Translator: Du Yiran

Proofreader: Zhu Yuan

Xiao Zhang, an assistant assigned to Bo Yu by the company, comes over and complaisantly opens the door for Bo Yu and says, “Hello, Bo Ge.”

Xiao Li who is the driver, sees Bo Yu get on the car, then steps on the accelerator and steadily drives out.

Bo Yu is very satisfied with the two male assistants that are assigned to him by the company. He is a man and likes the man. If all people around him are handsome men, he will not only improve his enthusiasm for work, but also be in a good mood.

Especially Xiao Zhang and Xiao Li are not only quick with their hands, but also very quiet. They never open their mouths to disturb Bo Yu’s rest time until necessary.

“What’s the schedule for tomorrow?” Bo Yu leans on the chair and closes his eyes for refreshment.

Xiao Zhang opens the schedule and answers quickly, “Record the latest show of Breakup Challenge that takes three hours. We need to rehearse in the afternoon and get familiar with the script with the host.”

Breakup Challenge is the most popular variety show in China. There are three hosts. Each program invites several popular idols and stars to play games, and publicizes the works that stars join in by the way.

Bo Yu opens his bloodshot eyes. Today he auditions for the male protagonist of a famous director’s work, that is an ancient costume TV series adapted from a historical play. The male protagonist is the brilliant and ambitious prince of a conquered nation.

The roles of the TV series span a wide range of ages, from sixteen to sixty-six. Not only will their appearances change, but also the actors and actress’ understanding of the characters will change with ages during filming, which requires very high acting skills to play the role.

Bo Yu is a little worried about his performance today.

Compared with those superstars he meets in the audition today, his acting is comparable to theirs’ but seems to be somewhat callow.

Bo Yu feels vaguely that he is less likely to have the opportunity to play the role. However, he likes the role very much. If he can’t play that role, he will be unhappy more or less.

Xiao Zhang realizes that Bo Yu is depressed. He keeps silent and sits aside, trying to weaken his own presence.

Little Watermelon stays at Bo Yu’s home, so Bo Yu always asks them to drop him off in front of the gate of the housing estate, and never invites them to visit his home.

Xiao Zhang gazes at Bo Yu’s receding figure in the darkness and murmurs in his heart.

Xiao Zhang doesn’t know why Bo Yu just asks them to drop him off in front of the gate every time. He has worked for several days, but he still doesn’t know where Bo Yu’s specific house is.

Xiao Li looks at Xiao Zhang who shows the whites of his eyes, sneering, and steps on the accelerator to leave.

They work for Bo Yu. So, it’s better for them to stay out of employer’s private affairs.

Bo Yu opens the door with the key, stands at the entrance and changes his shoes after looking around the living room.

Dandan wags its tails and rings around Bo Yu with its favorite plastic bones in its mouth.

Bo Yu goes out of Little Watermelon’s room on tiptoe, pushes the door open, looking at Little Watermelon who is asleep from afar, goes in to tuck him up, and then goes out with Dandan.

Bo Yu lies back on the sofa, feeling all fagged out with the tired facial expression.

When he wasn’t working before, He kept clamoring to work. However, when he really restarts to work, he isn’t used to the life that he comes out early and returns late and even seldom sees his son.

However, Bo Yu also knows clearly that the life right now is just like appetizer. It is estimated that he won’t have seen his foolish son for ten days and a half month when he is going to go on a business trip to act roles on location.

It is the first time for Bo Yu to begin to think about whether he should send Little Watermelon to a boarding school. After all, his work doesn’t allow him to frequently return home.

*

At 3 p.m., Bo Yu arrives at the backstage of Breakup Challenge. There are Qi Yan and Ran Fei who play the role of The Man’s Survival besides him.

The hosts are two men and a woman including Lin Yi who is responsible for dominating the key of the program, Chu Xiaoxiao who raises the atmosphere at the beginning, and Jiao Li who keeps warmup atmosphere.

Chu Xiaoxiao is still putting on her makeup, so it is Lin Yi who rehearses the rundown with Bo Yu, and Jiao Li is in charge of Ran Fei.

Qi Yan who arrives late, reads the rundown with Chu Xiao who happens to finish makeup.

At 6 p.m., Breakup Challenge begins recording.

As one of the top variety shows in China, the recording scene of Breakup Challenge is almost full of audiences every time.

The three hosts enter the stage. After the simple prologue, Qi Yan firstly goes on the stage as the male protagonist, and the audiences burst into thunderous applause.

As the trainee, although Ran Fei has low popularity, he has refined facial features like a beautiful young boy in the cartoon. So, there is a lot of applause when he enters the stage.

Bo Yu finally comes on the stage.

The stage lights suddenly go out. The next second, a soft light appears in the center. Bo Yu stands under the light, holding the microphone, and says coolly, “Hello, everyone, I’m Bo Yu.”

Then the lights come on all around.

The audiences have been silent for three seconds, and then scream together, “Ah! Ah! Ah! The young general!”

Qi Yan gently lowers his head and hides the indifference in his eyes, and his bangs are tilted with his movements.

Ran Fei’s facial expression is very complicated.

Bo Yu is also stunned. He is busy with his work these days, so he has neither logged on in Weibo nor paid attention to the fans on the internet. Naturally, he doesn’t know that his popularity is very high at that moment.

“Wow, Bo Yu’s popularity is so high. Your fans are about to turn over the roof of our recording hall.” Lin Yi comes over, grabs Bo Yu’s shoulders and gently beats Bo Yu’s shoulder like good brothers.

“I’m also binge-watching The Young General. Mrs. Hierarch, can you give us spoilers? Recently, there are less sweet interactions between Mr. and Mrs. Hierarch. We audiences seriously demand a happy ending for them.” Lin Yi quips, “Do you agree with me?”

Fans scream, “Yep!”

As the hit web series The Young Genera broadcasts, the male CP Mr. and Mrs. Hierarch become very famous. So, Lin Yi takes it as a topic right now.

Queer-baiting is helpful to increase the fans’ enthusiasm.

“Ha-ha, I dare not reveal the following plot right now; otherwise Director Hou may send me the blade.” Bo Yu is willing to accept Lin Yi’s friendly assistance.

Chu Xiaoxiao comes over, takes the opportunity to touch Bo Yu’s chest and says, “I have touched the hierarch’s pectoralis. You guys, guess whether Mr. Hierarch will award me the Scarlet Red at midnight?”

“The Scarlet Red is awarded by Niang Niang of the Imperial Harem. Commonly, we use the poison named crane-top red in our world!” Bo Yu holds up his end of the conversation and answers tactfully.

The faces of Qi Yan and Ran Fei who suffer from neglect at that time, become gloomy all of a sudden. Fortunately, the camera doesn’t record their gloomy facial expressions in a second, sparing more or less their feelings.

When Lin Yi feels the awkward moment, he leads the topic to Qi Yan without any trace while Bo Yu is standing aside.

“I heard that Qi Yan plays the role of young antique tutor who is very versed in both ancient and modern affairs. The tutor is so cute. After watching the prevue, my appetite is completely whetted. I’m looking forward to it.”

Qi Yan laughs and intends to talk about that topic, but Ran Fei who sits next to him interrupts. Immediately, there is something blocking his chest, that is unable to go up and down.

“The web series has been filmed for more than two months. I’m overenjoyed from the beginning to the end as I appreciate Qi Ge and Bo Ge’s acting parts.” Ran Fei says, smiling without noticing the anger on Qi Yan’s face at all.

Lin Yi laughs, remaining calm.

Bo Yu looks down and enjoys their fight.

Lin Yi hurriedly steps in for the rescue. He quips and laughs, “Okay, let’s go to the first game part——Breakup Guess.”

Breakup Challenge is a popular variety show in China. In addition to inviting stars to participate in a simple interview in every program, they will also play games with the hosts.

The key point of Breakup Guess is to divide the hosts and guests into two teams and firstly answer the questions on the screen.

There are five questions in total. If the first one gives the wrong answer, the other team will get a point and his team will be taken off a point.

Here is the group arrangement. Lin Yi leads the team including Chu Xiaoxiao and Ran Fei, and Qi Yan leads Bo Yu and Jiao Li.

Ran Fei says, laughing, “Well, please set some easy questions. Because of my lack of intelligence, I can’t answer the difficult ones.”

Chu Xiaoxiao laughs and hits him. “Are you silly? You debase yourself in front of your opponent?”

The sparse laughter sounds, and the atmosphere becomes cold.

Jiao Li is good at telling lame jokes. When the atmosphere is awkward, he will come out to break the ice.

Jiao Li has his arm around Bo Yu’s shoulders and unabashedly approaches Bo Yu, “The young general, can I be the alluring Niang Niang with my defined face when I enter the Imperial Harem?” After saying that, he casts sheep’s eyes at Bo Yu.

“You may be a alluring monk. Why must you enter the Imperial Harem after asexualizaiton?” Bo Yu answers, and ran from Jiao Li all over the hall.

The fans under the stage cover their faces and scream.

Qi Yan, who sits beside him looks very awkward.

It is obvious that he is the most important star. But these people’s topics revolve around Bo Yu from the beginning, and they completely ignore him!

And Ran Fei, who is well- behaved offstage tries his best to steal the show from him onstage. Such black-hearted man rushes to reply the questions.

After jokes, the game begins.

“The first question is, what is the essential difference between Breakup Challenge three years ago and Breakup Challenge right now?”

Bo Yu answers in a second, “Time.”

“Wrong!”

Ran Fei answers immediately, “One is three years ago and the other is three years later.”

“Wrong!”

Jiao Li laughs.

Chu Xiaoxiao says, “The guests are different.”

“Wrong!”

Bo Yu says hesitantly, “The host is three years older than before?”

Chu Xiaoxiao looks at him with angry eyes, but the indicator light turns green. “Congratulations! You’re right!”

The audiences laugh, and nobody has thought that the answer to that question is so peculiar.

“... Last question, when will the Man’s Survival officially broadcast?

Qi Yan answers, “The day after tomorrow, at eight o’clock in the evening.”

“Congratulations! You’re right!”

After the Rush-to-Answer part, Chu Xiaoxiao shouts that she won’t let the director group off, stretching her neck. The essential difference between Breakup Challenge three years ago and three years later is that the host is older.

As the leader of the winner, Qi Yan can start the second game before ten seconds. And the loser can do nothing but wait for ten seconds.

The second game—pthe three-people relay obstacle race starts.

With the advantage of Bo Yu’s strong waist and long legs, he takes a large step and gets the balloons five meters away in an instant. Then he ties the three balloons together, carefully places them in the armpits, avoids the small obstacles lying on the ground, runs to Qi Yan and hands the balloons to him.

Qi Yan takes the balloons from Bo Yu, turns around and jumps onto the bouncing bed. According to the rule, he must keep the balloons in the armpits and ensures that the balloons can’t be removed or exploded when he bounces.

After a while, Qi Yan is exhausted and panting.