The Thirty-Sixth Star
Wang Tan thought his question was already outrageous enough, but he didn’t expect Zong Ye’s next shameless remark to be even more outrageous.
Under the gaze of the two men, Jiang Chuyi stiffly raised her fingers and slowly pushed the sunglasses back into place, blocking Zong Ye’s line of sight.
Wang Tan had a WTF expression on his face. He looked around in disbelief and lowered his voice, “Hello? I was just saying that offhandedly. You two really shouldn’t scare me like that.”
“No, that’s not it…” She took a step back, closed her eyes for a moment, and tried to explain to Wang Tan with a calm facade, “The two of us are just cooperating with the production team to hype up our CP, pretending… pretending to like each other.”
“Cooperating, production team, hyping up CP, pretending—to like each other?” Wang Tan repeated each word, trying hard to understand the logic behind it.
“You two…” Wang Tan choked on his words, then sighed, “You’re really fucking geniuses.”
Jiang Chuyi was speechless.
Zong Ye curled his lips, “You can try it with Feng Miaotong, too.”
Wang Tan replied expressionlessly, “I’ll try it with your mom.”
Unable to hold on any longer, Jiang Chuyi said to them in a low voice, “It’s fine, I’ll leave first.”
Without waiting for the two to respond, she quickly turned around and left as if she was escaping.
Feng Miaotong was not far away, and she had witnessed the entire event unfold.
Although she couldn’t hear what they were talking about, she saw with her own eyes Zong Ye putting his sunglasses on Jiang Chuyi.
Feng Miaotong was stunned, her entire being in a state of doubting life.
Although she had known for a long time that Jiang Chuyi had a good relationship with the BloodxGentle group, Feng Miaotong had never thought that Jiang Chuyi would actually be “close” to Zong Ye to this extent…
Sitting back on the bus, Jiang Chuyi’s mind went blank for a while before she remembered to take off the sunglasses, take out her foundation, and cover up her dark circles.
Feng Miaotong’s mood was complicated. She had not yet recovered from the shock, and her opinion of Jiang Chuyi had undergone an earth-shattering change.
People who could mix in the entertainment industry for so long were indeed not simple. Jiang Chuyi indeed had some tricks up her sleeve… Who knew what methods she used to hook up with the top star of BloodxGentle… One really couldn’t judge a book by its cover.
*
At two o’clock in the afternoon, the recording crew of “Shining Stars” arrived at the swimming pool. More than a dozen guests changed into their swimsuits, and the recording officially began.
According to the teams divided last night, the two teams would still engage in a PK.
Two star-shaped boards were floating in the swimming pool, each connected to a one-meter-wide foam board passageway, with a rubber raft in the middle.
The director read the game rules to them as usual, “I assume everyone has played flying chess before. Today’s game is similar. All members of the white team and pink team will each wait on the foam boards. When you hear my whistle, the game begins. The two teams need to find a way to occupy the raft. Once a team member is pushed into the swimming pool, they are out. The team with more members remaining on the rubber raft at the end wins. Understood?”
Zeng Pingfei sighed, “It feels like it’s going to be another fierce battle.”
He glanced at Chi Mengyue, “We men will be responsible for charging and breaking through. You female guests just hide in the back and take the opportunity to sneak onto the raft.”
Chi Mengyue smiled, “What’s wrong? Are you looking down on girls? I’m quite strong, too.”
Quan Yongning said, “After the female team members get on the boat, try to find a place to hold on. If the pink team tries to push you, just grab them. If you really can’t hold on, try to drag the opponent into the water with you.”
Ji Kai crossed his arms, eager to discuss tactics with Zong Ye, “Later, you’ll be responsible for dealing with Wang Tan. Watch me take down Fu Cheng.”
He thought of something, covered his mic with his hand, and whispered in Zong Ye’s ear, “This time, everyone is here. Don’t you dare go easy on Teacher Jiang.”
Zong Ye gave a perfunctory “Mm.”
Before the flying chess game began, the assistant director had them each draw a team member to play the “Of Course” game. Whoever won would send out the first team member to board the raft and gain the initiative.
Ji Kai and Wang Tan stood by the pool.
Wang Tan started first. He stared at Ji Kai, thought for a moment, and asked, “You picked up garbage in Africa when you were a kid, right? And that’s why you’re so dark now?”
Ji Kai held back, gritted his teeth, and squeezed out two words, “Of-course.”
It was Ji Kai’s turn to fight back. He blurted out, “You often shower with your ex-girlfriend, right?”
The whole place fell silent.
Wang Tan’s expression twisted for a moment, and he forced out an “Of course.”
Feng Miaotong couldn’t stop laughing and shouted at them, “You guys are really willing to do anything for the sake of the show’s effect.”
Wang Tan let out a cold laugh and moved his lips, “Do you remember when you got drunk and tearfully told me you liked Jiang Chuyi?”
The smile on Jiang Chuyi’s face, who was just watching the show, suddenly froze.
Caught off guard, all the members of the pink team looked as if they had just heard some big news, and their gazes fell on Jiang Chuyi.
After a moment of silence, Ji Kai gritted his teeth and admitted, “Of course.”
Everyone was laughing. Feng Miaotong’s heart stirred. Through the crowd, she looked at Zong Ye from the white team. He stood still, his face lacking expression, quietly watching Wang Tan.
Then, Ji Kai spoke again, shocking everyone, “You and Fu Cheng are really dating, right?”
Wang Tan: “…”
The whole place fell silent. Xu Jiayu was stunned for a few seconds and couldn’t help but exclaim, “What the fuck?” Standing beside him, Fu Cheng’s face turned ashen. He directly walked out of the team, came to their side, and fiercely kicked Ji Kai, sending him flying into the pool.
With a splash, a large spray of water rose.
“Director, how can this be allowed!” Ji Kai stood up, flailing in the water. He wiped the water off his face, grabbed Wang Tan’s leg, and dragged him down with him.
The two made a ruckus in the pool. Ji Kai shouted, “Director, help! Wang Tan pulled my pants down! The pink team can’t accept defeat!”
The staff of the recording crew laughed so hard their stomachs hurt. The director shouted, “Alright, alright, the white team wins!”
……
……
After the short game ended, the guests by the pool followed suit and got into the water, climbing onto the star boards designated for their teams.
Quan Yongning patted Ji Kai on the shoulder, “Little Kai, you have talent. When your group disbands, come and do variety shows with me.”
Ji Kai said solemnly, “No way. I don’t want to be a funny man. I still want to act cool.”
The first person sent out by the white team was Zhuo Qingming.
As soon as he stepped onto the foam board passageway in the middle, the members of the pink team began to shake it non-stop.
Zhuo Qingming had no choice but to crawl towards the raft.
Zhao Guangyu was guarding at the front. The moment Zhuo Qingming crawled onto the raft, he took a quick step, rapidly crossed the foam board, and charged towards the raft. He climbed onto it in a few moves and pounced on Zhuo Qingming.
The two wrestled together.
Zhuo Qingming was a thin and weak singer and was quickly thrown into the water.
Xu Zhi immediately said, “Let’s all climb up together!”
The members of the white and pink teams began to advance towards the raft together.
The members of the two teams constantly entangled and fought. As soon as Chi Mengyue got on, she was caught by Xu Jiayu.
Xu Jiayu hugged her waist from behind, preparing to throw her down.
Chi Mengyue let out a scream, frightened.
Zeng Zhiping was quick-witted and immediately pulled Chi Mengyue over, using his foot to kick Xu Jiayu. Other teammates quickly came to help and join the fight.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Jiang Chuyi immediately shrank into a corner and tightly gripped the raft’s handrail.
On the small raft, people were crammed together. The guests who had already fallen into the water were still constantly making trouble and pulling people around. With the disparity in strength between men and women, Feng Miaotong could only press close to Wang Tan’s back, helplessly grabbing his clothes and watching him fight with Fu Cheng.
Ji Kai was about to finish off a key member of the pink team when he spotted Jiang Chuyi curled up in the corner. With a vicious smile on his face, he went over and made a move to grab her leg and throw her off.
In a panic, Jiang Chuyi kicked with all her might.
Ji Kai winced in pain and shook his hand. “Teacher Jiang, you’re so ruthless.”
“Zhao Guangyu!” Jiang Chuyi called out anxiously. “Come and save me!”
Zhao Guangyu was overwhelmed and helplessly shouted back at her, “Hurry and run!”
Jiang Chuyi crawled and rolled towards the other direction to escape.
She crawled with difficulty and was squeezed to the edge of the raft by the fighting people. On the verge of falling, a hand reached out from somewhere. She instinctively grabbed it and used the other person’s strength to break free.
Before she could catch her breath, the other person’s bright white team uniform caught her eye.
Jiang Chuyi gasped and looked up at the other person’s face.
“Zong Ye?!”
She hurriedly tried to withdraw her hand to find her own teammates, but he held on tightly. While looking around, she heard Ji Kai’s voice behind her, “Well, I’ve caught you again, Teacher Jiang!”
The nearest teammate was still fighting with Zeng Pingfei over Chi Mengyue, completely unable to attend to this side. In a flash, Jiang Chuyi struggled hard and turned to hug Zong Ye’s waist.
He paused for a moment.
Jiang Chuyi threatened Ji Kai, “I won’t let go. If you have the guts to throw me down, I’ll drag Zong Ye down with me even if I have to go in the water!”
Zong Ye sat in a relaxed posture, and when he heard her say that, the corner of his mouth twitched into a smile.
He patted her shoulder reassuringly and looked up at Ji Kai, indicating that he was also helpless.
Ji Kai: “What are you doing just standing there? Throw her down!”
Zong Ye gestured with his eyes to the hands on his waist, “Didn’t you hear what she said? She’ll take me down with her.”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Chuyi held on even tighter, afraid that Zong Ye would change his mind at the last minute and push her away. She emphasized again, “That’s right, even if I go down, I’ll drag him with me!”
Ji Kai cursed, but before he could say anything, his body staggered a few steps and he was kicked off the boat by a flying kick that appeared out of nowhere.
Zhao Guangyu clasped his fists and said in a deep voice, “Sorry, idol!”
After falling into the water, Ji Kai immediately clung to the raft to steady himself and cursed, “You little brat, your kick is quite strong!”
With the crisis resolved, Jiang Chuyi relaxed a little. Suddenly, she found that her head was resting against Zong Ye’s arm, and their posture was very intimate.
Zong Ye’s white T-shirt was already half-wet. When Jiang Chuyi looked up, she saw the rouge mole on the side of his neck, glistening with water droplets.
Jiang Chuyi was shocked. The hand on his waist involuntarily curled up, feeling like it had brushed against a well-defined abdominal muscle.
Zong Ye let out a light hiss and said to her in a low voice, “That tickles.”
Jiang Chuyi’s blood rushed to her head. She immediately let go, pushed him away a little, and knelt down, repeatedly apologizing, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
Just then, Ji Kai grabbed Zong Ye’s clothes from behind, “Let’s all go down together! You two, come down with me!”
Caught off guard, Jiang Chuyi was pulled by Zong Ye and fell into the water with him.
The two made a big splash, and Jiang Chuyi choked on several mouthfuls of water.
Zong Ye supported her waist and brought her to the edge of the raft. “Hold on tight.”
He was tall and could stand steadily in the pool.
Jiang Chuyi kept kicking her legs in the water, struggling to swim over and cling to the boat. She turned her head and questioned him, “Why did you have to drag me down with you?”
Zong Ye chuckled, “Didn’t you say you’d come down with me?”
Jiang Chuyi was stumped by his words. Knowing she was in the wrong, she weakly replied, “Okay then.”
……
……
The game ended, and under Zhao Guangyu’s leadership, the pink team had more people remaining on the raft and won the PK.
There was a ten-minute break in the middle.
Jiang Chuyi sat exhausted on the shore and picked up a large towel beside her to wipe her hair. As she wiped, she couldn’t help but look at the person sitting next to her, and unconsciously slowed down the movement of her hands.
Zong Ye was completely soaked. He was lowering his head and wringing the water out of the hem of his shirt.
The short-sleeved shirts worn by the male guests when they got in the water were made of lightweight material, especially his white one. When soaked, the semi-transparent fabric clung to his body. Zong Ye’s hair and chin were still wet, the water sliding down his Adam’s apple, his collarbones and waistline all vaguely visible.
Jiang Chuyi couldn’t help but remind him, “Put a towel on.”
Zong Ye: “What?”
He seemed to have no awareness of the “allure” his body was revealing, and asked in confusion, “Why put on a towel?”
“You, you’re almost…” Jiang Chuyi found it difficult to speak, repeatedly changing her wording, “I can almost see your…”
“See my what?” He asked with amusement, still seeming not to understand.
“Look down and you’ll know.”
Following her line of sight, Zong Ye looked down, as if he finally realized. He laughed, pulled over a towel, and obediently covered his upper body.
“Teacher Jiang,” he suddenly called out to her.
Jiang Chuyi responded with an “ah”.
Zong Ye had a smile on the corner of his mouth, as if he was talking about something common, “Have you started pretending to like me already?”
Jiang Chuyi didn’t expect him to bring this up. She glanced at the people in the distance and then replied, “Why do you ask?”
“Otherwise, why,” Zong Ye stared at her and slowed down his speech, “are you so possessive of me?”
Jiang Chuyi: “…”
She was struck by a bolt from the blue. At first, she felt it was absurd, but seeing the curious look on his face, it didn’t seem like he was joking. She couldn’t help but say, “Does this count as being very possessive?”
He gently retorted, “Doesn’t it?”
Jiang Chuyi had originally been frank and straightforward, but now she became uncertain after his questioning.
Her heart suddenly became uneasy. She began to question herself. Yes, out of so many male guests, why was she only afraid of Zong Ye being seen naked? If it were Zhao Guangyu, even if he took off his clothes and danced in front of her, Jiang Chuyi’s mood wouldn’t change at all.
Jiang Chuyi lowered her head and mumbled, “Well, I get into character quickly. I might have gone too far. I’m sorry, I’ll try to restrain myself.”
Zong Ye: “It’s okay, I’m quite possessive too.”
Jiang Chuyi fell silent again.
“I remember watching some variety shows before, where some male guests would be unhappy seeing their CP interacting with the opposite sex,” Zong Ye said. “So when I saw you constantly talking to Zhao Guangyu, I didn’t feel happy either.”
Jiang Chuyi was stunned and hurriedly said, “You misunderstood. We’re just friends and have known each other for many years.”
“Then, when you’re pretending to like me, can you have less contact with him?” Zong Ye’s expression was calm. “At least don’t let him touch you.”
Jiang Chuyi looked at him for a moment and nodded, agreeing, “Alright then.”
After a few seconds of silence, Zong Ye chuckled, “Thank you.”
……
……
After the flying chess game ended, the director said, “I have something to announce. The main content of our evening recording is a performance program, with the participation of BloodXGentle’s four male guests—”
Upon hearing this, everyone laughed.
Feng Miaotong exclaimed, “What a treat for the eyes.”
Ji Kai: “Director, if you want to see us perform, go fight for concert tickets.”
The director glared at him, “I’m not finished yet. What’s the hurry?”
He cleared his throat and continued, “These four male guests are responsible for selecting a teammate to complete a program. The remaining guests who are not chosen by them will prepare a program on their own!”
Everyone looked at each other and groaned.
Director: “Since Ji Kai was yesterday’s star king, his privilege is to choose a teammate by himself, while the other three will be blindfolded and choose! They’ll find their partners by touch!”
Ji Kai stroked his chin, his gaze sweeping over the crowd.
Zhuo Qingming and Xu Jiayu were relatively calm, as performing wasn’t a difficult task for them. Zeng Zhiping, on the other hand, had a bitter look on his face, “Choose me, I can’t sing nor dance.”
A few minutes later, Ji Kai shouted, “I choose Zhao Guangyu as my teammate!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Guangyu excitedly jumped up and down on the spot, immediately rushing over to hug Ji Kai, “The two of us will definitely blow up the whole scene.”
After Ji Kai made his choice, Fu Cheng put on the ribbon and randomly selected a male guest.
Amidst everyone’s cheers, Wang Tan chose Feng Miaotong.
Finally, it was Zong Ye’s turn.
The production team picked a few female guests to stand in front.
Zong Ye was led by the staff to stand before them.
His lips were very red, his skin was pale, and his eyes were horizontally bound with a black satin ribbon, giving off a strange sense of abstinence.
The few female guests couldn’t help but look at each other.
After reaching the designated position, the director shouted, “Start!”
Zong Ye stood in front of the first person, very gentlemanly spreading out his palm, letting them put their hand on his, planning to directly find the person by weighing them.
Chi Mengyue glanced at the camera, controlled her expression, and placed her hand on his.
The moment their palms met, her chest heaved nervously.
Unexpectedly, Zong Ye quickly let go and moved on to the next person.
A sense of loss welled up in Chi Mengyue’s heart, but she still forced herself to show a smile.
The third person was Jiang Chuyi.
Like the others, she carefully placed her hand on his.
Zong Ye paused, seeming to have found his target. He clasped her hand, starting from her knuckles and extending all the way to her wrist.
Jiang Chuyi resisted making a sound.
Not far away, the director reminded, “Zong Ye, what are you doing? You’re about to run out of time!”
Zong Ye pulled Jiang Chuyi out, removed the ribbon tied around his eyes, and said to the director, “I found her.”
“Ooh~”
The crowd let out another round of cheers.
After the four BloodXGentle members made their choices, the director confirmed their teammates again, “Alright, let’s leave it at that for now. Next, you have three hours to rehearse. After dinner, we’ll record the show at eight o’clock in the evening.”
*
In the dressing room, the guests changed into their outfits and boarded the bus, heading to the rehearsal venue.
A few people who still had energy sat in the back and started playing truth or dare.
Jiang Chuyi sat in her seat, restlessly playing with her phone.
She replayed her conversation with Zong Ye in her mind several times and couldn’t help but find Chen Yi on WeChat.
Jiang Chuyi: [Xiao Yi, I think… I might be hopeless…]
Chen Yi: [? What’s wrong?]
Jiang Chuyi typed seriously.
[You know how the production team wanted me and Zong Ye to hype up our CP? They probably just wanted to ride on Zong Ye’s popularity. But he seems to be quite cooperative. Neither of us has much experience, so we discussed it a few days ago and decided to pretend to like each other on the show, dating and stuff…]
The other side was silent for a few minutes.
They sent half a screen of question marks, followed by half a screen of exclamation marks.
Chen Yi: [Sister, are you in elementary school? You’ve never been in a relationship, so I can understand. But!! But!!! Haven’t you at least seen a pig run even if you haven’t eaten pork?!! Have you been in the entertainment industry for so many years for nothing?? Are your IQs added together equal to 250? Pretend to date??! Are you sure it’s not one willing to beat and the other willing to take it????]
Jiang Chuyi paused for a moment.
Chen Yi: [I just want to ask, who came up with this earth-shattering method?]
Jiang Chuyi: “Zong Ye”
Having found an outlet for her pent-up thoughts, Jiang Chuyi poured out her heart: [I think Zong Ye may already know that I like him, so he’s testing me. But you know his situation, it’s absolutely impossible for him to date right now. I don’t want to delay his career either. The main thing is, he wants to use this CP thing to play ambiguously with me. There’s nothing wrong with that. After all, I really do like him a lot. I just feel a bit stupid. Even though it’s already like this, I still don’t dare to ask him. Just consider my mind muddled by lard.]
Jiang Chuyi: [I think just being friends with Zong Ye, he’s indeed a very good person. But you never know with matters of the heart. I’m not sure if he just wants to ‘play around’ with me on the show, but I’m willing to accompany him. I don’t have any hopes of establishing a relationship with him or anything. That’s not realistic. Everything else is fine. I’m just afraid of falling too deep and not being able to get out later…]
Chen Yi sent another string of ellipses.
Chen Yi: [First of all, I admire your courage in admitting that you’ve fallen for a top star. Secondly, if you’re mentally prepared to face the fiercest ‘toxic fans’ in the entire entertainment industry, I’ll tell you what Zong Ye is thinking…]
Jiang Chuyi waited for a long time but didn’t get Chen Yi’s follow-up.
Just as she was about to send a sticker over, her phone vibrated:
Chen Yi: [Good news — he super loves you]
