Perfect Divorce [Entertainment Circle] - Chapter 15

Yuan Xingzhou: “…”

“I just didn’t know what to call you.” Yuan Xingzhou’s face flushed red, the touching atmosphere instantly dissolving. He asked, stuck between a laugh and a cry, “What do you think I should call you?”

“You tell me.” Ye Huai glanced at him, put down the controller, and rested his arm on the back of the sofa behind Yuan, saying seriously, “Brother Ye, Brother Huai, Hubby, My Love, My Old Man… actually, not ‘Old Man,’ that’s too rustic.”

Ye Huai continued: “In short, use whatever sounds best.”

Yuan Xingzhou: “???”

Yuan Xingzhou felt like he was hallucinating, staring at Ye Huai in shock.

“Is… is that okay?” Yuan Xingzhou was overwhelmed by the favor. “I can actually call you ‘Hubby’? Is something wrong with you today, or is it me?”

“What’s with that expression?” Ye Huai said solemnly. “Do you know the guest lineup for the other side?”

Idol Love Season had been promoting heavily lately and had already officially announced several fixed guests. But Yuan Xingzhou had been so busy filming that he’d only caught a few glimpses.

Anyway, his and Ye Huai’s recording was scheduled later than the regular guests, and their segment would be shorter.

“I haven’t really looked,” Yuan Xingzhou asked. “What’s up with the guests? Did they trigger you?”

Ye Huai didn’t speak, giving him a look that said see for yourself.

Terrified, Yuan Xingzhou picked up his phone to check.

“Eight fixed guests; six were announced a few days ago. The last male-male CP was only announced this afternoon. They start recording tomorrow, and it’s already hanging on the trending searches.”

Ye Huai said, “Eight fixed guests plus two ‘flying’ (guest) participants—that’s ten people in one episode. How many minutes do we get? If you aren’t proactive, did you drag me here just to be an audience member?”

Yuan Xingzhou searched around and finally understood—the final CP for Idol Love Season was Yuan Cheng and Tan Yanke.

Yuan Xingzhou: “…” Truly the former teammate he could never shake off.

In this light, Ye Huai’s competitive streak was quite easy to understand. To be fair, Yuan Xingzhou didn’t want to be a foil for his former teammate either. Showing off affection, right? He could do that…

But “flying” guests were naturally supporting characters. Even if they performed a lot, most of it would be edited out later.

Yuan Xingzhou pondered secretly, still finding one thing confusing: Idol Love Season stipulated couples that weren’t “fixed” (real-life) pairings. Yuan Cheng and Tan Yanke had been the subject of several rounds of dating rumors, and Yuan Cheng had even gone to pick him up at the airport during a livestream. What did they mean by joining this show?

Was it possible they would swap boyfriends with others?

He clicked around and did a search, only to discover that a new sponsor had been added: Keji Collagen.

Tan Yanke’s father was the chairman of Keji Pharmaceuticals. So, was this the “Crown Prince” of the sponsoring family bringing his little boyfriend along to show off?

“Get some good rest and don’t overthink it.” Ye Huai patted his shoulder, saying earnestly, “I’ve just returned to the country and my ‘professional skills’ are still a bit rusty. Our dignity depends on you. The press conference is a livestream; if we lose face then, you’re dead.”

Yuan Xingzhou hadn’t expected that the chips and cola were just a display of “fake” tenderness. This man clearly had demands!

“Don’t set your expectations too high,” Yuan Xingzhou said. “I promise my words won’t be out of place, but as for losing face… who knows what will happen? What if Yuan Cheng brings up my ‘black history’ again?”

In the past, those few teammates often made jokes and mocked him using embarrassing stories he’d shared or the customs of his hometown.

“Tear him apart,” Ye Huai said in exactly the same tone as Huo Yangqing. “It’s a livestream anyway.”

Yuan Xingzhou: “…”

The next morning, Idol Love Season announced that Ye Huai and Yuan Xingzhou would be participating as guest participants. It also revealed that the two would attend the press conference the following day.

The “Huai-Zhou CP” Super Topic was filled with fans exploding like fireworks.

After experiencing a livestream incident and the production crew’s subtle attempts to break up the CP, the fans finally received “official candy.”

Some people began digging into Yuan Xingzhou’s old hate-threads and Ye Huai’s Weibo posting times, analyzing the probability of [Huai-Zhou Fans Are Your Daddy] actually being Ye Huai himself. Ultimately, the consensus was that it couldn’t be him—what main star would go and “stand on the street” to support himself?

It was more likely that Ye Huai saw the bets and was subtly backing his “wife.”

Inspired by this, the creative CP writers cranked out several “little trains” (steamy fanfics). In these stories, Yuan Xingzhou was “dying of pleasure” and “living and dying repeatedly” on the train.

To verify Yuan Xingzhou’s state after “living and dying repeatedly”—whether his face was flushed or his waist was weak—fans set their alarms, wanting to watch the press conference livestream at the first possible second.

Fortunately, Yuan Xingzhou was busy that day. Wen Ting had sent over a stack of documents detailing Ye Huai’s daily habits to prevent Yuan Xingzhou from being unable to answer during media Q&A sessions.

Li Yu naturally didn’t care about such things, and Yuan Xingzhou didn’t expect Ye Huai to remember his own preferences, so he devoted all his energy to memorizing the material.

The day flashed by in an instant.

On Monday at noon, fans gathered early in the livestream room. Li Yu drove over to pick up Yuan Xingzhou and take him to the press conference venue.

“Ye Huai went to the company this morning to sign a contract; he’ll meet up with you at the hotel later.” Wen Ting was actually in the car as well. When Yuan Xingzhou got in, Wen Ting smiled and said, “…Today depends on you. Ye Huai doesn’t talk much; sometimes he might not be able to ‘catch the ball’ (respond to jokes).”

“It’s fine,” Yuan Xingzhou smiled. “He told me. I’ll take the initiative to handle any questions.”

“You don’t need to be too proactive,” Li Yu said, glancing at him through the rearview mirror. “Too much is as bad as too little. If you’re too proactive, it looks fake.”

Yuan Xingzhou: “…”

“A hit CP, a reunion after a long separation—no amount of passion is too much.” Wen Ting ignored Li Yu and asked Yuan Xingzhou, “Have you two decided on nicknames? I’m just asking; you don’t have to tell me.”

“We have,” Yuan Xingzhou said. “I’ll call him Brother Huai, and he’ll call me Xingzhou.”

“Not those names—the ones you use in private,” Wen Ting laughed. “Today’s group interview is live. The media is far too curious about you two; I’m afraid if they ask a private question, you won’t react in time.”

Yuan Xingzhou blanked for a moment, knowing Wen Ting was referring to how many same-sex couples call each other “Hubby” or “Wife.”

He really hadn’t thought about this. Even though Ye Huai said he could call him “Hubby,” Yuan Xingzhou couldn’t imagine Ye Huai calling him “Wife.”

…Too embarrassing. In fact, the two hadn’t even discussed who was the “top,” so he could only hope the media wouldn’t ask about that.

“Not all questions need a direct answer,” Yuan Xingzhou thought to himself, only to hear Li Yu retort: “You are guest participants, not fixed MCs. Don’t upstage the hosts. If the media asks too much, just push it away.”

The attitudes of Li Yu and Wen Ting were clearly quite different. Seeing the two of them clashing, Yuan Xingzhou silently shut his mouth and stopped talking.

Half an hour later, Yuan Xingzhou arrived at the hotel and successfully met up with Ye Huai.

He was still hesitating about whether to talk to Ye Huai about the “nicknames,” but the two had barely spoken when they were led into the interview room by a staff member.

“The process has changed slightly; the group interview comes first,” the staff member urged. “Keep moving in, everyone, move in.”

The media had already entered. A small meeting room in the hotel had been temporarily divided into several sections with retractable barriers, and a few chairs were placed at the front. The backdrop behind them bore the Idol Love Season slogan: “Let’s fall in love together!”

Yuan Xingzhou and Ye Huai entered one after the other along with the six fixed guests. At first, Yuan Xingzhou didn’t feel anything, but when they stood together, he realized Ye Huai truly stood out like a crane among chickens.

The other guests included hosts, singers, and dancers… all in their twenties with great looks. However, compared to Ye Huai, their features immediately seemed ordinary.

The photographers clearly loved Ye Huai’s look too, as their lenses were all pointed toward the far left.

Yuan Xingzhou glanced over. Sure enough, Ye Huai’s trademark impatient expression had surfaced, yet even the shape of his furrowed brow was beautiful.

As Yuan Xingzhou sighed silently, another commotion broke out at the door—Yuan Cheng and Tan Yanke walked in, one following the other.

Despite all his mental preparation, the moment Yuan Xingzhou saw Yuan Cheng, a stifling feeling rose in his heart that he couldn’t suppress.

Yuan Cheng sat directly in the center, separated from Yuan Xingzhou’s side by three people.

“Sorry, we’re late,” Yuan Cheng asked. “Shall we begin?”

The staff nodded. The media began preparing their questions.

“Actually, we’ve only been recording for a day, so we aren’t very familiar with each other yet,” Yuan Cheng laughed. “I’m a bit shy, but fortunately, I just saw some familiar faces. Hello!”

He turned slightly and waved toward Yuan Xingzhou and Ye Huai, smiling naturally.

“These two are my teammates,” Yuan Cheng introduced enthusiastically. “The handsome guy on the right is Yuan Xingzhou, and the one on the left is Ye Huai… Xingzhou, Ye Huai, would you like to introduce yourselves first?”

He was naturally warming up the room, acting like the host of the event. The other guests looked at each other, and Yuan Xingzhou felt quite uncomfortable. But a “soft knife” was hard to deal with; if he lashed out now, he would surely be torn apart by Yuan Cheng’s fans for being “ungrateful.”

However, Ye Huai had said he mustn’t lose face.

While Yuan Xingzhou was torn, he felt a poke in his lower back.

Yuan Xingzhou: “…”

Ye Huai had placed his arm behind him at some point. When the first poke got no reaction, he nudged him again with his finger.

“Maybe not,” Yuan Xingzhou said, throwing caution to the wind as he spoke to Yuan Cheng. “That would make it seem like you’re some guest host!”

The media below went silent for a moment.

Who would have thought that the first thing former teammates would do upon meeting was to snidely dig at each other?

One of the guests let out a “pfft” and laughed, followed by the others. Everyone turned their gaze toward Yuan Xingzhou.

Yuan Cheng’s expression flickered.

“I can’t help it; everyone is really curious and wants to ask you two,” Yuan Cheng’s expression recovered quickly. He glanced at Yuan Xingzhou and then asked, “During that livestream the other day, didn’t you go to pick up Ye Huai? Why did it seem like Ye Huai didn’t recognize you? Are you two a real CP?”

As soon as these words came out, the room erupted. The media went wild.

Yuan Xingzhou was also stunned. He never expected Yuan Cheng to ask this. Was he crazy? This was a press conference for a dating show! He was questioning whether they were a fake CP right off the bat?

Yuan Xingzhou couldn’t help but think of that exposé thread. He originally thought not many people knew about it, but now he was panicking. Had the company failed to keep the secret? Did everyone know he and Ye Huai were in a fake marriage?

Yuan Xingzhou was momentarily dazed, his mind a mess.

“We want to know too…” Ye Huai shifted slightly, naturally putting his arm around Yuan Xingzhou and blocking his expression from the crowd.

No one expected him to speak suddenly.

With a look of mock distress, Ye Huai asked: “Didn’t you livestream yourself picking someone up at the airport too? And even kissed passionately on the spot? Why are you coming to this show pretending you don’t know each other? Is it possible you two are just putting on an act?”