Lin Can had an expression as if he had been struck by lightning. Wait, when did this become a routine? How come he didn’t know about it? Just because they had been kissing frequently over the past three days, did that mean they had established some sort of unspoken agreement? Qi Yuan, who said this, didn’t feel there was anything wrong with it at all. He propped his chin up and stared at Lin Can, showing no signs of guilt.

Lin Can was truly at a loss and could only walk back, pecking him gently on the face. “That’s too perfunctory.” Someone still wasn’t satisfied. Lin Can turned his head and wanted to leave. How could Qi Yuan let him off so easily? He continued to ask, “Are you shy? You were holding me so tightly at home, it was as if you wanted to…”

“!” Lin Can immediately did a 180-degree turn and hurriedly covered Qi Yuan’s mouth before that word could escape. “You… you’re talking nonsense again!” Stuttering, Lin Can’s face turned as red as a deep-fried shrimp in an instant. When did he ever hold Qi Yuan so tightly!?

“I’m not talking nonsense. Last time in the changing room, you held my waist so tightly, it was as if you wanted to press me into your bones…”

“Don’t say, don’t say it…” Lin Can’s head was about to burst from the heat, desperately wishing Qi Yuan would just shut up.

“Then give me a kiss, a proper one.” A glint of mischief flashed in Qi Yuan’s eyes. Lin Can awkwardly glanced at the cameraman, who seemed eager to stick the camera right in their faces.

“Just treat them like air and hurry up.” Qi Yuan’s patience was wearing thin, urging him to act. Lin Can took a deep breath, closed his eyes—“Yuan Ge?” A male voice suddenly came from outside, mixed with a hint of fear and awkwardness.

Qi Yuan’s face darkened, and when he looked again, the person who had been less than an inch from his mouth just a second ago had now retreated a good eight hundred miles away.

【Ahhh! Ran Yang! I’ve never blacked you out! Why are you doing this!?】

【Finally experiencing the pain of reaching a climax but having no follow-up.】

【Anyone want to team up to assassinate Ran Yang?】

【Count me in, I’m so…】

【What kind of cliché plot is this? I can’t take it anymore! It’s too cliché!】

As the bullet comments wailed, Ran Yang had already walked in. “Yuan Ge, Lin Can,” he had clearly prepared himself mentally, and calling their names sounded much more natural than before, “Director Xu is calling us out, saying there’s a sudden activity.”

Qi Yuan clicked his tongue heavily, showing no attempt to hide his displeasure at being interrupted. Ran Yang’s eyes flashed with a hint of helplessness, and he instinctively looked at Lin Can. Lin Can could only helplessly take over the conversation, “What sudden activity? Did Director Xu say anything?”

Ran Yang shook his head, speaking softly, “I don’t know, but the village chief came to find Director Xu.”

“Village chief?”

“Yeah, the village chief is still in Director Xu’s room. Director Xu asked us to hurry over; it seems urgent.” Ran Yang said, sneaking a glance at Qi Yuan’s reaction. Qi Yuan was his boss, and Lin Can’s benefactor. If Qi Yuan didn’t nod, they wouldn’t be able to take any further action.

Lin Can, however, cleared his throat and told him, “You go ahead first; we’ll be there shortly.” Seeing Qi Yuan’s seemingly tacit approval, Ran Yang felt as if he had been granted a reprieve and quickly turned to leave.

Qi Yuan was extremely displeased, questioning Lin Can if he was afraid he would make things difficult for Ran Yang, which was why he was so eager to send him away. Knowing that he disliked Ran Yang, Lin Can naturally didn’t dare to explain anything for him and could only change the subject, asking how to handle the dessert since they were in a hurry to go to Director Xu.

Qi Yuan stared at him for a few seconds, seemingly thinking of something, and surprisingly agreed to cooperate, “What did you make? Is it good?”

“Just some mango balls in sweet soup, but I didn’t put in any sago or sago syrup.”

“Perfect, I don’t like sago either.” Qi Yuan returned to his previous lazy demeanor, casually playing with the edge of the table. Seeing that he had no intention of pursuing the matter further, Lin Can let out a sigh of relief and went to the kitchen to bring the food over.

“Eat up; we’ll gather over there after a couple of bites.”

“Mm…”

“Faster…” Lin Can wanted to urge him again, but when he met Qi Yuan’s meaningful gaze, he immediately got his point. He really had no choice but to lean down and peck him on the lips.

“Stop dawdling.” He didn’t want to become the center of attention again. Qi Yuan’s lips instantly curled up into a smile.

【This little couple is just too sweet!】

【I’m going to die laughing; Qi Yuan is thinking of ways to get a kiss!!!】

【Other groups are still playing coy, and these two don’t even know how many times they’ve kissed.】

【I won’t say who’s enjoying this the most.】

【Breaking news: The first fanfiction about these two has just been released.】

【So, shipping CP really is the first productivity, huh? This show just started, and everyone’s been stimulated into tentacle monsters, haha.】

Lin Can didn’t make much, and after Qi Yuan had a couple of bites, it was gone. He put down the spoon and started grumbling that Lin Can was mistreating him by only giving him such a little bit. Lin Can rolled his eyes as he cleaned up the dishes, “You get tired of it after a few bites, and then you’ll want me to eat what’s left.”

“Don’t you like it?”

Lin Can shot Qi Yuan a glare, “Let’s hurry up and go; stop dawdling.”

When the two arrived at the director’s group’s residence, they found that besides the guests participating in the show, there were also several unfamiliar villagers standing around. Each of them had a furious expression, clearly not coming with good intentions.

Lin Can looked at Xu Lan with confusion. Xu Lan’s expression was quite complex, both angry and amused. He moved his mouth a few times before finally saying, “The village chief said someone from our program group stole chickens from the village.”

Lin Can was taken aback; his first reaction was that he must have misheard. Standing in front of him, Bai Qing raised her voice, “Stole chickens? Who stole chickens?!” They were all big stars with pay in the hundreds of millions; who would do something so lowly?

“I’ll say it first,” Wan Xiwen raised his hand to speak, his tone full of laughter, “I’ve been sleeping in my room since I got back at noon, never went out.”

Tong Jinhang, who was next to him, also said, “Yeah, we were all planning to take a nap.”

Su Yueren recalled, “I was tidying up the room with Bai Qing.” He had a slight obsession with cleanliness, so he gave up his nap time to clean, and he had been interacting with the bullet comments, with the online viewer count never dropping.

Song Xiao didn’t say anything, but his slightly messy hair and sleepy eyes clearly told a fact. He was the one who had actually been sleeping. As for Qi Yuan and Lin Can, they had shown off their affection in front of the camera several times, and their fans were practically being tortured; how could they possibly steal chickens?

After ruling out the suspects, the only one among the guests who couldn’t provide sufficient evidence was Ran Yang. “I-I didn’t steal any chickens…” Ran Yang was so anxious that sweat was about to bead on his forehead. He had been in a bad mood at the time and had used the excuse of going to the bathroom to stay off-camera for a long time, and now he had become the biggest suspect.

Someone couldn’t hold back and chuckled. It was just too ridiculous; which star would be wrongfully accused of being a chicken thief while recording? But the village chief had a stern face, showing no signs of being affected by the atmosphere, “You all say you didn’t steal, but where did our chickens go? Five of them, they were still out in the field catching bugs this morning, and now they’re gone.”

Bai Qing huffed, “We’re here to record a show, not to watch your chickens. If you can’t keep an eye on them, don’t blame us!”

“How are you talking?” A young man standing next to the village chief shouted, “If it weren’t for you, our village wouldn’t be so chaotic! Chickens and ducks are all scared and flying everywhere because of your cars, and now we can’t find them!”

“Cough, cough, cough,” the village secretary adjusted his glasses, “Alright, alright, let’s all say a little less. Xiao Wu, you too. They are guests from our village; why are you shouting so loudly?”

Once the villagers quieted down, he turned to Xu Lan, “Director, it’s not that we don’t welcome you, nor are we deliberately causing trouble, but these chickens really are missing. Two kids said they saw an unfamiliar person catch them, and our village is so small that the only unfamiliar people are you…”

“Could it be the staff?” Song Xiao suddenly said. Xu Lan’s smile instantly faded. The deputy director, who was temporarily taking over Xu Lan’s daily filming control, couldn’t help but say, “Teacher Song, we’ve all been with Director Xu for five or six years. We’ve worked together in places like seven-star hotels; we’ve never done anything shady.”

“Yeah, the teachers could take a break at noon, but we still had to keep working; we didn’t have time to steal chickens.”

“We’ve all been together; we can vouch for each other, and Director Xu knows.” Working hard but being suspected of being thieves, even if it was the young master of the Song family saying this, the group of workers still felt displeased.

“The chickens might not necessarily have been stolen,” Xu Lan thought for a moment, “They might have just been scared away by us. We’re all big stars, and we’re live-streaming; as long as we’re not crazy, we wouldn’t do something like stealing chickens.”

“But…”

“Village chief, don’t be anxious,” before the impatient village chief could speak again, Xu Lan hurriedly continued, “We definitely have a responsibility for the missing chickens; don’t worry, we will help find them.”

“Find? How do we find them?” The village chief’s face showed worry, “This area is all mountains, and the village is mostly old people…”

“We’re all young guys; we’ll go look for them.” The village chief was still hesitating when the village secretary nodded first, “Alright, alright, it’s best if you’re willing to help; we’re really sorry for the trouble.”

“It’s fine; just consider it adding material for our show.” Xu Lan had been a director for several years, and his mind was quick. In just a few sentences, he eased the situation, cleared them of the suspicion of being thieves, and reversed the villagers’ bad impression of them. Not to mention the village secretary, even the young man who had initially clashed with Bai Qing, Xiao Wu, had softened his expression.

“Alright, I’ll go call a few more villagers; we’ll take you with us and search separately.” He moved quickly and soon gathered everyone. “Shall we go?” He called to the room. Xu Lan’s eyes turned, “Hey, wait, wait, let’s split into teams first…”

“What teams?” Xiao Wu interrupted him with a frown, “If you keep dawdling, it’ll be dark; just go in pairs up the mountain.”

“Pairs are a must, but we’re in a dating variety show…”

“What dating variety show? I don’t understand; hurry up and catch the chickens.” Xiao Wu didn’t bother to waste words with Xu Lan, his eyes scanning the eight guests standing in the room.

“You,” he pointed at Ran Yang, “You come with me.” Everyone else had cleared their suspicions, but since Ran Yang claimed he had been outside alone, he was the most suspicious of stealing chickens. Ran Yang knew this too and silently stepped forward, looking very cooperative.

“Don’t worry; I’ll definitely help you find them today.” As soon as he said this, Xiao Wu laughed first, “With your skinny arms and legs, can you climb a mountain?” Ran Yang touched his nose, feeling a bit embarrassed.

“If we really have to catch chickens, I can’t take care of you,” the man looked back at the people in the room, then pointed in a certain direction, “Find a partner; you two can coordinate when going up the mountain.”

Everyone followed the direction the man pointed and collectively gasped. Of all the people, it just had to be Lin Can. Pairing Lin Can with Ran Yang? Wasn’t that just asking for trouble with Qi Yuan?