Chapter 599: Bro Xiao Is Bro Xiao, Taking On the Pool Tutorial |
“Is Teacher Xiao actually younger than all of us? So why does everyone call him Bro Xiao?”
When this question came out, the harmonious atmosphere froze for a moment.
Honestly, the whole naming thing was a bit of an issue. After all, Xiao He was the junior here, while basically everyone else present had been in the industry for four or five years or more as seniors. If they were going by seniority and age, Xiao He was the youngest junior present, and he really was younger too—even the youngest person here, Xin Yiran, was already twenty-six. But everyone called Xiao He “Bro,” which really did feel like turning things upside down.
But if you had to say it, the title “Bro Xiao” really had become Xiao He’s trademark.
Back in the day, it was because Xiao He had a strong presence. Now, it was because Xiao He had incredible ability and played such a diverse range of roles, not locking himself into just young characters. So everyone’s perception of his age had gone up along with it, kind of like how people in the martial world referred to someone as “Big Brother.” Basically, everyone just called him that. No one had ever made an official rule about it, but whenever they met him in person, the words slipped out instinctively.
Xiao He had tried to correct it before, but since everyone’s “Bro Xiao” was often laced with a bit of teasing and playfulness, he eventually grew immune to the title and stopped being a buzzkill.
But he never expected that some other buzzkill would actually point out the issue right here on the spot!
Everyone turned their gaze to the person who had spoken.
It was Wu Chuyi.
Xiao He was completely baffled, having no idea what he had done to piss this guy off.
Wasn’t this supposed to be a chill travel variety show?
Why did it feel like this guy was looking at him like he was about to throw down?
And just as Xiao He hesitated, about to explain himself, Liang Cheng jumped in and immediately spoke up: “Bro Xiao is Bro Xiao. Sure, I’m older than him, but he can carry me through this. He’s better than me, so me calling him ‘Bro’ isn’t too much, is it?”
Then Liang Cheng turned to Xiao He: “Bro Xiao, based on that performance you just gave, I bow to you.”
Xiao He felt a bit relieved.
Even Xin Yiran beside him widened her eyes and let out a surprised shriek: “I’m Bro Xiao’s fangirl! Of course I’m going to call him Bro Xiao! Otherwise, wouldn’t that make me look old? Don’t expose my age! I want to stay eighteen forever! Calling him ‘Bro’ is totally fine.”
Zhou Nanye also looked bewildered: “So Bro Xiao is actually younger than us? But somehow calling him Little He or Xiao Xiao feels kind of scary. This big-shot aura is seriously intimidating. I’m still terrified of the Zhu Third Brother he played. If he pulled a knife, I’d drop to my knees on the spot. Seriously.”
Xiao He suppressed a helpless laugh: “It’s all you guys randomly calling me that. Now I constantly get mistaken for being older. You all really need to do some soul-searching.”
“We need to do soul-searching?” Zhou Nanye grabbed Xiao He, his face a mask of righteous indignation. “Well, well, a Dual Best Actor really does have some big-shot status now. Speaking with all that backbone, even daring to tell the audience to reflect.”
Qiu Hua chimed in with a tease: “Then from now on, I’ll call you Bro Xiao too.”
Xiao He immediately clasped his hands together in a begging gesture: “Alright, alright. I’m begging you, Brother Qiu and Brother Zhou, stop. If you keep going, I won’t be able to recover. I’ll really have to bow to the viewers.”
“Hahaha—”
Everyone laughed at the same time, and that abrupt topic was easily dissolved by the group.
As for whether this topic would be edited into the final show, no one knew.
-
Next, Xiao He officially started teaching everyone the technique for gliding over the water.
The fact that the program team had arranged for the guests to come skiing on the snowy mountain meant that basically all the guests present knew how to ski. Even if they weren’t experts, gliding down a slope was well within their ability.
So Xiao He’s teaching wasn’t too difficult. He didn’t need to start from scratch—he just had to explain the key points for successfully flying over the pool of water.
Originally, this was just a fun outing, so no one had that much competitive drive. After learning a bit from Xiao He, they all started warming up on the slope.
The ski slope here wasn’t that steep. Compared to the slope Xiao He had been on this morning during filming, this one was much gentler—suitable for both beginners and experts. So everyone skied down the slope, then glided across the open space next to the pool of water, practicing their approach in advance, trying to find that “light and floaty” feeling.
Xiao He stayed nearby, making adjustments and giving pointers.
On the other side, Wu Chuyi was brimming with confidence.
Although he had never tried this activity before, he had seen similar videos on short-video platforms. He thought it looked very simple, and he believed his skiing skills made challenging this pool a sure win.
So after Xiao He finished adjusting Xin Yiran’s body posture, he saw Wu Chuyi on the opposite side charge down the slope at an extremely fast speed, then zip across the open space beside the pool of water, before finally coming to a solid stop right in front of the cameras surrounded by the program team.
That whole sequence was smooth and fluid, cool and stylish, and it triggered another round of cheers from the surrounding fans.
But Xiao He frowned deeply.
Considering that teaching was his responsibility, he still went up to remind him: “Teacher Wu, you came down way too fast just now. If you actually hit the pool of water, you’d easily fall straight in. So I’d recommend you slow down a bit before entering the water—”
“Oh, thanks for the reminder, Teacher Xiao. But don’t worry, I’ve got experience.”
Wu Chuyi shot Xiao He a smile and then walked straight back up.
Clearly, he hadn’t taken a single word Xiao He said to heart.
Xiao He let out a quiet, almost imperceptible tsk.
Well, he had done his duty. If the guy wanted to dig his own grave, that wasn’t on him.
“Ahhh—Bro Xiao—”
Not far behind him, two figures skidded down in a “completely chaotic” manner.
And at the bottom of the slope, Xin Yiran, seeing the two charging toward her, frantically poked her ski poles into the ground and tried to run forward. The result was that she got swept along by the two coming down.
The skis of all three got tangled up together, and everyone was screaming in panic.
Actually, the speed wasn’t that fast. It looked more like an old grandpa driving a three-wheeled cart—wobbly and shaky. None of them were at the point of falling yet, but that exact “almost falling” feeling of danger was what made them completely flustered.
Seeing this, Xiao He facepalmed, then slowly walked up to the three of them. He grabbed one person with each hand, first lifting up Liang Cheng and Zhou Nanye—who had been tangled together from the start—and setting them aside. Then he crouched down again to straighten Xin Yiran’s skis. Finally, he looked at the three of them and said, “It’s fine. If I had come any later, you three could have just gotten off and walked a couple of steps on your own.”
All three of them flushed bright red at the same time.
“Ahem, mistake, mistake—”
“Thanks, Bro Xiao~”
Just then, the director spoke up.
“Alright, everyone should be ready by now, right? Team leaders can come draw lots.”
There were eight guests participating in the activity (excluding Xiao He, who was acting as the coach). They were divided into four groups. Each group would assign one person to take on the challenge. But if the challenge failed, they could also send another person for a second attempt.
Either way, the final score would be the best score achieved by each group.
And this score would directly determine the quality of their hot springs accommodations tonight.
Looking at the pool of water in front of them, everyone—who had only been theorizing until now—suddenly became tense.
When the draw was made, the order of challengers was: Xin Yiran - Guest Star A - Liang Cheng - Wu Chuyi.
Xin Yiran saw she was first and her hands started trembling: “Ah, I’m first!”
As her teammate, Qiu Hua apologized helplessly: “Sorry, Yiran. My hand’s too unlucky.”
Qiu Hua was older. Skiing casually with the group was fine, but participating in this kind of activity definitely wasn’t suitable. The program team wouldn’t dare let him attempt it either. So the heavy burden naturally fell entirely on Xin Yiran, who was paired with Qiu Hua.
Xin Yiran was so worked up that her eyes were welling up with tears. Subconsciously, she looked at her idol for encouragement: “Bro Xiao, I’ll make it, right?”