The Theory Of Queerbaiting

The next morning, You Xin got up from the bed with a foul face, feeling like there was nothing left for him to live for.

Duan Jiashu’s antics must’ve been too much last night that You Xin fell asleep with unrest. He had a dream of selling CP with Duan Jiashu all night. In the dream, he was blushing while Duan Jiashu did all kinds of kissing towards him, finally succeeding in disgusting the people around them, that even the most forgiving CP fan couldn’t swallow the sh*tty sweet moment and announced that they’d never ship CPs again. Only Duan Jiashu was waving a small whip and laughing, “You Xin, you will continue to act for me hahaha! I want to let the world know of our CP hahaha…” 

Thinking about himself two months ago, You Xin felt so silly and naive. At that time, he just learned that he was going to participate in a show with Duan Jiashu and was full of expectations, the king of diamond-tier CPs, but he didn’t expect that he had fallen so low to the point of being forced by the other to sell CP. Really, he felt like he was experiencing life like it’s the first time. The world is changing and things are getting difficult to predict…

While You Xin was brushing his teeth and remembering the past, he suddenly thought of Duan Jiashu’s whip set in his dream. He couldn’t help but shiver, and when he looked up, he saw the figure of the person in his dream, Duan laoshi himself, reflected in the mirror. You Xin spat with a “pff”, the white toothpaste foam on the mirror instantly covering Duan Jiashu’s handsome reflection.

Duan Jiashu, who returned to his bedroom to look in the mirror: …

Duan Jiashu, who’s reflection was damaged by You Xin’s actions, frowned and looked unhappy. But such an unhappy expression still didn’t manage to damage his beauty. He rather looked energetic, his skin smooth and delicate, and his eyes black and bright. It was obvious that he had such a high quality of sleep last night. 

After washing, You Xin changed his clothes and thought, Duan laoshi looks really young. He doesn’t look like a 28-year old at all. People like him who only impose troubles on others but are carefree themselves are really not easy to grow old.

“What’s going on?” Duan Jiashu patted the head of the terrified You Xin, pressing the other’s messy hair downward. “What’s that look on your face? To actually react like this, have you forgotten your own character setting?”

You Xin secretly rolled his eyes. What character setting, you imposed that on me. You Xin pouted aggressively as he thought of this.

“Stop pouting, your expression to express aggression is too simple. Don’t just use your mouth, you need to learn to express your feelings with your eyes. Eyes are the window to our hearts, did you grow such big eyes just for rolling your eyes at me?” Duan Jiashu knocked You Xin’s head with his hand, with a foul expression.

You Xin was trained by him to be like someone who doesn’t know how to pretend to understand. He simply nodded his head. He didn’t even dare pout, so he could only bite his lips.

Duan Jiashu shook his head and decided to teach him in person. “Raise your head and see what it’s like for me to act out your aggravation.”

Act out? How to act?

You Xin looked up curiously and saw that Duan Jiashu’s whole being was immediately different from usual. Duan Jiashu, who was usually seen standing straight, head and chest high. Even if he doesn’t speak, he had an extremely present feeling while standing, as if he was a sword with a sharp edge. And now, his sword-like temperament was completely gone. His shoulders and chin were slightly tightened, his hands were in his pockets, and his whole body was swaying. He looked at the other with a trace of timidity and grievance, but there was still a trace of affection in his bright eyes. 

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.

You Xin was surprised, Duan Jiashu played this persona really well and like it was his own own. It simply gave people goosebumps!

Yo mbegrf, atja xlcv bo mgjhs wjc’r fsfr kfgf mbwqifafis vloofgfca ogbw tlr bkc!

Dea la’r jirb nfgs qbkfgoei. Pa’r gfjiis ugfja!

Vfflcu Tbe Wlc’r regqglrfv jcv jvwlglcu fsfr, Gejc Aljrte gfaegcfv ab tlr ereji fzqgfrrlbcifrr oluegf, “Vff, sbe’gf raevslcu tjgv klat wf cbk. Ciatbeut sbe mjc’a gfjmt ws ifnfi, la’r ubbv obg sbe ab ifjgc j ilaaif yla.” 

You Xin nodded dumbly, completely convinced by Duan Jiashu’s performance. The resentment in his heart had swept away, and he even felt a little lucky to be able to partner with an aspiring actor like Duan laoshi to sell CP, which is really a kind of fate that cannot be begged for by burning incense and worshipping Buddha.

The day’s filming was on sports, where everyone gets together to play a few grounded daily sports. The location was in the middle of the courtyard. The courtyard isn’t that big, so the types of activities they would do were also relatively simple.

The first sport was a Jianzi competition, in which the winner would be awarded for the most consecutive shuttlecock hits. At the same time, those who kicked no more than ten shuttlecocks in a row were to be punished. Each person had three chances and the highest score was their final score.

Before filming started, Duan Jiashu winked at You Xin, who immediately understood that this was a reminder to get into the acting state. He hurriedly nodded at Duan Jiashu, and his whole body tensed up and he began to hypnotize himself “I have a crush on Duan Jiashu. I have a crush on Duan Jiashu. I have a crush on Duan Jiashu.” 

Meanwhile, the competition began. Song Yunyun and Lin Qiubi were obviously expert shuttlecock kickers, and they kicked as if they had magnets on their feet, and it was Song Yunyun who won first place.

Of course, in addition to the skillful group, there was also the funny group.

Qi laoshi and Yuan Feng were very good in this area. Qi laoshi kicked the shuttlecock one by one in the east and one by one in the west, with exaggerated and thrilling movements. And Yuan Feng kicked the shuttlecock like it was a martial arts performance, one left kick and another left kick, not knowing whether he was playing with the shuttlecock or the shuttlecock was playing with him. However, even with this reluctance, Yuan Feng and Qi laoshi got eleven kicks and were spared the punishment. The two were very happy and everyone laughed and applauded as the atmosphere began to get more and more intense.

Then it was You Xin’s turn. 

You Xin played jianzi when he was a kid, so he wasn’t so worried about the basics. The first thing he did was to glance in Duan Jiashu’s direction before going on the field, but he didn’t expect to see Duan Jiashu looking at him with a face of encouragement, but he turned his face away when he saw You Xin looking at him.

You Xin: …

Sh*t! What is Duan Jiashu doing? Didn’t we say we were going to sell CP? Is he actually making fun of him? You Xin’s mind suddenly had a lot of messy thoughts, but he still subconsciously made a haughty expression.

No matter, no matter! It’s better to think about how to avoid the punishment first. You Xin took a deep breath to calm down and started kicking. In the end, it’s been a long time since he played, so the first two times he kicked it, he came up short of ten. But the good thing was that he can now find a little feeling. You Xin decided that he should be okay for the third time. 

You Xin took the shuttlecock and kicked it again, “One, two, three, four…” He counted silently in his heart, in order to adjust to the best angle to kick the shuttlecock, You Xin involuntarily turned in a circle, in which he turned in front of Duan Jiashu. When You Xin kicked his ninth, he looked back subconsciously and saw that Duan Jiashu was looking at him with a very hot look, full of love and possessiveness.

You Xin was startled. As soon as his foot slipped, he missed the tenth one.

You Xin: …

Sh*t! What the hell is Duan Jiashu doing?! When I looked at him, he didn’t respond to me, and right when I was playing jianzi properly, he suddenly made trouble. He just wants to bully me, right? You Xin looked at Duan Jiashu with hatred, and found that the other party had stopped looking at him and was expressionless again, as if it was all his fault. 

You Xin tilted his head suspiciously, and something in his brain suddenly flashed. Such a huge contrast between before and after the performance was not the legendary “twist”! He recalled the content of the program that had been broadcast and the fans’ analysis of the JiaXin CP. He had to say that Duan laoshi set up a very appropriate character. The word “awkward” not only conforms to his consistent persona in the program, but also expresses his feelings for “You Xin”. It really kills two birds with one stone and comes down in one continuous line. It was truly worthy of Duan laoshi!

After determining that You Xin would be punished, it was Duan Jiashu’s turn to play.

Duan Jiashu didn’t pick up the shuttlecock immediately, but first moved his neck, rubbed his shoulders and kicked his legs to do some preparatory activities. His expression was calm, cool and serious. It gave the impression that although he was actually in a mere courtyard, he was like he was participating in an Olympic competition. You Xin watched his movements and couldn’t help but purse his lips.

The shuttlecock was thrown straight upward from thirty centimeters in front of his chest, and when it landed in front of him, his foot naturally lifted up, but the shuttlecock and his foot did seemed to exist in four-dimensional space-time, as it fell straight to the ground with a “pa”, and Duan Jiashu still kept his kicking posture before he finally reacted. 

The whole audience laughed.

Duan Jiashu froze for a moment, slightly annoyed, he turned his head and glared at You Xin.

You Xin was the one who laughed the loudest in the crowd. After being glared at, you Xin immediately realized that he was “selling CP”. However, he was bullied by Duan Jiashu earlier. When he saw the other person’s embarrassment, he couldn’t stop laughing. He had to cover his mouth and laugh secretly. Duan Jiashu had to look at him helplessly, with a trace of shame but tenderness in his eyes.

You Xin couldn’t laugh any longer when he was looked at like that. He put his hand down and didn’t dare to look at Duan Jiashu again. His heart beat faster. 

God, is that a spoiling look? Duan laoshi is so awesome. I was completely dragged in the act

Seeing You Xin make the expression he wanted, Duan Jiashu nodded in satisfaction. His next attempts were a complete repeat performance as the first, and except for You Xin, the whole audience was gasping with laughter.

At the end of the match, You Xin and Duan Jiashu were given the punishment. Looking at this scene that felt like déjà vu, the corners of You Xin’s mouth twitched. Fortunately, he understood the content of the punishment in advance. This time there was no hardcore CP act like eating strawberries together using their mouths, it would just be drinking bitter melon juice.

Qi laoshi was the host of the punishment session again. 

“You Xin and Duan Jiashu have to be punished for not meeting the minimum standard for the jianzi competition by drinking a glass of bitter melon juice each. But the program team still wants to give you two another chance. Now you have two cups of green juice in front of you, one of which is bitter melon juice and the other is kiwi juice. It’s up to you which one of you has better luck to drink the sweet one by choice.”

Sure enough, two small cups of green juice were placed on the table, and with the naked eye, it was completely impossible to tell which cup was the bitter melon one.

Then just take a cup, it wouldn’t hurt to drink a cup of bitter melon juice to cool down the fire anyway, You Xin thought, but he was interrupted by the voice of Duan Jiashu.

“You Xin kicked more than me, so it’s my turn to drink bitter melon juice. I won’t choose anymore, I’ll just drink both cups.” Duan Jiashu looked at You Xin, then quickly turned his head. Picking up a cup and looking at it, he took a sip and frowned. However, after swallowing, he still continued to drink. 

You Xin looked between Duan Jiashu and the bitter melon juice and froze. This was the first time he was taken care of in such a way, and this person was Duan Jiashu. Although he knew that this must be Duan Jiashu’s method in order to sell CP, You Xin’s heart couldn’t help but be touched, as if queerbaiting with Duan Jiashu was also quite good. You Xin thought these in his heart and watched Duan Jiashu drink the second cup. This cup should be sweet, because Duan Jiashu finished it in one sip.

He put down the cup expressionlessly, leaving a handsome close-up for the camera, and then moved out of the camera with a few steps.

You Xin followed Duan Jiashu to the side wanting to thank him, when he saw Duan Jiashu’s head turn, “Vomit…”

Then, there was a puddle of green liquid on the ground. 

Duan Jiashu covered his mouth, raised his head to look around, and calmly instructed You Xin, “Quickly help and cover me, do not let the others see.”

You Xin: …

It turns out that the second cup was the bitter melon juice. Duan laoshi’s acting was really as good as ever.