"Nothing special, just third best in the world." Gao Yuan was not shy about it either. "Besides, this doesn't count as flattery. I'm just stating an objective fact."
"Enough, enough. Leave it there." Chi Li hurriedly waved his hands. "Don't praise me to death."
Although he could calmly accept compliments about his appearance, he was certainly not someone who would get smug over them, and he had even less desire for the audience to label him as "just a pretty face."
"Hehe." Gao Yuan chuckled sheepishly. "Then let's talk about something else... Who's your favorite singer?"
At the dining table, Chi Li and Gao Yuan chatted leisurely about their shared taste in music.
At the other end, the love-triangle drama played out as usual.
Seated near the middle, Jiang Lele seized an opening and sent a conversational signal to Shen Xunye across from him.
"Shen Xunye, you're an actor. Can we find your work online?"
Shen Xunye glanced at Chi Li, who was chatting so enthusiastically with someone else that he had completely forgotten their main mission of selling BL fanservice. He sighed inwardly and decided to find something to relieve his boredom.
"My only work is this variety show."
Sitting on his right, Wei Xuan stopped spectating the love triangle and turned to join their conversation. "Why aren't you acting? Nobody wants you?"
"How could nobody want him?" Extremely displeased by Wei Xuan's intrusion, Jiang Lele stretched out his leg, aimed, and kicked him before continuing, "He only came here so more people would see him and he could get more and better opportunities."
"Hiss..." Jiang Lele had not held back with that kick. It hurt so much that Wei Xuan nearly sprang out of his chair.
...He's such a suck-up to Shen Xunye. He deserves a huge dose of contempt.
At that moment, he completely forgot that he usually sucked up to Xie Weishui in exactly the same way.
"That's right." Shen Xunye accepted that explanation without blushing or missing a beat.
"Actually, I'd really like to try acting too." Encouraged, Jiang Lele immediately picked up the conversation. "Could I ask you for some acting tips when you have time?"
Shen Xunye raised his eyebrows slightly. "I should be asking you guys for advice."
"Huh?" Jiang Lele asked innocently. "You mean asking us about music?"
"About acting," Shen Xunye corrected him.
Jiang Lele was puzzled. "But none of us are actors."
Wei Xuan's expression abruptly darkened. He quickly kicked Jiang Lele and spoke up to stop him. "...Stop asking."
Shen Xunye's implication was already obvious enough. If they kept asking, they would only embarrass themselves.
[I wasn't reading much into it at first, but now that Wei Xuan's pointed it out...]
[So he's implying this whole house is full of actors? Hahaha.]
[You know what, he's got a point. Anyone who makes it out of the Raising House definitely has decent acting skills.]
[Putting on an act to gain fans is only natural. As long as you can keep it up forever, there's really nothing wrong with it.]
[But having it exposed is still pretty embarrassing, right?]
[Neither of these two new members is a pushover. [sideways smirk]]
Jiang Lele was already so absorbed in the conversation that he completely missed Wei Xuan's signal to shut up. He frowned unhappily. "Why won't you let me ask?"
"Because next, I'm going to say something unpleasant," Shen Xunye helpfully explained for Wei Xuan.
Jiang Lele froze, then instinctively asked, "...What unpleasant things?"
Wei Xuan: "..."
Still asking! Do you want to hear something unpleasant that badly? Are you a masochist?
"Hmm..." Shen Xunye suddenly felt as though he were bullying an idiot. He tilted his head toward Wei Xuan. "He knows. He'll tell you later."
"...Oh." Jiang Lele was a little disappointed.
Soon, everyone at the table gradually put down their chopsticks.
Noticing this, Xie Weishui raised his voice just before Shen Xunye could get up and leave. "Everyone's pretty much finished eating. Let's play some icebreaker games."
No one at the table objected, including Shen Xunye.
A satisfied smile appeared on Xie Weishui's face. "Then let's start with a simple game of Number Bomb. Whoever gets blown up... has to take a sip of alcohol as punishment."
Number Bomb: the dealer chose a number between 1 and 100 and showed it to the viewers on-screen. Then everyone else took turns guessing, and the dealer had to narrow the range based on their guesses until someone guessed correctly.
To keep things fair, they decided to play a full round, making sure each of the eight people got one turn as dealer.
The first dealer was Xie Weishui.
He typed a number on his phone and showed it to the nearest camera.
"Hmm, let's go clockwise and start with Fang Jin." Smiling, he looked at the person sitting across from him.
Fang Jin had no objections. "23."
"I thought you'd pick a number in the middle..." Xie Weishui blinked slowly. "Between 0 and 23."
"Uh, this isn't looking good..." Hearing how rapidly the range had shrunk, Wei Xuan grew nervous. "Then I'll pick one in the middle. 11."
Xie Weishui: "0 to 11."
Without thinking, Shen Xunye casually guessed, "6."
"0 to 6..." Xie Weishui chuckled. "You're very lucky."
Next was Chi Li's turn.
"That's so mean. You're not leaving any room for those of us going later." Chi Li made a show of sighing. "I won't guess from the middle, then... I guess 5."
Xie Weishui's expression did not change. "0 to 5."
Gao Yuan cast Chi Li a grateful look, then mercilessly guessed a number in the middle. "3..."
Xie Weishui: "0 to 3."
"Oh my god... The first person narrowed it down so much already. I didn't think we'd last this many turns." Wei Xuan marveled, then looked gleefully at the two opposite him. "One of you is doomed."
Jiang Lele suddenly laughed. "I think Zhou Yang's definitely the one who's doomed. I pick 2."
"Your feeling was right..." Xie Weishui was very surprised too. "The next range is 0 to 2."
Zhou Yang: "...?"
How come I don't even get a choice between two numbers?
Jiang Lele brought his juice to his lips, hiding the faintly disdainful smile at the corners of his mouth.
When playing games like this, Xie Weishui really liked choosing numbers with special meanings.
For instance, 99 and 52 when he was selling his ship with Fang Jin the hardest, or the months or days of their birthdays...
This 1 was very likely a psychological suggestion he was giving himself-he was first, and he was the only one.
"All right, junior." Xie Weishui took the initiative to pour Zhou Yang a drink. "Drink up. Don't think about trying to wriggle out of it."
"I wasn't trying to wriggle out of it..." Zhou Yang said aggrievedly. "You're so biased, senior. If you'd let me guess first, Senior Fang might be the one drinking instead."
Fang Jin obligingly lifted the corners of his mouth.
"Oh, you talk too much," Xie Weishui chided coyly. "Hurry up and drink."
Zhou Yang bantered with him and drank with a show of reluctance.
When he set down the empty glass, he suddenly met Chi Li's gaze from far across the table.
Before... Chi Li always stopped me from touching alcohol because he worried I'd feel sick if I got drunk...
Is he feeling sorry for me now?
Or does seeing me interact with Xie Weishui make his heart ache?