[If you like this story please support the Author]
.............
Shen Xingsui was a little confused about that Instructor Li question.
Fu Jinxiao looked at the dazed youth, his round eyes, his tilted face, his fair face was slightly red under the sun. His posture was completely defenseless, like a white, tender rabbit that he can clean up directly. Simple and cute.
Well, if Shen Xingsui didn't understand what he meant, then he would just let it be.
The unhappiness in Fu Jinxiao's heart dissipated when he saw the youth's naïve appearance. He curled his lips, picked up the paper and said, "I'll be at the farmer's market later, no matter what I say, don't make a sound."
Shen Xingsui nodded.
Fu Jinxiao was a little surprised, "Are you not curious with my reason?"
Shen Xingsui turned his head to look at him directly. With a light smile in his warm eyes, bright and brilliant, he said softly, "I didn't ask, because I believe in you."
Fu Jinxiao's pupils widened.
He has achieved many things in his life – becoming the pillar of a company, the heir of his famous family, and the idol of his fans. He has felt the highs of life, and yet, the excitement he felt inside his heart never reached this level of intensity. It beat erratically, filling his chest cavity with loud heart thumps.
Fu Jinxiao's grin widened, showing a row of teeth. He half-jokingly said, "What if I take you and sell you off?
Shen Xingsui seemed to be caught off-guard, "I'm not worth much, am I?"
Fu Jinxiao couldn't hold back a muffled laugh.
The audience in the live broadcast room were also chuckling along:
[What kind of fairy boy is this?]
[My Suisui, so cute.]
[lmao1the original is xswl or 笑死我了 "xiào sǐ wǒ le"; I'm laughing to death., it seems to move Actor Fu too!]
[Ah, so this is how Fu-ge looks when he's laughing whole-heartedly.]
"Just kidding," Seeing his flustered appearance, Fu Jinxiao softened his heart a little. Finally, the car they've been waiting for just arrived at the market. As he walked towards the car, he said "I'm reluctant to sell you off."
As he climbed into the car, Shen Xingsui almost slipped because he was startled.
The autumn sun was warm and comforting. As it traveled through Shen Xingsui's body, it also warmed up his heart.
Fu Jinxiao, who had trailed behind him, said, "Why are you so absent-minded? Be careful."
Shen Xingsui came back to his senses and nodded in response. He was still smiling brightly, despite being tired thanks to the task, despite there were many unknown difficulties ahead.
Many times in the past, facing the established tragic fate, he felt like falling into darkness. He was very unreconciled, and did not want to give up. But fate had other things to say and he had to give up struggling directly.
But he knew that it's different now. A flimsy candle lit up inside his heart, swaying in the wind, yet still burning brightly.
Waiting ahead for him was Fu Jinxiao.
His light.
The farmer's market was full of fish and dragons2a mix of powerful people and commoners, and you can't easily tell which is which., and there were all kinds of businesses. To find a good stall to sell fruits, the location was one of the cornerstones. In the end, Fu Jinxiao chose a place with convenient transportation and dense traffic. There was one empty booth left, but it was owned by the antique shop next door and was very expensive to rent.
Fu Jinxiao and Shen Xingsui looked at each other and walked into the store.
After briefly expressing his interest, the boss didn't recognize Fu Jinxiao because he was wearing sunglasses, so he directly refused: "No, what do you mean 200 yuan for a day? Absolutely not."
"Then how much do you propose?"
"At least 1,000." The boss made the offer, "Otherwise, I'll be reaping a loss. Take it or leave it."
Fu Jinxiao nodded slightly, and said slowly to himself, "I see, this is going to be difficult..."
Shen Xingsui felt very uncomfortable beside him. He was doubtful if they still have 1,000 yuan after buying the fruits. Fu-ge himself was a ruthless person to lower the prince directly to 200 yuan, as they both know after asking around that the booth renting price was around 700 yuan. The boss was also black-hearted to hike the price up to 1,000 yuan.
The boss was real stubborn though.
Coincidentally, at this time, some customers came to the store. They were two female tourists. They came to look at the antiques in the store, and they were very interested when they saw a delicate and beautiful peach blossom bowl.
The boss said with an earnest tone, "Ahaha! These two young ladies really have good eyesight. As for this bowl, this was made during the early Western Zhou Dynasty..."
Just as the two tourists were about to pay for it, they noticed Fu Jinxiao and Shen Xingsui standing beside them, and they were a little curious, "Are you also here to buy things?"
These two men might wear sunglasses to hide their face, but they couldn't hide their noble bearing. Especially the taller one – with broad shoulders, narrow waist, slender and long legs... he was really attractive. It's the kind of charm that would subconsciously attract people no matter what.
Fu Jinxiao's voice was equally deep and magnetic, "We're here to just look around."
The two young ladies nodded as they took a few more sneaky glances at the eye-candy, "Then do you like this Western Zhou bowl too?"
Fu Jinxiao said slowly, "It's.. ah... quite interesting, I would say."
"And..." The man paused, hooked his lips, lowered his head a little, and said slowly, "According to my visual observation, this should not be from the Western Zhou Dynasty, but from last week."
The store was quiet for a moment.
The boss, of course, was furious, "You don't understand what you are talking about, my shop is full of authentic works!"
Fu Jinxiao raised his eyebrows as if to challenge him, "Really?"
The boss flinched, clearly feeling his guilty conscience. Fu Jinxiao's sharp eyes noticed this, and took this opportunity to point at a vase. Then, he said, "This.. is the Yongle blue and white porcelain vase of the Ming Dynasty. It's characterized by a round lid, with brocade patterns all over its body. It's famous for its exquisite workmanship and natural and beautiful printing."
The boss was confused, but he didn't forget to boast his wares, "You are quite knowledgeable, this porcelain vase is the treasure of the shop."
Fu Jinxiao raised his eyebrows. He walked to the vase, glanced roughly, and opened his lips, "It's a pity that it's a fake. The blue-and-white porcelain vases of the Ming Dynasty have always had a common feature, because of the technical limitations at that time, so when firing porcelain..."
A series of professional terminologies that people couldn't understand at all came out of Actor Fu's mouth. It made people in the shop stunned for a second.
The two tourists seemed to realize that something was wrong, and immediately refused to buy the peach blossom bowl.
The boss was also stunned stupid. He wanted to refute, but he felt faintly that he might have met an expert so he didn't dare say anything at all. He could only angrily say, "Why would you want to ruin my business? Didn't you just want to rent a stall? 200 is still too low, you know! Fine! 600 for a day is okay. Don't make any more trouble!"
Fu Jinxiao had this rogue smile on him, "300 yuan."
The boss was anxious, "300?? Do you want to steal my money?!"
Fu Jinxiao walked out, and said slowly, "Since we can't talk about it... well, isn't the stall outside also yours? I'll go and have a look, then."
"...For you to be cruel, 500."
Fu Jinxiao raised his eyebrows, "250."
The boss was stunned by this man's sheer audacity. "Why did you lower the price by 50? No, no, at least 500."
Fu Jinxiao was as steady as an old dog, "200."
The boss was furious, but he could only gritted his teeth, "Okay, okay, 300 is 300."
Fu Jinxiao curled his lips and said, "Deal."
He actually was content with getting 600-700 yuan as the renting fee, but who knows that his insistence could lower it to 300? It's such a good location too, he won big this time.
After leaving the door, Shen Xingsui finally couldn't help but said, "Teacher Fu, you are so amazing. How could you tell at a glance that the vase is fake? Where did you learn all of that?"
Fu Jinxiao answered nonchalantly, looking completely innocent, "Hm? At a glance? Of course I can't. I was too far away to see it clearly."
Shen Xingsui was taken aback, "Ah, then you..."
"It was to scare him at the time," Fu Jinxiao walked outside, and said slowly, "As for those The basis for the identification is also my nonsense. He has a guilty conscience, so of course he won't refute it."
"..."
Shen Xingsui fell into silence.
The audience in the live broadcast laughed like crazy:
[This bullshitting technique is too high!!]
[You are really a thief.]
[Too bad I'm in love with such a doggy man!]
After Shen Xingsui doubted his life, he finally managed to say something, "But no matter what, we still have a big advantage!"
Fu Jinxiao tried to contact Shen Xingchen and Li Xu'an who were picking the fruit. Then, he asked Shen Xingsui, "Do you think that the antique shop's boss is eating a loss?"
Shen Xingsui thought for a while, then nodded his head.
Fu Jinxiao was a little surprised, looked away from the phone, and asked, "Hm... how to say this..."
Shen Xingsui tried to guess, "Ah, so uhm... what you said was a mixture of truth and lies. But, the way that boss earns money is not righteous. I also don't doubt that there are quite a few counterfeit antiques there."
Fu Jinxiao smiled, "Little Comrade Shen has become smarter."
Shen Xingsui choked up, why did it feel like Fu Jinxiao was praising a child? He was obviously not young anymore!
Netizens in the live broadcast room also sighed:
[Yeah, that unscrupulous boss definitely won't lose money.]
[In the future, us fans will check that boss. He better only sell the real thing. Or else.]
[Hahahaha, with that kind of supervision, he won't dare selling fakes anymore!]
[That kind of lying dog needs whips to be honest.]
The fruits picked by Shen Xingchen and Li Xu'an were delivered soon. The stall that they rented also had basically been cleaned up. It was almost noon by this time, but everyone was full of energy, no one was tired or hungry.
After the stall was set up, someone came to ask the price as they looked around.
After Shen Xingchen quoted the price, he wanted to help others weigh, but he didn't know how to use this electronic scale3you know, the ones you see in the fruit counter in supermarkets?. He was dumbfounded and looked at Li Xu'an, "Can you?"
Li Xu'an shook his head, "I haven't used this either."
These young masters had never seen this kind of scales, let alone used them. Thankfully, Shen Xingsui stood up and said, "I will "
He took a bag, packed the fruits skillfully, then measured the weight on the electronic scale. Finally, he said to the buyer with a smile, "The total is 15.3 jin41 jin (斤) = 0.5 kg, you can pay it for 15 jin. Thank you for the purchase and come again~"
"Oh, 1 yuan per jin? That's quite cheap for this quality. I also get a 30 jiao51 yuan = 10 jiao/mao (角) = 100 fen (分). discount? Thank you, thank you." The customer was satisfied, and they immediately pulled out their phone to pay.
Their payment code was just printed, and the payment can be completed after scanning.
When the first payment came in, the mobile phone at the stall rang the Alipay prompt. Although it was only 15 yuan, it inexplicably boosted morale and made everyone very excited.
Shen Xingchen smiled, "It's sold!"
"We actually made a sale." Shen Xingchen wiped the sweat off his face, "Suisui, you can use it? That's not bad, ah!"
A shy smile appeared on Shen Xingsui's face, "I used to work as a cashier when I was at my part-time job."
Shen Xingchen praised him, "Amazing!"
When the cameraman got closer, the camera gave Young Master Shen a close-up shot. It let everyone see the stains on his face clearly. Because he was picking fruits, his whole body was dirty. The sunlight rays in Taohua Town were strong, the temperature was high, and his whole body was a little red from the sun. But the spiky-haired young man didn't care at all. On the contrary, he actively promoted and recruited customers, "Fresh and organic6I actually have Words to say about the whole "organic" sale gimmick, but I'll refrain this time. That would make me write 1k words at the lower end. Just keep in mind that it's mostly a pure sales-pitch/gimmick. fruits! Good-quality fruit, all grown without pesticides! It's okay if you don't buy it, you can just have a look!"
The young master successfully gained the attention of the passersby, and slowly some potential customers began pouring in.
"This peach is too soft, sadly..."
"Can the price be cheaper?"
"Young man, hurry up, pack it, I'm in a hurry!"
Shen Xingsui responded one by one, actively communicated with the buyers, and answered when someone asked, "No problem, no problem. If there is a problem, you can get it for free~"
The weather in Taohua Town was too hot.
He stood there, talking and moving non-stop, his back was soaked in sweat. During "Starlight", he was a shy, quiet kid. But now, he was much more vibrant and communicative. He worked hard without complaint, even his fair skin was flushed from the sun, but he didn't complain one bit.
There was also a thin layer of sweat on Shen Xingsui's forehead. He didn't have time to fix his messy hair. He just casually wiped his face with a towel before going back to work. His delicate face revealed determination. When facing customers, his warm eyes always smiling, meticulous and patient, his long hair looks sunny and energetic.
Netizens in the live broadcast room were caught in this charm.
[He is so hardworking.]
[I agree, Suisui is really hardworking.]
[I didn't like him before, because I thought he was such a boring person. But now, I suddenly understand his charm value!]
[The most adorable little cutie in the world~]
Slowly, even the audience felt the subtle changes in Shen Xingsui.
He was no longer so dull and suffocated. Since the broadcast of "Starlight", he seemed to have slowly integrated into the group, opening himself. Like a bud of a flower on the edge of winter, once spring comes, it blossoms into a beautiful flower, delicate petals with vibrant colors. Now the whole world could see his beauty. Everyone felt this change was gratifying – watching a young man slowly cultivated himself into a better version of himself.
.............
Shen Xingchen was busy, he kept walking everywhere, helping his team to sell the fruits. Sweat soaked his shirt, and the harsh sunlight didn't subside one bit. However, he still had the energy to speak loudly amidst the bustling crowd. "Ah, I forgot! We also brought sugarcanes, it's over there. There's also pineapples, but we didn't purchase them from that grandpa. They are from another villager, they entrusted us to sell it altogether, and we agreed. It seems that there are customers who want them, but we have to peel them."
Hearing this, Shen Xingsui was worried. "My knife skills aren't good."
Li Xu'an only knew a little bit, but he felt that he needed to step up because the others might not be able to do it, "I can try, but I have never done it in public like this. It might not look very pretty..."
Fu Jinxiao has always been in charge of collecting money and organizing the stall. Hearing this, he offered himself, "I'll do it."
Everyone was surprised by the movie emperor's offering. Does he have this kind of skill?
But in fact, this was something Fu Jinxiao really knew how to do. He rolled up his sleeves, picked up the pineapple, and began to cut it with a knife. Firstly, he slowly peeled the skin, then he cut off the pocks in the fruit's flesh. After he finished that, he cut them into smaller pieces and put them in boxes. He did them all skillfully at a respectable speed to boot.
The others were dumbfounded and applauded.
Shen Xingchen was watching and praised him loudly, "Awesome! Why do you have this secret skill?!"
After Fu Jinxiao packed the fruit for the guests, he glanced at him and said, "You are not bad, you have your own unique skills."
"Really?" Shen Xingchen asked curiously, with a touch of anticipation, "What special skills do I have?"
Fu Jinxiao gracefully smiled, "Your stupidity is on a special level."
Holding his younger brother's arm, Shen Xingchen wailed, "Suisui, look at him making fun of me! Hurry up and avenge your ge!"
Shen Xingsui: "..."
He couldn't laugh or cry.
Netizens in the live broadcast room were all amused by their funny scene:
[Suisui: Don't look for me, I can't afford to mess with him.]
[Hahaha, Xingchen you can try suing Fu-ge if you want.]
[At least he's aware that Suisui has a higher status with Fu Jinxiao compared to himself.]
[LMAO]
This group of four had to sell a huge amount of fruit all day. Finally, near dusk, their energy was spent and they went hungry. But since there was still some fruit left over, someone needed to watch it. Fu Jinxiao was indeed the parent of this ragtag group, and he ordered the juniors to eat, while he was here to watch over the stall.
Shen Xingsui followed his older brother to a street not far away to buy food. After arriving there, Shen Xingchen drank water like crazy, "I'm soooo thirsty."
Li Xu'an kept persuading him, "Slow down, okay? Don't choke."
"It's none of your business." Shen Xingchen said arrogantly, "How could I choke... Hack... cough, cough..."
The idiot who said harsh words just now was caught choking in the next second. Like a proper dumbass.
Shen Xingsui patted him on the back helplessly, "Ge, slow down."
Shen Xingchen finally recovered and gave Li Xu'an a hard look, "It's all your fault. Crow's mouth1SXC accuses LXA of jinxing it.."
Li Xu'an: "..."
They went to the front desk and ordered meals. This store was famous for its seaweed rice crackers. Shen Xingchen directly requested, "Do you have the one without seaweed? My di is allergic."
Shen Xingchen bought a few packs of them, and handed a pack to Shen Xingsui, saying, "It's been a long time since I saw this, and I didn't expect this small town to sell it, eat it quickly."
Shen Xingsui was a little dazed after receiving it.
Shen Xingchen ate several mouthfuls, looked at him suspiciously and said, "Why don't you eat it? What? You haven't eaten it before? When I was young, the school canteen sold it."
Shen Xingsui had a weird expression on his face, but he answered honestly, "No, I have eaten this before."
Shen Xingchen said with a smile, "Good, good. Let me tell you, when I was young, my friends and I pooled money to buy this together. Sometimes when one of our group's pocket money ran out, we would pool the money to buy it for him. Ah... so nostalgic. I still remember that my xiao-di at that time were very loyal. As long as I asked, a bunch of them will buy it for me. Heh, can you imagine how mighty your ge is?"
Shen Xingsui shook his head with a blank look.
Shen Xingchen didn't care, and he continued to wave his hand, "Just imagine it like that one friend who invites you to eat snacks. Now, multiply the number of friends who did that. And... voila, you should get it."
Shen Xingsui was still in a daze.
Shen Xingchen felt bored, and said casually, "You can't even imagine this? What, nobody has invited you to eat before?"
Shen Xingsui was still holding the snack packs in his hand. He hesitated for a moment and said, "There are."
Shen Xingchen was a little nervous when he saw his brother's state. After he heard that, he was relieved. However, before he could comment, Shen Xingsui chuckled and said with a disturbingly light tone, "I treated them to dinner."
"..."
All Shen Xingchen's words were stuck in his throat.
As a big brother, he was very distressed. He felt something was wrong. Holding back his anger, he asked, "Are your school friends so stingy?"
Shen Xingsui opened a pack of rice crackers, and said softly, "At that time, if I had some pocket money, I would treat them to eat. When my pocket money was used up, nobody would invite me. Maybe they knew my monetary condition, so they don't want to embarass me by inviting me but cannot pay."
"..."
Those bastards were obviously using you as an ATM!
Shen Xingchen was short of breath, trying to hold off his anger, "What kind of friends are these? Heartless bunch of turds."
Although it was only about buying food for friends – such a trivial matter – it did manage to increase the barrage in the live broadcast room a lot:
[When he was young? That's so...]
[Suisui is really miserable.]
[Wait, didn't a bunch of people come out on Weibo and say that he bullied his classmates?]
[Are you on 2G? That's old news! Even Anran said it was fake.]
Originally, the heat of this matter went down. But thanks to this, the netizens started to remember this unfinished scandal.
[Anran really didn't make a serious apology afterwards.]
[Wait, didn't during the "Starlight" recording, he made a seaweed pastry and offered it to Suisui? He's obviously allergic!]
[Such a vicious man.]
[Can upstairs be kind? At that time, Ranran already posted an apology statement on Weibo. He can no longer be blamed for this! He didn't know!]
At first, everyone was just making complaints about it. But Anran's fans were very protective of their bias, so they quickly turned from defensive to overly defensive. They started saying scathing arguments, which pissed quite a lot of people.
[Huh, I don't know that you HAVE TO accept every apology someone gives you.]
[This is just blatant victim-blaming.]
[If Anran is really that angelic, then look at this group. Tell me, who still likes him enough to be his close friend?]
This was the spark that started the fire, and another fandom war started in the live broadcast room. But, the guests didn't know about this situation just yet.
Shen Xingsui finished his meal relatively quickly. He quickly packed a portion and returned to the stall. There were not many people in the stall in the afternoon, only a few customers were there. With small steps, he ran over to Jinxiao and greeted him with a smile, "Teacher Fu, I'm back!"
Fu Jinxiao looked back, saw the sweat on his head, and said helplessly, "Why are you running in such a hurry? No one will rob your food."
The youth walked aside, pulled down a chair and sat on it. "I'm just afraid that you're hungry."
Fu Jinxiao took the lunch box and said, "What's this? No need to buy me food, I'll eat later. Besides, I'm used to this, during filming, I can even work without eating all day."
Shen Xingsui knew about Fu Jinxiao's hard work.
He silently thought about it inside his heart. Just as he handed over chopsticks, he caught a glance of Fu Jinxiao's red palms. It had scrapes, calluses, and a few broken blisters.
Shen Xingsui couldn't hold back, and asked, "What's wrong with your hand?"
Fu Jinxiao was slightly surprised. He didn't expect the youth to notice, and he was afraid that he would be worried, so he downplayed it, "It wasn't today, it was scalded while I was cooking yesterday. It's okay, the director's team brought some ointment last night, and it's already almost healed."
After speaking, there was a complete silence.
He was lying, Shen Xingsui knew.
He didn't speak at all, but recalled that at noon, Fu Jinxiao had been helping customers cut pineapples and sugarcanes. The surface of those fruits was rough, and he had to work non-stop. He's sure that it must be painful to work with an injured palm like that. There's a lot of nerve endings in the tip of the fingers, after all. He had blisters before, and he knew the level of pain he had to endure when it broke because of external means.
But Fu Jinxiao didn't say anything about his injury yesterday, and if Shen Xingsui hadn't spotted this today, he might not have said a word.
The actor was confused as to why the youth stopped talking. He saw Shen Xingsui's red eyes as soon as he raised his head. This surprised Actor Fu a little, and he laughed to ease his worry, "What's the matter, who messed with you?"
"You... "Shen Xingsui breathed out lightly and wanted to speak, but his nose was sour. Thankfully, he couldn't hold off a couple drops of tears. "You didn't tell me why you were hurt."
When he cried, Fu Jinxiao immediately panicked.
To be honest, Actor Fu has traveled all over the world for so many years and rarely encountered difficulties. He was never afraid of anyone, but he never thought in his life that there would be a youth whose tears brought him an unprecedented sense of helplessness.
Fu Jinxiao quickly wiped it for him with a tissue paper, "So, is there anything wrong?"
Shen Xingsui also noticed that he was crying. He felt so ashamed, he obviously didn't want to cry. He took the tissue and shook his head quickly, holding back a sob as he replied, "Nothing, nothing."
Fu Jinxiao looked at him, not knowing what to do to comfort the youth, "I haven't cried yet, but you cried at my behest, huh?"
Shen Xingsui was a little sad at first, but he was teased by his humorous smile and burst into tears. He wanted to freely laugh, but he was a little embarrassed. After all, this was a live broadcast, he didn't want to be laughed at by the audience.
Fu Jinxiao got closer and patted him on the shoulder, his voice was softer as he comforted him, "It's really all right, this teacher of yours has been traveling all these years. What kind of hardships haven't I suffered? Compared to those, this is nothing. I tell you, don't cry or I'll..."
Shen Xingsui put down his soaked tissue, raised his head, and looked at him.
The young man's white face was rosy, his black eyes were slightly red from crying, and his red nose was so cute that people wanted to poke it. Those eyes looked watery, like the calm surface of a pond during the autumn. With a puzzled look, like a harmless deer, with a hoarse voice, he really stabbed Fu Jinxiao's heart, "You will do what?"
"..."
Actor Fu cursed in his heart. Out of nowhere, he thought that Shen Xingsui looked so pretty when he cried.
He wanted to see it again.
But... definitely not because he was sad.
...Shen Xingsui would look amazing if he cried in... another place. Bullied into tears because of Fu Jinxiao's ministration2...in case you didn't get it, FJX was referring to physiological tears... during sex..