"Hey, who said I wasn't drinking it?"
Lin Weiluo couldn't stand watching him brazenly use her and the others as an excuse.
So before Shen Shuangjian could respond, she reached out first and snatched the bottle of milk, then teasingly undermined Yu Sheng as his eyes widened.
"Xiao Yu, you're already so thoughtful at your age. You'll definitely make a fine man someday. Well, let big sis thank you in advance."
Yu Sheng: ...
And so, at the tender age of twenty, Yu Sheng encountered the first bad woman of his life that day.
Looking at Yu Sheng's bewildered yet pleading gaze, Lin Weiluo finally felt satisfied.
The little brat had reheated breakfast over and over all morning, without showing the slightest intention of letting any of them eat it. After seeing that, how could Lin Weiluo not know who the milk and sandwiches were for?
She had no standing to break up a pair of lovebirds. She'd just felt like being a smart-ass and teasing him for a moment.
"All right, I'll stop teasing you. Big sis already had breakfast. Here, Shuangjian, take this."
After screwing over the younger guy she got along pretty well with, Lin Weiluo "kindheartedly" gave him a hand.
Without allowing any argument, she handed the milk straight to Shen Shuangjian instead of giving it back to Yu Sheng, helping spare him the possibility of being rejected.
And so Yu Sheng, whose face had been full of resentment just a moment earlier, instantly shot her a grateful look.
His hopeless display made Lin Weiluo shake her head and nudge Song Shi, who was also watching the show beside her.
"Hopeless."
She muttered the criticism, and Song Shi, having witnessed everything, shook his head somewhat helplessly too.
Actually, he could understand Yu Sheng perfectly well. In this pleasure-seeking world of fame and fortune, once people got too immersed in their roles, they long since forgot what they themselves were really like.
Faced with one beautiful face after another, the boundaries of their own sexual orientations had long since been worn blurry and indistinct.
Even he considered himself a die-hard straight man who knew exactly what he wanted. Ever since he was young, he'd only ever fallen for intelligent, elegant older women.
Yet when he first met Shen Shuangjian in the rose garden, even he had been dazzled by that astonishing beauty. For a moment, he'd forgotten to resist and instinctively wanted to get closer.
If he hadn't later remembered his own far-from-bright prospects and the inferiority he felt at always falling just short, even he might not have been able to pull back from the brink and put those thoughts to rest.
In their line of work, their self-control sometimes wasn't necessarily even as strong as an ordinary person's.
Precisely because they'd seen so much, their subconscious capacity for acceptance had grown considerably as well.
How many people, amid a show's scripted scenarios or moments of depending on each other for life and death while filming, had experienced the illusion of being too deeply immersed, or the flutter of wanting to make the act real?
Take Yu Sheng, for instance. He'd shot to fame young and, in three years, earned more money than he could spend in a lifetime. His fans' adoration and the dazzling halo of stardom made him brash and confident, daring to dream and act.
Gu Xuanlin, meanwhile, came from a highly educated, affluent family. After years in the entertainment industry, he'd gained both fame and fortune. Even if he retired immediately, he probably wouldn't have many regrets left in this life.
And now, in a twist of fate, Shen Shuangjian had been delivered into their midst, so beautiful that people overlooked his gender and didn't want to care about it.
Competition, victory and defeat, their sharp edges laid bare as hostilities quietly brewed.
With men's innate nature stirring things up as well, restraint became a lack of restraint, and not wanting became wanting.
"Thank you."
Those two short words of thanks, spoken without the slightest emotional inflection, were enough to send Yu Sheng's heart racing and even deepen his smile despite himself.
"You're welcome. Shuangjian, look at what I just posted on Moments..."
Given an inch, Yu Sheng took a mile. He brought his naturally fluffy, unstyled head close to Shen Shuangjian's neck while holding his phone in front of him, chattering nonstop.
Shen Shuangjian clearly still seemed unaccustomed to people getting too close. He instinctively tilted his head away, yet couldn't detect in Yu Sheng's behavior any danger that crossed his boundaries.
So he could only let the other man lean in from behind and nestle his head against the crook of his neck, while Yu Sheng quite naturally used the position to rest a hand on Shen Shuangjian's waist.
At a glance, it looked as though Yu Sheng had wrapped Shen Shuangjian in his arms from behind.
But if anyone really wanted to quibble, he only wanted to enthusiastically share something he thought was fun, like an innocent young guy who was impossible to refuse.
Compared with Xie Qingchi's overbearing, insistent groping, behavior this ordinary yet borderline was clearly harder for Shen Shuangjian to discern.
He felt uncomfortable and wanted to resist, yet couldn't bring himself to push the other man away.
Or rather, he wasn't used to it, yet couldn't recognize it.
The show was currently hugely popular and surrounded by public discourse. Even though this was only a preliminary livestream before its official start, the viewer count easily broke a million.
Those involved couldn't see clearly, but the onlookers saw everything.
So when Yu Sheng couldn't resist getting handsy, the already restless livestream chat instantly exploded.
[Um... did I enter the wrong livestream?]
[?????]
[Yu Sheng, what are you doing???]
[Wait, he just went right in for the hug?!]
[Child! What are you doing?! This is a lifestyle livestream, not a dating show!]
[What's he doing? (Wipes wifey down.) What's he doing? (Wipe, wipe, wipe.)]
[When the younger guy won't call you big bro, he's got some wild intentions.]
[One second: Shuangjian-gege~ Next second: Shuangjian (deep bass voice).]
[Hopeless! Yu Sheng, what has Mommy always taught you?! Be patient, hold back, then, when he can't figure you out, go straight in for a kiss with reddened eyes!]
[Holy freaking world full of love for Shen Shuangjian, is there anyone left in this world who doesn't love him...?]
[No idea. (Pats Xie Qingchi.)]
[I have no idea either. (Pats Xie Qingchi, then laughs at him.)]
[If none of you know, then neither do I. (Pats the cold-faced Gu Xuanlin with his arms crossed.)]
[I'm dying. Gu Xuanlin can't hold it together anymore. I've never seen him lose control of his expressions. That look in his eyes-he looks like he's about to say, "Get your hands off."]
[How is his waist so slim? So slim!]
[When Yu Sheng put his hand on him, I even saw wifey shy away a little. That little head tilt and lip press-I'm going to die!]
[Wifey often does those little frowns and lip presses. He does that when he's at a loss or unhappy!]
[Agreed. When Xie Qingchi was getting handsy before, wifey's brows were practically knotted together, hahahahaha!]
[But I'm genuinely curious who that new guest is. Hopefully he'll show a little backbone and resist my wifey Shuangjian's charms.]
[That'll be tough. My wifey's beauty deserves world heritage status.]
[This face-obsessed world really let Shen Shuangjian prettily clear his name and come out clean.]
[Xie Qingchi, post on your main.]
[Person above, that's not how Xie Qingchi talks. He'd be wailing and begging Shen Shuangjian to unblock him.]
[Xie Qingchi: Mind your own business!]
[I'm laughing so fucking loudly. If Xie Qingchi jumps off a building one day, it'll be because of you netizens.]
[The night wifey blocked Xie Qingchi, Xie Qingchi went downstairs without taking the stairs or the elevator.]
[Stan wifey Shuangjian, enjoy a life of taste.]