[Holy shit? That's it? Shen Xingcan ran off.]
[He should be fine. Didn't Best Actor Xie go after him?]
[I'm so sad. I kind of want to cry too.]
[I'm a little sad too, but look on the bright side. Haven't they cleared things up now? As long as they've talked it out, it'll be fine.]
[Weibo crashed... Let's head over there first, in case any freaks crawl out of the woodwork and start talking shit.]
[Let's go. To Weibo.]
Moving abruptly from a bright place into a dim one would briefly blur anyone's vision, let alone Shen Xingcan's, when he already had that problem.
Everything before him was a hazy void, leaving Shen Xingcan unable to make out where he was going, but he had no intention of stopping.
He wanted to find somewhere quiet, somewhere he could breathe freely.
When a hand caught his wrist, Shen Xingcan was about to shake it off without thinking, but before he could act, someone pulled him by the arm into an embrace filled with the scent of agarwood.
"Get lost."
Shen Xingcan pushed Xie Linchuan but failed to budge him, so he cursed at him instead.
"I'm sorry."
Shen Xingcan's voice was icy. "I told you to get lost. Didn't you hear me?"
Of course Xie Linchuan wasn't going to leave. He said nothing, simply holding the person before him in silence.
"Xie Linchuan is a bastard, an asshole!"
By the end of his cursing, Shen Xingcan's voice had begun to tremble uncontrollably, and his tears started streaming down beyond his control again.
"Xie Linchuan, I hate you so much!"
Shen Xingcan spoke in a trembling voice.
Xie Linchuan's voice was hoarse. "He really is hateful."
"Why did you treat me like that? You're awful. Do you have any idea how miserable I was? What if I hadn't come back? Would that have been all we could ever have?"
Clutching Xie Linchuan's lapels, he rambled incoherently, his voice so choked with sobs he could barely finish a sentence.
Shen Xingcan's emotions always came directly: hatred, affection, and the misery and heartbreak he felt now.
Xie Linchuan soothed the person in his arms in a strained voice. "No."
Why did you have to distance yourself from him? Why did you have to make him so miserable?
But we really did miss our chance in our last life.
Shen Xingcan couldn't control his tears. Xie Linchuan held him, slowly helping him steady his breathing as he gasped between sobs.
His shoulder was cold and wet, but Xie Linchuan felt a burning pain.
After crying silently for a long while, Shen Xingcan spoke again. "Xie Linchuan, I hate you."
"Yes, he's cowardly and selfish, and he made Shen Xingcan so miserable and heartbroken. He really is awful."
"I'll never forgive you, you bastard, you asshole."
"Xie Linchuan really is a bastard and an asshole, but could you forgive him anyway?"
"No."
Shen Xingcan lay against Xie Linchuan's shoulder, his voice muffled. "Xie Linchuan, I want to eat your flesh."
"Okay. You can."
Shen Xingcan sniffled. "Never mind. A huge bastard like you must have rotten flesh."
"Yes. A huge bastard like me must have rotten flesh."
"...Will me running off like this make the trending searches?"
"Yes."
"Will the two of us get blacklisted, then? If we do, we'll have no choice but to go home and inherit our family businesses."
"No. There are no gay people in Chinese entertainment. As long as nobody catches us in bed together, we won't get blacklisted."
Shen Xingcan said, "Oh." Then he realized something was wrong with that statement and fiercely retorted, "Who's gay with you? Who wants to sleep with you? I'd never sleep with my best buddy. No, we're not even best buddies. We're sworn mortal enemies!"
Xie Linchuan said, "..."
Shen Xingcan grabbed Xie Linchuan's haute couture clothes and wiped his tears and snot on them. "A lot of people must be worried after I ran off like that. Let's go back."
"Okay."
He released his arms.
But now that he was free, Shen Xingcan didn't move.
So Xie Linchuan crouched down. "Get on."
Shen Xingcan asked despite knowing the answer, "What for?"
"I'll carry you back."
"It's not like I really want you to carry me, but since you're being reasonably sincere, Shen Xingcan has decided to grant your wish."
"Yes. Thank you, generous Shen Xingcan, for being willing to grant my wish."
Shen Xingcan climbed onto Xie Linchuan's back and looped his arms around his neck, just as he had in the past.
Supporting Shen Xingcan beneath his knees, Xie Linchuan stood up. His back was straight and his steps even, as though having another person on his back had no effect on him at all.
Shen Xingcan rested his face against Xie Linchuan's back. "When we get back, if we run into anyone, tell them I'm asleep. Otherwise, they'll definitely be able to tell I've been crying."
"Okay."
"Then walk a little slower. If we get back to camp too quickly, people will definitely think I'm pretending to be asleep."
"Okay."
"Will you run out of strength and drop me?"
"No. You're very light. I could carry you for a long time without any problem."
With that reassurance, Shen Xingcan relaxed.
And so a walk that should have taken a little over ten minutes stretched into nearly an hour.
At some point, the dark clouds obscuring the bright moon had cleared away completely.
The silver radiance of the bright, full moon filtered through the leaves into the woods, scattering dappled fragments of light across the ground. Their figures overlapped and fitted together beneath the moonlight, and the night breeze carried the distinctive scent of the ocean, lending everything a gentle air.
When Xie Linchuan carried Shen Xingcan back to camp, everyone was still awake.
Everyone visibly relaxed when they saw Xie Linchuan and Shen Xingcan return safely. Seeing Shen Xingcan asleep on Xie Linchuan's back, they tactfully refrained from chatting with Xie Linchuan for long.
Only after making sure no one was around did Shen Xingcan lift his head from Xie Linchuan's back.
"No one noticed I was pretending to be asleep just now, right?"
Xie Linchuan fell silent.
Unhappy with Xie Linchuan's silence, Shen Xingcan bumped his head against the back of his neck.
"Say something."
"No one noticed just now, but someone probably has now."
Shen Xingcan froze for a second, then turned his gaze toward the camera that could capture the entire campsite.
Xie Linchuan said gently, "Maybe there aren't many people left in the livestream."
Shen Xingcan's voice was hollow. "But as long as there's even one person left, word of this will spread at lightning speed!"
"But at least they can't ask you about it in person, and the few people who can don't have their phones."
"That's true."
Shen Xingcan seemed comforted, but only he knew that he was simply out of options.
This wasn't a cultivation world. He couldn't alter other people's memories, much less manipulate some so-called timeline.
But if Shen Xingcan and Xie Linchuan had their phones, they would have discovered that far more viewers had witnessed this scene than they imagined.
After the livestream ended, some viewers went to Weibo to keep the freaks in check, while others stayed in the livestream to wait for Shen Xingcan and Xie Linchuan to return. Even more chose to do both.
But soon, the netizens who had planned to go to Weibo to keep the freaks in check discovered that there was nothing for them to do.
Once Weibo recovered, the first and second trending searches became Shen Xingcan's and Xie Linchuan's upcoming work schedules.
As for the earlier topics, such as Shen Xingcan leaving in tears and Xie Linchuan distancing himself and avoiding him, they had vanished from the public feed.
In the words of Xingcan's fans, Linchuan's fans, and their CP fans, they had been prepared to fight three hundred rounds against all comers, only to arrive and discover that the battlefield itself had been taken out in passing. LMAO, the haters hadn't been given any chance to do a thing.
So the netizens returned to the livestream, hoping to watch what happened next through the camera overlooking the whole campsite.
Moreover, it was already very late, and workers and students alike were mostly home, so the livestream's viewership was no lower than during the official daytime broadcast.
So when Xie Linchuan carried Shen Xingcan back into camp, the livestream erupted. When the viewers discovered that Shen Xingcan was pretending to be asleep, it erupted even more.