“5+28 Love” is an outdoor travel-themed dating variety show.
Yan Qing still had fresh memories of the first season from five years ago, because everyone joked that in this show, out of thirty-three days, only five days were for dating, while the remaining twenty-eight days were for “survival” – the contestants were either looking for hotel locations or trying to find their own team members.
With four groups of eight contestants and limited budget, no matter what unexpected incidents happened during the journey, as long as it didn’t threaten their safety, the production team wouldn’t interfere.
On the fourth day, Yan Qing received the plane tickets provided by the production team.
They were scheduled to board at 2:00 PM tomorrow at the Nancheng International Airport, with the first destination of their journey being a small city in the south of England.
Just in time, the express delivery that was ordered a few days ago has arrived.
The property management helped bring a cart full of packages to the doorstep.
The audience watched in amazement as Yan Qing, so slender, single-handedly carried the packages into the living room, stuffing the previously empty suitcase to the brim.
A total of three large boxes.
Yan Qing sighed, “There we go!”
At this moment, the director, Director Jiang, stood by and asked, “What have you brought? There’s so much.”
Yan Qing, not being picky, sat on the ground and replied, “I watched the first season of the show before, so I bought things based on what the contestants were lacking at that time.”
“Do you want to see?”
[I can’t believe Yan Qing actually did homework?]
[Very clever!]
Yan Qing opened his suitcase and proudly said, “This box is my clothes. In this front pouch, I’ve got a flashlight, a lighter, matches, and on this side is a first aid kit. There are also tea bags, instant noodles, biscuits, ping pong balls, a folding army knife, nylon rope, raincoat…”
[??]
[Quick, look at Director Jiang’s face, he’s completely stunned, hahaha.]
[They turned the dating variety show into a wilderness survival show, comments from the contestants.]
[Hahaha!]
[Why did Yan Qing buy such expensive stuff? I just checked, he mentioned a brand of matches from abroad, and a box of fifty costs over twenty bucks, especially that suitcase, it’s almost five digits!]
[Is that true? Didn’t Yan Qing’s family go bankrupt?]
[It’s probably Mr. Wen’s money!]
Director Jiang was aware that the first season of the show had been jokingly called ‘wilderness survival,’ but this season, they were a bit more restrained, right?
Director Jiang snapped back and asked, “But isn’t this stuff a bit too much?”
Yan Qing glanced at the camera crew and then back at Director Jiang with a puzzled expression. “Too much? When I used to go on trips, I needed four suitcases.”
He had prepared his luggage this time based on the strong protests he had made to his parents when he insisted on packing light for university.
Five years later, Yan Qing’s rented apartment didn’t actually have this much stuff. Most of it had been acquired later. Anyway, he had money now, as long as it was enough to spend, he didn’t want to inconvenience himself.
The audience was all surprised by Yan Qing, four suitcases? Was he sure he wasn’t moving?
But everyone looked at Yan Qing’s innocent and self-assured face and couldn’t get angry; it was as if a young master should be like this.
“Okay… then make sure to check the weight limit, don’t go overboard,” Director Jiang said. He didn’t really need to remind the contestants; he could have waited for Yan Qing to discover the overweight luggage drama at the airport, but he was touched by Yan Qing’s innocent face and couldn’t help but remind him.
As soon as the words fell, Yan Qing was taken aback and remembered this part. He picked up the information card provided by the production team and found out that it stated he could only bring two suitcases.
He had one too many.
“!”
Except for the suitcase with clothes, the other two were overweight, and quite significantly so. Yan Qing fell into deep thought and said seriously, “Um… Director Jiang, can I pay for the excess baggage myself?”
Director Jiang: “…”
*
Of course not.
Yan Qing selected a few essential daily items to stuff into the suitcase meant for clothes, but it was still overweight by several kilograms. At that moment, Wen Jueli happened to come out of his room.
As soon as he opened the door, he saw Yan Qing looking crestfallen like a little puppy, staring at him with big, helpless eyes. Several cameras turned toward him as well.
Wen Jueli: “… What’s wrong?”
Yan Qing felt somewhat embarrassed as he explained, “My luggage is overweight, and I can’t fit everything.”
The room was a mess, and Wen Jueli asked, “What did you bring?”
Yan Qing introduced what he was planning to bring to Wen Jueli again.
Wen Jueli: “…”
[There are even wine glasses? I don’t think Mr. Wen would agree with Yan Qing no matter how he explains it.]
[After all, it’s a trip; these things really aren’t necessary.]
Wen Jueli thought the same way. He asked seriously what the use of these things, including the wine glasses, was.
Yan Qing was honest and sincere in his response, saying, “During the show, it’s your birthday, right? I bought these wine glasses specifically… If you think they’re unnecessary, then I’ll just…”
As he spoke, he blinked his eyes and looked at Wen Jueli.
[!!]
[I never expected that Yan Qing was doing it for Wen Jueli’s birthday!]
[Sob, he said that, and I just remembered, Mr. Wen is already twenty-six, and I’ve been following him for ten years.]
Wen Jueli paused, sighed somewhat helplessly, and said, [Then take them.]
Yan Qing instantly grinned, “Thank you! And about these other things, I think they can…”
Wen Jueli stood there quietly, listening to Yan Qing finish, then nodded. “Okay, take them, I don’t have much luggage.”
Yan Qing: “Thank you, husband!”
Wen Jueli remained silent. He picked up one of the books with “Nancheng Theater Troupe” written on the cover and raised his gaze, asking in a calm tone, “After the show, do you still have a performance?”
Yan Qing tilted his head slightly. “No, Brother Wu asked me to bring this script.” After saying that, he instinctively covered his mouth. Did Wen Jueli know Brother Wu’s name…
Seeing Wen Jueli’s inquiring gaze still fixed on him, Yan Qing thought for a moment and casually put the script he held back into his backpack, saying, “The Theater troupe is currently touring Europe, right? The city we’re going to coincides with their tour location. Wu-ge is a colleague who takes good care of me; he just messaged me to bring this script along.’
The reason for it, Yan Qing himself, wasn’t clear.
Wen Jueli nodded.
[Theater troupe? Huh? What Theater troupe is that?]
[And it’s Wu-ge from the Nancheng Theater Troupe again… Wait, is the Wu-ge that Yan Qing mentioned the top-level theater actor who appeared on the show before?]
[Um! Now that you mention it, he’s super handsome!!]
[But why did Yan Qing say they’re colleagues? The Nancheng Theater Troupe is a well-known provincial theater troupe. Is he trying to boast?]
[Hey, don’t jump to conclusions. Go check Yan Qing’s old Weibo; you’ll see that he did perform with the troupe before, and there are group photos with everyone.]
[So, does that mean he’s still a theater actor?]
Actually, Yan Qing’s work at the Troupe has left quite an impression on the internet.
About a year ago, Yan Qing took the stage at the theater, playing the role of a young male lead. At the climax of the entire play, a spotlight shone down on him from above, enveloping him in its glow. The young man, dressed in tattered clothing, knelt on the ground, holding his beloved girl in his arms with a broken heart, shedding moving tears, and softly singing to her. The beam of light set him apart from everything else, making him appear so powerless.
The contrast between the male lead’s lost and bewildered image and his earlier proud and confident self was striking, as if even the tiny specks of dust dancing in the light were mourning the separation of the male and female leads.
Throughout the entire performance, there was not a dull moment, and Yan Qing portrayed the character’s emotional transformation from inner turmoil to rebirth with great skill, earning him resounding applause and praise from the audience.
That scene was captured by the audience at the time, posted on short video platforms, and instantly went viral, to the extent that there was even a trending search term for people trying to find out who this actor was.
However, it seemed to fizzle out later, as if overshadowed by other news. Soon, eagle-eyed viewers noticed this and dug up old digital archives, using keywords to find the video of Yan Qing’s theatrical performance at that time. This video went viral again and shot up the trending charts on the video platform.
It turned out that Yan Qing was indeed a theater actor, and he was quite good at it. The person who originally posted the video was baffled. He had filmed this video a long time ago, and it had briefly gained attention before being buried by other content. Now, how had it resurfaced, and the actor in the play turned out to be none other than Yan Qing, who was currently in the entertainment spotlight?
He turned on the TV and saw the delicate and graceful young man on the screen, confirming that Yan Qing was the person who had left a deep impression on him during the theatrical performance a year ago.
When Yan Qing had some free time to check his phone, he also came across this video. He realized that this play was one he had coincidentally participated in during his student days. He even fondly remembered the male lead’s tender confession: “Your eyes are very beautiful.”
