I Joined a Fake Variety Show (GL) - Chapter 45

One second, two seconds, three seconds…

The two of them maintained the posture for ten seconds, and neither spoke.

Zhou Xi was waiting for Han Shutong to move and leave, but the eye contact was too long, making Zhou Xi feel a little awkward. She realized she might have to speak first.

She blinked, her lips moving.

But Han Shutong spoke first. “Teacher Zhou, your hand…”

Hand?

What about her hand?

Zhou Xi had instinctively reached out to defend herself when Han Shutong fell, bracing against Han Shutong’s body, but she hadn’t noticed where her hand landed.

Zhou Xi lowered her gaze.

Han Shutong was wearing a long-sleeved dress today, with a somewhat high collar—suitable for autumn.

But because of their current posture, the neckline had sagged, allowing Zhou Xi to easily see the scenery beneath the fabric.

Fortunately, Zhou Xi only saw the collarbone.

A more private area was completely covered by the dress, and pressing down on the fabric was Zhou Xi’s hand.

Zhou Xi’s mind was filled with embarrassment.

No wonder… when her hand touched Han Shutong’s body, the feeling was soft.

She had wondered why Han Shutong wasn’t moving. It turned out the problem was her.

“Cough, cough.”

A cough intended to relieve the awkwardness echoed in the room.

Then, Zhou Xi withdrew her hand.

As Zhou Xi withdrew her hand, she casually said, to further ease the tension, “It’s quite soft.”

The moment the words left her mouth, Zhou Xi realized what she had said!

Help. Why is this getting weirder and weirder?

She didn’t mean it that way.

But… this topic is common among friends. Han Shutong probably won’t treat her like a pervert.

Zhou Xi quickly regained her composure. She looked up at the mirror, checking the eye makeup Han Shutong had applied.

Han Shutong had already straightened up before Zhou Xi spoke. Hearing Zhou Xi’s words, she first looked at Zhou Xi in surprise. Seeing a fleeting panic beneath Zhou Xi’s seemingly calm expression, Han Shutong’s eyes filled with amusement. She pretended to be indifferent and asked, “Is it big?”

“Ah?”

Zhou Xi didn’t hear clearly.

She had been about to praise Han Shutong’s good eyeliner application.

“What do you think?”

Han Shutong changed the question.

Zhou Xi paused. She had thought about it for a moment and confirmed that Han Shutong had indeed asked if it was big or not.

Zhou Xi never expected such a reserved person as Han Shutong to ask others such a personal question.

Sure enough, all women care about that.

Zhou Xi paused, then after a few seconds, her gaze landed on Han Shutong. She complimented her, “It’s very good. Both big and soft.”

Han Shutong froze for a second, then said with ill-concealed laughter in her voice, “Teacher Zhou, I was asking about the eyeliner.”

Zhou Xi: “…”

Han Shutong lowered her gaze. Seeing the embarrassment on the face of the person in the chair, she stopped teasing her. “Thank you for the compliment, Teacher Zhou.”

Han Shutong had thrown her a lifeline, and Zhou Xi quickly took it.

“The eyeliner is also very good.”

“Then I’ll continue drawing the left eye.”

“Mhm.”

With Zhou Xi’s response, Han Shutong continued applying makeup to Zhou Xi, just as before.

Twenty minutes later, Bai Mo knocked on the door.

Han Shutong opened the door. Bai Mo greeted her as “Sister Tong,” then said to the person standing by the bed, “Sister Zhou, the car I called is downstairs. Are you ready?”

“Ready. I’m coming.”

As Zhou Xi turned, Bai Mo let out a gasp of admiration.

“Sister Zhou, I have to say, your makeup today perfectly matches your outfit!”

Zhou Xi smiled lightly. “Shutong did the makeup.”

Bai Mo gave Han Shutong a thumbs-up. “Sister Tong, you’re amazing.”

Zhou Xi had already walked to the door. Bai Mo saw Han Shutong standing behind her and suddenly said, “By the way, Sister Tong, come with us. It must be boring staying alone in the hotel.”

Zhou Xi heard Bai Mo’s question and turned to ask, “Are you tired? If you’re not tired, come with us.”

Han Shutong looked at Zhou Xi.

Actually, before Zhou Xi asked, Han Shutong’s initial thought was to find an empty room and sleep.

She hadn’t slept well last night and hadn’t slept much on the plane. She was feeling tired.

But looking at Zhou Xi, Han Shutong felt all her fatigue vanish.

“Okay.”

The three people arrived at the event venue.

There were many media outlets present, and they naturally noticed the person walking next to Zhou Xi.

Although Han Shutong was wearing a mask and sunglasses, the sharp-eyed media reporters recognized her the moment she stepped out of the car.

Following this, some media workers sent the information to their company’s marketing accounts.

@TheStrongestGossipEater: Today, Han Shutong appeared at the Dark City event. The lead actress of Dark City is Zhou Xi, who is recording a variety show with her.

Within minutes, some internet users left comments:

— Ahhhhhh! Sister is so beautiful!

— Zhou Xi? OMG! Han Zhou is the greatest!

— My friend and I ran into Zhou Xi at the M City high-speed rail station today, and we even took a picture with her! Zhou Xi herself is super beautiful, speaks in a super gentle voice, and chatted with us for a bit. [Image]

— Wait, I saw Han Shutong at the airport today. So she went to N City!

— Can I quietly say that Han Shutong even drove Zhou Xi to M City?

— Excited for the drama!

This Weibo post had been up for less than five minutes when the 8G expert SweetCake saw it.

She immediately screenshotted the Weibo post, saved the bystander photos in the comments, and tapped into the Super Topic.

[

@HanShutong’sSweetCake: Sisters, I thought we would only get some shipping content after the show aired, but we got some today! It’s Working Zhou and Visiting Han oh~ [Image] x5

Reply: Beautiful love! Sweetness overload!

Reply: I strongly suspect Han flew to N City because she missed Zhou so much after Zhou went on a business trip. Otherwise, why wasn’t Han in M City?

Reply: An hour ago, Zhou posted on Weibo to promote the drama, and Han even retweeted it! The caption had a heart!

Reply: I want to ask, does the person themselves know about this Super Topic…? Can I @ them to come see?

Reply: Sisters, I can’t hold it in anymore. Check out my homepage. There’s an even bigger treat.

Everyone thought this was an advertisement and ignored it, but a few more innocent people clicked on it.

And then…

The user’s profile identified them as a photographer. The pinned post, uploaded a minute ago, contained two photos.

The first photo was of Zhou Xi standing in the crowd, her gentle eyes smiling, waving at the camera.

The second photo showed Zhou Xi, like the crowd around her, looking at the stage, and the person on the stage… was Han Shutong, looking at the audience below.

The few CP fans who clicked into the profile immediately screamed and, after obtaining the photographer’s permission, reposted the photos to the Super Topic.

— Sister Zhou is so beautiful! Hiss hiss

— What is this? What is this?

— Wuwuwu It’s truly love! Mom, I’m shipping something real!

— I was at this event. I only focused on watching Han, how did I not see Zhou…? I’m crying.

— I only fantasized before, but the second photo tells me that they are definitely real!

…

]

Zhou Xi was still unaware of all this activity in the Super Topic.

She had just finished the event and was discussing dinner plans with Han Shutong.

Han Shutong said, “Anything is fine,” then looked down at her phone.

She had just received a new message notification.

Luo Shuiqiu: [Han, do you know that you and Zhou Xi have CP fans?]

Han Shutong replied with an “Mhm.”

Luo Shuiqiu: [When did you know? Why didn’t you tell me?]

Han Shutong: [Not long ago.]

Luo Shuiqiu: [I just checked your CP Super Topic. Goodness, 20,000 fans.]

Luo Shuiqiu: [The production team just discussed it with me. They want you two to perform a bit more for the cameras, or they want the post-production team to edit the footage to make your CP look more real, which could boost viewership. But don’t worry, I already refused them for you. After all… I understand.]

Luo Shuiqiu: [Tease.jpg]

Seeing that Luo Shuiqiu had already refused the request, Han Shutong focused on the first part of the message.

Seeing the numbers, Han Shutong frowned slightly. If she recalled correctly, when she last checked, there were only a few hundred fans.

How were there 20,000 now?

Han Shutong opened Weibo while thinking, finding the Super Topic in her following list.

Han Shutong was using her secondary account, as her main account was logged in on another phone, so she wasn’t worried about switching accounts by mistake.

She entered the Super Topic. The first thing she saw was the fan count: 21,000.

Seeing the number confirmed, Han Shutong understood why the production team wanted to capitalize on the CP between her and Zhou Xi.

Because the Super Topic’s growth rate was very fast, and the number of people would surely increase later.

However, Han Shutong was confused. She had watched the show. The two of them hadn’t done anything overtly intimate. Why were there so many CP fans?

Han Shutong’s eyes subconsciously scanned down and immediately caught sight of the two photos posted by the photographer.

Han Shutong’s attention was immediately drawn to the first photo.

She couldn’t help but click on it.

The person in the photo looked as if she was smiling directly at her.

Just as Han Shutong saved the photo to her album, Bai Mo, who had been discussing dinner plans with Zhou Xi, turned her head. Her eyes swept the screen. She thought it looked familiar but didn’t see clearly.

“Sister Tong, what are you looking at?”

Han Shutong locked her phone screen. “What is it?”

Han Shutong didn’t answer her question, but Bai Mo didn’t press it. “Sister Zhou said we’re having barbecue tonight.”

“Mhm.”

“Sister Tong, when Sister Zhou goes back to the hotel to change later, I’ll go check you into a room.”

“Okay, thank you.”

The conversation ended there.

When Han Shutong reopened her phone, her peripheral vision caught Zhou Xi, who was resting with her eyes closed, not paying attention to her.

Han Shutong withdrew her gaze, exiting the enlarged photo. Just as she was about to exit Weibo, her hand accidentally tapped into the comments section.

Han Shutong expressionlessly read the first few comments. Her gaze settled on the next one, which had dozens of likes.

— The second photo is absolutely incredible! I declare it a ‘Wedding Photo’

Wedding Photo?

Han Shutong clicked on the second image.

Because the image was small, Han Shutong had only noticed herself earlier. But after clicking on it, she saw that Zhou Xi was in it as well.

The photographer was excellent at capturing moments. They had taken this photo during the few seconds when she and Zhou Xi made eye contact.

For Han Shutong, this was a precious joint photo.

Because she saw stars in Zhou Xi’s eyes.

Yes, the look in her eyes, filled with starlight, was directed at her.