Dark Fire chapter 43
Whose Home
After Halloween, Ling Zhuo started recording the variety show “Come to My Home” on Nanxing TV.
In the first episode, they visited another regular male guest’s home. The guest was a well-known mid-career director, his wife was also a famous actress, and they had two children in elementary school. The family atmosphere was excellent, and there were many things to film. Ling Zhuo was a bit reserved at first since he was a guest and on camera, but once the two little girls clung to him, he ended up spending almost the entire episode playing with the kids.
After recording that episode, the show’s director joked that Ling Zhuo had potential as a “daddy,” and said that the second episode would be filmed at his own home, asking him to prepare. The production team would also visit two days in advance for a preliminary inspection.
Ling Zhuo was a bit anxious and called Zhang Jing to discuss the matter, asking if he could simply rent a place to get through the recording.
Zhang Jing said directly: “Not really possible. Since the production team said they’d do a preliminary check, renting a place to fool them won’t work. If they find out, it’ll be even worse, and it might be considered a breach of contract. The contract specifically mentioned reflecting the true living situation, which is a selling point of their show. They won’t agree to let you fake it.”
Ling Zhuo: “Then what should we do? We can’t let people know that Teacher Lu and I are living together, right? Even for a fake couple, this is a bit too much…”
Zhang Jing thought for a moment and asked: “Can you discuss with him, asking him to go out while the production team is doing the preliminary check and recording, and then pack up his things so it seems like you’re living alone?”
Ling Zhuo: “Isn’t that still deceiving?”
Zhang Jing: “Do you have a better idea?”
Ling Zhuo: “…I’ll ask him.”
After hanging up, Lu Chixie leaned over and asked, “What did your manager say?”
Ling Zhuo hesitated and relayed Zhang Jing’s suggestion. He felt really awkward about asking Lu Chixie, the actual homeowner, to leave.
Lu Chixie didn’t immediately respond, looking at him with a faint smile.
Ling Zhuo: “Can we do it?”
Lu Chixie: “Do you think I don’t deserve to be seen with you?”
Ling Zhuo helplessly: “Teacher Lu, please, I don’t want to come out now.”
“Alright,” Lu Chixie responded lazily, “I’ll leave then.”
Ling Zhuo: “You agreed?”
Lu Chixie: “What else can I do? Will you move out if I don’t agree?”
Ling Zhuo laughed and patted his leg: “Thank you.”
“Mm.” Lu Chixie reached out and pinched his face.
Three days later, the production team director and several planners arrived. Before their arrival, Yang Ming helped pack up Lu Chixie’s personal items into the cabinet, and the house was cleaned up. At a glance, it indeed looked like Ling Zhuo’s solo residence.
The director and team first toured the house, complimenting it, and Ling Zhuo agreed with a smile, not elaborating much.
“I usually live alone here, with very few friends visiting, so there’s not much life to it. I’m not sure how to plan the recording, worried there might not be enough content.”
The planners discussed, and fortunately, the second episode would feature three guest stars besides the regular ones, so there would be a lot of people. They could cook hotpot and play cards together, so finding topics wouldn’t be a problem.
The director casually said: “Relax, the audience wants to see everyone’s most genuine living situation. Being too deliberate is actually worse. In the second episode, Xiao Ling, you’re the host, and the cameras will definitely be on you more than others. You might as well think about how you would host real friends and prepare according to your own ideas.”
Ling Zhuo felt reassured: “Okay, I’ll think about it more.”
On the recording day, the camera crew arrived at eight in the morning.
Ling Zhuo was worried they might come early, so he sent Lu Chixie out before seven. The weather had changed overnight, with the temperature dropping by several degrees. Ling Zhuo even helped him with a thick coat and wrapped a long scarf around his neck twice, then pulled him close and gave him a kiss on the lips: “Go wherever you like, come back in the evening.”
Lu Chixie smiled at him: “You are really considerate when you need something. I haven’t seen you so proactive at other times.”
Ling Zhuo gave him another kiss and said, “Please.”
After Lu Chixie left, Ling Zhuo licked his bitten lip, applied some lip balm, checked the entire house to make sure everything was okay, and then went to the living room to wait.
At ten minutes to eight, while he was brewing coffee, the doorbell rang.
The cameraman entered and greeted him with a smile, following the usual procedure of taking a tour of the house with the camera. After briefly introducing the house, he mentioned that he planned to host the guests for a hotpot lunch that afternoon and that he needed to head to the supermarket to buy ingredients.
The cameraman followed Ling Zhuo downstairs. At the entrance of the neighborhood, Ling Zhuo encountered the first guest, a regular, a second-tier celebrity who had just gotten married earlier in the year. They would be filming at her home in the next episode.
Hearing that Ling Zhuo was going to the supermarket, the woman smiled and said she would go with him. Ling Zhuo had no objections; he had worked with her before and could chat a bit.
As they walked out, they chatted casually. The woman remarked on how nice the neighborhood was: “I was planning to buy a house here when I got married, but I didn’t find a suitable one, so I gave up. Otherwise, we might have been neighbors.”
Ling Zhuo smiled and made small talk. He was a bit worried that after the episode aired, people might figure out where he lived, but fortunately, the neighborhood had good security, and paparazzi couldn’t easily get in.
The woman then asked if Ling Zhuo lived alone. Ling Zhuo replied, “Yes, living alone is more convenient.”
The woman laughed, “Living alone is quite nice, but having a companion is nice too. Otherwise, it can be very lonely at home when you’re not working.”
The woman, still in the honeymoon phase of her marriage, spoke with an unmistakable sweetness. Ling Zhuo actually agreed with her but didn’t show it.
“Hey, will saying this upset your fans? It sounds like I’m encouraging you to date.”
Ling Zhuo also laughed, “Not really. I used to live with a few teammates. It was livelier with more people, but now it’s pretty good too.”
They went to a large supermarket nearby. Forty minutes later, they returned, and other guests started arriving. Each person who entered remarked on how big Ling Zhuo’s house was and wondered why he lived alone. Ling Zhuo felt a bit embarrassed and just brushed it off with a laugh.
When everyone arrived, he invited them to hang out in the living room and entertainment room, went to the kitchen to unpack the ingredients he had just bought, and started washing and cutting them. Others helped out, and Ling Zhuo was busy working. Someone called him, saying the screen in the entertainment room wasn’t working and asked him to check it out. He quickly washed his hands and went over, but after fiddling with it for a while, he couldn’t get it to work either.
Surrounded by a crowd, he felt a bit awkward, found an excuse to slip away, and texted Lu Chixie for help.
The cameraman asked him why he couldn’t operate his own screen, and Ling Zhuo helplessly said, “I don’t know. It was working fine yesterday. Today, as soon as the guests arrived, it stopped working.”
Fortunately, Lu Chixie replied quickly, and following his instructions, Ling Zhuo managed to get it working.
After that, he remained in a state of constant busyness. Whenever something went wrong, he had to ask Lu Chixie, and if he couldn’t find something, he had to ask Lu Chixie. He hardly put down his phone. Someone, noticing this, asked, “Xiao Ling, who are you messaging all the time?”
Ling Zhuo calmly replied, “My dad.”
He returned to the kitchen to continue working. Lu Chixie messaged again, “Can I come over for dinner?”
Ling Zhuo replied, “Now?”
Lu Chixie called. Ling Zhuo had to answer, “Ling, let me come home. I can’t find anyone to eat with, and it’s snowing outside. It’s so cold.”
Ling Zhuo looked out the window. It had only been foggy when he left in the morning, and now it was actually snowing.
Lu Chixie’s tone seemed to imply he was being mistreated…
Ling Zhuo couldn’t say much in front of the camera, so he nodded and said, “Come over then.”
Someone helping in the kitchen asked if a friend was coming. Ling Zhuo explained, “A friend called to invite me to dinner, so I asked him to join us. Please don’t mind.”
Everyone said they didn’t mind. More people would make it livelier. Ling Zhuo didn’t mention that it was Lu Chixie and decided to wait until he arrived.
Twenty minutes later, Lu Chixie arrived and, very cooperatively, rang the doorbell without using facial recognition.
Ling Zhuo went to open the door. When Lu Chixie came in and saw the cameras, he gave Ling Zhuo a glance and said, “Teacher Ling, you’re hosting guests today? Did I come at a bad time?”
Ling Zhuo said, “No, it’s fine. One more person is no problem. You know everyone here.”
Lu Chixie took off his coat and hung it neatly in the closet by the entrance.
The production team was surprised by Lu Chixie’s sudden arrival but welcomed him as it added to the conversation. People in the living room, hearing the commotion, came over and were initially surprised but then greeted him with smiles.
Ling Zhuo was right; most of these people were familiar to Lu Chixie, and he knew them better than he did.
Lu Chixie quickly blended in with the crowd. When asked why he suddenly showed up at Ling Zhuo’s place, he glanced at the busy Ling Zhuo and calmly said, “I was supposed to have a meal with Teacher Ling, but I didn’t expect him to be hosting.”
Someone teased him, “You two have such a good relationship, calling each other teacher all the time. It’s quite amusing.”
Lu Chixie curved his lips and replied, “You’d have to ask him. He likes to play this game.”
While squeezing juice at the bar, Ling Zhuo was asked by the woman who had gone to the supermarket with him earlier: “Is it a game between you and Lu Chixie to call each other teacher? Actually, my husband and I sometimes play like that too.”
Ling Zhuo replied, “… No, it’s just a habit.”
He mentally cursed Lu Chixie for being pretentious, lowered his head, and continued to work on the drinks.
Lu Chixie came over and leaned against the bar to watch him work.
Ling Zhuo was not naturally adept at working, and even making juice was a struggle. After finally finishing, he realized he had made too little to share among so many people. Lu Chixie took over the tools and said, “You made it too thick. This isn’t juice; it’s jam. Set the blender to level three to make it thinner. Go get some more fruit.”
Ling Zhuo felt embarrassed and let Lu Chixie take over, obediently helping him out.
On the long table, a pot and a variety of dishes were already laid out. Someone had examined the lights on the dining room’s ceiling and asked Ling Zhuo if they were adjustable mood lights, suggesting that he should set a more atmospheric ambiance. Ling Zhuo looked troubled because he didn’t know about this.
Lu Chixie had already walked over, casually pressing a few switches. The light above changed to a starry blue, with a soft tone that indeed created a good atmosphere.
Immediately, someone joked, “Ling Zhuo, is this your home or Lu Chixie’s?”
Lu Chixie smiled and said, “Next time, invite me as a guest on the show, and I’ll invite you all to my home.”
Everyone agreed, and Ling Zhuo, feeling a bit embarrassed, changed the topic vaguely.
Before dinner, he went to wash his face in the master bedroom’s bathroom while the cameraman waited outside.
A few minutes later, Lu Chixie came over, greeted the cameraman, “Don’t film for now. How about taking a break outside?”
The cameraman initially intended to decline but then agreed, thinking it over. Seeing Lu Chixie follow him into the bathroom and close the door, he suddenly had a strange thought, shook his head, and left.
Ling Zhuo had just finished washing his face when he saw Lu Chixie enter from the mirror and reminded him, “There are still people filming outside.”
“I sent them away,” Lu Chixie approached him.
Ling Zhuo turned around, leaning against the sink, and looked at him. “You came all the way back for dinner, and you said you couldn’t find anyone to join. Was it intentional?”
Lu Chixie replied, “Not really. My parents’ place is empty, and even if I called friends, they’d need to be free. Who wants to go out when it’s suddenly snowing outside?”
Ling Zhuo asked, “So what did you do this morning?”
Lu Chixie answered, “I went to the studio for a round, then just drove around the streets. You can’t expect me to circle around all day.”
“… you’re quite pitiful.”
Ling Zhuo felt a bit guilty and had an indescribable feeling. For someone like Lu Chixie, who was used to being self-centered, making such concessions for him was probably not easy.
“Pitiful?” Lu Chixie lowered his voice, “Do you think I’m pitiful?”
Ling Zhuo considered it seriously and replied, “Soon, I’ll give you a proper title, so we won’t have to hide anymore.”
If they were still together by then.
Lu Chixie chuckled softly, “How soon is ‘soon’?”
Ling Zhuo explained, “Just not now. My head would be twisted off.”
Lu Chixie said, “Well, forget it.” He hadn’t intended to press the issue with Ling Zhuo.
Guests outside called to urge Ling Zhuo to hurry up; they were waiting for him as the host. Ling Zhuo replied, “I’ll go out after washing my face. Teacher Lu? He’s not here; I haven’t seen him. I’ll look for him later, he might be in the study.”
Hanging up, Ling Zhuo looked at Lu Chixie with a mischievous gleam in his eyes and seriously pushed his chest, “Let’s go.”
Lu Chixie smiled again, letting him go. As he turned around, Ling Zhuo grabbed his arm, “Does it seem a bit distant that I always call you Teacher Lu? How do your family members call you?”
Lu Chixie paused and said, “Just call me by my name.”
Ling Zhuo had called him by name before. However, he was a bit awkward and usually prefixed with “Teacher” when speaking. If it weren’t for others pointing it out today, he might not have wanted to change.
Under Lu Chixie’s gaze, he hesitated and changed his way of addressing, “Lu… Chixie.”