The recent paparazzi incident had only just passed, and the three of them appearing on a variety show together already seemed sensitive.
As soon as Tan Zhen’s words fell, the whole place unnaturally quieted for two seconds.
“It’s truly an unexpected choice,” the temporary host broke the silence, “Let me emphasize again, the chosen party has no right to refuse! Let’s congratulate Tan Zhen and Yumi on successfully forming a team!”
Yumi was the Beta girl. She widened her eyes in surprise, pointing at herself. “You really chose me? Did I hear that right?”
“Yumi, don’t you want to be on my team?” Tan Zhen asked.
Yumi smiled and ran over, hugged him, high-fived him, then turned to He Xingzhou and shouted, “Bro, sorry about that!”
He Xingzhou smiled at her but didn’t say anything, appearing very generous.
The host continued, “Alright, then the remaining number four and number eight will automatically form a team. Let’s congratulate them too!”
Xiao Can clapped with a smirk on his face.
All the participating guests and staff had already adjusted their expressions at this point, acting naturally, with no one knowing what doubts were brewing in their hearts.
Xiao Can and He Xingzhou, the two protagonists of the recent peachy news, were forced to team up under Tan Zhen’s arrangement.
Xiao Can thought to himself that the production team must be quite happy now; this was a big plot point, and the sponsor Bai Tao must be delighted as well.
All of his actions and words from now on could be over-interpreted with colored glasses, so he had to be extremely careful.
On the other hand, He Xingzhou seemed very calm, always wearing a gentle smile on his face, lacking the usual sharpness and arrogance, giving people the impression of being easygoing and approachable.
“In the next two days, all activities will be participated in as teams,” the host said, “Everyone, loudly come up with a team name for yourselves!”
Xiao Can was forced to stand next to He Xingzhou.
There was a camera nearby, with a microphone clipped to his collar, so he had to pretend to be enthusiastic and positive, “Mr. He, what should we name our team?”
He Xingzhou half-lidded his eyes, repeating Xiao Can’s address in lip movements: Mr. He?
Xiao Can looked at him with a smile on his face, as if he hadn’t seen anything.
“Are you happy to be on my team?” He Xingzhou asked.
“Happy or not, ” Xiao Can chuckled, “My mood is quite complicated!”
“Oh?” He Xingzhou asked, “Why do you say that?”
“It’s indeed an honor to be on a team with Mr. He, but… you just got injured and haven’t recovered yet. You won’t have an advantage in the games later,” Xiao Can said, “I’m quite competitive by nature.”
“It’s okay, I asked the doctor, just need to be careful, it won’t be a problem,” He Xingzhou said.
“But don’t push yourself too hard, your health is more important,” Xiao Can said, “Let’s think of a team name first!”
He Xingzhou seemed lost in thought.
Xiao Can was afraid he would come up with something outrageous and suggested, “How about asking others how they came up with theirs?”
He turned to look at the other groups, only to see Tan Zhen keeping a distance, secretly observing their direction. Their eyes met, and Tan Zhen immediately turned away, his back full of guilt.
Xiao Can took a breath, then walked over to the temporary host’s team and asked, “What name have you decided on?”
The team with the temporary host was a cute Omega girl, also a regular guest on the show. She smiled and made a fist, announcing, “We’ve decided to call ourselves the ‘Charge! Charge! Charge!’ team!”
“Hahaha, that’s so cute,” Xiao Can laughed, “I like this style. How about we call ourselves the ‘Bump! Bump! Bump!’ team?”
“That’s plagiarism,” the other pretended to cross her chest and said, “I object!”
“What nonsense, it’s just borrowing ideas,” Xiao Can acted stubbornly, “I’m going with ‘Bump! Bump! Bump!'”
At this moment, He Xingzhou’s voice came from behind, “I object too.”
Xiao Can turned around.
He Xingzhou sincerely told him, “It sounds terrible.”
“Is it not good? Really not good?” Xiao Can felt a bit discouraged, “Then… let’s change our approach?”
“Last minute!” the host announced, “The team names will be revealed in one minute!”
He Xingzhou fell into contemplation again.
Seeing him thinking made Xiao Can nervous, so he suggested, “How about… we call ourselves ‘Number One’?”
“It’s a very utilitarian name,” He Xingzhou said, eyeing him up and down.
Xiao Can sensed the sarcasm in his tone but refrained from reacting angrily as the cameras were on them. He patiently explained, “It’s auspicious, seeking good luck.”
“Too idealistic,” He Xingzhou clearly didn’t like the name. “What if we don’t get the first place? Then it becomes ironic.”
Xiao Can was at a loss, so after pondering for a moment, he proposed, “How about calling it Charlie?”
He Xingzhou raised an eyebrow slightly.
“One word is too short, let’s embellish it a bit,” Xiao Can raised a finger, “We can call it ‘Prince Charlie’ team.”
“…,”
“How about that?” Xiao Can looked at him eagerly.
“It’s awkward,” He Xingzhou said.
Xiao Can squinted.
“…but it’s not impossible,” He Xingzhou corrected himself.
“Time’s up!” the host announced, “Let’s hear the team names!”
So everyone announced their team names in order.
The first team was the “Charge Charge Charge” team with the host, and the second team was called the “I Definitely Will” team.
Tan Zhen and Yumi, number three, came up with a homophonic name for their team, calling it the “Having You is Great” team.
Finally, it was Xiao Can and He Xingzhou’s turn. Xiao Can started to speak before realizing that saying this name felt embarrassing.
“Prince Charlie? Why Charlie?” someone nearby asked.
“My bird’s name is Charlie,” He Xingzhou explained succinctly.
Xiao Can hurriedly added, “He has a pet parrot named Charlie, a cute little prince! I’m a fan of Charlie!”
“A parrot?” Others were surprised and curious.
“Super cute,” Xiao Can enthusiastically introduced, “It can sing and dance, very smart!” He looked at He Xingzhou and asked, “Has Charlie learned to play the claw machine yet?”
“He can play the claw machine!” Many people were amazed.
He Xingzhou’s smile faded slightly. He cleared his throat and replied, “Almost.”
It seemed that the teaching situation wasn’t very optimistic.
“Anyway, that’s it!” Xiao Can quickly changed the subject, raised his hands in front of the camera and made two V signs, “We are the Prince Charlie team!”
“Okay, the four teams are assembled, and we will now enter the first challenge!” the host announced.
“What is it?” his teammate asked.
“I don’t know either!” The host pointed to the table just brought by the staff, “The mission cards are over there! Let our Ambassador of Warmth take a look for us!”
The table was filled with what seemed more like a mission book than individual cards.
Xiao Can picked it up and flipped to the first page, reading, “This is a relay race. Two teammates stand on opposite sides of the river. Teammate A has thirty seconds to memorize the team’s clearance code, then crosses the river and tells the code to teammate B. Teammate B then crosses the river again and tells the staff the clearance code. If the accuracy is above ninety percent, the challenge is successfully completed!”
Everyone nodded after hearing it, saying, “It’s quite simple!”
The river was right behind them, and they could see a track made of foam boards in the middle, about six or seven meters long. The foam board was quite wide, secured by two ropes. It might sway a bit when walking on it, but it seemed stable enough, with no significant danger.
Taller people could probably run across it in just two or three seconds, and short-term memory wouldn’t be a challenge for anyone in that short time.
“There’s more!” Xiao Can flipped to the next page, “Note 1: When crossing the river, players need to hold a cup of ‘Multi-Flavored Peach Ice Melody Drink’. After two crossings, the remaining amount should be above fifty percent to qualify.”
“With such a short distance, I can still have half a cup left after finishing, easy!” the temporary host boasted.
Xiao Can turned another page, “Note 2: When crossing the river, for every grid passed, players need to answer an arithmetic question.”
After this sentence, everyone finally realized the challenge’s difficulty.
Answering arithmetic questions while memorizing the code required brainpower, and carrying the drink while maintaining balance was another challenge. Doing both simultaneously was quite strenuous.
But that wasn’t all.
Xiao Can turned the page again, “Note 3: During the challenge, the other three teams cannot have physical contact with opponents but can freely interact with the floating bridge.”
In other words, they could freely shake the floating board, shout, and create chaos.
Now, it seemed even harder to remember the code, let alone crossing the river.
“What is this? Does the staff not intend for us to pass?” Yumi protested loudly, “Not giving us face is one thing, but not even giving face to our Ambassador of Warmth?”
Xiao Can smiled helplessly and turned to the last page, saying, “Everyone, do you have confidence?!”
The responses were sparse.
Under the book was a line: Order not limited, free choice allowed.
So he put down the book and asked, “Who’s willing to take on the challenge first?”
While asking, he secretly felt relieved that he was the one reading it; not responding immediately wouldn’t make him look cowardly.
But as soon as he finished speaking, someone raised their hand, “Prince Charlie’s team, we’ll take the challenge!”
Xiao Can immediately turned his head and saw He Xingzhou looking calm and composed.
“Let’s go first and pave the way for everyone,” he said.
There was a wave of applause from the crowd, except Xiao Can felt as if his heart had turned to ashes.
Teaming up with He Xingzhou was indeed not a good thing. He turned to look at Tan Zhen, who was hiding, and saw him shyly dodging away.
He Xingzhou quickly got ready. He picked up the drink brought by the staff and drank it in one gulp, then handed the cup back, “Another one.”
The staff member was speechless, and the temporary host took the opportunity to interject, “No one can resist the Multi-Flavored Peach Ice Melody Drink! I’ll have one too later!”
Xiao Can sighed inwardly and followed the staff to the other side of the river.
They weren’t far away, and they could see everything clearly on the other side.
He Xingzhou held the cup and looked down at the clearance code he had drawn, frowning.
Xiao Can felt somewhat uneasy, fearing that the code might be too complicated, and he might appear a bit foolish if he couldn’t remember it later. His image in the fans’ minds had always been that of a very clever person.
He Xingzhou put down the card, and immediately the others crowded around the edge of the floating board, trying to create difficulty for him.
Seeing this, Xiao Can quickly shouted, “Mr. He just injured his shoulder! He had surgery! Be careful with him!”
“It’s okay!” Tan Zhen shouted back, “The doctor said it’s not a big deal!”
Xiao Can was speechless.
He gestured helplessly to Tan Zhen, wondering if he really had a grudge against him.
Tan Zhen smiled awkwardly, then blew him a kiss.
He Xingzhou, on the other hand, ignored all the commotion, remained serious-faced, and kept murmuring something, most likely reinforcing the memorization of the code.
When the whistle blew, he immediately stepped onto the first floating board.
The staff on the other side immediately raised a sign with an arithmetic question.
Xiao Can looked at it and felt slightly relieved that the question wasn’t too difficult.
The ropes of the floating boards were tied tightly, and although they were shaken significantly by others, the swaying was limited. Some water spilled from He Xingzhou’s cup, but he quickly stabilized it.
He bent down, spread his legs apart, lowered his center of gravity, and quickly answered, “59.”
The staff shook the bell to signal it was correct, and He Xingzhou quickly jumped onto the second floating board.
The entire process afterwards was thrilling.
The staff were deliberately slow in posing questions, clearly intending to prolong the time spent on the bridge. Xiao Can watched nervously as He Xingzhou encountered frequent dangers on the floating board, urging him anxiously.
When He Xingzhou finally managed to cross smoothly, almost half of the drink in his cup had spilled, leaving him just one step away from being eliminated.
Without time to complain, Xiao Can took the cup from him and was about to ask for the code when He Xingzhou grabbed his wrist.
With a serious expression and sharp eyes, He Xingzhou uttered firmly, “I love you.”
Xiao Can was instantly stunned, staring at him with his mouth open, blanking out completely.
“…My mother, you are the haven of my soul, the harbor in my dreams. No poem can compare… compare to the wrinkles at the corners of your eyes and… and…”
“…”
“…and the white hair by your temples!” He Xingzhou tightened his grip on Xiao Can’s hand, “Quick! Repeat it!”
Only then did Xiao Can snap out of it, stuttering, “I… I… I… I love you?”
