Chapter 28: Looking Down
Soon, the group officially entered the photography studio.
Although they were technically “inside,” the production team had covered everything up to keep the celebrities in the dark about the setup. Bai Qi couldn’t make out any specific arrangements; the only thing that left a deep impression was the sheer number of cameras.
Numerous cameramen panned back and forth, aiming at them. The red recording lights were on, making it seem like they were rolling continuously. It was impossible to tell at which moment, with which sentence or action, the livestream would begin.
Bai Qi had mentally prepared himself beforehand. He wasn’t actually that afraid of the cameras. To him, the gaze of a machine was far less terrifying than human eyes because you couldn’t see emotions inside a lens.
Coupled with the fact that the staff members were much kinder than he had imagined, Bai Qi felt settled, and his tightly pursed red lips finally relaxed.
Bo Yan turned back to check his expression so frequently that even Director Liu noticed.
Director Liu turned the exact nature of their relationship over and over in his mind, but outwardly he simply said that the main filming would take place at night, so they should rest well beforehand.
The two of them took some promotional photos first, signed a stack of non-disclosure agreements, and then followed a staff member to the hotel.
The staff member leading the way, Xiao Wang, had worked with Bo Yan before. He knew about Bo Yan’s cold personality and lack of patience, so he kept quiet the whole way, terrified of upsetting the big boss.
To everyone’s surprise, Bo Yan had an unexpectedly good temper today.
When a few young staff members timidly approached for autographs, Bo Yan actually gave them generously. His attitude was as refreshing as a spring breeze, completely natural, as if he had always been a gentle person.
Strange, Xiao Wang thought. Is Bo Yan in that good of a mood today? I don’t feel it.
Even the young people asking for autographs were surprised. During the process, someone couldn’t help but sneak a peek at the beautiful School Flower standing to the side. They were met with Bai Qi’s peach-blossom eyes, which seemed to hold a gentle mist, inadvertently softening people’s hearts.
Even Xiao Wang was dazed for a moment. He instinctively averted his gaze, a sudden realization floating into his mind.
It was as if… Bo Yan was putting on an act just for this gentle-looking, beautiful School Flower.
Bai Qi didn’t notice anything unusual the entire time.
He believed Bo Yan was cold on the outside but warm on the inside, so there was nothing surprising about him signing autographs. It would have been stranger if he refused, seeing as they weren’t in a rush.
With everyone harboring their own thoughts, they soon arrived at the hotel. Xiao Wang clutched the key card, speaking nervously but politely, “Teacher Bo, according to the rules, the guests need to share a room for now.”
He stumbled over his words as he spoke. He didn’t understand why Director Liu insisted on putting them in one room when the hotel clearly had plenty of vacancies.
This was the big celebrity investor, the “Sugar Daddy”—was the director really treating him like a regular guest?
After saying it, Xiao Wang braced himself for a scolding, or even to be fired. Unexpectedly, Bo Yan showed no sign of anger. He even said “thank you” when he took the key card.
Xiao Wang’s eyes widened, and for some reason, he looked over to see the School Flower’s reaction.
Bai Qi, standing to the side, was confused by the look. Subconsciously, he echoed, “Thank you.”
His voice was soft and bewildered, brushing lightly past the ear. Because he was confused, he sounded terribly cute, and even the air around him seemed to carry a sweet scent.
Xiao Wang’s face turned beet red, and he shook his head repeatedly, saying it was no trouble.
At that moment, Bo Yan’s mask of gentleness completely crumbled.
Standing where Bai Qi couldn’t see him, he snatched the key card. His expression turned dark and heavy, and the air around him seemed ready to freeze into ice shards.
This sudden change of face scared Xiao Wang out of his wits.
He was fine just a second ago, why is he suddenly angry?
Thinking back to how he had just stared at the School Flower in a daze, Xiao Wang felt a chill run down his spine and fled in a panic.
Meanwhile, the Star Collision Weibo account began promoting the new episode.
As per the old rules, the specific time and duration of the livestream were undetermined. The Weibo announcement only stated that the next livestream would happen within two days; fate would determine who caught it, and those who missed it could watch the official version on the video site later.
At the same time, the program posted a black silhouette image of the guests, as was customary.
It had to be said that this show was incredibly popular. As soon as the Weibo post went up, major marketing accounts and trending threads linked to it, and countless fans rushed over.
Even though everyone knew these were just promotional gimmicks, they never tired of discussing who the guests might be.
Today’s silhouette was high quality, shot almost like a work of art. Even as two black shadows, the atmosphere was palpable.
One tall and one short boy stood side by side. There was no need to guess for the taller one; seeing those broad, straight shoulders, everyone knew it was Bo Yan. It was a perfect comic-book model physique.
The other person was much more unfamiliar. His head was actually smaller than Bo Yan’s. The profile was slightly turned, revealing a upturned, delicate nose tip. The face shape was incredibly perfect, and just the corner of the lips visible in the shadow looked beautiful and soft.
Holy crap.
Standing with Bo Yan, with a slightly upturned nose tip…
Many people couldn’t help but exclaim: Could it be the Jiang University School Flower?
This looks too good!
The crowd, who had just been watching for fun, instantly became incredibly excited. Many fans swarmed in like crazy. The heat surrounding these two had been too high recently; even passersby knew a bit about it and were shocked.
After various comparisons, everyone quickly confirmed it was indeed the School Flower. The anticipation skyrocketed.
Bo Yan had always resisted CP (couple) shipping. It was miracle enough that he hadn’t suppressed the heat of this pairing, but now he was willing to go on a variety show with the School Flower? This was a huge double standard.
And going on a variety show… didn’t that mean they would finally see the School Flower’s real face? They could even see how the two of them actually interacted.
Many CP fans were dying of happiness, spreading the good news everywhere. However, many of Bo Yan’s solo fans, who couldn’t stand the CP fans’ noise, pointed out the problem.
“Don’t forget, this is Star Collision. They’ve always been wicked; they love doing the opposite of what you expect.”
“Exactly. The last pair involved in a scandal went on Star Collision, and afterwards, they never interacted again until the day they died. Bo Yan bringing that amateur on this show… looks like this CP is over.”
As soon as this was said, many people went from joy to worry. They were terrified they might witness a fairy-tale couple turn into enemies before their eyes.
Although going on a variety show just to break up a CP wasn’t really Bo Yan’s style, these things were unpredictable.
Many people couldn’t help but post on the Weibo trending topic that they believed the two were real, telling everyone to just wait for the “sugar” (sweet moments).
Opinions varied, and people used every clue they could find to guess at the relationship.
Meanwhile, the two people at the center of the storm were standing in their room, looking around.
In the car, Bai Qi had roughly skimmed through one of the episodes. That episode featured two male leads from a Danmei (BL) adaptation who came to promote their drama.
However, the production team was particularly wicked. They deliberately made all the daily necessities for the two of them unequal—one good, one bad. Even the beds were one luxurious and one shabby.
The two actors behaved politely at first, deferring to each other and making do with politeness. But the production team went too far. Only one person could eat hot food during the same hour, while the other had to eat cold food. The same rule applied to sleeping; they had to take turns being woken up.
After a routine of being sleepy and hungry, dissatisfaction naturally brewed. In the end, the production team provided only one set of toiletries—there was only one toothbrush.
At this point, the conflict the two had suppressed all day couldn’t be contained. They couldn’t help but secretly snipe at each other, causing a significant awkwardness just fighting over toothbrush rights.
The melon-eating crowds loved watching this kind of “throwing each other under the bus.” That episode became a huge hit, dragging the drama to popularity with it, as many people tuned in specifically to see how they would fail at queer-baiting.
Bai Qi was terrified the production team would treat them the same way. Fortunately, after looking around, aside from the beds indeed being one big and one small, everything else came in two normal sets.
He touched the small bed; it was basically a wooden board that creaked, but since their dorm beds were similar, he was used to it.
“Are there cameras?” he asked Bo Yan.
Bo Yan checked carefully and shook his head. “Don’t worry, there aren’t any in the room.”
Director Liu knew he valued privacy and wouldn’t do something like that.
Bai Qi breathed a sigh of relief. Many previous shows livestreamed from the rooms, and he had been worried about that. Thankfully, their episode wasn’t doing that.
So, the livestream location tonight should be that photography studio?
Checking the time, it was still early. Bai Qi relaxed and sat in a chair, noticing that Bo Yan kept his head down, typing on his phone, talking to someone unknown.
Bai Qi didn’t disturb him. He quietly took a book from the shelf to read.
However, as he read, his face gradually turned red. He couldn’t imagine such a legitimate production team would place this kind of book in the room, especially wrapped in a generic cover so you couldn’t tell from the outside.
Flustered, he snapped it shut. Just as he was about to quickly shove it back onto the shelf, his hand suddenly felt lighter.
Bo Yan lowered his eyes. In the sunlight, his skin was cold white, like a layer of temperature-less glaze.
Usually so cold and indifferent, he was now seriously flipping through the yellow-covered book. Then, he raised an eyebrow.
“No wonder you had that expression just now.”
Bai Qi was embarrassed enough to want to crawl into a hole. He snatched the book back, muttering, “The production team is too bad…”
Managing to put the book back, he tried to change the subject. “Why aren’t you reading the script anymore?”
Before, Bo Yan would read it whenever he had free time, but now he seemed not to care.
“It was just a fake script,” Bo Yan said, his tone calm, watching Bai Qi’s emotions without missing a beat. “I just wanted to trick you into spending time with me.”
Bai Qi opened his mouth, a little stunned by his blunt words.
F-fake…
“Th-then do you not need that method anymore?” he stammered.
“En.”
Bo Yan walked to Bai Qi’s side and asked softly, “Did you get a little scared last night?”
Last night? Bai Qi vaguely recalled Bo Yan’s fierce, dark silhouette. He hadn’t expected Bo Yan to notice.
He pursed his lips and nodded. “A little.”
Bo Yan was very patient, asking slowly, “What exactly were you afraid of? Harmony in this area is very important. A lifetime is very long, and I don’t want you to have any unpleasantness.”
Bai Qi fell silent.
Originally, he thought it was just for a month, so he could just endure it and it would pass. But Bo Yan was planning for their future.
Unwilling to hurt his feelings, Bai Qi thought for a moment and decided to open up, which was rare for him.
“It’s just… maybe a bit too fierce,” he closed his eyes, his fingertips nervously fidgeting. “Like when my dad used to beat me when I was little.”
Bo Yan’s knuckles suddenly tightened, his irises locked onto Bai Qi’s fragile, sensitive skin.
Even though he already knew about this, he still dared not imagine the scene of him being beaten.
His muscles tensed all over. After a long while, he exhaled and nodded. “I understand.”
Bai Qi felt guilty. Seeing Bo Yan’s expression change, he hurriedly said, “Actually, it doesn’t matter. It’s my own problem. I’ll just close my eyes from now on.”
Closing his eyes should relieve it a bit, or at least hide some of the fear.
Unexpectedly, Bo Yan shook his head. He turned to close the curtains and locked the door.
In the sealed, somewhat dim room, the tall figure squatted down in front of Bai Qi, looking up at him.
This angle minimized the overwhelming aggression and ambition in his eyes. He looked almost submissive, like a slave waiting for his master’s disposal.
Bo Yan’s defined jawline tightened, his voice hoarse. “How about this? Are you scared now?”
Bai Qi’s breathing became a little erratic.
He had never looked down at Bo Yan like this before. It was the same person, yet now he was prostrating himself, facing him with such a low posture.
He didn’t look like his father at all.
It was hard to say what he felt in this moment.
Bai Qi’s jaw unconsciously clenched, his palms sweating slightly, his blood flow accelerating.
“Not afraid.”
“Good.” Bo Yan maintained his upward gaze, lifting a hand to rest it on Bai Qi’s waistband.
“My dear, may I go a step further?”
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