After a D-List Celebrity and Their A-List Ex-Partner Join a Travel Reality Show - Chapter 7

He Lan lowered his head to look at the person glaring at him, reached out to take off his helmet, and then maliciously shook the snow off his body.

“Nothing, Teacher Shen. I, along with the dogs, have already experienced the feeling of tumbling into a soft mat. I was just letting Teacher Shen experience it too. It is a trip well worth taking, right?”

Snow fell from him in flurries, making the person beneath him squint.

Shen Shiqin roared, “Who wants to try!”

He tried to shift his body to the side to break free, but He Lan remained pressed against him like a rock.

He gave up and simply looked up at He Lan.

“Does Teacher He think that the speed you were going just now would have allowed for a stable stop?”

“Why would it not?” He Lan looked at those abnormally bright eyes amidst the snow. He gripped the wriggling body with one hand and asked with a smile, “Why are you going, Teacher Shen? You… ouch!”

Before he could finish his sentence, Shen Shiqin lifted his leg and delivered a quick, precise, and ruthless kick.

“Can you have a little self-awareness?”

He Lan felt the pain and loosened his grip, pulling back the leg that had been pinning the other down.

“Geez,” he clutched the spot he had been kicked, “that is murder!”

“Hmph!” Shen Shiqin gave him a cold glance. “Teacher He, that is called intentional homicide.”

Once the pain subsided and Shen Shiqin was sitting on the mat fixing his hair, He Lan scooped up a handful of snow and threw it at him.

A circle of snow residue was left on Shen Shiqin’s arm. He paused his grooming, closed his eyes, and without a moment’s hesitation, grabbed a handful of snow and threw it back at He Lan.

The snow slipped down the collar of He Lan’s coat and onto his neck. He let out an “ouch” from the chill and immediately retaliated.

“Shen Shiqin, let us see who wins!”

“Heh, want to try!”

“He Lan! If you dare throw snow on my clothes again!”

This was the scene Zuo Jiaxi and Duan Nan saw when they reached the finish line.

Two snowmen sat in a mess on the soft mat.

He Lan was covered in snow from head to toe. Shen Shiqin was slightly better off; at least his hair was not entirely caked in it.

The mat, which had been as flat and smooth as a quilt of snow, was now covered in debris, with the most snow piled up around the two of them.

They listened as He Lan and Shen Shiqin threw snow at each other while hurling threats.

There was no sign of them stopping.

The huskies nearby had long since eaten their fill, some rolling in the snow, others resting.

The heads of a few huskies lying on the ground turned left and right, following the snow being tossed back and forth in the air.

Zuo Jiaxi and Duan Nan stepped off their sled, standing side by side, silently watching the pair.

After a long while, Zuo Jiaxi looked at the two snowmen still being filmed by the cameras and asked, “Is this the next segment?”

Duan Nan hesitated. “I suppose it is.”

The groups led by Yu An and Yuan Kuanglun arrived at the finish line.

They were all stunned, looking at the two people on the mat who looked like snowmen, and then at the two standing side by side nearby as if they were being punished.

Ke Tongtong immediately raised her camera, found the right angle, and took a photo of this strange scene. Then she ran to Zuo Jiaxi’s side, excited, “Is this a snowball fight?”

Zuo Jiaxi turned his head stiffly. He opened his mouth, and after a long time, said, “I suppose it is.”

In the distance, He Lan let out a roar: “Forget it!”

Shen Shiqin’s voice followed immediately: “Heh, I knew it.”

Zuo Jiaxi and Ke Tongtong looked at each other.

Zuo Jiaxi scratched his head and changed his answer: “I do not know anymore.”

The second round of the race ended, and Meng Yichun announced the results:

“Due to the unauthorized use of sausage to lure the huskies, the results for He Lan’s group are invalid. The final first place still belongs to our group of Yu An and Ke Tongtong!”

“What?” He Lan asked. “Then the production team using fish counts? That is not against the rules?”

Meng Yichun was dutifully professional: “The production team reserves the right of final interpretation.”

Vicious capitalists.

He Lan clenched his fist until it creaked.

Zuo Jiaxi walked over and patted He Lan on the shoulder: “Forget it, Brother He Lan, do not get angry at them.”

He Lan was not angry because the production team cheated him; he was frustrated that he had fallen for nothing.

Shen Shiqin seemed to have expected Meng Yichun’s behavior. He put his protective gear back on and sat on the sled.

“Let us go, Teacher He.”

He Lan followed behind Shen Shiqin, filled with indignation, and sat on the sled.

The whole group traveled back by sled. With the race results settled, they could finally slow down to enjoy the scenery along the way.

It was exactly nine o’clock in the morning in Tromsø. The sky was just beginning to break, glowing with a pink-blue hue.

Rows of colorful houses along the shore were reflected in the lake.

Occasionally, unidentified seabirds streaked across the sky and landed on the water, only to be scared away by locals ice-fishing by the lake.

Seabirds, shimmering waves, and boats composed the scene of Tromsø at this moment.

The accompanying camera crew filmed from far away, giving the guests space.

Everything around them was quiet and beautiful. He Lan relaxed his body, leaning back against the seat with his hands behind his head.

So much had happened in the last two days that only now did he feel a hint of a real vacation.

“Why did you come on this program?” Shen Shiqin’s calm voice sounded from beside him.

He Lan was startled, clearly not expecting him to ask such a question at this moment.

He turned his head to look at Shen Shiqin.

The sunlight was pouring in from behind Shen Shiqin, gilding his body with a warm glow.

Shen Shiqin was looking at him too. His pupils were very light, contrasting with He Lan’s dark eyes.

The sunlight, along with his figure, was reflected in He Lan’s pupils.

He watched as his own shadow was reflected in He Lan’s eyes; those eyes were so deep that it felt as if they wanted to suck him in.

He looked away, dropping his gaze to the snowflakes that had just landed on his gloves, and asked again, “Why did you come on this program?”

When He Lan saw him turn away, his eyes flickered, and he cast his gaze toward the distant lake.

He swallowed his saliva and said, “Oh, just I was bored at home. This show allows for a vacation on the public dime, so I came.”

“Oh.” Shen Shiqin listened to his answer, paused, and stated his true thoughts. “That excuse is very perfunctory.”

“But it is the truth.” He Lan spread his hands. “Believe it or not.”

Was he supposed to tell Shen Shiqin that although wanting a vacation was true, the real reason was that he had spent money like crazy while dating him a few years ago, and had not worked much since then? He had thought he would not run into him on this show, but then…

He silently tucked his hands back into his pockets.

That reason sounded so pathetic.

Shen Shiqin did not speak again, also leaning back to admire the scenery.

The temperature in Tromsø was extremely low, with gusts of wind blowing past and snowflakes drifting down every now and then.

The scene was truly beautiful: the pink-blue sky, the snow-white ground, the colorful houses in the distance, and the fjord glistening in the glow at the horizon.

Shen Shiqin thought, if only it were a little warmer. Maybe someday in the future, he would stay in this place for a good long while.

A cold wind suddenly blew by, and he coughed twice.

He had broken into a sweat during the snowball fight with He Lan, and now waves of chill were spreading through his body.

He Lan was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of the cough. He looked at Shen Shiqin again and asked, “What about you? Why did you accept this show?”

“This month, the Nordic region, and Tibet and Mohe which we are visiting later, are all very cold.”

“It is just too tiring.” Shen Shiqin’s hand, hidden in his pocket, tightened slightly. His voice was a bit hoarse, and he covered his mouth to cough again.

The smile on He Lan’s face froze. The thin sheen of sweat on Shen Shiqin’s forehead seemed to become more distinct in the sunlight.

He did not know what to say for a moment.

After coughing, Shen Shiqin did not look at him but closed his eyes, feeling the faint warmth brought by the sun. He said, “And I wanted to see if I could overcome being afraid of the cold.”

He Lan said instinctively, “Being afraid of the cold is not a habit. How could you possibly overcome it?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Shen Shiqin turned his head to meet his gaze, and then, by tacit agreement, both looked away.

He Lan did not know how to describe his mood.

Too tiring; was that because he had been working non-stop, shooting dramas for the past three years?

Shen Shiqin’s health was average, so when they were together, he had always tried to limit Shen Shiqin’s various high-intensity acting tasks.

Although Shen Shiqin rarely listened, sometimes, if he acted shamelessly enough and refused to let him film dangerous scenes, he would behave and stay home.

He suddenly remembered that in January of the year before last, he had stumbled across behind-the-scenes footage of Shen Shiqin filming a period drama.

The footage showed Shen Shiqin having just finished a scene where he had to fall into the water. The ice water was piercingly cold, and after he came up, his body could not stop trembling.

His assistant knew he was afraid of the cold, so he immediately wrapped a towel and a thick down jacket around him the moment he emerged, and handed him a hand warmer.

But he had shaken his head at the time, putting down the hand warmer after holding it for only a moment.

He Lan still remembered how the media reported it then: #AfterBreakupComesTheBuff, Shen Shiqin’s Cold Resistance Amazes Everyone and Is Envy-Inducing#

Cold resistance, my foot.

He remembered cursing that media outlet at the time, and saying to his friend, “How did the terms ‘breakup,’ ‘cold resistance,’ and ‘Shen Shiqin’ even get linked together so disharmoniously?”

So, had he started trying to overcome this so-called habit back then?

During the two days they had been in Norway, Shen Shiqin had not talked much, nor had he ever complained about being uncomfortable or cold.

When filming outdoors, he would zip his jacket to the very top and tuck his hands into his pockets.

When he went to sleep at night, he did not complain that the quilt was too thin.

When he brought in so much cold wind after a walk outside, he only said one “you are freezing to death” and showed no other emotions.

Only last night, after he fell asleep, did his hands and feet get cold, and he just kept burrowing into him. Maybe he was in a dream at that time, and finally could not handle the cold, treating him like a space heater.

“Hey? Teacher He.” Shen Shiqin reached out and waved in front of him. “What are you thinking about?”

He Lan snapped out of it: “Ah? What?”

Shen Shiqin pointed to the reins and looked at He Lan, blinking: “I just said, they are going off-course.”

“I have not learned how to do this. I do not know how to control them.”