CH 16

Chapter 16: After You

Surrounded by several cameras, Lu Chengan was still the first one to speak between the four of them.

“Che Shen, how do you guys plan on going there?” Lu Chengan was like an old fox, already hatching a plan.

Ling Che said flatly: “Call for a taxi.”

The two groups originally had the same amount of starting money, and they had 6,000 yuan left after paying for the plane tickets. However, Lu Chengan and Mi Fei lost 340 yuan on the plane. Now the ones ahead were Ling Che and Xu Tangzhou, so they could use that money to pay for a taxi.

Lu Ghengan said: “Che Shen, that’s not a good idea. If you two call for a taxi, then we will also have to do the same. As a result, when we arrive at the destination, we still have to fight and the result would be the same. Why don’t we all take a bus? What if we first use the most economical method to get there, and then we fight at the destination?

Mu Fei and Lu Chengan clasped their hands together and snuggled up next to each other. They looked earnestly toward Xu Tangzhou.

Xu Tangzhou: “???”

Couldn’t they see that it was Ling Che making the decisions?

Who would’ve thought that Ling Che also looked at him: “Zaizai, what do you think?”

Before getting off the plane, everyone changed into summer clothing.

The destination was located in the tropics, and the temperature in February was over 30 degrees Celcius.* But upon leaving the airport for a single moment, everyone was caught off guard by the sweltering heat and began to sweat.

TN: 30 degrees C = 86 degrees F = 303 Kelvin (For all you chem nerds)

Only Xu Tangzhou wasn’t affected much by the heat. He still looked clean and cool.

He wore a white T-shirt and shorts. His calf was thin and long, and his exposed skin was very fair. Since he was the tall and slender but not sweet type, everyone hadn’t realized until this moment: Xu Tangzhou was indeed an Omega.

Xu Tangzhou, who was suddenly given the final say, felt it was a little unfamiliar. He thought for a bit and then said: “Sure. This way, everyone could save money and there’s no need to do anything extra.”

Arriving at the destination together was good. At least they wouldn’t need to compete on the road.

“Then it’s decided.” Lu Chengan stretched out his hand.

“It’s decided.” Ling Che only bumped it with his fist.

“Yeah!” Mi Fei quietly cheered and looked around, “There’s a bus stop over there!”

The pedestrians curiously stared at their group, and there were even some people who backtracked to glance at Ling Che again.

Ling Che had no choice but to put on his hat. He slightly lowered his head and urged: “Let’s go.”

After the official announcement of [Our Perfect Trip], the exact recording time wasn’t officially announced, but there were still the crazy fans who would stake out the area in advance. The recording cameras following them were very large, and the originally spacious bus stop was mostly occupied by them. As expected, there were already some Asian faces holding up cameras to take pictures of them.

When the bus came, Lu Chengan was the first one to get onto the bus, and he elegantly pulled Mi Fei on as well. Their following cameraman went behind them as the assistant politely told the driver that they were recording and asked for permission.

They had just exchanged their currency for karupees at the airport. Xu Tangzhou’s bag was bulging full. He looked downwards while scouring his bag for coins while getting on the bus.

The height of this bus was different from the busses in China. Xu Tangzhou subconsciously lifted his foot, but he almost stepped into the air: “Ah!”

Instantly, his waist was held by the person behind him.

That pair of hands was very stable and held him firmly, seemingly burning through a layer of clothing onto his waist -- it was Ling Che’s hands.

Ling Che casually let go: “First get on and then look.”

Xu Tangzhou acted according to his words and got on the bus. Even after tossing the coins in, his face was still hot: “Got it.”

The bus was very empty. Lu Chengan’s group sat on one side, and Xu Tangzhou went to the other side. When the car started up, a gust of the sea breeze entered inside. The breeze slightly lifted Xu Tangzhou’s T-shirt, and his thin waist was vaguely visible.

“It’s so pretty.” Xu Tangzhou chose a seat by the window. He said “Look outside.” to Ling Che, who had taken the initiative to sit down next to him.

Ling Che was too tall, and his legs were unable to extend in front of the seat, forcing him to sit diagonally with his legs stretched out across the aisle. Upon hearing Ling Che respond with an “En”, Xu Tangzhou didn’t know what he was thinking about. However, he seemed to always be in a bad mood.

Xu Tangzhou suddenly remembered that Mi Fei had said Ling Che liked to go on vacations to the seaside. He must’ve been accustomed to this sight, nothing would seem new to him.

Next to Xu Tangzhou, Mi Fei was chattering away with Lu Chengan. The scenery outside the window made him a bit excited.

Mi Fei was talking when he suddenly turned around and said: “Che Shen, I remember one of your songs!”

Ling Che hadn’t said anything when Xu Tangzhou had finished the sentence: “[After You]! Right?”

“Right! It has the feeling of being heartbroken by the seaside!” Mi Fei sang softly, “...The sea breeze and the fine sand are still the same, and the strip of the beach still retains the scene of happy clamor. You said the rising tide would change the shape of the island like a heart embraced by gentleness…”*

TN: 19:38 of Season 1 episode 4 for Yangzai singing! (even tho it was indeed slightly out of tune XD)

Mi Fei didn’t sing with much technique, but his voice sounded very clean and surprisingly pleasant. Even Xu Tangzhou was immersed in the melody.

Ling Che interrupted him: “Stop singing.”

Mi Fei abruptly stopped: “Why?”

Ling Che said succinctly and bluntly: “Out of tune.”

Mi Fei let out a “hmph” and turned around to complain to Lu Chengan, saying that Ling Che was bullying him.

Xu Tangzhou wanted to tell Ling Che that Mi Fei hadn’t gone out of tune, when Ling Che quietly told him: “Don’t think too much, this song has nothing to do with you.”

Xu Tangzhou also felt that it had nothing to do with him. It wasn’t he who would be hated after telling other people they went out of tune.

He absentmindedly nodded his head: “En.”

TN: This is what they call “a chicken talking to a duck”

“As long as you understand.” Ling Che looked at him with an indescribable look. After a pause, he spoke, “At the next stop, get ready.”

Xu Tangzhou: “Get ready for what?”

Ling Che ignored him.

The swaying bus arrived at the next stop.

Both the front and back doors opened at the same time. While passengers were entering from the front, Ling Che said: “Get off.”

Xu Tangzhou suddenly understood what he meant!

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. When they grabbed their luggage and jumped off, Momo and the cameramen didn’t register what had happened as they barely got off too. Lu Chengan and the others couldn’t get off in time and began cursing in anger. Mi Fei looked on with disbelief.

Unfortunately, it was already too late. The bus carried them away further and further. Lu Chengan stuck his head out the window, but they couldn’t hear what curses he said.

“Ling Che you @#%%”

……

The angry voice faded away.

Xu Tangzhou held his stomach as he laughed while squatting on the ground for a long time: “Senior Lu was so angry his face became deformed hahaha!”

Ling Che didn’t speak.

He looked with contempt at the person who was squatting on the ground, going out of character.

When Xu Tangzhou raised his head, the rims of his eyes were wet with tears from laughter: “Mi Fei in disbelief, and Lu Chengan doubting life. The post-production team could use those words! They could clip their reactions and use them for a trailer hahaha!”

He even knew how to tell jokes.

Momo and the cameraman were trying their hardest to hold back their laughter.

Even the corners of Ling Che’s mouth couldn’t resist the upward tug, and a smile clearly appeared for a moment.

It was the first time Xu Tangzhou saw him smile like this. He suddenly felt strange, not knowing why his heart throbbed. His ears heated up. He really couldn’t endure Ling Che acting like this, it was too attractive. He thought, ‘Luckily I took my medication on time, otherwise, how could I endure it!’

But Ling Che only said arrogantly: “Are you done laughing? When you’ve laughed enough, then stand up and call for a taxi.”

They were even in front of the cameras. A star who doesn’t have an assistant dared to blatantly order others around.

Xu Tangzhou was only a little shrimp, how could he dare to refuse? So he just obediently stood by the side of the road to call for a taxi.

Ling Che sat on the suitcases without the slightest bit of intention to help.

“In this place, you need to raise your hand to call for a taxi.” Not only did Ling Che make him do work, but he also picked on him, “They can’t understand your gestures.”

“Then you teach me.” Xu Tangzhou learned to be clever. Ling Che wouldn’t dare to be fierce to him in front of the camera anyways, “Show me an example.”

Ling Che was too lazy to stand up, so he remained sitting on the suitcase and rolled over. He rudely raised Xu Tangzhou’s outstretched arm: “You don’t even know how to do radio exercises*?”

TN: In China, radio exercises are relatively light exercises that people do while listening to someone give off instructions. (Think warm-ups, but much more in sync with others)

The moment he was touched, Xu Tangzhou thought about that pair of hands that had held his waist. He didn’t dare to make any more trouble.

Xu Tangzhou stood straight.

The bus takes a route around the island, and its path intersects with the main roads.

At this time, the sky was completely dark, and the street lights turned on. They waited amidst the humid sea breeze for only five minutes before catching a taxi.

The taxi quickly overtook the plodding and swaying red bus that was in the outermost lane. A faint image of Lu Chengan and Mi Fei’s faces plastered against the window flicked across.

Relying on his cleverness (not keeping his word), Ling Che successfully brought Xu Tangzhou to be the first ones to arrive at the recording site.

*

When Lu Chengan arrived, he already regained some of his composure: “Anything is fair game. Che Shen, just you wait and see.”

Mi Fei was still in disbelief.

Forget about Ling Che, Xu Tangzhou seriously injured his feelings. He only somewhat returned to reality when they were choosing the rooms.

“Specially discounted rooms?!” Mi Fei was about to explode, “Why are there even special discount rooms?! What garbage show is this? Is there even any fairness?”

Of all the excellent houses prepared by the program group, this special discounted room was the most attractive.

It was a small and private wooden villa with two rooms. It was located near a coconut grove by the seaside. Aside from being a little distant from the convenience stores and other shops, there seem to be almost no disadvantages. The owner already cleaned everything up, and the only requirement was to take care of everything inside the villa.

Since the Lumi CP group arrived in second place, they could only choose after the Chezhou group, so they were unable to choose that house.

The remaining two choices for housing weren’t very good, which was different from what the program had claimed that the ‘guests would all have excellent quality rooms’. Between the remaining two rooms, one waived the water and electricity fee, while the other waived the rent fee.

Lu Chengan choose the one that waived the rent. When Mi Fei opened the envelope to take a peek, he discovered that the daily cost of their house was actually the same as the cost of the house given to the first place, even though the quality of these two houses was vastly different. Mi Fei regretfully kneeled with a plop, and grabbed a handful of sand: “It’s so cruel!!!”

Xu Tangzhou already got the key to the small wooden house, unable to resist saying: “Xiao Mi Ge, Think of the bright side… When one door closes, another door opens. There’s still Xia Yue Jiejie’s group who are worse off.”

Mi Fei wanted to cry: “Zhouzhou, you betrayed me!”

Xu Tangzhou quietly spoke: “I also had no choice. Look, it wasn’t me who was wrong, it’s the world that’s wrong.”

Ling Che coldly said: “Are you done acting?”

Xu Tangzhou stood up, instantly serious: “Almost.”

Mi Fei threw that handful of sand toward his legs. Xu Tangzhou quickly avoided it, but Ling Che was caught off guard and hit: “Xu Tangzhou? Whose side are you on?”

Xu Tangzhou quickly stated his position: “I’m on your side!!”

Ling Che’s eyes darkened.

Mi Fei was only joking, otherwise, he wouldn’t even throw sand toward anyone’s legs. Being stared at by Ling Che, he felt his heart speeding up at the thought of Ling Che becoming angry: “I was only joking with your family’s Zaizai. Sorry Che Shen……”

Unexpectedly, Ling Che smirked, bent over, grabbed a handful of sand, and threw it towards his legs.

“Ahhhh!” Mi Fei jumped up and ran, “You guys only know how to bully me!!”

Lu Chengan also joined in. The four people chased each other around, ending this segment amidst a flurry of emotions.

In the end, Ling Che dusted the sand off his hands and said a word: “Pointless.”

That night, the program group arranged for everyone to eat dinner together. Afterward, everyone retired to their own rooms.

It was time to return to their rooms and rest for the night. Momo and the cameramen went to rest, but they have installed cameras in each one of the guests’ rooms, except for the bathrooms.

Reality shows were like that. They would shoot as much of the guests’ lives as possible. After all, each and every second has a possibility of appearing on the broadcast as a highlight of the show.

For example, right at that moment Lu Chengan and Mi Fei were counting money in their room and calculating how much money they had left.

They didn’t show how much their rent was to Ling Che and Xu Tangzhou. In reality, even if they had exempted fees, they would still need to spend around 800 RMB per day. After adding the costs of food and daily necessities, they would have a difficult time afterward.

Lu Chengan kissed Mi Fei’s forehead: “It’s fine. At most, I’ll give my meal to you. I won’t let you starve.”

Mi Fei rushed over and plopped on his shoulder without a word.

On Xu Tangzhou and Ling Che’s side, they went back to their respective rooms to sort out their luggage with almost no communication.

But the program wasn’t disappointed: something had happened.

When Xu Tangzhou took out everything from the luggage and spread them out on the bed, he looked again, but still couldn’t find it.

The medication he was using to control his pheromone sensitivity was missing.

To be specific, his Mist pheromone blocker, choker, and gland patches were all missing. He didn’t seem to remember if he properly put back the bag carrying his personal belongings after it was searched back at the recording studio.

At this moment, he noticed the scent of his own pheromones.

TN: Chinese terms as pinyin in this chapter

“Ge” (older brother, could be used as a respectful address for male acquaintances)

“Jie” (older sister, could be used as a respectful address for female acquaintances as well)

“Shen” (literally: god, but mainly for a highly respected and revered figure)

"Zaizai" (Literally: child, but it's mainly used as a nickname for kids)

"Xiao" in front of names means little, but it's a way of addressing people you care about who are younger.

"en": Sound of agreement, kept in pinyin