I Joined a Fake Variety Show (GL) - Chapter 27

When Han Shutong walked into the studio, Wu Yingran acted as if the two had never met, walking forward to greet Han Shutong again.

Han Shutong refused to play along with her act and said, “Didn’t we just see each other?”

Han Shutong then walked away, leaving Wu Yingran, Zuo Yuan, and a few others standing there. Realizing that the glances of those around her had turned sour, the smile on Wu Yingran’s face froze.

But Wu Yingran quickly regained her composure, smiling as she walked to her seat and sat down.

A playful glint surfaced in Wu Yingran’s eyes.

It seemed… she had discovered something interesting.

How should she put it?

She liked Zhou Xi.

But now, she seemed to have found a rival in love.

And this rival was the famous Han Shutong.

The last time she saw Zhou Xi and Han Shutong living together, Wu Yingran felt very jealous. So, she deliberately mentioned her relationship with Zhou Xi to let everyone present know that she and Zhou Xi were close.

Especially at the time, her main intention was for Han Shutong to hear it.

But Wu Yingran noticed that ever since she said that, the person who had been friendly to her initially hadn’t said a single word to her unless she spoke first.

Wu Yingran was already suspicious. To test if her hunch was correct, Wu Yingran deliberately feigned drunkenness and asked Zhou Xi out after Han Shutong left.

Then, she deliberately used an affectionate nickname when Zhou Xi was on the phone with Han Shutong.

Wu Yingran didn’t notice anything unusual at the time.

But today, when she saw Han Shutong, Wu Yingran suddenly remembered the hair tie Zhou Xi had left in her car, so she brought it out to test the waters again.

The result was obvious, exactly as she had suspected.

While Wu Yingran was lost in thought, the people in the studio were all present, and the program officially began recording.

At seven in the evening, Han Shutong returned home.

Because of the recording, Han Shutong was wearing a custom-made beige blazer, and she hadn’t removed the makeup from the shoot. She looked sharp yet retained a soft femininity.

Zhou Xi was lying in the bedroom watching a movie. Hearing a noise in the living room, she came out and saw Han Shutong changing her shoes in the entryway, holding a bouquet of flowers.

The first thing Zhou Xi saw was the flowers, then her attention was drawn to Han Shutong’s feet. The high heels had left red marks on Han Shutong’s feet, the color very deep, suggesting her feet were squeezed tightly in the shoes while wearing them.

Zhou Xi asked, “Are those shoes uncomfortable for you?”

“Mhm.” Han Shutong finished changing into slippers and straightened her bent back. Looking at Zhou Xi, she said, “They’re a new product from the brand. This is the first time I’ve worn them today.”

“I figured.” Zhou Xi paused and asked, “Does it hurt? I can get you some ointment.”

Han Shutong shook her head. “It’s fine.”

Then Han Shutong walked up to Zhou Xi and handed her the flowers, saying, “Flowers.”

Zhou Xi was stunned for a moment. “For me?”

Han Shutong wanted to say yes, but seeing Zhou Xi didn’t seem to want to take them, she paused and said, “…They’re from a fan.”

A fan had indeed sent flowers, but those flowers had been claimed by Bai Mo, who was also single and hadn’t received any.

This bouquet was one Han Shutong had pre-ordered at the florist yesterday and picked up on her way home from work today.

Zhou Xi took them upon hearing this. Han Shutong had been holding the bouquet backward, so she couldn’t see what was inside. Now, taking them, she saw they were roses.

Fresh and vibrant.

They were beautiful.

Zhou Xi loved roses. Some people said roses had become cliché and increasingly cheap. But Zhou Xi believed that what was cliché was the people, and cheap was the love, which had nothing to do with the flower itself.

There was a card in the flowers. Zhou Xi opened it and saw the card was filled with English text. In the center, it wished her a Happy Qixi Festival, and the signature on the bottom right read Your Beloved.

Zhou Xi’s eyes curved in a smile. “Fans are so romantic.”

“They’re for you.”

Zhou Xi shook her head. “Is that really okay?”

The flowers were for Han Shutong from a fan; she couldn’t take them.

Han Shutong had no choice but to say, “Then I’ll arrange them and put them in the living room.”

“I’ll do it.” Zhou Xi said, already looking for a vase.

But as she turned, Han Shutong called out to her.

Zhou Xi: “What’s wrong?”

“Here, for you.” Han Shutong pulled a hair tie out of her pocket and handed it to Zhou Xi.

Zhou Xi looked down. It was her hair tie. “Where did you find this? I thought I had lost it.”

Wu Yingran’s lie was easily exposed.

Han Shutong’s eyes held a smile. “In the seat crack.”

“Sigh, I bought a new one yesterday.” Zhou Xi said this, her eyes unintentionally catching Han Shutong’s loose hair. She instinctively said, “You can have this one.”

“For me?” Han Shutong’s fingers twitched slightly.

“Mhm, it’s just a hair tie. Don’t be polite with me.” Zhou Xi then went off to deal with the roses.

As Zhou Xi turned away, Han Shutong noticed the style of the hair tie Zhou Xi used for her hair.

It was the same as the one in her hand—three strands of black thread woven together. The only difference was that Zhou Xi’s charm was a white rabbit.

Even though it was an ordinary item, Han Shutong couldn’t hide the joy in her heart that she had an identical item to Zhou Xi.

Zhou Xi quickly arranged the flowers. She found a large, long-unused glass jar, trimmed the roses, and placed them inside.

Placed in a vase, the flowers will live longer than if they were bound in a bouquet.

The vase was placed in the center of the coffee table. The deep red color was strikingly beautiful in the white-toned room.

It was this that made Zhou Xi truly feel the Qixi Festival atmosphere.

Zhou Xi clapped her hands, brushing off the bits of leaves on her palms. She looked at the vase and said, “So beautiful.”

Han Shutong had changed into casual clothes and walked out of the bedroom. Zhou Xi said, “Are you hungry? I’ll go cook now.”

She had already cut and prepared the vegetables, just waiting for Han Shutong to return to stir-fry them.

“I’ll help you,” Han Shutong said, walking toward the kitchen.

“No need.” Zhou Xi stopped Han Shutong. “You worked hard. Just rest when you get home.”

“…” Han Shutong chuckled softly. “I’ll listen to you.”

After dinner, it was nine o’clock, one hour before the show’s premiere.

Thinking there was still some time, Zhou Xi suggested they both shower and put on face masks before watching the show.

The faucet in Han Shutong’s bathroom was fixed, so one of them showered in the bedroom’s bathroom and the other in the living room’s. They showered simultaneously, but Zhou Xi finished and came out first.

By the time Zhou Xi had applied a face mask and was sitting on the sofa, Han Shutong walked out of the bedroom.

It was ten o’clock. The show premiered on the platform on time.

But because Zhou Xi waited for Han Shutong, she opened the show a little later.

The video was divided into two parts: Part A and Part B.

Part A featured the Bai Lu couple and Su Jingxing. Part B featured Wu Yingran and Han Shutong.

Zhou Xi didn’t skip ahead but watched from the beginning. By the time Zhou Xi reached their segment, the comments/bullet screens had already reached tens of thousands.

They were watching on a computer. Since they were comfortably nestled on the sofa, Zhou Xi was too lazy to turn off the comments.

She originally wanted to see what she looked like after being edited, but since she had experienced everything herself, Zhou Xi’s attention occasionally drifted.

Then, her gaze moved to the comments.

When the segment first began, the comments looked like this:

[Skipping straight to my wife’s part.]

[FIRST!]

[Han Shutong! Han Shutong!]

[Is she finally here?!]

[Ahhhhhhh! My wife is here!]

Seeing the word “wife,” Zhou Xi instinctively looked at Han Shutong, but Han Shutong remained undisturbed and calm.

Zhou Xi had no choice but to look back at the video.

[Unveiling the bare face of a female celebrity]

[How can someone look so beautiful right after waking up? And I look too swollen to be seen. Is this the difference between me and a female celebrity?]

[In my lifetime, I actually get to see Shutong waking up. By extension, I’ve slept with Shutong.]

[To the person above, wake up.]

Then the scene cut to Han Shutong ordering takeout.

[Finally, something I have in common with a female celebrity! We all order takeout~]

[Yeah! Why isn’t she eating the takeout? Also, that looks like a lot of takeout. Does my wife have such a good appetite?]

Then Han Shutong knocked on the door, and Zhou Xi came out of the room.

The speed of the comments in this section increased several times, indicating that many people were commenting at this point.

And the most frequent comments were:

[??? Who is this???]

[Hmm? Someone else lives in the house?]

[OMG, who is this woman? Did my wife hide someone from me?]

[Isn’t this the person from the Douyin video yesterday? I thought the staff member was quite good-looking, but I didn’t expect her to be Han’s roommate…]

[Why is Sister Han’s voice so gentle? Where is the aloof jiejie? Where is she hiding?]

[When did Han Shutong get a roommate? Also, who is this roommate? She looks familiar.]

[To the people above, are you fake fans? This is Tongtong’s college classmate! Tongtong even mentioned her during the show recording!]

Then, the scene cut to the interview segment with Zhou Xi and Han Shutong.

After Zhou Xi introduced herself, a graphic appeared on the screen.

Q: (What is your relationship with Han Shutong? Why are you living together?)

A: “Shutong and I are college classmates. As for why we live together… that goes back to a trending topic some time ago. Someone posted a video of me moving with a tricycle, and it went viral. Shutong saw it, thought I was homeless, contacted me, and took me in.”

[OMG! I know! I saw that trending topic! I even thought that older sister looked so pretty!]

[Her voice is so gentle!]

[Is she a teacher?]

[If I remember correctly, Han Shutong graduated years ago, right? Don’t they say college friendships are fake? But looking at them, their relationship is quite good.]

[It’s friendship!]

[Their relationship is great.]

[I envy their bond. I deleted all my roommates’ contacts right after graduation.]

The short interview ended, and the video continued playing. First, it was the scene of them eating, then the segment where Han Shutong sat on the sofa all day.

[I can eat a whole basket of steamed buns in one go. Han Shutong only ate three and stopped. Is this the difference between me and a female celebrity?]

[Han Shutong is so diligent in studying the script. She’s so hardworking!]

[My wife is amazing!]

[What?! She sat on the sofa all day? What kind of script is so good? Can I see it?]

Zhou Xi couldn’t help but smile when she saw this scene. She knew about this, but she hadn’t expected the footage to be so funny.

Just as Zhou Xi was about to talk to Han Shutong, her eyes suddenly caught a comment with hundreds of likes:

[The left-behind child – Han Shutong]