Extra (iv): All the Way “West”
Edited: 12.27.2023
Early the next morning, the other two groups of guests headed out. Before leaving, Lin Cheng made a special trip to Xia Xi’ai’s room to share with him the small reward for completing the task yesterday. Xia Xi’ai took it to Jiang Liushen’s room and after Jiang Liushen learned who gave it to him, he said sourly: “He really likes you.”
Xia Xi’ai was speechless: “Why are you jealous of him? He’s so well-behaved.”
“He is indeed well-behaved, but he is, after all, the person Duan Mingyang sent in.”
“Really?” Xia Xi’ai was a little surprised.
“Yeah. Otherwise, how could he, a small idol who just debuted with only one or two million fans, receive such good resources?” Jiang Liushen said, “I’m afraid Duan Mingyang sent him in order to win you over.”
It seemed that Jiang Liushen was still upset about Duan Mingyang calling him “little kiddo” during the last award ceremony.
Xia Xi’ai had no choice but to express his firm stance that he would never be abducted and followed him closely throughout the day.
During the day, the program team went into their room to record some interviews and daily routines and also asked the doctor to take his temperature again. Jiang Liushen’s fever wasn’t serious this time, but it still wouldn’t go down. In addition to dizziness, he had occasional bouts of stomach problems so it really wasn’t appropriate to go to a crowded place. At night, in accordance with the original plan, they installed a few more cameras in the suite. Zhu Zhiming personally sat in front of the surveillance screen in the next room, vowing to film a beautiful and romantic double dance.
But before that could happen, Jiang Liushen first took Xia Xi’ai to the restaurant for a drink.
Zhu Zhiming almost sprayed a mouthful of blood. The restaurant was not equipped with a camera at all and he could only rely on the cameras in other places to shoot from a distance, making the sound not very audible.
Jiang Liushen only poured half a glass of red wine and handed it to Xia Xi’ai so that he could have a taste while he drank hot water.
Seeing that he followed the doctor’s instructions, Xia Xi’ai was a little relieved and took the glass of wine and drank it without thinking too much. After putting down the wine glass, a slight blush appeared on his face. He wasn’t really drunk, but his expression was much more relaxed than before and he was a little bolder. He actually got intimate in front of the camera and touched Jiang Liushen’s forehead.
“It seems like it’s still a little hot……”
Jiang Liushen didn’t answer. Pulling down his hand, he gently squeezed it: “Let’s go dance in the living room?”
“But I haven’t learned yet, I don’t know how to dance……what do I do?” He originally planned to learn it last night, but Jiang Liushen fell ill. And because he was taking care of him, he didn’t have the time to learn.
“It’s okay, I’ll teach you.”
Jiang Liushen led him to the living room. After he stood still, he turned around and took the wobbly kiddo into his arms. He held his waist, held his hands, and got into a dancing posture.
The soft and slow music prepared in advance was playing in the living room. When Xia Xi’ai listened carefully, he found that it was actually a slow piano version of his song “Exclusive Love.” The program team really did put in the effort.
“I go backward, you go forward, I go forward, you go backward. It’s very simple, come on, try it.” Jiang Liushen said to him while taking a step.
Xia Xi’ai lowered his head and studied his dance steps, memorizing each step carefully. After trying for about ten minutes, he finally found the feeling. His forward and backward movements became smoother, and the number of times he stepped on Jiang Liushen’s feet became less and less. He couldn’t help but raise his head happily: “I seem to have learned it!”
He was happy and his eyes became extraordinarily dark and bright, like clear spring water. His smiling red face also added a bit more innocence and brightness. This scene was clearly captured by the camera and Zhu Zhiming and other staff members who were watching in front of the screen expressed their sincere praise.
As expected of Young Master Jiang, he was a first-rate wooer. All the fans have probably never seen Xia Xi’ai like this and the ratings would definitely skyrocket when this episode was broadcast.
Just as he was thinking happily, Jiang Liushen suddenly let go of his embrace and then turned to head into the room. He came back with the custom-made mask and put it on Xia Xi’ai. Suddenly, most of his face was tightly blocked.
Zhu Zhiming: “……”
Staff: “What is Brother Shen doing? He should know that the Xia Xi’ai just now was very eye-catching, right?”
“……He covered him up precisely because he knew.”
All the staff froze and only came to a realization a second later.
The King of Jealousy was indeed true to his name.
However, Xia Xi’ai didn’t notice it. The wine he just drank seemed to be starting to affect him, making his cheeks hot and his thinking unclear. All he could see was the handsome face of the person in front of him. He was a little obsessed looking at him as he raised his hand to touch Jiang Liushen’s cheeks and brows…….and he suddenly felt that he didn’t really want anyone other than himself to see this face.
“You won’t wear one?”
Jiang Liushen smiled. He wrapped his arms around him and slowly danced in circles as he whispered into his ear:
“Don’t you know best whether I like wearing things or not?”
The group of people in front of the screen had their faces almost stuck to the screen but they still couldn’t hear what the two in the living room were whispering. They could only see that after spinning around and coming back, Xia Xi’ai’s ears suddenly became red.
Zhu Zhiming was in pain: “I knew I shouldn’t have listened to him and removed the microphone!”
After all was said and done, he also knew that if Jiang Liushen asked him to remove the microphone again, he could only obediently do as he was told.
Fortunately, Young Master Jiang still gave him face. After whispering for a while, he began to speak at a normal volume again and the conversation was quite serious.
“Time flies so fast. A year has passed in the blink of an eye. It feels like yesterday that I last participated in this show with you.” Jiang Liushen recalled and suddenly burst into laughter: “At that time, it was really funny watching you hate me every day without being able to do anything about it. Truly amusing.”
Xia Xi’ai glared at him: “So you also knew that you were annoying.”
“I’m innocent, I usually don’t treat people like that. I only teased you because I thought you were fun to mess with.”
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“How am I fun to mess with?”
“Every part of you is fun to mess with. Oh, that’s right, speaking of fun, besides the four places on this trip, do you want to go somewhere else? I’ll take you there.”
“Let’s talk about that after you get better first.” Xia Xi’ai put one hand on his shoulder and the skin under his palm was slightly hot, “With a fever, where could you go? You might not even be able to go on the later trips scheduled for this program.”
“No way, I’m going to persevere even if I have a fever of 42 degrees. All idols who work hard are like this.” Jiang Liushen wasn’t embarrassed.
Xia Xi’ai was speechless, “Don’t forget that you’re going to film a movie after recording this program. There is no time to travel.”
“That can be arranged later.” Jiang Liushen laughed lightly, “Anyway, we still have a long, long time in the future.”
A female staff member in front of the monitoring screen immediately covered her heart and gasped: “I finally know how the little angel fell. Who would be able to stand this?……”
A male staff member disagreed: “Based on Brother Shen’s conditions, I would be happy to marry him without him flirting with me.”
“Ptouh! Why don’t you look at yourself, do you think you’re worthy?” The female staff member said in disgust, “Why don’t you take notes? Brother Shen is showing you his techniques on the spot, whether you can bid farewell to your single life depends on him!”
The two in the living room continued to chat and dance slowly. Perhaps the music was too soothing or perhaps the red wine’s effect was too strong, but without realizing it, Xia Xi’ai’s head began to lull and he eventually leaned sleepily on Jiang Liushen’s shoulder.
“Don’t lean so close to me, you’ll catch my cold.” Jiang Liushen pushed him away slightly, “Do you want me to send you back to your room to sleep?”
However, Xia Xi’ai shook his head and said in a muffled voice: “I want to sleep in your room…..”
Jiang Liushen was surprised. His kiddo wasn’t usually so clingy. When he took a closer look, Xia Xi’ai’s eyes were wide open. He was half drunk and half sleepy, and he didn’t seem very sober. It was no wonder he was this frank and proactive.
He lowered his voice and deliberately said: “That won’t do, we are a recording program, even if I’m not sick, you can’t sleep with me.”
Xia Xi’ai pouted. He seemed a little aggrieved as he mumbled in a small voice: “I can’t sleep without you……”
Jiang Liushen was stunned. They usually sleep together at home. Occasionally, when he came back late, he would often see Xia Xi’ai sitting in the living room watching his movies, or practicing in the piano room. Even if he was asleep, he would immediately wake up if he entered the room with a slight noise. He thought it was due to him being a light sleeper, but it turned out to be this reason……..No wonder his kiddo’s mental state hadn’t been very good these past two days.
But Jiang Liushen didn’t forget that he was sick, and after a long battle in his heart, he still put Xia Xi’ai’s health first and said seriously: “You are already an adult, you have to learn to sleep by yourself, you know? “
Xia Xi’ai’s hand on his shoulder tightened. He lowered his eyelashes, remained silent for a few seconds, and finally nodded and said obediently: “I understand……”
Jiang Liushen gave him another candy: “When I get well, I’ll sleep with you every day.”
Xia Xi’ai abruptly raised his eyes. His eyes lit up again and he nodded softly and happily, finally coaxed into obedience.
Jiang Liushen held him for the last dance, but he had already begun to think about what would happen in the next few days: he had to ask the program team to upgrade his hotel room to a luxurious suite, decorate it with flowers, and turn off the camera or block it tightly at night. If he really couldn’t turn off the sound, he could also cover the kiddo’s mouth. That was quite exciting, but he couldn’t bully him too harshly. After all, they still had a show to record…….
Although he had a wonderful thought, it was still a thought in the end.
In the next ten days of recording, the places they traveled to were all cold regions. And it was almost all outdoor activities where they were constantly running to complete tasks. As a result, his fever was on and off. He finally managed to suppress it for a few days and seemed to be fine. However, he was worried that the illness hadn’t been completely eliminated so he didn’t dare to sleep with Xia Xi’ai. In the end, he caught a small cold two days later, developed a low fever, and suffered a recurrence of stomach pain. He didn’t fully recover until the last few days. It could be said that this was his most painful and difficult recording experience.
On the last night, they stayed in a hot spring inn in Hokkaido and were still divided into six rooms.
Jiang Liushen had given up sleeping in the same room. These days, he would coax Xia Xi’ai into a peaceful sleep through video calls. But besides that night of drinking, Xia Xi’ai didn’t seem to care about sleeping with him, and even urged him to hang up so he could go to sleep. This made him think that the kiddo who pitifully said “I can’t sleep without you” that night was all just a dream.
At the dinner party in the evening, in order to celebrate the successful conclusion of the recording and the record-high ratings of the first episode, the program team specially prepared the famous local plum wine. Jiang Liushen was ill and couldn’t drink, so he supervised Xia Xi’ai not to drink recklessly. The alcohol content was high and the kiddo would probably get drunk after just two sips, and would definitely have a headache the next day.
After a full meal, everyone headed back to their respective rooms to sleep. Jiang Liushen said to Xia Xi’ai as usual, “When I head back, I will video call you.” Just as he was about to turn around, the corner of his bathrobe was pulled.
“Are you……heading to the film crew tomorrow?” Xia Xi’ai asked him.
Jiang Liushen froze: “Yes, why?”
He was supposed to join them today, but because he had to go on this program, he persuaded the director to postpone it by a day.
“It’s……nothing.” Xia Xi’ai let go of his hand, his expression somewhat tangled: “Then……rest early tonight.” After saying this, he hurriedly went back to his room.
Jiang Liushen didn’t understand where this was coming from. Thinking that they would video call later anyway, he didn’t take it seriously and went back to his room to soak in the hot spring.
☽ ⋆ℍalf 𝕄oon 𝕋ranslations⋆ ☾ 
Thank You for the new chapter (๑°꒵°๑)･*♡
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