Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 13

Ever since the promotional clips and behind-the-scenes footage were released, Ran Lin was recognized more frequently on the streets. Setting aside the subtle public opinion tendencies of the behind-the-scenes footage, which had just come out today, most fans and passersby still saw Ran Lin as the clean-cut young man from the promotional video.

Although all were called “National First Love”, only Ran Lin and Zhang Beichen still retained a youthful vibe to this day. Xia Xinran wasn’t a beautiful youth but a beauty, with his looks overshadowing his age; Lu Yiyao was a mature, romantic man—someone you could rely on; Gu Jie, on the other hand, seemed ready to carry you straight to the civil affairs bureau to register for marriage.

Yet, even within their youthful vigor, Ran Lin and Zhang Beichen differed. The former was like the quiet boy next door, with a touch of freshness, while the latter was more like a sporty senior, handsome with an energetic upward vibe.

Therefore, when the promotional video was released, even though Ran Lin was ridiculed openly and secretly by the fans of the other four stars, to unbiased passersby, he seemed quite fitting for the image of a first love.

Thanks to the rising attention, Wang Xi wanted Ran Lin to maintain the image from the promotional video in the minds of the audience and fans until the program officially aired. So, during this period, she minimized his public exposure and naturally prevented too many candid photos from circulating—finally, Ran Lin got to experience flying first-class for the first time.

After passing through security, there was still half an hour until boarding. The Capital Airport was still bustling in the evening. Ran Lin, wearing a cap and a mask, quickly followed Wang Xi into the VIP lounge.

This time, in addition to Liu Wanwan, Wang Xi also brought a makeup artist and a few others, expanding their team compared to the previous two episodes. Except for Ran Lin, everyone else had economy class tickets. Wang Xi was special; as a frequent flyer and a gold card member, she could enjoy the VIP lounge like Ran Lin in first class, while the rest waited in the hall near the boarding gate after passing security.

The VIP lounge was sparse and quiet. In the spacious area, there were stylishly arranged armchairs, sofas, modern small coffee tables, and various plants. A few business-dressed travelers were scattered about, reading or working on laptops in silence.

At Wang Xi’s request, the well-trained staff led them to the back of the lounge, a semi-enclosed space separated by a row of bookshelves, which Wang Xi thought was quieter.

However, as soon as they rounded the bookshelves, Ran Lin saw Lu Yiyao sitting on the sofa behind them. Hearing the noise, Lu Yiyao looked up. Their eyes met, and both were momentarily bewildered.

Wang Xi, who hadn’t seen Lu Yiyao to her right, kept her head high and straight ahead as she passed the bookshelves. So, the first person she noticed was Yao Hong, who was about to leave to go to the restroom.

“Well, isn’t it Hong Jie?”

Wang Xi’s voice wasn’t loud, sounding like a polite greeting in a public place. But Ran Lin could tell it wasn’t the usual indifferent Wang Xi. The tone was subtly rising, and the enunciation was clear, seemingly implying something more.

Yao Hong, as always, responded with a gentle smile.

And just a short response…

“What a coincidence, Xiao Wang.”

Which was a bit cryptic.

Both in their forties, this strange way of addressing each other, combined with the knowledge that they had both worked at Pentium Media, made Ran Lin feel like he could conjure up an eighty-episode palace drama in his mind.

But after the greetings, the two women linked arms and went off to a corner to catch up, leaving Ran Lin standing awkwardly beside the bookshelf, unsure whether to stay or go.

“Hi, what a coincidence,” Ran Lin awkwardly echoed Yao Hong’s opening line during their uncomfortable eye contact.

Lu Yiyao, recovering from his initial surprise, stood up from the sofa without much thought. “Are you also on the 7 p.m. flight?”

Ran Lin didn’t expect Lu Yiyao to stand up so politely; he had imagined that a mere response from Lu Yiyao would be good enough. So, he hurriedly said, “You rest. Don’t mind me.”

Lu Yiyao, still standing, looked at him somewhat perplexedly. Ran Lin, feeling equally baffled by the attention, finally realized and replied, “Oh, my flight is at 18:55.”

Lu Yiyao felt a bit awkward and added a second note to his evaluation of Ran Lin as a “scheming boy”—occasionally clueless.

The first note was made on the night when Ran Lin faced the super spicy noodles and the extremely sour and bitter juice, marked by his thoughtful offering of a bottle of mineral water—occasionally considerate.

“So, we’re on the same flight,” Lu Yiyao concluded and sat back down.

Ran Lin suddenly had a strange feeling, as if standing up to greet him was a task embedded in Lu Yiyao’s bodily mechanics, unrelated to his personal feelings towards Ran Lin but merely a reflex in the given situation.

“I’ll go over there…” Ran Lin pointed in Wang Xi’s direction, and without waiting for Lu Yiyao’s response, he tactfully exited the scene.

Lu Yiyao, who was about to say, “let’s sit together”, couldn’t find the right moment to speak, and the words died before being said.

There was nothing wrong with this. It was just a polite remark after all. But when Ran Lin didn’t actually go to Wang Xi but instead chose an inconspicuous single sofa in a corner, avoiding Wang Xi and Yao Hong, who were still “catching up”, Lu Yiyao felt a bit awkward.

He had imagined Ran Lin would try every possible way to interact with him and cling to him. Though such a thought was a bit shameless, it was how Ran Lin had acted when they first met.

No, they actually hadn’t properly met at that time.

If the start of their “acquaintance” was marked by the first episode’s recording, then during the entire two episodes, “the Ran Lin he knew” hadn’t done anything offensive. In fact, not only did Ran Lin not eagerly interact with him, but he also intentionally or unintentionally avoided him in the show.

When all five of them appeared on camera, Ran Lin interacted most with Xia Xinran, followed by Zhang Beichen.

Lu Yiyao wasn’t sure if Ran Lin had “turned over a new leaf” or developed a new “strategy”, but setting aside conspiracy theories and past grievances—after all, Ran Lin’s side hadn’t tied him up for hype recently—and judging objectively from his heart, comparing his own attitude with Ran Lin’s throughout the recording, he would give himself negative points.

There was nothing worse than responding to goodwill with malice. Even if the malice wasn’t very obvious, even if the goodwill was questionable.

Yao Hong said that he has always recorded the program with emotion. The original words were, “You are naturally slow to warm up, and with emotions on top of that, fans and audiences are not fools. They can feel it clearly through the camera. Do you want to pack up the fans and wash them away, or do you want to freeze the audience until they turn back on the road?”

He hadn’t responded at the time, but he felt indignant inside. Now, he had to admit that Yao Hong had hit the nail on the head.

But pondering all this was useless; he couldn’t just go up to Ran Lin and apologize, saying, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have looked at you through colored glasses in the first two episodes.”

Besides, if it weren’t for Ran Lin’s initial hype, he wouldn’t have projected his aversion onto Ran Lin.

In the end, he still needed an apology from Ran Lin’s team.

Forget it.

Lu Yiyao put down the magazine, deciding to browse Weibo to divert his attention. Expecting mutual apologies between stars’ management teams was like hoping for a cooked duck to speak—too far-fetched and unrealistic.

As soon as he opened the Weibo app, he was bombarded with @mentions. Lu Yiyao casually clicked in and, as expected, they were all from the official Weibo of the show and fans’ reposts.

Lu Yiyao had spent most of his time between engagements browsing Weibo posts related to <National First Love Drifting Story>. After all, it was his variety show debut, and to say he was indifferent would be self-deception.

Unfortunately, today’s updated behind-the-scenes footage by the show crew was unrelated to him; it featured Ran Lin and Zhang Beichen.

[#National First Love Drifting Story Premieres on 2.14# Eighth Exclusive Behind-the-Scene Clip: A single-leaf flatboat on the Li River. Who is the ultimate Landscape Male God? Friendship first, competition second, @Zhang Beichen even offers the first place to @Ran Lin? [XX Satellite TV – National First Love Drifting Story’s short video]]

What kind of rhythm is this bringing?

Without even opening the video, Lu Yiyao frowned at the Weibo content. Is he afraid that the fans of both sides won’t start quarreling?

Putting on headphones, he clicked on the video, which finished playing in just a few seconds. Lu Yiyao unsurprisingly took off his headphones, thinking to himself that, sure enough, if there’s no explosive point, they have to create one through editing.

Even though during that part of the video, he was still miserably working as a boatman on the river and couldn’t be at the scene, the video was clear. Even a fool could tell that Ran Lin was joking with Zhang Beichen.

If he wasn’t mistaken, Ran Lin must have had more to say afterward. No, a normal person would explain afterward that it was just a joke.

But if he were Zhang Beichen, he would never say something like letting you have the first place. How obtuse would one have to be to not realize the negative implications of that statement?

Lu Yiyao freely expressed his thoughts after watching but stopped when he saw the top comments.

It wasn’t just one comment criticizing Ran Lin. Out of ten, five were criticizing, three were defending Zhang Beichen and refusing to be involved in the quarrel, and two were just passersby enjoying the drama.

Lu Yiyao, as if possessed, went to Ran Lin’s own Weibo. He found that the latest comment section already had traces of Zhang Beichen’s casual fans and those who dislike his program.

Fortunately, the behind-the-scenes footage was short, sparking limited discussion. There were also rational fans saying to wait for the full program to come out, that XX TV station likes to stir up gimmicks for topics.

Lu Yiyao didn’t know if Ran Lin had seen these. He stopped scrolling through Weibo and instinctively looked towards the corner where Ran Lin was huddled.

Today, Ran Lin wore a light gray cotton jacket, giving him a clean and refreshing look. But now, in the warm lounge, he had taken off the jacket, wearing only a blue hoodie. Lu Yiyao always thought Ran Lin looked somewhat frail, perhaps due to his small frame. Despite being about 1.8 meters tall, his overall impression was still quite delicate.

Of course, this was just Lu Yiyao’s personal opinion. He instinctively felt that Ran Lin might not like this kind of assessment.

Seemingly sensing something, Ran Lin, who was just looking at a magazine, suddenly looked up. Lu Yiyao quickly lowered his head, returning to the appearance of focusing on his phone.

One minute later, Lu Yiyao raised his eyelids to sneak a peek at Ran Lin again. He started to wonder what exactly he was doing and why he felt like a guilty thief.

Until boarding the plane, Ran Lin never took out his phone. Lu Yiyao didn’t know whether he hoped Ran Lin would see those comments or not, or if he was just simply curious.

In first class, the two of them sat side by side, separated only by an aisle. However, there was no communication throughout the journey.

Ran Lin started sleeping after the plane entered the stratosphere, only waking up in a daze when the flight attendant reminded him that the plane was landing. Most of the time, he was sleeping in a disheveled manner, even adjusting his position when encountering turbulence, completely undisturbed.

Lu Yiyao was amazed, somewhat envious of his quality of sleep, as he was the type who could hardly sleep on flights even with an eye mask and earplugs. However, Ran Lin didn’t seem to be having sweet dreams, because every time Lu Yiyao glanced over, his face was wrinkled, wasting all that collagen.

The next morning, the five guests gathered again and were led by the program team to a remote, undeveloped beach in the outskirts of Sanya to start recording the third episode.

This place was far from the city center, without tourists, and even locals rarely came here. Backed by a wild coconut grove and facing the blue sea, there was a vast beach between the grove and the sea.

Unlike the crowded tourist beaches, the sand here wasn’t soft or fine but filled with gravel and rocks. However, when the wind moved the large leaves of the coconut trees and the sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting countless mottled shadows on the ground, the beach seemed to come alive, its breath the ebb and flow of the waves.

“Today, we have only one task from start to finish, and that is to survive on a deserted island!” Without the hostess, linking the scenes became the director’s job. Despite the pretty girl being replaced by a middle-aged man who seemed up to no good, the five male stars still found it awkward from the last episode to this one.

However, the director really enjoyed this part-time job, always passionately involved in every scene transition. “Going forward, you are already stranded on this deserted island, without communication devices, without modern tools. You can only make do with what you find, build shelters, make fires, cook food, and survive tenaciously!”

“Um,” as the director was about to leave, Ran Lin quickly raised his hand, “I have a small question…”

The director looked at him innocently. “Hmm?”

Ran Lin pointed to the several red plastic buckets in front of them filled with live seafood. “Are these… just here to stimulate us?”

“Of course not,” the director said very naturally. “These are your food. Once the house you build passes inspection and the bonfire is burning brightly, you can cook these to eat!”

Ran Lin: “……”

Even Lu Yiyao, who usually didn’t like to nitpick, couldn’t bear it. “Didn’t you just say, survive tenaciously?”

Director: “Yes, building shelters from local materials, spontaneously igniting a bonfire—none of these tasks are easy to complete. Compared to that, these fish, shrimp, and crabs are insignificant.”

Lu Yiyao: “……”

Ran Lin: “Director, you better go and stay out of the sun.”

Gu Jie, Zhang Beichen, Xia Xinran: “Yes, yes!”

Before they couldn’t hold back from a group beating, the five male stars finally managed to send the director away. Under the blazing sun, they began to survey this “deserted island”.

February was a comfortable time in Sanya, but being by the sea with the unshielded sunlight, it was still blinding.

Ten minutes later, the five explorers regrouped.

“How is it?” Zhang Beichen, who was sensitive to heat, had already taken off his long-sleeved shirt and was only wearing a white T-shirt underneath.

“Except for coconut trees, there’s nothing else.” Lu Yiyao was the first to respond. He had already changed into a loose, light blue short-sleeved shirt and white shorts, looking fresh and slightly artistic.

Ran Lin was sensitive to his favorite colors, and if the person wearing that color was also to his liking, it was a real treat to the eyes.

However, now wasn’t the time to be distracted*.

*Lick the screen. Internet slang referring to when the person you like is on a screen and you can’t help but want to lick them as an expression of your love.

Lu Yiyao’s answer could represent all the explorers: this wild beach was so desolate that only coconut trees remained.

“So, what we have now are sand, seawater, and coconut trees,” Gu Jie summarized for his friends. “Apart from cutting down coconut trees, I can’t think of any other way to build a shelter.”

“It sounds like you know how to build a shelter once you’ve chopped down the trees,” Xia Xinran said as he finished applying sunscreen to his last arm and passed the sunscreen to Ran Lin. “You should apply some too.”

Ran Lin, still pondering how to survive on the deserted island, instinctively shook his head. “No need. I’ve already applied it.”

Xia Xinran: “In this hot weather, it needs to be reapplied frequently.”

Ran Lin didn’t take it, but Lu Yiyao reached out and took the sunscreen, examining it for a while before asking in puzzlement, “Why do we have a bottle of sunscreen when we’re stranded on a deserted island with even meals being a problem?”

Xia Xinran was momentarily stunned but seemed unwilling to appear guilty, quickly raising his head again. “Right, everything was washed away by the sea when I was stranded on the deserted island, only this remained. Isn’t that right!”

Gu Jie laughed out loud. Before recording, the director team had asked the guests to hand over all their belongings, insisting on using local materials to create a real sense of survival on a deserted island—although the biggest bug in this was the red plastic buckets—but as guests, everyone cooperated. Only Xia Xinran could have hidden sunscreen.

The cameraman, obviously enjoying this unscripted interlude, immediately zoomed in on Lu Yiyao’s hand.

Ran Lin, seeing Xia Xinran trying to take it back but feeling embarrassed—after all, he had broken the rules—instinctively wanted to help. He approached Lu Yiyao, saying gravely and seriously, “This is not just any sunscreen. This is our only connection to the civilized world. If we don’t get rescued, we’ll have to hold onto it to find memories years later. So you shouldn’t question it. Instead, you should thank Xia Xinran for bringing it and treating it as a treasure with us.”

Lu Yiyao swore this was the most absurd justification he had ever heard.

Yet, he felt like he was being persuaded.

Seeing that Lu Yiyao remained silent, Ran Lin confidently said, “Can you give it back to Xia Xinran now?”

But Lu Yiyao still shook his head. “No.”

Ran Lin: “Why?”

“If it’s a treasure…” Lu Yiyao said, unscrewing the cap, “then I should try it too.”

Ran Lin: “……”

Lu Yiyao seemed a bit different today.

But exactly how, Ran Lin couldn’t pinpoint.

Xia Xinran, with a horrified face, leaned towards Gu Jie and said, “This Lu Yiyao must be a fake, an imposter!”

Gu Jie was exasperated. “Can you have an imposter on a reality show?”

Xia Xinran was unconvinced. “Why not? If there are doubles for literary scenes, action scenes, and horse-riding scenes, then there can be doubles for variety shows too.”

Gu Jie took off his slightly hot shirt and revealed his impressive inverted triangle physique under a black tank top. “…Surviving on a deserted island with you guys is too draining. I’m going to walk around the coconut grove again.”

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