Chapter 28: A Relationship of “Making Hate”
Lu Ciheng held the coffee with a candid and open expression.
Xie Shibai admitted that he couldn’t withstand the temptation of coffee.
If the prerequisite was helping Lu Ciheng with some sort of perverted therapy, he would rather brew the coffee himself.
But the rich aroma wafted right past his nose.
Xie Shibai: “…”
Accepting an offering wasn’t really a big deal.
In the end, he couldn’t resist. He rescued the coffee from Lu Ciheng’s hand.
“Hand it over.”
Lu Ciheng beamed with joy as he passed the coffee to Xie Shibai. “So, you agree?”
Xie Shibai took a sip, his mood improving slightly. “Bring me a few more cups, and I’ll consider it.”
Lu Ciheng spoke leisurely, “Teacher Xie, you’re being shameless.”
Xie Shibai finished the coffee and replied unhurriedly, “Likewise.”
[I think I understand why people rumor them to be rivals now.] [+1. They really have to bicker every other sentence.] [I’m despicable, you’re shameless—we’re a match made in heaven. This young couple is just too easy to ship!] [The key is that Brother Lu is enjoying it! I seriously suspect he gets off on being scolded by XSB. How can anyone be this much of a love-brain!] [The sister above summed it up perfectly slurp. CP fans really know how to ship better than solo stans.] [? Damn it, I’m just frustrated they aren’t fighting for real! Who is shipping them?!] [Hehe, delicious.]
By dinner time, since it was Wu Ke’s first time cooking, she followed tutorials for most dishes. Worried she hadn’t done well, she waited for everyone to taste them under Mu Zhenzhen’s encouragement.
Since she had followed the tutorials, there were basically no mistakes. Everyone’s evaluation was quite positive, and Wu Ke breathed a sigh of relief.
Yu Rui also offered a few words of praise, but then proceeded to critique each dish one by one. “Everyone is praising you out of politeness, but there are some things I must say. Although it’s passable, the heat was too high here; the beef is too tough. This one is too salty; even if you follow a tutorial, you should adjust the salinity yourself.”
Mu Zhenzhen could barely listen anymore and couldn’t help rolling her eyes.
Wu Ke lowered her head, looking as if she had been struck a blow, but internally, she was calm. She even felt relieved because Yu Rui’s performance was exactly as she had predicted.
Lu Ciheng’s gaze turned cold. “Tough? It tastes fine to me.”
Xie Shibai lowered his eyes, seriously finishing the food in his bowl. “Mn, it’s very delicious.”
Mu Zhenzhen quickly chimed in, “Right? I think it tastes good too. Mingming, what do you think?”
Xu Xiangming stated that the flavor was very good. “Sister Ke, you are very good at cooking.”
Mi Qiran subconsciously wanted to flatter Yu Rui and smooth things over, but just as he was about to speak, Qiao Jiayi stuffed a chopstick-full of food into his mouth. “Eat.”
He almost choked. After swallowing, he was about to speak again when Qiao Jiayi stuffed another mouthful in. The food poked the back of his throat, nearly making him gag.
Qiao Jiayi: “Less talk, more eating.”
Lu Ciheng commented lazily, “Getting on in years means bad teeth, we understand.”
Yu Rui, having lost face in public, couldn’t maintain his expression. Lu Ciheng’s last sentence, in particular, poked at his biggest insecurity. His face turned black instantly.
[Got roasted, served him right hahaha.] [That last sentence was a kill shot. Yu Rui changed his age and hates people mentioning it the most.] [Yu Rui is so annoying. He didn’t do anything but eat other people’s food, yet he has so many complaints.] [He just has to put others down to act like he knows everything. Full of ‘mansplaining’ energy.] [Sisters, be alert against this kind of PUA!]
After dinner, to liven up the atmosphere, the production team organized a small game: Truth or Dare between couples. The person spinning the wheel would ask the question. Whoever the needle pointed to had to choose. If they chose Truth, they could only choose Dare in the second round.
According to the drawing lots, the first person to spin the wheel was Yu Rui.
When the arrow pointed to Xie Shibai, Yu Rui seemed to have been waiting for this moment. He asked directly, “Teacher Xie, it’s rumored online that you and Teacher Lu have a bad relationship. Yet, you two are on a post-marriage variety show together. Would you count that as deceiving the fans?”
[Damn, what kind of question is that?] [Yu Rui isn’t even pretending anymore. Disgusting.]
Xie Shibai glanced at him, his tone flat. “No. It is true that our relationship is bad.”
Yu Rui hadn’t expected Xie Shibai to admit they didn’t get along. The smile on his face turned stiff. “Aren’t you two already married?”
Xie Shibai’s voice had no fluctuation. “Who made a rule that you have to have a good relationship to get married?”
[Yes, they are just in a ‘Making Hate’ relationship.] [Laughing to death. ‘Making Hate’ indeed. You can still ‘do it’ even if the relationship is bad.] [Huh? Is it true? You can get married even if you don’t get along?] [The young couple is just playing a bickering kink.] [Obviously, it’s real. We’ve seen their relationship during the livestream these past few days; they argue every day.] [Almost didn’t catch the sarcasm upstairs.] [Ever heard of hate-sex? That’s them.]
Yu Rui didn’t hear the answer he wanted. He looked at Lu Ciheng, trying to spot a different expression—ideally, hoping the question would drive a wedge between them.
But Yu Rui was disappointed. Lu Ciheng kept smiling. When Xie Shibai prepared to drink water, Lu Ciheng quickly handed him the cup, displaying the attributes of a simp to the fullest.
“This cup is just the right temperature.”
With the foundation of the first twenty percent of the desensitization therapy, Xie Shibai was very used to Lu Ciheng handing him things. He didn’t notice anything wrong when he accepted it.
The bullet screen was amused by this silky-smooth action.
[True · Bad Relationship.] [LCH is one step away from feeding XSB the water himself.] [The key is that XSB indulges him!]
It was Xie Shibai’s turn to spin the wheel. The pointer spun around and landed precisely on Yu Rui.
Xie Shibai put down the water cup. lifting his cold eyes slightly. He asked with a sharp and merciless tone, “Have you ever hurt your partner during your marriage?”
Yu Rui froze. He looked abruptly at Xie Shibai, his expression poor. It looked like the panic of having one’s privacy poked, masked by feigned calm. “Teacher Xie, this question of yours…”
No one expected Xie Shibai to ask so bluntly. Wu Ke was a little worried, fearing Xie Shibai would be implicated because of her affairs.
The livestream room was stunned, and comments flew by.
[What does that mean?] [XSB dares to ask that?] [Damn, domestic violence?] [The non-celebrity sister-in-law does have injuries on her hands. It showed when she was washing her hands.]
Yu Rui’s fans immediately jumped in, claiming it was impossible and that Xie Shibai was maliciously spreading rumors.
[How is that possible? Brother Yu is famous in the circle for being gentle. How could he commit domestic violence?] [XSB himself is a domestic abuser, yet he has the face to slander others?] [Exactly! His attitude toward Lu Ciheng is obvious to everyone. Why is no one scolding that?]
Xie Shibai’s tone was icy, lacking patience. “Answer.”
Yu Rui hid his expression and replied, looking exceptionally sincere, “Of course not. How could I ever hit Ke-ke? And to the fans in front of the screen, you must have zero tolerance for domestic violence and use legal weapons to protect yourselves in time.”
Wu Ke’s eyes were full of ridicule. When she reached out to hand Yu Rui juice, her cuff pulled back slightly, revealing a wound. She whispered with a pale face, “Yu Rui has never hurt me.”
That one sentence, combined with the wound that flashed on her hand, immediately triggered netizens’ speculation. Instantly, everyone felt Wu Ke was a silly, love-brained sweet girl who was being bullied yet still spoke up for him.
Yu Rui’s previous persona was deeply rooted in people’s hearts, acting like an information cocoon that prevented people from thinking in that direction. But almost as soon as Xie Shibai raised the point, netizens were already following the clues.
Not just fans, but netizens who loved gossip had strong mobility. They dug up all of Yu Rui’s past interviews, analyzing them frame by frame while holding their noses, compiling all his early remarks.
You wouldn’t know if you didn’t check, but checking gave everyone a fright.
Vulgar jokes and inappropriate remarks were countless.
Relying on the fact that no one watched interviews seriously and that the company handled marketing, few people had noticed these things in the early days. Even if they were discovered, they could be suppressed. After all, the internet usually has no memory—but now, it couldn’t withstand the detailed scrutiny of netizens.
The most critical evidence was the injury on Wu Ke’s wrist.
Netizens compared the state Wu Ke had shown since the beginning of the livestream. Even though the wounds were always hidden under her sleeves, there were always moments when they were inadvertently exposed.
During the first livestream’s promotional photoshoot, a bit of her wrist was exposed. When zoomed in, vague red marks could be seen. Then came the scars discovered while washing vegetables recently. The key hammer was that paparazzi had privately photographed and exposed it before, but the marketing was done so well at the time that no fans believed it.
The netizens exploded. The trending topic of Yu Rui’s domestic violence instantly rushed to the top.
[So who is the real domestic abuser?] [It was weird from the start of the livestream. Did no one notice Yu Rui’s terrifying eyes when he said his wife liked XSB and LCH and told her to ask for autographs?] [Domestic abuser, get out of the entertainment industry!] [Damn, the non-celebrity sister-in-law has been scolded by fans for so long. That’s too miserable.] [Who on earth likes Yu Rui? Before, he made his wife carry luggage up the stairs. Later, during the compatibility test, he blamed her when he answered wrong. Domestic violence and PUA—he has it all.] [Boycott low-quality artists.] [Suggest the abuser goes straight to the police station.] [Speechless. He can really act. Yu Rui is the true ‘Birth of an Actor.’ A domestic abuser grandstanding about zero tolerance for domestic violence.] [This is called intentional injury. A marriage certificate is not a medal of immunity!]
Public opinion on the internet fermented quickly. The heat of Infinite Heartbeat itself was not low, especially after Xie Shibai and Lu Ciheng joined. Basically, all the gossip-loving, high-action netizens came to watch. As soon as the hot search popped up, the netizens ate it up clearly.
Except for the staff who had time to surf the web, the other guests at the recording site were unaware of the situation online.
Yu Rui didn’t realize that his underwear was being stripped off by people online. He was still holding a grudge over Xie Shibai’s question, and his subsequent questions were exceptionally aggressive.
A portion of fans stopped being fans and turned to attack him after discovering evidence of domestic violence. More and more evidence was exposed.
By the time the guests saw the hot search, it was already very late.
The covering cloth for the room cameras was temporarily removed at the strong request of the production team. It could be covered before turning off the lights, but it needed to be open at other times.
Xie Shibai finished a call on the balcony. After entering the room, he checked public opinion online. Considering Yu Rui had a management agency behind him and Wu Ke was weak alone, he asked Chen Qisheng to keep an eye on the online situation.
Closing the balcony door, he looked up and met the eyes of Lu Ciheng, who had just finished showering.
Lu Ciheng wasn’t wearing a shirt. He was drying his slightly wet hair. Water droplets from his hair rolled onto his skin. His healthy wheat-colored skin seemed to radiate heat. The muscles on his arms were bulging, and the water droplets rolled down; his defined abdominal muscles were solid and powerful, rising and falling slightly with his breathing. The veins on his waist and abdomen were knotted, containing a strong wildness.
Under the light, everything was revealed without reserve. Unintentional movements were just the right amount of seduction.
Xie Shibai’s gaze landed there. His steps paused for a few seconds before he looked away to reply to a message on his phone.
Lu Ciheng paused in drying his hair. He wandered in front of Xie Shibai, only to find the other party didn’t even look up. He stared at Xie Shibai for a few seconds, then leaned over and wrapped his arms around Xie Shibai’s waist, sticking to him stickily like a large dog.
The broad figure encircled the person in his arms, heat continuously pouring toward Xie Shibai.
“Teacher Xie, I’m sick again. You promised to help each other, right?”
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