Xie Huan nodded. "Oh man, plenty! I wash my clothes as soon as I change out of them and alternate between them. This soap works for washing your face, hair, body, and clothes. Gets everything real clean!"
The director: "..."
Should I praise him for being thrifty or for selling products?
If he hadn't known Xie Huan was a bona fide young master from a wealthy family, he would have suspected that Xie Huan sold soap for a living.
Pei Tingyun pressed a hand to his forehead.
No wonder Xie Huan smelled of soapberry all over.
And this guy had actually had the nerve to say he was marinated in skincare products.
Wasn't Xie Huan himself thoroughly marinated in soap?
Once filming was over, the director didn't leave right away.
He sent the rest of the crew back first and stayed behind himself.
Pei Tingyun and Xie Huan exchanged a glance.
They could more or less guess what the director wanted to discuss.
Sure enough.
The moment the director spoke, he brought up the local chef who had tried and failed to shoot Xie Huan that morning:
"We've already taken him to the police station. The police said he's your fan and couldn't accept you and Xie Huan..."
The director paused here, choosing a more tactful way to phrase it:
"...being together, so he put laxatives in Xie Huan's yogurt bowl to teach him a lesson. When he was caught, he got worked up in the heat of the moment and tried to kill Xie Huan...
"But don't worry! He won't be released, because the police discovered he's also implicated in several other cases."
Pei Tingyun nodded to show he understood.
Xie Huan, who hadn't connected "being together" with dating at all, found it baffling:
"No, what was he thinking? What's it got to do with him if our Ting'er hangs out with C? What's he getting all worked up for?!"
The director didn't think it was his place to respond to that, so he beat a hasty retreat.
Only Xie Huan and Pei Tingyun remained in the room.
Pei Tingyun sat on the bench at the foot of the bed with his head lowered, visibly downcast.
Xie Huan asked in confusion, "Oh man, they've hauled the guy off to the station. Why're you still upset?"
Pei Tingyun shook his head slightly.
"No. I was just wondering why the people who like me all have such extreme personalities. Am I doing something wrong? I always attract people like that..."
Xie Huan felt he was overthinking it. "Oh man, what's there to mull over? Ain't this a good thing?"
Pei Tingyun looked up in astonishment. "A good thing? How could this possibly be a good thing?"
Xie Huan nodded with conviction.
"Of course it's a good thing! Didn't the director just say that blond guy had several other cases hanging over him? If he hadn't liked you, tried to shoot me, and gotten arrested, he'd still be out there scot-free!
"His situation's just like that wanted criminal who got arrested at a concert a while back. You and that singer both helped rid the public of a menace, you know?"
Pei Tingyun laughed at his words. "Is this how you always comfort people?"
Xie Huan looked bewildered. "When did I comfort you? Everything I said was just facts!"
Pei Tingyun smiled, relieved. "You're right. It's all facts."
Perhaps Xie Huan's words had helped Pei Tingyun work through what was troubling him.
That night, Pei Tingyun slept especially soundly, and the quality of his sleep was particularly good.
He woke as soon as dawn broke the next day.
He was full of energy.
When Xie Huan got up and found Pei Tingyun awake, he pulled him along to forage on the shore.
At daybreak, the sun rose slowly above the horizon.
Under brilliant golden light, the waves crashed against the rocks, sending up layers of spray.
Pei Tingyun walked along the shore carrying a small bucket.
Seeing lots of little crabs among the rocks, he couldn't help asking, "Why are the crabs here so small? Where are all the big crabs?"
Xie Huan answered as though it were obvious. "Aren't all the big crabs at the market? The supermarket's got them too."
Pei Tingyun beamed. "Hahaha, that makes sense!"
Xie Huan said smugly, "Of course! Everything I say is the truth!"
The two chatted and laughed the whole way, walking quite a distance.
By the time they returned, their bucket was full of oysters, sea snails, and clams, along with a few scattered little fish and shrimp.
As soon as they entered the villa, they happened to run straight into the director.
When he learned that they had gone shore foraging alone, the director slapped his thigh until it was red.
What a perfect chance to hand out some sugar!
And the camera crew hadn't even gone along!
The director felt as though he had missed out on a hundred million worth of CP traffic!
Xie Huan took care of breakfast again.
Noodles, fried rice, sandwiches... there was everything, in all sorts of varieties.
He used all the little bits of seafood they had brought back from the shore.
The results were actually no worse than the fresh catch aboard the boat yesterday.
The food was so delicious that nobody at the table was talking.
Only Tang Keni found a moment amid all his eating to say:
"Bro, what're we gonna do if you spoil our taste buds? This is way too good!"
Pei Tingyun paused in the middle of eating.
Hmm?
Bro?
Why was he suddenly addressing him so affectionately?
Even his accent was starting to sound like Xie Huan's!
Xie Huan's cooking really did attract admirers.
Pei Tingyun looked around at them one by one and found that everyone wore an expression of enjoyment, utterly won over by Xie Huan's cooking.
For some inexplicable reason, Pei Tingyun had the impression that he didn't have many romantic rivals, but they were all sitting at this table.
Wait!
That wasn't right!
He hadn't even confirmed his own feelings yet. Why was he already getting jealous?
Seeing him suddenly space out, Xie Huan served him a chopstickful of seafood salad.
"What're you sitting there staring for? Hurry up and eat. We've still got horse riding later. Eat more, or you won't have any energy."
Gu Lin looked up in surprise. "What? Horse riding? There are horses on the island?"
Yao Xuan said between bites, "Didn't you check the group chat? Our Director Pei already posted today's itinerary."
Gu Lin said, "I got up late today. Haven't had time to check yet."
Pei Tingyun snapped out of his inexplicable jealousy and said:
"There's a small riding stable to the west. We can ride horses on the beach."
He had barely finished speaking when the director suddenly picked up his megaphone.
"Since there are only four horses on the island, the production team has prepared a surprise horse. Before you set off, you'll need to vote to decide who gets to ride the surprise horse."
Tang Keni asked, "How do we vote? Do we vote for each other?"
The director said, "Yes."
Pei Tingyun: "..."
It was already the fourth day, and the director still hadn't given up on making them tear into one another.
The staff finished handing out whiteboards and markers.
Pei Tingyun immediately started writing.
Once he finished, he nudged Xie Huan's arm, signaling for him to write the same thing.
Xie Huan obediently followed suit.
Then the five of them checked their answers with one another as though playing pass the parcel.
The director instinctively sensed that this was another boomerang about to strike him, so he interrupted their ritual outright:
"You can only vote for one of the five of you! You can't write 'director'!"
Yao Xuan gave a faint, ambiguous smile. "Don't worry. We won't write your name."
The director was rather surprised.
They actually weren't planning to write his name? Then whose name had they written?
Their expressions were so intriguing.
The moment they revealed their whiteboards, the director was utterly speechless.
Because everyone had written the exact same character.