DISCLAIMER: We don’t own any of the stories published unless otherwise stated. We don’t know any Chinese language and this is our first time MTL-ing a novel, expect inaccuracies in the translations.

❌ NO SPOILERS. WE ARE MTL-ING THIS AT THE SAME TIME WE’RE READING IT ❌

Translated by: jiejie

Editor: Qiaone

Chapter 15 – He Held an Iron Chain in his Hand

An Xumo whispered, “My mother…?”

Zhang Zhiwei only thought that the other party was curious about the relationship between him and his mother but he didn’t know that to An Xumo, his mother was a complete mystery.

Zhang Zhiwei nodded, then turned to Yan Xiangyan and said, “Xiangyan ah, do you still remember what I mentioned to you, that senior sister from college?”

Yan Xiangyan thought for a while. “Oh, was it your assistant teacher when you were in Hua Ying?”

“Yes, it’s her.” Zhang Zhiwei’s voice was laced with some emotion, “It’s been almost twenty years now, Xiao Mo is already this old.”

When he said this, the onlookers could hear that this past friendship was really not shallow. Apart from Zhou Jinchen, the others were even more convinced that it was Zhang Zhiwei’s idea to bring An Xumo to the show.

Zhang Zhiwei looked back at An Xumo, “Xiao Mo and Senior Sister look so much alike… You, how’s your mom doing?”

An Xumo has never seen his mother for as long as he can remember. In contrast, the Zhou family regarded her as a monster, like a scourge and an enemy of class1some words were censored—naturally, no one would deliberately mention her.

It’s just that in front of outsiders, An Xumo didn’t want to bring up his own life. He subconsciously glanced at Zhou Jinchen, the other party was looking at Zhang Zhiwei with dark and gloomy eyes, and the look on his face was unknown.

An Xumo could only say, “Sorry, Senior… I’ve been participating in closed training recently, and it’s been a long time since I left the company.”

“Oh, yes.” Zhang Zhiwei shook his head lightly, “When we were also young, we didn’t go home all day and we always wanted to wander outside.”

Just then, the director of the show walked in and the topic diverted from there. The director gave the six people their own script; the filming will start the next day. Since this is a variety show, the script only gave the basic flow, while the specific content depends on how the several artists play the scene.

《Sunny Weekend》 is a star reality show shot in real life, which is different from the running and challenging games that have been popular in the past few years. It is a variety show focusing on “slow life”. The show follows Yan Xiangyan, a celebrity host for more than two decades, and his long-time friend Zhang Zhiwei, the Film Emperor in Hui Lin, as they lived in an isolated but simple and beautiful small town and experience a secluded paradise life.

When the program was initially publicized, it was largely focused on Yan Xiangyan and Zhang Zhiwei’s fame because the specific content of the show seems a little too bland. The rustic atmosphere of cooking over a fire and chopping wood to feed the fish hardly seemed to appeal to viewers. Many industry insiders aren’t very optimistic about the future of this variety show–《Sunny Weekend》 has neither competition nor breaking point and there’s not even hype, it’s likely to even pounce on the street quietly.

However, what many people didn’t expect was that the first season of 《Sunny Weekend》 would start off with a good rating. What the producers and directors didn’t expect was that the rating of the show didn’t drop, instead, it kept steady and even increased slightly with each week’s episode. Several of the young artists who appeared in the variety show also became popular, gaining a large number of fans. Even Yan Xianyang and Zhang Zhiwei’s Weibo followers rise steadily by fifty to a hundred thousand after each show.

The success of this variety show has left many people stumped, but it’s also because of the success of 《Sunny Weekend》 that the concept of “slow variety shows” was gaining momentum in China, and many foods and life variety shows are being joined by big stars are emerging. Taking advantage of this momentum, 《Sunny Weekend》 has prepared the script and filming for the second season efficiently and rigorously, adding more elements to the first season.

Unlike the first season, which took place on a farm, the second season of 《Sunny Weekend》 was moved to a scenic seaside location. The houses of the two big stars were also changed from wooden huts on plains to stone huts by the sea. After the first season, the roles and the distinction between the several artists on the show were also more pronounced.

Zhou Jinchen participated in the filming of the second season. The purpose of the show is to attract more viewers using Zhou Jinchen’s fame. The first phase has a continuation of the residual heat from the previous level, and the second phase carries a higher opening, which is more likely to give the show a subsequent bargain.

The recording time of each issue of 《Sunny Weekend》 is recorded over a two-day weekend, with Yan Xiangyan and Zhang Zhiwei as heads of the household. They are responsible for the two most important tasks, cooking and repairing the stone hut, in the base camp centered around the stone hut. Han Ming and Yi Tianming were responsible for most of the tasks that need going out, such as going to the beach to get food and collecting firewood from the high ground. The guests will bring foreign ingredients to help the hosts complete the various tasks. After the tasks were successfully completed, the guests can eat with the ingredients they brought with them.

In addition to basic cooking and house repairs, various tasks will be dropped during the recording period, which will be rewarded or punished depending on their completion, adding more visibility to the program.

The script for 《Sunny Weekend》 only has a general flow, but both Yang Xiangyan and Zhang Zhiwei are very good at controlling the show, plus they are also the investors themselves so the director didn’t interfere too much. The main purpose of this meeting was to get the six people to meet up and wait until tomorrow morning before driving to the beach.

The four residents who had participated in the first season were already familiar with the show’s flow, and the two people who mainly needed to be taken care of were Zhou Jinchen and An Xumo. It was already late after the meeting, the six of them went to the hotel arranged by the program team for dinner. There were nearly twenty people who sat at a large table including the director, producer, and filming director; the meal lasted for more than an hour before it ended.

When arranging seats for the dinner, Zhang Zhiwei let An Xumo sit next to him, and on his other side was Yan Xiangyan, who didn’t sit with his filming director since he was already familiar with him. An Xumo originally wanted to sit with Zhou Jinchen but Zhang Zhiwei quickly pulled An Xumo’s filming director, Xiao Yang, over, saying that An Xumo should get familiar with his own filming director2cameramanbeforehand.

An Xumo went to see Zhou Jinchen again, on his right side was his follow-up director and on the left side was already occupied by Han Ming. He was a step late, so he had to sit down and follow Zhang Zhiwei’s arrangement.

After all this trouble, everyone already knew about Zhang Zhiwei and An Xumo’s relationship. Because investors never let it slip when they add people, except for the producer’s, no one else knew An Xumo’s origins. Everyone acquiesced with the fact that An Xumo was someone who came in through Zhang Zhiwei.

An Xumo knew that Zhou Jinchen didn’t want to expose their relationship. This matter was right and it would also be less troublesome for his brother. He also didn’t take the initiative to refute the good intentions of the Film Emperor.

After dinner, the group of people returned to their hotel to rest. On his way back, Zhang Zhiwei also talked with An Xumo alone.

“Xiao Mo ah, your mom was kind to me at that time. Later, when she got pregnant and gave birth, there was suddenly no news. The boys in our class were still depressed.” Zhang Zhiwei lit a cigarette, and the fire flickered in the night, “I remembered her as soon as I saw you. You two looked so much alike, it’s simply carved out of the same mold.”

An Xumo didn’t know how to answer, the word ‘mother’ was too unfamiliar to him. The only warm name he had grown up calling since he was a child was ‘brother’.

Zhang Zhiwei’s expression became serious, he took the Film Emperor ten years ago, and he has been developing smoothly in the circle. The momentum is obviously different from ordinary people. “Let’s not talk about anything else, but there is one thing your Uncle Zhang has to remind, when you came to Sunny Weekend, did Liu Dajiang do it for you?

An Xumo was stupefied, “Liu Dajiang… Who is he?”

Zhang Zhiwei said, “It’s the CEO of the Jianghe Group, that bald old man with yellow teeth, who looks like he’s on foot in the grave in his forties, and he’s harassed basically every male artist under twenty-five…You’re not involved with him, are you?”

It was only after he described him like that that An Xumo remembered the “bald old man” Yi Tianming had said before. “En, I don’t know him and he didn’t let me in.”

“Yes…” An Xumo vaguely said, “It’s the resource that Jin Dian gave me.”

Zhang Zhiwei, who knew countless people, naturally saw that An Xumo’s expression didn’t seem fake. He was able to put his mind at ease and didn’t pay much attention to An Xumo’s last words. “Xiao Mo, the water in this circle is deep. Take advantage of this variety show to perform well. For the sake of your mother, Uncle Zhang will certainly help you. But you must clearly remember that this is the only thing that cannot be mixed in, especially in a situation like yours with an excellent physical appearance. Remember Uncle Zhang’s words, don’t think about taking shortcuts. People like Liu Daijang who give you more sweetness is not worth ten-thousandths of what you lose.”

Zhang Zhiwei was sincerely advising, he almost said to An Xumo “don’t be kept by others.” An Xumo felt a little abrupt about the other party’s kindness, but Zhang Zhiwei’s identity was here and he didn’t have the idea of climbing nor the idea of hugging a golden thigh. Since the other party said so, he should face it head-on.

However, after returning to the main group and distantly seeing the sight of Zhou Jinchen turning away, the bit of impropriety in An Xumo’s heart puffed out.

The one giving him resources was indeed not a company, but an individual. However, the other party is not the legendary bald old man with a beer belly… But rather the Zhou Jinchen, who participated in the show with him. Even though this was a misunderstanding, An Xumo did feel that there was no way these two people could be seen as the same image.

Following Zhou Jinchen’s line of sight, Han Ming who was purposely walking with him also saw the two people, Zhang Zhiwei and An Xumo. He smiled and said, “Brother Zhiwei is really taking good care of Xumo.”

After Han Ming finished his words, he suddenly felt cold and the feeling of being in front of Zhou Jinchen’s door in the afternoon reappeared. He subconsciously looked towards Zhou Jinchen, but the other party had already looked away.

Zhou Jinchen looked at the slender figure not far away and did not respond to Han Ming’s words. His gaze was heavily locked on the other party, like a long iron chain and a high-intensity see-through lamp.

The author has something to say:

To say that the gong and the shou are people who don’t know how to fall in love,3Fixed, thank you so much to kaelyncuin!! ( ‘ ∀ ‘)ノ～ ♡ otherwise, they would have been in a truck by now with their own conditions… So, I hope everyone doesn’t have to worry about why they’re not together yet. This is only chapter 15 and there is no hurry. QVQ

Everything about the entertainment industry in this article is purely made up by the author. Please don’t substitute it into reality. This is a fictional background of same-sex marriage, which is very different from reality~

My Weibo name: 捡星星的百户千灯 [a hundred lights for picking up the stars]

Jie Jie: I apologize if there are some parts that were hard to understand. We’re doing our best to make each chapter understandable and [at least] bearable to read. I’m leaving the raw, so if anyone wants to help out feel free to do so and we’ll edit it~ (o^ ^o)

Kindly point out any typos and we’ll fix them as soon as we see them ~ thank you~ (≧◡≦) ♡

Schedule: 3-4 days per chap. May vary depending on our school works. We’re sorry~ T^T