Chapter 9: Getting Into Character

……

“You didn’t know?”

Deng Chao’s smile stiffened, his pupils dilated, and he stared at Gu Qing as if struck by a bolt of lightning.

“Chao-ge, I hadn’t finished what I was saying before you interrupted me, and you wouldn’t let me continue…”

Gu Qing blinked, feigning innocence.

“No!!”

Deng Chao broke down. “I want to get off the ride!!!”

“Hahaha, Old Deng, I’m going to have you welded to that chair!!”

“The cycle of karma is real; who has heaven ever spared?!”

“Brothers, charge!!!”

Wang Baoqiang and the others, who had been holding back their frustration, finally found their chance for revenge and swarmed over, refusing to let Deng Chao escape.

The result was obvious.

“Splash—splash—”

Accompanied by screams, Deng Chao and Gu Qing were launched into the air and fell into the water.

“Director—this game is way too hard…”

Angelababy bit into half a spring pancake with her pearly white teeth, covered her ears with her slender, fair hands, and said with a look of guilt, “Can’t you give us a hint?”

“No!”

Lu Hao fought to keep his lips from curling upward as he ruthlessly refused.

The moment the young man broke through the water on the monitor, his heart finally settled—

He had been worried that Gu Qing might actually remember the entire sequence, but looking at this comical fall, it was as if it had been a carefully designed punchline.

It wasn’t that the kid couldn’t remember; he had clearly waited for the most dramatic moment to confess.

I have to say,

Deng Chao’s cooperation was excellent; his look of utter confusion was absolutely spot on.

“Quick, get a close-up of Xiao Gu falling into the water!”

Lu Hao suddenly remembered something, grabbed his walkie-talkie, and said hurriedly, “Camera 2, push in, get a face shot!”

Crystal ripples bloomed across the water’s surface.

His soaked shirt clung to the young man’s body, and water droplets from his hair slid down his jawline, past his Adam’s apple, and gathered into a tiny stream in the hollow of his collarbone.

Is he raising fish in there?

“Cough, cough—”

Gu Qing coughed up some water and raised his hand to brush his wet bangs back.

“Wow—”

Gasps of surprise rippled through the staff.

“Hey—there’s a living person over here too!!”

Deng Chao surfaced with ‘seaweed’ on his head, looking with resentment at Gu Qing, who was surrounded by young women handing him towels, and shouted at the camera: “Are old men not people too?”

“Haha, Old Deng is past his prime; how could he be as fresh and delicious as Xiao Gu?”

Chen Chichi and the others on the side joined in the teasing.

Once the horseplay ended, the group continued the challenge.

The rules for the second round were slightly relaxed; as long as the wrong ingredient was picked, the member would be immediately ejected, providing a crucial hint for the teams behind them.

But the one suffering was Zheng Kai, who had to pick the food again.

“The first one, the lotus root, is definitely fine. The second one, Xiao Gu said it was Dongpo pork, the third one…”

Zheng Kai furrowed his brows, his face full of struggle, before finally making up his mind to pick the bean sprouts!

“Eh, it’s okay!!”

Wang Baoqiang shouted in surprise.

“Zheng Kai, keep it up.”

Wang Zhulan also cheered him on.

“Phew~”

Zheng Kai let out a long breath and, trembling, chose the chili sauce from the remaining plates.

Suddenly,

“Poof—poof—”

The two Wang brothers took flight once again.

“Chen Chichi, get up here!”

Li Chen ignored Chen Chichi’s screams, dragged him from his seat, and gave the spot to Ma Su.

“Lotus root, Dongpo pork, bean sprouts—the first three are fine. For the fourth, if we rule out the chili sauce, that leaves the shrimp, radish, and pickled vegetables.”

Ma Su didn’t hesitate. “It’s a fifty-fifty chance anyway, I choose the radish!”

“Boom, boom—”

The big water buffalo and Chen Chichi turned into cannonballs and smashed into the water.

On the Blue Team’s side,

Angelababy couldn’t handle the pressure of picking the food and gave her spot to Deng Chao.

But when she sat on the flying chair, her snow-white legs tensed, crossing and uncrossing, the muscles of her inner thighs rippling. “What do I do? I’m so scared…”

“Little brother…”

Angelababy blinked her beautiful eyes, casting a look of appeal toward Gu Qing, then extended her slender, porcelain-white fingers. The meaning was very clear.

“It’s okay, Baby-jie. At worst, You jump, I jump.”

Gu Qing bit the bullet, gently took the delicate, soft fingers Angelababy offered, and used a comedic tone to diffuse the ambiguous atmosphere.

“Mm-hmm.”

Angelababy gave him a sweet smile.

The next second,

Gu Qing suddenly felt something strange. The fingertips he had been holding gently seemed to turn into nimble snakes, precisely weaving themselves between his own fingers.

Interlocked fingers!

Gu Qing froze.

!!!

!!!

Who can play against you like this?!

“Quick, quick! Get a close-up of their fingers for three seconds!!”

“And Xiao Gu’s blushing face, get a close-up of that too!!”

It wasn’t just Lu Hao in front of the monitor who was beaming; even the South Korean planner he had hired was so excited that he unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt, fanning himself with his hand to keep from overheating.

This was the “woman on top, man on bottom” dynamic he wanted to see!

Not the stuff from their side,

Where male actors who are clearly greasy still try to pretend they are as green and innocent as young boys!!

“Director Lu Hao, believe me, as soon as the show airs, they will definitely become the biggest power couple in your domestic entertainment industry!!”

The South Korean planner said excitedly.

Unfortunately, it didn’t last long.

As Deng Chao made a mistake in picking the food, Gu Qing and Angelababy fell into the water.

Later on,

Zheng Kai seemed to have divine help, picking the right dishes one after another and helping his team succeed.

The game ended, and Lu Hao paused the recording.

After all, every artist was soaked, so they naturally needed to change clothes to avoid catching a cold.

Meanwhile,

Gu Qing, having fallen into the water, took a towel from his assistant, pushed himself up to the shore, and left as if fleeing.

“Baby, take it easy.”

Once he was sure the cameras were off, Deng Chao dropped his smile and turned to look at Angelababy, who was watching Gu Qing’s retreating figure with a smile.

He feigned a complaint: “With your level of charm, how could Xiao Gu possibly resist?”

“What if your ‘someone’ finds out and gets jealous…”

“Chao-ge, what are you thinking about?”

Angelababy pouted, aggrieved. “I was just following the director’s request to intentionally build up the CP. Besides, look at Qingqing—does he look like he likes me at all?

Every time filming ends, he doesn’t even talk to me and just runs off. If I didn’t know better, I’d think I was some kind of monster.”

“This…”

Deng Chao shook his head helplessly. He couldn’t wake someone who was pretending to be asleep.

Thinking of how Gu Qing had specifically reminded him to control the flow earlier, and how he had acted like a lovable younger brother throughout the recording,

Old Deng decided to be a good person and give him a private heads-up, telling Gu Qing to distinguish between the show and real life,

Lest he get too ‘into character’ and be unable to get out, which would be hard to clean up later.

……