Pull Down His Pants!

“Don’t be afraid.” Su Hanying’s low and amused voice sounded next to his ear. “I’ll protect you.”

“......”

Shen Yang let go. He shuffled over. He retreated to a corner of the sofa and curled up like a mushroom.

At the point, the director ran over holding a torch and explained that there had been a sudden power outage across the whole area, but the program group had rented generators, so there would be power soon.

Yang Tianchi, who had suffered collective bullying, was full of grievances: “There was really a power outage? I thought it was a prank…...”

The director hadn’t heard Yang Tianchi’s howl and said sternly: “We are a respectable variety show.”

Subsequently, there was some unknown issue with the “respectable variety show”’s generators, and over twenty minutes later there was still no power. When the room finally lit up again, Shen Yang felt that the director’s forehead wrinkles had deepened slightly again.

As a result of the interruption, everyone lost the will to continue watching the movie; when they saw it was past nine o-clock they all just went downstairs to rest.

“Don’t forget to send messages at half-past-ten!” the director painstakingly reminded them.

There was still an important segment tonight; they had to send an anonymous text message to the guest they had the most goodwill towards. Later, when the show is aired, celebrity guest observers invited by the program group would work out the episode’s “heart-pounding connections” based on the edited footage, which meant guessing who each guest had sent a message to.

For day one, Shen Yang didn’t need to consider it; he definitely wanted to message Duan Weiwei.

By the time he returned to the bedroom, Shen Yang’s embarrassment had already dissipated. He saw Su Hanying take a set of clean clothes and enter the bathroom, and thought the other party was getting ready to shower, but unexpectedly, he came back out in under two minutes.

This time, Su hanying was wearing a loose singlet and cotton sports pants; there was even a towel thrown around his neck. Shen Yang realised after a moment: “Are you going to exercise?”

“Mm.” Su Hanying’s shoulders were slightly paler than his arms. He found a headband to hold back his fringe and turned to look at Shen Yang.

Shen Yang shivered; he was worried that Su Hanying would call on him to go together. To be completely honest, he was extremely averse to exercise. He normally played the part of a couch potato: if he could lie, he wouldn’t sit; if he could sit, he wouldn’t stand. But now that he was in front of the camera, if Su Hanying really did invite him, it would be difficult for him to refuse.

Don’t call me, don’t call me……

Shen Yang silently sent out his thoughts. Perhaps sensing his bone-deep rejection of the idea, Su Hanying’s lips moved slightly, but in the end he left without a word.

Shen Yang exhaled slowly and decided to celebrate with a bath.

The bathroom facilities were decent; not only was it spacious, but there was also a large bathtub. Shen Yang saw that there was still time, and he was also particularly tired today, so he simply soaked in the bath to relieve his fatigue. In the end, he hadn’t been there long before he dozed off unexpectedly…...

He had a dream. In his dream he returned to kindergarten, right at the moment when he was being blocked in the toilet by a group of bear children[1]. They tried to pull down his pants; little Shen Yang was flustered and ashamed, and his face was red from crying, but the boy leading the group still said self-righteously: “Don’t cry, we just want to check that you actually have a peepee. Once we’ve seen it, we’ll put them back on for you.”

At this moment, a boy wearing a blue coat entered and reproached them coldly: “Let her go, or I’ll tell the teacher that you’re bullying a classmate.”

The boys surrounding Shen Yang ran away in a fright, and the boy in the blue coat approached him. He wiped away Shen Yang’s tears for him and said with a warm smile: “Little sister, don’t cry. Hurry up and leave; this is the men’s bathroom.”

Shen Yang: “......”

He didn’t know whether it was because his dream was too realistic, but Shen Yang woke up instantly. He then discovered that while he had been sleeping, the water had almost grown cold. He quickly got out of the bath, changed into his clothes, dried his hair, and pulled open the door.

Outside, Su Hanying had his hand curled into a fist, seemingly about to knock on the door. They stared at each other, both stunned, and then Su Hanying explained: “You never came out.”

Shen Yang was ashamed: “Sorry, I fell asleep……”

Su Hanying was silent for a moment. “Take care not to catch a cold.”

After this, he picked up the clean clothes and entered the bathroom.

Shen Yang saw that it was almost ten o’clock; he had hogged the bathroom for a full forty minutes. No wonder Su Hanying had already come back…… Thinking about the inexplicable dream he had just had, Shen Yang felt somewhat suffocated as well as amused. He supposed that his encounter with Wei Fengmian today had made him dream of his childhood.

He and Wei Fengmian had met that day; afterwards, they had attended the same kindergarten and the same primary school; they were even in the same class. They didn’t separate until midway through high school, when he didn’t test into the advanced class, but they still abandoned the college entrance exam[2] together and went to City B……

He’d taken up arms for Old Wei, he’d shed blood for Old Wei…...Cough, that was an exaggeration, but once upon a time he had certainly been willing to sacrifice himself for Wei Fengmian, and now he didn’t even dare to face him.

Shen Yang spread out his right hand and gazed at the scar on his palm. After a long time, he scrubbed his face and forced himself to stop reminiscing over those boring old days. Instead, he put his mind on what sort of text message he should send so that he could let Duan Weiwei know he was the sender without openly revealing his identity?

He fretted over a dozen different wordings and ruled them out one by one, all the way until Su Hanying finished showering and came out. “You forgot your Rubik’s cube.”

Shen Yang glanced over and saw a complete red heart lying on Su Hanying’s palm; it was the specially-shaped Rubik’s cube he’d brought with him into the bathroom. But he himself had never fiddled with it; by all rights, it should be mixed up, but now it was fully solved.

He knew there were methods of solving specially-shaped Rubik’s cubes too, but for amateurs, those might as well be written in a different language[3]. In other words……

“You can solve Rubik’s cubes too?”

Su Hanying: “I’m okay.”

Shen Yang choked, then asked: “So what’s the fastest time it’s taken you to solve a regular 3-by-3 Rubik’s cube?”

Su Hanying sat on the edge of his bed and dried his hair. “Twelve seconds.”

Shen Yang was shocked. “That’s really awesome.” And it was also slower than him by two seconds.

Su Hanying sent him an inscrutable look. “Let’s tidy up and get ready to send the messages.”

When the two of them reached the lounge, Yang Tianchi was already there waiting. As soon as Shen Yang came into his line of sight, he heard him ask: “Have you decided who to send yours to?”

Shen Yang replied, “What about you?”

Yang Tianchi showed a rare shy expression: “We’ve only just met, so none of us are that close yet; for now, I can only judge based on first impressions.”

“That’s true,” Shen Yang replied absently.

Yang Tianchi then switched targets to Su Hanying, who had already taken out his phone. “And Hanying? Have you decided who to send yours to?”

Su Hanying: “Can I say it?”

The assistant immediately stopped him: “You can’t!”

Su Hanying smiled apologetically at Yang Tianchi.

Yang Tianchi: “......” I’m not letting you say that again!

But seeing that Su Hanying didn’t want to talk about this, he was quiet for a while. Then he asked with feigned carelessness: “It couldn’t be possible that I won’t receive a message at all?”

The men had to send the women a message, and the women naturally had to send one to a  man they had a good impression of. If two of them chose the same person, there was bound to be someone who wouldn’t receive a message.

In fact, Shen Yang had envisioned this scenario too; the most tragic situation would be that the three girls all sent messages to the same person, and due to the existence of Su Hanying, the possibility of this was actually not low……

Nevertheless, he was mentally prepared; whether or not he received a message, he had to stay sharp and keep his cool!

At half-past ten, the assistant informed them that they could send the texts. Shen Yang typed out the content he had prepared word-for-word.

-- By graciously complimenting her culinary skills, this also hinted at his identity; Shen Yang simply couldn’t be more satisfied, particularly with the emoji right at the end, which gave off a kind and cute impression, but wouldn’t make people think he was frivolous. He had spent half an hour thinking up this line.

After confirming that he hadn’t made any typos, Shen Yang added Duan Weiwei’s name and sent it to the assistant, who then forwarded it to his designated guest.

Then it was time to wait. Shen Yang was a little bit nervous; he secretly observed the expressions of Yang Tianchi and Su Hanying -- the former was restless, looking down at his phone every few seconds and constantly touching his head or shaking his legs; as for the latter…...He couldn’t tell a thing.

All of a sudden, Shen Yang felt his phone vibrate!

He held his breath and checked it while acting natural, seeing a new message on the lock screen -- I’m very happy to meet you; you are a good person.

Shen Yang: “......”

Was this the legendary ‘good person’ card? He didn’t even know which sister had sent it to him.

But regardless of what sort of card it was, Shen Yang didn’t end up with an empty basket; he couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief.

He had originally wanted to look mysterious, but upon catching a glimpse of the rapidly growing resentment exuding from Yang Tianchi, he once again lost control over his smile and hastily covered his face before Yang Tianchi could notice, ashamed of his inner bitchiness.

Compared to the peacefulness on the boys’ side, the girls’ room had far more schemes. Although Duan Weiwei received a reply, it wasn’t from the person in her heart; she only counted a reply from Su Hanying as obtaining the first victory in this war.

She sneakily glanced at the other two competitors -- Long Nu had her head bowed, her expression hidden, while Yan Jiaqi noticed her gaze and smiled back at her.

A provocation!

She had to be provoking her!

Duan Weiwei gripped her phone tightly, controlling her facial muscles with great effort; she couldn’t reveal her partial loss. But she still couldn’t help wondering whether Su Hanying had really sent a message to Yan Jiaqi? Otherwise, why would Yan Jiaqi look so smug?

Thinking back over how Yang Tianchi had acted today, it was very possible that Yan Jiaqi had received two messages!

Duan Weiwei was distressed and frustrated, and she secretly gained a smidgeon of goodwill for Shen Yang, because he was the only one who had chosen her. She sucked in a deep breath and decided to treat him a bit better, at least so she could hold her ground and keep him focussed on her.

As for Su Hanying, well, it was only the first day; it still wasn’t clear who would emerge victorious in the end[4].

In the midst of that invisible gunpowder, the girls washed up and went to bed; Yang Tianchi dragged his feet as he left, and Shen Yang and Su Hanying also went back to their room. The two of them each did their own thing on their beds, barely interacting with each other at all.

The cameramen finished work and left at eleven. Shen Yang still wanted to play around for a bit, but seeing that Su Hanying had already turned off the light and gotten in bed, he was worried that he would disturb the other boy’s rest, so he lay down too.

As he closed his eyes, he suddenly thought: Didn’t he say he slept late?

Shen Yang had thought he might not be able to sleep, but he fell asleep surprisingly fast, and he even slept all the way to dawn. When he woke on the second day, it was already past eight; he was the only one in the room, and Su Hanying’s quilt was folded neatly. From the looks of it, he’d left a long time ago.

After freshening up, Shen Yang opened the door and was met with the worried face of the cameraman. Upon seeing that Shen Yang wasn’t the least bit panicked, the cameraman asked: “Aren’t you afraid of being late? We still have to film your daily lives today.”

Shen Yang politely greeted him and explained that he didn’t have class until ten o’clock; it took only an hour to get to school from the mansion, so they would still make it in time.

That’s right; Shen Yang was a student. This year, he was in his third year of university.

He didn’t see any other guests all the way to the kitchen, thinking to himself, It can’t be that I’m the only one around?

That wouldn’t be unexpected either; it was a Monday, and one major feature of this show was that it wouldn’t interfere with the daily lives of the guests, so those who were employed had to go to work, and those who needed to go to school had to go to school.

It was fine even if nobody else was around; rather, he could relax.

Shen Yang took some ingredients and planned to make a simple breakfast. While cutting tomatoes, he thought about how they would be revealing their occupations and ages that evening. He was curious and expectant, but also a tad nervous -- he didn’t know whether the person who sent him a message would change their pick as a result……

For a period of time, Shen Yang’s mind was full of a shirtless Yang Tianchi lifting weights; for another time, it was Duan Weiwei sitting with a group of children and smiling sweetly; one moment he thought of Yan Jiaqi striking a pose in best-selling Taobao fashion; the next moment he saw Long Nu looking at reports on a computer…...Finally, he thought of Su Hanying; in the end, what sort of thing did he do for work?

As he was absorbed in his thoughts, someone suddenly patted him on the shoulder. Shen Yang’s knife-holding hand slipped, and he felt a dull pain in his index finger. When he looked down, his blood was redder than the tomatoes……

“Sorry!” Duan Weiwei was on the verge of tears. “I’m sorry! It really wasn’t on purpose!”

She truly was scared to death; she could imagine how much abuse she would receive after this episode aired; even though she’d only wanted to get a little closer to Shen Yang, play a small joke, her thoughtless actions had caused him a significant injury……

“It’s okay.” Shen Yang rinsed the wound with clean water and comforted her: “It’s not your fault; I’m the one who wasn’t careful.”

Duan Weiwei couldn’t bear it; her tears fell, and she said: “I just wanted to say hello……”

“I’m really okay, don’t cry.” Shen Yang was at a loss; Duan Weiwei’s crying was giving him a headache.

“What’s the matter? Weiwei, why are you crying?” Yan Jiaqi heard the fuss and came over too; after quickly clarifying the situation, she said hurriedly: “Hold on, I brought a first aid kit!”

She flew out in a haste, then flew similarly back into the room; she smoothly sprayed antiseptic for Shen Yang and stuck on a band-aid. Shen Yang thanked her repeatedly, then saw that it was almost nine o-clock and had to leave in a hurry.

Duan Weiwei was anxious and really wanted to rescue herself somehow; flustered, she said: “You still haven’t had breakfast; I’ll make something for you…...”

Yan Jiaqi pushed in front of Shen Yang and said: “You can buy breakfast on the way; Shen Yang, where are you going? I can take you.”

The assistant hastily forbid it, because their occupations were still yet to be revealed, but Yan Jiaqi explained that she wouldn’t take Shen Yang all the way to his destination, only to the subway station.

Thus, thanks to the blessing of Yan Jiaqi, Shen Yang got his wish of not being late. As he was passing by the cafeteria, he saw the roommate who had agreed to help him get breakfast, and rushed to greet him: “Yuan Kai!”

A plump boy turned his head. Upon seeing the camera following Shen Yang, he was stunned for a moment, then grinned suddenly: “Little Junior Sister, you really went on a blind date?”

Shen Yang: “......”

Damn it! He’d been exposed!

[1] 熊孩子, referring to badly-behaved kids

[2] 高考, gaokao

[3] 和天书也差不多, more literally, ‘not much different from divine scripture’

[4] 鹿死谁手，犹未可知, more literally, ‘nobody knows who will catch the deer until the end’