Chapter 20: Embrace
Su Jinli was frightened by the water splashing festival.
Distracted and in a trance, he left the competition area. He hadn't gone far when An Zhihan caught up with him like the wind. As he reached Su Jinli's side, An Zhihan firmly seized his face in revenge.
Su Jinli kept stepping back, all the way until he hit a wall behind him. Yet, he still couldn't escape An Zhihan's grasp.
"How can you blurt out everything, huh? Answer every question? Why are you so stupid" An Zhihan was about to be driven mad by Su Jinli.
An Zhiyan dug holes. While An Zhihan escaped from them, Su Jinli fell into every one.
"Ah, stop pinching me..." Su Jinli's voice changed, as An Zhihan squeezed him. Swinging his face from side to side, his voice was trembling.
"Isn't it all because you blurt out everything?"
"Don't you... also say everything usually?"
"It's not the same, you're tattling on us."
"I was wrong, okay! Don't be mad..." Su Jinli tried his best to push away An Zhihan's hand, realizing that a cameraman was filming them.
Huffing, An Zhihan let go: "You wait and see, see how I teach you a lesson during the water fight."
"You don't…." Su Jinli couldn't finish his sentence before An Zhihan ran off to remove his makeup, hastily trying to finish changing, so he could grab the best water gun.
At that moment, Su Jinli felt a significant hurdle appear in his life.
How could he handle the water splashing festival?
Due to his panic and the severe face-pinching by An Zhihan, Su Jinli indeed looked pitiful.
Initially, Su Jinli was at the back of his team. After his spat with An Zhihan, Su Jinli had been left behind, almost alone in the corridor.
He hesitated for a long time, unsure how to escape this predicament, and didn’t move an inch for quite a while.
When An Zhiyan came out, he saw Su Jinli's pitiful figure, and instinctively asked: "What's wrong?"
"I upset Zhihan," Su Jinli replied, feeling wronged.
An Zhiyan naturally guessed the reason for An Zhihan's anger and comforted him: "Don't worry. I used to upset him quite often when we were kids. Usually, he comes around within a day."
"But what about now that you're grown-ups?" Su Jinli hurriedly asked, fearing An Zhihan's revenge.
"Now that we're grown up, he doesn't dare to get mad at me."
"Oh..." At that, Su Jinli felt a pang of sympathy for An Zhihan.
Su Jinli didn't want to chat with An Zhiyan too much. He nodded at him, intending to leave, but An Zhiyan stopped him: "Come with me. There are too many players there, so the makeup removal is slow. You can use my dressing room, and it would be quicker."
"No need..."
"I'm the host, they've prepared raincoats for me. Do you want one?"
"Yes, yes, yes." Su Jinli immediately obediently followed An Zhiyan, no longer afraid of the so-called energetic man or big bad guy.
Zhou Wenyuan had been waiting behind the whole time, wanting to catch An Zhiyan when he came out.
As a result, he watched An Zhihan and Su Jinli making a fuss at the door, seemingly getting along well.
After the majority of the team had left, An Zhiyan and Su Jinli emerged. In just a few words, An Zhiyan took Su Jinli away with him.
Zhou Wenyuan wanted to chase after them but hesitated and eventually stopped. He followed the main group to the communal makeup room to remove his makeup and change clothes.
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Upon arriving at An Zhiyan's dressing room, Su Jinli was unsure where to stand.
After An Zhiyan entered, he made a phone call to postpone his schedule. Su Jinli didn't dare to disturb him while he was arranging his work.
In the dressing room, there were only two of them and no makeup artist.
It was a bit awkward...
Su Jinli's heart was pounding relentlessly.
After talking for a while, An Zhiyan noticed Su Jinli's restrained demeanor. He pointed at the sink on the side and then took out something from a bag and tossed it to Su Jinli: "Makeup remover."
"Oh, thank you."
Su Jinli took the makeup remover and went to the sink, using all his strength to wash his face and remove the makeup.
This was the first time he felt so nervous while washing his face, fearing the emergence of a fishy smell.
After finishing the makeup removal, Su Jinli turned around to see An Zhiyan casually taking off his shirt and simultaneously pulling out clothes from a bag with one hand.
The clothing was provided by the program team – it was uniformly styled T-shirts. The hosts and judges wore orange, the female contestants wore light pink, and the male contestants wore light blue.
An Zhiyan was a bit rough on the edges. He shook his shirt by holding one corner of the packaging bag, then shook it open. After checking the front and back, he put it on straight away.
In Su Jinli's eyes, An Zhiyan's physique was significantly better than any of the male candidates he'd seen during the auditions.
While in the gym, it would certainly match some of the fitness coaches.
Not too excessive, but sufficiently muscular.
"Um... you didn't take off the label." Su Jinli reminded him.
"Oh, can you help me get rid of it?" An Zhiyan turned around, still arranging his schedule on the phone.
Su Jinli walked over and tried to tear it off with his hand, but it wouldn't budge. So, he leaned in and tried to bite it off.
Just as Su Jinli was trying to bite it off, An Zhiyan turned around. He intended to tell Su Jinli that there was an eyebrow razor on the table that he could use, but he ended up accidentally pulling Su Jinli onto his back.
Upon drawing closer, the strong, fragrant scent from Su Jinli became even more apparent, causing An Zhiyan to be momentarily entranced.
"I'm sorry..." Su Jinli quickly stepped back, raising the labeled item in hand. "I'll take this."
"Right, thank you," An Zhiyan hung up the phone, before turning to Su Jinli with an apparent question. "You always smell so good? Why is that?"
"I don't have any particular scent, actually," Su Jinli dodged a step back.
But An Zhiyan persisted, coming close to inhale deeply. The fragrance seemed intensified. "I can clearly smell something."
"It might be the scent of the Dabao product that I use."
"Dabao?"
"Yes."
An Zhiyan had never actually used this type of skincare product before, and wasn't familiar with its scent. He nodded at Su Jinli and told her, "I've sent my assistant to fetch your uniform. The raincoat will also be brought over shortly."
"Okay, thank you."
As An Zhiyan turned around, he began to loosen his belt and walked towards the changing area.
Before he could sit down, he heard the sound of a curtain being pulled. Turning back, he saw that Su Jinli had drawn the curtain for the changing room.
Just how much did he not want to see him change his pants?
Shortly after, Jiang Pingqiu came into the room carrying items. Upon his entry, he complained, "Just got one raincoat, all the other raincoats had been snatched away by Second Young Master and his troupe."
"Is this kid a bandit?" An Zhiyan was clearly displeased after hearing this.
Jiang Pingqiu handed Su Jinli's clothes to him and responded to An Zhiyan's question, "The program team prepared an extra ten. Originally, the contestants didn't have any. But then Second Young Master went and robbed the crew members. It took me quite a while to get Second Young Master to give it up."
The mere thought of this younger brother gave An Zhiyan a headache.
An Zhiyan yielded the changing room to Su Jinli to change his clothes. Then, he started adjusting his hairstyle in the mirror outside: "Get the raincoat from my cameraman. An Zhihan and the others won't attack the staff, I promised the little guy I'd get him a raincoat."
"Alright, I'll go ask," Jiang Pingqiu went out of the makeup room again.
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After changing, Su Jinli came out with his stage costume and cautiously asked, "Did I cause you any trouble?"
"No, it's my troublesome, younger brother causing me problems."
"If it's really not possible, I can pretend to be sick."
"It seems like you really don't like this event."
"Um... I have a skin condition. If my skin gets wet and isn't dried properly, I'll have issues." Su Jinli started to lie, but the outcome of his guilty conscience was a hiccup.
"Oh, I see. Don't worry, I'll protect you when the time comes." An Zhiyan casually waved his hand, providing reassurance.
"Thank you."
An Zhiyan put on the raincoat and walked to the door, telling Su Jinli, "Let's go together and see the situation."
Su Jinli immediately followed An Zhiyan out.
Not long after stepping outside, they heard An Zhihan leading a group of people shouting slogans: "Defeat An Zhiyan, we shall be kings today!"
"Alright!" others echoed.
"Take down An Zhiyan!"
"Alright!" Laughter from other contestants was mixed in the shouting.
Hearing this, An Zhiyan's expression turned quite unpleasant. Subconsciously, he reached for Su Jinli's wrist and pulled him around to head back.
As they walked a few steps, they saw a contestant running towards them quickly. An Zhiyan pulled Su Jinli along, and they started to run, panicking and heading to the emergency exit stairwell.
While hesitating whether to go up or down the stairs, they were caught up by the pursuer. An Zhiyan immediately dragged Su Jinli into his arms and wrapped his body with the raincoat.
The sudden embrace caught Su Jinli off guard.
However, faced with the threat of getting wet, Su Jinli had no choice but to compromise. He fully hid in An Zhiyan's arms and clung to the corner of An Zhiyan’s clothes.
"Let's go, let's go..." An Zhiyan, holding Su Jinli, showed surprising strength. He managed to lift him and carry him downstairs, all the way to the underground parking lot.
Su Jinli almost forgot that he was 184 cm tall.
They ran a good distance before shaking off their pursuer, who seemed to have been attacked by others and was left behind in the stairwell.
An Zhiyan let out a sigh of relief and let go of Su Jinli. He took off his own raincoat and handed it to Su Jinli, "You should wear this. I'll strip the one off of Zhihan when I get a chance. That little scoundrel is rebelling."
Both of them could imagine that An Zhihan must have led a large group to An Zhiyan's makeup room by now. Luckily, they had left.
They left so suddenly that no camera crew was following them. An Zhiyan’s assigned cameraman was likely still in a state of confusion.
An Zhiyan put a hand in his pocket and realized he didn't bring his mobile phone or wallet.
Su Jinli had also impulsively followed An Zhiyan out, leaving his clothes and phone casually in the dressing room.
The two of them exchanged looks, neither of them speaking.
It must have already been discovered that An Zhiyan and Su Jinli had run this way. There were people coming after them again, being quite clever and silent, stealthily approaching when the two of them were stunned. Even the camera crew was cooperating.
An Zhiyan was the first to notice them. Seeing them spraying water with water guns, he subconsciously pulled Su Jinli over, blocking himself.
Wearing a raincoat and a hat, Su Jinli could hear the water pattering on them. He was surprised and terrified.
What happened to... protecting him?
How could he use him... as a shield?
Is it because he was wearing a raincoat?
Perhaps An Zhiyan was single entirely by choice?
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Author's Note:
An Zhiyan said in a particularly masculine tone: "You all don't need to persuade me; I willingly kneel on this washboard, and I have no intention of getting up."
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