Chapter 32

Huo Xingming couldn’t understand why Bai Siyi was so resistant to him.

After getting home, he couldn’t help but stand in front of the full-length mirror in his bathroom while showering, turning left and right to examine himself. No matter how he looked, he thought he looked pretty decent!

Touching his chin, Huo Xingming muttered, “Could it be that my muscles aren’t defined enough?”

Lately, because of conflicts with his family, he had left home and hadn’t been able to afford a gym membership.

His little house had only two floors—it wasn’t big. His mother had given it to him when he was young, and since he had spent most of his time abroad, he rarely came back. So naturally, there was no home gym.

Other than his daily morning runs, he hadn’t been working out at all!

Huo Xingming reached out and touched his abs, then his chest muscles, and finally squeezed his biceps.

“Tsk, I really need to start training again.”

Running a hand through his hair narcissistically, he thought, “Good thing my face still looks good.”

But soon, his excitement deflated again.

He was tall with long legs, had an eight-pack, and a decent face—so why didn’t Bai Siyi like him?

If it was because of his debts, well, pre-marital debt is a personal responsibility. He had already told Bai Siyi that he didn’t need to worry about it.

But Bai Siyi had still shaken his head. Why?

Feeling frustrated, Huo Xingming wondered: Could it simply be that Bai Siyi doesn’t like mixed-race people?

Maybe he only liked purely East Asian features?

That was actually a real possibility. Huo Xingming had heard from classmates before that some people just didn’t like mixed-race individuals, or didn’t find white or Black people attractive. It wasn’t racism—it was just personal preference.

So, he looked into the mirror again, scrutinizing his eyes and hair. His natural hair was black with a slight brown tint, and his eyes were an amber color. He had already dyed his hair black—should he try wearing colored contacts too?

Feeling down, he wrapped a towel around himself, walked out of the bathroom, and couldn’t resist calling Jiang Fengjing. “Aren’t you one of the show’s investors? Send me Bai Siyi’s profile card, will you?”

Jiang Fengjing: “……”

Jiang Fengjing was speechless. “Bro, I’m just a minor investor. Do you really think I’m the only one funding this show? Do you think I’m the sugar daddy of the whole production team?”

Huo Xingming got annoyed. “You’re an investor, so what’s the big deal about giving me a contestant’s profile? You just don’t want to help me! You’re such a bad friend!”

Jiang Fengjing: “……”

“Please don’t insult me like that, I’m scared.”

Irritated, Huo Xingming paced around his room. He had a short temper, and with his phone on speaker, he went to the fridge to grab a drink.

Jiang Fengjing asked in a patient tone, “What happened now? What’s going on between you two again?”

Feeling wronged, Huo Xingming muttered, “I asked Bai Siyi what he planned to do for the confession segment, and he said he’s going to write me a thank-you letter.”

Huo Xingming pouted, and suddenly, the juice in his mouth didn’t taste sweet anymore.

Jiang Fengjing: “……”

Jiang Fengjing: “If he’s writing you a thank-you letter, that means he’s passing on you. Isn’t it normal for people not to be into each other in a dating show?”

Huo Xingming: “But I don’t want to pass on him. And if I don’t pass on him but he rejects me, he’ll stay on the show, and then the production team will pair him up with another male contestant.”

Just thinking about it made Huo Xingming furious.

What kind of lousy production team was this? What kind of ridiculous rules?

In order to prevent Bai Siyi from being matched with another guy, his only option was to write him a thank-you letter.

A thank-you letter meant rejecting him. But he clearly liked Bai Siyi!

Jiang Fengjing thought this situation sounded complicated—almost like there was no way out. But after thinking about it carefully, it actually seemed quite simple.

Jiang Fengjing offered a suggestion: “Since he already said that, just write a thank-you letter.”

Huo Xingming’s face darkened. “No way!”

He liked Bai Siyi. He wanted to write him a love letter!

Jiang Fengjing clicked his tongue. “Just hear me out first.”

Jiang Fengjing explained, “If you both write thank-you letters, it means you both pass on each other. Then, you two will exit the show, and another pair of contestants will take your place. That way, you also get some time to cool off.”

Speaking in a serious tone, Jiang Fengjing reasoned, “Think about it—you were gay before, right? You’ve said you knew from a young age that you liked men. So why would something you’ve been sure about for over a decade suddenly change just because of one online dating show?”

At this, Huo Xingming hesitated.

He had known since childhood that he liked men—there was no doubt about it.

He had never questioned himself. Even his family knew about his orientation, and no one had ever given him a hard time about it. It had always felt perfectly normal to him.

So how did things suddenly change just because of one dating show? Just because he met Bai Siyi, his firm grasp on his sexuality was now shaky?

Huo Xingming’s voice turned somber. “I couldn’t understand it before either. But later, I figured it out—I just like Bai Siyi as a person. I like who she is. I like her quiet nature, the little world she keeps to herself. I think liking someone is just liking someone. It’s not complicated. It has nothing to do with her identity, and nothing to do with her gender.”

Jiang Fengjing, a seasoned playboy with countless flings, was actually left speechless by Huo Xingming’s heartfelt confession.

For a moment, he almost couldn’t resist telling Huo Xingming the truth about Bai Siyi.

But what little professional ethics he had left held him back.

Jiang Fengjing sighed. “That’s exactly why I’m saying—you two should leave the show together and go back to the real world. That way, you won’t be forced to go on dates with Bai Siyi every day, won’t have to stick to her all the time. If you separate for a few days and cool off, maybe you’ll realize that what you feel for Bai Siyi isn’t love—it’s just curiosity playing tricks on you.”

This time, Huo Xingming stayed silent for a long while.

Jiang Fengjing thought he had finally convinced him. “See? Makes sense, doesn’t it?”

After a moment, Huo Xingming asked gloomily, “What does ‘playing tricks on you’ mean?”

Jiang Fengjing: “……”

Jiang Fengjing didn’t manage to convince Huo Xingming, but Huo Xingming did come up with an idea.

Leaving the show was actually a good choice.

Once he and Bai Siyi were out of the show, they could go to and from work together every day. Without the constraints of live cameras, they could do a lot more and talk about a lot more.

Huo Xingming felt he had a pretty good chance. Not for any other reason—just because he was extremely confident in his looks.

Seeing the time, Huo Xingming immediately hung up the phone. “No more talking, I need to work out.”

Jiang Fengjing: “……”

Wearing a tank top and shorts, Huo Xingming started doing push-ups and sit-ups in his bedroom. He planned to buy workout equipment the next day and convert the study on the first floor into a home gym.

Fitness couldn’t be neglected for even a single day—otherwise, his wife would run away.

Despite all his hard work—exercising diligently every day and following Bai Siyi to work without ever complaining—Bai Siyi still barely paid him any attention.

The worst part?

For some reason, Bai Siyi had stopped eating with him altogether in the past two days!

The factory provided three free meals a day—breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

And yet, Bai Siyi hadn’t joined him for a single meal!

The live stream audience noticed too:

【Xiao Bai hasn’t been paying much attention to Piupiustar lately. Could it be that he’s lost interest?】

【Wuhu! Finally! Xiao Bai has come to his senses! With all the great options out there, he never should’ve entertained him in the first place!】

【Noooo, the ‘Bai Xing Yiyi’ CP super topic was just created! It already has tens of thousands of fans—don’t tell me it’s over already? We just built the house, and now it’s getting demolished? Cat rolling on the floor, crying.jpg】

【Shortest-lived CP in history. The super topic has only been around for three days, and it’s already crumbling. Laugh-cry.jpg】

—

The production team backstage felt a bit regretful seeing this.

To be honest, nobody had high expectations for Huo Xingming and Bai Siyi as a couple at first. Director Liu had only arranged for Bai Siyi in women’s clothing and a male contestant in men’s clothing to create a bit of contrast and generate some buzz.

Who would’ve thought this CP would blow up?

Especially after Huo Xingming made his official debut and got his own live streaming room. The moment the audience realized that Huo Xingming was only pretending to be poor—and was also gay—the internet went wild.

【Xiao Bai likes men. Piupiustar also likes men. But neither of them knows about the other. And they’re both feeling guilty and conflicted over it. This is peak drama!】

【When will they finally confess to each other and realize they’re both into men? When will Piupiustar finally open his eyes and realize that Xiao Bai is a guy?!】

【Guys! Let’s all chip in ten bucks to get Piupiustar a new pair of eyes! His current ones are useless!】

—

Seeing the audience’s comments, Director Liu grinned and said, “But there’s no need to worry too much. Once the confession segment comes around, Huo Xingming will find out that Bai Siyi is a man.”

After all, it was written in the contract—if Huo Xingming still didn’t know Bai Siyi’s gender by the time they reached the confession stage, Bai Siyi would be required to explain it to him.

Otherwise, where would the drama be?

This kind of messy plot was exactly what made the show interesting.

At this moment, Huo Xingming had no idea that not only did he and Bai Siyi have CP fans now, but they even had an official CP name—“Bai Xing Yiyi.” If he knew, he’d probably be over the moon.

But right now, Huo Xingming was troubled by the fact that, despite working in the same factory, Bai Siyi refused to eat with him!

Huo Xingming worked hard every day and always finished on time for meals. Since Bai Siyi never came to find him, he assumed Bai Siyi was just caught up with work. So, he took the initiative to go to Bai Siyi’s workshop to look for him—only to find that every time, Bai Siyi had either already gone to eat or had finished eating and left early.

After all, during the show’s recording, Bai Siyi didn’t have much work to do. But Huo Xingming, as a new employee still in his probation period, had a supervisor who showed no mercy when assigning tasks.

After washing his hands and face, Huo Xingming walked out of the restroom with a gloomy expression and asked a staff member, “Did Bai Siyi leave work again?”

The staff member looked at him, feeling a little sorry for the guy. He had chased after love all the way into a factory, only to find himself working on an assembly line while the person he liked only worked half-days and was nowhere to be seen.

The staff member nodded. “Xiao Bai went to eat a little after eleven. He’s probably done by now.”

When Huo Xingming first started working, Bai Siyi had worried that he wouldn’t be able to handle the job, that he might get bullied in the factory, or that he wouldn’t dare to eat in the cafeteria—or worse, wouldn’t get enough to eat.

So, for the first two days, Bai Siyi made a point of coming to find him at mealtime.

But after only two days, Bai Siyi stopped showing up.

Huo Xingming was heartbroken. “He’s actually avoiding me like this? He’s so cruel!”

The staff member: “……”

As much as they felt bad for Huo Xingming, they also felt bad for Bai Siyi.

Bai Siyi must have been under a lot of psychological pressure.

After all, he was deep in debt and pretending to be a woman. Facing Huo Xingming’s pursuit must have been incredibly difficult for him.

In the end, Huo Xingming ate alone in the cafeteria.

Because he couldn’t see Bai Siyi and still had to do hard labor at the factory, he was so heartbroken that he barely ate.

Normally, he could eat five plates—now, he could only eat three!

Bai Siyi was, in fact, deliberately avoiding Huo Xingming.

He knew Huo Xingming had a heavy workload, so every morning, he would eat breakfast in the Pink House, then time his arrival at the workshop just right to avoid running into Huo Xingming in the cafeteria.

Then, he would rush to finish his work before eleven, quickly eat lunch, and leave the factory as soon as possible.

“I don’t want to see him anymore.”

Bai Siyi told the staff and the live stream audience, “The more I think about it, the worse I feel. Huo Xingming is actually pretty pitiful. He’s a straight guy who got scammed by my fake contact info, and worst of all, he still doesn’t know I’m a man. I feel like the worst person in the world.”

The staff member: “……”

The viewers in the live stream felt a little sorry for Bai Siyi:

【Xiao Bai, this was all planned by the production team! It’s not like you did this on purpose, don’t feel so guilty!】

【Exactly, Xiao Bai! You don’t even know—Piupiustar deceived you too! He’s not actually in debt! And he’s not straight either!】

【Damn it, everyone! So which is worse, cross-dressing or pretending to be a broke straight guy?】

【They’re equally bad! Neither of them can blame the other! If you want to blame someone, blame the production team! The two of you better just date properly! Crazy bear meme.jpg】

—

The staff also tried to comfort Bai Siyi. “Xiao Bai, don’t blame yourself too much. Mr. Huo might not even hold it against you. It’s just a show, he should be able to understand.”

But Bai Siyi wasn’t feeling optimistic.

If this were just a regular partnership for a variety show, maybe Huo Xingming could understand. But right now, it was clear that Huo Xingming actually liked him. How was he supposed to explain that?

Bai Siyi tried putting himself in the same situation. If he liked a top and then found out that person was actually a straight man pretending to be gay—someone who only liked women—he would absolutely lose his mind on the spot.

A staff member asked him, “So, have you finished writing your confession letter for tomorrow, Xiao Bai?”

Hearing this, Bai Siyi fell silent and shook his head. “Not yet.”

He had been avoiding Huo Xingming for days, ignoring his calls and messages, trying to force himself to calm down.

A man carrying a million-yuan debt had no right to fall in love.

But he hadn’t expected the confession segment—something he thought was far off—to arrive so soon. In fact, it was happening tomorrow.

After tomorrow, he might never see Huo Xingming again.

Suddenly, he regretted not having lunch with him today.

Because after this, he might never get another chance.

Inside the Pink House, the other three female contestants were sitting on the couch, each holding a pen and a pink piece of stationery, their expressions mixed.

Bai Siyi had been feeling down these past few days and hadn’t chatted much with them. Now that he was about to leave the show, he felt a bit lost—maybe even reluctant to part with everyone.

Celebrity contestant Qiu Bo had been tugging at her hair for half an hour. When she turned and saw Bai Siyi staring blankly at his untouched paper, she lowered her voice and asked, “Xiao Bai, what are you spacing out for? Aren’t you going to write?”

Bai Siyi pursed his lips. “I don’t know what to write.”

Qiu Bo sighed. “Yeah, seriously, how the hell are we supposed to write this stupid thing?”

Bai Siyi looked at Qiu Bo’s messy hair. A celebrity, sitting there on a live stream, yanking at her hair until it was a total disaster.

He lowered his voice and asked, “How are things going with your online crush?”

Qiu Bo: “…”

Her face suspiciously turned red. She looked away, avoiding eye contact. “It’s… just okay.”

Bai Siyi raised an eyebrow. “Just okay? What does that mean?”

Qiu Bo covered her face awkwardly. She had been holding back so much over the past few days, but among the female contestants, the domineering CEO type was too cold, and the university student was way too naive—Qiu Bo just couldn’t relate to either of them.

Now that Bai Siyi finally had some free time, she couldn’t hold it in any longer!

She hesitated for a moment, still covering her face in embarrassment, then leaned in closer and whispered mysteriously, “You won’t believe it… my partner—uh, I mean, the person I was matched with… she’s a woman!”

Bai Siyi: “…”

His mouth fell open slightly, stunned.

Qiu Bo’s voice dropped even lower. “Shocking, right? I didn’t expect it either! Damn, she was actually cross-dressing as a guy. She’s so shameless!”

Bai Siyi had never been sure about the other female contestants’ sexual orientations. He had assumed this show, like the first season, was strictly a traditional male-female dating show.

That was why his presence, dressed as a woman, felt so out of place.

But now, how was there a girl among the male contestants?

His brain struggled to process the information. He couldn’t even figure out how Qiu Bo had discovered it.

So his first question was: “How did you find out?”

Qiu Bo rolled her eyes. “Come on, I’m not an idiot! No matter how convincing she is, she still can’t grow a…”

She paused, cleared her throat, and changed the subject. “Anyway, not a guy is not a guy.”

Bai Siyi: “…”

He glanced down at his own chest, then touched his face. So… why hadn’t Huo Xingming noticed yet?

What an idiot.

Wait.

After a long pause, Bai Siyi finally reacted. “Wait a minute. Aren’t the male contestants supposed to be men? How is there a woman among them?”

At this moment, Xi Mo, who was sitting across from them, suddenly chuckled. She lazily glanced at Bai Siyi and, in front of the live stream camera, said, “Xiao Bai, why are you so slow? This dating show has all kinds of orientations. Qiu Bo is a lesbian—didn’t you know?”

Bai Siyi: “…”

He was stunned all over again.

He really didn’t know!

Seeing Bai Siyi’s expression, Xi Mo immediately understood—he had been completely clueless.

No wonder—at the beginning of the show, Xi Mo had tried to flirt with Bai Siyi. But Bai Siyi didn’t respond, so she had assumed he was rejecting her.

Qiu Bo explained, “I’m gay, you’re gay, so we’re best sisters.”

Bai Siyi: “…”

Suddenly, Qiu Bo hissed, “Damn, we really are alike… Wait a sec, do you think that farmer guy of yours… could be gay too?”

Bai Siyi: “…”

Bai Siyi was completely stunned. ×3

Could Huo Xingming be gay? A spark of hope surged in Bai Siyi’s heart.

But he quickly shook his head. “He’s not.”

His face turned red as he explained, “I think he likes me.”

He liked Bai Siyi as a woman.

As soon as he said that, Bai Siyi started feeling down again.

Qiu Bo patted him on the shoulder. “It’s fine, it’s just a thank-you letter. Just search it up on Baidu. Want me to write it so you can copy?”

Bai Siyi shook his head, looking a little dejected. “No need, I’ll do it myself.”

There were a lot of things he wanted to say to Huo Xingming. His letter might end up completely filling the page.

Although… his handwriting wasn’t exactly neat. He wasn’t sure if Huo Xingming, who had grown up overseas, would even be able to read it.

Tomorrow afternoon was the confession segment. By then, Huo Xingming would probably hate him.

His first time liking someone—he never expected it to end like this.

Bai Siyi picked up his pen. He had only written the opening line when his nose stung, and his eyes welled up with tears.

Just then, a loud voice suddenly called from outside the Pink House—

“Bai Siyi!”

Huo Xingming’s voice was booming, loud enough for everyone inside the Pink House to hear crystal clear.

Everyone stopped writing. Even the live stream viewers started asking:

【Huh? What’s going on? Sounds like someone’s calling Xiao Bai?】

【LMAO, guys, I just came from Piupiustar’s live stream—he’s seriously going for it! Hahaha】

【Piupiustar really has guts. Xiao Bai has been avoiding him for two days, and with the confession segment happening tomorrow, our Star couldn’t hold back anymore! Hahaha】

【Piupiustar showed up to confront Xiao Bai because he’s been ignored for two days. He’s absolutely devastated—he even ate two fewer plates of food at lunch! Poor Star is suffering. Laughing and crying.jpg】

—

Everyone looked up at Bai Siyi.

Bai Siyi: “…”

He had already taken a shower and even had an afternoon nap. Now, with his hair tied up in a bun, no makeup, wearing a loose-fitting men’s T-shirt and shorts, he sat dumbfounded on the sofa—completely frozen like a stone statue.

Outside the door, Huo Xingming was still shouting, “Bai Siyi! I know you’re in there! Stop hiding and come out! Come out! I have something to tell you!”

Huo Xingming wanted to tell him—he could pay off his debt, he could find a good job, and he wouldn’t become a burden to Bai Siyi. In fact, he could even help Bai Siyi.

He wanted to tell him—he just liked Bai Siyi! No one else would do! If Bai Siyi didn’t like something about him, he could change it.

Except for the fact that he was mixed-race—he really couldn’t do anything about that.

But if it came down to it, he could dye his hair black, wear colored contacts, tan his skin, and work hard to become a proper-looking East Asian!

If Bai Siyi still rejected him after all this—then don’t blame him for going full-on cry, fuss, and threaten to jump!

Huo Xingming: “Bai Siyi! Come out already! If you don’t, I’m not leaving tonight!”

Bai Siyi: “…”