IBABS Chapter 64.2 — Gossiping & Eating Melon & CP Fans Online

Su Zhe’s straight male sports fans were typically slow to catch on to entertainment circle gossip. When someone, out of boredom, brought this series of rumors to the Track and Field Kingdom forum, the reactions from the guys below were surprisingly consistent.

1L: “Shao Xingchen? Sounds familiar. I feel like my girlfriend was constantly talking about him for a while…”

2L: “Tsk, the brother above has a girlfriend. Class enemy!!”

5L: “Those two sets of photos of Zhe-shao are really good!!! Master level work! I was wondering which sports journalist took them. Never seen a reporter with such high photography skills before…”

6L: “I only have one thing to say – it’s great to be rich. Not just model C’s latest Invincible series… but also the 200-400mm super telephoto zoom lens. I’ve been wanting to upgrade my equipment for ages, drooling over the White Rabbit Mark III for a long time, but this guy starts with a 200-400mm. This setup, just the camera body and lens alone, must cost over 100,000 yuan…”

8L: “…At first, I just thought the two sets of photos looked really good, but after seeing 6L’s explanation, I went back and looked again. The image quality is so crisp, clean with rich light and shadow gradients and perfect detail capture. I’m sold! Now I just need to find that 100,000 yuan.”

If a casual observer from the entertainment industry saw this series of discussions, they would surely be dumbfounded at how the topic jumped from “Who is Shao Xingchen?” to the price of photography equipment, easily going off-topic by a million miles.

Meanwhile, in another mysterious corner of Weibo, a CP super topic called “ Stars Align for You¹” was quietly established. Many lurking alternate accounts found this CP super topic through various channels and felt the joy of finding their people. The currently small super topic was absolutely boiling with excitement.

Everyone seemed to follow the same unspoken agreement of never mentioning the CP’s full names directly in the super topic.

[Aaaah! Finally found my people!! Today’s gossip was so exciting! I went back to watch the two trailers for ‘Chasing the Light’ again. Whether it’s Xie Wei and Lu Ming or the XingZhe CP, I ship them so hard!]

[Ahem, when the first trailer came out, I was already privately shipping them, but that drama had a female lead, and Lu Ming died young from illness. It was sweet but painful, breaking my heart… I followed both of them afterward, but their circles were too different. Besides the drama collaboration, there was no sugar to consume, not even trash to pick up… Who could have imagined that today a whole can of sugar water would come pouring at me? Ah, I feel dizzy from the sweetness now. This feeling is too wonderful, I want to keep shipping them!!!]

[This feeling of ‘traveling thousands of miles just for you’ is amazing! At first, Xiao Zhe didn’t even know Shao was in Country D. Shao was just sitting alone in the stands, focusing on taking such brilliant photos of him… ‘Recording the only you in my eyes’… I’m dying! I’m all in for this CP!]

[I just did some research, and it seems Shao has been secretly taking action all along. When the drama crew first started promotions, Shao was the first to tag Xiao Zhe. Most interestingly, when Xiao Zhe placed first in both the 100m and 110m hurdles at the World Championship national qualifiers, this topic even trended. I thought the first congratulatory post would be from the drama crew’s promotion, but looking through everything, the first one to post congratulating Xiao Zhe on his double wins was Shao!! Only after seeing Shao’s message did the entire crew post congratulatory messages that trended…]

[??? Sister, you’re so perceptive! Let me go back and do some research too… It’s a shame they hardly have any photos together…]

Just when everyone felt there was no more sugar to consume, a livestream recording was posted to the CP super topic’s homepage – it was the live stream from when the “Chasing the Light” crew visited the national team’s training base.

When posting this video, the girl expressed her frustration: [Such a big serving of sugar and screen time together!! How has no one shared this resource here???]

After quickly devouring the livestream video, the crowd on the super topic homepage collectively fell into a strange state of post-euphoria bliss… After waiting quietly for a while, people finally began frantically building on the thread.

[…I mean, did you see the way the Boss looked at Xiao Zhe??? As the host, Xiao Ye must have had a tough time, like she was third-wheeling and had dog food shoved in her face!]

[Did Xiao Zhe grow taller then? I can’t find the data, but the Boss noticed it immediately. What level of observation skills is that?!]

[XDDD I’m actually wondering if the Boss was worried about Xiao Zhe’s height surpassing his… But no worries! Xiao Zhe was only 177cm before, still some distance from the Boss! Don’t be scared, Boss! ← Me, already laughing out loud.]

[Xiao Zhe sneakily calling Shao ‘Boss’ is also sweet… And that last thing Shao said! He didn’t first meet Xiao Zhe on the drama set!!! This is absolutely the highlight of the livestream! If not on set, then when???]

[…Based on how the Boss described it, I’m guessing during Xiao Zhe’s talent show days! Xiao Zhe had just joined the competition then, didn’t know anything, but was super hardworking. I’ve watched Xiao Zhe’s cuts from that time, he was incredibly dedicated…]

These lurkers hiding behind aliases who came to the CP super topic to consume sugar were mostly fans of either Shao Xingchen or Su Zhe. They could easily recall the intricate details of both men’s past experiences from different time periods.

Just as the previous poster mentioned Su Zhe’s talent show days, another small account – possibly a “satellite” fan – quickly followed with another post.

[Ah, during that period, wasn’t that also when the Boss had just established his studio and separated from his former company!! During that time, his former company’s water army² heavily smeared him, and both sides were in a tug-of-war for quite a while. You could say it was the most stressful period since his debut… Speaking of which, I suddenly remember those words he said in the livestream sound somewhat familiar. I think I’ve seen them somewhere before!]

Not long after, a screenshot of Shao Xingchen’s years-old Weibo post was shared in the super topic. It was from shortly after he established his personal studio, which was also when Su Zhe was participating in the talent show.

[May I remember on my journey forward to always work hard, persist, and never give up hope.]

…
…………

[_(:з」∠)_ To be honest, before seeing this video and Weibo screenshot, I was very rational about this. I thought I was just here to pick up some minor gossip. But now I feel myself getting a bit carried away.]

[+1 Confused but getting carried away too. So the Boss has known about Xiao Zhe for over two years and has been following him all along… Looking back at his Weibo posts tagging Xiao Zhe during filming, I suddenly feel like there’s this strong sense between the lines that he was eagerly waiting for Xiao Zhe to follow him back… Ah, this awkwardly reserved feeling. Sisters, quickly wake me up and tell me it’s just my imagination!]

[To be honest… I’m also… getting a bit carried away, but remember those series of memes with Xiao Zhe’s anti-fans? Weren’t those spread by the Boss’s fans??? If we’re looking at this timeline, the Boss must have known about it, right? Why didn’t he step in to stop it…]

[About that situation, Xiao Zhe’s company and team were definitely trying to ride on others’ fame at the time, and they took it too far. The Boss didn’t seem to have any contact with Xiao Zhe then. If he had randomly spoken up for him, it would not only hurt his fans’ feelings, but also, if he only helped Xiao Zhe, how would he handle others who tried to ride his fame?]

The entire CP super topic was now filled with a strangely harmonious yet incredulous atmosphere, as everyone continued to dig for hidden sweetness beneath the surface of the two men’s limited interactions and shared screen time.

Country D, desert, Kuangbiao Group’s advertisement shooting location

The advertising photographer invited by Kuangbiao Group was shooting desert-themed content featuring Su Zhe and Shao Xingchen. Both men wore clothing from the same collection, interpreting the feeling of momentum and speed breakthrough through running poses and dance movements.

Shooting dynamic content in the desert wasn’t easy. Movements that would be simple to capture indoors could potentially kick up winds or scatter sand everywhere, affecting the final shot quality.

The photographer had previously mentioned these concerns to Kuangbiao Group, but surprisingly, both Shao Xingchen and Su Zhe quickly adapted to the desert environment and rapidly adjusted their movement range to showcase maximum effect with minimal physical changes.

Throughout the entire shoot, the photographer was constantly surprised, while the Kuangbiao Group representative was very satisfied with the overall results from both men.

As the shoot was about to end, Li Cheng showed them the gossip news from Weibo.

Looking at the trending gossip, Su Zhe couldn’t help but sigh that the Boss truly lived up to his reputation. Even bundled up so completely while watching a competition abroad, he could still be identified.

Shao Xingchen remained completely calm. He took the phone, found Su Zhe’s Weibo, and reposted the first set of photos Su Zhe had shared, adding: [Glad you liked them.]

Seeing the Boss’s move, Su Zhe was amused and immediately pulled out his own phone, reposting:
[Thank you for the amazing photos, Boss. I’m glad my good friend could come watch my competition in person!]

Their straightforward reposts and acknowledgment instantly confirmed the previous series of gossip while also shutting it down. With both men being so open and aboveboard, there wasn’t much room left for gossip to continue spreading.