When picking him up at the airport, Xia Xiqing clearly felt Zhou Ziheng's rising popularity. His extremely high national popularity was already a great weapon for him to survive in the entertainment industry. Now, with the support of reality shows and CP popularity, his popularity has almost jumped to the top of the current 20-generation male actors in the entertainment industry.
Xiao Luo and several bodyguards surrounded Zhou Ziheng, stretched out their hands to form a human wall to block the fans, and trapped Zhou Ziheng, who was taller than all of them.
If it was just Zhou Ziheng, the situation would be easier to control, but Xia Xiqing from the other side of the CP was also there, as well as Shang Sirui, the most popular member of the boy band. Together, the number of fans has doubled. Shang Sirui was a gentleman, always letting the bodyguards protect Ruan Xiao, and he followed behind Ruan Xiao.
Xia Xiqing was walking behind Zhou Ziheng, but a fan came up and grabbed his sleeve, pulling his loose white sweater, exposing half of his shoulder. Screams filled his ears, making Xia Xiqing dizzy, and he reached out to pull the clothes off his shoulders.
"Don't pull Xiqing's clothes!"
"Xi Qing, Xi Qing's clothes!"
"Who is pulling that strings? Let go!"
Xia Xiqing couldn't help but frown. Being a celebrity was not something that ordinary people could do. Under normal circumstances, he would have gotten angry a long time ago, but now he could only endure it.
Looking back, he couldn't see who was pulling his clothes. There were too many people. Xia Xiqing frowned and grabbed his collar, saying helplessly, "Don't get excited. Your clothes will be torn."
The scene was in chaos for a while. Zhou Ziheng, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped, turned around, stretched out his hand to grab the girl's wrist, and said, "Let go."
The girl who was holding onto Xia Xiqing tightly raised her head, and Zhou Ziheng looked down at her expressionlessly. She was immediately shocked by his aura, and she let go of his hand in a daze.
"Don't do this next time. It's very dangerous." Zhou Ziheng turned his head and adjusted his torn clothes very smoothly. He put his arm around Xia Xiqing's shoulders and brought him diagonally in front of him, using himself to separate Xia Xiqing from the fans.
As they moved forward with difficulty, the fans became more and more excited. Several bodyguards became impatient with the fans and reached out to push them, but Zhou Ziheng stopped them, "Don't push them."
His tone was very stern. "It's very dangerous. Tramplings are likely to happen." He raised his voice a little, as if to speak to everyone. "Everyone, don't crowd. It's not like you won't see me again. There will be opportunities in the future. Watch your step and be safe."
Xia Xiqing, who was originally very annoyed, couldn't help laughing at this moment. This man really exudes the great and glorious aura of a saint all the time.
If it were an ordinary star, he would have cursed him hundreds of times in his heart.
He tilted his head and looked at the bony hand that supported his shoulder. He suddenly envied Zhou Ziheng. No, it was more jealousy than envy. Because no matter what happened, he could always deal with it with the brightest attitude.
A natural gentle person.
Even though he tempted and forced Zhou Ziheng again and again, he would still lend a helping hand to him out of his sense of morality and try to protect him, just like protecting anyone who needs protection, even though he is so despicable.
Xia Xiqing hated such people, hated those who lived like light all day long, because their existence made him look even more despicable.
The program crew's car took them to the recording location for this episode. Time was tight, so they could only have dinner casually while they were getting their styling done. Zhou Ziheng, Xia Xiqing and Shang Sirui shared a large dressing room. Just after they changed their clothes, Xiao Luo and Shang Sirui's assistants came in with food.
"Xiqing," Xiao Luo specifically called Xia Xiqing, "You should eat something too. This restaurant is very famous locally and should suit your taste."
Xia Xiqing smiled and responded, but she didn't have much expectation. Whether it was when they had hot pot together or when she and Zhou Ziheng went to the P University cafeteria to eat alone, Zhou Ziheng's taste was always light, and he almost never touched chili peppers.
But when he walked to the sofa and saw Xiao Luo unpacking the food one by one, he found that half of the dishes were bright red, including spicy chicken and pork with blood, while the other half were light dishes, which were obviously Zhou Ziheng's taste.
"These were ordered by Ziheng himself," Xiao Luo covered his mouth with his hand and whispered to Xia Xiqing as if he was telling tales, "I didn't order them. If you don't like them, just blame Ziheng, haha."
Zhou Ziheng, who had just changed his clothes, pushed the door and walked in. Unlike his previous private clothes, the clothes arranged by the program team looked much simpler, a dark blue long-sleeved sweatshirt paired with light blue jeans. Strangely, this outfit was surprisingly similar to Xia Xiqing's.
Xia Xiqing looked down at himself. He was also wearing a dark blue top and light blue jeans, but the style was slightly different.
If the production team wanted to hype up the couple, they wouldn't make their clothes look so similar. Xia Xiqing smiled helplessly. He could almost imagine the crazy scene of the couple fans online when the behind-the-scenes footage was released.
"Ziheng, you're back. Hey, your clothes are similar to Xiqing's." Xiao Luo scratched the stubble on the back of his head, "Could it be that the program crew specially made couple outfits?"
Zhou Ziheng's expression immediately became unnatural. He lowered his head, stretched out his long legs and kicked Xiao Luo, "What couple outfits... Shut up."
Xia Xiqing chuckled and sat down on the sofa. "Did you order all this?"
"Who ordered it?" Zhou Ziheng also sat down and pointed at Xiao Luo with a look that said I know nothing. "It was you who ordered it. You ordered such spicy dishes. Do you want to kill me with the spicy food?"
Xiao Luo and Xia Xiqing looked at each other, and both of them almost couldn't hold back their laughter.
Zhou Ziheng scratched his unstyled hair, looking like a big boy. He coughed and said awkwardly, "Well, I can't eat something this spicy. You eat it. I'll just eat these."
“Is that so…” Xia Xiqing looked at him with a smile, and the ending tone returned to its previous tone, light and floating.
Zhou Ziheng was afraid that he would say that, but he was also a little happy, thinking that Xia Xiqing had returned to her old self. Xia Xiqing, who had fallen into a dream on the plane, made him feel strange and distressed.
He lowered his head and hummed, then took out a pair of chopsticks from the package and opened it. "It's a bargain for you."
"Thank you." Xia Xiqing took the chopsticks from his hand without any hesitation, "They are all my favorites. What a coincidence."
After hearing this, Zhou Ziheng was a little happy, but in order to maintain his clumsy lie, he could only remain silent and lower his head to eat his side of the meal. Shang Sirui also came by chance, humming a song. Xia Xiqing took a look and said, "You look so happy."
"How is our title song for this comeback? Is it good?"
The male assistant at the side shook his head helplessly, "Enough with you, you crazy song leaker."
Shang Sirui didn't bother to care, and hopped to the sofa, "It smells good. Hey, your clothes are similar." He tugged at his dark red coat, walked to Xia Xiqing's side and sat next to him, "Red and blue have always been a perfect couple!" After saying that, he rested his chin on Xia Xiqing's shoulder, "I want to eat it too. I want to eat spicy chicken."
"Okay." Xia Xiqing picked up a piece of chicken and put it to Shang Sirui's mouth, "Open your mouth."
This kind of intimate behavior always happened frequently between the two of them. Zhou Ziheng thought he was used to it, but he found that he couldn't get used to it.
He ate a few mouthfuls of rice in silence, not even wanting to lift his chopsticks. It felt like a lemon was stuffed in his chest, being squeezed repeatedly by a pair of invisible hands, and sour juice was flowing out.
Zhou Ziheng didn't eat much in total, and he got up to shape his food. Shang Sirui was a little surprised, "Ziheng, you only eat this little."
"I may have an audition next week. I'm trying to manage my weight recently."
It’s half true and half false, but not a complete lie either, Zhou Ziheng comforted himself.
Shang Sirui's assistant unpacked the fried chicken he ordered and placed it in front of him. Shang Sirui stuffed a large piece of fried chicken into his mouth and muttered, "It must be another miserable movie. When can you take on a TV series? I'll give you a supporting role."
Zhou Ziheng started to do his hair, sat in front of the mirror and closed his eyes and said, "Wait until I play a pet-themed drama."
Shang Sirui could only turn his grief and anger into appetite, and ate the fried chicken while suppressing the urge to hit Zhou Ziheng.
Before the program officially started recording, the four guests finally gathered together. Like the first episode, several men in black appeared with black blindfolds in their hands, ready to take them into their own initial rooms when the director shouted "start".
It was only then that Xia Xiqing realized that Ruan Xiao was wearing the same color of clothes as Shang Sirui, a red denim jacket and black jeans.
Could it be that this episode has a tendency to divide the audience into groups? The aftereffects of the previous episode made him focus on the outfits that the program team had arranged for each person. Zhou Ziheng's outfit was almost identical to his own, and Shang Sirui and Ruan Xiao's clothes were also very similar.
But it is unlikely that the program crew would make it so obvious if there really were any groups.
If the screenwriter had not changed, according to the last routine, we would only know the real plot of the copy after entering the secret room.
Xia Xiqing, who was immersed in thought, looked up and saw Zhou Ziheng looking at him with a hint of worry in his eyes. Before he could react why Zhou Ziheng showed such an expression, his eyes were blindfolded by the man in black.
Shit. He'd almost forgotten about it.
In the darkness, someone grabbed his arms and led him forward step by step. Suddenly, the person stopped and motioned for him to sit down.
Sitting in the chair, Xia Xiqing heard the footsteps getting farther and farther away. The temporary darkness inevitably made him feel physically uncomfortable. Fortunately, the time was short. Not long after he sat down, he heard the familiar narration of the program.
"Hello everyone, welcome to "A Way Out" again. First of all, please take off your blindfolds."
Can I take off the blindfold directly this time? It's so easy, Xia Xiqing is a little unaccustomed to it.
In any case, wearing this was too uncomfortable, so Xia Xiqing took off the blindfold without hesitation, and the secret room in front of him finally appeared in front of him. This time the room looked like an ordinary bedroom, with dark blue wallpaper and gray bedding, as well as some game figures. It looked like a boy's bedroom.
The biggest difference from last time was that Xia Xiqing was the only one in this bedroom. He didn't know why, but he felt a little empty inside. Maybe he was not used to it.
"First of all, I need to explain to you the precautions of this game. Players, please note that you are trapped in different rooms. To win in the end, you must escape from your own room first, collect the password clues of the outermost door on the way, and crack the ultimate door lock. Of course, just like the last issue, there is a killer among you, and he has the right to kill any of you. If the killer becomes the final winner, the points of all players will be reset to zero. The mobile phones in your hands can be used to anonymously vote for the killer you suspect, and those who are eliminated will not be able to continue the game."
"It should be noted that each of your rooms has a radio. When you are trapped in your room, you can also communicate with people in other rooms through the radio."
"three."
"two."
"one."
"Games start."
Radio? Xia Xiqing stood up and walked around the room following the camera set up by the production team as he had done before. The room was not very big, but it was filled with everything. There was a bed that looked quite comfortable, a fully packed wardrobe, a small square carpet on the floor, and on the carpet was a small table, on which was placed the radio that the production team had mentioned.
The overall layout looked very lifelike, as if it was a bedroom that someone had lived in. The chair he had been sitting on was in front of the desk, which was next to the bed. On it was a laptop, a few stacked books, and a lamp with a lampshade that was not turned on.
There was one very strange thing. Many things in this room were circled in their positions. For example, the cup on the desk had a circle of shallow dents on its position, as if it was carved on the wooden table. Xia Xiqing picked up the cup, touched the dents, and knocked on it with his fingers.
It's a hollow sound.
Not only the cups, but many other objects in this room were placed in specific circles. Xia Xiqing found it very strange, but the evidence at hand could not give a reasonable explanation.
"Oh, the radio..." Xia Xiqing, who remembered that he was recording a program, started "talking to himself" quite deliberately. He walked to the side of the small square carpet. The shadow cast in advance last time made him unable to help but lift the carpet. There was nothing underneath, but like the cup before, there was a circle of dents the same size as the carpet.
He tried to turn on the radio, but there was only noise. This thing was too old for him. There were three knobs on the small radio, one blue and two red. The red knob was a little different. One had a number 0 under it, and the other had nothing.
blue
He thought of the clothes Zhou Ziheng was wearing, and thought that the knob was similar to his, so he tried turning it, but found that there was still noise. Whether turning it from the leftmost to the rightmost, or back again, there was no sound.
Xia Xiqing already knew the perversion of the program team, and there was no way such a problem could be solved so easily. He simply left the radio there without turning it off, and the moderate noise became the background sound for him to search for other clues.
He returned to his desk, opened one of the books, and unexpectedly found a bookmark had fallen out of it.
To be precise, it is a butterfly specimen.
Xia Xiqing picked up the butterfly sealed in the transparent specimen slide, stared at it carefully, and thought of himself in elementary school.
In the science class, the teacher asked everyone to go home and catch an insect with the accompaniment of their parents, and bring it back to class the next week to observe with their classmates.
He didn't like insects with hard shells that hid in the soil and dead leaves; he liked butterflies with beautiful wings.
But no one was willing to accompany him to catch it.
"Butterflies can fly, do you think you can catch them so easily?"
"I don't have the time to catch bugs with you. I need to work."
But Xia Xiqing had been stubborn since childhood, and on the afternoon when he was rejected by his parents, he came to the garden in a depressed mood.
Just by chance, he saw a butterfly with blue stripes, fluttering its wings lightly and occasionally landing on the roses at the back of the yard.
His little heart trembled for a moment.
In order to catch him, Xia Xiqing, a third-grade primary school student, spent an entire night making tools. He then sat in front of the steps with the small fishing net for the entire afternoon.
Finally, he persevered and sprained his foot, and his calves and arms were scratched by the roses. He limped and excitedly pinched the net and put the beautiful butterfly into an exquisite little cage.
There are still four days before the next science class. The first thing Xia Xiqing does when he wakes up every day is to look at his little butterfly. He feeds him water, puts fresh little roses on his feet, and then lies on the table, watching him flutter his beautiful wings.
I indulge in this obsession every day and even forget the pain left when I got it.
Finally, the day came when he could bring the little butterfly to class and introduce it to everyone. Xia Xiqing stood on a stool and searched around for a long time before he found a piece of blue velvet that matched his little butterfly. He carefully placed the velvet on the cage and took him to the classroom.
Some of them took ladybugs, some took longhorn beetles, and some took beetles, but none of them could compare to his little butterfly.
"Let me show you mine." He smiled so proudly and lifted the velvet.
Unlike what was expected, the blue butterfly that was supposed to be dancing lay silently in the cage, motionless. No matter how Xia Xiqing cried or how he shook the cage with his scratched hands, it never flew up and fluttered its beautiful wings at him.
If only I hadn't caught this butterfly.
If I hadn't seen him among the rose bushes that afternoon, hadn't tried to keep him by my side, hadn't tried to possess him at all costs.
I won't lose.
"Xia Xiqing."
"Xi Qing."
His thoughts were suddenly pulled away from the memories. Xia Xiqing put down the butterfly specimen in his hand in a daze and turned around.
The radio that had only made noise just now started to make sound.
"Can you hear me? I'm Zhou Ziheng."
The author has something to say: The life span of an adult butterfly is very short, some of them only live for less than ten days. So the little butterfly has actually spent nearly one-third of its life span accompanying little Xiqing.