It has to be said, Yu Wensheng truly lived up to his title as a gold-medal manager. After communicating his ideas with Gu Zhan, he immediately sprang into action.
Several famous Big Vs expressed their views from gentle, agreeable, or opposing standpoints. Their words had substance, and their stances seemed objective. But upon closer inspection, one would realize that whether the articles were for or against the issue, the overall narrative guidance of the matter was highly positive.
He even personally wrote a few mini-essays about sweet romance.
In just a single morning, the radical comments online practically vanished, and they even reeled in a scattered handful of CP fans.
Shi Yi, who had been keeping a close eye on this matter the whole time, breathed a sigh of relief.
Just as she expected, as long as she didn’t show her face, the trending heat would eventually die down.
…All that was left was Gu Zhan.
She didn’t know when he would leave.
Shi Yi half-leaned against her lounge chair, her gaze falling onto the laptop on her knees—the live stream on screen was the variety show Sweet Critical Hit.
Several celebrities were standing on the beach, in the middle of drawing lots.
Shi Yi’s eyes drifted to the bottom right corner of the screen. The man there was holding a bottle of mineral water and twisting it open. His fingers were long and slender with distinct joints, unconsciously captivating people’s attention.
The barrage of live comments was densely packed.
[To be honest, I want to be the bottle of water in Gu Zhan’s hands!] [I want him to write me a love poem…] [The person above is eating farts.] [What’s all the noise about? Such a dog of a man… Ahhh, his Adam’s apple! What kind of peerless mortal beauty is this? I’m dead.]
Shi Yi’s mouth twitched. Just as she was about to turn off the comments, she saw the barrage change direction—because Gu Zhan started speaking. He asked Wen Xin beside him, “Are you drawing, or am I?”
Wen Xin’s tone was full of indifference. “As you wish.”
Wherever they went, wasn’t it just changing locations to zone out?
[Looking at Wen Xin’s expression, that ‘don’t touch me’ vibe is too vivid, right?] [Fuck, why do I want to laugh hahahahahahahaha] [To go somewhere romantic with such a handsome man and still remain completely indifferent—is this a loss of humanity or a degradation of morality?] [I remember the first time Wen Xin met Gu Zhan, she was so shy. Later on… since when did she change?]
The barrage fell silent for a moment, then exploded.
[Ever since they finished eating and Wen Xin acted coquettish and shy, asking him why he walked so fast, and Gu Zhan replied, ‘Sorry, I forgot about you’—]
[Ever since Wen Xin told Gu Zhan she wanted to sleep in tomorrow and asked him to bring her breakfast, and Gu Zhan said, ‘No, I want to sleep in too’—]
[Ever since Wen Xin dressed up beautifully and asked Gu Zhan, ‘You’re not even looking at me, am I not as pretty as the others?’, and Gu Zhan responded, ‘Mn’—]
[Ever since the two of them went shopping and Wen Xin said her legs hurt and didn’t want to walk anymore, and Gu Zhan said: ‘Alright then, I’ll head back first’—]
[Ever since a few couples competed in mountain climbing, and Gu Zhan climbed incredibly fast by himself, only to realize when he reached the peak that he had forgotten something—]
[I can’t even list them all… In short, I still can’t forget Wen Xin’s expression when she saw Gu Zhan leaving her in the dust as he climbed up at lightning speed. Can you believe this guy completely forgot he even had a girlfriend???]
Shi Yi: “…”
She couldn’t help but type out a string of ellipses on her computer.
She had watched Gu Zhan’s variety show before—out of a certain ex-girlfriend mentality, she had watched most of his shows. But recently, her editor had been rushing her, constantly telling her to submit her manuscript, so she could only turn off her computer and desperately type away. She simply hadn’t had the time to watch Sweet Critical Hit.
So she genuinely hadn’t known that Gu Zhan was acting so… much like he lacked a severe beating from society.
Gu Zhan wasn’t like this in the past!
In the past, even though he also had a sharp tongue and a cold demeanor, he could actually be called a model boyfriend. Back then, Shi Yi was both hypocritical and dramatic. Even when she wasn’t thirsty, she’d insist her boyfriend skip class to buy her drinks; even when she wasn’t tired, she’d demand to be carried… In short, she was quite unreasonable. But as long as she kept pestering him, Gu Zhan ended up doing most of it anyway. The type whose mouth says no but body says yes?
Thinking about it, if her feet hurt back then and Gu Zhan said, “Alright then, I’ll head back first”… she probably wouldn’t have been able to resist smashing his dog head right then and there.
Shi Yi snapped back to reality, realizing she had unknowingly been reminiscing about the past—and during the time she was zoned out, the couples in the live stream had already drawn their afternoon itineraries.
Gu Zhan’s card brightly displayed several large words—Coral Island Underwater Restaurant.
Coral Island!!
Hearing this familiar name, Shi Yi was suddenly startled, and then felt relieved. Thank goodness. Thank goodness she had the foresight to declare this morning that they wouldn’t sail back today.
She was staying on Coral Island!
If they had followed the original plan to sail back in the afternoon, wouldn’t there be a possibility of running into each other?
Shi Yi looked at the variety show. The guests had finished drawing lots and had already scattered to go on their respective dates. Gu Zhan and his partner boarded a yacht and sat facing each other on the deck.
The director handed Gu Zhan a card for the Coral Island Underwater Restaurant. Gu Zhan was reading the card’s introduction: “The Coral Island Underwater Restaurant is a restaurant built of glass, 40 meters under the sea. The surroundings of the restaurant are completely transparent. While inside, you can see schools of fish and beautiful corals passing by. It is romantic and wonderful. Rumor has it that hundreds of couples have fallen in love here…”
His tone was calm, completely devoid of any anticipation.
They were really going to Coral Island.
Shi Yi thought for a moment, then called her butler over, telling him to steer the yacht a bit further away.
The butler looked highly conflicted, indicating that yachts were generally safer closer to the Maldives, and that this yacht hadn’t made preparations for a long voyage beforehand.
Shi Yi: “I can pay extra. Triple.”
The butler’s smile turned gentle. “It is my honor to serve you. I will go prepare right away.”
Shi Yi: “…” Tsk.
Shi Yi waved her hand, signaling him to go. She smoothed down her hair that had been blown messy by the sea breeze and put on her sunglasses. Surely they wouldn’t run into each other now, right?
—
Meanwhile.
On another yacht.
A vase sat on a small, milky-white round table, containing dewy roses. The two people sat on opposite sides of the round table, their gazes fixed on the seagulls at the edge of the sky.
The snow-white seagulls burst through the clouds, skimming across the surface of the sea, breaking out of the water with small fish clamped in their beaks.
The cameraman kept holding up a sign, cueing them to speak and not just act like two statues.
Gu Zhan’s gaze steadied. “Then let’s talk about something.”
Wen Xin poured herself a glass of water. “Talk about what?”
Gu Zhan took a sip of water.
…He didn’t seem to have anything he wanted to say.
[Then let’s talk about something. That ‘then’ is very telling. Friends, please pay attention.] [I bet the cameraman held up the cue card again.] [Hahaha, it’s better if they just don’t talk!] [My second-hand embarrassment is acting up again. My toes have dug out an entire room in the floor.]
For the sake of the show’s effect, Wen Xin still gathered her spirits and thought of a topic. “How about we chat about your ex-girlfriend?”
The moment the words left her mouth, she realized her mistake. Was she so mad that her brain short-circuited into bringing up this kind of topic?
Unexpectedly, Gu Zhan didn’t get angry. Back when he was searching everywhere for Shi Yi without any luck, he had once considered using the power of netizens to force her out, but he eventually suppressed the thought.
Shi Yi wouldn’t want her privacy laid bare to the public.
“There’s nothing to chat about.”
“Shi… she’s not in the industry. I don’t want to ruin her life.”
The calmness in Gu Zhan’s words could not be ignored. Wen Xin and the audience were all stunned.
Wen Xin: “You’re right. As celebrities, we’re used to being in the spotlight, but people outside the circle, like my parents for example, aren’t used to it. I hope the media doesn’t drag outsiders into this. Their mental fortitude isn’t that strong, and they have no obligation to satisfy everyone’s curiosity.”
Audience: [Gege’s morals are so righteous. I also think everyone should stop bothering the ex-girlfriend.] [That’s right, the past is the past. We can be curious, but we shouldn’t disturb her.] [No problem! As long as it doesn’t involve romance, our Male God is always right.] [Right!! When it comes to romance, definitely don’t listen to him!! Absolutely do not! All his talk about gender equality and not having to carry bags for girls is total nonsense. Whoever believes him is doomed! I am a complete idiot for doing so!] [Did the person above actually believe him? Candles/Candles/Candles]
The live comments were a total mess.
However, regarding Gu Zhan’s statement, both netizens and fans were very supportive.
A gust of sea breeze blew past, rustling Gu Zhan’s fragmented bangs over his eyes. He narrowed his eyes, staring out at the vast ocean, lost in thought.
Suddenly, his pupils locked onto something. “Shi Yi?!”
Wen Xin: “…Who?”
Shi Yi: “…Who??”
The cameraman followed his line of sight. The screen immediately displayed the scene Gu Zhan was looking at—not far away, there was a yacht. Sitting on the yacht’s deck was a woman with a slender back, resting her chin in her hand as she lazily watched a laptop.
A woman?
Realizing something was up, the cameraman kept zooming in.
Staring at the live stream, Shi Yi rubbed her eyes. Why did this yacht and that figure’s back look so familiar? It was still zooming in!
Wait a minute!
That was fucking her!
Looking at the man on the screen, whose gaze looked as if he wanted to eat her alive, her brain buzzed. Not daring to turn her head, she yelled, “Butler!! Hurry and change directions!!”
The man’s pupils shrank, and he lunged violently toward the railing. “Chase them!!”
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