Chapter 21

Chapter 21

After preparing the last dish, Xie Yezhou, Luo Bin, and Liu Tiancheng finished their showers. Dressed in simple T-shirts and trousers, they joined the group, and the five gathered around the large table in the courtyard for dinner.

"Oh my! Ning Ning, your cooking skills are fantastic," said Zhuang Rong, finishing a bowl of rice and rubbing her stomach in a clockwise motion to aid digestion. "It's been a long time since I've had such a good meal during this variety show's filming."

"The less said, the better."

"Let's not discuss it anymore," Luo Bin said, grasping Ning Yuyi's hand. Yet, his grip was slapped away by Xie Yezhou. "From now on, we'll handle the tasks, and Ning just needs to cook."

"Don't make it sound like cooking is easier than tasks," Zhuang Rong shot Luo Bin a side-eye, "Why don’t you try watching over the fire?"

Luo Bin shook his head vigorously.

Xie Yezhou put down his chopsticks, noticing Ning Yuyi leaning back in his chair. "Had enough to eat?"

Ning Yuyi nodded languidly, appearing somewhat downcast.

Actually, it was because he had inhaled too much smoke, affecting his appetite.

Xie Yezhou suddenly rose and headed into the cottage.

"What's the matter?" Liu Tiancheng, observing Xie Yezhou's retreating figure, remarked, "This young fellow, even after years in the industry, hasn't changed his temperament."

"Why should he change? His temperament is fine," Luo Bin mused. "But, Xie does treat Ning quite well, almost like a protective older brother."

Ning Yuyi, the topic of their discussion, merely yawned, catching sight from the corner of his eye of Xie Yezhou returning.

Holding something in his hand.

It wasn't until Xie Yezhou approached that Ning Yuyi recognized it as hawthorn tea.

"Yao Yao stuffed this in earlier," Xie Yezhou said with a slight purse of his lips, preparing the hawthorn tea and pushing it towards Ning Yuyi, "Have some."

Ning Yuyi yawned and nodded, "Alright."

"By the way, Brother Xie?"

"Hmm?"

"Have the cats been fed?"

Xie Yezhou: "They were fed. This afternoon, the crew called in a veterinarian for deworming, and they also purchased some cat supplies."

"That's good to hear," Ning Yuyi responded, holding the hawthorn tea with both hands and sipping it gently.

The sour and sweet sensation warmed his stomach, and Ning Yuyi regained some of his appetite. He got up to serve himself more rice.

"This bamboo shoot really tastes amazing, especially with rice," Liu Tiancheng tapped on the bowl containing the bamboo shoot and chicken stew, "But this chicken is a bit off. As expected from ingredients touched by the old bald guy, not good at all."

Ning Yuyi, mid-bite, almost burst out laughing with rice still in his mouth.

"Ning Ning is still eating; don't bother him," Zhuang Rong stood up for Ning Yuyi.

"I was just trying to lighten the mood with a joke, not trouble him... My bad, my bad," Liu Tiancheng quickly relented.

By the time Ning Yuyi finished eating, the other four at the table had already gone through two rounds of conversation.

More precisely, two were actively chatting while the other two responded with indifference.

Seeing Ning Yuyi put down his bowl, Luo Bin immediately shifted his position, saying, "Alright, alright, dinner's over. Let's get ready for the game."

Ning Yuyi, who was just about to relax and then clean up, exclaimed, "What!?"

"No rush to clear the table; we'll play the game first. Luo and I will handle the dishes," Liu Tiancheng volunteered, "When it comes to washing dishes, Luo and I are more than familiar with the task."

"Bullshit! I'm not as acquainted as you are; at my home, we use a dishwasher," Luo Bin retorted.

It's well known that Liu Tiancheng's wife is a clean freak and can't stand dishes washed by a machine, resulting in Liu hand-washing each dish.

"Really?" Liu Tiancheng smirked sarcastically, not holding back on exposing his friend, "The last time I visited your place, who did I see hand-washing dishes by the sink?"

"...I was trying to appease my wife at the time, okay? I did it willingly, alright?"

"Heh."

Ning Yuyi leaned on Xie Yezhou, laughing.

"Let's get the game started," Liu Tiancheng concluded their banter.

"Which game? I'm already well-acquainted with your usual ones," Luo Bin said with a cunning smile.

"You're jumping to conclusions before I've even mentioned the game," Liu Tiancheng confidently set his phone on the table, "Arena of Valor. Time for you to witness the strength of a jungle king."

Jungle king???

Ning Yuyi instinctively looked at Xie Yezhou, who merely responded with a light smile.

"Sounds good." Luo Bin turned to Zhuang Rong, "Do you know how to play, Rong?"

Zhuang Rong nodded, seeming quite intrigued.

Once they settled on the game, Ning Yuyi unlocked his phone, added Liu Tiancheng and the others on WeChat, then logged into the game and was promptly pulled into a team of five.

"My Luna is unbeatable," Liu Tiancheng declared confidently, quickly choosing the character Luna, "Today, you'll witness the true power of 'Lunar Dominance'."

Luo Bin followed suit, choosing Hou Yi, "I'll show you what a stand-and-shoot marksman really is."

Once the game started, Ning Yuyi genuinely experienced the prowess of both Hou Yi and Luna.

Watching Luna dominate in every round and Luo Bin continuously getting defeated, Ning Yuyi, who was playing a support role for the first time, felt a bit pressured.

However, Zhuang Rong's skills seemed to surpass his expectations.

"Sister Zhuang Rong," Ning Yuyi, controlling his Cai Wenji character, healed the recently solo-killed Xiao Qiao, "Your Xiao Qiao is impressive."

"Mm-hmm, my specialty in the server."

"Hehe, waiting for Sister Zhuang Rong to carry the team."

"No." Zhuang Rong had just used a skill combo and was running low on mana; she decided to recall to base.

During the brief respite, she glanced at the jungle and bottom lane, "I can't carry those two."

Xie Yezhou nodded in agreement.

As expected, by the twelfth minute, their Nexus was destroyed by the opposing team.

Liu Tiancheng felt a fleeting moment of embarrassment as he looked at the post-game stats.

Luo Bin, on the other hand, had switched to his WeChat, chatting with someone.

"Your wife messaging? So responsive?" Liu Tiancheng teased, rubbing his chin stubble.

"Old Baldie," Luo Bin typed rapidly, "Discussing if we can edit out this segment."

"It's practically ruined my reputation."

"He's willing to cut it?" Liu Tiancheng knew his old friend all too well.

"I had to make a concession," Luo Bin sighed, "Mainly because I've been promoting a gaming persona recently. If this gets aired, my wife will never stop nagging me."

"Oh, that game endorsement, right?" Liu Tiancheng had heard about it and patted Luo Bin's shoulder, "When it's done, remember to treat me."

"Sure thing," having successfully negotiated, Luo Bin put away his phone, "As long as I can reach you, the busy man."

Liu Tiancheng often went to places with little to no signal for his shoots. He'd be out for days, unreachable even by his family.

"Then I must make sure to stay in touch for a few days. It's not easy getting a meal out of you, is it?"

Both of them laughed, lightening the atmosphere.

Ning Yuyi felt relaxed, a stark contrast to his acting mode during filming. The variety show was quite different from what he had imagined.

Following the director's suggestion, they played a word game. Around nine o'clock, Zhuang Rong signaled Ning Yuyi to take a shower while the rest cleared up the table.

Ning Yuyi and Xie Yezhou shared a room. It was a wooden cabin, furnished with brand-new items, much like a model room.

The only sign of life was the small bathroom.

After his shower, Ning Yuyi emerged, shaking his wet hair and looked around for a hairdryer but found none.

Overwhelmed by tiredness, he casually grabbed a dry towel, dabbed his hair, and then collapsed onto the bed, ready to sleep.

The door opened, and Xie Yezhou walked in.

"Why didn't you dry your hair?" Xie Yezhou approached the bed, touching her damp hair.

"Couldn't find the hairdryer," Ning Yuyi mumbled sleepily, her words tinged with nasal congestion, "It'll dry by itself overnight."

"I'll find it, you get some rest." Xie Yezhou turned and left the room, heading towards Zhuang Rong's room.

Hearing a knock, Zhuang Rong opened the door, a bit startled to see it wasn't a crew member.

"Why is it you?" Zhuang Rong, dressed in long-sleeve pajamas, asked, "What's the matter?"

"Borrowing a hairdryer," said Xie Yezhou.

"For Ning Ning?" Zhuang Rong nodded, turning to retrieve the hairdryer. "Return it tomorrow. And make sure she's covered with her blanket when sleeping."

From this, it was clear Zhuang Rong now completely doted on Ning Yuyi as if she were a child.

"Understood."

When Ning Yuyi woke up, she was alone in the room.

The black hairdryer lay on the bedside table. Touching her hair, which felt soft and silky, she realized that Xie Yezhou must have dried it while she slept.

After sitting up in bed wrapped in her blanket for a while, Ning Yuyi slowly got up and descended the stairs, clad in slippers and a t-shirt.

"Brother Liu." As Ning Yuyi approached the stairway bend, she spotted Liu Tiancheng inside, playing with an Alsatian and a Golden Retriever.

"Ah, awake now?" Liu Tiancheng tossed a ball into the yard, and the two dogs immediately chased after it. "Want some porridge for breakfast?"

"You made porridge?" Ning Yuyi touched her stomach, realizing she was quite hungry.

"Not exactly." Liu Tiancheng pointed at the instant porridge packets on the coffee table. "I meant these."

Ning Yuyi: "..."

So cruel.

When Xie Yezhou returned, he saw Ning Yuyi pitifully eating from a porridge cup nearly the size of a milk tea cup.

"Not tasty?"

"It's okay," Ning Yuyi said, finishing her last bite, "Just a bit too milky."

Ning Yuyi truly detested drinking cow's milk. Having a break from the film crew and not being constantly reminded by Xie Yezhou to drink milk felt like a liberation.

However, her comment reminded Xie Yezhou. Glancing at the porridge cup, he decided to speak with the director in the afternoon about getting some milk.

It's his issue.

"I'm going to check on the cats." Ning Yuyi swiftly tossed the empty porridge cup into the trash bin and dashed towards the storeroom in the backyard.

Although it was a storeroom for odds and ends, everything inside had been cleaned thoroughly before the guests moved in, leaving little to no dust. To ensure that the stacked items didn’t fall and hurt the cats, the production crew had erected barriers and covered them with protective netting.

A luxurious new cat bed was placed inside. As Ning Yuyi entered, Sanhua was nestled inside, nursing her kittens.

Ning Yuyi squatted beside the cat bed and poked one of the kittens’ chubby heads, murmuring, "Meow meow."

"Meow~" Upon seeing Ning Yuyi, Sanhua seemed ready to get up and nuzzle against him, despite her kittens still nursing.

"Hey, your kittens are still feeding." Ning Yuyi gently held Sanhua back.

Nevertheless, a kitten was nudged a bit away by the movement. It meowed softly twice before wobbling back under its mother to continue nursing.

Sanhua, after lying back down, continued gazing at Ning Yuyi, occasionally rubbing the mat inside the cat bed and meowing affectionately.

"You're quite the clingy one," Ning Yuyi said, patting her head. "How about we name you ‘Tiantian’, and the kittens ‘Jujube’ and ‘Raccoon’?"

"Meow~"

"Then it's settled."

Author's note: Sorry for the unexpected delay last night. There will be another update around midnight (as promised, a double update).

For those who can't wait, go to bed early and take care of your health.