Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Jiang Mochen knew that Li Bozhong had been retired from acting for so long, and that his appearance on this variety show was purely for his daughter. Plus, Li Mo had been calling him and Yan Qingchi “brother” all the way, so he couldn’t help but remind her, “Xiao Mo, what did your father tell you?”
Li Mo immediately remembered her father telling her countless times before she came to control her princess temper, not to say whatever came to mind, and not to throw tantrums. She quickly covered her mouth and nodded to Jiang Mochen.
Mo Xiaoxiao, listening to Yan Qingchi and the boss chatting, said to Zhang Ningwei with some surprise, “Brother Yan’s English is pretty good! I always thought Brother Jiang had the best English in our team, but it seems they’re both quite good at it.”
Zhang Ningwei nodded, “I’m so envious.”
Mo Xiaoxiao was also envious, “He’s truly an all-rounder.”
Jiang Mochen hadn’t thought much of it until she mentioned it, and then it dawned on him. The information he’d seen earlier indicated that Yan Qingchi’s English and math weren’t very good, so how could he speak English so fluently now? Although Jiang Mochen had mentally accepted that the information was unreliable, it didn’t stop him from being surprised every time he saw discrepancies between Yan Qingchi’s performance and the information.
He admitted that Yan Qingchi was excellent and knew many things, but it was precisely because he was too excellent that Jiang Mochen felt a sense of incongruity. How had he learned so many skills, and why had he hidden them so well in his previous life, making the information he’d gathered completely useless and even misleading? Why was that?
However, Jiang Mochen never dwelled on these questions. Long ago— before they were as close as they were now— he had already discovered many problems. But he didn’t ask. He wanted to wait for Yan Qingchi to tell him, or for them to become an old married couple and casually mention these things in a light-hearted conversation.
So now, he only let the question resurface, without intending to ask. Everyone had their own secrets. Just as Yan Qingchi never asked him why, after so long of marriage and with their feelings for each other, he still hadn’t received his own wedding ring; he wouldn’t ask Yan Qingchi why the current Yan Qingchi was so different from the Yan Qingchi in the file.
They respected and trusted each other. They had enough confidence in themselves and were willing to give each other the same confidence. Therefore, they didn’t question their relationship or each other’s character, because everyone’s daily behavior couldn’t be faked. They observed each other’s every move and felt the genuine affection and cherishment the other held for them.
The group followed the owner into the bar. The owner led them to their seats, called a waiter to serve them, and told Yan Qingchi that he needed to watch other people paint, so he wouldn’t serve them and told them to drink as much as they wanted, all free. After saying this, he left gracefully.
The bartender handed them the menu and asked what drinks they wanted. The group ordered according to their preferences, chatting and observing the bar’s decor.
The beer arrived quickly, and everyone took a sip. Zhang Ningwei and Yue Ziming didn’t quite like it, but the others generally enjoyed it.
Yan Qingchi and Jiang Mochen whispered, “It’s pretty good.”
“If you like it, we can buy some to take away.”
“Let’s not buy it now; we might need money for the competition in a couple of days.”
“Okay then, let’s see if we have any left over after the competition.”
“Hmm.”
Fei Jingyu took a sip, then put the beer down with obvious disdain, thinking to himself that beer like this could only attract people by being free. He glanced at Yan Qingchi, his eyes showing some displeasure.
Yan Qingchi was incredibly perceptive; he sensed Fei Jingyu’s gaze almost instantly. He was known for his “I won’t offend others unless they offend me, but if they do, I’ll retaliate” mentality. So, subtly, from an angle not captured by the camera, he slightly raised his eyelids and gave Fei Jingyu a disdainful look, his eyes filled with contempt.
Fei Jingyu was almost instantly enraged by that look, nearly slamming his fist on the table and demanding an explanation from Yan Qingchi. However, he harbored a deep-seated resentment, determined to win if he were to confront him. Yan Qingchi had just helped everyone win a free drink, so if they clashed now, everyone would inevitably side with him. It was better to wait until later, when he had surpassed him in his professional field. Then, no one could say anything against him, and he could even use him to climb the ladder— a win-win situation.
Therefore, Fei Jingyu swallowed his anger and took a sip of his drink.
Yan Qingchi had expected Fei Jingyu to argue with him, given his personality; after all, Fei Jingyu seemed to look down on everyone present, including his girlfriend Yue Ziming. Surprisingly, he held back. Yan Qingchi was somewhat disappointed. He had prepared himself to play the innocent, pitiful little flower with his increasingly refined acting skills, but Fei Jingyu had backed down. Was he really not suited for the innocent, pure flower role?
The group drank their drinks, and since they had other attractions to visit that day, they didn’t linger and left the bar. Before leaving, the waiter gave Yan Qingchi a bottle of beer, saying the owner had instructed him to bring it. Yan Qingchi was pleasantly surprised, thanked him, sincerely praised the bar, and then packed the beer into his backpack and left.
The group visited the sights according to their pre-planned route, with Li Bozhong taking photos of them with his phone. The morning passed quickly.
At noon, they ate at a nearby restaurant, remarking that they finally wouldn’t have to eat bread anymore.
The afternoon activity was boating. The 12 people were divided into two boats. Li Mo was the first to express that she wanted to be in the same boat as Yan Qingchi and Jiang Mochen. Mo Xiaoxiao immediately said the same, but her “Me too” was immediately clashed with Yu Xiaoyu’s “Me too.”
Yu Xiaoyu was only two years older than Li Mo in the group, had just graduated this year, and was in the same agency as Wei Zhihang.
She looked at Mo Xiaoxiao and smiled, “Sister Xiaoxiao, I also want to be in a group with Brother Jiang and the others, or you can let me have your spot.”
Mo Xiaoxiao had a very good impression of Jiang Mochen and Yan Qingchi because they had taken good care of her and Zhang Ningwei during the test. In addition, because they had followed them all the way, she and Zhang Ningwei had inexplicably gotten second place, so she was even more grateful to them. Even Li Mo could tell from Yan Qingchi and Fei Jingyu’s conversation in the square that Fei Jingyu was being sarcastic, so how could Mo Xiaoxiao not? Therefore, she disliked Fei Jingyu, finding him pretentious and arrogant, and didn’t really want to go boating with him.
However, this was a TV show recording, and unlike Fei Jingyu, who was willing to accept any publicity, Mo Xiaoxiao was a second-tier actress, just one step away from becoming a near-first-tier star. She thus cherished her reputation and didn’t want too much negative publicity. If she directly rejected Yu Xiaoyu, netizens would definitely think she was trying to ride on Jiang Mochen and Yan Qingchi’s popularity; otherwise, why would she spend two days with them during the test and then insist on being with them again, unwilling to give others a chance?
So she smiled and said, “Okay.”
Zhang Ningwei glanced at her but didn’t say anything.
Yu Xiaoyu said happily, “Thank you so much, Sister Xiaoxiao.”
“You’re welcome.”
Li Mo looked at Yu Xiaoyu and frowned. She hadn’t forgotten the time when Yu Xiaoyu and Wei Zhihang had argued on the corner of the hotel stairs. This Yu Xiaoyu looked like someone not to be trifled with. She had to control her temper, or her father would nag her again.
Li Mo took a deep breath, cheering herself on. “Come on, you can definitely hold on, Li Xiaomo!”
The teams were thus divided. Yang Xinhe and Yu Haoyuan, both boys in male-male pairs, couldn’t help but sigh. Yang Xinhe looked at Yu Haoyuan, feigning confusion, and asked, “We’re both boy groups, so why is there such a big difference in popularity?”
Yu Haoyuan sighed dramatically, patting Yang Xinhe on the shoulder, “Hey, it’s not that we’re not good enough, it’s just that the competition is too strong!”
“Sigh, this damn world that judges by looks!” Yang Xinhe lamented.
The two teams boarded the boat in batches. The boatman demonstrated how to row and how the people on either side should coordinate. Everyone paid close attention and quickly learned how.
Yu Xiaoyu wanted to row with Jiang Mochen, so she grabbed a paddle and asked him, “Brother Jiang, can we row together?” She then looked at Yan Qingchi and asked in the same tone she had used with Mo Xiaoxiao, “Brother Yan, I want to row with Brother Jiang, can you let me row?”
Li Mo was speechless, silently glancing at Yu Xiaoyu’s partner, Wei Zhihang, thinking, “Oh no, this is terrible.”
Wei Zhihang seemed used to her behavior, simply watching coldly without saying a word.
Yan Qingchi didn’t answer Yu Xiaoyu’s question, but instead asked, “Brother Chen, are you going to row with her?”
Jiang Mochen took two paddles and handed one to Yan Qingchi, “Nonsense,” he said.
It was unclear who he was referring to.
Yan Qingchi smiled slightly, “Sorry, you should row with your partner.”
Yu Xiaoyu persisted, “But I specifically got on this boat for Brother Jiang!” she said, looking at Yan Qingchi with a wronged expression.
Yan Qingchi looked up at Jiang Mochen.
Jiang Mochen said coldly, “It’s about to start, sit down.”
Li Mo smiled and lowered her head, fully fulfilling her duty as a fan, directing her brother as he instructed, “Sit down quickly, sit down, it’s about to start.”
Wei Zhihang took the oar and sat down at the bow, while Yu Xiaoyu could only sit on the other side helplessly, without even looking at him.
Yan Qingchi and Jiang Mochen sat at the stern, rowing and looking at the scenery on both banks. Just then, they heard Yu Xiaoyu and Wei Zhihang arguing.
“How are you rowing? Don’t you know you should cooperate with me?”
“You rowed wrong,” Wei Zhihang looked at her, “I should row like this, not like that.”
“You’re talking nonsense, I rowed according to what the instructor just taught me.”
“No, you were right at the beginning, but now you’re rowing wrong.”
“Since I was right at the beginning, how could I be rowing wrong now? It’s clearly you who’s wrong!”
Li Mo, who sat down behind her, whispered a reminder, “You’re rowing wrong, your direction is wrong.”
Yu Xiaoyu turned around and glanced at her, and Li Mo smiled.
Yu Xiaoyu threw down the oar. “Fine, I won’t row anymore, okay? I already said I was wrong, so I won’t row anymore, okay?”
Li Mo: “???”
Li Mo looked helplessly at her elderly father.
Li Bozhong treated them all like children, thinking they were still children themselves. Therefore, he wasn’t angry and gently tried to coax Yu Xiaoyu. However, Yu Xiaoyu was naturally spoiled, and when someone tried to coax her, she became even more stubborn.
Wei Zhihang knew her better than the others, and advised Li Bozhong, “Teacher Li, don’t try to coax her. That’s just how she is, she has a spoiled temper. The more you coax her, the more she’ll act up.”
“Wei Zhihang, how can you talk like that?”
“Did I say something wrong?”
“What do you mean, ‘The more you coax her, the more she’ll act up’? What nonsense are you spouting?”
“Isn’t that right? Didn’t you tell us how we lost the test? How come out of so many groups, we were the only ones who didn’t finish?”
“That’s because you’re not good enough, what does it have to do with me?”
“Yes, yes, yes, I’m not good enough, it has nothing to do with you.”
Yan Qingchi watched the two arguing at the bow of the boat and reminded them, “Why don’t we go ashore first?” Otherwise, what if the boat capsizes…?
Upon hearing this, Wei Zhihang immediately started paddling, and Yu Xiaoyu followed suit, but after a few strokes, she got angry again, “This paddling is completely wrong.”
The author has something to say:
Yan Qingchi: Fei Jingyu left, and Yu Xiaoyu came along, so tiring!
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