The Thirty-Fourth Star
Jiang Chuyi was awakened by a dry throat. As soon as she opened her eyes, she felt dizzy.
She rubbed her aching temples and sat up from the bed. Checking the time on her phone, it was half past ten.
Jiang Chuyi drew back the curtains and found that the rain outside had stopped, and the sun was scorching.
Little Zhong came over in slippers, “Sis, you’re finally awake. I was just about to wake you up!”
Jiang Chuyi looked at the pajamas she was wearing and asked, “How did I get back?”
“Didn’t you ask me to pick you up at half past eleven?”
Jiang Chuyi vaguely remembered that around eleven o’clock last night, she had drunk enough to almost get drunk. She specifically left half an hour to talk to Zong Ye about hyping their CP. At that time, she had calculated the time well, so she could finish drinking and still have some consciousness to return to the room with Little Zhong.
Afterwards… because she was feeling down, she lost control for a moment and drank herself into a stupor.
“What was I doing when you came to get me?” Jiang Chuyi asked worriedly, “Did I cause any drunken commotion?”
Little Zhong hesitated and shook her head.
“Then what was I doing at that time? Sleeping?” Jiang Chuyi pressed.
Little Zhong said with a solemn expression, “You don’t remember anything at all?”
Jiang Chuyi’s heart sank, feeling a bit anxious, “I drank too much at the time and have no impression, that’s why I’m asking you.”
Little Zhong hurriedly said, “Sis, don’t get worked up. I was just joking with you. Nothing happened. When I went up, you were already asleep. I couldn’t carry you, so Zong Ye and I helped you down together.”
Jiang Chuyi was suspicious, “Really? You’re not lying to me?”
Little Zhong shook her head.
After a long while, her tense emotions relaxed, “Alright.”
Little Zhong pursed her lips and silently watched Jiang Chuyi go into the bathroom to wash up.
Amidst the sound of running water, Little Zhong let out a deep sigh, involuntarily recalling the scene from last night when she went to the rooftop to pick up Jiang Chuyi.
After greeting A’Xi, he pointed her toward them, and Little Zhong walked over.
The rain at night was too heavy, completely drowning out the sound of footsteps.
As soon as she lifted the curtain, she was shocked by the scene inside and couldn’t help but gasp.
In the small tent, the bottles on the table were knocked over in a mess.
And her boss was obviously drunk and disoriented, propping up half of her body and poking the other person’s eyelashes with her fingers.
Meanwhile, Zong Ye sat properly in his chair, staring at her without blinking.
He had a look of being violated, allowing the other person to take advantage of his face. He even freed his other hand to support the culprit’s arm, preventing her from falling.
Little Zhong stood there dumbfounded with an umbrella, her mouth slightly agape in disbelief, forgetting to look away for a moment.
The guilty little thief who was taking advantage noticed someone coming and immediately withdrew her hand, preparing to dodge to the side.
As a result, Zong Ye grabbed her wrist.
It was unclear whether he was afraid of her falling or leaving. He pulled with a bit too much force.
Little Zhong watched with her own eyes as her boss stumbled and fell into her idol’s embrace, swaying unsteadily.
“Don’t be afraid, it’s your assistant,” Zong Ye lowered his eyes and murmured.
Then, his gaze shifted slightly, and he looked at Little Zhong without any evasion.
Little Zhong’s mind went blank. She inexplicably had the feeling that she had ruined someone else’s good moment. She stammered, “Is Jiang Chuyi drunk…?”
Zong Ye hummed in affirmation.
“Then, then should I…” Little Zhong was incoherent, not knowing whether to stay or leave.
“She drank too much. Take her back to sleep,” Zong Ye’s expression returned to his usual gentleness.
Little Zhong instantly sobered up and hurried over to support Jiang Chuyi, fumbling around.
Zong Ye picked up his coat and draped it over Jiang Chuyi. He said to Little Zhong, “If she doesn’t remember when she wakes up tomorrow, you don’t need to tell her.”
Little Zhong responded vaguely, “Okay.”
He probably didn’t want Jiang Chuyi to feel embarrassed.
But even if Zong Ye hadn’t said this, she wouldn’t dare to speak carelessly.
Based on her understanding of her boss, if Jiang Chuyi knew that she had caused a drunken commotion and taken advantage of Zong Ye, she probably wouldn’t be able to face him for the next few months.
And right now, the priority was to finish recording “Shining Stars” properly. They couldn’t let this kind of accident delay work.
Little Zhong had a sleepless night, tossing and turning. Later, when she fell asleep from exhaustion, she even dreamed of her boss and idol kissing…
…
…
On the way back to Xiamen to film after leaving Changsha, Jiang Chuyi received a call from Feng Jia.
“Chuyi, I want to discuss something with you. Do you have any friends who can free up their schedule recently? We had previously invited a guest star, but they had a last-minute activity and can’t come. If you have any interested friends, they can come and record an episode for fun.”
Jiang Chuyi: “Do you need a male guest or a female guest?”
“A male guest.”
“I do have someone in mind,” Jiang Chuyi pondered, “but I’m not sure if he has time. I’ll have to ask him first.”
“Okay, no problem,” Feng Jia laughed. “Just send me a WeChat message after you ask.”
“Sure.”
Jiang Chuyi scrolled through her WeChat contacts, found Zhao Guangyu, and tapped on his avatar frame.
Zhao Guangyu: “What’s up?”
Jiang Chuyi: “I’m currently recording a variety show called ‘Shining Stars’. The PD told me there’s a guest spot available. Do you want to come? It’s in mid-month, in Guangzhou.”
Zhao Guangyu: “?”
Zhao Guangyu: “The one with BloodXGentle???”
Jiang Chuyi: “Yeah.”
Zhao Guangyu: “…”
Zhao Guangyu: “No need to say more. Even if I were in the ICU, I would pull out my ventilator and crawl over for you.”
*
It wasn’t until Jiang Chuyi saw Zhao Guangyu in person in Guangzhou that she realized what his “stunning everyone” meant.
She looked him up and down, then down and up again, freezing in place and falling silent for a few minutes.
Zhao Guangyu had permed his hair into a dazzling red non-mainstream style, wore a floral beach shirt with a large gold chain across his chest, and had the standard outfit of shorts and flip-flops.
Jiang Chuyi struggled to speak, “I know you’re a rapper with personality, but this is a variety show recording. Do you have any other clothes? We’re about to meet people. Isn’t your attire a bit too inappropriate?”
Zhao Guangyu took off his sunglasses and said angrily, “What do you know? This is Tokyo trendsetter style!”
Jiang Chuyi: “I’ve been to Tokyo and haven’t seen anyone dress like you.”
Getting into the production team’s car, Zhao Guangyu was still endlessly arguing with her about taste issues. Feng Jia listened to their bickering, her face relaxed with laughter. She turned around from the passenger seat and called out to Jiang Chuyi, “It seems I was right to ask you to bring a friend.”
Jiang Chuyi let out a puzzled “ah” sound.
Feng Jia: “When you were in Changsha before, your mood wasn’t very high. After interacting with you for a while, I found that you have a reserved personality. So I thought of inviting a friend you’re familiar with, so you could let loose a bit more.”
Jiang Chuyi scratched her face, feeling a bit apologetic, “I’m just very dull and don’t have much variety show sense.”
“No!” Feng Jia encouraged her, “You’re always the most serious one when playing games, which is very cute.”
Jiang Chuyi said embarrassedly, “I was afraid I was taking it too seriously.”
Excitement flashed in Feng Jia’s eyes, “That’s an advantage! Haven’t you noticed? The BloodXGentle members all like to tease you. Bullying the ‘honest person’ is also a kind of program effect!”
Jiang Chuyi: “…”
*
Tonight’s filming location was in a commercial building, and they had to wait until it closed to go in. Time was quite tight. There were a total of six guest stars for the second episode, three men and three women, plus the regular guests, making it a total of sixteen people.
Only after arriving at the venue did Jiang Chuyi learn that Chi Mengyue was also among the people coming this time. However, they weren’t very familiar to begin with, and because of Xin He, she didn’t take the initiative to greet her.
BloodXGentle had an event today, so the others went to the filming location first after eating. When the four of them rushed over on time, the staff had prepared all the props, and the director began to briefly explain the filming content for tonight.
The general idea was that the sixteen people were divided into two teams to play a cat-and-mouse game in this mall.
The rules of the game were simple. Team A was the eagle team, responsible for catching people. Team B was the chick team, responsible for hiding.
Before the game started, the production team would give each member of the chick team a star bracelet and give them ten minutes to hide. Once the catching action began, if they were discovered by a member of the eagle team and had their star taken away, they would be out of the game.
At the end of the time, the two teams swapped roles. The person who grabbed the most stars would be given the title of “Star King” and receive a privilege. The team that collectively grabbed the most stars would be considered the winner.
“Understood the rules?” the director shouted.
Everyone responded affirmatively.
“Okay, I’ll give you some time to discuss tactics. The game will officially begin in five minutes!”
Xu Zhi instructed the few female guests in the team, “You girls can’t match the strength of men. If you’re discovered, run away first. If you can’t outrun them, act coy and try to stall for time until your teammates arrive.”
Xu Jiayu raised a question, “Teacher Xu, I saw in your previous shows that you didn’t seem to go easy on the female guests either.”
Xu Zhi glared at him. “You’re the only talkative one. Let’s see how many stars you can grab later.”
The staff gave each person a walkie-talkie to allow them to communicate within the team during the game.
Taking advantage of the chaos, people from Teams A and B also began to mingle and socialize.
Zhao Guangyu, wearing a pink team uniform, slipped over to the enemy camp and said earnestly to Ji Kai, “Bro, if you see me later, let me off the hook. Next round, if I see you, I’ll let you off too. How about we cooperate and both win?”
Before Ji Kai could answer, a guest from the white team named Zeng Pingfei shouted to the director group, “Director, I want to report cheating! Someone here is trying to cheat!”
The director picked up the megaphone, “Play the game according to your own ability. You can also find someone to cooperate with!”
Laughter erupted.
Five minutes later, the first round of the game began.
The staff put star bracelets on the members of the pink team and explained the rules of the game one last time.
Hearing the countdown sound in the mall’s broadcast, the few guests of the chick team immediately dispersed and ran in all directions.
Jiang Chuyi ran to the third floor.
This floor was all children’s clothing stores, and all the shops were closed. There were a few hidden small rooms, and Feng Jia reminded her not to hide inside.
Jiang Chuyi wandered around aimlessly like a headless fly, constantly asking the VJ, “Where can I hide?”
The VJ replied in a deep voice, “I don’t know either.”
Just then, a cry of anguish from a teammate came through the walkie-talkie, “L4 on the right, can a few people come and help me? I’ve been discovered, and they’re chasing me.”
“I’m also running,” Zhao Guangyu panted, “When disaster strikes, every chick for themselves. Over!”
Jiang Chuyi spotted two white figures by the elevator and her heart rate suddenly increased. She nervously tugged on the VJ, “Quick, quick, quick, crouch down. Someone’s coming.”
The VJ remained as immovable as a mountain while holding the camera, “We can’t crouch. We’re only responsible for recording.”
Jiang Chuyi was anxious, “Then what should I do? With you standing here so obviously, won’t they discover me?”
The VJ steadily answered her, “My suggestion is that you start running.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Ji Kai’s familiar loud voice rang out, “Over there, over there! Teacher Jiang is over there.”
Jiang Chuyi closed her eyes for a moment, stood up, and ran. She charged forward with all her might, never having run so energetically even in the 800-meter test in college.
This floor was a circular passageway. After hiding here and there until she was nearly exhausted, she finally stopped.
Putting her hands on her knees, she had just taken a breath when she looked up and saw Ji Kai walking towards her with an evil smile on his face.
Jiang Chuyi gathered herself for a moment and shouted to him, “Can we negotiate?”
“Negotiate what?” Ji Kai asked.
“You, you don’t catch me first,” Jiang Chuyi adjusted her breathing, slowly backing away step by step, looking for an opportunity to escape. “Let’s chat for a bit first.”
“Chat?”
Jiang Chuyi was so nervous that she was sweating profusely. She rambled, “Although I can’t outrun you, I won’t easily give you my bracelet unless you come and grab it.”
“I was going to grab it anyway,” Ji Kai said casually, still approaching her.
“Then, then I’ll resist very fiercely. It will take you a lot of time,” Jiang Chuyi tried to persuade him. “Why don’t you go find Zhao Guangyu and the others first? They’re on the fourth floor. Go grab their stars first, it’s easier.”
Ji Kai laughed, “You’re quite good at betraying your teammates, Teacher Jiang.”
Jiang Chuyi felt uneasy and stammered, “Then, then hurry and find Zhao Guangyu. He’ll run away in a bit.”
“Letting you go? You have to ask if my teammates agree too.”
Jiang Chuyi turned her head to look.
Not far behind, Zong Ye, wearing a white team uniform, was leisurely walking towards her.
Jiang Chuyi froze in place, feeling a bit desperate.
The paths in front and behind were completely blocked. She was like a rabbit entering a wolf’s den, caught red-handed.
Zong Ye slightly lifted his chin and said to Ji Kai, “You go find the others. I’ll take her star.”
Ji Kai looked doubtful, “Can you get it?”
Zong Ye: “Time is almost up. You go find someone else. I’m enough here by myself.”
Hearing their discussion, Jiang Chuyi lowered her head and stared at the floor, silently inching towards the elevator with small steps.
Suddenly, an arm blocked her way.
Zong Ye’s voice carried a hint of laughter, “Trying to run, Teacher Jiang?”
Jiang Chuyi awkwardly raised her head and gave a forced smile.
The two were less than a meter apart. She took a step to the left, and Zong Ye leisurely followed, also taking a step to the left.
His intention was very clear. He had no plans to let her go.
The broadcast kept announcing teammates being OUT.
Jiang Chuyi recalled the method Xu Zhi taught. Steeling her heart, she threw caution to the wind and said, “Zong Ye, I beg you. Good people will be rewarded. Be magnanimous. Can you not take my star?”
Zong Ye moved a bit closer to her and replied, “I probably can’t. Ji Kai will scold me.”
Her eyes darted around, “Then, then…”
“Then what?” He pretended to be indifferent and raised his hand as if to grab the star.
Jiang Chuyi immediately withdrew her hand and blurted out, “Then just bear with it. It’s no big deal if Ji Kai scolds you a few times.”
Zong Ye: “…”
Jiang Chuyi observed his expression and asked cautiously, “Okay?”
Zong Ye looked at her for a moment and finally couldn’t help but smile, humming in agreement, “Okay, I’ll consider it.”
“Then how long do you need to consider?”
Zong Ye: “Three minutes?”
Jiang Chuyi bit her lip, seizing the opportunity. When Zong Ye was off guard, she suddenly pushed him away and ran towards the elevator.
While taking the elevator down, Jiang Chuyi leaned on the handrail and looked back without much confidence.
He was still smiling, looking at her, not chasing after her.
…
…
In the end, when everyone returned to the first-floor lobby and the director group announced that the only surviving chick in Team B was Jiang Chuyi, Ji Kai immediately glared at Zong Ye.
He calmly looked back.
Ji Kai wanted to say something but held back. He endured it and chose to remain silent.
Soon, Teams A and B swapped roles and started the second round of the game.
This time, the people in Team B transformed into eagles. Zhao Guangyu suddenly felt the satisfaction of a daughter-in-law who had endured hardships. He fiercely declared to Team A, “I remember everyone who bullied me just now. You all wait for me!”
With the same rules as before, they waited in place for ten minutes. The director blew a whistle, indicating that they could go find people.
Xu Zhi told Jiang Chuyi to team up with Feng Miaotong. The two began sweeping the floors from top to bottom. After searching for a while, they finally caught a lone person, but due to the disparity in strength between men and women, he still managed to escape.
As time passed, Feng Miaotong suggested, “How about this, let’s split up. When we find someone, notify our teammates using the walkie-talkie.”
Jiang Chuyi nodded.
She had just been wandering around the second and third floors for a long time and was slightly more familiar with the layout there. After discussing with Feng Miaotong, she was responsible for searching these two floors.
After running continuously for a while, Jiang Chuyi was already somewhat overexerted.
She aimlessly flipped through cardboard boxes and pushed open door after door, unknowingly arriving at the same corner where she was caught earlier.
She had just taken a step forward and passed through a corridor when she noticed a VJ’s figure swaying in her peripheral vision.
Jiang Chuyi’s spirits lifted, and she immediately rushed over.
Upon seeing clearly who it was, her footsteps slowed down involuntarily, and she exclaimed in surprise, “Zong Ye?”
Zong Ye was leaning against the wall. Seeing her approach, he didn’t hide or avoid her. “What’s the matter?”
Jiang Chuyi hesitated, looking around, and lowered her voice, “Why aren’t you running?”
“I can’t run anymore,” Zong Ye said.
She put on a straight face, “Then what should we do?”
Zong Ye had a look of surrendering to her, “Ready to be captured.”
Jiang Chuyi: “…”
She struggled inwardly and finally mustered up the courage to say to him, “In that case, then give me your star.”
Zong Ye’s throat moved up and down as he laughed, “Teacher Jiang, you’re quite fast at turning your back on people.”
“I didn’t,” she instinctively retorted.
“Didn’t I just let you go?” Zong Ye reminded.
Jiang Chuyi fell silent.
He sighed, “Repaying kindness with enmity so quickly.”
Jiang Chuyi felt embarrassed by his words, “Although you went easy on me, I, I still ran away on my own…”
She glanced at the countdown in the distance and tried to persuade him with words, “Don’t try to use the ‘pitiful me’ trick. Give me the star.”
Zong Ye looked at her with amusement, “Didn’t you have to come and grab it?”
Jiang Chuyi didn’t make a sound. She bit her lip, her expression serious. After a while, she suddenly tried to grab Zong Ye’s wrist.
He raised his hand.
Jiang Chuyi staggered and followed, reaching for it twice but failing to get it. She then pulled on the hem of his clothes and jumped up, still unable to reach it. Instead, her hand was caught by him.
Zong Ye looked down at her, his eyes half-lowered.
Jiang Chuyi was deflated.
Her eyes darted elsewhere, but in the end, she couldn’t bring herself to notify her teammates of Zong Ye’s location through the walkie-talkie.
Jiang Chuyi took the initiative to back away a little and said in a low voice, “Forget it. I’ll keep my word and let you off.”
She had just turned around and walked a few steps away when Zong Ye called out to her, “Teacher Jiang.”
Jiang Chuyi looked back, “What is it?”
Zong Ye looked at her for two seconds, took off the star bracelet on his right hand, and straightened his body.
She watched as Zong Ye walked towards her step by step.
The countdown had already begun on the broadcast outside.
Zong Ye slowly walked up to her and stopped. He slightly bent his waist and took her wrist.
His fingers were cold, making Jiang Chuyi shiver slightly. She instinctively wanted to withdraw her arm.
“Don’t move.”
Zong Ye lowered his head and patiently wrapped the star bracelet around her wrist, fastening it. Then he raised his eyes and said softly, “Done.”
All around was quiet, with no one speaking.
Jiang Chuyi saw that his curved eyes were filled with a gentle smile.
He said, “I lost the bet. The star is yours.”
In the last three seconds of the countdown, the mechanical female voice of the broadcast spread throughout the entire building:
— Zong Ye OUT
