"Stingy, Xu Qingyan is peeling shrimp for me," Shen Jinyue said with an unhappy face.
"Wait a sec."
Xu Qingyan poured himself a glass of wine, then began to stand up and greet everyone at the table one by one. There were familiar faces, like Zhou Mian and Cui Ying, and also some he didn't know.
At most, he had only seen them in passing, the kind that seemed somewhat familiar after a closer look.
"This is Old Zhang from the filming crew, a vet with lots of experience. Not to mention his skills, he's also handsome, a real middle-aged Liu Dehua," Zhou Mian introduced helpfully.
"Hello, Teacher Zhang, I'm Xu Qingyan. You're in charge of the follow-cam for my group, right?" Xu Qingyan smiled and toasted, "I was wondering if the crew had brought in a celebrity to do the filming."
"Oh no, you can just call me Old Zhang," he replied.
"And this is Sister Wen from the operations team, a real beauty~," Zhou Mian introduced.
All in all, Xu Qingyan greeted everyone with extraordinary modesty. After making his rounds, his smile was bountiful as he made light conversation with everyone.
"Hmph," Shen Jinyue felt somewhat discontented seeing him ignore her.
But to her surprise, as soon as Xu Qingyan sat down, he didn't say a word and just put on his gloves to peel shrimp for her. Not only didn't he utter a single word of complaint, but even the movements of his hands were quick.
This frightened her quite a bit, and she kept looking at him several times.
"Why aren't you scolding me?"
Hearing this, Xu Qingyan glanced at her, wanting to make a retort but held back.
"Why should I scold you?"
"Xu Qingyan, don't be like this, I'm a bit scared," Shen Jinyue said timidly, "You usually scold me, saying I never went to kindergarten, that I should do things on my own."
Xu Qingyan was even more speechless, thinking to himself that Shen Jinyue was now predicting his moves. But she knew full well that he would snap at her, her actions were simply asking for it.
"Don't worry, I wouldn't do that. We've already been on a reality TV show together, why do you still see people through a filter?"
His shelling technique was fast, almost in the blink of an eye he had arranged several plump shrimp on a plate. He gently pushed it forward, stopping right in front of Shen Jinyue.
"You should look at people with fresh eyes after being apart only three days, don't think too much, just eat."
Shen Jinyue looked down at the plate of shrimp, then back up at Xu Qingyan, her expression slightly hesitant. He was acting abnormal, being so nice to her.
"Xu Qingyan, are you trying to suck up to me?"
"Nonsense."
She was genuinely scared, afraid that Xu Qingyan's behavior during the show was all an act. Just like before, she'd finally made a friend, only to drift apart gradually.
"I..."
"Just eat," he urged.
"Okay," Shen Jinyue pinched a plump shrimp and put it in her mouth.
Just as she swallowed, she suddenly heard Xu Qingyan speak.
"I've never asked you for anything, do me a favor today."
So he was waiting for this.
Shen Jinyue said nothing, bowed her head and stuffed all the shrimp into her mouth quickly, cheeks bulging. She glanced at Xu Qingyan, then shook her head vehemently, making muffled sounds.
"Your refusal is useless, having eaten my shrimp, you have to help me," Xu Qingyan said without giving her a chance to object, "Unless you spit out the first shrimp."
Shen Jinyue: "....."
After swallowing them all, she looked resigned, sadness in her expression.
"What favor?"
"A small one, don't worry, I'm not asking to borrow money," Xu Qingyan said, looking around and lowering his voice, "I remember you have Pei Muchan and Lin Wanzhou's WeChat, right?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Help me post a WeChat Moments story, I've sent you the copy and the photo," Xu Qingyan said.
Ding-dong.
Shen Jinyue, with a face full of confusion, opened the message, scanned it briefly, and immediately realized something. She suddenly looked up, staring at Xu Qingyan for a few seconds.
"I won't do it; you might as well ask me for money!"
"I'm not borrowing money, just spit out the shrimp and that's fine," Xu Qingyan said, extending his hand to her mouth, "No worries, I don't mind the dirt, spit it out and you won't have to help."
"You!!! So shameless!" Shen Jinyue fumed, thinking to herself that the fish out of water would indeed have a fishy smell; never trust Xu Qingyan to behave properly.
"If you can't spit it out, then post it, it's just one Moments story," he said.
Ultimately, Shen Jinyue reluctantly posted the WeChat Moments story.
[Bought a cute toy from the show crew today and gave one to sister. (Photo)] (Visible only to Sister Pei and Sister Zhou Zhou)
Putting down her phone, Shen Jinyue looked at him with an extremely complex gaze.
"So, you've given two identical gifts to two different girls?"
Hiss~ Xu Qingyan didn't expect Shen Jinyue, who usually acted a bit slow, to be so quick on the uptake with this kind of matter; truly terrifying.
"I didn't, don't talk nonsense," Xu Qingyan firmly stated, "The gifts carry different meanings and are given to different people, how could you make such a hasty assumption?"
Discover hidden content at mvl
At first, Shen Jinyue was confused for a moment, not quite following.
"Aren't they the same?"
"Yeah."
"Pfft, I don't believe it, jerk!"
Sure enough, Shen Jinyue scrolled up and found Lin Wanzhou's recent Moments post—a toy bear leaning against her leg, looking rather earnest and cute.
And when she scrolled up further, she didn't see a Moments post from Pei Muchan. She suddenly realized the purpose of her own Moments post, cursing in her mind that Xu Qingyan was reprehensible.
Suddenly, a new update flashed in Shen Jinyue's Moments. It was from Pei Muchan, a bear being held up in her hand.
The three posts nearly seemed connected.
The copy Shen Jinyue used in her Moments was [Gave it to sister], without specifying which sister it was for.
From Pei Muchan's point of view, the toy bear in Lin Wanzhou's post was given by Shen Jinyue. Like Xu Qingyan, it was bought from the show crew.