The Theory Of Queerbaiting

You Xin glanced at the script then at Duan Jiashu, and then at the script and then at Duan Jiashu once more. 

He felt that the amount of information he received in just one night had completely exceeded his brain’s load capacity. First, Duan Jiashu discovered that he read the same fanfiction, then he was forced to discuss with Duan Jiashu about mpreg, and finally, he was forced to sell CP with Duan Jiashu that would follow a script. These successive amounts of shock waves were too fierce and strong that You Xin felt his three views in life were like a castle built with building blocks, which was then destroyed by Duan Jiashu, this little devil. You Xin looked at the castle ruins, feeling that his world had gone blank.

Even in the farming novels that he often reads, no matter how cool they were, they won’t take the plot so far like this. What the hell was this sand sculpting world he was in! He can’t let his life be controlled by a weirdo like Duan Jiashu!

“No, I can’t accept this!” You Xin raised his hand agitatedly as he shouted at Duan Jiashu. He had to be brave enough to say no to Duan Jiashu to show his determination and courage, and that he, You Xin, was not an object for the other person to manipulate!

Duan Jiashu must’ve expected that You Xin wouldn’t be meek and cooperative. He didn’t say any words of advice, but he just narrowed his eyes and tilted his head, “Reason?” 

“I, I, I…” You Xin stammered for a while until he found that his courage had already depleted. Duan Jiashu, although he always had a childish form of reasoning, they were still very convincing. The thought of overturning the other’s powerful logic gave You Xin a terrible headache. He couldn’t help but think about Duan Jiashu’s principles, which really made him think of a reason to say, “You said, selling— no, acting a CP would be cheating the feelings of young boys and girls!”

You Xin immediately looked at Duan Jiashu and found that Duan Jiashu, who was determined to win, dropped his eyes. You Xin immediately ignited confidence in herself.

“Yes! It’s immoral to pretend that a CP is real, after all, it’s cheating on feelings!” The more You Xin spoke, the brighter his eyes became. This was what Duan Jiashu himself said. Even if Duan Jiashu’s words made him burst into tears that time, You Xin would still never forget it.

“Well,” Duan Jiashu nodded, “I said something similar to that in the past…”

You Xin breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Duan Jiashu didn’t go crazy too much. It seemed that this quick witted method finally made him get through a disaster. But before You Xin can breathe, Duan Jiashu spoke again.

“But I was wrong.”

You Xin: …

“I have to admit that my previous understanding was one-sided, too radical and not real enough. At that time, I didn’t understand the CP culture, and so here I have to be brave enough to admit my past mistake. But now I have understood. Think about it, most of the CPs in the world ended up disillusioning the CP fans, but why is it that the CP fans still kept on liking the CPs? Have you ever thought about that?” 

You Xin froze, he hadn’t thought about that. He himself sometimes still felt strange about it, because everyone obviously knew that CPs are fake, so why did CP fans seem to act as if they didn’t know it was? Even if the CP was gone or had become BE, they’d still miss it and continue to like it.

You Xin looked at Duan Jiashu and shook his head stupidly.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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You Xin looked dizzy for a while, then suddenly reacted to the fact that he got moved by Duan Jiashu’s words again. No, no, no! You Xin shook his head, he had to wake up, he mustn’t give in to Duan Jiashu so easily!

“I still don’t want to sell— act with you! I don’t want to pretend to be gay with you!” You Xin spoke strongly, expressing his firm refusal.

Duan Jiashu didn’t get angry at his reply, but he looked at You Xin in confusion.

“Acting with me can make people happy, and you don’t want to?” 

“I don’t want to!”

“You don’t want to act with me to sharpen your acting skills?”

“I don’t want to!”

“You don’t want to act with me to increase your popularity?” 

“I… I don’t want to!”

“I know now.” Duan Jiashu nodded and stood up. He crossed his arms and bowed his head in contemplation for a moment, then raised his head and walked towards You Xin, leaning in closer and closer.

Duan Jiashu held his head high and looked at You Xin with a mysterious and unpredictable face, “There are so many benefits and yet you aren’t willing to act with me. So it seems that… You’re secretly in love with me.”

You Xin: … 

“I won’t, I haven’t, I don’t like you!” You Xin shrieked and took a step backwards. His heart kept wailing, why hadn’t Duan Jiashu let me go? What should I do! He looked to his sides like a little squirrel, but there was no place to escape.

Duan Jiashu ignored You Xin’s denial and just took a quick step to lower his head and pressed You Xin’s shoulder “You don’t have a crush on me, so why don’t you want to act with me?”

You Xin’s shoulders were pressed to death by Duan Jiashu so he couldn’t move. He looked up and saw Duan Jiashu’s eyes were dark and bright, emitting a light that could devour everything. He looked at Duan Jiashu’s face that was constantly enlarging in front of him and couldn’t help but tremble.

“I didn’t, I really didn’t…” The more You Xin spoke, the smaller his voice became, and gradually, even he couldn’t hear himself. 

Because he felt Duan Jiashu’s nose gently rubbing on his own nose, and the other’s lips were only a hair’s breadth away from his own. You Xin thought of Duan Jiashu’s accidental kiss last time. He couldn’t help but start gasping for air, and didn’t dare move at all.

“Then since you denied it, that means you are willing to act with me. If you’re not willing, I’ll prove to you that you actually have a crush on me.” Duan Jiashu spoke softly and slowly, but that low voice hit You Xin directly with its vibrations. You Xin blinked uncontrollably and felt his legs go soft.

He didn’t dare imagine how Duan Jiashu would prove that, so You Xin closed his eyes tightly and had to give in to the other’s abuse. “I’ll do it, I’m willing to act…”

Duan Jiashu let out a soft laugh and slowly let go of You Xin’s shoulders. 

You Xin felt his chest could finally breathe fresh air. Carefully opening his eyes. He saw that Duan Jiashu had returned to his usual expressionless face. “I didn’t say anything. Look how frightened you are. What do you think, did you get caught in the act?” After saying that, a trace of smugness actually appeared on his face.

You Xin: …

“This is the charm of acting, do you feel it? I tell you, you still have a long way to go in your cultivation, but seeing that you also have some sort of talent, I’ll reluctantly let you learn properly.” Duan Jiashu gave You Xin a very serious evaluation, then threw the script over to him, “Read the script first.”

You Xin, who had only just recovered, took the script and said aggressively, “It’s useless to read the script, the director arranged the program’s flow, so we can’t add scenes without permission.” 

Duan Jiashu sighed in speechlessness, but on account of You Xin’s use of “we” as the subject, he patiently explained, “A good actor can perform a scene of the same content with a different feel, and sometimes a change in expression can make a huge difference. This script in your hand is basically your character setting, and as long as you can push through with this persona, I can bring you into the act and let you become an actor.”

You Xin: …

Duan laoshi was truly worthy of being Duan laoshi, even selling CP could be warped by him in such a rigorous and high-end way, turning it into something that normal people can’t understand. It’s really awesome. No wonder he’s so popular. Mortals really can’t hope to catch up.

You Xin opened the script written by Duan laoshi unconsciously. Sure enough, the first page was his own character setting. 

【You Xin: a boy who likes being cute. Outwardly cheerful, tender inside. Very comfortable with people, but in front of Duan Jiashu, he had to hide his feelings. At the beginning, after being coldly rejected by the other person, because he was timid, he became afraid to approach. However, as his relationship with the other gradually got better, it became increasingly difficult for him to suppress his feelings, always accidentally revealing a crack.】

Then came the action setting:

【Action 1: Look at Duan Jiashu with fascination for a while, and then look down shyly when the other looks back at him.】

【Action 2: Every time when cooking, be selfish and give Duan Jiashu an extra spoonful of rice, and put Duan Jiashu’s favorite dishes in front of him.】 

【Action 3: Become secretly happy whenever you see Duan Jiashu eating the rice, smiling down.】

【Action 4: When you see Duan Jiashu talking to someone else, you secretly lose it but pretend to be nonchalant and play with your phone.】

【Action 5: When talking to Duan Jiashu, keep your head down like don’t dare to look at the other’s eyes, but peek at the other’s expressions from time to time.】

【Action 6: When making physical contact with Duan Jiashu, get shy, like you’re nervous and trembling, accompanied by physiological reactions such as blushing.】 

…

You Xin finished reading, raised his head while the corners of his mouth twitched, “This setting is too exaggerated! I can’t even act! I…”

“Why not?” Duan Jiashu interrupted, “You have to have confidence in yourself. You can do it, just now you did a good job, didn’t you?”

Just now? You Xin felt his scalp tingling at the thought of “just now”. Duan Jiashu was too perverted. How could he use this kind of thing to bring in others into the scene? He almost thought… 

“Look into the mirror and find out how you feel now. Look, as soon as I mentioned “just now”, your face got red.”

You Xin: …

You Xin covered his face in anger. “Can’t you just stop talking!”

“Well, you’re not only blushing now, but you’re also starting to pout and be cute. That’s it, CP fans will love this.” 

You Xin: …