Chapter 79: They Are Still Recording A Variety Show, How Dare She?!

This translation was originally posted on

https://love4baihe.blogspot.com

One of the regulars on the show, Teacher Xue Yitong, had urgent matters at home suddenly, so they brought in Wen Qi temporarily to replace her.

The reason for choosing Wen Qi is for two reasons: firstly, because she recently returned to the country and her popularity soared; but more importantly, the production team found out that she and Gu Jinrong were acquainted in M Country. Bringing them together on stage will be a hot topic

"Have you young people ever caught fish on a boat before? I see that Wen Qi is very skilled in casting the net. Let's have someone help with the fishing."

While Huang Yuanxi verbally said “You young people," her gaze subtly shifted towards Gu Jinrong.

She is the oldest on the show and has been there the longest, inadvertently taking on the task of guiding the hosting cue process.

Gu Jinrong glanced at Wen Qi standing by the fishing net, not wanting to embarrass Huang Yuanxi right after arriving, nodded, and walked towards the other side of the boat.

Shen Qingzhi watched as her wife got close to her old acquaintance, she felt subconsciously inclined to follow along and take a look.

"Ah, I'm getting older, after rowing for a while, my arms get sore. Qingzhi, want to give it a try?" Huang Yuanxi sat in the middle of the boat, conveniently blocking Shen Qingzhi's path.

"Come on, Qingzhi, I'll teach you, rowing is so much fun!" Sitting beside Huang Yuanxi, Yu Kexin was currently immersed in the joy of meeting her good friend, enthusiastically inviting her.

Shen Qingzhi:...

Wen Qi held the fishing net and, seeing Gu Jinrong approach, exchanged casual greetings as if they were old friends.

"Janae, you've come at the right time. While you're at it, bring that over here."

Janae is Gu Jinrong’s English name.

Gu Jinrong caught sight of an empty bucket on the way and casually picked it up, then went to the side of the fishing net.

The lake's water was quite murky, making it hard for her to see the fish, only the ripples on the surface.

Wen Qi took the plastic bucket from Gu Jinrong's hand, and with the spirit of a regular, eloquently introduced.

"We've had this net in the water for half an hour now, baited with the special fish food from Teacher Huang. After the boat circles the lake once more, we should be able to pull up quite a few. Do you still remember when we first..."

"Be quiet, the fish might get scared away." Gu Jinrong looked towards the lake and sat still.

Ten minutes later...

Wen Qi handed the fishing net to Gu Jinrong. "It's ready to be fished out, grab this end and lift it."

"Mm."

"The fish is about to jump out, hurry, get the bucket ready to catch them."

“Mm.”

"What's wrong with you?"

"My throat doesn't feel well."

On the other end, Shen Qingzhi sat by the boat's edge, maneuvering the oars. Although her interest was fading, she had to maintain the appearance of focusing on rowing.

She had experience rowing a boat before, so it was not difficult to get started now.

Seeing Shen Qingzhi being a little distracted since they got on the boat, Yu Kexin took the initiative to take on the chatterbox role.

This was a slow-paced variety show, and guest conversations were the main focus.

They casually discussed recent life events, and the conversation shifted to gossip.

"Qingzhi, did you come here today with Queen Gu? Did anything interesting happen on the way?" Yu Kexin knew about the close relationship between Shen Qingzhi and Gu Jinrong, but she asked cleverly, not prying into their privacy yet engaging the audience with interesting topics.

"Huh?" Shen Qingzhi hesitantly looked up, thinking that her trip with Gu Jinrong was already widely known. Had her performance at the airport been in vain?

“Mm, Senior Gu and I were in H City before and came here together. We got up early today and everyone rested on the way."

Each statement in this answer was true, except that among the "everyone," Shen Qingzhi and Gu Jinrong were not included.

Yu Kexin noticed Shen Qingzhi acting unfamiliar with Gu Jinrong at the moment and tactfully refrained from prying further into their relationship. She then changed the subject.

"I arrived an hour earlier than you guys and just got some exciting gossip during a conversation. Interested?" Shen Qingzhi glanced at Yu Kexin, who pretended to be mysterious and winked at her, thinking to herself: Can I say I don't want to hear it?

Obviously she couldn't, so she casually brushed her long hair with one hand and, with a resigned expression, motioned for Yu Kexin to continue.

"Guess what's the relationship between Teacher Wen Qi and Queen Gu? They actually attended the same middle school and were even neighbors in M Country. Isn't that amazing!"

Yu Kexin was genuinely excited, showing no signs of acting.

To her, both of them were highly influential figures in the entertainment industry, so having such a close relationship, which was kept so well hidden from the media was surprising until the main characters themselves disclosed it...

Shen Qingzhi: Heh. Black Heart and I also went to the same university, why didn't you mention that?

"Senior Gu and Teacher Wen Qi are both so outstanding, so their alma mater must also be filled with outstanding people."

Shen Qingzhi had a decent smile on her lips, but her tone couldn't stop being sour.

She turned her head to look at the two people pulling up the fishing net together and met Gu Jinrong's silent gaze.

Gu Jinrong put the fish they had caught into a bucket, carried it, and took steps closer to Shen Qingzhi.

Shen Qingzhi lowered her head and rowed, pretending not to care, but her ears quietly perked up.

"Teacher Huang, do you think these fish are enough?" Then placed the bucket of fish by Huang Yuanxi's feet.

Huang Yuanxi glanced at the bucket filled with live fish, nodding repeatedly.

"That's enough, that's enough. I didn't expect Jinrong and Wen Qi to have good teamwork and are quite good at it. Do you two want to take a break now, or do you want to try rowing?"

"I'll row. Wen Qi and Kexin were busy earlier." Gu Jinrong approached Yu Kexin and effortlessly took over her task.

Feeling the subtle atmosphere between the two nearby, Yu Kexin took the initiative to get up and went to find Wen Qi, who was alone.

Huang Yuanxi enjoyed the view at the bow of the boat, leaving only Gu Jinrong and Shen Qingzhi in the center, each holding an oar, sitting closely together.

Shen Qingzhi was still feeling sour in her heart at this moment, especially when she heard Huang Yuanxi's words about "good teamwork", the sourness reached its peak.

She believed in Gu Jinrong, but this didn't conflict with the sourness bubbling inside her at the moment.

Being in the middle of a recording, she couldn't display her sulky nature as she would at home, waiting for someone to coax her. Instead, she had to focus intensely on the minor task at hand, forcing herself to shift her attention.

"Qingqing." Gu Jinrong had somehow switched to the same side as Shen Qingzhi, wearing her usual gentle smile. "It's time to turn; you're paddling in the wrong direction."

Shen Qingzhi jolted and straightened her posture. She glanced at the direction the boat was moving and swiftly adjusted the position of her oar.

"Oh, thank you for the reminder, Senior Gu," Shen Qingzhi said, maintaining a serious and polite tone while tensing her face.

She wasn't genuinely interested in rowing in the first place, especially now with Gu Jinrong beside her, feeling unsettled.

Even though the interactions between the two had been intimate many times in private, it was the first time their interaction beyond acting was exposed in front of so many people, laid bare under the camera lens.

Shen Qingzhi accelerated the speed of paddling, causing ripples on the lake surface to become somewhat disorderly, layering, spreading, and then disappearing.

"Bang!"

The paddle hit the boat, causing a slight vibration.

Shen Qingzhi's hands holding the paddle were numbed by the impact, leaving her dazed for two seconds.

"What's wrong?"

The three at the bow were shaken and instinctively looked towards the center of the boat.

But they saw Gu Jinrong hanging two pairs of oars on the side of the boat, taking Shen Qingzh's hands and kneading them carefully.

While massaging, she was muttering something under her breath.

"When rowing, you can't lose focus; the lives of everyone in this boat rely on you."

"Does it hurt? The boat was quite fast. I just touched it lightly, and my hands feel numb."

 "Your hands are so red. Let's apply some medicine when we get back."

"..."

Seeing that Shen Qingzhi was not seriously injured, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. But it was Gu Jinrong who, for once, appeared so talkative, leaving everyone with different expressions.

Normally, in the same production crew, if someone has a minor accident, everyone should come forward to show unity and support.

However, at this moment, between Shen Qingzhi and Gu Jinrong, it seemed as if they had created a boundary, isolating everyone else.

The three of them stayed at the bow of the boat in a tacit understanding, and no one took a step forward.

As a regular member, Huang Yuanxi always managed to seize opportunities to steer the conversation.

"It seems like the atmosphere in your ‘Heavenly Beings’ drama crew is good. It's rare for two leads to get along so well. But I always thought Qingzhi was more lively, while Jinrong seemed relatively aloof. Maybe I was mistaken."

Yu Kexin timely added, “Mm, they've spent the most time together on set. Queen Gu takes good care of us small actors, and especially admires Qingzhi."

….

This translation was originally posted on

https://love4baihe.blogspot.com

As the focal point figure, Shen Qingzhi watched as Gu Jinrong held her hands with care, almost feeling as though she was at home until the nearby discussions pulled her back to reality.

They are still recording a variety show, how dare she?!

Shen Qingzhi wanted to retract her hands, but the comfortable sensation in her palms delayed her movements.

She sat motionless on a small stool, her neck stiff and her speech becoming rather rigid.

"I understand, it doesn't hurt. Thank you, Senior Gu."

Gu Jinrong glanced at her, her gaze carrying an inexplicable meaning.

"When you're here to have fun, relax a bit. There's no need to be so formal. My Xiao Feng doesn't like saying thank you so much."

"Feng Yasong," the lifetime love of the character Cang Xingyun in the movie.

With one sentence, their identities were associated with movie characters, naturally closing the distance between them.

Shen Qingzhi sighed with relief: So that's it.

She realized she might have been overly sensitive and cautious. Putting aside the identities of romance and marriage, it was quite normal to have a closer relationship as a key creator during the movie's promotional period.

She released the shackles in her mind and finally started chatting more naturally with Gu Jinrong. "I noticed Senior Gu is quite skilled in both fishing and rowing. Have you lived near water before?"

"Yeah, I portrayed a fisherwoman in 'Blue Ocean.' The crew spent three months shooting by the beach of Siluo."

Sure enough, this is Gu Jinrong's standard answer.

The topic got started, and the two of them began to chat casually. Shen Qingzhi temporarily played the role of a little journalist, digging up the anecdotes of Gu Jinrong's previous filming experiences in M Country.

Interestingly enough, despite living together and being in the same drama group for nearly half a year after their reunion, apart from two conversations about separation and Wen Qi, they rarely talked about nine years ago.

It seemed they both wanted to cherish the present even more, so tacitly refrained from deliberately mentioning the missing nine years.

Surprisingly, Shen Qingzhi could only ask about the bits and pieces of Gu Jinrong's past life so naturally and familiarly thanks to the show.

Unconsciously, they chatted a lot, providing ample material for the production team. Finally, the boat docked once again.

Gu Jinrong and Shen Qingzhi put away the oars, and exchanged a glance, seemingly waiting for the other to stand up first. A series of footsteps broke this subtle tranquility, and Yu Kexin appeared in front of the pair holding a box of medicine.

"Senior Gu, I just heard from Teacher Wen Qi that you have throat discomfort, I have some throat lozenges here, would you like to take one?"

Gu Jinrong with "throat discomfort,” took a lozenge from the paper box under Shen Qingzhi's puzzled gaze, “Thank You.”