Xu Chun didn't want to answer the question. An idea occurred to him, and he changed the subject. "Look how big and tall this church is. It's pretty."
Bai Lingling could do nothing with him. She laughed and punched him lightly. She and Xu Chun could be considered friends, and she certainly had no romantic feelings for him. She was only acting this way for their mutual benefit.
She didn't know how Xu Chun felt about stirring up dating rumors, but his company had agreed to it. Both their agents had discussed it with the production team and planned to use it as a selling point. Now, though, Xu Chun seemed to be rejecting her advances, yet he hadn't turned her down too obviously. Perhaps he was afraid of embarrassing her in front of the cameras.
"Brother Yuan? Brother Yuan?" Lu Xian looked at the distracted Xie Jianyuan and frowned slightly. He waved a hand in front of him and asked the question in a puzzled whisper.
Xie Jianyuan came back to his senses and smiled at him. "Sorry, I didn't hear you just now. What is it?" he asked in a low voice.
Lu Xian looked up at him and fidgeted for a few seconds before mumbling, "I'd like you to take a picture of me."
Xie Jianyuan took his phone and smiled. "Sure."
Because the church was so large, Xu Chun and the others decided to split into groups. Xu Chun was grouped with Bai Lingling and Xie Jianyuan. Since this was a budget trip, everyone's spending was strictly regulated. Anyone who spent extra money would be punished by having to move out of the small apartment. This made the show more entertaining and kept viewers watching.
After spending several hours getting there, everyone was tired and hungry and had no energy to sightsee. But with the cameras on them, they could only force themselves to perk up.
There were many visitors in the church, and the crowd bustled around them. The three followed the flow of people forward. Bai Lingling talked a lot along the way, like a young girl curious about everything.
At that moment, a flood of "third wheel" comments swept across the screen.
"Brother Yuan seems a little bright."
"Xie Jianyuan: It's clearly a movie about three people, yet I can't even have a name."
"Hahahaha, when will our darling Yuanyuan get a girlfriend? I'm a mother fan."
"Forget it, commenter above. Brother Yuan said last night that he'd marry no one but me."
"Wake up, commenter above. My piss is yellow. Let me piss you awake."
It was easy to get separated in a crowd, so Xu Chun had been careful to pay attention. Yet after being jostled around, he still ended up losing sight of Bai Lingling.
Xu Chun panicked and looked around, unsure what to do next. Just then, someone suddenly tapped him on the shoulder. He turned and saw Xie Jianyuan.
"Brother Chun."
For some reason, the moment Xu Chun saw Xie Jianyuan, he silently breathed a sigh of relief.
"I thought I'd gotten lost."
Xie Jianyuan's dark eyes watched him, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.
"I've been watching you from behind the whole time."
After hearing that, the bullet comments went wild.
"Awsl, little brother is such a flirt!"
"Just thinking about little brother flirting with some girl like that someday makes my heart ache."
"Commenter above, shut the fuck up. I'm begging you, stop."
"Sisters aboard this heretical ship, raise your paws."
After hearing Xie Jianyuan's words, Xu Chun froze for a moment, then somewhat unconsciously looked away.
"What should we do now? Where do we look for Bai Lingling?"
Xie Jianyuan smiled. "The church is so big, it's impossible to find one person in a sea of people. We might as well go outside and wait for them. We have to regroup in the end anyway."
To be honest, Xu Chun was a little tempted, mainly because he didn't want to be squeezed into the crowd anymore. It was a horrible feeling, but he also worried that leaving Bai Lingling on her own like that wasn't right.
Fans from several camps also started fighting in the bullet comments over this.
"What the hell is wrong with Xie Jianyuan? How can he just leave Lingling alone?"
"Two grown men leaving a girl on her own like that? Isn't that a bit much?"
"I'm fucking dying. The church is so big, and they can't contact her by phone. Who knows how long it would take to find her? What, should they stop filming and just look for her?"
"She didn't watch where she was going and rushed ahead on her own. Who can she blame for getting lost?"
Seeing Xu Chun's expression, Xie Jianyuan knew what he was thinking. He couldn't help smiling as he said, "How about we look for him first? If we can't find him, we'll go outside and wait."
After searching for over twenty minutes, they still hadn't seen Bai Lingling, so Xu Chun had no choice but to leave the church with Xie Jianyuan.
There were quite a few tourists in the square, and many children were crouched on the ground feeding white pigeons.
Xu Chun and Xie Jianyuan stood waiting beneath the enormous landmark Holy Cross.
"Do you want to feed them too?" Xie Jianyuan's expression suddenly turned a little strained for an instant, as if he were struggling to endure pain. But it returned to normal so quickly that no one noticed.
Xu Chun took a moment to realize that he was asking whether he wanted to feed the pigeons. He quickly shook his head. "No, thanks." The breadcrumbs for feeding pigeons cost money too, and saving had to come first now.
Xie Jianyuan forced a smile. "I saw you looking over there, so I thought you wanted to feed them."
Xu Chun waved a hand and said gently, "No, I was just reminded of the pigeons I used to keep."
"You used to keep pigeons?"
Xu Chun looked at the pigeons on the ground and smiled. "I didn't just keep pigeons. I also kept turtles, goldfish, Syrian hamsters, rabbits, chicks, and things like that, but they all died." When he was little, Xu Jin had even called him an animal killer and forbidden him from going near the cat Xu Jin kept.
Xie Jianyuan couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips. Although his face was very pale, he continued talking seriously with Xu Chun.
"How did they all die?"
A reminiscing look appeared on Xu Chun's face. "I'd just started elementary school then and didn't know any better. When I kept goldfish, I wanted to interact with them too. I don't know where I saw it, but I'd read that the best thing for a pet was its owner's caresses, so every night I'd scoop the goldfish out of the tank and pet them. That must be why the number of goldfish in my tank kept going down."
At that, he smiled and turned to look at Xie Jianyuan, only to find that his face was rather pale. Although he was still smiling, even a fool could tell something was wrong with him.