Chapter 9 – Flight Ticket
Qiao Huaiyao held the strawberry in his hand, paused for a moment, and a faint smile appeared on his face. He picked a large strawberry and fed it to the edge of his brother Bai, saying, “Brother Bai, you’ve worked hard, so I’ll reward you with the biggest one.”
The strawberries were quite large, and they didn’t buy too many, but they could still fill a whole bowl when placed in it.
Bai Jinyan ate the strawberry and used a small knife to remove the meat from the lamb chop. “Try it.”
With one hand holding the bowl and the other holding the strawberry, Qiao Huaiyao had no free hand, so he directly used his mouth to take a bite.
The lamb chop was very fragrant, with a crispy outer layer and tender meat inside, and juices oozing out.
The cooking temperature and time were just right.
The barrage in the live chat went crazy: [“???”]
[“What are you two doing?”]
[“Just came back from the next-door Left Idol’s live broadcast. The couple cooked together, feeding each other, and even kissed each other in the end, so… you know what I’m waiting for, right?”]
[“Please be mindful of the boundaries in creating CP. Bai Jinyan is in a rising period in his career, and popular stars are prohibited from dating, you know?”]
[“Don’t make me slap you at my happiest moment.”]
[“Why do you care about Bai Jinyan’s popularity? Besides, Bai Jinyan is called a popular star? He’s already received prestigious awards, and he consistently ranks first in topic discussions. His acting and singing are outstanding, and he’s a top-tier talent. There’s a difference between being at the top and being a popular star, you know?”]
[“Isn’t Bai Jinyan relying on fan benefits? Get the difference clear, okay?”]
The arguments in the live chat quickly passed by, overshadowed by a new wave of comments.
Qiao Huaiyao brought out the lamb chop and placed it on the table. After some consideration, he put the cleaned strawberries next to the lamb chop and added some rock sugar to the strawberries.
Rounding off, now it looked like a complete dish.
He absentmindedly picked up the coat lying on the dining chair and noticed that the cuffs seemed to have touched something.
Qiao Huaiyao raised his voice, “Brother, I put your coat in the washing machine.”
“Mhm.”
Bai Jinyan’s voice came from the kitchen, and Qiao Huaiyao walked into the bathroom and searched the coat’s pockets, checking if there was anything left inside.
His fingertips touched a hard paper card, and he thought it might be a name card. He took it out and glanced at it, instantly freezing.
—This was an airplane ticket.
Bai Jinyan often flew to various places, so it wasn’t strange for him to have an airplane ticket in his pocket. But the strange thing was that this ticket was for the day he went to the university for enrollment.
The departure airport, the destination city, and even the flight number and departure time were almost the same as the ticket he bought.
The only difference might be that Bai Jinyan’s ticket was for an economy class seat.
It seemed like he bought the ticket in a hurry, and the first-class tickets were sold out.
Qiao Huaiyao’s fingers trembled slightly as the ticket left a noticeable mark under his grasp.
On the day he went to enroll, Bai Jinyan went with him.
Only, Bai Jinyan didn’t show himself.
There were two tickets in total, and the time difference between them wasn’t long. Calculating it, they were just enough for a round trip from the airport to Qing University.
It was like… Bai Jinyan bought the tickets, quietly sent him off to enroll, and then rushed to another city for work.
Qiao Huaiyao’s fingertips curled slightly.
Even though Bai Jinyan was so busy, he still bought the ticket to send him off when he knew that he left home in a hurry to enroll.
Economy class seats were narrow, and a tall person like Bai Jinyan couldn’t stretch his legs inside.
Yet, he still chose to take the same flight as him.
Was it the same in their past lives?
Bai Jinyan had always accompanied him and sent him to school.
In places he didn’t know, Bai Jinyan did a lot for him.
A warm current surged in Qiao Huaiyao’s heart as he carefully put away the ticket and placed it on his bedside table—upstairs.
Bai Jinyan was setting the table, preparing to take photos.
Qiao Huaiyao quickly ran downstairs, pounced on him from behind, and hugged Bai Jinyan’s neck with joy. “Brother!”
Bai Jinyan swayed for a moment but stabilized himself, putting down the chopsticks and lightly supporting Qiao Huaiyao’s back. “What’s wrong?”
Qiao Huaiyao squinted his eyes. “Nothing, I just wanted to call you.”
Bai Jinyan helplessly looked at him. “Go wash your hands and get ready to eat.”
“Brother, did you take the picture? Don’t forget to include the strawberries; I’ll consider it my dish.”
Qiao Huaiyao always remembered the rules of the game.
Bai Jinyan said, “Okay.”
Barrage: [“Strawberries count as a dish???”]
[“Wow, you sure know how to play the game.”]
[“I’ll call you Chef God in admiration.”]
[“At least sprinkle some powdered sugar, let it dissolve, then count it as a dish. Your rock sugar is just sitting on top; there’s no sign of it blending with the strawberries.”]
…
[“Don’t fight. Vote for the wife when we’re done.”]
After sending the photo to the director, Qiao Huaiyao took the rock sugar out of the strawberries.
They had breakfast late, and he hadn’t eaten anything in the afternoon, so Qiao Huaiyao was hungry now.
He didn’t forget to take out his phone during the meal and checked Weibo to see the voting results for the cooking challenge.
The voting progress was shown in real-time, and as soon as Weibo was posted, the progress bars under each photo started moving.
For others, there were no less than seven dishes in a photo.
After all, there were more people, and counting one dish per person, the number of dishes added up.
In contrast, their table had only three dishes—two meat dishes and one vegetable dish—along with the bowl of strawberries, which seemed significantly fewer.
However, their votes were overwhelmingly leading by a large margin.
Opening the comment section, many people are questioning.
[To be honest, just looking at the dishes, Dish 3 is the best, right?]
[Dish 5 is also good. Why is Dish 1 taking the first place?]
[What’s wrong with Dish 1? Dish 1 is simply amazing. Look at that strawberry salad. Don’t think it’s just strawberries with rock sugar; it’s actually filled with Bai Jinyan’s emotions and Qiao Huaiyao’s sincerity. The friendship expressed there goes far beyond the strawberries themselves.]
[???]
Not to mention other comments, even Qiao Huaiyao himself couldn’t help but smile.
It was all a bunch of nonsense.
Although the program used images with numbers instead of labeling the dishes directly, those who watched the live broadcast basically knew which dish was made by whom.
Not to mention, with Bai Jinyan’s popularity, he was firmly leading in the voting.
Seeing him so engrossed, Bai Jinyan reminded, “Let’s eat first; the dishes will get cold.”
“Okay.” Qiao Huaiyao agreed readily, but his gaze didn’t leave the phone.
Bai Jinyan frowned, “Look again; I’m confiscating your phone.”
Bai Jinyan’s expression changed, and the barrage in the live chat immediately filled with exclamation marks.
[“D*mn! Brother Bai is angry. Qiao Qiao , put your phone down quickly!”]
[“Seeing Bai Jinyan like this, I almost forgot he’s a tyrant with a bad temper.”]
[“Wife! Put down your phone quickly!”]
The live chat was flooded with comments, but Qiao Huaiyao didn’t notice.
He scrolled through two more comments, and then his phone’s battery reached one percent, prompting a low battery warning.
Only then did he remember that he hadn’t charged his phone all day.
Qiao Huaiyao placed the phone aside, intending to charge it later when he went upstairs to sleep.
“Brother, my phone’s out of battery,” Qiao Huaiyao innocently looked at Bai Jinyan, “I haven’t finished reading the comments yet.”
Bai Jinyan said, “Finish reading them after we eat.”
Qiao Huaiyao pursed his lips, “I’m almost done.”
“First…”
“Brother…”
The two voices overlapped, and Qiao Huaiyao’s voice lingered, his eyes fixed on Bai Jinyan.
Then, he extended his right hand, palm open.
Bai Jinyan met his gaze, and after a moment, he took out his own phone, entered the password, opened Weibo, and handed it to Qiao Huaiyao.
Not forgetting to caution, “Only read that last bit of comments.”
Qiao Huaiyao’s eyes curved, “Okay!”
Live chat barrage: [“…?”]
[“Oh no, oh no?! I apologize for worrying about Qiao Qiao earlier.”]
[“Bai Jinyan! Show your authority!!!”]
[“Goodness, in front of Qiao Qiao, my Brother Bai really has no bottom line. If it were someone else, my Brother Bai would be holding a chair to kick them out and have them squat outside, holding their phones.”]
[“To be honest, looking at the expression on my wife’s face, it’s hard for anyone to refuse any of his requests.”]
After dinner, before they could tidy up the table, the doorbell rang outside.
Qiao Huaiyao opened the door and saw a stranger.
The host smiled and greeted, “Hello, I’m the host Xiao Yue. We are recording a 1v1 guest interview for our program.”
Qiao Huaiyao nodded, seemingly understanding, and turned to say, “Brother, I’ll tidy up; you go for the guest interview.”
Bai Jinyan said, “You go rest. I’ll take care of it after I finish.”
Qiao Huaiyao took the kitchen wet wipes from him and pushed him inside, saying, “Leave this to me. You go do your thing.”
With that, Qiao Huaiyao gestured for the host to follow him upstairs.
Recording a guest interview was best done in a quiet corner room.
The innermost room was vacant, with only cleaning staff occasionally coming in; there were no installed cameras.
Before starting, the host explained, “For this recording, we’ll just ask a few questions, and it won’t be broadcast live. The footage will be edited into the main program, and it won’t be released until then.”
“The questions are all selected from the live chat; some have been modified by the program team, and some are asked by the audience. If there’s anything you don’t want to talk about, just signal me to stop, and that part will be edited out later.”
The host smiled, “Other than that, do you have any questions you want to ask me?”
Bai Jinyan responded coolly, “No.”
“Alright, let’s formally begin now.”
The host gestured to the cameraman.
Then, she flipped the question card in her hand and asked seriously, “The first question: everyone knows that you and Qiao Huaiyao are not biological brothers, so for you, is Qiao Huaiyao an accomplice in participating in variety shows as a brother, or…”
“Family.”
Before the host could finish the question, Bai Jinyan had already given his answer.
Straightforward and decisive.
Bai Jinyan said, “We grew up together, so naturally, he’s family.”
As he spoke, Bai Jinyan seemed to think of something amusing. Leaning back slightly, he exuded a delicate sense of laziness, his eyes holding a hint of a smile, and his lips slightly curved upwards.
The host was stunned; she wasn’t Bai Jinyan’s fan, but she had occasionally watched Bai Jinyan’s videos.
She had prepared for the interview since she received the task, knowing that she would interview Bai Jinyan.
Most of the reviews about him were that he had a somewhat aloof personality, distant and not approachable.
He sometimes had mood swings during filming, and apart from that, he kept a cold face all the time, making people hesitant to approach him.
But now…
Whenever Qiao Huaiyao was mentioned, this smile never left his face.
With the top star’s appearance, even non-fans couldn’t help but be attracted to some extent.
The host held the question card but forgot to speak until her phone kept vibrating.
Realizing the director was urging them to continue, the host quickly returned to her senses. “Then let’s move on to the next question.”
The host continued to ask from the question card, “Many online comments say that you treat Qiao Huaiyao exceptionally well. They claim that, despite being a top star for so many years, fans have never seen you treat anyone so well before. They say you treat him differently. How do you view this statement?”
Upon hearing this, Bai Jinyan calmly said, “It’s not treating him exceptionally well.”
The host nodded, about to ask for more specific reasons.
But before she could, Bai Jinyan added, “It’s just a habit.”