Chapter 25: The Great Husband-Husband Compatibility Test!
Lu Ciheng ruffled his messy black hair and looked up at Xie Shibai sitting on the bed. With the sunlight behind him, Xie Shibai’s breathing was uneven and his hair slightly disheveled. Despite his harmless appearance, his gaze was icy cold.
Lu Ciheng pondered briefly for a few seconds about where he should clutch to feign pain. “Teacher Xie, that kick really hurt.”
Xie Shibai felt a bit helpless; he hadn’t expected his reaction to be so intense. After calming his breathing for a few seconds, he said, “You get up first.”
Lu Ciheng clutched his leg, sitting on the floor like a rascal. His eyes curved into crescents, and his tone couldn’t hide his amusement. “I can’t. My leg is broken, I can’t get up. Teacher Xie, help me up.”
Xie Shibai’s brow twitched slightly, the tails of his cold eyes lifting. His tone was unceremonious: “If you’re not getting up, then get the hell out.”
Lu Ciheng stared straight at Xie Shibai, his Adam’s apple bobbing. He stopped pretending and scrambled onto the bed with agility. Sitting in front of Xie Shibai, he leaned forward slightly to close the distance between them. His low, husky voice carried a light chuckle, unhurried and tinged with a bit of cynicism. “Teacher Xie, I help you with your treatment, yet you kick me off. For such a serious work injury, shouldn’t you give some compensation?”
The faint moonlight reflected in Lu Ciheng’s eyes. Those black orbs, hidden in the dimness, seemed to have devolved from a large daytime dog into a wolf that had never been tamed—staring dangerously and persistently at the prey within his territory.
Lu Ciheng really liked how Xie Shibai showed a side to him that was different from how he treated others. The “Flower of the High Peak” only revealed emotions to him; only he could have physical contact with Xie Shibai. The spot where he was kicked seemed to feel Xie Shibai’s body temperature through his clothes. Every bit of it made him excited and addicted.
When a wolf disguises itself as a dog for too long, it inevitably loses control and reveals its original wild nature.
Committing insubordination.
Xie Shibai looked directly into Lu Ciheng’s eyes, and the feeling of being stared at by a large animal appeared again. “What compensation do you want?”
Lu Ciheng raised his eyes, his voice low: “Is any compensation okay?”
Xie Shibai looked at him, his expression indifferent and devoid of major emotional fluctuations, as if he would truly honor whatever compensation Lu Ciheng proposed. “Ask away.”
Lu Ciheng’s lips hooked up, whispering, “It really makes it hard to choose.”
It was simply too generous, beautiful like a dream.
Lu Ciheng didn’t blink. “Can I sleep holding you?”
Xie Shibai gazed at Lu Ciheng for a few seconds. The corners of his lips suddenly quirked up fleetingly. He put his hands behind his back, speaking slowly, “Of course…”
Lu Ciheng’s Adam’s apple rolled. Xie Shibai’s answer was completely unexpected. Just as he was about to make a move, in the next second, a white pillow smashed ruthlessly into Lu Ciheng’s face with a smack.
Xie Shibai leisurely finished the second half of his sentence: “Not happening. I don’t want treatment right now.”
Lu Ciheng’s well-defined hand covered the face that had been hit by the pillow, and he let out two low laughs. “I was wondering why Teacher Xie suddenly changed his nature.”
Xie Shibai couldn’t quite understand Lu Ciheng. Why would someone be so happy even after being hit?
Lu Ciheng wasn’t some pushover with no temper.
Lu Ciheng rubbed his messy hair. “Teacher Xie, give me your hand.”
Xie Shibai raised his eyes but didn’t move. “What for?”
Lu Ciheng’s tone was frank. He held Xie Shibai’s hand, a smile on his face. “Of course, to review why fifty percent didn’t work.”
Xie Shibai’s eyelashes drooped slightly, as if he could recall the severe pain in his arm.
Being struck just as a healing wound was scabbing over—the pain and itchiness felt like countless ants gnawing at him. Like an alarm bell echoing in his heart, the pain from many years ago still held residual power.
Fifty percent was a hurdle difficult to overcome. Discussing and reviewing it meant tearing open the fifty-percent scar again.
Xie Shibai’s fingers tightened slightly.
“Nothing to review.”
“It must be that the forty percent wasn’t consolidated well enough.”
The two spoke almost in unison.
Xie Shibai: “…”
He hadn’t even said anything of substance, yet Lu Ciheng had found the reason himself.
Lu Ciheng asked, “Teacher Xie, what did you say?”
Xie Shibai: “Nothing.”
Lu Ciheng looked thoughtful for a few seconds, then suddenly said, “It must be because we didn’t consolidate it much during filming today. If we film tomorrow, it might happen again. We can’t let all the previous desensitization training go to waste because of this. Why don’t we start treatment right now!”
Xie Shibai: “?”
“Aren’t you going to sle—”
Strong arms suddenly encircled Xie Shibai’s waist. He froze for a second, his words coming to an abrupt halt. The fabric of the pajamas was very thin, and the heat source quickly permeated through, clearly felt. His entire body was pulled down onto the bed by Lu Ciheng.
Not just the embrace, even his shoulder felt the heat pressing against it.
Xie Shibai patted Lu Ciheng’s arm, which was draped across his waist. “Lu Ciheng.”
Lu Ciheng lowered his head slightly, the tip of his nose pressing against Xie Shibai’s shoulder, surrounded by a faint, barely-there fragrance. His palm pressed against the tough, slender waist, gradually tightening the hold. “Mhm, mhm, I’m here. Let’s consolidate for five minutes first.”
Like a dog skin plaster (sticky patch) that couldn’t be torn off once stuck.
Xie Shibai looked at the moonlight spilling in from the balcony and said coldly, “You are very annoying.”
Lu Ciheng chuckled low, his breath spraying hot air against the side of Xie Shibai’s neck. “Being hated by Teacher Xie is also very lucky.”
What he feared most was being like before—strangers passing each other by.
Early the next morning, Xie Shibai and Lu Ciheng were the last group to arrive in the living room.
Almost as soon as they appeared, they became the focus of the livestream room.
[Here they come, here they come! They finally came down.]
[So late! What were they doing to be this late?]
[What else can a little couple (xql) do, hehe.]
[Can CP fans stop imagining things all the time!]
[What imagining? Isn’t this a fact? See reality clearly, we are Niohuru CP fans now!]
Today, they had to assign which group would cook in the kitchen each day. There was no controversy over this; they just assigned dates. The difficult part was how to reasonably spend the daily living expenses, especially since they didn’t know the vegetable prices at the bazaar or market yet.
Xu Xiangming suggested that everyone go together for the first shopping trip at noon so they could understand the prices better. Everyone had no objections.
After confirming all the processes for the day, the program team reminded them that it was time to start today’s mini-activity.
While waiting for the market to open, the program team wanted to conduct a Tacit Understanding Test.
Each husband-husband/couple pair needed to answer the program team’s questions together on a whiteboard. The couple with the highest tacit understanding would win an exemption card for the next mini-activity.
The staff handed out whiteboards and pens to everyone. The individual small sofas were separated by a short distance, and the test only began after confirming that no group could see what the other was writing.
[This segment is finally here!]
[Last season, the tacit understanding test completely wiped everyone out, right?]
[More than just wiped out. One group’s faces turned black immediately, and they had conflicts later. Rumor has it they broke up right after the show.]
[XSB and LCH can’t hide it this time. Their tacit understanding must be very low!]
Xie Shibai’s heart sank. In a contract marriage like his and Lu Ciheng’s, there was no tacit understanding to speak of. Compared to the other real couples, they would definitely lose miserably. People might even guess there was something wrong with them.
Staff: “Question one: When was the first time the husband-husbands/couple proposed?”
[What’s with the program team? How can the question be so simple?]
[Maybe because last season was too tragic. I feel like Director Tan is holding back this season.]
[If they can’t answer a simple question, wouldn’t that be even more doomed?]
[They wouldn’t forget this kind of thing, right?]
[Not remembering such an important time as a proposal would be too much.]
[But how does it count for XSB and LCH’s group? Aren’t they trainee husbands? Where would there be a proposal date?]
[It’s different. Trainees would definitely fabricate a date. They’ll definitely answer correctly. Answering correctly just proves they are trainees.]
A trace of surprise hid in Xie Shibai’s eyes. He hadn’t expected the program team to ask such a simple question. After filling it out, he waited for the countdown to reveal the answer. He had written the day they signed the contract.
The answers were revealed clockwise. First was Mu Zhenzhen and Xu Xiangming’s group. The two flipped over their answer boards, and the dates written on them were identical.
[Sure enough, the questions from the program team are too simple.]
[Looking at the date, did they propose recently? Their relationship seems very good.]
[Quick, quick, next group!]
Mi Qiran answered June 11th.
Qiao Jiayi answered July 11th.
The two looked at each other’s answers and fell silent for a few seconds.
[What does this mean? They actually can’t remember???]
[Rumors said their relationship was bad long ago. Feeling like it’s normal to remember though.]
[So who remembered it wrong?]
[Definitely Qiao Jiayi. Brother Qiran never replies when she tags him on Weibo. The one with the problem is definitely her.]
Qiao Jiayi couldn’t help but say, “You even forgot this?”
Mi Qiran was stunned for a few seconds, looked at the answer repeatedly, and scratched the back of his head. “Haha, maybe I’ve been too tired recently and wrote it wrong.”
[Fans getting slapped in the face, no?]
[Laughing to death. Stop doting on him. Your bias is the one with the problem.]
The dates written by Yu Rui and Wu Ke were also completely different.
Yu Rui looked bewildered for a few seconds, then immediately smiled. “Ke-ke must have remembered the date wrong. She has always been a bit muddled.”
Wu Ke looked at the words on his whiteboard. She lowered her head, looking sad, but in reality, there was no emotion in her eyes, as if she had expected this long ago.
[How can Wu Ke not even remember this? She’s too muddled.]
[Brother Yu’s temper is really good. He didn’t even get angry about such an important date.]
[That’s not right. Can some people stop blaming the amateur sister-in-law? You really forgot that you posted on Weibo about your engagement? The date was written clearly on it.]
[Finally know what’s weird. Isn’t this similar to the gaslight effect?]
[Total PUA (Pick-up Artist/Emotional Manipulation) ah.]
[I’ve endured it for a long time. YR has too many paid water armies (bots/paid posters). From the start of the show, it seems like all the problems are the amateur sister-in-law’s. His own persona is full of holes, are fans blind? Doting like this.]
[Feeling like the person I hate is finally being discovered by everyone.]
Xie Shibai and Lu Ciheng were the last group to reveal their answers.
The fans in the livestream room had been craning their necks in anticipation to see what they wrote.
After the whiteboards were turned around, Xie Shibai subconsciously looked at Lu Ciheng’s answer. When he saw the black text clearly, his expression paused slightly, somewhat surprised.
[Let me see, XSB wrote February 20th.]
[Holy crap, the time LCH wrote is when they were seven years old?]
[Huh????? Seven years old?????]
[They knew each other when they were kids??? Childhood sweethearts?]
[No, how do you propose at seven? Playing house?]
[Definitely playing house. Everyone played it when they were little, right? But they actually knew each other when they were so small.]
Surprise flashed across Xie Shibai’s eyes. “Did we meet at seven?”
Lu Ciheng looked somewhat melancholic, sounding very sad. “Of course. Honey, when you were seven, you even said you wanted to marry me. In the end, you turned around and forgot me completely.”
Xie Shibai originally thought they might have actually met but he had forgotten, perhaps having met as children. But his memories of age seven were very fragmented. Ming Yu’s death, being transferred to his grandfather’s house… the trauma caused him to forget most of his memories. Especially hearing what Lu Ciheng said afterward, he instantly doubted the authenticity of this segment.
[Holy crap! They really knew each other at seven.]
[XSB looks like he doesn’t remember?]
[It’s been a long time. It’s normal not to remember playing house at seven.]
[Playing house at seven and actually playing as husbands, hahahaha.]
[Stereotype of this brother increased again. Turns out he was a pure love-brain since childhood!]
[Who would remember a proposal from playing house as a kid until now!]
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