Your Soulmate Has Already Appeared!

At the end, the director made Shen Yang say who his first pick was, as well as the name of the female guest who’d left the best impression on him. Shen Yang didn’t hesitate to give Duan Weiwei’s name.

After he finished recording his solo interview, Shen Yang was hungry and planned to go to the kitchen to find something to eat. When he entered, he saw Su Hanying and Yan Jiaqi were both there. The room was filled with the tempting smell of food, but the air was choked by an awkward silence……

“Finished recording?” Su Hanying noticed him first and pointed to the dining table. “Made you a sandwich.”

Shen Yang’s brain was half a beat slow; he walked to the table in a daze and only felt the shock when he saw the plate of sandwiches there. Unexpectedly, Su Hanying had made him something to eat?

“Thanks!” Shen Yang was flattered by the surprise act of kindness and said appreciatively, “How did you know I happened to be hungry?”

Su Hanying: “Didn’t you say you only had crumbs for breakfast?”

......Had he said that? Forget it, it wasn’t important! In any case, it was clear that Su Hanying was a kind and considerate person! Could it be that Su Hangying wasn’t as cold as he seemed, and was actually a ‘cold on the outside, warm on the inside’ type of person? Or maybe his coldness was just another manufactured persona? His brain invented a scenario where Su Hanying was actually a delicate mama’s boy who was scared of ghosts, a crybaby, and even liked pink. Shen Yang plastered on a strange smile with a guilty conscience.

Cough, let’s quietly do away with the liking pink. …...Drop the fear of ghosts, too!

The dining table was set with cutlery; Shen Yang took a cautious bite -- ham, crispy fried egg, lettuce, fresh and sweet tomatoes…...It was simply too delicious!

In the midst of his ecstasy, Su Hanying brought out a cup of orange juice: I’ve already washed the dishes; I’ll go first.”

“Thanks……” After Su Hanying left, Shen Yang finally realised something wasn’t quite right -- how could it be that Su Hanying only made food for him, and didn’t eat anything himself?

“Su Hanying has a really cool personality.” Yan Jiaqi suddenly spoke out.

She’d just found an opportunity to be alone with Su Hanying, but regardless of whether she flirted openly or covertly, the other party remained unmoved from start to finish; casual conversation was left unanswered, and even his demeanour had a sense of detachment…...

Shen Yang: “......”

He didn’t know this reason, and earnestly tried to speak for his roommate: “I think he’s a very considerate person.”

“He’s only considerate to you, though?” Yan Jiaqi sized up Shen Yang’s soft appearance and whispered: “Shen Yang, you aren’t actually the fourth female guest prepared by the program group, are you?”

Shen Yang: “……”

Even though he knew that Yan Jiaqi was obviously joking, it still stabbed at his sore spot. He’d suffered because of his looks since his childhood. He, a straight-as-steel man, looked surprisingly feminine……

In kindergarten, some boys pushed him into a toilet and tried to kiss him; had it not been for his fierce resistance, his first kiss would already have been lost! In his second year of primary school, a teacher suggested he change into a flowy skirt and represent the school on a TV station’s Children’s Day Gala. In fourth grade, a delinquent from another school blocked him at school and told him they should date.

In short, it was a bleak and desolate period of his life, and he even had a nickname he couldn’t bear to recall……

He’d gradually grown up and grown taller, and after primary school nobody mistook his gender again, but due to his natural genes, he still looked more “dainty” in comparison to most other boys.

Thankfully, he wasn’t a girl. …...Even if he liked pink, he wasn’t a girl!

If not for this, he wouldn’t even have the opportunity to join this dating show; the program group were after the hormonal attraction between men and women and rejected “gay besties”[1].

While thinking of the past, Shen Yang bitterly swallowed a mouthful of orange juice.

Oh, it was still really sweet.

“Ooh, that smells good, are you making something?”

The sudden female voice interrupted Shen Yang’s brooding; when he looked up, he saw that Duan Weiwei had come in. She approached Yan Jiaqi: “Jiaqi-jie, you’re making salad? I thought fairies only drank dew.”

“Then do you only drink dew?” Yan Jiaqi scoffed. Privately, she was sick of Duan Weiwei referring to her as ‘older sister’ whenever she saw her; it wasn’t confirmed that she was the older one! But for the sake of her image on the show, she still smiled: “Smells good, right? Su Hanying just made Shen Yang a sandwich; it’s really fragrant.”

Duan Weiwei looked at Shen Yang in surprise: “I didn’t think Su-ge could cook?”

Shen Yang got a fright at being called on and nodded immediately.

Duan Weiwei was silent for a moment, then asked all of a sudden: “Jiaqi-jie, Su-ge didn’t help make you one too?”

Yan Jiaqi: “......”

This was asking for a fight!

Over to the side, Shen Yang faintly scented a storm brewing. His thoughts moved; in his mind appeared the image of him chatting away to defuse the awkwardness, winning the two ladies’ gratitude and admiration.

This was an opportunity for him to show himself!

Shen Yang hurriedly polished off the rest of the sandwich, opened his mouth, then kept quiet. He washed his plate, opened his mouth, then kept quiet.

Sben Yang fled the room.

I’m scared. I know. I’m running.

While Shen Yang was “escaping with his life”, Su Hanying started recording his solo interview. The director exchanged a few routine words with him and saw that Su Hanying appeared natural enough, so he was somewhat reassured.

But when the recording started……

“Hello everyone, I’m Su Hanying. I’m grateful for the invitation from “28 Heart-Pounding Days” and I hope that during the recording period I can fulfil my aspirations.”

One second.

Two seconds.

Ten seconds later…...

The director asked hesitantly: “That’s it?”

Su Hanying: “Didn’t you tell me to just say whatever?”

The director took a deep breath. “But you can’t just be like this! At least say something about your aspirations!”

Su Hanying said lightly: “Sorry, that’s a secret.”

The director was furious, but he took Su Hanying’s background into consideration; after some deliberation, he decided to cut the other party some slack and spare himself in the process, too. “Forget it.” He looked completely unresigned. “Then say who your first pick is.”

Su Hanying: “......”

Director: “......”

Su Hanying: “......”

The director couldn’t believe it: “Even this is a secret??”

“No,” Su Hanying explained, “I just met them; I don’t have a pick yet.”

“Just say one of them!”

“I have to be conscientious about what I say.”

Silence.

After a long time, the director was exhausted both in body and mind: “Just say who looks the best!”

Su Hanying laughed suddenly. “You really want me to say it?”

Director: “Say it!”

Su Hanying: “Shen Yang.”

Director: “..............................”

After another long silence, the director weakly waved his hand. “Fine……”

When Su Hanying had left, one of the assistants cautiously said: “Su Hanying doesn’t seem to fit the requirements of this program very well……”

“I know.” The director naturally had his own considerations when he agreed to let Su Hanying leave. “We’ll save the whole thing for the later episodes and wait until Su Hanying develops a crush, then cut the two parts together to make a ‘change of heart’[2] effect; this also serves as a funny gimmick.”

The assistant parroted their agreement, but in their heart they thought the director was being blindly optimistic.

While the program group were scheming away, Su Hanying had already returned to the second floor. He saw Shen Yang, Yang Tianchi, and Long Nu sitting in the lounge, with several tarot cards spread face-down on the tea table.

“Hanying, have a seat.” Yang Tianchi’s sudden greeting caused Shen Yang, who was about to draw a card, to turn his head reflexively, inadvertently knocking a card off the table with his elbow in the process.

Su Hanying alerted him: “You knocked one down.”

“Ah?” Shen Yang looked down and hastily picked it up. He looked helplessly at Long Nu: “Does this still count?”

Long Nu, who was responsible for interpreting, hadn’t had this sort of situation occur before. She considered it and ventured: “Probably? It’s destiny that you chose this card.”

There was some logic to that!

Shen Yang nodded: “Then, this card.”

She turned it over -- The Lovers, upright.

Long Nu’s eyes glinted. “Your soulmate has already appeared.”

Shen Yang: “My what-mate?”

Long Nu: “Zhengyuan (正缘)[3]; you can take it as referring to the love of your life; the person who will accompany you all your life.

Shen Yang had his doubts: “Really?”

Long Nu answered with certainty: “Really, but you need a bit of courage.”

Shen Yang’s mind flashed to Duan Weiwei’s small dimples and he felt a little shy.

Yang Tianchi glanced enviously at Shen Yang’s reddened earlobe and turned back to Su Hanying, asking, “You want to try? Long Nu’s an expert at this.”

Su Hanying shook his head and sat down; Long Nu breathed a small sigh of relief.

Yang Tianchi had no idea that his proposal had created pressure for Long Nu and asked, “What did you bring?”

Seeing Su Hanying was slightly unsure, Yang Tianchi explained: “Didn’t the program group make us bring something we liked? I brought fish, Long Nu brought tarot cards, and Jiaqi said earlier that she brought a set of manicure crowns. What about you guys?”

Shen Yang suddenly came back to life: “I brought a rubik’s cube.”

Su Hanying: “Discovery of Nature.”

Shen Yang: “Huh?”

Su Hanying: “It’s a science magazine.”

Shen Yang: “......”

Were all young people these days this posh? Did Su Hanying work as a research scientist? Actually, that wasn’t for certain either…...After all, even the couriers knew to use the “Schröedinger’s cat” theorem to explain whether a parcel was packed well or not; regardless of the profession, couldn’t everyone understand science?

Yang Tianchi took a moment to digest this, then asked again: “Don’t you have a hobby that’s a bit more mainstream?”

Su Hanying gave it a thought: “I play games; does that count?”

Yang Tianchi: “It counts; I like that too! Do you play well?”

Su Hanying: “Very well.”

Yang Tianchi was stunned by Su Hanying’s confidence. Delighted, he took his phone from his pocket: “Come on! Let’s play Knights of Valour a bit!”

Su Hanying first glanced at Shen Yang, then pointed his chin at the row of cameras lined up in front of them.

Yang Tianchi slowly recalled the program group’s rules and sullenly put away his phone: “When you’re free, please teach me, boss.”

“Who’s a boss?”

Yan Jiaqi carried the fruit salad and came in with Duan Weiwei. She only heard the word “boss”, so she asked about it casually.

“Hanying, he’s a gaming boss.” Yang Tianchi looked at the salad in Yan Jiaqi’s hands and suddenly struck his forehead. “That’s right, who’s responsible for dinner today?”

The staff didn’t give them a script, but they had communicated some things to them verbally. For instance, if nothing unexpected occurred, they hoped to pair them off and send each pair off in turn to make dinner every day.

Duan Weiwei’s eyes sparkled; given they were being filmed, if she took the initiative to invite a man, the other party probably wouldn’t refuse! But before she could open her mouth, Yan Jiaqi was already one step ahead of her, saying: “Which of you can’t cook?”

Only Yang Tianchi raised his hand weakly, his expression innocent and pitiful.

Shen Yang couldn’t bear to leave Yang Tianchi on his own. He thought about it and said: “I’m average.”

Yan Jiaqi put the salad down on the tablet and sighed: “Me too; even this salad took me half an hour to prepare. But Weiwei is amazing; she was just telling me how she could make a dozen types of desserts……” She suddenly struck the table and said, as if she’d just thought of it: “Since we’ve got three lousy cooks here, why don’t we ask the three bosses to pair up and accompany each of us?”

Duan Weiwei’s smile froze; naturally, she didn’t agree, but Yan Jiaqi’s proposal was extremely reasonable, so she could only muster up a strained smile: “That works; who will pair up with me?”

Shen Yang thought of Long Nu’s divination and his heart stirred. Seeing that Yang Tianchi wasn’t speaking up, he summoned his courage and asked: “Can I?”

Duan Weiwei looked at Shen Yang’s delicate features and felt that he was also rather pleasing to the eye, so the gloominess in her heart cleared slightly: “Of course.”

Once Shen Yang had chosen, the other groupings were settled, and Yan Jiaqi achieved her wish of pairing up with Su Hanying. They sorted out the roster and it turned out that the chefs for that day would be Shen Yang and Duan Weiwei; however, there was a limit to the ingredients in the refrigerator, so Shen Yang was assigned the task of going shopping. Su Hanying just happened to be getting ready to go to the supermarket, and the two of them left together.

They got into the car and Shen Yang was a bit surprised that the model and value of Su Hanying’s care were very understated; it didn’t match him at all. Shen Yang privately wondered whether Su Hanying was driving his housekeeper’s car to buy groceries.

With the help of the GPS, they found a big supermarket not far from the house, only seven or eight minutes by car. Along the way, the awkward silences that Shen Yang had expected never occurred; although Su Hanying spoke very little, he conversed very naturally, and he was good at giving his conversation partner space, which made Shen Yang speak a lot without realising it……

For instance: “You say Yang Tianchi’s occupation is sports-related? Could he be a fitness coach?”

Su Hanying looked straight ahead: “Based on his physique and manner of speech, he probably works in an area that involves both management and sports.”

Shen Yang was deep in thought: “Then what about the girls? Ahem, for instance, Duan Weiwei?” Since they weren’t allowed to disclose their occupations on the first day, he’d been really curious about this the whole time.

Su Hanying: “Not familiar with her.”

Shen Yang choked and carefully ventured: “Then, what about me?”

Su Hanying didn’t answer immediately. The light turned red at the intersection ahead of them; he stepped on the brake and turned to look at Shen Yang: “Related to your hands.”

Shen Yang’s heart trembled. He subconsciously clenched his hands, letting his gaze drift across the window: “You guessed wrong.”

Su Hanying: “Really?”

After the car drove onto the main road, Shen Yang became re-energised: “What about age? Who’s the oldest out of us? Who’s the youngest?”

Su Hanying didn’t pause for a second: “Yang Tianchi is the oldest.”

Shen Yang also agreed with this conjecture, and continued to ask: “And the youngest?”

Su Hanying: “We’re here.”

Shen Yang looked up and saw the logo of a certain major shopping mall, as well as signs pointing to the underground parking.

The two of them got out of the car one after the other, which naturally attracted a crowd of onlookers; who asked them to be followed by three cameramen! A lot of people pointed at them, and Shen Yang even heard some girls whispering among themselves.

“Quick, look! Who’s that in the white t-shirt? He’s so hot; is he even human?”

“Are the two of them celebrities? Are they here to shoot something?”

“The one beside him isn’t bad either; just a bit short.”  

Ermmmm……

Shen Yang wasn’t happy; he was 179cm himself, you know? Girls, look clearly; he can be the perfect height!

Shen Yang peered at the signs, and Su Hanying shot him a look: “What do you like to eat? You didn’t say earlier.”

When they’d gone out, he had specifically asked about what sort of food the others liked, as well as whether there was anything they couldn’t eat, but Shen Yang was the one who was going to buy the groceries, so he hadn’t purposefully brought it up; in the end, Su Hanying still remembered to ask.

Shen Yang was touched and his temper cooled. He wasn’t fussy: “I’m okay with anything.”

But when he saw Su Hanying’s first choice of spare ribs, Shen Yang was slightly suspicious that he’d become an amnesiac; had he mentioned today that he most liked sweet-and-sour spare ribs?

It was probably a coincidence? Shen Yang glanced at Su Hanying several times, but the other party seemed unaware, so he could only go back to seriously choosing ingredients.

The shopping cart gradually filled up halfway and they prepared to turn into the area containing Japanese goods. They hadn’t taken two steps when Shen Yang suddenly saw two familiar people.

The man and woman were pushing a trolley amongst the crowd of people; the man was wearing a mask, but Shen Yang still recognised him at a glance -- Wei Fengmian! It was the childhood friend he hadn’t contacted for four whole years, the person who had once been his best friend!

But how could Wei Fengmian be in City A?!

Shen Yang had no time to think properly about it; his sole thought was that he couldn’t be discovered, so he quickly turned to face Su Hanying, who had the face of a male lead in a romance novel, with not a single feature in need of correction.

The familiar chatter drew closer from behind; Shen Yang was so anxious his back was sweating and his mind became feverish. He pushed Su Hanying into the shelf, stretched out one hand, and adopted the most overbearing CEO posture; here it was, the classic “kabedon”!

The author has something to say:

Shen-mei: Boyfriend, I want to let everyone know that I’ve reserved all the snacks on the shelf behind you for you!

[1] gay蜜 / literally “gay honey”

[2] 真香, literally “really fragrant”; internet slang derived from Wang Jingze on the TV show ‘Metamorphosis”, who said he would rather starve to death than eat a meal from the countryside and later ended up happily eating rice there. It is now used to describe a person who ends up doing the opposite of what they originally intended.

[3] The full phrase is 正缘桃花; 桃花 (tao hua), or ‘peach blossoms’ are associated with love and romance in Ba-Zi / Chinese Astrology, and 正缘 (zheng yuan) is the concept of “positive fate” and can be used to divine whether a person would be a good marriage partner based on their horoscope.