Xiao Can hesitated a bit.
He had a good impression of Tan Zhen and was very willing to make friends with him.
But because of He Xingzhou’s presence, he couldn’t help but feel awkward when facing Tan Zhen.
It’s strange to say. He Xingzhou had always been straightforward. He had previously recognized that his various actions had the suspicion of seduction, but it seemed that he hadn’t told his partner about it.
Otherwise, Tan Zhen wouldn’t be so enthusiastic towards him.
Xiao Can couldn’t help but have some impolite thoughts.
Their situation couldn’t be considered an arranged marriage, but it didn’t seem like completely true love either. He Xingzhou’s personality must be difficult to deal with, and he didn’t know what their relationship was really like.
Thinking back to Tan Zhen’s words about “feeling like an old married couple because the days drag on,” was he really complaining?
Xiao Can couldn’t help but be curious.
-“Sure! I’ll make time!”
Tan Zhen seemed very happy.
-“Then it’s a date! I’ll bring a little gift for you~”
Tan Zhen’s appearance was considered plain in the entertainment industry, without much distinction, but walking on the street, both his appearance and aura were very outstanding and attracted a lot of attention.
In order to reduce his presence, he specifically wore a hat and plain glasses, and wore only the most ordinary T-shirt.
This made Xiao Can, who had specially dressed up before going out, feel a bit embarrassed.
The two agreed to meet at a Japanese restaurant, where the private room was very elegant.
As soon as they sat down, Tan Zhen handed him a flashy little box with a smile. Seeing the pattern on the packaging, Xiao Can couldn’t help but laugh and cry.
It was a small toy given as a freebie with fast food, called “Cluck Egg.”
Cluck Egg was a chicken-shaped toy that danced and clucked like a chicken. Because its sound and dance moves were too mesmerizing, it became popular online for a while. It was worth very little money originally, but because it was a limited edition, it was hyped up to astronomical prices.
Xiao Can had even made three videos about it, recounting how he couldn’t get it.
In the first video, he queued up before dawn, and just as he was about to get it, the store announced that Cluck Egg was sold out.
In the second video, he saw an elementary school student holding one on the roadside, approached him humbly to buy it, and ended up being tricked into buying a lot of drinks and snacks by the cunning kid. He almost got reported to the police by the kid’s parents.
In the third video, he spent a lot of money buying it on a second-hand website, eagerly awaited its delivery, but when he received it, he found out it was a pirated version of a demon toy, which left him in tears.
All three videos were staged, completely fabricated, and had zero truth to them.
Xiao Can wasn’t even interested in the toy itself; he only jumped on the bandwagon because it was popular.
He did a very successful job of it, with very good views. Even now, fans would joke with him, saying he was “the man who could never get the Cluck Egg.”
Xiao Can would play along with the joke, saying, “I firmly believe that one day I’ll get a Cluck Egg that belongs to me.”
Many people expressed their willingness to give it to him in the comments and private messages, but he mostly declined.
He didn’t expect Tan Zhen to actually give it to him.
“It was accidental. It had just come out at the time and wasn’t popular yet. I happened to eat there and got it,” he told Xiao Can with a smile.
Xiao Can didn’t have the heart to tell him that he didn’t actually want it, so he had to pretend to be surprised, saying, “I finally have a Cluck Egg!”
He unwrapped the packaging, placed the toy on the table, and took a serious photo of it, intending to post it on Weibo later.
“Besides this, I also need to thank you for something,” he said to Tan Zhen, “for going back to re-record.”
“It’s nothing,” Tan Zhen smiled, “I happened to be nearby that day, and it didn’t delay me much.” He heaved a sigh of relief and exclaimed, “Finally got rid of it. I sent you a private message back then once, but you didn’t reply to me.”
“Huh?” Xiao Can was surprised.
Tan Zhen seemed a bit embarrassed as he said, “I saw how much you wanted it at the time, and I happened to have one, so I thought I’d try to get closer to you. But now that I think about it, you probably didn’t notice among all the messages you get every day.”
“You used an alias, right?” Xiao Can said, “What was it?”
“I’m not telling you,” Tan Zhen chuckled.
The two chatted and ate, and the atmosphere was harmonious, with hardly any awkward moments.
The conversation was unfocused, ranging widely, and eventually touched on the recording engineer Teacher Xia.
Curious, Xiao Can asked Tan Zhen, “Is Teacher Xia’s relationship with He Xingzhou good or bad in private? Why did he insist on inviting me when he went to visit?”
“I’m not sure,” Tan Zhen replied, “When I went back to re-record, Mr. Xia mentioned that you went alone?”
“Yeah, he had something come up at the last minute,” Xiao Can tentatively asked, “Didn’t He Xingzhou mention it to you?”
Tan Zhen smiled.
“Speaking of which,” Xiao Can pointed to the Cluck Egg on the table, “Don’t you think it looks a bit like Charlie?”
Tan Zhen looked curious. “Who’s Charlie?”
Xiao Can was surprised. “You don’t know?”
“Is he a very famous figure?” Tan Zhen asked, puzzled.
“He’s the parrot He Xingzhou keeps,” Xiao Can said, “Green feathers, red beak, very cute. His name is Charlie?”
Tan Zhen blinked and muttered, “I see…”
Xiao Can didn’t know how to continue the conversation for a moment.
Charlie looked like an adult parrot by any measure, and he had obviously been kept for a long time with He Xingzhou, showing a very close relationship. Tan Zhen’s complete lack of knowledge indicated that he had never been to He Xingzhou’s home.
Not only that, but He Xingzhou hadn’t even mentioned it to him.
The relationship between these two was too strange.
Sensing the strangeness in the atmosphere, Tan Zhen explained, “Actually, we’ve only been together for a short time.”
Xiao Can understood the reason behind it and pretended to ask, “You got engaged shortly after getting together? You must really love each other!”
Tan Zhen shifted his gaze, smiled, and said, “Hehe.”
“I understand,” Xiao Can nodded with a hint of sarcasm, “He Xingzhou is handsome, talented, and his unique personality is very charming. It’s not surprising to be captivated by him all at once.”
Tan Zhen’s gaze returned to him and landed on his face. “…Is he your type?”
Xiao Can was startled and quickly denied, “I didn’t mean that!”
Tan Zhen pursed his lips, then suddenly leaned closer to the table, lowered his voice, and said mysteriously, “I have a question to ask you. I don’t know if you’re willing to talk about it.”
Xiao Can’s heart raced with guilty thoughts, and many speculations flew through his mind.
Did Tan Zhen know about what happened between him and He Xingzhou? Was he approaching him on purpose to find out? Was it necessary to have an honest conversation about it?
He had always thought it was foolish for Omega to vie for an Alpha, as there was no one in this world worth doing that for.
Xiao Can nervously said, “What do you want to ask?”
Tan Zhen licked his lips, looked serious, and lowered his voice even more, “Are you really with Fei Zai?”
“…”
The Fei Zai he mentioned was an Alpha, a very typical handsome anchor with a muscular physique and a fresh and handsome gentle face. He was one of the internet celebrities Xiao Can had collaborated with before.
Fei Zai usually posted content related to fitness or just being cool in daily life, showing off his physique, which had mesmerized countless Omegas.
In the videos they collaborated on, he followed Xiao Can in acting funny, and the strong contrast brought him considerable popularity.
Because they looked good together, many people shipped their CP (couple pairing), and there were even rumors circulating that they were already in a real relationship.
Xiao Can didn’t want to be tied down, so he hadn’t collaborated with Fei Zi (nickname for “Cluck Egg”) for a long time.
Seeing Tan Zhen’s expression, it was obvious that he also believed it.
“Just ordinary friends,” Xiao Can explained, “I’m too busy, where’s the time for romance.”
“Oh, I see,” Tan Zhen stepped back, tilting his head, “Well, he’s not really worthy of you anyway.”
Xiao Can shook his head with a smile, “You don’t know how popular he is. Many Omega are infatuated with him. During the time when I collaborated with him more frequently, I was bullied and cursed by his fans.”
Tan Zhen frowned, “Oh—”
“He’s actually quite nice, but we just don’t have that spark.”
“I find him a bit slick,” Tan Zhen said, “Just that… how to say, he knows he’s very handsome, can’t stand it.”
Xiao Can thought to himself, if talking about narcissism, Fei Zi couldn’t hold a candle to He Xingzhou.
After that, the two chatted for a while, and when they said goodbye, they were both a little reluctant.
Xiao Can realized that Tan Zhen seemed to have been following him for a long time, and he could even be called his loyal fan.
This speculation was quickly confirmed.
After returning home, he tried to find contacts through Tan Zhen’s phone number and easily found the account Tan Zhen used on Bai Tao (a social media platform).
The profile was blank, with the name and avatar being the system defaults, and no content had been posted. Tan Zhen followed hundreds of accounts, but more than half of the likes and bookmarks were Xiao Can’s videos.
Xiao Can tried clicking on the private messages and was surprised to find that they were quite rich in content.
Tan Zhen had sent him a lot of things, the earliest one being two years ago.
“Don’t worry, Xiao Can, you’re so cute and talented, there will definitely be more people who like you in the future, keep it up!”
And he had actually replied back then.
“Thank you! Love you, mwah~!”
Xiao Can blushed for a while.
During that period, he was a bit confused and had said some pessimistic things during his live broadcasts. Many fans encouraged him, and he replied to some of them.
Never did he expect Tan Zhen to be among them.
Xiao Can felt embarrassed but also excited, wanting to express his gratitude to Tan Zhen and to strengthen their relationship.
Did Tan Zhen still remember the words he had replied with back then?
Xiao Can took a screenshot of the conversation, cropped out his own reply, intending to send it to Tan Zhen to make him feel embarrassed too.
Because he was used to logging into Bai Tao on his computer, he did all these operations on his computer. Since he was too lazy to transfer the picture to his computer, he logged into the messaging app on his computer again.
Opening the conversation box with Tan Zhen, he was about to send the picture when another window suddenly popped up on the screen.
Xiao Can’s hand slipped, and he accidentally sent the screenshot.
