CSGM - Chapter 147

Chapter 147: The Mystery of the Sunglasses

The stall owner: "…"

The onlookers who heard her calm narration: "…"

And, in the livestream chat, the audience burst out laughing again.

【The first victim mentally scarred by Xixi today has appeared!】

【Chu Xi's memory is world-class. How could she not remember a single game of Go?】

【But still, this stall owner is so pitiful… A national champion, actually getting crushed by Chu Xi on the street. I want to cry for him, hahaha.】

【Chu Xi, can you tell us if there's anything you can't do? A true hexagonal warrior, I can't believe even her Go is at the national champion level!!】

【Ahem, ahem, ahem, to answer a certain question, she can't talk properly.】

【Right, Xixi's whole body is made of good genes, except for her mouth, which is an unnecessary extra.】

Oh, that seemed to be true as well.

If Chu Xi could speak a little more gently, the stall owner wouldn't have such an awkward expression right now.

It was visible to the naked eye that after Chu Xi restored the board, the stall owner was already drenched in sweat.

Chu Xi said, "It's restored. Confirm it yourself. I didn't place them randomly."

The stall owner looked at the game. It was indeed the familiar situation, and his train of thought reconnected with his previous thinking.

He nodded. Chu Xi put her sunglasses back on and sat with her arms crossed coolly.

After that little interlude, the fact that Chu Xi had even managed to restore the board made many of the onlookers gaze at her with growing admiration.

She really had the skills; no wonder she could even beat a Go champion.

An old man with graying hair stood in the crowd with his hands behind his back, marveling repeatedly, "The young people these days are getting more and more impressive."

Most of the people who liked to gather on the street to watch Go were of the older generation. Although they didn't recognize the celebrities popular online, their impression of Chu Xi was that she was both beautiful and incredibly skilled. With a camera filming her from behind, she was clearly no ordinary person!

Chu Xi won six consecutive games at the Go stall, and Fan Yuzhe clutched 2,700 yuan in cash in his hand.

It was all the small change the stall owner had won that morning—ten, twenty, and fifty-yuan bills. Fan Yuzhe gripped the thick stack tightly, not caring if the money was dirty. He just felt incredibly secure right now!

Teacher Chu's arrival was a godsend. In less than an hour, she had lifted Our Restaurant out of poverty and into prosperity.

Chu Xi, with the black heart of someone fleecing a single sheep for all it was worth, asked the stall owner if he wanted to play another round.

The stall owner wanted to cry but had no tears: "%#%&!#…&!"

You turned my six-game winning streak into a six-game losing streak. Don't I have any pride?

Chu Xi took off her glasses, placed them on the side of the Go table, and glanced at his expression with a soft chuckle.

It seemed he had lost enough and didn't want to play anymore.

But the money won from these six games was enough to bring the restaurant back from the dead…

Just as Chu Xi was thinking this, she suddenly heard exclamations from the other restaurant members behind her.

"Sister Ling, Sister Ling!"

The sudden shouts immediately caught her attention. Since the stall owner wasn't playing with her anymore, she turned her head. Her view was blocked by the crowd, so she had to push through to see what was happening with the other members.

The one being called "Sister Ling" was this season's store manager. She was dizzy and pale, supported by two other cast members, a man and a woman, with fine beads of sweat on her forehead.

Chu Xi walked over to take a look and asked, "Is this low blood sugar?"

Sister Ling, propped up between the two panicked members, slowly nodded. Chu Xi took out a piece of candy for her.

"Suck on this to feel better. What are you looking at? Go buy a chocolate bar and a bottle of electrolyte water," Chu Xi said, turning her head to one of the dazed members. She pulled a few bills from Fan Yuzhe's hand and gave them to him.

Sister Ling quickly said in a weak voice, "No, no, it's fine. I don't eat chocolate. Just water is okay, thank you."

Chu Xi said, "Then just buy water."

The member holding the money hurried off to a convenience store on the street. Chu Xi glanced at the two remaining terrified members.

"It's okay, just let her rest for a bit. Don't be so nervous."

Sister Ling also nodded in agreement with Chu Xi's assessment.

This wasn't the first or second time Chu Xi had encountered an artist with low blood sugar. Just a few days ago at Idol Training Camp, she had run into a trainee suffering from it. But even so, that person had stubbornly insisted on dieting to lose fat, just as Sister Ling was now refusing to eat chocolate.

While she was dealing with the situation here, the stall owner at the Go table, with the enthusiastic encouragement of the onlookers, began to piece his shattered confidence back together.

Someone else wanted to play, so he might as well. He was just out here to have fun today anyway!

But he hoped Chu Xi wouldn't come back. It was no fun playing against the same person over and over… especially when he kept losing!

Having finally rebuilt his mental fortitude, the stall owner let out a breath, accepted another fifty yuan, and welcomed the next challenger.

The man who had just paid was a middle-aged man with a round head, a round face, and a round belly. He sat down on the stool with a grin, propping himself up on his legs. He knew he couldn't win, but spending fifty yuan to cross swords with a national champion would be a great story to tell later.

With this in mind, the round middle-aged man sat across from the stall owner. The board for the new game was still empty.

Suddenly, he glanced at the sunglasses Chu Xi had casually left on the side of the board.

"Hey, let me borrow these. I'll see if I become stronger by wearing them."

He remembered how Chu Xi had looked playing Go with her sunglasses on—a cool expression, truly the air of an expert.

The middle-aged man now prepared to borrow them to boost his own aura.

Someone in the crowd laughed and teased, "Go on, go on, you try them. See if wearing sunglasses has any effect on improving your Go skills."

Just as the middle-aged man was jokingly deciding to try the expert's sunglasses to see if they added any aura or confidence, the moment he put them on, he suddenly exclaimed, "Holy shit!"

Although it was a curse, his tone was one of utter disbelief, as if he had just seen something that shattered his perception of reality.

The next second, he snatched the sunglasses off and shot up from his stool, his movements so agitated that he seemed to leap into the air.

The crowd packed tightly around him instinctively stepped back, afraid of being stepped on or bumped into.

The dense crowd thinned out slightly. Only then did someone snap out of their shock and ask, "What are you doing?"

Everyone was baffled by his reaction, asking several times what was wrong.

Why did he suddenly look like he'd seen a ghost?

And you know what? The middle-aged man really felt like he had seen a ghost just now when he put on the sunglasses!

What the hell—

He looked at the sunglasses in his hand, swallowed hard, and put them on again to try…

When he took them off, his pupils were filled with shock and bewilderment.

"You guys look at these glasses yourselves…"

His voice had unconsciously taken on a tone of reverence as he handed the sunglasses to another spectator to try.

Don't ask, just try them for yourselves!

Next, nearly every member of the crowd who tried on the sunglasses had the same reaction as the first middle-aged man.

After discovering the sunglasses' "secret," the expression on their faces was truly one of "seeing a ghost"!

The stall owner watched, completely stunned.

The last person handed the sunglasses to the stall owner. By now, some of the onlookers were looking at him with a hint of sympathy and pity.

The stall owner was even more bewildered by these looks. "…?"

But the moment he put on the sunglasses, he understood instantly!

The crowd was pitying him—not because he had been beaten in an ordinary winning streak, but because he had just been subjected to a dimensional reduction attack without even knowing it!

Because what Chu Xi had been wearing wasn't sunglasses at all!

They had all been mistaken!

While wearing these glasses, Chu Xi had been playing Blind Go the entire time!

Ah, no wonder…

No wonder she wasn't placing the stones herself, but had called someone else over to place them and report the coordinates.

At this moment, everyone finally understood why she had done that.

The stall owner trembled and nearly fell off the low stool onto the ground!

Just moments ago, he had been able to piece together his shattered confidence. Now, in an instant, Chu Xi had directly crushed his spirit!

His national championship… could it have been just luck?

Did he really have the skill? He couldn't even win against her Blind Go…

Sigh, it was more than just not being able to win. He had lost six games in a row without being able to put up a fight!

Meanwhile, the onlookers were like a pot of boiling water, erupting in a cacophony of discussion.

"Holy shit, she's a god. Today I finally understand what 'there's always a heaven beyond heaven' means."

"So it turns out she was playing Blind Go this whole time?!"

"I'm dizzy. How did we not notice earlier! No wonder she wasn't placing the stones herself!!"

Hearing the explosion of discussion behind her, Chu Xi turned back.

Her collar was empty. It was then she remembered that she had been drawn away so quickly that she hadn't thought to bring the glasses she had set down.

She walked over calmly, passed through the crowd, and nonchalantly retrieved her fifty-yuan glasses from the stall owner's loosely hooked fingers.

The stall owner was still in a daze, his expression utterly dumbfounded.

Chu Xi said, "Well, I'll be going then."

The onlookers were all exclaiming: God-tier player! You were playing Blind Go!!!

Chu Xi couldn't help but chuckle. Unfazed by their astonishment, she turned and walked away, leaving a cool figure behind her.

---

The members of Our Restaurant finally had money. After paying off their debts to the convenience store and the production team, they went to buy ingredients with a sense of relief.

An overjoyed Fan Yuzhe insisted on asking Chu Xi why she had chosen to play Blind Go.

Chu Xi had no choice but to answer his chirpy questions.

"Just on a whim, for fun."

As for what happened later—the national champion Yuan Ke returning to the Go world and vigorously recommending Chu Xi, leading to the National Go Association taking notice and fervently inviting her to join—it was something Chu Xi only agreed to after a long delay due to her busy schedule.

After being a flying guest on Our Restaurant for a day and helping the five members of this season solve their urgent crisis, Chu Xi returned to the seaside building of Idol Training Camp.

The work here was relatively relaxed; teaching the trainees wasn't difficult at all.

Besides, she could be with Ren Zhi every day. Seeing her Baby every day made even the most boring work feel interesting.

Days and nights passed by the seaside building.

Idol Training Camp had already recorded its fourth episode. The performances were now team competitions. After the new teams were assigned, it was time for the intense and buzz-worthy song selection competition.

Today's song selection method for the trainee teams was to find cards—song title cards—in a large hall. The name of each song was broken down into single characters scattered throughout the room. The representatives chosen by each team had to find these characters in the room and assemble a complete song title to claim that song.

The order in which they could enter the room to search was determined by each team's average score in the cultural class.

The representatives from the high-scoring teams practically flew into the room, rummaging through everything. The teams with poor scores, however, had to wait anxiously at the door for a while.

The cameras captured their anxious expressions and their discussions of regret for not studying a little more before the exam.

The six mentors were in the room acting as NPCs, watching with amusement as the students turned the place upside down.

"Aaaah—! I'm here!!"

A trainee rushed into the room in a panic. Anxious to compete with the trainees who had entered earlier for the song title cards, he ran as if his butt was on fire. He failed to brake in time and accidentally bumped into Ren Zhi.

Luckily, he only hit her shoulder, knocking her off balance.

But Ren Zhi happened to be wearing stiletto heels. Unsteady, she staggered back a few steps.

Fortunately, Chu Xi was quick to react and caught her.

At the same time, she cried out in concern:

"Baby…!"

The instant the sound escaped, Ren Zhi, quick as lightning, pressed a hand to her lips.

However, the speed of sound is fast; it couldn't be caught by a single hand.

The moment Chu Xi's voice dispersed into the air, the room—which had been noisy, chaotic, and filled with the sound of frantic running—fell silent. It was as if she hadn't called out "Baby," but had instead commanded with immense authority, "Quiet."

The surroundings immediately fell silent at the sound. Even the air grew a little more hushed.

The trainees, the other mentors, the director's team behind the cameras, and the staff… all their eyes widened and fixed on Chu Xi and Ren Zhi, whom she was holding.

The sharp-eared crowd just now: ?, ?, !?

They didn't mishear, did they? What did Chu Xi just call her?

Ooh—and Teacher Ren's gesture… covering her mouth. Could it be a guilty attempt to cover things up?

A drop of cold sweat appeared on Chu Xi's forehead. She closed her eyes, a flicker of an urge to punch that trainee crossing her mind.

She… had acted on impulse.

Leaning on Chu Xi's shoulder, Ren Zhi slowly stood up under everyone's gaze. Although she had been stunned for a couple of seconds by all the stares, her expression was now calm and composed.

Ren Zhi smiled gently. "You all can continue looking for the song titles. Don't just stand there."

Chu Xi stood up straight, releasing her hand from Ren Zhi's waist, and adjusted her own tie with a serious air.

"I said 'bàobào' (hug)… as in, 'hugging' you so you wouldn't fall."

Then she shot a dagger-like glare at the reckless trainee.

That trainee immediately froze, standing ramrod straight, not daring to move. After a moment of shock, he bowed repeatedly to Chu Xi, constantly muttering.

"I'm sorry, Teacher Chu, I'm sorry, Teacher Chu, I'm so, so sorry…"

Oh my god, he had caused a huge disaster! He was in big trouble!

After apologizing to Chu Xi, he quickly apologized to Ren Zhi.

"I'm sorry, Teacher Ren, I didn't mean to! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, ahh…"

Ren Zhi stood in her spot and scanned the entire room.

She smiled warmly, yet her presence was commanding.

"It's alright, it was just a small accident. Could I trouble everyone not to spread rumors about this outside, okay?"

It was clearly a question, and her tone was gentle, but everyone distinctly heard a hint of a command.

This was probably what they called presence.

Who would dare to spread rumors? If they dared to gossip about the relationship between two top-tier stars, did they not want to make it in the entertainment industry anymore?

And even those who weren't trainees, out of respect for Ren Zhi's words and not wanting to offend her, would consciously bury what had just happened deep in their hearts.

During a break after the recording, Ren Zhi went to have a word with the production team.

"Director, Brother Zhou, I'll have to trouble you. Please don't broadcast that last segment."

The producer sucked in a breath, blinked, and asked curiously.

"Are you and Chu Xi really…?"

Ren Zhi just smiled without speaking, not denying it.

So it was true!

Now some of the staff on the Idol Training Camp team knew, but seeing as Ren Zhi's words implied she had no intention of making their relationship public, they couldn't say anything.

This earth-shattering secret could only be discussed privately in their small circles.

Chu Xi was quite annoyed with herself over the incident. Back in the dorm, she knelt by Ren Zhi's bed and held her head in her hands.

"Sigh, Baby, this mouth of mine is so stupid."

This was the first time Chu Xi had ever called herself stupid.

In the heat of the moment during the day, she had lost control.

Ren Zhi looked at her with a smile in her eyes, thinking that she wasn't just stupid with her words; Chu Xi was also quite slow when it came to guessing people's thoughts.

She still hadn't realized that Ren Zhi had stopped caring about this sort of thing a long time ago, had she?

"Give me your hand," Ren Zhi said.

Chu Xi placed her hand over. Ren Zhi held her by the wrist and took out two braided bracelets, one red and one blue, from a small velvet box on the headboard, putting them on her.

"What are these, Baby?" Chu Xi asked, looking at the new bracelets.

Then she saw Ren Zhi take out the remaining two from the box, one yellow and one green, and put them on her own wrist.

Chu Xi blinked, even more confused.

Ren Zhi said, "This is a set of bracelets. We're wearing them separately."

Chu Xi looked at them and immediately beamed. She loved them; Baby had put them on her personally.

She smiled. "Then I'll wear long sleeves every day so I can wear it."

"Why wear long sleeves?"

"So people don't see it."

But Ren Zhi suddenly said, "It's meant to be seen."

Chu Xi was bewildered. "Eh…?"

"Baby, didn't you not want to… mmmph…"

Ren Zhi suddenly leaned over, bit her lip, and then gave her a comforting light kiss, her breath tickling her face as she laughed at her.

"You're so silly and cute sometimes. I stopped thinking that way a long time ago."

Chu Xi: "…" After a pause, "You're not going to go public with me, are you?!"

Chu Xi suddenly resembled a certain large canine species that had just heard where they were going for a big dinner tonight. She placed her hands on the edge of the bed, sitting on the floor, her eyes sparkling as she looked up at Ren Zhi.

She was fine with a secret relationship, but wouldn't going public be too much of a wonderful surprise?

Wouldn't the whole world know that Baby was her girlfriend then?!

Ren Zhi smiled. "Some friends in the industry already know. I don't want to hide anything from everyone."

Chu Xi: "Eheheh…"

Ren Zhi loved hearing her laugh like that. It sounded so carefree, her happiness coming so easily. It was this simple, unadulterated doting that had allowed her to gradually reclaim her lost sense of security.

I really want to be with Xiao Xi like this forever.

Ren Zhi also began to smile softly.

Chu Xi asked when she planned to go public. Ren Zhi pinched her cheek and told her not to be so impatient.

"I'm not impatient, I'm not. I'm just curious."

Chu Xi explained that she had already waited this long.

She wouldn't mind waiting forever. As long as she was with Baby, she could accept any kind of public identity.

But she had always been forthright in her actions, so her preference was, of course, for her inner and outer worlds to be consistent.

Ren Zhi spoke to her gently with a very reasonable statement:

"Any dramatic climax needs foreshadowing."

So secretly wearing the bracelets was foreshadowing. Revealing the tip of the iceberg to industry insiders was also foreshadowing. Not avoiding each other on set and with the crew was also foreshadowing…

Chu Xi was slow to realize. She was still puzzled. "It's so subtle. Can they really guess in that direction?"

Speaking of which, Ren Zhi had to mention—

"You need to give Xiao Yuan a big year-end bonus this year."

Chu Xi's sole assistant, Jin Yuan, who moonlighted as a veteran fan in the CP Super Topic group, had made heroic contributions to building the "ChuChu dong Ren" CP banner.

Aside from coordinating Chu Xi's work, Jin Yuan spent most of her other time immersed in her own Super Topic group.

After getting her fill of CP content at the show's recording, Jin Yuan felt like she had a million things to say every day!

She held it in and held it in, and only when the new episode of Idol Training Camp was finally released could she copy the text she had been bottling up for days from her Weibo drafts and post it.

【Aaaah, are you kidding me? You're the person who used to say, "From now on, listen to me. I'll take the lead and make decisions for you"! Now that you've hit a bug, you actually nominated Teacher Ren to be the head mentor! What was it that made you go from an overlord to a willing vassal?? Could it be sweet, sweet love! /[Thinking]/[Drooling]/[Licking Screen]/[Back to School]】

—Oh, that's right!

Netizens and fans, emerging from their shock at Chu Xi's QR code drawing skills, suddenly realized: nominating someone else to be the leader was very un-Xixi-like!

【The love you don't say out loud will always leak out from all over your body! When you heard Zhizhi say the person she most wanted to work with was Teacher Roll, you looked so jealous you were about to bite through your paper cup!!!】

—Oh, that's right!

Looking at those two clips together, it really did seem like Chu Xi was grinding her teeth in jealousy over Roll.

【After XXX bumped into Zhizhi, he subconsciously apologized to Xixi. What was he sorry for? Sorry for bumping into your wifey? /[Grin] It seems like the students know what's going on between you two~~】

—Oh, there's something fishy going on!

This trainee bumped into Ren Zhi, so why was he apologizing to Chu Xi?

Even though the production team had edited out Chu Xi's slip of the tongue, by piecing things together, this segment was still shippable!

Ren Zhi had discovered Jin Yuan's alternate account after Jin Yuan accidentally shared her latest post to Chu Xi's training group chat, where Ren Zhi happened to see it.

Thinking about it, that young girl was quite cute.

She really needed to give her a big red envelope at the end of the year to reward her adorable achievements.

Just as Chu Xi, who hadn't been online much, was still doubting whether Ren Zhi's "foreshadowing" would even work, wondering if people online really had the insight to figure out where she and Ren Zhi stood, and still thinking of netizens as a rather brainless group…

Little did she know, with each new episode of Idol Training Camp that aired, the "ChuChu dong Ren" CP fans were as happy as if it were New Year's every day, already feasting on a torrent of sweet moments.

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