In a room on the fourth floor restaurant located inside the hotel, Nan Ting leaned back in a chair, idly swiping on his phone as he spoke to the only other person present in the room. “So you’re happy? Squatting here to look at him again?”

Standing at the window, Gu Xun watched Qi Cong enter the car and go far away, but he didn’t answer the question.

After determining that he could no longer see the car, he withdrew his eyes, took out his cell phone and gave Kevin, who was waiting outside the hotel, a call. Then he turned back and knocked on the table in front of Nan Ting. “Let’s go to the meeting.”

“Thank you for remembering that we are here for a meeting.” Nan Ting held his phone as he got up. Just as he was about to take a step, the hand on his phone suddenly stilled. He suddenly said, “Hmm?” 

He gave a sound, and then looked at Gu Xun walking past him to the door, showing both sympathy and hesitation.

Gu Xun noticed his movement and stopped to have a look, his brow slightly knitted as he was obviously still in a depressed mood because of the previous meeting with the “ex-boyfriend”.

“What?” he asked. 

“En,” Nan Ting was determined to ask sincerely, “Qi Cong liking you isn’t just a thing because of your long term crush turning into a psychopathic illusion, right? You’re depressed over a breakup, but over there Qi Cong and Shen Jia dress in couple clothes and go together to a variety show. Are you really not being self-absorbed?”

Gu Xun’s frown deepened. “Couple clothes?”

Nan Ting gave an “Uh-huh” and once again affectionately showed his mobile phone to his friend.

On the mobile phone screen, a photo of Qi Cong and Shen Jia walking side by side through the airport hall occupied most of the screen. The two people in the photo wore the same series of clothes, one smiling bright and handsome, while other looked gentle and relaxed, making them look like a perfect match. At the top of the photo was a short Weibo post by a gossip account, in which words such as “intimate whispers” and “couple clothes” were particularly eye-catching.

Gu Xun quickly scanned the contents of the short post and then  looked carefully at the clothes worn by Qi Cong and Shen Jia. Taking a deep breath, he opened the comment section to have a look.

“Jia Jia’s time has come.”

“Ahhhhhhhh, couple clothes! The stylist adds drumsticks!”

“Couple clothes? So unapologetic? So the gossip is true? Qi Cong got together with Shen Jia? Then Gu Xun is just too miserable ah! Really, two 1s can’t have a future.”

Gu Xun squeezed the phone hard. The gossip analysis with the key words like “unrequited love”, “crash collision” flashed in front of his eyes, along with the brief eye contact with Qi Cong in the hotel lobby, and Shen Jia standing intimately next to Qi Cong, which was ignored by him as the background at that time.

He clenched his teeth, reached out, took out his cell phone and quickly unlocked it.

“What do you want to do? Add another piece of fire to that popular gossip?”

Gu Xun was about to open Weibo and suddenly stopped his fingers.

Nan Ting took his phone from Gu Xun’s hand and sighed helplessly. “Gu Xun, don’t make yourself too much of a mess.”

“…”

Gu Xun slowly locked his phone. He paused for a while before putting the phone back into his pocket, looking at Nan Ting and saying, “It’s not self-inflicted.” 

It was actually an answer to Nan Ting’s initial question.

Looking at Gu Xun like this, Nan Ting could no longer bear it and comforted him euphemistically, “Isn’t that good? At least with this direction of the wind no one will attack Qi Cong maliciously. Isn’t that what you wanted when you found people to guide public opinion?”

Gu Xun’s thin lips tightened, his eyebrows heavy due to his anger.

What he wanted was obviously for the direction of the wind to blow “Gu Xun and Qi Cong adore each other, but decided to separate temporarily and watch each other secretly for some practical reasons,” rather than “Qi Cong give his heart to Shen Jia.”

He swallowed a mouthful of old blood and said, “It’s good to have less gossip. Prepare for the movie as soon as possible.” With that he changed the topic and while opening the door added, “Let’s go and get down to business.”

The two walked out of the hotel together, and after getting in the car, Nan Ting swept the variety show materials left by Qi Cong’s group at the hotel. He turned his head to Gu Xun and asked, “What is the name of the variety show that your sweetheart is recording this time? Is it ‘A Day at Leisure’?”

Gu Xun nodded. “Well, he’s not in good shape lately, so it’s just right to go to that variety show to take a break.”

“Tch.” Nan Ting suddenly showed a look of speechlessness, wanting to say something more but finally decided against it. He took out his phone and opened the chat box in his WeChat list, confirming the content inside.

Nine o’clock this morning:

Fu Jing: Director Nan, I heard you came to Shashi. I’m recording ‘A Day at Leisure’ in Shahi for two days, are you free? Do you want to get together?

Nan Ting looked at Gu Xun and moved his fingers to reply to the message he had seen, but hadn’t replied to for a few hours.

Nan Ting: Recording ‘A Day at Leisure’?

Fu Jing answered in seconds: It’s today. I’m about ready to start the recording. I expect to finish recording by tomorrow afternoon and after that I have time. Does Director Nan want to meet? I can go to you.

He couldn’t believe it.

Nan Ting felt a toothache as he perfunctorily replied back that he was too busy and didn’t have time. Looking at Gu Xun’s cold expression as he scrolled through his phone, he hesitated for a moment and then asked, “Old Gu, do you still remember Fu Jing, your girlfriend according to the gossip articles?”

Gu Xun didn’t look up as he replied with a warning, “I don’t have a girlfriend, don’t talk nonsense.”

“…” 

Nan Ting tsked again, throwing his phone into Gu Xun’s hands and slumping into his seat. “But people think you do. Take a look at this. Don’t blame me for not reminding you, but Fu Jing has never given up on you. The Movie Emperor Gu’s rumored ex-”boyfriend” and ex-”girlfriend” are appearing on the same show ‘A Day at Leisure.’ The program team must be happy to death.”

….

A few kilometers away, the guests of the program group ‘A Day at Leisure’ were sitting in the car.

The staff in the front seat turned around and handed the two program schedules to Qi Cong and Shen Jia respectively, saying, “The matter is like this. In view of the fact that the guest invitations made for this episode are different from the previous ones, the theme of the show will also be closely related to the relationship between the guests and MC more than before, so we made some small changes for this episode.”

Shen Jia was confused. “What changes? Does it have anything to do with my departure to the resort with the guests today?”

Shen Jia was a resident MC of ‘A Day at Leisure.’ According to the usual process, he should’ve stayed at the resort house with the other MCs, waiting for the guests to come to their door, instead of taking the car with a guest to the resort house.

“It doesn’t matter. In fact, it’s mostly because the other MC didn’t want you to have too much work to catch up with the schedule, so they arranged for you to go with the guests. The judges also said that children who haven’t returned home for a long time are like guests and guests coming together is just right.”

The staff obviously liked Shen Jia very much and answered with a smile before returning to the main topic, “The changed part is…”

A few minutes later, the staff member took a sip of water and ended the explanation. Shen Jia and Qi Cong figured out the changes in this episode of the show.

Qi Cong looked down and turned over the workflow sheet in his hand, his mood slightly relaxing.

The change in the program was very friendly to him.

Before coming, he had done some preparation for this recording.

‘A Day at Leisure’ was a slow-paced vacation variety show that focuses on emotional healing and food.

The show has two regular MCs and two resident MCs. In each episode they would invite 2 to 5 guests. The guests were sometimes celebrity families, sometimes celebrity couples, and sometimes a group of good friends, basically aiming at the categories of a “family vacation”, “a husband and wife vacation” and “a friends gathering”.

This time, he was invited to the last category: “friends gathering”

Each episode of ‘A Day at Leisure’ has a different theme, and the theme of this episode was “Old friends who haven’t seen each other for a long time”. The team invited four guests in total, including two of the regular MCs friends and two of the resident MCs friends, to participate in the recording of this episode, including Jia Jia.

The identity of the guests were only known to the MC who invited them and the program team before the official start of the recording. So the MCs weren’t clear about the other guests. This was also the reason why Qi Cong could come to this show – He was Shen Jia’s chosen “long-lost friend”.

The recording time of the program was one day and one night, and the recording content would be divided into seven parts according to the timeline: creating a wish list before the guests arrive, the preparation before dinner, dinner, the game after dinner, the heart-to-heart talk before bed, the wish list fulfillment in the next morning, and the final parting.

Among them, the two parts of the creation of wish lists and the fulfillment were the most important. They could also be called the soul that supported this variety show.

According to the usual practice, as a guest, Qi Cong should also fill out the wish form and before filling it he needed to do a psychological test given by the program. This test would help the program team understand the guest’s recent emotional and spiritual tangles and confusions, and provide help for the team to better fulfill the guest’s wishes.

As ‘A Day at Leisure’ focused on emotional healing, it was inevitable that guests on the show would have to show a little bit of emotional vulnerability in the show. This was also the biggest selling point of the variety show but for him now, this selling point was something he was the most resistant to about the show.

Fortunately, the showrunners have changed that part.

In this episode, he no longer needed to take a psychological test, but needed to fill out two wish lists – one was the same as in previous episodes, containing his own wish; the other was more innovative. He needed to write down what he felt was the hidden wish in his best friend Shen Jia’s mind.

The fulfillment of these two wishes would also be different from previous recordings. His own wish will be given to Shen Jia, who will help him achieve  it and the list filled with his guess on Shen Jia current wish would be handed over to the program team, who will fulfill it for Shen Jia instead of him.

In addition, Shen Jia, the resident MC who usually didn’t have the benefit of filling out a wish list would have the benefit of filling out two wish lists in this episode, with the same rules as Qi Cong.
In other words, in this program, he and Shen Jia would exchange wish lists and fulfill each other’s wishes. Then through the hands of the program team, they would give each other gifts they thought the other party wanted the most.

It was a very warm and thoughtful change.

Qi Cong put down the flowsheet and let out a soft breath.

The psychological test was no longer needed and the fulfillment of the wish list was limited to Shen Jia so the recording of this episode should go smoothly.

Shen Jia understood the changes and became very excited. He grabbed the back of the staff’s seat and  confirmed excitedly, “So you mean that Brother Cong’s wish will be fulfilled by me? Then you will also prepare a surprise for me? I can also ask you to prepare a surprise for Brother Cong?”

The staff smiled and nodded. “That’s right.”

Shen Jia became very happy.

He looked sideways at Qi Cong, his eyes bright. He shut up, as if he were afraid of revealing a secret. He turned his head and hurriedly urged the staff member, “All right, we understand. When will the program start recording? Why don’t we fill out the wish list in the car according to the old rules? Come on, give me the list.”

More than ten minutes later, when the car still had more than half an hour to arrive at the vacation house, the recording of the program finally began.

The staff turned on all the cameras in the guest car. They first went through some fixed procedures and then under Shen Jia’s hot gaze they explained the rules of the wish list, while giving two wish lists to Qi Cong and Shen Jia respectively.

Shen Jia cooperated and did a “Huh? In this episode I can actually fill out the wish list?” 

Then without waiting any longer, he hid by the car door to fill out the list while avoiding Qi Cong’s gaze.

Qi Cong also got two wish lists of his own.

He first took out the blue one, and scanned it with a glance. There was “Fill out the wish for your old friend you haven’t seen for a long time!” printed at the top of the page. After reading this line he looked sideways at Shen Jia, over by the window as he wrote excitedly. Then he lowered his head and wrote down a line.

After that, he picked up the other wish list, scanned the “Please write down the wish you most want to achieve in your heart at present” printed on it, paused for a long time, and then started to write.

Not long after handing in the wish list, the car arrived at the parking lot in front of the vacation house. Shen Jia and Qi Cong got out of the car together, each dragging their own luggage as they walked side by side towards the vacation house not far away.

The cameraman followed the two of them with his equipment.

She Jia was very excited as he walked and chatted happily while pulling Qi Cong with him.

Qi Cong listened carefully and occasionally responded. He only noticed a woman with long curly hair standing behind a window on the south side of the second floor of the vacation home in front of him when he was almost there.

He unconsciously looked over and then very clearly saw the mature and elegant lady behind the window, rolling her eyes ungracefully when she caught his line of sight.

“…?”

 

Edited by: Antiope1

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