When the Stars Tremble

Chapter 36: Thirty-six stars

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Wang Tan thought his question was outrageous enough, but he didn't expect that Zong Ye's next shameless words were even more powerful.

Under the gaze of the two men, Jiang Chuyi stiffened her fingers and slowly pushed her sunglasses back into place, blocking Zong Ye's sight.

Wang Tan had a WTF expression on his face. He looked around and lowered his voice in disbelief: "Hello? I just said it casually? You two really don't want to scare me?"

“No…” She took a step back, closed her eyes, and pretended to be calm as she explained to Wang Tan, “We were just cooperating with the production team to hype up our relationship, pretending… pretending to like each other.”

"Cooperation, program crew, hyping up couples, pretending to like each other?" Wang Tan repeated word by word, struggling to understand the logic.

"You two..." Wang Tan choked up and sighed, "You are really a genius."

Jiang Chuyi was speechless.

Zong Ye raised the corner of his lips: "You and Feng Miaotong can also try it."

Wang Tan shot back expressionlessly: "I'll try your mother."

Jiang Chuyi couldn't hold on any longer and whispered to them, "It's okay, I'll leave first."

After saying this, without waiting for the two to say anything, he quickly turned around and left as if escaping.

Feng Miaotong was not far away and watched the entire incident.

Although she couldn't hear exactly what they were talking about, she saw with her own eyes that Zong Ye put his sunglasses on Jiang Chuyi.

Feng Miaotong was stunned and was in a state of doubt about her life.

Although she had known for a long time that Jiang Chuyi had a good relationship with the Xibao group, Feng Miaotong had never thought that Jiang Chuyi would be so "close" to Neng Zong...

Sitting back on the bus, Jiang Chuyi's mind went blank for a while before she remembered to take off her sunglasses and take out her foundation to cover her dark circles.

Feng Miaotong was in mixed emotions. She had not yet recovered from the shock she had just experienced, and her opinion of Jiang Chuyi had also changed drastically.

People who have been in the entertainment industry for so long are indeed not simple people. Jiang Chuyi is indeed quite capable... I don’t know what means she used to hook up with the big boss of Xibao... You can’t judge a person by his appearance.

*

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the recording crew of "Shining Stars" arrived at the swimming pool. More than a dozen guests changed their clothes and the recording officially began.

According to the teams divided last night, the two teams will still have to PK.

There are two star boards floating in the swimming pool, each connected to a one-meter-wide foam board channel, with a rubber kayak in the middle.

The director read the rules of the game to them as usual: "I think everyone has played flying chess before. It is similar to today's game. All the members of the white team and the pink team stay on the foam board. Listen to my whistle. After the game starts, the players of both teams need to find a way to occupy the kayak. Once a player is pushed into the swimming pool, he is out. At the end of the game, the team with more players left on the rubber kayak wins. Do you understand?"

Zeng Pingfei sighed: "It feels like another fierce battle."

He glanced at Chi Mengyue and said, "We men are responsible for charging forward, and you female guests will hide in the back and take the opportunity to sneak in."

Chi Mengyue smiled: "What's wrong, do you look down on girls? I'm also very strong."

Quan Yongning said: "After the female team members get on the boat, try to find a place to hold on. If the pink team members push you, hold them back. If that doesn't work, try to get them into the water as well."

Ji Kai raised his hand and eagerly discussed tactics with Zong Ye: "You will be responsible for dealing with Wang Tan later. I will see if I can't kill Fu Cheng."

He thought of something, put his hand on the microphone, and whispered to Souya, "Everyone is here this time, don't let Mr. Jiang go easy on you."

Zongye hummed perfunctorily.

Before the flying chess game started, the assistant director asked them to each pick a team member to play the "Of course" game. Whoever won would send the first team member to board the kayak and gain the initiative.

Ji Kai and Wang Tan stood by the swimming pool.

Wang Tan started first. He stared at Ji Kai, thought for a while, and asked, "You went to Africa to pick up trash when you were a kid, right? That's why you're so dark now?"

Ji Kai endured it for a moment, gritted his teeth and blurted out two words, "Of course."

It was Ji Kai's turn to fight back. He opened his mouth and said, "You and your ex-girlfriend often take a shower together, right?"

The whole audience was silent.

Wang Tan's expression twisted, and he uttered, "Of course."

Feng Miaotong couldn't stop laughing and shouted at them, "You guys are really willing to go all out for the show effect."

Wang Tan sneered and moved his lips, "Do you remember that you were drunk before and cried to me that you liked Jiang Chuyi?"

The smile of Jiang Chuyi, a bystander, suddenly froze.

Caught off guard, everyone on the pink team had an expression as if they had just eaten something big, and their eyes all fell on Jiang Chuyi.

After a moment of silence, Ji Kai gritted his teeth and admitted, "Of course."

Everyone was laughing. Feng Miaotong felt something in her heart and looked through the crowd at Zong Ye from the White Team. He stood there without moving, with an expressionless face, staring at Wang Tan quietly.

Then, Ji Kai said something shocking again: "Are you and Fu Cheng really in love?"

Wang Tan: “…”

The whole place was silent. Xu Jiayu was stunned for a few seconds and couldn't help but yelled "Fuck". Fu Cheng, who was standing next to them, had a livid face. He walked out of the team and came to them. He kicked Ji Kai hard and kicked him directly into the swimming pool.

With a splash, a large splash of water occurred.

"Director, is this still possible?" Ji Kai fluttered to his feet, wiped the water off his face, pulled Wang Tan's legs and brought him down with him.

The two of them were making a scene in the swimming pool. Ji Kai shouted, "Director, help me! My pants have been pulled down by Wang Tan! The pink team can't afford to lose!"

The recording crew laughed so hard that their stomachs ached. The director shouted, "Alright, alright, the White Team wins!"

After the mini-game was over, several guests at the edge of the swimming pool went into the water and climbed onto the star boards designated by their team.

Quan Yongning patted Ji Kai on the shoulder and said, "Xiao Kai, you are talented. When your group disbands, come on a variety show with me."

Ji Kai said seriously: "No, I don't want to be a funny guy, I want to be cool."

The first person sent by Team White was Zhuo Qingming.

As soon as he stepped onto the foam board aisle in the middle, several people from the pink team started shaking non-stop.

Zhuo Qingming had to kneel down and move towards the kayak.

Zhao Guangyu was standing at the front, and the moment Zhuo Qingming climbed up, he took a quick step, crossed the foam board, rushed towards the kayak, climbed up in a few steps, and pounced on Zhuo Qingming.

The two men wrestled with each other.

Zhuo Qingming was a thin singer and was quickly dragged into the water.

Xu Zhi immediately said: "Let's climb up together!"

The white team and the pink team began to attack the kayak together.

The people from the two teams kept fighting, and as soon as Chi Mengyue went up, she was caught by Xu Jiayu.

Xu Jiayu hugged her waist from behind, ready to throw her down.

Chi Mengyue screamed in fright.

Zeng Zhiping was quick-witted and immediately pulled Chi Mengyue over and kicked Xu Jiayu with his foot. Soon other teammates came to help.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Jiang Chuyi immediately shrank into a corner and held on to the handrails of the kayak.

The small kayak was crowded with people, and the guests who had already fallen into the water were still making trouble and pulling people away. There was a huge disparity in strength between men and women, and Feng Miaotong could only stick close to Wang Tan, helplessly holding onto his clothes, and watching him fight with Fu Cheng.

Ji Kai was about to deal with a general of the pink team when he spotted Jiang Chuyi hiding in the corner. He walked over with a grim smile on his face and pretended to grab her legs and pull her down.

Jiang Chuyi kicked hard in panic.

Ji Kai felt pain and shook his hands, "Teacher Jiang, you are so cruel."

"Zhao Guangyu!" Jiang Chuyi shouted anxiously, "Come and save me!"

Zhao Guangyu was too busy to deal with anything else, so he shouted at her helplessly: "Just run!"

Jiang Chuyi rolled and crawled away in the other direction.

She crawled with difficulty and was pushed to the edge of the kayak by the people who were fighting. When she was about to fall, a hand reached out from somewhere. She subconsciously grabbed it and used the other person's force to escape.

Before I could catch my breath, the opponent's bright white uniform came into view.

Jiang Chuyi took a deep breath and looked up at the other person's face.

"Muneya?!"

She hurriedly tried to pull her hand back to look for her teammate, but he held her tightly. As she looked around, Ji Kai shouted from behind: "Great, I caught you again, Teacher Jiang!"

The teammate closest to her was still fighting with Zeng Pingfei for Chi Mengyue and had no time to pay attention to this side. In a flash, Jiang Chuyi struggled hard and hugged Zong Ye's waist with her backhand.

He was stunned for a moment.

Jiang Chuyi threatened Ji Kai: "I won't let go. If you have the guts to throw me in, I will drag Zong Ye down with me!"

Zongye sat there in a relaxed posture, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth when he heard her say that.

He patted her shoulder soothingly, looked up at Ji Kai, and expressed that he was helpless as well.

Ji Kai: "What are you standing there for? Throw her down!"

Zongye used his eyes to signal the hand on his waist: "Didn't you hear what she said? You want to take me with you."

Hearing this, Jiang Chuyi tightened her grip, fearing that Zong Ye would suddenly change his mind and push her away, and emphasized again: "Yes, if I go down, I will drag him with me!"

Ji Kai leaned over and before he could say anything, he staggered a few times and was kicked off the boat by a flying kick that appeared out of nowhere.

Zhao Guangyu clasped his fists and said in a deep voice: "I'm sorry, idol!"

After Ji Kai fell into the water, he immediately grabbed the boat, steadied himself, and cursed: "You kid, your legs are really strong!"

The crisis was resolved, and Jiang Chuyi relaxed a little. Suddenly, she found that her head was against Zong Ye's arm, and the two were in a very intimate posture.

Zong Ye's white T-shirt was already half wet. When Jiang Chuyi raised her eyes, she saw the rouge mole on the side of his neck that was stained with water droplets.

Jiang Chuyi's pupils trembled, and the hand that was grabbing his waist and abdomen couldn't help but curl up, feeling a well-defined abdominal muscle rubbing against it.

Zongye hissed softly and whispered to her, "It's itchy."

Jiang Chuyi's blood rushed to her head, and she immediately let go and pushed him away. She knelt down and apologized repeatedly: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

At this moment, Ji Kai grabbed Zong Ye's clothes from behind and said, "We're all going to die together, right? You two get down here too!"

The two of them created a large splash of water, and Jiang Chuyi choked on the water several times.

Zongye held her waist and led her to the side of the kayak, "Hold on."

He is tall and can stand directly in the swimming pool.

Jiang Chuyi kept kicking her legs in the water, trying to swim over and hold onto the boat, then turned around and asked him, "Why are you getting me into trouble?"

Zongye laughed, "Didn't you say you wanted to come down with me?"

Jiang Chuyi was stumped by his words. Knowing that she was in the wrong, she weakly replied, "Okay."

At the end of the game, under the leadership of Zhao Guangyu, the pink team gained the upper hand in terms of the remaining number of people on the kayaks and won the PK victory.

There is a ten-minute halftime break.

Jiang Chuyi sat on the shore exhausted, picked up a large towel beside her and wiped her hair. As she wiped, she couldn't help but look at the person sitting next to her, and couldn't help but slow down her movements.

Zongye was soaked all over, and he was hanging his head, wringing the water out of the corner of his clothes.

The short-sleeved shirt that the male guest wore when entering the water was thin, especially since he was wearing white clothes. After being soaked, the translucent fabric stuck to his body. Souya's hair and chin were still wet, and the water slid down along his Adam's apple, revealing his collarbone and waistline.

Jiang Chuyi couldn't help but remind him: "Please put on a towel."

Souya: "What?"

He seemed to be unaware of the "charm" that was leaking out of him, and asked in confusion: "Why are you wearing a towel?"

"You, you are almost..." Jiang Chuyi was unable to speak, and kept changing her words, "I am almost seeing you..."

"What did you see me?" he asked with a smile, still looking confused.

"You'll know if you look down yourself."

Following her line of sight, Zongye lowered his head, as if he had finally reacted. He smiled, pulled the towel over, and obediently covered his upper body.

"Teacher Jiang." He suddenly called her.

Jiang Chuyi exclaimed.

Zongye smiled, as if he was saying something ordinary: "Have you started pretending to like me?"

Jiang Chuyi didn't expect him to bring this up. He quickly glanced at the person in the distance before replying, "Why do you ask?"

"Why else would you..." Zongye stared at her and spoke slowly, "be so possessive of me?"

Jiang Chuyi: “…”

It was like a bolt from the blue for her. She felt it was ridiculous for a moment, but seeing the curious look on his face, he didn't look like he was joking, so she couldn't help but ask, "Is this considered possessiveness?"

He asked gently, "Doesn't it count?"

Jiang Chuyi had been very frank at first, but now she became uncertain after being asked by him.

She suddenly felt uneasy. She began to doubt herself. Yes, there were so many male guests, why was she afraid that Zong would be seen naked? If it was Zhao Guangyu, even if he took off his clothes and danced in front of her, Jiang Chuyi would not feel any different.

Jiang Chuyi lowered her head and stammered, "Well, I get into the role quickly, so I might have over-engaged myself. Sorry, I'll try to control myself."

Souya: "It's okay, I'm pretty possessive too."

Jiang Chuyi was quiet again.

"I remember watching some variety shows before, where some male guests would be unhappy when they saw their partners interacting with the opposite sex." Zong Ye said, "So when I see you and Zhao Guangyu talking all the time, I don't seem to be happy either."

Jiang Chuyi was confused and said quickly: "You misunderstood, we are just friends and have known each other for many years."

"Then when you're pretending to like me, can you have less contact with him?" Zongye's expression was calm, "At least don't let him touch you."

Jiang Chuyi looked at him for a while, nodded, and agreed to him, "Okay."

After a few seconds of silence, Zongye chuckled, "Thank you."

After the flying chess game ended, the director said, "Let me tell you something. The main content of our recording tonight is a performance program, and the participating members include four male guests from BloodXGentle—"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone laughed.

Feng Miaotong sighed, "What a treat."

Ji Kai: "Director, if you want to see our performance, go grab the concert tickets."

The director glared at him and said, "You haven't finished your sentence yet, why are you in such a hurry?"

He cleared his throat and continued, "These four male guests are responsible for selecting a teammate and completing a program. The remaining guests who are not selected by them will prepare a program on their own!"

Everyone looked at each other and wailed.

Director: "Since Ji Kai was the Star King yesterday, his privilege is to choose a teammate by himself. The other three will be blindfolded and choose! Find your partner by touching hands!"

Ji Kai touched his chin, his eyes roaming over everyone.

Zhuo Qingming and Xu Jiayu were relatively calm, as performing was not a difficult task for them. Zeng Zhiping, on the other hand, had a bitter face and said, "Choose me, I can't even sing or dance."

A few minutes later, Ji Kai shouted: "I choose Zhao Guangyu as my teammate!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Guangyu jumped up excitedly and immediately rushed over to hug Ji Kai, "The two of us will definitely rock the place."

After Ji Kai finished choosing, Fu Cheng tied a ribbon and randomly picked a male guest.

Amid the crowd's cheers, Wang Tan chose Feng Miaotong.

Finally it was Souya's turn.

The director team selected a few female guests to stand in the front.

Zong was brought to them by the staff.

His lips were very red, his skin was pale, and his eyes were tied across with a black ribbon, giving him a strange, ascetic look.

Several female guests couldn't help but look at each other.

When we got to the designated location, the director shouted, "Begin!"

Zongye stood in front of the first person, spread out his palms very gentlemanly, and asked them to put their hands on his hands, intending to find it directly by weighing them.

Chi Mengyue glanced at the camera, controlled her expression, and put her hand on it.

The moment their palms touched, her chest heaved nervously.

Unexpectedly, Zongye quickly let go and walked towards the next person.

A feeling of loss surged in her heart, but Chi Mengyue still forced herself to smile.

The third person is Jiang Chuyi.

Like everyone else, she placed her hand on it carefully.

Zong Ye paused, as if he had found his target, and held her hand in reverse, starting from the knuckles and extending all the way to the wrist.

Jiang Chuyi held back from making a sound.

Not far away, the director reminded: "Songye, what are you doing? It's almost time out!"

Zong Ye pulled Jiang Chuyi out, pulled off the ribbon that bound her eyes, and said to the director, "I found it."

“Oh~”

The crowd started to boo again.

After the four members of Xibao made their choices, the director confirmed their teammates again, "Okay, that's it for now. Next, you will have three hours to rehearse, have dinner, and record the show at 8 o'clock in the evening."

*

After changing clothes in the dressing room, the guests climbed onto the bus and headed for the rehearsal venue.

A few people who were still more energetic sat in the back and started playing Truth or Dare.

Jiang Chuyi sat in her seat, playing with her phone distractedly.

She replayed today's conversation with Zong Ye several times in her mind and couldn't help but look for Chen Yi on WeChat.

Jiang Chuyi: "Xiaoyi, I feel... I am hopeless..."

Chen Yi: “? What’s wrong?”

Jiang Chuyi typed seriously.

"Didn't the production team want me and Souya to be a couple? I guess they just wanted to take advantage of Souya's popularity and create some hype, but he seemed to be quite cooperative. Neither of us has much experience, so we discussed it a couple of days ago and decided to pretend to like each other on the show and fall in love or something..."

There was silence on the other side for several minutes.

Half the screen was filled with question marks, and another half the screen was filled with exclamation marks.

Chen Yi: "Big sister, are you an elementary school student? Although you have never been in a relationship, I can understand, but!! But!!! Even if you have never eaten pork, you must have seen pigs run, right?!!! You have been in the entertainment industry for so many years for nothing?? The IQ and EQ of both of you combined are both 250, right? Pretending to be in a relationship??! Are you sure it's not a one-sided fight???"

Jiang Chuyi paused.

Chen Yi: "I just want to ask, who came up with this method that shocked the world and made the gods weep?"

Jiang Chuyi: "Zong Ye"

Jiang Chuyi's depressed mind found an outlet to vent, and she poured out her inner thoughts: "I think Zong Yi may have known that I like him, so he is testing me. But you know his situation, it is impossible for him to fall in love now, and I don't want to hinder his career. The main thing is that he wants to use the CP thing to play ambiguity with me, which is nothing, anyway, I really like him. I feel a little stupid, even though it has come to this, I still don't dare to ask him. Just think that I am blinded by my own greed."

Jiang Chuyi: "I think we can just be friends. He is indeed a very good person. But love is unpredictable. I am not sure if he wants to "play around" with me on the show, but I am willing to play with him. I don't expect to have a confirmed relationship with him or anything like that. It's not realistic. Everything else is fine. I am just afraid that I will get too deeply involved and won't be able to get out of it..."

Chen Yi sent another string of ellipsis.

Chen Yi: "First of all, I admire you for admitting that you like a top star. You have the courage. Secondly, if you are ready to face the storm of the strongest "tumor fans" in the domestic entertainment industry, I will tell you what Zong Ye thinks..."

Jiang Chuyi waited for a long time, but there was no response from Chen Yi.

Just as she was about to send an emoticon, her phone vibrated:

Chen Yi: "Good news—he loves it so much"

(End of this chapter)