Chapter 10: The Brothers Who Fell into the Water

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After changing into fresh clothes, Gu Qing finally calmed his nerves.

“This is just a persona for a variety show. If I keep mistaking her friendliness for interest in me, wouldn’t I just be another ‘delusional guy’?”

Gu Qing warned himself.

Besides, during the recording, he had seen plenty of times how “Baby” would secretly use her phone to report her schedule to her overbearing boyfriend.

Thinking of this, the slight flutter in Gu Qing’s heart vanished into thin air.

With his mind settled, he set off once again!

This time, they headed straight for West Lake.

In autumn, the surface of West Lake looked like a spilled inkstone of cyan and black. The weeping willows along the banks dipped thousands of green ribbons into the emerald waves, and where the branches lightly touched the water, ripples of jade spread outward—a truly breathtaking sight.

As Gu Qing and the others stepped off the bus and took their positions, a platform slowly rose from the middle of the lake. Looking closely, it turned out to be a ping-pong table.

“Wow, we aren’t actually going to play ping-pong on the lake, are we?”

Yang Ying’s eyes sparkled. “This is so romantic.”

“Before that, you all need to put on these diving shoes.”

Lu Hao pointed to a row of green shoes laid out on the ground.

“Director, we aren’t going into the water, are we?”

Wang Zhulan was on the verge of tears. “I just changed my clothes.”

“This task doesn’t involve going into the water.”

Lu Hao smiled. “You need to put on the diving shoes and run toward the ping-pong table. The first person to arrive will get the best equipment, which is the key to whether you can win later on.”

“Understood, Director. When do we start?”

Gu Qing tied his shoelaces and stood up, asking impatiently.

“Now!”

With that, Lu Hao blew his whistle.

Before Gu Qing could even move, the “Big Black Bull” (Li Chen) took the lead, and Wang Baoqiang followed closely behind. The two of them refused to give an inch on the crowded, narrow bridge.

“Chao-ge, go, go, go!”

Gu Qing hurriedly accelerated to catch up.

The bridge was already narrow, and there were VJs responsible for capturing the footage in front of them.

Facing a sharp turn, Wang Baoqiang tried to speed up to overtake Li Chen, but he never expected that the Big Black Bull’s sturdy frame wouldn’t budge at all. Instead, Wang Baoqiang’s own calf hit the railing.

Gu Qing, who was following right behind, suddenly saw Wang Baoqiang tumble over, head-first toward the lake, his legs kicking in the air.

“Baoqiang-ge!”

Gu Qing instinctively reached out, grabbing Baoqiang’s legs in an attempt to save him.

However, the momentum caused him to stumble. With the crowd behind them pushing forward, Gu Qing’s back was struck with force, and he completely lost control of his body.

“Splash—!!”

One after the other, Wang Baoqiang and Gu Qing plunged into the lake.

Hearing the splash, some turned their heads to look, while others slowed their pace but kept running forward to complete the mission.

“Little brother! Bao-bao!”

Deng Chao, who had fallen to the back due to exhaustion, saw the two fall into the water. Anxious, he vaulted over the railing and reached out to help them.

Unexpectedly, Ma Su also stopped and offered a helping hand with concern.

“Chao-ge, I’m fine. Get Baoqiang-ge up first; he seems to be hurt.”

The water only reached Gu Qing’s neck, but Baoqiang had hit his chin and swallowed a mouthful of lake water.

Gu Qing used his left hand to strain to support Baoqiang’s armpit while grabbing the railing under the bridge with his right. With the help of the staff on-site, they finally managed to get back onto the bridge.

“Bao-bao, are you okay?” Deng Chao asked.

“I… I’m fine. Hurry, pull Little Gu up, hurry, hurry!”

Wang Baoqiang was so anxious he started stuttering.

When he had plunged into the lake, he clearly felt someone pulling at him from behind. He hadn’t expected it to be the youngest one, Gu Qing. This left him feeling both touched and guilty.

“Baoqiang-ge, don’t worry, I’m fine. I just choked on a bit of water.”

Gu Qing had already been pulled onto the bridge. He thanked a staff member for the towel and wiped the water off his body.

“How could you be fine?”

Deng Chao helped brush off the aquatic plants stuck to him, looking every bit like an old father. He said worriedly, “Why don’t you and Bao-bao go to the hospital to get checked out?”

“That’s right, Little Gu, your health is what matters.”

Director Lu Hao ran over, terrified. “We can pause the recording if we have to.”

The scene that just unfolded had turned his face pale with fright. If something actually happened to the artists, he would be held responsible.

“I didn’t even break the skin. Recording the show is more important.”

Gu Qing shook his head repeatedly.

The “Name Tag Rip” segment at the end of the first episode of *Running Man* was the most exciting and important part. He couldn’t bear to let the opportunity slip away. As a newcomer with no background and tied down by a company contract, if he couldn’t use this chance to become a hit and gain some leverage, who knew what kind of disgusting situations he might face in the future.

“I don’t need to either. Recording the show is more important.”

Wang Baoqiang wasn’t the type to cause trouble for others either.

This moved Lu Hao to the point of tears. Just renting out West Lake for filming wasn’t something that could be solved with money alone. If they couldn’t finish on time, he would be in real trouble.

*I must make sure the editors give Little Gu and Baoqiang plenty of screen time in this episode,* Lu Hao decided secretly.

On the other side, “Even if you want to record, you have to go change your clothes first.”

Facing the stubborn pair, Deng Chao couldn’t say much else.

“Yes, yes, change your clothes, don’t catch a cold,” Lu Hao added quickly.

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“Little Gu, thank you. I really didn’t expect you to reach out and pull me.”

As they walked toward the trailer, Wang Baoqiang naturally expressed his gratitude to Gu Qing. “You could say you saved my life.”

“Baoqiang-ge, it wasn’t that serious.”

Gu Qing shook off the plants stuck to his arm and said casually, “If it were anyone else behind you, they would have pulled you too.”

“That’s not necessarily true…”

Wang Baoqiang shook his head and didn’t say more.

Although he was famous in the industry for his honest and simple image, that didn’t mean he was a fool. On the contrary, Wang Baoqiang saw things more clearly than anyone; he knew what could be done and what couldn’t.

Just now, the fact that Gu Qing could instinctively reach out to save him from falling into the lake in a moment of crisis, rather than jumping away in fear—how many people in this industry could do that?

“Little Gu, don’t say another word. From now on, Baoqiang-ge has your back.”

Wang Baoqiang patted Gu Qing’s shoulder hard. “Even if I only have a bowl of soup, I’ll split it with you.”

“Baoqiang-ge, let’s just have you treat me to meat another day.”

Gu Qing clutched his stomach and said helplessly, “I’ve already drunk so much water today I’m about to throw up. I’m stuffed.”

“Hahaha—”

Wang Baoqiang grinned, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepening. “Alright, alright, next time I’ll take you out for meat.”

Because of the incident, the subsequent water ping-pong match was played quite casually. Especially as Wang Baoqiang’s chin injury worsened, he had to go to the hospital for stitches for safety reasons.

As for his name tag, it was handed over to Zheng Kai to continue the name-tag-ripping battle.

As for the winner of the game, through a twist of fate, it returned to Gu Qing’s Blue Team.

He had played plenty of ping-pong in the past. When there were many people, they played basketball; when there were few, they played ping-pong. These were the two sports with the most widespread infrastructure.

Relying on two smashes with the salted-fish toy, Gu Qing successfully helped his team win and secure the clue.

“‘What becomes bigger when you see a person?’ (Guess a Chinese character)”

On the way to the final destination, the ‘Suzhou-Hangzhou Academy of Fine Arts,’ the three of them opened the clue.

“A chicken?” Deng Chao muttered.

“Huh?” Gu Qing tilted his head, his face full of confusion. “Chao-ge, this is obviously ‘大’ (Big). If you add a stroke to ‘人’ (Person), doesn’t it become ‘大’? How did you come up with a chicken?”

“I thought it was adding a dot to the character ‘大’ to make ‘太’ (Sun/Too), and then… isn’t there a chicken crowing at the sun?” Deng Chao said, stating his guess with complete seriousness.

“Chao-ge, your ability to jump to conclusions is definitely at the level of a scientist.”

Gu Qing gave him a thumbs up.

“I’m flattered, I’m flattered.”

Deng Chao chuckled.

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(End of chapter)