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Published at 12th of May 2021 11:05:28 AM


Chapter 41

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Half of Xia Rong’s face was still under the bedding as he stared at the cat that was rubbing its face again and again on the WeChat page of his phone. A good while later, he couldn’t help but start laughing.

Having just covertly confessed during the daytime, yet now at night the other tries to act cute to soften his attitude. Even if the other’s a kitty, he’s definitely a scheming kitty.

However, after going into a daze for a while on this page, in the end, Xia Rong still chose not to reply.

Su Chi also didn’t send another message. Xia Rong looked at the time. It was now 9:30 PM, still about half an hour before the second episode of 《Liang Ou》 would be broadcasted. He rolled around on the bed with his phone in hand, all the way until his drowsiness completely disappeared. He then got up and went to the bathroom to take a shower. When he came out, he turned on the hotel room’s TV.

Too lazy to use the towel to continue drying, Xia Rong directly took the hairdryer and sat on the bed. As a result, even after blowing for a good while, the ends of his hair were still dripping wet. He took a look around, then placed the running hairdryer down on the bed and *poof1* turned himself into a kitten. While facing the warm wind, he shook and shook, which soon dried all the fur all over his body.

Xia Rong then changed back into human form. He put away the hairdryer and went to give his hair a ruffle. As expected, it felt very clean and refreshing. Xia Rong simply felt that he was really too resourceful.

Channel Orange was currently showing an idol drama that was produced in-house. Although the actors and actresses were very beautiful, the use of lighting was simply just terrible – able to make a beautiful young man who could be chased and called “oppa” in South Korea into looking like an old uncle.

Xia Rong took a few looks at it, then no longer wanted to watch anymore and picked up his phone to browse Weibo. At this time, he directly logged onto “Xia Rong V” because the program had previously requested the guests to promote the program with leading topics and to remind the fans not to forget to watch before the broadcast each week. So he planned to casually look through the main page first to draw some inspiration before then conveniently sending out a microblog to publicize.

The first broadcast of 《Liang Ou》’s pilot episode got a 1.9 rating2 on Orange TV, while the number of online viewing even exceeded 100 million in one day. Although nowadays online viewing statistics generally get seriously inflated, the 《Liang Ou》’s broadcast had indeed attracted a wave of attention. On the night of the first episode, in addition to the two topics – #Xia Rong Snatches Cat# and #What’s the breed of Su Chi’s cat# – that occupied the first and second place on the hot search list, topics as #Zhang Xin square dance#, #Ye Mang, an old cadre#, #Who will save Kang Yifan’s jokes#, and #Gao Junming# also appeared one after another on the front page of the hot searches.

Though the audience rating of the first episode couldn’t be considered explosive – given that at present, variety shows were becoming more and more routine and patterned, where each was becoming more and more saturated by big shots, and that the previously booming popularity of variety shows was on the decline as a whole – this current result was already impressive. The general evaluation by the audience was “relaxing, funny, healing, suitable for watching in common leisure, but also get to see a variety of flourishing beauty, pleasing to the eye.”

Under the guidance of the program group’s intentional marketing, many talented jokesters also started to make gags, wrote jokes, and edit out humorous gifs in various styles, allowing the popularity of the program to spread even farther. Among them, “the biggest face-con dog feast of this century” has even been forwarded by tens of thousands. And so some melon-seed eaters who didn’t know the truth even began to say, “I feel that the me who hasn’t watched 《Liang Shangbo and Romeo》 has already become disjointed from the reality of the current world.”

Thus under such fermentation, before 《Liang Shanbo and Romeo》’s second episode had even aired, the show had already climbed up to number one on the hot search list much earlier in the day. Xia Rong tapped open his notifications, and from a glance, he could see that there was still some residue from the last episode of 《Liang Ou》 that had yet to dissipate—

【This little brother’s face is just too much in line with my aesthetic ah. If it wasn’t for the cat snatching incident, I probably would have taken you as the wall art for the head of my bed!】

【+1 In fact, I also can understand the gamesmanship that the fans have been saying la. It’s just that, given that it was only the first episode and you aren’t familiar with Su Chi yet, for you to just grab someone else’s things, it’s not very good for impressions.】

【OP has hit the heart of the matter! If it was just the squabbling between close friends, I definitely wouldn’t feel as if anything was the matter. The main thing is that you two only started following each other last month and during the program, only maintained weak interactions on Weibo, emmmmm… So I am retaining my reservations.】

【Ah, such two people good-looking, how suitable they are for CP~ Unfortunately, most of these situations are where it’s difficult for both to coexist, so I can only think about it in my dreams.】

With the week’s worth of time for things to settle, the audience’s opinions on this matter had become much more moderate and, basically, had all stabilized on this point of view: Xia Rong didn’t really do anything exceptionally wrong, and it wasn’t to the point where he needed to be condemned by the public in speech and writing. It was just that, under the premise that he wasn’t that familiar with the other person, yet he just went and grabbed the other’s things, this made people all feel more or less uncomfortable.

Xia Rong held up his cheek with one hand while he scrolled through these comments with his left hand and sighed almost imperceptibly.

As a matter of fact, having been popular for so long, this was no longer the first day or two that he has been the protagonist of such negative discussions; and the damage the magical editing of the first episode of 《Liang Ou》 created for him could only grow progressively more limited. It was just that, at this sort of time, he suddenly missed that tactile feeling under his palm – substantial and warm – from when a certain British Shorthair would fawningly jump onto his knee.

After leaving the comments, Xia Rong originally planned to send out a microblog, but when he actually returned to the main page, it automatically refreshed.

Then, he noticed the microblog that was displayed as having been sent out ‘just now’.

【Su Chi: Cute creatures are all always connected. #Liang Shanbo and Romeo# #Su Chi Liang Shanbo and Romeo# [picture] [picture] [picture]】

He sent out three pictures. The first two were from back during the recording of the first episode. One of Su Chi with a slight smile with the little fold-ears in his arms in front of the camera lens, while there was also one of the little folded-ears, very cleverly, just lying still while blinking its large eyes. As for the third… It was of Su Chi sitting on a bed with a little orange cat sitting in his arms. He was holding a phone up with one of his hands to take the selfie while there was another [phone] on his knee. The little orange cat was keeping its hold on his knee while it stretched out a curious claw towards the phone.

The comments underneath were stunned by the cuteness:

【Sniff, sniff, sniff3!】

【Ahhhh, both the two kitties are so cute!】

【Is the third one a sidelight of last time’s hand-slip event? [joy] This little orange cat that’s being raised by Susu’s just too cute, right? [joy]】

【That’s right, that’s right! All cute creatures are interlinked! There are no not-cute kitties in this world!】

However, that second one isn’t a kitty but a person ah.

 

However, that second one isn’t a kitty but a person ah.

Xia Rong tutted and left Su Chi’s microblog, then he also sent a post:

【Xia Rong V: Men should be handsome! #Liang Shanbo and Romeo# #Su Chi Liang Shanbo and Romeo# [muscle] [picture] [picture]】

As he was too lazy to type out all those long topics, he simply directly copied it from Su Chi, then edited it before sending it out. He even added two pictures taken during the recording process that had been sent to him after the fact by one of the program’s staff. Because it was taken after a bout of strenuous exercise, in the picture, he was sweating slightly while his clothes were light. Looking at it, he seemed both heroic and handsome.

—To describe him, of course, only the words ‘cool’ and ‘handsome’ should be used. How could his favor ever be curried with words like ‘cute’?

Feeling very smug in his heart, Xia Rong didn’t expect that as soon as he refreshed the comments, they were almost all—

【[please allow me to make a sad face] Rongrong, you copied the wrong topic】

【Wake up! Rongrong! You forgot to change the topic after copying it!! 】

【@Xxxx, hurry, come and see! Xia Rong copied Su Chi’s microblog but forgot to change the topic ahahahah…】

Xia Rong: …!!!

He quickly deleted the just-sent microblog and retyped one. This time, he only tapped down on the confirmation to send it out after having checked it again and again, completely positive that there was nothing wrong.

Less than a minute after being posted, the hottest comments were given full-screen coverage by the “hahahaha ha, let me laugh” group. In particular was the ranked first comment, which seemed particularly eye-catchy—

【Su Chi: [doge]】

Xia Rong threw his cell phone in anger and decided, for a short period, he will not pay any attention to this guy!

Then a light tone sounded, it was a custom notification tone from WeChat:

【Su Chi: Even if it will be broadcasted1, you still need to stay calm. [kitten_rubbing_face.gif]】

Although Xia Rong did not reply, he couldn’t help but begin to think back: When exactly did he set the other as someone special?

=====

The Orange TV in-house idol drama broadcasted all the way until five minutes past 10:00 PM. Xia Rong was bored to death, so he even watched it as it went into the ending song. But then, probably because the TV station wanted to save some time, they directly went to play the promotional song of 《Liang Shanbo and Romeo》, cutting off the idol drama’s ending.

The propaganda song was recorded by six of them separately. Only a small segment was played at the beginning of the variety show. One person said it. The melody was light and lively, and soon brought people into a comfortable and comfortable variety atmosphere.

After watching such a heavy domestic idol drama with poor, dim lighting for a long time right before, the sudden shift to the program practically lit up the viewers’ eyes:

Not only had the program adopted the broadcast method of Korean variety shows, but they had also paid a lot of money to invite a professional Korean idol drama’s lighting team. So the pictures were clear, the tone was fresh and elegant, and even when filming on the street, every person’s skin seemed bright and clear – with just a glance and the audience would feel warmed.

With such exquisite lighting and image quality, it was no wonder that the program decided to use “Feast for Face-cons” as one of the marketing selling points.

After a brief recap of the previous episode, the scene jumped straight to the end of the previous episode一 the shot that was left for the audience to have a heated discussion on.

However, maybe because there was continuity in the previous episode, that this shot had sparked people’s anger and indignance; yet, this episode, as it began with bright sunlight, mottled shadows from the trees, two men gazing at each other, coupled with soft and romantic background music, it suddenly made people feel as if they were in a trance of it being an oil painting of spring.

The camera slowly closed in, focusing on Xia Rong who was pressed against the tree.

Xia Rong saw himself on the screen, where his lips were slightly quirked into a smile as he raised one hand in surrender. “I was wrong, I’m returning the cat back to you.”

Xia Rong: This father’s so TMD handsome!

By the time Xia Rong successfully got to the point where he couldn’t not sigh for the fact he was too handsome, the camera turned to the opposite Su Chi. The other raised his hand to take the backpack in Xia Rong’s hand, then looked gently back at him and said a low, “Thank you.”

…Who is this person? Why hadn’t I felt he was so handsome at that time?!

Immediately after, Xia Rong saw himself again, where he obviously wanted to reveal a smile but then pressed it back down. “You’re welcome.”

Seeing it now, in fact, he might have felt it… But at that time, he simply hadn’t paid it any attention.

Who knows whether it was the miraculous editing or the magic from their dialogue, but from watching the short and simple exchange between these two people just now – which when added together weren’t even twenty characters and didn’t exceed ten seconds – it actually allowed that sullen and stifling feeling brought about by the last episode to instantly completely vanish.

There were no further tricks in the editing afterward, basically no great difference from what Xia Rong can remember. The post-production was once again the post-production that deserved countless brownie points, with its digging into the details, timely explanations, moe-ified images, rich character designs, perfect control of the intense competition’s rhythm, especially the last stage of the costumed obstacle race. The entirety had both tensity and relaxation, bringing both smiles and tears… Where the tears were shed from laughing too hard.

Just like this, over an hour passed by without him being conscious of it. In the blink of an eye, Tang Feifei – “Juliet” – leisurely appeared on the screen then chose Ye Mang as her co-star in the performance, leading to the “happy ending” that they filmed afterward to start playing: As there was a small dog that had sent letters back and forth for Romeo and Juliet, they managed to communicate properly and finally eloped on a moonless, windy night.

When the TV screen slowly faded to black and the line “And they lived happily ever after…” emerged in the center, Xia Rong thought that the episode was more or less over, so he picked up the cell phone that he had put aside, preparing to browse through Weibo to take a look at the direction the comments were blowing.

“No! In fact, the show is not over yet!” An unexpected narration suddenly sounded and background music also suddenly lightened up. The narration continued, “The program group has secretly left behind an easter egg…”

Xia Rong looked up and just so happened to see the scene of a door being pushed open.

Then his own face reappeared on the screen.

Inside the room, the curtains were still closed, so the lighting was dim, and the bedding on the large bed was messy. Xia Rong with slightly messy hair that didn’t cause him to lose any of his handsomeness was standing by the bed, he smiled at the camera in surprise. “Ah… The shooting is starting this early?”

The camera turned. In the same room, another person came out from the back—

Su Chi was using a white towel from the hotel to wipe his hair, a hairdryer in one hand. His expression seemed a bit stunned with a little bit of embarrassment. He asked with a smile: “…The recording is starting this early2?”





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