The Episode He Didn't Appear In

[Gu Wenjun: Don't, man. Don't drag family into this.]

Qu An could tell at a glance that Gu Wenjun had misunderstood him, so he briefly explained using what had just happened with Tang Gudu.

[Qu An: Quite a few people in the circle are into Chen Anle's type. Someone was asking around today. I'll be very busy afterward.]

He was being perfectly direct. If Chen Anle were not Gu Wenjun's boyfriend, Qu An might have kept him on as an assistant. After all, out of consideration for their employer-employee relationship, he would help smooth things over or seek justice if something happened. But he could not keep watching over Chen Anle all the time.

With Gu Wenjun in the picture, though, Qu An would often have to keep an eye on Chen Anle for Gu Wenjun's sake as well, and he did not like wasting too much time on other people.

Most importantly, Chen Anle understood that himself. He was not as foolishly innocent as he appeared. No adult was truly stupid enough to understand nothing. The reason Chen Anle had deliberately not shown up for two days was because he knew Gu Wenjun was Qu An's friend and had no fear of consequences.

After two years of working together, and with him being his friend's boyfriend, someone like Qu An, who normally did not care about such things, would not have bothered with it. But when he looked at Xiao Ming's clear, pure eyes beside him, certain thoughts became definite.

Still somewhat worried, Xiao Ming pushed the bottle of mosquito repellent in his hands toward Chen Anle and told him to keep it. If it itched, he could apply some.

Chen Anle accepted it with some emotion. The two of them chatted about something else, and the atmosphere was pleasant. Since Qu An had been looking down at his phone the whole time, they did not pay much attention to him.

Qu An knew very well how to seek benefits and avoid harm while accomplishing his goals. Gu Wenjun was quiet for a while and did not send another message, before finally writing, "I'll ask Xiao Le what he wants to do."

Chen Anle was kind and innocent at heart, merely with a little cleverness. Qu An did not think there was anything wrong with letting him interact with Xiao Ming. But Chen Anle had repeatedly, albeit unintentionally, let Xiao Ming notice traces of romantic love, and that displeased Qu An.

Without even realizing it himself, Xiao Ming had already become more important to him than Chen Anle, his companion of two years and his friend's boyfriend.

They were chatting at the recording site, so before long, someone sidled up beside Qu An.

Jiang Yuefeng looked as though he had just finished filming an ad break for the show. When he ran over to Qu An, he wore his trademark energetic smile. "Brother Qu, are you going back to Capital City?"

His schedule was not exactly a secret; the studio had posted about it. Qu An politely answered him.

"Then let's meet again in Capital City. We can have a meal together then." Jiang Yuefeng seemed genuinely unable to sense Qu An's polite refusal, persisting again and again.

Whether Hua Nation people were merely being polite or actually had some ulterior motive, it always came down to "let's have a meal." A routine that had survived five thousand years, Xiao Ming thought, then found himself amused by the idea and pressed his lips together to hold back a laugh.

"We probably won't have any more collaborations, Teacher Jiang. We need to catch a flight, so we'll be leaving first." That directly cut off Jiang Yuefeng's words, while also reminding him that Qu An had never agreed to the two of them marketing themselves as a couple. He would not cooperate with Jiang Yuefeng.

Xiao Ming was still holding back his laughter when Qu An patted him on the shoulder. "Let's go." He said it as though calling his assistant to leave with him, while his actual assistant was left behind.

Seeing Qu An's gesture, Chen Anle muttered to himself, Didn't Brother Qu dislike physical contact with people? Every time he politely shook hands with someone, he would secretly wipe his hands with tissues or a handkerchief afterward.

After two days apart, Brother Qu had gone from "looking like he had some warmth" to "actually having warmth."

Fortunately, Qu An did not know what Chen Anle was thinking. Otherwise, he probably would have transferred Chen Anle away immediately.

Sigh, Chen Anle's brain sometimes seemed smart, and other times not so smart.

Qu An and Chen Anle went to the airport first to fly to Capital City. Xiao Ming bought a few souvenirs in Yellow City, wrote postcards, and mailed them all to Capital City before heading to the airport.

Every time he visited a city, he would buy a souvenir there and write a postcard to mail to Capital City. He did not like taking photos of himself, so those things served as proof that he had been somewhere.

An auntie came to clean Xiao Ming's house every day, so even if he had not returned for a month, it was still spotless. His deliveries were placed in a designated area, completely intact.

The first thing Xiao Ming did upon getting home was unpack all the accumulated deliveries. Two boxes contained Mint Soda. He had drunk it while filming an advertisement before, and seeing it now made him sigh that time had passed rather quickly.

He and Qu An had known each other for a month already, and even more surprisingly, they had spent nearly half of that month together.

Xiao Ming stayed home for two days to do the tasks the Qu An Fan Support Association had assigned him, and the second episode of Full Speed Ahead! had also aired.

He was not in the second episode, but Qu An and Jiang Yuefeng were. Before it aired, the two had already received considerable attention, and Xiao Ming had learned over the past two days about their "Qu-Jiang CP."

With the fan support association's WeChat group reminding everyone about the new episode's broadcast and complaining about certain parts of it, it was difficult for Xiao Ming not to know.

[Did you all watch the latest episode of Full Speed Ahead!? I'm not trying to say anything, but jyf's intention to bait fans and ride popularity is so obvious.]

[Both he and xm had trended one after another, and I had a bad impression of both. But after watching this episode and comparing it to the previous one, xm is actually pretty good.]

[Forget it. They're both riding popularity.]

Three people in the fan support association knew Xiao Ming's identity. The discussion was happening in the main group, where only a small portion were core members.

[Su Erya: Alright, everyone, don't discuss other people too much. Anbao got the Acceleration King title this episode, and his performance was very eye-catching. Everyone can help push it onto the trending searches.]

Xiao Ming did not speak in the group. Instead, Su Erya messaged him. The work he had done over the past two days had been quick and excellent, so Su Erya and the others no longer distrusted him as much as they had at first. Sometimes, they even took the initiative to message Xiao Ming.

Still, as fans, most of what they asked was how Qu An had performed during previous recordings, what people in the industry thought of him, and what the other guests thought of Qu An.

Xiao Ming had found the fourth episode's recording quite fun, and he had told them they could look forward to the fourth episode because Qu An had performed very well. However, he had never revealed anything about the Acceleration King title, since the program still had a confidentiality agreement.

Su Erya and the others were not the sort to be unreasonable. The questions they asked were all ones he could answer.

[Su Erya: Don't mind some of the things they say. Fans are basically like this. If they don't know the truth, it's easy for them to start imagining things.]

Xiao Ming was capable and had firsthand information. Sometimes, he could even help convey fans' words to Qu An, so Su Erya was becoming more and more satisfied with him.

Without Xiao Ming knowing, she had even made an alternate account and become his fan. As for why she needed an alternate account, she was still very cautious as someone whose main account carried the title of fan support association president, and she understood fans' mentality very well.

The president of a fan support association was like a small pillar of support for the fans, so what she had to present was unwavering devotion to Qu An alone.

But people were emotional creatures, and sometimes feelings were beyond one's control. With this sort of fan affection, liking someone else a little more was often uncontrollable.

Besides, Xiao Ming was practically one of their own now, so she would naturally favor him a little more.

Xiao Ming replied with an "Okay," then turned on his computer and began watching the second episode.

Like the third episode, the second episode involved an intangible cultural heritage craft. It was mainly a long-inherited art similar to ceramic inlay. Yuan Yangming was in this episode, but presumably he had not done many tasks either, so the episode's pacing seemed fairly smooth.

It matched what fans had secretly discussed before: Jiang Yuefeng had been constantly clinging to Qu An. In the program, Jiang Yuefeng hurried after Qu An only after Qu An had run off. The two hid somewhere, and Jiang Yuefeng kept asking Qu An whether the tasks would be difficult.

Qu An treated Jiang Yuefeng the same way he had treated Lin Shange in the first episode. At first, he was polite and answered every question. Later, once Jiang Yuefeng began asking all sorts of irrelevant things, he began answering selectively, though he did not outright give him the cold shoulder.

No wonder Xiao Le had told him before that Qu An was someone with stable emotions. Faced with such a noisy Jiang Yuefeng, he maintained excellent manners and politeness throughout.

Although Xiao Ming sometimes felt that Qu An was rather childish, that childishness did not conflict with his usual good upbringing. It only made him seem more like a real person.

The moment the first task was announced, Qu An immediately prepared to complete it as usual. Jiang Yuefeng still clung to him, and far more obviously than during the fourth episode's recording. Perhaps that was because Jiang Yuefeng had not yet been rejected by Qu An at that point.

Jiang Yuefeng could not run fast enough, yet he liked following Qu An, resulting in Qu An already running off to do tasks while Jiang Yuefeng chased after him from behind.

Even more absurdly, when a Hunter suddenly appeared in their field of vision and began chasing Jiang Yuefeng, Jiang Yuefeng did not hide somewhere nearby. Instead, he ran toward Qu An, making Qu An's planned escape route completely unusable.

This time, however, neither of them was caught by the Hunter. Jiang Yuefeng and Qu An hid in the same place again. Qu An intended to continue doing tasks, but Jiang Yuefeng stopped him. "Brother Qu, it's too dangerous. There are too many Hunters outside. Let's hide a little longer before going out. Was it like this in your previous episode too? Do Hunters run that fast?"

Watching Qu An on the screen, Xiao Ming felt that although he still looked gentle, he somehow seemed a little hard to provoke.

Qu An was getting a little annoyed. The feeling he gave Xiao Ming was like when he wanted to laze around all day, only for a classmate to pester him with questions. Unable to refuse, he had to put on an act of loving to study and deal with them.

The last time Qu An had given Xiao Ming that feeling was with Lin Shange in the first episode. But Qu An had been subtle both times, so Xiao Ming felt that perhaps he was overthinking it.

Afterward, Qu An merely said politely that Jiang Yuefeng could keep hiding if he wanted, while he would go complete the task first. Naturally, Jiang Yuefeng followed him.

Ever since he had stayed for a few days with Qu An at his Yue City home during the typhoon, Xiao Ming had been influenced by Chen Anle and started eating some snacks. He had unexpectedly discovered that they tasted quite good.

He personally liked stronger flavors, which was completely unlike the image he gave off. Before returning home, he had bought all the snacks he had tried and liked online and sent them to his house. Thus, he truly achieved the lazy life he had never imagined before.

Watching variety shows, eating snacks, and, oh, blasting the air conditioning in the middle of summer.

Just as Xiao Ming reached for the barbecue-flavored potato chips beside him, he accidentally bumped the mouse. The bullet comments, which he had turned off at the beginning, instantly flooded over the faces on-screen like an avalanche of snowflakes.

[Jiang Yuefeng is seriously so speechless.]

[It's one thing that he doesn't do tasks himself, but why does he have to criticize others? I'm seriously speechless.]

[But Fengfeng is just worried Qu An will get caught by a Hunter. He was kindly reminding him, okay?]

[Ma'am, I'm done with you. This is a competitive variety show. If you aren't doing tasks or running, why did you even come on this show?]

[Our Little Acceleration is different from before. Can people who come on this show now please use their brains?]

[Help, they both started out with Qu An, but Xiao Ming was really proactive about doing tasks.]

[Without comparison, there's no harm.]

[Jiang Yuefeng's fans are always marketing that energetic, cute image of his. What, hiding around here counts as cute now?]

[Can some people stop being so malicious? Not every guest is a brute like a bull.]

[If Jiang Yuefeng's fans can't speak properly, then say less. You're really annoying.]

The moment Xiao Ming realized he had turned on the bullet comments, he quickly turned them off again. No matter what they had been like on the show or what they had been thinking, after it aired, there would be a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand viewers.

More importantly, he did not like people constantly dragging him out to criticize and comment on him. Although it was not his intention, he simply disliked it. Back when he had focused on studying and being a top student, people did not gather around him, so he had not felt much. Now that people remembered him, there were times when he was inevitably dragged into things against his will.

Qu An caught up to the first task and completed it within the time limit. Jiang Yuefeng had followed Qu An the entire time, so he was present when the task was finished, and his name was included among the people credited for the successful task.

But there was one later scene that truly left Xiao Ming speechless. The second task required them to reach an artisan and search for clues. After asking the artisan some questions, Qu An kept looking for clues.

Jiang Yuefeng, on the other hand, found himself a chair and sat down. Without asking, he picked up a handicraft the artisan had just finished making and absentmindedly praised it a few times.

His gaze kept following Qu An, but he did not lift a finger to help. He even commented that Qu An really had a lot of energy, then began playing with the item in his hand. His hand slipped, and he shattered it.

Ceramic items were fragile, and he had been holding it one-handed with absolutely no awareness of protecting it. Most importantly, after it fell, his first instinct was to look at the artisan as though he was about to start cursing. Then, perhaps noticing the cameras, he changed his tone and began apologizing.