Ever since receiving flowers the day before yesterday, Xie Xi had been planning to use the excuse of delivering flowers to visit Ye Qiusuo today. As he walked to the makeup room door, he overheard a few crew members gossiping, and his expression immediately turned cold.
Previously on set, although Xie Xi didn't interact much with the crew, he seemed relatively mild-mannered, not at all like the difficult-to-approach, bad-tempered person the media portrayed.
But now, as the few people came face-to-face with his frosty gaze, they couldn't help but freeze.
"Currying favor with whom? You?" Xie Xi looked them up and down with a critical eye.
The group felt somewhat awkward, their eyes darting around.
Inside, Ye Qiusuo heard a familiar male voice outside and pushed the door open directly. Sure enough, she saw Xie Xi standing at the door, still holding flowers.
As soon as Xie Xi saw Ye Qiusuo, the coldness on his face vanished, replaced by a polite, slightly reserved expression: "Professor, happy wrap." He then stepped forward to hand her the flowers.
He had spent a long time choosing this bouquet at the florist today. Besides the usual congratulatory flowers, he had hidden a bunch of white hyacinths inside.
Ye Qiusuo accepted the flowers: "Thank you."
Xie Xi moved closer to Ye Qiusuo and glanced at the people nearby, his voice not loud but just enough for them to hear: "Even though I didn't finish junior high, I know you shouldn't gossip behind people's backs."
Professor Ye: "..." He actually included himself in that.
Those people lowered their heads, wanting to leave but not daring to, and refuting him was even more impossible. Xie Xi hadn't even said much, and had even dragged himself into it.
In the end, it was only when Ye Qiusuo walked towards the director's area, with Xie Xi following alongside, that they finally breathed a sigh of relief. They exchanged glances and scattered, not daring to say anything more.
"Xiao Xie, what brings you here?" The director, having just finished his work, asked in surprise upon seeing Xie Xi.
"The professor wrapped her scenes, I came to deliver flowers." Xie Xi said frankly.
The director recalled the flowers Ye Qiusuo had sent the day before yesterday and their teacher-student relationship, nodding: "Of course, of course."
Originally, in Ye Qiusuo's plan, she could leave quietly and peacefully. However, with Xie Xi's arrival, he stayed by her side, making the scene extremely lively.
"Maybe my wrap day won't be this lively," Wan Yurou laughed softly, then turned to look at the man beside her. "Brother Feibai, I'm still not very confident about the scene later."
"You'll get it with more takes."
You Feibai's gaze fell on the two of them. He couldn't figure Ye Qiusuo out. She even remembered the placement of his water bottle, yet she seemed unwilling to be associated with him.
Wan Yurou watched You Feibai, then turned to look at Ye Qiusuo, who was about to leave the set, and her mood suddenly improved a bit.
Although the female lead, Li Yandie, had many scenes, she had started avoiding You Feibai these past few days. You Feibai also hadn't been discussing acting with her much lately. Others might not know, but Wan Yurou had already found out that You Feibai's near-accident was because of Li Yandie's obsessive fan.
Now that Ye Qiusuo had also wrapped her scenes, the only person left on set who could get close to You Feibai was her.
Her agent had worked hard to get her this role, not just because of the director and script, but more importantly because the male lead was You Feibai. This show was bound to be a hit. Any actress associated with him, whether for good or bad topics, would absolutely attract a massive amount of attention.
"Meow~"
Xie Xi was trying hard to find opportunities to talk to Ye Qiusuo, thinking about how to leave together later. It would be even better if they could have a meal together. Suddenly, a soft, sweet sound came from near his feet.
He looked down. It was the Ragdoll cat he had held before, lying on its back in front of his shoes, belly up.
Hearing the commotion, the director looked over and made a surprised sound: "Huh? Why is this cat still here?"
A staff member from the props department hurried over with a cage, apologizing: "The pet shop was closed, so we could only keep it for a few more days before returning it."
The cat was rented from a pet shop. It was said to be a cat abandoned by its owner. When the props department went to rent a cat, they thought this one was well-behaved and good-looking, suitable for filming, so they chose it.
"Kitty, come here." The staff member tried coaxing the cat into the cage, but it completely ignored them.
After coaxing for a while with no success, the staff member had no choice but to try and pick it up to put it in the cage. However, the cat quickly clung to Xie Xi's pant leg, meowing.
Professor Ye watched the scene of the kitten's blatant act, a hint of amusement in her eyes. It looked so well-behaved, yet was utterly shameless.
"Kitty!" The staff member's voice grew a bit louder.
The kitten still paid no attention.
Xie Xi glanced at Ye Qiusuo, then bent down to pick up the cat. He asked the nearby staff member: "Does it have an owner?"
"No, it's an abandoned cat."
"Can I adopt it?" Xie Xi asked, lowering his head to play with the kitten, which immediately snuggled obediently in his arms.
The staff member hesitated for a second, then said: "Yes, I'll just let the pet shop owner know."
Suddenly having gained a cat, Xie Xi felt a bit more confident. After playing with it for a moment, he walked towards Ye Qiusuo: "Do you want to pet it?"
Professor Ye looked at the kitten's watery blue eyes, then finally extended a finger, touching its ear extremely lightly and quickly before withdrawing her hand as if nothing had happened.
The kitten let out a confused meow, the tip of its ear twitching.
Xie Xi chuckled softly, feeling like his Professor Ye had become quite a bit more childish in that moment.
The two walked out of the film set one after the other, heading towards the parking lot.
Xie Xi, holding the kitten in his arms, watched Ye Qiusuo walking ahead, his emotions in turmoil.
When you truly like someone, you become apprehensive about gains and losses, not daring to take a step forward easily, afraid the other person might turn and leave immediately.
"I'm leaving now." Ye Qiusuo opened the car door and, before getting in, turned to Xie Xi.
"...Okay."
Xie Xi didn't walk forward anymore. Holding the cat, he stood in place watching Ye Qiusuo drive away.
Xie Xi lowered his head and touched the kitten's ear: "She's gone."
"Brother Xi, the staff gave us the cage." Zhang Dong caught up from behind, carrying a cage. "I transferred the money to the staff member to pass on to the pet shop owner."
"Mmm."
Zhang Dong's work was always meticulous.
...
The third episode of "Their Lives" aired as scheduled, with fans eagerly waiting to watch.
In this episode, the three participants weren't filmed together. Instead, the program crew carried cameras to separately follow each of them through a day of work, from morning until night.
At the beginning, the screen was split into three sections, with a clock-style timer in the middle informing the audience that it was now 6 AM. Two of the people were already up, only Xie Xi was still asleep.
Director Xu Qingwei finished washing up, made a sandwich, sat down to flip through a book by his side, the morning sun streaming in through the floor-to-ceiling window, creating a quiet and elegant atmosphere. On the other side, You Feibai was exercising for an hour. He wore a black tracksuit, which, soaked with sweat, clung tightly to his chest, clearly outlining his muscles.
[Damn, Feibai's physique is seriously hot!]
[No wonder my brother's figure is so good. Disciplined people are never too bad.]
[Yet someone is still sleeping.]
[Xixi only knows how to sleep all day. Now I know why he's never active online—he's busy sleeping.]
At eight in the morning, You Feibai had a commercial shoot to attend. Sitting in the car, he held a script while a makeup artist applied his makeup, not wasting a single moment. Xu Qingwei, meanwhile, was talking back and forth on two phones, sending voice messages to who knows who. Clearly, both were fully immersed in work mode.
As for Xie Xi... he was still asleep.
Even the fans were starting to feel a bit impatient, with bullet comments urging him on.
[Xixi, get up already, the sun is shining on your butt!]
[Please get up and start working, look at the person next door reading lines while getting styled.]
[It's 8:30! Xixi, you should be up by now!!!]
[Why on earth did I fall for such a lazy celebrity, boohoo, damn charming little imp!]
Finally, close to nine o'clock, Xie Xi got up.
He sat on the bed with a dazed expression for a good while, then suddenly flopped back down, hugging the blanket to continue sleeping. However, the abrupt movement caused a corner of his pajamas to ride up.
[He's this lazy and still has abs???]
[Maybe Xixi exercises at night or something.]
[He must have been working late last night, that's why he's sleeping until nine, everyone should be understanding.]
"Brother Xi, time to get up for breakfast." Assistant Zhang Dong came in carrying a bowl of noodles, pushing the door open and calling out.
[You've got to be kidding. Judging by how practiced his assistant is, I bet he brings a bowl up every day.]
[Tsk, Xie Xi seems too lazy, even having his assistant bring food to bed. Might as well hang a pancake around his neck so he can just lower his head to eat when hungry.]
[Hey, watch your words up front. What's wrong with the assistant bringing up noodles?]
Inside the video, Zhang Dong was unaware of the bullet comments. He set the noodles aside, pressed the stereo on the table a few times, and a song sung by Assistant Zhang Dong himself immediately started playing.
After doing this, Zhang Dong sat down, picked up the bowl, and started slurping the noodles, his foot tapping along to the music's rhythm.
[Hahaha, the assistant is so mean, he actually started eating it himself!]
Xie Xi suddenly sat up, walked barefoot to Zhang Dong's side, and reached out to turn off the stereo: "Sounds terrible."
Seeing he was awake, Zhang Dong said while chewing noodles, "Sister He made noodles today, with a fried egg too."
Normally, a housekeeper would do the cooking. Sister He would cook for the two of them when she had time. Having nothing much on today, she made noodles.
Xie Xi went to change, wash up, then came downstairs to eat noodles with them, looking leisurely and utterly unlike someone about to start work.
Not just him, but the few people around him were also unhurried, whereas You Feibai's side was like a battlefield, everyone rushing from one engagement to another, tense and busy. Xu Qingwei's side wasn't as packed as You Feibai's, but his phone kept ringing non-stop.
After breakfast, Xie Xi finally started work by going to the recording studio. In a good mood today, he sat at the drum set and played for half an hour before starting to discuss a new song with others in the studio. He spent the whole day there without leaving, even lunch was takeout.
But with Zhang Dong around, even takeout in the recording studio felt like a feast. A folding table was set up in the studio, and a bunch of people sat down to eat, the conversation still revolving around the new song.
On the other fronts, You Feibai had already rushed to his next schedule, an event at a shopping mall. Xu Qingwei went to meet with actors to discuss his own drama.
By six in the afternoon, Xu Qingwei had returned home and started reading books and watching shows. You Feibai was still in the car, memorizing his script lines while a makeup artist removed his makeup.
[Brother really works so hard, I haven't seen him rest all day, he was even memorizing lines while eating.]
[My heart aches for You Feibai.]
[No wonder he won Best Actor at such a young age, it all comes from hard work and dedication.]
The entire screen was discussing You Feibai, listing his achievements.
At six-thirty, Xie Xi began working with his team to finalize and sing the song they had created that day.
[???]
[!!!]
[Th-this... a whole song finished in one day?!]
[So impressive, nothing in the morning, and the entire song is done by afternoon.]
[It sounds great, wow, thanks to this show for letting me hear Xixi's new song.]
[I wonder how long until it's included in an album and released. Good thing I recorded the screen, I can listen to it every day!]
"Hmm... feels pretty good." The teacher in charge of the accompaniment nodded, stroking his chin.
"If we refine the chorus a bit more, this song is basically done."
Xie Xi took off his headphones: "I don't like this song. Scrap it."
With one sentence, he abandoned this nearly finished song. The team members beside him showed no surprise, clearly accustomed to this.
[What does 'scrap it' mean?]
['Scrap it' means this song won't be performed publicly again, ever.]
[So the whole day's work was for nothing?]
[Xixi seems to be like this. Anyway, he writes all these lyrics himself, so he discards them as he pleases.]
[I really feel for his team with Xie Xi acting like this.]
[Hah, the team is paid to do their job, what's there to feel sorry for? Besides, isn't Xixi just trying to create good music for us to hear?]
[Xie Xi's team seems to have been with him since his debut. If there were problems, they would have made a fuss long ago.]
[A bystander wants to say: Xie Xi's focus on just one thing is actually much better than trying to do everything. Although You Feibai works hard, he could refuse some of those commercial activities and focus more on studying the script.]
[No comparisons, please. Both are amazing, taking my Bai with me.]
At eight in the evening, Xu Qingwei started spending time with his family, reading to his child. You Feibai was at an audition; due to confidentiality, the camera switched to filming the scenery and passersby downstairs. Xie Xi, meanwhile, started playing video games.
He played for a bit, then lay down on the sofa, bored, staring at the ceiling, letting his game character die.
Xie Xi hadn't been in the mood for gaming lately, even feeling a bit like writing.
"Zhang Dong, read out the hot searches."
"Brother Xi, let me finish this round first." Zhang Dong looked down at his phone. After a while, he began his daily task: reading the hot searches.
The next moment, all viewers watching this reality show episode were treated to the scene of Xie Xi ranting about the Weibo hot search list.
