Gu Shiyan, You Big Hoofed Jerk!

Oh no, when had Gu Shiyan gotten here?

How much had he heard?!

Chu Tian went rigid all over. His eyes darted away as he desperately wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

Gu Shiyan raised a brow and stared at Chu Tian with a half-smile.

His reaction perfectly confirmed Gu Shiyan's guess—this little liar was still embarrassed over those three words, "boyfriend."

Gu Shiyan gave a soft laugh. He had not expected the kid to be so easy to tease, with such thin skin. He was completely different from the image of someone who had relentlessly pursued and clung to him before.

Seeing Gu Shiyan ignore him, Zhang Yang's gaze turned venomous. Unwilling to be neglected, he raised his voice.

"Brother Shiyan!"

Gu Shiyan's gaze finally left Chu Tian and landed on Zhang Yang's face.

Before Zhang Yang could get happy, Gu Shiyan lightly parted his lips and uttered two words—

"Who are you?"

Zhang Yang: "!!!"

"Brother Shiyan, don't you recognize me? I'm Yangyang!" Zhang Yang truly began to cry this time. "Our families used to live close by, and my dad often took me to your house as a guest. Later... when something happened to your family, I happened to be abroad and couldn't come back because of school. But I was always worried about you. Have you been doing well?"

Something changed in Gu Shiyan's gaze as he looked at Zhang Yang, yet Zhang Yang seemed not to notice and continued speaking on his own.

"I heard you'd entered the entertainment industry too after I came back to the country, so I asked Uncle Li Yu to help get me onto this show. I just wanted to reunite with you. I know you have a boyfriend, so I wanted to say hello to Brother Chu Tian... cough, to him. But he seems to have misunderstood something. Brother Shiyan, hurry and explain it to him. I really don't have any bad intentions!"

Chu Tian froze. He had previously guessed that Zhang Yang might have had another motive for appearing as a guest, but he had never imagined it was because of Gu Shiyan. So their families had been close family friends in the past.

An inexplicable sourness welled up in Chu Tian's heart. He could not stand this kind of "long-lost reunion" scene, so he might as well get them all out of sight and out of mind.

"I need to change and memorize my script," Chu Tian said stiffly. "Please find somewhere else to catch up."

Zhang Yang stared unblinkingly at Gu Shiyan, waiting expectantly for him to speak.

Gu Shiyan glanced at the sulking Chu Tian, then nodded to Zhang Yang. "Come out first."

Delighted, Zhang Yang headed toward Gu Shiyan with light steps.

Chu Tian felt as if he had swallowed an entire lemon, so sour he could barely keep his eyes open. He angrily sat back in his chair with his back to them, determined to put them out of sight and out of mind.

A moment later, the door clicked shut softly. Chu Tian's lips pressed into a straight line, but he could not help turning to look. The figure standing by the door startled him.

"You—" Chu Tian's eyes instantly widened. He stared at Gu Shiyan in disbelief, stumbling over his words. "Weren't you—you and him, you... you didn't leave?"

Gu Shiyan raised a brow. "Who said I was leaving?"

Chu Tian was speechless. It was not like he had imagined it himself. Even Zhang Yang had—

Bang! Bang!

Zhang Yang pounded desperately on the door from outside, his voice full of disbelief. "Brother Shiyan? Why did you go in? You locked me outside!!"

"Oh, I have something to discuss with my boyfriend," Gu Shiyan said calmly. "Go get busy first."

Zhang Yang: "..."

Chu Tian: "..."

Dead silence filled the space outside the door, and the atmosphere inside was not much better.

Little Cai, huddled in the corner, covered his mouth and scarcely dared to breathe. He felt that he should not be here at this moment—he should be under a car...

After a while, apparently realizing that Gu Shiyan would not open the door, Zhang Yang's heavy, furious footsteps gradually faded away.

"Your childhood friend got mad and ran off. Aren't you going to comfort him?" Chu Tian pointed expressionlessly toward the lounge door. "If you chase after him now, you might still make it."

Gu Shiyan curled his lips into a smile. "How could comforting a fake 'childhood friend' be more important than comforting my boyfriend? Don't you think so? Boy. Friend."

Chu Tian's face, which had only just cooled down, flushed bright red again. He glared at Gu Shiyan irritably. He knew Gu Shiyan was teasing him, yet his heart still pounded uncontrollably.

He was hopeless.

Chu Tian silently scolded himself, then turned around and presented Gu Shiyan with the back of his head, afraid he would see his true reaction.

Watching his round head, the amusement in Gu Shiyan's eyes deepened. He glanced at Little Cai, who was crouched in the corner and too scared to move.

Little Cai jolted and instantly understood. He sprang to his feet. "I-I'll go see why the makeup team still isn't here!"

Before Chu Tian could react, he shot away like an arrow loosed from a bow and vanished in a flash.

Chu Tian was utterly baffled. "..."

[Little Cai! I misjudged you! You're my assistant, so why are you so afraid of Gu Shiyan? Dock his pay, I have to dock his pay!!]

Gu Shiyan laughed. Seeing Chu Tian's stiff back facing him, his eyes darkened slightly. "Are you avoiding me?"

"Who, who's avoiding you?" Chu Tian denied it nervously. "You're overthinking it."

"Is that so?" Gu Shiyan neither confirmed nor denied it. His fingertips tapped along the back of Chu Tian's chair as he bent down closer. "You're not embarrassed?"

His warm breath brushed against Chu Tian's neck, making goosebumps rise all over him and leaving half his body numb.

"Emb-emb-embarrassed my ass! I'm not, not embarrassed!" Chu Tian stammered so badly he could barely speak. Flushed with anger and embarrassment, he snapped, "Don't you hate me? Isn't me taking the initiative to keep my distance exactly what you want?"

Gu Shiyan froze, and something shifted in his eyes.

"I thought you wanted to violate the agreement." Gu Shiyan lowered his eyes to conceal his expression, his tone light as he addressed him. "Young Master Chu."

Chu Tian's chest suddenly tightened. Petulantly, he reminded Gu Shiyan, "Of course I remember. Please remember the terms as well, Mr. Gu."

In the end, this inexplicable confrontation ended on bad terms.

Listening to Gu Shiyan's footsteps recede, Chu Tian suddenly felt wronged. He kicked the table leg furiously and cursed in his heart.

[Gu Shiyan, you big hoofed jerk! I know that damn agreement by heart. Do you really need to remind me?!]

Gu Shiyan's departing steps paused. Hearing Chu Tian's aggrieved, indignant curse, he was so angry that he laughed instead.

Thanks to the friendship they had built while filming the first episode, as well as their cooperation in dealing with Qian Feihe, Chu Tian's relationship with the other guests was now completely different.

On top of that, Chu Tian was pretty and fun to be around. Both Tian Qianqian and Wen Lan loved chatting with and teasing him. Watching him jump at the slightest poke was especially entertaining.

Song Qiang was honest, dull, and not fond of talking, but he still kept a protective eye on Chu Tian at all times.

After Zhang Yang noticed all this, he could not conceal the jealousy and hatred on his face.

The only thing that could make him feel a little better was his observation that Gu Shiyan and Chu Tian seemed to have had a conflict. They stood apart, and since the guests had met up, their eyes had not crossed even once.

It seemed his special effort to go greet them had not been in vain.

So what if they were in the honeymoon phase?

As long as you swung the hoe well enough, no wall was too high to dig through.