Pei Tingyun

Biodata

Background / History

As a child, Pei Tingyun was pale and chubby, earning the nickname “Little Bun” from a boy he knew as “Little Coal Ball.” He saved that boy after he accidentally fell into the water. Years later, he discovers that Little Coal Ball is Xie Huan 26.

Pei Tingyun began his entertainment career in a boy band before transitioning to acting. His work included wuxia dramas, through which he gained substantial horseback-riding experience 49 57.

A year before the events of the travel show, he was hurt by a stalker fan. Gu Lin knew of the incident and subsequently noticed his persistent insomnia. During the same period, Pei Tingyun’s severe aversion to touch caused professional difficulties: outsiders interpreted his involuntary reactions as arrogance, temper tantrums, or refusals to work. He wanted to terminate his agency contract and leave the industry, but negotiations repeatedly stalled over the termination penalty 11 139.

Appearance

• Build: Tall, lean, and muscular, with long legs; less heavily built than Xie Huan despite their identical height 1 26 28 89.
• Complexion: Very fair skin, described as almost glowing 158.
• Eyes: Long, narrow peach-blossom eyes 1 19.
• Presentation: An elegant, aloof public image, tailored suits, and a carefully controlled professional smile 1.
• Signature accessory: Snug black leather gloves, worn as protection rather than merely for fashion 1.
• Grooming: Maintains a meticulous skincare routine and uses tone-up cream to conceal the dark circles caused by insomnia 9.

Personality

Pei Tingyun is reserved and self-conscious, identifying as an INFJ. He rarely initiates unnecessary conversations with strangers and becomes uncomfortable when attention is focused on him. When embarrassed, he often distracts himself with practical tasks or redirects attention toward someone else 6 7 20 61.

His polished public manner conceals a competitive, calculating sense of humor. As the Roaming Group’s strategist, he studies instructions, anticipates production tricks, and exploits loopholes without losing his composure. He can maintain this outward calm even after a sleepless night 55 57 75 141 177.

Romance brings out a much more mischievous side. Initially determined to remain straight, he gradually accepts his attraction to Xie Huan and begins engineering opportunities for closeness. He initially cares strongly about being perceived as the dominant partner, but later decides that keeping Xie Huan beside him matters more than other people’s assumptions 13 55 132 159 183.

He is also deeply afraid of rejection. When the assault video spreads, his first concern is not his public reputation but whether Xie Huan will find him disgusting and abandon him. His habit of concealing distress gradually gives way to greater openness as Xie Huan reassures him 193 204 213 218.

Health and Fears

• Recovery is not immediate: A kiss from Xie Huan triggers nausea in Chapter 193, the first such reaction since their reunion 193.
• Later improvement: He becomes able to touch Gu Lin, Tang Keni, Yao Xuan, and unfamiliar objects without his earlier reactions. By the Northeast China arc, he is going without gloves and is described as largely back to normal 223 260.
• Persistent fear: His fear of darkness remains even after his touch aversion improves 269.

Abilities & Skills

Strategy and Negotiation

Pei Tingyun serves as the Roaming Group’s principal strategist, especially when dealing with the director’s tasks and travel-budget restrictions 55.

• Anticipates production-team traps and inspects the group’s boat before a planned fishing trip 6.
• Limits the group’s mystery-box selections to avoid winning more activities than their schedule can accommodate 55.
• Conceals his hula-hooping experience while helping drive up the exchange rate for the event 57.
• Obtains a long bamboo harvesting pole so Xie Huan can pick coconuts without climbing trees 61 62.
• Clarifies task conditions in advance to prevent additional restrictions being introduced midway 75.

Performance and Physical Coordination

• Dance and coordination: Has the best physical coordination among the five Roaming Group members, supported by his boy-band background 57.
• Horseback riding: An experienced rider from filming wuxia dramas; a startled horse does not easily unseat him 49.
• Strength: Carries Xie Huan across a glass platform and completes three squats while holding him bridal-style 53 56.
• Acting: Conceals his low mood so effectively during filming that only Xie Huan notices something is wrong 265.
• Limit: He eventually realizes that Xie Huan is considerably stronger when using his full strength 220.

Languages and Practical Skills

• Foreign-language communication: Speaks an unnamed, less commonly spoken language with a coconut-grove instructor; the others present cannot understand their conversation 61.
• Photography: Takes over their paired photographs after Xie Huan repeatedly fails to frame them properly 34.
• Formal styling: Coordinates suits and ties and repeatedly ties Xie Huan’s tie for him 84 107.
• Knife work: Cuts steak neatly and carves crabapples into rabbit shapes, a skill learned from watching his mother prepare fruit during childhood 83 269.
• Cooking limitation: Initially cannot cook. He later wants to learn so Xie Huan can rest, but still makes basic mistakes, including washing minced garlic 14 236 247.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Reunion on *Ultimate Roaming*

• First pairing: The director links Pei Tingyun and Xie Huan with children’s anti-lost wristbands for an airport task. Their contrasting appearances and Xie Huan’s immediate protectiveness attract viewers’ attention 1.
• Childhood recognition: Pei Tingyun realizes that Xie Huan is the boy he once rescued, reframing their apparently new acquaintance as a reunion 26.
• Growing trust: Xie Huan’s attentiveness makes him increasingly comfortable with physical closeness. After instinctively moving to take a bullet for Xie Huan, he begins questioning whether his feelings exceed friendship 39 44 55.

Confession and Courtship

• Seeking closeness: Although he initially tries to sleep separately, he cannot settle alone and goes to Xie Huan’s room. Later, he wets Xie Huan’s mattress and calls it a leaking waterbed to persuade him to share a bed 122 132.
• Failed confession: At Jiang Che and Fu Zheng’s wedding feast, a slightly tipsy Pei Tingyun confesses and kisses Xie Huan. Xie Huan’s bewildered response leaves him convinced that his love is unreturned 138.
• Clearing up the misunderstanding: He explicitly tells Xie Huan that there is no female love interest or substitute: Xie Huan is the only person he loves 156.
• Learning the obstacle: Xie Huan admits that his master supposedly forbade dating because of potentially fatal consequences. Pei Tingyun recognizes that the master must be consulted rather than treating Xie Huan’s resistance as a lack of love 178.
• Mutual acceptance: He stops demanding an official relationship and offers to remain beside Xie Huan in any capacity. Xie Huan accepts their mutual feelings and stops avoiding him 179.

Agency Dispute and Public Scandal

• Choosing a future: Reuniting with Xie Huan gives Pei Tingyun renewed hope. Rather than simply withdrawing from entertainment, he asks Hua Xin to investigate terminating his contract and finding a new agency 107.
• Termination demands: His company reduces the requested termination fee to eighty million, still beyond what he and Xie Huan believe they can afford 213.
• Assault video: A circulating video shows him smashing a liquor bottle over someone’s head. While viewers call for his removal from Ultimate Roaming, Xie Huan defends him and insists that he has been framed 218.
• Further obstruction: Xie Huan identifies the person Pei Tingyun struck as the real obstacle to his contract termination. By Chapter 227, Pei Tingyun has signed with a new company 223 227.
• Secret meeting attempt: He hides a card from Si Shengfan and slips out to find him in an estate’s back garden. Xie Huan locates him through Mystic Arts and brings him back 233.

Northeast China and the Master’s Blessing

• Temple visit: Pei Tingyun accompanies Xie Huan to his temple, hoping to resolve the uncertainty surrounding their future 256.
• The misunderstood prohibition: Xie Huan’s master reveals that the restriction concerned dating girls, not boys, and calls Pei Tingyun and Xie Huan a match ordained by heaven 265.
• Marriage request: Pei Tingyun kneels to ask for permission to marry Xie Huan. The master tests him on the meaning of Xie Huan’s name, then disappears before he can answer 265 266.
• Love openly expressed: After they spend the night together, Xie Huan tells Pei Tingyun that he loves him 266.

Marriage and Later Life

• Meeting the parents: Pei Tingyun approaches their formal coming-out to Xie Huan’s parents nervously but remains determined not to give up their relationship 280.
• Ring exchange: The couple exchange rings, and Pei Tingyun regards that day as their wedding day. The later birthday extra explicitly describes him as married 281 283.
• Family-first career: With control over his workload at his new agency, he turns down numerous acting offers and takes more variety-show work so he can return home regularly to Xie Huan 283.
• Birthday at home: Xie Huan celebrates with a month’s worth of presents, a homemade cake, and a candlelit dinner. Their wishes center on spending a happy lifetime together 283.

Relationships

• Xie Huan — Childhood acquaintance, travel partner, first love, and eventual husband. Pei Tingyun states that he has never dated anyone else and that Xie Huan will be his only love 26 179 283.
• Hua Xin — Professional representative and confidant. Offers relationship advice and handles his contract-termination negotiations and search for another agency 44 107 213.
• Gu Lin — Fellow Roaming Group member and stylist. Knows about his insomnia and helps conceal his dark circles 139.
• Tang Keni — Fellow guest and enthusiastic supporter of his relationship with Xie Huan; regularly teases the pair about their intimacy 50 183.
• Yao Xuan — Fellow guest who becomes a close friend, comfortable discussing private relationship matters with him by the end of the trip 270.
• Jiang Che — Adviser who gives him brocade pouches containing guidance for difficult situations, including the obstacle involving Xie Huan’s master 159 178 213.
• Xie Huan’s master — The person whose misunderstood instructions delay their relationship. Ultimately confirms their compatibility while teasing Pei Tingyun over his marriage request 265 266.
• Mother — Taught him indirectly how to carve rabbit-shaped apples by preparing fruit that way for him as a child. Recalling her produces a brief trace of melancholy 269.

Notable Items

• Black leather gloves — His customary protective barrier against contact; worn less frequently as his symptoms improve 1 223 260.
• Brocade advice pouches — Gifts from Jiang Che, intended to be opened when he encounters problems he cannot solve 159 213.
• Broken phone — Carefully preserved because it contains photographs and videos of his first trip with Xie Huan. He plans to recover the files and print the photographs 224.
• Wedding ring — Exchanged with Xie Huan on the day Pei Tingyun considers their wedding day 281.

Notable Quotes

“I've never liked any particular group of people. I only like you! The one, the only, the unique you.” 156

“I'm not insisting that you give me an official status right now. I just want you to know that I love you, and you love me. We're running toward each other.” 179

Trivia

• His pairing with Xie Huan is called “White Clouds and Black Soil,” a name reinforced by their contrasting skin tones 75.
• Despite his early determination to appear dominant, he willingly tries on a cat-ear headband after Xie Huan suggests buying matching ones 195.
• Xie Huan’s extravagant birthday purchases fill every parcel locker, leading residents to mistake Pei Tingyun for a package thief 283.