Thank you @1More_chpt for the kofi~
After ruthlessly rejecting Gao Zitai, Gu Siye closed the door and walked back into the room.
The room they were staying in was very narrow. A short hallway, a bathroom, and a patch of floor about 1.5 meters wide made up the entire space.
The hallway was so short that Gu Siye, with his long legs, reached the sleeping area where the quilts were laid out in just two steps.
He looked down to see Lin Yanran, who was supposed to be in the shower, half-kneeling on the bedding and sending a message.
Gu Siye walked over to him. “What’s wrong?”
Lin Yanran showed him his phone screen. “One of my suitcases is missing; my pajamas were in it.”
Since they had been filming all day, his assistant, Xiao Wang, had dropped the luggage off in the room ahead of time.
Lin Yanran hadn’t paid much attention when he first came in, but just now, as he was preparing to shower, he realized a suitcase was missing.
Recalling the packing process, Lin Yanran guessed that because the hotel had been so crowded and the staff had been rushing them to start filming, Xiao Wang must have left the second suitcase behind in the scramble.
Just as Lin Yanran finished explaining to Gu Siye, the assistant back at the hotel replied to his message.
As expected, the suitcase with the pajamas had indeed been left there.
Upon realizing the mistake, the assistant immediately sent another message:
— I’ll bring it over to you right now.
The hotel was a significant distance away; even by taxi, it would take an hour or two.
Lin Yanran didn’t feel it was necessary to make someone travel that far late at night for a pair of pajamas, so he declined.
After telling the assistant not to come, Lin Yanran put his phone down, intending to wait and shower right before bed.
That way, he could dive straight into the covers afterward, and it wouldn’t matter if he wasn’t wearing thick pajamas.
Just as he thought this, he looked up to find Gu Siye standing beside him again, holding a set of pajamas.
“We still have to record some bedtime footage later. If you don’t mind, you can borrow mine for tonight.”
Lin Yanran hesitated.
He looked at the pajamas and realized that if he wore them, Gu Siye would have nothing to wear, so he shook his head. “It’s okay; I’ll just wash up right before I go to sleep.”
As if reading his mind, Gu Siye immediately explained, “I brought an extra set.”
“You brought two?”
Gu Siye smiled. “Yeah, I’ve had my luggage lost a few times before too.”
Lin Yanran had wondered why Gu Siye would bring two sets of pajamas for no reason, but after hearing the explanation, he gave him a thumbs up.
“Lesson learned.”
Taking the pajamas, Lin Yanran turned and headed back into the bathroom.
The facilities were quite basic; the heater and the bathroom heat lamps weren’t very warm.
Lin Yanran, who was very sensitive to the cold, showered as quickly as possible. He dried his hair with a towel and hurriedly wrapped himself in Gu Siye’s pajamas.
Wearing oversized pajamas in winter usually isn’t a problem, but Gu Siye was nearly ten centimeters taller than Lin Yanran, so the fit was quite off.
Aside from the shirt being too large, the pants were also too long.
As Lin Yanran stepped into his cotton slippers and saw the hems dragging on the floor, he had to bend down and roll them up twice.
As he did this, he caught the faint, fresh scent of laundry detergent lingering on the fabric.
Lin Yanran rarely wore other people’s clothes, and borrowing Gu Siye’s pajamas gave him an indescribable, curious sensation.
It wasn’t awkwardness, nor was it rejection or discomfort. He simply felt that the scent of the detergent gave him a strange sense of familiarity and peace.
There were no outlets in the bathroom, so Lin Yanran had to come out to blow-dry his hair.
As he stepped out, Gu Siye, who had gone to get his own set of pajamas from his assistant, happened to be coming back.
The two met at the corner and collided head-on.
Wearing slippers, Lin Yanran lost his balance. Just as he was about to hit the wall behind him, a hand immediately caught him by the waist.
Gu Siye looked down and noticed that Lin Yanran’s originally fair face was now flushed pink from the steam.
Droplets of water were still trickling down from his damp hair.
A stray drop fell from the tip of a strand, sliding down his cheek, past his slender neck, and finally disappearing into the collarbone hidden beneath the fabric.
And the garment covering that collarbone was his own pajamas…
And now, the other person smelled entirely familiar.
It was as if he were holding him tightly in his arms.
“Brother Gu.”
Lin Yanran’s voice snapped Gu Siye back to reality.
He released the hand on Lin Yanran’s waist and took two steps back. His Adam’s apple bobbed slowly up and down. It took a few seconds before a low, single syllable escaped his throat.
“Mm.”
Lowering his gaze to hide the swirling emotions in his eyes, he placed the pajamas he had just brought back onto the table.
When he turned around, he saw Lin Yanran picking up the hairdryer.
Noticing that the collar of Lin Yanran’s shirt was slightly damp, Gu Siye immediately took a clean towel and helped him wipe away a few droplets of water rolling down his face.
Then, Gu Siye leaned down and asked, “Do you want me to help you dry your hair?”
The water on his face had felt a bit chilly, and after Gu Siye helped wipe it dry, Lin Yanran felt much more comfortable.
He squinted his eyes contentedly but declined Gu Siye’s offer. “It’s okay, you go take your shower. I’ll blow-dry it myself.”
“Alright.”
Gu Siye didn’t insist. He picked up his pajamas again, along with his undergarments and toiletries, and headed into the bathroom.
The bathroom had been tidied up very cleanly by Lin Yanran; aside from some lingering dampness, it was hard to tell someone had just used it.
As the hot water from the showerhead sprayed over him, Gu Siye stood in the same spot where Lin Yanran had just bathed. The image of the other man wearing his pajamas flashed through his mind.
On the rosy cheeks, even the long eyelashes were adorned with droplets.
These water droplets were left by the other person when he had just stood here to shower.
Gu Siye glanced at the wet patches in the bathroom and felt he couldn’t quite focus on showering.
He had no choice but to turn the water a bit colder. Letting the spray hit his head directly as he closed his eyes.
A few minutes after Gu Siye finished his shower, the staff came to notify them to record some bedtime footage.
This was the final live stream of the night and the last bit of content the production team would reveal to the online audience.
By the time the two reached the designated room, the other two pairs of guests had already arrived.
As soon as Lin Yanran stepped through the door, he was met with four expressionless dark faces staring at him in unison.
He wasn’t usually afraid of ghosts or monsters, but being suddenly stared at by four dark faces with only their eyes visible gave him a fright, causing him to stagger back two steps.
Gu Siye, who was right behind him, immediately stepped forward, instinctively shielding him.
“What are you all doing?”
After realizing what was going on, Gu Siye couldn’t help but press a hand to his forehead.
“Putting on face masks!”
He Yawen poked her cheek with a finger. “Essential daily maintenance.”
Song Zixuan poked his own face too. “I can’t show my bare face on camera!”
Gao Zitai immediately chimed in, “You mean you’re afraid your bare face will scare the audience so much they won’t be able to sleep?”
“Exactly,” Song Zixuan nodded with ultimate confidence. “I’m afraid my handsomeness will haunt their dreams.”
Gao Zitai rolled his eyes. “You’re truly shameless.”
While Gao Zitai and Song Zixuan were bickering as usual, Chu Shiyu had already turned her gaze toward Lin Yanran and Gu Siye.
Although celebrities generally have higher visual standards than average people, a completely bare face with absolutely no products often looks different from a face with meticulously applied makeup.
To avoid haters making a fuss about their natural looks, the four of them had used black charcoal masks as a shield before entering the room.
To her surprise, these two hadn’t bothered with a cover-up at all and just walked in casually.
She had originally wanted to give them a heads-up, but after looking closely at Lin Yanran’s face—which looked virtually no different without makeup—she couldn’t help but shake her head in envy.
“The gap between people is just too big. As expected, when you’re this good-looking, you can just weaponize your beauty and do whatever you want!”
The phrase “weaponizing beauty” was often used by netizens to praise Lin Yanran, but this was the first time someone had said it to his face.
Chu Shiyu spoke quite fast, and for a moment, Lin Yanran didn’t catch the specific words. He looked at her in confusion. “What?”
Gao Zitai immediately jumped in front of him to translate: “It means that you and Teacher Gu are really good-looking even without makeup.”
After saying that, he reached out and lightly touched Lin Yanran’s smooth cheek. “I can testify. No powder, purely natural.”
Just as Gao Zitai was happily chatting away, he vaguely felt a cold gaze sweep over him.
Despite being dressed warmly, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
He turned to look toward Lin Yanran but didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.
However, as he looked, he made a new discovery.
He crouched on the floor like a large dog, scrutinizing Lin Yanran’s pajamas and then Gu Siye’s.
“Why do your pajamas look so much like Teacher Gu’s? Did you guys talk about it and buy them together before the show?”
He Yawen and Chu Shiyu had noticed it long ago but had been holding back.
Now that Gao Zitai had pointed it out, they joined in on the teasing.
“Couple outfits?”
Even though they said it, they only dared to joke because they knew the two weren’t an actual couple.
Lin Yanran knew everyone was joking, so he calmly tugged at his clothes to show them.
“I forgot to bring my pajamas, so I’m wearing Brother Gu’s.”
Gu Siye also nodded with a low chuckle. “I lent them to him.”
Song Zixuan crawled forward a couple of steps and boldly asked Gu Siye, “Teacher Gu, if I’d known, I would have borrowed from you too.”
After saying that, he pointed disdainfully to the long, light gray pajamas he was wearing. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have to wear Gao Zitai’s indescribable pajamas…”
Hearing Song Zixuan’s wailing, Lin Yanran realized he wasn’t the only one who had forgotten his pajamas.
Chu Shiyu looked him up and down, then chuckled and teased, “I thought you dressed like that on purpose.”
Song Zixuan flicked his sleeve with a look of utter disgust. “Teacher Chu, you think my taste is that…”
Hearing Song Zixuan insult his taste, Gao Zitai immediately grabbed Song Zixuan’s pajamas as if to pull them off. “You mean my taste is bad? If you’re not going to wear them, take them off right now!”
Song Zixuan fearlessly protected his clothes and started rolling around on the floor.
“Can’t handle the truth? Not only is your taste bad, but you actually charged me interest for borrowing your clothes! I’m going to expose our extremely plastic friendship right now…”
As the two rolled around on the floor, Gu Siye tilted his head slightly and teased Lin Yanran in a low voice, “They charged interest for lending pajamas. Should I charge a little too?”
Lin Yanran turned his head. Seeing the other man looking like he was seriously considering it, he asked with a smile, “Teacher Gu, how do you want to collect interest?”
Gu Siye didn’t answer immediately, but the smile in his voice became more evident. “I’ll tell you later.”
Before Lin Yanran could say “limited time offer,” the staff came to remind them that the equipment was ready and the live stream was about to begin.
The two rolling on the floor immediately let go of each other, and the six of them found their spots and sat down.
As the live stream started, the six of them greeted the camera.
The audience was incredibly excited by the sudden return of the stream after the afternoon break. After flooding the comments with greetings, they began to scrutinize the screen.
The audience was sharp-eyed and didn’t hold back.
They immediately noticed the difference between Lin Yanran and Gu Siye.
[Why aren’t Siran wearing masks?]
[Because handsome guys have nothing to fear.]
[Gao Zitai: I feel targeted again.]
[Siran is like a breath of fresh air. Thank you for saving my eyes, hahahahaha.]
[Not a hater, but those four in black masks are honestly an eyesore; I’m dying of laughter.]
[Ooh! Don’t just stare at their faces. Has anyone noticed that Yanran’s pajamas tonight are quite interesting?]
[Couple pajamas!! They match so well!]
[Wait, Yanran’s pajamas look a bit big. Could he be wearing Teacher Gu’s?]
[???? Sherlock, I think you’ve discovered the key detail here!]
[Wearing Teacher Gu’s pajamas?? Tsk, the more I think about it, the more exciting it gets.]
The bullet comments from the viewers were flying by at lightning speed, but on-site, the guests had already begun their pre-sleep mini-game following the director’s prompts.
This game had been played on many shows before and was responsible for countless legendary, hilarious moments: it was called “Lips Reading.”
Soon, the staff member brought out two sets of noise-canceling headphones.
Once Gao Zitai realized what the game was, he immediately raised his hand.
“Director, I want to apply to be on Yanran’s team. I don’t want to be with a certain ‘game idiot’ who will seriously drag me down.”
As soon as Gao Zitai finished speaking, the bullet comments were synchronized in a wall of text: [NO.]
Not only did the audience refuse, but his suggestion was also heartlessly rejected by the director.
Lin Yanran comforted the disappointed Gao Zitai, “I’m not actually very good at this game…”
“You must be lying to me. Now that you have Teacher Gu, you don’t care about me anymore.”
Lin Yanran didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at those words and explained seriously, “I’m really not lying.”
In this game, you aren’t allowed to use gestures; you can only rely on verbal descriptions for the other person to guess. However, when lip-reading, many mouth shapes can correspond to multiple different words. Consequently, the final answer often ends up being worlds away from the original description.
Lin Yanran usually felt confident in other games, but he truly didn’t dare claim mastery over this one.
Looking at the headphones brought up by the staff, he couldn’t help but recall a memory of playing this with a few classmates in the past.
Back then, he was on a team with Pangzi. The word he had to describe was “happy.”
At first, he smiled and described it to Pangzi, saying, “My current expression!”
Pangzi’s answer was, “I look like a dumbass?”
“Damn it, who wrote these questions?!”
After the laughter subsided, he tried a few more words to describe the situation, but the other person’s answers were all incredibly off-the-mark.
Seeing that Pangzi’s answers were already miles away from the topic, he finally had no choice but to helplessly point at Brother Ye, who was laughing happily nearby.
“What is he doing?”
Pangzi: “Laughing?”
“Right! He’s grinning to show that he is currently very… what?”
Pangzi didn’t hear a thing clearly and only picked up a few vague syllables. He froze on the spot for several seconds before uttering four words with an incredibly awkward expression: “Small… small birdie??”
After saying it, he looked at Lin Yanran speechlessly. “Damn, Yanran, do you have some kind of misunderstanding about Brother Ye? Go take a look for yourself; how could his be small…”
The game ended right there; it was so embarrassing that it was impossible to continue.
Because of that traumatizing experience with Pangzi, Lin Yanran still lacked confidence in this game.
To this day, he couldn’t understand it. His descriptions were clearly so serious, so how did the guesser’s answers end up being so unreliable?
“What are you thinking about?”
Gu Siye’s voice interrupted Lin Yanran’s recollection.
With the images still lingering in his mind, Lin Yanran looked up at the man in front of him. Suddenly, the face before him overlapped perfectly with the image of that high-spirited youth from his memory.
Lin Yanran froze for a moment and blurted out, “Brother Ye?”
Gu Siye was also momentarily stunned when he heard this name.
Immediately, thousands of fragments flashed through his mind like a floodgate of memories opening.
Gu Siye tried to make the images stop, but he couldn’t control them, nor could he see any single scene clearly.
However, as he tried to distinguish them, he vaguely felt that Lin Yanran was present in every single one.
“Mm,” Gu Siye responded softly.
Brother Ye?
Gu Siye repeated the name silently in his mind.
Though it was the first time he had heard Lin Yanran call him that, it felt like a familiar and longed-for name he had heard ten thousand times before.
He lowered his gaze and asked Lin Yanran, “Why did you suddenly call me that?”
Hearing the question, Lin Yanran also couldn’t understand why he had suddenly called Gu Siye that…
He didn’t know how to explain that for a moment he had mistaken Gu Siye for a long-forgotten friend, so he could only vaguely say, “It just suddenly occurred to me…”
A cheer interrupted their conversation.
The “Game Black Hole” Gemini Duo had unexpectedly achieved a burst of synergy, successfully guessing eight words within three minutes!
Having redeemed himself, Gao Zitai high-fived Song Zixuan, and the two hugged happily to celebrate.
“Next group, Teacher Gu and Yanran.”
Once the Gemini Duo calmed down, the director immediately called the Siran pair to play.
After Lin Yanran walked to the designated spot, he originally intended to let Gu Siye describe while he guessed.
But the other guests disagreed, strongly demanding that Gu Siye guess while Yanran described.
Not wanting to spoil the fun, Lin Yanran had no choice but to comply.
After sitting in the seat on the left, he looked at Gu Siye with some concern. “Brother Gu, can you do it?”
Gu Siye, who had just finished testing the audio, slowly lowered his headphones. Suppressing a smile, he said, “I can’t exactly say I can’t do it, can I?”
[Hahaha, Baby Ran, how can you ask Teacher Gu if he can do it!!]
[He can!! Teacher Gu is definitely the most capable!!]
Amidst the laughter of the people around them, Lin Yanran realized how ambiguous his question had sounded.
After resting his left hand on the table next to him and chuckling softly to hide his embarrassment, Lin Yanran clarified, “That’s not what I meant.”
But no one was listening; they were dying of laughter. Gao Zitai even jumped out to add fuel to the fire: “Hey, this is a serious livestream room! Yanran, what are you saying about whether or not he can do it!”
Lin Yanran slapped the mischievous Gao Zitai on the back. Any further explanation he wanted to give was completely derailed.
After the joking settled down, Lin Yanran sat up straight and made a pleading gesture to the director. “I’m really bad at this game. Director, please give us some simple words; I’m begging you.”
Seeing him like this, the director showed mercy and gave him a few commonly used phrases.
Initially, Lin Yanran was worried he would drag the team down with bad descriptions, but it turned out Gu Siye was incredibly good at lip-reading. Before Yanran could even finish a few mouth movements, the other man had already guessed it.
Thanks to Gu Siye’s outstanding performance, their team had already guessed five words before the two-minute mark was even up.
Seeing their first-place position in jeopardy, the Gemini Duo started to protest.
“No way, no way! Director, the words you gave are too easy. They’re so smart; you have to increase the difficulty!”
The Beauty Team also stood up in agreement. Subsequently, the four of them ran over to the question bank to help select the words.
“This one, this one!!”
“No, no, let’s do this one instead.”
Lin Yanran, who had gained confidence because of Teacher Gu’s abilities, saw the group whispering and unable to make up their minds, so he smiled and urged them, “Can you guys hurry up? I have less than a minute left!”
He then made a face as if he had seen through their scheme. “Are you trying to use this method to waste our time? How devious!”
As soon as Lin Yanran finished speaking, Song Zixuan gestured for him to calm down. “Here it comes; don’t rush me. This is the one we’ve chosen!!”
With that, he held up the prompt board, which had four characters written on it:
Bearing brambles to plead guilty1负荆请罪 [fù jīng qǐng zuì].
Since they weren’t allowed to use large gestures or describe the meaning directly, describing an idiom like this was significantly harder than simple words.
After reading it, Lin Yanran wasted no time and immediately nodded four times.
Gu Siye reacted instantly. “Four characters.”
“Right.”
Lin Yanran clapped in approval and continued to give him hints. “First character: the antonym of ‘positive’ (Zhèng).”
The noise in the headphones was too loud; Gu Siye didn’t see or hear clearly, so he didn’t answer.
Lin Yanran slowed down his speech and prompted again.
“The antonym of positive?” Gu Siye observed Lin Yanran’s expression and, seeing him nod, said, “Negative (Fù).”
This round of the game proceeded quite smoothly. The psychological shadow left on Lin Yanran by Pangzi’s ridiculous answers in the past gradually began to fade away.
As a result, he became much bolder in his descriptions for Gu Siye.
The character for “Thorn” (Jīng) is similar to the character for “Scarf” (Jīn), so Lin Yanran pointed to his neck.
“Necklace?”
“Slitting your throat?” Gu Siye laughed after saying it. “What kind of words did you guys pick after all that time? Why so morbid?”
[Hahahaha, ‘slitting your throat,’ my god.]
[Teacher Gu, you’re going to be the death of me.]
[Does pointing at your neck have even a cent’s worth of connection to slitting your throat?]
Pointing at the neck was fine, but making a gesture of wrapping a scarf was considered a foul. After a few attempts, Lin Yanran saw that Gu Siye really wasn’t heading toward the “scarf” guess, so he gave up.
Stuck on the second character, there was no way to continue breaking it down any further.
He thought for a moment and switched his description: “Carrying something on your back (bèizhe dōngxī).”
Gu Siye watched very intently, but the words that came out of his mouth were, “Not a thing (bùshì dōngxī).”
Lin Yanran took a deep breath and changed tactics again: “Lin Xiangru2Lin Xiangru is the famous official associated with the idiom they are trying to guess. The phrase comes from a famous historical story in ancient China. It tells of Lian Po, a general of the State of Zhao, who was jealous of Lin Xiangru, a civil official. After realizing his mistake and feeling ashamed, Lian Po carried thorny sticks (brambles) on his bare back to Lin Xiangru’s home, asking to be punished. Lin forgave him, and they became close friends..”
If Teacher Gu was able to make out this name, and then he said ‘Lian Po,’ Teacher Gu would surely guess it immediately.
Just as Lin Yanran was reassuring himself, he heard Gu Siye say three words with a perfectly straight face.
“You look like a pig (Nǐ xiàng zhū).”
Everyone around them lost it. Gao Zitai was laughing so hard he was literally rolling on the floor.
[Teacher Gu, do you realize how dangerous that description is?]
[Yanran is so cute; how could he look like a piggy? Hahahaha!]
The moment the words left his mouth, Gu Siye realized he had misread the lips. He instantly corrected himself: “No, you don’t look like one. It’s me. I look like a pig.”
[Hahahaha!]
[I can feel Teacher Gu’s intense survival instinct.]
Once a ridiculous answer enters the mix, the subsequent guesses are like arrows that have missed the target—they can’t be pulled back.
Gu Siye saw everyone laughing and knew something was wrong. However, since Lin Yanran hadn’t denied his previous guess, he assumed his guess was pretty close and began to speculate further.
“Negative… I look like a pig… and not a thing…”
He paused briefly and tentatively tried a phrase: “Heartbreaker (Fù xīn hàn)?”
Realizing it needed to be four characters, he added another word: “A heartless man (Fù xīn hàn zǐ)?”
Having said that, Gu Siye spread his hands helplessly and looked at Lin Yanran seriously. “Do I really look like a heartless man?”
[Teacher Gu, your imagination is THIS———— big.]
[First a pig, now a heartless man, holy sh*t.]
Seeing how smoothly it started, Lin Yanran had thought he would break his “curse” of games going off the rails.
But seeing that Gu Siye was also veering further and further off course, he quickly waved his hand, trying to pull him back.
“Ten seconds left!”
Hearing the prompt, Lin Yanran initially wanted to skip this word, but felt the sunk cost was too high.
He wouldn’t necessarily guess a new word in ten seconds anyway. He took a deep breath and slowly, deliberately used his mouth to form the final key name for Gu Siye:
“Lián! Pō!”
Gu Siye, who had been sitting there watching his lips intently, had a slight change in expression after hearing this description.
Seeing his expression, Lin Yanran felt the other man had caught the description but was still a bit fuzzy, so he urgently repeated it:
“Lian Po!”
He felt his heart hanging in his throat.
Negative… four characters… plus Lian Po… Gu Siye, with these clues combined, you can definitely guess it! You definitely can!
Lin Yanran looked at Gu Siye with tense anticipation.
When he saw the other man nod at him, seemingly having figured out the idiom, he finally let out a small sigh of relief.
The director began the final countdown. Just as he reached one, Gu Siye finally spoke with a low chuckle.
His soulful peach blossom eyes were fixed on Lin Yanran, overflowing with mirth.
When he gave the answer, his voice was incredibly tender, and he intentionally lingered on the final syllable:
“Wife (Lǎo pó).”
![The Return of The Lord God[quick wear]](https://i2.wp.com/knoxt.space/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/007S8ZIlly1ghl04hyuxyj30hs0owwgu.jpg?resize=85,105 "The Return of The Lord God[quick wear]")
MicoLy On FCC Chapter 37.3