Chapter 45 Moon Shell.

Chapter 45: Moon Shells.

Ji Yixing's expression remained neutral as he calmly asked, "How did you figure that out?"

He didn't deny it.

"In many ways. For instance, compared to your physique, your appetite is far below normal. And the way you eat—you might not realize it, but your expression subtly changes right before every meal..."

Under Ji Yixing's increasingly intense gaze, Yu Xin realized he might have overstepped and abruptly fell silent.

"Is that so?" Ji Yixing's eyes crinkled with a smile. "I hadn't even noticed. So you've been paying such close attention to me all along..."

Yu Xin said nothing, hastily averting his gaze as a faint blush crept up his ears.

He hadn't realized it himself, but his unconscious focus on Ji Yixing was far greater than on anyone else.

For him, this was already unusual, but now the very person he'd been overly attentive to had pointed it out himself...

Yu Xin's limited social skills were inadequate for navigating such a complex situation, leaving him feeling increasingly uncomfortable.

"You're right, you're very perceptive," Ji Yixing said, his tone carrying clear admiration. "I've indeed been battling anorexia for a long time, but it's started to improve recently, and I have you to thank for that."

He admitted candidly, "I happened to see you cooking on the show before and found it actually helped my anorexia a bit, so I pulled some strings to get in touch with the director."

"Yu Xin, I came here entirely for you."

"You should have told me earlier. None of the dishes tonight are really suitable for someone who's just getting their appetite back."

The sashimi was cold and raw, and the other dishes were either too heavily seasoned or too greasy. As someone who loved food and enjoyed cooking, Yu Xin felt responsible for those who ate his meals.

"But there aren't exactly better options here for me to be picky, are there? Just being able to eat a meal made by your hands is enough to satisfy me," Ji Yixing said sincerely, his rich, pleasant voice.

As he spoke, he subtly observed Yu Xin's reaction.

Contrary to what he'd expected, Yu Xin didn't seem bothered by his intentional closeness. Instead, he almost seemed... relieved?

Yu Xin was indeed relieved.

Even someone as unperceptive as him could tell that from their very first meeting, Ji Yixing's directness toward him was unmistakable. Especially after joining the show, he even felt Ji Yixing was subtly clinging to him—no matter when he turned around, Ji Yixing was always nearby.

But now, Ji Yixing's extra attention toward him could be explained.

Yu Xin didn't think he had anything worth scheming for. If there was one thing, it might be his cooking skills.

But Ji Yixing's approach didn't bother him. The other man clearly wasn't ordinary; at times, he unconsciously exuded a commanding presence that even some leaders of large bases Yu Xin had encountered in his past life didn't possess. He was certain Ji Yixing's status was definitely high-ranking.

Ji Yixing could have easily used his influence to make Yu Xin cooperate and work for him obediently. Or he could have simply proposed a private meeting and tempted him with money. Yet Ji Yixing chose such an indirect approach, coming to his side gently and harmlessly, without making him feel any condescending arrogance.

Someone going to such great lengths to approach him, carefully considering his feelings at every step—this was a novel experience for Yu Xin.

But... he didn't seem to dislike it.

***

On the other side, after trying for ages, Ye Ran and Yu Ning still hadn't found anything to fill their stomachs.

Ye Ran sat frustrated on the beach, watching the group enjoying their meal not far away. He rubbed his empty stomach, his tone unconsciously tinged with complaint: "Xiao Ning, didn't you say you'd done your homework before coming? How come Yu Xin finds food so easily, but it's so hard for us?"

Yu Ning forced a smile, feeling even more irritated inwardly. It's all because of you!

If Ye Ran hadn't been so stubborn, insisting on splitting from the other guests and forming a separate group after a disagreement, they wouldn't be starving now.

And now Ye Ran was blaming him? Yu Ning was also a proper young master from a wealthy family—how was he supposed to know how to scavenge for food in the wild like some savage?

That kind of crude skill was something only a bastard like Yu Xin would be good at.

Though he thought this, he couldn't show any discord with Ye Ran on the surface. He had to comfort him softly: "Xiao Ran, don't worry, let's search more carefully..."

"Search for what?!" Ye Ran started throwing a tantrum, plopping down on the sand stubbornly. "I'm so hungry I have no energy left!"

He'd never known what it felt like to go hungry since birth—when had he ever suffered such humiliation?

Now, looking at Yu Ning, who was just as clueless, Ye Ran suddenly felt disappointed: "So you're not as capable as I thought either. Why didn't you deny it when I said those things before?"

He'd already made those claims, and now he was going to lose face in front of the other guests and the audience.

Yu Ning seethed quietly. If he'd denied it, wouldn't that have been admitting in front of everyone that he was inferior to Yu Xin?

[Ye Ran has such a bad temper... why does Xiao Ning have to put up with him?]

[Exactly, if he hadn't insisted on splitting up, Xiao Ning wouldn't be starving now.]

[Wasn't it Yu Ning who chose this 'good friend'? Why didn't you complain about Ye Ran's temper when he was standing up for him...]

"Xiao Ran, don't be like this... Wait, look, what's this?!" Yu Ning suddenly cried out excitedly.

Ye Ran followed where he was pointing and saw small, shell-like creatures crawling slowly across the dimly lit beach.

Yu Ning picked one up and found it was indeed a type of shellfish—small, white shells, not very big, but with actual meat inside that retracted when touched.

"Xiao Ran, look, these must be edible!" Yu Ning held the unknown shellfish out to Ye Ran proudly. Ye Ran glanced at it, his expression finally improving a little. At least they wouldn't go hungry tonight.

"But how do we eat these?"

Yu Ning hadn't eaten this type of shellfish either. He tried to remember how similar seafood was prepared: "Just cook them in boiling water, right? That shouldn't taste too bad."

"Fine, then go get the pot from them. We're all guests—why should only they get to use it?"

There were plenty of these shellfish on the beach. The two gathered a large handful, carrying them in their shirts, and headed toward where Yu Xin and the others were.

"Hey, we need the pot now. Clean it and bring it over here!" Arriving at the camp, Ye Ran demanded arrogantly of Sheng Xingyao.

"Young Master Ye, I'm not 'hey.' I have a name," Sheng Xingyao said irritably, but he didn't want to argue. They were done using it anyway, so he fetched the pot to send these two on their way.

Yu Xin, already full, relaxed lazily in the half-light, glancing over casually.

"You're not planning to eat these, are you?" He could see the shells Ye Ran was carrying.

"What we eat is none of your business!" Ye Ran detested him and snapped at the slightest provocation.

"Don't say I didn't warn you. You'd better throw all of those away."

"Yu Xin, you don't actually think I'd believe you, do you? You tell us not to eat them, so of course I will. Who knows what you're plotting? You're just panicking because we found something edible. I bet you'd love to see Xiao Ran and me starve."

In Ye Ran's mind, Yu Xin was a malicious, twisted loser. Why would he genuinely warn them? He was definitely saying this on purpose, just to watch them go hungry and eventually beg him for help.

He wasn't about to fall for Yu Xin's trick!

"Suit yourselves." Yu Xin wasn't foolish enough to bother with these two annoying individuals; giving them one warning was more than enough. Whether they listened or not, he couldn't care less.

[Why didn't Yu Xin let them eat these clams? That's so strange.]

[Not sure, but Yu Xin must have his reasons. If it were me, I’d listen to Yu Xin.]

[Hmph, your precious Yu Xin isn’t always right, you know. Maybe, just as Ye Ran said, he did it on purpose...]

[Right, Xiao Ning, don’t listen to Yu Xin.]

Ye Ran snatched the pot that Sheng Xingyao handed over without so much as a "thank you" and went to the other side with Yu Ning.

This time, the production team had provided them with an automatic igniter. Even so, the two struggled to get a fire going and used the limited firewood to boil the clams they had collected.

When they lifted the lid, steam billowed out. The clam shells had burst open, revealing plump meat inside. They looked quite appealing.

Ye Ran snorted coldly, "That phony really had ill intentions, trying to keep us from eating. Good thing we didn’t believe him."

Yu Ning scooped one out, blew on it to cool it down, and handed it to Ye Ran: "Forget about him, Xiao Ran. Try it and see if it tastes good."

Ye Ran took a bite and chewed a few times under Yu Ning’s expectant gaze, only to suddenly grimace and spit it out onto the ground. "What’s this nasty taste? It’s disgusting!"

Not satisfied, he kept spitting and wiping his mouth, trying to get rid of the lingering flavor.

"...How could that be?" Yu Ning didn’t believe it, thinking Ye Ran was just being picky. He tried one himself.

The texture was fine, but a bitter, foul taste quickly spread through his mouth. He immediately spat it out, but it was too late—the strange flavor had already filled his mouth, making him gag.

"What’s going on?! What kind of thing did you pick? How could it taste so awful?!"

Having never eaten anything so repulsive, Ye Ran took his anger out on Yu Ning, yelling at him.

"Impossible... This is just an ordinary clam. It must be Yu Xin! It’s him! He tampered with the pot, that’s why it smells so bad after cooking!"

As if they had found the real reason, Yu Ning and Ye Ran stormed over to the other camp and loudly accused Yu Xin: "Yu Xin! How could you be so malicious? What did you do to the pot? Why does the food cooked in it taste so terrible?"

Yu Xin looked at them mockingly, as if they were two clowns. Before he could speak, Sheng Xingyao interjected: "Stop slandering Yu Xin. Our food was cooked in the same pot, and I was the one who brought it over. Yu Xin never touched it. How can you accuse him of tampering?"

"It’s him! Who else could it be?" Ye Ran was furious, pointing at Yu Xin’s nose and shouting, "Otherwise, how did he know in advance and tell us to throw the clams away? How could good clams be foul? It’s all Yu Xin’s doing!"

Yu Ning’s eyes welled up with tears again. "Yu Xin, even if you hate me, you don’t have to use such underhanded methods against us. I know—"

"Enough already. Do you have a faucet installed in your eyes, turning on the tears whenever you want?"

Seeing Yu Ning resort to his old tricks again, trying to pin the blame on him with a few tears, Yu Xin cut him off impatiently.

He sneered mockingly, "Can’t you use your brain? I never touched your food or the pot. How could I have tampered with them? Remote-control poisoning? Sorry, but I don’t have that ability yet."

"Take a good look. What you have there are moon clams. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? But have you ever seen these in any restaurant? Probably not. Let me tell you why—because these so-called moon clams are scavengers."

"Oh, you probably don’t even know what ‘scavengers’ mean. Let me be kind once more. Do you know what they usually eat? Let me think... mainly decaying corpses of other organisms, feces..."

With every word he said, Yu Ning and Ye Ran’s expressions grew uglier. By the end, they were bent over, dry heaving.

It was too disgusting. The mere thought that they had put such a thing in their mouths made them want to rinse their entire mouths out.

Watching their miserable state, Yu Xin even chuckled lightly. "Didn’t I remind you earlier to throw these away? Did you listen? You didn’t, and now you come here to blame me? Do I look like a pushover to you?"

[Help, I’m about to throw up listening to this. So disgusting!]

[If it were me, I wouldn’t even want my mouth anymore, ahhhhhhh!]

[Was Yu Xin doing it on purpose? Why didn’t he explain earlier? Did he deliberately want to watch Ye Ran and Yu Ning eat such a disgusting thing?]

[This is honestly hilarious. What more do you want from Yu Xin? Didn’t he warn them from the start? Get this straight—it was your Xiao Ning who didn’t listen. And now you’re blaming Yu Xin? Truly, the fans are just as shameless as their idol.]

[Exactly. And Yu Xin and Yu Ning are already on bad terms. Yet Yu Xin still reminded them. If it were me, I’d let them suffer. Yu Xin is the real good guy here, and he still gets blamed. My heart aches for him.]

[Yu Ning and Ye Ran totally deserved it. One’s a fake white lotus, the other’s got his head in the clouds. Finally, they got a lesson. So satisfying—justice is served!]

[This is straight out of a revenge fantasy. Who couldn’t help but laugh? Oh, it’s me.]

[My impression of Yu Ning is completely shattered. He knows nothing but still insists on showing off, and whenever something goes wrong, he blames Yu Xin. And people still call him an innocent, kind white lotus??]

***

Author’s note: This moon clam is made up. The real scavengers are hermit crabs.

Thank you all for your support. I will continue to work hard!