Chapter 39

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Returning to the sofa, he had just received a text message from the program team, saying that they would gather at the airport tomorrow afternoon for two consecutive days of shooting, to be edited into two episodes for broadcast. Everyone was reminded to bring swimsuits.

This time, the location was clearly stated: S City, on a famous international tourism island.

The doorbell rang, and through the peephole, Lu Yan saw Xu Fei holding a large stack of documents.

Seeing Lu Yan, Xu Fei was visibly startled momentarily but quickly regained his composure and said, "Good morning, Mr. Lu, I’m here to deliver documents to Mr. Gu."

"Thank you, come in," Lu Yan smiled, "We’re just having breakfast. Have you eaten, Assistant Xu?"

"Yes, Mr. Lu, I’ll stay out here. Could you please pass these to Mr. Gu for me?"

His boss usually doesn’t like people coming into his house, and he didn’t want to be disliked, especially since he was hoping for a raise by the end of the year.

"Of course," Lu Yan took the documents and asked, "Assistant Xu, where did you buy that shower gel from Gu Xu’s house?"

"It’s sold downstairs at my place. That brand is pretty niche, not available in many supermarkets. If you’d like, Mr. Lu, I can bring a few bottles over tonight."

"Great, thanks for going out of your way."

After Xu Fei left, Gu Xu came out of the kitchen with two bowls of porridge.

Seeing the documents, he asked, "Were these brought by Xu Fei?"

"Yes, aren’t you going to the office today?"

"No," Gu Xu lowered his head and took a sip of porridge, "I’ll be working from home today."

After breakfast, Gu Xu took the documents and went into the office.

Lu Yan relaxed in the home theater, watched a movie for a bit but found it boring, and thought about sneaking into the study.

Coming out of the home theater, he glanced into the kitchen and noticed the bag was already gone.

When Gu Xu worked, he was completely focused. At the company, Lu Yan liked to sit on the couch, and when he got tired of watching movies, he’d look up and admire Gu Xu’s side profile.

Entering the study, Gu Xu didn’t look up but patted the chair next to him, as if he had already guessed the other would come.

It was unclear when the executive chair had been added. Lu Yan smiled and sat down, silenced his phone, and quietly scrolled through it.

Lin An suddenly sent a WeChat message: "Bro, would you ever just randomly decide to come out publicly [cold face.jpg]."

Lu Yan: "[black man question mark face.jpg]"

Lin An sent a link.

Clicking on it, it turned out to be a forum, and the forum’s name was

"Gu Lu Couple Bar"

Scrolling down, the first page had six fanfictions about him and Gu Xu, each with over 300 comments.

The names of the fanfictions were too shocking, and Lu Yan didn’t dare to click on them. He noticed a pinned post titled "Lu Gu fans shameless, using dirty tricks, actually hiring people to slander our Gu Lu Bar!"

Lu Yan didn’t get the difference between Lu Gu and Gu Lu.

Clearly, his focus was also quite peculiar.

After a quick glance, I realized that in the fandom, the first name mentioned is assumed to be the top.

"Gu Xu only follows Lu Yan on Weibo and even clapped back at Yueya. Are you telling me this isn’t classic domineering CEO behavior?"

"Moron above, if you’ve got proof, show it. Lu Yan’s too much of a hardass to be pushed around by some pretty-boy CEO."

The thread had over a thousand comments, and Lu Yan couldn’t stop laughing as he scrolled through it.

When he opened Weibo, he saw it was because the first trailer for *This Time for Real* had dropped, and combined with Gu Xu’s like from yesterday, it had already sparked a wave of CP fans.

It wasn’t much of a trailer—just three images with seven silhouettes. Even Lu Yan couldn’t pick out which one was supposed to be him.

What tipped fans off were the captions next to the silhouettes.

The first image showed two men standing back to back, captioned "The new generation’s national heartthrob X the fresh-faced acting award winner with a long career ahead."

Lu Yan had won an acting award last year—nothing too prestigious, but since there aren’t many of them, most people still knew about it.

With the caption "good looks and a long road," Lu Yan thought they might as well have slapped his face on it.

And what’s this about a "new generation’s national heartthrob"?

After scrolling through the comments, he learned that after the lawyer’s letter incident, netizens had dug up Gu Xu’s background, toppling the son of some big shot and crowning Gu Xu as the new national heartthrob.

The second image showed two men face to face, palms pressed together—one tall, one short—captioned "Famous entertainment CEO X the shy, handsome rising star."

To keep the bromance from being too on the nose, the production team added flames blazing in the background.

The third image showed the remaining three. Lu Yan skimmed it and kept scrolling, amused by the comments.

"What’s so funny?" Gu Xu asked.

"The show’s pushing us as a CP," Lu Yan said, scrolling with a grin. "The other pair they’re hyping is Xu Ze and Wu Xiaoxiang."

Gu Xu tilted his head: "Does this bother you?"

Lu Yan shook his head: "The more we interact, the more fans will think it’s just a publicity stunt."

It’s like this a lot—if you hide it, people get suspicious, but if you’re obvious, no one buys it.

The next morning, Lu Yan got up early, but as he was about to leave the bed, the person beside him tugged him back.

Gu Xu, eyes still closed, mumbled, "Where are you going? Sleep for another half hour."

"I’m grabbing my swim trunks," Lu Yan said, brushing his hand off. "Didn’t I tell you yesterday?"

After Lu Yan left, Gu Xu got up, went to the wardrobe, and crouched down to pick out a pair of swim trunks.

After rummaging around, he realized... he didn’t own any swim trunks.

After calling Lu Yan, Lu came back with an extra pair: "I’ve got two new ones—what color do you want?"

Both pairs were boxer-style, same design—one dark blue, one gray.

"Gray," Gu Xu said.

The production team didn’t make the guests meet up beforehand, but out of the seven, aside from one unnamed celeb, the other six were all from City B.

When the two walked into the VIP lounge, the other four were already there.

Xu Ze stood up first: "Yan Yan, you made it! Want some breakfast? I’ve got some bread!"

Lu Yan ignored him and took a seat.

Yun Anqing walked up and greeted: "Bro Yan, thanks for helping out with this."

Lu Yan nodded: "We’re friends, no need to be so formal."

Xu Ze, feeling slighted, sat back with a pout: "Yan Yan’s nice to everyone but me."

Not getting a response, he nudged Wu Xiaoxiang beside him with his shoulder: "Hey, I’m talking to you."

Wu Xiaoxiang didn’t even look up: "Didn’t you say not to talk to you?"

"..." Xu Ze rolled his eyes, "You’re so uptight. I told you not to talk to me in front of the camera, but in private, you still have to respond to me."

Wu Xiaoxiang: "Got it."

Lin Qing sat quietly to the side. No one brought assistants, and perhaps realizing there were no allies around, he unusually stayed out of trouble.

Most people got first-class seats, except for Wu Xiaoxiang, who was later pulled by Xu Ze to upgrade to first class.

Once they were on the plane, Gu Xu took out an eye mask from his travel bag and handed it to Lu Yan: "Get some sleep, I’ll wake you when we land."

"I’m not tired..."

"Bro Yan," Lin Qing suddenly walked up to the two, "Mind switching seats? I’m a little scared of heights."

Xu Ze was sitting in front. He might not be good at much, but he had rich experience in relationships and immediately saw through Lin Qing’s intentions.

He shot back: "Scared of heights and still flying? Maybe take a train instead. I’ll help you get time off from the show."

Lin Qing bit his lower lip and whispered: "Brother Xu, you know… I’m really scared of heights."

He sounded genuinely scared.

Gu Xu didn’t look at him and reached up to adjust the air conditioning: "Find someone else to switch with."

Wu Xiaoxiang said: "I’ll take your seat." After saying that, he got up.

Xu Ze panicked and grabbed him: "No, you’re sitting with me!"

Wu Xiaoxiang effortlessly pushed Xu Ze’s hand away and directly sat in Lin Qing’s seat.

Lin Qing hesitated before reluctantly sitting next to Xu Ze, who gave him a big glare.

As the plane took off, Lin Qing sent a message before turning off his phone.

The low whispers of the two behind him occasionally reached Xu Ze’s ears.

He felt annoyed and couldn’t help but click his tongue.

Lin Qing beside him opened his eyes and suddenly leaned towards him.

He asked in a whisper: "Hey Xu, do you like Lu Yan?"

Xu Ze’s face clearly showed that it was none of his business.

Lin Qing held back his temper and said gently: "I can help you, we can cooperate..."

Wu Xiaoxiang suddenly stood up from his seat and called out, "Lin Qing."

Lin Qing was taken aback, "What?"

His voice was calm and collected, "I suddenly realized I'm a bit afraid of heights too, let's switch back."

Without giving him a chance to respond, he stood next to Lin Qing, clearly indicating for him to get up.

"..."

Once Wu Xiaoxiang switched back, Xu Ze immediately felt more at ease. He teased, "Scared of heights?"

"A little."

Xu Ze rolled his eyes, "I told you earlier not to switch."

With that, he turned and pulled down the window shade.

Since the show's teaser had already dropped, a few fans had caught wind that the six would appear at the airport today.

The moment they stepped out of the gate, they were greeted by a crowd of fans waving all sorts of light signs.

The signs were mostly variations of "Gu Lu Couple," "Lu Gu Couple," and "Xiang Qin Couple."

The stars were accustomed to this kind of welcome and greeted the fans gracefully, thanking them.

Gu Xu trailed silently behind Lu Yan.

Xu Ze was the most lively.

Xu Ze protested, "We're not a thing!"

Fans gushed, "They’re perfect together! Even their heights match!"

Realizing he wasn’t getting through, Xu Ze switched tactics, "...Why am I behind him?!"

Fans squealed, "OMG, did you see? Xu Ze only comes up to Xiao Xiang’s eyes! The height difference is perfect! Xiao Xiang could just lean down for a kiss!"

"..."

Meanwhile, Lu Yan was all smiles. He even took the time to sign fans’ notebooks with care.

Fans cheered, "Xiao Yan, break a leg! Stay safe!"

Lu Yan grinned, "Thanks, I’ll be careful."

A group of girls holding "Gu Lu Couple" signs hesitated, intimidated by Gu Xu’s stoic expression.

After signing, Lu Yan spotted the shy fans lingering on the sidelines and turned to Gu Xu, "Say hi to the fans."

Gu Xu paused, clenched his fist, and cleared his throat.

"Thanks for your support," he said stiffly, sounding more like a CEO wrapping up a board meeting.

But the girls were unfazed.

All they could think was: OMG, did you see that?!

Isn’t that the same watch Lu Yan showed off on Weibo?!

And his hand matches the one in the photo!!!

Let’s keep the Gu Lu Couple ship sailing!!!