Chapter 125: Love Variety Show Strategy System (Main Story Concluded)

It is complete!

It is indeed complete!

Ever since he took on this burden, there wasn't a day he didn't dream—

The dream of leading the girls to break into the world's top eight, and now the beautiful dream has come true!

He has also completed his mission for this Olympic Games.

But the tournament is not over yet!

His girls still have to charge into the top four! Charge for the championship and runner-up spots! The dream of winning the title is not impossible to realize.

In fact, this is indeed the case—

Xie Yang and her teammates cooperated tacitly and fought more bravely as the matches went on. Not only did they successfully charge into the top eight, completing the Task given to them by the General Administration of Sport for these Olympic Games, but they also used a brisk rhythm to kill their way into the top four, compete for the championship and runner-up spots, and finally stand on the championship podium, handing in a quite beautiful answer sheet to the motherland and the people.

Whether it was the audience in the stands or the netizens watching the live broadcast in front of their screens, everyone was simply crazy with joy. The hot search continued to explode for several days, and the number of comments and reposts exceeded one hundred million.

Domestic and foreign media were all reporting this news: the beach volleyball team from China, with the posture of a dark horse, made their appearance in Los Angeles.

Television news, mobile news, newspapers, magazines... everywhere one could see photos of the Chinese Women's Beach Volleyball Team at the moment of winning the championship and standing on the top of the podium.

The Chinese Women's Beach Volleyball Team has risen!

A few snarky netizens did not forget to tag the Chinese Men's Football Team at this time—

【The beach volleyball women warriors can break out of the encirclement and change the world, I believe you can too!】

【You're overthinking it! The possibility of the men's football team winning the championship is on the same level of difficulty as pigs flying.】

Men's Football Team:...

Are you being polite!

While the outside world was still heatedly discussing this tournament, Xie Yang had already returned to the country in a low-key manner.

The coach gave her a seven-day vacation, after which she would have to represent the outstanding athletes to speak at the sports delegation summary meeting, and he asked her to draft a speech during her rest period.

The bus slowly pulled to a stop at the entrance of a high-end residential complex within the Third Ring Road where many celebrities lived and security management was strict.

Xie Yang put on her hat and mask, waved goodbye to the coach and her teammates, jumped off the bus with a light posture, and pushed her suitcase to swipe her card into the complex.

She knew Gu Qiaoxi was still somewhat afraid of public occasions, so she didn't let her come to the airport to pick her up, nor did she tell her the specific arrival time of the flight; at this hour, she was likely still busy at the flower shop.

The apartment she bought was on the top floor, and the large terrace gifted by the developer was designed into a sunroom. While Xie Yang was in closed training, Gu Qiaoxi planted many flowers and plants in the sunroom; there were too many potted plants, so she let her take them to give away to others.

Seeing that she liked flowers and plants so much, Xie Yang simply invested money to take over a struggling cafe near the complex and renovated it into a flower shop for Gu Qiaoxi to pass the time.

Whether it was profitable or not didn't matter; she just wanted Gu Qiaoxi to have something to do so she wouldn't be alone and stuck in a dead end. But unexpectedly, the business was surprisingly good, especially during various holidays like Valentine's Day, Christmas, and Women's Day; Gu Qiaoxi couldn't handle it alone and hired a college student from a nearby school to work part-time in the shop.

"Ding," the Elevator opened.

Just as Xie Yang pushed her suitcase out of the Elevator, she saw a familiar figure leaning in front of her door, one hand in his trouser pocket, the other holding a phone, not knowing what he was looking at, his brows lowered and his expression focused.

Hearing the movement, the young man looked up; it was none other than Zhou Hanqing, who was still in Los Angeles watching her play matches two days ago.

"Back?"

His brows relaxed, revealing a faint smile. He straightened up, casually tucked his phone into his pocket, and stepped forward to take her suitcase and the sunglasses she had taken off. The whole set of movements was smooth and flowing, couldn't be more natural.

"Put away your luggage, and come to my place for a meal?"

He pushed the suitcase and followed her inside the door.

There was no one at home.

Xie Yang poked her head to look at the kitchen; on the Acrylic countertop, ingredients that had been washed and cut, ready to be stir-fried at any time, were neatly arranged. Rice was simmering in the electric purple clay pot, and Codonopsis, red date, and black-bone chicken soup were stewing in the electric stew pot—it was clear at a glance that Xiao Qiao had stewed them before going to the flower shop.

She probably wasn't sure what time she would return, so she stewed them early so she could drink them upon returning.

"Xiao Qiao stewed chicken soup."

"I also stewed chicken soup, the wild mushroom and mountain chicken soup you love to drink. I entrusted someone to buy authentic free-range chicken and wild mushrooms."

"..."

Xie Yang couldn't win against him, so she had to follow him next door.

That's right, this guy bought the apartment across from hers and became her neighbor.

Although in this year, the number of times she returned home was not many and the number of days she stayed at home was not long, whenever she returned, she would be coaxed by him to his house for meals for various reasons.

His culinary skills were already good to begin with, and they had improved greatly over this year.

As soon as the door opened, the fragrant smell of food hit her nose.

In the large clay pot was the wild mushroom and mountain chicken stew he had just mentioned, in the small clay pot was crystal-clear claypot rice, in the stewing cup was bird's nest soup with gold threads, and there were also green pepper beef, fish-flavored eggplant, and Mantis Shrimp—all home-cooked dishes she loved to eat.

After entering the door and washing his hands, he first ladled a bowl of chicken soup for her.

"How did you know I would arrive home at this time?"

Xie Yang asked while drinking the delicious chicken soup slowly.

She got off the plane at 1:30 in the afternoon and it was nearly 3:00 when she got home. Lunch was too late and dinner was too early, yet the food on the table was steaming hot, clearly just made.

"I spoke with Coach Guo on the phone yesterday, and he told me the flight you were returning on."

"..."

That's right, he hadn't made few trips to where she was training this year.

Every now and then, he would bring everyone fruit, snacks, various fresh ingredients that were not easy to buy on the island, and essential oils he personally blended that had the effect of relaxing muscles and relieving fatigue.

From the coaches down to the security guards, no one was not bought over by him.

So much so that her colleagues all thought they were dating, just that they hadn't made it public due to their identities.

And in fact, she still hadn't given him a title to this day.

Even though he had already been "eaten" by her, and more than once.

This development was something even she herself couldn't have imagined.

"Cough."

Thinking of this, Xie Yang inexplicably felt a sense of guilt, as if she were a scumbag.

"What are you thinking about? Didn't you say you didn't eat much on the plane? Are you still not hungry?"

He peeled a Mantis Shrimp for her and urged her to eat quickly.

Xie Yang withdrew her wandering thoughts and focused on eating.

Once she was full, she was coaxed by him onto his bed to sleep.

Her jet lag hadn't adjusted yet, so it was just pure sleep.

She slept until eight or nine in the evening, and upon waking, she was full of energy.

After turning on the light and finding her phone, she swiped it open to see over a dozen missed calls.

She would ignore Father Xie for now; she would deal with it tomorrow.

It was nothing more than him wanting to throw a celebration banquet for her, to have her show her face in front of those uncles and elders.

A year ago, she had only won a championship in the national tour, and that cheap father of hers had already shown off enough; let alone this time, when it was an Olympic gold medal.

Xiao Qiao had likely seen the news and knew the beach volleyball team had returned to the country, but upon going home, she only saw luggage and not her, and when she called, she didn't pick up, so she was probably anxious.

Xie Yang immediately replied with a message to put her at ease.

After replying, she lifted the thin blanket to get out of bed, but when she looked up, she found him standing at the doorway, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed, watching her quietly.

"Awake? Hungry? What do you want to eat?"

He walked over, sat on the edge of the bed, braced his hands on either side of her body, and his gaze fell upon her soft, pink lips.

"I want to eat..."

Xie Yang looked at him with a smile, and just as she opened her mouth to say those two words, her lower lip was captured by his scorching hot lips.

At first, it was just a gentle suckling, but seeing that she seemed somewhat moved, he tightened his arms and pulled her into his embrace.

His large, knobby hand supported the back of her neck, and the kiss grew increasingly urgent and fierce.

"Click!"

Xie Yang managed to free a hand to press the bedroom light off, and the room instantly became dim.

The moonlight from outside the window and the hallway light leaking in from the doorway intertwined and cast upon the sheer curtains, vaguely revealing a pair of overlapping silhouettes...

Late at night on Weibo, a video had just been sent to the trending list by tens of millions of fans—

#God Han appears at the beach volleyball arena#

In the video, it was clearly Zhou Hanqing, watching the match with focused attention.

The video was edited from several shots, from the quarterfinals to the semifinals, then to the finals; he was at the scene for every single match, not missing a single one.

Whenever Xie Yang scored with a spike, the corners of his mouth would lift.

Although he was very low-key every time he appeared, his tall, slender figure and handsome face made it easy for him to become the focus, even while wearing a hat and sunglasses.

Previously, because the results of the beach volleyball tournament were so unexpected, related topics had remained high on the trending list, which led to the super-topic #God Han appears at the beach volleyball arena# only being pushed up by the vast number of netizens just now.

【Damn! Is God Han actually a fan of Sister Xie too?】

【God Han and Sister Xie recorded a Love Variety Show together; they must be very close, right?】

【I even voted for their CP at the time, but unfortunately, I haven't seen them together since the recording ended. I didn't expect that a year later, God Han would go watch Sister Xie play; this is so sweet!】

【It's just watching a match, it doesn't mean they're together.】

【By the way, how many CPs from "Romantic Cabin" actually stayed together? Just Xiao Chenglei and Liu Yang? Is that it for the others?】

【Haven't heard of any others.】

At this moment, Weibo lagged for a second.

Many netizens logged out and logged back in, only to find after refreshing that the number one trending topic had changed—

#Can God Han give me a title now# EXPLOSIVE!

What the hell?

Everyone clicked in, bewildered, and upon seeing it, they were greatly shocked.

It turned out Zhou Hanqing had posted an update a minute ago—

The championship is won, can you give me a title now? @Xie Yang

【Holy crap! Is it what I think it is?】

【Damn! When has my Brother Han ever been this humble? Oh, he's pursuing my Sister Xie? Then never mind!】

【My Sister Xie is a winner in life, no explanation needed!】

"Damn! Brother Han is too shameless!"

Jiang Tuo, who had just come out of the recording studio, saw the trending topic and threw his custom-made headphones in anger.

"We agreed on fair competition, and he actually jumped the gun!"

His manager twitched his mouth, and seeing him so angry, he ultimately said nothing.

His artist didn't hide who he liked at all.

If it weren't for the fact that he had too many announcements and was too busy this past year, and that a music variety show had been added at the last minute—which the company had signed him up for behind his back—they were afraid he would have made time to fly to Los Angeles to watch the match.

Just watching the match would have been fine, but they were afraid that in his youthful impulsiveness, he would pull off some grand public confession that would be hard to clean up, which is why they had tried every way to keep him from going.

Over there, Fu Yichen and Lu Ming were filming in the mountains, and after seeing the trending topic, the two sat in the bamboo forest and drank sullen wine.

After a long while, Fu Yichen raised his glass and toasted into the void: "He has more courage than the two of us."

Lu Ming also smiled helplessly; who could say otherwise?

They were different from Jiang Tuo; if they really wanted to go to the scene to watch her play, they could still make time. However, reality was not a Love Variety Show after all.

They were too full of misgivings and overthinking—

Afraid of the public's reaction if they were photographed;

Afraid of rumors that would be bad for her or for themselves;

Or perhaps affecting the upcoming film, affecting their massive fan base, affecting their subsequent career...

A series of worries caused them to think thrice and weigh things over and over again with every step they took.

Being so afraid of the Wolf in front and the tiger behind, it is no wonder she did not even consider them for a moment.

Setting everything else aside, just in terms of the heart to pursue her, they were not as brave or sincere as Zhou Hanqing.

In this round, they lost and were completely convinced of their defeat.

During this period, more and more netizens flooded into this trending search.

The comment section completely exploded.

Weibo fell into paralysis.

The culprit was currently holding the person in his arms, his brows and eyes filled with tenderness, coaxing softly: "Since the status has already been given, how about we make it official tomorrow? I checked the almanac, and tomorrow is auspicious for everything."

Xie Yang could not help but pinch his waist: "Stop pushing your luck!"

Which drew a burst of his pleasant, low laughter...