Author: Vanilla Muse

As chosen by reader vote, today’s bonus update goes to TAPAE! ^-^

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Chapter 97 – Gender Announcement (32.1)

After the punishment and the scene ended, Xiang Xi was still gasping for breath. The pressure of the scene just now should not be too strong, [but] he was almost beaten by Qiu Jin.

Shan Wen, who has won the Film Emperor award before, was the most sensitive and astute. In such an informal performance just now, he was still able to accurately detect all the subtle changes in Qiu Jin’s eyes.

Shan Wen opened his mouth to ask Qiu Jin about the details of his performance just now, but Qiu Jin didn’t try to keep anything secret, and even turned around to discuss his acting experience with him.

Geng Leyue was still shouting “liar” and saying that they couldn’t muddle through a punishment like this, but no one was paying him any attention anymore.

Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.

Xiang Xi looked back at Qiu Jin amid the clamor, and found that the young man had a straight back and a warm smile. Even when discussing acting with a veteran actor like Shan Wen, he was able to do it skillfully and easily. This was a complete one-eighty from his previous image.

There was no longer a place for Xiang Xi in Qiu Jin’s heart.

Although Xiang Xi knew that he shouldn’t have this kind of emotion, he still felt a little upset.

In addition to this, he also developed an emotion similar to fear.

He was not an empty vase. The directors who have worked with him all say that he has solid acting skills and that he was serious when it came to filming. He was a rare good seedling. Even if he took the niche route now, he would definitely transform into a powerful actor in the future.

“The Rise and Fall of the World” was the most important drama that he was going to act in this year. When he heard that Qiu Jin would be playing the main supporting role of Ji He, he naively hoped that the other party would not pester him, but now…

After seeing Qiu Jin’s performance with his own eyes, Xiang Xi suddenly felt a sense of crisis in his heart, followed by a strong fighting spirit. He must not be suppressed by Qiu Jin.

“Hey, you didn’t receive a shock just now, did you?” Although Geng Leyue was not in the entertainment industry, he could still see that Qiu Jin’s performance was much more natural than Xiang Xi’s just now. Of course, there was also the possibility that Qiu Jin had secretly practiced in private in order to deliberately surprise Xiang Xi at such a time.

“No.” Xiang Xi shook his head, but he didn’t say a word after sitting down, and his brows were furrowed.

The game continued on.

The evening meal was coming to an end. Just as they were about to disperse, a text message bell suddenly sounded.

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Qiu Jin’s movements suddenly stopped for a moment, Ji Shenxiao noticed this, stretched out his long hand, and accurately picked out the correct mobile phone before Geng Leyue could.

Ji Qisheng’s eyes lit up: “Whose is this? Whose is this?”

Hearing the familiar text message sound, Qiu Jin replied, “It should be mine.”

He didn’t have anything that other people could not know about.

After waiting all night, Qiu Jin’s phone finally sounded! Ji Qisheng was even more excited, and hurriedly urged Ji Shenxiao to read out the content.

However, after Ji Shenxiao saw the content of the message, his action of handing over the phone suddenly stopped. With a flip of his hand, he reverted his action and pressed the phone down to the table instead.

“Not reading it [out loud]. I will accept the punishment.”

“It’s Qiu Jin’s cell phone. Why are you accepting the punishment?” Geng Leyue was not happy. He reached out, wanting to grab the mobile phone, but how could he beat the tall and strong Ji Shenxiao? He was soon sent away like a kite with a broken string.

Qiu Jin was also a little surprised, and looked at Ji Shenxiao doubtfully: “It’s probably nothing, right? You can read it.”

Ji Shenxiao didn’t look at him, but just repeated: “I’m willing to accept punishment.”

Geng Leyue was a little unhappy, but still handed over the small box: “Then you can draw it yourself.”

It was a familiar cardboard box. Ji Shenxiao took a slip of paper and opened it expressionlessly. Two seconds later, he closed it expressionlessly and threw it back in.

Ji Qisheng shouted: “Brother, how can you be so shameless*?!”

[*T/N: specifically, to refuse to acknowledge that one has lost the game, or made a promise]

Geng Leyue quickly grabbed the slip of paper, opened it, and read it. His face darkened. Then he repeated Ji Shenxiao’s actions, planning to throw the slip of paper back into the cardboard box.

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As chosen by patreon vote, today’s bonus update goes to TAPAE, enjoy!

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Chapter 96 – Punishment Game

Who didn’t know that Xiang Xi’s hostility towards Qiu Jin ran bone deep? Although they did not have any clashes during the variety show, they usually had very little contact. For Xiang Xi to have to say I love you to Qiu Jin must be very nauseating for him.

What was worse was that Xiang Xi had written this punishment himself.

Xiang Xi felt like he had sunk into some sort of calamity.

Qiu Jin didn’t feel anything in particular, and he didn’t have any expectations. He just said lightly, “How about we change to a different one?”

Xiang Xi abruptly raised his head. The expression on his face was cool, but on the inside his mind was a mess.

What did Qiu Jin mean by that? Could it be that he was doing it for Xiang Xi’s sake? But who asked that person to pretend to think for his sake?

Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.

Xiang Xi’s expression fell. He was about to agree to Qiu Jin’s proposal when Geng Leyue said breezily, “This is the punishment that he chose before, so why can’t he do it now? How about we look at his cell phone instead?”

“Who says I can’t do it?!” Xiang Xi’s expression darkened. “One minute, right? Time it for me!”

“All right,” Geng Leyue fished out his cell phone. He had a face of anticipation for the show that was about to happen. “Starting now. If you laugh or look away, then we will add ten seconds.”

Qiu Jin asked Xiang Xi, “You really want to do it?”

Xiang Xi frowned once again: “I dare to do it. Are you saying you’re not happy about it?”

“How could I not be?” Qiu Jin let out a smile. “Let’s do it then. It’s just one minute.”

After saying this, Qiu Jin stopped moving and just kept looking at Xiang Xi with the same sloppy gaze as before.

The look in his eyes was different from the longing and lustful gaze of before. This time, Qiu Jin’s eyes did not have even the slightest bit of lust.

He was like an older brother playing along with a younger sibling who was acting coquettish. There was a bit of helpless exasperation and a bit of teasing in his demeanor. His pitch-black eyes reflected the warm artificial yellow light and were full of laziness, indicating that he could care less about what was happening.

But this kind of heedless attitude exuded a different kind of charm.

Xiang Xi was in a trance for a moment. Then he suddenly remembered the incident when he was bullied at the beach. Qiu Jin was already like this back then. Occasionally he would show a bit of foolishness, but when things got serious he was very reliable and had a good sense of propriety.

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No, that’s not right. It was much earlier. When Xiang Xi unexpectedly entered estrus, the other party scrupulously abided by etiquette, and did not take a single step towards him.

When they had a chance encounter at the airport, the young man had said with sincerity that he would not bother him again in the future.

……

All the way up until now. Xiang Xi could finally be certain that Qiu Jin did not like him anymore.

This should obviously be something to be happy about, but there was an unspeakable depression in his heart. Especially now that Qiu Jin has become so dazzling…

No one knew what went on in Xiang Xi’s head, but his face turned red and he couldn’t help but look away from Qiu Jin.

Geng Leyue saw his mistake and immediately said, “An additional 10 seconds.”

Xiang Xi panicked for a moment, but soon returned to normal, and told himself to endure until the end.

Qiu Jin was not flustered like Xiang Xi was, and he even rolled his eyes and said with a smile, “Don’t be so nervous, how about a chat?”

After a moment of silence, Xiang Xi said slowly, “What do you want to talk about?”

Qiu Jin said: “How about we prepare in advance?”

Xiang Xi: “?”

He stared at Qiu Jin intently, and realized that the other party had actually memorized the lines for the script!

Xiang Xi immediately came to his senses. This was a scene in “The Rise and Fall of the World” where they acted opposite each other.

Xiang Xi’s role was the male lead, Ji Tongguang, and Qiu Jin’s role was Ji He, his younger brother. The male protagonist was upright and brave, and he was also full of brotherly love for Ji He. The character setting also had Ji He as being two years younger than him.

It was only a difference of two years and they were all young people, so almost no one paid attention to this kind of detail.

But Qiu Jin was different. The moment he said “Big Brother” to Xiang Xi, the look in his eyes changed. He even exuded a sense of immaturity, which he brought into the character perfectly.

How could a person change their age just by shifting their facial expression?

Xiang Xi had heard before that some great actors could transform themselves into teenagers without concealing their white hair and wrinkles, but Qiu Jin actually has this ability?

Translations by Vanilla Muse.

His mind was still a little confused, but he had already picked up the lines subconsciously.

Xiang Xi might not be reciting the lines exactly as they were in the script, but he was already very familiar with the plot, so the words he said were very close to the original and would not affect how the scene played out.

Everyone watched as the two of them looked at each other and rigidly acted for one minute.

In the end, Xiang Xi, who had already been brought into the plot, said “I love you” to Qiu Jin affectionately, marking a successful conclusion for this punishment.

Everyone: “???”

Motherf*cker. Could this still be counted as punishment?

How about we set up a stage for you guys to act out a play, huh?

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Chapter 95 – Punishment Game

On Xiang Xi’s mobile phone were two Weibo accounts, a normal version and an international version. The international version contained two of his alternative accounts. In one of those accounts, he pretended to be a fan of himself and used it to argue against moronic haters. The other account was composed of a string of strange letters, and he used it specifically for reading doujin or fan fiction.

Why did Xiang Xi want to read fan fiction? Well, it all started with the headache-inducing Qiu Jin.

In the past, the impression that Qiu Jin gave him was definitely not good. He was a stalker with no sense of propriety, and he kept harassing Xiang Xi. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Qiu Jin had sexually harassed Xiang Xi. During the period of time when Xiang Xi hated Qiu Jin the most, he would go so far as to fantasize about Qiu Jin being suppressed by countless alphas.

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Xiang Xi thought that he was the only one who was so perverted, but apparently some netizens have the same passion as him. Once he clicked into a haters forum for Qiu Jin and he was immediately captivated by a story that talked about Qiu Jin turning into an omega.

The length of the story was not long, but the writer straight up changed Qiu Jin’s gender. He was slutty and there were all kinds of X*. Xiang Xi knew that this was not good, but it was so refreshing to read! To see someone who normally harassed him on the daily ending up like this was simply way too invigorating!

[*T/N: The author does indeed write “X” in the text. It’s probably due to China’s censorship. I think we can all guess what it means. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ]

Why should he [Xiang Xi] be the only one that other people lusted after? If he became an alpha, let’s see who would dare to bully him!

They all had that organ*. No matter how much of an omega a man was, he would still have the desire to top** another.

[*T/N: Pretty sure the author is referring to the penis.]

[**T/N: The word used here is “gong,” which means “to attack” or in the BL sense it means to be the one on top. It’s the same gong in “gong and shou” or “seme and uke.”]

Xiang Xi had even once paid for a fan fiction that featured him as the alpha and Qiu Jin as the omega. In the story he tied Qiu Jin up and ruthlessly bullied the other man so badly that he cried. Who told you to ride roughshod over me, now do you see how awesome I am?

Of course, those were just a small number of his dark thoughts. In most cases, he was still a normal person and would not bring those thoughts into reality.

Moreover, Qiu Jin changed later on, and Xiang Xi also began to slowly accept the other person. After that, he no longer entertained those kinds of dark thoughts. However, his habit of reading smut has remained, and he has relied on these fantasies to tide him over during the difficult times of his heat.

Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.

What’s more, he has been a virgin for more than twenty years, and he has never flouted the law. So what if he read a bit of porn?

Although he didn’t think there was anything wrong with him, in the current public opinion environment, he would never admit it. Even in death, he would not say it. Although the variety show most likely wouldn’t broadcast these clips, he couldn’t take the risk.

“If you want to take a punishment, that’s fine too.” Geng Leyue was sitting on the court in this round. He handed over the small box filled with scraps of paper. “Then choose. What kind of risk will you pick?”

These were the punishments that they had written down before the start of the game. At that time, no one thought that bad luck would come to them, so Xiang Xi did not hold back at all and he went overboard. He wrote things like “kiss the second person on your left on any one of their five sense organs* and also hug them tightly for thirty seconds,” “look at the person across from you for a minute and say I love you,” and “fart at the entire group and say isn’t that fragrant?”

[*T/N: the five sense organs according to traditional Chinese medicine = nose, eyes, lips, tongue, ears]

Xiang Xi put his hand in the cardboard box and kept rummaging through the slips of paper. His face was very tense, as if there were some extremely dangerous or threatening things inside the box.

Xiang Xi chose very carefully. In the end, he pulled out a single slip of paper.

Everyone’s attention fell on the paper in his hand. Xiang Xi slowly opened up the piece of paper, and his expression suddenly changed, as if he just got sentenced to death.

Look at the person across from you for a minute and say I love you.

Translations by Vanilla Muse.

Xiang Xi raised his head and met Qiu Jin’s curious gaze.

Xiang Xi: “…”

I choose to die.

“What did you draw? Is it that scary?” Geng Leyue curiously pulled out the slip of paper in Xiang Xi’s hand. When he was able to clearly read the words on it, he burst into laughter and read out the words on the piece of paper very unsympathetically.

“We have to congratulate Qiu Jin. This is a hard-won gift. It says that Xiang Xi needs to look at the person opposite him for a minute and sincerely say I love you.”

As soon as Geng Leyue finished talking, everyone fell into a strange silence.

But at the same time, they kind of wanted to laugh.

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Chapter 94 – Punishment Game (31.1)

Ji Qisheng was someone who could not hide things. The management company wanted him to have a super cool character image, but he would always inadvertently reveal his foolishness. He posted on Moments* as if it were his personal diary. And he posted on Moments very, very frequently. After coming on to “Four Seasons Food” as a guest, he posted even more, without taking a single day off.

[*T/N: Moments is a social networking function of smartphone app WeChat]

On the first day.

QS: Qiu Jin caused trouble for me.

Group Member: What’s the matter?

QS: He clearly knows that I am trying to control my physique, but he deliberately made so many delicious foods to entice me.

Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.

Group Member: I suspect that you are showing off, but I have no proof.

On the second day.

QS: I need to control my physique… forget it, I can’t control myself, let’s eat first, and talk later. [Attached Picture: A sumptuous dinner]

Group Member: Come on, you’re messing with us in the middle of the night [by trying to tempt us to eat].

On the third day.

QS: Qiu-ge is the best! I will always be your loyal fan! [Attached Picture: Salt and pepper crab]

Group Member: …

They blocked him.

On the fourth day.

QS: I’m not leaving “Four Seasons Food.” I want to reject all my other jobs. I’m going to become a permanent guest of “Four Seasons Food!”

Manager: ???

If Ji Qisheng were to continue staying on Lanhou Island, he would probably end up posting on Moments everyday.

Bai Tang still had other work to tend to, so he packed up and left on the third day.

Using everything that he could, Ji Qisheng managed to stay on the program for another two days, but he still had other work to do, so the following day was the absolute limit of his stay.

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The day before he left, he put his arms around Qiu Jin’s shoulders and wept loudly: “Qiu-ge, what’s going to happen to you after I leave?”

Qiu Jin said with no conscience: “I’ll be good. I can cook a little less food.”

Ji Qisheng was furious: “Do you not have a conscience?!”

Qiu Jin said: “What is that, can I eat it?”

Ji Qisheng was so angry, yet there was nothing he could do about it. He angrily watched a movie by himself. Inspired by the plot of the movie, he pestered the others to play games with him.

The content of the game was very simple. Within an hour after dinner, everyone would put their mobile phones together. Then they would share every call and text message, and they would even have to explain the whole story [behind the calls and text messages].

This game was wicked and exciting, and it could also dig up a lot of private things. It perfectly reflected Ji Qisheng’s revenge mentality. He was dissatisfied with the fact that he was being forced to leave the program even though he had not eaten enough delicious foods yet.

Geng Leyue loved excitement and never minded when things got wild, so he naturally raised both his hands in agreement. Xiang Xi glanced over at Qiu Jin. No one knew what went through his head, but he actually agreed to play the game. Soon after, Shan Wen and Tan Yunting also entered the game. It was five against two. Thus, the matter was a foregone conclusion.

However, everyone was a public figure after all. Especially Ji Shenxiao. Who knew how many business secrets he had on his mobile phone. In order to protect their privacy, if the person in question really didn’t want to disclose something, they could choose to accept a punishment instead.

As for the type of punishment, of course it was as bold as they could make it. Everyone wrote down a type of punishment on a slip of paper and put it in a box. There were all sorts of weird and random punishments written.

Originally, the evening meal period could be counted as a pleasurable time, but because of this game, the atmosphere became heavy.

Everyone has secrets, and everyone was curious about other people’s secrets. Yet they did not want their own secrets to be dug up.

The first one to ring was Ji Qisheng’s phone.

Ji Qisheng jumped when his phone rang, but he was relieved when he saw the caller’s name. His manager had called and was persuading him to return to Beijing. He directly pressed the speaker button [to let everyone hear]. This time it could be considered more of a scare than a hurt.

Translations by Vanilla Muse.

Everyone continued to eat, but they almost never took their eyes off the mobile phones on the table, and they were absent-minded throughout the whole process, as if it was their turn to be publicly humiliated the next moment.

After another minute, two “ding dong” sounds rang out. It was a mobile phone software update reminder.

Everyone looked at each other, checked one side of the phone, and finally found out that it was Xiang Xi’s.

“?”

“What the f*ck?!”

Xiang Xi was stunned for a moment. Then his eyes widened suddenly and he reached out, wanting to grab the phone.

“Hey, obey the rules!” Geng Leyue immediately picked up the phone and stood on a chair.

Looking at the mobile phone hanging above his head, Xiang Xi was instantly annoyed to the max. He was just swiping through Weibo casually, but why didn’t he delete his browser history? Why was his wife suddenly prompting for an update when he has never had to update her for over eight hundred years?!

[T/N: Not sure if it’s clear enough, but his “wife” is his phone, and eight hundred years is an exaggeration.]

Xiang Xi swallowed, weighed the pros and cons, and said, “I accept the punishment.”

Geng Leyue said: “What is it? So secretive?”

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