Xiao Can didn’t know what to say anymore.
Everything was a mess.
“Wait, have they broken up by now?” Mu Nianwen asked.
Xiao Can hesitated for a moment before answering, “More or less.”
Obviously, Tan Zhen exaggerated during the interview to set the stage for their breakup, and incidentally to help Xiao Can distance himself from it.
Knowing that Xiao Can had been marked by He Xingzhou, Tan Zhen didn’t want to maintain a relationship with him anymore. So, he took a risk and exaggerated what happened the day before as a hint.
He probably told He Xingzhou in advance to prevent him from blurting things out when he saw it.
After thinking for a while, Xiao Can replied to He Xingzhou.
—”Why do you think it’s inappropriate?”
Actually, Xiao Can also felt that talking about these private matters in the show would seem too contrived, but based on He Xingzhou’s usual logic, he probably didn’t realize this.
He Xingzhou didn’t reply, and Mu Nianwen sighed in front of the screen. “Prince Charlie, only you could come up with this! Wait, you’ve met his parrot, does that mean you’ve been to his house?”
“I went to visit him when he was sick. The teacher from the recording studio went with me,” Xiao Can justified. “He hurt his shoulder at the time. I didn’t want to go, it was completely out of necessity.”
The two of them settled on a team name in the program, and the camera switched to Xiao Can’s interview footage.
“There’s no pressure being on a team with Mr. He, I don’t know why everyone thinks he’s difficult to get along with. On the contrary, because we know each other, it feels quite relaxed!”
After a while, a new message arrived.
—”Hypocritical.”
Xiao Can narrowed his eyes.
What else could he do? He couldn’t honestly tell the audience “This grouping is simply speechless,” “Teaming up with He Xingzhou is simply asking for trouble,” “Can we please get rid of this lunatic?”
He replied resentfully.
—”It’s enough to know you’re annoying.”
After sending it, he suddenly realized that He Xingzhou seemed to have avoided his previous question.
So Xiao Can quoted his previous message to follow up.
—”What exactly is inappropriate?”
The show continued, mostly focusing on the content of other teams. When it was Qin-ge’s turn, the program cut to an interview segment with him.
“I initially wanted to team up with Xiao Can, but I got chosen before it was his turn. This kid looks smart, and he’s polite. I quite like him.”
“Oh,” Mu Nianwen laughed, “You’re quite popular!”
Xiao Can smiled and quickly edited a message.
“Do you have so much to talk about with He Xingzhou?” Mu Nianwen asked.
“Who’s talking to him,” Xiao Can said, “I’m messaging Qin-ge.”
Since the senior took the initiative to publicly praise him, he naturally had to express his gratitude promptly. In his message to Qin-ge, he expressed his surprise at being mentioned, and his hope for future opportunities to team up.
After carefully crafting the message, he sent it and looked at the dialogue box, but it was from He Xingzhou.
Xiao Can quickly retracted it.
He secretly prayed that He Xingzhou hadn’t seen it, but unfortunately, things didn’t go as he wished.
He Xingzhou replied promptly.
—”You sure know how to sweet talk, lips as sweet as honey.”
Xiao Can felt ashamed and embarrassed, ignoring him, and quickly edited the message again to send it to Qin-ge.
The two exchanged polite messages, and the program moved on to the first game segment.
Seeing He Xingzhou volunteering eagerly, Mu Nianwen commented, “He looks so eager to show off.”
“He wouldn’t have such thoughts,” Xiao Can chuckled, “You can’t analyze him with normal logic.”
Mu Nianwen glanced at him, “That’s hard to say.”
“You’re really sarcastic today!” Xiao Can criticized him.
“This is the result of my restraint,” Mu Nianwen said, “If I don’t mock you, I’ll end up cursing at you.”
Xiao Can obediently closed his mouth.
In Mu Nianwen’s eyes, He Xingzhou wasn’t a good guy, and Mu Nianwen also misunderstood Xiao Can’s feelings for He Xingzhou. This was making Xiao Can frustrated and confused.
He needed to coax him.
Mu Nianwen picked up a bag of chips, opened it, and started munching away.
“I want some too,” Xiao Can reached out.
Mu Nianwen dodged. “Nope.”
“What’s wrong?” Xiao Can leaned over, using a softer tone to coax him, “Am I not your dearest anymore?”
“Can’t afford it,” Mu Nianwen continued commenting on the program content, “Wow, this password is so awkward! It’s so long, who can remember it!”
“Yeah…” Xiao Can muttered.
“Did you remember it?” Mu Nianwen asked.
As soon as he finished speaking, Xiao Can plopped into the water with a splash.
Mu Nianwen burst into laughter on the spot and was about to tease him again when the camera switched to He Xingzhou.
He Xingzhou had a surprised look on his face, then without hesitation, he took two steps forward and leaped into the water.
“Oh my god!” Mu Nianwen shouted.
At the time of the incident, Xiao Can was busy flailing around in the water and didn’t notice He Xingzhou’s actions. Now, watching the whole process from a bystander’s perspective, he finally realized how exaggerated He Xingzhou’s reaction was at the time.
Immediately after, a close-up shot of Tan Zhen was unexpectedly inserted.
Tan Zhen was originally squatting at the edge of the floating board. When Xiao Can fell into the water, he immediately stood up. At the moment when He Xingzhou jumped into the water, his eyes widened in surprise, and he covered his mouth with his hands in astonishment.
Then, he blinked a few times, his lips curved into a smile.
He chuckled while rubbing his hands together in front of him.
“Is he laughing?” Mu Nianwen was puzzled. “Why?”
Xiao Can felt extremely embarrassed.
How could he explain this? This person has a completely opposite attitude towards me and He Xingzhou.
In simple terms, he’s smitten.
“This person is so strange,” Mu Nianwen frowned. “Both of them are so weird!”
Xiao Can thought to himself, indeed.
But he still tried to defend Tan Zhen: “At this point, their relationship was already… broken…”
At this moment, another message from He Xingzhou came.
—”Strange, why didn’t they show my interview here?”
Xiao Can thought, it must be because you said something weird again.
—”What did you say?” Xiao Can asked.
He Xingzhou’s reply did not disappoint him.
—”Except for us, the passcodes for the other groups were all very short. It’s unfair.”
Ten minutes later, this conversation appeared in the program as expected.
At that time, each group received their own rewards. He Xingzhou looked at Xiao Can with a smile as he held the puzzle pieces, and the scene switched to his interview segment.
He Xingzhou complained in frustration for a while, then asked the director if they could give them an extra puzzle piece. Ignored, he sighed and said with a grievance, “So stingy.”
The director retorted, “But you didn’t pass the level either, Xiao Can fell into the water.”
Upon hearing this, He Xingzhou unexpectedly laughed. His originally sharp eyes narrowed, and then he seemed to want to say something, but in the end, he just shook his head lightly.
“…What the heck,” Mu Nianwen muttered with a furrowed brow. “Why do I feel like I’m watching a romantic variety show?”
“Don’t talk nonsense,” Xiao Can was nervous. “I’ll be criticized to death!”
“It’s not that,” Mu Nianwen said, “From my perspective as a viewer, you seem quite innocent. It feels like you’re being played by these two big babies the whole time.”
Xiao Can tilted his head, “Is that so?”
Mu Nianwen was right.
This episode only covered the events of the first day, and the second half would be broadcast next week.
After watching it, Xiao Can mustered up the courage to search online for reviews and was surprised to find that the public opinion was completely different from what he had expected.
He thought that due to the previous incident, he might be seen as a meddling third party, and he also worried that there were several instances during the recording where he inadvertently revealed his true nature in front of He Xingzhou, which might lead to criticism of him being two-faced.
However, he never expected that when these two aspects were combined, the audience would perceive a completely different message.
Tan Zhen aired his grievances with his boyfriend on the show, which was truly inappropriate, and poor Xiao Can was forced to cover for him. This person had such a good temper but was driven to lose control several times by He Xingzhou. It was really pitiful. Whoever befriended such a person would be unlucky. Xiao Can was truly a victim.
He Xingzhou was even more outrageous. He ignored his partner’s unhappiness, made all sorts of greasy remarks to Xiao Can, who was obviously embarrassed but unaware, and even went so far as to flirt openly with a beautiful Omega. It was just too inappropriate.
There were also those who sympathized with Xiao Can’s displeasure, but the heat was not even close to that of the boneless duck feet.
The most lively topic related to the show on the hot search was: Is it worth breaking up over boneless duck feet?
Next was Xiao Can’s line to He Xingzhou: “Dare to speak, I’ll kill you.” It had just been aired, but there were already a large number of related memes.
“Weird,” Xiao Can was puzzled, “I was prepared to be scolded…”
“I probably know why,” Mu Nianwen said, “Don’t underestimate your face, especially in high-definition dynamic shots. Most people subconsciously tend to be forgiving toward beautiful people.”
Xiao Can was surprised for a moment, then started pretending to be pitiful, “But you’re being so cold to me today.”
“I’m immune,” Mu Nianwen said, “This trick doesn’t work on me. You’d better go coax He Xingzhou, he seems to fall for it.”
“Who’s going to coax him,” Xiao Can said, “I’m not that bad at judging people. If it weren’t to wash off the mark, I wouldn’t even bother with him.”
Mu Nianwen pursed his lips, “You better be telling the truth.”
Tan Zhen was being criticized quite harshly.
Most people understood his anger at being cheated out of the duck feet, but bringing that emotion into work was definitely not appropriate, and even worse, dragging down his friend.
Although it was all self-inflicted, Tan Zhen couldn’t help feeling low. Xiao Can understood his intentions and comforted him for a while.
“Forget it, I deserve it,” Tan Zhen sighed on the other end of the phone, “Compared to picking my toes at home in the past, I’m still better off now.”
Xiao Can didn’t know what else to say, promising to accompany him for a meal to relax when he had time in a few days.
Meanwhile, the other person who was being heavily criticized seemed to be in a good mood.
Before the broadcast, as the guest of honor, He Xingzhou also reposted the program-related promotional Weibo.
Now, the comments section was full of jokes and mockery. Some people used harsh words and launched personal attacks on him, and he replied with a picture he stole from somewhere.
In the picture, Xiao Can’s face was photoshopped to have a fierce expression, holding a radish knife in his hand, with three big characters below: “I’ll kill you!”
The edited effect of the later part of the program was like this:
He Xingzhou’s smiling and affectionate eyes VS Xiao Can’s embarrassed and twitching expression
He Xingzhou was really happy, waiting for someone to scold him so he could send out the newly collected memes.
