GSCCO Chapter 13

The blanket was pulled up tightly around his waist, and a wide-cut vest draped over his body. Seeing who it was, Mu Huai simply leaned lazily against the blanket and asked, “The cameraman didn’t follow, did he?”

“No, there are some people downstairs, and some outside too. After all, other managers are already up to greet people.” Yu Yi released the doorknob, leaning against the door without going inside. “When are you planning to come down to eat?”

Mu Huai wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt Yu Yi was much less polite to him.

Ignoring the subtle sarcasm in his first statement, Mu Huai answered the question, “I’ll come down after I’m done tidying up.”

Yu Yi gave an “oh,” still leaning against the door.

Mu Huai raised an eyebrow: “Is there anything else?”

The young anchor was indeed very bold and might not care at all about the broadcast effect.

“Why did you hide the key under the carpet?” Yu Yi asked.

Mu Huai: “How did you get in if I didn’t hide it under the rug?”

Yu Yi: “You might as well just stick it to the door.”

Mu Huai said subtly, “There has to be a sense of ceremony.”

“…” Yu Yi stared at him speechlessly for a moment, then turned and closed the door behind him.

The room immediately returned to silence, with only slightly noisy voices coming from outside the window. Mu Huai calmed down for a while, then got out of bed. Afterwards, he got dressed, brushed his teeth and washed his face. He walked to the balcony with his toothbrush in his mouth. Downstairs, Lin Zi Fei walked over with five or six people, and the cameraman followed diligently.

Lin Zi Fei was particularly sensitive to the movements of his former teammate today. He raised his arm and pointed at Mu Huai: “Camera, follow him! Someone’s finally up! Aren’t you glad you didn’t choose him?”

Just then, the girl with pigtails and a male teammate walked over from the side. As a rare female contestant, the girl with pigtails attracted quite a few cameramen, especially since this petite girl was carrying two heavy suitcases and hopping around.

One team was warmly greeted by their manager, while the other team’s manager, still brushing his teeth, coldly observed them. If word got out, it would look like Mu Huai was throwing his weight around.

Mu Huai pointed at Lin Zi Fei, went back to his room to end this morning ritual, and came out with his face still dripping wet.

“Are all your team members this delicate?” Mu Huai leaned against the railing, greeting his two teammates, deliberately gesturing for the camera to film: “Aren’t our team members pretty strong? Do they need the manager’s help?”

The two teammates were very cooperative. The girl with the pigtails laughed so hard she bent over, even lifting their two suitcases slightly, and shyly asked the other teammate, “I can help you too, you know?”

The boy then took the suitcase from the girl with the pigtails and pushed it through the door, grinning, “Yes, yes, yes, do you need help, Manager Lin?”

Manager Lin’s pretty face flushed red: “Hey, see that? This segment absolutely has to be broadcast! Mu Huai used to bully the maknae¹ like this back in the group!”

These two are the only ones in Demons who spout nonsense, less than half of their stories are believable. Fans find it amusing, which encourages Mu Huai and Lin Zifei’s habit of telling lies.

After his outburst, Mu Huai went back to his room to continue unpacking. A belated hunger pang spurred him on. Just as he reached the door, he suddenly remembered it was only the first day, and the housekeeper hadn’t even started yet—where was breakfast coming from?

The villa had three rooms upstairs and three downstairs. Mu Huai had one upstairs all to himself, leaving the other five rooms for them. Yu Yi arrived first and chose a room first. Mu Huai came out of his room just as Yu Yi came out of the next room.

Mu Huai wore gold-rimmed glasses and a flowing red robe, looking much more handsome than yesterday.

Yu Yi paused slightly, only noticing upon closer inspection that Mu Huai’s glasses were without lenses. He guessed this was another guise for his swindling and deceitful ways.

“Did Lan-jie buy breakfast too?” Mu Huai walked downstairs beside him, noticing Yu Yi’s complicated expression, and couldn’t help but chuckle. “Am I too handsome to look at?”

Yu Yi: “Breakfast?”

Mu Huai hesitated, recalling the time he’d just glanced at. He’d gotten up at 11:30, and it was almost noon. Calling it breakfast was a stretch.

“Okay, lunch.” Mu Huai shrugged, gaining a new understanding of Yu Yi’s straightforward nature.

Lunch was mild porridge and fried buns, enough for four. Shuangshuang² and Li Mao³ had already eaten, so they chose a room to tidy up and hadn’t come out since then.

Mu Huai often had to control his weight, and lately, with a lot of work, his eating habits had been irregular, so he didn’t have much of an appetite and ate slowly. Yu Yi, on the other hand, moved with elegance, but his pace was rapid.

Mu Huai silently watched him elegantly finish the three-person portion of porridge, then pushed his own half-bowl of porridge towards him.

Yu Yi:

The takeout order was carelessly tossed into the trash can. The newly replaced trash bag was empty, but the order itself was intact. Mu Huai glanced at it as he passed by; the recipient’s name was Yu Yi.

So this lunch was originally bought by Yu Yi. Mu Huai wasn’t narcissistic enough to believe Yu Yi would have bought lunch for him in advance. Maybe they just happened to run into each other and dragged him along, and perhaps the four portions were actually just for Yu Yi alone.

As for Lan Sha asking him to come up and wake him up for breakfast… Mu Huai had texted Lan Sha before coming out.

Mu Mu: Did Lan-jie buy me breakfast?

I am Sha (Lan Sha): ?

I am Sha (Lan Sha): Are you still a child?

Lan Sha hadn’t even considered the possibility that Mu Huai would wake up before noon.

“Not to your liking?” Yu Yi pulled out a tissue, frowning slightly.

Mu Huai: “No, I can’t eat anymore.”

Yu Yi guessed that Mu Huai’s action meant he couldn’t finish and wanted the food.

“Don’t waste food,” Mu Huai said, snatching the tissue from Yu Yi’s hand, feigning ignorance. “What’s wrong? You’re upset I ate?”

No, not at all. Yu Yi looked at Mu Huai thoughtfully, and Mu Huai met his gaze without flinching.

After a while, Yu Yi took the spoon Mu Huai had used from his takeout bowl, naturally took back his own, and took a sip of porridge.

Yu Yi had a big appetite and didn’t need to diet, so he didn’t mind drinking an extra half bowl.

Sigh, such a germaphobe. Mu Huai thought to himself.

The dining table was downstairs, so the team members could see Mu Huai immediately upon entering. Mu Huai simply sat at the table, playing on his phone while Yu Yi finished eating, and then packed up the takeout containers.

This group followed Mu Huai’s habits. Besides Yu Yi, Shuangshuang, and Li Mao, the other seven members were nowhere to be seen.

Mu Huai was currently carrying the phone provided by the production team. His original WeChat was unusable, and the interface was sparsely designed with only a few sponsor apps; all communication was via text message. He casually scrolled through his phone when he suddenly received a message from the production team.

[Character Battle: Personally prepare a dinner that the entire team voluntarily finishes. The order in which managers unlock characters in the first round of live-action battles will be determined by the completion rate. Characters unlocked in this round are: Kinomoto Sakura, Inuyasha, Chopper, Sakata Gintoki, and Mouri Ran. Settlement time: 24:00.]

Mu Huai: ?

Mu Huai: ? ?

So, is the purpose of this show to prank the managers?

Cameras were set up in the living room, dining room, and kitchen, with one right next to the dining table. Mu Huai, still looking at his phone, turned to look at the camera, his eyes behind the glasses seeming to smile, trying to condemn the staff behind the scenes.

His phone vibrated again; a new text message popped up below it.

[Friendly reminder: To ensure fairness and impartiality, managers must not disclose task details. Dinner must include five dishes; barbecue and hot pot do not count.]

“…” Mu Huai smiled slightly and gently patted the camera.

Pretty clever.

Not bad, alright, that’s good.

“What’s wrong?” Yu Yi looked over.

He was tall and could see Mu Huai’s phone screen. But Mu Huai quickly put the phone in his pocket, so he only saw the flickering light and shadow on the screen, which looked a bit like a message page.

“Nothing.”

Mu Huai, concealing his complicated feelings, stood up to clean up the trash, noticing that there was still some porridge left in Yu Yi’s bowl. Yu Yi was still holding a spoon, only stopping when he spoke to Mu Huai. This was twice as slow as when he ate the first three bowls.

Mu Huai’s hand paused in mid-air. Yu Yi was taken aback, said “Wait,” and grasped Mu Huai’s wrist with his left hand, calmly finishing the rest of the porridge with one hand.

The warmth on his wrist vanished, the air clearing away all sensation. Mu Huai put his hand back in his pocket, then pulled it out again to help Yu Yi pack up the takeout boxes, a slight smile playing on his lips.

They both chose the last remaining room upstairs, a room on the other side of the corridor, far from all the other rooms. Li Mao chose a room downstairs near the public restroom. When they came out, Mu Huai and Yu Yi were no longer inside.

Yu Yi probably really was a germaphobe. He even threw the takeout outside.

Mu Huai, intending to pick someone up, followed along, and the cameraman who had been waiting caught up.

They bumped into Shi Shaoqian, accompanied by his group chatting animatedly. Mu Huai’s eyes met Shi Shaoqian’s from afar; the man was smiling, his thoughts unreadable.

Damn it. Mu Huai cursed inwardly. He suddenly remembered that Shi Shaoqian had learned many skills for filming; maybe he was a good cook too.

Looking back at the roles the production team gave out, there were only five choices in total. Those ranked lower were the ones left over. All five managers were male, and two of the roles given out by the production team were female. No matter what, the production team always seems to be obsessed with the tired trope of men dressing as women.

Mu Huai had never dressed as a woman before and didn’t plan to try it anytime soon.

He was so lost in thought that he didn’t even notice when he arrived at the trash can. Yu Yi tried to stop him with his arm, and Mu Huai bumped into his arm; the trash can was right under his nose.

Beside him, Yu Yi said coolly, “Finally realized your true nature, can’t wait to return home?”

Mu Huai casually grabbed Yu Yi’s hand, his fingers sliding into the boy’s palm and scratching it, releasing him before Yu Yi could pull his hand away.

“As the manager, I just wanted to observe what was so special about the trash can my team leader was so obsessed with. How about we buy one and put it in the base?” Mu Huai gently pushed up his glasses, looking elegant and innocent.

Yu Yi’s withdrawn hand hung awkwardly at his side, curling up unnaturally. His extremely cold gaze was terrifying, but Mu Huai stood there calmly.

He’s incredibly annoying. Mu Huai judged his current appearance; if the cameras weren’t rolling, Yu Yi might have punched him.

“No need.”

Yu Yi’s gaze finally fell on the microphone tucked into Mu Huai’s lapel, and he left these words through gritted teeth. This was the limit of his self-control.

His departing figure was somewhat resolute, as if he were angry.

Mu Huai smiled casually, wondering if the little streamer would be heartbroken if he knew he had already slept with him while drunk.

After all, he was such a germaphobe.