned and took another large gulp.

He Lan had been tossing and turning until the middle of the night. Just as he finally drifted off, he suddenly felt a weight on his body.

A faint scent drifted over. The fragrance was so familiar that he subconsciously sniffed it, only to wake up in a shock the next moment.

He lowered his head and saw that Shen Shiqin was pressed tightly against him, with more than half of his body leaning over like an octopus. One arm was tightly clamped around his waist, and a leg was unceremoniously draped over his own legs under the quilt.

He Lan was instantly wide awake. He struggled to reach out and pull Shen Shiqin’s arm to push him away, but the octopus wrapped itself even tighter around him the next second.

Shen Shiqin’s hands and feet were ice-cold, pressed directly against He Lan’s skin, causing his muscles to tense up involuntarily.

He Lan lowered his voice and called out, “Shen Shiqin, stop holding me.”

The octopus ignored him, instead thinking that the voice was too noisy. Its head subconsciously burrowed into a warmer spot.

He Lan felt the movement of the person in his arms and dared not move an inch. Having no other choice, he reached out and touched Shen Shiqin’s shoulder, his voice becoming louder: “Hey, at least move a little.”

Perhaps annoyed by him, Shen Shiqin muttered something in his sleep. Just as He Lan lowered his head to listen, Shen Shiqin suddenly raised his hand and dealt a solid slap to his chin.

The force was not great, but it transferred a sliver of chill through the skin. Taken completely off guard, He Lan clutched his chin, both stunned and having heard what Shen Shiqin had said.

A few broken words jumbled together, probably complaining that he was noisy and cold.

He Lan was completely unable to sleep after that.

He kept his eyes open, staring at the ceiling. After counting sheep, switching to other animals, and even counting Norwegian moose, he finally made it to dawn.

The person beside him was about to wake up; he could feel the hand around his waist move.

He immediately closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.

How could he let Shen Shiqin know about the insomnia? If he found out, he would surely mock him to death.

As it turned out, Shen Shiqin did not mention it at all.

When Shen Shiqin woke up and realized he was curled up completely in He Lan’s arms, he sat up straight, stared blankly at the messy bedding for a moment, and then let out a tsk.

He then calmly got up to wash up.

It was only after the guest house door closed that He Lan opened his eyes.

He looked at the closed door, his mind filled with Shen Shiqin’s tsk from earlier.

He could hear the ten percent impatience mixed with twenty percent disdain.

The recollection ended, and the entire glass of iced Americano had hit the bottom.

A staff member shouted from the side, “Teachers, come over and get ready for the promotional poster shoot!”

Meng Yichun was discussing the process with the host. When everyone was seated, he said, “Good morning, everyone. Did you sleep well last night?”

As he spoke, he looked pointedly at He Lan.

Why did he not look at Shen Shiqin? Because he did not dare. Ever since the man had entered the room, he could feel a chill creeping up his back.

He Lan smiled through gritted teeth. “It was okay, but I wonder, did the production team run out of sponsors?”

“Why… why do you say that?”

He Lan gave no face at all and said directly, “Such a small room, two people sleeping in it, and only one quilt, right?”

At the same time, Shen Shiqin, who had been sitting quietly in the corner, spoke up: “Almost forgot, Director Meng. The camera crew told me last night that you personally tested that a single bed could fit two people. Tsk, how did you test that?”

Meng Yichun’s ear tips turned red from this barrage of questions. He coughed twice, trying to brush it off: “Ah, it seems the two of you did not sleep very well. As for the sponsors… there are definitely enough. As for the test, no, that is not important.”

The assistant director did not help Meng Yichun out of the awkward situation this time; he simply sat to the side, covering his mouth with the script to hide a smile. He received a glare from Meng Yichun, then immediately sat up straight and went back to checking the schedule with the staff.

The producer stepped in to save the situation. He walked over and said, “Everyone, let us stand according to these positions.”

He proceeded to list the order from left to right.

He Lan immediately pointed at the list and said, “Hey, I am not standing there!”

Yu An leaned over to look, and saw that the list had her and Duan Nan in the very center, with Shen Shiqin on the right, and He Lan placed right next to him, while the three newcomers were on the ends.

Yu An found it amusing. She thought this production team was incredibly brave, knowing full well that the two did not get along and still daring to be so blatant.

Seeing the refusal, Meng Yichun puffed out his chest and brought out his authority as the director: “No, this position is the most appropriate. We arranged it strictly according to seniority. I will not accept any rebuttal, and no switching is allowed.”

He added, “If we do not do it this way, the fans will scold us.”

“Do you think standing like this will stop them from scolding us?” He Lan glared at him and said, “You better believe this will lead to an even worse scolding.”

Meng Yichun was fearless: “Ha, impossible.”

After all, he knew best what the fans wanted to see, and besides, he accepted this program specifically because of these two.

Whether he got scolded or not did not matter!

“Anyway, I am not standing there.” Having said that, He Lan walked to the far right of the lineup, arms crossed, with a look that suggested, “See what you can do about it.”

“Hey?” Meng Yichun rolled the script into a tube and tapped his palm, wanting to criticize, when another voice came through.

Shen Shiqin: “I will stand there.”

Meng Yichun followed the voice and saw Shen Shiqin standing at the far left of the group, also crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow at him.

How childish! It is just a standing position.

Meng Yichun opened his mouth, but did not dare to say anything to Shen Shiqin, so he quietly flattened the script and said to the photographer, “Let us shoot it this way, then. Thank you for your hard work.”

A moment later, the photographer looked at the two men standing at either end of the frame, looking troubled. “Teacher Shen, Teacher He, can we relax our expressions? Smile.”

The two teachers complied by pulling at the corners of their mouths.

The photographer watched as the expressions of the two in the lens grew increasingly eerie, so he immediately raised his hand to stop them: “Teachers! I think it is better the way it was before.”

And so, the two door gods returned to their comfort zones, simultaneously stiffening their expressions, grim and unsmiling as if they were about to head into battle the next second.

The posters were produced, uploaded to the media immediately, and the official announcement for the start of Let’s Go! Let’s Go Now was made:

Ding! #LetsGo! A surprise delivery from our check-in around the world today! Together with our Finding North companions @DuanNan @YuAn @ShenShiqinmeraki @MyNameIsHeLanDontRememberMe @RTZuoJiaxiJace @KeTongtong, let’s start our Norwegian journey at 69° North! Lock in at 4:00 PM for a surprise full-member live stream. Let’s have fun together!

As expected, the comment section built up a tall building in an instant.

“Did I see that right? The two people at the ends of the poster look like they are at the South Pole and the North Pole.”

“Are you two cold? Are the guests in the middle cold?”

“Grandma, you did not see it wrong! Our kindergarten is about to reopen!”

“I do not understand what you are cheering about. You can see how unhappy they are just from their expressions.”

“Exactly! Our Emperor Shen stands alone, please do not try to rub off on him, thanks.”

“He Lan did not even say he wanted to grab any heat, right?”

“Yo, if it were not for He Lan, our Emperor Shen would not be standing at the very edge!”

Aside from those looking forward to the broadcast, most of the comments were attacking He Lan, claiming he joined the travel variety show to rub off on Shen Shiqin’s popularity. There was also a segment of fans who thought Shen Shiqin was not being dignified, voluntarily lowering his status just to appear on the program to suppress He Lan in every way.

However, the first season of Let’s Go! became a hit because it took guests to experience local culture while traveling, adopting a hybrid format that started in the country and moved abroad later.

Therefore, before long, more variety show fans appeared, expressing their anticipation. The major fan clubs for both Shen and He quickly pulled the fans back to rationality, calling on everyone to suppress the negative comments and boost the rankings with positive engagement.

Tags like #FindingNorthGroupSurpriseLiveStream and #ShenHeNorthSouthPole shot to the top of the trending list.

Seeing the trend return to normal and the popularity rising straight up, Meng Yichun snapped his fingers in satisfaction and announced to the guests: “Our popularity has broken ten thousand! To celebrate, for the skiing project later, everyone can choose their mounts freely, the production team will pay!”