Chapter 41
After planting rice seedlings for several hours while bent at a ninety-degree angle, Zong Mo, apart from feeling a little tired, was surprisingly in high spirits.
If he didn’t have to consider the penalty for breach of contract, he could go for four more hours!!
After planting the seedlings, he had to continue cooking dinner. Fortunately, with many people around, most of the work didn’t fall on him. The twins picked the vegetables, Ling Han washed them, Lu Bo chopped them, and Ruan Chi… blatantly played the role of the lazy landlord.
The big yellow dog, Hope, chased after them one by one in order. He wasn’t a picky eater either. He first got a piece of a vegetable leaf from Qi Nanfeng, drank a couple of sips of water from Ling Han, and then got a small scrap of pork belly from Lu Bo.
Finally, he came to Zong Mo, raised his paws, and stuck out his tongue, wanting to taste the dinner for them first, and also blocking Ruan Chi, who was trying to inspect the kitchen, outside the door. He had perfected the art of being even-handed.
Zong Mo looked at the big yellow dog in front of him and fell into deep thought.
…How is it that even a dog is more suitable for the role of the main shou than him?
After dinner, Zong Mo and Ruan Chi went to the small cabin, and Tu Bu followed them.
Tu Bu flexibly adopted the audience’s opinions. He called the two to a place without cameras and instructed, “Anyway, your room is dark. Don’t draw the curtains when you sleep.”
Zong Mo: ?
“Isn’t that a bit much, Director Tu? We still have to change clothes in the morning?”
“Change your underwear under the quilt. You can come out to change the rest,” Tu Bu said with a straight face. “You’re both men. Is it necessary to hide behind a curtain?”
Zong Mo: …
Ruan Chi: “Then let’s just move back.”
Compared to using the simple bathroom outside the cabin, he would even rather sleep on the floor in the Green Cabin.
Tu Bu decisively compromised, “Then you can set an alarm. Pull up the curtains at dawn. You can put them down again when you’re changing clothes.”
Zong Mo was willing to accept and even proactively said to Ruan Chi, “Then I’ll set an alarm and pull up the curtains in the morning?”
Ruan Chi: …
Zong Mo, afraid of disturbing Ruan Chi, specially set the alarm to vibrate. In the early morning, the phone had just vibrated a couple of times when Ruan Chi woke up and sat up to look for his phone.
…Where’s the phone?
He searched the bed for a while, his sleepiness completely gone. In the end, he took the phone out of the pocket of Zong Mo’s pants at the foot of the bed and turned off the alarm.
Six in the morning. He had slept for about five hours.
He sat for a while to recover. He really couldn’t get back to sleep, so he simply got up, climbed over Zong Mo, and drew the curtains.
Zong Mo grunted from the pressure but still didn’t get up.
Ruan Chi drew the curtains, climbed down the ladder to wash up, then went back up and lay down.
At seven in the morning, the bullet comments gradually increased. The fans who were surprised by Ruan Chi’s early rise hadn’t been happy for long before he lay back down again.
【????】
Ruan Chi lay there and scrolled through his phone. Remembering that the program team didn’t allow playing with phones in front of the camera, he put down his phone, closed his eyes, and feigned sleep.
The loft bed could only be filmed by the camera hanging in the corner of the other end of the roof. Not only was it far away, but it was also blocked by the two hanging curtains.
【Ahhh CEO Ruan is already awake, why isn’t he coming down QAQ】
【It’s still early, Mo Mo seems to be still sleeping.】
【The all-nighter party is here to tell everyone, they didn’t come back until almost one because they had to queue up to shower at the Green Cabin, hahaha】
【I just noticed this bed isn’t big, it’s just a single bed, right?】
【I thought they were sleeping with separate quilts, but I didn’t expect them to stack two quilts together. I’m dying from the ship!!】
【Wuwuwu, Dyeing Vat yyds】
There was no other movement in the live stream for a long time. The bullet comments started a new round of urging them to get up, or just left out of boredom.
Tu Bu learned from the bullet comments that Ruan Chi had been awake for a long time and tried to send a message over: [Teacher Ruan, it’s nine o’clock. Can you and Zong Mo get up?]
The wording was quite polite.
Ruan Chi looked at his phone and, not long after, sat up again, cooperatively saying, “Zong Mo, get up.”
Zong Mo just grunted, rolled over, and continued to sleep.
“Zong Mo.”
“Five more minutes…”
In a half-asleep state, he was unconsciously acting cute with a soft, sticky voice. Who knew who was the one with no self-awareness who thought he was a Big Fierce 1.
Tu Bu was about to go and knock on the door and flip the quilt when he glanced at the live stream and saw the number of viewers suddenly increase. He sat back down to see what was going on.
Ruan Chi had called him several times but couldn’t wake him up. He then tried patting him, but even that didn’t work.
Zong Mo even pulled his hand out of the quilt to stop Ruan Chi from continuing to pat him. His eyes were closed, but he grabbed him accurately. His voice was still muffled, but he said, “I was too tired from working yesterday. Let me sleep a little longer, Ruan-ge.”
When he called out “Ruan-ge,” it was clear he was already awake. He probably thought that on the show, Ruan Chi couldn’t do anything to him, so he righteously refused to be obedient and stayed in bed.
Ruan Chi pulled the quilt and buried both their heads in it.
The bullet comments instantly flooded the screen.
【When waking someone up, why cover them with a quilt instead of flipping it?】
【CEO Ruan’s tactic—suffocate Mo Mo awake.】
【Wait a minute, why did CEO Ruan also get into the quilt? What’s going on in the quilt now?】
【Why didn’t the program team install a camera in the quilt? Bad review!!】
Program team: ?
Being covered by the quilt, Zong Mo was completely suffocated awake. The little air he had was suddenly blocked. It was his lips that were blocked, and what was blocking his lips were also soft lips, but it shocked him so much he forgot to breathe.
Zong Mo: !?
He hadn’t forgotten that this was a variety show recording. Otherwise, why would Ruan Chi need to cover them with a quilt to kiss him? He was so scared his eyes widened.
“Awake?”
Zong Mo asked in a low voice, “Is the live stream on?”
“Mm,” Ruan Chi said calmly. “The curtains are also up.”
Zong Mo was so scared he didn’t dare to move. It wasn’t until he couldn’t hold his breath anymore that he slowly pulled the quilt away a little, first peeking out with his eyes to observe the situation.
The moment the camera in the corner was looked at, it immediately turned over flexibly and captured him.
Zong Mo: …
It’s fine. Good thing there’s no camera in the quilt.
【Why is Mo Mo so panicked when he wakes up, hahaha, like a thief.】
【So what exactly happened in the quilt just now, ahhh】
Zong Mo pursed his lips, then licked them with a guilty conscience. He had just sat up when he instantly forgot the interlude just now.
“Ah—my back! It hurts so much!”
【Now it can be confirmed that something indeed happened in the quilt just now (lights cigarette)】
【Wait a minute, isn’t three minutes too short?】
【You unclean guys, stop right there. Mo Mo must have hurt himself from planting rice seedlings and cooking yesterday!】
Ruan Chi didn’t care and even said with a teasing smile, “We didn’t do anything?”
Zong Mo: …
This was definitely a deliberate provocation, and it was suggestive, with a certain color.
He grimaced and rubbed his back, “It didn’t hurt last night… hiss! It hurts!”
It was the kind of sore pain that made your scalp tingle after lifting too many weights, and it was all concentrated in his lower back.
Even with an eight-pack, he couldn’t take it!
Zong Mo was not convinced and asked, “Doesn’t your back hurt, Ruan-ge?”
“Mm, it doesn’t hurt,” Ruan Chi smiled freely. “Although I’m a few years older than you, my back is still quite good.”
Zong Mo: …
“You didn’t even do a third of the work I did!”
Ruan Chi said righteously, “Mm, I’m here on vacation.”
Zong Mo: …Forget it!
【Hahahaha, Mo Mo, give up. You’re no match for CEO Ruan!】
【Mo Mo, don’t be afraid. Close the door and release Hope.】
Zong Mo couldn’t see the bullet comments, nor did he think of the trick of closing the door and releasing the dog.
He collapsed back onto the bed, hugged his pillow, and lay on his stomach, turning his head to say to Ruan Chi, “My back hurts too much. I really can’t get up…”
A real man’s back can be not good, but he must learn to act cute!
Ruan Chi: “Hmm?”
Zong Mo was also righteous, “I’ll cook dinner at night.”
Ruan Chi was silent for a moment, then said, “Then what do I eat during the day?”
“Teacher Lu can also cook. Let him do it.”
Ruan Chi: …
Zong Mo: ?
How did he feel his CEO Ruan was angry again, without any warning?
But the bullet comments latched onto the suddenly cued Lu Bo:
【Is Zong Mo quite familiar with Teacher Lu?】
【Has everyone already forgotten the incident where they were photographed eating together in December…?】
【Fuck, he leeched off him again!!!】
【They’re just good friends in private, a normal meal. What’s with the leeching…】
【Wishing Mo Mo and Teacher Lu a long-lasting friendship~】
【I don’t care, I’m going to ship Po Mo, wuwuwu】
【? What Po Mo?】
Before long, Lu Bo’s surprisingly strong old fans and solo fans started arguing with Zong Mo’s various CP fans in the bullet comments. With the Dyeing Vat CP fans occasionally joining the fray, the live stream’s popularity reached a new level.
Tu Bu, watching from behind the screen, was very satisfied. In the cabin, Zong Mo was still lazing in bed.
“I’m really tired. I can’t even straighten my back,” Zong Mo buried half his face in the crook of his arm on the pillow. Even though he wasn’t sick, he added some nasality to his voice.
Seeing that Ruan Chi was still stone-faced, Zong Mo softened his voice and called out sweetly, “Okay, Ruan Chi big brother?”
Ruan Chi: …
Actually, Zong Mo was not as stupid as he thought.
Ruan Chi simply lay down too, and they slept together.
In broad daylight, sleeping on a live stream.
The furiously arguing bullet comments went quiet for a moment. In the clean frame, it was a scene of peaceful and worldly detachment.
Bullet comments: 【???】
Tu Bu had originally intended to send another WeChat message to call Ruan Chi out, but he hadn’t expected that even with the two of them slacking off and sleeping, there would be a large audience watching, no fewer than in the live stream rooms of the others who were preparing to go down to the fields to plant rice seedlings.
【Ah, this… are they really sleeping?】
【Good grief, sleeping on a live stream, hahaha】
【At work, already sleepy from watching.】
【CEO Ruan rolled over. Is he not asleep?】
【He’s probably just avoiding the camera…】
【Can the program team remind Mo Mo that sleeping on his stomach will put pressure on his heart!!】
Tu Bu: ? His twenty-year directing career seemed a bit out of touch with the changing times.