Can You Believe It? I Ran into My Ex on a Dating Variety Show - Chapter 7

The guests who had already appeared included a wealthy non-celebrity, a fashion designer, an Olympic champion, and a rising star from the music scene who had just shot to fame this year.

Shi Yu surmised that the reason this newcomer would risk participating in a BL dating show right at the peak of his rising fame was either to use the show’s popularity to reach the next level, or because he already had a lover and wanted to use this platform to go public with his sexuality. With even a Movie King joining this BL variety show, the hype was guaranteed, which provided the perfect cover to divert any potential backlash. It was a clever move.

The guests here all possessed high-level visuals. Su Jingxi was the lively, talkative type. Seeing him speak with a constant smile, it was easy to guess he was the sunny and cheerful sort, talkative but with a simple and easygoing personality.

The downside was that people like this could be overly enthusiastic and familiar. While these traits were not usually negative, to Shi Yu, they were definitely flaws. Such personalities often led to casual and natural physical contact with others, and Shi Yu happened to dislike physical contact.

“I watched the movie you starred in back when I was in high school. It was so good! I even watched it ten times and rented out a whole theater for my entire class,” Su Jingxi continued to chatter at Shi Yu.

He did not follow the entertainment industry closely and was not very familiar with the others. When they greeted each other earlier, everyone was just making polite small talk, which bored him to death. Finally finding someone he could actually talk to, Su Jingxi pursued Shi Yu with non-stop conversation. Although it was almost entirely a one-sided conversation, Shi Yu occasionally offered brief responses such as: “Mhm,” “Oh,” “I see,” “It is okay,” or “Quite good.”

Anyone watching could see that Shi Yu did not really want to pay him much attention. His responses were entirely based on the politeness required for the live broadcast. However, the scatterbrained Su Jingxi was incredibly enthusiastic. At one point, he became so excited he almost wanted to give Shi Yu the watch on his wrist as a gift.

Shi Yu, naturally, would not accept it. But he refused with remarkable skill. He did not use polite clichés about it being too expensive or that he could not accept it. Instead, he said, “I do not particularly like this style. You should keep it for yourself.”

If said to anyone else, such words might seem arrogant or proud, but directed at Su Jingxi, they were just right.

Su Jingxi glanced at his watch with a troubled look. “Do you think so too? I also thought this color scheme was not very nice when I first got it. That person insisted on choosing it.”

Shi Yu: “Not interested.”

[Are you trying to say that this guy is like the dim-witted son of a wealthy landlord? He is! And did you know? There is an official CP for him on this show. Want to guess who it is?]

Shi Yu was not curious about that. He replied to the system, “Boring.”

He then walked toward the dining area. While Su Jingxi had been pestering him earlier, Shi Yu had looked around and noticed a coffee machine on the island counter with several unopened cans of coffee beans next to it. Since he was feeling a bit tired, he went over to brew himself a cup. Just as he picked up an orange mug to take a sip, he saw Su Jingxi staring straight at him.

Shi Yu asked politely, “Would you like some?”

Su Jingxi immediately grinned, showing his teeth. “Thank you!”

He reached out, took the mug, and gulped it down in one go as if he were drinking milk tea. Shi Yu had never seen such a crude way of drinking coffee. His brows knit together tightly. However, he said nothing and simply brewed another cup for himself.

There were eight ceramic mugs next to the coffee machine. The director’s team had cleverly made the eight mugs into four colors: orange, blue, red, and white. This time, Shi Yu chose a white one.

Su Jingxi, being a total airhead, completely failed to notice the significance of the mug colors. He stared at the mug in Shi Yu’s hand, which was different from his own. “How come these mugs are not a matching set of a single color?”

While sipping his coffee, Shi Yu thought about what the system had said earlier, asking him to guess Su Jingxi’s official match. He took a sip, noting the aroma was quite strong. Including himself, there were five people here. Three more would be arriving later, one of whom was the Movie King Yan Jin, and another was Xie Yuanzhou, the captain of last year’s championship e-sports team.

Who would Su Jingxi’s official CP be?

[Shi Yu, are you worried it might be your ex-boyfriend?]

Shi Yu lowered his head and took another sip of coffee. “That is his freedom,” he said calmly.

“Brother Shi Yu, you have a hair caught here. Wait, why is it red?” Su Jingxi picked a strand of hair off Shi Yu’s shoulder and compared it doubtfully to Shi Yu’s own pitch-black hair.

Shi Yu immediately thought of what had happened on the plane. He must have accidentally brushed against He Xingzhi. He took the hair from Su Jingxi’s hand and said, “I must have picked it up by accident.” He then turned around and tossed it into the trash.

What Shi Yu did not know was that just as Su Jingxi leaned in to grab the hair, He Xingzhi had walked in. He happened to see the two of them standing very close together.

He Xingzhi entered while biting down on a candy. He was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and carrying a large suitcase in each hand. As he exerted himself, the veins on his arms became prominent, looking both sexy and captivating. The “girlfriend fans” in the live broadcast room instantly turned into screaming banshees.

“Brother He is so handsome!” “Brother He is so Alpha!” “I want to swing on Brother He’s arms!” “Brother He, I want to have your babies!”

Passersby who had entered the stream just to watch the drama could not stand the fans’ frenzied behavior and fired back amidst the screen full of screaming.

“Dream girls, give it a rest. Your ‘Brother’ is participating in a BL dating show.” “I really do not know why dream girls enter these streams to torture themselves. Do you really want to see your ‘Brother’ holding some other guy in his arms?” “To those people who keep wanting to have his babies, can you please respect someone else’s sexual orientation? The man likes men.”

The defiant fans retorted:

“Bullshit! This is just for the show. Do you even know what ‘showmanship’ is?” “My Brother He is a total straight man. Even if he participates in a BL show, he will come back a straight man.”

There were also rational fans:

“What was Brother He looking at just now? Dammit, can’t the camera switch over?” “I noticed it too. When Brother He walked in, he looked toward the island counter, and his expression suddenly became so angry. Did he see something foul?” “Brother He cannot hide his rage. To me, he looks like a husband who came home early from a business trip only to catch his newlywed wife cheating.” “I can totally see that imagery!” “You are not wrong! I actually looked up an old movie Brother He starred in. There was a scene where he catches someone cheating, and his eyes just now were exactly the same. I posted it in the group chat.” “Who on earth is over there? I am dying of curiosity. Can’t the production team be sensible and switch the camera angle?” “Calling the production team! Show us what Brother He saw!”

Perhaps because the fans’ power was too great, it did not take long for a hashtag #BrotherHeCatchingACheater to climb up the trending search list. The top post was a fan-edited comparison video. On the left was the recorded footage from the live broadcast, and on the right was the scene from He Xingzhi’s movie.

Meanwhile, the people involved were still completely unaware.