CH 8

3 days later, all the official announcements of the guests of《Let’s Budget Travel!》had been released. The addition of Bo Ye unsurprisingly ignited a round of crazed discussion, pushing 《Budget Travel》to the first position on the hot search.

Riding on the good start, the recording of the programme officially began.

《Budget Travel》used a live shoot production format. This season consisted of a total of 6 episodes, requiring them to film at 6 locations. Each episode would take a week to record, and once the first episode has finished filming, it would be broadcasted the next weekend. Following this pattern, each episode would be aired on the weekend of the following week1. 

The recording period took up one and a half months; it was an onerous challenge, be it to the guests, or to the post-production staff.

Before leaving that weekend morning, no matter how Qi Yuji thought, she still felt uneasy, “Xingxing, let jiejie send you to the airport, okay?”

Qi Xingchen hesitated: “The filming starts at the airport.”

“Then I’ll just drop you off at the parking lot and you can go up by yourself,” Qi Yuji said pitifully, “If you don’t let me, since you’ll be gone for so long, jiejie will miss you.”

Qi Xingchen: “……Alright.”

He had no choice but to agree. He then went upstairs, kicked away the Supreme co-branded suitcase that Qi Yuji bought for him and swapped it for his own ordinary suitcase.

Previously in the acrobatic troupe, whenever he left for a show, he never brought a suitcase and would always settle everything with one backpack.

He didn’t wish to bring it this time either, it was Qi Yuji who feared that he would go hungry or cold and stuffed him with a pile of snacks and clothing, thus he was forced to replace it with this big guy.

He threw the suitcase into the trunk and opened the car door. He abruptly realised that not only Qi Yuji was in the backseat, but even Dad Qi was also in there!

“……Dad,” Qi Xingchen almost never used this address, holding back for quite a while before forcing out one line, “When did you come in?”

“When you were packing your things just now,” Dad Qi chose an extremely awkward excuse, “The airport is on the way to the company, I’m hitching a ride.”

Because of his rebellion, the original owner and his father were not very close. Hence, Qi Xingchen did not expose him, hopping into the car.

Throughout the entire journey, Qi Yuji kept enjoining Qi Xingchen to pay attention to this and pay attention to that. When they arrived at the airport, it was Dad Qi’s turn.

“Xingxing, Dad2 put some money in your card for travel expenses — don’t refuse yet,” Seeing Qi Xingchen’s expression change, Dad Qi hurriedly said, “Dad watched a few episodes of that show and know that they don’t allow you to spend your own money. But one should be frugal at home but have abundant funds while travelling3, even if you don’t spend it, just keep it on yourself, Dad can rest easier.”

A sixty-year-old man, researching on variety programmes specially for his son. Qi Xingchen bit his bottom lip, “En, okay.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, if you are aggrieved, tell us, Dad will bring you back home. Not like we cannot afford to feed you.”

“……I know,” Qi Xingchen took a deep breath, “Okay, it’s time for me to go.”

Dad Qi and Qi Yuji nodded in unison. Even the driver showed a reluctant look.

Qi Xingchen turned to leave, and he did not look back.

There were a total of 3 guests departing from H City, namely Bo Ye, the female protagonist of 《Peach in the Night》Tao Tao, and him. The programme team had already bought their tickets on their behalf for the trip, and the initial meeting place was at the VIP lounge.

Thinking about the impending contact with the female protagonist, Qi Xingchen could not help but furrow his brow. That was when a message was sent to his phone, 【RMB 5000000.00 yuan4 was transferred into your bank card5 ending with 9999, your current balance is at 7633254.21 yuan6. [Construction7 Bank]】

One, two, three …… six zeros, that’s five million. This was the “travel expenses” that Dad Qi was referring to?

Qi Xingchen sighed as he walked into the airport lounge, then swiftly stopped in his tracks.

It was the spring tourism off-season, there were not many travellers around, about a dozen scattered about.

But the moment he raised his head, it was as if he could not see anyone else, his line of sight drawn completely to the girl in the corner.

The girl was reading a book, wearing a white t-shirt with light-coloured jeans and her ponytail tied up high. Even if you couldn’t see her face with her head down, she was emitting a “she must be very beautiful” soft light from head to toe.

No, immediately afterwards, Qi Xingchen shook his head and all the hairs on his body stood on end!

This was not some “she must be very beautiful” soft light — this was the f*cking protagonist halo ah!

Qi Xingchen had seen this girl’s photograph before, she was evidently the female protagonist of 《Peach in the Night》, Tao Tao!

At this moment, the cameraman8 of the programme team noticed him coming in, shouldering the camera as he ran over, “Xingxing, say hello to everyone ba.”

“Hello everyone, I’m Qi Xingchen. It’s currently ten o’clock in the morning, have you guys had lunch yet?”

The following shot assistant sputtered: “Who eats lunch at this time?”

Qi Xingchen said, “If you don’t eat proactively, your thinking is faulty.”9

This warped logic of his amused the following shot assistant and the cameraman. Tao Tao seemed to have heard the commotion over here, placing down her book and raising her head.

Qi Xingchen felt as if he saw a gardenia quietly blooming; it was that pure, shy, and beautiful.

He had to say, the female protagonist’s halo was certainly powerful. Although Tao Tao’s looks were not gorgeous, it still made others feel like she was extremely good-looking.

“You must be Qi Xingchen, right?” Tao Tao placed down her book and walked over, speaking a little timidly, making her seem especially pitiful, “I am Tao Tao.”

“Just call me Xingxing,” Qi Xingchen maintained his smile, “Nice to meet you Tao Tao-jie.”

After greeting each other, the following shot assistant cued both of them to communicate their feelings.

Tao Tao, with this dainty white flower persona, was naturally not lively enough, so Qi Xingchen went to buy a few cups of coffee. After giving them out to the rest of the staff, he handed Tao Tao a cup: “Americano, no sugar added.”

“Thank you for being understanding,” Tao Tao’s eyes widened slightly as she spoke and was very sincere, “Just that I don’t gain weight no matter how much I eat, you don’t have to take special care of me.”

As expected of the protagonist’s halo, not growing fat no matter how much they ate. Qi Xingchen joked with her for a bit, then probed: “Being able to be on《Budget Travel》was such a surprise, I didn’t expect it at all.”

This position was originally Zhou Yu’s, but his appearance disrupted the plot, and he wondered if the female protagonist noticed.

“Who isn’t?” Tao Tao smiled, “I just said I wanted to rest for a bit lately, and then I was sent over here to experience life!”

Since this statement was not an affirmative answer, Qi Xingchen was not successful in his probing. The two chatted for a while longer, until clear and rhythmic cries sounded outside.

It was the cheering from Bo Ye’s fans. Seeing that Bo Ye had also arrived, the cameraman and following shot assistant promptly carried their equipment and ran out.

As the male and female protagonists were about to meet officially, a thin layer of sweat formed on Qi Xingchen’s palms. In the original text, Bo Ye who never looked at a woman for more than 3 seconds, would be so shocked by Tao Tao’s beauty and aura that he was stunned for 5 to 6 seconds.

Of course, at this stage, the female protagonist was just a flower vase that was “much more beautiful than other women” in the male protagonist’s heart. Afterwards, during the one and a half months of recording, the female protagonist would use her pure and kind charms to make the male protagonist see her in a completely new light1.

Qi Xingchen observed the female protagonist’s movements out of the corner of his eye. She did not seem to show any abnormal emotions at Bo Ye’s appearance, her head remained lowered to continue reading.

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Not long after, A-Lun and Bo Ye’s agent, Zhao Nuo, escorted Bo Ye in.

Bo Ye wore a dark blue denim jacket today, accentuating his shoulders and waistline to look more perfect. His hair was tidied a bit, wearing black square-framed sunglasses2, his neck and wrists were plain and clean without any additional accessories.

He leisurely took off his sunglasses, gaze falling onto Qi Xingchen.

He was going to see Tao Tao in the next moment. Qi Xingchen’s heart leapt into his throat at once.

In the end, Bo Ye did not look to his side. Instead, his line of sight moved down and landed on Qi Xingchen’s and Tao Tao’s coffee cups that were placed together.

Qi Xingchen: “……”

He felt so ill at ease by the female protagonist’s halo that when he bought coffee, he only bought them for the staff who were present at that time, forgetting about Bo Ye.

Such a dignified top-traffic celebrity probably wouldn’t have taken a coffee costing a few dozen yuan3 to heart, right?

Qi Xingchen stood up apprehensively. Only then did Tao Tao belatedly put down her book, standing up with him, “Have the other guests arrived?”

After saying that, the cameraman had already led Bo Ye in front of them. Tao Tao let out a “wow”, “It’s actually Bo Ye, what a surprise!”

Hearing her, Bo Ye said, “Hello.”

“I saw you perform at last year’s Starlight Awards4,” Tao Tao said, “You were especially handsome! Very impressive!”

Bo Ye: “You flatter me.”

Cameraman and following shot assistant: “……”

Why did the atmosphere seem a little awkward?

To tell the truth, this was also the reason why Bo Ye did not take up variety shows. With his haughty nature, interviews with him resulted in killed conversations despite best efforts5. On a variety show, it was predicted that he would either freeze the other guests to death from his coldness, or he would tire the director to death.

Tao Tao did not feel awkward though, and she remained all smiles while looking at him.

Bo Ye seemed to not have seen any great beauty, asking Qi Xingchen indifferently: “What time did you arrive?”

“……Just arrived not long ago.”

“En.”

Bo Ye responded with a sound, then together with A-Lun……

He just turned around and walked away.

The scene written in the original text did not play out.

Qi Xingchen fell into deep thought again.

When he found a good place to sit down, Bo Ye tilted his head slightly and found out that unexpectedly, no one followed behind him.

……Shouldn’t fans follow after their idols?

.

Ultimately, the official filming had not started yet, hence the 《Budget Travel》programme team were still humane and gave the guests their business class tickets.

Zhao Nuo, who was seated in the same row as Tao Tao and Qi Xingchen, explained very smoothly: “Our Bo Ye’s personality is just like that. With regards to the cold shoulder just now, I apologise.”

Tao Tao: “It’s okay. We’re not familiar with each other yet, it’s very normal.”

That’s right ah, in the future your love for each other would be like heavenly thunder stirring up the fire on Earth6. Qi Xingchen leaned sideways on the back of his seat, flipping through a magazine out of pure boredom.

Immediately afterwards, he felt the seat behind shake a bit.

Probably woken up by the voices, Bo Ye had turned over.

Qi Xingchen had a thought and peeked behind him through the gap on the side of the inner cabin wall7.

Both of Bo Ye’s arms were wrapped around his chest, with eyes closed, he was resting.

This was the first time Qi Xingchen personally witnessed his idol’s sleeping appearance…… How the h*ll does one still be so good-looking while sleeping, was he human?

He was obviously an angel ah!!!

With the mentality that looking at a 2D character was no different from looking at a photo, Qi Xingchen observed his fake idol without any mental burden.

He had a full forehead, high and fierce eyebrow arches, with a single tiny mole on the left side of his tall nose bridge that neutralised much of the sharpness of his features.

Night Skies were all fascinated to death by this mole, howling daily on Weibo 【AHHHH I really want to lick it!!!】

The author who wrote 《Peach in the Night》was no exception to this, once the female and male protagonists started dating, she really got to lick it.

Hiss — Not to mention, to be sneaking a look at the male protagonist while being right beside the female protagonist, was really a bit exciting.

Afraid of being discovered by the female protagonist, Qi Xingchen took one last look, far from feeling sated.

Just as he was about to retract his head, Bo Ye’s eyes which had been tightly closed all along, for some unknown reason, suddenly opened!

And they met Qi Xingchen’s eyes squarely!

Caught in the act of peeping, Qi Xingchen’s heart thumped. Wanting to draw back immediately, but also afraid of seeming to have a guilty conscience, he could only be stuck in position and ended up having a staring contest with Bo Ye.

A good while later, Bo Ye finally spoke. His voice carried some languidness from being just woken up: “Have you seen enough?”

Qi Xingchen: “……”

Bo Ye: “If you’ve seen enough go back and rest — or did you drink too much coffee just now and thus can’t sleep?”

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The author has something to say:

Qi Xingxing: Would a dignified top-traffic celebrity take a coffee costing a few dozen yuan to heart?

Bo Ye (firmly): I would!!