Chapter 40: Punishment
Although Xie Shibai had somewhat anticipated Lu Ciheng’s answer, his heart still skipped a beat the moment he heard it.
He gazed at Lu Ciheng for a few seconds. For some inexplicable reason, the image of that round-headed puppy from when he was seven years old popped into his mind. The emotions stirring in his heart were strange.
Xie Shibai looked at Lu Ciheng’s hand. His long eyelashes lowered slightly. Against the background sound of the elimination buzzer, the thought that crossed his mind was actually—
It seems like they haven’t done desensitization therapy in a long time.
Hearing the elimination sound, Lu Ciheng seemed to realize he had just blurted out the taboo word. His acting was a bit clumsy as he said, “Did I just say the keyword? I lost. Teacher Xie is truly formidable. The bitter melon juice smells so bitter; even a puppy needs Teacher Xie to coax him before he can drink it.”
[LCH has been waiting for this day for a long time, hasn’t he? He looks so satisfied.] [I never expected you to be this kind of LCH!] [Teacher Xie is not allowed to coax him!] [Hello, we prohibit people over 1.9 meters tall from pretending to be puppies and acting cute here.] [What a dog, truly a dog. I suspect he said it on purpose. He can’t wait to tell everyone he’s Teacher Xie’s puppy. He’s secretly showing off right here.] [Old dog.] [Is this still my brother? The life of a solo fan is so bitter.] [LCH, how dare you ask my brother to coax you @#!%%%%]
Xie Shibai glanced at him faintly. “Lu Ciheng, your acting skills are terrible.”
Su Xingran was bewildered by Lu Ciheng’s answer. He couldn’t even taste the bitterness in his mouth anymore. His mind was replaying Xie Shibai’s gesture of hooking his finger—those fair, slender fingers, the wrist bone peeking out from the cuff, drawing one’s gaze to look again and again.
He swallowed the taste of bitter melon juice.
Setting everything else aside, he could be a dog for Teacher Xie too…
Su Xingran had only stared for a couple of seconds before he felt a cold glare land on him.
Lu Ciheng swept a glance at Su Xingran, then clasped Xie Shibai’s hand, directly cutting off the other man’s line of sight.
[It feels like a Chihuahua and a Doberman fighting over the sweet treat that is Teacher Xie.] [Dying of laughter, that’s such a vivid image.]
Lu Ciheng reached for the last remaining cup of bitter melon juice.
Xie Shibai watched him for a few seconds. Just as Lu Ciheng was about to drink, he reached out and covered the rim of the glass. “Director, I want to use my exemption privilege.”
Director Tan was surprised. “You want to use it now? You won’t save it for the next round?”
Xie Shibai: “Yes. I request that Lu Ciheng not drink this cup of bitter melon juice.”
Lu Ciheng’s gaze fell on Xie Shibai. His heart pounded wildly, his emotions so full they were almost overflowing. The curve of his lips couldn’t be suppressed, his expression practically telling everyone: Xie Shibai has me in his heart. Xie Shibai treats me differently than everyone else. If this isn’t love, what is?
[That expression on Dog Lu’s face.] [Ahhh, so sweet!] [They were fighting so hard earlier, and suddenly it’s pure love. It makes my corpse feel warm.] [Actually, XSB is really good to LCH. It’s not like what the marketing accounts say about LCH being the only one chasing.] [How is it not? XSB hitting LCH before was just foreplay/flirting. LCH enjoyed it. Look at him now. He was guarding so heavily earlier, not saying a word, so he definitely guessed his keyword. But the moment XSB asked, he rushed to say it. He loves him too much.] [One bite of good food.] [? The solo fans above aren’t even hiding it anymore.] [That sister isn’t doing this for the first time; she’s completely given up.]
Next to them, Li You, who had come back after drinking water, gritted his teeth as he watched for a long time. The hand holding his cup tightened; he felt that Xie Shibai was just putting on a show for the cameras.
Once everyone returned, the games continued. Everyone tried their hardest to avoid drinking any more bitter melon juice.
Li You was determined to go against Xie Shibai. In every round, his questions were direct, trying to eliminate him.
However, the harder he tried, the more problems arose. Xie Shibai was able to accurately extract his keywords from Li You’s questions and guessed correctly every time. Instead, it was Li You who ended up drinking bitter melon juice like water until his face turned dark.
Although it was called a short drama, the production team had prepared the costumes and props thoroughly. The sets were modified directly inside the villa for convenience. Fortunately, the scenes for the short drama were compressed, so the set design didn’t cause much delay. The crew were skilled workers; it was simply a matter of arranging a few necessary locations and shifting furniture. Within two days, eighty percent of the simplified version was complete.
While waiting for the set to be finished, Xie Shibai and Lu Ciheng received an invitation from Mi Qiran, inviting them to witness his proposal to Qiao Jiayi. They were asked to attend as friends, and along with the other guests in the villa, the number of people matched exactly the number of friends present during their original proposal.
The proposal scene was set up by Mi Qiran himself. The backyard of the villa had been meticulously decorated.
White and green floral arrangements exuded a fresh fragrance. Their names and some letters with cryptic meanings were carved onto a semi-arched flower wall. The backyard’s natural forest greenery, the lawn, and the stone path were sprinkled with flowers.
[It looks like he really prepared seriously.] [It’s not easy to do all this by himself in such a short time.] [Brother Qiran is really working hard for this relationship.] [Fans, don’t be too quick to whitewash him. The history of him remembering the proposal date wrong is still there.]
Mu Zhenzhen sighed, “So beautiful. You did all this alone?”
Mi Qiran scratched the back of his head, looking a bit embarrassed. “The flowers were arranged by the flower shop staff. I just did some of the other things.”
Mu Zhenzhen: “…” This guy is missing a screw in his head, right?
She changed the subject. “Haha, it’s good, very nice.”
Qiao Jiayi seemed used to it. She looked around and noticed the letters carved behind the arch, looking somewhat surprised. “You actually remembered this?”
Mi Qiran nodded. “After all, it’s what we left behind when we first got together.”
Xie Shibai looked around. When he turned his head, he saw the round-headed ‘Potato’ puppy sitting obediently in the corner wagging its tail, and looked surprised.
The Potato puppy was wearing a tie that looked like a little suit around its neck and had something resembling a ring box hanging from it. It sat obediently on the ground, and when it saw Xie Shibai’s attention shift to it, its tail wagged even more cheerfully.
But it had received professional training; at a time like this, it had to stand guard for the final shift.
He walked over, but before he could get close, the Potato puppy couldn’t hold back anymore. It wagged its tail and butt, stretching its neck to imitate a little seal bowing with its hands.
Xie Shibai patted the round head, which felt very good to the touch, and his mood improved.
Lu Ciheng also noticed the puppy. He squatted next to Xie Shibai and watched. “So it’s the flower boy.”
Xie Shibai gave a soft “Mn.”
Mu Zhenzhen saw this and asked, “Why use a puppy as a flower boy?”
Mi Qiran explained, “When we proposed before, we also used our dog to deliver the rings. But this time it’s too far away, so I borrowed one from the family at the foot of the mountain. I was worried it wouldn’t be trained well, but this puppy is very smart and learned immediately.”
When the proposal officially began, the professionally trained puppy, under the gazes of Xie Shibai and Lu Ciheng, puffed out its chest and held its head high, looking like a sentry dog as it went up to deliver the rings.
Mu Zhenzhen held her face, looking envious, and whispered to Xu Xiangming while avoiding the camera, “When I propose to you, I want this too.”
Xie Shibai, standing next to him, paused slightly, lost in thought for a few brief seconds.
The proposal process was quick. The dinner afterward was prepared separately to create a candlelight dinner atmosphere.
Perhaps because of the partner-swapping over the past few days, coupled with a drinking game organized by the production team, everyone relaxed and drank a few more glasses than usual. Just like a regular gathering of friends, they chatted about the mix-ups that occurred during the swap.
For example, spinning a wheel—whoever it pointed to had to tell an interesting mix-up story from the swap period, or drink.
Xie Shibai and Lu Ciheng had swapped scripts, and since the production team gave them new scripts later, they had spent most of their time rehearsing lines. They were at a disadvantage in this game.
Xie Shibai drank several glasses in a row. His expression didn’t change much, making it seem like he had a high alcohol tolerance.
The production team intended for them to relax, but the alcohol was quite strong. The other groups had already started to flush.
[Brother Xie’s face isn’t even red.] [I wanted to see what Brother Xie looks like when he’s drunk, ahhh, but turns out his tolerance is this good!]
When the game ended and everyone dispersed, it was very late and the night road was dangerous, so the Potato puppy stayed temporarily in the villa.
Xie Shibai had just returned to his room holding the round-headed puppy. As soon as the door opened, Lu Ciheng came up from behind. His arm naturally wrapped around Xie Shibai’s waist, and like an oversized clingy toy, his chin pressed tightly against the crook of Xie Shibai’s neck.
“Teacher Xie, we agreed that I’m your only puppy.” His slow, deep voice was unhurried. Lu Ciheng stared at the round-headed puppy for a few seconds, dissatisfied that the other party was occupying his position.
Xie Shibai had drunk a bit too much. His steps faltered slightly, his brows furrowed, and he reached out to push Lu Ciheng’s head away. “Don’t lean so close.”
Lu Ciheng narrowed his eyes. With one hand, he scooped the puppy out of Xie Shibai’s arms and set it aside, ignoring the round-headed Potato puppy’s confused look. His palm pressed against Xie Shibai’s waist, applying slight force to turn him around so they were face-to-face.
He bent his long leg, pressing his knee between Xie Shibai’s legs, completely trapping him between his body and the wall. He leaned down slightly, staring at Xie Shibai’s face for a few seconds.
Having drunk alcohol, Xie Shibai’s face naturally flushed with a faint redness from the inside out, creating a strong contrast with his usually cold demeanor.
Not to mention that at this moment, he was glaring at him impatiently.
Lu Ciheng’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. It felt as if no matter what excessive thing he did next, Xie Shibai wouldn’t be able to escape. His possessiveness was infinitely magnified in this moment, his rationality having already been torn apart thousands of times.
“I am Teacher Xie’s puppy. You said it yesterday in front of so many people in the livestream.” Lu Ciheng’s tone was low. “Abandoning a puppy is a serious crime.”
Stimulated by the alcohol, Xie Shibai’s personality became somewhat reckless. He raised an eyebrow, looking like he intentionally wanted to tease the man. “I never agreed to have only one puppy.”
Lu Ciheng let out a soft laugh, his tone unhurried. “Teacher Xie, you are truly greedy.”
Xie Shibai looked up and said indifferently, “If you don’t want to be one, you don’t have to.”
Lu Ciheng raised his eyebrows slightly, getting a bit anxious. “That’s too much. I never said I didn’t agree. How can you really abandon me?”
Xie Shibai pushed Lu Ciheng’s chest and said casually, “Fine, I won’t abandon you. Move aside first, I want to drink water.”
Receiving a satisfactory answer, Lu Ciheng smiled brightly. He took a half-step back and immediately went to pour water for Xie Shibai, looking as if he wished he could feed it to him mouth-to-mouth.
Xie Shibai’s gaze swept over Lu Ciheng’s fingers. His eyes lowered, and his fingertips twitched slightly. After the physical contact disappeared, an inexplicable irritability arose.
After drinking water and washing up, he prepared to sleep.
Lu Ciheng passed by Xie Shibai, placed a glass of warm water on his bedside table, and then went to build a temporary dog bed for the Potato puppy.
Xie Shibai originally wanted to rest, but whenever his eyes landed on Lu Ciheng, he felt a sense of irritation. He rubbed his own hand with his thumb, feeling both unfamiliar and familiar with this emotion.
He waited for a while, but the familiar bedtime treatment did not come. Instead, he just got a “Goodnight” from Lu Ciheng.
Under the stimulation of alcohol, the restlessness that had been denied comfort for so long began to spiral out of control.
Xie Shibai stared at Lu Ciheng for a few seconds, then grabbed Lu Ciheng’s collar with his fingers. He pulled down with sudden force, dragging the man down to bend over, and lowered his voice: “Lu Ciheng, did you forget something?”
Lu Ciheng, having his collar yanked, was forced to bend. One hand pressed on Xie Shibai’s waist while the other supported himself on the mattress. His chin nearly crashed into Xie Shibai’s neck. “What?”
Xie Shibai paused for a few seconds, looking straight at him. “We haven’t had the treatment today. If you don’t do the treatment, you should resign early and stop taking up space.”
A flash of surprise crossed Lu Ciheng’s eyes. He observed Xie Shibai for a few seconds, a guess forming in his heart. A low laugh spilled from the corner of his lips. He turned his head to look at the side of Xie Shibai’s fair, slender neck, his voice deep. “I actually forgot such an important thing. Teacher Xie, punish me.”
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