QT: Don't fall in love with the Male Lead

Chapter 144: Don't get overconfident

Xi Zirui suggests that he and Han Yu split up, to increase their chances of finding the challenge envelope.

Han Yu dismisses the idea. "That's no fun, let's find it together."

It really shouldn't be so easy to wrest a smile out of Xi Zirui with something so simple but Han Yu is nothing if not persuasive. 

They start with the very room they're in, looking under the beds and pillows, and slowly make their way to the living area where most of the other contestants are focusing their search efforts.

Most of them haven't been very successful, and one of two show their lack of common sense by trying to look in ridiculous places like the air conditioning system, or by dismantling the sink pipes.

But their stupidity gives Xi Zirui pause.

There's no use searching in places at random, that will only make them waste their time and give the show some amusing footage of them looking like headless chicken.

"What did Ji Limei say in her message just now?" Xi Zirui asks Han Yu, currently feeling the floor under one of the huge corner sofas.

Han Yu gets up from the floor and dusts his hands on his shorts. "Uh, something something 'welcome home' challenge, something something special reward," he shrugs," that's all I remember."

Xi Zirui focuses on those two words, 'welcome home'. It feels like such deliberate thing to say, and so out of the blue too. This place is clearly no one's home, they aren't participating in a reality show where the goal is to observe their daily routine and interactions.

The likeliest explanation is that it was a deliberate clue.

"What are you thinking?" Han Yu asks, when Xi Zirui looks around the living room area and towards the open plan kitchen.

There are a lot of kitschy decorations on the counters, some of them with words written in English -- Xi Zirui would bet that at least one of them has the word 'home.'

"Come with me," he says, tilting his head towards the kitchen discreetly and keeping his voice low.

They make their way to the kitchen slowly, as to not alert the other contestants viciously tearing the living room apart.

From the window, Xi Zirui can see that several of them have now taken to searching outside, unfortunately, Shen Yun isn't one of them.

He's pulling books out of a shelf one by one, as a cover to keep a close eye on everyone else, like the mantis ready to strike the unwitting cicada.

From the corner of his eye, Xi Zirui sees him follow after him and Han Yu as soon as they reach the kitchen.

Xi Zirui casts his eyes around the counters, and finds what he's looking for.

"Get that," he tells Han Yu, pointing at a polka dot biscuit holder.

Han Yu lunges towards it, but isn't as fast as Shen Yun who drapes himself over the counter from the opposite end and snatches it from his hands.

He grins as he opens the biscuit jar, looking inside in smug anticipation.

Only to find nothing but salted biscuits and their crumbs.

In the time Shen Yun was distracted with the jar, Xi Zirui carefully palmed a gaudy picture frame from the wall, with the words 'Home sweet home' written in a cursive font.

Han Yu chuckles when he sees him sliding open the back of the picture frame. "I can't believe you used me."

Xi Zirui shrugs, pulling out a gold envelope from behind the print stuck to the glass. "You played your role so well, don't sell yourself short."

Shen Yun watches him with barely restrained contempt. If he is the stalking mantis, then Xi Zirui is the oleander happy to reap the benefits of his arrogance.

Xi Zirui taps the sharp edge of the envelope against his lip as if he's about to bite into the creamy paper, and winks at Shen Yun.

Just then, Ji Limei's excited voice rings through the house. "Oh, it looks like our 'intersting gege' found the challenge. Let's hear what it entails!"

Xi Zirui reigns in the urge to roll his eyes and pulls a card out of the envelope. 

"There are 20 colorful go pieces at the bottom of the pool, whichever team gets most of them wins a dinner cooked by the other team," Xi Zirui reads, listless and bored.

"Go teams go, there's a delicious dinner at stake," Ji Limei shouts, trying to infuse them with the energy Xi Zirui's voice lacked.

Xi Zirui watches as most of the contestants scramble all over each other to try and get outside as fast as possible.

"What does any of this have to do with joining a boyband?" Xi Zirui asks with a derisive snort.

Han Yu stretches his arms above his head, making his shirt ride up and reveal that delicious expanse of abdomen again. 

"Gege is not going?" he asks, throwing himself backwards on the couch.

"It seems you're not going either," Xi Zirui says, taking a seat next to him.

"Gege already got a special reward from finding the envelope, I'm hoping he'll share it with me," Han Yu says, his eyes glinting.

Xi Zirui turns the card around and finds written on the verse: "Whoever finds the hidden envelope wins a private dinner for themselves and a contestant of their choice, as well as private lessons for the two with a mentor of their choosing."

Naturally, Han Yu could see the back of the card while Xi Zirui read the instructions.

Xi Zirui smacks him on the thigh with the card. "What makes you think I'll be taking you?"

Han Yu pouts. "I helped."

Leaning over across the cushions, Xi Zirui brings their faces close. "Maybe I want to take Shen Yun, and apologize for not being a good team player." 

From this short distance Xi Zirui can see the moment Han Yu's pupils contract and his breath comes up short. "Maybe I won't let you," he says, the words barely above a whisper.

The air grows thick, all the weight of everything Xi Zirui remembers and Han Yu has forgotten bearing down on them.

Xi Zirui is overly conscious of the cameras behind every mirror and false window, if not he might give in and steal a kiss, even though this Han Yu has known him for less than a day.

He would have to forgive Xi Zirui the urgency of six lifetimes.

An excited chorus of shouts and the sound of splashing water makes them jump apart as the other contestants begin filing back into the house.

Jin Ranyu leads a group of his teamates in a victory dance, while a soaked Shen Yun watches from the sidelines, as miserable as a wet mouse.

"Why didn't you help?" he spits once he reaches Xi Zirui and Han Yu. "We were down two people."

A lanky boy who has decided to throw in his lot with Shen Yun nods. "We could really have used the help."

Xi Zirui clicks his tongue. "That just sucks for you then, doesn't it?"

Shen Yun practically incinerates him on the spot with the strength of his glare. "We are a team! Don't you want to win? Now the Diamonds will have an extra hour of choreography practice with Liao laoshi tomorrow!"

"Aren't you a good dancer? You'll be fine," Xi Zirui says, getting up from the sofa and patting Shen Yun on the shoulder.

"Where are you going? We have to cook dinner for those assholes now," Shen Yun spits, waving towards the opposite corner of the living room where Jin Ranyu is now hitting his teammates with pillows, almost sending poor Cao Fei flying twenty paces to the right.

Xi Zirui pouts in mock sadness and waves the card in front of Shen Yun's face. "Actually, I won a special reward for finding the envelope, and I get to pick someone to have a private dinner with me."

Immediately all the guys who were just watching the show play out sit up straighter.

"Congratulations ge, there's no one more deserving than you," a tall, athletic guy says, smiling kindly at Xi Zirui.

Xi Zirui nods towards him, as if acknowledging his well wishes. "What's my name?"

The boy is taken aback. "What?" he stammers.

"If I'm so deserving, surely you know my name."

He closes and opens his mouth several times before sitting back down.

Xi Zirui addresses the gathered onlookers with a smile. "I'll treat whoever remembers my name to dinner."

His words are met with several pairs of wide eyes. He gives each boy pointed looks, but they all avert their eyes, with the exception of Shen Yun who keeps glaring.

When he turns to Han Yu, he's already grinning.

"What about you? Do you know my name?" Xi Zirui asks, trying to keep his voice steady, trying not to betray his nervousness.

"Of course I know," he says, and Xi Zirui's heart soars. "It's interesting gege." Only to plummet immediately after.

He lowers his head in humiliation, Shen Yun's amused little scoff driving into the space between his ribs like a knife.

Han Yu calls out to him, a frown knotting his brow. "Don't look like that gege, I was just joking." He fits his curled up index and middle finger under Xi Zirui's chin and lifts his head until their eyes meet.

"Gege's name is Xi Zirui, I think it really suits him, but if he doesn't mind, I'll keep calling him gege," he smirks when Xi Zirui pulls away from his touch, a faint dusting of pink coloring his cheeks.